Author: Eleanor Albert (CFR Backgrounders)
January 12, 2017
Introduction
Tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya have fled Myanmar,
many crossing by land into Bangladesh, while others take to the sea to reach
Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The latest surge in refugees was prompted by
a long-building crisis: the discriminatory policies of the Myanmar government
in Rakhine state, which have caused hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee
since the late 1970s. Their plight has been compounded by the responses of many
of Myanmar’s neighbors, which have been slow to take in refugees for fear of a
migrant influx they feel incapable of handling.
Who are the Rohingya?
The Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim minority group living
primarily in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state; they practice a Sufi-inflected
variation of Sunni Islam. The estimated one million Rohingya in Myanmar account
for nearly a third of Rakhine’s population. The Rohingya differ from Myanmar’s
dominant Buddhist groups ethnically, linguistically, and religiously.
The Rohingya trace their origins in the region to the
fifteenth century when thousands of Muslims came to the former Arakan Kingdom.
Many others arrived during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when
Bengal and the Rakhine territory were governed by colonial rule as part of
British India. Since independence in 1948, successive governments in Burma,
renamed Myanmar in 1989, have refuted the Rohingya’s historical claims and
denied the group recognition as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups. The
Rohingya are largely identified as illegal Bengali immigrants, despite the fact
that many Rohingya have resided in Myanmar for centuries.
Both the Myanmar government and the Rakhine state’s
dominant ethnic Buddhist group, known as the Rakhine, reject the use of the
label “Rohingya,” a self-identifying term (PDF) that surfaced in the 1950s and
that experts say provides the group with a collective, political identity.
Though the etymological root of the word is disputed, the most widely accepted
origin is that “Rohang” is a derivation of the word “Arakan” in the Rohingya
dialect and the “ga” or “gya” means “from.” By identifying as Rohingya, the
ethnic Muslim group asserts its ties to land that were once under the control
of the Arakan Kingdom, according to Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project,
a Thailand-based advocacy group.
What is the legal status of the Rohingya?
The Myanmar government refuses to grant the Rohingya
citizenship status, and as a result the vast majority of the group’s members
have no legal documentation, effectively making them stateless. Though
Myanmar’s 1948 citizenship law was already exclusionary, the military junta
introduced a citizenship law in 1982 whose strict provisions stripped the
Rohingya of access to full citizenship. Until recently, the Rohingya have been
able to register as temporary residents with identification cards, known as
“white cards,” which Myanmar’s regime began issuing to many Muslims (both
Rohingya and non-Rohingya) in the 1990s. The white cards conferred (PDF) some
limited rights but were not recognized as proof of citizenship. Although the
temporary cards held no legal value, Lewa says that the identity cards did
represent some minimal recognition of temporary stay for the Rohingya in
Myanmar.
In 2014 the government held a UN-backed national
census—its first in thirty years. The Muslim minority group was initially
permitted to self-identify as “Rohingya,” but after Buddhist nationalists
threatened to boycott the census, the government decided the Rohingya could
only register if they identified as Bengali.
Similarly, under pressure from Buddhist nationalists
protesting the Rohingya’s right to vote in a 2015 constitutional referendum,
then-President Thein Sein cancelled the temporary identity cards in February
2015, effectively revoking their newly gained right to vote—white card holders
had been allowed to vote in Myanmar’s 2008 constitutional referendum and 2010
general elections. In the 2015 elections, which were widely touted as being
free and fair by international monitors, no parliamentary candidate was of the
Muslim faith. “Country-wide anti-Muslim sentiment (PDF) makes it politically
difficult for the [central] government to take steps seen as supportive of
Muslim rights,” writes the International Crisis Group.
Despite the documentation by rights groups and researchers
of systematic disenfranchisement, violence, and instances of anti-Muslim
campaigns (PDF), Muslim minorities continue to “consolidate under one Rohingya
identity” says Lewa.
Widespread poverty, weak infrastructure, and
a lack of employment opportunities exacerbate the cleavage between Buddhists
and Muslim Rohingya.
Why are the Rohingya fleeing Myanmar?
Government policies, including restrictions (PDF) on
marriage, family planning, employment, education, religious choice, and freedom
of movement have institutionalized systemic discrimination against the ethnic
group.
Rakhine state is also Myanmar’s least developed state,
with more than 78 percent of households living below the poverty threshold,
according to World Bank estimates. Widespread poverty, weak infrastructure, and
a lack of employment opportunities exacerbate the cleavage between Buddhists
and Muslim Rohingya. This tension is deepened by religious differences that
have at times erupted into conflict.
 |
| A woman walks among debris after fire destroyed shelters at a camp for internally displaced Rohingya Muslims in the western Rakhine State near Sittwe, Myanmar May 3, 2016. (Photo: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters) |
Violence broke out in 2012, when a group of Rohingya men
were accused of raping and killing a Buddhist woman. Groups of Buddhist
nationalists burned Rohingya homes and killed more than 280 people, displacing
tens of thousands of people. Human Rights Watch described the anti-Rohingya
violence as amounting to crimes against humanity (PDF) carried out as part of a
“campaign of ethnic cleansing.” Since 2012, the region’s displaced population
has been forced to take shelter in squalid refugee camps. More than 120,000
Muslims, predominantly Rohingya, are still housed in more than forty internment
camps, according to regional rights organization Fortify Rights.
