By Daily News Egypt

September 28, 2013

Fahmy meets more diplomats from across the world and discusses disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation among other issues in New York

Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy met with representatives of several nations as well as representatives of various international organizations while in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 68th Ordinary Session.

Fahmy met with the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu. A statement by the foreign ministry said the two discussed ways to “activate the role of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation” with regards to spreading tolerant Islamic values and protecting minority Muslims.

The two discussed the conditions of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, ahead of a scheduled visit to Myanmar by an OIC delegation.

In a speech Fahmy delivered during a meeting with the OIC Contact group on Myanmar, Fahmy said the “Rohingya minority still faces many challenges starting from deprivation of the right to citizenship based on the 1982 Citizenship Law, not motivating refugees to return and the continued displacement campaigns…”

Fahmy said the OIC has the responsibility of not only protecting the rights of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, but also all Muslims in the country. He added that the third wave of attacks in the city of Meiktila in March “reflects an extension of the violence”, which may signal the transformation from sporadic incidents of violence to systematic violence based on ethnic or sectarian basis.

Fahmy welcomed the invitation from Myanmar’s government to the OIC and called on authorities to set a time frame for the visit so that the OIC can determine the situation on the ground in Myanmar and set an action plan.

It was agreed at the end of the meeting, that a delegation of five countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Turkey would visit Myanmar.

Fahmy also met with US Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Martin Indyk. A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Fahmy asserted the “fundamentals” of the Egyptian position regarding the Palestinian cause: “That the Palestinian Israeli negotiations are serious, that they follow the agreed timetable and that they lead to the establishment of an independent, sovereign, and viable Palestinian state based on the June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.” Indyk is a former US Ambassador to Israel.

Fahmy added that Israel must halt all policies that destroy the chances for peace, with settlement activity at the forefront of these policies.

Fahmy met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti and the two ministers discussed regional issues including the Nile water issue. “The two countries agreed on the importance of continued cooperation because they have common interests, being downstream countries,” a statement by the foreign ministry said.

The meeting comes after Fahmy’s meeting with his Ethiopian counterpart, also on the sidelines of UNGA, in which the two discussed water security. Fahmy and Karti agreed on the need to speed up the tripartite meeting the countries agreed on in June. The meeting will involve talks between the water ministers of the three countries and is set to take place next month.

Egypt has taken part in talks between African foreign ministers and the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Fahmy delivered a speech during the meeting saying that the partnership between Africa and China, which have abundant human and natural resources can “contribute significantly and effectively in facing the economic, developmental, and political challenges our countries face.”

He said the talks reflect the depth of strategic ties between “the two parties”, which have developed through years of mutual support and common interests.

Egypt also praised the role of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), describing it as “the institutional framework for consultation and dialogue between China and Africa as a whole” and said it was proud to support FOCAC since its beginning. Egypt said FOCAC helped translate political convergence into economic relation. “Perhaps the most notable indicator is the steady growth of trade between China and Africa, reaching nearly $200m.”

Fahmy also met with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramadan al-Amamra and discussed bi-lateral relations and regional issues in Africa as well as developments in Syria. They also discussed the African Union’s Peace and Security Council’s decision to freeze Egypt’s activities.

Fahmy also met with Argentine, Finnish, Serbian, Romanian, Sierra Leonean and Kazakhstani foreign ministers, discussing relations between Egypt and each of these countries.

Apart from the political talks, Fahmy discussed the role Egypt plays in disarmament, particularly in nuclear non-proliferation, with Lassina Zerbo, the Executive Secretary of the Predatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation. A foreign ministry statement said Fahmy expressed frustration with the double standards followed in issue of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. He asserted the importance of ratifying the Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty for all countries in the region.

Fahmy also demanded that all countries in the region sign the Non Proliferation Treaty and work on clearing the Middle East of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction.

Fahmy is scheduled to deliver Egypt’s speech to the UNGA meeting on Saturday. The ministry spokesman said that Fahmy’s speech would “explain the principles and goals of the 30 June Revolution, defend it strongly, and will aim to gather political and economic support for [the revolution].”

The Elders encourage all parties in Myanmar to advance national reforms, support peace accords

26 September 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Concluding a three-day visit to Myanmar, the Elders offer their support to the people of Myanmar during this exciting period of transition. They also encourage decision-makers responsible for the implementation of the political reform process to make further progress. This was The Elders’ first visit to Myanmar as a group.

Welcoming the work of a range of local and inter national actors involved in supporting the peace process with ethnic minority armed groups and addressing ongoing violence in Rakhine state, the Elders noted that they anticipate remaining engaged in the country in the coming years.

The Elders travelled to Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon to meet with President U Thein Sein and other senior officials in the Myanmar government, political leaders, religious leaders and civil society groups including women’s organisations.

The Elders encourage all parties in Myanmar to advance national reforms, support peace accords

By Zin Linn 

Asian Tribune

September 27, 2013

The people of Burma have been longing for a peaceful and prosperous country since the 1948 independence victory. But regrettably, the nation's independence hero General Aung San was assassinated a year ahead of liberation. As a result, civil wars throughout the nation came forward with the independence offered by British colonial rule.

