Myanmar doesn’t recognize Rohingya as citizens and sees them instead as immigrants from Bangladesh who came to Rakhine under British rule. The country’s first census in 30 years, carried out in 2014, didn’t count the Rohingya; those who identify as part of the group were told to register as Bengali and indicate that their origins were in Bangladesh. The government’s stance makes them one of the largest stateless groups in the world.

Many live in squalid conditions similar to refugee camps.

Violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine is part of a “longstanding pattern of violations and abuses; systematic and systemic discrimination; and policies of exclusion and marginalization” that have persisted for decades, according to the United Nations human rights agency.

Myanmar has passed discriminatory laws.

Since a 1962 coup in Myanmar, the country’s successive governments have significantly limited the rights of the Rohingya.

A law passed in 1982 denied them citizenship, leaving them off a list of 135 ethnic groups formally recognized by the government. This limited the Rohingya’s access to schools and health care and their ability to move in and out of the country. The government in Rakhine at times has also enforced a two-child limit on Rohingya families and has restricted interfaith marriage.