Interviews with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reveal a deliberate and systematic pattern of brutal human rights violations.
The OHCHR’s report on its rapid response mission to Cox’s Bazar says “The manner in which the villages, home and property of the Rohingya across northern Rakhine State has been destroyed points to it being well-organised and coordinated, thereby challenging the assertion that it was merely collateral damage of the military security operations.
“The Myanmar security forces purposely destroyed the property of the Rohingyas, scorched their dwellings and entire villages in northern Rakhine State, not only to drive the population out in droves but also to … render the possibility of the Rohingya returning to normal lives and livelihoods in the future in northern Rakhine almost impossible.”
Credible information received by the mission “indicates an effort to effectively erase all signs of memorable landmarks in the geography of the Rohingya landscape and memory in such a way that a return to their lands would yield nothing but a desolate and unrecognizable terrain … the Myanmar security forces targeted teachers, the cultural and religious leadership, and other people of influence in the Rohingya community in an effort to diminish Rohingya history, culture and knowledge.”