The Rohingya are an ethnic group. They are considered as the 'world's most prosecuted and deprives minority'. The Rohingya's have lived in the Buddhist majority of Myanmar. Presently, there are about 1 million Rohingyas living in Southeast Asia.
The Muslim Rohingya have been living in Myanmar since the 12th century. When Myanmar was a British colony, many Rohingya Muslims migrated into Bangladesh as laborers. The native Bangladeshis saw this movement negatively.
All was well until the British ruled, but as they left they left a vast majority of these Rohingya Muslims behind in Bangladesh. The newly formed nation of Bangladesh did
not grant them citizenship, nor did Myanmar. The Rohingya's were sandwiched between two nations and don't have anywhere to go. So now the question is how and why are the Rohingya's human rights being violated?Soon after Myanmar became independent, the new government passed the Union Citizenship Act in 1948. This act laid down ideas for granting citizenship to ethnic groups. The Rohingya were not included in this act. But those who already lived in Myanmar were allowed to apply for citizen identity cards. Thus, the Rohingya were initially given citizenship and some even served as members of parliament.
Things again changed for the Rohingyas after the military coup in Myanmar. All Rohingyas were required to have national registration cards. But they were only given foreign ID cards which limited their educational and job opportunities. The situation for the Rohingya in Myanmar turned from bad to worse in 1982. Myanmar's government passed a new citizenship law which did not recognize the Rohingyas as one of Myanmar's 135 ethnic groups. The law actually set three stages of citizenship for Myanmar's people. In order to gain the first stage, one must prove that one member of one's family was living in Myanmar prior to 1948. According to the law, one must also be fluent with one of Myanmar's national languages. Many Rohingya had a hard time proving these requirements as important papers were not provided to them.
As Rohingya's were no longer considered as citizens of Myanmar, their right to vote,
practice their religion, education, healthcare, work and marriage were severely restricted and left the Rohingya fighting for citizenship and basic human rights.Since 1970, the local police authorities of Myanmar have been attacking and ambushing Rohingya localities. As a result of this, thousands of Rohingya cross borders to seek refuge in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and other Oriental countries.
This act of targeting a specific ethnic or religious group in a country is called 'Ethnic Cleansing'. The government of Myanmar was also accused of this but they denied the charges and said that they were not practicing ethnic cleansing.
According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, more than 400,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar and are trapped in no man's land between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Some of these trying to enter Bangladesh have been detained and forcibly sent back to Myanmar.
India, in this crisis, has taken a strong stance. The government of India has declared the Rohingyas as "illegal immigrants" and has released a statement saying that Rohingyas trying to enter the country's borders will suffer the same fate as the rest of illegal immigrants do. But, India has provided aid to the Rohingyas in Bangladesh by supplying food, water, and medicines. India is currently running a relief operation through the Indian Air Force by regularly sending its C-17 Globemasters with food grains and water to Bangladesh.
The International Community has strongly condemned Myanmar's actions against the Rohingyas. But this is not enough. Firm measures have to be taken in order to ensure that a minority group is not being deprived of basic human rights. This is what the United Nations stands for and shall take measures to ensure that not only the Rohingya but no other ethnic group is being exploited and deprived of basic needs as the Rohingya.
