Protect Rohingya human rights, including their right to a nationality: UN

The U.N. General Assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution by the 193-member world body on December 24, urges Burmese government action to improve the situation of the Rohingya Muslim minority “and to protect all their human rights, including their right to a nationality.”

The resolution noted substantial efforts by Burmese’s government towards political reform, democratization, national reconciliation and improvements in human rights. But it said there were still “systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
The General Assembly urged the government "to accelerate its efforts to address discrimination, human rights violations, violence, displacement and economic deprivation affecting various ethnic minorities," singling out the Rohingyas and Kachin.
The U.N. General Assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution welcoming positive changes in Burma, but expressing serious concern at an upsurge of sectarian violence between Muslims and Buddhists in Arakan state.
The European Union-sponsored resolution was adopted by consensus, with the assembly president banging his gavel.
EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton said earlier this month after the resolution's approval by the assembly's human rights committee that she was "particularly pleased by the constructive approach by the government of Myanmar in working closely on the text with the EU."
U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said earlier this month that for nearly six months, the U.N. has not able to provide assistance to the IDPs in Arakan State where Rohingyas were keeping in the camps which condition is dire.
The Rohingyas in the western state of Arakan, are in citizenship limbo, and the Burmese government refuses to do anything about the situation, despite the international community’s calls for Burma to give the Rohingyas legal status.
Rohingya Muslims have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Burma since it achieved independence in 1948.
Buddhist extremists frequently attack Rohingyas and have set fire to their homes in several villages in Arakan where hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks. Burmese Army forces allegedly provided the extremist Buddhists containers of petrol for torching the houses of Muslim villagers, who are then forced to flee. Burmese’s government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority, according to Human rights reports.
Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued separate statements, calling on Myanmar to take action to protect the Rohingya Muslim population against extremist Buddhists.

Couple arrested for marriage after 14 years in Mangdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  A couple was arrested by Nasaka (Burma’s border security force) at Maungdaw north on December 21, over the allegation that he had married without permission from the concerned authority after 14 years later, according to a friend of the victim.
“The victims are identified as Shoffi Ullah (37), and his wife Ms Jubaida Khatun (30). Both of them belong to Maung Nama Aley Wra (village) of Maungdaw north.  Mohammad Sidique is the father of Shoffi Ullah.”
Fourteen years (14- year) ago, in   1998, Shofi Ullah had  tied the knot with Ms Juabaida Khatun after getting necessary documents from concerned authority of Village Peace and Development Council ( VPDC) Chairman. At that time, it was not necessary to get marriage permission from local Nasaka authority and the local VPDC Chairman’s permission was accepted for the marriage, said a local trader preferring not to be named. 
On that day, at night, a section of Nasaka went to the victim’s house and arrested Shoffi Ullah along with his wife Jubaida Khatun over the allegation that they had got married without permission from the concerned authority. The Nasaka was from Aung Mingala Nasaka camp of Maungdaw north.  After arrest, they were brought to Nasaka camp where they were detained. The arrestees showed the documents to the Nasaka about their marriage, but, the Nasaka rejected it, a local leader from the locality said on condition of anonymity.
The next day, on December 22, in the evening, they were released after taking Kyat 300,000 by Nasaka officer Myo Than, the local leader added.
“It is a deliberate action against the couple to get money,” said a close relative of the victims.
“It is a meaning less action against the Rohingya community by using their power. Arakan State becomes a lawless land only for Rohingya people,” said a local elder.
When contacted to the Nasaka camp, after getting a telephone number from a Nasaka aide, but the Nasaka did not response the call.

Nasaka arrests a boy with false allegation

Maungdaw, Arakan State: A Rohingya boy was arrested over allegation by a group of Burma border security force (Nasaka) personnel from Nasaka area No. 8 on December 24, said a local villager.

The arrested was identified Enayet Ullah (12), son of Aman Ullah, hailed from Myient Hlut of Maungdaw township.
He was arrested yesterday night with false allegation of using Bangladeshi mobile without knowledge of concerned authorities. But, the Nasaka personnel have no evidence, using the Bangladesh mobile, according to a local elder from the village.
After arrest, he was severely beaten up on the spot. He was also detained in the custody of Nasaka. However, he was released after taking kyat 100,000 today, said an aide of Nasaka.
According to sources, many Rohingya villgers were arrested and extorted money with false cases by the security forces.

Blankets need for the poor displaced people in northern Arakan

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Blankets and warm clothes are needed for the poor displaced people living in Maungdaw and Rathedaung Townships. Severe cold accompanied by dense fog for the last few days has disrupted normal life in the areas, said a businessman from Maungdaw who denied his name.
“Around 7,000 cold hit people are passing their days and nights   in misery without warm clothes and blankets. The people are living nearby Mountain areas beside rivers are the most vulnerable. Poor people do not have ability to purchase warm clothes to protect them from the biting cold.”
Many people, especially children and aged ones, have been attacked with different cold-related diseases like--- diarrhea and pneumonia--- in the towns. The people of low income group, specially the farm laborers, are the worst sufferers, he more added.
A village leader from Rathedaung Township said that the poor people of his area are the worst suffers due to burring down their villages and houses by racist Rakhines with the help of security forces, now; minimum 5,000 people are suffering from shortage of warm clothes and blankets because of destroying houses. They are leading a hand to mouth existence without shelter. They are getting some supports from some NGOs but it is not sufficient.
Besides, in Maungdaw township, especially in Maungdaw Town and Maungdaw southern side, at least 250 houses and two  markets were burned down or destroyed by some Rakhine mobs with the help of security forces such as---police, Hluntin (riot police), Nasaka (Burma’s border security police), Sarapa (Military Intelligence), and army. They (IDPs) have been taking shelters nearby villages and the relatives’ houses, a trader from Maungdaw said preferring not to be named.
But the Rohingya IDPs of Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships are not recognized by the Thein Sein’s government and did not get any support from any quarter, even from the present government. They have also been kept in the villages of nearby other Rohingya villagers without getting any access to do work to support their family members, said a local villager.
Whenever, the foreign or local delegations came to visit Maungdaw Township to oversee the situation of local people including Rakhine and Rohingya, the authority indirectly forced them to visit the Rakhine (Natala)IDPs camps  excluding  Rohingya IDPs  who have been  locking  in the villages.  But, few foreign members accidently met some Rohingya villagers who have been suffering from acute difficulties since long, said a schoolteacher from the locality.
As a result, the Rohingya IDPs of Maungdaw and Rathedaung Townships ask to international community to provide them shelter, blankets and warm clothes to protect from winter season, the teacher more added.

Humanitarian crisis for Burma's eternal outsiders

Life for the Rohingya
Since the ethnic fighting broke out in June, much of the Rohingya population have fled their homes, fearing more attacks.

Lindsay Murdoch

The Sydney Morning Herald
December 25, 2012

They scavenge for grass and plants to eat and live in makeshift camps and town slums surrounded by barbed-wire checkpoints, refugee prisoners in their own country. 

Sitting among filth and garbage in a bamboo hut Ali Hassan, a 24-year-old former brick worker, pleads for the lives of his newborn twins. 

''My babies are starving in front of my eyes. I cannot buy anything now I have no money,'' he says.

Dire … Haleema Ahmed, above, scavenges for plants among the weeds and grass to supplement her family's food intake. Photo: Steve Sandford

There is an abundance of fish in the sea and rivers of Burma's western Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh. 

There are also coconuts in the trees and rice in the fields. 

But the United Nations's most senior humanitarian official, Valerie Amos, describes conditions in camps where more than 115,000 people displaced by ethnic violence are struggling to survive as ''dire''.

Displaced Rohingya children at the edge of Camp Coconut. Photo: Steve Sandford

''I have seen many camps during my time but the conditions in these camps rank among the worst,'' she says. 

The camp occupants are Rohingyas, members of a Muslim minority who are denied Burmese citizenship even though their families have lived in the country for centuries. The UN says they are among the world's most persecuted people. 

Following an outbreak of ethnic violence in June and again in October and a subsequent clampdown by Burma's security forces, tens of thousands of Rohingya are prohibited by soldiers from leaving designated areas to work, forage for food or seek medical treatment. 

Heartbreaking images emerging from Rakhine, also known as Arakan, point to ethnic cleansing of 800,000 Rohingya, who are seen by the Burmese government and many of the country's Buddhists as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. 

Video taken for Fairfax Media in a slum Muslim area of the Rakhine capital, Sittwe, shows a mother of seven, Haleema Ahmed, scavenging for grass and plants to help feed her family, reviving memories of images of starving villagers eating grass in North Korea. 

''The food that is being donated to us is not enough to eat. We have to help ourselves to find our own food,'' she says. ''I have to collect grass and plants to sell and eat to fill my empty stomach.'' 

Zaleena Hatwa, 33, a mother of two boys and three girls, is living in a one-room hut at ''Camp Coconut'', where beachside coconut trees mark a boundary the Rohingya may not cross. ''I fled my house only with the clothes I was wearing … they beat and killed many of us,'' she says. 

Zaleena Hatwa says before the violence she had a house and money. ''Now I am forced to live like a crazy street person,'' she says. 

There are few Rohingya leaders to speak up internationally for their people, who are referred to by the Burmese Buddhist majority as ''Bengalis'' or the pejorative term for foreigner, ''kalar''. 

Abdul Hakim, a cleric at a small Muslim mosque in the Aung Min Glar district of Sittwe, called for the United Nations to intervene to save his people. 

''The Rohingya have been living here for 800 years but now the Buddhist want to drive the Rohingya all out of Arakan … they don't want to live together with the Muslim,'' he said. ''We want equal rights and we want the rule of law. We want peace and justice. The UN has the power, if they want to do something, they can.'' 

Baroness Amos, who visited eight refugee camps recently, called on the Burmese government to promote reconciliation in Rakhine, where she said tensions ''between communities is running very high''. 

Her remarks underscored concerns about Burma's stability as it emerges from 50 years of repressive military rule under the reformist government of the President, Thein Sein. 

The government and Rakhine community groups have placed extreme restrictions on humanitarian agencies working in Rohingya camps and Muslim areas. 

People seen to be working with the Rohingya are often threatened. 

Aid workers report seeing starving babies and toddlers so weakened by hunger they sit limply in their parents' arms. 

The UN estimates there are 2900 babies and toddlers with acute malnutrition in the camps who may already be beyond help. 

Satellite imagery shows extensive destruction of homes and property in Muslim areas following a rapid escalation of violence since June that led to at least 170 deaths. 

One 14-hectare coastal area shows almost 1000 razed buildings, houseboats and floating barges. Reports have emerged of mass graves, and human rights organisations cite executions, torture, rapes, beatings, mass arrests and burnings by security forces, mainly against Rohingya. 

The violence erupted after reports circulated that on May 28 a Rakhine Buddhist woman had been raped and killed. Retaliation was swift after details were circulated in an incendiary pamphlet. 

On June 3, a large group of Rakhine Buddhists stopped a bus and killed 10 Muslims on board. Violence between Rohingya and Rakhine then swept through Sittwe and surrounding areas. 

Since October more than 4000 Rohingya have paid smugglers to get on typically leaking and unsafe boats to make the perilous voyage to Muslim-majority Malaysia, where their presence is mostly tolerated. Several hundred have drowned in at least four boat sinkings. 

At least one boat a day now leaves the region, its passengers mostly Rohingya men and teenage boys seeking a new life. Many others have fled to Bangladesh, where 400,000 Rohingya are languishing in camps. Bangladesh also considers them illegal immigrants. 

In Rakhine state, authorities have begun a process of verifying the nationality of all Muslims, but there are widespread calls for those deemed ''illegal'' to be deported. The goal of the survey is unclear. 

