Rohingya Women and their Silent Suffering
Universally, many women are vulnerable and are subjected to
violence and discrimination. The devastating facts reported by the United
Nations summarize that one in three women have received beatings and suffering
because of physical abuse. Meanwhile, one in five women are susceptible to
being victims of rape or attempted rape over the course of her lifetime.
However, these alarming statistics are nothing compared with
the human rights’ violations taking place in refugee camps. Women and girls who
live in a warzone are 10 times more likely to become victims of violence. This
is the nightmare reality that is happening to our Rohingya sisters in the
Rakhine state.
Merely as a result of being born into an ethno-religious
minority, Rohingya women are stripped of their rights to be protected as
citizens of their country. Being stateless discriminated against and
defenseless, they are subject to wide ranging gender-based violence.
Based on an overstated fear that Rohingya’s Muslim
population will outgrow most Buddhist communities in Myanmar, government
officials have nonchalantly abused their power to authorize policies to control
the lives of this minority group. One prime example of the many outrageous
policies is marriage restrictions. Exclusive to Rohingya, marriage is not a
private topic discussed solely by a man and a woman. Rather, it is a state
concern, requiring official permission that frequently takes years to be
granted.
Even once legitimate consent to get married is obtained,
Rohingya women are under strict control when it comes to bearing a child. In an
attempt to control birthrates, they are prohibited from having more than two
children. Failure to abide by this legislation will result in their
imprisonment for up to 10 years or paying a large fine that many cannot afford.
Frightened by the consequence that an unauthorized child will unfairly be
prosecuted, these miserable women are given no other choice than enduring
unsafe abortions that put their lives at risk. However, if the option of
abortion is financially unavailable to them, the only way to survive is to bear
the danger of carrying their pregnancy on boats for days, in order to seek
refuge in an unfamiliar country.
Meanwhile, single Rohingya women are also prone to being
sexually harassed and tormented. On October 19, a resident of U Shey Kya
village witnessed 150 soldiers deployed to undertake a “clearance operation”
whose mission was to hold captives all men accused of being rebels. They also
ransacked houses and took all valuable belongings while shouting at the
frightened civilians to leave the country. The act of this unimaginable
vandalism did not stop there. Even worse, eight Rohingya women who survived the
operation later told the story of soldiers raping and assaulting dozens of
women at gunpoint.
Rohingya ethnics are persistently mandated to leave the
Rakhine state by the government. Their existence has been marginalized for
decades and although they seek protection from military-led ethnic cleansing,
they believe it is no longer safe for them to remain anywhere in Myanmar.
Thus, thousands of Rohingya men have become refugees in
Malaysia. They work in blue-collar jobs hoping to earn just enough to bring
their families out of Myanmar and reach safety. Following their husbands or
brothers who have fled their motherland, Rohingya women and girls are desperate
to escape and be reunited with their loved ones.
However, heartless smugglers take advantage of these
pathetic women by offering them a ticket to freedom in exchange for significant
payment. However, many do not know that they are being conned by these
smugglers until it is too late. Many of the victims are only teenagers.
It turns out that the demanded ransom is too high a price,
and only a few can pay. Many who cannot, later find themselves having no choice
but to settle for a coerced marriage. Any man in the destination country
agreeing to pay the ransom has the right to marry a Rohingya woman of his
choice. Therefore, they agree to marry a stranger because they know exactly
what horrifying consequences await them if they refuse. They fear being sold
into sexual slavery where they will not only be trapped in an abusive
relationship but will also endure the sin that is not condoned in their
culture.
The struggles withstood by Rohingya women and girls during
the conflict prove that they are second to none as the victims of such an
atrocity, especially because the petitions to outcast them from their homeland
are state-led. Moreover, although having experienced the same fate as these
women, Myanmar’s new elected State Counsellor and Nobel Peace Prize Winner,
Aung San Suu Kyi, turns a blind eye to the suffering of these women.
They are denied protection from the government.
Consequently, these women have been denied the right to even control their
bodies, much less their own will. Helping these women requires more than just
verbal condemnation. Following decades of silence, we are responsible for
lending our voice to them. It is time Rohingya women are protected and given
the fundamental human rights they deserve.