Andrew Osborn

Reuters

July 15, 2013

President Thein Sein, the first leader of Myanmar to visit Britain in more than 25 years, held talks with Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday as activists protested against the Asian nation's human rights record.

Sein said in a statement released on his website on Sunday that he had disbanded a security force accused of rights violations against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State in the west of Myanmar, scene of deadly violence between Muslims and majority Buddhists in the past year.

Sein was due to talk trade, aid and democracy with Cameron and his ministers during a two-day visit at a time when Myanmar is opening up its oil, gas and telecoms sectors to foreign investors, with further liberalization likely.

Cameron was under pressure to confront Sein over the treatment of Myanmar's Muslim minority, but faced a tricky balancing act since he has made it clear he wants to expand Britain's trade links with emerging economies such as Myanmar.

Sein, a former military commander, is trying to get the West to help Myanmar's economy recover from decades of military dictatorship, Soviet-style planning and international sanctions.

Western leaders have praised him for ending the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, releasing some political prisoners, and allowing the opposition to fight an election.

But they want him to further loosen the military's grip on the mineral-rich state formerly known as Burma before a 2015 presidential election which the British-educated Suu Kyi hopes to contest. Suu Kyi visited Britain last year.

About 30 activists from campaign group Avaaz protested outside the British parliament with a banner reading: "Cameron - Don't let Burma become the next Rwanda", a reference to the 1994 genocide when hundreds of thousands were killed.

Two activists wearing papier mache head moldings of Cameron and Sein hugged each other in front of dozens of stylized cardboard Muslim graves.

"Cameron should never have invited Sein," said Jamal Ahmed, General Secretary of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK. "Giving him the red carpet treatment knowing about the record level of human rights abuses is wrong."

Before the talks, Human Rights Watch urged Cameron to press Sein on justice for crimes against humanity, to release remaining political prisoners and to end repressive laws.

At least 237 people have been killed in Myanmar in religious violence over the past year and about 150,000 people have been displaced. Most of the victims were Muslim and the deadliest incidents happened in Rakhine State, where about 800,000 Rohingya Muslims live, according to the United Nations.

Cameron's office said it would provide details of the talks later. A spokesman said he had planned to raise human rights.

"In all our relationships, nothing is ever off the table," the spokesman said. "This will be an opportunity to discuss political and economic reform in Burma and, yes, as part of that human rights will be discussed."

Rushanara Ali, a lawmaker from the opposition Labor party, said Britain's voice could make a difference.

"It is important not to underestimate the soft power influence that Britain has on the Burmese government. We've got a unique responsibility," she told Reuters.

Cameron visited Myanmar last year, and Sein, who remains close to the military, this year became the first leader of his country since 1966 to visit the White House.

His British trip is thought to be the first since the late General Ne Win, who ruled Burma for 26 years, visited in 1986. Burma became independent from Britain in 1948.

Sein is expected to visit France afterwards.

(Additional reporting by Jemima Kelly and Peter Griffiths; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Jared Ferrie

Reuters

July 15, 2013

Myanmar's president has disbanded a security force accused of rights violations against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State in the west of the country, scene of deadly violence between Muslims and majority Buddhists in the past year.

"It is hereby announced that Border Area Immigration Control Headquarters has been abolished," President Thein Sein said in a one-line statement dated July 12 but posted on his website on July 14.

The border security force, known as Nasaka, from the initials of its Burmese-language name, consists of officers from the police, military, customs and immigration.

Corruption accusations may have been behind the government's decision, said Zaw Aye Maung, a member of parliament for the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, who said the head of the Nasaka was sentenced late last year on corruption charges.

"I think the situation will get better now that the police are in control," he said.

Human Rights Watch has implicated the force in abuses against Rohingya, including arbitrary arrest and torture.

In a March 6 report, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, urged the government to suspend the force's operations in Rakhine State.

The force oversaw the Rohingya, a minority Muslim group in Rakhine state most of whom are denied citizenship by the government, which considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The Rohingya have to get permission to travel from one area to another and even to marry. Human Rights Watch accused Nasaka officers of demanding bribes from Rohingya.

Clashes between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in June and October last year killed at least 192 people and displaced 140,000. Most victims were Rohingya and the majority of those remain in camps.

Thein Sein was on a visit to Britain on Monday and Amnesty International called on British Prime Minister David Cameron to press him to halt abuses against the Rohingya and give them citizenship.

"We are talking about a festering wound of division in Burma which the government is compounding by refusing to grant Rohingya people citizenship," the group's British director, Kate Allen, said in a statement.

(Reporting By Jared Ferrie; Editing by Alan Raybould and Robert Birsel)

The Jakarta Post

July 15, 2013

In the corner of the room, Muhammad Hanif had just started to eat with his sister, Hasinah, when Jakarta Legal Aid (LBH) legal consultant came to check on them and their fellow Rohingya refugees on the third floor of the LBH office.

Hanif wore a dull white shirt with a plaid sarong covering his thin, dark-skinned body. The eyes of the 38-year-old man from Myanmar seem tired and lost. 

He went to sit on the floor, but the consultant asked him to have a seat on the leather couch. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I just want people to help me and my family to get citizenship,” he said.

The long-standing discrimination and human rights abuses against members of the minority group in Myanmar, which have intensified recently, have caused hundreds of thousands to seek asylum in other countries, including Indonesia.

