Myanmar Junta Attacks on Farmers May Constitute War Crimes, New Investigation Finds

 

(Bangkok, February 26, 2026)—The Myanmar military junta attacked farming communities in Karenni State and on the Karenni–Shan State border, deliberately targeting civilians, farmland, and food systems during a critical harvest period, said Fortify Rights today. A new investigation documents attacks on farmers through detention, torture, shelling, and aerial assaults. “These attacks are part of a systematic campaign to terrorize civilians and undermine food security in Myanmar,” said John Quinley, Director at Fortify Rights. “By targeting farmers and farmland at harvest, the junta is attempting not only to weaken communities and resistance movements but also to devastate livelihoods and deepen hunger.” Between September and November 2025, Fortify Rights interviewed 12 individuals, documenting attacks on farmers and agricultural land, including arbitrary detention, torture, and bombing attacks by the Myanmar military junta. Fortify Rights also interviewed officials from the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC)—the state-level governing body in Karenni State and parts of Shan State—including representatives from its humanitarian and agriculture departments. Fortify Rights documented attacks on farmers and agricultural land at critical stages of the agricultural cycle. Names of survivors and witnesses have been changed for security reasons. On October 25, 2025, a group of farmers were harvesting rice fields in Demoso Township when they were attacked by a drone flying high overhead. “Mino,” 35, was loading harvested rice into a truck with another farmer when an explosion occurred between them. He told Fortify Rights:  It was about 2 or 2:30 p.m. We didn’t hear any sound—only when the explosion happened did we realize we were attacked by a drone. ... The drone dropped a bomb, and I was about five meters away from the explosion. When the explosion happened, I saw my arm bleeding and took off my shirt to tie a tourniquet [to stop the bleeding]. The other person died on the spot—his name was Thin Noe, aged 40, and he had four kids. He was hit with shrapnel in his head and died. Mino was rushed to a hospital, where his arm was amputated below the elbow. Many farmers in the area have since fled their villages in fear of further attacks, leaving crops unharvested and food security at risk.

A farmer, who is now an above-the-knee amputee after being hit by a junta attack in Mobye on the border of Karenni-Shan State. ©Fortify Rights, November 2025

