An Open letter to Suu

From Aunty Riri Win

Dear Suu,

Our acquaintance started way back as far as the 60's. We got connected through Aunty Dora who  adored you like a daughter she never had. Zali went to school in Worcester and was invited to visit  her. He became a regular visitor at your home, a hospitality he appreciated because you provided him a home away from home. After you left Oxford, Zali went to see Aunty Dora several times before she died. At Aunty Dora's funeral service at Oxford we got to meet the Free Burma group, as well as Alexander, Kim and family. 

In addition to Zali you treated us like a family. I still cherish the memory when we celebrated Christmas at your home in Oxford when you served the traditional Christmas fruit cake your mother in law prepared. You looked lovely and sweet surrounded by your family. Upon parting Michael  mentioned in passing, “Uncle, we are not involved in the movement against Ne Win.” Neither did we  ask him to join us. He was aware that we were actively involved against the atrocities that the Ne Win regime unleashed that caused a lot of suffering and pain amongst the Burmese. In 1988, you  eventually came home to take care of your ailing mother and was swept in the upheaval of that time  when thousands of people rose up against the oppressive military regime. 

You were detained by the military for not less than 15 years for speaking up for justice and peace,  separated from Michael and the boys. Over and over again you were maligned as being influenced by foreign forces as you had married a “foreigner”, a dirty word to the xenophobic military regime. Even your brother became estranged from you. 

You were held incommunicado, Michael's contact with you was severely curtailed. I remember vividly how at one time Michael had to leave Rangoon because his visa had expired. He had no place to go and no funds to sustain himself. We arranged for him to stay at a safe place in Bangkok before he was allowed to go back to see you, even for a short tome. 

We often called upon Michael to inquire about your safety and health. I mentioned that the democratic movement should heed the demands of the various ethnic groups for more autonomy. Michael's answer was: “Aunty, right now the army must return to the barracks.”

In the United States and all over the world, pressure was borne upon the military regime to release you. Amnesty International made it a priority to have you unconditionally released. With thousands of US residents we organized rallies as well demonstrations in front of the Burmese Embassy, the White House, and lobbied Congressional representatives. Congressman Bill Richardson was allowed to see you in Rangoon. We prayed for you in churches throughout the US. Chapman College, Bucknell University, and American University were amongst those institutions that championed and honored your cause. 

In the meantime we kept close contact with Michael. We joined him at the Nobel Peace Prize Award in 1991. I shed tears when they played Johann Pachelbel's “Canon in D”. According to Michael you used to play that piece on the piano. At the the ceremony, Alexander stood tall and dignified when he made the acceptance speech. “Today,” he said,” the people in Burma could stand a bit taller....” Michael proudly said that Alexander wrote the speech himself, he was only sixteen then. 

You were very generous in donating the Nobel Prize reward to establish scholarships for Burmese students for their education abroad. Zali and your friends in England still keep the funds alive and the young people were grateful for your financial support. 

Your children suffered a lot, separated from you for many years because of the Burmese political upheaval which was beyond their control. One wonders how this separation affects them emotionally.  We admire your family's sacrifice for the sake of freedom, justice and peace for the Burmese people.

We had the chance to visit Michael several times at Oxford as well as in the United States. In the middle of his apartment was a big picture of you. We were stricken with sorrow when Michael suffered from prostate cancer. He was not allowed to see you for the last time. You stayed in Rangoon for fear that the regime would not allow you back. Michael died. Was it an ultimate sacrifice? The xenophobic military regime stated that you were not a true patriot since you were married to a foreigner, a dirty word for the xenophobic military regime. Did Michael take the ultimate sacrifice to forever eliminate this curse brought upon you by the regime? One only wondered why so many men survived the battle against prostate cancer, but not Michael. 

We met you clandestinely in Rangoon . I cried when I saw you and you chastised me for crying, “you have struggle so much and suffered for such a long time,” I said. You stoically said: “the longer the struggle the sooner it will end.” The Military Intelligence Service got hold of our meeting and the Burmese Ambassador in Washington DC told Uncle that no more visa would be issued to him. 

The next time we met in Rangoon you were already released and you were busy meeting dignitaries, foreign and domestic. You were kind enough to present us with a lacquer tray, “For a remembrance.” you said. We will treasure the gift. In exchange we brought you some chocolates, your favorite comfort food. We asked whether you feel safe now. “Yes,” you said, “ I am safe behind these tall walls. And I have my dog that Kim gave me. He is very protective.” 

How time has changed. Today you don't have to fear the military regime since you are part of it. You have become the Prima Donna of the military and oblivious to the suffering of the people; the Kachins that were slaughtered as well as the Rohingyas. You have declared the accusations of genocide of the Rohingyas as fake news. You stated that you are for law and order, obviously regardless of justice. 

The military stated that the Rohingyas are not Burmese but Bengalis who settled in Burma for a better life. Is this not unlike your forefathers who came from Central Asia/Mongolia to seek a better life in Burma; not unlike the Portuguese, the English and the Indians who seek a greener pasture. They make up for what we now call Burmese The denial of the genocide committed by the military is reinforced by your stance and statements in agreement of this atrocities. The Stockholm Syndrome apparently hits you when the victim eventually become part of the oppressor. Remember Patricia Hearst? She joined her kidnappers and robbed a bank. 