Hanif, whose parents fled Myanmar in the 1980s, is trying to find a new country to live in and is one of 506 asylum seekers and 135 refugees who have ended up in Indonesia, either directly or through other countries like Malaysia.

Predominantly Muslim Malaysia and Indonesia, unlike Australia and most other countries in the Asia Pacific region, have not ratified the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees, which stipulates that refugees from political or other forms of persecution should not be penalized for illegal entry or overstay. 

Australia ratified the convention in 1954 and in 2011 began to increase their humanitarian intake of refugees.

Hanif told The Jakarta Post that his parents had fled Mangdaw, a town in the Rakhine State in the western part of Myanmar three decades ago. In the 1980s, the Myanmar government had refused to acknowledge that the Rohingya ethnic group, believed to have been imported from Bangladesh as farm laborers during the British colonial period, was qualified for citizenship.

“After living 30 years in Malaysia and having many interviews at the UNHCR office there, I realized we didn’t have much hope for citizenship,” he said.

Hanif brought his family to Indonesia, in January. They came in through Medan, North Sumatra, and stayed there for two months before continuing their journey to Jakarta.

Unfortunately, Indonesia treats asylum seekers as illegal immigrants, who are usually sent to detention centers and returned to their country of origin.

“That’s why I decided to take my family to Australia from Indonesia,” Hanif said.

The plan failed. Hanif said his family was deceived by a group of eight men who promised to take them to Australia for Rp 132 million (US$13,200).

“Instead, these men took us to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and locked us in an empty warehouse after beating us,” he said.

A janitor working near the warehouse found and helped the desperate Rohingya family. Hanif said that it was this man who took them to the UNHCR office in Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, to request refugee status.

“The UNHCR staff said that the process could take a long time. They need to verify whether we are really Rohingya or not,” he said.

While waiting for verification, the Rohingya family has lived in many places, including the Sunda Kelapa mosque. Now, LBH Jakarta is voluntarily supporting them.

Febi Yonesta from the Indonesian Civil Society Network for Refugee Protection told the Post that according to the UNHCR data, 8,584 persons of concern have come to Indonesia to seek asylum and refuge since 2008.

Some of these persons of concern live in detention centers, such as those in Medan, Jakarta, Makassar, Manado, Pekanbaru and Kupang. Others live outside the detention centers without any legal protection or access to education, health services or jobs.

“The government needs to create a law to protect refugees who want to seek asylum and to differentiate them from criminals and illegal immigrants,”he said.

Reuters

July 15, 2013

Campaigners want the prime minister to press the former military leader on violence against Burma's Muslims

David Cameron is under pressure to raise human rights in talks on Monday with Burma's president, Thein Sein, the first leader of the country to visit Britain in more than a quarter of a century.

Thein Sein is due to talk trade, aid and democracy with Cameron and his ministers during a two-day visit at a time when Burma is opening up its oil, gas and telecoms sectors to foreign investors.

Thein Sein, a former military commander, wants the West to help Burma's economy recover from decades of military dictatorship, Soviet-style planning and international sanctions.

Western leaders have praised him for ending the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, releasing some political prisoners, and allowing the opposition to contest an election.

But they want him to loosen further the military's grip before a 2015 presidential election which the British-educated Suu Kyi hopes to contest. Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, visited Britain last year.

Thein Sein is also under pressure to act to protect Burma's Muslim minority from inter-ethnic violence.

"Cameron should not miss an important opportunity to press Burma's president on justice for crimes against humanity committed against the country's Muslims, the release of remaining political prisoners, or an end to repressive laws," Human Rights Watch said.

At least 237 people have been killed in Burma in religious violence over the past year and about 150,000 have been displaced. Most of the victims were Rohingya Muslims, the United Nations said.

Avaaz, a global campaign group, plans a demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament on Monday, saying almost a million people have signed a petition calling for an end to the violence.

A spokesman for the British Foreign Office said: "We want to recognise the remarkable reforms of the last 18 months but also to raise at the highest levels our ongoing concerns, particularly about inter-communal and anti-Muslim violence."

Britain would press Thein Sein to improve humanitarian access, to address accountability for crimes and to end discrimination against the Rohingya, he said.

Thein Sein, who remains close to the military, this year became the first leader of his country since 1966 to visit the White House. His British trip is thought to be the first by a Burmese leader since the late General Ne Win visited in 1986.

Benedict Rogers

July 15, 2013

RB News

July 15, 2013

Sittwe, Arakan – 74-years-old advocate U Kyaw Hla Aung was arrested today at 12 pm in Sittwe, Arakan State. 

U Kyaw Hla Aung’s house was in front of Lawka Nanda Pagoda in Sittwe but it was burnt down by terrorists during last year June violence. So he is now living in Thet-Kay-Pyin village. He used to work with the Netherlands based NGO named AZG as an administrative officer. Last year during the violence in Sittwe he was falsely accused and was arrested for a few weeks. 

He is a prominent retired lawyer in Sittwe and all foreign delegations and diplomats used to meet him to inquire the actual situation of Rohingya refugees. And he has been targeted by the authority since the clash broke out between Nasaka and local Rohingya refugees on April 26th, 2013.

