U.K.: Lead Coalition to Refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, Impose Fresh Sanctions

The United Kingdom should lead a coalition of states to refer the full situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC) under Article 14 of the Rome Statute, impose a new round of targeted sanctions against the Myanmar military and its sources of revenue and aviation fuel, restore and increase life-saving aid to refugees and displaced people from Myanmar, and increase support for human rights defenders documenting atrocity crimes, Fortify Rights said today. These recommendations follow testimony in U.K. Parliament by Fortify Rights Chief Executive Officer and founder Matthew Smith on June 23, 2026, before the U.K. House of Commons International Development Committee in a session on atrocity prevention and the Integrated Security Fund.

“The U.K. can take a practical step right now to help prevent further atrocities in Myanmar by leading a coalition of ICC member states to refer the full situation in Myanmar to the ICC Prosecutor,” said Matthew Smith Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights. “The people of Myanmar have endured genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity with total impunity. Accountability is central to atrocity prevention, and without it, we will see more atrocities and more lives lost. The U.K. should also use every available tool, including sanctions, diplomacy, humanitarian aid, and support for survivors and human rights defenders, to deny the Myanmar military the money, weapons, aviation fuel, and impunity it needs to continue committing atrocities.”

Matthew Smith testified on June 23, 2026, alongside Nathaniel Raymond, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, and Dr. Kate Ferguson, Co-Executive Director of Protection Approaches.

In his testimony, Matthew Smith said that few things pose a graver threat to humanity than mass atrocity crimes, and that U.N. member states should do everything in their power to end, remedy, and prevent them.

Myanmar is home to the world’s longest-running civil war. For more than 70 years, successive military regimes have waged war against the country’s civilian population and ethnic nationalities, with the latest military coup in February 2021 intensifying nationwide attacks against civilians. Today, approximately 3.7 million people are internally displaced in Myanmar, while 5.3 million people from Myanmar are forcibly displaced overall. Many have been displaced multiple times by unmitigated massacres, airstrikes, shelling, village burnings, torture, arbitrary detention, forced recruitment, and other acts that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Fortify Rights has documented at length how the Myanmar military is responsible for genocide against the Rohingya people in western Myanmar and war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians nationwide. Despite extensive documentation by local, regional, and international human rights organizations, no member of the Myanmar military has faced trial before the ICC or another prosecuting body for atrocity crimes committed in Myanmar.

“The Myanmar military’s sense of impunity is not incidental—it is a driving force behind ongoing atrocities,” said Matthew Smith. “A coordinated Article 14 referral would send a powerful message to military commanders and others responsible for atrocities that justice is coming.”

On June 10, 2026, Member of Parliament and former U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt asked in a debate in the House of Commons, “Will the Government consider invoking Article 14 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to request an investigation into mass atrocity crimes in Myanmar?”

The U.K. should not wait for consensus at the U.N. Security Council, where Russia and China have shielded the Myanmar military from meaningful accountability for decades. As an ICC State Party and a leading state supporting accountability for atrocity crimes in Ukraine, the U.K. should urgently convene like-minded governments, including ICC States Parties in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific, to refer the full situation in Myanmar to the ICC Prosecutor.

Likewise, the former U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, first recommended in his March 14, 2024 report to the U.N. Human Rights Council that ICC States Parties refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC Prosecutor under Article 14 of the Rome Statute. In his final accountability report, dated April 27, 2026, Andrews reiterated that recommendation, calling on States Parties to refer the situation of atrocities in Myanmar to the ICC Prosecutor.

The ICC is currently investigating crimes related to the forced deportation of Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh, including alleged crimes against humanity that occurred in Rakhine State in 2017. The International Court of Justice is also hearing a case brought by The Gambia concerning Myanmar’s alleged genocide against Rohingya, and the U.K. has made an important intervention in that case on behalf of The Gambia’s claims. These efforts are historic and important, but they do not address the full range of ongoing atrocity crimes being committed throughout Myanmar, Fortify Rights said.

In July 2021, Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) lodged a declaration under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction over international crimes committed in Myanmar since 2002 and into the future. In February 2022, the ICC confirmed receipt of the declaration. The ICC has not opened a full investigation into ongoing atrocity crimes across Myanmar.

