The Rohingya people are a Muslim ethnic minority group living mainly in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. They have faced decades of systematic discrimination and human rights abuses at the hands of the Myanmar government and Buddhist extremists.
The current conflict escalated dramatically in August 2017 when the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown against Rohingya communities in Rakhine State. This was in response to attacks on police posts by a Rohingya insurgent group. However, the military’s reprisals were vastly disproportionate, with horrific accounts of indiscriminate killings, rape, torture and village burnings.
Over 700,000 Rohingya fled their homes to neighboring Bangladesh as refugees. Despite international condemnation, the Myanmar government continues to deny any wrongdoing, instead accusing the Rohingya of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The conditions for those remaining in Rakhine State remain dire amid ongoing discrimination and segregation.
What led to the current crisis?
The Rohingya have faced discrimination in Myanmar for decades. Successive governments have denied them citizenship rights and subjected them to restrictions and abuse. However, there are a few key events and policies that directly contributed to the current crisis:
– 1982 Citizenship Law: This law denied citizenship to the Rohingya, rendering them stateless.
– 2012 Rakhine State riots: Inter-communal violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya left over 100 dead and displaced 140,000 people. This marked the beginning of mass displacement.
– 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis: Tens of thousands of Rohingya fled to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia by boat after an increase in persecution.
– 2016-2017 military crackdown: After a Rohingya insurgent attack, the military carried out a brutal “clearance operation” against Rohingya villages, displacing tens of thousands.
– 25 August 2017 attacks and reprisals: Rohingya insurgents attacked 30 police posts and an army base, killing 12 members of the security forces. In response, the military and Buddhist mobs engaged in mass atrocities against the Rohingya.
What abuses have the Rohingya faced?
During the military campaign that began in August 2017, the Rohingya population faced horrific human rights abuses at the hands of Myanmar security forces and civilian mobs. These included:
– Extrajudicial killings – Rohingya were shot, burned alive or stabbed to death. Entire families were massacred.
– Rape and sexual violence – Rape and sexual assault was reported on a huge scale, with unmarried girls and pregnant women targeted.
– Torture – Severe beatings, electrocution and mutilations were inflicted on the Rohingya population.
– Forced starvation – Soldiers systematically destroyed food stores and crops, aiming to starve villages into submission.
– Village burnings – Soldiers and mobs burned down thousands of Rohingya homes and entire villages. Over 300 villages were completely destroyed.
– Forced expulsion – The military systematically forced Rohingya villagers to abandon their homes and flee to Bangladesh as refugees.
– Arbitrary arrests – Rohingya civilians were rounded up and arbitrarily arrested, with many subjected to further violence and killings while in detention.
What has been the impact on Rohingya refugees?
The huge exodus of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh has created an acute humanitarian crisis:
– Over 700,000 refugees fled to Bangladesh. This includes an estimated 480,000 children.
– They joined 200,000 Rohingya refugees already displaced from previous outbreaks of violence in Rakhine State.
– Most refugees arrived extremely traumatized from the atrocities they had fled and the arduous journey.
– Refugees face dire conditions in overcrowded makeshift camps in coastal Bangladesh, with poor access to food, clean water, shelter and sanitation.
– Women and girls are at extreme risk of sexual violence in the camps and when collecting firewood. There are high rates of unintended pregnancy.
– Malnutrition rates are alarming, especially among children. Last year, around 10,000 Rohingya children were at risk of dying from malnutrition.
– Diseases such as cholera, acute respiratory infections and diptheria have broken out in camps. Covid-19 poses another major risk.
– Monsoon floods destroy shelters and cause devastating landslides each year. Fires have also ripped through camps.
– Most refugees lack access to education. A ‘lost generation’ of Rohingya children is growing up without schooling.
What is happening in Rakhine State?
Around 600,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine State, confined to camps and villages with severely restricted rights and access to services. They face an ongoing humanitarian crisis:
– Rohingya cannot leave their villages without permission or receive higher education, decent healthcare and sanitation. Malnutrition levels are concerning.
– Access to livelihoods is severely constrained and poverty is endemic.
