FILE: World Refugee Day will be marked on July 20, drawing attention to the plight of millions of refugees around the world

Record ID: 274410

  • Title: FILE: World Refugee Day will be marked on July 20, drawing attention to the plight of millions of refugees around the world
  • Date: 19th June 2013
  • Summary: SITTWE, RAKHINE STATE, MYANMAR (FILE - MAY 2, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ROHINGYA MUSLIM CAMPS IN SITTWE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN MAKESHIFT HUTS BOATS NEAR THAE CHAUNG VILLAGE PASSENGERS MOVING FROM A SMALL BOAT TO ANOTHER ONE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ON BOATS TEMPORARY TENT FOR MUSLIM RESIDENTS IN THAE CHAUNG VILLAGE MUSLIM WOMAN SITTING SITTWE, RAKHINE STATE, MYANMAR (FILE - MAY
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Myanmar
  • Country: Myanmar
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2E0UF5UK5Q5HVOYACWLNKYVK3
  • Story Text: Thousands of Rohingyas flee from Myanmar each year on rickety boats seeking refuge and jobs in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, but the number has swelled since unrest last year.
    After independence in 1948, Myanmar's new rulers tried to limit citizenship to those whose roots in the country predated British rule.
    A 1982 Citizenship Act excluded Rohingya from the country's 135 recognized ethnic groups, denying them citizenship and rendering them stateless. Bangladesh also disowns them and has refused to grant them refugee status since 1992.
    The United Nations calls them "virtually friendless" and among the world's most persecuted people
    The government put their number at 1.33 million in the country of 60 million people, above past estimates of 800,000, and said 1.08 million are in Rakhine State. Only about 40,000 had citizenship.
    Myanmar's transformation from global pariah to budding democracy once seemed remarkably smooth. After nearly half a century of military dictatorship, the quasi-civilian government that took power in March 2011 astonished the world by releasing dissidents, relaxing censorship and re-engaging with the West.
    Then came the worst sectarian violence for decades. Clashes between Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Rohingya Muslims in June and October 2012 killed at least 192 people and displaced 140,000. Most of the dead and homeless were Muslims.
    From October 2012 to March 2013, between the monsoons, about 25,000 Rohingya left Myanmar on boats, according to new data from Arakan Project, a Rohingya advocacy group. That was double the previous year, turning the Rakhine problem into a region-wide one.
    While many in Myanmar deem the Rohingyas as immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, authorities in Dhaka do not recognise them as Bangladeshi.
    Many Rohingyas have perished in the rickety boats they use to flee persecution in Myanmar, and even for those that survive treacherous sea crossings their future in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia is uncertain and plagued with poverty and violence.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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