On 16 April 2026, residents in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan (Rakhine) State, reported that members of the terrorist Arakan Army were forcing Rohingya villagers to provide unpaid labor under the label of “volunteering.”

According to local sources, at least 50 villagers from each Rohingya village have been required to work for three consecutive days to repair the highway connecting Kye Kan Pyin and Ning Ku Ya villages. Between 2 and 15 April, 50 villagers from Paung Zar and Hla Baw Zar villages were reportedly forced into such labor rotations.

Local residents describe the policy as deeply coercive. One villager said, we had to spend our own money to eat and drink. They (Arakan Army) don’t feed anything, water, and pay no fees. Those who have no money are hungry and have to do hard work and throw stones.

Residents say such practices are not isolated but part of a broader pattern across northern Arakan. Daily quotas, lack of choice, and threats of expulsion are creating a system where compliance is enforced through fear.

For Rohingya communities in Maungdaw, these “volunteer” program reflects a broader reality; labor is extracted without pay, without choice, and without protection. It reinforces a pattern where survival itself is controlled by the terrorist Arakan Army.