In fact, General Aung San and the leaders of Chin, Kachin and Shan ethnic groups had guaranteed a genuine federal union of Burma by signing the Panglong Agreement on Feb. 12, 1947. The said agreement accepted the representatives of ethnic states to administer their own affairs in areas of economy, judiciary, education, and customs and so on.

However, Burma's 66-year-old historic Panglong Agreement has been ignored by the consecutive regimes. The said agreement has been disregarded by the military leaders as they did not support "Federalism' since 1962. The military extremists blame the federalism as an idea of secessionists.

The late dictator, Ne Win, who seized power in a military coup in 1962, strongly opposed sharing equal power with other respective ethnic nationals. Ne Win supported a unitary state rather than a genuine federal union. The Military Council headed by Ne Win declared that the military coup had taken place because of the ethnic secessionist idea or federalism, which he translated, could lead to the disintegration of the nation.

Equality of ethnic minorities with the Burman majority was to him unacceptable. When Ne Win seized power, he did away with the 1948 Constitution. At the same time, the Panglong Agreement, which promised autonomy or self-determination of the ethnic groups, was broken and abrogated.

The head of the previous junta, Sen-Gen Than Shwe had followed the example of his precursor Gen. Ne Win who fortified the single unitary state. In addition, Gen. Than Shwe was no different either. Under Sen-Gen Than Shwe's command, the controversial 2008 Constitution was drawn up but criticized as an undemocratic and anti-federalism charter in public.

Afterward, the current President Thein Sein government took office by swearing to defend the 2008 Constitution. It indicates the current regime also is no different to its predecessors. It seems opposing autonomy or self-determination of the ethnic groups while it has to defend the latest constitution. The question is the central government has no intention of power-sharing with the respective state and divisional administrations. In fact, federalism is no other than an idea of decentralization of the central government's supremacy.

"All the armed forces in the union shall be under the command of the Defense Services," says section 337 of the 2008 constitution. It means ethnic armed troops have to obey the central government's military command.

The current government standpoint is that the ethnic groups must dump their stubborn attitude of grasping the principle of Panglong Agreement. They also want the ethnic groups to be faithful to the military-backed government's unitary state policy rather than the federal union system. Actually, it means they must lay down their arms together with their hope for autonomy.

The government has stayed away from declaring a nationwide ceasefire to establish a true peaceful nation. If it was sincere, it would stop all self-styled area-cleaning offensives in ethnic territories in favor of grand dialogue to show it has a serious will to reconcile.

Several ethnic leaders think that if not for the historic Panglong Agreement there would not have been the Union of Burma/Myanmar. The said Panglong Agreement between the non-Burman leaders and General Aung San was the foundation of Union of Burma or Myanmar.

If the Panglong Agreement was not signed, the country would have been divided into two parts: Burma and the Frontier Areas, the late Shan leader U Shwe Ohn, a participant at the Panglong Conference, wrote in his "Toward the Third Union of Burma" (1993). He also believed that Burma would become independent in 1948, while the Frontier Areas would continue to remain under British rule. Federated Shan States was a part, and that would also have been an independent country by now, U Shwe Ohn wrote.

If General Aung San did not promise equal opportunity and self-determination, the country might never have been founded under the title of the Union of Burma. The Panglong agreement was aimed at setting up a federal union on the foundation of equality and autonomy for every ethnic nationality.

According to some critics, the NLD headed by Aung San Suu Kyi supports the Panglong Agreement and self-determination for every ethnic nationality while the military-based President Thein Sein government strongly opposed it.

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on 13 September in Budapest that her country "cannot be a democratic nation as long as the (present) constitution is in effect", according to AFP News -- Sat, Sep 14, 2013.

Speaking in Hungary during a tour of central Europe, Suu Kyi said a report ordered by the legislature and due by the end of the year on possible changes to the constitution would "show how genuine the present government is about democratization".

"If the government does not support moves to amend the constitution then we can conclude that the government is not interested in genuine democracy," Aung San Suu Kyi, who has said she will run for president at elections in 2015, told reporters.

In the same way, various ethnic leaders emphasized that they don't have confidence in the new 2008 constitution which abandoned the Paglong principles.

Under the military-centered constitution, most ethnic leaders believe, the nation will not have a chance to create a genuine democratic federal union by any means.

Hence, the ongoing peacemaking process seems to be misled towards a sham democratic state. Some analysts believe that the military-backed President Thein Sein government has also been following the path of its predecessors. The real plan of seeking temporary ceasefire by the regime looks as if to persuade more recognition of international community, rather than indisputable peace.

Hence, even though some ceasefire deals are made between the rebel groups and the government there has been little legally binding progress. Many ethnic leaders asserted that they don't have trust the new 2008 constitution as there is no guarantee for a justifiable federal union in the future.

Additionally, most ethnic leaders frequently said the current constitution will not grant the democratic freedom and the autonomy for the ethnic people since the government armed forces take 25 percent of all seats in the existing parliament.

So, without pondering the constitutional amendment promptly, it may be too early to say that Myanmar is going on a proper democratization path.

By Adam Pasick

Quartz

September 27, 2013

Myanmar has called for US businesses to “join the gold rush” of investors flooding into one of the developing world’s last frontier markets, even as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that the country’s recent progress was at risk due to violent religious and ethnic conflicts.

