(Photo: OIC Facebook)

By OIC

June 27, 2016

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has distributed more than 550 bags of rice (50kg each) through the NGO HUMANiTi Malaysia during the month of Ramadan. 

“More than 1100 families living in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar, received aid,” said Dr. Syed Hamid Albar, President of HUMANiTi Malaysia and OIC Special Envoy for Myanmar. 

Syed Hamid said the OIC is determined to help IDPs and refugees living in the camps to get basic access to livelihood as well as to try to set up office in Myanmar to provide humanitarian assistance which will be of benefit to all refugees, regardless of ethnic background. 

“Efforts are being intensified to ensure refugees welfare are being taken care of especially during The Holy Month of Ramadan,” said a representative from HUMANiTi Malaysia. Four volunteers from HUMANiTi were involved in distributing the aid in various locations in Sittwe. 

This aid effort is a part of the initiative launched by the OIC Secretary General Mr Iyad Ameen Madani to ensure basic needs and services, including medical attention and education areprovided to Rohingya IDP’s. Earlier this month the Secretary General organized through HUMANiTi, a Ramdan iftar and aid distribution event for refugees in Malaysia.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has noted the completion of voting in the general elections in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the landslide majority achieved by the National League for Democracy under the leadership of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. 

The OIC Secretary General Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani has conveyed a message to the Chairperson of the NLD on the occasion of her party’s electoral victory in which he expressed the hope that “the new government would actively support the process of reconciliation and transformation for all ethnic minorities in Myanmar, including the Rohingya”. 

The Secretary General also noted that “the Rohingya have been denied their rights in the name of certain arbitrary laws” and he called for “an inclusive and constructive approach that would ensure their rightful recognition and status in light of the new democratic environment in Myanmar.” 

The OIC reaffirms its commitment to support the people of Myanmar in the ongoing process of achieving a democratic society with equality and justice for all.

Original here.

By OIC

May 10, 2014

The Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Iyad Ameen Madani, has appointed Tan Sri Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar, former Foreign Minister of Malaysia, as his Special Envoy for Myanmar. An experienced lawyer and statesman, Mr. Albar has served at the highest levels of government. Among the key positions he has held in the Malaysian Cabinet over the years include Minister for Law, Home Affairs and Defense. 

The role of the Special Envoy will be to advance the OIC’s diplomatic efforts with the concerned authorities in Myanmar and other regional and international stakeholders to bring about peaceful coexistence and restore inter-communal harmony through dialogue and a comprehensive reconciliation process. 

The Secretary General, while expressing confidence that Mr. Albar would use his personal capabilities and vast experiences in dealing with his new challenging assignment, urged all OIC Member States to extend to him their full support for the success of the mission.

In a statement issued on Sunday, OIC said it will not politicise humanitarian work, even though it continues its endeavours to have the Muslim Rohingya minority regain its legal and constitutional rights in the country.

"The organisation's efforts to restore the constitutional rights of the Rohingya would go through official diplomatic channels and not through the humanitarian office," the statement said, adding that it is in no one's interest to politicise humanitarian action.

The organisation of 56 member states, in its statement, expressed readiness to raise the issue of Rohingya's case at United Nations Security Council.

Referring to the deliberate violence against Rohingya Muslims and the efforts to do ethnic cleansing in the country, the statement suggested that the issue be seriously raised at international level.

Sources :BERNAMA

We are again bombarded by photographs and news of renewed violence in Myanmar's Arakan region (officially Rakhine state). Meanwhile, at the UN in New York, the delegates listened to the report of UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Myanmar Mr. Quintana. While recognizing the democratization efforts in the country, he underlined that it was vital for the Myanmar government and all concerned to prevent further violence, to defuse tensions between the Rakhine Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim communities, and to address the underlying causes of inter-communal unrest.

Like Mr. Quintana, many continue to be concerned with the lack of an articulated policy by the government for integration and long-term reconciliation between the two communities. However, at the moment, preventing further violence, saving lives, and providing emergency humanitarian relief is the priority.

During the past days, Rohingya villages in the Rakhine state came under coordinated attacks by the so-called Rakhine vigilantes. Satellite images of totally destroyed Rohingya villages did not leave any doubt about what had really happened. Rohingya sources reported that from October 21 to 26, over 30 Rohingya villages and 5,086 houses in Kyauk Phyu, Kyauk Taw, Minbyar, Rambray, Pauktaw, and Myauk-U townships in Southern Rakhine state were torched.

