Urgent Call on the Irish Government to Protect the Rohingya People in Rakhine State onn Seventh Anniversary of Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day

Carlow
August 25, 2024

Seven years after Myanmar/Burma’s military conducted genocidal attacks against the Rohingya people, they are now facing further atrocities perpetrated by both the Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar/Burma’s military junta.

Since May this year, the Rohingya community in Rakhine State has been subjected to mass killings, shelling, widespread arson, large-scale displacement and forcible recruitment. The last two remaining Rohingya-majority towns of Buthidaung and Maungdaw have been destroyed.

In one incident on 5th August 2024, it is estimated that at least 200 civilians were killed in what has become known as the Naf River massacre. The victims were trying to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape violent conflict between the Arakan Army and the military junta in Maungdaw township. Survivors and witnesses of the attack report that drones and artillery fire were launched from the area under the control of the Arakan Army. This assault follows a similar pattern of drone strikes on Maungdaw and surrounding Rohingya villages in recent weeks. 

The Arakan Army has expanded its control across northern Rakhine State and in May this year captured Buthidaung township, where Rohingya neighbourhoods were attacked, thousands reportedly were killed, Rohingya homes and villages were burned down and an estimated 45,000 Rohingya civilians were displaced. 

Activists have described the violations as worse than the Myanmar/Burma’s military’s 2017 brutal “clearance operation” of massacres, rape and arson in which thousands of Rohingya civilians were killed, Rohingya villages were burned to the ground and almost 800,000 Rohingya people fled across the border to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Rohingya civilians trapped by the intense fighting between the Arakan Army and Myanmar/Burma’s military are in urgent need of international protection and humanitarian assistance.

Seven years on, the victims are still waiting for justice and accountability. The international community, including Ireland, must do more to end the attacks on the Rohingya people and ensure that the perpetrators of grave human rights violations are held to account.

We request the Irish Government to:

• Exert maximum pressure on the Arakan Army and Myanmar/Burma’s military to immediately cease all hostilities against civilians, including by taking a principled stance and publicly criticising the Arakan Army when it commits atrocities such as the Naf River massacre. The protection of civilians must be the highest priority.
• Consider imposing sanctions on the Arakan Army and its leadership should it continue to commit severe and systematic human rights violations against the Rohingya people.
• Support Bangladesh in its effort to rescue those fleeing from recent fighting and violence in Rakhine State and provide protection and humanitarian assistance, including food, medicine and shelter to ensure the rights and dignity of these refugees are upheld.
• Provide immediate protection, healthcare, and mental health and psychosocial support to women, children, and elderly persons affected by the recent attacks, including those exposed to sexual and gender-based violence, in Rakhine State.
• Work with the Government of Bangladesh on the establishment of an emergency humanitarian corridor from Bangladesh into areas of Rakhine State under the control of the Arakan Army.
• Support the National Unity Government, ethnic resistance organisations, religious bodies, political parties and civil society in and from Myanmar in their efforts to dismantle the Myanmar military and establish a federal democratic union and to implement The Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.
• Join and expedite the ongoing international efforts to hold all perpetrators of grave human rights violations to account under international law through all available avenues.