The Rohingya are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world (United Nations, 2018). They have been persecuted by the Myanmar government since 1948. Ongoing persecution has led more than one million Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh while others crossed the sea to Malaysia and other nearby countries. The Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim minority group that lives mostly in the Rakhine state of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Myanmar is mostly a Buddhist country, leaving the Muslim population without many resources. The Rohingya have lived in Myanmar since the 12th century and trace their origins back in the 15th century when thousands of Muslims came to the former Arakan Kingdom. The Rohingya do not only differ from the majority group in religion but also ethnically and linguistically. They speak Rohingya or Ruaingga, a dialect that is different from others throughout Myanmar. Rohang derives from the word “Arakan” and ga or gya in the Rohingya dialect.
The Myanmar government will not even use the word “Rohingya” to refer to the ethnic minority, let alone admit to “genocide”. Rather, they have been referred to as Bengalis, foreigners and worst terrorists. These terms are used to justify the actions that have been perpetrated against the Rohingya. The hurtful words distinguish them as “the other” in their own country. “Her government, like the previous military-led one, will not call the Rohingya people by that name because it does not recognize them as citizens, said her spokesman”. (U Kyaw Zay Ya, a Foreign Ministry official, 2016), this leads the Rohingya population to feel like they do not belong even in their community.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the state counselor of Myanmar and a Nobel peace prize laureate has dismissed using the word “Rohingya”. She has been universally accused of failing in her duty as Nobel laureate to protect the human rights of the Rohingya. The Rohingya that is still in Rakhine state live in terrible conditions, with a “serious risk of genocide.” (UN investigator, 2019). In December 2019, Aung San Suu Kyi defended her country from accusations of genocide. “If war crimes have been committed, they will be prosecuted within our military justice system” Aung San Suu Kyi said to the UN International Court of Justice (Aung San Suu Kyi, 2019).

 Over 1 million Rohingya refugees are now in Bangladesh, which has limited resources and land to host refugees. Very little action has been taken to help end this crisis. However, protesters around the world have demanded an end to violence against the Rohingya in countries such as Pakistan and Malaysia. Also, the United States has provided $127 million in humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya refugees which include emergency shelter, food, and education. Despite these many efforts, a lot remains to be done around global awareness and medical resources in the refugee camps. Medical support in the camps is unquestionably important as 60% of the available water is contaminated, more medical support will reduce the risk of contagious diseases. “Our teams are seeing streams of people arriving destitute and extremely traumatized, and who have had no access to medical care” (MSF head of mission in Bangladesh, 2017). Mainstream media should have more coverage of the Rohingya crisis to bring awareness of people, and hopefully with more coverage that will put pressure on the political leaders to take action and change the crisis of the Rohingya.