Rohingyas...

                                        ROHINGYAS

          The Rohingya people ; historically also termed Arakanese Indian are a stateless Indo-Aryan people from Rakhine State, Myanmar. There were an estimated 1 million Rohingya living in Myanmar before the 2016–17 crisis. The majority are Muslim while a minority are Hindu. Described by the United Nations in 2013 as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya population are denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. According to Human Rights Watch, the 1982 laws "effectively deny to the Rohingya the possibility of acquiring a nationality. Despite being able to trace Rohingya history to the 8th century, Myanmar law does not recognize the ethnic minority as one of the eight "national races". They are also restricted from freedom of movement, state education and civil service jobs. The legal conditions faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar have been compared with Apartheid .    

           The UN human rights envoy to Myanmar reported "the long history of discrimination and persecution against the Rohingya community... could amount to crimes against humanity.Despite accepting the term Rohingya in the past, the current official position of the Myanmar government is that Rohingyas are not a national race, but are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. Myanmar's government has stopped recognizing the term "Rohingya" and prefers to refer to the community as Bengalis.

           Starting in early August, 2017, the Myanmar security forces began "clearance operations" against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. A few weeks later, on August 24, 2017, the Rakhine Commission established by the new civilian Myanmar government to recommend solutions to the ethnic conflict and related issues in Rakhine state—released its recommendations for alleviating the suffering of minorities (especially the Rohingya), calling for measures that would improve security in Myanmar for the Rohingya, but not calling for all measures sought by various Rohingya factions.The Rohingya people have been described as "one of the world's least wanted minorities" and "some of the world's most persecuted people". The Rohingya are deprived of the right to free movement and the right to higher education. They have been denied Burmese citizenship since the Burmese nationality law was enacted. They are not allowed to travel without official permission and they were previously required to sign a commitment not to have more than two children, though the law was not strictly enforced. They are subjected to routine forced labour.