Tun Khin speaks at an event launching the Museum’s exhibition, "Burma’s Path to Genocide," which explores how the Rohingya went from citizens to outsiders—and became targets of a sustained campaign of genocide. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Burmese military launched brutal attacks on Rohingya civilians in 2016 and 2017, escalating a long campaign of genocide against the group. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has worked with Rohingya partners and others to explore how this was possible, including in the exhibition Burma’s Path to Genocide, and to pursue creative pathways to accountability.
In mid-February, a court in Argentina requested international arrest warrants for senior officials allegedly involved in genocide against the Rohingya population in Burma. The case was possible in Argentina because that country’s constitution allows universal jurisdiction, which allows courts to prosecute crimes that occurred elsewhere if the acts—like alleged genocide or crimes against humanity—are so serious that they threaten humanity as a whole.
The request for arrest warrants for over two dozen officials, including Commander in Chief of the Burmese military Min Aung Hlaing, is one step in a broad pursuit of justice for genocide and other mass atrocities in Burma. There is also a case before the International Court of Justice that is examining Burma’s responsibility under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating mass atrocity crimes in Burma that are connected to Bangladesh, which is a state party to the Rome Statute, unlike Burma. In November 2024, the ICC Prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing, citing reasonable grounds to believe he is responsible for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of Rohingya civilians.
The case in Argentina was initiated by Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK). He has worked alongside Rohingya survivors to lay the groundwork for future prosecution of those responsible for genocide and crimes against humanity. The Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide spoke with Tun Khin to get his views on what the latest news means for the broader effort to seek justice for genocide in Burma.
How did this effort to hold perpetrators accountable begin?
This started in 2017 when I flew to Bangladesh, when people were still fleeing from genocide. I met so many survivors, including many women. They told me about horrible things they had endured and witnessed. One thing I heard over and over, beyond the brutality of the military's attacks, was that they kept saying, "Brother, we want justice." That's how this started. I researched where we could file a case under universal jurisdiction, and with BROUK members we filed a case in Argentina in November 2019. This was just one effort. Around the same time, the Gambia initiated a case at the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court launched its investigation into crimes in Burma that related to Bangladesh.
In late 2021, I testified before the court in Buenos Aires about the history of the Rohingya genocide and how I personally suffered in my youth. I shared information about the systematic destruction of my community. I requested that the court hear from survivors directly. After a lot of work, in June 2023 a group of Rohingya survivors came from Bangladesh to Buenos Aires to testify for the first time about their experience in a court of law. They described in person to the court what had happened to them and their loved ones.
What does the request for arrest warrants mean to you?
This means a lot to the Rohingya people. International justice takes a long time, and sometimes it feels as though accountability is a long way off. But still, these arrest warrants give us hope that we will get justice one day.
What does this mean to Rohingya survivors?
The survivors I’ve spoken with remarked that they feel as though this means they are not forgotten. It’s important that victims and survivors were included in this process. It’s helpful to know that it’s possible that perpetrators can be arrested. Thanks to the Argentine judiciary, this possibility is open.
What do you want to happen next?
We want to see the perpetrators behind bars one day. Also, given the mass violence against civilians after the military’s coup in February 2021, so many groups are suffering. We want to see justice for all those who have been attacked.