“The door for business opportunity has been closed for four decades. That door is now wide open,” Myanmar foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin told an Asia Society forum in New York on Thursday.

Although Myanmar’s top diplomat spoke extensively about creating the conditions for sustainable development, a gold rush is an apt term for Myanmar’s rapid growth since it emerged from decades of isolation in 2011. Foreign aid and investment have surged into the country—mostly from Southeast Asia and the West, since Chinese investment has declined—as companies like Coca Cola, Ford, and Unilever seek access to Asia’s next big potential market. But Myanmar’s underdeveloped infrastructure, from the chronic lack of electricity in rural areas to a severe shortage of office space in Yangon, has made for slow going.

A few blocks away at the United Nations General Assembly, Ban praised Myanmar’s progress toward “a more open and broad-based democracy.” But he also warned, “Much of this progress could be undermined if the threat of communal disturbances and violent confrontation between religious and ethnic groups is not addressed effectively.”

The Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar has been the victim of a series of violent clashes with the majority Buddhist population this year, resulting in hundreds of deaths in Buddhist-on-Muslim riots and the displacement of tens of thousands of Rohingyas to refugee camps on the Bangladesh border.

By Associated Press

September 26, 2013

A group of Western and Asian governments are lauding Burma’s progress toward democracy but warning outbreaks of communal violence could undermine the reforms.

Foreign ministers meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly said in a statement that Burma urgently needs to address the political and economic grievances of the Rohingyas, including the question of their citizenship.

The Rohingyas are a minority Muslim group that has suffered badly in sectarian clashes over the past year with majority Buddhists. Oftentimes, security forces have stood by.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said there’s much to be done to ensure accountability for the perpetrators.

In a sign of the shifting international attitudes toward Burma, the former pariah nation was for the first time invited to the “Group of Friends on Myanmar/Burma” meeting.

Representing the British government at the annual meeting of the Group of Friends of Burma at the UN General Assembly on 26 September, FCO Minister of State for Asia Hugo Swire said, “We welcome the continued engagement of the UN and its member states in Burma to help assist the country through the challenges of transition to democracy. This was an important opportunity to share that message and to welcome continued progress in Burma. We were pleased that the Burmese government attended the Group of Friends forum for the first time, evidence that they are also willing to engage.

“I stressed the importance of continued action to keep reforms on track, particularly the need to tackle violence and discrimination against Muslims and other religious minorities, to maintain progress towards nationwide peace, and to address the plight of the Rohingya community. I hope the government will support the need to reform the Constitution, a necessary undertaking if the 2015 elections are to be seen as credible.”

By Nadica Pavlovska

RSIS

September 27, 2013

Has the influence of the Buddhist monk Wirathu in inciting conflict in Myanmar been undisputed and unchecked due to the implicit support of those in power?

The sectarian violence in Myanmar between Buddhists and Muslims that erupted last year is showing no signs of abating. Starting in western Rakhine State, it spread to central Meikhtila and northeastern Lashio before erupting most recently in the northern region of Sagaing. UN estimates point to over 100,000 displaced people and 200 killed.

The official response by the government has been to arrest around 1,000 people involved in the rioting and killing. Whilst the arrest of the perpetrators has generally been lauded as a step in the right direction, little if anything has been done to counter the preachings of Wirathu, the Buddhist monk who has been the chief inciter of the sectarian violence.

In the absence of official condemnation by the Buddhist and political leadership, Wirathu's virulent ideology has gained a strong following. There are at least two factors that have not only enabled Wirathu's teachings and calls for violence to gain traction, but also hindered effective counter strategies: the first is his role as an effective social influencer, and the second is the implicit support of those in power.

A social influencer refers to an individual who is able to mobilise popular support for his cause or ideology. In situations where social, political and economic grievances and injustice are present, these individuals can inspire and incite violent radicalisation. Effective social influencers are able to achieve their goals if three factors are in place: first, he is perceived by his audience to have similar characteristics as themselves, and represents a source of authority; second, he has a simple ideology or cause that resonates with his intended audience; and third, he has a well-organised campaign platform.

Wirathu undoubtedly has the three characteristics of an effective social influencer. First, in a Buddhist-majority country, the religion deeply influences and underpins national identity and political practices. Monks serve as the moral compass of the majority of society, and in the past led peaceful demonstrations against the military rulers. It is, therefore, no surprise that Wirathu has a following of over 2,500 monks.

Second, while his revered religious position has provided him with the necessary moral credibility for guidance, what additionally makes him very influential is his simple hate rhetoric, which has provided the complex societal discourse with a very simple binary filter: Buddhists are the victims and Muslims the victimisers, and you are either with us, the Buddhist, or them, the Muslims.

His simple ideology has enabled a clear monopolisation of the societal discourse, which hinders moderate interpretations or opinions from being expressed. This, in turn, may explain why other prominent leaders have remained silent in the face of increasing international pressure for a halt to the recurring sectarian violence.

Moreover, his well-organised hate campaign has facilitated an increase in the number of followers and bolstered his monopoly over the public discourse. Utilising the extensive networks of monasteries and supporters, Wirathu has gained what the New York Times referred to as "a rock-star following". With an active and solid base of follower monks, Wirathu has managed to establish himself as the de facto voice of the aggrieved Buddhist community. He leads special schools where he propagates his beliefs, and tours the country to deliver his hate-filled sermons, which are attended by thousands of followers. His sermons are also readily available on video and audio discs, brochures and online.

