Persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar Escalates

Freddie Lloyd (/blog-1/?author=595655accd0f684157c180c4) · June 30, 2017 (/blog-
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Myanmar recently entered the 69th year of what is considered to be the world’s longest
running civil war. There are at least 15 armies involved in the conflict against Myanmar’s
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running civil war. There are at least 15 armies involved in the conflict against Myanmar’s
government, each representing a different ethnic group or region, and each involved in a series
of fragile alliances and ceasefires. One aspect of this conflict that has received particular
international attention in recent years concerns alleged human rights abuses by Myanmar’s
armed forces against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the eastern state of Rakhine. This month
the State Counsellor, and de facto leader, of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi announced that she
would refuse to allow a proposed UN fact-finding mission permission to enter Myanmar to
investigate these allegations, further increasing suspicion concerning the severity of the
offences taking place in the region.
A troubled history
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group in Myanmar, a country in which roughly 90% of the
population identify as Buddhist. They have lived on the western coast of Myanmar in the state
of Rakhine since the 15th century, with their numbers increasing dramatically through
immigration from neighbouring Bengal during British rule. Throughout this time there has been
tension and sporadic violence between the Rohingya and native Burmese groups, such as the
Rakhine Buddhists.
This ethnic tension increased throughout the 20th century. During the Second World War, the
Rohingya sided with, and were armed by, the British; whilst the Rakhine Buddhists generally
fought on the side of Japan, as they believed the Japanese would offer them independence if
victorious. After the British reclaimed Myanmar, the Rohingya unsuccessfully demanded that
Rakhine be annexed to Pakistan; the legacy of these events served to divide the groups even
further.
Since the Second World War, the situation of the Rohingya in Myanmar has steadily worsened
against a background of almost continuous ethnic warfare throughout the country. The civil war
began in 1948, immediately after Burma gained independence from Britain. Initially the conflict
involved a fight for power between the newly formed nationalist government and communist
rebels; there was also a second conflict between the government and the separatist Christian
Karen minority. Over the decades these conflicts have multiplied, and now involve upwards of
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15 armies and separatist groups.
Fighting in Rakhine state has been sporadic, with most of the conflict in the civil war involving
separatist groups in the east of Myanmar. However armed Rohingya insurgency movements
have existed in various iterations throughout this time, although they have never numbered
more than a few hundred soldiers, and have offered little threat to the nation’s military.
In spite of this limited threat, the actions of these small resistance forces have often been
used by the military as a pretext for repressive measures against Rohingya civilians. For
example, in 1977-78, 200,000 Rohingya fled into Bangladesh due to brutality and repression by
Myanmar’s army, before eventually being repatriated back to Rakhine state. Since this period,
neither Bangladesh nor Myanmar have been willing to accept the Rohingya as citizens, so the
process of refugees fleeing and then being forcibly repatriated has been repeated several
times, most notably in 1992, and again over the last few years.
Recent developments
The latest phase of the conflict in Rakhine began in 2012 with a series of anti-Muslim riots in
the north of the state, encouraged by some local political and Buddhist groups. Conservative
estimates suggest that hundreds of Rohingya were killed (including 70 in one day in the village
of Yan Thei) and 140,000 were displaced. The role of the Burmese army in the riots is unclear,
however Human Rights Watch suggests that “all of the state security forces…are implicated in
failing to prevent atrocities or directly participating in them, including…the army and navy”.
Furthermore, the authorities did not prosecute anyone for the human rights violations carried
out during the riots, feeding the idea that Rohingya Muslims could be attacked with impunity.
In April 2016, Nobel peace prize winner and democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi was
elected as State Counsellor for Myanmar with the promise that she would transition Myanmar
away from military rule, and work to end the civil war. Suu Kyi initially made concerted
attempts at a rapprochement between the various parties in the conflict, for example by
creating a government advisory committee on Rakhine chaired by Kofi Annan and by organising
a series of peace conferences involving all sides in the conflict, the most recent of which took
place in May 2017.
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However in general her response to the violence against Rohingya Muslims has been strongly
criticised by human rights groups. She did not condemn the 2012 riots and repeatedly refused
to acknowledge the evidence of state-organised violence against the Rohingya. This refusal is
most likely an attempt to keep the still powerful generals on side, and to maintain support
amongst Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, who largely support the army’s actions in Rakhine.
Her inaction on this issue became particularly obvious during the most recent escalation of the
conflict, which began in October 2016 after nine Myanmarese border officers were killed by
Rohingya militants during an attack on a military outpost. The response by Myanmar’s military
forces was swift and brutal. It has been estimated that since November 2016 over a thousand
Rohingya have been killed and over 168,000 have fled abroad. A report by the UN special
rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, based on interviews with displaced Rohingya, contains
multiple accounts of child killing, gang rape and other human rights violations. These estimates
are necessarily uncertain as a clear picture of the extent of the violence is not possible
because journalists and aid workers have been prohibited from entering the state since the
conflict began, despite the fact that the military claims the conflict ended in February 2017.
Very recently in May 2017, the UN belatedly led a fact-finding mission to investigate these
allegations against Myanmar’s military forces. However this week, Aung San Suu Kyi has
rejected this mission, saying that it would create “greater hostility between different
communities”. The situation therefore shows little sign of improving, with a report by the
International State Crime Initiative even suggesting that an escalation into genocide against
the Rohingya is possible.
Conclusion
Violence against the Rohingya appears to be on the increase, with elements of the government
and military in Myanmar seemingly set on driving the group out of the country. The initial hope
of many that Aung San Suu Kyi would prevent further ethnic violence has proved naïve, as
internal politics in Myanmar militates against defending an unpopular minority. Whilst this issue
is receiving increased media coverage in the West, there appears to be little prospect of action
by the international community against Myanmar. Currently the best hope for the Rohingya is
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by the international community against Myanmar. Currently the best hope for the Rohingya is
that the UN develops a tougher stance against Myanmar, or that other regional powers become
more amenable to accepting refugees.
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8/29/2017 Violence Escalates Between Myanmar Forces and Rohingya - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/world/asia/violence-escalates-between-myanmar-forces-and-rohingya.html?mcubz=0 1/5
https://nyti.ms/2euAmDy
ASIA PACIFIC
Violence Escalates Between Myanmar Forces and
Rohingya
By JANE PERLEZ and WAI MOE NOV. 13, 2016
SITTWE, Myanmar — Violence between the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim population, and Myanmar’s security
forces escalated over the weekend as two soldiers were killed by crudely armed attackers, said government officials
and Muslim residents. In retaliation, troops of the Buddhist-majority government used helicopters to fire at the
attackers in dense forest in northwestern Myanmar, a government spokesman said.
The two soldiers were killed Saturday by attackers armed with guns, knives and spears near the village of
Gwason, south of Maungdaw, the main town in northern Rakhine, said the state information officer, U San Nwe.
About 500 attackers were involved in the clash, he said. The area is closed to Western journalists, making it
impossible to verify the scale of the fighting.
The remote enclave of northern Rakhine State, close to the Bangladeshi border, has been under siege since the
government sent security forces to hunt for what it said were armed Rohingya assailants who had killed nine police
officers in early October.
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Since then, human rights groups have received reports of killings of unarmed Rohingya men by Myanmar
soldiers, rapes of Rohingya women by soldiers in a number of villages, and beatings of Rohingya men held in
detention in the town of Maungdaw. Before the latest attack, as many as 100 Rohingya civilians may have been killed,
the groups say.
Western diplomats have called on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate who leads Myanmar’s government,
to conduct an independent investigation into the violence. So far, she has declined, allowing a Rakhine State
committee to investigate. She has also urged that specific complaints be filed with a commission headed by Kofi
Annan, the former United Nations secretary general, that was formed in August.
Her spokesman, U Zaw Htay, said on Sunday that the latest attacks made it necessary for the military and police
operation to continue until the culprits were arrested and the weapons they had seized were found. The troops have
been instructed to respect human rights, he said. But Myanmar’s army is known to be poorly trained and has a record
rife with human rights abuses, including rape, in its battles with various separatist groups over many years, Western
diplomats say.
Also on Saturday, a police car was hit by the blast from a roadside mine near the village of Kyikanpyin, north of
Maungdaw, where five of the nine police officers were killed on Oct. 9, according to the Ministry of Information in
Naypyidaw, the capital. No one was killed in the blast on Saturday.
Reached by telephone in Maungdaw on Sunday, Mohammed Sultan, a retired Rohingya teacher, said some
students had told him that their villages had been set on fire. “One of my pupils said he was hiding in the rice field,”
Mr. Sultan said. The connection then went dead, he said.
High-definition satellite images taken in October and this month showed widespread burning of Rohingya
villages, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday.

