By Ali Hassan
The Rohingya are a stateless ethnic group, the majority of whom are Muslim, who have lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar, mostly in the country’s north, in Rakhine state. However, Myanmar authorities contested that they claim the Rohingya are Bengali immigrants who came to Myanmar in the 20th century. Moreover, as per description by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya are denied citizenship under Myanmar law. So with no recognition, this Muslim minority group, due to decades of violence and persecution, generations has lived in fear and wrath. When they were left with very few options of survival, losing all the hopes, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have chosen to flee to neighboring countries, including Bangladesh and Malaysia, either by land or by boat. Despite generations of residence in Myanmar, under the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law, the Rohingya were effectively excluded from full citizenship, leaving them stateless. As a result, they have been denied freedom of movement, access to healthcare, education and livelihoods as they were declared as foreigners within their own state. Rohingya in Myanmar for decades have been, and continue to be, persecuted.
Moreover, extreme violence and persecution in Myanmar's Rakhine State have caused more than 900,000 Rohingya people, an ethnic and religious minority, to flee their homes in search of safety leaving nearly all their possessions behind. Prior to the military crackdown in August 2017, roughly 1.1 million Rohingya people lived in Myanmar. Around 600,000 are remaining in Rakhine state today, including 140,000 Rohingya detained in displacement camps. Over 2 million Rohingya refugees live as displaced people from which mostly across Asia and the Middle East. Since Aug. 25, 2017, the Rohingya population in Myanmar has been subjected to extreme violence as there have been reports of helicopters firing on civilians, extrajudicial executions of women and children, and the burning of entire villages. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called the situation a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing," and the crisis has caused a mass exodus of the Rohingya people across the border into Bangladesh.
Since fleeing deadly violence in Myanmar in August 2017, one million Rohingya refugees remain completely aid dependent in neighbouring Bangladesh. They are spread across 31 settlements collectively referred to as the largest refugee camp in the world. Some 450,000 of the refugee population are children, youth and adolescents who are at grave risk of becoming a ‘lost generation’. As international attention dissipates and funding plummets, opportunities for education and employment are woefully inadequate.
In the five years since the influx of arrivals in Bangladesh, conditions in the camp have become steadily worse. ‘Temporary’ shelters have been built on slopes in an area prone to annual flooding. They’ve been built very close together, meaning tasks like cooking are risky as outbreaks of fires and sometimes resulting in deaths are common. Further, water and sanitation services are absolutely dire. There is insufficient water supply to meet people’s needs. Toilets are often overflowing. They are also often located far away from some residences and don’t all have lockable doors, posing a security risk for women and girls. There is a shortage of containers for disposal of household waste, resulting in rats and mosquitoes proliferating.
Since February of 2021, escalating political and social instability in Myanmar has also created roadblocks to a peaceful resolution any time soon. In June 2022, UN Special Envoy to the General Assembly estimated that 14.4 million people in Myanmar 25% of the population required humanitarian assistance in the face of a rapidly-deteriorating situation. It was also highlighted that the future of the Rohingya is bound up with the future of peace in Myanmar. Moreover, sustainable solutions for the Rohingya people must be built into the design of a peaceful, inclusive and democratic Myanmar.
The Rohingya crisis has reached a dangerous tipping point, with refugees potentially never returning home to Myanmar if international leaders fail to chart a way forward and make it executed by using all their powers and means of execution. Otherwise, on the ground, the Rohingya refugee community in Bangladesh is almost at the point of no return and they must be helped out of displacement now before getting too late.
A recent assessment carried out by NRC on 317 refugee youths found that 95 per cent were unemployed, and as result suffering from high levels of anxiety and stress. The Rohingya humanitarian response plan is chronically underfunded. Only 25 per cent of the funding needed has been received, eight months into the year. This amounts to just 35 cents per refugee per day. There are growing fears that pledged funding may be diverted to other, more high-profile crises elsewhere. While aid is crucial for alleviating suffering, it will not resolve the crisis.
Moreover, the international leadership vacuum to the Rohingya crisis, outside of Bangladesh rather than unlocking the political deadlock to finding lasting solutions for these people, leaders are competing in a race to the bottom pushing back, forcibly repatriating people seeking safety and limiting resettlement and other migration options. China and ASEAN member states should organize a UN-ASEAN-China leadership summit to chart a course forward to resolve the crisis. Refugees in Bangladesh are on the precipice of a frightening abyss. Moreover, this injustice cannot be accepted as normal as the other world is thinking. The future generations will definitely take it into serious account and judge the failure of actions against this injustice taken in the past.