Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Local residents in the northern Arakan State of western Myanmar have reported that the Buddhist Arakan militia (Arakan Army) forced Rohingya men in the villages of Buthidaung, including “Du Daung” and “Titu Bauk,” to perform hard labor without any monetary compensation. This has exacerbated the suffering of families that rely on daily wages to survive.
Residents told the Arakan News Agency that men are summoned to build roads, maintain military sites, and construct or repair stations, only to be denied payment. The Arakan militia justifies this by saying, “We worked a lot for free, and now it’s your turn.”
Witnesses confirmed that the work is carried out under harsh conditions, including carrying heavy weights and mixing cement in difficult weather conditions. Sometimes, several families from the same village are summoned, leaving households without a breadwinner and causing children to go hungry and farms to be neglected.
Humanitarian observers believe that these practices increase the economic pressure on Rohingya communities that already live in fragile conditions. Meanwhile, the Arakan Army has not commented on these allegations.
The Rohingya under the rule of the Arakan Army suffer widespread abuses, including the closure of their homes after malicious complaints, the seizure of their homes, confiscation of their valuable properties, displacement of many families, and the imposition of strict restrictions preventing their movement between villages through a network of security checkpoints at the entrances and exits of each Rohingya village.
The Arakan militia launched a military campaign in November 2023 against the Myanmar Army to control the state, managing to seize control of 14 out of 17 towns. The conflict has affected the Rohingya, who faced violence, forced displacement, and persecution from both sides. This follows a genocide campaign by the Myanmar Army in 2017, which drove nearly a million of them to flee to Bangladesh.
