By Editorial of Saudi Gazette

August 22, 2013

THE best hotels in Rangoon, once Burma’s capital and still its commercial heart, are busy with businessmen from all over the world, anxious to secure of a slice of a resource rich-economy, which is coming in from the cold, after years of political and economic isolation. There are not only good profits to be made by outside investors, but the Burmese themselves stand to benefit from a new prosperity — well most of them. 

At least four percent of the people in this predominantly Buddhist country are Muslim and the most well-known Muslim community are the Rohingya in Rakhine state. As matters stand at the moment, they seem destined to benefit not at all. Indeed, even though the murderous attacks on their communities by Buddhist fanatics are over — for the present — it seems clear that the Burmese government of President Thein Sein, is actively seeking to exclude the Rohingya from national life.

According to United Nations human rights envoy for Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, who is on another trip to the country, including visits to the Rohingya, the physical violence of June and October of last year, which drove at least 150,000 people from their homes and villages, has been replaced by something more insidious, even arguably more evil. Burma’s Muslims are being treated as second-class citizens in their own country. 

Now of course, the government has argued in the case of the Rohingya, that they are not actually Burmese. Ignoring the facts, there is a campaign to airbrush them out of the country’ history and, because they are not considered Burmese, to deprive them of even the most basic of human rights.

Thus Rohingya who have been herded into areas “protected” by troops and police, have discovered that what this really means in reality, is that they cannot even leave to visit the outside world, without written permission from the local military commander. Such permission is far from easy to obtain.

The government of course argues that by concentrating these luckless people behind security fences guarded by troops, they are indeed protected from the depredations of Buddhist bigots. However, the real reason for this corralling of the Rohingya is not their safety, but rather the reputation of the country’s leaders, including, it should be said, the almost saint-like good name of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the now officially-sanctioned opposition. The last thing that any mainstream politicians want are further massacres.

However, protecting the Muslim minority has to include prosecuting those who persecuted and drove them from their homelands in an orgy of murder, violence and rape. In the wake of a whitewash of the government report into the violence, few Buddhists have been held to account for the savagery and those who have, have received markedly lighter sentences than many Rohingya, whose greatest crime appears to have been defending themselves.

The government is supposed to be “considering” the status of the Rohingya, which is probably shorthand for doing as little about the issue for as long as possible. This is simply not good enough. The authorities should be working now to restore land and property to the tens of thousands from whom it was taken. Moreover, there needs to be an official and properly enforced program to stamp out the blind prejudice and ignorance that caused Muslims to become unrestricted prey in an obscene ethnic hunt by hate-filled Buddhists.

Andrew Day

RB News 

August 22, 2013

Sittwe, Arakan - Sad news from a Rohingya IDP camp in Ohn Daw Gyi village, in the western part of the Sittwe township . 

30 year old Daw Jamila Begum during childbirth. Referred by a member of the International Malteser Organization, she was admitted to Sittwe General hospital at 3pm on the 20th of August. She delivered her baby at 10am the next day. Locals say her death was due to a lack of medical assistance. 

Daw Jamila Begum was the daughter of U Zafar Ahmad from Ohn Daw Gyi camp no. 128. 

Her body was taken to Mansi cemetery. According to the cemetery's caretaker, a mid wife could be seen there, with the new born baby.

RB News 

August 21, 2013 

Maungdaw, Arakan – Three Hlun Htaine police from Pa Yaung Pin Gyi village, Southern Maungdaw Township of Arakan State reportedly beat a young Rohingya student on August 19th during the evening and later attempted to loot his father's shop. 

A young sixth grade Rohingya student named Romaddin, son of Habiran, was on his way home from school in Zaw Matet village on August 19th at 5:25 pm when he was brutally beaten by three Hlun Htaine police at Moe Win check point, next to Pa Yaung Pin Gyi (Don Khali) village. Reportedly, he was beaten for not saluting the police at the check point. The Hlun Htaine police entered into the mosque after beating the boy lobbing accusations that a Bangladesh mobile phone was hidden by someone inside the mosque. They entered into the mosque while still wearing their dirty shoes, a blatant sign of disrespect to the Rohingya inside, who as Muslims believe shoes are never to be worn inside of the mosque. 

“Their [Hlun Htaine police] duty is at check post. There is no reason to salute them by a student or any villager. That was lame excuse to beat a young student. And they entered into the mosque to search for Bangladesh mobile phone, but it was only a baseless accusation. They didn't take off their dirty shoes when they entered into the mosque. That’s an insult to our religion.” a Rohingya told RB News. 

Later at 8:30 pm the three police tried to loot the shop of the father of young student, Habiran, son of Ismail (39-years-old) in the village. But all the villagers crowded to protect the shop and the police opened fire into crowd. 

“At night they [Hlun Htaine police] tried to loot the shop of the boy's father. We [the villagers] tried to protect the shop, but they opened fire on us. Luckily none of us were injured. Although Nasaka is disbanded the Hlun Htaine are same as the Nasaka. We want to live very peacefully in the village but Nasaka tortured us in the past and now the Hlun Htaine are continuously torturing us. We are facing trouble on a daily basis.” the Rohingya man continued.

By AFP

August 21, 2013

YANGON — The UN's rights envoy on Myanmar Wednesday slammed the nation's government for failing to protect him when his convoy came under attack in a town reeling from religious unrest.

"The state has to protect me as a responsibility... This did not happen. The state failed to protect me," Tomas Ojea Quintan, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights, told reporters at the end of his 10 day visit to the country.

No one is thought to have been injured in the incident, which occurred on August 19 in the town of Meiktila, central Myanmar, where anti-Muslim violence in March left at least 44 dead.

In a statement the UN envoy said his vehicle "was descended upon by a crowd of around 200 people who proceeded to punch and kick the windows and doors of the car while shouting abuse".

He said the incident forced him to abandon plans to visit a local camp, where some 1,600 displaced Muslims are sheltering.

"The fear that I felt during this incident, being left totally unprotected by the nearby police, gave me an insight into the fear residents would have felt when being chased down by violent mobs during the violence last March," he said.

He reiterated reports of security forces failing to stop the March unrest, saying "police allegedly stood by as angry mobs beat, stabbed and burned" their victims to death.

Attacks against Muslims -- who make up an estimated four percent of Myanmar's population -- have exposed deep fractures in the Buddhist-majority nation and cast a shadow over its emergence from army rule.

