By Mainul Islam Khan

Anadolu Agency

July 27, 2014

DHAKA, Bangladesh: As Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, nears, just around the corner, it does not affect Seno Ara in any way. She is busy with her paddle sewing machine, fashioning clothes for the other Rohingya women - refugees, like her and many others, in the camp in Kutupalong of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.

Seno Ara, 27, lives in a tiny shack made of bamboo sticks and poly sheets, with a five-feet-high and two-feet-wide door, and no window. Since there is no electricity in the camp and no light inside her home, she must find the light of day on her doorstep, to sew.

“We have neither Eid, nor pleasure,” says Seno Ara. “We do not have money to have even new cloths for Eid.”

She has been living in this unofficial Rohingya camp for six years. (The unofficial camp takes in all the refugees that the nearby official UN-run one, at full capacity, cannot).

She was forced to migrate and take shelter here after suffering from incessant persecution in her homeland – Myanmar, where, she lived in Mondu, along with her 35-year-old husband Ershad Ullah and their two daughters.

“All our assets were forcibly taken away by state-sponsored goons,” Seno Ara says. “There was no peace. Every day, we were forced to work - to plough and cultivate their land, to cut firewood, etc - but they never paid any money in return.”

One night, Seno Ara had had enough. With her family, she escaped on a dingy boat across the Naf river, which marks the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

But life in the Bangladeshi camp has proved grueling. Five months ago, Seno Ara’s husband was diagnosed with a mental disorder - she cannot recall the name. He often cannot recognize his wife and children; he talks to himself and suffers from memory lapses. This prevents him from working and earning a living.

Seno Ara managed to scrape some money together and purchase a 5000-taka (around $65) sewing machine, which helps her earn at least 2,500 taka ($33), on average, per month - far from enough to sustain a family of four.

Many Muslim Rohingyas have fled from western Myanmar, a country which is predominantly Buddhist. The authorities deny them citizenship, claiming that they originated from Bangladesh (at the time called Bengal) during British rule. According to the Immigration Ministry, cited by the charity Thomson Reuters Foundation, there are approximately 1.33 million in the country. Most face numerous persecutions. They also cannot travel, marry or receive medical care without official permission, still according to Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“We were not able to practice our religion, says another refugee Nurul Islam, 42. “We could not pray together. They closed one mosque in Mondu town for 15 years.”

According to Bakhtiar Ahmed, a former member of Rajapalong Union Council, there are at least 40,000 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, living in Kutupalong camp, which, barely a comfort, has 16 mosques for prayer.

“Refugees live here in very inhumane conditions,” Bakhtiar adds. “They do not have access to adequate healthcare, education and food. Some NGOs have built a few tube-wells so that they can get access to water, which they can use for drinking and taking baths.”

“There are no concrete-made toilets for them, but recently, the Bangladeshi government gave permission to the International Office of Migration to build a few,” says Bakhtiar.

Most of the young adults are not allowed to work outside the camp. They kill time by playing soccer, cards or Carrom board (resembles billiard or table shuffleboard and is quite popular in South Asia). Some of them take the risk of climbing up the hills to gather firewood to sell in the market.

Mohammad Hashem, 22, usually collects firewood on the Bangladesh – Myanmar border, in the hills near Tombru.

“If I don’t work, that means no food for the day,” he says. “I earn only 3,500 taka ($45) per month, at most, to provide for five people.”

But, for the past three months, Hashem has not been able to work. 

“I was attacked by the Myanmar border guards while chopping wood one morning,’ he explains. “They chased me with long knife and attacked me. My right shoulder and the top of my head sustained injuries.” 

His brother now has to beg door to door. They also receive relief from various groups, namely from Turkey, but these do not wish to be identified as the Bangladeshi government frowns upon any relief given to unregistered Rohingyas. 

The camp – locally known as Tal, which means ‘pile’ or ‘stack’ - is divided into several blocks. Each has several sections. Most of the houses are made of clay and bamboo sticks with poly sheets. The refugees use coarse mats made with bamboo slips – also used for the toilets – as beds.

Life becomes severely miserable during monsoon season. Heavy rains cause houses’ walls to collapse as the water washes away the floors. The refugees try as they can to limit the damage by putting big sand bags near their houses or installing drains, which crisscross throughout the camp in order to channel the water out.

Amidst these atrocious conditions, a slight - very slight - glimmer of hope flickers in the form of 60 small schools, which provide education to children living in the camp.

“Despite a lot of pressure not to initiate an education program here without proper permission, I decided to step forward because kids need their basic education, so that they don’t go on a wrong track,” says the education program supervisor of the schools, Mohammad Iqbal, 32, whose friends provided help with the teaching.

They now operate all these school, providing education up to the 3rd grade. There are 30 teachers, who have studied up to an 8th grade level themselves.

“It is difficult for us to find teachers within the camp,” Iqbal says. “These teachers are, at least, capable to teach students up to the 3rd grade.”

They prepared the academic curriculum on their own. “We take the admissions of students who are interested, explains Iqbal. The minimum age is set at six. But we take students who are, on average, 10 years old.”

Each day, Jannat Ara, 15, who studied up to the 7th grade, teaches in five schools.

“I teach Environment and we have several other subjects such as: Bangla, English, Mathematics and sometimes Burmese in the school curriculum,” Jannat says.

“I will go further in my studies,” she adds. “My mother has a dream to see me going to the university. But we need to save money to fulfill this dream.”

The unregistered Rohingya refugees are not recognized as ‘refugees’ in Bangladesh, which therefore provides no official support.

“Despite official restrictions, there are a few Turkish organizations that come with a little generous support, such as Deniz Feneri Dernegi (Association of Lighthouse) in Kutupalong camps,” says Bakhtiar.

Moreover, the humanitarian-aid non-governmental organization, Doctors Without Borders Holland, has a clinic across the street that provides some basic health services for the refugees - as it does for all Bangladeshi citizens.

Nearby though, the registered camp, run by the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR), boasts all the basic facilities required for its 30,000 Rohingya refugees. They have schools and even a computer center for students.

“We get ration food, a medical facility and can move around freely,” says 67-year-old registered refugee Ameer Hossain.

A far cry from what Seno Ara, who so wanted to escape persecution and dreamt of a better life in a Muslim country, experiences today.

“I could not stay in my country,” she says. “I thought, why not try a better peaceful life in Bangladesh, which is a Muslim country, but now I feel bad. We do not have enough food, no work, cannot go outside of the camp…”

“If the Bangladeshi government drive us away, I don’t know what would happen, we have nowhere to go,” she adds, with a furtive glance, to the future, uncertain.

