Updated news of Rathedaung Township on July 19, 2012

Yesterday, army went to the Rajabill (Auknanra) village of Rathedaung Township and chased the villagers to arrest but all the villagers ran away. At last, the army arrested one villager named Abul Shama (45) and his wife.  His wife is from Rakhine community and he married her since 20 years ago.  The army also arrested the wife of Abul Shama and both of them were severely tortured by the army.  After marriage, they gave birth four children. His wife was sent to her parents’ house.  However, Abul Shama was released after paying Kyat 150,000. It is not known to the villagers, why the army chased the villagers.

Today, Rohingya villagers are not allowed to go to Zaydi Pyin ( Kyaung Taung ) market of Rathedaung Township for marketing. If the villagers are met on the way to the market, the army and the Rakhine youths beat them.

Besides, at noon, the Rakhine community held a meeting in the Buddhist monastery of Zaydi Pyin regarding the Rohingya community. Though the result of the meeting is not known to the Rohingya villagers, the Rohingya villagers believe that the Rakhine villagers will attack the big mosque of Zaydi Pyin which is established since long ago.  So, the Rohingya villagers become fear and sad.  However, the army made blank fires to the air since 1:00 pm. It maybe threatening to the Rohingya villagers by army.
In Rathedaung Township, Rohingya villagers are not allowed to go out from their villages and are dying everyday because of starvation , shortage of medicine. Most of the villagers are living in open sky as their homes were burned down.

Machete Massacre in Arakan: The Hidden Face of Burma Exposed.

Abid Bahar

From the military leadership down to NASAKA, the Rakhine police, in the civilian front RNDP and even some leaders closely working with Aung San Suu Kui, the problem with the Rohingya people have been seen as a case of dealing with”illegal immigration” of Bengali people to Arakan. Fortunately, contemporary research on Rakhine-Rohingya relations shows it is not about illegals in Arakan, Burma, it is about intolerance to a people, who are racially, culturally and religiously different from the mainstream racially mongoloid Rakhine-Burmese people.

Unfortunate though, even Burma’s new military backed government, the wolf in ship’s skin continues to call Rohingyas as the noncitizens of Burma. It has been done in compliance with the 1982 Ne Win’s Constitution Act that denied Rohingya Citizenship. Following this definition to the government, Burma is not actually doing anything wrong, it is only fighting against “intruders” into Burma who according to the authority came to Burma after 1824.
Fortunately, history proves over and again that Rohingyas didn’t migrate to Arakan from Bengal, they were already there as the indigenous people and others settled by the sea.
(Link: http://drhabibsiddiqui.blogspot.ca/2011/10/analysis-of-muslim-identity-and.html).
Contrary to the xenophobic understanding that Rohingyas are intruders into Burma, we see, successive Burmese invasions of Arakan led to the settlements of nonBengali people in Chittagong and Chittagong Hill Tracts of present Bangladesh.
(Link:http://www.kaladanpress.org/v3/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2129%3Aburmese-invasion-of-arakan-and-the-rise-of-non-bengali-settlements-in-bangladesh-&catid=35%3Arohingya&Itemid=29).
The most recent one history are the Rakhines in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh who settled there during the British period. Not surprisingly, it is the colonial legacy that there is perhaps not a single nation state on earth emerged after the colonial rule, where nations emerged with a homogenous ethnic or racial group. Rohingyas are no exception in Burma.
(Link:http://www.kaladanpress.org/v3/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3458%3Aliving-in-the-racial-fault-line-rohingyas-look-like-bengalis-but-are-the-people-of-burma&catid=16%3Arohingya-article&Itemid=27)
The recent anti Rohingya outbursts in the media by mostly Rakhine xenophobes, some of whom are even seeking asylum in the West by complaining about the military government at home are seen denying the Rohingya’s Burmese citizenship. This shows how half a century’s long Ne Win’s rule by fanning racism took strong foothold in Burma in general and in the Arakan state in particular. By extension, we also see this time how successful the Rakhine monk and the layman have been in hijacking the Rohingya issue. The success in the hijacking of the issue in the Rohingya massacre was done in the name of saving Buddhism.
The machete massacre.
In the recent history of racism in Arakan, beginning from the early signs of Rohingya genocide when we recounted Aye Chan’s characterization of the Rohingyas as “Influx Viruses” to the the recent June 2012 machete massacre, we can see how meticulously the pogrom was carried out by the Rakhine leaders with support from the vast network in the Rakhine population with the help of Burmese government fighting the “intruders”. The military’s past record in the 1978 and 1991 and its continued denial of the Rohingya people’s citizenship is an undeniable guide to its involvement.
Link:http://danyawadi.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/racism-to-rohingya-in-burma-aye-chans-enclave-with-influx-viruses-revisited/)
As we see the faces of bloodied dead bodies, mostly killed by machetes, in one picture even a monk holding a gun, another monk dancing around a fire, this time, the hidden faces of Burma in Arakan is enough exposed. Like in Rwanda, it was in broad light, machetes and guns were used to kill the Rohingya. In the mean time, when the tragedy was unfolding, in Bangladesh PM Hasina has been witch hunting against Jamat was unwilling to allow the dying Rohingyas enter Bangladesh territory.
In the mean time, the West has been miserably fooled by the Burmese military backed government’s cat and mouse policy. This came as a promise to allowing democracy in Burma. The West in its wait and see policy also hopes that one day when Suu Kyi comes to power, she will allow the hungry entrepreneurs free access to exploit Burma’s natural resources. In reality though, every indication shows, it is never going to happen but only until the military bases that procreates racism for a divide and rule policy in Burma have drone attacks by the Western super powers coming from the sky and by land attack from Thailand and Bangladesh. This is likely to happen because Burma has both oil and its rich natural resources which would go hand in hand with a western directed movement for democracy in Burma.
In the mean time, Rohingyas continue to die on land and in the sea and the toothless UN keeps calling the continued Arakan tragedy and the fleeing of refugees a result of inter ethnic riot (strife). How can people say that when no reporters were allowed? Isn’t the same way UN experts reporting from former Yugoslavia, Cambodia and in Rwanda ignored the early signed and characterized the genocides as civil strafes until it was too late to save human lives from the knives of vigilantes and government forces. We remember only after innocent victims were silenced, there were eerie signs everywhere then only we began to call the events as genocides!

