Burma's Internally Displaced People: A Forgotten Crisis

Strategic Insights -

The crisis in Burma has left 3.5 million internally displaced people in a dire situation, with limited aid reaching them due to undercounting, funding cuts, and a failure to distinguish between internally displaced people and refugees. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the UN estimate of 3.5 million IDPs may undercount the displaced by as much as 50 percent. This discrepancy stems partly from the UN's inability to access resistance-controlled areas where many IDPs are located.

Key Takeaways:

  • The crisis in Burma has left 3.5 million internally displaced people in a dire situation, with limited aid reaching them.
  • International aid to Burma's internally displaced people is complicated by factors such as consistent underestimation of the scale of the crisis, funding cuts, and a failure to distinguish between internally displaced people and refugees.
  • The UN's humanitarian principle of neutrality prohibits direct engagement with ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) that control most of the territory where IDPs actually live.
  • Western democratic countries and the UN have condemned the junta and refused to recognize it as the official government of Burma, yet they have effectively granted it de facto recognition and legitimacy by channeling governmental aid directly to it.
  • The United States is unique among major donors in explicitly providing non-lethal aid to EAOs through the BURMA Act.
  • The European Union emphasizes that it does not channel humanitarian funding via the military authorities and instead works through thoroughly vetted humanitarian organizations.
  • Large international charities also maintain a cautious stance, often negotiating access through local guarantors or committees rather than engaging armed groups directly.
  • Cross-border restrictions imposed by neighboring countries, such as Thailand, constrain informal aid delivery and prevent vital lifelines for IDPs.
  • Religious organizations, such as Buddhist, Christian, and Muslim clergy, have the capacity to deliver aid to IDPs but face restrictions due to U.S. and EU rules separating religious activities from aid programs.
  • The World Food Programme and UNICEF implement aid programs largely in junta-controlled areas, while UNHCR appeals for funding but secures only a small percentage of it.
  • A CSIS report calls for halting cooperation with the junta and shifting to cross-border delivery of aid through local ethnic networks that have access to displaced populations and ties with resistance forces.

Statistics:

  • 3.5 million people internally displaced in Burma, making it one of the world's largest displacement crises and one of the greatest humanitarian emergencies.
  • 21.9 million people, over one-third of the population, require humanitarian assistance in Burma.
  • More than 6.3 million of those requiring humanitarian assistance are children.
  • The UN's 2024 humanitarian appeal requested $994 million to assist 5.3 million people but received only 36 percent of the target ($389 million).
  • 1.4 million highly vulnerable people who were targeted for assistance went unreached.
  • $167 million in US aid to Burma in 2024, including $121 million under the Burma Act.
  • $75 million was allocated for cross-border programs through Thailand and India.
  • $39.5 million in US aid earmarked for human rights and democracy programs was suspended in 2025.
  • $22 million in humanitarian funding was suspended in 2025.
  • The EU allocated £46 million ($54 million) in humanitarian aid for Burma in 2025, roughly $15.30 per displaced person.
  • $934.5 million requested for Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh's 2025 Joint Response Plan.
  • $383.1 million budgeted for Burmese refugees spread across Bangladesh, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and Thailand in 2024.

Sources:

  • Center for Strategic and International Studies
  • United Nations
  • European Union
  • United States
  • World Food Programme
  • UNICEF
  • UNHCR
  • The Border Consortium
  • Burma Act
  • 2025 Joint Response Plan for Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh
  • CSIS report