More importantly, his public outreach extends well beyond the monastery walls. His strong presence on the social media platforms has allowed him to reach outside the audience in Rakhine State and to establish social networks of the Buddhist community in the rest of Myanmar. In stark contrast, the rest of the Buddhist monks, who may not share the same sentiments as him, are largely muted.

A facilitating factor for Wirathu's popularity in Myamar is that despite the continued violence, he has been tolerated and implicitly supported by the government. After Wirathu appeared under the controversial heading, "The Face of Buddhist Terror" on the front cover of Time magazine in June, the outrage of his followers was given further support by Myanmar's president Thein Sein, who defended him as a "Son of Lord Buddha". The magazine was promptly banned in the country.

Similarly, any external attempts to engage the government to deal with the prevalence of hate speech end up with confusing outcomes. For example, a workshop on hate speech organised by the US Embassy centred on the Time cover story, and Thein Sein's call for responsible reporting from the media, rather than focus on the inter-communal tensions stirred by Wirathu's teachings.

Moreover, the lack of action gives further support to the idea shared by certain monks that the continued ethnic and religious violence is used as a pretext by the military for maintaining full control over the country's politics.

This sectarian strife is taking place against a backdrop of accelerated political change and polarised public discourse, where both political and religious leaders are unable to decisively deal with the problem. Accordingly, the possibilities of further escalations and the spread of sectarian violence are high.

Alternatively, measures to stem further escalations of violence could be taken if there is an equivalent counter social influencer who is able to match Wirathu in terms of popularity, ideology and organisation. At this point, such a scenario does not seem likely. Therefore, Wirathu and the increase of his like-minded followers is likely to continue to gain importance and influence in a military-led Myanmar.

Nadica Pavlovska is an associate research fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security, the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

By UN News Centre

September 27, 2013

Commending Myanmar for its remarkable progress, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed that the South-east Asian country must continue its democratic transition and overcome the inter-communal violence that is threatening it.

“Myanmar continues a journey towards a more open and broad-based democracy. Its robust civil society will play an increasingly crucial role as a bridge between government and citizens, in the process strengthening accountability, transparency and participation,” Mr. Ban told a ministerial meeting of his Group of Friends on Myanmar, which met on the margins of the 68th General Assembly in New York.

Mr. Ban praised President Thein Sein’s commitment to bring the country towards peace, democracy and an open market, as well as the recent release of various political prisoners. However, he warned that the security situation remains fragile, and called for measures to ease tensions in the country.

“Much of this progress could be undermined if the threat of communal disturbances and violent confrontation between religious and ethnic groups is not addressed effectively including by looking at the root cause of the conflicts,” he said.

Mr. Ban expressed hope that the positive engagement between the Myanmar authorities and armed ethnic groups will result in a nationwide ceasefire “very soon.”

He also called on authorities to protect the rights of minority communities, including the Rohingyas. Several waves of clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, the first of which occurred in June 2012, have affected hundreds of thousands of families in the country’s western region. Some 140,000 people, mostly Rohingyas, remain displaced in Rakhine and tens of thousands of others have fled by boat.

“The fears, vulnerabilities and suspicions of the minority community have yet to be fully alleviated, and addressing the grievances of the Rohingyas, including the question of their citizenship, will be of the utmost importance,” he said.

Mr. Ban reiterated the UN’s support for the Government of Myanmar, including through assistance for the 2015 elections, the rule of law, humanitarian assistance, socio-economic development, anti-corruption, police reform and judicial practice.

Ministers at the meeting highlighted that international support for Myanmar needs to be constructive and coordinated in a manner that would add value to the reform process.

September 26, 2013

Mixed progress 

Since the conflict in June 2012, UNICEF, WASH partners, and Myanmar’s Department of Rural Development have established some 3,700 latrines and more than 800 water points, and so far more than 20,000 hygiene kits have been distributed in 2013, but much remains to be done. 

About 7 percent of IDPs in the camps have insufficient access to water, 28 percent are using treated water, and around 40 percent are accessing water from ponds, WASH data from June revealed; numbers that will likely worsen when the dry season begins in November. 

“As we change seasons towards hotter temperatures, the problem of drinking water shortages could begin to rear its head, which brings with it increased risks of water-borne diseases, as people resort to untreated water,” Hawkins warned. 

At the same time, access to latrines continues to prove a challenge, compounded by the usually limited space in the camps, and high water tables and flooding in some of the camps. 

In the initial months after the conflict, emergency latrines were erected in most camps, but as the situation becomes more protracted and people move into long houses, activities will need to refocus on maintenance as well as the provision of semi-permanent latrines and other sanitation services, aid workers say. 

Today only a quarter of the camps have enough latrines (at least 1 latrine for every 20 people) to conform to Sphere standards. Nearly half the camps have a ratio of 1:20 to 1:50, while 5 percent the IDPs don’t have access to a latrine at all.

Hygiene promotion needed 

But even if Sphere standards - which set out best practices in the delivery of humanitarian aid - are met, this won’t necessarily equate to usage. 

“Even if you have the required number [of latrines], it doesn’t mean they are used,” UNICEF’s Bainvel confirmed, citing the ongoing issue of open defecation. “This is where we need to reinforce health promotion interventions for the population to understand the benefits of using them." 

According to a Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Study on WASH in 24 Townships of Myanmar, published in 2011 by the Burmese Government and UNICEF, more than 75 percent of respondents in Rakhine State practice open defecation. 

“Hygiene practices were already low before the displacement and, especially during the current rainy season, poor practices leave people vulnerable and at risk,” Catherine Dennis, humanitarian programme coordinator for Oxfam in Myanmar, confirmed. 

At the same time, many women have expressed fears of using latrines at night due to their location or the lack of door locks. Solid waste management systems are also lacking outside the Sittwe area (including collections systems, refuse containers or pits, incinerators and dumping sites), and there is a limited capacity for proper drainage, particularly in the rainy season. 

Moreover, preparedness for a potential disease outbreak is low among WASH partners due to a lack of funding for stockpiling critical supplies in the event of floods, epidemic outbreaks or new unrest. 

The Humanitarian Country Team's US$109 million revised interagency Rakhine Response Plan, indicates another $1.7 million is needed for WASH interventions through the end of 2013.

By Associated Press

September 26, 2013

YANGON, Myanmar -- Jimmy Carter and two other former world leaders who are part of a group known as "The Elders" wrapped up a visit to Myanmar on Thursday with calls to address Buddhist-led violence against minority Muslims and end impunity for the perpetrators.

"No one can afford to ignore these senseless, destructive, repeated acts of brutality," they said.

"This is a very serious problem for the world community," the former U.S. president said, adding how it is tackled by the quasi-civilian government will be a "key test as to whether Myanmar is going to honor international standards of human rights."

The three visiting Elders — Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, and former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland — called for an end to impunity and for freedom of religion.

Carter praised Myanmar's transition from a half-century of military dictatorship to a budding democracy, pointing to the release of thousands of political prisoners, cease-fire agreements with many of the country's armed ethnic groups and an end to censorship, saying it was remarkable how far the country had come in just two years.

But, he added, it "still has a long way to go."

Newfound freedoms of expression have exposed deep-seated hatred in the predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million, initially against ethnic minority Muslims known as Rohingyas, and then to Muslims in general, leading to some of the worst sectarian violence the country has seen in decades.

At least 240 people have been killed and another 140,000 forced to flee their homes, most of them Muslims. Many of those responsible for the worst of the bloodshed remain unpunished.

In many cases, security forces stood by as Buddhist mobs chased down their victims with machetes, wooden sticks and iron chains.

"It could take decades to overcome the ingrained prejudices promoted by extremist voices in parts of the country," the visiting Elders said in a statement. "This will require far-reaching cultural changes in all parts of society, including through changes in the education curriculum."

They met with President Thein Sein and other officials, legislators, religious leaders and private groups.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela founded the 13-member group known as "The Elders" in 2007 to work toward peace and human rights.

By Ko Swe

Democratic Voice of Burma 

September 26, 2013

Six months after anti-Muslim violence raged through the central Burmese town of Meikhtila, some 3,000 residents remain in makeshift camps.

The government wants to relocate the residents to new apartment buildings away from their original homes.

Grandmother Daw Ni Ni remains in a displacement camp on the edge of town and is unsure of when or where she will be moved.

Daw Ni Ni has been living in the shelter for six months and shares a tiny room with her daughter and two grandchildren.

When her house was torched during the anti-Muslim violence in March, the land ownership documents for her property were destroyed.

The authorities have said they will give her new papers so she can rebuild her house but no one has told her when.

“They said our land documents would be issued so we went to check, but they couldn’t tell us anything,” said Daw Ni Ni.

Daw Ni Ni’s husband was one of the 43 people who were killed during the riots.

More than 10,000 people, mostly Muslims, were driven from their homes, as Buddhist mobs torched whole neighbourhoods, destroying shops, homes and mosques.

Daw Ni Ni said she is tired of waiting for government help and just wants to go home.

“Whether the government wishes to assist us or not, it’s time for us to stand on our own feet,” she said.

Many of the displaced Muslim residents of Meikhtila have suffered severe trauma and this has prompted some doctors to call for a counseling service to be put in place in the camps.

“Clinics should be set up with psychiatrists and counselors appointed to counsel [the IDPs] individually as well as in groups to heal their mental wounds,” said Dr Myint Oo, secretary of the Committee for Medical Ethics at the General Practitioners’ Society.

He went on to say that those in charge of displacement camps have a responsibility to ease the fears and anxieties of the IDPs and to avoid making the camps feel like prisons. To do this, he suggests allowing religious leaders to make visits.

“We must allow all religious leaders to have communication with the IDPs and ensure they are not left isolated,” said Dr Myint Oo.

“The most important things are to avoid detestable speech and to treat everyone equally,” he said.

In the meantime, those remaining in the camps outside Meikhtila face continued uncertainty.

Many of them say they feel as though they have been forgotten.

By Hameed Shaheen

Kashmir Watch

September 26, 2013

RAWALPINDI – OIC Ministerial Contact Group on Rohingya Muslims minority meeting on Wednesday (today) in New York on the sidelines of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, decided to send a high level ministerial group to be led by the OIC Secretary General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu soon, says an OIC message emailed to Kashmir Watch.

The meeting noted the government of Myanmar’s positive response to OIC’s request to arrange for a visit by the Secretary General and a ministerial delegation of the Contact Group on Rohingya to Rakhine State and other areas where Muslims live in Myanmar.

The Contact Group expressed the importance of forming a united opinion and coordinating initiatives expeditiously and over a long period of time. It decided to table an OIC sponsored resolution specific to Myanmar to the UN General Assembly at the 68th Session.

In his statement to the meeting, OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged the member countries to push forward with their efforts to enhance active communication with the international community to implement the Makkah Summit recommendations. He expressed willingness to coordinate positions for the provision of the support needed to improve the situation of Muslims in Myanmar in order for them to recover all their legitimate rights and return to their land.

Director General of the Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) Dr. Wakar Uddin also spoke at the meeting and gave an account of the latest developments in Arakan and his participation in a US congressional hearing about Muslim minorities in Myanmar last week, which was facilitated by the OIC.

The meeting called upon the OIC Secretary General to actively follow up the situation of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar within the implementation of the resolution adopted at the 4th Extraordinary Summit held in Makkah Al-Mukkaramah. The meeting also called upon OIC Member States and OIC financial institutions to contribute generously to the Rohingya Minority in Myanmar to ensure the return of the internally displaced persons and refugees to their homeland and construction activities in Rakhine State.

The meeting called upon the government of Myanmar to find a lasting solution to the plight of the Muslim Rohingya minority, including their legal status and birthrights.

By Al Arabiya

September 25, 2013

There needs to be more “interfaith contact and dialogue” between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, U.N. special adviser to the secretary-general for Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, told Al Arabiya on Wednesday.

“There is now a need, a strong need, and I think that is being recognized by the government and in fact by some elements even of Buddhist community that there needs to more interfaith contact and dialogue,” Nambiar said.

Last year in Rakhine state, nearly 200 people were killed and tens of thousands were forced from their homes after clashes between often the majority Buddhist Rakhine and the sizable minority Rohingya Muslims.

Rohingya Muslims, who are not recognized as citizens, live largely segregated from Buddhists in Rakhine after the deadly violence, with many of them living in tents or temporary camps.

The conflict has spread to other places in the country.

In March, at least 43 people - mostly Muslims – were killed in violence that erupted after an argument at a Muslim-owned shop in Meiktila, a town in central Myanmar.

While Myanmar classifies Rohignya Muslims as “immigrants,” Nambiar said their status “is not in question,” as “they have been there for generations if not centuries.”

Instead, he said the deadly backlash was over “some of the political issues relating to Rakhine, which also got extended there.”

He added: “the outbreak of violence, which was actually in a sense a normal law and order problem, became a major problem of communal tensions and was aggravated by a whole series of factors, including what was the old existing factor of the status of the Rohingya community in Rakhine.”

The special advisor, who was in Myanmar early September, said: “I was able to get together with the help of government- the government also supported this - a meeting of Buddhist, Muslim leaders as well as those from the Catholic Christian community.”

He said that they agreed on the need to “take pro-active action to prevent [conflict].”

According to Nambiar, Myanmar has realized that the sectarian tension is “affecting both its national prestige” and its current reform program.

He cautioned that within the Muslim communities there is “a strong sense of vulnerability” and added that “a sense of accountability” is sorely needed.

“People who have actually perpetrated acts have to be punished, that has to happen, only then will there be a sense of assuagement of the sense of insecurity and a sense of justice.”

September 25, 2013

By United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

September 24, 2013

Washington, DC — The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum today expressed its deep concern about the worsening situation of the Rohingya in Burma, also known as Myanmar.

Long considered one of the world’s most persecuted peoples, the Muslim Rohingya have no legal status in Burma and face severe discrimination, abuse, and escalating violence. Last year, violent attacks, fanned by a campaign of virulent anti-Muslim hate speech that continues today, destroyed numerous Rohingya communities and displaced well more than 100,000 people. Today, the Rohingya in Burma are forcibly isolated, cut off from nearly all goods and services and unable to provide for themselves. According to the United Nations, crimes against humanity have been and continue to be perpetrated against the Rohingya. Their treatment, combined with statements by government, political, and religious figures indicate that the Rohingya are being subjected to ethnic cleansing.

While the Burmese government has signaled its intention to alleviate the plight of the Rohingya, little has been done to address the fundamental causes of their suffering. Burma’s democracy movement has largely been silent about the treatment of the Rohingya.

