There is a Genocide Going on Right Now in Myanmar and We’re Ignoring It
We said never again. But it’s happening right now, and
we are doing nothing to stop it.
Here’s
what is going on with Rohingya in Myanmar and why we should be doing much more.
‘Never Again’ - This
is what world leaders solemnly promised in the aftermath of World War II, and
that promise was the start of
the international human rights system. After the horrors of the
Holocaust, the world united to agree on minimum standards of dignity
– that is, human rights – for all human beings.
Human
rights were given weight by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and later made enforceable in Europe
under the Human Rights
Convention. But what is happening in Myanmar shows that the
world’s promise of “never again” does not always apply. We really need to talk
about what’s going on, but more crucially, what are we doing to about it.
How Did We Get Here? The Story
of the Rohingya in Myanmar
The
Rohingya crisis didn’t happen overnight. As always,
there were many warning signs. Institutionalised discrimination has been going
on for decades, stemming from long-simmering ethnic and religious frictions
which were rooted in
colonial rule. This has also been exacerbated by the
military’s xenophobic
nation-building agenda.
Rohingya Muslims have existed in the country for centuries. Myanmar, previously known as Burma, has always been mostly Buddhist, but under British colonial rule in the 182os migrant labour was encouraged to expand rice cultivation. Many Muslim workers from neighbouring Bengal came to the country and the Rohingya community (which has been present since the 12th century) expanded rapidly – tripling between the 1870s and 1910s.
Rohingya Muslims have existed in the country for centuries. Myanmar, previously known as Burma, has always been mostly Buddhist, but under British colonial rule in the 182os migrant labour was encouraged to expand rice cultivation. Many Muslim workers from neighbouring Bengal came to the country and the Rohingya community (which has been present since the 12th century) expanded rapidly – tripling between the 1870s and 1910s.
Broken Promises and Rebellions
British
rulers promised the Rohingya separate land in exchange for support, hence why
they sided with them during WWII. After the war though, when Myanmar gained
independence from British rule, the Rohingya were denied the promised
autonomous state and, at the same time, they were excluded from
Myanmar’s population. In 1950, a Rohingya
rebellion broke out and was eventually crushed by the army, who
called and treated them as terrorists.
After the 1926 military coup, the situation further deteriorated in the 60 years of military rule. In 1978, a heavy-handed government campaign for citizens’ registration pushed more than 200,000 Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh. In 1982, a new citizenship law branded Rohingyas as illegal immigrants, effectively making them stateless and depriving them of their most fundamental rights. At the beginning of the 1990s, 200,000 Rohingyas flew to Bangladesh to escape forced labour, violence and persecution at the hands of the army.
After the 1926 military coup, the situation further deteriorated in the 60 years of military rule. In 1978, a heavy-handed government campaign for citizens’ registration pushed more than 200,000 Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh. In 1982, a new citizenship law branded Rohingyas as illegal immigrants, effectively making them stateless and depriving them of their most fundamental rights. At the beginning of the 1990s, 200,000 Rohingyas flew to Bangladesh to escape forced labour, violence and persecution at the hands of the army.
A Transition to Democracy Gone
Wrong
A
democratic transition has been ongoing since December 2010, when opposition
leader and Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi
was released from house arrest. But things for the Rohingya did
not improve, at all. Some even said the democratic
transition actually inflamed things. Rohingyas were not included in
the census nor allowed to participate in the first democratic elections.
A text
book example of ethnic cleansing -
Ra’ad al-Hussein, UN
Violence
has been greatly escalating in the past two years. Violent attacks
in October 2016 and
August 2017 by
the Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army sparked an intense crackdown by the Myanmar
military. Massive “clearance operations” have been going on ever since, with Rohingya
villages being burned to the ground and survivors telling brutal
stories of murder,
rape
and torture.
Since August 2017 alone more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled. Embarking on a long and dangerous journey to neighbouring Bangladesh, they have joined hundreds of thousands who fled in earlier waves of ethnic violence.
Since August 2017 alone more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled. Embarking on a long and dangerous journey to neighbouring Bangladesh, they have joined hundreds of thousands who fled in earlier waves of ethnic violence.
The Rohingya
refugee population in Bangladesh is now topping more than 1 million.
However, to make matters worse, the country has repeatedly pushed back
refugees and is now even talking about offering
sterilisation in refugees camps.
Why Aren’t we Calling it
Genocide?
The
Rohingyas have been commonly dubbed “the world’s
most persecuted minority” for a while.
According to the United Nations human rights’ chief, what’s going on in Myanmar
is “a textbook
example of ethnic cleansing”.
The
situation in Bosnia
and in Rwanda (that
is, years of concerted dehumanisation campaigns building up to mass murders) – arguably
meets the criteria for being described as a genocide under international law.
Many have drawn parallels to
Myanmar.
Calls from
academics to label the atrocities against Rohingyas as genocide are
on the rise. In fact, the Yale Law School’s human rights clinic released a report suggesting
the persecution of the Rohingya fit the legal definition of genocide before the
last two cycles of violence in Myanmar.
A
genocide is taking place, but there is taking place, but there is little chance
the international community will effectively mobilise to stop it
David Simon. Yale University
That
notwithstanding, though, world leaders appear very reluctant to use
the word “genocide”. The hang-up is a clause in the UN Genocide
Convention that requires them to “prevent and punish” it, something
the international community is neither willing nor
able
to do.
David Simon,
Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, added: “A genocide
is taking place, but there is little chance that the international community
will mobilize effectively to stop it. Questions of national sovereignty and
self-interest have almost always trumped international concerns about human
rights.”
A Human Rights Symbol Ignores
a Genocide?
The
inertia of international community also somewhat depends on its leader Aung San
Suu Kyi being one of the most celebrated human rights icons of our age.
The
Nobel peace laureate has completely failed to call out on the atrocities being
committed against the Rohingyas, in what has been called “the clearest
act of complicity”. Suu Kyi’s transformation into “genocide
apologist” has prompted requests to take
away her Nobel prize as well as other honours
bestowed to her on grounds of her human rights activists.
The
inability of the international community to take any action despite being faced
with the most atrocious human rights violations shows a dismaying measure of
the state of art of human rights. And this should motivate all of us to keep
pushing – harder and stronger – to see the Rohingya
genocide acknowledged and accounted for. We said “never again.” Now
it is time to show we really meant it.
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