LOOKING AT THE PAST YEAR: Rohingya survivors’ fight for justice and accountability continues

“I’ve already forgotten the smell of my homeland, I am scared soon I’ll forget how it looked like”

– Minara, Rohingya survivor of 2017 “clearance operations”.

In an effort to raise awareness and advocate for justice and accountability for the serious crimes that their community has suffered in Myanmar, Rohingya survivors living in the camps in Cox’s Bazar have tirelessly worked, together with LAW, during the past seven years to raise their voice and support others to do the same. They travelled to Argentina to give their testimonies at the investigative hearings for an important universal jurisdiction case in the Argentine federal criminal court, attended hearings before the International Court of Justice as part of The Gambia delegation that brought the case against Myanmar for violation of Genocide Convention, shared their experiences for those to appear in research reports to build evidence for the ongoing legal proceedings, learned different ways to express their life stories through visual means, such as art, for these stories to travel further, reach a wider public. They have conducted information sessions with their communities living in the camps to counter misconceptions about international justice, and served as a peer support group for survivors of torture and sexual and gender-based violence within the community providing them a trusted pathway to contribute to the ongoing accountability avenues.

On the 25th of August 2024, as we mark seven years since the deadly “clearance operations” committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya community in 2017, we witness the specter of ethnic cleansing against Myanmar’s stateless Rohingya minority being on the rise yet again. Accountability for past and ongoing crimes is therefore essential and we share with you a brief summary reflecting the past one-year results of the tireless work to advance accountability, and updates on the legal developments in relation to accountability for the Rohingya crisis.

1. Rohingya women at the forefront of the fight for justice

• In December 2023, “Shanti Mohila”, a Rohingya women-led entity based in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, was honoured with the title of Raphael Lemkin Champion of Prevention by the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide for their exceptional efforts in advocating for justice for the Rohingya community. Their work embodies the spirit of the Genocide Convention, demonstrating the crucial role of grassroots efforts in preventing atrocities and preserving human dignity. The majority of LAW’s network of volunteers – the Survivor  Advocates – are members of Shanti Mohila. They work closely with LAW as grassroots champions, conducting information sessions, sharing resources, and raising awareness and countering misconceptions about international justice, supporting survivors, contributing to legal research, and participating in global advocacy efforts.Read more about Shanti Mohila’s work here.
• In February 2024, Survivor Advocates/Shanti Mohila members participated in a series of art facilitation sessions conducted by LAW, in collaboration with Artolution Inc.These sessions were an opportunity for survivors to find different ways to express stories from their life in exile in Bangladesh, memories from the time in Myanmar, and hopes for returning to their homeland in Rakhine state, Myanmar, everything through art.

Artwork: Past, Present, Future

Artwork: A Rohingya Girl’s Dream

2. Legal Developments related to accountability and justice for the Rohingya crisis

• International Court of Justice (ICJ) In March 2024, LAW commenced an evidence collection exercise for the preparation of detailed witness statements for The Gambia’s Reply to Myanmar’s counter-memorial. Between March and May 2024, LAW conducted interviews with clients from multiple villages and gathered over 300 pages of witness testimonies that contributed to The Gambia’s Reply.On 23 May 2024, The Gambia submitted its Reply to the ICJ. Myanmar is expected to file its rejoinder by 16 December 2024. Oral hearings in the case are anticipated to commence later in 2025.

• Universal Jurisdiction case in Argentina  On 28 June 2024, Argentine Prosecutor Guillermo Marijuán asked the federal criminal court in Buenos Aires, Argentina to order international arrest warrants against 25 Myanmar government officials for the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya community between 2012 and 2018. The Prosecutor’s request for warrants is based on an investigation under the principle of universal jurisdiction initiated in Argentina through a criminal complaint in 2019. This is the first time that arrest warrants are being sought against the Myanmar military for the crime of genocide, the historic persecution and violence suffered by the Rohingya community. The court is yet to respond to this request.Read more about this development here.

3. Publications and resources

• In December 2023, LAW published a research report on the enduring impact of the systematic SGBV committed against Rohingya in Myanmar during the 2017 “clearance operations”, particularly in terms of its consequences for not only survivors’ mental health but also their reproductive capacity and its impact on the community as a whole.The research concludes that the long-term health and social impacts of the sexual violence committed against the Rohingya constituted two acts of genocide: causing serious bodily or mental harm and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. Therefore, LAW finds reasonable grounds to believe that the Myanmar military’s 2017 actions against the Rohingya can be legally characterized as genocide under Article 2 of the Genocide Convention. LAW aims to bring the perpetrators to justice in international courts and ensure ongoing care and support for survivors and witnesses of this violence.Read the full report here. Read the summary in Burmese here.

  See the video summary (EN) here or click on the picture above. For the Burmese language video click here.

• In May 2024, the article “What kind of court is this?: Perceptions of International Justice Among Rohingya Refugees”, authored by Prof. Payam Akhavan, Prof. Rebecca Hamilton, and Antonia Mulvey (LAW’s Executive Director) was published in the Human Rights Quarterly (Vol. 46, No. 2).Based on the findings of a community-participatory research conducted by LAW and a team of Rohingya researchers in Cox’s Bazar, the article seeks to understand what “justice” means for Rohingya people, contextualizing it within their cultural framings of justice and their current reality of displacement in a protracted crisis. Amidst the ongoing crisis in the camps linked to the conflict in the Rakhine state, the article strives to advocate for justice actors to ensure meaningful participation of the Rohingya in the international justice mechanisms and that their perceptions inform the accountability discourse and more broadly, reflects on how grassroots perspectives can and should shape the global justice discourse.For further details and to access the article, visit HRQ’s website here (open access).
• In July 2024, LAW published an animated five video series explaining the ongoing international justice and accountability mechanisms concerning the Rohingya, and also how other communities who faced mass atrocities sought justice. These videos provide simplified information on the ongoing cases before different international courts, the expected outcomes, and how the Rohingya can participate in these processes.Watch the videos in English here: Youtube Playlist (also available in Rohingya and Burmese on LAW’s YouTube channel)

Rohingya communities now face the most significant threat of wide-scale violence since 2017 

The resumption of conflict in Rakhine State between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army since November 2023 has resulted in a disproportionate impact on the Rohingya civilians. The Rohingya Survivor Advocates, Shanti Mohila, and LAW are deeply concerned over the direct or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects in Rakhine State in the face of binding provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice for the protection of Rohingya. In its most recent statement, the OHCHR has expressed deep alarm over hundreds of civilians being reportedly killed while trying to flee the fighting, and particularly, members of the Rohingya community finding themselves trapped between the military and its allies and the Arakan Army, with no path to safety.

Read LAW’s statement at the 56th regular session of the Human Rights Council here; See LAW’s Legal and Programme Advisor, Ishita Kumar in an interview with Al Jazeera here on the ongoing developments. LAW will continue to monitor the situation of the Rohingya closely to pursue accountability for both past and ongoing atrocity crimes on behalf of the survivors with the goal to challenging the cycle of impunity in Myanmar.

LAW’s work on pursuing accountability for the Rohingya crisis is funded by Canada, European Union, and Switzerland.