Ben Doherty

Fairfax Media

February 22, 2013

Ron Corben

The Sydney Morning Herald

February 22, 2013

Australia will boost aid by $2.5 million to Myanmar's (Burma's) displaced ethnic communities, but has ruled out an "open door" policy to ethnic Muslim Rohingya seeking asylum in Australia after fleeing sectarian violence.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr, after meeting Thai counterpart Surapong Tovichakchaikul, said Australia ruled out allowing the Rohingya to be part of its resettlement policy after advice by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"We don't want to give the impression that for Rohingya, (those) desperate people (who) come to Thailand, they have a route to Australia because the settlement, the settlement of this displacement lies in changing policies to (give) effect to changed policies within Rakhine province," Senator Carr told reporters in Bangkok.

Up to 2000 Rohingya are living in camps in Thailand after fleeing violence between Muslim and Buddhist communities in the Myanmarese state of Rakhine last year.

The violence left up to 200 dead, thousands injured and hundreds of homes and shops torched in arson attacks.

Human rights groups say up to 19,000 people - mostly Rohingya - have fled in unsafe boats from Myanmar and nearby Bangladesh. Hundreds have drowned, including women and children.

Senator Carr said after talks on Thursday with the Thai foreign minister the two countries agreed the settlement of the Rohingya should be within Rakhine state.

"Others can't resolve it for them. It needs to be a humanitarian settlement within Rakhine that addresses the question of their citizenship status and sees them resettled and integrated into the economy," he said.

Australia would also be providing $750,000 to support access to clean water and sanitation in eastern Kachin state, where bitter fighting between Myanmar's army and Kachin fighters has left up to 70,000 people displaced.

In addition it would provide $500,000 to begin land mine clearance in southeast Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Senator Carr told AAP former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and fled in 2008 from a two-year jail term for corruption charges, had been granted a visa to travel to Australia.

"He's applied for, and was issued, a visa in early 2012. He hasn't visited Australia since the visa was issued," he said.

Mr Thaksin, whose younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, is Thailand's prime minister, was previously on a visa blacklist.

In his article, “A friend’s appeal to Burma”, published on June 19, 2012, Benedict Rogers included that the first President of Burma, Sao Shwe Thaike, a Shan, said that “Muslims of Arakan certainly belong to the indigenous races of Burma. If they do not belong to the indigenous races, we also cannot be taken as indigenous races”. 

“The people living in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships are Rohingya, ethnic of Burma” said by Burma’s first prime minister U Nu in his pubic speech on September 25, 1954 at 8 pm. “The Rohingya has the equal status of nationality with Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Shan” said the prime minister and minister for defense U Ba Swe at public gatherings in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships in November 3, 1959 and November 4, 1959. 

“The people living in Mayu Frontier is ethnic Rohingya” included in the announcement of Frontiers Administration office under Prime Minister Office on November 20, 1961. Mayu Frontier is composed of Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Rathedaung Townships. 

Broadcasting from radio program in the Rohingya language was relayed three times a week from the indigenous language programme of the official Burma Broadcasting Service in Rangoon, from May 15, 1961 to October 30, 1965. Myanma Encyclopedia Vol.9, page 89-90, published in 1964, concludes that population of 500,000 living in Mayu Frontier of Northern Arakan State 75% is Rohingya. “The majority people live in Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Rathedaung Townships are ethnic Rohingya and the minorities are Rakhine, Daingnet, Mro and Khami” wrote in Tatmataw Khit Yay journal Vol.12, No.6 printed on July 18, 1961 and Vol. 12, No.9 printed on August 8, 1961. 

In his speech on July 8, 1961, the Army Deputy Commander-in-Chief Brigadier General Aung Gyi said, “The people living in Mayu Frontier are Rohingya. Pakistan (now Bangladesh) is located in west of Mayu Frontier and Muslims are living there. The people living in west are called Pakistani and the people living here are called Rohingya. This is not the only border that has same people on both sides, border with China, India and Thailand also have the same phenomenon. For example: Lisu, Ei-Kaw, La-Wa live in Kachin State and same people live in China. Also Shan people can be found in China as Tai. The ethnics Mon, Karen and Malay are also living in Thailand. In India-Burma border Chin, Li-Shaw and Naga are living. These people are living in Burma as ethnics and living in India as well”. 

The Rangoon University Rohingya Students Association was one of the many ethnic student associations that functioned from 1959 to 1961 under the registration numbers 113/99 December 1959 and 7/60 September 1960 respectively. In High School Geography textbook, printed in 1978, where scattered living regions of national races of Burma is shown on page 86, Northern Arakan is marked as ‘Rohingya region’. 

Rohingya Elites/MPs before and after independence of Burma: 

After the separation of Burma from India in 1935, the “Di-Archy” system was replaced by a ruling system called “91 Taa-na” (Departments administration). In that system there were 132 seats in the governing body and a total of 132 members were elected from various communal backgrounds. In this election, Mr. Ghani Markan, a Rohingya MP from Buthidaung and Maungdaw constituency, was elected. Point to be noted here that Mr. Ghani Markan was from the Community of “Burmese national” category and they (Rohingya) represented the Burmese national and not the Indian or any other group. 

