Violence and mortality in the Northern Rakhine State of Myanmar, 2017: results of a quantitative survey of surviving community leaders in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background In August, 2017, Myanmar security forces initiated a widespread response against the Rohingya ethnic minority in Northern Rakhine State, displacing thousands of people to Bangladesh. This attack was purportedly in response to attacks committed by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a non-state insurgent group, on Myanmar police, Border Guard Police, and military posts, killing 12 security personnel on Aug 25, 2017. This study aimed to capture the experiences of the population from all Rohingya hamlets in the Northern Rakhine State who have been displaced to Bangladesh. Methods A quantitative survey was done among Rohingya leaders displaced to refugee camps in Bangladesh. Community leaders from 590 Rohingya hamlets and eight urban wards provided hamlet-level data on the extent, nature, and perpetrators of the violence in Northern Rakhine State in August, 2017, and the resulting morbidity and mortality.Results From May 28 to July 25, 2018, 462 (77%) of 604 hamlet leaders reported that the primary reason they and their community members fled was because of violence in their hamlet or in a neighbouring hamlet. 568 (94%) respondents reported that they had experienced destruction in their hamlets, including burning or destruction of fields or farms, homes, and mosques; 531 (89%) of 599 respondents reported violence in their hamlets before flight and 373 (64%) of 586 reported violence against civilians in flight. The main perpetrators of violence included but were not limited to Border Guard Police, Myanmar military, and Rakhine extremists. Of the 531 respondents who reported violence in their hamlets, 408 (77%) reported that military forces used helicopters, 372 (70%) reported military vehicles, and 113 (21%) reported tanks in these assaults on civilian communities. We estimate that 7803 Rohingya died from violent and non-violent causes associated with the August, 2017, attacks and subsequent displacement.Interpretation In 2017, the Rohingya ethnic minority population of Northern Rakhine State were the targets of a campaign of widespread and systematic violence, including violence by state forces.Funding An anonymous grant to Physicians for Human Rights.

A Rapid Assessment of Health Literacy and Health Status of Rohingya Refugees Living in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh Following the August 2017 Exodus from Myanmar: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Almost two-thirds of pregnant women did not receive any antenatal care and 90% relied on domiciliary care by unregulated or unqualified health care providers for their deliveries. Most of these findings confirm those published previously on this subject [2,10,19]; however, this study also uniquely identifies that Rohingyas have poor health literacy, with over half of primary respondents unable to answer questions on how to appropriately treat diarrhoea. This is in the context of a setting in which diarrhoea is endemic, and a leading cause of death [25].…”

“…There has been some research to try to understand the magnitude of violence and fatalities occurring among Rohingyas [2,10,19]. A survey conducted among over 600 village leaders identified the primary reason for leaving Myanmar was violence in their village or in an adjacent village, perpetrated mostly by border police and the Myanmar military [19].…”

“…There has been some research to try to understand the magnitude of violence and fatalities occurring among Rohingyas [2,10,19]. A survey conducted among over 600 village leaders identified the primary reason for leaving Myanmar was violence in their village or in an adjacent village, perpetrated mostly by border police and the Myanmar military [19]. Another cluster of surveys led by MSF calculated the crude mortality rate (CMR) among those aged ≥50 years during the 2017 violence period was as high as 17.3 per 10,000 per day, an almost 15-fold higher CMR than in the same population before, and 9-fold higher CMR than after, the period of violence [10].…”

Violence and mortality in Rohingya migrants from the Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar

“…This population, the largest stateless group in the world, has been persecuted within Myanmar, with many fleeing across the border to Bangladesh and to other countries. 1 The study by Parveen Parmar and colleagues 2 is particularly prescient given that Bangladesh has planned to stop accepting Rohingya migrants. 3 Numerous eye-witness and case reports have emerged describing the degree of violence faced by the Rohingya, yet accurate estimates of overall mortality are largely missing.…”

“…A degree of self-selection in the population sampled is also likely to have occurred (village tract administrators were only interviewed if they "deemed they had sufficient information to do so") and not all who were interviewed were leaders. 2 Those interviewed were likely to have recall bias and it could be questioned how well an individual might know and represent a population of up to 8675 people. While acknowledged by the authors, to not interview women is a major limitation of the study.…”