Burma Campaign UK today called on the British government to impose sanctions on the Arakha Army in response to the numerous human rights abuses, including violations of international law, which they are committing.
Burma Campaign UK is also calling on the British government to do more to support international justice and accountability avenues to hold the Arakha Army and its leadership accountable for their crimes, and to convene a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Arakan State, including human rights violations being committed by the Arakha Army and Burmese military. A senior UN human rights official should be invited to brief the meeting.
Following the military coup in 2021, the Arakha Army (formerly called the Arakan Army) (AA) has been fighting to free the state from Burmese military occupation. They have been incredibly successful, and have freed almost the entire state, making them heroes for many people in Burma.
However, in many ways they act like the Burmese military, and are committing numerous human rights violations. Links to some of the reports documenting their human rights violations are at the end of this media release.
In July last year the United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar stated in an update to the UN General Assembly:
“During the reporting period, the Mechanism initiated investigations into crimes allegedly committed by members of the Arakan Army, in military or civilian attire. These included summary executions, torture and beheadings of military soldiers and civilians suspected of being military informants. In addition, the Mechanism continues to collect information on sexual violence, including rape, against Chin women.”
In January this year the British government stated:
“The Rohingya are likely to face a real risk of persecution or serious harm from non-state actors, namely the Arakan Army in Rakhine state.”
Documented crimes by the Arakha Army include massacres, (in one instance they killed hundreds in a drone attack on fleeing civilians), mass detention, torture, beheadings, mass forcing of people from homes and villages, looting, blocking people from work or gathering food, extortion, forced recruitment, aid restrictions, forced labour and burning people alive who were locked into their homes.
The AA have also taken over part of neighbouring Chin State, where there have been accusations they have committed rapes, executions and abductions.
The Arakha Army isn’t just killing and oppressing people of different ethnicities and religions, it is also oppressing ethnic Arakanese people as well. People are afraid to publicly criticise the AA. They restrict access to the internet and have arrested a journalist for activities “going beyond the rules.”
The AA have also been breaking international law by executing captured Burmese Army soldiers, including by cutting their throats or burning them alive.
“Allowing the Arakha Army to continue to commit human rights abuses with impunity only encourages them to think they can get away with more abuses,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Private dialogue with the Arakha Army has not resulted in significant change in their behaviour. It is time that they faced consequences for their actions.”
A selection of reports documenting human rights violations by the Arakha Army
Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 29th August 2025
Report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
July 14th 2025
Myanmar: Arakan Army Admits to Executing Prisoners of War
Fortify Rights January 24, 2025
The Rohingya Genocide: Starvation and Forced Labour as Tools of Erasure
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, November 19th 2025
Criminal Court: Investigate Arakan Army War Crimes Against Rohingya
Fortify Rights July 23, 2025
International Criminal Court: Investigate Arakan Army Massacre of Rohingya Civilians, Hold Perpetrators Accountable
Fortify Rights, August 27, 2024
Myanmar: Arakan Army Oppresses Rohingya Muslims
Human Rights Watch, July 28 2025
A/79/550: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
Thomas H. Andrews, 25 October 2024
Myanmar: Growing human rights crisis in Rakhine state
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 24 May 2024
Myanmar: Dangers facing Rohingya in northern Rakhine State would make repatriation ‘catastrophic’
Amnesty International 29th September 2025
Myanmar: Rohingyas face worst violence since 2017 – new testimony
Amnesty International 24th October 2024
Q&A
Why pick on the Arakha Army?
There are many revolutionary and ethnic armies in Burma, and none have a perfect human rights record, but the scale and breadth of human rights violations by the AA is beyond that currently documented against any other group except the Burmese military. Documentation comes from numerous United Nations reports, Fortify Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, media, Rohingya civil society and others. Links to just some of these reports are listed above.
The most powerful ethnic army in Burma is authoritarian, intolerant, continuing genocidal policies against the Rohingya, and committing serious violations of international law and other human rights violations on an ongoing basis. The timescale and breadth of these violations, the attention and documentation they have received and the fact that the AA has not only taken no action to end them, but has denied and/or defended them, means that these are not random acts by individual soldiers, but either AA policy or otherwise endorsed and accepted by the leadership.
What about ARSA?
In another copy and paste the Arakha Army have taken from the Burmese military, they often blame ‘insurgents’ as the excuse for many of their crimes. In this case the same organisation, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), as the Burmese military previously blamed. ARSA is a criminal armed Rohingya group which has been terrorising Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and purports to represent the Rohingya, despite being rejected by the vast majority of Rohingya people. Attacks by ARSA were used by the Burmese military as a pretext for its genocidal offensives of 2016 and 2017, which forced around a million Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. The Burmese military and ARSA have allied to fight against the Arakha Army. The Burmese military have deliberately exacerbated religious and ethnic tensions to play divide and rule as they lost territory in Arakan State. ARSA and the AA appear happy to go along with that. Just as the Burmese military’s so called ‘counter insurgency’ against ARSA went far beyond just targeting ARSA, so has the Arakha Army. They take no steps to avoid civilian casualties and often deliberately target them. They kill, detain and torture people on the pretext that they are ARSA, with no evidence. They force communities from their homes and lands, burn properties, and justify attacks by falsely claiming they were harbouring ARSA.
The appalling and criminal actions of ARSA do not justify indiscriminate and collective punishment of Rohingya.
Burma Campaign UK has been calling for action to stop ARSA’s human rights violations and criminal activities for many years.
Isn’t dialogue the best approach?
The United Nations, governments, civil society groups and Rohingya have all tried engaging with the AA, but there has been no significant change in their behaviour. Dialogue isn’t having a big enough impact. It’s time to step up the pressure.
Will sanctions make any difference?
In the past, UK sanctions against individual members of the Burmese military made little difference, they amount to a ban on holidays in UK and assets, such a bank accounts in the UK, would be frozen, but it’s unlikely they have accounts. There is a symbolic importance. The same is likely for AA leaders but the symbolism is much more significant as they have so far not faced any consequences for their crimes. For the AA to be sanctioned in the same way the Burmese military have is symbolically important. It is something many Rohingya civil society organisations have been calling for for some time.
Will sanctioning the AA help the Burmese military?
The Burmese military have already been trying to exploit AA human rights violations against Rohingya to try to discredit their enemy, but it hasn’t had any impact. The AA and its leaders are not receiving financial support or arms from the UK or any international government, so it won’t impact their ability to continue to fight the Burmese military.