138-733: Nur Ahmed (born 1928), also known as Tin Maung , was a Burmese Rohingya legislator, health worker and activist. He was a CEC member of the National Democratic Party for Human Rights . He was elected to the Parliament of Myanmar in 1990. Ahmed was born in 1928 in the village of Phone Nyo Lake in Buthidaung . He attended the Buthidaung State High School. He completed his vocational training at
276-516: A 15-year-old Rohingya girl who was ruthlessly dragged on the ground for over 50 feet and then was raped by ten Burmese soldiers. In February 2018, it was reported that the Burmese military bulldozed and flattened the burnt Rohingya villages and mass graves in order to destroy the evidence of atrocities committed. These villages were inhabited by the Rohingya people before they were burnt down by
414-840: A Rohingya rebel attack that killed 12 security forces on 25 August 2017, the Myanmar military launched "clearance operations" against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state that, according to NGOs, the Bangladeshi government and international news media, left many dead, and many more injured, tortured or raped, with villages burned. The government of Myanmar has denied the allegations. The modern term Rohingya emerged from colonial and pre-colonial terms Rooinga and Rwangya . The Rohingya refer to themselves as Ruáingga /ɾuájŋɡa/ . In Burmese they are known as rui hang gya (following
552-635: A South African anti-apartheid activist . The most recent mass displacement of Rohingya in 2017 led the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity, and the International Court of Justice to investigate genocide . The Rohingya maintain they are indigenous to western Myanmar with a heritage of over a millennium and influence from the Arabs , Mughals , and Portuguese . The community claims it
690-503: A blockade for more than two weeks, starving the Rohingya, and that the government forces were preparing to do the same in Maungdaw. Burmese government and military reports sought to highlight the suffering of other ethnic groups such as Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus at the hands of Rohingya militants. In August 2017, up to 99 Hindus were killed by ARSA according to Amnesty International. Hindus and other non-Muslims in northern Rakhine at
828-484: A distinct ethnicity with their own language and culture, but claim to have a long historical connection to Rakhine State. The Rohingya claim to be the descendants of Arab traders , who settled in the region many generations ago. Some scholars stated that they have been present in the region since the 15th century while others argue that, although a few Rohingya trace their ancestry to Muslims who lived in Arakan during
966-513: A few Rohingya trace their ancestry to Muslims who lived in Arakan in the 15th and 16h centuries, most Rohingyas arrived with the British colonialists in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most have argued that Rohingya existed from the four waves of Muslim migrations from the ancient times to medieval, to the British colony. Gutman (1976) and Ibrahim (2016) claiming that the Muslim population dates before
1104-712: A focus for grass-roots Burmese nationalism, and in the years 1930–31 there were serious anti-Indian disturbances in Lower Burma, while 1938 saw riots specifically directed against the Indian Muslim community. As Burmese nationalism increasingly asserted itself before the Second World War, the 'alien' Indian presence inevitably came under attack, along with the religion that the Indian Muslims imported. The Muslims of northern Arakan were to be caught in
1242-419: A genocide. Directive No. 2/2020 restrains all Ministries and the government of Rakhine State from destroying The ICJ's January order and also mandated the preservation of evidence of any criminal activity that can possibly build up to a genocide. After the attack on security forces, the Myanmar military responded with a "heavy counter-offensive" and started "clearance operations" against the Rohingya people with
1380-631: A historian at Kanda University in Japan, has written that as a consequence of acquiring arms from the British during World War II, Rohingyas tried to destroy the Arakanese villages instead of resisting the Japanese. Chan agrees that hundreds of Muslims fled to northern Arakan, though states that the accounts of atrocities on them were exaggerated. In March 1942, Rohingyas from northern Arakan killed around 20,000 Arakanese. In return, around 5,000 Muslims in
1518-527: A large number of people, triggering a refugee crisis . The largest wave of Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar in 2017, resulting in the largest human exodus in Asia since the Vietnam War . According to UN reports, over 700,000 people fled or were driven out of Rakhine State, and took shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh as refugees as of September 2018. In December 2017, two Reuters journalists who were covering
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#17327904453751656-527: A political movement that started in the 1950s to create "an autonomous Muslim zone" in Rakhine. The government of Prime Minister U Nu , when Burma was a democracy from 1948 to 1962, used the term "Rohingya" in radio addresses as a part of peace-building effort in Mayu Frontier Region. The term was broadcast on Burmese radio and was used in the speeches of Burmese rulers. A UNHCR report on refugees caused by Operation King Dragon referred to
1794-549: A quarter million per year. The numbers rose steadily until the peak year of 1927, immigration reached 480,000 people, with Rangoon exceeding New York City as the greatest immigration port in the world. This was out of a total population of only 13 million; it was equivalent to the United Kingdom today taking 2 million people a year." By then, in most of the largest cities in Burma, Rangoon , Akyab , Bassein and Moulmein ,
1932-766: A regular basis by the government and Buddhist nationalists . In late 2016, Myanmar 's armed forces and police launched a major crackdown against the people in Rakhine State which is located in the country's northwestern region. The Burmese military was accused of committing ethnic cleansing and genocide by various United Nations agencies, International Criminal Court officials, human rights groups, journalists, and governments. The UN found evidence of wide-scale human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings ; summary executions ; gang rapes ; arson of Rohingya villages, businesses, and schools; and infanticides . At least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in
2070-542: A regular basis by the government and nationalist Buddhists. The tensions between the various religious groups in the country were often exploited by past military rulers of Myanmar. Amnesty International notes that the Rohingya suffered human rights violations under past military dictatorships since 1978, and many of them have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh as a result. In 2005, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees assisted with
2208-536: A report stating that at least 392 Rohingya villages in Rakhine State had been razed to the ground since 25 August 2017. Earlier, Human Rights Watch in December 2017 said it had found that 354 Rohingya villages in Rakhine state were burnt down and destroyed by the Myanmar military. These destructions included thousands of structures, mainly homes used by the Rohingya Muslims. Lewa blamed the security forces of
2346-623: A result of British policy or they were a new migrant population with no ancestral roots to Arakan. The British census of 1872 reported 58,255 Muslims in Akyab District. By 1911, the Muslim population had increased to 178,647. The waves of migration were primarily due to the requirement of cheap labour from British India to work in the paddy fields. Immigrants from Bengal, mainly from the Chittagong region, "moved en masse into western townships of Arakan". Albeit Indian immigration to Burma
2484-626: A video was posted online of security forces beating Rohingya Muslims in November 2016. In the video, Rohingya men and boys were forced to sit in rows with their hands behind their head while they were beaten with batons and kicked. This was the first incident in which the government punished its own security forces in the region since the beginning of the crackdown. On 21 January 2017, the bodies of three Rohingya men were found in shallow graves in Maungdaw . They were locals who had worked closely with
2622-535: A week later. Following the border post incidents, the Burmese military began a major crackdown in the villages of northern Rakhine State. In the initial operation, dozens of people were killed, and many were arrested. Casualties increased as the crackdown continued. Arbitrary arrest , extrajudicial killings , gang rapes, brutalities against civilians, and looting were carried out. Media reports stated hundreds of Rohingya people had been killed by December 2016, and many had fled Myanmar as refugees to take shelter in
2760-518: A week to work on military or government projects and give up one night a week to perform sentry duty. The Rohingya have also lost much of their arable land to the military; land was later distributed to Buddhist settlers who have migrated there from other regions of Myanmar. Myanmar , also known as Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia , bounded by the Bay of Bengal , Bangladesh , and India to
2898-710: Is 34, the youngest is 10, and the oldest is 75. On 24 October 2018, Marzuki Darusman , chairman of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, reported examples of atrocities committed by Myanmar security forces against Rohingya Muslims. This Independent International Fact-Finding Mission was established in 2017 by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In a report published in March 2024,
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#17327904453753036-476: Is a series of ongoing persecutions and killings of the Muslim Rohingya people by the military of Myanmar . The genocide has consisted of two phases to date: the first was a military crackdown that occurred from October 2016 to January 2017, and the second has been occurring since August 2017. The crisis forced over a million Rohingya to flee to other countries. Most fled to Bangladesh , resulting in
3174-549: Is descended from people in precolonial Arakan and colonial Arakan ; historically, the region was an independent kingdom between Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent . The Myanmar government considers the Rohingya as British colonial and postcolonial migrants from Chittagong in Bangladesh. It argues that a distinct precolonial Muslim population is recognized as Kaman , and that the Rohingya conflate their history with
3312-477: Is grim, in part due to a mix of long-term historical tensions between the Rakhine and Rohingya communities, socio-political conflict, socio-economic underdevelopment, and a long-standing marginalisation of both Rakhine and Rohingya by the Government of Burma. The World Bank estimates Rakhine State has the highest poverty rate in Burma (78 per cent) and is the poorest state in the country. The lack of investment by
3450-496: Is known as the Inn Din massacre . Ten Rohingya men, all of whom were captured from the Rohingya village of Inn Din, were killed by members of the Burmese army and Buddhist villagers who formed an "informal militia" to attack Rohingya villages. The victims were taken from hundreds of Rohingya villagers who gathered near a beach to seek safety. Reuters identified all ten victims: five of the men were fishermen, two were shopkeepers, one
3588-607: Is not clear who the original settlers of Arakan were. Burmese traditional history claims that the Rakhine have inhabited Arakan since 3000 BCE but there is no archaeological evidence to support the claim. By the 4th century, Arakan became one of the earliest Indianized kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The first Arakanese state flourished in Dhanyawadi . Power then shifted to the city of Waithali . Sanskrit inscriptions in
3726-644: Is predominantly Buddhist (88–90%), with small minority groups whose members practice other faiths, including a small Muslim minority (4%). The population of the western coastal province of Rakhine State is predominantly Buddhist Rakhine (4% of Myanmar's total population, about 2 million people) while the Rohingya (2% of Myanmar's total population, about 1 million people) are predominantly Muslim. Tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities have frequently led to violence in Rakhine State, with nationalist Buddhists often targeting Rohingyas. The Rohingya are
3864-613: Is scant historical data and archaeological evidence about the early political and religious history of the Arakan people and the Rakhaing region. The limited evidence available suggests that Buddhism, possibly the Mahayana tradition, was well established by the 4th-century in the region under the Candra Buddhist dynasty. Muslim community's expansion and the growth of Islam into the region came much later with Bengali Muslims from
4002-417: Is the easternmost point of Islamic expansion, not to say further into Arakan. The alternate view contests that Islam arrived in the Arakan region in the 1st-millennium. According to this view, this Rohingya history is not based on any evidence, rather is based on "fictitious stories, myths and legends". According to Southeast Asian Buddhism history scholar and an ordained Buddhist monk Ashon Nyanuttara, there
4140-570: The 1956 Burmese general election and subsequent by-elections. Sultan Mahmud , a former politician in British India, became Minister of Health in the cabinet of Prime Minister of Burma U Nu . In 1960, Mahmud suggested that either Rohingya-majority northern Arakan remain under the central government or be made a separate province. However, during the 1960 Burmese general election , Prime Minister U Nu's pledges included making all of Arakan into one province. The 1962 Burmese coup d'état ended
4278-569: The Arakan Mountains in the 9th century. The Rakhines established numerous cities in the valley of the Lemro River . These included Sambawak I, Pyinsa, Parein, Hkrit, Sambawak II, Myohaung, Toungoo and Launggret. Burmese forces invaded the Rakhine cities in 1406. The Burmese invasion forced Rakhine rulers to seek help and refuge from neighbouring Bengal in the north. Early evidence of Bengali Muslim settlements in Arakan date back to
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4416-594: The Battle of Khajwa . Shuja and his entourage arrived in Arakan on 26 August 1660. He was granted asylum by King Sanda Thudhamma . In December 1660, the Arakanese king confiscated Shuja's gold and jewellery, leading to an insurrection by the royal Mughal refugees. According to varying accounts, Shuja's family was killed by the Arakanese, while Shuja himself may have fled to a kingdom in Manipur . However, members of Shuja's entourage remained in Arakan and were recruited by
4554-748: The British Raj . The Bamar executed thousands of men and deported a considerable portion of the population to central Burma, leaving Arakan a scarcely populated area by the time the British occupied it. According to an article on the " Burma Empire" published by the British Francis Buchanan-Hamilton in 1799, "the Mohammedans , who have long settled in Arakan ", "call themselves Rooinga , or natives of Arakan ". However, according to Derek Tokin, Hamilton no longer used
4692-677: The British Raj . In 1799, Francis Buchanan wrote an article called "A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of the Languages Spoken in the Burma Empire", which was found and republished by Michael Charney in the SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research in 2003. Among the native groups of Arakan, he wrote are the: " Mohammedans , who have long settled in Arakan , and who call themselves Rooinga , or natives of Arakan ." The Classical Journal of 1811 identified "Rooinga" as one of
4830-769: The Burmese Ministry of Home Affairs said that an unarmed junior policeman was with the Rohingya men at the time of the attack, but was unable to stop the attackers. On 26 July 2017 a man was arrested in relation to the attacks. On 30 July 2017, packages of high energy biscuits gifted from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) as aid were discovered in a terrorist hideout in the Mayu mountain range in Maungdaw Township . The Rakhine State Government and WFP investigated on
4968-703: The Human Rights Watch reported that the Armed Forces of Myanmar had committed widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against the Rohingya Muslim women and girls for the prior three months. Alongside the Armed Forces, the Myanmar Border Guard Police and Buddhist militias of Rakhine were also involved in these atrocities. HRW stated that the gang rapes and sexual violence were committed as part of
5106-466: The IIMM stated the military had in a "systematic and coordinated" manner "spread material designed to instil fear and hatred of the Rohingya minority". The report found military was used dozens of seemingly unrelated Facebook pages to spread hate speech against the Rohingya prior before the 2017 Rohingya genocide. In January 2017, at least four police officers were detained by government authorities after
5244-571: The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) invaded British-controlled Burma . The British forces retreated and in the power vacuum left behind, considerable inter-communal violence erupted between Arakanese and Muslim villagers. The British armed Muslims in northern Arakan in order to create a buffer zone that would protect the region from a Japanese invasion when they retreated and to counteract the largely pro-Japanese ethnic Rakhines . The period also witnessed violence between groups loyal to
5382-513: The Inn Din massacre were arrested and imprisoned. Foreign Secretary Myint Thu told reporters Myanmar was prepared to accept 2,000 Rohingya refugees from camps in Bangladesh in November 2018. Subsequently, in November 2017, the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal to facilitate the return of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine State within two months, which drew mixed responses from international onlookers. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet , visited Bangladesh and
5520-473: The Legislative Council of Burma and Legislature of Burma . During the 1936 Burmese general election , Advocate U Pho Khaine was elected from Akyab West and Gani Markan was elected from Maungdaw - Buthidaung . In 1939, U Tanvy Markan was elected from Maungdaw-Buthidaung. Their elections in the Burmese native category set them apart from immigrant Indian legislators. During World War II,
5658-565: The MLC Transcription System ) ( Burmese : ရိုဟင်ဂျာ /ɹòhɪ̀ɴd͡ʑà/ ) while in Bengali they are called Rohingga ( Bengali : রোহিঙ্গা /ɹohiŋɡa/ ). The term "Rohingya" may come from Rakhanga or Roshanga , the words for the state of Arakan . The word Rohingya would then mean "inhabitant of Rohang", which was the early Muslim name for Arakan. The usage of the term Rohingya has been historically documented prior to
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5796-575: The Minbya and Mrauk-U Townships were killed by Rakhines and Red Karens . As in the rest of Burma, the IJA committed acts of rape, murder and torture against Muslims in Arakan. During this period, some 22,000 Muslims in Arakan were believed to have crossed the border into Bengal , then part of British India, to escape the violence. The exodus was not restricted to Muslims in Arakan. Thousands of Burmese Indians, Anglo-Burmese and British who settled during
5934-531: The Naf River were often gunned down by the Burmese military. On 3 February 2017, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a report based on interviews with more than 200 Rohingya refugees, which said that the abuses included gang-rape , mass killing, and killing children. Nearly half of the interviewees stated that family members of theirs had been killed. Half of
6072-739: The Persian alphabet on the other. Arakan's vassalage to Bengal was brief. After Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah 's death in 1433, Narameikhla's successors invaded Bengal and occupied Ramu in 1437 and Chittagong in 1459. Arakan would hold Chittagong until 1666. Even after independence from the Sultans of Bengal, the Arakanese kings continued the custom of maintaining Muslim titles. The Buddhist kings compared themselves to Sultans and fashioned themselves after Mughal rulers. They also continued to employ Muslims in prestigious positions within
6210-461: The U.S. Department of State , the government of neighbouring Bangladesh , and the government of Malaysia . The Burmese leader and State Counsellor ( de facto head of government ) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was criticised for her inaction and silence over the issue and did little to prevent military abuses. Myanmar also drew criticism for the prosecutions of journalists under her leadership. The August 2017 persecution
6348-497: The V Force , instead of fighting the Japanese, destroyed Buddhist monasteries, pagodas, and houses, and committed atrocities in northern Arakan. The British Army 's liaison officer , Anthony Irwin, on the other hand, praised the role of the V Force. During the Pakistan Movement in the 1940s, Rohingya Muslims in western Burma organised a separatist movement to merge the region into East Pakistan . The commitments of
6486-427: The 15th and 16th centuries, most arrived in the region when it was a British colony during the 19th and 20th centuries. Many have argued that Rohingya existed from the four waves of Muslim migrations from the ancient times to medieval, to the British colonial period. Gutman (1976) and Ibrahim (2016) claim that the Muslim population dates to before the arrival of ethnic Rakhine in the 9th to 10th centuries; suggesting
6624-536: The 552nd Light Infantry Battalion army base in Rakhine State. The Myanmar Army stated that the attack began around 1:00 AM, when insurgents armed with bombs, small arms weapons, and machetes blew up a bridge. It went on to say that a majority of the attacks occurred around 3:00 AM to 4:00 AM. The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) claimed they were taking "defensive actions" in 25 different locations and accused government soldiers of raping and killing civilians. The group also claimed that Rathedaung had been under
6762-520: The 7th-century. The Arab traders were also missionaries and they began converting the local Buddhist population to Islam by about 788 CE, states Syed Islam. Besides these locals converting to Islam, Arab merchants married local women and later settled in Arakan. As a result of intermarriage and conversion, the Muslim population in Arakan grew. This claim by Sayed Islam saying that, by 788 CE, locals in Arakan were converting to Islam clearly contradicts historian Yegar's findings which say, even in 1203, Bengal
6900-508: The Bay of Bengal to reach Arakan. A southern branch of the Silk Road connected India, Burma, and China since the neolithic period. Arab traders are recorded in the coastal areas of southeast Bengal, bordering Arakan, since the 9th century. The Rohingya population trace their history to this period. According to Syed Islam, the earliest Muslim settlements in the Arakan region began in
7038-561: The British and the Burmese nationalists. The Arakan massacres in 1942 involved communal violence between British-armed V Force Rohingya recruits and pro-Japanese Rakhines , polarising the region along ethnic lines. Tensions boiling in Arakan before the war erupted during the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia and Arakan became the frontline in the conflict. The war resulted in a complete breakdown of civil administration and consequent development of habits of lawlessness exacerbated by