Today at 12 pm, the police officer from No. (1) Police station and two persons came to his house and arrested him without giving any reason. As he is getting old, the health condition is not so much good according to his family. And he is unable to walk when the police took him from his house.

Ahamed Jarmal

Guardian

July 14, 2013

Burma is ethnically cleansing the Rohingya people. When David Cameron meets the Burmese president tomorrow he must call for it to stop

After the genocide that tore apart a nation and killed 800,000 in Rwanda, the world said never again. But nearly 20 years later, we find ourselves on the brink of another campaign of destruction against an entire people. Yet once again it is being greeted with silence.

In Burma, ethnic cleansing is happening. We have seen more human rights violations and attacks on Rohingya minorities in the past two years than in the last 20. Organised in monasteries and on Facebook, a wave of hate is being broadcast against the Muslim Rohingya community in Burma and a new apartheid system is being introduced.

My family regularly get called "dogs" or worse when they walk down the street. The government continues to deny us citizenship, telling us this isn't our home. We can't marry the people we love and are told we're only allowed to have two children per family. We can't travel from one village to another without permission. No other minority in the world faces such extreme and vicious treatment. We are being treated as criminals simply because we exist.

But now the situation is getting really desperate. Mobs have attacked our villages, driving us from our homes, children have been hacked to death, and hundreds of my people have been killed by members of the majority. Thugs are distributing leaflets threatening to "wipe us out" and children in schools are being taught that the Rohingya are different.

Everyone from our community is affected. I was lucky enough to flee 10 years ago when it was simply discrimination, but last year the rising violence forced my brother to flee to Bangladesh. Many people I know have faced appalling abuse and torture in a country they used to call home.

If this sounds all too familiar, that is because it is. This is the same type of racist incitement used to such devastating effect in Rwanda against the Tutsis in 1994. All signs are pointing to a coming horror. Yet the government has not just failed to stop these brutal attacks but is participating in it by inciting violence and fuelling hate.

The Burmese government knows this is happening. The same old generals are still in charge. They may have changed their clothes but their hearts and minds are still the same. We had higher hopes for Aung San Suu Kyi, who may have condemned the violence but still hasn't spoken out in favour of the Rohingya. With the elections just two years away, this is an issue that she won't take on.

Burmese president Thein Sein wants to "harmonise" the country and make it pure. He says "there are no Rohingya among the races" and wants us out of our homes and settled in camps run by the UN so that they can look after us. In the past year, more than 140,000 of us have been forced to live in squalid conditions, yet our government has denied us access to aid and many are desperately trying to flee.

In 10 years' time, it is very possible that my community of 800,000 people will be decimated to little more than 50,000 scattered in pockets, living in fear across the country.

On Monday, Thein Sein will arrive in London to meet David Cameron, then on to Paris to see President Hollande. He will sell his country's transition from international pariah to poster boy for democratic change, trade and investment. He'll also talk trade, with an auction for lucrative mineral contracts up for grabs, and a beauty parade leading to heads of state doing all they can to impress.

Before Cameron and Hollande sign commercial contracts we need them to push the generals to show they will stop the Rohingya being wiped off the map in Burma. Over 1 million people have joined this request, signing an Avaaz campaign to get world leaders to take concrete, accountable steps to stop the violence spreading against my people. The attacks on the Rohingya must be independently investigated, new laws supporting our citizenship must be passed and full humanitarian access is urgently needed to awful camps that are home to thousands of Rohingya.

The only way to stop genocide is to prevent it from happening in the first place. World leaders failed to act 20 years ago in Rwanda, then promised they would never let such horrors happen again. My people are praying they meant it.

Jane Merrick

The Independent
July 14, 2013

Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary expected to announce fresh trade deals between UK and Burma when they meet President Thein Sein at Downing Street

David Cameron is being urged to demand an end to the violence against Burma's Muslim minority when he meets the country's President in London tomorrow. 

Campaigners say Burma risks becoming "the next Rwanda", with chilling echoes of the build-up to the 1990s genocide in evidence.

The Prime Minister and William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, are expected to announce fresh trade deals between the UK and Burma when they meet President Thein Sein at Downing Street. The talks follow Mr Cameron's historic visit to Burma last year, when he also met the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He was the first Western leader to visit Burma since elections took place for the first time in 20 years in 2010.

President Sein's government is military backed and there remain deep concerns over human rights and democratic reform. Hundreds of Rohingya, the Muslim minority people, have been killed and 140,000 have been displaced since violence erupted last year. President Sein has been accused of failing to protect the Rohingya, and some members of the regime have been accused of participating in the attacks.

Avaaz, the global campaign group, which has gathered 970,000 signatures urging the UK and France to back a peace plan ahead of President Sein's visit, noted five parallels between the situations in Burma and Rwanda including making Rohingya second-class citizens, as with the Rwandan Tutsis, ethnic violence erupting after decades of discrimination in both countries, and state participation and complicity in persecution.

As with Rwanda, where the international community was slow to wake up to the genocide, Avaaz says that since the elections replaced the junta with a military-backed civilian government, Western nations such as the UK and France are doing little to stop the deteriorating situation facing the Rohingya.

Ahamed Jarmal, general secretary of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, said: "We are being hacked to death, burned in our houses and driven from our homes. The only way to stop genocide is to prevent it from happening. Before commercial contracts are signed, Cameron must demand that the generals will not wipe the Rohingya off the map of Burma."

