By: Camp Correspondent
March 28, 2025 |
Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun, has publicly acknowledged that the root cause of the Rohingya crisis is Myanmar’s military dictatorship, not communal tensions or regional instability.
His remarks came during the 62nd plenary meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on March 25, 2025.
The session saw the adoption of draft resolution A/79/L.67, which outlines the framework for a high-level conference on the plight of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar.
Military Rule at the Center of the Rohingya Tragedy
Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, representing Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG)—not the military junta—stated clearly before the assembly that decades of military control and repression have caused widespread human rights violations and driven the Rohingya people and other minorities from their ancestral lands.
“The forced displacement of the Rohingya, systemic discrimination, and brutal military campaigns stem from one source—Myanmar’s military dictatorship,” he told UN member states.
His statement reaffirms what Rohingya communities have long insisted: the crisis is not communal in nature, but a deliberate state policy of exclusion, displacement, and ethnic persecution that escalated under military regimes.
Rohingya Suffer from Decades of Persecution
The Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group indigenous to Arakan (Rakhine State), have endured systematic denial of citizenship, movement restrictions, and violence since the 1980s.
The genocidal military campaign of August 2017, which forced more than 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, was merely the culmination of decades of state-sponsored oppression.
Survivors have documented mass killings, rape, arson, and the destruction of hundreds of Rohingya villages.
Despite international outrage and legal proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the junta continues to deny the Rohingya their identity, rights, and homeland.
Rohingya in Bangladesh Still Await Justice
More than one million Rohingya are now stranded in overcrowded refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. They remain stateless and increasingly vulnerable, facing malnutrition, unsafe shelters, aid cuts, and a worsening security situation.
“The world must remember that we did not come to Bangladesh by choice,” said a Rohingya refugee elder. “We were forced to flee mass killings, and now we are being forgotten.”
Despite promises, no meaningful steps toward safe and voluntary repatriation have materialized. Humanitarian organizations continue to call for increased support, but donor fatigue is growing.
UN Resolution Offers a Ray of Hope
The newly adopted UN resolution proposes a high-level conference focused on the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar, scheduled to be hosted by Bangladesh in New York this September. This initiative, backed by Malaysia and Finland, passed with overwhelming support—141 countries in favor, and no votes against.
Rohingya leaders and advocates welcome this move but warn that conferences alone will not bring justice.
“We’ve seen many resolutions before,” said a Rohingya human rights activist in Cox’s Bazar. “What we need now is international action—targeted sanctions, legal accountability for the junta, and a guarantee that our right to return to Arakan will be protected.”
The Fight for Rights Continues
While a few countries, including the United States and Canada, have begun small-scale resettlement of Rohingya refugees, the core demand of the Rohingya people remains unchanged: full citizenship in Myanmar, justice for atrocities, and the right to safely return to their ancestral land in Arakan.
Until these demands are met, the Rohingya remain caught between borders, trapped in camps, and stripped of their basic humanity—a crisis born not of conflict between communities, but of a system designed to erase a people.
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