By: Azhar Azam
*The edited version of this article first appeared in "The Nation":
https://nation.com.pk/15-Jul-2019/plight-of-rohingyas-and-the-way-forward
In an interview with the Associated Press (AP), a Rohingya Muslim woman described the searing episode of her rape and the killing of her husband by the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma), known as Tatmadaw, at a night of June 2017.
She said that the Burmese soldiers entered in her home, bound her husband with ropes, slit his threat, ripped the scarf from her head, tied it around her mouth, and raped her. After they were finished, they dragged her body outside and set her bamboo house ablaze.
This is just one of the horrific atrocities Rohingya Muslims went through. Otherwise, myriads of Rohingya men, women, and children experienced the historic persecution and ethnic cleansing such as mass killings, sexual violence, and widespread arson.
How It All Started
On 25-August-2017, in retaliation to the killings of Rohingya Muslims and rapes of their women by Myanmar security forces – hundreds of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) members armed with machetes, swords, and other weapons attacked the Burmese police camps and military bases, killing at least 10 policemen and an army soldier.
In an interview with Dhaka Tribune, an ARSA commander Abdus Shakoor defended his attack with 200-natives (out of various attacks by several groups) on Myanmar border police posts and a military base on August 25.“To save our people, to save our mothers and sisters, to take back our rights, we took up sticks, and axes, and knives and rose up against oppressors.”
Brutal Crackdown on Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar Security Forces
Myanmar security forces’ crackdown on Rohingya Muslims was brutal. According to a Conference Paper by Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA), only in August 2017 Burmese army burned about 300 Rohingya villages, killed 25,000 Rohingya Muslims, raped 28,000 Rohingya Muslim women and adolescents, and thrown 35,000 people into the fire.
In September 2018, a shocking report by UN fact finding mission found that Myanmar military committed large scale gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against Rohingya women in Rakhine (Arakan) state of Myanmar.
Constituted by Human Rights Council, the report further stated that the rapes were often perpetrated by Tatmadaw soldiers in public spaces and in front of the families and the communities to maximize humiliation and trauma.
Women and girls were systematically abducted, detained, and raped in military and police compounds. The victims were brutally tortured with knives and sticks before and during rape and marked by deep bites.
Human Right Council said that a campaign of hate and dehumanization of the Rohingya Muslims was underway for months and escalated after 8-June-2012, led by Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), various Rakhine organizations, and radical Buddhist monk organizations, and several official and influential figures.
It was spread through anti-Rohingya or anti-Muslim publications, public statements, rallies, and boycotts of Muslims shops. The Rohingya Muslims were labeled ‘illegal immigrants’, ‘terrorists’, and portrayed as an existential threat that might ‘swallow other races’ with their ‘incontrollable birth rates’. In November 2012, the RNDP cited Hitler and argued that ‘inhuman acts’ were sometimes necessary to ‘maintain a race’.
Since August 2017, Myanmar military forces soldiers and Buddhist militants have been intensively involved in the detestable humanitarian crimes against the Rohingya Muslims that resulted in immense exodus of more than 730,000 Rohingya to the neighboring Bangladesh district of Cox Bazar.
Myanmar History
Burma, renamed Myanmar in 1989, was under British colonial rule during 1824-1942 before Japan invaded; pushing British out of the territory. British evacuation provoked Burmese nationalists to attack Muslims communities in then-Burma.
In 1945, Britain liberated Burma from Japan with the help of Burmese nationalists and latter created independent Union of Burma in 1948; defying promise to give autonomy to Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine (Arakan), living in the land since 8th century.
Rohingya Persecution Background
Tensions soared between the newly established Burma and Rohingya Muslims; most of whom wanted Arakan inclusion in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Jinnah however regretted due to lesser Muslims’ proportionate to Burmese population and opined that Rohingya Muslims should strive for their rights within Burma.
In 1978, General Ne Win conducted a large scale military operation Nagamin (also known as Operation King Dragon) in northern Arakan that targeted and killed Rohingya Muslims. The operation forced 250,000 people to migrate Bangladesh – one million Rohingya Muslims had fled Myanmar to various countries.
