NUG meets with ASEAN Special Envoy to discuss Myanmar
The National Unity Government (NUG) spoke to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Special Envoy on Burma, Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro, on an undisclosed date this week, BBC Burmese reported. This follows Lazaro’s meeting with representatives from Burma’s ethnic armed groups and the regime’s National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee (NSPNC) in Thailand’s Chonburi District on July 13.
“The central challenge facing ASEAN today is not the absence of diplomatic engagement,” the NUG stated in a press release on July 12. “It is the military junta’s continued refusal to implement the commitments it accepted under the Five-Point Consensus.” Regime leader Min Aung Hlaing agreed to the framework after the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, but he didn’t implement its objectives upon his return to Burma in April 2021.
The NUG called on ASEAN to ensure that any future engagement includes all relevant stakeholders. This comes after regime Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe attended an “informal” meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Bangkok on July 11. Min Aung Hlaing is expected to make his first official visit to Thailand in early August, which would be his second to an ASEAN member state since assuming the presidency on April 10.
Calls for action in Bangladesh after 17 Rohingya killed by landslides
Human Rights Watch (HRW) demanded immediate action following deadly landslides in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district that claimed at least 17 Rohingya lives and forced more than 3,000 from their homes in July. Bangladesh hosts 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in camps with families packed into bamboo and tarpaulin structures on steep, deforested slopes that become death traps during monsoon season, HRW stated.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repeatedly cautioned about fatalities and injuries in the overcrowded settlements from cyclones, flooding, and earth movements. HRW called on Bangladesh authorities, the U.N., and international donors to address severe overcrowding and restore funding for embankments, drainage systems, access roads, and emergency relocation sites in the sprawling camps.
“Every monsoon is becoming increasingly deadly for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, with denuded hills sliding away under makeshift structures, as the funding to buttress the camps has dried up,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at HRW. “These are not simply natural disasters, but a predictable outcome of policies that put refugees’ lives at risk,” she said. Read more on our website
Legal experts challenge regime’s removal of Aung San statues
The Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC) is contesting the regime’s legal basis for its nationwide campaign to dismantle statues of Burma’s independence hero, General Aung San. Following a surge in public outrage regarding the clandestine removals, regime spokesperson Khaing Khaing Soe claimed on July 10 that Naypyidaw is acting in accordance with the Protection and Preservation of Ancient Monuments Law (1962).
She argued that the statues were not being outright banned, but rather, “substandard” statues with “incorrect proportions and shapes” were being removed for lacking the appropriate “dignity” befitting the General. Legal experts argue the regime’s defense is fundamentally flawed and legally ambiguous.
Myint Thein Aung, the General Secretary of the BLC, told DVB that the regime’s explanation “lacks legal clarity” because the spokesperson failed to provide any objective criteria or transparent process used to determine which statues are deemed “substandard.” Furthermore, the BLC asserts that the unilateral destruction of these monuments—most of which were erected using public donations—violates the law rather than upholds it. Read more on our website
News by Region
ARAKAN—Nearly 100,000 displaced residents from Mrauk-U, Minbya, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Rathedaung, Maungdaw, and Buthidaung townships began returning to their homes on Monday as floodwaters slowly receded. In Gwa Township, residents are facing floods and military bombardment.
Local aid organizations are urgently calling for food, clean water, medicine, and mosquito nets. Relief workers warn that the lack of clean drinking water has drastically increased the risk of waterborne and mosquito-borne diseases in the flood-affected communities. Read more on our website
KACHIN—A report released by Kachin Human Rights Watch on July 13, documented more than 130 civilians, including seven children, were killed in regime airstrikes, drone attacks and artillery attacks in 2025. The report stated that nearly 250,000 people have been displaced from their homes across the state.
The report titled “Inhumane Acts,” recorded more than 550 military attacks, including the use of airstrikes and artillery, during the two months following the March 28, 2025 earthquake despite a declared ceasefire. KHRW called for a global arms embargo and sanctions on aviation fuel against the regime.
SAGAING—The People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Monywa told DVB that three civilians, including a pregnant woman, were killed and one man was injured during a gyrocopter attack in Ayadaw Township’s Kanyin village on Tuesday. Ayadaw is located 43 miles (26 km) northeast of the region’s capital Monywa.
The PDF added that three gyrocopters from Monywa’s Northwestern Regional Military Command (RMC) carried out the attack on the village. A gyrocopter is a miniature helicopter used for short-range, low-level attacks typically on defenceless targets, according to security analyst Anthony Davis.
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