The United Nations ordered the Myanmar government to grant Rohingyas citizenship.
In response to the ongoing tension between the Rohingya and the Rakhine state, the United Nations issued a resolution to push the Myanmar government to allow members of the Muslim minority to apply for citizenship, according to the Daily Mail.
In order to qualify for citizenship, the Rohingyas must declare that they are Bengali.
The resolution was adopted on Nov. 22 after the Rights Committee of the U.N.'s General Assembly reached a consensus. It aims to alleviate the present conditions of the Rohingyas living in camps in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
For decades, the Rohingyas have been persecuted due to their ethnicity. They have been squatting in different nations with Myanmar holding the largest Rohingya population in the world at 800,000, the Huffington Post reported.
Myanmar considers members of the ethnic group as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. They flocked to Burma because they claim that they have ancestral roots in the country.
Through various means, the Myanmar government has been trying to drive back the Rohingyas to Bangladesh. However, they are also not accepted in Bangladesh as they are considered by the country as immigrants from Myanmar, according to Chris Lewa, head of the Rohingya-advocate group Arakan Project.
"This is the tragedy of being stateless," he said. "In Burma they're told they're illegals who should go back to Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, they're told they're Burmese who should go back home."
"Unfortunately, they're just caught in the middle," Lewa added. "They have been persecuted for decades, and it's only getting worse."
In 2012, a series of violent clashes erupted between Rakhine Buddhists and the Rohingyas, according to The Diplomat.
It was reported that in January of that year, around 40 Rohingyas were killed after Rakhine Buddhists and armed forces stormed their village. The casualties included women and children.
Despite the reports, the Myanmar government denied that an attack occurred. However, the group Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) reported that it had treated patients from the village who were wounded and injured during the attack.
