 was “no genocide in Rakhine,” and refused to acknowledge the Rohingya. The hearings continued into February 2022 and Myanmar routinely denied the accusation of genocide, claiming it was organizing a counterinsurgency campaign.
Refugees in Bangladesh
trapped in camps
Deaths: Myanmar has reported 400 deaths since the beginning of the recent crackdown. However, since August 25, 2017, human rights organizations have estimated approximately 24,000 Rohingya have been killed
Bangladesh: 909,000 people are trapped in Bangladesh with little rights. Majority of these refugees are women and children. Approximately 40% of them are under the age of twelve.
Kutupalong Refugee Settlement: Population of 919,000. This is the largest refugee camp in the world and holds the majority of the Rohingya refugees.
UNHCR: The United Nations have provided significant resources to Rohingya refugees, as well as providing assistance during the monsoon season (May-September). UNHCR has passed a resolution on the situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar. The Council urges Myanmar to take all measures necessary to reverse and abandon policies, directives and practices that marginalize Rohingya Muslims and other minorities.
R2P: “Responsibility to Protect (R2P)” doctrine as customary International law. The United Nations and other states have a responsibility to intervene in Myanmar, whether diplomatically or forcefully.
The Key Actors
The Rohingya inhabit Myanmar’s northwestern Rakhine State. The Myanmar government has persecuted the Rohingya for decades.
Genocide, sectarian violence and violation of International Law
The situation is currently static. With the recent and sudden escalation of the situation in Afghanistan, the geopolitical attention has shifted towards the Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban administered so called “Islamic Emirates.” The world community has overlooked the gruesome situation Rohingya’s are in for the past 70 plus years.
The Advisory Commission on Rakhine State has comprehensively recommended creating conditions that are beneficial to the Rohingya people’s safe and sustainable return will require whole of society engagement. These include lifting restrictions on freedom of movement, reconfirming that internally displaced Rohingya can return to their own villages and providing a clear pathway towards citizenship.
Timeline of the crisis
After the first Anglo-Burmese War, the British incorporated the Arakan (Rakhine) region into their empire. During the British colonial rule, they encouraged tens of thousands of Bengali migrants to move to Arakan to work as migrant labourers.
During the British colonial rule, they encouraged tens of thousands of Bengali migrants to move to underpopulated Arakan to work as migrant labourers. This is one of the main examples the Myanmar government uses to justify barring the Rohingya from becoming citizens – they claim the Rohingya are not native, but the product of British colonialism.
A wave of anti-Indian and anti-Muslim riots across Rangoon (Yangon) and other major cities broke out, leaving 204 dead. Throughout the British rule, the various ethnic groups, including the Rohingya, were pitted against each other through the ‘divide and rule’ policy.
During the Campaign in Burma, the Rohingya fought alongside the British while the Burman and Rakhine ethnic groups sided with the Japanese. This caused anti-Rohingya sentiments across the country.
After over a century of colonial rule, Burma gained their independence. Under the 1948 Union Citizenship Act that was passed on the same day, the Rohingya were not recognized as one of the “indigenous races of Burma.”
Upon a successful military takeover, the country’s constitution was purged and a military junta was established. The military promoted nationalism based on the country’s Buddhist identity and classified the Rohingya as the common enemy to unite the rest of the nation.
In 1978, the Burmese government embarked on an ethnic cleansing campaign called Operation Naga Min (Dragon King) against “illegal immigran