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State Counsellor and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, left, is welcomed by Prefect of the Pontifical Household, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, upon her arrival at the Vatican for a private audience with Pope Francis, Thursday, May 4, 2017. (Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Medichini.)

By John L. Allen Jr.
May 4, 2017

In many ways, pro-democracy and human rights campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar seems a natural Pope Francis favorite. When the two met in the Vatican on Thursday morning, however, it's likely the pontiff may have had some challenging things to say to his guest about the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority who have become a special focus of his concern.

ROME - At first blush, Aung San Suu Kyi seems a natural Pope Francis favorite. She represents a small and isolated southeast Asian nation, appealing to the pope of the peripheries. She’s a woman in a position of power, and she’s spent her career, much of it under house arrest, battling for human rights and democracy against military rule.

The two met in October 2013, when Suu Kyi was finally able to pick up an honorary citizenship of Rome she’d been awarded in 1994, after which a Vatican spokesman described “a great feeling of harmony and accord” between Francis and his Burmese guest. Two years later, Francis named the first-ever cardinal from Myanmar, Charles Bo, in a clear sign of respect and affection for the country.

Moreover, relations between the Vatican and Myanmar are warming, with the country’s parliament having approved a measure in March to make Myanmar the 183rd nation to enjoy diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

So why did the second meeting of these two global icons on Thursday, as opposed to the first, feel as much like a collision as a love-fest?

Suu Kyi is in Rome to participate in a conference Thursday afternoon organized by the Italian parliament on gender equality and sustainable development, and also met on Wednesday with Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, who praised her “personal, peaceful commitment to the cause of democracy and human rights.” Also on Thursday, she was to meet Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

The highlight of her schedule, however, was the tête-à-tête with Francis.

There were the usual pleasantries surrounding the encounter, as both figures were smiling and apparently relaxed. Francis presented her with a medallion depicting a desert blooming, illustrating a passage from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, but also a sign of hope for the country.

Yet although no one quite said so out loud, there’s every reason to believe that when Francis and Suu Kyi were behind closed doors, they did more than make nice.

The reason is that while Pope Francis does indeed love an underdog, in the context of Myanmar these days, that’s no longer Suu Kyi, who now serves as State Counsellor, the de facto head of government, but rather an oppressed group of Muslims in the country’s western Rakhine state known as the Rohingya, whose plight has become a special focus of Francis’s concern.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya, perhaps as many as 100,000, are believed to have fled Myanmar, most crossing by land into Bangladesh but others taking boats in an effort to reach Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. In general, those countries don’t feel capable of handling an influx of refugees, and their reception often has been harsh.

Yet the Rohingya continue to flee, escaping what a UN report in February described as a possible “genocide” and set of “crimes against humanity” in Myanmar, where the Rohingya are officially categorized as Bengali “interlopers” despite the fact they’ve lived in Rakhine for generations. They’re subject to systematic discrimination and violence, what the UN also called a “campaign of terror,” and enjoy no citizenship rights - in effect, they’re stateless.

Pope Francis first spoke out on the fate of the Rohingya in August 2015, during a session with youth in Rome.

“Let’s think of those brothers of ours of the Rohingya,” he said. “They were chased from one country and from another and from another. When they arrived at a port or a beach, they gave them a bit of water or a bit to eat and were then 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 said.

One month later, he brought the Rohingya up again in an interview with Portuguese radio.

“Further away from Europe there is another phenomenon which hurt me deeply: the Rohingya, who are expelled from their country, get into boats and leave,” he said.

“They reach a port or a beach, and they are fed and given water and then sent out to sea again, and not taken in. There is a lack of capacity for welcoming humanity.”

Francis came at the subject again in February, saying on the Church’s International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking that “they have been suffering, they are being tortured and killed, simply because they uphold their Muslim faith.

“I would like to pray today with you in a special way for our brothers and sisters Rohingya,” the pontiff said.

“They are driven out of Myanmar, going from one place to another because they’re not wanted. They’re good people, peaceful! They aren’t Christians, they’re good [people]. They’re brothers and sisters of ours,” he said.

The remarks were spontaneous, suggesting the issue is close to Francis’s heart.

For his part, Bo has been equally outspoken, defining the persecution of the Rohingyas as “an appalling scar on the conscience of my country.” He has described them as “among the most marginalized, dehumanized and persecuted people in the world. They are treated worse than animals.”

Addressing the UK parliament in London in May 25, 2016, Bo said no human being deserves to be treated the way the Rohingyas are.

“Without [a solution], the prospects for genuine peace and true freedom for my country will be denied, for no one can sleep easy at night knowing how one particular group of people are dying simply due to their race and religion.”

Bo’s line, and that of the tiny Catholic community in Myanmar (less than one percent of the population of 55 million), stands in stark contrast to hardline elements of the majority Buddhist tradition. Buddhist monks often join protest rallies at ports in Myanmar, for instance, objecting to efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to the Rohingya.

To date, Suu Kyi has either maintained silence or defended the status quo. She recently ruled out Myanmar cooperating with a UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for an investigation, saying it’s not “in keeping with what is actually happening on the ground.”

She’s also denied that ethnic cleansing is taking place, saying “it’s a matter of different sides of the divide, and this divide we are trying to close up.”

Granted, many observers believe Suu Kyi has to walk a fine line given the massive influence the military still wields in Myanmar. Nevertheless, some of the shine seems to have come off her reputation, as several human rights campaigners who used to spend their time campaigning for her release are now attacking her record.

As appalling as the situation with the Rohingya is, it’s not the only issue on which Francis may have had some challenging things to say.

Earlier this year, Myanmar’s military confirmed they had arrested two Protestant clergy and charged them with aiding rebels in the eastern Shan State, after long denying they were in custody. The two were accused of serving as “informers and spreading false news on behalf of the armed insurgents.”

By “spreading false news,” what a military spokesman meant is that the two clergymen had helped journalists cover the military’s bombing of a Catholic church and school in Shan State in late November 2016.

In recent years, organizations of Buddhist radical monks, such as one called “Ma Ba Tha,” have increased their campaigns against religious minorities and successfully helped introduce four laws for the “Protection of Race and Religion,” building almost insurmountable hurdles to conversions and religiously mixed marriages.

