Rohingya History
Explore the harrowing history and ongoing plight of the world's most persecuted refugees, the Rohingya.
Understanding the Rohingya Crisis
We aim to educate about the Rohingya, their history, and the ongoing persecution they face as the world's most persecuted refugees.
Introduction
of Rohingya Crisis
Since the late 1970s, the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar, have faced severe discrimination from the government, forcing many to flee their homes. Most have sought refuge in Bangladesh, while others have escaped by sea to countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The situation worsened in 2017, when increased violence, including rape, murder, and arson, drove even more Rohingya to flee. Myanmar's security forces claimed they were restoring stability, but the United Nations has accused them of acting with "genocidal intent," leading to growing international pressure on Myanmar's leaders to end the persecution.
What does the international community say about the Rohingya?
The genocide and plight of the Rohingya people.
The international community has labelled the Rohingya the “most persecuted minority in the world”. The UN, as well as several rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have consistently decried the treatment of the Rohingya by Myanmar and neighbouring countries.The UN has said that it is “very likely” that the military committed grave human rights abuses in Rakhine that may amount to war crimes, allegations the government denies.
Who Are the Rohingya?
The government refuses to grant the Rohingya citizenship, and as a result most of the group’s members have no legal documentation, effectively making them stateless. Myanmar’s 1948 citizenship law was already exclusionary, and the military junta, which seized power in 1962, introduced another law twenty years later that stripped the Rohingya of access to full citizenship. Until recently, the Rohingya had been able to register as temporary residents with identification cards, known as white cards, which the junta began issuing to many Muslims, both Rohingya and non-Rohingya, in the 1990s. The white cards conferred limited rights but were not recognized as proof of citizenship.
In 2014 the government held a UN-backed national census, its first in thirty years. The Muslim minority group was initially permitted to identify as Rohingya, but after Buddhist nationalists threatened to boycott the census, the government decided Rohingya could only register if they identified as Bengali instead.
Similarly, under pressure from Buddhist nationalists protesting the Rohingya’s right to vote in a 2015 constitutional referendum, President Thein Sein canceled the temporary identity cards in February 2015, effectively revoking their newly gained right to vote. (White card holders were allowed to vote in Myanmar’s 2008 constitutional referendum and 2010 general elections.) In the 2015 elections, which were widely hailed by international monitors as free and fair, no parliamentary candidate was of the Muslim faith.
In recent years, the government has forced Rohingya to start carrying national verification cards that effectively identify them as foreigners and do not grant them citizenship, according to a report by the advocacy group Fortify Rights. Myanmar officials have said the cards are an initial step toward citizenship, but critics argue that they deny Rohingya their identity and could make it easier for the government to further repress their rights.
Why are the Rohingya fleeing Myanmar?
The Myanmar government has systematically institutionalized discrimination against the Rohingya ethnic group through a series of restrictive policies affecting marriage, family planning, employment, education, religious freedom, and movement. For instance, Rohingya couples in the northern towns of Maungdaw and Buthidaung are limited to having only two children. Additionally, Rohingya individuals must obtain permission to marry, a process often requiring them to bribe authorities and provide photographs of the bride without a headscarf and the groom with a clean-shaven face, practices that starkly contradict Muslim customs. Furthermore, to relocate or travel outside their townships, Rohingya must seek government approval.
Rakhine State, where many Rohingya reside, is the least developed region in Myanmar, with a poverty rate of 78 percent, significantly higher than the national average of 37.5 percent, as estimated by the World Bank. The widespread poverty, poor infrastructure, and limited employment opportunities in Rakhine have exacerbated tensions between the Buddhist majority and Muslim Rohingya minority. These tensions are further intensified by religious differences, which have occasionally led to violent conflict.
What’s caused the recent exodus?
Bangladesh: The majority of Rohingya refugees have sought asylum in neighboring Bangladesh, a country with limited resources and land to accommodate the influx. According to the UN refugee agency, over nine hundred thousand Rohingya refugees currently reside in Bangladesh, many of whom live in overcrowded camps in the Cox’s Bazar district, home to the world’s largest refugee camp. Nearly four hundred thousand children in these camps lack access to education, as teachers are prohibited from using both Bangladeshi and Myanmar curricula, and Rohingya children are barred from enrolling in schools outside the camps. The risk of disease outbreak in these camps remains high, with health organizations warning of potential outbreaks of measles, tetanus, diphtheria, and acute jaundice syndrome. Furthermore, more than 60 percent of the water supply in the refugee camps is contaminated, heightening the risk of communicable and waterborne diseases. Some refugees, desperate to escape, have turned to smugglers, risking exploitation, including sexual enslavement, in exchange for transportation out of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Malaysia: As of October 2019, nearly one hundred thousand Rohingya were residing in Malaysia, according to the United Nations. However, Rohingya who successfully reach Malaysia have no legal status and are unable to work, leaving them and their families without access to education and healthcare.