Although relations between the Rohingya and the security forces have always been tense, the tactic of Rohingya
men attacking police stations, targeting security forces and apparently planting roadside bombs is new, government
officials and Rohingya activists say.
The motivation for the increase in violence by what appears to be a small group of armed Rohingya men is not
clear.
The government, providing little proof, immediately blamed two little-known groups: Aqa Mul Mujahidin and
the Rohingya Solidarity Organization.
The decades-long repression of the Rohingya by the Myanmar authorities made the population of about one
million Rohingya fertile ground for Islamic radicalization, activists and diplomats say.
Here in Sittwe, in southern Rakhine, more than 100,000 Rohingya have been kept in what amount to internment
camps for four years, prevented from traveling and forbidden to reclaim land and property destroyed during
communal violence in 2012.
The new violence north of Sittwe was worse than that four years ago, said Mohamed Saed, a community leader.
“Then, it was communal violence between two groups: Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists,” he said. “This is now direct
government repression.”
Several Rohingya leaders said they did not believe Rohingya ties to radical jihadists were the cause of the attacks
five weeks ago. New, harsh proposals by the government may have been the catalyst, they suggested.
In September, a Rakhine official, Col. Htein Lin, said the government would destroy all “illegally” built
structures, including more than 2,500 houses, 600 shops, a dozen mosques and more than 30 schools.

U Kyaw Min, a Rohingya who is the chairman of the Democracy and Human Rights Party, said, “That was saying
we have to reduce the population of Rohingya and push them over the border to Bangladesh.”
The attitude of officials in Rakhine State toward the Rohingya is unequivocal. They call the Rohingya “Bengalis,”
implying that they belong in Bangladesh.
A leader of the Arakan National Party, U Aung Win, said it was now necessary to form a special paramilitary
force.
The Rohingya make up more than 90 percent of northern Rakinine State’s population, outnumbering the
Rakhine Buddhists, so more protection is needed for the Buddhist minority, Mr. Aung Win said. The two groups
cannot live together, he insisted.
Mr. Aung Win is also the chairman of the Rakhine State investigation into the Oct. 9 attacks.
The Rohingya villages around Kyikanpyin have become armed camps, according to telephone conversations and
text messages from villagers to friends in Sittwe. Food is scarce, and a strict dusk-to-dawn curfew is enforced, they
say. In those areas, villagers say soldiers have raped women and stolen their jewelry.
Three women, ages 23, 21 and 17, were raped Wednesday by soldiers living in the local school, said Mohamed
Rahim, a village leader in Pyoung Pai, not far from Kyikanpyin.
“The villagers were told to gather in the rice fields, but the three girls were told to stay in the house with their
mother,” he said in a telephone interview. “Before the rape, they told the mother to get out. I then saw the military
enter the house.”
Myanmar officials deny that rapes have occurred. “It’s not so easy to rape a Bengali woman,” Mr. Aung Win said.
“All the Bengali villages are covered by bamboo netting and plastic.”

In a recent interview with the BBC, Mr. Aung Win said it was impossible that soldiers had raped the women
because Rohingya “are very dirty.”
The question of the rapes is particularly sensitive. The Myanmar Times newspaper fired a journalist, Fiona
MacGregor, for writing an article about alleged rapes of Rohingya women on Oct. 19.
A version of this article appears in print on November 14, 2016, on Page A3 of the New York edition with the headline: Attacks by Myanmar Forces
and Rohingya Escalate.
© 2017 The New York Times Company

8/29/2017 What’s Next for Myanmar’s Rakhine State? | The Diplomat
http://thediplomat.com/2017/03/whats-next-for-myanmars-rakhine-state/ 1/4
Soldiers march during a parade to mark Armed
Forces Day in Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw (March
27, 2016).
Image Credit: REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
What’s Next for Myanmar’s Rakhine State?
The government declared the clearance operation over last month – it’s not so simple.
Four months after a retaliatory counterinsurgency campaign plunged Myanmar’s western coast into the
depths of a humanitarian crisis, the government suddenly, and without much fanfare, declared the military
operation over as of February 9.
For beleaguered Rakhine State and the tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims displaced by the recent
violence, this cessation marked a barely perceptible shift in a long entrenched conflict. For the military and
the police personnel who continue to be deployed along Rakhine’s northern border – which remains subject
to a lockdown and has reportedly been lashed with fresh attacks – it appears to denote a change in scale, if
not in character. In fact, with the three-hour relaxation of the curfew signifying the most drastic alteration,
one might be forgiven for not noticing the campaign’s end at all.
From October 9 through February 9, police and Myanmar’s military – known as the Tatmadaw – launched
a thundering joint operation in response to deadly attacks on border guard posts, attacks that were believed to have been orchestrated by a foreign-funded
insurgent group. The brutality of the operation provoked international outcry, while raids carried out against civilian villages under the auspices of militant
“clearance operations” begged the question of the campaign’s intended aim.
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By the time the campaign’s conclusion was declared, the onslaught had not just failed to root out the Rohingya insurgency, it galvanized the organization’s cause,
training an international spotlight on the plight of a largely defenseless community. Through hounding villages with regular sweeps, helicopter raids, and alleged,
large-scale arson, the clearance campaign propelled more than 100,000 Rohingya villagers from their homes, leaving only razed remnants and stories of
“devastating cruelty” behind.
“The 9 October attacks appear to have given the security forces the perfect cover to amplify and accelerate actions they had previously carried out through policies,
rules and laws – with the apparent objective of expelling the Rohingya population from Myanmar altogether,” Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur for the
situation of human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement released on February 24.
Both the Myanmar government and Tatmadaw officials have denied that the campaign intended to eject the Rohingya from their enclave in northern Rakhine
State. Government spokesperson U Zaw Htay would not directly respond to the special rapporteur’s allegation, but said, “We are very serious about the situation of
Rakhine State… there are many commissions trying to find out and clarify the real information. If there is concrete evidence of abuses we will take action.”
By Laignee Barron
March 09, 2017

But even as the government promises to restore stability to the volatile strip in the wake of the “clearance operations,” UN officials have revealed that there is
currently no government-backed plan to repatriate the more than 74,000 Rohingya who fled to neighboring Bangladesh, or to help resettle the 24,000 believed to
be internally displaced within Rakhine State.
“While some of the new arrivals in Bangladesh have said they will return home if and when it’s safe, I’m not aware of any government plans to facilitate it at this
point,” said Vivian Tan, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency.
For the nascent National League for Democracy government almost a year into its administration, there’s no domestic political capital to be gained in negotiating
the return of a long-reviled population. Much of the country perceives the Rohingya – commonly called Bengalis – as illegal interlopers from the Muslim-majority
nation next door. But for the NLD, grappling with criticism over Rakhine on the international stage has been another matter entirely.
Bangkok-based security consultant Anthony Davis recently wrote that the counterinsurgency campaign in Rakhine State “has arguably been the most serious
public relations debacle suffered by the Myanmar military since its massacre of pro-democracy protesters in 1988.” And unlike when the military junta ran the
show, the democratically elected government has now been forced to shoulder a large portion of the condemnation.
Many observers believe the government only endeavored to declare an end of the clearance operations in order to alleviate international pressure as momentum
builds for an UN-led commission of inquiry into allegations of crimes against humanity in Rakhine.
“Myanmar has proudly claimed the clearance operations have ended, as if we’re somehow supposed to look past the mass gang-rape, mass killing, and widespread
arson attacks. We believe the government is touting the end of the clearance operations to try to persuade the international community to not mandate a
Commission of Inquiry,” said Matthew Smith, co-founder of human rights group Fortify Rights. “The reality is that the Rohingya have been living through so-
called clearance operations for decades.”
But as the Human Rights Council convenes in Geneva, with the special rapporteur expected to deliver both a report and a recommendation for an inquiry on
March 13, security forces do not appear to be decamping from northern Rakhine.
In fact, it remains unclear if the Tatmadaw, which does not fall under civilian authority and still retains a sizeble political role, even agreed to terminate the
crackdown.
The day after presidentially appointed national security adviser U Thaung Tun – a civilian – declared the campaign over, Tatmadaw spokesperson General Aung
Ye Win provided an alternative perspective. He told local news site The Irrawaddy, “We will not stop clearance operations. There will be regular security
operations. Ceasing military operations is information I am not aware of.”
Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said the denouement announced by the government reeks of opportunism.
“This announcement looks a lot like the traditional Burmese charm offensives of old, trying to spin out some positive news before the Human Rights Council takes
the government to task on its poor human rights record,” he said. “On the ground, the reality unfortunately hasn’t changed that much: the so-called ‘clearance
operation’ areas in northern Maungdaw [township] are still heavily militarized, independent monitors are [still] shut out of the area, and the Tatmadaw still uses
scorched earth tactics that treat the lives and well-being of vulnerable villagers as acceptable collateral damage in the pursuit Rohingya insurgents.”
Sealed off from journalists, humanitarian aid workers, and outside observers under the pretense of security concerns, the operation areas of northern Rakhine
State remain just as inaccessible in the twilight of the counterinsurgency campaign. Despite a deluge of allegations about abuses perpetuated by the soldiers and
police, the accounts continue to be impossible to verify on the ground. Meanwhile, the government has deviated little from issuing blanket denials and promising
investigations, responses which UN officials have alternately deemed “callous” and not credible.
Rights workers have instead documented the alleged atrocities from next door, in the refugee camps on the fringes of Cox’s Bazar.

