BANGKOK, Thailand — For generations, the ethnic Muslim Rohingya have endured persecution by the ruling junta of Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country.
The plight of the Rohingya, descendants of Arab traders from the seventh century, gained international attention over the past month after five boatloads of migrants were found in the waters around Indonesia and the Andaman Islands.
But unlike Kurds or Palestinians, no one has championed the cause of the Rohingya. Most countries, from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia, see them as little more than cheap labor for the dirtiest, most dangerous jobs.
“The Rohingya are probably the most friendless people in the world. They just have no one advocating for them at all,” said Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. “Hardly any of them have legal status anywhere in the world.”
An estimated 750,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar’s mountainous northern state of Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh. Thousands flee every year, trying to escape a life of abuse that was codified in 1982 with a law that virtually bars them from becoming citizens.
A spokesman for Myanmar’s military government did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. It has denied abusing the Rohingya, though Amnesty International said the junta has described them as less than human. Rights groups have documented widespread abuses such as forced labor, land seizures and rape.
“We have no rights,” said Muhamad Shafirullah, one of 200 migrants the Indonesian navy rescued last week.
He recalled how he was jailed in Myanmar, his family’s land stolen and a cousin shot dead.
“They rape and kill our women,” he said. “We can’t practice our religion. . . . It’s almost impossible, even, to get married or go to school.”
For years, the Rohingya traveled to the Middle East for work, with nearly a half-million ending up in Saudi Arabia. But in recent years, many now try to go by boat to Thailand and then overland to Malaysia, another Islamic nation.
