Rohingya Refugees From Myanmar Have Been Persecuted for Decades

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/world/asia/myanmar-rohingya-refugees-rakhine-burma.html

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The refugees fleeing Myanmar, from the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, have been persecuted for decades. They have been evicted from their homes and kicked off their land, and attacked by the military and by Buddhist extremists in Rakhine, the western coastal state where they live. Their voting rights were effectively revoked in February. Their government insists that they are in the country illegally, and most neighboring countries refuse to accept them.

In effect, they are stateless.

President Thein Sein denies that the Rohingya, with a population estimated at 800,000 or more, exist as an ethnic group, and he refers to them as Bengalis, suggesting that they are from Bangladesh and therefore subject to deportation.

Many Rohingya came to Myanmar, then known as Burma, in the 19th century, when the country was under British rule. The Rohingya themselves, and some scholars, say they are indigenous to Rakhine State. Muslims have lived in Rakhine, once known as Arakan, for centuries, although it is not clear whether the Rohingya of today descend directly from those Muslims.

The latest wave of migration is part of a huge exodus that began in the fall after the Myanmar government, which had long denied citizenship to the Rohingya, gave them a difficult choice: They could qualify for second-class citizenship by proving that their families had been living in Burma since 1948, the year of independence, or be placed in camps and face deportation. Many lacked the paperwork to prove residency or did not meet the long residency requirement, human rights advocates said.

Although the Myanmar government has not followed through on the plan, it prompted many Rohingya to flee. In October and early November, 14,500 people went to Thailand in hopes of ultimately reaching Malaysia, which has quietly accepted refugees in the past.