SAC-M says nine years after Rakhine crackdown, Rohingya still await justice as new atrocities emerge

Mizzima

The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) marked nine years since Myanmar military’s 2017 crackdown against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State on Tuesday, warning the community remains in grave danger amid an alleged Arakan Army massacre of civilians and the feared drowning of hundreds of asylum seekers fleeing by sea.

SAC-M said violence against the Rohingya has continued with impunity since Myanmar’s military seized power in a February 2021 coup, with the junta committing widespread atrocities against civilians nationwide. The group said the Rohingya were placed in renewed danger after full-scale conflict between the junta and the Arakan Army resumed in Rakhine State in 2024.

“To bring the perpetrators of the Rohingya genocide to justice is a moral imperative,” said Yanghee Lee, a member of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M). She said the international community must examine why the Rohingya continue to face persecution while perpetrators, past and present, have evaded accountability.

A Human Rights Watch report published in May 2026 documented mounting evidence that at least 170 Rohingya men, women and children were killed in a massacre in Buthidaung Township in May 2024, allegedly carried out by the Arakan Army. The Arakan Army has denied the allegations. SAC-M said the claims underscore the grave threat facing the Rohingya in Rakhine State and demand an independent international investigation and efforts to hold any perpetrators accountable.