Rohingya Refugee Crisis

Rohingya Refugee Crisis

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ROHINGYA REFUGEE CRISIS

Introduction

Rohingya refugee crisis refers to the plight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people. These are people from Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladeshi who risked death by sea or on foot as they fled the destruction of their homes as well as persecution (Southwick, 2015). However, there are two contrasting explanations as to the recent exodus of the Rohingya people where the international community views it as ethnic cleansing whereas the government views it as a religious, sociopolitical and economic problem. This is because the people are regarded as stateless entities since their government has failed to recognize them as an ethnic group. Therefore, the people lack legal protection which has left them to face strong hostility in the country.  Ethnic cleansing is a term that can best describe the Rohingya refugee crisis (Southwick, 2015). Therefore, I concur with the international community that the crisis underlying root cause is Ethnic cleansing. The following paper presents two articles that compare and contrast the Rohingya Refugee Crisis. Secondly, it also provides a contrasting analysis between the two views.  

Article 1: Preventing Mass Atrocities that are levied Stateless Rohingya in Myanmar

The article presents a reflection of the thoughts of the international community regarding the Rohingya refugee crisis situation at Myanmar.  In the article, the United States together with other international bodies term the situation as ethnic cleansing.  Moreover, the article also shows the various ways the United States is dealing with the situation whereby it has threatened to impose sanctions against those responsible for what it terms as horrendous atrocities.  This was the statement that was released by secretary of the state Rex Tillerson regarding the situation. Moreover, the United States embassy in Myanmar also said that it had suspended travel for American officials to parts of the state.  Additionally, so as to continue mounting pressure on the military and civilian leaders the United Nations envoy on sexual violence in conflict had stipulated that the atrocities against the women would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity and genocide (Southwick, 2015).

Articles 2:  3 Key Issues in Suu Kyi’s Most Important Speech Ever explaining the Myanmar Rohingya crisis

The article presents the Myanmar government’s point of view regarding the Rohingya refugee crisis.  Aung San Suu Kyi is the country’s top leader. In providing an explanation to the crisis, she came out to condemn the human rights violation that is alleged to have occurred in the counter insurgency campaign. The government on their side states that the crisis is as a result of religious, sociopolitical and economic problem.  Moreover, in her statement she also stated that the government was also exploring the reasons why the people were escaping in some parts yet in some other parts they were staying intact.  Additionally, the government also held that the actions were carried out by the insurgent group by the mane Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). Consequently, the government security forces were restraining themselves from dealing with the insurgency group (Jaipragas, 2017).

Ethnic cleansing definition

Ethnic cleansing can be described as the systematic and forceful ethnic or religious group removal from a given territory. Consequently, this is done by a more powerful ethic community and its often with the intention of making it homogeneous.  Additionally, the force that is employed encompasses forms such as forced migration, mass murder and intimidation. In some extreme cases it also involves genocidal rape.  Furthermore, ethnic cleansing is associated with efforts that are intended to remove physical and cultural evidence of the ethnic group. This is usually done through destroying the homes of the people, infrastructure, worship places, monuments desecration as well as cemeteries.

COMPARATIVE AND CONTRASTING ANALYSIS OF THE ROHINGYA REFUGEE CRISIS

Government vs international community views of the Rohingya refugee crisis

Ethnonationalism term describes a politicized group affiliation that is based on inherent characteristics. Ethnonationalism is founded on the sense of common origins, specifically ancestral as it is manifested in shared religious, linguistic as well racial markers. The inherent characteristics encompass ethnicity, cultural heritage, race, religion, clan or tribe that usually defines a group of individuals in the members’ minds. Ethnonationalist violence is common as it usually based on centuries of history as well as primordial human emotions.

Who are the Rohingya

The Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim minority group that is found in the western state of Rakhine, formerly Arakan in Myanmar.  Rohingya’s religion is a variation of the Sunni religion. Moreover, they are regarded as stateless entities as they are not recognized by the government as one of the ethnic groups that constitute the Myanmar population.  This has led them to lack the government’s protection and being regarded as Bangladesh refugees.  

According to history, the Rohingya have been living in Rakhine for the longest time. During the British colonization of the country that is between 1824 and 1948.  Migration of laborers from the three countries was significant.  However, the native population disliked the movement although the colonial government at the time viewed it as internal movement due to their consideration of Myanmar as a province of India.  Bangladesh was established in 1971 after India and Pakistan were partitioned.  Basing on this narrative it can be explained as an Ethnonationalism problem (Southwick, 2015).

However, after Myanmar indepedence in 1948, the government declared the movement as illegal. Moreover, the Rohingya population were also denied citizenship and were also excluded from the Union Citizenship Act. Additionally, the implementation of a mew citizenship law also failed to include the Rohingya people among the country’s ethnic groups.  This act of the government can be termed as ethnic cleansing as the government has refused to accept the people into their region.

Furthermore, nationalism can be described as an extensive individuals’ aggregation that are closely linked by common descent, history, language thereby forming a distinct people or race.  Therefore, a nation can also be described as an ethnic group. However, a nation is a self-awareness or self-consciousness matter which makes it rather difficult to define it.  Nationalism emerges as a result of members of a nation desiring the nation to be organized into an independent state.   Therefore, nationalism essence is not tangible. Rather it is psychological as it is a matter of attitude and not fact.  This increases the likelihood of nationalism being based on ethnic distinctions and not on the idea that every person that lives in a country is entitled to equal rights and privileges.  For example, the government also held that the actions were carried out by the insurgent group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) (Jaipragas, 2017).