Observers reported that the security forces were overwhelmed and could not control the Rakhine Buddhist groups. There are again allegations of assistance by some elements in the local police to the Rakhine mobs. Rohingya leaders give credit to the Union government and the army's timely interventions. Resolve of the security forces must have protected Rohingya villagers from potentially much wider massacres and further attacks. Since the May-June riots, the army was resolved not to allow any more violence, even at the expense of restricting movement and separation of Rohingya communities. However, the situation was not sustainable without a real reconciliation, and under the incitement of extremists, violence recurred.

The Rohingya diaspora cries for an international rescue operation for the escaping Rohingyas stranded on precarious floating boats at sea. They estimated a total of 9,000 Rohingyas were at sea, in the forests, and on open ground without food or basic necessities. There were already around 70,000 registered Rohingya IDPs in the camps before the recent violence. Wounded and sick Rohingyas are afraid to go to hospitals.

Rohingya community leaders suspect that an ethnic cleansing campaign was conceived on September 27 at the Rakhine National Congress which took place in Rathedaung where reportedly the formation of a 6,000 strong Rakhine youth force was agreed upon. They point out that extreme local political forces in alliance with local monks are behind the recent attacks. They insist that well organized and coordinated anti-Rohingya protests by the youth, women, and monks and poisonous social media campaigns were signs of a malign intent that was instigated and orchestrated by the racist and ultra nationalist local Rakhine political forces.

While Rakhine nationalists irrationally blame the Rohingya population for conspiring against the interests of the Rakhine majority by having a higher birth rate and for being outsiders or descendents of outsiders, Rohingya leaders lament that they might have underestimated at the time when news came out of the Rakhine National Convention that so-called Rakhine forces would be coordinating attacks to drive Rohingyas out of their villages towards the North and border areas with Bangladesh.

Rohingyas are not among the 135 officially recognized ethnic groups of Myanmar and lost their citizenship rights due to an undemocratic 1982 Citizenship Law. They still vest their hopes on the Central government and Burmese army in providing protection to them and establishing law and order. They are worried that local Rakhine officials reportedly lodged complaints about the army units who shot at the rioting Rakhine mobs. They are dismayed by the removal of the army units and commanders who protected Rohingyas, after the complaints from local Rakhine politicians.

It seems that this time the army's resolute action and President Sein's warning to the trouble-making, local, nationalistic forces have given a ray of hope to Rohingyas though addressing their fundamental rights is still a political taboo for both the government and opposition politicians.

Indeed, it is encouraging that on Thursday, President Sein's office warned that manipulators behind the recent violence would be exposed and legal action taken against them. Diplomats reported that the President also reached out to the Rakhine elders to seek their assistance to calm down the youth.

The Government is apparently under the siege of the extreme forces. Some explain the recent agitation as an attempt by the extreme Rakhine forces to prevent or derail the issuance of the Internal Investigation Commission's report or manipulate its findings.

The mandate of the Commission includes identifying the root causes of the inter-communal unrest, though there is not one single Rohingya among the 27 members of the Commission but there are some Rakhine extremist politicians. Rakhine extremists who look determined to cease the movement towards a "final solution," apparently are worried that the report could give legitimacy to President Sein to address the citizenship problem of Rohingyas.

When I visited Sittwe in early September heading an OIC observer team to Myanmar, it was obvious to me that the inter-communal conflict was not primarily a religious one but caused by deep rooted inter-ethnic resentment. I was particularly appalled by two things. Firstly, Rakhine locals whom I talked to all hated the UN and the NGOs. When I asked the question why, the answer was "I don't know, this is what we are told". Secondly, the high level of resentment and hatred expressed by the Buddhist monks against the Rohingya ethnic minority was also quite intriguing. However in a meeting with the Rakhine elders and businessmen pragmatism prevailed. I heard appeals for development and creation of employment opportunities. One Buddhist businessman requested assistance for provision of desperately needed rice crop machines. President Sein's recent statement that Myamnar would need assistance also from the Muslim countries was also a positive development.

