AP finds “sweeping and methodical” rape of Rohingya women and girls

11, Dec 2017 | CJP Team

An Associated Press investigation that involved interviews with 29 Rohingya women and girls who escaped to Bangladesh from Myanmar found that Myanmar’s security forces have engaged in systematic rape against the minority. AP notes that there was “a sickening sameness” in the sexual assault survivors’ reports, “with distinct patterns in their accounts, their assailants’ uniforms and the details of the rapes themselves.” AP noted that since foreign journalists are barred from going to Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the survivors’ accounts could not be independently verified. The agency said the survivors’ testimonies support the United Nations’ position that Myanmar’s armed forces are using rape as a “calculated tool of terror” to wipe out the Rohingya. According to the AP, “Medecins Sans Frontieres doctors have treated 113 sexual violence survivors since August, a third of them under 18.”