Rohingya trapped between war and flight as Burma violence intensifies

MNTV Desk — Caught in intense armed conflicts between the Tatmadaw, Burma’s notoriously brutal military, and its opponent the Buddhist Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State, Muslim Rohingya have faced dire, unsustainable living conditions, resulting in a renewed exodus of 150,000 people to Bangladesh since 2024.

Many lost their lives during the perilous journey, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 2026 annual report released this month.

The commission recommends that the U.S. government redesignate Burma as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, for engaging in systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom.

The report finds that in 2025 religious freedom conditions in Burma deteriorated as the Tatmadaw unleashed indiscriminate airstrikes and artillery attacks against civilians, religious sites and schools in attempts to regain key territories it had lost.

In the year under review, Tatmadaw forces destroyed 379 religious sites, killing more than 259 clergy and civilians sheltering in places of worship or participating in religious activities. The junta used violence to terrify and retaliate against resisting religious communities, at times laying siege to their sacred sites.

More than 2.5 million internally displaced people — including in Christian-majority Chin and Kachin states and Muslim-majority Rakhine state — faced dire conditions as violence intensified. Contrary to its claim of being the guardian of Theravada Buddhism, the Tatmadaw increasingly attacked Buddhist sites across the country in 2025.

Caught between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army in Rakhine State, predominantly Muslim Rohingya communities endured worsening conditions that triggered a new wave of displacement, with 150,000 fleeing to Bangladesh since 2024. Many died along the dangerous route, says the report.

Those who remained witnessed the junta’s killing of dozens of villagers in Ramree Township, endured forced labor amid health and food crises linked to reduced U.S. aid, and faced the Arakan Army locking or converting their mosques into military bases and detention centers. The Tatmadaw also continued forcibly conscripting Rohingya men and boys — stripped of citizenship — often using them as cannon fodder.

The commission urged the U.S. government to redesignate Burma as a CPC under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA); restore humanitarian funding and contributions to United Nations programs investigating atrocities against Rohingya and other religious minorities; support post-secondary education for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar in coordination with Bangladeshi authorities; and designate Burma for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

Background of longstanding religious persecution

Christians make up about six percent of Burma’s population, while Muslims account for roughly three percent following the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Rohingya since 2017.

The country is also home to small communities of Hindus, Jews, followers of traditional Chinese religions and animists.

In March, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Burma, killing more than 3,600 people. Instead of focusing on rescue and recovery, the Burmese military conducted airstrikes against churches and monasteries despite its self-imposed ceasefire and delayed reconstruction of mosques and churches.

International organizations have condemned the Tatmadaw’s violations of freedom of religion or belief as the country’s multilayered crisis deepened, calling for accountability for perpetrators.

In February, a federal criminal court in Argentina issued 25 arrest warrants for Burmese officials and military leaders accused of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya community.

The move followed a similar call from the International Criminal Court in November 2024. In July, the International Court of Justice deemed declarations of intervention by Slovenia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Belgium and Ireland admissible in the case of The Gambia vs. Myanmar.

In April, a Chin human rights group and its partners appealed to the Philippine Department of Justice to reconsider its decision not to fully investigate war crimes charges against senior junta generals under the country’s universal jurisdiction law.

Throughout 2025, the United Nations repeatedly raised alarm over escalating violence and the worsening humanitarian crisis through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma, the Human Rights Council, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.

Canada, Switzerland and the European Union imposed sanctions in 2025 targeting those responsible for human rights violations in Burma. The International Labour Organization also adopted a resolution invoking Article 33 of its constitution against Burma, while the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions removed the accreditation and membership of the junta-controlled Myanmar National Human Rights Commission.

Refugees turned away, aid cuts

Throughout 2025, neighboring countries including India, Indonesia and Malaysia turned away hundreds of refugees arriving by sea and failed to offer protection under international legal norms, returning some to Burma where they face serious threats to life or freedom.

The International Religious Freedom Act envisioned funding programs through U.S. foreign assistance to promote legal protections and cultural respect for religious freedom. Historically, the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other agencies supported these efforts through a wide range of programs, including support for civil society.

In recent years Congress allocated funding for the IRF Office and related assistance programs. Yet emergency assistance for religious freedom activists in Burma and Afghanistan — along with a flagship USAID program supporting 4,000 members of religious minority groups facing discrimination and persecution — was terminated.

Programs providing humanitarian assistance to persecuted religious communities were also canceled. Witnesses testifying at a USCIRF hearing on Burma said substantial cuts to humanitarian funding have severely and directly affected Rohingya refugees by removing critical support needed for survival, the report says.

More than 80,000 ethnic Karen refugees along the Burma-Thailand border — many Christians who fled persecution before the 2021 coup — lost significant food aid. In addition, more than 227,500 Rohingya children in Cox’s Bazar lost access to education.

U.S. cuts to multilateral funding contributed to 11.6 million refugees, including many fleeing religious persecution, losing humanitarian assistance. The reductions also affected U.N. institutions promoting freedom of religion or belief, including the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar, which gathers evidence of atrocities against the Rohingya.

U.S. policy actions

In January, the U.S. Mission in Geneva condemned escalating Tatmadaw violence, expressed support for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Five-Point Consensus on Burma and welcomed cooperation between ASEAN and U.N. special envoys.

In June, the U.S. State Department fully suspended visa issuance to Burmese nationals under Presidential Proclamation 10949. In July, the Trump administration froze nearly $40 million allocated for programs supporting human rights, democracy and independent media in Burma.

In August, the State Department expressed support for the people of Burma and praised Bangladesh and other countries for hosting refugees. In September, the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York announced plans to provide more than $60 million in assistance for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

In November, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Burma, placing about 3,000 Burmese nationals at risk of deportation.

In February, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., introduced a resolution urging the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on the Burmese military. In July, bipartisan lawmakers introduced three bills — the BRAVE Burma Act, the Burma GAP Act and the No New Burma Funds Act — aimed at addressing the humanitarian crisis and restricting financial support for the regime.

In November, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific held a hearing on Burma’s crisis and possible U.S. policy responses.

The State Department last redesignated Burma as a country of particular concern for severe violations of religious freedom on Dec. 29, 2023. Any presidential action stemming from that designation expires at the end of 2025 unless reauthorized by law.