The U.S. government has officially recognized the atrocities against Rohingya as genocide, yet accountability and justice remain elusive.
- Rohingya Cultural Advocacy Centre
- Sep 2, 2025
- 11 min read
Date: 2,September, 2025.
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Nearly eight years after the mass killings of 2017, Rohingya Muslims minority are once again facing what survivors describe as a “second wave of genocide” in Burma’s Rakhine (Arakan) State. Since November 23, 2023, the Arakan Army (AA) and Burmese ’s military junta have carried out a campaign of violence, displacement, and terror against Rohingya communities, forcing tens of thousands to flee.
Despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Burma/Myanmar to protect civilians under provisional measures, survivors say the junta has instead “systematically pushed the Rohingya minority to danger.”
Eyewitness to Horror: Hossain’s Story
Hossain, a Rohingya survivor now sheltering in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, recounted his ordeal: “In 2017, the Burmese government and the Arakan Army committed genocide against us. We were forced to flee to Bangladesh. But many of us chose to struggle inside our own land for seven years,” heThat struggle ended violently last year. On August 5, 2024, the Myanmar junta abandoned Maungdaw town, leaving Rohingya civilians at the mercy of the Arakan Army. Hours later, the AA launched drone strikes and live fire on Rohingya villages. “Hundreds were killed. Houses were set on fire. More than 60,000 of us were displaced. When we tried to seek safety in Maungdaw town, the AA opened fire and struck us with drones. On the road, I saw 130 Rohingya killed before my eyes,” Hossain said.At 5:30 PM that same day, as thousands attempted to cross barbed wire fences toward Bangladesh, AA drones struck again, killing at least 320 Rohingya, including women and children. Over 4,000 others were critically wounded, many left unattended.
Drone Strikes, Imprisonment, and Looting; Survivors allege that the AA systematically targeted fleeing civilians with drones.
On August 6, 2024, 18 Rohingya were killed when their dinghy boat was bombed mid-river. On August 7, 2024, nearly 12,000 Rohingya were rounded up by AA near the Naf River, their phones and valuables confiscated. Fifty were executed when they tried to escape. On the same day, drone strikes at China Patty killed 100 Rohingya and injured more than 200.
Since August 2024, over 12,000 Rohingya have managed to escape to Bangladesh, but many others fell prey to human traffickers and river pirates. Survivors describe being extorted, forced to pay ransom, or drowned at sea when they could not pay. Cycle of Betrayal at the Border. according to witnesses, hundreds who survived genocide and crossed into Bangladesh were arrested by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and pushed back into Myanmar.
On August 6, 2025, over 2,000 Rohingya were detained, and about 1,000 were forcibly returned to Myanmar’s Lal Dip Island, where pirates abducted them for ransom. Survivors described a grim cycle: pay ransom, be pushed into Bangladesh, arrested by BGB, and deported again - only to face renewed abduction.
Pretending to Protect: Burmese military Junta and AA’s Double Game.
Both the militaryjunta and the Arakan Army appear to be complicit. Survivors say the military carries out airstrikes on Rohingya villages under the pretense of fighting AA, while the AA then enters those same villages to loot, torture, and expel the Rohingya.
On August 8, 2024, a junta airstrike killed 15 Rohingya family members in Maungdaw’s Ali Para. Witnesses insist the strikes were not aimed at AA forces but at Rohingya civilians.
(Eyewitness Account: Mosharraf’s Escape.)
Another survivor, Mosharraf, described a harrowing journey across villages after being displaced: On August 10, 2024, he and 10,000 other Rohingya were forced to live on roadsides without food or shelter. He survived one night in a livestock shed.
Mosharraf is a witnesses fled Burma in August, after the Arakan Army rebel force attacked their village.
On August 11, at Shuda Para, he saw 15,000 Rohingya held in an open field under the scorching sun. Mothers sat with their dead infants as AA soldiers fired shots into the air to keep them from moving. Later, survivors were herded into the Zin Paing Nyar IDP camp, surrounded by barbed wire. “There was no water, no toilets, no food. Women could not relieve themselves all night. Some of us survived by drinking rainwater. When I asked for water, an AA soldier told me to drink sewage,” he recalled.