It is a shame that you disregard the Buddhist tenet of ahimsa, thou shall not kill. Instead, you support the narrow-minded Buddhists that consider killing Muslims not a sin. Do you not heed The Dalai Lama's pronouncement that Buddhist monks do not kill? Bishop Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Malala, as well as the Pope urged you to work against discrimination and justice. Yet you remain unmoved. 

Your esteemed father spent his life to establish the military for the good of the nation. On the other hand, the present military regime work for their personal coffers. They have plundered the nation's natural resources for their power and wealth while the rest of the nation suffers. 

Like so many observers, Uncle witnessed the suffering of the Rohingyas at Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh. They lost their homes and saw their family members killed by the military. There are factual accounts how the military used rape as a weapon of destruction. That is factual and that is the truth. 

You cannot be blind to the truth. Justice will prevail. The international institutions will bring “the perpetrators of crime against humanity, including murder, forcible transfer, deportation and persecution on political, racial or religious grounds” to justice. Remember Pol Pot in Cambodia? The Serb leaders in Kosovo? 

I fear for the destiny of Aung San Suu Kyi, the former icon of democracy. For being unmoved and unconcerned you are being complicit in the atrocities perpetrated by the military. Is Michael's sacrifice for nothing? Is the suffering of Alexander and Kim for naught? Will you be the Marie Antoinette of Burma? Stand up for law and order with justice and redeem yourself, Suu. 

Uncle and I are at the sunset of our life, God willing we will always strife for justice . As John Wesley said: 

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

Amen. 

Reuters

March 16, 2018

Myanmar’s Permanent Secretary of Foreign Affairs Ministry Myint Thu speaks to journalists during a press conference about the situation of Rakhine State at Information Ministry in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Myanmar’s authorities on Tuesday said it is an appropriate time to invite the United Nations refugee and the development agencies to involve in the repatriation of Rohingya refugees who had fled to Bangladesh from violence in Myanmar. (Aung Shine Oo/Associated Press)

By Associated Press

March 13, 2018

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — Senior officials in Myanmar announced Wednesday that they have begun talks with U.N. agencies to see how they could assist with the repatriation of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh to escape violence against them.

Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Myint Thu said the offices of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the U.N. Development Program responded last week with a proposal and concept paper to the government’s invitation for U.N. involvement, which the government is now studying.

“We considered that the time is now appropriate to invite UNHCR and UNDP to be involved in the repatriation and resettlement process, as well as in carrying out activities supporting the livelihoods and development for all communities in Rakhine state,” Myint Thu said.

Human rights experts believe safety cannot yet be guaranteed for about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled the western state of Rakhine to Bangladesh after security forces carried out brutal crackdowns in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents last August.

Antagonism between Rakhine’s Buddhist community and Rohingya Muslims led to communal violence in 2012, forcing at least 140,000 Rohingya from their homes into squalid camps for internally displaced people. Most Rohingya are treated as stateless persons with limited rights, and the insurgents drew support from the discontented as prejudice against their community grew in overwhelming Buddhist Myanmar.

Stanislav Saling, a U.N. spokesman in Myanmar, confirmed that in response to Myanmar’s initiative, the U.N. agencies submitted a note proposing how they could help create conditions “for the safe, dignified and voluntary return for refugees, in line with international principles.”

Neither the U.N. nor the government made public details of the proposal.

The international community has accused Myanmar’s military of atrocities against the Rohingya that could amount to ethnic cleansing, but the government and military deny any organized human rights violations.

Myanmar’s civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has pledged to start the gradual repatriation of the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s government says 374 refugees out of more than 8,000 whom Bangladesh has verified as qualified to return are free to return at their convenience.

“We have handed the list of 374 people to the Bangladesh Embassy so that they can immediately start their repatriation,” Myint Thu said. “These 374 people can be the first repatriation batch.”

By Al Jazeera

March 13, 2018

'I’m afraid that Facebook has now turned into a beast.'

UN human rights experts investigating a possible genocide in Myanmar have said that Facebook had played a role in spreading hate speech against the majority-Muslim Rohingya minority.

The UN's Special Rapporteur on Myanmar also said that the Rohingya crisis in the Rakhine State "bears the hallmarks of genocide". 

More than 650,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar's Rakhine State into Bangladesh since a military crackdown last August. Many have provided harrowing testimonies of executions and rapes by Myanmar forces, but Myanmar's national security adviser demanded "clear evidence" for the potential acts of genocide.

Facebook role 

Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, told reporters that social media had played a "determining role" in Myanmar.

"It has ... substantively contributed to the level of acrimony and dissension and conflict, if you will, within the public. Hate speech is certainly, of course, a part of that. As far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook, and Facebook is social media," he said.

UN Myanmar investigator Yanghee Lee said Facebook was a huge part of public, civil and private life, and the government used it to disseminate information to the public.

"Everything is done through Facebook in Myanmar," she told reporters, adding that Facebook had helped the impoverished country but had also been used to spread hate speech.

