The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar continues to deteriorate, with civilian casualties mounting due to the ongoing conflict and a growing number of people in need of protection. Meanwhile, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced that he is seeking an arrest warrant for Myanmar's Acting President, General Min Aung Hlaing, for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya people committed in 2017.
The Prosecutor's move on Wednesday comes as Myanmar continues to face one of the world's largest and most neglected humanitarian crises, with 18.6 million people - a third of the population - in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024. The humanitarian situation remains precarious, particularly following the escalation of violence over a year ago, with armed clashes reported in around 80 percent of the Southeast Asian country.
Since 2019, the ICC has been investigating alleged crimes committed during the 2016 and 2017 waves of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state and the subsequent forced displacement of Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
“After an extensive, independent and impartial investigation, my Office has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Senior General and Acting President Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Defense Services, bears criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, committed in Myanmar, and in part in Bangladesh,” ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said on Wednesday.
He noted that this was the first request for an arrest warrant against a senior Myanmar government official that his office had submitted, and that others would follow. It will now be up to a panel of judges from the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber to review Kan's request and the evidence and rule on whether to issue the warrant.
The Prosecutor's Office alleges that the crimes against humanity were committed between August 25, 2017, and December 31, 2017, by the Myanmar Armed Forces, also known as the Tatmadaw, “supported by the national police, the border guard police, as well as non-Rohingya civilians”.
In 2017, more than 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh following a campaign of mass atrocities by Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine State, which began on August 25. The United Nations has described the campaign as ethnic cleansing; the United States has said the Myanmar government has committed genocide against the Rohingya.
Those forced to flee joined hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya who had previously sought refuge in the country. In Bangladesh, around one million Rohingya refugees remain in camps in a coastal region of the Bay of Bengal that is extremely vulnerable to cyclones, floods, landslides, fires and the effects of climate change. Most Rohingya refugees currently live in the Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in the Cox's Bazar region.
“In my visits to the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar over the last three years, including just yesterday, I met with Rohingya women who spoke with clarity and purpose about the need for accountability. […] And I spoke with men of all ages, including the old and the sick, who were united in demanding to be seen and to have accountability for what befell them,” Khan said.
“Our work, the work of the International Criminal Court, seeks to vindicate their resilience and their hope in the power of the law.”
The Rohingya have suffered unspeakable hardship for years. An estimated 630,000 ethnic Rohingya living in Myanmar's Rakhine State are unable to move freely and are subject to government persecution and violence.
Myanmar's ethnic Rohingya minority is currently facing another wave of deadly violence. This time, however, the perpetrators are reportedly the Arakan Army (AA), one of several ethnic groups fighting the country's ruling junta, as well as the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF). In recent months, tens of thousands of people, many of them Rohingya, have fled a major offensive by the AA to wrest control of towns in Rakhine State from the military.
Myanmar is confronted with multiple, overlapping humanitarian needs caused by persecution, protracted armed conflict, intercommunal violence and natural disasters. Humanitarian needs in Myanmar have continued to mount due to ongoing armed violence and political unrest since the military coup in February 2021. Following an escalation of conflict that began in late October 2023, fighting between the MAF and various armed groups has continued across multiple states and regions, causing further displacement and civilian casualties.
Rampant armed clashes, shelling, air strikes and military operations have forced people to flee their homes in record numbers, with 3.4 million people now internally displaced across the country. At least 3.1 million people have fled as a result of conflict and insecurity since the military takeover. An estimated one third of the current displaced population are children.
Many displaced people remain in temporary shelters or informal camps, where they face severe shortages of food, clean water and health care. In its latest update on Myanmar, released on Wednesday, OCHA reported that humanitarian organizations continue to face access constraints throughout the country, mainly due to ongoing military operations, administrative restrictions, violence against humanitarian personnel and natural hazards.
According to OCHA, 12 of the country's 15 states and regions have been impacted by the fighting, as conflict between Myanmar's security forces and various armed groups has intensified since October last year. As the situation deteriorates, 18.6 million people in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance - the fifth-largest number in the world. 6 million of them are children.
While civilians continue to face the dangers of an escalating and widening conflict, an estimated 1 million people - many already internally displaced - have suffered the consequences of recent devastating floods. Since September, torrential monsoon rains and the remnants of Typhoon Yagi submerged 70 of the country's 330 townships.
The floods caused significant loss of life, with more than 360 deaths reported in several regions and many more injured. Damage was particularly severe in the north-west, south-east and Rakhine State. Floodwaters devastated crops, farmland and livestock, destroying the livelihoods of vulnerable communities.
Humanitarian agencies reached nearly 3 million people with assistance in the first three quarters of the year, but severe underfunding prevented them from delivering the planned depth, frequency and quality of assistance, OCHA reports.
As the year draws to a close, the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) is only 34 percent funded, drastically reducing the capacity of humanitarian actors to deliver life-saving assistance to people prioritized for urgent support. The Myanmar 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) targets 5.3 million of the most vulnerable people this year.
Further information
Full text: Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Application for an arrest warrant in the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar, International Criminal Court (ICC), released November 27, 2024
https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-application-arrest-warrant-situation-bangladesh
Full text: Myanmar Humanitarian Update No. 42, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), report, published November 27, 2024
https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/myanmar-humanitarian-update-no-42-27-november-2024