International Day of the World's Indigenous People and Rohingya

Aman Ullah

RB Article

August 11, 2015

“Muslims of Arakan certainly belong to one of the indigenous races of Burma, which you represent. In fact, there are no pure indigenous races in Burma and that if you do not belong to indigenous races Burma; we also cannot be taken as indigenous races of Burma.” President Saw Shwe Thaik,

The International Day of the World's Indigenous People falls on 9 August as this was the date of the first meeting in 1982 of the United Nations Working Group of Indigenous Populations of the Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the Commission on Human Rights.

Every year, 9 August is commemorated as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The day is celebrated with special events around the world, including at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

This year's theme puts a spotlight on the issue of indigenous peoples' access to health care services, as improving indigenous peoples’ health remains a critical challenge for indigenous peoples, Member States and the United Nations. 

In a message to mark the Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “On this International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, I call on the international community to ensure that they are not left behind. To create a better, more equitable future, let us commit to do more to improve the health and well-being of indigenous peoples.”

Who are Indigenous?

The adjective indigenous is derived from the two Ancient Greek words indo= endo/ "ενδό(ς)", meaning inside/within, and genous= (γέννoυς), meaning birth/born and also race, etymology meaning "native" or "born within".

James Anaya, former Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, has defined indigenous peoples as "living descendants of pre-invasion inhabitants of lands now dominated by others. They are culturally distinct groups that find themselves engulfed by other settler societies born of forces of empire and conquest". 

They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system. 

In 1972 the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) accepted as a preliminary definition a formulation put forward by Mr. José R. Martínez-Cobo, Special Rapporteur on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations. This definition has some limitations, because the definition applies mainly to pre-colonial populations, and would likely exclude other isolated or marginal societies.

“Indigenous communities, peoples, and nations are those that, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop, and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems.”

Thus, Indigenous peoples were the descendants of those peoples that inhabited a territory prior to colonization or formation of the present state.

Rohingyas are one of the Indigenous peoples of Burma

The Rohingyas are Muslims who are living in Arakan generation after generation for centuries after centuries. They are nationals as well as an indigenous community of Burma. They are equal in every way with other communities of the country. Their arrival in Arakan has pre-dated the arrival of many other peoples and races now residing in Arakan and other parts of Burma. They developed from different stocks of peoples and concentrated in a common geographical location forming their own society with a consolidated population in Arakan well before the Burman invasion in 1784.

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, the present Thein Sein government vehemently denies the existence of a Rohingya ethnicity, referring to the group, even in official documents, as “Bengali.” Ultra-nationalist Rakhine Buddhists vehemently reject this view, framing the Rohingyas as illegal immigrants who migrated from East Bengal during the British rule of Burma and/or after Burma and Pakistan’s independence in 1948 and 1947, respectively. 

In one hand the government is trying to enforce with a temporary card known as green card on ethnic Rohingya requiring them to apply for citizenship by naturalization with ‘Bengali identity’ as foreign residents with a view to denationalizing and dividing the entire Rohingya people while putting them in permanent limbo. 

On the other hand they are propagating that, “If any Rohingya accepts Bengali the government will give him; - Red Card Citizenship, - free movement, the Mosque can be opened back, his children can go to school, he can travel freely, he can married without restriction, he can do business and earn money freely, he can vote and can stand for the vote, etc..”

Ethnic identity is an essential human need that provides a sense of belonging and historical continuity and created a foundation on which to build a concept of self. It is an individual’s self-concept developed from knowledge of membership in a cultural group. Ethnic identity and self-identity has supported a strong relationship between the two.

According to Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.’ For the ‘equal in dignity’ the right to self- identification is important. It is very significantly important to know differentially the incomparable difference between “ethnicity or ethnic group and ethno-religious group”. “Ethnicity or ethnic group” is a specific term to identify the ancestral background of each community who are eligible to belong an ethnicity—particular language, distinct culture, racial dress, populous territory.

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

The term Rohingya is widely used by the international community to identify a group of Muslims of Arakan. According to Dr. Ganganath Jha of Jawaharlal Nehru University of India, the term Rohingya is derived from Rohang the ancient name of Arakan. The Muslims of Arakan called their country, in their own language, ‘Rohang or Roang’ and called themselves as Rohangya (Rohang+ya) or Roangya (Roang+ya) means native of Rohang or Roang. In Burmese it is ‘ရိုဟင္ဂ်ာ’, in Rakhine’s pronunciation it will read as ‘Rohangya’ but in Burmese pronunciation it became ‘Rohingya’ and now it’s established as ‘Rhinggya’. Like other peoples of the world, they have needed to identify as Rohingya to some degree for centuries.

In the work of Arab geographer Rashiduddin (1310 AD) it appears as ‘Rahan or Raham’. The British travelers Relph Fitch (1586 AD) referred the name of Arakan as ‘Rocon’. In the Rennell’s map (1771 AD), it is ‘Rassawn’. Tripura Chronicle Rajmala mentions as ‘Roshang’. In the medieval works of the poets of Arakan and Chittagong, like Quazi Daulat, Mardan, Shamser Ali, Quraishi Magan, Alaol, Ainuddin, Abdul Ghani and others, they frequently referred to Arakan as ‘Roshang’, ‘Roshanga’, ‘Roshango Shar’, and ‘Roshango Des’. Famous European traveller Francis Buchanam (1762-1829 AD) in his accounts mentioned Arakan as “Rossawn, Rohhawn, Roang, Reng or Rung”. In one of his accounts, “A Comparative Vocabulary of some of the languages spoken in the Burman Empire” it was stated that, “The first is that spoken by the Mohammedans, who have long settled in Arakan, and who call themselves Rooinga, or natives of Arakan.” The Persians called it ‘Rekan’.” The Chakmas and Saks from 18th century called it ‘Roang’. Today the Muslims of Arakan call the country ‘Rohang’ or Roang’ or ‘Arakan’ and call themselves ‘Rohingya’ or native of Rohang.

