The Rohingya refugee crisis: a conflict amongst nations

Sally Schuster De Hart.1

Abstract

The are a Muslim religious minority that practices a Sufi-inflected variation of Islam in the of . However, many of them have been displaced to refugee camps in Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and amidst ongoing ethnic violence. According to the UN, the Rohing- yas are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. In Myanmar, they live in miserable conditions where they are not allowed by law to possess land, are physically exploited through forced labor and their movement is restricted. Most Rohingyas do not have a state of their own and are subject to racial segrega- tion. This paper focuses on this Muslim minority, their identity, historical background, the refugee crisis and the international community’s effort to help them.

Keywords: Rohingya, Myanmar, ethnic groups, perse- cution, religious segregation.

1 Professional in International Relations with a Minor in International Economics from Universidad del Norte. [Also Political Science and Government Student with a Minor in In- ternational Relations from Universidad del Norte]. Resides in Barranquilla (Colombia). [email protected] 77 A C T U A L I D A D J U R Í D I C A 78 2 ject Pro to the According displaced. have been of thousands hundreds and havegyas increased the against Rohin attacks majorities, the Buddhist 2012, early against outbursts of violent as aresult Since Bangladesh. from immigrants illegal them considers and citizenship them Myanmar) denies of (the in capital Naypyidaw government The racial segregation. to subject are and own of their havenot astate do Rohingyas of the Most isrestricted. movement their and labor forced through exploited physically are land, they to possess allowed not are they re whe conditions in miserable live Burma)Rohingyas (former of Myanmar country Intheir world. in the minorities persecuted most of the one are hingyas Ro the Nations, United to the According gladesh. Ban with borders shares which of Rakhine, state western Burmese of the capital the of Sittwe, kirts outs in the camps in refugee live Rohingyas Most of Sunni variation Islam. aSufi-inflected practice 1.3They about with people. million minority gious isaMuslim reli minority Rohingya Burmese The severe human rights violations. rights human severe to subject are who population, Rohingya of Myanmar›s Who are they and where do they come from? they do come where they and are Who community. stateless this for segregation and violence with to deal options best the Finally, are as to what conclusions include will it in Myanmar. majority Buddhist by the mainly lead violence ethnic ongoing amidst minority, Rohingya the in helping effort latest community’s national inter the discuss also Myanmar. will paper The and Indonesia Malaysia, Bangladesh, across ned that has span crisis refugee current the on confer to Myanmar. arrived will It they how and when terms, in backgroundshistorical are their what are, people Rohingya the who on focuses paper This Malaysia. 2 , more than 120,000, more for Myanmar have left The I ntroduction

