The Rohingya Refugee Crisis: Background Information
Up until 1982, when the military government removed citizenship from the Rohingya people, they were considered full citizens of Burma. However, despite being able to trace Rohingya origins in Burma back to the 8th century, Myanmar law does not recognise this ethnic minority as one of the eight “national races” of Myanmar. (Min, 2017).
The Rohingya people are registered as “foreigners” by the government. There is entrenched and institutionalised discrimination against this ethnic group. The Rohingya people must obtain permission from the government to marry, relocate, gain employment or an education. They are restricted to no more than 2 children. Seeking government permission “may require them to bribe authorities and provide photographs of the bride without a headscarf and the groom with a clean-shaven face, practices that conflict with Muslim customs” (Min, 2017).
According to the World Bank, poverty in the Rakhine State, where the Rohingya people originate, is estimated at 78%. This is more than double the Myanmar national average of 37.5%.
So Why Are So Many Rohingya People Leaving Myanmar in 2017?
In August 2017 a group known as the ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) attacked police and army posts. As a result the Myanmar government declared ARSA a terrorist organisation and the military systematically destroyed hundreds of Rohingya villages forcing more than 600,000 Rohingya to leave Myanmar between 25-Aug and 4-Oct 2017.
“More than 582,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh from Rakhine
state since late August [2017]” (Chaity, A.J. 2017).
The Rohingya Refugee Camps in Bangladesh
There are many Rohingya Refugee Camps in the area known as Cox’s Bazar, in south east Bangladesh. Kutupalong and Balukhali are the 2 main camps in this area. Over 600,000 people have arrived in these 2 camps since August 2017, 60% of these arrivals are children.
UNICEF has set up child friendly centres throughout these 2 and other smaller camps giving children a safe place to go and spend time. Many children who visit these centres have recounted gruesome experiences of military raids, violent attacks on people and their villages and what can only be described as “textbook ethnic cleansing” (UN, 2017).
These child friendly spaces and the people who work in them, play a pivotal role in the healing process of children and form the basis on which my project is developed.
In 2013 the United Nations described the Rohingya people as the most persecuted minority group in the world (Al Ruhani, 2017). This Muslim population originate from the Rakhine State, on the west coast of Myanmar (formally known as Burma), South East Asia.
Image sourced from Asrar, 2017.
Video sourced from UNICEF, 2017.