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#17327904453757176-409: The British regarding the status of Muslims after the war are not clear. V Force officers like Andrew Irwin felt that Muslims along with other minorities must be rewarded for their loyalty. Muslim leaders believed that the British had promised them a "Muslim National Area" in Maungdaw region. They were also apprehensive of a future Buddhist-dominated government. In 1946, calls were made for annexation of
7314-514: The Buddhist villagers of Inn Din looted the Rohingya hamlets in Inn Din and then burned down the Rohingya houses. Several Buddhist villagers later confessed to Reuters that they set fire to the Rohingya houses with kerosene and participated in the massacre on 2 September. The 33rd Light Infantry Division of Myanmar Army, the 8th Security Police Battalion, and the Buddhist villagers took part in
7452-687: The Burmese army. It was transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1964 by the Union Revolutionary Council . The socialist military government inducted the zone into Arakan State in 1974. Racism towards people with links to the Indian subcontinent increased after the 1962 Burmese coup. The socialist military government nationalised all property, including many enterprises of the white collar Burmese Indian community. Between 1962 and 1964, 320,000 Burmese Indians were forced to leave
7590-410: The Burmese military and local Buddhists since the "clearance operations" which had started on 25 August 2017. The study also estimated that over 18,000 Rohingya Muslim women and girls were raped, 116,000 Rohingyans were beaten, and 36,000 Rohingyans were thrown into fires. It was also reported that at least 6,700 to 7,000 Rohingya people including 730 children were killed in the first month alone since
7728-412: The Burmese military during the 2017 crackdown. Some intact villages that lost their Rohingya inhabitants because of the military crackdown were also bulldozed. Since the 25 August incident, Myanmar blocked media access and the visits of international bodies to Rakhine State. Near Rangoon on 12 December 2017, two Reuters journalists who had been covering the refugee story were charged and imprisoned by
7866-592: The Burmese military junta banned the NDPHR. Rohingya people The Rohingya people ( / r oʊ ˈ h ɪ n dʒ ə , - ɪ ŋ j ə / ; Rohingya : 𐴌𐴗𐴥𐴝𐴙𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 (romanization: ruáingga), IPA: [rʊˈɜi̯ɲ.ɟə] ) are a stateless ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State , Myanmar . Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar. Described by journalists and news outlets as one of
8004-591: The Burmese military. During one incident in November, the Myanmar military used helicopter gunships to shoot and kill villagers. As of November 2016, Myanmar has yet to allow the media and human rights groups to enter the persecuted areas. Consequently, the exact figures of civilian casualties remain unknown. Rakhine State was termed an "information black hole". Those who fled Myanmar to escape persecution reported that women had been gang raped, men were killed, houses were torched, and young children were thrown into burning houses. Boats carrying Rohingya refugees on
8142-764: The Health Assistance Training Course in Insein , Rangoon between 1954 and 1956. He later joined the Anti-Malaria Department of the Burmese government. He was a Health Assistant till 1968. Ahmed was a member of the Rohingya Independent Force until 1978. As CEC member of the NDPHR, Ahmed contested the 1990 Burmese general election and won from Buthidaung-2 constituency with 20,045 votes out of 40,143 votes. The NDPHR won four seats in parliament. In 1992,
8280-442: The Indian immigrants formed a majority of the population. All of Burma was officially a Province within the British Indian Empire ('the Raj') from November 1885 until 1937, when Burma became a separate Crown colony within the British Empire . The Burmese under British rule felt helpless, and reacted with a "racism that combined feelings of superiority and fear". Professor Andrew Selth of Griffith University writes that although
8418-421: The Kingdom of Mrauk U. The Mughal expedition continued up till the Kaladan River . The Mughals placed the northern part of Arakan under its administration and vassalage. Following the Konbaung Dynasty 's conquest of Arakan in 1785, as many as 35,000 people of the Rakhine State fled to the neighbouring Chittagong region of British Bengal in 1799 to escape persecution by the Bamar and to seek protection under
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#17327904453758556-415: The Mughal nobility. A notable royal slave was Alaol , a renowned poet in the Arakanese court. The slave population were employed in a variety of workforces, including in the king's army, commerce and agriculture. In 1660, Prince Shah Shuja , the governor of Mughal Bengal and a claimant of the Peacock Throne , fled to Arakan with his family after being defeated by his brother Emperor Aurangzeb during
8694-711: The Myanmar security forces have been conducting " summary executions , enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and ill-treatment, and forced labour " against the community. Before the 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis and the military crackdown in 2016 and 2017 , the Rohingya population in Myanmar was close to 1.4 million, chiefly in the northern Rakhine townships, which were 80–98% Rohingya. Since 2015, over 900,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to south-eastern Bangladesh alone, and more to other surrounding countries, and major Muslim nations. More than 100,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar are confined in camps for internally displaced persons . Shortly before
8832-423: The Naf River to enter Bangladesh. By the second week, at least 1,000 Rohingya were killed. The Rohingya group Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, established by slain Rohingya activist Mohibullah , began documenting evidence of the atrocities committed in Myanmar in August 2017, after their founding members fled Myanmar and arrived in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The organisation went door to door in
8970-427: The Rohingya are descendants of a pre- Arakan population who existed for 3,000 years, and waves of Muslim who intermingled with them, forming the modern Rohingya. The Rohingya have been denied citizenship by the government of Myanmar, who considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar dates back to the 1970s. Since then, the Rohingya people have been persecuted on
9108-428: The Rohingya as ethnic cleansing . The UN human rights envoy to Myanmar reported "the long history of discrimination and persecution against the Rohingya community... could amount to crimes against humanity ", and there have been warnings of an unfolding genocide . Probes by the UN have found evidence of increasing incitement of hatred and religious intolerance by "ultra-nationalist Buddhists" against Rohingyas while
9246-467: The Rohingya camps near the border with Myanmar in early August 2022. Reports covered that Bangladesh's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina asked the refugees to return to Myanmar. However, the UN addressed that repatriation needs to be conducted in a voluntary and dignified manner, and when the conditions on the border and also in Myanmar are safe for the process. In late August 2022, the UN special envoy held another discussion with Bangladesh leaders, acknowledging
9384-537: The Rohingya from escaping northwest to Bangladesh. Burmese soldiers allegedly gunned down Rohingya civilians fleeing south. Those that remained were allegedly targeted by aerial attacks. Some have described the Rohingya as being trapped in a "genocide zone". In November 2019, the Three Brotherhood Alliance coalition of ethnic rebels in Myanmar issued a statement welcoming efforts by the international community to punish their country's junta through legal processes for alleged genocide against ethnic minority groups including
