Practising what we preach
Canada must help Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, says Themrise Khan.
It seems that the mass exodus of the stateless Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar fleeing a brutal extermination that many are calling a genocide and ethnic cleansing, is not enough to tug at the heartstrings of Canadians.
So much so, that news of beheadings, flagellation of children, murders, rape and the destruction of whole villages is not enough to hold the world’s attention, let alone Canada’s. Neither is the fact that this has been going on since well before the Syrian civil war even began and created those refugees whose plight dramatically captured Canada’s attention.
One can understand our American neighbours being self-absorbed in their own world conveniently ignoring the devastation taking place in the outside world.
But it is unforgivable for Canada to speak so highly of compassion towards refugees and then effortlessly ignore the most desperate of the lot.
The Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar are the most persecuted group in the world, despite having resided in the region for more than 300 years. They originally coexisted peacefully with the Buddhists, until the Burmese military dictatorship refused to acknowledge them as a legal minority and stripped them of citizenship in 1974.
Bangladesh has consistently refused to grant them refugee status, pushing them back since the early 1980s using means such as denial of food aid. Their plight should have received the world’s attention decades ago.
But there is a lot going against them. They are stateless to begin with and devoid of basic human rights like education, health, sanitation and employment, rights that even the poorest citizens of the world have. They are directly on the opposite side of the world from Canada (Syria is geographically closer) and they reside in a region that is already poor and has no oil wealth. Why should Canada bother?
After the rhetoric of the Syrian refugee crisis, it should practice what it so effusively preaches. These are helpless, distraught people, who have never seen anything good in the world. They need a permit from the Myanmar authorities just to marry or move to another village. They have been abused in the most abhorrent and brutal ways, just for being who they are. And they are humans caught up in a vicious battle of political and military obsession.
These are helpless, distraught people, who have never seen anything good in the world.
Forget Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. She is the military’s spokesperson. Forget Malala. She can’t do anything except condemn. Instead, Canada must be proactive and work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to protect and repatriate these refugees.
It must step up its diplomatic machinery with the UN and its bi-lateral relations with Bangladesh, India and other neighbouring South Asian countries such as Pakistan, who can provide refuge and hold them accountable to international human rights laws and conventions concerning refugees. Canada can use its own example of refugee resettlement to lobby these governments to accept the Rohingya, even if it can’t itself.
Canada should also, ideally, hold the Myanmar government accountable for its brutalities, despite newly opened diplomatic relations with the country. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried this using the “soft approach” during Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Ottawa in June. But such efforts rarely come to fruition in situations this desperate.
Yes, the Rohingya’s don’t fit Canada’s upper-class profile. They are all uneducated and no country wants them. And perhaps it is impractical to try and offer some of them safe refuge in Canada. And while the Syrians were easy, in comparison, this is far more complicated due to the way the Rohingya have been isolated from the world, not to mention the actions of Myanmar’s now-closeted military regime over the last many decades.
But this much is true that we simply cannot allow them to suffer anymore. Canada cannot pick and choose who we root for as refugees. We cannot allow other countries to prevent them from seeking safe refuge and we cannot let Myanmar treat them like animals.
Canada should not be afraid of offending anyone with its support to the Rohingya, such as the Bangladeshi diaspora in Canada, or of jeopardizing our burgeoning economic relations with India by lobbying it to accept Rohingya Muslim refugees. Nor should it be content with providing aid for “democratic reforms,” when children are being burned alive and beheaded.
This is about humanitarianism and political integrity of the highest moral order. We cannot be seen as being selective for our own benefit. We must act. Now.
We cannot allow other countries to prevent them from seeking safe refuge and we cannot let Myanmar treat them like animals.