Press TV

May 30, 2013

Press TV has talked with Myra Dahgaypaw, with the US Campaign for Burma from Washington D.C., to comment on the ongoing systematic persecution of Muslim Rohingyas by the extremist Buddhists in the country.

What follows is a rough transcript of the interview. 

Press TV: Myra Dahgaypaw, let us look at the political developments. 

We had the president of Myanmar who visited Washington recently and we also had Aung San Suu Kyi, who came out and made some statements. 

Can you tell us if any of those two figures have addressed what is going on in Myanmar regarding what many are calling ethnic cleansing, when you see these types of violence erupt there. 

Dahgaypaw: Well, at this point only the words are out there but no action has been taken. 

Press TV: We had President Thein Sein visiting Washington and that reinforces, obviously the ties that the US has in this. 

Don't you think that the US should uphold what it preaches in terms of democracy and in this case apply it by pressuring the government there and not only that but pressuring Aung San Suu Kyi to come up more in defense of what is going on there, of these Muslims who are being persecuted. 

Dahgaypaw: Indeed I totally agree with you that the US government as well as the international community including the UN, should pressure the Burmese authorities to do more for these people. 

It is not okay to keep allowing the abuses to happen to these group of people, I mean the Rohingyas are human beings like us. 

Instead they keep giving them and that is why I am saying, the invitation for Thein Sein to come to the White House is like a slap on the face to the ethnic minorities, to those people who have to suffer at the hands of these Burmese military.

Todd Pitman

Associated Press
May 30, 2013

LASHIO, Myanmar  — More than 1,000 Muslims who fled Myanmar's latest bout of sectarian violence huddled Thursday in a Buddhist monastery guarded by army soldiers as calm returned to this northeastern city, though burnt out buildings leveled by Buddhist rioters still smoldered. 

The army transported terrified Muslim families by the truckload out of a neighborhood in Lashio where overturned cars and motorcycles that had been charred a day earlier left black scars on the red earth. 

"We heard things could get worse, so we waved down soldiers and asked them for help," said 59-year-old Khin Than, who arrived at the monastery Thursday morning with her four children and sacks of luggage along with several hundred other Muslims. "We left because we're afraid of being attacked." 

The violence in Lashio this week highlights how anti-Muslim unrest has slowly spread across Myanmar since starting last year in western Rakhine state and hitting the central city of Meikhtila in March. President Thein Sein's government, which inherited power from the military two years ago, has been heavily criticized for failing to contain the violence. 

In Lashio on Thursday, Buddhist monks organized meals for the newly arrived refugees, who huddled together in several buildings in the monastery compound. 

Although a few Buddhist men could still be seen Thursday riding motorbikes with crude weapons such as sharpened bamboo poles, no new violence was reported. Several banks and shops reopened as residents emerged to look at destroyed Muslim shops. Trucks of soldiers and police crisscrossed main roads. They guarded the ruins of Muslim businesses that were reduced to ashes on Tuesday and Wednesday, erecting roadblocks from twisted debris. 

At one corner, where the charred remains of a three-story building still smoldered, Muslim residents sorted through rubble for anything salvageable. One family packed electronics from their shop into the back of a truck. 

A woman who had fled a mob a day earlier was still in a state of shock. 

"These things should not happen," said the woman, Aye Tin, a Muslim resident who slept overnight in a local Red Cross compound. "Most Muslims are staying off the streets. They're afraid they'll be attacked or killed if they go outside." 

The rioting began Tuesday after a Muslim man splashed gasoline on a Buddhist woman and set her on fire. Buddhist mobs responded by burning down several Muslim-owned shops, a mosque and an Islamic orphanage. Roving motorcyclists continued the violence on Wednesday, leaving one person dead and four injured. 

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut said 25 people had been detained so far. He said all those arrested were from Lashio. 

The violence is casting fresh doubt over whether Thein Sein's government can or will act to contain the racial and religious intolerance plaguing a deeply fractured nation still struggling to emerge from half a century of military rule. Muslims, who account for about 4 percent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people, have been the main victims of the violence since it began last year, but so far most criminal trials have involved prosecutions of Muslims, not members of the Buddhist majority. 

___ 

Associated Press writer Aye Aye Win contributed to this report from Yangon, Myanmar.

RB News

May 30, 2013

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) and Open in need foundation strongly raised current attacks on Muslims in Burma and tow child policy on Rohingya with EU officials during their two days joint advocacy trip. The joint delegation include BROUK president Tun Khin ,Marek Svoboda head of People in need foundation and his Program manager Anna Kunova. The trip was organized by People in Need foundation. The delegation met MEP Eduard Khan , MEP Plilip Kaczmarek Ph.D , Ranieri Sabatucci head of Southeast Asia Division from European External Action Service and other high level officials of European Union.

The delegation pinpointed Rohingya two child limit policy only to Rohingya people of Burma. Recent attacks on Lasho Muslims and continues attacks to Muslims by 969 Anti- Muslims Groups. 

President Thein government ethnic cleansing policy against Rohingya is moving forward to drive out whole ethnic Rohingya minority from Burma.

The delegation urged European Parliament Members 

(1) To put pressure on President Thein Government to stop attack against Muslim of Burma and to stop anti Muslims campaign in Burma 

(2) To put pressure on President Thein Sein Government to stop blocking Humanitarian aid to Rohingyas. 

(3) To support independent international investigation on Arakan Violence upcoming June session on UN Human Rights Council. 

(4) To stop President Thein government blocking Humanitarian Aid to Rohingya and to call for to amend 1982 citizenship law. 

(5) To provide international Observers or International Task force to Arakan other areas where Muslim were attacked by 969 groups. 

BROUK President Tun Khin said “European Union has to take immediate actions to stop attacks against Muslim in Lasho and Two Child Policy on Rohingya policy in Burma. President Thein Sein Government is implementing the policy on Rohingya to wipe out the whole minority Rohingya and other Muslims of Burma. Internal Commission backed by Government did not show accountability and justice. It is time for EU to support Independent International investigation what happen in Arakan State in 2012 June and October. EU countries must balance their policy. Lifting up sanctions improving dealing with President Thein government is encouraging to move forward cleansing Muslims of Burma”.

BROUK President also joined as an speaker of the One World International Human Rights Film Festival together with Lotte Leicht EU Human Rights Watch Director and Marek Svoboda head of People in Need foundation.

Daniel Schearf 

VOA

May 29, 2013 

BANGKOK — Burmese authorities said they will review a policy in western Rakhine state that imposes birth limits on Muslims to control population growth. The policy, which limits Muslim Rohingyas to only two children has been condemned by rights activists and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a Skype interview with VOA, Burmese presidential spokesman Ye Htut said central authorities first learned of the two-child limit for Muslim Rohingya from reports in foreign media. "We didn't have any information about this order. Only, we saw it on the international media," Ye Htut stated."So, we will check with the state government on this issue."

Restrictions only for Muslims

The birth restriction on Muslims and a limit of one wife, when the religion allows for four, were first reported last week in Burmese media.

Authorities in western Rakhine state say it is being implemented in two districts on the border with Bangladesh, where Rohingya Muslims are in the majority. 

The birth limits are only for Muslims and date back to the previous military government, although enforcement varied.

State spokesman Win Myaing said the new push on the limitations is part of efforts at family planning recommended by a presidential commission in April to reduce tensions between Buddhists and Muslims.

But Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson said, since 2005, Rakhine state border guards have sought to more strongly implement the rules.

"I think what they're trying to do is control the terms of debate, that they are saying this is 'what we've done and it's justified by the national government of Burma.' It falls on the national government of Burma to now respond and say whether this is their policy or not," added Robertson.

The Rakhine Commission is investigating the root cause of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims last year that left 200 dead and 140,000 displaced, most of them Rohingyas.

Controlling over population 

The commission said a fast-growing Muslim population had raised Rakhine Buddhists' fears that they could soon be outnumbered and overruled in Burma's emerging democracy. It recommends better assimilating Muslims and family planning to limit the growth. But the commission warns any non-voluntary measures could cause more tensions.

Spokesman Ye Htut said President Thein Sein has not yet decided if he wants to support the birth restrictions. He said he will announce a position after talking to Rakhine authorities and studying the commission's recommendations.

"Up to now, we cannot say whether we support or not because we have to review all the recommendations made by the Rakhine commission on every issue. So, I cannot make that comment on particular case, whether we will (be) doing or not," said Ye Htut.

Human Rights abuse?

Rights groups condemned the two-child policy as one of many ongoing abuses against the Rohingya, who are not recognized as citizens in Burma despite many living there for generations.

Human Rights Watch said Rohingya's who want to register their marriage must promise to only have two children. Any more than two, or children born out of wedlock, are not able to go to school or receive government services.

The rights group said anyone caught breaking the two-child rule faces fines and jail time. To avoid the punishment, it said some Rohingya women have resorted to unsafe abortions. 

Ye Htut dismisses the concerns of Human Rights Watch and its call for the policy to be abolished. "Most of their comment[s] are based on their one-sided information. So, what we are now trying to do is to implement the recommendation by the Rakhine commission and we will consider every aspect on these issue[s] from a human rights aspect and other local law and order, and also from the international norm[s] and standard[s]," Ye Htut said.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday said the two-child limit is discriminatory and a violation of human rights.

Jared Ferrie 

Reuters

May 29, 2013

Lashio, Myanmar - Buddhist mobs armed with sticks and machetes burned Muslim homes on Wednesday for a second day in the northern Myanmar city of Lashio, contradicting claims in state media that soldiers and police had restored calm.

A Reuters reporter saw scores of young men and boys on motorbikes and on foot marauding through the city of 130,000 people in a mountainous region about 700 km (430 miles) from the commercial capital Yangon.

One person was killed and four were wounded in fighting that began at about 2 p.m., Ye Htut, spokesman for President Thein Sein, said in a Facebook post. Police fired their guns to disperse the crowd, he said.

By early evening, Muslims shops and homes were still burning in one quarter, underlining the difficulty the president faces in containing mounting religious violence in an era of historic reforms since military rule ended in March 2011.

"I don't know where the Muslims are. They all ran away," said Kyaw Soe Win, a Buddhist resident of a mixed neighbourhood where motorbikes and household possessions lay burning in the streets. Nearby, a man with a sword and a stick combed through the remains of one burned-out shop.

State television said a mosque, a Muslim religious school and a number of shops were gutted by fires started on Tuesday by Buddhists who rampaged after hearing reports of a Muslim man setting a Buddhist woman on fire and badly wounding her. State media said calm had returned by Wednesday.

Myanmar has struggled with religious unrest since June last year when fighting between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya erupted in western Rakhine State.

That was followed by organised Rakhine attacks on Rohingya communities in October that New York-based Human Rights Watch said amounted to ethnic cleansing. The government calls the stateless Rohingya illegal "Bengali" immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

"KILL ALL BENGALIS"

British tourist Stephen Barker, 46, told Reuters he saw a group of about 100 machete and stick-carrying youths rallying around his hotel in the early afternoon, including four or five monks. Police and military moved them on and arrested half a dozen people.

"I got a light for my cigarette from one and he told me to kill all Bengalis while waving this 18-inch blade around."

Muslims appeared to have fled a mixed Lashio neighbourhood known as Quarter Number 17.

Tuesday's unrest in Lashio was sparked by a quarrel between two people, named by state media as Aye Aye Win, 24, a Buddhist woman who sold petrol, and Ne Win, a Muslim man aged 48.

MRTV television said Ne Win poured petrol over Aye Aye Win and set her on fire. She was in hospital, it said.

After police detained Ne Win, Buddhists surrounded the police station and demanded he be handed over. When they refused, the crowd went on the rampage, attacking Myoma Mosque near Lashio market, residents said.

The authorities attempted to restore order late on Tuesday by banning unlawful assembly under a state of emergency in the city, which is about 190 km (120 miles) from the Chinese border.

In March, at least 44 people, most of them Muslims, died in the central city of Meikhtila after a rampage by Buddhist mobs incensed by the killing of a monk by Muslims, shortly after a violent row between a Buddhist couple and Muslim shop owners.

Muslims make up about 5 percent of Myanmar's 60 million people.

(Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun in Yangon; Writing by Andrew R.C. Marshall; Editing by Jason Szep, Robert Birsel and Ron Popeski)

Todd Pitman
Associated Press

May 29, 2013

LASHIO, Myanmar (AP) — Hundreds of Buddhist men on motorcycles waved iron rods and bamboo poles and threw rocks in a northeastern Myanmar town on Wednesday, a day after a mosque and a Muslim orphanage were torched in a new wave of violence targeting the religious minority. Residents said a movie theater was burned as the mob sped around the town. 

Many Buddhists and Muslims stayed locked inside their homes and shops were shuttered after Tuesday's violence in Lashio town, near the border with China, the latest region to fall prey to the country's spreading sectarian violence. The rioting in Lashio was sparked by reports that a Muslim man had set fire to a Buddhist woman. 

Deadly violence between Buddhists and Muslims has occurred since last year in other parts of Myanmar, first in a western region and then in central towns. The new flare-up will reinforce doubts that President Thein Sein's government can or will act to contain the violence and crack down on racial and religious intolerance. 

Wednesday morning was quiet, but by afternoon several hundred young men, screaming and waving sticks, roamed the downtown area on motorcycles near City Hall. A Buddhist monk was seated on the back of one of the motorcycles, waving a stick. 

On another street, the crowd threw rocks at buildings. Many people were too afraid to step outside. Smoke could be seen over at least one area of town, and local politician Sai Myint Maung said a movie theater had been burned and that there were rumors that more troublemakers were gathered on the outskirts of the town. 

"The situation has changed 180 degrees. It was quiet the whole day and all of a sudden there is a fire and the situation has changed," he said. 

An officer from the No. 1 Lashio police station said police had been dispatched by truck to try to quell the new violence. The officer, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to release information, said at least four people were hurt. 

"My family is staying inside. We are afraid of being attacked," said one Muslim resident, Ko Maung Gyi, who spoke by telephone earlier from inside his locked home in Lashio's main Muslim neighborhood. 

"I never expected that such racial violence would erupt in Lashio," he said. "Our small town is multiethnic and we have lived in peace for a long time." 

There were no reported fatalities after Tuesday night's violence in the remote mountain town. 

Order was initially restored after authorities banned gatherings of more than five people. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed and many shops and streets were empty, Sai Myint Maung said. 

The government appealed for calm. 

"Damaging religious buildings and creating religious riots is inappropriate for the democratic society we are trying to create," presidential spokesman Ye Htut said on his Facebook page. The message noted that "two religious buildings and some shops" in Lashio were burned, without specifying whether they were Muslim or Buddhist. 

"Any criminal act will be dealt with according to the law," Ye Htut said. 

A 48-year-old man accused of setting fire to a 24-year-old Buddhist woman was arrested, state television reported. It said the man, identified as an Indian Muslim, threw gasoline on the woman. The report appeared to put to rest earlier questions over the man's religion. 

The man was charged with causing grievous injuries and arson, as well as drug possession due to stimulants found in his pocket, the TV report said. The woman was being treated for burns to her chest, back and hands. 

The report did not mention whether any members of Tuesday night's Buddhist mob were arrested, an omission likely to fuel more questions over whether minority Muslims can find justice in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar. 

Minority Muslims have been the main victims of the deadly violence, but so far there have been no criminal trials against members of the country's Buddhist majority. 

After Tuesday's alleged immolation, an irate crowd of more than 100 people, including Buddhist monks, gathered outside a police station demanding that the alleged attacker be handed over, state TV reported. 

The crowd then rampaged through the town, setting fire to Lashio's largest mosque and several shops, the television report said. 

The mob also set fire to a Muslim school and orphanage that was so badly charred that only two walls remained, said Min Thein, a resident contacted by telephone. Police and other witnesses confirmed the school burning. 

Myanmar's sectarian violence first flared in western Rakhine state last year, when hundreds of people died in clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that drove about 140,000 others, mostly Muslims, from their homes. 

The clashes seemed confined to that region, but in late March, similar Buddhist-led violence swept the town of Meikthila in central Myanmar, killing at least 43 people. Earlier this month, a court sentenced seven Muslims from Meikthila to prison terms for their role in the violence. 

Several other towns in central Myanmar experienced less deadly violence, mostly involving the torching of Muslim businesses and mosques. 

Muslims account for about 4 percent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people. Anti-Muslim sentiment is closely tied to nationalism and the dominant Buddhist religion, so leaders have been reluctant to speak up for the unpopular minority. 

Thein Sein's administration, which came to power in 2011 after half a century of military rule, has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to protect Muslims. He vowed last week during a trip to the U.S. that all perpetrators of the sectarian violence would be brought to justice. 

___ 

Associated Press writers Aye Aye Win in Yangon and Jocelyn Gecker and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Associated Press

May 28, 2013

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is calling on the government of Myanmar to stop the imposition of a two-child limit on a Muslim minority group that has been targeted in bloody communal unrest.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Tuesday the U.S. is deeply concerned about reports that authorities in two townships of western Rakhine State plan to enforce the limit on minority Rohingyas.

Ventrell says the U.S. opposes coercive birth limitation policies, and urges Myanmar, in his words, “to eliminate all such policies without delay.”

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Islamic leaders have also expressed their dismay. Myanmar has been accused of discriminating against Muslims.

The Buddhist-majority country is also known as Burma.

RB News

May 27, 2013

Washington DC: The protests against Myanmar President U Thein Sein were organized by US Campaign for Burma, Myanmar Muslim Civil Right Movement and Free Rohingya Campaign and held on May 19 and 20 respectively. 

The protests were held in front of VOA, White House and Chamber of Commerce at Washington DC. More than 80 people participated in the protests on 19th May evening and 20th May. Of them, sixty people were Rohingya and Burmese Muslims, 16 were from Fort Wayne Indiana, 5 from Chicago, one from Wisconsin, 4 from New York City, 21 people were from Utica NY and the rest were from Oregon, New Jersey and other states of USA.

The protest started in front of VOA about 5PM on May 19. The protesters demanded U Thein Sein to stop promoting false democracy, lying to international communities and sponsoring ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas and Burmese Muslims in Burma. Media like RFA, VOA Burmese, VOA Indonesia, BBC Burmese and some online bloggers interviewed some of the protesters.

The much larger crowd gathered to protest in front of White House. Many speakers took turn to speak to the protesters about rights of Rohingya and Burmese Muslims and how government of Burma instigated hatred among Burmese population to create religious violence for political advantage. Speakers had spoken directly to President Obama so as to brief him about the Secret Service Group from Burma before he met U Thein Sein.

About 20 media organizations covered the protest news at different time. Some of them were ABC Australia, Al Jazeera, AFP, BBC Burmese, VOA Burmese, Genocide Watch, Channel 5 and others.

The protesters shouted "Thein Sein is a Liar" and demanded to "Stop Genocide" and "Stop Killings" while U Thein Sein was entering the white house.

Some members of the Secret Service Group from Burma also took pictures and made videos of the protesters at the chamber of commerce by pretending as if taking breaks outside the building. Kachins, Rohingyas, and Burmese Muslims took turn to condemn Burmese supremacist policy that suppresses ethnic minorities such as Kachin, Rohingya and Burmese Muslim. It was a very successful protest according to the organizers.

Human Rights Watch

May 28, 2013

(Bangkok) – Burma’s government should publicly revoke a discriminatory population control regulation that restricts Rohingya Muslims to having two children. Implementation of this policy is consistent with the wider persecution of the largely stateless Rohingya, violating international human rights protections, and endangering women’s physical and mental health. 

The Arakan State spokesperson, Win Myaing, told the media on May 26 that local authorities had reaffirmed a 2005 regulation for Rohingya Muslims in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in northwestern Arakan State along the Bangladesh border. The discriminatory two-child rule has been enforced alongside regulations that require Rohingya couples seeking to marry to obtain permission from the authorities by paying hefty bribes. Couples often have to wait for extended periods, sometimes as long as two years, before receiving permission. Officials have also forced many women to undergo pregnancy tests as part of the marriage application process. 

“Implementation of this callous and cruel two-child policy against the Rohingya is another example of the systematic and wide ranging persecution of this group, who have recently been the target of an ethnic cleansing campaign,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “President Thein Sein says he is against discrimination. If so, he should quickly declare an end to these coercive family restrictions and other discriminatory policies against the Rohingya.” 

Rakhine State Spokesperson Win Myaing claimed local officials sought to implement a recommendation by the government Inquiry Commission on the Sectarian Violence in Rakhine State, a 27-member body appointed to examine the causes of last year’s deadly violence between ethnic Arakanese (Rakhine) Buddhists and Rohingya and Kaman Muslims. The commission’s summary report, released on April 29, 2013, called for “implementation of family planning programs amongst Bengali [Rohingya] communities” to address its “rapid population growth.” However, the report said that “government and other civil society organizations should refrain from implementing mandatory measures which could seem unfair and abusive.” The commission included political leaders of Arakanese Buddhists but did not include any Rohingya members. 

The two-child regulation is a further example of state persecution of the Rohingya, Human Rights Watch said. Government security forces, local Arakanese political party officials, and Buddhist monks participated in crimes against humanity during a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya and other Muslims in June and October 2012. To date, no one has been held accountable for these crimes. Should further widespread or systematic attacks be carried out against the Rohingya population, enforcement of the two-child policy could amount to crimes against humanity.

Renewed Call for Two-Child Policy Latest Form of State Persecution

The 2005 two-child regulation was an addition to longstanding discriminatory marriage restrictions on Rohingyas in Arakan state. Advance permission to marry came from the Na Sa Ka (in Burmese, Nay Sut Kut Kwey Ye), a corrupt interagency border guard force comprising military, police, immigration, and customs. Rohingya couples seeking to marry have had to give a written undertaking that they will have no more than two children. Flouting the two-child restriction is punishable with fines and imprisonment. 

To avoid paying fines or being arrested, Rohingya women who became pregnant before getting official approval to marry or after having two children have resorted to unsafe and illegal abortions. Some underwent multiple unsafe and self-induced abortions at home. Article 312 of the Burmese penal code criminalizes all instances of abortion except those that are carried out to save a woman’s life, already posing a tremendous barrier for women seeking abortion services. These barriers to safe abortion services are exacerbated for Rohingya women because of the marriage restrictions and two-child policy. Rohingya also face severe restrictions on their right to freedom of movement, requiring advance travel permission from the Na Sa Ka even to seek emergency medical treatment. Permission is frequently refused unless bribes are paid. Unsafe abortions are a leading cause of maternal deaths in Burma. 

“Fear of punishment under the two-child rule compel far too many Rohingya women to risk their lives and turn to desperate and dangerous measures to self-induce abortions,” Adams said. 

The 800,000 to one million Rohingya in Burma are particularly vulnerable to government abuse because most are denied citizenship under Burma’s discriminatory 1982 citizenship law. Rohingya children born out of wedlock or in a family that already has two children do not receive any status whatsoever from the government, making them ineligible for education and other government services, unable to receive travel permissions, and they are later not permitted to marry or acquire property. They are subject to arbitrary arrest and detention.

To evade these regulations, Rohingya women pay bribes to register them with other legally married adults, or keep their children hidden and unregistered to avoid being fined or imprisoned. In instances that the Na Sa Ka learns of families having more than two children, these children are sometimes placed on a government blacklist. The Inquiry Commission estimated that the number of unregistered Rohingya children was 60,000. Because of these restrictions, “the majority of the Bengali [Rohingya] population marry in secret without the necessary administrative approval and children born under these circumstances remain unregistered.”

Local government authorities and the Na Sa Ka oversee a web of tight regulations governing Rohingyas, Human Rights Watch said. These include restrictions on travel, birth, death, immigration, migration, marriage, and land ownership. Na Sa Ka officials enforce these restrictions by frequently detaining, beating, and extorting money from Rohingya. In 2012, Na Sa Ka arbitrarily detained an estimated 2,000-2,500 Rohingya for “offenses” both serious and trivial, including repairing homes without official permission and owning “unregistered” livestock, according to informed sources.

In all instances, contraception should not be used with the objective of “population control,” least of all by selectively targeting ethnic minorities, Human Rights Watch said. Contraceptive services together with other reproductive and sexual health services should be provided in a non-discriminatory and non-coercive manner to all women. Women and men should have the option of adopting contraception of their choice and deciding on the size of their family.

In March 2012, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors state compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, called upon Burma to “abolish the local order restricting marriages for Rohingya people and cease practices which restrict the number of children of Rohingya people.”

Parliamentary opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on May 27 said about the two-child policy that, “it is not good to have such discrimination. And it is not in line with human rights.”

Human Rights Watch called upon the government of Burma to: 

· Immediately revoke the regulation establishing a two-child limit for ethnic Rohingya in Buthidaung and Maugdaw townships in North Arakan State, and other coercive or discriminatory policies, rules, regulations or laws regarding population; 

· Repeal provisions of the penal code that criminalize abortion, especially those provisions that punish women and girls who have had an abortion; 

· Provide unfettered access for international humanitarian agencies to provide medical and other services to all persons in need in Arakan State, with special focus on needs of internally displaced persons and other populations with restricted freedom of movement; and 

· Investigate and appropriately prosecute all persons, regardless of position or rank, implicated in serious human rights abuses in Arakan State since 2012. 

“Governments who care about reform in Burma need to speak out about the persecution of Rohingya Muslims,” Adams said. “If this policy had been announced by a Burmese government official before the reform process began, donors would have denounced it in the strongest terms. Now, when the international community’s influence is much greater, governments and donors need to find their voices.”

Reuters

May 28, 2013

Muslims and Buddhists clashed in Myanmar's northern city of Lashio on Tuesday, witnesses said, as a wave of sectarian violence reached a mountainous region near China's border.

Phone lines were down in the city of about 131,000 people and the extent of the violence was unclear. Witnesses reported several large fires and said a mosque and Buddhist monastery appear to have been torched.

The violence followed unrest between Muslims and Buddhists in other parts of Myanmar over the past year, including fighting in the central city of Meikhtila in March that killed at least 44 people, mostly Muslims, and razed several Muslim neighborhoods. About 12,000 people lost their homes.

Lashio, capital of Shan State, had been spared from the religious unrest. Known for its strong Chinese influence, it is about 190 km (120 miles) from Muse, a city on China's border.

Hajji Aung Lwin, a Muslim man from a village on the outskirts of Lashio, said the fighting appeared to have begun after a violent quarrel between a Muslim man and a Buddhist woman. After police detained the man, local Buddhists surrounded the police station and demanded he be handed over, he said.

The mob then tried to set Myoma Mosque, near Lashio market, on fire, he said. A second witness reporting seeing flames in the city and a large building on fire.

Sectarian clashes between Buddhists and Muslims, who make up about 5 percent of the population in the Buddhist-majority country, have erupted several times since a quasi-civilian government took power in March 2011 after five decades of military dictatorship.

The most serious attacks took place in Rakhine State in the west in June and October last year, when Buddhists fought against Rohingya Muslims, who are denied citizenship by Myanmar and seen by many in the country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. At least 192 people were killed.

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun and Jared Ferrie; Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Pravin Char)

Faine Greenwood

UN Dispatch 

May 27, 2013                     

Rohingya Muslim’s in Burma’s Rakhine state have now been ordered to adhere to a years-old two child policy by the government, in what authorities claim is an effort to defang ongoing tension between the Buddhist and Muslim communities. In reality, this is ethnic cleansing. And it is ongoing in Burma today. 

Restricting the reproduction of a less-than-loved ethnic group is a tactic that’s been trotted out repeatedly through generations of ethnic cleansing and genocide: a bad sign that’s all the more ominous in the face of increasing strife between Rohingya Muslim’s and the overwhelmingly Buddhist population of Burma. 

Human Rights Watch unambiguously identifies the Burmese government as complicit in the abuses against Rohingya, calling it a government-backed “campaign of ethnic cleansing.” Even national icon Aung Sang Suu Kyi has denounced the two-child policy as of May 27th, stating that “They shouldn’t discriminate. This is against human rights” — one of her first statements in defense of the Rohingya, whom she has been largely silent on during the past year. 

More warning signs of potential ethnic cleansing exist. Genocide Watch provides a list of the “Eight Stages of Genocide,” which I feel is decidedly instructive in this situation — an opinion that Genocide Watch appears to share, as they have recently issued a “Genocide Emergency Alert” for Myanmar. 

The stages are, in order: Classification, Symbolization, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization, Preparation, Extermination and Denial, and they are rolling by at a distressingly speedy clip in 2013 Burma. (Genocide Watch is not the only entity to create such a “warning signs” list: it’s also worth checking out the United Nations version, which is more detailed). 

First, by the Genocide Watch metric, Rohingya are classified as “other” as compared to the mainstream Burmese population, marginalized both by their Muslim religion and their ethnicity. Although not forced to wear a distinguishing clothing item, Rohingyas are often referred to as “Bengalis” by those who wish to disparage their origins, a powerfully symbolic word that a Rohingya group was recently arrested for rejecting. 

