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Harun Yahya
RB Article
November 29, 2014

Recently ten thousand Rohingya people, a stateless and plagued ethic minority, fleeing from Myanmar on illegal boats en route to Thailand did not reach their destination. At the same time about four thousand Bangladeshi and Rohingya people heading for Malaysia left Bangladesh across the Bay of Bengal, but only 460 people arrived, raising concerns over the whereabouts of the rest, which are still unknown. 

A similar event took place in 2008 when many such boats went missing in the sea. Later, a few hundred Rohingya people were found starved and dehydrated in Indonesian and Indian territorial waters while others were lost at sea. 

An Unwilling Home

Thailand, the country that so many immigrants hopefully aim to reach and start new lives, is not welcoming the boat people, who live under very harsh conditions in their own countries and venture the risk of losing their lives at the sea.

Thailand has so far been an unwilling home to some 13,000 asylum seekers and 82,000 registered refugees (as of June 2013).[i] It is one of 20 countries in the Asia Pacific region that shelter a great number of refugees. Thailand is the world’s third-largest exporter of seafood and the country is the second largest economy in the Southeast Asia according to ASEAN figures.[ii] Despite the country’s economic well-being, Thai authorities are pushing the people coming by boats back to the sea. Recently, the Thai military government announced that it will send 100,000 refugees living in camps for many years in Thailand back to the country they came from. Thailand claims to have the right to block the boats. 

Thailand may be facing many challenges regarding the great flow of refugees. However, sending the immigrants back to the sea literally means signing their death sentences and being accomplice in murdering them. In the words of Colonel Banpot Phupian, a spokesman for the military’s Internal Security Operations, “Taking care of them is a burden for Thailand and we have to use a lot of money to look after them.”[iii] These words come from the dark and cold heart of Asia, a continent that has largely been under the influence of military traditions and communist China. Though an ally of the US, Thailand is one of the countries that is most influenced by China in terms of economy, military and politics and the words of Colonel Phupian indeed confirm this. 

Another Police Colonel, Sanya Prakobphol, added, "If they come in then we must push them back ... once they have crossed the sea border into Myanmar then that's considered pushing them back. What they do next is their problem."[iv]

Endangered lives on one hand, profit on the other

While the Thai junta is either deporting refugees or leaving them at sea, the human-smuggling in the country is a growing business. It is so profitable a job that fisherman are converting their boats in order to carry as many boat people as possible. 

Moreover, human-trafficking gangs hold thousands of boat people in jungle camps until their relatives pay a ransom to secure their release. Thailand is known as one of the worst human-trafficking centers of the world.

Hunger Games

The recent military coup and the imposition of martial law has intensified concerns over lack of rule of law in the country. Yet while the Hollywood film ‘Hunger Games’ keeps being an inspiration to Thai youth with the three-finger salute becoming the anti-coup symbol in the country, Thailand’s martial law remains indefinitely intact. 

In our world, where terror sweeps through countries leaving only destruction and death behind it, wronged people find no other way but to seek shelter in many countries. In democratic countries, all people have the right to escape persecution. Article 14 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” Hence, boat people are not illegal immigrants and seeking asylum is most certainly permissible by international law. However, Thailand has not signed on to the Refugee Convention and has no domestic legislation regarding refugees. This gives the current military government space to act on its own, without any regard to international law or communities. 

Exploited and Vulnerable

Right now over 120,000 Burmese refugees who have fled from persecution and ethnic violence are living in the ten camps allocated to them on the Thailand-Myanmar border. According to Thai law, undocumented refugees found outside of the camps are subject to arrest and deportation and refugees have no legal right to make an income; they are also at constant risk of arrest and detention. These vulnerable people often encounter harassment and discrimination from the Thai community. For them, human rights abuses are almost no different in Thailand than in Myanmar. They are even sold for a couple of dollars to work as slaves on fishing boats.[v]

Refugees throughout the world

On the other hand, with the onset of the Syrian Civil War, the number of Syrian refugees have surpassed the number of refugees of other nationalities and reached a climax [over three million as of Nov. 2014]. While in Central Africa some 485,000 people have been displaced within the country and over 421,000 people have fled so far.[vi] Hence, as the world’s attention and resources are focused mainly on Syria and Central Africa, something frequently mentioned in the media, much more needs to be done regarding the issue of refugees on the whole.

Perhaps the problem of refugees will never go away. But Thailand, a country with a comparatively better prosperity in the Asian Pacific region is the hope of many who live under persecution, and it certainly has to find a way of keeping these people within its borders until the international community or countries with higher GDP hear the voices of these people. This would be a very positive step in the eyes of the world since respecting universal human rights would represent good progress towards democracy and Thailand surely needs that. Otherwise, the dark and cold aspect of Asia will surround it leaving it with China as its only ally. 

Besides, the world needs to pay more attention to the stories of refugees and assist the countries that host them. Camps are no place to live for families and children; they should only be used for temporary purposes. There are about 375,000 migrant children in Thailand and the country holds thousands of them in detention, causing them physical and emotional damage, according to Human Rights Watch report. 

Nevertheless Thailand should not be immersed in the communist, artificial, loveless swirl of Asia. It should respect human rights and protect those in need. This is the prerequisite of being a decent human being. 


The writer has authored more than 300 books translated in 73 languages on politics, religion and science.

(Photo: Reuters)
The Report looks at the plight of the Rohingya fleeing persecution in Burma. Growing numbers of Rohingya Muslims, who have in effect been made stateless by the military government, are fleeing the country by sea hoping to make it to Thailand and Malaysia. This comes as US President Barack Obama used the 25th summit of the Association of South East Nations to urge the country to undertake further reform.

Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK; and Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation in the UK joined with John Rees in the Islam Channel studio.


Rohingya IDPs at a camp in Sittwe, capital of Arakan State, in 2012. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

By  Hnin Yadana Zaw
November 28, 2014

RANGOON — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Thursday announced a record US$30 million budget for work in Burma over the coming year, as the organization plans to spend a full 25 percent more worldwide than it did last year to meet “vastly expanding needs.”