Many Rohingya have turned to smugglers, choosing to pay
for transport out of Myanmar to escape persecution. “The fact that thousands of
Rohingya prefer a dangerous boat journey they may not survive to staying in
Myanmar speaks volumes about the conditions they face there,” says Amnesty
International’s Kate Schuetze. Fleeing repression and extreme poverty, more
than eighty-eight thousand migrants took to sea from the Bay of Bengal between
January 2014 and May 2015, according to the International Organization for
Migration (IOM).
A series of attacks on security posts along the
Myanmar-Bangladesh border in October 2016 revived ethnic violence in Rakhine
state. Local government and authorities blamed Rohingya militants for the
attacks, prompting an inflow of military and police forces to support a manhunt
for those responsible and to tighten security. Dozens of people were killed in
raids, tens of thousands displaced internally, and at least sixty-five thousand
crossed into Bangladesh between October 2016 and early January 2017. “There’s
historical precedent for the authorities using lethal force against Rohingya in
the area and we’re concerned a crackdown is unfolding,” says Matthew Smith,
chief executive of Fortify Rights.
Human Rights Watch released satellite imagery showing the
fresh destruction of hundreds of Rohingya homes in October and November 2016,
the most deadly spate of violence since 2012. Reports in November indicated
that the security lockdown was also preventing the entry of much-needed food
and medical care from international agencies into villages. Later that month,
John McKissick, head of the UN refugee agency, said the Myanmar government was
carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya people. Malaysia’s foreign
minister described the Myanmar government’s actions as ethnic cleansing and
called on stopping the practice. Separately, protestors gathered in cities in
India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Bangladesh to condemn the killing and
persecution of Rohingya. Meanwhile, the Myanmar government has focused its
messaging on its efforts to “maintain peace and stability” in the country and
its own investigations have refuted allegations of genocide and religious
persecution.
“An international response that consists primarily of
assigning blame for this humanitarian tragedy is no longer tenable. It is time
for the international community to organize a realistic, workable solution.”—
Priscilla Clapp, senior advisor at the United States Institute of Peace and
former U.S. mission chief in Myanmar.
Where are they migrating?
Bangladesh: Many Rohingya have sought refuge in nearby
Bangladesh, which hosts more than thirty-three thousand registered refugees;
between two hundred thousand and five hundred thousand additional unregistered
Rohingya refugees are believed to live in the country, according to UN High
Commissioner for Refugees estimates. However, conditions in most of the
country’s refugee camps are dire (PDF), driving many to risk a perilous voyage
across the Bay of Bengal. In January 2017, Myanmar agreed to begin talks with
Bangladesh over the tens of thousands of refugees who have fled across the
border.
Malaysia: As of June 2016, more than 90 percent of
Malaysia's 150,700 registered refugees are from Myanmar, including tens of
thousands of Rohingya, according the UN. Rohingya who have arrived safely in
Malaysia have no legal status and are unable to work, leaving their families
cut off from access to education and healthcare.
Thailand: Thailand is a hub for regional human smuggling
and trafficking activities and serves as a common transit point for Rohingya.
Migrants often arrive by boat from Bangladesh or Myanmar before moving on foot
to Malaysia or continuing by boat to Indonesia or Malaysia. A 2013 Reuters
report found that some Thai authorities were colluding with smuggling and
trafficking networks in the exploitation of detained Rohingya. In its 2016
Trafficking in Persons report (PDF), the U.S. State Department upgraded
Thailand to Tier 2 Watch List, from the bottom Tier 3 ranking, after having
been identified as a source, destination, and transit country for men, women,
and children who are subject to trafficking. (In 2016, Indonesia ranked as Tier
2, Malaysia as Tier 2 Watch List, and Myanmar was downgraded to Tier 3.) Since
taking power in 2014, the military-led government in Bangkok has prioritized a
crackdown on smuggling and trafficking rings after the discovery of mass graves
in alleged detention camps. But some experts say that new punitive measures
directed at traffickers were responsible for the uptick in abandoned vessels at
sea—a development that worsened the humanitarian crisis.
Indonesia: The Rohingya have also sought refuge in
Indonesia, although the number of refugees there remains relatively modest.
During the spring 2015 migration surge, Indonesia’s military chief expressed
concerns that easing immigration restrictions would spark an influx of people.
Amid international pressure, Indonesia admitted one thousand Rohingya and
provided them with emergency assistance and protection.
