9 Years On: Accountability Needed for Myanmar Military Junta’s Atrocities Against the Rohingya

Myanmar
August 24, 2026

August 25, 2026, marks nine years since the Myanmar military and authorities launched a widespread campaign of atrocity crimes against the Rohingya population in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

Starting in August 2017, Myanmar security forces killed thousands of Rohingya women, men, and children and razed several hundred Rohingya villages throughout northern Rakhine State, forcing at least 700,000 to flee to Bangladesh. The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar concluded that “named senior generals of the Myanmar military should be investigated and prosecuted in an international criminal tribunal for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.”  

As then commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s Armed Forces, Min Aung Hlaing oversaw security forces responsible for these atrocities against the Rohingya. In February 2021, he led a military coup against the elected, civilian-led government and later was picked by a military controlled Parliament as the “president” following what observers saw as sham elections in December 2025 and January 2026. A number of countries, including members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Japan, have not recognized the election results.  

Since the 2017 atrocities, no one has been held accountable, although there has been some progress in international justice efforts. A universal jurisdiction case brought in Argentina by a Rohingya-led organization resulted in arrest warrants for Myanmar military officials, including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing.  

In November 2024, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)  requested an arrest warrant against Min Aung Hlaing for the alleged crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya. There is no publicly available information as to whether the judges have ruled on the request.  

In January 2026, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held hearings on the merits of The Gambia’s genocide case against Myanmar, marking a significant step towards justice for the Rohingya. The case, filed in 2019, alleges that Myanmar’s atrocities against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017 violate the Genocide Convention of 1948. The court’s judgment is pending.  

As part of the case brought by The Gambia, ICJ judges issued legally binding provisional measures requiring Myanmar to prevent all genocidal acts against the Rohingya, to ensure that security forces do not commit acts of genocide, and to take steps to preserve evidence related to the case. However, our organizations have documented ongoing grave abuses and persecution targeting Rohingya remaining in Myanmar, including the crime against humanity of apartheid and war crimes, contravening the court-ordered provisional measures. 

The Myanmar military junta has carried out airstrikes on populated Rohingya homes and villages and continues to impose severe restrictions on freedom of movement, humanitarian aid and access to health care in Rakhine State. The Arakan Army has also gravely violated the rights of the Rohingya since gaining control of most townships in Rakhine State, following resumed fighting with the Myanmar military in late 2023. Rohingya have been subjected by the Arakan Army to arbitrary detention, forced labor, torture, extrajudicial killings, and restrictions on movements. The group has also committed mass killings of Rohingya that amount to war crimes, and large-scale arson of Rohingya homes in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in 2024.  

The Myanmar junta and Rohingya armed groups have unlawfully recruited Rohingya in Bangladesh and Myanmar to fight against the Arakan Army, which also uses forced recruitment.  

An estimated 150,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since mid-2024, bringing the total population to over 1.2 million refugees. Rohingya refugees are facing increasingly dire conditions in the Cox’s Bazar camps, including abductions, forced recruitment, death threats, sexual violence, and the impact of aid cuts on health care, education, and food. 

Persecution of Rohingya by the Arakan Army and deteriorating conditions in Bangladesh’s refugee camps, exacerbated by cuts in international aid, have led to a sharp increase in desperate and perilous boat journeys by Rohingya in search of safety and a future, particularly in Malaysia.  In just the first few months of 2026, more than 820 Rohingya are believed to have lost their lives attempting these dangerous sea crossings. They have become increasingly vulnerable to large and well-organized human trafficking and smuggling and other forms of exploitation.  

The roots of the Rohingya crisis and the atrocities since the 2021 coup—which include war crimes and crimes against humanity—can be found in decades-long impunity in Myanmar. Upholding the human rights of the Rohingya as well as the entire population of Myanmar depends on achieving justice for these grave abuses. All parties to the armed conflict in Myanmar should cooperate with international accountability mechanisms to ensure justice for the victims and adhere to international humanitarian law.  

The United Nations Security Council should intensify efforts to secure accountability for past and ongoing crimes committed against all communities by referring the situation in Myanmar to the ICC, imposing targeted financial sanctions, and establishing a global arms embargo on the Myanmar junta. 

Concerned governments, including ASEAN member states, should press Min Aung Hlaing and the Myanmar military to end unlawful attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure and release thousands of political leaders and activists being detained in inhumane conditions in violation of their human rights. 

In close collaboration with the government of Bangladesh, the international community should urgently seek to increase funding to meet the needs of Rohingya refugees until conditions exist for voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return to their homeland in Myanmar, with full citizenship and socio-economic rights.  

All countries hosting Rohingya refugees should protect their rights, including by implementing effective protection mechanisms to safeguard them from hate, hostility, forced returns, abduction, kidnapping, trafficking, forced recruitment, and other forms of targeted violence and ensuring their access to education and livelihoods. 

The Rohingya have waited far too long for justice, recognition, and a safe return, and urgent steps need to be taken so that they are not made to suffer any longer. 

Signed:

1. All Victims and Veterans Network – Bangladesh  
2. Amnesty International  
3. Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network  
4. Arakan Rohingya National Union 
5. Asia Justice and Rights  
6. Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions  
7. Association of Rohingya in Thailand 
8. Asylum Access Global 
9. Asylum Access Malaysia 
10. Asylum Access Mexico 
11. Asylum Access Thailand  
12. British Rohingya Community 
13. Burma Campaign UK  
14. Burma Concern  
15. Burma Human Rights Network  
16. Burmese Rohingya Organization UK  
17. Capital Punishment Justice Project  
18. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation  
19. Coalition for the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons  
20. Education and Wisdom Development for Rohingya Women  
21. Education Garden for Rohingya  
22. Exile Hub
23. EarthRights International 
24. FE5 Tanintharyi 
25. Fortify Rights  
26. FORUM-ASIA  
27. Free Rohingya Coalition   
28. Frontline Ethics 
29. Human Integration for Change  
30. Human Rights Foundation of Monland  
31. Human Rights Watch 
32. Info Birmanie  
33. Kachin Gender Star Group 
34. Kachin Human Rights Watch 
35. Kaladan Press Network  
36. Karen Human Rights Group 
37. Karenni Human Rights Group 
38. Mayu Region Human Rights Documentation Center  
39. Minority Affairs Institute 
40. Myanmar Defense & Security Institute 
41. Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization Malaysia 
42. NOVI 
43. Political Repository 
44. Politics for Women Myanmar 
45. Progressive Voice Myanmar  
46. Refugees International  
47. Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center 
48. Rohingya Advancement Committee 
49. Rohingya Cooperation Network
50. Rohingya Education Development Plan  
51. Rohingya Gen Z Movement  
52. Rohingya Human Rights Initiative 
53. Rohingya Human Rights Network  
54. Rohingya Peace Network of Thailand  
55. Rohingya Refugee Youth Committee  
56. Rohingya Rights Response  
57. Rohingya Solidarity Network 
58. Rohingya Student Union  
59. Rohingya Women Association for Education and Development  
60. Rohingya Youth Empowerment Initiative  
61. Rohingya Youth Empowerment Network  
62. Rohingya Youth for Legal Action  
63. Spirit in Education Movement  
64. Stop Online Harm 
65. Tavoyan Women’s Union  
66. Thailand Migration Reform  
67. The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute 
68. Voice of Rohingya Women and Students  
69. Women’s Peace Network 
70. Yangon People’s Strike 
71. Youth Congress Rohingya