“To a large extent, we have arrived at this point due to the
past failures of the international community to hold Myanmar’s military accountable for their crimes, especially the
2017 genocide of the Rohingya.”

Professor of International Relations Yossi Mekelberg,
reflecting on the 2021 military coup

On February 1, 2021, the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military,
overthrew the democratically elected government in a
coup d’état and announced that Myanmar would be controlled by the military junta.1 As the Burmese people rose
up against this undemocratic seizure of their country, the
Tatmadaw unleashed a brutal and violent assault on the
peaceful civilian protesters. The Tatmadaw’s violent assault on civilians has led to demands for accountability for
the crimes being committed against the Burmese people.2
BROUK stands in solidarity with its Burmese brothers and
sisters in their call for justice and accountability.

However, for the Rohingya, the violent repression of human rights and criminal conduct of the Tatmadaw is not new. The Rohingya have suffered violence, repression and discrimination at the hands of the Tatmadaw for decades with little to no tangible protection or intervention from the international community, the Myanmar civilian government, or, unfortunately in many cases, their fellow Burmese. This culture of impunity contributed to the Tatmadaw’s 2017 genocidal clearance operations against the Rohingya, which represented a culmination of generations of escalating oppression against the Muslim minority. It is critical, both in terms of restoring Myanmar on its path to democracy and in seeking justice and accountability for crimes committed by the Tatmadaw, that these efforts fully include the Rohingya.

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