No security for Rohingyas under so-called emergency Act 144 in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  The Maungdaw Township administration office called all the villages’ admin officers today and ordered to collect all religious students list from every village, according to a village administration officer from Maungdaw.

“The office ordered to collect religious students list and may be the office will call again to give them students list or young Rohingya lists. After collecting the lists, may be the authorities start to arrest the students which are the main power of Rohingyas’ next generation.”
The police officers –Thein Tin and Aye Htun Sein – have been harassing Rohingya businessmen who come to open their shops as per the ordered of Maungdaw Township Administration office. But, the Rohingya businessmen are not getting any protection from the authority; also they were picked up by police nearby clock tower junction when returning to their villages. The police officers kept the Rohingya businessmen at the electric power station compound to extort money from them, said a businessmen from Maungdaw.
“The Rakhines are also harassing the Rohingya businessmen while they open their shops and loot anything which they had taken for their home. They can’t able to go and back freely from their home and shop.”
The Burma border security force (Nasaka) – duty at  the bridges- are not allowed the villagers to cross the bridges and the Rohingya villagers are capitulated by the Rakhine goons when they were going to the market. The Township and District authorities ordered the village admins that now every resident can go to the market to buy and sell goods, but  on the other side they barred them.
A Hluntin camp with Rakhine goons stationed between Ward number 2 and 4, are harassing Rohingya while they are going to the market. The Rakhines and Hluntin looted the goods, money and also beat up the Rohingya.
“The authority is trying to show international community that the situation is under control and peace, but there is no security for Rohingya even they are not able to feed their family members.”
Rashid, son of Nawbi Hussain, Harron, son of Habibul Rahaman, Ayas, son of Zawru, Anwar, son of Mason and Omar Faruck, son of Mason –working in ACF (Hunger for Action) – from Myothu Gyi village, were arrested by a military intelligence officer Shwe Oo and a police officer from three-mile check point  yesterday morning at about 8:00am. The officers were without uniform while they arrested the Rohingyas from the village market, according to a villager. Omar Faruck is working Buthidaung as a field officer and was stranded in Buthidaung in the riot period and returned back last week after situation was favor for his office to send him to Maungdaw.
Similarly, Ali Husson, the responsible person of Tawbawlique (Religious gathering center) of Myoma Kyaoungdan village and Ellu, son of Master Gaffor from Ward number 2 were arrested yesterday from office and home by police without giving any allegation.
Yesterday, in the evening, a Rohingya youth from Bomu village who came out from his village and tried to buy some foods for his family, but Hluntin personnel chased him while he was on the road. He ranaway to his village and also Hluntin enter the village where the security force tried to attempt to rape females. While females raised hue and cry, the villagers rushed to the spot and the security force backed from the village, said a villager. “Where is our security while security force tries to attempt to rape our females in the day time?”
Moreover, Some Rohingyas including Abdul Rahim, 14, son of Hafez Adul Ali from Ward number 5 of Buthidaung was arrested by police yesterday.
Some Rakhine strangers from other towns of Arakan State, are staying at Ngwe Shin tea shop, Maung Thaung Wine shop and Timber store near the cinema hall of Maungdaw, are looting Rohingyas in the daytime and night along with police and Hluntin personnel. They also pretend as refugees while distribution of relief goods in the relief centers, said a school teacher from Maungdaw. There are seven fake refugee centers in Maungdaw, after receiving relief goods from donors,and then go back to their destinations, according to an elder from Maungdaw.

Myanmar's broken promises | Corey Pattison

Despite reforms in Myanmar, the situation for many ethnic minorities has deteriorated in the past year.


For local civilians, the sight of armed conflict reinforces popular distrust of the central government [GALLO/GETTY]


"If Burma receives one kyat, you will also receive one kyat." (The kyat is the country's currency.)

During recent visits to some of Myanmar's many ethnic minority communities, I often encountered this historic assurance made by Bogyoke Aung San, hero of the anti-colonial independence movement and father of Aung San Suu Kyi, to representatives of these communities at the signing of the Panglong Agreement in 1947. Failure to fulfill its promise of equitable distribution of resources between Myanmar's Bamar core and ethnically diverse periphery lies at the heart of a violent cycle of conflict that has plagued Myanmar since Aung San's assassination, soon after Panglong was signed. The contours of this conflict continue to define Myanmar's politics, resulting in vast discrepancies in the impact of the current democratic transition.

To be sure, reformers within the semi-civilian government have already achieved remarkable progress in their efforts to democratise, with tangible effects. Government mouthpieces have been replaced by generally uncensored private newspapers, their front pages filled with the now-ubiquitous image of Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), outlawed only six months ago, has re-entered the formal political arena for the first time in 12 years and, through relatively free elections, won 43 of the 44 seats for which it ran during by-elections in April.

Yet signs of progress are isolated. In the hinterland, where most of Myanmar's ethnic minority groups reside, the situation over the past year has in fact mostly deteriorated. In these areas, social unrest provides the basis for de facto military rule, where the suffering of many minority groups calls out for attention amid the unguarded political optimism found in so many newspaper headlines today. While the world applauds peace in Myanmar, wars are underway in minority areas that challenge, and could derail, still-nascent democratic reforms.

