By Human Rights Watch

October 5, 2014

Forced Resettlement, Discriminatory Citizenship Creates Dangers

New York – A draft government plan would entrench discriminatory policies that deprive Rohingya Muslims in Burma of citizenship and lead to the forced resettlement of over 130,000 displaced Rohingya into closed camps, Human Rights Watch said today. Burma’s international donors, the United Nations, and other influential actors should press the government to substantively revise or rescind its “Rakhine State Action Plan.”

The plan follows the April 2013 recommendations of the Rakhine Investigative Commission, established by President Thein Sein after widespread killings and violence against Rohingya in 2012 in the state. The plan, a copy of which was obtained by Human Rights Watch, does not recognize the term Rohingya, referring throughout to “Bengalis,” an inaccurate and derogatory term commonly used by Burmese officials and nationalist Buddhists. Muslims are only mentioned in the plan with reference to religious schools.

“The long-awaited Rakhine State Action Plan both expands and solidifies the discriminatory and abusive Burmese government policies that underpin the decades-long persecution of the Rohingya,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “It is nothing less than a blueprint for permanent segregation and statelessness that appears designed to strip the Rohingya of hope and force them to flee the country.”

The plan is supposed to serve as the general blueprint for development and post-conflict reconstruction in the state. The draft is in six sections with detailed bullet points: Security, Stability, and Rule of Law; Rehabilitation and Reconstruction; Permanent Resettlement; Citizenship Assessment of Bengalis; Socio-Economic Development; and Peaceful Coexistence. The section on “Permanent Resettlement” sets out steps for the relocation and encampment of 133,023 Rohingya people from existing internally displaced persons camps around the state capital, Sittwe, and other townships to as yet unspecified sites in the state.

The plan does not discuss the possibility that Rohingya displaced by the violence of 2012 will be permitted to return to their original homes and dispels hopes that Rohingya would be permitted to reintegrate into areas also inhabited by the local Buddhist population.

The plan has scheduled the resettlement of the entire displaced Rohingya population for April and May 2015, just ahead of Burma’s annual monsoon season. In preparation, residences, schools, community facilities, and necessary road, electrical, and water and sanitation infrastructure would be constructed by next April.

Since sectarian violence erupted in June 2012 and again in October 2012, an estimated 140,000 mostly Rohingya displaced people have been living in camps around Arakan State, where they are wholly dependent on international humanitarian assistance. Another 40,000 Rohingya live in isolated non-camp communities receiving little outside assistance. The government has failed to arrest or prosecute those responsible for the violence against the Rohingya, particularly the coordinated “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya communities in October 2012 that Human Rights Watch found rose to the level of crimes against humanity.

Rohingya, who have effectively been denied Burmese citizenship, were excluded from the March-April 2014 nationwide census and face tight restrictions on freedom of movement, employment, livelihoods, access to health care, and freedom of religion. Conditions in the displaced person camps are desperate and have evolved into long-term internment in which Rohingya are not permitted outside of camp zones. The permanent resettlement zones envisioned in the draft plan will deepen the isolation and marginalization of the Rohingya in violation of their freedom of movement and other rights.

“The Burmese government’s plan proposes segregation measures that have been advocated by extremists,” Robertson said. “Moving the Rohingya further from urban areas to isolated rural camps will violate their basic rights, make them dependent on outside assistance, and formalize the land grab of Rohingya property.”

Part IV of the draft plan outlines steps for citizenship assessment of the Rohingya, using as its guide the discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law, which has been used to deny Rohingya citizenship for decades. The plan includes a nationality verification process that started in August and is supposed to register all “Bengalis” by March. The recorded population will then be divided into three categories: “those previously recorded [or] registered; those not recorded previously but willing to go through the assessment process according to Myanmar [Burma] existing laws; and those who reject definition in the existing laws.” Any Rohingya refusing the pejorative label “Bengali” would be placed in the third category and denied the right to be considered for citizenship.

For people in the first two categories, the determination of eligibility for citizenship will take place between January 2015 and October 2016. For any Rohingya failing to meet the criteria for citizenship, the authorities will “construct temporary camps in required numbers for those who refuse to be registered and those without adequate documents” and sequester them in closed camps in what amounts to arbitrary, indefinite detention with the possibility of deportation.

Burmese authorities conducted a pilot phase of the verification process in Myebon. Out of the 1,094 Muslims who took part, 209 were found eligible for citizenship, including: ethnic Kaman Muslims – listed as an ethnic group under the 1982 Citizenship Law; those who self-identified as Bengali; and an unspecified number who were accepted as Rohingya. The total number of Rohingya in Arakan State has been estimated at over one million according to the estimate of uncounted persons in the 2014 March-April Nationwide Census, and most are concentrated in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships along the border with Bangladesh. Although not directly included in the draft plan, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships will be directly affected by provisions calling for strengthened border security and operations to stem illegal immigration.

“International donors and concerned governments should not delude themselves that this plan will lead to the Rohingya’s integration with citizenship into Arakan State,” Robertson said. “Those concerned about human rights in Burma should stand firm and demand changes to the citizenship law to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Rohingya.”

All international donors should reject the plan in its current form. Donors should urge the Burmese government to develop a citizenship plan based on the principle of non-discrimination, and that upholds the right of displaced people to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes or places of habitual residence, or to resettle voluntarily in another part of the country.

In an address on September 29 to the United Nations General Assembly, the Burmese foreign minister, Wunna Maung Lwin, stated that the plan was “being finalized and will soon be launched” and called on the UN to provide assistance. Several UN agencies work in Rakhine (also known as Arakan) State. They have slowly been increasing their activities since they were suspended following attacks against aid workers in March ahead of Burma’s controversial nationwide census, which discriminated against the Rohingya population.

“It is shocking that a government that claims to be reform-minded has proposed bigoted policies,” said Robertson. “It would be even more shocking if UN agencies and others play along instead of denouncing a plan that would entrench ethnic cleansing and put in place permanent segregation. International donors should reject this plan with one voice and insist the government come up with solutions that protect the rights of some of the world’s most persecuted people.”

October 5, 2014

RB News

October 5, 2014

The Burmese Rohingya Organization United Kingdom (BROUK) Briefed US Senate, State Department and US Assistant Secretary of the Deteriorating Situation of Rohingya in advance of President Obama Visit to Burma

BROUK President Tun Khin made high level meetings with US Officials in Washington DC and New York. 

In Washington DC, BROUK President, Tun Khin, spoke to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee , US Department of State, National Endowment for Democracy and many NGOs from DC. President Tun Khin raised the humanitarian crisis issue after the international NGO, MSF was kicked out from Arakan, the Burmese government forcefully pushing the acceptance of Rohingya to identify as Bangali and second class citizen , Restrictions on Education, Marriage, Movement, the Rohingya refugees situation in Bangledesh, Thailand, India, Malaysia and Indonesia, Hate Speech against Rohingyas and other Muslims of Burma.

During the Senate meeting which many senator’s staff attended BROUK urged to set up timelines and benchmarks to see improvement on Rohingya issue before US government would move ahead with other ties with the Burmese Government. In meeting with the US State Department BROUK urged them to stress the importance of using the proper ethnic name of Rohingya during President Obama's visit to Burma and also to meet Rohingya leaders in Burma.

The US International Religious Freedom Group, US State Department and many NGOs attended during the BROUK briefing at National Endowment for Democracy. Mr Tun Khin mentioned that there was no progress from international community on Rohingya’s situation since 2012 June. Tun Khin stressed that the US government must use the word Rohingya publicly and President Obama has to put effective pressure to restore full citizenship of with Rohingya identity.

BROUK President Tun Khin delivered an updated account of the situation of Rohingya at State department Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affiairs, Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor, Bureau of International Organizations and Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. Mr Tun Khin particularly urged the need to resettle Rohingya refugees to the United State from Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand with the Bureau of Population,refugees and Migration. 

In New York at the United Nations BROUK briefed the European Union Representative to UN and other missions and urged the UN representatives to include Rohingya issue on UN general Assembly Resolutions on Burma. Mr Tun Khin also mentioned That the EU policy towards Burma has been encouraged the Burmese government to continues cleanse Rohingya community without consequence. Tun Khin stressed that the EU should consider whether President Thein Sein’s government is violating international Law where 1.3 million Rohingyas are facing denial of basic rights and citizenship rights.

