Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)

expand all
collapse all

Websites/Multiple Documents

Title: *Google search for "Rohingya"
Description: About 7,390,000 results (August 2017) About 26,800,000 results (February 2018)
Source/publisher: www via Google
Date of entry/update: 2017-08-27
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: *Youtube search for Burma OR Myanmar - Rohingya*" (video)
Description: About 153,000 results (August 2017)
Source/publisher: Various sources via Youtube
Date of entry/update: 2017-08-20
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
more
Title: Advisory Commission on Rakhine State
Description: "The Advisory Commission on Rakhine State was founded [on August 23, 2016] as a neutral and impartial body which aims to propose concrete measures for improving the welfare of all people in Rakhine state. It is composed of six local and three international experts, and is chaired by Kofi Anna...At the behest of the Ministry of the Office of the State Counsellor of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and in collaboration with the Kofi Annan Foundation, the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State has been founded as a neutral and impartial body which aims to propose concrete measures for improving the welfare of all people in Rakhine state. It is composed of six local and three international experts, and is chaired by Kofi Annan. In its work, it considers humanitarian and developmental issues, access to basic services, legal questions including citizenship and the assurance of basic rights, and security to all people in all communities. It will submit its final report and recommendations to the Government of Myanmar in the second half of 2017."
Source/publisher: Advisory Commission on Rakhine State
Date of entry/update: 2017-02-04
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Ashin Wirathu (Wikipedia)
Source/publisher: Wikipedia
Date of entry/update: 2017-10-18
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Bangladesh: Rescued Rohingya refugees require immediate care and protection
Description: "...Responding to the rescue of nearly 400 Rohingya refugees from the Bay of Bengal after a two month-long failed attempt to reach Malaysia, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director, Biraj Patnaik, said..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International
Date of publication: 2020-04-16
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-19
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Format : PDF
Size: 5.01 MB
more
Title: Google search results for nhat hanh rohingya
Description: About 137,000 results (February 2018)
Source/publisher: Google
Date of entry/update: 2018-02-22
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Title: Google search results for UN Report Myanmar
Description: About 51,400,000 results (August 2018)
Source/publisher: www via Google
Date of publication: 2018-08-27
Date of entry/update: 2018-08-27
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Title: Google Search: Jacques P Leider Rohingya
Description: About 38,900 results (0.31 seconds)
Creator/author: Jacques P Leider
Source/publisher: Google Search
Date of publication: 2019-10-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-30
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Title: Internal conflict in Myanmar
Description: "The internal conflict in Myanmar refers to a series of ongoing insurgencies within Myanmar that began shortly after the country, then known as Burma, became independent from the United Kingdom in 1948. The conflict has been labeled as the world?s longest running civil war....."Main fronts: Kachin State... Kayah State... Kayin State... Rakhine State... Shan State..."
Source/publisher: Wikipedia
Date of entry/update: 2018-01-02
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: International Campaign for the Rohingya
Description: "ADVOCATING AND AMPLIFYING THE VOICE OF THE ROHINGYA WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, GOVERNMENTS, CORPORATIONS, AND CIVIL SOCIETY...The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group from the northern Rakhine State in western Burma. Despite having lived in Burma for generations, the Rohingya are considered ?foreigners” by the Burmese government. The Burmese government has isolated the 1.3 million Rohingya in Burma. Burma?s 1982 Citizenship Act denies the Rohingya people citizenship. They are limited in their rights to marry, have children, work, obtain healthcare, and go to school. Fleeing violence, over 140,000 Rohingya live in what many describe as ?concentration camps” where they face severe restrictions and are denied basic necessities including medical care. Since 2012, an estimated 100,000 Rohingya have fled Burma by boat. Apart from the risk of drowning, many of those who flee fall into the hands of human traffickers, and are forced to work on rubber plantations or in the sex trade. Ultranationalist groups in Burma have also dehumanized the Rohingya through rampant hate speech. This demonization of the Rohingya, coupled with the government?s denial of their rights, has created an environment in Burma that, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, puts the Rohingya at grave risk of mass atrocities and even genocide..."
Date of entry/update: 2017-11-16
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: MIMU - RAKHINE emergency page
Description: Tools for humanitarian assistance..."For up-to-date relevant information including maps, contact list, initial assessment form and 3W data...3W maps/reports for 2012 can be found HERE. 268 organizations were contacted to provide inputs for this round of the 3W (Who is doing what, where) exercise. Amongst them, 87 agencies provided updates – (1) Embassy/Donor (3) Red Cross societies, (12) UN Agencies, (25) LNGOs and (46) INGOs. The 3W products reflect implementing agencies? projects in 329 townships, 4,089 village tract and 11,479 villages throughout the country...".....If this site does not have the latest situation reports, go to the Alternate URL - the OCHA myanmar page at http://reliefweb.int/country/mmr
Source/publisher: Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU)
Date of entry/update: 2012-07-04
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Myanmar’s Directives Not Enough to Protect Rohingya
Description: "...This week, Myanmar’s government issued two presidential directives in response to the ICJ’s January order that the government and military prevent genocide of the Rohingya Muslim ethnic group and preserve evidence of crimes that could amount to genocide.The court ordered Myanmar to report on its compliance by May 23 and then every six months while Gambia’s case alleging that abuses against the Rohingya violated the Genocide Convention proceeds...."
Source/publisher: Human Right Watch
Date of publication: 2020-04-09
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-12
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Title: Reliefweb Myanmar page
Description: Timely reports on the humanitarian situation in Myanmar - from UN, Government and media sources.
Source/publisher: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
Date of entry/update: 2012-07-31
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Remember Rohingya
Description: Various articles, photos videos, profiles, campaigns etc. on the Rohingya. Unfortunately, the material is not precisely dated.
Source/publisher: Restless Beings
Date of entry/update: 2014-08-21
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Rohingya Blogger (RB)
Description: News and articles about Rohingya, ရိုဟင်ဂျာ အကြောင်း သတင်းနှင့် ဆောင်းပါးများ
Source/publisher: Rohingya Blogger (RB)
Date of entry/update: 2012-08-11
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
more
Title: Rohingya News
Description: Several recent stories on the Rohingyas
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera
Date of entry/update: 2017-09-03
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Rohingya on "Democracy Now"
Source/publisher: "Democracy Now"
Date of entry/update: 2018-02-07
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Title: Search results for "Rohingya" in "New Age"
Description: 1600+ results - December 2012; 2500 - August 2013
Source/publisher: "New Age" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update: 2012-12-24
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: Statements on the situation in Northern Rakhine State on the website of the UN Information Centre, Yangon
Source/publisher: United Nations Information Centre, Yangon
Date of entry/update: 2017-10-18
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: The Peoples? Tribunal on Myanmar
Description: Judgement of the Peoples? Tribunal on Myanmar... Rohingya: The silence of Aung San Suu Kyi and the betrayal of human rights...Rohingya crisis ruled as genocide by Permanent Peoples? Tribunal...17 RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE PEOPLES? TRIBUNAL ON MYANMAR...PRELIMINARY JUDGMENT AND DISPOSITIONS...VIDEO OF JUDGMENT?S ANNOUNCEMENT (22.SEPT.2017)
Source/publisher: Permanent Peoples? Tribunal
Date of entry/update: 2017-11-26
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: The Rohingya Issues written by Jacques P Leider
Description: The Rohingya Issues written by Jacques P Leider. 31 books.
Creator/author: Jacques P Leider
Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-10-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-30
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Title: UK: Archive of Network Myanmar?s collection of material on Rohingya/Muslim issues
Description: Extensive and wide-ranging online collection of useful documents. The archive ends in October 2016 when Network Myanmar closed. The main link here, however, contains some updates beyond the 2016 cut-off.
Source/publisher: Network Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2014-09-25
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
Title: UN Country Team in Myanmar
Description: Reports from October 2007
Source/publisher: UN Country Team in Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2013-04-30
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
more
expand all
collapse all

Individual Documents

Title: Myanmar's ethnic groups have long suffered from military brutality. The junta gave them a common foe
Description: "For many of Myanmar's ethnic minorities, the bloodshed inflicted across the country's towns and cities this week is a continuation of the oppression they have suffered at the hands of the military for decades. The Southeast Asian country is home to some of the world's longest civil wars, where myriad ethnic insurgencies have fought the military, central government and each other for greater rights and autonomy. Some of those bloody conflicts have ebbed and flowed in the borderlands for 70 years. Throughout years of conflict in Myanmar's jungles and mountains, ethnic people have witnessed and been subjected to horrific atrocities including massacres, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, forced labor and displacement by the armed forces, as well as state-sanctioned discrimination. In 2016 and 2017, the military launched a brutal campaign of killing and arson that forced more than 740,000 Rohingya minority people to flee into neighboring Bangladesh, prompting a genocide case to be heard at the International Court of Justice. In 2019, the United Nations said "grave human rights abuses" by the military were still continuing in the ethnic states of Rakhine, Chin, Shan, Kachin and Karen. This week, that brutality played out on the streets of Myanmar's biggest cities, as the ruling junta launched a systematic and coordinated attack on unarmed peaceful demonstrators calling for an end to the February 1 coup. Witnesses, footage and photographs showed police and the military shooting dead anti-coup protesters, beating detainees and reported extrajudicial killings, while images of crumpled bodies laying in pools of their own blood or being dragged through the streets shocked the world. Determined to fight against those abuses and ensure their distinct voices and demands are heard, ethnic people have loudly joined the nationwide protests, uniting in solidarity against a common enemy. Though many fear further violence and intensified conflict from an unchecked military junta operating with impunity and now firmly in control of the country. "This fight has been since the beginning of the forming of the country itself. We hope that the current fight against the military coup in 21st century might be a new hope for our people," said Chin activist Sang Hnin Lian..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-03-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-03-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: The Politics of Buddhist Nationalism in Myanmar: History, Legitimacy and Democratic Transition
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)
Date of publication: 2017-05-26
Date of entry/update: 2021-03-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 178.13 KB
more
Title: Myanmar military implausibly plays the Rohingya card
Description: " After grabbing power in a February 1 coup that has been resisted by massive demonstrations and condemned by the US, EU and UN, Myanmar’s military regime would appear to have few cards to play to win acceptance. But one the coup-makers amazingly think they can play is the plight of Muslim Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who were driven across the border during brutal military campaigns in 2016-17, and those who have remained behind in Myanmar. Shortly after overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government, the new military regime sent a letter to Bangladesh’s government through its ambassador in Myanmar to explain their reasons for the coup, namely unsubstantiated allegations of fraud at the November 2020 election Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) resoundingly won. In the letter, the full contents of which has not been made public, the military regime also mentioned a possible solution for solving the Rohingya crisis. That prompted Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Abdul Momen, quoted by the Dhaka Tribune on February 6, to say “these are good news. It’s a good beginning.” Inside Myanmar’s Rakhine state, several local military commanders have visited Muslim-inhabited areas close to the Bangladesh border and a camp for internally displaced Rohingyas in the state capital Sittwe..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication: 2021-02-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-02-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar lodges objections in Rohingya genocide case
Sub-title: Filing, made two weeks before military staged a coup and detained the country’s civilian leaders, is likely to delay proceedings by at least a year.
Description: "Myanmar is being accused of attempting to delay court proceedings after it emerged the country last month filed preliminary objections to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over genocide charges for its treatment of the mostly Muslim Rohingya. The case was brought by The Gambia in 2019 after a brutal military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine in 2017 forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee across the border to neighbouring Bangladesh. “On 20 January 2021, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar filed preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the Court and the admissibility of the Application,” the ICJ said in a filing signed by Court President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf and dated January 28. The filing did not elaborate on the nature of the objections, but legal experts say they are likely to include whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case and whether The Gambia has the appropriate standing to bring the suit. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s former civilian leader raised similar issues during preliminary hearings in December 2019 when she travelled to The Hague to defend her country’s treatment of a minority group that has been described as among the world’s most persecuted. The Gambia has until May 20 to respond and the court will then consider the points raised. “These objections will fail and are nothing more than delaying tactics,” Mark Farmaner, the director of the Burma Campaign UK wrote on Twitter, urging the British government to intervene..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2021-02-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-02-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Is post-election Myanmar moving closer to China?
Description: "Amid the worsening domestic COVID-19 situation, Myanmar’s election in November 2020 brought a landslide victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD) under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite voting restrictions in parts of Rakhine and Shan states, the election was overall a step in the right direction, and the NLD increased its majority in the Pyithu Hluttaw (lower house) and Amyotha Hluttaw (upper house). The show of support at the ballot box for the NLD indicates the domestic popularity of Aung San Suu Kyi. Her defence of Myanmar’s handling of the Rohingya crisis at the International Court of Justice — and in many other international venues — was dubbed a betrayal of democracy and human rights by Western media, but it boosted her domestic aura as a defender of Myanmar. The priorities for the NLD government are no doubt domestic. The COVID-19 pandemic ransacked Myanmar’s economy and the domestic poverty rate skyrocketed. High on the government’s agenda is creating employment for millions of Myanmar workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. The country still faces one of the worst humanitarian crises with the Rohingya issue which battered its international image and led to economic sanctions. Myanmar’s domestic peace process has also stalled and militarised conflicts in the north of the country have no end in sight. To deal with these issues, China is the most indispensable country for Aung San Suu Kyi and her government. As one of the manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines and with a promise to contribute to the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries, Myanmar needs to work with China to vaccinate its population. Vaccine diplomacy was high on the agenda during a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Myanmar in early January 2021, despite Naypyidaw making the first order of 30 million doses from India. As the largest trading partner and second largest FDI source for Myanmar, the continued economic growth and opening up of the Chinese market will also have positive reverberations. Although Myanmar society overall holds anti-Chinese sentiments, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government still sees the benefits of engaging in close economic cooperation with China. Initiatives such as the China–Myanmar Economic Corridor aim to further connect the two economies. With the recent signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Myanmar is also set to benefit from further relaxing of trade restrictions among its major trading partners. The government is optimistic that participating in RCEP will help Myanmar gain access to a large market for its exports, and that there will also be opportunities for responsible, high-quality investment inflows. While Myanmar faces tremendous pressure from the West on the Rohingya issue, Myanmar’s Asian neighbours are hesitant to jump on the bandwagon. Only Malaysia and Indonesia — as the two Muslim-majority countries in ASEAN — have been more vocal. China is Myanmar’s strongest supporter on the Rohingya issue and is actively involved in facilitating negotiations between the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh. The protection China offers to Myanmar at international institutions is crucial. A quid pro quo is evident between the two countries with Myanmar offering support for China at the United Nations on Xinjiang and Hong Kong. This cooperative relationship will likely continue as both face similar pressure from the West..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "East Asia Forum" (Australia)
Date of publication: 2021-01-23
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: In Myanmar’s Rakhine, families of the disappeared seek answers
Sub-title: The families of 18 people taken by the military nearly a year ago are still waiting for news of their loved ones – and justice.
