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Choose another peer's discussion post for question 2 to thoughtfully and respectfully respond to.
Do not duplicate responses.

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Choose ONE peer's discussion post for question 1 to thoughtfully and respectfully respond to.
Do not duplicate responses.

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Answer thesecond question below. Remember to create a thoughtful and respectful. Take this seriously. An insincere response will not receive credit.
Question 2:
What does this current event teach us about humanity? Think about the world, not just those directly involved in the conflict.

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Now, read the attached article that includes some of the most recent information about this conflict.

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Rohingya children have been beheaded and civilians burned alive, according to witness testimony amid claims that Burma's military and paramilitary forces are committing "genocide" or a "pogrom" against the Muslim minority in the country's western Rakhine state.

Around 60,000 refugees are believed to have fled over the country's western border into Bangladesh in a just a week following a clampdown on Rohingya militants.

The British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, called for the violence to end, saying the treatment of the Rohingya was "besmirching the reputation of Burma", also known as Myanmar, and appealing to Aung San Suu Kyi to act.

Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has gone much further, accusing Burma's forces of genocide and saying those who turned a blind eye to events were complicit.

Observers believe the number of displaced people is likely to increase. The Burmese military said 400 militants had been killed in clashes with their forces.

Civilians who escaped gave horrific accounts of violence and destruction by Burmese soldiers and other armed groups.

A man named as Abdul Rahman, 41, said he had survived a five-hour attack on Chut Pyin village.

He told Fortifiy Rights, a charity working in the area, that a group of Rohingya men had been rounded up and detained in a bamboo hut, which was then set on fire.

"My brother was killed, [Burmese soldiers] burned him with the group," he said.

"We found [my other family members] in the fields. They had marks on their bodies from bullets and some had cuts.

"My two nephews, their heads were off. One was six years old and the other was nine years old. My sister-in-law was shot with a gun."

Another man from the same village, named as Sultan Ahmed, 27, told the charity: "Some people were beheaded, and many were cut. We were in the house hiding when [armed residents from a neighbouring village] were beheading people.

"When we saw that, we just ran out the back of the house."

Survivors from other villages in the region also described seeing people being beheaded or having their throats cut.

"We can't stress enough the urgency of the situation," said Matthew Smith, head of Fortify Rights.

"The Myanmar authorities are failing to protect civilians and save lives. International pressure is critically needed."

Satellite imagery released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) showed 700 buildings burned down in another Rohingya village, Chein Khar Li.

"This new satellite imagery shows the total destruction of a Muslim village, and prompts serious concerns that the level of devastation in northern Rakhine State may be far worse than originally thought," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for HRW.

"Yet this is only one of 17 sites that we've located where burnings have taken place. Independent monitors are needed on the ground to urgently uncover what's going on."

The Burmese government has denied access to the affected areas to journalists and observers.

On Saturday, Mr Johnson, appealed to Aung San Suu Kyi, the former dissident who won the Nobel Peace Prize and is now the country's State Counsellor, to intervene.

"Aung Sang Suu Kyi is rightly regarded as one of the most inspiring figures of our age but the treatment of the Rohingya is alas besmirching the reputation of Burma. She faces huge challenges in modernising her country," he said.

"I hope she can now use all her remarkable qualities to unite her country, to stop the violence and to end the prejudice that afflicts both Muslims and other communities in Rakhine.

"It is vital that she receives the support of the Burmese military, and that her attempts at peacemaking are not frustrated. She and all in Burma will have our full support in this."

Ms Suu Kyi has been silent on the extreme violence reported within her country and has faced mounting criticism from observers.

The Tatmadaw, Burma's military, and paramilitary groups began the operation when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) attacked security outposts in Rakhine on 25 August.

Arsa claim to fight for Rohingya people but have also been accused of preventing civilians from leaving the conflict zones.

Francis Wade, the author of a book about violence against the Rohingya, said on Twitter: "What's happening in Myanmar can be dressed up as counter-insurgency campaign, but in design and purpose, it's a pogrom and has popular support."

