Nearly 600,000 people fled to Bangladesh in the last three months
“They were all in green uniform. One grabbed me around the mouth, one man held me down and then they all raped me, one by one”, says Nura Naha. The 27 year-old woman is one of the many rape survivors of Rohingya’s catastrophe.
Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation of pandemic proportions that can manifest itself in physical, sexual and psychological forms. This unfortunate reality is common in Rohingya, where women and girls have been raped and family members have been hurt or killed by Burmese security forces. On August 25, 12 security officers were killed by ARSA rebels who attacked at least 20 police camps and an army base in northern Rakhine State.
One of the most horrendous atrocities in modern times, the crisis is part of the ethnic cleansing led by Myanmar security forces in a systematic, well-organised and coordinated manner in order to drive the Rohingya muslims out of Myanmar and prevent them from returning to their homes.
On November 22, the United States declared that violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar constitutes “ethnic cleansing”, defined by the United Nations as: “a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas”.
There is an ongoing investigation trying to prove that Myanmar’s crisis qualifies as genocide. Like ethnic cleansing, genocide covers a physical element (killing, causing physical and mental violence and deliberately destroying the group and its environment). However, it has an additional mental element: "intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such". The intent is the most difficult element to determine.
Killings, rapes, arbitrary arrests and mass arson of homes by Burmese officials in hundreds of predominantly Rohingya villages have forced nearly 600,000 people to flee to Bangladesh in the last three months. “I am alarmed by the grave situation in Myanmar, where the Rohingya are systematically denied their right to citizenship and targeted for violence, including sexual and gender-based violence”, said the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on his Women and Peace and Security report (October 16, 2017).
A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released on November 16 tells the story of 29 rape survivors. 28 of them were gang raped by uniformed personnel. Even though refugees in Bangladesh reported hundreds of cases, this number represents a small proportion. Many victims are reluctant to confess suffering sexual violence due to social stigma while others have not survived the attacks.
On October 27, during the UN Security Council’s open debate on Women, Peace and Security, Mr. Tareq Md. Ariful Islam, a Bangladesh representative made a statement saying that “the Government of Myanmar has failed to meet its obligations under international law and primary responsibility to protect the Rohingya population from atrocity crimes. The international community has equally failed its responsibilities in this regard”.
Against all evidence, Burma’s authorities insist on denying the reports. “Where is the proof? Look at those women who are making these claims - would anyone want to rape them?”, said Htein Lin, the Rakhine State border security minister.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s state counselor, has been accused of being “part of the problem” by HRW. The Nobel Peace laureate who once was famous for spending decades fighting for human rights and democracy now remains inert. Suu Kyi’s silent response to the violence in Rakhine State is due to her political and potentially authoritarian views as well as fear of losing power. However, the female leader supporters claim that she cannot intervene as she has no direct control over the military.
According to HRW, the abuses taken place in Burma account for crimes against humanity under international law. While Bangladesh and international partners have taken action to help the refugees, The organization demands the UN to impose a full arms embargo, sanctions against military leaders and address the International Criminal Court to investigate and punish the perpetrators.
For Nura and all the Rohingya women, the next battles will be coping with physical and psychological trauma. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and other psychosocial disabilities are common rape effects. Hoping for some accountability, Myanmar’s civilians depend on the international community to take action on this human rights and humanitarian crisis.