Under Article 14 of the Rome Statute, any ICC State Party may refer to the Prosecutor a situation in which one or more crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court appear to have been committed. Fortify Rights has repeatedly recommended that ICC member states refer the full situation in Myanmar to the ICC Prosecutor under Article 14.

Some states may not be aware that the NUG’s Article 12(3) declaration provides a basis for states to refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC Prosecutor. It is not the role of ICC member states to determine the validity of the NUG’s declaration; that is a matter for the Court, Fortify Rights said. The role of ICC member states is to refer situations in which atrocity crimes appear to have been committed.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, 43 ICC States Parties referred the situation in Ukraine to the ICC within weeks, enabling the Prosecutor to open an investigation immediately. Myanmar has suffered years of documented genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity but has received no similar coalition of states.

“The U.K. helped mobilize justice for Ukraine,” said Matthew Smith. “It should now help build a similar coalition for Myanmar. This would not be a silver bullet, but would be an important step in the right direction.”

The U.K. Government should also impose a new round of targeted sanctions to help cut off the Myanmar military’s access to revenue, arms, equipment, and aviation fuel, Fortify Rights said. These should include sanctions on military-controlled state-owned banks and other military-linked revenue streams; companies, vessels, brokers, insurers, and other entities involved in the supply of aviation fuel to Myanmar; entities supplying arms, dual-use goods, and materials used to manufacture weapons or explosives; and military-owned or military-linked businesses, including telecommunications and natural-resource entities. The U.K. should coordinate these measures with the European Union, United States, Canada, Australia, and other governments to maximize impact and close loopholes.

The U.K. should also use its position at the U.N. Security Council to press for a global arms embargo, a ban on the transfer of aviation fuel to the Myanmar military, targeted sanctions against those responsible for atrocity crimes, and regular public briefings on the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. The likelihood of a Russian or Chinese veto should not be used as an excuse for inaction; forcing a vote would help clarify which governments are protecting the Myanmar military from accountability and which are standing with the people of Myanmar.

The U.K. should further take action against all armed actors in Myanmar responsible for atrocity crimes and serious human rights violations, including through targeted sanctions where appropriate. In Rakhine State, Rohingya civilians have faced abuses by the Myanmar military as well as by the Arakan Army, including restrictions on movement, denial of humanitarian access, arbitrary detention, and attacks on civilians. The U.K. should ensure its Myanmar policy protects all civilians, supports justice for all atrocity crimes, and does not ignore abuses by non-state armed groups.

Fortify Rights also called on the U.K. Government to restore and increase humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and displaced people in Myanmar, and to treat such support as a core component of atrocity prevention policy. Recent aid cuts have reduced food assistance, contributed to rising malnutrition, overstretched health care, and undermined education and protection services for Rohingya in Bangladesh. They have also heightened risks of human trafficking, recruitment by armed groups, and dangerous onward movement by sea. Such cuts increase pressure on Rohingya refugees to flee or return to Myanmar, both of which are gravely dangerous.

“For Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, humanitarian aid is atrocity prevention,” said Matthew Smith in his testimony. “Without adequate aid and protection, and in a context of total impunity, Rohingya face heightened risks of trafficking, exploitation, dangerous journeys by sea, and forced or premature returns to Myanmar.”

The U.K. should publicly oppose any forced, coerced, premature, or unsafe returns of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar and ensure that Rohingya refugees are able to participate meaningfully in decisions affecting their future, including on justice, protection, humanitarian assistance, education, and durable solutions.

Fortify Rights further recommended that the U.K. increase support for human rights organizations working on atrocity prevention, including community-based human rights defenders and regional and international organizations documenting atrocity crimes and advancing accountability. This should include flexible, multi-year support for human rights organizations, survivor-led initiatives, documentation groups, women human rights defenders, and organizations providing evidence to international justice mechanisms, including the ICC, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, and national courts exercising universal jurisdiction.

“Atrocity prevention requires more than statements of concern from governments, civil society, or U.N. actors,” said Matthew Smith. “It requires resources for survivors and human rights defenders, and meaningful consequences for perpetrators.”

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