Introduction

The contrasting histories claimed by the Buddhist majority and the Rohingya Muslims minority in Myanmar formerly Burma is the core of the Rohingya Crisis.[1] The questions of the origin of the Rohingya ethnic group led to an amalgamation of collision between politics and religion as currently witnessed in the Arakan or Rakhine state in Myanmar. The conflict has been viewed as a religious conflict pitting the Buddhist nationalists and the minority Rohingya Muslims who are an ethnic minority in a country of 135 ethnic groups.[2] The dispute currently witnessed is said to be a religious conflict; however, the conflict majorly came to existence during World War II. Politics began to play in the crisis in 1982 when the Buddhist extremists in Myanmar Government changed the Law to strip the Rohingya Muslims of their citizenship rights.[3] Contrary to historical narrative held by the dominant Buddhist ethnic groups on the origin of the Rohingya ethnic group, there exists substantial evidence that shows the Rohingya were present in the Arakan or Rakhineas early as 1600. The conflict began when the British colonists brought the Rohingya to work in their farms in parts of the modern day Myanmar.

The Rohingya; are a Muslim minority group majorly living in the Rakhine State in Myanmar and are considered as the most oppressed, persecuted,and vulnerable minorities in the world.[4] Their persecution has increased recently due to Buddhist nationalism in the country. Majority of the Rohingya ethnic community living in the Rakhine state. The ethnic minority has been a center of a humanitarian catastrophe which has emanated from government crackdown which is viewed as ethnic cleansing. The United Nations has termed the religious and ethnic minority group in Myanmar as the most persecuted ethnic minority in the world. The atrocities meted to the Rohingya by the Myanmar authorities can only be termed as ethnic cleansing.[5] Their origin can be traced to groups which lived in the region and the Arab traders. The Rohingya have their own culture and language. The country of Myanmar is predominantly a Buddhist country; therefore, they do not recognize the Rohingyas as their citizens, but they consider them as illegal immigrants.[6]The Rohingya are victims of vast forms of persecutions and oppression ranging from, extrajudicial killing, forced evictions, arbitrary taxation, and destruction of mosques, restriction of movement, ill-treatment, forced labor, torture, financial and marriage restrictions.  Majority of the Rohingya who were in Rakhine have been forced to flee from their villages to the neighboring countries such as Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, more than a million of the Rohingya community are in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.[7]

History of the conflict

Myanmar, originally Burma, is a country found in the Southeast of Asia and it is the least developed in the region. In 1989, the military junta of the state changed the name from the constitutionally proclaimed Burma to Myanmar.[8] In Myanmar, Rohingya is the largest Muslim group among the eight main groups found in the country. The predominantly Buddhist Burmese refer to the Rohingya by the deprecatory ‘Kalar’ meaning black-skinned.[9] In the state of Rakhine, two main groups of Muslims exist; the Rohingya and the Kaman. The Kaman are referred to as Myanmar Muslims, and they speak Burmese and their customs are similar to the Buddhist population. The Government of Myanmar recognizes and grant the Kaman Muslim group citizenship. The Rohingya, however, speak Ruaingga, a language similar to the Chittagonian dialect of Bangladesh.

Colonization led to the divisions between the minority ethnic groups and the Burmans. The Burmans fought side by side with the Japanese during World War II while the Rohingya, the Kachin and the Karen (Christian) were with the British. Due to the coup in 1962, the Burmese Social Party under General Ne Win came to power; the Rohingya were deprived of political, civil, social and political rights.[10]

The repression and discrimination of the Rohingya Muslims are due to the negligence of Government of Myanmar. The oppression of this minority ethnic comes in terms of; replacing Muslims ousted from their jobs with Buddhists, closing Islamic institutions, organizations and schools, confiscating properties belonging to the Muslims and distributing them to the Buddhists, exiling or imprisoning Muslim leaders and inciting Buddhists to kill Muslims in order to prove that the Muslims are terrorists. The persecution of the Rohingya Muslims began in 1984 due to Islamophobia and fearing the spread of Islam in the Myanmar and surrounding regions.[11]

Under General Ne Win 1966-1988, the Rohingya faced unfathomable oppression including a census that was intended supposedly to weed out illegal immigrants. This brutal crackdown by the Government of Myanmar destroyed historical Islamic monuments and mosques. The Rohingyas faced various atrocities such us rape, brutality, torture, starvation and many were killed.[12] This led to moreRohingyas from Rakhine state fleeing to Bangladesh.

Many crackdowns since the 1970s on the Rohingya in the northern Arakan-Rakhinehas led to an exodus of more than one million Rohingya to neighboring Malaysia, Bangladesh, Thailand, and many other Asian countries. The Citizenship Law of 1982 led to the exclusion of the Rohingya which means they are not recognized as citizens of Myanmar. For instance, in the 1983 census conducted in the whole nation, the Rohingya were shut out. They have also suffered from a violation of their fundamental human and social rights.[13]

In the recent past, the conflict and oppression of Rohingya Muslims have captured the world headlines due to the xenophobic campaign led by anti-Muslims groups of Buddhists monks. The main group of monks leading this ardent anti-Muslim rhetoric is the Ba Ma Tha.[14] With a singular goal of eliminating the influence of Muslims in Myanmar. They believe that the Rohingya Muslim group are a threat to the Buddhist identity of the nation.

Current status of the conflict

The escalation of the conflict in the recent past came from the role of the Government of Myanmar in the conflict. On 25^th August 2017, many police posts in Rakhine were attacked allegedly according to the Burmese military by the ArakanRohingya Salvation Army, a Rohingya militant group and twelve police officers died. Following this attack, the military got involved in an operation intended to clear the militants from the country.[15] This operation encompassed burning of business and entire Rohingya villages as well as the shooting of civilians. The current status of the conflict generally weighs in the humanitarian perspective of the conflict with some key players in the conflict being scrutinized for International Human Laws violation, for example, there is a backlash from humanitarian agencies regarding India’s decision to forcefully repatriating some of the Rohingya refugees who fled into their country. The principle of non-refoulement breach by India goes against the International Human Laws. The principle of non-refoulement is essential for protecting individuals under international human rights, humanitarian, refugee, and customary laws. Even as the persecution and oppression of the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state continues, the Myanmar government has resorted to military repression without looking into the human right deteriorates. The Yanghee Lee, the United Nations human right Expert, observes after an 11-day mission to Bangladesh and Thailand where the camps where the Rohingya refugees are based that the human right condition has deteriorated with most fields lacking various important amenities.[16]The UN report recommends genocide charges against the military leaders in Myanmar. The gross human right violation that has led to an exodus of more than one million people amounts to a grave breach of international humanitarian laws by the government of Myanmar. The scope of the atrocities meted to the Rohingya in Rakhine can be compared to that the case of Rwanda as was found by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The neglect and forcefully eviction of the Rohingya from the Rakhine should be rebuked and the international community should get involved to bring sanity and protect the Rohingya Muslims from being annexed.

My perspective

In my view, the Rohingya crisis is deeply rooted in religious intolerance, ethnic politics, and xenophobia which is historically and strategically advanced by the antagonists. The Myanmar army is majorly to blame for the human violation and forced eviction of the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine. The silence of the de-facto leader of Myanmar, a Nobel Peace prize winner, speaks loud about her willingness to restore stability to the State. She plays on the fantasy and propaganda from the military that the Rohingya are illegal Bengali immigrants and perpetuate Islamic terrorism in Myanmar.[17] Aung San Suu Kyi in my view has abetted the action of the military in various ways.

With the various breaches of International Humanitarian Laws by the Myanmar military and government, the global response is, therefore, require to bring to book the perpetrator of these heinous human right violations. Human right groups and countries that corporate with Myanmar should review their relationship to avert further human right abuse by the government of Myanmar. However, noting that Myanmar is not a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the global response should include sanctions both trade and diplomacy with the Myanmar government. The current move by various countries like British is a right move. The proposed prosecution of military commanders by the United Nations humanitarian watch in the International Criminal Courtshould be approved by the United Nation Security Council.[18]

Who are the players in the conflict?

At the core of this crisis are the Rohingya, ArakanRohingyaSalvationArmy, Aung San Suu Kyi, the military, Bangladesh and the United Nations. The Rohingya are the victim in this conflict, and for several decades there has been systematic discrimination against then in Myanmar. The group is characterized as ‘stateless’ by the United nation.

