Myanmar’s Arakan Army accused of using Rohingya as forced laborers
Rights group Fortify Rights says ethnic militia is coercing minorities in Rakhine State into unpaid work, warning the practice may constitute war crimes
YANGON, Myanmar (MNTV) — A new report has exposed how the Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic militia in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, is forcing Rohingya, Hindu, and other minority civilians into brutal unpaid labor — a practice that human rights experts say amounts to war crimes.
The investigation, released Wednesday by the human rights organization Fortify Rights, documents testimonies from survivors who say they were dragged from homes, threatened at gunpoint, and made to work for months without pay. Many were forced to carry ammunition, dig trenches, or build fortifications for the group — often under torture and starvation.
“Rohingya, Hindu, and other minorities in Rakhine State are being forced to work in dangerous conditions wholly against their will,” said Yap Lay Sheng, senior specialist at Fortify Rights. “Those who refuse face arrest, violence, or crippling fines.”
For decades, Myanmar’s military was seen as the principal perpetrator of forced labor and ethnic persecution. But rights monitors say the Arakan Army — once viewed by some as a liberation force — has now replicated the same machinery of abuse it claimed to resist.
Survivors described being locked inside mosques and schools, corralled into labor camps, and denied food if they were too sick to work.
One 23-year-old Rohingya man from Buthidaung told Fortify Rights he was among hundreds detained and ordered to dig military bunkers. “They told us, ‘You supported the junta before — now you work for us. It is our law,’” he said.
Since the Arakan Army seized control of large parts of Rakhine from Myanmar’s junta in 2023, reports of forced labor, mass detentions, and extrajudicial killings have multiplied. More than 400,000 civilians have been displaced within Rakhine and neighboring Chin State, while nearly 200,000 have fled to Bangladesh, according to rights monitors.
Despite public pledges by its political wing, the United League of Arakan, to uphold human rights, the militia continues to impose curfews, restrict movement, and target minority communities under its control.
Fortify Rights warned that the group’s conduct “bears the hallmarks of systematic persecution,” violating international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
Myanmar’s military junta has faced similar accusations of forced labor for decades. In June, the International Labor Organization called for coordinated global action to end the practice and suspend military cooperation with Myanmar’s armed forces.
Analysts say the new findings reveal how Myanmar’s cycle of impunity has deepened — where one armed actor replaces another, but the victims remain the same. The Rohingya, who have endured genocide, statelessness, and displacement, now face a new oppressor under a different flag.
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