Stages of the Rohingya Genocide: A Theoretical and Empirical Study

Abstract

Abstract This article delineates processes of the ongoing Rohingya genocide by analyzing victim narratives through the lens of Gregory H. Stanton’s model of ten stages of genocide. Addressing the issues from theoretical and empirical perspectives offers a structured—if refracted—view of the plans, policies, and actions of the perpetrators. While bringing in historical origins and socio-political factors, the article rests primarily on victims’ accounts, along with evidence gathered by human rights organizations and the international press. The leaders of Myanmar seem intent on limiting international understandings of their program to simple ethnic cleansing—not prosecutable under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. But while internal documents would be required to reveal the regime’s intentions and so validate Stanton’s model, testimonies and witness accounts afford ample grounds to assess the evolution of events as genocide. The following privileges the experiences and narratives of grassroots Rohingya victims.