Natalie Brinham

FM Review

December 2012

As stateless Rohingya in Burma face containment in IDP camps and within their homes and communities in what is effectively segregation, their human rights are on the whole being ignored by countries keen either to support reform in Burma or to return refugees who have fled to their shores. 

It is no coincidence that the current crisis in Rakhine State in Burma has taken place against the back-drop of Burma’s widely hailed, yet still fragile, democratic reform process, the beginnings of which were marked by the elections of 2010. The toxic mix of general racism and an illiberal ex-military government seeking domestic support and democratic legitimacy has proved lethal to the rights of the stateless Rohingya in Burma. 

The 1982 Citizenship Law of Myanmar, which ignored the Rohingya’s claim to citizenship and thus rendered them stateless, has formed the legal basis for arbitrary and discriminatory treatment against the Rohingya community and made them subject to a series of draconian policies and controls.1 In June 2012, large-scale violence against the Rohingya – a stateless Muslim ethnic minority of around one million people – resulted in estimated thousands of deaths, the forced displacement of over 100,000 people, and the burning and destruction of homes and property throughout Rakhine State.2 At the time of writing there continue to be outbreaks of violence, arbitrary arrests of Rohingya men whose whereabouts remain unknown, and torture and death in custody. 

Since June, Rohingya have been largely segregated from the other populations in order to create ‘Muslimfree’ areas. Some have been ‘burnt out’ through the destruction of their homes and properties. Others have been relocated by government troops to IDP camps. Only Muslim populations have been moved by the security forces; their displacement is thus discriminatory rather than protective. Those who were not displaced have been cut off from their livelihoods and face difficulty in accessing food and basic services. Further violence in October, which targeted Rohingya and other Muslim minorities throughout Rakhine State, resulted in the whole and partial destruction of Muslim areas and displacement of a further 36,000 people.3 Cut off from their livelihoods and sources of income, unable to access markets, hospitals and schools, and without access to relief aid, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are facing disaster.4 The government maintains tight control over international agencies working in North Rakhine State, leaving little space for these agencies to engage in public advocacy on behalf of the affected population, let alone raise human rights concerns. 

Recent events in Rakhine State should not be viewed in isolation; the Burma security forces have a long history of discrimination and systematic human rights abuses against them. President Thein Sein’s remarks in July 2012 that the “only solution”5 to the troubles in Rakhine State was either to send stateless Rohingya to third countries or to contain them in UNHCR-administered camps caused outrage within the international human rights community. Despite the outrage, however, 110,0006 Rohingya remain held in squalid conditions in IDP camps with no indication that they will be either allowed or assisted to return to their home communities or to resume their lives as before. 

Countries to which Rohingya have fled over the years as refugees have been quick to condemn the recent spates of violence and persecution but have not been so quick to recognise the rights of stateless Rohingya refugees within their own territories. Bangladesh, for example, has pushed back thousands of recently arrived Rohingya and has blocked humanitarian assistance to the approximately 300,000 unrecognised Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh. Discussion of ‘regional solutions’ has so far focused only on overcoming the problem of returning the Rohingya to Burma. Proof of commitment to protect the Rohingya would be better demonstrated by receiving countries if they were also to work together to protect Rohingya rights within their own territories. 

Western countries’ condemnation, on the other hand, has been overshadowed by their praise for the wider reforms in Burma. The West has rewarded Burma’s government for the steps they have made towards democratic reform by easing sanctions and increasing investment. Yet failure of the international community to use their leverage over the Burmese state to ensure protection and recognise the rights of Rohingya and other vulnerable populations in Burma could have dire consequences for both democracy and stability in Burma. 

Under the rubric of maintaining order and stability against (perceived) domestic security threats – in this case the extremist Muslim Rohingya and the backlash of so-called ‘communal’ violence against them – the government seeks to legitimise the continued central role of the military in politics. Lost in this discourse is the fact that it may be the military/security forces, the perpetrators of decades of human rights abuses against the Rohingya, that are most in need of reform. 

Natalie Brinham natalie.brinham@equalrightstrust.org is a consultant at the Equal Rights Trust www.equalrightstrust.org 

1. See FMR 30 on ‘Burma’s displaced people’ www.fmreview.org/burma 
2. See Equal Rights Trust, ‘Burning Homes, Sinking Lives: A Situation Report on Violence against Rohingya in Myanmar and their refoulement from Bangladesh’, June 2012 http://tinyurl.com/ERT-June2012 
3. See Human Rights Watch satellite images at www.hrw.org/news/2012/11/17/burma-satellite-images-show-widespread-attacks-rohingya See also www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/Rohingya_Emergency_Report.pdf (2 Nov 2012)
4. Burmese Rohingya Organisation – UK (BRO-UK), Press release October 2012. 
5. See ‘UNHCR seeks true community reconciliation in Rakhine State’, Myanmar Times, 16 July 2012 www.mmtimes.com/2012/news/635/news63506.html 
6. As of late November 2012

M.S. Anwar

RB News

December 19, 2012

Although Rakhines (Maghs) carry malicious sentiments against Rohingyas dating back to the time Indian Prince Shah Shujah as it is mentioned (here[1]), it can be said that the anti-Rohingya propaganda that led to current genocide has become obvious after a report of BBC reporter Anna Jones in 2010. She mentioned in her reports that Rohingyas are one of those minorities in Burma that has the possibility of extinction. Although she never mentioned Rohingyas as ethnic people or citizens of Burma, her report was made a mountain out of molehill by racists and self-interested groups in Burma. Yet, anti-Rohingya movement was not in full swing until November 2011. Exactly after one year of the report, anti-Rohingya movement started home and abroad. Different campaigns had been held demanding BBC to issue an apology for mentioning Rohingya as a minority in Burma. BBC said they had nothing to apologize since they were on the right path. 

However, led by Rakhine (Magh) extremist leaders and backed by the Burmese regime, the domestic media in Burma started to portray Rohingyas as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and a threat to both sovereignty of the nation and the state religion, Buddhism. Due to systematic isolation of Rohingyas for decades, Rohingyas or the term “Rohingya” was unknown the rest of the Burmese until 2010. When they did come to know Rohingyas, it was in the negative light. 

