Broken by Violence, Forgotten by the World: Rohingya Women in the Shadow of Genocide

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY POORVI KURUNDKAR

The year was 2017. 

Houses were set on fire. 

Entire Rohingya communities were razed to the ground. 

6,700 Rohingya Muslim’s were killed.

Hundreds of women across several villages in Myanmar were raped by soldiers. 

Survivors recounted systematic campaigns of sexual violence targeting young girls, pregnant women, and the elderly. 

Has humanity truly sunk to such depths that the fundamental respect for rights, especially those of women have been forgotten? Have we really grown so blind and shallow that we cannot honor the vibrant cultures that define our world?

The Rohingya, a muslim minority group that have resided in the Rakhine state of Myanmar for generations, have been effectively rendered stateless since 1982, when the Myanmar government passed the Citizenship Law. This essentially excluded the Rohingya people from recognized ethnic groups.

Stripped of their identities, and their homes and forced to face restrictions on movement, education and other basic human rights, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, an armed group of Rohingya people, launched a series of alleged attacks on police posts in 2017. In response to this, the Myanmar government began a military operation, described as a "clearance operation," involving mass killings, sexual violence, and the burning of entire villages. The UN and human rights organizations have called it a genocide.

This so-called cleansing was merely the prelude to the unimaginable nightmares that awaited the refugees. Over 742,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, joining an already large refugee population in camps like Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement. Rohingya refugees have also sought refuge in other nearby countries like Malaysia (168,400), India (93,100), Thailand (84,000) and other countries across the region.

Refugees are considered to be outside the purview of international legalities and yet at its mercy for survival. For refugee women, this stripping of their autonomy stereotypes them as reproductive vessels in need of chivalrous protection within the larger refugee discourse. 

Here, peace is a distant dream, replaced by daily struggles for dignity and survival- especially for women. In Bangladeshi settlements, they are made to hike long and dangerous treks daily to collect firewood, often ending in unfortunate mishaps- potentially leading to death due to inadequate healthcare in the shoddy tenements. They are also increasingly susceptible to diseases such as urinary tract infections, bacterial vaginosis, etc. due to lack of privacy, clean water, proper disposal facilities, and menstrual products. The weight of trauma, combined with the ongoing stressors of refugee life, leads to widespread depression, anxiety, and PTSD among Rohingya women.

Apart from concerns relating to daily hygiene and basic livelihoods, human trafficking is an increasingly grave concern. Jameel, 29, living at refugee camp Kiryani Talab, Jammu, left his village of Arkan in Myanmar after they were attacked by the Buddhist community supported by the Myanmar Army in 2012. “Every day is filled with anxiety, wondering if our loved ones will be the next victims. It’s heartbreaking to know that our sisters, mothers, and daughters are at risk. Our daughters and sisters are being sold like goats and sheep,” he said. Many times these women- often minor girls- are falsely promised of a better life in Jammu and other states by traffickers, so they illegally cross Bangladeshi borders from camps like Cox Bazar into India. They are then married to locals against their will in Jammu and Kashmir in exchange for scraps of crumpled banknotes, or many times even end up in jail. Since the Rohingya women face indefinite arbitrary detention, legal protection measures are excessively weak- so much so that they are not even being allowed to represent their cases in courts. Apart from this, post-marriage, they face severe sexual assault, domestic violence and repeated beatings. 

The most disturbing aspect of this situation is how utterly forgotten these women are. The world has shunned them to barren lands and makeshift godowns, forcing them into criminal welfare, prostitution, drug rings, deportation and detention. They are prisoners in a forgotten corner of the world, their chains made of silence. Over the last few years, hundreds of Rohingya have been detained by Indian authorities for not carrying valid documents and few have been deported. They have labelled them as a security threat, not only blaming them for having links to Muslim extremist groups- but also questioning their right to freedom based on religious and cultural beliefs. 

These women are like whispers lost in a storm, their voices drowned by indifference. It’s high time we start treating and thinking of these refugees as human beings and not infiltrating aliens. Because every human being and most of all every woman- deserves to have her voice heard.