ROHINGYA: STATELESS AND UNWANTED: 775036539_rohingyapb001.jpg

Oct. 10: Azida Begum, age 11, was shot twice under her arm and her leg by Burmese military, killing her mother as she was fleeing her small village in Myanmar. Azida now lives with her grandmother, her father died years back.For years Buddhist majority Myanmar has struggled to deal with a deeply rooted hatred towards the Rohingya in western Rakhine state. The Muslim ethnic minority were always considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denied the rights of citizenship. According to Human Rights Watch, the 1982 laws {quote}effectively deny to the Rohingya the possibility of acquiring a nationality ”. Myanmar’s government also enforced severe restrictions on freedom of movement, state education and civil service jobs and health care. The refugee emergency unfolded in late August after an attack on state security forces by Rohingya insurgents, triggering a brutal military crackdown that has forced more than half of the country’s 1.1 million population fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh creating the fastest cross-border exodus ever witnessed with over 655,000 new arrivals.
775036539_rohingyapb001.jpg

Oct. 10: Azida Begum, age 11, was shot twice under her arm and her leg by Burmese military, killing her mother as she was fleeing her small village in Myanmar. Azida now lives with her grandmother, her father died years back.

For years Buddhist majority Myanmar has struggled to deal with a deeply rooted hatred towards the Rohingya in western Rakhine state. The Muslim ethnic minority were always considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denied the rights of citizenship. According to Human Rights Watch, the 1982 laws "effectively deny to the Rohingya the possibility of acquiring a nationality ”. Myanmar’s government also enforced severe restrictions on freedom of movement, state education and civil service jobs and health care. The refugee emergency unfolded in late August after an attack on state security forces by Rohingya insurgents, triggering a brutal military crackdown that has forced more than half of the country’s 1.1 million population fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh creating the fastest cross-border exodus ever witnessed with over 655,000 new arrivals.