Rohingya have swelled over the porous border with Bangladesh for decades. In northern Rakhine State, even at the best of times the Rohingya lived in an
“occupation zone,” where they are denied citizenship, freedom of movement, and access to higher education and health care, and periodically subjected to
immigration crackdowns. In Bangladesh, they do not find a drastic improvement.
Dhaka estimates some 300,000 Rohingya Muslims are now taking refuge in Bangladesh, including more than 74,500 recent arrivals. Of those, only 34,000 are
registered in two officially recognized camps, so only they are eligible for official humanitarian aid, such as food subsidies and housing. The rest have no legal
status, and are forced to improvise an existence by scavenging and begging off those who have little to share.
“For decades, Bangladesh has deliberately deprived Rohingya of adequate humanitarian aid. It’s a grisly, inhumane policy. The authorities in Bangladesh need to
get over themselves and understand that Rohingya aren’t being pulled out of Myanmar by the prospects of prosperity in the camps – these are some of the world’s
worst refugee camps,” said Matthew Smith of Fortify Rights. “The authorities’ avoidable deprivations in aid haven’t prevented Rohingya from fleeing to the
country. Rohingya have only ever been subjected to brutal push factors.”
A landmark UN OHCHR report released at the beginning of February concluded that the widespread allegations of abuses, including murder, torture, and rape,
committed by soldiers and police, indicated “the very likely commission of crimes against humanity.” Of the 204 Muslim Rohingya who were interviewed in
Bangladesh, the vast majority reported witnessing killings. Of the 101 women interviewed, more than half reported having suffered rape or other forms of sexual
violence.
Following her own visit to the refugees in Bangladesh, special rapporteur Yanghee Lee said what she heard was even worse than she had anticipated.
“I heard allegation after allegation of horrific events like these – slitting of throats, indiscriminate shootings, setting alight houses with people tied up inside and
throwing very young children into the fire, as well as gang rapes and other sexual violence,” she wrote.
While rights workers say that Bangladesh understands the severity of the situation and has agreed not to push involuntary returns for now, the country is also
increasingly reluctant to play host. Dhaka has said that the additional refugees are straining an already overtaxed system, and fueling narcotics and trafficking
gangs.
Bangladesh insists that as Rohingya Muslims are from Myanmar, they must return across the Naf river marshlands.
Though past influxes have subsequently been repatriated, some in arrangements brokered officially by the UN, the unprecedented level of violence experienced in
the recent crackdown as well as the lingering military presence in northern Rakhine State, prevents many from looking back.
“That military operation might have ended, but the oppression of the Rohingyas in Burma has not,” Dil Mohammad, a 30-year-old living in a shantytown in Cox’s
Bazar told VOA, adding that he believes the vast majority of those who fled the recent crackdown will not return.
As an alternative, Bangladesh has proposed a controversial scheme to relocate the refugees to Thengar Char, a flood-prone and underdeveloped island three hours
by speedboat from any other habitation. Whether the island is fit for human occupation is a matter of debate even within the Bangladeshi government, with a local
forestry office citing a lack of drinking water and frequent natural calamities such as cyclones.
UN officials appear to have dismissed the island plan as an abstract proposal, while others have slammed it as a dangerous non-solution.
“The idea floated by the government of Bangladesh to force recently arrived Rohingya onto an island particularly vulnerable to flooding is completely unacceptable.
It has been denounced and abandoned in the past and I’d expect that to be the case again now,” said Daniel Sullivan, a senior advocate with Refugees
International.
But Dhaka isn’t moving past the plan so swiftly, and has reportedly asked both the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for
assistance in carrying out and funding the island proposal. Foreign ministry officials have at least acknowledged that the relocation could not be carried out until
infrastructure is developed.

