For the fourth anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar on February 1st
Osnabrück/Berlin, January 31, 2025 - For exactly four years, a bloody civil war rage largely unnoticed by the German and international public in Myanmar. At least 50,000 people were killed, more than three million are on the run.
On February 1, 2021, the military couped against the democratically elected government of Myanmar and began to violently demonstrate opposition, demonstrators and ethnic minorities. Since then there has been war almost everywhere in the country: pro-democratic and ethnic rebel militias are fighting the exile government against the dictatorship. Military government's fighter jets mercilessly bombard villages and schools from the air and kill children, women and old people indiscriminately.
Partner organizations of the children's rights organization Terre des Hommes are braving these dangers and helping children and their families in the countless refugee camps along the border between Myanmar and Thailand. "Our partners are providing people with essentials such as food, medicine, and emergency hygiene kits. The help for children traumatized by bomb attacks is particularly important; they receive therapeutic support and, if possible, provisional education," explains Joshua Hofert, board spokesperson for Terre des Hommes .
Yet despite these dire living conditions, hope is growing in the country that the military government will finally capitulate. Especially in eastern Myanmar, more and more people are defecting to the militias fighting in the name of the government in exile. *Thayet, a Terre des Hommes employee who coordinates projects in Myanmar along the border with Thailand, is certain that in the end, "People will win." "The pressure from the international community is growing; human rights organizations everywhere are documenting unlawful attacks, arbitrary detentions, and unfair trials. The majority of sanctions imposed by the international community are stopping the flow of weapons, equipment, technology, and kerosene to the military government," she says. "What we need now, for example, is a cross-border humanitarian aid program from the Thai government for refugees and displaced persons, and the political commitment of all ASEAN states against the military dictatorship." Recently, there was another important boost for civil society – an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court was issued against dictatorship leader Min Aung Hlaing.
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More: https://www.tdh.de/myanmar-buergerkrieg
*The name has been changed. The actual name is known as Terre des Hommes .