Hidden suffering

Myanmar's Rohingya forced back to sea

In the predominantly Christian Kachin State, to the north, a government military offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has displaced as many as 75,000 civilians on both sides of the Chinese border since a tenuous ceasefire collapsed in February 2011. Control of the area is divided between the central government and the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), which administers its territory - in conjunction with the KIA - as a self-governing entity that provides basic social services through parallel health, education and justice departments.

Speaking with residents of Myitkyina, the provincial capital, where electricity is now only available for just four or five hours a day, it is the provision of efficient and affordable services that girds their support for KIO as much as an ethnic affinity. Residents' support for KIO is strong and outspoken, which is striking in a country where decades of state surveillance have smothered public political dissent. Despite nightly governmental television programming in which KIA troops (or groups falsely portrayed as KIA, as many Kachin believe) lay down their arms, the popular opinion is that there is no durable end in sight.

Just outside Myitkyina, a large build-up of government forces has sealed access to KIO-controlled territory, preventing UN and other international aid agencies from distributing much-needed supplies to tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs). In response, local religious-based organisations, like the Kachin Baptist Convention, have transformed themselves into mass emergency-relief providers, serving some 20,000 IDPs by drawing upon a network of over 300,000 members, a powerful example of the potential capacity of civil society organisations in Myanmar society.

During visits to some of the dozens of IDP camps in which these refugees languish, I encountered countless terrifying stories of human rights abuses, including pillaging and burning of villages, torture and rape. Many refugees have been trapped in the camps for more than a year, unable to return to their homes, if they even exist, out of fear of targeting by government forces operating on the assumption that all Kachin are KIA.

At the centre of the conflict is control over the area's vast natural resources. Kachin State is richly endowed with jade, ore, iron and timber. It is also home to the headwaters of the Irrawaddy River, where last fall President Thein Sein unexpectedly announced the suspension of Myitsone Dam, the largest of a seven-dam, multi-billion dollar project. It is widely assumed that the announcement was heavily influenced by rising concerns of Chinese influence in Myanmar: Myitsone would have sent 90 per cent of the electricity it produced to China's Yunnan province.

Locals, however, are quick to remind one that the dam has only been suspended, not cancelled. Citing the muddy red colour of the once clear Irrawaddy River water, they explain how settlements originally constructed for Chinese dam workers, which displaced hundreds of locals, now house new Chinese labourers for gold mining operations following the discovery of large deposits during the dam's construction. Indeed, although Myitsone's suspension marked an important achievement for local environmental community groups, it has done little to slow the massive exploitation of Kachin's resources for export to China and India, with profits for the central government

Oil, gas and geopolitics
The thorny issue of resource extraction by foreign companies is not unique to Kachin State. In Shan State, in Myanmar's eastern region, the China National Petroleum Company is constructing a dual oil-gas pipeline across Myanmar from Kunming to Kyaukpyu in the Bay of Bengal, where it will link to new a deep-sea port and oil extraction facilities. None of the planned energy production is for distribution in Myanmar, despite the fact that fewer than 20 per cent of households in Myanmar have access to regular electricity.


"The calculated [Chinese] approach... suggests the important geo-strategic implications of the pipeline for China, as it provides direct access to Middle Eastern oil reserves and the ability to bypass the Malacca Straits, dominated by US allies."

Interestingly, mass protests have not accompanied the displacement of thousands of poor Shan farmers as they did in Kachin. This is partially attributable to a more sensitive approach by the Chinese developers, no doubt aware of the pervasive anti-Chinese sentiment and cautious of repeating the lessons of Myitsone. The calculated approach, including cash payments and television sets, also suggests the important geo-strategic implications of the pipeline for China, as it provides direct access to Middle Eastern oil reserves and the ability to bypass the Malacca Straits, dominated by US allies.

Yet the Shan are hardly indifferent to the dark red pile of upturned farmland that now runs across the province like a fresh wound, or to the broader political arrangement it represents. Violence between government military forces and Shan State Army soldiers has erupted along the pipeline corridor, where the increase in the government military presence is perceived by local armies as a breach of the fragile ceasefire agreements.

For local civilians, the familiar sight of armed conflict reinforces popular distrust of the central government and its many holdovers from the previous regime, which carried out intense military campaigns here in the 1980s and 1990s. As one Kyaukme resident explained: "That time was like a nightmare for us; it will be hard to forget."

Popular distrust by the Shan and Kachin is directed not just at the central government, however, but also the NLD and its predominantly urban, Bamar ethnic makeup. While there is much support for Aung Sun Suu Kyi, there is wide anxiety that beyond her and the abstract democratic principles upon which her party stands, the NLD has little to say, substantively, on the issue of minority rights.

The NLD has done little to mitigate these concerns. During a meeting with an NLD official in Yangon, I was told blandly that the NLD sympathises with minority aspirations. But when pressed on how such aspirations might be addressed, the answer seemed to lie vaguely somewhere on the other side of the 2015 elections, which the NLD is widely predicted to sweep.

A pattern of violence

Of particular concern regarding NLD's position on minority rights is the party's silence following the recent violence in Rakhine State along Myanmar's western border, where clashes between the majority Buddhist Rakhine and the Rohingya, Myanmar's much-persecuted Muslim population, have resulted in more than 60 deaths and 90,000 displaced, according to UN estimates.

