page_title: Rohingya genocide
section_title: Refugee crisis
hierarchical_section_title: Rohingya genocide / Refugee crisis
caption_attribution_description: Rohingya refugees in refugee camp in Bangladesh, 2017
context_page_description: The Rohingya genocide is a series of ongoing persecutions by the Myanmar government against the Muslim Rohingya people. The genocide has consisted of two phases to date: the first occurred from October 2016 to January 2017 and the second has been occurring since August 2017. The crisis forced over a million Rohingya to flee to other countries. Most fled to Bangladesh while others escaped to India, Thailand, Malaysia, and other parts of South and Southeast Asia.
  The largest wave of Rohingya to flee Myanmar happened in 2017, which resulted in the largest human exodus in Asia since the Vietnam War.
  The 2016 military crackdown on the Rohingya people drew criticism from the UN, the human rights group Amnesty International, the U.S. Department of State, the government of neighboring Bangladesh, and the government of Malaysia. The Burmese leader and State Counsellor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been criticized for her inaction and silence over the issue and has done little to prevent military abuses. Myanmar has also drawn criticism for the prosecutions of journalists under her leadership.
context_section_description: In 2017, the vast majority of Rohingya people were displaced and became refugees as a result of the genocide. At the peak of the crisis in 2017, over a million Rohingya were forced to flee to other countries. Most fled to Bangladesh while others escaped to India, Thailand, Malaysia, and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. According to the United Nations reports, as of January 2018, nearly 690,000 Rohingya people had fled or had been driven out of Rakhine State who sought refuge in Bangladesh. It was estimated that around 650,000 Rohingya Muslims had fled Myanmar as of November 2017. The refugee crisis in 2017 resulted in the largest human exodus in Asia since the Vietnam War.
  In January 2017, an estimated 92,000 Rohingya people had been displaced because of the violence; around 65,000 had fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh between October 2016 and January 2017, while 23,000 others had been internally displaced.
  In February 2017, the government of Bangladesh announced that it planned to relocate the new refugees and another 232,000 Rohingya refugees already in the country to Bhasan Char, a sedimentary island in the Bay of Bengal. The island first appeared around 2007, formed from washed down silt from the Meghna River. The nearest inhabited land, Hatiya Island, is around 30 km away. News agencies quoted a regional official describing the plan as "terrible". The move received substantial opposition from a number of parties. Human rights groups have described the plan as a forced relocation. Additionally, concerns were raised over the living conditions on the island, which is low-lying and prone to flooding. The island has been described as "only accessible during winter and a haven for pirates". It is nine hours away from the camps where the Rohingya refugees live.
  On 30 April 2017 Sri Lanka intercepted and detained an Indian boat of 32 Rohingya refugees off its northern coast after it entered Sri Lankan waters.
  In May 2017, Bangladesh detained 12 Rohingya people and 2 smugglers who attempted to leave the country by boat for Malaysia.
  In August 2017, Thailand announced that it was "preparing to receive" Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar.
  On 14 August 2017 India announced that it was deporting an estimated 40,000 Rohingya refugees including 14,000 of those registered with the U.N. refugee agency as well. In the months leading up to the announcement, a string of anti-Rohingya protests took place in the country.
  
  In September 2017, Nepal increased surveillance at its border with India to prevent more Rohingya refugees from entering the country. A small community of Rohingya refugees live in the capital, Kathmandu.
  In November 2017, the government of Bangladesh signed a pact with Myanmar to return the Rohingya refugees to their homes in the Rakhine territory. The deal arose after a diplomatic meeting on the matter between Aung San Suu Kyi and Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali, the foreign minister of Bangladesh. The accord was viewed by international commentators as a conscious effort by Suu Kyi to address criticism over her lack of action in the conflict. This decision, coming after both the United Nations and Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State, declared that the actions undertaken by the Burmese army against the Rohingya refugees constituted ethnic cleansing, was met with hesitation and criticism by aid groups.
caption: Rohingya refugees in refugee camp in Bangladesh, 2017
exif: {}