UNIW ROHINGYA REPORT

THE ROHINGYA CRISIS

Rohingya History - Rohingya issue - Current Situation

Geographical Location of (Rakhine), Burma

Arakan, also known as Rohang or Rosango-Dhess is situated on the tri-border region between modern day Burma, Bangladesh and India. It covers an area of about 20,000 square miles which have been reduced to 14,200 sq. miles in 1974. It lies on the north-western part of Burma, comprising a strip of land along the eastern coast of the from the to Cape Negaris, with more than 360 miles coastal belt from Bay of Bengal. It borders 176 miles with Bangladesh, 48 miles of which is covered by the river Naf, which demarcates Burma- Bangladesh border.

It is completely separated from the rest of Burma by the long mountain range of ArakanYoma.The state is formed with four districts. The districts are Sittway (Akyab),Maungdaw, Kyaukpyu and Thandwe.

These districts are formed with 17 townships and 1,164 village-tracts. Sittway (Akyab) is the capital city of the state. In all, there seven rivers in Arakan: the Naf, Mayu, Kaladan, Lemro, Ann, Tangup and Sandoway; the Naf serving as the boundary line between Arakan and Bangladesh.

Etymology of Arakan

The term Arakan is definitely of Arabic or Persian origin having the same meaning in both these languages. It is the corruption of the world Arakan plural of the word Rukn meaning a pillar. The fundamental tenets of are called 'five pillars of Islam'.

Thus the word Arakan signifies the land of Islam or peace. It is difficult to ascertain since when the application of this term to the region now known as Arakan began. But almost certain is the fact that the name Arakan became popular after the Muslim conquest of the country in 1430 C.E. Since Persian was the court language of the then independent Bengal Sultans who conquered Arakan and which continued to be the official language of Arakan up to 1845,

One of the coins found in Arakan and preserved in the Indian Museum, Culcutta, minted by Sultan Bahadur Shah dated 965 A.H. (1557-58 C.E.) is inscribed in Persian with Kalimah on the obverse side and mint name Arakan on the reverse side. Similar coins minted by his predecessor Sultan Muhammad Shah 962 A.H. (1554-55 C.E.) with inscriptions of mint name Arakan was preserved in Indian Museum, Calcutta. Muhammad Shah's coins with the same reading are also found to be preserved in the British Museum

Arakan was declared a Muslim State again in 1942

On 9th June 1942 the Rohingya Muslims of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung area drove the BIA and Rakhine communalists from north Arakan. On 10th June 1942 the Rohingya Muslims declared North Arakan as Muslim State and Peace Committee was entrusted for administration of the area. In December 1942 Brigadier C.E Lucas Phillips of British 14th Army came to Maungdaw to contact the leaders of the Rohingya Muslims. After hard negotiation, the Peace Committee formed by the Rohingya Muslims headed by Mr. Omra Meah and Mr. Zahir Uddin Ahmed allowed the British 14th Army re-entry through the Naf border town of Maungdaw.

As per Public Notice No. 11-OA-CC/42 dated. 31st. December 1942, the British Military Administration declared the former Muslim State as “Muslim National Area”. During the Second World War, Rohingya Muslims helped the Allied Forces against the invading Japanese in Arakan Front. The Rohingya Muslims generally stayed loyal to the British and work with the underground V-force, most Rakhine nationalists jointed either with the BIA or underground Communist movement. The Rakhines only turned against the Japanese when the British re- invaded Burma in 1945.

On 1st January 1945 Brigadier C.E Lucas Phillips became the Chief Administrator of the area and appointed members of Peace Committee as administrative officers of the area. This represents a landmark in the history of Burmese independence. The British recognized the Rohingya Muslims as a distinct racial group and the British officer-in-command promised the Rohingyas to grant autonomy in North Arakan.

The Rohingya Muslims of Arakan, Historical Background

Arakanese Muslims or Rohingyas are indigenous to Arakan having genealogical linkup with the people of Wesali kingdom of Arakan. The early people in Arakan were descended from Aryans. They were Indians resembling the people of Bengal. "The area now known as North Arakan had been for many years before the 8th century the seat of Hindu dynasties. In 788 A.D. a new dynasty, know n as the Chandras, founded the city of Wesali; this city became a noted trade port to which as many as a thousand ships came annually;… their territory extended as far north as Chittagong; Some historians say they are racially Indo- Semitic. They are not an ethnic group developed from one tribal group affiliation or single racial stock. Tides of people like the Brahmins from India, Arabs, Moghuls, Bengalis, Turks and people from Central Asia, came mostly as traders, warriors and preachers overland or through the sea route to Arakan. In their suffering they found an identity now known to the world as the Rohingyas of Arakan.

The Burmese do not seem to have settled in Arakan until possibly as late as the tenth century A.D. The Rakhines were the last significant group to come to Arakan.

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic minority group in Burma who has been subjected to targeted restrictions on their basic freedoms. Approximately 1.5 million Rohingya live in Burma, and most live in Arakan (Rakhine) State, which is in western Burma near the border of Bangladesh.

Rohingya have lived in Burma for decades and the Rohingya community has historical roots in the country that date back to ancient times. However, many Burmese people today, including Burmese government officials, consider Rohingya to be foreigners. The government uses the term “Bengali” to refer to Rohingya.

Burmese law excludes Rohingya from citizenship, leaving most Rohingya stateless and vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Rohingya in northern are subject to restrictions on basic freedoms, like marriage and childbearing, which do not apply to members of other ethnic groups.

The People of Arakan

There are two major ethnic communities in Arakan. The Rohingyas who from the majority population of Arakan, as a whole, are the believers in the religion of Islam and the Maghs (Rakhaings) who are the minority profess the cult of . The Arakan, before 1942, has been occupied over its entire length by both Rohingyas and Maghs.

During the 1942 anti-Muslim rioting, the Muslims of southern Arakan had been pushed to the north whereas the Buddhist Maghs took over the southern half of the country where they now form majority.

There are a few tribes dwelling in Arakan hills who are mostly animists. Their number is still insignificant. They are Kamis, Mros, Chaungthas, Saaks, Chins, Chaws, Khaungtsos, Ahnus and Kons. The principal races are however, the Mros, Kamis, Chaungthas and Chins. The Rakhaings are not expressly denied citizenship nor are they subjected to the local policies in Rakhine State that limit the fundamental rights of Rohingya.

What is the Rohingya issue?

Arakan was occupied by the British after the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-26), the confrontation between the Muslims residing in the northwestern part of Arakan and the Buddhists as the majority in central and southern Arakan became tense, because a large scale Indian immigration was encouraged by the British.

The confrontation came to a head during the Japanese occupation period (1942-45), when Japan armed the Buddhist Arakanese in order to fight against the British and the British used Muslim forces for counterattack. It resulted in serious Muslim/Buddhist clashes and both communities experienced heavy damage.

The situation did not change even after independence of Burma in 1948. There were some attempts at building a stable and peaceful coexistence of the Muslims and Buddhists in Arakan, but it ended in vain after Ne Win's coup in 1962, which brought Burma into a strongly centralized socialist state under the monopolized control of the Army.

Rohingya were recognized citizens of Burma (1948 - 1962)

They are considered illegal immigrants who had settled in Burma during the British colonial rule. Treating the Rohingyas in this way began at first under the rule of Ne Win government (1962-1988). Though the government (1948-58, 60-62) recognized the Rohingyas as an ethnic national group of Burma, the Ne Win regime stripped the Rohingyas of their nationality and rendered them foreigners by enacting the 1974 Emergency Immigration Act. The government also enforced the 1982 Burmese Citizenship Law, which distinguished between three categories of citizenship as follows:

The first category, ordinary citizens, is the people who belong to the eight major ethnic groups as mentioned above as well as other indigenous people who were considered to be present in Burma before 1823 (a year ahead of the First Anglo-Burmese War). These people are recognized as the "genuine" citizens.

The second category, associate citizens, is the people who obtained the Burmese citizenship according to the previous 1948 Union Citizenship Act, which was in force for only two years (1948-50). The most of these people are offspring of mixed marriages between the immigrants after 1823 and to spouses of indigenous Burmese. The third category, naturalized citizens, is the people who have been naturalized after the suspension of the 1948 Union Citizenship Act. Among these three categories, the associate and the naturalized citizens have restricted legal rights to some extent.

The Rohingyas are not included in any of these three categories as they are considered foreigners. Instead of being issued National Registration Certificate (NRC), which every Burmese national who is fifteen years old and above has been legally enforced to carry it every time everywhere, the Rohingyas are given Foreign Registration Certificates (FRC). However, the two exoduses occurred in the following circumstances.

