Q&A
Why pick on the Arakha Army?
There are many revolutionary and ethnic armies in Burma, and none have a perfect human rights record, but the scale and breadth of human rights violations by the AA is beyond that currently documented against any other group except the Burmese military. Documentation comes from numerous United Nations reports, Fortify Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, media, Rohingya civil society and others. Links to just some of these reports are below.
The most powerful ethnic army in Burma is authoritarian, intolerant, continuing genocidal policies against the Rohingya, and committing serious violations of international law and other human rights violations on an ongoing basis. The timescale and breadth of these violations, the attention and documentation they have received and the fact that the AA has not only taken no action to end them, but has denied and/or defended them, means that these are not random acts by individual soldiers, but either AA policy or otherwise endorsed and accepted by the leadership.
What about ARSA?
In another copy and paste the Arakha Army have taken from the Burmese military, they often blame ‘insurgents’ as the excuse for many of their crimes. In this case the same organisation, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), as the Burmese military previously blamed. ARSA is a criminal armed Rohingya group which has been terrorising Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and purports to represent the Rohingya, despite being rejected by the vast majority of Rohingya people. Attacks by ARSA were used by the Burmese military as a pretext for its genocidal offensives of 2016 and 2017, which forced around a million Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. The Burmese military and ARSA have allied to fight against the Arakha Army. The Burmese military have deliberately exacerbated religious and ethnic tensions to play divide and rule as they lost territory in Arakan State. ARSA and the AA appear happy to go along with that. Just as the Burmese military’s so called ‘counter insurgency’ against ARSA went far beyond just targeting ARSA, so has the Arakha Army. They take no steps to avoid civilian casualties and often deliberately target them. They kill, detain and torture people on the pretext that they are ARSA, with no evidence. They force communities from their homes and lands, burn properties, and justify attacks by falsely claiming they were harbouring ARSA.
The appalling and criminal actions of ARSA do not justify indiscriminate and collective punishment of Rohingya.
Burma Campaign UK has been calling for action to stop ARSA’s human rights violations and criminal activities for many years.
Isn’t dialogue the best approach?
The United Nations, governments, civil society groups and Rohingya have all tried engaging with the AA, but there has been no significant change in their behaviour. Dialogue isn’t having a big enough impact. It’s time to step up the pressure.
Will sanctions make any difference?
In the past, UK sanctions against individual members of the Burmese military made little difference, they amount to a ban on holidays in UK and assets, such a bank accounts in the UK, would be frozen, but it’s unlikely they have accounts. There is a symbolic importance. The same is likely for AA leaders but the symbolism is much more significant as they have so far not faced any consequences for their crimes. For the AA to be sanctioned in the same way the Burmese military have is symbolically important. It is something many Rohingya civil society organisations have been calling for for some time.
Will sanctioning the AA help the Burmese military?
The Burmese military have already been trying to exploit AA human rights violations against Rohingya to try to discredit their enemy, but it hasn’t had any impact. The AA and its leaders are not receiving financial support or arms from the UK or any international government, so it won’t impact their ability to continue to fight the Burmese military.
A selection of reports documenting human rights violations by the Arakha Army
Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 29th August 2025
Report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
July 14th 2025
Myanmar: Arakan Army Admits to Executing Prisoners of War
Fortify Rights January 24, 2025
The Rohingya Genocide: Starvation and Forced Labour as Tools of Erasure
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, November 19th 2025
Criminal Court: Investigate Arakan Army War Crimes Against Rohingya
Fortify Rights July 23, 2025
International Criminal Court: Investigate Arakan Army Massacre of Rohingya Civilians, Hold Perpetrators Accountable
Fortify Rights, August 27, 2024
Myanmar: Arakan Army Oppresses Rohingya Muslims
Human Rights Watch, July 28 2025
A/79/550: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
Thomas H. Andrews, 25 October 2024
Myanmar: Growing human rights crisis in Rakhine state
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 24 May 2024
Myanmar: Dangers facing Rohingya in northern Rakhine State would make repatriation ‘catastrophic’
Amnesty International 29th September 2025
Myanmar: Rohingyas face worst violence since 2017 – new testimony
Amnesty International 24th October 2024