By Arafatul Islam

Deutsche Welle 

November 30, 2017

Pope Francis has so far failed to mention the Rohingya on his week-long trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh. At the Rohingya refugee camps Cox's Bazar, those familiar with the pontiff are hoping he will address their plight.

"Who is the pope?" asks Moulove Abdul Halim, a Rohingya refugee who came to Bangladesh from Myanmar two months ago. He manages a newly-built mosque at a camp in Kutupalong, an area in the Bangladeshi coastal city of Cox's Bazar where most of the Rohingya refugees live.

Halim is unfamiliar with Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, who will begin a three-day trip to Bangladesh on Thursday after leaving Myanmar. He showed no interest in commenting when asked about the pontiff's visit, instead returning to his young students memorizing the Koran in the mosque.

The Kutupalong refugee camps, where most of the nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees live, is growing by the day. New tents are being erected in areas where no electricity or sewage system is available.

Samsunnahar, a 20-year-old refugee, confused the word "pope" with the soft drink "Coke" when Francis' name was mentioned. Fellow refugee Mohammad Hashim thought the pope was a powerful local politician he should know about.

"We just want to live an independent life in Myanmar like the country's other citizens. We are Rohingyas, and they should recognize us. Can the pope help us in getting our home back?" asked Hashim. The 20-year-old student sees no hope of continuing his education in Cox's Bazar, as the refugee camps have no high schools and Rohingya students are not allowed to enroll in local Bangladeshi schools.

No condemnation from Francis in Myanmar

Pope Francis has avoided using the term Rohingya on his trip thus far during meetings with Myanmar's de facto leader Aung Sung Suu Kyi and Buddhist leaders. Many in the Buddhist-majority country, including the government itself, refer to the minority group as "Bengalis,'' implying they are interlopers from Bangladesh, and dispute UN claims that they are being persecuted by the army.

Those refugees following Francis' trip to the region were disappointed that he has not yet mentioned the plight of the Rohingya people this week.

Mayyu Ali, who was studying English literature at a University in Myanmar before authorities imposed a ban on Rohingya students in 2012, moved to Bangladesh two months ago with his family after the military burned his home.

"I was hoping that [Francis] would visit the camps in Kutupalong to realize the suffering we have been going through every day," Ali told DW. "Had he been here, he would have understood us better.'"

Ali nonetheless remains optimistic Francis will speak the truth about the plight of the Rohingya people, as he did in twice during appeals from the Vatican earlier this year.

Refugee camp not on pope's schedule

The Pope's official itinerary in Bangladesh does not include a stop at the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, but Regina Catrambone, co-founder of Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), which is working on the crisis, is hopeful Francis will show up unannounced. "The reason [the pope is not planning to visit the Rohingya camps] is maybe a security concern," she said. "But I still hope that he will surprise us and decides to come. He is a pope that likes surprises.''

Other international charities working on the Rohingya crisis have avoided directly addressing the pope's visit, considering it a political issue, and Bangladesh government officials also expressed reluctance in commenting on the subject.

Nay San Lwin, a Germany-based Rohingya activist who is visiting Bangladesh prior to pope's visit, thinks that the pontiff avoided using the term Rohingya in Myanmar due to "pressure by Burmese Cardinal Charles Maung Bo.'' However, he wants to hear the term from the Pope during his visit to Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

"Bangladesh is hosting more than a million Rohingya refugees as of today. They all are victims of Myanmar's genocide. So the Pope must condemn the genocide,'' Lwin said. "He should also urge the international community and the United Nations to intervene in Myanmar to stop the ongoing genocide.''

Christians make up less than 1 percent of Bangladesh's 160 million people. More than 80,000 Catholics in the country are expected to join a mass prayer with the pope at a historic garden in the capital, Dhaka, on December 1.

The Rohingya are often described as one of the most persecuted communities in the world. A significant number of them are also living in India as refugees and asylum seekers. Cheena Kapoor reports about their plight.

Most commuters who pass the Kalindi Kunj bridge in Delhi tend to generally notice only the metro construction. From a distance, the makeshift settlement near the construction area appears to be a normal sight in the city: tents built with recycled material found on the streets comprising of plastic, rubber, plywood, tires and old clothes.

