2015 Rohingya refugee crisis
In 2015, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people were forcibly displaced from their villages and IDP camps in Rakhine State, Myanmar, due to sectarian violence.
Nearly one million fled to neighbouring Bangladesh and some travelled to Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand by rickety boats via the waters of the Strait of Malacca, Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.
[11][12] In October 2015, researchers from the International State Crime Initiative at Queen Mary University of London released a report drawing on leaked government documents that reveal an increasing "ghettoization, sporadic massacres, and restrictions on movement" on Rohingya people.
The researchers suggest that the Myanmar government are in the final stages of an organised process of genocide against the Rohingya and have called upon the international community to redress the situation as such.
[24] On 24 May 2015, Malaysian police discovered 139 suspected graves in a series of abandoned camps used by human traffickers on the border with Thailand where Rohingya Hindus & Muslims fleeing Myanmar were believed to have been held.
Specific laws pertaining to this population impose restrictions on "marriage, family planning, employment, education, religious choice, and freedom of movement".
[37] In late May 2015, around 100,000 to 300,000 Rohingya refugees travelling to other countries in Southeast Asia from Myanmar and Bangladesh had been rescued or had swum to shore, while several thousand more were believed to be trapped with little food or water on the boats floating at sea.
In the West Ridge area in Chicago, the Rohingya Cultural Center was opened in 2016 with the help of the current director Nasir Zakaria and from fundings from the Zakat Foundation.
[41] Australian foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said that Indonesia believed only 30 to 40 per cent of those at sea were Rohingya, with the remainder mostly being Bangladeshi "illegal labourers.
[43] In 2015, under the administration of President Noynoy Aquino, the Philippines government expressed their wish to provide shelter for up to 3,000 "boat people" from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
[45] The government of The Gambia also expressed their concern and wished to take in stranded boat people saying, "it is a sacred duty to help alleviate the untold hardships and sufferings fellow human beings are confronted with.
[33] India hosts around 40,000 Rohingya refugees living in slums and camps in several regions including Jammu, Hyderabad, Nuh and Delhi most of whom are undocumented.
Two immigrants registered with the UNHCR filed a plea in the Indian Supreme Court against deportations on grounds of violation of conventions of international human rights.
The Central government told the Supreme Court that "some Rohingyas with militant background were active in Jammu, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mewat and are a potential threat to internal security".
[53] However, there were reports that Rohingya terror group Aqa Mul Mujahideen blamed for the attacks on Myanmar border outposts by the country's president not only maintains links with Hafiz Saeed's Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) but is learned to have developed ties with the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) cell in Jammu and Kashmir.
[54] On 5 September 2017, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said all the Rohingya refugees are illegal immigrants and "stand to be deported".
The last hearings happened on 31 January 2018 where Senior Counsel Prashant Bhushan appearing for petitioners argued that Rohingya Refugees are being denied bare necessities like medical care and access to school.
The Indian foreign ministry stated that India would provide free food materials, tea, mosquito nets and technical assistance to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Shahidul Haque responded, "We look forward to resolving the issue peacefully and expect that the international community will support that, especially our close friend, India.
"[60] Under Operation Insaniyat, a group of Khalsa Aid volunteers from India reached Bangladesh-Myanmar Border and organised Langar (Sikhism) for thousands of refugees living in camps.
The Indian government has also sent 53 Tonnes of relief materials like ready to eat noodles, salt, biscuits, mosquito nets, pulses, sugar, etc.
