
Rohingya Crisis in Myanmar
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Asia
Limited
Unchanging
Sectarian
Recent Developments
Tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar's Rakhine State have escalated dramatically since late August 2017. A series of attacks by a group of Rohingya militants calling itself the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on military and police outposts killed more than seventy people, including twelve Burmese security forces personnel. In response, the military launched a brutal crackdown on Rohingya villages, causing over seven hundred thousand people to flee across the border to Bangladesh since August 2017. Widespread reports indicate indiscriminate killings and burning of Rohingya villages, escalating to the point that the UN Human Rights Commissioner called the situation in Rakhine State “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” The violence has led to a growing humanitarian crisis in neighboring Bangladesh, where nearly one million Rohingya now reside in refugee camps along the border.
This outburst of violence by the military comes after a similar attack on a security post along the Bangladeshi border in October 2016 killed nine police officers. The army responded to that attack with a month-long crackdown on unarmed Muslim civilians, causing more than one thousand civilian deaths and driving tens of thousands more to flee their homes in search of safety.
After winning Myanmar’s first competitive national election in more than twenty-five years and taking office in March 2016, the National League for Democracy party (unofficially headed by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi) has continually failed to address the status of the Rohingya people, who were not allowed to vote in the election. A national peace conference was held in August 2016, aimed at ending decades of fighting between the military and a number of armed ethnic groups, but Rohingya representatives were not invited to attend. That same month, Aung San Suu Kyi announced the creation of a nine-person commission, headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to review and offer recommendations to address the tensions in Rakhine. The commission delivered its final report in late August 2017, just days before the latest outbreak of violence. Aung San Suu Kyi has continued to face criticism over a failure to address or acknowledge the Rohingya issue.
Background
The Rohingya, a highly persecuted Muslim group numbering over one million, face discrimination both from their neighbors and their nation, and are not considered citizens by Myanmar’s government. Buddhist nationalist groups, including the MaBaTha and the anti-Muslim 969 movement, regularly call for boycotts of Muslim shops, the expulsion of Muslims from Myanmar, and attacks on Muslim communities. After two waves of violence, reprisals, and riots in June and October of 2012 intensified the century-old conflict in the predominantly Buddhist country, more than one hundred thousand Muslim Rohingyas were internally displaced and hundreds killed.
There is little indication that addressing the Rohingya issue will become a priority any time soon for Myanmar’s government, which has focused instead on establishing a new relationship with the military and addressing multiple ongoing insurgencies. The military signed a cease-fire with several armed ethnic groups in October 2015, but some major groups—including two of the largest militias, the United Wa State Army and Kachin Independence Army—continue to fight the government. While the cease-fire agreement was a potential step towards peace in Myanmar, it failed to finalize a framework for a new balance of power between the central government and local authorities in the restive borderlands or require ethnic groups to disarm.
Concerns
As the U.S.-Myanmar relationship warms, disagreements over human rights issues will remain a divisive factor. However, Myanmar’s stability is increasingly important to U.S. interests given Myanmar’s strategic importance in Southeast Asia, vast natural resources, and emerging democratic government.
