The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines continues to sound the alarm on the ongoing human rights and humanitarian situations in Myanmar. The 7.7 magnitude devastating earthquake[1] on 28 March 2025 claimed over 3,600 lives, injured a further 4,800 people and left 184 still missing according to latest UN data.[2] This calamity has further exacerbated the human rights and humanitarian crisis across the country, that is in the midst of a full-blown civil war emanating from the 2021 military coup. Credible reports show that the military’s indiscriminate aerial bombardments have persisted despite the recent disaster[3], resulting in further deaths and injuries of civilians, damage to civilian infrastructure including homes and health facilities. Relief efforts are impeded by this ongoing war that already breaches international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, as a national human rights institution (NHRI), is mandated under the 1987 Philippine Constitution to protect and promote the human rights of all in the country and Filipinos abroad. Given the globalized nature of human rights abuses, NHRIs such as the Commission demonstrate our advocacy and innovative application of our mandates to monitor and highlight human rights situations and violations in the context of extraterritorial and cross-border obligations of State and non-State actors.[4] The Commission as an individual NHRI and together with NHRI networks such as the South East Asia National Human Rights Institutions Forum (SEANF) issued statements on the humanitarian and human rights situation in Myanmar as early as 2015, during the Rohingya refugee crisis, when hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people were forcibly displaced from Rakhine State, due to government and sectarian armed conflict and violence. In 2021, members of the SEANF organized private briefings with the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, and SEANF members subsequently issued joint and individual statements raising concern on the blatant killings, violent dispersals, and other gross human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military government against its people stemming from the 1 February 2021 coup.[5]
On 21 February 2025, the Commission in collaboration with the Burma Solidarity Philippines and NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition organized a forum on the Myanmar situation to: enhance participants’ understanding of the human rights and humanitarian law violations in Myanmar; identify recent developments and their implications in the region; propose measures for regional and cross-regional cooperation to facilitate humanitarian aid; and call for accountability from State and non-State actors responsible for human rights atrocities in Myanmar.
The Commission reiterates that the obligation to protect and to promote human rights is not only imposed upon the government or national human rights institutions, but rather it is a collective responsibility of all members of the human family. Hence, we must all act with urgency if we want to put an end to the abysmal human rights and humanitarian situation in Myanmar that is also marked by acute food insecurity, disease outbreak, continuous displacement of millions of people, and the curtailment of fundamental human rights and freedoms.
Thus, we urge for the adoption of concrete, durable and cross-regional measures by the ASEAN and other international stakeholders to enforce accountability against the junta. The survival of the people of Myanmar, especially of women, children, persons with disabilities, older persons, the Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities, as well as other vulnerable groups, would depend greatly on the unimpeded humanitarian assistance and on the complete cessation of violence all throughout the country. This of course is solely feasible when there is de-escalation of violence on the part of the junta and other armed groups.
Moreover, the global implications of this crisis have weakened transnational security and resulted in regional instability. In fact, Myanmar has now cemented its status as the hotbed of transnational crimes and it has also become a playground for warlords, arms dealers, human traffickers, poachers, drug syndicates and generals wanted by international courts.[6]
The Commission is strongly manifesting its support for calls to have a constructive and inclusive dialogue aiming to find non-violent and realistic resolutions to the war in Myanmar. This includes the institution of an arms embargo; elevation of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Tatmadaw before the International Criminal Court; and the imposition of targeted sanctions on military-owned companies. The Commission also welcomes the decision of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) in removing the accreditation of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) for its failure to faithfully comply its mandate as a national human rights institution in protecting and promoting the rights of all, especially of the marginalized, disadvantaged and vulnerable, against the atrocities perpetrated by the authoritarian military regime and non-State actors.
We as national human rights institutions are taking ourselves to task, empowered by the Paris Principles and our respective enabling constitutions and laws. As national human rights institutions, we cannot be complacent and silent to human rights abuses, because to do so would be in contravention against the Paris Principles that mandate all NHRIs to be independent from the influence of State intervention. NHRIs have the obligation of ensuring that human rights and dignity of all are promoted and protected and which should be done in accordance with the international human rights standards set forth under the core international human rights and labor rights treaties. NHRI mandates can transcend boundaries and territories, and working together, like SEANF members, can have greater reach and impact beyond our national borders. As peers in the network of national human rights institutions, we can call each other out and remind ourselves of our mandates, similar to the dialogues the SEANF had with the MNHRC. Being A-status NHRIs is not a privilege but an obligation for us to maintain our adherence to the Paris Principles and international human rights standards and norms.
[1] “Devastating Earthquake Leaves Families in Myanmar Reeling In”. (Available at https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/powerful-earthquake-rocks-myanmar.
[2] Myanmar: UN seeks additional $240 million to bolster earthquake relief, Vibhu Mishra (UN News), 10 April 2025, available at https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/04/1162111 (last accessed: April 16, 2025)
[3] “Myanmar Junta continues air strike after devastating earthquakes”, Rebecca Henschke, March 25, 2025. (Available at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7x7r8m3xlo)
[4] National action on international issues: The roles of NHRIs in relation to extra-territorial human rights cases and situations, Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF), 5 March 2025, available at https://www.asiapacificforum.net/resources/national-action-on-international-issues-the-roles-of-nhris-in-relation-to-extra-territorial-human-rights-cases-and-situations (last accessed: April 16, 2025).
[5] Statement of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines on the Human Rights situation in Myanmar and the role of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, 1 April 2021, available at,
https://chr.gov.ph/statement-of-the-commission-on-human-rights-of-the-philippines-on-the-human-rights-situation-in-myanmar-and-the-role-of-the-myanmar-national-human-rights-commission/ (last accessed: 28 January 2025). Recent meetings in July and August 2024 and in January 2025 were held among the CHR, SEANF members, civil society and trade union groups.
[6] “Drugs, Scams and Sins: Myanmar’s War Has Made it the Global Crime Capital,” Hanah Beech, January 2, 2025. (Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/31/world/asia/myanmar-drugs-crime.html)