The latest episode in this long-running conflict is the direct result of discriminatory government policies. Based upon the mistaken belief that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, the government requires Rohingya to provide evidence that they have lived in the country before 1823 to claim citizenship, according to Article 3 of the 1982 immigration law. Born into and mostly confined to squalid, informal refugee camps by legal restrictions on movement, work and study, and subject to arbitrary property confiscations, the vast majority of the some 800,000 Rohingya in Myanmar are unable to satisfy this onerous requirement. The Buddhist Rakhine suffer no such restrictions, creating much enmity between the two groups.


"The government requires Rohingya to provide evidence that they have lived in the country before 1823 to claim citizenship."

As I travelled through the few areas of the region accessible to foreigners just before the violent outbreak, mutual resentment was evident from racial slurs and derogatory remarks widely used by each group against the other. Notably, it was this same racist rhetoric that emerged online as coverage of the conflict spread via Myanmar's increasingly accessible internet.

In June, a match was tossed into this tinderbox when 10 Rohingya were dragged from their bus by a crowd of some 300 Rakhine and beaten to death in apparent retaliation for the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman. Communal violence rapidly escalated, leaving much of the countryside in ashes.

In response, on June 10, President Thein Sein announced a state of emergency, effectively implementing martial law in Rakhine. Military forces poured in. Roads, shops and teahouses were closed. Order, or at least the version on display in Shan State and in government-controlled areas of Kachin State, has been restored.

Social unrest in minority areas presents unique challenges in an uncertain time, but resorting to the heavy-handed policies of the past reinforces a pattern of violence and threatens to put policy-making back in the hands of the military, with retrogressive implications for the reform agenda.

Addressing minority demands for autonomy and full political rights, as promised by the Panglong Agreement, will require increased civilian control of the military, as well as reforming policies designed to centralise control of resources. Neither of these challenges is small; we should temper our expectations and timelines accordingly. But they are not impossible. Success requires the vigilance and support of the international community. Given the importance of the outcome, it is the least we can do.

Corey Pattison is a graduate student at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.


The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

oin Restless Beings Rohingya Press Conferenece

Monday 23rd July, 2012
6-8pm
Brady Arts Centre
192-196 Hanbury Street Stepney, London E1 5HU.

Restless Beings is an international human rights organisation and the leading UK charity to be championing Rohingya human rights. With over 80,000 new website hits in the last few weeks alone and a growing social media following we are determined to ensure the Rohingya voice is heard.

Since the clashes erupted at the beginning of June in Burma, the already marginalised Rohingya- said to be the ‘most persecuted community in the world’ by the UN have faced greater levels of violence at the hands of the Burmese state. The humanitarian atrocities need and deserve international press coverage to ensure that it is bought to end.

The Press Conference evening itself will focus on the human story, the lives affected by the violence and systematic killings in recent weeks, but also the deep rooted persecution that they have faced for decades before this summer. There will also be an opportunity for more in depth analysis of the situation with audience participation.

Restless Beings will provide you with reports from on the ground, having gathered an extensive base of sources in both Burma and Bangladesh. You will have access to fresh images and audio reports, free to use for your coverage which will all be contained within a comprehensive media kit. 

We will also present our media statement supported by many other organisations and will also deliver our petition to the British government, which so far has received over 10,300 signatures from over 100 countries worldwide.

58 organizations joint statement Calls for Protection of Rohingya

A coalition of 58 civil society groups - led by Refugees International, the Arakan Project, and the Equal Rights Trust - condemns the wave of abuse launched by state authorities in Myanmar against the Rohingya community, following a disturbing period of inter-communal violence. It also charges Bangladesh with flouting international law in its attempts to prevent fleeing Rohingya from reaching safety. The coalition has issued a series of recommendations for both Myanmar and Bangladesh, which were delivered today to the two governments and their embassies in 28 countries. The coalition's full statement is as follows:

Civil Society Organisations Deeply Concerned by Ongoing Violence Against Stateless Rohingya in Myanmar and Their Refoulement From Bangladesh

The stateless Rohingya of Myanmar have suffered from extreme persecution and discrimination for decades. They are now facing another crisis. On 3 June inter-communal violence erupted, and this has evolved into large-scale state sponsored violence against the Rohingya. Despite this, neighbouring Bangladesh is not allowing them to enter to seek refuge. The Rohingya population needs urgent measures to be taken for their protection.

In Myanmar, what began as inter-communal violence has evolved into large-scale state sponsored violence against the Rohingya. The violence began on 3 June 2012 and has mainly occurred in Sittwe and Maungdaw. On 10 June, a state of military emergency was declared, after which the military became more actively involved in committing acts of violence and other human rights abuses against the Rohingya including killings and mass scale arrests of Rohingya men and boys in North Rakhine State. Many Rohingya continue to be victims of violence and cannot leave their homes for fear of persecution, and are thus deprived of their livelihood and most basic needs. The urgent humanitarian needs of those displaced (IDPs) - including those not in IDP camps - are not being adequately met and there is concern that those displaced will not be allowed to return to their homes as soon as it is safe to do so, thus creating a situation of protracted displacement.

Bangladesh, in contravention of its international legal obligations, closed its border and pushed back many Rohingya fleeing the violence and persecution in Myanmar. The refoulement of these refugees by Bangladesh to Myanmar where they face a very immediate threat to life and freedom, and a danger of irreparable harm; and the manner of refoulement, by push backs into dangerous waters, including in unsafe vessels are matters of serious concern.

The legal obligations of both Myanmar and Bangladesh require them to protect all persons within their territories or subject to their jurisdictions, regardless of whether they are citizens, stateless persons or refugees. In their treatment of the Rohingya, both countries have violated the right to life, the right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the right to liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention, the right to food and shelter including the fundamental right to be free from hunger and the right to the highest attainable standard of health. Bangladesh has also acted in violation of the rights to seek and to enjoy asylum and not to be subjected to refoulement.