By Alex Bookbinder 

Democratic Voice of Burma

July 27, 2014

Concluding a ten-day visit to Burma, the UN’s new special rapporteur on human rights, Yanghee Lee, painted a decidedly mixed picture of the country’s ongoing reform process at a press conference held at Rangoon airport on Saturday evening. She described the conditions in displacement camps across the state as “deplorable,” while noting that she had been advised during her visit to Arakan State to avoid using the word “Rohingya” when addressing the issue.

“In three years, Myanmar has come a long way since the establishment of the new government. This must be recognized and applauded,” she said. “Yet, there are worrying signs of possible backtracking which, if unchecked, could undermine Myanmar’s efforts to become a responsible member of the international community that respects and protects human rights.”

Lee, a South Korean, is the UN’s sixth special rapporteur on Burma, having assumed the reins on 1 June from Argentinian human rights lawyer Tomás Ojea Quintana, who took on the role in 2008.

Over the course of the visit, Lee’s first official trip to Burma, she met with community leaders and government officials in Arakan and Kachin states, and paid a visit to Mandalay, Burma’s second city, which succumbed to interreligious violence in early July. She also travelled to Naypyidaw, where she met with parliamentarians – including Aung San Suu Kyi –and met with civil society actors and prisoners of conscience in Rangoon.

She noted that despite reforms, avenues for exercising democratic rights remain curtailed, which, she warned, has prompting a chilling effect that has stifled journalists and activists. “Civil society actors campaigning on land and environmental issues, or trying to help communities affected by large-scale development projects, face particular challenges,” she said. “They are routinely harassed and subject to arrest … there are also continuing reports of the excessive use of force by the police and the authorities in breaking up protests.

“The enjoyment of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association and peaceful assembly are essential ingredients for Myanmar’s democracy and for debating and resolving political issues, particularly in the run-up to the 2015 elections,” she said.

The special rapporteur’s mandate is granted by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to be an “independent expert … to monitor, report and advise on the situation of human rights in Myanmar”.

Lee’s appointment was controversial when it was announced, as she has little prior experience working on Burma issues, unlike other candidates shortlisted for the position. A child psychologist by profession, she works as an academic at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. Most notably, she served as chairperson of the UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2007 to 2011.

Similar fears were raised upon Quintana’s appointment. In 2008, Quintana told US embassy officials that he was surprised at having been selected for the position due to his lack of country-specific knowledge, but that “his years as a human rights lawyer prepared him reasonably well to press for freedom for the Burmese people,” according to a leaked diplomatic cable.

Throughout his tenure, Quintana elicited praise and derision in equal measure for his uncompromisingly critical stance on the human rights situation in Burma. At a conference in April, he claimed that there were “elements of genocide in Rakhine [Arakan State] with respect to Rohingya.”

Lee acknowledged the suffering endured by both Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the state, but claimed the “health situation in the Muslim IDP camps is of particular concern”, especially following the mass departure of international NGOs in March.

“The situation is deplorable. Many have remained in the camps for two years and I do not believe that there is adequate access to basic services,” she said.

She acknowledged the sensitivities surrounding ethnic identity and terminology, but claimed that the state cannot dictate how ethnic groups choose to self-identify, and that doing so is a violation of international human rights law.

“I was repeatedly told not to use the term ‘Rohingya’ as this was not recognized by the government. Yet, as a human rights independent expert, I am guided by international human rights law. In this regard, the rights of minorities to self-identify on the basis of their national, ethnic, religious and linguistic characteristics is related to the obligations of States to ensure non-discrimination against individuals and groups,” she said.

While she stressed the need to strengthen the rule of law in Burma across the board, particularly where property and civil rights are concerned, she noted that not all laws are created equally, and that laws should be subject to a constant process of review and update. She singled out Burma’s controversial 1982 citizenship law, which rendered most Rohingya stateless, as an example of a law that should not be upheld.

“In my discussions on the question of citizenship for the Muslim community, I was repeatedly told that the rule of law should be respected; in this regard, strong opposition was voiced by many against the review and reform of the 1982 Citizenship Law,” she said. “As the reforms process in Myanmar has demonstrated, [laws] can be and should be amended whenever there are deficiencies and are not in line with international standards. The 1982 Citizenship Law should therefore not be an exception.”

Aung Myo Min, a prominent human rights activist and the director of NGO Equality Myanmar, called for Lee to act as a strong voice in defence of human rights at a time when a focus on the country’s democratic gains threatens to obfuscate the problems that linger.

“I hope that she understands the situation in Burma. She should come to understand that it is not true that human rights abuses have stopped as the country goes through democratic changes,” he said.

“When she reports her findings, she needs to speak out against countries that are ignoring these issues while focusing on economic concerns.”

By AFP

July 27, 2014

Myanmar's plans for the future of a western region torn apart by Buddhist-Muslim unrest could result in "permanent segregation" of the two religious groups, a UN expert warned.

YANGON: Myanmar's plans for the future of a western region torn apart by Buddhist-Muslim unrest could result in "permanent segregation" of the two religious groups, a UN expert warned on Saturday.

The United Nations' human rights envoy to the country, Yanghee Lee, said there was a "deplorable" situation in displacement camps in Rakhine state, where deadly clashes two years ago have left some 140,000 homeless, mostly stateless Rohingya Muslims.

Speaking as she wrapped up her first official visit to Myanmar, Lee warned that the government's plan "for long-term peaceful coexistence may likely result in a permanent segregation of the two communities".

"As an immediate priority, more must be done to reduce tensions and hostility, and promote reconciliation between the two communities," she added.

Lee welcomed a move by the authorities this week to invite Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to resume its work in Rakhine, where it provided healthcare to over half a million people. But she underscored that security for personnel was a priority if the group was to return.

Rakhine is gripped by a severe health crisis nearly five months after the medical aid group was ejected from the region by the government.

It is as yet unclear to what extent MSF, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 and has operated in Myanmar for 22 years, would be able to return. Violence between Buddhists and Muslims exploded in Rakhine in 2012, leaving around 200 people dead.

The state has since been almost completely divided on religious grounds, with Muslim communities trapped in camps or isolated communities and subject to a range of restrictions limiting their movements and access to basic services and employment.

Myanmar's government has long considered the Rohingya to be foreigners, while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

Attacks against Muslims have spread to other parts of the country, raising concerns that they could destabilise Myanmar's transition from military rule.

Lee also travelled to Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, where recent religious unrest left two dead.

She warned of a "growing polarisation between Muslim and Buddhist communities" in the country.

"In this regard, I am concerned by the spread of hate speech and incitement to violence, discrimination and hostility in the media and on the Internet, which have fuelled and triggered further violence," she said.