The first one (1978), which happened four years after the enforcement of the 1974 Emergency Immigration Act, was a reaction against an operation carried out by the Burmese immigration officials in northwestern Arakan. This was called Operation "Naga Min" (Dragon King), which was an organized census started from May 1977 in the areas where the government considered that many illegal immigrants were living.

Those areas included several parts of Kachin, Chin, Rangoon, and Arakan (Akyab and the Mayu region). It was carried out in order to register and classify all the residents as to whether they were Burmese citizens, legally residing foreigners, or had entered the country illegally. When the immigration police reached the Mayu region in February 1978, many Rohingyas abandoned their houses and fled across the Naf River towards Teknaf and Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.

Although Burmese government in May 1978 declared that 35,590 people, all Bengali, fled leaving 6,294 empty houses behind them, the results of the Naga Min operation in Arakan in actual led to 200,000 to 250,000 Muslims refugees fleeing into Bangladesh. (reference: Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland, March 2002). Many of them referred to acts of torture and atrocities carried out by the Burmese authorities.

In the end of April 1978, Ziaur Rahman, the President of Bangladesh, criticized the Burmese government for the inhuman removal of Burmese Muslims from their country, but the Burmese government insisted continuously that those who were expelled were Bangladesh citizens who had illegally entered Burma. Finally, on 9 July 1979, under the strong influence of the United Nations (UN), UNHCR, Governments of Saudi Arabia and India, and the World Muslim League, bilateral agreements were made between the two governments, which agreed to the repatriation of 200,000 refugees to Arakan.

However, the situation of the Rohingyas in Burma had not changed upon their return to hometowns, since they were still denied their Burmese citizenship and many of them became landless. After the failure of nationwide movement for democracy in 1988, which brought the birth of Burmese military government, the Army's presence in northwestern Arakan increased dramatically. The Burmese Army commandeered the Rohingyas for road constructions and the military government initiated to settle the Buddhist Arakans into the Townships of Buthidaung and Maungdaw.

Inevitably, confrontations occurred between the Muslims and the Buddhists communities in those townships and the Burmese Army backed the Buddhists by committing robbery, rape, murder against the Muslims and the burning of mosques.

This brought the second Rohingya exodus, which occurred between April 1991 and May 1992. The numbers of the refugees this time rose to over 250,000. In February 1992, corresponding to the strong request of international assistance given by the Government of Bangladesh, UNHCR started a broad relief operation in 20 camps along the road between Teknaf and Cox's Bazar.

In April 1992, the Governments of Burma and Bangladesh signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on setting the terms of the repatriation program and allowing limited involvement of UNHCR. However, the Government of Bangladesh carried out repatriation by force without UNHCR involvement from September to December 1992, which brought protests from the international community.

Although Bangladesh provided asylum for the Rohingya refugees, they intended to encourage their immediate return. In May 1993, MOU was signed between UNHCR and the Government of Bangladesh, which guaranteed protection of the refugees in the camps and voluntary repatriation through private interviewing of refugees.

Another MOU was signed between UNHCR and the Government of Burma, allowing the UNHCR access to the returnees, the issuance of identity cards, and freedom of movement for the Rohingyas.

The repatriation of Rohingyas began, but since their distrust against the Burmese government was strong, the numbers of the returnees did not rise immediately. It was no more than 60,000 of the entire 250,000 refugees who went back to their homeland by 1994. The Medecins Sans Frontieres, an international medical NGO, called attention in March 1995 that a survey among refugees found that 63% of them did not want to return to Burma, and 65% were not aware of the right to refuse repatriation. The pace of repatriation, however, was accelerated in 1996, and approximately 200,000 people returned to the Mayu region by the end of 1996.

Although it was an improvement for the Rohingyas that the continuous monitoring of the returnees by UNHCR was at least allowed by the Burmese military government, the situation which they were put into did not change fundamentally.

The Rohingyas have been treated as special foreigners who are just allowed to stay in the limited space as un-welcomed guest by the military government. National Registration Certificates have not been issued to them yet. They are not allowed to move from the Townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung unless they pay a large deposit.

State-sponsored Discrimination

Rohingya are the targets of state-sponsored discrimination and face severe restrictions on basic freedoms. Rohingya face a set of oppressive policies promulgated by the national, state, and local levels of government that are either codified in law or written as policy orders.

