UN report details worsening Rohingya persecution, toxic mining in Burma
Rohingya face abuses by military and Arakan Army as conflict-driven rare earth mining poisons communities and exploits workers across Burma
NAYPYIDAW, Burma (MNTV) — Rohingya Muslims in Burma are facing renewed persecution, forced labor and displacement while a rapidly expanding rare earth mining industry is poisoning ethnic communities and exploiting vulnerable workers, according to a new United Nations report documenting how years of conflict have deepened the country’s human rights crisis.
The report by the U.N. Human Rights Office, covering June 2025 to May 2026, found civilians increasingly caught between Burma’s military and armed groups while illicit industries flourish in areas where effective regulation and accountability have collapsed.
Rohingya remain among the worst affected, nine years after the military launched its 2017 crackdown that drove hundreds of thousands into neighboring Bangladesh.
In northern Rakhine state, the Arakan Army, which now controls much of the region, has subjected Rohingya to arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual violence, forced recruitment, forced labor and confiscation of homes and land, the report said.
The armed group has also continued referring to Rohingya as “Bengali,” echoing the military’s longstanding refusal to recognize their identity and portraying the community as immigrants from Bangladesh.
The scale of forced labor has become particularly alarming. Credible local sources documented 2,353 instances involving Rohingya in northern Rakhine in January alone, including 75 involving children.
Children as young as six were reportedly forced to clear jungles, construct buildings and perform other labor. In one case documented by the U.N., a child was made to clear human bones and skulls from the site of a massacre.
For many Rohingya, fleeing has also become deadly. The U.N. said 2025 was the deadliest year on record for Rohingya attempting dangerous sea journeys, with 892 people reported dead or missing. Another 280 were dead or missing by May this year.
Nearly 150,000 Rohingya had also newly registered as refugees in Bangladesh by the end of April.
Beyond Rakhine, the report links Burma’s continuing conflict to a rapidly growing and largely unregulated rare earth mining industry in Kachin and Shan states.
Mining sites increased from 215 before the military’s 2021 coup to 590 by May, while trade in the minerals — crucial for products including electric vehicles, electronics and renewable-energy technologies — peaked at $1.4 billion in 2023.
The U.N. said toxic chemicals used to extract the minerals have contaminated waterways and farmland with arsenic, cadmium and lead, while destabilizing mountainsides and contributing to deadly landslides.
Women living and working around mining sites have reported miscarriages, severe bleeding during pregnancy and other reproductive complications associated with chemical and heavy-metal exposure. Women working in mining camps were also exposed to sexual exploitation and coercion.
Workers meanwhile reported debt bondage, withheld wages and handling hazardous chemicals without protective equipment, resulting in respiratory problems, chemical burns and chronic kidney, liver and lung diseases.
U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk described the findings as a picture of “suffering, misery, and cruelty” across Burma and urged governments and companies to scrutinize rare earth supply chains while avoiding actions that sustain military rule or armed groups.
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