Rohingya Refugee Crisis

There is a major crisis going on right now in the country of Myanmar unlike anything in the modern world. A small people group known as the Rohingya are being persecuted by the government of their home country. The Rohingya are defined by Britannica Academic as “Rohingya, term commonly used to refer to a community of Muslims generally concentrated in Rakhine (Arakan) state in Myanmar (Burma), although they can also be found in other parts of the country as well as in refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh and other countries. They are considered to be among the most persecuted minorities in the world”(Chan 1). Within the Rakhine state there are over 420,000 people who are trying desperately to flee their own country for another that does

The association of southeast asian nations, commonly known as ASEAN, is making great strides in providing aid to the refugees. They are working with myanmar to help them to resolve the issues they have with the Rohingya. The article, ASEAN’s role in the rohingya refugee crisis, is about everything that they are doing to help the refugee crisis as well as how ill prepared the countries of myanmar and bangladesh are . It says “The continuing Rohingya crisis has shown how ill-prepared the region is to deal with such a movement of refugees from one member state to others. The meetings that have taken place between ASEAN Member States to discuss the crisis are a good start but the situation needs close monitoring if better regional cooperation is to lead to improved protection for its refugees.” (Shivakoti 3). This article urges how important it is for the countries dealing with the crisis to cooperate or else there will be no hope for the Rohingya people. Myanmar must also begin to take actions to integrate the rohingya into their country peacefully instead of driving them out. In order to completely solve the refugee crisis, the rohingya will require representation from other nations outside of Asia so they can receive more

The US is currently providing support to aid in the crisis. Cnn had a news article titled US to provide $32 million in aid to Rohingya fleeing Myanmar that describes in detail how the US is handling the crisis. The article states, “The US will provide a humanitarian aid package worth nearly $32 million to Rohingya who have fled violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State in recent weeks...The funding ‘reflects the US commitment to help address the unprecedented magnitude of suffering and urgent humanitarian needs of the Rohingya people,’ said the State Department's Acting Assistant Secretary Simon Henshaw”(Kosinski, Cohen, Gaouette 1). This all took place in september of 2017 when the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, took a diplomatic trip to meet with the leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu, to hopefully resolve the crisis. It may seem as though there is nothing we as citizens can do to help the Rohingya people because they are so far away and their may not be anything we can do to influence the problem without actually going there. However there is one major thing we can do to influence the crisis from home. The rohingya are considered to be a forgotten people. Their rights have been taken away, they are being forced out of their home country, and they have virtually no say in their lives or futures. What the Rohingya people need more than anything right now is a voice. We are fortunate enough to have a voice