Alerts
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Rohingya Crisis in Myanmar

Rohingya Crisis in Myanmar






Background Articles
Sreeparna Banerjee Observer Research Foundation October 3, 2019
Ben Rhodes Atlantic September 2019
Irwin Loy New Humanitarian August 22, 2019
Bron Sibree South China Morning Post August 9, 2019
Sarah A. Topol New York Times August 8, 2019
International Crisis Group August 6, 2019
Zachary Abuza War on the Rocks July 31, 2019
Irwin Loy New Humanitarian July 8, 2019
Meenakshi Ganguly and Brad Adams Foreign Affairs June 5, 2019
Caitlin Wake, Veronique Barbelet and Marcus Skinner Humanitarian Policy Group June 2019
Francesca Morano Guardian May 2, 2019
International Crisis Group April 25, 2019
New Humanitarian March 25, 2019
Irwin Loy IRIN February 13, 2019
International Crisis Group January 28, 2019
Verena Hölzl IRIN November 20, 2018
BBC November 15, 2018
International Crisis Group November 12, 2018
Rebecca Wright, Matt Rivers, and Mark Phillips CNN October 18, 2018
Shibani Mahtani Washington Post October 9, 2018
International Crisis Group August 28, 2018
Krishnadev Calamur The Atlantic August 28, 2018
Andrew Selth United States Institute of Peace August 17, 2018
Jon Emont and Myo Myo Wall Street Journal August 8, 2018
Matthew Smith, et.al. Fortify Rights July 2018
Amnesty International June 27, 2018
Simon Lewis, Zeba Siddiqui, Clare Baldwin, and Andrew R.C. Marshall Reuters June 26, 2018
Dene-Hern Chen IRIN June 21, 2018
Jennifer Staats and Kay Spencer United States Institute of Peace June 11, 2018
Zoltan Barany Foreign Affairs May/June 2018
Amnesty International May 22, 2018
International Crisis Group May 16, 2018
BBC April 24, 2018
Andrew R.C. Marshall Reuters April 11, 2018
Nahal Toosi Politico Magazine March/April 2018
Cipher Brief March 22, 2018
Liz Ford Guardian March 15, 2018
Hannah Beech New York Times February 15, 2018
Amnesty International February 7, 2018
Gabrielle Aron United States Institute of Peace January 22, 2018
International Crisis Group December 7, 2017
Hannah Beech New York Times December 2, 2017
Zachary Abuza Jamestown Foundation November 10, 2017
Fortify Rights, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum November 2017
Hannah Beech New York Times October 24, 2017
Amnesty International October 18, 2017
Austin Bodetti The Diplomat October 14, 2017
Lynn Kuok Foreign Affairs September 28, 2017
Martha Mendoza Associated Press September 22, 2017
Megan Specia New York Times September 13, 2017
Economist September 9, 2017
Populations at Risk Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Michael Sullivan and Ashley Westerman NPR April 13, 2017
Nehginpao Kipgen IPI Global Observatory February 15, 2017
Ellen Berry New York Times January 10, 2017
International Crisis Group December 15, 2016
Emanuel Stoakes The Diplomat December 6, 2016
Jane Perlez and Wai Moe New York Times November 13, 2016
Richard Horsey International Crisis Group October 12, 2016
Derek Mitchell, Chris Milligan and Jessica Davey United States Institute of Peace October 7, 2016
Susan Hayward and Matthew J. Walton Foreign Affairs July 29, 2016
Vice July 7, 2016
Economist March 15, 2016
Alina Lindblom, Elizabeth Marsh, Tasnim Motala, and Katherine Munyan Fortify Rights and Yale Law School October 2015
Latest CFR Analysis
Joshua Kurlantzick World Politics Review September 26, 2019
Eleanor Albert CFR Backgrounder December 5, 2018
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" October 3, 2018
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" July 23, 2018
Kate Cronin-Furman and Camilla Siazon CFR Interview May 8, 2018
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" February 5, 2018
Joshua Kurlantzick Washington Monthly January 2018
Alyssa Ayres CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" December 4, 2017
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" November 2, 2017
Eric Schwartz and Maureen White CFR Event October 20, 2017
Joshua Kurlantzick The Atlantic October 18, 2017
Francis Wade and Eleanor Albert CFR Interview October 2, 2017
Alyssa Ayres Asia Unbound September 20, 2017
Joshua Kurlantzick Washington Post September 15, 2017
Joshua Kurlantzick Aspenia Online September 15, 2017
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" September 11, 2017
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" September 7, 2017
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" July 6, 2017
Guest Blogger for Elizabeth C. Economy CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" April 14, 2017
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" December 16, 2016
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" December 9, 2016
Joshua Kurlantzick World Politics Review November 11, 2016
Marie Lall and Elizabeth Economy CFR Podcast September 22, 2016
Joshua Kurlantzick Washington Monthly June 2016
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" June 14, 2016
Priscilla A. Clapp CFR Council Special Report March 2016
Beina Xu and Eleanor Albert CFR Backgrounder
Priscilla A. Clapp and Irina A. Faskianos CFR Academic Conference Call April 7, 2016
Joshua Kurlantzick CFR Blog, "Asia Unbound" March 17, 2016
Primary Sources
United Nations August 24, 2018
U.S. Department of State November 15, 2017
U.S. Department of State October 23, 2017
UNOCHA
The White House September 11, 2017
U.S. Department of State September 9, 2017
Advisory Commission on Rakhine State August 23, 2017
United Nations July 21, 2017
United Nations June 15, 2017
U.S. Department of State May 22, 2016
U.S. Department of the Treasury