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The senior Bangladeshi diplomat in Turkey

The senior Bangladeshi diplomat in Turkey has said the international community, with Turkey as a leading Muslim figure, should step forward to put an end to the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Arakan state.

"The international community, I mean Muslim countries and Western countries who can afford, should come forward", Bangladeshi ambassador in Ankara Zulfiqur Rahman told AA in an exclusive interview.

"Bangladesh cannot do it alone, the international community, for example Turkey as a leading Muslim country should come forward," he said.

Rahman noted that Bangladesh had been facing the Rohingya Muslims issue for decades.
He said there had been two major migration flows from Arakan to Bangladesh in 1978 and 1991, as nearly 450,000 people had sought shelter in Bangladeshi territory.
The ambassador noted that most of these refugees had been sent back after talks between governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar, but in 2005 the Myanmar side had stopped the repatriation process.

We have two camps in Bangladesh and there are about 30,000 people still living there," he said, adding that there were about half a million Rohingya people who currently lived in Bangladesh as undocumented workers.
"We are actually in a big trouble. Because, we have been hosting these people on and off for the last 30 years and it is costing us huge," Rahman stated.


-Call for international assistance


The ambassador said the Bangladeshi government had decided that it could not take it anymore without international assistance.

"The international community is not coming forward, is not talking to the Myanmar government to find a permanent solution. This is an ethnic issue in Myanmar. Why people are fleeing their country? Nobody wants to leave their home. That's not their choice, they are forced to do that. So, international community should work with the Myanmar government to address that issue," he said.

Commenting on the latest incidents in Arakan, Rahman said this time Bangladesh told those trying to flee Myanmar not to cross the border, provided them with humanitarian aid on the river and sent them back. 
"In principle, we decided that it is time for the international community to work with Myanmar, rather than with the government Bangladesh. Because, we cannot do anything to improve the situation in Myanmar," he said.

Rahman said Bangladesh was a small country with a population of 160 million, "We cannot afford to take more people actually. That is pure and simple," he said. 
"With all our sympathy for these Muslim people across our border who have some similarities with us in terms of religion and language, we think that it is the time the international community looks at the issue very seriously and take the steps so that these people can go back to their home country," Rahman noted.

The ambassador said Myanmar was now going through a transition process in terms of democratization and it was a good time to talk to the government of Myanmar to accept the Rohingya people as citizens and grant them rights.

"The international community should work with all the leaders in Myanmar and tell them 'These are your people and citizens, you have to take them as your citizens'," he said.
Rahman also said the official process between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the return of the Rohingya to Arakan had started, but it did not proceed well despite promises at highest level. 

"We are in a very difficult situation. These are our Muslim population, we cannot ignore them, but also we cannot host them for indefinite future. There should be a solution and the only honorable solution is that they should be able to go back to their home with honor and dignity, and giving them all the rights," the ambassador said.

Source here 

More than three months have passed since violent clashes erupted between Buddhist Rakhines and Rohingya Muslims in Western Myanmar.

Though the humanitarian conditions among the refugees of that violence have improved in recent weeks, the mutual hatred and suspicion between the two communities persists as reports of new violence emerge.

In Sittwe, the provincial capital, the Rakhine majority has reached an informal consensus that Rohingyas uprooted by the violence and now living in makeshift camps outside the town will not be allowed to return for any reason.

On September 4, a small group of Rohingyas came to Sittwe’s largest market to buy produce, accompanied by riot police for their protection.

As soon as news spread of their presence, a group of Rakhines armed with sticks came out to meet them and police moved quickly to return the Rohingyas to their camp on the outskirts of the town.

“We cannot let in any Rohingyas in the town again who are always plotting against us,” said Khin San Mu, a Rakhine shopper at the market. He added that the Rakhine shopkeepers would not sell anything to the Rohingyas even when they offered to pay twice the going price.

Animosity towards the Rohingyas has been so intense that even aid workers from international relief organizations operating in the region, many of whom are Muslims and mistakenly identified as Indian, have been the targets of mob attacks.

Ko Shine, a Muslim man from Yangon working as part of the Malaysian Relief Agency, was beaten last week on a street in Sittwe by a group of Rakhines in broad daylight and was forced to leave the town. He suffered minor head injuries.

“I would not go back again to Rakhine state,” said Ko Shine, who is now back in Yangon and receiving medical treatment for his injuries.

However, the violence has also affected the Rakhine community.

Rohingyas reportedly attacked two Rakhine men in separate incidents last week. One of the victims was later found dead in a paddy field.

These attacks took place as members of the state-backed Commission of Inquiry into violence in the state made their first visit to the region.

A member of the commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the conflict on racial and religious lines was so complex, there was no easy solution to integrate the two communities.

Oo Hla Thein, attorney general for Rakhine state, said the official policy of integration has faced fierce local opposition from Rakhines.

“We want both communities to live in peaceful co-existence again,” he said. But what can we do when the local population is against it?”

For now, nearly 60,000 Rohingyas and 5,000 Buddhist Rakhines whose houses were burned down in the conflict are still homeless and living on food aid from the UN and other aid agencies.

“We want to go back to our homes and get recognized as full citizens. But we have no idea when that can happen,” said Mahmud Tayab, a 26-year-old Rohingya refugee.

Sources Here:

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - People have held a rally in Paris in support of minority Rohingya Muslims who have been mistreated by Myanmar government.

People gathered in the French capital to call for an end to discrimination and sectarian violence against Rohingya Muslims. The protesters held signs reading “Stop the killing of Muslims in Burma,” and “Don’t kill my brother.”

The Buddhist-majority government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas, claiming they are not native to the country. This is while the Rohingyas migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.

Hundreds of Rohingyas have been killed in recent months, with thousands more being displaced following rising concerns over a state-sponsored ethnic cleansing of Rohingya population in Myanmar.

“First of all their survival is very important. If we have no rights to survive on our homelands then democracy and human rights is nothing for us,” a pro-Rohingya activist, Maung Hla Aung, said.

“Local authorities as well as the police control each and every house of Rohingya people,” he added while describing the violent acts against Rohingyas.

Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the Myanmar government for the killing of minority Rohingya Muslims during a recent wave of sectarian violence in the country.

The UN earlier said that decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services.

“They are denied the citizenships, they are replaced, I think 3000 of Rohingyas are placed in camps, and in these camps one out of 5 children can’t live longer than 5 years,” said a French protester.

The protester criticized Myanmar’s Nobel Peace Prize winner and leading politician Aung San Suu Kyi for not taking enough actions to stop the violence, saying, “A woman who has been detained for her political views should have compassion to other people.”
Sources Here:
The United Nation's refugee agency calls them the world's most persecuted ethnic minority.

And almost half of the total population of three million people have already fled Myanmar in the face of discrimination and violence.

Their plight had rarely made headlines except briefly earlier this year, after attacks against Rohingya Muslims in their home state, which left hundreds dead and caused thousands to flee.
Mohamad Sadek, a Rohingya refugee in Malaysia, lost a relative in the recent violence in Rakhine or Arakan as it is also known. 

Despite Myanmar's recent dramatic political reforms, there seems little hope that people like these impoverished refugees in Malaysia can ever return home. 

The Myanmar government still refuses to recognize the Rohingya as citizens, saying they are migrants from Bangladesh. 

Many people had high hopes that Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, would speak out about the plight of the Rohingya. But she has remained silent and when questioned whether the Rohingya were citizens of her country, she said "I don't know".

At the Perdana Global Peace forum on the plight of the Rohingya, Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said the conference wouldn't be looking to condemn Myanmar but rather seek long term solutions.



After a panel discussion with international speakers including the UN's former special envoy to Myanmar, the delegates passed a resolution to press the Myanmar government to recognize the Rohingya as its citizens.

Press TV


A one-day conference on the situation of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State was scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday, according to the New Straits Times. Former PM Mahathir Mohamad was to deliver the keynote address, with other speakers including Burmese academic Dr Maung Zarni and Palestine Solidarity Campaign Thailand chairman Stuart Ward. Maung Kyaw Nu, president of the Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand, said the purpose of the event was “to seek justice” for Rohingyas killed in recent communal violence in western Burma.




INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON THE PLIGHT OF THE ROHINGYA: SOLUTION?
KUALA LUMPUR
17 SEPTEMBER 2012

RESOLUTION

The “International Conference on the Plight of the Rohingya: Solution ” was convened by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 17 September 2012.

The Conference was attended by participants comprising representatives from the diplomatic corps, international organisations, parliamentarians, human rights groups, academia, civil society, non-governmental organisations and media, as well as leaders of Rohingya organisations from several countries.

YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia and President of PGPF, delivered the Keynote Speech.

Other prominent Speakers included as in the appendix.

We, the undersigned organisations and undersigned participants of the Conference;

Acknowledging the minority Muslim Rohingya are an ethnic group numbering more than 1 million presently residing in the Rakhine state of Myanmar,

Recognising that Rohingyas have been living in Myanmar for centuries and had been recognised as full-fledged citizens of the state of Burma (Myanmar) by previous governments of Burma, the international community and the authorities during the British colonial period.

Mindful of the decision of the government of Myanmar to effectively strip the Rohingyas of citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law,

Observing with serious concern that the Rakhine Buddhist community and in particular the Rohingya Muslim community suffered from sectarian violence that erupted in Rakhine State in June 2012,

Observing the current tragic situation facing the Rohingya including violent acts of oppression and human rights violations by state security forces, widespread discrimination by the dominant ethnic Burman society, threats to their security by hostile local Rakhine populations, and continued statelessness that makes them highly vulnerable to abuses,

Concerned over the thousands of displaced and stateless Rohingyas living in Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Australia, India, Japan, Pakistan, the Middle East and throughout the world,

Gravely concerned that the government of Myanmar has failed to observe its responsibility to fulfil its international human rights and humanitarian obligations with respect to the Rohingyas

Fully cognisant of systematic crimes against the Rohingya community such as killings, forced labour, rape, and denial of access to adequate humanitarian aid,

Echoing the various concerns about the mistreatment and fate of the Rohingya held by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and citizens concerned with global humanitarian issues,

Noting with disappointment the absence of a comprehensive solution in addressing the plight of the Rohingya,

Seriously concerned with the consequences of a prolonged non-resolution of the Rohingya issue including the segregation of displaced Rohingya in the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe, the continued lack of humanitarian access and sufficient aid to displaced Rohingya, and spill-over effects on neighbouring South Asian and ASEAN member countries,

Recognising the political and ethno-religious nature of the issue and human rights dimensions that require determined action by Myanmar’s leadership with the support of the people,

Unequivocally agree to;

Strongly condemn the continuing acts of violence, rape, beatings, burning of dwellings, killings, arbitrary arrests, detentions and enforced disappearances of the Rohingya,

Strongly deplore all forms of oppression, suppression, persecution, discrimination, intimidation and severe restrictions against the Rohingya on the grounds of ethnicity and religion,

Call on the government of Myanmar to recognise the legitimate rights of the Rohingyas to live in peace, to move freely within the country, and create conditions for the safe and voluntary return of displaced Rohingya to their homes or alternative locations of their choosing without persecution or discrimination including respect for the rights to shelter, food, water, health care, education and basic sanitation according to international human rights law, norms and standards,

Call on the government of Myanmar to amend the 1982 Citizenship Act to recognise or grant citizenship to persons of Rohingya ethnicity on the same basis as others with genuine and effective links to Myanmar by reasons such as birth, residency or descent, and treat them as equal citizens under International and Burmese Law. Ensure, in accordance to Article 7 of the convention on the Rights of the Child, that Rohingya children have the right to acquire a nationality where otherwise they would be stateless,

Strongly urge the government of Myanmar to stabilise the situation in the Rakhine state and to take the necessary administrative actions to protect, safeguard and uphold the lives, dignity and property of the Rohingyas as well as legally recognising them as one of Myanmar’s ethnic groups on the same basis as other ethnic group,

Call upon the government of Myanmar to carry out full and fair investigations and, where warranted, conduct trials meeting international due process standards against those individuals and state security forces who were responsible for criminal offenses, including rape, killings, arson and looting, during sectarian violence in Rakhine state,

Take note of the government of Myanmar’s decision to establish a 27- member Commission to probe the sectarian violence and recommend steps to resolve the crisis,

Welcome the government of Myanmar’s decision to allow diplomatic missions, independent observers and fact-finding teams including those from the OIC, ASEAN and the Perdana Global Peace Foundation to visit Rakhine state to ascertain the situation affecting the Rohingya,

Urge the government of Myanmar to recognise the multi-ethnic reality of the country and that its failure to resolve the Rohingya problem will undermine its current reform and progress towards national reconciliation, democracy and prosperity,

Call on Aung San Syu Kyi and the National League for Democracy Party as well as other political parties to promote ethnic rights and equality in Myanmar and take an unequivocal and proactive role in ending the plight of the Rohingyas,

Request the governments of Bangladesh and other destination countries to provide temporary protection to the Rohingya and to allow the international community to provide food and other humanitarian assistance to them pending a political solution of the Rohingya problem,

Urge ASEAN, to play a more proactive, substantive and effective role in resolving the Rohingya problem in the interest of regional peace and stability,

Call on Muslim groups and communities to show due solidarity and exert pressure on their governments, UN agencies civil and faith – based societies to actively support the rights of the Rohingya,

Strongly encourage ASEAN and OIC’s efforts in bringing up the Rohingya issue to the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York,

Call on the UN to facilitate the establishment of a ‘cordon sanitaire’ for internally displaced Rohingyas to provide a safe and humane environment for the victims pending the attainment of a political solution,

Convey a copy of the Resolution to the Prime Minister of Malaysia, President of Myanmar, the Secretary General of ASEAN, the Secretary General of the OIC and the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
17 September 2012

Sources Here:
PUTRAJAYA - THE Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) wants the international court to take action against those who have persecuted, raped and killed its people in Myanmar. 

Its president, Maung Kyaw Nu, will also call for the setting up of an inquiry by the international media to look into the number of victims in the latest flare up between the ethnic minority and the state, as well as a plea for the United Nations to lend a hand at the Plight of Rohingya Solution Conference to be held in Kuala Lumpur today. 

The conference is organised by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation. 

"We are here together to seek justice, to find the killers and haul them to the international court. This is the only solution. Punishing the wrongdoers with the law," he said at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday. 

The one-day conference, to be held at the Islamic Arts Museum, will also feature speakers such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Thailand chairman Stuart Ward, Myanmar academic Dr Maung Zarni and Thai Representative to the Asean Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights Dr Sriprapha Petcharameree. 

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will deliver the keynote address. 

Maung, who said he had been a political prisoner since 1974, also hoped for protection to be given to the Rohingyas as there was none under the current regime. 

Myanmar security forces are reported to have killed, raped or carried out mass arrests of Rohingya Muslims since sectarian violence erupted between Rakhine Buddhists in the northeast of Myanmar in June. 

Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.

Sources Here :


Free Rohingya Campaign organized signature campaign to be sent to US state Department to urge US government to engage actively to stop ethnic cleansing and Genocide of Rohingya at Arakan Burma. Five thousand signatures are expected to be collected from ten Islamic centers in Oregon State. 

Muslim communities in Oregon are very touch by the plight of Rohingya and vow to work together with Free Rohingya campaign and Oregon Rohingya Society until permanent solution is achieved and Rohingya are on longer vulnerable for genocide. 

Portland Muslim communities will organized a big rally together with Burma taskforce USA at September 22 as part of 100 cities rally to show solidarity with the persecuted Rohingya in Burma. 

All ten Islamic centers will have exhibition about Rohingya for three days concurrently until Sunday September 16,2012.


Buthidaung, Arakan State: A Rohingya Muslim was killed in tortured by the concerned authorities in jail of Buthidaung on September 11, said a businessman on condition of anonymity. 

“He was arrested from Maungdaw Township by the Nasaka personnel over allegation two years ago.” 

The dead body was identified as Moulvi Mohammed Rafique son of Gul Mohamed, hailed from Gudu Sora of Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, Burma. 

According to a reliable source, Rafique had completed his jail term over two years in the Buthidaung jail. 

The source also said, he was severely tortured and beaten up furiously by the concerned authorities in the jail after occurred communal violence between Rakhines and Rohingyas. There were some spots in the dead body’s face and whole body. 

Like Rafique, many Rohingya Muslim prisoners were severely tortured and killed by the concerned authorities and buried without knowledge of their relatives during the communal violence, different sources said. 

However, the dead body was not handed over to his family members by the Burmese authority, but he was buried in a Rohingya cemetery nearby Buthidaung jail, a villager elder told at Kaladanpress. 

The prisoners are now languishing in the critical condition. They are suffering from food, medical assistance and etc. They can’t bathe every day, but they can bathe once in a week and the water is very limited. The prisoners are provided food with Dal very imperfect twice a day, but no curry and no breakfast. So, many prisoners are suffering of skin diseases and food in the jail, said a man not to mention his name. 

The man also said, the Rohingya prisoners had been severely tortured and beaten up by the concerned authorities since a month after arrest in communal violence. During the torturing, the concerned authorities ask, how to feel “Bangli Kala”? They (prisoners) could not talk with each other inside the jail before. Now, they can talk little bit with other there. 

According to police and Hluntin from Maungdaw Township, about 450 prisoners are detained in the jail since (June the riot was occurred in Maungdaw. However, according to SBTO, of Buthidaung, over 880 prisoners are detained in the jail. 

The situation of Maungdaw: 

On September 16 at about 2:00 am, a group of Nasaka personnel (Burma’s border security force) from 3-mile went to Khanda Para (village tract) of Maungdaw township and arrested three Rohingyas from the houses, said a villager. 

The arrested were identified as Younus son of Abdul Karim, Abdul Latif son of Abdur Rahim and Kasim, they belong to Khanda Para village of Maungdaw township, Arakan state, Burma. 

They were arrested by the Nasaka personnel at night without giving any reason. The Nasaka personnel also destroyed Younus’s house. 

According to sources, Nasaka personnel’s’ intention was to loot houses and rape women, but they failed. So, they were arrested by the Nasaka personnel. Now, they are detained in the Nasaka camp in 3-mile. 

Sources also said, many Rohingya Muslims have been arbitrary arrested and harassed by the Nasaka personnel, Hluntin and police over allegation, but the persecution is not stopped after US team and the Foreign Minister of Turkey visited in Arakan State, Burma. The persecution is increasing and the situation is worse day by day.