"It was used to convey public messages but we know that the ultranationalist Buddhists have their own Facebooks and are really inciting a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities," she said.

"I'm afraid that Facebook has now turned into a beast, and not what it originally intended."

Yeehang Lee's comments follow the release of images by the human rights group Amnesty International.

Facebook response

Facebook said there is "no place for hate speech" on its platform.

"We take this incredibly seriously and have worked with experts in Myanmar for several years to develop safety resources and counter-speech campaigns," a Facebook spokesperson told the BBC.

"Of course, there is always more we can do and we will continue to work with local experts to help keep our community safe," Facebook spokesperson has said. 

RB News

March 12, 2018

Buthidaung, Arakan state -- The Myanmar government is planning to build new Buddhist settlements on the emptied Rohingya homelands in Buthidaung Township, reliable sources say.

On March 10, U Hla Shwe, the deputy township administrator of Buthidaung, and officials from other departments visited 'Thin Gana' and 'Meechaung Zay' villages in northern Buthidaung. The officials conducted map surveys of the places where the Buddhist settlements will be built, it has been learnt.

100 Buddhist Settlements will be built nearby the mountain of 'Kudufaar' at 'Bogyi Chaung' hamlet of 'Meechaung Zay' village, and other 100 settlements nearby 'Old Cemetry' and 'Gufi Road' at 'Thin Gana' village in northern Buthidaung.

"The government is saying that they will bring back all the Rohingya people fled to Bangladesh and resettle them in their original places. But these are blatant lies.

"In fact, they are confiscating all the Rohingya homelands remaining abandoned as their owners had to flee to Bangladesh. The planned two Buddhist settlements are also on the Rohingya lands," said a local Rohingya to RB News in Buthidaung.

Meanwhile, there is another settlement being planned out for the Rakhine Buddhists on the Rohingya homelands at 'Maung Nama' hamlet of 'Nan Ya Gone' village in Buthidaung, where the Rohingya houses were destroyed by the Rakhine Buddhists last year.

About 0.7 Million Rohingya people from Myanmar have fled to Bangladesh since August 2017 as the Myammar military along with the active participations of some Rakhine extremists began to carry out Genocide against them (Rohingya).

[Edited by M.S. Anwar]

Please email to: editor@rohingyablogger.com to send your reports and feedback.

By CR Abrar

The Daily Star

March 11, 2018

As hopes for an early, voluntary, safe and dignified repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to a protected homeland in Arakan fade, as Myanmar authorities persist in a “systematic,” lower-intensity persecution and violence in northern Arakan, and as new batches of expelled Rohingyas continue to cross the border into Bangladesh, the demand for bringing the perpetrators of the heinous crime to justice, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and her military cohorts, gains traction.

On Friday, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the United Nations human rights chief, called for allegations of atrocities committed against the Rohingyas to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution. Earlier, he informed the Human Rights Council that he strongly suspected that “acts of genocide” might have taken place against Rohingyas in Rakhine since August last year. He construed reports of bulldozing of alleged mass graves as a “deliberate attempt by the authorities to destroy evidence of potential international crimes, including possible crimes against humanity.” The rights chief urged UN General Assembly to establish a new independent mechanism to expedite criminal proceedings in courts against those responsible.

Earlier, Prof Yanghee Lee, the UN's human rights envoy to Myanmar, expressed the view that there were grounds for bringing the country's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, before an international tribunal for failing to intervene in the “clearance operation” the military had launched in Arakan following alleged militant attacks on several police posts and army base on August 25.

In another move, three female Nobel peace laureates urged Bangladesh, the UN and other state parties to refer Myanmar military and other perpetrators to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the “genocide” against the Rohingyas. “Alternatively, the ICC prosecutor should open an independent investigation into the crimes against humanity and genocide perpetrated in Rakhine state,” they observed, after visiting Rohingya refugee sites in Bangladesh. One of the three laureates and an eminent legal expert, Shirin Ebadi, stated that as Myanmar was not a state party to the Rome Statute, the UN Security Council can recognise Myanmar's crimes against humanity and then refer that to the ICC. “We want this case to be discussed at the UN Security Council and there is sufficient evidence for this to take place,” she asserted.

Denouncing the Myanmar army's “bald-faced lie” against the “mountains of evidence,” Phil Robertson of the Human Rights Watch noted that “they've been covering up their human rights atrocities for decades.” Referring to absurd claims of the Myanmar military leadership, Robertson observed, “Statements like these indicate why the international community must prioritise hauling Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other Burmese military commanders up in the international criminal court to stand trial for the crimes against humanity they've ordered or committed.”

Addressing the Berlin conference on Myanmar Genocide on February 27, 2018, Ambassador David Scheffer, who played a critical role in establishing the ICC, reminded the audience that “the age of impunity is over.” He stated that one cannot commit crimes on people and assume that he could get away doing so with impunity, as one could twenty-five years ago. When a state thrusts a million people on a neighbouring state, the argument of non-interference in domestic affairs becomes irrelevant. Such a context demands international actions, and judicial option remains one among those.

Scheffer argues that ideally justice for Rohingya against Myanmar military and political leadership needs to be pursued in the national court as jurisdiction resides there. That option is improbable in the short term, though under a changed political dispensation in Myanmar, perhaps in 15-20 years' time, it could be a likely scenario. After weighing in several options including those of the International Court of Justice, universal jurisdiction of other national courts, and hybrid war crimes tribunals such as those set up in Cambodia, Sierra Leone, East Timor and Kosovo, Schaffer informs that a referral under the Rome Statute is perhaps the best option. If such a reference is made, then the ICC will enjoy the full jurisdiction.

Invoking the Rome Statute by the Security Council to bring perpetrators of the Myanmar genocide to justice may not be an easy task. Thus far, states such as China and Russia remain committed to the wrong doer. The challenge remains two-fold. On the one hand, engage in diplomatic efforts to make those countries abstain from voting when such a resolution is passed. On the other hand, exert moral pressure by building international public opinion against the Myanmar genocide demanding accountability of the perpetrators and shaming their supporters by putting them on record.

It is true that Myanmar, the site of crimes, is not a state party to the Rome Statute, and the perpetrators, the country's civil and military leadership, are not nationals of a state party. But that does not absolve them from facing justice. This is because, as Scheffer persuasively argues, “the crime scene does not stop at the border; it very purposively and intentionally flows over into Bangladesh in a massive way.” In their act of “ethnic cleansing,” the Myanmar leadership removed Rohingya population from one part of their territory. Its intent was not to move them to another part, but to banish them to Bangladesh. Thus, its intent, purpose and strategy were very clear. It made Bangladesh experience the impact of commission of all sorts of crimes of mass murder, gang rape, rampant torture, and destruction of livelihoods, dwellings, villages and townships. Thus, as an affected party, Bangladesh can self-refer to the ICC. The question is whether Bangladesh has the political will.

Any other state party can refer as well. The state concerned does not have to be an affected party. The other recourse lies with the ICC prosecutor. Her office can also make the argument of the crime scene and move the ICC.

So far, states appear unwilling to move in that direction. This necessitates a concerted engagement of the global civil society with the issue as it engaged to end the American occupation of Vietnam or in dismantling the apartheid regime in South Africa. Thus, building international solidarity through mobilising various quarters including poets, artists and singers is crucial in moulding international public opinion. Care must be taken so that such a campaign remains victim-driven. The Rohingya voices remain absolutely crucial. Appropriate training in documentation must be imparted so that along with capturing the survivors' testimonies, evidence on how the command structures operated is collected.

Those engaged in the campaign must have the unflinching faith that “the bubble of security and impunity is now getting tighter and tighter, and therefore, demanding justice; documenting cases certainly are not exercises in futility.”

At a time when the world community celebrates the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the framing of the Genocide Convention, the Rohingyas' call for justice go unheeded. The international community must ensure that they are delivered on that account.

CR Abrar teaches international relations at the University of Dhaka. He acknowledges the rich contributions of the panelists at the Conference on Myanmar Genocide held at the Holocaust Museum, Berlin on February 27, 2018.

By Clare Baldwin and Andrew R.C. Marshall 

Reuters

March 11, 2018

CHAKMAKUL REFUGEE CAMP, Bangladesh -- The Rohingya refugees who live in shacks clinging to these steep, denuded hills in southern Bangladesh pray that the sandbags fortifying the slopes will survive the upcoming monsoon. 

“They make it safer, but they won’t hold if the rain is really heavy,” said Mohammed Hares, 18. Cracks have already formed in the packed mud on which his shack is built.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since last August to escape a military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar. Most now live in flimsy, bamboo-and-plastic structures perched on what were once forested hills. 

Bangladesh is lashed by typhoons, and the Rohingya camps are clustered in a part of the country that records the highest rainfall. Computer modelling by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) shows that more than 100,000 refugees will be threatened by landslides and floods in the coming monsoon. 

The rains typically begin in April and peak in July, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department. 

In Kutupalong-Balukhali, the biggest of the makeshift camps, up to a third of the land could be flooded, leaving more than 85,000 refugees homeless, according to the UNHCR. Another 23,000 refugees live on slopes at risk of landslide. 

The UNHCR, International Organization for Migration (IOM) and World Food Programme are using bulldozers to level 123 acres in northern Kutupalong-Balukhali camp in an effort to make the area safer, said UNHCR spokeswoman Caroline Gluck. 

IOM is putting debris-removal equipment and work crews throughout the camps, it said, and trying to improve roads and stabilise slopes. It is also setting up emergency diarrhoea treatment centres and providing search and rescue and first aid training. 

Bangladesh Disaster Management Secretary Shah Kamal said the government was working with the UN to relocate 133,000 people living in high-risk areas. It is also launching a Rohingya-language radio station that will act as a natural disaster warning system, he said. 

Bangladesh government officials have also previously told Reuters they are pushing ahead with a controversial plan to turn an uninhabited island in the Bay of Bengal into a temporary home for the Rohingya and move 100,000 refugees there ahead of the monsoon. 

Flooding increases the risk of disease outbreaks. It could also threaten access to medical facilities, making them difficult to reach and restock, the modelling shows. Latrines, washrooms and tube wells may also be flooded. 

