About 90,000 displaced persons from Chin State are now taking shelters at 47 refugee camps in Mizoram State, India, according to official figures.

Local civil society organizations in India have formed committees to accommodate IDPs from Myanmar, who are mostly elderly persons, the disabled and orphans.

A witness who visited these camps said, “We found the desperate plight of displaced persons. They cannot survive without any job for their income in the long term.”

He added, “They have to compete with the locals for job. Although the displaced parents want to send their children to local schools, their children could go to the schools under the National Unity Government (NUG). So, IDP families have to rely on assistance from Chin communities abroad.”

As of 1 October, the official number of people in Chin State stands at 500,000.

However, over 100,000 have fled Chin state due to armed clashes between the Military Council and local resistance forces.

The Interim Chin National Consultative Council and the NUG have said that ASEAN’s promised aid will bypass ethnic Chin IDPs, as the bloc has allowed a military junta-led task force to make decisions in delivery of aid through the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre).

A UNOCHA report this month stated that nearly two million people remain internally displaced across the Myanmar – many of them having moved multiple times. They face increase risks from explosive ordnance while they are on the move or staying in unfamiliar areas. In addition, more than 63,000 people remain displaced across borders into neighbouring countries since the 2021 military takeover.