Write 1 (one) response to a classmate’s post
Write 1 (one) response to a classmate’s post
Write 1 (one) response to a classmate’s post. Your response should be about 175-200 words (about3/4 page).
Currently known as the “world’s fastest growing refugee crisis,” nearly 700,000 Rohingya people have fled their homes in terror, as the Myanmar government attempts to purge them from their society. The Rohingya people, an ethnic minority occupying the Rakhine state of Burma, have recently found sanctuary in Bangladesh as they’ve been deemed unwelcome on their own land. I found this particular group of refugees interesting due to the recency of the event, and the apparent cause behind many of these attacks: religious dispute.
The Rohingya represent the largest Muslim population in Myanmar, whereas the country itself classifies primarily as Buddhist. I found it shocking that the government of Myanmar denies the Rohingya people citizenship, refusing to acknowledge them as individuals, or a group of people in general. In fact, they treat them as illegal immigrants, despite the Rohingya thriving in Myanmar for generations. It seems quite logical that this mistreatment influenced the ongoing violence, such as Rohingya militants launching deadly attacks on Myanmar police, and the burning of at least 288 villages in northern Rakhine state. As we live in a community where religious freedom is a given, the thought of being persecuted, and chased from one’s homeland due to religion seems unimaginable. The government of Myanmar continues to discriminate against the ethnic minority by restricting marriage, family planning, employment, and education. Seeking to engage in any of these activities involves conflicting with Muslim customs. In other words, the Rohingya people can either deny their religion, or become outcast amongst the Myanmar society.
Of the sources I viewed, one gave hope for the Rohingya, describing the aid they have been receiving as refugees. As BBC states, 70% of the refugees are receiving food aid, while 100,000 people have been treated for malnutrition. Large-scale vaccination programs seek to rid disease from the refugee camps, vaccinating children for ailments such as whooping cough, and tetanus. Unfortunately, the structural integrity of these camps are still in development, as the refugee count continually rises, along with the need for temporary shelters in an otherwise-limited space. The number of refugee camps are actually rather small in comparison to the makeshift settlements that have emerged over time, and even smaller when comparing the spontaneous sites occurring after the violent outburst in August of 2017. Bangladesh willingly grants asylum to the Rohingya, even developing more shelters in the Cox’s Bazaar area to aid the people, yet as previously stated, space is limited, and the country must act accordingly, limiting travel to allocated areas.
The crisis of the Rohingya people has evoked many reactions worldwide. While some offer sanctuary (such as Bangladesh), others seek to end the violence, attempting to negotiate with Myanmar and save the Rohingya people from an apparent “genocide”. This exercise has truly opened my eyes to how destructive such acts of violence can be, and how a single group of people can be persecuted for things we take for granted, such as religious freedom.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41566561
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/rohingya-crisis (Links to an external site.)
