Who are the Rohingya?

   

I had not heard about the Rohingya people until reading about them in a recent Commonweal. The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Myanmar (Burma) estimated at about one million people. The Myanmar government regards them as illegal immigrants even though they have only known life in Myanmar. According to Human Rights Watch, laws discriminate against them, denying their freedom of movement, education, property rights, and employment. Thousands are currently fleeing to Bangladesh because of persecution by the government. In fact, many believe that this is comparable to the Rwanda genocide in 1994.

This is most troubling since the current de facto leader in Myanmar is Aung San Suu Kyi, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. She has long fought for human rights and a democratic government, but seems to have no control over the military who are carrying out what the United Nations human rights chief has called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” Rohingya who've fled have spoken of their homes being torched, of neighbors turning on neighbors, of relatives taken away never to be seen again.

The world needs to reach out to these people who have no means to defend themselves and no land to call their own. The United Nations must demand that Myanmar stop this genocide and give these people, especially the children, a chance for survival. We cannot stand by and let this brutal situation continue without reprisal.