Denied citizenship and rights, the Rohingya face genocide, displacement, and life as the world’s largest stateless population
Denied citizenship and rights, the Rohingya face genocide, displacement, and life as the world’s largest stateless population
The Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim community from Rakhine State in Myanmar with a distinct language, culture, and history. They have lived in the region for generations. Despite this, the Myanmar government has denied them citizenship, calling them “foreigners.” This has led to systematic discrimination, restricted movement, limited access to education and healthcare, and repeated violence. In 2017, hundreds of thousands were forced to flee mass killings and human rights abuses. Most now live in refugee camps in Bangladesh, while others are spread across Southeast Asia and the world. The Rohingya remain resilient, striving to preserve their identity and advocating for justice, safety, and basic human rights.
The Rohingya genocide the systematic persecution in Rakhine State, Myanmar, where entire villages were burned and erased during coordinated military attacks. Rohingya people faced harassment, mass killings, and forced displacement meant to terrorize and break the community. Families fled as their homes were destroyed, livelihoods taken, and identity denied. This violence, driven by state discrimination and hatred, created deep trauma, widespread suffering, and one of the world’s most severe refugee crises, affecting generations across borders.
After the violent military crackdowns in Myanmar, more than 1.3 million Rohingya refugees now live in sprawling camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bhasan Char, Bangladesh. These camps — including the world’s largest, Kutupalong and Balukhali — are overcrowded, fragile, and made up of makeshift shelters and narrow pathways.
Life in the camps is difficult. Many people lack access to adequate shelter, clean water, sanitation, education, and healthcare, and outbreaks of disease remain a serious threat. Efforts by humanitarian organizations try to provide services, protection, and support, but challenges persist as funding and resources struggle to meet needs.
The Rohingya have faced one of the most brutal and systematic campaigns of violence in recent history. In August 2017, Myanmar’s military, backed by local vigilantes, launched a coordinated assault on Rohingya villages in Rakhine State, killing men, women, and children, gang‑raping women and girls, and burning entire communities to the ground with houses, homes, and mosques reduced to ash. Satellite imagery and survivor testimonies confirm that hundreds of Rohingya settlements were deliberately torched while nearby non‑Rohingya areas were left intact, forcing more than 740,000 people to flee for their lives into Bangladesh and beyond. Many elderly, disabled, and young children were shot, burned in their homes, or forced to hide in rice fields and forests as smoke and fire consumed their villages, a campaign the United Nations has described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” and that U.S. authorities have labeled a genocide.
Following Myanmar’s independence in 1948, policies of exclusion and discrimination against the Rohingya intensified, particularly under military rule.
In 1982, the Citizenship Law excluded Rohingya from the list of recognized ethnic groups, rendering the majority of the population stateless.
In August 2017, Myanmar’s military launched so-called “clearance operations” following attacks on security posts.
The Rohingya people have been subjected to extreme violence and persecution in Myanmar, including massacres, village burnings, and widespread displacement. Fleeing to Bangladesh and other countries, hundreds of thousands now live in overcrowded refugee camps, facing harsh conditions, limited resources, and an uncertain future.
Right now, the Rohingya people are facing renewed attacks and violence in northern Rakhine State. The Arakan Army clashes with Myanmar military forces have intensified, and Rohingya villages are caught in the middle, with homes destroyed and families forced to flee. Many Rohingya are moving quickly toward makeshift camps and temporary shelters in the region, while others attempt to cross borders into Bangladesh or nearby countries to escape the fighting. Overcrowded shelters and limited resources make life extremely dangerous, and thousands are living in fear as fires, destruction, and shortages of food and clean water continue to rise. Children, women, and the elderly are especially vulnerable, and humanitarian support struggles to reach people in conflict zones. The situation is ongoing, urgent, and worsening, as displacement, violence, and insecurity dominate daily life for the Rohingya.
Current research shows that many political leaders, media outlets, and armed actors in Myanmar continue to portray Rohingya people as outsiders or security threats rather than as an ethnic community with historical roots in Rakhine State. This narrative is actively used to justify restrictions, military operations, and collective punishment against Rohingya civilians. As fighting intensifies between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, Rohingya communities are again targeted through forced displacement, movement bans, arbitrary arrests, and destruction of homes. Researchers and human rights monitors report that Rohingya are excluded from protection by all sides, leaving civilians trapped between armed groups, cut off from aid, and pushed toward camps or dangerous escape routes. These conditions reinforce a system of ongoing persecution that scholars describe as deliberate, organized, and continuing rather than a crisis of the past.
Regional instability continues to directly affect the Rohingya situation as border controls tighten and political priorities shift across South and Southeast Asia. Maritime routes in the Bay of Bengal remain dangerous, yet Rohingya families continue attempting sea crossings as land routes close, creating recurring humanitarian emergencies at sea. Neighboring states face growing domestic pressure over security, migration control, and resource strain, which limits long-term protection options for displaced Rohingya. At the international level, diplomatic responses remain fragmented, with competing geopolitical interests slowing coordinated action and delaying meaningful pathways for protection, resettlement, and legal status. These unresolved regional and global challenges leave Rohingya communities in a prolonged state of uncertainty, with no stable solution in sight.
Right now, Rohingya refugees depend on a coordinated network of UN agencies, international NGOs, and local organizations, each responsible for specific life-saving services inside the camps and surrounding areas.
Despite this large humanitarian presence, current funding levels are not enough, forcing reductions in food, education, and health services. Aid organizations continue operating daily, but warn that without increased international support, essential services for Rohingya refugees remain at serious risk.
Since 2017, over a million Rohingya are living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar,.. Bangladesh, fleeing for the violence in Myanmar. The camps are crowded, with limited access to food, clean water, healthcare, and education. Tensions persist due to scarce resources, aid dependency, and willing to go homeland again