Rohingya women: The face of unspeakable horror
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Screenshot from a
documentary film on
Rohingya women by Shafiur Rahman
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More than a dozen young women, some as young as 14, took
off their niqab declaring their dignity had been taken by the Myanmar Army
while sharing their stories of murder and rape with Bangladesh-origin documentary
film maker Shafiur Rahman.
They also described to the UK-based film maker how they
had been shamed and abused in front of their families and communities during
the army’s four-month-long “clearance operations” in Rohingya-dominated Rakhine
State.
Many of the women had their family members, including
babies and young children, butchered in front of them.
They argued that they saw no reason now to hide their
faces when it came to telling the world what happened to their homes and loved
ones in Myanmar.
Shafiur recorded the testimonies in December and January
from registered and unregistered refugee settlements in Ukhiya and Teknaf of
Cox’s Bazar, where over 70,000 Rohingya Muslims have taken shelter since
October.
In a 9:53-minute video, the women disclose to the world
the horrendous stories which Shafiur later uploaded in an online platform.
In early January 2017, the Aung San Suu Kyi-led
government surprisingly took action against soldiers who had been depicted on
video beating up members of a Rohingya family. An investigation was announced
regarding the specific case.
No investigations had previously been announced to hold
individual soldiers or officers to account despite scores of far more serious
allegations of widespread murder, burnings and rape of the Rohingyas in Rakhine
State.
Tellingly, the government-appointed Rakhine State
investigation commission has been labelled a “whitewash” by human rights
organisations.
“In this context, the testimonies of these Rohingya women
who have come to Bangladesh point to continued sex crimes and killings in
Rakhine State perpetrated by the Myanmar security forces,” Shafiur describes.
In early February, a UN report detailed “devastating
cruelty against Rohingya children, women and men.” Based on over 200 interviews,
the report was introduced thus in an OHCHR news bulletin: “Mass gang-rape,
killings – including of babies and young children, brutal beatings,
disappearances and other serious human rights violations by Myanmar’s security
forces in a sealed-off area north of Maungdaw in northern Rakhine State have
been detailed in a new UN report issued Friday based on interviews with victims
across the border in Bangladesh.”
The persecution of the Rohingyas in Myanmar is not a new
development. As has been argued by many, most recently by Azeem Ibrahim in his
book “The Rohingyas – Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide” (2016), the reality the
Rohingyas are facing is the threat of a genocide.
As recent arrivals, these women and their families would
not be registered by the Bangladesh government, Shafiur says.
“They face an uncertain future like other unregistered
Rohingyas. Begging, depending on aid and potentially becoming victims of
trafficking. They will receive no psychological support for the traumas they
experienced,” he adds.
Already a virulent anti-Rohingya sentiment has taken hold
in some parts in southern Bangladesh. Rohingyas, it is claimed, are involved in
all forms of crime including theft, drugs and terrorism.
Other allegations say Rohingyas apparently cause environmental
destruction, and they run off with Bangladeshi women. The list of allegations
is long.
“Indeed I spoke to individuals who said the Rohingyas
must have brought Burmese wrath upon themselves by engaging in disreputable
behaviour,” the film maker says.
Driving in the environs of Ukhiya, “one can’t help but
notice the presence of women, infants, children and elderly men sitting by the
roadside throughout the day and even late at night. The children sit obediently
by their guardians and sometimes appear dazed or lethargic.
“They stretch out their hands as cars and other vehicles
drive past them. These are the recent arrivals to Bangladesh – driven out by
the murderous mayhem initiated in Myanmar last year.”
Their high visibility has sadly not engendered empathy
and solidarity with the Rohingya people amongst the locals. “Instead, it has
resulted in many Bangladeshis welcoming astonishing reports that the government
of Bangladesh is considering moving the Rohingyas to a remote island called
Hatia in Noakhali.”