By: Camp Correspondent
Cox’s Bazar, May 30, 2025 — A global coalition of 26 Rohingya organizations has issued an urgent appeal to Western governments to impose targeted sanctions on the Arakan Army (AA/ULA) and its leadership for widespread human rights abuses against Rohingya civilians in Rakhine State and surrounding regions.
In a joint statement released Thursday, the groups—based in countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand—condemned the AA’s role in mass killings, arbitrary arrests, forced displacement, and village destruction, saying its conduct mirrors that of Myanmar’s junta forces, who are already under international sanctions.
“Western countries which have sanctioned the Burmese military for human rights violations must now explain why they have not sanctioned the Arakan Army, which is committing the same crimes against Rohingya civilians,” the statement declared.
Mass Drownings Spark International Alarm
The statement also called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to launch an independent investigation into two devastating boat disasters that occurred in the Bay of Bengal in early May 2025, in which at least 427 Rohingya, many of them women and children, are feared dead or missing.
“The drowning of Rohingya fleeing persecution and hunger has become a constant reality which the international community can no longer ignore,” the groups warned.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), nearly 1 in 5 Rohingya attempting sea journeys in 2025 have either died or disappeared, making the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea among the world’s deadliest migration routes.
Villages Burned, Thousands Displaced
The AA’s ground operations have reportedly displaced over 200,000 people, with eyewitnesses confirming that entire Rohingya villages have been torched and families forced to flee into forests or across borders. Over 118,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh or neighboring countries in the past few months alone.
The coalition is calling not only for sanctions but also for:
- Immediate UN investigation into the Arakan Army’s abuses,
- Accountability for the deaths at sea caused by forced displacement, and
- The release of unlawfully detained Rohingya civilians held by the AA in areas under its control.
A Community Caught Between Guns and Water
The statement paints a grim picture of Rohingya civilians trapped between land violence and lethal escape routes by sea. As Myanmar’s military continues its brutal repression and ethnic armed groups like the AA expand control, Rohingya communities are once again being hunted, displaced, and erased—this time without global outrage.
“We are stateless. We are voiceless. And now, we are dying—again,” said one Rohingya activist from the diaspora. “The world cannot stay silent while we are burned out of our homes and drowned at sea.”
Call to the World
As the humanitarian crisis deepens, Rohingya refugee and diaspora communities are calling for urgent international intervention to prevent further atrocities and provide protection for those fleeing the violence.
They emphasize: this is no longer a localized ethnic conflict—it is a regional crisis of survival.
