Our Mission

Burma Task Force (BTF) is a coalition of 38 US and Canadian Muslim organizations, including our parent organization, Justice For All, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, dedicated to advocating for the Rohingya and ending the genocide in Burma.

Burma Task Force was originally founded in response to attacks on Rohingya homes and businesses by ultra-nationalist Buddhists supported by government security forces. In 2012 such attacks led to hundreds of deaths and thousands of casualties, as well as mass displacement to prison-like camps.

Since the mass atrocities and mass displacement of over 750,000 Rohingya began in late August 2017, Burma Task Force has stepped up its advocacy for the rights of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the internally displaced population and all those denied freedom of movement and at risk of starvation. Military and vigilante attacks arise out of long-established policies of apartheid, exclusion, and disenfranchisement. Burma Task Force believes that any repatriation must be linked to restoration of rights as well as property, along with safety guarantees.

Our Work

Burma Task Force organizes campaigns, events such as call-in-days and meetings at Capitol Hill with congressmen, projects involving the youth, demonstrations with the local community, and other events that have produced many successful outcomes.

As the only organization dedicated solely to the raising awareness about the genocide in Myanmar, our efforts have been fruitful. During his tour in Burma, President Obama addressed the genocidal conditions the Myanmar government was placing upon the Rohingya. BTF is a communicative bridge between refugees and many human rights organizations. Through strategic planning meetings with the OIC Ambassador, we’ve helped improve the treatment of Rohingya refugees in India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Bangladesh.

Our Strategic Goals

Burma Task Force organizes campaigns, events such as call-in-days and meetings at Capitol Hill with congressmen, projects involving the youth, demonstrations with the local community, and other events that have produced many successful outcomes.

As the only organization dedicated solely to the raising awareness about the genocide in Myanmar, our efforts have been fruitful. During his tour in Burma, President Obama addressed the genocidal conditions the Myanmar government was placing upon the Rohingya. BTF is a communicative bridge between refugees and many human rights organizations. Through strategic planning meetings with the OIC Ambassador, we’ve helped improve the treatment of Rohingya refugees in India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Bangladesh.

Recognition of the situation as a genocide

Genocide is defined in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Establishment of a UN-defended safe zone in Myanmar

As called for by the Bangladeshi prime minister, a safe zone manned by UN peacekeepers with a mandate to defend and protect needs to be established in Burma.

Transport of emergency aid supplies via airlift to refugee camps

Burma Task Force calls on all nations to send emergency aid supplies, including food, medicine, and tents. The US government can do more to improve transportation via airlift as major ground transport is near impossible in refugee camps

Enforcement of sanctions against the Burmese regime

We demand that sanctions be reimposed on the Burmese regime, excluding any sanctions on food and medicine. Burma Task Force supports all current sanctions bills in the US Congress but does not consider them strong enough. We also view UN and international sanctions (including an arms embargo) as necessary to convince the Myanmar government to rein in the military and truly hold it accountable.