By UN News 

October 5, 2014

Back from a recent trip to Myanmar, senior United Nations humanitarian and development officials today called for continued lifesaving aid to the displaced, assistance to address poverty and create better coexistence conditions, and a political solution to a new citizenship plan. 

These three priorities were outlined in a press briefing in New York by Haoliang Xu, Assistant Administrator and Director for the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific at the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and John Ging, Director of Operations at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

“My first impression was that there was progress made…but tremendous challenges remain,” Mr. Ging told journalists following a two-day visit to Myanmar that began on 8 September. 

Mr. Xu highlighted the need to scale up poverty eradication across Rakhine, with a particular focus on development solutions which promote peaceful co-existence. “Stability and peace can be achieved only when the needs of all communities are met,” he said. 

The officials’ visit focused on the implementation of the UN’s development and humanitarian assistance programmes in Rakhine state, which has witnessed a surge of violence between Buddhists and Muslims that first spiked in June 2012. An estimated 140,000 people live in 68 internally displaced persons camps in the state. 

The majority of those displaced are minority Rohingya Muslims. The Government, this summer, launched the Rakhine State Action Plan, which purports to grant citizenship to some of these families if they register as “Bengalis.” Many strongly object to this nomenclature since it implies they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh despite having lived in Myanmar for generations. 

“The issue of citizenship needs to be looked at in the context of history,” Mr. Xu said, briefing on his first visit to the country since taking the UNDP post. 

Also addressing the citizenship issue, Mr. Ging said that a peaceful resolution could be an “international success story” and called on the international community to ensure that “this crucial opportunity is not missed.” 

In addition to the humanitarian needs, more than 1 million community members face discrimination and severe restrictions on their freedom of movement, seriously compromising their basic rights to food, health, education and livelihoods, while reinforcing their reliance on international humanitarian assistance. 

During their visit, Mr. Xu and Mr. Ging commended the Government and the support of the UN and international partners for the work they are doing. 

While in the region, they two officials saw the “positive and practical results of intercommunal dialogue, in the construction of new roads and bridges to improve economic activity between communities,” according to a statement from UNDP last month. 

Following the visit, Mr. Ging continued to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) where, between 12 and 15 September, he saw the “underreported” challenges faced by the people.

Mr. Ging called for the “wider international community to reach beyond politics to the people” and fund a $116 million humanitarian appeal which is supported by “high quality, high level of accountability” from UN agencies. 

Some 2.4 million people in the country are relying on regular food assistance, he said, with chronic malnutrition “a way of life.”

Aman Ullah

RB Article

October 3, 2014

Burma has laid out a controversial plan to offer citizenship to Rohingya Muslims, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted minority, in exchange for registering their identities as Bengali.

Foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin said in an address to the UN general assembly that an action plan will be launched soon and requested the international community to provide development assistance in the Rakhine state, where most of the country's 1.1 million Rohingya live, stateless and in apartheid-like conditions.

"We are working for peace, stability, harmony and development of all people in Rakhine state," he said. 

Two days prior to U Wunna Maung Lwin’s speech, UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon said he remained “deeply troubled” by the situation in Rakhine.

Under this plan, those who refuse to register as Bengali rather Rohingya will be placed in camps while the government seeks their resettlement in a third country. The United Nations Refugee Agency, however, insists they are not eligible for resettlement, raising the prospect, which the government has not denied, of them being detained indefinitely.

The citizenship issue was a settled issue and the Muslims of Arakan who identify themselves Rohingya are citizens by birth. As they, their parents and their grandparents were born and bred in Burma and most of them were indigenous, under the sub clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) of Article Before the colonization of Burma by the British 11, of 1947 Constitution of Union of Burma. These are fundamental rights of a citizen and the 1947 constitution provided safeguard for fundamental rights. Under this constitution, the people of Burma irrespective of ‘birth, religion, sex or race’ equally enjoyed all the citizenships rights including right to express, right to assemble, right to associations and unions, settle in any part of the Union, to acquire property and to follow any occupation, trade, business or profession.

Indigenous peoples were the descendants of those peoples that inhabited a territory prior to colonization or formation of the present state. In the report of the Mr. Panton, the then Deputy Commissioner of Arakan, the Muslim population of Arakan was about 30,000 on the eve of the colonization of Burma by British. Thus, the descendants of those 30,000 must be included in the indigenous races of the Union of Burma. There are also many Muslim of Arakan who can claim to be citizens under section 4 (2) of the Union Citizenship Act of 1948 on the ground of their descent from ancestors who for two generations have made Burma their permanent home, and whose parents and himself were born in Burma. 

