For centuries the Rohingya have faced physical violence, institutionalized discrimination, and ethnic cleansing by the Burmese. The Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim minority originally from Rakhine state in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country located next to Bangladesh in Southeast Asia. The most recent crackdown began in August 2017 when the Burmese military made the Rohingya the primary targets of their coup d’etat. Upon seizing power, the military, along with the civilian population, has committed widespread expulsion, murders, pillaging, and rape within Rohingya communities, forcing survivors to flee for their lives. Since 2017, over a million Rohingya have fled from Myanmar to neighboring countries, creating a refugee crisis in the region. 

Since gaining independence from the British in 1948, the Burmese government’s maltreatment of the Rohingya has only intensified. When the country was initially established, the Burmese government refused to acknowledge the Rohingya as rightful citizens rendering the group stateless. This sentiment was upheld in 1982 when the Burmese government enacted the 1982 Citizenship Law. The document identifies 135 ethnic groups that had settled in Burma prior to 1823, the first year of the Anglo-Burman war, but notably left the Rohingya off the list despite their origins in Burma dating back to the Arakan kingdom. This law effectively killed Rohini’s pathway to citizenship. In the 1990s, the Burmese junta permitted Muslims to register as temporary residents with identification cards, known as white cards giving them the right to vote with no citizenship attached. However, these cards were revoked in 2015. 

​​The Myanmar government’s hostility towards the ethnic group can be seen through restrictions on marriage, family planning, employment, education, religious presentation, and freedom of movement. For example, certain towns have enacted rules on how many children a Rohingya couple can have to control their population. Nationwide the Rohingya must also seek permission from the government to marry, which often requires them to bribe authorities or provide photographs of the bride without a headscarf and the groom with a clean-shaven face, actions that go against their faith. If Rohinyga want to move to a new home or travel outside their town they must gain government approval.

The country has long struggled with military rule, civil war, poor governance, and widespread poverty, which has created the ideal conditions needed for a scapegoat. Although established as a democracy, this came to an end after the military General Ne Win led a military coup and seized power in 1962. Military power ended briefly, and democracy was reestablished between 2011 and 2021 when another coup d’etat occurred. Before cementing power in 2021, the military, Tatmadaw, with the help of local security forces, mounted a brutal campaign against the Rohingya, killing thousands of people and setting ablaze hundreds of villages after a militant group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, claimed responsibility for attacks on police and army posts. The ARSA claimed the attacks were to retaliate against the systematic oppression of the Rohingya and demanded equality and citizenship. Despite the notable cause, the consequences were devastating. 

Rohingya refugees have told stories of the Burmese military rounding up families, beating fathers and brothers, and raping women and children. Others recount seeing decapitated bodies on the ground, soldiers burning homes with people inside, and throwing children into rivers. The generals who have orchestrated these atrocities now rule the country and have imposed new movement restrictions and aid blockages on Rohingya camps and villages, increasing water scarcity, food shortages, disease, and malnutrition. 

Before August 2017, Rohingya in Myanmar accounted for nearly a third of the Rakhine State population, now over 800,000, half children residing in Bangladesh occupying the world’s largest refugee camp: Kutupalong. While safe from genocide, the conditions in Kutupalong are dire. An area four times the size of New York City, the camp lacks basic infrastructure, forcing families to set up makeshift camps in crowded conditions and stretching the supply of basic necessities to its limits. Bangladeshi authorities have forbidden refugees from leaving the camp despite there being few job opportunities and little access to formal education for children. 

The Rhoniyga were initially welcomed in Bangladesh with open arms. During the initial influx in 2017, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina stated: “We have the ability to feed 160 million people of Bangladesh and we have enough food security to feed the 700,000 refugees.” The identical religious identity between the Bangladeshi Muslims and the Rohingyas has engendered sympathy among Bangladesh’s citizens who wish to support the ethnic group in distress. However, in a developing country with a dense native population, the Bangladeshi government has taken steps to decrease the amount of Rohingya in the country.

Humanitarian aid cuts from the UN and US have made the Rohingya stay in Myanmar unstainable. According to Al Jazeera, Humanitarian agencies have appealed for more than $876m this year to support the Rohingya. Still, as of June 2023, the Joint Response Plan for supporting them was only 24 percent funded. On top of this, the World Food Program cut the monthly food allocation from $12 per person to $8. In response, Bangladeshi officials have begun registering Rohingya with the prospect of repatriating them back to Myanmar. Repatriation was attempted before in late 2019, when the countries agreed to repatriate several thousand refugees, but those in the designated group were unwilling to return to Myanmar for fear of their lives. This time, a pilot repatriation program has been established between Myanmar and Bangladesh brokered by China with the goal of sending 1,100 refugees back and the promise that they may return to Bangladesh if they feel unsafe in Rakhine State. 

Since the brutal crackdown in 2017, no one has been held accountable for the acts of genocide against the Rohingya people. Over 1 million remain displaced from their homes, and those still living in Rakhine live under an apartheid regimen. The Rohingyas’ desires and demands are simple and universal needs we all deserve. The right to liberty, equality, and self-determination; Until these needs are fulfilled and guaranteed, they will remain a people shackled to exile and persecution.