Christians in Myanmar often suffer a double whammy. First, because they tend to be concentrated among ethnic minorities, especially the Kachin, they’re targeted for racial reasons. Second, because Christians are often (mis)identified with the West, they’re also seen by radical Buddhist groups as the cultural and political “other.”

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recently issued a report on Christian persecution in Myanmar, concluding that Christians face discrimination in employment, forced conversions, violence and desecration of churches and Christian communities.

“Senior leaders in Burma’s government need to publicly acknowledge and remedy the fact that the elevation of Buddhism as the de facto state religion and resulting policies and practices have violated the rights of Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities,” the report concluded.

More than 60 Christian churches have been destroyed in Myanmar’s Kachin state, where the country’s Christian population is concentrated, since a long-standing cease-fire broke down in 2011, according to the British-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

For now, we don’t know exactly what cards Francis may have put on the table during his encounter with Suu Kyi. During a news conference on his return flight from Egypt to Rome on April 28, Francis insisted that when he meets a political leader, what transpires stays between them.

“Generally, when I meet with a head of state for a private conversation, it remains private,” he said.

Yet despite that reserve, given the context of what’s happening in Myanmar these days, it’s not difficult to imagine that whatever went on Thursday, it wasn’t entirely sweetness and light.
By Azeem Ibrahim
May 4, 2017

In late April, Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Defense Services, General Min Aung Hlain, was received with much pageantry by his opposite numbers in both Austria and Germany during a good-will tour of the European countries. There were guard-of-honour, inspections of the troops, and then extensive introductions to senior military figures in both countries in turn.

It was not a typical exchange, but, as Myanmar continues to open up to the world, Western countries, especially European countries, have generally taken the view that the rulers of Myanmar, of which Gen Aung Hlain remains probably the most influential, despite the transition to civilian government in the country under Aung San Suu Kyi, should be encouraged to continue on the current course. And rewarding particular individuals in this way might be a sensible way to offer a carrot for the progress the country has made so far.

Or at least, this would all have been quite reasonable, were it not for the fact that Gen Aung Hlain was invited to a number of arms manufacturing facilities in both countries. There is currently still an embargo in place on the sale of armaments to Myanmar, but it is expected that this embargo will be lifted soon. So this was not just a diplomatic event. It was a business meeting.

But it may interest the Austrian and German officials to know who they are proposing to sell armaments and military training to. And if not the officials in those countries, it should certainly interest their citizens what their leaders are getting themselves into.

Gen Aung Hlain is in charge of the security services who are overseeing and are currently largely responsible for perpetrating one of the most serious abuses of human rights going on at the moment in the world: the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority from Myanmar.

‘The enemy within’

The dark-skinned, Muslim Rohingya have been the preferred “enemy within” of the succession of military juntas who have ruled the majority light-skinned, Buddhist country since the 1960s. Whenever the authorities needed to distract the people from the ways in which they were mismanaging the country, they used to instigate another conflict with the Rohingya, or with other minorities in the border regions.

But the Rohingya have been uniquely targeted for discrimination, most have been stripped of legal citizenship, they have severe restrictions imposed on them regarding travel, marriage and family size, movement within the country of Myanmar, restrictions on worship, and so on.

Yet the current level of outright violence, and especially of direct abuse by the authorities themselves, are at least as bad as they have ever been. Rapes and extrajudicial killings are routinely carried out by the military and police forces directly under the command of Gen Aung Hlain, as 70,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar in just the last 6 months.

What is more, the move toward democracy and the opening toward the West of the country in the past couple of years has not alleviated the situation of the Rohingya at all. Quite the opposite. The Rohingya in Myanmar have never been in as precarious a situation as they are now in the entire history of their community. Despite what the West hoped would happen with the rise to power of Aung San Suu Kyi, the situation has only gotten worse.

And yet, Germany and Austria are proposing to arm the perpetrators of these human rights abuses, and to train them too. Even as they show no movement towards ending the current wave of abuse, nor any acknowledgement that their “handling” of Rohingya situation is in any way inappropriate.

Germany and Austria are thus not just rewarding the opening of the country toward the West. They are also implicitly condoning the abuses that Gen Aung Hlain and the Myanmar security services are perpetrating right now. If they pursue this “business opportunity”, both Austria and Germany will become complicit in this humanitarian catastrophe. Are a few tens of millions of dollars worth this disaster?

____________________________

Azeem Ibrahim is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Global Policy and Adj Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College. He completed his PhD from the University of Cambridge and served as an International Security Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and a World Fellow at Yale. Over the years he has met and advised numerous world leaders on policy development and was ranked as a Top 100 Global Thinker by the European Social Think Tank in 2010 and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He tweets @AzeemIbrahim.

Rohingya refugees live in overcrowded makeshift sites in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, after fleeing across the border to escape the October 2016 violence in Myanmar. © UNHCR/Saiful Huq Omi

By Vivian Tan
May 3, 2017

Study finds thousands of Rohingya fleeing violence and desperation have sought safety and stability in countries like Bangladesh and Malaysia in the last five years.

BANGKOK, Thailand – More than 168,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar in the last five years as a result of violence and desperation, a new report on forced displacement in South-East Asia by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, estimates.

UNHCR’s just-released 2016 Report on Mixed Movements in South-East Asia highlights the complex dynamics behind the whys and hows of the continuing exodus from Rakhine state. Sources range from government to non-governmental organizations, media reports as well as more than 1,000 direct interviews with the Rohingya community in the region.

While Rohingya displacement has persisted for decades, it made headlines last October when attacks on border posts in northern Rakhine state triggered a security clearance operation that drove an estimated 43,000 civilians into Bangladesh by year’s end. By February this year, the estimate stood at 74,000.

Many of the new arrivals in Bangladesh’s camps and makeshift sites told UNHCR about the burnings, lootings, shootings, rapes and arrests they escaped back home.

“These children, women and men are highly vulnerable. They risk being re-victimized even in exile unless urgent action is taken,” said Shinji Kubo, UNHCR’s Representative in Bangladesh.

