Rohingya (Arakan)
The Rohingya, a Muslim people of Myanmar's Rakhine (Arakan) State, have been driven into Bangladesh in waves: over 200,000 in 1978 and over 250,000 in 1991–92. In 2012 mobs backed by security forces drove more than 125,000 into camps inside Myanmar. From 25 August 2017 the army's 'clearance operations' burned at least 392 villages, killed at least 6,700 people in the first month by MSF's count, and drove about 725,000 into Bangladesh; the UN Fact-Finding Mission found genocidal intent. The army then bulldozed villages and mosques and built bases on the land. Since 2024 Rohingya have been caught between the junta, which forcibly recruits them, and the Arakan Army, which burned Buthidaung. Over 1.2 million Rohingya now live in the Cox's Bazar camps, and The Gambia's genocide case against Myanmar is before the ICJ.
Key numbers
Who is responsible
The Myanmar military (Tatmadaw), led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing whom the UN Fact-Finding Mission named for prosecution; Myanmar security and border forces; armed Rakhine civilians and, in 2012, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party and local monks; since 2024 also the Arakan Army.
Timeline
- 1978 Operation Nagamin: over 200,000 Rohingya flee to Bangladesh.
- 1991 Over 250,000 flee army forced labour, rape and persecution.
- 2012 Rakhine violence: 125,000+ in camps; 70 killed at Yan Thei.
- 2017 Clearance operations: Maung Nu, Chut Pyin, Tula Toli, Inn Din; ~725,000 flee.
- 2018 UN Fact-Finding Mission finds genocidal intent; bases rise on burned villages.
- 2019 The Gambia sues Myanmar for genocide at the ICJ.
- 2020 ICJ orders provisional measures to protect the Rohingya.
- 2024 Junta forcibly recruits Rohingya; Arakan Army burns Buthidaung; ~180 killed fleeing Maungdaw.
- 2025 UN-backed IIMM reports villages and mosques razed for military outposts.
- 2026 ICJ hears the merits in January; judgment set for 19 November.
Records (16)
1978 exodus (Operation Nagamin)
During Operation Nagamin, a 1977–78 army and immigration drive to screen out 'foreigners', more than 200,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh by May 1978. Most were later pushed home as Bangladesh cut camp rations.
200,000–250,000 displaced
Source: Human Rights Watch · Wikipedia (Operation Dragon King)
1991–92 exodus
In 1991–92 more than 250,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh from forced labour, rape and religious persecution by the Burmese army; some 230,000 were returned between 1993 and 1997.
250,000 displaced
Source: Human Rights Watch
2012 Rakhine violence
In June and October 2012 Arakanese mobs, organised by local monks and the RNDP party and backed by security forces, attacked Rohingya and other Muslims; more than 125,000 were left in displacement camps. Satellite images showed 4,862 structures destroyed. Human Rights Watch called it ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
125,000 displaced4,862 mosques & sacred places destroyed
Source: Human Rights Watch
Yan Thei massacre
On 23 October 2012 at least 70 Rohingya, including 28 children, were killed in a daylong attack on Yan Thei village, Mrauk-U township. The few police and soldiers present disarmed the villagers of the sticks they had for self-defence.
70 killed
Source: Human Rights Watch
Cox's Bazar refugee camps
Rohingya refugees live in 33 crowded camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, most of them since fleeing in 2017. The joint Bangladesh–UNHCR count was 1,206,528 people as of 30 September 2026.
1,206,528 displaced
Source: UNHCR Operational Data Portal
2017 'clearance operations'
From 25 August 2017 Myanmar's army burned Rohingya villages across northern Rakhine; at least 392 villages were partly or wholly destroyed and about 725,000 people fled to Bangladesh. MSF estimated at least 6,700 killed by violence in the first month alone; the UN Fact-Finding Mission called 10,000 deaths a conservative estimate and found genocidal intent, naming Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
6,700–10,000 killed700,000–725,000 displaced392 mosques & sacred places destroyed
Source: UN News · CJP (on UN FFM report) · The Irrawaddy (MSF survey)
Chut Pyin massacre
On 27 August 2017 Myanmar security forces and Rakhine civilians attacked Chut Pyin in Rathedaung township. Physicians for Human Rights estimates about 400 villagers, including 99 children, were killed or are missing; its doctors found survivors' wounds consistent with their accounts.
358–400 killed
Source: Physicians for Human Rights (via ecoi.net) · Watchlist · Wikipedia (Chut Pyin massacre)
Maung Nu massacre
On 27 August 2017 Burmese soldiers took several dozen Rohingya men and boys into a courtyard in Maung Nu, Buthidaung township, and shot or stabbed them; witnesses said a hundred or more bodies were loaded onto army trucks. Satellite images showed the village almost completely burned.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Tula Toli massacre
On 30 August 2017 soldiers trapped villagers of Tula Toli (Min Gyi) on a riverbank, killing and raping several hundred Rohingya and burning bodies in pits. Human Rights Watch listed more than 120 dead by name; 746 buildings in Tula Toli and Dual Toli were burned.
120 killed746 mosques & sacred places destroyed
Source: Human Rights Watch · HRW report 'Massacre by the River'
Mosques and villages razed for outposts
The UN-backed Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar reported on 29 September 2025 that after 2017 the military systematically destroyed Rohingya villages, mosques, cemeteries and farmland and built security outposts on the land, as at Inn Din, using official land records and private contractors.
Source: Reuters via The Star · The Financial Express (Reuters)
Inn Din killings
On 2 September 2017 ten Rohingya men from Inn Din were killed by soldiers and Buddhist villagers and buried in one grave, as Reuters reconstructed. The army admitted the killings and jailed seven soldiers for ten years; the two Reuters reporters who investigated were imprisoned.
10 killed
Source: Frontier Myanmar · CBC
Bases built on burned villages
Amnesty International found in March 2018 that security forces were bulldozing burned Rohingya villages and building at least three new bases, in Ah Lel Chaung (Buthidaung) and Maungdaw, including where Inn Din's Rohingya homes and mosques had stood.
Source: Amnesty International
ICJ: The Gambia v. Myanmar
The Gambia filed a genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice on 11 November 2019. The Court ordered provisional measures on 23 January 2020, upheld its jurisdiction on 22 July 2022 and heard the merits in January 2026; judgment is set for 19 November 2026.
Source: International Court of Justice · Al Jazeera
Forced recruitment of Rohingya
Since February 2024 the junta has recruited thousands of Rohingya men and boys from Rakhine State and the Bangladesh camps to fight the Arakan Army, in breach of domestic law; Rohingya armed groups helped.
Buthidaung burned
On 17 May 2024, while capturing Buthidaung town, Arakan Army forces shelled, looted and burned Rohingya neighbourhoods after a month of attacks on Rohingya villages.
Maungdaw drone strikes on fleeing Rohingya
On 5 August 2024 about 180 people were reportedly killed by drone strikes and shelling while fleeing fighting in Maungdaw town toward the Naf river. Human Rights Watch did not say which side carried out the strikes.
180 killed