violence, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, inhumane
acts, persecution, and deportation or forcible transfer of population.
Deportation or forcible transfer of population refers to forced displacement.175 Deportation is
widely considered to involve forced displacement across an international border, while
forcible transfer refers to internal displacement.176 The ICC’s elements of crimes further
clarifies that, ‘The term “forcibly” is not restricted to physical force, but may include threat
of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological
oppression or abuse of power against such person or persons or another person, or by taking
advantage of a coercive environment.’177
The crime against humanity of persecution essentially criminalises mass violations of human
rights, committed on discriminatory grounds.178 The ICC’s elements of crimes sets out that
the perpetrator targeted such person or persons by reason of the identity of a group, and that
the targeting was based on grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under
international law, such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender etc. The conduct also needs to have
been committed in connection with any of the other enumerated prohibited acts, such as
deportation or forcible transfer of population, or other crimes within the jurisdiction of the
ICC such as war crimes.179
Due to the rolling communication blackouts, the information presented below should not be
considered a comprehensive account of serious violations of international law amounting to other
atrocity crimes between 1 January – 23 May 2025. However, it demonstrates that the Arakan Army is
also abjectly failing to comply with the provisional measures order to protect the Rohingya from
irreparable harm.
Indiscriminate attacks, attacking civilians
The Myanmar military has continued to use airstrikes targeting civilian populations in Rakhine State
to devastating effect. On 8 January, more than 40 Rohingya civilians were killed in an airstrike on
Kyauk Ni Maw fishing village in Ramree township. Around 600 homes and other buildings were
destroyed in fires caused by the airstrikes. Ramree township has been under the control of the Arakan
Army since March 2024 and there was no fighting in the area or Arakan Army presence at the time.180
On 20 February, junta Y-12 planes bombed several locations in Pauktaw township, including the
Rohingya villages and IDP sites of Sin Tet Maw and Ah Nauk Ywe.181 On 11 April – during the socalled post-earthquake ‘ceasefire’ declared by the regime - a regime fighter jet dropped two 500pound bombs, again near Ah Nauk Ywe village.182 BROUK has been unable to confirm if there were
any Rohingya casualties in these incidents, due to the communication blackouts imposed by the
175 ICC Elements of Crimes, Article 7(1)(d)(1), 6.
176 Mark Klamberg, Jonas Nilsson and Antonio Angotti (eds.) Commentary on the Law of the International Criminal Court:
The Statute, Volume I (2nd ed.) Torkel Opsahl Academic E-Publisher (2023) 132-133.
177 ICC Elements of Crimes, Article 7(1)(d)(1), 6.
178 Klamberg et al op. cit. 163.
179 ICC Elements of Crimes, Article 7(1)(6)(1)-(6), 10.
180 BROUK, ‘Burmese Military Airstrike on Fishing Village Kills More Than 40’ (9 January 2025) available at
<https://brouk.org.uk/burmese-military-airstrike-on-fishing-village-kills-more-than-40/> and RFA, ‘Myanmar junta bombs
Rohingya Muslim village killing 41, rescuers say’ (9 January 2025) available at
<https://www.rfa.org/english/myanmar/2025/01/09/rakhine-rohingya-village-bombed/> accessed 7 June 2025.
181 Myanmar Now, ‘Myanmar junta bombs villages in three states’ (21 February 2025) available at <https://myanmarnow.org/en/news/myanmar-junta-bombs-villages-in-three-states/> accessed 7 June 2025.
182 Narinjara, ‘Junta jet releases two 500-pound bombs near Muslim village in Pauktaw’ (14 April 2025) available at
<https://www.narinjara.com/news/detail/67fd4bc0de7874443b1b7e8b> accessed 7 June 2025.
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