The Rohingya are dehumanized: forced to live in substandard ethnic enclaves with curfews and other restrictions on their freedom — and now with the recent two-child rule, treated rather like an invasive species by the majority Buddhists of Rakhine. 

Violence against the Rohingya is also decidedly organized: although many Rohingya have been victimized by angry mob justice and the like, the government has also been proven to be complicit in the violence, restricting their movements and “looking the other way” during many of 2012′s most violent bloodbaths. 

Polarization is downright obvious when it comes to relations between Rohingya and Muslims: violence against them has been drummed up since the June rape of a Buddhist woman by purportedly Muslim perpetrators, and the government has done little to stop the upswelling of ethnic hatred. Local groups regularly put out pamphlets and other documents disparaging the Rohingya people and casting doubt on their ethnicity — in some cases, explicitly calling for “ethnic cleansing.” 

The preparation stage of an impending genocide or ethnic cleansing is well underway in Myanmar, as Rohingya are regularly herded into ethnic enclaves, denied aid, and separated from non-Muslims in increasingly desperate areas. Increasingly isolated from the outside world and from the resources they need, the Rohingya are necessarily becoming more and more helpless — and, recognizing the “writing on the wall,” are taking to the dangerous sea in ever-increasing numbers. 

Then, there’s the extermination stage, which is arguably already under way after the June 2012 ethnic cleansing. Although the killings aren’t explicitly state-sanctioned, there’s plenty of potential for them to get considerably worse if the Burmese government doesn’t reverse discriminatory policies against the Rohingya, and there appears to be little in the way of political will to stop such an eventuality. It remains to be seen if pressure from Western governments will have much influence, as the Burmese government may hope that the “small problem” of the Rohingya will be overshadowed by other positive moves towards democracy and international commerce. 

Denial is the final “stage” of genocide, and although this hasn’t yet happened to the Rohingya, it seems likely that if it does, the agressors will claim they “brought it on themselves,” mentality already evidenced by the two child policy, which shifts the burden of peacekeeping onto the Rohingya and away from Buddhists. 

As the US and other international power-players hustle to form friendly relationships with Myanmar’s top brass, they should keep in mind a certain disturbing fact about their new business player: the formenting of a possible genocide, with terrible consequences for the Rohingya people, and for the national conscience of the increasingly confident Burmese people.

(1) Priscilla Clap, former chief of mission, US Embassy in Rangoon and now with Asia Society, Washington DC

(2) Jia Xiadong, China Institute of International Relations, Beijing, China

(3) Dr. Maung Zarni, Visiting Fellow, London School of Economic

Reuters

May 27, 2013

Myanmar opposition leader and pro-democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi condemned on Monday a policy by a district government to limit Muslim Rohingya families to two children in an effort to curb their population growth.

The two-child policy dates back to 1994, but it does not appear to have been enforced until recent weeks.

"They shouldn't discriminate. This is against human rights," Suu Kyi told journalists.

An estimated 800,000 Rohingya live in Rakhine State in the west of Myanmar. Many of the Buddhist majority in the country consider them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and the government refuses to grant them citizenship.

Nobel Peace Prize-winner Suu Kyi has been heavily criticized for not speaking up for their rights, even after clashes with Rakhine State Buddhists last year in which at least 192 people were killed and 140,000 made homeless.

Most of the victims were Rohingya and many remain in camps they are not allowed to leave.

The Arakan Project, an organization that lobbies for the rights of Rohingya, said in a 2012 report the two-child policy was not enforced after it was introduced 19 years ago.

A commission appointed to look into last year's violence recommended in an April 29 report that if the government went ahead with a proposed family planning program, it should "refrain from implementing non-voluntary measures which may be seen as discriminatory or that would be inconsistent with human rights standards".

A senior immigration official, using the term "Bengali" for Rohingya that is widely used by Buddhists, said authorities in Maungdaw District had decided to enforce the directive "following the recommendations in the report".

"Under this directive, Bengali men are allowed to have only one wife and each married couple can have two children. Where there are more than two children, they are considered illegal," he said, asking not to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

"As far as I know, there are also plans, according to the recommendations, to encourage Muslim women to go to school and to educate them on the benefits of restricting family size."

One government policy that is enforced requires that Rohingya get official permission to marry. Their access to education and employment is limited.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, told Reuters this month that the government should amend a 1982 law that bars Rohingya from citizenship.

"If they have the right to be citizens, most of the problems will be solved," he said.

Nyan Win said the law should be amended even if that was opposed by Rakhine Buddhists.

"The Rakhine people have no real solution," he said. "They want to kick out all the Bengali. It's not possible."

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun and Jared Ferrie; Editing by Alan Raybould and Robert Birsel)

A wave of anti-Muslim sentiment and violence is threatening country's burgeoning democracy.

USA TODAY

Repairman U Tin Maung, 70, right, fixes a broken umbrella at his stall beside the Okkan town mosque in Burma.(Photo: Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY)

A cyclist passes a barber's shop sign bearing the popular but controversial "969" sticker.(Photo: Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY)

By Al Jazeera

A two-child limit has been imposed on Muslim families in a troubled province in Myanmar. The government has blamed a growing Rohingya population for stirring tensions with local Buddhists. They have been described as among the world's least wanted people, and one of the most persecuted. The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and a government-appointed commission has declared that their rapidly growing population is representing a serious threat, that is making ethnic Buddhists feel insecure.

AFP

May 27, 203

Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi Monday criticised a ban on Rohingya having more than two children in strife-torn Arakan state as counter to human rights, in rare comments on the plight of the Muslim group. 

The opposition leader, who has been accused by activists of failing to speak up for the marginalised Rohingya, said she opposed the controversial rule, imposed by the previous junta and reaffirmed recently by local authorities in the wake of deadly unrest. 

“It is not good to have such discrimination. And it is not in line with human rights either,” the veteran democracy activist told reporters in Rangoon, adding she could not confirm whether the policy was being implemented. 

Arakan authorities on Sunday told AFP that the rule had been reaffirmed in two Muslim-majority townships in the state. 

Win Myaing, spokesperson for the Arakan government, said the order was designed to “enforce monogamy and not to have more than two children”. 

He said the policy had previously been put on hold because of fears over “conflicts among communities” in the state. 

Up to 140,000 people – mainly Rohingya Muslims – were displaced in two waves of sectarian unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Arakan state last year. 

Human Rights Watch has accused the authorities of being a party to ethnic cleansing over the violence, which killed some 200 people and saw mobs torch whole villages. 

It described the population policy as “abhorrent, inhumane” and “completely contrary to human rights”. 

An official commission’s report in April into the unrest suggested voluntary family planning to stem a high birthrate among the Rohingya that it said stoked tensions. 

Local authorities have previously been accused of trying to restrict birthrates among the Rohingya by refusing to acknowledge any more than two children per married couple – thereby denying them legal rights and access to services. 

Burma views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bengali immigrants and denies them citizenship. They are considered by the United Nations to be one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

RB News

May 26, 2013

Maung Daw, Arakan- NaSaKa (Border Security Force) under the commandment area 8 arrested six innocent Rohingyas from the village of Udaung, Southern Maung Daw. Having extorted kyat 700,000, NaSaKa released them later. 

NaSaKa is carrying out this in cooperation with the village administrator, U Tin Maung. But before raiding, NaSaKa send U Maung Mra, brother-in-law, of U Tin Maung to threaten the villagers that they will be charged and arrested if the demanded money is not given. If the villagers refuse to give money, the next day, NaSaKa raid and arrest people and take them to their camp. Then, people are tortured as long as they don’t fulfill NaSaKa’s demands” said a villager.

Yesterday (i.e. on 25th May 2012), four innocent Rohingyas were accused of getting married illegally and subsequently arrested. 

“These kinds of extortion of money are nothing new. It has been going on since the time of ex-general and despot Khin Nyunt. People have been getting arrested with such arbitrary cases. And after the extortion of money, NaSaKa release them” he continued.

The profiles of these four people with the respective amount of money extorted are:

(1) U Shamshu S/o Mv. Shabbir Hussain from Kundan, Udaung, Kyat 150,000

(2) Mg Azizu Rahman S/o Mv Ramullah from Zumma, Udaung, Kyat 150,000

(3) Mv Shamsul Alam from Kundan, Udaung, Kyat 100,000

(4) Mg Syedullah S/o U Rabi Ahmed from Northern Udaung, Kyat 150,000

Although they got released after paying money to NaSaKa, U Maung Mra, the brother in-law of U Tin Maung, is asking for Kyat 300,000 more from them. 

“U Shamshu got released after paying Kyat 150,000. Yet, U Maung Mra is demanding Kyat 300,000 more. Otherwise, he is threatening that he will put some other charges against U Shamshu and ask NaSaKa to arrest him” the villager said.

Besides, NaSaKa arrested Mv. Abdu Shukkor who had been released by the Intelligence Officer, U Aung Kyaw Zin, few days ago after the extortion of money. Besides, his younger brother Ziaurrahaman also got arrested.

“They paid to Intelligence officer for their releases. Again, NaSaKa arrested them knowing that they could extort money. They were released later after extorting Kyat 60,000 from each” he added.

NaSaKa also arrested and beat a young Rohingya who was taking care of his cattle accusing that he was exporting cattle to the other countries.

“Hf Rashidullah s/o Rahmant Ullah was taking care of his cattle. Since their religious school has been locked down, he is working on his cattle. For that, NaSaKa accused him of smuggling cattle from Rathedaung to other countries. And then, they surrounded and beat him. It has always been like this here. There is no law here. NaSaKa and authority beat us as they wish. They extort money from us whenever they wish” the villager exclaimed.

(Translated into English by Maung Aurther)