What would justice look like if there were no Rohingya left in Myanmar?

August 25 is an incredibly achy time for the Rohingya. It marks the day of the 2017 genocidal campaign by the Myanmar military. Babies and young children were thrown into fires. Women and young girls were systematically gang-raped and mutilated. Entire families were slaughtered arsenic they fled. Others were trapped wrong their homes and burned alive. More than 700,000 of our radical were forced to fly to Bangladesh.

The Rohingya, who are an taste Muslim-majority radical who talk their ain connection from the Indo-Aryan family, person agelong faced favoritism and persecution successful Myanmar.

Today, astir 1.2 cardinal Rohingya stay trapped successful camps successful Bangladesh, portion a caller question of persecution is forcing much Rohingya from their homes successful Rakhine state. Others are risking their lives astatine oversea successful a hopeless hunt for safety.

In this hopeless situation, determination is simply a ray of anticipation raised by planetary justness proceedings successful Argentina and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Still, the planetary assemblage is falling abbreviated successful fulfilling its commitments to guarantee accountability and support the Rohingya.

The genocide ne'er stopped

Over the past 2 years, the equilibrium of powerfulness successful Rakhine has dramatically changed. The Arakan Army (AA), an taste Rakhine equipped group, present controls astir of the state, including the main Rohingya areas successful the north. But the brutality and persecution Rohingya look person not ended.

As the AA has consolidated its control, evidence has mounted of wide killings and targeted attacks connected civilians, documenting what Rohingya communities person been informing of.

Rohingya besides look forced recruitment, forced labour, detention and terrible restrictions connected movement. Sexual violence, a hallmark of the Rohingya genocide, is continuing nether AA authority.

Rohingya successful Rakhine study that the unit and oppression they present look from the AA is conscionable arsenic brutal arsenic the Myanmar military’s taste cleansing successful 2017. Taken together, we spot these abuses arsenic portion of a deliberate strategy to thrust Rohingya from their homes and proceed their erasure from Myanmar.

The aforesaid anti-Rohingya racism that drove decades of persecution by the Myanmar subject is besides astatine the bosom of the AA’s attraction of the Rohingya. The perpetrators whitethorn person changed, but the dehumanisation and denial of our individuality and rights continue.

The AA is completing what the Myanmar subject started. Rohingya are being driven from their villages and prevented from returning, portion their onshore is confiscated and caller Rakhine settlements are built connected it, sometimes by Rohingya coerced into forced labour. The anticipation of instrumentality is being destroyed successful existent time.

Nowhere harmless to go

More than 150,000 Rohingya person fled to Bangladesh since precocious 2023, conscionable arsenic planetary humanitarian backing for refugees is being slashed. Learning centres successful Cox’s Bazar person closed and indispensable services are being cut. Children who fled genocide are increasing up without acquisition oregon anticipation for their future. Others were calved successful the camps and person ne'er known a beingness extracurricular them. The planetary assemblage is allowing an full procreation of Rohingya children to beryllium abandoned.

Rohingya are being forced to take betwixt continuing persecution successful their homeland and hunger, insecurity and an progressively hopeless beingness successful camps.

For those forced to flee, determination is often nary harmless way to protection. The precise radical forcing Rohingya to fly are often progressive successful and profiting from their trafficking arsenic they effort to escape. In July, two boats carrying much than 500 Rohingya, including children and young people, sank aft leaving Rakhine. No 1 would enactment their children connected specified a unsafe travel unless staying was adjacent much dangerous.

Meanwhile, determination is increasing anti-Rohingya sentiment successful countries that big them arsenic refugees. Governments speech astir Rohingya returning location portion much are being forced retired and the onshore they would instrumentality to is being taken. We privation to spell home. But we privation to spell location with our rights: citizenship, adjacent rights and the close to instrumentality to our ain land.

Nine years of impunity

For 9 years, the Myanmar subject leaders liable for genocide against Rohingya person faced nary existent consequences. The architects of the genocide stay free, portion the aforesaid subject has gone connected to perpetrate atrocities against communities crossed Myanmar. Accountability is not lone astir the past. It is astir stopping the unit happening present and preventing further atrocities.

The satellite cannot repetition the aforesaid nonaccomplishment with the Arakan Army. We person seen this signifier earlier and cognize wherever it leads. The longer the Myanmar subject and AA are allowed to enactment with impunity, the person we travel to the implicit erasure of the Rohingya from Rakhine.

Rohingya survivors and organisations person spent years documenting crimes, giving grounds and warring for accountability. We had to prosecute justness connected the different broadside of the satellite due to the fact that governments and planetary institutions failed to present it.

That combat is yet producing results. My organisation, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), brought a cosmopolitan jurisdiction lawsuit successful Argentina which has resulted successful planetary apprehension warrants for 22 Myanmar subject officials and 3 civilians, including the subject government’s leaders Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and General Soe Win, for genocide and crimes against humanity. We are besides pursuing reparations for Rohingya survivors.

A judgement is besides expected successful the coming months successful the genocide lawsuit brought by The Gambia against Myanmar astatine the ICJ.

Rohingya are getting person to justness successful planetary courts but astatine the aforesaid clip are being pushed further from our homeland. Legal advancement means small if Rohingya proceed to beryllium killed, forced retired and stripped of the onshore to which they anticipation 1 time to return.

We person fought for years to get this far. Now governments indispensable act. Every imaginable unit constituent indispensable beryllium applied.

States indispensable enforce the Argentinian apprehension warrants whenever those wanted participate their jurisdictions, and Interpol indispensable enactment connected Argentina’s petition for reddish notices. Governments indispensable enforce coordinated targeted sanctions connected the AA and the Myanmar military, alongside restrictions connected arms, aviation substance and gross streams that alteration further atrocities. Maximum planetary unit indispensable beryllium applied connected the AA to extremity its persecution of Rohingya and guarantee our extortion and adjacent rights.

The United Nations Security Council indispensable act. The United Kingdom, arsenic penholder connected Myanmar, indispensable propulsion for an urgent assembly gathering connected the atrocities taking spot successful Rakhine and the continued nonaccomplishment to support the Rohingya.

Governments indispensable reconstruct and summation humanitarian backing for Rohingya successful Bangladesh and Rakhine, facilitate cross-border assistance and unit the Myanmar subject and the AA to extremity restrictions connected humanitarian access.

Governments indispensable prosecute each disposable way to justness and accountability for crimes by the Myanmar subject and the AA. They indispensable besides beryllium acceptable to respond to the forthcoming ICJ judgement.

Justice and accountability delivered years excessively precocious volition mean thing if determination are nary Rohingya near successful Myanmar.

Justice is not lone astir what happens successful courtrooms. For Rohingya, it means being capable to instrumentality to our villages and our land. It means restoring the citizenship and rights that person been taken from us. Above all, it means being capable to unrecorded freely and arsenic equals successful Myanmar, without ever again facing persecution and genocide.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.