Media Release from the All-Party Parliamentary Group For Democracy In Burma

For Immediate Release 

Sunday 14 July 2013

British Parliamentarians call on government to prioritise human rights during Burmese President Thein Sein visit

British Parliamentarians from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma are calling on Foreign Secretary William Hague to prioritise human rights when he meets Burmese President Thein Sein in London.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group For Democracy in Burma has recently heard evidence on a number of serious human rights issues, including the continuing recruitment of child soldiers, ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya, religious persecution against the Chin ethnic minority, and possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Burmese Army against Kachin civilians. 

The British government is right to support reforms which have taken place, but must also maintain a healthy scepticism about the process, given that so many serious problems continue to be ignored.

Benchmarks and timelines should be put to Thein Sein for improvements on key human rights issues, such as ending rape and sexual violence, the status of the Rohingya, releasing political prisoners and constitutional reform.

Agreement should be sought for co-operation with an international investigation into abuses against the Rohingya, and the start of a genuine dialogue process for the drafting of a federal democratic constitution.

“It is too soon to welcome Thein Sein as a democratic reformer,” said Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, Chair of the APPG Burma. “We know from bitter experience that promises from the government of Burma are hollow. They must be judged by their actions, not their words. Promoting trade, before securing major advances on human rights encourages Thein Sein to believe that his government can continue to act with impunity. William Hague and David Cameron should send Thein Sein away with a flea in his ear, not a pat on his back.”

Although the call of Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations to the Burmese Government President Thein Sein is not too late to grant the citizenship to the ethnic Rohingya minority people of Burma, it is the moral responsibility of President Thein Sein not to delay the restoration of the citizenship rights of the Rohingya people to establish its democratic standing and show of respect to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) so as Burma becomes a dignified, democratic and credible nation in the world.

Not only Mr. Ban Ki-moon but also the Governments of Indonesia, United Kingdom, United States of America, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Australia, Malaysia, Turkey, Iran, Ambassadors form Islamic nations, ASEAN, OIC Secretary General, European Union, international Nobel Peace Prize winners, International NGOs and Humanitarian Organizations, Geneva based UN Human Rights Council, international civil societies and religious community leaders including world-wide Human Rights organizations urged and demanded the Burmese Government President Thein Sein to grant the citizenship rights to the Rohingyas to maintain the complete openness of democratic reform and free economy.

In fact, the government of Burma President Thein Sein is playing foul play to the international community still branding the Rohingya people as Bengali or foreigners who entered to Burma from Bangladesh during the British colonial period. Presenting unjustifiable show cause that Rohingya status must be verified and decide in the Burmese Parliament whether they should be granted citizenship or not which he says a risk factor for the security, sovereignty, and the national integrity of Burma.

The simple analysis is that the current Burmese Government is intentionally not providing the citizenship rights to the Muslim Rohingyas to continue their divide and rule policy against the people of Arakan State creating communal violence destroying the centuries old peaceful co-existence between the Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhine in the name of superiority complex of Buddhist nationalism so that Arakanese people can never unite to establish peace, prosperity and freedom of restoration of the lost independence of Arakan kingdom which was forcibly occupied by the Buddhist Burmese King Bodaw in 1784. 

The Rohingya people of the north-western region of Burma are an indigenous people of Arakan and sons of the soil known as Bumi-putra of Arakan home-land. They are living there from generation to generation since 8th century until today. History of the Rohingya people as an ethnic minority people in Burma is available in the net, media websites, and all ancient history books of Arakan.

The Rohingyas have their own history, culture, tradition and language different from other ethnic minority races who were living as a compact community in a geographical territory within the Union of Burma. They are the heroic and brave people who have been enduring all sorts of inhuman atrocities, racial and religious persecution at the hands of successive Burmese Government and its brutal security forces since last 60 years and now at hands of their own fellow countrymen Buddhist Rakhines.

Being an indigenous racial group with distinct quality of a civilized people ,who are law abiding and seekers of peaceful life with fellow Rakhine community on the spirit of peaceful co-existence, who are bonafied citizens of Burma based on the Declaration of Burma independence and 1948 Citizenship laws, their active participation in all democratic election since 1937 to 2011 without rejection by the Election Commission of Burma, the repeated assurance and issuance of statements by the previous Burmese Government leaders such as Bogyoke Aung San, Prime Minister U Nu, U Ba Swe, President U Sao Shwe Thike, Lt. General Aung Gyi and other leaders confirming that Rohingyas are one of the races same as Shan, Kachin, Mon and Rakhine during the parliamentary democratic rule in Burma are the strong solid evidences that clearly manifests the legal rights of the Rohingya people as dignified human group in Arakan under the protection of rule of law and governance of the union of Burma. They have every rights same as other ethnic minorities and national races in the union of Burma.

The 1982 citizenship law which took away the citizenship rights of Rohingya people making them as stateless people in their own ancestral homeland is a conspiracy of previous military Government to create communal riots in Arakan on the basis of divide and rule policy of former military junta. This discriminatory citizenship law which violates the standard international laws and Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) must be repealed immediately when the country is opening as free economy and passing through a transition to a democratic society.