Arakan Project

works to improve the situation situation the improve to works ------Yandabo Treaty the of through British to the was ceded gion in and 1826 kingdom the conquered re the forces In 1785 Portuguese. by later the and Burmese first by Mongols was invaded Arakan was established. rulers, by Buddhist both Muslimand led kingdom, mar (most of the remaining 10mar (mostremaining of the in Bangla live % in Myan %lived 90 of million, which two around early as 4 as early Myanmar. As of southern region coastal Arakan in the centered group an ethnic are Rakhine). They (or as Arakanese known first were Rohingyas The 3 dian troops suffered more than 15,000 fatalities. 15,000 than more suffered troops dian In British-led The campaign. a sustained enabled with resources India’s of superior because mainly achieved was War. victory British Anglo-Burmese First the ended the end of the 20 of the end the in 1799Rohingya (2015). to Tennery according At term of the appearance known earliest the te, with sta of Myanmar’s Rakhine residents pre-colonial claim to be part, their for Rohingyas, immigration. of illegal isaresult in Myanmar presence that their and Bengali are that Rohingyas claim instead They group. distinct an ethnically are Rohingya that the to acknowledge refuse enemies manyne of their Rakhi Within in 1990 to Rakhine. was changed it in 1948,but rule province’s the was Arakan, name British from independent became Myanmar When 2015). (Albert, kingdom Arakan of the control the thatunder wasland once to the ties its asserts Muslim group ethnic the as Rohingya, themselves “ga” the and “gya” or “from”. means identifying By “Arakan” word of the tion dialect Rohingya in the isaderiva “Rohang” isthat the origin accepted mostly the isdisputed, word of the root mological ety the though Even identity. political collective, a with group the provides label this say Experts 1950s. in the that surfaced term self-identifying a Rohingya, label using the reject Rakhine) as the (known majority Buddhist state’s ethnic Rakhine the and government Myanmar the Both Rohang. region, of the name historical the on based a name Rohingyas as known are Arakaneses Muslim The The Treaty of Yandabo (February 1826) formally Treaty1826) The of Yandabo formally (February 3 th . century AD, an independent Arakanese th century, Arakanese numbered ------, desh and a small number in India). Most Arakanese legalized their exclusion. Further discriminatory follow Buddhism, but 15 % of the population ad- policies and an increasingly brutal regime have heres to Islam. This is where the conflict has had precipitated a series of refugee crises. In 1991 the its roots: the Buddhist majority has segregated, National Army expelled more than 250,000 Rohin- exploited and violated the Rohingya minority’s hu- gyas, destroyed their homes and villages and for- man rights. ced them to flee elsewhere, mainly to Bangladesh. However, the Bangladeshi government has been However, the root of the conflict isn’t simply a reli- accused of “withholding food aid, frustrating non- gious one. As tends to be the case in modern con- governmental organization’s access to camps, and flicts, the current unrest can also be traced to the generally refusing to recognize their rights as re- country’s colonial past: in 1826 Britain annexed the fugees (Blitz, 2010). Unfortunately, other countries northwest part of what is now Myanmar, as well that have experienced a similar influx of Rohingya as the region that is home to most of Myanmar’s refugees have been mirroring this treatment. remaining Rohingya Muslims. The colonial govern- ment had lax immigration laws and Bengali Mus- In Myanmar the Rohingya face violence and lack lims flooded to the region. The British also installed of basic rights such as access to education, emplo- South Indian chettyars (money lenders) as adminis- yment and healthcare. They live in “apartheid-like trators of the colonial territory, displacing Burmese conditions” due to the country’s refusal to recogni- Buddhist peasants. ze them as citizens. This however, is not new:

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were Over the decades [the Rohingya], without le- expelled in the 1960s by the military-socialist regi- gal or any other sort of protection, have been me of General during the Burmese Way to the victims of wanton discrimination and vio- Socialism (a nationalization program). Subsequent lence by both the virulently anti-Muslim Rakhi- expulsions included an ethnic cleansing campaign nes, a Buddhist ethnic group, and agents of in 1978 (known as Operation Dragon King – Naga the central government. One of the few things Min), which drove more than 200,000 Rohingyas Rakhines and members of the ethnic Burmese into Bangladesh where it is estimated 10,000 died majority have in common is a shared hatred of from disease and starvation (Blitz, 2010). the ‘Bengalis,’ a label they both apply to Ro- hingya with contempt. (Tennery, 2015) Even though Myanmar’s 1948-citizenship law was exclusionary, the military junta introduced a Since the 1990s (specifically between May 1991 citizenship law in 1982 stripping the Rohingya of and March 1992) more than 260,000 Rohingya fled access to full citizenship. Until recently they’ve the country over “human rights abuses” commit- been able to register as temporary residents with ted by the Burmese military. These abuses included temporary identification cards (known as “white “confiscation of land, forced labor, rape, torture, cards”) issued initially to Muslims (both Rohingya and summary executions” (Tennery, 2015). and non-Rohingya) in the 1990s. The white cards conferred limited rights but were not recognized The situation has deteriorated further in recent as proof of citizenship. years: when Myanmar transitioned in 2010 from a military-led government to a more democratic sys- Why is there a refugee crisis? tem, violence against Muslims turned worse. The national government has permitted [albeit tacitly] The source for the latest tragedy lies in the dis- the rise of the 969 Movement, a group of Budd- enfranchisement of the Rohingya in Burma (now hist monks who employ “moral justification for a Myanmar) by the 1982 Citizenship Law, which wave of anti-Muslim bloodshed”. Since 2012, over 79 A C T U A L I D A D J U R Í D I C A 80 Myanmar, their effects are felt regionally and are are and regionally felt are Myanmar, effects their within are problem” “Rohingya of the causes root the community. Although international of the role the concerns which to Protect, Responsibility of the 3) and doctrine the Myanmar’s neighbors implicates which displacement, and statelessness 2) Myanmar; on focuses which discrimination, 1) examination: and warrant particular nationality of law fact and areas related three problem” ya of Myanmar’s a definition “Rohing In proffering international Protect: to efforts community’s Responsibility The refugees. of Rohingya numbers mass to in take have not resources the does Bangladesh economy, and government afragile with world the in countries populated densely most of the one As 2015. in early camps of border out them to order only years, for Rohingya the harbored informally had nation Muslim amajority Bangladesh, them. to unable accept financially are they claiming away hundreds byRohingya the havesia turned Indone and Malaysia them. for homes permanent to unwillingunable provide or haveyas appeared Rohing displaced to house able that are Countries forOrganization Migration). International the and Nations (United ping-pong” of “human game Watch adeadly it Rights calls Human at sea. stranded have been migrants 8,000 of “an aresult, influx”.warned uncontrolled As has also in. Indonesia let are they if ‘social unrest’ citing in away boats, turns still Rohingyas but bor la of unskilled short and rich isrelatively Malaysia Indonesia. and Malaysia Muslim-majority to reach away. them has turned have Manytried more navy Thai the but Thailand, Buddhist-majority to reach havetried thousands entry: them deny countries However, by boat. to leave neighboring have tried (2012-2015), 3years past In the than 120,000 more they go? could Where (Tennery, 2015). majorities Buddhist with flights deadly mar amidst Myan northwestern 140,000 have left Rohingyas - - - - - Genocide Hidden The entitled documentary in Al-Jazeera al (2012) Schabas William by professor explained As 2012 during casions 2013). (Zawacki, than a dozen oc more on genocide have claimed Cooperation of Islamic Organization as the as well activists, Rohingya and commentators Journalists, them. against committed has been or being is cleansing) ethnic and/or humanity against crimes war crimes, (genocide, fourof crimes the more or one if in Myanmar Rohingyas of the situation to the (2013), to Zawacki According applies doctrine the populations. protect to action to collective take prepared be must nity commu international the populations, its protect 2013).(Zawacki, failing to ismanifestly (If astate crimes these from populations to protect means appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other to use has aresponsibility community ternational 3) and in the responsibility; this in fulfilling states assist and to encourage has aresponsibility munity 2) cleansing; com ethnic international and the nity huma against crimes war crimes, genocide, from populations for protecting responsibility primary 1)the main pillars: has three It carries state the 2013). in 2005 (Zawacki, to Protect Responsibility of the doctrine the agreed Document Outcome Summit World in the Assembly General UN The toProtect. Responsibility the aspect: third the on 2013). (Zawacki, prioritized and focuses part This directed be should solutions toward efforts nity: commu international general to the of relevance these are all warning signs that mean that it’s it’s that mean that signs warning all are these live, they where live to right their of legitimacy the denying history, their denying exist— ger lon no they —that eventually are really they that see to hoping a of people, identity the deny to trying births, preventing measures see you When used. be can word the where a zone into we’re moving Rohingya the of case the In : ------not frivolous to envisage the use of the term genocide. Bibliography

Conclusions Albert, E. (2015). The Rohingya Migrant Crisis. Re- trieved from Council of Foreign Relations The General Assembly did not invoke the Respon- (CFR): http://www.cfr.org/burmamyanmar/ sibility to Protect, possibly because it did not con- rohingya-migrant-crisis/p36651 sider the situation in the Rakhine State to constitu- te crimes against humanity or ethnic cleansing by Blitz, B. K. (2010). Refugees in Burma, Malaysia and Myanmar. Thailand: Rescue for the Rohingya. Royal Instituye of Foreign Affairs, 66 (5), 30-31. Primary responsibility rests with the Myanmar go- vernment to protect those denied of a right to a Schabbas, W. (2012). The Hidden Genocide. Retrieved nationality. Regional neighbors have legal and hu- from Al Jazeera: http://www.aljazeera.com/ manitarian obligations to their own vis-à-vis the programmes/aljazeerainvestigates/%20 Rohingya. The same goes for the international 2012/12/2012125122215836351.html community. As Zawacki (2013) puts it: Tenner, A. (2015). Why is no one helping Myan- The Rohingya problem begins at home - and mar’s Rohingya? Retrieved from Re- could well end there with enough political uters: http://blogs.reuters.com/ will. Failing that, as has been the case since great-debate/2015/06/17/why-is-no-one- June 2012 if not decades, regional countries helping-myanmars-rohingya/ and the wider world should act to address the displacement and statelessness, and to stop Zawachi, B. (2013). Defining Myanmar’s “Rohingya the violence and violations (p. 23). Problem”. Human Rights Brief, 20, 18-25.

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