The watchdog Physicians for Human Rights on Tuesday warned that Myanmar risked "catastrophic" levels of conflict, including "potential crimes against humanity and/or genocide" if authorities failed to stem anti-Muslim hate speech and a culture of impunity around the clashes.

Riots in Meiktila, sparked by an argument in a gold shop and the brutal murder of a Buddhist monk, saw Buddhist mobs torch whole Muslim areas in violence that spread to other parts of the country.

The victims included more than 20 students and teachers of a Muslim school on the outskirts of Meiktila, who were set upon by armed men and beaten and burned to death, according to witnesses interviewed by AFP.

Graphic video footage given to AFP by activists shows an embankment next to the school turned into a killing ground, watched over by uniformed police.

After the March violence, Quintana said the reluctance of security forces to crack down on the unrest suggested a possible state link to the fighting -- a claim rejected by the government.

The unrest followed two outbreaks of conflict in western Rakhine state in June and October last year that left around 200 people dead, mainly Rohingya Muslims who are seen by many in Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

A sense of deep distrust between Muslims, Buddhists and the security forces pervades the state, which Quintana visited at the start of his trip.

At least one person was killed and around 10 injured earlier this month in a violent clash in a camp for dispossessed Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine that broke out just days before Quintana toured the area.

In June, five Muslims including three Rohingya women were killed by security forces who opened fire during disputes in two separate incidents in camps in Rakhine.

Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar 

By Tomás Ojea Quintana, 21 August 2013, Yangon International Airport, Myanmar 

I have just concluded my ten-day mission to Myanmar – my eighth visit to the country since I was appointed Special Rapporteur in March 2008. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Government of Myanmar for its invitation, and in particular for granting me an extended visit this time, which has enabled me to cover more ground than I have done previously during my five-day missions. 

In Naypyitaw, I met with the Minster of Foreign Affairs; the Minister of Immigration and Population; the Ministers of the President’s Office; the Minister of Education; the Minister of Health; the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security; the Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement; the Deputy Minister of Defence; parliamentarians and members of parliamentary committees, including the Bills Committee and International Relations Committee of the Amyotha Hluttaw; the Attorney General; the Chief Justice and other members of the Supreme Court; members of the Letpadaung Implementation Committee; Advisors to the President; and the Chief of Police. I also met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. 

In Yangon, I met with prisoners of conscience released since my last visit; members of the prisoner review committee; members of the media, including the social media; members of the 88 Generation; political party representatives; a range of civil society organisations; the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission; lawyers; members of interfaith organisations; and land activists. While in Yangon, I visited Insein Prison and met with five prisoners of conscience, and made a tour of the prison, including the female wards. And I met with members of the United Nations Country Team and briefed the diplomatic community. I would like to thank the Resident Coordinator and the Country Team for the support provided to me during my mission. 

I visited Rakhine State, including Buthidaung Prison, Sittwe Prison, Sittwe Hospital, Shwe Kyaung Monastery and Aung Mingalar quarters. I visited Kachin State, and went to Myitkyina where I met with state officials as well as Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) officials. I visited Mindat and Kanpalet in Chin State and met with state officials, community and religious leaders, and civil society. In Mindat, I visited a Border Areas National Races Youth Development Training School (Na Ta La) where I met with teachers and students. I visited Shan State and went to Lashio to meet with state officials and national groups and local monks. I made a tour of the areas affected by the intercommunal violence there last May, and met with members of the Buddhist and Muslim communities affected by the violence. I also visited Lashio Prison to meet with persons detained in connection with the violence. In Shan State, I visited Namhsan and met with representatives of the Palaung self-administered zone and representatives of workers and civil society organisations there. I visited Mandalay and met with regional government ministers and went on to Meiktila township, and in Naypyitaw met with residents of Meiktila who had been affected by the March violence. I would like to thank the Government for organising this wide-ranging visit, and for the freedom of movement and access I was granted, which enabled me to develop a comprehensive assessment of the human rights situation on the ground. 

In my visit to Kachin State, I met state authorities and the KIO technical team that had recently opened an office in Myitkyina, where I discussed ongoing human rights and humanitarian concerns. I received further information about the seven-point agreement signed by the government and the KIO on 30 May 2013, which I welcome, and I was encouraged by the inclusion of an agreement to undertake relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of internally displaced persons. However, there remains a serious challenge regarding the implementation of this provision. I learnt that UN humanitarian agencies had only been provided with access to non-government controlled areas once between July 2012 and July 2013. The information I have received about these areas is extremely concerning, particularly with regard to food security. I also attempted to visit Laiza during this mission, but unfortunately the state and central government were unable to grant clear permission. This pattern of denying access not only to address humanitarian shortcomings, but also serious human rights concerns, needs to change immediately.

Over the years there have been serious allegations of human rights abuses against villagers from Kachin, though I believe these have reduced following progress with ceasefire negotiations. However, some clashes continue to occur in Northern Shan State. What is also concerning is the information I received about the lack of consultation with internally displaced communities on their return. Any initiative to return IDPs to their places of origin has to be done with the free, prior and informed consent of the ethnic communities concerned, and also involve consultation with humanitarian agencies working in the State, including UN agencies.

In Myitkyina, I went to Jamai Kawng IDP camp and met with Buang Shawng, who I had met in detention during my previous visit and who had been recently released. As well as welcoming his individual release, I hope this will be a sign that the Government will stop the practice of detaining people for their alleged association with non-state armed groups. 

I also met with members of the large Shan community living there, and listened to how they had been affected by the ongoing conflict. It is vital that the ceasefire and political negotiations in Kachin State also address the concerns of this group. 

I visited Chin State for the first time, and observed the beauty of the environment and how friendly and open the people were. There, I went to Mindat and Kanpalet, and noted that restrictions on Christians have eased notably in 2013, though there remain some shortcomings in terms of bureaucratic obstacles towards opening spaces for Christian worship. Also, in the Na Ta La schools, equal access for both Buddhists and Christians needs to be ensured. In my meeting in Mindat with State Government officials and community and religious leaders, there was a frank but respectful dialogue about State policies and their negative impact on different communities. I found this discussion an example of good democratic practice emerging in Myanmar.

