700,000 members of this Muslim minority remain in precarious camps in Bangladesh

On August 25, 2017, the Myanmar Armed Forces launched a violent offensive to annihilate the Rohingya Muslim minority. This community had been suffering the harassment of the army of former Burma for years, while the government of that country, led by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, was looking the other way.

Leer en español: Aún no llega la solución para la comunidad musulmana rohingya

However, that day the virulence of the troops caused a massive flight that ended with more than 700,000 Rohingyas in neighboring Bangladesh. A year later, their situation continues to be uncertain.

In this country, Rohingyas have found some tranquility because at least there they are safe from persecution. However, the situation in the refugee camps is far from adequate, as Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in Asia, does not have the resources to offer them the minimum conditions of habitability. Even so, the Government offered the newcomers plastic and bamboo, and it is with these two materials that the humble huts, in which the displaced live, are made, explains the UNHCR.

NGOs working in the field are responsible for everything else, such as Doctors without Borders, which are fighting to prevent possible epidemics that may explode due to the terrible sanitary conditions and the threat of monsoon rains, active since June.

While most Rohingya are willing to return to Myanmar, their home country offers no guarantee of security. In fact, Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced that six members of this minority were tortured when they temporarily returned to Myanmar, indicating that the Buddhist majority in the state of Rajine, bordering Bangladesh, still does not accept the Rohingya.

HRW denounces that Myanmar has done absolutely nothing to guarantee that this Muslim minority can return with security guarantees.

Also read: Between the rejection and acceptance of immigrants

The two countries involved in this crisis do not want to assume responsibilities. Bangladesh defends itself by saying that it has already done enough welcoming almost one million people, when they have some of the highest population densities in the world and urges the Government of Myanmar to assume its responsibility. It must be remembered that this country, with a Buddhist majority, deprived the Rohingya of their nationality in 1992, and therefore does not recognize them as citizens.

Those who could not flee Myanmar remain in a very delicate situation. It is estimated that more than 100,000 are in detention camps and many others are trapped in their villages. In addition, there is evidence that the Army continues to devastate Rohingya populations and occupy their fields, says the newspaper ABC.

All the above factors make it very difficult to find a solution to this conflict. Another problem is the difficulty of compiling a reliable death list that allows future evidence to judge those directly responsible for the massacres committed in 2017.

Time plays against in this case, as it increases the forgetting of the international community and delays possible solutions.

LatinAmerican Post | José María González
Translated from “Aún no llega la solución para la comunidad musulmana rohingya”