Sources Here :
ICAPP vice chairman Abdul Matin Khasru has made clear Bangladesh's stand on the Rohingya issue that Dhaka would not accept any more Rohingya refugee, reports BSS.

"Bangladesh could no longer afford to accept any more Rohingya refugee from Myanmar," Mr Matin, also MP and Awami League law secretary, said while holding meetings with top leaders of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National League for Democracy (NLD) during their visit to Myanmar from September 11-13.

The delegation held meetings with NLD Chairman and Member of Myanmar Parliament Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar parliament speaker Thura U Shwe Mann and USDP Secretary General U Htay Oo in Myanmar's new capital Nay Pyi Taw.

During the meeting with Suu Kyi, the Special Mission of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) congratulated Aung San Suu Kyi on her party's victory in the last by-elections and especially on her becoming MP of Myanmar. 

During the meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, Mr Matin informed her about Bangladesh's position about preventing the influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. 

"They are neither recognised by Myanmar nor Bangladesh as their citizens and they are now stateless in the world of God", he said. 

Mr Matin appreciated the actions and measures being taken by Myanmar in the Rakhine state and also Kyi's statement regarding the need for reviewing the Myanmar Citizenship Law of 1982. 

He hoped that the untold miseries of these stateless people of the Rakhine state would lessen to a great extent on review of the citizenship law and action taken thereafter,. 

He conveyed greetings of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and invited her (Suu Kyi) on behalf of the Bangladesh premier to visit Bangladesh.

Suu Kyi also stated that she was very concerned about the situation in the Rakhine state, especially because it had been happening from time to time. 

She felt the need for looking at such untoward events pragmatically and for taking practical measures including the need for justice being done to all. 

Mentioning the porous border between Myanmar and Bangladesh, she stressed the need for ensuring more vigilance and security at the borders to prevent cross-border movement.
The humanitarian mission to Myanmar should be further empowered by having the Indonesian government exert political pressure on Myanmar in order to ensure the protection of the Rohingya Muslims, lawyers have said.

“We are sending them logistical aid, treating them as though they were victims of natural disasters, when what they need most is legal status, adequate livelihoods and a stable future,” Mahendradatta, one of a team of Muslim lawyers, said in Jakarta on Saturday.

“The most significant problem is their legal status, and Indonesia’s government should put more pressure on the Myanmar government to grant them citizenship,” he added.

According to data from the Foreign Ministry, 394 Rohingya have sought refugee status in Indonesia, with 124 of them ready to settle in other third countries. 

The remaining 270 displaced persons are being sheltered at a number of refugee camps in the country.

According to Mahendradatta, the Indonesian government cannot offer them citizenship because the law does not allow refugees to apply for citizenship.

“These people have no legal status. They can’t get jobs. They can’t own land. It is as if they were living dead,” Mahendradatta said.

“The only way is to force the Myanmar government to give them legal status, and to ensure their security as citizens,” he added.

Meanwhile, some of the Rohingya refugees who are in Indonesia have expressed their refusal to return home, fearing the ongoing dispute between the Muslims and the Buddhist majority.

Farouk Husein, 32, arrived in Medan, North Sumatra, in December 2010 after traveling for months, having escaped from Rakhine state.

He and his children fled first to Bangladesh, then moved to Thailand and ended up arriving in Indonesia, where they are waiting to move on again to seek asylum.

“We are heartened by the fact that Indonesians have welcomed us so warmly, and we have been given security and aid. But, please don’t send us home. We are in the process of seeking asylum in another country,” Husein told The Jakarta Post.

“I would rather kill myself than return home and face that torture again,” he added.

Husein is one of 173 Rohingya refugees who are living in Medan. He said that his brother had been killed in a clash between Muslims and Buddhists in 1992.

“Some of our people were killed when they tried to get away; but when I fled to Bangladesh, they just let us go. It’s as if they no longer want us there in the country,” said Husein.

Muhammad Kasim, 35, a Rakhine Muslim who has been in Medan since 2010, said he had left Myanmar to seek a better future.

“We were living like animals. We had no legal status. We had identity cards but it was written on them that we were only living in Myanmar temporarily, even though we were born there,” Kasim said.

Last week, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) signed a cooperation agreement with the Myanmarese Red Cross to provide financial and technical assistance for short- and long-term programs.

The PMI, chaired by former vice president Jusuf Kalla, had also sent personnel and humanitarian aid, comprising eight staff, 500 sanitary kits, 3,000 blankets and 10,000 sarongs, valued at more than US$100 million. (nad)

Sources Here:
WHY is Asean silent on the issue of Rohingya Muslims, who have been suffering for centuries under the Myanmar army junta? Recently, they were told to leave the country to a third world nation willing to receive them. This is cruelty towards their own people and it seems that the world is just watching the injustice done to them, without any assistance, support or solution.

In June 2012, over 2000 people were displaced in sectarian violence in Myanmar, in which most victims were Muslims. The government promised a full investigation. Representatives from different religions and minorities condemned the atrocities inflicted on the Rohingya Muslims which is a serious human rights violation that the United Nations should stop immediately. 

In June 2012, 11 innocent Muslims were killed by the Burmese Army and the Buddhist mobs after bringing them down from a bus. A vehement protest was carried out in the Muslim majority province of Arakan, but the protesters fell victims to the tyranny of the mob and the army. People were reported killed and millions of homes destroyed in fires as Rohingyas and Buddhist-ethnic Arakanese clashed in western Myanmar.

Myanmar has a Buddhist majority. The Muslim minority in Myanmar are mostly the Rohingyas and the descendants of Muslim immigrants from India (including what is now Bangladesh) and China, as well as descendants of earlier Arab and Persian settlers. Indian Muslim were brought to Burma by the British to aid them in clerical work and business. After independence, many Muslims remained in the country. 

Over the years, thousands of Rohingyas have fled to Thailand. According to reports, there are roughly 111,000 refugees housed in 9 camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. In February 2009, there was evidence of refugees being towed to sea and abandoned and other reports of brutality by the Thai military in which Thailand's then prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that there were "some instances" in which Rohingyas were pushed out to sea.

Will the present generation see the light of day? They are part of mankind, why then are we responding apathetically towards them? Asean must respond immediately to solve their issues. Please be sympathetic and empathetic towards the Rohingyas.

