August 25 marks the seventh anniversary of the start of a campaign of mass atrocities by Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine State, which forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in Bangladesh. UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Friday expressed grave concern about the sharply deteriorating situation across Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine, where hundreds of civilians - mostly Rohingya - have reportedly been killed while trying to flee ongoing fighting.
"This month marks seven years since the military operations which drove 700,000 across the border into Bangladesh. Despite the world saying “never again” we are once more witnessing killings, destruction and displacement in Rakhine," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Türk said in a statement.
The campaign of mass atrocities in Rakhine State began on August 25, 2017. At least 740,000 Rohingya Muslims arrived at already overcrowded Bangladeshi refugee camps in Cox's Bazar district in 2017 following coordinated attacks by the Myanmar military. They joined hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya who had previously sought refuge in the country.
Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic minority is currently facing another wave of deadly violence. This time, however, the perpetrators are said to be the Arakan Army (AA), one of several ethnic groups fighting the country's ruling junta, as well as Myanmar's security forces.
Over the past four months, tens of thousands of people, many of them Rohingya, have fled a major offensive by the Arakan Army to seize control of the towns of Buthidaung and Maungdaw from the military. In one of the deadliest attacks along the Naf River border with Bangladesh on August 5, scores of civilians were reportedly killed, including by armed drones, as they tried to flee the hostilities.
According to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), it remains unclear which party to the conflict was responsible. Eyewitness reports indicate that the AA was behind the August 5 assaults, although the non-state armed group has denied involvement.
“Parties to the armed conflict are issuing statements denying responsibility for attacks against the Rohingya and others, acting as though they are powerless to protect them. This stretches the bounds of credulity,” Türk said.
Both the Arakan Army and the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) have faced the most serious allegations of targeted violence against Rohingya people in Rakhine in recent months
“Thousands of Rohingya have been forced to flee on foot, with the Arakan Army herding them repeatedly into locations that offer scant safe haven,” Türk said.
“As the border crossings to Bangladesh remain closed, members of the Rohingya community are finding themselves trapped between the military and its allies and the Arakan Army, with no path to safety.”
Despite repeated warnings and calls for action, the ongoing violence underscores the prevailing sense of impunity and the persistent challenges in ensuring the protection of civilians in accordance with international law, the High Commissioner said.
According to information documented by OHCHR, both the MAF and the Arakan Army, which now controls the majority of townships in Rakhine, have committed serious human rights violations and abuses against the Rohingya, including extrajudicial killings, some involving beheadings, abductions, forced recruitment, indiscriminate bombardment of towns and villages with drones and artillery, and arson attacks.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, such attacks are in sharp contrast to the obligations of all parties under international humanitarian law and the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to protect the Rohingya against the risk of further harm.
In January 2020, the ICJ issued an order directing Myanmar to "take all measures within its power" to prevent the commission of acts defined in the Genocide Convention, including ensuring that its military and all irregular armed units refrain from committing such acts.
“Both the military and the Arakan Army bear direct responsibility for the human tragedy that is unfolding in Rakhine,” said Türk, calling on both parties to immediately cease attacks against civilians, protect those fleeing the conflict, and ensure their unimpeded access to life-saving humanitarian assistance.
“These atrocities demand an unequivocal response - those responsible must be held accountable, and justice must be pursued relentlessly,” he added.
Credible sources have described increasing numbers of Rohingya, nearly half of whom are children, seeking assistance for conflict-related injuries. There have also been reports of people dying of diarrhea due to lack of access to clean water and grossly inadequate living conditions.
According to OHCHR, food warehouses containing vital supplies for civilians have been attacked, looted and burned. Hospitals in Buthidaung and Maungdaw have been closed due to the violence, exacerbating an already severe humanitarian crisis exacerbated by a widespread telecommunications outage.
“Recurrence of the crimes and horrors of the past must be prevented as a moral duty and a legal necessity. It is the responsibility of the international community, with ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] at the forefront, to take all necessary measures to protect the Rohingya and other civilian victims of this cruel conflict,” the High Commissioner said.
In August 2017, the Myanmar government launched a military campaign that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine State and cross into Bangladesh. The United Nations called the campaign ethnic cleansing; the United States declared the Myanmar government had committed genocide against the Rohingya.
In Bangladesh, nearly one million Rohingya refugees remain in refugee camps in an area on the coast of the Bay of Bengal that is extremely vulnerable to cyclones, floods, landslides, fires, and the effects of climate change.
They currently live in the Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in the Cox's Bazar region of Bangladesh. For decades, the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority, have faced institutionalized discrimination in Myanmar, including exclusion from citizenship.
The refugees now live in the squalid sprawl of a 28-square-kilometer camp that was once a sanctuary for rare Asian wild elephants. The Rohingya refugees are almost entirely dependent on humanitarian aid, as they are unable to leave the camps and legally work to support their families.
The Rohingya have endured 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 has been embroiled in a bloody civil war that has killed thousands of civilians since 2021, when the country's military seized power in a coup. In recent months, a coalition of ethnic rebel forces, including the AA, has escalated its offensive to oust the junta, which has been driven from vast areas of Shan, Chin, and Rakhine states.
Amid the deteriorating situation, 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.
Myanmar faces multiple, overlapping humanitarian needs caused by persecution, protracted armed conflict, intercommunal violence and natural disasters. Humanitarian needs in Myanmar have continued to increase due to ongoing armed violence and political unrest since the military coup in February 2021.
People are fleeing their homes in record numbers as conflict spreads across much of the country. Of the more than 3.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), at least 2.9 million have fled as a result of conflict and insecurity since the military takeover. An estimated one-third of the current displaced population are children.
Hunger is on the rise across the country. In 2024, some 12.9 million people - nearly 25 percent of the population - are projected to be food insecure, with an increased risk of malnutrition, especially among children and pregnant women.
The health system is in disarray and basic medicines are running out. An estimated 12 million people in Myanmar will need emergency health assistance this year alone.
The Myanmar 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) targets 5.3 million of the most vulnerable people this year and requires US$994 million, but the HNRP 2024 is only 24 percent funded as of August 25.
Further information
Full text: Myanmar: Türk deplores attacks on civilians fleeing Rakhine, fears repeat of 2017 atrocities against Rohingya, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, press release, published August 23, 2024
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/08/myanmar-turk-deplores-attacks-civilians-fleeing-rakhine-fears-repeat-2017