Chin State has serious levels of underdevelopment. Many of the roads I travelled on were nothing more than dusty dirt tracks and the communities I met spoke to me about their frustrations with intermittent access to electricity and uneven access to drinking water. With the country opening up, development will come, but it is important that this process occurs in a participatory, transparent, accountable and equal manner. Environmental considerations should also be at the forefront of developmental policy. Most importantly, the process of development and the exploitation natural resources there should benefit the Chin communities, who have suffered from neglect from the central government over the years.

I went to Rakhine State for the fourth time, and was greeted by many locals who were protesting my visit. Although this was not a message I liked to hear, I welcomed that people were able to stand in public and express their views. I stepped out of the car and met with one of the protestors, who spoke passionately about her pride of being a Rakhine Buddhist, and her distress over the neglect of her community over the years. She spoke of how her community had suffered during the recent violence and upheaval, and of her hopes for a more secure and peaceful future.

In Rakhine State, the state and central government are working well with the international community to address urgent humanitarian needs of both Rakhine Buddhists and the Muslim communities. The authorities and UN agencies have been successful in building new shelters for Muslim and Rakhine IDPs to face the rainy season in time to prevent a humanitarian crisis, which has been a serious concern. In my meeting with the Chief Minister of Rakhine State, I welcomed his assurances that there was no two-child policy in place for the Muslim populations in Northern Rakhine State. The Minister of Immigration reconfirmed that such a policy does not exist, though he accepted that there might have been a practice of two-child restrictions on the ground by Nasaka. I welcome the disbandment of Nasaka, a border security force which has allegedly committed numerous human rights violations over the years.

However, my overriding concern is that the separation and segregation of communities in Rakhine State is becoming increasingly permanent, making the restoration of trust difficult. This continues to have a particularly negative impact on the Muslim community. The severe restrictions on freedom of movement in Muslim IDP camps and villages remain in place. I visited Aung Mingalar, the only remaining Muslim ward in Sittwe, where a large number of people are living in a confined space, with the periphery marked out with barbed wire and guarded by armed police. This has serious consequences for fundamental human rights, including access to healthcare, education, as well as access to livelihoods. Furthermore, there continues to be cases of humanitarian workers facing intimidation by local groups when attempting to provide healthcare to the camps, which compounds the problem of access to healthcare.

The police and army have now taken charge of security in Rakhine State. Although there are legitimate security concerns which the police and army are addressing, I have received many serious allegations of the disproportionate use of force in dealing with large crowds of Muslim protestors. The latest incident saw live ammunition used to disperse a crowd of Muslims in Sittwe, with two killed and several injured. Security forces need to stop the use of excessive force.

Sittwe and in particular Buthidaung prison are filled with hundreds of Muslims men and women detained in connection with the violence of June and October 2012. Many of these have been arbitrarily detained and tried in flawed trials. I met the State Chief Justice and urged for the respect of due process of law. The use of torture and ill treatment, including some cases of death, during the first three months of the June outbreak, needs to be properly investigated and those responsible held to account.

The starting point for the solution to the situation in Rakhine lies with the unavoidable role of the state in pursuing policies that benefit both communities and brings the restoration of the rule of law as a means to build bridges between them. The Minister of Immigration told me that he has started to involve third parties to facilitate engagement between communities and the Government. This is a positive step forward. At the same time, I believe that the central and state Government need to pursue coordinated policies which comprehensively address the spread of discriminatory views and practices in Rakhine State. This includes strong and consistent public messaging through print, broadcast and social media and the engagement of religious leaders and political parties in dialogue. The establishment of the Interfaith Group of Myanmar is a step in the right direction. Addressing the issue of underdevelopment and poverty, including the sharing benefits from the State’s natural resources with local inhabitants, must also be considered as vital to finding solutions to the crisis in Rakhine State.

There continue to be prisoners of conscience in Myanmar, and I reiterate they should be released immediately and unconditionally. I visited Insein prison and met five prisoners of conscience (Ke E, Zaw Min Than, Saw War Lay, Min Min Tun and Htauk Swan Mon). I also met in Yangon with two members of the committee appointed by the Government who have produced a list of remaining prisoners of conscience, which they will soon pass to the Chair of the committee. In Rakhine State, I also visited prisoners who have been arbitrarily detained (Dr. Tun Aung and U Kyaw Hla Aung), and the four INGO workers who have been arbitrarily detained since June and July last year.

President Thein Sein has announced that by the end of the year all remaining political prisoners will have been released. This is a very encouraging announcement, which I hope becomes a reality. The Presidential statement should be accompanied by the respect of every person in Myanmar to freely express and demonstrate their opinions. I have met persons who have been detained and charged under section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Demonstration Act for their involvement in peaceful protests, including on land issues. I reiterate that this legislation is not in line with international human rights standards.

In Yangon I met with a range of civil society groups, and listened to their concerns. I urge the Parliament to postpone the passing of the proposed Associations Law. The bill, if passed in its current form, would be a serious setback for the development of a strong and vibrant civil society in Myanmar. With this bill, the Government is setting up a system of registration for civil society which enables them to arbitrarily clamp down on legitimate organisations. I must make clear that the Government has to change its mindset on registration procedures if it is to create an environment in which civil society can thrive.

I also met in Parliament with members of the newly formed Constitutional Reform Committee, which will begin its work next week. Throughout the mission, I discussed with different stakeholders the issue of constitutional reform. They pointed out the provisions of the Constitution that are not in line with international human rights standards, and undermine democracy and the rule of law. These provisions include those that place unnecessary restrictions on who can run for President, and which allow for military appointees to occupy 25 per cent of seats in Parliament. I welcome the opening of space for discussions on the review of the Constitution and hope that this will bring concrete results in the near future.

I also met members of the LGBT community who raised concerns about discrimination and maltreatment at the hands of the police and application of the penal code against them.

I visited Lashio in Shan State where I met with township authorities and Muslim leaders. Both described to me that organised Buddhist mobs that had arrived from outside of Lashio in late April to wreak violence and destruction. I also met, at her home, the Buddhist woman who had inexplicably been set on fire by a Muslim man who was described by the authorities as mentally disturbed and high on drink and drugs. The violence which came after this incident affected mostly the Muslim community in Lashio, where in some cases the police stood by whereas some monks were intervening to try to quell the violence. I met with senior monk Sayadaw Baddhanta Ponnya- Nanda of the Lashio Mansu Shan Buddhist Monastery, who provided shelter for over 1,000 Muslims escaping the rampaging mobs. Muslim houses, shops, a mosque and a Muslim orphanage were burnt down. Also, a Muslim man was brutally beaten to death with sticks and stabbed, and his wife, who I also met, was severely injured. This brought home to me the terrible misery this intercommunal violence is bringing to the lives of ordinary people. A number of Buddhists have been tried and convicted as well as a number of Muslims. The question of how the police reacted, particularly in the early stages, must also be investigated. Many of the Muslim communities that lost their homes, including the orphanage, are unable to return due to administrative requirements which need to be overcome.

