UN Special Rapporteur Documents Violence and Humanitarian Crisis in Rakhine State
- Arakan Now
- 6 days ago
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Arakan Now | 21 September 2025
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar has reported widespread violence, displacement, and serious abuses against both Rohingya and Rakhine civilians in Rakhine State.
In a report presented to the UN General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur outlines 21 key points detailing grave violations committed by the Myanmar military, the Arakan Army (AA), and Rohingya armed groups (ARSA and RSO) between 2024 and 2025.
Below is the full Rakhine State section of the report:
Violence against Rohingya and Rakhine civilians
1. In Rakhine State, where the Arakan Army is battling junta forces and Rohingya armed groups, civilians are trapped in a vortex of violence and oppression. All parties to the conflict stand accused of committing grave human rights abuses against civilian populations. Desperate Rohingya families are again crossing the border in large numbers, with approximately 150,000 having arrived in refugee camps in Bangladesh in 2024 and 2025. Ethnic Rakhine have also begun to cross the border to escape the violence.
2. As it has done in opposition-controlled areas throughout the country, the junta has repeatedly attacked civilian populations in Rakhine State, killing and displacing both Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine people. In May 2024, soldiers massacred approximately 90 Rakhine villagers in Byain Phyu village near Sittwe, reportedly torturing the victims before killing them and gang-raping women. In January 2025, a military airstrike on Ramree Island, which is controlled by the Arakan Army, reportedly killed up to 40 civilians, including many women and children. Also that month, an airstrike on a crowded marketplace in Kyuaktaw, also controlled by the Arakan Army, killed around a dozen civilians. Junta jets pounded Arakan Army–controlled villages and towns in the weeks following the March earthquake, despite the junta’s declared “ceasefire.”
3. Junta forces have also burned Rakhine villages and Rakhine wards of larger towns, including Buthidaung. Soldiers have used civilians as human shields, establishing bases in camps for internally displaced people and in the compounds of humanitarian organizations. Junta forces have confiscated aid and set fire to humanitarian facilities, including a World Food Programme warehouse holding 1,175 metric tons of food aid.
4. Junta forces have forcibly recruited thousands of Rohingya men and boys, many of whom have been deployed to the frontlines against the Arakan Army or used as human shields. Rohingya recruits have also been ordered to attack Rakhine civilian populations and destroy Rakhine property, escalating tensions between the two communities.
5. In the past two years, Rohingya armed groups—notably the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO)—have joined the fight against the Arakan Army, at times directly coordinating with or assisting junta forces. With a rear base in refugee camps in Bangladesh, these groups exploit, oppress, and attack Rohingya civilians on both sides of the border.
6. ARSA and RSO have forcibly recruited Rohingya men and boys in the refugee camps in Bangladesh and deployed them to fight in Rakhine State. In many cases, youth have been abducted and forced across the border. In some cases, Rohingya militant groups have handed over or “sold” recruits directly to junta forces.
7. Rohingya militants have killed scores of Rohingya refugees in the camps in Bangladesh in recent years, including community and religious leaders, teachers, and human rights defenders. An agreement between Rohingya armed groups reached in late 2024 reduced clashes between the groups but increased their control over the camp population. Abductions and kidnappings for ransom have reportedly increased since the agreement.
8. Inside Rakhine State, ARSA and RSO continue to attack the Arakan Army, commit atrocities against Rakhine civilians, and exploit the Rohingya community. Rohingya militants have reportedly been involved in the burning of hundreds or thousands of ethnic Rakhine homes and in the killing of Rakhine civilians, including brutal executions.
9. ARSA and RSO attacks on Rakhine civilians increase the risk of retaliatory attacks by the Arakan Army that endanger Rohingya civilians.
10. Notwithstanding the abuses and exploitative actions of Rohingya armed groups, the Arakan Army (AA)itself has been implicated in grave human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, torture, killings, and arson attacks.
11. Rohingya eyewitnesses described widespread and indiscriminate violence by the Arakan Army during its offensive to seize control of northern Rakhine State from the junta in mid-2024. UN investigators reported that Arakan Army soldiers killed “scores” of Rohingya civilians from Htan Shauk Khan village in Buthidaung Township in May 2024. Rohingya advocates have suggested far higher numbers of victims. Arakan Army spokespersons have denied responsibility, claiming that images of the victims show junta soldiers, not civilians.
12. Also in May 2024, the Arakan Army reportedly burned Rohingya wards of Buthidaung town after junta forces fled. The destruction of large parts of Buthidaung has been confirmed by satellite imagery analysis suggesting the Arakan Army’s responsibility. Rohingya eyewitnesses said AA soldiers fired on residents as they fled and set homes alight with people still inside.
13. In June 2024, the Arakan Army ordered civilians to evacuate Maungdaw town before attacking junta forces. Rohingya eyewitnesses said they were targeted in drone strikes and ground attacks as the fighting intensified between the Arakan Army, the junta, and Rohingya armed groups.
14. In August 2024, over 100 Rohingya civilians were reportedly killed during a drone attack on a beach along the Naf River, where they had fled to avoid Arakan Army attacks. Eyewitnesses said the drones appeared to come from Arakan Army positions near Maungdaw.
15. The number of drone strikes and other attacks on civilians has declined since the Arakan Army drove junta forces from Buthidaung and Maungdaw in 2024 and established control of northern Rakhine. However, the AA has reportedly abducted large numbers of Rohingya civilians, mostly young men, some of whom were used for forced labor, military duties, or as human shields. Others have simply disappeared.
16. In August 2025, the Special Rapporteur interviewed new arrivals in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Many reported that family and community members had been taken by the Arakan Army and remained missing. Survivors described torture, deprivation, and executions, including beheadings.
17. There are reports that Arakan Army officers coerced or extorted Rohingya civilians to leave Rakhine for Bangladesh, charging fees to facilitate their departure. Some returnees from Bangladesh were reportedly arrested upon arrival.
18. Rohingya who remain in Rakhine reportedly face severe movement and livelihood restrictionsimposed by the Arakan Army, including confinement in displacement camps. Travel often requires payment and permission from AA officials. Many are barred from fishing or farming, worsening food shortages. Restrictions are strictest in northern Rakhine, while Rohingya in central Rakhine under AA control face fewer limits.
19. Given the ongoing violence, approximately 150,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh in 2024 and 2025.
20. The Special Rapporteur has spoken multiple times with Arakan Army leader Senior General Twan Mrat Naing, who denied responsibility for abuses alleged by Rohingya advocates and human rights groups. He said the Arakan Army was being “smeared” with fabricated information and invited the Special Rapporteur to investigate alleged massacre sites.
21. The Special Rapporteur has not been able to independently verify specific incidents but said dozens of Rohingya testimonies were consistent with findings from UN investigators and human rights organizations. Given security conditions and communication restrictions, evidence collection in Rakhine remains extremely difficult. The report calls for an independent, credible investigation into abuses committed by all sides.