Mosharraf eventually escaped by disguising himself and bribing his way past checkpoints. But before reaching Bangladesh, he was seized again, forced at gunpoint to record false testimony praising the AA and blaming Rohingya armed groups.
Legal Obligations, Ignored;
Under the ICJ’s 2020 provisional measures, Burma/Myanmar is legally bound to protect Rohingya civilians from further atrocities. Yet survivors’ accounts show the opposite: the junta has outsourced ethnic cleansing to the AA, using drone strikes, displacement, and forced confinement in IDP camps to drive Rohingya from their lands.
A People Abandoned
As genocide continues, Rohingya survivors remain trapped: in Myanmar under AA violence, in Bangladesh facing arrest and trafficking, or at sea under the threat of pirates.
“The world declared it genocide in 2017, and the U.S. government said it again. But still, no justice comes,” Hossain said quietly. “We are human beings, yet we are treated worse than animals. How many times must we die before the world acts?”
Executive Summary
Since November 23, 2023, Rohingya Muslims in Burma/ Myanmar’s Rakhine (Arakan) State have faced a second wave of genocide, carried out through coordinated violence by the Arakan Army (AA) and enabled by the Burmese military junta.
Testimonies collected from survivors reveal widespread killings, drone strikes, forced displacement, arbitrary detention, looting, human trafficking, and systematic denial of safe refuge.
Despite the ICC (ICJ) ordering Myanmar to protect civilians, and the U.S. Others Super Power countries government’s recognition of genocide, the atrocities not only continue but have intensified. Survivors are caught between AA attacks, junta airstrikes, Bangladesh border pushbacks, and exploitation by traffickers and pirates.
Background
In 2017, Myanmar’s military launched a genocidal campaign against Rohingya, driving more than 740,000 into Bangladesh.Many Rohingya remained inside Rakhine State, struggling to survive in their homeland.
Documented Atrocities
1. Drone Strikes and Mass Killings
August 5, 2024 – After junta forces abandoned Maungdaw town, the AA occupied the area and launched drone strikes, killing 130 Rohingya on the road and displacing over 60,000 civilians.
Later that day, at the Naf River fence, AA drones struck fleeing Rohingya, killing 320 people, including women and children, and critically injuring over 4,000.
August 6, 2024 – AA drone strike on a boat killed 18 Rohingya; only two survived.
August 8, 2024 – Myanmar junta airstrike killed 15 Rohingya family members in Maungdaw’s Ali Para.
2. Imprisonment, Looting, and Torture
August 7, 2024 – AA forces rounded up 12,000 Rohingya, confiscated phones and valuables, and executed at least 50 civilians who tried to escape.
Detainees reported being forced into IDP camps surrounded by barbed wire, denied food, water, and sanitation. Survivors were told by AA soldiers to “drink sewage water.”
3. Human Trafficking and Exploitation
Survivors fleeing to Bangladesh via sea routes were targeted by human traffickers, who demanded ransoms of BDT 25,000–30,000 per person.
When families could not pay, traffickers drowned victims at sea. At least 160 Rohingya drowned after ransom extortion.
River pirates in Lal Dip Island abducted survivors and demanded ransom before releasing them back toward Bangladesh.
4. Border Pushbacks and Re-Abductions
August 6, 2025 – Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) arrested 2,000 Rohingya, deported nearly 1,000 back into Myanmar, where pirates abducted them.
Survivors report a cycle of pushbacks, ransom, re-abduction, and repeated deportations.
Witness Testimonies
Hossain, survivor of Maungdaw attacks.
“On August 5, 2024, the Arakan Army struck us with drones. Hundreds died on the road. At the riverbank, more than 300 were killed in minutes. My family and I ran in every direction. The sky was full of drones, and the ground full of blood.”
