Source: Amnesty International –
By Joe Freeman, Myanmar Researcher at Amnesty International, and Carolyn Nash, Asia Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA
This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian
Thirteen-year-old Nasima is scared of the dark.
But the Rohingya girl’s fears are not imaginary.
For her, the monsters are real: criminal gangs that stalk her refugee camp at night.
“After 7pm, we turn off the light in fear of the robber,” she said. “At nighttime, we cannot go out, even to go to the toilet.”
“Night is dark for us.”
Nasima was a young child when she and her family fled their homes in Myanmar in 2017, escaping military operations that killed thousands, razed entire villages, and pushed more than 700,000 Rohingya into precarious camps in Bangladesh. Having endured a childhood in the world’s largest refugee camp, where 1.2 million Rohingya now live, she nevertheless remains optimistic about her future, with dreams of becoming a lawyer.
Nasima is luckier than most. She is able to attend a camp school that charges affordable tuition fees. Her days are regimented by prayer, study, painting, and spending time at a local recreational club with friends.
Still, she sees decline all around her, rattling off a list of societal ailments: domestic violence has become more frequent; so has gambling; and she warns that child marriage will increase.
Today, the UN General Assembly is hosting a high-level conference on the situation of the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar. While the overall goal is for Rohingya to be able to go home to Myanmar, few are under any illusion that it can happen any time soon. Northern Rakhine State, where most of the Rohingya in the Bangladesh camps are from, is now under the control of the Arakan Army, which is engaged in active conflict with the Myanmar military and Rohingya armed groups.
To many in Myanmar, the Arakan Army is seen as a liberating force that is waging a just fight against the Myanmar military, which, since seizing power in 2021, has killed more than 7,000 civilians in a widespread campaign of arbitrary detention, burning of villages, and indiscriminate airstrikes against schools, hospitals, and camps sheltering displaced people.
But to many Rohingya who have fled their rule to Bangladesh, the Arakan Army have come to resemble yet another oppressor in a long line of institutions and individuals who have denied Rohingya their rights as citizens of Myanmar. That includes the Myanmar military and even the ousted civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who defended the military against genocide charges at the International Court of Justice in 2019. Despite putting what remained of her reputation as a human rights champion on the line to face those accusations, the military still detained her during the 2021 coup and she remains imprisoned.
Amnesty International, the UN’s human rights office (OHCHR), and many others have documented serious abuses by the Arakan Army against Rohingya civilians, including extrajudicial executions, forced labour, and arbitrary detention. While the Arakan Army has largely denied these allegations, pointing to attacks by the Myanmar military, Rohingya armed groups, and security challenges during an armed conflict, it has yet to demonstrate that it can provide the Rohingya people with the full rights they are owed.
Whatever authority exists in Rakhine State, it has to take these points into consideration, or risk repeating the mistakes and abuses of history. As OHCHR’s latest report puts it, “without addressing the root causes of the Rohingya crisis, which include ensuring their rights to security, citizenship, and equality, the cycle of violence against the Rohingya, their statelessness, and systemic exclusion will continue.”