A detailed geospatial analysis of change over a 3,283 kilometre squared area in North Rakhine State between 2016 and 2020
A complete database with more than 600 entries of every area with destroyed buildings identified in Northern Rakhine State, and imagery documenting areas before and after the destruction.
An accumulation of more 38,000 destroyed buildings, more than 24,000 of which had clear burn marks as documented by satellite imagery.
Myanmar’s Rakhine State has a long history of violence. But in August 2017 a crackdown by Myanmar’s Armed Forces (known as the Tatmadaw) saw what could only be described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
The operation by the Tatmadaw, which they referred as 'clearance operations' was in response to attacks on 25 August 2017 on security outposts and an army base by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an Islamic group fighting for Rohingya independence and rights. The clearance operations was an attack on the Rohingya population in northern Rakhine State as a whole.
In a report on the clearance operations and ongoing events, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIMM) documented 'how the Tatmadaw took the lead in killing thousands of Rohingya civilians, as well as forced disappearances, mass gang rape and the burning of hundreds of villages.'
Other human rights bodies have identified attempts to 'demolish' villages to destroy evidence 'internet blackouts' & restrictions on media and humanitarian organisations accessing Rakhine State. Still more stories are coming out, giving a real indication of the extent to what really happened in North Rakhine.
Since the August 2017 operations waged by the Tatmadaw, there has been large-scale displacement with more than 742,000 Rohingya seeking refuge in Bangladesh (as of 31 July 2019). Much of the information and stories on the horrific ordeal comes from the refugees living in those camps.