A closer look, however, reveals the plight of the Rohingya community, a Muslim ethnic group from Myanmar, and their relentless struggle in search for a home where they will not be beaten, raped or killed.

In Kalindi Kunj, a total of 307 members of the Rohingya community live together. The Zakat Foundation, a US-based NGO, has made this possible by providing 11,000 square feet of land to pitch tents on. This arrangement, however, was only valid for a year and now the Rohingyas, after having overstayed, have been asked to move again ten days after Eid al-Adha, an Islamic holiday. This case of displacement is not the first one and yet another occasion for them to not know where to go next.

The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim community hailing from Myanmar's western Rakhine state. But the Myanmar government views the roughly one million-strong ethnic group as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. As a result, most of them are denied citizenship and outbreaks of sectarian violence have prompted many to flee.

Over several decades, the Rohingya have suffered a lack of self-identity, persecution and forced relocation within and outside the borders of Myanmar.

Many of them now live in miserable conditions in makeshift camps within and outside Myanmar and are exposed to the risks of exploitation, human trafficking, and rape.

Since 2012, over 100,000 Rohingya Muslims have embarked on boat journeys in search of better lives outside of the Southeast Asian nation, and they have taken refuge in countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand and India.

More welcoming?

India has so far been receptive to Rohingyas, and the South Asian country is generally considered to be a safe place for the refugees.

Mohammad Usman, a 33-year-old man from Myanmar, spent three days without food and water in the dark forest near the India-Bangladesh border before reaching Delhi. Almost three years after that fateful night, Usman recollects his experiences: "Back in Myanmar, officials would blindfold young men and women in the night and take them away. These people would never return."

India may not offer the Rohingya the same basic facilities it gives to Afghan or Iraqi refugees, but the country still does more than Myanmar ever did, says Usman.

The makeshift settlement near Kalindi Kunj bridge is currently home to some 70 Rohingya families. And over 35,000 Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers are estimated to reside across the country.

Out of the 137 children in the Kalindi Kunj settlement, 60 are under the age of five and do not go to school, while only 47 children are offered education for which fees are paid by the Zakat Foundation.

Living in Delhi has made a significant difference to the lives of many of these Rohingya Muslims. Mohammad Ismail, 27, arrived in India almost two and a half years ago. His family of six members, two brothers, a sister-in-law and two sisters had to leave their parents behind in Myanmar.

Now, Ismail has found a home in Delhi. He says, "At last we're accepted here. We can practice our religion without the fear of getting killed for it. India has accepted us. Despite the stench and filth, I feel safe living here and never want to return."

Facing eviction, again

But poor health conditions and the looming eviction notice might accelerate the possibility of displacement. With the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses Dengue and Chikungunya during the monsoon season, over 40 people at the camp in Kalindi Kunj have fallen sick and are unable to pay for their own medicines.

Due to a lack of access to healthcare facilities, the health conditions continue to worsen every day. Although the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has pledged support, there has been little improvement so far. 

Furthermore, the employment situation for Rohingyas living in Delhi remains uncertain.

Usman, for instance, works as a daily laborer and irregularly finds work for 10-15 days a month earning less than 300 rupees ($4.4, 4.0 euros) a day.

Abdul Wasim, another refugee, lives with his daughter and cannot work because of his poor health condition. He had to leave his wife and five children behind in Myanmar, and he has no hope of seeing them again in light of the border lockdown with Myanmar. Now, he and his daughter get by with the income earned by her as a domestic help in Kalindi Kunj residential areas.

A hopeless future? 

The plight of the Rohingya has received a lot of media and public attention, but the question still lingers: where do they go from here? The Rohingya are still finding out how many they are in number, spread across borders in Asia.

With most of them being impoverished and lacking valid identity cards, it's common for Rohingya Muslims to live in small groups in makeshift camps. And within these small groups, they try to stick together but it's unclear for how long they can continue to survive amidst conditions of poverty, unemployment, lack of education and violence.

