02/19/2026
A people erased on paper. A genocide carried out in plain sight. A fight for belonging that refuses to be silenced.
Insight Myanmar features a powerful conversation with Noor Azizah, a Rohingya genocide survivor and founder of the Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network (RMCN). She traces the long arc of persecution, from deep historical roots and political manipulation, to the 1962 military coup that accelerated displacement, to the 1982 citizenship law that stripped Rohingya of legal rights and rendered them stateless. The impact is brutal and daily: severe restrictions on movement, education, and healthcare, and constant vulnerability to detention and violence.
Azizah also speaks to the most extreme period of violence in 2017, when military “clearance operations” drove more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee as villages were burned and civilians were attacked. She describes how propaganda, hate speech, and dehumanizing narratives helped prepare the ground for atrocity, amplified through social media and extremist networks. And she underscores that the danger has not ended, noting ongoing assaults by armed groups and additional waves of displacement.
This conversation also spotlights what survival looks like now. RMCN, a civil society network of thirteen Rohingya women genocide survivors, provides direct support to Rohingya communities, from food aid for families fleeing violence, to income programs like a sewing initiative for women impacted by aid cuts, to psychosocial support for children and survivors of sexual violence. Alongside frontline work, they carry Rohingya voices into regional and international forums and insist on a simple truth: Rohingya rights must be part of any future political process for Myanmar.
Listen and learn more here:
https://insightmyanmar.org/complete-shows/2026/2/15/episode-487-the-right-to-belong
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