8 Years On: Accountability needed for Myanmar atrocities against Rohingya

A M N E S T Y
INTERNATIONAL 
25 August 2025

August 25, 2025, marks eight years since the Myanmar military and authorities launched widespread atrocities against the Rohingya population in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. 

Starting in August 2017, Myanmar security forces razed several hundred Rohingya villages and killed Rohingya women, men, and children throughout northern Rakhine State, forcing at least 700,000 to flee to Bangladesh. An Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar documented evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Since these atrocities, no one has been held accountable in Myanmar for the crimes committed against the Rohingya.

Putin has a history of atrocities. Just how far will Russian forces go in Ukraine?

THE GUARDIAN
Kenneth Roth
Thu 3 Mar 2022
Kenneth Roth is executive director of Human Rights Watch


We have already seen indiscriminate use of cluster munitions, and the firing of ballistic missiles and rocket artillery

 

What can be done to stop a worsening spiral of indiscriminate warfare that would endanger countless Ukrainian civilians?’ People shelter from Russian attacks in a Kyiv underground station on Wednesday. Photograph: Roman Pilipey/EPA


As Russian forces invading Ukraine confront stronger and more effective resistance than the Kremlin probably anticipated, the big question is: what comes next. The Russian military has a history of meeting such resistance with serious violations of the laws of war, including deliberately targeting civilians and subjecting them to indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks.

Why Don’t More People Know About the Atrocities in Myanmar?

JEWISH JOURNAL

Tabby Refael
April 16, 2021

I’m waiting for the day when the plight of the Rohingya appears on the front page of every major American newspaper and is championed by every leader in the Muslim word.

Residents of the Tamwe area protest against the military coup while shouting slogans during a candle light vigil on April 03, 2021 in Yangon, Myanmar. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)

Myanmar (also known as Burma) is a Southeast Asian nation that borders Bangladesh, Laos, Thailand, China and India. This February, the Burmese military junta staged a coup and nullified election results from November 2020, in which the civilian political party National League for Democracy, won 83% of the seats in parliament. Since then, the military has brutally suppressed peaceful protests, arresting hundreds of people (including politicians and civil society activists) and killing over 700 people, including children. Last Friday, the military butchered over 80 protestors near Yangon. Thousands of others have disappeared.

Book review: Trauma of 2017 atrocities haunts the Rohingya

The Korea Times

Kang Hyun-kyung

2021-03-21

Rohingya refugees walk at their makeshift camp on the outskirts of Jammu, India, on March 9. Authorities have begun identifying Rohingya Muslims who have taken refuge in Jammu in the past few years. AP-Yonhap

Ronan Lee's 'Myanmar's Rohingya Genocide: Identity, History and Hate Speech' traces the roots of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar

Ronan Lee's "Myanmar's Rohingya Genocide: Identity, History and Hate Speech" is an informative, timely piece that helps readers deepen their understanding of the 2017 ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people and its lingering tragic impact on them.

Rohingya family living in UK: 'We have to hold the military accountable for its atrocities'

Asian Image
Muhammad Khan
@MUHASSANKHAN

13th February 2021

Rohingya family living in UK: 'We have to hold the military accountable for its atrocities'

A Rohingya family now living in the UK have spoken of their experiences and the atrocities carried out by the Burmese military. They also told of life in a refugee camp.

Sirazul Islam, 21, was born in a camp in Kutupalong, Bangladesh and lived there till the age of eight before coming to the UK. He currently lives with his family in Bradford.

The world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s bazaar in Bangladesh is home to one million Muslim Rohingya people. The Rohingya are commonly referred to as the most persecuted minority in the world.

Atrocities on Rohingyas: Nothing credible done to improve situation in Rakhine

The Daily Star

Diplomatic correspondent
May 23, 2020

Say Asean parliamentarians as Myanmar set to submit first report today to ICJ in genocide case

Myanmar has done nothing credible to improve the situation for the Rohingya in Rakhine state of Myanmar, said Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights yesterday, a day ahead of the deadline for Myanmar, as asked by UN top court, to submit its first report today on actions taken to prevent genocide against the Rohingya.

Atrocities against Rohingyas: Tula Toli victims ask ICC judges to allow investigation

Dhaka Tribune

Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan
October 29th, 2019

File photo: Rohingya people line up to be interviewed for the repatriation to Myanmar outside the office of the camp-in-charge in Shalbagan refugee camp, Cox's Bazar on Wednesday, August 21, 2019 Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

Crimes committed against Rohingyas in Bangladesh should also be taken into cognizance, say lawyers for 86 victims in a 32-page submission to the ICC

A total 86 Rohingya victims of the Tula Toli massacre carried out by Myanmar military at the end of August, 2017, have asked judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to allow Fatou Bensouda, the ICC prosecutor, to launch an investigation into the atrocities against them.

Military Atrocities ‘Relentless and Ruthless’ in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State Share Amnesty International has gathered fresh evidence that the Myanmar military is con

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
10/23/2019

Amnesty International has gathered fresh evidence that the Myanmar military is continuing to commit atrocities against ethnic minorities in the north of the country, with civilians bearing the brunt of offensives against multiple armed groups. The conflicts show no sign of abating, raising the prospect of further violations.

