A/HRC/39/CRP.2 impose segregation in central Rakhine and confine Muslims to displacement camps and sites for more than six years. 746. Both Rakhine and Rohingya leaders told the Mission that they believed the violence was instigated to divert the attention of the ethnic Rakhine from the Kyaukpyu development project that started in 2009 and was met with strong resistance and protests. They also indicated that it might have been a way for some elements in the Tatmadaw to derail the democratic transition and claim back additional power. 1613 747. The Mission has reasonable grounds to conclude that the 2012 and 2013 violence in Rakhine State was pre-planned and instigated and that the Myanmar security forces were actively involved and complicit. They participated in acts of violence. They refused to fulfil their duty to provide protection, especially to Rohingya and Kaman in need and their properties. Local authorities, ultranationalist Rakhine organizations and politicians, as well as radical monks instigated and/or assisted in acts of violence, to varying degrees. Given the role of the Tatmadaw in the area at the time, allegations that it had a “hidden hand” in instigating the violence merit further investigation. 748. The extreme levels of violence perpetrated against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017, and their mass expulsion – as discussed in the next sections – can only be understood against this backdrop: • Years of concerted hate campaigns against the Rohingya portraying them as “illegal immigrants” constituting a threat to the nation and the Buddhist character of the country, using dehumanising language – with the involvement of and condoning by State authorities and influential figures of authority; • Decades of gradual marginalisation and eroding of rights, resulting in a Statesanctioned and institutionalised system of oppression affecting the lives of Rohingya from birth to death; • Denial of legal identity, restrictions on movement, access to food, livelihood, health and education significantly weakening the Rohingya population for years; • Actively instigated violence between the ethnic Rakhine and the Rohingya, with the involvement of State institutions and other figures of authority, resulting in mass arrests of Rohingya, policies of segregation and the mass displacement and confinement of Rohingya into squalid and barb-wired “displacement” sites and camps in central Rakhine, where they have been arbitrarily detained for more than six years; and • A Government response that has consistently failed to attribute responsibilities, giving the perpetrators a stamp of approval. D. 25 August 2017 and the “clearance operations” That day felt like the last day of this world, as if the whole world was collapsing. I thought judgment day had arrived.1614 749. What happened in northern Rakhine State on 25 August 2017 and the following days and weeks was the realisation of a disaster long in the making. It resulted from the systemic oppression of the Rohingya, the 2012 violence, and the Government’s subsequent actions and omissions. It caused the disintegration of a community and resulted in a human rights catastrophe, the effects of which will span generations. 750. In the early hours of 25 August, ARSA launched coordinated attacks on a military base and up to 30 security force outposts across northern Rakhine State, in an apparent response to increased pressure on Rohingya communities and with the goal of gaining global attention. A small number of minimally-trained leaders had some arms, and a significant 1613 1614 DM-002, DM-006, DM-007, DM-008, DI-012. LI-120. 177