Myanmar
Courageous commitment to peace and human rights
December 2024
“I have always encouraged myself,” says Aung Myo Min, Minister for Human Rights in the NUG (National Unity Government). The NUG is the elected government of Myanmar led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. “Because if you want to change something, you have to stand up and fight for what you want to change.”
He refers to the rights of ethnic or sexual minorities (LGBTIQ+), the rights of children and young people, and the protection of children from war and violence in Myanmar – because Myo Min has been advocating for all of these issues for a long time, long before he became a minister. Myo is a human rights activist and founder of the NGO "Equality Myanmar" (formerly "Human Rights Education Institute of Burma"), who has been successfully collaborating with Terre des Hommes for almost twenty years.
Operating from the underground
Myo Min's work is risky: Since the Burmese government, elected by a large majority, was violently ousted by the military in February 2021, he and his fellow activists have had to operate underground. The military violently cracks down on demonstrators and ethnic minorities, arresting people or forcibly recruiting them into the army, including many children and young people.
The armed conflict between the army and various armed groups has escalated, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of approximately two million people. Since 2021, there have been more than 3,000 bombing raids by the Myanmar army's aircraft and helicopters, more than half of them in 2024 alone, mostly targeting civilian areas in villages: schools, hospitals, and marketplaces. The people are desperate and in urgent need of assistance.
"What is important now is a boycott of the supply of aviation fuel to the military junta, so that it cannot continue its reckless bombing of villages and schools."
Terre des Hommes supports emergency relief projects with numerous partner organizations both within the country and in border camps and villages in neighboring Thailand, to which many people are forced to flee. Besides distributing food and medicine, the primary focus is on protecting children and young people from violence, creating so-called safe spaces where they can attend kindergarten or school, receive vocational training, and access medical and psychological care – for many of them, this is a lifeline.
Myo Min is convinced that the illegal military junta will lose the war because there are many defectors and no one wants to join the Myanmar army, which is increasingly on the defensive militarily. International pressure on the junta is also increasing, and the economic sanctions are taking effect. "What's important now is a boycott of aviation fuel deliveries to the military junta so that it cannot continue its reckless bombing of villages and schools. We are also advocating for this at the United Nations."
An article by Terre des Hommes expert Ralf Willinger on the recruitment of child soldiers and arms trafficking, with a case study from Myanmar, can be found here .