The prospect of restoring communities that live in peaceful coexistence in Lashio is much more challenging in Meiktila. On my way to the township administrative office in Meiktila, at around 10.30pm on 19 August, my car was descended upon by a crowd of around 200 people who proceeded to punch and kick the windows and doors of the car while shouting abuse. Due to these serious security concerns, I had to abandon my proposed visit to an IDP camp containing around 1,600 Muslims who had been displaced following the March violence; a visit which had been planned well in advance. The fear that I felt during this incident, being left totally unprotected by the nearby police, gave me an insight into the fear residents would have felt when being chased down by violent mobs during the violence last March as police allegedly stood by as angry mobs beat, stabbed and burned to death some 43 people. I must highlight the obligation of the Government to act immediately to control violent mobs, running riot in communities, and protect all people regardless of their religion or ethnicity; something it seems they have not done during the violence in Meiktila. The Government also has an obligation to hold to account those who have failed to carry out this duty.

The following day, outside of Meiktila, I was able to interview Muslim residents who had been directly affected by the violence, including a father whose son had been killed on his way to play football with a friend. The violence in Meiktila has highlighted to me the dangers of the spread of religious incitement in Myanmar, and the deadly environment that this can create, where a Buddhist monk and Muslim students were brutally killed. Although the Chief Minister declared that the trust had been restored, this does not reflect reality. The central and state government has also an obligation to urgently address these worrying trends.

Just prior to my mission, I was encouraged to see a large commemoration of the 88 pro-democracy demonstrations, and I praise the Government for allowing this to take place. I believe that these initiatives are a necessary part of the democratic transition occurring in Myanmar. The past is unavoidable and will always come up in a country that has suffered decades of conflict and oppression. Therefore, the Government together with civil society has to build on this progress towards addressing the past through mechanisms to establish the truth and bring reconciliation.

Myanmar is moving forward in a significant number of areas, which has brought positive changes to the human rights situation, and has the potential to bring further improvements. However, there are still critical challenges, including the historical need of reconciliation with ethnic groups. In this regard, the initiatives being implemented at the highest levels by the Government to stop more fighting in the country needs to be accompanied, in parallel, with measures at the grassroots level to also engage local and rural communities in the process of peacebuilding and reconciliation. More space needs to be opened up for their voices to be heard, particularly the voices of women, including in the peace negotiations, so communities have trust and belief that this process will lead to a better future.

I want to again thank the Government of Myanmar for its invitation and cooperation. And I reaffirm my willingness to work constructively and cooperatively with Myanmar during this transition to improve the human rights situation of its people. 

ENDS

This statement was originally published here.

By Neha Shastry

The World Outline

August 21, 2013

It has been over a year since the renowned Burmese political activist Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to the Burmese parliament signalling a groundbreaking change in the country’s government. It has also been over a year since the first story emerged about the plight of the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority in Burma, leaving nothing but a slight murmur on the global conscience.

In this time, Burma’s international relations have markedly improved, with visits to the United States as well as the removal of economic sanctions. Even prominent global corporations have travelled to the country to set up shop. Behind this veil of prosperity and change lies the persecution of the biggest population of stateless people in the world.

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority that have been in Burma since 9th century. Despite the clear ethnic differences, they are for all intents and purposes, Burmese. Unfortunately, they have been victims of systematic persecution since the Burmese junta government took over in 1962. Prior to this, Rohingyas were recognized by the state and even served as representatives in Burmese parliament. In 1982, the Rohingya were declared “non-nationals” and “foreign residents” and were banned from participating in elections. Since then, they have been subject to large scale ethnic cleansing that in the past year has led to grave bloodshed on both sides of the divide.

Currently, there is still a significant population of Rohingyas living in their native Rakhine State in Western Burma, but apartheid-like restrictions have prevented them from accessing things they need for everyday life, including their jobs. This has led an estimated 35,000 to seek refuge across the border in neighboring countries, but even then they are hardly welcome.

The most recent development in this story is the fact that Rohingyas fleeing from sectarian violence into Thailand are being held in immigration facilities that are akin to prisons. According to Human Rights Watch, the cells in these facilities are “cage like” and there is barely enough place to sit. The women detainees are subject to sexual assault and exploitation.* Even worse, many Rohingya are ending up at Turutao Island in Thailand, which whilst being a spectacular national park, is also the site of some of the most intricate human trafficking rings in the region, leaving many Rohingya as not only victims of sectarian violence, but victims of human trafficking.**

All in all this does seem like a helpless situation. How can anyone help a population that is stateless and belongs nowhere–how can we document approximately how many have gone missing–and how many have disappeared into the clutches of human trafficking? Wouldn’t it just be easier to collectively forget?

Ethnic tensions and wars of identity are very much akin to the modern condition. It may be easy to turn a blind eye to the Rohingya now, but this will only enable harsher consequences a few years down the line. Identity divisions that have gone unanswered and unsolved have produced some of the gravest conflicts today; from Syria to Iraq and even to Egypt. And these are not conflicts that we haven’t seen before. The post Cold War era of the 1990′s taught us lessons from the dissolution of Yugoslavia to the genocide in Rwanda, stories like this are all too familiar.

International actors can choose to forget, or they can choose to take steps towards a more stable future. Today, the Rohingya are a helpless minority, but you never know what tomorrow brings. Their identity as a Muslim minority resonates with many unstable organizations active today and collective political memory is a powerful tool–just pick up any history book.

* http://www.voanews.com/content/dozens-of-rohingya-muslim-boat-people-escape-thai-prison/1733003.html

** http://www.channel4.com/news/nightmare-island-where-traffickers-imprison-burmas-muslims

By AFP

August 21, 2013

BANGKOK - Myanmar must address anti-Muslim propaganda and stamp out a culture of impunity for religious violence or risk "catastrophic" levels of conflict, a rights group warned Tuesday.