9522-400: The Rohingya-majority northern areas of Arakan existed between 1961 and 1964. Known as the Mayu Frontier District , the zone was set up by Prime Minister U Nu after the 1960 Burmese general election, on the advice of his health minister Sultan Mahmud. The zone was administered directly from Rangoon by the national government. After the Burmese military coup in 1962, the zone was administered by
9660-456: The Rohingya. In early April 2020, the government of Myanmar released two presidential directives: Directive No. 1/2020 and Directive No. 2/2020. They were released after the January orders issued by ICJ for the government and military to stop genocide against the Rohingya Muslim ethnic group. Directive No. 1/2020 legislates that the answerable authorities are liable to ensure anyone under their control do not commit activities that lead up to
9798-493: The Rohingyas who were displaced by World War II and began to return to Arakan after the independence of Burma but were rendered as illegal immigrants, while many were not allowed to return. ICG adds that there were "some 17,000" refugees from the Bangladesh liberation war who "subsequently returned home". On 25 September 1954, the then Prime Minister U Nu in his radio address to the nation talked about Rohingya Muslims’ political loyalty to predominantly Buddhist Burma. This usage of
9936-483: The U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar has agreed. Jacques Leider writes that many Muslims in Rakhine simply prefer to call themselves "Muslim Arakanese" or "Muslims coming from Rakhine" instead of "Rohingya". The United States embassy in Yangon continues to use the name "Rohingya". The Rohingya population is concentrated in the historical region of Arakan , an old coastal country in Southeast Asia. It
10074-590: The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Myanmar reports at least 1,000 people had been killed in the violence since 25 August. She added that the figure is "very likely an underestimate". She also downplayed the chance that Myanmar generals will ever see the inside of the International Criminal Court due to ''powerful international defenders.'' In October 2018, Lee reported that Suu Kyi denied
10212-512: The abandonment of even more of the Muslim population as well as an increase in inter-communal violence. Moshe Yegar, a research fellow at Truman Institute, Hebrew University of Jerusalem , noted that hostility had developed between the Muslims and the Buddhists who had brought about a similar hostility in other parts of Burma. This tension was let loose with the retreat of the British. With
10350-444: The allegations. Suu Kyi's government denied "independent international investigations" and probes. Lee has described the situation as 'apartheid' with detained Rohingyas segregated from the 'Rakhine ethnic community' and without 'freedom of movement'. On 23 April 2019, a Burmese gunship strafed the Rohingya village of Buthidaung . The military subsequently planted internationally banned landmines along northern Rakhine state to prevent
10488-412: The approach of the Japanese into Arakan, the Buddhists instigated cruel measures against the Muslims. Thousands, though the exact number is unknown, fled from Buddhist-majority regions to eastern Bengal and northern Arakan with many being killed or dying of starvation. The Muslims in response conducted retaliatory raids from British-controlled areas, causing Buddhists to flee to southern Arakan. Aye Chan,
10626-428: The arrival of ethnic Rakhine in the 9th to 10th century. Suggesting the Rohingya are descendants of a pre-Arakan population who existed for 3 thousand years and waves of Muslim who intermingled forming modern Rohingya. The impact of this immigration was particularly acute in Arakan. Although it boosted the colonial economy, local Arakanese bitterly resented it. According to historian Clive J. Christie, "The issue became
10764-523: The availability of modern firearms . The Japanese advance triggered an inter-communal conflict between Muslims and Buddhists. The Muslims fled towards British-controlled Muslim-dominated northern Arakan from Japanese-controlled Buddhist-majority areas. This stimulated a "reverse ethnic cleansing" in British-controlled areas, particularly around Maungdaw. Failure of a British counter-offensive, attempted from December 1942 to April 1943, resulted in
10902-402: The burning village after village in a systematic way while also blaming Rohingya arsonists of burning the Buddhist village of Pyu Ma. A video provided to ABC News by a human rights monitor purportedly shows the village burning and in another clip of freshly dug earth mound, allegedly graves of those killed. Before the Inn Din massacre in early September 2017, members of Myanmar military and
11040-460: The camp, collecting information about the number of people in each household that had been killed, injured, or raped; which houses had burnt down; and other eyewitness accounts of crimes committed across Rakhine state in 2016 and 2017. The documentation they have collected to date includes information from over 3,000 witnesses to various serious international crimes. In August 2018, a study estimated that more than 24,000 Rohingya people were killed by
11178-478: The capitals known to history have been in the north near modern Akyab ". Due to its coastline on the Bay of Bengal , Arakan was a key centre of maritime trade and cultural exchange between Burma and the outside world, since the time of the Indian Maurya Empire . According to Syed Islam, a political science scholar, Arab merchants had been in contact with Arakan since the third century, using
11316-453: The central government has resulted in poor infrastructure and inferior social services, while lack of rule of law has led to inadequate security conditions. Members of the Rohingya community in particular reportedly face abuses by the Government of Burma, including those involving torture, unlawful arrest and detention, restricted movement, restrictions on religious practice, and discrimination in employment and access to social services. In 2012,
11454-576: The colonial period emigrated en masse to India. To facilitate their reentry into Burma, the British formed Volunteer Forces with Rohingya. Over the three years during which the Allies and Japanese fought over the Mayu peninsula, the Rohingya recruits of the V-Force, engaged in a campaign against Arakanese communities, using weapons provided by V-Force. According to the secretary of the British governor ,
11592-758: The country in 1962, the Rohingya have been systematically deprived of their political rights. In 1962 military dictator General Ne Win, took over the government and started implementing a Nationalist agenda, which had its roots in racial discrimination. In 1978 military government launched operation Nagamin to separate nationals from non-nationals. This was the first concerted large scale violent attack on Rohingya. National Registration Cards (NRC) were taken away by state actors never to be replaced. Violence that followed forced 200,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. Bangladesh denied Rohingya admission into her territory and blocked food rations leading to death of 12,000 of them. After bilateral negotiations Rohingya were repatriated. In
11730-704: The country's Westminster -style political system. The 1982 Burmese citizenship law stripped most of the Rohingyas of their stake in citizenship. Rohingya community leaders were supportive of the 8888 uprising for democracy. During the 1990 Burmese general election , the Rohingya-led National Democratic Party for Human Rights won four seats in the Burmese parliament. The four Rohingya MPs included Shamsul Anwarul Huq , Chit Lwin Ebrahim , Fazal Ahmed and Nur Ahmed . The election