Enacted in 1982, Burma Citizenship Law no longer recognizes Rohingya as citizens of Burma – ensuing 800,000 Rohingya Muslims (1.1 million, according to some reports) stateless. Since then, Muslims in the region are the victims of dreaded exploitations by Burmese army including forced labor, rape, and religious torment.
Rohingya Muslims cannot travel without authorization, are prohibited to work outside their villages, and even cannot marry without permission. They are also effectively barred to vote in General Elections so have no political representation in the state’s parliament to raise voice for harboring and protecting their basic rights.
They are the most persecuted community in the world that has been crammed between Myanmar (Formerly Burma) and Bangladesh (Formerly East Pakistan). Neither of the countries is willing to take them as citizen; leaving almost a million people at the disposal of high hills, tough weather, and miserable food and health conditions.
UN Report Rebuked its Own “Systemic Failure”
On May 29, a reproachful 36-page report by former Guatemalan foreign minister and UN ambassador Gert Rosenthal rebuked the conduct of its own global organization (US) for its “obviously dysfunctional performance” in Myanmar over the past decade.
“The overall responsibility was of a collective nature, in other words it can be truly characterized as a systemic failure of the United Nations,” the report said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres accepted the “candid, forthright, and useful report” about UN “systemic failure” in Rohingya crisis and assured to implement Rosenthal’s recommendations in order to improve the performance of the United Nations system.
The Way Forward
In a latest development, the prosecutor of International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda has requested court’s judges to order an investigation on the persecution, deportation, and other inhuman acts of the Rohingya people by Myanmar security forces.
The ICC prosecutor’s request to initiate an investigation on the plight of Rohingya Muslims and Rosenthal’s recommendations provide another opportunity to the international community, the UN itself, UN Security Council, and other regional organizations such as ASEAN and European Union to use diplomatic, humanitarian, and other means to enforce Myanmar in meeting its responsibility to protect its people from genocide and war crimes.
Security Council should slap sanctions including travel bans, assets freeze, and arms embargoes on Myanmar as well as should pursue the case in the International Criminal Court (ICC) so that the perpetrators of killings and rapes of Rohingya people could be made accountable.
*The edited version of this article first appeared in "The Nation":
https://nation.com.pk/15-Jul-2019/plight-of-rohingyas-and-the-way-forward
In an interview with the Associated Press (AP), a Rohingya Muslim woman described the searing episode of her rape and the killing of her husband by the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma), known as Tatmadaw, at a night of June 2017.
She said that the Burmese soldiers entered in her home, bound her husband with ropes, slit his threat, ripped the scarf from her head, tied it around her mouth, and raped her. After they were finished, they dragged her body outside and set her bamboo house ablaze.
This is just one of the horrific atrocities Rohingya Muslims went through. Otherwise, myriads of Rohingya men, women, and children experienced the historic persecution and ethnic cleansing such as mass killings, sexual violence, and widespread arson.
How It All Started
On 25-August-2017, in retaliation to the killings of Rohingya Muslims and rapes of their women by Myanmar security forces – hundreds of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) members armed with machetes, swords, and other weapons attacked the Burmese police camps and military bases, killing at least 10 policemen and an army soldier.
In an interview with Dhaka Tribune, an ARSA commander Abdus Shakoor defended his attack with 200-natives (out of various attacks by several groups) on Myanmar border police posts and a military base on August 25.“To save our people, to save our mothers and sisters, to take back our rights, we took up sticks, and axes, and knives and rose up against oppressors.”
Brutal Crackdown on Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar Security Forces
Myanmar security forces’ crackdown on Rohingya Muslims was brutal. According to a Conference Paper by Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA), only in August 2017 Burmese army burned about 300 Rohingya villages, killed 25,000 Rohingya Muslims, raped 28,000 Rohingya Muslim women and adolescents, and thrown 35,000 people into the fire.
In September 2018, a shocking report by UN fact finding mission found that Myanmar military committed large scale gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against Rohingya women in Rakhine (Arakan) state of Myanmar.
Constituted by Human Rights Council, the report further stated that the rapes were often perpetrated by Tatmadaw soldiers in public spaces and in front of the families and the communities to maximize humiliation and trauma.
