“Tools of Genocide” BACKGROUND Myanmar is an ethnically diverse country of approximately 55 million people, bordering Bangladesh, India, China, Laos, and Thailand.2 The Rohingya are an indigenous, predominantly Muslim ethnic people who have traditionally resided primarily in what is now Rakhine State, Myanmar.3 The Government of Myanmar has denied the existence of the Rohingya for decades and denies Rohingya equal access to citizenship.4 There are an estimated 2.5 million Rohingya globally and an estimated 495,000 Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State, where they face severe restrictions on freedom of movement, access to livelihoods, and other basic rights.5 2 The Government of Myanmar excluded Rohingya and other marginalized ethnic minorities from the 2014 national census. The Republic of the Union of Myanmar Ministry of Immigration and Population, The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census: Rakhine State, May 2015, p. 8, https://myanmar.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Rakhine%20 State%20Census%20Report%20-%20ENGLISH-3.pdf (accessed August 23, 2019). 3 Although the Rohingya identify as Rohingya, comprised almost two percent of Myanmar’s total population prior to the 2017 attacks and forced deportations, and materials dating back to the 17th century reference a Muslim population calling itself “Rooingya” in what is now Rakhine State, the government refuses to recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic minority or a “national race.” The government in Myanmar insists that Rohingya are “Bengali” interlopers or descendants of agricultural workers imported by British colonial powers and that they do not belong in Myanmar. See, Francis Buchanan, “A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of the Languages Spoken in the Burma Empire,” Asiatic Researches, Vol. 5, 1799, p. 234, www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/file64276.pdf (accessed August 23, 2019). See also, Moshe Yegar, “The Muslims of Burma: A Study of a Minority Group,” Schriftenreihe des SudasienInstituts der Universitat Heidelberg, 1972. 4 Burma Citizenship Law, Pyithu Hluttaw Law No. 4, October 15, 1982; Human Rights Watch, “All You Can Do Is Pray”: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State, April 22, 2013, p. 112, https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/04/22/allyou-can-do-pray/crimes-against-humanity-and-ethnic-cleansing-rohingya-muslims (accessed August 23, 2019); Human Rights Watch, Burma: The Rohingya Muslims: Ending a Cycle of Exodus?, September 1996, p. 29, https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/b/burma/burma969.pdf (accessed August 23, 2019); Poppy Elena McPherson and Simon Lewis, “Exclusive: Myanmar Rejects Citizenship Reform at Private Rohingya Talks,” Reuters, June 26, 2018, https://www. reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-meeting-exclusive/exclusivemyanmar-rejectscitizenship-reform-at-private-rohingya-talks-idUSKBN1JN0D7 (accessed August 7, 2019). 5 The Rohingya population globally is conservatively estimated to include 947,000 in Bangladesh, 500,000 in Saudi Arabia, 484,000 in Myanmar, 350,000 in Pakistan, 150,000 in Malaysia, 50,000 in the United Arab Emirates, 40,000 in India, 5,000 in Thailand, and 1,000 in Indonesia. See, “Myanmar Rohingya: What You Need to Know About the Crisis,” BBC, April 24, 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41566561 (accessed August 23, 2019). A U.N. official in Myanmar told Fortify Rights the working figure of Rohingya in the country is 495,000. Fortify Rights electronic communication with U.N. official in Myanmar, 2019.