The General Election for Constituent Assembly in 1947 was organized just before the independence, mainly by the participation of General Aung San. This time, Buthidaung and Maungdaw had two separate constituencies. U Abdul Ghaffar for Buthidaung and U Sultan Ahmed for Maungdaw were elected. 

U Abul Bashar for Buthidaung, U Sultan Ahmed and Daw Aye Nyunt for Maungdaw and U Abdul Ghaffar for Upper house were elected in 1951 election. U Ezhar Miah and U Abul Bashar for Buthidaung, U Sultan Ahmed and U Abul Khair for Maungdaw, U Sultan Mahmood for Buthidaung North and U Abdul Ghaffar for Upper house were elected in 1956. U Sultan Mahmood and U Abul Bashar for Buthidaung, U Rashid and U Abul Khair for Maungdaw and U Abdu Suban for Upper house were elected in 1961. By then the Rohingya community were involved more actively in politics. For the first time, one of the Rohingya elected member became a cabinet minister of Prime Minister U Nu’s government. He was U Sultan Mahmood, and in charge for the ministry of Education and Health. U Abdul Ghaffar and U Abul Bashar, elected members of Buthidaung became the Parliamentary Secretaries. 

Even in the era of U Ne Win, the Rohingya exercised the voting and representing rights in the Pyithu Hluttaw (National Assembly) Election and in the election of different level of Pyithu (National) Council. Likewise, many Rohingya dignitaries were endorsed in the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and some of them held higher positions as well. U Abul Hussein and Dr. Abdur Rahim were elected in 1974 from Buthidaung and Maungdaw. 

Rohingya have been subjected to the discriminatory measure initiated in 1978 by the then BSPP and local authority of Rakhine community. They started to take the initiative to deprive the fundamental rights of Rohingya community and since then the Rohingya were marginalized from the Pyithu Hluttaw Election. U Tun Aung Kyaw aka Abdul Hai, was the only Rohingya representative elected in 1978 election from Maungdaw, but none from Buthidaung. The Rohingya were excluded from participating in the Pyithu Hluttaw elections in 1982 and 1986. However, some Rohingya were seen at lower levels of Pyithu Council of the BSPP. 

In 1990 multi party general election, Rohingya exercised the voting and representing rights again. U Kyaw Min, U Tin Maung, U Chit Lwin and U Fazal Ahmed from National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPH) were elected from Buthidaung and Maungdaw constituencies. Later U Kyaw Min became a member of Committee Representing People's Parliament (CRPP). 

Making Rohingya Stateless: 

Rohingya people used to have National Registration Card (NRC) like everyone else in the country. Upon introduction of discriminatory policies on Rohingya by Dictator Ne Win in 1970s, the NRCs were taken away by various measures. Numerous check-points were set up to block Rohingya’s travel and to confiscate their IDs. Nagamin (the Dragon) operation in 1977-78 was skillfully crafted to drive out all Rohingya from Burma. It produced about 250,000 refugees that fled to neighboring Bangladesh. However, most of the fleeing refugees were returned to their original dwelling places, so the plan was not quite successful for the Burmese regime. Although systematic discriminatory policies were in place and IDs and other government issued documents were seized by the government, Rohingya remained as citizens of Burma until 1982. The Citizenship Act promulgated in 1982 is the official document that striped off the citizenship of Rohingya. 

Numerous forms of discriminations followed by the enactment of 1982 Citizenship Law and lives of Rohingya had become incomprehensible. Again, another operation was carried out in 1991 by the successive military regime and it produced about 300,000 refugees, but this time about 200,000 remained in Bangladesh, of which, 28,000 are recognized refugees by the UNHCR and the rest are scattered around the country and are not recognized as refugees. 

In the meantime, the regime uses different methods to eliminate (forced out) the Rohingya population for the region: confiscation of farmland, establishing Buddhist settlement on Rohingya’s land, force labor, restriction on movement, restriction on marriage, harassment, desecration of religious places, arbitrary taxation, extrajudicial killings, rapes, and the list goes on. 

The new National Scrutiny Card was introduced in 1989 and Rohingya were not entitled to receive them as they have become non-citizen under the 1982 Citizenship Act. However, the authorities issued Temporary Scrutiny Card to all and promised twice in 2008 constitution referendum and 2010 election that National Scrutiny Card will soon be issued to all the Rohingyas. But the promises made to Rohingya were never honored. 

In recent parliament session, when some MPs raised the issue of Rohingya, the immigration minister U Khin Yee said that “there is no Rohingya in Burma”. The same was echoed by the director general of the population department at a later date. Although many Rohingya were members of National League for Democracy (NLD) in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships during 1990 election, now the vice chairman U Tin Oo and other high ranking officials of NLD are openly saying that there is no race called ‘Rohingya’ in Burma, which is an utter disregard for historical facts, human rights and democratic principle. NLD’s discriminatory policy on Rohingya is no less than that of the military regime. 

There is no justice for Rohingya in Burma as the racism is deeply rooted in Burmese society. Rohingyas are made escape goats to justify their evil doings by both ultra-nationalist racist and the regime to divert public attention. As history cannot be deleted or altered, the truth needs to be revealed and justice needs to be established. It is the human rights defenders that need to work hard to establish the justice and defend the rights of unjustly persecuted. 

Nay San Lwin is an activist and blogger. He can be reached via Twitter @nslwin

This article appeared here on October 29, 2012.

David Stout

Democratic Voice of Burma

February 21, 2013

Burma’s Deputy Immigration and Population Minister Kyaw Kyaw Win denied the existence of the Rohingya ethnic group in Burma during a parliamentary session on Tuesday. 

According to a back page report in today’s The New Light of Myanmar, Kyaw Kyaw Win made the statement twice in response to questions from MPs Maung Nyo of Sittwe and Daw Khin Saw Wai of Yathedaung, who also used the opportunity to unleash their own anti-Rohingya comments in front of the lower house. 

Hours later, President’s Office Director Zaw Htay, under the name Hmuu Zaw, tweeted, “In today[‘s] Parliament, Deputy Minister for Immigration said there is no [Rohingya] ethnic in Myanmar” on the popular social networking site Twitter. 

Zaw Htay has come under fire in the past for publishing anti-Rohingya comments on his Facebook page along with inflammatory pictures when sectarian violence rocked Arakan state last year. 

“When government ministers deny Rohingya exist, and it is repeated by the office of the President, this encourages more prejudice and violence against Rohingya and all Muslims,” said Mark Farmaner, director at Burma Campaign UK. 

“The international community can’t keep turning a blind eye to the fact that with statements like this President Thein Sein’s government is encouraging violence against the Rohingya.” 

Ethno-religious riots exploded in June and October in the restive western state resulting in the displacement of tens of thousands of residents and left a disproportionate amount of Muslim villages razed to the ground. 

Aid groups have struggled to deliver relief to the thousands of displaced Rohingya who are denied humanitarian assistance and not registered as internally displaced persons. 

“The government has denied the Rohingya as an ethnic identity for decades, branding nearly all Muslims in Arakan State as illegal immigrants as a matter of discriminatory state policy,” said Matthew Smith, a researcher with Human Rights Watch. 

Thein Sein’s government was heavily criticised last July after the president told a visiting delegation from the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees that the government would not recognise the Rohingya and suggested resettling the population to a third country. 

The deputy minister’s statement came as two Nobel laureates, former East Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta and former Managing Director of Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus, published a story in the Huffington Post yesterday calling for an end to the discrimination against the Rohingya minority. 

“The charge that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants to Myanmar is false,” wrote the Nobel laureates. 

“We ask the world to not look away, but to raise its collective voice in support of the Rohingya.”

RB News

February 21, 2013

Some like to term the violence in Arakan as “Sectarian and Communal” or “with a Between.” But one’s look at the details into the violence, he or she will find out that the violence has been neither sectarian nor communal but one-sided attack and ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas and Kamans jointly carried out by Rakhine extremists and Burmese authority. Extermination of these people through various means is still going on. The lists shown below are some portions of atrocities carried out against these two voiceless and helpless communities, whereas most of the atrocities have been successfully covered up by the Rakhine extremists and Burmese authority.

The innocent Rohingya people arrested from Maungdaw Towship, Arakan State, Myanmar

The innocent Rohingya people arrested from Buthidaung Towship, Arakan State, Myanmar

The death list of Rohingya and Kaman at refugee camps in Arakan State, Myanmar

Maungdaw: The incident of internal conflict of Rakhine in Myo Thit village (Rawsu Fara), Maungdaw North on February 10, 2013, has become a source of exploitation for Rakhines extremists and government authorities. They have been robbing legally from Rohingyas of neighboring villages under the pretext of investigation. NaSaKa in collaboration with SaRaPha [Military Security Associates] and armed Rakhine youths have been raiding villages one after another. Upon arriving to a house, they break into it; torture the householders, loot money, gold, clothes, and documents of land. 

On February 11, 2013, the authorities launched their operation of ransacking in LuDaing village of DoeDang Village Tract and arrested following people including a women. 

(1) Nazer Hussein s/o ? (50 years old) 

(2) Kulsuma d/o Hameed Hussein (45 years old) 

(3) Leyakot Ali s/o Serajul Islam (45 years old) 

(4) Leyakot Ali s/o ? (30 years old) 

(5) Bashar s/o Leyakot Ali (20 years old) 

(6) Usman s/o Abdul Latif (18 years old) 

(7) Mohammed Idris s/o Maulana Kabeer Ahmed (29 years old) 

(8) Mohammed Hashem s/o Zawmeer (25 years old) 

(9) Mohmmed Anas s/o Sayed Ahmed (20 years old) 

(10) Kamal Hussein s/o Mohammed Hussein (22 years old) 

Reportedly, four were killed in the first night among the arrestees. 

The NaSaKa raided Ouk Pyu Ma village (Hasarbil) on February 12, 2013. On the following day they raided and looted 21 houses from Ahtet Pyu Ma village. They looted the food items from storage and owners were beaten and ordered to flee to Bangladesh. 

“You are Bengali. We will do whatever we want.” the NaSaKa told to Eliyas, a victim in Ahtet Pyu Ma village. “You don’t’ want to leave the country because you can drink tasty coffee here?” a NaSaKa-man continued when he found a pack of Coffeemix at the house of Eliyas. 