The ICRC told reporters in Rangoon this week that the funds will largely be allocated to projects in Arakan, Kachin and Shan states, where armed and communal conflicts have displaced enormous numbers of civilians in recent years.

“We will focus on conducting humanitarian activities and development of refugee camps in Rakhine [Arakan], Kachin and Shan states in the coming year,” said Moe Myint Aung, a senior public relations officer for the ICRC. He added that the ICRC 2014 budget in Burma was just over $24 million.

The new budget will accommodate several projects including the upgrading medical equipment, streamlining hospitals and increasing access to healthcare in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the three states.

“We will use some of the budget for other conflict [affected] areas if necessary, and we plan to act jointly with all stakeholders of the conflicts,” Moe Myint Aung said.

The ICRC was recently granted permission from the Burmese government to establish sub-offices in Myitkyina, that capital of Kachin State, and Kengtung in eastern Shan State. The office in Myitkyina opened in March 2014, while the new facility in Kengtung is set to open in January 2015.

Michael O’Brien, an ICRC spokesperson, said the ICRC will work closely with the Ministry of Health and the Myanmar Red Cross Society, which already has an established nationwide network.

“We work very closely with the Ministry of Health and the Myanmar Red Cross Society. They have branches all over the country, so we do a lot of our activities through them,” he said.

There are six ICRC offices operating in Burma, located in Hpa-an, Mandalay, Mrauk U, Myitkyina, Sittwe and Rangoon. The ICRC in Burma has a staff of about 300.

An independent association based in Geneva, Switzerland, the ICRC carries out humanitarian assistance in conflict-affected areas worldwide. The overall 2015 budget for ICRC operations worldwide is $1.8 billion.

The ICRC has been present in Burma since 1986, conducting activities including IDP assistance and detainee welfare, though access to Burma’s prisons is still highly restricted since visits resumed in 2013 after a long hiatus.

The ICRC was among the organizations affected by mob violence in Arakan State earlier this year, when local communities accused foreign aid workers of favoring Muslim communities in the predominantly Buddhist state. All foreign aid workers were temporarily evacuated when locals attacked their offices and warehouses.

Some services have returned to the area—which was devastated by communal violence between Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims that began in mid-2012—but only a fraction of former aid to the region has yet been restored.

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron greets Burma’s President Thein Sein at 10 Downing Street in London on July 15, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

By William Boot
November 28, 2014

An influential British parliamentary committee has told the UK government it should press for a re-imposition of European economic sanctions on Burma if there is no improvement in the country’s human rights situation over the next 12 months.

“We recommend that the government reiterate to the government of Burma that the current situation is still highly unsatisfactory, and that the UK will strongly advocate the re-imposition of sanctions by the EU if there is no progress over the next 12 months,” a report by the British parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said this week.

The recommendation follows a review of the British Foreign Office’s work on human rights in Burma and other countries. The review heard submissions from several Burma-focused human rights NGOs, which have complained that the British government has put too much emphasis on promoting British business links.

London and the European Union must in particular press for the unconditional release of all political prisoners and an improvement in the condition of Burma’s Rohingya Muslim community, the committee said.

The report coincides with a new “doing business in Burma” guide by the British Chambers of Commerce, which the NGO Burma Campaign UK said makes no reference to human rights abuses or the continuing land theft by the Burma Army and other powerful forces for commercial benefit.

“To produce a report on the trade outlook in Burma without mentioning human rights violations or responsible investment demonstrates the Chamber’s lack of genuine interest in these issues,” campaign director Mark Farmaner told The Irrawaddy.

“The British government funds the British Chambers of Commerce in Burma and this is an insight into their real priorities. They talk up trade opportunities and play down human rights abuses.”

EU economic sanctions, with the exception of weapons sales, were lifted unconditionally in April 2013 after previously being subject to annual re-assessment. Britain adhered to these sanctions along with the other 27 member countries of the union.

“Burma Campaign UK believes that European Union sanctions on Burma were lifted prematurely, without the EU’s own human rights benchmarks being met. The slowdown and then reversal of the reform process since sanctions were lifted is evidence that too much was given away too soon and the premature lifting of sanctions undermined, rather than reinforced, the reform process,” the NGO said in a statement following the British Foreign Affairs Committee report.

“Now that EU economic and diplomatic sanctions have been lifted by the EU, re-imposition of sanctions would be very difficult. To be applied most effectively, sanctions should also be applied in coordination with other countries, and in support of diplomatic initiatives to promote genuine reforms,” Burma Campaign UK said.

The Foreign Affairs Committee report voiced concerns about the general attitude to human rights by the British Foreign Office. There was an “inherent conflict that exists between promoting UK trade and investment and human rights at the same time. The government should recognize that this conflict exists, rather than maintaining that human rights and business interests go hand in hand.”

Burma Campaign UK alleged that the British Foreign Office has “dropped human rights as their priority and instead prioritized trade. There is a clear conflict of interest in challenging human rights abuses by the Burmese government at the same time as trying to win business contracts from that same government.”

“This report demonstrates how international patience with the government of Burma is now running out,” said Anna Roberts, the executive director of Burma Campaign UK. “The Foreign Affairs Committee has taken a much stronger stance on human rights in Burma than the British government. There is a growing recognition of the many problems with Burma’s reform process and of the huge scale of ongoing human rights abuses.”

In a general review on doing business abroad, the British Chambers of Commerce omits any reference to human rights issues in Burma and how they might impinge on foreign investors, but it does note that the country “still suffers from pervasive government controls, inefficient economic policies, corruption, and rural poverty.

“[Burma] is the poorest country in Southeast Asia; approximately 32 percent of the population lives in poverty. [It] has all the elements required to create another Asian economic miracle,” the Chambers of Commerce said. “Its strategic position located between China and India could turn [Burma] into a prime location for tapping into the growth of those two Asian giants.”