Physicians for Human Rights described attacks on Muslims, which have swept the country since fighting first broke out last year as "widespread and systematic", in a report examining unrest that has killed around 250 people and left tens of thousands homeless. 

The US-based group said that while the situation in the country currently appeared calm, a failure to properly investigate and deal with the causes of the tensions risks further clashes.

PHR reported that "the brazen nature of these crimes and the widespread culture of impunity in which these massacres occur form deeply troubling preconditions that make such crimes very likely to continue".

"If these conditions go unaddressed, Burma may very well face countrywide violence on a catastrophic level, including potential crimes against humanity and/ or genocide," it continued, using the country's former name.

Myanmar has strongly denied previous accusations by watchdog Human Rights Watch of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya in Rakhine state.

Attacks against Muslims, who are thought to make up at least four percent of Myanmar's population, have thrown the Buddhist-majority nation's much-hailed emergence from military dictatorship into question.

Communal unrest between local Buddhist and Rohingya Muslims engulfed the country's western Rakhine state in June and October 2012, with whole villages burned to the ground leaving some 140,000 homeless -- mainly the Rohingya.

This year the conflict has widened to target Muslims in general, with several eruptions of violence spreading across the country.

After dozens of Muslims, including more than 20 students and teachers of an Islamic school, were killed in the central Myanmar town of Meiktila in March the United Nations human rights envoy for Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said the reluctance of security forces to crack down on the unrest suggested a possible state link to the fighting.

The reformist government of President Thein Sein has rejected the statement from the UN envoy, who is currently in Myanmar on a visit that includes tours of some of the areas affected by religious conflict.

PHR said there was little evidence of direct orders or funding for the violence, but said "patterns of abuse" seen during the conflict "may imply that police or military were following orders".

The watchdog acknowledged that authorities were prosecuting both Buddhists and Muslims accused of crimes.

"But Muslims have been given much longer sentences than Buddhists and many more Muslims have been arrested," PHR Burma director William Davis told reporters in Bangkok.

"The violence has stopped, but ... the structural violence is still there," he said, alluding to a "culture of impunity" and lack of trust in the justice system as well as laws and practices that discriminate against ethnic minorities.

By Andrew Day

RB News 

August 21, 2013

Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh: "Very bad news from our Foreign Minister." He spoke. "She said we will be sent to repatriate to Myanmar. Did you read? What shall we do?" This is the sentiment and words from a refugee living within a registered camp in Bangladesh. This, in reaction to the result of a recent visit to Cox's Bazaar from Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni.

Her excellency, Dr. Moni visited just one of the camps. RB News posted a letter addressed to the Foreign Minister. It was prepared by the refugee CMC Chairman of the unvisited camp. Written with such high hopes and care. They weren't given the opportunity to present the letter to her. 

Dr. Moni who has stated "The government is keeping strict vigilance as the Rohingyas would get their right to citizenship in Myanmar." The FM office says that any move would be completely voluntary repatriation. She adds "We have finalized to send them back to their homeland through discussion with Myanmar authority but could not do so due to riot there."

Voluntary Repatriation, supposedly requires cooperation from the refugees country of origin. 

Myanmar, a country who's government let's anti Muslim propaganda get distributed and are either unable or unwilling to stop mobs and racist groups who want to wipe out the Rohingya people. 

Thousands of people held within Arakan state in unregistered camps, in flooded paddy fields in absolute squaller. All aid blocked for "security reasons." 

Voluntary Repatriation to a country who's government are currently trafficking hundreds of Rohingyas from Southern Maungdaw to Malaysia. 

Cooperation between countries. Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mohammad Shahidul Haque recently stated he approves "in principle, the proposal to construct a barbed wire [fence] along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, set up searchlights, build watchtowers and 21 new outposts to improve border surveillance." 

Bangladesh has a population crisis. The Foreign ministry just wants the Rohingyas out of the country. 

Back in the refugee camps. Despite the terrible living conditions, the idea of Rohingyas volunteering to go to Myanmar at this point in time, seems far fetched. 

One Rohingya told RB News, "Bangladesh is like a small hell for Rohingyas. Myanmar, that's a big hell for them"

By Thomson Reuters Foundation Correspondent

Thomson Reuters Foundation 

August 20, 2013

BANGKOK – The attitudes behind the deadly and systematic violence against Muslims in overwhelmingly Buddhist Myanmar could, if left unchecked, lead to “mass atrocities,” Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said in a report released on Tuesday. 

The New York-based rights group cited the rapid dissemination of hate speech against marginalised groups and the inaction or acquiescence of many leaders in government and the democracy movement as creating the potential for “catastrophic violence.” 

"People who've been attacked have very little legal recourse and no real avenue of justice to prosecute the people who perpetrated the attacks,” Bill Davis, PHR’s researcher for Myanmar, told journalists. 

“There haven't been attacks there in several weeks but the structural violence that made it possible for this to happen is still in place … The culture of impunity is still there,” he said. 

The violence against Muslims, which started with clashes between stateless Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in western Myanmar in June last year, has displaced nearly 250,000 people, mostly Muslims. 

Despite being lauded for its democratic reforms, Myanmar’s first elected government in half a century has failed to protect the minority group, PHR said. 

Like Reuters, PHR found security forces either taking part in attacks against the Rohingya and other Muslim minorities or failing to prevent them, and Davis said that, to his knowledge, no uniformed person had been prosecuted. 

PHR is calling on the government to end such impunity and asking the international community, which has suspended most sanctions on Myanmar, “not to be reluctant to confront a country just because it has made some recent political improvements,” he said. 

“All those dedicated to ending violence must see the crimes in Burma as a horrible example of what happens when impunity reigns and demagogues are not confronted, and as an urgent warning sign of potential atrocities,” PHR said. 

HUMAN RIGHTS ARE FOR EVERYONE 

Violence against ethnic groups - one third of the population - was common in the impoverished country, formerly known as Burma, during the half-century of brutal military rule, and the situation has not improved since an elected government took office, despite widespread praise for its democratic reforms, PHR said. 

In fact, “violence against marginalized groups has escalated to an unprecedented level as Rohingyas and other Muslims throughout Burma face renewed acts of violence”, the report said. 

While some civil society groups and monks have denounced the violence, many, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, have remained silent. 

"Human rights are for everyone, not just people holding the government ID cards. We want human rights activists who have been pushing for human rights in Burma to come out and say this,” Davis said. 

