Rohingya people in Myanmar’s Rakhine face renewed violence, alarms human rights groups

maktoob media
Maktoob Staff
May 20,2024 

Rohingya people remaining in Buthidaung township, northern Rakhine state, have reported being targeted with coordinated killings, large-scale arson attacks and shelling, beginning on Friday 17 May, Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, an independent human rights group said.

200,000 people are reported to be displaced with unconfirmed numbers of casualties. SAC-M said credible sources cite Arakan Army soldiers as committing the attacks. The Arakan Army claimed on 18 May that its forces had seized the last remaining Myanmar military junta bases in Buthidaung township, which borders Bangladesh.

The group demanded the UN Human Rights Council to convene an urgent special session to address the crisis.

Addressing the issue, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Sunday said he is “deeply alarmed by reports of renewed violence and property destruction in Buthidaung township in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, resulting in the displacement of potentially tens of thousands of civilians, mainly Rohingya”. 

“While we seek to corroborate information indicating serious violations, I appeal directly to the Myanmar military and Arakan Army to pause the fighting, protect civilians, allow immediate and unhindered humanitarian access, and comply fully and unconditionally with international law – including the measures already ordered by the International Court of Justice for the protection of Rohingya,” Türk said in a statement

The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also expresses deep concern and alarm over recent reports of violence, forced displacement, and property destruction against the Rohingya Muslim community in Buthidaung Township in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

“The OIC General Secretariat underscores the responsibility of all parties involved in the conflict, especially the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, to protect all Rohingya people in accordance with international law,” the statement read.

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