Description: "One evening, as Ma Nway* and her family were having dinner, soldiers from Myanmar’s armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, came to her house and asked for her husband. According to her account, they blindfolded him, took out their guns and beat him in front of her. “At the time, I could only cry,” said Ma Nway, an ethnic Arakanese from Myanmar’s westernmost Rakhine State, who prefers not to reveal her identity for fear of reprisals. “I feared they would shoot me, so I held my tongue … I felt like they were the most brutal people in the world.” It was March 16 2020 and the last time she saw her husband. He is among 18 people from the neighbouring villages of Tinma Thit and Tinma Gyi in Rakhine State’s northern Kyauktaw township who were arrested in March and have not been seen since. Their families’ relentless search for information has been met with silence, rejection and threats. Ten months later, they are still looking for answers – and justice. Three witnesses, whose testimonies align with those published by other media, told Al Jazeera that on March 13 and 16, uniformed soldiers wearing the badge of the Tatmadaw’s Light Infantry Division No. 55 went door to door arresting dozens of men it suspected of having ties to the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group seeking autonomy. Most of those arrested were released the same day, but 18 were not. The missing include a 16 year old, three people over the age of 65 and one person who is deaf. Al Jazeera has used pseudonyms for the three witnesses to protect them from possible reprisals. On March 18, four bodies were seen floating in the Kaladan River near the villages. One of the bodies was identified by family members as among the missing villagers. The family told local media that soldiers shot at them when they approached the body, which the US-government funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported was riddled with bullet holes. The three other bodies were never identified..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2021-01-20
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar: Serious Rights Abuses Persist
Sub-title: No Justice for Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity, Apartheid
Description: "The Myanmar government has repeatedly violated basic civil and political rights, and failed to hold the country’s security forces accountable for atrocities against ethnic minorities, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2021. The ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party overwhelmingly won the November 8, 2020, election, which was marred by serious problems. Prior to the vote the government prosecuted its critics, censored opposition party messages, and did not provide equal access to state media. Systemic problems include the continued ethnic Rohingya disenfranchisement, the 25 percent of assembly seats reserved for the military, and the lack of an independent and transparent Union Election Commission. The commission cancelled voting in 57 primarily ethnic minority townships for security reasons, but provided little or no consultation or explanation to affected political parties and candidates. “Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling National League for Democracy have turned their backs on human rights concerns since taking power, betraying promises to Myanmar’s people to revoke repressive laws and break with abusive past practices,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “By winning a significant parliamentary majority, the NLD has an opportunity to introduce rights-respecting reforms that would protect everyone.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-01-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya Repatriation: Bangladesh-Myanmar-China tripartite talks January 19
Description: "Bangladesh, Myanmar and China will hold a tripartite meeting on Rohingya repatriation in Dhaka on January 19, as Dhaka finds their repatriation to Myanmar as the only solution to the crisis. "We hope it would be a fruitful meeting," Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told reporters on Wednesday about the tripartite talks. He said the meeting would be held at secretary level. The last tripartite meeting like this was held on January 20 last year. The foreign minister said Bangladesh had handed over a list of 840,000 Rohingyas to Myanmar for verification. "Myanmar has verified very few people. They are very slow. They verified only 42,000 people. There is (a) serious lack of seriousness," said the foreign minister. Dr Momen said they were doing their part of the job, but Myanmar is not responding the same way. Responding to a question, he said he is always hopeful of beginning repatriation as Myanmar has taken back their nationals before – in 1978 and 1992. The government earlier hinted that the repatriation talks would begin this month as there was no Rohingya repatriation and discussion in 2020, because of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the general elections in Myanmar..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2021-01-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar: Kirin Should Sever Military Firm Ties
Topic: Business
Sub-title: Japanese Beverage Giant Should Release Investigation Report
Topic: Business
Description: "Japan-based Kirin Holdings Company, Ltd. should publish its investigation report on the military-owned Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (MEHL) and swiftly cut ties with the company, Human Rights Watch said today. Kirin announced the conclusion of an investigation by Deloitte Tohmatsu Financial Advisory LLC on January 7, 2021, but declined to publish the report for confidentiality reasons. “Kirin should regain some trust of consumers, investors, and rights groups by releasing the details of its investigation into the operations of its Myanmar military business partner,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Kirin’s business association with MEHL raises serious human rights concerns that need urgent action, not further obfuscation behind an investigation whose results are kept secret.” In its January 7 statement, Kirin said the investigation by Deloitte was “inconclusive as a result of Deloitte being unable to access sufficient information required to make a definitive determination.” Kirin said the investigation aimed to determine the “destination of proceeds received by” MEHL from Myanmar Brewery Ltd. (MBL) and Mandalay Brewery Ltd. (MDL), and that it would provide a “further update” on its business activities in Myanmar by the end of April. Kirin owns a majority stake in Myanmar Brewery Ltd. and Mandalay Brewery Ltd. in partnership with the military-owned-and-operated MEHL. In 2015, Kirin bought 55 percent of Myanmar Brewery Ltd., 4 percent of which it later transferred to the military-owned firm. In 2017, Kirin acquired 51 percent of Mandalay Brewery Ltd. in a separate joint venture with the firm. Myanmar’s armed forces, the Tatmadaw, have been responsible over many years for numerous grave violations of human rights and war crimes against the country’s ethnic minority populations. These abuses culminated in the August 2017 campaign of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Rohingya population in Rakhine State, including killings, sexual violence, and forced removal. Human Rights Watch found that Myanmar’s security forces committed crimes against humanity and genocidal acts in those 2017 operations against the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-01-08
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya Arrested in Myanmar Just for Traveling
Topic: Refugees and Migrants , Refugee Rights
Sub-title: Oppressed Ethnic Group Denied Right to Freedom of Movement
Topic: Refugees and Migrants , Refugee Rights
Description: "Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, government restrictions on movement in Myanmar have been widespread, but certain people have been more affected than others. On January 6, Myanmar police detained 99 ethnic Rohingya in Yangon for traveling without documentation in the country where they were born and lived all their lives. The Rohingya – mostly women as well as children reportedly as young as 5 years old – were apparently bound for Malaysia. They sought to escape Myanmar’s longstanding oppression of the group. Rohingya are effectively denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law so the government considers them “illegal” aliens, refusing to issue legal documentation that would allow them to travel within the country. All 99 Rohingya are now being held in government quarantine on the outskirts of Yangon, after which they will likely be transferred to immigration detention to await criminal charges. In Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, an estimated 600,000 Rohingya are confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement, cut off from access to adequate food, health care, education, and livelihoods. In 2017, a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar’s security forces against the Rohingya involved crimes against humanity and acts of genocide..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-01-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: “The Torture in My Mind”
Sub-title: The Right to Mental Health for Rohingya Survivors of Genocide in Myanmar and Bangladesh
Description: "It has been three years since “Saiful,” 27, escaped genocidal attacks in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. His experience continues to affect him. “I cannot think well,” he said. “I’ve become thin and gangly because of the stress. I feel tired. I cannot eat well. I feel angry when I imagine the persecution.” Born and raised in northern Rakhine State, Saiful survived grinding human rights violations since his childhood, and in 2017, he witnessed mass atrocities perpetrated by Myanmar Army soldiers against Rohingya civilians. In August that year, at the height of Myanmar Army-led attacks on Rohingya, Saiful fled massacres, deadly arson attacks, mass rape, and other crimes, leaving behind murdered family and friends to join Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who now number approximately one million. “No one is helping us in proper ways,” he said from a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh. “I cannot sleep when I remember my relatives who were killed. It is very difficult for me to do any work.” Saiful is describing symptoms typically associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a serious mental health condition. In the case of Rohingya who survived recent attacks, the mental harm of PTSD can be destructive, impairing daily functioning and the ability to live a full and constructive life. Saiful is unfortunately not the only Rohingya refugee suffering from serious mental health conditions due to human rights violations and violence perpetrated against Rohingya in Myanmar. The quantitative research included in this report and conducted by a team of ten Rohingya researchers and Fortify Rights provides new evidence of the pervasive and severe mental health toll that human rights violations and violence has had on the Rohingya community. This report documents and analyzes the findings of this Rohingya-led participatory action research. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimate that 12 months after an emergency, approximately 15 to 20 percent of adults will experience some type of moderate or mild mental health disorder. The Rohingya are suffering at significantly higher rates. The Rohingya-led participatory action research..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Fortify Rights" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-12-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 3.11 MB ( reduce version)
more
Title: Why Joe Biden Should Help the Rohingya People of Myanmar
Description: "When the Myanmar Army attacked and massacred ethnic Rohingya civilians in 2017, more than 700,000 men, women, and children fled to Bangladesh, some riddled with bullets, burns, and gaping wounds. Hundreds of villages were in ashes, razed by soldiers and their civilian proxies. But long after the physical wounds scarred over, Rohingya continue to suffer mental harm on a massive scale. President-elect Biden can and should do something about it. There are upwards of one million Rohingya refugees now languishing in Bangladesh. They are experiencing trauma, depression, and anxiety at staggering rates. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 15 to 20 percent of adults will experience some type of moderate or mild mental health disorder one year after an emergency, and in theory, those figures should decrease over time. By contrast, a new report published by Fortify Rights finds that 89 percent of Rohingya refugees in sprawling camps in Bangladesh are experiencing serious depression. Eighty-four percent are experiencing severe emotional distress. And a staggering 62 percent are experiencing symptoms equivalent to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—a debilitating condition that can prevent its victims from leading normal and constructive lives. What drives these extreme levels of distress? Ongoing genocide in Myanmar is partly to blame, but the new quantitative data reveals that long-term systematic human rights violations in Myanmar and ongoing impunity are also key factors that continue to impact Rohingya mental health..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Time"
Date of publication: 2020-01-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar soldiers testify atrocities against the Rohingya | DW News
Description: "Videotaped 'confessions' from two Myanmar soldiers appear to confirm alleged atrocities against Rohingya Muslims. Are they credible and can they build a case against the army? Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutsche... For more news go to: http://www.dw.com/en/ Follow DW on social media: ►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deutschewell... ►Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwnews ►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dw_stories/ Für Videos in deutscher Sprache besuchen Sie: https://www.youtube.com/channel/deuts... #Myanmar #Rohingya ..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "DW News"
Date of publication: 2020-09-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Human Rights Watch Statement: Impacts of Covid-19 on Internally Displaced People in Myanmar
Topic: Explosive Weapons in Civilian Areas , Landmines , Internally Displaced People
Sub-title: Statement of Manny Maung, Myanmar Researcher, Human Rights Watch Subcommittee on International Human Rights Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development
Topic: Explosive Weapons in Civilian Areas , Landmines , Internally Displaced People
Description: "Study of the Impacts of Covid-19 on Internally Displaced People in Myanmar Thank you to the Chairperson and Honorable Members of Parliament for inviting me to appear before this Committee to discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on internally displaced people in Myanmar. My name is Manny Maung and I am the Myanmar Researcher for Human Rights Watch. Decades of conflict have resulted in over 360,000 internally displaced peoples across the country. They are mainly members of ethnic minority communities spread across northern Myanmar, in Kachin and Shan States; in western Rakhine State; and in the southeast near the Myanmar-Thai border. Renewed conflict has created fresh displacements in 2020 in both Rakhine and Shan States. Humanitarian agencies reported that the government did not take measures to ensure that they could deliver emergency aid under the government-imposed travel restrictions to protect against the spread of Covid-19. In October, Human Rights Watch released a report, “An Open Prison without End,” on Myanmar’s detention of 130,000 Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State since 2012.[1] Human Rights Watch found that the squalid and oppressive conditions imposed on the interned Rohingya and Kaman Muslims amount to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty. Starting in August 2017, a military campaign of killings, sexual violence, arson, and forced eviction of Rohingya in northern Rakhine State forced more than 700,000 to flee to Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch determined the Myanmar security forces committed ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication: 2020-12-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar conflict zones kept offline despite Suu Kyi digital push
Sub-title: Portions of ethnic states remain in internet blackout as criticism grows
Description: "Myanmar citizens living in some of the country's ethnic conflict zones are facing difficulties accessing the internet due to government restrictions and the low level of communications infrastructure, despite national leader Aung San Suu Kyi's push for a digital economy in the aftermath the coronavirus pandemic. "Although access to [the] internet is a human rights issue in the digital era, there are places with no internet, slow internet and imposed internet shutdown by the government, especially in the conflict zones," Athan, an activist group supporting freedom of expression in Myanmar, said in a report critical of the government that was released on Dec. 23. In 2014, the government allowed foreign mobile operators to enter the country, which significantly reduced the mobile phone charges. The number of mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants increased to 113 in 2018 from just 13 in 2013, according to the International Telecommunication Union, an international organization. A number of mobile money services, enabling people to transfer money to each other using their phones, emerged from 2016. The government stressed the importance of and opportunities for digitalizing the economy, such as utilizing technology in money transfers. A speech on Dec. 20 by Aung San Suu Kyi, who carries the title of state counselor, highlighted this policy. "COVID-19 has thrown light on the significance of the digital system and the need for digital transformation to be launched with increased momentum," she said, stressing that the government is collaborating with the private sector to build digital platforms such as for trading goods and services..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Nikkei Asian Review" (Japan)
Date of publication: 2021-01-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar gang-rape victim wins legal battle with military
Sub-title: Three rapists were jailed for 20 years with hard labour in a case that pitted a 36-year-old mother of four against the powerful military.
Description: "Lodging a legal complaint pitted the 36-year-old mother of four against Myanmar’s most powerful institution, whose soldiers have long been accused by rights groups of using rape as a weapon of war in the country’s conflict zones. The crime was committed in June in northern Rakhine state – the site of a nearly two-year battle between the military and the Arakan Army, which is fighting for more autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine population. “Many women like me have already endured the same thing,” Thein Nu – who has been given a pseudonym to protect her identity – told the AFP news agency. “If I didn’t reveal this, it could lead to many more in Rakhine [being abused].” Her victory came after an initial denial from the military, which said she made up the allegations, and she still faces the glare of widespread social stigma, including from her husband who refuses to speak to her. Watershed moment? “I am both happy and sad,” she said, still in disbelief that the military tribunal ruled in her favour. “I don’t entirely believe this verdict will stop the rape and abuse against women in conflict areas because they (the military) are unreliable people with two faces.” In a rare acknowledgement of wrongdoing, the military on Saturday announced the verdict and sentence against the three rapists, trumpeting its own “transparent” investigation of the case. But observers warned it is too soon to judge whether Thein Nu’s victory will be a watershed moment for the armed forces – which ruled Myanmar outright until 2011 and still holds sway over many aspects of life in the country..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-12-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Want repatriation of Rohingyas to begin this year, Bangladesh Foreign Minister writes to Myanmar
Sub-title: While stating that he has written to his counterpart in Myanmar in this regard, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh wants to initiate the repatriation of Rohingyas this year.
Description: "Bangladesh has written to Myanmar over the issue of repatriation of Rohingya Muslims. The announcement by Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen comes days after the UNGA passed a resolution in this regard. While addressing a press briefing on Sunday, AK Abdul Momen said he wrote a letter to his counterpart in Myanmar on the occasion of the New Year. "In the New Year, a letter has been sent to the State Council office in Myanmar," Momen said. "Japan will also cooperate with us in the Rohingya repatriation. Japan has a huge investment in Myanmar. India and China are also working on the Rohingya repatriation. They all want a solution to this crisis," Momen said in response to a question. Bangladesh wants to implement the repatriation process this year, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told journalists. He went on to add, "You know for many years, we have been trying this. After the start of the campaign in Rakhine on August 25, 2016, Rohingyas came to Bangladesh over a period of seven months and took refuge. Four lakh more Rohingyas have taken shelter in Bangladesh since." The government of Myanmar, in the face of international pressure, signed an agreement with Bangladesh in this regard in 2016. However, the repatriation of Rohingya Muslims is yet to begin. Referring to Myanmar's role in the repatriation, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Momen said, "You have repeatedly said that they will not go. You are saying that you will do it in a helpful environment so that it goes smoothly. But progress has been done. For this, political goodwill is needed. In the New Year, we hope you keep your word."..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "India Today" (India)
Date of publication: 2021-01-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya issue: China and Russia for Myanmar, India abstains from voting
Sub-title: In a proposal regarding the Rohingya issue and other human rights situation in Myanmar placed before the 75th General Assembly of the United Nations, China and Russia yet again took stance in favour of Myanmar while India abstained from voting.
Description: "On Thursday, December 31, the last working day of 2020, the voting on the proposal was held during the 48th meeting of the 75th UNGA Session, according to a UN release. The 25-point proposal regarding allegations of alarming extent of human rights violations by the Myanmar military and security forces in Kachin, Rakhine, Chin and Shan states of the country was discussed in the Thursday meeting. A total of 130 countries voted against Myanmar, including nine which previously voted in favour of Myanmar, while 26 countries, including India, Bhutan, Japan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, abstained from voting. China, Russia, Belarus, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Vietnam and Zimbabwe voted in Myanmar's favour. Defending Myanmar's position, the country's representative at the meeting said human rights is being made a political issue against Myanmar, adding that the issues being discussed are Myanmar's internal matter. Myanmar's newly elected government is against human rights violence and steps are being taken in the country to this end, the representative also said. Rejecting the UN proposal, the Myanmar representative said the country's government is interested to discuss the issues with the Rohingya and other minority communities in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2021-01-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Military Arrests Three Rakhine Women for Alleged Ties to Arakan Army
Description: "Police in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township have opened cases against three local women under the Counterterrorism Law for allegedly funding the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic rebel group actively fighting the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw. “As the Myanmar military has filed lawsuits against them, we have opened cases. The plaintiff is the Myanmar military,” Police Captain Kyaw Zaw of the Kyaukphyu Township Police Station told The Irrawaddy. According to a statement on Tuesday from the Myanmar military’s Tatmadaw True News Information Team, Myanmar military troops arrested alleged AA supporter U Nyi Nyi Tun, a resident of Yenan Tun Village, on July 18. After the military troops interrogated him, they then arrested three women from the same village on July 22. In its statement on Tuesday, the military claimed that troops seized a camouflaged uniform without a badge and two police uniforms with insignias and badges from the house of one of the women, Daw Khin Myo Swe. The military has accused her of soliciting support for the AA in the township. The military accused two other women, Daw Hla Than Khin and Daw Pyar Ma, of collecting “protection money” and food for the AA from local residents. “We have said time and again that we will take actions under the Counterterrorism Law,” military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy. In March, the Myanmar government and the military designated the AA as a terrorist organization under the Counterterrorism Law and an “unlawful association” under section 15 (2) of the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act. The three women face charges under Section 50 (j) of the Counterterrorism Law, which prohibits “financing terrorism”, as well as Section 52 (a), which prohibits activities that “knowingly involve a terrorist group.” They face up to seven years in prison if convicted..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2020-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Woman shot in back while fleeing fighting in Rakhine
Sub-title: The 44-year-old appears to be in stable condition at the Mrauk U hospital
Description: "A mother of four was shot in the back while fleeing fighting near her home in northern Rakhine state on Monday. Ma Tin Kyi, 44, is currently being treated at Mrauk U hospital. She was shot as she fled fighting in Pha Pyo, an ethnically Chin village in Rakhine's Minbya township that was hit by fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) on July 20. “She heard gunshots and fled her house but was shot in the back when she went outside,” Shwe Kyaw Tin, the victim’s brother-in-law, told Myanmar Now. “Bullets hit every house in the village but no one was hurt except my sister-in-law,” he added. “Everyone else hid.” Ma Tin Kyi is the mother of three teenagers and one 20-year-old. She was first taken to Minbya hospital then later transferred to Mrauk U, where she is currently being treated. Relatives told Myanmar Now she is conscious and responsive but that the bullet is still lodged inside of her. A military convoy traveling through Minbya to Kan Ni village via the Yangon-Sittwe highway was ambushed by AA troops about six miles from Pha Pyo that night, according to a statement released by the military on Tuesday. Battalions arrived to support the convoy, the military said, and several Tatmadaw soldiers were injured in the ensuing clash. Minbya township MP Hla Thein Aung told Myanmar Now shots had been fired from the nearby Kyein Taung hill, and that fighting near Pha Pyo is still ongoing. “They are still firing artillery shells,” he said Tuesday. Most of the more than 400 families in Pha Pyo, including Ma Tin Kyi's, are ethnically Chin. They have largely chosen to remain in the village for now, but they told Myanmar Now they are worried for their safety. The AA has been fighting the Myanmar military for greater autonomy in Rakhine state since at least 2018. The military and central government have labelled the AA as terrorists. On April 20, a WHO driver carrying Covid-19 swab samples to testing sites was killed in Minbya when his vehicle caught in fighting. On July 16 the Tatmadaw announced a new “anti-terrorism” operation against AA insurgents in nearby Rathedaung township. Two days later - after about a month of relative quiet - fighting in Minbya resumed. An alliance of ethnic armed groups including the AA said in a July 21 statement that labeling the AA an “unlawful, terrorist” organisation only hinders the stalled peace process between the military and the several ethnic groups fighting for autonomy..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar: Displaced Rohingyas left to fend on silt land
Description: "Last week, the Bangladesh government made it quite apparent that they won’t allow the displaced Rohingyas from neighbouring Myanmar, quarantined at Bhasan Char, to shift to the camp areas in the Cox’s Bazar region. They want the refugees to stay in the char region. The displaced people fear that they will be made to live there until they are repatriated to Myanmar. More than 300 displaced Rohingyas were rescued by the Bangladesh navy in early May after being stranded at sea for more than two months, not being able to enter either Malaysia or Thailand due to Covid-19 scare. Following international pressure, Bangladesh became obliged to provide shelter. However, the new arrivals were sent to Bhasan Char, a landmass made up of silts. This particular landmass is located at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal and the mouth of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river system. It will be in the first area of impact if a tsunami or cyclone hits the region. Bangladesh, as is known, takes big hits by cyclones, year after year. Bhasan Char was chosen under the initial strategy of Bangladesh — Ashrayan 3. It was planned to move the Rohingyas there. Nevertheless, since a UN team is yet to declare the place fit for habitation after technically assessing it, the plan to move the Rohingyas in December 2019 was halted. In February 2020, there were rumours that the land will not be provided to the Rohingyas anymore and will be made available to Bangladeshi citizens in need. However, with the current state of events, it seems that Covid-19 has become a good pretext for test-running the government’s pilot scheme since the spread of the disease remains too high within the camp areas..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Observer Research Foundation (ORF)" (India)
Date of publication: 2020-07-23
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Muslims struggle to avoid another Muslim-free parliament
Sub-title: As Myanmar set to go to polls in November, Muslim community fears if no candidate from them will be elected as in 2015 elections
Description: "Political parties in Myanmar have geared up for upcoming general elections with Nov. 8 set as the date for crucial polls which will be the first held under the civilian government in more than six decades. The Union Election Commission announced the election date on July 1, inviting candidate registration from the 96 registered political parties from July 20 to Aug. 7. A few days after the commission’s announcement, a 16-membered team was formed to assist Muslim candidates in campaigning in their constituencies countrywide. The team includes mainly Muslim legal experts. Spokesman of the team Maung Muang Myint told Anadolu Agency that the group will help Muslim candidates financially, legally and technically. “It was a shame that our parliament has no Muslim lawmaker although Muslims make up more than 5% of the country’s population,” he said over the phone. “Of more than 6,000 candidates in the 2015 elections, only 28 were Muslims. And they won no seat,” he said, adding that the commission had rejected more than a hundred would-be candidates, mostly Muslims, on the grounds of citizenship. Election law states that candidates’ parents must be already recognized as citizens at the time of the candidates’ birth. “So this year, we teamed up to help them in the whole process starting from candidate registration,” said Myint. Two largest political parties in the county, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party and military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), did not file any Muslim candidates for the last general elections. Parties have yet to submit the lists of candidates to election commission for registration. Myint, however, said Muslims have only a slim chance of being chosen as candidates of the political parties in the Buddhist-majority country..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2020-07-21
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Arakan Army Collects Taxes, Polices Streets in Parts of Myanmar’s War-Torn Rakhine State
Description: "The rebel Arakan Army has set up civil administrations in parts of western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, collecting taxes and arresting illegal drug users — making good on a pledge to provide governance to underpin the ethnic Rakhine autonomy the armed group has been fighting for. The predominantly Buddhist ethnic army has been at war with Myanmar forces in northern Rakhine state and in Paletwa township of neighboring Chin state for 19 months. It is the newest of many conflicts the national army has been waging with ethnic armies since the former Burma became independent from Britain in 1948. The AA set up shop in 2009 in Laiza, northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, and five years later declared its long-term intention of returning to its Rakhine homeland and establishing its own government in the state. In December 2019, AA leaders announced the formation of a Rakhine People’s Authority to levy taxes on businesses to fund its operations and that of its political wing, the United League of Arakan, as well as administer areas under its control in Rakhine state. The AA is estimated to have 9,000 fighters. At the time, AA spokesman Khine Thukha told RFA that the formation of the authority was legitimate because it would initiate a new form of government in a bid to reestablish the historic Arakan nation that existed centuries earlier. “This body has an obvious revenue-generation function, but its creation is probably more important as a demonstration of the group’s de facto authority and territorial control and assertion of its legitimacy,” said a report on armed conflict and politics in Rakhine state issued in June by the International Crisis Group. “Armed groups in other major conflicts in Myanmar over the decades have taken similar steps,” the report said. Branded an illegal organization and terrorist group by the Myanmar government in March, the AA demanded on May 29 that all government administrative offices and the military immediately leave northern Rakhine state..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2020-07-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Move Rohingya from flood-prone island: HRW urges Bangladesh
Topic: Rights group accuses authorities of using pandemic to detain refugees after 300 of them kept on Bhashan Char island.