The Foreign Affairs Committee assessment also coincides with the spotlight being turned back on the controversial Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division, run by Chinese company Wanbao Mining and the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEHL), a business arm of the Burma military.

Amnesty International said there was a serious risk of further human rights abuses around the mine because of the way it is still being developed.

“Construction is proceeding without resolving ongoing environmental and human rights concerns. Thousands of farmers remain under the threat of forced evictions since their lands were acquired for the mine in a flawed process characterized by misinformation,” Amnesty said in a Nov. 27 statement.

“Two years after police used incendiary weapons against monks and villagers protesting [the] mining project, no one has been held accountable. No police officer or official who was involved in the attack has been investigated, prosecuted or sanctioned, while the government has failed to provide victims with effective remedies and adequate reparation.”

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi talks to reporters during a news conference at the National League for Democracy party head office in Yangon November 5, 2014. CREDIT: REUTERS/SOE ZEYA TUN

By Aung Hla Tun and Jared Ferrie 
November 27, 2014

A summit of political leaders proposed by Myanmar's parliament to debate constitutional change is "impractical" and unlikely to happen, the president's spokesman said in a further setback to hopes for full democracy after 49 years of military rule.

A semi-civilian government took office in 2011 and undertook rapid series of reforms but the pace of change has slowed, raising international concern that the military is not yet ready to submit to the authority of a parliamentary democracy.

The military holds 25 percent of the seats in parliament, a barrier to the more than 75 percent vote margin required for constitutional amendments. The current constitution bars opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president.

On Tuesday, parliament unanimously endorsed constitutional talks involving Suu Kyi, President Thein Sein, the speakers of the two houses of the assembly, military chief General Min Aung Hlaing, and a member of a party representing an ethnic minority.

"This six-party summit is rather impractical," presidential spokesman Ye Htut told the Myanmar-language service of Radio Free Asia on Thursday. "I don't think it can happen at the moment."

Public debate on the constitution came to the fore around the Nov. 12-14 visit of President Barack Obama to Myanmar. Obama said it made little sense for the constitution to freeze out Suu Kyi from becoming president.

Lower house speaker Shwe Mann said last week that the constitution could not be changed before a general election in 2015.Ye Htut spoke after military MPs turned down an invitation from Suu Kyi for a first meeting over dinner on Thursday as she sought to build ties with representatives of Myanmar's most powerful institution ahead of the proposed summit.

The military bloc sent a letter to Suu Kyi to apologize for being unable to make the dinner in the capital of Naypyitaw due to a prior engagement, said Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party (NLD). The invitation was received at short notice for military lawmakers to change a scheduled meeting, one military parliamentarian told Reuters.

Suu Kyi, who was kept under house arrest for more than 15 years by the ruling military junta, has endorsed reforms by Thein Sein's government. But she has criticized its hesitation on further reforms and Her party has gathered about 5 million signatures in support of a petition to amend the constitution.

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi talks to reporters during a news conference at the National League for Democracy party head office in Yangon November 5, 2014. (Credit: Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun)

By Aung Hla Tun and Jared Ferrie
November 27, 2014

Yangon -- Myanmar's military turned down a dinner invitation from opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, lawmakers said on Thursday, after the Nobel laureate sought a meeting to build ties ahead of a proposed summit on changing the constitution.

Suu Kyi is barred from becoming president under the existing constitution, which cannot be changed without the support of at least one military lawmaker. The military holds 25 percent of the seats in parliament, an effective veto over constitutional amendments which need more than 75 percent support from lawmakers.

Myanmar emerged in 2011 from 49 years of rule by military generals. But the initial pace of reform has slowed, prompting international concern that the military is not ready to submit to the authority of the leader of a parliamentary democracy.

The military block sent a letter to Suu Kyi to apologize for being unable to make the dinner in the capital of Naypyitaw due to a prior engagement, said Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party (NLD). The invite was received at short notice for military lawmakers to change a scheduled meeting, one military parliamentarian told Reuters.

The meeting would have been the first between Suu Kyi and military parliamentarians.

Public debate on the constitution has come to the fore around the visit of President Barack Obama to Myanmar earlier this month. Obama said it made little sense for the constitution to bar Suu Kyi from becoming president.

The speaker of parliament, Shwe Mann, said last week that the constitution could not be changed before a general election in 2015.

On Tuesday, parliament unanimously endorsed talks among Suu Kyi, President Thein Sein, the speakers of the two houses of parliament, military chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and a member of a party representing an ethnic minority.

Suu Kyi has endorsed reforms by the semi-civilian government of former general Thein Sein. She was famously pictured watching a military parade in Naypyitaw last year, alongside members of the previous junta that had kept her under house arrest for more than 15 years.

But over the past year Suu Kyi has been critical of the government, accusing it of stalling the reform process.

Her party has gathered about 5 million signatures in support of a petition to amend the military-drafted constitution.

No date has been set for the proposed constitutional talks.



RB News
November 27, 2014

BROUK (Burmese Rohingya Organisation United Kingdom) joined with Kachin Protestors in Solidarity at a Demonstration in front of the Burmese Embassy in London and call for Inter Ethnic Solidarity

The Kachin National Organisation of UK (KNO-UK) held a demonstration to protest against the Military backed government of Burma in front of the Embassy in London, 19 A Charles St, W1J 5DX on November 26, 2014. There were about 50 people joining the demonstration, including Shan Ethnic people, Rohingya ethnic representatives from BROUK, Ko Aung from 88 Generation, U Nyan Win, NLD representative of UK, Anna Roberts from Burma Campaign and members from Muslim Associations.

