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The Genocide of the Ignored Rohingya
Authors: Mabrur Uddin Ahmed, Dilraj Sigh Tiwana, Rahima Begum — Restless Beings Org. UK.
Following the wave of violence perpetrated on the Rohingya by the Burmese military during August and September 2017, almost 700,000 Rohingya have fled across the border into Bangladesh from Arakan state in Burma. The research for this report was conducted between October 2017 and January 2018 taking 96 accounts from Rohingya refugees. Eight different camps were visited to collect this data. It was found that the interviewees had originated from 23 different villages across Northern Arakan state in Burma.
The objectives of the report were three pronged: to provide an overview of the current conditions in the camps and conditions that the refugees had to endure in Burma before arriving to Bangladesh; to analyse the current conditions in the camp including living conditions and provisions; to carry out a risk assessment of the camps to better understand potential risk concerns. The outcomes are to be presented to Governments to advise on policy and to NGO’s to advise on next steps to assist the refugees.
From the data collected it was found that 100% of respondents had witnessed destruction of property and had witnessed violence by Burmese military. More than 80% reported seeing killing by Burmese military with 28% witnessing death of a family member. 67% of interviewees had still not received adequate medical support and 30% had not received adequate shelter. More than 20% had witnessed pregnant women and girls being taken by Burmese military for rape. 14.6% had witnessed children being thrown into pits of fire by military personnel. Furthermore, obvious signs of post-traumatic stress disorder were found amongst at least 10.4% of the sample size and 50% of child respondents cited fear of being abducted as their primary security concern. 8.3% of respondents had been approached by human traffickers to move to other parts of the region.
The findings conclude with clear evidence that the crime perpetrated by Burmese military operations from August and September meet the criteria of Genocide. It is recommended that NGO’s begin treating the refugees as genocide survivors and that they train their staff accordingly to manage the camps. Pregnant women are not sufficiently supported with medical assistance and NGO’s are urged to increase their medical services. Post-traumatic stress disorder is also not adequately supported and NGO’s should also increase mental health and wellness activities. Additionally, the UN’s guidance for funding the refugee crisis remains unmet and Governments are urged to donate more generously to ensure that the funding demands are met. Without such, the risk of trafficking remains at large as identified by a plethora of agencies. Governments are also urged to press Burma to repeal the Citizenship Law of 1982 without which the problem will perpetuate. The repatriation deal at present is premature with no guarantee of safety, return of property and citizenship rendering the repatriation as merely a PR exercise. It also furthers the apartheid conditions that the Rohingya face in other internally displaced persons camps in Sittwe and elsewhere. The repatriation deal without citizenship, safety and property is fundamentally flawed and will need further revision before it becomes viable.
With genocide being clearly evident from the findings it is stressed vehemently to Governments to refer to the crisis as genocide and to press the UN Security Council for a referral to the International Criminal Court against Min Aung Hlaing the Commander –in-chief of the Burmese military.
The Rohingya are a stateless ethnic group originating from the Rakhine (Arakan) province of Burma. Historical data records show a presence of the Rohingya in Arakan state from as far back as the 8th century but the most reliable narration of Rohingya presence in Burma can be found in ‘A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of the Languages Spoken in Burma Empire’ published by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton in 1799 where he observed: “Mohammedans (Muslims), who have long settled in Arakan, and who call themselves Rooinga, or natives of Arakan.”
Numerous reports of the Rohingya are available from that point onwards. The Rohingya were also active members of the society by the time the British had entered Arakan following the Anglo Burma war of 1823. During World War II the Rohingya fought alongside and for the British against Japanese occupation in Burma. Tensions began to arise along ethnic lines as most of the Rakhine ethnic community were pro Japan. The 1942 conflict saw Arakan state split along ethnic lines with Northern Arakan being mostly populated with Rohingya and Southern Arakan mostly populated by Rakhine. The Constitution of the Union of Burma was established in 1947 and the same year general elections took place with Rohingya having voting rights. Rohingya politicians took part and held positions within local and national governance. By 1954 then Prime Minister U Nu hadrecognized the Rohingya as an ethnic group of Burma saying “The people living in Northern Arakan are our national brethren. They are called Rohingyas. They are on the same par in the status of nationality with Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Shan.”
