by Maddie Levans
For almost a year, the Myanmar government has been ordering the removal and execution of over 2,000 Rohingya Muslims from the westernmost province of Myanmar, the Rakhine State. Now, as more and more refugees flee the country, the UN has decided to take action in regards to addressing the crisis.
Historical tensions between the Buddhist majority and Muslim minority in Myanmar have been going on for years. Muslims, in most cases, are denied the right to vote; however, the Rohingya population has suffered the most discrimination at the hands of the government. The Rohingya are seen as vermin almost, being described as “the world’s least wanted” by the Burmese government, which often leads them to be denied citizenship in the country.
Rohingya refugees have been fleeing the Rakhine state and settling in refugee camps around the country after over 200 of their villages have been torched by the military. Over 400,000 refugees have fled to the neighboring Bangladesh and India; however, India has turned away over 40,000 refugees, and 200,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are illegal immigrants, which limits their access to basic needs such as health care and education.
On September 22, the United Nations officially called the strife a genocide, which legally enables them to intervene and stop the killings as soon as possible. After the international Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal reviewed various witness testimonies of what was happening, they unanimously decided that the atrocities committed by the Myanmar government were in fact acts of genocide; however, higher ranking UN officials have labeled the actions of the Burmese government “ethnic cleansing,” which does not require obligatory action. The UN has yet to decide whether or not to intervene and stop the actions of the Burmese government.