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.

· On 31st December 1942, Brig-Gen C E Lucas Phillips of 14th British Army declared the North Arakan as “Muslim National Area” As per Public Notice No. 11-OA-CC/42. Then formed a Peace Committed headed by Mr. Omra Meah and Mr. Zahir Uddin Ahmed and entrusted for administration of the area. On 1st January 1945 Brigadier C.E Lucas Phillips became the Chief Administrator of the area and appointed members of Peace Committee as administrative officers of the area. The British recognized the Muslims of Arakan as a distinct racial group and the British officer-in-command promised to grant more autonomy in North Arakan. 

· In 1947, Hon’ble Bo Let Ya the Deputy Prime Minister, came to visit Maungdaw, to expound the principles laid down in the constitution of the Union of Burma, but it appeared on the "New Times of Burma" that he addressed the inhabitants of Maungdaw as "Chittagonians" which was objectionable and contradictory in relation to the Muslims of North Arakan forming parts and parcel of Indigenous races of Burma. The Prime Minister U Nu expressed regrets for the use of wrong terms "Chittagonians” and as per letter No.153/22 PM 48 dated; 20 February 1948, instructed that it should be either "Arakanese Muslims" or "Burmese Muslims". The term ‘Burmese Muslims’ published in the form of Press communiqué issued by His Excellency Sir Domon Smith, the Governor of Burma, on 27th September 1941. 

· On 30th 1949, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a Burma Gazette Extra Ordinary, as par letter No. 282/ HD- 49, in which it was, mentioned that the Arakanese Muslims of Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships of Akyab district as indigenous peoples of Burma.

· On September 1954, U Nu, the first elected Prime Minister of Burma, in his radio address to nation, announced that, “The people living in northern Arakan are our national brethren. They are called Rohingyas. They are on the same par in the status of nationality with Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Shan.” 

· On 3rd and 4th November 1959, U Ba Swe, Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Affairs, in the public meetings of Maungdaw and Buthidaung, announced that, ‘The Rohingyas are equal in every way with other minority races like Shan, Kachin, Karen, kayah, Mon and Rakhine. They have lived in Burma ages according to historical facts. There is historical evidence that they have lived faithfully and harmoniously with other races of Burma.’ 

· On 4th July 1961, Brig-General Aung Gyi, Deputy Chief of Staff, officially explained that, ‘On the west, May Yu district borders with Pakistan. As is the case with all borderlands communities, there are Muslims on both sides of the borders. Those who are on Pakistan’s side are known as Pakistani while the Muslims on our Burmese side of the borders are referred to as ‘Rohingya.’ Here I must stress that this is not a case where one single race splits itself into two communities in two different neighbouring countries. If you look at the Sino-Burmese border region, you will see this kind of phenomenon, namely ‘adjacent people’. To give you a concrete example, take Lisu of Kachin state, or La-wa (or Wa) and E-kaw of the same Kachin State by the Chinese borderlands. They all straddle on both sides of the borders. Likewise, the Shan can be found on the Chinese side as well as in Thailand – and they are known as ‘Tai’ or ‘Dai’ over there...They speak similar language and they have a common religion.’

· The Rohingyas were enfranchised in all the national and local elections of Burma. Their representatives were in the Legislative Assembly, in the Constituent Assembly and in the Parliament. As members of the new Parliament, their representatives took the oath of allegiance to the Union of Burma on the 4th January 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.

Thus, the Muslims of Rakhine region over the centuries have had many terms by which to identify themselves, including the terms Rakhine Muslim, Arakan Muslim, and Rohingya, the last of which has become more prominent in recent times. 

However, the Rakhine nationalist claims that, the term Rohingya was created in the 1950s to promote the political demands of the Bengalis in Myanmar.

Ethnic identity is not a God-given thing, but different forms of identities are invented and reworked thorough space and time. That’s why the process of identity formation is known as ‘social construction’. And Ethnicity is not just a ‘thing’ but also a ‘process’ in which the state actors impose identities, and the people themselves actively articulate their own identities for the sake of political and material livelihood.

As Burma and Arakan state are the products of the nation-sate formation through a relatively long, history, The name ‘Rakhne’ and the place ‘Arakan’ have been “invented” at particular points of time, just like the name “Rohinggya’ was invented another points of time. If Rohingya ‘migrated’ from Bangladesh of somewhere else at one historical point of time Rakhines must have ‘migrated’ at similar or another historical points of time. But immigrating earlier of later does not negates the problematic reality that both groups have migrated from somewhere else. None of these groups fell from the sky. The claim that the name ‘Rohingya’ is invented is unacceptable and completely contradicts the very foundational understanding of ethnicity and ethnic identity. 

Since 1942, the Rakhine Buddhists pushed the Muslims from the southern Arakan to the northern Arakan. 

Since 1962, successive military regimes denied their citizenship right by labeling that they are illegal immigrants from Bangaladesh.

Since 1982, the regimes completely denied the citizenship rights of the Rohingyas by enacting the most controversial Citizenship Law -1982.

Since 2012, the Thein Sein regime rejected their identity and forcefully making them Bengali. 

The Rohingya Muslims of Arakan, both home and abroad, believed that they belong to Burma and they are parts and parcel of indigenous races of Burma. They never try to be Bengali. At present there are more than 3 million Roghingyas both home and abroad. Their only blood related community is the Roai people, a third and fourth generation Rohingyas, who strongly believed that their ancestors were from Arakan or related to Arakan. Their population is round about 10 million lived in Cox’s Bazaar district and southern Chittagong district. These peoples are morally concerned to the Rohingyas Muslims of Arakan.

However, the present Thein Sein Government and Ultra- Nationalits Rakhines are going to forcefully making the Rohingya to Bengali. Then the Bengali peoples became concerned to the case and cause of the Rohuingyas. In Bangladesh, there are 160 million Bengali, in India also about 100 million Bengali and other parts of the world also more than 40 million Bengali. So there are more than 300 million Bengali throughout the world. In the case of the Rohingya has forcefully became Bengali then they will be parts and parcel of other Bengali peoples, and the world’s over 300 million Bengali will try to stand behind the ill-fated 3 million Rohingya people. The Government is playing with a great risk that will not good for the country and for the peoples of Burma, particularly for Arakan.

The Arakan problem can be easily solved to the satisfaction of all the stake holders if the Rakhine Buddhist is simply follow the golden rule of “Live and let Live”. This will definitely put an end to all the mutual ill-feeling and mistrusts; and there lies mutual happiness.

Aman Ullah

RB Aritcle

August 11, 2015

“Citizenship is a basic right for it is nothing less than the right to have right.”

Earl Warren, former U S Supreme Court Justice

For over 800 years, from 1044 to 1885, the Burmese lived under an absolute monarchy. All legislative, executive and judicial powers were concentrated in the hands of the monarch. Justice was administered by issuing royal commands. As the loyal subject of the kings, the people needed to surrender all their wills at feet of the kings. They had neither rights nor liberties nor a say in the affairs of the state. 

The rule of the Burmese kings came to an end in 1885 when Burma became Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s possession. All the people of Burma were became the subjects of the Her Majesty Queen Victoria till Burma achieved its independence on 4th January 1948.

According to the Article 3 of the Nu-Attlee Treaty, which was signed in London on 17th October 1947, “Any person who at the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty is, by virtue of the constitution of the Union of Burma, a citizen thereof and who is, or by virtue of a subsequent election is deemed to be, also a British subject, may make a declaration of alienage in the manner prescribed by the law of the Union, and thereupon shall cease to be citizen of the Union.”

There is also in 1947 Burma Independence Act Article 2 sub-section (1) “Subject to the provisions of this section, the persons specified in the First Schedule to this Act, being British subjects immediately before the appointment day, shall on that day cease to be British subjects;”.. According to the First Schedule (Section 2), “persons who were born in Burma or whose father or paternal grandfather was born in Burma and who, being British subjects immediately before the appointed day, shall cease to be British subjects”.

That’s means that, a person who by virtue of this section ceases to be British subject on the appointed day and became a citizen of Independent country of Burma. Appointed day means the fourth day of January, nineteen hundred and forty-eight in accordance to section 1 of that Act.

On 4 January 1948 the Union of Burma achieved independence. All the peoples of Burma; Burman and non-Burman including the Rohingyas, ceased the subjects of British became independent citizens of independent country. A constitution for this new sovereign independent republic was adopted on 24 September 1947 by a constituent assembly, which was drafted around the same time as the Universal Declaration for Human Rights.

The 1947 constitution provided safeguards 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”.

However, at that time the inhabitants of the country consisted of persons of indigenous, mixed and foreign stock. Citizenship was partly defined by the Constitution thereby assuring citizenship rights to the indigenous and mixed races, but the task of defining citizenship more completely was left to the parliament. Laws were promulgated by the Parliament from time to time to define citizenship and to provide for its acquisition and anyone who was not a citizen was classified as a foreigner. 

The “Residents of Burma Registration Act” was enacted in 1949 and a nine members committee was formed June 1950 to draft its rules in the name of ‘National Registration Rules Drafting Committee’. After finalizing the draft the committee submitted it to the Government for approval and the Parliament approved the Rules in the February 1951 session. It was circulated by the Ministry of Homes on February 23, 1951 as Gazette notification No. 117 in a name of , ‘Residents of Burma registration Rules, 1951’. 

Every person residing in Burma shall furnish, for registration purposes, (his/her) particulars as required under this Act or its rules made there under. The Registration Officer or Assistant Registration Officer shall, in accordance with the rules made under this Act, issue to every person who has registered as such, a registration card as a proof of identity and containing prescribed particulars. 

Notwithstanding anything in the above rules, the foreigners shall be exempted from the application of the said rules other than rule 29 and 31. The foreigners who were registered under 1940 Foreigner Registration rules shall be deemed that they are being registered under these rules. For the matters in the rule 29 and 31, the registration card issued under 1940 Foreigner Registration Rules shall be deemed that the card is issued under these rules.

Registration and issuing these cards was commenced on March 1, 1952 by visiting door to door in every nock and corner of the area in Rangoon District and in other 7 towns including Akyab on April1, 1952 (1953 Burma gazetteers vol.1, page-819). The tasks of Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung and others 20 townships were commenced on August 1, 1953 (1954 Burmese gazetteers Vol.1, page-197).

All NRC issued in earlier years bear no additional remarks. A remark stating, “Holding this certificate shall not be considered as a conclusive proof of as to citizenship” was sealed later on NRCs. The reason behind this extra remark sealed later was the best known to the authorities. Perhaps one of the objectives of 1978, Dragon King Operation was to stamp the above remark on all NRCs.

NRCs were issued to all residents (mainly citizens) whilst registered foreigners (under Foreigners Registration Act and Rule of 1948) were issued FRCs. There was no third category of people in Burma, then. As a result, NRCs were used as a proof of nationality or citizenship. This is the most authentic document concerning Rohingya’s citizenship. 

NRC is a bona fide document that allowed one to carry on all his national activities, without let or hindrance: -- to possess moveable and immovable or landed properties, pursue education, including higher studies and professional courses in the country’s seats of learning, right to work and public services, including armed forces, and to obtain Burmese passport for travelling abroad, including pilgrimage to Holy Makkah. 

According to the 1973 census, the population of Akyab Township was 140,000; Maungdaw 223,320; Buthidaung 163,353; and Rathedaung 95,270. FRC holders in Akyab were 841, Maungdaw 109, Buthidaung 203 and Rathedaung 55. There were also 1528 people without any documents. That’s means that there were 619, 195 persons NRC holders, 1, 208 persons FRC holders and 1528 persons undocumented in these townships, where more than 60%; of total population was Rohingyas at that time.