A 1982 law enshrines the citizenship of Burma's officially-recognised ethnic groups but the Rohingya were excluded despite their claims to have met the criteria of having ancestors in the country before 1823, the date of the first Anglo-Burmese war. Rohingyas say they can trace their ancestry back to an eighth-century shipwreck on an Arakan island. 

Observers say widespread hostility towards the Rohingya throughout Burma is likely to inhibit their naturalisation. 

''We have no plan to accept as an ethnic group those who are stateless, or any new tribes who are not officially recognised, like the Rohingya,'' said Zaw Htay, a high-ranking government official. 

The opposition leader and democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi has disappointed international supporters by failing to speak up strongly for the Rohingya, prompting speculation she has her eye on 2015 elections. 

In a squalid camp near Sittwe, Rashid Ahmad, 63, tells how security forces watched as a Rakhine mob attacked Rohingya residents in his village. 

''They started beating and killing people, so my family and my niece's family ran away from the village to the seashore to take a boat,'' Rashid Ahmad said. 

''My niece had already got on a boat but a mob of Rakhine people pulled her off the boat with her two children. 

''One was a boy and the other a girl. They killed the boy with a long knife and spears … my niece was raped and then killed by the Rakhine mob.'' 

Rashid Ahmad said his people had lived in Burma for a long time and have a proud history as Muslims ''but have never felt law and justice from the government''. 

''We are helpless unless we get help from another country,'' he said.

Lawmakers - Arresting Rohingyas Alive, Returning Dead!

Maung Than Soe (aka) Mohammed Khan

RB News

December 25, 2012

(Translated into English by M.S. Anwar) 

A Letter from a Bleeding Heart to RB News 

I, Daw Kyaut Khin at my 41, daughter of U Hla Kyaw, a widow and mother of three children, was born and brought up at the quarter of MyoThuGyi in Sittwe (Akyab), a place where we have been living for generations. On 10th June 2012, when Rakhine terrorists were killing and annihilating Muslims in our quarter, I was struggling to escape the horrific scenes with my two children (my eldest son was away from home on his trip) to save our lives. Meanwhile, my second son, Maung Than Soe @ Mohammed Khan (Son of U Maung Oo Shwe), was arrested and abducted by the two Police officers, Win Tun Oo and Than Shwe, from Police Station No.1. 

My Son was trying to escape from the hands of the two Police officers and run away as he was too frightened, he was hacked with sword by the waiting Rakhine (Buddhist) terrorists and consequently got severe injuries on his head and right arm. I could not help and do anything as Police dragged away my son with such injuries. As I was attempting to run for life with my four-year-old child with a broken and bleeding heart, we were beaten and hacked by the Rakhine terrorists. As a result, I had to get my head stitched nine times and my four-year-old daughter also got injuries on her hand. 

As I was getting treatment in hospital for the severe injuries I was given, I got a chance to see my son, Maung Than Soe, from a distance, ailing from the critical injuries. 

The lawmakers and authority of this country, feel it being in my shoes what and how I would be feeling going through such pains! I can’t explain! 

On 19th December 2012, to make my heart bleed more, only the dead of my son, Maung Than Soe, was delivered to me from the above mentioned Police Station No.1. His dead body was full of injuries resulted from the tortures by the inhumane police. 

My son was arrested 6-7 months ago and I was never given a chance to see him in the prison. I was never given a chance to provide him with foods and medicines. Which country on earth will have such lawmakers who arrest innocent people alive and return their mere dead bodies!!! 

Feel it, how much pain we, weak and vulnerable people, are going through! My father is also a pure Rakhine and my mother is Kaman. 

What fault have we done? 

Is our fault that we are Muslims?

Concerning the arrest of my son, Police had never given me any notice or any other documents. 

Is it that anybody here can be killed, hacked or chopped on mere reason that he/she is Muslim?? 

Daw Kyaut Khin 

Sittwe

“We Need to go Home” - Rohingya Refugees in Malaysia

Protesters in Malaysia are asking the Myanmar government to end the violence in Western Myanmar and the atrocities committed against Rohingya people. (Photo - Mohd Fazrul Hasnor @ Demotix)

Rebecca Henschke

Asia Calling

December 15, 2012

When 28-year-old Khairul Bashar took to sea for the first time, he left behind all that he had ever known. He is a Rohingya, born in Burma from the Maung Saw Township but he has never been given citizenship.

