Carve out territory for Rohingya
The people of Rohingya who have lived in Arakan, an area now known as Rakhine state, in Myanmar since as early as the 12th Century, are currently in danger of ethnic cleansing by the authorities in that country. The Rohingya, often described as "the world's most persecuted minority," are an ethnic group, the majority of them Muslims. With a population of about 1.1 million, the people Rohingya have lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist country.
Due to on-going violence and persecution, hundreds of thousands of people have fled to neighbouring countries, either by land or sea. During the more than 100 years of British rule (1824-1948), there was a significant amount of migration of labourers to what is now known as Myanmar from today's India and Bangladesh. Most of them are the current ethnic community of Rohingya. After the 1962 military coup in Myanmar, events changed dramatically for them. All citizens were required to obtain national registration cards. The people of Rohingya, however, were only given foreign identity cards, which limited the jobs and educational opportunities they could pursue and obtain.
Since the 1970s, a number of crackdowns on the Rohingya in Rakhine State have forced hundreds of thousands to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, as well as Malaysia, Thailand and other South-East Asian countries. During such crackdowns, refugees often reported rape, torture, arson and murder by Myanmar security forces.
After gaining independence in 1948 from Britain, the government of Myanmar refused to recognize the Rohingya as citizens. The government viewed the migration that took place during the British rule as illegal. This led many Buddhists to consider the Rohingya offensively as “Bengali”, a recent invention created for political reasons. The predominantly Buddhist Myanmar considers the Rohingyars Bangladeshi but Bangladesh says they are Burmese.
Prior to the violence that began in August this year, the United Nations had estimated that there were as many as 420,000 Rohingya refugees living in shanties in SouthEast Asia. Those who have fled northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh, who are mostly women and children arrived on foot. They had tales of village burnings, beatings and killings at the hands of the security forces and Buddhist youths.
We condemn the wanton killings and persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. We also condemn Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto ruler of Myanmar, for her lack of action to help the Rohingya, a stark contrast to her previous image as a champion of human rights. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has also written to her, as a fellow Nobel laureate, pleading with her to halt the violence. But the military which still looms large in the fragile democracy is the biggest obstacle to democratic reform in Myanmar.
Last week, the U.N. Security Council condemned the violence. The international community must intervene to stop the horrific human rights violations that are being committed. The Burmese government must immediately stop its crackdown in Rakhine and allow UN observers to access and monitor the situation on the ground. Bangladesh has to do more for the refugees escaping violence and persecution. As for the West, their coverage of humanitarian crisis should not be with one-sided passion - the Rohingya crisis has to be whole-heartedly addressed. To address a de-escalation of the situation, what is required is the re-establishment of law and order, protection of civilians, a resolution of the refugee problem, and widespread access to humanitarian aid for the victims and full respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.
We call on world leaders, as they meet in New York to address this unresolved issue, that a territory be carved out in the South-East Asia region for the people of Rohingya. Alternatively, Myanmar should grant them legal status as nationals. The world can avoid another catastrophe by doing either of these.