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Introduction

1. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar was established pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1992/58, and was recently extended by Human Rights Council resolution 19/21. The present report is submitted pursuant to Council resolution 19/21 and General Assembly resolution 67/233, and covers human rights developments in Myanmar since the Special Rapporteur’s report to the Council (A/HRC/19/67) in March 2012 and to the Assembly (A/67/383) in October 2012.

2. From 11 to 16 February 2013, the Special Rapporteur conducted his seventh mission to Myanmar and met, in Naypyitaw, the Minister for Home Affairs, the Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, the Attorney General, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Deputy Minister for Border Affairs, the Deputy Chief Justice and other justices of the Supreme Court, as well as several members of parliament and parliamentary committees. In Yangon, he met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, members of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, civil society, prisoners of conscience held in Insein prison, former detainees from Buthidaung Prison, the United Nations country team and the diplomatic community. He also visited Yangon University and met with the Dean and students, and visited the offices of the Myanmar Times.

3. He visited Rakhine State, where he met state authorities and community leaders. He visited camps for displaced persons for both Buddhist and Muslim communities in Sittwe, Myebon and Pauk Taw and visited Sittwe Prison. He also visited Kachin State, where he met state authorities and civil society, visited camps for displaced persons in Myitkyina and Waingmaw and visited Myitkyina Prison. He expresses thanks to the Government of Myanmar for its cooperation during the visit.

4. He visited Japan from 7 to 10 February and met with representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, and civil society organisations. He also visited Thailand from 17 to 18 February and met with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, civil society, United Nations regional and national offices and the diplomatic community. He is grateful to the Governments of Japan and Thailand for their cooperation.

5. The Special Rapporteur expresses thanks to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, Bangkok and New York, for assisting him in discharging his mandate.

Read more here:

Photo - Phuket Wan
Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison 
Phuket Wan
March 6, 2013

PHUKET: Thai security forces opened fire on defenceless Rohingya boatpeople north of Phuket, killing at least two and as many as 15, according to detailed accounts by three survivors and Thai villagers who are sheltering them.

The killings, which are said to have occurred on February 21, came during a botched attempt by the military to transfer about 20 would-be refugees from the large boat on which they arrived from Burma (Myanmar) with 110 others, to a much smaller vessel. 

When some feared they would be separated from family members, they jumped in the water and the military men opened fire during the predawn incident, the witnesses said.

Survivors Habumara, 20, Rerfik, 25, and Jamar, 16, said yesterday that they swam for their lives when the shooting broke out. They are currently being sheltered by sympathetic villagers.

Two fresh graves, said to contain Rohingya, were seen by a Phuketwan reporter and an Australian news television crew yesterday.

The three survivors said they believed that the killers were members of the Thai Navy, but village residents said they probably belonged to another branch of the Thai military. 

Previous abuses of the Muslim Rohingya have been carried out by other arms of the Thai military or operatives trained as paramilitaries.

Vice Admiral Tharathorn Khajitsuwan, the Commander of Thai Navy Three, which patrols the Andaman coast, declined to comment.

One Rohingya, Rerfik, said that their boat, which had run out of fuel on its journey from Burma, was intercepted by local Thai fishermen on February 21.


RB News
March 6, 2013

A delegation of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) is visiting South Africa to raise awareness about the situation of the Rohingya and human rights in Burma. The delegation was invited by Burma Campaign South Africa and Protect the Rohingya Group from Johannesburg. 

Yesterday evening the delegation met the Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa, Ibrahim Ibrahim and highlighted the new apartheid system against Rohingya being imposed by the Burmese Government. 

The delegation highlighted how the immediate priorities are safety and security, and for President Thein Sein to allow full international humanitarian access, not just to those in camps, but also those in villages. The delegation asked the Foreign Minister to support international observers on the ground, support a UN Commission of Inquiry, and to pressure Thein Sein to repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law. 

BROUK President Tun Khin said: “I am extremely satisfied with the meeting with the South Africa Deputy Foreign Minister. We were able to deliver the message that the world needs to wake up to the new apartheid system against the Rohingya which is being created by President Thein Sein.” 

Yesterday the delegation also held a press conference, and met lawyers from the Muslim Association to discuss justice and accountability issues relating to violence and discrimination against the Rohingya. 

Today BROUK President will give an interview on South African national television and give a speech at the prestigious Johannesburg University. 

During South Africa trip the delegation will raise awareness the plight of Rohingya in Cape Town.

Aubrey Belford
The Global Mail
March 6, 2013

Aung San Suu Kyi has made some surprising new friends on her way from democracy icon to politician: Burma’s former military men and crony capitalists are getting cosy. The country’s downtrodden minorities, not so much.

Tolerating racists, coddling the military, courting crony capitalists — these aren’t accusations the world is used to hearing against Aung San Suu Kyi.

But plenty has changed since the Nobel Peace Prize winner made the transformation from detained democracy icon to politician.

Since her release from house arrest over two years ago, Suu Kyi has become a key player in democratic reforms spearheaded by President Thein Sein, a former senior official in the country’s old junta. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) has gained a toehold in a parliament still dominated by old regime loyalists and uniformed soldiers. The Lady, as many Burmese call her, has made it clear she wants to become president when Burma holds democratic elections in 2015.

Yangon, Burma’s peeling main city, is choked with new traffic. Newspapers are largely free of censorship, and secret police have vanished from the streets. The city’s hotels are seeing unprecedented numbers of silver-haired tour groups, as well as hopeful NGO workers and businessmen.

But in other parts of the country, things are looking grim. In the northern Kachin areas, a brutal war with ethnic rebels that has likely killed thousands since mid-2011 goes on. In the western Rakhine state, fighting between Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhines last year likely killed hundreds and displaced at least 100,000 Rohingya, who are now living in squalid camps. Media freedom has exposed an ugly underbelly of anti-Muslim prejudice among many Burmese.

Even though she doesn’t run Burma — yet — Suu Kyi has been thrust to the centre of all this. Spending much of her time in the new sparse capital Naypyidaw, Suu Kyi has embarked on what is widely viewed internationally as a successful collaboration with the ex-military men leading the country’s top-down transition. With the Nobel Laureate’s blessing, foreign sanctions on both the government and business have been eased and more than $5.8 billion of Burma’s debt has been forgiven.

But while Suu Kyi remains popular in the heartland of Burma’s ethnic Bamar majority, she is increasingly alienating foreign supporters, as well as the minorities who make up one-third of the population. For six decades, many of these minority groups have been involved in intermittent conflict aimed at earning greater autonomy from the central government. Now Suu Kyi has caused concern by appearing to draw the NLD closer to some of Burma’s crony capitalists, a small club of men who grew rich under sanctions by leveraging their connections to the military junta to gain dominance over a crippled economy.