“Tu Reh,” a farmer, 36, was hit by artillery bombing on November 7, 2025, in Mobye Shan State — an area now administered by the Karenni State IEC. His leg was subsequently amputated above the knee. He told Fortify Rights: I heard a ‘dom dom’ sound. The bombs were landing near me. … After the bomb hit, I looked at my leg, and it was blown off. … I shouted for help when I was conscious. Two men—farmers working in the rice field came to help me. … They used a longyi and a shirt to tie my leg to stop the bleeding. Local people rushed Tu Reh to a nearby hospital, where he was treated. At the hospital, medics gave him seven bags of blood to keep him alive because of excessive bleeding from his leg. In another aerial attack, “Yohan,” a farmer, 61, was injured by junta artillery bombing at approximately 2 p.m. on August 12, 2025. He remains bedridden and partially paralyzed. He said: I went to our farm to tend to the rice. … The first bomb hit nearby, and I ran away. My daughter was with me. My daughter hid. I was hit when the second bomb landed. … The lower part of my body can’t move. The shrapnel hit my spine. The shrapnel hit my back, and my right hand was broken … I can’t urinate properly. … I can’t walk. I can’t sit up straight. After the man was injured, his daughter, son-in-law, and others rescued him and rushed him to a nearby hospital for treatment. The farmer and his family are now living in a displaced persons area in Pekon Township, on the Karenni-Shan State border. His daughter and wife are now his primary caregivers. His daughter told Fortify Rights, “I no longer go to the farm out of fear. … We need to harvest [the rice], but the situation is not safe.” *** Fortify Rights documented arrests and abuse targeting farmers in September 2025 around Loikaw Township, Karenni State. On September 16, junta soldiers detained at least four civilians, including two male farmers and two women, while they were harvesting rice fields and took them into the village for interrogation.   Junta soldiers detained “Min,” a 37-year-old who was detained during the first arrest wave. She told Fortify Rights, “As soon as we arrived, they blindfolded us, tied us up with three loops of rope, and started beating us immediately.”   During detention, the soldiers repeatedly accused the farmers of having ties to Karenni resistance forces and tortured them. Min told Fortify Rights: They used electric prods on us. They used pliers to squeeze and twist our ears, saying it was because we weren't "answering properly." They put plastic bags over our heads to suffocate us. We honestly thought we were going to die. When we were at death's door, they’d let us go for a second, then start all over again. They even fired two shots right next to us. “Dawit,” another farmer, 47, told Fortify Rights that junta soldiers pulled out his toenail during the interrogation and repeatedly threatened to kill him: There were about six or seven soldiers involved in the actual arrest, but … three specific soldiers were the ones torturing us. … During the day, they didn’t say much, but once 8 p.m. was about to come, they would say, ‘At 8 tonight, we’re going to kill you and throw you in the well.’ Two days later, on September 18, junta soldiers in plainclothes detained a second group of civilians—two men and three women, who returned to the farms in Loikaw Township to harvest rice because they had no food to eat.   “Khu Hser,” a 41-year-old farmer, described being detained at gunpoint: “The soldiers were in civilian clothes. … I only noticed them when they aimed their guns at me. … They tied me up with a rope and dragged me into the village. … They beat me up even before putting me in shackles.”   Similar to the previous two detainees, the soldiers accused the 41-year-old farmer of “doing PDF [Peoples Defense Forces] work.”   “Sarah,” a 42-year-old woman detained in the same arrest, told Fortify Rights: They arrested us at 11 a.m. and released us around 6:30 p.m. … Two or three of the soldiers accompanied us part of the way but didn’t take us back to where we were arrested. … They said if we didn’t leave the drop-off point by 7 a.m. [the next morning], they would shoot. All five of us [detained on September 18] were released. Junta soldiers released all those detained between September 18 and 19, except for the two women arrested on September 16, who remain missing to date and whose whereabouts are unknown, raising fears they were forcibly disappeared in junta custody. Survivors said soldiers warned them not to return to harvest in the area. *** According to Tint Swe, the Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation of the Karenni State IEC, junta forces have carried out multiple drone and mortar attacks across townships in Karenni and Shan states and have contaminated numerous farm fields by laying landmines. He confirmed that fear of further junta attacks has forced farmers to leave fields unharvested.   According to Maw Ree Ree, the Deputy Commissioner for the Humanitarian Affairs and Rehabilitation Department of the IEC, fighting has displaced at least one third of the Karenni population—more than 150,000 people—forcing them to live in approximately 450 to 500 internally displaced persons camps across Karenni State. She explained to Fortify Rights that intense fighting around Loikaw and Mobye, which began in mid-2025, has prevented many farmers from harvesting crops they planted earlier. Across Karenni State, our main agricultural area is around Mobye, which we call the rice pot of Karenni. The farmers had already planted their crops, and the military offensive began around Loikaw. So now the fighting is happening around Mobye, and the farmers cannot return to harvest their rice under those conditions. If the situation remains as it is now, we really need to worry about [food security] in the coming year. *** Fortify Rights believes these attacks likely amount to war crimes. International humanitarian law, commonly referred to as the laws of war, prohibits deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects. Agricultural land and food sources are protected civilian objects and may only be targeted if they constitute a legitimate military objective and if attacks comply with the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution. All parties to a non-international armed conflict, including the Myanmar military junta, are required to distinguish between civilian and military targets and to avoid attacks expected to cause disproportionate harm to civilians.   Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions sets out rules for the protection of objects essential to the survival of civilians, stating: It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive. Even during armed conflict, core international human rights obligations continue to apply alongside international humanitarian law. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights recognizes the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing, and housing, as well as the continuous improvement of living conditions. The deliberate destruction of agricultural land or food systems that undermine access to sustenance may therefore violate both humanitarian and human rights law.   The detention and torture of farmers documented by Fortify Rights may also constitute serious violations of international human rights law. Torture is absolutely prohibited under international law, and when carried out as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians, such acts may amount to crimes against humanity.   All parties to the conflict in Myanmar, foremost the illegal military junta, should immediately end targeted attacks on civilians and cease attacks on farmers harvesting their crops, particularly given the country’s precarious food security situation, said Fortify Rights. The international community should support investigations into these attacks as war crimes and ensure accountability for the junta’s relentless attacks against civilians, including farmers. “Targeting farmers and the food systems civilians depend on is not only unlawful, but it also is devastating entire communities and deepening an already dire humanitarian crisis,” said John Quinley. “The international community must act with urgency to ensure these crimes are investigated and those responsible are held to account.”