The government must also address “the deeply engrained disdain for Muslims and other minorities that allowed for such patterns of human rights violations”, the report said. 

The report was released a day before the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, presents his preliminary observations on his current trip to Myanmar where he visited, among others, Rakhine State and Meikhtila town where the recent violence against Muslims occurred. 

Scores of Rohingya were killed, some 140,000 displaced and thousands of homes were burnt down in bloody sectarian violence last year which uprooted Rohingya communities in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State, and the Rohingya’s living conditions in camps have worsened since then. 

The government and the public consider the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who deserve neither rights nor sympathy. 

Those who have lost their homes have been living in squalid, sprawling displacement camps ripe for disease. Tens of thousands, including an increasing number of women and children, have fled by boat to Malaysia, where many Rohingya have in the past found refuge. 

Many are exploited by smugglers and traffickers and are stuck in detention centres in Thailand, while those who have reached Malaysia struggle to find peace.

(Photos Caption: A boat leaving from Lay Yin Gwin village, Aley Than Kyaw, Maungdaw)

RB News
August 20, 2013

Maungdaw, Arakan – In the past five days, the regional authorities of Maungdaw Towship within the Arakan State, have been collecting Rohingyas to send Malaysia by boat.

A Rohingya told RB News that a boat left from Lay Yin Gwin village of Aley Than Kyaw village tract at 11:40 am. That small boat loaded 30 Rohingya men. A boat from Aley Than Kyaw and three boats from Myin Hlut village left at 11:50 am. Reportedly, five boats in total left from Maungdaw South. More than 150 Rohingyas were onboard. 

The small boats left for Saint Martin Island, Bangladesh where the big boat is standby to leave for Malaysia. 

Earlier reports stated that there were over 300 Rohingyas organized. The authorities have been planning for 1000 Rohingyas in the area to make the trip to Malaysia. 

The owners of the small boats are Monzoor Rahman, son of Salim Ullah from Aley Than Kyaw. Hamid Hussein, son of Abdul Karim from Aley Than Kyaw and Ex village administrator Enayet Ullah, son of Fawzol Karim from Myin Hlut village. 

It has been reported to RB News that the people mainly involved in this human trafficking case are: Aley Than Kyaw based Aley Than Kyaw in-charge Captain from Military, Police Officer, SB Police Aung Kyaw Zin, SaRaPha (Military Security) Sergeant Kyi Han, Tin Tun from Human Trafficking Prevention Group, Aley Than Kyaw village administrator Maung Thet Naing and Ex Aley Than Kyaw village administrator Zaw Htoo. 

Malaysia has been considered to be a safe haven for Rohingyas since violence broke out against them in June of last year. Many have attempted to travel there by boat. They payed large sums of money to human traffickers with hopes of gaining refugee status within the country. The voyage is to Malaysia treacherous. Rickety boats have capsized at sea. People have been starved and drowned. Many times the boats do not make it to its destination. 

Some boats have been halted by Coast Guards, seeing Rohingyas arrested and detained. Some crooked human traffickers have sold the people off as slaves. For these reasons the people who have tried to make this voyage have been dubbed as "Boat People" 

As posted in RB News on August 18th: due to the tremendous danger for the lives of the the Rohingya people who take this voyage, there were actions to try to stop the human trafficking plans by higher authorities. At this point, the government has taken no action against them. They have been letting the plans continue. The government encourages Rohingya Muslims to leave for the voyage. It works as part of ethnic cleansing of these people. A means to wipe them from the town and all of Arakan state.

By Human Rights Watch

August 20, 2013

End Inhumane Detention, Family Separation of 1,800 Muslims from Burma

(Bangkok) – Thailand’s government should release ethnic Rohingya from Burma who are detained under inhumane and unsafe conditions, and ensure their protection needs are met, Human Rights Watch said today.

On August 13, 2013, the Thai cabinet considered a plan to transfer 1,839 Rohingya who have been held in immigration detention facilities and social welfare shelters across Thailand to refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border.

“Some senior Thai officials have recognized the Rohingya’s plight but they are still considering proposals that would keep them detained,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “The Thai government needs to end the inhumane detention of Rohingya and ensure the United Nations refugee agency and other international organizations have full access to provide much needed protection and assistance.”

On August 9, the Thai minister of social development and human security, Paveena Hongsakula, told the media that the detention and trafficking of Rohingya in Thailand were serious human rights issues. Yet at a cabinet meeting four days later she proposed sending them to refugee camps, a plan that reportedly has the backing of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Foreign Affairs Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul. Despite the fact that many Rohingya fled “ethnic cleansing” and crimes against humanity last year in Burma’s Arakan State, the Thai government refuses to consider Rohingya as refugees.

The Thai authorities have also discussed proposals to create alternative centers for the Rohingya or expand the capacity to hold Rohingya at existing immigration detention centers in Songkhla, Ranong, Prachuab Khiri Kan, and Nongkhai provinces.

Since January, the Thai authorities have detained 2,055 Rohingya on the grounds that they entered the country illegally, according to the government. Thailand has separated Rohingya families. Rohingya men have been sent to various immigration detention centers, while Rohingya women and children have been held in shelters managed by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.

As documented by Human Rights Watch, Thai and Rohingya human traffickers have gained access to the government shelters and sought to lure out Rohingya women and children. For instance, in June, traffickers who promised to reunite Narunisa, a 25-year-old Rohingya in a shelter in Phang Nga province, with her husband in Malaysia for a 50,000 baht (US$1,660) fee, instead raped her repeatedly.

Many immigration detention centers are severely overcrowded and lack access to medical services and other basic necessities. Rohingya men are restricted to extremely cramped conditions in small cells resembling large cages, where they barely have room to sit. Some suffer from swollen feet and withered leg muscles due to lack of exercise because they have not been let out of the cells for up to five months. Eight Rohingya men have died from illness while in detention. Interventions by international agencies to provide health services, prompted in part by media exposure and international expressions of concern, have resulted in health improvements, but many Rohingya still face unacceptable risks to their health due to poor detention conditions.

“The Thai government should recognize its punitive detention policy towards the Rohingya is both inhumane and counterproductive,” Adams said.

Since July, Rohingya men fearful of being sent back to persecution in Burma or detained indefinitely in Thailand have staged protests at immigration detention facilities in Songkhla and Phang Nga provinces. Approximately 208 Rohingya men, women, and children have also escaped from detention to unknown locations.