For now, the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh do not appear to be going anywhere. How long that lasts, especially if they refuse repatriation, is a matter of no
small concern.
“While the international spotlight is still on the Rohingya, Dhaka is tolerating the influx, but when that attention moves to another part of the world, expect things
to change fast,” said Phil Robertson of HRW.
“Bangladesh is like most of the governments in the region that just want the Rohingya to be someone else’s problem.”
Laignee Barron is a journalist and editor based in Yangon, Myanmar. You can find her on Twitter @laignee.
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8/29/2017 World Report 2017: Burma | Human Rights Watch
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/burma 1/16
WORLD REPORT 2017 ESSAYS COUNTRIES
   
Burma
Events of 2016
A family stands beside the remains of a burned down market in a Rohingya village outside Maungdaw, Rakhine
State on October 27, 2016.
© 2016 Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters
AVAILABLE IN

Burma’s new government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD)
took office in March 2016 after sweeping the November 2015 elections.
Headed by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Htin Kyaw, the
NLD controls a majority of both upper and lower house parliamentary seats
in the country’s first democratically elected, civilian-led government since
1962. However, the new government inherited deep-rooted challenges,
including constitutional empowerment of the military, repressive legislation,
weak rule of law, and a corrupt judiciary.
The political transition began promisingly, with the April release of over 200
political prisoners and detainees. Nonetheless, the NLD-led government has
thus far not capitalized on its initial momentum in guiding the country
toward substantive reform or the creation of democratic institutions.
Fighting between the Burmese armed forces and ethnic armed groups
intensified or flared up in several regions during the year, resulting in abuses
against civilians and massive displacement. Violent attacks by unknown
insurgents against border guard posts on October 9 in Maungdaw, northern
Rakhine State, resulted in the deaths of nine officials and sparked the most
serious humanitarian and human rights crisis in Rakhine State since the
October 2012 “ethnic cleansing” campaign against the Rohingya.
Under the deeply flawed 2008 constitution, the military retains autonomy
from civilian oversight and extensive power over the government and
national security, with control of the Defense, Home Affairs, and Border
Affairs Ministries. It is guaranteed 25 percent of parliamentary seats, which
constitutes an effective veto over any constitutional amendments, and is
authorized to assume power in a national state of emergency.

Ethnic Conflict and Armed Forces Abuses
Fighting between the Tatmadaw (Burmese armed forces) and ethnic armed
groups worsened over the year in Kachin, Rakhine, Karen, and Northern
Shan States, displacing thousands of civilians. Government forces have been
responsible for serious abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture,
sexual violence, and destruction of property. Government shelling and
airstrikes have been conducted against ethnic areas, in violation of the laws
of war. Both government and non-state groups have been implicated in the
use of anti-personnel landmines and forced recruitment, including of
children.
Rohingya Tell Horror Stories of Rape, Killings by Burmese Army
The Burmese military has conducted a campaign of arson, killing and rape against
ethnic Rohingya that has threatened the lives of thousands.

The legacy of the Burmese military’s “divide and rule” approach persists, as
the conflict’s spillover and ensuing abuses compound tensions among
ethnic groups.
The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) orchestrated under the previous
Thein Sein government was signed in October 2015 by eight non-state
armed groups, fewer than half of the country’s total. Since its adoption,
military operations and clashes between signatory and non-signatory armed
groups have continued.
From August 31 to September 3, Aung San Suu Kyi presided over the 21st
Century Panglong Conference, billed as a forum for re-engaging armed
groups and other national stakeholders in the country’s peace process.
Intensified fighting on the ground has continued unabated since the
conference.
In Northern Shan State, fighting between the Ta’ang National Liberation
Army and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South, at
times with the support of the Tatmadaw, flared throughout the year.
Fighting between the military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in
Kachin State increased steadily since mid-August. In September, fighting
between ethnic armed groups and government forces in Karen State
displaced about 5,900 civilians.
Violence over the past five years has left 220,000 people displaced
nationwide—120,000 in Rakhine State and 100,000 in Shan and Kachin
States.

Security threats, weak infrastructure, and restrictions imposed by
government and non-state authorities regularly impeded access by
humanitarian agencies to civilians displaced in conflict-affected areas.
Restrictions on access to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Kachin and
Shan States increased in late 2016.
Abuses against Rohingya
Muslim minorities in Burma, in particular the 1.2 million ethnic Rohingya,
continue to face rampant and systemic human rights violations.
Outbreaks of violence in Maungdaw district in northern Rakhine State
escalated following an October 9 attack on three border outposts that left
nine police officers dead. Asserting that both the initial and subsequent
attacks were carried out by armed Rohingya militants, the government
initiated “clearance operations” to locate the alleged attackers while locking
down the area, denying access to humanitarian aid groups, independent
media, and rights monitors.