“As an institution dedicated to preserving the history of the Holocaust and to preventing genocide and mass atrocities, the Museum is deeply concerned about the increasing concentration and segregation of the Rohingya and the escalation of hate speech and violence targeting Rohingya and Muslims generally in Burma,” said Michael Chertoff, former secretary of Homeland Security and chairman of the Museum’s Committee on Conscience, which oversees the Center for the Prevention of Genocide. “The Museum welcomes recent commitments by the Burmese government to assure the security and rights of all people in Burma and calls upon the international community to assist Burma in protecting its populations from crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”

Background

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Rakhine (also called Arakan) State, which borders Bangladesh and has a Buddhist majority that is ethnically Rakhine. Although Rohingya have resided in Arakan for at least several centuries, Burma’s 1982 citizenship law does not include them among the country’s officially recognized ethnic groups, effectively denying them any right to citizenship. The Burmese government classifies the approximately 800,000 Rohingya as “Bengalis” and insists that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Since Burma’s independence from Britain in 1948, the Rohingya have been subjected to periodic campaigns of violence and continue to face various forms of official and unofficial persecution, including: 

• Limits on the right to marry and bear children. Rohingya must obtain official permission to marry and in some areas have been prohibited from having more than two children. As a result, some 60,000 Rohingya children born in violation of these restrictions cannot be registered and are thus ineligible for all government services, including education. 
• Limits on movement. Rohingya must obtain official permission to travel even to a neighboring village. Applications for travel permits require long waits, payment of fees and bribes, and intrusive scrutiny. The travel restrictions effectively deny the Rohingya access to post-primary education, markets, employment opportunities, and health care. 
• Forced labor. Rohingya in northern Rakhine State have regularly been required to work without pay for government and military authorities. Children frequently perform this labor, which is required exclusively of the Rohingya in Rakhine State. 
• Denial of due process. Rohingya are routinely subjected to confiscation of property, arbitrary arrest and detention, physical and sexual violence, and even torture at the hands of authorities. 
• Segregation. Rohingya are barred from the teaching, medical, and engineering professions. Many health care facilities will not treat them and few businesses will hire them other than for manual labor. 

Rakhine State is one of Burma’s poorest states, and the Rakhine ethnic group also has long suffered from economic discrimination and cultural repression by the Burmese majority and central government. As Buddhists and an officially recognized minority, however, the Rakhine enjoy rights and opportunities denied to the Rohingya, who are universally reviled in Burma. Poverty exacerbates Rakhine animosities toward the Rohingya, whom the Rakhine view as alien competitors for scarce resources. These animosities erupted into communal violence between Rohingya and Rakhine between June and October 2012 that left hundreds dead and more than 140,000 displaced, the vast majority Rohingya. The deadliest violence consisted of Rakhine attacks against Rohingya communities. According to both Rakhine and Rohingya witnesses, Buddhist monks and local Rakhine politicians incited and led many of the attacks, with state security forces failing or refusing to stop the violence and sometimes participating in it. The violence forced the Rohingya to abandon many of their communities, where the government razed anything left standing after the attacks.

The displaced Rohingya now live in official and unofficial internally displaced persons (IDP) camps under conditions that the UN emergency relief coordinator has called among the worst she has ever seen. Humanitarian aid workers frequently have been prevented from accessing these camps. 

Citing the need to maintain security, Burmese officials have essentially imprisoned much of the Rohingya population, using barbed wire and barricades to cordon off not only those in the camps but also another 36,000 in still extant Rohingya communities. Denied permission to exit, the inhabitants cannot access markets, schools, or health care facilities and cannot pursue their livelihoods. A recent UN report cited "alarming rates of severe acute malnutrition" in the camps. In June, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, cited “credible allegations that widespread and systematic human rights violations by state officials targeted against the Rohingya and wider Muslim populations have occurred and are continuing in Rakhine State.”

There have been some positive, if mixed, developments. Since the spring, the central and local governments have taken significant steps to improve humanitarian access and provide safer shelter to the displaced ahead of the monsoon season. These efforts, however, included a registration drive that required Rohingya to identify themselves as “Bengali,” which many viewed as forcing them to accede to illegal status. In May, the government commission established to investigate last year’s violence—which had no Rohingya members—called for general measures to improve communal relations in Rakhine State and to hold those responsible for the violence accountable, but it also recommended birth control measures for the “Bengalis.” In response, local officials in Rakhine State announced stepped-up enforcement of the two-child limit for Rohingya. Although Burma’s minister of immigration and population originally praised this measure, both he and the chief minister of Rakhine State recently assured Special Rapporteur Ojea Quintana that no such policy is in force. Meanwhile, however, politicians and monks in Rakhine State have openly called for ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya. 

While Burma’s president, Thein Sein, has pledged to seek regularization of the Rohingya’s legal status, he also insists that there is no need to change the 1982 citizenship law, under which it is practically impossible for most Rohingya to obtain citizenship. In July, the central government abolished the notoriously abusive NaSaKa border security force in Rakhine State, but the police forces that replaced it reportedly are continuing many abusive practices targeting the Rohingya. In August, Rakhine authorities prosecuted six Rakhines for murdering Rohingya bus passengers at the start of the violence in June 2012, but, thus far, the majority of the persons prosecuted for last year’s violence have been Rohingya, despite the fact that Rohingya make up the vast majority of the victims. 

This lack of accountability has likely contributed to the outpouring of anti-Muslim hate speech that since March has been accompanied by sporadic violence targeting Muslim Burmese citizens residing in other parts of the country. While Buddhist monks have been among the most visible instigators, there is ample evidence of security forces’ complicity in the violence, which has claimed scores of lives and destroyed thousands of properties. The Buddhist “969” movement uses anti-Muslim hate speech and intimidation to force boycotts of Muslim businesses and is now seeking to criminalize marriage between Muslim men and Buddhist women. The escalating segregation and discrimination against Burma’s Muslims, who comprise about five percent of the population, leave them in well-founded fear for their safety and livelihoods.

About the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum seeks to inspire citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. The mandate of its Committee on Conscience is to alert the national conscience, influence policy makers, and stimulate worldwide action to prevent acts of genocide and related crimes against humanity. The Committee oversees the work of the Center for the Prevention of Genocide (CPG), which undertakes a wide range of activities to make the prevention of genocide and related crimes against humanity a national and international priority.

In July, the Museum hosted the release of a report co-sponsored by the CPG on the Responsibility to Protect. Adopted in 2005 by all UN member states, including Burma, the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect assigns to every state the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. It also charges the international community with the duty to assist states in fulfilling their responsibility to protect their populations from such crimes.

“Genocide and group-targeted mass violence cause devastation in the countries where they occur and threaten international security as well,” said Chertoff. “The Burmese people have been making impressive progress in their quest for greater freedom and prosperity. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum urges them to recognize that sectarian and ethnic hatred and violence can undo this progress and bring suffering to them all. Where some are persecuted, no one’s liberty can be secure.”

Last year I met a young man who was homeless and jobless after entering Britain on a false passport. On the face of it his was a story that could have had certain media screaming for his deportation. The thing is Nischal didn’t have any country he could go back to.

Nischal is an ethnic Nepali, who was born in Bhutan and has lived most of his life in India. But none of these countries recognise him as a citizen. He is stateless.

Most of us take our nationality for granted – along with all the benefits that go with it – access to housing, education, healthcare, jobs, a bank account, the right to own property, travel, get married, get a driving licence … the list is pretty much endless.

What really impressed me about Nischal is that despite a catalogue of misfortune he had not sat around feeling sorry for himself. He had taught himself excellent English, was thoughtful, hardworking and would have been an asset to any employer.

But he was stuck in a legal limbo, unable to work and destitute.

Unfortunately, Nischal’s story is far from unique. There are around 12 million stateless people in the world. 

The head of the UNHCR, Antonio Guterres, has called for the eradication of statelessness within a decade.

This week countries will get the chance to accede to the two U.N. conventions on statelessness at an event on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

This may sound deadly dull but getting countries to agree on the same rules is vital if we are to prevent countless more children being born into the same nightmare as Nischal.

“If we don’t have common, minimum rules there will always be people falling through the cracks. So while the work on accessions and reform of nationality laws is not very glamorous, it is very important.” says Mark Manly, head of the statelessness unit at the U.N. agency for refugees (UNHCR).

People end up stateless for all sorts of reasons. For example, inconsistent nationality laws mean a child born in one country to parents who are nationals of a second country might not be able to acquire the nationality of either.

In other cases, countries may withhold citizenship from entire populations for ethnic or historical reasons. The Bedouns in Kuwait (93,000) and the Rohingyas in Myanmar (800,000) have been stateless for generations.

PROGRESS

The good news is there has been quite a sea change in the two years since the UNHCR started a concerted campaign to raise awareness of statelessness.

Firstly there has been a rush of accessions to the two U.N. treaties on protecting stateless people and preventing and reducing statelessness. The sudden increase in interest - 29 accessions in just over two years - is a sign countries are becoming aware of the devastating impact statelessness has.

A second positive development is the handful of countries taking steps to amend flawed nationality laws, lifting tens of thousands of people out of statelessness. They include Senegal, Zimbabwe, Russia, Bahamas and Ivory Coast. 

Another bright spot has been the work done by several countries to set up procedures to handle stateless migrants.

Only a tiny number of migrants are stateless like Nischal, but it is crucial that countries have a system for identifying them, regularising their status and granting them basic rights and protection.

If there is no such procedure, stateless people "often end up in detention, in destitution or being bounced around like a ping pong ball from one country to another”, says Manly

Britain, Philippines, Georgia and Moldova have recently established procedures. Brazil, Uruguay, Panama and Costa Rica have them in the pipeline.

This all sounds encouraging but take one look at this map and you see how much work remains to be done. Neither Russia, nor the United States, nor the vast majority of countries in Asia have acceded to either convention on statelessness.

And while around 116,000 stateless people a year on average have acquired nationality in the last three years, this is a drop in the ocean given the scale of the problem.

“If you look at the overall magnitude of the population, 100,000 people is not to be sneezed at but it’s not what we need to eradicate statelessness globally, which is ultimately what the goal is,” Manly said.

“So we really need to have breakthroughs with regard to these very, very large populations around the world if we are to see a real global impact.”

These protracted situations require political will which has not always been forthcoming. But pressure is growing.

It’s encouraging to see concerns over statelessness increasingly cropping up at the Human Rights Council. Myanmar, Kuwait and Latvia (which has many stateless ethnic Russians) have been repeatedly singled out by other U.N. member states for failing to address the issue.

Last week I heard Nischal had finally been able to regularise his status in Britain, allowing him to find a home, look for work and begin building a future.

I’ll be watching this week to see which countries are taking seriously the goal to eradicate statelessness and consign stories like Nischal’s to history.