CONFERENCE AT THE UNITED NATIONS: A STEP TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION FOR MYANMAR’S MINORITIES

October 2025

Editos/Fondemos’ view

FONDEMOS’ VIEW

Today at the United Nations, the General Assembly seeks to rally political support and maintain global focus on the Rohingya crisis.

It will examine the situation in depth, tackling its root causes, such as systematic human rights violations, while also bringing forward perspectives from the ground on the hardships faced by Rohingya and other minorities, both inside Myanmar and across the region, where they have sought refuge.

Its purpose is to advance a comprehensive and concrete plan of action for a sustainable resolution to the crisis, one that not only addresses urgent humanitarian needs but also establishes the conditions for the voluntary, safe and dignified return of displaced communities to their homeland.

Myanmar’s minorities’ exclusion and suffering are the outcome of decades of military rule and the persistent denial of the right to live freely as human beings and as communities.

For too long, they have been deprived of their most fundamental right: the right to preserve the uniqueness of their way of life while being full Burmese citizens. Under authoritarian rule, being part of an ethnic or religious minority has meant living without safety or justice, a reality tragically borne by the Rohingya.

The situation of the Rohingya cannot be separated from the broader context in Myanmar. It concerns, fundamentally, the establishment of a federal democracy in which the country’s myriad ethnic and religious groups can maintain balanced relations within an open political arena.

By extension, the plight of the Rohingya is inseparable from the end of military rule in Myanmar, which was the primary driver of their flight during the events of 2016.

Finally, any improvement in the conditions of the Rohingya can only occur through the restoration of peace in Myanmar, itself dependent on an end to the junta’s bombardments and the junta’s capitulation in favour of already organised democratic movements capable of ensuring a just transition.

This struggle belongs not only to the Rohingya Muslims, but to all of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities who have endured decades of repression, from Chin Christians in the west to Karen Christians communities in the east. Their future, too, depends on ending military rule and establishing an inclusive federal democracy.

Myanmar’s minorities embody the universal quest for dignity and the preservation of ancestral cultures.