On this International Human Rights Day, the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) reaffirms its unwavering commitment to protecting the fundamental rights and dignity of people in locally-defined Karen State and across Burma. This year’s theme, “Human Rights, Our Everyday Essentials”, reminds us that rights are not abstract ideals but fundamental necessities for daily life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the conflict in Burma both date back to 1948, underscoring a stark truth: from the moment the UDHR affirmed universal rights, the Burma Army has systematically denied the people of Burma these very essentials - safety, food, education, and freedom. After more than 75 years of conflict, the Burma Army’s ongoing campaign of violence and impunity demands urgent, decisive, and sustained global action to ensure that these basic rights finally become a reality for everyone in Burma.

Since the military coup in February 2021, the human rights situation in Burma has continued to deteriorate at an alarming pace.[1] The Burma army continues to wage a campaign of systematic abuse, relentlessly violating international law. Civilians are targeted with airstrikes, drone attacks, artillery shelling, village burnings, extrajudicial executions, mass arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, and enforced disappearances. Some of those forcibly disappeared, including women and children, are later used as porters, navigators, human shields and minesweepers.[2] Furthermore, the Burma Army has sharply increased the use of sexual violence as a tool of repression across the country.[3] The escalating human rights abuses have driven a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis, forcing displacement on an unprecedented scale. Nationwide, the number of internally displaced civilians continues to surge, with over 1.2 million now displaced in Karen State alone. [4] Military restrictions on movement and trade have severely disrupted livelihoods, while the destruction and confiscation of food and medical supplies at checkpoints, combined with soaring inflation, have made basic survival increasingly difficult.[5]  Especially children are facing a systematic erosion of every right necessary to live a dignified life, placing future generations under severe threat and turning the 2025 Human Rights Day theme into a distant and unattainable ideal. Fundamental entitlements enshrined in the UDHR, including education, healthcare, and safety, are being systematically denied through pervasive violence by the Burma Army. Direct attacks on schools and communities, killings, and life-altering injuries, leave children and their communities trapped in cycles of fear, deprivation, and insecurity.[6]

The Burma Army’s planned elections in December 2025 intensify an already dire situation. The military controls only a fraction of the country, with roughly two-thirds of Burma’s territory contested or under opposition control, making any credible election impossible.[7] For over seven decades, the people of Burma have suffered relentless oppression at the hands of the Burma Army. Today, with continued attacks on civilians, mass displacement, arbitrary imprisonment, and the systematic repression of fundamental freedoms, any just or credible election is impossible. Holding a vote under these conditions would only legitimise and entrench military rule, erase hard-won democratic gains, and perpetuate the junta’s long-standing use of propaganda and coercion to maintain its violent grip on power.[8]

At the October 2025 ASEAN summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for “a credible path back to civilian rule” in Burma and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk described holding elections under these conditions as “unfathomable”.[9] These military-controlled electoral processes, taking place amid systematic rights violations, total impunity, a blatant disregard for international obligations, and the continued silence of the international community, entrench a cycle of abuse that denies the people of Burma their most basic rights. Real change is impossible unless the international community listens to the people of Burma, meets its obligations under international law, and takes a principled stance that places human lives above economic and political interests. Decisive action to halt the Burma Army’s abuses and hold its leaders accountable is essential; without it, civilian suffering will continue, betraying the very principles the world claims to uphold each December 10.

On this International Human Rights Day, KHRG urges all relevant stakeholders, including the UN, donor states, ASEAN member states, humanitarian actors, accountability mechanisms, and the international community more broadly, to:

• Strongly condemn the planned elections and the junta’s ongoing efforts to legitimise its rule, recognizing that these elections disregard the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma.
• Recognize the Burma Army as the root cause of the widespread human rights and humanitarian crisis.
• Prioritise principled engagement that puts human lives first, rejects junta legitimacy, and ensures aid, diplomacy, and trade do not empower the military, while implementing targeted measures such as coordinated sanctions and arms embargoes to weaken its capacity to attack civilians.
• Provide sustained, flexible, and conflict-sensitive humanitarian support through local civil society and community-based networks, recognising their expertise, capacity, and ongoing work in reaching affected populations, protecting human rights, documenting violations, and advocating for accountability.
• Collaborate with local actors to monitor, document, and publicly report violations, and to establish comprehensive systems for supporting survivors and affected communities.
• Ensure access to essential services such as education, healthcare, nutrition, shelter, and psychosocial support for all conflict-affected and displaced populations.
• Strengthen mechanisms for accountability through international justice, universal jurisdiction, and independent investigations, ensuring perpetrators of abuses, including those in Southeast Burma, are held responsible for their actions.
• Uphold the principle of non-refoulement and guarantee protection for civilians fleeing conflict, ensuring safe access to humanitarian assistance, legal recognition, and essential services.
• Urge the international community to take bold, coordinated action by providing targeted support and amplifying awareness of Burma’s underreported conflict to confront the junta, halt human rights abuses, end impunity, and protect the people of Burma.

Media contacts:

Naw Paw Lah, KHRG Advocacy Officer: nawpawlah@khrg.org (Karen and English)
Saw Albert, KHRG Field Director: albert@khrg.org (Burmese)