Introduction
The year 2024 witnessed the most extensive and intense military conflict across Myanmar during the four years of the military coup as well as the highest number of civilian deaths, including women and children.
As the resistance war intensifies and the conflict zones widen, it has become evident that the majority of those killed and injured in the fighting are vulnerable women and children.
The bi-Weekly News Review by Burma News International (BNI) – Myanmar Peace Monitor (MPM) this week highlights civilian deaths, including vulnerable women and children, during 2024, based on events and data.
2024: A Year of Concern for Children
Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said in all over the past four years since the coup, at least 6,231 civilians, including 1,144 women and 709 children, were killed by the military.
In 2024 alone, at least 1,824 people were killed, including 531 women and 248 children, sharply up from the previous peak of 1,639 verified deaths in 2023,” Laurence cited the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). 1
According to UNICEF, children also account for over 1.15 million (33 per cent) of the nearly 3.5 million internally displaced people. More than 750 children were killed or injured due to armed conflicts in Myanmar in 2024—an average of more than two children per day. 2
On 31 January 2025, an aerial bombing by the military council in Kokeko village, Kale Township, Sagaing Region, killed 11 civilians, including children and women, and left 15 others seriously injured. The victims included four underage children, three mothers, a pregnant woman, and an elderly woman. The injured consisted of seven women and eight men. 3
According to NUG data, more than 560 children were killed in armed conflicts across Myanmar between 2021 and 2023. Among the victims of the junta’s massacres, which involved heavy shelling and aerial bombings, children made up the majority. 4
Increasing Death Toll among Women during Armed Conflict
According to a statement issued by the Burmese Women’s Union (BWU) on 20 January, 478 women were killed in armed conflict in Myanmar in 2024. BWU confirmed that these figures are based on accurate and reliable news sources, as well as data gathered from the ground.
According to BWU, of the 478 women who have died, 399 were killed by the junta’s airstrikes and aerial bombings targeting civilian areas. Six women died as a result of sexual violence, 66 were victims of extrajudicial executions, seven lost their lives in landmine explosions, and one woman was sentenced to death by the MNDAA-Kokang.
According to data collected by BWU, the women killed are from various regions, with 109 from Sagaing Region, 92 from Shan State, 83 from Arakan State, 67 from Mandalay Region, and eight from Kachin State. Sagaing Region recorded the highest number of female deaths in 2024, according to the statement.
In addition, BWU reported that 412 women were injured in 2024, with airstrikes and heavy weapons being the primary causes of these injuries. According to BWU, 392 women died in 2023, and 478 in 2024, marking an increase of nearly 100 deaths. 5
In alone January 2025, the military council’s aerial bombings, shelling and landmines, 86 women were killed and 77 others injured across the country, according to the BWU’s statement released on 7 February. According to the statement, 73 women were killed by airstrikes, 12 by shelling and 86 by landmines.
Daw Tin Tin Nyo, a member of the Policy Affairs Leading Committee of the BWU, stated: “The junta targets even IDP camps, religious buildings, and schools—places where the public can peacefully gather. They carry out such attacks, as well as bombing hospitals and clinics. In January alone, the number of civilian deaths exceeded hundreds. If we do not urgently address this situation, there may be even more civilian deaths, injuries, and destruction in 2025.” 6
According to data collected by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), between 1 February 2021, and 31 January 2025, 6,239 civilians were killed at the hands of the military council in Myanmar. Among the victims, 1,397 were women and 714 were children.
On 15 January, the military council conducted aerial bombings on an IDP camp in eastern Demoso Township, killing three civilians and injuring four others, a local man said. “Two people from one family died on the spot. The victims are a women and a man. They are siblings. Their mother was wounded on her face but is not in critical condition,” he said. 7
Locals live in constant fear as military council forces have conducted at least 11 aerial bombings in Loikaw and Demoso Townships in Karenni (Kayah) State, as well as the western part of Pekon on the Shan-Karenni border, since early January 2025.
Review
Since seizing power, the military council has committed blatant human rights violations and targeted attacks on civilians, with brutal acts escalating year by year.
The resistance war led by revolutionary forces, aimed at ending the military dictatorship and establishing a federal democratic union, has transformed into an offensive war against the junta. With increasing military successes, the revolutionary forces have expanded their territorial control. Meanwhile, the junta’s military, political, and territorial dominance has weakened on all fronts.
The military junta continues to shell villages in its lost territories, where civilians live, from distant locations, setting fire to villages and carrying out aerial bombings every day.
Seeking justice for the millions of people displaced by armed conflicts, as well as for the civilians, including innocent children and women, killed in the junta’s shelling and aerial bombings across Myanmar, has become an essential responsibility for the revolutionary forces.
1 During four years, more than 6,000 people killed by Myanmar army, says UN, RFA, 5 February 2025
2 Hundreds of children killed or injured in Myanmar in 2024: UNICEF, By bno – Bangkok bureau January 10, 2025
3 Death toll from airstrike on IDP camp in Kale Township reaches 11, RFA, 2 February 2025
4 Since coup till December 2023, the number of children killed exceeds 560, RFA, 1 January 2024
5 In 2024, 478 women killed in armed conflicts, an increase of nearly 100 compared to the previous year, Mizzima, 20 January 2025, Mizzima, 20 January 2025
6 More than 80 women killed by the military council’s airstrikes and shelling in January alone, RFA, 7 February 2025
7 Three civilians killed in junta’s aerial bombing of Demoso IDP camp, Kantarawaddy Times, 15 January 2025.