The United Nations warned that a human tragedy was occurring in Rakhine State on Friday, expressing fear that the atrocities against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar might recur.
Volker Turk, the UN’s human rights commissioner, expressed great concern about the rapidly worsening situation throughout Myanmar, especially in Rakhine, where he claimed hundreds of civilians had perished while attempting to escape conflict.
Since the rebel Arakan Army attacked the army of Myanmar’s ruling junta in November, a ceasefire that had mainly held since a military takeover in 2021, clashes have erupted in Rakhine.
The state is home to some 600,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority, and the AA claims it is fighting for greater autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine community.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Rakhine in 2017 during a crackdown by the military that is now the subject of a United Nations genocide court case.
“Thousands of Rohingya have been forced to flee on foot, with the Arakan Army herding them repeatedly into locations that offer scant safe haven,” Turk said in a statement.
“As the border crossings to Bangladesh remain closed, members of the Rohingya community are finding themselves trapped between the military and its allies and the Arakan Army, with no path to safety.”
Bangladesh is now home to around one million Rohingya refugees.“This month marks seven years since the military operations which drove 700,000 across the border into Bangladesh. Despite the world saying ‘never again’, we are once more witnessing killings, destruction and displacement in Rakhine,” said Turk.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that it “stretches the bounds of credulity” for parties involved in the armed conflict to deny culpability for assaults against the Rohingya.
Based on its information, the Arakan Army and the military have both engaged in grave human rights abuses and crimes against the Rohingya, according to the UN Human Rights Office.
These include enforced recruitment, indiscriminate bombing of cities and villages, arson attacks, kidnappings, and extrajudicial executions, some of which include beheadings.
“Both the military and the Arakan Army bear direct responsibility for the human tragedy that is unfolding in Rakhine,” said Turk.
“These atrocities demand an unequivocal response: those responsible must be held accountable, and justice must be pursued relentlessly.
“Recurrence of the crimes and horrors of the past must be prevented as a moral duty and a legal necessity.”
Turk encouraged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, to take all necessary precautions to protect the Rohingya and appealed on both parties to stop attacking civilians.
