UN Special Rapporteur says Myanmar's illicit economy now drives the war, in her report A/81/418 to the General Assembly

29 October 2026

Kelley Anne Eckels-Currie, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, presented her report to the UN General Assembly as document A/81/418. Her argument is that the illicit economy is now a cause of the conflict and not only a by-product of it. As the formal economy shrinks, she said, online scam centres, illegal mining, human trafficking and forced labour fill the gap. Black-market profits help pay for weapons bought from China and Russia and help hold the ranks together. She described Chinese transnational criminal networks as the backbone of most criminal enterprises in the country, working through cryptocurrency platforms and social media. The report also counted 753 civilians killed between 20 April and 31 July 2026, the window the military government called its 100-day peace plan, with military and paramilitary forces responsible for 89 per cent of those deaths. She warned that blunt action against the networks can hurt civilians too, noting that cutting Starlink links to scam compounds also cut off aid groups and local communities.