We therefore recommend that both states immediately uphold their human rights obligations in this situation.

In particular, we recommend that the Government of Myanmar and the Rakhine State authorities take immediate steps to:

• Stop the violence.
• Stop the arbitrary arrests of Rohingya and abuses by security forces against them.
• Allow unhindered humanitarian access to assist all those in need as a result of the crisis, including internally-displaced people staying outside camps and those hosting them.
• Allow the displaced to return to their homes once it is safe and they feel safe to return, and ensure that a situation of protracted displacement is avoided.
• Allow an international inquiry into the abuses committed since June 2012 in Rakhine State.We recommend the Government of Bangladesh take immediate steps to:

• Open its borders to refugees and to stop refoulement of refugees.Further, we call on the international community to:

• Provide financial support for the humanitarian operation needed to assist people affected by the crisis in Rakhine State.
• Support the government of Bangladesh in providing protection to Rohingya refugees.
• Engage with the Governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh in relation to the above recommendations.
• We also recommend that the reform process in Myanmar address existing policies of discrimination against the Rohingya; and that this current crisis be used as an opportunity to address the longstanding problems between the communities in Rakhine State, and to promote a constructive dialogue aiming at peace and reconciliation.

The following groups endorsed the statement: 

1. Act for Peace (Australia)
2. Actions Birmanie Belgium
3. Altsean-Burma
4. Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network
5. Burma Campaign UK
6. Burmese Rohingya Association in Japan
7. Burmese Rohingya Community in Denmark
8. Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
9. Catholic Tokyo International Center
10. Christian Coalition for Refugee and Migrant Workers, Japan
11. Christian Solidarity Worldwide
12. Church World Service - Immigration and Refugee Program
13. Civil Development Organization, Iraq
14. Dalit NGO Federation (DNF)
15. Equal Rights Trust
16. ESCR-Asia Pakistan
17. Euro-Burma Office
18. Fahamu Refugee Programme
19. Health Equity Initiatives, Kuala Lumpur
20. Human Rights and Genocide Clinic, Cardozo School of Law
21. Imparsial (Indonesia)
22. Info Birmanie
23. INFORM Documentation Centre, Sri Lanka
24. International Detention Coalition
25. International Observatory on Statelessness
26. Japan Association for Refugees
27. Japan Evangelical Lutheran Association
28. Jesuit Refugee Service
29. Jesuit Refugee Service Asia Pacific
30. Jesuit Social Center, Japan
31. Lawyers for Human Rights (South Africa)
32. Migrant Forum in Asia
33. Minority Rights Group International
34. Organization for Defending Victims of Violence
35. Partnership for Pastoralists Development Association(PAPDA)
36. People's Forum on Burma(Japan)
37. Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates
38. Physicians for Human Rights
39. Praxis
40. Project Maje
41. Rafiq Japan
42. Rebirth Society
43. Refugee Council USA
44. Refugees International
45. RefugePoint
46. Restless Beings
47. Rohingya Society in Malaysia (RSM)
48. Society for Threatened Peoples / Germany
49. South East Asian Committee for Advocacy (SEACA)
50. Stateless Network
51. Sudan Peace Humanitarian Organisation
52. Swedish Burma Committee
53. Tenaganita
54. The Arakan Project
55. The May 18 Memorial Foundation
56. The Refuge Pnan
57. United to End Genocide
58. WOREC Nepal

Rohingya Plight Highlighted in London | MARK INKEY

A picture from the book, “Exiled to Nowhere: Burma’s Rohingya” (PHOTO: Greg Constantine)

The London School of Economics (LSE) hosted a panel discussion on Monday evening to debate the crisis in western Arakan State and to express support for the Rohingya community.

Many members of the Burmese community crowded into the packed theater alongside London-based activists and members of NGOs. On the panel were Chris Lewa, the director of the Arakan Project and a leading voice on behalf of the Rohingya, and US photographer Greg Constantine who recently released a book of black and white photography titled “Exiled to Nowhere: Burma’s Rohingya.”

Constantine has specialized in documenting the plight of stateless people around the world, and since 2006 has made eight trips to Bangladesh to document the conditions in which the Rohingya communities live.

“One of the things that is lost in the discussions of the issues of statelessness—particularly with the Rohingya—are human stories,” he said.

He recounted to the audience the story of 20-year-old Kashida who had to flee to Bangladesh with her husband. The Burmese authorities had denied her permission to get married, but when they discovered she had married in secret and was pregnant they took away all her family’s money and cows and goats. They forced Kashida to have an abortion, telling her: “This is not your country; you don’t have the right to reproduce here.”

Constantine said that some Rohingya families had lived in Burma for centuries, but were “denied by successive governments the right to belong to the country of their birth.”

He explained to the audience how the Rohingya people—whom many Burmese consider to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh—are denied the rights to get married, to travel freely and to practice their religion. They are also subjected, he said, to arbitrary land seizure for military use or to make model Burmese villages for Buddhist communities.

Since the 1982 Citizenship Act, the Rohingya have been denied citizenship in Burma, but are also denied the opportunity to seek entry into any other country.

“They are denied the right to an identity, the right to belong, the right to have their language, heritage and culture respected and included in the larger fabric of society,” said the American photojournalist.

He urged NGOs and governmental organisations such as Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) and USAID not to forget the Rohingya as Burma opens up and development pours in.

Chris Lewa then addressed the issue of violence in Arakan State.

“What started as communal violence between Rakhine [Arakanese] and Rohingya has now turned into state-sponsored violence targeting the Rohingya,” she said.

