Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Rohingya activists announced on Sunday the launch of the Arakan Rohingya National Council (ARNC) as a platform to represent the Rohingya people in Myanmar, in refugee camps, and across the global diaspora. The council aims to create a unified voice and will to end the long-standing suffering of the Rohingya.
The council aspires to serve as a unified political voice for the Rohingya, protect their historic identity in Arakan State in western Myanmar, advocate for the safe and dignified return of Rohingya refugees to Arakan with full rights and international protection, and confront the ongoing erasure of the Rohingya by both the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army. It also seeks to represent the Rohingya in international forums such as the United Nations and to engage in dialogue on Myanmar’s future federal structure with all stakeholders.
The founding statement described the council as a pivotal step in the Rohingya struggle to gain rights, achieve political representation, and overcome decades of division and dispersion. It is now the most unified and inclusive platform representing Rohingya communities inside Myanmar, in refugee camps, and around the world.
According to the statement, the council consists of a 40-member Central Executive Committee and a 60-member advisory committee, ensuring broad-based participation, coordination, and legitimacy. Members reportedly come from nearly every village in Arakan. The entity also pledged to expand its executive bodies to further enhance inclusion, cooperation, and coordination across the Rohingya community.
Nay San Lwin, co-chair of the ARNC, told Arakan News Agency that nearly two years of work had gone into launching this political body. He stated that its core mission is to halt the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya and ensure their peaceful and dignified return to their ancestral homeland, Arakan.
He added that the formation of the council was not driven by a desire to attend any specific conference (such as the upcoming UN Conference on Rohingya in September), but that the council remains focused on representing the aspirations and interests of the Rohingya people wherever they are.
The prominent activist emphasized that the vast majority of Rohingya inside Myanmar, in Bangladeshi refugee camps, and across the globe support the council. While some minority factions may operate separately, the council remains committed to unifying all under a shared umbrella.
The founding statement also confirmed that the council will begin a comprehensive outreach campaign through the Global Rohingya Coordination Council (GRCC) to engage individuals and organizations committed to unity and justice for the Rohingya. It called on Rohingya youth, leaders, and scholars to join its efforts.
According to the statement, the creation of the new council is the result of decades of systemic exclusion, persecution, and identity erasure — most notably seen during the 2017 genocide by the Myanmar military, and now resurfacing under the control of the Arakan Army (AA), which has committed brutal acts of violence, mass killings, and destruction against the Rohingya.
Nearly one million Rohingya fled to Bangladesh following the Myanmar military’s 2017 genocide campaign. Since renewed fighting broke out in November 2023 between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army — which launched an offensive to take control of Arakan State — waves of Rohingya displacement toward Bangladesh have resumed, as the AA has now seized large swathes of the region.
