Seizing the attention and sympathy of the international community in 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees were forced to flee widespread persecution and violence at the hands of Myanmar’s military junta to neighboring Bangladesh. Entire communities were uprooted as villages were burned, and countless lives were devastated by killings, rapes, and other atrocities.
The United Nations, the United States, and human rights organizations have since recognized these attacks as crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and even genocide.
Each year on August 25, Rohingya communities in diaspora and refugee camps, along with their supporters around the world, commemorate Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, honoring the memory of the victims of 2017 and reaffirming the call for justice.
Background
The brutality of 2017 was not an isolated event but the culmination of decades of systematic oppression and hostility toward the Rohingya. The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic and religious minority from Myanmar’s Arakan (Rakhine) State, are among the country’s indigenous people. Burmese law, however, excludes them from the list of recognized national races, and since the 1982 Citizenship Law, they have been denied citizenship.
Without full citizenship rights, the Rohingya have endured entrenched discrimination, arbitrary confiscation of property, and severe restrictions on movement, education, healthcare, and employment.
The genocidal clearance operations of 2017 marked the most recent and devastating wave of violence, the effects of which persist eight years later. Today, the Rohingya continue to face persecution and are denied basic rights, protection, and recognition of citizenship, both in Myanmar and in exile.
Conditions in Myanmar
The situation for the Rohingya community in Myanmar remains at crisis levels. Amid the deteriorating situation in Rakhine State, the Independent Investigative Mechanism (IIMM), established by the Human Rights Council, has opened dedicated inquiries into serious international crimes committed since early 2024. These investigations include crimes targeting Rakhine, Rohingya, and other civilian communities affected by armed conflict between the military junta and the Arakan Army (AA).
Thousands of civilians have been caught in the fighting, with credible reports of starvation, killings, torture, rape, and the burning of villages. The IIMM is also investigating incidents that include:
- the detention, torture, and forced transfer of civilians from several villages;
- indiscriminate killing of women, children, and elderly people;
- restrictions on civilian movement and blockades of humanitarian aid and essential supplies; and
- indiscriminate or intentional artillery and aerial attacks on civilians and civilian objects in AA-controlled villages across Northern and Southern Rakhine.
While all ethnic communities have endured severe hardship, the remaining Rohingya are especially vulnerable, caught between the junta and the AA. The escalating violence has forced some 150,000 Rohingya to flee their homes and country in recent months. To make matters worse, a recent devastating earthquake crippled an already weak infrastructure.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates, more than 1.2 million Rohingya are stateless and displaced from Myanmar. While only about 600,000 remain inside the country, many of them are internally displaced. The worsening humanitarian crisis has driven more people to undertake dangerous sea crossings in search of safety. In 2024, more than 7,800 Rohingya attempted to flee Myanmar by boat, an 80 percent increase from the previous year, with over 650 recorded dead or missing. In 2025, nearly 4,000 have already embarked on this perilous journey, with 457 dead or missing.
Conditions in Bangladesh
Bangladesh hosts more than 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement. Refugees there are barred from formal work and movement, leaving them dependent on humanitarian aid. The lack of work authorization fosters an environment of forced idleness that heightens risks of illicit activities, exploitation, insecurity, and violence. Women and children are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking.
The camps are severely overcrowded, with shelters constructed from makeshift materials such as bamboo and tarpaulin. Living spaces are extremely cramped, with many families packed into shelters designed for far fewer occupants. These fragile structures offer little protection against natural disasters, leaving communities exposed to monsoon rains, floods, fires, and landslides. This year alone, monsoon flooding and landslides caused widespread destruction, affecting approximately 65,000 Rohingya.
Global cuts in humanitarian funding have deepened an already dire situation. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners were forced to close learning centers in the camps, placing the education of nearly 250,000 Rohingya children at risk. Without access to education, children are increasingly pushed into early marriage and exploitative work.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has secured temporary funding to minimize food ration cuts to $12 per person per month through October 2025. However, without new resources, food distributions remain at risk of cuts, as seen in other protracted humanitarian crises. Humanitarian organizations have already had to scale back critical services in healthcare, protection, water, and waste management. Inadequate access to clean water, sanitation, and healthcare not only worsens living conditions but also increases the risk of communicable disease outbreaks.
Despite fading from mainstream headlines since 2017, the Rohingya, in Myanmar, refugee camps, and around the world, continue to gather, mobilize, advocate, rally, teach, and pursue justice. Yet they cannot achieve the dignity and rights they deserve without sustained support from the international community.
Call to Action
On this Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, let us honor the memory of those who lost their lives in 2017, and recommit to standing with the Rohingya today. To support durable solutions that provide protection and safe pathways for Rohingya refugees, international stakeholders should:
- Uphold international refugee protections. All parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees should uphold their commitments to refugees and the principle of non-refoulement. As safe resettlement pathways shrink, refugees like the Rohingya are left trapped in inhumane conditions for prolonged periods.
- Increase humanitarian funding. Donor governments should expand contributions to the Joint Response Plan, which was less than 22 percent funded between January and June 2025.
- Extend and redesignate TPS for Myanmar. With Temporary Protected Status (TPS) set to expire on November 25, 2025, the U.S. Government should extend and redesignate TPS for Myanmar to safeguard Rohingya and other displaced Myanmar nationals.
- Advance bipartisan legislation. The U.S. Congress should pass legislation such as the Burma GAP Act (R. 4140) and the No New Burma Funds Act (H.R. 4423), which provide protection and humanitarian support for Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons, while promoting accountability for crimes committed against them.