There are around a million Muslim Rohingya people in Burma but they have faced years of mistreatment at the hands of the government, which does not recognise them at citizens. They also face widespread discrimination from Buddhist majority population and are often referred to as Bengalis, alluding to a common myth that they are illegal immigrants.

Earlier, Mr Erdogan said there was a "genocide" occurring in Rakhine.

"Those who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated under the cover of democracy are its collaborators," Mr Erdogan said.

Turkey has offered to assist Bangladesh financially if it accommodated more refugees, but the south Asian country, which is already home to 400,000 displaced Rohingya, has been reluctant to allow more in.

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Rohingya children 'beheaded and burned alive' in Burma

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Rohingya children have been beheaded and civilians burned alive, according to witness testimony amid claims that Burma's military and paramilitary forces are committing "genocide" or a "pogrom" against the Muslim minority in the country's western Rakhine state. Around 60,000 refugees are believed to have fled over the country's western border into Bangladesh in a just a week following a clampdown on Rohingya militants.

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Answer the first question below. Remember to create a thoughtful and respectful. Take this seriously. An insincere response will not receive credit.
Question 1:
What connections can you make between Night and what is currently happening in Myanmar?

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Read the attached article, and be prepared to answer the discussion questions. As you read, jot down important notes about the conflict. Answer the following in your notebook.
Who is involved?
What is the conflict about?
What has been happening?
Where is happening? Where are people fleeing to?
When did it start?
How are people trying to help?

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Rejected by the country they call home and unwanted by its neighbours, the Rohingya are impoverished, virtually stateless and have been fleeing Myanmar in droves and for decades.

In recent months, tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh amid a military crackdown on insurgents in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

They have told horrifying stories of rapes, killings and house burnings, which the government of Myanmar - formerly Burma - has claimed are "false" and "distorted".

Activists have condemned the lack of a firm international response. Some have described the situation as South East Asia's Srebrenica, referring to the July 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims who were meant to be under UN protection - a dark stain on Europe's human rights record.

What's happening?

Tun Khin, from the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, says Rohingyas are suffering "mass atrocities" perpetrated by security forces in the northern part of Rakhine state.

A counter-insurgency campaign was launched after nine border policemen near Maungdaw were killed in a militant attack in early October, but the Rohingya say they are being targeted indiscriminately.

The BBC cannot visit the locked-down area to verify the claims and the Myanmar government has vociferously denied alleged abuses.

The Rohingya are one of Myanmar's many ethnic minorities and say they are descendants of Arab traders and other groups who have been in the region for generations.

But Myanmar's government denies them citizenship and sees them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh - a common attitude among many Burmese.

The predominantly Buddhist country has a long history of communal mistrust, which was allowed to simmer, and was at times exploited, under decades of military rule.

About one million Muslim Rohingya are estimated to live in western Rakhine state, where they are a sizable minority. An outbreak of communal violence there in 2012 saw more than 100,000 people displaced, and tens of thousands of Rohingya remain in decrepit camps where travel is restricted.

Hundreds of thousands of undocumented Rohingya already live in Bangladesh, having fled there over many decades.

Since a dramatic Rohingya exodus from Myanmar in 2015, the political party of Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has taken power in a historic election, the first to be openly contested in 25 years.

But little has changed for the Rohingya and Ms Suu Kyi's failure to condemn the current violence is an outrage, say some observers.

"I'm not saying there are no difficulties,'' she told Singapore's Channel NewsAsia in December. "But it helps if people recognise the difficulty and are more focused on resolving these difficulties rather than exaggerating them so that everything seems worse than it really is.''

Her failure to defend the Rohingya is extremely disappointing, said Tun Khin, who for years had supported her democracy activism.

The question of whether she has much leverage over the military - which still wields great power and controls the most powerful ministries - is a separate one, he said.

"The point is that Aung San Suu Kyi is covering up this crime perpetrated by the military."

But others say international media fail to understand the complex situation in Rakhine state, where Rohingya Muslims live alongside the mostly Buddhist Rakhine people, who are the state's dominant ethnic group.