Topic: Rights group accuses authorities of using pandemic to detain refugees after 300 of them kept on Bhashan Char island.
Description: "Human Rights Watch has called on Bangladesh to move more than 300 Rohingya refugees, including children, to the camps in Cox's Bazaar district, more than two months after they were quarantined on a small flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal. The Rohingya were rescued by the Bangladesh navy in early May after being stranded at sea for weeks, and sent to Bhashan Char island - a silty strip of land off the southern coast that is vulnerable to monsoon storms. Bangladesh has said the 308 refugees were sent to the island rather than the camps in Cox's Bazar because authorities were afraid they might have the highly infectious disease COVID-19. "Bangladesh authorities are using the pandemic as an excuse to detain refugees on a spit of land in the middle of a churning monsoon sea while their families anxiously pray for their return," Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW, said in a statement on Thursday. "The government is inexplicably delaying aid workers' access to support the refugees with immediate care, and refusing to reunite them with their families in the Cox's Bazar camps." According to the US-based rights group, the quarantined refugees do not have adequate access to food, clean drinking water or medical care. Some have also alleged being beaten up and mistreated by the authorities, it said..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-07-09
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar: Indiscriminate airstrikes kill civilians as Rakhine conflict worsens
Description: "Amnesty International has collected new evidence showing that indiscriminate airstrikes by the Myanmar military have killed civilians, including children, amid worsening armed conflict in the country’s Rakhine and Chin States. These attacks and other serious human rights violations by the Myanmar military, also known as the Tatmadaw, are taking place in townships where internet has been cut off for more than a year. Residents have been in the dark over the threat from COVID-19 and deprived of information about humanitarian assistance. Rakhine State has been largely spared a major COVID-19 outbreak, although cases were on the rise in June. “While Myanmar authorities were urging people to stay at home to help stop COVID-19, in Rakhine and Chin states its military was burning down homes and killing civilians in indiscriminate attacks that amount to war crimes,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director. “Despite mounting international pressure on the military’s operations in the area, including at the International Court of Justice, the shocking testimonies we have collected show just how deep impunity continues to run within Myanmar military ranks.” In May and June 2020, Amnesty International remotely interviewed more than two dozen ethnic Rakhine and Chin people affected by military operations, including airstrikes and shelling; analyzed fresh satellite imagery of burned down villages; and verified video footage showing violations carried out by the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
Date of publication: 2020-07-08
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar: Tatmadaw Opens Terrorism Case Against Eight Kyaukphyu Twsp Men
Description: "Eight villagers who are currently being detained at the Dhanyawadi Naval Base in Kyaukphyu Township, Arakan State, are facing charges under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law, according to the Kyaukphyu Myoma police station. The Tatmadaw arrested nine people from Kat Thabyay village on June 26 and a 100-household head from Sai Chone Dwein village two days later. The detainees were remanded into police custody at Kyaukphyu Myoma police station on July 5. Two out of the 10 detainees — identified as Khin Win Maung and Maung Than Hlaing from Kat Thabyay village — have been released and the remaining eight men were charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law, said Police Captain Kyaw Zaw, head of the Kyaukphyu Myoma police station. “Two youths were handed over to their parents as they were linked to the case. The remaining eight men have been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law,” the police captain confirmed..."
Source/publisher: "Eurasia Review"
Date of publication: 2020-07-08
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar air raids 'that killed children amount to war crimes'
Sub-title: Amnesty says Myanmar military carried out 'indiscriminate' air strikes in Rakhine, calls for war crimes investigation.
Description: "Myanmar's military has killed civilians, including children, in indiscriminate air attacks amid worsening conflict in the country's western Rakhine and Chin states, a prominent rights group has said, urging the United Nations Security Council to launch a war crimes investigation. In a new report on Wednesday, Amnesty International said it collected new evidence showing Myanmar's military - also known as the Tatmadaw - bombed several villages in Chin state in March and April, killing more than a dozen people. One witness who was interviewed remotely told the group that an air raid in Paletwa Township on March 14 and 15 killed his uncle, his brother and his brother's 16-year-old friend. Two people from another family in the same village cluster said nine people, including a seven-year-old boy, were also killed in the bombardment. "Our family is destroyed," the boy's father told Amnesty. In another round of aerial raids in Paletwa on April 7, seven people were killed and eight wounded, the report said, citing testimony from a farmer. The indiscriminate attacks, which Amnesty said amounted to war crimes due to civilian deaths, came amid a surge in fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA), an armed group seeking greater autonomy for the Buddhist Rakhine people who make up most of the state's population. Rakhine is also home to the mostly Muslim Rohingya, and borders Chin state, whose people are mostly Christian. The conflict escalated in January last year following an AA attack on police posts and worsened in March after Myanmar's government officially labelled the group a terrorist organisation. The AA posed "a danger to law and order, peace and stability of the country and public peace," it said..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-07-08
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Election 2020: Arakan National Party says it will keep dominant position in Rakhine despite conflict, pandemic
Sub-title: The party won the third largest share of the national vote in 2015 and is confident Rakhine nationalist sentiment will secure similar results this year
Description: "The Arakan National Party (ANP) has said it is confident it will maintain its dominant position in Rakhine in this year’s general election despite the campaign challenges posed by conflict in the state and Covid-19 related restrictions. Aye Nu Sein, an ANP spokesperson, told Myanmar Now the party would be bolstered by widespread ethno-nationalism. “When the 2020 election takes place, our party is very hopeful that we’ll win in Rakhine as long as the Rakhine nationalism of the people doesn’t waver,” she said. The party enjoys widespread support in northern and mid-Rakhine, where the Rakhine language and culture is more prominent and many harbour grievances against the Bamar dominated central government and military. The National League for Democracy (NLD) holds most seats in southern Rakhine, which has closer cultural ties to central Myanmar. The election commission has announced that voting will take place on November 8. Rakhine’s political parties say they are concerned that the conflict and restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19 will hamper their campaigns. “People are fleeing their villages left and right in masses,” Aye Nu Sein said. “Their safety is compromised. Even in cities, people feel unsafe. This poses a lot of challenges for the campaigns,” Hla Myint, a spokesperson for the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD), said the clashes in at least six townships in Rakhine meant it would be challenging to hold elections there. In the last election in 2015, the ANP won 22 out of 35 seats in Rakhine’s regional legislature. They also secured 22 seats in the national parliament: 10 in the lower house and 12 in the upper house..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-07-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rakhine villagers still fleeing as second week of ‘clearance operation’ approaches
Sub-title: Evacuees are straining shelters in the state’s north, where more than 150,000 had already been displaced
Description: "Nearly two weeks after the military announced new “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine state, villagers continue to flee their homes. The operation has focused on Kyauktan village, in Rathedaung township, but has also spilled into villages in nearby Ann township. Border affairs and security minister colonel Min Than, who announced the operation, told Myanmar Now on Monday that the military had clashed with Arakan Army (AA) troops outside of Kyauktan over the weekend and into the week. The AA, an armed ethnic Rakhine group, is fighting for greater state autonomy. The government earlier this year declared them a terrorist organisation. “We can’t just let the AA occupy this area and not attack them,” he said. Htay Aung, who fled Kyauktan just after the operation was announced, on June 23, told Myanmar Now earlier this week that he can still hear the artillery fire from the town of Rathedaung, where he is now sheltering. He said the military was targeting Kyauktan and nearby Aung Thar Si village. Rathedaung MP Khin Maung Latt told Myanmar Now military troops entered the area on June 28 and 29 and that the clashes are still ongoing. “We haven’t heard gunfire today but the markets and shops are still closed,” he said on Monday. At about 7pm on June 26, artillery shelling killed two villagers in Nat Maw village, thirty miles northwest of the city of Ann..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-07-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Soldiers' court-martial Myanmar's latest sham, say Rohingya groups
Sub-title: Activists, organizations denounce lack of transparency, say foolish to expect justice from Myanmar’s military
Description: "Rohingya rights groups have denounced the recent court-martial of three Myanmar army officers as “a miscarriage of justice” and another of the country’s “sham attempts” to mislead the international community. The three officers were convicted on June 29 for the 2017 massacre of Rohingya people in the Gu Dar Pyin village of Rakhine state’s Buthidaung township, where five mass graves were previously uncovered. The UK-based Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) rejected the ruling, saying the secrecy of the trial negates the essential requirement of transparency and impartiality. “No details were provided on the perpetrators, their crimes or sentences, keeping the people in the dark. This secret trial without transparency is a complete miscarriage of justice,” read a statement issued on Friday. The group reiterated its demand for “a transparent and impartial probe into the crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar by a competent international independent commission.” Referring to a similar trial in March 2018, the rights body said: “All these were sham attempts […] aimed at reducing international pressure and to divert the world’s attention away from the Rohingya genocide. We cannot expect justice from the perpetrators.” In the 2018 trial by court-martial, four Myanmar army officers and three soldiers were sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing 10 Rohingya men in the Inn Din village of Rakhine in 2017. “But the perpetrators were released in less than one year [November 2018], whereas the two Reuters journalists who exposed the massacre were detained for more than 16 months before they were pardoned, following global outcry,” the statement added..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2020-07-07
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: European Union pledges €32m in aid for Rohingya refugees in pandemic
Sub-title: The European Union has announced €32 million or Tk 3.04 billion in aid for the Rohingya refugees and their Bangladeshi host communities in Cox’s Bazar.
Description: "Of this donation, €12 million or Tk 1.14 billion will be used in COVID-19 responses, the union said in a statement on Thursday. The rest of the fund, €20 million or Tk 1.9 billion will address the need of both host communities and refugees through an integrated approach on improved access to basic services in education, food security and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene or WASH to enhance their resilience and protection. The €20 million action also includes a complementary small cross-border operation worth €1 million to enhance conflict sensitivity and mutual understanding among civil society organisations assisting the refugees, internally displaced people and host communities on the other side of the border. All EU-funded activities will address important cross-cutting issues such as protection of girls and women, sexual and gender-based violence and psychosocial support. The €32 million funding is an important contribution to Bangladesh’s continuous generosity and humanity in hosting Rohingya that fled neighbouring Myanmar,” said Rensje Teerink, the ambassador of the EU. “It is part of the Team Europe global response to fight COVID-19 with a specific component supporting the needs of both Bangladeshi Host Communities of Cox’s Bazar and Rohingya in the camps to limit the crisis worsened by the pandemic,” she added..."
Source/publisher: "bdnews24.com" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2020-07-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar ordered to protect Rohingya Muslims
Description: "The United Nations' court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, ordered Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect Rohingyas from persecution and atrocities. Rohingya Muslims remain "at serious risk of genocide" in Myanmar, the International Court of Justice has ruled..."
Source/publisher: "Sky News"
Date of publication: 2020-01-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar: Court Martial Latest Accountability Sham
Sub-title: Convictions Obscure Widespread Military Impunity
Description: "Myanmar’s court-martial conviction of three military personnel for crimes against ethnic Rohingya reflects ongoing government efforts to evade meaningful accountability, Human Rights Watch said today. Myanmar authorities have repeatedly failed to adequately investigate and prosecute grave abuses against Rohingya in Rakhine State, including crimes against humanity. On June 30, 2020, the Myanmar military announced that two officers and a soldier had been convicted for “weakness in following the instructions” during the “Gu Dar Pyin incident.” Rakhine State’s Gu Dar Pyin village was the site of a massacre by the military on August 27-28, 2017, part of its campaign of mass atrocities that forced more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. The military did not provide any other information, such as the names and ranks of those convicted, their role in the massacre, or their sentences. “Myanmar’s farcical court martial is the latest attempt to feign progress on accountability in an apparent attempt to influence the United Nations and international tribunals,” said Shayna Bauchner, assistant Asia researcher. “Foreign governments should demand Myanmar open its doors to truly independent and impartial international investigators.” The Gu Dar Pyin court martial began in November 2019 following a military investigation led by Maj. Gen. Myat Kyaw that found “grounds to believe the soldiers did not fully comply with the rules of engagement.” Closed hearings were held in Buthidaung township through April 30..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication: 2020-07-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: OP-ED: The solution they seek is voluntary repatriation
Sub-title: The following speech was delivered at the Liberation War Museum at the inaugural event for the Thread Exhibition on June 29
Description: "Honourable Foreign Secretary; Mr Sarwar Ali, Trustee of the Liberation War Museum; Mr Mofidul Hoque, Trustee of the Museum and Director of the Centre for the Study of Genocide and Justice; distinguished participants; ladies and Gentlemen. Let me begin by thanking the Liberation War Museum for allowing me to join this morning’s event on the occasion of World Refugee Day and to launch the “Thread Exhibit.” When the Liberation War Museum reached out to me, I did not hesitate. UNHCR has had a very long and historic partnership with the museum. It’s also an honour to be part of such a distinguished panel and to be together, once again, with the Foreign Secretary, Ambassador Masud Bin Momen, who leads the Rohingya response in Bangladesh and stands at the very centre of our cooperation with the government to meet this challenge. After working for UNHCR for more than three decades, I retain the same energy, commitment, and optimism that I had on my first day in 1987. Refugees are the source of my motivation, but the engagement of young people around the world -- the next generation of humanitarians -- are an inspiration. The Thread Exhibition shows the different ways that people can connect and communicate about the refugee experience and show solidarity. I want to thank the students -- from Harvard University, Dhaka University, South Asian University, and others -- who have worked across continents and also across generations, with the honoured veterans of the Liberation War -- to make this exhibition happen. The Thread Exhibition helps us understand that the Rohingya refugee crisis is about more than endless lines or undifferentiated masses of traumatized people who flooded into Bangladesh in late 2017 and spread across the hills of Ukhiya and Teknaf. The Rohingya story is about individuals. Each refugee has a story to tell and has hopes and aspirations for the future. The Thread Exhibition makes us confront that human dimension by sharing with us work from the hands of the Rohingya refugees..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2020-07-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rakhine Villagers Take Refuge in State Capital Amid New Offensive
Description: "Myanmar’s military is conducting offensives against the Arakan Army in Rakhine state’s Rathedaung township, according to villagers who have taken refuge in the state capital Sittwe as talk of a gathering army campaign drove 20,000 from their homes over the past week. Among some 300 displaced Rakhine villagers from the Mu-sae Kan area of southern Rathedaung who made it to Sittwe, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the conflict zone, were men and women who said they heard gunfire as they fled their communities and feared possible arrest and torture by government troops. They were part of a mass flight of an estimated 40,000 internal refugees that began during the last week of June when the military told the state government that it would conduct “clearance operations” to ferret out AA soldiers said to be near the Kyauktan village tract of northern Rathedaung township. Rathedaung and other townships in Rakhine have been at the center of the fighting in a 19-month-old conflict between government forces and the AA that has killed about 260 civilians and now displaced nearly 200,000 others in the state. Refugees from several villages in southern Rathedaung township said government troops were firing around settlements as they fled. “As we were on our way here, we heard gunfire coming from nearby Kanpyin village, [and] we had to hide beside the road,” a woman from the Mu-sae Kan area told RFA on Wednesday. She said her family made their way village by village to Sittwe, encountering abandoned communities on the way..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2020-07-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Armed forces chief allege "strong forces" behind terrorism in country
Sub-title: The remarks from the Myanmar Armed forces head was made while he was in Russia to attend the 75th anniversary of the country’s Victory Day. Myanmar armed forces maintain close links with Russian armed forces and purchases equipment from Russia.
Description: "Myanmar Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has called for international cooperation in fighting and claimed that terrorist groups exist because of the “strong forces that support them”. While he did not name forces but observers indicated that he referred to Chinese support for some insurgent groups in Myanmar. The remarks from the Myanmar Armed forces head was made while he was in Russia to attend the 75th anniversary of the country’s Victory Day. Myanmar armed forces maintain close links with Russian armed forces and purchases equipment from Russia. During the visit Gen Min Aung Hlaing held talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on how to promote ties between their countries’ armed forces, border security and counter-insurgency operations along the border. When asked by Russian state-run ZVEZDA News Agency about terrorism in Myanmar, the military chief said, “A country may be able to suppress terrorist organizations on its soil. But in cases when there are strong forces behind that terrorist organization, the country alone may not be able to handle it.” The senior general stressed the need for cooperation between partners and countries that oppose terrorism, saying that it is otherwise difficult to combat terrorist organizations. The comments made on the Russian territory were significant..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Economic Times" (India)
Date of publication: 2020-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar calls out China for arming terror groups, asks world to help
Sub-title: Myanmar suspects that China was trying to use terror groups as a bargaining chip for smooth implementation of Belt and Road Initiative projects.
Description: "Myanmar, China’s closest ally in southeast Asia, has pointed fingers at Beijing for arming insurgent groups with sophisticated weapons and sought international cooperation to suppress rebel groups. In a recent interview to Russian state-run TV channel Zvezda, Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said terrorist organisations active in Myanmar are backed by ‘strong forces’ and sought international cooperation to suppress rebel groups. The reference to ‘strong forces’ was widely seen to be a reference to Myanmar’s neighbour in the north, China. Myanmar military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun later elaborated on the comment made by the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces. The spokesperson said the army chief was referring to Arakan Army (AA) and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), terrorist organisations active in the Rakhine State in western Myanmar that borders China. A ‘foreign country’ is behind the Arakan Army (AA), he said, citing China-made weapons that terror group used in mine attacks on the military in 2019. It is unusual for the Myanmar leadership to point fingers at China. But this isn’t the first time that Naypyitaw had alluded to the Chinese connection. When the Myanmar military busted a huge cache of weapons including surface-to-air missiles - each costing between USD 70,000 and 90,000 - from the banned Ta’ang National Liberation Army in November 2019, the military had underlined the Chinese connection to the weapons. Most of the weapons seized by the force are “Chinese weapons,” military spokesperson Major General Tun Tun Nyi had declared..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Hindustan Times " (India)
Date of publication: 2020-07-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar sets November 8 date for general election
Sub-title: The nationwide vote is seen as a test for Aung San Suu Kyi and her party National League for Democracy.
Description: "Myanmar will hold its next general election on November 8, the election commission has announced, in a vote seen as a test for the country's fledgeling democratic government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. In a statement on Wednesday, Hla Thein, chairman of the union election commission, said a "multi-party general election for the parliament" would be held on that day. The Myanmar Times said a total of 1,171 national, state and regional seats would be up for grabs in the election, with polling set to take place in all townships, including areas considered conflict zones and self-administered regions. Analysts see the polls as an important test of Myanmar's transition away from direct military rule. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, won power in a landslide in 2015 that ended decades of military rule. But her administration has come under pressure internationally over a military crackdown that drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into Bangladesh in 2017. She personally appeared at an international tribunal in The Hague to defend the army against the allegations of rape, arson and mass killing in the campaign, which rights groups have said was tantamount to genocide..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-07-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Flash Update: Humanitarian Situation in Rathedaung (30 June 2020)
Description: "On 25 June, the security situation deteriorated in the Kyauk Tan area of Rathedaung Township, following an announcement of a “clearance operation” by the Myanmar Armed Forces. While instruction for the operation was revoked by the Rakhine State Government on 26 June, local sources report that incidents continued in the area at the time of reporting. According to local reports, as a result of an intensification of fighting, an increased presence of security forces both army and navy followed, with reports of shooting as well as shelling across several villages of the Kyauk Tan village tract. The scope and impact of clashes in the area are not fully known at this time, at least in part due to the limited access to the area by humanitarian workers. On 28 June, the United Nations issued a statement expressing concern over the humanitarian impact of the conflict, and called on all parties to respect International Humanitarian Law, protect civilians and infrastructure and allow for humanitarian access. Similar concerns were echoed by the diplomatic missions and the INGOs..."
Source/publisher: OCHA UNHCR via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication: 2020-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 514.24 KB
more
Title: After ASEAN & India, Now Myanmar Accuses China Of Creating Trouble On The Border
Sub-title: Myanmar has accused a “foreign country” of arming the nation’s rebel groups, including the Arkan Army (AA). Hinting at China’s active role, Myanmar has alleged that Beijing is supplying sophisticated military weapons to create insurgency in the nation.
Description: "It is reported that Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) has stated that a “foreign country” is behind the Arkan Army, which is a declared terrorist organisation. He reasons his claim by citing an incident from 2019 where modern technologies were utilised by Arkan Army, in mine attacks on the military in Rakhine state. It was also revealed by U Min Zaw Oo, the executive director of Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security that a majority of the weapons used by Myanmar ethnic armed groups operating near the Chinese border are made in China..."
Source/publisher: "The Eur Asian Times"
Date of publication: 2020-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar alleges 'one foreign country' arming insurgent groups on its territory
Sub-title: According to a news report published in Myanmar recently, Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) has said that a foreign country is behind the Arakan Army (AA), citing modern technologies that AA has allegedly used in mine attacks on the military in Rakhine state in 2019. The AA is a declared terrorist organization in Myanmar.
Description: "India’s immediate neighbour in SE Asia Myanmar has alleged that ‘one foreign country’ is arming the Arkan Army, a rebel group, with sophisticated military technology indicating China's active role in arming insurgent groups. According to a news report published in Myanmar recently, Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) has said that a foreign country is behind the Arakan Army (AA), citing modern technologies that AA has allegedly used in mine attacks on the military in Rakhine state in 2019. The AA is a declared terrorist organization in Myanmar. China's aggressive posturing in SE Asia is facing a pushback with ASEAN states recently emphasising on UNCLOS to address disputes in the South China Sea region where China has created artificial islands and military bases. U Min Zaw Oo, executive director of Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, has said that while China has a policy of non-intervention in the affairs of other countries, most of the weapons used by the Myanmar ethnic armed groups operating near Chinese border are made in China.
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Economic Times" (India)
Date of publication: 2020-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar finds troops guilty in Rohingya atrocities court-martial
Sub-title: In rare action, three military officers found guilty as Myanmar faces genocide charges at UN court over 2017 crackdown.
Description: "Three Myanmar military officers have been found guilty by a court-martial investigating atrocities against the Rohingya in conflict-ridden Rakhine state, the army announced. The rare action against members of the military on Tuesday comes as Myanmar faces charges of genocide at the UN's top court over a brutal 2017 crackdown against the Rohingya. Some 750,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh during the crackdown, carrying with them accounts of widespread murder, rape and arson. Rights groups accused security forces of committing atrocities in various villages, including Gu Dar Pyin, where they alleged at least five shallow mass graves had been found. After initially denying the allegations, the military started court-martial proceedings in September last year, admitting there had been "weakness in following instructions" in the village. The commander-in-chief's office announced on Tuesday that the court-martial had "confirmed the guilty verdict", and sentenced three officers. No details were provided on the perpetrators, their crimes, or sentences. Estimates from survivors in Bangladesh put the death toll from the village in the hundreds..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Thousands flee in expectation of Myanmar military operation
Sub-title: The exodus from more than 40 villages is continuing almost a week later, even though the order was revoked last Friday Rakhine state’s security and border affairs minister.
Description: "Thousands of people in an area of western Myanmar where there have been clashes between the government and ethnic rebels have been fleeing from their villages over the past week after an evacuation order from officials. The Rakhine state government in an order last Tuesday instructed village administrators in Rathedaung township to tell residents to stay away from their homes due to military plans to conduct a “clearance operation” against the rebels. “Clearance operation” is Myanmar military parlance for counter insurgency action. The exodus from more than 40 villages is continuing almost a week later, even though the order was revoked last Friday Rakhine state’s security and border affairs minister. “Since the day the order was issued, more than 10,000 people from the operation area fled their villages,” Khin Maung Latt, an upper house member of parliament for Rathedaung township, said Monday. The government has been embroiled for more than a year in an intermittent conflict with the Arakan Army, a well-trained and well-armed guerrilla force representing members of the area’s Rakhine ethnic group. The guerrilla force is posing the strongest military challenge to the central government of the many ethnic minority groups who for decades have sought greater autonomy..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Hindustan Times " (India)
Date of publication: 2020-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Death and despair: Rescued Rohingyas describe high-seas terror
Sub-title: About 1,400 Rohingyas have been stranded at sea this year -- and at least 130 of those have died, according to IOM
Description: "A group of Rohingyas says they were beaten by traffickers and drank their own urine to stay alive on a perilous four-month journey at sea until their dramatic rescue near the Indonesian coast. The bedraggled survivors -- about 100 in all, mostly women and children --described a high-seas horror story that saw them reduced to throwing the dead overboard as their rickety craft drifted thousands of kilometres towards Malaysia. Two survivors claimed that people smugglers paid to transport them had beaten the Rohingyas who were later moved to a new boat and abandoned at sea. They were rescued by fishermen in Indonesia on Wednesday and pulled to shore by locals the next day, thousands of kilometres south of Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2020-06-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Thousands flee military offensive in Rakhine’s Rathedaung
Sub-title: Thousands of villagers have fled their homes as the Tatmadaw (military) launched an offensive against the Arakan Army (AA) in five villages in Rathedaung township in Rakhine State, a local legislator said on June 28.
Description: "The Tatmadaw launched the offensive last week based on information that the five villages harboured AA fighters, said U Khin Maung Latt, MP for Rakhine in the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House). "There is no one left in the villages now," he added. He identified the villages as Kyauk Tan, Aung Thar Si, Maung Phyu, Yeah Poat, and Kyaw Yan Thar Si. Colonel Min Than, Rakhine’s minister for Security and Border Affairs, had warned local officials that the Tatmadaw planned a “clearance operation” in Kyauk Tan and nearby areas on June 25. The government had ordered the Tatmadaw not to use the term "clearance operation," as the villagers could misunderstand it to be an all-out attack, so Colonel Min Than revoked his order on June 26. The offensive was launched days after three border police and their civilian drivers were killed in an ambush by the AA in Koetenkauk village on June 23. Another four police officers and a civilian were injured.
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: EXCLUSIVE: 'Rohingya issue, not Muslims v/s Buddhist paradigm'
Sub-title: In an exclusive interaction, Maung Zarni said Myanmar was taking advantage of strategic rivalry between China and India
Description: "Maung Zarni, 56, scholar and activist, known for his opposition to the violence in Myanmar and his support to the Rohingya population said the Burmese military was taking advantage of strategic rivalry between China and India and blamed genocide of Rohingya to an institutional hate campaign. Born in a Burmese Buddhist family, Zarni said a campaign of ignorance was manufactured in his country through schools, mass media, and Buddhist organizations against Rohingya, which eventually culminated in the genocide. “The Burmese public has been made ignorant of the facts about Islam and Muslims,” said Zarni in an exclusive interaction with Anadolu Agency. Co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition and the Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia, the UK-based scholar said there was no reason for the Burmese government to target Rohingya as they do not demand secession, independence, or even a regional autonomy. “Rohingya are not fighting with any community or with the government. They want to live in Burma as peacefully as anybody,” he said. He said it is Rakhine Buddhists who are fighting the central government of ethnic Burmese to reclaim their sovereignty, they have lost 200 years ago. Zarin said the Rohingya have become sandwiched between the two waring Buddhist parties. “That is the only conflict there, “he said, adding that the world does not know these facts about Myanmar and tends to focus on Muslims versus the Buddhist paradigm. The activist further said that the Burmese military was also taking advantage of strategic rivalry between China and India in the region. “The multi-billion-dollar projects along the Arakan the coastline, or like giving the mineral rights concessions or gas exploration rights, you will see a pattern of the Burmese military, making sure both India and China received something. In other words, while they are playing India and China against each other, to maintain the benefits of being allies with both powers,” he said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2020-06-27
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Gambia's justice minister who led Rohingya case resigns
Sub-title: Abubakarr Tambadou, known for human rights efforts at home, abroad steps down from government post
Description: "The Gambian justice minister who led efforts to protect human rights in his own country, as well as an international case in defense of the persecuted Rohingya minority in Myanmar, has stepped down from his government post. Abubakarr Tambadou, who will leave office on June 30, will be replaced by lawyer Dawda Jallow, President Adama Barrow announced Thursday. At a press conference in Gambia's capital Banjul on Friday, Tambadou said: "I led efforts to rebuild a hitherto weakened judiciary and I'm glad that we now have a respectable, robust and independent organ of state." Tambadou is hailed inside and outside Gambia for advocating rule of law and human rights, as well as for establishing the transitional justice process to deal with human rights violations of former president Yahya Jammeh who ruled the West African country for 22 years. Tambadou also established an inquiry to recover Jammeh's allegedly ill-gotten assets and a draft constitution more protective of human rights. During his tenure, Tambadou pushed for Jammeh to be held accountable for past crimes. He helped the US arrest one of Jammeh's alleged henchmen, Michael Sang Correa, and made clear that if Jammeh tried to return to Gambia, he would be arrested on charges of committing atrocities. Tambadou told journalists that his resignation was for personal reasons, but would not comment on reports that he would be appointed as UN registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. The international court was established by the UN Security Council in 2010 to perform the remaining functions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. "What happened in this country on 1 December 2016 was a revolution by any standards, a political revolution to match any other in world history. We removed a dictator by democratic means, through the ballot box, and peacefully," said Tambadou, referring to the country's landmark elections that voted Jammeh out of office. "Since then, a lot has happened over the past three and a half years. On my part, I have initiated and delivered on the key pillars of our transitional justice process which has now achieved global recognition by experts as being among the best models in the world, particularly for its inclusiveness and originality." At ICJ for Rohingya In January this year, Tambadou led a historic court case of genocide against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice on the country's Muslim Rohingya. The case was filed by Gambia with the backing of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2020-06-26
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Thousands in Myanmar's Rakhine state flee as army plans operations, monitors say
Description: "Thousands of villagers have fled their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after a local administrator warned dozens of village leaders that the army planned “clearance operations” against insurgents, a lawmaker and a humanitarian group said. But a government spokesman said late on Saturday (Jun 27) an evacuation order issued by border-affairs officials had been revoked. Border affairs acknowledged issuing the order through the local administrator but said it affected fewer villages. The warning to the village leaders came in a letter written on Wednesday, which was seen by Reuters and verified by a state government minister, Colonel Min Than. The letter, signed by the administrator of Rathedaung township, Aung Myint Thein, told village leaders he had been informed the operations were planned in the township's Kyauktan village and nearby areas suspected of harbouring insurgents. The letter does not specify where the order came from, but Min Than, Rakhine state’s border affairs and security minister, told Reuters it was an instruction from his border affairs ministry, one of three Myanmar government ministries controlled by the army..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of publication: 2020-06-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Dhaka to London: Exert pressure on Myanmar for Rohingya repatriation
Sub-title: Transparency, accountability in the process of disbursement of aid is very critical, says, foreign minister
Description: "Foreign Minister Dr AK Abul Momen on Tuesday called on the UK to exert more pressure on Myanmar for solving the Rohingya crisis urgently by sustainable repatriation. He made this call during the videoconference with UK DFID Secretary of State Anne-Marie Trevelyan. Dr Momen expressed his sympathy for the severity of Covid-19 in the UK, and briefed Trevelyan on the steps taken by Bangladesh to contain the deadly virus, reports UNB. He briefed Secretary of State for DFID about the economic and social impact of coronavirus in Bangladesh, including the challenge of job loss by a significant number of Bangladeshi migrant workers abroad, particularly in the Middle East. Dr Momen requested the support of the UK in overcoming this difficulty. Foreign Minister Momen flagged that Myanmar has not done anything to date for the repatriation of Rohingyas. He insisted that until the international community exerts more pressure on Myanmar, including by putting trade and investment moratorium, the Rohingya crisis will not be resolved. While thanking DFID as a longstanding development partner of Bangladesh, Dr Momen pointed out that transparency, accountability, and aid effectiveness regarding disbursement of aid are critical. He requested the UK to keep the government of Bangladesh informed of the different development programs, modes of distribution, and modalities of development activities carried out by DFID in Bangladesh. DFID Secretary Trevelyan assured Foreign Minister Momen of following transparent mechanism in this regard. Trade, climate issues They also discussed the issue of climate change and committed to working together for addressing the global challenge. Dr Momen informed Trevelyan about the Climate Vulnerable Forum, where Bangladesh is the chair now, and suggested that the UK could help Bangladesh to strengthen the Forum. 2020/06/samsung-june-offer-dt-1170x90-1592483732604.gif Foreign Minister Momen also raised the issue of RMG export to the UK is severely affected during the ongoing coronavirus crisis. He flagged that even now, close to $300 million worth of confirmed orders have been cancelled by different British brands and retailers. Dr Momen requested for the support of the government of the UK to solve this problem of defaulting on confirmed orders by UK companies. He suggested that a Covid-19 recovery fund could be created to address this particular issue Dr Momen also briefed Trevelyan about the trade and investment opportunities in Bangladesh. He flagged the advantages of investing in Bangladesh and suggested that the UK, a major investor in Bangladesh, could further diversify its investment here..."