The Malevolent Conspiracy: On 28th May 2012, a certain Rakhine lady called Ma Thida Tway was looted and murdered at an outskirt of a village called KyaukNimaw, Arakan, by unknown people. The murder could be either accidental or conspired but Burmese regime and Rakhine extremists saw it as the perfect opportunity to instigate the violence against Rohingyas and Kamans in Arakan. As it had been planned, the Burmese regime and Rakhine extremists blamed three Rohingyas for raping, looting and killing her. But according to the medical reports, the lady was not raped but looted and murdered. The medical report was kept in dark as it was seen inappropriate to their plans of instigating the violence. Of the three alleged rape criminals, a person called Htet Htet was not a Rohingya but a Rakhine whose father had converted into Islam. 

Mr. Thein Tin, a Rohingya from KyaukNimaw, who had left the village just a few days before the alleged rape occurred, said “Htet Htet is a Rakhine National and Muslim. He was a newly married man at the time of the case happened. He, together with his other two friends, went to a nearby Rakhine village to buy coconuts for the traditional party to be-held for his wife’s post-marriage first visit to her parents’ home. They returned to their village with coconuts. They didn’t have a clue about the fact that they were being scapegoated by Rakhine extremists. On the same day, Ma Thida Tway was murdered and thrown at a place not so far from the road from KyaukNimaw to Tabbre Chaung (the village of the murdered woman). A Rakhine elder passing by the road saw a dead body. He informed the Rakhines in the nearby villages. 

So, some Rakhine leaders came to KyaukNimaw and asked Rohingya villagers who, that day, went out of their village. Rohingyas replied that the above-mentioned three guys went out of the village not knowing the plot of Rakhine leaders. So after, without saying anything, Rakhine leaders went straight to the police station and filed a rape-loot-murder case against the three young men. The three men did not even see the murdered woman that day let alone raping and killing her. If I had been the person (instead of them) to go out of the village that day, I would have been accused of raping and killing her. Rakhine leaders were just watching which Rohingya was the first to come out of the village to accuse them for raping and killing her.” So, according to many analysts as well, the rape case is nothing but a sheer conspiracy. 

Beginning of the Hidden Genocide: Soon after that, the doctored images of hers went viral on internet and in some domestic media. The anti-Muslim handouts were spread out Taung Gote Tsp by Rakhine Extremists Youth Wing. On the other hand, the director of the president’s office, Bohmuu Zaw Htay, through his Facebook account started to incite anti-Rohingya/anti-Muslim violence alleging Rohingyas as illegal invaders and problem creators. As the world knows, on 3rd June 2012, 10 Muslim pilgrimages, who were neither Rohingyas nor had any connections with the said rape case, were brutally murdered on their way from religious efforts in Sandoway of Arakan state by 300 Rakhine terrorists or (some say) government-hired thugs nearby an immigration office. Quite disgustingly, Burmese state media spread the news using derogatory words against Muslims such as Kular (Note: Kular is a derogatory term for the people of Indian descends in Myanmar and most of the Muslims in Myanmar happen to be of Indian origin) and took it as a tool to trigger anti-Rohingya or anti-Muslim hatred among general public of Burma. 

On 8th June 2012 (i.e. on Friday), Rohingyas in Maung Daw planned to pray for murdered Muslims at the religious centre at Myoma Kayintan and demonstrate after the prayer. Not only the way of Rohingya congregators to the religious centre was blocked but also they were brutally quelled by NaSaKa (Border Security Forces) and Hluntin (Security Forces) at the downtown of Maung Daw. As the dispersed Rohingyas were running hither and thither, the stones from Rakhine houses and guest houses started to rain on them. And some Rakhines were shooting the video of those running Rohingyas with the video cameras they had set up in advance in order to portray them as the rioters. 

Jamil, a resident of Maung Daw said “Hla Kyaw, a Rakhine extremist and the owner of the photographing business called “Shay Thou” in Maung Daw, shut down his shop nearby the Main Mosque in the town prior to the Friday prayer and started to set up cameras at a road junction and at the top of the “United Guest House.” (Note: the above mentioned Hla Kyaw is under detention now for the illegal possessions of the three grenades.) How did he know in advance that such violence would occur unless it was plotted? Rakhine extremists surely knew that many Rohingyas would come for prayer and react on being offended. Rakhines extremists might have directed the state government (made up of Rakhines only) how to make a mountain out of the little reactions that would be coming from Rohingyas. (Perhaps Rohingyas’ biggest mistake was that they (who are considered illegal invaders by the government) thought they could demonstrate in a country where even Monks are not allowed to protest if it is against the state policy) 

As I were saying, as pre-planned, the NaSaKa and Security Forces started shooting at them. At first, one Rohingya was killed and several were injured. Soon after, the burning of the houses in Maung Daw began. It was reported that government used Hindus who have similar physical appearances with Muslim Rohingyas to burn the few Rakhine houses to make Rakhines torch Rohingyas’ houses in return. (Today, almost burnt houses are of Rohingyas). There were clashes between Rakhines and Rohingyas for beginning few hours of the day. From the early evening onward until today, it has been one-sided attacks against Rohingyas and Kamans led by Rakhine terrorists, Security Forces, Military, NaSaKas and Police that amount to the Genocide against them. 

M.S. Anwar is an activist and student studying Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies at Westminster International College, Malaysia

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Organization of Islamic Cooperation Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said yesterday that he would soon visit Myanmar as the head of a high-level delegation including OIC foreign ministers as part of efforts to stop the attacks against Rohingya Muslims.

Addressing a press conference, he said the visit came in response to an invitation he received from Myanmar President Thein Sein. “We have not canceled our pre-planned visit to Myanmar but it was postponed due to insecure conditions in the country,” he told Arab News.

Speaking about the upcoming OIC summit in Cairo, he said Syria, Palestine, Myanmar and Islamophobia would figure high on its agenda. “We are now in the process of making necessary preparations to make the summit successful,” the secretary-general said.

An Egyptian Foreign Ministry delegation recently visited OIC headquarters to discuss arrangements for the summit. An OIC team yesterday left for Egypt to discuss technical and logistical aspects of the conference. Ihsanoglu highlighted Egypt’s important role in the Islamic world.

Referring to the situation in Syria, the OIC chief said the crisis has reached its final stage. However, he stressed that the international community should reach an agreement on ceasefire in order to find a political solution for the problem.

“The political solution should reflect the hopes and aspirations of Syrian people, should not repeat the mistake done in Iraq and preserve Syrian state institutions,” the secretary-general said.

Asked about appointing a representative of the Syrian opposition council in the OIC, he said: “We have not yet discussed such a proposal.” However, he pointed out that OIC was keeping in touch with the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and other opposition groups.

Ihsanoglu had met with Ahmed Al-Khateeb, president of the coalition and George Sabra, head of the Syrian National Council, on the sidelines of the Friends of Syria meeting in Marrakech recently. Both leaders had requested OIC’s political and humanitarian support.

“The Marrakech meeting declared its recognition of the National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and this is a big political support reflecting the international community’s confidence in the new leadership,” the OIC chief said.

In a related development, Ihsanoglu disclosed plans to intensify humanitarian activities for Syrian people through a coalition of 30 relief organizations.

“We are now in contact with Turkey to open a humanitarian office in the country to follow the condition of Syrian refugees and coordinate relief work,” the secretary-general said.

Referring to the armed groups in Mali, he said: “We are totally against exploiting Islam for killing and terrorizing people. We have appointed an envoy to deal with Malian crisis.”

The National

December 18, 2012

Too often the spotlight of international attention alights on a particular situation only after years have passed. The barbarous excesses of the Assads, both father and son, against their own people, for instance, were well-known for decades. So too, with the Muslim Rohingya of Rakhine state in western Myanmar, a community that has suffered under various rulers, varying from the unsympathetic to the brutal to the criminally apathetic - which is the most charitable description of the current government's attitude towards violence against the Rohingya. 

This has been the state of affairs since the original kingdom of Arakan, as the region was historically known, was annexed by the present-day state of Myanmar in the late 18th century. 

The world is now taking notice of their plight - 100,000 people displaced, villages torched and scores dead since the rape of a Buddhist woman in May sparked the latest rounds of violence. The attention is because of the opening of Myanmar, both in its political and civil society spheres. 

The country was until recently seen entirely in black and white terms. One of the many charges laid against the military regime that took power in 1962 - which only relinquished control (in name only, some would argue) when a former general, Thein Sein, became president in 2011 - was its continuing persecution of Myanmar's many ethnic minorities, particularly in the border regions. The list of atrocities the army stands accused of runs from systematic rape to forcing locals to clear fields of landmines by walking across them. 

A Myanmar that has begun the process of democratisation and is loosening the grip of one of the world's most notorious police states has been embraced by western nations, but perhaps precipitously. With Aung San Suu Kyi free, able to stand for election and at last accept her Nobel Peace Prize in person, all would be well, seemed to be the view. One of the most admired women on the planet would surely usher her country into the community of nations as a peaceful, liberal, enlightened state, living in harmony with its neighbours and internally with the mosaic of ethnic groups. 

But the clarity of "good" and "evil" has given way to the shades of grey that colour most political landscapes. Ms Suu Kyi has been notably unforthcoming about the aggression inflicted on the Rohingya, and the injustice that a community dating back centuries has been denied citizenship since 1974 by Myanmar. Officials routinely declare Rohingya to be Bengali immigrants. 

Ms Suu Kyi is a politician now and has to take note of the realities, which include the prejudices of her fellow Burmese against the non-Burmese who make up 30 per cent of the population. While she has mouthed platitudes about "people getting along with each other", the spokesman for her party, the National League for Democracy, was more direct. "The Rohingya are not our citizens," said Nyan Win in June, a position he has since maintained. 

There is a lazy, sentimental western stereotype that Buddhists are peaceful people with a somewhat otherworldly predilection for constant meditation. But of course, they are quite capable of inflicting violence, as both the Muslim minority in neighbouring Thailand's south and Rohingya in Myanmar know all too well. 

Myanmar is an example of a state whose boundaries are more fixed in international law than they ever were historically. The Shan States in the north-east, for instance, may have paid allegiance to the Burmese throne, but their princes enjoyed considerable autonomy and, according to the country's post-independence constitution, had the right to secede from the Union of Myanmar after 10 years (General Ne Win's 1962 coup put paid to that). 

Geographically isolated by the mountain range that cuts it off from the rest of Myanmar, Arakan had been home to a Muslim community since at least the 16th century. While their numbers were undoubtedly swelled by those who crossed over the relatively porous border with Bengal, their language and identity were and are distinct. 

The 1931 census recorded 130,000 Muslims in the area and there are now about 800,000 Rohingyas in Rakhine State, as it was renamed in 1989. They are not troublesome immigrants, but a persecuted ethnic group in a country where the majority has never accorded equal status to the many minorities. 

Democracy in itself is not going to be enough. Indeed, it can perpetuate majoritarian attitudes by sealing them with the approval of the ballot box. If Ms Suu Kyi is to a fulfil her potential as a politician, both she and her party must lead the way in changing not just the system of government but the attitudes of Burmese towards non-Burmese, and of Buddhists towards those of other religions. 

For decades, the country's woes could be blamed entirely on the generals. As they slip into the shadows, however, it is time for the new Myanmar to prove it is worthy of the international community's friendship. Recognising the Rohingya as citizens and extending to them the protection of the state would be a good start. 

Sholto Byrnes is editor of Think, the quarterly international magazine of Qatar Foundation, and a contributing editor of the New Statesman

Bangkok Post

December 18, 2012

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's maritime agency on Tuesday said it "rescued" 40 Myanmar shipwreck survivors, who are thought to be Muslim Rohingya fleeing ethnic violence who had been denied entry to Singapore. 

The agency told AFP the survivors of a wreck off the Myanmar coast on Dec 4, in which 160 others were reportedly drowned, were in good health and being transported to Johor state on one of its vessels. 

"I confirm 40 Burma (Myanmar) nationals were rescued from the Vietnam-flagged cargo ship Nosco Victory," Hamid Mohamad Amin, the agency's director for command and control, told AFP, declining to elaborate. 

Singapore had turned away the ship carrying the 40 survivors amid media reports they could be stateless Muslim Rohingya. 

Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said it denied entry to the Vietnamese-registered bulk carrier Nosco Victory because of a lack of information about its passengers. 

Australia's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported the 40 were believed to be Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine, who had been fleeing ethnic violence there. 

Clashes between Buddhists and the Rohingya have left scores of people dead and displaced more than 115,000 people since June. 

It said they were survivors from a Bangladesh-flagged ship that sank on its way to Malaysia, a largely Muslim country that has a big Rohingya population.

Vivian Tan

UNHCR

December 18, 2012

SITTWE, Myanmar – Six months ago, 55-year-old Misho was contemplating an early retirement. Today, all she wants is a roof over her head. She is one of the tens of thousands of people whose lives were uprooted when inter-communal violence broke out in western Myanmar's Rakhine state in June. 

"I was cooking in the afternoon when people started shouting 'Fire! Fire!'" she recalls of that fateful day. "I ran out without slippers and cut my feet in a field that had broken glass. We spent the night in a mosque. I thought I was going to die of fright." 

Overnight, the Muslim widow lost her eight-year job as a cook and cleaner with a local Rakhine family. She also lost the food stall she ran on the side, and the egg-laying chickens she raised. Her worldly possessions now consist of a blanket and sleeping mat, while home is a tent she shares with her daughter in The Chaung camp on the outskirts of the state capital, Sittwe. 

"It's cold at night and I don't have an extra set of clothes," Misho says, before acknowledging, "We were lucky to come here early, because later there was no more space." 

Recent arrivals include those who fled renewed unrest in October as well as displaced people who had been living with host families that could no longer sustain them. Those who don't fit into existing camps have been erecting makeshift shelters by the side of the road. 

As the lead organization for protection, shelter, camp coordination and camp management under the inter-agency response to this emergency, UNHCR has been working with the government to find suitable land to set up tents for these groups. 

"The first priority is to make sure there is shelter for everyone," said Maeve Murphy, who heads UNHCR's office in Sittwe. "And as camps are being set up, we work with the authorities to try and make sure they adhere to international standards, particularly from the shelter perspective." 

In addition to the tented camps around Sittwe, UNHCR is also building 263 temporary shelters this year using bamboo walls and corrugated iron roofs. Each longhouse-style shelter can accommodate eight families. 

Kyaw Hla, 58, is the camp administrator at Hpwe Yar Kone camp and lives in a government-built longhouse with 20 of his family members. While the shelter is adequate, other services are lacking in this location 45 minutes' drive from Sittwe. He wishes food rations could be distributed closer to the camp 

and laments the fact that his family has not eaten meat or fish since June. 

The women in this camp say they need proper bathing areas, hygiene materials, and cooking pots which they're using communally at the moment. 

Noting that some staff working for NGOs are hesitant to work in certain locations amid continuing communal tensions, UNHCR's Murphy said, "We're continually advocating for better water sources, more sanitation facilities with individual bathing houses for women and for mobile clinics to provide health care." 

In another longhouse-style camp called Ma Gyi Myaing, the basic services are in place but 61-year-old Ngine Saw Htet is still losing sleep. He mourns over his charred house, where only four pillars remain, and the loss of his battery-charging shop that drew both Muslim and indigenous Rakhine customers. 

"The first 10 days I couldn't sleep," he said with furrowed brows. "Now I'm slowly recovering, but I still feel afraid when it's quiet. And I worry about the future. I have no job, no income. With no financial support, I cannot start a business. My family is fully dependent on assistance." 

Over in The Chaung tented camp, Misho shares the same concerns. "I spend most of my time here praying," she says. "I pray that I can go home as soon as possible, that I can have a safe and proper house, that I can work again. I pray for peace with the Rakhine people, to live peacefully with my neighbours." 

Vivian Tan in Sittwe, Myanmar

IRIN News

December 17, 2012

COX’S BAZAR - Some 40,000 undocumented Rohingya refugees are being adversely affected by a government ban four months ago on NGOs working at two makeshift sites in southeastern Bangladesh. 

“If we get some rice, we eat. Otherwise, we don’t eat,” Anowara Begum, an undocumented Rohingya refugee and 40-year-old mother-of-four at the Leda makeshift camp outside Nayapara, one of two makeshift sites outside two official government camps for Rohingya refugees told IRIN. 

"Since the NGOs stopped coming our kids don't get medicine. They don't get treated for what they need. They don't get the food they need," Sokeya Begum, 39, another undocumented Rohingya, said.

In August, Bangladeshi authorities ordered three NGOs - Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Action Against Hunger and Muslim Aid UK – to stop the formal delivery of humanitarian services, including health care and food to undocumented Rohingya refugees, saying such services would encourage more to flee to Bangladesh.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are more than 200,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh, of whom only 30,000 are documented and living in two government camps assisted by the agency. 

Some 12,000 documented refugees live at the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar District, with another nearly 18,000 further south at Nayapara - both within 2km of Myanmar. 

Documented refugees are provided food rations by the World Food Programme (WFP), along with shelter assistance, non-food items, water/sanitation services, vocational training and supplementary feeding for malnourished refugees by UNHCR. 

However, most Rohingya - a mainly Muslim ethnic group who fled persecution en masse to Bangladesh from Myanmar’s neighbouring Rakhine State years earlier - are undocumented. 

UNHCR has not been permitted to register newly arriving Rohingya since mid-1992. 

Only those who are documented receive regular assistance, while those who are undocumented are largely dependent on a handful of international NGOs who until recently were allowed to work in the area. 

Poor living conditions

Prior to the government ban, conditions in the makeshift camps were described by Physicians for Human Rights as “among the worst they had ever seen”.

Most people outside the Kutupalong camp are housed in ramshackle huts made of twigs and plastic sheeting, denied food aid, and live beside open sewers, the Boston-based group says.

In its most recent survey, MSF found that global acute malnutrition, one of the basic indicators for assessing the severity of a humanitarian crisis, was as high as 27 percent at the Kutupalong makeshift camp, where an estimated 20,000 unregistered refugees live - almost double the emergency threshold of 15 percent set by the World Health Organization.

No further surveys have been made since the ban took effect. 

In June, the Bangladeshi authorities effectively closed the door to Rohingya fleeing communal violence in Rakhine State in June and October which left dozens dead and thousands of homes destroyed. 

"We are not interested in more people coming to Bangladesh," Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told reporters at the time, noting that Bangladesh was already a densely populated country and could not afford a fresh influx.

Government figures suggest 200,000-500,000 undocumented Rohingya live in villages and towns outside the camps, many of them in Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban and Chittagong.

UNHCR has repeatedly called on Dhaka to lift the ban, but more than four months on it remains in place, leaving aid workers reluctant to comment on the record. 

“The situation here is very bad, it’s horrific,” Shahina Akter, a local nutrition volunteer who asked that her organization not be identified, citing issues of severe malnutrition.

“Because of the ban, it’s harder for us to help the Rohingya,” another aid worker who asked not to be identified, confirmed. 

Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian

Phuket Wan

December 16, 2012 

News Analysis

PHUKET: Where did Singapore lose its heart? We visited the go-ahead city-state a while back and admired the stunning new developments, the efficiency of its taxis, the cleanliness of its streets. 

Maung Daw, Arakan - Eight NaSaKas (Border Security Force) including officer Aung Naing from Camp Base (14), Region (NayMyay)-6 arrested many innocent Rohingyas from the village of Shweza Alay Ywa, Shweza (Shujah) village tract on 12th December 2012. There were severely tortured during the detention. The following day, Rohingyas were released after the extortion of huge amount of money. 

“They were arbitrarily arrested and severely tortured. The profiles of these unfortunate Rohingyas are:

1. Nabi Huson S/O U Noor Islam (45-yrs old) (Extorted Amount: Ks-180,000-) 
2. Ibrahim Khalil S/O U Sam Meah (60-yrs old) (Extorted Amount: Ks-120,000-)
3. Ziabuddin S/O U Zakaria (40-yrs old) (Extorted Amount: Ks-100,000-) 
4. Abdu Shukkor S/O U Noor Huson (40-yrs old) (Extorted Amount: Ks-50,000-)
5. Noor Alam S/O U Noor Huson (35-yrs old) (Extorted Amount: Ks-50,000-) 
6. Abul Hashim S/O U Abdu Rahman (50-yrs old) (Extorted Amount: Ks-100,000-)

Rohingyas had to pay the amounts to the authority for their lives. They were threatened that if they didn’t pay money, they would be blacklisted as rioters and supporters of the recent violence in Maung Daw” said Rohingya Elder from a nearby village. 

Police (including a police officer Thein Htay) and Judge (who are themselves extremist Rakhines) have arbitrarily made a list of many innocent Rohingyas from the age of 10 and above in Maung Daw that accuses them to be the rioters and culprits of the violence. And the court has issued arrest warrant against them. They have made the list to arrest and torture Rohingyas, extort money from them and finally to drive them out of Arakan. 

Minbya, Arakan - The Military from Cantonment (Tetyin)-379 severely tortured many poor Rohingya farmers at Let Taw Ywe Village (Kyun Aouk), Setkyar Village Tract in Minbya Township and extorted money from them. The two-star ranking Major Zaw Thet Paing and Sergeant Myint Mouh arrested and tortured many Rohingya farmers in the said village on 14th December 2012. They were released after the extortion of money. “Their details are as follow.

1. Zahid Huson @ Maung Ni and his son (Extorted Amount: Ks-60,000-) 
2. Khin Maung Shwe (Extorted Amount: Ks-30,000-) 
3. Alam (Extorted Amount: Ks-25,000-) 
4. Noor Kudu (Extorted Amount: Ks-25,000-) 
5. Abdul plus 12-farmers (Extorted Amount: Ks-260,000- Remark: Ks-20,000-per head)
6. Noor Mohammad plus Rafic (Extorted Amount: Ks-70,000-) 
7. Noor Islam (Extorted Amount: Ks-70,000-) 
8. Kurshid (Extorted Amount: Ks-30-000-) 

They were all farmers watching out their harvested paddy fields from thieves all day and night. These farmers said they were harassed by the in-charge of the cantonment (379). Sadly, they (Kular Rohingyas as called by the in-charge) were threatened by the mentioned in-charge that they would be arrested and handed over to Police if they kept claiming for justice. In fact, these military were brought there to safeguard people, not to torture them. Beside, Rohingyas have been providing chickens, ducks and goats for their daily food stuffs” reported by a Rohingya from the township on the condition of anonymity. 

Pauk Taw, Arakan - According to a local, Internally Displaced Rohingya Refugees in Pauk Taw Township were ordered by the authorities to return to their own villages on December 15, 2012. But Rohingyas appealed following to the authority: refugees rejected the order for the under mentioned conditions as;

1. To build houses for their burnt homes on their land. 
2. To allow Rohingyas to participate in security affairs. 
3. To locate separated and other displaced Rohingyas back to their original Villages and Townships. 

Authority didn’t reply anything. So, displaced Rohingyas are on hold. 

Edited by M.S. Anwar.

Do you have questions about the Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar?

Then log onto reddit.com from 2100GMT on Sunday to join the chat with film maker Phil Rees.

Phil Rees' film 'The Hidden Genocide' is a story of a people fleeing the land where they were born, of a people deprived of citizenship in their homeland. It is the story of the Rohingya of western Myanmar, whose very existence as a people is denied.

"When you see measures preventing births, trying to deny the identity of the people, hoping to see that they really are eventually, that they no longer exist; denying their history, denying the legitimacy of their right to live where they live, these are all warning signs that mean it's not frivolous to envisage the use of the term genocide," said Professor William Schabas, the former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.

Phil Rees is a Welsh writer, reporter and documentary maker who has specialised in international relations. 

He has covered Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas during a 30-year career in journalism. He reported from Myanmar in 1991 and lived in southeast Asia for seven years.

He has won a dozen international awards, including two from Britain's Royal Television Society. For nine years he was a BBC foreign correspondent and senior producer on the BBC's flagship global affairs programme.

