At the United Nations headquarters in New York this week, the voices of Rohingya Muslims rang out with urgency, pleading for decisive international intervention to halt the ongoing mass killings in Myanmar and to restore a sense of normalcy to their battered community. The first-ever high-level UN meeting dedicated to the plight of the Rohingya drew ministers and diplomats from nearly all 193 member nations, underscoring the gravity and global resonance of their suffering.
Wai Wai Nu, founder and executive director of the Women’s Peace Network-Myanmar, opened the session with a pointed reminder of just how long the world has stood by. “This is a historic occasion for Myanmar, but this is long overdue,” she told the assembled dignitaries, according to the Associated Press. Her words, measured but resolute, reflected decades of displacement, oppression, and violence endured by Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar. Despite international bodies—including the UN itself—determining that these communities are victims of genocide, effective action has remained elusive. “That cycle must end today," she insisted, drawing a line in the sand before the global community.
The roots of the Rohingya crisis run deep. Myanmar’s Buddhist majority has, for generations, viewed the Muslim Rohingya as “Bengalis” from neighboring Bangladesh, even though many Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for centuries. This perception has had devastating consequences. Nearly all Rohingya have been denied citizenship since 1982, rendering them effectively stateless and stripping them of basic rights. The consequences of this exclusion have played out in waves of violence and displacement, the most severe of which erupted in August 2017. That month, attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security forces triggered a brutal military crackdown. The military’s response, marked by mass rape, killings, and the systematic burning of villages, drove at least 740,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh. The scale and savagery of the campaign prompted the United Nations and other international observers to label it as ethnic cleansing and, ultimately, genocide.
Since then, the situation has only grown more dire. The military coup in February 2021, which ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, plunged Myanmar into further chaos. The military’s violent suppression of peaceful protests sparked widespread armed resistance, with pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority forces—including those in Rakhine state, home to many Rohingya—fighting to unseat the country’s military rulers. Tens of thousands of Rohingya remain trapped in this conflict, many confined to bleak camps with little hope of escape or improvement.
In 2022, the United States formally determined that Myanmar’s military had committed crimes against humanity and genocide against the Rohingya. But international condemnation, while important, has not translated into meaningful change for those on the ground. U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi, fresh from a visit to Myanmar, painted a bleak picture for the General Assembly. Bangladesh, he reported, is now hosting nearly 1.2 million Rohingya refugees—an astonishing number that has only grown as violence in Rakhine reignited in 2024. Since then, an additional 150,000 Rohingya have fled across the border, seeking safety from the fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group seeking autonomy.
“They are subjected to forced labor and forced recruitment,” Grandi told the assembly, emphasizing the daily reality of Rohingya life in Rakhine. “Their lives are defined every day by racism and fear.” The Arakan Army now controls almost all of Rakhine state, but for the Rohingya, conditions have not improved. Discrimination persists, villages are still burned, and movement is tightly restricted. Access to work, education, and healthcare remains limited. The threat of arbitrary arrest hangs over their heads, compounding a sense of insecurity that has become all too familiar.
Julie Bishop, the U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, did not sugarcoat the political reality. On October 1, 2025, she stated bluntly that there is little sign of progress toward peace. “There is no agreed ceasefire, no pathway to peace, no political solution,” she said, echoing the frustration of many in the international community. The Myanmar government, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with plans for elections starting in late December 2025. But U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk dismissed the process as a sham. The elections, he argued, will not reflect the will of the people or lay the groundwork for lasting peace. The military remains firmly in control, the Rohingya are barred from voting due to their lack of citizenship, and ethnic Rakhine parties have been disqualified from running.
For the Rohingya themselves, the goal remains clear: a return to their ancestral homeland in Myanmar, with dignity and security. Rofik Huson, founder of the Arakan Youth Peace Network, told the assembly that despite decades of persecution, the Rohingya’s “deepest wish” is to live in peace. “Yet, the past decade has shown that it’s not possible for us without international support, without international pressure,” he said. Huson called for the creation of a U.N.-supervised safe zone in northern Rakhine state along the border with Bangladesh—a proposal that, while ambitious, reflects the desperation and hope of a people with few other options.
Maung Sawyeddollah, founder of the Rohingya Student Network, delivered perhaps the most impassioned plea of the day. Without self-determination and international protection for the Rohingya in Rakhine, he warned, there can be no lasting peace. “The U.N. must mobilize resources to empower Rohingya," he said to world leaders, urging them to move beyond words and towards concrete action.
The meeting concluded with a sober but hopeful note from General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, who chaired the proceedings. “Today is just a starting point, we have to do more,” she promised, committing to an action-oriented follow-up. The world, it seems, is finally listening—but whether it will act in time remains to be seen.
For now, the Rohingya continue to wait: for safety, for justice, and for a future where their voices are not only heard, but heeded.