The Rohingya is not simply a self-referential group identity, but an official group and ethnic identity recognized by the post-independence state. In the early years of Myanmar’s independence, the Rohingya were recognized as a legitimate ethnic group that deserved a homeland in Burma.

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.

Being one of the indigenous races and bona fide citizens of Burma, the Rohingyas were enfranchised in all the national and local elections of Burma: - during the later colonial period (1935-1948), during the democratic period (1948-1962), during the BSPP regime (1962-1988), 1990 multi-party election held by SLORC and 2010 General Election held by SPDC. 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.

As Rohingyas are already qualified citizens under the existing laws, they are also citizens of Burma according to Article 145 of 1974 Constitution and Section 345 (b) of 2008 Constitution. According to the Article 145 of 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’ and under Section 345 (b) of 2008 constitution, ‘Person who is already a citizen according to law on the day this Constitution comes into operation are citizens of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar’.

Even, according to the section 6 of the 1982 Citizenship Law “A person who is already a citizen on the date this Law cones into force is a citizen. Action, however shall be taken under section 18 for infringement of the provision of that section.” That’s means that, Section 6 of the 1982 Citizenship Law states that, “according to The Union Citizenship (Election) Act, 1948 and The Union Citizenship Act, 1948, a person who is already a citizen on the date this Law comes into force is a citizen by law”. 

Thus, under all those laws and Acts mentioned above, the Muslims of Arakan who prefer to identify themselves in their own language as ‘Rohingya’ are not only one of the indigenous races of Burma but also full citizens of the Burma. Their citizenship matter was settled before the independence of Burma. They are not de facto citizens; they are de jure citizens of the country.

In spite of that, expelling the Rohingyas from their ancestral land and properties has become almost a recurring phenomenon since 1948. About 2 million uprooted Rohingya have been sheltering in many countries of world since the anti-Muslim pogrom of 1842 in Arakan. 

The apparent aim of promoting sectarian harmony and peaceful coexistence and resolving the issue of stateless through citizenship verification is a sinister ploy to reclassify the Rohingyas and forfeit Burmese citizenship. For many Rohingyas of Burma to register as Bengali would acknowledge that they are illegal immigrants and risk being in a limbo for rest of their lives.

Citizenship or Nationality is a “right to have right”. 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 widely ratified international treaty defining criteria for granting citizenship, a principle appears to be emerging whereby nationality is defined as a ‘genuine and effective link’ between the individual and state. This focuses primarily on “Factual ties” as a basis for nationality rights, determined by 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 inculcated in his children, etc.”

The International Court of Justice has determined that identifying the state in relation to which an individual may claim the right to a nationality should also be informed by the links that an individual has to particular state. Just as an individual cannot disclaim nationality where “genuine and effective” links to a particular state are clearly established, a state cannot deny the existence of such links on the basis of a claimed sovereign prerogative to determine nationality and citizenship.

Moreover, deliberately depriving the citizenship of the persons who had previously been recognized as citizens is even more objectionable in so far as it is trying to apply in an ex-post facto manner in contradiction to the international legal standards.

Now this controversial government plan, which to offer the Rohingyas an option to register as ‘Bengalis’ or face detention in camps. This either- or – option for an ethnic group that has been living in Burma for several centuries and suffering unbridled persecution there for a long time is really asking them to choose 'between the devil and the deep sea'. 

The Rohingya have been subject to this dilemma for decades; the choice between living under a regime that not only refuses to recognize the Rohingya as citizens but systematically persecutes them or languishing inside the confines of a refugee camps or living without documentation or legal protection in a foreign country.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Burma/Myanmar.

New Information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the sentencing of Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung, a 75-year old Rohingya human rights defender in Arakan/Rakhine State.

According to the information received, on September 26, 2014, Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung was sentenced by the Sittwe District Court to one year and six months in prison on charges of rioting (Article 147 of the Criminal Code) in connection with a protest held on April 26, 2013, at Thetkalpyin IDP camp in Sittwe Township. However, Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung was not present during the protest and had, in fact, tried to contact camp leaders in order to advise them to keep the demonstration peaceful (see background information).

The Sittwe District Court dropped all other charges, including “injuring a civil servant, interfering with his official duties” (Article 333 of the Criminal Code).

Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung remains detained in Sittwe Prison.

Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma Tomás Ojea Quintana, who repeatedly called for Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung’s release, described him as a prisoner of conscience and said his detention was arbitrary. Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung suffers from hypertension and stomach problems that require regular medication.

The Observatory deplores the sentencing and continued arbitrary detention of Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung, which seem aimed at sanctioning his peaceful human rights activities.

