About Us

The Burmese Rohingya Community of Georgia Inc, is a community-based social service organization aimed at serving the needs of the Rohingya refugee population in greater Atlanta, Georgia. The organization also focuses on raising awareness of the persecution of the Rohingya in Burma (Myanmar).

Established in May 08, 2014 in Clarkston, Georgia, the Burmese Rohingya Community of Georgia Inc, aims to serve the needs of the growing Rohingya community by providing social services to help with assimilation, such as offering much-needed English language instruction. As many as 500 Rohingyas have resettled in the Clarkston, GA since 2012. Since then, the number of programs and constituents has only grown.

Who Are The Rohingyas?

The Rohingya are indigenous people living in their ancestral homeland-Arakan. Arakan state, now called Rakhine, has been an independent state where Buddhist and Muslims co-existed for centuries ruling themselves.

Historically, Burma was never a country but group of kingdoms. Burmans occupied Arakan for a mere 40 years before they were defeated by British, and modern borders drawn. In this sense, Rohingya did not come to Burma but Burma came to them. Currently, 40% of the population of Myanmar are minorities and 60% are Burman.

Rohingyas were citizens in Burma: voted, elected their representatives, served in the military, in government and the police force. However, the 1982 Citizenship Act, passed by the military regime, took away their citizenship. This policy launched a slow, increasingly destructive genocide which is in full swing now. Rohingyas have been living under apartheid for decades. They cannot attend school, hold jobs, marry, or travel freely.

Most Rohingya are Muslims. There are some Hindu and Christian Rohingya as well, many were among those attacked and forced to flee to Bangladesh. Since 1982, repeated military attacked have displaced over a million Rohingyas.