Other researchers like Ronan Lee of Australia's Deakin University disagree with this argument, noting that while the Rakhine also face deprivation, "the solution when faced with massive rights violations is not to announce that someone else is worse off".

In her recent media comments, Ms Suu Kyi said Rakhine Buddhists "are worried about the fact that they are shrinking as a Rakhine population percentage-wise" and said she wanted to improve relations between the two communities.

The report made no mention of claims that security forces had been killing civilians. Observers had, in any case, not had high hopes of a credible or independent investigation from the committee, which is headed by former general and current Vice-President Myint Swe.

Will Myanmar's neighbours help?

South East Asian countries generally don't criticise each other about their internal affairs. It's a key principle of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).

But the current situation has seen some strident criticism from Myanmar's Muslim-majority neighbours, along with protests. Indonesian police even say they have foiled an IS-linked bomb plot targeting the Myanmar embassy.

On 4 December, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak questioned Aung San Suu Kyi's Nobel Prize, given her inaction.

"The world cannot sit by and watch genocide taking place. The world cannot just say 'look, it is not our problem'. It is our problem," he told thousands at a rally in Kuala Lumpur in support of the Rohingya.

His comments followed a call from Malaysia's youth and sports minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, for Asean to review Myanmar's membership over the "unacceptable" violence.

Some question the timing of the comments, given the unpopular Mr Razak is gearing up for re-election.

"What we want is both talk and action to really help the Rohingya, not just ministers posturing to gain domestic political points," said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch.

In Bangladesh, which borders Rakhine state, Amnesty International says hundreds of fleeing Rohingya have been detained and forcibly returned to an uncertain fate since October - a practice it says should end. Bangladesh does not recognise the Rohingya as refugees.

Leading regional newspapers have condemned Asean's inaction, with Thailand's The Nation describing it as an "accessory to murder and mayhem".

Indonesia's ambassador to London, Rizal Sukma, told the BBC in December that a comprehensive approach was needed.

He said an investigation with regional participation should be launched and that his country stood ready to participate if any such commission was to be formed.

What is the UN doing?

A UN spokeswoman in 2009 described the Rohingya as "probably the most friendless people in the world".

The UN human rights office recently said for a second time this year that abuses suffered by them could amount to crimes against humanity. It also said that it regretted that the government had failed to act on a number of recommendations it had provided, including lifting restrictions of movement on the Rohingya.

It has called for an investigation into the recent allegations of rights abuses, as well as for humanitarian access to be given.

The UN's refugee agency says Myanmar's neighbours should keep their borders open if desperate Rohingya once again take to rickety boats to seek refuge in their countries, as happened in early 2015.

Spokeswoman Vivian Tan said now would be a good time to set up a regional task force that had been proposed to co-ordinate a response to any such movements.

Separately, former UN-Secretary General Kofi Annan is heading another advisory commission currently looking into the general situation in Rakhine state after being asked in August by Ms Suu Kyi.

But some have questioned how useful this commission will be, given the exhaustive number of reports that already exist. Its report, in any case, will not be released until later this year.

Reporting by Kevin Ponniah.

More on this story

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Rejected by the country they call home and unwanted by its neighbours, the Rohingya are impoverished, virtually stateless and have been fleeing Myanmar in droves and for decades. In recent months, tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh amid a military crackdown on insurgents in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

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Watch the attached video to get a glimpse of the landscape, and what has been happening in Myanmar. Watch the video at the top of the page. Note that this is from just a few weeks ago.

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Rohingya children have been beheaded and civilians burned alive, according to witness testimony amid claims that Burma's military and paramilitary forces are committing "genocide" or a "pogrom" against the Muslim minority in the country's western Rakhine state.

Around 60,000 refugees are believed to have fled over the country's western border into Bangladesh in a just a week following a clampdown on Rohingya militants.

The British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, called for the violence to end, saying the treatment of the Rohingya was "besmirching the reputation of Burma", also known as Myanmar, and appealing to Aung San Suu Kyi to act.

Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has gone much further, accusing Burma's forces of genocide and saying those who turned a blind eye to events were complicit.

Observers believe the number of displaced people is likely to increase. The Burmese military said 400 militants had been killed in clashes with their forces.

Civilians who escaped gave horrific accounts of violence and destruction by Burmese soldiers and other armed groups.

A man named as Abdul Rahman, 41, said he had survived a five-hour attack on Chut Pyin village.

He told Fortifiy Rights, a charity working in the area, that a group of Rohingya men had been rounded up and detained in a bamboo hut, which was then set on fire.

"My brother was killed, [Burmese soldiers] burned him with the group," he said.

"We found [my other family members] in the fields. They had marks on their bodies from bullets and some had cuts.

"My two nephews, their heads were off. One was six years old and the other was nine years old. My sister-in-law was shot with a gun."

Another man from the same village, named as Sultan Ahmed, 27, told the charity: "Some people were beheaded, and many were cut. We were in the house hiding when [armed residents from a neighbouring village] were beheading people.

"When we saw that, we just ran out the back of the house."

Survivors from other villages in the region also described seeing people being beheaded or having their throats cut.

"We can't stress enough the urgency of the situation," said Matthew Smith, head of Fortify Rights.

"The Myanmar authorities are failing to protect civilians and save lives. International pressure is critically needed."

Satellite imagery released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) showed 700 buildings burned down in another Rohingya village, Chein Khar Li.

"This new satellite imagery shows the total destruction of a Muslim village, and prompts serious concerns that the level of devastation in northern Rakhine State may be far worse than originally thought," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for HRW.

"Yet this is only one of 17 sites that we've located where burnings have taken place. Independent monitors are needed on the ground to urgently uncover what's going on."

The Burmese government has denied access to the affected areas to journalists and observers.

On Saturday, Mr Johnson, appealed to Aung San Suu Kyi, the former dissident who won the Nobel Peace Prize and is now the country's State Counsellor, to intervene.

"Aung Sang Suu Kyi is rightly regarded as one of the most inspiring figures of our age but the treatment of the Rohingya is alas besmirching the reputation of Burma. She faces huge challenges in modernising her country," he said.

"I hope she can now use all her remarkable qualities to unite her country, to stop the violence and to end the prejudice that afflicts both Muslims and other communities in Rakhine.

"It is vital that she receives the support of the Burmese military, and that her attempts at peacemaking are not frustrated. She and all in Burma will have our full support in this."

Ms Suu Kyi has been silent on the extreme violence reported within her country and has faced mounting criticism from observers.

The Tatmadaw, Burma's military, and paramilitary groups began the operation when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) attacked security outposts in Rakhine on 25 August.

Arsa claim to fight for Rohingya people but have also been accused of preventing civilians from leaving the conflict zones.

Francis Wade, the author of a book about violence against the Rohingya, said on Twitter: "What's happening in Myanmar can be dressed up as counter-insurgency campaign, but in design and purpose, it's a pogrom and has popular support."

There are around a million Muslim Rohingya people in Burma but they have faced years of mistreatment at the hands of the government, which does not recognise them at citizens. They also face widespread discrimination from Buddhist majority population and are often referred to as Bengalis, alluding to a common myth that they are illegal immigrants.

Earlier, Mr Erdogan said there was a "genocide" occurring in Rakhine.

"Those who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated under the cover of democracy are its collaborators," Mr Erdogan said.

Turkey has offered to assist Bangladesh financially if it accommodated more refugees, but the south Asian country, which is already home to 400,000 displaced Rohingya, has been reluctant to allow more in.

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Rohingya children 'beheaded and burned alive' in Burma

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Rohingya children have been beheaded and civilians burned alive, according to witness testimony amid claims that Burma's military and paramilitary forces are committing "genocide" or a "pogrom" against the Muslim minority in the country's western Rakhine state. Around 60,000 refugees are believed to have fled over the country's western border into Bangladesh in a just a week following a clampdown on Rohingya militants.