After suffering years of discrimination things go worse in June. The rape and murder of a Buddhist woman triggered a wave of violence against the Rohingya.

After seeing members of his community being killed Khairul fled to Malaysia.

Rebecca Henschke spoke with him in an apartment block in Kuala Lumpur where many Rohingya are now sheltering in.

“To save my own life I had to leave my own native land.”

Q. Can you tell me what happened? What happened to you and your family? 

“With out saying anything they attacked.”

Q. What did they do?

“They killed.”

Q. You saw that with your own eyes?

“I saw 50 people with knifes come and attack and killed 5 members. Two are a little young and one is old over 60 years.”

Q. You saw these people being killed. Did you know the killers? Were they your neighbors?

“See. Everyday they are not far from our village. Their village is beside our village. We are from Kayin, Maung Saw Township. Continously they attack. So killing for two days and then they start arresting people who are educated and a little wealthy. After they are arrested we don’t where they go.”

Q. Educated wealthy Rohingya started to be arrested?

“Only our Rohingya not Rakine. They explain to us that they are concerned about that problem so we need to arrest you.”

Khairul has a degree in sociology. His family feared that he would be arrested next, so he left... 

First to Bangladesh, where he has relatives living in refugee camps. He crossed the border by swimming across a river.

“We collected 75 members we gathered some money and we buy one boat which is suitable for 75 members. It’s an old boat not new. They had no driver. I drive. I have some experience about diesel engine.”

Q. Was it dangerous with the waves?

“So dangerous! After 19 days we are in Thailand.”

Q. How did you cross the border from Thailand into Malaysia illegal?

“There is forest. So we come through the forest. We walked 11 hours and then take a car.”

Q. Do you free safe now?

“What kind of safe! I am illegal here. I can not work. If I am arrest by the police what can I say to them? So i can not work.”

So we have climbed up the stairs of an apartment building not far from the centre of Kuala Lumpur. 

If you look out from the apartment building you can see the Twin Towers. Here many of the Rohingya refugees are now living because this is where the community head lives. 

We have just been told that someone arrived yesterday from the Rakhine state so we are going to met them....

Q. Are there many Rohingya families here?

“Around six or seven.”

We enter an empty two-bedroom apartment. Around eight people are sitting on the floor.

Khin Tun greets us. He arrived with his family of four yesterday by plane from Rangoon where he used to run an art gallery. He and his family have Burmese citizenship.

His wife’s family is from the Kyaukphyu township. In October the entire Muslim quarter—more than 300 houses belonging to the Rohingya community was burned to the ground in communal violence.

Khin’s family now lives in a refugee camp. But he described to me how they called him when their houses were on fire in October.

“All my family is there. Everyday they call crying...crying..”

“Hour by hour they call me what is happening now.”

Q. What did they say?

“I hear lots of sounds that I had never heard in my life. Some are crying. So are calling the God Allah, some say the water...lots of things. It was very noisey. I cry all the time. I am listening on the phone and I say Run!.. so they run. Especially the women and children are crying.”

“She fears that the same conflict that is happening in Rakhine will come to Yangoon. Now they are sending all the people to the camps. What is the meaning of the camps? Why do these people have to be refugees? These people have their own lives, they have their own homes and business they are human beings now they are in the camp. I think the next person will be me. Eventhough I live in Rangoon, they will come and pick me up.”

Q. Where you getting any phone call or messages to tell you that you would be taken to the camps?

“I have friends working in the government, they are my university friends they told me that I should leave before you have to go to the camps so that’s why I decided to leave.”

Q. Did you imagine that this kind of violence would happen against your people? Did you think it would get this bad?

“No I never thought. I never thought they would kill and try and wipe us all out. Then they say we are the immigrants...immigrant from 300-400 years! What do they want from us?”

