At the United Nations headquarters in New York, a rare sense of urgency filled the General Assembly Hall on October 2, 2025. For the first time, the world’s diplomats gathered for a high-level meeting focused solely on the plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims—a group whose suffering has spanned decades and whose calls for justice have too often gone unanswered.
Wai Wai Nu, the founder and executive director of the Women’s Peace Network-Myanmar and herself a Rohingya, stood before ministers and ambassadors from the UN’s 193 member nations. Her words were blunt, her tone resolute: “This is a historic occasion for Myanmar, but this is long overdue.” She described the unending cycles of displacement, oppression, and violence endured by the Rohingya and other minorities, lamenting the lack of international action despite repeated determinations that they have been victims of genocide. “That cycle must end today,” she declared, as reported by the Associated Press and Reuters.
For many in the chamber, the event was not just symbolic—it was a long-awaited reckoning. The Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, have been denied citizenship since 1982, labeled “Bengalis” by the authorities despite generations of residence in the country. Their statelessness has left them vulnerable to recurring waves of violence and forced migration.
The most devastating of these waves came in August 2017. Following attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security forces, the military unleashed a brutal campaign that drove at least 740,000 Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh. The military was accused of mass rape, killings, and the burning of entire villages. The scale and ferocity of the operation prompted widespread allegations of ethnic cleansing and genocide from the international community, including the United Nations and the United States. According to UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi, Bangladesh now hosts nearly 1.2 million Rohingya refugees, with an additional 150,000 fleeing renewed fighting in Rakhine state in 2024 between the military and the Arakan Army.
Since the military coup in February 2021 that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar has been racked by violence. The military’s suppression of nonviolent protests quickly escalated into armed resistance by pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority forces, especially in western Rakhine state—home to tens of thousands of Rohingya, many of whom remain confined to camps. The Arakan Army, a powerful military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority seeking autonomy, now controls almost all of Rakhine state, according to Grandi. Yet the situation for the Rohingya has not improved. “They still face discrimination, the burning of their villages, exclusion from work, a ban on moving freely, restricted education and health care and the threat of arrest,” Grandi told the assembly. “They are subjected to forced labor and forced recruitment. Their lives are defined every day by racism and fear.”
Julie Bishop, the UN’s special envoy for Myanmar, painted a grim picture of the country’s future. She noted that no ceasefire or political solution is in sight, and the military government is preparing for elections starting in late December 2025. However, UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned that these elections would not reflect the will of the people or create a foundation for lasting peace. The polls will be held under military control, with the Rohingya disenfranchised due to their lack of citizenship and ethnic Rakhine parties disqualified from running. The prospects for peace, many agreed, remain bleak.
Against this backdrop, Rohingya leaders and advocates called for concrete international action. Rofik Huson, founder of the Arakan Youth Peace Network, addressed the assembly with a plea rooted in both hope and frustration. Despite decades of persecution, he said, the Rohingya’s “deepest wish” is to live in their ancestral homeland, Myanmar, in peace and security. “Yet, the past decade has shown that it’s not possible for us without international support, without international pressure.” Huson called for the creation of a UN-supervised safe zone in northern Rakhine state, along the border with Bangladesh—a proposal echoed by several other speakers as a necessary step to protect the Rohingya from further violence.
Maung Sawyeddollah, founder of the Rohingya Student Network, delivered an impassioned appeal for self-determination and international protection. “Without self-determination for the Rohingya and international protection in Rakhine there can be no lasting peace,” he told world leaders. “The UN must mobilize resources to empower Rohingya.” Their calls were supported by many in the room, who acknowledged that humanitarian aid alone would not be enough to break the cycle of violence and marginalization.
The United States, which in 2022 officially determined that members of the Myanmar military had committed crimes against humanity and genocide against the Rohingya, joined other countries in demanding accountability and sustained international pressure on Myanmar’s military rulers. Yet, as Wai Wai Nu and others pointed out, previous declarations have not translated into meaningful change on the ground. The Rohingya and other minorities continue to face discrimination, restricted movement, limited access to education and healthcare, forced labor, and the constant threat of violence or arrest.
General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock, who chaired the meeting, closed the session with a note of cautious optimism. “Today is just a starting point, we have to do more,” she said, promising an action-oriented follow-up to ensure that the world’s attention does not fade once again. According to Devdiscourse, the calls for a UN-supervised safe zone and for international intervention were among the most urgent recommendations to emerge from the meeting, reflecting the Rohingya’s desperate need for protection and a path toward normalcy.
As Myanmar prepares for elections under military rule, the fate of the Rohingya remains uncertain. Their exclusion from the political process, coupled with ongoing conflict and displacement, underscores the immense challenges ahead. Yet, the voices heard at the UN—both from Rohingya leaders and international officials—signal a renewed commitment to addressing one of the world’s most protracted and painful crises.
For the Rohingya, the hope is that this historic meeting will mark more than just another entry in the long ledger of international summits. With the world finally listening, the pressure is now on global leaders to transform words into action and offer a measure of justice to a people who have waited far too long.
