Chapter II
Targeted
They systematically planned to destroy our people from the world by using whatever means necessary.
—Nur, a Rohingya man
In its first years as a new nation, the Burmese government recognized all members of its diverse population as citizens. That changed when General Ne Win seized control of the government in 1962. Slowly, extreme nationalism based on religion and ethnicity took hold.
Ne Win led a military dictatorship in Burma for decades. His government would come to be defined by policies that protected the Buddhist Bamar, the ethnic majority, and restricted rights of minority communities.
Around 15,000 soldiers marched past statues of dead Burmese warrior kings in celebration of Armed Forces Day in 2007. The government uses this holiday to showcase the Burmese military.
Photo: Nic Dunlop/Panos Pictures
Driving Out “Foreigners”
Burma’s military dictatorship instituted policies in the 1970s that challenged the status of Rohingya and other minority groups. Authorities began by confiscating Rohingyas’ national ID cards. This government-issued document confirmed their citizenship.
The military then launched a nationwide operation to register and verify the status of citizens and people they viewed as “foreigners.” For five months in 1978, soldiers used the operation as an excuse to assault and terrorize Rohingya. They destroyed homes and property throughout Rakhine State.
More than 200,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. The military later allowed them to return to Burma, but many no longer had their ID cards. The government now considered them “foreigners.”
Rohingya refugees flee from Burma into Bangladesh in August 1978. They are carrying their few remaining belongings.
Photo: Getty Images
A copy of The Working People’s Daily newspaper shows Ne Win addressing members of the government days before it passed the new citizenship law.
Image: Rangoon Central Library
Stripping Away Citizenship
General Ne Win’s government passed a new citizenship law in 1982. The law now based citizenship on someone’s ethnicity. Rohingya and other minorities were intentionally excluded.
The law made clear that those who already had citizenship would not lose it. However, many Rohingya no longer had proof of citizenship because authorities confiscated their ID cards in the 1970s. These same Rohingya citizens were told that without their ID cards, they must identify as “Bengalis,” or immigrants from Bangladesh.
Gradual Erasure
The Burmese government enacted racist policies to slowly strip Rohingya of their citizenship and place in society. This two-minute video explores how this happened.
Rohingya refugees set up shelters at a camp in southern Bangladesh in 1992.
Photo: Liba Taylor Photography
More Violent Attacks
In the late 1980s, unrest spread throughout Burma as citizens called for democratic reforms. To distract people, Burma’s military launched a new campaign against the Rohingya. During the 1991 operation, “Clean and Beautiful Nation,” soldiers executed, raped, and assaulted Rohingya. They destroyed their homes and property.
Rohingya sought refuge again. Between 1991 and 1992, more than 250,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh.
General Khin Nyunt served as Prime Minister from 2003–2004.
Photo: Associated Press Photo/ Apichart Weerawong
Burma’s military leaders repeatedly denied that Rohingya were citizens.
Living Under Restrictions and Abuse
Rohingya began to return from Bangladesh in 1992. As they did, Burmese authorities created a special border security force, called NaSaKa, to harass and persecute them. Forced labor, marriage restrictions, land seizure, and physical abuse all became part of daily life in Rakhine State.
Members of NaSaKa drive past Rohingya internment camps in 2013.
Photo: Greg Constantine
Forced Labor
Burmese authorities forced Rohingya men to build roads and military installations without pay. Many died or suffered injuries while working. Blind in one eye after being beaten during forced labor, this Rohingya man fled to Bangladesh in the mid-1990s.
Photo: Greg Constantine
Marriage Restrictions
Authorities prevented Rohingya from marrying. Many had to bribe security forces in order to get permission to get married. If caught without permission, the husband could have been thrown in jail. The parents of this 26-year-old woman didn’t have enough money to bribe security forces. She and her future husband left their lives and families behind and fled to Bangladesh to get married in 2005.
Photo: Greg Constantine
Land Seizure
The government often seized Rohingya land to make way for Buddhist communities. These two men once owned a shrimp farm in their village. Burmese authorities took their land and destroyed the farm.
Photo: Greg Constantine
Physical Abuse
Security forces beat and harassed Rohingya women. They made these women stand up to their necks in pond water for hours. They told them to stare straight into the sun as the officers pelted them with mud.
Photo: Greg Constantine
Regulating Families
The Burmese government required all families in the country to keep detailed lists of their members, called household lists. Authorities used the lists to conduct regular population checks on Rohingya families. In the mid-2000s the government began requiring Rohingya to stand for household registration photos as well. Authorities used these photos as another way to control the Rohingya.
All members of a family must be present for the photo. If someone was missing without an approved excuse, authorities would remove them from the family’s official household list. Once removed from a list, that person was no longer allowed to live in Burma. Authorities could jail Rohingya they found returning to their family homes or in the country at all.
A family from the village of Tula Toli in 2016. Authorities forced them to wear white numbered cards in this photograph.
Photo: Greg Constantine
In Their Own Words
Six members of the Rohingya community share their experiences.
Local Buddhists carrying weapons walk away from a burning village during the violence in Burma in June 2012. A soldier stands by.
Photo: Human Rights Watch
The Tipping Point
In June 2012, local Rakhine citizens and extremists attacked Rohingya after Muslim men allegedly raped and killed a Buddhist woman. Burmese authorities and police officers participated in the deadly attacks against the Rohingya.
In October 2012, a second wave of anti-Rohingya violence took place. Armed Buddhist civilians attacked Rohingya. They physically assaulted Rohingya and burned their homes and mosques. Security forces did nothing to stop them and later assisted.
This led to the mass displacement and permanent segregation of more than 120,000 mostly Rohingya survivors to 24 internment camps in Burma.
The Aftermath of 2012
Since the 2012 violence, Rohingya communities throughout Rakhine State have faced restrictions on almost every part of their lives. These restrictions limit access to medical care, education, and work.
Destruction of Property
Authorities forced 10,000 Rohingya in the Nazir Muslim Quarter to abandon their homes during the violence in 2012. After they left, the government leveled their homes with bulldozers. In this photo a woman from the local Buddhist community walks her bike through the destroyed neighborhood.
Photo: Greg Constantine
Segregation into Internment Camps
Burmese authorities segregated the Rohingya community from the Rakhine Buddhist community. Displaced Rohingya still live in these internment camps with six or more families crowded into a single makeshift barrack. Authorities prohibit Rohingya in the camps from working. This forces them to rely upon humanitarian assistance for food and basic medical services.
Photo: Greg Constantine
Restriction of Movement
Since 2012, authorities have monitored every move made by the more than 120,000 Rohingya living in internment camps. They are at constant risk of questioning or harassment. In this photograph, Burmese police take a break from patrolling the Rohingya internment camps.
Photo: Greg Constantine
Restricted Access to Healthcare
This Rohingya man living in an internment camp had limited access to routine medical care. Local authorities imposed travel restrictions on Rohingya in the camps. As a result, this man never received treatment for his tuberculosis. He now suffers from advanced symptoms, which include severe weight loss, coughing, and fever.
Photo: Greg Constantine
Denial of Education
After 2012, authorities wouldn’t allow most Rohingya children to attend regular government schools like their Buddhist peers. Rohingya teachers from the community provided students with informal education. In this photo students sit in a temporary classroom outside of Mrauk-U.
Photo: Greg Constantine