The envoy, who met opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and held meetings with government officials in the capital Naypyidaw during her visit, called for new measures to combat incitement.

By Paul Mooney

Reuters

July 26, 2014

Yangon: A senior U.N. official on Saturday warned of a growing polarization between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar and said the living conditions in camps housing displaced Muslims were deplorable.

Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, held a news conference at the end of a 10-day visit to the country and called on the government to tackle the recurring issue of inter-communal violence.

Lee's itinerary included camps in the western state of Rakhine housing some 140,000 stateless Muslim Rohingya.

She also visited the northern state of Kachin, where more than 100,000 people have been displaced since fighting between ethnic minority rebels and the government erupted in June 2011, ending a 17-year ceasefire.

Lee said of the camps around the area of Sittwe in Rakhine state: "The situation is deplorable. Many have remained in the camps for two years and I do not believe that there is adequate access to basic services."

In June, another senior U.N. official, Kyung-Wha Kang, said that in the camps in Rakhine state she had witnessed a level of human suffering that she had never seen before.

Lee, on her first trip to Myanmar since being appointed to her role last month, also visited Mandalay, the country's second largest city, where violence between Buddhists and Muslims left two people dead earlier this month.

She said that recurring inter-communal violence revealed "deep divisions and a growing polarization between Muslim and Buddhist communities".

LACK OF HEALTH PROVISION

Lee described a lack of health clinics and adequate access to health services, which she said was worrisome in the wake of the departure earlier this year of a number of international NGOs that had provided crucial health services.

In February, Myanmar expelled the main aid group providing health to more than half a million Rohingya in Rakhine state - Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland - after the group said it had treated people believed to have been victims of violence in southern Maungdaw township, near the Bangladesh border.

In March, NGO and U.N. offices in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, were attacked by Buddhists angered by rumours that a foreign staffer for another group, Malteser International, had desecrated a Buddhist flag. This led to the withdrawal of aid groups providing healthcare for 140,000 Rohingya displaced by Buddhist-Muslim violence since 2012.

Lee said: “With the departure of INGOs providing critical health services and the operation of humanitarian organizations not yet at full capacity after the attacks in Sittwe in March, health provision still falls far short of needs.”

She said that she had received disturbing reports of people dying in camps due to the lack of emergency medical assistance.

She added that Muslims continued to face systematic discrimination, including restrictions on freedom of movement, restricted access to land, food, water, education and health care, and restrictions on marriages and birth registration.

Lee said she had received allegations of violations against the Muslim population in Rakhine, including arbitrary arrests, torture, death in detention, the denial of fair trials, rape and sexual violence.

“I believe these allegations are serious and merit investigation, with perpetrators held to account,” she said.

(Editing by Stephen Powell)

Aman Ullah

RB Article

July 26, 2014

"The Rohingyas are majority in North Arakan and shall have legitimate constitutional rights to vote and to be elected." (Prime Minister Thein Sein)

A general election was held in Burma (Myanmar) on 7 November 2010, in accordance with the new constitution. This constitution was approved in a referendum held in May 2008, which was held in the midst of Cyclone Nargis.

Since 2008, Brig-Gen Phone Swe, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, was assigned for the assessment of North Arakan situation and to organize the peoples residing there for the constitutional referendum. Brig-Gen Phone Swe managed over whelming support from Rohingyas 2008 constitutional referendum to the satisfaction of the junta. They want the same support and cooperation from Rohingyas at the coming 2010 election with joining Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) a political affiliate of SPDC.

Brig-Gen Phone Swe, with constant contacting Rohingyas communities of both Rangoon and North Arakan, tried to study the ground reality, perception and mind set of entire Rohingya community of Arakan for two years. After convincing with over whelming support at the referendum from these peoples and managed to take a pro-Rohingya policy by the Junta. Not only Phone Swe, other high ranking SPDC officials also made frequent visits to this area and gave various kinds of promises to the Rohingya people.

In this regard, Let.Gen (Retd) Thein Sein, the then Prime Minister, accompanied by 12 ministers, a high power delegation was arrived in Buthidaung Township on 16 March 2010. There the Prime Minister held a meeting on that day where local government officers, USDA members, and Rakhine and Rhingya civil society’s members were attended. In this meeting the Prime Minister told that, “Rohingya living in Arakan State are citizens of Burma…Rohingya and government can work together for the betterment of Burmese people and development of the country….Rohingyas have been staying here and shall stay here no need to go anywhere. .. Rohingyas are majority in North Arakan and shall have legitimate rights to vote and to be elected.” 

Convincing the promises of the Prime Minister, most of the Rohingya peoples of North Arakan decided to join USDA and participate to the forth coming election. A total of 37 political parties contested in this election, which included two Rohingya political parties also contested - - National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD) and National Democratic and Peace Party (NDPP). Some independent Rohingya candidates also contested in the election.

Out 33 Rohingya contested in the polls, 21 contested with NDPD ticket, 6 with USDP ticket, 3 with NDPP ticket and 3 independent candidates. U Htay Win (a) Zahidur Rahman with USDP ticket was elected for the Nationalities Parliament. U Aung Zaw Win (a) Zakir Hussain and U Shwe Maung (a) Abdu Razak both with USDP tickets were elected for the People’s Parliament. U Aung Myo Myint (a) Jahan Gir with USDP ticket, U Aung Myint (a) Zahiddullah and U Bashir Ahmed both with UNDP tickets were elected for the State Parliament. The Rohingyas of North Arakan were overwhelmingly gone to vote with average turnover of more than 90%.

This was not the first time that Rohingyas were enfranchised in the National Election of Burma. Being one of the indigenous peoples of Burma, the Rohingyas were also enfranchised in all the national elections of Burma: - during the later colonial period (1935-1948), during the democratic period (1948-1962), during the BSPP regime (1962-1988), and 1990 multi-party election led by SLORC. 

1936 election of Legislative Assembly

The first and only election held under the Government of Burma Act 1935 that took place in November 1936. Before 1937, Burma was a province of British Indian Empire. In 1937 Burma was separated from India under the British Administration. A new constitution came into effect. Under its provisions the people of Burma were given a bigger role to play in the running of their country.

