Declaration of the Launch of the Arakan Rohingya National Council (ARNC)

Date: July 13, 2025

Press Release

Declaration of the Launch of the Arakan Rohingya National Council (ARNC)

In a historic and long-anticipated development, Rohingya leaders from around the world have officially launched the Arakan Rohingya National Council (ARNC). This new political body marks a major milestone in the Rohingya people’s struggle for rights, recognition, and political representation. The ARNC stands as the most inclusive and unified platform ever formed to represent Rohingya communities, inside Myanmar, in the refugee camps and globally.

The Council emerged from nearly two years of strategic consultations involving leading Rohingya political figures, activists, community representatives, representatives from the camps and diaspora organizations. These quiet but determined efforts took place across several countries. The goal was to overcome decades of division and fragmentation and establish a unified political voice capable of advancing the collective aspirations of the Rohingya people. This vision has now become a reality.

The ARNC brings together a broad coalition of Rohingya stakeholders including representatives from inside Myanmar, majority of the leaders from refugee camps, and the majority members of the global diaspora. It consists of 40 Central Executive Committee (CEC) members and 60 Central Committee (CC) members, ensuring broad-based participation, coordination, and grassroots legitimacy. Delegates hail from nearly every township of Arakan, reinforcing the Council’s representative strength. The council is committed to continuously enlarge its executive bodies and expand its outreach to ensure greater inclusion, cooperation and collaboration across the Rohingya community.

The Council’s formation responds to decades of systematic exclusion, persecution, and efforts to erase Rohingya identity. These injustices culminated in the genocide of 2017, perpetrated by the Burmese military regime and aided by extremist elements. Today, the Arakan Army (AA) has seized control of much of Arakan and continued these brutal practices, displacing and targeting Rohingya civilians through widespread violence, mass killings, and destruction.

The situation is deteriorating rapidly. Last year, the AA has burned large parts of Buthidaung town, looted Rohingya homes, and destroyed dozens of villages in both Buthidaung and Maungdaw. Reports confirm that Rohingya civilians are being extorted, displaced, and stripped of all property. Nearly 150,000 have fled to Bangladesh, while thousands more have risked their lives in dangerous voyage across seas and borders. The AA is estimated to have killed more than 2,500 Rohingya since seizing control. Those who remain alive, live in fear without food, safety and freedom.

What is unfolding in Arakan State under the Arakan Army is nothing short of a calculated and systematic genocide. Rohingya people are being deliberately pushed to the edge and stripped of everything. They are not just facing a humanitarian crisis but also an existential threat. ARNC calls on the international community to act with urgency and moral clarity.

The Mission of the ARNC is to:

Serve as the unified political voice of the Rohingya.
Reclaim and protect the Rohingya’s indigenous identity and rightful citizenship in Arakan State, Myanmar.
Advocate for a safe, dignified, and just return of Rohingya refugees to their ancestral homes with full legal rights, security guarantees, and international oversight.
Engage in dialogue on the future federal structure of Myanmar, including with all the stake-holders such as Rakhine community leaders, Myanmar’s democratic forces, Arakan Army, etc.
Address and oppose the campaign of Rohingya erasure and genocide being carried out by Burmese military and Arakan Army.
Represent the Rohingya people in international forums such as the United Nations, OIC, ASEAN, European Union and others.

At its formation, ARNC leaders issued a clear and decisive message: the era of silence and exclusion is over. Rohingya voices will be heard. The ARNC urges the international community, regional powers, and humanitarian organizations to engage with it directly and recognize it as the legitimate political representative of the Rohingya people.

The Council will now initiate an inclusive outreach campaign to connect with every individual and organization committed to Rohingya unity and justice. This process will be led by the Global Rohingya Coordination Council (GRCC), ensuring transparency, grassroots input, and collective participation.

The ARNC welcomes all who share the principles of unity, justice, dignity, and self-determination. It does not oppose any group working in good faith toward those goals. Instead, it seeks to foster collaboration over competition, and solidarity over division. The ARNC calls on Rohingya leaders, youth, women, religious scholars, and the broader diaspora to join this effort.

ARNC is ready for dialogue, determined to pursue justice, and committed to building a peaceful future for all people of Arakan State. The declaration of ARNC is a timely, united step toward reclaiming rights, restoring dignity, and reshaping the political destiny of the Rohingya people.

Rohingya are indigenously belong to Arakan as they have been historically integral parts of the state for time immemorial. ARNC is committed to deliver this reality to the Rohingya people.

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