Human Rights Applications of Remote Sensing: Maungdaw Myanmar

Late August, 2017   

September 2, 2017

These high resolution, false-color images show the Burmese town of Maungdaw. The first image was taken some time in mid to late August, 2017 while the later image was taken on September 2, 2017. Using thermal satellite imagery, researchers at Human Rights Watch were able to detect active fires burning on August 28th. By comparing the the two-false color images below (taken before and after August 28th, respectively), the researchers were able to document the extent and effect of fires that destroyed buildings in tow neighborhoods of Maungdaw primarily inhabited by Rohingya Muslims, an ethic minority in Myanmar that has been persecuted by the Burmese government which refuses to recognize them as citizens. Human Rights Watch believes that these fires, which destroyed nearly 450 buildings, were set intentionally by the Burmese government to force them out of the country. The UN high commissioner for human rights has called this 'a text book example of ethnic cleansing' but the government of Myanmar denies any claims of systematic violence or wrongdoing.

I think these images represent an interesting application of false color imagery. The false color image emphasizes the dramatic change in vegetation. In the first image, houses are scattered throughout a rather forested part of the city. In the second image, most of this vegetation is gone (shown as pink, purple or brown) and the shapes of the interspersed houses are gone. In a situation where the government denies any wrongdoing, the missing vegetation and housing in two predominantly Muslim neighborhoods provides the most concrete circumstantial evidence to the contrary.