TheArakanRohingya Salvation Army is a militia group formed in 2012. It was formed by Ataullah Abu AmmaJunani to respond to the persecution by the State and military in the Rakhine state. Their latest major attack on 25^th August 2017 led to the launch of an offensive by the Myanmar military in the Rakhine state supposedly to flush out the militants. The group does not use massive artillery and resort to using of sticks and few stolen arms.

Buddhist nationalists; a majority of the Myanmar citizens are Buddhist. Human right agencies and the Rohingya refugees say that the Rakhine Buddhist formed a vigilante group and together with the army mounted attacks on their villages apparently to ‘clean’ the city of ‘Bengali terrorists.’ Many ardent anti-Islam Buddhist groups mounted campaigns to spread Islamophobia and advocate of taking over Rakhine state by the army to prevent the spread of Muslims in the country deemed as of Buddhist identity.[19]

The de facto leader of Myanmar Aung San Kyi who championed for democracy in Myanmar has had image marred by the happenings in the country. The international condemnation from fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners and other leaders due to her failure to speak on behalf of the Rohingya Muslims, a minority ethnic community in her country which has complained for decades of persecution. She has continued denial of ethnic cleansing in the country by the military. Majority of Burmese largest ethnic group gives her overwhelming support; therefore, despite the limited powers, she should be able to speak out on the human right abuses meted against the Rohingya Muslims.

The Myanmar military is on the spot for carrying out an operation on Rohingya villages, burning their homes down and their properties. [20]The shooting of people including children and women has gained condemnation from the human right groups and the globe. The targeted operation to supposedly weed out the ARSA militant group aimed towards chasing the Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine have put the military at the center of this conflict. The United Nations human right watch has recommended genocide charges against military commanders of the Myanmar army.

Bangladesh is at the center of this conflict, most Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar end up in Bangladesh. Dhaka has suggested the creation of a safe zone to curb the humanitarian situation next door.[21]The suggestion is that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Myanmar government should relocate the Rohingya community displaced due to the violence. The relocation, however, should be supervised by an international organization body like the United Nations.

The humanitarian situation due to the conflict makes the United Nations in need of funds to help in bringing aid to the people. The United Nations requires the cooperation of the Myanmar government to access the humanitarian situation. The recent denial of entry of Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur to Rakhine state depicts something is wrong in Myanmar.

Other players in this conflict include various countries which have an economic interest in Myanmar and have kept quiet despite the outcry and humanitarian situation facing the Rohingya in refugee camps and the ones being persecuted by the military.  Countries like Russia and China have refused to put of sanctions to the Myanmar government claiming they are restoring stability in the country.[22]Due to the lack of an established frame of Refugee right laws. Many governments in Southeast Asia countries like Myanmar, Malaysia, and Thailand have not ratified the United Nations refugee protocol. The rest of the world have also responded in different ways regarding the crisis. The United States of America imposed sanctions against a military general in Myanmar for his role in the attacks in Rakhine. Countries like Canada, South Korea, Norway, and the United State together with international donors have increased their humanitarian aids to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Conclusion and recommendations

In conclusion, the Rohingya conflict crisis is a complicated situation. The resentment has run deep in the generations. To move forward as solve the conflict it is my opinion to overhaul the perverse prejudice culture that has been there for decades. Religious intolerance and xenophobic ideologies should be curbed to bring a sense of lasting peace in the Rakhine state.  The commitment of the government of Myanmar to repatriate and revise the 1982 Citizenship law to allow registration of the Rohingya ethnic community as their citizens. [23]The government should also commit to the issuance of identification cards which are the same as those given to the rest of the citizens.