Communities suffer most when extremists manipulate the populations by creating imaginary internal and external enemies. We should all encourage the democratization process in Myanmar and support the government's efforts to tackle the challenge posed by extreme Rakhine nationalists. However, we should not withhold asking the question whether Myanmar can build democracy without addressing the fundamental rights of the Rohingyas. It is time that Rohinhyas are given a prospect for their future as loyal and equal citizens of Myanmar and hatred against them should not be allowed to simmer.

Ufuk Gokcen  Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to the United Nations. 

More than 500 Arakanese Buddhist women took to the streets of Sittwe on Wednesday to protest the government decision to allow the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to open an aid office in Arakan State.

A spokesperson for the OIC, however, told The Irrawaddy that the office was not intended as a flagship for the Rohingya cause, and that it would provide humanitarian aid to both Buddhist and Muslim communities in the form of food and shelter.

Dr. Aye Maung, the chairman of Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), said that his party would accept all the help and humanitarian aid that was provided to those affected by the sectarian violence in the region. He stressed, however, that the RNDP objected to an OIC office in Arakan State capital Sittwe, and suggested that the group base its operations out of either Rangoon or Naypyidaw.

The 57-member OIC is a mostly Muslim bloc of nations which includes all the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. It encompasses some 1.6 billion people worldwide.

The OIC signed an MoU with the Burmese government on Aug. 11 to permit the group to open an office for humanitarian purposes in Rangoon and Sittwe. A delegation from the OIC then traveled to Arakan State in September to inspect the aftermath of communal clashes between Muslims and Buddhists in the strife-torn region.

Approximately 200 women began demonstrating on Wednesday afternoon in central Sittwe wearing t-shirts with slogans reading “No OIC.” As the protest gained momentum, an estimated 300 more women joined in.

“We are protesting because we heard that the OIC is coming to our country. We do not want them based here,” said protester Nyo Aye.

She told The Irrawaddy that the Buddhist women demonstrators supported the 1982 Citizenship Law, which fails to recognize the Rohingya as an indigenous ethnic group of Burma.

“The Bengali Muslims [Rohingyas] are illegal immigrants,” she said. “They should be sent to other countries.”

The demonstration took place just a day after some 500 Buddhist monks held a similar protest in Sittwe in front of the Bangladeshi consulate. A spokesman for the monks said they were demanding that the Burmese government rescind its offer to the OIC to open an office in Arakan State, because it would be used only to support Muslim people.

The Buddhist monks also delivered a letter to the Bangladeshi consulate calling for Dhaka to investigate and take action against those who destroyed Buddhist temples and pagodas in southern Bangladesh recently.

On Monday, Buddhist monks held a demonstration outside the US embassy in Rangoon where they voiced similar sentiments and offered their condolences to the US for the death of its ambassador in Libya last month.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, prominent Buddhist monk Ashin Ottama, who led the protest in Sittwe, said, “We will not let the OIC open an office in Arakan State even if the government has already agreed it.”

A delegation from the OIC met with representatives of Burma’s Ministry of Border Affairs in Rangoon during the second week of September. According to Dina Madani of the Muslim Minorities and Communities Department at the OIC in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Burmese ministry agreed to cooperate with the OIC in its humanitarian role and in establishing offices in the country.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday from OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Ms. Madani said, “We are laying the groundwork to open our offices in Burma by cooperating with non-government organizations that deal with humanitarian affairs. We will hopefully open our offices soon.”

In response to a question about the protests by Rakhine women and Buddhist monks, Ms. Madani said, “That’s unfortunate. But it’s certain people’s opinion, not the Burmese government’s.

“The OIC is only coming [to Burma] for humanitarian affairs,” she said. “We will help both sides—Buddhist and Muslim. There should be no discrimination when it comes to humanitarian affairs.

“I wanted to tell them [the protesters] that we are reaching out to both societies. We want to be partners in peace-building and trust-building. We are not there to discriminate on whether they [partners] are Buddhist or Muslim.

“Without dialogue, there will be more conflict. I do not think the people want this,” she said.

In the meantime, RNDP Chairman Aye Maung said that his party would raise an objection in Parliament to the OIC offices.

He said that the Arakanese people would accept help and humanitarian aid “from any organization and from any country,” but that it was unnecessary for the OIC to open an office in the region.

“We are afraid that the OIC will influence religion and politics in Arakan State,” he said. “It could even threaten the rule of law in our country.”

