The Chut Pyin massacre was a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

Rohingya The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...

s by the

Myanmar Army The Myanmar Army ( my, တပ်မတော်(ကြည်း), ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw, Armed Forces (''Tatmadaw'') of Myanmar (Burma) and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The My ...

and armed Rakhine locals that purportedly took place in the village of

Chut Pyin Chut Pyin ( my, ချွတ်ပြင်) is a village in the Rathedaung Township of Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is the site of an alleged massacre by the Myanmar Army, carried out against Rohingyas The Rohingya people () are a state ...

, in

Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

on 25 August 2017, the same day

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), formerly known as Harakah al-Yaqin ( "faith movement" in English), is a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to a December 2016 report by the International Cr ...

(ARSA) insurgents attacked security forces along the

Bangladesh–Myanmar border The Bangladesh–Myanmar border is the international border between the countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly ''Burma''). The border stretches , from the tripoint with India in the north, to the Bay of Bengal in the south. About of the bo ...

. The event was first brought to attention after a report was published by

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, which detailed accounts of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

and killings from survivors.

Background

The

Rohingya people The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...

are an

ethnic minority The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

that mainly live in the northern region of

, and have been described as one of the world's most persecuted minorities. In modern times, the

persecution Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

of Rohingyas in Myanmar dates back to the 1970s. Since then, Rohingya people have regularly been made the target of persecution by the government and

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. The tension between various religious groups in the country had often been exploited by the past military governments of Myanmar. According to

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, the Rohingya have suffered from human rights violations under past

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

s since 1978, and many have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh as a result. In 2005, the

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

had assisted with the repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh, but allegations of human rights abuses in the refugee camps threatened this effort. In 2015, 140,000 Rohingyas remained in IDP camps after communal riots in 2012. On 25 August 2017, insurgents of the

(ARSA) launched a large-scale attack against security forces, leading to new "clearance operations" by the Myanmar government, one of which was conducted in

Massacre

According to eyewitnesses, the village of

was razed by Myanmar's security forces and local Rakhines on 26 August 2017, a day after attacks by ARSA on 25 August 2017. Prior to the village's destruction, members of the security forces allegedly threatened and raped Rohingya women, whilst Rohingya men were either killed or detained as ARSA suspects. In September 2017, the death count was reportedly 130; in May 2018, the final death count from violence in Chut Pyin was 358. Satellite imagery released on 16 September 2017 revealed that Chut Pyin had been completely burnt down.

References

{{Reflist, 2 2017 crimes in Myanmar Internal conflict in Myanmar History of Rakhine Rohingya conflict Massacres of Muslims in Myanmar Massacres in 2017 Persecution by Buddhists August 2017 crimes in Asia

Background

Massacre

See also

References