Who are the Rohingya? This relatively unknown minority group is among the world’s most persecuted. Despite having lived in Myanmar for centuries, the Rohingya Muslims are considered illegal immigrants and are denied even the most basic rights. In the country’s Rakhine State, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya live in what New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof called “21st century concentration camps.” Indeed, various photos and Rohingya refugee stories overwhelmingly confirm these brutal conditions.
To many, concentration camps sound horrifyingly familiar; yet, the majority of young adults oftentimes turn a blind eye to humanitarian crises that are currently happening. Last month, the Pew Research Center conducted a study revealing that Americans are more interested in local and national news, not international, which intuitively makes sense. But in an age of prevalent globalization, people should broaden their views and knowledge of the world, and this includes being aware of the injustice occurring in Myanmar.
Ever since Rohingya insurgents attacked police in 2017, the Myanmar military launched a genocidal campaign against the entire ethnic group. According to Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian organization, more than half million Rohingya fled their homes to its neighboring country Bangladesh. At least 6,700 Rohingya were shot, raped, burned to death or killed by landmines. There is no question that the Myanmar situation is more than just a temporary problem. It is a genocide.
Although the international community has sent some humanitarian aid to refugees in Bangladesh, global forces are reluctant to directly interfere to help resolve the roots of the problem due to potential political entanglements. Furthermore, Myanmar’s sitting de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi refuses to acknowledge the genocide. In 2017, she canceled her trip to the United Nations and banned international aid workers and journalists from entering Myanmar perhaps in an active effort to sweep the crisis under the rug. Today, Suu Kyi and the other affected governments in the region are promoting repatriation, which crudely shoves the displaced people back to a place of persecution.
Even though society today is saturated with efficient social media and online news platforms, the crisis remains irrelevant and distant to people inhabiting other parts of the world. It is imperative that students strive to have more compassionate and responsible global citizens. Solving a crisis is not simple or easy, but the first step is awareness. Numerous innocent lives have already been unjustly lost, and prolonged ignorance will only allow conflicts to intensify beyond control.