The World’s Shameful Silence as Burma’s Military Targets Children, Schools, and Earthquake Survivors
While global powers posture with condemnation, Burma’s ruling military junta is waging a brutal, unchecked war on its own people—slaughtering children, bombing weddings, and turning natural disaster zones into battlegrounds. In just the last two months, the junta bombed a school, killing 22 children and two teachers; launched a deadly airstrike on a peaceful wedding; and targeted civilians already displaced by the catastrophic March 28 earthquake.
On May 12, the Myanmar junta’s air force turned a school in Oe Htein Kwin village, Sagaing Region, into a graveyard. The bombing killed 24 civilians, including 22 children, and injured over 100 more. Witnesses described classrooms drenched in blood and children’s bodies torn apart by explosives. It was one of the worst single attacks on children in recent history—yet it barely registered on the global stage.
Just days later, an airstrike in Kyaukkyi Township struck a wedding reception, killing 10 civilians, including the bride, and wounding over 20 more. There had been no recent fighting in the area, and no military targets were present. Two children were confirmed dead. The strike occurred in Karen National Union (KNU) territory, signaling a clear attempt to crush resistance through terror, not combat.
A Pattern of Terror, Not a War
These atrocities are not isolated incidents. They are part of a deliberate and escalating strategy by the junta since its 2021 coup. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), over 6,700 civilians have been killed, and 29,000 others—including more than 600 children—arrested. Civilian casualties from junta-led attacks skyrocketed by 857% between 2021 and 2024.
The junta is responsible for 95% of civilian deaths in 2025, with more than 100 children already killed or wounded this year alone. Attacks on schools are now routine—151 student and teacher casualties were recorded from school bombings in 2024. Even displaced earthquake survivors in makeshift shelters are being bombed.
Sagaing remains the epicenter of this horror, with 247 child casualties since the coup, mainly from airstrikes and shelling.
Resistance Grows, But Aid Shrinks
The resistance now includes not just ethnic armed groups but also city dwellers, professionals, and students. Doctors have left clinics to treat the wounded in jungle hideouts. Engineers have become weapons makers. Burmese across the globe are funneling what little they have into medicine, drone jammers, and communications gear—only to see such lifesaving supplies seized at borders or blocked by foreign governments.
Meanwhile, China and Russia continue to arm the junta with jets, bombs, and poison gas, despite international sanctions. These weapons are used not against enemy combatants, but against villages, schools, and refugee camps.
In Shan State, 26 airstrikes in May killed and maimed civilians. In Karen State, schools and clinics have been hit. In Daw Hpa Hkoh, a school principal was wounded in a targeted strike. These regions have seen no significant combat activity, only a military seeking to terrorize unarmed civilians.
Global Institutions Have Failed Burma
The UN, ASEAN, and the broader international community have proven completely ineffective. Despite public statements condemning the junta, no serious action has followed. Humanitarian corridors remain blocked. Jet fuel continues flowing. And foreign aid—when it’s allowed at all—goes only to junta-controlled zones, leaving pro-democracy regions to starve.
After the March 28 earthquake, the junta used the disaster to tighten its grip, blocking foreign workers and limiting relief access. Instead of standing firm, world leaders let the opportunity slip.
A War on Civilians, Not Rebels
The junta claims it is fighting “terrorism,” but its actions speak otherwise. Children, teachers, brides, and families are the real targets. The airstrikes are not mistakes—they are calculated acts of state terror designed to crush hope, resistance, and the future of Burma.
This is not a civil war. It is a war on the Burmese people, and the world is complicit in its silence.
Every new school bombing, every child torn apart by an airstrike, is another indictment of a global order that values statements over action, and diplomacy over decency. The time for condemnation has passed. Only action can stop the slaughter.