Q. What do you want to do now? What are your plans for the future now that you have arrived in Malaysia?

“Right now I am on a passport for Malaysia but after two months it will expire and after that I will have to run illegally. Right now I am trying to get in contact with the UN and trying to get in contact with lots of people in the whole world because two years ago I was working in an American company in Afghanistan so I have lots of friends world wide...So I sent an email to them and they cry. We cannot live in Malaysia; this is their country not ours. We need to go home. No one can get your home back for you we need to get our home back!”

Khin Tun, a Rohingya Burmese who recently arrived in Malaysia with his family of four seeking asylum. He was speaking with Rebecca Henschke.

Self-Inflicted Harm: The ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights

Rohingya Muslims, trying to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence in Burma, look on from an intercepted boat in Teknaf on June 13, 2012. (Photo - AFP) 

Caryl Thompson

Global Policy

December 21, 2012

ASEAN Human Rights Declaration Provokes Controversy 

Since its inception in 1967, the ten-member Southeast Asian alliance, ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has focused on promoting regional co-operation, regional identity and trade links. For the most part, the human rights of its 600 million inhabitants have failed to attract the Association’s attention. 

The ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights announced recently at the ASEAN leaders’ 21st summit held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, would, therefore, ostensibly appear to be a positive new direction for the organisation. However, rather than welcoming this development, civil society and grassroots groups across the region and globally have united in criticising the document. The U.S. Department of State has announced that “we are deeply concerned that many of the ASEAN Declaration’s principles and articles could weaken and erode universal human rights and fundamental freedoms as contained in the UDHR [UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights]”. 

That such opposing views have developed in a region that is increasingly regarded as pivotal in International Relations should be a cause for concern. By adopting a rigorous non-interventionist approach to human rights violations in other member states, are the nations of ASEAN simply recognizing the sovereignty of others or could they be unwittingly fostering conditions that may threaten their own security? 

The mutual recognition of sovereignty adopted by ASEAN members is fundamental to its decision-making processes, encapsulated by “consultation and consensus ” and an enduring principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states. Thus while espousing the rhetoric of human rights, the Declaration firmly maintains that it is the responsibility of individual sovereign member states to establish and maintain freedom and rights for their national citizens, a principle to which several appear reluctant to commit. 

As a result the Declaration has been denounced as “culturally relativist” with domestic laws superseding universal principles of freedoms and basic rights. While such external critiques may be dismissed by the members of ASEAN, they cannot ignore the more immediate internal consequences of their adopted position and the very real possibility that human rights violations in one member state will have potential repercussions for the security of others. 

To Interfere or Not to Interfere: The Rohingya Question 

One example of the unintended consequences of the communal silence that ASEAN has adopted on human rights violations by member states is demonstrated by the spill-over effects of the ethnic tensions that have erupted and the resultant state-sponsored repression in the Rakhine district of Western Myanmar. 

The ethnic and religious tensions currently engulfing Rakhine state, a strip of land on Myanmar’s western coast are a legacy of British colonialism. Under British rule, thousands of Bengalis from the neighbouring region that today is Bangladesh were encouraged to migrate to the Rakhine area largely as indentured labour. This predominantly Muslim community who have lived in the area for generations and those that have followed them more recently, the Rohingya, are currently caught in a cycle of violence of lethal intensity with the indigenous, largely Buddhist majority. 

While tensions have existed historically between the communities and violence has occurred previously, the government has been firm in resisting international demands for a peaceful resolution to the current situation and has deflected criticism by portraying the situation as a domestic issue. 

The Myanmar government only recognizes as citizens those who were settled in the country prior to independence in 1948. Those unable to meet these stringent criteria are denied citizenship and are effectively stateless, condemned as illegal immigrants and denied basic human rights. 

Following the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in the region in May 2012 , a humanitarian crisis has developed in which both Rohingya and Buddhist communities have acted with lethal mutual animosity. Inter-communal violence has led to the killing of hundreds; thousands of homes and many villages have been destroyed. The UN estimates that over 100,000 Rohingya have been forcibly displaced to camps and villages along the Bangladeshi border, where conditions have been described by the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Baroness Amos as “dire” . 

