BY BRONTE BRECHT ’19

Conflicts between the Myanmar state military and Rohingya groups have escalated this year after Rohingya militants attacked army and police outposts. Reaction from the Myanmar military has been swift and deadly, sparking massive systematic acts of violence against the Rohingya as a group. The New York Times defines the Rohingya as “a Muslim ethnic group that practices a form of Sunni Islam and have lived in Rakhine, one of Myanmar’s poorest states, for generations.” Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country with a population of over 52 million people. The Rohingya population in Myanmar is estimated at 1.1 million.