Civilian Protection Urgently Needed Amid Escalating Atrocities in Rakhine State

25 August 2024

In marking seven years since the Rohingya genocide committed by the Myanmar military in 2017, Blood Money Campaign, Defend Myanmar Democracy, and Progressive Voice stand firmly in solidarity with the Rohingya community in the pursuit of justice and accountability for all victims and survivors. We urge the international community to act urgently to end the Myanmar military’s complete impunity for its heinous international crimes against the Rohingya as atrocities against them rapidly intensify in Rakhine State. The world must remember the Rohingya and act decisively to halt and prevent further atrocities against them. In tandem, as Myanmar’s inclusive federal democracy is taking shape, we call once again for the full restoration of the Rohingya’s rights including citizenship, as well as meaningful inclusion of the Rohingya community in the Spring Revolution’s political processes.

Seven years ago, the Myanmar military launched a horrific genocidal campaign against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, marked by massacres, torture, rape, and the burning of villages. The military’s so-called “clearance operations” forced more than 750,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in Bangladesh, where over 300,000 Rohingya had been taking refuge from the military’s persecution prior to 2017. Since then and continuing today, approximately one million Rohingya are suffering deplorable, inhuman conditions in highly congested refugee camps on the Bangladesh border.

Today, renewed atrocities in Rakhine State clearly show an intensifying genocide against the Rohingya by the Myanmar military junta. Throughout 2024, the junta has deliberately bombed Rohingya villages—killing dozens including children—and leaving these communities in the dark through total communication blackouts, heightening the risk of atrocity crimes and systematically exploiting the Rohingya’s extreme vulnerability. Since February 2024, the junta has been forcibly conscripting Rohingya youth, forcing them to serve as frontline fighters, human shields, human minesweepers, and porters for the Myanmar military. The junta’s instigation of anti-Arakan Army protests—into which hundreds of Rohingya were forced—further compounds the Rohingya’s plight by stoking inter-ethnic and religious conflict in Rakhine State. Simultaneously, Rohingya refugees have been abducted from camps in Bangladesh and forced into the Myanmar military to fight and die on the frontline. These abductions were perpetrated by Rohingya militia groups—the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, the Rohingya Solidarity Organization, and the Arakan Rohingya Army—which have been reportedly partnering with the junta and repeatedly denounced by Rohingya civil society and activists as unrepresentative of their community.

Over the last 10 months, the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State have been increasingly and intentionally persecuted amid escalating fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA). The Rohingya community has been targeted by the AA with atrocities, including massacres, arson attacks, abductions, and enforced disappearances. Over 200,000 Rohingya civilians—survivors of the 2017 genocide—have been forcibly displaced with nowhere to run, as a consequence of the AA’s violent attacks and other serious human rights violations, as well as due to intense fighting between the two armies. According to eyewitness accounts and credible media reporting, on 5 August, the AA massacred at least 200 Rohingya civilians, mainly women and children, by drone attacks on the bank of the Naf River in Maungdaw Township, whose population is also majority Rohingya. This massacre is the most recent attack by the AA, a continuation of violence targeting Rohingya civilians in Maungdaw Township. We recall and reiterate recommendations in the joint statement dated 23 August 2024 signed by 28 Rohingya organizations and supported by 122 other organizations in solidarity with the community.

Of the utmost urgency is the dire need for the immediate protection of Rohingya civilians in Rakhine State as the two armies at war are targeting and committing atrocities against Rohingya civilians. Compliance with international humanitarian law must guide all actions taken to ensure the protection of Rohingya civilians. The Rohingya remaining in Myanmar, under the current dire circumstances, are facing serious humanitarian needs and urgently require protection. Atrocities and targeting by both the Myanmar military and the AA clearly violate the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures order to preserve evidence of genocide and protect the Rohingya. The UN Security Council must convene an emergency meeting to take immediate action to protect Rohingya civilians and ensure compliance with international humanitarian law amid these escalating atrocities.

We continue to commend the efforts of the Argentine judiciary in undertaking investigations related to the historic universal jurisdiction case against Myanmar military leaders for the Rohingya genocide and further welcome the Argentine Prosecutor’s petition to the Court to issue arrest warrants for Myanmar military personnel, though the petition requests a broader scope of individuals. The issuing of international arrest warrants would show to the Rohingya, and to the people in Myanmar who have been suffering from the military’s horrific violence and mass atrocities, that justice can and will prevail.

We also welcome the recent decision of the International Court of Justice to allow the Maldives, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to join The Gambia v. Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Alongside these developments, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is continuing its investigation into the forced deportation of Rohingya to Bangladesh. The reality remains, however, that these efforts are not enough to actualize justice for all crimes by the Myanmar military committed against the Rohingya and other ethnic communities and people across Myanmar before and since its illegal coup attempt of 1 February 2021. The international community must make concerted efforts to take concrete actions to advance justice and accountability through additional avenues, namely a State Party Referral of the crisis in Myanmar to the ICC under Article 14 of the Rome Statute or the creation of a criminal tribunal, as has been called for by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.

In Bangladesh camps, Rohingya refugees face indefinite food insecurity, malnutrition, and hunger. Conditions in the camps continue to deteriorate with rampant overcrowding, fires, severe food shortages, violence, internet shutdowns, and heavy restrictions on movement. Rohingya women and girls, in particular, remain extremely vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence in the camps. Compounding these hardships are the dangerous weather conditions of monsoon season, including floods and landslides, to which the exposed camps are extremely vulnerable.

We once again call on the international community to take coordinated action to increase support for Rohingya refugees including access to education, vocational training, and livelihood opportunities in the camps. Separately, it must be ensured that international aid is facilitated to reach Rohingya communities inside Myanmar.

Today, through the Spring Revolution, Myanmar’s people are actively building an inclusive federal democracy, including by establishing and strengthening local governance structures while advancing effective control over territory. Now is the time for Myanmar’s legitimate democratic stakeholders, including the National Unity Government, ethnic resistance organizations, and the people’s bottom-up administrations, to take concrete actions to proactively include the Rohingya in building Myanmar’s federal future. These actions must include genuine and meaningful engagement with and active participation of the Rohingya community in the Spring Revolution’s political processes. Going forward, we reaffirm our solidarity with the Rohingya community and recognize and embrace our diversity, and we will continue to pursue peaceful coexistence in our humanity and stand up for one another to build an inclusive federal democratic Myanmar.

For more information, please contact:

• Mulan, Blood Money Campaign; [email protected]
• Naw Aung, Defend Myanmar Democracy; [email protected]
• Khin Ohmar, Progressive Voice; [email protected]

Download PDF in English I Burmese.