In essence, the military junta had embarked on a ‘Burmanisation’ project designed to consolidate the whole of Burma under the flag of the Barman ethnicity and Buddhist religion. In 1978, Ne Win launched Operation Naga Min or Operation Dragon King. This was a large-scale military offensive driving out almost 250,000 Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh. Merely 4 years later the 1982 Citizenship law was announced which effectively stripped the Rohingya of nationality, citizenship and protection by the Law. The two are seen as the major starting points for the decades long persecution of Rohingya since.
1992 – Operation Pyi Thaya (Clean and Beautiful Nation) — During the summer of 1988 a large scale democracy movement had started which eventually led tothe Aung San Suu Kyi led NLD party winning elections in 1990. Subsequently Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest where she would remain for 15 years. In a similar vein to the Naga Min offensive, Burmese military forces once again attacked the Rohingya communities. Rakhine state (Arakan) as it was now known, saw an exodus of between 200,000 and 250,000 Rohingya again fleeing to Bangladesh. Refugees reported mass killings, mass rape, religious persecutions and forced labour by the Burmese military forces.
2012-15 Rohingya Exodus during Burma’s ‘Democratisation’ — Suu Kyi was released from house arrest just under a week after Burma’s first ‘democratic’ elections in a generation in 2010. In June 2012 clashes broke out between Rakhine and Rohingya in Northern Arakan. Claims and counter claims of abuse and violence from both Rakhine and Rohingya resulted in a state of emergency being declared in Arakan. By October of 2012, the violence had spread to other Muslim communities and citizens of Burma in a radical rise of extreme Buddhism which pitted Muslim communities as enemies of Buddhism and Burma. Approximately 200,000 were forced into internal displacement camps (IDP Camps) and land and property burned to ashes. Between 2012 and 2015 approximately 125,000 Rohingya made the risky and arduous journey by rickety boats from Burma to Malaysia.
The Rise of ARSA — On October 9th 2016 Burmese state media reported 9 military personnel had been killed by Rohingya insurgents belonging to an armed group called Harrakah Al Yaqin (later renamed to ARSA – Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army). The group claimed the attack and the military stepped up its presence in Northern Arakan State. The military presence saw extrajudicial killings, gang rapes and use of heavy artillery including military helicopters firing on Rohingya villagers armed with sticks and stones. 86,000 Rohingya fled widespread and systematic military abuse between October and December 2016 to Bangladesh.
August 2017 until present – ‘Unprecedented’ Rohingya Refugees Leave Burma in the summer of 2017 many Rohingya bloggers began reporting that Burmese military servicemen were beginning to train and arm Rakhine militia. On August 12th hundreds of military personnel flooded the border area of Arakan state. The Rakhine Commission headed by former UN Security General Kofi Annan published their report to Burma on August 24th outlining a number of recommendations. On August 25th Burmese state television reported that ARSA had targeted 30 military outposts on Burma Bangladesh border resulting in the death of 12 military personnel. In response, the military launched a massive ‘clearance operation’ in conjunction with local Rakhine mobs. Within the first 3 weeks, 1,000 Rohingya were killed. Innumerous reports of indiscriminate beatings, killings and rape were reported by refugees desperately fleeing across the border into Bangladesh. Abhorrent images of children being burned alive, women being raped in front of family members and whole villages being burned down were reported widespread. By the end of the 4th week of violence, 400,000 had fled to Bangladesh leading to the UN describing the teaming numbers of refugees as an ‘unprecedented’ refugee crisis. By January 2018, a reported 655,000 Rohingya had fled to Bangladesh with numbers still swelling.
“The situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein UN High Commissioner for Human Rights speaking at UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, September 2017. “The elements suggest you cannot rule out the possibility that acts of genocide have been committed,” Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein UN High Commissioner for Human Rights speaking to BBC, December 2017.
