Arakan News Agency
A local commander from the Buddhist Arakan militias (Arakan Army) has ordered Rohingya villagers in northern Maungdaw to send 50 workers every day to work for the militias, or else leave the country a move that has raised human rights concerns over forced labor and abuses.
According to local residents, the commander rejected families’ requests to reduce the daily quota during the rice harvest season, insisting that the work must continue regardless of the harvest or any hardship, and that villagers who refuse to comply must leave the country.
Residents said, as reported by the Rohingya Khobor news site, that workers are being forced to work long hours in the heat with minimal breaks, while families need to gather their crops to survive.
Human rights monitors explained that these orders constitute forced labor under international law, which prohibits compelling individuals to work under threat of punishment. Rohingya communities have reported escalating cases of forced labor, intimidation, and other abuses in recent months under the control of Arakan militias.
The Rohingya suffer widespread violations under Arakan militia rule, including the sealing of homes following malicious complaints, confiscation of properties and valuables, the displacement of numerous families, and strict movement restrictions between villages enforced through a network of security checkpoints at every Rohingya village entrance and exit.
Arakan militias launched a military campaign in November 2023 against the Myanmar army to seize control of the state, managing to take over 14 out of 17 towns. The conflict has engulfed the Rohingya, who have been subjected to violence, forced displacement, and persecution by both sides — after previously enduring a “genocidal campaign” by the Myanmar military in 2017 that drove nearly one million of them to flee to Bangladesh.