He reiterated that his party and the majority of Rakhine Buddhists at large would not object if the OIC opened offices in Rangoon or Naypyidaw in coordination with other members of the international community.

 

Sources Here:

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has collected around US$25 million in funds during the second consultative meeting on humanitarian aid in Doha, Qatar on Friday for victims of the Rohingya-Rakhine conflict in Myanmar. The funds will be used for rehabilitation and reconstruction in the areas affected by the conflict.

Leaders of the humanitarian institution collected about $15 million, while the remaining $10 million was obtained from other OIC members who had committed their financial help before the meeting.

OIC deputy secretary-general Atta El-Manan Bakhit said he believed the funds would increase. “The large, rich countries haven't donated yet,” he said.

OIC members, including Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates pledged to give between $50 million and $100 million during the first consultative meeting in Malaysia last August.

Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) chairman Jusuf Kalla, who attended the second meeting, said in his presentation that the OIC members needed to focus and take a definite step to resolve the conflict and avoid long discussions over data and action plans.

“The longer we delay, the greater our challenge will be. The Rohingya and Rakhine people will also suffer for longer,” he said.

Kalla asked the forum to decide three things in resolving the conflict: finalizing the action plan, collecting funds and establishing the system and organization to execute the plan.

Members at the second consultative meeting eventually agreed to form a consortium to speed up the rehabilitation of areas affected by the conflict.

The OIC will also collaborate with the PMI to open a representative office in Myanmar after both organizations signed an agreement letter with the Myanmar government and Myanmar Red Cross to pave the way for volunteers in the mission.

According to the Myanmar government, victims need at least 8,000 homes -- each one costing $5,000. A further $50 million to $100 million in funds will also be needed to rebuild houses, educational and health facilities, sanitation and other infrastructure in areas such as Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Sittwe in Rakhine province.

Recent tensions between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine left at least a dozen civilians dead and hundreds of homes destroyed. Around 70 thousand people are still living in refugee camps. (cor)

Sources Here:

The meeting will be organised by the Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC ) and Qatar Charity with about 30 regional and international organisations attending the event.

The event follows the first consultative meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, earlier last month.

Ambassador Atta al-Mannan Bakhait, the Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs at OIC said in a press release issued here yesterday that the Doha meeting is the first of its kind in the Arab region since such organisations have not met under one umbrealla to discuss the gravely deteriorating situation in Myanmar.

For his part, Qatar Charity’s executive chairman Yusuf Ahmed al-Kuwari highlighted in a press statement yesterday the importance of co-ordination among those organisations interested in the issue of Rohingya Muslims and the need to take practical steps in this respect.

The co-ordinated joint action between all the concerned organisations working in the rescue operation in Myanmar, whether Islamic or international, would further boost the support needed for the Rohingya Muslims urgently, said al-Kuwari in his statement.

The OIC and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) provided recommendations related to the situation in Myanmar after they held a meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

The meeting asked the international community to support and mobilise efforts in Myanmar in accordance with humanitarian principles like impartiality, neutrality, and independence.

It called for the creation of a special fund for reconstruction and rehabilitation in the region of Arakan under the auspices of the OIC, and an international media campaign, including social media, to share information about the protracted violence in Myanmar and humanitarian consequences for the minority groups in the country.

It called for the setting up of a private group of leading international advocate for peace, sustainable solutions to the unrest in Myanmar and humanitarian consequences for minorities in the country.

It noted that some 69,000 people in Myanmar (also known as Burma) have been displaced by recent clashes in Rakhine State in Western Burma, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). About 46% of the displaced people are children.

More than 5,000 buildings were destroyed. The conditions are dire: Fires have been burning for weeks and a state of emergency has been declared.

According to government reports, the majority of those fleeing are Muslims. The UN reports that some 800,000 Muslims of Rohingya ethnicity live in Myanmar in the northern Rakhine State.

They are regarded as some of the most persecuted people in the world, and face regular food shortages. As clashes continue in their home area, their desperate situation has turned even more horrid.

Some who have fled the recent violence have crossed over into neighbouring Bangladesh. But as the violence continues and more refugees attempt to escape, many are being turned away and any existing refugee camps are being capped.

Sources Here:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Burma’s President Thein Sein this weekend the ethnic unrest in Rakhine State could threaten the country’s recent progress in democratic reforms and also spill across international borders.

