“STOP Weaponization of Aid” Public Campaign Announcement

Press Release                                               

No. 7/ 2025

June 3, 2025

The “STOP Weaponization of Aid” (STOP WoA) public campaign will mobilize and advocate International Governments, ASEAN, UN agencies, and International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) to take action against the terrorist military junta’s manipulation and exploitation of international humanitarian and earthquake relief aid for political and military purposes. The campaign seeks to ensure that aid reaches earthquake-affected communities directly and to implement measures that prevent humanitarian assistance from being weaponized.

Together with the people of Myanmar, we will launch the campaign in collaboration with local and international revolutionary and civil society organizations, running from the first to the last week of June.

Objectives of the “STOP Weaponization of Aid” Public Campaign

1. To publicly denounce the terrorist military junta’s manipulation and exploitation of relief supplies for the 2025 Sagaing earthquake disaster, using them as political and military weapons.
2. To mobilize and urge affiliated organizations, governments, and private actors to immediately end their complicity in these acts.
3. To prevent the repetition of the military junta’s exploitation of humanitarian aid for profit from the suffering of the people, as they did during the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis (2008), Cyclone Mocha (2023), and Typhoon Yagi (2024).

On March 28, 2025, a devastating earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, followed by several aftershocks, struck southern Sagaing Region. The disaster caused massive destruction, displacing tens of thousands of people and resulting in significant loss of lives and property. In the earthquake-affected areas

including Sagaing, Mandalay, Bago, southern and eastern Shan State, and Naypyidaw, at least 4,493 people were reported dead, 11,366 injured, and hundreds remain missing.

March 29 to May 22, 2025, following the devastating earthquake, the Myanmar military junta carried out  at least 414 airstrikes targeting civilians across 15 regions, including severely earthquake-hit regions such as Mandalay, Sagaing, and Bago (East). In these attacks, at least 349 civilians, including 59 children were killed, and 776 others were injured. Additionally, the bombings destroyed 31 schools, 6 hospitals and clinics, and 38 religious buildings.

Historically, the Myanmar military has consistently weaponized humanitarian aid. During major natural disasters such as Cyclone Nargis in 2008, Cyclone Mocha in 2023, and Typhoon Yagi in 2024, the junta disrupted, blocked, manipulated and weaponized humanitarian aid for  political and military control. Now, in the aftermath of the 2025 Sagaing earthquake, similar patterns are occurring according to local media and on-the-ground reports.

“The SAC [junta] distributes aid based on census lists, but we didn’t receive anything. When we asked around, we heard others being told they wouldn’t get help because their census form (Type 10) wasn’t the ‘right kind.’ But we did get rice, biscuits, instant noodles, sanitary pads, and phone credit from local civil society groups.”  – Earthquake survivor in Sagaing Region

In the past disasters such as Cyclone Nargis (2008), Cyclone Mocha (2023), and Typhoon Yagi (2024), relief supplies were funneled through military-controlled routes, resulting in unequal and politicized distribution that failed to reach many of the most affected communities, aid was diverted to military-affiliated cronies, junta-controlled media portrayed the junta as saviors and glorified its image, soldiers rebranded international aid presenting it as military donations and claiming it as their own charity,  areas outside junta control received little to no aid, cyclone nargis aid was used as a tool to campaign for the military-imposed 2008 Constitution referendum, and threatening to withhold relief unless people voted in favor of the 2008 Constitution. These actions deprived countless disaster survivors of the help they desperately needed, and that aid did not reach the actual disaster-affected areas, regions, and people.

Currently, urgent action is needed to prevent the terrorist Myanmar military junta from manipulating and exploiting the 2025 Sagaing earthquake humanitarian aid and rescue supplies for their political and military purposes by weaponizing humanitarian aid. It is important to prevent such abuses from happening again.

This is a deeply concerning time as the illegal and terrorist military junta is preparing to hold a sham election, raising serious fears that humanitarian aid may be exploited and weaponized for political and military profit.

We strongly warn that the international community must exercise special caution to ensure that humanitarian aid funds sent through the junta do not become sources of blood money.

We encourage and urge the public, along with domestic and international organizations, to collaborate in various ways and actively participate in the “STOP WoA” public campaign to ensure that humanitarian aid sent by international governments and organizations reaches earthquake-affected communities directly, fairly, and transparently.

More Information; Please Contact

• Mulan, Blood Money Campaign (BMC),[email protected]
• Nyan Hein, Progressive Muslim Youth Association (PMYA); [email protected]
• May Hnin, Emergency Management Committee – Mandalay (EMC-MDY); [email protected]
• Shin Thant, Sagaing Region Strike Force; [email protected]
• Khin Ohmar, Progressive Voice; [email protected]
• Saung Hnin, Thway Chin Doe Hnint Atu; [email protected]
• Zu Zu May Yoon, Women’s Organization of Political Prisoners (WOPP); [email protected]
• Yin Lin, Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN); [email protected]
• Soe Nay Oo, Inter Religious Institute for Peace; [email protected]

The following 55 organizations jointly announce the press release of the “STOP WoA” public campaign.

1. Ah Nah Podcast- conversations with Myanmar
2. Anti-Junta Forces Coordination Committee – Mandalay (AFCC)
3. ASR-ASSOCIATION of SPRING RAINBOW (ယိမ်းနွဲ့ပါး)
4. Athan – Freedom of Expression Activist Organization
5. Blood Money Campaign (BMC)
6. Burma Human Rights network (BHRN)
7. Chin Farmer Network (CFN)
8. CRPH & NUG Supporters Ireland
9. CRPH Funding Ireland
10. CRPH Support Group, Norway
11. Defend Myanmar Democracy (DMD)
12. Democracy Youths Myanmar
13. Educational Initiatives
14. Emergency Management Committee – Mandalay (EMC-MDY)
15. Free Rohingya Coalition (FRC)
16. General Strike Coordination Body (GSCB)
17. Generation Wave
18. Generations’ Solidarity Coalition of Nationalities (GSCN)
19. Global Myanmar Spring Revolution (GMSR)
20. Human Right Educator Network (HREN)
21. India for Myanmar
22. Inter – Religious Institute for Peace (IRIP)
23. Justice and Equality Focus
24. Justice For Myanmar
25. Kachin Gender Star Group (KGSG)
26. Kachin Legal Aid Group (KLAG)
27. Karenni National Women’s Organization (KNWO)
28. Kyae Lak Myay
29. Kyauktada Strike Committee (KSC)
30. Let’s Help Each Others (LHEO)
31. Minority Affairs Institute (MAI)
32. Myanmar Muslim Revolution Force (MMRF)
33. Myanmar Student Union (ဗကသများ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်)
34. Myanmar Teachers’ Federation (MTF)
35. Myanmar Tourism Committee (MTC)
36. Myanmar Women Parliamentarians Network
37. MyaYar Knowledge Tree
38. Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica
39. OCTOPUS Youth Organization – ရေဘဝဲ (ပြည်သူ့အကျိုးပြု လူငယ်အဖွဲ့အစည်း)
40. Progressive Muslim Youth Association (PMYA)
41. Progressive Voice
42. Queers of Burma Alternative
43. Sagaing Region Strike Force (စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသ သပိတ်အင်အားစု)
44. Save Myanmar
45. Shan MATA
46. Sisters 2 sisters
47. Sitt Nyein Pann Foundation
48. Southern Initiative
49. Support Group for Democracy in Myanmar (The Netherlands)
50. Thway Chin Doe Hnint Atu
51. Women’s Organization of Political Prisoners (WOPP)
52. Yadanabon University Students’ Unions (YDNBUSU)
53. Yangon Deaf Group
54. စာရင်းစစ်ရုံး CDM အဖွဲ့
55. ပြည်သူ့သပိတ်အင်အားစု

Download PDF in English I Myanmar.