At an informal meeting of the United Nations General Assembly held on 19 June 2026 in New York, Julie Bishop, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, presented her findings on the situation in the country. She reported that 2025 was the deadliest year for children since the military takeover in the country, with junta airstrikes the leading cause of casualties among children.
The Special Envoy also reported that Myanmar – now a global epicenter for cybercrime – has become one of the world’s six most severe hunger hotspots, with more than 3.7 million people internally displaced as a result of armed conflict across the country.
While the junta has been promoting its self-organized election as “free and fair,” Special Envoy Julie Bishop stated that the United Nations neither supported nor observed the process, citing ground realities including tight security, low voter turnout, the exclusion of major political parties, and the continuation of widespread armed conflict and junta airstrikes throughout the election period.
Throughout the election period, conflict events and airstrikes continued across the country, including targeted attacks on civilian populations. The Special Envoy also reported that rural communities faced forced labor and forced conscription at the hands of the junta and other armed actors, as well as extortion at checkpoints by armed group members, with movement and the delivery of humanitarian assistance severely restricted as a result. 1
In a notable coincidence, the Special Envoy’s briefing – which effectively stripped away the junta’s facade – was delivered on the birthday of detained State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
In its 1 July 2026 edition, the military- owned Yadanarbon newspaper published a piece headlined “An Open Letter to the United Nations Secretary-General (1),” amounting to a propaganda attack targeting Special Envoy Julie Bishop personally. The piece variously described her as “a diplomat who brought no benefit,” “someone with social shortcomings,” and “a person of bullying character.”
1. “Records are being set for all the wrong reasons,” Julie Bishop, Special Envoy of the Secretary General on Myanmar, briefed an informal meeting of the UN General Assembly on the deteriorating situation in the country, UNIFEED, 19 Jun 2026