Reid from Terry

[cfob@xxxxxxxxxxx]

[Reid please approve or edit intro as you see fit, 

then put on the internet ASAP. 

I really should also ask you how uploading 

to newsgroups is done.

Could you also E-mail this to BRC-J? They will definitely use it.

I don't have their e-mail address handy.]



Attention Burma Activists Worldwide



"STOP THE REPATRIATION: justice NOW for Rohingyas."



>From the Burma-Tibet Group, OPIRG-Carleton, Ottawa CANADA:



Time is short: please adapt this letter to your needs and copy as

widely as possible. (You may want to change the "ALL CAPS" to

underline) This letter only scratches the surface of the situ-

ation. It is the first in a series of actions. We are pushing

this campaign forward through meetings, phone calls, faxes and

letters like this, aiming to promote dialogue and positive

pressure between refugee/human rights groups, and government/UN

agencies. 



We urge you to do the same. GET THE REPORT referred to in the

letter from the US Committee for Refugees. It is well-documented

and comprehensive, with excellent photos. It may be on E-mail

soon, or you can write USCR at 1717 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite

701, Washington DC 20036, USA. tel 202-347-3507, fax 202-347-

3418.



Thank you for your efforts. In the long run, we see the need for

an "Urgent Action Network" (UAN) targetting Burma and other

repressive Asian countries, along the lines of the UAN created by

church groups in Canada targetting Central America. Your comments are

welcome.



---------------------------------------------------



                                            The Burma-Tibet Group

                                                   OPIRG-Carleton

                               326 Unicentre, 1125 Colonel By Dr.

                                              Carleton University

                                                Ottawa ON K1S 5B6



                                                    25 March 1995

The Honourable Andr Ouellet

Minister for Foreign Affairs

Rm 312, West Block

Ottawa, Ontario  K1A 0A6



BY FAX: 613-996-3443



Dear Mr. Ouellet:



We urge Canada to speak out immediately and forcefully against

the coercion and abuses committed against the Rohingya refugees

that fled to Bangladesh from Burma (Myanmar), under the "volun-

tary repatriation" program run by the UN High Commissioner for

Refugees (UNHCR).



We have mailed to you the recently released report by the US

Committee for Refugees. USCR supports the Sep 94 report by

Medecins sans Frontieres - France (MSF-F) that the UNHCR and

Bangladesh government engage in "refoulement" of the refugees. As

recent as Feb 95, MSF-Holland said, "few refugees seemed to be

aware of the possibility and the right to say no to repatri-

ation." 



MSF-F added that the Bangladesh authorities are using less

coercion now, but only because the refugees think they have no

choice but to repatriate. Since last August, when the abuses

reached their peak, just the threat of brutality from the

Bangladesh government has proved enough to gain the submission of

the Rohingyas. A more subtle pattern of coercion remains. Should

refugee protests escalate, undoubtedly so would physical retali-

ation from camp authorities.



Before last July, all refugees could count on receiving an

interview with the UNHCR. Then UNHCR abandoned this practice

under pressure from Bangladesh, and commenced "repatriation

promotion" seminars and mass registration. At the time, USCR

consultant Curt Lambrecht interviewed 49 refugees, who expressed

"feelings of frustration and betrayal at what they viewed as

UNHCR officials' indifference" to the beatings, torture and

threats occurring regularly in the camps. At that point, the rate

of repatriation rocketed; it has now reached some 4,000 weekly.

By July 1995, all may be repatriated.



Both the UNHCR and the Bangladesh government have resisted

attempts by NGOs to inspect the camps and gauge the real situ-

ation. This has served to stymie action until this very late

date, when most of the Rohingyas have been sent back to Burma.

Former Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M. R. Osmany, now Bangladesh

High Commissioner to Canada, brands this program a "foreign

policy success." UNHCR asserts the "excellent cooperation" by

SLORC - but at what price?



UNHCR offers no evidence that the massive human rights abuses in

Burma have abated, except that SLORC is now willing to accept

refugees back, and allows a UNHCR presence. According to USCR,

"IT SEEMS UNLIKELY THAT ANY ORGANIZATION COULD ENSURE THE SAFETY

OF THE RETURNEES, GIVEN THE SLORC'S RECORD." SLORC reportedly

targets returnees for further mistreatment. For instance, UNHCR

mentioned a "tailoring course for 50 returnee girls" as part of

its reintegration program. USCR reports that such courses separ-

ate girls from their families, "placing them under the control of

military forces that are notorious for rape." 



Canada has a special responsibility since it contributed $1.5M to

this program. But your staff at CIDA [Canada's bilateral aid

agency] and Foreign Affairs inform us that there can be no

bilateral involvement in monitoring the situation inside Burma.

Yet the credibility of both UNHCR and the UN Commission on Human

Rights (which recently commended the "free and voluntary"

Rohingya repatriation) depend on having another witnessing party

sympathetic to refugees. The UNHCR should never have signed

Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the two host governments,

BOTH WITH A LONG HISTORY OF ABUSING THE ROHINGYAS, unless they

provided for independent monitoring agencies in the refugee camps

in Bangladesh, and among returnees back in Arakan State in Burma.



We applaud CIDA's decision to maintain funds to UNHCR for "care

and maintenance" in the refugee camps. But we urge CIDA to

continue to withhold funds for UNHCR's repatriation program until

it is proven "voluntary" by international standards. Canada must

go public with these decisions. 



We further urge your government to support USCR's recommenda-

tions, including that "donor governments insist that repatriation

be fully voluntary." Our immediate concern is that Canada:



a) CALL ON THE BANGLADESH AND SLORC REGIMES to reaffirm the

  Rohingyas' rights, and permit independent monitoring to ensure

  their rights are respected.

b) CALL ON UNHCR to cease its "repatriation promotion" sessions,

  and mass registration of refugees, and return to its former

  practice of individual interviews with ALL refugees, not just

  those who speak out against repatriation.



We ask you to respond as soon as possible. We are informing our

counterparts in other donor countries, with the firm intent of

gaining the international support so long denied the Rohingyas.



Sincerely,













Corinne Baumgarten, Reid Cooper, Terry Cottam, Mike Buckthought

Burma-Tibet Group, OPIRG-Carleton





cc.  Dr. Sein Win, Prime Minister, National Coalition Government

       of the Union of Burma

     M. R. Osmany, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Canada

     Mrs. Sadako Ogata, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees

     Len Legault, Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN Office in

       Geneva

     US Committee for Refugees, and other refugee groups

     Dave Todd, Southam News, and other media contacts