This was illustrated by President Thein Sein’s statement last week to the UNHCR rejecting the Rohingya as a minority group in Burma and suggesting that they be relocated to camps run by the UNHCR and sent away to third countries, she told the audience.

“Official policies of discrimination and denial of citizenship to the Rohingya create an environment in which ethnic clashes are virtually inevitable,” she said.

Lewa pointed at instances of anti-Rohingya campaigns in Burma that stoked the violence which erupted following the rape and murder of an Arakanese Buddhist woman on May 28, allegedly by three Muslim men.

Lewa then laid out a chronology of events throughout June, including the murder of 10 Muslim pilgrims, riots in Maungdaw, and the burning of Arakanese Buddhist shops and homes by mobs of Rohingya men followed by reciprocal acts by Arakanese on Rohingya communities.

Many of the incidents in northwestern Arakan State are disputed by one or other side during the seven weeks of sectarian violence. Many Arakanese sources claim, in fact, that it is primarily Rohingya gangs who are responsible for the violence.

Lewa said state-sponsored abuse of the Rohingya started on June 25, and she accused the army, thenasaka (border security forces), police officers and riot police of conducting mass arrests of Rohingyas, and raids that involved looting, robbery, rapes, beatings, torture and killings.

Lewa also criticized the Burmese government’s figures, which said only 80 people have died and 55,000 have been internally displaced. She said that in reality hundreds have died, many more have been injured, thousands of properties have been destroyed and an estimated 100,000 people have been displaced.

There have been many attempts to block aid from UN agencies and international NGOs, said Lewa, even by Buddhist monks who are playing a leading role in rejecting aid and exhorting their communities not to do business with the Rohingya.

Despite the claims by the UN, she said the Arakan Project has no evidence of any Rohingya in Maungdaw receiving any assistance, and said they are receiving increasing reports of children dying of malnutrition.

She said that the Burmese leadership, from Thein Sein to the NLD, must work to find solutions.

Finally, she said, the 1982 Citizenship Law has to be repealed and “nationality in Burma should not be based on race, but rather on descent and birthplace.”

Meanwhile, a representative of DFID said the situation in Arakan State “is very concerning.

“The British ambassador has repeatedly raised concerns with ministers and directly with the president about the humanitarian and political situation in Arakan and called on all sides to allow unrestricted humanitarian and political situation in Arakan and called on all sides to allow unrestricted humanitarian access for international and local aid agencies to the affected communities,” he said.

He said DFID is providing aid to Arakan State through the UNHCR, UNICEF and the World Food Programme.

Democracy and killings in Burma: Gold rush overrides human rights

RAMZY BAROUD  Editor of PalestineChronicle.com. 

 The widespread killings of Rohingya Muslims in Burma — or Myanmar — have received only passing and dispassionate coverage in most media. What they actually warrant is widespread outrage and decisive efforts to bring further human rights abuses to an immediate halt.
“Burmese helicopter set fire to three boats carrying nearly 50 Muslim Rohingyas fleeing sectarian violence in western Burma in an attack that is believed to have killed everyone on board,” reported Radio Free Europe on July 12.

Why would anyone take such fatal risks? Refugees are attempting to escape imminent death, torture or arrest at the hands of the Ethnic Buddhist Rakhine majority, which has the full support of the Burmese government.

The relatively little media interest in Burma’s "ethnic clashes" is by no means an indication of the significance of the story. The recent flaring of violence followed the raping and killing of a Rhakine woman on May 28, allegedly by three Rohingya men. The incident ushered a rare movement of unity between many sectors of Burmese society, including the government, security forces and so-called pro-democracy activists and groups. The first order of business was the beating to death of ten innocent Muslims. The victims, who were dragged out of a bus and attacked by a mob of 300 strong Buddhist Rhakine, were not even Rohingyas, according to the Bangkok Post (June 22). Not all Muslims in Burma are from the Rohingya ethnic group. Some are descendants of Indian immigrants, some have Chinese ancestry, and some even have early Arab and Persian origins. Burma is a country with a population of an estimated 60 million, only 4 percent of whom are Muslim.

Regardless of numbers, the abuses are widespread and rioters are facing little or no repercussions for their actions. “The Rohingyas…face some of the worst discrimination in the world,” reported Reuters on July 4, citing rights groups. UK-based Equal Rights Trust indicated that the recent violence is not merely due to ethnic clashes, but actually involves active government participation. “From June 16 onward, the military became more actively involved in committing acts of violence and other human rights abuses against the Rohingya including killings and mass-scale arrests of Rohingya men and boys in North Rakhine State.”
The ‘pro-democracy’ Burmese groups and individuals celebrated by Western governments for objecting to the country’s military junta are also taking part in the war against minorities.
Politically, Burma has a poor reputation. A protracted civil war has ravaged the country shortly after its independence from Britain in 1948. The colonial era was exceptionally destructive as the country was used as a battleground for great powers. Many Burmese were slaughtered in a situation that was not of their making. As foreign powers divided the country according to their own purposes, an ensuing civil war was almost predictable. It supposedly ended when a military junta took over from 1962 to 2011, but many of the underlying problems remained unresolved.

Since an election last year brought a civilian government to power, we have been led to believe that a happy ending is now in the making. “Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi made her historic parliamentary debut on Monday (July 9), marking a new phase in her near quarter century struggle to bring democracy to her army-dominated homeland,” reported the British Telegraph.

But aside from mere ‘concerns’ over the ethnic violence, Aung San Suu Kyi is staying on the fence — as if the slaughter of the country’s ‘dark-skinned Indians’ is not as urgent as having a parliamentary representation for her party, the National League for Democracy in Burma. Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called on "The Lady" to do something, anything. “As a Nobel Peace Laureate, we are confident that the first step of your journey toward ensuring peace in the world would start from your own doorstep and that you would play a positive role in bringing an end to the violence that has afflicted Arakan State,” he wrote. However, “Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy continues to carefully sidestep the hot-button issue,” according to Foreign Policy.

