Rohingya: Burma’s Forgotten Minority
Among Burma’s ethnic minorities, the Rohingya, a
stateless population, stand out for their particularly harsh treatment
by Burmese authorities and their invisibility as a persecuted minority.
Despite decades of severe repression, there has been minimal
international response to the needs of this extremely vulnerable
population compared to other Burmese refugees. The United Nations (UN)
and donor governments should integrate the Rohingya into their regional
responses for Burmese refugees. Host countries should allow the UN
Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and implementing partners to provide basic
services to all the Rohingya and officially recognize them as a refugee
population.
The Burmese Rohingya
The Rohingya are a Muslim population from
western Burma. Numbering almost two million, they are concentrated in
just three townships located along the Burmese-Bangladeshi border, known
as Northern Rakhine State (NRS). Conquered by the Burmese in the early
nineteenth century, the Rohingya and their Rakhine Buddhist
co-nationals have been treated more like a subjugated minority than as
members of Burmese society. In 1982, the Burmese government stripped
the Rohingya of their citizenship, formally codifying an ongoing
campaign to encourage them to leave the country.
Official
Burmese government policy on the Rohingya is repressive. The Rohingya
need authorization to leave their villages and are not allowed to travel
beyond Northern Rakhine State. They need official permission to marry
and must pay exorbitant taxes on births and deaths. Religious freedom
is restricted, and the Rohingya have been prohibited from maintaining or
repairing crumbling religious buildings. Though accurate statistics
are impossible to come by inside Burma, experts agree that conditions in
Northern Rakhine State are among the worst in the country. Rohingya
refugees commonly cite land seizures, forced labor, arbitrary arrests,
and extortion as the principal reasons for flight. Once a Rohingya
leaves his or her village without permission, he or she is removed from
official residency lists, and can be subject to arrest if found.
With few options available to the Rohingya in
Bangladesh, more and more people are risking their lives to travel to
Malaysia to seek livelihood opportunities. The number of Rohingya boat
people originating from inside Burma and from Bangladesh is increasing,
despite the dangers posed by dishonest brokers, substandard boats, and
the Thai navy. Although many have lost their lives at sea or were
caught and detained by Burmese authorities, many more continue to reach
Malaysia. In all, an estimated one million Rohingya now live in
Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, the Middle East, and farther afield.
A Marginalized Minority
Repression of ethnic minorities is widespread in Burma,
and many see a resolution of the country’s ethnic tensions as vital to
its future. Unfortunately, Burmese civil society and the political
opposition often mirror the government’s perception of the Rohingya.
“They are not Burmese,” “they should leave the country,” and “there is
no place for them in the future of Burma,” are repeated refrains that
Refugees International has heard in its conversations inside the
country.
This resonates in refugee communities as
well. In Malaysia, which is home to a wide range of Burmese ethnic
minorities, efforts by refugees to organize coalitions to confront harsh
living conditions have excluded the Rohingya. Burmese opposition
groups in Thailand have regularly failed to include the Rohingya in
their work as well. Donors who support these initiatives have been
reluctant to challenge these decisions out of respect for community
decision-making, but as a result they reinforce the exclusion of the
Rohingya.
The United Nations and donor countries
have also contributed to the separation of Rohingya from other Burmese
refugees. Most notably, Bangladesh, which hosts the largest number of
Rohingya refugees, receives scant attention and funding in comparison to
other parts of the region, such as Thailand. Despite modest increases
in funding for the Rohingya in Bangladesh, total support still pales in
comparison to funding in other parts of the region. In Malaysia, UNHCR
continues to work for a separate solution for the Rohingya – temporary
work permits – and exclude almost all of the Rohingya from options such
as resettlement that are available to other Burmese refugees. RI’s
conversations with donor governments similarly indicate their comfort
with the separation of the Rohingya from other Burmese refugees.
Separate but Not Equal
Isolation of the Rohingya is exacerbated by the lack of
effective political or community organizing within the group. Burmese
ethnic groups in Thailand have greatly benefited from support they
receive from the international community to gain skills to provide for
themselves and to organize politically. Thailand-based Burmese
organizations are now supporting similar ethnic Burmese organizations in
Malaysia. Because no effective Rohingya organizations currently exist,
there is no such support to the Rohingya in either Bangladesh or
Malaysia.
It is unlikely that leadership will
emerge from the younger generation of the Rohingya if they continue to
be marginalized and unable to access training or higher education
opportunities. The UN and donor countries should consider ways to
assist in fostering more effective organizing of the Rohingya by
supporting community mobilization projects in Bangladesh and Malaysia,
with attention to encouraging women’s participation.
The Rohingya are currently excluded from large-scale
resettlement programs for Burmese refugees. From 2005-2008, 49,930
Burmese have been resettled to third countries as part of a multi-year
campaign. In contrast, the first Rohingya have just begun to be
resettled, with 500 openings in 2008 in Bangladesh and 45 individuals
resettled from Malaysia since 2007. While resettlement can never be the
only durable solution for refugee communities, it could address a
critical component of the Rohingya’s condition, namely providing
citizenship rights to a stateless population.
The
exclusion of the Rohingya from large scale resettlement by UNHCR and
receiving countries is based on the assumption that the Rohingya
populations in Bangladesh and Malaysia will be able to integrate locally
better than other Burmese refugees. However, as Refugees International
observed in both Bangladesh and Malaysia, repressive government
policies and lack of adequate international support force the Rohingya
to struggle for survival in both countries. In addition, neither
Bangladesh nor Malaysia are signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention
or its 1967 Protocol, which gives refugees like the Rohingya little
legal protection in either country.
In
Bangladesh, where the Rohingya have lived for almost twenty years as
refugees, officially recognized refugees are restricted to living in
camps, separated from the local community. For unrecognized Rohingya
living outside the camps, the Bangladeshi government prohibits the
expansion of services to benefit them. UNHCR and donor governments
believe that encouraging self-sufficiency among the Rohingya in
communities will be the best solution, but achieving it will be a
long-term proposition.
In Malaysia, where many
Rohingya have also been living for close to twenty years, the continued
failure of the government to provide any legal status to the Rohingya
subjects them to the same vulnerabilities as other Burmese refugees,
including arrest, deportation, and a lack of access to basic services
such as education and health care. Despite the length of their
residence in Malaysia, they do not feel part of Malaysian society. As
in Bangladesh, supporting efforts towards self-sufficiency is a sensible
approach, but it is far from reality, and should not be considered to
be more likely for the Rohingya than it is for other Burmese.
UNHCR and resettlement countries should revise their
policies to include the Rohingya in the large-scale resettlement
campaigns of Burmese now underway. Including the Rohingya in
resettlement programs could also provide increased incentives to host
countries such as Bangladesh and Malaysia to provide durable solutions
for the populations that would remain as refugees. At the same time,
donors should push governments to ease restrictions on the Rohingya and
support programs that will lead to increased self-reliance.
Perpetuating Vulnerability
The inability of the Rohingya to access basic services
in both Bangladesh and Malaysia is further compounding their
vulnerability. In Bangladesh, the government continues to create
challenges for international organizations that provide services to the
Rohingya. In the two official refugee camps, UNHCR has ended abuses by
camp authorities and negotiated with the government to allow more
services and training programs for the 28,000 Rohingya refugees.
Nonetheless, basic services in these camps still remain insufficient,
and programs for mental health, livelihood, and prevention of
gender-based violence need to be strengthened. In particular, the
inability of Rohingya children to access education past grade five due
to government restrictions gives them few options for improving their
lives and providing for their families in the future.
There are more than 200,000 Rohingya living unofficially
outside these main camps, some in precarious situations. In the drive
to provide longer-term options for self-sufficiency, there is a need to
provide strategies that address the immediate health, sanitation,
education, and security needs of growing numbers of unregistered
Rohingya, such as those at Leda and the makeshift Kutupalong settlement,
until they can benefit from self-sufficiency programs.
In Malaysia, the lack of access to basic services for
the Rohingya is further exacerbated by the government’s targeting of
refugees for arrest, detention, and deportation. As of 2008, 400
Rohingya children, out of a registered population of more than 13,000
Rohingya refugees, have access to primary education run by an
international organization. Many Rohingya raise the lack of educational
opportunities as their number one concern. This and the few other
services that do exist are found in Kuala Lumpur, and little to no
assistance reaches communities outside of the capital, such as Penang,
where the Rohingya have formed a significant community. The lack of
community organizing by the Rohingya in Malaysia also prevents them from
providing services to their own population, as other Burmese groups in
Malaysia do.
Access to health services for the
Rohingya in Malaysia is also severely limited. Refugees seeking medical
care at local hospitals risk arrest and Rohingya women are often unable
to receive maternal health care because of high costs. There is also a
need for increased livelihood training, with a focus on Rohingya women,
who must provide for their families when their husbands are arrested.
Despite the security risks for the Rohingya, donors should do more to
fund civil society groups running service programs, and UNHCR and
implementing partners should expand their services, particularly medical
care, beyond Kuala Lumpur.
The
Consequences of Marginalization
The
separation of the Rohingya by the international community and by Burmese
groups has led to an overall lack of support for a traumatized
population for twenty years. This has led to severe illiteracy and an
overall lack of education, substandard health and living conditions, and
few options for a productive future. It is striking how many Rohingya
told Refugees International, “My life is over. All I want is for my
children to have a chance at a better life.” Two generations of the
Rohingya have said this, only to see the vast majority of their
community suffer the same neglect and lack of opportunity that their
parents faced.