However, since 1970 no NRC cards were issued to the Rohingyas, whereas, as per the regulation every person above the age of 12 years would have to have NRCs. In addition to this, the government launched a military operation since 1974 in the name of ‘Sabe Operation’. During that operation thousands of Rohingyas’ NRCs were seized without any legal authorities, on various pretexts which were never returned. In these ways thousands of the poor and natural born Rohingyas were classified as foreigners, alleging filtrated from Bangladesh. Thus, the system of issuing the NRCs was directed to fit into a well-planned policy of de-nationalizing the Rohingyas of Arakan.

Moreover, following the promulgation of the 1982 Citizenship Law, all residents in Burma had to reapply for citizenship, exchanging their old identity documents for new one. In 1989, a further change was made and all residents had to apply for new Citizenship Scrutiny Cards, (in Burmese ‘naing-ngan-tha si-sit-ye kat-pya’), rather than the Identity Cards (in Burmese 'amyu-tha hmat-pon-tin kat-pya’). The new cards are colour-coded for essay identification of the citizenship status of the bearer. Pink cards were given to full citizens, blue for associate citizens and green for naturalized citizens. 

The cards must be carried at all the times, the cards number has to be given when buying tickets; registering children in schools; staying overnight with friends or relatives outside one’s own council area; applying for any professional post, including all civil service posts; buying or exchanging land and other .

Thus, denying the right to citizenship in Burma is denying all the civil rights in Burma, such as the right to freedom of movement, the right to education, the right to own property, the right to be employed as civil servants’, and so on. 

One of the key points of the Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs), on the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, between Burma and Bangladesh and between Burma and UNHCR was that returnees be granted “appropriate identification”. In practice, however, this initially meant that the returnees received “returnee identification cards” yellow colour cards which only identified them as persons having returned from Bangladesh by giving them no legal status.

In July 1995, in response to UNHCR’s intensive advocacy efforts to document the Rohingyas, the regime moved to regularize the population of northern Arakan by issuing new cards to all Rohingya residents. According to the regime it was “first step toward to citizenship”. The new card, which is called Temporary Registration Card (TRC), was issued under the 1949 Residents of Burma Registration Act and the 1951 Residents of Burma Registration Rules, both of which acts were superseded by the 1982 Citizenship Law but were reintroduced in order to be used solely for the registration of Rohingyas.

Under the 1951 Residents of Burma Registration Rules, The record-keeper may issue "Temporary registration certificate (TRC)” for any of the following reasons:

· If record-keeper suppose that entry in the registration record has been done completely in a proper way. 

· If an application is submitted to issue another card in lieu of the card, which is lost or damage or faded out? 

· If there is specific reasons by general or special order.

TRC means a certificate issued in lieu of the registration card and a proof of identity valid for a certain period specified in the certificate. The TRC must be in accord with form (3) attached to the back of this rules. The validity duration of TRC may be restricted by fixing a deadline. The holder of TRC shall surrender his card to record-keeper within 7 days after validity of the card expires. The record-keeper may reissue that card endorsing it for validity extension as and when necessary or he may issue new TRC.

Until recently the Rohingyas – as other stateless minority populations, such as the Burma-born ethnic Chinese and Indian - at least had ID cards (“white cards”) that allowed them to vote in two occasions. Allegedly, the ruling party, Union Solidarity and Development Party, chaired by the current President Thein Sein, coerced or bought Rohingya votes to secure a majority in parliament in the 2010 elections.

About 700,000 of them belong to the Rohingya Muslim in northern Arakan State. The Rohingya Muslims of Arakan have a more than 1300 years old tradition, culture, history and civilization of their own expressed in their shrines, cemeteries, sanctuaries, social and cultural institutions found scattered even today in every nock and corner of the land. By preserving their own heritages from the impact of Buddhist environments, they formed their own society with a consolidated population in Arakan well before the Burmese invasions of Arakan in 1784.

On February 2, 2015, the Burmese Parliament approved a referendum, which is called 2015 Referendum Law. This law automatically enfranchises hundreds of thousands of white card holders, who live in Burma but successive Burmese regime denied to give them full citizenship rights. 

These white card holders’ vaguely-defined legal status was being abused by the USDP and government for political gains during voting. They created this policy since 2008 when the country had a referendum.

However, the President’s position has been particularly ambivalent, as he personally advocated their enfranchisement for a referendum on a constitutional amendment, only to declare the white cards invalid when protests erupted in several parts of the country to prevent their participation in any kind of upcoming election. Alarmingly, the protesters were not rallying behind opposition parties to demand clean, transparent elections, but rather behind Buddhist monks with nationalistic and openly racist slogans demanding their expulsion from Myanmar.

The Myanmar government has started issuing green cards to Muslims in 13 townships in restive Rakhine state to verify their identities, bringing them a step closer to applying for citizenship, a local immigration official said Monday.

“The Immigration Ministry has issued these cards to people who need and want to apply for citizenship,” Khin Soe, an immigration officer in the state capital Sittwe, told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “The advisory commission suggested that we issue the green cards, and we submitted this suggestion to the government. We have issued them according to the Immigration Act when we received permission from the government.” 

Authorities have collected about 400,000 temporary identification cards, known as “white cards,” from displaced and stateless Rohingya Muslims in the state in western Myanmar as part of the process of applying for citizenship, he said, adding that the distribution of the green cards began two days ago

In return, the Muslims have received a light green and blue card containing an identification number, name of the holder, their gender, date of birth, place of birth, marital status and father’s name with visible identification marks in Burmese and English, Khin Soe said.

“We’re giving this card to people who already returned their white cards to us,” he said. “This cardholder can verify that he or she lives in Myanmar, but that person still needs to apply for and be verified for citizenship eligibility.”

