Commentary: Civilians in Mon State Living Between Two Fires as Junta Pushes Forward Sham Election

August 23, 2025

The people of Mon State are enduring unbearable suffering as the military junta escalates its campaign of fear and violence. While intensifying airstrikes, artillery shelling, and mass arrests, the regime is also pressing ahead with a sham election intended to manufacture legitimacy. For ordinary families, these parallel crises mean living each day in fear, displacement, and uncertainty.

The Humanitarian Crisis on the Ground

In Bilin, Kyaikto, and Ye townships, clashes between junta troops and resistance forces have driven thousands from their homes. Displaced families are struggling without food, shelter, or medicine, with many forced to survive on nothing more than rice porridge. “Children and the elderly are getting sick. We are appealing for aid as quickly as possible,” one villager in Ye Township told HURFOM fieldworkers.

Landmines contaminate fields, making even farming dangerous, while indiscriminate drone strikes and artillery fire continue to devastate villages. Monks and monasteries, once sanctuaries, now shelter frightened civilians caught in this relentless war.

Youth Targeted for Conscription

The regime’s desperation for manpower has turned young men into primary targets. Across Mon State and Tanintharyi Region, youths are being seized at checkpoints, in workplaces, or even during funerals, and forced into military training. Those unable to pay bribes are sent directly to the frontlines—many used as human shields in battle.

A villager from Taung Zune shared: “They arrest men in the evenings when they return from work. Sometimes, they even beat them.” Families often only learn of their sons’ fate after they are already conscripted.

Elections Amid Violence

Against this backdrop of violence, the junta is organizing elections. Local administrators have been ordered to prepare household lists and pressure families to comply. At the same time, intimidation and arrests silence dissent. One elder in Thaton Township said: “They talk about elections while they are shelling our homes. Who can think about voting when our children are hiding in the forests?”

This is not democracy. It is another tactic by the junta to cling to power, while continuing to devastate lives.

Trapped Between Borders

For civilians fleeing the violence, the Thai border—which once provided safety—is increasingly closed. Families attempting to cross into Kanchanaburi Province are often pushed back. At the same time, cross-border aid has been restricted, leaving displaced communities with almost no support. Local CSOs report that humanitarian supplies smuggled across are frequently intercepted by junta forces.

Meanwhile, while scam operations and online crime are tolerated along the border, genuine refugees are denied safety. These double standards deepen the suffering of those in desperate need.

Abandoned by the International Community

The suspension and reduction of U.S. aid and other cross-border programs have dealt another devastating blow. Local networks—CSOs, monasteries, youth and women’s groups—are overstretched and cannot meet the enormous needs alone.

As one HURFOM field coordinator put it: “Our people are living between two fires—fleeing from the junta’s airstrikes on one side, and blocked from safety on the Thai side. Without urgent international aid, many will not survive.”

A Call to Action

The junta’s violence is escalating even as it prepares for a fraudulent election. Civilians, particularly youth, are being sacrificed—sent to the killing fields as human shields, detained arbitrarily, or displaced from their homes. The crisis in Mon State is worsening under shrinking international support and closed borders.

HURFOM strongly urges the international community to take immediate and decisive action. The junta’s so-called election must be rejected outright, as it is nothing more than a cynical attempt to claim legitimacy while continuing to terrorize civilians. At the same time, cross-border humanitarian aid must be urgently scaled up to reach those trapped in conflict zones who have been abandoned by official aid mechanisms. Thai authorities, too, have a critical role to play by ensuring that refugees fleeing atrocities are granted protection rather than being pushed back into danger. Finally, the junta cannot be allowed to commit these crimes with impunity: accountability for its systematic war crimes is essential if the people of Burma are ever to see justice and a future free from fear.

Without urgent and meaningful action, the people of Mon State will remain trapped between two fires, paying the ultimate price for a conflict they never chose.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under Commentary