Relatively few people are aware of the Rohingya people who stem from Burma. This group of people face discrimination on a daily basis and have now taken to the sea in order to seek refuge from a country that does not accept them as citizens.

The daily struggle for survival is disastrous for this ethic minority. Born in Burma, the Rohingya are not recognised by the Burmese state. Their freedom of movement is restricted and they face other human rights violations within their homeland.

“The ethnic Rohingya has seen repeated brutality by other citizens as well as the government of the state,” Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division explained.

Now the people of Rohingya face the Andaman sea in order to escape the suffering within Burma; seeking asylum in the neighbouring South East Asian countries. These neighbouring countries have however denied the refugees settlement on their land.

“They have been burned out of all the major cities with no access to education, and access to health services that is substandard and very poor,” Robertson continued.

“The food and water is currently being provided by the international community.”

Even though the UN is trying to aid in the crisis, they cannot stop people who are fleeing the country.

The Rohingya leave their areas with the support of brokers who, under the false pretence of offering them employment; lead these people into abusive and exploitative labour conditions.

Rescue for ransom camps

“They are being smuggled across the Andaman ocean and into the hands of human traffickers in Thailand who hold these people in jungle camps and demand that family members provide money in order for them to be released,” said Robertson.

The Thai government have cracked down on these camps due to their illegal operations as well as due to the corpses that surround the camp as the Rohingyans die of abuse and starvation.

“The boats are no longer able to port and thus are stuck at sea,” Robertson said.

The people are then left on the boat starving and eventually dying as they cannot return to their homeland nor will any other country accept them as refugees.

“The Rohingya are strangers in their lands where they were born and have lived all their lives,” Robertson went further.

“The Burmese government do not recognise them as citizens”.

“In Thailand we see strong resistance to the creation of a refugee camp, the government has proposed this in the past but the local Thai communities have protested against this,” Robertson added finally.

With the world focusing on other major issues, the Rohingyans are left to fend for themselves in a world that will not accept them. VOC (Umarah Hartley)