Over 2.7 lakh Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been registered by the United Nations, several getting identity cards as their first-ever proof of documentation.
The Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar have not been able to acquire formal citizenship, leaving them stateless and deprived of basic rights. The cards are aimed at improving the accuracy of data on refugees in Bangladesh.
Who are these Rohingya refugees?
Rohingya community is a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar.
The Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group has lived for centuries in Myanmar. The majority are Muslim while a minority are Hindu.
According to the Myanmar government, they are illegal immigrants migrated to Rakhine following Burmese independence and the Bangladesh liberation war. UN report says they are one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.