The Thai authorities should allow Rohingya to seek migrant worker status, which would permit them to work and move freely. Because Burma’s government discriminates against the Rohingya, denying them Burmese nationality, Thailand should waive the nationality verification program requirement for migrant worker status.

“The Rohingya have fled horrific abuses in Burma that would put many at risk were they to return home,” Adams said. “Instead of sticking them in border camps or immigration lockups, the Thai government should consider allowing the Rohingya to remain, work, and live under temporary protection.”

Background: Thai policy not “helping on”

For years, thousands of ethnic Rohingya from Burma’s Arakan State have set sail to flee persecution by the Burmese government. The situation significantly worsened following sectarian violence in Arakan State in June 2012 between Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Arakanese, which displaced tens of thousands of Rohingya from their homes. In October 2012, Arakanese political and religious leaders and state security forces committed crimes against humanity in a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against the Rohingya. During the so-called “sailing season” between October 2012 and March 2013, more than 35,000 Rohingya are believed to have fled the country. International pressure on Thailand to provide temporary protection to Rohingya arriving on its shores resulted in the current detention policy. Since January, more than 1,800 Rohingya have been sent to immigration detention centers and government shelters. However, many thousands more have been intercepted at sea by Thai officialsand either redirected to Malaysia or allegedly handed over to people smugglers and human traffickerswho demand payment to release them and send them onwards.

Thailand’s misnamed “help on” policy towards small boats carrying Rohingya has failed to provide Rohingya asylum seekers with the protections required under international law, and in some cases significantly increased their risk. Under this policy, the Thai navy intercepts Rohingya boats that come close to the Thai coast and supposedly provides them with fuel, food, water, and other supplies on the condition that the boats continue onward to Malaysia or Indonesia. Instead of helping or providing protection, the “help on” policy either pushes ill-equipped boats of asylum seekers onwards at sea, or sees them handed over to people smugglers who promise to send the Rohingya onwards for a price, and hand over those unable to pay to human traffickers.

Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution. While Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, under customary international law the Thai government has an obligation of “non-refoulement” – not to return anyone to places where their life or freedom would be at risk. In its “Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards Relating to the Detention of Asylum Seekers,” the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reaffirmed the basic human right to seek asylum and stated that “[a]s a general rule, asylum seekers should not be detained.” The UNHCR guidelines also state that detention should not be used as a punitive or disciplinary measure, or as a means of discouraging refugees from applying for asylum.

Human Rights Watch urged the Thai government to work closely with UNHCR, which has the technical expertise to screen for refugee status and the mandate to protect refugees and stateless people. Effective UNHCR screening of all Rohingya boat arrivals would help the Thai government determine who is entitled to refugee status.

Buddhist extremists are stirring up hatred of Rohingya and other Muslims in a display of racism that is part of a political agenda

Just beyond the administrative buildings in Sittwe, capital of the state of Rakhine (Arakan) in northwestern Burma, a checkpoint halts all unauthorised travel into the town’s last Muslim quarter. The police sit around looking listless in the tropical heat. A few hundred metres beyond is Aung Mingalar, into which about 7,000 mostly Rohingya Muslims were confined following last year’s violence.

In June and October last year, vicious clashes between Muslims and Buddhists convulsed Rakhine. Buddhists, who form the majority, targeted the Rohingya, a much despised minority. They were divested of their citizenship in 1982 and have so far seen few benefits during the rapid liberalisation after March 2011 when a decades-old junta ceded power to a quasi-civilian government. But sporadic violence has continued into this year and spread into other regions of Burma. The targets now include non-Rohingya Muslims who collectively make up about 5 per cent of Burma’s 60 million population.

A somewhat surreal situation ensues when a local Rohingya activist and translator named Aung Win (57) approaches the checkpoint. Although he cannot proceed up the road, he is able to talk over his mobile phone from a few dozen metres away.

“If anyone wants to go out of here, they have to pay 15,000 kyat (€12) for one trip. Up and down, they charge 30,000 kyat and only for a two-hour journey,” he says, adding that access to medical care is severely restricted.

It started in June last year, he says. “Strangers from outside of Sittwe and then the Rakhine extremists arrived and attacked the Rohingya villages. In total more than 13 villages were hit and they killed more than 100 people.”

Run-down mosque

Win’s home was located behind Sittwe’s Nobel Hotel on the town’s main road. On the far side, near the Rakhine State Museum, the Jama Mosque, built in 1859, should have pride of place as a local landmark. But its grounds are overgrown by tropical trees and creepers. The main entrance is blocked by a line of Rakhine-owned stalls made of wood and corrugated iron, selling soft drinks and snacks.

A side entrance is blocked by a pair of rifle-toting policemen. Further down the street, a billboard advertises this year’s Southeast Asian Games, hosted by Burma.

It has long been a pariah state, subject to sanctions and notorious for annulling the results of a popular vote in 1990. The nation’s re-emergence is underscored by President Thein Sein’s success in securing Burma’s role as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year.

What has been tentatively termed a “Burma Spring” is proceeding at speed. In 2011, the 68-year-old Sein became the country’s first non-interim civilian president in 49 years.

Later that year, he had a high-profile meeting with the iconic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who had spent 15 of the previous 21 years under house arrest. Suu Kyi’s party, the National League of Democracy (NLD), was allowed to contest byelections last April and she now sits as an MP and is chair of the Committee for the Rule of the Law and Tranquillity.

Poverty and corruption

But most of Thein Sein’s national-level appointees are serving or former military officers and, in both levels of the legislature, a sizeable minority of seats are still held by the Tatmadaw (army). The 2010 general election that resulted in his Union Solidarity Development Party getting more than 75 per cent of the seats was condemned internationally as rigged. Burma has about 85,000 villages and the majority are below the poverty line. Rampant land-grabbing took place over the years by the Tatmadaw and its business cronies and there has been little effort to address land reform issues.

This may partly explain the heightened communal tensions. At government buildings, a request for a pass into a “Rohingya” refugee camp meets with the barbed retort: “They are not Rohingyas! They are Bengalis!”

In the mindset of many Rakhine Buddhists, the Rohingya, with their subcontinental appearance and Islamic faith, are the descendents of migrants from Bangladesh a few generations ago.

