The plight of the Rohingya has long stood as one of the most harrowing examples of ethnic persecution in recent history. Now, a new report by the United Nations’ Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) reveals how the Myanmar military not only drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homes in 2017 but also enlisted private companies to erase their presence from the land entirely. The findings shed light on how business interests, state repression, and systematic violence merged in a campaign that rights groups say amounts to genocide.

According to the IIMM, at least nine private companies, including the powerful conglomerate Asia World Company, were contracted to demolish and redevelop villages once inhabited by Rohingya Muslims. These communities had been torched and razed during the military’s so-called “clearance operations,” which sent more than 700,000 Rohingya fleeing across the border to Bangladesh.

The report describes how lands belonging to Rohingya families-farms, businesses, homes, and even sacred spaces-were flattened and repurposed. In many cases, the military established Border Guard Police battalions and other security outposts on the very sites where Rohingya communities once lived. By reconstructing the landscape in such a way, investigators argue, the authorities were not only entrenching military control but also deliberately erasing material evidence of Rohingya existence and history.

“By paving over sacred and communal spaces, the authorities obliterated material proof of Rohingya history, making future claims of belonging or return more difficult,” the UN mechanism stated. This effort, they concluded, could constitute evidence of genocidal intent.

Central to this troubling development is Asia World Company, one of Myanmar’s most powerful conglomerates. Founded in 1992 and run by businessman Tun Myint Naing-better known as Steven Law-the........

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