Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

For release 23 January 2025

Five Years On - World Court Orders to Protect the Rohingya Still Being Ignored

Five years after the International Court of Justice (ICJ), known as the World Court, issuing a legally binding order to protect the Rohingya in Burma from further harm, the orders of the court are still being ignored by the Burmese military and other armed groups in Burma.

A new report by Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, ‘The Genocide Never Stopped - Five Years on From the World Court’s Order to Protect the Rohingya’, provides a detailed legal analysis of ongoing violations of the ICJ’s provisional measures order to prevent genocide. The report is based on in-depth research, including firsthand sources on the ground. 

The report finds that the British government, as the penholder on Myanmar at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), has failed in its responsibility to urgently convene a meeting of the Council. The UNSC has the authority and obligation under the UN Charter to enforce the Court's binding orders in the face of non-compliance.

“The International Court of Justice’s binding legal orders were meant to protect the Rohingya, yet the Burmese military continues to defy them, while the Arakan Army is actively committing atrocities against the Rohingya. The international community’s complete failure to enforce these orders is enabling the continued genocide of the Rohingya,” said Tun Khin, President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.

In addition to failing to uphold international law and enforce the Court’s orders, the international community has also failed to adequately respond to UN warnings in November 2024 of an imminent famine in Burma’s Rakhine State, which could leave up to 2 million people facing starvation. Urgent action is required to open and trade routes from neighbouring Bangladesh. 

“The approach of the United Kingdon, United States, EU and rest of the international community towards the Rohingya crisis can be summed up in one word: failure”, said Tun Khin. “We have seen a failure to act on warnings to prevent genocide, failure to provide adequate support to refugees in Bangladesh, failure to enforce court orders to prevent ongoing genocide, and now a failure to act on warnings of famine.”

Atrocity crimes including acts of genocide

This latest report from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK is the tenth in its series documenting repeated and systematic breaches of the ICJ’s order to protect the Rohingya. Covering the period 24 May 2024-31 December 2024, the report details numerous human rights violations, many of which constitute atrocity crimes, including acts of genocide committed by the Burmese armed forces against the Rohingya, and war crimes perpetrated by the Arakan Army. The report shows that the Burmese military is in clear violation of the ICJ’s provisional measures, while the Arakan Army has committed serious human rights violations and war crimes against the Rohingya.

The Burma military and its administrative structures continue to deny the Rohingya their identity and access to citizenship while maintaining a policy of mass interment in central Rakhine State, where more than 145,000 Rohingya are arbitrarily detained. The junta’s policies of systematic persecution have severely restricted Rohingya communities' access to livelihoods, healthcare, and humanitarian aid. These restrictions, compounded by an almost complete blockade on aid and trade to areas under Arakan Army control, have further deepened their suffering, resulting in even more extreme impacts in northern Rakhine State, particularly among Rohingya IDPs. Acute famine conditions have already taken hold.

Human rights violations inflicted on the Rohingya include:

· The Burmese military continuing to deny the identity of the Rohingya and to deny them citizenship.

· The mass internment of 145,000 Rohingya, half of them children. 112,000 of them are in areas still under Burmese military control. 

· Continuing the ‘slow death’ policies denying Rohingya access to means to generate income, severe restrictions on humanitarian aid and now a virtual blockade on trade and humanitarian aid to all areas under Arakan Army control - exacerbated by the intense fighting – meaning even more extreme impacts in northern Rakhine State, particularly among Rohingya IDPs. Acute famine conditions have already taken hold. 

· Restrictions on freedom of movement, which are now also placing limitations on the ability of Rohingya to flee areas of conflict. 

· Arakan Army replicating discriminatory policies and human rights violations previously endured under the Burmese military. 

· Displaced Rohingya facing multiple extortion demands, including women and girls threatened with being transferred to military compounds, where they face sexual violence and rape by Burmese military soldiers, to coerce them to pay.

· A communications blackout implemented by both the Burmese military and the Arakan Army, making it very difficult for the full scale of human rights violations taking place to be exposed.

· 70,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh in 2024, fleeing conflict and starvation.  

“The scale of suffering and misery being inflicted upon the Rohingya is matched only by the international community’s apathy and inaction,” said Tun Khin. “International human right laws and mechanisms were designed precisely to prevent atrocities like those being committed against the Rohingya, yet the British government and other UN Security Council members have chosen not to act. The British government must immediately convene a Security Council meeting to address Burma’s failure to uphold the ICJ’s order to protect the Rohingya.”

For more information contact Tun Khin on +447888 714866

The report ‘The Genocide Never Stopped - Five Years on From the World Court’s Order to Protect the Rohingya’ is available here: https://www.brouk.org.uk/the-genocide-never-stopped-five-years-on-from-the-world-courts-order-to-protect-the-rohingya/