11868-450: The country. As a result of Operation King Dragon by the Burmese junta, the first wave of Rohingya refugees entered Bangladesh in 1978. An estimated 200,000 Rohingyas took shelter in Cox's Bazar. Diplomatic initiatives over 16 months resulted in a repatriation agreement, which allowed the return of most refugees under a process facilitated by UNHCR . The return of refugees to Burma has been
12006-531: The crackdown started. The majority of them died from gunshots while others were burned to death in their homes. The sources described their killings as "violent deaths". There were also reports of mass killings of Rohingyas by the military and Buddhist vigilantes in Chut Pyin village near Rathedaung. Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project stated that they had received reports of 130 being killed in
12144-409: The creation of the world's largest refugee camp , while others escaped to India , Thailand , Malaysia , and other parts of South and Southeast Asia , where they continue to face persecution. Many other countries consider these events ethnic cleansing . The persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar dates back to at least the 1970s. Since then, the Rohingya people have been persecuted on
12282-684: The crime of genocide against the Rohingya and the Kachin minority groups . Suu Kyi was again criticised for her silence over the issue and for supporting the military actions. In August 2018, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights declared that Burmese military generals should be tried for genocide. On 23 January 2020, the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to prevent genocidal violence against its Rohingya minority and to preserve evidence of past attacks. The Rohingya people have been described as "amongst
12420-487: The crossfire of this conflict." In the 1931 census, the Muslim population of Burma was 584,839, 4% of the total population of 14,647,470 at the time. 396,504 were Indian Muslims and 1,474 Chinese Muslims, while 186,861 were Burmese Muslims. The census found a growth in the number of Indian Muslims born in Burma, primarily due to their permanent settlement in Akyab. 41% of Muslims of Burma lived in Arakan at that time. Due to
12558-404: The deputies of General Ne Win, in 1961 explained Rohingya as; “On the west, May Yu district borders with Pakistan. As is the case with all borderlands communities, there are Muslims on both sides of the borders. Those who are on Pakistan’s side are known as Pakistani while the Muslims on our Burmese side of the borders are referred to as ‘Rohingya’. But since Burma's military junta took control of
12696-658: The difficult terrain of the Arakan Mountains , the Arakan region was historically most accessible by sea. In British Arakan Division, the port of Akyab had ferry services and a thriving trade with the ports of Chittagong , Narayanganj , Dacca and Calcutta in British India ; as well as with Rangoon . Akyab was one of the leading rice ports in the world, hosting ship fleets from Europe and China. Many Indians settled in Akyab and dominated its seaport and hinterland. The 1931 census found 500,000 Indians living in Akyab. Several Rohingyas were elected to Burmese native seats in
12834-484: The ethnicity. Sultan Ahmed, who served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Minorities, was a member of the Justice Sir Ba U Commission charged with exploring whether Arakan Division should be granted statehood. During the 1951 Burmese general election , five Rohingyas were elected to the Parliament of Burma , including one of the country's first two female MPs, Zura Begum . Six MPs were elected during
12972-795: The first month of attacks, between 25 August and September 24, 2017. The Burmese government dismissed these findings by stating they are "exaggerations". Using statistical extrapolations which were based on surveys which were conducted with a total of 3,321 Rohingya refugee households in Cox's Bazar , Bangladesh, a study which was conducted in January 2018 estimated that the military and the local Rakhine population killed at least 25,000 Rohingya people and perpetrated gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against 18,000 Rohingya women and girls. They estimated that 116,000 Rohingya were beaten, and 36,000 were thrown into fires. The military operations displaced
13110-414: The help of the Buddhist militia. In the first week, at least 130 Rohingya people were killed. The Rohingya people started fleeing Myanmar in large numbers and tried to take shelter in Bangladesh. The Myanmar military often opened fire with mortar shells and machine-guns on the fleeing Rohingya, and dead bodies of many Rohingya people began to be washed ashore from the drowned boats as they attempted to cross
13248-407: The history of Arakan Muslims in general to advance a separatist agenda. In addition, Myanmar's government does not recognise the term "Rohingya" and prefers to refer to the community as " Bengali ". Rohingya campaign groups and human rights organizations demand the right to " self-determination within Myanmar". Various armed insurrections by the Rohingya have taken place since the 1940s and
13386-549: The intercommunal conflict led to the death of nearly 200 Rohingya and the displacement of 140,000 people. Throughout 2013–2015 isolated incidents of violence against Rohingya individuals continued to take place. According to Myanmar state reports, on 9 October 2016, armed individuals attacked several border police posts in Rakhine State and left nine police personnel dead. Weapons and ammunition were also looted. The attack took place mainly in Maungdaw Township . A newly formed insurgent group, Harakah al-Yaqin , claimed responsibility
13524-535: The languages spoken in the "Burmah Empire". In 1815, Johann Severin Vater listed "Ruinga" as an ethnic group with a distinct language in a compendium of languages published in German. In 1936, when Burma was still under British rule , the " Rohingya Jam’iyyat al Ulama " was founded in Arakan. According to Jacques Leider , the Rohingya were referred to as " Chittagonians " during the British colonial period, and it
13662-445: The legal discrimination against them) which included the denial of their right to receive all essential services and means of support. They are not allowed to travel without official permission. Previously, they were required to sign a commitment not to have more than two children; however, this law was not strictly enforced. They may be subjected to routine forced labour , during which a Rohingya man will typically have to give up one day
13800-611: The local administration, and the government believed they were murdered by Rohingya insurgents in a reprisal attack. On 4 July 2017, a mob of at least a hundred Rakhine Buddhists in Sittwe attacked seven Rohingya men from the Dapaing camp for internally displaced persons with bricks, killing one and severely injuring another. The Rohingya men were being escorted by police to Sittwe's docks to purchase boats, but were attacked despite armed guards being present nearby. A spokesman for
13938-565: The looting which included Rohingya property, goats, cows, cattle, and motorcycles. Thant Zin Oo, the commander of the 8th Battalion, later sold the cows and the cattle in exchange for money. Rohingya from Buthidaung stated to NUG Deputy Human Rights Minister, Aung Kyaw Moe that the Arakha Army burnt down the town after telling them to leave on May 17th. In November 2017, both the UN officials and
14076-456: The major pressures as a host country. At the same time, the UN emphasized the importance of engaging the Rohingya in direct discussions and decisions making processes about their future and for minimizing marginalization. The 2016 military crackdown on the Rohingya people was condemned by the UN (which cited possible " crimes against humanity "), the human rights organization Amnesty International ,
