Chin State, in Myanmar's northwest, has become a focal point of resistance against the military dictatorship following the February 2021 coup. Youth-led forces and community militias, united under various resistance groups, have risen to challenge the junta's oppressive rule. Drawing on courage and community solidarity, they employ guerrilla tactics to counter the military's well-armed forces. However, their struggle comes at a steep price for the civilian population.
The military has responded with indiscriminate violence, including relentless airstrikes, arson attacks, and systematic human rights abuses. Villages have been razed, homes destroyed, and countless lives uprooted. These atrocities have displaced tens of thousands, forcing families to seek refuge in makeshift shelters in forests or across the border in India, where survival remains precarious.
Access to humanitarian aid in Chin State is severely limited. The military’s control over major supply routes, coupled with its deliberate targeting of aid workers and convoys, has created a dire humanitarian crisis. Food, medicine, and basic supplies are scarce, exacerbating the suffering of the displaced and vulnerable. International aid organizations face immense challenges in delivering assistance, leaving local communities and grassroots networks to bear the burden of relief efforts.
Amid this devastation, Chin State’s youth have emerged as symbols of resilience and defiance. They have taken up arms not only to protect their families but also to fight for a democratic future. Many were students, farmers, and workers who abandoned their everyday lives to join the resistance, risking everything to stand against tyranny.
Despite overwhelming odds, the people of Chin State endure, driven by an unyielding spirit of freedom and justice. Their plight underscores the urgent need for international attention, humanitarian support, and sustained efforts to hold the Myanmar military accountable for its crimes. Chin State's struggle is a testament to human resilience but also a harrowing reminder of the cost of unchecked oppression.
Ramlau village on the main road between Falam to Hakha was ransacked by the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) during the passage of their militarty convoy going through Chin State. The military convoy was attacked continously by Chin Defense Forces (CDF) and Chin National Defence Forces (CNDF), the Myanmar military took revenge actions by burning and exploding 19 houses in Ramlau and ordering airstrikes. The population had already evacuated the village a couple of days before the passage of the convoy. Ramlau has 850 habitants, 3 weeks after the raids and airstrikes barely 50% of the population has returned from hiding in the hills and surrounding farms. The airstrikes which are still a high risk targetted the school building sheltering IDPs. Tatmadaw stayed 4 days in the village until 7 May 2023, during which they looted and burned houses. Ramlau village, Falam township, Myanmar, May 2023
School classes held under random houses for fear that schools would be targetted by airstrikes as has been the case repeatedly throughout Myanmar and Chin State. Leilet village in Falam township, Burma, June 2023
Two sisters displaced from Thantlang, a town that has been totally destroyed and where heavy fighting between the Chin National Army and the Myanmar military is ongoing. The villages around Thantlang township where most people took refuge are also unsafe and frequently targetted by airstrikes. Thangklua village near Thantlang, Chin State, Myanmar, June 2023
Deforestation and land burning for agriculture purposes around villages in Chin State. The land is equally distributed among the families of the villages and every year there is a land rotation system so that the soil has several years to regenerate before it is being cultivated again. However because of the mountainous terrain and rainy season, landslides do occur regularly. Falam township, Chin State in Myanmar, June 2023
Chin National Defence Force on a frontline facing a Myanmar military base in the mountains of Falam Township in Chin State. Since the military coup in Myanmar, people have taken up arms throughout the country to resist and defend themselves against atrocities committed by Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military who supressed civilian rule in February 2021. CNDF Frontline, Myanmar, November 2022
Karen children in a camp for internal displaced persons (IDP). Ever since the military coup in Myanmar, the intensity of the conflict has dramatically increased in ethnic minority areas and repeated airstrikes on civilian population have uprooted people in the millions throughout the country. Htee Baw Kaw camp in a part of Kayin controlled by the Karen National Union, Myanmar, September 2023
Chin Defence Force (CDF) unit in an advanced mountain camp controlling access roads to the region. Lautu region, Chin State, Burma, September 2022
Patient at a temporary clinic for Karen displaced persons in a Karen village along the Thai border. Lae Gho, Kayin State, Myanmar, October 2023
