The Rohingya refugee crisis that has taken the media by storm has a stifling effect on the world, particularly because of the Myanmar’s de facto leader is a Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi. Since the crisis started in August, she had not made a public appearance to talk about this problem, which has been described as ““textbook example” of ethnic cleansing by a UN official (The Guardian).
The dynamics of this crisis are entirely baffling as Aung San Suu Kyi managed to not entirely acknowledge the problem that was happening in the Rakhine state. With todays technology, media and the global reach the world has been shown exactly what has been happening to the Rohingya’s. It should be noted that this is not the first time that they have been persecuted. As a minority “Rohingya people have been systematically persecuted for decades by the Burmese government, which, contrary to historical evidence, regards them as illegal migrants from Bangladesh and restricts their citizenship rights and access to government services” (The Guardian). In addition, it should be kept in mind that the Rohingya’s are not the only ones who have been displaced due to this conflict.
This brings the questions of the leadership into the limelight. Despite there being claims of taking care of the Rohingya and accepting them as citizens of Myanmar, there is evidence to suggest, particularly with regards to this crisis, that aid is being limited to the Rohingya. As the “International Committee of the Red Cross has been afforded limited access” (The Guardian). All this begins to question Suu Kyi’s leadership and a role model in the international community.
The interesting aspect of this crisis is how the world leaders and also Suu Kyi will tackle this problem, and come up with the best way to deal with this genocide.
Sources:
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/11/un-myanmars-treatment-of-rohingya-textbook-example-of-ethnic-cleansing
BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41312931
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/20/fact-check-aung-san-suu-kyi-rohingya-crisis-speech-myanmar