“Many of them need adequate shelter before the rainy season starts. Without proper support, they also face risks such as child labour, gender-based violence and trafficking.”

Prior to the recent violence, Malaysia was the preferred destination for many Rohingya. Between 2012 and 2015, an estimated 112,500 of them risked their lives on smuggler’s boats in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea in the hope of reaching Malaysia, where there is a Rohingya community and potential work in the informal sector.

Those making the sea journey ranged from people fleeing inter-communal violence in Rakhine state in 2012, to those who grew increasingly desperate amid restrictions back home on their freedom of movement and access to services and livelihoods. 

The sea route has been disrupted since mid-2015, when governments in the region cracked down on maritime smuggling networks. UNHCR could not confirm any boat arrivals in Malaysia last year.

Among those who tried to reach Malaysia overland in 2016, more than 100 – about half of them Rohingya – were reportedly arrested in Myanmar and Thailand.

The 2016 report explores other routes taken by the Rohingya, including to India via Bangladesh. It notes a steady but slowing stream of arrivals since 2012 numbering at least 13,000 people.

“Looking at the declining arrival numbers in India, it is safe to assume that this overland route has not replaced the maritime one,” said Keane Shum of UNHCR’s Regional Mixed Movements Monitoring Unit that produced the report. “Compared to those who went to Malaysia by sea, the Rohingya in India travelled in larger family units and chose the route as it was cheaper and safer.”

Besides analysing patterns of Rohingya displacement, the report also offers a snapshot of 85 Rohingya women and girls in India, Indonesia and Malaysia. It found that the majority of them married young – between the ages of 16 and 17 – and gave birth at an average age of 18.

Those in India appeared to be more literate and educated, and were more likely to have chosen their own husbands. In contrast, those in Malaysia were more likely to have married someone chosen by their families or by brokers or agents.

One-third of the 85 women and girls said they were victims of domestic violence. Many said they would like to earn their own income and some had marketable skills, but only a few were actually earning their own income.

UNHCR has been working with host countries on the temporary stay and protection of Rohingya refugees, which includes granting them access to basic services and legal work. This will enable them to be self-reliant until longer-term solutions are found.

The agency has also been advocating with the Myanmar authorities for the full resumption of humanitarian access to vulnerable people in northern Rakhine state.

UNHCR stands ready to support government efforts to promote peaceful co-existence and address issues related to citizenship.

The total number of Rohingya refugees and internally displaced Rohingya in the region is estimated at 420,000 and 120,000 respectively.

Myanmar's firebrand Buddhist monk Wirathu sits in a supporter's home during a Reuters interview in Yangon, Myanmar in this file photo dated October 4, 2015. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun


By Wa Lone
May 3, 2017

YANGON -- A Myanmar Buddhist monk renowned for his anti-Muslim sermons traveled to Rakhine State on Wednesday, an official said, sparking concern over religious tension in the region, where more than one million Rohingya Muslims live.

Wirathu - who once called himself the "Burmese bin Laden" - would visit the Muslim-majority northern part of the western state, said Police Colonel Nyan Win Oo of Maungdaw district police.

Police would provide security for the monk, Nyan Win Oo said, adding he was unaware of the reason for Wirathu's visit.

"He will go to ethnic villages and will be here for two or three days," he said, referring to settlements where non-Muslims live. 

The Rohingya are not considered one of Myanmar's indigenous ethnic groups and are denied citizenship. They are instead regarded as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

An estimated 75,000 Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh from the Maungdaw area during a recent crackdown by Myanmar security forces in response to militant attacks on border posts.

The insurgents - who say they are fighting for Rohingya rights - killed nine policemen on Oct. 9, igniting the biggest crisis of national leader Aung San Suu Kyi's first year in power. 

Soldiers and police stand accused of killings and gang rapes during the counterinsurgency operation that followed.

Several thousand non-Muslims, including members of the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group, were also displaced by the unrest.

'SPREADS HATE'

Wirathu, once jailed by Myanmar's former military regime, rose to prominence after the country began a transition to democracy in 2011, uncorking long-suppressed ethnic and religious tensions.

Clashes between Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists in 2012 displaced about 140,000 people, mostly from the Muslim minority.

As violence and hate speech against Muslims spread to other parts of the country - where Muslims who are not Rohingya live among the Buddhist majority - Wirathu delivered sermons and preached on Facebook, urging Buddhists to boycott Muslim business and shun interfaith marriages.

He has continued to travel around the country despite Myanmar's highest religious authority in March barring him from preaching. Wirathu reacted to his silencing by posting online photographs of himself with his mouth taped over. 

Although the recent conflict in northern Rakhine has abated in recent weeks, tensions remain high and Rohingya residents told Reuters late last month they feared traveling beyond their villages in case they encounter military patrols.

A Muslim community leader in northern Rakhine told Reuters that after hearing of Wirathu's visit, elders met and decided to issue a warning through religious networks.

“We are concerned about his trip because he always spreads hate of Muslims," said the leader, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisals.

"We informed our people to avoid any confrontation in their communication with non-Muslim people, and to be aware and not to panic."

(Writing by Simon Lewis; Editing by Robert Birsel)

A Rohingya refugee girl carries a baby inside a refugee camp in Sitwe, in the state of Rakhine, Myanmar, March 4, 2017.

By Henry Ridgwell
May 3, 2017

LONDON — Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi has again refused to allow a United Nations probe into alleged atrocities against minority Rohingya Muslims in the east of the country, despite pressure from the European Union and human rights organizations.

“Those recommendations which will divide further the two communities in Rakhine we will not accept, because it will not help us to resolve the problems that are arising all the time,” Suu Kyi told reporters Tuesday following meetings with European Union chiefs in Brussels.

She denied she was ignoring the allegations of crimes against humanity.

“We have not in any way ignored allegations of rape or murder or arson or anything," she said. "We have asked that these be placed before a court and tried.”

Myanmar's military has long been accused of carrying out widespread killing, torture and rape.

Hundreds die in attack

The latest allegations stem from the army's response to an attack by Rohingya militants on a border post last October. Witnesses say the army responded with ground forces and helicopter gunships, killing around 600 people. Hundreds of women were allegedly raped. Amateur video taken at the time appears to show the charred bodies of adults, children, even babies littering the torched villages.

