How Dehumanisation Enables Genocide: The Case of the Rohingya

The “clearance operations” by the Myanma military have led to thousands of Rohingyas being killed and at least 700,000 to flee the country. These actions have officially been la-belled a genocide by the UN Human Rights Commissioner (Associated Press 2018). Such state crimes are often characterized as “crimes of obedience” that are enabled by, amongst other things, the dehumanization of its victims, which legitimizes and motivates the vio-lence (Savage 2013). However, empirical research examining this link in more detail has been lacking. Here, the Rohingya, who the UN has called “the most persecuted minority in the world” (UNIS Geneva 2017), are chosen as a case study to examine how dehumanization (and discrimination) enabled the genocide. To do so, a critical discourse analysis is conduct-ed by examining official statements and publications, domestic media coverage, and other sources. A particular focus is placed on how the discourse affects policy (e.g. discriminatory laws, military operations) and how these governmental actions, in turn, influence the public discourse. This paper demonstrates a link between policies with discriminatory intent and the use of dehumanizing expressions in discourse. In doing so, the paper contributes a case study to the literature on the relationship between dehumanization and genocide.