Humanitarian engagement with Myanmar in the wake of the 2021 coup

Abstract

The article investigates humanitarian engagement with Myanmar in the wake of the 2021 coup. It opens by examining humanitarian action in Myanmar before 2010, during the 2010s, and after 2021. Drawing on key stakeholder interviews conducted in 2023, it then presents internal and external perspectives on humanitarianism in Myanmar in the 2020s. While the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the outbreak of war in Gaza in 2023 generated significant attention from donor nations, humanitarian needs in Myanmar, encompassing 18.6 million citizens, including 3.4 million internally displaced persons, go largely unmet. The argument from international society is that regional states should work towards a ‘Myanmar-led’ solution. Challenges faced by local and international actors, however, raise questions about the possibility of a solution that bridges the divide between these two humanitarian communities and is also acceptable to all groups in Myanmar. The article concludes by proposing that initiatives at the regional and global levels coalesce, overcome actor territoriality and generate political will by putting affected communities at the centre of humanitarian engagement to overcome current limitations and barriers to action.