Rohingya Refugees
The Rohingya are an
ethno-religious group living in western Malaysia. They are Muslim and are
of South Asian origin, and have resided in the same area since the 8th century.
Formerly an independent land known as the kingdom of Arakan, the area
is now the Rakhine state of Myanmar. The Rohingya have long faced
persecution and discrimination as a result of their religious differences
from the primarily-Buddhist Burmese people. However, events came to a head in
October 2016, when the Burmese army conducted aseries of brutal attacks on
several Rohingya populations. These attacks garnered international attention,
but the state of relations between the Rohingya people and the government
of Myanmar has still not improved. The Rohingya people, as an ethnic group,
have been living in their current location forwell over a millennium. The
region that they reside in, although now called Rakhin estate, was once a
kingdom in a region called Arakan. Around 788 CE, they first encountered
Islam, brought to them by traders from Arab nations. They then became
anethno-religious group (rather than a purely ethnic one) over the next
couple centuries. Itis difficult to go in to detail on the centuries that
follows, as they are filled with many complex events. Ibrahim (2016)
articulated this by saying “The history of the region of Burma has seen a
sequence of ethnic shifts, conquest, expansion and collapse that is quite
typical of most regions of the world.” (p. 17) Given that the region has
been inhabited for over a millennium and a half, it makes sense that
it would have a complicated past. But all this simply sets the stage for a
series of much more recent events. On October 9th, 2016, a series of attacks
were carried out by a small number of Rohingya people against
government-employed border police on the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Nine police officers were killed, as were seven attackers. In retaliation, the
government of Myanmar launched a massive military operation against the
Rohingya people. The effects of this retaliation were so severe that the
United Nations sent a team of humanitarian workers to interview the Rohingya
refugees who were fleeing to Bangladesh. The information that they found was
astonishing. The military was committing atrocities on a huge scale. 65% of
those interviewed reported witnessing murders. 56% reported ‘disappearances’,
often where someone was taken away and not heard from since. 64% reported
seeing beatings. 24% of the women interviewed personally reported having
been raped. The conditions that many people went through were absolutely
terrible, and a report from the UNHCR (2017) specified: “Many of the
interviewees were severely traumatized by the events they had experienced
or witnessed, and many broke down and cried during the interviews, including
men. Some others were visibly hungry, thirsty or sick.” Even after the military
action in Rakhine state has ended, and despite the international attention that
it garnered, the condition of the Rohingya has not improved. They still face
racism and religious discrimination from the government and people of Myanmar.
Under the laws of Myanmar, the Rohingya people are not even citizens, as
the government of Myanmar refuses to accept the claims by the Rohingya
that they inhabited the land prior to 1823 (even though their ancestors
have lived there for centuries beyond that.)Currently, the Rohingya make
up one-seventh of the planet’s population of stateless people. They are
among the poorest people of Myanmar, which leads to many complex problems that have significant negative impacts on their lives.
Jennifer Leaning etal. (2016) found that “The Rohingya people face a cycle
of poor infant and child health, malnutrition, waterborne illness, and lack
of obstetric care.” The Rohingya are a people of a very troubled past.
They settled in one location long ago and have remained there ever
since, yet the current government refuses to acknowledge their claim. This
is but one injustice that the Rohingya have suffered, and the suffering
came to a peak in the military operations that began in October of 2016.
Over 70,000 Rohingyas have fled to neighboring Bangladesh as a result of
the attacks, and conditions are not getting any better. The Rohingya are still
one of the most persecuted people’s in the world. It is only through
international pressure and collaboration that the situation can hope to
improve.