President Tun Khin also met with US Assistant Secretary Tom Malinowski in New York and urged the need to lift restrictions on movement, marriage and education before President Obama visit to Burma. BROUK addressed current implementation of the 1982 citizenship law will make Rohingyas illegal immigrants and will lose their lost rights forever. US government has to see that President Thein Sein government is violating international law in the case of Rohingya. President Obama have to see the country where he is visiting in the western 1.3 Million people are facing denial of aids and basic fundamentals rights pushing people to the camps. 

Mr Tun Khin also raised to lead international investigation by the US government which can gather the evidence and facts of what happen to Rohingyas since June 2012 and the following October, that they can bring those responsible to Justice and that they can stop further attacks against Rohingyas. Moreover, Mr Tun Khin urged the Assistant Secretary to meet Rohingya leaders during President Obama visit to Burma.

Physician Human Rights group hosted an event “ Update situation of Rohingyas and International Community response” at PHR head office in New York. Many NGOs attended and discussed the difficulty and lack of medical aid access in Arakab and other US government response. 

BROUK President Tun Khin gave also interviews to Radio Free Asia and Associate Press during his visit to United State of America. The interviews link can find below links:

https://soundcloud.com/rohingyablogger/brouk-rfa

http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2014/10/myanmar-says-sectarian-violence.html

Dr. Habib Siddiqui
RB Article

October 5, 2014

The Rohingya people of Myanmar (formerly Burma) who mostly live in the western part - the Rakhine (formerly Arakan) state, bordering Bangladesh, are undoubtedly the most persecuted people on earth. Denied citizenship in the Buddhist majority country, the Rohingyas have simply become the most unwanted people in our planet. The nearby Bangladesh does not want the persecuted Rohingyas to settle there either. In desperate attempts to save their lives, many Rohingyas have become now the ‘boat people’ of our time!

Who would have thought that in our time, some 68 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the world community to guide its behaviors and actions we would see so much of intolerance and persecution of peoples based on their race or ethnicity? 

There are 30 Articles of the UDHR, starting with “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…” The second one reads: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status…” 

When it comes to the Rohingya, sadly, not a single one of these rights is honored by the Myanmar government. These unfortunate people are denied their right to citizenship while the 15th Article clearly states: “(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.”

As the UN General Assembly convened last week, it is worth reminding ourselves that the preamble of the United Nations says, “WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, ….”

And yet, the Myanmar government, being a member of the United Nations, denies such fundamental rights to the Rohingya people. It draws justification from the Burma Citizenship Law (1982), which was adopted during military dictator Ne Win’s time. Under the section 3 of this law it is mentioned that “Nationals such as the Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Burman, Mon, Rakhine or Shan and ethnic groups as have settled in any of the territories included within the State as their permanent home from a period anterior to 1185 B.E., 1823 A.D. are Burma citizens”. 

As can be seen the name ‘Rohingya’ was deliberately not mentioned in the list in spite of the fact that before the advent of the Tibeto-Burman races in Arakan, the Indo-Bengali ancestors (the first settlers) of today’s Rohingya people had already settled in the territory and that they have had maintained an unbroken continuity of their existence since time immemorial. In so doing, Aye Kyaw (a neo-Nazi fascist, Rakhine academic) who had drafted the Citizenship Law for the military dictator Ne Win was killing two birds with one stone – permanently erasing the identity and sealing the fate of millions of Rohingyas by not only denying them citizenship in Burma but also from exercising democratic rights in Arakan where they comprised nearly half (or more correctly, 47.75%) of the population, second only to the Buddhist Rakhines. This was a devious ploy by any definition. 

The same evil genius - Aye Kyaw - was also a key figure in the formulation of racial, apartheid policy of the ANC (Arakan National Congress). Its draft constitution for the Arakan state reads: “The citizenship of the Republic of Arakan shall be determined and regulated by law. The citizen of Arakan shall be known as Arakanese. Buddhism shall be the state religion. Only the Arakan legal entities and citizens of Arakan nationality shall have the right to own land.” Since the Rohingyas are classified as Arakan Bengalis they will be subjected to a second class citizenship with no right to run for office or own land. 