A new report, “Caught in the middle”: Abuses against civilians amid conflict in Myanmar’s northern Shan State, details the harrowing conditions of civilians arbitrarily arrested, detained and tortured by the military. It also highlights the abusive tactics used by ethnic armed groups as they confront the military and each other to exert control in the region.

EP calls for stronger int'l action to end atrocities against Rohingya

Kuwait New Agency ( KUNA )
16/10/2019

European Parliament hosts conference on Rohingya

BRUSSELS, Oct 16 (KUNA) -- Speakers at a conference on Rohingya hosted by the European Parliament (EP) urged the international community and the European Union to take stronger action to stop the persecution and atrocities against the Rohingya community in Myanmar.

Atrocities on Rohingyas: Inaction of key world powers delays justice

The Daily Star
August 27, 2019
Porimol Palma

Justice remains elusive for Rohingyas even after two years due to a lack of strong support from major world powers, like the US, China, and Russia, said legal and international experts.

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) move to probe the alleged acts of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military on Rohingyas was promising but the court has no jurisdiction over Myanmar, they said.

Bangladesh highlights UN’s failure to prevent atrocities in Myanmar

The Daily Star
June 29, 2019

A Rohingya refugee repairs the roof of his shelter at the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, March 5, 2019. Reuters file photo

The Permanent Representative (PR) of Bangladesh Ambassador Masud Bin Momen has highlighted the UN's systematic failure to prevent atrocities in Rakhaine state of Myanmar.

He referred to the recent report on 'Independent inquiry into the involvement of the UN in Myanmar from 2010 to 2018' of Gert Rosenthal, the former Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister.

Malaysia: Ensure Accountability for Mass Graves, Human Trafficking Atrocities Against Rohingya

FORTIFY RIGHT
RIGHTS

News Release

Malaysia: Ensure Accountability for Mass Graves, Human Trafficking Atrocities Against Rohingya

Report finds trafficking syndicate committed crimes against humanity

(KUALA LUMPUR, March 27, 2019)—In a new joint report released today, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) and Fortify Rights find reasonable grounds to believe that a human-trafficking syndicate committed crimes against humanity in Malaysia and Thailand against Rohingya men, women, and children from 2012 to 2015.

The 121-page report follows the Government of Malaysia’s recent creation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate human trafficking and mass graves—believed to contain the bodies of trafficked Rohingya and Bangladeshis—discovered in Wang Kelian, Perlis State in 2015. The Royal Commission of Inquiry is expected to submit its final report in June.

Myanmar military court to probe atrocities

THE AUSTRALIAN

Reuters

March 18, 2019

Myanmar's army has set up a military court to investigate its conduct during a crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017 that forced more than 730,000 to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The court, comprising a major-general and two colonels, will investigate events in western Myanmar's Rakhine state in August 2017, the military said on Monday in a statement posted online.

Individuals responsible for alleged Rakhine atrocities will face justice: ICC

mizzima
By AFP , 12 March 2019 

(File) Soldiers patrol past burning houses amid ongoing violence in Sittwe, capital of Myanmar's western state of Rakhine, on June 12, 2012. Photo: AFP

 

The people responsible for the alleged atrocities that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee from Myanmar's Rakhine state will be held to account, an International Criminal Court official said on Monday.

Individuals responsible for Rohingya atrocities will face justice: ICC

FRANCE24
Date created : 11/03/2019

About 740,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August 2017 following a brutal military crackdown that UN officials described as "ethnic cleansing" AFP/File

Dhaka (AFP)

The people responsible for the atrocities that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee from Myanmar's Rakhine state will be held to account, an International Criminal Court official said on Monday.

ICC team probes Rohingya atrocities in Bangladesh

RAPPLER
Published 8:53 PM, March 06, 2019

The International Criminal Court in a statement says the probe is part of the prosecutor office's 'ongoing preliminary examinations concerning the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar'

ICC PROBE. A young Rohingya refugee walks back to his home at Balukhali refugee camp in Ukhia on February 4, 2019. Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/AFP

DHAKA, Bangladesh – A team from the office of the International Criminal Court prosecutor was in Bangladesh on Wednesday, March 6, for a preliminary probe into alleged atrocities committed against the Rohingya by the Myanmar military in 2017.

International Criminal Court team in Bangladesh for Rohingya atrocities probe

bdnews24.com
Senior Correspondent,  bdnews24.com Published: 07 Mar 2019

Demonstrators in front of the European Union headquarters in Brussels call for an end to the genocide of Rohingyas in Myanmar's Rakhine State. File Photo: mostafigur rahman 

A delegation from the office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor has arrived in Dhaka for an initial probe into alleged atrocities committed against the Rohingya by the Myanmar military.

Apart from meeting with the relevant ministers and senior officials, the seven-member team would go to Cox’s Bazar, an official with knowledge of their visit told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

Rohingya atrocities: ICC team arrives Wednesday

DhakaTribune

March 6th, 2019

A group of Rohingya refugee people walk in the water after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh Reuters

 

With the latest influx, Bangladesh is now home to over 1.1 million Rohingyas, living in overcrowded camps in the south eastern district of Cox’s Bazar

A delegation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is set to arrive in Bangladesh on Wednesday to gather information on atrocities committed against Rohingyas by the Myanmar military.