Thirty-year-old Shamsida fled across the border to Bangladesh along with 75,000 other Rohingya refugees after the attack. She recalls her treatment at the hands of the soldiers:

“After the noon prayers, about 300 to 400 soldiers seized our village and surrounded all our women. They started beating our children and destroyed all our belongings in our homes. At that time, three soldiers raped me.”

Official laments global response

Kyaw Win, secretary general of the Burma Human Rights Network, laments the global response to the evidence of war crimes by Myanmar's military.

“They are not doing it only in Rakhine state, they did it in Karen state, they are doing it in Shan state as well and Kachin state as well," Win said. "But where is the response from the international community? And this failure of this response is not only letting down the victims, this is also indicating that the Burmese government and Burmese army can do similar things in the future.”

Suu Kyi won a landslide election victory in 2016 after the military junta initiated a political transition. The armed forces still control security and domestic affairs.

“We need to focus on the military more than we are focusing on Aung San Suu Kyi. But of course she has a moral duty. She is not saying what she is supposed to say,” Win said.

Arms embargo in place

An EU arms embargo on Myanmar remains in place. Nevertheless, the head of Myanmar's military, Min Aung Hlaing, visited Germany and Austria last week. Win said Europe is hosting an alleged war criminal.

“His army committed crimes against humanity," Win said. "Yet he's been so warmly welcomed in a civilized world.”

Suu Kyi is to visit London next week, where protests are planned against the alleged atrocities in Rakhine state.

State Counsellor and Union Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi. Photo: AP

By Lindsay Murdoch
May 3, 2017

Just a few years ago Aung San Suu Kyi was feted in the world's capitals as a democracy icon and defender of human rights. 

Families poured onto Myanmar's streets in 2015 when her National League for Democracy won historic elections in a landslide, supposedly ending half a century of brutal military rule.

But now when Ms Suu Kyi travels abroad she faces awkward questions about her silence on the plight of Rohingya Muslims and atrocities committed on them in her country's western Rakhine State that the United Nations says could amount to "genocide" and "crimes against humanity."

Visiting Belgium this week, Ms Suu Kyi clashed with the European Union's top diplomat Federica Mogherini, who urged her to support a United Nations mission to investigate the Rohingya atrocities.

"The fact-finding mission is focussing on establishing the truth about the past," Ms Mogherini told a press briefing, standing alongside Myanmar's de factor leader, who is also her country's foreign minister.

"We believe this can contribute to establishing the facts."

But Ms Suu Kyi again ruled out Myanmar co-operating with the investigation that was set-up in March after Australia co-sponsored a motion at the 47-member UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"We are disassociating ourselves from the resolution because we don't think the resolution is in keeping with what is actually happening on the ground," she said.

A devastating UN report in February detailed a "calculated policy of terror" by Myanmar security forces in Rakhine that included the slitting of a baby's throat, the stomping on a woman's stomach while she was in labour and the locking of families in homes which were set-alight.

In earlier comments Ms Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's independence hero Aung San, denied ethnic cleansing was taken place in Rakhine.

"It is a matter of different sides of the divide, and this divide we are trying to close up," she said.

Ms Suu Kyi has also played down the notion she was an icon, declaring herself "just a politician" and that required making "principled compromises."

Myanmar's Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing has also rejected the UN findings and described more than a million Rohingya in Rakhine as "Bengali" interlopers, despite that they have been living in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for generations.

Diplomats say the UN's investigation will be compromised unless the military allows investigators to go to Rakhine, which has been closed to outsiders since October when security forces violently swept through towns and villages, after attacks on several police border posts.

Ms Suu Kyi also this week declined an invitation to meet US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson alongside other foreign ministers in the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations, in Washington on Thursday.

Zaw Htay, an official in Ms Suu Kyi's office, said she had another appointment that day in Europe and a senior official would be sent to attend the meeting.

Asked by journalists whether Ms Suu Kyi's absence in Washington indicated Myanmar's ties with the US had cooled, in favour of China, Myanmar's foreign affairs secretary Kyaw Zeya said: "We don't promote relations with any country at the expense of another."

As international criticism of Ms Suu Kyi has grown a number of her supporters have leapt to her defence, pointing to the serious problems facing Myanmar when she took power just a little over 12 months ago.

They say the real blame for the Rakhine atrocities and attempts to cover them up lies with the country's powerful military which continues to control key security ministries.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini gives a news conference with Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in Brussels, Belgium May 2, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Vidal

By Robin Emmott 
May 2, 2017

Brussels -- The European Union clashed on Tuesday with the visiting leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, by publicly supporting an international mission to look into alleged human rights abuses by the country's security forces against Rohingya Muslims.

The EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini, speaking at a news conference with Suu Kyi, said an agreed resolution of the U.N. Human Rights Council would help clear up uncertainty about allegations of killings, torture and rape against Rohingyas.

On the basis of that resolution, the top United Nations human rights body will send an international fact-finding mission to Myanmar despite Suu Kyi's reservations.

"The fact-finding mission is focusing on establishing the truth about the past," Mogherini said, noting a rare area of disagreement between the 28-nation EU and Myanmar. "We believe that this can contribute to establishing the facts."

The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted the resolution, which was brought by the European Union and supported by countries including the United States, without a vote in March. China and India distanced themselves from the U.N. resolution.

Asked about the move, Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, said: "We are disassociating ourselves from the resolution because we don't think the resolution is in keeping with what is actually happening on the ground."

Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar's civilian government and also its foreign minister, said she would only accept recommendations from a separate advisory commission led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan. Any other input would "divide" communities, she added, without giving further details.

The violent persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar and their efforts to flee the Southeast Asian country, often falling victim to predatory human-trafficking networks, has become an international concern, documented by Reuters in Pulitzer Prize-winning reports.

A U.N. report issued last month, based on interviews with220 Rohingya among 75,000 who have fled to Bangladesh since October, said that Myanmar's security forces have committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya in a campaign that "very likely" amounts to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing.

Activists have welcomed what they called a "landmark decision" by the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council, and have called on the Myanmar government to cooperate.