“Once a person receives a green card, he can apply for citizenship, and then we will verify them,” he added.

Officials are simultaneously issuing the green cards along with application forms to apply for Myanmar citizenship in 13 townships in Rakhine state, including Sittwe, Mrauk U, Thandwe, Buthidaung and Maungdaw, he said. 

The cards are valid for two years after which holders can apply for an extension, he added.

The green cards also enable holders to stay in Myanmar as long as they want without applying for citizenship by repeatedly filing for extensions, he said. 

But for green card holders who cannot produce the necessary documents to become a citizen, immigration officials must look to lawmakers for advice on how to handle the situation, Khin Soe said. 

Whether the green card holders will be able to vote in Myanmar’s general elections in November hinges upon a law that the country’s Election Commission will issue, Khin Soe said, adding that the body soon would issue guidelines for the card holders.

In real, the current forcing of temporary card known as green card on ethnic Rohingya requiring them to apply for citizenship by naturalization with ‘Bengali identity’ as foreign residents with a view to denationalizing and dividing the entire Rohingya people while putting them in permanent limbo. 

Also these are conspiracy to deprive the Rohingya people of their time honoured rights to vote and to hold public offices after they were excluded from the UN sponsored 2014 general census held in March 2014 for identifying themselves as “Rohingya”. 

Moreover the government is try to retain the Arakan under the military control by making all the Rohingyas stateless and all the Rakhines homeless, land less and effortless for total sold out of the whole Arakan to the Chinese for the money and security.

Muslim Prisoners deliberately excluded from Myanmar Preisdent Thein Sein's Amnesty

By Swe Win 

Myanmar Now

August 8, 2015

YANGON, Myanmar - A solemn commemoration ceremony was taking place on the edge of a pond near Kyi village in Depayin Township, in northwest Myanmar’s Sagaing Division, on May 30.

Dozens of long-time supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) gathered at the site of a brutal attack on her campaign convoy exactly 12 years previously. The popular opposition leader narrowly escaped, but four of her supporters were killed and dozens more injured.

One supporter, Zaw Phone Myint, recalled witnessing hundreds of thugs attack the NLD convoy with bamboo sticks and knives. It later emerged they belonged to the former military regime’s political organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), and a vigilante group called Swan Arr Shin.

“This will remain an unforgettable event in our lives,” Zaw Phone Myint said recently. “But we don’t think this is the proper time to call for justice in this case.”

Indeed it might be too early to call the thugs to account.

The Swan Arr Shin - which means Masters of Force in Burmese - had not been seen since the army installed a nominally civilian government in 2011, while the USDA became the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in 2010.

But in March, the plainclothed thugs appeared again. The despised vigilantes reemerged during crackdowns on a student protest and a labour strike in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city.

An investigation by Myanmar Now has uncovered how local authorities have recruited the men from impoverished areas and used them during the clampdowns.

The return of the thugs has concerned opposition politicians and activists, some of whom fear the Swan Arr Shin could be used to disrupt a general election scheduled on Nov.8, or during its potentially complicated aftermath. The NLD is expected to roundly beat the USDP of the ex-generals in Myanmar’s first democratic polls in 25 years.

“If some parties canvass, provoking racial or religious sentiments, then violence can happen. Also during the elections, if there are some irregularities in the voting list, some people may provoke violence,” said Sai Ye Kyaw Swar, director of the People's Alliance for Credible Elections.

HOW TO RENT A THUG

On a dreary night in March, a group of tattooed Burmese men sat in a dingy alcohol shop in Set Sun, a poor village near Yangon overlooking the muddy waters of the Hlaing River, and recounted the violent dispersal of a student protest a few days earlier.

“I kicked that guy in the groin. And did you see blood coming out from another guy’s head? That’s the one my son attacked,” an authoritative-looking, middle-aged man told his friends, while pointing at a tall, stout young man waiting for customers.

This reporter, who overheard the conversation while sitting at a table nearby, instantly recognised the young man. Pictures of him dressed in shabby red trousers while dragging away a student activist by the neck were splashed across the front pages of local newspapers.

On March 5, authorities in Yangon deployed dozens of men in plain clothes to help police carry out a high-profile crackdown on an education reform protest in downtown Yangon. A day earlier, a garment factory protest in the city’s Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone was also quashed by police and plainclothes men wearing red armbands with the word “duty.”

The images of the thuggish-looking men forcefully dragging away young protestors incensed the public and word spread that the Swan Arr Shin were back.

Myanmar Now spoke to more than a dozen locals, officials and opposition members in Set Sun and nearby villages, and discovered more about the two men.

The older man, in his mid-forties, runs a riverside alcohol shop on Bayinnaung Street in Set Sun. Local residents said he is a salaried organiser of the USDP and was appointed chief administrator in Set Sun and two other villages in early 2014. They accused him of being involved in violent crimes in the neighbourhood for which he was never punished.

The man, who could be seen in some of the crackdown photos, flatly rejected having been involved. “You must be mistaken. I have nothing to do with that,” he said when the reporter called him to ask him about the accusations.

DEPLOYING THE SWAN ARR SHIN

Several villagers said they saw the man take about 30 people, including his son, to the administrative office of Kyimyindaing Township on the afternoon of March 5.

Soe, an ex-convict who requested not to use his full name for fear of reprisal, was one of them. He remembered how a person at the administrative office issued catapults and sharp iron spikes about eight inches long to the men, though in photos of the crackdown the militiamen were only armed with bamboo clubs.

“Many people with criminal backgrounds like me had to go if we were sent for by the ward officials. If we don’t obey them they can cause us trouble because of our background,” he said.

They were then driven in two buses to Yangon City Hall where a small student demonstration was underway. It called on the government not to resort to violence in the handling of an ongoing student march from Mandalay to Yangon.

