Commentary: We are not permitted to access health care because we are
Rohingya. We are banned from civil servant jobs. We are not allowed to marry
without permission. Here's what you can do.
Tun Khin
LONDON — The Myanmar
government is trying to push us into camps or out of the country. In a few
years, there may be no more of us left.
I stressed this
message, as a human rights activist, during my remarks at a recent event hosted
by the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the plight of Myanmar’s Rohingyas, one
of the world’s most persecuted ethnic groups.
As I spoke,
photographs capturing some of the Rohingya people impacted by the violence were
displayed on the walls behind me: A woman holding her young grandchild after
escaping with him to Bangladesh. A man left blind in one eye after being beaten
while working as a forced laborer. Two young children sifting through rubble to
find anything they can sell.
For decades, violence
against the Rohingya, an ethic and religious minority, has been mostly ignored
by others in Myanmar, and by the international community. I felt encouraged by
the hundreds of audience members at the museum who had gathered to learn about
the persecution that my community faces every day.
Speaking at the
event was a powerful experience for me. Surrounded by the devastating history
of the Holocaust, parallels began to emerge between that horrific violence of
the last century and the attacks Rohingyas endure now in Myanmar, also known as
Burma.
Like other minority
groups that have faced persecution, the Rohingya have endured discrimination at
the political, legal and cultural levels. Our community has been purposely
written out of the official ethnic mosaic of Myanmar. The Rohingya have been
denied citizenship even though our community has lived in Myanmar since the
early seventh century, and had made significant contributions to public life
before being rendered stateless.
We are not permitted
to access health care or seek higher education just because we are Rohingya. We
are banned from civil servant jobs, such as those held by doctors, nurses and
teachers. We are not allowed to marry without permission, which can be a
lengthy and expensive process that many Rohingyas simply cannot afford. I have
friends who are serving long prison sentences for this so-called crime —
getting married without permission.
Last summer, this
long-standing discrimination erupted into outright violence. Buddhist
extremists torched Rohingya villages were torched by in Rakhine state,
killing people along the way. Others fled to camps for the internally
displaced, where the humanitarian situation is hellish. Buddhist extremists
have fueled the wave of hatred against Rohingyas by disseminating false and
inflammatory material and anti-Muslim propaganda.
Forced from their
homes and denied essential services, Rohingya people are turning away from
violence in Myanmar to seek a better life elsewhere, even though getting out is
exceedingly dangerous. Just last month, a boat sank between the Myanmar and
Bangladeshi borders, leaving more than 60 people feared dead. Those who survived and
returned to shore were promptly arrested, and no one has been able to contact
them since.
Within Myanmar,
there is little hope that the violence against the Rohingya will subside. To
date, there is no powerful voice of compassion and peace that rises above the
hatred. My people may face permanent erasure from their own country if the tide
of violence and hate speech does not end soon.
It is sometimes
difficult to know how to respond to such virulent hatred, but there are steps
that Americans can take to help press the Myanmar government to address the
violence.
People should call
their representative in Congress and express support for House Resolution 418, which calls for an end to persecution
of the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar. This piece of
legislation will show the Myanmar leadership that the United States will speak
up for Rohingyas and demand an end to violence and hate speech.
For members of my
community and me, this kind of action also sends a message that others have
heard about our plight and are doing what they can to end the injustice behind
it. Such steps are also needed to give Rohingyas the courage and hope to keep
fighting against this kind of discrimination, much like the event at the museum
gave me.
Tun Khin is president and a founding member of the Burmese Rohingya Organization, which advocates for the rights of the Rohingya in Myanmar.
Source: GlobalPost
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