Institutionalized discrimination of the Rohingya ethnic group has caused a massive exodus from the group’s native land in Myanmar. The Muslim Minority, which practices a variation of Sunni Islam, claims the region of the present day state of Rakhine, which originally known as the Arakan Empire. The area was originally populated by natives and then ruled by the British Empire until India liberated itself in 1948. This legal dehumanization includes the refusal to give a Rohingya any legal status, including citizenship. For those living in Myanmar, this essentially means that they are stateless. They also deal with restrictions on education, marriage and travel.

A group known as the Rohingya Salvation Army has claimed responsibility for raids on the army, police, and other recognized symbols of the Myanmar government’s authority. This caused the government to label them a terrorist group, leading to a military campaign that attacked and cleared out hundreds of Rohingya villages.

Due to the situation they face in Myanmar, many Rohingya are fleeing to the bordering country of Bangladesh. Currently, few Rohingya actually enter the Bangladesh, but rather live in camps along the border. These camps has estimated population ranging from ten thousand to hundreds of thousands of refugees.

“There are queues for water hand pumped from the ground, queues for food, queues for medical help and queues to shuffle along the muddy clay trails.” journalist Laura Bond said. “It’s particularly tough for newly-widowed mothers, the elderly and immobile.”

Due to the incredible overcrowding in the camps along the border of Bangladesh, refugees now turn to other neighboring countries. Malaysia sees them coming in on boats from the Bay of Bengal, and currently offers them no legal status or economic aid. Thailand has also become a common place for Rohingya to flee. They use human smugglers to guide them across the Thai border. However, this is most likely to become much more risky, as the Thai government is focusing in on the removal of smuggling rings.

On the stage of the world, little progress has been made by global bodies such as the United Nations. Due to the unstable and recurring conflict Myanmar has seen, it is likely that the situation will not change. The UN is in the process of creating the Interim Humanitarian Response Plan, which outlines relief efforts and plans to cease the widespread migration. So far the budget includes $30 million towards the protection of refugees, $12 million towards nutrition, and various other requirements, adding up to around $183 million dollars in relief funds.