When Soe arrived, he saw others like him recruited from other townships. “We were instructed to go in front of the police line and stand facing the protesting crowd,” he said. When protesters failed to disperse after a warning, plainclothed officials ordered the Swan Arr Shin to “wrestle [the protesters] and take them away to the trucks,” Soe recalled.

Photos and videos published by local media showed the vigilantes punching the protesters. A young man with brightly-dyed hair grabbed a young female protester in a chokehold; another young man, apparently the son of the alcohol shop owner from Set Sun, dragged a male student off by the neck.

Journalists who witnessed events said several dozen of these men were at the scene, but only about 20 of them violently tackled the protesters.

Myanmar Now managed to track down a few more in Set Sun and discovered they included five ward officials, boatmen and porters.

Despite rumours that authorities paid the men between $5 and $8 for their work, Soe said they were only served free beer and meals later that night.

RECRUITING AMONG THE POOR 

Set Sun is one of five villages on the western side of the Hlaing River, situated across from the city’s port in Kyimyindaing Township. The area got electricity for the first time some six years ago; it remains poor, education levels are low and the villages suffer from crime and lawlessness.

Major Soe Thin, the police chief in charge of Set Sun and nearby villages, said he has just 36 officers to police some 50,000 people. He said four out of 21 murders in the area last year occurred in Set Sun.

The village men work as porters in Yangon’s biggest wholesale fish market across the river, or as boatmen or trishaw drivers. “People here are so poor that sometimes they dive into the river and steal materials from ships anchored there at night,” a villager said, pointing at cargo ships and fishing trawlers on the river.

Areas like Set Sun are fertile recruiting grounds for Swan Arr Shin-type men.

Tin Myint is a former ward administrator in the neighboring village of Alatt Chaung who has joined the opposition NLD. He admitted recruiting Swan Arr Shin to break up protests or monitor activities of opposition groups for the junta from 2008 to 2010.

“In this kind of poor neighbourhood where many people are trying to eke out a living, people compete with each other for any sort of petty power from authorities,” he said.

In this way, ward and village-level administrators became influential and some found ways to supplement their meagre income through this power. In exchange for such a position, they also have to carry out assignments from higher authorities such as repressing local dissent, he said.

During his days as the administrator of Alatt Chaung village, Tin Myint said he provided each Swan Arr Shin recruited from his area with $3 and a meal per day.

'WELL-INTENTIONED MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC'

In the wake of the crackdowns in March, which caused a firestorm of public criticism and concerns among the international community, authorities sought to defend the deployment of the thugs, while obscuring who had given the orders to bring them in.

In a phone interview, Htin Kyaw Lin, a former army captain and current administrator of Kyimyindaing Township, whose authority extends to the villages of Set Sun, Auk Yone and Alatt Chaung, said: “The ones we recruited were just well-intentioned members of the public who wanted to restore order. This was not something that happened just in our town, but in other towns in Yangon as well.”

He declined to comment on who ordered the deployment of the men, but said, “When we were asked to send over members of the public, which was legally allowed, we did not have to check their criminal background.”

Zaw Htay, a spokesman for the President’s Office, in March briefly posted a screenshot on Facebook of Article 128 of the 1898 Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows authorities to raise a civilian force in order to break up an unlawful gathering.

Kyaw Hoe, a Yangon human rights lawyer, disputed that the British colonial-era law justified the use of vigilantes against student protestors. “This law can be applied only in cases of breaking up riots, not peaceful assemblies,” he said.

During the days of the military junta, the Swan Arr Shin were deployed as “mass-based” organisations on occasions where the government felt particularly threatened by street protests and opposition activities, according to Human Rights Watch, which researched its operations during the 2007 crackdown on the Saffron Uprising.

Organised by local authorities, the Swan Arr Shin groups provide a way to put a civilian face on repressing dissent and “a means of further dividing Burmese society and undermining a broad social movement,” the rights group said.

A US Embassy cable from 2009 published by Wikileaks said that Khin Yi, then national police chief, had told UN human rights rapporteur for Myanmar Tomás Ojea Quintana that the government provides training to the militia, which is sometimes allowed to be armed.

A senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the recent use of Swan Arr Shin was “a continuation of the former government’s policy of getting media to fight with media, students with students, the public with public, and the monks with monks.”

The government has sought to placate concerns over the use of civilian thugs, but carefully avoided taking responsibility. 

Yangon Region Chief Minister Myint Swe held a closed-door meeting with the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, a leading activist group, to discuss the events. President Thein Sein ordered a commission of inquiry to determine whether the crackdown had been in accordance with legal procedures. Its findings were sent to the president on March 31, but have not been made public.

THREAT OF ELECTION UNREST

Opposition politicians and activists said they are concerned over the return of the junta-era tactics such as using vigilantes during the elections, though they reserve their most serious concerns for a potential outbreak of communal violence between Buddhists and the Muslim minority. Such outbreaks have led to dozens of deaths in western and central parts of the country since 2012.

“The military ideology is that the generals never bow to their opponents,” said Myat Ko Ko, a co-founder of Yangon School of Political Science. He added, however, that the use of the thugs had now tarnished the image of Thein Sein’s government. “The government did not factor in how the use of Swan Arr Shin would dent its public image or its projected reform agenda,” he said.

In July, the government announced that it plans to hire an additional 40,000 police officers on a three-month basis to provide security at polling stations across Myanmar during the elections. A senior officer told local media that recruits should be “[in] good health, high school graduates aged from age 18 to 60, with a clean record and no connection to a political party.”

The plan has raised concerns with some independent observers, who privately said they fear “Swan Arr Shin-types” will be recruited for the work.

Nyan Win, a NLD spokesman, said it was likely that the election process would run smoothly as it formed part of the army and ruling party’s carefully planned democratic transition. “We don’t anticipate any chaos or violence, but at the same time we don’t rule out anything. We will wait and observe the whole process with caution,” he said.

