Rohingya Muslims — World News, Travel and Social Action

Since February, Rohingya Muslims have been stuck at sea while fleeing persecution in Myanmar due to COVID-19.

Rohingya Muslims refugee boats. United to End Genocide. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Since the mid-1820s Myanmar has looked down on the Rohingya Muslims, who were once laborers under the area’s British colonization. Following independence in 1948, the Buddhist-majority government began to deny citizenship to Rohingya who had come to live in the country. They could hold identification cards yet this severely diminished job prospects and even places where they could live. Eventually, they would settle within the Rakhine state.

It led to crackdowns in the 1970s to get the Rohingya out of Myanmar. It began with rapes, murders and arsons by government security forces. As a result, the Rohingya began fleeing into Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia.

Refugee camp in Bangladesh. UN Women Asia & The Pacific. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The most notable and deadliest crackdown occurred in August 2017 when Myanmar began to conduct an ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya. It began when Rohingya militants attacked 30 Myanmar police posts. The Rohingya as a whole were labeled as terrorists and the ethnic cleansing began. According to Doctors Without Borders, approximately 6,700 Rohingya were killed, along with the rape and abuse of many more Rohingya women and girls. Since 2017, Myanmar’s government has refused to take responsibility for the ethnic cleansing, including de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi who was once seen as a human rights advocate. They have even gone to the extent of highlighting the Rakhine state as a stable tourist location.

In 2018, the U.N. accused Myanmar’s military of conducting genocide and rapes. With failure to acknowledge the claims, the court ordered Myanmar to take measures to protect the Rohingya from being persecuted. Yet, the conflict is still ongoing which has led to more people fleeing.

In February 2020, Rohingya were boarding boats in Southeast Asia to head out of Myanmar. This has been a trend for years with most voyages occurring from November to April when the seas are calm. Around 730,000 Rohingya make the trip every year out of Rakhine state since 2017, hoping to reach Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia. Bangladeshi refugee camps have become less popular due to overcrowding, with nearly a million refugees living there. However, due to COVID-19, many Rohingya have been stranded offshore due to borders closing to try to contain the virus. The location of many of these boats is not even known since they were not able to dock right away.

Traffickers have begun to demand money from the families of those on board in order to get them off. Essentially, these traffickers have turned these boats into their own camps where those on board are held hostage until payment. The cost for one person is 12,000 ringgit ( $2,800). Those on the boats have been rationing food and water since April with many people still dying. Unfortunately, many are unsure if there is a guarantee to get their families off the boats.

There is also the harsh reality that those who end up off the boats could be sent back to Myanmar. Currently, Malaysia is currently considering sending Rohingya back to sea due to COVID-19 concerns after 269 ended up on its shores. It has asked Bangladesh to take back refugees who have traveled, but Bangladesh has refused. The boats were damaged on the journey but once repaired, could be forced to go back out to sea with their boats resupplied.

Human Rights Watch, however, has called on Malaysia and Thailand to allow the Rohingya refugees on land. HRW has acknowledged that the one most responsible is Myanmar, but it is the duty of neighboring countries to take in and protect refugees who are seeking asylum.

Eva Ashbaugh

is a Political Science and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies double major at the University of Pittsburgh. As a political science major concentrating on International Relations, she is passionate about human rights, foreign policy, and fighting for equality. She hopes to one day travel and help educate people to make the world a better place.

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 to seek justice for Uyghur Muslims forced into labor camps in China.

It is believed that the Chinese government’s placement of Uyghur Muslims in labor camps in Xinjiang province represents the largest mass detention of people since World War II. However, since 2017, there has been an international investigation into the matter. It is estimated by the United Nations that approximately 2 million Uyghurs have been placed into at least 28 camps.

Yet, when questioned about this activity, the government denies wrongdoing and explains that the purpose of the camps is vocational training for the minority group to increase its participation in the economy. The government staged a press conference of alleged former “civilians” who were at the camps to show that the camps helped transform their lives and ideologies. By transformation, it is implied that they were taught to give up Muslim practices and take on more “modern” Chinese ways. Family members who are living outside of China have spoken out against Chinese statements and helped expose the torture that may actually be taking place in these modern-day concentration camps.

The Uyghur people make up 60% of Xinjiang’s population, but are a minority in the rest of China. Specifically, they are of Turkish descent, and are often labeled as terrorists and religious extremists by the Chinese government. The name “Uyghur” is actually an umbrella term for multiple Muslim minorities that have been singled out. Many of those who have been targeted have been forcibly detained for reasons such as facial hair or even clothing.

In November 2019, United States senators called for sanctions against Chinese leaders for the detention of Uyghurs. However, due to the impeachment hearings of President Trump, the bill failed to get past the Senate floor. The U.S. is not the first country to bring attention to this human rights crisis. Xinjiang province sits along the path of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a plan to expand trade throughout Asia and Europe by essentially revamping the Silk Road. The human rights violations against the Uyghurs have given pause to some countries about joining the project.

Uyghur women grieving over those who have been forcibly taken by Chinese government. Han Guan. CC 2.0

On May 14, the U.S. Senate passed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020. If enacted by President Trump, it would establish sanctions against China and its officials who are held responsible for inhumane acts ranging from the kidnapping of Muslims to the high rates of abuse and death taking place in the camps.The sanctions include placing restrictions on imports of goods made at these camps as well. The State Department would also be tasked with compiling a report detailing the conditions of these camps, which would be separate from the annual Human Rights and International Religious Freedom documents.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senate Republicans have taken up an agenda that questions many of the Chinese government’s practices. The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 is only one of many issues the U.S. is bringing up.

This is not the first case of Muslims being targeted in Asia. Back in August 2017, Rohingya Muslims faced persecution in Myanmar by the country’s Buddhist majority government on claims of terrorism, just like the Uyghur people. Similar to China, Myanmar’s government also refused to take responsibility for its actions.