The NaSaKa continuously raided and looted 41 houses from DoeDang village, about 60 houses from Lake Aine village of Ngar Sar Kyoe Village Tract on February 14, 2013. They took away cash, gold, clothes, cooking pots, documents of land and properties, furniture and any other valuables and appliances that they came across. 

As a result of arbitrary arrest, torture, extortion and plundering of properties and land worth millions, many families have fled their villages. All those who fled from their villages have been hiding in mountains and behind the dams. The seamless barbaric acts of NaSaKa, police and military, who do not have the sense of humanity, mercy and compassion, implanted endless fear in the hearts and mind of helpless Rohingyas. 

The authorities have equipped each village of Rakhines settlers with four guns. The settlers have been openly carrying the guns and roaming in the markets and public places threatening local Rohingyas. 

The authorities most responsible for crimes above are: 

(1) Tun Tun Naing (Nasaka staff of sector 5) 

(2) Moe Byan Tun (Military Security Associate, SaRaPha) 

(3) Major Win Hlaing (Commander of Nasaka sector 5)

Megan Levy

The Sydney Morning Herald

February 21, 2013

Jose Ramos-Horta & Muhammad Yunus

Huffington Post

February 20, 2013

One of the fundamental challenges of a democracy is how to ensure the voice of the majority does not trample the essential rights of the minority. In the founding of the United States this was addressed by the Bill of Rights, some form of which is integrated into most democracies today.

Even as we applaud and rejoice in the new freedoms enjoyed by the Myanmar people, the country's newly elected government must face this challenge as they evolve from autocratic rule into a democratic state. The tragedy of the Rohingya people, continuing to unfold in Rakhine State in the country's western corner, on the border of Bangladesh, will be its proving ground.

The minority Muslim Rohingya continue to suffer unspeakable persecution, with more than 1,000 killed and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes just in recent months, apparently with the complicity and protection of security forces.

The charge that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants to Myanmar is false. There is evidence that the Rohingya have been in present day Myanmar since the 8th century. It is incontrovertible that Muslim communities have existed in Rakhine State since the 15th century, added to by descendants of Bengalis migrating to Arakan (Rakhine) during colonial times.

The borders between present-day Bangladesh and Myanmar have shifted back and forth throughout these periods, resulting in ethnic Rakhine Buddhists living in Bangladesh today, and ethnic Bengali Muslims such as the Rohingya in Myanmar. As the Rahkine Buddhists are rooted in their Bangladeshi communities today, the Rakhine State in Myanmar is the only home the Rohingya know.

A glaring injustice was done to the Rohingya in 1982 when the ruling junta instituted a new law excluding the Rohingya from the list of the 135 national races recognized by the Myanmar government, effectively stripping them of their nationality. Since that time they have been banned from travelling even short distances or from getting married without a permit. When a marriage permit is granted, they must sign a commitment to have no more than two children.

Half of the Rohingya population is estimated to have fled the periodic pogroms that have reduced their villages to ashes and left thousands killed or raped in horrendous massacres. After having lived side by side with the Rakhine Buddhist communities, today they are an uprooted and stateless population, with some 200,000 refugees estimated to still be living in neighboring Bangladesh and hundreds of thousands more having fled to other parts of the world.

The 20th century gave us a term for the ugly phenomena of stripping individuals of their nationality and persecuting them for no reason other than the color of their skin, their religion, or their ethnicity: ethnic cleansing.

When the Myanmar government considers its progress on reform toward an open and democratic system of government, they must address one of the most barbaric remnants of their recent past, ethnic cleansing taking place in their midst, and right the wrongs done to the Rohingya population.

We wish the Rohingya to know that they are not alone. We hope to help share their plight with the world, in the hope and faith and trust that when the world knows of their suffering it will no longer turn its back on their persecution.

We humbly add our voices to the simple demand of the Rohingya people: that their rights as our fellow human beings be respected, that they be granted the right to live peacefully and without fear in the land of their parents, and without persecution for their ethnicity or their form of worship.

We ask the world to not look away, but to raise its collective voice in support of the Rohingya. In these days of public diplomacy the citizens, civil societies, NGOs, private investors and the business community have a vital role to play in the context of democratic reforms, human rights and development around the globe. We must use this voice.

We close with an appeal to the Myanmar government. You must amend the infamous 1982 law, and welcome the Rohingya as full citizens of Myanmar with all attendant rights. In doing so you will end the possibility of the radicalization of the Rohingya and channel their energies for the development of Myanmar. You will remove the impetus for extremism and terrorism being generated by the current mistreatment of this vulnerable minority. A strong, stable and democratic Myanmar is not only in the interest to countries of the region, but will serve the cause of global peace and stability as well.

A government must in the end be judged by how it protects the most vulnerable people in its midst, and its generosity towards the weakest and most powerless. Let not the good work of this government be clouded by the continuing persecution of the Rohingya people.

Jose Ramos-Horta is Former President of Timor Leste and the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Muhammad Yunus is Founder and Former Managing Director of Grameen Bank and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Mizzima News

February 20, 2013

Sri Lankan media is reporting on Wednesday that the 32 Myanmar nationals rescued by the Sri Lankan navy on Saturday are refusing to return to their home country. 

According to Colombo Page, the 32, reportedly Muslim Rohingyas from Rakhine State, say they left Myanmar because of persecution. 

Sri Lankan authorities have reportedly detained 17 of the 32 to hand over to Myanmar authorities while the others are held in a detention center for immigration offenders. 

“Sources say that Sri Lanka has no intention to bring charges against them under immigration regulations,” Colombo Pagereported.

Alan Cole

Xperedon

February 20, 2013

Requests for more humanitarian assistance for victims of crisis in Myanmar

Humanitarian charities are intensifying their appeals to support thousands of displaced people in Myanmar (Burma), suffering after a relentless wave of hardship... 

Charities and human rights organisations are appealing for the government of Myanmar to do more to help displaced people of the Rakhine State affected by ethnic violence, and also for international support to help the victims of the humanitarian emergency... 

Violence has been ongoing in the region in recent years between government and rebel groups, and lawless sectarian violence also erupted in Rakhine State last year...leading to thousands of new refugees... 

Charities at work in the region include The Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and Plan that are helping with emergency food, water, shelter and medical care... 

Muslim Aid UK is another charity assisting people in Myanmar and is currently appealing for support from donors to help workers and volunteers deliver humanitarian relief to displaced persons affected by the violence in Rakhine State... 

The charity is also calling on other charities and humanitarian organisations to work with them... 

In South East Myanmar, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency is assisting over 200,000 displaced people... 

Agencies report those that have fled from fighting in Rakhine State are in urgent need of food, water, shelter and healthcare, in what is a steadily worsening humanitarian situation... 

The region is also severely poor, and has been battered by cyclones, storms and floods over the years, the latter that impacted on 70,000 people in 2012 along the Ayeyarwady Delta... 

Human rights organisations are also appealing for more action to respect human rights in the country. 

Whilst progress has been made in this respect, with 400 political prisoners released by the government last year, abuses have still been taking place against civilians during recent armed conflicts says Human Rights Watch... 

Still, further progress was announced by the government, when 24 child soldiers were released in a ceremony on February 15 as part of a commitment to stop the use of child soldiers... 

Charity workers continue to appeal to help those suffering in Myanmar, including people of all ages, religions, nationalities and cultural backgrounds... 

Appeals continue for food and clean water for displaced people, sanitation supplies, health and medical care... 

Arjan Hehenkamp, of Médecins Sans Frontières, says it is those “living in makeshift camps in rice fields or other crowded strips of land” that are suffering the most acute medical needs...

Burma Campaign UK

February 20, 2013

Members of the European Burma Network today called on Germany to come clean over whether it is working behind the scenes to have Burma downgraded as a priority for the United Nations Human Rights Council. The European Burma Network brings together advocacy organisations working for human rights and democracy in Burma. 

Discussions have been taking place within the European Union on whether Burma should continue to be listed under Item 4; ‘Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention’, or changed to Item 10, ‘Technical assistance and capacity building.’ Germany is understood to be privately supporting moving Burma to Item 10. 

This is despite the fact that the country still has one of the worst human rights records in the world, and that in the past two years human rights abuses of the kind that could be considered war crimes and crimes against humanity actually increased. Burma is not a democracy, it remains ruled by a military-backed government, and almost all repressive laws remain in place. 

In his statement on 16th February 2013 at the end of his visit to Burma, the UN Special Rapporteur stated; “…there are significant human rights shortcomings that remain unaddressed…” The Special Rapporteur also highlighted continuing use of torture in Burma’s jails. 

The 2012 UN General Assembly Resolution on Burma stated: “Expresses concern about remaining human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, forced displacement, land confiscations, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as violations of international humanitarian law, and urges the Government of Myanmar to step up its efforts to put an end to such violations.” 

Downgrading Burma from Item 4 to Item 10 would be a major diplomatic coup for the government of Burma. 

Writing to German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, the letter states: ‘Germany has a long track record within the European Union of opposing international pressure against the government of Burma to promote human rights and democracy. Germany consistently worked to either attempt to block increased pressure, or to push for relaxing pressure. Germany uses the confidentiality of internal European Union meetings and processes to hide its actions from the German and European public.’ 

‘It appears that your government is again using this tactic to avoid having to justify publicly your position on the issue of Burma at the Human Rights Council. We know from experience that you are likely to reject any accusation that your government is not concerned about human rights in Burma. Therefore, to avoid any misunderstanding, we request that you clarify publicly the position of your government on whether you believe that Burma should remain as an Item 4 on the UN Human Rights Council, and whether Germany supports maintaining the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur.’ 

The letter was sent from the following European Burma Network members: 

Actions Birmanie (Belgium)

Association Suisse-Birmanie

Austrian Burma Center

Burma Aktion (Germany)

Azione Birmania (Italy)

Burma Action Ireland

Burma Campaign UK

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

Christian Solidarity Worldwide

Info Birmanie (France)

Swedish Burma Committee

M.S. Anwar 

RB News 

February 20, 2013 

Maung Daw, Arakan- Around 9AM yesterday, the government investigation team set up for the violence in Arakan arrived in the village of Baggona, Maung Daw. The team was said to have divided into five groups and investigated the respective people from the village. But the disturbing were Police, SB2 (Special Brach 2), SaSaSa (Bureau of Special Investigation) and SaRaPha (Security Affairs-Military) accompanying the investigation team. 

“They arrived in the village and divided into five groups. Then, they met and investigated the respective people. According to the villagers, the team treated and carried out question and answer sessions nicely. The villagers were comfortable in dealing with the team. The villagers were able to explain the common misconceptions about Rohingyas and the root causes of the violence. The villagers also said to the team that they still want to live peacefully with Rakhine community. The investigation team is said to have liked the villagers’ honest responses. And they left at 1PM. 

However, Police, SB2, SaSaSa and SaRaPha were disturbing and threatening the villagers so as to prevent them from meeting the investigation team. Therefore, the villagers had to go to meet the team with great courage and return with the help of the team. After the team had left, Police compiled the profiles of Rohingya villagers who met and talked with the investigation team. Now, the villagers are living in fear of being arrested by the Barbaric Police” said an Elder from a nearby village. 

It is to remind you that except for SaRaPha, all other departments of authority mentioned above are made up of mostly Rakhine extremists who have been behind the violence against Rohingyas. On one hand, the government asks Rohingya people to meet the investigation team. And on the other hand, they try by all means to prevent Rohinyas from meeting the team.

MYARF and RYM 

RB News 

February 19, 2012 

(Edited by M.S. Anwar) 

Maung Daw, Arakan - On 12:30 am of 19th February, a mass rape of Rohingya innocent girls including minors was committed by 19 Border Security Force (NaSaKa) in Ludaing (Du-Den) village tract in Northern Maung Daw. The NaSaKas came at the pretext of searching for the murderers of a Rakhine man from nearby Myo Theik Village tract, who was murdered by unknown criminals in NaSaKa Uniform, thought to be the members of Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), last week. 

Till date, our source was able to confirm 13 Rohingya girls who were victimized but still the exact number of raped victims is needed to be confirmed as many Rohingya women and girls do not share this kind of sexual assault lest their modesty should be harmed. 

The names of the confirmed raped victims are –

According to the relatives of the victims, some of the girls were assaulted in front of their family members. 

On 19th February at noon, five villagers from Du-Den village track were on their way to NaSaKa camp to file a complaint against those rapist NaSaKas, through NagPura (Ngakura) village tract. Three of them are: 

(1) Mohammed Ullah 

(2) Mabu Alam 

(3) Noor Bashar 

On hearing the news, the rapist NaSaKa blocked the villagers at NgaKura, of them one was a NGO worker. Later they released two of them including the said NGO worker but three other villagers were taken to custody. 

As we reported you here, last week, a Rakhine was murdered and three others were injured by unknown criminals whom villagers thought to be member of ALP, a Rakhine Separatist Arm-Group, possibly to increase the harassment against the friendless and voicless Rohingya community. NaSaKa has already arrested many innocent Rohingyas on false and arbitrary allegation of taking part of the murder case. 

One day NaSaKa arrest a group of Rohingyas and on the other day, they release them after the extortion of humungous amount of money. It has been going on for days. Today, 22 Rohingya men arrested for no reasons were released after extorting 1,500,000 Kyats each. In this way, they are crippling Rohingya community economically and degrading emotionally by raping even the under-aged girls. The violence against Rohingyas seems to be increasing day by day.

Date: 19 February 2013 

BROUK Welcomes Statement of Tomás Ojea Quintana and Urges International Community to Take Immediate Action 

On 16 February 2013, following a five-day mission to Burma, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Tomás Ojea Quintana expressed his concern about the "profound crisis" in Arakan state. 

He highlighted the lack of adequate health care in the larger Rohingya Muslim camps in Arakan State and that the local and international medical staff are unable to provide medical care to some of the Muslim camps due to the threats and harassment they face from local Rakhine Buddhist communities. Quintana said that Taung Paw camp in Myaybon Township "felt more like a prison than a camp". 

He also warned that IDP camps "cannot become permanent settlements, and if necessary the government needs to allocate land" for the Rohingya communities. This is particularly urgent with the coming rainy season in May, which will flood many of these camps. He said that "People need to be given greater freedom of movement to engage in economic activity, such as trade and fishing, and to access education and obtain healthcare. This is also necessary to begin the process of rebuilding trust between communities through interaction, and to restore the dignity of the people who find themselves trapped in these camps through no fault of their own." 

BROUK welcomes Quintana's call for Parliament to amend the 1982 Citizenship Act "to ensure that all persons in Myanmar have equal access to citizenship and are not discriminated in such access on grounds of ethnicity or religion," and that " in the meantime, the current Act should be applied in a non-discriminatory manner to enable those with a just claim to citizenship, to claim it on an equal basis with others, including those from the Rohingya community." 

He was also concerned by the situation in Buthidaung prison in northern Rakhine State, after receiving serious allegations that Muslim prisoners have been tortured and beaten to death. 

He also raised the case of Dr. Tun Aung, who he regards as a prisoner of conscience who must be released immediately. He said that "Dr. Tun Aung’s case reveals that Muslims being tried and convicted in Rakhine state in relation to the recent violence are not receiving access to legal counsel, which is a violation of their basic human rights." 

BROUK President Tun Khin said, “We welcome Quintana's statement as we have repeatedly called for the international community to take action on these serious human rights abuses and violations. We urge US, UK, EU and ASEAN countries to take immediate action in line with Quintana's recommendations regarding the Rohingya situation in Arakan state. We also urge member states of the United Nations Human Rights Council to place Burma on the agenda during the March session in Geneva with a view to adopting a resolution to establish an independent Commission of Inquiry as a matter of priority.” 

For more information please contact Tun Khin +44 7888 714 866

Press TV

February 18, 2013

An Iranian lawmaker has denounced the Western countries’ inaction vis-à-vis the ongoing violation of human rights in Myanmar, saying the West’s silence ahs intensified the killing of Muslims in the Southeast Asian country.

“The West’s double standards in its alleged struggle against violation of human rights and defense for human dignity make it react to the execution of a criminal and press charges against an independent country, but when such crimes are committed by Western-backed governments on a large scale, no reaction - even from international bodies - is seen,” a member of Iran Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Hossein Sobhani-Nia said on Monday. 

The lawmaker added that the death of innocent Muslims in Myanmar is a clear example of the violation of minorities’ rights, stressing that a firm international determination is required to counter crimes against humanity.

On Saturday, the United Nations expressed concern over rights abuses by the government of Myanmar, calling for an end to discrimination against ethnic and religious groups in the country. 

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN special rapporteur on rights in Myanmar, said in a press conference that the use of excessive force by Myanmar’s government against local communities and ethnic groups worried the UN. 

The persecuted Muslim minority has faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar since the country achieved independence in 1948. 

The Iranian legislator further said that the West’s dual policies have also given rise to a tragedy in the Middle East. 

Any time terrorists, backed by Western powers, commit crimes in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the West stays put in an implicit endorsement of the crimes.

Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez

Reuters

February 18, 2013

Melissa Darlyne Chow & Balvin Kaur

New Straits Times

February 18, 2013

BALIK PULAU: Some 140 Rohingya refugees starved for three days, before 35 of them, including children, were arrested in the jungle of the Penang National Park today. 

Aged between a year old to 70s, they were arrested about 3pm after they were found loitering around the Teluk Kampi beach, and are believed to have entered the country's waters by using a barge 13 days ago. 

When met, one of the refugees, Mohamad Rovic, 26, said they had to get off the boat and wander around for shelter, with some having run away into the woods. 

He said there were those who went hungry for three days due to fear of being arrested by the authorities. 

"I came here to find my brothers who have been working here for a while. I don't want to go back home as it feels much safer here and I also want to find a job," he said. 

Meanwhile, Southwest district police chief Superintendent Mohd Hatta Mohd Zin confirmed their arrests and said police were now searching intensively for the others. 

He said operations are still ongoing and those detained were brought to the district police headquarters for further checks before being handed over to the Immigration Department. 

He added that police were also assisted by the Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) as well as the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA). 

"For the time being the operations at the park are ceasing until the remaining Rohingyas are found," he said.

A large chunk of Abdul Rahman’s home is gone, and so is his oldest son, Shakur. The ethnic Rohingya farmer tore down nearly half his home for scrap needed to secure his son’s passage on a boat bound for Malaysia. In the wake of bloody sectarian violence last year that left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands of minority Muslim Rohingya into camps outside the coastal city of Sittwe, Rahman, 52, insists his people are being “strangled” by a Burmese government that does not want them. While foreign donors have supplied basic food rations, checkpoints manned by armed guards prevent the displaced from returning to the paddies and markets their livelihoods depend on. “Even animals can move more freely,” says Rahman.

These days, more and more Rohingya are betting what little they still have on a dangerous journey at sea. Community leaders and boatmen involved in the exodus say the volume of passengers is unprecedented because of enduring tensions and a total lack of mobility inside Burma, also known as Myanmar, where the Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and neglect. The growing sense of despair is borne out by the roughly 1,800 refugees who washed up in Thailand in January. And they keep arriving, on overloaded boats without navigational equipment, despite a voyage that can take up to two weeks. If they’re lucky: of the 13,000 mostly Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar and Bangladesh last year, the U.N. says at least 485 were known to have drowned.

“Now there is just one choice left for us: go and live with other Muslims,” says Sayed Alam, 20, an unemployed shop worker, as he prepared to leave Sittwe, the state capital, with two friends. “There is so much fear in this place.”

The plight of Burma’s Rohingya minority continues to cast a pall on its transition to democracy. Called one of the most-persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denied citizenship though many families have lived in the country for generations. Last June, their woes intensified after reports that an Arakanese Buddhist woman was raped by three Rohingya men set off a wave of communal clashes. Mobs of Buddhists and Muslims rampaged through villages with swords and rods, burning homes and beheading victims. In a damning report, Human Rights Watch alleged that Burmese security forces committed killings, rape and mass arrests against Rohingya Muslims after failing to protect them and Arakanese Buddhists during the riots.

Eight months on, pockets of Rohingya that remain in rural Arakan state are in serious trouble. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced in early February that its field teams continued to face hostile threats from Arakanese leaders and state forces that forced them to cut back medical care. Moreover, the aid agency warned of a brewing “humanitarian emergency” in the heavily restricted camps around Sittwe. Burmese officials claim the camps are necessary to shield the Rohingya population from further harm, but MSF says that acute malnutrition, skin infections and other ailments caused by poor sanitation are on the rise, especially among those uprooted by a second spasm of violence in October and now live on the margins of established camps.

“My children are sick, they are hungry,” says Halima, 30, a pregnant mother of five who arrived in late October and lives in a straw hut on a dusty plain. She cooked a pot of rice over a dung fire — the family’s only meal of the day. Her children wandered half-naked, their bellies swollen with hunger, in view of a food depot where residents of a formal camp collected rations of rice, beans and palm oil. Because Halima and her family were not directly affected by the violence, they are not registered as “displaced” people, and therefore ineligible for foreign aid. This explains the absence of her husband. “He is away looking for more food,” she says. “We must have something for tomorrow.”

While aid officials and activists debate how many are without assistance, the urgent problems posed by the Rohingya’s near-total lack of mobility are clear. Denied access to farmlands and town markets, able-bodied men are unable to earn any money as day laborers, leaving them fully dependent on aid, explains Carlos Veloso, country director for the U.N. World Food Program in Burma. This is problematic, he points out, since the international donors currently needed to feed legions of displaced (and must renew funding due to expire in April) don’t want to create permanent settlements.

Faced with stagnant conditions inside the camps and insecurity everywhere else, greater numbers are taking their chances on the open sea. Mohdi Kasim, a prominent Rohingya community leader living in one of the camps, described how his neighbor, a veteran police officer, showed up at his door earlier in the morning in tears asking for money to help cover his boat fare. Both of his sons had already left. According to Idriss, 35, a Rohingya boat builder with gold rings on his fingers, two to three vessels are leaving the Sittwe area every night, often packed with over 100 passengers. “We tell the people it’s not safe, but they insist on going,” he says. “They are suffering so much here.”

But the risks do not end off the water. In January, more than 800 Rohingya were rescued in raids against human-trafficking networks across southern Thailand, according to Thai media reports. An army colonel and another high-ranking officer are under investigation for suspected involvement, as well as a local politician. Abdul Kalam, a Rohingya activist based in Thailand, took part in a Jan. 10 raid on a remote compound in Songkhla province where about 300 refugees were being held. Brokers were demanding more than $2,000 to smuggle them into Malaysia. Several Rohingya were among the men arrested.

The Thai government has agreed to let the refugees stay for six months before they are repatriated or sent to third countries. (Malaysia, for its part, has been receptive to those who reach its shores.) In the meantime, new arrivals are being held in detainment centers, unable to make phone calls home to those they left behind. Kalam is hopeful that the U.N. refugee agency and international pressure will move the Thais to grant Rohingya amnesty. A return to Burma, he adds, is out of the question. “So many people told me, ‘If you’re going to send me back to [Burma], you should kill me now instead.’”

Abdul Rahman, the farmer, counts his son as “one of the lucky ones.” Less than two weeks after his departure, he received a phone call from Malaysia that he’d made the crossing successfully and was looking for work. Another of his sons will soon follow, he says, meaning more money had to be raised. Standing in front of what’s left of his home, he reflected on what else he could sell.

— Motlagh reported with a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

Mizzima News
February 18, 2013

The United Nations Special Rapporteur to Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, says that the use of excessive force by Myanmar’s government forces against local communities and ethnic groups was worrying to the UN. 

Speaking at a press conference at Yangon International Airport before leaving the country on Saturday, Quintana said nearly 120,000 people are now living in camps in Rakhine State with a lack of adequate healthcare, and noted that conditions were worse in camps sheltering Rohingyas and other Muslims.

The UN official said harassment of medical staff by Buddhist extremists in Rakhine State was one of the reasons behind the poor healthcare. 

The government needs to address the problem of freedom of movement in the camps, Quintana stated, adding that one of the camps “felt more like a prison than a camp.”

AFP

February 16, 2013

Sri Lanka's navy on Saturday rescued 38 Myanmar nationals who were drifting off the island's east coast, the second batch of boatpeople to be saved in as many weeks, officials said. 

Sri Lankan naval craft responding to a distress call plucked the 38 people from a rickety boat drifting about 250 miles (400 kilometres) off the east coast, a navy official said. 

Four of the rescued passengers required treatment for dehydration and they were being brought to the southern port of Galle, he said. 

"Four people required medical attention and are out of danger," the navy official, who asked not to be named, said. "They will reach shore by tomorrow (Sunday)." 

It is the second time in less than two weeks the navy has gone to help a crippled foreign boat. 

On February 3, the navy rescued 138 Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals from a sinking boat. One of the passengers in that boat had died before help reached. 

Officials said it was unclear if those identified as Myanmar nationals were Rohingya -- members of a stateless Muslim minority described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted groups -- who had fled Myanmar. 

An explosion of tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine since June 2012 has triggered a seaborne exodus of Rohingya. 

Thailand's navy blocked more than 200 Rohingya boatpeople from entering the kingdom late last month as part of a new policy under which they will be given food and water but barred from landing if their boat is seaworthy.