UK Govt: Rohingya in Myanmar Face Systematic Discrimination and Risk of Persecution
- Arakan Now
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Arakan Now | 10 Jan 2026
The Rohingya community in Myanmar continues to face widespread discrimination, denial of rights, and human rights violations, according to a recent report by the UK government. The report highlights that the nature, repetition, and cumulative effect of these abuses amount to persecution and/or serious harm.
The Rohingya are a minority of around 500,000 to 600,000, residing predominantly in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State. The majority are Sunni Muslim. Around 145,000 Rohingya currently live in displacement camps in Rakhine State. Security operations in 2017, described by the UN and international governments as ethnic cleansing, forced over 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, where many remain in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
The Rohingya are not recognised as citizens of Myanmar unless they can prove residence in the country prior to 1948. In practice, the discriminatory and arbitrary application of the 1982 Citizenship Law has denied citizenship rights to Rohingya, effectively rendering them stateless and undocumented. As a result, their rights to study, work, travel freely, marry, practise their religion, and access health services are severely restricted.
The report also details systematic abuses, including enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, indiscriminate killings, rape, destruction of property, and forced displacement. Rohingya civilians in Rakhine State have been forcibly recruited by both the Arakan Army and the military junta to fight in the conflict there, reportedly being used as human shields.
Even in areas controlled by the Arakan Army, including IDP camps, the Rohingya continue to face discrimination, restrictions on movement—including the need to pay bribes for permission to travel—arbitrary arrests, and detention. Human rights abuses by the AA in Rakhine State also include killings, targeted drone and mortar attacks, burning of villages, enforced disappearances, denial of humanitarian access, torture, and sexual violence.
According to the report, the Rohingya are likely to face a real risk of persecution or serious harm from non-state actors, namely the Arakan Army in Rakhine State. Protection from the military regime is unlikely, and internal relocation within Rakhine State is not considered reasonable.
