Rohingya: A Preventable Genocide Allowed to Happen.

• Author: Khin, Tun
• Position: COMMENTARY

Introduction

Burma (1) has one of the worst human rights records in the world; so for the current Rohingya crisis to be described as the worst human rights crisis the country has faced since independence in 1948, gives an idea of just how serious the situation is. The Rohingya, previously described by the United Nations (UN) as the most persecuted ethnic group in the world, are currently experiencing the most serious military and human rights violations in their history.

The latest crisis began on August 25, 2017 when a new armed Rohingya organisation, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), attacked police stations and government offices. Several police and government personnel were killed. Similar attacks by ARSA had taken place in October 2016. At the time, the military responded in a similar way to how they have treated other ethnic groups in Burma for decades, including the Kachin, Shan, Karen and Karenni. They indiscriminately targeted civilians, burned villages, shot people on sight, raped women, looted, and blocked humanitarian aid.

This time the military was prepared. Within hours, a massive military offensive targeting Rohingya civilians was launched. It had clearly been preplanned. In the weeks beforehand there had been troop build-ups. Ethnic Rakhine civilians had been given training and weapons, acting in effect as local militias. The civilians led by the government had been stoking up fears of Islamic extremists for weeks, heightening tensions. Using the pretext of the attacks as an anti-terrorism operation, the military launched a campaign to drive most of the Rohingya out of the country. The UN has described it as 'a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.' Within hours of the military offensive, civil organizations such as Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK began to receive reports of the most horrific human rights violations. Soldiers were arriving at villages and opening fire indiscriminately, shooting at people, even children, as they ran for their lives. In many attacks, ethnic Rakhine mobs were working side by side with soldiers, hacking people to death, beheading them, even killing children.

Within two days it was clear this was a military operation on a scale we had never seen before. Areas of northern Rakhine State, where most Rohingya live, were being systematically cleared. Homes were destroyed and soldiers returned the next day to burn and demolish anything left standing. Food stores were stolen or destroyed, livestock taken. They were ensuring that there was nothing left for people to return to. Within a week of the offensive beginning, more than 200,000 people were fleeing, making the dangerous trek to Bangladesh with only what they had on them when they were forced to run for their lives.

The UN has described the situation for the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State as 'unimaginable suffering.' Husbands have seen their wives and children killed, mothers had their children snatched from them and thrown into fires, children have witnessed their brothers and sisters shot or hacked to death. Those who manage to escape the attacks face many dangers and starvation on the way to Bangladesh. It has been heart breaking to hear stories of how the young, the elderly and the injured died on the journey, or drowned trying to cross rivers into Bangladesh. Even in Bangladesh, many more have died as the UN and aid agencies have been slow and have struggled to scale up and provide the support needed.

Less than two months after the military offensive began, around two thirds of the Rohingya in Burma had fled their homes and arrived in Bangladesh. Military attacks, as well as attacks and threats by Rakhine mobs continue, but not on the same scale. Instead a new tactic is being used to drive the Rohingya out of Burma, starvation.

Since the military attacks began, the military and government imposed severe restrictions on the Rohingya population in Rakhine State. The UN and international aid agencies have been refused access to the crisis. Only the government and the Red Cross have any access, and what they have is limited. Threats and lack of security stopped the Rohingya from working, farming, and trading as usual. Trapped in their homes and villages, after a few weeks, food began to run out. People, who were already impoverished in areas where there were already high levels of child malnutrition, were now starving. Those well enough to travel also began to leave their homes, and a second exodus of the Rohingya began. It is likely that tens or even more than a hundred thousand more will be forced to flee Burma because of starvation. Hunger has joined bullets and bombs as a weapon used against my people.

In the weeks and months to come, many thousands more will inevitably leave. With the attacks by the military, defended by the government of Burma, and no action from the international community, they feel that there is no future for them in their homeland any more. By early next year, perhaps only around a hundred thousand will remain. Compare that to the estimated 1.1-1.3 million...