What exactly is Suu Kyi up to?

Central to the current machinations is that Suu Kyi is angling for the country to hold its first fully democratic parliamentary elections in 2015, says Richard Horsey, an analyst and former United Nations official in Yangon.

“Given her huge popularity across much of the country, a landslide victory seems very likely, which will be further amplified by the first-past-the-post electoral system,” Horsey says.

“The risk is that this will marginalise some important and powerful constituencies: the old political elite, the ethnic minorities and the non-NLD democratic parties.

“This is a serious risk because a stable and sustainable transition will be very difficult unless the political process is inclusive.”

It was Suu Kyi’s meeting with Thein Sein in mid-2011 that convinced her the government’s reform project was for real, Horsey says. And it has been Suu Kyi’s star power that in turn has convinced the world to back the country’s transformation.

Suu Kyi is widely seen as having formed a close working relationship with Shwe Mann, the powerful speaker of the lower house, who is a former general. As a result she’s had a greater say on key bills than the NLD’s tiny representation would otherwise merit.

If Suu Kyi wants to become president, however, she will have to change the constitution, which currently bars her from running because she was once married to a foreigner. Changing the constitution to allow her presidency would require the agreement of a more than 75 per cent majority in the parliament, meaning she would need the support of both the regime’s Union Solidarity and Development Party, and serving soldiers, who under the current constitution hold 25 per cent of seats.

In short, she has to convince the current rulers that their interests will be safe even if they are squeezed out of power by the NLD.

Many critics of Suu Kyi say she has gone soft on her former jailers, particularly when it comes to what is arguably the most pressing problem facing Burma: ethnic chaos.

During the violence in Rakhine State, Suu Kyi repeatedly avoided the thorny issue of whether or not the stateless Rohingya – who are regarded as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants by the government, despite having lived in Burma for generations – should be given citizenship.

She was similarly reluctant to criticise widely documented abuses by the Burmese army against Kachin rebels, instead stating earlier this year on a visit to the United Kingdom that she had long been “fond” of the army. Following sustained criticism, Suu Kyi offered to mediate the conflict. That offer was curtly rejected by the rebel Kachin Independence Army.

“I think she’s more silent than the past, more silent to criticise,” says Zaw Min, a member of the 88 Generation of activists, which takes its name from the bloody 1988 uprising against the former military regime. “I think her aim is to soften the government or to change the constitution. She’s only paying attention to these issues to take power.” New fissures have emerged in Burmese politics since the days of military rule and Suu Kyi’s house arrest, he argues. “In the past, we would say there are two sides to our country: the military and the democratic side. But that’s not true [anymore]. There are a lot of sides.”

Thein Sein has earned kudos for securing ceasefires with a number of ethnic rebel armies, most notably for securing a halt to the 63-year conflict between the government and the Karen National Union. But even outside the riven Kachin areas and Rakhine State, peace is shaky. A central demand of many ethnic groups is the creation of a federal union to replace the current central state, which is heavily dominated by the majority Bamar. They argue this is the spirit of the Panglong Agreement, which was negotiated with Suu Kyi’s father, Aung San, before he was assassinated in 1947, before independence was achieved from Britain.

While many minorities are making tentative steps towards negotiating with Thein Sein’s government, their relationship with Suu Kyi’s NLD has mostly gone backwards, says Khun Htun Oo, a leader of the Shan National League for Democracy.

Htun Oo, a former political prisoner who had been serving a 93-year sentence for charges including treason, was released in early 2012 as part of the country’s reforms. His ethnic group, the Shan, is Myanmar’s largest minority. Its members reside mostly in the hilly parts of Burma around the Thai, Chinese and Laotian borders — an area infamous for armed conflict, and the production of heroin and methamphetamine. Htun Oo’s group is traditionally aligned with the NLD, but he has become disappointed with Suu Kyi’s engagement with the government.

“I don’t know what it is, but we can feel that there is some agreement between the government and Daw Suu,” he says, referring to Suu Kyi by an honorific. Htun Oo interprets her attitude as being: “Don’t try to be an opponent of the government and don’t try to criticise the military. She’s quite reluctant with these affairs.”

“We have stood by her but ... when she joined force with the parliament we were not consulted about it. We are all warning each other: trusting a person is dangerous. We trusted [Suu Kyi’s father] Aung San as a person. And when the person died, the problems started. Now, if we trust The Lady and once she changes her mind, it could cause the same problem. We might as well stick to our own policy and fight for it.”

Suu Kyi is trying her best to reach out to the minorities, but is consistently rebuffed, argues Nyan Win, a senior NLD official. “The conflict between the Burma government and the ethnic groups is based on racism. Many ethnic groups don’t like the Bamar.”

Adding to the widely held belief that Suu Kyi is focussing solely on improving relations with the Bamar elite is the perception that she and the NLD have been conciliatory towards, if not directly courting, Burma’s crony capitalists. In late 2011, Suu Kyi famously accepted an invitation to publicly watch a football match in the company of Zaw Zaw, a tycoon whose financial interests range from toll roads to hotels and jade, and who is the subject of US sanctions. It is one of a number of meetings she’s had with Zaw Zaw.

More controversially, Soe Win, a senior NLD official, confirmed to The Global Mail that an educational foundation run by the NLD last year received 70 million kyat, or about $79,500, from a company owned by Tay Za, another tycoon operating under sanctions from the US — he was described by the US Treasury in the pre-reform era as “a notorious regime henchman and arms dealer”. The foundation also received 130 million kyat from SkyNet, a broadcaster owned by Kyaw Win, who has close links to the current regime. His wife reportedly paid the equivalent of nearly $50,000 for a sweater knitted for charity by Suu Kyi.

In January, Tay Za, who has interests in both jade and timber in the Kachin north, also reportedly gave 70 million kyat to the military, to match his donation to the NLD.

The NLD’s Soe Win defends the donations it has received, saying they are acceptable because they did not go directly into party coffers. By reaching out to such regime cronies, the NLD hopes to reform them into responsible businessmen, he says. “This is a transitional period. We have no experience and no comparison. We have to train them; change their mindset,” Soe Win says of the businessmen, adding that he has yet to see evidence of any such change. And he says the NLD will only allow direct contributions from these businessmen in 2015 if they have significantly improved their record.

An assistant to Suu Kyi declined a request by The Global Mail for an interview. Tay Za also declined our request for an interview, citing a lack of time; and a list of written questions submitted in lieu of an interview remained unanswered at the time of publication of this article. Zaw Thet Maung, a senior executive of Kyaw Win’s SkyNet, denies any attempt to politically influence Suu Kyi or the NLD, characterising the contributions as “purely charity”.

Regardless of whether their approach to Suu Kyi has borne fruit, the government cronies are seeing their fortunes improve alongside the reform process. The US Treasury in late February eased restrictions on US companies doing business with banks owned by Tay Za and Zaw Zaw.

There’s little doubt that Suu Kyi remains essential to Burma’s transition. She is wildly popular among the ethnic majority, and she remains the closest thing to a unifying national figure. A recent editorial in The Irrawaddy, a magazine set up abroad by Burmese exiles, but which has recently established a presence in Burma, sums up the frustration of many of her critics:

“Suu Kyi is right that Burma doesn’t need a saviour; but it does need a leader. After a year of collecting international accolades, it’s time for her to prove that she is that leader.

“As long as Suu Kyi continues to avoid taking any meaningful stance on the very real issues that plague Burma, the ‘democratically united’ country that she spoke of in her speech will remain as elusive as ever. Without decisive words from the woman in whom the country has placed its hopes for a better future, Burma will remain, at best, a slightly less repressive version of the deeply divided tyranny it has been for most of its history as a modern nation.”

Bangkok Post
March 6, 2013

Thein Sein, on the first-ever visit to Brussels by a Myanmar president, received on Tuesday new pledges of EU economic assistance coupled with calls to protect his country's ethnic minorities.

The Myanmar leader, setting out on the fourth leg of an historic 10-day tour of Europe, met successively with European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, EU president Herman Van Rompuy, and foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

"You have in the European Union a committed and longterm partner for the historic journey that Myanmar and its people have started," Van Rompuy told Thein Sein, who was warnmly welcomed all round for his ground-breaking reforms in the once pariah state.

Since the former premier took over the presidency in March 2011, hundreds of political prisoners have been released and elections held, including the election to parliament of long-detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The EU and Myanmar are turning a page in their relationship," said Barroso. "More dialogue, more and better aid, more trade and investment."

While EU development aid has more than doubled to around 200 million euros for 2012-2013, Brussels said it was now ready to explore the feasibility of a bilateral investment agreement.

Ashton, flanked by commissioner for industry Antonio Tajani, will visit Myanmar, also known as Burma, later this year to look at further economic support.

The EU has also offered to reinstate a preferential tariffs deal with Yangon.

Thein Sein complained however of continuing economic sanctions against the country, saying "we are one of the poorest countries in the world."

The EU in April rewarded Myanmar's historic changes by suspending for one year a wide range of trade, economic and individual sanctions and said it would "monitor closely the situation on the ground, keep its measures under constant review."

And Brussels on Tuesday made clear it was monitoring minority rights, notably the ongoing conflict in the northern state of Kachin, and communal Buddhist-Muslim unrest in the western state of Rakhine -- where the bloc has provided some 5.5 million euros to help the internally displaced from both communities.

"Important challenges remain. In particular, on the need for a comprehensive peace settlement in ethnic areas," Van Rompuy said.

Speaking through an interpreter, Thein Sein said his government had been able "to reduce a culture of fear" and vowed to continue to work to strengthen democracy. "You have my promise we will continue on this path," he stated.

But groups such as Human Rights Watch urged leaders in Brussels to press the head of state to honour pledges on rights, including a promise to allow the UN Commissioner for Human Rights to set up an office in Myanmar.

There was deadly sectarian violence against ethnic Rohingya Muslims and rights abuses by security forces in ethnic conflict areas, particularly in Kachin state since the resumption of fighting in 2011 against separatists.

The minority, numbering about 800,000, has been described by the United Nations one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet, with thousands seeking refuge in neighbouring countries as boat people.

"Any realistic analysis of the current situation on the ground in Burma would conclude much more needs to be done to entrench reforms," said the group's EU director Lotte Leicht.

Thein Sein, who has already visited Norway, Finland and Austria, will end his 10-day trip in Italy.

On February 27, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu addressed a crowd of religious, political and civil society leaders at the American Center in Rangoon. This was Bishop Tutu's first visit to Burma, and in his first public speech in the country he spoke about reconciliation, tolerance and faith.


Source: U.S. Embassy Rangoon

AFP
March 5, 2013

VIENNA: Myanmar President Thein Sein appealed Monday for the lifting of European Union sanctions against his country, currently suspended.

"What we lack is capital and modern technologies... all these are because of the economic sanctions for the last 20 years," he told journalists following talks with Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

Speaking through an interpreter, Thein Sein also appealed directly to his Austrian counterpart "to cooperate on this," during a joint press conference on the third leg of his first European visit as president.

The EU suspended last April all sanctions against Myanmar, apart from an arms embargo, in the wake of reforms introduced by Thein Sein's government since coming to power in early 2011.

The United States has also dismantled many of its key trade and investment sanctions, while the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have stepped up assistance for the southeast Asian country.

But concerns remain over an ongoing conflict in the northern state of Kachin and ethnic unrest in the western state of Rakhine.

Following a new round of peace talks last month with Kachin rebels, Thein Sein claimed the unrest was over.

"There's no more hostilities, no more fighting all over the country, we have been able to end this kind of armed conflict," he insisted.

Praising the reforms implemented so far by Myanmar, Fischer expressed support for ending European sanctions.

"The Austrian government belongs to those countries, which after all the progress that has been reached, are in favour of lifting these sanctions," he said.

But he urged Myanmar to stick to the democratic process that has now been started.

"It is our hope that the policy can be continued and that good and fair elections in 2015 will decide about the future way of Myanmar," he said.

The Austrian president said he had discussed human rights issues and "the problems of building up a democracy" with his counterpart but did not elaborate.

In an open letter ahead of Thein Sein's visit, the Islamic Coordination Council in Austria had urged Fischer to "strongly condemn the ethnically motivated violence and repression of the Rohingya Muslim minority."

The minority, numbering about 800,000, has been described by the UN as one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet, with thousands seeking refuge in neighbouring countries as boat people.

Thein Sein dismissed the issue however on Monday, noting: "All our nationalities are living together side by side and they are living in harmony and peace. The rights of the minorities are also ensured in our state constitution."

Following meetings with Chancellor Werner Faymann and parliament president Barbara Prammer, the Myanmar president met Monday evening with representatives of the Austrian trade chamber, where he pushed for investment in his country.

An Austrian delegation already travelled to Myanmar last month to investigate investment possibilities.

After Norway, Finland and Austria, the Myanmar leader will now head to Brussels for EU and bilateral talks, before ending his 10-day trip in Italy.

HRW
March 5, 2013

Visiting Leader Should Endorse UN Presence, Grant Full Humanitarian Access

(Brussels) – European Union leaders should press Burmese President Thein Sein on adopting key rights reforms during his visit this week to Brussels, Human Rights Watch said today. Thein Sein is set to meet a top-tier roster of leaders on March 5, including Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament; José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission; Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council; Catherine Ashton, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy; and others. 

Burma’s president should be urged to honor his pledges to permit an office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with a full rights protection, promotion, and technical assistance mandate and allow full and unimpeded access of humanitarian organizations to areas where civilians are in need, Human Rights Watch said. 

“EU leaders should treat the reform efforts to date in Burma as just the start of a process, not the end,” said Lotte Leicht, EU director at Human Rights Watch. “They should of course encourage President Thein Sein’s reforms but also press him to address the hard reality of serious ongoing human rights violations in Burma.” 

Human Rights Watch said that EU leaders should recognize that recent positive changes in Burma are due in large measure to international pressure and the Burmese leadership’s desire to escape economic and political isolation. Thus it is critical that the EU not ignore ongoing abuses by the Burmese security forces, including attacks on civilians in ethnic conflict areas and crackdowns on peaceful protesters in Rangoon and elsewhere. 

Since the resumption of the armed conflict with the Kachin Independence Army in Kachin State in 2011, the Burmese military has been responsible for numerous violationsof the laws of war, including shelling of civilians, summary executions, rape, the use of child soldiers, unlawful forced labor, and looting. Tens of thousands of displaced Kachin civilians have been unable to gain access to humanitarian assistance. 

The government has also failed to address deadly sectarian violence against ethnic Rohingya Muslims and others last year in Arakan State, Human Rights Watch said. The government-formed inquiry on the violence again postponed the publication of its findings, until late March. Thein Sein has already indicated on his European trip that his government does not intend to revise the 1982 Citizenship Law, whose discriminatory provisions are used to deny citizenship to most Rohingya. 

EU leaders should urge Thein Sein to allow unimpeded humanitarian assistance to Kachin and Arakan States and other areas where the population is at risk, Human Rights Watch said. EU member states and the EU Commission have increased humanitarian assistance to Burma although there have been ongoing government obstacles. Despite specific promises by Thein Sein to permit greater assistance, security forces have blocked, harassed or failed to protect aid convoys to beleaguered populations such as Kachin outside of government controlled areas and to camps of displaced Rohingya Muslims. 

Thein Sein should permit the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)to establish a regular presence in the country as he pledged to US President Barack Obama in November, Human Rights Watch said. While the government did allow three OHCHR staff to monitor developments in Arakan State, such monitoring is urgently needed elsewhere in Burma. The OHCHR presence should have a full mandate for rights protection, promotion, and technical assistance. Doing so would be in keeping with a recent European Parliament resolution urging the government “to accelerate the implementation of its commitment to establishing an OHCHR Country Office” in the country. 

Human Rights Watch urged EU leaders to make clear that without an agreement on an OHCHR office with a full mandate to monitor and report on rights developments, the EU will sponsor a Burma resolution at the UN Human Rights Council calling for such an office and extending the existing mandate of the UN special rapporteur for Burma.

“Thein Sein no doubt has his talking points polished and is primed to be applauded for his reforms. But any realistic analysis of the current situation on the ground in Burma would conclude much more needs to be done to entrench reforms,” Leicht said. “The EU is not genuinely assisting Burma’s transition – and, more importantly, its people – if it settles for feel-good platitudes. Only constructive and firm pressure will ensure durable protections for civilians, and basic human rights for all. ”

Ramzy Baroud
Onislam.net
March 4, 2013

One fails to understand the unperturbed attitude with which regional and international leaders and organizations are treating the unrelenting onslaught against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, formally known as Burma.

Numbers speak of atrocities where every violent act is prelude to greater violence and ethnic cleansing. Yet, western governments’ normalization with the Myanmar regime continues unabated, regional leaders are as gutless as ever and even human rights organizations seem compelled by habitual urges to issue statements lacking meaningful, decisive and coordinated calls for action.

Meanwhile the ‘boat people’ remain on their own.

On February 26, fishermen discovered a rickety wooden boat floating randomly at sea, nearly 25 kilometers (16 miles) off the coast of Indonesia’s Northern Province of Aceh. The Associated Press and other media reported there were 121 people on board including children who were extremely weak, dehydrated and nearly starved.

They were Rohingya refugees who preferred to take their chances at sea rather than stay in Myanmar. To understand the decision of a parent to risk his child’s life in a tumultuous sea would require understanding the greater risks awaiting them at home.

Endless Pains…

Reporting for Voice of America from Jakarta, Kate Lamb cited a moderate estimate of the outcome of communal violence in the Arakan state, which left hundreds of Rohingya Muslims dead, thousands of homes burnt and nearly 115,000 displaced.

The number is likely to be higher at all fronts. Many fleeing Rohingya perished at sea or disappeared to never be seen again. Harrowing stories are told and reported of families separating and boats sunk. There are documented events in which various regional navies and border police sent back refugees after they successfully braved the deadly journey to other countries - Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh and elsewhere.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported that nearly 13,000 Rohingya refugees attempted to leave Myanmar on smugglers’ boats in the Bay of Bengal in 2012. At least five hundred drowned.

But who are the Rohingya people?

Myanmar officials and media wish to simply see the Rohingyas as ‘illegal Bengali immigrants’, a credulous reading of history at best.

The intentions of this inaccurate classification, however, are truly sinister for it is meant to provide a legal clearance to forcefully deport the Rohingya population. Myanmar President Then Sein had in fact made an ‘offer’ to the UN last year that he was willing to send the Rohingya people “to any other country willing to accept them.” The UN declined.

Rohingya Muslims, however, are native to the state of “Rohang”, officially known as Rakhine or Arakan. If one is to seek historical accuracy, not only are the Rohingya people native to Myanmar, it was in fact Burma that occupied Rakhine in the 1700’s. Over the years, especially in the first half of the 20th century, the original inhabitants of Arakan were joined by cheap or forced labor from Bengal and India, who permanently settled there.

For decades, tension brewed between Buddhists and Muslims in the region. Naturally, a majority backed by a military junta is likely to prevail over a minority without any serious regional or international backers. Without much balance of power to be mentioned, the Rohingya population of Arakan, estimated at nearly 800,000, subsisted between the nightmare of having no legal status (as they are still denied citizenship), little or no rights and the occasional ethnic purges carried out by their Buddhist neighbors with the support of their government, army and police.

The worst of such violence in recent years took place between June and October of last year. Buddhists also paid a heavy price for the clashes, but the stateless Rohingyas, being isolated and defenseless, were the ones to carry the heaviest death toll and destruction.

And just when ‘calm’ is reported – as in returning to the status quo of utter discrimination and political alienation of the Rohingyas – violence erupts once more, and every time the diameters of the conflict grow bigger. In late February, an angry Buddhist mob attacked non-Rohingya Muslim schools, shops and homes in the capital Rangoon, regional and international media reported. The cause of the violence was a rumor that the Muslim community is planning to build a mosque.

Spreading Danger

What is taking place in Arakan is most dangerous, not only because of the magnitude of the atrocities and the perpetual suffering of the Rohingya people, which are often described as the world’s most persecuted people.

Other layers of danger also exist that threatens to widen the parameters of the conflict throughout the Southeast Asia region, bringing instability to already unstable border areas, and, of course, as was the case recently, take the conflict from an ethnic one to a purely religious one.

In a region of a unique mix of ethnicities and religions, the plight of the Rohingyas could become the trigger that would set already fractious parts of the region ablaze.

Although the plight of the Rohingya people have in recent months crossed the line from the terrible, but hidden tragedy into a recurring media topic, it is still facing many hurdles that must be overcome in order for some action to be taken.

While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been making major economic leaps forward, it remains politically ineffective, with little interest in issues pertaining to human rights.

Under the guise of its commitment to ‘non-interference’ and disproportionate attention to the festering territorial disputes in the South China Sea, ASEAN seems unaware that the Rohingya people even exist.

Worst, ASEAN leaders were reportedly in agreement that Myanmar should chair their 2014 summit, as a reward for superficial reforms undertaken by Rangoon to ease its political isolation and open up its market beyond China and few other countries.

Meanwhile, western countries, led by the United States are clamoring to divide the large Myanmar economic cake amongst themselves, and are saying next to nothing about the current human rights records of Rangoon. The minor democratic reforms in Myanmar seem, after all, a pretext to allow the country back to western arms. And the race to Rangoon has indeed begun, unhindered by the continued persecution of the Rohingya people.

On February 26, Myanmar's President Sein met in Oslo with Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in a ‘landmark’ visit. They spoke economy, of course, for Myanmar has plenty to offer. And regarding the conflict in Arakan, Jens Stoltenberg unambiguously declared it to be an internal Burmese affair, reducing it to most belittling statements. In regards to ‘disagreements’ over citizenship, he said, “we have encouraged dialogue, but we will not demand that Burma’s government give citizenship to the Rohingyas.”

Moreover, to reward Sein for his supposedly bold democratic reforms, Norway took the lead by waving off nearly have of its debt and other countries followed suit, including Japan which dropped $3 billion last year.

While one is used to official hypocrisy, whether by ASEAN or western governments, many are still scratching their heads over the unforgivable silence of democracy advocate and Noble Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi.

Luckily, others are speaking out. Bangladesh's Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, along with former Timor-Leste president Ramos-Horta had both recently spoke with decisive terms in support of the persecuted Rohingya people.

“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 Nobel laureates wrote in the Huffington Post on February 20.

They criticized the prejudicial Citizenship Law of 1982 and called for granting the Rohingya people full citizenship.

The perpetual suffering of the Rohingya people must end. They are deserving of rights and dignity. They are weary of crossing unforgiving seas and walking harsh terrains seeking mere survival.

More voices must join those who are speaking out in support of their rights. ASEAN must break away from its silence and tediously guarded policies and western countries must be confronted by their own civil societies: no normalization with Rangoon when innocent men, women and children are being burned alive in their own homes.

This injustice needs to be known to the world and serious, organized and determined efforts must follow to bring the persecution of the Rohingya people to an end.

Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London), now available on Amazon.com. Baroud's website can be visited here: www.ramzybaroud.net.

The National
March 4, 2013

Some 2,600 tons of food aid have been delivered to Muslims in Myanmar thanks to the Khalifa bin Zayed Humanitarian Foundation, according to Wam, the state new agency.

It is the third and final phase of an emergency relief project that has seen 5,200 tons of relief items delivered in Myanmar's Arakan state. About 850,000 people have benefited from the relief parcels.

The project was launched under the directive of Sheikh Khalifa, President of the UAE, to provide emergency aid to displaced Rohingya Muslims in the wake of injustices against them.

The aid, bought from the local market and shipped by sea to Arakan, included basic food items and clothing for men, women and children.


QS Madani 
RB News 
March 4, 2013 

(Edited by Anwar Arkani) 

Maungdaw: A shopkeeper, Khabir Ahmed S/o Noor Mal, from Ngakura village tract, Maungdaw North was arrested by Nasaka sector 5 officer Tun Tun Naing for having Kerosene in his shop. Khabir Ahmed bought 100 gallons of Kerosene from Kyain Chaung market to resell at his shop. As the villages have no electricity, Kerosene-lamp is the main source of light for them. Although he bought them legally and has a voucher, and reselling the Kerosene is legitimate business, he was arrested and extracted money for no apparent reason. 

Tun Tun Naing is the right-hand-man of the commander-in-charge of Nasaka sector 5. He regularly creates problems and instigates clashes in Northern Maungdaw. He has been extorting money from Rohingyas on trivial and groundless accusations with the support of Nasaka Commander and Head of SaRaPha. It is apparent that his supportive bosses also get lion share from his easy-earned cash. 

Following four people from Ngakura village tract were arrested from social gatherings and market on groundless accusations. 

(1) Shamshu S/o Dawlah, 49 
(2) Mohammed Yasin S/o Hashim, 33 
(3) Abdul Alam S/o Sayed Alam, 35 
(4) Huson Ali S/o Mohammed Rafique, 40 

15 Rohingyas from Ahtet Pyu Ma, Ouck Pyu Ma and Dudan villages were arrested and two of them are Azer Huson S/o Kulu Miah, 47 and Jahangir Huson. The arrestees are being tortured inhumanly. 

On March 1, 2013, three Rohingyas from Shwe Zar village, Maungdaw Towship were arrested by Nasaka accusing them of being involved in June 2012 violence. The victims are Mohammed Khalek S/o Sultan Ahmed, Saleh Ahmed S/o Mustak Ahmed and Yunus S/o Raza Miah. Yunus was released on the following day after torturing and extorting 100’000 Kyats. The remaining two are being tortured and the Nasaka is demanding 600’000 Kyats from each for release. 

As the Nasaka’s harassment increases in the region, restriction of movement becomes harsher and survival for Rohingyas get tougher day by day. The daily-survival of Rohingyas in Northern Maungdaw depend on cutting woods from the forest, working on agricultural farms, fishing farms and border trade. Given the fear of arrest by NaSaKa, harassment by Rakhine settlers and restriction on movement, people are going through unbearable hardships and extreme poverty is prevalent. Hopelessness and anxiety prevail as they future looks gloomy. 

Rohingyas have been the cash-cow for NaSaKa, SaRaPha, Police, Hlonhtein, and the Buddhist settlers. Now that Rohingyas are at the brink of starvation and near extinction, the security forces are restless and in race to sucking out the last drop of blood from their dying cows. 

RB News 
3.3.2013 

Translated by M.S. Anwar 

Maung Daw, Arakan- On Friday evening, a Rohingya named Sayed Ullah S/o U Siddique (31 years old) from the village of Udaung, southern MaungDaw, was killed by the Rakhine terrorist while he was looking after his Betel farm. 

The whole news is as follows. 

Around 7PM, Friday evening, Sayed Ullah S/o U Siddique (31 years old), from the village of Udaung left his house in order to look after his betel farm located nearby a NaTaLa (Rakhine) village. Although his family tried to look for him since he was not back home in time, yet they could not do it because of the curfew order (martial law) imposed on Rohingyas in the night time. And he was found dead with the sword-hacked-injuries next morning. 

“Since last Wednesday, the NaTaLa villagers have been being given trainings on how to use guns and swords. It is certain that Sayed Ullah was chopped by the Rakhine extremists since his farm is nearby the Rakhine village. As soons as we found out his dead body, we informed the village administrator U Tin Maung and NaSaKa in the commandment area No. 8. Authority came to the scene and went back merely looking at the dead body. 

In fact, normally, if such a crime takes place, authority takes pictures of the dead body and measures the area where crime takes place. Since the authority will not file any criminal case against them, they did not carry out their normal procedures. Authority just asked the people to take the body home. In the Rakhine villages in Maung Daw, the weapons have been distributed to Rakhines and on top of that, the trainings are also being given. Therefore, Rohingyas worry that Rakhine extremists will come to attack them for the third time in the coming March” said a local Rohingya to RB News. 

“In the evening, Police came to the Udaung Village and said “we have to take the body to the hospital for investigation.” And then, Police took the corpse away. The Police are just trying to destroy the evidence and cover up the crime. In fact, they have been doing so since last year. We have to do as the authority say. Even when we complain against such kind of destruction of the evidences of Police, no actions are being taken against them” he continued.

Erma M. Cuizon
Sun Star
March 3, 2013

THE thought that came to my mind was about mothers and children and their safety after I read the news on the number of “boat people” slipping out of their own country.

People in a community in west Myanmar called Rohingya are denied citizenship where they live. Even though they’ve been born in this country and lived for generations in what the community calls home, almost as Burmese as all others in the multi-ethnic country, 800,000 of them are subject to forced labor and travel restrictions, hardly anyone has any health care, and the chance for education.

So, they’ve been fleeing for months to look for a friendly place and to escape sectarian violence and persecution.

The United Nations says that these people, the Rohingya, are the most persecuted minority on earth, stateless even though they were born and grew up in Myanmar. In worse cases, the families are broken up—the men to the detention camps, women and children locked up
in shelters, or aboard small boats.

And the condition of the Rohingya has something to do with Buddhist-Muslim tensions. At least this is the way outsiders see, the UN looking in. But some Burmese officials insist that the tension has nothing much to do with religion but with politics.

It was last week when 121 Muslim Rohingya in a boat arrived in the Indonesian coast of Aceh. But there have been other boats that left and spanned the sea in that part of the world with the Rohingya in search of new homes.

Last year, there were attacks which killed hundreds of Rohingya, 100,000 with no home, no future. Just last week, angry Buddhists hit a Muslim community where they threw bricks at shops and at a school.

You would jump into a boat, no matter how rickety, to save your family, if you could.

I can imagine the number of women and children in the boats that flee the junta-ruled country which is supposed to be “on the road to democracy.” In a situation like this, how are the Rohingya mothers doing?

The news I read can give us an idea of how life is to the persecuted boat people, through the picture of women and children getting into a wobbly boat which would travel for weeks or months in the hope of finding temporary homes not just in the coast of Malaysia but also in Indonesia, Thailand, even Australia.

Muslim Malaysia allows the boat people into the country but they’re not Malaysian citizens and can’t have healthcare, education, not even jobs like in normal living.

In the AFP news was mentioned a young woman on her 9th month of pregnancy who joined the exodus. Six days on the water to Malaysia (or wherever they would be allowed to land), the woman gave birth.

The mother told the reporter that her house was burned down, the family (with the father in detention or dead?) had no shelter, no job. It was when her baby was a month old that she was interviewed, this time in a government shelter for 70 Rohingya in southern Thailand where the boat found land.

Clean and safe water which the boat people bring along run out, food doesn’t last, either. The children get sick of diarrhea, vomiting worms from their stomach. Like everybody else, they drink sea water. One of the most terrifying sicknesses of the boat people is dehydration and starvation, with 90 people dying during a recent 2-month journey on a smugglers’ boat.

The problem is rather complicated, which is really religion-oriented, no matter how Myanmar spokesmen put it, saying it’s ethnicity, not religion. It’s a strange situation to any of Filipino communities where there is no religious inequity. No such thing as a Buddhist mob attacking a Muslim village because, there was a new mosque being built.

It’s a small community problem with an international concern. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees will take up the boat people problem in a conference this month, “to find out ways and means of curbing irregular movement of people by sea.”

In our land, mothers and children are safe. And they haven’t heard of boat people.

Nora Rowley
Physician and Human Rights Activist — USA
March 1, 2013

“We want peace,” were the Rohingya’s sentiments expressed to me again, as I recently revisited the Rakhine State in Myanmar/Burma, where a population of Muslims has been living for centuries.

Once again, I was immersed into widespread Rohingya individual and communal resilience, strength of character, and wholesome peace-loving-and-seeking outlook on life. Much hasn’t changed, i.e. the kindness, playful children following and calling me Feri, fathers carrying around their small children, and women worrying where my husband and children were.

Buddhist Aggression

The Rakhines, aka Rakhine Buddhists, that I encountered have changed from when I was last in the Rakhine State. Before, Rakhines on the street were usually nice and returned a foreigner’s smile, Rakhine shop owners were helpful, and they were also beneficiaries of multiple NGOs services. Now, there is palpable animosity and mistrust on most Rakhine faces in the streets and businesses. My hotel desk hostesses went out of their way to not help me.

The Rakhine anti-Rohingya aggressors, I believe, do not see themselves as wrongdoers. Too many Rakhines have forgotten decades of government military oppression and human rights abuses that have limited their economic, education, and healthcare opportunities and control. Since June 2012, the Rakhine aggressors have been standing with and supporting their oppressors who still run the country and continue to oppressively control the Rakhine land.

The Rakhine aggressors blame their misfortune on their Rohingya neighbors, who clearly have been targeted with much worse government human rights violations and persecution. Rakhines, in a frenzy of manufactured offenses, have willfully committed verbal and physical attacks under the leadership of nationals and Rakhine politicians and religious figures. Yet they act as though they are the victims and aggression is defensive.

The continuous multipronged assault on the Rohingyas of the Rakhine State since June 2012 is an acute escalation of decades of government human rights violations and brutal persecution with variable discrimination from the Rakhines.

The major change that took place since June is the new role of the Rakhine politicians, authorities, monks, and civilians as the frontline soldiers of brutality against the Rohingyas. Yet, the national army and border security forces, aka NaSaKa, still determine and enforce the same policies that strangle what little life is left out of Rohingyas living in camps and villages.

Meanwhile, Rakhine roam freely spewing Nazi-like vitriol, raising alarms that additional assaults on Rohingyas are pending.

State Compliance

Before government restricted all access to international journalists, they were only allowed in some Sittwe Township Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP) camps but nowhere else. Sittwe Rohingya IDP’ conditions are far from acceptable, but they have the possibility of access to some international relief. Outside of Sittwe Township, there are multiple and growing dire IDP emergencies that the government still does not allow meaningful relief access for.

Also, Rohingyas elsewhere living in homes and IDP camps are surrounded by government-imposed Rakhines and military personnel that launch attacks, arbitrary arrests, and impose taxation, in addition to absolute restriction of movement and widespread rape.

Also, Rakhine reporters have often contributed to international news outlet stories covering the Rakhine Crisis. One of the October 2012 attacks was followed by multiple stories and photographs of Rakhines being treated in the local hospital for wounds sustained in Rohingya attacks on Rakhines. In the photographs I only saw one person with physical evidence of injury out of 20 photos without any blood on skin, clothing, sheets, or the tons of bandages applied to victims.

Since June 2012, the “inter-communal” label of the Rakhine State Crisis persists and is contrary to most Rohingya’s experiences in addition to my research and observations. Human Rights Watch reported that inter-communal violence, i.e. from both Rakhines and Rohingyas toward each other, lasted 48 hours from June 8-10, 2012. On the 10th of June, President Thein Sein declared a State of Emergency authorizing the national military to take control over the state. Only Rohingyas were subject to curfews, which were enforced with deadly force.

Since June 10, the aggressions have disproportionately been conducted at the hands of the national authorities and the local Rakhines, segregating and persecuting Rohingyas. All attacks since October have been against Rohingyas.

Struggle for Peace

In Sittwe Township, Rohingya adults and children still suffer from the trauma of attacks, death, and destruction as additional human rights abuses and other injustices are compiled via government restrictions, forced relocation, encampment, and NaSaKa’s arbitrary taxation. The government has denied many Rohingyas an IDP status and has offered registration to some IDPs if they move to designated IDP camps. Many want to stay in Sittwe Township, others want to return to their own villages and townships. But, none want to move where the government designates.

Sittwe registered and unregistered Rohingya IDPs are living in densely populated areas with insufficient land and other opportunities for self-sufficiency. When registered IDPs rations are delivered on time they are not sufficient to cover their basic human needs.

Simultaneous to Rohingya’s struggles with multiple traumas, the government’s propaganda continues to label Rohingyas as equal aggressors and offenders. In Sittwe, there are 12,000 Rohingya IDP families, which clearly outnumber the few military and NaSaKa soldiers near the camps. But, Rohingyas do not want to fight. They are secure in their identity and do not have the irrational need to diminish others. They want the peace that they have been working and praying for over 50 years. They want the peace that comes through the immediate cessation of aggression, not through battle.

Rohingyas fear for their children’s safety and well-being in the present conditions; most believe that there will be other worse assaults against Rohingyas and they are caged prey.

This article appeared here on February 28, 2013.

Photo Album can be viewed here: http://on.fb.me/13xmvzR 

Matias
March 2, 2013

The Rohingya people are native to Myanmar but of a different ethnic group and therefore considered illegal immigrants. According to the UN they are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Many of them have to flee to neighboring Bangladesh where they live in Ghettos and Refugee Camps. I have always been very interested in refugees, and when I had to renew my visa when I lived in Nepal, I decided to check out the South of Bangladesh and a refugee situation I knew nothing about.

How I got there: 

I took a plane from Kathmandu to Dokha, and then I went by bus to Chittargong, which is the second biggest city in Bangladesh and is famous for its Shipwreckyard. My preferences for a holiday might seem a bit weird in retrospect, but I have always dreamed of going to the shipwreck yard. It’s a huge beach where they take apart the biggest ships in the world, by hand.


Chittagong:

Bangladesh is famous for being the most densely populated big country in the world and the first morning in Chittagong I saw a lot of people sleeping on the streets. It was kind of weird walking down the street scared of waking people up, but it was easier than when they did wake up. Bangladeshis have a very small sense of personal space. In Norway, conversations are held at a distance of an arm’s length; In Bangladesh it’s more like a little finger. When I stopped to talk to people they would come so close to my face that I had to start smoking cigarettes to use the smoke to make people stay further away. I guess it worked a little bit.

The shipwreck yard was quite impressive, although I never actually went on board any of these ships. Hundreds of workers bash them with hammers and blowtorches and tear the ships apart piece by piece. The beach must be one of the most polluted ones in the world, full of heavy metals and oil and other dangerous shit. The ship graveyard is said to often be used as scenery in Bangladeshi gangster movies — something I would love to do with my acting skills one day.

The next day I set off to Cox Bazar. It’s Bangladesh’s beach and holiday city with the longest continuous sandy beach in the world. They say. It is also located close to the Burmese border and not too far from the Rohingya refugee camps. Which is where I was headed.

Somehow I had heard about these people who had lived in camps for almost 20 years. Having just moved from Norway to Nepal I had just started to learn about all the different refugee situations where people have been stripped of their citizenship and kicked out of their countries because of their ethnicity or religion. 

In Nepal almost a hundred thousand Bhutanese refugees are stuck as a result of the ethnic cleansing that took place in Bhutan, a country that markets itself as the nation where GDP doesn’t matter as they calculate in according to a National Happiness Index. It’s probably easier when you have kicked out one fourth of the population. In Bangladesh the refugees come from Myanmar/Burma, where they are a Muslim minority.

To be able to enter the refugee camps I needed to get special permission from an official officer at an office. I had to write an application for my reasons for wanting to visit the refugee camp and so on. I did it by hand and I made sure to change the last period into a comma, and after I got the approval I added “and take photos” to the application – something no journalist is allowed to do. I had been told it could be difficult to get permission to photograph in the camps because of reports of mistreatments. And I really didn’t have time to find out. 

The Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps:

When I arrived to the camp I was briefed on the history and the situation by the officials before a guy started showing me around. I had no idea what to expect when I came to the camp. Normally when you see refugees on TV at home in the West it seems like they always live in those plastic, temporary tents. The camps I visited were built in 1992 and the Roys have since then made small huts where they house their families. 

- “Are you here to help?” 

Passing through the camps the curious children asked the guy who guided and minded me if I was there to help them. Embarrassed for not being there to help, I changed the subject by photographing and showing the kids the pictures. At least it made them smile.

At the camp school, Mohamed, who had lived most of his life in the camp, told me that they only got 6 years of school. He didn’t think it was enough. I asked him about how his future looked and he just shrugged and told me: “We don’t have a future.”

Many of the refugees were wearing the “World Refugee Day” t-shirts from previous years at the same time the camp was preparing for it again that coming year. 

The women had a sewing competition in advance of the celebrations, but the refugees are not allowed to work outside the camps.

Doctors without borders had set up a field hospital in the camp, and this old man was being treated for something I couldn’t understand.

Bangladesh has cut off the support for the refugees so they mostly depend on the help from UN. They get most of their food from the World Food Program.

Before I left I started talking to a young boy who spoke some English. He told me there was no point in asking the refugees how life is in the camps while the Minder aka my tourguide was present. I wouldn’t get real answers. 

– “We have no rights, no jobs, no nationality and we live in horrible conditions,” he told me while making sure the man who was my guide, didn’t listen. I wanted to know more, but the Minder scared him away. 

The situation was very strange and uncomfortable. I got really sad when I realized that these refugees who had been chased out of their homeland, stripped of their rights, and lived most of their lives in this camp in one of Asia’s poorest countries also didn’t trust the officials working at there. 

When the day was over I got on a bus to Cox Bazar and flew out from there. Bus rides in Bangladesh are an adventure of themselves, but I couldn’t stop wondering why I had never heard about these people before.

Part II: Rohingya’s in the News Now – A Widely Underreported People

Fearless Fishermen Boost Economy

According to the UN there are 800,000 Roys in Myanmar and 200,000 in Bangladesh– where 30,000 of them lived in the camps I visited. The Majority of them live in ghettos in Dokha and Chittargong and try to find illegal work. For the already impoverished and overpopulated Bangladesh, the refugee has been looked upon as a burden for the host country. However, the refugees share the language and religion of their hosts and the UNHCR reported in January that the presence of thousands of Rohingya Muslims actually help boosts net profits for some fishing villages in Bangladesh.

The locals need the Rohingyas to fish because: “Before, we could only fish in winter, during the dry season. But the Rohingya are fearless, so they can fish all year, even during the rainy season,” said Salem in Teknaf. “The locals need them. The economy depends on them.” Well, perhaps they are so hungry that they will fish no matter what the weather is like. Hunger feeds fearlessness. 

Sectarian Clashes Leave Thousands Displaced at Sea

In 2012 a sectarian conflict broke out again between the Rohingya Muslims and the Rakhine Buddhists. Villages have been destroyed, 650 Rohingyas were killed, 1.200 are missing and 80,000 now displaced. Bangladesh has started to send boats with fleeing Rohingyas back to Myanmar.

Rohingyas have also been sent back out to sea on ships from Thailand, where there have also been reports of Rohingya refugees being sold as slaves by Thai officials after arriving illegally to the vacation country. 

Last week a ship was found in Sri Lanka with only 30 survivors left. After the ship carrying refugees experienced engine failure and went adrift at sea, more than a hundred people died from hunger and were thrown overboard. 

Well if, against all odds, you should find your way to the South of Bangladesh, I am sure you will enjoy and learn a lot from the super friendly and smiling Bangladeshis and their Rohingya visitors.

United to End Genocide
March 1, 2013

Anti-Genocide Group Calls for Change in Obama Burma Policy at Congressional Human Rights Hearing

Points to Ominous Signs of Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide

Pointing to reliable reports of ethnic cleansing and warning signs of genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority in western Burma, and escalating military attacks against the Kachin minority in eastern Burma, former Congressman Tom Andrews, President of United to End Genocide, told members of Congress at a hearing on Burma today that they should challenge and reset the Obama administration’s Burma policy. 

“The Administration’s approach of ‘gentle persuasion and positive reinforcement’ is woefully inadequate in light of an increasingly brutal reality in Burma. The truth is being obscured in Washington by the good news story of last year’s reforms that led to Aung San Suu Kyi’s election to Parliament.” 

“The United States played a key role in generating the international pressure necessary to make historic change in Burma possible. Abandoning this leverage prematurely is jeopardizing the movement forward, condemning those who continue to suffer in Burma to more of the same.” 

Focusing his remarks on what Congress should be doing to stop the backwards slide in Burma, Andrews noted, “Congress needs to ask the administration if the lifting of most forms of pressure on the regime combined with a visit by the President of the United States last November might have sent a signal to some that violence, discrimination, systematic human rights violations and official disenfranchisement in Burma may, indeed, be acceptable.” 

“Congress must exercise its oversight role that includes a focus on the ongoing killing of civilians, restrictions of humanitarian aid, the military’s attacks and gross human rights violations in Kachin State, the severe plight for Rohingyas in Rakhine State, the widespread displacement caused by pandemic land grabbing, the dominance of the military over civilian authorities, and political prisoners that remain behind bars.” 

“It is imperative that the U.S. government be clear that continued abuses will be met with consequences and that rewards given up to this point truly are ALSO “reversible”. This is currently not the case.” 

Andrews concluded saying, “I understand the desire to declare Burma a success story. But, success isn’t marked by removing sanctions—it’s marked by lasting change for the people of Burma who have endured endless suffering under a brutal military regime. Let us reward genuine progress but let us not condemn the people of Burma to the consequences of a long oppressive military regime that is suddenly freed of accountability and consequences for its behavior.”

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    • Rohingya Exodus