Rohingya crisis

The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority based mainly in Rakhine State, western Myanmar (Burma). Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Law effectively excluded them from the list of recognised national ethnic groups, rendering most Rohingya stateless. Decades of restrictions on movement, marriage, and access to services were punctuated by violent expulsions, notably in 1978 and 1991–92, each driving hundreds of thousands into neighbouring Bangladesh.

The current crisis intensified after attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on police posts in October 2016 and again on 25 August 2017. The Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) responded with "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing." Villages were burned, and large-scale killings and sexual violence were documented. By the end of 2017 more than 700,000 Rohingya had fled to Cox's Bazar district in Bangladesh, joining earlier refugees in what became one of the world's largest refugee settlements.

Key international responses include:

• The Gambia v. Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, filed in November 2019 under the Genocide Convention. The ICJ issued provisional measures in January 2020 ordering Myanmar to prevent acts of genocide, and in July 2022 rejected Myanmar's preliminary objections.
• An Independent International Fact-Finding Mission established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2017, whose 2018 report recommended investigating senior Tatmadaw officials for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
• An International Criminal Court investigation, authorised in November 2019, covering alleged crimes committed at least partly on the territory of Bangladesh (an ICC state party), including deportation.
• US, UK, EU, and Canadian sanctions on named Tatmadaw commanders.

The February 2021 coup in Myanmar, the Rakhine conflict's renewed escalation involving the Arakan Army from 2023, funding shortfalls in Bangladesh camps, and the政 政治 sensitivities surrounding repatriation have kept durable solutions out of reach. Most Rohingya remain stateless refugees or internally displaced.