This Week in Human Rights News

Myanmar Coup and the Rohingya

Sources: BBC, DW News (1, 2), Arab News, Vox, AA, The Guardian 

• On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military seized control and arrested the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her party in a military coup, instating a year-long state-of-emergency.

• The military coup happened following a general election in which the National League for Democracy part (NLD) - Suu Kyi’s party, in power since 2015 - won in a landslide victory. 

• The military-backed opposition claimed widespread voter fraud in the election, but an election commission said there was a lack of supporting evidence. 

• Citizens and supporters of Suu Kyi began protesting the coup and demanding her release. 

• Despite the military blocking access to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and a full internet blackout (which has now been partially restored) in an attempt to quell the protests; people took to the streets on Saturday and Sunday by the tens of thousands.

• These are said to be the largest demonstrations in the country since the 2007 Saffron Revolution, when thousands of Buddhist monks marched against military rule.

• Human rights advocates are becoming worried about how the military will react to anyone who challenges them.

• Min Aung Hlaing, who is now in power, has previously been (credibly) accused of genocide and war crimes, including his alleged role in the military’s attacks on ethnic minorities such as the Rohingya.

• In 2017, over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after Myanmar’s military launched ‘genocidal attacks’ against the ethnic minority - which involved mass rape, murders and the torching of villages.

• Although Suu Kyi has a world-famous reputation for spending nearly 15 years in detention for pro-democracy campaigning in the 1990s, even going on to receive a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, she recently received international condemnation for Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya.

• Even after Suu Kyi became Myanmar’s civilian leader in 2015, the military retained significant power.

• In 2019, when The Gambia took Myanmar to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in order to prevent a genocide of the Rohingya, Suu Kyi attended the court hearings and rejected claims of genocide. 

• With the military in complete power, some Rohingya refugees say they are even more afraid, as it could make it more challenging to return home - especially now that a repatriation deal between Myanmar and Bangladesh is in the works. 

• Previous attempts at repatriation failed as many Rohingya refused to return to a country that doesn’t recognise them as citizens and denies them fundamental rights. 

• Many Rohingya refugees fear for their lives if they were to return to a military-controlled Myanmar, and worry that another similar operation to the 2017 one will be launched again. 

• While some are saying that the military coup would be an opportunity for international condemnation of genocide against the Rohingya, others fear that by doing so, it could increase the threat of violence against the Rohingya.