Suu Kyi assumed power in 2016 following a landslide election win after Myanmar's former military leaders initiated a political transition. The country had been an international pariah for decades under the military junta.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Gareth Jones)

By Jay Prabhakar
May 1, 2017

The Rohingya people are native to Myanmar. They practice Islam and, presumably for that reason, are treated as subhuman by the ultra-nationalist Buddhist junta. The government of Myanmar has been using systematic rape and other gruesome methods to torment this minority. By some measures, this is the most persecuted people in the world right now.

With dwindling options, these poor souls are running for their lives to Bangladesh, a country just as impoverished as Myanmar and one that doesn’t want them either. The local Bangladeshis are beginning to revolt against these refugees, claiming they are taking away local jobs. Sound familiar? Businesses that are developing the as-yet pristine beaches along the Bay of Bengal, want the government to get rid of these “annoyances”, so that they can get on with the business of making the beaches a global tourist destination.

Recently, a Rohingya village, in an act of desperation, mounted an attack on a police station. The government retaliated mercilessly, separating the women from the men and children and gang-raping the women for hours. When the villagers eventually fled to the Bangladesh border, they were assaulted by more troops. Women who put up any protest were brutally killed as an example to the rest, who then mutely suffered the humiliation meted out to them by the Burmese soldiers for a second time.

Balkanization is rampant around the world, fuelled by the unsustainable increase in Humankind’s population. As our numbers grow, the relative size of the economic pie shrinks. People look at anyone who are not like themselves, as threats. They see their jobs taken by these “others” and, perhaps justifiably, want them gone.

Such thinking is evident in India. Bangaloreans distrust the Biharis, who come there for construction jobs. Mumbai is for Mumbaiyyas – drive out the “Southies”. Similar sentiments flourish in the rest of the country. PM Narendra Modi’s appointment of Aditya Nath Yogi as the CM of UP is perhaps a preview of India’s formal swivel towards sectarianism, away from secularism. This despite the fact that the preamble to the Indian constitution includes the word “Secular”.

We in the US have become inured to the background “noise” of such abuses around the world. We have “crisis fatigue”, we claim. Our current president was elected on a platform of self-interest and isolationism. America First is still the slogan. America’s refusal to accept our share of the world’s unfortunate – notwithstanding the words at the base of Lady Liberty – has set a bad example for the rest of the world. Strong-men (and women) of all stripe are coming out of the woodwork, across the globe.

One of the guiding tenets of Hinduism – whose proponents staunchly proclaim that it is a Philosophy, not a Religion – is inclusivity. The adoption of Savarkar’s “Hindutva” by the BJP has made India overtly nationalistic and proud of it, comparable to the US’s recent blatant xenophobia.

India shares a substantial border with Myanmar. She aspires to be a dominant power in her neighborhood. Wouldn’t it be a shining example for all of Southeast Asia and perhaps the world, if India were to step up to the plate and address this horrendous inhumanity? Perhaps accept a few thousand of these hapless souls into our warm Hindu hearts, even though they are Muslim? Of course, they must be carefully vetted and there will be logistical issues. India has done this before, with the Tibetans. It seems imperative that India must do something for the Rohingya, if only to re-introduce the world to the meaning of compassion.

(Jay Prabhakar is a consultant in robotics and automation and is the president of Bedford Controls, Inc. He lives in New Hampshire.)

Sri Lanka rescues 30 Rohingya aboard Indian boat


By AFP
April 30, 2017

Colombo -- Sri Lanka's coastguard Sunday detained an Indian boat which had illegally entered the island's territorial waters and rescued 30 Rohingya refugees including 16 children who were on board, an official said.

The dhow operated by two Indians had entered Sri Lanka's northern waters after crossing the sea border, said navy spokesman Chaminda Walakuluge.

"The coastguard noticed that there were very small children on board and escorted the dhow to a port and provided them with emergency assistance," Walakuluge told AFP.

He said seven men, seven women and 16 children were on board, in addition to the two-man Indian crew who had been detained pending investigations.

"There was a 15-day-old baby and a four-month-old child on board," Walakuluge said. "We have taken them to port and provided food and medical attention."

He said it appeared that the passengers had left India, where they had lived for about four years as refugees. They were handed over to local authorities to decide further action.

Investigators suspect that the crew were trying to bring the Rohingya to Sri Lanka.

The Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine are denied citizenship and face brutal discrimination in the Buddhist-majority country.

Thousands have sought refuge in other countries in the region.

Four years ago Sri Lanka's navy rescued 138 refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar whose boat had been drifting off Sri Lanka for over 10 days.

The United Nations Human Rights Council last month agreed to send a fact-finding mission to Myanmar to investigate claims that police and soldiers carried out a bloody crackdown on the Rohingya in Rakhine.

More than 120,000 Rohingya have languished in grim displacement camps ever since bouts of religious violence between Muslims and Buddhists ripped through the state in 2012.

Most are not allowed to leave the squalid encampments, where they live in dilapidated shelters with little access to food, education and health care.

A Rohingya girl gestures while reciting a poem at a makeshift school at Balukhali Makeshift Refugee Camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh April 10, 2017. A UN report in February said Myanmar's security forces had committed mass killings and gang rapes against Rohingya during their campaign against the insurgents, which may amount to crimes against humanity. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

By Antara
April 29, 2017

Manila -- Indonesia will build a hospital on a four thousand square-meter plot of land as a form of long-term health assistance for the marginalized Rohingya community in Myanmar, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi.

"We have already completed offering short-term assistance in the form of emergency humanitarian aid, and now, we are shifting to provide aid in the form of long- and medium-term projects in various fields, including health," the Indonesian foreign affairs minister informed newsmen here on Friday, a day before the ASEAN Summit in Manila.

Marsudi said almost all preparations for the construction of the hospital for the Rohingya community have been completed, from licensing, construction, and design to funds.

"We are in the process of securing some permits and will soon build the hospital," the minister noted.

Earlier on Friday, Marsudi had met Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Tin to discuss the matter.

Moreover, President Joko Widodo will hold a bilateral meeting for the first time with Myanmar Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit.

