The number of children killed or injured in the conflict in Rakhine state has increased this year amid “indiscriminate shelling and shooting,” a rights group said on Tuesday. 

At least 90 children died in Rakhine and Chin states in the first half of the year as fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army intensified, said ND Burma, a network of rights monitors.  

The children are among over 1,000 victims of abuses recorded across the country, the group said in its bi-annual update.

Most of the perpetrators, 317, were from the Myanmar military, the group said, while 31 were from rebel armed groups, four from the police, and 126 were unknown. 

The group’s researchers often had to interview victims in secret and risked retribution for their work, meaning it was “not possible to document the true breadth and scope of all violations.”

As well as killings, ND Burma documented torture, arbitrary arrests, and forced displacement. 

“None of the cases documented over the reporting period have resulted in perpetrators facing accountability under any formal justice mechanisms,” the group said.

In January four Rohingya children died and six other civilians were injured by a landmine explosion. A week later, three children were injured by landmines.

“The first six weeks of the year saw 15 civilians killed in Rakhine state, ten of whom were children,” ND Burma said. 

“The loss of life was an early indicator of the unprecedented levels violence that was to come over the course of the year.”

Last week two seven-year-old children were killed by artillery shells in a village in Myebon, Rakhine. Locals blamed the Myanmar military for the attack.

Save the Children said the killings were a potential war crime, while Unicef, the UN’s children’s fund, said after the incident it was “deeply concerned about the alarming increase of reports of killings and injuries of children.” 

The All Arakan Students' & Youths' Congress, an ND Burma member, recorded a total of 637 civilian deaths in Rakhine state and Paletwa between January and June.

The group cited reports that clashes in Rakhine and Chin doubled in the year after an internet shutdown was imposed in several townships in June 2019. 

At the same time, “the lack of reliable Internet in rural areas made it difficult to document human rights violations.” 

Michelle Bachelet, the UN’s rights chief, told the body’s Human Rights Council on Monday that “disappearances and extrajudicial killings of civilians…. torture and deaths in custody” were ongoing in Rakhine and Chin.

“Civilian casualties have been increasing,” she said. “In some cases they appear to have been targeted or attacked indiscriminately, which may constitute further war crimes or even crimes against humanity.” 

A military spokesperson did not answer calls seeking comment on Tuesday. 

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