KNO-UK vice chairman Ring Du Lachyung took part as a master of ceremonies, giving the opening speech. He mentioned in his speech that “During a time of full commitment to establish trust and discussion of the problems in pursuit of reaching a Nationwide Cease-fire agreement and peace in Burma, we strongly condemn these cowardly acts of the Burma Tatmadaw. The Burmese Army launched heavy artillery to several KIA’s posts on 22nd and 23rd of November 2014. The launch carried out on 23rd November hit near the Secondary School in Alen Bum, where IDPs attend in Laiza. Thus, we, the Kachin National Organization of UK and Kachin community in the UK strongly condemn these barbaric and offensive acts perpetrated by the Burmese Army”.


Later, on behalf of ethnic Rohingyas BROUK President, Tun Khin, gave a speech highlighting that, “We offer our heart-felt condolences to the bereaved families of the fallen Kachins in this most recent incident and those who were killed while defending their Kachinland. We wish to register our solidarity and empathy to the valiant Kachin freedom fighters and extend our wishes to work together, whenever possible, with other ethnic minority brothers and sisters who are commonly oppressed, exploited and destroyed by the successive attacks of the racist Bama military regime. Although we have been stripped off our once-officially recognized -not just self-referential - nationality as Rohingya Muslims of Burma under representative governments in the 1950's and 1960's we hold our country's minority communities as our national kin."

We believe that inter-ethnic and inter-faith solidarity is crucial for building a progressive political and social force in our diverse attempts to achieve the common goal of a peaceful, democratic and federate Union of Burma where everyone is equal before the law and everyone is entitled to human and civil rights”. said Tun Khin.

All the other speakers strongly condemned Burma's military and its ruling party in the un-provoked and 'cowardly' murder of young Kachin officer cadets by the Burma Tatmadaw Light Infantry Battalion 389, based at Khaya Bum in Kachin State, by the intentional firing of 105 mm artilleries at the military academy of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) situated at Woi Chyai Bum on November 19, 2014 at 12:36 PM.

The demonstration was successfully ended with Slogans at 2:30pm.

People walk between stalls at a market in Maungdaw town in northern Rakhine State November 11, 2014.
CREDIT: REUTERS/MINZAYAR

By Andrew R.C. Marshall
November 27, 2014

MAUNGDAW, Myanmar -- For years, tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslim boat people have fled this remote corner of western Myanmar for nearby countries. But another huge exodus has grabbed far fewer headlines.

Ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, bitter rivals of the Rohingya, are also leaving Rakhine State to seek jobs in Malaysia and Thailand. Small numbers of Rakhine are even following the same smuggling routes plied by the Rohingya and, like them, falling victim to human traffickers.

The exodus reflects a wider economic malaise. Myanmar's quasi-civilian government has launched many reforms since taking power in 2011, but hasn't created enough jobs.

"Go to Rakhine villages and you find only children and old people," said Tun Maung, a prominent businessman in the Rakhine capital Sittwe. "The young people have already gone."

The exodus of both Rohingya and Rakhine accelerated in 2012, after a year of violence between the two communities left hundreds dead and 140,000 homeless - mostly Rohingya.

Many displaced Rohingya now live in squalid camps along the Rakhine coast with easy access to ramshackle human-smuggling ships.

About 100,000 Rohingya boat people have left since the 2012 violence, said the Arakan Project, a Rohingya advocacy group.

The mass departure of Rakhine has been less noticeable because they usually travel by road and air, carrying passports unavailable to the mostly stateless Rohingya.

But Rakhine have also left in greater numbers since 2012, say Myanmar officials, after the unrest crippled a local economy neglected during nearly half a century of military dictatorship.

Millions of Burmese seek work abroad. About two million live in neighbouring Thailandalone, said the International Labour Organisation. Many are unlikely to return until Myanmar's economy improves. 

"WE DON'T TRUST THEM"

The Rakhine exodus could worsen those economic woes and communal tensions.

In much of Rakhine state, home to 3.2 million people, the Rohingya are a persecuted minority outnumbered two to one by the Rakhine.

But in the Maungdaw area, on the state's northern border with Bangladesh, those figures are reversed. Out of 510,000 people, only 30,000 are Rakhine or non-Muslims, township chief Kyi San told Reuters during a rare visit to Maungdaw by a foreign reporter.

As young people abandon their villages for jobs abroad, the Rakhine who remain feel besieged and vulnerable. 

Hla Tun Oo, 30, has just returned to Maw Ya Waddy village after seven years working at a factory in Malaysia. In June 2012, while he was gone, the Rakhine village was burned to the ground by a Rohingya mob.

Maw Ya Waddy was rebuilt with the help of the Myanmar government and international aid agencies. It was also militarised.

Soldiers watch the fields from a hilltop. More soldiers are encamped at a Buddhist monastery between Maw Ya Waddy and the populous Rohingya villages along the coast.

Rakhine villages nearby have a permanent police presence, and all are linked by new, military-built roads which allow Rakhine to avoid Rohingya communities. An 11pm to 4am curfew remains in force.

"I was born here and love my land. I want to protect it," said Hla Tun Oo, explaining why he returned.

But about 100 villagers, including Hla Tun Oo's two brothers, work in Malaysia or elsewhere, leaving Maw Ya Waddy with only 20 or so men of working age.

Relations with Muslim neighbours remain strained. Rakhine farmers no longer hire them as labourers, as they did before 2012. "We don't trust them anymore," said village chief Maung Maung Thein.

Yet the Rakhine have much in common with the Rohingya.

Pyu Tote, 30, a Rakhine with no passport, paid a broker about $600 to smuggle him into Malaysia. Rohingya, who rarely have travel documents, also rely on brokers.

Pyu Tote was driven to southern Myanmar. He crossed into Thailand by boat, then trekked through hilly jungles into Malaysia, a route also plied by thousands of Rohingya.

Thirty people trekked with him. "Most were Rakhine," said Pyu Tote, who worked at a Malaysian factory for a year.

Like Rohingya, the Rakhine are also vulnerable to exploitation. In August the International Organization for Migration arranged the return of 14 Rakhine men who were trafficked onto Thai fishing boats in Indonesian waters earlier this year.