The violent targeting of Burmese minorities came at an interesting time for the US and Britain. Their pro-democracy campaign was largely called off when the junta agreed to provide semi-democratic reforms. Eager to offset the near exclusive Chinese influence over the Burmese economy, Western companies jumped into Burma as if one of the most oppressive regimes in the world was suddenly resurrected into an oasis for democracy.
“The gold rush for Burma has begun,” wrote Alex Spillius in The Telegraph. It was ushered in by US President Barak Obama’s recent lifting of the ban on American investment in the country. Britain immediately followed suit, as a UK trade office was hurriedly opened in Rangoon on July 11. “Its aim is to forge links with one of the last unexploited markets in Asia, a country blessed by ample resources of hydro-carbons, minerals, gems and timber, not to mention a cheap labor force, which thanks to years of isolation and sanctions is near virgin territory for foreign investors.” Since US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her "historic" visit to Burma in December 2011, a recurring media theme has been ‘Burma riches’ and the ‘race for Burma’. Little else is being discussed, and certainly not minority rights.
Recently, Clinton held a meeting with Burma’s President Thein Sein, who is now being branded as another success story for US diplomacy. 

On the agenda are US concerns regarding the “lack of transparency in Burma's investment environment and the military's role in the economy” (CNN, July 12). Thein Sein, however, is guilty of much greater sins, for he is providing a dangerous political discourse that could possibly lead to more killings, or even genocide. The ‘reformist’ president told the UN that “refugee camps or deportation is the solution for nearly a million Rohingya Muslims,” according to ABC Australia. He offered to send the Rohingyas away “if any third country would accept them.”

The Rohingyas are currently undergoing one of the most violent episodes of their history, and their suffering is one of the most pressing issues anywhere in the world. Yet their plight is suspiciously absent from regional and international priorities, or is undercut by giddiness over the country’s “ample resources of hydro-carbons, minerals, gems and timber.”

Meanwhile, the stateless and defenseless Rohingyas continue to suffer and die. Those lucky to make it to Bangladesh are being turned back. Aside from few courageous journalists — indifferent to the country’s promise for ‘democracy’ and other fables — most are simply looking the other way. This tragic attitude must immediately change if human rights matter in the least.

— Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com.

Turkey seeks to bring Myanmar Muslims’ plight to int’l attention

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (Photo: Cihan)

Turkey, which is concerned about continuing violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, seeks to bring the plight of this community onto the international agenda, calling on the international community to end its silence on the situation affecting the Southeast Asian country.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said last Wednesday that Turkey was concerned over the brutality towards the Rohingya Muslims in the province of Arakan, the location of recently escalating violence in Myanmar, near Bangladesh. “We expect more sensibility from the international community for the Rohingya Muslims, who left their homes, belongings and land due to the religious fanaticism they faced,” said Erdoğan.

The first glimmer of violence in Myanmar appeared in June after claims that three Rohingya Muslims raped a Buddhist woman. After the event, fanatical Buddhists started killing Muslims living in the Arakan province and burned houses and workplaces belonging to the minority group.

Rohingya Muslims are not seen as citizens of Myanmar by nationalist Myanmar leaders, officials and fanatic Buddhists, and in turn are exposed to discrimination.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu spoke with the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, on Sunday about the continued violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

According to information obtained from diplomatic sources, Davutoğlu and İhsanoğlu discussed the situation in Myanmar and possible ways of dealing with it. It was also said that İhsanoğlu briefed Davutoğlu on the steps that should be taken in Myanmar in order to normalize the situation in the country soon.

Also, the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs has called on international organizations, especially the UN, not to remain silent about the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. A statement made by the directorate said that more than 1,000 Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar had been killed and more than 90,000 were left homeless since the violence started.

There are contradictory figures regarding the death toll of the Muslims in Arakan province. An aid team from the United Nations, which is the only foreign team that was allowed to enter the region, has said the death toll was neither as low as Myanmar’s government had declared nor as high as activists have claimed.

The UN team also said there are a large number of residential areas in the region, which makes it difficult to accurately calculate the total number of deaths.

But local sources claimed on Monday that the conflict had somewhat eased.

Myanmar’s government is currently not allowing any media organization to enter the country.

Myanmar President Thein Sein has declared a state of emergency in the country and deployed army troops to restore stability.

While tens of thousands of Muslims fled Myanmar due to the violence, Bangladeshi authorities did not allow the Rohingyans waiting at the border gates to seek refuge in their country.

opening doors Rohingyas; duty, not charity

Boats carrying Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, trying to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, are intercepted by Bangladeshi Coast Guard officials in Teknaf on June 18. — AFP photo

The current Rohingya crisis has once again underscored the need for the country to frame a national law for refugees. Such a law would lay down basic principles of refugee treatment and set up necessary administrative structures to deal with situations such as the Rohingya inflow. If proper procedures were in place the government’s reaction would not have been as reactive as it has been, writes CR Abrar

OVER the last couple of weeks Bangladesh is experiencing yet another round of inflow of Rohingyas through its land and sea borders. Media reports have documented harrowing tales of suffering that the members of the community have endured in Arakan that eventually contributed to their decision to flee and seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh. The news media was replete with narratives of the desperate people who were lucky enough to set foot in this country. The accompanying photographs of families in boats, pleading for compassion and empathy, only confirmed genuineness of their claims that their life was stake in the Arakan state. The gravity of the situation was only confirmed by the fact that international agencies working in that region had to pull out its personnel for safety reason.
As the Rohingyas began to reach the Bangladesh border, the law enforcement agencies reported that they had intercepted many and chased away scores of boatloads of people into the sea. Some were made to float in the sea for as many as four days while making repeated attempts to enter Bangladesh. The law enforcers arrested a number of them on charges of illegal entry, a few with bullet injuries from the Cox’s Bazar hospital where they went for treatment. 

