The report says the exodus of over 6 lakh Rohingya was preceded by years of discrimination
An Amnesty report has termed the situation of Rohingya in Myanmar as one trapped in a "dehumanising apartheid regime". In its report titled 'Caged Without A Roof', culled from a two-year long investigation it carried out, the rights group said the exodus of over 6,00,000 Rohingya to neighbouring nations like India and Bangladesh has been preceded by years of discrimination.
India has reached out to both Myanmar and Bangladesh to find solutions to the Rohingya crisis; it has claimed there are about 40,000 Rohingya in the country and that they could pose a national security threat.
Terming the treatment of Rohingya as worse than 'second class citizens', the report states that most are not even recognised as citizens at all as they have been deprived of a nationality due to discriminatory laws, particularly the 1982 Citizenship Law.
"The law discriminates on racial grounds and in Rakhine state was implemented in a way which allowed the Myanmar authorities to strip the Rohingya en masse of citizenship rights and status," the report said.
The research was carried out between November 2015 and September 2017, included about 200 interviews as well as photographs, videos and other documentary evidence. Amnesty said that they interviewed over 166 people from Rakhine state of people of Rohingya, Rakhine, Kaman, Maramagyi, or Mro ethnicity, as well as people from Muslim, Buddhist, Christian and Hindu faiths. The team travelled to over 38 locations in over 31 villages in five townships in three different districts: Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships in Maungdaw District, Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U townships in Mrauk-U District, and Sittwe township in Sittwe District.
As part of its findings, the report states that foreigners need special permits to meet Rohingya in Myanmar, and that movement of Rohingya individuals was restricted in northern Rakhine State and enforced by checkpoints. There are several accounts of Rohingya being extorted, harassed, and physically assaulted by forces manning the checkpoints.
Violence against the community has erupted several times, including one in 2012. "In the five years since the 2012 violence, Myanmar's state policy has been one of institutionalized discrimination and segregation of Rohingya and other Muslim communities from the rest of Rakhine State society, and for most, from Myanmar as a whole," the report said.
...& ANALYSIS
- The report says the exodus of over 6 lakh Rohingya was preceded by years of discrimination
- Most Rohingya not recognised as citizens, deprived of nationality due to discriminatory laws, report claims
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