The United League of Arakan (ULA), the political wing of the Arakan Army (AA), organized a ceremony in Buthidaung Township to condemn the Myanmar military’s 2017 massacres of Muslims in Maungdaw District.
The event, held following the ninth Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day on August 25, aimed to demonstrate community outreach across AA-controlled territories, though the ULA continues to officially reject the term “Rohingya,” referring to the population as “Bengali.”
Commemoration context and displacement scale
- 2017 Violence & Exodus: Military “clearance operations” launched in August 2017 forced over 700,000 Rohingya across the border, bringing the total refugee population in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char camps to more than 1.2 million.
- Statelessness Status: The UN recognizes the Rohingya as one of the world’s most persecuted and stateless minority groups, largely stemming from legal exclusion under Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Law.
- Local Reaction: Rohingya residents in Maungdaw expressed that despite shifting territorial control, perpetrators of the 2017 atrocities remain unpunished, leaving survivors without formal justice.
International accountability and jurisdictional actions
| Judicial Body / Instrument | Legal Status & Operational Scope |
| International Court of Justice (ICJ) | Deliberating on The Gambia v. Myanmar genocide case following public merits hearings in January 2026. |
| International Criminal Court (ICC) | Evaluating an arrest warrant application for regime leader Min Aung Hlaing filed by the former Chief Prosecutor. |
| Argentina Federal Court | Issued arrest warrants in February 2025 for Min Aung Hlaing, Aung San Suu Kyi, Htin Kyaw, and 22 others under universal jurisdiction regarding 2017 Rathedaung Township massacres. |
| UN IIMM 2026 Annual Report | Nicholas Koumjian noted persistent trauma and zero military accountability; the report also accused AA forces of forced recruitment of Rohingya males, sexual violence, and mosque destruction. |
AA operational footprint and border dynamics
The AA has expanded its territorial control to 14 of Arakan’s 17 townships alongside Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State. AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha rejected the IIMM’s findings of rights abuses by AA personnel, asserting that the allegations are intended to undermine regional unity.
Meanwhile, security challenges persist along the Myanmar–Bangladesh border, where Rohingya armed groups—including the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), and Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA)—continue active operations.
