By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
COX’S BAZAAR, Bangladesh – The Rohingya ethnic minority, for unexplained reasons, has been enduring a significant crackdown in Bangladesh as of recent. The Rohingya ethnic minority comprises one of the most persecuted peoples on the planet.
Human rights violations against the ethnic group began attracting international attention in the late 70’s. In 1978, great friction between the Rohingya ethnic minority and the majority group in erupted into a Myanmar government military operation. As a result of the government’s persistent deprivation of the Rohingyas’ human rights, the ethnic minority abruptly began fleeing the country into Bangladesh. In the late 80’s, subsequent to the mass exodus out of Myanmar, newly established laws of citizenship officially rendered the Rohingya Muslims stateless. The laws stripped the Rohingya’s right to a nationality.
The latest waves of discrimination against the Rohingya Muslims expose them to much violence and prejudice. Both local residents and agents of the state have been driving the stateless Rohingyas out of their homes in the Cox’s Bazaar region of Bangladesh. Among the approximately 220,000 Rohingyas currently residing in Bangladesh, those living outside of makeshift refugee camps may be subject to beatings and arrest. Myanmar’s border security has also been reported to mistreat escapees headed to Bangladesh.
The current rise in actions depriving the rights of the Rohingya ethnic minority in Myanmar represents a reprise from many similar situations in the 90’s. The U.N. intervened when the Myanmar government staunchly enforced citizenship laws which denied Rohingya Muslims their nationality, the right to travel, the right to marry, and other civil and political rights.
Despite efforts by various human rights groups, in all of Bangladesh, only 28,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority are currently residing in makeshift refugee camps. These 28,000 are a part of a much larger body of about 220,000 unregistered Rohingya Muslims. The fraction makes fightfully clear just how unwanted the Rohingya minority is in Myanmar.
700,000 Rohingya ethnic minorities currently reside in Bangladesh. The Rohingya Muslims have significant linguistic, cultural, and religious discrepancies with the Buddhist majority of Myanmar. None of the 700,000 Rohingyas are recognized as individuals under Myanmar’s law, and are subject to Myanmar’s systematic oppression. While the repression of the Rohingyas continues to attract the criticism of the international community and human rights groups, their ultimate fate remains uncertain.
