Behind exodus of Rohingyas, a push from Myanmar

(The Christian Science Monitor) Fatima is on an emotional rollercoaster. A Rohingya Muslim, an ethnic group that has been steadily marginalized for years, she lives in a bamboo hut in a camp for displaced persons. She moved here after being forced out of her nearby home in 2012 during a anti-Muslim pogrom by militant Buddhists.

Last year Fatima’s two brothers, Wali Ullah and Ruhollah, and her brother-in-law Rafiq, set off for Malaysia by boat. They were tired of persecution and of living without freedom to move, and without citizenship. Then human traffickers promised them jobs and safety in Malaysia.

So like some 88,000 refugees and migrants over the past year, the trio set off on an arduous ocean voyage. Not long after, one brother called Fatima from Thailand saying all three were imprisoned in a camp run by traffickers and that she needed to raise money for their release. "They wanted $1,635 for each," said Fatima, who goes by one name.