Iran war risks deepening Myanmar crisis

Tom Andrews

Myanmar’s humanitarian emergency could worsen dramatically as global attention shifts to the escalating conflict in the Middle East, a senior UN expert has warned.

Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said the junta’s relentless attacks on civilians and obstruction of aid were already creating a dire situation. Now, with resources and focus diverted to Iran and the wider region, he fears Myanmar’s plight will be pushed even further out of view.

“Things are bad. They could get much worse,” Andrews told AFP, stressing that humanitarian aid to Myanmar had already fallen sharply before the latest conflict erupted. Cuts in funding, he said, coincided with rising needs across the country. “Support for the courageous people of Myanmar… it’s all going south. It’s just a tragedy.”

Andrews, a former US congressman whose mandate ends next month, warned that the war in the Middle East was not only draining resources but also obscuring Myanmar’s crisis. He described a world increasingly dominated by transactional politics, where “might makes right”, sending dangerous signals to Myanmar’s “brutal” military rulers.

The situation inside Myanmar is worsening. In 2021, the first year after the coup, the military carried out nine aerial attacks on civilian targets. Last year, Andrews said, that figure had soared to 1,140. “This is not just people getting caught in the crossfire of a civil war. These people are being targeted,” he emphasised.

International pressure has had some effect, reducing the flow of weapons to the junta and forcing it to stage “sham elections” in a bid to appear legitimate. But Andrews urged governments to maintain pressure and reject any civilian administration emerging from the vote. “An illegitimate government follows an illegitimate election. This will be a military junta in civilian clothing,” he said.

With Myanmar’s crisis now at risk of being eclipsed by events in Iran and the wider Middle East, Andrews’ warning is stark: without sustained global attention, the suffering of millions could intensify, and the junta may feel emboldened to escalate its campaign of violence.

-2026-03-13