Suu Kyi tiger när muslimer hålls i koncentrationsläger

The Rohingya people (Ruáingga /ɾuájŋɡa/, Burmese: ရိုဟင်ဂျာ rui hang ja /ɹòhɪ̀ɴd͡ʑà/, Rohingga /ɹohiŋɡa/) are Indo-Aryan peoples from the Rakhine State, Myanmar, who speak the Rohingya language. According to Rohingyas and some scholars, they are indigenous to Rakhine State, while other historians claim that they migrated to Myanmar from Bengal primarily during the period of British rule in Burma, and to a lesser extent, after the Burmese independence in 1948 and Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Muslims have settled in Rakhine State (also known as Arakan) since the 16th century, although the number of Muslim settlers before the British rule is unclear. After the first Anglo-Burmese War in 1826, British annexed Arakan and encouraged migrations from Bengal to work as farm laborers. The Muslim population may have constituted 5% of Arakan's population by 1869, although estimates for earlier years give higher numbers. Successive British censuses of 1872 and 1911 recorded an increase in Muslim population from 58,255 to 178,647 in Akyab District. During World War II, the Arakan massacres in 1942 involved communal violence between British-armed V Force Rohingya recruits and Buddhist Rakhine people and the region became increasingly ethnically polarized. In 1982, General Ne Win's government enacted the Burmese nationality law, which denied Rohingya citizenship. Since the 1990s, the term "Rohingya" has increased in usage among Rohingya communities. As of 2013, about 1.3 million Rohingyas live in Myanmar. They reside mainly in the northern Rakhine townships, where they form 80–98% of the population. International media and human rights organizations have often described Rohingyas as one of, if not the, most persecuted minorities in the world, while origin of that term with relation to the United Nations is still unclear. Many Rohingyas have fled to ghettos and refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh and to areas along the border with Thailand. More than 100,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar continue to live in camps for internally displaced persons, not allowed by authorities to leave. Rohingyas have received international attention in the wake of 2012 Rakhine State riots, and more recently because of their attempted migration throughout Southeast Asia in the 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis.

Burma (officiellt Unionsrepubliken Myanmar(svenska: /ˌmjanˈmaː/, burmesiska: [mjəmà]) eller Myanmar/Burma; Myanmar är en beteckning som införts av den sittande militärregimen; oppositionen använder namnet Burma) är det till ytan största landet på det sydostasiatiska fastlandet. Det gränsar i norr till Kina, i väst till Bangladesh, till Indien i nordväst, i öst till Laos och i sydost till Thailand. Burmas sydkust sträcker sig längs Andamansjön och i sydväst finns Bengaliska viken. Rangoon var fram till 2005 landets huvudstad; den nuvarande är Naypyidaw. Burma blev självständigt från Storbritannien 1948 och blev en förbundsrepublik. Sedan en militärkupp 1962 har landets styre bestått av en rad militärjuntor som har fört en medveten isoleringsstrategi, och Burma räknas idag som ett av världens minst utvecklade länder. Ett stort problem är landets stora produktion av heroin, samt spridningen av hiv och aids. Landets kultur är i huvudsak baserad på theravada-riktningen av buddhismen. I december 2012 avslöjades av den svenska reportern Bertil Lintner att svenska vapen användes av den burmesiska armén i det burmesiska inbördeskriget.