Women and girls were systematically abducted, detained, and raped in military and police compounds. The victims were brutally tortured with knives and sticks before and during rape and marked by deep bites.
Human Right Council said that a campaign of hate and dehumanization of the Rohingya Muslims was underway for months and escalated after 8-June-2012, led by Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), various Rakhine organizations, and radical Buddhist monk organizations, and several official and influential figures.
It was spread through anti-Rohingya or anti-Muslim publications, public statements, rallies, and boycotts of Muslims shops. The Rohingya Muslims were labeled ‘illegal immigrants’, ‘terrorists’, and portrayed as an existential threat that might ‘swallow other races’ with their ‘incontrollable birth rates’. In November 2012, the RNDP cited Hitler and argued that ‘inhuman acts’ were sometimes necessary to ‘maintain a race’.
Since August 2017, Myanmar military forces soldiers and Buddhist militants have been intensively involved in the detestable humanitarian crimes against the Rohingya Muslims that resulted in immense exodus of more than 730,000 Rohingya to the neighboring Bangladesh district of Cox Bazar.
Myanmar History
Burma, renamed Myanmar in 1989, was under British colonial rule during 1824-1942 before Japan invaded; pushing British out of the territory. British evacuation provoked Burmese nationalists to attack Muslims communities in then-Burma.
In 1945, Britain liberated Burma from Japan with the help of Burmese nationalists and latter created independent Union of Burma in 1948; defying promise to give autonomy to Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine (Arakan), living in the land since 8th century.
Rohingya Persecution Background
Tensions soared between the newly established Burma and Rohingya Muslims; most of whom wanted Arakan inclusion in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Jinnah however regretted due to lesser Muslims’ proportionate to Burmese population and opined that Rohingya Muslims should strive for their rights within Burma.
In 1978, General Ne Win conducted a large scale military operation Nagamin (also known as Operation King Dragon) in northern Arakan that targeted and killed Rohingya Muslims. The operation forced 250,000 people to migrate Bangladesh – one million Rohingya Muslims had fled Myanmar to various countries.
Enacted in 1982, Burma Citizenship Law no longer recognizes Rohingya as citizens of Burma – ensuing 800,000 Rohingya Muslims (1.1 million, according to some reports) stateless. Since then, Muslims in the region are the victims of dreaded exploitations by Burmese army including forced labor, rape, and religious torment.
Rohingya Muslims cannot travel without authorization, are prohibited to work outside their villages, and even cannot marry without permission. They are also effectively barred to vote in General Elections so have no political representation in the state’s parliament to raise voice for harboring and protecting their basic rights.
They are the most persecuted community in the world that has been crammed between Myanmar (Formerly Burma) and Bangladesh (Formerly East Pakistan). Neither of the countries is willing to take them as citizen; leaving almost a million people at the disposal of high hills, tough weather, and miserable food and health conditions.
UN Report Rebuked its Own “Systemic Failure”
On May 29, a reproachful 36-page report by former Guatemalan foreign minister and UN ambassador Gert Rosenthal rebuked the conduct of its own global organization (US) for its “obviously dysfunctional performance” in Myanmar over the past decade.
“The overall responsibility was of a collective nature, in other words it can be truly characterized as a systemic failure of the United Nations,” the report said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres accepted the “candid, forthright, and useful report” about UN “systemic failure” in Rohingya crisis and assured to implement Rosenthal’s recommendations in order to improve the performance of the United Nations system.
The Way Forward
In a latest development, the prosecutor of International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda has requested court’s judges to order an investigation on the persecution, deportation, and other inhuman acts of the Rohingya people by Myanmar security forces.
The ICC prosecutor’s request to initiate an investigation on the plight of Rohingya Muslims and Rosenthal’s recommendations provide another opportunity to the international community, the UN itself, UN Security Council, and other regional organizations such as ASEAN and European Union to use diplomatic, humanitarian, and other means to enforce Myanmar in meeting its responsibility to protect its people from genocide and war crimes.
Security Council should slap sanctions including travel bans, assets freeze, and arms embargoes on Myanmar as well as should pursue the case in the International Criminal Court (ICC) so that the perpetrators of killings and rapes of Rohingya people could be made accountable.