So what has been ASEAN’s response to this humanitarian crisis in its own back yard given its recent Declaration of Human Rights? 

Following the Phnom Penh summit, the ASEAN Chairman’s statement of November 18, 2012 offered support for the “humanitarian challenges” arising from the violence in Rakhine state but fell short of overt criticism of the Myanmar government. Indeed, in a joint statement following a subsequent meeting two days later with US President, Barack Obama, ASEAN leaders “welcomed positive steps being taken in Myanmar that could facilitate national reconciliation, and encouraged further progress towards a democratic and open political and economic system ”, thereby heaping praise on the Myanmar regime for its apparent move towards democratization whilst ignoring the systematic human rights abuses that continue within the state. 

However, the impact of the situation in the Rakhine district has repercussions beyond Myanmar’s national borders and affects other ASEAN members.

Shooting Yourself in the Foot ASEAN–style 

While, as noted above, many Rohingya have sought refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, others have fled further afield for sanctuary in Malaysia, another ASEAN member also predominantly Muslim, which has become a preferred destination for those seeking a safe haven from the violence. The UNHCR in Malaysia estimates that there are approximately 25,000 Rohingya in Malaysia, but other estimates put the numbers much higher at around 90,000. 

While Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has expressed concern about the plight of the Rohingya community in Myanmar and called for the “violence committed against them to be stopped immediately” in a speech to the UMNO General Assembly on 29th November, 2012, his country faces the predicament of having to receive sudden large inflows of displaced Rohingya into the community. 

Moreover, as Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Convention for Refugees, the Rohingya in Malaysia are denied official access to temporary employment, medical and health services and education, thereby further undermining their human security. Furthermore, concerns have been expressed that the desperate conditions facing the Rohingya could lead to radicalization. 

While criticism has been targeted at the recent ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights for apparently privileging domestic laws over universal principles, it could also be argued that the Declaration is myopic and self-defeating. While upholding the inviolability of state jurisdiction on human rights issues, it fails to recognize that the effects of human rights violations cannot necessarily be confined within national borders and may have ramifications that affect other members, as the current situation emanating in Myanmar all too sadly demonstrates. If the members of ASEAN are really dedicated to human rights for all the peoples of the region then a more critical stance may be called for.

Caryl Thompson is a researcher with the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the University of Nottingham.

Self-Inflicted Harm: The ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights

ASEAN Human Rights Declaration Provokes Controversy 

Since its inception in 1967, the ten-member Southeast Asian alliance, ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has focused on promoting regional co-operation, regional identity and trade links. For the most part, the human rights of its 600 million inhabitants have failed to attract the Association’s attention. 

The ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights announced recently at the ASEAN leaders’ 21st summit held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, would, therefore, ostensibly appear to be a positive new direction for the organisation. However, rather than welcoming this development, civil society and grassroots groups across the region and globally have united in criticising the document. The U.S. Department of State has announced that “we are deeply concerned that many of the ASEAN Declaration’s principles and articles could weaken and erode universal human rights and fundamental freedoms as contained in the UDHR [UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights]”. 

That such opposing views have developed in a region that is increasingly regarded as pivotal in International Relations should be a cause for concern. By adopting a rigorous non-interventionist approach to human rights violations in other member states, are the nations of ASEAN simply recognizing the sovereignty of others or could they be unwittingly fostering conditions that may threaten their own security? 

The mutual recognition of sovereignty adopted by ASEAN members is fundamental to its decision-making processes, encapsulated by “consultation and consensus ” and an enduring principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states. Thus while espousing the rhetoric of human rights, the Declaration firmly maintains that it is the responsibility of individual sovereign member states to establish and maintain freedom and rights for their national citizens, a principle to which several appear reluctant to commit. 

As a result the Declaration has been denounced as “culturally relativist” with domestic laws superseding universal principles of freedoms and basic rights. While such external critiques may be dismissed by the members of ASEAN, they cannot ignore the more immediate internal consequences of their adopted position and the very real possibility that human rights violations in one member state will have potential repercussions for the security of others. 

To Interfere or Not to Interfere: The Rohingya Question 

One example of the unintended consequences of the communal silence that ASEAN has adopted on human rights violations by member states is demonstrated by the spill-over effects of the ethnic tensions that have erupted and the resultant state-sponsored repression in the Rakhine district of Western Myanmar. 

The ethnic and religious tensions currently engulfing Rakhine state, a strip of land on Myanmar’s western coast are a legacy of British colonialism. Under British rule, thousands of Bengalis from the neighbouring region that today is Bangladesh were encouraged to migrate to the Rakhine area largely as indentured labour. This predominantly Muslim community who have lived in the area for generations and those that have followed them more recently, the Rohingya, are currently caught in a cycle of violence of lethal intensity with the indigenous, largely Buddhist majority. 

While tensions have existed historically between the communities and violence has occurred previously, the government has been firm in resisting international demands for a peaceful resolution to the current situation and has deflected criticism by portraying the situation as a domestic issue. 

The Myanmar government only recognizes as citizens those who were settled in the country prior to independence in 1948. Those unable to meet these stringent criteria are denied citizenship and are effectively stateless, condemned as illegal immigrants and denied basic human rights. 

Following the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in the region in May 2012 , a humanitarian crisis has developed in which both Rohingya and Buddhist communities have acted with lethal mutual animosity. Inter-communal violence has led to the killing of hundreds; thousands of homes and many villages have been destroyed. The UN estimates that over 100,000 Rohingya have been forcibly displaced to camps and villages along the Bangladeshi border, where conditions have been described by the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Baroness Amos as “dire” . 

So what has been ASEAN’s response to this humanitarian crisis in its own back yard given its recent Declaration of Human Rights? 

Following the Phnom Penh summit, the ASEAN Chairman’s statement of November 18, 2012 offered support for the “humanitarian challenges” arising from the violence in Rakhine state but fell short of overt criticism of the Myanmar government. Indeed, in a joint statement following a subsequent meeting two days later with US President, Barack Obama, ASEAN leaders “welcomed positive steps being taken in Myanmar that could facilitate national reconciliation, and encouraged further progress towards a democratic and open political and economic system ”, thereby heaping praise on the Myanmar regime for its apparent move towards democratization whilst ignoring the systematic human rights abuses that continue within the state. 

However, the impact of the situation in the Rakhine district has repercussions beyond Myanmar’s national borders and affects other ASEAN members.

Shooting Yourself in the Foot ASEAN–style 

While, as noted above, many Rohingya have sought refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, others have fled further afield for sanctuary in Malaysia, another ASEAN member also predominantly Muslim, which has become a preferred destination for those seeking a safe haven from the violence. The UNHCR in Malaysia estimates that there are approximately 25,000 Rohingya in Malaysia, but other estimates put the numbers much higher at around 90,000. 

While Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has expressed concern about the plight of the Rohingya community in Myanmar and called for the “violence committed against them to be stopped immediately” in a speech to the UMNO General Assembly on 29th November, 2012, his country faces the predicament of having to receive sudden large inflows of displaced Rohingya into the community. 

Moreover, as Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Convention for Refugees, the Rohingya in Malaysia are denied official access to temporary employment, medical and health services and education, thereby further undermining their human security. Furthermore, concerns have been expressed that the desperate conditions facing the Rohingya could lead to radicalization. 

While criticism has been targeted at the recent ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights for apparently privileging domestic laws over universal principles, it could also be argued that the Declaration is myopic and self-defeating. While upholding the inviolability of state jurisdiction on human rights issues, it fails to recognize that the effects of human rights violations cannot necessarily be confined within national borders and may have ramifications that affect other members, as the current situation emanating in Myanmar all too sadly demonstrates. If the members of ASEAN are really dedicated to human rights for all the peoples of the region then a more critical stance may be called for.

Caryl Thompson is a researcher with the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the University of Nottingham.