Background information:

In 1986, Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung was imprisoned for two years for writing an appeal to the authorities on behalf of local farmers whose land had been confiscated. In 1990, he was arrested during a crackdown on Rohingya activists and spent the next 10 years in jail. In June 2012, Government authorities detained him, along with several other Rohingya aid workers, for his alleged involvement in the sectarian unrest that hit Arakan State. He was released in August 2012.

Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung was re-arrested on July 15, 2013 by police officers in Sittwe Township. He was arbitrarily detained without charges at Sittwe Police Station No. 1 and denied access to his family and lawyers.

On July 31, 2013, Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung appeared before the Sittwe District Court to answer charges of inciting a protest against a government-led exercise to collect population data on April 26, 2013 at Thetkalpyin Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Sittwe Township.

On April 26, 2013, the local government of Arakan/Rakhine State undertook a survey of Muslim IDPs in Sittwe Township in order to provide the authorities with population data. The authorities required Muslim Rohingya to be recorded as “Bengalis”, a derogatory term that the government routinely uses to describe Rohingya.

After some members of the community contested being called “Bengali”, violence ensued. Clashes between Rohingya IDPs and immigration officials during the protests forced the authorities to suspend the registration process.

The April 26-related events have since been used as a pretext to falsely prosecute Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Burma, urging them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung, as well as of all human rights defenders in Burma/Myanmar;

ii. Release Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung immediately and unconditionally since their detention is arbitrary as it seems to only aim at sanctioning their human rights activities;

iii. Put an end to all acts of harassment, including judicial harassment, against Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung as well as against all human rights defenders in Burma/Myanmar;

iv. Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with its:

- Article 1, which provides that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”;

- Article 6(a), which foresees that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to participate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms”;

- Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;

Addresses:

· U Thein Sein, President of Myanmar, President Office, Office No.18, Naypyitaw, MYANMAR; Fax: + 95 1 652 624

· Lt. Gen Ko Ko, Minister for Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, Office No. 10, Naypyitaw, MYANMAR; Fax: +95 67 412 439

· U Win Mra, Chairman of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, 27 Pyay Road, Hline Township, Yangon, Republic of the Union of Myanmar; Fax: +95-1-659668

· Dr. Tun Shin, Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, Office No. 25, Naypyitaw, MYANMAR; Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106

· U Tun Tun Oo, Chief Justice, Office of the Supreme Court, Office No. 24, Naypyitaw, MYANMAR; Fax: + 95 67 404 059

· U Kyaw Kyaw Htun, Director General, Myanmar Police Force, Ministry of Home Affairs, Office No. 10, Naypyitaw, MYANMAR; Fax: +951 549 663 / 549 208

· H.E. Mr. Maung Wai, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Avenue Blanc 47, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. Fax: +41 22 732 89 19, +41 22 732 73 77, Email: mission@myanmargeneva.org

· Embassy of Myanmar in Brussels, Boulevard Général Wahis 9, 1030 Brussels, Belgium, Fax: +32 (0)32 2 705 50 48, Email: mebrussels@skynet.be

Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Burma in your respective countries.

(Photo: AFP)

By Tim McLaughlin 

The Myanmar Times 

October 2, 2014

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has accused the government of largely failing to take legal action against those responsible for outbreaks of religious violence over the past two years.

Fighting between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine State in July and October 2012 left around 200 dead and 140,000 displaced, while serious conflict has also occurred in Meiktila, Mandalay, Lashio and elsewhere.

Yet those responsible for the clashes have not been brought to justice, Mr Ban said in his annual report to the UN General Assembly.

“Legal proceedings against the perpetrators remain blocked,” he said. “[And] the suffering and complaints of the affected people, especially the Muslim communities in the internally displaced persons camps, whose basic rights have been severely curtailed, remain largely unassuaged.”

Police forces have routinely rounded up dozens of suspects in public shows of force following outbreaks of violence. However, rights groups say these mass arrests have largely targeted Muslim men and other individuals involved in the violence have not been prosecuted.

Presidential spokesperson and Minister for Information U Ye Htut declined to comment on the specifics of the report as he had not read it in its entirety. He did say, however, that the government welcomed the secretary-general’s acknowledgment that progress had been made in Rakhine State and Myanmar more broadly.

Mr Ban has regularly expressed concern about the conflict in Rakhine State, saying just last week that he was “deeply troubled” by the continued rift between the Buddhist and Muslim communities. He also called for the government to address the citizenship status of Rohingya Muslims, who are not recognised as citizens of Myanmar under the current country’s current legal framework.