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2020-06-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Nearly 100 Rohingya rescued off Indonesia: official
Description: "LHOKSEUMAWE — Nearly 100 Rohingya from Myanmar, including 30 children, have been rescued from a rickety wooden boat off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, a maritime official said Wednesday. Images shot from Indonesian rescue boats showed dozens of children and adults, many weeping, after they had been plucked from their vessel by local fishermen. "The boat with Rohingya onboard was broken and floating in the middle of the sea when the fishermen found them," said Mr Muhammad Nasir, head of the maritime authority in Sumatra's northernmost Aceh province. They had gone without food for several days, officials said. Support independent journalism in Myanmar. Sign up to be a Frontier member. Malaysia and Indonesia are favoured destinations for Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar, with thousands trying a perilous escape via smugglers across the sea every year. Around a million live in squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh, where human trafickers also run lucrative operations promising to find them sanctuary abroad. Their plight has been compounded in recent months by the coronavirus, with boats of asylum seekers turned away for fear they may be harbouring the deadly virus. Amnesty International Indonesia's executive director Mr Usman Hamid urged authroties to treat the latest arrivals humanely..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-25
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: UNHRC adopts resolution asking Myanmar to ensure Rohingya return
Sub-title: In its 43rd session, the 47-member UNHRC adopted the resolution on Monday in Geneva by a vote of 37 in favour, 2 against and 8 abstentions
Description: "The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted a resolution calling upon Myanmar to create conditions and to establish a plan conducive to the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingyas and all refugees and forcibly displaced persons. The resolution on the situation of human rights in Myanmar also stressed the need to effectively address the root causes of human rights violations and abuses against ethnic minorities, including the Rohingyas, in the Rakhine State. In its 43rd session, the 47-member UNHRC adopted the resolution on Monday in Geneva by a vote of 37 in favour, 2 against and 8 abstentions. Afghanistan, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Eritrea, Fiji, Germany, Italy, Libya, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mexico, Namibia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Somalia, Spain, Sudan, Togo, Ukraine and Uruguay voted in favour. The Philippines and Venezuela voted against while Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal and Senegal abstained. The UNHRC urged the government of Myanmar to grant full and unhindered access to the diplomatic corps, independent observers and representatives of the national and international independent media, without fear of reprisal, intimidation or attack, and to lift the Internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin States that has been in place in four townships since June 21, 2019, and five more townships since February 3, 2020..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2020-06-23
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: The country where hundreds of thousands of people haven't heard of Covid-19
Description: "Hundreds of thousands of people trapped near fierce fighting in Myanmar's far west may know nothing of Covid-19 thanks to a yearlong internet shutdown, according to rights groups. Last June, the Myanmar government, led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, cut internet access to nine townships in the area due to concerns that it was being used to inflame clashes between the Myanmar military and insurgents. One township its service restored in May, but eight others, with a total population of about 800,000 people, remain in an information blackout. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say the extended shutdown is putting lives at risk, not only because it's preventing people from reporting possible human rights abuses -- but because it has cut off them off from public health campaigns about the coronavirus pandemic. "With armed conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Rakhine State amid a pandemic, it's critical for civilians to get the information needed to stay safe," Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch said in a statement..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
Date of publication: 2020-06-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Internet blackout in Myanmar's Rakhine enters its second year
Sub-title: Locals and campaigners appeal for an end to the blackout as coronavirus fears grip the region.
Description: "The internet shutdown in Myanmar's conflict-ridden northwest, described by rights groups as the world's longest, has entered a second year. Locals and campaigners are appealing for an end to the blackout as coronavirus fears grip the region. More: UN's Guterres asks Bangladesh to move Rohingya to refugee camps First coronavirus case found in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camps Bangladesh quarantines hundreds of Rohingya rescued from sea The Myanmar military has been embroiled in a bloody civil war since January 2019 against the Arakan Army (AA), a rebel group fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. The government shut down mobile data in several townships across Rakhine state and neighbouring Chin state on June 21 last year, causing panic among residents desperate for information about the unrest. On Friday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for an immediate end to "the world's longest government-enforced internet shutdown". "It's critical for civilians to get the information needed to stay safe" during a global pandemic, said HRW's Linda Lakhdhir. The country has so far recorded 287 coronavirus cases, including six deaths, but experts fear the low numbers are due to a lack of testing..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-21
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: More children getting 'killed, maimed' in Myanmar conflict
Sub-title: Violence against children increased sixfold in first three months of 2020 compared with the last three months of 2019.
Description: "The escalation in fighting between Myanmar's military and ethnic Rakhine rebels in recent months has triggered a surge in violence against children and left some villagers facing starvation. The humanitarian group, Save the Children, said in a report on Tuesday that the conflict in the far west of Myanmar has left children increasingly exposed. "The widespread use of mines and improvised explosive devices poses a specific threat to children," Duncan Harvey, Save the Children's top official in Myanmar, said in a statement. "The numbers paint a stark picture," Harvey said, pointing to the report, which verified dozens of incidents of children being killed or maimed. Between January and March this year in the central part of Rakhine State alone, 18 children were killed and 71 children were physically injured or maimed, according to the report. In comparison, there were three recorded cases of children being killed and 12 others injured between October-December 2019..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-23
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar: Security Personnel Complicit In Illegal Border Crossings
Description: "Security personnel are suspected of helping to transport people who recently entered northern Arakan State illegally from Bangladesh, according to presidential spokesperson U Zaw Htay. “Frankly speaking, human traffickers smuggle returnees and drugs into the Maungdaw region in cooperation with security personnel,” U Zaw Htay said during a press conference held at the Presidential Palace in Nay Pyi Taw on June 19. He added that action under Myanmar immigration law would be taken against the illegal returnees and those responsible for facilitating their return. Although a fence is built along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, complete control of border crossings is not possible, he contended, saying it is believed that the trafficking routes include difficult-to-patrol stretches such as small creeks used by locals for fishing. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Myanmar government has suspended the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of refugees living across the border in Bangladesh camps. But since the suspension, the number of illegal returnees has reached 81, according to a source from the Maungdaw deputy commissioner’s office. Among the unlawful entrants, four from Maungdaw Township and three from Buthidaung Township have tested positive for coronavirus..."
Source/publisher: "Eurasia Review"
Date of publication: 2020-06-21
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Seriously injured man among three civilians detained in Mrauk-U without explanation and denied family visits
Sub-title: The three are among hundreds detained by soldiers and police in Rakhine state since late 2018
Description: "The father of a seriously injured man who was taken from his home in Rakhine’s Mrauk-U township by Tatmadaw soldiers without explanation has said he is innocent and called for his release. Than Myint Htay, 31, was bedbound at home in Leik Sin Pyin village recovering from a stomach wound after a tractor accident last week when soldiers showed up to detain him. His father, San Tun Phyu, has been unable to see him since and the military has refused to say why they took him. “My son did nothing wrong,” he told Myanmar Now. “I just want them to release him as soon as possible.” Family members travelled to Tein Nyo village, where he was held temporarily on his way to another detention center, to plead for his release. They told soldiers his stomach wound was serious, San Tun Phyu said, but an officer said Than Myint Htay could not be released because he needed to be interrogated. Than Myint Htay is one of at least 800 people the Tatmadaw and police have detained in Rakhine since clashes started in late 2018, according to figures compiled by the Thazin Legal Aid Network. The group said this number only includes people who have appeared in court to face charges..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: UN: Nearly 80 million people forcibly displaced worldwide
Sub-title: Conflict, violence, persecution forces 11 million to flee in 2019, as coronavirus pandemic worsens plight of refugees.
Description: "Nearly 80 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide by the end of last year as a result of conflict, violence, persecution and human rights violations, according to the United Nations. Ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, released its annual report on displacement on Thursday, which showed an estimated 11 million more people fled their homes in 2019, almost doubling the total figure over the past More: The Syrian refugee on the UK's coronavirus front lines Nine of 10 most neglected displacement crises in Africa How Afghan refugees are helping Turkey fight coronavirus Among the overall 79.5 million displaced people globally, 26 million were refugees, 4.2 million asylum seekers and 45.7 million internally displaced people (IDPs) - those who fled to other parts of their own country, the report said. "Forced displacement is vastly more widespread and common today. The world's biggest conflicts are driving this and they must be brought to an end," Selin Unal, UNHCR Turkey spokesperson, told Al Jazeera. The UNHCR said the annual increase was a result of a "worrying new displacement" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Sahel region, war-torn Yemen and Syria - which alone accounted for a sixth of the world's displaced..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Pages with references to "Rakhine" from "The Global New Light of Myanmar" 20 June 2020
Description: "UNION Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Win Myat Aye held an online meeting with Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu and state cabinet members regarding the closure Kyauktalone IDP camp in Kyaukpyu Township yesterday. The Union Minister first said the National Strategy on Resettlement Programmes and Closure of IDP Camps has been approved and closure of IDP camps in Rakhine State are under way. He said they prioritize creating jobs for self-reliance, access to education and healthcare, social coexistence and sustainable development. The Union Minister said it is important for the closure of Kyauktalone IDP camp to be done systematically in line with the strategic plan and to adhere to existing laws, bylaws and regulations. He said as it is a region prone to natural disasters, there should be preventive measures in place when planning resettlement. He said the IDPs and the world always need to know the truth of the current development plans in progress. Next, Chief Minister U Nyi Pu said the local residents, IDPs and the rest of the world need to know the true situations and processes in the field so that fake and superficial news are not spread. He said this necessitates regular contact and discussions. The meeting then commenced with discussions on the use of technology in preparing for natural disasters, details of cooperation between the government and the private sector in the development programmes, and other matters..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Ministry of Information via "The Global New Light of Myanmar"
Date of publication: 2020-06-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 252.23 KB
more
Title: ICJ urged to make Rohingya genocide report public
Sub-title: Rights groups say keeping reports confidential 'will undermine their effectiveness, allow Myanmar to skirt obligation'
Description: "Over two dozen rights groups from various countries are urging the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to make Myanmar’s report on the Rohingya genocide available to the public. Myanmar submitted the report to the ICJ late last month, stating what the government had done to prevent further acts of genocide against the country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. In the joint letter sent to the ICJ on June 17 and made available to Anadolu Agency, 30 Rohingya rights groups expressed fears of misinformation if the report remains confidential. “We fear that keeping the reports confidential will undermine their effectiveness and allow Myanmar to skirt its obligation to comply with the Court’s Order, and its continuing obligations under the [UN’s] 1948 Genocide Convention,” it states. “We would like to respectfully urge the Court to make the 23 May 2020 report and all future reports (including any responses from The Gambia) available to the public on the Court’s website.” According to a January 23 ruling by the ICJ, Myanmar is obliged to take all measures to protect the Rohingya community from mental and physical harm, as well as from the deliberate infliction of life conditions that cause their “physical destruction” and measures “intended to prevent births within the group.” Stressing the need to ensure public confidence in the trial process, the rights groups said “the non-public nature of the reports will prevent Rohingya communities and other observers who may have relevant information and expertise from being able to scrutinize Myanmar’s reports.” “The reporting requirement may not fulfil its intended purpose, especially given that United Nations investigators are not able to operate within Myanmar,” the letter said. It warned that “misinterpretation may arise even among the Rohingya people” if the report was not made public..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2020-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Every action counts: How ngos are supporting Myanmar’s displaced—Part 2
Description: "In March, I sat down with Katie Striffolino, InterAction's Senior Manager for Humanitarian Practice, to discuss her work with the NGOs on the front lines of this crisis. "We undertake a number of field visits every year, looking at different operational and policy issues as they affect humanitarian NGOs and conditions at the field level," she told me. "We do documentation and analyses, produce recommendations, and engage stakeholders on improvements to the humanitarian response, as well as actions that can improve humanitarian conditions to support overall response operations in any given context." From February 10-20, Katie traveled to Myanmar with Rachel Unkovic, InterAction's NGO Coordination Advisor, to consult with, support, and learn from the Myanmar INGO Forum, its 140 NGO members, many of them InterAction members and local and national NGO networks and actors. Their trip had two objectives. "First, we were looking at the Myanmar INGO Forum's governance, structures, and practices," she said. "We asked ourselves what lessons and experiences could we share with them from other response locations around the world and what we could learn from them to bring to NGO Consortia working in other humanitarian settings? "Second, we conducted research into bureaucratic and administrative impediments as they affect the humanitarian response for both U.N. and NGO actors which will form a case study and inform InterAgency Standing Committee (IASC) normative guidance to Humanitarian Coordinators and Country Teams around the world on how to best, collectively support the humanitarian community in addressing undue bureaucratic and administrative impediments. We need to be collectively addressing these issues so that humanitarian programs can continue to run in an efficient, unfettered and principled manner." The more time they spent with the Myanmar INGO Forum, the more they realized how similar it is to InterAction. While the diversity of their membership is a strength, it can often make it challenging to drive consensus and provide equal support to each member..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: " InterAction" via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication: 2020-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar: End World’s Longest Internet Shutdown
Sub-title: Lift Restrictions in Embattled Rakhine, Chin States
Description: "The Myanmar government should immediately lift all internet restrictions in eight townships in Rakhine and Chin States, Human Rights Watch said today. The mobile internet shutdown, which began on June 21, 2019, is affecting more than a million people living in a conflict zone. The internet shutdown, along with restrictions on access by aid agencies, has meant that people in some villages are unaware of the Covid-19 outbreak, humanitarian workers told Human Rights Watch. Local groups report that the shutdown has made it difficult to coordinate the distribution of aid to conflict-affected communities, and to communicate with their field teams to ensure staff safety. A local editor said the shutdown greatly impedes media coverage of the fighting between the Myanmar military and the ethnic Arakan Army, making it hard for villagers to get up-to-date information. “Myanmar should immediately end what is now the world’s longest government-enforced internet shutdown,” said Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch. “With armed conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Rakhine State amid a pandemic, it’s critical for civilians to get the information needed to stay safe.” The government first imposed restrictions on mobile internet communications in the townships of Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, Maungdaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Myebon, Ponnagyun, and Rathedaung in Rakhine State and Paletwa township in Chin State. The government temporarily lifted restrictions in five townships from September 2019 until February 2020, when they were reinstated. On May 2, the authorities lifted the restrictions in Maungdaw..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication: 2020-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 73 village chiefs resign in Rakhine over arrests fears
Sub-title: Seventy-three village and ward administrators have resigned in Myebon township in Rakhine State after three colleagues were arrested and charged with associating with the Arakan Army, a Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) MP said on June 17.
Description: "U Pe Than, MP for Myebon township, said the local leaders quit last week after police charged three of their colleagues under the anti-terrorism law with aiding AA fighters. "They resigned out of concern that they could be arrested too," he said. The three village administrators charged in a Myebon court in early June were identified as U Maung Zaw of Ange Thit village, U Kyaw Myint of Ywar Thit Kay village, and U Aung Than of Myauk Kyein village. They face up to seven years in prison if found guilty. Fighting between the Tatmadaw (military) and AA erupted in November 2018, when the ethnic armed group tried to establish a base in Mrauk-U township. The fighting grew throughout 2019, and the AA has killed and captured soldiers and police at remote government outposts in several attacks. Paletwa township in nearby Chin State was also the scene of intense fighting, which cut all transportation routes to the township for four months, sparking a severe food shortage. The government and United Nations’ World Food Programme finally succeeded in delivering food to Paletwa in April and early May. The fighting has forced more than 140,000 people to flee their homes in Rakhine and Chin. U Tin Myint, deputy minister of the Union Government Office, said the government has warned village administrators not to aid the AA, which it declared a terrorist group on March 23. "Police are now charging village administrators under the anti-terrorism law with supporting a terrorist group," he said. "If the police suspect us of supporting the AA, we will be arrested," a village administrator, who refused to be named for safety reasons, said on June 16. “So we are resigning." Thazin, a Rakhine-based aid group, said the government has prosecuted about 700 civilians, including village administrators, under the anti-terrorism law..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: AA releases interview of captive Tatmadaw officer
Sub-title: The Arakan Army (AA) has released an interview with a captive Tatmadaw (military) officer who claimed to have killed three Muslim men suspected of belonging to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) during the Tatmadaw’s massive crackdown in northern Rakhine State in 2017.
Description: "ARSA launched deadly attacks on more than 30 military outposts in northern Rakhine in August 2017, sparking the crackdown and the exodus of more than 740,000 Muslims across the border to Bangladesh, where they continue to live in crowded refugee camps. International organisations accused the Tatmadaw of killing thousands of Muslims and committing mass rape and other human rights abuses during the crackdown, and Gambia, acting on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, filed a genocide lawsuit against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice last November. In the interview, the Tatmadaw officer, identified as Captain Nyi Nyi Zaw, said Tatmadaw troops shot dead three Muslim men suspected of belonging to ARSA near Zin Pai Nyar village in Maungdaw townsCapt Nyi Nyi Zaw, of the 345th Light Infantry Battalion under the 15th Military Operation Command in Buthidaung township, was among several people the AA seized aboard a passenger ferry in October 2019. AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha denied that the AA forced the officer to make the accusations.hip in September 2017. Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun denied the claims and accused the AA of forcing the officer to make the confession..." “He has been held captive for months, so he will have to do as the AA tells him,” he said. “It’s untrue. We carry out all our missions according to military rules.”
