Muslims in Burma

See also ROHINGYA under Human Rights, ARAKAN/RAKHINE STATE under States and Regions of Burma/Myanmar and the Religious violence section
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Description: "အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များ၏ နေ့ထူးနေ့မြတ်တစ်ရက်ဖြစ်သည့် "အီဒုလ်အသွဟာ" ကုရ်ဘာနီစွန့်လွှတ်လှူဒါန်းမှု အိးဒ်ပွဲတော်နေ့အခါသမယတွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသူ၊နိုင်ငံသား အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်အပေါင်း ရွှင်လန်းချမ်းမြေ့ကြပါစေလို့ ဦးစွာဆုတောင်းမေတ္တာ ပို့သ လိုက်ပါသည်။ အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များသည် နှစ်စဉ်နှစ်တိုင်း ဇွလ်ဟဂျ်လ (၁ဝ) ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျရောက်သည့် ကုရ်ဘာနီစွန့်လွှတ်လှူဒါန်းမှု အိးဒ်ပွဲတော်နေ့တွင် အလ္လာဟ်အသျှင်အမြတ် ထံတော်ပါး ဝတ်ပြုဆုတောင်းခြင်း၊ အလ္လာဟ်အသျှင်အမြတ်၏ အမိန့်ကိုလိုက်နာခြင်း အားဖြင့် ကုရ်ဘာနီစွန့်လွှတ်လှူဒါန်းမှု၊ ကောင်းမှုကုသိုလ်များ ပြုလုပ်ခြင်းနှင့်အတူ နွမ်းပါး သူများအား ပေးဝေလှူဒါန်းခြင်းသည့် ကောင်းမှုသီလများအား ပြုလုပ်ရင်း ဆင်နွှဲကြကြောင်း သိရသည်။ ယခင့်ယခင်ကတည်းက "အီဒုလ်အသွဟာ" ကုရ်ဘာနီစွန့်လွှတ်လှူဒါန်းမှု အိးဒ်ပွဲတော် နေ့တွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသူ၊နိုင်ငံသား အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များမှ ဟင်းလျာများချက်ပြုတ်ကာ ဘာသာလူမျိုး မတူသူများအား ဖိတ်ခေါ်ဧည့်ခံကျွေးမွေးသည့် အလွန်အပင် နှစ်လိုဖွယ်ကောင်း သော အစဉ်အလာတစ်ရပ်ရှိခဲ့ပြီး၊ ယနေ့တိုင် ကုရ်ဘာနီနေ့တွင် နေရာအတော်များများတွင် အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များမှ ချက်ပြုတ်လှူဒါန်းမှုများ ရှိနေသည်။ သို့သော် ယခုအချိန်အခါသည် အမိမြန်မာနိုင်ငံအား အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်မှ အဓမ္မ သိမ်းယူထားပြီး စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့အလိုကျ လက်နက်အားကိုးဖြင့် ပြည်သူများအား နေ့စဉ် ရက်ဆက် အကြမ်းဖက်လျက်ရှိနေသည့်အတွက် တနေ့တခြားဆိုးရွားလာသည့် အခြေအနေ များကို ပိုမိုသတိကြီးစွာ ကာကွယ်ရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ တစ်ဖန် အကြမ်းဖက်ရန်လိုနေသည့် စစ်တပ်အား မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသူ၊နိုင်ငံသား ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံးက နည်းမျိုးစုံဖြင့် တော်လှန်တိုက်ပွဲ ဝင်လျက်ရှိနေပြီး ပြည်သူ့အင်အားဖြင့် ဆောင်ရွက်နေသည့် တော်လှန်ရေးမှာ အားရစရာ အခြေအနေတစ်ရပ်သို့ ရောက်ရှိနေပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသူ၊နိုင်ငံသား အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်အပေါင်းတို့မှာလည်း ကျရာကဏ္ဍကနေ အမိမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်ကြီးအား ဖယ်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စု တည်ဆောက်ရေးကဏ္ဍ တွင်ပါဝင်နေကြောင်း သိရှိရ၍ ဝမ်းမြောက်ဝမ်းသာ ဂုဏ်ယူရပါကြောင်း ပြောကြားလိုပါသည်။ ဆက်လက်ပြီး စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် အပြီးတိုင်ဖျက်သိမ်းရေးနှင့် လူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံ ဘာသာပေါင်းစုံ ခွင့်တူညီမျှသည့် ဖယ်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စု တည်ဆောက်ရေးကို ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံး နှင့်အတူလက်တွဲကာ အကောင်အထည်ဖော် ဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည် ဖြစ်ကြောင်းလည်း အသိပေးလိုပါသည်။ "အီဒုလ်အသွဟာ" ကုရ်ဘာနီစွန့်လွှတ်လှူဒါန်းမှု အိးဒ်ပွဲတော်နေ့တွင် အစ္စလာမ် ဘာသာဝင်အပေါင်း ကိုယ်ကျန်းမာ၊ စိတ်ချမ်းသာကြပါစေကြောင်းနှင့် ဘေးအန္တရာယ် အပေါင်းမှ ကင်းဝေကြပါစေကြောင်း အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအဖွဲ့မှ ဆုတောင်းမေတ္တာပို့သရင်း ဤသဝဏ်လွှာအား ပေးပို့အပ်သည်။..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
2023-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 442.72 KB
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Description: "၁။ ဤကောင်းမြတ်သော နေ့ထူးနေ့မြတ်ကိုဆင်နွှဲနေကြသော မြန်မာနိုင်ငံနှင့် ကမ္ဘာတစ်ဝှမ်း ရှိ အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များအားလုံး ဘေးကင်းလုံခြုံ ကျန်းမာစွာဖြင့် ငြိမ်းချမ်းသာယာစွာ ရှိကြ ပါစေကြာင်း ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီအနေဖြင့် ဆုမွန်ကောင်း တောင်းအပ် ပါသည်။ နှစ်စဥ်နှစ်တိုင်း ဇွလ်ဟဂျ်လ (၁၀) ရက်နေ့တွင် အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များက စုပေါင်း ဝတ်ပြုဆုတောင်းခြင်း၊ ပေးကမ်းလှူဒါန်းခြင်း၊ ကောင်းမှုကုသိုလ်များပြုလုပ်ခြင်းများဖြင့် ကုရ်ဘာနီ စွန့်လွှတ်လှူဒါန်းမှု အီးဒ်ပွဲတော်နေ့ကို ဆင်နွှဲကြပါသည်။ ၂။ ယနေ့အချိန်အခါ၌ မိမိတို့နိုင်ငံတွင် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အာဏာရှင်တစ်စုသည် လက်နက် ဖြင့် တိုင်းပြည်အား ထိန်းချုပ်ထားနိုင်ရန်အတွက် လူမဆန်သော အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို စနစ်တကျ လုပ်ဆောင်နေခြင်းကြောင့် ပြည်သူလူထုအားလုံးသည် ဆင်းရဲဒုက္ခများစွာဖြင့် အခက်အခဲအမျိုးမျိုး ကို ရင်ဆိုင်နေကြရပြီး လူမျိုး၊ ဘာသာ မတူကွဲပြားမှုကို တန်ဖိုးထားသည့် ငြိမ်းချမ်းသာယာသော နိုင်ငံတော်သစ်ကို တည်ဆောက်နိုင်ရန် ကြိုးပမ်းနေကြသည့်အချိန် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၃။ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးသည် နိုင်ငံအတွင်းရှိ ဘာသာပေါင်းစုံ၊ လူမျိုးအသီးသီးက မတူကွဲပြား မှုကို စုစည်းပြီး ခိုင်မာသောအင်အားအဖြစ် တည်ဆောက်ကာ ပိုမိုလွတ်လပ်၍ တည်ငြိမ်အေးချမ်း သော ဒီမိုကရေစီလူမှုအသိုက်အဝန်းတစ်ရပ်ကို တည်ဆောက်နိုင်ရေးအတွက် ကျရာကဏ္ဍ အသီး သီးတွင် ပုံသဏ္ဍာန်အမျိုးမျိုးဖြင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် အမြစ်ပြတ်တိုက်ထုတ်ရေးတွင် ပူးပေါင်း ဆောင်ရွက်နေခြင်း ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ၄။ ကြုံတွေ့နေရသော အခက်အခဲ၊ စိန်ခေါ်မှုများကို ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပရှိ အစ္စလာမ် ဘာသာဝင်များကလည်း လက်တွဲရင်ဆိုင်ဖြေရှင်းကာ အတူလျှောက်လှမ်းနေကြသည့်အတွက်လည်း ကျေးဇူးတင်ရှိပါကြောင်းနှင့် အရောင်အသွေးစုံလင်သည့် အနာဂတ်မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်သစ်ကို ပိုမို စည်းလုံးညီညွတ်မှုများဖြင့် အတူတကွ ရှေ့ဆက်၍ လက်တွဲကြိုးပမ်းဆောင်ရွက်သွားကြပါစို့ဟု တိုက်တွန်းလျက် ဤသဝဏ်လွှာအား ဝမ်းမြောက်စွာ ပေးပို့အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
2023-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 388.95 KB
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Description: "The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw - CRPH wishes the Muslim community of Myanmar and the world a blessed Eid al-Adha. We highly appreciate the participation of Muslim people in building a new Federal State with diversities and also urge to work together with us in the future.....မြန်မာနိုင်ငံနှင့် ကမ္ဘာတစ်ဝှမ်းရှိ အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များအားလုံး ကောင်းမြတ်တဲ့ Eid al-Adha နေ့ဖြစ်ပါစေဟု ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီ (‌CRPH) မှ ဆုတောင်းမေတ္တာပို့သအပ်ပါတယ်။ မတူကွဲပြားမှုများဖြင့် အနာဂတ်ဖက်ဒရယ်နိုင်ငံတော်သစ်ကို တည်ဆောက်နိုင်ရေး ကြိုးပမ်းရာတွင် ညီနောင် အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များ၏ ပူးပေါင်းပါဝင်မှုများအတွက် များစွာကျေးဇူးတင်ရှိပါကြောင်းနှင့် ဆက်လက်၍ လက်တွဲကြိုးပမ်းသွားကြရန် တိုက်တွန်းအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
2022-07-10
Date of entry/update: 2022-07-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
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Description: "၁။ ယနေ့သည် အိုလမာ-အစ္စလာမ်သာသနာ့ပညာရှင်များအဖွဲ့ချုပ်၊ ဗဟိုလကြည့်စိစစ်ရေးကော်မတီ၏ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်အရ “အီဒွလ် အဿွ်ဟာ” (ကုရ်ဗာနီအီးဒ်) နေ့မြတ်ဖြစ်သည်။ ဤနေ့တွင် ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတဝှမ်း မှီတင်းနေထိုင်ကြသည့် အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များအားလုံး ကိုယ်စိတ်နှစ်ဖြာကျန်းမာလုံခြုံကြပါစေကြောင်း ဆုမွန် ကောင်းတောင်းရင်း နှုတ်ခွန်းဆက်သအပ်ပါသည်။ ၂။ “အီဒွလ် အဿွ်ဟာ” နေ့မြတ်သည် အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များအဖို့ အရေးကြီးပွဲနေ့မြတ်နှစ်ခုအနက် တစ်ခုဖြစ်သည်။ ဤနေ့မြတ်သည် အာဗြဟံက ၎င်း၏သား အိရှမေးလ်အား အလ္လာဟ်အရှင်မြတ်ထံ ပူဇော်ရန် စိတ်ဆန္ဒ ပြဌာန်းပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သည်ကို အလေးအမြတ်ထားအောက်မေ့၍ ကျင်းပခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ အလ္လာဟ်အရှင်မြတ်သည် အိရှမေးလ်အစား သိုးသူငယ်တစ်ကောင်ကိုသာ ပူဇော်ရန် အာဗြဟံအား ပြင်ဆင်ပေးသနားတော်မူခဲ့သည်။ ၃။ အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်တစ်ဦးအတွက် အရေးအကြီးဆုံးမှာ အလ္လာဟ်အရှင်မြတ်၏သွန်သင်ချက်ကို ရိုသေစွာနာခံ လိုက်လျှောက်ခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ အစ္စလာမ်၏အဓိပ္ပါယ်မှာ ငြိမ်းချမ်းခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းခြင်းရှိရန်မှာ တရားမျှတမှု လိုအပ်ပေသည်။ တရားမျှတမှု မတည်ရှိ၊ မဖြစ်ထွန်းလျှင် စစ်မှန်သောငြိမ်းချမ်းခြင်းဆိုသည်မှာ မဖြစ်လာနိုင်ပေ။ ထို့ကြောင့် စစ်မှန်သောငြိမ်းချမ်းခြင်းအတွက် တရားမျှတမှုရှိရေးဖော်ဆောင်ရန် မိမိတို့အားလုံးတွင်တာဝန်ရှိသည်။ ၄။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကြီးစိုးပြီး နိုင်ငံသူနိုင်ငံသားများ၏ အခြေခံလူ့အခွင့်အရေးနှင့် ကိုယ်ပိုင်ပြဌာန်း ခွင့်များကို လျစ်လျူရှုကာ၊ ဥပဒေမဲ့ လူမဆန်ရက်စက်စွာပြုကျင့်နေသမျှကာလပတ်လုံး စစ်မှန်သောလုံခြုံငြိမ်းချမ်းမှု ရရှိနိုင်မည် မဟုတ်ပေ။ ထို့ကြောင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို အပြီးတိုင်ရိုက်ချိုးဖယ်ရှားကာ ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီစနစ်ကို တည်ဆောက်ကြရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ ၅။ ယနေ့မှစတင်သည့် “အီဒွလ် အဿွ်ဟာ” နေ့မြတ်အချိန်အခါသာမယအတွင်း အလ္လာဟ်အရှင်မြတ်၏ ကရုဏာ တော်အားဖြင့် ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတဝှမ်း လုံခြုံငြိမ်းချမ်းနိုင်ပါစေကြောင်းနှင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ဖြုတ်ချရေး တွင် စိတ်စေတနာထက်သန်စွာ ပါဝင်ဆောင်ရွက်နေကြသည့် အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်အပေါင်းအား လေးစားဂုဏ်ပြု ကြောင်းဖော်ပြရင်း ဤသဝဏ်လွှာကို ပေးပို့အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
2022-07-10
Date of entry/update: 2022-07-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Republic of the Union of Myanmar welcomes the adoption by consensus of the resolution on the Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar, and extends its appreciation to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for its leadership on the text. Myanmar supports the resolution's strong condemnation of the gross human rights violations and abuses perpetrated by the security and armed forces of Myanmar against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, and its recognition of the impact of the military's escalating acts of violence and forced displacement on civilians, including ethnic minorities. According to the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, these acts include probable crimes against humanity and war crimes. It is with great shame that the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as represented by the National Unity Government, acknowledges that historic exclusionary and discriminatory policies, practices and rhetoric against the Rohingya and other ethnic groups laid the ground for atrocities. The historic impunity enjoyed by the Myanmar military has since enabled its leadership to commit countrywide atrocities at the helm of an illegal military junta. Myanmar therefore strongly welcomes the resolution's call for all those responsible for violations and abuses of international law to be held to account, while recalling the authority of the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Myanmar furthermore accepts the resolution's call for the adoption of new measures to promote the inclusion, human rights and dignity of all people living in Myanmar, to address the spread of discrimination and prejudice, and to combat incitement to hatred and hate speech against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities. At the same time, Myanmar's legislature, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, will take continuing steps to amend or repeal discriminatory laws, including the Race and Religion Protection Laws of 2015 and the Citizenship Law of 1982. Myanmar will also partner with ethnic and organisations, affected communities and their representatives, neighbouring states and UN entities to create conditions conducive for the voluntary return in safety and dignity of Rohingya and all other Myanmar communities driven from their homes and villages by multiple waves of violence. The sustainability of these actions, however, remains contingent on democracy being cemented, on violence being stopped, and on impunity being ended. Myanmar therefore shares the deep concern expressed by the European Union that the resolution 'fails yet again to acknowledge and condemn the military coup' despite its link to 'the worsening of the human rights situation in Myanmar - including on the Rohingya and other persons belonging to minorities - [as] has been underlined, among others, by the High Commissioner and the Special Rapporteur during this session of the Council.' Nor does the resolution recognise Myanmar's submission of an Article 12(3) Declaration under the Rome Statute granting the ICC jurisdiction with respect to international crimes, or the National Unity Government's sustained efforts to cooperate with the International Court of Justice in The Gambia v. Myanmar case under the Genocide Convention. Significantly, the resolution does express its 'unequivocal support for the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations'. The Human Rights Council and UN Member States must therefore directly engage with the National Unity Government as the legitimate representative of the Myanmar people to realise these aspirations and to support the implementation of the asks set out in the resolution. The Republic of the Union of Myanmar restates its commitment to constructive engagement with the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms and with UN Member States..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights
2022-07-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-07-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Refugee camps in Bangladesh have become a source of business for vested interests.
Description: "The Rohingya refugee crisis, which entered its fifth year in August, is showing no signs of winding down. Repatriation of refugees is nowhere in sight, even as management of the large number of refugees that Bangladesh is hosting is getting increasingly complex for its government. On September 29, Mohibullah, an influential Rohingya community leader, was assassinated by unidentified men near his office in Lambasia in the Kutupalong camp, just a few hundred feet away from two police stations. While speculation is rife over the identity of his killers, Mohibullah’s brother blamed the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) for the killing in a video posted on social media shortly after the assassination. “Bangladesh authorities should urgently investigate Mohibullah’s killing along with other attacks on Rohingya activists in the camps,” Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch’s South Asia director said a statement, adding that the murder is a stark reminder of the risks faced by those in refugee camps for speaking up for freedom and against violence. On October 2, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told journalists that Mohibullah was assassinated by groups with a “vested interest,” since he advocated for safe and dignified repatriation of refugees back to Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. In addition to hosting ARSA militias, the Kutupalong refugee camp is known to be a hotbed of trafficking rings and criminal gangs who terrorize camp residents by night. There have been several incidents of violent crimes including robberies, assaults, abductions, and killings in this camp. Analysts believe that Mohibullah’s nonviolent and democratic approach to solving the Rohingya crisis angered groups that viewed armed resistance as the only solution to the crisis. Nur Khan, a prominent human rights activist in Bangladesh, told Deutsche Welle that Mohibullah’s killing was part of an elaborate plan to leave the refugee community without a civilian leader. “You can’t solve a political problem only militarily. That’s why a leader like Mohibullah, who emerged from a civilian community, was important to solving the crisis,” Khan said. In a 2019 Reuters interview, Mohibullah predicted that he would be killed by hardliners in the camps who were sending him death threats. Not only Bangladeshi police but also the United Nations and foreign embassies failed to protect Mohibullah although they knew that his life was under threat, Nay San Lwin, a co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, told DW. The repatriation of Rohingyas had been put on the back burner partly because of Myanmar’s unwillingness to take back the Rohingya refugees but also because international focus has shifted from the Rohingya crisis to the military coup in Myanmar and a looming civil war there. Mohibullah’s assassination has brought back attention to the Rohingya repatriation issue. It has forced uncomfortable questions to the fore. Are there vested interests behind keeping the refugees in Bangladesh? On October 5, Foreign Minister Momen said that while Bangladesh is talking about repatriation, “several international agencies are talking of long-term rehabilitation. There has been no conflict in Rakhine for the last four years; yet, they (agencies) do not tell them (Rohingyas) to repatriate. All they (agencies) talk about is keeping them in good condition and about their human rights here.” Momen endorsed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s observations a day earlier that the Rohingya camps have become a place of business for the NGOs and aid agencies working in Cox’s Bazar. “They (agencies) are making absurd demands like giving Rohingyas the right to buy land, giving opportunities in employment and proper schooling. But these are not acceptable,” the foreign minister said, adding that the intention of the NGOs and agencies in the Rohingya camps is to have the refugees stay in Bangladesh. “If they (Rohingya) stay here, their (agencies’) employment will be extended,” Momen pointed out. The renewed discussion of Rohingya refugees came amid the Bangladesh government signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.N. under which the global body will provide humanitarian support to the Rohingya refugees on the remote island of Bhasan Char. Just 34 percent of the $1 billion needed to take care of the Rohingya refugees has been disbursed to the Bangladesh government and aid agencies. With the Taliban’s recapture of power in Afghanistan humanitarian needs in that country are expected to soar, which means that funds for the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazaar will be cut back further. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. The Bangladesh government has been lobbying at many global forums including the U.N. General Assembly to ensure safe and dignified repatriation of the refugees back to Rakhine. Will Mohibullah’s murder bring global attention back to the refugee camps in Bangladesh?..."
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Source/publisher: "The Diplomat" (Japan)
2021-10-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Although Islamic personal law is applicable in Myanmar for Muslim families, there are a lot of challenges in application. One of the fundamental challenges facing application of Islamic personal law in Myanmar could be seen in solemnisation of marriage. Main challenges in application of Islamic personal law in the country is no legal framework governing the solem- nization of marriage. Matters, relating with marriage are often decided based on precedents. Therefore, judicial pronouncements are used both to decide disputes brought before the civil courts and to define the scope of the application of Islamic personal law. In the case of Maung Kyi and others v. Ma ShweBaw[1] , “The essentials of valid marriage stipulated as the proposal made by or on behalf of one of the parties, acceptance of the proposal by or on behalf of the other in the presence of two male witnesses or one male and two female witnesses who must be sane and adult Muslims. The proposal and acceptance must be expressed at one meeting; however, the religious ceremony is not mandatory at all. In the absence of direct proof like the fact in this case, a marriage can still be presumed where a man and a woman have lived as husband and wife for a long term and acknowledgement of children as legitimate children of the husband.” It was similarly held in the case of Imambandi v. Mutssadi[2] that: “The oral testimony regarding the solemnization of marriage was unsatisfactory, but that the marriage was nevertheless proved by the subsequent acknowledge- ment by the husband of the legitimacy of his children.” Academia Letters, August 2021 Corresponding Author: Dr. Marlar Than, [email protected] Citation: Than, D.M. (2021). Challenges in application of Islamic personal law of Myanmar: Solemnization of marriage. Academia Letters, Article 2835. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2835. 1 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 These cases are leading authorities on essentials of valid marriage in Islamic personal law of Myanmar and they have been referred to in other cases such as Ma Khatoon v. Ma Mya and others[3], U Ba Pe v. Ma Saw Yin[4]and Abdul Malik v. Ma Aye[5]. According to the Islamic personal law, it shall be considered that if there is no evidence of Nikah, there is no marriage and the children shall not be legalized. However the principle of marriage stipulated in Maung Kyi V Ma Shwe Baw is totally different from the prescription of Quran and Sunna, basic principle of Islamic personal law, Muslims of Myanmar have to accept that. Another challenge in application of Islamic personal law in Myanmar can be seen in Maung Musa v. Ma Win Myint [6], Ma Win Myint and Maung Musa are Muslims and they married at the Chaung Oo Township Court on 5.7.1975. Ma Win Myint married again with Qurban @ Maung Hla Pe according to the Islamic personal law, on 30.12.75. When Maung Musa got to know this marriage, he accused Maung Hla Pe and 2 others according to Criminal law section 497/114 on 31.12.75. Then Ma Win Myint filed a suit against Maung Musa to declare that she and Maung Musa were not husband and wife, alleging that their marriage which was done at Chaung Oo Township court was not valid because it was not performed according to the Islamic personal law. Maung Musa defended that both of them were matured and it was performed in accordance with their mutual consent, therefore it was valid and they were legally married couple. In this civil case, the main issue is: “Is this true that the marriage which was done on 5.7.75 at Chaung Oo Town- ship court is not valid because it was not performed according to the Islamic personal law?” The learned court decided in the favour of Ma Win Myint and Maung Musa appealed first to the High Court and then to the appellate court where it was held that; “If the parties are Muslims, disputes for marriage between them shall be decided according to the Islamic personal law as prescribed in Sec 13 (1) of Burma Laws Act. In this case, there is no dispute that both parties are Muslims. So to decide their marriage is valid or not shall be decided in accordance with the Islamic personal law. According to the Islamic personal law, these facts are needed to be a valid marriage. These are; - proposal on one side and acceptance of an- other, these must be done at the same mass and in the presence of sane, adult and Muslim two male witnesses or one male and two female witnesses. Therefore, ac- cording to the defendant Maung Musa’s testimony, the ordinary court decision that this marriage cannot be decided as a valid marriage is not wrong. Because Academia Letters, August 2021 Corresponding Author: Dr. Marlar Than, [email protected] Citation: Than, D.M. (2021). Challenges in application of Islamic personal law of Myanmar: Solemnization of marriage. Academia Letters, Article 2835. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2835. 2 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 he admitted that there are two witnesses; one female and one male. Though the female is a Muslim, but the male is Buddhist.” Therefore, although married parties are Muslims and married at the court, it was not con- structed as a valid marriage because it did not fulfil the essentials of marriage in accordance with Islamic personal law of Myanmar. This kind of contradiction is a common feature in the administration of Islamic personal law in Myanmar. This challenge worthy to be noted for registration of marriage under Islamic personal, ap- ply in Myanmar that Muslim marriages can enter into contract legally without being endorsed by the government officials. There is legal disparity in the registration of Islamic personal law of marriage between Muslims and other types of marriage in Myanmar. Though Islamic marriage is recognized as a civil contract, it cannot be registered at the court or government office, however, it can be registered at any Muslim community. Every Muslim community has a marriage register book which is recognized by the government and the deed of marriage issued can used as a valid document in the government courts and offices. Besides, it has a binding force on contracting parties. Where, however, the marriage solemnization takes place between a Muslim man and a Buddhist woman, the marriage can be registered either in the court or government office. Although Muslim marriages used to be solemnised at the court or government office some- times ago, no Muslim marriage is allowed to be performed at the court or government offices anymore..."
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Source/publisher: Academia.edu (San Francisco)
2021-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "PREFACE: The Rohingya crisis defies easy summary. Terms such as ethnic cleansing, genocide, abuse of human rights, have all been applied to what is undoubtedly a major humanitarian crisis of our times. Understanding and responding to the plight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas requires a multi-disciplinary approach, with the need for engagement from a wide variety of perspectives. Legal and medical questions, issues around cultural contexts and the physical environment, psychological and social factors, religious and political considerations, are all highly relevant. There is no simple solution to a whole complex of interconnected issues: here, as in so many other cases, the eruption and tragic human consequences of collective violence raise innumerable challenges. It is all the more urgent that we can bring people together to engage in the kind of informed debate that can assist intelligent action. We are delighted that such a distinguished and broad range of scholars and practitioners have contributed their insights in this booklet of abstracts, and that some of them will be able to contribute further in person at the conference held at UCL on 4- 5 July 2019. We welcome participation in what we hope will be a productive set of encounters, seeking both to understand and, through enhanced understanding, to inform more effective responses to this still unfolding crisis.....Genocide Studie.....FORWARD : According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are over 70 million people worldwide who have been forcibly displaced from their homes. As an underlying principle of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 is to leave no one behind, it is essential that the needs and aspirations of the forcibly displaced are addressed. Of these about 10 million are stateless. With limited or no legal rights, and often denied refugee legal status, the challenges they face are severe. About one third of the stateless forcibly displaced, belong to the Rohingya diaspora. The Rohingya are a Muslim-majority ethnic group from today's Rakhine State in Myanmar. After a long period of systematic exclusion, the Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in 1982. Since the late 1970s, nearly two million Rohingya have fled Myanmar, with another one million living as internally displace people (IDPs) within Rakhine State, in waves of violent forced displacement perpetrated by the Myanmar authorities. Violence towards the Rohingya in Myanmar from 2017, caused the mass displacement of people to southeastern Bangladesh. The Human Rights Council acting under UN resolution 34/22 has cited this as a crime against humanity and called for an investigation for genocide against the authorities in Myanmar. The majority of the nearly one million displaced persons are residing in overcrowded temporary makeshift shelters, of bamboo frames and plastic sheeting, in Cox’s Bazar district. Kutupalong is the world’s largest refugee camp. These camps are highly susceptible to rainfall-triggered landslides, flash flooding and cyclones and the likelihood of a public health emergency from infectious diseases is high, which in this vulnerable population threatens new disaster...."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: University College London
2019-07-05
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.74 MB (246 pages)
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Description: "The violence used by Myanmar's armed forces against unarmed opponents since the coup in February has shocked the world; more than 800 people have been killed, most by military gunfire. But the deaths in custody of two officials from the National League of Democracy - the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi - have cast an even grimmer light on the military's actions. On Saturday, 6 March, cities across Myanmar were on edge. Three days earlier they had experienced what had then been the most violent day since the coup in February - with the UN recording the deaths of 38 people. The army had seized power on 1 February, after claiming - without evidence - that a previous election which saw the NLD gain power was fraudulent. Ms Suu Kyi and senior leaders were put under house arrest - triggering waves of protest against the military. For the first three weeks the military had seemed unsure how to respond to the protests. But by the end of February they were using increasing levels of lethal force. By the first week of March, it was clear there would be no restraint. The historic downtown neighbourhood of Pabedan in central Yangon, with its narrow alleys between crumbling colonial buildings, had seen plenty of drama. That week, activists had built barricades in some streets to keep out the security forces, and there had been several clashes. Pabedan has a diverse population, with a large number of Muslim residents and eight mosques in the township. In last year's general election, Sithu Maung, one of only two Muslim candidates fielded by NLD won the parliamentary seat there. His campaign manager was Khin Maung Latt, a veteran NLD activist who had moved to Pabedan many years before and lived with the family of a Buddhist lawyer. He co-owned a tour company, had run a video rental shop, and had been active in the NLD since 1988, becoming the chairman of his local branch. He was a well-known and well-liked member of the community. "He was very religious and prayed five times a day," Sithu Muang told the BBC from where he is now hiding from the military. "But people from all faiths loved him. He did a lot for the community, like making new green spaces for children to play in. He was very important to the NLD.".....An unknown cause of death: Khin Maung Latt was at home with his adopted family when police and soldiers arrived shortly after 21:00 local time (14:30 GMT). The soldiers were identified by neighbours as members of the 77th Light Infantry Division, a unit notorious for human rights abuses. According to Ko Tun Kyi, a friend of Khin Maung Latt, the soldiers were actually looking for U Maung Maung, a lawyer who was more senior in the NLD and who had already gone into hiding. Instead, they broke into Khin Maung Latt's home, he says, and dragged him out, kicking and hitting him. Ko Tun Kyi believes Khin Maung Latt was then taken to Yangon City Hall, one of the first buildings to be commandeered after the coup. Early the next morning, Khin Maung Latt's family received a phone call from police telling them to come and collect his body from a military hospital in northern Yangon. They were told there that he had fainted, and that they should inform people he had suffered a heart attack. But the family insists that the 58-year-old was in good health and had no known illnesses. They say his body showed signs of multiple wounds on it, and was covered in a blood-soaked cloth. The body had been cut open and then sewn up in what may have been an autopsy, but the family has been given no official report on the cause of death. He was buried later that day in a Muslim ceremony. The US-based human rights organisation Physicians for Human Rights has examined the evidence, including photographs of Khin Maung Latt's body. While it is unable to make any definitive judgements, it has concluded that the cause of death given by the military authorities is implausible, and that he is most likely to have died from "homicidal violence" while in custody. Ko Tun Kyi believes he was deliberately killed. He was detained less than ten hours before his family was informed of his death; it was not the result of prolonged torture. "I was once jailed and interrogated, so I know how they get information out of you. Maybe they believed he was connected to the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) - the rival government supported by the opposition," he said. "Maybe they were trying to get information about what the NLD is planning, or where activists were hiding?".....'His intestines had come out': But the theory that the military was targeting Aung San Suu Kyi's party was given more weight two days later, by the death of another NLD official, Zaw Myat Lynn. He was far more prominent in the opposition movement than Khin Maung Latt - and his treatment appears to have been a lot more brutal. Zaw Myat Lynn was the 46-year-old director of a new vocational college in the industrial district of Shwe Pyi Thar - one of several opened under the NLD government. He was also a dedicated NLD activist, and right after the coup he was chosen to be the local representative of the CRPH. In the days before he was captured, he posted stirring messages on his Facebook page, calling on the residents to keep up their revolutionary struggle against the military, who he referred to as "dogs" and "terrorists". "Zaw Myat Lynn was a political powerhouse," an NLD official from the same township, who is now in hiding and cannot be named, told the BBC. "He was a superb speaker. He was the only person from our township who was able to unite people and lead the post-coup demonstrations. He was the one who persuaded employees from various government offices to join the civil disobedience movement." The official remembers joining him and his students at a protest on 8 March. "He didn't appear to be worried in the least," he says. "He even offered to have me stay with him at his school, claiming that it was too dangerous for me to be outside on the streets." That evening Zaw Myat Lynn returned to the college with some of his students. Shortly before 02:00, soldiers broke through the gate of the college. The students told their teacher to escape by climbing over the back wall. Seven of them were arrested; at the time no-one was sure what had happened to Zaw Myat Lynn. At 15:00, his wife, Daw Phyu Phyu Win, received a call from a local official in Shwe Pyi Thar telling her that her husband was dead, and that she could see his body - which was at the same military hospital where Khin Maung Latt's family had been. They found him badly bruised. His belly had been cut open by a long, horizontal incision, and she said his intestines had come out. She was shown a large wound in his back. The official state media reported that he had fallen backwards onto two inches of steel pipe while climbing out of the back of his school. It warned that severe action would be taken against anyone giving alternative accounts of his death. The Physicians for Human Rights doctor who examined photographs of the corpse concluded that the official explanation lacked credibility. The horizontal cut across the belly was inconsistent with any autopsy incision, he said. The torso had also been cut vertically for what may have been an autopsy. The massive bruising on both sides of Zaw Myat Lynn's torso was also inconsistent with the official account that he had fallen while escaping. These injuries were much more likely to have been inflicted on him by his captors. The PHR doctor could draw no definite conclusions from the hideous injuries to his head. Zaw Myat Lynn's face was badly disfigured by the time of his funeral. However, the PHR doctor believes this may be due to decomposition. The military authorities would not allow his wife to take the body until the day of his funeral, and it took her three days to arrange it. The body appears to have been left unrefrigerated. It is hard to know why these two officials were subjected to such terrible torture, which from all the evidence appears to be what killed them. The military junta has said little to justify its brutal treatment of those who oppose its coup. The BBC has asked the spokesman for the junta to respond to the PHR report, but at the time of publication had not received one....A brutal track record: The military has a track record of treating victims in Myanmar in ways that suggests that they were unlawfully killed. Bodies are dragged away from the scene in military trucks - usually no attempt is made to give first aid to those who might still be alive. Some families have been blocked from recovering the bodies of relatives, which are cremated by the military authorities with no sign of an investigation into how they died. Most bodies are returned with signs of torture and extensive autopsy work, but no credible or independent report provided to explain how they died. The Association to Assist Political Prisoners in Burma, which has for many years documented abuses by the security forces, identifies 75 people missing from the turmoil following the coup, with 23 of those confirmed as disappeared, presumed dead. Brutality and unaccountability have always been problems in the treatment of dissidents by the authorities in Myanmar; but they have become far worse since the coup. In this case, neither man was a significant figure in national politics. It is possible that the decision to treat them that way was made solely by the military units which detained them, perhaps inflamed by local or personal grievances, perhaps just in the heat of the moment. An instilled hatred of politicians might also have been a factor. Myanmar's security forces have been habitually violent in their treatment of detainees for decades, and very rarely held to account. But the NLD official believes Zaw Myat Lynn was killed in this way to send a message. "I believe they reasoned that by executing [him] in such a terrible manner, they would instil fear in the people, causing them to retreat."..."
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Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
2021-06-08
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The European Union will impose a new round of sanctions on Myanmar's military junta and its economic interests in the coming days, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told Reuters on Thursday. In an interview in Jakarta after meetings with Southeast Asian diplomats, Borrell said the fresh sanctions from the EU would be the third batch introduced since the military ousted Myanmar's democratically-elected government on Feb. 1. "There is a third row of sanctions in preparation that will be approved (in) the coming days (targeting) personnel of the military junta and also the entity that represents the economic interests of the military," he said. Since the coup, EU sanctions have frozen assets or applied travel bans on 21 military and civilian members of Myanmar's junta. European citizens and companies are also forbidden from making funds available to those sanctioned. The bloc's last round of sanctions in April targeted military-owned conglomerates Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), barring EU investors and banks from doing business with them. The EU sanctions, along with those of other Western powers, have yet to persuade the junta to cede to their demands to restore democracy, release political detainees or begin dialogue with members of the ousted government, many of whom are imprisoned. The coup plunged Myanmar into crisis after 10 years of tentative steps toward democracy. Mass demonstrations have met with a deadly crackdown by security forces and the economy has collapsed. A refugee crisis is growing and some of Myanmar's many ethnic armed groups are taking up arms against the junta. While in Jakarta, Borrell met with envoys from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Thursday. The headquarters of ASEAN, which includes Myanmar as one of its 10 members, is based in the Indonesian capital. Borrell said he told the Myanmar representative to ASEAN: to "end repression and go back to normal political behaviour through free and fair elections". He said he wanted ASEAN to continue to lead the global diplomatic effort to restore stability and democracy to Myanmar, even though the group has been criticised by human rights groups, opponents of the junta and experts for being too slow and too meek in responding to the coup. "They are doing the best possible job," said Borrell. As first reported by Reuters, two senior ASEAN officials are heading to Myanmar this week to meet with the junta, the first visit by the bloc's representatives since the coup was launched. ASEAN has also said it opposed a non-binding United Nations resolution for an arms embargo on Myanmar. The EU already has a freeze on the sale and transfer of weapons to the country. A further 14 high-ranking Myanmar military officials were sanctioned by the EU for serious human rights abuses against the Rohingya minority after some 700,000 of the Muslim ethnic group were violently expelled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar by security forces in 2017..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In honour of human rights and human dignity and also to eradicate the conflicts and root causes in the Union, the National Unity Government aims to build a prosperous and federal democratic union where all ethnic groups belonging to the Union can live together peacefully. This objective is clearly stated in the Federal Democratic Charter.1 Sovereignty belongs to the member states and the people of the member states as proclaimed in the guiding principles for the establishment of a federal democratic union." Everyone in the Union has full enjoyment of fundamental human rights. All ethnic groups who are native to the Union have full enjoyment of individual rights held by individual people and collective rights held by ethnic groups. All citizens who swear allegiance to the Union regardless of their ethnic origins are considered to have full enjoyment o f citizens’ rights.3 The National Unity Government will not tolerate any form of discrimination. The National Unity Government regards the above-mentioned policies as a basis in addressing the matters related to the Rohingyas in Rakhine State. We are confident that extensive deliberations, which consider the positions of all stakeholders in Rakhine State, their historical backgrounds, and national and international laws, will enable all to find shared solutions in a way that respects the human rights of all persons. At present, the elimination of the military dictatorship has become the common goal of the entire people because of the violence committed by the illegitimate military council. It is also the period of national resistance against the military dictatorship. The solidarity of the entire people is now at its best. We are confident that we can rebuild a Union that meets the needs of all those in the country who have a stake in its future. After consultations with the many different stakeholders in Rakhine States, including Rohingya groups and refugee representatives from the IDP camps, the NUG here makes clear how it will seek to apply these principles for the good of all in the Rakhine State. The National Unity Government well understands the violence and gross human rights violations inflicted upon Rohingyas by the thuggish military and the massive displacement, with hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes during the conflicts in Rakhine State over the last decades. We are deeply saddened by this. The entire people of Burma is sympathetic to the plight of the Rohingya as all now experience atrocities and violence perpetrated by the military. Endeavouring to bring the perpetrators to account is not only for the realization of justice but also acts as a deterrent against future atrocities. Therefore, we regard this as a priority task. Reparation and Justice will be ensured in the future Federal Democratic Union Constitution. We will actively seek justice and accountability for all crimes committed by the military against the Rohingyas and all other people of Myanmar throughout our history. We intend if necessary to initiate processes to grant International Criminal Court jurisdiction over crimes committed within Myanmar against the Rohingyas and other communities. We consider that the 88 recommendations set out in the final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State chaired by Dr Kofi Annan must play a crucial role in addressing the affairs in Rakhine State.4 These recommendations are based on solutions for the root causes of violence. However, over the past four years, much has changed to make the situation worse in Rakhine State for all ethnic groups there. Using these recommendations as well as other relevant recommendations as inputs, we earnestly believe that we can work together with all the people in Rakhine State to chart a new course towards a democratic inclusive and prosperous future. We would also like to highlight the importance of legal matters in seeing to the Rakhine question. We will consider the opinions and views of the entire people in the country, including those in Rakhine State, in drafting a new constitution that can resolve the many problems caused by the 2008 At present, the elimination of the military dictatorship has become the common goal of the entire people because of the violence committed by the illegitimate military council. It is also the period of national resistance against the military dictatorship. The solidarity of the entire people is now at its best. We are confident that we can rebuild a Union that meets the needs of all those in the country who have a stake in its future. After consultations with the many different stakeholders in Rakhine States, including Rohingya groups and refugee representatives from the IDP camps, the NUG here makes clear how it will seek to apply these principles for the good of all in the Rakhine State. The National Unity Government well understands the violence and gross human rights violations inflicted upon Rohingyas by the thuggish military and the massive displacement, with hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes during the conflicts in Rakhine State over the last decades. We are deeply saddened by this. The entire people of Burma is sympathetic to the plight of the Rohingya as all now experience atrocities and violence perpetrated by the military. Endeavouring to bring the perpetrators to account is not only for the realization of justice but also cts as a deterrent against future atrocities. Therefore, we regard this as a priority task. Reparation and Justice will be ensured in the future Federal Democratic Union Constitution. We will actively seek justice and accountability for all crimes committed by the military against the Rohingyas and all other people of Myanmar throughout our history. We intend if necessary to initiate processes to grant International Criminal Court jurisdiction over crimes committed within Myanmar against the Rohingyas and other communities. We consider that the 88 recommendations set out in the final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State chaired by Dr Kofi Annan must play a crucial role in addressing the affairs in Rakhine State.4 These recommendations are based on solutions for the root causes of violence. However, over the past four years, much has changed to make the situation worse in Rakhine State for all ethnic groups there. Using these recommendations as well as other relevant recommendations as inputs, we earnestly believe that we can work together with all the people in Rakhine State to chart a new course towards a democratic inclusive and prosperous future. We would also like to highlight the importance of legal matters in seeing to the Rakhine question. We will consider the opinions and views of the entire people in the country, including those in Rakhine State, in drafting a new constitution that can resolve the many problems caused by the 2008 constitution. The views and insights of all can contribute to this process. All the people in the country, including all stakeholders in Rakhine State, are invited to participate in the process of drafting the new constitution. Such dialogue is essential to creating a shared future for the country. The process of repealing, amending, and promulgating laws, including the 1982 Citizenship Law, by the new constitution when the drafting is completed will be beneficial in resolving the conflict in Rakhine State. This new Citizenship Act must base citizenship on birth in Myanmar or birth anywhere as a child of Myanmar Citizens. We further commit to abolishing the process of issuing National Verification Cards, a process that the military has used against Rohingyas and other ethnic groups coercively and with human rights violations. The Rohingyas are entitled to citizenship by laws that will accord with fundamental human rights norms and democratic federal principles. The voluntary, safe, and dignified repatriation of Rohingyas who fled to neighbouring countries from Rakhine State due to Tatmadaw violence is a crucial matter. We reaffirm the agreements signed with neighbouring countries for the repatriation process. We are ready to cooperate with all stakeholders of good will in a special programme to implement the process. We are committed to the repatriation of Rohingyas as soon as repatriation can be accomplished voluntarily, safely, and with dignity. The National Unity Government is a government whose primary duty is to fight the illegal military dictatorship. While we focus on this task, we are also planning for the future. We believe it will be beneficial in building the future democratic federal union to listen to all stakeholders in a spirit of collaboration. Therefore, we invite Rohingyas to join hands with us and with others to participate in this Spring Revolution against the military dictatorship in all possible ways..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
2021-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးနှင့် လူသားတို့၏ ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာကို လေးစား လိုက်နာပြီး ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပဋိညာဉ်တွင် ရှင်းလင်းစွာဖော်ပြထားသည့်အတိုင်း ပြည်ထောင်စုအတွင်း ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့သည့် ပဋိပက္ခများ၊ အရင်းခံပြဿနာများကို အပြီးသတ်ချုပ်ငြိမ်းစေရန် နိုင်ငံသူ ၊ နိုင်ငံသားများအားလုံး ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ အေးအတူပူအမျှ အတူတကွယှဉ်တွဲနေထိုင်နိုင်သော သာယာဝပြောသည့် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီ ပြည်ထောင်စုအား တည်ဆောက်ရန် ရည်ရွယ်သည်။ ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စု တည်ဆောက်ရေးဆိုင်ရာ လမ်းညွှန်အခြေခံမူများတွင် ဖော်ပြထားသည့် အတိုင်း “ပြည်ထောင်စုအဖွဲ့ဝင် ပြည်နယ်များနှင့် ယင်းပြည်နယ်များအတွင်းရှိ ပြည်သူတို့သည် အချုပ်အခြာအာဏာ၏ မူရင်းပိုင်ရှင်များ ဖြစ်သည်” ဟု ခံယူသည်။ ပြည်ထောင်စုတွင် နေထိုင်သူတိုင်းသည် အခြေခံလူ့အခွင့်အရေးကို အပြည့်အဝ ခံစားခွင့်ရှိရမည်။ လူမျိုးတိုင်းသည် လူပုဂ္ဂိုလ် တစ်ဦးချင်းအလိုက် ခံစားခွင့်ရှိသည့် တစ်သီးပုဂ္ဂလ အခွင့်အရေးများနှင့် လူမျိုးအလိုက် ခံစားခွင့်ရှိသည့် စုပေါင်းအခွင့်အရေးများကို အပြည့်အဝခံစားပိုင်ခွင့်ရှိရမည်။ ပြည်ထောင်စု၏ နိုင်ငံသားတိုင်းသည် နိုင်ငံသားများ၏ အခြေခံအခွင့်အရေးများကို အပြည့်အဝခံစားခွင့် ရှိရမည်ဟု ခံယူသည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရသည် ခွဲခြားဆက်ဆံမှုမှန်သမျှကို လက်မခံပါ။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်းရှိ ရိုဟင်ဂျာပြည်သူများနှင့် ပတ်သက်သော အကြောင်းအရာများကို ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်းရာတွင် အထက်ပါမူဝါဒများကို အခြေခံရမည်ဟု သဘောထားသည်။ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်းရှိ ပါဝင်ပတ်သက်သူများအားလုံး၏ သဘောထားများ၊ နောက်ခံသမိုင်းကြောင်း အဖြစ်အပျက်များ၊ ပြည်တွင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေများကို ထည့်သွင်းစဉ်းစားလျက် လူတိုင်း၏ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကိုလေးစားသည့် အားလုံးလက်ခံနိုင်သော ဖြေရှင်းမှုများကို ဖော်ဆောင်နိုင်မည်ဟု ယုံကြည်သည်။ ယခုအချိန်တွင် အာဏာသိမ်း စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကြောင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ် အမြစ်ပြုတ်ရေးသည် ပြည်သူအားလုံးအတွက် ဘုံဦးတည်ချက်တစ်ရပ်ဖြစ်လာပါသည်။ တစ်နိုင်ငံလုံး အတိုင်းအတာဖြင့် တွန်းလှန်နေသောအချိန်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ပြည်သူအားလုံး စည်းလုံးညီညွတ်မှု အရဆုံးအချိန် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ စည်းလုံးညီညွတ်မှုဖြင့် ပြည်သူအားလုံးတို့၏ လိုအပ်ချက်ကို ဖြည့်ဆည်းပေးနိုင်မည့် အနာဂတ် ပြည်ထောင်စုအား ပြန်လည်တည်ဆောက်နိုင်မည်ဟု မိမိတို့ ယုံကြည်သည်။ ရိုဟင်ဂျာအဖွဲ့အစည်းများနှင့် ဒုက္ခသည်စခန်းများ၊ ပြည်တွင်းရွှေ့ပြောင်းနေထိုင်သူများစခန်းများမှ ကိုယ်စားလှယ်များအပါအဝင် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်ရှိ ပါဝင်ပတ်သက်သူများစွာနှင့် တွေ့ဆုံဆွေးနွေးမှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်အပြီး အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်ရှိ ပြည်သူများအားလုံး၏ အကျိုးအတွက် အောက်ပါ မူဝါဒများကို ချမှတ်လုပ်ဆောင်သွားမည်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်တွင် လွန်ခဲ့သော ဆယ်စုနှစ်များအတွင်း ဖြစ်ပျက်ခဲ့သော အဖြစ်အပျက်များအတွင်း အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်၏ ရိုဟင်ဂျာပြည်သူများအပေါ် နည်းမျိုးစုံဖြင့်အကြမ်းဖက်ခြင်း၊ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးများကို ရက်ရက်စက်စက်ချိုးဖောက်မှုများကြောင့် လူဦးရေ သောင်းပေါင်းများစွာ နေရပ်မှစွန့်ခွာ ထွက်ပြေးရခြင်း၏ ဘေးဒုက္ခများကို ကောင်းစွာသိရှိပြီး အထူးစိတ်မကောင်း ဖြစ်ရပါသည်။ ယခုအခါ အကြမ်းဖက် စစ်တပ်၏ ရမ်းကား ရက်စက်မှုများ၊ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို ကိုယ်တွေ့ မျက်မြင်တွေ့ကြုံခံစားနေရသော မြန်မာပြည်သူတရပ်လုံးကလည်း ရိုဟင်ဂျာပြည်သူတို့၏ ဆိုးဝါးလှသည့်အဖြစ်ဆိုးအပေါ် စာနာနားလည် နေကြပါသည်။ ထိုသို့ ရက်စက် ရမ်းကားမှုများ၊ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို ကျူးလွန်သူများအား တရားဥပဒေအရ အရေးယူ အပြစ်ပေးခံရရန် ကြိုးပမ်းခြင်းသည် တရား မျှတမှုကိုဖော်ဆောင်ခြင်းသာမက ထိုသို့သော အဖြစ်အပျက်မျိုး နောက်နောင်တွင် ထပ်မံဖြစ်ပွားခြင်းမရှိစေရန် ကြိုတင်ကာကွယ်ခြင်းလည်း ဖြစ်သောကြောင့် ဦးစားပေးအလေးထား ဆောင်ရွက်ရမည့် လုပ်ငန်းတစ်ရပ်အဖြစ် ခံယူပါသည်။ ရိုဟင်ဂျာများနှင့် အခြားပြည်သူတို့အပေါ် သမိုင်းတလျောက် ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ အပြစ်ရှိသည့် စစ်တပ်၏ တာဝန်ခံမှုများဖော်ဆောင်နိုင်ရန်နှင့် တရားမျှတမှုနှင့် ဆုံးရူံးနစ်နာခဲ့ရမှုများအတွက် ကုစားမှုများကို လူတိုင်းရရှိခံစားနိုင်ရန်အတွက် အထူးလုပ်ဆောင် သွားမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ အနာဂတ်ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမို‌ကရေစီဖွဲ့စည်းပုံ အခြေခံဥပဒေထဲတွင်လည်း ပြန်လည်ကုစား‌ရေးနှင့် တရားမျှတမှုဖော်ဆောင်ရေးတို့ပါဝင်လာစေရန် သေချာစွာ လုပ်ဆောင်သွားမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ ရိုဟင်ဂျာများနှင့် အခြားပြည်သူတို့အပေါ် ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများအတွက် နိုင်ငံတကာ ရာဇဝတ်မှုတရားရုံး၏ စီရင်ပိုင်ခွင့်ကို အသုံးပြုနိုင်ရန် အစပျိုးလုပ်ဆောင်နေပါသည်။ ဒေါက်တာကိုဖီအာနန်ဦးဆောင်သော ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်ဆိုင်ရာ အကြံပေးကော်မရှင်၏ ၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ်၊ ဩဂုတ်လတွင် ထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့သော အပြီးသတ်အစီရင်ခံစာပါ အကြံပြုချက် (၈၈) ချက်သည် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ် ဆိုင်ရာ ပြဿနာများကို ဖြေရှင်းရာတွင် အရေးကြီးသော အခန်းကဏ္ဍမှပါဝင်ကြောင်း မိမိတို့မှတ်ယူပါသည်။ ထိုအကြံပြုချက်များသည် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ၏အကြောင်းရင်းများအတွက် အ‌ဖြေရှာမှုများအပေါ် အခြေခံထားခြင်းဖြစ်ပါသည်။ သို့သော် လွန်ခဲ့သည့် လေးနှစ်တာကာလအတွင်း ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်၏အခြေအနေမှာ ယင်းဒေသရှိ ပြည်သူအားလုံးအတွက် ပိုမိုဆိုးရွားလာခဲ့သည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် အဆိုပါ အကြံပြုချက်များနှင့် အခြားသက်ဆိုင်ရာအကြံပြုချက်များကို သုံးသပ်စရာအချက်များအဖြစ် မှတ်ယူ၍ ဒီမိုကရေစီနည်းလမ်းတကျ လူတိုင်းပူးပေါင်းနိုင်သည့် သာယာဝပြောသော အနာဂတ်ကို ဦးတည်သော စာမျက်နှာသစ်ကို ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်ရှိ ပြည်သူများအားလုံးနှင့် လက်တွဲလုပ်ဆောင်ရန် လိုအပ်ကြောင်း မိမိတို့ အလေးအနက်ယုံကြည်ပါသည်။ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်ဆိုင်ရာ ပြဿနာကို ဖြေရှင်းရာတွင် ဥပဒေကြောင်းဆိုင်ရာ ကိစ္စရပ်များ၏ အရေး ကြီးမှုကိုလည်း မီးမောင်းထိုးပြလိုပါသည်။ ၂၀၀၈ အခြေခံဥပဒေ၏ ပြဿနာပေါင်းစုံကို ဖြေရှင်းနိုင်မည့် အခြေခံဥပဒေသစ်တစ်ရပ်ကို ရေးဆွဲရာတွင် တစ်နိုင်ငံလုံး အပြင် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်းရှိ ပြည်သူလူထု၏ အတွေးအမြင်များ၊ သဘောထားများကိုလည်း ရယူမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ အားလုံး၏ အမြင်များနှင့် မျှော်မှန်းချက်များက ဤလုပ်ငန်းစဉ်ကို အကျိုးပြုနိုင်မည်ဖြစ်သည်။ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်ရှိ ပါဝင်ပတ်သက်သူများ အားလုံးနှင့် တိုင်းပြည်တစ်ဝှမ်းရှိ ပြည်သူလူထုအားလုံးကို အဆိုပါ အခြေခံဥပဒေရေးဆွဲရေး ဖြစ်စဉ်တွင် ပါဝင်ကြရန် ဖိတ်ခေါ်ပါသည်။ ထိုသို့ပါဝင်လုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်းသည် အားလုံးကမျှော်မှန်းသည့် နိုင်ငံ၏အနာဂတ်ဖော်ဆောင်ရေးအတွက် မရှိမဖြစ်လိုအပ်လှပါသည်။ ၁၉၈၂ နိုင်ငံသားဥပဒေအပါအဝင် တခြားဖိနှိပ်သည့်ဥပဒေများကို ဖျက်သိမ်းခြင်း၊ ပြန်လည်ပြင်ဆင်ခြင်းနှင့် အသစ်ပြဌာန်းခြင်းလုပ်ငန်းစဉ်များကို ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေရေးဆွဲအပြီး လုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်းသည် အထောက်အကူ ဖြစ်မည်ဟု ယုံကြည်ပါသည်။ ယင်းဥပဒေသစ်အရ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသားဖြစ်မှုသည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင်းမွေးဖွားခြင်း သို့မဟုတ် မည်သည့်နေရာတွင်ဖြစ်စေ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသားမိဘများမှ မွေးဖွားသူဖြစ်ခြင်းကို အခြေခံစေရမည်။ ရိုဟင်ဂျာနှင့် အခြားလူမျိုးများအပေါ် လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်မှုများဖြစ်ပွားစေသည့် နိုင်ငံသားစိစစ်‌ရေးကဒ်များ ပြဌာန်းလုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်းလုပ်ငန်းစဉ်များကို ပယ်ဖျက်မည်။ ရိုဟင်ဂျာပြည်သူများသည် အခြေခံ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးစံနှုန်းများ၊ ဖက်ဒရယ် ဒီမိုကရေစီ အခြေခံမူများနှင့် ကိုက်ညီသော ဥပဒေများ အတိုင်း နိုင်ငံသားဖြစ်ခွင့်ရှိပြီး နိုင်ငံသားဖြစ်သူတိုင်းလည်း အခြားနိုင်ငံသားများနှင့် တန်းတူပြည်သူရေးရာအခွင့်အရေးများကို အပြည့်အဝရရှိခံစားနိုင်ရမည်။ အကြမ်းဖက်တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများကြောင့် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်မှ အိမ်နီးချင်းနိုင်ငံများသို့ နေရပ် ပြောင်းရွှေ့ နေထိုင်နေကြရသော ရိုဟင်ဂျာပြည်သူများ မိမိတို့ နေရပ်သို့ မိမိကိုယ်ပိုင်ဆန္ဒသဘောဖြင့်၊ ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာရှိရှိ လုံခြုံစွာ ပြန်လည်အခြေချနိုင်ရေးသည် အရေးကြီးကိစ္စရပ်တစ်ခုဖြစ်သည်။ ထိုသို့ ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်ရန် အိမ်နီးချင်း နိုင်ငံများနှင့် ချုပ်ဆိုထားသော သဘောတူညီချက်များကို ဆက်လက်သဘောတူ လက်ခံကြောင်း ထပ်လောင်း အတည်ပြုပါသည်။ ထိုသို့ ပြန်လည်အခြေချနိုင်ရေးအတွက် အထူးအစီအစဉ်တရပ်ကို သက်ဆိုင်ရာအားလုံးနှင့် ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ရန် အသင့်ရှိပါသည်။ ရိုဟင်ဂျာပြည်သူများ မိမိတို့ နေရပ်သို့ မိမိကိုယ်ပိုင်ဆန္ဒသဘောဖြင့်၊ ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာရှိရှိ လုံခြုံစွာ ပြန်လည်အခြေချနိုင်ရေးကို လုပ်‌ဆောင်နိုင်သည့်အခြေအနေရောက်ရှိသည်နှင့်တပြိုင်နက် လုပ်ဆောင်သွားမည်ဟု ခိုင်မာစွာ ပြောကြားလိုပါသည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်တိုက်ဖျက်ရေးအတွက် အဓိကတာဝန်ယူနေသည့် ကြားကာလအစိုးရဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ထိုတာဝန်ကို အဓိကထားထမ်းဆောင်နေသည့်အပြင် အနာဂတ်အတွက်ကိုလည်း ပြင်ဆင်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ အကျိုးသက်ဆိုင်သူအားလုံး၏ အသံများကို နားထောင်ခြင်းနှင့် ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ခြင်းဖြင့် အနာဂတ် ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စု တည်ဆောက်ရာတွင် အကျိုးဖြစ်စေမည်ဟု ယုံကြည်ပါသည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် ရိုဟင်ဂျာပြည်သူများ အနေဖြင့်လည်း စစ်အာဏာရှင် တိုက်ဖျက်ရေး နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးတွင် အခြားသော ပြည်သူများနှင့် အတူတကွ ဖြစ်နိုင်သောနည်းလမ်းများဖြင့် ပူးပေါင်း ပါဝင်ကြပါရန် ဖိတ်ခေါ်အပ်ပါသည်။ စစ်မှန်သော ဖက်ဒရယ် ဒီမိုကရေစီ ပြည်ထောင်စုတွင် ညှိနှိုင်းဆွေးနွေး အဖြေရှာခြင်းဖြင့် မဖြေရှင်းနိုင်သည့် ပြဿနာရှိမည်မဟုတ်ပါ။..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
2021-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Wrapping up today their four-day visit to Bangladesh, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners for Protection and for Operations - Gillian Triggs and Raouf Mazou - called for international support and solidarity with Rohingya refugees and Bangladesh. The protection, well-being, and concerns of refugees, as well as renewed efforts towards solutions should be at the forefront of the response. A joint visit to Bangladesh of the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs and UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Raouf Mazou, took place from 30 May to 2 June. It included visits to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar where the vast majority of Rohingya refugees reside, and the island of Bhasan Char, as well as meetings with senior Government officials. Throughout the visit, the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners reiterated their sincere appreciation to the Government and the people of Bangladesh for their humanitarian spirit and generous hospitality towards Rohingya refugees as they sought protection from violence and persecution in Myanmar over decades. This includes, notably, the recent influx of more than 740,000 Rohingya refugees since August 2017. They also reiterated the urgent need to continue working towards comprehensive solutions, including the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. The Assistant High Commissioners emphasized that the responsibility for the current Rohingya refugee situation in Bangladesh rests with Myanmar, and that is where the solution lies. However, the recent developments in Myanmar make the prospects of voluntary repatriation in the short term more challenging. “While Bangladesh has shown humanity and solidarity, in line with the guiding principles of the Global Compact on Refugees, the international community must step up and give practical effect to the obligation to share responsibility, and to protect refugees and support the host Bangladeshi Government,” said Triggs. The Assistant High Commissioners visited the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and met with the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), responsible for the overall coordination of the Rohingya refugee response in Cox’s Bazar as well as the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Cox’s Bazar. Despite the COVID-19 challenges, they noted remarkable strides have been made in preparing for and responding to the pandemic, both within and outside of the camps, for refugees and host communities alike. The Assistant High Commissioners visited a COVID-19 treatment facility in the local community of Ukhiya, which was built in just 8 weeks. This facility alone has responded to the needs of around 1,000 patients in the past year, almost 70% of whom came from the Bangladeshi host community. “The inclusive Health Sector response in Cox’s Bazar has saved lives. The Government has set a positive example by including the Rohingya refugees in the national COVID-19 response plan and the related national vaccination plan. UNHCR opened two of a total of 12 operational COVID-19 treatment facilities and established the first Intensive Care Unit in the District hospital. Responding to the needs of both communities on an equal basis is essential to ensuring that everyone is kept safe,” said Mazou. Additional challenges have been presented by COVID-19 and related restrictions in the camps. The Assistant High Commissioners observed a reduced humanitarian presence in the camps and associated protection risks. UNHCR advocates for essential protection services for the most vulnerable, including women and children who are particularly exposed to gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation, early marriage and child labour. In its work, UNHCR listens to the voices of refugees. During the visit to the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, the Assistant High Commissioners had the opportunity to discuss with refugees and to better understand their situation and needs. Many stressed the need for the resumption of education and skills training. The Government facilitated a visit of the Assistant High Commissioners to Bhasan Char. While on the island, they clearly recognized the significant financial investments by the Bangladeshi government in facilities and infrastructure, including housing. However, it was clear that the 18,000 Rohingya refugees currently on the island have protection and assistance needs. That is, access to meaningful livelihoods opportunities, skills development, education, health and access to cash to facilitate their daily lives. UNHCR recognizes the potential that Bhasan Char could provide as an alternative temporary location for some Rohingya refugees while in Bangladesh. UNHCR proposes further discussions with the Government to ensure protection of refugees, as well as on our future operational engagement on the island. At the same time, UNHCR remains concerned about reports of refugees being arrested and detained for attempting to leave Bhasan Char. UNHCR strongly discourages the use of relocation to Bhasan Char as a punitive measure. “Bhasan Char has some potential, though the human and protection elements of refugees living there must be fully considered. Refugees who decide to relocate to Bhasan Char must do so on a voluntary basis. They should have freedom of movement on the island and must be granted the possibility to return to Cox’s Bazar and to maintain family connections with those in the camps,” said Triggs. While on Bhasan Char, UNHCR had the opportunity to talk to a large group of refugees, predominantly young men. They raised their concerns about the lack of access to livelihoods and self-reliance opportunities, skills development, as well as access to education. UNHCR was deeply concerned to learn of reports of refugees who were injured on the day of the visit to Bhasan Char. While ultimately, the desired solution by the majority of the Rohingya refugees is to return home voluntarily, safely, sustainably and in dignity, when conditions in Myanmar allow, the crisis is now in its fourth year and refugees cannot remain fully dependent on aid. “Livelihoods and skills training opportunities will provide refugees with a sense of purpose and autonomy while they are in Bangladesh, while preparing them for reintegration when conditions allow them to return home,” stressed Mazou. Today, 2 June, the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners were grateful for the opportunity to meet and discuss these various issues with senior Government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief. While continuing to work together with the support of the international community towards voluntary repatriation, the Assistant High Commissioners discussed the possibility of introducing alternative solutions for Rohingya refugees, including resettlement to third countries for the most vulnerable with specific protection needs, as well as complementary pathways overseas, which could include employment and educational opportunities. UNHCR once more calls on the international community, including through the recently launched 2021 Joint Response Plan, to continue to support the Government of Bangladesh who have taken on a huge responsibility in hosting almost 1 million Rohingya refugees in the largest refugee camp in the world. This must not become a forgotten crisis..."
Source/publisher: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
2021-06-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing cast doubt on the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled to Bangladesh in comments made in his first interview since taking power in a Feb. 1 coup. Min Aung Hlaing was asked by Chinese-language Phoenix television whether the Muslims could be allowed back to Rakhine State - from where most fled an army crackdown in 2017 that U.N. investigators said had "genocidal intent". "If it doesn't comply with Myanmar's laws, what else is there to consider? I don't believe there is any country in the world that would go beyond their own country's refugee laws to accept refugees," Min Aung Hlaing responded, according to a transcript of the interview. When asked whether that meant vocal international appeals on behalf of the Rohingya were to no avail, he nodded. Min Aung Hlaing, who headed the army in 2017 when some 700,000 Rohingya fled from advancing troops, reiterated the view of nationalists in Buddhist-majority Myanmar that the Rohingya are not one of its ethnic groups. He said the term Rohingya had only emerged since independence from Britain in 1948. "After we gained our independence, the census also registered the words 'Bengali', 'Pakistani' and 'Chittagong', but never the word 'Rohingya', thus we never accepted it," Min Aung Hlaing said. Rohingya have been widely referred to as Bengali by Myanmar authorities - implying that they are outsiders from Bangladesh, although some can trace their roots in Myanmar back for centuries. Myanmar's elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was overthrown by Min Aung Hlaing on Feb. 1, had also come under international criticism for defending the army against charges of genocide relating to the Rohingya. She and the military rejected accusations of genocide saying the security forces were engaged in legitimate operations against Rohingya insurgents when the refugees fled to Bangladesh. Not long after the coup, Min Aung Hlaing said efforts to repatriate refugees from Bangladesh would continue, but there has been no sign of progress while the junta has struggled to impose control in Myanmar. Bangladesh is keen to see the Rohingya go back to Myanmar from the huge camps in which most of them are living in southeastern Bangladeshi border districts. Bangladesh's Dhaka Tribune journal reported on Monday that efforts were underway to restart talks on the repatriation between Bangladesh and Myanmar with the help of China..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-05-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: cooperate, Coup, Gambia, Genocide case, ICC, ICJ, junta, Military, National Unity Government, NUG, proceedings, provisional measures, regime, Rohingya, World Court
Topic: cooperate, Coup, Gambia, Genocide case, ICC, ICJ, junta, Military, National Unity Government, NUG, proceedings, provisional measures, regime, Rohingya, World Court
Description: "Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) said that as the country’s lawful government it is taking all steps necessary to cooperate with the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on proceedings in a case in which Myanmar is accused of committing genocide against the Rohingya. After a brutal military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine in 2017 that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee across the border to neighboring Bangladesh, Gambia in November 2019 brought a case at the ICJ—which is an organ of the UN and is also known as the World Court—accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya. State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi defended the country against the charge in December 2019. Gambia’s legal team listed the Myanmar military’s atrocities against the minority Muslim group in northern Rakhine state, including mass rapes, the burning of families in their homes and the killing of dozens of Rohingya children. As the case could take years, the African nation asked the ICJ to order “provisional measures” to prevent more violations. Going further than the measures requested by Gambia, the ICJ ordered Myanmar on Jan. 23 to report on its compliance with the provisional measures in four months and then every six months thereafter. The Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led civilian government submitted two reports prior to its ouster by the military in a coup on Feb. 1. In a statement released on Sunday, the NUG said it is very concerned about the difficult situation facing the Rohingya, especially those who fled to Bangladesh in 2016-17. As the lawful government, ensuring continuity of representation before the court and being mindful of the timetable established by the court are among its duties, the NUG said. It added that it is also considering accepting the exercise of jurisdiction by a separate international court, the International Criminal Court, over the killings, torture and other crimes against civilians committed by the Myanmar junta since the coup on Feb. 1. The Myanmar military seized power from the democratically elected National League for Democracy government, detained civilian leaders and abolished the new Parliament on the day it was scheduled to convene. Since the coup, the Myanmar regime has killed at least 840 people and arrested more than 5,500, of whom 4,409 remain in detention, according to advocacy group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The Biden administration has a chance to reassert the United States’ moral authority on human rights.
Description: "Justice delayed is justice denied. As lawyers who have advised nearly every international criminal and hybrid tribunal, as well as over two dozen peace negotiations around the world, we have seen firsthand the consequences of ignoring atrocities in the name of preserving peace or alliances. The Biden administration is faced with an historic opportunity. By labeling the atrocities committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as genocide, the Biden administration has a chance to reassert the United States’ moral authority on human rights and to lead the international community on issues of justice and accountability. The Biden administration should speak out firmly and clearly in favor of holding Myanmar and the individual perpetrators accountable for “the crime of all crimes.” We know firsthand the gravity of the atrocities committed against the Rohingya. In March and April 2018, our pro bono law firm, the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG), at the request of the U.S. Department of State, undertook a large-scale, comprehensive human rights documentation investigation mission in the refugee camps and settlement areas in eastern Bangladesh. Our investigation mission aimed to provide an accurate accounting of the patterns of abuse and atrocity crimes perpetrated against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and to help inform the policy decisions related to accountability in Myanmar. Our team of expert investigators interviewed over 1,000 Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar camps, documenting shocking patterns of violence, abuse, and widespread human rights violations committed against the Rohingya. Among the abuses are widespread killings, torture, persecution, rapes, and other sexual violence. Our team, including many former State Department lawyers, analyzed 15,000 pages of interview responses from 1,024 questionnaires. The evidence led us to conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes have been committed against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. When we sent our factual findings report and data to the State Department in 2018, the Trump administration chose not to label any of these crimes as genocide or crimes against humanity, thereby excusing the United States from any legal or moral obligation to take action. This April, the Biden administration demonstrated its willingness to acknowledge the crime of genocide in another context, as President Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to formally call the crimes committed against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire genocide. The United States should not wait 106 years (or even 106 days) to similarly label the crimes committed against Rohingya civilians. By acknowledging the Rohingya genocide, the Biden administration has the rare opportunity to reverse a previous wrong and lead with moral clarity on the international stage. As the international community has stayed largely silent in the face of the Rohingya genocide, we have already begun to witness the consequences. Over 18,000 Rohingya have been relocated from the camps in Cox’s Bazar to a remote island in Bangladesh in the past six months. Those still living in Cox’s Bazar have faced deadly fires and suspiciously consistent destruction of their homes and livelihoods. In Myanmar itself, this silence and complicity has eroded the legitimacy of democratic government and empowered the military. As Aung San Suu Kyi defended the actions of Myanmar’s military against the Rohingya population before the International Court of Justice, she both undermined her moral authority to lead a democratic Myanmar and emboldened the military to bring an end to her leadership role, as seen in this year’s coup and unrest. To secure a durable peace in Myanmar and to provide justice, redress, and a hopeful future for the victims of the Rohingya genocide, the United States must use its position of power on the international stage to lead with values of human rights and recognize the Rohingya genocide. As an international leader, America may be “back,” but it should not be back to business as usual with delayed recognition of genocide..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Diplomat" (Japan)
2021-06-01
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The case of Rohingya refugee crisis
Description: "Background: The Rohingya are a large Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar at the center of a humanitarian catastrophe. Myanmar government does not recognize them as citizens or one of the 135 recognized ethnic groups in the country. Myanmar regards them as illegal immigrants, a view rooted in their heritage in East Bengal, now called Bangladesh.1 However, the history of the geographic region of Myanmar dates back to centuries and it is evident from the chronological conflicts that the roots of the Rohingya community belong to that region and the people are subjected to mere communal conflicts. But before discussing their origin the question naturally arises that where did this term “Rohingya” come from. As mentioned by Dr. Nasir Uddin, in his book “To host or to hurt”, ‘After summarizing the unpublished thesis of A.S. Bahar entitled “The Arakani Rohingyas in Burmese Society”, M. A. Alam codify the origin of the Rohingyas as follows: “ Rohang, the old name of the Arakan, was very familiar region for the Arab seafarers even during the pre-islamic days. Tides of people like the Arabs, Moors, Turks, Pathans, Moghuls, Central Asians, Bengalis came mostly as traders, warriors, preachers and captives overland or through sea route. Many settled in Arakan, and mixing with the local people, developed the present stock of people known as ethnic Rohingya. (To host or to hurt, Nasir Uddin) The history of the region of Burma has seen a sequence of ethnic shifts, conquests, expansion and collapse that is quite typical of the history of most regions of the world. In the last millennium and a half, there has tended to be a core state or core in the Irrawaddy Valley, which repeatedly expanded towards and contracted from the periphery of the modern day territory of Myanmar; therefore by the mid 90’s around one third of the population of Myanmar was made up of ethnic groups distinct from the Burman majority. This naturally reflected the history of interaction with China to the north, India to the west, Thailand and Laos to the east and Indonesia and Malaysia to the south. In particular, the mountainous regions to the north and east of the central Irrawaddy regions have long been home to a diverse range of non-Burmese ethnicities. Some of these groups live exclusively in modern day Myanmar but many live on both sides of the various borders. Up to the nineteenth century, the evidence points to a degree of ethnic and religious tolerance, even as the Burmese regions became increasingly dominated by Buddhism, while more marginal groups retained animist beliefs or adopted Christianity or Islam. These discussions lead to the fact that it is particularly important to separate the history of Arakan from that of Burma up to the 1800s. The core of the Burmese civilization in central Burma, along the Irrawaddy Valley is geographicaly and culturally linked to the tibetian region, southwest China and the rest of East Asia. The south (the modern day Mon and Taninthayri provinces) is part of the wider Malaysian Peninsula and has sea links to the south, including Sri Lanka and parts of Indonesia. In fact, this was the original vector for the early spread of Buddhism to Burma. However, Arakan region in the west has always been separated from the rest of Burma by a high and difficult-to-traverse coastal mountain range. As such, for most of its early history, both in terms of ethnic makeup and political economic interaction, the natural links of the region were across the Bay of Bengal to India rather than with the rest of Burma. It was also a relatively poor province, reliant on subsistence agriculture and fishing, so it was generally of little interest to would be conquerors..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Department of Architecture (Bangladesh)
2018-10-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 7.69 MB (86 pages)
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Description: "In recent years, the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, particularly in conflict contexts, has become increasingly visible. Cultural heritage destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, and Syria drew the attention of the world’s media, caused public outcry, and in one instance led to a successful International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution (Burke 2016; González Zarandona, Albarrán, and Isakhan 2018; Kraak 2018; Moffett 2017; UN News 2017a). Although the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage in Myanmar (Figure 1) has been less visible internationally, throughout the 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis there were numerous documented examples of cultural heritage destruction both by the Myanmar authorities and by ordinary residents of Myanmar (a country often still known as Burma1). The 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis drew world attention to the circumstances of this persecuted Muslim ethnic minority and to the nature of the military crackdown that caused around 700,000 Rohingya to flee their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for Bangladesh (UN News 2017b; OCHA 2018; UNHCR 2018). During 2017, Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, partially or totally razed almost 300 Rohingya villages and destroyed numerous mosques in northern Rakhine state (Human Rights Watch 2017a, 2017b, 2018). The Myanmar authorities have subsequently remodelled large parts of northern Rakhine state which has included constructing at least one military base on lands previously occupied by the Rohingya (Amnesty International 2018a, 2018b; Associated Press 2018; Child 2018). Largescale destruction of heritage in Rakhine state did not begin in 2017. During 2012, conflict between Buddhists and Muslims caused the destruction of entire neighbourhoods around the Rakhine state capital, Sittwe, displacing more than 140,000 people, overwhelmingly Muslims (Human Rights Watch 2012; Republic of the Union of Myanmar 2013). In this article we map heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state from the time of this 2012 violence to the present, and we consider the role of religion and recent political change in violence towards cultural heritage in contemporary Myanmar. We trace patterns of heritage destruction as legal and/or illegal iconoclasm specifying the key elements of heritage destruction in Rakhine state. Our analysis focusses on the use of heritage destruction as a tool of genocide, and we suggest that heritage destruction in Rakhine state ought to be understood as part of the authorities’ policies of genocide against the Rohingya. We conclude the article with a call for UNESCO to act to extend its ‘Unite4Heritage’ campaign to include the destruction of heritage by state actors. Traditionally, iconoclasm was considered the destruction of images – paintings and statues, mainly – for religious and political motives. Particular (Western) iterations of this phenomenon have been identified during the eighth and ninth centuries in Byzantium, and the Reformation in Europe, where religious images were considered idols and thus erased to avoid idolatry. Nonetheless, the concept of iconoclasm has gradually evolved to start considering other types of destruction, not only images, but also ideas, buildings, cultural property and heritage; the targets of iconoclasts because they reflect a part of a group’s identity (see Latour 2002 for an extended discussion). In this paper, we not only consider Rohingya heritage as those culturally significant sites for them, such as mosques and neighbourhoods, but also the traditions practised by the Rohingya for centuries in those sites. The paper does not point to a particular type of ‘heritage’, but rather it takes heritage in its broadest meaning. That is, we consider heritage not only the tangible expressions of Rohingya culture as exemplified by mosques, but also other forms considered intangible and moveable, and providing evidence of long-term Rohingya settlement in Rakhine state such as the presence of Rohingya villages (the destruction of which can serve to erase physical evidence of long-term Rohingya residency). In doing so, the aim of this paper is not to detail all the heritage which has been destroyed in Rakhine state, but to map the destruction of Rohingya heritage to demonstrate the link between heritage destruction and a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: International Journal of Heritage Studies
2019-09-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 2.09 MB
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Description: "အီဒုလ်ဖိသိရ် ဝါကျွတ် အီးဒ်ပွဲတော်နေ့သဝဏ်လွှာ =============== ရ က် စွဲ - ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ၊ မေလ (၁၃)ရက်။ ------------------------- အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်တို့၏ အီဒုလ်ဖိသိရ် ဝါကျွတ် အီးဒ်ပွဲတော်နေ့တွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသား အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များ ရွှင်လန်းချမ်းမြေ့ပါစေကြောင်း နှုတ်ခွန်းဆက်သပါသည်။ နှစ်စဉ် ရမဒွါန် လမြတ်ရောက်တိုင်း တစ်လလုံးလုံး နံနက် နေမထွက်မီမှ နေဝင်ချိန်တိုင် အစားအသောက်ရှောင်၍ ဥပုသ်ဆောက်တည်ခြင်း၊ အလ္လာဟ် အရှင်မြတ်အား တသ သတိရ ဝတ်ပြု ဆုတောင်းခြင်း၊ မရှိနွမ်းပါးသူများကို ကိုယ်ချင်းစာ တရားထားကာ အလှူဒါနပြုခြင်း စသည့် ကောင်းမှုများကို ပြုကျင့် ဆောက်တည်ကြပြီး (ရာမဒွါန်) လမြတ်ကုန်ဆုံးချိန်၌ ပြုခဲ့သမျှသော ကောင်းမှုများအတွက် ရွှင်လန်းချမ်းမြေ့စွာ အီဒုလ်ဖိသိရ် ဝါကျွတ် အီးဒ်ပွဲတော်ကို ဆင်နွှဲကြကြောင်း သိရှိရပါသည်။ ယနေ့ကာလသည် မိမိတို့နိုင်ငံ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်အောက်မှ လွတ်မြောက်ရေး လှုပ်ရှားရုန်းကန် နေရသည့် တော်လှန်ရေးကာလဖြစ်သည့်အတွက် အနာဂါတ်ဖက်ဒရယ်ပြည်ထောင်စုကြီး တည်ဆောက်ရေးကြိုးပမ်းရာတွင် လူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံ ဘာသာပေါင်းစုံ ခွင့်တူညီမျှရေး နှင့် ခွဲခြားဆက်ဆံမှုကင်းသော လူ့အဖွဲ့အစည်းတစ်ခု ဖြစ်ထွန်းလာရေးအတွက် လက်တွဲညီညီဖြင့် တူညီသောပန်းတိုင်ဆီသို့ ချီတက်ရုန်းကန်သွားကြမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း ဖော်ပြလိုပါသည်။ သို့ဖြစ်ပါ၍ ယနေ့ကျရောက်သော ပြည်ထောင်စုသား အစ္စလာမ်ဘာသာဝင်များ၏ ဝါကျွတ် အီးဒ်နေ့ အခါသမယတွင် ကိုယ်ကျန်းမာလျှက် စိတ်ချမ်းသာကြပါစေကြောင်း ဘေးအန္တရာယ်ခပ်သိမ်း ကင်းဝေးပါစေကြောင်း ဆုတောင်းမေတ္တာပို့သရင်း ဤသဝဏ်လွှာကို ပေးပို့လိုက်ပါသည်။ ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီ..."
Source/publisher: Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)
2021-05-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Introduction: Not so many people were acquainted with the issue of Rohingya prior to the communal conflict that erupted in 2012. In fact, the conflict has brought the “hidden” issue to the surface, to a new level of visibility particularly among common people. Nevertheless, there is still relatively plenteous unknown patency behind the tragedy that occurred to the Rohingyas, besides a simple fact that it is an ethnoreligious conflict between Buddhist majority of Burman and Arakanese against the Muslim minority of Rohingya. The United Nations, indeed, even has regarded the Rohingyas as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities1 and among the world’s least wanted.2 This paper observes three major issues that are strongly linked and contributed to the creation of predicament for the Rohingyas. Comprehending these three issues are pivotal in order to see and possess thorough understanding about the Rohingyas The first issue covers the problem that related to the legal status of the Rohingyas. Second, the issue that related with the human rights abuse that happened toward the Rohingyas. Third, the issue of Buddhist fundamentalism.....The Birth of The Stateless Rohingya: The statelessness of Rohingya is a product of legal-political process conducted by the Burmese regime ever since the birth of modern Burma. The main driving force behind this policy has been the (political) stance of the Burmese authority that does not consider the Rohingya as a part of its native population (shown by the Panglong Agreement). In fact, the origin of Rohingya is still debatable hitherto. Both sides, the Burmese and the proRohingya, claim to have the most precise argument regarding the origin of Rohingya. Based on the point of view of Burmese historians, Khin Mau Saw, for example, stated that there had never been the term “Rohingya” before 1950’s (when the Mujahids changed their name into “Rohingyas”) supported by the fact that there was no such name as “Rohingya” in the Census of India 1921 (Burma) compiled by G.G Granthan, I.C.S (Superintendant of Census Operation Burma) or in the Burma Gazetter, Akyab District compiled by R.B Smart..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Ricky Raymon
2013-12-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
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Description: "This thesis has been written as a response to the worrying rise of hate speech online and focuses primarily on Myanmar. It aims to analyse hate speech as a factor of Myanmar’s internal conflicts and, through my own field research and an examination of existing literature, it attempts to suggest effective, long term methods to counter hate and build peace. Building peace and resolving conflict requires commitment to constructing a foundation of activities and actors, across all levels of society, which aim to achieve sustainable reconciliation.1 As Wallensteen suggests, conflict resolution is far more than the absence of violence: it is the agreement of parties to respect each other and live together in peace.2 Therefore, the core focus of this research is to discuss how Smile Education and Development Foundation can equip young people with the tools to challenge online hate speech and bring communities together. This research is specifically focused on Buddhist hate speech, though this is not to suggest that there is no negative rhetoric or actions from Muslims or other minority groups. However, this study would suggest that by transforming negative attitudes towards Muslims and the religious/ethnic/cultural ‘Other’, the chance of future violence from either party decreases significantly. Myanmar has a history of intrastate conflict which is largely down to the marginalization of minority groups; the Burman (Bamar) ethnic group constitutes two thirds of the country but controls the government and military, often failing to protect the rights of the ethnically diverse remainder of the country. To further understand the complex situation, a conflict assessment of Myanmar will be conducted in chapter one, using Mathew Levinger’s four step assessment framework. The assessment will draw upon the marginalization of ethnic and religious groups as a driver of conflict and Buddhist/Muslim tensions, in addition to economic struggles and the oppressive military junta. It is important to address the key components of the conflict in Myanmar to understand how existing tensions can be exploited to spread hatred and mistrust against Muslims, who, as a consequence, are often blamed for problems within society. One of the most common manifestations of religious intolerance, both in Myanmar and other contexts, is online hate speech. The internet has provided tools to enrich society, connect the world, and create educational information available to those who would not have had access to this before. However, these same tools have paradoxically become a platform to spread lies, prejudice and hatred that will often target religious or ethnic minority groups. Chapter two aims to deconstruct online hate speech and the consequences for Myanmar’s Muslim community, focusing primarily on Facebook – the most used social media platform in the country. While such hate speech can be brushed off by some as bigoted ranting or merely painful words, many, including Foxman and Wolf (2013), and Waldron (2012), whose work is discussed in chapter two, believe it could serve as a warning sign for more severe consequences. Worryingly for targeted minority groups such as the Muslim community in Myanmar, hate speech’s widespread appearance makes it seem increasingly acceptable. Once the youth become actively involved in these hate sites, they will be exposed to value sets and ideologies that soon become the norm. With a large percentage of internet users consisting of younger people, the focus of this report, the impact of this hate and the distorted truths that circulate online can affect many generations to come. It is what Waldron describes as a ‘slow poison’ threatening social peace. Chapter three draws on the conclusions made in the conflict assessment of chapter one, and of chapter two’s analysis of the harm of online hate speech in Myanmar, to evaluate the best possible methods of countering hate speech for this context. Through addressing religious peacebuilding ideas from Gopin, examining existing counter hate speech campaigns in Myanmar and from around the world, and bringing in points discussed in both focus groups, I will draw conclusions about methods of prevention, regulation, and counter narratives that may be useful in bringing together Myanmar’s Buddhist and Muslim communities..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: University of Winchester (UK)
2015-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 909.66 KB ( 77 pages)
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Description: "Violations of religious freedom are increasing and persecution takes place in more than 25 countries, with China and Myanmar among those that have the worst records, according to a report by a Vatican-backed charity. The Religious Freedom in the World Report, covering 2019-2020 and issued on Tuesday, said that in some countries, such as Niger, Turkey and Pakistan, prejudices against religious minorities led local residents to blame them for the COVID-19 pandemic and denial of access to medical aid. The 800-page report was prepared by Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN), a worldwide Catholic charity that studies violations of freedoms of all religions. The latest report put 26 countries in a "red" category denoting the existence of persecution, compared to 21 countries at the time of the last report two years ago. It put 36 countries in the "orange" category denoting discrimination, compared to 17 two years ago. The report describes discrimination as when laws or rules apply to a particular group and not to all, and persecution as when there is an active programme to subjugate people based on religion. "There has been a significant increase in the severity of religiously-motivated persecution and oppression," the report said. It was particularly scathing about China and Myanmar. "The apparatus of repression constructed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in recent years is ... fine-tuned, pervasive, and technologically sophisticated," the report said. The most egregious violations were against Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang "where the atrocities have reached such a scale that a growing number of experts describe them as genocide", it said..... HARASSMENT AND ARREST": In February, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden endorsed a last-minute determination by the Trump administration that China has committed genocide in Xinjiang and has said the United States must be prepared to impose costs on China. China says the complexes it set up in Xinjiang provide vocational training to help stamp out Islamist extremism and separatism. The Chinese foreign ministry has called allegations of forced labour and human rights violations "groundless rumour and slander". The ACN report said Catholic hierarchy in China "continue to suffer harassment and arrest" despite a landmark deal signed in 2018 between Bejing and the Vatican on the appointment of bishops on the mainland. Reuters reported last year that two nuns who work at the Vatican mission in Hong Kong were arrested when they went home to the mainland for a visit. China was increasing the use of facial recognition on worshippers of various religions, it said. In Myanmar, the report said Rohingya Muslims "have been the victims of the most egregious violations of human rights in recent memory". Last year, the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect Rohingya from genocide. The government has denied accusations of genocide. The ACN report said the military coup on Feb. 1 was "likely to make things worse for all religious minorities" in Myanmar, where about 8% of the population is Christian. Africa would be "the next battleground against Islamic militants," the report said. Militant groups were causing havoc in countries including Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, northern Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Mozambique, it said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-04-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Topic: atrocity crime – Myanmar – International Crime Tribunals – Rohingya – culture of impunity
Topic: atrocity crime – Myanmar – International Crime Tribunals – Rohingya – culture of impunity
Description: "What instruments and mechanisms are available to harness the ‘political will’ to pursue justice for the allegations of ‘atrocity crime’ in Rakhine, Myanmar? Analysing country’s ratification trend, declarations upon ratification on relevant global instruments, and interactions with the un on human rights issues, this paper reveals the ‘mind’ of Myanmar and its obligations. Exploring the mechanism of four International Crime Tribunals (icts), it outlines the pathways to pursue justice. Revealing the inadequacies of current actions by key state actors resulting in invidious outcomes that privilege impunity for atrocity crimes, the paper suggests ways to harness the political will to pursue justice. This paper contends that the establishment of an ict for the trial of atrocity crimes in Rakhine (ictm-R) would be best facilitated by: a consensus mandate to prosecute individuals and not the state; precisely defined jurisdiction; and provisions to integrate the host nation’s apparatus, buttressed by the advocacy of the right groups and media..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Netherlands)
2019-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 311.33 KB
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Description: "Conflict is inevitable and normal thing. Also the existence of the conflict in not a problem but the problem is how to handle it. When the conflict cause death of thousands and 1 migrate a lot that means the conflict reach a high level and it needs for immediate solution. In addition the very notion of ethnicity is a struggle topic in the social sciences for years.2 The Muslims minority in Myanmar (Rohingya) is suffered from violence in their home country and as result many of them fled to the neighbor country such as Bangladesh. They are one of the most marginalized refugee communities in south and Southeast Asia. In general the problem in Myanmar is a humanitarian and moral issue due to racial differences and governance problem. The Rohingya people are victims of the discriminatory policies of the government. 3 If we look to the political and military conflicts in the world map, we found that the most areas of tension are concentrated in places where there are Muslim minorities. This paper will focus in the Muslims minority in Myanmar. Firstly this paper will explain the historical background of the Muslim minority and the political system in the country. Then the conflict in Myanmar and how it escalates until it become hard to solve it. Moreover this paper will discuss the political interest and it’s related with violence. After that it will discuss the response of the international community. Then it will discuss the solutions alternative for this conflict. The current Burmese government‘s will not provide a solution to the ethnic conflict in Myanmar. In addition Burma‘s ethnic problems could be solved by negotiation between the groups with a powerful mediator. This will happen through the establishment of a real federal political system that guarantees the autonomy for all ethnic groups in Myan- mar or gives the independence for the Muslims minority in Myanmar..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Sultan Qaboos University:College of Economy and Political Science
2016-11-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 197.9 KB
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Description: "In the aftermath of Myanmar’s military coup on 1 February 2021, hundreds of thousands of people from almost every ethnic group, including people from the Rohingya community, have marched in the streets nationwide in opposition to the military’s power grab. Some activists hope that the protests present a turning point for the persecuted Rohingya minority, given that some Burmese seem to be changing their views of their Muslim countrymen, who they considered to be illegal migrants before. But reinstating a democratic system will not automatically turn the situation in favor of the Rohingya. The reason for this? Buddhist Nationalism. For decades, Myanmar ethnic minorities, who speak their own languages and have distinct cultures, have faced persecution at the hands of the military. The state has also continuously waged military campaigns against some groups, most notably the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority group indigenous to Rakhine State. More than 750,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh since 2017, when the military’s brutal campaign against the group led to the burning of villages, mass-murder, and rampant sexual violence. A United Nations human rights report concluded that the campaign was conducted with “genocidal intent.” Following the military’s campaign, Aung San Suu Kyi boosted her own image as the protector of the Bamar—the dominant majority ethnic group—before the domestic audience by defending the Tatmadaw against charges of genocide at the ICJ. Ultimately, neither the military nor the NLD defended the Muslim Rohingya minority in this Buddhist-majority country. On February 8, the third day of the general strikes, I entered into a group of protesters with a placard that read “Rohingya stand for Democracy.” I walked together with them around Tamwe and Mingalar Taung Nyunt townships, singing slogans for almost one hour. The reaction I got was neutral. When, the next day, we—myself and a group of Rohingya youth—went on to protest next to Sule Pagoda with vinyl placards bearing demands such as “reject the military coup” and “abolish the 2008 constitution,” we received a similar reaction. We received no particular attention from the crowd, although we used the term “Rohingya,” which has, in the past, been incredibly controversial in Myanmar. We were not met with criticism or threats because of the unity that the military coup had inspired. It now binds together the many different factions that oppose military rule. The day became a significant turning point for the Rohingya community in Yangon. Before, we had been too concerned to openly identify as Rohingya. But, in the aftermath of the coup, there was a need for solidarity and a show of unity amongst all people in Myanmar. This is what led us to overcome our fear of harassment. The initiative of a few protesters openly identifying as Rohingya encouraged others to join too. On the ground, our feelings of tension were palpable—this was a rare moment of equality, but one mixed with nervousness. The forthcoming support those first few protesters received online, however, helped inspire even more members of our community to come forward and step out of the shadow of persecution. Once more, we showed the degree of our commitment to the land of Myanmar, and that we stand together in the struggle for our country’s future..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Tea Circle (Myanmar)
2021-03-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 316.55 KB
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Topic: Burma, conflict journalism, corporate politics of immediation, emotion in media, journalism, politics of immediation, refugees, Rohingya
Topic: Burma, conflict journalism, corporate politics of immediation, emotion in media, journalism, politics of immediation, refugees, Rohingya
Description: "Burma is the second largest country in Southeast Asia, and prior to the current period of opening that began in 2010, had been under tight military control since 1962. Until recently, on the rare occasions when the country has invited inter- national attention, it has done so for its lack of democracy and its abusive human rights record. Despite Burma’s diversity, with 135 ethnic groups legally recognized by the 1982 Citizenship Law, the Rohingyas are not listed as such, although many have lived in Burma for generations. Thus the Rohingya remain stateless, with a total population in Burma of approximately 800,000, a component of the four percent of the Burmese population who are Muslim in a country that is 90% Buddhist. The Rohingyas have been much maligned, called ‘ugly as ogres,’dirty, terrorists, and ‘kalar,’ a racial slur. Myanmar’s government refers to the Rohingya as ‘Bengalis’ or ‘illegal Bengalis,’ which speaks of their status as uprooted Bangladeshi immigrants during the British occupation. Anti-Muslim violence occurred in 1978, 1997, and 2001, in different areas of Burma, and violence between the Muslim Rohingyas and the Rakhine Buddhists has been referred to by one UN official as a ‘chronic crisis’ (Fuller, 2012: 19). In the June 2012 violence, almost 5,000 Rohingya houses were burned down by Rakhine Buddhists, police, military, and other ‘security’ forces, more than 30,000 Rohingyas became homeless, and many lost their lives. The violence between June 2012 and March 2014, including a major wave of violence in October 2012, resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people and displaced another 140,000, the vast majority of them Rohingya. While there have been Rakhine victims, the majority have been Rohingya. While some Rohingyas are taking shelter in displacement camps, others have tried to enter neighboring countries such as Bangladesh. Most often they are denied entry, facing dangerous and often deadly conditions at sea. Their plight has triggered international calls by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), human rights groups and other countries to grant them entry into Bangladesh and other countries according to international law. Despite elections in Burma in 2010 that led to a nominally civilian government, the military’s influence remains strong, as it is constitutionally guaranteed 25% of the parliamentary seats. Former military general and now president, Thein Sein, and Burmese opposition leader and now member of parliament, Aung San Suu Kyi, have both vowed to work towards democratic change. The nature of these changes, and the international interest in Burma that has skyrocketed since the first signs of democratic progress in the country, are the focus of much discussion and debate. Our purpose here is to analyze how the three media sources construct the story of the sectarian violence threatening to derail the reform process, and the implications this may have for Myanmar’s media and for media systems in countries in transition. We find that combining attention to Mutua’s SVS framework with attention to the politics of immediation provides insight into how different patterns of media representation imply different policy solutions. The next section contextualizes Mutua’s approach and framework..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "International Communication Gazette"
2012-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 161.34 KB
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Description: "In 2012, religious violence exploded in the Rakhine state of western Myanmar.1 Thousands of Buddhists participated in attacks against the Ro- hingyas, a Muslim ethnic minority. Rakhine nationalists contested the status of Rohingya and claimed they were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The conflict led to a large outflow of refugees and internally displaced more than 150,000 people.2 But in 2013 and 2014, the violence took an unexpected turn. Riots spread to more than 20 different towns in central and lower Myanmar, much beyond Rakhine state. The targets were Muslims, rather than Rohingyas per se, and had little to do with the ethnonationalist conflict in the Rakhine state.3 Monks played a key role in turning the localized conflict into a broader anti-Muslim movement. They aimed at promoting and protecting Buddhism against what they perceived as a Muslim invasion. Exploiting and fanning fears, they stirred up anti-Muslim sentiments while condoning and even participating in the violence. Why did monks use a somewhat localized, if already dramatic conflict in the Rakhine state to create a larger, anti-Muslim one? We argue that scapegoating is an important, and neglected, aspect of monks’ participation in religious violence. It is one of many strategies to strengthen their appeal and to justify their leadership position. Fomenting fear of minorities, protesting against an oppressive state, or providing wel- fare for victims of tragedy can all contribute to enhancing their social and political status.4 Targeting vulnerable religious minorities is one way to gain visibility, to strengthen their autonomous networks, and to increase their social credentials. Two factors condition why and when scapegoating becomes a use- ful strategy. First, it is effective mostly in decentralized religions. With no central institution that grants authority or creates hierarchy, leadership and influence rest more directly on each religious leader’s capacity to remain relevant and to attract new followers. There are few checks on leaders’ in- terpretation of scriptures or their investment in social and political action. Competition arises among religious leaders seeking to gain power relative to their peers or other social elites. Entrepreneurial leaders might target the state or a regime deemed to be causing harm to their flock, thereby ex- ploiting popular grievances for moral gain. Alternatively, they might target minorities by tapping into popular fears, anxieties, and stereotypes. Second, the political environment shapes the strategy that religious lead- ers adopt, with liberalization being particularly prone to scapegoating. Under authoritarian rule, antiregime coalitions often arise with religious leaders well positioned to lead them. Yet, in a liberalized regime, such broad coalitions dissolve. Religious leaders become only one of several competing elites, and their moral and social authority is challenged by rising, alternative sources of societal values and education. We demonstrate our claim, empirically, by analyzing two episodes of monks’ participation in religious violence. As we will show in the following sections, there are striking parallels between the violence of the 1920–1930s and more recent violence against Muslims. We compare the most recent wave of mobilization, which started in 2007 with the Saffron Revolution, with another wave in the 1920s, when monks were leading actors in the nascent anticolonial and nationalist mobilization in colonial Burma.5 While they originally targeted the colonial government (1920s) and the authoritar- ian regime (2007), some monks then shifted the target to minorities, mostly Indians, Rohingyas, and Muslims..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Routledge (London)
2017-07-25
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 340.12 KB
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Description: "This article aims to explore the historical development of Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar, and the way it has been politicized by the state. According to the study, political legitimacy has been constructed by the revival of Buddhist nationalism in two ways. First, it is through policy implementation and legislation of religious protection laws, which declare Buddhism’s superiority in Myanmar and to segregate as well as discriminate against non-Buddhists in the conduct of their daily lives. The state uses state authorities, including an unelected civilian government and National Legislative Assembly, with retired soldiers and representatives from the tatmadaw (the military) as members, to function in this process. Second, the state supports civilian movements to stage activities and to stimulate nationalist sentiments among the Buddhists. The state uses Buddhist nationalist movements that include monks and laypeople as the main actors for mass mobilization in accordance with policy and legislation. Unlike dictatorial rule, these two elements adjust the relationship between state and religion such that the old elites could retain its power. Furthermore, the state chooses to restore Buddhist nationalism through Islamophobia and historical memory about Rohingya Muslims in order to bring out the significance of the regime. In addition, Buddhist nationalism builds the political legitimacy of this semi-authoritarian government in order that it could retain power despite democratic transition, and contributes to its popularity for upcoming elections in the near future..."
Source/publisher: Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)
2017-05-26
Date of entry/update: 2021-03-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 178.13 KB
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Topic: UN, MYANMAR, ROHINGYA, MIN AUNG HLAING, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Sub-title: Min Aung Hlaing, accused of war crimes against Rohingya Muslims, has evidently had a change of heart
Topic: UN, MYANMAR, ROHINGYA, MIN AUNG HLAING, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Description: "Myanmar’s internationally reviled military chief, widely accused of commanding “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes” against the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority, has evidently now discovered religious tolerance. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, and several of his deputies made a rare, if not unprecedented, late August visit to a Muslim mosque in the town of Pyinmana, close to the national capital of Naypyitaw. Two weeks later, in what some see as a sort of public relations roadshow, the military chief visited the Joon Mosque in the central city of Mandalay. Then, on September 17, in the commercial capital Yangon, he visited the Muslim Free Hospital, a local clinic established in 1937 that despite its name is actually a multicultural charity. As is customary for religious shrine visits in Myanmar and elsewhere, Min Aung Hlaing made donations of rice, oil, salt, peas and cash to the mosques, offerings that were earmarked as given by himself, his family and his deputies’ families. Less familiar, the military chief also offered up messages of tolerance, inclusion and unity to his Muslim audiences, noting at one stop that all Myanmar citizens are “living in the same land, drinking from the same source and living under the same roof.” That’s, of course, unless you’re among the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya forcibly driven out of the country in 2017 by his military’s “area clearance” operations in Rakhine state, and are now languishing in abysmal refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2019-09-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Yesterday, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and his entourage visited Muslims and Hindus from Yangon. According to analysts, the Army is trying to clean up its image after the Rohingya crisis. In 2020, Myanmar citizens will take part in the second elections
Description: "Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (pictured), commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw), recently visit non-Buddhist organisations and places of worship and made donations. According to some observers, the move represents an attempt to promote unity among the country’s different communities; for others, it is dictated by political opportunism, ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections. Recently, the close relations between military leaders and ultra-nationalist movements had raised controversy. These groups accuse the civilian government of not protecting the traditions and culture of Buddhism, a task they believe is done by the military alone. Yesterday morning, the General led a group of senior officers and their families to donate money and necessities to an Islamic hospital in the municipality of Kyauktada (Yangon). The delegation then visited the Sri Sri Durga Bari Hindu temple. Aung Thwin, vice chairman of the Hindu Central Council, said that the military left offerings for 7.7 million kyats (US$ 5,000) for the community’s orphanages and clinics. The General and officers also went to the Zafar Shah Mosque. This was the third in a series of visits to non-Buddhist holy places by the Commander-in-chief. Last week, he donated money and provisions to Christian and Muslim groups in Mandalay, as well as Buddhist monks from the monasteries of Bhamo and Ma Soe Yein. As a gesture to foster political, social and religious cohesion, the general gave 9.5 million kyats (US,200) and 140 bags of rice, oil, peas and salt..."
Source/publisher: "AsiaNews.it"
2019-09-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing donated to non-Buddhist religious communities because of the need for unity in the country, a military spokesperson said. Led by Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, members of the Myanmar military visited and made donations to Christian and Muslim religious groups in Naypyitaw’s Pyinmana Township on Sunday. “Now is the time that our country needs to be united. Particularly, we need political cohesion, social cohesion and religious cohesion today. [The Myanmar military] has done what is necessary for that,” Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy, explaining the rationale for the Tatmadaw’s handing out of donations to non-Buddhist religious organizations. The families of Tatmadaw army, navy and air force members have made communal rice donations, as per Buddhist ritual, to Buddhist monasteries, nunneries and homes for the aged annually since 1996, but this year they also donated to 11 Christian churches, 13 mosques and an Arabic school in the township, in addition to Buddhist organizations..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-08-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The student movement has historically played a central role in the pro-democracy struggle in Burma. Sithu Maung, a 27-year-old university student is one of the many who have paid a heavy price for their involvement in the movement. Sithu Maung was arrested in 2007 for re-founding the outlawed All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), and for his role in leading the 2007 Saffron Revolution. In September 2007, Sithu Maung participated in the peaceful demonstrations with monks and other protestors, demanding to be allowed to form student unions and calling for democracy. Sithu Maung witnessed his fellow students being shot by the military, and although he escaped the crackdown, authorities soon found him. Sithu Maung was sentenced to 11 years in prison. After his release in the 2012 amnesty for political prisoners, Sithu Maung continued his political activities and founded the Confederation of University Students? Unions (CUSU), which has played an active role in the recent negotiations for democratic education and in promoting the students? rights in Burma. Sithu Maung applied to the NLD (National League for Democracy) to be a candidate in the upcoming 2015 general election, but his application, along with all Muslim candidates, was rejected. Sithu Maung now dreams of preparing himself to become a member of parliament one day and advocating for minority rights and dignity."
Source/publisher: Burma Link
2015-10-02
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: ""Commissioned by CPCS, Myanmar: Portraits of Diversity is a series of short films seeking to stimulate discussion and move audiences towards recognizing, accepting, and celebrating religious diversity in Myanmar. Directed by Kannan Arunasalam, the films present individuals from Myanmar?s different religious communities and highlight the inter-faith connections and engagement that take place naturally around the country. Featuring stories of cooperation across religious and ethnic divides, as well as the capacity for peace leadership within the country, community leaders share analysis and insights into the threat of inter-communal violence and illustrate the capacity for peace leadership...The film series seeks to stimulate alternative narratives regarding ethnic and spiritual issues in Myanmar where tolerance and cooperation are highlighted, rather than conflict and persecution. Screened together with guided reflections, the films can be used as tools to stimulate exchanges of ideas about diversity and tolerance, and to create a space to foster acceptance and share visions for the future. The issues raised by individuals featured in the films can be used to generate discussions on Myanmar?s different religious communities and highlight the kinds of inter-faith connections and engagement that take place naturally around the country. A discussion and study guide is available for each video portrait, followed by suggested activities that can also be adapted to different learning environments. For each film, background is provided on the person and their context, followed by five discussion questions and extension activities..."
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2015-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-09-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Commissioned by CPCS, Myanmar: Portraits of Diversity is a series of short films seeking to stimulate discussion and move audiences towards recognizing, accepting, and celebrating religious diversity in Myanmar. Directed by Kannan Arunasalam, the films present individuals from Myanmar?s different religious communities and highlight the inter-faith connections and engagement that take place naturally around the country. Featuring stories of cooperation across religious and ethnic divides, as well as the capacity for peace leadership within the country, community leaders share analysis and insights into the threat of inter-communal violence and illustrate the capacity for peace leadership...The film series seeks to stimulate alternative narratives regarding ethnic and spiritual issues in Myanmar where tolerance and cooperation are highlighted, rather than conflict and persecution. Screened together with guided reflections, the films can be used as tools to stimulate exchanges of ideas about diversity and tolerance, and to create a space to foster acceptance and share visions for the future. The issues raised by individuals featured in the films can be used to generate discussions on Myanmar?s different religious communities and highlight the kinds of inter-faith connections and engagement that take place naturally around the country. A discussion and study guide is available for each video portrait, followed by suggested activities that can also be adapted to different learning environments. For each film, background is provided on the person and their context, followed by five discussion questions and extension activities..."
Source/publisher: Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
2015-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-09-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English and Burmese
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Description: The Muslim schoolteacher who joined Burma?s martyrs... "Being a Muslim in a country where 87 percent of the population is Buddhist, and where the military government regularly practices ultra-nationalism and uses religion as a political tool, means joining the underprivileged at the bottom of the pile. The fight for liberty is the fight for peace. And like peace, liberty is indivisible —U Razak, June 1947 Muslims in Burma regularly suffer social and religious discrimination. Burmese Buddhists commonly call them, Kala, a derogatory term for South Asians and also used insultingly to describe westerners. While some consider the term abusive and degrading, there?s general acceptance that it takes on a sense of honor, respect and lovingkindness when it?s used in the form Kalagyi (Big Kala), to describe independence hero Abdul Razak. U Razak rose from the position of headmaster of Mandalay Central National High School to become minister of education and national planning in Burma?s pre-independence government. His career was brought to a brutal end at the age of 49, when he was gunned down by assassins on July 19, 1947, together with independence leader Gen Aung San and seven other cabinet members and colleagues. The nine murdered leaders are commemorated annually on the country?s Martyr?s Day. Mandalay, where U Razak taught, is a center of Burmese Buddhist faith and culture. Yet U Razak, of ethnic Indian-Burmese origin, was fully accepted by the community..."
Creator/author: Yeni
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol 15, No. 9
2007-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2008-05-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "As a primary school student, I read about Sayagyi (a great teacher or a principal) U Razak and fellow martyrs in school textbooks and in remembrance booklets of Martyrs? Day, (19th July, 1947), the day he was assassinated along with U Aung San and seven other cabinet members and colleagues. Later in my twenties and thirties, I read the few available writings by U Razak, and articles written about him by his former students, and talked with people who knew him well. From this exposure, I learned about U Razak?s deep love for Burma, his courage to fight for our country?s independence, his respect for diversity, his desire for unity and his far-sighted wisdom. As a leader, his vision carried beyond our country and highlighted the principles of humanity, integrity, knowledge, courage, freedom and peace. The points U Razak, as Burma?s Minister for Education and National Planning, emphasized in his 1947 speech at the First South East Asian Regional Conference of International Student Service in Madras, India, are still valid if not more pronounced in 2007. In times of intolerance and divisiveness, such as today, his vision and gentle yet persistent approach sought to unite diverse groups through education for the common goal of freedom and development should be referenced and explored further as we seek practical actions for long-lasting peace, security and prosperity..." CONTENTS: I. Preface; II. A Tribute to Sayagyi U Razak By Dr. Nyi Nyi; III. Freedom Movements As Peace Movements By Honorable U Razak; IV. The Burman Muslim Organization By A. Razak, B.A.; V. Translator?s Note... 1. Sayagyi U Razak And Mandalay University By M.A. Ma Ohn; 2. Our Selfless Sayagyi By Colonel Khin Nyo; 3. Sayagyi Didn?t Care For High Offices By U Saw Hla; 4. Our Sayagyi U Razak; By Thakin Chan Tun; 5. Affection Just As One Has For One?s Mother By Pinnie; 6. A Partial Profile Of Sayagyi U Razak By Aung Kyi; 7. Just Like A Father By Thuriya Than Maung; 8. Our Marvellous Sayagyi By Maung Maung Mya; 9. In Fond Memory Of Sayagyi U Razak By Colonel Wai Lin; 10. Sayagyi U Razak And I By Theikpan Hmu Tin.
Source/publisher: Private publisher
2007-07-00
Date of entry/update: 2007-07-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 894.72 KB
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Description: In a country where discrimination against minority groups is a fact of life, Muslims are bottom of the heap... "There is a saying that if you lose control of your bicycle in Burma?s western Arakan State, you shouldn?t worry as it will stop when it hits a kala. Kala is Burmese slang for outsider, or alien, and although Caucasians are sometimes referred to as white kala, the term is more commonly used for anyone dark skinned, usually of Indian origin. While some shrug the term off, others consider it abusive and degrading: an insult to people whose ancestors may have fought for the country and who consider themselves wholly Burmese...
Creator/author: Harry Priestley
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 14, No. 1
2006-01-00
Date of entry/update: 2006-05-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: In addition to greater international attention on their plight in exile, Thailand?s growing community of Burmese Muslims wants a voice in the political future of their country... "...The desire for equal protection—at home and in exile—seems to be the order of the day for Mae Sot?s Burmese Muslim community. Like the majority of refugees, they wait for the opportunity to return to a free Burma. Meanwhile, they do what they can to provide for their families, practice their religion without constraints and hope that greater attention is given to what the IHRC calls ?the oppressed of the oppressed.?"
Creator/author: Edward Blair, Aung Zaw
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 14, No. 1
2006-01-00
Date of entry/update: 2006-05-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "...Human Rights Watch said that various factors sparked last year?s confrontations between Buddhists and Muslims, including anger over the destruction of Buddhist images in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in March 2001. Military authorities confiscated pirated photos and videos of the Bamiyan statues being blown up by the Taliban, fearful they would enflame Buddhist sentiment. But in some cities outside Rangoon, there were credible reports of military intelligence officers stirring up anti-Muslim violence..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch
2002-07-18
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "While extensive reporting has been done on the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, very little attention has been paid to the persecution suffered by the thousands of Muslim communities which exist in villages and towns throughout Burma. With no political voice or armed group to stand up for them, Muslim communities are forced to endure the denial of all citizenship rights, restrictions on travel, work, and education, prohibitions on practicing Islam, and the systematic destruction of their mosques. This report looks at the systematic way these communities have been persecuted, impoverished and scapegoated by the military regime and by local populations, which culminated in the anti-Muslim riots and massacres of 2001..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2002-02)
2002-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "While Muslims around the world protest against airstrikes in Afghanistan, Burma?s Muslims are keeping silent, as the latest wave of communal violence continues..."
Creator/author: Maung Maung Oo
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol 9. No. 8, October-November 2001
2001-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2003-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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