Why Not Extend Permanent Safe Haven?

August marks five years since the Burmese military ravaged the Rohingya community. On August 25, 2017, the Burmese military killed at least 10,000 men, women, and children, raped and sexually abused countless Rohingya women and girls, and drove the Rohingya out of their homeland in Burma. Today, close to 1 million Rohingya remain displaced in refugee camps in Bangladesh.

It wasn’t until this year that the U.S. government recognized the Burmese military’s actions against the Rohingya for what it is: genocide and crimes against humanity. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in announcing the U.S. government’s determination, noted the evidentiary basis for labeling the atrocity crimes:

“The evidence…points to a clear intent behind these mass atrocities – the intent to destroy Rohingya, in whole or in part. That intent has been corroborated by the accounts of soldiers who took part in the operation and later defected, such as one who said he was told by his commanding officer to, and I quote, “shoot at every sight of a person,” end quote – burn villages, rape and kill women, orders that he and his unit carried out.”

It is easy to assume that atrocity crimes are a one-off event. But the Burmese military continues to perpetrate atrocity crimes against Rohingya, other minorities, and the general populace. As recently as 2021, the Burmese military carried out a coup, strengthening the military’s grip on power and solidifying Burma’s descent from once-hopeful democracy into what some say is a failed state. According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), over 15,000 individuals have been taken as prisoners and more than 2,000 individuals have been killed by the junta.

The Burmese military’s actions have consequences. Massive displacement and continued unrest within the country creates a significant refugee population within and beyond Burma. In recognition of anticipated displacement in the aftermath of the coup, the U.S. government extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for fleeing Burmese on March 21, 2021. That status is slated to expire in November of this year. A decision on whether to renew TPS for Burmese recipients will be made in September.

TPS is a Band-Aid solution for a problem demanding a permanent remedy. Just as the name suggest, TPS is intended to provide temporary relief to persons who cannot return to their country due to temporary conditions in a country that preclude their safe return. It prohibits the U.S. government from removing TPS recipients from the country but does not put them on a pathway to permanent resettlement.

Given the Burmese military’s lengthy track record of atrocity crimes, it is difficult to argue that a Burmese person is fleeing a situation that only temporarily places them in danger. That the Burmese military has been incapable of refraining from atrocity crimes in the intervening five years’ time since it carried out crimes against Rohingya, makes clear that the problem demands a far more permanent solution.

The U.S. should look to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program’s longer-term solutions rather than re-upping TPS for Burmese come November. The U.S. government should instead consider granting Priority 2 (P-2) refugee status to Rohingya refugees, as well as to persons who qualify as refugees in the midst of the coup. P-2 status holders do not need to prove “individualized” persecution or be referred by the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights. They are processed on the basis of their belonging to a group with known, established grounds of persecution, like genocide. Rohingya and many who survived the coup are likely eligible.

Five years on from genocide and more than one year into the coup, the U.S. should look for ways to not only hold the Burmese military accountable, but to provide permanent relief to survivors of the junta’s crimes.

Extending P-2 refugee status would do just that.