Statement on the 5th Anniversary

August 25, 2022 | PRESS RELEASES

Five years Later: Anniversary of the Start of the Burmese Military’s Genocidal Campaign Against the Rohingya People is a Moment for Action

Today marks five years since the Burmese military escalated their long-running persecution of the Rohingya people into a full-scale genocidal campaign. While the Rohingya people- an ethnic and religious minority- have suffered persistent and systematic abuse for decades, August 2017 marked a turning point of this violent campaign. The brutal attacks included mass murders affecting all including children; sexual assaults; the razing and erasure of villages; and the forced displacement of more than 700,000 Rohingya people into neighboring Bangladesh, where most remain to this day. These refugees joined the hundreds of thousands who had already been displaced over past decades.

Unfortunately, this persecution against ethnic and religious minorities as well as activists fighting for human rights. Last month, the government executed four pro-democracy activists after sham trials. The violence is appalling, and the response by the international community has, thus far, failed to move the needle back towards a democratic Burma where human rights are respected. This must change.

The Jewish Rohingya Justice Network, inspired by the Jewish commitment to justice, came together in 2017 in response to this escalation of violence. We continue to stand in solidarity with the Rohingya people and, in the strongest possible terms, condemn these atrocities.

We thank the U.S. government for its efforts so far in fighting for justice for the Rohingya people. We welcomed the genocide determination by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in March 2022, the subsequent sanctions against military leaders, the additional support of the UN’s International Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, and the commitment to provide information to The Gambia to aid in its case against Burma under the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice. However, as evidenced by the ongoing challenges faced by Rohingya refugees and ethnic and religious minorities in Burma, these actions are not enough.

We remain gravely concerned about the well-being of the nearly 1 million refugees living in squalid camps in Bangladesh without adequate access to their basic rights to food, clean water, sanitation, or health care. We continue to sound the alarm over plans to relocate tens of thousands of refugees - possibly against their will - to the storm-prone island of Bhasan Char, where their movement is severely restricted. We are also deeply troubled that millions of Rohingya youth, both those displaced in the region and inside Burma, are being denied access to sufficient educational opportunities.

We know from our own history how critical it is for the international community to speak out clearly and forcefully against oppression. That is why the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network has led a coalition of more than 300 American Jews, rabbis and cantors, and human rights supporters to send a letter to Secretary Blinken urging more decisive actions today.

We urge that the U.S.:

• Increase pressure on the junta by targeting the oil and gas sectors, their biggest source of income.

• Create more access to durable solutions for Rohingya refugees that include resettlement opportunities, both here in the U.S. and in other third countries. The U.S. must push refugee hosting countries, including Bangladesh, to substantially improve conditions for Rohingya refugees including allowing freedom of movement, and access to livelihoods and education.

• Ensure that the Rohingya people have an equal seat at the table in the development of any new strategies and policies that impact their future. The principle of “nothing about us, without us” should guide all decision-making going forward.

To read the JRJN’s full list of recommendations, please see here for the letter signed by JRJN member organizations and over 300 community members from across the country.

As a global society, we cannot hide behind neutrality or remain silent. Doing so makes us complicit in the slaughter of innocents. We call on the U.S. and the international community to act with the urgency this crisis demands to prevent future generations from suffering the consequences of inaction.

About the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network

The Jewish Rohingya Justice Network is a prominent consortium of Jewish NGOs advocating for the rights of the persecuted Rohingya people of Burma. JRJN’s membership includes 34 organizations and all five major branches of American Judaism that together encompass the support of millions of American Jews —all standing together against genocide.

Inspired by the Jewish commitment to justice, the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network (JRJN) works to promote a robust U.S. and international response to the Rohingya genocide through education of our communities and advocacy in Washington, DC.

To reach the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network for comment, email jewishrohingyajusticenetwork@gmail.com. To see all of our previous statements, click here.