14214-834: The military's ethnic cleansing campaign while Pramila Patten , the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said that the Rohingya women and girls were made the "systematic" target of rapes and sexual violence because of their ethnic identity and religion . Other forms of sexual violence included sexual slavery in military captivity, forced public nudity, and humiliation. Some women and girls were raped to death while others were found traumatised with raw wounds after they had arrived in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch reported of
14352-435: The most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya are denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law . There are also restrictions on their freedom of movement , access to state education and civil service jobs. The legal conditions faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar have been compared to apartheid by some academics, analysts and political figures, including Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu ,
14490-444: The nearby areas of Bangladesh. Hindus and other non-Muslims in northern Rakhine at the time of the crackdown had accused ARSA members of driving out or killing residents in their villages. In late November, Human Rights Watch released satellite images which showed about 1,250 Rohingya houses in five villages burned down by security forces. The media and human rights groups frequently reported intense human rights violations by
14628-410: The persecution of the Rohingya in Rakhine State satisfied the criteria for genocide, the study found that the Burmese government, with the help of extremist Buddhist monks, was responsible for ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Rohingya. Before the most recent violence, in its 17 March 2016 Atrocities Prevention Report , the U.S. Department of State summarised: The situation in Rakhine State
14766-491: The police for violating a 1923 colonial law related to secrecy. On 1 February 2018, a Myanmar court denied bail for the two Reuters journalists. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his concern and called for the release of the two journalists, who were released on 7 May 2019 along with over 6,000 other prisoners in a presidential pardon. According to the Mission report of OHCHR (released on 11 October 2017 by
14904-456: The population as a whole has faced military crackdowns in 1978 , 1991–1992 , 2012 , 2015 , and particularly in 2016–2018 , when most of the Rohingya population of Myanmar was driven out of the country, into neighbouring Bangladesh. By December 2017, an estimated 625,000 refugees from Rakhine, Myanmar, had crossed the border into Bangladesh since August 2017. UN officials and Human Rights Watch have described Myanmar's persecution of
15042-524: The prelude to independence, two Rohingyas were elected to the Constituent Assembly of Burma in 1947, M. A. Gaffar and Sultan Ahmed . After Burma became independent in 1948, M. A. Gaffar presented a memorandum of appeal to the Government of the Union of Burma calling for the recognition of the term "Rohingya", based on local Indian names of Arakan (Rohan and Rohang), as the official name of
15180-701: The pretense of misuse of food assistance. On 31 July 2017, three decapitated bodies were found in Rathedaung Township . A government official asserted they were murdered by Rohingya insurgents. On 3 August 2017, six Mro farmers were found killed in Maungdaw Township, supposedly as the work of Muslim militants. On 25 August 2017, the Myanmar government announced that 71 people (one soldier, one immigration officer, 10 policemen and 59 insurgents) had been killed overnight during coordinated attacks by up to 150 insurgents across 24 police posts and
15318-453: The region indicate that the founders of the first Arakanese states were Indian. Arakan was ruled by the Chandra dynasty . The British historian Daniel George Edward Hall stated that "The Burmese do not seem to have settled in Arakan until possibly as late as the tenth century CE. Hence earlier dynasties are thought to have been Indian, ruling over a population similar to that of Bengal. All
15456-509: The region that is now a part of Bangladesh. Further, the term "Rohingya" does not appear in any regional text of this period and much later. That term was adopted by "a few Bengali Muslim intellectuals who were direct descendants of immigrants from Chittagong district [Bengal]" in the 20th-century, states historian Aye Chan. The Rakhines were one of the tribes of the Burmese Pyu city-states . The Rakhines began migrating to Arakan through
15594-639: The repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh, but allegations of human rights abuses in the refugee camps threatened this effort. In 2015, 140,000 Rohingyas remained in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps after communal riots in 2012. In 2015, the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School found "strong evidence that genocide is being committed against Rohingya." After eight months of analysing whether
15732-401: The royal administration. Some of them worked as Bengali , Persian and Arabic scribes in the Arakanese courts, which, despite remaining Buddhist, adopted Islamic fashions from the neighbouring Bengal Sultanate. The population increased in the 17th century, as slaves were brought in by Arakanese raiders and Portuguese settlers following raids into Bengal. Slaves included members of
15870-550: The royal army, including as archers and court guards. They were king makers in Arakan until the Burmese conquest. The Arakanese continued their raids of Mughal Bengal. Dhaka was raided in 1625. Emperor Aurangzeb gave orders to his governor in Mughal Bengal, Shaista Khan , to end what the Mughals saw as Arakanese-Portuguese piracy . In 1666, Shaista Khan led a 6000 man army and 288 warships to seize Chittagong from
16008-586: The second largest repatriation process in Asia after the return of Cambodian refugees from Thailand. In 1982, the citizenship law enacted by the Burmese military junta did not list the Rohingya as one of the 135 " national races " of Burma. This made much of the Rohingya population in Burma stateless in their historical homeland of Arakan . General Ne Win drafted the Citizenship Act in 1982, which denied citizenship rights to any community/group that
16146-520: The shrine is a rectangular structure measuring 33 ft by 47 ft ." King Min Saw Mon ceded some territory to the Sultan of Bengal and recognised his sovereignty over the areas. In recognition of his kingdom's vassal status, the Buddhist kings of Arakan received Islamic titles and used the Bengali gold dinar within the kingdom. Min Saw Mon minted his own coins with the Burmese alphabet on one side and
16284-559: The term to refer to the Muslims in Arakan in his later publications. Sir Henry Yule saw many Muslims serving as eunuchs in Konbaung while on a diplomatic mission to the Burmese capital, Ava. British policy encouraged Bengali inhabitants from adjacent regions to migrate into the then lightly populated and fertile valleys of Arakan as farm labourers. The East India Company extended the Bengal Presidency to Arakan. There
16422-428: The term ‘Rohingya’ is important in the sense that today Myanmar denies to accept this category altogether and calls them ’Bengali’. During the same time a separate administrative zone May Yu was established comprising most of the present North Rakhine State, which had Rohingya as its majority ethnic group. One of the objectives of this Muslim majority zone was to ‘strive for peace with Pakistan’. Brigadier Aung Gyi, one of
16560-402: The territory by Pakistan as well as of an independent state. Before the independence of Burma in January 1948, Muslim leaders from Arakan addressed themselves to Muhammad Ali Jinnah , the founder of Pakistan, and asked his assistance in incorporating the Mayu region to Pakistan considering their religious affinity and geographical proximity with East Pakistan. The North Arakan Muslim League
