Why has the plight of the Rohingya been ignored?

 

Hundreds of thousands of people fled a military crackdown in Myanmar five years ago.

More than one million Rohingya refugees marked five years this week since they were violently driven out of Myanmar.

Most are still stuck in what has become the world’s largest refugee camp in neighbouring Bangladesh. They are demanding a safe and dignified return to their homeland, and a future for the thousands of children born in exile.

Rohingya refugees' perilous journey in search of safety - BBC News

 

More than 200 Rohingya refugees are believed to have died or gone missing at sea in 2020 in search of a better life. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, says more than a third of those who made the perilous journeys from refugee camps in Bangladesh to Malaysia and Indonesia were children. 

Rohingya suffering ‘life-threatening and overlooked’

 

About 100,000 Rohingyas are being relocated by the Bangladeshi authorities to an isolated island.

They escaped terrifying events during the 2017 Myanmar military crackdown.

But Rohingya refugees are still haunted by memories of burned villages, killings, rape and torture.

Coronavirus: Rohingya refugees stranded at Sea - BBC News

The UN has issued an urgent appeal to save hundreds of stranded Rohingya refugees, including children, who have been adrift at sea for weeks/months. The refugees are thought to have fled from camps inside Bangladesh where conditions are worsening, hoping to make it to Malaysia.

Is Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of covering up war crimes?

An ally of Myanmar's leader denies the scale of atrocities in Rakhine, and we challenge a French MP on police brutality.

Denying genocide in Myanmar: "rumours and hearsay"

In January the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state. Myanmar's government rejected the ruling, saying it was based on a "distorted picture of the situation".

According to the UN, at least 10,000 people have been killed and more than 700,000 have fled Rakhine state since the Myanmar military's crackdown began in 2017. Thousands of Rohingya women and girls have been raped, and around 300 villages burnt to the ground.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Defending the indefensible'

We discuss Aung San Suu Kyi's appearance at the International Court of Justice with rights activist Maung Zarni.

This week Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to defend her country against accusations of genocide, in a lawsuit brought by The Gambia.

The Nobel peace laureate rejected the allegations that Myanmar's military - that for 15 years kept her under house arrest - committed genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority in her country as "incomplete and misleading".

Burmese human rights campaigner Maung Zarni has lived in exile for more than 20 years and was one of the first people to accuse Myanmar of genocide. He believes Aung San Suu Kyi is "defending the indefensible" and wants to see her in the dock at the International Criminal Court.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi: 'Defending the indefensible'

We discuss Aung San Suu Kyi's appearance at the International Court of Justice with rights activist Maung Zarni.

This week Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to defend her country against accusations of genocide, in a lawsuit brought by The Gambia.

The Nobel peace laureate rejected the allegations that Myanmar's military - that for 15 years kept her under house arrest - committed genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority in her country as "incomplete and misleading".

The “ethnic cleansing” of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, explained

Asylum In America

We follow the journey of two refugees from a detention centre on Manus Island to their new homes in the US and Canada.

Imran, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar, is adjusting to the frigid winters of Chicago.

It has been more than seven years since he fled persecution in Myanmar as a 16-year-old. Along the way, he was held hostage by people smugglers and arrested inIndonesia before making his fateful journey to Christmas Island. Australian authorities then sent him to Manus. Now, thanks to a refugee deal with the United States, he has a job and is finishing school.

Radio Rohingya

In a refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar, a young Rohingya refugee dreams of giving a voice to his people.

In September 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar, where the military was waging a brutal offensive against them that the United Nationshas described as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

Among those fleeing Myanmar's Rakhine State for neighbouring Bangladesh was 23-year-old Mohammed Yusuf, his wife, parents and younger brothers.

The former teacher and his family settle in a makeshift home in the vast Kutupalong-Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar, where he quickly discovers that among the many things of which the refugees are deprived, there is one that stands out: information.

Does repatriation of Rohingya breach international law?

Bangladesh halts transportation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar after protests.

The first group of 2,200 Rohingya refugees were due to leave camps in Bangladeshon Thursday in line with a plan agreed with Myanmar.

But authorities appeared to postpone the operation after protests by Rohingya who said they did not want to go.

The United Nations and aid agencies also expressed concerns for their safety if they went back to Myanmar.

The United Nations described as an "act of genocide" the military crackdown last year when more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Undercover for RVision: Reporting Myanmar's Rohingya story

Rohingya VisionTV relies on undercover citizen journalists to tell Myanmar's Rohingya story from the inside.

It has been more than eight months since the start of the military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine State which has forced almost three-quarters of a million Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh.

