News Monitor #2
AUGUST 2025

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NEWS ROUNDUP

• Junta’s repression escalates: A new cybersecurity law further curbed media freedom by penalizing social media activity and VPN use as the junta tightened control ahead of controversial elections. A new report documented significant evidence of systematic torture of detainees.

• New election laws and martial law: Myanmar’s junta imposed a new election law widely seen as a tool to silence dissent ahead of the planned December 2025 elections. The junta declared martial law in anti-junta strongholds, and aimed to give the impression of territorial control in contested areas.

• Rohingya crisis drags on: In Bangladesh, the humanitarian response to support 1.3 million Rohingya refugees remained only 60% funded for 2025. On August 25, known as Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, interim leader Muhammad Yunus spoke at a Cox’s Bazar conference, advocating for an end to ethnic cleansing in Myanmar and the repatriation of refugees. The conference precedes the High-Level Conference on the Situation of Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar in New York on September 30.

• PAEMA Statement: In observance of Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, PAEMA issued a statement, calling for immediate, sustainable, and long-term action for a comprehensive approach to ending the genocide and addressing the decades of impunity.

HUMAN RIGHTS

• The junta’s new cybersecurity law was enacted on July 30 and remains effective through August 2025. It imposes penalties for actions such as liking or sharing “inappropriate content” and using VPNs without prior approval from authorities. In Mandalay, military and traffic police began random phone checks to search the social media accounts of motorists, and mass surveillance ramped up across the city.

• The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) reported that as of August 29, over 22,000 people, including more than 6,100 women, were detained. According to AAPP data, 146 civilians were killed due to the conflict in August.

• The Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar (IIMM) published its annual report, which focuses on the period from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. IIMM investigators documented significant evidence of systemic torture in detention facilities, where detainees suffered severe beatings, electric shocks, strangulation, gang rape, and other sexual violence.

ARMED CONFLICT

• Junta airstrikes claimed lives in Sagaing’s Wetlet, Depayin, and Budalin townships, claiming numerous lives and devastating homes and religious sites.

• Rakhine: The Arakan Army (AA) pressed its advances toward Sittwe, the state capital, and heavy clashes persisted in the port area of Kyaukphyu. Airstrikes in Mrauk-U killed children and other civilians. The AA was accused of detaining Rohingya as forced laborers, which it refuted.

• Mon: Three monks were killed in airstrikes on a monastery in Kyaiktho Township, and civilian men were forced into conscription.

• Kachin: The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) captured a junta base in Kachin State’s Bhamo on August 25.

• Shan: The historic Gokteik bridge was destroyed in fighting on August 24, with the junta and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) blaming each other for the destruction. Clashes and airstrikes erupted in other parts of the state, including the town of Kyaukme, as the junta attempted to gain back territory from the TNLA.

• Mandalay Region: Airstrikes in Mogok, a gem-mining town held by the TNLA, killed 21.

• Kayah: On August 20, the junta claimed to have recaptured Demoso town from joint Karenni forces, who had held it for nearly two years, after 16 days of fighting.

HUMANITARIAN CONDITIONS

• According to OCHA, Myanmar’s 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan was only 12% funded, and Myanmar continues to rank among the world’s most underfunded humanitarian operations. 

• New data shared by ECHO indicates that Rakhine State’s acute food crisis is still worsening, particularly in northern areas, where 80% of households have resorted to crisis-level coping strategies and acute malnutrition rates are high among babies and children. The World Food Programme (WFP) warned of starvation. The road blockade imposed on Sittwe by the junta drove suicides and starvation.

DISPLACEMENT

• The Thai cabinet approved work rights for long-staying Myanmar refugees in nine border camps, home to over 107,000 people fleeing military abuses since the 1980s, a move lauded for enabling greater self-reliance and dignity. Previously, Thailand barred these refugees from working, moving freely, or accessing public services, forcing reliance on foreign aid.

• WFP’s Flood Impact Analysis mapped heavy rains, flooding and landslides across the country, which have displaced families and destroyed homes, roads and other infrastructure. 

• According to the latest UN figures, approximately 3.6 million people are internally displaced within Myanmar due to conflict.

U.S AND INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY

• Seeking to improve its image and U.S. relations, the junta hired another US lobby firm, the Washington-based McKeon Group to strengthen ties with the U.S. Congress and State Department, following a similar deal with DCI Group on July 31. 

• Congressman Meeks, the Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and author of the Burma GAP Act released a statement on the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, urged for passage of his bill which would provide a comprehensive policy to address the crisis facing Rohingya and authorizes $9 million per year to support both Rohingya refugees and those internally displaced in Myanmar.

• In a sign of strengthening diplomatic ties between China and the junta, President Xi Jinping held a meeting on August 30 with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

ROHINGYA CRISIS AND REGIONAL DYNAMICS

• The Joint Response Plan remained only 60% funded, with food assistance secured only until December and the availability of cooking gas uncertain after September. Education and health services have already been reduced in the wake of the closure of USAID and cuts by other donor governments.

• An estimated 150,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since mid-2024 amid heavy fighting and alleged human rights abuses against the Rohingya by the AA, including extrajudicial executions, torture, forced labor and large-scale arson. However, an Irrawaddy article claimed that positive changes had taken place regarding the AA’s management of Rohingya rights.

• On August 25, Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, spoke at an international conference in Cox’s Bazar about the moral duty to stop the ethnic cleansing of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority. Yunus called for their “early, voluntary, and sustainable” return to Myanmar.

DOMESTIC POLITICS

• The junta’s planned December 2025 elections were denounced as a “sham” by the National Unity Government (NUG), Myanmar’s government-in-exile.

• The junta’s new “Law on the Prevention of Disruption and Interference in Multi-Party Democratic Elections” imposes harsh penalties—including the death penalty—for any acts of “sabotage or disruption” of the electoral process, further eroding civic space.

• The junta ended the four-year state of emergency on July 31, dissolving the State Administration Council (SAC) in power since the February 2021 military coup. On August 1, the junta appointed the State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC) as a new interim government, with Min Aung Hlaing remaining in power. The move was described by International IDEA as “paving the way for the junta’s illegitimate election plan.”

• Also on August 1, the junta declared a new state of emergency and imposed martial law on 63 townships in territories largely controlled by anti-junta forces.

• Under Chinese pressure, the United Wa State Party (UWSP), the political arm of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), announced that it would stop its historical military and financial support to the TNLA, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP).

• The National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) - an advisory body established in 2021 as an inclusive political dialogue forum - released a statement outlining ten political positions and eight guiding principles, advocating for “bottom-up federalism.”

BUSINESS, TRADE & NATURAL RESOURCES

• The sudden closure of Thai-Myanmar border crossings disrupted trade along eight points, spanning from Chiang Rai to Ranong, disrupting over 80% of Thai-Myanmar trade.

• India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Min Aung Hlaing spoke at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Tianjin on August 31, with Modi showing interest in cooperation in trade, connectivity, energy, rare earth mining, and security.

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