‘Stateless people are some of the most forgotten people in the world today. Statelessness is a complex issue that many people in the world today don’t even know exists. Many people can’t even fathom that a government would intentionally deny an entire group of people citizenship, that governments would use citizenship as a tool and in some cases a weapon to exclude and marginalise’

Greg Constantine is an award-winning photojournalist from the United States who is currently based in Southeast Asia. Since beginning his career as a photographer, he has worked on numerous projects, including “Moments from Modern Day Edo” (about Tokyo), “A Matter of Exposure” (about North Korean Refugees) and “The Road to Re-Entry” (about formerly incarcerated women in Watts, Los Angeles).

For the past six years, he has been working on a long-term project titled “Nowhere People”, which documents the impact that statelessness and the denial of citizenship has on ethnic minority groups around the world. He especially focuses on the struggles of the Rohingya minority ethnic group in Burma, who have been stripped of legal citizenship by the government and whose situation he describes as one of the “darkest and most dire”. With an aim to highlight the issue of global statelessness, his work has been widely published and exhibited in many countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Switzerland, Ukraine, Hong Kong and Kenya.

In an interview with Weekly Zaman, Greg Constantine speaks about “Nowhere People” and explains how the project today serves as a reminder of the existence of the millions of stateless people who he describes as “the most forgotten people in the world today”.

I’d like to ask about your personal history before we talk about your project. Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into photography?

I’m from the US and started my career as a photographer about eight years ago. I work primarily on long-term, self-assigned projects. My first project focused on North Korean refugees, many of which were children who were stateless. After living in Tokyo and then Los Angeles, I moved to Southeast Asia in late 2005 to begin work on my project “Nowhere People”.

Your work “Nowhere People” has been exhibited in several key cities around the world and also came to London’s Royal Albert Hall last November. Can you tell us about “Nowhere People”?

Originally, “Nowhere People” was going to be about one to two years long and focus primarily on stateless communities in Asia. I self-funded the project from 2006 to the end of 2008 because it was next to impossible to find anyone willing to provide funding. Slowly, the project started to receive attention. My work on statelessness in Asia was featured in a huge photo spread in the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times as well as some other really important regional magazines, which I think are crucial to the success of this project reaching important audiences.

After about one-and-a-half years of working on the project, it became clear to me that this was a global issue, so I decided to expand my project beyond Asia. I’ve collaborated with the UNHCR [the UN Refugee Agency] three times since 2008 [in Kenya, Ukraine and the Ivory Coast]. The UNHCR played a very important role in helping me to expand the project. Since then, I’ve managed to continue the project through grants. In late 2010, the UNHCR and UPS sponsored a large travelling exhibition of my “Nowhere People” project, and it is this exhibition that has travelled to all these key cities around the world.

What drew you to the issue of statelessness?

For one, no other photographer had really dedicated any length of time specifically on this issue. It really was uncharted territory, which was an opportunity for me. I also felt the issue of statelessness and the denial of citizenship touched on many themes that are fundamental to the way we live today -- that are fundamental to the way societies are administered, function and operate. Statelessness, and particularly the deliberate denial of citizenship by a state or people in power, challenges many of our definitions of identity. It exposes the power of the state over who belongs and who does not belong. It challenges the principles of an open and democratic society. It also challenges the fundamentals of who has the right to have human rights, if that makes any sense.

Besides all of this, history is a huge element of the issue of statelessness. To understand why many people are actually stateless, you need to understand how they became stateless; you need to learn the history, understand the history and, unfortunately, many of these histories are forgotten. ...

Stateless people are some of the most forgotten people in the world today. Statelessness is a complex issue that many people in the world today don’t even know exists. Many people can’t even fathom that a government would intentionally deny an entire group of people citizenship, that governments would use citizenship as a tool and in some cases a weapon -- like in Burma -- to exclude and marginalize people. So, I’ve been motivated to help shed light on the plight of many of these communities and also try to expose their stories to a wider audience. 

You focused in particular on the issue of the Rohingya from Burma. Who are the Rohingya and why did you decide to write a book about them?

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group who have lived in the Rakhine State -- or historically known as Arakan -- in western Burma for generations. Today, they primarily live in the isolated townships of North Rakhine. They have been one of the most oppressed minority groups in the world for a very long time. Over the past 40 years, successive Burmese governments have claimed that the Rohingya are not from Burma but are migrants from Bangladesh and, even though during British colonial times there was a migration of people from the Indian subcontinent into Burma, the Muslim community [in] Rakhine have lived in Rakhine for centuries. Still, the Burmese authorities have done just about all that they can to exclude the Rohingya community from belonging to Burma. The Rohingya are denied most social, civil and economic rights and have been subjected to any number of human rights abuses. Rohingya have fled the abuse in Burma for decades. In 1978, 250,000 Rohingya fled Burma after a crackdown by Burmese authorities and the same thing happened again in 1991, when another 250,000 fled a crackdown. Right now, it is estimated that up to 300,000 Rohingya live in Bangladesh, most as unrecognised refugees.

As for my book, all of the work I have done on the Rohingya over the past six years has been done in Bangladesh. Their situation in Bangladesh, just like in Burma, is fluid. It changes, and I believe their story is one of the most serious cases of human rights abuse in the world today and one of the most extreme cases of protracted statelessness as well. To tell the story of the Rohingya the way I felt it needed to be told required me to spend years on the project. ... The book form permits me to tell the story the right way, the way the story deserves to be told, the way in which I think people will have a much better understanding of how complex and tragic the story of the Rohingya is.

You’ve been photographing the Rohingya Muslims for about six years now. Do you see a change in their situation and have they benefited from the recent reforms in Burma?

In the six years I’ve been photographing the Rohingya in Bangladesh, their situation has not improved at all. And the stories Rohingya have told me who have come out of Burma have not improved at all, either. Their situation has deteriorated. In Burma, the abuse they face at the hands of the Burmese security force, called Nasaka, has gotten worse. Not only have poor Rohingya fled North Rakhine in the past few years, but middle class Rohingya from North Rakhine have fled as well. Restrictions on the right to get married and the complications that come with these restrictions have gotten worse. Land seizure has gotten worse. The inability to travel freely has left Rohingya in North Rakhine destitute, with no other choice but to leave their homeland for Bangladesh. In southern Bangladesh, the Rohingya face growing intolerance, as was evident in the violent crackdown against them in 2012.