The men were lured by the promise of well-paid jobs in Thailand.

LABOUR ISN'T WORKING

Many Rakhine families depend on remittances from overseas. Hla Tun Oo sent home about $200 (126 pounds) a month, and had saved another $20,000 after seven years in Malaysia.

But the departure of so many young Rakhine isn't helping a local economy reeling from the 2012 bloodshed.

Rakhine State suffers from chronic poverty. Malnutrition is rife and its infrastructure is shoddy or non-existent, with factories few and far between.

After 2012, the price of vegetables and seafood, largely supplied by Rohingya, soared. So did the cost of labour. Sittwe businesses aren't allowed to hire Rohingya, who were driven from the city and are now confined in distant camps ringed by police checkpoints.

"Violence and segregation have hit the economy hard," said Richard Horsey, an independent Myanmar analyst. "Muslims are stuck in camps, unable to work, and the instability has made it harder to attract vital foreign investment."

Economic growth would encourage Rakhine job-seekers to stay put. Or so hopes Tun Maung, the Sittwe businessman, who runs two restaurants and a hotel.

He has advertised for staff for six months. "Nobody has applied," he said.

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi listens as reporter asks her a question during a news conference at the National League for Democracy party head office in Yangon November 5, 2014. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

By Aung Hla Tun
November 26, 2014

YANGON - Myanmar's parliament has unanimously endorsed talks between the country’s top political leaders on amending a military-drafted constitution that bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from being president, a parliamentarian from her party said.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) has collected about five million signatures seeking reduced powers for unelected military members of parliament as the country, which emerged from 49 years of military dictatorship in 2011, moves towards an election next year.

But the parliamentary proposal for holding talks came not from the NLD, but from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is comprised largely of former military officers.

“USDP lawmaker Myint Tun submitted the proposal for holding a six-party summit to talk about amending the constitution in harmony with the present situation and it was approved unanimously,” Win Myint, an NLD MP, told Reuters.

He said the six participants will be Suu Kyi, President Thein Sein, Lower House speaker Shwe Mann, Upper House speaker Khin Aung Myint, military chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and a member from one of the parties representing an ethnic minority.

A date has not been set for the talks.

U.S. President Barack Obama has also urged Myanmar to review its constitution. Standing next to Suu Kyi on Nov. 14 during a visit to the country’s largest city, Yangon, he said the law excluding her from the presidency "doesn't make much sense".

The constitutional clause excludes from the presidency anyone with children or a spouse who holds foreign citizenship. Suu Kyi's children are British as was her late husband.

Many believe the law was written specifically with Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi in mind. She remains wildly popular and her party - which swept a 1990 vote that was ignored by the military - is expected to do well in next year's election.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaing was quoted in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Nov. 23 saying that the clause was not directed at Suu Kyi.

(Writing by Jared Ferrie; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

The main market at Leda, a makeshift Rohingya camp in Bangladesh. (Nigel O'Connor)

By Nigel O'Connor
November 26, 2014

Official government document reveals many Rohingya could be put in temporary camps, sent back to country they fled

TEKNAF, Bangladesh — Bangladesh has outlined proposals to intern thousands of undocumented Rohingya before repatriation to Myanmar, which they fled because of targeted violence and systematic discrimination, an official Foreign Ministry document obtained by Al Jazeera America reveals.

An estimated 270,000 stateless Rohingya live in overcrowded camps, on the outskirts of already impoverished townships, finding shelter in locals’ homes or using plastic sheeting and bamboo to construct huts in forests. An additional 30,000 have official status as refugees, living in U.N.-run camps but lack freedom of movement and the right to employment.

Dhaka announced a new national strategy for the undocumented Rohingya in February but has refused to make the details public. An International Organization for Migration (IOM) official provided the Foreign Ministry’s summary of key proposals to Al Jazeera America.

The document, dated March 31, 2014, reads, “It has been suggested that a survey/listing of undocumented Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh would be carried out in order to identify them and determine their actual number and location … The listed individuals would be housed in temporary shelters in different suitable locations pending their repatriation to Myanmar through regular diplomatic/consular channels.”




It says the IOM would provide basic humanitarian needs, with the International Committee of the Red Cross assuming coordination of the delivery of humanitarian services.

An official at Myanmar's foreign ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity said the country would only accept Rohingya from U.N.-run refugee camps. Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said it is was also very unlikely that any significant number of Rohingya would voluntarily repatriate.

The Bangladesh outline provides no indication of whether any basic rights will be conferred upon registration. The IOM directed questions on whether Rohingya would have the ability to move freely and apply for identity documents and passports to the office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, which directed the questions back to the IOM. Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Denied citizenship in Myanmar and subject to tight restrictions on their daily lives, the unrecognized Rohingya in Bangladesh live in a legal vacuum, making employment illegal and leaving them open to abuse or corruption, with no recourse to justice.

The Rohingya are among the most persecuted people in the world, according to the U.N. Concentrated in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, predominantly populated by Buddhists, the Rohingya participated in the country’s political process after independence from colonial rule but were denied citizenship in the 1982 constitution. They are now subject to strict controls on movement and marriage, forced labor, extortion and home eviction and demolition, according to groups that monitor the human rights situation in Myanmar.

Bangladesh was criticized for committing human rights violations against Rohingya refugees at the height of Myanmar’s 2012 violence, which saw massacres and more than 140,000 Rohingya internally displaced. Boatloads of refugees were pushed back to sea as Bangladesh sought to seal its borders. Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said at the time. “Bangladesh is already an overpopulated country. We cannot bear this burden.”

That year, authorities attempted to close operations of three international charities aiding the undocumented Rohingya. Under the national strategy, international aid agencies currently undertaking medical, nutrition and sanitary work will be replaced by local organizations.

Onchita Shadman, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the agency offered to undertake the documentation of the Rohingya but that the strategy proposal tasks government agencies with the work.

Many of the undocumented Rohingya in Bangladesh arrived during the 2012 violence. The 30,000 Rohingya with refugee status are mostly among those who arrived amid violence against Rohingya in the late 1970s and early 1990s.

An estimated 10,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since mid-October after a wave of targeted violence after authorities announced plans to force Rohingya to identify as Bengali before assessment of citizenship. Under the plan, Rohingya refusing to register and those without identity documents would be placed in detention camps indefinitely. On Nov. 13, President Barack Obama reportedly called on Myanmar to draft new plans to give Rohingya citizenship.

Also outlined in the national strategy summary are punitive new laws targeting Bangladeshi nationals assisting Rohingya with employment, shelter or identity and travel documents.

“It has been further suggested that the existing national laws should be updated/amended or new law and rules to be developed in order to bring to justice those involved in issuing forged passports and other certificates/documents in favor of Myanmar nationals and providing them with shelter or illegal employment in violation of the immigration rules,” the document reads.

“The human rights situation in Bangladesh is quite dire for many Bangladeshis, but it is even worse for Rohingya, who face discrimination and abuse connected to their statelessness and lack of legal status,” said Robertson.

“The authors of the so-called national strategy must have been writing in a closed room, divorced from reality, if they thought this would be effective,” he added. “The Bangladeshi government is willingly deluding itself with its continued insistence that any of the Rohingya are going to be voluntarily repatriated to [Myanmar].”

Robertson said that few Rohingya would be voluntarily repatriated to Myanmar and that any who are sent back would likely be rejected. “In the middle, the Rohingya are treated like a pingpong ball, ready to be smashed back and forth and bereft of any sort of rights.”

A little upriver from the mouth of the Naf River, which forms part of Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar, the small township of Teknaf is swollen by an estimated 20,000 Rohingya. At the foot of a bridge in the center of town, a frail woman in a black sari sat wailing for alms, eyes closed, hand outstretched in her lap. Timber and bamboo is sent downriver from Myanmar and processed at small local mills. The town is a nest of gun runners and people smugglers and a key corridor in the lucrative yaba trade, a methamphetamine-based pill manufactured in Myanmar. Nightfall brings regular gunfights between authorities and traffickers. 

Muhammad Ismail spent a year living in a displacement camp for Rohingya in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, before paying for passage to Bangladesh in 2013. 

“The government and the Rakhine people worked together to attack the Rohingya and other Muslim people. They killed men, women and children,” he said. “After our homes were burned down, we were moved to the displacement camps, and one day I was arrested traveling without a permit. The police took my identity documents, and my name was blacklisted. When I got back to the camp, I knew I had to leave the country.”

Ismail now works in Teknaf’s market selling eggs. He wishes his stay in Bangladesh will be brief, holding out hope relatives abroad might help provide money to obtain travel documents and go to a Western country. In Teknaf the horrors of his homeland remain present.

“Many Rohingya are leaving [Myanmar] by boat, and the navy sometimes attacks the boats,” he said. “Hundreds have been killed like this. You can see the dead bodies of women, children and old people floating in the waters.” 

National authorities and the media regularly condemn the Rohingya for engaging in drug smuggling and other illegal activities. Mohammad Didarul Ferdous, an inspector with the local police force, said some Bangladeshis are also frustrated with the situation.

“They are taking so much firewood from the hills and forests. Everyone depends on firewood here, as we have no gas,” he said. “There is no chance for the Rohingya to work, and some are forced into illegal work. Everyone needs to survive, and businesses like the Rohingya because they are willing to work for less. We have had some incidents of local workers getting angry at the Rohingya for selling their labor for less.”

Regardless of the challenges, human rights groups say the government of Bangladesh has created many of the problems, seeking to discourage Rohingya from arriving by neglecting the Rohingya already living in the country.

“The conditions for Rohingya in Bangladesh have steadily worsened over the last year, particularly in light of the government's flawed strategy,” said Matthew Smith of Southeast Asia-based rights group Fortify Rights.

“There’s been a worsening chronic health emergency for Rohingya in official and unofficial camps in Bangladesh. These are some of the world’s worst refugee camps and have been for years.”

According to senior officials at the Foreign Ministry, policy in Dhaka is to deny journalists access to the makeshift camps so they can’t witness the squalor. The government of Bangladesh does not wish outsiders to see the children walking naked through the refugee camps, skin pulled tight across their rib cages. Some cough deeply, and others rub eyes filled with pus or scratch skin infections running across their backs, arms and chests.

The British charity Muslim Aid runs a rudimentary hospital along with sanitation projects and nutrition programs for pregnant women and infants.

Samiul Ferdaus, a doctor with the charity, said, “The camp lacks safe drinking water, and this leads to outbreaks of typhoid, diarrhea and cholera. There is an outbreak of hepatitis B here at the moment that risks spreading.”

The Leda camp, about 10 miles north of Teknaf and home to 15,000 people, backs onto a forest and consists of rows of housing constructed from plastic sheeting and bamboo. Residents run small markets, shops and tea stalls. The paths are crowded, and people mill around in the fringes of the forest seeking some privacy. The forest floor is covered in patches of human feces.

Authorities deny camp residents permission to operate schools. Of all the burdens, the most pressing is the lack of education, said Dudumir Kingtaung.

“We have no education, and the Bangladeshi government won’t let us open a school. We are afraid for our children,” he said, gesturing toward the woodland and the mingling groups. “It’s making us poor, and we are becoming like forest animals. The Bangladeshi government gives us shelter, and we are thankful for that, but why can’t we have one school?”

Across the makeshift camps residents attempt to provide some classes, in what they describe as underground schools, but with limited training and resources, their ability to make an impact is very limited. They fear that if authorities learn of the locations of the classes, they will be forced to stop.

The lack of education extends beyond the Rohingya to the local population. Dr. Shamsuzzahan Chowdurry, head of Teknaf’s hospital, said there is no high school available for local students, let alone Rohingya refugees. The few with means send their children to Cox’s Bazaar, the regional administrative center, which is three hours by car, or to Bangladesh’s second city, Chittagong.

“You will struggle to find 4,000 educated people here in a population of 400,000,” she said. “Education here is up to class five, to the age of 11. After that, there is no school. Girls get married at 13 or 14 to boys aged 18, and then they start their families.”

Chowdurry said the Bangaldeshi government’s approach is that if the Rohingya “don’t work for a long time and there is no facility for their health and education, then they won’t want to come.” 

Optimism for the Rohingya is in limited supply on both sides of the border, but many still hope to one day return to their homeland.

Alam said he is privately teaching his children to read and write in English, Bengali and Burmese to allow for a prolonged stay in Bangladesh but also in anticipation of a return to Myanmar.

“When the situation is better, we will go back. For me, [Myanmar] is a very beautiful country, but the government is very evil,” he said. “Bangladesh will let us stay, but here we have nothing.”




A girl watches as soldiers (not implicated) walk by her home in Thapyuchai village, in Rakhine state. Photograph: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters

By Kate Hodal
November 25, 2014

Women’s rights group says military uses sexual violence to intimidate women in ethnic minority communities and take control of resource-rich areas 

The Burmese army systematically uses sexual violence against women – including gang rape by soldiers – to “demoralise and destroy the fabric of ethnic [minority] communities” and establish control over resource-rich areas, according to a women’s rights group.

A report by the Women’s League of Burma (WLB), released on Tuesday to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, says the use of sexual violence is so widespread in ethnic minority areas that abuses may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under international criminal law. 

The WLB is an umbrella organisation comprising 13 women’s organisations of various ethnicities. 

The report, If They Had Hope, They Would Speak (pdf), highlights 118 incidences of rape, gang rape and sexual assault in both ceasefire and non-ceasefire areas at the hands of Burma’s armed forces since 2010 – but notes that these figures are likely to be “a fraction” of the number of abuses actually taking place. A culture of impunity and intimidation prevents women from reporting the crimes or seeking redress, the group claims.

Large-scale development projects in ethnic minority communities – including mining, hydroelectric and pipeline projects – have led to an increase in poverty, sexual violence and militarisation in those areas, the report claims, with the armed forces enjoying “de-facto immunity” for their crimes.

Documenting reports of sexual violence in Kachin, Karen, Mon, Chin, Shan and Karenni states – in some cases of victims as young as eight years old – the WLB alleges that both the number and geographic scope of the abuses proves that “sexual violence remains an institutionalised practice” of Burma’s armed forces. 

“The army are not interested in accountability for sexual violence or human rights abuses,” the Lahu Women’s Organisation says in the report. “If a captain or commander commits rape, they will go to the survivor’s house to apologise, and offer some compensation. Even the highest-ranking officers are doing this. If a gang rape committed by a group of soldiers is made public, they will quickly be moved to another base before they can be held to account.”

Burma’s president, Thein Sein – who came to power in 2011 after half a century of military-led rule – has reformed the country, from the privatisation of sectors of the economy to releasing political prisoners and easing media censorship. His government has made public pledges to help promote and protect women through a national strategic plan to advance women and a UK-led declaration of commitment to end sexual violence in conflict. But no action has been taken to implement the declaration, and very little has been done to help women in ethnic minority communities, the WLB says.

“The government of Burma has worked hard to show its reformist credentials to the world, but for women in Burma’s ethnic [minority] communities, human rights abuses and sexual violence at the hands of the Burma army remain a constant threat,” said the organisation’s general secretary, Tin Tin Nyo. “Any positive changes coming out of Naypyidaw [Burma’s capital] have not improved the lived experience of women in Burma.”

In March, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called on Thein Sein to investigate crimes of sexual violence and human rights abuses, as well as develop a comprehensive strategy to protect survivors. The WLB has also repeatedly called on the government to demilitarise the nation (one-fourth of all parliamentary seats are reserved for the military); investigate human rights abuses; and promote and integrate women into the peace process.

Apart from opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who lived for nearly two decades under house arrest and is now an MP, women are largely absent from any decision-making or powerful positions. Burma’s political, economic and social structures have long privileged men, says the WLB’s joint general secretary, Naw Wah Ku Shee, and the nation has the lowest representation of female MPs of any country in the Association of South-east Asian Nations. This dearth of powerful women undermines Burmese women’s capacity to confront and address the abuses they frequently face.

“As long as women continue to be marginalised from Burmese political and public life, sustainable peace cannot be realised,” Naw Wah Ku Shee told the Guardian, adding that Aung San Suu Kyi needed to do more to help women in her country. “[Aung San Suu Kyi] has not used her celebrity to highlight the scale of ongoing abuses faced by women in ethnic [minority] communities. If she is going to champion the human rights of the women in Burma, she must not be silent on the rape, torture and displacement faced by [these] women.”

Rumours abound in the Rohingya camps after Dhaka's announcement (Photo: Mushfique Wadud/IRIN)

By IRIN
November 25, 2014

COX'S BAZAR -- Bangladesh's announcement that it will move two camps housing some 30,000 officially documented Rohingya refugees has heightened anxieties among the Muslim minority, who fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar. Observers applaud the possibility of improving camp conditions, but are concerned the move could also increase insecurity.

On 6 November, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in a meeting with the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry, said the camps would be moved to a "better location", which was later described by her press secretary as a larger space. The prime minister reportedly acknowledged that the current camp conditions were "inhumane". 

But in the two registered camps jointly administered by the government of Bangladesh and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) - Kutupalong and Nayapara - details remain murky and distrust high as resident Rohingyas have faced decades of ill-treatment in Bangladesh.

"We are worried and confused about the government move to shift the camps," Mohammad Ismail, secretary of Kutupalong refugee camp, told IRIN. "If the relocation is to better places, we welcome the move as we are leading a miserable life here. But we can't be sure."

UNHCR says there are 200,000 to 500,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh, of whom only 32,355 are documented and living in the two camps, both within 2km of Myanmar. Most live in informal settlements or towns and cities in what Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) described as "deplorable conditions".

A 2013 government "Rohingya Strategy" charted vague plans for handling the refugees - including building new camps for the unregistered masses. But discrepancies between Bangladesh's humanitarian promises and its behaviour, plus an ongoing influx of Rohingyas as the situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate, means decisions made in Dhaka, like the proposed camp location shift, are met with fear and anxiety among the refugees. 

According to UNHCR, the Cox's Bazar camps are overcrowded and a move to avoid congestion is welcome. However, Stina Ljungdell, UNHCR country representative in Bangladesh, told IRIN: "An actual move of the camps would entail substantial financial commitments which may be hard to secure during a time when UNHCR is facing multiple crises and more displaced people than ever, all over the world."

But humanitarian agency cooperation or offers of funding have not, historically, solved the problem. For example, Dhaka cancelled a "UN Joint Initiative" to implement livelihoods activities for Rohingyas and Bangladeshis in the Cox's Bazar and Teknaf areas (two of the country's poorest) - with more than US$30 million in aid pledges - in 2010 citing suspicions of the UN's "mala-fide intent to rehabilitate refugees in Cox's Bazar district under the pretext of poverty reduction for locals."

In June 2012 Dhaka barred the then UNHCR country representative from visiting the border regions (part of the agency's routine work) as Rohingyas attempted to escape communal violence in Myanmar. The following month, Dhaka ordered three prominent international NGOs - MSF, Action Against Hunger (ACF), and Muslim Aid - to cease aid to the Rohingyas in and around Cox's Bazaar. And in October of that year, following the second bout of communal violence, UNHCR called for Bangladesh to open its borders to offer refuge to those fleeing, but Dhaka refused. 

Bangladesh's unregistered Rohingya live in daily peril (Photo: Mushfique Wadud/IRIN)

Kumar Baul, head of Myanmar Refugee Cell at Bangladesh's Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, said the ministry's top officials will "sit soon to discuss the relocation", but he declined to comment further. The pressure is expected to continue to mount on Bangladesh as Myanmar's "policies of persecution" towards Rohingyas continue, driving more to cross into Bangladesh. 

"The refugees are already in a vulnerable condition. The government should not do anything that can make them more vulnerable," said CR Abrar, coordinator of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) at Dhaka University, explaining that the relocation announcement has created anxieties among the refugees. He argued: "If the government wants to relocate, it must ensure that the refugees get all the facilities they are getting now." 

Sixty-year-old Zafar Ahmed, a registered Rohingya refugee who came to Bangladesh in the early 1990s, said he and his family are worried by the announcement. "We don't know where we are heading to and we are confused," he said. 

Anti-Rohingya resentment

Anti-Rohingya sentiment is high among Bangladeshi communities living near the camps, sometimes stoked by jealousy that Rohingyas receive food and other aid. Shop owners in Kutupalong markets told IRIN they felt it was more difficult for Bangladeshis to get jobs because Rohingyas could be hired at such low costs.

For Rohingyas, many of whom work informally, this resentment can manifest itself in violent attacks, including local men allegedly raping Rohingya women inside the camps. Sayed Alam, chairman of Kutopalong camp, said: "We are living here in severe insecurity. We will welcome any move to shift our camps to better places."

For those who are unregistered, the risks of daily life are even higher. 

"We do not want to live here. We will go anywhere government sends us. Even if they send us back to the sea, we will go," said an unregistered Rohingya who asked not to be named.

Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, an organization that monitors Rohingyas in Myanmar and Bangladesh, told IRIN: "For at least 10 years, refugees consistently reported that Bakhtiar [a former local government representative and community leader known by one name] and his gang stole their food rations, beat many of them, and he was even accused of raping a refugee woman."

Unregistered refugees fear being left behind

Meanwhile, rumours are adding to a sense of unease.

"We even heard that our camps will be shifted near a military cantonment and more restriction will be imposed on us," said a Rohingya who works as a volunteer in an aid organization in Kutupalong camp.

"We heard that our camps will be shifted in[to] more disaster-prone areas. One official told me that our camps will be shifted to northern Bangladesh," said another Kutupalong resident who preferred anonymity.

Daily life for Rohingya in Bangladesh is brutal and insecure (Photo: Kyle Knight/IRIN)

Rohingya camp and community leaders confirmed to IRIN that they have received no official communication from the government about the move. 

Unregistered Rohingyas, who live in squalid informal settlements near the registered camps, are concerned they may be left behind. 

"If the government shifts the camps, they will shift the registered camps. Where will we go then?" Abdul Hafez, chairman of the non-registered Rohingya committee in Kutupalong camp, told IRIN. Around 42,000 unregistered Rohingyas live next to the Kutupalong refugee camp in appalling conditions. According to UNHCR, for much of their stay in Bangladesh (in some cases decades), unregistered Rohingyas have borrowed food rations from registered camp residents, resulting in malnutrition among both groups.

"We welcome any move if the unregistered Rohingyas are also shifted," he said.

UNHCR told IRIN that, as far as it was aware, the current government plans do not include any consideration of unregistered refugees.

"I can only hope that any relocation for Rohingya refugees, especially those from Kutupalong, would indeed be a better location and that they would not be subject to more restrictions by the authorities or persecution by local goons," said Lewa.

Rohingyas, a Muslim, linguistic and ethnic minority in Myanmar's Rakhine State, have been subject to state-sanctioned persecution for decades. Two bouts of communal violence in 2012 sparked the exodus of more than 100,000 from Myanmar to date; 140,000 are currently interned in camps there; around 800,000 remain in villages with extremely limited movement. Myanmar rejects their citizenship and their name itself, and recently condemned UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for saying "Rohingya" during the November Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Myanmar.


    • Rohingya Exodus