Exchange to Change January 2018 E2C January 2018 web | Page 6

6 INTERVIEW The Rohingya crisis: genocide or not? The Rohingya Muslim minority have suffered institutionalized discrimination by the Myanmar government since the late 1970s in the form of restrictions on many dimensions of life including employment, marriage and education. The underlying cause of this discrimination may be traced back to differences between the Rohingya minority and Myanmar’s dominant Buddhist groups in terms of ethnicity, language and religion. However, the situation recently escalated when government security forces brutally responded to attacks on police and army posts, which were claimed by a militant group known as Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) . In an attempt to escape the mass atrocities, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state. In what follows, Aung Zaw Min, Eva Albers and Abu Said Juel Miah will shed their light on this historic migration crisis by discussing the (media) framing, consequences and potential solutions. Aung Zaw Min Eva Albers Abu Said Juel Miah - Alumnus Governance and Development (2016), Myanmar - Master of Law (KU Leuven) - Alumnus Governance and Development (2013), Bangladesh - Independent journalist - Wrote Master thesis on the media framing of the Rohingya crisis E xchange to change J anuary 2018 - Current education: European Master in Human Rights and Democratization (European Inter-University Centre, Venice, Italy) - Wrote Master thesis on whether the Rohingya crisis can be seen as a genocide under International Law - Senior Programme Manager - Research and Policy - Transparency International Bangladesh