Eight years ago, on this day, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims began fleeing Myanmar seeking asylum in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries, as they escaped a brutal crackdown in their own country.
While the refugees scramble for aid, financial support, they marked the eighth anniversary of their mass exodus by setting out in large numbers in an open field at a camp in Kutupalong in the Cox’s Bazar district on Monday. Marking what they termed “Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day”, they carried banners reading “No more refugee life” and “Repatriation the ultimate solution”.
At a three-day conference on the Rohingya is ongoing in Bangladesh, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus and the nation’s interim leader has urged the international community to facilitate a process for their safe return. Yunus said that the “relationship of Rohingyas with their homeland cannot be severed.” “Their right to return to their homeland has to be secured,” Yunus said. “Therefore, we urge all parties and partners to work hard for charting a practical roadmap for their speedy, safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return to their homes in Rakhine as soon as possible.”
The United Nations describes Rohingyas as the “most persecuted minority in the world,” and with worsening armed clashes inside Myanmar, thousands continue to cross the border seeking safety inside camps of Cox’s Bazar, which hosts nearly one million refugees.
The longing for their homeland and the need to exercise equal rights similar to other ethnic groups in Myanmar remain unfulfilled. “We want to go back to our country with equal rights like other ethnic groups in Myanmar,” one of the protesters, 19-year-old Nur Aziz, was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. “The rights they are enjoying in Myanmar as citizens of the country, we too want to enjoy the same rights.”
As the crisis continues, here’s a timeline of the events that unfolded over the years.
As per Al Jazeera, the persecution of Rohingyas at the hands of Myanmar’s military dates back to the country’s independence in the late 1940s, and in 1982, a law barred them from citizenship, rendering them stateless. Following this, they were denied basic rights and protection. As per the law, citizenship was granted to those residing in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, who could trace their family residency prior to 1823. It established categories of citizenship; however, the Rohingya were not included.
In October 2016, the military initiated a crackdown on Rohingya following an attack on some members of the Myanmar border police. Subsequently, about 87,000 Rohingyas rushed to neighbouring Bangladesh for refuge.
The military crackdown on August 25, 2017, began after an armed Rohingya group called the Arakan Rohingya Salavation Army (ARSA) attacked military posts in Rakhine, killing at least a dozen officers and the army in retaliation reportedly burnt dozens of Rohingya villages and killed 400 armed fighters. At that time, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims travelled by foot and boats amid shelling, killings and other violence in the Rakhine state. The United Nations says at least 1,000 people were killed in the first two weeks of the military operations.
In September 2017, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees termed the military operation as a ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing’.
In September 2018, two journalists of Reuters news agency were imprisoned for allegedly breaching Myanmar’s state secret laws while reporting on Rohingya massacre. Upon receiving a presidential pardon, they were released from jail after spending more than 500 days there.
In July 2019, US announced sanctions against Myanmar’s army chief and three other top officers. About 3,500 Rohingya refugees are cleared for repatriation; however, no one turns up to make the journey on August 22.
In November 2019, the International Criminal Court permitted a prosecution request to probe crimes against humanity by the Myanmar military.
In December 2019, The Gambia filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with Aung San Suu Kyi, human rights activist and former Foreign Affairs Minister, personally leading Myanmar’s defence. She denied accusations of genocide, denying “misleading and incomplete” claims and pressing that the country was dealing with an “internal armed conflict”, however, the Nobel laureate had admitted that the army may have used excessive force.
On November 11, 2019, The Gambia filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Myanmar of genocide over its treatment of the Rohingya.
On January 23, 2020, the ICJ ordered Myanmar to take immediate steps to curb alleged genocide and asked to report back within four months.
On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military took over the country, overthrowing the government and launching a crackdown on dissent. Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, was put under house arrest and imprisoned for 17 years.
On March 21, 2022, the US officially declared the 2017 violence as a genocide, saying there was clear evidence of an attempt to “destroy” the Rohingya. The military government executed four prisoners in March that year, marking the nation’s first use of capital punishment in decades.
In August 2022, two Rohingya community leaders were shot dead in one of the refugee camps in Bangladesh allegedly by the ARSA.
With inputs from Al Jazeera, AP
Rohingya refugees gather as they hold placards to demand safe return to Myanmar's Rakhine state as they mark the eighth anniversary of their mass exodus at their refugee camp at Kutupalong in Cox's Bazar district. (AP) 
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