“[Rohingyas] were present in Rakhine State 1,500 years ago,” says Abu Tahay, a legal expert and activist. “This is already proven by the stone monuments erected in the eighth century in Rakhine State. According to the script on the stone, we can see a Rohingya dialect 100 per cent different to the spoken Rakhine dialect of today.”

The junta’s 1982 Citizenship Law made the Rohingya stateless – they needed permission to travel from their townships, were banned from owning land and were limited to two children per family. Operations by the Tatmadaw in 1978 and 1991 created thousands of refugees. There are about 300,000 Rohingya in camps in Bangladesh and 100,000 on the Thai border. The bitter irony is that the “Bengalis” have fared little better in the land of their supposed ancestry. Bangladesh routinely turns back “boat people” crossing the Bay of Bengal. During last year’s riots, the Bangladeshi foreign minister stressed his country did not have the resources to house another large influx of refugees.

A fragmented road leads away from Sittwe’s rice and fish markets with their spectacular views of the Kaladan river and Baronga Island. Rows of makeshift buildings constructed of bamboo and local hardwoods appear on the outskirts of town along with the logo of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

At Set Yone Su camp, 150 families languish in land turned swampy by the rains. Adults sit in the unsanitary environs and stifling heat while children scamper around.

The first wave of violence erupted last summer. The trigger was the brutal rape and murder of a 27-year-old Rakhine woman in the town of Kyaukphu, allegedly by three Rohingya men.

On June 3rd, 10 Rohingya passengers were killed when a Rakhine mob stopped a bus in another town. A week later, as arson and rioting spread to Sittwe, Thein Sein declared a state of emergency for the first time since taking power, ordering the army to restore order.

After violence erupted once more in Rakhine State in October, Doctors Without Borders reported that posters and pamphlets were being distributed in the state, warning local staff not to treat Muslims. By then, 192 people were dead and 140,000 displaced.

Much of the anti-Muslim rhetoric is associated with the “969” movement, so called because it is said to represent the nine attributes of Buddha, six of his teachings and nine of the monkhood. Based in the northern city of Mandalay, its leader is Saydaw Wirathu. He has been dubbed a “Buddhist bin-Laden” in the media for his inflammatory speeches, including claims that Rohingyas in Sittwe and elsewhere have been burning down their own homes to get international aid.

In an online video in March, he declared that “once these evil Muslims have control and authority over us they will not let us practise our religion freely . . . these Islamists have been buying land and property all over the country. They use that money to get our young Buddhist women.”

But the nature of this year’s violence, most notably in neighbouring Shan State, has indicated that the attacks are not random.

Targeted attacks

Following four days of violence in Meiktila this March, the UN secretary general’s special adviser on Burma, Vijay Nambiar, said Muslims were “clearly targeted” and the attacks were carried out with “brutal efficiency”. Kyaw Min, a Rohingya former MP based in Rangoon, says that rhetoric feeds into wider tensions between Muslims and Buddhists in such nations as Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

“According to [the 969 movement] Muslims are a danger to our national survival,” he says. “They pointed out that countries like Indonesia and Malaysia were once Buddhist. Now they are 90 per cent Muslim.”

But not all Buddhists endorse the 969 line. And many see the attacks on the Rohingya and other Muslims as politically motivated.

In June, the Irrawaddy magazine and website quoted U Pantavunsa, an anti-969 monk saying that: “Buddha never lectured his disciples to be against others who have different beliefs.”

He added: “Thirty thousand copies of a DVD with 969 talks in Mon State have been distributed in Rangoon. So it’s very evident that they have a sponsor to distribute them on a large scale. There are several possibilities: cronies who would be comfortable doing business with the former military regime or some hardliners reluctant to undergo reform who might secretly finance them.”

But a general election is scheduled for 2015 and many Rohingyas fear the democratic opposition will pander to anti-Muslim sentiment.

“Aung San Suu Kyi is in a catch-22 situation,” says Kyaw Min, who spent seven years in prison in the 1990s. “If she is going to condemn all this violence openly, the Buddhist majority will withdraw their support. Only in a few cases she says something. She said the two-child policy is against human rights.”

Meanwhile in the segregated town of Sittwe, the fear of further violence is palpable.

By Fiona MacGregor 

The Myanmar Times

August 18, 2013

Threats are forcing Myanmar workers to quit their jobs helping victims of violence in Rakhine State, it has emerged. International aid organisations working in the conflict-hit state say anti-Rohingya campaigners are targeting their staff on social media after learning their identities.

A source from a major international aid organisation working in the region said the group had seen a significant number of local members resign after threats to them and their families were posted on Facebook pages.

“It makes me very sad the way things have developed here. When I first came here I had Rakhine friends who understood what we were doing in the camps but now I can’t tell them anything because they don’t think we should be helping the Rohingya people,” said the aid worker.

“It has been very difficult for Rakhine staff who are picked on by the local community if they are seen to be helping Muslim people and a lot of them have resigned because of this. It makes things very difficult.”

There are more than 80 international aid organisations now based in Sittwe following last year’s violence between Rakhine Buddhists and the minority Muslim population, who call themselves Rohingya and are more commonly referred to as Bengalis in Myanmar.

The violence left more than 140,000 people, mainly Muslim, homeless and about 200 people dead.

Rakhine victims of the conflict have expressed anger at what they see as bias in the aid effort, with senior figures in the community complaining that international organisations have focused on the needs of Rohingya population over those of the Rakhine.

Earlier this year the problem of staff intimidation was highlighted by international medical and humanitarian aid organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) International.

MSF said its medical teams faced “threats and hostility”.

“In pamphlets, letters and Facebook postings, MSF and others have been repeatedly accused of having a pro-Rohingya bias by some members of the Rakhine community. It is this intimidation, and not [lack of] formal permission for access, that is the primary challenge MSF faces,” it said.

“Our repeated explanations that MSF only seeks to provide medical aid to those who need it most is not enough to forestall the accusations.”

At the time the organisation called on the authorities to “do more to make it clear that threatening violence against health workers is unacceptable”.

However, the reports of staff resigning suggest the problem has worsened over recent months.

Contacted about the question of staff resignations in the face of threats and intimidation, a spokeswoman for MSF said, “I can confirm that this remains an issue today, which obviously impacts our ability to provide medical, humanitarian assistance to people who need it.”

The spokeswoman added that while Rakhine workers were particularly vulnerable, MSF staff from other parts of Myanmar working in Rakhine State have also come under attack on social media.