Behind the barbed wires, one can see the image of something reminiscent of a former time—a concentration camp. Although today’s concentration camps do not condemn their prisoners to extermination, our minds travel back to images of Europe’s Holocaust, where we saw true evil waged based off of identity alone. 

Heretofore, the international community failed to see this true image of the persecution so apparent in modern-day Burma, officially known as the Republic of Myanmar.

The country was ruled by military junta since 1962, and it was characterized by a period of human rights violations and lack of democratic ideals. Today, Burma is a quasi-democratic state, largely due to the successes of Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burmese politician and head of the National League for Democracy helped establish the democratic state; however, her conscience remains silent in light of recent atrocities committed against the minority Rohingya Muslim population. This is so removed from her position as the stalwart pro-democracy leader we once knew who remained under house arrest for 15 years—missing her own children growing up.

The Rohingya population are a minority Muslim group from the northern Rakhine state in western Burma. Although the Rohingya have been living in the country for decades, they are deemed an “immigrant” population by the Burmese government. This stigma, along with years of the creation of the sole Burmese identity, helped to develop violent relations between the Muslim population and the Buddhist population following the country’s transition into democratic governance in 2010. According to United to End Genocide, some 140,000 Rohingya live in quasi-“concentration camps,” where access to basic medical care is unheard of, and some 100,000 have fled the country by boat due to lack of human and political rights.

If that is not enough, prominent Buddhist monks like Ashin Wirathu have taken it upon themselves to espouse hatred. This man tags his name as the “Burmese Bin Laden,” and his hateful rhetoric has influenced the country since 2001, with a brief hiatus when he was jailed for inciting anti-Muslim hatred only to be released 7 years later based on a 25-year sentence.

In an interview with Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, Wirathu expressed, “Muslims are like African catfish. They breed rapidly.” Similarly, he told the Guardian, “In every town, there is a crude and savage Muslim majority.” This hateful rhetoric contributes to a largely held belief that the Muslim minority will overtake the majority Buddhist population. This claim is ridiculous, as the Buddhist population makes up some 90 percent of that country’s population. 

If that is not enough, this hate speech is infiltrating even rural populations. According to the Guardian, Wirathu presides over 2,500 monks. His YouTube videos have been watched tens of thousands of times, and his Facebook page has thousands of followers. Unfortunately, the “Burmese Bin Laden” has waged a war on the Muslim population in Burma, and he has indoctrinated the Buddhist population. He likely has influenced violent attacks against the ethnic Rohingya population. According to the Guardian, violence erupted in June 2012 between the Buddhist and Muslim populations, leading to the deaths of 200 people and the displacement of more than 100,000. 

The United Nations Human Rights Council has constantly looked at the case in Burma, citing “human rights violations including arbitrary detention, forced displacement, land confiscations, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as violations of humanitarian law.”

Unfortunately, the concept of ethnic discrimination is not new to the Burmese government, a government that fails to even recognize the existence of the Rohingya. They are either forced to seek refuge elsewhere or face life in a concentration camp. Other ethnic groups like the Kachen, the Shan, the Chin and the Karen have been targeted as well. The Kachin have been targeted for their Christian beliefs and been forced to convert to Buddhism. Government mining projects have destroyed the area where the Shan community lives. The Chin have been persecuted for their practice of Christianity. The Karen have been forcibly removed from their homes because they live in a resource-rich area. There have been attempts at cease-fire talks with various ethnic militia groups, but continued discrimination and violence may bring into question the extent of power the president has over the military—the power that formerly ruled the country. 

In order to ensure legitimacy and accountability, it is important to establish an international commission of inquiry to investigate the continual violence in Burma against these populations. International relationships should be based off of a benchmark system. Any political, economic or military cooperation with Burma should be contingent upon the human rights abuses. Additionally, the economic and political sanctions on Burma should remain. The “Specially Designated Nationals” sanction list should be updated to hold individuals accountable for recent acts of violence. The United States and the international community must do something to address this preventable genocide, not only because it is our moral obligation to do so but also because the U.S. has so much influence in the country. 

With the implementation of these policies we can trust that the barbed wires that enclose these concentration camps do not take on another meaning. The Republic of Myanmar has a history of ethnic discrimination and violent abuses against its own people. During the days of the military junta, the singular identity of the Burmese as Buddhist only developed the violence we see today. However, the international community must pay attention to the Rohingya cry before the world is faced with yet another Holocaust in modern times.