K.T. Maran
Seremban

Sources Here:
Aung San Suu Kyi’s plate seems to be full. She had fought for years for democracy against the military junta. Vindicated, she entered Burma’s parliament to build a coalition by representing her party, the National Democratic League (NLD), after winning a by-election. She tended to a steady stream of foreign dignitaries who visited Burma right after the military government granted her freedom. Then for the first time in years she set foot outside Burma to visit foreign countries and open paths for diplomatic relationships.

While all this was going on, there was trouble brewing at home – an ethnic clash between the Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslims.

On June 2nd, in the Western state of Rakhina ethnic Buddhists killed as many as ten Rohingya Muslims, in retaliation for the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men. The events that followed saw scores of burnt houses, killings, and Rohingya Muslims fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh.

The ethnic divide between the Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslims is troubling. The Rohingyas, particularly, are caught in a political, economic, and social limbo between Bangladesh and Burma. There are about 26,000 Rohingya Muslims living in Bangladesh, 22,000 with legal refugee status. The future of the rest is unknown if and when Burma decides to grant legal refugees a resident status. For now, the 26,000 Rohingya Muslims continue to live in a squalid condition in Bangladesh.

For most part of her adult life Ms. Suu Kyi stood for human rights. Can she resolve the long-standing ethnic tension in Burma, which requires a unity and solidarity among the politicians, the religious leaders, and the military leaders?

A coalition of Thein Sein’s government and Ms. Suu Kyi’s party should try to engage with their Bangladeshi counterpart to discuss the future of the refugees and find a way to transform “reckless optimism” and “healthy skepticism” into achievable solutions to the ethnic crisis.

Engaging the Association of South Asian Nations (ASEAN) to handle this crisis could become a crucial part of Ms. Suu Kyi’s democratic campaign against human rights violations. So far, ASEAN’s policy of addressing the human rights issue remains as a “principle of non-interference in domestic affairs.” ASEAN nations have done little to address human rights violation of an estimated 1 million Rohingya Muslims.

Its charter on human rights issues remains tacit. In recognizing Burma’s ethnic strife, Ms. Suu Kyi has noted the need to repair this ongoing problem; however, she has also indicated that the ethnic problem “should not be allowed to get in the way of restoring democracy.”

The ethnic crisis in Burma deserves a concerted effort from Thein Sein’s government and Ms. Suu Kyi’s party as part of the democratic reform in Burma. Democratic reform in Burma requires a solution to the ethnic crisis that has engulfed the country for years. Her engagement with the political and religious leaders of the Buddhists of the Rakhina State and the Rohingya Muslims to work out a permanent solution to this decades-long crisis could be paramount. She could also urge the foreign leaders to cooperate with ASEAN through bi-lateral engagements. They will be unlikely to ignore her. 
Sources Here :
According to recent reports, Muslims in Myanmar are suffering a tragic plight. Reports shows several hundred of nearly one million Muslims have been killed since June 28 during clashes in the western region of Rakhine. 

The UN has described Myanmar Muslims as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. 
They are deprived from basic rights including education and employment and are subject to forced labor, extortion and other coercive measures. The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize the Muslim minority. 

Human Right Watch Organization reported earlier in July that "Burmese security forces have been implicated in killings and other abuses since the sectarian violence in northern Arakan State began." 

This is while the United States and the European Union are largely silent about the human right violations and the massacres targeting Muslims is Myanmar. 

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who is deeply admired by the United States' and the British government is criticized because of her silence on the plight of Muslims. 

The head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) urged Myanmar's pro-democracy Aung San Suu Kyi to help end violence against the Muslim community in her country. 

This week's Islam and Life asks: What is happening to the Muslims of Myanmar and why?

Its Buddhist majority might see fit to rally behind Aung San Suu Kyi for greater democratic rights while it continues to persecute other groups.
anmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has extolled Buddhism for allowing her a sense of inner freedom during her 15 years of house arrest. She's also said that Buddhist precepts can guide her country's democratic transition, encouraging reconciliation with the military instead of anger and revenge.

But the more nationalistic face of this Buddhist tradition, brought into focus by recent violence directed against Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine, could yet derail democratic reforms in Myanmar (also known as Burma). 

In fact, Suu Kyi has a Buddhism problem, specifically the chauvinism and xenophobia of Burma's Theravada Buddhist culture, which encourages a sense of racial and religious superiority among majority ethnic Burmese Buddhists (60% of the population) at the expense of ethnic and religious minorities. The resulting tensions could leave the country politically fragmented and strengthen the military's hand just as it has been forced to loosen its grip. 

This is why Derek Mitchell, the first U.S. ambassador to Burma in 22 years, was right in August to call the fate of the ethnic nationalities the country's "defining challenge." It is also why this issue should be on the top of the agenda this week when Suu Kyi comes to Washington to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. So far, Suu Kyi's response to treatment of the stateless Rohingya Muslims in Burma has been disappointing. 

The anti-Rohingya violence, which took place in June, led to scores of deaths, the burning of settlements and a refugee exodus of 90,000 people into neighboring Bangladesh. There, more than 200,000 refugees from Burma still languish in makeshift camps from the last anti-Rohingya pogrom 20 years ago. According to the United Nations, the Rohingyas, who number about 800,000 worldwide, are one of the world's most persecuted minorities. 

They are subject to forced labor, extortion, police harassment, movement restrictions, land confiscation, a de facto one-child policy and limited access to jobs, education and healthcare. A 1982 Burmese law denies them citizenship, based on the presumption that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Burma for generations. There's also their darker skin color, which makes them "ugly as ogres" by comparison to the "fair and soft" complexion of native Burmese, as a Burmese consul general stated in 2009. 

Burmese President Thein Sein has said that the solution to the Rohingya problem is to put them into internal U.N.-administered camps, or to expel them. This proposal already has enhanced his popularity as a defender of the Buddhist faith, with monks taking to the streets in support. 

But other minorities have been put-upon by Buddhist nationalism too, which views them as threats to "the land, the race and the religion." Many of these groups, such as the Karen, the Shan, the Mon and the Kachin, have been in a state of rebellion off and on against the central government since Burma gained independence in 1948. 

