Is Myanmar the most violent country in the world?

By Francesca Merlo

With all the horrors happening around the globe today, it's hard to imagine a more violent country in the world. However, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) Project, there is one country where data shows higher horrors than other conflict-ridden areas. Myanmar. In the Southeast Asian country once known as Burma, decades of unrest, a genocide and now a civil war have left survivors desperate.

The independent, non-profit international organization that has designated Myanmar as the most violent country in the world conducts its research by collecting, classifying and analyzing conflict data globally. In this case, the data used by the UN is shocking. It shows that since the outbreak of civil conflict in February 2021 – following the military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government – at least 50,000 people have died, including 8,000 civilians, and some 2.3 million people have been displaced.

These statistics should also be viewed in light of the fact that currently, the Myanmar government is forcefully recruiting Rohingyas, including children, to fight for it in the ongoing civil war.

A history of conflict in Myanmar

Myanmar has faced ongoing unrest since gaining independence from British rule in 1948. The country has experienced some of the longest armed conflicts in the world, particularly in its border regions where ethnic militias seek autonomy from military repression.

A brief period of political reform under a civilian government led by Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi failed to improve the situation for many ethnic minorities. After her party's decisive victory over the military-aligned party in the 2020 elections, the military regained full control of the country, imprisoning Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Under her rule, in 2017, the army in Rakhine state burned Rohingya villages, killing people and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes, actions described by the UN as ethnic cleansing.

In 2019, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi went on trial at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to face genocide charges brought against Myanmar. She justified the army's actions, calling the Rohingyas “terrorists” and claiming the soldiers were exercising the “rule of law”.

Pope Francis has often highlighted the dire situation in Myanmar, stressing the need for peace in his public speeches. “Let us not forget Myanmar and many other countries at war,” he urged recently at his June 12 General Audience. Over the years his appeals, in particular, went to the Rohingya.

Who are the Rohingya?

Myanmar is currently undergoing a genocide trial at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over its treatment of Rohingya Muslims.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has labeled the Rohingya as “one of, if not the, most discriminated against people in the world”. The Rohingya are among the many ethnic minorities in Myanmar.

Rohingya in Myanmar continue to be denied citizenship and face various discriminatory restrictions, such as travel bans outside their communities.

Civil war 2021-today

As of February 2021, despite significant victories by the resistance forces in the border areas, which are strategic for trade, central Myanmar and its major cities remain under the military regime's stronghold.

An analysis by the Myanmar Peace Monitor has found that while the resistance has achieved notable strategic successes, it lacks the coordinated alliance under the National Unity Government (NUG) that many had hoped for. The opposition is divided between the People's Defense Forces (PDF) and various ethnic armed organizations, united only by their common goal of overthrowing the junta. There is no unified command structure or solid political agreement. In recent months, resistance forces have captured 55 cities. Central Myanmar remains under junta control.

The economic toll of conflict

The civil conflict has taken a heavy toll on the economy, exacerbating poverty, and the situation has worsened significantly in the past year, with the junta taking control of key border crossings and land trade routes to China, Bangladesh and India.

Any progress that had previously been made in reducing poverty has been wiped out by displacement, job and income losses. In fact, a World Bank report has highlighted “very poor economic prospects, with little relief for Myanmar households in the short to medium term”.

To make matters worse, in February the junta announced a mandatory recruitment plan, intensifying migration to rural areas and abroad and thus exacerbating labor shortages in some sectors of the economy. Even children are not being spared to join the fighting.

Humanitarian reality

The military's mismanagement of the economy has led to a crisis for much of the population, doubling the poverty rate since March 2020. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, almost half the population now lives in poverty , with rural communities at risk of starvation as the military imposes further restrictions on access to areas wracked by violence and conflict. To make matters worse, major supply routes and waterways across the country have been blocked, preventing aid workers from reaching 17.6 million people in need.

The most violent country in the world

In light of the endless unrest, ethnic violence, political instability and economic woes that Myanmar has endured over the past few decades, it seems inevitable that it will rank as the most violent country on earth. But as children continue to be recruited to fight, minorities continue to be persecuted, and Rohingya refugees continue, stateless, to “take refuge” in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, one cannot help but ask, where is the international community? Why has Myanmar been forgotten by the mainstream Western media, which now puts the spotlight on other conflicts? Pope Francis constantly asks us to remember all the people suffering in the world, because the beginning of one humanitarian disaster does not mean the end of another.