“Tools of Genocide” IV. ROHINGYA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS This chapter examines the often-overlooked efforts of Rohingya human rights defenders working to promote and protect human rights.354 It is by no means exhaustive but includes descriptions of some of the Rohingya-led organizations working in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and internationally. Rohingya human rights defenders throughout the world, including in Myanmar and Bangladesh, are actively engaged in advancing accountability and promoting rights for Rohingya, including the right to nationality and all other rights that stem from the right to nationality.355 Many are unnamed here. Their collective work is a testament to resiliency. ROHINGYA REFUGEE-LED GROUPS IN BANGLADESH The Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), Rohingya Women Education Initiative (RWEI), and Rohingya Youth for Legal Action (RYLA) are some of the many Rohingya-led community-based groups in Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh. Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights ARSPHR is one of the first Rohingya-led human rights organizations to form in the refugee camps in Bangladesh in the aftermath of the 2016 and 2017 attacks in Rakhine State. The organization advocates for the restoration of full citizenship rights for Rohingya in Myanmar as well as increased Rohingya agency in the administrative and humanitarian operations of the refugee camps in Bangladesh, among other objectives. In a public statement in March 2019, ARSPHR stated: [The NVC] is the latest step of genocide against the Rohingya. The Myanmar Government Minister and officials say the card is for those who are subject to undergo citizenship verification. [The] Government has been forcing Rohingya to take NVCs since 2015. They arrest and use violence and prevent Rohingya from working and traveling without [the] NVC. But still we refuse to take [the] document.356 354 John Quinley III, “The Rohingya are More Than Victims,” Asia Times, August 27, 2018, https://www.asiatimes.com/2018/08/opinion/the-rohingya-are-more-than-victims/ (accessed August 23, 2019). 355 John Quinley III, “The Rohingya Diaspora is Crucial to Achieving Justice in Myanmar,” TIME, February 14, 2019, https://time.com/5529321/rohingya-myanmargenocide-fortify-rights-diaspora/?f bclid=IwAR3v3EvnokGJqCuEc5cOIjmRTM66_ CATDl2HLHLhqpJa7PZaJDbXZUHR6KU (accessed August 23, 2019). 356 Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, “History of Rohingya citizenship in Myanmar,” March 2019.