2015 Rohingya refugee crisis

The 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis refers to the mass migration of thousands of Rohingya people from Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Bangladesh in 2015, collectively dubbed "boat people" by international media.^[1] Nearly all who fled traveled to Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand by rickety boats via the waters of the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea.^[1][2][3][4]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 25,000 people have been taken to boats from January to March in 2015 by human traffickers.^[5][6] There are claims that, while on their journey, around 100 people died in Indonesia,^[7] 200 in Malaysia,^[8] and 10 in Thailand,^[9] after the traffickers abandoned them at sea.^[10][11]

In October 2015, researchers from the International State Crime Initiative at Queen Mary University of London released a report drawing on leaked government documents that reveals an increasing "ghettoisation, sporadic massacres, and restrictions on movement" on Rohingya peoples. The researchers suggest that the Myanmar government are in the final stages of an organised process of genocide against the Rohingya and have called upon the international community to redress the situation as such.^[12]

Background

Rohingya people in Rakhine State

The Rohingya people are a Muslim minority group residing in the Rakhine state, formerly known as Arakan.^[13] The Rohingya people are considered “stateless entities”, as the Myanmar government has been refusing to recognise them as one of the ethnic groups of the country. For this reason, the Rohingya people lack legal protection from the Government of Myanmar, are regarded as mere refugees from Bangladesh, and face strong hostility in the country—often described as one of the most persecuted people on earth.^[14][15][16] To escape the dire situation in Myanmar, the Rohingya try to illegally enter Southeast Asian states, begging for humanitarian support from potential host countries.^[17]

On 1 May 2015, about 32 shallow graves were discovered on a remote and rugged mountain in Thailand, at a so-called "waiting area" for the illegal migrants before they were sneaked through the border into Malaysia. A Bangladeshi migrant was found alive in the grave and was later treated at a local hospital as told to Thai news agencies.^[18][19] On 22 May 2015, however, the Myanmar navy rescued 208 migrants at sea, and upon inspection, confirmed themselves as having come from Bangladesh.^[20] Protests by nationalists erupted in the capital, calling for the international community to stop blaming Myanmar for the Rohingya crisis.^[21]

On 24 May 2015, Malaysian police discovered 139 suspected graves in a series of abandoned camps used by human traffickers on the border with Thailand where Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma were believed to have been held.^[22][23]

The Muslim Rohingya has been fleeing from Myanmar (Burma) by the thousands. The Rohingya are a minority ethnic group located in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state and are considered to be a variation of the Sunni religion. Since the Rohingya are considered to be illegal Bengali immigrants and were denied recognition as a religion by the government of Myanmar, the dominant group, the Rakhine, rejects the label “Rohingya” and have started to persecute the Rohingya. The 1982 Citizenship Law denies the Rohingya Muslims citizenship despite the people living there for generations. The Rohingya are fleeing Myanmar because of the restrictions and policies placed by the government. The restrictions include: “marriage, family planning, employment, education, religious choice, and freedom of movement” and they are facing discrimination because of their ethnic heritage (Albert 3). The people in Myanmar are also facing wide spread poverty, with more than 78 percent of the families living below the poverty line. With most of the families living below the poverty line, tensions between the Rohingya and the other religious groups have exploded into conflict. The violence and turmoil began in 2012, the first incident was when a group of Rohingya men were accused of raping and killing a Buddhist woman (Albert 4). The Buddhist nationalists retaliated by killing and burning the Rohingya homes. People from all over the world started calling this crisis and bloodshed “campaign of ethnic cleansing.” Just like the Japanese in America, the Rohingyas were placed in internment camps and today there are still more than 120,000 still housed there. For years the Rohingyas have faced discrimination and persecution, today they are still facing this problem and have started to flee to other countries for safe haven. In 2015 “more than 40 Rohingya were massacred in the village of Du Chee Yar Tan by local men, the U.N. confirmed. Among the findings were 10 severed heads in a water tank, including those of children” (Westcott 1). The Rohingya people have been facing persecution for their religion and as of today still have no rights or citizenship in their homeland.