The government has said it will only consider assessing their claims to citizenship if they agree to be called Bengali rather than Rohingya.

Mr Ban’s comments contrasted with those of the Myanmar delegation at the General Assembly. Last week it began lobbying to be dropped from the UN’s human rights agenda, arguing that reforms undertaken by President U Thein Sein’s government mean it should no longer be singled out.

Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin told officials at the UN General Debate on September 29 that the country had addressed “all major concerns related to human rights”.

The UN General Assembly has adopted resolutions against Myanmar for its poor human rights record every year since 1992.

RB News

October 1, 2014

New York -- Transparency International, UK Aid from the British People, and Freedom and Justice jointly convened an event, “Ending the Poverty: Why Strong, Accountable Institutions Matter”, at the United Nations 69th General Assembly on September 24, 2014. Over 200 delegates from around the world were invited to the event. Muslim Aid was one of the invitees to the event, and the delegation of Muslim Aid includes Dr. Hamid Azad, CEO and Dr. Abdul Bari, Secretary, both from Muslim Aid Headquarters in UK, Dr. Wakar Uddin, the President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Muslim Aid America, and Asmaa Ahmed, the Country Coordinator for USA.

The Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron, delivered the Keynote speech with opening remarks followed by a question session. Prime Minister Cameron spoke on fighting poverty through fighting corruption in Government institutions and other entities. He has articulated the importance of transparency and accountability in Government and other institutions in reducing the poverty. The prime Minister outlined a number of details on how to devise strategies in reducing poverty through effectively addressing series of corruption issues that are deeply engraved in the system of governments and institutions in many parts of the world.

The speech by Prime Minister David Cameron was followed by John Mahama, the President of Ghana, who delivered the speech with the same theme, through outlining some examples of his experience in his country where transparency and reducing corruption were pivotal in progress of Ghana’s economic development. Helen Clarke, Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), spoke on various developmental issues in over 170 countries and territories that UNDP operates. In her remarks, Mrs. Clarke clearly indicated that ill-defined accountability and weak government systems are often the cause for corruption that hinders and slows down the development. She further stated that honest and effective government is a high priority, and accountable and transparent institutions are extremely important in reducing poverty as it deeply affects average families in many countries. Dr. Huguette Labelle, the Chairman of Transparency International, also spoke on a similar theme of accountability in system of governments and institutions.

New York -- Sectarian violence between Buddhists and minority Muslims has thrown up "an unfortunate and unexpected challenge" in Myanmar's transition to democracy, the nation's foreign minister said Tuesday, but denied the unrest has been fueled by racism.

Wunna Maung Lwin told The Associated Press in an interview that the former pariah state's shift from military rule remained on track. He said next year's pivotal elections would be free and fair, but he wouldn't comment on whether opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be able to run for president.

The foreign minister also said his government has started a "verification process" in strife-torn Rakhine State to enable stateless Rohingya Muslims who have been in Myanmar for three generations to become naturalized citizens. But he stressed that the government was still not recognizing Rohingya as a group.

The government describes the estimated 1.3 million Rohingya as "Bengali," a term which many members of the minority group object to strongly, as it implies they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, a London-based activist group, also said he was concerned that those who do not accept that classification will be deemed refugees who should be sent to a third country.

The foreign minister said his government was still considering what would happen to those who don't meet the citizenship requirements of Myanmar's 1982 immigration law which requires "conclusive evidence" a person's family has been in Myanmar since before independence from Britain in 1948. Rights activists say the law is discriminatory.

"It's an apartheid law," said Mohamad Yusof, the president of New York-based Rohingya Concern International, who was leading about two dozen Rohingya activists protesting in front of the United Nations on Tuesday.

The protesters denounced the verification process, saying they were concerned it would force the Rohingya to identify as Bengali.

"This verification process is totally against international law and does not apply to the Rohingya. It is meant to exclude the Rohingya people," said Shoaukhat Kyaw Soe Aung, president of the Milwaukee-based Rohingya American Society.

A spokesman for the United Nations secretary-general said Tuesday that the U.N. hopes the verification process will be done according to human rights principles. "It is hoped that a significant number of the members of the Rohingya community currently in the camps, and outside, will be eligible for citizenship," Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Tun Khin predicted few Rohingya would have the required documentation and that even more would end up in camps.

Buddhist mob attacks against Muslims have sparked fears that religious intolerance is undermining Myanmar's democratic reforms. More than 140,000 Rohingya have been trapped in crowded camps since extremist mobs began chasing them from their homes two years ago, killing up to 280 people. The sectarian violence has spread to other parts of the country.

The foreign minister described the communal unrest as "an unfortunate and unexpected challenge that we have been facing in our transition."

"This has created a lot of international attention because some of the elements have portrayed that as religious discrimination or discrimination among the ethnic minorities, which is not true," he said. He blamed criminality for the unrest.

Myanmar's Minister for Foreign Affairs Wunna Maung Lwin addresses the 69th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 29, 2014. (Photo: REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON)

By Jared Ferrie

Reuters 

September 30, 2014

Myanmar has confirmed to the United Nations it is finalizing a plan that will offer minority Rohingya Muslims citizenship if they change their ethnicity to suggest Bangladeshi origin, a move rights groups say could force thousands into detention camps.

Most of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya are stateless and live in apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine state on the western coast of the predominantly Buddhist country. Almost 140,000 Rohingya remain displaced after deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012.

Reuters reported at the weekend that the national government had drafted a plan that will give members of the persecuted Rohingya minority a bleak choice: accept ethnic reclassification and the prospect of citizenship, or be detained. 

"An action plan is being finalised and will soon be launched," Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin said in an address to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, requesting the United Nations to "provide much-needed development assistance there". 

"We are working for peace, stability, harmony and development of all people in Rakhine state," he said.

It was the first public reference to the controversial plan, which the government has been drafting largely in secret, to the extent that humanitarian workers have until recently been shown only hard copies.

The Rakhine State Action Plan outlines projects including rebuilding homes for displaced people, improving health care and education, and promoting reconciliation, according to a draft obtained by Reuters.

More controversially, the plan contains a section on a process to determine whether Rohingya are citizens. Rohingya would be required to register their identities as Bengali, a term most reject because it implies they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh despite having lived in the area for generations.

The plan proposes that authorities "construct temporary camps in required numbers for those who refuse to be registered and those without adequate documents".

It states that the government will ask the U.N. Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, for help to resettle overseas those who fail to obtain citizenship.

But a UNHCR spokeswoman told Reuters it would be impossible for the agency to do so, because they would not be "recognized refugees who have fled persecution and conflict across international borders".

That raises the possibility that Rohingya could be forced from their villages and detained indefinitely, warned Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch.

"This plan is profoundly troubling because it would strip the Rohingya of their rights, systematically lock them down in closed camps in what amounts to arbitrary, indefinite detention," he said.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

By Jared Ferrie and Thin Lei Win

Reuters

September 28, 2014

Myanmar's national government has drafted a plan that will give around a million members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority a bleak choice: accept ethnic reclassification and the prospect of citizenship, or be detained.

Most of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya already live in apartheid-like conditions in western Rakhine, where deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012 displaced 140,000 people, mostly Rohingya.

The plan, shared with Reuters by sources who have received copies of the draft, proposes Rakhine authorities "construct temporary camps in required numbers for those who refuse to be registered and those without adequate documents". 

Many Rohingya lost documents in the widespread violence, or have previously refused to register as "Bengalis", as required by the government under the new plan, because they say the term implies they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

Despite winning praise for political and economic reforms introduced since military rule ended in March 2011, Myanmar has come under international pressure over its treatment of the Rohingya.

The plan says one of its aims is to promote peaceful co-existence and prevent sectarian tension and conflict.

It includes sections on resolving statelessness through a citizenship verification program, as well as promoting economic development. 

But rights advocates say it could potentially put thousands of Rohingya, including those living in long-settled villages, at risk of indefinite detention.

CITIZENSHIP OFFER

The government will offer citizenship for those that accept the classification and have required documentation. That may encourage some to consent to identification as Bengali. 

Citizenship would offer some legal protection and rights to those Rohingya who attain it. But an official from Rakhine State who is part of the committee overseeing citizenship verification said even that would not resolve the simmering tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in the state, or prevent a recurrence of the inter-community violence that plagued the country in 2012.

"Practically, even after being given citizenship and resettlement and all that, a Bengali with a citizenship card still won't be able to walk into a Rakhine village," said Tha Pwint, who also serves on the committee that oversees humanitarian affairs in the Rakhine.

The plan was drafted at the request of the national government, said Tha Pwint and three other sources contacted by Reuters about the plan.

Myanmar government spokesman Ye Htut could not be reached for comment on the plan, despite repeated efforts by Reuters to contact him by telephone and email.

STATELESS MINORITY

Many Rohingya families have lived in Rakhine for generations and are part of a small minority in the predominately Buddhist Myanmar.

They are stateless because the government does not recognize the existence of the Rohingya ethnicity, and has to date refused to grant the majority of them citizenship.