– Rohingya face difficulty accessing hospitals for childbirth, causing preventable deaths.
– Security forces maintain heavy presence, imposing arbitrary curfews, taxes, forced labor, physical abuse and extortion on the Rohingya population.
– Around 120,000 Rohingya remain displaced in camps since the 2012 violence. They are denied freedom of movement, education and aid.
– The Rohingya are essentially confined to an open-air detention camp. The huge military presence aims to monitor and control all aspects of life.
– Covid-19 has worsened living conditions, with minimal testing, treatment or vaccination provided.
– Plans to relocate Rohingya to isolated offshore islands have raised grave human rights concerns.
What is the role of Aung San Suu Kyi?
Aung San Suu Kyi is Myanmar’s State Counsellor and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Many international observers have been deeply troubled by her response to the crisis:
– She has refused to condemn the military’s brutal crackdown, or acknowledge it as ethnic cleansing.
– She denied visas to UN investigators and peddled false narratives that the Rohingya were burning their own homes.
– Her office accused Rohingya women of making up stories of sexual violence by soldiers.
– The NLD-appointed commission rejected reports of atrocities, claiming the Rohingya were illegal immigrants.
– She justified imprisoning two Reuters journalists who exposed a massacre of Rohingya villagers by security forces.
– At the International Court of Justice, she denied genocidal intent and said the Rohingya exodus was exaggerated.
– Suu Kyi’s actions have damaged her global reputation as a democracy icon and human rights defender. She increasingly appears complicit in military abuses.
– However, her supporters argue she has limited ability to control the military, which retains great power under Myanmar’s constitution.
What is the international response?
The Rohingya crisis has provoked international condemnation, with growing calls for Myanmar’s generals to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity:
– The UN Human Rights Council launched a fact-finding mission into Myanmar abuses. Its 2018 report called for Myanmar military leaders to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide against the Rohingya.
– International criminal cases have been filed at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, accusing Myanmar of breaching the Genocide Convention.
– The United States government found ethnic cleansing had been committed and has imposed sanctions on several military commanders.
– Governments globally have cut ties with Myanmar military-linked enterprises. Some have stopped military cooperation and training programs.
– Bangladesh and humanitarian agencies are coordinating the Rohingya refugee crisis response, although funding consistently falls short.
– ASEAN has been divided on the crisis amid its principle of non-interference. Malaysia and Indonesia call for accountability, while Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are more muted.
– China continues to support and invest in Myanmar. Like Russia, it has shielded Myanmar from stronger UN Security Council action.
What are the prospects for Rohingya repatriation?
While Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation deal in November 2017, conditions remain unfeasible for safe, dignified and voluntary Rohingya return:
– Myanmar viewed the deal as a public relations exercise to ease international pressure. It has resisted real action to create conditions for refugee return.
– Rohingya refugees adamantly refuse to return without guarantees for their rights and citizenship status.
– Rakhine State remains deeply unsafe. Most villages have been razed and Rakhine Buddhists strongly oppose the Rohingya’s return.
– No soldiers have been held accountable for atrocities. The Rohingya will not return while their attackers remain in the security forces.
– Myanmar’s continued denial of Rohingya identity and history remains a fundamental stumbling block.
– Around 250 Rohingya have returned in small-scale repatriations to live in unsafe, prison-like conditions.
– There is no clear progress towards resolving statelessness and creating a pathway to citizenship. Rohingya citizenship and rights in Myanmar must be addressed.
– Investment and development in Rakhine State is needed, avoiding projects that entrench segregation and inequality.
Conclusion
The Rohingya crisis remains one of the world’s most severe humanitarian and human rights disasters. While the speed and scale of the military crackdown in 2017 captured global attention, it followed decades of systematic persecution of the Rohingya population in Myanmar. A lasting solution to the crisis must address its underlying roots – notably the refusal to grant Rohingya equal citizenship rights and identity. Without full recognition and accountability, any Rohingya return to Myanmar will be fundamentally unsafe. International pressure failed to prevent the current catastrophe, but continued activism alongside Rohingya voices remains vital to prevent further atrocities and build justice.