FROM DENIAL TO DISPLACEMENT: A CRITICAL STUDY OF MYANMAR’S MINORITY POLICIES AND ETHNIC PERSECUTION IN THE PRE AND POST COUP ERA

The paper critically analyzes how minorities like the Rohingya, Karen, Kachin, and Chin have faced continuous persecution in Myanmar. By examining both the pre-coup democratic period (2010–2021) and the post-coup authoritarian regime (2021–present), the study highlights how state policies—rooted in exclusionary nationalism, militarized governance, and ethno-religious hierarchies—have entrenched discrimination against minorities over time. In the pre-coup era, Myanmar's civilian-led government maintained many of the authoritarian structures inherited from military rule, notably the 1982 Citizenship Law, which rendered the Rohingya stateless and legally invisible. Despite international optimism around democratic transition, the administration led by Aung San Suu Kyi failed to halt military-led campaigns of ethnic cleansing and violence, especially during the 2017 clearance operations in Rakhine State. Simultaneously, Buddhist nationalist movements like MaBaTha and 969 deepened religious intolerance and institutionalized anti-Muslim sentiment within public and political spheres. Following the 2021 military coup, the situation deteriorated further. Under Tatmadaw's direct control, violence expanded beyond the Rohingya to include other ethnic regions such as Karen and Kachin states, where airstrikes, forced displacement, and arbitrary detentions became routine. With the collapse of democratic institutions, human rights protections have vanished, civil society has been dismantled, and humanitarian access has been severely restricted. This period also saw a breakdown in international repatriation efforts for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and worsening statelessness among displaced populations. Through critical policy analysis, case studies, and human rights documentation, this study argues that ethnic persecution in Myanmar is not episodic but structural, rooted in the legal, political, and cultural architecture of the state. According to researchers, international laws should be swiftly enforced, the rules around citizenship status should be reviewed, and transitional mechanisms for handling mass atrocities should be formed. In addition, it helps to highlight issues of statelessness, authoritarianism, and the lack of protection for minorities across the globe.