Burmese President Thein Sein with Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon at his residence in New York. Photo: President's office

Ban made his comment during a meeting with Thein Sein and the head the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

He told Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who heads the 57-nation group, that the Rakhine troubles have potential wider implications of the issue on Burma's reform process and on other countries, particularly Bangladesh which is home to tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees.

An OIC committee set up to deal with the Rohingya issue met for the first time in New York this week and called for Rohingyas to be given rights as citizens in Burma, Reuters news agency reported. Ihsanoglu said he wanted to visit Burma when the government was ready to “to remedy the fundamental rights issues of the Rohingya Muslims.”

Fighting between Rakhine natives and Rohingya Muslims in the state erupted in June, claiming close to 90 people killed and thousands of buildings and homes burned.

At the United Nations General Assembly this week, leaders of Muslim countries called for action to deal with the unrest.

Thein Sein promised Ban that his government would tackle the problem.

Thein Sein was named to head the government in March of last year and began a process of reforming the country after decades of military rule. He told the Voice of America on Saturday that the news media will play an important role in the democratization of Burma.

“We have to thank media because they are telling the stories of the country which public should know about. By publishing or broadcasting by media, [the] public would understand the situation, and I'm thankful for that,” he said.

An estimated 800,000 Rohingyas in Burma do not have the status of an official ethnic minority, and many ordinary Burmese people say they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

Since the unrest began, a series of Islamic delegations have toured the region and expressed concern about the plight of the Rohingyas while calling for international aid.

Sources Here:

ARU DIRECTOR GENERAL ADDRESSES THE OIC MINISTERIAL CONTACT GROUP AT UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY; HIGHLIGHTED THE CURRENT SITUATION AND THE IMMEDIATE/LONGTERM NEEDS FOR ROHINGYA

Members of an influential Islamic body are visiting Burma’s Arakan state, a government official said Tuesday, to survey fallout from deadly sectarian unrest between Buddhist and Muslim communities. 

A delegation from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) led by the group’s representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ufuk Gokcen, arrived in Arakan state on Sunday, according to an official in the state capital Sittwe. 

“They met the union border affairs minister and Rakhine [Arakanese] chief minister here and also visited some refugee camps and made donations,” he said, adding that the group concluded their visit on Monday. 

Fighting in Arakan state has left almost 90 people dead, both Buddhists and Muslims, since it erupted in June according to an official estimate, although rights groups fear the real toll is much higher. 

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Burmese forces of opening fire on stateless Rohingya Muslims during the violence, an accusation denied by the government — prompting concern across the Islamic world. 

At a summit last month in the Saudi Arabian holy city of Mecca, the 57-member OIC decided to take its concerns over the treatment of the group to the UN. 

It also condemned “the continued recourse to violence by the Myanmar authorities against the members of this minority and their refusal to recognise their right to citizenship”. 

Burma in August agreed to allow the OIC to provide aid to the region, on the condition it agreed to assist all communities in the area. 

According to a report in the English language state newspaper the New Light of Myanmar on Tuesday, the delegation had “a cordial discussion on (the) real situation that broke out in Rakhine State”, as well as rehabilitation and sustainable development. 

Hundreds of homes were razed in the unrest and an estimated 70,000 people, the majority of them Rohingya, were left displaced in government-run camps and shelters. 

The US on Monday said it had “great concern” about the humanitarian situation in Arakan after its own delegation, led by the new ambassador to the country Derek Mitchell and senior envoy Joseph Yun, ended a visit to the area. 

Speaking a dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in Burma are seen by the government and many in the country as illegal immigrants. 

Sources Here :

JEDDAH – A fact-finding mission from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is traveling to Myanmar (Burma) Wednesday for ten days to investigate into the recent violence against Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine region and the repression and human rights violations, according to a press release issued here, Wednesday.

The mission will visit the capital Naypyidaw to meet government officials and from there it will visit villages in Rakhine (formerly Arakan) affected by the violence including Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Sittwe.

The fact-finding mission will also set up the visit by the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, which will follow soon.

The mission is expected to prepare a report on its findings, which will be presented to the Contact Group on Myanmar that will meet in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly at the end of September.

The decision to send a fact-finding mission and form a Contact Group at the ministerial level was made at the extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee held on August 5th at OIC Headquarters in Jeddah and adopted by the 4th Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit held in Makkah on August 14. — SG

Sources Here: