The Rohingya Issue in Myanmar Literature Review 2022

RUNNING HEAD: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review
Name of the Student:
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Author’s note:

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THE ROHINGYA ISSUE IN MYANMAR
The Rohingya refugee issue has been in a significant topic of debate and discussion
since 2015. It was identified as a mass migration of people from Myanmar to other countries
of South-Eastern Asia, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Approximately 25000 people belonging to Rohingya community have fled the mainlands of
Myanmar on boats, crossing the Strait and Malacca and the Andaman Sea and consequently
faced various difficulties and suffering as immigrants in those countries (Kader, M. F., &
Choudhury, 2019). Many Rohingya people even died during the migration smuggling as well.
The international media highlighted the issue as linked with the global problem of the refugee
crisis and examined the role of Myanmar government and other international bodies to
address the crisis (Beyrer & Kamarulzaman, 2017). Several scholars also contributed to the
issue of analysing the situation and providing valuable inputs to resolve the crisis.
Myanmar security forces commit crimes against the Rohingya people throughout
2018. This situation is deepening the human rights calamity in the Rkhaone state. Ongoing
clash has promoted the conflict related to sexual violence, forceful displacement of female for
sexual exploitation. The government is refusing to allow independent investigator, journalists
in the Rakhine state. In 2018, several social workers travelled to the Rakhine state to provide
humanitarian support to the Rohingya people (Human Rights Watch, 2019). Those social
workers were threatened with arrest under the Unlawful Association Act of Myanmar. In the
74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Dr Mahathir, the prime minister of
Malaysia, said that the Myanmar Government should help the Rohingya people within the
capacity of Government. According to Dr Mahathir, it is expected that other countries will
join with the Myanmar Government to resolve this situation. International Criminal Court
referred that the Myanmar government’s policy and action against the Rohingya people could
be prosecuted. The United States is focused on protecting these Rohingya people. Canada,

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Bangladesh, United States, and other international authority like the UN, ICC are interested
in handling this situation.
The following article” Defining Myanmar’s Rohingya problem” by Benjamin
Zawacki is notable literature on the said issue. Zawacki claims that most of the existing
literature on the said issue is either emotive or are made with the interest of media in mind.
However, in his article, he tries to present a factual and rational account of the Rohingya
issue. He emphasises that the primary purpose of the article is to construct a moderate
definition of the term ‘Rohingya issue’. For this purpose, the article examines three
interrelated, although distinct aspects are pertaining to the situation. First, ‘Nationality and
discrimination of Myanmar’ which indicates the internal scenario of Myanmar. The second
area is ‘statelessness and displacement’, which is related to the neighbouring countries of
Myanmar. The last one is ‘the doctrine of responsibility to protect’ which examines the
aspect of governance and the role of international organisation in the issue. These three areas
explained that the primary causes of the Rohingya issue are within the Myanmar country.
However, the impact of the Rohingya problem is felt in neighbouring countries. In my
opinion, the leading cause of the Rohingya problem is related to the Myanmar Governments
internal politics and governance. This Rohingya issue creates an impact on the international
scenario. The Government of Myanmar are discriminating these people and ignoring the
rights of Rohingya people.
To elucidate the notion of the nationality and discrimination regarding the Rohingya
issue, the author demonstrates that the Rohingyas have been subject to chronic
discrimination, which also systemic, by the majority in Myanmar. The systemic approach,
adhering to the social, economic and political notions prevailing in the country, manifested in
Myanmar’s legislation, policies and social practices. Thus, the Rohingyas were identified and
treated as a religious and ethnic minority, which in turn left no insurance from direct violence

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for the Rohingyas (South, 2018). In 1982, the citizenship law of Myanmar was created and
implemented in the country. This citizenship law categorised the people of Myanmar in three
parts, which are full, associate, and naturalised. People settled in Myanmar before 1823, or
member of the recognised 130 ethnic groups of Myanmar get the citizenship of this country.
These Rohingya people are neither the member of the recognised ethnic group nor settled in
the country before 1823. The government of Myanmar are refusing the citizenship right of
these Rohingya people.
The Rohingyas are not considered as naturalised Myanmar citizens either. According
to the Citizenship Law 1982, only the people whose ancestors lived in Myanmar before 1823
and people who belong to any of the 130 recognised ethnic groups are considered as the
citizens of Myanmar (Zawacki, 2012). The author remarks that many of the Rohingya people
are not aware of the Associate citizenship law that grants citizenship to individuals who have
applied for citizenship under a 1948 law. Citizenship is also granted to people who have lived
in Myanmar since or before 1948. None of these statuses is given to the Rohingyas. Thus,
lacking the essential status of citizens, Rohingyas become subject to systemic discrimination
and oppression throughout the country. They have been subject to discrimination in terms of
human rights such as healthcare, education, employment opportunity, and religious practices.
They are even put under movement restriction in various regions of Myanmar. Moreover,
since 1978’s Dragon King Operation, Rohingyas are tortured, raped, killed and put to
suffering. Due to this, they have started fleeing the country since 1992.
The lack of citizenship for the Rohingyas render them as stateless, which leads to the
second aspect of the definition, namely statelessness and displacement. The author maintains
that the aspects of discrimination and statelessness involve a circularity between them. To
elucidate, the discriminatory policies reject the Rohingya’s claim to citizenship, which in turn
deprives them of their rights, exposing to further discrimination. Nationality provides

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citizenship with access to fundamental rights (Zedner, 2016). Therefore, lacking citizenship
forces the Rohingyas to undergo discriminatory treatment in their own country. The author
further observes that in Myanmar, Rohingyas are not brought under the insurance of
Immigration law either. Besides, Myanmar has neither signed nor ratified the 1954
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or the 1961 Convention on the
Reduction of Statelessness (Foster & Lambert, 2016). As a result, Rohingyas are denied
citizenship and protection in Myanmar, although they could be brought under the former
Convention’s undertaking as de jure stateless persons. However, the author remarks that the
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness would hold a more effective relevance in
resolving the Rohingya issue.
Due to this practice of making Rohingyas stateless, innumerable people from
Rohingya community have been displaced within and outside of Myanmar in the last 25
years. The UN Guiding Principles on Internally Displaced Persons, which prescribes non-
discrimination and fundamental rights, should have been followed by the Myanmar
government while dealing with the Rohingya issue. However, it ignores directives. The
neighbouring countries of Myanmar, who are directly affected by the Rohingya issue are
neither parties to Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons. Therefore, even they do not
observe the rights of asylum for the Rohingyas and often ignore the principle of non-
refoulemen. Thus, Rohingyas are sent back over to Myanmar stating the excuses of
immigration concerns, economic constraints or even claims of national security, despite the
threat of persecution, oppression and discrimination. In my opinion, the government of
Myanmar is not interested in solving this problem. Because of the policy of the government,
these Rohingya people are the victim of statelessness and displacement.
The third aspect called ‘Responsibility to Protect’ indicates that Myanmar, as a nation
is failing to secure the Rohingyas, as are the international community. According to the

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Doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (2005), the author tries to formulate a definition of
the Rohingya issue. He adheres to Professor William Schabas’s use of the term ‘genocide’
pertaining to the issue. Schabas argues that Rohingyas are direct victims of violence and
persecution by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. Hence, it can aptly be called genocide. Despite
government measures to protect Rohingyas, the ethnic cleansing continued. The international
community, including the international media, peacekeeping organisations, activist groups as
well as the UN, expressed their disappointment over the issue and referred to it as a severe
violation of human rights. However, none of the organisation has taken an active step towards
resolving the issue. In my opinion, the activities of the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the
Myanmar government are creating the Rohingya problem more complicated than before.
These people are the victim of government-supported genocide.
Reviewing these three aspects of the issue, it can be concluded that the article
analyses the different agents and factors contributing to the problem. The purpose of the
article was to define the issue as per the international standards and further, describe the root
causes of the problem as well. For the first task, the author agrees with the view of William
Schaber and defines the issue as a case of genocide. Further, he describes the role of
Myanmar national government, its neighbouring countries, as well as the international
community and identifies discrimination, conflicting national interest and ignoring
international regulation to be the root causes of the problem. The government of Myanmar
has the primary responsibility to resolve the Rohingya problem. Through an affirmative
political will, the Myanmar Government can resolve the Rohingya problem by providing the
citizenship right to the Rohingya people.
Myanmar Government has to accept the citizenship right of Rohingya people as these
people are living in this country for an extended period. The government of Myanmar has to
communicate with Rohingya people and has to understand the main problem of these people.

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Accepting the legal citizenship right of these people and solving this issue should be
completed by the Government Myanmar to prevent global pressure. The improvement of
Myanmar will be difficult with interrupted global funding.

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References
(South, A. 2018). Myanmar’s “Rohingya” Conflict.
Beyrer, C., & Kamarulzaman, A. (2017). Ethnic cleansing in Myanmar: the Rohingya crisis
and human rights. The Lancet, 390(10102), 1570-1573.
Foster, M., & Lambert, H. (2016). Statelessness as a human rights issue: A concept whose
time has come. International Journal of Refugee Law, 28(4), 564-584.
Human Rights Watch. (2019). World Report 2019: Rights Trends in Myanmar. Retrieved 7
October 2019, from https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/burma
Kader, M. F., & Choudhury, A. H. (2019). Historical Background Of The Rohingya Refugee
Crisis And The Implication Of Their Statelessness. International Journal of Social
Sciences and Economic Review, 1(1), 8-15.
Zawacki, B. (2012). Defining Myanmar's Rohingya Problem. Hum. Rts. Brief, 20, 18. (South,
2018
Zedner, L. (2016). Citizenship deprivation, security and human rights. European Journal of
Migration and Law, 18(2), 222-242.