The security operations led to numerous reports of serious abuses by
government security forces against Rohingya villagers, including summary
killings, rape and other sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary
arrests, and arson. The military employed helicopter gunships during a
series of clashes beginning on November 11. At time of writing, the
government said it had arrested over 300 alleged suspects. Local groups
reported the use of torture and a number of deaths in custody.
Satellite imagery in November revealed widespread fire-related destruction
in Rohingya villages, with a total of 430 destroyed buildings in three villages
of Maungdaw district.
Government travel restrictions placed on humanitarian agencies have led to
critical food insecurity and malnutrition, and an estimated 30,000 Muslim
villagers remain displaced.
The government has continually failed to adequately or effectively
investigate abuses against the Rohingya, and did not act on
recommendations to seek UN assistance for an investigation into the
violence.
The ongoing crisis in Maungdaw represents the most serious and widespread
violence against the Rohingya since the ethnic cleansing campaign carried
out in June and October 2012. Four years after the 2012 violence, about
120,000 Rohingya remain displaced in camps in Rakhine State.
Humanitarian conditions for both remaining IDPs and newly resettled
persons remain dire due to restrictions on movement and lack of access to
livelihoods and basic services.

The effective denial of citizenship for the Rohingya—who are not recognized
on the official list of 135 ethnic groups eligible for full citizenship under the
1982 Citizenship Law—has facilitated enduring rights abuses, including
restrictions on movement; limitations on access to health care, livelihood,
shelter, and education; arbitrary arrests and detention; and forced labor.
Travel is severely constrained by authorization requirements, security
checkpoints, curfews, and strict control of IDP camp access. Such barriers
compound the health crisis caused by poor living conditions, severe
overcrowding, and limited health facilities.
The government refuses to use the term Rohingya, which the group self-
identifies as but is rejected by nationalist Buddhists in favor of the term
“Bengali,” which implies illegal migrant status in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi
refers to the group as the “Muslim Community in Rakhine State,” and has
requested that international stakeholders, including the United States,
European Union, and United Nations, follow suit.
The new Burmese government established two bodies to address sectarian
tensions in Rakhine State—a government committee and a nine-member
national/international advisory commission led by former UN Secretary-
General Kofi Annan, which initiated its year-long research mandate in
September.
Freedom of Expression and Assembly

Freedom of Expression and Assembly
Restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly persist,
amid the government’s failure to contend with the range of rights-abusing
laws that have been long used to criminalize free speech and prosecute
dissidents.
In its final months of rule, Thein Sein’s government continued arresting
activists using politically motivated charges, failing to fulfill the former
president’s 2013 pledge to release all political prisoners by the end of his
term. In April, the new NLD-led government released 235 political prisoners
and detainees in a series of amnesties.
However, the nod toward a new era of openness was contradicted by the
government’s continued use of problematic legislation to restrict free
speech. In April, two Muslim interfaith activists were convicted on charges
under section 17(1) of the Unlawful Association Act and sentenced to an
additional two years in prison with hard labor. Numerous activists were
arrested under section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Act for “defaming”
Aung San Suu Kyi, President Htin Kyaw, or the military in social media
posts. These include Maung Saungkha, who was sentenced to six months in
prison in May for a poem he posted on Facebook, and Aung Win Hlaing,
sentenced to nine months in prison in September for calling the president an
“idiot” and “crazy” on Facebook.

Parliament put forward a new Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession
Law in May, yet despite slight improvements the proposed revisions
maintain regulations that allow for at-will crackdowns on peaceful protests,
blanket prohibitions on certain protest speech, and criminal penalties for
any violation of its restrictions.
Arrests and prosecutions for participation in peaceful assemblies have
continued under the new administration. Police arrested 90 political
activists in May, including student leaders of an interfaith peace walk in
Rangoon; demonstrators against the Letpadaung mine in Sagaing Division;
and 76 labor rights activists marching to the capital, Naypyidaw, to protest
treatment by local factory owners. Fifty-one of the labor activists were
charged with unlawful assembly, rioting, and disturbing public tranquility
under the Burmese penal code; 15 were convicted in October and sentenced
to between four and six months in prison.
Throughout the year, as many as 60 Arakanese men were arrested under
section 17(1) of the Unlawful Association Act for alleged ties to the Arakan
Army. From March to July, 28 were found guilty and sentenced to two to five
years in prison with hard labor.
The criminalization of expression perceived as a threat to the armed forces
also continued. In late June, the Ta’ang Women’s Organization was forced to
cancel a press conference in Rangoon to launch a report documenting
military abuses against ethnic Palaung in Northern Shan State. In August,
Khine Myo Htun, an environmental activist and member of the Arakan
Liberation Party, was charged with violating sections 505(b) and 505(c) of
the penal code for accusing the armed forces of committing crimes against

