Rohingya community,

By Guillermo Alvarado

The Rohingya community, four percent of Myanmar's population, is the subject of an ongoing hate campaign.   

Argentina's federal justice system took a historic step by accepting a lawsuit to punish, under the principle of universal prosecution of crimes against humanity, the perpetrators of the genocide against the Rohingya community, perpetrated in Myanmar, formerly Burma.

This ethnic group is considered by the United Nations as the most persecuted in the world, but also suffers from generalized oblivion and silence because the international community ignores all the atrocities of which its members are victims.

They represent four percent of Myanmar's population of 60 million, yet they are denied the right to nationality, have no official identity papers, cannot own their own homes and are confined to Rakhine state in the north of the country.

They are subjected to a permanent hate campaign, now increased by the use of social media, and periodically the army, police and other groups attack them, destroy their meager property and force them to flee.

One of the largest offensives occurred in 2017 and produced 25 thousand deaths, 19 thousand women and teenagers raped and 800 thousand had to take refuge in neighboring Bangladesh where they still remain in infamous conditions.

The International Criminal Court is conducting an investigation into these events, but it is limited to crimes committed on the border with Bangladesh.

For this reason, the Burmese Rohingya Organization, based in London, decided to turn to Argentina, which has a long tradition in applying the principle of international justice, the president of this organization and author of the complaint, Maung Tun Khin, explained to the newspaper Página 12.

He assured that for decades, successive Myanmar governments have tried with impunity to wipe out the Rohingya as a people.

"Justice," he said, "is the only way to break the cycle of violence, and since Myanmar is unwilling and unable to investigate itself, the international community must intervene.

The origin of the Rohingya is lost in the meanders of history, but the most accepted version is that they are descendants of Arab traders who mixed with the population of the area some centuries ago.

In fact, they practice the Muslim religion in a country officially declared as Buddhist, which is another reason why they are persecuted and discriminated against.

This is yet another example of how ignorance, intolerance and irrational hatred of what is different, of what is different, can lead to tragedies that shame us as a species, no matter where they occur.