16698-591: The time of Min Saw Mon (1430–34) of the Kingdom of Mrauk U . After 24 years of exile in Bengal, he regained control of the Arakanese throne in 1430 with military assistance from the Bengal Sultanate . The Bengalis who came with him formed their own settlements in the region. The Santikan Mosque built in the 1430s, features a court which "measures 65 ft from north to south and 82 ft from east to west;
16836-517: The time of the Myanmar army crackdown accused ARSA members of killing residents or burning homes in their villages, with Radio Free Asia reporting more than 1,200 Hindus had fled to refugee camps in Maungdaw and Sittwe due to ARSA violence. Hindu refugees and the Myanmar government alleged that Rohingya militants forced remaining Hindu women to convert to Islam and took them to Bangladesh. ARSA has also been responsible for killings of fellow Rohingyas in Bangladeshi refugee camps. Yanghee Lee ,
16974-419: The victims as "Bengali Muslims (called Rohingyas)". Nevertheless, the term Rohingya wasn't widely used until the 1990s. Today the use of the name "Rohingya" is polarised. The government of Myanmar refuses to use the name. In the 2014 census, the Myanmar government forced the Rohingya to identify themselves as "Bengali". Many Rohingya see the denial of their name similar to denying their basic rights, and
17112-558: The village. On 7 September 2017, The Guardian reported a mass killing of Rohingyas at the Tula Toli village and called it the Tula Toli massacre . According to the Arakan Project, evidence of likely mass graves was uncovered, including time stamped mobile phone metadata indicating an 27 August date. In February 2018, Reuters reported a massacre event which occurred in Rakhine state's Inn Din village on 2 September 2017. This event
17250-486: The west, and China , Laos and Thailand to the east. Democracy has only existed in Myanmar since 2011 when the country's military made an arrangement with the opposition, under which a free election was permitted to be held on 8 November 2015. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was promoted to the State Counsellor of Myanmar after having spent years under house arrest . Myanmar's population
17388-438: The women interviewed stated that they had been raped or sexually assaulted: the report described the sexual violence as "massive and systematic". The army and police were alleged to have burned "homes, schools, markets, shops, and mosques" belonging to or used by the Rohingya people. In March 2017, a police document obtained by Reuters listed 423 Rohingyas detained by the police since 9 October 2016, 13 of whom were children,
17526-421: The world's least wanted" and "one of the world's most persecuted minorities " by the UN. The Rohingya are deprived of the right to move freely as well as the right to receive a higher education. They have officially been denied Burmese citizenship since 1982 when the Burmese nationality law was enacted. However, the persecution and marginalization of them predate the passage of this law (which only formalised
17664-504: The youngest being ten years old. Two police captains in Maungdaw verified the document and justified the arrests; one of them said, "We the police have to arrest those who collaborated with the attackers, children or not, but the court will decide if they are guilty; we are not the ones who decide." Burmese police also claimed that the children had confessed to their alleged crimes during interrogations and that they were not beaten or pressured during questioning. The average age of those detained
17802-465: Was a nationwide phenomenon, not just restricted to Arakan. For these reasons historians believed that most Rohingyas arrived with the British colonialists in the 19th and 20th centuries with some tracing their ancestry much further. According to Thant Myint-U , historian and adviser to President Thein Sein , "At the beginning of the 20th century, Indians were arriving in Burma at the rate of no less than
17940-591: Was an Islamic teacher, and the last two were high school students. On 9 March 2024, a Myanmar Police Force artillery shell struck the Aung Mingalar district of Sittwe . Five Rohingya were killed, and ten (including children) were seriously injured. On August 5, 2024, the Arakan Army attacked Rohingya civilians in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State killing 221. In September 2018, the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar released
18078-477: Was charged under Section 18 of the controversial 1982 Burmese citizenship law and sentenced to 47 years in prison. In 2015, a ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party MP Shwe Maung was disbarred from the 2015 Burmese general election , on grounds that his parents were not Burmese citizens under the 1982 citizenship law. As of 2017, Burma does not have a single Rohingya MP and the Rohingya population have no voting rights . A separate administrative zone for
18216-513: Was founded in Akyab (modern Sittwe) two months later. The proposal never materialised since it was reportedly turned down by Jinnah, saying that he was not in a position to interfere in Burmese matters. The numbers and the extent of post-independence immigration from Bangladesh are subject to controversy and debate. In a 1955 study published by Stanford University , the authors Virginia Thompson and Richard Adloff write, "The post-war (World War II) illegal immigration of Chittagonians into that area
18354-508: Was launched in response to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacks on Myanmar border posts. It has been labeled ethnic cleansing and genocide by various UN agencies, ICC officials, human rights groups, and governments. The UN described the persecution as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing". In late September 2017, a seven-member panel of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal found the Burmese military and authority guilty of
18492-427: Was no international boundary between Bengal and Arakan and no restrictions on migration between the regions. In the early 19th century, thousands of Bengalis from the Chittagong region settled in Arakan seeking work. It is hard to know whether these new Bengal migrants were the same population that was deported by force to Bengal's Chittagong during the Burmese conquest in the 18th century and later returned to Arakan as
18630-399: Was not controversial to refer to them as "Bengalis" until the 1990s. Leider also states that "there is no international consensus" on the use of the term Rohingya, as they are often called "Rohingya Muslims", "Muslim Arakanese" and "Burmese Muslims". Others, such as anthropologist Christina Fink, use Rohingya not as an ethnic identifier but as a political one. Leider believes the Rohingya is
18768-463: Was not listed in a survey conducted by British in 1823. All other ethnic groups were considered aliens to the land or invaders. Eight major ethnicities Arakan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Mon, Shan, and Burmese were broken into 135 small ethnic groups. Groups like Rohingya who do not belong to any of these 135 ethnicities were denied citizenship rights. Rohingya genocide Insurgent groups Refugee crisis Massacres The Rohingya genocide
18906-567: Was on a vast scale, and in the Maungdaw and Buthidaung areas they replaced the Arakanese." The authors further argue that the term Rohingya, in the form of Rwangya, first appeared to distinguish settled population from newcomers: "The newcomers were called Mujahids (crusaders), in contrast to the Rwangya or settled Chittagonian population." According to the International Crisis Group (ICG), these immigrants were actually
19044-545: Was won by the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi , who was placed under house arrest and not permitted to become prime minister. The Burmese military junta banned the National Democratic Party for Human Rights in 1992. Its leaders were arrested, jailed and tortured. Rohingya politicians have been jailed to disbar them from contesting elections. In 2005, Shamsul Anwarul Huq
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