Rohingya In America Essay

The Rohingya is a distinct Muslim ethnic group that lives in the west of Burma. However, they are now stateless as they have been fleeing their homes for decades. Boats filled with Rohingya refugees and a number of economic migrants from bangladesh are attempting to escape Burma. Many of them are stranded off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia with dwindling supplies of food and water. They are fleeing their homes because they have been persecuted in Burma for years. They are subjected to forced labour, have no land rights, and are heavily restricted. About 140,000 of them are forced by the government into disease-ridden camps (Beech, 2015), while others have sought refuge in their neighboring country Bangladesh. Bangladesh is planning …show more content…
They can do this by either changing the conditions in the country or by stopping the corruption present in the navies or coast guards. The Rohingya flee their country because of the conditions of the country and how they are being treated. They do not have citizenship, they are subjected to forced labour, have no land rights, and are heavily restricted. If Burma is able to improve its conditions such that there are fewer push factors for the Rohingyas, they would not feel the need to leave the country and that would mean fewer people being stranded at sea. Another solution is to stop the corruption in navies and coast guards. Some of them accept bribes and allow traffickers to operate with impurity (Scott, L., 2015). This results in more Rohingyas being smuggled out of the country. Although it is almost impossible to stop all corruption, Burma should nonetheless try to decrease the number of traffickers smuggling the Rohingyas out of the …show more content…
By rejecting the Rohingyas, the country is not doing anything to prevent them from fleeing their own country as they are willing to risk their safety in search of better lives. Instead, they are just pushing them away to dangers and possible death somewhere else. This means that the countries are simply pushing the responsibility to the other countries, and when no one is willing to let them land on their shores, the Rohingyas would just remain in their boats. In my opinion, Asean’s non-inteference policy should stop. Those countries should rescue them first before deciding how to handle the issue and not leave them stranded at sea as solving this issue would not be easy and it would definitely take a long time. I feel that humanity should be placed before politics and countries should not hesitate to rescue them.

In conclusion, I agree with the views presented in this document. Asean countries can help to solve the problem as well by putting pressure on Burma and by accepting the Rohingya and providing them with humanitarian aid. The countries have to ensure that Burma decreases the number of Rohingya fleeing the country and also rescue those stranded at sea. Therefore, I feel that all Asean countries can help to solve the Rohingya