Exposing Fortify Rights’ Deceptive Narrative Against the Arakan Army

Report Analysis

GAN/ Arakan (Rakhine State)                                                                          July 23, 2025

Cover Page of the Recent Report (photocrd)

Opportunism and vigilantism, disguised as human rights activism, are alarmingly on the rise. While oppressed communities worldwide demand authentic platforms to voice their suffering, self-serving groups and individuals within the human rights industrial complex manipulate unfounded stories to promote their agendas.

A prime example is Fortify Rights’ report, International Criminal Court: Investigate Arakan Army War Crimes Against Rohingya, released on July 23, 2025. For Fortify Rights’ leaders, documenting the Myanmar junta’s atrocities is mundane, unappealing, and lacks impact, so they target the Arakan Army (AA) as a new “villain” to generate sensational narratives and spotlight their activities.

This is not the first attempt by Fortify Rights’ leadership to tarnish the AA’s image, as seen in their failed August 2024 report, which the Global Arakan Network (GAN) exposed for its manipulated and baseless claims. Despite Fortify Rights’ accusations, the AA consistently acknowledges any verified misconduct by its forces, a practice noted in their own report in the case of extra-judicial killings against the SAC-detainees.

Shockingly, the current report lacks credible new evidence, relying instead on fabricated “incidents” it claims occurred. To grasp the report’s true nature, one must scrutinize Fortify Rights’ hidden motives and objectives rather than accept its content at face value.

However, to evaluate the report’s unreliable narratives, an analysis of its claims is essential. The current Fortify Rights report highlights seven alleged incidents, yet these stories lack substantiation and credibility.

The allegations fabricated by Fortify Rights (FR) in its report bear striking similarities, each lacking the substance to substantiate genuine incidents. These narratives consistently omit critical facts and context, undermining their credibility. By withholding essential background information, FR manipulates readers into accepting a skewed narrative that unjustly vilifies the Arakan Army (AA).

First, the report’s timeline is deliberately disjointed, designed to confuse readers and obscure the truth. This chaotic arrangement distracts from substantive analysis, pushing a simplistic notion that the AA commits “bad acts” without evidence.

Second, the report fails to provide critical details, such as precise locations or dates of alleged events, and resorts to using pseudonyms to present sensitive claims. This lack of transparency renders the stories unverifiable, leaving readers unable to trust their authenticity.

AA Soldiers Rescuing Members of the Muslim Community During the Maungdaw Battles (Photocrd)

Third, the incidents cited coincide with intense clashes between the Myanmar junta and the AA, during which the junta has collaborated with Islamic militant groups like the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO). Given this alliance, FR cannot credibly attribute acts like the missing and deaths of the individual Muslims to the AA. Alarmingly, FR’s narrative risks concealing the junta’s and its allies’ war crimes, subverting the justice it claims to seek.

Thus, the report’s true significance lies not in its content but in what it omits: FR’s underlying motives driving this baseless attack.

Real Motivations of FR’s Report

FR’s report does not seek justice for oppressed communities but aims to boost its own prominence by casting the AA as a villain. Its motives are clear and self-serving.

First, the report’s release aligns suspiciously with the upcoming ‘Rohingya conference’ in September 2025. FR’s leadership evidently seeks recognition as champions of Muslim rights in Arakan, leveraging this fabricated narrative to gain prominence at the event.

Muslim Women Receiving Mental and Psychological Support (photocredittohdco)

Second, the report appears to retaliate against the Global Arakan Network’s (GAN) exposés of illegal fishing by Bangladeshi fishermen in Arakan’s territorial waters. Likely at the behest of some Dhaka officials, FR’s leadership targets the United League of Arakan (ULA)/AA to deflect criticism. Notably, FR has consistently failed to address Dhaka’s violations against ‘Rohingya’ and other minorities in Bangladesh, exposing its selective advocacy.

Finally, as FR’s relevance wanes amid declining funding for global human rights activism, particularly from the US and many Western nations, the group seeks to revive its image as a leading voice in human rights. This report is a calculated move to reclaim influence, prioritizing self-interest over truth.

These factors underscore that FR’s true motivations—far more than its flawed content—reveal the report’s deceptive intent.