Rohingya Muslims risk losing homeland: Rights activist

ISTANBUL

Rohingya Muslims face the risk of losing their homeland if the international community fails to address the issue, according to one observer.

Rohingya rights activist and co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, Nay San Lwin, said that following forced displacements in Rakhine State, there are approximately 600,000 Rohingya Muslims in the region, with estimates suggesting that 10,000 were forced to seek refuge in Bangladesh last week.

"If the international community fails to resolve this issue once again, we will lose our homeland. The most critical issue is impunity. The Myanmar army has been acting with impunity since 1978," he said in an interview with Anadolu, where he assessed the role of international organizations in addressing the issues faced by the Rohingya community.

Lwin noted that there are ongoing international court cases concerning the atrocities faced by the Rohingya community, but the duration of these cases remains uncertain.

He emphasized that a crucial step for the Rohingya Muslim community would be intervention by international organizations, a resolution by the UN Security Council, or the formation of an international coalition to assist the Rohingya.

If there is no intervention, the violence could escalate beyond the 2,000 to 2,500 deaths reported in the last three to four months, warned Lwin.

He added that half of the remaining Rohingya — 300,000 people in Buthidaung and Maungdaw — would be forced to flee to Bangladesh.

"If we lose these two towns, we will have no place to return to. Everything depends on the international community," he said. "It is up to them to decide how to protect the Rohingya and how to ensure their return to their homeland."

Since last November, the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army, a Buddhist militant group, have used areas inhabited by Rohingya Muslims as conflict zones, Lwin noted.

He said the Arakan Army’s efforts to control the entire region have led to continued displacement, mass killings, atrocities, and human rights violations, leaving the population with no access to services such as humanitarian aid and health care.

Lwin noted that in 2017, the Myanmar Army burned 400 villages, sexually assaulted hundreds of women, and even burned and killed infants.

He said neither the Myanmar Army nor the Arakan Army shows any intention of improving conditions for the people, making international intervention the only hope for the community.

Lwin emphasized that Bangladesh, where Rohingya refugees have sought asylum due to attacks by the Myanmar Army, must persuade the international community to lead the repatriation process. He warned that if Bangladesh fails to achieve that goal, the Rohingya will be forced to remain in Bangladesh until the situation changes.

Lwin explained that the 600,000 Rohingya living in Myanmar are in two different conditions. About 130,000 are in camps, which he described as barbed-wire-enclosed, surveillance-tower-equipped detention centers.

He noted that the remaining Rohingya struggle to survive in conditions resembling open-air prisons, with the situation worsening, particularly in areas controlled by the Arakan Army.

*Writing by Muhammed Enes Calli