STUDENTS
4 ROHINGYA
Who are the Rohingya?
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group who are indigenous to Myanmar, which is located in Western Rakhine. Although the Rohingya people have been present in Arakan since the beginning of the eighth century, the Myanmar government does not recognize the Rohingya as citizens of Myanmar and instead claim that they were brought over during the British colonial period. The passing of the 1989 Burma Citizenship law, which lists 135 ethnic groups to be granted citizenship, does not include the Rohingya, and therefore declares them stateless and grants the government the right to discriminate against them. The Burmese military and government do not even use the term Rohingya, and instead call them “illegal immigrants”. Lack of citizenship prevents the Rohingya from having the right to own property, the right to vote, and the right to pursue secondary education. Although the Myanmar government granted the Rohingya voting rights temporarily in 2010 due to the pressure from the United Nations, there was retaliation, and in 2012 the Myanmar government revoked their right to vote once again.
Violence against the Rohingya people has caused about a million of Rohingyans to be displaced. Rape, starvation, and HIV are a few of the countless atrocities the Rohingyan people are currently facing today. Currently, hundreds and thousands of Rohingya people are in need of shelter, food, supplies, and medical aid.
What Happened in August 2017?
For decades, many Rohingya have fled to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Malaysia to escape persecution. However, in August 2017, after the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army led an attack on a military base in order to draw attention to their plight, the Myanmar army led an ethnic cleansing campaign in which they burned hundreds of villages to the ground, with mass killings and rapings. To escape, more 745,000 Rohingya escaped to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The UN has called this a human rights catastrophe.
The UN Human Rights Council has criticized the Myanmar army, calling their actions severe violations of human rights law. They have called for investigation and prosecution of the Myanmar military on the terms of genocide and war crimes. Yet, Myanmar insists that no ethnic cleansing has taken place; instead, they have rejected charges of genocide and maintained that any crimes that may have taken place will be appropriately prosecuted through Myanmar’s justice system.
What is Currently being Done?
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, now houses almost one million Rohingya. This includes over 400,000 children who escaped to Bangladesh, many without parents. Organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, APPNA, the International Rescue Committee, and the UN Refugee Agency, have been distributing aid such as hygiene kits, tents, food, and clean water. Doctors Without Borders have been treating injured and sick Rohingya, as many suffered from violence-related injuries. Save the Children has been working to support orphaned children in the camps.
In 2019, Bangladesh attempted to repatriate thousands of Rohingya, allowing them to return back to Myanmar. However, Rohingya are unwilling to return—conditions in Myanmar are still dangerous to Rohingya, and Myanmar has not been willing to grant repatriated Rohingya citizenship. Indeed, while Myanmar had claimed that the Rohingya would have secure rights and that the return would be “voluntary, safe, and dignified”, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) found that there were no houses or shelter to return to. Thus, it has been up to Bangladesh, a struggling country itself, to support the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Cox’s Bazar.
In late 2019, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, composed of 57 countries, filed a lawsuit against Myanmar for violating the UN Genocide Convention. Investigations began, and the International Court of Justice found that Myanmar must take action to prevent violence against the Rohingya.
Yet, hatred for the Rohingya still runs deep in Myanmar. A number of Buddhist monks have demonized the group, claiming that they are reincarnations of pests and should be exterminated. The Rohingya continue to be, as the UN has described, “the most persecuted minority in the world.”
What about the COVID-19 Pandemic?
The Rohingya camps already have a high prevalence of communicable diseases, including vaccine-preventable diseases. Last month, two Rohingya refugees were the first positive COVID-19 cases in the camp. With almost a million people residing in these camps, COVID-19 may have a devastating impact on refugee camps. The camps lack the resources needed to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. The high density of the population does not allow them to maintain social distancing measures. These camps lack basic necessities such as soap, water, and masks, making hygienic procedures to contain the spread very difficult. Funds are also needed to sanitize facilities and educate Rohingya on how to prevent the spread of the virus. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health expect hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 cases, greatly exceeding hospital capacity. Now, more than ever, aid is needed to provide these resources to the Rohingya refugee camps.
Sources:
Bari, Muhammad Abdul. The Rohingya Crisis : A People Facing Extinction.
Omar Rana, Similar Trails: A Comparison of the Legalized Discrimination of Indigenous Communities Paralleling the Rohingya of Myanmar and the Native Americans of the United States, 20 Rutgers Race & the Law Review 175 (2019)
https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/emergency-response/rohingya-crisis
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/world/asia/rohingya-aid-myanmar-bangladesh.html
UN Human Rights Council: Report of the independent international fact-finding mission on Myanmar
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/FFM-Myanmar/A_HRC_39_64.pdf