The Rohingya Refugee Crisis

Episode #161: Dan Sullivan, the Director of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East at Refugees International, joins this episode to discuss the challenges facing the Rohingya community. Most of the world began to pay attention to the Rohingya crisis in 2017, when over 700,000 people fled a genocidal campaign against them, creating the largest refugee settlement in the world in Bangladesh. Sullivan led an effort pressuring the United States to recognize the anti-Rohingya campaign for what it was: his campaign was termed, “Call It A Genocide!”

The Rohingya have face so many challenges in Burma because of their Muslim faith, which puts them at odds with the majority Bamar, and even with the native Rakhine who are their regional neighbors and who themselves have historically been at odds with the Bamar majority. Although the Rohingya have been on their land for at least a century, their citizenship continues to be challenged. They have been cast as scapegoats through the hateful rhetoric of Bamar Buddhist nationalists, and victims of violence and assault at the hands of the Burmese military.

While the Rohingya are finally settling more comfortably into their camps in Bangladesh, under the surface, there is a growing sense of desperation.

This has led thousands of Rohingya to flee and seek a better life elsewhere, often by boat. Some are turned away by any neighboring countries they manage to get to, many others drown, and others get returned to the Burmese military.

Sullivan says that many Rohingya currently look at the work of the National Unity Government (NUG) with hope. This is in contrast to the betrayal that many felt when the NLD, and Aung San Suu Kyi in particular, defended the military’s actions against the Rohingya at The Hague. Even so, should the NUG ultimately prevail, there remains much concern as to how they would translate sympathetic and inclusive statements about the Rohingya into a viable and realistic repatriation plan.