Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the U.N. Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), concluded a six-day official visit to Bangladesh on Oct. 12, warning that ongoing violence and the deliberate targeting of civilians in Arakan State prevent Rohingya refugees from safely returning home.
During his visit, Koumjian conducted high-level meetings in Dhaka with Bangladeshi government officials—including Home Affairs Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, Disaster Management and Relief Minister Asadul Habib Dulu, and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir—while also gathering testimonies from more than 200 Rohingya and other displaced community members living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
The security situation inside Myanmar continues to drive regional displacement, with over 154,000 Rohingya fleeing to Cox’s Bazar since early 2024 to escape escalating fighting between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar military, pushing the total displaced Rohingya population in Bangladesh past 1.2 million.
Koumjian emphasized that the IIMM is actively investigating serious international crimes committed across ethnic, religious, and political divides in Arakan, noting that recent eyewitness accounts are crucial for building prosecution cases.
He stressed that stopping atrocities and pursuing accountability are indispensable prerequisites before any safe, sustainable repatriation or reconstruction can begin.
His visit coincides with ongoing deliberations at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding Myanmar’s alleged violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention during the 2016 and 2017 military operations against the Rohingya.
With an ICJ ruling expected in the coming months, the IIMM—established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2018—continues to collect, preserve, and analyze evidence of major international law violations in Myanmar to support future criminal proceedings in national, regional, and international courts.
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