Myanmar genocide threatens lives of Muslim population

Centered in the Rakhine state of Myanmar (formerly Burma), the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar, are the victim of a massive operation designed to discredit and clear the minority. The refugees of this crisis have described massacres to the journalists, activists and officials that visit their desolated towns and neighborhoods. Mumtaz, a Rohingya woman, recounted waking up in a pile of mutilated and burned bodies that were cut like “bamboo” to CNN. Seen in various satellite images of the region, the burning of isolated villages is a common practice amongst soldiers who have also employed rape and murder in a procedure denounced as “ethnic cleansing” by the UN and countless other nations. In November 2017, the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson similarly declared the situation as “ethnic cleansing”, yet the Trump administration has refused to officially condemn it. An estimated one million Rohingya refugees have fled to nearby Bangladesh in an attempt to escape the violence.

A 26 year old Rohingya details the horrors the endured to members of the Human Rights Watch, before fleeing the Rakhine state. “[The soldiers] dragged the women from the houses by their hair. They took off the women’s clothes and longyi [sarongs]. They trampled their necks. They pulled up their blouses and removed their bras. They raped them right there in the yard.” Realities like this are not uncommon for the generations of Rohingya, which have been systematically been denied their rights and persecuted by the military.

In spite of these innumerable testimonials, the government of Myanmar has only recently began to acknowledge their crimes and atrocities. In light of a mass grave, filled with ten deceased Rohingya, the military has (partially) admitted their role and committed to a military investigation of the action.
Aung San Suu Kyi, nobel peace prize laureate and de facto leader of Myanmar, has stated that this investigation is a “positive indication” of progress. Although, many have criticized her previously due to her failure to acknowledge and condemn the ethnic cleansing.

The native Burmese view the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and Bengali, and they refuse to recognize the Rohingya as a nation. The 1982 Burma Citizenship Law denies each of the 1.1 million Rohingya persons citizenship, further discrediting them. The Rohingya are primary targets of the Buddhist majority in Myanmar, who see Islam as a threat to their religion and the Rohingya as extremist. The military, which still has a large governmental presence in the nation, mirror this sentiment by previously citing the Rohingya insurgent group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, as justification for their actions in the Rakhine state.