Karen children in a camp school for internal displaced persons (IDP). Ever since the military coup in Myanmar, the intensity of the conflict has dramatically increased in ethnic minority areas and repeated airstrikes on civilian population have uprooted people in the millions throughout the country. Lae Gho IDP camp in a part of Kayin controlled by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), Myanmar, September 2023
Soldiers of the Karen National Liberation Army plying a board game in their field camp near a combat zone around the town of Walay in Karen State, Myanmar, October 2023
Karen displaced mother and her newborn child in a camp near the Thai border in territory controlled by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). They have fled their village after repeated air attacks by the Myanmar military. Widwspread terror and attacks against civilians and ethnic minorities have substantially increased since the military coup in 2021, provoking large numbers of displaced persons and refugees. Kanele IDP camp, Way Lay, Kayin State, Myanmar. June 2022
Transporting petrol in Tlangrua village near Thantlang. Being very isolated and under a de-facto embargo by the military, the population in Chin State has to use back roads to get supplies to the villages and towns that are under control of the Chin Defence Forces (CDF). Chin State, Myanmar, September 2022
Chin elderly woman, Tisenb village in Lautu region, Chin State, Myanmar, September 2022
Hnaring baptist church sunday service. Lautu region, Chin State, Myanmar, September 2022
Internally displaced family from Thantlang, a town that has been totally destroyed and where heavy fighting between the Chin National Army and the Myanmar military is ongoing. The villages around Thantlang township where most people took refuge are also unsafe and very often targetted by airstrikes. Thangklua village near Thantlang, Chin State, Myanmar. June 2023
Khuahrang village in the Lautu region, Chin, Burma, September 2022
Lae Gho IDP camp recently established for persons of the Karen ethnic minority fleeing persecution and military attacks in their villages in Kayin State. Widwspread terror and attacks against civilians and ethnic minorities have substantially increased since the military coup in 2021, provocing large numbers of displaced persons and refugees. Lae Gho IDP Camp, Kayin, Myanmar, June 2022
Than Win Hlaing is 32 years old and from Rakhine State. He deserted the Myanmar military in October 2022 and joined the civil desobdience movement (CDM) after giving himself over to Chin Defence Forces. He was first sent to a CDM camp in Champai and was recently recruited as a cook for a unit of the Chin Defence Forces operating in Falam township of Chin State. He has been enrolled in Tatmadaw for 20 years since he became an orphan at the age of 12. Since he was enrolled in the Myanmar Army at the age of 12 he could never return to Rakhine and seek contact with his siblings and relatives. With Tatmadaw he was stationed in Nay Phi Daw, Maputi and Bago from where he was sent to Karen State during the 2010-2012 ethnic cleansing campaigns against the Karen ethnic minority group, which he has witnessed. Lian Hna CNDF outpost, Falam, Myanmar, May 2023
Check-point area in the Lautu region, Khuahrang area in Lautu region, Chin State, September 2022
Sui Mang and her child in their temporary home in Thangaw village. Originally from Thantlang from where the entire civilian population had to flee as the town is on the frontline. Lautu region in Chin State, Myanmar, September 2022
Karen children in a temorary school for internal displaced persons (IDP). Ever since the military coup in Myanmar, the intensity of the conflict has dramatically increased in ethnic minority areas and repeated airstrikes on civilian population have uprooted people in the millions throughout the country. Oo Poe Hta village in a part of Kayin controlled by the Karen National Union, Myanmar, September 2023
Chin combattant part of the Chin Defence Force in a mountain hide-out in an undisclosed area in Lautu. Chin State, Myanmar, September 2022
Hnaring, the main town and administrative center of Lautu, a region in central Chin State and mid way between the north and the south of Chin. Myanmar, September 2022
Chin refugee in a camp on the border between India and Myanmar. Zokhawthar, Mizoram in India, November 2022
Check-point in Hnaring, the main town of the Lautu region in central Chin State, Myanmar, September 2022
Chin villagers from Ramlau, a mountain village on the main road between Falam to Hakha. The village was ransacked by the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) during the passage of their militarty convoy going through Chin State. The military convoy was attacked continously by Chin Defense Forces (CDF) and Chin National Defence Forces (CNDF), the Myanmar military took revenge actions by burning and exploding 19 houses in Ramlau and ordering airstrikes. The population had already evacuated the village a couple of days before the passage of the convoy. Ramlau has 850 habitants, 3 weeks after the raids and airstrikes barely 50% of the population has returned from hiding in the hills and surrounding farms. The airstrikes which are still a high risk targetted the school building sheltering IDPs. Tatmadaw stayed 4 days in the village until 7 May 2023, during which they looted and burned houses. Ramlau village, Falam township, Myanmar, May 2023