Rohingya suffer from a combination of state sponsored discrimination and popular hatred, which together creates a climate of racism, xenophobia, and hates that, has primed the country for future violence, including potential genocide. Rohingya describe it government’s strategy as one of “soft elimination” of the Rohingya.

Excluded from Citizenship

Rohingya are excluded from citizenship under Burma’s 1982 Citizenship Law. The law renders most Rohingya stateless, which fuels extremist rhetoric that the Rohingya are foreigners who should not be in the country. One Rohingya advocate told us, “By denying us citizenship, they are denying our entire existence, our struggle, and our survival.”

Restriction of Movement

Most Rohingya live in Rakhine State, in western Burma. Local orders, enforced in northern Rakhine State, place onerous restrictions on basic freedoms by requiring official permission for Rohingya to travel, marry, and make repairs to buildings. There is a two-child policy enforced in the northern Rakhine townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung that only applies to Rohingya.

Although the policy is enacted at the local level, politicians at the national and state level support the measure and describe the population control method as necessary and even beneficial for Rohingya. Penalties for disobeying the orders include fines or imprisonment. Main Characteristics of the Conflict

• Massacres

• Denial of Citizenship

• Forced Displacement

• Travel Ban

• Restriction on Education

• Restriction on Employment

• Marriage Difficulties

• Discrimination Against Culture & Religion

• Refugee Problem

1942 Rohingya Muslims Massacre

Rohingya problem is religious, political and ethnic persecution‟ to rid Arakan of the Muslim population.

When British withdrew, the administration of was entrusted to a Magh Buddhist extremist, U Kyaw Khine, with the power of commissioner of Arakan division. Many British soldiers left leaving behind a large number of arms, which easily reached the hand of Maghs.

The barbaric Muslim massacre started on 28th March 1942 at the order of Thakin leaders of Arakan. The carnage was unbelievable and hundreds of Muslims including children and women met their fatal end. Many Muslims jumped into the river and hid in the forest. People in water were shot dead. With their long swords the Maghs butchered the half-dead men, women and children.

Those still alive in the carnage were stabbed with the pointed spears and cut them into pieces. Rohingya girls and women after having been raped were murdered and the children were mercilessly slaughtered by throwing them upward and putting the sharp side of the long-dahs or swords under them. The breasts of the women were peeled.

The same event of the tragic end of Shah Shuja and his followers in 1662 was just repeated once more in 1942. The Rohingya resisted but were defeated and many Muslims were massacred. Some escaping group of 15000 Muslims were intercepted at Taungyi Nyo by the Maghs and were killed after looting their belongings. Women were killed after being raped for some days. Also, 10,000 men, women and children were killed at Apawkwa pass in the same way as Taungyi Nyo.

After destroying Chanbilli and Lambaissor in Minbya Township the Thakin attacked Raichaung and Pankha villages of Myebon Township on 1st April 1942. Almost all of 15,000 Muslims of these two villages were massacred.

Attempts were made to carry out massacre at Kyauknimaw of Township, but they were saved in a miraculous way. The Muslims of Kyaukpyu were given protection by British forces. On 8th April 1942 the Magh carried out the massacre at the villages of Kyauktaw, Mrohaung, Pauktaw and Rathidaung.

Three fourths of the Muslims of Rathidaung Township were massacred. The rest were lucky enough to reach Akyab. The Muslims of Akyab had the opportunity of acquiring some arms and training to defend themselves. Both offensive and defensive preparations of the Muslims in Akyab under the leadership of , Tambi Maracan and others frightened the Maghs.

The result of the Muslim massacre of 1942 is that, 307 Muslim villages had disappeared from the soil of Arakan. More than 100,000 Muslims were massacred and 80,000 fled to Chittagong and Rangpur Refugee camps. The Muslim majority area of the east of had turned into a Muslim minority area. But the loss in terms of human civilization and moral value is much greater. The 1942 massacre gave the scar mark of bitterness in the minds of the two-sister people against one another who, otherwise, peacefully co-existed in Arakan since 1200 years back.

2012 organized violence against Rohingya

From 3 June and 21 October 2012, state sanctioned organized killings of the Rohingya Muslims were carried out in Arakan with the direct involvement of the government’s police, soldiers and security forces respectively.

Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) with the Arakan State government was the main mastermind of the pogrom while Buddhist monks took the lead. The State capital (Akyab) and the townships of Maungdaw, Rathedaung, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Pauktaw, Myebon, Sandoway, Kyaukpyu, Rambree were seriously affected. Over 5,000 Rohingya and Kaman Muslims have been killed, drowned and missing; many Muslim villages with thousands of homes have been destroyed; hundreds of women have been raped; and more than 140,000 people internally displace (IDP). People have been forced to flee their homes. Starvation, diseases and malnutrition are widespread daily causing deaths in villages and under open sky and also in overcrowded displacement camps with squalid living condition, totally inadequate water and sanitation, and almost no education available.

Rakhine Buddhists and monks have blocked the flow of foods, essentials and medical supplies, and they even block aid workers and humanitarian agencies from reaching Rohingyas. A system of neo-apartheid is being practiced forcing the Rohingyas to live in the current situation of segregation outside of the town in Sittwe. This is a case of genocide.

June and October 2012, sectarian violence between the Rohingya Muslims and the Arakanese Buddhist killed almost 500 people, destroyed close to 10,000 homes and displaced 127,000. A further 25,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Sir Lanka, and Thailand.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Burma opposition leader Aung San SuuKyi is uncharacteristically silent on the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas and messed up the situation with a false statement that illegal immigration from Bangladesh was still going on.

This cowardly act was at once rebutted by Bangladesh government. If Rakhine Buddhists were in the situation of Rohingyas she would definitely speak out. That’s why the OIC Secretary- General Ekmeledin Ihsanoglu rightly said in Brunei, "She is only interested in the human rights of the Buddhists because they are human beings and the Muslims are not." As the Rohingyas are oppressed by everyone in Burma‟, on 19 November 2012, US President Barak Obama told the assembled dignitaries in Rangoon University Convocation Hall the Rohingya should have basic human rights saying, “The Rohingya hold within themselves the same dignity as you do, and I do.”

Anti-Muslim Campaigns

The Buddhist extremist nationalist movement, led by monks and supported by various government officials, has spearheaded anti-Muslim campaigns in Burma. The extremists have led sermons and public speeches against Rohingya and other Muslims, orchestrated efforts to boycott Muslim shops, and distributed anti-Muslim stickers that people could post on their homes and businesses. Hate speech is disseminated through public rallies as well as online through social media platforms. The White Card

Many Rohingya hold so-called white cards, which serve as temporary identification cards. The Burmese parliament passed the Referendum Law on February 2, 2015, giving white-card holders the right to vote in a constitutional referendum, and the decision met a backlash from extremist groups who protested allowing Rohingya to vote. President Thein Sein’s office issued a statement on February 11 announcing that white cards will expire on March 31 and that white- card holders would be required to surrender their documents to the government by May 31, 2015.

In addition to denying white-card holders any form of identification, and therefore denying them temporary legal status and preventing them from accessing some social services, this executive decision also automatically revoked white-card holders’ right to vote in the referendum.

Situation after 9th October 2016

A curtain fell on western Burma on Oct. 9, the moment after police said Islamic militants attacked three security outposts along the border with Bangladesh, killing nine officers. Since that announcement, more than 1000 people have been killed, hundreds have been detained by the military, more than 150,000 aid-reliant people have been left without food and medical care, 100s of women claim to have been sexually assaulted, more than 1,200 buildings appear to have been razed and at least 30,000 people have fled for their lives, the United Nations says.

Under military lockdown, a humanitarian effort to provide food and medicine to more than 150,000 people has been suspended for more than 40 days in the area. 's military and the government have rejected allegations by residents and rights groups that soldiers have raped Rohingya women, burned houses and killed civilians during the military operation in Rakhine.

The international community has expressed concern. "We continue to urge the government to conduct a credible, independent investigation into the events in Rakhine state, and renew our request for open media access," US State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said.

Malaysia said that it was considering pulling out of a football tournament co-hosted by Myanmar to protest against the ongoing crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, risking a possible global ban by the sport's governing body, FIFA.

Humanitarian workers and independent journalists have been banned from affected areas as the Burmese army, known locally as the Tatmadaw, carries out what it calls “clearance operations.” The government, which is headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said that those killed were jihadists - information that was gleaned, it said, through interrogations. The government said the rape allegations were false. It said that Muslim terrorists burned down the buildings themselves in an attempt to frame the army for abuse and claim international assistance.

