Myanmar’s treatment of Rohingya called apartheid

FILE: Displaced Rohingya people in Rakhine State (8280610831) (cropped) (Photo By Foreign and Commonwealth Office – Flickr, OGL)

BANGKOK — Amnesty International says Myanmar has subjected Rohingya Muslims to long-term discrimination that amounts to “dehumanizing apartheid,” in an investigative report that raises questions about what those who’ve fled violence would face if they returned home.

Since late August, more than 620,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state into neighbouring Bangladesh, seeking safety from what the military described as “clearance operations.” World leaders have said it’s essential for the violence to stop and for Myanmar to allow the refugees to return home safely.

Amnesty International compiled two years’ worth of interviews and evidence in its report Tuesday detailing how Rohingya lived within Myanmar, subjected to a “vicious system of state-sponsored, institutionalized discrimination that amounts to apartheid.”

The rights group said the conditions met the definition of crimes against humanity.