Rohingya Persecutions in Myanmar: Ethnic Cleansing or Genocide?

Abstract

On 25 August 2017, the Myanmar security forces launched widespread and systematic attacks against the Rohingya people with brutalities unbound. As a matter of fact, such persecution is termed either “ethnic cleansing or “crimes against humanity, or “genocide” by diverse personnel, scholars, organisations, and even representatives of many countries. Each term has its own significance and recognition in the contemporary international law. The term “ethnic cleansing” is an oblique expression that is generally used to avoid the liability of “genocide” or any other mass violations of human rights. In contrast, the 1948 Genocide Convention defines “genocide” denoting it as a punishable offence. These different scenarios generate an ambiguity in the relationships as well as differences between “ethnic cleansing” and “genocidal intent” because the International Court of Justice (ICJ) indicated in the Croatia v. Serbia [2015] case that even a mere campaign of ethnic cleansing may amount to a genocidal act considering its aftermath. This proposition fortified the author to find answer to a universal epidemic question as to whether the persecutions committed against the Rohingyas can be termed merely “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide”. This issue gives birth to certain interconnected questions such as, what is intimately the criminal nature of Rohingya persecution, and what is the consequence of defining the perpetrator’s criminality. This study has focused on the ample answers to these questions. On the basis of the core findings, it has also highlighted the legal inferences of the atrocities to prosecute the individual perpetrators of Myanmar, and to make Myanmar accountable as a State. In order to determine the criminal nature of the persecution, the author primarily relied on qualitative research approaches including focus group discussions. As per relevance, various reports, international instruments, and precedents are also consulted in this study.