The risk of landslides has been exacerbated by refugee families needing firewood to cook. Trees were cut down to make way for the refugees, who also dug up the roots for firewood, making the slopes even weaker and prone to collapse. 

“This was a forest when I first arrived,” said Arafa Begum, 40, who lives with her three children in a shack on a barren, vertiginous slope in Chakmakul camp. She said she wanted to move before the monsoon but must await the instructions of the majhi, or block leader. 

The majhi’s name is Jahid Hussain. “I don’t know what I’ll do when the rain comes,” he told Reuters. “It depends on Allah.” 

Reporting by Clare Baldwin and Andrew R.C. Marshall in CHAKMAKUL REFUGEE CAMP Additional reporting by Ruma Paul in DHAKA Editing by Alex Richardson

By Mike Lillis 

The Hill

March 11, 2018

Some Democrats are wondering whether Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese human rights advocate and Nobel laureate, should be stripped of her Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Congress voted unanimously in 2008 to present Suu Kyi with the award. A decade later, lawmakers are questioning whether the honor should be revoked over Suu Kyi's reticent response to Myanmar's brutal campaign against the Rohingya, a minority Muslim group targeted by the country's military.

Suu Kyi, now Myanmar's democratically elected civilian leader, has faced intense international backlash over the violence, which the United Nations has deemed “acts of genocide.” Just this week the Smithsonian’s Holocaust Museum in Washington rescinded a prestigious award named after another Nobel Peace laureate, Elie Wiesel. 

“Whether it’s that she’s been complicit, or that she’s just been silent, what she hasn’t done is be vocal enough. So it’s been very, very disappointing, because I had great admiration for her,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, a liberal California Democrat who said he’s hearing concerns from a number of constituents with roots in the region. 

The Myanmar leader's silence in the face of the violence runs in stark contrast to the persona she built over the course of decades as a pro-democracy advocate and human rights champion who spent 15 years under house arrest at the hands of the nation’s repressive military junta.

It’s also led some lawmakers on Capitol Hill to weigh the merits of rescinding Suu Kyi’s Gold Medal award, presented just over five years ago, in an effort to compel her to voice an aggressive public rebuke of the military attacks against the Rohingya.

Khanna said he’s “open” to the notion of revoking Suu Kyi’s Congressional Gold Medal, suggesting the issue should be explored by a bipartisan caucus founded by the late Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.). 

“Maybe that’s something to explored to the Lantos Human Rights Commission, and to have a hearing on it, and to have a hearing on her role,” Khanna said.

Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), a physician and member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said he’s also amenable to stripping Suu Kyi of the congressional award if she doesn’t take a stand.

“If that’s what it takes to get there,” Bera said. “As a Nobel Peace Prize winner, she should be speaking out much more against the atrocities that are taking place right now. I mean, she does have the bully pulpit."

“We’ve got to send her the message that she ought to be speaking out and trying to moderate the government and military response here.”

To be sure, there seems to be no concerted push in Congress to revoke Suu Kyi’s Gold Medal. And a number of lawmakers were quick to note the difficult political position she’s in, straddling efforts to manage a civilian government and steer the country toward a more robust democracy without sparking a revolt from the formidable military elite who still yield outsized authority over public policy — and who could potentially knock her from power.

“There’s great tension — that could easily break into something else — between the military and the civilian government she’s trying to shepherd, so this is a very delicate balance. None of that excuses silence. But it does put it in context,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who has visited the region. “It’s a very, very tenuous and delicate balance. And she’s at the heart of it.”

Still, the frustration in Suu Kyi’s diffident reaction to the Rohingya crisis, even among her most ardent congressional supporters, is mounting to a point of exasperation.

Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), who sponsored the 2008 bill granting Suu Kyi the Gold Medal, said he’s “desperately sad” about the Rohingya’s plight, urging Suu Kyi to find her critical voice in the name of “moral clarity.” Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) — wondering aloud “what happened to our hero?” — said the Suu Kyi’s failure to confront the violence has eroded her revered reputation around the globe. 

“That can take power from you, too,” Eshoo warned.

And Connolly emphasized that even the tough political constraints on Suu Kyi have their limits in the face of systemic dislocation and mass killings. 

“You’ve got to call out genocide. If you’re a human rights activist, you can’t have carve-outs,” said Connolly. “There hasn’t been talk of revoking [the Gold Medal], but it would be very useful to remind her of how she got it.”

The comments are a far cry from the ones coming from lawmakers just a few years ago. In 2012, when Suu Kyi was officially awarded the Gold Medal in a moving ceremony beneath the Capitol Rotunda, congressional leaders from both parties turned out with words of glowing admiration. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), now the majority leader, praised her "hidden, luminous heroism.” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi(Calif.) hailed the Nobel laureate’s “unwavering commitment to peace.” And Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was imprisoned himself during the Vietnam War, lauded Suu Kyi’s "implacable resistance" during her lengthy house arrest.

“Aung San Suu Kyi didn't scare worth a damn,” he said at the time.

The Rohingya crisis has changed the tone of the debate and the views of her prestige. In October, as hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees were streaming into Bangladesh, Suu Kyi addressed the crisis by condemning the “unlawful violence,” but also downplaying her government’s culpability. Myanmar, she said, “does not fear international scrutiny.”

The global outcry was far-reaching, and a number of institutions around the globe have already penalized Suu Kyi’s reaction by rescinding humanitarian honors they’ve granted her in years past.

Irish lawmakers, for instance, pressured by the rock bank U2, voted in December to revoke Suu Kyi’s Freedom of the City of Dublin award. And this week, the Holocaust Museum followed suit, rescinding its Elie Wiesel Award.

While Congress may not be at the point of publicly rebuking her by revoking the congressional medal, a growing number of lawmakers appear sympathetic to the gesture.

“I’m not unmindful of the challenge for her, but you’ve got 700,000 or 800,000 Rohingya who are at enormous risk,” said Connolly. “And you cannot be silent given your profile internationally.”

By Tofayel Ahmad

Associated Press

March 9, 2018

From their home, a tent hastily erected in a grassy field, the young Muslim Rohingya couple can see the village they left behind last year, fleeing attacks by Buddhist mobs and Myanmar security forces.

They arrived in a no man's land, one of the small, ill-defined areas that exist at the cloudiest edges of the borderlands, places that seem to be neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh. While nearly every other Rohingya refugee who crossed the border has sought protection in the immense camps a few miles deeper into Bangladesh, these people say they will go no farther.

"My ancestors' graves are there," said Abdul Naser, gesturing toward his village, less than 100 meters (yards) away. "Sometimes, I walk close to the barbed wire fence and touch my land, and I cry in the dark."

But a few weeks ago things changed. Myanmar deployed more soldiers to the border, some of whom began coming to within 10 meters (yards) of the refugees' homes. They shout insults at the Rohingya, the refugees say, they throw empty whiskey bottles. They have set up speakers that blare announcements, insisting people go further into Bangladesh.

Because to Myanmar, no man's land doesn't exist at all.

"We cannot accept the term 'no man's land' because that is our land," said Nyan Myint Kyaw, Myanmar's deputy commander of the border police. Shifting rivers may have washed away some border markers, he says, and fences may not have been erected everywhere. But he insists the 6,000 or so Rohingya who think they live between the two countries are actually living inside Myanmar.

It is easy to get confused on the border, where many areas are not marked at all and where it's sometimes unclear if a fence marks someone's personal land, or if it demarcates the frontier. Making things more complicated, Myanmar places its border fences 150 feet from the actual boundary line.

While Myanmar insists all the hazy territory is their land, its security forces — as well as Bangladesh security forces — are also very careful to avoid entering places seen as a no man's land, presumably fearing accidental clashes and diplomatic trouble.

Myanmar says the additional soldiers were deployed to stop possible cross-border attacks by Rohingya militants, though no such attacks are known to have occurred. When Bangladesh protested the deployments, Myanmar dismissed their complaints.

"This is not like we are trying to invade Bangladesh," Myanmar spokesman Zaw Htay said in early March. "These are only actions taken against the terrorist groups."

The Rohingya have long lived at the ragged fringes of life in Myanmar, denied citizenship and many of the most basic rights. They are derided as "Bengalis" and many in Myanmar believe they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Muslims in an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation, most live in poverty in Myanmar's Rakhine state, next to Bangladesh.

The most recent problems began in August, when Rohingya insurgents launched a series of unprecedented attacks on Myanmar security posts. Myanmar responded with overwhelming force, burning Muslim villages with the help of Buddhist mobs, raping women, looting homes and carrying out massacres. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled the attacks into Bangladesh. Aid groups say more than 6,700 people were killed.

The UN refugee agency has appealed for protection for the borderland Rohingya.

The agency "is concerned about the safety of a group of vulnerable Rohingya women, men and children from Myanmar, who have been living in a so-called 'no man's land,'" it said in a statement. "People who have fled violence in their country must be granted safety and protection."

But is the no man's land inside Myanmar? Even the Rohingya say some of it probably is, though there are plenty of places where even border guards aren't sure where to find the dividing line.

A Rohingya community leader says most of the 6,000 in the borderlands are from nearby villages.

"They do not want to leave the place or enter Bangladesh, hoping that they will go back one day and it will be easier to move from here," Dil Mohammed said.

The young Rohingya couple agreed with him. They want to keep their village in sight. Or at least what's left of it.

"My trees are still there," said Naser's wife, 20-year-old Ruksana Begum. "It's spring now. I can see the green leaves of my mango trees. They have burned our homes but my trees are still growing."

———

AP writers Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Esther Htusan contributed to this report.

By Al Jazeera

March 9, 2018

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein also calls on Myanmar to allow monitors in to investigate suspected 'acts of genocide'.

The UN human rights chief has called for all atrocities committed against Myanmar's Rohingyato be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution.

Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, who has previously described Myanmar's campaign against the Rohingya as a "textbook case of ethnic cleansing", also urged the country to allow monitors into restricted areas to investigate what he called suspected "acts of genocide".