Statistics

Bangladesh is home to 32,000 registered Rohingya refugees who are sheltering in two camps in the south-eastern district of Cox’s Bazar.^[24] Agence France-Presse reported in May 2015 that another 200,000 unregistered Rohingya refugees were living in Bangladesh, most of them near the two official camps.^[25]

According to Reuters, more than 140,000 of the estimated 800,000 to 1,100,000 Rohingya^[26] have been forced to seek refuge in displacement camps after the 2012 Rakhine State riots.^[27] To escape the systemic violence and persecution in Myanmar, an estimated 100,000 people^[28] have since fled the camps.^[29]

In late May, 2015, about 3,000-3,500 Rohingya refugees traveling to other countries in Southeast Asia, from Myanmar and Bangladesh, had been rescued, or had swum to shore—while several thousand more were believed to be trapped with little food or water on the boats floating at sea.^[25][30]

The number of Rohingya refugees in the U.S. has increased significantly since 2014. In 2015, the number of Refugees from Myanmar jumped from 650 to 2,573. Another 2,173 Rohingya refugees arrived in 2016. President Obama removed the sanctions originally imposed on Myanmar which enabled the U.S. to help more refugees. Migration to the United States from Asia raised once the Immigration and Nationality Act passed in 1965. With these two acts the quota for immigrants was lifted and Asian and Arab immigrants were once again able to come to the United States. Today the biggest population of Rohingya refugees and immigrants in the U.S. can be found in Chicago, Illinois.

Responses

Malaysia

At first Malaysia refused to provide any kind of refuge to the people reaching its shore but agreed to "provide provisions and send them away".^[31]

Later, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to provide temporary refuge to the Rohingya.^[32]

Indonesia

Indonesia, concurrent with Malaysia, agreed to provide temporary refuge to the Rohingya.^[32]

Australian foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said that Indonesia believed only 30 to 40 percent of those at sea were Rohingya, with the remainder mostly being Bangladeshi "illegal labourers."^[33]

Thailand

Thailand said that it would provide humanitarian assistance and would not turn away boats that wish to enter its waters.^[34]

Philippines

The Philippine government expressed their wish to provide shelter for up to 3,000 "boat people" from Myanmar and Bangladesh. As a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the country abides by the rules of international law and will provide assistance to refugees.^[35] Malacañang Palace also noted in a statement that this follows the country's harbouring and assistance to Vietnamese boat people fleeing from Vietnam in the late 1970s.^[36]

The Gambia

The government of The Gambia also expressed their concern and wished to take in stranded boat people saying, “it is a sacred duty to help alleviate the untold hardships and sufferings fellow human beings are confronted with.”^[37]

Bangladesh

Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina called her own country's economic migrants "mentally sick" and said that they could have better lives in Bangladesh, and complained they were discrediting Bangladesh by leaving.^[25][38]

Shortly thereafter, the Bangladeshi Government announced plans to relocate the 32,000 registered Rohingya refugees who have spent years in camps near the Myanmar border (the 200,000 unregistered other refugees were not officially part of the government's relocation plan.^[25][39] Initially, Thengar Char, an island 18 miles east of Hatiya Island was reportedly selected for the relocation.^[40] A subsequent report put the location as 200 hectares selected on Hatiya Island, a nine-hour, land-and-sea journey from the camps.^[25]

Mohammad Islam, a Rohingya leader living in one of the camps, asked the Bangladesh government to reconsider, citing extensive suffering already endured by the displaced Rohingyas, and insisted that they want the Bangladeshi government and international organizations to solve the Rohingya's future while the remain the current camps. The UN refugee agency that has been aiding the camp refugees, since 1991, said such a relocation would have to be voluntary if it is to succeed ^[25]

United States

The State Department of United States expressed its intent to take in Rohingya refugees as part of international efforts.^[41]

Then US president Barack Obama urged Myanmar to end discrimination against the Rohingya minority on 2 June 2015.^[42]

Since 2002 the United States has allowed 13,000 Myanmar refugees. Chicago, home to RefugeeOne, has one of the largest populations of Rohingyas in the United States. However, even with the refugees finding safe haven in Chicago, there is still a hard life to face. The new immigrant children whose parents are not with them are easy pickings for the gangs in Chicago. “When we are selecting neighborhoods we have to be very careful about the crime rate and gang recruitment, because the majority of refugees come with kids" (Mclauglin 1).

References

External links

• Myanmar Boat People Crisis Photos 2015
• What the Rohingya crisis says about racism and politics in Asia
• http://www.newsweek.com/who-are-rohingya-and-why-are-they-fleeing-mmyanmar-330728
• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-myanmar-refugees-idUSKCN11Q2LK