USDP lawmaker Thar Win said the vigilantes had nothing to do with his party and he sought to assuage concerns over potential disturbances during the elections. “I am positive that the transition will continue as peacefully as it started,” he said.

By Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid

New Straits Times Online

August 8, 2015

By Genocide Watch

August 8, 2015

Genocide Watch Board Advisor, Dr. Nora Rowley, is a Human Rights Advocate/Activist for Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar/Burma. During her work at an Internally Displaced People Camp in Myanmar, she asked the Rohingya children at the camp one simple question: “why did you leave your home?”. Here are their powerful drawings.

By Joshua J. McElwee

Vatican Insider

August 8, 2015

Vatican City -- Pope Francis has again entered into controversial geopolitical territory, saying sharply Friday that Burmese treatment of its populous and persecuted Rohingya minority constitutes war against them. 

In remarks to a group of young people at the Vatican that partly focused on the role of conflict and tension in daily life, the pontiff spoke of global conflicts “that do not know how to resolve and end up in war.” 

“Let’s think of those brothers of ours of the Rohingya,” the pope continued, referring to the Burmese minority of some 1.3 million people who attracted global media attention earlier in the year because of their boat migration by the tens of thousands to other countries across Southeast Asia. 

“They were chased from one country and from another and from another,” Francis said of the situation. “When they arrived at a port or a beach, they gave them a bit of water or a bit to eat and were there chased out to the sea.” 

“This is a conflict that has not resolved, and this is war, this is called violence, this is called killing!” he continued.

“It is true: If I have a conflict with you and I kill you, the conflict is over,” said the pope, crying out: “But this is not the way!”

The Rohingya people are an ethnic group mainly located in the western part of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Some 25,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar by boat between last January and March alone, according to UN estimates.

The Rohingya are not recognized by the Burmese government and are also not granted citizenship. Some 810,000 people in Myanmar are without citizenship, according to the UN estimates.

Francis spoke of the Rohingya’s situation as part of a lengthy, off the cuff discourse with the youth at the Vatican that also saw him give extensive, personal advice on how young people should live with tension and conflict in their families and daily lives.

The pope was speaking to youth who are part of the Eucharistic Youth Movement, an international Catholic group that seeks to form young people in spirituality and faith. The group is hosting an international congress in Rome to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

Answering questions posed by six of the youth members, the pope also spoke of the greatest difficulties he has faced in his own spiritual life and reiterated his common exhortation for young people to get to know their grandparents.

But Francis spoke most of at length about the role of conflict and tension in life.

“What would a society, a family, a group of friends be without tensions and without conflicts? Do you know what it would be?” he asked the youth.

“A cemetery,” said the pope. “Because there are only no tensions and no conflicts in dead things. When there is life, there is tension and there is conflict.”

“How is a tension resolved?” the pontiff asked. “With dialog. When in a family there is dialog, when in a family there is this capacity to say spontaneously something someone is thinking, tensions resolve themselves well.”

“Do not have fear of tensions!” he exhorted the group. “But also, be cunning! Because if you love the tension for the tension, this will make you ill and you will be a young person that loves always being in tensions. No: This no. Tension comes to help us make a step towards harmony.”

The pope spoke of the situation of the Rohingya in response to a question from a young Indonesian man, who had asked about conflicts in his own country.

“Conflict, to be well undertaken, must be oriented towards unity,” Francis said. “In a society like yours that has one culture with many diverse cultures inside it, you have to search for unity but with respect for each identity.”

“Conflicts resolve themselves in respecting identities,” he said.

The pontiff then spoke of the Middle East, saying that many religious minorities across the region, especially Christians, are not being respected and are being persecuted or killed for their beliefs.

In response to the question about his own greatest spiritual struggle, Francis said that his greatest struggle is to know how to distinguish between the kind of peace granted by God and that offered by the Devil.

Where Jesus offers a peace of deep joy, the pope said, the Devil offers a “superficial” peace that only makes you happy for a short time. Inside the Devil’s kind of peace, he said, there is a “scam.”

“Here it is necessary to ask this grace, to know how to distinguish, to know how to know which is the peace of Jesus and which is the peace that comes from the enemy, that destroys you,” said Francis.

“The Devil always destroys,” said the pope. “He makes you believe that this is the way, and then, at the end, he leaves you alone. “

“Remember this,” Francis continued. “The Devil is a bad salary-giver; he never pays well; always scams you! He is a crook! He disguises things so you believe that they are good, that they give you peace, so you go to them and at the end you do not find happiness.”

“What is the sign of the peace of Jesus?” the pope asked. “The sign is that joy, the deep joy: the Devil never gives you joy. He gives you a bit of fun; he makes a bit of the circus, makes you happy for a moment, but does not give joy.”

Francis ended his audience with the youth by asking them to remember to speak to their grandparents, who he called the “great forgottens” of our time.

Grandparents, the pope said, “have the memory of life, the memory of faith, the memory of tensions, the memory of conflicts.”

Recalling an anecdote, the pontiff said that at one of his recent general audiences in St. Peter’s Square he saw an older woman in the crowd and had his driver stop the popemobile to greet her.

Getting out of the car, he said he asked the woman her age. Saying she was 92, Francis said he asked her “recipe” in order to live so long.

“I eat ravioli!” the pontiff said she responded, joking.

“This is an anecdote to tell you that you always find a surprise with grandparents,” Francis told the youth. “Grandparents always surprise us: They know how to listen to us, they have patience.”

The pope ended the audience with a sense of encouragement in what he has called a violent era, of a “third world war fought piecemeal.”

“The world is at war,” he told the young people. “But there are many beautiful and good things. There are many hidden saints among the People of God.”

“God is present,” said Francis, repeating: “God is present. And there are many signs of hope for going forward. Have courage and go forward!”

