Violence against the Rohingya explained

The stateless Muslim minority has faced particular threats amid fighting in Rakhine state.
By Abby Seiff for RFA
2024.08.07
Violence against the Rohingya explained Rohingya refugees stand on their capsized boat before being rescued in the waters off West Aceh, Indonesia, March 21, 2024.
(Reza Saifullah/AP)

On Monday, scores of Rohingya were killed by a missile as they tried to flee Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh, witnesses told Radio Free Asia. The victims were just the latest civilian casualties as fighting between the junta and several factions has worsened across Rakhine state in recent months. But amid a mounting death toll, no groups have suffered quite as much as the Rohingya, whose vulnerable position within Myanmar has placed them in particular danger. 

Who are the Rohingya? 

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. About 600,000 Rohingya live in northern Myanmar’s Rakhine state, some with roots dating back to the 15th century. 

Despite having lived in Myanmar for generations, they are not recognized as citizens and are widely regarded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Denied citizenship in Myanmar by subsequent governments, they are among the world’s most persecuted minorities. 

What persecution have they faced?

Simmering ethnic tension between Rohingya and their Hindu and Buddhist neighbors has repeatedly erupted into violence over the years. That reached an apex in August 2017, when a Rohingya insurgent group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, or ARSA, attacked dozens of police and military posts. The military responded with a sweeping campaign targeting civilians, which involved razing villages, systemic rape and large-scale massacres. The genocide, as it has been characterized by the U.S., among others, sent more than 700,000 refugees fleeing for safety. Those who remained in Rakhine state are primarily confined to squalid camps for internally displaced people, and villages where their movements are curtailed. 

How has the coup impacted Rohingya?

In February 2021, Myanmar’s military overthrew the civilian government, imprisoning its top leaders and launching a violent crackdown against protesters. In the years since, a slew of ethnic armed organizations — many of them already locked in decades-old civil wars with the military — have joined forces with one another and with the armed wing of the government-in-exile to fight the junta. The National Unity Government has vowed to give full citizenship to Rohingya and aid in voluntary repatriation from Bangladesh, where nearly 1 million Rohingya live in tightly packed, dangerous refugee camps. At least one official has apologized for failing to prevent the atrocities that took place under the former civilian government.  

But with the military still firmly in control, ordinary Rohingya have once more found themselves at the center of extraordinary hardship and violence. They have been killed in clashes, but have also been actively targeted by both the junta and its opposing Arakan Army, or AA. Unlike the military, the powerful ethnic armed group, comprised mainly of Rakhine Buddhists, has claimed it respects the rights of Rohingya. But there has been ample evidence of the AA attacking Rohingya villages. Victims and witnesses attributed Monday’s attack to the AA, a charge the group denied. The AA said it was the junta and armed Rohingya groups that blocked civilians from fleeing, leaving them in the line of fire. 

Abby Seiff is RFA's Southeast Asia investigative editor.

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