NGOs renew plea for full rights to Rohingya community on exodus anniversary

On the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Rohingya exodus from Myanmar, human rights defenders have renewed call for granting full rights to the persecuted community.

“Rohingya are citizens of the country and should be seen by our fellow citizens as valued members of the pro-democratic revolution,” said Zaw Win, human rights specialist at human rights group Fortify Rights.

Six years on, the Myanmar junta continues to create conditions to destroy Rohingya and erase their identity, Win said in a statement.

“The military’s misuse of identity documents has been a factor in the genocide trial in The Hague,” he stressed, pointing out: “The world must hold all perpetrators accountable for the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya, including coup leader Min Aung Hlaing.”

In an animated film, the Fortify Rights group said the Myanmar junta is coercing Rohingya to accept the National Verification Card (NVC), which identifies Rohingya as "foreigners."

It is an effort to "erase their identity," said the group, calling the NVCs "discriminatory."

Facing a case of genocide

Myanmar is facing a case of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), filed by The Gambia. The junta administration is set to file its response in the international court at The Hague.

“The junta’s efforts violate binding ‘provisional measures’ issued by the ICJ in January 2020, specifically requiring Myanmar to protect Rohingya from genocide in Rakhine State," it added.

Nearly 1.2 million Rohingya live in Bangladesh, the majority of whom fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state in August 2017.

While most of them remain in overcrowded camps in the southern Cox's Bazar district, approximately 30,000 have been relocated to Bhasan Char islet since late 2020.