Myanmar

Snapshot

Since 1962, Myanmar (formerly Burma) has been ruled by an oppressive military junta that has maintained absolute rule over the Southeast Asian nation of 54 million with a majority Buddhist population. For decades, the military government has enacted oppressive policies and enforced emergency and provisional conditions on the minority Muslim Rohingya population in Rakhine state, as well as on other ethnic minorities in the country. Reports from as far back as the 1980's detail the suffering and persecution targeting the Rohingya population, including policies of atrocity crimes to force conditions unbearable for survival. In 2016, the government began anew an all out genocidal campaign, setting entire villages ablaze with the people trapped inside, murdering men and boys and raping women and girls, killing children in front of their families, and destroying houses and possessions. The widespread use of sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war as well as the policy of burning families alive in their houses has been documented extensively in the 2019 case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide.

Genesis

Over four decades, a series of repressive laws stripping the Rohingya of citizenship and rendering them stateless have placed them in an extremely vulnerable position, restricting their access to education, healthcare, property, and self-determination. In successive waves, the ruling military junta has attacked Rohingya villages, driving hundreds of thousands out of their homes and out of the country. Those left behind are subjected to extreme levels of violence, including rape, torture, and systematic killings. Buddhist extremists, including monks and priests, along with security forces and party members with the backing of the military have conducted massive atrocity campaigns against the Rohingya Muslims using various false pretexts. These campaigns have also sought to turn ordinary Burmese against their Rohingya neighbors through propaganda and false rumors.

Despite extensive coverage of the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, the genocide is still underway:

• The government has undertook a massive hate campaign against the Rohingya to demonize and dehumanize them, with the cooperation of the media, including Facebook. See report.

• Their position as a stateless people has placed them in an extremely precarious position as refugees, making it exceedingly difficult to find refuge elsewhere. See report.

• Journalists, politicians, and activists who have attempted to speak out against the genocide or investigate government crimes have faced persecution and arrest. See report.

• The government has implemented a policy of forced starvation and hunger, including preventing access to food, destroying farming land, and confiscating crops. See report.

• As a means of erasing the Rohingya people, official maps have removed villages from their records and renamed areas to deny the existence of their original residents. See report.

Reports

Genocide Report: HRW

"All You Can Do is Pray": Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing in Rakhine and Arakan

UN Factfinding Mission

Detailed findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar

A video documentary detailing eyewitness accounts and the use of false flag incidents to incite genocide.

The Making of a Genocide