In my opinion, I believe that the crisis can be solved by the involvement of an international body like the United Nations. Their expertise will be vital especially in the humanitarian perspective. The atrocities meted to the Rohingya are grave, and healing would be difficult, Myanmar should, therefore, put into place reconciliation efforts aimed at bringing to light the truth and the source of conflict and enabling the environment to move forward. The global community needs to support the efforts by the Myanmar and Bangladesh to repatriate the refugees willing to return to their lands lawfully with the assurance of their fundamental rights and security. Freedom to all citizens of Myanmar should be guaranteed, and the security personnel should be trained on human rights and humanitarian laws to be able to treat all people humanely.[24]

Myanmar and other Asian countries that have not ratified the refugee’s treaties should be lobbied to be able to endorse to enable protection of refugee rights during the conflicts. Peace is vital for the political, social and economic stability of Myanmar. The country is rich in resources; therefore, peaceful coexistence can lead to its exponential economic growth just like other Asian countries. It is crucial to solving the Rohingya crisis to enable Myanmar to relate to the global community in harmony and grow economically and politically. The efforts to bring to justice those involved in the persecution should be supported to bring closure to the affected Rohingya community.

References

Ahmed, A. (2012). The Rohingya: Myanmar’s Outcasts. Al Jazeera English, January 12, 2012.

Alam, M. A. (2013). Historical Background of Arakan. Kaladen Press.

Aung, M. H. (1967).  A History of Burma. New York: Columbia University Press.

Dittmer, L. (2010). Burma vs. Myanmar. What’s in the Name? In L. Dittmer (Ed.). Burma or Myanmar? The Struggle for National Identity. pp. 1–20, River Edge: World Scientific Publishing Co.

Driss, B. (2016). Rohingya Minority in Myanmar between the Religious Persecution and the Reality of Constitutional Protection. Brawijaya Law Journal, 3(2), 221–240.

EBO (2009). The Rohingyas. Bengali Muslims or ArakanRohingyas? EBO Briefing Paper No. 2, 1–5.

FAO (2018). Briefing Note.FAO’s Response to the Rohingya Refugee Crisis in Bangladesh.

Government of Myanmar, GoM (2008). Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Myanmar: Printing and Publishing Enterprise, Ministry of Information.

Green, P. (2015). Countdown to Annihilation: Genocide in Myanmar. International State Crime Initiative.

Jacques, P. L. (2005). Arakan Studies: Challenges and Contested Issues, Mapping a Field of Historical and Cultural Research. In Forgotten Kingdom of Arakan from Dhanyawadi to 1962.

Karen Human Rights Group (2002). The Persecution of Muslims in Burma. Karen: Karen Human Rights Group Press.

Jilani, A. F. K. (1999). The Rohingyas of Arakan: Their Quest for Justice. Ahmed Jilani. Privately Published.

Leitich, K. A. (2014). Decoding the Past: The Rohingya Origin Enigma. Paper Presented at the Third Annual Southeast Asian Studies Symposium Keble College. University of Oxford, 22–23 April, 2014.

Nawoyski, K. (2013). Genocide Emergency: Violence against the Rohingya and Other Muslims in Myanmar. Genocide Watch. http://genocidewatch.net/wpcontent/uploads/2013/04/Myanmar-2013-04-04Genocide-Emergency-Rakhine-State.pdf

OHCHR (2017). Mission Report of OHCHR Rapid Response Mission to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. United Nations Human Rights. Office of the High Commissioner.

Wolf, S. O. (2017). Genocide, Exodus and Exploitation for Jihad: The Urgent Need to Address the Rohingya Crisis. South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF) Working Paper No. 6.

McDowell, R. (2013). Rohingya Kids in Myanmar: Hard Labor, Bleak Lives. Associated

Aljazeera.com. (2019). Prosecute Myanmar army chief for Rohingya ‘genocide’: UN envoy.

[1]           Alam (2010)

[2]           Ahmed (2012)

[3]           Aung(1967)

[4]           Dittmer(2010)

[5]           Driss(2010, pp. 221-240)

[6]           EBO(2009, pp. 1-5)

[7]           FAO(2018)

[8]           Aung(1967)

[9]           Green(2015)

[10]          Jacques(2005)

[11]          Leitich (2014)

[12]          Karen Human Rights Group (2002)

[13]          Jilani(1999)

[14]          The Seattle Times(2013)

[15]          Wolf (2017)

[16]          Aljazeera(2019)

[17]          Nawoyski(2013)

[18]          OHCHR(2017)

[19]          McDowell(2013)

[20]          Green(2015)

[21]          OHCHR (2017)

[22]          Government of Myanmar (2008)

[23]             Government of Myanmar (2008)

[24]          Jacques (2005)

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