The United Nations has called the crisis a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" but the Myanmar government maintains this is a targeted operation to purge the state of Rohingya fighters - a narrative they have gone to great lengths to uphold.

As Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK explains, "We've seen the government of Burma (Myanmar) very strictly controlling the access and news coming out of Rakhine State and trying to dominate how it is reported and trying to intimidate domestic and international media organisations, who are trying to investigate and find out what really has gone on."

Brides and Brothels: The Rohingya Trade

Thousands of Rohingya girls continue to face sexual exploitation, forced marriage and trafficking in refugee camps.

They have survived rape and the slaughter of their families. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya girls and women fled Myanmar to escape a military crackdown.

In Bangladesh's refugee camps they thought they would be safe. But inside the tents that house almost a million Rohingya refugees, women and girls are being bought, sold and given away.

Girls are being forced into marriage because relatives can't afford to feed them, or are being lured to brothels with the promise of good jobs.

Will a visit by Nobel laureates help Rohingya Muslims?

Three Nobel Peace Prize winners visit a refugee camp in Bangladesh to hear of their suffering.

Myanmar's leader has been widely criticised for turning a deaf ear to global condemnation of her response to the Rohingya crisis. Now Aung San Suu Kyi faces a new warning from three women - who like her - are Nobel Peace Prize winners.

"Wake up or face prosecution for genocide" is their message. Irish peace campaigner Mairead Maguire, Tawakkol Karman from Yemen, and Iranian Shirin Ebadi are in Bangladesh.

They are touring Rohingya refugee camps to assess their needs, particularly women who says soldiers from Myanmar raped and tortured them.

But how does the visit help the Muslim minority? And is it embarrassing for Myanmar's own Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi?

The “ethnic cleansing” of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, explained

The Rohingya have been systematically driven out by the Myanmar government leading to the fastest growing humanitarian crisis in recent years.

Is Myanmar 'whitewashing' the Rohingya crisis?

Former US diplomat accuses members of Rohingya advisory panel of being a 'cheerleading squad' for the government.

Frustration over Myanmar's handling of the Rohingya crisis has boiled over into an argument between Aung San Suu Kyi and her former friend, now critic, Bill Richardson.

The former US ambassador to the UN resigned from an advisory panel set-up by the government after accusing members of trying to 'whitewash' the crisis.

And in his resignation letter, Richardson accused members of being a 'cheerleading squad' for the government.

Officials reacted by accusing Richardson of having his own agenda.

Who can protect the Rohingya Muslims?

The US' top diplomat decries Rohingya suffering but stops short of calling it ethnic cleansing or demanding sanctions.

Depending on who you ask, the Rohingya people in Myanmar are facing ethnic cleansing, genocide, or simply a complicated situation.

Myanmar's government has exonerated itself and says accusations against the military are completely false. Many people across the world disagree.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls the plight of the Rohingya a "tremendous concern".

The Rohingya Exodus

What does the future hold for the Rohingya in Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries?

The UN calls it a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" - more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled their homes in Myanmar, seeking sanctuary in Bangladesh.  

They've brought stories of burning villages, murder, rape and babies being thrown into fires. This human catastrophe is happening under the leadership of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Those who've made it to the squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh may have escaped with their lives, but they now face an uncertain future in one of the world's poorest countries.  

Muhammad Yunus: Aung San Suu Kyi 'has to fix it'

We speak to Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus about the Rohingya crisis, and debate what makes a feminist.

In what the United Nations has called "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing", in recent weeks more than half a million majority-Muslim Rohingya have fled Myanmarfor neighbouring Bangladesh. Myanmar's security forces and Buddhist vigilantes have been accused of mass rape, murder and the burning of entire villages. 

Nobel Peace laureate and economist Muhammad Yunus placed the blame on de facto leader and fellow Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. 

"I'll put 100 percent of the blame on her because she is the leader," Yunus said. 

When asked if Myanmar's military is actually wielding the power and rendering her essentially powerless, Yunus replied, "Well, then she should resign". 

Rohingya: Hate speech, lies and media misinformation

How a vicious media campaign has intensified the pressure on an embattled people. Plus, Sinai's media black hole.

Rohingya: Hate speech, lies and media misinformation

The number of majority Muslim Rohingya forced from their homes in Myanmar is now around 400,000. The United Nations says it looks like a "textbook example" of ethnic cleansing.

The country's de facto leader - a former winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and darling of the international news media - is being seen in an entirely new light. Aung San Suu Kyi and her government are on the defensive. She has taken to talking about fake news and a "huge iceberg of misinformation".

Aung San Suu Kyi's refusal to condemn the violence is a troubling angle for many Western journalists to cover, given the way they have venerated her in the past.