Learn more about the roots of the protracted Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh, and find out how you can help families who fled horrific violence.
Date that a small group of Rohingya insurgents linked to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army conducted a coordinated attack against roughly 30 police outposts in the Rakhine state in western Myanmar. Myanmar’s military and Buddhist extremist groups responded by conducting clearance operations against Rohingya villages and communities.
Source: The New York Times
Decade to which reports of the conflict between the Myanmar government and the Rohingya Muslim community can be traced. Conflict in Myanmar—under British colonial rule until 1948 and once known as Burma—is not new. Colonialism caused a series of violent conflicts in Myanmar, and the Rohingya people belong to a stateless, ethnic minority within the country. Conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where many Rohingya people have lived for generations, had already compelled hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya to flee their homes in the predominantly Buddhist country prior to the Aug. 25, 2017 conflict.
Source: Council on Foreign Relations
Rohingya people who previously called Rakhine state home. Rakhine is located in west Myanmar along the Bangladesh border. Though Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, the Myanmar government insists that all Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The state refuses to recognize them as citizens, effectively rendering the majority of them stateless.
Source: Amnesty International
Rohingya people who have fled across Myanmar’s borders to seek sanctuary in Bangladesh and neighboring countries since the conflict started in 2017. An additional 1.1 million people are displaced within Myanmar.
Source: Human Rights Watch + UNCHR
Date a top United Nations official described the crisis in Rakhine as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
Source: Reuters
People interviewed by United Nations investigators for a special report about the conditions which led to today’s escalated Rohingya refugee crisis. The report, released in February 2018, details mass atrocities against the Rohingya community, including rape as a weapon of war, the slaughtering of children, and other violent crimes that likely constitute crimes against humanity, which are punishable under international law.
Source: United Nations
Toilets constructed in the camps by GlobalGiving partner Friendship to ensure that Rohingya refugees have access to safe and sanitary spaces for hygiene needs. Friendship has an extensive presence across the refugee camps in Bangladesh and is working tirelessly to reach thousands of Rohingya each day.
Source: Friendship
Dollars needed to provide 10 emergency birth kits to help deliver babies safely. Nearly a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are crowded into camps in remote areas that are not easily accessible and lack basic services.
Source: Friends of UNFPA, Inc
US dollars needed to provide vitamins to a displaced pregnant mother for three months. HOPE Foundation for Women & Children of Bangladesh is raising funds to cover these and other urgent costs for women and children caught in the crossfire of the crisis.
Source: HOPE Foundation for Women & Children of Bangladesh
You can help meet urgent needs with a donation to GlobalGiving’s Rohingya Refugee Relief Fund. Your donation will be sent to GlobalGiving partners on the front lines of the crisis.
Featured Banner Photo: Nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar. Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters.This story was originally published on Sept. 1, 2017 and updated on Aug. 22, 2022.
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