Terrorist groups eye Rohingya children for recruitment

Ahmed Lamloum

More than a million Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh.  The Muslim refugees are living in the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh, the largest refugee camp in the world, according to the United Nations.

These refugees who are under the age of 18 may grow up without a good education and may be vulnerable to extremist notions. Myanmar military forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017 in the state of Rakhine.

Prior to the military crackdown, the Rohingya Muslims lacked basic needs and rights, i.e. healthcare, education and employment. Moreover, the government refuses to grant them citizenship and do not recognize them as citizens.

In 2015, the National League for Democracy, which is led by Nobel-laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, took the helm. Aung San Suu Kyi has been decried by human rights agencies for crimes committed during the military crackdown on Muslims.

Myanmar has granted early release to seven soldiers jailed for the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys during a 2017 military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine, two prison officials, two former fellow inmates and one of the soldiers said.

The United Nations has called on the Aung San Suu Kyi-led government to improve the living conditions in Rakhine to ensure a safe return of the Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh and to take serious action in granting citizenship to them.

Journalist Ekaterina Sergatskova wrote in a Foreign Affairs article that terrorist organizations do not waste any opportunity to take advantage of the violence inflicted upon Rohingya children.