Mosharraf, survivor of AA detention
“We were kept in the sun, 15,000 of us, with mothers holding dead babies. Later, we were forced into an IDP camp fenced with barbed wire. There was no water, no food, no toilets. When I asked for water, an AA soldier told me to drink sewage. At night, women sat in silence, unable to relieve themselves. I escaped by disguising myself in old clothes.”
Legal Framework and Violations
ICJ Provisional Measures (2020): Myanmar is obligated to ensure the safety of Rohingya civilians.
Genocide Convention (1948): Prohibits killing, causing serious harm, and creating conditions to destroy an ethnic group.
Rome Statute (1998): Acts committed amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Current Violations: Targeted killings, forced displacement, arbitrary detention, torture, and deliberate destruction of civilian life and property.
Conclusions
The coordinated actions of the Myanmar junta and Arakan Army constitute an ongoing genocide against Rohingya Muslims. Violence is systematic, deliberate, and designed to eliminate Rohingya presence in Rakhine State.
Survivors remain trapped in a cycle of displacement, trafficking, and denial of refuge. Despite international recognition of the genocide, justice and protection remain absent.
Recommendations
To the United Nations and ICJ:
Enforce binding measures compelling Myanmar to halt attacks on Rohingya.
Establish independent monitoring inside Rakhine State.
To Bangladesh:
Immediately end the practice of pushbacks.
Ensure safe humanitarian entry for Rohingya survivors.
To ASEAN and International Community:
Impose sanctions on Myanmar military and Arakan Army leadership.
Hold perpetrators accountable through the International Criminal Court (ICC). Support humanitarian corridors and safe zones for Rohingya civilians.
To Human Rights Groups and NGOs:
Document testimonies of survivors systematically for future prosecution.
Provide emergency medical, psychological, and legal support to genocide survivors.
Mohammed Faisal Arakani a Human rights Activists at NYP Camp.
The 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law and Its Impact on the Rohingya People, In 1982, the military regime of Myanmar enacted the Citizenship Law, which has since become one of the most discriminatory legal frameworks in modern history.
This law redefined nationality in Myanmar and effectively stripped the Rohingya ethnic group of their citizenship rights, rendering them stateless in their own ancestral land of Arakan (present-day Rakhine State).
Under the law, citizenship was restricted to members of the so-called “135 recognized ethnic groups”, a list that excluded the Rohingya. Despite historical evidence of Rohingya presence in Arakan for centuries—long before the formation of modern Burma—the law refused to recognize them as one of the country’s indigenous peoples. Instead, the Rohingya were falsely categorized as “Bengali immigrants,” a narrative promoted by both the military junta and Rakhine nationalist groups.
As a result, the Rohingya were denied full citizenship, political representation, education opportunities, property ownership, freedom of movement, and access to government services. This systematic exclusion institutionalized discrimination, paving the way for decades of persecution, forced displacement, and genocidal campaigns.
Mohammed Faisal Arakani’s Testimony on the Citizenship Law.
Human rights activists and Rohingya leaders, including Faisal Arakani, have described the 1982 Citizenship Law as a “genocide law” because it deliberately targeted the Rohingya for exclusion.
Faisal; explained:
“We, the Rohingya ethnic group, were deprived of our citizenship rights in the 1982 genocide citizenship law. We, the Rohingyas, do not currently have citizenship rights, but the Rakhine ethnic group has citizenship rights in its hands, and they are even involved in the functioning of the government.”This testimony reflects a deep truth: while the Rakhine people, an officially recognized ethnic group, continue to enjoy citizenship, government participation, and armed mobilization, the Rohingya remain stateless and vulnerable.
Rakhine Armed Movements and the Rohingya Question;
Despite their citizenship rights, segments of the Rakhine community have taken up arms against the central government, primarily through the Arakan Army (AA). This raises a troubling contradiction: a group recognized by law, with political and social privileges, engages in armed conflict, while the Rohingya- denied every basic right,are systematically displaced, killed, or confined to camps.
For many Rohingya, this contradiction demonstrates that the conflict is not merely about “ethnic rights” but part of a larger plan to erase the Rohingya from Arakan State. By denying them citizenship while allowing Rakhine forces to assert territorial and political power, the Myanmar state effectively legitimized exclusion and violence against the Rohingya.
