25 August 2026: Nine years ago, the Myanmar military and Myanmar security forces launched an atrocity campaign to erase the Rohingya from Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State.

Today we remember the thousands of men, women and children killed in these attacks. We pay our respects to the survivors, and the Rohingya communities whose lives bear the scars of these atrocities.

We also reaffirm our commitment to the Rohingya’s fight for justice, the full restoration of their rights, and their safe, dignified and voluntary return to their homeland.

“To bring the perpetrators of the Rohingya genocide to justice is a moral imperative of our time,”said Yanghee Lee, member of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M). “Today, the international community must reflect on why the Rohingya continue to be persecuted, while the perpetrators – then and now – have evaded accountability.”

Violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar continues with impunity. Since the military coup in 2021, the military junta has committed widespread atrocities against civilians across Myanmar. With the renewal of full-scale conflict between the junta and the Arakan Army in Rakhine State in 2024, the Rohingya were once again placed in extreme danger.

Mounting evidence of the massacre of at least 170 men, women and children in Buthidaung township, in May 2024, allegedly by the Arakan Army, underscores the grave threat facing the Rohingya in Rakhine. Such serious allegations, which the Arakan Army denies, demand an independent international investigation and international efforts to bring alleged perpetrators to justice.

More than 150,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since 2024 with most crossing into Bangladesh. Many Rohingya in Rakhine State feel they have no alternative but to risk their lives in perilous sea crossings in the hope of finding refuge in other countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia. In late June, more than 500 Rohingya asylum seekers are feared to have drowned after two overcrowded boats disappeared off the Myanmar coast.

“Myanmar is gripped by devastating conflict and a humanitarian crisis”, said Marzuki Darusman, member of SAC-M. “Repatriation to Myanmar in these conditions is recklessly irresponsible,” he added. “Increasingly, the Rohingya in Rakhine State face an impossible choice: risk their lives by staying or risk their lives by fleeing.”

For the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in sprawling camps in Bangladesh, conditions are becoming increasingly untenable. Rohingya are not allowed to work and have limited access to education, while international aid cuts have restricted access to lifesaving services. Without a foreseeable path back to their homeland or access to basic rights and opportunities, the Rohingya remain trapped in a vicious limbo they did not create but cannot escape.

Yet they remain determined to shape their own future. Rohingya women continue to organise and speak up for their rights, young Rohingya are speaking out against intimidation by criminal networks in the camps, and Rohingya survivors continue to create history in their courageous pursuit of justice.

In January, Rohingya survivors testified before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) during the genocide case against Myanmar brought by The Gambia. Their testimonies have been central to proceedings. The Court will hand down its judgment later this year.

“For the Rohingya, this judgment will be historic and could be of far-reaching influence in preventing and punishing genocide wherever it occurs,” said SAC-M member Chris Sidoti. “The international community must seize this opportunity to secure justice for the Rohingya.”