Renewed Genocidal Threats for Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State

The Rohingya, the Muslim minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, face the horrifying prospect of renewed genocidal violence, akin to the atrocities they endured eight years ago, warns a United Nations expert.

Thomas Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the crisis in Myanmar, described the current situation in Rakhine as “terrifying,” as reported by AFP.

“For the Rohingya people—who have been oppressed, scapegoated, exploited, and caught between warring factions—the situation bears chilling similarities to the lead-up to the genocidal violence of 2016 and 2017,” Mr. Andrews informed the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday.

In 2017, a brutal military crackdown forced 730,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. The UN condemned this campaign, branding it as genocidal in nature.

In Rakhine, tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced since renewed conflict erupted between the Arakan Army, an armed group representing the Rakhine ethnic minority seeking autonomy, and the central government’s forces late last year.

Last November’s attacks ended a tenuous ceasefire that had largely held since a military coup ousted the government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

Mr. Andrews reported that the military has been forcibly conscripting “thousands of Rohingya youths, mobilizing them against the Arakan Army.”

“Even though many young Rohingya men have been dragged to the frontlines against their will, the potential for retaliation by Arakan community members, and an ensuing spiral of violence, is enormous,” he cautioned. “Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, have already been displaced in Rakhine state.”

Despite being denied citizenship and therefore theoretically ineligible for conscription, more than 1,000 Rohingya men and boys have been forcibly recruited by the military since February through abduction, threats, and false promises of citizenship, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

In May, the UN Human Rights Office sounded the alarm on “frightening and disturbing reports” of new violence in Rakhine, highlighting military and Arakan Army attacks on Rohingya civilians.

Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the UN agency, underscored incidents including the burning of the town of Buthidaung, airstrikes, shootings of unarmed villagers trying to flee, beheadings, and disappearances in northern Rakhine in recent weeks.

The Arakan Army declared in May that it had seized control of Buthidaung, a town with a significant Rohingya Muslim population in northern Rakhine.

“We are receiving alarming reports from northern Rakhine state in Myanmar about the devastating impacts of the conflict on civilian lives and properties,” Ms. Throssell conveyed in a briefing in Geneva.

“Some of the most serious allegations concern the killing of Rohingya civilians and the burning of their properties.”

She cited a survivor who reported seeing dozens of dead bodies scattered as they fled Buthidaung, and others who spoke of abuse and extortion at the hands of the Arakan Army.

The United League of Arakan, the political wing of the Arakan Army, claimed that civilians in conflict zones had sought refuge in areas under its control, asserting that it was “doing its utmost to protect and care for these Internally Displaced Persons as valued citizens, irrespective of race or religion.”

However, Rohingya activists have accused the Arakan Army of being responsible for much of the destruction.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller previously expressed Washington’s deep concern over the violence in Rakhine and urged both the military and armed groups to safeguard civilians and permit humanitarian access.