"The National Unity Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar marks with great sadness the fifth anniversary of the widespread military atrocities directed against the Rohingya community in Rakhine State. In 2017, the Myanmar military killed and disappeared many thousands of Rohingya. Rape and sexual violence, including mass rape, were part of a deliberate strategy to terrorise and uproot the population. Hundreds of villages were razed and countless homes destroyed. Five years later, more than one million Rohingya remain forcibly displaced from the country where they belong. According to the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, military atrocities were directed against ethnic groups in Kachin and Shan States in addition to the Rohingya. This historic impunity has since enabled the Myanmar military to commit countrywide atrocities at the helm of an illegal military junta. Since the junta’s failed coup d’état, a further million Myanmar civilians have been displaced. More villages have been bombed and shelled, unknown numbers of homes have been torched, and new massacres are manifest. The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as represented by the National Unity Government, acknowledges with great shame that historic exclusionary and discriminatory policies, practices and rhetoric against the Rohingya and other ethnic groups also laid the ground for these escalating atrocities. The National Unity Government is therefore pursuing three concurrent actions: establishing conditions to support the repatriation of Rohingya community; securing justice and accountability; and delivering equality to all persons in law and practice. At the end of her recent visit to Bangladesh, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said that there remains ‘resounding hope’ among Rohingya refugees that they will be able to return to their homes in Myanmar. Yet the High Commissioner also concluded that conditions are not yet right for voluntary, dignified, safe and sustainable returns. The National Unity Government remains committed to working with the Rohingya community, ethnic partner organisations, the Government of Bangladesh and the UN to create conditions conducive to bringing the Rohingya home. On accountability, the National Unity Government is intensifying efforts with the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and options for universal jurisdiction to deliver justice to the Rohingya and to rigorously punish perpetrators of atrocity crimes. On equality, the National Unity Government is acting on the commitments set out in its Policy Position on the Rohingya in Rakhine State. This includes comprehensive law and policy reform, in consultation with the Rohingya and other minority communities, that will prioritise citizenship rights, non-discrimination, equal opportunities, and combating hate speech. These actions face significant obstacles. They are tied to the cementing of democracy, the ending of atrocities, and the inevitable defeat of the terrorist junta. Ultimately, the people of Myanmar will prevail, and these commitments are core to the future envisaged by the Federal Democracy Charter – a nation founded on peace, justice, equality, unity, human rights, and the protection of minorities. We urge international organisations to deliver tangible means of support and work together with the National Unity Government and all stakeholders in our endeavours to bring justice and peace for the Rohingya community..."