Burma: A Bearing Witness Trip — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Burma: A Bearing Witness Trip

—Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Violence broke out against Rohingya in 2012 in Rakhine State, in western Burma, where most of this Muslim minority live. An estimated 140,000 were displaced from their homes and some 75,000 now live in internment camps, pressed up against the Bay of Bengal and forced to the very edge of the country. —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
A Rohingya woman nurses her sick baby in an internment camp. The Burmese government has blocked humanitarian assistance from reaching Rohingya, and many said they are without basic medical care. —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The camps are overcrowded and living conditions are poor. The barrack-style buildings in the background are said to house up to 80 people each. —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
There are some makeshift schools in the camps, but many children cannot attend. Rohingya youth are forbidden from attending the nearby university, and they have no opportunities to develop professional skills. —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Rohingya have little access to livelihoods and cannot return to the jobs they held before the 2012 violence. —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Rohingya gather at a mosque in an internment camp. Mosques throughout the country have been attacked, destroyed, and sometimes turned into Buddhist temples. —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The remains of a mosque in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, testify to the violence that swept through the town in 2012. No independent or credible investigations into the attacks have taken place. —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
An estimated 4,250 Rohingya live in the Aung Mingalar ghetto in Sittwe, segregated from their Rakhine neighbors. Police officers and barricades mark the boundaries; many of the ghetto residents referred to it as an “open prison.” —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Signs posted on storefronts and homes in Sittwe protest against Rohingya voting rights. Many Rohingya have “white cards,” or temporary identification cards. The central government announced the white cards would soon expire, preventing those who held them from voting in an upcoming election. —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
We left Burma deeply concerned that so many preconditions for genocide are already in place. Our report sounds the alarm for the need to take urgent action to prevent this devastating outcome. —Courtesy of Paula Bronstein Getty Images Reportage for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum More

Viewing 1-2 / 10

“They Want Us All to Go Away”

Early Warning Signs of Genocide in Burma

In March 2015, staff from the Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide traveled to Burma to investigate threats facing the Rohingya people, a Muslim minority that has been the target of rampant hate speech, the denial of citizenship, and restrictions on the freedom of movement. These and a host of other human rights violations have put this population at grave risk for additional mass atrocities and even genocide.

Read Our report on the Plight of Rohingya in Burma (PDF)

In Burma, we visited internment camps and spoke with Rohingya who have been violently displaced from their homes. We also met with Rohingya who are living in cordoned-off ghettos, separated from their Buddhist neighbors, most of whom belong to the Rakhine ethnic group.

We saw firsthand the Rohingya’s physical segregation, which has resulted in a modern form of apartheid, and the devastating impact that official policies of persecution are having on them. When asked what the Burmese government wants to do with them, one Rohingya advocate replied, “They want us all to go away.”

We left Burma deeply concerned that so many preconditions for genocide are already in place. But there is still an opportunity to prevent this devastating outcome. Our report (PDF) sounds the alarm about the need for urgent action to address these warning signs and to prevent future atrocities, including genocide, from occurring.

The Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide is indebted to all those who shared their stories with us.