The Crisis of the Rohingya as a Muslim Minority in Myanmar and Bilateral Relations with Bangladesh

Abstract

The Muslim Rohingya crisis has been disrupting the bilateral relations between Myanmar and Bangladesh since the late 1970s. This paper explores the crisis of Rohingya as a Muslim minority in Myanmar and their forced migration to Bangladesh where they took refuge causing disputes between Bangladesh and Myanmar in this regard. The Rohingya problem is seen as composed of various clusters of past and present human rights violations in Myanmar which has caused their forced migration to neighboring countries like Bangladesh contributing to non-traditional security crisis in the bilateral relations between Myanmar and Bangladesh. This study analyzes the local and international responses to manage and resolve the Rohingya problems as well. For understanding the nature of this problem, the forced migration of the Rohingya to Bangladesh and its internationalization process are also singled out. In addition, the approach proposed seeks to integrate developmental and humanitarian factors into the total picture of the Rohingya refugee problems within the framework of non-traditional security crisis. Bilateral negotiations between Bangladesh and Myanmar as well as democratization in Myanmar accelerated by the concerted efforts of the local and international communities can eventually bring about a durable solution to the Rohingya problems in Bangladesh–Myanmar relations.