If they want to disprove the allegations of serious violations against the Rohingya, "invite us in" to Rakhine State, Zeid told a news conference on Friday in Geneva.

"We are saying there are strong suspicions that, yes, acts of genocide may have taken place. But only a court can confirm this," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights added.

Al-Hussein's comments come after Myanmar National Security Adviser Thaung Tun said on Thursday that "if it was genocide, they [Rohingya] would all be driven out".

He added: "We have often heard many accusations that there is ethnic cleansing or even genocide in Myanmar. And I've said it before and I'll say it again - it is not the policy of the government, and this we can assure you. Although there are accusations, we would like to have clear evidence." 

Ro Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist, said the UN's announcement was "long overdue."

"It is very important to prosecute Myanmar leaders at the ICC and to end this ongoing genocide," Lwin told Al Jazeera.

"More than a million Rohingya are seeking justice. The Myanmar military and government have been committing crimes against humanity and genocide for over 40 years. Not only against the Rohingya, but also against Kachin, Karen, Shan and other ethnic minorities.

"As a Rohingya activist, we want to see Myanmar's Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in court at the Hague," he added.

Nearly 700,000 have fled

The Rohingya, viewed by the UN and the US as one of the most persecuted communities in the world, have face widespread discrimination from Myanmar authorities.

Since August, more than 650,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after the country's military cracked down on the minority in northern Rakhine State.

Those fleeing have brought with them accounts of rape, torture, arson and killings by Burmese soldiers and vigilante gangs.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of the crackdown alone.

According to recent satellite imagery, more than 360 Rohingya villages had been partially or completely destroyed since August, with at least 55 villages completely bulldozed, removing all traces of buildings, wells and vegetation.

Myanmar's military says the crackdown was needed to root out Rohingya armed rebels who attacked border police posts in August, killing about a dozen people.

In January, Myanmar and Bangladesh announced a repatriation deal, but rights groups and Rohingya have raised concerns about the agreement, saying it does not guarantee full citizenship, or safety, for those who return.

Prior to the current exodus, tens of thousands of Rohingya had already been living as refugees in several neighbouring countries.

By Stephanie Nebehay

Reuters

March 9, 2018

GENEVA - The top United Nations human rights official called on Friday for the U.N. General Assembly to refer alleged atrocities committed against the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution.

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, also urged Myanmar’s government to allow monitors into northern Rakhine state to investigate what he called suspected “acts of genocide” against the Muslim minority. 

“We are saying there are strong suspicions that, yes, acts of genocide may have taken place. But only a court can confirm this,” Zeid told a news conference in Geneva. 

Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Tom Miles

By The Nation

March 8, 2018

The United Nations human rights body said acts of genocide may have taken place in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since August when the recent Rohingya crisis erupted, while asking the UN General Assembly to prepare to bring the case to court. 

“I am not surprised by reports that Rohingya villages, which were attacked in recent years, and the alleged mass graves of the victims, are being bulldozed,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said in a statement at the 37th session of Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday.

“This appears to be a deliberate attempt by the authorities to destroy potential evidence of international crimes,” he said.

More than 700,000 people have fled from Rakhine state since an attack on Myanmar security outposts on August 25, prompting a brutal crackdown by the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s military is known.

While Myanmar authorities have said the situation is calm, the UN and Rohingya community have stated that violence is ongoing in Rakhine.

The township of Maungdaw has been essentially emptied of its Rohingya community and people continue to flee to Bangladesh because of systematic persecution and violence in other towns and villages, although at a lower intensity than previously, Zeid said.

“Victims have reported killings, rape, torture and abductions by the security forces and local militia, as well as apparently deliberate attempts to force the Rohingya to leave the area through starvation, with officials blocking their access to crops and food supplies,” he said.

“I have also received reports of the appropriation of land inhabited by Rohingya and their replacement by members of other ethnic groups.”

A recent announcement that seven soldiers and three police officers will be brought to justice for the alleged extra-judicial killing of 10 Rohingya men was “grossly insufficient”, he added.

The UN demanded the government in Nay Pyi Taw take steps towards accountability for violations, and must fully respect the rights of the Rohingya, including to citizenship.

“While awaiting the final report of the fact-finding mission, I again recommend that this council ask the General Assembly to establish a new independent and impartial mechanism to prepare and expedite criminal proceedings in courts against those responsible,” Zeid said.

The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee said last month that Aung San Suu Kyi could be complicit in the systematic persecution of the Rohingya people, in violence that “bears the hallmarks of genocide”.

By AFP

March 7, 2018

DHAKA: A senior Bangladesh cabinet minister has accused Myanmar of obstructing efforts to repatriate roughly 750,000 Rohingya refugees, saying it was unlikely the displaced Muslims would ever return to their homeland.

Finance minister A M A Muhith said the repatriation deal signed between Myanmar and Bangladesh in November would likely fail despite his government's official stance that the refugees must eventually go back.

"I do not believe the Rohingya can be sent back," Muhith, an outspoken minister from the ruling party, told reporters late on Tuesday (Mar 6) in Dhaka after meeting with a British charity.

