The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) has petitioned Argentina’s Federal Court to expand its landmark universal jurisdiction case on the Rohingya genocide to include atrocity crimes committed by the Arakan Army (AA).

In a filing submitted Tuesday (September 3) in Buenos Aires, BROUK requested arrest warrants for AA Commander-in-Chief Major General Twan Mrat Naing, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Brigadier General Nyo Twan Awng, and other senior figures in the group’s command structure.

The AA, an ethnic Rakhine armed group that now controls large parts of Rakhine State, has long portrayed itself as fighting for Rakhine self-determination. But BROUK accused the force of engaging in “indiscriminate and systematic violence” against Rohingya civilians, including mass killings, torture, sexual violence, and deliberate starvation. Rights groups say the abuses have sharply escalated in 2025.

A report released by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on August 29 documented widespread atrocities attributed to the AA. One of the deadliest incidents occurred on May 2, 2024, in Htan Shauk Khan village (Hoinya Seeri), Buthidaung Township, when AA fighters allegedly massacred hundreds of Rohingya. Witnesses recounted villagers being rounded up in paddy fields and executed at close range. Survivors described scenes of a “river of blood,” with one man reporting the loss of 20 relatives, including children.

The rights group Fortify Rights has separately documented a pattern of torture and enforced disappearances of Rohingya men in AA-run detention sites. Humanitarian agencies have also warned that Rohingya communities are facing starvation, worsened by the AA’s actions and ongoing Myanmar military restrictions on aid.

“These atrocities amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said BROUK President Tun Khin. “The Arakan Army, as a non-state actor, has the same responsibility as the Myanmar military to refrain from committing genocide and crimes against humanity. Instead, they have chosen to inflict the same horrific abuses.”

The universal jurisdiction case in Argentina, filed by BROUK in 2019 and opened in 2021, has already led to arrest warrants for 25 Myanmar military officials implicated in genocide. BROUK’s latest motion includes fresh testimony from five witnesses and additional evidence of AA-perpetrated crimes.

“We had hoped to unite with the Rakhine and other ethnic groups against our common oppressor, the Myanmar military,” Tun Khin said. “Instead, the Arakan Army has revealed itself as another force of brutality and repression against the Rohingya.”

BROUK warned that the AA’s campaign cannot be separated from Myanmar’s broader persecution of the Rohingya. “The Rohingya in Rakhine State are on the brink of extinction,” Tun Khin cautioned. “As the international community remains silent, our call for justice grows more urgent.”

The petition underscores rising international concern that the AA once viewed by some as a potential ally against Myanmar’s junta has become another armed group responsible for devastating atrocities against one of the world’s most persecuted peoples.

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