Buddhism played a key role in undermining the military's grip on power. Opposition of monks to the regime, which boiled over in 2007's Saffron Revolution, posed a significant challenge to the military's popular legitimacy by depicting it as an enemy of Buddha sasana, or righteous moral rule. To deflect that challenge, the government has played the race card, largely through propaganda stressing that Buddhism is the religion of "true Burmese" and that the health and purity of a uniquely Burmese form of Buddhism are at risk from "outside" contamination. 

Although this strategy wasn't successful enough to fend off assaults on the military's legitimacy, it was effective at feeding Buddhist chauvinism and insecurity. The result has been a rising tide of nationalism in which the Buddhist majority might rally behind Suu Kyi and her monastic allies for greater democratic rights, but still sees other groups in a subordinate and often racist light. 

As the violence against the Rohingyas played out, the newly liberated Internet lit up with racist invective. Using a pejorative for the darker-skinned Muslims, one commenter declared, "We should kill all the Kalars in Burma or banish them, otherwise Buddhism will cease to exist." A nationalist group set up a Facebook page entitled "Kalar Beheading Gang," which attracted 600 "likes" by mid-June. Meanwhile, monks in Rakhine state distributed pamphlets urging Buddhists not to associate with Rohingyas. 

In Europe in June to receive her belated Nobel Peace Prize as the crisis peaked, Suu Kyi seemed at a loss to respond. Asked whether the Rohingya should be treated as Burmese citizens, she answered, "I do not know," followed by an equivocating statement about citizenship laws and the need for border vigilance. Neither she nor her National League for Democracy party denounced the attacks or the racist vitriol that followed them. NLD spokesman Nyan Win simply said: "The Rohingya are not our citizens." 

This response left many Burma-watchers disheartened. But Maung Zarni, a Burmese research fellow at the London School of Economics, explained: "Politically, Aung San Suu Kyi has absolutely nothing to gain from opening her mouth on this. She is no longer a political dissident trying to stick to her principles. She's a politician, and her eyes are fixed on the prize, which is the 2015 majority Buddhist vote." 

Suu Kyi has since established minority rights as a priority, citing it in July in her first speech in Parliament, though without mentioning the Rohingya specifically. 

A failure to manage ethnic and religious tensions long held in check by military authoritarianism invites dark scenarios. In some assessments, Burma could fragment, a la Yugoslavia. The specter of "disorder," which the military has historically used to justify its heavy-handedness, could lead it to slow the pace of reform or even roll it back. In 1962, minority unrest, significantly provoked by the establishment of Buddhism as the state religion, set the stage for the coup that led to 50 years of military misrule and international isolation. 

Suu Kyi wrote in a 1985 academic monograph that in the Burmese "racial psyche," Buddhism "represents the perfected philosophy. It therefore follows that there [is] no need to either develop it further or to consider other philosophies." In her bid to forge a sense of national identity for all Burmese, that cultural obduracy is not working in Suu Kyi's favor. 

William McGowan is author of several books, including "Only Man Is Vile: The Tragedy of Sri Lanka.
Sources Here:
Maungdaw, Arakan State: U Maung Oo, the chief of Arakan state had met Rohingyas in Maungdaw to discuss recently happen riots in Arakan at Regional Development Association (RDA) office on September 13 at about 3:00pm, according to an elder from Maungdaw. 

“The meeting was organized by RDA and in the meeting, U Maung Oo and two Rohingyas MP- U Aung Zaw Win and U Shwe Maung were attended as special gust from Rangoon and other USDP members from Maungdaw –U Tun Hla Sein, U Soe Win, U Hls Myint and U Jangir. Thirty Rohingyas from maungdaw attended the meeting to discuss about recent situation and real fact and evident.” 

In the meeting, U Maung Oo accused Rohingya community are the first party who created the riots in Maungdaw but in Akyab, the Rakhine community are the first party, according to a Rohingya who attend the meeting. 

A Rohingya youth denied the statement of U Maung Oo. He mentioned that on June 8, the Rakhines and police forces started the problems – shouting and throwing stones - while Rohingyas are peacefully praying in the Mosque. Rohingyas complained concerned authority (police) but security force open fir to the Rohingyas where two Rohingya dead on the spot. The dead bodies were carried by the security force.the Rohingya stated in the meeting. 

“There are 1000 Rohingyas in the jail, living miserable condition and without basic rights which was denied by U Manug Oo as he had reported only 560 Rohingyas are in the Jail,” said the Rohingya youth. 

“Security force and Natala ( new settler) villagers burnt 300 Rohingyas home in Maungdaw south, looted 500 Rohingya houses where they had taken all valuables goods- gold and money – and police seized 300 Rohingyas’ motorbikes,Rakhines and security force looted 300 Rohingyas’ shops from Maungdaw and Maungdaw north ans last more than 200 Rohingyas females were raped.” 

Polic, Hluntin, Nasaka and arny are still harassing Rohingya community while the USDP high level officer visiting Maungdaw and discussing with Rohingya community season, said an elder from Maungdaw. 

In the present of U Maung Oo in Maungdaw, Natala villager with security force tried to loot a house of Rohingya from Nurullah para while the house owner ( a female) cried for help,the villagers rushed to the spot where the security open fired to the villagers ( Rohingyas). In this situation, the USDP officer didn’t do any help to Rohingya. Whenever the officer visted to Maungdaw, he made false promised to Rohingyas to get support from this oppress people .
Sources Here:
Allegation #9 
Rohingyas are problems everywhere they go. 

Refutation 

Rohingyas are not the problems but problems are in the minds of those people who do not think of Rohingyas equal to them because many of them have darker skin. The then consultant of Myanmar to Hong Kong, Ye Myint Aung (now Myanmar representative to United Nation) described them as “ugly as ogres.” And problems are with those people who do not think of them as Human Beings. Rohingyas have not created any problem in any country where they reside and are given a status. There will be problems for both governments and Rohingyas if they have to stay anywhere illegally without any status. 

Allegation #10 

They are illegal immigrants. Therefore, if the third countries want to take them, we (Burmese) will pay for fuel for trans-oceanic shipment. 

