Today marks four years since the Burmese military began its attempted coup. Since the coup, the Burma military has conducted a campaign of war crimes and crimes against humanity throughout the country.

For the Rohingya, the human rights situation has continued to deteriorate. The same Burmese military that carried out mass killings, rape, and the destruction of entire Rohingya villages in 2017 continue their atrocities today. More than 600,000 Rohingya remain trapped in Rakhine State under a system of apartheid, persecuted and deliberately deprived of food, medicine, and freedom. The Burmese military has weaponised starvation, cutting off aid to Rakhine State, where a famine impacting all communities is now imminent.

The Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic armed group fighting the Burmese military, now controls 14 out of 17 townships in Rakhine State and is also committing human rights abuses against the Rohingya. Both the junta and the AA continue their crimes with impunity, facing no meaningful consequences year after year.

While governments fail to act, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) is working to secure justice for the Rohingya. In 2019, BROUK filed a Universal Jurisdiction case in Argentina—the first of its kind to hold leaders of the Burmese military accountable for genocide. In June 2024, Argentina’s prosecutor requested arrest warrants for 25 junta officials, including Min Aung Hlaing. These warrants must be issued by the court without delay.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) took a significant step by requesting an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing for crimes against humanity, including deportation and persecution of the Rohingya in 2017. While this is a welcomed development, it is not enough. The ICC’s current investigation remains limited, excluding the full scale of atrocities inside Burma against not just the Rohingya but all communities since the establishment of the court.

The ICC must expand its investigation to include the genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity that have taken place impacting the entire country. The UN Security Council and ICC member states must take steps by referring the entire situation in Burma to the ICC to ensure full accountability.

Immediate and decisive action is needed to end the persecution of the Rohingya. Governments must impose targeted sanctions, block junta funding, and immediately halt all arms and aviation fuel transfers. The AA must be held accountable for its crimes against the Rohingya, and ASEAN must end its complicity—no more diplomatic cover, no more economic ties, no more legitimacy granted to the Burmese military.

All Rohingya stand in solidarity with our fellow brothers and sisters in Burma in opposing military rule and wanting to see a peaceful, federal democratic Burma where the ethnic and religious diversity of Burma is celebrated and where the rights of all ethnic and religious groups are respected and protected.

For more information contact

Tun Khin, President Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, on +44 7888 714866

Original post