Bangladesh is a poor, overpopulated country with limited resources. Yes, this is true, but the neglect the Rohingya have faced in Bangladesh is a huge part of the larger story. And even though people criticise Bangladesh’s response to the Rohingya, one thing everyone needs to keep in mind -- the international community, EU, USA, ASEAN, etc. -- is that the root cause of the plight of the Rohingya rests with the abuse and exclusion they face in Burma. Have the Rohingya benefited from the recent reforms in Burma? Absolutely not. And a lot of other people in Burma have not benefited from the reforms as well, so the big question to many would be how can these reforms be considered legitimate when an enormous percentage of the population in Burma, including 800,000 Rohingya in Rakhine, have not seen much benefit from them?

What makes the Rohingya different from other stateless populations around the world?

For me, since I started my project “Nowhere People”, I’ve documented many groups of people who are stateless but, of all the groups, I think the outlook for the Rohingya has always been the darkest and most dire, specifically because there seems to be so little hope for solution in sight for them. One thing people need to recognise is that most stateless people are not refugees. They have never left the country of their birth but, mostly because of discrimination and intolerance, they are denied citizenship and the right to belong to their country of birth. Statelessness is often inherited from one generation to the next, so, in many places, generations of stateless people exist in their own countries, unrecognised, denied most fundamental rights and unable to belong to the larger fabric of society. The Rohingya is one of the only groups of people in my project who are also refugees. Successive Burmese governments, and specifically the Burmese government force called Nasaka, which is only found in the Rakhine State and nowhere else in Burma, have made life so miserable for the Rohingya, whether it be through abuse, extortion, forced labour, arbitrary land seizure or radical administrative measures like restricting the Rohingya’s ability to travel freely or restricting their ability to get married. They have no choice but to flee Burma to other countries, mostly Bangladesh.

For the billions of people on this planet who do have birth certificates, an ID card, a passport -- can you describe the pain stateless people feel?

The situation for stateless people is different all over the world. Their histories are different and the reasons why they have become stateless and continue to be stateless are different as well. But they do share some commonalities. Probably the biggest pain stateless people feel is this sense of paralysis for not being able to go about their lives like other human beings, this sense of having almost no control over their futures. Yes, stateless people are amazing in their ability to find ways to exist and make it from one day to the next, but, overall, the obstacles that have been built up in front of them are often too much for them to overcome, and I think this gives stateless people an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Being denied the ability to have vital documents, being denied the ability to have or pursue and educations, being denied the ability to own land or be legally employed or travel freely are all obstacles stateless people are faced with every day. More importantly, it is the sense of not belonging that is painful for stateless people. To be born in a place -- the same place as your father and his father -- and be denied the right to actually belong and be recognised by that place is also painful.

An armed police officer guards as Muslim refugees stand behind him at a refugee camp in Sittwe, capital of Rakhine State, western Burma (Photo - AP)

Chun Han Wong & Celine Fernandez

The Wall Street Journal

December 14, 2012

Malaysia is considering taking in 40 shipwreck survivors believed to be refugees from Myanmar, who have been in limbo this week after the Singapore government denied them entry. 

Malaysia's deliberations over the men saved by a Vietnamese cargo ship come as Singapore authorities declined to admit nine other survivors from the shipwreck who were picked up by a Liberia-flagged freighter after their vessel sank in Myanmar waters. 

For now, both ships and their rescued passengers remain anchored off Singapore's coast after attempts by the Vietnamese ship's owner—the Northern Shipping Joint Stock Co., or Nosco—to seek assistance were turned down by Singapore authorities, highlighting the wariness among Southeast Asian governments to accept asylum seekers from a recent exodus caused by Myanmar's ethnic violence. 

Malaysia is considering accepting those aboard the Nosco Victory after requests by Nosco officials and the United Nations refugee agency, according to Vivian Tan, a Bangkok-based spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. 

The Malaysian foreign ministry on Friday confirmed that discussions were under way but didn't provide a timeline for a decision. 

"UNHCR has been in touch with Malaysian authorities and are advocating for them to take these people. UNHCR is ready to help when they disembark" with humanitarian assistance and potentially starting asylum proceedings for those who qualify, Ms. Tan said. 

Neither Singapore nor Malaysia are signatories to the U.N. Convention on Refugees, which establishes a basic framework for protecting people escaping persecution. The convention bars signatories from expelling recognized refugees—with some exceptions—or punishing refugees for illegal entry. 

The 49 survivors had been aboard the ill-fated Nagu, which was carrying about 250 people when it sank Dec. 5 after making a port call in Myanmar's western Rakhine province, according to the Indian coast guard. The Rakhine region has been embroiled in violence in recent months that has left tens of thousands of minority Muslim Rohingya people homeless. 

It isn't clear whether the survivors are Rohingya, whose plight has put pressure on Myanmar's government. The 40 men saved by the Nosco Victory say they are Muslims—16 to 45 years old—from Myanmar's Rakhine state, according to a manifest seen by The Wall Street Journal and prepared by a marine insurer, which interviewed the survivors. 

The identities of the other nine survivors, currently aboard the X-Press Hoogly, are unclear. 

The Nosco Victory was due to dock Dec. 9 in Singapore, while the X-Press Hoogly had been scheduled for a stop Friday at the island state. But Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said in response to queries that it denied both ships entry because the rescued "do not appear to be persons eligible to enter Singapore," and alleged the captains of both vessels had ignored advice from Indian authorities to take the survivors to the "nearest port of safety," without clarifying which destination. 

The captains couldn't be reached to comment. The Authority didn't respond to a query on the survivors' ethnicity. 

Nosco executives say they had sought help from the Vietnamese foreign ministry and the Singapore and Myanmar embassies in Hanoi, but grew impatient over the lack of a solution as health and safety risks grew onboard their ship, because of overcrowding and a potential shortage of food supplies. 