"In addition to the health sector, long- and medium-term assistance for the Rohingya community will also include education, human capacity building, and economic empowerment," Marsudi added.
Close talks: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo with Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. (JP/Haeril Halim)

By Haeril Halim
The Jakarta Post
April 29, 2017

State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi told President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo that Myanmar had partly complied with recommendations issued by the Advisory Committee for Rakhine State to solve humanitarian conflicts in the region.

She explained the progress achieved in the implementation of the recommendations during their bilateral meeting in Manila, the Philippines, on Saturday.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, who accompanied Jokowi during the meeting, said the recommendations issued by the committee led by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan were in line with the cause Indonesia had campaigned for in the past year on a solution to the Rohingya conflicts.

“We discussed reports from Kofi Annan’s commission. Some of the recommendations have been followed up [by Myanmar],” said the minister, without elaborating.

Jokowi took the chance to approach Suu Kyi to discuss about the Rohingya crisis on the sidelines of the 30th ASEAN Summit in Manila, which took place from April 26 to 29.

The Kofi Annan report proposed a series of measures to resolve the humanitarian crisis, including allowing humanitarian aid workers access to the affected areas in northern Rakhine and for an independent and impartial investigation into the allegations of crimes committed on and since Oct. 9, 2016.

It also urges the Myanmar government to grant protection of rights, freedom of movement and access to health and education for the Rohingya Muslim minority group, as well as the edification of Rakhine’s cultural heritage.

A report released by the London-based Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) stated that at least 30,000 people in Rakhine have been internally displaced, while ongoing violence has led to shortages of food and aid for more than 70,000 people in the area.

In consultation: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi talk on the sidelines of the 30th ASEAN Summit in Manila, the Philippines, on April 29. (Courtesy of the Presidential Office)

By Haeril Halim
April 29, 2017

Manila -- President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reminded State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi that leaving Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis unsolved would affect peace and stability both in her country and in the ASEAN region.

Jokowi conveyed his concerns during his meeting with Suu Kyi on the sidelines the 30th ASEAN Summit in Manila, the Philippines, on Saturday. In the meeting, they discussed conflicts that had affected the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine, a state in Myanmar.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said President Jokowi told Suu Kyi that stability in Myanmar was important not only for the country but also the region.

“The President expressed his view that peace and stability in Myanmar must be maintained,” Retno told journalists in Manila.

Jokowi used the ASEAN Summit to directly express Indonesia’s support for solutions to the Rohingya crisis as the two leaders had never met before.

A report released by the London-based Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) states that at least 30,000 people in Rakhine have been internally displaced, while ongoing violence has led to shortages of food and aid for more than 70,000 people in the area.

To help solve the crisis, Retno said Indonesia had proposed mid- and long-term cooperation agreements with the Myanmar government in the fields of health and education, among others.

“The point is Indonesia wants to see Rakhine transform itself to become an inclusive region free from discrimination,” Retno said.

Indonesia would soon build a mosque for Rohingya people in Rakhine as Myanmar authorities had allowed the construction of houses of worship, she added.

Riot police officers provide security near the administrative office in Tharketa township in the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, April 28, 2017. Ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks and their supporters forced the closing of two Muslim school buildings in Yangon, claiming that they were built illegally, as tensions between the overwhelmingly Buddhist population and the Muslim minority continues after a violent conflict broke out in 2012 between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

April 28, 2017

YANGON, Myanmar -- Ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks and their supporters have forced the closing of two Muslim schools in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, in a reminder that religious strife remains a threat to the country's stability.

About a dozen monks and scores of supporters gathered Friday afternoon near the two Muslim madrassas while police stood by as protesters demanded that local officials close the buildings. The raucous three-hour gathering ended when officials agreed to allow them to chain the entrances of the two buildings, which the protesters claim were built illegally.

Tensions between Myanmar's overwhelmingly Buddhist population and the Muslim minority spread after violent conflict broke out between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya in 2012 in western Rakhine state, where the Rohingya are accused of entering the country illegally from Bangladesh.

It appeared that the madrassas were chained shut largely to appease the protesters and defuse tension, but it was unclear what their long-term fate would be.

"What happened today was very, very sad to me," said Tin Shwe, a Muslim community leader. "I feel like they were bullying to our religious. This school has been built for like many years ago and all of our generations took care of it."

A militant organization of Buddhist monks known as Ma Ba Tha has spearheaded protests against Muslims. Its leaders have been accused of stirring up mob violence leading to the deaths of Muslims and destruction of their property around the country. Their movement surfaced latent prejudice against Muslims, and makes the nationalists a political force that cannot be ignored.

Most of the anti-Muslim activity has taken place outside of Yangon, the country's most cosmoplitan city. In what seemed to be a coordinated campaign, anti-Muslim activists last year pressured local officials to have Muslim institutional buildings declared illegal and torn down. In some cases the activists occupied and dismantled the structures themselves.

Friday's action against the madrassas was unusual because it occurred in Yangon, one of the rare times such forced closures have happened there.

The Ma Ba Tha movement had seemed to be in decline for the past few years, but the situation that fuelled its growth - the ethnic conflict in Rakhine state - remains unresolved.

More than 100,000 Muslim Rohingya live in squalid displacement camps where they were resettled after the 2012 violence. The government still refuses to grant citizenship to most of the estimated 1 million Rohingyas, even though in many cases, they have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Violence heated up late last year when a small armed Rohingya insurgency was launched, leading to massive retaliation by Myanmar's army, which was accused of carrying out severe human rights violations.



Published by HRW on April 27, 2017

Donald Tusk
President of the European Council
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175
1048 Brussels

Federica Mogherini
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy /
Vice-President of the European Commission
Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 200
1049 Brussels

Brussels, 27 April 2017

Re: Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit and human rights in Burma
Dear President Tusk and High Representative / Vice-President Mogherini

We write to you to express our deep concern about ongoing and serious human rights abuses in Burma and to urge you to address these issues during the upcoming visit by State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Our core concerns include: ensuring the Burmese government’s full cooperation with the Human Rights Council-mandated independent international fact-finding mission into recent human rights violations in the country; the serious human rights crisis faced by ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State; international human rights and humanitarian law violations in Kachin and Shan States; and increasing numbers of political prisoners and continued restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including as a result of the prosecution of peaceful protesters and critics of the government.