The current use of disproportionate military force in response to the attacks, which fails to adequately distinguish fighters from civilians, together with denial of humanitarian assistance to an extremely vulnerable population and the lack of an overarching political strategy that would offer them some hope for the future, is unlikely to dislodge the group and risks generating a spiral of violence and potential mass displacement.

The Myanmar authorities have consistently referred to “joint operations”, usually indicating that the military is supporting BGP operations. This language began to be used in particular following a “special meeting on national defense and security” on 14 October that brought together the president, Aung San Suu Kyi, the commander-in-chief and others.

The military has indicated it is conducting “area clearance operations” across a section of northern Maungdaw township, which it has sealed off.

Operations in the sealed-off area bear many hallmarks of that strategy. After the 9 October attacks, there were multiple reports of suspects shot on sight, burning of many houses, looting of property and seizure or destruction of food stocks – as well as of women and girls raped.

The government denies allegations of human rights violations. Lack of media and other independent access makes verification hard, but blanket denials, even of factual claims based on satellite imagery or international media reports from the ground of flight to Bangladesh, are not plausible and undermine the credibility of its other claims.

Some counter-narratives clash with satellite data, for example those local Muslim villagers are torching their own homes to get international sympathy or that it is the armed group’s arson. Analysis of that data shows destruction of at least 1,500 buildings.

The group refers to itself as Harakah al-Yaqin (HaY, “Faith Movement” in Arabic). The government calls it Aqa Mul Mujahidin.

The group revealed its name, show its faces on camera and prove that it was on the ground. The first video, circulated to Rohingya networks on 11 October and leaked on YouTube the next day, has the name Harakah al-Yaqin overlaid in Arabic script. In the second, uploaded to YouTube on 14 October, Further videos were subsequently released, showing their continued actions in north Maungdaw and stating their demands.

It is important for the government’s response to start from an appreciation of why a violent reaction from some Muslims in Rakhine State has emerged. The population has seen its rights progressively eroded, its gradual marginalization from social and political life, and rights abuses. This has become particularly acute since the 2012 anti-Muslim violence in Rakhine.

Disenfranchisement prior to the 2015 elections severed the last link with politics and means of influence. At the same time, the disruption of maritime migration routes to Malaysia closed a vital escape valve, particularly for young men whose only tangible hope for the future was dashed. An increasing sense of despair has driven more people to consider a violent response, but it is not too late for the government to reverse the trend.

It requires recognizing first that these people have lived in the area for generations and will continue to do so. Ways must be found to give them a place in the nation’s life. A heavy-handed security response that fails to respect fundamental principles of proportionality and distinction is not only in violation of international norms; it is also deeply counterproductive.

It will likely create further despair and animosity, increasing support for Rohingya Fighters and further entrenching violence. International experience strongly suggests that an aggressive military response, particularly if not embedded in a broader policy framework, will be ineffective against the Fighters and has the potential to considerably aggravate matters.

There are risks that if the government mishandles the situation, including by continued use of disproportionate force that has driven tens of thousands from their homes or across the border to Bangladesh, it could create conditions for further radicalizing sections of the Rohingya population

The Rohingya Fighters does not appear to have a transnational jihadist or terrorist agenda. If the government mishandles the situation, however, including by continued use of disproportionate military force that has driven thousands across the border to Bangladesh, it could create conditions for radicalizing sections of the Rohingya population that jihadist groups might exploit for their own agendas. To avoid that risk the government should open the doors of dialogues and solve it politically.

The international community should

 End all discriminatory laws and policies targeting the Rohingya, including those that restrict the freedom of movement and infringe on marriage rights and family choice.

 Revise the 1982 Citizenship Law so that it conforms to internationally recognized legal standards and does not exclude any ethnic group from citizenship. Clearly and publicly outline the process for applying for citizenship under any new law.

 Condition any agreements—including on preferential trade status, military training and provision of military equipment, concessionary lending by international financial institutions, or new large-scale development packages—on clear benchmarks that must be met by the government regarding increasing humanitarian assistance to Rohingya, protecting Rohingya voting rights, and ensuring that those responsible for anti-Rohingya and anti- Muslim violence are held accountable.

 Work with other governments and international organizations to coordinate strategies for preventing future violence and mass atrocities

 Encourage the free flow of information throughout Burma, including by promoting unimpeded access for local and international journalists and investigators to all areas of Rakhine State.

 Be prepared to introduce a new UN sanctions regime targeting funders and organizers of anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim violence.