Refutation 

As explained above Rohingyas are no way illegal immigrants. Why should anyone else pay for fuel for the trans-oceanic shipment to carry them to third countries? Why should Rohingyas of Indian descends should leave their homes? How shameless can they be? How quickly can they forget that and Siddharta Gautama Buddha son of Siddhodana Gautama and original people in Arakan were Indians who practiced Hinduism, Buddhism and Animism. These Indians simply have converted into Islam. That doesn’t make them foreigners. 

Why don’t Burmese Regime and Rakhine Extremists don’t recognize Rohingyas? 

Burmese Regime and some extremist Rakhines don't want to recognize the name "Rohingya" not because they want their real identity so as to give them "Nationality" but because once they become successful in branding them as Bengalis, it will become easier for them to drive them out of Arakan land. In fact, now, Burmese pseudo civilian government in cooperation with extremist Rakhines are carrying out genocide against them to root them out of Arakan. Ultimately, Junta's dream of making Arakan into purely Burmanized Bhuddhist region will come true. 

Junta wants neither the people called Rakhines nor the people called Rohingyas. Thus, Junta has been setting up modal villages by bringing Bamars from central Burma. Rakhines are well aware of that. Yet Rakhines want to cleanse Rohingyas because they have become a major barrier for them (Rakhines) in achieving their much awaited dream of having an independent Arakan. For that purpose, extremist Rakhines simultaneously want to fight Junta on one side and Rohingyas on another side. It is a very wrong tactic. History has proven that. Hitler lost in the war because he fought Soviet Union on one side and English and French on another side. 

If the term “Rohingya” existed in the past, why didn’t they (Rohingyas) use it during British Colonial time? Can they use the term? 

In the past, Rohingya didn't feel to call them as Rohingya because the situation and the time had not forced them to call so. In the past, if a Rohingya was asked of what race he or she is, the answer would be Muslims. Till date, they identify themselves as Mussalman (an Indian term for Muslim). It doesn't mean that this people didn't exist before. So, if someone says there is no word as Rohingya in the history of Arakan, then there is no word as Rakhine either. 

There might be one more reason why Muslims in Arakan didn’t claim their name before and during British independence. It might be because they tried to offer an olive branch to fellow Rakhines to develop an integrated political culture, based on the common national aspiration of Arakaneseness, through rapprochement of with the spirit of “Rakhine-Rohingya Twin Brothers.” But Rakhine extremist leaders were not receptive to the proposal. Instead, they claimed that Rakhines and Buddhism are synonymous and Muslims or Rohingyas are outsiders. (Nurul-Islam, 2012) 

Mons were known as Talaings in history. Bama, majority people of Burma, is a Tibeto-Burman group descended from Kanran (ancestors of majority of Arakanese or Rakhines), Phyu and Thet (known as ancestors of many Chins). They were known as Mierma in the earliest Mon’s records. (Harvery, 1925, 2000)Now they are called both Myanmar and Bama. Zomis are known as Chins today and Wungpang or Jingpho are known as Kachins. Shans are known as Tais or vice versa. Even Rakhines call themselves with different names: Rakhine, Rakan, Rakkha, Rakkhita, Arakan (a name of a place) and Maghs as called by others. If all these people can change their names and call themselves with whatever they like, why can’t Muslim Arakanese call them with the name “Rohingya?”? Why don’t those bigotry historians apply the same logic to Rohingyas’ matter? Why double standard? Why so ignorant? 

All in all, Rohingyas who are of Indo-Aryan descendants (i.e. Indian origins) are hated and could be targeted by many extremist Rakhines, other extremist Burmese and by the tyrannical regime of Burma just because they look different from mainstream mongoloid people and practice a different religion. The Burmese regime that has the strong records of creating racial riots whenever they face crises in the country and divert people’s attention from the problems has done it again. The regime were facing so many problems such as the pressure to stop genocidal war against Kachin, Myitsone damn crisis, electricity crisis, water crisis, labors and farmers’ demonstrations on and on. Now, they started cleansing Rohingyas in the name of protecting sovereignty, religion and Rakhines. As expected, the brainwashed Burmese xenophobic society came in support of the regime. I wonder how they could forget their sufferings under the same regime ruled by same people. Ex-generals and whoever behind the current pseudo civilian government have not changed their mind and tinking ways to the least extent but their dresses. If it continues, there will never be democracy in Burma and the rule of the evils will last for next 300 years. 

Bibliography 

Arakanland.com, 2012. Arakan, The Land of the Father. [Online] Available at: http://www.arakanland.com/custom.html [Accessed 12 August 2012]. 

Buchanan, F., 1799. A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of the Languages Spoken in the Burma Empire. SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 1, No., 1, Spring 2003, ISSN 1479-8484, Vol. 1(1), p.55. Available at: http://www.soas.ac.uk/sbbr/editions/file64276.pdf [Accessed 10 August 2012]. 

Harvery, G.E., 1925, 2000. History of Burma. Culcutta, New Dehli: Asian Educational Service. Available at: http://books.google.com.my/books?id=vmIVhKXwrFcC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. 

IndexMundi.com, 2012. Bangladesh GDP - per capita (PPP). [Online] Available at: http://www.indexmundi.com/bangladesh/gdp_per_capita_(ppp).html [Accessed 12 August 2012]. 

IndexMundi.com, 2012. Burma GDP - per capita (PPP). [Online] Available at: http://www.indexmundi.com/burma/gdp_per_capita_(ppp).html [Accessed 12 August 2012]. 

Nurul-Islam, 2012. Anti-Rohingya Campaigns, Violations of Human Rights. UK. 

San-Kyaw-Tun-(Mahawizza), 2010. Zaa Lok Kay Pho Lay. 1st ed. New York: America-Burma Institute (A.B.I). 

The-Ministry-of-Foreign-Affairs-Myanmar, 2012. About Myanmar : Religion. [Online] Available at: http://www.mofa.gov.mm/aboutmyanmar/religion.html [Accessed 12 August 2012]. 

Mohammed Sheikh Anwar is an activist, studying Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies at Westminster International College in Malaysia. 

RB News Desk
Suu Kyi waits to deliver a speech during the last day of the 101st session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva (Reuters)

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi emphasised the need for “precise laws on citizenship” and “uncorrupted border vigilance” to address ongoing sectarian strife in Burma’s western Arakan state, at a press conference in Geneva on Thursday.

