AYPN Statement on 8th Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day
- arakanyouthpeacene
- Aug 24
- 2 min read
25 August, 2025
Eight years ago today, on 25 August 2017, the Rohingya people of northern Rakhine State endured one of the darkest chapters of our time. Entire villages were burned, women violated, children slaughtered, and families driven from their ancestral lands. More than 750,000 fled in terror across the border to Bangladesh, joining countless others already displaced by decades of persecution. What happened was not a tragedy of nature. It was a deliberate act of genocide.
Eight years later, the wounds remain open. The Rohingya continue to live without justice, without homeland, without dignity. In Bangladesh, over one million people are confined in refugee camps, their futures fading with each passing day as aid dwindles. In Rakhine State, Rohingya who remain are trapped in fear, facing new waves of displacement, hunger, and violence. The world promised “never again” yet “again” is happening before our eyes.
Today, the Arakan Youth Peace Network (AYPN) stands in solidarity with the Rohingya people. We demand justice and accountability for all perpetrators of crimes against humanity — past and present. Recent reports of massacres of Rohingya civilians in 2024 alleged committed by Arakan Amry (AA) demand urgent and independent international investigation. No bloodshed can be excused. No perpetrator can be shielded.
Yet even amidst this suffering, the Rohingya people continue to show resilience and hope. For generations, Rohingya and Rakhine lived side by side, sharing markets, rivers, and traditions. The Rohingya are not asking for vengeance — they are asking for dignity, justice, and the chance to live once more in peaceful coexistence and social harmony with their Rakhine brothers and sisters, as before.
We call on the international community with urgency and with grief:
Bring Min Aung Hlaing and his generals before an international court. Their crimes cry out for justice.
Open Rakhine State to independent investigators. Let the truth of every atrocity be known.
Restore humanity to the Rohingya. Provide protection, dignity, and a future to those in camps and villages.
Eight years have passed, but the voices of the dead and the cries of the living still echo. The world must not turn away. To forget the Rohingya is to betray the very idea of humanity.
As youth, as advocates, and as people from Rakhine, we believe that lasting peace cannot be built on impunity, nor on division. The Rohingya’s longing is not for separation, but for a future of equality and shared humanity with all communities of Rakhine State.
Today, on the 8th Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, we reaffirm our commitment:
To honor the victims and survivors of genocide.
To support the Rohingya struggle for justice, dignity, and rights.
To hold all actors accountable for violations against civilians.
To work for a future in Myanmar where Rohingya, Rakhine, and all peoples live together in peace.
Justice delayed is justice denied. The tears of a people should not be their only inheritance. Justice must be their right. Dignity must be their future. Peace must be their home.
— Arakan Youth Peace Network (AYPN)
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