At the height of the migration crisis in May 2015,
international pressure peaked and Indonesia and Malaysia offered temporary
shelter to thousands of migrants, Malaysia launched search-and-rescue missions
for stranded migrant boats stranded, and Thailand agreed to halt push backs. Myanmar’s
navy also conducted initial rescue missions in late 2015. Joe Lowry, the Asia
spokesman for the IOM, characterized the ad hoc regional response to the crisis
as, “a game of maritime ping-pong.”
“The two major communities have to move
beyond decades of mistrust and find ways to embrace shared values of justice,
fairness, and equity.”—Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General
What is being done to address the migration
crisis?
Myanmar’s first civilian government—led by Aung San Suu
Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party—won in landslide
elections in November 2015. While the cabinet ministers include a mix of
political and ethnic representatives, critics say the NLD has been reluctant to
advocate for the Rohingya and other Muslims because of the party’s need to
cultivate support from Buddhist nationalists. Nevertheless, Aung San Suu Kyi,
who has vowed to push for national peace and reconciliation, established a
nine-person commission in August 2016, led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, to discuss options for resolving ethnic strife in Rakhine state. The
advisory committee, whose final report is expected by the end of August 2017,
is intended to make recommendations to reduce communal tension and support
much-needed development efforts in the impoverished state. “To build the
future, the two major communities have to move beyond decades of mistrust and
find ways to embrace shared values of justice, fairness, and equity,” Annan
said on his first visit to Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, in September 2016.
Yet, as frictions boil over into waves of violence in
Rakhine, CFR’s Joshua Kurlantzick warns that the unrest “threatens the
stability of what is still a very fragile government, despite the massive
electoral victory by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party.” Other analysts are skeptical
that the democratic election of a civilian government will do anything to
change the fate of the Rohingya, particularly with Aung San Suu Kyi and her
government’s silence on the treatment of the minority group. The Myanmar leader
accused the international actors of “drumming up cause for bigger fires of
resentment” in December 2016. Separately, others observers have said the
creation of the new commission offers a rare glimmer of hope for resolving the
problem.
Regionally, no unified or coordinated ASEAN response has
been proposed to address the deepening crisis. States in Southeast Asia lack
established legal frameworks to provide for the protection of rights for
refugees.
Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand—all ASEAN
members—have yet to ratify the UN Refugee Convention and its Protocol. ASEAN
itself has been silent on the plight of the Rohingya and on the growing numbers
of asylum-seekers in member countries largely because of the organization’s commitment
to the fundamental principle of noninterference in the internal affairs of
member states. But this has not quieted all voices within the regional
grouping. “As violence in Rakhine State continues to escalate, silence equals
complicity. ASEAN as a region has a duty to act,” wrote Charles Santiago, a
member of parliament in Malaysia and the chairperson of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Parliamentarians for Human Rights, a network of
current and former legislators working to strengthen human rights promotion and
protection, in November 2016. Nevertheless, Lilianne Fan of the London-based
Overseas Development Institute says that while ASEAN has the capacity to manage
this crisis, member states lack the political will to resolve it.
Advocacy groups like Human Rights Watch, the Arakan
Project, and Fortify Rights continue to appeal to major international players
to exert pressure on Myanmar’s government. Others, like senior advisor at the
United States Institute of Peace and former U.S. mission chief in Myanmar
Priscilla Clapp, say that placing sole blame on Myanmar oversimplifies and
misrepresents the complexities of the country’s historical ethnic diversity.
“An international response that consists primarily of assigning blame for this humanitarian
tragedy is no longer tenable. It is time for the international community to
organize a realistic, workable solution,” writes Clapp.
To date, the United States and other global powers have
urged the central government in Myanmar to do more to protect ethnic minority
groups from persecution. Still, experts say more must be done to address the
plight of the Muslim minority to prevent it becoming “a flashpoint for further
social and religious destabilization,” as Clapp writes in a March 2016 CFR report.
She says Washington should assist economic development and conflict mediation
in Rakhine state: “The United States should be leading an international effort
to find a humane solution to their plight, not only in Myanmar but in other
countries as well.”
Additional Resources
**These 2016 Human Rights Watch reports document the
destruction of Rohingya villages and describe brutal actions of the Myanmar
military.
**This December 2016 International Crisis Group report
explores the emergence of a new Muslim insurgency in Myanmar.
**This December 2016 Amnesty International report
describes the persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar and their refugee-like
conditions in Bangladesh.
**This CFR Backgrounder charts Myanmar’s political
evolution.
**VICE News investigates the violence and discrimination
against Myanmar’s Rohingya in this May 2016 report.
**Azeem Ibrahim’s 2016 book The Rohingyas: Inside
Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide exposes the treatment of the Muslim minority.
More on this topic from CFR
**From Rohingya to Ethnic Rebels, Myanmar’s Troubles Go
Regional
Author: Joshua Kurlantzick, Senior Fellow for Southeast
Asia
**The Long Read: How to Permanently Solve the Rohingya
Migrant Crisis
Author: Joshua Kurlantzick, Senior Fellow for Southeast
Asia
**Understanding Myanmar
Authors: Beina Xu, and Eleanor Albert, Online
Writer/Editor