The forgotten genocide: The Rohingya crisis and the world’s divided attention

The Rohingya, once at the forefront of global humanitarian concern, have seen their plight fade from the international spotlight, leaving them with few advocates as Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army continue their relentless campaign of ethnic cleansing.

 

By Fareed Khan

  

Eight years ago, in August 2017, a crisis erupted in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, thrusting the plight of the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority, into global focus. What began as targeted violence escalated into a genocide, as determined by the United Nations in 2018. But the roots of the genocide go back to the 1980s.

In 1982, the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, were stripped of their citizenship under the government’s 1982 Citizenship Law, rendering them stateless and laying the foundation for decades of systemic persecution and oppression. This act of legal erasure marked the beginning of a slow-burning genocide, one that has unfolded over 40 years through waves of violence, displacement, and erasure. Despite brief moments of global attention, the Rohingya crisis has faded from the world’s consciousness, overshadowed by other conflicts. While the ongoing genocide in Gaza demands urgent attention, the international community must acknowledge its capacity to address multiple human rights crises simultaneously.

Under the 1982 law, the Rohingya were denied recognition as one of Myanmar’s ethnic groups, branding them as “Bengali” outsiders despite more than eleven centuries of residence in Rakhine State. This legal disenfranchisement fuelled state-sanctioned discrimination, restricting their access to education, healthcare, and freedom of movement. Over the decades, the Myanmar military orchestrated periodic pogroms, each more brutal than the last, aimed at ethnically cleansing the Rohingya from the country. By 2017, the Rohingya population in Myanmar stood at approximately 1.3 million, but the violence that erupted that year would drastically alter this number.

In August 2017, the Myanmar military launched a ferocious assault on the Rohingya, triggered by attacks on police by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The response was disproportionate and genocidal, marked by mass murders, gang rapes of Rohingya women, babies killed in front of their parents, summary executions, and the razing of hundreds of Rohingya villages.

Over 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, joining earlier waves of refugees to form the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, now home to over 1.2 million people. The United Nations and human rights organizations documented these atrocities, with the UN’s 2018 Independent Fact-Finding Mission concluding that the military’s actions constituted genocide, calling for prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Canada showed leadership

Canada emerged as a leader in the response to the crisis, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointing Bob Rae as Special Envoy to Myanmar in October 2017. Rae’s 2018 report, "Tell Them We’re Human", outlined 17 recommendations, including humanitarian aid, diplomatic pressure, and accountability measures. That year, Canada committed $300 million over three years (2018–2021) to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and displaced populations in Myanmar.

As part of Canada’s response to the crisis, in September 2018, Canada’s House of Commons unanimously declared the Myanmar military’s actions a genocide, a bold step that also saw the revocation of Aung San Suu Kyi’s honorary Canadian citizenship due to her complicity in the atrocities. Canadian news outlets lauded these moves, with The Guardian in the UK reporting Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland’s commitment to “justice and accountability” for the Rohingya.

Yet, even as Canada took these steps, the international community’s focus began to wane. There was a rise in international attention when on November 11, 2019 Gambia filed a genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), under the Genocide Convention. Canada announced its intent to intervene in the case in 2020 and again in 2022, but didn’t follow through. No formal intervention materialized until November 2023, when Canada joined Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK in a joint declaration, a delay that frustrated advocates like the Rohingya Human Rights Network in Canada (RHRN), which has repeatedly called for stronger Canadian action, noting in 2020 that Canada’s leadership was crucial but incomplete without concrete steps like increased support for refugees in the camps and for Gambia’s genocide case at the ICJ.

A deteriorating situation and waning attention

By 2021, the situation in Myanmar deteriorated further with a military coup that deposed the civilian government, intensifying violence against the Rohingya. The remaining 600,000 Rohingya in Myanmar faced starvation, internment, and attacks from both the military and the Arakan Army, a Rakhine militia. In June 2022, Canada announced a second phase of its strategy, committing $288.3 million from 2021 to 2024 to support Rohingya refugees and crisis-affected populations. However, no new funding has been announced since, leaving humanitarian aid for the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh critically underfunded according to the United Nations

Canadian news coverage of the Rohingya crisis, robust in 2017–2018, dwindled by 2022, and is practically non-existent today as other crises dominate the news headlines. Additionally, human rights organizations have noted Canada’s diminished interest in the plight of the Rohingya, highlighting the lack of a new special envoy after Rae’s departure in 2020.

