24,000 Rohingyas murdered in Rakhine since August last year

Dhaka, Aug 18 (UNB) – Over 24,000 Rohingyas were murdered and 18,000 Rohingya women and girls raped during Myanmar’s crackdown in Rakhine State since August last year, says a research report.

The report says over 41,192 Rohingyas suffered bullet wounds, over 34,436 were thrown into fire and some 114,872 beaten up by Myanmar forces.

A consortium of researchers and organisations from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Norway and the Philippines conducted the study titled ‘Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience’.

The research consortium is consisting of academics and practitioners from Australia, Canada and Norway and national and international institutional partners, namely ASA Philippines Foundation, Ontario International Development Agency, Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (lDEB),Education for Skill Development (ESD) and Film for Peace Foundation (F4P).

The researchers are Mahshin Habib, Christine Jubb, Salahuddin Ahmad, Masudur Rahman and Henri Palard.

The research published by Ontario International Development Agency.

According to the research findings, the estimated number of houses burned is 115,026 while some 113,282 houses were vandalised.

The research book was presented at the International Conference on Sustainable Development 2018 at the UK's Queens College, Oxford University on Wednesday. It was organised by the Ontario International Development Agency of Canada.

The report presents the findings of an interactional collaborative research effort that entailed interviewing 3300 Rohingya households living in the makeshift camp, Cox's Bazar. 

Rohingyas Want Citizenship

Most of the respondents wanted to return to their homes in Myanmar as soon as possible but insisted that citizenship be granted to them.

They also wanted perpetrators of crimes to be prosecuted first, according to the executive summary of the report.

The mass exodus of Rohingyas from Myanmar in 2017 has been recognised as the fastest growing refugee influx in the world and these Rohingyas are currently living in the most densely populated camps in the world in Cox's Bazar district.

Alongside humanitarian urgencies, there are numerous challenges, including human rights, legal and geopolitical issues, and economic and environmental implications, according to the executive summary of the report.

Thus, it said, the Rohingya crisis demands multiple and multidimensional approaches to help Rohingyas with immediate rehabilitation and finding a sustainable solution through repatriation to Myanmar.

The report investigated various dimensions of the life of Rohingya people in Myanmar and the extent and nature of atrocities experienced in Myanmar. 

This report also provided the socio-political and cultural contexts of Rohingya people and their experiences before fleeing to Bangladesh. 

One of the major contributions of this report is revealing the types and extent of long-term social, economic and political exclusion that Rohingya people faced at a community and national levels in Myanmar.

The project investigated the socio-political and cultural context of Rohingya people and their experiences before fleeing to Bangladesh.

It investigated the socio­economic lives of Rohingya people and the emergence of various issues connected with short- and long-term rehabilitation and resettlement in Bangladesh. 

The project examined ethnicity and preservation of cultural heritage, their sources or earning and the levels of economic activities of Rohingya people at the Bangladesh camps.

It also documented the health and wellbeing of Rohingya refugees living there. One of the major contributions of the project was to record the responses and reactions of Rohingya people about the repatriation process, and possible compensation for their losses before returning to Myanmar, reads the executive summary of the report.

This research utilised a researcher-constructed semi-structured interview guide and a qualitative interview guide for primary data collection, including photography and videography.

The findings revealed the far greater incidence of murder, rape, beatings and gunshot wounds experienced by Rohingya people in the August 2017 incidents before fleeing to Bangladesh that was reported previously. 

Crimes against property in terms of houses burned down, crops and businesses damaged and theft are also estimated at levels above those previously reported.