Myanmar’s outgoing President Thein Sein has lifted the state of emergency in the state of Rakhine. The order was imposed in June 2012 as violence flared between Buddhist and Muslim communities.

• Dozens of people died and about 140,000 people, mainly from the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, were forced to flee their homes in the western state.
• Most of them have been unable to return, forced to live in refugee camps and denied basic rights.
• It comes as Thein Sein ends his five-year term as president.
• In 2012, the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman sparked violence. More than 200 people died.
• Most of the Rohingya that were driven out because of the tensions now live in camps for internally displaced people with limited access to food, healthcare and education.
• The Rohingya are denied full citizenship as they are seen as illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. Rising Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar has led to further discrimination.
• The United Nations refers to them as a “persecuted religious and linguistic minority”.