The Rohingyas’ Trail of Tears: Continuing Persecution of an Ethnic Minority in Myanmar

The Rohingya are an ethnic group who have long lived and suffered oppression in Myanmar. Though they were once accepted by Myanmar society, they now experience political and legal discrimination. The state marginalizes Rohingya through brute coercion and the enshrinement of laws designed to relegate them the bottom of society. Also, the state has at times practiced policies resulting in the deaths of Rohingya. In Myanmar—a country purported to be democratizing, such policies amount to persecution. Yet who exactly who are the Rohingya? What is Myanmar’s “problem” with them? What might be their future? This paper examines these questions