Unbeknownst to many, a group of nearly 800,000 people were forced to mass-relocate starting in 2017 after enduring decades of violent persecution. This group of people, known as the Muslim Rohingya ethnic tribe originally residing in Myanmar, has faced a prolonged, strategic, and ferocious assault, which has recently been classified as genocide by the Biden presidency in 2022. Rohingya villages were attacked, their people were killed, and their lives were ruined or severely and detrimentally altered. Possibly worse than the atrocities committed against the Rohingya stateless nation is the little awareness of the situation in other parts of the world. Hopefully, that’s subject to change for the atonement of the displaced and the betterment of the Southeast Asian region as a whole.
The Rohingya people have lived in Myanmar for centuries. After they lost their citizenship in 1982, they became a stateless group. Since then, they’ve been subject to a variety of human rights infringements, including murder, unlawful arrests, slavery, trafficking, and more. They’ve also been robbed of their rights to education, healthcare, political participation, and an onslaught of other basic freedoms all humans deserve. For the last half-century, a slow-burning campaign of oppression of the Rohingya people has occurred. Recently, the flame of the campaign ignited to a climax, turning into an all-out attempt at the annihilation of the tribe entirely.
Who’s committing these vile actions of genocide against them? The Tatmadaw, formally known as the Myanmar armed forces, began increasing its targeted acts of violence on specific Rohingya communities in August 2017. Living in the northern Rakhine state, approximately 740,000 Rohingya people vacated Myanmar to escape the barbaric treatment of the Tatmadaw forces. Although there is picture and video evidence of the brutalities committed by the Tatmadaw, including depicted decapitations, bombings, executions, rape, arson, and more, the Myanmar government claims the genocide to be nonexistent. Further, the Myanmar forces threatened those who planned on aiding the injured and displaced Rohingya people, spreading fear and leading to the prolonging of infections, limb loss, and deaths of survivors.
Where are the refugees now? Many survivors fled to natural shelters, including nearby forests, farmlands, and unoccupied villages. Bangladesh became a central location of refuge for the Rohingya escapees. The journey across the border was a dangerous expedition, but survivors were left with no other option. “Today, nearly one million Rohingya are crowded into refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh” (Physicians for Human Rights [PHR]). These camps are the largest in the world and offer a once incomprehensible blanket of security and community. Unfortunately, no amount of distance or physical shelter can ever compensate for the events that took place or the feelings that will follow the survivors for eternity.
For the sake of the strength, unity, and financial prosperity of the Southeast Asian region, Myanmar must take accountability for its actions. Not only should this theoretical accountability involve legal justice, but it should also ensure the rebuilding of the Rohingya people and their generations to come.