An updated map of destruction of Rohingya
villages in northern Rakhine State during October and November 2017.©
2017 Human Rights Watch
By Human Rights Watch
December 18, 2017
New York – Analysis of satellite
imageryreveals new destruction of Rohingya villages during October and
November 2017 in northern Rakhine State in Burma, Human Rights Watch
said today.
Human Rights Watch identified 40 villages
with building destruction occurring in October and November, increasing
the total to 354 villages that have been partially or completely
destroyed since August 25, 2017. During this period, thousands more
Rohingya refugees fled Burma and arrived in Bangladesh.
Satellite imagery confirms that dozens of
buildings were burned the same week Burma and Bangladesh signed a
Memorandum of Understanding on November 23 to begin returning refugees
in Bangladesh within two months. On November 25, satellite data detected
an active fire and building destruction in Myo Mi Chang village in
Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township. Four villages suffered building
destruction between November 25 and December 2.
“The Burmese army’s destruction of
Rohingya villages within days of signing a refugee repatriation
agreement with Bangladesh shows that commitments to safe returns were
just a public relations stunt,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human
Rights Watch. “The satellite imagery shows what the Burmese army denies:
that Rohingya villages continue to be destroyed. Burmese government
pledges to ensure the safety of returning Rohingya cannot be taken
seriously.”
Human Rights Watch has used satellite
imagery to assess and monitor over 1,000 villages and towns in the
townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathiduang, where the Burmese
military and vigilantes have engaged in attacks on Rohingya. Human
Rights Watch found that the damage patterns in the 354 affected villages
are consistent with burning occurring in the weeks after the military
operations began in late August.
Of the 354 affected villages, at least
118 were either partially or completely destroyed after September 5 —
the date the Burmese State Counsellor’s office announced as the end of
clearance operations. Of the 40 new villages with building destruction
identified by Human Rights Watch, 24 were destroyed in October, 11 in
November, and 5 over both months.
The latest documented arson attacks
occurred between November 25 and December 2 in four villages. Satellite
data from environmental sensors detected an active fire at 12:30 p.m. in
the Rohingya village of Myo Mi Chang in Maungdaw Township on November
25. Building destruction was concentrated in the center of the village,
which was undamaged until this attack. Other villages subjected to arson
attacks during this period include Nga/Myin Baw, Goke Pi, and an
unknown village in the village tract of Zee Pin Chaung.
On November 23, Bangladesh and Burma
signed an Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State
on behalf of “residents of Rakhine State” who crossed from Burma into
Bangladesh after October 9, 2016 and August 25, 2017. In letters to both
governments, Human Rights Watch said the agreement should be shelved,
noting the lack of involvement by the United Nations and the unrealistic
timetable for safe and voluntary returns starting in January 2018.
Since late August, the Burmese military
has committed widespread killings, rapes, arbitrary arrests, and mass
arson in hundreds of predominantly Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine
State, forcing more than 655,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring
Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch has found that this campaign of ethnic
cleansing amounts tocrimes against humanity. Attacks by the Arakan
Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) armed group on 30 security force outposts
and an army base that killed 11 Burmese security personnel set off the
Burmese military “clearance operations” against the Rohingya.
In November, a Burmese army
“investigation team” report concluded that there were “no deaths of
innocent people” during the military operation in Rakhine State, and
that at least 376 “terrorists” were killed during fighting, contrary to
information reported by the UN, media outlets, and human rights groups,
including Human Rights Watch. The humanitarian group Medecins Sans
Frontieres (MSF) on December 14 concluded that at least 6,700 Rohingya
were killed in the violence, over 700 of whom were children, based on
survey data of refugees in Bangladesh.
“The UN Security Council and concerned
governments shouldn’t continue to stand by as evidence of continuing
attacks on the Rohingya community comes to light,” Adams said. “Targeted
sanctions need to be imposed now against those responsible for ordering
and carrying out crimes against humanity.”