Human rights group Fortify Rights called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate attacks which targeted hundreds of Rohingya in Maungdaw Township, near the Bangladesh border in northern Arakan (Rakhine) State, on Aug. 5-6. It implicated the Arakan Army (AA) in a report released Tuesday. 

“Arakan Army leaders must prevent mass atrocity crimes at all costs and should be put on notice that the ICC already has indefinite jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute forced deportation of Rohingya civilians from Rakhine State to Bangladesh,” said Matthew Smith, the chief executive officer at Fortify Rights.

The ICC was authorized on Nov. 14, 2019 to investigate alleged war crimes committed against civilians in northern Arakan after a 2017 military “security clearance” operation killed thousands of Rohingya and forced over 700,000 to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. 

What was then called the Rohingya crisis was labeled a genocide by the U.S. government in 2022.

Fortify Rights has documented that on Aug. 5 thousands of Rohingya fled from fighting between the AA and the military in Maungdaw to the banks of the Naf River seeking refuge on the other side, in Bangladesh. 

Maungdaw residents, including 13 survivors, told Fortify Rights that they were attacked by drones and artillery launched from villages under AA control. A survivor recounted that an AA drone surveilled the beach prior to the attack.

The following day, on Aug. 6, AA troops allegedly shot and killed dozens more Rohingya civilians. The Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), an armed group fighting alongside the military against the AA, were reportedly among the crowd that gathered near the Naf River. 

Fortify Rights added that the attacks were disproportionate. “The AA cannot justify attacking Rohingya civilians just because an ethnic Rohingya armed group is now fighting alongside the military,” said Smith. 

Rohingya human rights groups issued a joint statement last week accusing the AA of killing civilians in Maungdaw. It claimed that at least 200 Rohingya were killed, including women and children.

“While the AA continues to deny the massacre they committed against Rohingya civilians, a credible report by Fortify Rights has been released. Our investigation, which we have shared with the media, aligns with the findings of Fortify Rights,” said Nay San Lwin, the co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition. 

An investigation by Human Rights Watch also blamed the AA for killing Rohingya civilians. The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) has called on the AA to allow international investigators into areas under its control in northern Arakan. 

However, the AA has denied responsibility and released a statement on Aug. 21 claiming that there is no evidence linking them to the massacre. It vowed to investigate once it had full control of Maungdaw.

Nearly one million Rohingya live in refugee camps in Bangladesh. The U.N. has documented that at least 600,000 Rohingya remain in Arakan State where they are denied citizenship and freedom of movement.