The Rohingya have faced a continuous process of de-legitimization, systematic persecution, and worsening abuses culminating in genocide. Today is the seventh year of the Myanmar military's genocidal attacks against the Rohingya. The Rohingya diaspora in different countries observe today as "Rohingya Genocide Day''. In this day, Rohingya political groups urged global leaders to end the cycle of impunity and act against the genocides and no perpetrator should go unpunished.
The genocide has consisted of two phases to date: the first was a military crackdown that occurred from October 2016 to January 2017, and the second has been occurring since August 2017. Consequently, more than a million Rohingya have fled the country because of well-founded fears of persecution. It can be stated that from 2012 to 2016 and most dramatically in 2017, wholesale destruction, systematic rape, and mass killings were carried out against Rohingya as a part of the government policy to eradicate them from their ancestors' land. The Rohingya atrocity is now the subject of a genocide investigation by the International Court of Justice.
The ongoing political situation in Myanmar especially after the Military coup witnessed that without accountability and justice, the future generations of Rohingya will face again genocide. The foremost priority of the existing Rohingya people who have become exiles is to return home in safety, dignity, and justice. But the reality is they cannot return where genocide is still ongoing. There must be credible accountability to ensure victims see justice served and the cycle of violence is not repeated. It is very clear if Rohingya do not get full citizenship rights, it will never be safe for them to return to Myanmar. There has been no visible progress regarding the repatriation agreement signed between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar on 23 November 2017. Bangladesh called on the United Nations to effectively engage with Myanmar to facilitate the sustainable repatriation of the displaced Rohingya people to their homes in Rakhine State. Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh, has delivered his first major government policy to address and promised to support the Rohingya community seeking refuge in the country. Professor Yunus pledged that his government "will continue to support the Rohingya people sheltered in Bangladesh". He also mentioned that "we need the sustained efforts of the international community for Rohingya humanitarian operations and their eventual repatriation to their homeland, Myanmar, with safety, dignity and full rights."
Currently, in Bangladesh, more than a million forced-displaced Rohingya have no right to work and are completely reliant upon international aid for their survival. It is a very common scenario for displaced Rohingyas to have the right to work in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. In the above-mentioned ASEAN countries, Rohingya are treated as 'illegal migrants. The root cause of forced displacement of Rohingya is connected to the criteria of the 'refugee' according to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The international community has also failed to adequately support the Rohingya in their hour of need. Recently the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), has announced cuts to funding for the refugee camps in Bangladesh. Amidst rising global food costs, an increase in the number of geopolitical crises such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the Gaza war, and overstretched international humanitarian aid budgets, these cuts form part of a broader trend in declining support for protracted humanitarian crises in the global south. Some countries are backing a short-sighted plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh before their safe return to Myanmar can be ensured. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR has called for more durable solutions from the international community which include increasing the resettlement of Rohingya refugees in third countries. Few countries have stepped up to support resettlement or other durable solutions for Rohingya. It can be mentioned that Australia has contributed to this containment policy despite calls from Bangladeshi authorities and international advocacy groups to increase their resettlement of refugees and to increase support for resettlement in other countries. The total number of third-country resettlement for Rohingyas is very low compared to Ukrainian refugees.
After three years of military coup in Myanmar, the landscape of the country's conflict is changed enormously. The military faces a national uprising that spans the breadth of the country. It is for the first time in its history, that Myanmar's military has lost control over vast areas of territory and strategically significant bases. The Human Rights Watch and various media published that Myanmar Military and the opposition Arakan Army (AA) have committed extrajudicial killings and widespread arson against Rohingya, Rakhine, and other civilians in Myanmar's western Rakhine State since the end of 2023. The offensive has also dramatically overrun two strategically important townships on the border with Bangladesh - Buthidaung in late May, and almost completely, the town of Maungdaw later. The diaspora Rohingya community is concerned that the AA's success could inflame communal tensions between ethnic Buddhist Rakhine and Rohingya Muslims, who make up a majority in both townships. The AA stated that they are fighting for more autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine population in the state, which is also home to around 600,000 Rohingya who remained after the 2017 crackdown. It does not mean that AA recognizes the Rohingyas as indigenous people of the present Rakhine State. The medical charity organization, Doctors without Borders, popularly known as MSF also mentioned that more Rohingya are arriving in Bangladesh from Myanmar with war-inflicted injuries amid escalating conflict between the military and the AA in Rakhine State. It should be mentioned here that the military's unlawful recruitment of Rohingya men and boys has stoked communal tensions between the Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities. The clashes have since moved west to Maungdaw, where fighting has surged over the past weeks, with reports of killings and other abuses against the Rohingya population, including children, women, and older people. Rights groups urged that all parties to the conflict should stop hate speech, and unlawful attacks and allow aid agencies to conduct humanitarian support to those in need.
Since November 2019, different initiatives have been taken against the genocides in Myanmar including provisional measures by the International Court of Justice (Gambia vs Myanmar case). Despite these measures, community leaders and rights groups witnessed that the Myanmar military has continued to burn the Rohingya villages and burying bodies in mass graves in order to destroy the evidence of atrocities committed. No genocide can be prevented if a culture of impunity exists. In addition, the international community also cannot avoid its responsibility to protect the Rohingya people from further atrocities.
Dr. Mahbubul Haque currently working as a faculty member at the Faculty of Law and International Relations at the University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia, and one of the founder members of the Initiatives for Human Rights in Asia-IHRA (human rights-related civil society forum).
Rohingya's fate remains unchanged even after seven years
Mahbubul Haque | Published: August 24, 2024 22:07:02
Rohingya's fate remains unchanged even after seven years
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