The UN, donor countries, and above
all countries in South and Southeast Asia, must begin to address the
plight of all Burmese refugees as equal, and commit resources to them in
equal measure. There must also be an acknowledgement that the
Rohingya, like other Burmese refugees, will continue to live in a state
of protracted exile, with little hope for returning home in the upcoming
years, and begin to plan humane and effective responses to this
reality.
Bangladesh: Promote Self-Sufficiency for
All Rohingya
While the Bangladeshi
government allows UNHCR and implementing partners to assist the 28,000
Rohingya who live in official camps, it prevents the international
community from accessing unrecognized refugees. This has led to serious
gaps in basic services and protection for some 200,000 people. Though
the first large-scale movement of the Rohingya into Bangladesh dates to
1978, most current refugees moved to Bangladesh in 1991-92 in response
to a Burmese offensive in NRS.
9,000 Rohingya
live in an unofficial site called Leda, whose residents were moved out
of substandard conditions in July 2008. Because the Rohingya in Leda
are not recognized refugees, services to this population are minimal and
UNHCR does not have any official role there. Expectations among the
residents are high, as the new site was constructed with international
funds, and basic health services and food rations are provided.
Competition for work opportunities in the surrounding community has
created tensions between the Rohingya and locals, and is creating
greater reliance on the few services provided in Leda. Without any
government or police presence, security for camp residents is a major
concern.
A makeshift squatter settlement of 4,000
Rohingya is also growing immediately around the Kutupalong camp.
Residents here largely had been living among the Bangladeshi
communities, but were recently forced out due to lack of official
documentation during a national voter registration drive. The Rohingya
in the squatter settlement told Refugees International that they cannot
access water and latrines in Kutupalong because they are chased away by
official camp residents.
Without access to camp
services, water, sanitation, and health are jarringly worse than for
their camp neighbors. Unsanitary water sources, insufficient waste
disposal, and visible illness in the makeshift settlement are not only a
threat to its residents, but could threaten the health of official camp
residents due to the proximity of the two sites. UNHCR hopes the
Bangladeshi government will assist these squatters to return to their
former villages, but no progress has been made in this effort to date. A
solution must also be found for new arrivals to the squatter settlement
who were not previously living in a local village.
Cox’s Bazar is one of the poorest districts in
Bangladesh, and standards of living for local Bangladeshis are only
marginally better than for the Rohingya. A focus on providing
assistance that will benefit the local Bangladeshi population and
Rohingya refugees, both inside and outside of the camps, is needed.
UNHCR and service providers are eager to follow this model, and the
Government of Bangladesh should be encouraged to approve these
strategies. However, until these strategies are implemented, immediate
solutions must be found to address the basic needs of the Rohingya
living in Leda and the unofficial Kutupalong settlement.
Malaysia: Stop the Abuse of Refugees
Malaysia does not recognize refugees seeking
protection in its country. As a result the Rohingya, like other
refugees in Malaysia, are targeted by immigration authorities and Rela, a
volunteer corps charged with arresting illegal migrants. There has
been a sharp increase in arrests, detentions, and deportations of
refugees in recent years, including UNHCR registration card holders.
Refugee women and children are also vulnerable to arrest and detention.
UNHCR continues to have difficulty accessing detention centers to
secure the release of registered refugees and asylum seekers. Detention
conditions are substandard, and detainee abuses have risen since Rela
was given the contract to provide security in these facilities in early
2008.
Deportation of detained refugees to the
Thai-Malaysia border poses additional protection concerns. At the
border, Malaysian authorities reportedly hand over deportees to human
traffickers who demand payment for their release. Most Burmese refugees
in Malaysia have formed ethnic-based community organizations that can
pool funds to pay for the release of a deportee. The lack of community
organization among the Rohingya forces them to rely on friends and
family to secure their own release. As a result, the Rohingya are
especially vulnerable to abuse, forced labor, and to being trafficked at
the border.
In 2006, the Government of Malaysia
began registering the Rohingya for IMM13 permits, which would grant
temporary work status and thus some protection. Due to concerns by the
government surrounding the registration process, permit registration has
since stalled, and the Rohingya, like other Burmese refugees, continue
to live without legal status, making them more vulnerable to arrests.
In addition, UNHCR has not registered any new Rohingya since December
2005, except for the most vulnerable. This further puts them at risk of
abuse by immigration authorities.
Protection of
the Rohingya in Malaysia should not hinge solely on IMM13 permits, which
are uncertain at best. The Rohingya should be given access to the same
opportunities for registration and resettlement as other Burmese in
Malaysia. Ultimately, in order to improve the situation for refugees in
Malaysia, including the Rohingya, donors must push the government to
stop arrests of all refugees and recognize those seeking protection and
asylum.
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