Speaking at the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) annual conference, she said that “fear of illegal immigration” lay at the heart of the violence between ethnic Arakanese and the stateless Rohingya minority, which has claimed at least twenty-four lives since Friday.

“Of course I am concerned and the most important lesson is the need for rule of law,” she said when asked by reporters. “We need precise laws on citizenship. I think a big problem comes from fear of illegal immigration, I think we need more responsible uncorrupted border vigilance.”

She added that those deemed worthy of citizenship, should get all the legal benefits that entails.

Ongoing ethnic strife in Burma’s western state has thrown a global spotlight on the discrimination faced by the Muslim minority the Rohingya – considered “illegal Bengali immigrants” by the government and denied citizenship, even though many of them have lived in Burma for generations.

Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) have come under growing pressure to outline their position on the Rohingya – seen as a hot-button political issue that risks alienating many of its supporters.

An outburst of anti-Rohingya sentiments have raged across social and mainstream media in recent weeks, while foreign and exile news outlets have faced accusations of “bias” for their coverage of the conflict.

One Facebook page called the “Kalar beheading gang”, which has over 500 ‘likes’, has an illustration of a grim reaper with an Islamic symbol on its robe on a blood-spattered background and explicit images purporting to be of victims of the unrest.

“Recent events in western Burmahave created a hurricane of hate in the online sphere,” Nicholas Farrelly, a research fellow at the Australian National University, told AFP.

Rohingya groups have urged Suu Kyi to speak out on their behalf, which analysts say places her in a “delicate” position. The ongoing violence is likely to overshadow her first trip to Europe since being incarcerated by the military junta in 1989.

In her address to the 101st ILO conference, she also renewed calls for responsible foreign investment in Burma, especially in the extractive industries.

“We accept that investments must bring profits, but we would like these profits to be shared between companies and our people,” said Suu Kyi speaking to a packed auditorium.

She urged foreign companies hoping to partner with the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) to demand better governance.

“MOGE lacks transparency and accountability at present,” she said. “The government must apply internationally recognised standards such as the International Monetary Fund’s guidelines on fiscal transparency. Other countries can help by urging their companies not to partner with MOGE without agreeing to such standards.”

She welcomed the ILO decision to lift punitive measures against Burma in recognition of the steps taken to tackle the use of forced labour. The former pariah state will receive increased technical assistance as they push ahead with their plan of action to eliminate forced labour by 2015.

The ILO’s decision is widely seen as an indicator for the further removal of sanctions against Burma. However, the move has been criticized as premature by some organisations, including the Arakan Project, which recently released a new report documenting systematic abuses carried out by the Burmese military towards the Rohingya minority group.

The group warned that there has been “little progress” since the Burmese government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ILO in March this year. While a reduction in the use of forced labour has been seen in certain townships of Northern Arakan state, it is has been coupled with a rise in arbitrary taxes and increased exploitation in other areas.

“It was a bit disappointing to see how quick and easy this decision has been taken, without really considering that forced labour is still very prevalent. I feel that it’s a bit too early,” Chris Lewa, Director of the Arakan Project toldDVB. “The need to monitor progress carefully will be important.”

The issue of forced labour inNorthern Arakanstate is inextricably linked to the legal status of the Rohingya, which leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, added Lewa.

Aung San Suu Kyi is set to travel to Norway next to collect her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, before visiting her former home in the United Kingdom and then France.

With additional reporting from AFP.

Sources Here:

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) welcomes yesterday’s European Parliament resolution on the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Burma, which called on the Burmese government to amend its controversial 1982 citizenship law that effectively stripped the Rohingya of citizenship and allow humanitarian aid to Rakhine State “as a matter of urgency”.

The European Parliament warned that ongoing violence in Rakhine State between the majority Rakhine Buddhist and minority Rohingya Muslim populations, which has left over 70,000 people internally displaced, “may put at risk the transition to democracy in Burma/Myanmar.” The resolution urged the Burmese government to allow “UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs, as well as journalists and diplomats, unhindered access to all areas of Rakhine State, guarantee unrestricted access to humanitarian aid for all affected populations, and ensure that displaced Rohingya enjoy freedom of movement and are permitted to return to their place of residence once it is safe for them to do so.”

The resolution also called on the government to “amend the 1982 citizenship law so as to bring it into line with international human rights standards and its obligations under Article 7 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, with a view to granting citizens’ rights to the Rohingya and other stateless minorities, as well as ensuring equal treatment for all Burmese citizens, thus ending discriminatory practices.”

In a separate development, a new report released yesterday by the Arakan Project documents that “the systemic and discriminatory practice of forced labour against the Rohingya has continued, or even intensified, across large areas of North Arakan/Rakhine State in Burma/Myanmar, since deadly communal violence broke out in June 2012.”
Meanwhile, in London this week, a delegation from the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO), hosted by CSW, presented their new report, “Threats to Our Existence: Persecution of Ethnic Chin Christians in Burma”, at a meeting in the House of Commons organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma. They also met with the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP.

Reports have also emerged this week that Howitzer artillery shelling is being used on civilian villages surrounding the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) headquarters of Laiza. Peace talks between leaders of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and the government have been suspended since July, during which time fighting between the KIA and Burmese army has escalated severely.

Benedict Rogers, CSW’s East Asia Team Leader, said, “During this week, the suffering of people in western and northern Burma has received long overdue and much needed attention, which we welcome. In the past year, Burma’s government has taken some very welcome steps towards democratization and openness, and those reforms should be recognized. However, until all the people of Burma can live in peace and without fear, we must continue to highlight the very grave human rights violations which are still taking place today, including violations of religious freedom. The Rakhine and Rohingya, as well as the Chin and Kachin people, along with the ethnic nationalities in eastern Burma, must be included in the reform process; a genuine nationwide dialogue must take place, and a political solution to decades of conflict and persecution must be agreed. As President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi prepare to visit the US, we urge them to work together to establish a nationwide ceasefire, to open a political dialogue with the ethnic nationalities, to repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law and introduce a new citizenship law that recognizes those born in Burma as citizens, and to promote religious freedom and human rights for all.”

Sources Here:
Three months after ethnic clashes in western Burma, Asia correspondent John Sparks gains exclusive access to Rohingya Muslims confined in fortress-like Rakhine state.

    • Rohingya Exodus