The President Thein Sein who recently advocated to send the Rohingya people to third country under UNHCR supervision classifying the Rohingyas as foreigners was compelled to change his unrealistic and fabricated accusation and now pledged to the world to restore Rohingyas citizenship and accommodating the Rohingyas through national reconciliation process in their own places lost during the man-made tragedy and ethnic cleansing against the Rohingyas by the extremist Rakhine ruling Government of Arakan is a welcome sign to the right direction, but, continuation of violence, burning, arrest and harassment of the Rohingyas in the name immigration check forcing to accept as Bengali race is totally unacceptable which needs to stop without further delay.

Arakan is belonged to the Rohingya people same as other minority races like Rakhines, Mro, Thet, Kamwee and tribal people and all of them are citizens of the Union of Burma with same national rights rendered by the Burma current Constitution and they have every right to live safe, secure and free from fear with honor and dignity in Burma beyond the reasonable doubt. It is the responsibility of the Union of Burma Government to establish rule of law restoring all Rohingyas rights and provide the required protection to the Rohingya ethnic minority people disregarding race, religion and language.

Our great President Mr. Barack Obama during his 6 hours visit to the Union of Burma on November 19, 2012 clearly mentioned during his speech to the people and government of Burma that Rohingya people have dignity, dignity inside themselves same as the President Obama and Burmese people and no one such as Rohingya should be subjected to torture, inhuman treatment and violence due to race, religion and color in Burma.

The historic speech of our great President of USA, Mr. Barack Obama in University of Yangon should be regarded as an eye-opener, failure to heed this valuable advice by the Burmese Government will be self-destructive to people and country of the Union of Burma. Instead of exclusion of the Rohingyas from Burma main-stream society, the inclusion and embracing the Rohingyas as sons of the soil (Bumi-putra) will enhance the current on-going democratic process and establishment of free-economy with foreign investment leading the Union of Burma a most prosperous, peaceful and progressive country in the world within 15 years.

Shaukhat (aka) MSK Jilani

(Chairman)

Burmese Rohingya American Friendship Association (BRAFA)

Milwaukee, Wisconsin State

USA.

Human Rights Watch

July 13, 2013

(London) – Britain’s Prime Minster David Cameron should urge visiting Burmese President Thein Sein to bring those responsible for atrocities against Burma’s Muslims to justice, release all political prisoners, and ensure that new legislation meets international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said today. Thein Sein is visiting the United Kingdom from July 14 to 16, 2013. 

Despite important changes in Burma over the past two years, many serious human rights problems remain.Pledges made by Thein Sein, including those to US President Barack Obama in November 2012, to improve human rights remain partially or completely unfulfilled, including granting full humanitarian access to ethnic conflict areas, releasing all remaining political prisoners, amending abusive laws, and allowing the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish offices in the country. 

“Prime Minister Cameron should not miss an important opportunity to press Burma’s president on justice for crimes against humanity committed against the country’s Muslims, the release of remaining political prisoners, or an end to repressive laws,” said David Mepham, UK director. “Recent improvements in Burma will continue only as long as world leaders keep up the pressure to bring an end to the many human rights abuses still occurring in the country.” 

On April 22, European Union foreign ministers lifted sanctions, including targeted sanctions on the Burmese army and government individuals and entities, leaving only its export ban on arms to Burma. 

“The scrapping of targeted sanctions on Burma was premature and surrendered key leverage to improve the country’s still dire human rights situation,” Mepham said. 

In 2012, state security forces, local Arakanese political party officials, and Buddhist monks participated in crimes against humanity during a campaign of ethnic cleansing against ethnic Rohingya and other Muslims in western Burma’s Arakan State. More than 140,000 Muslims remain in camps, are denied freedom of movement, and lack adequate shelter, humanitarian aid, and basic services. Thein Sein has not fulfilled his pledge to take “decisive action to prevent violent attacks against civilians,” hold accountable perpetrators of abuses, and “address contentious political dimensions, ranging from resettlement of displaced populations to granting of citizenship.” 

Humanitarian aid organisations also remain without full access to conflict areas in other parts of Burma, including Kachin State in the north, where a two-year armed conflict between government forces and Kachin rebels has displaced over 80,000 people, and in eastern Burma, where over 400,000 people are displaced from decades of civil war. 

The Burmese government should amend or revoke laws and regulations that discriminate against ethnic minorities. These include Burma’s 1982 Citizenship Law, which effectively denies Rohingya and other ethnic groups the ability to obtain citizenship, even when their families have lived in Burma for generations. Thein Sein should publicly repudiate a discriminatory decree that limits Rohingya families to two children each. 

Burma has still not issued an invitation to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and there has been no significant progress in negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to set up such an office. Meanwhile, more than 200 political prisoners are estimated to be in Burma’s prisons. 

“Prime Minister Cameron needs to insist that Thein Sein cease his foot-dragging on pledges he made to improve human rights,” Mepham said. “There’s no good reason why the UN should not be able to open an office and monitor the human rights situation across the country.” 

Doing business in Burma involves various human rights risks. These include the lack of rule of law and an independent judiciary, major tensions over the acquisition and use of land, and disregard of community concerns in government-approved projects. The military’s extensive involvement in the economy, use of forced labor, and abusive security practices in business operations heightens concerns. Corruption is pervasive throughout the country. 