Myanmar's constitution guarantees religious freedom. But some radical Buddhists have been railing against Muslims – a tendency which has reached the lawmakers by now.

Everything seems normal as children in red clothes play football on a dusty patch. However, this patch is the courtyard of a monastery and the young players with their rolled-up shirts and bare arms are Buddhist novices. Their teacher, U Nayaka, laughs at the notion that a monastery is supposed to be a place of meditation. "It is never quiet here, my students always make noise," said Phaung Daw Oo, director of the monastery school, who is a cheerful person and ends each of his utterances with a laugh.

Since 1993, Nayaka is providing education to children whose families would otherwise not be able to afford to send them to school. The school started with 400 students, who number around 8,000 today, with 450 of them living on the premises. Boys and girls, farm boys and street children, some are monks while others are not – even some Christians and Muslims are being taught in this school, says Nayaka with pride.

"The Buddhist way of thinking is to think critically” – Nayaka is very clear about that and wants to implant it in his students. His school receives aid and support mainly from countries like Japan, Australia, England and Germany. The girls' dormitory was built a few years ago by the the Friends of Myanmar association of Germany, with financial help from the German government.

Several international volunteers are working at the school. Their objective is to teach critical thinking to the students, of which the peaceful coexistence of religions forms an integral part, Nayaka is convinced.

For the protection of race and religion

The monk U Maung Maung is not in favor of the coexistence of religions. His association, Ma Ba Tha, advocates "the protection of race and religion" with the objective of saving Buddhism from the perceived potential threat of Islam. The hatred is primarily directed against the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority who live in Rakhine State along the borders with Bangladesh, and who do not possess the Myanmar citizenship.

According to Ma Ba Tha "the Bengalis" have no place in Myanmar. "They commit severe crimes," Maung thunders in his monastery on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar's economic hub. "They rape and try to marry as many of our women as possible," he rails.

Ma Ba Tha and their followers fear that the Muslims want to Islamize Myanmar. About 90 percent of the 51 million inhabitants of Myanmar are Buddhists; only about five million are Muslims.

Special law to marry Buddhist women

Ma Ba Tha's phobia is shared by radical monk Ashin Virathu, the brain behind the so-called "969" movement. Virathu has been described as "the face of Buddhist terror" by international media. For years, his followers have been running a campaign for the boycott of Muslim shops. They put stickers with their logo on buildings which should remain in Buddhist hands, in their opinion. And now their propaganda is about to find its way into legislation.

President Thein Sein had submitted a package of proposed legislation by December, with the aim of turning them into law before the presidential elections scheduled to take place in autumn.

These laws are supposed to serve "the protection of race and religion," but Amnesty International has criticized them as being "discriminatory" and "contrary to fundamental human rights."

One bill stipulates that a change of religion will only be possible after the application has been approved by the appropriate authorities. This will also apply to Buddhist women desirous of marrying a spouse from another religion.

Whether permission will be granted or not will be decided by a local body consisting of government officials and community leaders. Amnesty also criticized the proposed monogamy law as malicious propaganda, since polygamy is already forbidden in Myanmar.

'A handful of monks'

The Mogul Shiite Mosque, the biggest in Yangon, is located on the 30th Street of the Padeban township. The mosque was built towards the end of the 19th century by wealthy Persian merchants who had settled in Myanmar. Up to 300 Muslims gather here for their Friday prayers.

Buddhists and Muslims have lived in peace for centuries in Myanmar, but attacks against the Muslim community have been increasing of late, a situation which makes Imam Bakr Mohammedi of the Mogul Mosque feel less upbeat.

"It's just a handful of (Buddhist) monks who preach hate and violence in their sermons," Mohammedi says, "but that is enough to cause riots in certain parts of the country." The situation is not so acute in Yangon, "but the violence in Rakhine State has caused concern among the Muslims here as well." Muslims are fleeing in greater numbers from other parts of the country to Yangon, according to the Imam.

Liberal monk Nayaka is not prepared to talk about the firebrand monk Virathu. Nayaka's own monastery is not very far from Virathu's Maseyein monastery. Nayaka is well acquainted with Virathu and his ideas; nevertheless, Nayaka would prefer not to comment upon them, despite the fact that he does not seem to lack courage.