Accepting the term Bengali could leave the Rohingya vulnerable should authorities in future attempt to send them to Bangladesh as illegal immigrants, said Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch.

"One of human rights' core principles is the right to determine one's ethnic and social identity and this is precisely what the Myanmar government is doggedly denying the Rohingya," he said.

"So it's no wonder that the Rohingya completely reject the national government's efforts to classify them as 'Bengalis' because they know that is the starting point for an effort to confirm their statelessness and eject them from Myanmar."

The draft plan states that the authorities would request the U.N.'s refugee agency, the UNHCR, to "resettle illegal aliens elsewhere". That might leave them facing indefinite detention, Robertson said, as the UNHCR would be unable to assist.

Complying with the government request would be impossible, because the UNHCR only resettles "recognized refugees who have fled persecution and conflict across international borders", said Medea Savary, a UNHCR spokeswoman in Myanmar.

"The group in question does not fall into this category."

Myanmar is preparing to carry out a state-wide citizenship verification process for the Rohingya as part of the plan, a process it recently piloted. 

The document says the plan "is a work in progress, with time frames to be adjusted according to the situation on the ground".

Almost all Rohingya were excluded from a United Nations-backed census earlier this year after refusing to list their identities as Bengali.

The Action Plan for Peace, Stability and Development in Rakhine State also says the government will ask international agencies for help in having the "humanitarian needs met in terms of food, shelter, water and sanitation" for Rohingya living inside the new temporary camps.

Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya is proving a stumbling block to the country's opening to the world since a semi-civilian, reformist government led by former general President Thein Sein took over after 49 years of military rule. 

In May, U.S. President Barack Obama, who is due to visit Myanmar in November, cited abuses in Rakhine State as one reason for maintaining some economic sanctions.

(This story has been refiled to correct the spelling of "Robertson" in paragraph 19)

(Additional reporting by Minzayar Oo in YANGON; Editing by Simon Webb, Mike Collett-White and Alex Richardson)

By Daya Gamage

Asian Tribune

September 27, 2014

By Bernama

September 27, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR -- The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group Meeting on Rohingya has adopted the action plan recommended by the OIC Special Envoy for Myanmar, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, which calls on the Myanmar government to take action against people promoting hate speech and instigating violence.

The plan included holding inter-community and interfaith dialogue, allowing internally displaced people (IDPs) to return to their homes and invests in the socio-economic development of the Rakhine region and to open up for international humanitarian assistance to reach the community affected by the ethnic violence that broke out in 2012.

The decision was made during the OIC Contact Group meeting held Thursday in New York, on the sidelines of the Annual Coordination Meeting of the OIC Foreign Ministers under the chairmanship of the OIC secretary-general Iyad Ameen Madani, the OIC said in a statement.

Syed Hamid, former Malaysian foreign minister, briefed the meeting on his two visits to Myanmar since he was appointed Special Envoy last June where he met officials and visited the IDP camps, the statement said

The meeting welcomed the special envoy's efforts to work with the Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) director-general to develop a strategy for the Rohingya to participate in the registration process in Rakhine state, besides agreeing to continue efforts to dispatch humanitarian life-saving aid to the affected areas.

The meeting also urged the Government of Myanmar to abide by its obligations under international law and human rights covenants and take all necessary measures to stop the violence and discrimination against Rohingya Muslims and continuing attempts to deny their culture and Islamic identity.

The government was also urged to restore the citizenship of the Rohingya, which was revoked in the Citizenship Act of 1982 and to have an inclusive transparent policy towards ethnic and religious communities including the Rohingya Muslims and consider them as an ethnic minority in accordance with a UN General Assembly resolution.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin who met Madani stressed to the secretary-general that the government wanted the two communities in Rakhine to live in harmony.

The two sides agreed to cooperate more for better understanding between the two communities in Rakhine, provide assistance and interfaith dialogue, the statement said.

By Ayee Macaraig

Ban Ki-Moon says Myanmar must address the underlying causes of conflict between Buddhists and Muslims or its reform process will suffer

UNITED NATIONS – The head of the United Nations called on Myanmar to address the exclusion of Rohingya Muslims from a controversial census, warning that its much-vaunted reform process will suffer if root causes remain unresolved.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon commented on Myanmar’s first census in 30 years, widely criticized for excluding people who identified themselves as “Rohingya,” a religious minority in the Buddhist-majority nation.

“For the first time in decades, Myanmar will have data to help address key social indicators. However, some segments of the population were excluded from this vital census especially in Kachin and Rakhine states. These issues will need to be addressed in a genuinely inclusive and constructive way in the near future,” said Ban on Friday, September 26.

