Myanmar’s Disabled Face Brutal Repression Amid Junta Violence, UN Report Warns

The findings paint a devastating picture of targeted brutality, entrenched discrimination, and the near-total collapse of support systems essential for survival.

A powerful new report by Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, exposes the extreme and often fatal violence inflicted on persons with disabilities since the 2021 military coup. According to the report, individuals with disabilities have been executed, tortured, sexually assaulted, and burned alive as junta forces intensify their systematic campaign of terror across the country. The findings paint a devastating picture of targeted brutality, entrenched discrimination, and the near-total collapse of support systems essential for survival.

The report, The Hidden Crisis: Disability Rights in Post-Coup Myanmar, highlights how already-marginalized groups have been pushed to the brink, trapped in environments made even more hostile by conflict, displacement, and deep-rooted social stigma. Andrews notes that dozens of people with disabilities have perished in their own homes, unable to flee during widespread arson attacks carried out by the military. The mobility challenges many face leave them disproportionately exposed to such assaults, contributing to a mounting death toll that remains severely underreported.

Survivors who manage to escape face a second ordeal. Displacement severs them from caregivers, assistive devices, medical treatment, and community networks that previously sustained them. Makeshift shelters, forest hideouts, and conflict zones are often inaccessible, leaving many to navigate life-threatening conditions with little or no support. Meanwhile, humanitarian assistance rarely reaches them. Structural barriers, security restrictions, and the junta’s deliberate obstruction of aid create insurmountable challenges for those already fighting for daily survival.

The report underscores that the suffering of persons with disabilities is not rooted primarily in their physical or cognitive impairments. Instead, longstanding cultural and religious beliefs, including the perception that disabilities stem from karmic punishment for misdeeds in past lives, continue to drive discrimination and shame. These beliefs have intensified since the coup, compounding trauma as many internalize stigma and retreat from public spaces in fear and humiliation.

Before the coup, Myanmar had made modest progress toward developing legal protections and policies for persons with disabilities under the 2015 Disability Rights Law and by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Civil society groups, many founded and led by people with disabilities, played a pivotal role in pushing for reforms. However, these gains were rapidly reversed when the military seized power. Advocacy organizations were shuttered, activists were arrested or forced into exile, and policy reforms stalled indefinitely.

Despite this repression, an extraordinary network of disability rights groups continues to operate inside and outside Myanmar. These organizations provide emergency assistance, distribute food and medical supplies, document abuses, and advocate for international support, often at enormous personal risk. Their resilience, Andrews notes, is a testament to the determination of Myanmar’s disability community to defend their rights even under the gravest threats.

The Special Rapporteur warns that the crisis facing persons with disabilities is being overlooked globally, overshadowed by other conflicts and emergencies. This invisibility, he argues, has allowed the junta to commit atrocities with near impunity. He calls on the international community to take decisive action: cut off the military’s access to weapons and funding, ensure targeted sanctions against military leaders and state-owned enterprises, and partner directly with disability-led organizations that have proven they can deliver life-saving support where international agencies often cannot.

Andrews further urges governments and humanitarian agencies to adopt disability-inclusive policies, prioritizing accessible aid distribution, safe evacuations, and the provision of assistive devices. Without such measures, he warns, thousands more may be left to die in silence as the military’s brutality escalates.

The report concludes with a stark reminder: Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis cannot be fully understood without acknowledging the profound and compounded suffering of persons with disabilities. Their struggle is not merely a by-product of conflict but a deeply entrenched human rights emergency demanding urgent global attention and action.