Lasting Consequences
The 1982 Citizenship Law remains in force today and is the foundation of the Rohingya crisis. Its legacy has led to: The statelessness of over 1.5 million Rohingya worldwide.
Repeated waves of displacement, including the 2017 military crackdown that forced more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
The systematic erasure of Rohingya identity, as Myanmar authorities refuse to acknowledge even the term “Rohingya.”The law continues to stand as both a legal tool of oppression and a symbol of apartheid, barring the Rohingya from recognition as equal citizens in their homeland.
The Rohingya people are an ethnic Muslim minority indigenous to the historical region of Arakan (now Rakhine State, Myanmar). For centuries, they coexisted with other communities in the region and held recognition as part of Burma’s diverse population. Following independence in 1948, Rohingya were issued national identity cards and participated in political life, including representation in parliament.
This changed drastically after the military took power. Successive regimes began to label the Rohingya as “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh, despite evidence of their longstanding presence. The turning point came with the 1982 Citizenship Law, enacted by General Ne Win’s military junta, which systematically excluded the Rohingya from recognition as citizens of Myanmar.
2. Legal Framework of the 1982 Citizenship Law
The 1982 law redefined citizenship into three categories:
Full Citizenship – granted only to members of “135 officially recognized ethnic groups.”
Associate Citizenship – for those who applied under the 1948 Citizenship Act but did not qualify under the new law.
Naturalized Citizenship – for individuals able to provide proof of ancestry dating back to before 1948.
The Rohingya were excluded from the 135 ethnic groups and were falsely classified as “Bengali immigrants.” In practice, the law:
Denied the Rohingya full or associate citizenship.
Made naturalized citizenship nearly impossible, requiring documents most Rohingya did not possess due to decades of marginalization.
Institutionalized discrimination by embedding statelessness into Myanmar’s legal system.
3. Discriminatory Impact on the Rohingya
The denial of citizenship had devastating consequences:
Statelessness: Rohingya lost their legal status as citizens of Myanmar.
Political Exclusion: Rohingya were barred from voting and running for office.
Restrictions on Movement: Travel between villages, towns, or outside Rakhine State required special permits.
Loss of Basic Rights: Access to education, healthcare, and property ownership was restricted.
Targeted Violence: The law created a legal foundation for state-led persecution, including mass killings, forced displacement, and confinement in camps.
Human rights advocates describe the 1982 law as a tool of genocide. Rohingya leader Musharraf explained:
“We, the Rohingya ethnic group, were deprived of our citizenship rights in the 1982 genocide citizenship law. We, the Rohingyas, do not currently have citizenship rights, but the Rakhine ethnic group has citizenship rights in its hands, and they are even involved in the functioning of the government.”
Despite enjoying citizenship and political participation, parts of the Rakhine community have taken up arms against the central government, mainly through the Arakan Army (AA). This contradiction, where Rohingya are stateless and persecuted, while Rakhine armed groups expand power—suggests a deliberate plan to displace and erase the Rohingya from their homeland.
5. International Response
The United Nations and numerous human rights organizations have condemned the 1982 law as discriminatory and incompatible with international human rights standards.
The U.S. government has declared Myanmar’s actions against the Rohingya a genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in provisional measures (2020), ordered Myanmar to protect the Rohingya, yet the law remains unchanged.
Despite international recognition of the Rohingya crisis, there has been no meaningful reform of the law, and Myanmar authorities continue to deny the Rohingya’s existence as an ethnic group.
6. Conclusion
The 1982 Citizenship Law is not merely a piece of legislation but a cornerstone of the systematic persecution of the Rohingya. By stripping them of citizenship, Myanmar institutionalized apartheid, statelessness, and mass displacement.
Unless repealed or reformed, the law will continue to fuel cycles of violence and displacement. Recognition of the Rohingya as citizens of Myanmar is an essential step toward justice, accountability, and a durable solution to one of the world’s longest-running human rights crises.
Reported Rohingya political journalist Saiful Arakani.
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