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Ramisha Hassan

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

1 November 2017

The Hidden Genocide: A Run for the Rohingya

If you heard the word genocide, would you believe that there is one occurring

somewhere in the country of Myanmar right now? The Rohingya Muslims are claimed to be the

worlds most persecuted minority (Myanmar: Who are the Rohingya). In the past decade, more

than 500,000 refugees have fled their homeland in majority Buddhist Myanmar to seek asylum

from their oppressive government and military power. Many generations ago before the

Rohingya moved to the Rakhine state of Myanmar, they lived in Bangladesh. Very soon after

Myanmar's independence from the British in 1948, the Union Citizenship Act was passed. This

Act defined which ethnicities could gain citizenship and which would be excluded. In 1982 the

military government excluded the Rohingyas from the list of more than 130 officially recognized

ethnic groups in the country, dismissing them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. That

rendered them, in effect, stateless, and their severe mistreatment began. In 1991, almost 600,000

Rohingyas fled across the border to escape violent persecution by the army (Phillips). All other

groups in Myanmar are considered citizens and are treated peacefully except for the minority

Muslim group who have been alienated.

The Truth

While the foundation of the Rohingya crisis dates back to the 1950s, it started attracting

much more attention only during the present decade because of the extensive violence and the

unprecedented refugee flows into countries in South Asia. The Rohingya have been living in
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Myanmar for many decades just like all of the other ethnic and religious groups. However, their

government has attacked them violently without any humanity and has forced them out of the

country. The Rohingya have been considered a stateless race who have unfortunately been

denied their right to education, property, work and land by their oppressive military government.

The Refugees Tragedy

In the span of three weeks in 2016, over 125,000 innocent Muslims have escaped the

uncontrolled violence in their homeland. Refugees have told stories of what it was like when

their entire village was completely destroyed and how they had to flee to Bangladesh with barely

any clothes, food, sanitation support or protection. Not only did they have to run away from the

violence in their country, but on their run they had to escape arson, rape and murder. The

brutality that has occurred in this under documented genocide is unimaginable (Holmes). People

are starving in their homes but because they do not have their basic human rights, they cannot

leave their homes unless it is to flee the country. Over half of the refugees consist of children

and women who have been raped or seen their family or friends get killed. Thirteen year old Win

Maw told interviewers that people were tied to poles inside of homes then burnt down and he

was not sure if his parents were alive or dead (Wescott). Aljazeera, a state-funded broadcaster

media network, reported the story of a young girl named Ayesha who went through a torturous

experience in her village. Ayesha claimed that she was sitting in her home with her four sister in

laws when a group of soldiers forced their way into her home and made all of the women get into

a room. They proceeded to take Ayeshas baby out of her hands and beat him like a toy. The

soldiers proceeded to strip all of the sisters naked and put a knife to Ayeshas throat, then began

to rape her. 12 soldiers took turns raping Ayesha and her sisters for what she believed to be

several hours. To end this tragic story, two of Ayeshas sisters who were raped died from
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weakness. This is one of the hundreds of thousands of abusive and inhumane stories that the

persecuted minority have gone through. All of this brutality is continuing to happen today; yet,

this ongoing tragedy still has not received ample media attention. Although the lack of awareness

has mainly been blamed on media coverage, Americans seem to always forget the brutality that

occurs far from their shores.

The Help

Bangladesh is approximately 148,460 sq. km and has a population of 163 million people,

yet they have been welcoming enough to allow the refugees into their densely populated country.

Refugees have been pouring into Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh without any means of safety or

protection and Bangladesh has done all they could to support as many people as possible.

Because of Bangladeshs population and economic issues, it does not have the supplies to care

for all of its own citizens, which is why it is necessary that other neighboring countries like

Indonesia and Malaysia to let in more refugees. Unfortunately, some countries like Malaysia

have seemed to be unwilling and unable to provide shelter for the Rohingya. These countries

explained to the UN that they were financially unable to take care of that large population of

people considering their economic situations.

Organizational Aid

Although there has not been much international coverage and awareness/aid has been

minimal, some countries and organizations have helped the refugees with basic needs. In

UNICEF Emergency Supplies for Rohingya Refugee Children Arrive in Bangladesh, it states

that Copenhagen has arrived to the capital of Bangladesh with 100 tons of supplies, comprising

water purifying tablets, family hygiene kits, sanitary materials, plastic tarpaulins, recreational

kits for children, and other items (Phillips). While the refugees are desperate for help, this urgent
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assistance from other countries is exactly what should be done to ensure their safety. The UN has

taken part in helping Bangladesh take care of the refugees and have invested time in the refugees

themselves. Like many of the other humanitarian organizations, they have donated lots of

supplies to aid the victims. They released 7 million dollars from their emergency relief fund to

provide aid to one million Rohingya refugees.

The World Food Program (WFP) urgently requested 75 million dollars for emergency

supplies over the next six months to help the suffering Rohingya Muslims (Bhatia). My point

here is, there are evidently some countries and organizations who have been aware and have put

forth a lot of time and effort into alleviating the horrors the refugees have gone through. But this

genocide has been happening for too many years for just these few humanitarian organizations

and some other countries to be helping out with. Bangladesh has done a lot to keep the

vulnerable refugees safe and so have many other people. However, this genocide has been going

on for about 25 years and has gotten demonstrably worse with time.

The United States Impact

Unfortunately, President Trump does not seem likely to address the issues of violence,

human rights, and democracy occurring in Myanmar (Fuchs). His America First memo

translates to a more transactional version of foreign policy that is focused on our American

borders only. The Trump Administration should acknowledge the severity of the ethnic cleansing

in Myanmar during the U.S. Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. Although the

United States has spoken on this subject at the United Nations Security Council, it is important

that puts forth action to defend his words. He should provide the necessary resources and join

forces with other countries in the region to aid this growing humanitarian crisis. In order to work

with other countries to stabilize the refugee population, Trump should engage China and pressure
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Myanmar to stop the mass violence. The United States could also target Myanmars senior

regime officials and make them aware that the U.S. will reconsider all ties they have made with

Myanmar the past few years. Myanmars officials could then realize the mistakes they are

making and whats at stake for their future if they lose relationships with other countries. It

should be clear to the world that the United States will make changes and put forth effort into

making a difference in Myanmar.

Former President

Although the military and government are violent and inhumane, there are some people

in their council who have made change in Myanmar with a little more peace than before. Former

President Thein Sein was the first president in 20 years who held his position in office from 2011

to 2016. He was a former general who may go down in history as the President who led to

change in the country. When Sein was in charge, the government freed hundreds of prisoners and

also made peace deals with minority ethnic groups. He also decreased media censorship and

allowed private newspapers to open and journalists to come in the country. Besides his efforts,

Aung San Suu Kyi became the State Counselor of Myanmar in 2016. According to the Nobel

Prize webpage, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize award in 1991 for her nonviolent

struggle for national independence in Myanmar and human rights. She became the leader of a

democratic opposition which employs nonviolent means to withstand an authoritarian

government characterized by cruelty (2017). Civil courage and nonviolent efforts to support the

Rohingya have had some positive impacts the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The efforts should

continue to make Myanmar more peaceful than before but there is still a lot of violence that must

be combated.

The Hidden Persecution

The higher authority of Myanmar has attempted to hide this tragedy from the common

eye and has blocked out journalists from spreading information about their involvement in the

crisis to the world. It is bad enough that the Rohingya have to endure this mistreatment and

alienation but it is tragic that the government has kept so much confidential. If it were not for a

lot of the bombs that went off leaving villages full of rising smoke, many incidents would have

gone unnoticed (Dwyer). It is evident that this has caused a lack of international coverage to the

public eye. I do not believe that Myanmars officials are the only ones responsible for the lack

of coverage because Americans are not aware enough in general. It seems common that when

things happen elsewhere in the world like Israel, Pakistan, or in this instance, Myanmar;

Americans lose touch with the events very quickly. It is vital that citizens in the United States

open their minds up to the possibility of these things occurring and research to find out what is

happening in places besides the U.S.

The Buddhists Perspective

Thaw Parka, a monk who speaks on the behalf of a monk-led Buddhist nationalist group

better known as Ma Ba Tha says that the main threat in Myanmar is Islam (Hunt). He made a

bold claim to CNN that the international community who claims what is occurring to the

Rohingya is considered a genocide are wrong. As stated previously, Myanmars government

has kept a lot of information confidential and has spent a lot of time making sure people from

outside their borders cannot get in to receive information. Considering all of the information the

UN and other countries/organizations have gathered, Myanmars military continues to deny that

this is a genocide. They said they are targeting Rohingya militants that launched deadly attacks

on the police. The Buddhists believe that the Rohingyan refugees are making wild accusations

against them and that Buddhists are the victims in this violence (Hunt). A common view that a
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majority of the Buddhists share is that the people in Myanmar who they consider their own

civilians are starving and can barely live, so it is better of the alienated Muslims leave their

villages. It is ironic that the Buddhist monks have this point of view because they are considered

people who come from a tolerant faith who would never hurt a soul. When looking at the

Buddhist vs. Muslim population in Myanmar, it consists of 89.9% Buddhists and 2.3% Muslims.

However, the monks still believe that their country fears radical Islam and that there will be no

peace if Muslims exist in their country because few of them may be terrorists.

Is there an effective solution?

Most solutions to this would call for a large amount of money, but there is a starting point

to helping fix this tragedy without money being a concern. Humanitarian assistance must be

provided in Myanmar and Bangladesh to be certain that the Rohingya are safe from violence by

security forces. ASEAN is the Association of South East Asian Nations which is a political and

economic organization that works towards promoting economic growth and stability. The

international community of humanitarian organizations who are looking for solutions have been

looking to ASEAN for leadership. Within Myanmar, the government should execute its

commitment to uphold international human rights norms and cooperate with ASEAN and the

international community in ensuring that an independent and impartial investigation in Rakhine

takes place. It should also demonstrate its commitment to uphold the rule of law by containing

the spread of hate speech through social media and prosecuting those who continue to engage in

violent action against Muslim groups throughout Myanmar (Morada). This means that security

forces and government officials should be getting the same punishment a regular citizen would

acquire for their actions.

What Can You Do?

As seen from prior evidence, UNICEF and partners have been distributing tons of items

to the refugees that are vital for their health. Along with them, response teams have been

screening and treating malnourished children, and putting together groups of vaccinators in

preparation for what will be the second largest cholera immunization campaign since Haiti, in

2016 (Buechner). In order to keep these effects in progress, people should donate any amount

possible to help UNICEF deliver life changing aid. Researching and learning about what is

happening off shores in Myanmar is the first part of making a change to this situation. People of

all ages could sign up as online activists and volunteers, participate in marathon runs, and join

foundations for specific causes. If these options seem like a lot of effort or like they may require

a lot of time then this is a link to donate for the Rohingya children:

https://secure.unicefusa.org/donate/help-save-childrens-

lives/29161?ms=ref_dig_2015_web_header_donate. All children deserve to live protected and

healthy lives which is why it is vital that people donate today, to offer the worlds most

vulnerable children food, water, shelter, and medical supplies that they are suffering for.

Reflection

Terrible things are occurring in the world that cannot always be stopped right away.

However, I believe that it is the duty of all countries, organizations, and civilians to stand up for

one another. What is happening in Myanmar cannot be fixed right away by the help of some

humanitarian organizations. It is vital that Presidents come together even if the issue does not

involve them to better the state of the world. It is also important that journalists and media

continue to cover this genocide and prevent it from being hidden any longer. The minority

Rohingya refugees have been persecuted and mistreated for many years, and it is time to save

them from the longest run of their lives.

Works Cited

Boulierac, Christophe. UNICEF Emergency Supplies for Rohingya Refugee Children Arrive in

Bangladesh. UNICEF, 24 Sept. 2017, www.unicef.org/media/media_100936.html.

Buechner, Maryanne. UNICEF Ramps Up Relief for Myanmar Refugees. UNICEF USA,

UNICEF USA, 11 Sept. 2017, www.unicefusa.org/stories/unicef-ramps-relief-myanmar-

refugees/32834?utm_campaign=2017_misc&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=20171122

_cpc&utm_content=MYANMAR&ms=cpc_dig_2017_misc_20171122_cpc_MYANMA

R&initialms=cpc_dig_2017_misc_20171122_cpc_MYANMAR.

Charney, Michale W. The Rohingyas of Myanmar: an under-reported genocide? Political

Quarterly, 3 Jul. 2017,

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-

923X.12387/pdf;jsessionid=C2375317893FC1A69EC426F6342A84DD.f03t04

Dwyer, Colin. "'I Just Knew To Run To Save My Life': Nearly 125,000 Rohingya Flee

Myanmar." NPR, NPR, 5 Sept. 2017, http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-

way/2017/09/05/548678030/-i-just-knew-to-run-to-save-my-life-nearly-125-000-

rohingya-flee-myanmar

Fuchs, Michael H., et al. If Trump Forgets About Human Rights in Asia, the World Will

Suffer. Foreign Policy, 2 Nov. 2017, www.foreignpolicy.com/2017/11/02/if-trump-

forgets-about-human-rights-in-asia-the-world-will-suffer/.
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Hunt, Katie. Rohingya Crisis: 'It's Not Genocide,' Say Myanmar's Hardline Monks. CNN,

Cable News Network, 25 Nov. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/11/25/asia/myanmar-buddhist-

nationalism-mabatha/index.html.

Larmer, Brook. Without a Home, and Without Hope. National Geographic, National

Geographic, 22, Aug. 2017,

www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/08/rohingya-refugees-myanmar-

bangladesh/.

Phillips, Alexandra. The World's Blind Spot: Shedding Light on the Persecuted. Harvard

International Review, JSTOR, 2013, www.jstor.org/stable/42763572.