Mohamudul Hasson and Tobarik Huson, both Rohingya from Myanmar, met in Malaysia after taking arduous journeys to escape persecution and stagnation as stateless Muslim minorities. Neither Myanmar nor neighboring Bangladesh recognizes them as citizens.
The plight of Rohingya migrants stranded at sea puts a spotlight on conditions in the country they fled. Staffers from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum were on a fact-finding tour to Myanmar this spring and found what they call a genocide in the making. Andrea Gittleman, program manager for the Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, says recent violence and persecution of Rohingya could be early warning signs of greater atrocities to come.
The Rohingyas Muslims in Myanmar are mostly stateless and living in grim conditions. Reuters photographer Minzayar visited one of the displaced Rohingya camps, where he documented them making connections with loved ones via a laptop at Internet huts.