A/HRC/39/CRP.2 2018 statement, in which Min Aung Hlaing said that the “Bengali do not have any characteristics or culture in common with the ethnicities of Myanmar. The tensions (in Rakhine State) were fuelled because the ‘Bengali’ demanded citizenship.” 2964 1339. The impact of such public statements, closely mirroring and fuelling prevalent discriminatory narratives and sentiments, is compounded by two additional factors. First, a constant stream of misinformation about events in Rakhine State downplays the seriousness of the situation and misleads domestic audiences. Allegations of serious human rights violations by the Myanmar security forces are systematically denied 2965, while the Government spreads demonstrably false information about the situation in Rakhine State. For example, it has regularly been suggested that the numbers of Rohingya who fled from Myanmar were not high, or that the Rohingya left Myanmar in an orderly fashion out of their own will. For example, on 11 October 2017 the Commander-in-Chief, Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, posted: “there is exaggeration to say that the number of Bengali fleeing to Bangladesh is very large”. At the time more than 600,000 Rohingya had fled to Myanmar in a period of six weeks. On 12 October 2017, he posted “documentary photos show that those Bengali conveniently left for Bangladesh but they did not flee from Myanmar in panic” and that “they had fled to Bangladesh with the same language, race and culture as theirs. There are also some Bengali villages whose people did not flee as they did not get involved in the attacks.” On 15 November 2017, he informed his followers that the number of “Bengali” leaving Myanmar between 25 August and 5 September 2017 (the official end date of the “clearance operation”) was “very small” and that “more” left thereafter. He explained that the main reason for the exodus was that “ARSA extremist Bengali terrorists” fled out of fear of a counterattack and took their families with them. He added, “other Bengali were also threateningly forced to flee to Bangladesh, while some were persuaded to live in a third country”. 1340. The State Counsellor’s Information Committee similarly dismissed allegations of sexual violence as “rumours” under a banner stating “fake rape”.2966 The Information Committee has repeatedly dismissed reports of serious human rights violations as “fake news”.2967 The State Counsellor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, referred to an “iceberg of misinformation” about the situation in Rakhine State.2968 Some of the photographs shared by her Information Committee to advance the narrative that Rohingya were burning their own villages were demonstrated to have been staged.2969 Similarly, the Tatmadaw’s Directorate of the Public Relations and Psychological Warfare, in a 2018 publication “Myanmar Politics and the Tatmadaw”, used photographs from Tanzania and Bangladesh, which it claimed showed large numbers of “Bengalis” entering Rakhine State from Bangladesh, to illustrate its allegations against the “Bengalis”.2970 1341. A second aggravating factor is the explicit call for nationalist and patriotic action that accompanies such narratives and misinformation. The call suggests that the country is under siege, and at least implicitly encourages citizens to take action in their own hands. During his meeting with the ethnic people in Rakhine State on 22 September 2017, Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing expressed his regrets for “the shortage of the security forces in giving sufficient protection”. He added that “public cooperation and participation is important in taking security measures. Local ethnics can strengthen the defence prowess by living in unity and by joining hands with the administrative bodies and security forces in oneness.” 2971 On 27 October 2017, in another Facebook post entitled “every citizen has the duty to safeguard race, 2964 2965 2966 2967 2968 2969 2970 2971 338 See also above. Several posts on file with the Mission. See detailed discussion in chapter X, section B: History and climate of impunity in Myanmar. E.g. this post about alleged mass graves: https://www.facebook.com/InfomationCommittee/posts/869272283245879 (accessed August 2018). https://www.facebook.com/InfomationCommittee/posts/790712274435214 (accessed August 2018). J. Head, “Rohingya crisis: Seeing through the official story in Myanmar” (BBC News, 11 September 2017). P. McPherson, “Exclusive: Fake photos in Myanmar army’s ‘True News’ book on the Rohingya crisis” (Reuters, 30 August 2018). The publication is on file with the Mission. Post on file with the Mission.