The law enforcement agencies also claimed in no uncertain terms that they were successful in deporting a good number of Rohingyas back to Myanmar. Only in some instances due to insistence of local people were they forced to provide some food, water and fuel to the wretched Rohingyas before they were pushed back to the uncertainty of the Bay of Bengal. One newspaper reported that ‘the air was heavy with the screams of unwilling deportees.’ Another reported that a newborn was found abandoned in the melee as the boat carrying his family of Rohingya asylum seekers fell prey to the robbers.

The Bangladesh government’s response has been prompt and decisive. It closed the border, suspended the maritime trade and communication arrangements between St. Martin and Monkhali islands of Ukhia for several days, deployed additional platoons of guards at the border outposts and increased surveillance through beefing up security apparatus that included mobilising the Border Guards Bangladesh, Coast Guards and the Navy.
Senior functionaries of the state, including the foreign minister, the state minister for home affairs and the foreign secretary, made statements justifying the sealing of the border on grounds of state sovereignty and national security. Both electronic and print media carried commentaries and comments of academics, diplomats and experts of various hues, a vast majority of whom applauded the government measures and opined that the country was very much within its remit to reject ‘Rohingya intruders’. One also found that a leading Bangla daily, known for its liberal stance on other issues, subtitling its editorial ‘Rohingya intrusion must be stopped’.

The government of Bangladesh and those in agreement with the government’s position argued their case on the premise that it is the sovereign prerogative of the state to allow or not to allow anyone into its territory. In order to justify their position the foreign minister and the foreign secretary were at pains to contend that since Bangladesh is not a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and or its 1967 Protocol, it is not obligated to accept the Rohingyas.
However, a critical point being missed out in presenting this case is that though Bangladesh is not a state party to the international refugee instruments the country is obliged under international law to open its door to those who are fleeing persecution and whose life and liberty are at stake in their places of origin. That is because Bangladesh is bound to uphold the principle of non-refoulement as incorporated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the several international human rights treaties that that country is party to such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention against Torture, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly stipulates, ‘Everyone has the right to seek asylum and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.’ The UDHR is a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. Like other civilised states Bangladesh is obliged to secure the universal and effective recognition and observance of the UDHR principles including that of non-refoulement. This principle reflects the commitment of the international community to ensure to all persons the enjoyment of human rights, including the rights to life, to freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and to liberty and security of person. These and other rights are threatened when a refugee is returned to persecution or danger.

At the universal level one also needs to take into account Article 3 (1) of the UN Declaration on Territorial Asylum unanimously adopted by the General Assembly in 1967. It states that: ‘No person … shall be subjected to measures such as rejection at the frontier or, if he has already entered the territory in which he seeks asylum, expulsion or compulsory return to any State where he may be subjected to persecution.’

Because of its wide acceptance, it is UNHCR’s considered view, supported by jurisprudence and the work of jurists, that the principle of non-refoulement has become a norm of customary international law, became part of state practice and gained a normative character.
The principle has been incorporated in international treaties adopted at the universal and regional levels and being ratified by more and more States including Bangladesh. Moreover, the principle has also been systematically reaffirmed in the Conclusions of the Executive Committee of UNHCR of which Bangladesh has been an active member and in resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Para 1 Article 3 of the Convention against Torture, 1984, contends ‘No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.’ The subsequent paragraph obliges states to take note of ‘patterns of gross, flagrant and mass violations of human rights.’ Needless to say the Rohingya situation merits all the above conditions. Similarly, Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has been interpreted as prohibiting the return of persons to places where torture or persecution is feared.

Article 22 on the Convention of the Rights of the Child, an instrument that Bangladesh ratified soon after it was framed, stipulates, ‘State Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that a child who is seeking refugee status … receives appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance.’ Needless to say children constitute a large segment of the Rohingyas who have been knocking on Bangladesh’s door.
The above discussion leads to the conclusion that as the nation, which experienced one of the largest refugee flows of the 20th century, Bangladesh not only has a moral responsibility but is also under legal obligation under international law to allow Rohingyas to enter into its territory and provide protection. By denying access to the Rohingyas and refusing them protection by invoking notions of state sovereignty and national security Bangladesh has tarnished its image as a responsible member of the comity of nations. Bangladesh needs to re-consider its policy in the light of international legal obligations and allow entry and temporary protection to the Rohingyas. The international community also has to play its part by sharing the costs. 

The current Rohingya crisis has once again underscored the need for the country to frame a national law for refugees. Such a law would lay down basic principles of refugee treatment and set up necessary administrative structures to deal with situations such as the Rohingya inflow. If proper procedures were in place the government’s reaction would not have been as reactive as it has been. The policymakers need to bear in mind that Article 31 of Bangladesh constitution stipulates: ‘To enjoy protection of the law and to be treated in accordance with law, and only in accordance with law, is the inalienable right of every citizen, wherever he may be, or every other person for the time being within Bangladesh, and in particular no action detrimental to the life, liberty, body, reputation or property of any person shall be taken except in accordance with the law’ (emphasis added). It is therefore imperative that concerned authorities take appropriate steps to develop a national law for refugees in right earnest. Let the unfortunate Rohingya experience be the catalyst in fulfilling such a constitutional obligation. 

CR Abrar teaches international relations and coordinates the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit at the University of Dhaka.