Burma's Treatment of the Rohingya Is Not Genocide, Says U.S.

The Rohingya Muslim minority in western Burma face torture, unlawful detention and restrictions on their movement, among other abuses, the U.S. State Department says, but American officials believe the government’s treatment of the group does not constitute genocide.

The department reported to Congress last week after it was asked to look into allegations that an effort was underway to wipe out the ethnic group.

“While it’s without question that [the Rohingya] continue to face persecution, we did not determine that it was on the level of genocide,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday.

More than 1 million people identifying themselves as Rohingya live in Rakhine state, which sits on the Bay of Bengal. They have faced discrimination for decades by Burmese governments who insisted they are interlopers from neighboring Bangladesh, and not entitled to citizenship, despite many tracing their roots in the region back generations.

“Members of the Rohingya community in particular reportedly face abuses by the Government of Burma, including those involving torture, unlawful arrest and detention, restricted movement, restrictions on religious practice, and discrimination in employment and access to social services,” said the State Department’s Atrocities Prevention Report.

The Rohingya, Burma's Forgotten Muslims by James Nachtwey

More than 140,000 minority Rohingya Muslims have been forced to live in camps, where disease and despair have taken root. Abdul Kadir, 65, who has a severe stomach ailment and malnutrition, is cared for by his wife in one of the camps.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Relatives weep at the funeral of a woman who died at 35 of a stomach disease; she left five children behind.

James Nachtwey for TIME

A mourner weeps as she sits by an internee's coffin. The Rohingya lack medical care since most NGOs are now barred from the camps.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Two men are seen mourning at the funeral of a woman who died from stomach disease.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Internees in one camp operate brick kilns to earn money. Adults are paid about $2 a day; children, half that amount.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Thek Kay Pyin, 7, is among the Rohingya Muslims interned in Rakhine state, on the northwest coast of Burma. He is seen here working at a brick kiln where he earns $1 a day.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Children working at a brick kiln where they earn $1 a day.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Workers at a brick kiln are seen tossing bricks.

James Nachtwey for TIME

At the camp, mourners are seen at a funeral for a 16-year-old girl who drank poison.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Suffering in the camps continues unabated.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Children learning the Quran at a madrassa in one of the camps.

James Nachtwey for TIME

A child suffering from malnutrition in one of the camps is held by its mother.

James Nachtwey for TIME

At a government-run hospital in Da Paing, a mother watches over her 45-year-old son Abdul Salam, who suffers from diabetes.

James Nachtwey for TIME

A child suffering from stomach worms with her mother at a pharmacy waiting for treatment. The owner of the pharmacy is neither a doctor nor a pharmacist but does his best to help people. International NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders have been expelled from the camp by the government, leading to a soaring crisis in health care.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Malnutrition among the camps' children is commonplace. In June a top U.N. aid official who traveled to Rakhine said she had never before “witnessed [such] a level of human suffering.

James Nachtwey for TIME

Fishermen tend their nets before going out into the Bay of Bengal to fish, one of the main sources of food and livelihood for the Rohingya.

James Nachtwey for TIME

A blind beggar on railway tracks between two IDP camps.

James Nachtwey for TIME

A boy using an umbrella as a sun shield jumps across a drainage canal behind a row of latrines at Baw Du Pha camp.

James Nachtwey for TIME

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The state erupted in violence just as Burma (officially known as Myanmar) was beginning a transition from military dictatorship. “We assessed that the 2012 intercommunal violence targeted against the Rohingya civilian population resulted in approximately 200 deaths and over 140,000 displaced,” the report said. Tens of thousands of people have since taken to often unseaworthy boats to escape the country.

It remains unclear whether a new democratically elected administration set to take power April 1 will attempt to address the treatment of the Rohingya, who, as the State Department noted, receive “little public support” in majority-Buddhist Burma.

“We remain concerned about current acts that constitute persecution of and discrimination against members of the Rohingya population in Burma,” the report concluded.

Write to Simon Lewis at simon_daniel.lewis@timeasia.com.