The UN chief was speaking at the Meeting of the Partnership Group on Myanmar held in New York at the sidelines of the annual debate of the UN General Assembly.

The UN has described the Rohingya as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. The Rohingya live under apartheid-like conditions, and need to ask permission to move from their villages or camps after they were displaced in deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012, Reuters said.

Ban expressed concern about their condition in camps, calling it “precarious and unsustainable.”

“I remain deeply troubled by the communal situation in Rakhine and in other parts of the country, the continued polarization between the communities as well as the possible eruption of conflict between Buddhists and Muslims. If the underlying causes are left unresolved, the reform process will suffer.”

Ban was referring to the political and economic reforms the country’s former military junta undertook in 2011 after 5 decades of military rule. The international community praised the reforms, restoring ties and aid to the once hermit Southeast Asian nation. (READ: Forward, back goes Myanmar transition)

Yet Ban said that Myanmar cannot progress while overlooking the plight of the Rohingya.

“I highlight the need to address comprehensively the issue of status and citizenship of the Muslim population in Rakhine State – referred to by the Government as ‘Bengalis’ – but known as ‘Rohingya’ by that population itself and much of the world.”

Myanmar officials use the term Bengali to imply that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh even if many of them lived in Myanmar for centuries.

Ban’s statement comes even after the UN itself drew criticism for the census that the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) helped conduct. Human Rights Watch said UNFPA did not adequately respond to the issue.

UNFPA said it was “deeply concerned” that Myanmar’s government violated the agreement to conduct the census with each person being able to declare what ethnicity he or she belongs to, in accordance with international standards.

Deeper ties with ASEAN

Ban also welcomed the agreement aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) signed with Myanmar to work again in Rakhine state, months after the government forced it outin February, and accused it of being biased in favor of the Rohingya. The departure left half a million Rohingya Muslims without access to health care.

“We look forward to the early presence of MSF on the ground. The various humanitarian agencies and the United Nations must work together to deliver increased development and humanitarian assistance to all sections of the population in an impartial and equitable manner,” Ban said.

Still, the Secretary-General commended Myanmar’s efforts to “implement an ambitious reform agenda,” citing its current chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an example.

The UN and ASEAN held a ministerial meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York also on Friday to strengthen the partnership between the two organizations. Ban, foreign ministers from ASEAN member-states, and ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh attended the event.

In a joint statement, the UN and ASEAN said they agreed to work together on integrated regional connectivity, countering radicalism and extremism, transnational crime, cybercrime and the spread of communicable diseases like the Ebola virus.

Other issues discussed were achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, information sharing and capacity building in maritime security, peacekeeping, and countering terrorism.

ASEAN foreign ministers also welcomed the establishment of a UN liaison presence in Jakarta.

The regional bloc and the UN are preparing for the 6th ASEAN-UN Summit to be held in November in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw alongside the ASEAN Summit.

“The United Nations expressed support for ASEAN’s efforts towards the realization of the ASEAN Community by 2015 and ASEAN’s central role in evolving regional architecture,” read the statement. 

Rappler multimedia reporter Ayee Macaraig is a 2014 fellow of the Dag Hammarskjöld Fund for Journalists. She is in New York to cover the UN General Assembly, foreign policy, diplomacy, and world events.

By Radio Free Asia

September 26, 2014

Myanmar President Thein Sein reshuffled the National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) on Thursday just as civil society groups issued a scathing report criticizing the authorities for not addressing its weaknesses under a new law that institutionalizes the body.

Under a presidential order, Thein Sein revamped the previous 15-member commission, removing nine officials and adding five new members in a newly constituted 11-member body. 

The previous commission has been accused of ignoring thousands of complaints it has received since its formation three years ago, and civil society groups say the panel has lost the trust of the people due to a lack of transparency.

Two local nongovernmental organizations, Burma Partnership and Equality Myanmar, slammed a recently passed law which will institutionalize and dictate the role of the MNHRC from 2015, saying it does not ensure the panel will be independent enough from the government to carry out its mandate.

“The MNHRC received many reports from the people [since its formation], but we don’t know how effectively they have been investigated by the commission,” Aung Myo Min, executive director of Equality Myanmar told RFA’s Myanmar Service, adding that the panel does not effectively communicate with the country’s civil society groups.

“We heard that some of the cases were referred to the relevant ministries, but the ministries don’t have enough power to resolve these cases. [The commission] is attempting to resolve them without challenging government policies, which lessens its effectiveness and makes it lose the people’s trust.”

Thein Sein’s office did not elaborate on why the commission membership was revamped.

