The Burma Genocide
By: Jacob Helmann and Andrew Will
Causes
• The military regime in Burma is one of the world’s most aggressive
and violent governments.
• The Muslim Rohingya are a small group of people that face serious
abuse from the government.
• The main motive for the abuse is the goal of achieving “ethnic
cleansing”.
How it started
• Burma’s 1982 citizenship law does not include Rohingya in the list of
recognized ethnicities.
• The government insists that the Rohingya people are all illegal
immigrants, even though they have lived in Burma since 1948.
• They live in the Rakhine State
Conflict
• The government of Burma limits their right to marry and have
children.
• Rohingya must obtain permission to marry, and usually are not
pemitted to have more than two children.
• Some Rogingya people disobey this law, and a result their children are
considered “invalid” and are denied access to all government
services, continuing the cycle.
Containment
• The Rohingya are essentially contained and locked into their current
region.
• Applications must be complete to leave
the city, and the government makes it
near-impossible to obtain them.
Slavery
• The majority of the Rohingya are
required to work without pay for
the government or military, with
many of these workers being
children.
• Many Rohingya that try to escape
are quickly captured by human
traffickers and are sent either to
plantations or sex-slavery.
Police Corruption
• Rohingya are always at risk of having property confiscated, arbitrary
arrest and detention.
• Additionally, they are constantly physically and sexually abused,
sometimes even tortured, by the authorities.
Segregation
• Rohingya are barred from the teaching, medical, and engineering
professions.
• Many health care facilities will not treat them and few businesses will
hire them other than for manual labor.
Dates
• Starting in 1948, the Rohingya people have been persecuted.
• In 1982, a new citizenship law was passed that classified them as
illegal immigrants, which essentially gave approval to the genocide.
• The worst violence came in 2012, when hundreds were killed and
more than 140,000 were displaced
Resolution
• Unfortunately, the Rohingya people are still being abused to this day.
• There have been improvements recently towards improving
humanitarian access, but the citizenship law has not been changed.
Awareness and Support
• I will never commit a hate crime.
• We are all equal, so I will give my full support to all those being
harmed.
• I will stay aware and informed to help prevent any other genocides
from happening.
Bibliography
• http://www.ushmm.org/confront-genocide/cases/burma
• http://endgenocide.org/conflict-areas/burma-backgrounder/
• http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/burma
• http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/young-rohingya-working-at-the-coxs-bazar-fishing-port-the-news-photo/175103304
• http://carefugees.org/2014/06/07/the-plight-of-rohingyas/
• http://www.voanews.com/content/few-rohingya-want-new-myanmar-idenitification-cards/2859878.html
• http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/03/myanmar-police-crack-student-protesters-150310123609713.html
• http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/events-and-programs/upcoming-events/january-28-burma-a-genocide-warning-today