Under the 1935 Act there were 132 seats in the House of Representatives, 91 of the seats were general non-communal seats and the remaining 41 being reserved for communal and special interest groups of which 12 were reserved for Karen (of Ministerial Burma), 8 for Indians, 2 for Anglo-Burmans, and 3 for Europeans. But, according to Martin Smith, ‘there was no separate representation for the Mons of Lower Burma; the question of seats of the Southern Chin, the Arakanese Muslims including Kamans and Myedus (59,000), the Zerbadis (116,000) from the mixed Burma Muslims union. The single exception has been North Arakan, where Muslims from distinct majority constituency in several districts along the Bangladesh border.’ {Martin Smith, Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity 1999} Thus, the Rohingya Muslims of Akyab district North constituency, a non-communal rural constituency, were recognize as children of the soil and in the first time taken as eligible to vote or to stand for election on the ground of their being one of the indigenous communities of Burma. Mr. Ghani Markin returned on the votes of those Rohingyas as a Member of Legislative Assembly.

Constituent Assembly election of 1936

The second election was held under the Aung San-Atlee Agreement that was signed on 27 January 1947. According to that agreement, which said, ‘in order to decide on the future of Burma a Constituent Assembly shall be elected within four months instead of Legislature under the Act of 1935. For this purpose the electoral machinery of 1935 Act will be used. Election will take place in April 1947 for the general non-communal, the Karen and the Anglo-Burman constituencies as constituted under the Act of 1935, and each constituency two member shall be returned. Any Burma nationals defined in the ‘Annex A’ of the Agreement registered in a general constituency other than one of those mentioned above shall be placed on the register of a general non-communal constituency.’

According to ‘Annex A’ of the Agreement, ‘A Burma National is defined for the purpose of eligibility to vote and to stand as a candidate at the forth coming election as British subject or the subject of an Indian State who was born in Burma and reside there for a total period not less than eight years in the ten years immediately preceding either 1st January, 1942 or 1st January 1947’.

Immediately before the last election, the Muslims of Akyab district North constituency were recognized as children of the soil and first taken as eligible to vote or to stand for election on the ground of their being one of the indigenous races of Burma, but when the Aung San - Atlee Agreement was out, the government misunderstood the position and it was notified that unless they declared themselves as Burma nationals, they would not be eligible to vote or to stand for election to the constituent Assembly.

According to Mr. Sultan Ahmed, who became later a member of Constituent Assembly, ‘It is not understood how they can be treated under clause (IV) section II of the Constitution. By so doing about 95% of the population residing in this constituency, at a stroke of the pen, become foreigners, which action they strongly felt as unjust and uncalled for.’

The Muslims of that constituencies made strong protest against this decision on the ground of their being one of the indigenous races of Burma. The government withheld the first decision and allowed the Muslims to vote or stand for elections held in March 1947. Mr. Sultan Ahmed and Mr. Abdul Gaffar returned on the votes of this Muslims as members of the constituent Assembly. They continued in their office, representing the Akyab district North constituency till Burmese independence and took the oath of allegiance to the Union of Burma on the 4th January 1948 as members of the new parliament of the Union of Burma.

‘This decision and action of the government conclusively proved that these Muslims as a whole or in-groups are accepted as one of the indigenous races of Burma. And in this connection, it may be pointed out that the Akyab district North constituency is non-communal rural constituency and these Muslims of Arakan belong to this constituency’ remarked Mr. Sultan Ahemd.

Parliamentary Elections during 1948-1962

Since the holding of the constituent Assembly till 1962 military took over, three general elections were held for both Chambers of the Parliament in 1952, 1956 and 1960 respectively. The Rohingyas had enjoyed the right to vote and the right to be elected as children of the soil in all the elections. In 1952, Mr. Sultan Ahmed, Daw Aye Nyunt (a) Zohora Begam, Mr. Abul Bashar and U Poe Khine (a) Nasir Uddin were elected as members of the Chamber of Deputies and Mr. Abdul Gaffer was elected as a member of the Chamber of Nationalities. In 1956, Mr. Sultan Ahmed, Mr. Abul Khair, Mr. Abul Bahsar and Mr. Ezahar Mian were elected as the members of the Chamber of Deputies and Mr. Abdul Gaffer remained as a member of the Chamber of Nationalities. A by-election was held for the Buthidaung North Constituency in 1957 as the election of Mr. Ezahar Main was challenged and the verdict was given against him. Mr. Sultan Mahmood was elected and he was inducted in the cabinet of U Nu as a Minister of Health. In 1960, Mr. Rashid Ahmed, Mr. Abul Khair, Mr. Abul Bahsar and Mr. Sultan Mahmood were elected as members of the Chamber of Deputies while Mr. Abdus Suban was elected as a member of the Chamber of Nationalities.

General Election during BSPP Regime 1962- 1988

During the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) rule, four general elections for the People’s assembly and People’s Council at different levels were held in 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1986 respectively. These elections had been held on the basis of the 1974 Constitution.

Under the 1974 Constitution and 1973 Election Law, ‘citizens born of parents both of whom are Union nationals and citizens born of parents both of whom are Union citizens, have the right to be elected people’s representatives to the People’s Assembly or People’s Council at different levels. Persons who are not citizens of the Union of Burma have no right to vote.’

According to the 1974 Constitution, ‘citizens are those who are born of the parents whom are nationals of the Socialist Republic of Union of the Burma and who are vested with citizenship according to existing laws on the date of this constitution comes into force.’ 

Former Minister for Mines Dr. Nyi Nyi and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister U Win Ko had to resign from the position of the members of cabinet and People’s Assembly, as they could not fulfill the requirement of the said law.

The Rohingyas had enjoyed the right to vote and the right to be elected as people’s representatives to the Organ of State power at different levels. No Rohingya who had either been elected or who had applied for the nomination had neither been challenged nor barred from participation or asked to resign after being elected.

Multi-Party Election of 1990

SLORC held multi-party general election in May 1990. The Rohingya were not only allowed to vote but also, in their exercise of franchise, elected four Rohingya members of Parliament. U Chit Lwin (a) Ebrahim, Mr. Fazal Ahmed, U Kyaw Min (a) Shomshul Anwarul Haque, and U Tin Maung (a) Nur Ahmed have been elected as members of the Parliament.

Under the1989 election law ‘all citizens, associate citizens and naturalized citizens are permitted to vote, but only the citizens are allowed to stand for election. No foreign residents were allowed to vote.’ Thus, allowing taking part in the national elections must be upheld as a measure of recognition for the Rohingyas as full citizens.

In fact the Rohingyas were not only permitted to vote but also to form their own political parties during the May 1990 election. Two parties were formed the Students and Youth League for Mayu Development and the National Democratic and Human Rights (NDPHR). The NDPHR won all four seats in Maung Daw and Buthidaung constituencies, and in each constituency votes for the two parties counted for 80 per cent of the total votes cast. Moreover, the turnout in both constituencies equaled the national average, at 70 per cent of eligible voters. The NDPHR also fielded candidates in four other constituencies; Kyuk Taw-1, Minbya-1, Mrauk U -2 and Sittwe -2, and they gained an average of 17 per cent of the votes while the Government- backed National Unity Party got only 13 per cent. 