UN Mandated Fact-Finding Mission

The successful operation of the Fact-Finding Mission established, through a European Union (EU)-sponsored resolution, adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2017 is critical to documenting abuses committed by Burmese security forces, creating accountability for these abuses, and preventing future abuses, particularly against the Rohingya. We urge you to press Aung San Suu Kyi, her government, and the Burmese military to fully cooperate with that mission.

The Fact-Finding Mission will be crucial to establishing the facts in Rakhine State following the October 9, 2016 attacks on three border guard posts in northern Rakhine State by militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations, and the media have reported that government security forces inflicted widespread and serious abuses against Rohingya civilians throughout northern Rakhine State in the wake of those attacks. Human Rights Watch has documented burnings of numerous Rohingya villages, extrajudicial killings, and systematic rape and other sexual violence. Untold numbers were killed in the several months-long “clearance operations” and, at its peak, more than 90,000 were displaced, over 70,000 of whom fled to Bangladesh. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report in February 2017 that concluded it was very likely that Burmese security forces committed crimes against humanity during those operations. Investigations by the Burmese government’s various domestic commissions have not been credible or impartial.

Full cooperation with the Fact-Finding Mission will indicate the Burmese government’s commitment to upholding the rule of law and to identifying and holding to account those responsible for abuses. It will also send a clear message to potential perpetrators of rights abuses in the future.

While the EU-sponsored resolution was adopted by consensus by the members of the Human Rights Council, the Burmese government has publicly disassociated itself from the resolution. However, it has not said it will not cooperate or allow access.

In addition to encouraging full cooperation with the Fact-Finding Mission, we urge you to call upon the Burmese authorities to immediately remove all restrictions on the provision of humanitarian aid in Rakhine State, including allowing for organizations to complete comprehensive humanitarian assessments. We also urge you to press the authorities to allow unfettered access to all parts of Rakhine State to independent human rights monitors and journalists.

Discriminatory Treatment of the Rohingya Population

Beyond the recent violence in northern Rakhine State, the Rohingya population has long faced systematic discrimination and denial of their human rights. We urge you to press the government to: (1) amend the discriminatory provisions of the 1982 Citizenship Law that effectively deny Rohingya citizenship and bring the law into line with international human rights standards; (2) end restrictions on freedom of movement that severely impact the Rohingya’s rights to health and livelihood in Rakhine State; (3) provide universal, non-discriminatory access to education; and (4) facilitate the safe and voluntary return of the 120,000 Rohingya who have been internally displaced since the June and October 2012 violence that Human Rights Watch research showed amounted to “ethnic cleansing” and crimes against humanity. Furthermore, while the government recently indicated its intention to close three camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Rakhine State, it has not yet indicated when or how it will do this. We urge you to encourage the government to ensure that all IDP camp closures are done with a view of protecting the human rights of the displaced and allowing the residents to freely decide whether to return to their original homes, with appropriate compensation and protection.

Abuses in Kachin and Shan States

Renewed fighting between the military and ethnic armed groups in Kachin and Shan States has imperiled civilians through human rights abuses allegedly committed by government forces and ethnic armed groups, successive instances of displacement, and the blockage of humanitarian assistance by the government. We urge you to press the government and military to adhere to international human rights and humanitarian law in Kachin and Shan States.

Violations of Freedom of Expression and Peaceful Assembly

Despite the significant improvements since 2011 in respect for freedom of expression in Burma, many repressive laws remain in effect. Large numbers of individuals continue to be jailed and prosecuted for peaceful speech and assembly. We urge you to press the government to: release all political prisoners; end the use of criminal laws, such as section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Act and sections 141-147 and 505 of the Penal Code, to penalize peaceful speech and assembly; and to repeal or amend other laws, as identified in Human Rights Watch’s 2016 report, to bring them into full compliance with international standards for the protection of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and other fundamental rights.

We believe it is important to communicate to Aung San Suu Kyi that embracing the recommendations in the recent Human Rights Council resolution, including the Fact-Finding Mission. and taking steps to hold the military accountable for its actions would further her stated goals of amending the constitution to bring the military under civilian control, end the military’s right to dissolve the government, and remove the military’s power to appoint the ministers of defense, home affairs and border affairs. It is untenable for the elected civilian government to preside over key ministers who do not report to the civilian leadership. She should recognize that while the military is implicated in most of the abuses outlined above, unless the civilian government takes all possible steps to address and prevent them it will still bear considerable responsibility. It is very worrying that the Office of the State Counsellor and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have repeatedly denied well-documented reports of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and destruction of Rohingya villages, giving the impression of indifference or antipathy to a persecuted minority. 

While Burma has made significant progress toward becoming a rights-respecting state, it is now at a critical juncture. Aung San Suu Kyi, as the de facto leader of the government, should urgently act to ensure that the human rights of all its people are respected and protected. Key donors like the EU, which are working to assist Burma’s political and economic development, should make it clear to Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit that the political transition away from military dictatorship and the country’s continued economic development will only succeed when human rights are respected. This should include offering the EU’s firm support if she takes the necessary and overdue steps to confront the behavior and role of the military.

Thank you for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information you may wish.

Sincerely, 

Lotte Leicht 
EU Director 
Human Rights Watch 

Brad Adams
Executive Director, Asia Division
Human Rights Watch

Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar at a Bangladesh refugee camp. (AP: AM Ahad)

By Liam Cochrane
April 27, 2017

A top official in Myanmar has compared an attack last year by Muslim militants that killed nine police officers and sparked a brutal army crackdown to America's experience on September 11.

But a leading researcher in Buddhist-majority Myanmar says the army's heavy-handed response to the new insurgent threat has only increased the risk of radicalisation amongst one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

In October a Saudi-backed militant group of Rohingya Muslims — called Harakah al-Yaqin or Faith Movement — launched its first ever attack on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, killing police and stealing weapons.

The resulting "clearance operation" by the military has led to accusations of extrajudicial killings, systematic rape and widespread arson, in what the UN has called possible "crimes against humanity" and Malaysia called "genocide". 

But Myanmar's Minister for Information has rejected the criticisms.

