September 22, 2025: Ahead of the upcoming United Nations High Level Meeting on the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar, scheduled to take place in New York on September 30, 2025, the Congress of Nations and States (CNS) has urged governments worldwide to uphold their legal and humanitarian responsibilities and to address the root causes of the Rohingya genocide.
In its statement, the CNS emphasized the need for a clear pathway toward a durable, safe, voluntary, and dignified return of the Rohingya to Rakhine State within a rights-based framework, consistent with all UN human rights treatiesCNS Rohingya Statement 2025.
Since the 2017 “clearance operation” conducted by the Myanmar military, the Rohingya have continued to face persecution, including forced conscription. The statement also highlighted the brutality inflicted by the Arakan Army, which seeks control over the entirety of Rakhine State.
The CNS noted that Rohingya refugees are now spread across Asia—in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia—where, despite expressing gratitude to host countries, they face hate crimes, human trafficking, smuggling, and scapegoating, while being confined in camps without access to education or livelihoods.
Warning of the danger of creating a “lost generation,” the CNS called on the international community to ensure formal education and job skills training for Rohingya children and youth. It also urged leaders at the UN meeting to ensure coordinated humanitarian aid, root out corruption in aid delivery, and guarantee access to food and medical supplies for Rohingya and other minorities still in Rakhine, where conditions continue to deteriorate amid conflict between armed groups and the Myanmar military.
“The United Nations has been apprised of this situation for decades, but the time has come for meaningful engagement with the Rohingya and solutions which will help the Rohingya people to overcome decades of persecution and genocidal violence,” the statement readCNS Rohingya Statement 2025.
CNS further expressed hope that discussions from its successive Burma Summits will help the international community understand the importance of bringing minority communities in Myanmar together for positive change.
