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Rohingya artist Enayet Khan and other refugees have used visual art to record experiences of violence and displacement. Legal advocates say drawings can help convey testimony and corroborate survivor accounts, particularly when written statements are difficult to obtain; their use in a case does not establish that art alone proves a crime.
Rohingya artist Enayet Khan’s paintings and drawings, created after he fled Myanmar in 2017, are part of a wider effort by refugees and legal advocates to document violence and support accountability. A former United Nations investigator told Hyperallergic that artwork was collected as evidence in a case before the International Court of Justice accusing Myanmar’s military of genocide against Rohingya communities, illustrating how visual work may help convey survivor testimony.
Khan told Hyperallergic he fled with nine family members, crossing into Bangladesh after traveling for three days through forests and fields as fires spread. Three members of the group were injured. He described seeing people shot and said his home had been destroyed. “I lost everything,” he said, naming his home, documentation, property and sense of security.
After settling in Cox’s Bazar, where the report says nearly one million Rohingya refugees live, Khan used painting and drawing to process what he had witnessed. His images depict burning homes, families fleeing and executions. He later established the Rohingya Art Club and trained other refugees in visual storytelling.
Antonia Mulvey, executive director of Legal Action Worldwide and a former UN investigator, said she collected artwork for a case before the International Court of Justice concerning allegations of genocide against Rohingya communities. She told Hyperallergic that drawings were valuable where high illiteracy, particularly among women and children, made traditional written statements difficult to record.
How Images Can Support Testimony
Artwork can give people a way to communicate experiences when writing is difficult or unavailable. In legal investigations, drawings may help document what a survivor says they saw, convey details for further inquiry and corroborate other accounts. For refugees who have lost documents or left home under threat, visual records can preserve experiences that might otherwise be harder to express in a formal statement.
That role has wider relevance as displacement and atrocity investigations continue. The report cites a global total of 117.8 million forcibly displaced people, a figure it says had risen for 12 consecutive years. It also reports a 44% increase in new investigations and prosecutions of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the European Union between 2016 and 2021. Those statistics describe different issues and time periods, but together they point to the scale of displacement and growing demands for accountability.
Art’s potential contribution is not the same as a legal finding. A drawing can convey a person’s account, but investigators and courts must assess its source, context and consistency with other evidence. Its value lies in adding a form of testimony, not replacing investigation or establishing guilt by itself.
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Rohingya Displacement and Documentation
The Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and repression in Myanmar. The report says a 1982 law stripped them of citizenship, leaving them among the world’s largest stateless populations. Most of the people who fled in 2017 did so amid military violence that has been described as crimes against humanity and genocide; allegations of genocide are at issue in the case discussed by Mulvey.
Khan’s account connects that history to one family’s flight. He said the group moved between villages as fires approached, with little chance to recover possessions or mourn the loss of their home. In Bangladesh, art became both a means of personal expression and a way to share experiences with others. The Rohingya Art Club grew from that work, offering fellow refugees a setting to record events visually.
The report places this work within a broader increase in legal efforts related to atrocity crimes. It says the International Criminal Court has described the increase in demand from displaced people seeking accountability as “unprecedented.” The ICC and the International Court of Justice are separate institutions; the report’s discussion of collected artwork concerns a case before the latter.
“Mulvey said drawings became a vital way to convey testimony where high illiteracy made traditional statements difficult to record.”
— Antonia Mulvey, executive director of Legal Action Worldwide and former UN investigator
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What Artwork Can Establish
The report does not detail which individual artworks were submitted, how the court assessed them or whether they changed the progress or outcome of the case. It also does not say that the International Court of Justice has made a finding based on Khan’s work. The case concerns allegations, and the account provided does not establish a final legal determination.
More broadly, the precise evidentiary weight of a drawing depends on how it was created, who made it, what it depicts and whether other evidence supports the account. The report describes art as a way to convey and corroborate testimony, not as conclusive proof on its own. It does not provide details about formal procedures for authenticating the artwork or safeguarding artists and witnesses.
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From Refugee Art to Court Records
The legal case and the wider accountability efforts cited in the report remain the next points to watch. The source gives no timetable for further proceedings or ruling by the International Court of Justice. It also does not say whether the Rohingya Art Club’s work will be included in future court filings.
For Khan and other artists, the work described is ongoing: documenting experiences and helping fellow refugees express what they have lived through. Whether a particular artwork contributes to a legal proceeding will depend on investigators and courts, which must evaluate it alongside testimony and other material. The report’s central development is that advocates have already collected refugee artwork for a genocide case, while its eventual legal impact remains unsettled.
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Key Questions
How can refugee art support legal accountability?
Drawings and other artwork can help people convey experiences when written statements are difficult, and investigators may use them to corroborate survivor accounts. Their weight depends on context and assessment alongside other evidence.
Who is Enayet Khan?
Khan is a Rohingya artist who fled Myanmar in 2017 and settled in Bangladesh. He founded the Rohingya Art Club to create art and train other refugees in visual storytelling.
Was Khan’s art used as proof of genocide?
The report says Antonia Mulvey collected artwork as part of evidence for a case before the International Court of Justice concerning allegations of genocide against Rohingya communities. It does not specify whether a particular work by Khan was submitted or treated as proof on its own.
Why might drawings be useful when written testimony is difficult?
Mulvey said high illiteracy among Rohingya people, especially women and children, could make traditional written statements difficult to record. Drawings offered another way to convey testimony.
Has the court ruled on the allegations?
The source material does not report a ruling or provide a timetable for one. The allegations and the role of the collected artwork remain distinct from any final court finding.
Source: rss
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