Combattants of the Chin Defence Forces (CDF) in their base. Since the military coup in Myanmar, people have taken up arms throughout the country to resist and defend themselves against atrocities committed by Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military who supressed civilian rule in February 2021. Chin State, Myanmar, September 2022
Karen children in a camp school for internal displaced persons (IDP). Ever since the military coup in Myanmar, the intensity of the conflict has dramatically increased in ethnic minority areas and repeated airstrikes on civilian population have uprooted people in the millions throughout the country. Lae Gho IDP camp in a part of Kayin controlled by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), Myanmar, September 2023
The commander of the local Chin Defence Forces inpecting the defensive lines in the mountains near the access roads leading to central Chin State. Lautu region, Myanmar, September 2022
Bawi, 24 years, recently injured on the front-line by sharpnel wounds. He is part of the People Defence Forces (PDF) fighting the military regime in Magway State in central Myanmar. He is being evacuated towards India and is in meanwhile transiting in a safe house in the Lautu region in Chin State. Usually it can take several weeks before injured people are reaching equipped hospitals, increasing the risk of death or amputations. Bawi was a university student at the time of the coup in February 2021. PDF safehouse in Lautu region, Chin State, Myanmar, September 2022
Check-point near Thantlang CDF advanced position. Chin State, Myanmar, September 2022
School in Leilet village in Falam Township, Chin State, Myanmar, November 2022
Member of the Chin Defence Forces (CDF) who was amputated after stepping on a landmine in Paletwa in southern Chin State. It took more than 48 hours to have him evacuated from the frontline to Aizawl hospital in India where he got treatment and the amputation. Safehouse in Aizawl, Mizoram, India, September 2022
A villager and his son from Ramlau who had his house and belongings burned and destroyed by the Myanmar military 3 weeks ago. Ramlau is a Chin mountain village on the main road between Falam to Hakha. The village was ransacked by the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) during the passage of their militarty convoy going through Chin State. The military convoy was attacked continously by Chin Defense Forces (CDF) and Chin National Defence Forces (CNDF), the Myanmar military took revenge actions by burning and exploding 19 houses in Ramlau and ordering airstrikes. The population had already evacuated the village a couple of days before the passage of the convoy. Ramlau has 850 habitants, 3 weeks after the raids and airstrikes barely 50% of the population has returned from hiding in the hills and surrounding farms. The airstrikes which are still a high risk targetted the school building sheltering IDPs. Tatmadaw stayed 4 days in the village until 7 May 2023, during which they looted and burned houses. Ramlau village, Falam township, Myanmar, May 2023
Chin National Defence Forces returning from the frontline. Falam township, Chin State, Myanmar, November 2022
Tlangkhua village where numerous people sought refuge from the nearby combat zones. Thantlang township, Chin State, Burma. May 2023
Chin villagers in Ramlau village on the main road between Falam to Hakha. The village was ransacked and looted by the Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) during the passage of their militarty convoy going through Chin State. The military convoy was attacked continously by Chin Defense Forces (CDF) and Chin National Defence Forces (CNDF), the Myanmar military took revenge actions by burning and exploding 19 houses in Ramlau and ordering airstrikes. The population had already evacuated the village a couple of days before the passage of the convoy. Ramlau has 850 habitants, 3 weeks after the raids and airstrikes barely 50% of the population has returned from hiding in the hills and surrounding farms. The airstrikes which are still a high risk targetted the school building sheltering IDPs. Tatmadaw stayed 4 days in the village until 7 May 2023, during which they looted and burned houses. Ramlau village, Falam township, Myanmar, May 2023
Chin National Defence Forces (CNDT) digging trenches on the frontline overlooking Tatmadaw positions in Falam Township. Chin State, Myanmar, November 2022
Oo Poe Hta village, Kayin State, Myammar, September 2023
Chin Refugee and his child in a refugee shelter along the Indian Burmese border. With ever increasing airstrikes against villages, more and more people cross into India seeking safety and refuge. Hill camp for Chin refugees mainly from Falam and Kalay. Zokhawthar in Mizoram, India. May 2023
Soldiers of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, one of the many ethnic armed groups involved in the armed uprising against the military dictatorship. Outpost near the front line in Walay, Kayin State, Myanmar, October 2023
