• published: 04 Jun 2013
• views: 3179

At least 237 people have been killed in Myanmar in religious violence over the past year and about 150,000 people have been displaced. Most of the victims were Muslim and the most deadly incidents happened in Rakhine State, where about 800,000 Rohingya Muslims live, according to the United Nations. More on: http://www.trust.org/item/20130701031846-pwkie/?source=hpagehead There are around 12 million people worldwide who lack citizenship and basic rights in the country in which they live. The Rohingya have no rights in Burma, and their lives are made impossible by such practices as forced labor, displacement and systematic physical assault and rape. They are not allowed to marry or travel to other villages unless they pay prohibitively high taxes. 2011 © Thomson Reuters Foundation Transcript: The military took me as forced labour and we ran away while the soldiers were sleeping at night. After we got back, the military came and started searching our houses and arresting those who ran away so we fled. The Rohingyas are a persecuted minority ethnic group living in the northern Rakhine State in Myanmar's western border near Bangladesh. An estimated 800,000 Rohingyas live in Myanmar and hundreds of thousands more live in other countries, especially Bangladesh. The origin of the Rohingyas is disputed. In 1982, Myanmar passed a law which made it impossible for them to get full Myanmar citizenship. Today, the government still considers them to be illegal residents. Hla Aung, Rohingya escapee, 38: (It was) like a normal fishing boat. We were stacked up like animals (cattle). It was very tight we could not relax our legs." Hla Aung is one of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas who have fled Myanmar in the past few decades. "The lucky ones got to Thailand but the unlucky ones died at sea before we got to Thailand. We spent 17 days on the boat from Maungdaw to Thailand. We travelled on foot from Thailand to Malaysia." "Rohingyas in Myanmar not only face forced labour but also difficulties in making a living. The income and the costs are not proportionate. And I cannot get my daughters married because of restrictions -- I have to report to the NaSaKa (the border security force) about the marriage and give so much money to the government. I cannot afford it. It is also difficult to move around, go from one village to another. The government also confiscated our land, which was over 3 acres." Kyaw Myiny, Rohingya escapee, 44: "There are no opportunities for the Rohingya. For the Rohingya people in Myanmar, to live and to die are the same." Life in northern Rakhine state, where international media is not allowed, is harsh. More than 20 percent of the population in some areas suffer from acute malnutrition. Many of those who flee do not find safe havens. In April 2011, Refugees International said tens of thousands of Rohingyas in Bangladesh face abuse, starvation and detention, and called it a silent crisis. Two years ago Thailand's military was accused of towing nearly a thousand Rohingyas to sea before abandoning them with little food or water. "There are no countries in this world for Rohingyas. Even animals can have peace of mind but the Rohingyas, even though we are humans but because we are stateless, there is no peace of mind." Those who reach Malaysia are considered lucky because they are registered by the United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) and are able to live legally. There are currently some 20,000 registered Rohingyas in Malaysia. Still, Malaysia's compassion only goes so far. "The Malaysian government allowed us to live here yes, but we cannot enrol our children in school. They cannot have education." The hardest thing for many of the Rohingyas is the separation from their loved ones. Kyaw Myint left Myanmar 20 years ago, when the Rohingya political party he was a member of was banned after winning seats in the 1990 general elections. "When I got here, my daughter was still in my wife's womb. My wife was six months pregnant. My daughter wasn't born yet. I didn't have any contact with my family, for about 10 years after I left. After 10 years, we made contact. But at that time there was no way to leave the country. I also did not have the means or the money to bring them here." A month ago he finally managed to bring his wife and the daughter he had never met, to Malaysia. "I guess it is destiny, that after 20 years being apart, my family and I have the chance to reunite. " Others are not so lucky. Mya Win arrived in Malaysia two months ago. He said he had to pay the Myanmar authorities if he refused to do forced labour and there was no money left to support his family. So he left his sisters, wife and children for Malaysia. He doesn't know when he will see them again. Hla Aung says he misses his wife and 9 children. Hla Aung: "The two things I'm constantly worried about are how I can reunite with my family and how I can make my children's future better.