After Humanitarianism: A Comparative Study of the Muslim World’s Rohingya Policy

Abstract

The Rohingya people are one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. Thousands of Rohingyas have been forcibly expelled from Myanmar owing to persecution, primarily in significant waves occurring in 1990, 2012, 2015, and 2017. They have primarily sought refuge in Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Thailand. The human rights violations in Rakhine State have elicited global condemnation. The Muslim world in general first adopted a favorable position on the Rohingyas. Numerous demonstrations have occurred in several Muslim nations protesting the horrors inflicted on the Rohingya people, with social media utilized to enhance awareness of their suffering. Subsequently, their policies evolved in time, and the Rohingya issue progressively waned in significance. This study analyzes the perspectives of the Muslim world toward the Rohingya refugee crisis. It delineates the nature and extent of the Muslim world’s government policy for Rohingya refugees, analyzed through the framework of international norms and human rights theory. Moreover, it tries to explain why those policies are in place and contrasts and compares how these policies have changed over time to highlight both similarities and differences between countries. Key findings indicate that the Rohingya issue has been instrumentalized for political gain and religious posturing, with humanitarian assistance from civil society organizations often outpacing governmental action. The study concludes that ethno-nationalism and regional interests have taken precedence over global Muslim unity, resulting in fragmented and inconsistent responses that fail to address the root causes of the crisis.