Destroyed village in Rakhine State, September 2017
The
Rohingya genocide is a series of ongoing persecutions and killings of the
Muslim Rohingya people by the
military of Myanmar. The genocide has consisted of two phases to date: the first was a military crackdown that occurred from October 2016 to January 2017, and the second has been occurring since August 2017. The crisis forced over a million Rohingya to flee to other countries. Most fled to
Bangladesh, resulting in the creation of the
world's largest refugee camp, while others escaped to
India,
Thailand,
Malaysia, and other parts of
South and
Southeast Asia, where they continue to face persecution. Many other countries consider these events
ethnic cleansing.
The
persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar dates back to at least the 1970s. Since then, the Rohingya people have been persecuted on a regular basis by the government and
Buddhist nationalists. In late 2016,
Myanmar's
armed forces and
police launched a major crackdown against the people in
Rakhine State which is located in the country's northwestern region. The Burmese military was accused of committing
ethnic cleansing and
genocide by various
United Nations agencies,
International Criminal Court officials, human rights groups, journalists, and governments. The UN found evidence of wide-scale
human rights violations, including
extrajudicial killings;
summary executions;
gang rapes;
arson of Rohingya villages, businesses, and schools; and
infanticides. At least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of attacks, between 25 August and September 24, 2017. The Burmese government dismissed these findings by stating they are "exaggerations". Using statistical extrapolations which were based on surveys which were conducted with a total of 3,321 Rohingya refugee households in
Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, a study which was conducted in January 2018 estimated that the military and the local
Rakhine population killed at least 25,000 Rohingya people and perpetrated gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against 18,000 Rohingya women and girls. They estimated that 116,000 Rohingya were beaten, and 36,000 were thrown into fires. (
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