Thein Sein’s government continues to use repressive laws to undermine peaceful protests against projects that impact livelihoods and land. The authorities violently cracked down on people protesting a copper mining project in northern Burma in November and prosecuted demonstrators peacefully protesting against a natural gas project in Arakan State in April. Major infrastructure projects and land acquisitions for companies have also generated controversy involving both companies and the Burmese military in land seizures. 

The UK government should acknowledge that the political reform process in Burma is very far from complete. Key measures of progress include legal reform, free and fair parliamentary elections in 2015, and amendments to the constitution to remove the Burmese military’s constitutional authority over civilian government, including ending the military’s authority to appoint 25 percent of the seats in the parliament and to dismiss the parliament and president.

“Failure to press the Burmese government to meet its reform commitments will send precisely the wrong message to Thein Sein, leading him to believe his government is no longer under serious international pressure to follow through on reforms,” Mepham said. “David Cameron should ensure that this trip is not a ‘victory lap’ for the Burmese president but rather a public re-commitment by Burma to meet its human rights obligations.”

Rohingya Refugees In India: Tales Of Endless Persecution, Torture And Exploitation

Another World Refugee Day on June 20 was met with familiar indifference by host countries. Every year, it is passed off as a necessary irritant when media air and publish stories on refugees.

Well, this is another sordid tale of Rohingya refugees--who fled Myanmar--in India, sheltering around 11000 Myanmarese refugees (a figure obtained from the UNHCR). In June and October 2012, Indian cities-- Jammu, Delhi, and Hyderabad-- and the state of Mizoram saw the influx of Rohingya Muslims. The trickle still continues.

In Madanapur Kahdar locality of Delhi, around 200 Rohingyas, tortured and persecuted by military junta and Buddhists, reside in a makeshift camp. They escaped death and violence in Rakhine State, western coast of Myanmar. In the camp each family has lost at least one person during anti-Muslim riots in Rakhine.

The low-lying Rhohingya camp-- owned by the Zakat Foundation India which helped them last year when they protested outside the UNHCR office for their refugee status-- is approached by dusty lanes. Surrounded by drainage and mounds of boulders, the camp is no less squalid than that of Haiti or Kenya. Propped by bamboos and covered by tarpaulin sheets, every room is wobbly. Thatched roofs are paper-weighted by big boulders. During early monsoon showers when Delhi revelled the Rohingyas bucketed out water from the narrow passages of the camp.

Dreary eyes and dropped shoulders of Rohingyas are telltale signs of their hardship in India. This stateless minority--since they are not recognised in the land of Aung Saan Suu Kyi-- has been exploited not only in Myanmar but also in Bangladesh which has recently said that it could not accommodate more people.

Fighting his tears, differently-abled Abdul Karim, 28, recounts horrific tales of genocide unleashed in Myanmar. Born to Myanmarese parents in India, Abdul has been living in India for 28 years, but no citizenship for him: he does not have birth certificate to prove because he was born in an Indian jungle when his parents crossed over to India. Still coming to terms with what happened to his parents--hacked to death by military junta on their return journey in Myanmar--distraught Karim relives his gory past every day.

“Nobody owns us,” he says on his stateless status

“Every time we cross the border we have to pay the price in the form of money or woman to the army, stationed at borders. We do not have any protection. We are born to tolerate everything silently,” he adds.

“Recognition is the main thing. Our cries are listened but not acted upon. We are born to see bloodletting. Now we have resigned ourselves to torture and persecution,” he says as his eyes well up.

After finding shelter in the camp, Abdul started working in a tin factory which paid him partially after one month. “The owner gives me the slip whenever I visit the factory,” he bemoans. Now he runs a shop in the settlement.

The most vulnerable sections of the society during riots and bloodletting are women and children. None of the children goes to school. Fully aware of the role played by education , Abdul Kayoom repents,“Today I am a hawker because I was not allowed to study in my country. I do not want same thing to happen to my children.” “In India we are at least safe and can practice our religion,” he adds.

In addition to that, the camp houses around 10 destitute widows who are ragpickers. One of them is a mother of one. Clad in a ragged vermillion T-shirt and loosely-draped sari,Samjida Begum, aged 20, lost her husband last year during the riots in Myanmar. She thereafter fled her country and came to India by illegally crossing the Indo-Bangladesh border. She is a ragpicker now, earning Rs 60-70 a day. Having learnt from her harrowing stay in Myanmar, She is firm to have her baby educated and be brought up in a peaceful environment. “I want to educate her so that she should have a good life,” she pledges.

Most of the refugees work as daily-wage labourers, rickshaw pullers, factory workers, and vegetable hawkers.

Out of 5o families around 40 have so far received temporary refugee cards from the UNHCR which provides them with subsistence allowance of Rs 1000 to each employed family. However, this allowance has not touched destitutes, like Samjida Begum, and handicapped.

But the UNHCR, which has the mandate over 24000 refugees of various nationalities in India, differs on discriminating against anyone. In an emailed reply, it says that the Rohingyas have been treated at par with that of other countries. It assures that it can do more but resources crunch has pushed them backwards on crucial issues

Everyone in the camp calls themselves refugees rather than migrants because they fled to India not on their own volition but due to anti-Muslim violence in Arakan state. They feared persecution and torture. Moreover their property had been appropriated by the government and Buddhist hooligans in Myanmar.

“We had enough to eat and lived happily in our village, but Buddhists looted everything. We were intimidated there,” Mohammad Haroon laments, another refugee who escaped from the wanton killing of Muslims in northern Rakhine State of Myanmar.

When asked about their voluntary repatriation if Aung Saan Suu Kyi comes to power, they raise their decibel and accuse Suu Kyi of failing them.

On their expectations from the UNHCR and the government of India, they contend that it has been satisfactory. They meekly criticise the government of India and are appalled by government’s indifference. “For the past one-and-a-half year, nobody from the government has visited us,” says Mohammad Haroon.

However the UNHCR hails India in some regards. It says, “Overall, India offers safe asylum to refugees and asylum seekers. Despite the absence of a national legal framework for refugees, India has traditionally been hospitable towards refugees.”

If seen in the context of the arrival of some Hindus from Pakistan it becomes clear that the criterion vary as how to treat asylum-seekers and refugees. Hindu refugees from Pakistan have afforded an opportunity to our politicians to score brownie points. In Rajasthan, the state government met all of them and paid heed to their sufferings. The RSS and VHP hijacked this issue and shed brotherly tears for the Hindus. It highlights that our response to refugees is shaped by religion and ethnicities-- an abominable practice which thrives on adhocism

Though India has done next to nothing to Rohingyas but the principle of non-refoulement has been complied with by India as none of the refugees has been forcefully repatriated.

Now it seems that refugees’ not-so-troubled stay may face aberration once again

Zakat Foundation which temporary rehabilitated the Rohingyas on the current location says that this land was granted for an orphanage. “After securing procedural documents, we will start building the orphanage. It might take around two months,” says Mumtaz Nazmi, secretary of Zakat Foundation.

“It’s the turn of the government of India to bail them out,” he asserts

Nobody knows what is in store for the Rohingyas once the Foundation starts removing them to build an orphanage. Their trepidation is palpable as they know sooner or later they will have to vacate the place for orphanage.

In broad strokes India’s laxity to frame a refugee law is the culprit. It has been belaboured by intellectuals. They have asked India to sign the Refugee Convention 1951 and Protocol 1967, and to promulgate a legal framework for refugees. Despite these urges, the cavalier attitude of the government has not caved in.

However, judicial intervention in this regard comes as a breath of fresh air. The Supreme Court has declared that Article 21 and Article 14, among other constitutional rights, are applicable to everyone residing in India. Judicial intervention notwithstanding, government’s intransigence to frame a law is inexplicable. It is need of the hour to pass a law when forced displacement has reached its peak in 18 years.

By framing a law, India will not only help itself but thousands of refugees from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan.

Shivnaryan Rajpurohit is from Bikaner, Rajasthan and a graduate of the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. He blogs at akpushpa@wordpress.com

Benedict Rogers

Conservative Home

July 13, 2013

Tomorrow, Burma’s President Thein Sein will arrive in London. Until a year ago, the idea of a Burmese General with blood on his hands making an official visit to the United Kingdom would have been inconceivable. His visit is a sign of how much and how fast not only Burma, but British Government attitudes towards Burma’s regime, have changed. 

In the past two years, President Thein Sein’s Government has certainly introduced reforms that have changed the atmosphere and landscape significantly. A key turning-point came when he met Burma’s democracy leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw for the first time in 2011. That paved the way for a series of reforms, including the release of many political prisoners; increased space for political activists, civil society and the media; improvements in freedom of expression; and preliminary ceasefires with most of the ethnic armed resistance groups. In 2012, Aung San Suu Kyi and 42 of her colleagues from the National League for Democracy (NLD) were elected to Parliament. As Lord Alton and I wrote following our visit to Burma in March, we should be quick to welcome and encourage these changes. 

Nevertheless, there is a risk of premature euphoria. Indeed, Burma Campaign UK accuses Foreign Secretary William Hague of viewing Burma through rose-tinted glasses. Thein Sein’s visit, therefore, must be used as an opportunity to deliver some very clear messages, rather than an occasion to fête a dictator, albeit one more subtle, mild-mannered and seemingly more reforming than his predecessors. 

If Burma’s transition to democracy is to be genuine, Thein Sein needs to move from piecemeal changes of atmosphere to substantive reforms of the system that lead to respect for human rights and a genuine peace in the country. So far, what is described as a reform ‘process’ is arguably more of a collection of ad hoc headline-grabbing measures, designed to create little more than an impression and atmosphere of change. For it to become a real ‘process’, Thein Sein needs to put more meat on the bone. 

All remaining political prisoners should be released, for a start. Thein Sein has developed a worrying habit of freeing political prisoners just before a key overseas visit or a major UN debate, effectively holding those remaining in jail hostages to fortune. If he is sincere as a reformer, he should immediately and unconditionally release all remaining political detainees. 

Repressive laws still used to lock dissidents up should be reformed or repealed. While there certainly is more space for freedom of expression in the cities, the brutal crackdown on protestors at Letpadaung copper mine last year shows old habits die hard, and just last month, many activists were charged and jailed under section 505 of Burma’s Penal Code and Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law. Latest reports on political prisoners do not make good reading for the rose-tinted spectacle wearers. 

