The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar's Hidden Genocide

by Azeem Ibrahim

Overview

The Rohingya are a Muslim group who live in Rakhine state (formerly Arakan state) in western Myanmar (Burma), a majority Buddhist country. According to the United Nations, they are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. They suffer routine discrimination at the hands of neighboring Buddhist Rakhine groups, but international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) have also accused Myanmar's authorities of being complicit in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslims. The Rohingya face regular violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, extortion, and other abuses, a situation that has been particularly acute since 2012 in the wake of a serious wave of sectarian violence. Islam is practiced by around 4% of the population of Myanmar, and most Muslims also identify as Rohingya. Yet the authorities refuse to recognize this group as one of the 135 ethnic groups or "national races" making up Myanmar's population. On this basis, Rohingya individuals are denied citizenship rights in the country of their birth, and face severe limitations on many aspects of an ordinary life, such as marriage or movement around the country.

This expose of the attempt to erase the Rohingyas from the face of Myanmar is sure to gain widespread attention.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849046237
Publisher:	Hurst
Publication date:	06/01/2016
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	622,005
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Dr Azeem Ibrahim obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge and served as a Research Fellow at the International Security Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, a World Fellow at Yale, Fellow and Member of the Board of Directors at the Institute for Social Policy Understanding and an Adjunct Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute US Army War College. He founded and actively chairs a private grant-giving foundation (www.ibrahimfoundation.com) focusing on innovative community projects. He served as a reservist in the UK's 4th Battalion Parachute Regiment. When not running his business interests across the world he teaches at the Harris Public Policy School, University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

List of Acronyms vii

List of Key Individuals ix

List of Figures and Tables xi

Map of Myanmar xii

Foreword xiii

Introduction 1

1 A Short History of Burma to 1948 17

2 From Independence to Democracy (1948-2010) 35

3 The Return to Democracy (2008-2015) 55

4 Implications for the Rohingyas (2008-2015) 79

5 Genocide and International Law 99

6 Current Situation 113

7 What Can Be Done? 129

Conclusion 139

Appendices 143

Glossary 153

Notes 157

References 203

Index 223

Editorial Reviews

"In exploring and exposing the treatment of the Rohingya people of Burma Azeem Ibrahim has done great service to the truth about the terrible oppression which they are enduring, and has issued a call to all free people to secure international action to uphold their basic human rights." — Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Burma

"Time and time again, experience has shown that what minorities who live under the threat of annihilation need most is a voice that cannot be ignored. The Rohingyas promises to provide desperately needed awareness at a critical turning point in the history of Burma — awareness provided by a renowned and accomplished scholar and policy advisor, Dr. Azeem Ibrahim." — Steven Kiersons, Team Lead, Burma, The Sentinel Project for Genocide Prevention

"In the last decade of the twentieth century the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia could have been prevented by earlier active engagement by the international community. Azeem Ibrahim has issued a clarion call to protect a vulnerable and little-known Muslim minority in his compelling and throughly researched book. He makes a powerful appeal to use the lessons of the twentieth century to prevent a foreseeable genocide in the twenty-first." — John Shattuck, President of the Central European University, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and author of Freedom on Fire: Human Rights Wars and America's Response

"One of the few accessible primers on this battered group." —Washington Monthly

"Myanmar (also known as Burma) recognizes 135 ethnic minorities and treats many of them badly. But the 1.3 million Rohingyas are treated worst of all... This analytic but passionate book makes a strong case that Myanmar stands 'on the brink of genocide.'" —Foreign Affairs

From the Publisher