Chairman Win Mra was among those maintained in the revamped body, while previous member Sit Myaing was promoted to vice-chair. 

Non-governmental groups were not consulted on the new appointments which comprised mostly former civil servants, reports said.

Burma Partnership and Equality Myanmar said Win Mra and Sit Myaing had both served as Myanmar’s ambassadors to the United Nations during the previous military junta rule when human rights abuses were rampant.

The two officials had consistently denied that rights violations had occurred when they were UN envoys.

Other maintained in the commission were Nyunt Swe, Nyan Zaw, Than Nwe and Khin Maung Lay, while the new members are Zaw Win, Yu Lwin Aung, Myint Kyi, Mya Mya, and Soe Phone Myint.

Panel criticism

According to the report by the two groups, of particular concern was the MNHRC’s failure to probe reports of human rights abuses amid communal violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and armed conflict in Kachin state, two areas where the panel “has done almost nothing.”

“The MNHRC, in times when an independent, principled investigation into human rights abuses is required, has proven to be ineffective and has actually contributed to the culture of impunity and hate in certain parts of [Myanmar],” said the report, titled “Burma: All The President’s Men.”

Commission chairman Win Mra had explicitly stated that the panel could not investigate abuses in active conflict zones, it said, “ruling out Kachin state and the ongoing atrocities there.”

The report also accused the MNHRC of failing to thoroughly investigate a “massacre” of more than 40 Muslim Rohingyas in Rakhine state’s Du Char Yar Tan village. 

The MNHRC had said it found no evidence of the massacre, but the report claimed the 40 were “killed with police involvement,” citing information from the United Nations and aid groups.

“Old forms of human rights violations continue and in some areas of the country they have increased significantly despite the new government and establishment of the MNHRC,” Khin Ohmar, coordinator of Burma Partnership, said in a statement on Thursday.

“Religious violence and the violence and war crimes committed by the [Myanmar] Army are resulting in the most serious of human rights violations in [Myanmar’s] long suffering ethnic areas. It is deeply disappointing to see that the MNHRC, despite the atrocities, is not taking a stand and an action for the victims.”

Additionally, the report listed criminal charges against journalists, as well as rights abuses linked to land confiscation for foreign-invested special economic zones, as issues that the commission has not seriously investigated.

Enabling law

Soon after taking power from the country’s former military regime in 2011, Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government issued an executive order for the creation of a national human rights commission.

The creation of the commission was immediately met with criticism as it was not approved by parliament, while the panel lacked a legislative text with a clearly defined mandate that adhered to universal human rights standards.

In March, the government enacted a law which will go into effect in 2015, providing the MNHRC with a mandate.

But Burma Partnership and Equality Myanmar said that under the new legislation, the commission lacks independence from the government and, in particular, the President’s Office, delegitimizing it as an institution.

“The funding of the institution as well as the benefits for individual members are under too much control of the executive, potentially limiting their independence,” it said.

“As for dismissal, the enabling law does not offer guarantees that prevent arbitrary dismissal which is crucial to effectiveness and independence,” the report said, adding that commission members can be dismissed on order of the president or union parliament speaker.

Regarding the selection of staff members, “there are no provisions to ensure an open and transparent recruitment procedure that would safeguard against nepotism.”

Aung Myo Min told RFA that he was “unsatisfied” with the law, which did not incorporate recommendations by civil society groups during its draft phase, and expressed concerns that NGOs had not been part of the selection process for the new MNHRC members announced Thursday.

“According to the draft [version of the] law, the commission has [the mandate] to discuss with the public and civil society organizations, but we haven’t been made aware of anything that the commission has done,” he said.

“The commission members are the people charged with solving our problems, but we [civil society groups] were not asked to select the new commission members. If the commission members don’t have any motivation to change, the commission won’t develop. It would be for show only and the people won’t trust or depend on it.”

Recommendations

The report said that in order to be seen making substantive progress, the MNHRC “needs to effectively tackle one of the myriad deteriorating trends in the human rights situation in [Myanmar]” to demonstrate a degree of independence and the political will to investigate rights abuses.

It called on Myanmar’s government, parliament and military to allow the panel unrestricted access to active conflict and ceasefire areas with guarantees of protection, and to amend the enabling law to ensure that the committee consists of more civil society representatives.

The report also called for a change to the enabling law to set up an independent mechanism for dismissal procedures, and to establish parliament as the source for the MNHRC funding and salaries for its staff members.

The MNHRC should regularly engage with civil society organizations, and speak out publicly on cases of arrest and intimidation of rights defenders, it said.

Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.