As can be seen, the ANC policy is an apartheid policy of exclusion, discrimination and marginalization of the Rohingya, who are derogatorily called the Kula (Kala) much like how the Afro-Americans were once called in the USA as the Black Niggers. 

Interestingly, under the section 4, the 1982 Citizenship Law says: “Every national and every person born of parents, both of whom are nationals are citizens by birth.”

In the section 6, it says: “A person who is already a citizen on the date this Law comes into force is a citizen. Action, however, shall be taken under section 18 for infringement of the provision of that section.”

It is worth pointing out that the Rohingyas were accepted as citizens of Burma, and had elected members of the parliament from their own community. During the Parliamentary period (1948-1962) and the first years of Ne Win’s dictatorship, there were not only many Rohingya organizations, both in Arakan and Rangoon, but the government recognized Rohingya as a Burmese ethnic group, and its language program was also transmitted through the national radio station in Rangoon. As such, to them sections 4 and 6 were only a confirmation of such rights. 

But soon the controversial law was exploited by the military regime and its racist and fascist supporters within the larger Buddhist community, esp. the Rakhines, to treat the Rohingyas as non-natives to Burma, opening the door for all types of discrimination against them. A chain of pogroms followed laying down the stepping stones for their genocide.

With the change of the old guards in Myanmar in recent years, we had high hopes that the apartheid Citizenship Law would be revoked. But we were wrong. 

The former military general Thein Sein is the poster-boy of so-called reform inside the country. With him as the head of the state, there is a quasi-civil-military government in place that runs the fractured country. Myanmar had its election – albeit a limited one – in which many politicians with grass root support within the masses managed to win the limited seats available in the parliament. The new regime has also released many political prisoners (mostly Buddhists) who were once rotting in many of Myanmar’s notorious dungeons. In reaction to such positive image-building initiatives, the western world has reciprocated by lifting its political and economic sanctions against the once hated military dictatorship, which has ruled the country for almost its entire life since earning independence from Britain in January 4 of 1948. 

There was much expectation – probably too unrealistic and too premature – that the Thein Sein government was serious about ‘real’ reform and that the Rohingyas will be integrated as citizens at par with other ethnic/national groups inside Myanmar. What we have witnessed instead is worsening of their situations. They are now victims of a highly organized genocidal campaign in which even Buddhists like Aung San Suu Kyi – touted one-time as the democracy icon – are sadly, either silent or willing partners in this gross violation of human rights. Since May of 2012, an estimated 150,000 Rohingyas are internally displaced in the Rakhine state. Tens of thousands of Muslims living in other parts of Myanmar have also seen organized mob violence, lynching, and wholesale destruction of their homes, schools, mosques and businesses, which have resulted in some 250,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) all across Myanmar. 

What is worse, the international NGOs, esp. from the Muslim countries, were barred from helping out the Muslim victims. In the face of reported protests from the Rakhine Buddhist community, the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) could not even open an office to carry out its much needed humanitarian relief work in the troubled region. 

This year (2014), the Myanmar authorities have cracked down even harder, making the situation worse. First, the government expelled Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which had been providing health care for the Rohingya. Then orchestrated mobs attacked the offices of humanitarian organizations, forcing them out. While some kinds of aid are resuming, but not the health care! As noted by award-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof, expected mothers and their children are dying for lack of doctors. They need doctors desperately to save their lives, but the Myanmar government has confined them to quasi-concentration camps outside towns, and it blocks aid workers from entering to provide medical help. They are on their own in Myanmar, where democratic progress is being swamped by crimes against humanity toward the Rohingya. 

Many of the Muslim IDPs now live in squalid camps with no provisions and are counting their days hopelessly to be relocated to their burned homes. And yet, such a provision seems unlikely. In recent months, Rakhine Buddhists have organized demonstrations protesting any resettlement of the Rohingya and other Muslims. Bottom line – they want the Rohingya and other Muslims out of Myanmar, if not totally annihilated. 

Many international observers and some experts, including human rights activists, were surprised by such outbreaks of ethnic cleansing drives last year against the Muslims, in general, and the Rohingya people, in particular, let alone the level of Buddhist intolerance against non-Buddhists everywhere inside Myanmar. However, such sad episodes were no surprise to many keen readers and researchers of the Myanmar’s problematic history. 

We all knew that simply a transition to democracy would not and could not solve the Rohingya problem. Instead of a much-needed dialogue for reconciliation and confidence-building between ethnic/national and religious groups, what we recognized was appalling Buddhist chauvinism - outright rejection of the ‘other’ people from such processes by the so-called ‘democracy’ leaders within the Burmese and Rakhine Diaspora. As if, their so-called struggle for democracy against the hated military regime was a purely Buddhist one, the Rohingya Muslims were unwelcome in those dialogues between ethnic/national groups.

The level of Buddhist intolerance, hatred and xenophobia has simply no parallel in our time! The chauvinist Buddhists are in denial of the very existence of the Rohingya people, in spite of the fact that the latter’s root in Arakan is older than that of the Rakhines by several centuries. While the vast majority of the late comers to the contested territory were Buddhists, the Rohingyas, much like the people living next door – on the other side of the Naaf River – in today’s Bangladesh had embraced Islam voluntarily. Their conversion had also much to do with the history of the entire region, esp. in the post-13th century when the Sultans and the great Mughal Emperors ruled vast territories of the South Asia from the foothills of the Himalayas to the shores of the Indian Ocean. 

As a matter of fact, the history of Arakan, sandwiched then between Muslim-dominated India and Buddhist-dominated Burma, would have been much different had it not been for the crucial decision made by the Muslim Sultan of Bengal who reinstalled the fleeing Buddhist king Narameikhtla to the throne of Arakan in 1430 with a massive Muslim force of nearly 60,000 soldiers – sent in two campaigns. Interestingly, the Muslim General Wali Khan – leading a force of 25,000 soldiers, who was instructed to put the fleeing monarch to the throne of Arakan –claimed it for himself. He was subsequently uprooted in a new campaign - again at the directive of the Sultan of Muslim Bengal, by General Sandi Khan who led a force of 35,000 soldiers. What would be Arakan’s history today if the Muslim Sultan of Bengal had let General Wali Khan rule the country as his client? 

The so-called democracy leaders in the opposition had very little, if any, in common with values and ideals of democracy but more with hard-core fascism. Their behavior showed that they were closet fascists and were no democrats. Thus, all the efforts of the Rohingya and other non-Buddhist minority groups to reach out to the Buddhist-dominated opposition leadership simply failed. It was an ominous warning for the coming days!

So, in 2012 when the region witnessed a series of highly orchestrated ethnic cleansing drives against the Rohingya and other Muslim groups not just within the Rakhine state but all across Myanmar, like some keen observers of the political developments I was not too surprised. Nor was I surprised with the poisonous role played by leaders of the so-called democracy movement. They showed their real fascist color. But the level of ferocity, savagery and inhumanity simply shocked me. It showed that the Theravada Buddhists of Myanmar, like their co-religionists in Sri Lanka and Cambodia, have unmistakably become one of the most racists and bigots in our world. With the evolving incendiary role of Buddhist monks like Wirathu - the abbot of historically influential Mandalay Ma-soe-yein monastery and his 969 Fascist Movement, which sanctifies eliminationist policies against the Muslims, surely, the teachings of Gautama Buddha have miserably failed to enlighten them and/or put a lid on their all too obvious savagery and monstrosity. 

Myanmar is still locked in its mythical, savage past and has not learned the basics of nation-building. It uses fear-tactics and hatred towards a common enemy – the Rohingyas and Muslim minorities - to glue its fractured Buddhist majority. And the sad reality is – its formula is working, thanks to Wirathu, Thein Sein, Suu Kyi and other provocateurs and executioners! 