An official at X-Press Feeder, the shipping firm that chartered the X-Press Hoogly, declined to comment on whether the company was negotiating with Singapore authorities. 

The Nosco Victory was originally scheduled to arrive in Indonesia on Dec. 15, although Indonesian officials have indicated reluctance to accept the shipwrecked people, saying they won't actively encourage refugees to come but would process those who have already arrived. An X-Press Feeder official said it isn't clear if the X-Press Hoogly can reach Kolkata on Dec. 20 as initially planned. 

The incident comes as civil-society groups warn that growing numbers of Rohingya refugees are fleeing Rakhine by boat to nearby countries, prompted by Bangladesh's continued closure of its border with Rakhine state. Some recent attempts have ended in tragedy, including an October sinking in which about 130 Rohingya were reportedly killed. 

Singapore has in the past said it can't accept refugees and asylum seekers due to its small size and limited resources, although it would help such people find other asylum destinations. 

Malaysia, meanwhile, has become reluctant hosts to some 24,000 Rohingya, who form one of the largest refugee groups in the Muslim-majority country, where asylum seekers are vulnerable to arrests for immigration offenses, according to the U.N. refugee agency. 

Myanmar's former military regime last year handed power to a quasi-civilian government that has embarked on a series of reforms. But analysts say rivalries between various ethnicities that had been suppressed by the military now present a challenge to its fledgling democracy. 

About 800,000 Rohingya Muslims live in Myanmar. They make up just 1.25% of Myanmar's 64 million population, but a much larger proportion in Rakhine state, about a quarter. The majority in the state are Buddhist Rakhines. 

The U.N. refugee agency estimates the latest spate of ethnic violence in Rakhine has so far displaced about 115,000 people, most of them Rohingya. 

—Vu Trong Khanh in Hanoi contributed to this article. 

December 15, 2012

Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire led a trade mission to Burma earlier this week. This is a transcript of the speech that was given by the Minister at the conclusion of his visit.

First of all I would like to thank the people of this beautiful country for the very warm welcome I have received here. I have been touched by their remarkable kindness and courtesy. 

In the past few days I have met leading ministers, civil society and business leaders who have been eager to share with me their aspirations for the future. 

With the Government I discussed a full range of issues. I welcomed their efforts on ethnic reconciliation, but registered my serious concerns about the ongoing situation in Kachin urging the government to take all necessary measures to stabilise conditions there and insure the safety of civilians. We continue to urge both sides to bring an end to the conflict.

I raised my serious concerns about the situation in Rakhine State, which I visited this morning, and where thousands of people have displaced by violent unrest. 

Earlier this afternoon I had the great honour to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and spoke to her about the many challenges facing Burma, not least the ongoing conflict in Rakhine State. 

I share Daw Suu's concern about the situation having witnessed for myself the seriousness of the humanitarian situation. Conditions remain extremely worrying. I have visited the IDP camps and seen the thousands of people, crowded into tents, with little food or sanitation, and reliant on aid. It left me in no doubt that without urgent action this tragedy will continue to deepen for all concerned. We spoke about the work of her Parliamentary committee and its recent urging for greater security, humanitarian aid, accountability and respect for human rights. 

If I can deliver one message on behalf of the people I met at these camps it is that we need to see determination on all sides to bring an end to this conflict and reach a meaningful political solution. 

The British Government is already playing its part including working with trusted NGOs to deliver emergency water, sanitation and healthcare to over 58,000 people from both communities. While we are presently the single largest aid provider, much more needs to be done and we are working to rally international action. 

In terms of this country's broader progress, what everyone wants to see here is rapid development and consolidation of democracy. What does that mean? It means that the country operates under the rule of law with strengthened democratic institutions and with respect for human rights; it means greater trade and prosperity so that people are employed; and it means utilities and services from roads to railways, from accessible credit to clean water, and reliable electricity. 

To that end I led a trade mission here focusing on the power sector with the aim of helping this country meet its ambition of a tenfold increase in its energy generation over the next decade. This is the sort of responsible investment we need to see here. Modern energy infrastructure, developed we hope with British expertise, will mean that everyone will have access to electricity in their homes and that manufacturers will be able to invest with confidence and produce things people want to buy. I welcomed the government's commitment to responsible investment. 

I want to finish on a positive note. This is a beautiful country with lofty ambitions. 

Britain believes in Burma and the Burmese people. The best way we can help is not by ignoring its problems but by working together to tackle them. If we can do that then everyone will be able to enjoy the benefits of a free, developed, and prosperous nation.

M.S. Anwar

RB Article

December 14, 2012

There are many reasons on why the violence against Rohingyas and Kamans started in 2012. 

1. To divert the attention of people from its failures to tackle political and economic crises such as offensive war against Kachin civilians for more than a year, Myitsone Damn crisis, Country-wide protests for electricity, farmers’ demonstrations to get their lands back, labour protests and extreme poverty in the country etc throughout their long reigns- the way the late dictator Ne Win did by creating anti-Chinese violence from 1967 throughout 1970s. 
2. To Depopularise Daw Aung San Suu Kyi nationally and internationally. 
3. To gain critically required people supports for the next election in 2015. 
4. To make foreign-based Burmese media and some foreign media (that have long been damaging them) untrustworthy among the Burmese people. 
5. To easily militarise Arakan to protect foreign investments benefitting them. 
6. And to finally be able to crawl back to the previous military dictatorships. 

Photo - UNA-UK

• A Security Council resolution reminding the Burmese government of its responsibility to protect all populations within its borders, and agreeing to the dispatch of international monitors to report on the ongoing situation (in addition to the visits made to date by foreign government representatives, including the UK) 
• An inclusive process of national reconciliation involving all communities within Burma 
• Neighbouring states, with the assistance of the UN and the international community, to help those fleeing violence 

Today, Alexandra Buskie, UNA-UK's Responsibility to Protect Programme Officer, and Ben Donaldson, UNA-UK's Communications and Campaigns Officer, hand-delivered more than 130 of these letters to the FCO, along with a cover letter from UNA-UK Chairman Sir Jeremy Greenstock to Baroness Warsi, Minister with responsibility for the UN and Human Rights.