Washington, DC., 10 July 2025 —
The Rohingya have lived in Rakhine State, Myanmar, for centuries. Despite this, Myanmar’s government does not recognize them as one of the country’s 135 official ethnic groups. The 1982 Citizenship Law effectively rendered the Rohingya stateless, denying them basic rights such as freedom of movement, access to education, and healthcare. This legal exclusion laid the groundwork for Rohingya marginalization and abuse.
Tensions between the predominantly Buddhist population of Myanmar and the Muslim Rohingya have existed for decades, with periodic outbreaks of violence. However, it was a brutal crackdown by military-led operations in August 2017 that forced over 700,000 Rohingya to take to the sea on rickety boats and flee to neighboring Bangladesh.
The forced displacement of the Rohingya has been condemned by the UN and many human rights organizations as ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Cox’s Bazar
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, home to the world’s largest refugee settlement, hosts nearly one million Rohingya refugees. While humanitarian organizations work tirelessly to provide basic services, the camps have increasingly become volatile environments. Violence, exploitation, trafficking, and insecurity continue to plague the lives of Rohingya refugees, even within these supposed sanctuaries. Such conditions not only endanger lives but also severely undermine community cohesion and access to essential services.
Armed groups, drug traffickers, and criminal networks have taken root in the camps, exploiting the lack of formal law enforcement and governance. Armed clashes, extortion, and targeted killings have become disturbingly frequent. Several camps are now controlled, de facto, by criminal gangs, some of which are linked to extremist groups. These groups exert control through violence and fear, targeting camp leaders (known as Majhi), community volunteers, and even women working with aid organizations.
Impact on Women and Children
Women and girls are particularly vulnerable. Gender-based violence, including domestic abuse, trafficking, and sexual assault, is widespread in the overcrowded and poorly policed camps. The lack of privacy and secure shelter compounds the threat. For many Rohingya women, simply going to a latrine after dark carries significant risk.
Children, too, suffer immensely. With limited access to education and safe spaces, they are vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups, forced labor, and trafficking. Psychological trauma runs deep among young refugees who have witnessed violence both in Myanmar and within the camps.
Systemic Challenges and Statelessness
The root of the Rohingya’s suffering lies in their statelessness. Denied citizenship by Myanmar and unrecognized as refugees by Bangladesh, the Rohingya find themselves in a legal limbo. This lack of status leaves them without protection under either country’s legal system and restricts their freedom of movement, access to work, and opportunities for resettlement.
Furthermore, the Bangladeshi government, while generous in hosting the refugees, has imposed strict limitations on camp life. Fearing permanent settlement, authorities prohibit formal education, work, and integration. These restrictions create a breeding ground for frustration, hopelessness, and susceptibility to recruitment by extremist or criminal networks.
In Bangladesh, the Rohingya have no clear path to citizenship, repatriation, or resettlement. Repatriation to Myanmar is untenable as conditions there remain unsafe and discriminatory policies persist. Resettlement to third countries has been extremely limited.
Until durable solutions are found, improving camp conditions and security must be a top priority, including strengthening community-led protection mechanisms; enhancing accountability for violence and abuses; expanding education and livelihood programs, even within the constraints of camp policies; and supporting host communities to reduce tensions and improve cooperation.
The Rohingya have suffered unimaginable horrors, first at home and now in exile. Refugee camps, while offering physical safety from Myanmar’s military, are no longer the sanctuaries they were once thought to be. Without urgent and sustained international action to address the violence and systemic neglect inside these camps, the promise of safety and dignity for the Rohingya remains tragically unfulfilled. The world must not look away.
Post-Coup Persecution
Violence in Myanmar, forced tens of thousands of Rohingya to flee the country – the majority to Bangladesh – since the 2021 coup, despite border restrictions. Nearly half of them are children. Fighting between the military and various armed ethnic groups, including the Arakan Army, a Rakhine Buddhist armed group, has intensified, leading to widespread devastation. The group has also targeted areas with significant Rohingya populations, further complicating the situation.
Simultaneously, the military junta has also conducted indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas. These actions have resulted in numerous casualties among the Rohingya population and have displaced thousands from their homes. Since February 2024, more than 1,000 Rohingya men and boys have been forcibly recruited to fight. The military coercion includes false promises of citizenship, as well as threats of arrest, abduction, and beatings.
In May 2024, the Arakan Army captured Buthid Aung, setting fire to buildings and forcing thousands of Rohingya to flee. The military’s response included indiscriminate attacks on civilians using helicopter gunships, artillery, and ground assaults. An estimated 200 Rohingya civilians were killed in drone and artillery attacks in Maungdaw township, Rakhine State, in August 2024, while seeking shelter on the banks of the Naf River. The victims were mostly women and children.
International Response and Accountability
The UN has reported that over 18 million people in Myanmar require humanitarian assistance, with the Rohingya being among the most vulnerable groups. Humanitarian aid to these communities has been severely restricted, with the junta blocking deliveries and imposing stringent controls on aid organizations.
But long-term solutions must go beyond humanitarian aid. They require addressing root causes: restoring citizenship rights, ensuring justice for atrocities, dismantling institutionalized racism, and holding perpetrators accountable. Without these, the cycle of violence, displacement, and despair is likely to continue.
The Rohingya crisis is not only a humanitarian tragedy but a test of the international community’s willingness and ability to prevent and respond to genocide. The ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Rohingya is a stain on the conscience of the global community.
While humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, and human rights groups condemned the Myanmar military’s actions, political measures have often fallen short. The UN Human Rights Council established an Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, which concluded in 2018 that the Myanmar military had acted with “genocidal intent.” In 2019, The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of genocide. The ICJ has since ruled that Myanmar must take provisional measures to prevent further acts of genocide. The case at the ICJ continues, and calls for accountability persist. Yet justice remains elusive.
Despite overwhelming evidence of atrocities, political inertia and geopolitical calculations have hampered justice. As the world watches, a persecuted people remain in exile, waiting for recognition, restitution, and the basic human dignity that has long been denied to them. The time to act is now, not just with words, but with meaningful and sustained international action.
Photo credit: Bangladesh – Rohingya women in refugee camps share stories of loss and hopes of recovery by UN Women Gallery. Licensed under CC BY NC ND 2.0. Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. March 2018. Photo: UN Women/Allison Joyce.
Lara Kajs is the founder and executive director of The Genocide Report, an NGO nonprofit organization in Washington, DC. She is the author of Assad’s Syria, and Stories from Yemen: A Diary from the Field, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and independent bookstores worldwide. Distributed by Ingram. Ms. Kajs frequently speaks about atrocity crimes, forced displacement, and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Follow and connect with Lara Kajs on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky.