Charlie Campbell
TIME

April 23, 2013

Burma’s quasi-civilian government has been hit by allegations of “ethnic cleansing” and “crimes against humanity” this week as Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its report into the sectarian violence that ravaged the country’s eastern Arakan state last year. At least 200 people were killed and more than 125,000 made homeless as mass arson, looting and cold-blooded murder erupted between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslim Rohingya. HRW accuses Rakhine groups of instigating the bloodshed and the state authorities of allowing them to continue unabated. Fresh and seemingly unconnected Muslim-Buddhist violence then hit elsewhere last month, posing serious questions regarding the state’s ability — or willingness — to maintain order as the country emerges from half a century of brutal junta rule. The report was released the same day that the country’s President, Thein Sein, was awarded a peace prize by the International Crisis Group, and the E.U. lifted trade, economic and individual sanctions on Burma. 

According to HRW, Rakhine mobs attacked Muslim communities in four townships in June and then nine townships in October, razing villages and burying “hog-tied” corpses in mass graves. The 153-page report details how at least 70 Rohingya were killed in a single daylong massacre in Yan Thei village in Mrauk-U township. “First the soldiers told us, ‘Do not do anything, we will protect you, we will save you,’ so we trusted them,” a 25-year-old survivor told HRW. “But later they broke that promise. The Arakanese beat and killed us very easily. The security did not protect us from them.”

The Rohingya are a stateless people numbering around 800,000, primarily in western Burma. Although many have lived inside the country for generations, they are not included on the list of 135 official ethnic groups as set out by xenophobic former dictator General Ne Win in the 1982 Citizenship Law. The government’s official position is that the Rohingya are illegal Bengali immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh who exploit the porous 300-km border to steal scarce land. They face severe restrictions on travel, marriage and reproduction, and Bangladesh similarly shuns them. Scaremongering Buddhist propaganda also accuses the Rohingya of raping Buddhist women and trying to “Islamify” Burma, now officially known as Myanmar, by taking multiple wives to sire scores of Muslim children. 

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW, accused the Burmese government of engaging “in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement.” The new report details how government authorities destroyed mosques, conducted violent mass arrests and blocked aid to displaced Muslims following last year’s strife. The initial clashes were sparked by the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman, allegedly by three Muslim men, and then the mob slaughter of 10 Muslim pilgrims on a bus in retaliation. HRW alleges that during the following months, “Buddhist monks, political-party operatives and government officials organized themselves to permanently change the ethnic demographics of the state” by removing every trace of the Rohingya. “They have their strategy, and they have done all these things as a planned, well-designed operation,” says Kyaw Myint, president of the National Democratic Party for Human Rights, a Rohingya political group, and a former political prisoner.

NGOs warn that conditions in the displacement camps are atrocious, with disease rampant and scarce supplies dwindling. This squalor has played no small part in forcing several thousand Rohingya to risk their lives by undertaking the perilous voyage in rickety craft to resettle in third countries, particularly Malaysia. Rohingya must pay the equivalent of $350 for the privilege, of which most goes to Rakhine human traffickers — ironically the same people they are fleeing. Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist now living in Germany, lost eight family members in the June violence and tells TIME that he is “100% sure” that the government is behind the killing. “If [the government] had the will to, they could stop [the violence] immediately,” he says. “If they continue like this, you will not find any Rohingya inside the country in five years’ time.” 

Humanitarian groups that help the Rohingya are also under threat. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) both had staff detained by the authorities in Arakan state last year, and MSF general director Arjan Hehenkamp told a press conference in February that his organization was being intimidated by the Rakhine for working in Rohingya camps. “In pamphlets, letters and Facebook postings, [MSF] and others have been repeatedly accused of having a pro-Rohingya bias by some members of the Rakhine community. It is this intimidation, rather than formal permission for access [to the camps], that is the primary challenge,” he said in a statement.

Increasingly, the violence has not been limited to Rohingya Muslims. In the wake of last year’s violence, the Kaman, a distinct Muslim ethnic group, was also targeted. And last month, a wave of rioting hit the town of Meiktila, around 500 km north of Rangoon. Clashes were sparked by a seemingly innocuous dispute at a Muslim-owned gold shop, yet soon spread across the region with 43 people killed, at least 800 homes and five mosques torched, plus around 12,000 people sent to ramshackle displacement camps. The violence spread to a further 11 townships, all tellingly without any Rohingya populations. A shocking new video released by the BBC shows Burmese police officers standing idly by while Buddhist mobs ransack Muslim-owned buildings, and saffron-clad monks participating in the bloodshed. It should be noted, however, that many Buddhists put their lives on the line to protect Muslim neighbors and hide them from the rampaging mobs. 

A militant Buddhist organization known by the symbol 969 seems to be at the heart of this resurgent religious animosity, with outspoken monk Wirathu at the helm. Based in Mandalay’s Masoyein Monastery, his bizarre and baseless accusations that Muslims are “waging a jihad war on the Rakhine,” “doping young children with drugs to make them fight” and “disguising themselves as women to get involved in fights” have taken hold. Now 969 stickers are common to denote Buddhist businesses around the country. 

The domestic Burmese media has not helped the situation. The derogatory term kalar — used for any dark-skinned person of South Asian appearance — has appeared in print frequently, as has the term Bengalis, which gives credence to the specious notion that the Rohingya are in fact illegal immigrants. But the strongest criticism has been reserved for Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former political prisoner, who has steadfastly refused to condemn the appalling treatment of the Rohingya, preferring instead to blame a lack of “rule of law.” The former human-rights champion appears unwilling to alienate her Buddhist support base in preparation for the looming general election in 2015. For Burma’s Muslims, that date looks very far off.

Veronica Pedrosa

Al Jazeera

April 22, 2013

Human rights report denounces ethnic cleansing of Rohingya as the West congratulates Myanmar on democratic reforms.

On the same day that his government is accused of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, Myanmar President Thein Sein is being honoured at a fund-raising gala dinner in Manhattan, New York. 

VIPs have paid as much as $100,000 a table for the event "In Pursuit of Peace", which was organised by the International Crisis Group think-tank, which receives some congressional funding. US President Barack Obama won't be there, which is probably just as well, given that Human Right Watch's new 153-page report is likely to cast a dark shadow over the proceedings. 

According to the report by the New York-based rights group, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity have been committed against Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya people.

More than 125,000 ethnic Rohingya have been forcibly displaced since two waves of violence in May and October 2012 between the ethnic minority and Buddhist Rakhines left at least 110 dead.

Myanmar's government has done nothing to prevent the violence, alleges the report, and at times government forces are believed to have joined in the attacks on the Rohingya.

The report, released today, comes on the day the European Union plans to lift all remaining sanctions against the country formerly known as Burma.

Two narratives

HRW's accusations come as a sharp rebuttal to the governments and groups that have hailed Myanmar's "golden promise", a phrase that has frequently been used to describe the country's potential if its much touted political and economic reforms continue.

That a positive narrative of Myanmar's current situation can co-exist with the current violence is frightening, according to analysts, because of what some see as the state's "seething hatred" against Muslims. They say the possible regional implications of anti-Muslim violence have so far been ignored by regional powers, and that the geo-strategically important position Myanmar has could cause the violence to continue without foreign action. 

Most Rohingya who live in Myanmar's western Rakhine state are denied citizenship by the Myanmar government, which claims they are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. 

"The government perspective, which is unfortunately also the public's perspective, is that the country's western gate has been broken, the invaders are already here. That's why there's such overwhelming support for the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya," Dr Maung Zarni, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and exiled activist, told Al Jazeera. 

The author of the Human Rights Watch report, Matthew Smith, also spoke of the "very high level of risk" of a third wave of anti-Muslim violence similar to those witnessed in May and October 2012. 

Dr Thitinan Pongsudirak of Chulalongkorn University said great measures needed to be taken if violence were to be curbed. "Leadership has to be very bold and willing to take some risks," he said. "Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi should put aside election prospects and utilise whatever resources they have. Short of that, we will see more violence."

Aung San Suu Kyi's failure to take up the case for the Rohingya in public is probably the most obvious example of the limits of her role. 

There's little doubt that if an election were held today she would win, but, in the larger scheme of things, it's not evident that - even with her moral authority - her taking up the Rohingya's fight would make much difference to the fundamental causes of the violence, or to the international community's reluctance to rock the government's reform boat.

"To be honest, Aung San Suu Kyi is a prop, not a strategic player," said Dr Zarni.

The dissident leader has said that it remains up to the government to deal with the racial hatred and violence threatening the country. She has emphasised the importance of the rule of law, placing herself squarely in the establishment camp and seemingly sealing her transformation into a roving collector of international adulation, and a not-so-extraordinary politician.

Regional issues

Observers also say the violence is likely to spill over into the greater region. In early April, eight people werekilled at an Indonesian refugee camp after clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslims from Myanmar. 

The country is also due to chair the regional Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2014. 

"It will reflect poorly on ASEAN if Myanmar has ethno-religious baggage when it chairs. There should be regional involvement - not regional intervention," said Dr Thitinan. This is unlikely, he added, since ASEAN has a policy of non-interference in its members' internal politics. 

"[ASEAN] doesn't have a mechanism to deal with issues like this, that's the reality" said Kavi Chongkittavorn, group editor of the Thai newspaper The Nation. 

The campaign against Muslims in Myanmar also sheds light on the nature of the deal between Naypidaw and the US and its allies. Myanmar's government believes the West will leave them alone in exchange for agreeing to placing Western military or strategic interests and corporations at China's expense. As for the West, they seem to think this is probably the best chance of Myanmar moving forward without a full-scale armed revolution. 

"This is the best of bad scenarios, and there's a strategic dividend for Washington and its allies: however distant the regime moves away from Beijing is the West's gain," explained Dr Zarni. "The common denominator between Burma and the non-Chinese world is China."

And what of the 800,000 Rohingya themselves? 

The events of the past year have meant some are kept in camps without the freedom to leave or the ability to earn a livelihood; children don't have school, there's not enough food or medical care, and they're still living under tarpaulin even though the government promised it would move them in December. 

The rest live in areas surrounded by Rakhine, where relations are fraught. In one instance a Rakhine man was forced to wear a sign around his neck identifying him as a "traitor" for selling vegetables to a Rohingya. Nor can they rely on the security forces for help, according to the HRW report, which is based on more than a hundred interviews with victims of violence, witnesses to violence and perpetrators of abuses.

The report's name stems from the testimony of an incident in which a police officer was asked by a Rohingya for help.

"All you can do is pray," the officer replied.

Follow Veronica Pedrosa on Twitter: @Vpedrosa

Maha Min Khant

RB Article

April 23, 2013

At the interesting coronation ceremony of the presidency of the Union of Myanmar, in accord the constitution of 2008, section (65), you President Thein Sein sincerely and solemnly promised and declared that you would be loyal to the Republic of Union of Myanmar and the citizens and hold always in esteem non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national and perpetuation of the sovereignty. You also promised that you would carry out the responsibilities uprightly to the best of your ability and strive for further flourishing the eternal principal of justice, liberty and equality. You have also pledged you would dedicate yourselves to the service of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. 

In accord to the president’s very dishonest pledge which he might know alone, it is nothing to say that he had been someway honest in the sight of U Than Shwe and deserved to be chosen one among others by Than Shwe. U Thein Sein was rightly chosen, by Than Shwe, as a president of the newly so called quasi-democratic state to run the state and be loyal to all his (U Than Shwe) directions as long as he is active rather than as per his (U Thein Sein) oath made at the moment. 

Mr. President, after nearly a couple of years of your presidency, though you might have been running the state as per your solemn oath that heard by people of the world, you and your chosen staffers in your president office have been running and comatose the golden state into a deep hole in my consideration --having been schemed the state into the “horrendous interaction” which have systematically being preplanned by your agents one after another, totaling against your president oath. 

As a first step of your solemn oath, you have earned and showed sympathy releasing Daw Aung San Su Kyi from house arrest not a political prisoner but as per the demand of international community hoping investment from the west and pleasing the US— which earning attention from regional and international community as a sympathizer and great man of coordinating ‘frame of mind’ with world community. 

But intentionally to make mess up the country affairs and can upset the harmonious community (Buddhists & Muslims)—and some jailed persons who might have committed state Bureau level crimes -- and once your senior officers in the time of Than Shwe regime-- you have also unconfined those perilous murderers key criminals such as (U Khin Nyunt & his colleagues and others) to receive empathy from the other hand. 

U Khin Nyunt, his colleagues and other state levels criminals, had have once ruled the state discriminatorily and put many innocent democrats and reformers without any reason, can now have very free hands and talented ones to cause snag the ‘President’s administrative mechanism’ after penetrating into the Buddhist monasteries and that of the poisonous preachers like Wirathu and others to collide with Muslims and fanatic Buddhists. 

Since The beginning of the violence which erupted from Sitttwe (Akyab) in June 8, 2012 mainly after having taken excuse by Rakhine leaders particularly RNDP and ALD political party in the case, against Ma Thidar Htwe who was allegedly murdered by three so called Muslims boys, should have been settled down as a very simple case. 

simmering the rape case by Rakhine fanatic and that of the leaders, selectively the Rohingya Muslims blocks from Sittwe were being burnt down-- innocent people were being killed-- unable people to escape were being stabbed to death-- the Rohingyas and Kaman people houses which situated among Rakhine people were being destroyed or pull down—the shops and commercialization of Muslims were jeopardized and later on confiscated—the Muslims, from Aungmingla block of Sittwe which was let off from being torched, have been unmovable from the quarter to other places in purpose of social, medical and livelihood—many people, who were shifted from the burning after losing everything to the west of Sittwe as IDPs , have been hopeless to regaining and relocation to their original places and establishing their normal lives—and yet not having proper plan to reestablish the lives of those local victims by both Rakhine state and Union government at least to go on in their temporary locations with strong and resilient small houses and capable of receiving normal donations by UN, NGOs and local donors for their temporary survival until they reached to their normality. 

The worst is every terrorist whether who wears gently Myanmar cultural dresses as the gentle of the party leaders, the businessmen, lecturers, traders, elderly people or the most revere Monks who control the famous monasteries and youth monks not only from Rakhine state and but proper Burma all become rancorous and merciless against Islam and above “the rule of law of the state”. 

The one sided violence against Rohingya and Kaman people with the combination of police, monks and ruling body of Sittwe-- where Rakhine state administration mechanism was located-- have been the combined forces to assault and let overall social annihilation and demolition by the multi Rakhine attackers against Muslims. 

These flammable assail soon spread out to where there are more or less Muslims along Rakhine state’s thirteen townships --north, central and south—and villages, houses, innocent men and women, elderly people, cattle, firms—all these were torched, killed, looted and Muslims were driven out of their villages. 

And young Rohingyas, from every townships who are believed to be services if violence become greater, were arbitrarily arrested and put in jails as a preemptive action by township authorities and Rakhine state government by the coordinated action of Rakhine people leaders from every township—and all brave Rakhine attackers were being prepared as heroic terrorists by feeding up them tablets --and Rakhine assailants who are widely thought to be amphetamines addicted tablets that is the most poignant by the advice of police station of each township and Rakhine style armed forces who are alleged to be ALP, Arakan Liberation Forces. 

Your excellence’s announcement on 10 June, 2012 to prevail peace and tranquilly and degree issue (144) is, of course, nothing for Rohingya and Kaman people who are in faith Muslims for their lives safety and security but it has been safe haven for night Rakhine assailants who could roam, could round and round and could get done all offenses against Muslims as per their wish with the help of Rakhine police who are kith and kin of assailants—while Muslims should have stay inside their respective houses in accord your (144) order, what a beautiful order you have declared for tranquility of law to prevail. 

Taking this opportunity by Rakhine assailants throughout the state, Muslims have been totally helpless, vulnerable and utterly frustrated just “breathing” in Rakhine state in the hand of ‘law of jungle governmental mechanism’ and in the state of every chaotic activities –which have been all above the law—though no one is above the law by the rule of law which has been used to say by Thura U Shwe Maan since U Khin Nyunt was to be under arrest around the year 2004 and during the recent visit to Australia while meeting Myanmar society.

To be Continued ...

RB News

April 22, 2013

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK President Tun Khin joined EIDHR (European Instrumental Democracy and Human Rights) forum which was organized by European Commission, held in Brussels from 16-17 April 2013.More than 100 Organizations around the world and 400 participants join to the Forum. 

During the Forum BROUK President met with Kristian Schmidt, Director for Human Society Development, European Commission and EU Stavros Special Representative for Human Rights. According to BROUK President he raised “the final benchmark referred to in the Council Conclusions was “addressing the status and improving the welfare of the Rohingyas.” This benchmark has clearly not been met, and in fact the status and welfare of the Rohingya has dramatically worsened in the past year following communal conflict, which later evolved into systematic attacks against the Rohingya. The government of Burma has not only failed to provide safety and security for the Rohingya, it has also encouraged those committing acts of violence by validating their prejudice. Government ministers have spoken of the Rohingya being foreigners and President Thein Sein has asked for international assistance in deporting all Rohingya to third countries. During his visit to Europe, President Thein Sein said he has ‘no plans’ to revise the 1982 Citizenship Law, stating ‘the law intends to protect the nation’. No significant efforts are being made to try to enable Rohingya displaced by attacks to return to their homes and villages and a policy of effective apartheid seems to be developing. Therefore, the benchmark of addressing the status and welfare of the Rohingyas has not been met”. 

At the same time Tun Khin had sideline meetings with many NGOs and discussed about urgent actions needed governments around the world to stop ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas and other Muslims of Burma. 

According to BROUK President he had fruitful discussion on session of freedom of Religion or Belief and Human Rights Defenders Session.

Maung Aurther 

RB News 

April 22, 2013 

Maung Daw, Arakan - On 18th April 2013 evening, NaSaka (Border Security Force) from Myint Hlut (Mer-Ullah) South Outpost under the NaSaKa Commandment Area (8) arbitrarily arrested and tortured some Rohingyas from the South Myint-Village village tract. Two days later, they were released after the extortion of huge amount of money. 

“NaSaKa arrested and tortured the following people. 

(1) Maji Ullah S/o Dil Mohammed (25) 

(2) Shona Meah S/o Ayzar Meah (60) 

(3) Salamat S/o Lalu (45) 

(4) Sharif Hussain S/o Sultan (42) 

(5) Mohammed Noor S/o Hussain Ali (20) 

(6) Amir Hussain S/o Shafiullah (50) 

They were released two days later after the extortion of following amount of money respectively. The amounts were Kyat 20,000 from No.1 mentioned above, Kyat 20,000 from No.2, Kyat 30,000 from No.3, Kyat 60,000 from No.4, Kyat 40,000 from No.5 and Kyat 50,000 from No.6 respectively. 

Again on 20th April 2013, NaSaKas from the station of Myint Hlut Gindaw under the same commandment area mentioned above had arrested two Rohingyas named Izhar Meah S/o Salay (42) and Kalah S/o U Dolu (45) from Myint Hlut Ywa Thit. They were released after extortion of Kyat 150,000 from each. 

A person named Rahmat Ullah is already with a broken-hand due to the torture in NaSaKa detention. All the arrests are being made on arbitrary allegations” said a villager from a nearby village. 

“The NaSaKas here seem to forget that they are government staffs and have to live on the salary provided by the government. They are just rampant and extorting money from whomever they wish. They are behaving like robbers. 

Recently, having drunken, a lower-level NaSaKa beat the caretaker officer, Captain Tun Hun Htoo, in the NaSaKa commandment office No.8 because the captain used to prevent him from carrying out arbitrary arrests of the innocent people. We heard that other lower level NaSaKas were also happy to the offence committed by their colleague because they are also birds of the same feather. And now, the captain was transferred to another region” he added. 

BBC News

April 22, 2013

Much of the footage was shot by the Burmese police. This report contains images of violence which you may find upsetting

The BBC has obtained police video showing officers standing by while Buddhist rioters attacked minority Muslims in the town of Meiktila. 

The footage shows a mob destroying a Muslim gold shop and then setting fire to houses. A man thought to be a Muslim is seen on fire. 

It was filmed last month, when at least 43 people were killed in Meiktila. 

Meanwhile the EU is expected to decide whether to lift sanctions imposed on Burma, in response to recent reforms. 

It is thought likely that despite concerns about the treatment of minorities, Brussels will confirm that the sanctions, which were suspended a year ago, are now permanently lifted. 

The sanctions include the freezing of assets of more than 1,000 Burmese companies, travel restrictions on officials, and a ban on EU investment in many areas. However, an arms embargo is expected to remain in place. 

The move is a response to political change under President Thein Sein, who came to power after elections in November 2010. His administration has freed many political prisoners and relaxed censorship. 

Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for many years, leads a pro-democracy opposition which has a small presence in parliament. 

Documented violence 

Some human rights groups, however, have warned that sanctions should not be lifted until the government addresses issues including recent violence against Muslims. 

The video from Meiktila, in Mandalay Region, is remarkable both for the comprehensive way it documents the violence and because much of it was shot by the Burmese police themselves, the BBC's Jonah Fisher reports from Singapore.

In the sequence where policemen look on as a man rolls on the ground having been set on fire, the watching crowd are heard to say, "No water for him - let him die". 

Another sequence shows a young man attempting to flee and getting caught, after which he is beaten by a group of men, which includes a monk. 

A savage blow with a sword strikes him and he is left on the ground, presumed dead. 

Only in one shot are the police seen escorting Muslim women and children away from their burning homes. 

The footage corroborates eyewitness testimony. A row at a Muslim-owned gold shop on 20 March was said to have started the violence, when a dispute involving a Buddhist couple escalated into a fight. 

This was followed by an attack on a Buddhist monk, who later died in hospital. News of that incident appeared to have sparked off sustained communal violence. 

The violence then spread to other towns and led to curfews being imposed. There were reports of mosques and houses being torched in at least three towns. 

The gold shop's owner, his wife and an employee were convicted of theft and assault on 12 April and jailed for 14 months. Dozens of other Muslims and Buddhists are said to be under investigation.

Deadly clashes

Violence between Buddhists and Muslims erupted in another part of Burma, Rakhine state, last year following the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in May. 

Clashes in June and October resulted in the deaths of about 200 people. Thousands of people, mainly members of the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, fled their homes and remain displaced. 

On Monday, the New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) presented a report containing what it said was clear evidence of government complicity in ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity against Muslims in Rakhine state. 

It said security forces stood aside or joined in when mobs attacked Muslim communities in nine townships, razing villages and killing residents. 

It said HRW also discovered four mass-grave sites in Rakhine state, which it said security forces used to destroy evidence of the crimes. 

However, the allegations were rejected by Win Myaing, a government spokesman for Rakhine state, AP news agency reported. 

HRW investigators didn't "understand the situation on the ground," he said, adding that the government had no prior knowledge of the impending attacks, and deployed forces to stop the unrest.

Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State 

Human Rights Watch

April 22, 2013 

This 153-page report describes the role of the Burmese government and local authorities in the forcible displacement of more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims and the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Burmese officials, community leaders, and Buddhist monks organized and encouraged ethnic Arakanese backed by state security forces to conduct coordinated attacks on Muslim neighborhoods and villages in October 2012 to terrorize and forcibly relocate the population. The tens of thousands of displaced have been denied access to humanitarian aid and been unable to return home.

Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State

Human Rights Watch

April 22, 2013

Unpunished Crimes Against Humanity, Humanitarian Crisis in Arakan State

Bangkok – Burmese authorities and members of Arakanese groups have committed crimes against humanity in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State since June 2012, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The 153-page report, “‘All You Can Do is Pray’: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State,” describes the role of the Burmese government and local authorities in the forcible displacement of more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims and the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Burmese officials, community leaders, and Buddhist monks organized and encouraged ethnic Arakanese backed by state security forces to conduct coordinated attacks on Muslim neighborhoods and villages in October 2012 to terrorize and forcibly relocate the population. The tens of thousands of displaced have been denied access to humanitarian aid and been unable to return home.

“The Burmese government engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “The government needs to put an immediate stop to the abuses and hold the perpetrators accountable or it will be responsible for further violence against ethnic and religious minorities in the country.”

Following sectarian violence between Arakanese and Rohingya in June 2012, government authorities destroyed mosques, conducted violent mass arrests, and blocked aid to displacedMuslims. On October 23, after months of meetings and public statements promoting ethnic cleansing, Arakanese mobs attacked Muslim communities in nine townships, razing villages and killing residents while security forces stood aside or assisted the assailants. Some of the dead were buried in mass graves, further impeding accountability.

Human Rights Watch traveled to Arakan State following the waves of violence and abuses in June and October, visiting sites of attacks and every major displaced person camp, as well as unofficial displacement sites. The report draws on more than 100 interviews with Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese who suffered or witnessed abuses, as well as some organizers and perpetrators of the violence.

All of the state security forces operating in Arakan State are implicated in failing to prevent atrocities or directly participating in them, including local police, Lon Thein riot police, the inter-agency border control force called Nasaka, and the army and navy. One soldier told a Muslim man who was pleading for protection as his village was being burned: “The only thing you can do is pray to save your lives.”

Displaced Rohingya told Human Rights Watch how in October security forces stood by or joined with large groups of Arakanese men armed with machetes, swords, homemade guns, and Molotov cocktails who descended upon and attacked their villages. In some cases, attacks occurred simultaneously in townships separated by considerable distance.

Satellite images obtained by Human Rights Watch from just 5 of the 13 townships that experienced violence since June show 27 unique zones of destruction, including the destruction of 4,862 structures covering 348 acres of mostly Muslim-owned residential property.

In the deadliest incident, on October 23, at least 70 Rohingya were killed in a daylong massacre in Yan Thei village in Mrauk-U Township. Despite advance warning of the attack, only a small number of riot police, local police, and army soldiers were on duty to provide security, but they assisted the killings by disarming the Rohingya of their sticks and other rudimentary weapons they carried to defend themselves. Included in the death toll were 28 children who were hacked to death, including 13 under age 5. “First the soldiers told us, ‘Do not do anything, we will protect you, we will save you,’ so we trusted them,” a 25-year-old survivor told Human Rights Watch. “But later they broke that promise. The Arakanese beat and killed us very easily. The security did not protect us from them.”

“In October, security forces either looked the other way as Arakanese mobs attacked Muslim settlements or joined in the bloodletting and arson,” Robertson said. “Six months later, the government still blames ‘communal violence’ for the deaths and destruction when, in truth, the government knew what was happening and could have stopped it.”

Considerable local organizing preceded and backed October’s attacks. The two groups most influential in organizing anti-Rohingya activities were the local order of Buddhist monks (the sangha) and the regionally powerful Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), which was founded in 2010 by Arakanese nationalists. Between June and October, these groups and others issued numerous anti-Rohingya pamphlets and public statements, explicitly or implicitly denying the existence of the Rohingya ethnicity, demonizing them, and calling for their removal from the country, at times using the phrase “ethnic cleansing.” The statements frequently were released in connection with organized meetings and in full view of local, state, and national authorities who raised no concerns. Local authorities, politicians, and monks also acted, often through public statements and force, to deny Muslims their rights to freedom of movement, opportunities to earn a living, and access to markets and to humanitarian aid. The apparent goal has been to coerce them to abandon their homes and leave the area.

“Local officials and community leaders engaged in an organized effort to demonize and isolate the Muslim population as a prelude to murderous mob attacks,” Robertson said. “Moreover, since the bloodshed, the central government has taken no action to punish those responsible or reverse the ethnic cleansing of the forcibly displaced Muslims.”

Human Rights Watch uncovered evidence of four mass-grave sites in Arakan State – three dating from the immediate aftermath of the June violence and one from the October violence. Security forces actively impeded accountability and justice by digging mass graves to destroy evidence of crimes.

For instance, on June 13, a government truck dumped 18 naked and half-clothed bodies near a Rohingya displaced person camp outside of Sittwe, the state capital. Some of the victims had been “hogtied” with string or plastic strips before being executed. By leaving the bodies near a camp for displaced Rohingya, the soldiers were sending a message – consistent with a policy of ethnic cleansing – that the Rohingya should leave permanently.

“They dropped the bodies right here,” said a Rohingya man, who saw the bodies being dumped. “Three bodies had gunshot wounds. Some had burns, some had stab wounds. One gunshot wound was on the forehead, one on the chest.”

Arakan State faces a major humanitarian crisis brought on by the Burmese government’s systematic restrictions on humanitarian aid to displaced Rohingya.

More than 125,000 Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims, and a smaller number of Arakanese, have been in displaced person camps in Arakan State since June. While President Thein Sein’s government has hosted high-profile diplomatic visits to displacement sites, it has also obstructed the effective delivery of humanitarian aid. Many of the displaced Muslims have been living in overcrowded camps that lack adequate food, shelter, water and sanitation, schools, and medical care. Security forces in some areas have provided protection to displaced Muslims, but more typically they have acted as their jailers, preventing access to markets, livelihoods, and humanitarian assistance, for which many are in desperate need.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya face a range of deadly waterborne diseases if they are not moved to higher ground before the rainy season begins in May.

“The problem with aid delivery in Arakan State is not a failure of coordination, but a failure of leadership by the government to allow displaced Muslims access to aid and freedom of movement,” Robertson said. “An entirely predictable and preventable humanitarian crisis is just weeks away when the rains fall and camps flood, spreading waterborne diseases.”

The displaced Rohingya have not been consulted on their right to return to their original towns and villages, heightening concerns of a long-term intent to segregate the population.

Lacking aid, protection, and facing violence and abuses, tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled the country by sea since June with hopes of reaching Bangladesh, Malaysia, or Thailand, and many thousands more appear ready to do the same – several hundred people have already died at sea.

Under international law, crimes against humanity are crimes committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack by a government or organization on a civilian population. Among the crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya since June were murder, deportation and forcible transfer of the population, and persecution.

“Ethnic cleansing,” though not a formal legal term, has been defined as a purposeful policy by an ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.

Central to the persecution of the Rohingya is the 1982 Citizenship Law, which effectively denies Burmese citizenship to Rohingya on discriminatory ethnic grounds. Because the law does not consider the Rohingya to be one of the eight recognized “national races,” which would entitle them to full citizenship, they must provide “conclusive evidence” that their ancestors settled in Burma before independence in 1948, a difficult if not impossible task for most Rohingya families.

The government and Burmese society openly consider the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants from what is now Bangladesh and not a distinct “national race” of Burma, denying them consideration for full citizenship. Official government statements refer to them as “Bengali,” “so-called Rohingya,” or the pejorative “kalar.”

Human Rights Watch urged the Burmese government to urgently amend the 1982 Citizenship Act to eliminate discriminatory provisions and to ensure that Rohingya children have the right to acquire a nationality where otherwise they would be stateless.

“Burma should accept an independent international commission to investigate crimes against humanity in Arakan State, locate victims, and provide redress,” said Robertson. “Burma’s donors need to wake up and realize the seriousness of the Rohingya’s plight, and demand that the government urgently stop abuses, promote the safe return of displaced Muslims, and ensure accountability to end the deadly cycle of violence in Arakan State.”

RB News 

April 21, 2013 

Sittwe (Akyab), Arakan - On 19th April 2013, Friday, evening, a delegation led by the minister at the ministry of defense met with the representatives both Rakhine community and Rohingya community in the Bandoola Hall, Sittwe. 

The government delegation met with 15 representatives, from Rakhine community, including a lawyer, U Tha Pwin and U Maung Nyunt Sein. In the meeting, Rakhine representatives rejected all the proposals of peacefully living back together with Rohingyas. 

Then, the delegation met with 15 representatives from Rohingya community. That included U Shwe Zan, U Shwe Hla and U Aung Thein. The delegation stated that they would build hospitals, schools, markets, jetties and houses for the IDP at the current locations. So, they asked Rohingya IDP to live at the current location and not to demand to settle back to their original places. However, the Rohingya representatives except for U Shwe Hla hailing from Aung Mingala Quarter said that they could not agree to such proposals. Therefore, the meeting was ended abruptly. 

Five representatives from Aung Mingala Quarter, five from Thakket-Pyin Refugee Camp and other five were from the Rohingya IDP camps in other townships. The delegation was led by the minister at the ministry of defense and it also included the minister at the president’s office, U Tin Naing Thein and the chief director of the ministry of immigration and population, U Maung Than. 

“We were terrorized and our houses on which we have been living for generations were razed. Our relatives were mercilessly killed. Our properties and belongings were looted. It will be a year soon that we have been staying in these concentration camps amidst the immense troubles. We just want to go back to our original lands” said an internally displaced person to RB news. 

“For generations, we have been living peacefully together with Rakhines. Only today, we have become victims and scapegoats due to the hatred propaganda spread by the self-centered politicians for their political benefits” he continued. 

Last Wednesday (i.e. on 17th April 2013), many of the temporary tents broke down due to the strong wind hit the area. The Rohingya IDP had to build their own temporary tents and even now, they are to rebuild them by themselves after breaking down. 

President U Thein Sein declared in July last year that Rohingya IDP would be kept in the concentration camps and then sent to the third countries. Therefore, most of the Rohingya refugees are of the opinion that the purpose of the current delegation is to implement the same policy against Rohingyas. 

(Translated into English by Maung Aurther)

Press TV
April 21, 2013

A political analyst says the international community and particularly the West has not pressured the government in Myanmar to stop the violence and to stop this genocide or ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people. 

The comments came after the UN refugee agency warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Myanmar as the country’s displaced Rohingya Muslims face the threat of monsoon floods. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday said it is “seriously concerned about the risks facing over 60,000 displaced people in flood-prone areas and in makeshift shelters.” Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar account for about five percent of the country’s population of nearly 60 million. They have been persecuted and faced torture, neglect, and repression since the country's independence in 1948. 

Press TV has conducted an interview with Kevin Barrett, from the Muslim-Christian-Jewish Alliance, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview. 

Press TV: Kevin Barrett, I would hate to see this monsoon season obviously pretty much have an effect on the lives of these already most persecuted minority being the Rohingyas but it seems like that maybe their fate. 

What has not occurred when we look at this really disaster that’s been going on for the past six months in terms of the persecution, the government involvement and etc.? 

Barrett: Well what hasn’t happened is that the international community and particularly the West has not pressured the government in Myanmar to stop the violence and to stop this genocide or ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people. 

Why is that? Quite often we do hear the West making loud noises about human rights and sometimes in situations where the violations of human rights are a lot, less extreme than they are in Myanmar. 

And I think the answer is in this particular situation, the West and particularly the USA has opened up good relations with the Myanmar government just at the moment that the Myanmar government has started to commit and countenance genocide on its territory. 

And the US is basically playing a geo-strategic game, is trying to take Myanmar out of the orbit of China and place it more firmly into the Western orbit. The US is deluging Myanmar with representatives trying to establish more trade ties, more business relationships, the money is flowing more than ever and rather than use the pressure and the leverage that they certainly do have to stop these very, very large scale abuses and this horrible suffering of the Rohingya ethnic cleansing victims. 

Press TV: So quickly, when you say they want to pull Myanmar out of this fear of China, of influence of China, I mean so that that border is an area that they will probably going to, if they had not already placed the military power whether it is soldiers, equipments etc. Is that another aim that the US has obviously to counter China militarily? 

Barrett: Absolutely. US is ringing China with military bases. There is a containment of China strategy going on, Obama has called it the shift to Asia . They are winding down the Middle Eastern war on terror, although you would know that from what is going on in Syria and they are ramping up the future war on China to prevent China from continuing to rise and taking its place as the world’s biggest economy and most powerful technological country. 

So it is a big geo-strategic game and the Rohingya Muslims are caught in the middle.

AFP

April 21, 2013

Aung San Suu Kyi's refusal to condemn attacks on Muslims in Myanmar has dimmed the Nobel laureate's lustre among global rights campaigners, but observers say her reticence will do her no harm with voters. 

Nearly a month after religious riots killed 43 people in central Myanmar, the former political prisoner turned lawmaker finally voiced sympathy for Muslims targeted by violence that saw mosques and homes razed. 

But Suu Kyi again failed to clearly condemn attacks against Muslims -- who represent an estimated four percent of the population -- or hate speech by some extremist Buddhist monks. 

Instead, as in 2012 when two waves of violence between the stateless Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists caused more than 180 deaths in the west, the opposition leader more indirectly urged respect for the "rule of law". 

"They did not feel they belonged anywhere else and you are just sad for them that they are made to feel they did not belong to our country either," she said of Myanmar's Muslims last week during a visit to Japan. 

But Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and endured years of house arrest, defended the restrained nature of her remarks and said: "I am sorry if people do not find my comments interesting enough to acknowledge them." 

Rights groups say her comments, delivered late and without criticism of the perpetrators of violence, sit uncomfortably with her position as a democracy champion who led a long fight against Myanmar's former military junta. 

"I'm glad she is in some ways recognising that these people are facing a very, very difficult situation" but "there has to be more than just her feeling sad," said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch. 

"The burden of action here lies with the government, but she is not an ordinary opposition leader either... and this is where some of this moral authority built up over the years needs to be used," he added. 

For their part Myanmar's ethnic minorities harbour suspicions of the Burman majority group -- including Suu Kyi -- and complain that discrimination endures under Myanmar's civilian-led reformist government. 

The Rohingya in particular feel let down by Suu Kyi. 

Some 800,000 of the minority group, considered by the UN as one of the most persecuted in the world, live in Rakhine State where tens of thousands of people were displaced by the violence last year and still languish in makeshift camps. 

Human Rights Watch has accused security forces of allowing and in some cases leading assaults against the Rohingya. 

Abu Tahay from the National Democratic Party for Development, which represents the Rohingya, said Suu Kyi has an "obligation" to intervene given her status as daughter of independence hero Aung San and a "democratic icon". 

Yet he stepped back from openly criticising the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) -- which is tipped to win general elections in 2015 that could install Suu Kyi as Myanmar's president. 

Suu Kyi's core constituency in the dominant Burman population sees the Rohingya as worthless illegal immigrants, and any offers of support may haunt her at the elections. 

"Aung San Suu Kyi has an election to win in 2015. She risks alienating politically potent Buddhist elements among her own supporters if she appears too cosy with the Rohingya, or other Muslims," said Nicholas Farrelly of the Australian National University. 

"Western human rights activists and international opponents of anti-Islamic prejudice will not have a vote in who runs Myanmar in the years ahead," he said. 

More immediately, "The Lady" does not want to fuel ethnic and religious tensions as the country undergoes its transition from junta rule, according to Win Tin, co-founder of the NLD. 

"There was some damage to her moral authority because of this situation. Daw Suu also knows about it," he told AFP, using a Burmese honorific, adding that her caution recognises "things are very fragile politically". 

Foreign observers need to take a more realistic view of the democracy leader, a senior diplomat formerly posted to Myanmar told AFP. 

Critics "need to consider whether their disappointment is a consequence of attributing near-sainthood and infallibility to her during her years under house arrest", the diplomat said, requesting anonymity. 

But Chris Lewa, the Bangkok-based director of The Arakan Project, which lobbies for Rohingya rights, said Suu Kyi was failing a vital test of leadership. 

"She talks a lot about the rule of law, but that is not enough," she said.

Jewish Chronicle

April 21, 2013

Desmond Tutu

Washington Post

April 20, 2013

Desmond Tutu is archbishop emeritus of Cape Town and a Nobel Peace laureate. 

In Myanmar, the word “kular” is an insult that you hear shouted at Muslims. You can see it printed in vicious pamphlets about the Rohingya, Myanmar’s largest Muslim ethnic group, calling for them to be kept away from towns, kicked out of the country or murdered. 

Kular is a slang word for “dark-skinned” — a form of abuse I know something about. And I, like millions of South Africans, know that such abuse can never last. God did not create us for such hatred.

I know also that a country is never truly free or prosperous until it is at peace with itself — until a nation, be it South Africa or Myanmar, loves and raises all its children equally. A nation must work hard and come together to realize this.

So we must be very measured in our praise of Myanmar’s new openness while its poorest and most vulnerable people, such as the Rohingya, are not living in safety and dignity. 

I traveled to Myanmar recently and saw for myself a great number of the positive developments that others around the world have been cheering. 

I met with several political prisoners who had been released by the new government after decades of detainment under the junta. I was thrilled to finally hold hands with Aung San Suu Kyi, who is no longer under house arrest and proudly stands in the parliament. We were free to walk the streets of Yangon together.

The dreaded red pen of newspaper censorship has also been put away; the printing presses are whirring, and Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, enjoys a newfound freedom of expression that many young people there had never experienced. 

But I departed with a heavy heart. I was shattered by the poverty, the decaying buildings, the uncertain electricity supply and the broken sidewalks. Driving into Yangon, our group paid a number of tolls for which we received no receipt, nothing. How blatantly can you steal money that should be used to benefit ordinary people?

I am worried that the winds of change are not blowing evenly, that some of the weak and the poor will be left behind. 

And then there are the Rohingya — just one poignant example of Myanmar’s new freedoms becoming exploited by bullies and extremists. How can people be treated in such a way — hunted down, homes torched, beaten and killed — in the name of a warped sense of nationalism? Do the perpetrators not know that we are from the same human family?

I was moved by a recent editorial in this newspaper that called it “a moral error” for Myanmar to gloss over its troubles. 

This inter-religious strife, previously confined to one state, is spreading to other parts of Myanmar. Protests are being violently quashed. Swaths of land in villages are being confiscated. I pray that President Thein Sein, his colleagues and the rest of the leadership of Myanmar can all apply their impressive willpower so these tragedies can be addressed. 

Otherwise, I fear that the extraordinary kindness I found there will never be rewarded and that a rare chance — one that I worried we might never see — will be missed. 

If the leadership of Myanmar can come together and embrace all its people, the country can indeed be a land of milk and honey.

AFP

April 19, 2013

Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled communal violence in Myanmar are in danger as the monsoon season looms, the UN's refugee agency said Friday, warning that operations were desperately underfunded. 

Agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters that a "humanitarian catastrophe" could be on the cards. 

"UNHCR is seriously concerned about the risks facing over 60,000 displaced people in flood-prone areas and in makeshift shelters," he told reporters. 

"From May to September, the monsoon season is expected to unleash heavy rains and possible cyclones in Rakhine state, where more than 115,000 people remain uprooted after last year's inter-communal violence," he warned. 

Violence between Myanmar's Buddhist majority and the Rohingya -- described by the UN as among the most persecuted minority groups in the world -- has rocked the western state of Rakhine since June 2012. 

Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and denies them citizenship. 

While thousands of Rohingya has taken to the Indian Ocean to escape the strife -- hundreds of whom are thought to have drowned as they try to reach neighbouring nations -- the bulk of those who have fled the violence have remained in Myanmar. 

Some are camped near the coast, where the risk of tidal surges is high, while others are living in paddy fields or low-lying areas that are set to flood when the rains begin. 

"Flooding will exacerbate the already fragile conditions of shelter and sanitation, and increase the risk of water-borne diseases. In addition, several thousand people are still living in tents and flimsy makeshift shelters made of tarpaulin, rice bags and grass that cannot withstand even moderate rains," said Edwards. 

UNHCR has been building bamboo-framed longhouses for 14,400 displaced people and distributed tents to house some 28,000, but money is running short. 

Donors have provided just 14 percent of the $71.4 million UNHCR needs for its Myanmar operation, Edwards underlined.