The parallels between the plight of the two peoples are stark. Both the Rohingya and Palestinians face systematic ethnic cleansing, mass displacement, and targeted violence against civilians. In Gaza, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 70,000, displaced millions, and destroyed a society, drawing global condemnation. Euromed Human Rights Monitor, a Geneva-based NGO, has called the Gaza crisis "the most transparent genocide in history". The Rohingya, like Palestinians, endure daily atrocities—starvation in Rakhine camps, attacks by the Arakan Army, and a lack of safe return options—yet their plight does not garner the same attention it did several years ago.

The international community’s focus on Gaza, while justified, reveals a troubling limitation—the assumption that global attention is a zero-sum game. The Rohingya’s fading visibility underscores this, as international aid to Cox’s Bazar has plummeted since 2020, with the UN reporting a 2023 funding shortfall of over 50% for the Rohingya Joint Response Plan. In a March 2023 statement, Doctors Without Borders noted that global indifference and under-funding will leave the Rohingya refugees in squalid conditions, reliant on overstretched humanitarian agencies, and will result in malnutrition and outbreaks of deadly diseases. Canada’s initial leadership—its 2018 and 2021 aid packages, limited sanctions, and genocide recognition—has not been sustained, with no new special envoy appointed and resettlement efforts stalled.

The Rohingya community in Canada is very small at just under 1,000 people, with only a few hundred resettled here since 2017, a minute fraction when compared to the more then 225,000 Ukrainian refugees accepted since 2022, or the more than 100,000 Syrian refugees resettled since 2015.

Next steps

So what can Canada do today?

First, Canada can demonstrate that the global community has the ability to address multiple crises simultaneously. The Rohingya genocide, like Gaza’s, meets the UN Genocide Convention’s criteria—systematic intent to destroy a group via mass murder, displacement, and cultural erasure. It requires accountability, more humanitarian aid, and stronger diplomatic pressure. Canada can lead by example by appointing a new special envoy to coordinate Canadian efforts for the Rohingya.

Second, given the significant shortfall in funding for humanitarian aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, Canada should play its part in supporting UN aid efforts at levels similar to what it did in 2018 and 2021. It is a small price to pay to maintain stability in the region.

Additionally, Canada can revisit refugee resettlement efforts. It’s 2018 offer to take in vulnerable Rohingya, including rape survivors, was rebuffed by Bangladesh at the time. But the political situation there has changed with the previous government ousted, and renewed efforts by Canada with the new Bangladeshi leadership could make resettlement of Rohingya refugees a reality.

Finally, with Gambia's ICJ case still ongoing Canada has a chance to show leadership there by providing robust support to Gambia's legal team. On the basis of the November 2023 joint statement Canada can commit its own legal resources and funds to try and speed up the process at the ICJ given that it is now six years since Gambia filed its genocide case and there has seemingly been little progress. Justice delayed is justice denied. Canadian efforts to expedite the proceedings would bring the Rohingya closer to getting justice.

The Rohingya, once at the forefront of global humanitarian concern, have seen their plight fade from the international spotlight, leaving them with few advocates as Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army continue their relentless campaign of ethnic cleansing. Canada, which demonstrated leadership in 2018 by recognizing the genocide and committing significant aid, has the opportunity to reclaim its role as a champion of justice.

The parallels between the Rohingya’s suffering and the ongoing violence in Gaza, where systematic destruction continues, underscore the need for a sustained, collective response any time the horrors of genocide are taking place. By acting decisively for the Rohingya, Canada can overcome the shame of failing to act to help the Palestinians and show that its seeming commitment to the "international rule of law" is more than rhetoric. However, whether Canada’s leaders possess the moral resolve to live up to their proclaimed role as defenders of the international order remains uncertain, as their actions will ultimately define their legacy in confronting these atrocities.

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