Then there is the question of the constitution. Imposed by the previous military regime in a sham process in 2008, it guarantees the Burma Army 25 per cent of the parliamentary seats, guarantees the military immunity from prosecution, and bars anyone married to a foreigner or having children who are foreign citizens from being a candidate for President. The obstacles to amending what Aung San Suu Kyi has described as one of the "most difficult" constitutions in the world are huge, but the establishment of a genuine democracy cannot occur without constitutional reform. A process that has brought Aung San Suu Kyi into the fold will not succeed if it ultimately excludes her from contesting the presidency. 

Press freedom is another area of concern. While there have been significant improvements, a new Printing and Publishing Enterprise Law Bill passed by the legislature contains some concerning clauses, as the organisation Article 19 has detailed. For example, the bill fails to recognise the right to freedom of expression, provides for strict controls of the press by Government and has prompted the new Press Council to threaten to resign in protest. Without press freedom guaranteed, the transition to real democracy will fail. 

The gravest concerns, however, are in regard to Burma’s ethnic and religious tensions. Since Thein Sein became President, war has increased, religious intolerance risen and the human rights and humanitarian crisis worsened. Two years ago, Thein Sein’s Government broke a 17-year ceasefire with the ethnic Kachin people in the north of the country, launching a major military offensive which resulted in more than 100,000 people fleeing their homes. More than 200 villages have been burned down, 66 churches destroyed, and there have been reports of the widespread use of rape, forced labour, torture and killing of civilians. Even in recent weeks, despite signing a seven-point agreement with the Kachin’s armed resistance to de-escalate the fighting and move towards a ceasefire, further gross violations of human rights have been perpetrated. 

In other ethnic areas, where ceasefires have been reached, a new challenge has arisen: land confiscation. And in Shan State, the Burma Army has frequently violated the ceasefire. To secure a genuine peace in Burma, there must be a peace process, involving a political dialogue. Ceasefires alone are not enough, for they are – as Zoya Phan, a Karen activist who addressed the Conservative Party Conference in 2006 and 2007, describes – "just pressing the pause button" on decades of conflict. Only a political solution will enable the people of Burma to press the stop button on war, and the political solution must involve a federal system, guaranteeing the ethnic nationalities autonomy and equal rights. 

The plight of the Muslim Rohingya people is dire, after two waves of horrific violence in June and October last year. At least 130,000 are displaced, living in desperate conditions in temporary camps. Thousands have been killed. While the violence was largely perpetrated by Rakhine Buddhists, security forces have been complicit. Human Rights Watch claims ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity are taking place. 

And then there is the wider anti-Muslim violence, which has spread across the country this year. As with the slaughter of Rohingyas, the security forces largely stood by and watched as pogroms swept Meikhtila in central Burma, to Oakkan near Rangoon, to Lashio in the north. I visited a Muslim area near Naypyidaw three days after an attack had taken place, and saw the burned-out madrassah and the terror in peoples’ eyes. 

In their discussions with Thein Sein, David Cameron and William Hague must make these concerns the priority. There is a perception that the British Government’s priority now is trade, and that trade trumps human rights, humanitarian concerns and democracy. A few months ago I was at a conference where two current British ministers and one former minister spoke, alongside a senior Burmese minister. Ironically, I heard quite a lot from the Burmese minister about democracy and human rights, yet those terms did not pass the lips of the British ministers. 

David Cameron and William Hague must press Thein Sein on the need to release all remaining political prisoners, repeal repressive laws, establish a nationwide peace process and political dialogue and ensure that security forces act to prevent further religiously-motivated violence and protect vulnerable communities. They must urge him to take steps to stop the growing religious intolerance, curb the activities of the militant Buddhist movement ‘969’, and promote religious freedom and harmony. 

They must secure Thein Sein’s co-operation with an international investigation into the violence against the Rohingyas, reform of the 1982 citizenship law which currently renders the Rohingyas stateless, and unconditional, unhindered, immediate access for aid organisations to all internally displaced people in Arakan State. They must also insist on aid access to all areas of Kachin State. Finally, they must set out clear timelines by which these benchmarks must be met. 

If these steps are achieved, Thein Sein’s visit will have been worthwhile. I believe that when a dictator unclenches their fist, they must be met with an outstretched palm. Following Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to the UK a year ago, and given the changes Thein Sein has made, it is right to engage with him, and encourage him further. But our engagement must be robust and critical, learning from past experience that the language the Burmese Generals understand best is that of concrete expectations and related consequences, not premature accolades. 

Thein Sein has begun to change the atmosphere in Burma in many respects for the better, but under his presidency 250,000 people have been displaced, a new war has started and a new campaign of religious intolerance has emerged. The Economist Intelligence Unit still ranks Burma as one of the worst authoritarian regimes in the world. Rape, forced labour and killing of civilians could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. There is a very, very long way still to go, and Thein Sein should be left under no illusions about that. 

Britain has been one of the leading voices for democracy and human rights in Burma. William Hague has been robust on Burma in the past. He made his first speech on human rights and foreign policy alongside a Burmese activist, in 2006. Conservatives have a good track record on Burma. It is in all our interests to ensure that a stable, peaceful democracy which respects human rights is established in Burma.

Benedict Rogers is a human rights activist, a former Parliamentary Candidate, and is Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission.