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Rohingya refugees build shelter with bamboo at the Jamtoli camp in the morning in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

By Reuters
April 9, 2018

AMSTERDAM -- The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has asked it to rule on whether it has jurisdiction over the deportations of Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh, a possible crime against humanity, according to a filing published on Monday.

A ruling affirming jurisdiction could pave the way for Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to investigate the deportation of many thousands of Rohingya, though Myanmar is unlikely to cooperate. 

“This is not an abstract question but a concrete one, affecting whether the Court may exercise jurisdiction ... to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute,” Bensouda said in the filing.

The main reason for doubt over jurisdiction is that, while Bangladesh is a member of the court, Myanmar is not. 

Bensouda argued that, given the cross-border nature of the crime of deportation, a ruling in favor of ICC jurisdiction would be in line with established legal principles. 

But she acknowledged uncertainty around the definition of the crime of deportation and limits of the court’s jurisdiction. 

Her request is the first of its kind filed at the court. She asked the court to call a hearing to hear her arguments, as well as those of other interested parties. 


The magistrate assigned to consider the request, Congolese judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua, will have considerable leeway in determining how to proceed. 

According to the United Nations, some 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fled their homes into Bangladesh after militant attacks in August last year triggered a military crackdown that the United Nations has said constitutes ethnic cleansing. 

Buddhist-majority Myanmar rejects that charge, saying its forces have been waging a legitimate campaign against Rohingya who attacked government forces. Many in Myanmar regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. 

Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Kevin Liffey



The Rohingya that arrived in Malaysia with 56 people aboard on March 31 [Photo:  ROYAL THAI ARMY / HANDOUT / VIA AFP-JIJI]

 RB News
April 8, 2018

Sittwe (Akyab)/Kuala Lumpur -- Two Rohingya boats with approximately 140 people on board have gone missing en route to Malaysia since they left Sittwe (Akyab) on March 24, reliable sources say.

One boat with 56 Rohingya people on board arrived in Malaysia on March 31, which the Malaysian Navy rescued and later handed to the Immigration Department (Read HERE). The 2 boats left from Sittwe's 'Thae Chaung' beach on the same day with this boat but have been missing since then.

"Earlier, we have come to know one boat reached to Malaysia on March 31. But 2 other boats with 140 people in total, mostly women and children, have still been missing. They have lost contacts with us and we don't know their whereabouts. Their relatives are extremely worried," said Mohammed (pseudonym), Rohingya in Sittwe, to RB News.

The people are leaving are mostly from IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camps in Sittwe, where more than 140,000 people have been forced to live apartheid condition since 2012. And so, more boats are likely to leave Myanmar in the upcoming weeks.

An internally displaced Rohingya in Sittwe said "we can't move anywhere. Our access to livelihoods has been barred. We can't work and have enough food to eat. We are hopeless and don't know when this condition is going to end. We have been forced to live in prison-like-camps since 2012.

"That's why those who have relatives in Malaysia are paying the agents and some properties to sell are selling them off so that they can pay the agents to leave for Malaysia. Two more boats are about to leave soon."

Sources say that each person leaving for Malaysia has to pay Kyat 700,000 to the agents and the agents, in turn, have to bribe the Myanmar Police or Security Force in Sittwe Kyat 10 Million per boat. And each boat can accommodate around 100 people on board.

The Rohingya people subjected to Genocide by the Myanmar military and Security Forces are fleeing the country for Malaysia, which they consider safe haven, through various other routes such as by lands across central Myanmar and Thailand.

About 700,000 Rohingyas have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since last year and more people are still fleeing as the Genocide in Myanmar continues. Many of these survivors in Bangladesh are reported to have been fleeing the country from Cox's Bazaar and Chittagong districts.

[Report by Saeed Arakani & M.S. Anwar]

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


A Rohingya refugee man with child walks on a bamboo bridge to cross a water stream in Balukhali refugee camp, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

By Antoni Slodkowski
April 8, 2018

YANGON -- Myanmar is not ready for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, said the most senior United Nations official to visit the country this year, after Myanmar was accused of instigating ethnic cleansing and driving nearly 700,000 Muslims to Bangladesh.

“From what I’ve seen and heard from people – no access to health services, concerns about protection, continued displacements – conditions are not conducive to return,” Ursula Mueller, U.N.’s Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said after a six-day visit to Myanmar. 

A Myanmar government spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Mueller’s remarks. 

The Myanmar government has previously pledged to do its best to make sure repatriation under an agreement signed with Bangladesh in November would be “fair, dignified and safe”. 

Myanmar has so far verified several hundred Rohingya Muslim refugees for possible repatriation. The group would be “the first batch” of refugees and could come back to Myanmar “when it was convenient for them,” a Myanmar official said last month. 

Mueller was granted rare access in Myanmar, allowed to visit the most affected areas in Rakhine state, and met army-controlled ministers of defence and border affairs, as well as de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials. 

The exodus of Rohingya Muslims followed an Aug. 25 crackdown by the military in the northwestern Rakhine state. Rohingya refugees reported killings, burnings, looting and rape, in response to militant attacks on security forces. 

“I asked (Myanmar officials) to end the violence … and that the return of the refugees from (Bangladeshi refugee camps in) Cox’s Bazar is to be on a voluntary, dignified way, when solutions are durable,” Mueller told Reuters in an interview in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon. 

Myanmar says its forces have been engaged in a legitimate campaign against Muslim “terrorists”. 

Bangladesh officials have previously expressed doubts about Myanmar’s willingness to take back Rohingya refugees. 

Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete a voluntary repatriation of the refugees in two years. Myanmar set up two reception centres and what it says is a temporary camp near the border in Rakhine to receive the first arrivals. 

“We are right now at the border ready to receive, if the Bangladeshis bring them to our side,” Kyaw Tin, Myanmar minister of international cooperation, told reporters in January. 

Many in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The U.N. has described Myanmar’s counteroffensive as ethnic cleansing, which Myanmar denies. 

Asked whether she believed in government assurances the Rohingya would be allowed to return to their homes after a temporary stay in camps, Mueller said: “I’m really concerned about the situation.” 

Part of the problem is that, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch, Myanmar has bulldozed at least 55 villages that were emptied during the violence. 

“I witnessed areas where villages were burned down and bulldozed...I’ve not seen or heard that there are any preparations for people to go to their places of origin,” Mueller said.

Myanmar officials have said the villages were bulldozed to make way for refugee resettlement. 

Mueller said she has also raised the issue with Myanmar officials of limited humanitarian aid access to the vulnerable people in the country and added, referring to the authorities, that she would “push them on granting access” for aid agencies. 

Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski. Editing by Lincoln Feast.

By Euan McKirdy
April 7, 2018

As tens of millions of Americans come to grips with revelations that data from Facebook may have been used to sway the 2016 presidential election, on the other side of the world, rights groups say hatemongers have taken advantage of the social network to widely disseminate inflammatory, anti-Muslim speech in Myanmar.

The rhetoric is aimed almost exclusively at the disenfranchised Rohingya Muslim minority, a group which has been the target of a sustained campaign of violence and abuse by the Myanmar military, which claims it is targeting terrorists.

Human rights activists inside the country and out tell CNN that posts range from recirculated news articles from pro-government outlets, to misrepresented or faked photos and anti-Rohingya cartoons.

A Rohingya refugee looks out from a school window at Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh's Ukhia district.

In response to the flood of hate-filled posts, a cross-Myanmar group of tech firms and NGOs has written an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, lambasting what they term the "inadequate response of the Facebook team" to escalating rhetoric on the platform in Myanmar.

Citing conversations the group says it unearthed on Facebook's Messenger service, which issue calls to arms against Muslims over a fabricated "jihad" planned for September 2017, it stated that the examples show "clear examples of (Facebook) tools being used to incite real harm.

Facebook Messenger conversations, screenshotted and included with an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from Myanmar tech companies.

"Far from being stopped, they spread in an unprecedented way, reaching country-wide and causing widespread fear and at least three violent incidents in the process."

The letter cited an interview Zuckerberg did with Vox's Ezra Klein, in which he said Facebook's "systems detected" the hate speech. The letter surmised that by "systems" Zuckerberg meant the signatories of the letter -- third party vendors in Myanmar which, the letter admits, were "far from systematic" in their detection of hate speech.

Calling it "the opposite of effective moderation," the group also chided Facebook for what it called a lack of proper mechanisms for emergency escalation, a reticence to engage local stakeholders and a lack of transparency.

Zuckerberg told Vox hate speech is "a real issue, and we want to make sure that all of the tools that we're bringing to bear on eliminating hate speech, inciting violence, and basically protecting the integrity of civil discussions that we're doing in places like Myanmar, as well as places like the US that do get a disproportionate amount of the attention."

Young men browse Facebook on their smartphones as they sit in a street in Yangon.

Sudden surge

New research suggests Facebook played a key role as extremists sought to escalate the conflict in Myanmar.

Data analyst Raymond Serrato looked at posts from Myanmar citizens over the course of 2017, determining that there was a massive spike in hate-speech posts following an August military campaign in the country's western Rakhine state, home to the majority of the country's Rohingya.



The campaign was initially sparked when an insurgent group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, called for an uprising -- one which was easily quelled by the government.

The failed attempt led to the large-scale purge, which the UN has called "ethnic cleansing," and a subsequent refugee crisis, which has seen 700,000 Rohingya forced from their homes and across the border into neighboring Bangladesh. Myanmar denies the intentional killing of civilians, and insists that operations targeted terrorists.

Serrato said he was "surprised by the intensity" and frequency of the anti-Rohingya posts.

"In August, when ARSA called on the Rohingya to rise up, (we were) surprised by the speed at which (anti-Rohingya voices) weaponized social media."



Facebook has 'turned into a beast'

In March, Facebook was accused by the UN of "substantively" contributing to the "level of acrimony" against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Marzuki Darusman, the chair of a United Nations probe into human rights in Myanmar, said "hate speech and incitement to violence on social media is rampant, particularly on Facebook" and largely "goes unchecked."

His colleague, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, added that "we know ultra-nationalist Buddhists... are really inciting a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities.

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

Instrument of 'hate and racism'

Human rights activist Zarni, who like some in the country, goes by only one name, told CNN the platform is neutral, but "what is toxic is the state. (Lee) said Facebook has turned into a beast, (but in fact) the beasts are using Facebook."

He says the main provocateurs are "operating in very powerful institutions -- the military and monastic networks; the two major pillars of Burmese society." Among the offenders, at least until his ban from the platform, was the infamous ultra-nationalist monk Wirathu.

Controversial Myanmar monk Wirathu speaking during an interview at a monastery in Myanmar's second biggest city of Mandalay.

In 2015, he told CNN that Muslims "take many wives and they have many children. And when their population grows they threaten us." "And," he concluded, "they are violent."

Thaw Parka, a spokesman for Ma Ba Tha, a Buddhist nationalist group associated with the controversial monk, says critics "cherry pick (Wirathu's) extreme words."

A Facebook spokesperson told Reuters it suspends and sometimes removes anyone that "consistently shares content promoting hate," in response to a question about Wirathu's account.

Others are not letting the social media giant off the hook. It would be "superficial" to "ignore the conflict between ethnicities," Serrato says, "but Facebook has definitely facilitated it."

Jes Kaliebe Petersen, CEO of Myanmar-based startup accelerator Phandeeyar, says while there is a lot of racist content shared on the platform, "there are also moderate voices that are doing good work not only countering this but spreading moderate narrative, but "get drowned out."

New users, new problems

Myanmar's relative callowness in engaging online is part of the reason the rhetoric has exploded, and been so influential.

The country experienced a "digital leapfrog effect," says Petersen. "Until 2014, there was less than 5% mobile phone penetration, but overnight, SIM cards were offered for (as little as) $1.50," allowing a much greater number of people to buy smartphones.

Myanmar has a "whole new generation of internet users, just coming to terms with what you can do online," he says.

Facebook's ubiquity in the country -- the UN's Darusman says, in Myanmar, "social media is Facebook, and Facebook is social media" -- only serves to multiply hate speech's virality.

Activist Sein Thein says the burden of responsibility for the online rhetoric should not fall entirely on Facebook's shoulders, and that Myanmar's citizens "need to be mature" when they are online.

Facebook: We're combating hate

In order to combat the platform being used for hate speech against the Muslim minority, Facebook said it has "invested significantly in technology and local language expertise" in Myanmar following the UN accusations.

"There is no place for hate speech or content that promotes violence on Facebook, and we work hard to keep it off our platform," a spokesperson told CNN.

The spokesperson said the company has worked with experts in Myanmar for several years to produce a community standards page for Myanmar "and regular training sessions for civil society and local community groups across the country."

It is hard for Facebook to monitor the rise of hate speech in the country, Petersen says, partly due to language difficulties.

"There's an intention to enforce them but it's not being followed." Petersen says his company, Phandeeyar, helped Facebook translate its community standards into Burmese.

In response to the March UN accusations, Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay said his government and Facebook are "promoting cooperation and coordination for the Myanmar people to understand the community standards of Facebook."

On Facebook he said supporters of the Rohingya were also using social media to "spread... disinformation around the world."

The group that sent the open letter to Zuckerberg, co-signed by Phandeeyar, urged the tech mogul "to invest more into moderation -- particularly in countries, such as Myanmar, where Facebook has rapidly come to play a dominant role in how information is accessed and communicated."

Long history

Zarni says the country has a "long ideological tradition by which genocides are acceptable," which can partially be explained by support of the enemies of the then-British empire, including the Nazis, in resistance to British rule in the 1930s and 40s.

"I came from that society, I grew up with it. In the 1930s, we were quoting Hitler left and right in Burma," he said, using the colonial-era name for the country.

"What really has emboldened the Burmese public behavior in terms of their social media interactions is the military -- the military has taken up an entirely new function, it's not only the (defense of what it sees as its) territory, but defense of culture, society, religion and race."

Silence condemned

The country's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been criticized for her silence in the face of the country's treatment of the minority.

"She will not do anything (to defend the Rohingya) -- she struggled more than 15 years to get this position," Rohingya rights defender Nay San Lwin says.

"She will never speak for any minority. If she (sympathizes with) the oppressed people, she will lose her position. She's never been a human rights defender, she's a politician."

Suu Kyi and her supporters meanwhile have accused the international press of exaggerating the crisis and constructing a "huge iceberg of misinformation" which is negatively affecting her ability to run the country.

However in September 2017 she acknowledged the issue, saying her administration also wanted to "find out what the real problems were," according to the Financial Times, and agreed to implement the recommendations of the UN-led Rakhine Advisory Commission.

CNN's Angus Watson and Bex Wright contributed to this report.

Rohingya Muslims gather behind Myanmar's border lined with barbed wire fences in Maungdaw district in Rakhine state on March 18, 2018. PHOTO: AFP

April 6, 2018

MANILA  -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday (April 5) "genocide" was taking place in Myanmar and he was willing to accept Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing from it, though Europe should help too.

The United Nations and rights groups say some 700,000 people, most of them Rohingya, have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh since August last year when Rohingya militant attacks on the security forces sparked a military crackdown.

The United Nations and several Western countries have said the Myanmar action constitutes ethnic cleansing but Myanmar rejects that. It says its security forces have been conducting legitimate operations against "terrorists".

Duterte, in a wide-ranging speech to farmers and agriculture officials at the presidential palace, touched on various issues including his recent decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court over its decision to open a preliminary investigation into his bloody war on drugs.

Drawing the ire of officials in Myanmar, Duterte then expressed sympathy for the Rohingya and offered to help.

"I really pity the people there," Duterte said. "I'm willing to accept refugees. Rohingyas, yes. I will help but we should split them with Europe."

He also mentioned the inability of the international community to resolve problems in Myanmar.

"They can't even solve the Rohingya. That's what genocide is, if I may say so," Duterte said.

Myanmar has rejected any suggestion genocide is taking place and its government spokesman, Zaw Htay, said Duterte's comments did not reflect the real situation.

"He doesn't know anything about Myanmar," Zaw Htay told Reuters.

"The usual behaviour of that person is to speak without restraint. That's why he said that."

Duterte's comments were broadcast live on television and later included in a transcript of his speech, issued by his office.

Such a denunciation by a South-east Asian leader of a neighbour is rare.

Both the Philippines and Myanmar are members of the Association of South East Asian Nations which has long upheld a convention of withholding criticism of fellow members.

Duterte did not refer by name to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been heavily criticised abroad for failing to stand up for the largely stateless Rohingya, only saying: "That woman, she is my friend."

A Rohingya refugee in a Bangladesh refugee camp: a group of five has now been rescued at sea

By AFP
April 6, 2018

Five Rohingya stranded at sea for almost three weeks have been rescued by Indonesian fishermen but another five of them died during the harrowing ordeal, officials said Friday.

News of the rescue comes several days after the arrival in Malaysia of another boat carrying dozens of members of the persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar.

The group of two men, aged 28 and 33, a 20-year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl and an eight-year old boy were spotted Monday in a small boat in waters off southern Thailand and Myanmar, 325 kilometres (176 miles) from Aceh province in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

The fishermen took them back to Aceh on Sumatra island and the group arrived early Friday.

"They were immediately brought to a local hospital for treatment as they were weak," Abdul Musafir, head of the East Aceh search and rescue team, told AFP.

"But I'm sure they will be fit again after a couple of days in hospital."

Musafir added that the group said they had been travelling with some two dozen other Rohingya but got separated. He did not provide further details.

East Aceh police said the rescued five were stranded at sea for about 20 days while five others had starved to death and their bodies were thrown overboard.

It has been rare for Rohingya migrants to attempt the sea routes south since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, sparking a crisis across Southeast Asia as large numbers were abandoned at sea.

But there have been concerns desperate migrants might start taking to the high seas again after mainly Buddhist Myanmar launched a new crackdown last year that forced about 700,000 members of the stateless Muslim minority to flee to Bangladesh.

In 2015 hundreds of Rohingya came ashore in Aceh, where they were welcomed in the staunchly conservative Islamic province.



Special envoy recommends those responsible for violence be brought to justice

By Barry Ellsworth
April 4, 2018

TRENTON, Canada -- The special envoy investigating the plight of the Rohingya Muslims issued a report Tuesday that encouraged Canada to accept refugees displaced by persecution in Myanmar.

The report by former Ontario premier and Toronto MP Bob Rae, also recommended sanctions and prosecution against those in Myanmar who are behind the crisis that has forced Rohingya to flee for their lives to Bangladesh.

There is proof “to support the charge that crimes against humanity have been committed,” the report stated.

Rae, who was appointed special envoy by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, traveled extensively in the region in February and released his report at a news conference in Ottawa.

He visited Bangladesh refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are living in deplorable conditions.

While he was refused permission by Myanmar officials to go to Rakhine State, the home territory of the Rohingya, Rae said he saw enough of the wanton destruction of villages to convince him of the persecution.

“Words cannot convey the extent of the humanitarian crisis people currently face in 

Bangladesh and Myanmar,” the report stated. “In addition to accounts of shooting and military violence, I also heard directly from women of sexual violence and abuse at the hands of the Myanmar military and of the deaths of children and the elderly on the way to the camps.”

Rae made 17 recommendations to help ease the plight of the Rohingya who have been called the most persecuted group on the globe.

They included that “Canada should signal a willingness to welcome refugees from the Rohingya community” from Myanmar and Bangladesh and also encourage other countries to do the same.

Myanmar officials should also help the Rohingya return home, but under close scrutiny so the refugees would be safe from the military and mobs in Myanmar that is predominately a Buddhist country.

Rae also suggested countries, including Canada, should hit “targeted economic sanctions” those who are behind the violence.

“Canada should be actively working with like-minded countries to identify the individuals or parties that should be subject to sanctions,” he wrote. “Canada should also continue its arms embargo and should seek a wider ban on the shipment of arms to Myanmar.”

Another recommendation is to prosecute those who have caused “the forcible and violent displacement of more than 671,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State in Myanmar.”

While Canada has already committed more than CAN$45 million in aid to the Rohingya, Rae suggested more was needed and CAN$150 million be given in the next four years.

He said Canada should raise the crisis at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London later this month, as well next month at the G7 summit in Canada.

The Canadian government will review the report and decide on what action to take.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012

Since Aug. 25, 2017, more than 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.

At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, according to Doctors Without Borders. In a report published on Dec. 12, 2017, the global humanitarian organization said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

(Photo: AFP)

To the Bosom of My State 

Ro Mayyu Ali
RB Poem
April 3, 2018

The world I knew is gone
The people I loved were displaced, Missing, incarcerated and dead
My home is completely gone 
And my life is smashed to nothing

I had to escape to another's hands
Now I survive by aids in the world's largest settlement 
Here I'm quite subjected 
As the prey of the earth nature 
And the the victim of creature misbehave 

Oh! You my state! 
So many things despite, I yearn in you
Perhaps, the bond I have for you is still intact
How my heart beats to dwell in your bosom 
It doesn't only mean I can't live without you. 
It so means none other closer than you for me

In my eyes, it is dream for you
On mind, full thought of changes 
In heart, a bunch of desires 
I can stay away from you.
Never I can be without thinking of you 
I can be exiled from you. 
Can nothing remove you from my heart 

Other's love for you could be in heart
What love I have for you is in my blood 
I love you in any circumstance
I love you, my motherland 
I love you, my Myanmar!

The Rohingya that stopped at the Thai island of 'Koh Lanta' on Saturday (Assadawuth Suden/Associated Press)

RB News
April 3, 2018

Akyab (Sittwe)/Cox's Bazaar -- More Rohingya boats are likely to leave for Malaysia before monsoon as the Genocide against them continues in Myanmar and their situation in Bangladesh also remains extremely miserable.

On March 24, 2018, one Rohingya boat left from 'Thae Chaung' beach of Akyab (Sittwe) with about 56 people on board. After one week of sailing across the sea, on Saturday (Mar 31), the boat reached to Thailand and stopped at one of its island, 'Koh Lanta' island, as it had been hit by a storm. The Thai authorities pushed it back to the sea after giving them temporary shelter, according to reports.

"There were more than 100 people preparing to leave by the boat. But the Police followed them when they were going to the ‘Thae Choung’ beach to catch the boat. So, they got dispersed and only 56 people managed to get on the boat, and the rest were left behind," said a local Rohingya in Akyab (Sittwe).

"There are more boats likely to leave. But the securities are very tight as of now," he added.

Meanwhile, sources say that many Rohingya boats are also likely to leave from Bangladesh. About 700,000 Rohingyas have left their homelands in Myanmar since August 2017 to escape from the Genocide being carried out by the Myanmar Military and Security Forces.

"Many boats with Rohingya genocide survivors could leave from Bangladesh soon. But the securities in the south-eastern parts of Bangladesh are very tight as patrolling by the BGB and the Coast-Guards have been very high since last year.
"So, they could choose alternative exit points. And those exit points could be from Cox's Bazaar up to Chittagong," said Nazmul Hassan, a Rohingya activist in Cox's Bazaar.

According to AP Report, Malaysian authorities said Monday that they have stepped up patrols to intercept the boat that the Thailand set adrift to the sea on Sunday.

[Reported by Saed Arakani & Sabit Hamid; Edited by M.S. Anwar]

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

Rohingya migrants attempting the boat routes south have been a rare sighting since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, leaving thousands of migrants abandoned in open waters or jungle camps AFP/CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT

By AFP
April 1, 2018

A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees trying to reach Malaysia briefly stopped on a Thai island, an official said Sunday, as fears grow about overcrowded camps for the stateless minority fleeing violence in Myanmar.

BANGKOK: A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees trying to reach Malaysia briefly stopped on a Thai island, an official said Sunday (Apr 1), as fears grow about overcrowded camps for the stateless minority fleeing violence in Myanmar.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have sought shelter in southern Bangladesh since Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents in August that the US and UN have called ethnic cleansing.

But the refugees have arrived to find cramped settlements and often squalid conditions in Cox's Bazar, where hundreds of thousands who fled previous waves of persecution are already living.

An agreement to repatriate Rohingya from Bangladesh to Myanmar's Rakhine state has yet to see a single refugee returned.

Rohingya migrants attempting the boat routes south have been a rare sighting since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, leaving thousands of migrants abandoned in open waters or jungle camps.

The Rohingya boat arrived off Thailand's western coast in Krabi province early Sunday due to bad weather.

Images showed the passengers being interviewed on shore and then getting back into the boat before departing.

Krabi governor Kitibodee Pravitra confirmed that the people travelling on the boat were Rohingya but did not know where they had come from.

"The initial report said they were docking near Koh Lanta this morning to avoid the storm," he said, referring to an island popular with tourists. "They want to go to Malaysia."

The Rohingya on board would continue toward their destination, he said.

He said there were about 56 women, men and children on board.

Many of the Rohingya ensnared in the 2015 boat crisis wound up in Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia as Thailand stuck to a policy of not accepting the vessels.

Bangladeshi economic migrants have also taken the boat routes.

There are nearly 70,000 Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers living in Malaysia, according to the most recent statistics from the UN refugee agency.

RB News
March 31, 2018

Minbya, Arakan State: On March 30 morning, a Prayer Leader or Imam was brutally beaten and injured by a Rakhine extremist at 'Tha Yet Oak' hamlet, 'Na Ga Ra' village tract, Pan Myaung region in 'Minbya' Township. 

The 57-years-old Ahmed Husson is the Imam in the mosque of Na Ga Ra's Tha Yek Oak (Noyapara) living his life by fishing. In the morning around 7AM on 30th March, he was whacked on his head with a wooden rod by the son of U Kyaw Zaw Aung from Kyun Taw Rakhine village, while he was fishing by a net in the shore of 'Lay Myo' River. As a result of the forceful strike, the head of the Imam was scuffed and severely injured, according to a a villager who spoke to RB News. 

No one has come to investigate the incident yet though the administration members from 'Tha Yet Oak' informed the police station in Pan Myaung via telephone, added the villager. 

"We can't go to police station no matter what we face. We just can move in and around the two neighboring Rohingya hamlets. Those two hamlets are inside Na Ga Ra village tract. We are not allowed to go any other places" said the villager. 

Tha Yet Oak is one of the 11 hamlets in Na Ga Ra village tract. There are 3 Rohingya hamlets including Tha Yet Oak among 11 and Rohingya in there can move around in the Rohingya hamlets and no one is allowed to go to other villages, not even to the police station. 

The condition of the Imam Ahmed Husson is serious but he cannot access yet to any hospital for the required medical treatments. 

Since 2012, the movements of the Rohingya villagers in Na Ga Ra have been restricted within the village and totally trapped in. They have no source to earn money and been surviving doing what they can find. Thus, the villagers often face persecutions of the government's Armed Forces and tortures in the hands of some Rakhine extremists. 

There are often cases of deaths of the Rohingya villagers as a result of tortures by the extremists, say the villagers.

[Translated into English by Mayyu Ali]

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




RB News
March 29, 2018

Buthidaung, Arakan State -- 22 Rohingya villagers in Buthidaung Township were sentenced to three-year imprisonment each on Wednesday (Mar 28). 

On 16th August 2017, Security Forces conducted raids at 'U Hla Pe' village in Buthidaung and arbitrarily arrested 49 Rohingya villagers. After that, they were detained in the Regional Camp of the BGP (Border Guard Police). Afterwards, 25 were of them released from the BGP camp in the 'Nyaung Chaung' region on ransom.

According to the villagers, the remaining 24 arrestees were sent to the Buthidaung Prison under the false charges of Criminal Sections 17/1 and 17/2. Later on, Section 17/2 was dismissed and they were continued to be prosecuted under the Section 17/1.

Of these 24, Araf Ullah and Eliyas have been set free on 28th May, while each of the remaining 22 has been handed with three years in prison.

"(Before their verdict was announced,) one of the them had paid 7.5 million, while another has paid 7 million, to the judge as ransom for their releases. The remaining 22 were sent to the prison under three-year imprisonment to each (as they could not pay the ransom)", reported a villager.

"The remaining 22 Rohingyas who have been arbitrarily sentenced to three years in jail are innocent" he continued.

[Translated into English by Sabit Hamid]

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By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
March 28

Theresa May vows to try to ensure Rohingya plight is brought to world attention and people do not forget

LONDON -- Britain’s prime minister said on Tuesday that they constantly raise the issue of the oppressed Rohingya at the UN and directly with Myanmar’s government “to constantly raise awareness that this is an issue people should be addressing.”

Taking questions at a committee meeting in parliament, Theresa May said the U.K. will continue to support Bangladesh for supporting the Rohingya refugees and “to press this as an issue with the government of Burma,” using an older name for Myanmar.

Upon a question by Steven Twigg, who heads parliament’s International Development Committee, May said they will also continue to do “what we can to ensure the plight of the Rohingya people is brought to the attention of the world more generally and that people don’t forget… and it is kept up in people’s awareness.”

During the session, Twigg reminded the committee that Myanmar’s Embassy in London last month denied a British parliamentary delegation visas for a planned visit to Bangladesh and Myanmar to visit refugee camps for evaluation.

The cross-party parliament committee’s “visit was planned as part of the committee’s inquiry into the Department for International Development’s work in Bangladesh and Burma,” the committee had said.

“We are extremely disappointed. It is hard to escape the conclusion that this is a direct consequence of our report on the Rohingya,” Twigg said after the visa denial.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, fled Myanmar when Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to the UN. At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, according to Doctors Without Borders.

In a report published on Dec. 12, the global humanitarian organization said that the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has criticized Myanmar's army chief for comments about the country's Muslim Rohingya minority

By AFP
March 27, 2018

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday criticized Myanmar's army chief after he declared that the Muslim Rohingya had nothing in common with the country's other ethnic groups.

Guterres said he was "shocked" at reports of General U Min Aung Hlaing's remarks at a military gathering and urged Myanmar's leaders to "take a unified stance against incitement to hatred and to promote cultural harmony."

At the gathering in northern Kachin state on Monday, Hlaing referred to the Rohingya as "Bengalis," a term meant to describe them as foreigners, and said they "do not have the characteristics or culture in common with the ethnicities of Myanmar."

"The tensions were fuelled because the 'Bengalis' demanded citizenship," said the general who was quoted in the Dhaka Tribune.

Some 700,000 Rohingya have been driven into neighbouring Bangladesh since last August by a major army crackdown that the United Nations has likened to ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar authorities say the operation is aimed at rooting out extremists.

Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize laureate, has lost her democratic credentials on the world stage for failing to speak out in favour of the Rohingya.

Guterres said it was "critical that conditions are put in place to ensure that the Rohingya are able to return home voluntarily, in safety and in dignity."

The UN Security Council is hoping to travel to Myanmar to get a first-hand look at the refugee crisis, but has not yet been given the green light for the trip by Myanmar authorities.

Guterres has for months been weighing the appointment of a special envoy for Myanmar that would keep the plight of the Rohingya in the international spotlight.

US President Donald Trump talks to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a break at a high-level meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York in September, 2017 (Focus Bangla)

March 25, 2018

The US president has also felicitated President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Bangladesh’s Independence Day

US President Donald Trump has lauded Bangladesh President Md Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and its people for sheltering the Rohingyas who fled persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

In separate letters, sent to media by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, on Bangladesh’s Independence Day, Trump thanked Hamid, Hasina and the people of Bangladesh for their response to the refugees’ need.

The US president lauded Hasina in his message to her, saying: “Your personal leadership has been critical to addressing the plight of the Rohingya who fled to safety in your country.”

“I thank you for all you have done to assist these men, women and children in need,” he wrote.

More than 700,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed into Bangladesh and taken refuge since a military crackdown, which was described as “ethnic cleansing” by the UN, began on August 25 last year following an insurgent attack in Rakhine.

They have joined more than 400,000 Rohingyas who were already living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

In his message to President Hamid, US President Donald Trump thanked his Bangladesh counterpart and the country’s people for hosting the Rohingya who fled from violence, reports BSS.

“The United States respects and admires your nation’s compassionate response to those in need,” Trump wrote.

Felicitating and conveying his best wishes to Hamid, Hasina and Bangladeshis on the occasion of the Independence Day on March 26, Trump said he along with the American people joined them in celebrating the heritage and history of Bangladesh.

“Today we recognize Bangladesh’s rich culture and language and reaffirm our partnership on democracy, development, counterterrorism, trade and investment,” he said in his message to Hamid.

Trump said: “Our close cooperation helps sustain the security and prosperity of both our countries.”

Rohingya rights activist Nay San Lwin

By Tarek Mahmud
March 24, 2018

London-based renowned Rohingya rights activist Nay San Lwin, also a regular contributor to Rohingya community blog Rohingyablogger.com, speaks with the Dhaka Tribune’s Tarek Mahmud to discuss the issues of racial discrimination against Rohingyas in detail

How have Rohingyas faced discrimination in the Rakhine state of Myanmar?

Rohingyas have been subject to racial discrimination since the military coup in 1962.

In 1965, a radio program broadcasted in Rohingya language was shut down.

Then in 1974, the Burmese junta launched ‘Operation Jasmine’, locally known as “Operation Sabae”, through which they confiscated many identity cards from the Rohingyas while they were traveling from one state to another.

1978 saw another large scale operation, ‘Dragon King’, to wipe out Rohingyas, which resulted in more than 250,000 Rohingyas fleeing to Bangladesh. But soon after, although they had been expelled as illegal Bangladeshis, they were repatriated as Rohingyas.

Since then, Rohingyas have lost many basic rights. In 1982, Rohingyas became stateless within their own country after the enactment of the new citizenship law. 10 years later in 1992, the military junta imposed severe restrictions against us, forcing us to live in open-air prisons.

Do the Myanmar authorities impose such restrictions only against the Rohingyas? Why has the Myanmar government acted this way?

Myanmar authorities are targeting the Rohingya population specifically because the Rohingyas are confined within one particular area. But they are not only targeting Rohingyas, they are antagonistic against other Muslim minorities across the country as well.

However, there is a difference between the policies concerning Rohingyas and other Muslim minorities. Myanmar’s policy towards the Rohingya is to simply wipe them off Myanmar’s map through genocide. They do not want the Rohingya population in the country.

They are very well aware of Rohingyas’ lineage and history, but they still continue to propagate the claim that Rohingyas are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. With the help of this propaganda campaign, the Myanmar government has garnered the support of the Buddhist majority, which made it easier for them to kill thousands of Rohingyas and drive them out to Bangladesh since August 25, 2017.

How do you think the Rohingyas can be repatriated properly?

Firstly, the repatriation agreement should be held up, and the homeland of Rohingyas in the Northern Rakhine state must be protected. Secondly, the United Nations and the international community should oversee the safe repatriation of the Rohingyas back to Rakhine.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh will only go back if a safe repatriation process is ensured.

How can the Rohingya diaspora play a role in the repatriation process and in rooting out this racial discrimination?

Rohingya diasporas are trying to help as much as they can, but it is very important that the UN and the international community intervene in the repatriation process.

Most of the countries have agreed with it, with the exception of China and Russia. Aung San Suu Kyi and Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing need to be produced before the International Criminal Court. Only then will the genocide against Rohingyas stop.

China and Russia are obstacles in the process, but we will not give up. There must be justice for all the atrocities the Myanmar government has been committing for almost four decades.

How is the Rohingya crisis affecting the Asian countries in different arenas such as security, health, migration, and others?

The refugee camps in Bangladesh act as a black market for traffickers. I think, after the monsoon season, many traffickers will try to smuggle genocide survivors residing in Bangladesh. But if the Bangladeshi government is vigilant, this might not occur.

Do you think the Bangladeshi government is tackling the Rohingya crisis in a diplomatic manner? If not, then what do you think Bangladesh should do?

We appreciate the fact that Bangladesh is hosting more than a million Rohingya refugees. I think they are doing their best, but it is also true that we will not like all of their activities since they have to be diplomatic at the same time.

As a result, I think countries like the US, the UK, and organizations like the EU and OIC need to stand beside Bangladesh and pressurize the Myanmar government to accept the demands of the Rohingya survivors.

Bangladesh has to be firm with Myanmar about the repatriation process. It must urge the Myanmar military to stop calling Rohingyas ‘extremist Bangladeshi terrorists’ and start recognizing them as their own citizens.

As Bangladesh is a state party of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, it has the capacity to refer Burmese criminals to the court.

Bangladesh has been suffering the Rohingya crisis for 40 years. The exodus continues to repeat, again and again. The time has come to take strong action against Myanmar so it stops the ongoing genocide.

How has the international community addressed the Rohingya crisis? What more do you think it should do?

The UN has termed Rohingyas as the most persecuted minority since 1992. But no solutions have been provided yet.

Many rights organizations and countries are calling the persecution against the Rohingyas ‘ethnic cleansing’. But this is not the right term. Scholars and experts have called it a genocide. I believe if the international community starts using the correct term, it will help in stopping the genocide, and actions against the Burmese criminals will be taken faster.

The Rohingyas have been displaced by their government several times already. What is the future of the Rohingyas?

In short, if the repatriation of Rohingyas is not protected, if the homeland of Rohingyas in the Northern Rakhine state is not protected, the exodus and genocide will continue. That is why we are demanding the safe return of the Rohingyas back to Myanmar.

Myanmar State Chancellor Aung San Suu Kyi has been criticized for her role in the crisis. How far do you think she is responsible? What she can do, now?

As a Nobel peace laureate, she at least has a moral authority and obligation to speak out against any injustice. But unfortunately, she has put her support behind the genocidal campaign against Rohingyas. She has sided with military criminals.

As the de facto leader of Myanmar, she is fully responsible for stopping all atrocities against Rohingyas. The military has claimed that they inform the government about everything, and have to get permission before acting. Since she is not willing to do anything for the Rohingyas, except lying to the international community about the Myanmar military’s actions, she should be brought to the International Criminal Court.

Bringing criminals like her to the International Criminal Court is a huge challenge for us, but we will not stop trying. Aung San Suu Kyi needs to be punished.


    • Rohingya Exodus