"This is like 9/11 in America, we were targeted and attacked in a huge way," Pe Myint said. 

"But the media is neglecting this and are only emphasising and reporting the counter-attacks, and by looking at the humanitarian point of view," he said in an interview this week.

The Reuters news agency released mobile phone footage on Tuesday showing the aftermath of the army crackdown — dead bodies in a field, moaning survivors and the charred human remains inside a burned house.

Heavy-handed tactics may backfire, analyst says

Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh have told horrific stories of soldiers killing children while gang raping their mothers and locking people inside houses that are then torched. 

About 70,000 Rohingyas fled to makeshift camps after the violence, just the most recent flair up in a long history of persecution.

Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship in Myanmar, which considers them illegal migrants from Bangladesh, and most live in poverty under a form of state-sanctioned apartheid. 

"Clearly Myanmar and its security forces have an obligation to ensure security and stability and to respond to such an attack, however, this is not a license to indiscriminately attack a civilian population," Richard Horsey, an independent political analyst based in Yangon who has worked for the UN and the International Crisis Group, said.

He said the army's tactics may backfire. 

"From the perspective of counter-insurgency and counter-radicalisation, the response of the security forces has been very unhelpful," said Mr Horsey. 

"It's likely to make the situation worse, to increase the risks of radicalisation, and to increase the distrust between the Muslim community in that area and the Government."

Aung San Suu Kyi criticised for response

Just before the October attack, the Government led by Aung San Suu Kyi invited a special commission headed by former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon to provide recommendations about the ethnic tensions. 

The Commission produced an interim report last month but it's work has largely been overshadowed by the militant attack and resulting crackdown. 

Many have criticised Ms Suu Kyi for not speaking out to defend the Rohingyas, while others have noted that she has no control over the still-powerful military and risks alienating her core Buddhist supporters. 

"This is a situation that's been festering for many decades ... an almost intractable problem that's been inherited by this Government, it's not the creation of this Government," Mr Horsey said.

"It will take a huge amount of effort and political investment to successfully implement those recommendations, some of which will not be easy at all."

Children recycle goods from the ruins of a market which was set on fire at a Rohingya village outside Maugndaw in Rakhine state, Myanmar, October 27, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Published by HRW on April 27, 2017

Urge the Burmese Government to Allow Unfettered Access

Dear Your Excellency,

We, the undersigned, call on States, including the United States, United Kingdom and the member states of the European Union, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to strongly encourage the Myanmar government to fully cooperate with the forthcoming Fact-Finding Mission into the human rights situation in Rakhine State, as well as active conflict areas in Kachin State and northern Shan State, as recently mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Following deadly attacks by a group later identified as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) against three police outposts in Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships on October 9, 2016, military and police commenced a so-called “clearance operation” in selected areas of northern Rakhine State. Numerous observers and monitors, including signatories to this letter as well as the UN and news media, documented how state security forces targeted the civilian population and committed extrajudicial killings, torture including rapes and other sexual violence, systematic destruction of homes and looting of property, destruction of food, and obstructing humanitarian assistance, causing serious deprivation including among persons in the displaced civilian population. A report issued in early February 2017 by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found that these human rights violations “seem to have been widespread as well as systematic, indicating the very likely commission of crimes against humanity.”

The Fact-Finding Mission is in the interests of the government of Myanmar as well as the people of the country because it would demonstrate the government’s willingness to uphold the rule of law, work collaboratively with the international community to help establish the facts, identify perpetrators, and deter future crimes by all parties to the conflict.

It is important to stress that the authorities in Myanmar commonly restrict access to certain parts of the country for monitors and others. High-level and sustained international engagement will be needed to ensure the authorities provide the Fact- Finding Mission with free and unfettered access to all the areas to which they are seeking access.

We believe the Fact-Finding Mission must be led by experts, including on international human rights and humanitarian law, who should receive free and unfettered access to ensure the process is thorough, equitable and capable of achieving its stated goals. The authorities must also ensure the safety of survivors and witnesses to speak freely without reprisals from state or non-state actors. The Fact-Finding Mission should also do its part to ensure the security of survivors, eyewitnesses, their families and others. The Fact-Finding Mission must be able to operate without government or military escort or interference that could limit access to witnesses and possibly endanger those who do come forward. The Fact-Finding Mission must be able to choose their own guides, fixers and interpreters to further ensure the independence, credibility and safety of their work. We also recommend the Fact-Finding Mission visit Bangladesh to interview victims and survivors who fled Rakhine State.

We are deeply concerned that if the government of Myanmar fails to fully cooperate with the Fact-Finding Mission, the situation in Rakhine State may further deteriorate. Failure to provide accountability may further fuel frustrations among the Rohingya population. Emboldened by the lack of consequences for abuses during its military operations in response to the October 9 attacks, the Myanmar military may continue to punish the civilian population and carry out further atrocities under the pretext of maintaining national security.

On the other hand, we believe the government of Myanmar’s full cooperation with the Fact-Finding Mission would send a positive and important message to all stakeholders in Rakhine State and Myanmar, including to extremist-nationalists who have been reluctant to cooperate with such initiatives.

Similarly, a positive message can be sent, and the effects of the violence under investigation mitigated, by allowing unfettered and sustained humanitarian access to affected populations in Rakhine State and elsewhere in Myanmar. We encourage the government of Myanmar to allow this much needed access and for international actors to continue to urge it to do so.

Please urgently use your good offices to help ensure unfettered humanitarian access, the success of the Fact-Finding Mission and the full support and cooperation of the Myanmar authorities.

Sincerely,

Angkatan Belua Islam Malaysia (ABIM)
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
ALTSEAN-Burma
Amnesty International
Burma Campaign UK (BCUK)
Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN)
Burmese Muslim Association (BMA)
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)
Civil Rights Defenders
FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights
Fortify Rights
Geutanyoe Foundation
Global Peace Mission Malaysia
Gusdurain Network Indonesia
Human Rights Now
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
International State Crime Initiative
Majlis Persundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (MAPIM) Malaysian Humanitarian Aid and Relief (MAHAR) Refugees International
Restless Beings
The Arakan Project
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)


    • Rohingya Exodus