Community Partners International

WHO ARE THE ROHINGYA ?


‘There are more than one million Rohingya Muslims, they are described as the world’s most persecuted minority ‘

The Rohingya are an ethnic group, the majority of whom are Muslim, who have lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar. Currently, there are about 1.1 million Rohingya in the Southeast Asian Country. They are not considered one of the country’s 135 official ethnic groups and have been denied citizenship in Myanmar since 1982, which has effectively rendered them stateless.

Nearly all of the Rohingya in Myanmar live in the western coastal state of Rakhine and are not allowed to leave without government permission. It is one of the poorest states in the country,  ghetto like camps , lack of basic services and opportunities .

Due to ongoing violence and persecution hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring countries either by land or boat over the course of many decades.

Since the 1970’s a number of crackdowns have forced the Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh , Malaysia ,Thailand and other South-East Asian countries.

During such crackdowns the refugees have often reported rape , torture ,arson and murder by Myanmar security. After a killing of border police in October 2016 the government blamed a group of armed Rohingya and troops started pouring into villages where there were a number of human rights abuses carried out , extrajudicial killing ,rape and arson-allegations the government denied.

The UN official accused the government of carrying out ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and not the first time this accusation had been made and denied by the Myanmar government .

In Feb 2018 ,the associated press released a video of undisclosed graves of the Rohingya . The UN’s special rapporteur to Myanmar said violence against the Rohingya bears the hallmarks of genocide .

The purpose of this fundraiser is to raise enough money to build a small education center for the kids taught in their own language .