--- title: The Rohingya Diaspora Is Crucial to Achieving Justice description: In the fight to hold Myanmar accountable for atrocities, the Rohingya diaspora is too often overlooked canonical: https://time.com/5529321/rohingya-myanmar-genocide-fortify-rights-diaspora/ author: John Quinley III article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-14T07:10:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:57:16.132Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why the Rohingya Diaspora Is Crucial to Achieving Justice og:description: The diaspora is too often overlooked og:url: https://time.com/5529321/rohingya-myanmar-genocide-fortify-rights-diaspora/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb54ca333e3d7fac9/6989451d97cdffae9b6b7564/gettyimages-1062309688.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rohingya people shouts slogans as they protest against the og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why the Rohingya Diaspora Is Crucial to Achieving Justice twitter:description: The diaspora is too often overlooked twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb54ca333e3d7fac9/6989451d97cdffae9b6b7564/gettyimages-1062309688.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Rohingya Diaspora Is Crucial to Achieving Justice in Myanmar ## Video: Bangladesh Scraps Rohingya Repatriation Plan After No One Wants to Go Back to Myanmar [Watch (HLS stream): Bangladesh Scraps Rohingya Repatriation Plan After No One Wants to Go Back to Myanmar](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tWoYufax.m3u8) (0:38)  _Published 2018-11-16. Bangladesh’s plans to begin repatriating Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar on Thursday were scrapped because officials were unable to find anyone who wanted to return to the country._ by [John Quinley III](https://time.com/author/john-quinley-iii/) ## John Quinley III Feb 14, 2019 7:10 AM UTC  Rohingya demonstrators shout slogans as they protest repatriation from the Unchiprang refugee camp in Teknaf, Bangladesh on Nov. 15, 2018. Rohingya demonstrators shout slogans as they protest repatriation from the Unchiprang refugee camp in Teknaf, Bangladesh on Nov. 15, 2018.K M Asad—LightRocket/Getty Images by [John Quinley III](https://time.com/author/john-quinley-iii/) ## John Quinley III Feb 14, 2019 7:10 AM UTC When the Myanmar military unleashed its [campaign of rapes, arson and murder](http://time.com/4596937/burma-myanmar-rohingya-bangladesh-refugees-crimes-against-humanity/) against the Rohingya Muslims in 2016, members of the persecuted minority’s diaspora were swift to act. They documented the violence. They petitioned the international community. And they helped spotlight the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe as more than 700,000 refugees fled to [neighboring Bangladesh](http://time.com/5031342/bangladesh-myanmar-rohingya-refugee-crisis/). Yet in the fight to [hold Myanmar accountable](http://time.com/5404328/myanmar-accountability-yanghee-lee/), the Rohingya diaspora is too often overlooked. Historically, the pursuit of justice for human rights violations has been strengthened by the diaspora’s participation. From Rwanda, to Cambodia, to Armenia, mobilizing the diaspora can be a powerful way to engage the community and translate local context. Despite this, our team at Fortify Rights has routinely encountered diplomats, donors and others who dismiss the Rohingya diaspora as disconnected and irrelevant. In reality, as dispersed populations that maintain a sense of collective identity, diasporas provide a vital link between their host countries and their homelands. The Rohingya are no different. Today, more Rohingya reside outside Myanmar than inside the country. The diaspora initially comprised Rohingya [uprooted](http://time.com/3908627/burmas-nowhere-people/) by decades of violence and [institutionalized discrimination](http://time.com/5031278/myanmar-rohingya-amnesty-international-apartheid/) — including sporadic military campaigns and a denial of citizenship. This longstanding exodus has established outposts around the globe, including refugee camps in Bangladesh, as well as communities resettled in America, Europe and Australia. A second, newer group consists of the Rohingya who fled Myanmar’s most recent waves of [violence](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rakhine-events-specialreport/special-report-how-myanmar-forces-burned-looted-and-killed-in-a-remote-village-idUSKBN1FS3BH) in 2016 and 2017 in the fastest refugee outflow since the Rwandan genocide. ### 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 Now more than ever, the international community needs to work with both arms of the Rohingya diaspora to push for [accountability](http://time.com/5442807/myanmar-bangladesh-rohingya-acountability-bill-richardson/) and justice. No one knows this better than the Rohingya themselves­ — they are the witnesses, the survivors, the people who remain with these issues long after international attention fades. Myanmar has a long history of diasporas leading change, especially during the nearly 50 years of direct military rule that lasted until 2011\. Exiled women’s organizations, such as the Burmese Women’s Union and the Women’s League of Burma, documented human rights violations when the nation was still closed off to the outside world. They lobbied international governments and pressured Myanmar to end impunity for military attacks against civilians. Similarly, Rohingya advocates are working to ensure an end to the ongoing genocide of their people. **Read more:** [_Myanmar’s Attempt to Destroy the Rohingya Muslims_](http://time.com/4994524/myanmar-rohingya-fortify-rights-genocide/) For example, Rohingya-led news sites like the Kaladan Press Network, established in Bangladesh, and Rohingya Blogger, established in Germany, regularly report on violations perpetrated against the community in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Members of the Rohingya diaspora have pressured the U.N. and international governments to respond to the spiraling humanitarian crisis. Consider Razia Sultana, a Rohingya human rights lawyer who grew up in Bangladesh and founded the Rohingya Women Welfare Society. After working with Fortify Rights and with her own team to document the accounts of Rohingya women and girls who suffered [sexual violence](http://time.com/5280232/myanmar-bangladesh-rohingya-babies-births/), she testified before the U.N. Security Council in April 2018. In December, Dr. Ambia Perveen, the vice chair of the European Rohingya Council, informed the International Criminal Court of atrocities committed in Myanmar and the post-traumatic stress many Rohingya survivors face. Tun Khin, the President of the Burmese Rohingya Organization U.K., has spent more than a decade testifying before Congress, the U.K. Parliament and elsewhere. And from Europe, Nay San Lwin regularly provides updates on the Rohingya’s violence-wracked homeland. Members of the diaspora are also the champions and defenders of their community. Take for instance Sharifah Shakirah, founder of the Malaysia-based Rohingya Women Development Network, which lobbies for better protections for Rohingya refugees. The new Rohingya diaspora also has its own movements, groups like the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, which advocates, among other things, for more Rohingya involvement in running the camps in Bangladesh.  Rohingya activists collect testimony from refugees who suffered alleged abuses by Myanmar soldiers, at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh on July 19, 2018. Munir Uz Zaman—AFP/Getty Images Rohingya groups around the world have also been crucial in the push to accurately label the situation in [Myanmar a genocide](http://time.com/5378914/myanmar-un-genocide-rohingya/). In December 2018, 23 Rohingya-led organizations issued a [joint statement](http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2018/12/joint-statement-rohingya-groups-call-on.html?m=1) calling on the U.S. government to make a genocide determination and compel tougher punitive action against Myanmar, which denies atrocities. Later that same month, the House of Representatives [passed a resolution](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-approves-resolution-calling-persecution-of-myanmar-muslims-a-genocide-in-contrast-with-trumps-silence/2018/12/13/141c43ce-fef7-11e8-ad40-cdfd0e0dd65a%5Fstory.html) declaring the ongoing persecution a “genocide,” even as the Trump administration continues to [avoid](http://time.com/5405378/state-department-myanmar-rohingya-report/) the term. On this issue and others, the Rohingya diaspora is already acting as a transnational link between their homeland and their host countries. They have local knowledge, as well as an understanding of the history and context in Myanmar that can uniquely assist in finding solutions for accountability and restoring citizenship to the mostly stateless group. The international community would benefit by making the Rohingya diaspora a part of these processes. For starters, non-governmental organizations should involve Rohingya in program designs and implementation, and policymakers should provide them with seats at the table. Some argue that diasporas can fuel conflict and extremism. However, in our team’s experience, the Rohingya diaspora overwhelmingly supports nonviolent action. 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