“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word”. – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
A person who lives a conscious life in today’s world, is undoubtedly a witness to the immense amount of pain and sorrow that infiltrate so many lives due to the rampant issues of racism and discrimination in many countries.
As of late, the world’s society seems to be gradually straying from the peace, unity and equality that exemplary activists, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. strived hard to achieve and inculcate in society.
The ruthless and senseless murders of unsuspecting and undeserving victims, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are just a few of the many injustices that have occurred as a result of racism which continues to uproot and burden the lives of many communities and minorities around the world. One of the major issues of racism is the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar.
Discrimination
For decades, the Rohingya people have been victims of discrimination, targeted racial violence and statelessness within the Rakhine state of Myanmar. Such persecution has forced Rohingya women, girls, boys and men into Bangladesh for many years, with significant spikes following violent attacks in 1978, 1991-1992, and in 2016.
However, an influx of refugees to the area of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh from its neighboring country, Myanmar during August in 2017, caught the attention of the rest of the world. Since then, an estimated 745,000 Rohingya, including over 400,000 children have fled into Cox’s Bazar.
The Cox’s Bazar region in Bangladesh is currently home to the world’s largest refugee camp as entire villages were burned to the ground, families were separated and killed, women and girls were raped in Myanmar forcing the Rohingya people to flee to the closest safe haven. As of March 2019, over 909,000 stateless Rohingya refugees reside in Ukhiya and Teknaf Upazilas. The vast majority live in 34 congested camps, including the largest single site, the Kutupalong-Balukhali Expansion Site, which hosts 626,500 Rohingya refugees.
Rohingyas arriving in Bangladesh said they fled after troops, backed by local Buddhist mobs, responded by burning their villages and attacking and killing civilians. At least 6,700 Rohingya, including at least 730 children under the age of five, were killed in the month after the violence broke out, according to medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
They risked everything to escape, by sea or on foot a military offensive which the United Nations later described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. In January 2020, the UN’s top court ordered the country to take measures to protect members of its Rohingya community from genocide. But the army in Myanmar (formerly Burma) has said it was fighting Rohingya militants and denies targeting civilians.
The country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, once a human rights icon, has repeatedly denied allegations of genocide. Although they are one of Myanmar’s many ethnic minorities, the Rohingya, who numbered around one million in Myanmar at the start of 2017, represent the largest percentage of Muslims in Myanmar, with the majority living in the Rakhine state.
Beatings, shootings, bombings and other physical torture are inflicted upon the Rohingya men coupled with rape, gang rape and other physical and sexual abuse are inflicted upon the women. Rohingyas creates a massive amount of irony as this all takes place within a majority Buddhist country. One of the main underlying philosophies upon which Buddhism is based is that everyone should be treated with loving-kindness regardless of the differences between people and communities.
The fact that the military, headed by the people in power and major religious leaders of the country’s majority religion, carries out such heinous crimes against people simply due to an opinion about their religion and culture, raises the question as to whether Buddhism is being followed in the country.
Case
The international response to this critical issue began with a report published by UN investigators in August 2018, accusing Myanmar’s military of carrying out mass killings and rapes with “genocidal intent”. However, when a case was brought up by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Aung San Suu Kyi rejected allegations of genocide when she appeared at the court in December 2019.
Later, the international powers assisted the Rohingya community due to the fact that although the ICJ has limited power and can only rule on disputes between states, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has the authority to convict those accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Hence, in January 2020, the court’s initial ruling ordered Myanmar to take emergency measures to protect the Rohingya from being persecuted and killed and the body approved a full investigation into the case of the Rohingya in Myanmar in November. Many people in Myanmar continue to justify racism and ethnic violence endured by the Rohingyas by exploiting the fact that the Rohingya community is not confirmed citizens of Myanmar as they were denied citizenship.
As a result of this ideology of Myanmar people, although an agreement for the return of refugees was reached in early 2018, none returned. They said they would not consider going back to Myanmar unless they were given guarantees they would be given citizenship.
