This episode is meant to raise awareness and call for more international action to assist and empower the Rohingya, a ethnic Muslim minority whose ancestral home is the Rakhine State, a western state in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The Rohingya have faced years of discrimination and repression in Burma and are not among the 135 ethnic groups recognized in the country despite being able to trace Rohingya history in the country to the eighth century. Instead they are viewed as foreign migrants from Bangladesh. In August 2017, a genocidal assault by the Myanmar military killed 6,700 Rohingya and led to the exodus of 750,000 to neighboring Bangladesh. Today, more than a million Rohingya live in the Bangladeshi refugee camps and those remaining in Burma continue to face violence and persecution from Myanmar's army and the ethnic Arakan Army, a powerful resistance army that controls much of the Rakhine State. The lack of opportunities in the refugee camps and the Rakhine State has led some refugees to take dangerous sea routes in search of a better life in other countries. Some of these expeditions have ended in tragedy, with 427 Rohingya perishing at sea in May 2025. The Rohingya deserve better and the international community needs to take a stronger role in making sure the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh receive more opportunities and hope. They also must do more to ensure the conditions in the Rakhine State are conducive for the Rohingya to make a safe and voluntary return to their ancestral homeland.
