Is Myanmar the most violent country in the world?

By Francesca Merlo

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

The independent, non-profit international organisation that has defined Myanmar as the most violent country in the world conducts its studies by collecting, classifying, and analysing conflict data globally. In this case, the UN data used is harrowing. It shows that since the civil conflict erupted 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 around 2.3 million people have been displaced.

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

A history of conflict in Myanmar

Myanmar has faced ongoing turmoil since gaining independence from British rule in 1948. The country has experienced some of the world's longest-running armed conflicts, 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-linked party in the 2020 elections, the military seized full control of the country again, imprisoning Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Under her rule, in 2017, the military in Rakhine state, torched Rohingya villages, killing people and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, actions described by the UN as ethnic cleansing.

In 2019, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was tried at the Hague's International Court of Justice to face charges of genocide brought against Myanmar. She justified the work of the military, calling the Rohingyas "terrorist" and claiming the soldiers were exercising the "rule of law".

Pope Francis has frequently underscored the dire situation in Myanmar, emphasising the need for peace in his public addresses. "Let's not forget Myanmar and many other countries at war," he most recently urged at his General Audience on 12 June. 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 concerning its treatment of Rohingya Muslims.

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

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

Civil war 2021-today

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

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

The economic toll of the conflict

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

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

To make matters worse, in February, the junta announced a mandatory conscription plan, intensifying migration to rural areas and abroad and thus worsening labour shortages in some sectors of the economy. Not even children are being spared from joining the fighting.

The humanitarian reality

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

The most violent place in the world

In light of the endless unrest, the ethnic violence, political instability and economic troubles that Myanmar has been subjected to over the last decades, it seems inevitable that it be listed as the most violent place on earth. But as children continue to be conscripted to fight, minorities continue to be persecuted and Rohingya refugees continue to, statelessly, take "shelter" in Bangladesh’s Cox Bazar, one cannot help but ask, where is the international community? Why has Myanmar been forgotten by the mainstream western media, who now shine their spotlights on other conflicts? Pope Francis continuously asks us to remember all the people suffering in the world, because the start of one humanitarian catastrophe does not mean the end of another.