900,000 Rohingya Muslims were driven out of Myanmar. The refugees fled the country due to persecution of Myanmar’s military. The refugees fled to neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, India, Thailand and other south-east countries. The Buddhist nationalist majority in the country, they consider the Rohingya Muslim minority as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and refer the immigrants as Bengalis. They are considered as illegal immigrants as the Burmese nationality law effectively denied them citizenship. Because they are denied citizenship, they can’t pursue higher education. The citizenship act of 1982 banned them from getting citizenship; they are the biggest stateless population. They are the most persecuted minorities in the world. The Myanmar government and its military have been accused of ethnic cleansing.
The genocide had two waves, the first phase of persecution was from October 2016 – 2017, and the second phase was 2017. The genocide started in December 2016, where the military in northern Rakhine where more than 1,250 villages were burned down by the military. The crackdown caused arbitrary arrests, sexual assaults, gang rapes and violence against civilians. All of this violence was sanctioned by the government. According to a police document that was procured by the Reuters said that the Myanmar police that 423 Rohingya Muslims were detained and among the 423, 13 were children. From the interviews done by the office of the United Nation High Commission of Human Rights women said that sexual assaults and gang rapes were systematic and planned. Rape has been used as a weapon in the genocide and women are forced to watch their children, husbands and family members die in front of them. In January 2017, an online video surfaced in which the armed forces were violently beating Rohingya Muslims, the Myanmar government then detained 4 officers over the video. All these crimes amount up to war crimes. There have also been reports of using child soldiers in the ongoing persecution. Satellite images show that Rohingya Muslim villages were ransacked and burned to the ground.
The military-led government hasn’t taken any actions against the genocide but are a part of it. The first free elections were held in 1990 but it was annulled. The free elections held in 2016 elected Aung San Suu Kyi as its leader but the military still holds all the power behind this democratic facade. When cyclone Nargis hit the country, the government intentionally blocked attempts to aid the minority population, thousands died as a result. Despite, the international condemnation, the government has declined to stop or comment on the issue. It’s largely Buddhist population believes that the Rohingya Muslims are illegal immigrants thus it justified the actions of the government. This genocide has led to the world’s biggest stateless population and a huge refugee crisis. Most of the Rohingya Muslims flee the country and go to Bangladesh. Due to this Bangladesh has a high influx of refugee who then migrates to India, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries looking for refuge. Because most of these countries have a huge population they are reluctant to take it, refugees. Because no country is willing to take them in they must live in refugee camps till the issue gets resolved. The ongoing genocide has been a huge blow to human rights in Myanmar, the government refusal of acknowledgement and its participation in the genocide has garnered international criticism. Many reports of rape, assault, attack on the civilian population have made it very clear that there is a rampant violation of human rights. The crisis is currently ongoing with little efforts from the government to control it.
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