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: ASEAN Summit: A chance to engage on the Rohingya crisis
Sub-title: The regional body has been notably silent on genocide in Myanmar, ducking behind the myth of non-interference.
Description: "On 26 June, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet virtually for their 36th semi-annual summit. The meeting is expected to include a focus on the re-opening of borders and economies post-pandemic, as well as discussions about the continuing tensions in the South China Sea and progress against the ASEAN 2015–2025 Community Building Blueprints. For ASEAN, the summit comes at a critical time. Since the mid 1970s, ASEAN has progressively increased its clout as a credible regional organisation, but today this centrality is threatened by shifting regional dynamics. Major powers within and outside the region have proposed the establishment of alternative regional frameworks: Australia’s proposal for an Asia-Pacific Community, the notion of the Indo-Pacific region, and what became the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, involving some ASEAN member states but not ASEAN as a regional organisation. With ASEAN members interacting more independently with external partners and trading regimes, the importance of a Southeast Asian regional association is arguably diminished. And now, as ASEAN leaders prepare for next week’s summit, one of its member states – Myanmar – is preparing its defence against allegations of genocide brought by the state of Gambia before the International Court of Justice. Simultaneously, the International Criminal Court is investigating allegations that Myanmar’s senior authorities forcibly deported and persecuted the Rohingya people. In explaining the ASEAN stance on the Rohingya crisis, much has been made of the “ASEAN Way” – the principles of sovereignty, non-interference and consensus decision-making enshrined in numerous ASEAN agreements and declarations. Running in parallel with these developments in international justice has been a tide of international condemnation and sanctions against Myanmar, related to its violence against the Rohingya ethnic minority. The UN Secretary General, the Security Council and the General Assembly have all expressed concern, and the US, Canada and the EU have imposed sanctions..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Independent" (UK)
Date of publication: 2020-06-17
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya genocide: Myanmar’s Facebook records case may be watershed moment
Description: "The lawyers prosecuting Myanmar for the alleged genocide against the Rohingya are once again breaking new legal ground. The International Court of Justice action by the Gambia was unprecedented, and long overdue, when initiated last year. But the received wisdom is that genocide accountability is particularly difficult because the plaintiff has to prove genocidal intent. And proving intent is taken to be one of the hardest standards to clear in legal proceedings. But in a logical, if unprecedented, move, the Gambian legal team, led by the formidable Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou, have asked a US court to force Facebook to hand over the data they have relating to the leading Myanmar army officials who ordered the “clearance operations” against the Rohingya, chief among them Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces. If there is anywhere the prosecution might find records of the thinking that went into the actions by the Myanmar military before and during the operations against the Rohingya, Facebook is going to be the place. In 2017, I wrote about the ways in which Facebook was the principal medium through which anti-Rohingya hatred and propaganda was being stoked up for years, leading to the “clearing operations.” And, while at that time I was referring mainly to the crazed rants of extremist nationalists and Buddhist fundamentalists from Myanmar’s civil society, many senior officials, including the military leadership of the country, also weighed in on the issue on Facebook. Without wanting to pre-judge the proceedings, those statements by leading government and military officials were never to condemn the worst excesses of hate-baiting against the Rohingya, but instead had the general intent and purpose of moderating and rationalizing antagonism toward the minority group. On those grounds alone, it may be possible to make inferences about intent. But perhaps a bigger prize is possible: It would be of genuine public interest to see what the communications between leading military officials looked like at the time, and to what extent their hostility to the Rohingya might have been expressed in genocidal language in private..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Arab News" (Saudi Arabia)
Date of publication: 2020-06-16
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: An Avoidable War: Politics and Armed Conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine State
Sub-title: Fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine State is taking a rising toll. It will hinder any effort to contain COVID-19 or resolve the Rohingya crisis. Rather than trying to defeat the Arakan Army, Naypyitaw should negotiate with ethnic Rakhine, endeavouring to convince them of electoral democracy’s benefits.
Description: "The armed conflict being waged between government forces and the ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army in western Myanmar is currently the most serious by far of the country’s multiple, decades-old internal wars, with some of the most sustained and intense fighting seen in many years. After the conflict escalated significantly in early 2019, the government ordered a tough military response and on 23 March designated the Arakan Army as a terrorist organisation. These measures have exacerbated the grievances underlying the conflict and made a negotiated end to the fighting more difficult to attain. At the same time, neither side will be able to achieve their military objectives. The government needs a political strategy, now missing, to negotiate with Rakhine leaders, address their community’s grievances, and demonstrate that electoral democracy and political negotiation offer a realistic and effective path to realising their aspirations. The trajectory of the armed conflict is alarming, complicating problems in a state already traumatised by the separate crisis that resulted in the violent expulsion of more than 700,000 minority Rohingya to neighbouring Bangladesh in 2016-2017. Over the last eighteen months, clashes have increased in regularity and intensity, their geographical scope has expanded and the civilian toll has grown. Despite the significant loss of life on both sides, nothing suggests that Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, is wearing down the Arakan Army or degrading its ability to operate. But nor is there reason to believe that the Arakan Army can achieve its aim of greater political autonomy on the battlefield. Civilians are paying a heavy price, caught in the crossfire or targeted as Arakan Army partisans or for harbouring fighters in their villages. Schools and medical facilities have been hit with alarming regularity, with each side usually blaming the other. It is difficult to see how general elections, which were provisionally slated for November, could be held in many parts of Rakhine State, the conflict’s locus..."
Source/publisher: "International Crisis Group (ICG)" (Belgium)
Date of publication: 2020-06-09
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Traffickers want payments for Rohingya stranded at sea for months
Sub-title: Several hundred Rohingya stranded since February after countries sealed borders to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Description: "People traffickers holding hundreds of Rohingya refugees at sea are demanding payments from their families to release them from boats off the shores of Southeast Asia, relatives and rights groups say. Several hundred Rohingya, members of a largely Muslim minority from Myanmar fleeing persecution at home and refugee camps in Bangladesh, have been stranded for months after countries sealed their borders to block the spread of the coronavirus. More: 'Desperate journeys': Rohingya children recall ordeal at sea Lawyers seek Facebook posts of Myanmar leaders in Rohingya case Rohingya crisis through the eyes of Al Jazeera's journalists Three people who said their relatives were at sea told the Reuters news agency that traffickers had demanded money to release them from boats that have been off Southeast Asia since February, trying to find a place to land. "Before, the deal was that if they were able to reach the Malaysian shore then they will take the money, but they're asking for it now," said Mohammed Ayas, who said his 16-year-old brother left a refugee camp in Bangladesh in February. Since then, the family has heard nothing from him, Ayas said. Musha, whose two sisters are also at sea after leaving camps in Bangladesh in February, said brokers acting for the traffickers asked the family to pay 12,000 ringgit ($2,800) via a mobile banking service for their transfer to Malaysia. He said the family paid the sum but did not know the fate of the two teenaged girls. For years, Rohingya have boarded boats between November and April, when the seas are calm, to get to Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. But coronavirus lockdowns have left boats stranded at sea. Dozens of people died on board a boat that had to return to Bangladesh in April after running out of food and water, survivors told Reuters..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-16
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: After The Ethnic Cleansing Of The Rohingyas Comes The Arakanese – OpEd
Description: "Thehall mark of the Myanmar Tatmadaw (armed forces) on embarking the ethnic cleansing policy has been rooted in the Myanmar philosophy of “The policy of a great nation” where one race could completely wiped out the other and in its place a new race appeared either by killing the other ethnic and by intermarrying the latter. No doubt this policy of a great nation was the carbon copy from the Anglo-Americans, where history has it that when William the Conquerer of Normandy of France (1066-1087) conquered the Saxons of England, they not only killed the men but married their women and become a strong nation, England, in as much as the European Caucasians killed the aborigines (Red Indians) married their women and become a great nation of America and Canada. So also now the Myanmar are doing the same to the other non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities of Shan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon and Arakanese (Rakhine) including several smaller ethnics and tribes and what more prove is wanted, when every non Myanmar ethnic race have no choice but is being forced to rebel against the marauding Tatmadaw. The atrocities of the Myanmar Tatmadaw implementing on the Rohingya is the carbon copy of what the Myanmar king Bodawpaya (1782-1819) has done to the Arakanese as one can enquire in any old Arakanese records or read the Arakanese history. No doubt, the Union of Burma was founded by consensus in 1947, in a small Shan village of Panglong (Myanmar endeavour to replace with the Burmese word of Pinlon) next to Loilem in Southern Shan States. Even in that historical agreement, the Arakanese and the Mon representatives were not invited, being treated as a conquered race, which is a small part of the Mahar Myanmar race..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Eurasia Review"
Date of publication: 2020-06-13
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Coronavirus: 2 more Rohingyas die; 5 more infected in Cox's Bazar
Sub-title: Earlier, a 71-year old man died at isolation centre of Rohingya camp on June 1
Description: "Two more Rohingya men died from coronavirus on Monday, taking total death in the Rohingya camp to three. One of them was 58 years old and a resident of camp-10 while another was 70 years and a resident of camp-7 in Ukhiya, said Dr Abu Toha MRH Bhuiyan, health coordinator of the Refugee, Relief and Rehabilitation Commission. Besides, five more Rohingyas were diagnosed with coronavirus on Monday, he said adding that total number coronavirus cases rose to 35 till Monday. Meanwhile, two Rohingya men made recovery from coronavirus. Earlier, a 71-year old man died at isolation centre of Rohingya camp on June 1. Earlier on May 16, two more Rohingyas were diagnosed with coronavirus at Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar, forcing the local administration to put some 5,000 Rohingyas at the camp under complete lockdown. Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas, most of them entered Bangladesh since August 25, 2017..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2020-06-09
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Malaysia/Thailand: Allow Rohingya Refugees Ashore
Sub-title: End Pushbacks, Grant Access to Aid and Asylum
Description: "Malaysia and Thailand should urgently rescue Rohingya refugees stranded at sea and provide them with assistance and access to asylum, Human Rights Watch said today. On June 8, 2020, Malaysian authorities detained 269 Rohingya refugees who arrived on a damaged boat off Malaysia’s coast at Langkawi. A second boat with an estimated 300 Rohingya remains at sea near Thailand’s Koh Adang island, according to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. Both boats left from Bangladesh in February, meaning that the hundreds of ethnic Rohingya on board have been at sea for four months without access to adequate food and water. On a previous boat of Rohingya bound for Malaysia that was rescued by the Bangladesh coast guard, as many as 100 may have died on board as a result of the deplorable conditions. “Southeast Asian governments are callously passing the buck on protecting Rohingya refugees desperate for sanctuary and a future after Myanmar’s military drove them from their homes with mass atrocities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “While Myanmar remains ultimately responsible for the Rohingya refugees’ plight, Malaysia and Thailand should stop wearing blinders about the immediate risks and suffering that they face at sea.” Malaysian officials who intercepted the boat carrying Rohingya on June 8 intended to return it to international waters, but a damaged engine prevented the pushback. Approximately 50 refugees jumped off the boat and swam to shore, where they were detained, while the boat with the remaining passengers was towed to Langkawi. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency arrested them on arrival and has detained them at the Nation Building Camp center..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication: 2020-06-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya cyclists share key Covid-19 information across refugee camps
Sub-title: Especially since the internet was cut off in Rohingya refugee camps, bicycles and rickshaws play a vital role in sending messages
Description: "Social distancing is a crucial aspect of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. But that poses challenges to the flow of key information during a time when being well-informed is also critical to public health. Especially since the internet was cut off in Rohingya refugee camps, bicycles and rickshaws play a vital role in sending messages far and wide. In Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) continues to explore new ways to bring key messages to Rohingya and host community members throughout the district. Initiatives like passing on messages via rickshaws and IOM’s Interactive Voice Response system are making huge contributions in ensuring that the public is kept informed. However, gaps remain where phone and road access are limited. To amplify key messaging and ensure that no one is left without access to lifesaving information, IOM’s Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) unit in Cox’s Bazar began delivering information throughout the Rohingya settlements by bicycle. In line with the 2030 Agenda and the United Nations “green recovery” recommendations to encourage a culture of cycling, IOM is supporting Rohingya participants to use bicycles procured and painted locally to ride throughout pre-identified sections of the camp. Thye cyclists use megaphones to deliver pre-recorded messages to each area. The initiative is conducted by Rohingya refugees, for Rohingya refugees, and has already reached approximately 67,000 beneficiaries across the camp. Scaled-up messaging will continue as Covid-19 numbers rise..."
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2020-06-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Lawyers seek Facebook posts of Myanmar leaders in Rohingya case
Sub-title: Human rights lawyers: Facebook posts of officials 'may constitute evidence of genocidal intent' against Muslim minority.
Description: "Lawyers bringing a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Myanmar of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority have asked a United States district court to order Facebook to release posts and communications from the country's military and police. The ICJ, based in the Hague, has agreed to hear a case accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya in violation of a 1948 convention. More: UN's Guterres asks Bangladesh to move Rohingya to refugee camps First coronavirus case found in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camps Bangladesh quarantines hundreds of Rohingya rescued from sea The ICJ, a United Nations court commonly known as the World Court, accepts cases between states, and the case against Myanmar was brought by the Gambia with the backing of a group of Muslim countries. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have fled a crackdown in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, which considers members of its Rohingya minority to be foreigners. Rights groups have documented killings of civilians and burning of villages. Myanmar authorities say they have been battling an insurgency and deny carrying out systematic atrocities. In 2018 UN human rights investigators said that Facebook had played a key role in spreading hate speech that fuelled violence in Myanmar. Facebook has said it is working to block hate speech. A request, filed on behalf of the Gambia on June 8 with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, calls on Facebook to release "all documents and communications produced, drafted, posted or published on the Facebook page" of Myanmar military officials and police forces..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-11
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Time to begin dismantling movement restrictions in Rakhine
Sub-title: A new report has detailed how movement restrictions are devastating the lives of Rohingya in Rakhine and helping to maintain their enforced segregation from the state’s other ethnic groups.
Description: "On May 25, the government published a report in The Global New Light of Myanmar that detailed progress made in Rakhine State implementing recommendations of the Rakhine State Advisory Commission. One of the items that drew my particular attention showed the discrepancy in access to tertiary health care between Muslims and other ethnicities. Of 26,860 patients treated between September and December last year at Sittwe General Hospital, the state’s only tertiary medical institution, only 814 – or just 3 percent – were Muslim. Since the flight of hundreds of thousands Rohingya to Bangladesh in 2017, Muslims (Rohingya and Kaman) probably comprise between 20pc and 25pc of the state’s population. This puts the fact that they accounted for only 3pc of admissions to Sittwe General Hospital in a stark light. This new information is welcome because acknowledging such discrepancies should spark efforts to understand and address them. A new report does just that. Support independent journalism in Myanmar. Sign up to be a Frontier member. The report, Freedom of Movement in Rakhine State, by the Independent Rakhine Initiative, an evidence-based advocacy project, sheds light on reasons for this particular discrepancy, and much more. The study was conducted between March 2019 and January 2020 and used a qualitative methodology consisting of a literature review and interviews and focus group discussions with 211 individuals. It builds on an evidence base of 1,056 interviews conducted for IRI’s earlier reports on access to health, education and livelihoods. It shows that perhaps more than any other human right, freedom of movement does not stand on its own. It “underpins the ability of individuals to live free and dignified lives, and is instrumental for the enjoyment of other rights, including access to health care, education and livelihoods”. IRI researched one of the key recommendations of the final report in August 2017 of the Rakhine State Advisory Commission, led by the late Mr Kofi Annan: to undertake a mapping exercise to identify all existing restrictions on movement in Rakhine affecting the state’s diverse ethnic communities and to develop a roadmap for the lifting of restrictions..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-10
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya virus cases fuel Bangladesh, Myanmar dispute
Description: "Bangladesh and Myanmar are at odds over the origin of two coronavirus cases confirmed among the latter’s Rohingya community. The dispute started when Myanmar’s Health Ministry confirmed that two Rohingya men -- a Muslim and a Hindu -- had tested positive for COVID-19 in the country. Some media outlets in Myanmar, citing local lawmakers, reported that both men had recently returned from the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh, home to more than 1 million Rohingya refugees. However, on Tuesday, Dhaka rejected the reports as “totally false and baseless.” Mahbub Alam Talukder, Bangladesh's commissioner for refugees, relief, and repatriation, said the claim was a continuation of Myanmar’s “fabricated speeches.” “This is completely wrong and inaccurate information. No Rohingya has returned to Myanmar from Bangladesh in the past few years,” he told Anadolu Agency. He said such a journey would be particularly hard right now due to the coronavirus restrictions imposed in Rohingya camps. “It’s quite impossible for any Rohingya person to go from Bangladesh to Myanmar amid the virus restrictions,” said Talukder. On June 4, Myanmar said a Rohingya man who tested positive for COVID-19 was admitted to a hospital in Maungdaw, a town near its western border with Bangladesh. Soe Aung, district administrator for Maungdaw, said the 38-year-old patient was among five Rohingya people who returned to Rakhine state from Bangladesh on May 30, according to local online website Narinjara. Then, late on Monday, the Health Ministry said a 25-year-old Rohingya Hindu man was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19. “Villagers said he arrived alone on June 3. Some people who have come into contact with him have also been shifted to a quarantine site for 21 days,” Aung told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday. Myanmar has a total of 244 cases, including six deaths and 159 recoveries, while Bangladesh’s overall count is at 71,675, with 975 deaths and over 15,300 recoveries. According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a brutal crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, bringing the number of the persecuted people in Bangladesh to above 1.2 million. Although a plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees has stalled, Myanmar in April claimed that more than 600 Rohingya had returned from Bangladesh of their own volition. In a statement last week, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen accused Myanmar of not accepting a single Rohingya person in the last three years since the community’s August 2017 exodus..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2020-06-10
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 'Desperate journeys': Rohingya children recall ordeal at sea
Sub-title: Testimonies reveal harrowing details of life on ships, as Malaysia detains more than 200 Rohingya found off Langkawi.
Description: "Left to starve for months at sea, Rohingya children who escaped Bangladesh's refugee camps took "desperate" journeys to reach Malaysia on flimsy smuggling boats, according to a new report released as it emerged Malaysian authorities had detained nearly 300 Rohingya trying to reach the country by sea. Testimonies by refugee children, who were rescued from a boat found adrift in the Bay of Bengal in April, revealed how they were beaten and forced to watch their parents' bodies thrown overboard. UN's Guterres asks Bangladesh to move Rohingya to refugee camps First coronavirus case found in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camps Bangladesh quarantines hundreds of Rohingya rescued from sea "It is clear that Rohingya families are still so desperate that they are ready to make dangerous journeys, often at the mercy of criminal organisations," Hassan Saadi Noor, Asia Regional Director of Save the Children, which compiled the report, said in a statement. Hassan is urging countries across the region "to share the responsibility" of both protecting and providing for the Rohingya, while also working with Myanmar to find a long-term solution to this crisis. "As long as Rohingya do not see a future for themselves, families will continue to make dangerous journeys and put themselves in harm's way in search of a better life," Hassan said..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-09
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Malaysia detains nearly 270 Rohingya seeking entry by boat
Description: "Malaysia on Monday (Jun 8) detained 269 Rohingya migrants when they tried to enter the country on a damaged boat off the holiday island of Langkawi, authorities said. The Southeast Asian country, which does not recognise refugee status, has been a favoured destination for ethnic Rohingya who fled a 2017 military-led crackdown in Myanmar and more recently squalid conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Acting on a tip-off received a day earlier, Malaysian authorities intercepted a boat ferrying the Rohingya in the pre-dawn hours of Monday off Langkawi off the northwestern corner of the Malaysian peninsula. A coastguard vessel spotted the suspected migrant boat off the island, and was set to push it out to international waters, authorities said. But as the coastguards approached, 53 Rohingya jumped into the sea and were detained. "An inspection of their boat found 216 Rohingya migrants and the body of one female illegal immigrant. Further inspections found that the boat was deliberately damaged ... making it unfit to be turned back," Malaysia's National Task Force (NTF) on border patrol said in a statement. According to the statement, a Marine Police Team boat and the KM Kimanis from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) were sent to the scene to carry out surveillance and deportation operations. "When the KM Kimanis approached the boat, 53 of the Rohingya jumped off the boat and swam ashore, but they were all arrested by MMEA personnel who were standing by on land," said the statement. The KM Kimanis also provided food and fresh water to them. The National Security Council allowed the boat to be towed to the Teluk Ewa Jetty in Langkawi..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of publication: 2020-06-09
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Covid19 and Conflict in Myanmar: No Truce for the Rohingya
Description: "As conflict escalates in western Myanmar amid the rise of coronavirus cases in the country, there is growing concern of a deepening humanitarian crisis. As of May 26, Myanmar has recorded 206 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 6 deaths. Clashes between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA), an armed group seeking greater autonomy for ethnic Rohingya people, have displaced hundred thousand people since conflicts started over a year ago. Recent spike in conflicts since late March have left 32 deaths, 71 injuries and forced more people to flee their homes. Last month, former UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar Yanghee Lee accused the Myanmar army of new atrocities and called for investigation into “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in the country’s Rakhine and Chin states. Developments in the past month suggest that the situation in conflict-affected areas may further deteriorate and put vulnerable people at risk during the pandemic. On May 10, the Myanmar military announced a unilateral “ceasefire” with the objective it claimed was to help contain and prevent the spread of the global pandemic. However, the ceasefire left out Rakhine state and Paletwa township of Chin state, where clashes between the AA and the Myanmar military have been intensifying in recent weeks. Earlier in March, the Myanmar government designated the AA as a terrorist group. The Myanmar military’s decision to keep Rakhine and Chin states out of the ceasefire seems to be driven by its calculation that the pandemic provides an opportunity for it to focus on the AA, as the ceasefire allow it to keep the peace with other ethnic armed organizations in different parts of the country and even explore ways to work together in the fight against the pandemic. A recent reshuffle of the Myanmar military’s top brass, a report suggests, was primarily aimed at concentrating on the Rakhine conflict. Citing “insiders”, the report claims that “moderate” officers have been replaced in key positions with direct implications on the Rakhine conflict. The visit of Myanmar commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to Shan state and his meetings with leaders of ethnic armed groups such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) are also believed to have links with the development in Rakhine state..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Observer Research Foundation (ORF)" (India)
Date of publication: 2020-05-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Displaced Rohingyas at Sea: Scourge of Human Trafficking
Description: "In what the United Nations (UN) has referred to as a risky ‘sport of human ping pong’, the displaced Rohingyas at sea are oscillating from one country to another in hopes of gaining entry to Malaysia or Thailand since February this year. While some were rescued by the coast guard when the boats had returned to Bangladesh in mid-April and early May, the apprehensions remained that more such trawlers are still at sea being denied access owing to the COVID19 scare. The few hundreds of displaced Rohingyas rescued were severely emaciated, dehydrated and could barely walk due to a shortage of food and water. Several of them had died in the boat and their bodies were disposed off at sea. Such abysmal conditions has forced us to ponder that what propels these displaced people to venture out on such dangerous expedition and what happens to most of them eventually? For quite some time now, Malaysia and Thailand appear to be lucrative destinations for these hapless people. They believe that once they arrive there, it will put an end to their ongoing anguish of being in caged like circumstances with next to no economic or social engagements. Thus, they agree to commence unsafe sea journeys in search for better prospects. However, behind these anticipated aspirations, a ruthless trafficking network lurks that preys on such vulnerable conditions. According to latest reports, the blight of human trafficking affects some 40 million people in South and South East Asia. Women and girls account for 71 percent of modern slavery numbers. Women and children particularly are enmeshed in an atrocious network of sexual exploitation, forced labour and coerced marriage. The population of around 885, 000 Rohingyas currently reside in Bangladesh, and their stateless status and displacement has eroded their financial capabilities. Restriction of movement, the stalled repatriation efforts between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar coupled with isolation and desperation has heightened crimes like human trafficking to flow smoothly. Thus, men, women, and children are enticed either with false work assurance or are simply abducted. Once an offer is accepted, individuals are often trapped, abused, and not paid the agreed amount and even sometimes held for ransom until their family pays an exorbitant sum to rescue them. Physical and sexual form of abuse is common for women and children who are frequently forced into prostitution after accepting jobs as domestic workers. Men are coerced to work within inhuman conditions as bonded labourers. Ironically, the current COVID-19 pandemic may have saved these people from a fatal future ahead..."
Source/publisher: "Observer Research Foundation (ORF)" (India)
Date of publication: 2020-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Avoids Helping Rohingya Minority Despite International Court Order, Observers say
Description: "Myanmar has sidelined an international court order to improve conditions for its long-embattled Rohingya minority, despite fears that the Southeast Asian government is trying to commit genocide against the group, observers say. The U.N.’s International Court of Justice in January ordered Myanmar to "take all measures within its power" to prevent any acts of genocide against ethnic Rohingya Muslims, who fled the country amid a bloody military crackdown in 2017. The ICJ ordered Myanmar to submit a report within four months on what actions it is taking to comply with the court's decision, and to submit follow-up reports every six months after that. The court last month accepted the first of the required reports, but its contents have not been released. Nevertheless, observers contacted say there has been little change. “The situation to me seems like it’s more of the same,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “There has not been any major deterioration, but also no major new measures.” The COVID-19 pandemic prompted Myanmar to control people’s movement in Rakhine state in western Myanmar where about 400,000 Rohingya live, Thitinan said. Legislative elections set for November will embolden the government to stiffen its stance toward the Rohingya, he added. Voters of other groups see the Muslim minority as uninvited people allowed in during British colonial rule over Myanmar. “The Rohingya is a very paradoxical issue,” Thitinan said. “To the outside world, there’s a lot of sympathy and outcry. Within Myanmar, it’s the opposite.” The Rohingya crisis has tarnished the international reputation of Myanmar’s de facto head of state, former opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar has targeted the Rohingya in a “systematic” way, a court news release said. “Genocidal acts” including mass murder, rape and setting fires were intended to wipe out the group, the release said. It pointed to an increase in those acts starting from August 2017..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "VOA" (Washington, D.C)
Date of publication: 2020-06-06
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya humanitarian response marks World Environment Day
Description: "This year, Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) partners – UN agencies and NGOs, together with the Government of Bangladesh, mark World Environment Day and its 2020 theme of biodiversity amidst a COVID-19 pandemic in the Rohingya refugee camps and host communities. Humanitarian partners renew their commitment to safeguard the environment and biodiversity in Cox’s Bazar District, which hosts the world’s largest refugee settlements and is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Since the Rohingya influx in August 2017 and under the leadership of the Government, UN agencies and NGOs have made collective strides in restoring the unique forest reserves and conserving endangered species including elephants, in Ukhiya and Teknaf, and the wider district. Humanitarian actors have reforested over 1,000 hectaresin the camps and surrounding host communities, including through the planting of indigenous species to stabilize land against erosion, which helps to protect Rohingya and Bangladeshi families from the dangers of slope failures and flooding. The humanitarian community has also implemented watershed management strategies that are safeguarding streams, canals, banks, reservoirs, and ponds, and simultaneously reducing landslide vulnerability to protect the lives and property of Bangladeshi and Rohingya people living Cox’s Bazar District. Furthermore, UN agencies and NGOs have provided livelihoods support in sustainable climate-smart agriculture. Furthermore, efforts have been made to install solar powered lighting within the camps including in public areas and at the household level..."
Source/publisher: ISCG via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication: 2020-06-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 117.26 KB 161.21 KB
more
Title: Rohingya repatriation: Bangladesh urges EU for more pressure on Myanmar
Sub-title: Bangladesh has urged the European Union to put more pressure on Myanmar to take back Rohingya refugees living in makeshift camps in Cox's Bazar.
Description: "Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen made the appeal during a courtesy phone call with Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney yesterday, said a press statement issued by the foreign ministry. Momen thanked his Irish counterpart for the continued support on the Rohingya issue but also expressed deep concern over the lack of progress in the repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar. To date, Myanmar has not taken back a single Rohingya refugee since some 750,000 Rohingya refugees fled brutal military crackdown in the Rakhine state of Myanmar from August 2017. The foreign minister hoped that if elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Ireland will play a more robust role in the Council. Simon Coveney told Momen that Bangladesh has shown extraordinary generosity in hosting a huge number of persecuted Rohingyas from Myanmar. "Bangladesh has played a very significant role in extending temporary shelter to this huge number of Rohingyas, a number almost equivalent to a quarter of the population of Ireland," he added. The Irish minister applauded the leadership role of Bangladesh in UN Peacekeeping and expressed willingness to work jointly in this area. Dr Momen informed his counterpart about the availability of a huge pool of IT experts (6,00,000) whose expertise could be used by Ireland. He also requested the Irish government to ease and facilitate visa procedures for Bangladesh nationals. Momen also expressed concern that many foreign buyers are dishonouring their contracts during this pandemic..."
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2020-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Two ARSA Fighters Killed on Myanmar-Bangladesh Border: Military
Description: " Two alleged Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) fighters died in a clash with security forces on Thursday evening on the Bangladesh border, according to Myanmar’s military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun. “Troops undertaking border security duties clashed with around 30 ARSA troops at around 4 pm on Thursday. We found two bodies and two guns with them,” said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun. Border police on patrol engaged with alleged ARSA personnel near Mee Dike Village between border posts 34 and 35. After 30 minutes of fighting, the ARSA personnel retreated to the southeast, according to Myanmar’s military. Two ARSA fighters in uniforms were found dead along with firearms and ammunition. Some police were injured, said Myanmar’s military. Several clashes have been reported by government troops in recent years with ARSA in northern Rakhine State near the Bangladesh border. Myanmar’s military is also engaged in ongoing, heavy fighting with the Arakan Army in northern Rakhine State. Two policemen were wounded in an alleged ARSA ambush on a Border Guard Police patrol on the border in early May. According to the military, ARSA – which the government has labeled a terrorist organization – launched a series of attacks on security outposts in northern Rakhine on Aug. 25, 2017, killing 12 personnel. The attacks prompted Myanmar’s military to carry out clearance operations that have driven around 730,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh. The Gambia, a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, filed a case accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice. The UN court in January ordered Myanmar to comply with four provisional measures as requested by The Gambia..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2020-06-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar education ministry faces hurdle in reopening schools
Sub-title: The Ministry of Education is having problems getting schools ready to reopen because some are being used as COVID-19 quarantine facilities or temporary shelters for villagers fleeing fighting between the Arakan Army (AA) and Tatmadaw (military).
Description: "In Shan State, 13 basic education schools serving as quarantine centres have still not been returned to the authorities, said U Win Maung, Shan State’s education officer. He said the schools are being used to quarantine migrant workers who have returned from China or Thailand. “It’s the government’s responsibility to arrange for suitable alternative quarantine sites,” he said. “Township education officers will inform them about it on June 15. There should not be any delay.” U Sai Phoe Phyat, a state legislator for Muse, said schools in his township are being used as quarantine facilities. In Rakhine State, which has only one confirmed COVID-19 case, several schools are being used as temporary shelters for villagers displaced by fighting between the AA and Tatmadaw. Most of the 7000 displaced villagers in Kyauktaw township are staying in nine schools, said U Maung Than Sein, a Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) MP for Kyauktaw. “We can’t just tell them to move,” he said. “The authorities should find them suitable accommodation elsewhere.” On May 26, the government announced that high school classes would resume first, followed by primary and middle schools two weeks later. But there is a strong possibility that some schools in Rakhine would not be able to reopen due to the fighting. On May 13, the Union Government Office ordered the return of 6021 school buildings being used as quarantine centres or temporary refugee camps by June 15 so that the Ministry of Education could prepare them for the reopening of classes..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya refugees running scared from coronvirus tests
Description: "COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Rohingya refugees infected with coronavirus are fleeing quarantine in their Bangladesh camps because they fear being transferred to an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal, community leaders said on Thursday (Jun 4). At least two infected refugees have gone missing since testing positive for the virus after the first COVID-19 death was reported on Tuesday, they said. About one million Rohingya - most of whom fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017 - are packed into camps along the Bangladesh border, and the coronavirus has become the latest cause of misery. Aid agencies have long warned that the virus could cause chaos in the overcrowded camps, where social distancing is virtually impossible. So far only 29 infections have been detected, although 16,000 Rohingya are in quarantine zones within the camps. It was not immediately clear how many tests have been conducted in the camps, but a senior health official said two people who proved positive had "fled the isolation hospital". He added that only 20 refugees agreed to be tested in the past two days because they believe those infected will be sent to Bhashan Char island in the Bay of Bengal. "It has created mass panic," Nurul Islam, a community leader, told AFP. Bangladesh authorities have long wanted to establish a camp for 100,000 people on the isolated island, and have already sent 306 Rohingya there..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of publication: 2020-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: 1st Rohingya in Myanmar tests positive for virus
Sub-title: 38-year-old man is among 5 Rohingya who reportedly returned to Myanmar's Rakhine state from Bangladesh
Description: "A Rohingya man in Myanmar tested positive for the novel coronavirus, authorities said on Thursday, the first confirmed case in the persecuted Muslim minority in the country's western Rakhine state. The Rohingya man is being treated at a public hospital in Maungdaw, a town near Myanmar’s western border with neighboring Bangladesh, the Health and Sports Ministry announced. The 38-year-old man was among five Rohingya people who returned to Rakhine from Bangladesh on May 30, according to Narinjara, an online news outlet based in the state capital Sittwe. Citing Maungdaw district administrator Soe Aung, it said a five-member family of returnees from Bangladesh to Myanmar has been quarantined at a transition camp since May 31. Maung Ohme, a lawmaker from Maungdaw, confirmed the return of a Rohingya family on May 30. "Swab samples of five people who returned from Bangladesh were sent to Yangon for testing, and one tested positive," he told Anadolu Agency by phone on Thursday. "He is now in hospital, but his four fellow family members, who tested negative, are still at Hla Phoe Kaung transition camp," he added..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2020-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: COVID-19: Preparedness and response for the Rohingya refugee camps and host communities in Cox’s Bazar District Weekly Update #12
Description: "29 confirmed cases of COVID19 in the Rohingya refugee camps, of a total 798 confirmed cases in the District – see IEDCR 6,514 older persons in the camps and host communities received COVID-19 awareness messages through community engagement activities 21,913 Bangladeshi households in Ukhiya and Teknaf received agricultural inputs (12,135 HH) and cash support (9,778 HH) to support livelihoods impacted by COVID-19 5,641 hand-washing stations installed in public places in the camps as well as at 80 entry points to the camps 20,000 Rohingya mothers trained on how to check the nutritional status of their children for referral to integrated nutrition facilities 33,091 Rohingya learners received COVID19 education guidelines in their households from 376 Burmese Language Instructors..."
Source/publisher: ISCG via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication: 2020-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 272.49 KB - reduce version
more
Title: First Rohingya refugee dies from coronavirus in Bangladesh
Sub-title: Aid workers warn of a humanitarian disaster if the outbreak is not checked in the world's largest cluster of camps.
Description: "An elderly Rohingya refugee has become the first person to die from the novel coronavirus in the camps in southern Bangladesh, officials said. The man, aged 71, died on May 31 while undergoing treatment at the camp's isolation centre, said Bimal Chakma, a senior official of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, on Tuesday. More: Coronavirus: In dense Bangladesh, social distancing a tough task Coronavirus pandemic threatens Bangladesh garment industry Bangladesh scientists create $3 kit. Can it help detect COVID-19? "Today we got the confirmation that he tested positive for COVID-19," he said, referring to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are members of a mostly Muslim minority who fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. More than a million of them live in camps in Cox's Bazar, a coastal district in southeast Bangladesh. The death was in the Kutupalong shelter - the biggest refugee camp in the world - which alone is home to roughly 600,000 people..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Army Rejects Cease-fire Proposal From Arakan Army And Allies
Description: "The Myanmar military has rejected a proposal by three ethnic armies to begin cease-fire talks in a bid to kick-start the country’s stalled peace process, instead vowing further retaliation for armed offensives and ambushes, a military spokesman said Tuesday. The Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armies — the Arakan Army (AA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) — extended the invitation to begin peace talks in a statement issued Monday. De facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s four-year-old government has long sought to end Myanmar’s multiple ethnic wars with historic peace talks. But those talks have sputtered, while only 10 of the country’s 20-some ethnic armies have signed a 2015 nationwide cease-fire pact that is seen as the foundation of peace talks. The Brotherhood Alliance trio, which has not signed the agreement, also announced Monday that it was extending a current unilateral cease-fire from June 1 to Aug. 31, and issued an appeal for both sides to protect civilians, end the civil war, and assist with coronavirus prevention activities. The announcement came three days after the AA launched a retaliatory attack on a border guard outpost in Rakhine state, killing four policemen and capturing six others. The AA also seized three family members of the officers, but later released them. The AA ambushed the outpost to strike back at government soldiers for an attack on the AA in Paletwa township of abutting Chin state, which the AA also claims as its territory. In March, the Myanmar government declared the AA, a predominantly Buddhist force that seeks greater autonomy for ethnic Rakhine people in the state, an illegal association and terrorist group — raising the stakes in a conflict that begin with AA attacks on government border posts in late 2018 and early 2019..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
Date of publication: 2020-06-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar and the Rohingya: time for a domestic reckoning
Sub-title: A public reassessment of the Rohingya crisis will require deeply uncomfortable conversations to be held in the open, and great courage and humility on the part of many prominent figures.
Description: "As the wheels of justice slowly turn at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, it’s easy to forget the hysteria that took over Myanmar in late 2017. Newspapers across the world ran images of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing a military crackdown in Rakhine State, which had been launched in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts. As international condemnation followed, the pages of Myanmar social media were filled with defiance. The popular narrative went that the largely stateless Rohingya had attacked their hosts, the Myanmar citizenry, in a campaign of Islamist terror that the world was intent on denying. Faced with this apparent threat, members of the public felt they had a duty to rally behind their government. Pressured to conform, and fired by fear and anger at what they perceived to be blatant lies in international media, many people said things they probably now regret. One of them might be Ko Zayar Lwin, the jailed member of the Peacock Generation thangyat troupe. As Frontier reported on May 24, the young dissident wrote a series of Facebook posts at the height of the crisis that included claims that the Rohingya – whom he called by the derogatory labels “kalar” and “Bengali” – were burning down their homes before fleeing to Bangladesh, and that it was difficult to distinguish ordinary Rohingya from “terrorists”. “The situation has turned these people whom we regard as terrorists into poor things in the eyes of the world,” he wrote in a post dated September 8, 2017, showing what many would regard as a shocking lack of empathy. “These people” had been denied citizenship and confined for years to camps and villages without freedom of movement, and with extremely limited access to health and schooling. They were now in the crosshairs of a military whose history of violence against civilians is well documented..."
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya genocide: Argentine court moves closer to opening case against Myanmar
Description: "An Argentine court has moved one step closer to opening a historic investigation against Myanmar's military and civilian leadership over genocide against the Rohingya people, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) said today. The court in Buenos Aires on Friday overturned a previous decision not to pursue a case against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and senior officers in the Myanmar military. Instead, it has requested more information from the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure that a case in Argentina would not duplicate other justice efforts, BROUK said in a statement. The Argentine court's progress comes in addition to the ICC investigation and the Gambia's case filed in November, 2019 against Myanmar for violating the Genocide Convention with the International Court of Justice (ICJ). On November 13, last year, BROUK filed a petition with the Argentinian court to open an investigation into the role of Myanmar's civilian and military leaders in committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingyas. Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, such crimes can be investigated anywhere in the world regardless of where they were committed. "For decades, Myanmar authorities have tried to wipe the Rohingya out as a people. Today, the Argentinean judiciary has sent a clear signal that it is taking seriously the pursuit of justice for some of the worst crimes of our time, and we are grateful for this display of leadership and respect for international law," said Tun Khin, President of BROUK. "Today's ruling brings us closer to what victims most want to see -- that the architects of the genocide against the Rohingya face a court of law. We are convinced that a universal jurisdiction case in Argentina will only complement and strengthen other international justice efforts, not undermine them," he said..."
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2020-06-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Argentinian court decision brings hope for Rohingya
Sub-title: In a significant development, Buenos Aires court admits petition to probe Myanmar leaders’ role in Rohingya genocide
Description: "A court in South American country of Argentina has decided to pursue a case against Myanmar's leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi and senior officers in the military over the genocide and persecution against Rohingya community. In a statement issued on Monday, Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK) said that Argentina’s Federal Criminal Chamber No. 1 has accepted its petition and asked to collect more information on the Rohingya genocide. The court, in its decision on May 29, overturned a previous order when it had rejected to admit a similar petition seeking to probe the role of Myanmar leadership in the acts of genocide. “A court in Buenos Aires on Friday overturned a previous order of not to pursue a case against [Myanmar’s] State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and senior officers in the Tatmadaw [the Myanmar military],” the statement said. “The court has now requested more information from the International Criminal Court (ICC), to ensure that the case in Argentina would not duplicate other efforts of justice,” the statement added. An Argentinian court on Dec. 9, 2019, had rejected the lawsuit filed by BROUK seeking to open an investigation into the role of Myanmar’s civilian and military leaders in committing genocide and crimes against the Rohingya. Citing the principle of “universal jurisdiction”, the BROUK pleaded that the cases of genocide and extreme crimes against humanity can be tried in any court across the globe. Earlier the court had pointed out that admission of the petition would amount duplicating the investigation launched by the ICC. The ICC on Nov. 14, 2019, approved a full investigation into Myanmar's alleged crimes against the minority Rohingya Muslims..."
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2020-06-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: More than 190 homes set ablaze in Rakhine village
Sub-title: Residents fled Lekkar village last April, when fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army came to town
Description: "More than 190 homes in an abandoned village in northern Rakhine state were set ablaze Saturday, locals told Myanmar Now. Villagers fled Lekkar village, in Mrauk-U township, for nearby monasteries and displaced persons camps more than a year ago, when fighting between the military and the Arakan Army (AA) intensified there. Residents in Pi Pin Yin village, about a mile and a half from Lekkar, heard gunshots and an explosion around 2pm Saturday, then saw smoke rising from the village, a local monk who requested anonymity told Myanmar Now. The monk is a native of Lekkar but is currently living in Pi Pin Yin. He said his relatives’ homes were lost in the fire. The residents of nearby villages, including Pi Pin Yin and Bu Ywat Ma Nyo, told Myanmar Now they saw Tatmadaw troops entering the village around the time the fires began and the monk in Pi Pin Yin said he saw the same troops leaving around 5pm. Nearby villagers also told the Sittwe-based Development Media Group they saw about 50 Tatmadaw soldiers enter the village just before the gunshots and fires began. The military’s commander-in-chief said in a statement released on Sunday that Tatmadaw troops entered the village Saturday afternoon while patrolling the area and were attacked by the AA. When Tatmadaw troops fired back, it said, AA soldiers began setting the homes on fire before retreating into the mountains east of the village..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-05-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: NLD supporter’s abduction followed by arrests as Rakhine’s ugly nationalist politics spread south again
Sub-title: NLD members are in hiding and Rakhine nationalists from the ANP have gone off the radar after being released on bail as rivalries turn ugly in Taungup
Description: "In 2012, 12 Muslim men were dragged off a bus and murdered by a mob while travelling through Taungup in southern Rakhine. It was the start of a bout of sectarian riots that helped plunge the state into the chaos it faces today. But despite this grim mob killing, the township has since been largely peaceful and stable compared to other parts of Rakhine. The armed conflict and hostile nationalist politics that have scarred the north - where the Arakan Army (AA) is battling the Myanmar military for greater autonomy - have mostly spared the state’s south. But events in recent weeks suggest this is changing. It started on May 5 when 53-year-old Than Shwe, who worked closely with the NLD and served his village’s Covid-19 prevention committee, was abducted in the early hours of the morning. A military statement later that afternoon claimed that he had been snatched by “knife-wielding” AA members as he slept in his home in Bu Shwe Maw village. Two days after the abduction, the Sittwe-based Development Media Group reported that several NLD members in Taungup had gone into hiding after a group of people posing as police officers tried to arrest them. “Who else will have to run?” asked former Rakhine municipal affairs minister Min Aung, who lives in Taungup and is an NLD member, in a Facebook post. “They’ve abducted U Than Shwe and he’s just a normal civilian in Bu Shwe Maw. We don’t know if he’s been killed or not.”..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-05-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Rohingya refugee crisis: 'The bodies were thrown out of the boat'
Sub-title: "Nobody knows how many people have died. It could be 50 or even more," recalls Khadiza Begum.
Description: "The 50-year-old was among 396 Rohingya Muslims who had tried to reach Malaysia but who finally returned to the Bangladeshi shore after the boat carrying them was stranded at sea for two months. Her estimate on the number of deaths comes from the funerals her son officiated as an imam, a Muslim preacher, on the same boat. The human smugglers never delivered them to their longed-for destination. Khadiza had to run away from her home in Myanmar because of violence that UN investigators described as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". Neighbouring Bangladesh gave her shelter, settling the fleeing Rohingya Muslims in what has now become the world's largest refugee camp. Around one million Rohingya are housed in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, and some among them, like Khadiza, hold dreams of a better life in Malaysia, lying across the Bay of Bengal..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
Date of publication: 2020-05-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Tatmadaw admits to beating Rakhine detainees after viral video
Sub-title: Military says it will “take action” against soldiers who beat civilians in videos that went viral on Sunday
Description: "The Myanmar military has admitted its soldiers beat a group of civilian detainees in Rakhine state after videos of the incident went viral on social media this weekend. Five Rakhine villagers, all in their early 20s, were arrested in their hometown of Ponnagyun and charged under anti-terrorism laws in late April. They’ve been in Tatmadaw and police custody since. In three separate videos that went viral on Sunday, Tatmadaw soldiers are seen repeatedly beating the blindfolded and handcuffed young men on a boat on the way to Sittwe, the state capital, on April 27. “Some members of the security forces performed unlawful interrogations against them,” the military said in a statement on Tuesday evening. In the video, a man in a Tatmadaw hat shouts “we’ll kill all of you” as he steps on the detainees’ faces and stomps on their chests. After their initial arrest, a Tatmadaw spokesperson told reporters the men were arrested on suspicion of harboring ties to the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine armed group the government has deemed a terrorist organisation..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-05-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar’s violent civil war makes it hard to obey ICJ orders to protect the Rohingya
Topic: Civil War, International Court Of Justice (ICJ), Rohingya
Topic: Civil War, International Court Of Justice (ICJ), Rohingya
Description: "Myanmar recently sent its first report to the International Criminal Court on the steps it’s taking to protect the Rohingya. The report isn’t public, but Rohingya activists and rights advocates say ongoing violence and human rights abuses show Myanmar hasn’t complied with the court’s orders. Editorial Rights advocates and ethnic Rohingya activists say Myanmar is failing to comply with orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take steps to protect the Muslim minority from ongoing genocide. On May 23, Myanmar submitted its first report to the ICJ outlining how the government and military are complying with the court’s orders to prevent genocide and preserve evidence. The court issued the orders in January after the first hearings in the case brought by The Gambia charging Myanmar with genocide, as the case could take years to resolve. Though the report is not yet public, ALTSEAN Burma (the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma) and other groups claim Myanmar has done little to end violence against ethnic minorities, prevent discrimination or stop hate speech and violence. Following the ICJ hearing, there have been at least five cases in which Rohingya civilians were killed by the Myanmar military or in fighting between the military and ethnic armed group the Arakan Army (AA). In an op-ed in Frontier Myanmar, three Rohingya youth leaders—Zahidullah, Shohid and Abdullah Zubair—say Myanmar hasn’t changed its course since the ICJ hearing in January. “If we had an opportunity to respond to Myanmar’s report, the following is what we would say. In the four months since the ICJ issued the provisional measures ruling, our lives in Bangladesh and Myanmar have become worse,” the three wrote. They say that Rohingya groups have documented at least 54 cases of rights abuses against Rohingya in Rakhine between January and May..."
Source/publisher: "ASEAN Today" (Singapore)
Date of publication: 2020-05-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: We, the Rohingya, can’t wait for justice from faraway courts
Sub-title: Expectations about international justice are unrealistically high among Rohingya in the camps in Bangladesh, and the case before the ICJ is likely to end in disappointment.
Description: "On May 23, Myanmar had to submit its first report to the International Court of Justice in The Hague about the measures it has taken to prevent the genocide of the Rohingya people. The report was not made public so we can only guess what Myanmar is telling the court about the situation in Rakhine State. There have been many times during the past three years when discussions about the Rohingya have taken place in other countries without our involvement. If we had an opportunity to respond to Myanmar’s report, the following is what we would say. In the four months since the ICJ issued the provisional measures ruling, our lives in Bangladesh and Myanmar have become worse. There is no justice for us in the camps, where we have no education, no livelihoods, no movement, no internet and no hope for the future. There is no justice for the Rohingya who are forced to flee on boats and are abused and extorted by people smugglers. Support independent journalism in Myanmar. Sign up to be a Frontier member. There is no justice for the hundreds of young men who are forced to join criminal gangs in the camps, or the women and girls who are harassed and abused by gang leaders. There is no justice for our brothers and sisters in Rakhine who are caught in the middle of a war that is not their own. Rohingya civil society groups that help refugees have been documenting abuses in Rakhine since the ICJ handed down its ruling in January. Between January and May they have recorded 54 cases of human rights abuses against Rohingya, including deaths and injuries by landmines and shelling. Because the internet has been blocked on both sides of the border, we think the number of cases is likely much higher..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2020-05-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Submits First Report To ICJ Concerning Rohingya Genocide
Description: "Last Sunday, Myanmar submitted its first report to the International Court of Justice, elaborating on the measures it has taken to protect the Rohingya ethnic minority from genocide. The ICJ had issued a provisional order on Myanmar in January following a call to action made by The Gambia, urging Myanmar to take all necessary means to prevent genocide acts and incitement from happening. In 2017, Myanmar’s military launched a clearance operation in the Rakhine state in response to an offensive attack by an armed Rohingya group. The violent aftermath that followed this crackdown has forced more than 750,000 Rohingya minority to flee to Bangladesh, languishing in squalid conditions in the world’s largest refugee camp. Another 600,000 Rohingya citizens still reside in the Southern area of Myanmar. The ongoing crackdown of Myanmar’s security forces had led to mass killing, rape, torture, forced displacement, and other human rights violations, which the ICJ has cited as war crimes or crimes against humanity. Rohingya’s villager homes were ransacked and set on fire, which could be seen from the border in Bangladesh. Discrimination against the Rohingya, however, is not a new phenomenon. According to Aljazeera, “nearly all Rohingya have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless. They are denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.” The Rohingya have been described by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as one of the most discriminated and persecuted populations in the world..."
Source/publisher: "The Organization for World Peace"
Date of publication: 2020-05-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Myanmar Parliament Approves Half-Million USD for ICJ Genocide Defense After Debate
Description: "The Myanmar Parliament has approved a budget of 680 million kyats (US$484,000) for the country’s defense at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against genocide charges filed by The Gambia. Union Minister for International Cooperation U Kyaw Tin defended the government’s budget before a vote on Wednesday, responding to criticism from a military-appointed lawmaker by saying that the budget was made in line with laws and procedures. As lawmakers discussed proposed additions to budgets for the 2019-20 fiscal year last week, military lawmaker Major Naing Lin Aung asked if the proposed budget of 680 million kyats was in line with laws and procedures. “We will have to face the lawsuit for years. So, I’d like to say that the proposed addition to the budget is in line with financial procedures and laws,” said U Kyaw Tin. The budget for the defense at the ICJ falls under the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The joint public accounts committee suggested slashing 626.7 million kyats (US$446,000) from the 4.4 billion kyat-budget proposed by MOFA. The Union Parliament accepted the cut and approved the adjusted MOFA budget on Wednesday. The budget covers hiring of legal experts and advisors, travel to the ICJ and meetings inside and outside the country, said U Kyaw Tin. He said that in November of last year, MOFA explained its plan to defend against the lawsuit at the ICJ to President U Win Myint, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, vice-presidents, parliamentary speakers, military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and region and state chief ministers. “The ministry was able to satisfactorily explain how its expenditures are in line with regulations. As our country is being sued and we face a lawsuit at the international level, there must be sufficient budget. This must be accepted,” said lawmaker Daw Pyone Cathy Naing, who is also a member of the Lower House International Relations Committee..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2020-05-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more
Title: Pandemic Adds New Threat for Rohingyas in Myanmar
Sub-title: Burmese authorities are using COVID-19 response measures as a pretext to harass and extort Rohingyas.
Description: "This is what life is like for the 130,000 internally displaced Rohingyas trapped in detention camps in central Rakhine state in Myanmar: in the camps, they have no future, with little access to land or livelihoods. They depend on foreign aid supplies and die of treatable diseases because of limited access to healthcare. Shelters, built in 2012 to last two years, have deteriorated. Most children can only attend basic classes at temporary learning spaces. Burmese authorities are using COVID-19 response measures as a pretext to harass and extort Rohingyas and are doubling down on a system in which they are already effectively incarcerating the population. Rohingyas in the camps told Human Rights Watch that military and police forces regularly subject them to harassing physical punishment at checkpoints. One Rohingya woman said the police made her do sit-ups for 30 minutes for not wearing a mask through a checkpoint, after which she was too exhausted to move. Another man witnessed people being forced to perform squats at a checkpoint with their hands on their ears. Last week, the government of Myanmar delivered its much-anticipated first report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) — following the court’s unanimous January 23 provisional measures order — explaining what it has done to protect the 600,000 ethnic Rohingyas in Rakhine state, whom a United Nations-backed fact-finding body said remain under threat of genocide..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of publication: 2020-05-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
more

Pages