United States (International Christian Concern) — The United Nations convened a high-level conference on the plight of Rohingya Muslims and other ethnoreligious minorities in Myanmar during the U.N. General Assembly gathering last week.  

The event featured representatives of the Rohingya community as well as U.N. officials and leaders from around the world who expressed their concern for Myanmar’s beleaguered civilian population and called for a coordinated international response to the crisis. 

“It is long past time for other governments and actors in the region to develop sustainable solutions for the Rohingya,” Charles Harder, a U.S. special envoy for children’s issues, said at the event. He also promised $60 million in assistance funding for refugees currently in Bangladesh. 

The United Kingdom pledged a further $36 million in aid for Rohingya refugees, and a total of about 50 U.N. member states spoke at the event. 

Absent from the conference were current refugees in Bangladesh, where most of the Rohingya refugees have fled. While their participation has been prioritized at similar events in the past, Bangladesh cited issues with obtaining visas to enter the U.S. in explaining their absence this time. 

The Rohingya are experiencing an ongoing genocide perpetrated by Buddhist nationalists and the military government of Myanmar. 

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have been killed and more than 1 million displaced, many as refugees to neighboring countries like Bangladesh. Since taking over the government in 2021, the junta has continued to support or allow violent attacks against the Rohingya, including by Arakanese militants. 

In many regions of the country, religious and ethnic minority identities overlap. In addition to its attacks on the Rohingya in Rakhine state, the junta has continued to wage an all-out war against various minority communities throughout the country, including against groups such as the Karen and Chin with longstanding Christian roots. 

In a March resolution, the 79th General Assembly expressed its deep concern over the “sharp rise in serious human rights violations and abuses” in 2025 and urged the international community to support efforts to bolster civil society, democracy, and human rights in Myanmar. 

In March, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued a report condemning the junta’s systematic persecution of religious minorities and calling on the global community to increase pressure on the regime.  

“The country has seen the displacement of over 3.5 million people in recent years,” the report noted, “including more than 90,000 in Christian-majority Chin State, 237,200 in Kachin State, and one million Muslim-majority Rohingya refugees.” 

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