GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR

5. ISOLATION AND SEGREGATION
camp complex – passing Muslims who were former students, but no longer allowed to attend university.
There are two Buddhist temples inside the Rohingya camp complex, guarded by the military. A small
Rakhine community continues to live within the Rohingya host village at Thae Chaung. Several young
Rakhine men and women interviewed from this community in January 2015 told ISCI researchers that
they are not afraid to live inside this Muslim enclave because the Rakhine here have been friendly neighbours
to the Rohingya for as long as they can remember. These Rakhine are free to come and go, unlike
their Muslim neighbours. The host community population at Thae Chaung has increased dramatically
since June 2012 as a result of the influx of tens of thousands of Rohingya IDPs. The local market has
grown as a result and Rohingya fishermen from around Sittwe now fish from one small inlet inside the
camp complex. It is the only business that the Rohingya have been allowed to keep operational, albeit a
fishing fleet of greatly reduced capacity.
In a confidential telegram to Washington DC, in 2008, the US Embassy reported on a meeting with the
UNHCR High Commissioner regarding the dire situation of the Rohingya:
UNHCR staff based in Maungdaw reported that the protection situation in NRS is terrible;
severe restrictions on the 750,000 Rohingya Muslims, who represent 85 percent of the total
NRS population, continue. Over 90 percent of the Rohingyas are landless and 80 percent are
illiterate. Malnutrition and infant mortality are higher in NRS than in other parts of Burma. The
Rohingyas face severe restrictions including the lack of legal status and denial of citizenship; no
freedom of movement, even between villages; burdensome marriage permission requirements;
social prohibitions; and strict enforcement of prohibitions against unauthorized construction/
repair of homes or religious buildings. Rohingyas who violate these restrictions face imprisonment
and torture. Other human rights abuses include forced labor and widespread extortion,
which exacerbate the poverty. 249
Segregation between Rohingya and Rakhine villages is enforced by rigid travel restrictions, both locally
and nationally. Rohingya in the north, where the segregation of Rakhine and Rohingya is not formally
enforced, are required to gain permission to travel the hour long journey from Buthidaung to Maungdaw.
Those wishing to travel between these towns must visit the immigration office and present their
household documents and the receipt from their confiscated White Cards as well as provide details of
name, address and destination. The permit takes around a day to process and costs 1,000 kyat [USD 93c].
If granted permission they must upon arrival at their destination notify authorities there. 250 Several Muslims
reported to ISCI on the long-standing discriminatory checks they had faced when travelling across
Rakhine state borders. Behind these accounts are official policies of segregation as evidenced by, for
example, a leaked letter from the Thandwe District General Administration Department to the Chairman
of Township Traffic Lines Control committee (dated 24 October 2012) instructing that named bus routes
between Thandwe, Taunggup and Yangon ‘must be strictly controlled to ensure that no Muslim is on
board.’ 251
249 UNHCR and Burma: NRS Presence at Risk: High Commisioner May Visit Telegram from US embassy Yangon 12 December
2008, https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08RANGOON936_a.html.
250 Francis Wade, unpublished field observations, October 2015. Reproduced with permission of author.
251 Leaked Document 6: Letter from the Thandwe District General Administration Department to the Chairman of Township
Traffic Lines Control committee, 24 October 2012.
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