On June 20, 2013 twelve Nobel Peace Laureates called upon the Myanmar government for ending violence against Muslims in Burma. They also called for an international independent investigation of the anti-Muslim violence. Yet, the Myanmar regime continues to ignore international plea for integration of the Rohingya and other minorities. It proclaims – “There are no people called Rohingya in Myanmar.” This narrative is absurd, as well as racist. A document as far back as 1799 refers to the Rohingya population in Arakan, and an 1826 report estimates that 30 percent of the population of this region was Muslim. 

As I have noted elsewhere, today’s Rohingya are a hybrid group of people, much like the Muslim communities living in many non-Arab countries around the globe, esp. South Asia. To say that their origin is a British-era or a Bangladeshi phenomenon is simply disingenuous.

In recent months, Myanmar has conducted a controversial census in which nearly a million Rohingyas were unaccounted. They were denied their basic rights to identify themselves as Rohingya. It was a gross violation according to scores of international law. 

The Rohingya identity is no more “artificial” or “invented” than any other, including the Rakhine identity. The national politics around the Rohingya people of Arakan who are dumped as the ‘Bengali illegal Muslim immigrants’ is not mere bigotry but a viable toxic fruit of Myanmar ultra-nationalism? Bhumi Rakkhita Putra Principle. It is a deliberate act of provocative target-marking in line with YMBA's (Young Men Buddhist Association) amyo-batha-tharthana (race-language-religion) and is the foundation of the Burma Citizenship Act 1982. It is strong, powerful, and ultra-toxic. This apartheid law allows a Rakhine Buddhist like Aye Maung – an MP and chairman of the RNDP (a religio-racist Rakhine political party) whose parents only emigrated to Arakan state in 1953-54 from Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) – to be automatically recognized as a Burmese citizen while denying the same privilege to millions of Rohingya and other Muslims whose ancestors had lived in the territory for centuries. 

Myanmar espouses neo-Nazi Fascism, i.e., Myanmarism – the noxious cocktail of Buddhism, ultra-nationalism, racism and bigotry. It is a farcical ideology, which starts on the false premise that the different groups that make up its complex ethnic/religious mosaic today were always under the authority of a single government before the arrival of the British. It is a dangerous ideology since it promotes the agenda towards genocide of the Rohingya and other non-Buddhist religious minorities. It is a medieval ideology of hatred and intolerance because it defines citizenship based on ethnicity or race, which has no place in the 21st century. 

The Citizenship Law of 1982 violates several fundamental principles of international customary law standards, offends the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and leaves Rohingyas exposed to no legal protection of their rights. The 1982 Law promotes discrimination against Rohingya by arbitrarily depriving them of their Burmese (Myanmar) citizenship. The deprivation of one’s nationality is not only a serious violation of human rights but also constitutes an international crime.

This apartheid law is a blueprint for elimination or ethnic cleansing. It has galvanized into genocidal campaign against the vulnerable Rohingya people who have lost everything in their ancestral land and has created outflows of refugees, which overburden other countries posing threats to peace and security within the region. Of the Rohingya Diaspora an estimated 1.5 million now live in Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, UAE, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, USA, UK, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, and other places where they could find a shelter. Such a forced exodus of Rohingyas is simply unacceptable in our time. 

If Myanmar’s leaders are serious about bringing their nation state from savage past to modernity, from darkness to enlightenment and avoiding becoming a failed state, they must abandon their toxic ideology of Myanmarism and revoke the apartheid Citizenship Law. They must learn from experiences of others to avoid disintegration. They must also learn that like everyone else the Rohingyas have the right to self-identify themselves. And it would be travesty of law and justice to deny such rights of self-identity. 

Finally, it would be the greatest tragedy of our generation should we allow the perpetrators of genocide and ethnic cleansing to whitewash their crimes against humanity. The UNSC must demand an impartial inquiry and redress the Rohingya crisis. The Rohingya people need protection as the most persecuted people on earth. Should the Thein Sein government fail to bring about the desired change, starting with either repealing or amending the 1982 Citizenship Law, the UNSC must consider creating a ‘save haven’ inside Arakan in the northern Mayu Frontier Territories to protect the lives of the Rohingya people so that they could live safely, securely with honor and dignity as rest of us. The sooner the better!

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.