"You can speculate that very few will return to Burma. The first reason is that Burma will only take a few and secondly is that the refugees will never return if they fear persecution," he added, using another name for Myanmar.

Bangladesh insists the repatriation process will go ahead, last month submitting to Myanmar the names of 8,000 refugees expected to return to Rakhine state where the Muslim minority has been persecuted for generations.

But the plan has courted controversy from the outset.

Rights groups and the UN have warned that conditions for their return are not close to being in place.

Refugees living in camps in southeastern Bangladesh have also resisted the idea, fearing they will not be safe if they return to Rakhine.

Close to one million refugees from the persecuted Muslim minority live in squalid camps in Cox's Bazar, having fled successive waves of violence in Myanmar's westernmost region.

Under the agreement, the first of a proposed 750,000 returnees were scheduled to begin crossing the border in late January.

But the process stalled, with Myanmar and Bangladesh blaming the other for a lack of preparedness for the huge undertaking.

Muhith said Myanmar would "take 15 a day when there is one million", referring to the Rohingya in camps strung along the border.

"They (Myanmar) are absolute evil," he added.

A UN human rights envoy said on Tuesday that Myanmar was continuing its "ethnic cleansing" of the Rohingya with a "campaign of terror and forced starvation" in Rakhine state.

Rohingya are still streaming across the border from Rakhine state more than six months after a Myanmar army crackdown sparked a massive refugee crisis.

By Ashraf Khalil 

Associated Press

March 7, 2018

WASHINGTON — The United States Holocaust Museum is revoking a major human rights award given to Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s civilian leader, saying she has failed to respond adequately to the mass killings of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority.

The museum announced Wednesday that the Elie Wiesel Award given to Suu Kyi in 2012 would be rescinded. The move is just the latest in a series of blows to Suu Kyi’s international reputation, which has plummeted over the Rohingya massacres.

Suu Kyi was a Mandela-like figure in Myanmar who spent years under house arrest for opposing the country’s military dictatorship. She became an international rallying point and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Her party won a landslide victory in 2015 and she assumed the newly created post of state counselor, although the military still retains significant political and economic power.

Hopes had been high for Suu Kyi to make the transition from revered opposition figure to reformist political leader, given her long campaign for democracy. 

Instead, human rights advocates consider her a disappointment, particularly in her response to the Rohingya killings.

The Holocaust Museum has embraced the plight of the Rohingya in recent years, and published a report in November that concluded there was “mounting evidence of genocide” committed by both the military and armed Buddhist extremists.

In a letter to Suu Kyi released Wednesday, the museum accused her government of obstructing United Nations investigators and promoting “hateful rhetoric” against the Rohingya community, even as it acknowledged she has little influence over the military.

The museum had hoped Suu Kyi “would have done something to condemn and stop the military’s brutal campaign and to express solidarity with the targeted Rohingya population,” the letter stated. “The severity of the atrocities in recent months demand that you use your moral authority to address this situation.”

Suu Kyi does not oversee her country’s military or its security operations that set off the exodus of Rohingya refugees, but three former fellow Nobel Peace laureates last month accused her and the army of committing genocide in northern Rakhine state. They said that as the country’s leader she cannot avoid responsibility. Her government has defended the military operation in the north and has embraced the prosecution of journalists along with other attempts to suppress and discredit the media.

Calls to Myanmar’s embassy for comment were not immediately returned.

By Stephanie Nebehay

Reuters

March 7, 2018

GENEVA -- The United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday that he strongly suspected that “acts of genocide” may have taken place against Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state since August.

Reports of bulldozing of alleged mass graves showed a “deliberate attempt by the authorities to destroy evidence of potential international crimes, including possible crimes against humanity,” Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein added in a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council. 

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine into Bangladesh since insurgent attacks sparked a security crackdown in August, joining 200,000 refugees from a previous exodus. 

Zeid noted that his office said on Tuesday that it believes ethnic cleansing is still underway in Rakhine.

Rohingya are still fleeing because of “systematic” if lower-intensity persecution and violence there, he said. 

“Victims have reported killings, rape, torture and abductions by the security forces and local militia, as well as apparently deliberate attempts to force the Rohingya to leave the area through starvation, with officials blocking their access to crops and food supplies,” Zeid told the Geneva forum. 

“This Council is aware that my office has strong suspicions that acts of genocide may have taken place in Rakhine State since August,” he added. 

There was no immediate comment by the Myanmar government. In the Council, its delegation is allowed to respond on Thursday. 

His office had received reports of land inhabited by Rohingya being appropriated and members of other ethnic groups replacing them. 

“A recent announcement that seven soldiers and three police officers will be brought to justice for the alleged extra-judicial killing of ten Rohingya men is grossly insufficient,” he added. 

Myanmar’s government must take steps to provide real accountability for violations and respect the rights of Rohingya, including to citizenship, Zeid said. 

A fact-finding mission set up by the Council, headed by former Indonesian Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman, is due to report on its initial findings on Monday after interviewing victims and survivors in Bangladesh and other countries. 

Pending their final report, the U.N. General Assembly should establish a new independent mechanism to expedite criminal proceedings in courts against those responsible, Zeid said. 

Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Tom Miles, William Maclean