humanity. In October, veteran activist Htin Kyaw was arrested and charged
with violating section 505(a) for accusing the military of committing human
rights abuses.
While the relaxation of press censorship has been a key hallmark of the
democratic transition, various forms of government control remain inscribed
in the legal framework and employed to restrict media freedom. In June, the
Ministry of Information banned the film “Twilight Over Burma” from a
human rights film festival for its depiction of a relationship it claimed would
threaten ethnic and military relations.
As part of the military’s “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine State,
the authorities denied independent journalists access to the region since
early October. The Myanmar Times fired a journalist who had reported on
allegations of rape by security forces in Maungdaw, reportedly under
pressure from the Ministry of Information.
Burma’s national penal code criminalizes consensual same-sex behavior
between adult men. In recent years police have arrested gay men and
transgender women assembling in public places, and politicians have called
for the “education” of gay people.
Women’s and Girls’ Rights

Women’s and Girls’ Rights
Justice for women and girls in Burma remains elusive, particularly with
regard to violence related to armed conflict. Sexual violence by the military,
and to some extent ethnic armed groups, has been frequent, and the
renewed violent clashes in Kachin and Northern Shan States has
exacerbated the problem. Such crimes are facilitated by a near total lack of
accountability, and no institutionalized complaint mechanism. Few
prosecutions have been publicly reported, despite allegations of more than
115 cases of sexual violence perpetrated by the Burmese army since fighting
renewed.
In October and November, media and local groups reported numerous
incidents of rape and other sexual assault of Rohingya women and girls
committed by security forces during the “clearing operations” in Maungdaw
district. The government denied all reports of sexual violence, and the
military lockdown has prevented independent investigations into the
abuses. This suppression is emblematic of the military’s long-standing
refusal to seriously investigate cases of sexual violence.
In May, the Tatmadaw announced that an investigation into the January
2015 rape and murder of two Kachin schoolteachers by suspected army
soldiers had taken place, but no public information about charges or a trial
was released. Women in conflict zones and displaced or stateless women are
especially vulnerable to abductions, enforced disappearances, sexual
violence, and exploitation.

Despite their central role in human rights and democracy activism in Burma,
women have been marginalized in the government’s various peace process
initiatives, and their concerns have been noticeably absent from the
negotiations. Women made up less than 10 percent of participants in the
peace process, and women’s rights groups were sidelined at the 21st Century
Panglong Conference.
Women hold only 13 percent of seats in the new parliament; only one
woman sits on the 18-person cabinet, and only 0.25 percent of village-level
administrators are women.
Key International Actors
Burma’s political transition has triggered an enthusiastic response from
international stakeholders. Since the new administration took office, there
have been only limited attempts by foreign governments to press for genuine
legal and policy reforms.

In May, the United States government relaxed a range of sanctions to ease
US business investments and financial transactions in Burma. Following a
visit by Aung San Suu Kyi in September, the US announced plans to lift most
remaining sanctions, which was carried out by executive order on October 7.
The US also resumed the General System of Preferences (GSP) trade status
with Burma, despite serious concerns that Burma’s labor practices do not
meet GSP conditions on labor rights. In a contradictory move, the US State
Department downgraded Burma in its annual Trafficking in Persons report to
Tier 3, the lowest tier, in recognition of ongoing abuses related to human
trafficking, child soldier recruitment, and forced labor.
The UN Human Rights Council in March once again adopted its resolution on
Burma and extended the special rapporteur’s mandate, requesting that she
identify benchmarks for reform. However, the EU decided not to introduce a
resolution at the UN General Assembly in November, underscoring the
international community’s softening approach.
As Burma’s immediate neighbor with significant business and military ties
within the country, China continued efforts to strengthen its geopolitical
engagement with the Burmese government and advance the large-scale
development projects that offer access to the country’s natural resources and
strategic regional borders, often to the detriment of local populations.
Burma: Farmers Kicked off their Land


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Officials regularly charge villagers with criminal trespass if they refuse to leave land,
and in one case, police torched a village. Militia commanders have also used threats,
force, and arbitrary arrests to intimidate farmers and take land, particularly in areas
still contested by ethnic Karen armed groups.
Burma
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