Although the name of Rohingya was not permitted to use in the party title, the NDPHR was allowed to produce a booklet in Burmese called ‘Arakan and the Rohingya people: a short History’ on August 31, 1991. According to the NDPHR sources, the permission to print this booklet was rescinded two months later. 

In spite of the Rohingyas, being one of indigenous races of Burma, had enfranchised in all the national elections of Burma from later colonial period to present Then Sein regime, today they are knowingly and deliberately being branded as aliens. The government vehemently denies the existence of a Rohingya ethnicity, referring to the group, even in official documents, as “Bengali.” This stems from a pervasive belief that all Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Even president Thein Sein who told before the election that, “Rohingyas have been staying here and shall stay here no need to go anywhere. . . Rohingyas are majority in North Arakan and shall have legitimate rights to vote and to be elected,” now announced that the “only solution” was to send Rohingya to other countries or to refugee camps overseen by UNHCR. UNHCR promptly rejected the proposed plan.

The Rohingya have long been profoundly vulnerable to all forms of oppression and atrocities. Successive regimes, for decades, have institutionalized a system of apartheid against these people. Kept in concentration camp-like conditions and ghettoized neighborhoods, Rohingya are not permitted freedom of movement. 

As a nation, Burma is committing numerous crimes including systematic persecution and discrimination, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

During the last two years, unspeakable crimes are being carried out against innocent humans: children, women and men by the country’s government and racist extremists. Every aspect of their lives, including marriage, childbirth and ability to work, is severely restricted. Their right to identity and citizenship is officially denied; in other words, they are not recognized as humans before the law. The Myanmar government even denies humanitarian agencies unfettered access to nearly 200,000 Rohingya in the camps.

From June 2012 to July 2013, the violence has left more than 200 people dead and displaced about 150,000 more, mostly Muslims. Violence also has spread to other parts of Burma.

Since then, the Rohingya have been backed into a corner, their lives made so intolerable that tens of thousands have fled by sea, seeking safety and a sense of dignity elsewhere. Surviving the perilous journey to Bangladesh, Thailand or Malaysia is, too often, seen as the only way to finally be free from persecution. 

It is the birth right of each and every Rohingya and the Rohingya as whole of Arakan to be nationals and to be one of the indigenous peoples of Burma. Nothing short of this will satisfy this people and justice should be done to them according to their legal and constitutional rights.

By Lawi Weng

The Irrawaddy

July 24, 2014

RANGOON — The Arakan State government and Burma’s Ministry of Health have encouraged international humanitarian organizations—including the previously maligned Medecins Sans Frontieres—to work in the troubled state, where 140,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) live in increasingly dire conditions after interreligious violence broke out more than two years ago.

The Ministry of Health said in a statement printed in state media on Thursday that the assistance of international organizations would contribute to the stability and development of Arakan State.

The Arakan State government said in the statement that “our government would like to invite all organizations, as well as other UN agencies and including MSF, to participate in implementing the Rakhine Action Plan effectively at Union and state levels,” referring to a recently issued plan that covers development in the health and education sectors of Burma’s second-poorest state.

The statements mark a notable improvement in at least the public stance of state and Union-level officials toward MSF, which faced a barrage of government criticism earlier this year and has been barred from operating in Arakan State.

Members of Arakan State’s Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) met with diplomats, UN agencies, international nongovernmental organizations, state government officials, civil society organizations and representatives from the Myanmar Peace Center in late June. The meeting addressed how to improve humanitarian aid delivery and relief efforts, with the parties also agreeing to put an emphasis on development issues impacting the state.

The ECC, comprised of government officials and civil society leaders, was set up in March to oversee aid operations in the state.

Win Myaing, the Arakan State government spokesman, said he had not read the statement yet and did not know anything about it, declining to provide comment on those grounds.

Than Tun, who is a member of the ECC and a community leader in Sittwe, said MSF would need to win the hearts and minds of the state’s majority ethnic Arakanese population if it wanted to resume operations there.

“Arakan people did not like MSF. To let it come back, this depends only on our people,” he said, adding that the Arakanese would welcome any organizations working in the region, but only if they provided humanitarian aid in an impartial way.

“There will be no problems coming here if they have transparency and no bias in offering aid. This depends on those organizations,” Than Tun said.

Accusations of bias have hounded MSF, which maintains that it provides its services based solely on medical need in a state where the vast majority of the displaced populations are Rohingya Muslims.

The Burmese government kicked MSF out of Arakan State in February after the aid group said it had treated patients wounded in a massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Maungdaw Township’s Du Chee Yar Tan village.

The government has denied that any attack took place.

After MSF’s aid operations in the state ceased, the Ministry of Health said it had stepped up its delivery of medical services, but frequent reports since then of the deteriorating health situation in the IDP camps suggest the government’s efforts have failed to plug the hole left by the MSF pull out.

In an email to The Irrawaddy, MSF responded positively to the government’s apparently softened stance toward the organization.

“MSF welcomes the Myanmar Government’s announcement today that the organization will be invited to resume medical humanitarian operations in Rakhine [Arakan] State,” the group said. “We look forward to continuing constructive discussions with the Ministry of Health regarding how MSF can support the ministry in the immediate expansion of life-saving medical activities for the people of Rakhine currently facing a humanitarian crisis.”

Despite Thursday’s state media missive, MSF remains officially banned from operating in the state.

By Paul Mooney & Thin Lei Win

Reuters

July 24, 2014

Visitors to the medical facility in one of Myanmar's poorest and most remote regions are greeted by a padlocked gate and a sign reading: "Clinic closed until further notice."

A vehicle that used to ferry around doctors and patients parked next to the neat compound of bamboo and brick buildings in the western state of Rakhine is covered in thick dust.

Since international aid groups were forced out of the area in February and March, members of the minority Muslim Rohingya community who relied on them say basic health care services have all but disappeared.

Worst affected are those in Northern Rakhine State (NRS), home to most of Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya who are stalked by sickness and malnourishment and as yet untouched by reforms under a semi-civilian government which took power in 2011.

Many people in and around the village of Inn Din, a collection of bamboo houses with thatched roofs and earthen floors a two-hour drive from NRS's biggest town Maungdaw, speak of disease and preventable death.

Nurfasa, born in late May, fidgeted in her grandmother's arms, her chest rising and falling with labored breaths. The desperately weak infant opened her mouth wide as if to cry, but no sound came out.

For the first 20 days of her life, all Nurfasa had for nutrition was ground-up rice powder mixed with water, because her mother, legs swollen and womb racked with pain, could not produce enough milk to feed her.

"We don't have the money to go to Maungdaw and the MSF clinic here is closed," said her grandmother Montai Begum. "We showed the baby to the government midwife in the village, but she asked for money."

GLIMMER OF HOPE?

The expulsion of international aid organizations stems from the violence that erupted across Rakhine state in 2012 between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, killing at least 200 people and displacing 140,000, most of them Rohingya.

When Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland said it had treated people it believed were victims of sectarian violence near Maungdaw in January, the government expelled the group for flavoring Muslims. Myanmar denies the attack took place.

And after a foreign staff member from another aid organization, Malteser International, was rumored to have desecrated a Buddhist flag, NGO and U.N. offices in Rakhine came under attack and groups withdrew.

MSF's departure has had "a major humanitarian impact", said Pierre Peron, spokesman for the United Nations' coordination agency UNOCHA.

"MSF had built up a program over 20 years and it was reaching places that were very difficult to reach, and that's not something that can be done overnight," he said.

MSF hopes it can return soon after the government announced on Thursday that the group could go back to Rakhine, a decision the organization welcomed.

Whether that commitment is fulfilled, and under what conditions, may be questions for talks over the coming days.

Some aid workers fret that the announcement has more to do with politics than resolving the humanitarian crisis.

Yanghee Lee, the new UN human rights envoy to Myanmar, is in the country on a 10-day visit that included a trip to Rakhine.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry may visit Myanmar for the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in August, and President Barack Obama is also expected before the end of 2014.

Timing is crucial. The health crisis could worsen as monsoon rains set in, making sanitation more difficult, and experts warn of the risk of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis spreading in the absence of reliable medical care.

Than Tun, a Buddhist community leader and member of the Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) set up by the government to oversee international NGOs (non-governmental organizations), confirmed MSF-Holland would be allowed back to NRS.

But he underlined the level of mistrust between the Buddhist community and anyone it suspected of siding with Muslims.

"Although we have agreed to allow them in, we are rather worried that they will not cooperate with us with full transparency like other INGOs," he told Reuters. "We find it difficult to trust them."

TRUST IS SCARCE

Rohingya, who are stateless because the government considers them to be illegal Bengali immigrants, often do not dare go to state-run hospitals and clinics for fear of what may happen.

Aisyah Begum, 25, was still mourning for her husband, Kamal Husor, who was injured while working in the forest in May.

According to Aisyah, the private doctor in Maungdaw, a bone-jarring two-hour drive away, said he could not help.

She decided against going to the public hospital - she had heard Rohingya die there - and treated the wound with medicine from a make-shift pharmacy. Nineteen days later, Husor, 55, passed away from what was probably a treatable infection.

"Had MSF been open, I would have taken him there," she said, looking forlorn. "I trusted them."

Assessing the impact of the aid group's exit is difficult, with no one to provide reliable data on disease and death rates.

But in the last quarter of 2013, MSF treated about 9,000 patients every month, and about 1,000 pregnant women in the six clinics it ran in NRS. Over the same period, it referred 160-200 people monthly to hospitals for life-saving treatment.

Rakhine officials play down the role of international aid organizations.

Government medical teams have been making limited visits to Rohingya areas, but foreign aid workers say they are inadequate.

"The Ministry of Health has been providing better health care than MSF or Malteser," Than Tun said. "And we can see this with our own eyes."

ACCESS RESTRICTED

Access to NRS is severely restricted and only a handful of foreign reporters have been there.

A Reuters team traveled seven hours by boat and car from Rakhine's capital Sittwe on a recent visit, one of the few times an international news organization has been allowed into NRS.

They witnessed evidence of a growing health crisis in a region where Rohingya say their basic human rights are denied.

International news coverage of the Rohingyas' plight has focused on sprawling, squalid camps outside Sittwe where those displaced by violence live. In NRS, many more Rohingya exist in what they call apartheid-like conditions.

NRS's maternal mortality rate is double Myanmar's national average - which, at 200 deaths per 100,000 live births, is already one of Asia's worst.

In Buthidaung and Maungdaw, two of NRS's three townships, malnutrition rates rival those in war-torn regions of sub-Saharan Africa.

Myanmar was a military dictatorship for almost 50 years until a semi-civilian government took power in 2011, but reforms have largely passed NRS by - many Rohingya cannot travel, marry or seek medical treatment without official permission.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the fight for democracy while the military ran the country, has faced rare criticism abroad for her failure to defend the Rohingya.

(Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Aman Ullah

RB Article

July 23, 2014

Nationality pertains to a person’s region of birth or origin. Nationality is also defined as the relation of a person with his state of origin. Nationality gives a person protection of the nation where he or she was born. It is a fundamental human right that facilitates the ability to exercise all the other rights.

The right to nationality without arbitrary deprivation is now recognized as a basic human right under international law. According to Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “everyone has the right to a nationality,” and “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality.” While issues of nationality are primarily within each state’s jurisdiction, a state’s laws must be in accord with general principles of international law. As a member of the United Nations, Burma is legally obliged to take action to promote “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” 

Nationality, according to the International Court of Justice, is “a legal bond having as its basis a social fact of attachment, a genuine connection of existence, interests and sentiments.” The court first articulated criteria for defining an individual’s nationality in the pivotal Nottebohm Case, which gives. “preference to the real and effective nationality, that which accord[s] with the facts, that based on stronger factual ties between the person concerned and one of these States whose nationality is involved.” A ‘genuine and effective link,’ as the ‘real and effective nationality’ has been termed, which is determined by considering factors laid out in Nottebohm, including the “habitual residence of the individual concerned but also the centre of interests, his family ties, his participation in family life, attachment shown by him for a given country and inculcated in his children, etc.”

Nearly all Rohingya or their parents and at least their four generations were born in Arakan, Burma, have resided there, and have family there, all factors that establish a genuine and effective link to Burma. They are living in Arakan, Burma generation after generation for centuries after centuries and their arrival in Arakan has predated the arrival of many other peoples and races now residing in Arakan and other parts of Burma.

They are a group of people who believes that they are similar; because of this similarity, they believe that their fates are intertwined. That is they have a common identity and a belief in a shared future through collective action. They have acted together in the past, they are acting together in the present, and they will act together in the future. As a collective agent, they are participants in a common venture. Through common action, they want to create a common future, where their people can live out their distinctive life ways in freedom, safety and dignity. As a nation they are jointly committed to create a space for people like them.

Mr. M.A. Gaffer, from Buthidaung, was a member of 1947 Constitutional Assembly, an Upper House MP from 1951 to 1960 and also a Parliamentary Secretary in Health Ministry. 

He wrote, in his Memorandum, which was presented to the Regional Autonomy Enquiry Commission dated the 24th May, 1949, that “We the Rohingyas of Arakan are a nation. We maintain and hold that Rohingyas and Arakanse are two major nations in Arakan. We are a nation of nearly nine lakhs more than enough population for a nation; and what is more we are a nation according to any definition of a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of value and proportion, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions aptitude and ambitions, in short, we have our distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all canons of international law the Rohingyas are a nation in Arakan." 

Under any cannons of international law and human civilization the Rohingyas are much more than a national minority. They are a nation with a population of more than 3 million (both home and abroad), having a supporting history, separate culture, civilization, language and literature, historically settled territory and reasonable size of population and area. They share a public culture different from the public culture of those around them. They are determined not only to preserve and develop their public culture, but also to transmit to future generations as the basis of their continued existence as people, in accordance with their own cultural pattern, social institution and legal system. 

Being indigenous peoples, they have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, economic, social and cultural characteristics, as well as their legal systems, while retaining their rights to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of State. Not only have they had the right to a nationality but also the rights to their lands, territories and resources, which derive from their political, economic and social structures and from their cultures, spirituals traditions, histories and philosophies. 

Thus, during the colonial rule the British recognized the separate identity of the Rohingyas and declared north Arakan as the Muslim Region. Again there are instances that Prime Minister U Nu, Prime Minister U Ba Swe, other ministers and high- ranking civil and military official, stated that the Rohingyas people like the Shan, Kachin, Karen, Kaya, Mon and Rakhine. They have the same rights and privileges as the other nationals of Burma regardless of their religious beliefs or ethnic background.

Under the article 3 of Aung San-Atlee Treaty (1947) and the First Schedule to the Burma Independence Act, 1947, the Rohingyas are the citizens of the Union of Burma. They are also one of the indigenous races of Burma under section (I) (II) and (III) of the 1947 Constitution of the Union of Burma. 

Mr. Sultan Ahmed, from Maung Daw, was a member of 1947 Constitutional Assembly, a Member of Parliament from 1951 to 1960 and was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Minorities, Ministry of Relief and Resettlement, and the Ministry of Social and Religious Affairs, with the status of Deputy Minister. He was one of the longest serving parliamentary secretaries. 

According to him, ‘when section 11 of the constitution of the Union of Burma was being framed, a doubt as to whether the Muslims of North Arakan fell under the section of sub-clauses (I) (II) and (III), arose. In effect an objection was put in to have the doubt cleared in respect of the term “indigenous” as used in the constitution. But it was withdrawn on the understanding and assurance of the President of the Constitutional Assembly, who, when approached for clarification with this question, said, “Muslims of Arakan certainly belong to one of the indigenous races of Burma, which you represent. In fact, there are no pure indigenous races in Burma and that if you do not belong to indigenous races Burma; we also cannot be taken as indigenous races of Burma.” Being satisfied with his kind explanation, the objection put in was withdrawn.’

Being one of the indigenous communities of Burma, the Rohingyas were enfranchised in all the national and local elections of Burma. Their representatives were in the Legislative Assembly, in the Constituent Assembly and in the Parliament. As members of the new Parliament, their representatives took the oath of allegiance to the Union of Burma on the 4thJanuary 1948. Their representatives were appointed as cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries. They had their own political, cultural, social organizations and had their programme in their own language in the official Burma Broadcasting Services (BSS). As a Burma’s racial groups, they participated in the official “Union Day’ celebration in Burma’s capital, Rangoon, every year. To satisfy part of their demand, the government granted them limited local autonomy and declared establishment of Mayu Frontier Administration (MFA) in early 60s, a special frontier district to be ruled directly by the central government.

In spite of that the Rohingya are the worst victims of human rights violations in Burma. They were displaced. Their identity was polluted. Their population was diluted. Their right to nationality was arbitrarily deprived. Since 1948, expelling the Rohingyas from their ancestral land and properties has become almost a recurring phenomenon. About 2 million uprooted Rohingyas have taken shelters in many countries of the world since the anti-Muslim pogrom of 1942 in Arakan. 

The condition of Rohingyyas started to turn from bad to worse when the military generals staged a coup de tat in 1962. Since then, successive Burmese Regimes have institutionalized a system of apartheid against these people. Kept in concentration camp-like conditions and ghettoized neighborhoods, Rohingya are not permitted freedom of movement. 

The current Thein Sein Government has surpassed all the previous records. His government vehemently denies the existence of a Rohingya ethnicity, referring to the group, even in official documents, as “Bengali.” By rejecting the appeal of UN to grant its Rohingya minority citizenship, President Thein Sein has suggested that the solution to ethnic enmity in Rakhine State was to send the Rohingya to another country or have the UN refugee agency look after them.

The year 2012 was a critical year for the Rohingyas of Burma. At a time when Burma was re-claiming admission into the community of nations through instituting incremental reforms in its domestic political process and the icon of democracy and change, Noble laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was on her trail to acknowledge international accolades bestowed on her, the Burmese state was engaged in serious violations of rights of the Rohingya community in the northern Arakan state.

The images of charred corpses, torched hamlets and wailing women and children dismayed the international community and conveyed messages of large-scale massacres and destruction of properties. Once again the world community stirred up to the plights of the Rohingyas, labelled by the UN as “the world's most persecuted minority.” 

In June 2012, in the aftermath of the alleged rape and murder of a Rakhine woman by few members of the Rohingya community, all hell broke loose. By invoking medieval conception of justice of punishing everyone for the act of a few errant members, not only did the Buddhist Rakhines inflicted disproportionate harm on the Rohingyas, on occasions induced and led by the monks; the Burmese state too instead of providing protection to the victims became an active party in the carnage. 

Since then unspeakable crimes are being carried out against innocent humans: children, women and men by the country’s government and racist extremists. The Rohingya have been singled out for systematic destruction.

Every aspect of their lives, including marriage, childbirth and ability to work, is severely restricted. Their right to identity and citizenship is officially denied; in other words, they are not recognized as humans before the law. The Myanmar government even denies humanitarian agencies unfettered access to nearly 200,000 Rohingya in the camps.

From June 2012 to July 2013, the violence has left more than 200 people dead and displaced about 150,000 more, mostly Muslims. Violence also has spread to other parts of Burma.

Since then, the Rohingya have been backed into a corner, their lives made so intolerable that tens of thousands have fled by sea, seeking safety and a sense of dignity elsewhere. Surviving the perilous journey to Bangladesh, Thailand or Malaysia is, too often, seen as the only way to finally be free from persecution. 

According to U Kyaw Min, an elected MP, Chairman of Democracy and Human Rights Party and also a member of Committee for Representatives Peoples Parliament (CRPP), “Rohingyas have been subjected to various pretexts and lame accuses which resulted in physical assault and mass destructions making 150,000 IDPs since 2012. These are well planned, well organized by a Rakhine terrorist network. The main instigator monk Wirathu is appreciated and applauded as loyal son of Lord Buddha. Despite 150,000 Rohingya’s being IDPs, the rest about one million or one third of total Rakhine state population are virtually confined in their homes or villages. Because of curfew order restriction, all Rohingya lost freedom of movement, work, and worship in mosques. No personal, cultural and food security for them. They have no access to medical care. Schools in the villages are closed. University students could not continue their academic study because of security and travel permit. Rohingyas suffer from malnutrition and almost all are starving or half fed. Thus people are compelled to flee the land in face of a lot of troubles and risks in their rash to other countries for safe haven.”

Campaigns of terror, crimes against humanity and extermination have been perpetrated against the Rohingya in a systematic and planned way. The restrictions on freedom of movement, marriage and education have dashed any future hope of development for the Rohingya, including forming families, all while they live in subhuman conditions amidst abject poverty. Humiliating restrictions on movement—even on travel from place to place within the same locality—have affected all normal activities in all fields, crippling the Rohingya socially, economically and educationally. 

Today, this group is increasingly jobless, homeless, without land of their own and the most illiterate section of Burma’s population. They are not tolerated and are systematically excluded and rendered ‘stateless’ in their own homeland because of their religious belief and ethnicity. They are not only denied their nationality but also their citizenships rights. They are now a people without a country dying alive and facing ‘slow-burning genocide’.

By Fars News Agency

July 23, 2014

TEHRAN - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani voiced Tehran's preparedness to help Myanmar take the necessary measures to improve the conditions of the Muslims living in that country.

"We hope that the minorities living in Myanmar, specially the Muslims, continue their life in there without facing any problem," President Rouhani said in a meeting with Myanmar's Accredited Ambassador to Tehran Yuang Xin Su on Tuesday.

The Iranian president expressed the hope that Iran and Myanmar would further expand bilateral ties during the mission of the new Myanmarese ambassador in Iran, and said, "Relations with the world countries, specially the Asian countries, is important to Iran."

He also expressed hope that ethnic and religious minorities, Muslims in particular, could live freely in Myanmar.

President Rouhani also voiced Iran's readiness to bolster economic, political, scientific and cultural ties with Myanmar.

He also added Iran is ready to cooperate with Myanmar in technical and vocational areas.

The Myanmarese ambassador, for his part, said the two countries have always enjoyed friendly relations.

In similar remarks, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also announced Tehran's readiness to help Myanmar settle the problems of the Muslim community living in the Southeast Asian country.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran's government is concerned about the situation of the Muslims in Myanmar and is ready to cooperate with the Myanmarese government to settle the problems of the Muslims," Zarif said in a meeting with Myanmar's new accredited ambassador to Tehran on Monday.

He also underlined the necessity for increasing cooperation with Myanmar in different economic, cultural and social fields.

The Myanmarese envoy, for his part, stressed that his government welcomes investment of Iranian companies in his country, and called for the expansion of economic and trade ties with Tehran.

Violence by extremist Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims has killed hundreds of them and forced many more to flee the country.

Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar account for about five percent of the country’s population of nearly 60 million. They have been persecuted and faced torture, neglect, and repression since the country's independence in 1948. The UN recognizes the Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as one of the world’s most persecuted communities.

The Myanmar government has been repeatedly criticized by human rights groups for failing to protect the Rohingya Muslims. International bodies and human rights organizations accuse the government of turning a blind eye to the violence.

By Paul Vrieze

The Irrawaddy

July 23, 2014

Burma’s transition to democracy, peace and justice has yet to take root and is being disrupted by continuing political repression, cronyism, ethnic conflict and outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence, an international human rights organization has warned.

The international community should do more to promote justice for current and past rights abuses in Burma, and support reforms in the country’s military, judiciary and economy, the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) said in a report released on Tuesday.

“Myanmar’s transition has not yet taken root,” Patrick Pierce, a co-author of the report “Navigating Paths to Justice in Myanmar’s Transition”, said in a press release. “The military still wields significant political power and influence. The continuing dominant role of former generals and business cronies comes with a reluctance to address both ongoing and past violations.”

“After three years of reforms, initial steps are being taken to hold government and elites more accountable,” ICJT said, adding that reforms are fragile and efforts to seek justice for rights abuses are only slowly taking shape.

President Thein Sein’s nominally civilian government took over from a military junta in 2011 and initiated sweeping reforms. It released political prisoners, initiated a peace process to end ethnic conflict, and promised to hold free and fair elections in 2015.

However, the Burma Army retains political powers through control over 25 percent of Parliament seats, while former junta members in the ruling party control government. The 2008 Constitution provides immunity for crimes committed under the former regime and Burma’s court system is considered as lacking independence.

The democratic transition has been marred by the Kachin conflict, a growing land rights crisis, a recent media crackdown, and large-scale right abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the Arakan State and outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence elsewhere.

ICTJ’s new report offered a range of recommendations for the international community on how to support the peace process and strengthen justice in Burma.

Accountability for past and present rights abuses should be promoted through support for judiciary reform, support for training, documentation and prosecution of rights abuses, and through research into the public’s desire for justice, according to ICTJ.

The report said providing justice and reparations for victims of current and past abuses is a key step in building public confidence in Burma’s new government and important for a successful transition to a more stable, democratic and prosperous country.

The group said demands for justice for mass crimes committed under the former junta were growing.

“Calls for acknowledgement and remedy from former political prisoners and democracy activists are gaining voice, amid a flourishing of general civic activity,” the report said, noting however, that “key policy actors, national and international, have not made accountability and non-repetition measures a priority.”

ICJT warned that, “[D]emands for a reckoning with the harsher aspects of the past will continue to emerge and gain momentum. Both national and international actors could, therefore, benefit from some strategic preparedness to help ensure that this happens in constructive ways.”

The group said that in the peace process the international community should encourage the inclusion of agreements on justice for past crimes committed during ethnic conflict. “Do not support a peace agreement that includes amnesty for serious crimes,” it stated unequivocally.

Military-to-military engagement with Burma—which the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia initiated last year—should be contingent on reforms, justice, public accountability and respect for rights in the Burma Army, according to ICJT.

The report offered no specific recommendations on how the government and international community should address current and past mass rights violations carried out against the stateless Rohingya.