Who are Myanmar's
Rohingya people?
Often dubbed as one
the world's most persecuted ethnic groups, the Rohingya are Muslims of Myanmar.
Roughly about 8 lakh Rohingya live in Myanmar. Ethnically, they are much closer
to the Indo-Aryan people of India and Bangladesh than the Sino-Tibetans that
constitute the majority of Myanmar's population. They live in Rakhine state in
the country's western coast. There is a controversy over their history in
Myanmar. The Rohingya claim to have lived in the country for centuries, but the
ruling military junta considers them recent immigrants. Ethnic groups also
consider them outsiders
How did the 1982
citizenship law affect them?
According to the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the 1982 citizenship law
deprived the Rohingyas of Myanmar's citizenship . The law violates several
fundamental principals of customary international law. The Myanmarese
government has also issued identity cards which have to be carried at all time
and are required for virtually everything from buying tickets to travel,
registering children in school, staying overnight outside one's own council,
applying for any professional post, buying or exchanging land and so on. This
has resulted in deprivation of fundamental rights and persecution on the basis
of ethnicity.
How bad is the
situation?
They are subjected to
forced labour and required to work for the government for no pay. The UNHCR
also notes that since 1991, their freedom of movement is restricted and they
are not allowed to find work in cities. Since most of them are unskilled
labourers, even a few days of work without pay has a huge impact on their
livelihood. They are also subjected to arbitrary taxation and forced
relocation. Between December 1991 and March 1992, over 2 lakh Rohingya Muslims
fled to Bangladesh . A similar exodus happened in 1978. These refugees live in
miserable conditions and are often forcefully repatriated. Stories of Rohingya
Muslims fleeing to Thailand, Malaysia, etc, keep appearing in newspapers.
What is the current
situation?
Since 2012, Myanmar's
Rakhine state is the site of ongoing riots between the Rakhine Buddhists and
the Rohingya Muslims. The series of riots is believed to have been triggered by
the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman and it has claimed several lives.
Thousands of homes have been torched and Amnesty International estimates there
might be between 50,000 and 90,000 displaced people. It's very difficult to
know the exact status in the extremely secretive state.
Source by Times of
India: