The hidden genocide in Myanmar
The Rohingya are a mostly Muslim ethnic minority group, which numbers over one million people. Despite of living in Myanmar for generations, they are treated as illegal immigrants. The government continues to deny them citizenship, which was stripped from them in 1982. Myanmar’s president Thein Sein even went as far as publicly denying their existence:
”There are no Rohingya among the races.”
The Rohingya history dates back to the early seventh century when Arab Muslim traders settled in the area. They include people who settled centuries ago as well as those who entered the country in recent decades. The UN estimates that there are about 800,000 Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine state with another 200,000 Bangladesh – thousands attempting to flee to Bangladesh have been refused entry. They are not recognised by either country.
(Protests in Dhaka, Bangladesh against Rohingya genocide)
Thein Sein told the UN that the solution was either to deport millions of Rohingya or to have the UN look after them in refugee camps. He tried to justify his actions by claiming that the ethnic conflict poses a threat to the democratic and economic reforms his government has launched:
"We will take responsibility for ethnic nationalities but it is not at all possible to recognise the illegal border-crossing Rohingya who are not of our ethnicity. Stability and peace, the democratisation process and the development of the country, which are in transition right now, could be severely affected and much would be lost."
Intercommunal clashes broke out in 2012 resulting from the rape and murder of a Buddhist women and the succeeding revenge attacks. Myanmese-Buddhist nationalists led by anti-Muslim monks have killed hundreds of Rohingya Muslims. Many Rohingya fled their homes, which were burned down in what they said was a deliberate attempt by the predominantly Buddhist government to drive them out of the country. More than 140,000 Rohingya were also forced into displacement camps.
An UN official , reporting about the miserable conditions in those camps:
"In Rakhine, I witnessed a level of human suffering in (displacement) camps that I have personally never seen before, with men, women, and children living in appalling conditions with severe restrictions on their freedom of movement, both in camps and isolated villages. Many people have wholly inadequate access to basic services including health, education, water and sanitation.’’
Human rights groups say the security forces are also involved in the targeted attacks. They accuse Myanmar authorities of ethnic cleansing, systematically forcing Rohingya from the country through violence and persecution; a charge the government has denied.
A Myanmar researcher for Amnesty International Bangkok, argued:
"This [Rohingya persecution] is truly systemic. It's part of Myanmar's legal and social system to discriminate against the Rohingya on the basis of their ethnicity … all the facets of life are affected by a system that codifies and makes lawful their persecution and discrimination."
Professor William Schabas, the former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, said:
"When you see measures preventing births, trying to deny the identity of the people, hoping to see that they really are eventually, that they no longer exist; denying their history, denying the legitimacy of their right to live where they live, these are all warning signs that mean it's not frivolous to envisage the use of the term genocide."
Despite human rights advocates are increasingly condemning the way the world has turned a blind eye to Myanmar’s persecution of Rohingya Muslims.
The U.S. and other countries of the Global North begin to re-engage Myanmar after its decades as an international outcast. The international community has praised Myanmar’s economic growth and democratization (referring to the 2010 elections, the first in 20 years) as sufficient reason to restore relations. The press hails Myanmar’s present as a “historical moment” in which the country is poised to finally achieve modernization. The extreme violation of human rights is often neglected:
“Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is the poorest country in Southeast Asia. Myanmar was under a military regime for decades, yet since 2011, a transition to democracy has been taking place. The new, civilian led, reformist government has taken charge and the country has began to open up to foreign direct investment. Myanmar’s economy is pretty diversified. The most important sector of the economy is services, which has been growing steadily in the last few years, and now account for over 38 percent of GDP. The share of agriculture has been declining, and now represents 36 percent of GDP. Finally, industry contributes the remaining 26 percent of GDP.’’