India: Eighteen thousand Rohingya refugees have registered with the UN refugee agency in India, although Indian officials estimate that there are approximately forty thousand Rohingya in the country. The Hindu nationalist government views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and has taken steps to repatriate them. Since late 2018, India has reportedly deported dozens of refugees back to Myanmar, actions that have been criticized by the United Nations and human rights organizations.
Thailand: Thailand serves as a regional hub for human smuggling and is a common transit point for Rohingya migrants. These migrants often arrive by boat from Bangladesh or Myanmar before continuing on to Indonesia or Malaysia. The military-led Thai government has cracked down on smuggling rings following the discovery of mass graves in alleged camps where traffickers held hostages. However, some experts argue that while these efforts have disrupted trafficking networks, they have not fully dismantled them.
Indonesia: A number of Rohingya have also sought refuge in Indonesia, though the number of refugees from Myanmar remains relatively small as they are classified as illegal immigrants. Indonesia has rescued migrant boats off its shores and has provided humanitarian aid and supplies to the refugee camps in Bangladesh.
What is the legal status of the Rohingya?
The Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim minority who practice a Sufi-influenced variation of Sunni Islam. Globally, there are an estimated 3.5 million Rohingya, with the majority residing in Myanmar's Rakhine State prior to August 2017. In Rakhine, they constituted nearly one-third of the population. The Rohingya differ ethnically, linguistically, and religiously from Myanmar’s dominant Buddhist groups.
The Rohingya trace their origins in the region to the fifteenth century when thousands of Muslims settled in the former Arakan Kingdom. Further waves of migration occurred during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries under British colonial rule when Rakhine was governed as part of British India. Since Myanmar's independence in 1948, successive governments, including the state renamed as Myanmar in 1989, have refuted the Rohingya’s historical claims and denied their recognition as one of the country’s 135 official ethnic groups. The Rohingya are regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite many tracing their roots in Myanmar for centuries.
Neither the central government nor Rakhine’s dominant ethnic Buddhist group, the Rakhine, recognize the term "Rohingya," a label that emerged in the 1950s. Experts suggest that this term provides the group with a collective political identity. While the etymological root of the word is debated, the prevailing theory is that "Rohang" derives from the word "Arakan" in the Rohingya dialect, and "ga" or "gya" means "from." By identifying as Rohingya, the ethnic Muslim group asserts its connection to land once under the control of the Arakan Kingdom, as explained by Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a Thailand-based advocacy group.
Clashes in Rakhine State, Myanmar, erupted in August 2017 following an announcement by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a militant group, claiming responsibility for attacks on police and military posts. In response, the Myanmar government designated ARSA as a terrorist organization and launched a severe military campaign that resulted in the destruction of hundreds of Rohingya villages and the forced displacement of nearly seven hundred thousand Rohingya from Myanmar. According to the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed within the first month of the conflict, between August 25 and September 24, 2017. There have also been reports of Myanmar’s security forces firing on fleeing civilians and planting land mines near border crossings frequently used by Rohingya seeking refuge in Bangladesh.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the violence as ethnic cleansing, characterizing the humanitarian situation as catastrophic. Various rights organizations and UN leaders have expressed concerns that acts of genocide may have occurred. In September 2018, a UN fact-finding mission released a report indicating that the Myanmar government exhibited 'genocidal intent' against the Rohingya population. The chairperson of the UN panel stated that the investigation uncovered clear patterns of military abuse, including the systematic targeting of civilians, the perpetration of sexual violence, the propagation of discriminatory rhetoric against minorities, and the fostering of an environment of impunity for security forces.
Since early 2018, Myanmar authorities have reportedly undertaken the clearance of abandoned Rohingya villages and farmlands to construct homes, security installations, and other infrastructure. While the government claims these developments are in preparation for the repatriation of refugees, human rights activists have expressed concerns that these actions may be aimed at accommodating populations other than the Rohingya in Rakhine State.
Furthermore, doubts have been raised regarding the government’s justification that these military tactics were in response to ARSA attacks, with reports suggesting that the military began implementing its policies nearly a year prior to ARSA’s actions. It is important to note that sectarian violence is not new to Rakhine State; previous security campaigns, notably in 2012 and 2016, similarly resulted in the mass displacement of tens of thousands of Rohingya from their homes and more than 50,000 were brutally killed.
Where are the Rohingya migrating?
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