Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day in 2025
August 25th, 2025
Today marks eight years since Burma military’s 2017 “clearance operations” that forced over 700,000 Rohingya to flee into Bangladesh. Due to global negligence, impunity and lack of refugee protection, mass atrocity remains today. In violation of binding provisional measures of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Burmese military has escalated indiscriminate violence across the country, with Rakhine State a site of targeted abuse.
Over 600,000 Rohingya live under internment-like conditions in Burma. According to ReliefWeb, the military “continues to commit indiscriminate violence constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes, including airstrikes, drone attacks, heavy artillery shelling and landmine casualties”. The military and the Arakan Army displaced thousands of Rohingya and committed extrajudicial killings. Additionally, Rohingya are subjected to forced labour under an imposed humanitarian blockade. The UN has already warned of famine conditions.
Additional issues persist in Bangladesh, where over 1 million Rohingya refugees live in squalor conditions in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char.
Justice For All Canada’s Burma Task Force echoes humanitarian demands and urges Canada to act jointly with the international community at the United Nations:
We also call on Canada to renew its Rohingya multi-year strategy past 2024 and increase its humanitarian funding for Rohingya refugees, ensuring that aid directly reaches those who are still trapped, displaced and starving. Refugees must be protected with permanent solutions, avoiding premature repatriation into conditions of apartheid.
Today marks eight years since Burma military’s 2017 “clearance operations” that forced over 700,000 Rohingya to flee into Bangladesh. Due to global negligence, impunity and lack of refugee protection, mass atrocity remains today. In violation of binding provisional measures of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Burmese military has escalated indiscriminate violence across the country, with Rakhine State a site of targeted abuse.
Over 600,000 Rohingya live under internment-like conditions in Burma. According to ReliefWeb, the military “continues to commit indiscriminate violence constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes, including airstrikes, drone attacks, heavy artillery shelling and landmine casualties”. The military and the Arakan Army displaced thousands of Rohingya and committed extrajudicial killings. Additionally, Rohingya are subjected to forced labour under an imposed humanitarian blockade. The UN has already warned of famine conditions.
Additional issues persist in Bangladesh, where over 1 million Rohingya refugees live in squalor conditions in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char.
- Aid cuts have slashed food rations to less than six dollars a month.
- Thousands of Rohingya learning centres have been closed.
- Women, children and elderly are at acute risk of malnutrition.
- Abductions and trafficking by armed groups persist in refugee camps, including forcible conscription of men and boys.
- Bangladesh’s government has also pushed back Rohingya at the border.
Justice For All Canada’s Burma Task Force echoes humanitarian demands and urges Canada to act jointly with the international community at the United Nations:
- Fund the $934 million Rohingya Joint Response Plan (now only 35% met).
- Address the US travel ban on Myanmar nationals to ensure meaningful participation of relevant Burmese leaders in the September 30th conference on Rohingya.
- Support International Criminal Court (ICC) and ICJ proceedings until perpetrators face justice.
We also call on Canada to renew its Rohingya multi-year strategy past 2024 and increase its humanitarian funding for Rohingya refugees, ensuring that aid directly reaches those who are still trapped, displaced and starving. Refugees must be protected with permanent solutions, avoiding premature repatriation into conditions of apartheid.