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The annual UN General Assembly has once again come and gone. World leaders delivered lofty speeches about war, climate change, and human rights. Yet among the most acute humanitarian tragedies of our time, the plight of the Rohingya, there was little more than symbolic mention. The genocide that forced nearly a million Rohingya into Bangladesh, and the continued persecution of those still in Myanmar, risks being relegated to the margins of global concern.

The tragedy is not simply that the Rohingya are suffering. It is that their suffering has become normalized in the eyes of the international community. Since 2017, when the Myanmar military unleashed its brutal campaign of mass killings, rape, and the burning of entire villages, the world has responded with strong words, but limited action. A genocide determination by the US, hearings at the International Court of Justice, and endless UN reports have not changed the material conditions of the Rohingya. They remain stateless, dependent on dwindling humanitarian aid, and without a path back to their homeland.

This year’s UNGA was a chance to change course. With Myanmar in turmoil, the Arakan Army now controls much of Rakhine State, the ancestral homeland of the Rohingya. This is not a minor shift. For decades, Naypyidaw dictated the fate of the Rohingya through brutal repression and exclusionary laws. Now a powerful ethnic armed group has established control over 11 of Rakhine’s 18 townships. This development could open the door to new political arrangements, but it also carries the risk of further marginalizing the Rohingya if they are excluded from whatever settlement emerges.

Yet in New York, the issue barely surfaced. Leaders spoke of Myanmar’s civil war in general terms, but few addressed the Rohingya directly. Bangladesh, burdened with hosting almost a million refugees in Cox’s Bazar, repeated its calls for repatriation. But these pleas have become ritualistic, recycled each year at the UN with little effect. The failure lies not in Dhaka’s determination but in the absence of an international strategy that recognizes how power dynamics inside Myanmar have shifted. Talking about repatriation in the abstract, while ignoring who actually controls Rakhine State, is political theater and not a plan.

Their suffering has become normalized

Dr. Azeem Ibrahim

Meanwhile, conditions in Bangladesh are deteriorating. International aid for the refugee camps has plummeted as donor fatigue sets in. Food rations have been cut, malnutrition is rising, and despair is spreading among young people who see no future. Cox’s Bazar, once hailed as a symbol of humanitarian compassion, is now on the brink of becoming a breeding ground for crime, radicalization, and human trafficking. The UNGA could have been an opportunity to sound the alarm on this looming humanitarian disaster. Instead, it was business as usual.

This neglect is dangerous for reasons that go beyond morality. Regional stability is at stake. A destabilized Rakhine State, combined with growing unrest in the refugee camps, threatens to spill across borders. Bangladesh cannot carry this burden indefinitely, especially as it undergoes political transition under its interim government. Myanmar’s neighbors, including India and China, have their own strategic interests in Rakhine, from ports to energy pipelines. If the international community does not engage constructively, these interests will shape outcomes in ways that leave the Rohingya invisible once again.

The UN system itself bears responsibility. For years, it has struggled to strike a balance between condemning atrocities and working with Myanmar’s authorities. The result has been paralysis. Now, with the junta weakened and ethnic armed groups like the Arakan Army ascendant, the UN should be reassessing its approach. Instead, the institutional instinct remains to wait, observe, and issue reports. This is not leadership. It is abdication.

Donors must reverse the decline in aid

Dr. Azeem Ibrahim

What is needed is a new diplomatic framework that acknowledges reality. First, the international community must engage with the actual power brokers in Rakhine. This includes the Arakan Army and the National Unity Government, both of which will have a role in shaping Myanmar’s future. Any settlement that excludes the Rohingya will simply perpetuate the cycle of persecution. Second, donors must reverse the decline in humanitarian aid for refugees in Bangladesh. Allowing a generation of Rohingya children to grow up malnourished, uneducated, and stateless is not only unjust but also a recipe for instability. Third, accountability cannot be forgotten. The genocide determination must not remain a symbolic label, it should be the basis for sustained legal and diplomatic pressure on those responsible.

At the UNGA, leaders like to speak in sweeping terms about the defense of human rights and the responsibility to protect vulnerable populations. The Rohingya crisis is the test case of whether those words mean anything. If the UN cannot mobilize serious action to address an ongoing genocide, one that the world has already acknowledged, then what credibility does it have in confronting atrocities elsewhere?

The Rohingya are at risk of becoming a permanently forgotten people. Stripped of citizenship in Myanmar, trapped in limbo in Bangladesh, and ignored in international forums, they embody the failure of the global system to protect the most vulnerable. The UNGA could have been the moment to change that trajectory. Instead, it revealed once again how comfortable the world has become with condemning injustice in words, while tolerating it in practice.

It is not too late. The shifting realities in Rakhine, political changes in Bangladesh, and growing recognition of the Rohingya’s plight across Muslim-majority countries all present openings for renewed diplomacy. But seizing those openings requires leadership, and leadership requires courage. Without it, next year’s UNGA will look much the same, another missed opportunity, another round of empty speeches, and another year in which the Rohingya remain stateless and forgotten.

• Dr. Azeem Ibrahim is the director of special initiatives at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington, DC. X: @AzeemIbrahim