Activists say that up to 19,000 people - mostly Rohingya Muslims - have set sail from Myanmar's western Rakhine state to Thailand to escape violence and deteriorating living conditions.

There are around 800,000 Rohingyas living in Myanmar, also known as Burma. The minority group lives predominantly in the western state of Rakhine. They are not officially recognized by the Myanmar government as an ethnic minority group, and for decades they have been subjected to discrimination and violence by the Buddhist majority.

Viewed by the United Nations and the US as one of the world's most persecuted minorities, many Rohingyas have fled to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, India and also to Thailand to escape persecution.

Despite the fact that Myanmar has embarked on a series of political and economic reforms, human rights organizations and activists say the situation for Myanmar's ethnic communities has not significantly improved.

Many Rohingya Muslims are fleeing from the northern Maungdaw and Buthidaung cities of Myanmar's Rakhine state, and also from Sittwe, Rakhine's capital, which was the center of sectarian violence last year. The clashes between ethnic Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas in the state lead to the destruction of homes, shops and places of worship and has left almost 200 dead and nearly 120,000 people displaced.

Discriminatory treatment and abuse

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, says Myanmar needs to address the Rohingya issue urgently.

"There is a need to put concerted pressure on the Burmese authorities to get Rohingyas recognized as citizens. The government should start a registration process to grant citizenship to these people and to end discriminatory treatment and abuses against Rohingyas."

The UN says that conditions in the refugee camps in the Myebon town of Rakhine are "particularly shocking," with sanitation there being "very, very poor indeed."

Chris Lewa, director of the non-government organization The Arakan Project, is in regular contact with Myanmar's Rohingyas. He says living conditions in the camps are horrendous and that a number of people don't receive the aid sent to them. "Aid deliveries have been hampered and at times blocked to the Muslim camps."

In its latest assessment, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders calls on the Myanmar government and community leaders to ensure greater security for people in Rakhine in the face of reports of “alarming numbers” of acutely malnourished and ill children in the camps.

"Skin infections, worms, chronic coughing and diarrhea are the most common ailments seen through more than 10,000 medical consultations in the camps since October 2012," the report said.

Statelessness

The violence and difficult living conditions have also driven Rohingyas to risk their lives at sea. Rights groups fear “several hundred” men, women and children from the region may have been lost at sea already. One estimate has put the death toll as high as 500.

Last year, the UNHCR estimated that around 13, 000 people - including Rohingyas from western Myanmar and Bangladesh - fled on boats. And many of the refugees are children. Thailand's English language daily, The Bangkok Post, interviewed 14-year-old Mohammad Ayu from Rakhine state, who is one of many under-aged children to set sail on their own, seeking refuge in Thailand after losing family members to violence in Myanmar. Ayu said children were paying between 5,000 and 60,000 kyats (4.25 euros - 50.57 euros) to board boats. His, he said, had been adrift for weeks before his group was stopped and transferred by uniformed officers and then handed over to a broker.

Activists continue to report that human smugglers are also taking advantage of the situation and earn large sums of money from fleeing Rohingyas.

Regional solution

According to Thailand Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), almost 6,000 Rohingyas have arrived in Thailand since October last year. The Thai Government is allowing Rohingyas to stay in the country for up to six months. The Thai Foreign Ministry is also holding talks with other states to enable those at the centers to move on.

Colonel Kriskorn Paleethunyawong, deputy commander of Thailand's Songkhla Provincial Police, told The Bangkok Post that the Rohingya migrants should be prosecuted as illegal immigrants like everyone else who enters the country illegally.

Lewa of the Arakan Project has recently visited some of the refugee camps in Thailand. He fears for the well-being of the people living there. "They live in overcrowded immigration detention centers in Thailand. We have seen in the past that people have actually died in custody."

He says a long-term solution is needed to address the issue. "There should be a regional solution as it affects various countries in the region - including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia - which cannot solve the problem individually."

Panitan Wattanyagorn, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, backs calls for a regional response: "The international community should come up with better guidelines to separate the people who are seeking work and the people who are really in danger."