Hate speech in Myanmar (since early 2010s)

Date 	The exact date of the beginning of the campaign is unknown but it is said to have started in the early 2010s. Paul Mozur, ‘A Genocide Incited on Facebook, with Posts from Myanmar’s Military’ The New York Times (15 October 2018) (“a systematic campaign on Facebook that stretched back half a decade”).
Suspected actor	The government of Myanmar, especially the military (the “Tatmadaw”).Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Doc. A/HRC/39/64 (12 September 2018). See also ‘Myanmar: UN blames Facebook for spreading hatred of Rohingya’ The Guardian (13 March 2018).
Victims 	Individuals belonging to the Rohingya ethnic group (mostly located in the Rakhine State, Myanmar) and Muslims in Myanmar generally.See e.g. the Reports of Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Doc A/HRC/39/64 (12 September 2018) and A/HRC/42/50 (8 August 2019). See also the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the ‘Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslim minority and other minorities in Myanmar’ UN Doc A/HRC/43/18 (27 January 2020) [English advance unedited version].
Target systems 	N/A
Method 	Launching an alleged “systematic campaign on Facebook” against the Muslim Rohingya minority group and allegedly condoning hate speech against the Rohingya on Facebook by private users.Paul Mozur, ‘A Genocide Incited on Facebook, with Posts from Myanmar’s Military’ The New York Times (15 October 2018). This reportedly included the creation of troll accounts and popular Facebook pages dedicated to Burmese celebrities to post inflammatory anti-Rohingya information, such as sham photos of dead bodies that were described as supposed evidence of Rohingya-committed massacres. As reported by the New York Times, “[o]ne of the most dangerous campaigns came in 2017, when the military’s intelligence arm spread rumors on Facebook to both Muslim and Buddhist groups that an attack from the other side was imminent” using the anniversary of 11 September to 2001 to warn of imminent “jihad attacks”. From January 2019, the violence escalated between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group, escalated further.See Amnesty International, Myanmar 2019. In this context, the Myanmar authorities shut down the internet in ten conflict-affected townships in the Rakhine and Chin States with “severe and varied effects on the civilian population”.Detailed Findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Doc A/HRC/42/CRP.5 (16 September 2019) para 454. See also HRC Res 42/3 (26 September 2019) UN Doc HRC/RES/42/3, para 9 (‘Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar’).
Purpose 	In a case brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), The Gambia alleged that the spread of anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim hate speech by the government of Myanmar was part of a genocide committed against the Rohingya.Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v Myanmar), Application instituting proceedings and Request for the indication of provisional measures, 11 November 2019. The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar reached a similar conclusion in a 2019 report.Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Doc A/HRC/42/50 (8 August 2019) para 18 (affirming “that Myanmar incurs State responsibility under the prohibition against genocide”).
Result 	According to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, the spread of hate speech provided ‘fertile ground for incitement to violence’.Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Doc A/HRC/42/50 (8 August 2019) para 73. As of 2019, more than 900,000 Rohingya sought refuge in the neighbouring Bangladesh.UNHCR, Joint Response Plan for Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis (2019) 10. In November 2019, the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to open an investigation into the situation in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh/Republic of the Union of Myanmar.Authorisation of an Investigation into the Situation in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh/Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Decision Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute) No. ICC-01/19 (14 November 2019). In January 2020, the ICJ, while taking into account the Fact-Finding Mission’s reports, found that there was “a real and imminent risk of irreparable prejudice to the rights” invoked by The Gambia under the Genocide Convention and ordered provisional measures.Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v Myanmar), Order of 23 January 2020, [2020] ICJ Rep, para 75.
Aftermath 	Facebook took down many pages of individuals and organisations associated with the Myanmar military, including that of the Commander in Chief.Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Doc A/HRC/42/50 (8 August 2019) para 72. The fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army continued in 2019.See Amnesty International, Myanmar 2019.
Analysed in 	Scenario 19: Hate speech
Collected by: Christiane Ahlborn
Category:Example
Category:2010