By Timothy Mclaughlin

Reuters

August 7, 2015

Rohingya Flood Victims Abandoned By Burmese Government

Date: August 7, 2015

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK is receiving reports from Rakhine State indicating that the Burmese government has abandoned most Rohingya victims of the floods and is focusing instead on assisting only ethnic Rakhine. 

The Burmese government has been evacuating ethnic Rakhine from the low-lying areas to highlands in many towns of Arakan. State government and central government supplied aid and relief to the Rakhine residents while Rohingyas were totally neglected.

The lives of Rohingyas in IDP camps and others who were previously not getting enough aid are now in danger. The floods hit children and families who are already very vulnerable, including Rohingya Muslims who are living in camps in Rakhine State.

While international attention has focused on flood victims across Burma, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in areas not evacuated have not been provided with sufficient aid and are in desperate need in their camps and homes. The shelters that many Rohingya in IDP camps were living in were old and needed replacing but despite concerns about the vulnerable position of the camps to storms at this time of year, they were not replaced. This has made Rohingyas even more vulnerable to the floods. 

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK is calling on the United Nations and international agencies to do more to reach vulnerable Rohingya populations with aid, as the government is not helping them as it should. False accusations that they favour Rohingya with aid should be ignored and the focus be on humanitarian need. 

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK President Tun Khin said; “The immediate need for today is that aid gets through to those who need it. This crisis has been made worse by existing restrictions on aid to Rohingya IDPs. It is yet another example of why it is vital that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon personally takes the lead in negotiating unrestricted international humanitarian access in Rakhine State. We cannot continue with a situation where there are crises every few months and even in normal times the situation is unacceptable.”

For more information please contact Tun Khin +44 7888714866.

By Reuters

August 5, 2015

Myanmar said yesterday it had appealed for international assistance to help provide food, temporary shelter and clothing for more than 210,000 people affected by widespread flooding following weeks of heavy monsoon rains.

At least 47 people have died in the floods, according to the government.

Myanmar’s call for international aid stands in sharp contrast to stance taken when it was ruled by generals.

The junta had refused outside help in the wake of a devastating cyclone in 2008, when 130,000 people perished in the disaster.

While the quasi civilian government, which took power in 2011 and faces elections in November, is leading the relief effort, but the military is handling operations on the ground.

“We are cooperating and inviting international assistance. We have started contacting possible donor organizations and countries,” Ye Htut, the Minister of Information and spokesman for the President’s Office said.

He said international assistance was also needed to relocate people and rebuild communities after the flood waters retreat.

With a per capita GDP of $1,105, Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in East Asia and the Pacific.

The Chinese Embassy in Yangon began providing relief supplies to stricken areas this week.

The minister said that the flood waters have begun to recede in Rakhine state on the west coast, which suffered some of the worst flooding after being lashed by the tail of Cyclone Komen, which made landfall in Bangladesh late last week.

Areas northeast of the Rakhine state capital, Sittwe, including Mrauk U and Minbya, were particularly hard hit.

Video footage shot by Reuters on Monday aboard a military helicopter in Rakhine showed hundreds of people rushing through muddy flood waters to collect air dropped supplies. Rakhine is home to around 140,000 displaced people, mainly Rohingya Muslims who live in squalid camps scattered across the state.

Emergency workers were still facing difficulties in Chin State yesterday after the rain caused landslides in the mountainous state that borders India and Bangladesh.

Main roads running through the state remained impassable and attempts to access cities by helicopter were hampered by the relentless downpours, Ye Htut said.

The state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that more than 1,300 schools across the country had been shuttered due to the floods.

Shwe Mann, the speaker of parliament, has also postponed the reconvening of parliament scheduled for August 10, in what will be the final session before the country heads to the polls on November 8.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland have been inundated by the floods, with the UN warning that this could, “disrupt the planting season and impact long-term food security.”

The Global New Light reported that the Myanmar Rice Federation would halt exports until mid-September in an effort to stabilize domestic rice prices and keep rice in country.

PRESS STATEMENT

Arakan Rohingya Union Strongly Urges the Government of Myanmar to Grant International Humanitarian Relief Groups Unfettered Access to All Areas of Arakan Hit by the Cyclone

Arakan Rohingya Union urges the Government of Myanmar to grant the international humanitarian relief groups unfettered access to all areas of Arakan State severely hit by the Cyclone Komen, in its strongest terms.

On July 31, 2015, tropical cyclone made its landfall at Arakan state, causing several deaths and extensive damage to homes and properties. The worst-hit areas by the storm in Rakhine state include the townships of Maungdaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Buthidaung, Ann and others, where hundreds of villages have been submerged, many washed away, and the Rohingya IDP camps in Sittwe area are currently inundated. 

Death of at least 18 Rohingya persons has been reported from various townships in Arakan, and a number of individuals have been unaccounted for. In Maungdaw Township, Myanmar Government officials have reportedly evacuated Buddhist Rakhine from the low-lying areas to highlands in Maungdaw East before the landfall of the storm. Emergency relief supplies from the Government of Myanmar for the Buddhist Rakhine residents reportedly began to arrive at the Buddhist Rakhine shelter areas. The UN and the limited numbers of international NGOs operating in parts of Arakan are reportedly surveying the areas and assessing the damage. Relief supplies for Rohingya from international relief groups or from the Government of Myanmar have not arrived to date. Currently, Rohingya communities in each township are providing shelters to the Rohingya victims who lost their homes. The continuous torrential monsoon rain is reportedly worsening the situation.

We strongly urge the Government of Myanmar to provide humanitarian assistance to all people of Arakan, including Rohingya, Kamen, and others, and assist in rebuilding their homes. Additionally, we urge the Government of Myanmar to grant the international NGOs unhindered access to Arakan state in order to provide assistance to all people of Arakan affected by the storm.

We appeal the international community to provide urgent humanitarian assistance in Arakan, including the Rohingya IDP camps, which are most vulnerable to destruction by natural disaster.