Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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??The arrival of pre-monsoon rains in southern Bangladesh has revealed an alarming level of risks for Rohingya refugees, United Nations humanitarian agencies said on Friday, warning that they do not have the funds needed to protect hundreds of thousands of desperate people once the rainy season begins in earnest...??
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2018-04-20
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??The European Union?s move to impose sanctions on Myanmar security officials is a small, positive step towards ensure justice for the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya people, but they do not go nearly far enough, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) said today.The sanctions, announced today after a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg, include asset freezes and travel bans targeting seven officials in the Myanmar military and Border Guard Police...??
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK via ??Progressive Voice??
Date of publication:
2018-06-25
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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Source/publisher:
Amnesty International via ??progressive Voice??
Date of publication:
2018-06-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??Mr President, distinguished representatives, ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured to once again address this Council to present my oral progress report pursuant to the HRC resolution 37/32 on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. The resolution mandates me to ?continue to monitor the situation of human rights” and to ?measure progress in the implementation of the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur”. I note that the resolution also called on the Government of Myanmar ?to resume without delay its cooperation with the Special Rapporteur in the exercise of the mandate, including by facilitating further visits”. From the outset, I would like emphasize that I still hope that the Government of Myanmar will resume its cooperation with my mandate. Execution of the mandate and fulfilling the responsibilities entrusted to me by the Council have been extremely difficult due to the continued denial of my access to the country, contrary to the Council?s March resolution. Additionally, I regret to inform the Council that I received no reply from the Government of India to my request to visit New Delhi, Mizoram and the State of Jammu and Kashmir in order to meet the refugees from Myanmar who are present in India. It is imperative that member states respect the mandates established by this Council and provide timely and reasonable answers to requests made by Special Procedures mandate holders to effectively discharge their mandates...??
Source/publisher:
Special Repporteur on the Situation of Human Right via ?? Progressive Voice??
Date of publication:
2018-06-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??While the eyes of the world are on Myanmar?s northern Rakhine and Cox?s Bazaar, Bangladesh, more than 60,000 Rohingya children remain nearly forgotten, trapped in appalling camps in central Rakhine where the shelters teeter on stilts above garbage and excrement, the United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) reported Tuesday...??
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2018-01-09
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??The Bangladeshi government is pushing for more support for tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees whose camps are at risk of being washed away in the monsoon season.UNHCR and humanitarian partners are in full swing to safeguard up to 42,000 people at greatest risk in the monsoon season. Some 18,000 refugees have already been relocated to safer ground...??
Source/publisher:
Al Jazeera and News Agencies
Date of publication:
2018-07-02
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??Critical health services must be scaled up for nearly 1.3 million people ? Rohingyas and their surrounding host communities ? in Bangladesh?s Cox?s Bazar, where vulnerable populations in crowded settlements and ?mega camps? are at risk of a host of waterborne diseases, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday...??
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2018-02-20
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??After seeing for themselves the conditions facing Rohingya refugees in the camps of southern Bangladesh as well as homes they fled in Myanmar, Security Council members called on Tuesday for them to be allowed a safe return...??
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2018-05-01
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??What Myanmar?s Government has claimed are military and security operations are ?actually an established pattern” of domination and aggression against ethnic groups, the United Nations independent expert on the rights situation there said on Thursday, reporting on her visit to nearby countries, including Bangladesh, which is hosting nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees...??
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2018-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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The Bangladesh Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) welcomes the calls for an international accountability mechanism made today by Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.
??In an oral update to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today, Yanghee Lee urged the creation of a body under the auspices of the United Nations to investigate human rights violations against the Rohingya. Ms. Lee said the body was needed to end ?the cycles of violence faced by the people of Myanmar”...??
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK via ??Progressive Voice??
Date of publication:
2018-06-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??Against the backdrop of the fast approaching wet season in Bangladesh, United Nations relief agencies are working flat out to strengthen vital infrastructure and boost resilience among hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees living in rudimentary shelters as well as for local communities hosting them...??
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2018-02-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has applauded Bangladesh for giving a safe haven to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees driven from their homes in Myanmar by systematic and widespread violence...??
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2018-07-01
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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"United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visited Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh on Monday, declaring that ?nothing could have prepared me for the scale of the crisis and extent of suffering” he witnessed there.
Speaking to the press in Cox?s Bazar, the region in southern Bangladesh where nearly one million Rohingya are living under constant threat of flash-floods and landslides, Mr. Guterres said that the violence they had faced at home in Myanmar since last August, was probably one of the most ?tragic stories” of ?systematic violation” of human rights ever recorded.
?It is unacceptable that these people who have suffered so much in Myanmar now have to live in the difficult circumstances that these camps inevitably represent,” he added..."
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2018-07-03
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??The United Nations rights expert on Myanmar is ?strongly” recommending that the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigate and prosecute those allegedly responsible for ?decades of crimes” in the form a grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law inside the country...??
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2018-06-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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??UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he heard "unimaginable" accounts of atrocities during a visit on Monday to vast camps in Bangladesh that are home to a million Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar...??
Source/publisher:
Al Jazeera and News Agencies
Date of publication:
2018-07-03
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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?We got an order to burn down the entire village if there is any disturbance. If you villagers aren?t living peacefully, we will destroy everything.” Audio recording of a Myanmar military officer, during a phone conversation with a Rohingya man from Inn Din village, Maungdaw Township, in late August 2017. Within days, the Rohingya areas of Inn Din had been razed by the security forces...??
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International via ??progressive Voice??
Date of publication:
2018-06-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-07-03
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"New questions are being raised about whether Rohingya refugees, living in Bangladesh, will be able to return to Myanmar.
More than 700,000 were forced to flee their homes last year during a military crackdown that the UN says amounted to "ethnic cleansing".
Myanmar has agreed to start letting them back into the country.
But Peter Maurer, who?s head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, has cast doubt on that commitment after a visit to Myanmar?s Rakhine State.
So, will the Rohingya ever return - and how long can Bangladesh afford to house them?"....
Presenter: Elizabeth Puranam...
Guests:
Tuhn Khin - President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation, UK;
Matthew Smith - Co-founder & CEO of Fortify Rights;
Robert Templer - director of the Higher Education Alliance for Refugees.
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera (Inside Story)
Date of publication:
2018-06-29
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-30
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SPEAKERS:
Afghanistan, Ms Suraya Dalil...
Bangladesh, Mr. Md. Emdadul Islam Chowdhury...
Luxembourg, Ms. Anne Goedert...
Estonia, Ms. Triinu Kallas...
Russian Federation, Mr. Evgeny Ustinov...
Turkey, Mr. Ali Naci Koru...
Lao People?s Democratic Republic, Mr. Kittiphone Sayaphet...
Ireland, Ms. Amy Sheils...
Belarus, Mr. Andrei Taranda...
Maldives, Ms. Hala Hameed...
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Ms. Miriam Shearman...
Viet Nam, Ms. Le Duc Hanh...
Human Rights Now, Mr. Nicolas Torres Vieira...
Amnesty International, Ms. Laura Haigh...
International Federation for Human Rights Leagues, Ms. Manon Karatas...
Lawyers? Rights Watch Canada, Ms. Helene Ramos Dos Santos...
Alliance Defending Freedom, Ms. Mariam Gomez de Aguero...
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Ms. Khin Ohmar...
International-Lawyers.Org, Ms. Jennifer D. Tapia...
Human Rights Watch, Mr. John Fischer...
Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Ms. Claire Denman...
Ms. Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the situation of HR in Myanmar (Final Remarks).
Source/publisher:
UN Human Rights Council
Date of publication:
2018-06-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar at the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council (video), International Criminal Court (Myanmar), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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SPEAKERS:
Ms. Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the situation of HR in Myanmar (Introduction)...
Myanmar (Concerned Country), Mr. Htin Lynn...
European Union, Mr. Peter Sorensen...
Canada, Ms. Rosemary Mccarney...
Poland, Mr. Zbigniew Czech...
Thailand, Mr. Sek Wannamethee...
Czech Republic, Mr. Michal Kaplan...
Japan, Ms. Mitsuko Shino...
Sweden, Ms. Veronika Bard...
Belgium, Mr. Karl Dhaene...
Iraq, Mr. Yahya Ibraheem Fadhil Al-Obaidi...
Germany, Mr. Gunnar Schneider...
France, Mr. Francois Gave...
Australia, Ms. Sally Mansfield...
Denmark, Mr. Carsten Staur...
Norway, Mr. Kjetil Elsebutangen...
Netherlands, Ms. Marianne de Jong...
OIC, Mr. Rashid Al Balushi...
Iran (Islamic Republic of), Ms. Alyaa Ihsan Abbood Alsayegh...
Liechtenstein, Mr. Claudio Silvio Nardi...
Republic of Korea, Mr. Jang-Keun Lee...
Ms. Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the situation of HR in Myanmar (Comments and Answers)
Saudi Arabia, Mr. Fahad Obaydullah Almutairi
Indonesia, Mr. Irwansyah Mukhlis
New Zealand, Ms. Katy Diane Donnelly...
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Mr. Edgardo Toro Carreño...
Mexico, Ms. Emilia Hernández Martínez...
China, Mr. Zhang Sisi.
Source/publisher:
UN Human Rights Council
Date of publication:
2018-06-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar at the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council (video), International Criminal Court (Myanmar), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Executive Summary: "Early in the morning of 25 August 2017, a Rohingya armed group known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation
Army (ARSA) launched coordinated attacks on security force posts in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. In
the days, weeks, and months that followed, the Myanmar security forces, led by the Myanmar Army,
attacked the entire Rohingya population in villages across northern Rakhine State.
In the 10 months after 25 August, the Myanmar security forces drove more than 702,000 women, men, and
children—more than 80 per cent of the Rohingya who lived in northern Rakhine State at the crisis?s outset—
into neighbouring Bangladesh. The ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population was achieved by a relentless
and systematic campaign in which the Myanmar security forces unlawfully killed thousands of Rohingya,
including young children; raped and committed other sexual violence against hundreds of Rohingya women
and girls; tortured Rohingya men and boys in detention sites; pushed Rohingya communities toward
starvation by burning markets and blocking access to farmland; and burned hundreds of Rohingya villages
in a targeted and deliberate manner.
These crimes amount to crimes against humanity under international law, as they were perpetrated as part
of a widespread and systematic attack against the Rohingya population. Amnesty International has evidence
of nine of the 11 crimes against humanity listed in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court being
committed since 25 August 2017, including murder, torture, deportation or forcible transfer, rape and other
sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts, such as forced starvation.
Amnesty International also has evidence that responsibility for these crimes extends to the highest levels of
the military, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services.
This report is based on more than 400 interviews carried out between September 2017 and June 2018,
including during four research missions to the refugee camps in Bangladesh and three missions to
Myanmar, one of which was to Rakhine State. The interviews were overwhelmingly with survivors and direct
witnesses to crimes. Amnesty International sought out people from different ethnic and religious
communities from northern Rakhine State, including Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim group; ethnic
Rakhine, Mro, Khami, and Thet, all predominantly Buddhist groups; and Hindu.
In addition to survivors and witnesses, Amnesty International interviewed humanitarian aid workers in
Bangladesh and Myanmar; medical professionals in Bangladesh who had treated violence-related injuries
among Rohingya refugees; analysts of the Myanmar military; diplomats; journalists; and local administrative
officials in Myanmar, known as Village Administrators. The report also draws on an extensive analysis of
satellite imagery and data; forensic medical examination of injury photographs; authenticated photographic
and video material taken by Rohingya in northern Rakhine State; confidential documents, particularly on the
Myanmar military?s command structure; and open source investigations and analysis, including of Facebook
posts related to the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International (ASA 16/8630/2018)
Date of publication:
2018-06-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Criminal Court (Myanmar), Amnesty International reports on Burma/Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Atrocities against Groups - documents, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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"Burma Human Rights Network has released a report titled ?Discrimination and Corruption Plague Burmese Passport System” detailing systemic discrimination and corruption found throughout Burma?s passport office. The report details the multiple mechanisms used by the Burmese authorities to further burden the Muslim community living inside of Burma. The authorities have forced Muslims to identify themselves as various non-Burmese nationalities on their ID cards and use these nationalities to then classify Muslims as ?Mixed blood?. When Muslims apply for their passports faced systematic discrimination. Witnesses also reported instances of corruption where officials insisted on bribes by minority applicants to process their applications..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Human Rights Network via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-06-14
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-20
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"The Burma Human Rights network is calling on the Burmese authorities to immediately release 23-year-old Ma Hla Phyu, a Muslim teacher who was arrested, reportedly denied access to a lawyer and sentenced to a year in prison with hard labour for attempting to travel from Kyaukphu, Rakhine State, to the country?s economic centre and former capital, Yangon. Ma Hla Phyu was found guilty of using someone else?s ID in order to travel to Yangon, which she apparently did as a last resort due to heavily discriminatory policies restricting the travel of Muslims from Rakhine State. She was arrested on 26 May by a joint force of police and military at 10pm in Taungup Township. She was sentenced to a year in prison with hard labour on May 28th under sections 6(2) and 6(3) of the immigration act. She was then sent to Thantwe Prison. She was in possession of a National Verification Card, a lower status temporary I.D. Muslims are pressured to accept, especially in Rakhine State..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Human Rights Network via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-06-11
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-20
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"Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson spoke with Burma?s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi about the Rohingya people, and recent violence in Kachin and Shan States. The Foreign Secretary today (11 June) spoke to Burma?s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi about the welfare of the Rohingya people, and the recent violence in Kachin and Shan States..."
Source/publisher:
Foreign & Commonwealth Office via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-06-11
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-20
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"Japanese authorities must urgently launch an investigation into payments that a subsidiary of the multinational brewing giant Kirin made to Myanmar?s military and authorities at the height of an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya population in late 2017, Amnesty International said today. In correspondence with Amnesty International (including a clarification note sent on 13 June), Kirin Holdings Company, Inc. said that its subsidiary Myanmar Brewery made three donations totalling USD$30,000 to the authorities between 1 September and 3 October 2017..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-06-14
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-20
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"we, the undersigned solidarity and democracy activists and civil society organisations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region express our grave concern over the recent escalation of armed conflict and humanitarian crisis in Kachin State, Burma that has resulted in the displacement of thousands of civilians, and urgently call on ASEAN to take immediate action to address the situation before it results in further loss of lives, displacement and human rights violations against one of the most vulnerable populations in the region..."
Source/publisher:
25 Civil Society Organisations "via" Progressive Voice
Date of publication:
2018-06-13
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-20
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"Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the Myanmar government?s latest interference in the work of journalists, a ban on local broadcasting by US government-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) for rightly using the term ?Rohingyas” to refer to members of the persecuted Muslim community in Rakhine state, in the west of the country. The ban is officially imposed today, six months to the day after the arrest of two Reuters journalists who had been investigating a massacre of Rohingya civilians..."
Source/publisher:
Reporters Without Borders "via" Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-06-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-20
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"Heavy monsoon rains that began on Saturday (9/6) have caused severe structural damage to Bangladesh?s Cox?s Bazar Rohingya refugee camps. Over 31,000 of the camps? one million refugees, who fled Myanmar, are still living in areas considered to be at high risk of deadly flooding and landslides..."
Source/publisher:
International Organization for Migration "via" Progressive Voice
Date of publication:
2018-06-11
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-20
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"Nine months after the influx of new arrivals began, bringing the total number of refugees in the area to almost one million, IOM is one of the largest medical care providers in Cox Bazar, supporting patients from the refugee and local communities with medical concerns ranging from pregnancy related complications to injuries from road traffic accidents. In the past four months alone, IOM has carried out over 4,300 consultations relating to accident and injury..."
Source/publisher:
International Organization for Migration "via" Progressive Voice
Date of publication:
2018-06-05
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-18
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"We the undersigned Rohingya organisations worldwide note the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by UNHCR, UNDP, and the Myanmar government to support the creation of conditions conducive to the voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to their homes in Arakan/Rakhine State. However, we are deeply concerned that (i) the MOU did not address the root causes of the Rohingya crisis, particularly the issue of Rohingya citizenship and ethnic identity, (ii) refugee representative has not been involved although the Rohingya have the right to know about the agreement relating to the process of repatriation, rehabilitation, reintegration and rebuilding of their bulldozed homes and their future, (iii) the texts of the MOU have not been made public leaving the international community in dark that calls into question..."
Source/publisher:
23 ROHINGYA ORGANISATIONS
Date of publication:
2018-06-10
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-18
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"Despite a steady stream of accounts of murder, rape and forced evacuations of people, a full understanding of events in northern Rakhine is still limited by a critical problem: data availability. Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, where most of the atrocities occurred, are closed off to international observers and few journalists are able to report on the updates (those who attempt to pay a high price for simply just doing their job), with neither the government nor the army showing any signal of change from their current stance. Given this, how do we extract frequent and credible information of events on the ground?..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-14
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"Tea Circle recently published an article by Ashley S. Kinseth entitled ?Genocide in the Modern Era: Social Media and the Proliferation of Hate Speech in Myanmar”. In her piece, Kinseth examined the relationship between social media and conflict, as well as its recent evolution in the country. She highlights the ?immense dangers of social media”, pointing out that ?there has never been a more powerful tool for the rapid dissemination of hate speech.” Her piece is a veracious account, as is her regard of the dissemination of hate speech as ?perhaps the most significant precursor to genocide.” This paper is not a reaction nor a response to her writing. Rather, it proposes to complement the plethora of issues that she, with many others such as Alex Aung Khant and Aye Thein, have put forward. Kinseth has produced an empirical feature, substantiated by her extensive experience working on issues related to the purloined rights of the Rohingya. Her factual observations and organic scholarship offer crucial and practical insight on what is happening in Northern Rakhine State (NRS), countrywide in Myanmar, as well as around the globe. Kinseth elaborates on her concerns regarding the toxic relationship between social media and ethnic strife ? rightfully so, her worries are not misplaced..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-06-13
Date of entry/update:
2018-06-14
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"Through eyewitness testimony and expert analysis of satellite images, Remaking Rakhine State reveals how flattening of Rohingya villages and new construction have intensified since January in areas where hundreds of thousands fled the military?s campaign of ethnic cleansing last year. New roads and structures are being built over burned Rohingya villages and land, making it even less likely for refugees to return to their homes.
?What we are seeing in Rakhine State is a land grab by the military on a dramatic scale. New bases are being erected to house the very same security forces that have committed crimes against humanity against Rohingya,” said Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International?s Crisis Response Director.
?This makes the voluntary, safe and dignified return of Rohingya refugees an even more distant prospect. Not only are their homes gone, but the new construction is entrenching the already dehumanizing discrimination they have faced in Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International
Date of publication:
2018-03-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-05-26
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"(NEW YORK, May 8, 2018)—The United Nations Security Council should refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and possibly prosecute atrocity crimes, including the crime of genocide, against Rohingya Muslims and others, Fortify Rights said today.
From April 29 to May 1, a 15-member U.N. Security Council delegation visited Bangladesh and Myanmar to meet with Rohingya survivors of human rights violations in Myanmar as well as senior diplomats and government officials.
?Impunity is entrenched in Myanmar,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights. ?Domestic remedies have been exhausted—the government failed to properly investigate the heinous crimes that have taken place, and that?s precisely why a referral is warranted.”
In a report published in November 2017, Fortify Rights and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum documented how the Myanmar Army massacred untold numbers of Rohingya men, women, and children, gang-raped masses of women and girls, and committed widespread arson attacks, razing hundreds of villages in northern Rakhine State, making it impossible for Rohingya to survive in their native areas.
Based on hundreds of testimonies from eyewitnesses and survivors collected during a yearlong investigation, the report found ?mounting evidence” of genocide.
Since October 2016, the Myanmar authorities forced more than 775,000 Rohingya refugees to flee to Bangladesh, causing a humanitarian crisis. Myanmar Army-led attacks on Rohingya civilians were in response to violent assaults on security forces by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in October 2016 and again in August 2017..."
Source/publisher:
Fortify Rights and Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2018-05-08
Date of entry/update:
2018-05-21
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"(New York) ? The United Nations Security Council should immediately refer the situation in Myanmar, including the widespread and systematic abuses against ethnic Rohingya, to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Human Rights Watch said today.
During the first week of May 2018, senior diplomats from the 15-member Security Council visited refugee camps in Bangladesh to see first-hand the situation of the more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar military abuses since August 2017, adding to an estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees who fled previous violence. The diplomats pledged to take action on their return to New York. UK Ambassador Karen Pierce said all council members considered the Rohingya issue to be ?one of the most significant human rights cases that we have ever faced in the last decade and that something needs to be done.”
?Now that the Security Council has heard directly from Rohingya refugees about the horrors inflicted by Myanmar?s army, the need to hold those responsible to account should be clear,” said Param-Preet Singh, associate international justice director. ?Myanmar?s repeated and implausible denials of responsibility for atrocities and its longstanding culture of impunity mean that the International Criminal Court is the only real hope for victims to see justice.”
During their four-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh, council members met with humanitarian agencies, civil society groups, parliamentarians, and military and government officials, including Bangladesh?s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Myanmar?s de-facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and Myanmar military commander-in-chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-05-08
Date of entry/update:
2018-05-21
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"When I first found myself working in Northern Rakhine State (NRS) in 2013, I had already begun to observe that smartphones were becoming a global norm, even in the most remote of areas—not only in Myanmar, but around the world. Where I had once so nervously snapped candid shots in rural villages, I suddenly found myself surrounded by villagers nonchalantly photographing and videoing me using their phones. Over the course of a few years, ?camera” ownership and use had gone from the purview of the world?s wealthy (in which I include virtually everyone from ?developed” nations) to a nearly universal constant—for the rich and the poor—in the form of the cell phone. With that, our mutual camera shyness dissipated, and we (myself and rural villagers) would find ourselves taking turns playing photographer with one another, looking at one another?s shots in a playful and relationship-building exchange: where language failed us, photos brought us together..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-05-10
Date of entry/update:
2018-05-19
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Individual Documents
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Description:
"At dawn the upper reaches of the Kaladan River are blanketed with mist extending to the treetops of her banks. This is the time when cooking fires start, roosters wake, babies cry until mothers nurse, and singing bowls are lightly struck. The fog lifts as the sky lightens behind the hills to the east. Fishers emerge from and disappear into that mist in tarpaulin-covered longtail boats of darkened wood: the stuff of classical Guóhuà paintings were it not for puttering engines powering propellers mounted at the ends of long drive shafts.
I fetishize the river and those who dwell near and upon it because I am divorced from their ritual, their worry. The downsides are visible to me when a motor stalls or a drive shaft breaks upriver and we are transformed into nothing but a leaf upon the Kaladan, and its ability to destroy is conveyed, especially during the rainy season when the river displays the tendencies of some displeased deity. The Kaladan is the source of life and death; draw water from it, ambush soldiers upon it, capsize in current and become the sustenance for those who make a home in its tumult..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-05-17
Date of entry/update:
2018-05-19
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Individual Documents
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Description:
"The Arakan Army or AA is the latest incarnation of Rakhine nationalism taken to an extreme conclusion, and taken root in a periphery previously ignored by the state. Its ideological forebears are found in the nearly defunct Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), which like the CNF was relatively inactive in comparison to Myanmar?s tenacious northern and eastern insurgencies. The ALP also signed the 2015 NCA. Its 60 to 100 claimed fighters may be a hopeful estimate. The AA view the contemporary ALP leadership as traitors to a cause built upon a discourse both rich and misunderstood. Rakhine nationalism is that of a neglected colonial backwater dwelling upon past glories, of which the targeting of Rohingya is not a cause, but a symptom..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-05-18
Date of entry/update:
2018-05-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"The introduction of a citizenship law in Myanmar 36 years ago set the stage for what has become one of the largest forcible displacements of a group in history, a legal academic has said.
Dr Melissa Crouch has described anti-Rohingya sentiment among the wider Burmese population as one of several long-standing factors to lead to the current crisis.
Speaking as part of a panel discussion in Sydney, the Asian legal studies expert explained that it was important to understand what the popular local view was towards the ethnic Muslim group.
?The public perception in Myanmar is that these people are illegal immigrants. And that for a very long time was the dominant perspective that many people in Myanmar had,” Dr Crouch said..."
Source/publisher:
Lawyers Weekly
Date of publication:
2018-01-11
Date of entry/update:
2018-05-04
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Individual Documents
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Description:
"As Prime Minister Trudeau?s Special Envoy to Myanmar, I engaged in extensive research, travel and meetings with key interlocutors from October 2017 to March 2018 to assess the violent events of August 2017 and afterward that led more than 671,000 Rohingya to flee their homes in Rakhine State, Myanmar, and seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.
This report focuses on the following four themes: the need to combine principle and pragmatism in responding to the serious humanitarian crisis in both Myanmar and Bangladesh; the ongoing political challenges in Myanmar; the strong signals that crimes against humanity were committed in the forcible and violent displacement of more than 671,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State in Myanmar; and the clear need for more effective coordination of both domestic and international efforts.
The humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh and Myanmar: With the arrival of more than 671,000 additional refugees in Bangladesh since August 25, 2017, the displaced Rohingya population living in camps in Bangladesh now approaches one million. Camps are overcrowded, the population is traumatized, and the rainy season will soon be upon them. UN agencies have responded with a Joint Response Plan aiming to gather US$950.8 million for the next year. In addition, there could be as many as 450,000 Rohingya remaining in central and northern Rakhine State. Their situation is precarious. Many are in camps for internally displaced persons (IDP), and others are essentially locked into their villages, with poor food supplies and little access to international humanitarian assistance. This demands a response from the international community, and Canada needs to play a strong role. Canada needs to increase its budget dedicated to the crisis, as well as to encourage deeper coordination with like-minded countries. Canada and other countries should also explore avenues to allow the Rohingya to be eligible to apply for refugee status and resettlement, including in Canada, but it needs to be stressed that resettlement alone will not solve the problem..."
Source/publisher:
Prime Minister Trudeau?s Special Envoy to Myanmar/Government of Canada
Date of publication:
2018-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Format :
pdf
Size:
2.96 MB
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Description:
"[Editor?s note: Tea Circle will be taking a break over the Thingyan holiday. We will return on 23 April and will run our annual ?Year in Review” series through the month of May.]
As the main platform of information and communication for most people in Myanmar, Facebook has a social responsibility to promote its safe and responsible use. Facebook has been beneficial for connecting friends and families within Myanmar and across the world. Unfortunately, it has also been a platform used to spread hate speech, rumors that Muslims are not Myanmar citizens, and, in some cases, messages provoking violence.
Since August of last year, over 700,000 Rohingya civilians have been forced to flee Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh with reports of widespread atrocities, including, murder, rape, and arson of their homes. The United Nations has called this a textbook case of ethnic cleansing, referring to it as a possible genocide and as constituting crimes against humanity. Many in the international community are hoping for the refugees to be repatriated, but for many Rohingyas, they are fearful for their safety, that they will still not be accepted as part of Myanmar and that, upon their return, they would have to remain in camps without freedom of movement or equal rights. Most people in Myanmar have never met a Rohingya person, but nonetheless many express an unfounded hatred, refusing to recognize their citizenship as fellow brothers and sisters, and some even supporting their displacement..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-04-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"For the first time since Myanmar?s military crackdown last year that led to almost 700,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh, a government minister has visited a refugee camp.
Win Myat Aye, Myanmar?s social welfare minister, provoked anger when he reportedly told a group of about 40 Rohingya that if they were to return to Myanmar, they would have to accept national verification cards and state they were migrants from Bangladesh.
The refugees at the Kutupalong camp in the border city of Cox? Bazar say they are from Myanmar. They gave the minister a list of 13 demands they want to be met before they return home.
Bangladesh and Myanmar had agreed to begin the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees in January, but there were delays because of safety concerns.
So how will the government respond and how committed is it to resolving the crisis?"
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera (Inside Story)
Date of publication:
2018-04-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"(Yangon/New York, 8 April 2018): At the conclusion today of a six-day mission to Myanmar, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller called for strengthened humanitarian action based on the rights and needs of all communities, in line with international law and humanitarian principles.
?Protecting the most vulnerable people in Myanmar must be at the heart of the humanitarian response by the international community, national aid organizations and the Government,” said Ms. Mueller. ?Wherever they are in the country and regardless of their ethnicity, religion and citizenship status, we need to work together to ensure that no vulnerable conflict-affected people are deprived of safe and sustained access to humanitarian protection and assistance. No-one in Myanmar should be left behind on the path towards a better future.”..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office for The Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-04-08
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"Burma?s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, once had a seemingly warm relationship. No longer. Following the special rapporteur?s visit in July 2017, the government delayed permission for a follow up visit and finally in December last year informed the South Korean law professor access would be denied and she would no longer receive any cooperation for the remainder of her tenure. That left Professor Lee ?puzzled and disappointed” and saying ?this declaration of non-cooperation with my mandate can only be viewed as a strong indication that there must be something terribly awful happening in Rakhine [Arakan State], as well as in the rest of the country.”..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-04-02
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"Last Friday, media releases all over the English and Burmese-speaking internet reverberated with the news that top human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney, will join the legal team for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo?s ongoing court case.
I see at least two tiers of issues going on here, recognising that there are many others (such as the military?s cause of national security and the impunity that accompanies it, and the shameful layers of disinformation in Rakhine)..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-04-05
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"The attacks perpetrated by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017 sparked fears of wide-scale radicalisation within the Rohingya community. Such suspicions were fuelled by Islamist political actors across the Islamic world hailing the Rohingya cause.
But such alarmist views are rarely backed by evidence or field research. Our interviews with Rohingya refugees in Malaysia indicate that there is no evidence of widespread Rohingya radicalisation, either in Myanmar or abroad. Rather, the Rohingya in Malaysia and Bangladesh disapprove of ARSA?s approach to the crisis and denounce the employment of violence for political goals. For them, the larger concern is the political fragmentation in their community and the lack of effective leadership..."
Source/publisher:
New Mandala
Date of publication:
2018-02-09
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
The month of March is very significant in the history of Bangladesh. In 1971 the people of this country became resilient against the exploitation and suppression of the West Pakistan regime and developed a struggle for independence in order to destroy the undemocratic rule of West Pakistan. On 25 March 1971, the Pakistani Army attacked the unarmed Bangladeshi civilians and commenced genocide. From 26 March, the people of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) jumped into the liberation struggle and on 16 December 1971 Bangladesh became independent when the Pakistan Army surrendered. The people of this country sacrificed their lives and honour to build a nation based on equality, human dignity and social justice. That goal is yet to be achieved.
The people of this country are victims of grave human rights violations. The controversial elections of 5 January 2014 and the subsequent local government elections, deprived the people of Bangladesh from their right to vote. The opposition political parties and ordinary people are also deprived from the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association. The government has enacted repressive laws and imposing them against dissenters and people who have alternative beliefs. Many people, including leaders and activists of the opposition parties, are becoming victims of enforced disappearance, extrajudicial killing and torture..."
Source/publisher:
Odhikar
Date of publication:
2018-04-01
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.43 MB
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Description:
"This brief outlines the potential impact of rains, floods and landslides in the camps of Cox?s Bazar. To do so, it draws on past impact of rains in these camps, as well as in Cox?s Bazar and in Bangladesh more generally. It also draws on similar camp settings and natural disasters in other countries. Wherever possible, it is grounded in informal discussions with experts in their sector, meeting notes and field observations. The camps at this scale have never existed in this season before, so there is no direct past experience of how they have withstood a monsoon..."
Source/publisher:
ACAPS via "progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-19
Date of entry/update:
2018-04-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.29 MB
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Description:
"FORUM-ASIA welcomes the opportunity to present this joint briefing paper, in partnership with the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN), to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). The purpose of this submission is to provide the AICHR with a brief analysis of attacks on civilians and mass displacement of people within and from Myanmar?s Rakhine State. We urge the AICHR to: convince the Government of Myanmar to put an end to the violence, protect civilians, allow for urgently needed humanitarian access, and implement the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State; and for this purpose to consider and implement the recommendations provided in this submission..."
Source/publisher:
Asian Pacific Refugee Rights Network via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-09-11
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
191.77 KB
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Description:
"The horrific treatment of Rohingya Muslims and their violent expulsion from Burma has shocked the world. As the Karen Community of Canada (KCC), an organization representing ethnic Karen refugees from Burma (Myanmar), we stand in solidarity with the Rohingya people who face the same brutal treatment that Karen and other ethnic peoples have suffered at the hands of the Burmese military for decades.
We welcome Prime Minister Trudeau?s appointment of Bob Rae as Canada?s Special Envoy to Myanmar. However, we are disappointed that Mr. Rae?s interim report overlooks the systemic nature of Burmese military oppression against all ethnic minorities in Burma. A more holistic approach is needed if Mr. Rae?s final report is to effectively guide Canadian policy toward Burma..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Community of Canada via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-13
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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pdf
Size:
653.22 KB
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Description:
"Mr Speaker thank you for the opportunity to update the House on the desperate plight of Burma?s Rohingya ? in the week that the UN Fact Finding Mission on Burma has updated the Human Rights Council with interim findings.The international community has repeatedly called on the Burmese authorities to allow the Fact Finding Mission to enter Burma. Regrettably Burma continues to refuse access.Despite this, through interviewing Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and Malaysia, the interim report revealed credible evidence of widespread and systematic abuse, rape and murder of Rohingya people, and destruction of their homes and villages, primarily by the Burmese military..."
Source/publisher:
Foreign & Commonwealth Office and The Rt Hon Mark Field MP
Date of publication:
2018-03-15
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"Minister for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field statement on the interim report by UN Fact Finding Mission on Burma.
Minister Mark Field said:
This report by the UN Fact Finding Mission on human rights has reaffirmed the appalling human rights violations that so many in Burma have suffered and confirms that the Burmese military are primarily to blame for the widespread and systematic violence against the Rohingya.
These findings show the vital importance of an open and transparent investigation into these appalling events and I urge the Burmese authorities to reverse their decision not to cooperate with the Fact Finding Mission, and allow them immediate access so they can continue their work.
I call on the Burmese authorities to establish a credible and independent investigation into these horrifying accusations, and a judicial process to hold to account those responsible for abuses.
The UK is fully committed to help bring an end to this humanitarian crisis and I plan to update Parliament on the Government?s approach at the earliest opportunity allowed..."
Source/publisher:
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Date of publication:
2018-03-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"The UK and Bangladesh held their second Strategic Dialogue on 15 March 2018, at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London. The dialogue involved a fruitful exchange of views on political and bilateral issues, economic and development cooperation, security and defence cooperation, and exchanges on current global issues, including the Rohingya crisis. The UK commended Bangladesh for hosting over one million forcibly displaced Burmese nationals. Bangladesh welcomed the UK?s assurance that it remains committed to keeping the international spotlight on the Rohingya crisis, and to supporting Bangladesh in its humanitarian response and the voluntary, safe, and dignified return of the Rohingya to Burma.
The Strategic Dialogue was led by Permanent Under-Secretary of the UK?s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Simon McDonald, and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Haque of the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs..."
Source/publisher:
Foreign & Commonwealth Office via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-16
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"[Geneva, 12 March 2018] We, Rohingya and Burmese civil society organizations, strongly support High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra?ad al-Hussein?s recommendation that the Human Rights Council ask the General Assembly to establish a new independent and impartial mechanism to prepare criminal proceedings against those responsible for the atrocities in Rakhine State.
In the face of genocide, the UN?s foremost human rights body must shoulder its responsibilities and pursue justice for the Rohingya. Survivors have told harrowing accounts of killing, rape, abduction, torture, and arson. We urge the Human Rights Council to heed High Commissioner Zeid?s recommendation. The Council should call on the General Assembly to launch the mechanism in its next resolution on Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Human Rights Network via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"For more than six months, the world has watched in horror as Myanmar?s military has carried out a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing in northern Rakhine State, forcing hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch documented massacres, gang rape, and mass arson that amount to crimes against humanity. While the exodus of new refugees has slowed, the terrible plight of the more than 680,000 people who fled only grows with each passing day. The several hundred thousand Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State lead a precarious existence marked by government intimidation and threats, limited access to food and aid, sharply curtailed movement, and violence without redress. Over 100,000 have been in what amount to detention camps since previous rounds of ethnic cleansing in 2012..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"ARTICLE 19 shares the Special Rapporteur?s alarm that the ?repressive practices of previous military governments are returning as the norm once more”, with crackdowns on freedom expression creating ?a culture of fear, silence and self-censorship. ”This retrogression contradicts many of the specific recommendations this Council directed to the government of Myanmar last year in Resolution 34/22.In the context of alleged acts of genocide and crimes against humanity, the government?s attempts to control the free flow of information must be recognised as dangerous, undermining any possible efforts to prevent further violations, as well as prospects for accountability, for truth and reconciliation, and for the eventual safe return of refugees.We condemn, in particular, the targeting of journalists and others reporting on events in conflict affected areas. Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo face up to 14 years imprisonment if convicted under the Official Secrets Act for reporting on a massacre of Rohingya civilians. In October 2017, two Kachin individuals were convicted under the Unlawful Associations Act for assisting journalists reporting on armed conflict in Shan State..."
Source/publisher:
Article 19
Date of publication:
2018-03-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
Executive Summary: "Incitement to violence that targets communities or
individuals based on their identity can contribute to
enabling or preparing atrocity crimes, (genocide, war
crimes and crimes against humanity), and is both a
warning sign and early indicator of the risk of those
crimes . Monitoring, preventing and countering incite-
ment to violence, particularly in societies divided along
identity lines and in situations where tensions are high,
can contribute to prevention efforts .
States have the primary responsibility to protect popu-
lations from atrocity crimes, as well as their incitement,
but other actors can and should play a role . Religious
leaders and actors can play a particularly influential role,
as they have the potential to influence the behaviour
of those who follow them and share their beliefs . Given
that religion has been misused to justify incitement to
violence, it is vital that religious leaders from all faiths
show leadership in this matter
.
The process that led to the development of the Plan
of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent
Incitement to Violence that Could Lead to Atrocity
Crimes, known as the ?Fez Process”, stemmed from the
need to better understand, articulate and encourage
the potential of religious leaders to prevent incitement
and the violence that it can lead to, and to integrate
the work of religious leaders within broader efforts to
prevent atrocity crimes .
The ?Fez Process” refers to a series of consultations,
organised by the United Nations Office on Genocide
Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect between
April 2015 and December 2016, with religious leaders,
faith-based and secular organizations, regional organi-
zations and subject matter experts from all regions of
the world . The recommendations contained in the Plan
of Action were developed by the religious leaders and
actors who participated in these consultations . They are
relevant not only to situations where there is a risk of
atrocity crimes, but also to other contexts, including
the protection of human rights, the prevention of vio-
lent extremism and the prevention of conflict .
As efforts to prevent atrocity crimes and their incite-
ment are most likely to succeed when different actors
are working in collaboration, the Plan of Action also
includes recommendations for other actors, including
States and state institutions and civil society, includ-
ing new and traditional media . The Plan of Action is
founded on human rights principles, in particular the
right to freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of
religion and belief and the right of peaceful assembly
.
The Plan of Action contains three main clusters of
recommendations that aim to
prevent
,
strengthen
and
build
. Each cluster includes recommendations that are
organised according to thematic focus .
It is recommended that, under the stewardship of the
United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the
Responsibility to Protect, this Plan of Action is imple-
mented at regional, national and local levels . For a com-
prehensive implementation of the Plan of Action, it is
recommended that all relevant stakeholders contribute,
including state and religious institutions, secular and
religious civil society organizations, new and traditional
media, academia and education institutions, as well as
regional and international organizations .
Implementing this Plan of Action could contribute to
the prevention of atrocity crimes worldwide, especially
in areas affected by religious and sectarian tensions
and violence . Its implementation will also enhance the
respect, protection and promotion of human rights."
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Date of publication:
2017-12-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Inter-Communal violence and discrimination - global
Language:
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Description:
"The Myanmar military has been executing a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people of Myanmar, marked by abuses that constitute crimes against humanity.More than 500,000 Rohingya have fled their homes in the course of a month, approaching half of the entire Rohingya population that had been living in Myanmar up to a month ago. Vast swaths of villageshave been burned by the Myanmar security forces
and Rakhine Buddhist mobs. Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh share consistent accounts of Myanmar soldiers surrounding villages, burning homes to the ground, stabbing, shooting, and raping the inhabitants, leaving the survivors to flee for their lives..."
Source/publisher:
Refugees International via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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566 KB
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"The Burma Human Rights Network has been informed by several Rohingya villagers who remained in Burma?s Northern Rakhine State of continued food shortages and unlivable conditions due to restrictions put in place by the government and security forces. Of those remaining, frequent complaints were made related to limited food rations, inability to access agricultural work, severe travel restrictions and fear of continuing attacks by vigilante groups from neighboring ethnic Rakhine communities.
Villagers from Gutar Pyin, in Buthidaung Township, have complained of food shortages and increased restrictions on movement since August of 2017 when security forces began their ?clearance operations” in the area. After 200 homes were burnt down as part of the military?s campaign, only 1500 villagers are reported to remain. Those remaining lack adequate shelter and are dependent on monthly rations from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). One villager told BHRN, ?In one house three families have to live together. We?ve requested permission from the authorities to rebuild the homes but we have not received it yet.”..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Human Rights Network via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-15
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
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"(Dhaka, 13 March 2018) From 7 to 13 March I visited Bangladesh to assess the situation of the Rohingya population who have crossed the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh since the most recent incidents of violence in northern Rakhine state in October 2016 and August 2017. During my visit, I had the opportunity to meet Bangladeshi authorities, civil society actors and members of the diplomatic community. I also visited refugee camps in Cox?s Bazar, where survivors I met shared horrifying stories of what they have endured.
What I have heard and witnessed in Cox?s Bazar is a human tragedy with the fingerprints of the Myanmar government and of the international community. The scorched earth campaign carried out by the Myanmar security forces since August 2017 against the Rohingya population was predictable and preventable. Despite the numerous warnings I have made of the risk of atrocity crimes, the international community has buried its head in the sand. This has cost the Rohingya population of Myanmar their lives, their dignity and their homes..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Press Release
Date of publication:
2018-03-13
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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137.22 KB
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"Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia must take a strong stand against ongoing crimes against humanity targeting Rohingya in Myanmar as they meet this weekend, Amnesty International said.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar?s State Counsellor and de facto political leader, is expected to attend the ASEAN-Australia Summit, taking place in Sydney on 17-18 March.
?The human rights crisis in Rakhine State, and Myanmar as a whole, must be top of the agenda this weekend in Sydney. ASEAN has been shamefully silent on what is happening in one of its member states so far.” James Gomez, Amnesty International?s Director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific
?The orchestrated campaign to drive Rohingya out of Myanmar and ensure they cannot return must end. Even if the violence has subsided, ethnic cleansing continues ? authorities are starving Rohingya and erecting security force bases on their lands in a bid to force them out,” said James Gomez, Amnesty International?s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-14
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"GENEVA (12 March 2018) ? The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, told the Human Rights Council on Monday she was increasingly of the opinion that the events in Rakhine State bear the hallmarks of genocide and called in the strongest terms for accountability.
Lee, who was informed late last year that her access to the country was denied, also expressed serious concern that ?the repressive practices of previous military governments were returning as the norm once more” in Myanmar, describing the situation faced by civil society across the country as ?increasingly perilous”.
Delivering her report to the Council in Geneva, Lee said that to date accountability for the crimes committed in Rakhine State following 25 August 2017, and 9 October 2016, was elusive, adding that this must now be the focus of the international community?s efforts to bring long-lasting peace, stability and democratization to Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"WASHINGTON, D.C. ? U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Todd Young (R-IN), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and John McCain (R-AZ) today announced that a bipartisan Senate resolution condemning the Burmese campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya and calling for the ?safe, dignified, voluntary and sustainable return” of the refugees who have been displaced by this violence was voted out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a bipartisan vote with unanimous support.
The senators introduced the resolution in January, as planned repatriation from Bangladesh to Burma was postponed amid fears that the repatriation as planned would be neither safe nor voluntary..."
Source/publisher:
United States Senator for Oregon.
Date of publication:
2018-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"Myanmar?s armed forces are committing a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya. It is the fourth wave of violence that falls into this category ? i.e. some of the most serious offences in international law ? in five years.
This is occurring against the backdrop of a massive humanitarian crisis on both sides of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. The latest figures in Bangladesh indicate that 144,500 children under five face malnutrition while more than 14,000 are close to death.1 The figures in Northern Rakhine State, the site of appalling violence over the last two months is impossible to assess accurately as the Myanmar authorities continue to severely restrict humanitarian access. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has described the humanitarian situation in the region as ?catastrophic”..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK via Progressive Voice
Date of publication:
2017-11-01
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.12 MB
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Description:
"1. The present report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 34/22, covers developments in Myanmar since the previous reports of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, to the General Assembly in October 2016 (A/71/361) and to the Human Rights Council in March 2017 (A/HRC/34/67) and in an oral progress report in June 2017.
2. The Special Rapporteur conducted her sixth official visit to Myanmar from 10 to 21 July 2017. During the 12-day visit, the Special Rapporteur travelled to Rakhine, Shan and Kayin states, as well as Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw. She addressed a range of human rights issues with Union Parliament and State ministers and other stakeholders, including parliamentarians, political, religious and community leaders, civil society representatives, victims of human rights violations and members of the international community..."
Source/publisher:
Un Special Rapporteur On the Human Rights Situation in Myanmar.
Date of publication:
2017-09-08
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-22
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"This submission details human rights violations by Myanmar state security forces against Rohingya Muslim civilians in Rakhine State since October 2016. It draws on evidence collected by Fortify Rights in Myanmar and Bangladesh, including interviews with 239 survivors and eyewitnesses.
During ?clearance operations” by the Myanmar military from October to December 2016, we interviewed 188 survivors and eyewitnesses of human rights violations, including doctors and aid workers..."
Source/publisher:
Fortify Rights via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-10-24
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-22
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"On October 9, 2016, a previously unknown Rohingya militant group calling itself Harakah al-Yaqin attacked three police outposts in Maungdaw and Rathedaung Townships in Myanmar?s northern Rakhine State. Armed mostly with sticks, knives, and improvised explosive devices, the group killed nine state security officials. After renaming itself the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in March 2017, the group waged a second attack on 30 police outposts and an army base on August 25, 2017, killing 12 officials. ARSA claimed the attacks were a response to protracted discriminatory treatment and persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.
Immediately following both of those attacks, the Myanmar Army launched clearance operations—a term the military uses to describe ongoing multiagency efforts to combat and apprehend Rohingya militants..."
Source/publisher:
Foritfy Rights and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum via Progressive Voice
Date of publication:
2017-11-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-21
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"I was held down by six men and raped by five of them. First, they [shot and] killed my brother ? then they threw me to the side and one man tore my lungi [sarong], grabbed me by the mouth and held me still. He stuck a knife into my side and kept it there while the men were raping me. That was how they kept me in place. ? I was trying to move and [the wound] was bleeding more. They were threatening to shoot me..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-11-16
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-21
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"OHCHR report confirms that the Tatmadawcommitted well-organized, coordinated andsystematic attacks against Rohingya.
Medical staff corroborate evidence ofwidespread rape and sexual violence againstRohingya women and girls as young as 5.
Rohingya villagers trapped in Arakan state told to accept national verification cards that denytheir identity or "face actions”.
Over 603,000 Rohingya are estimated to have fled into Bangladesh as of 31 October. Bangladesh plans to build refugee camp for 800,000 people..."
Source/publisher:
Altsean-Burma
Date of publication:
2017-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-21
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"Since August 25, 2017, when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a militant group, attacked about 30 police outposts and a military camp in northern Rakhine State, Burmese security forces have carried out mass arson, killings, rape, and looting, destroying hundreds of villages and forcing more than 600,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Thousands more Rohingya as well as ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and other non-Muslims have also been displaced in Rakhine State as a result of the violence.
There have also been numerous reports of abuses committed by ARSA militants. Human Rights Watch has not been able to independently verify those accounts, in part because of the lack of access to northern Rakhine State..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-11-03
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-21
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"More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Burma to Bangladesh since August 25, 2017. Counting previous flights of Rohingya refugees, including after the 2012 and 2016 violence in Rakhine State, the number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh could reach one million.
Not only those who fled the recent Burmese military campaign of ethnic cleansing, but Rohingya who have fled previous government crackdowns, were either directly forced to leave their homes amid killings and other assaults and destruction of their property or felt compelled to leave their homes and country to avoid persecution, including threats to their lives, physical abuse, destruction of their homes, and other severe human rights abuses. The existence of economic or personal motives does not forfeit a refugee?s claim to protection based on well-founded fears of being persecuted..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-11-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-21
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"There hardly could be a more timely book in Myanmar studies than the collection of essays and testimonies edited by Ashley South and Marie Lall in ?Citizenship in Myanmar: Ways of Being in and from Burma”.
In recent months, the news in Myanmar has been dominated by four issues, all directly related to citizenship: the Rakhine crisis, the peace process, the NLD in government, and citizens? participation. The Rakhine crisis, of course, revolves around the question of who has the right to be a citizen of Myanmar, to live on Myanmar territory, and too often, unfortunately, who has the right to live at all. The peace process is, fundamentally, stuck because the key question of the citizenship of members of the various ethnic nationalities has not been resolved, if it has even been discussed at all. Recent controversies around the naming of a bridge in Mon State or the building of a statue in Kayah State show that the ruling NLD does not have much of an understanding of the sensitivities that remain among the non-Bamar on the question of what it means for them to be citizens of Myanmar but members of different, separate, unique, nations. The NLD, however, won the 2015 general election in a landslide, showing that it has the support of citizens, when citizenship is expressed directly, through a vote. However, on the last issue, how citizens express themselves outside of elections, which is one definition for civil society, frustration, disappointment, and sometimes anger, has grown significantly in recent months as the NLD has all but severed ties with civil society, to the consternation of activists who, just like the rest of the population, believed in, and, in most cases, had voted for, the NLD..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-03-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-20
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"For the past couple of years, there has been a torrent of international media coverage of the ongoing crisis in Rakhine State and on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. The overwhelming majority of news, in addition to reports from humanitarian organizations and think tanks, has not minced words castigating the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, for its evident complicity in attacks on the Rohingya Muslim minority population.
The immense suffering of the Rohingya and horrific, detailed reports of violence perpetrated against the minority Muslim population has rallied widespread international condemnation. Observers and policymakers have called for sanctions against the military, and many have condemned the partially civilian Myanmar government for its inability to quell the violence..."
Source/publisher:
Teacircleoxford
Date of publication:
2018-02-16
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-20
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"2018 begins in the same vein that 2017 finished, with the continued military offensives, the denial of access to independent human rights investigators and the continuing arrests of journalists. Further, the deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar[1] is inextricably linked to the entrenched power and impunity of the Myanmar Army, which continues to overshadow any efforts towards achieving sustainable peace and democracy in Myanmar. These events over the holiday period serve to demonstrate the enormity of challenges that Myanmar must deal with in the year ahead.
Arbitrary arrests of journalists have highlighted the real and continued danger that those investigating abuses of power face. Following the arrest of three journalists in Shan State last year in June, and the arrest of journalist and photographer Aung Naing Soe, Singaporean journalist Lau Hon Meng and Malaysian journalist Mok Choy Lin in November, the arrest and detention in December of two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, under the Official Secrets Act, threatens press freedom and has drawn wide condemnation. The two Reuters journalists were investigating the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State and now face up to 14 years in jail. The persecution of journalists reporting stories on human rights violations, especially related to ethnic and religious repression and armed conflict, is a worrying precedent and is indicative of a shrinking space in civil society for those speaking out against human rights abuses..."
Source/publisher:
"Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-01-17
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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"In the past several months1 the international community has watched as a huge human tragedy unfolded for the Rohingya people living in the northern Burmese state of Rakhine.2 In a culmination of many decades of discrimination, marginalisation and abuse, a ?textbook example of ethnic cleansing”3 has been perpetrated by Burma?s security forces against the Rohingya under the guise of an appropriate response to militia violence in the summer..."
Source/publisher:
International Development Committee via ??Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-01-09
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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"GENEVA, 9 January 2018 ? ?I spent 6 December through 3 January in Myanmar, almost half of that time in Rakhine State. I traveled to the northern part of the state ? where the violence broke out last August, driving 655,000 people, the vast majority of them Rohingya, across the border into Bangladesh. I also went to central Rakhine, where over 120,000 Rohingya have been stranded in squalid camps since 2012, and about 200,000 more live in villages where their freedom of movement and access to basic services are also increasingly restricted..."
Source/publisher:
UNICEF Spokesperson In Geneva via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-01-09
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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"On August 30, 2017, Hassina Begum, a 20-year-old ethnic Rohingya woman, was among the few survivors of a massacre of unspeakable brutality. Just days after a deadly attack by Rohingya militants against Burmese security forces, hundreds of Burmese soldiers in uniform, along with ethnic Rakhine villagers armed with machetes and wooden sticks, attacked the village of Tula Toli, officially known as Min Gyi, in Maungdaw Township in Burma?s Rakhine State, also known as Arakan State..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-12-19
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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??The Myanmar Humanitarian Fund (MHF) mobilizes resources for partners to respond to the critical humanitarian needs in Myanmar. In 2017, a total of US$9.8 million has been allocated to 25 projects targeting 443,300 persons, of which 54% are women and girls, and 49%, children and adolescents under 18. It provided funding to both national and international humanitarian organizations to respond to crises in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan states, as well as supporting the priorities set out in the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and responding to cyclone Mora in Rakhine. Allocations targeted both for internally displaced persons and the host communities, across targeted areas in clear linkage with the strategic objectives defined by the HRP, updated assessments and existing humanitarian coordination mechanisms..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office for The Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-12-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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"The violence against the Rohingya in Northern Rakhine in Burma amounts to ethnic cleansing, and may also constitute crimes against humanity and even genocide. The displacement of over 600,000 people to Bangladesh is a compelling sign of a desperate population, and the traumatic experiences they have described are reminiscent of infamous atrocities elsewhere. The definition of the violence is important, because it can invoke the Responsibility to Protect, requiring states to act. The UK Government?s equivocation over classifying this violence has therefore been frustratingly confusing. It has also failed to undertake its own legal analysis. This was not befitting its leading international role, and it should immediately investigate and conduct its own assessment of the situation..."
Source/publisher:
The Foreign Affairs Committee via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-12-11
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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"On 25 August 2017, a counter-insurgency military operation in Rakhine State, Myanmar, led to a mass
displacement of Rohingya civilians into Bangladesh. Over the following three months, some 626,000
Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh to escape the violence.
To assess the scale of the emergency and the needs for humanitarian assistance, Doctors Without
borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) conducted six surveys to estimate the retrospective mortality of
the population residing in Kutupalong, Balukhali and Tasnimarkhola settlements in Cox?s Bazar district,
Bangladesh (Figure 1). The surveys targeted a total estimated population of 608,108, 82.8% of whom were
?newly-displaced” from Myanmar, i.e. had arrived after 25 August 2017..."
Source/publisher:
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
Date of publication:
2017-12-14
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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Source/publisher:
Burma Campaign UK via ??Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-01-10
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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"The department of Manpower said a group to scrutinize Rohingya refugees was formed with the representatives from three ministries. The Director General of Labor, Immigration and Manpower department U Myint Kyaing said the group includes officials from the Ministry of Foreign and Home Affairs as well as from the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Manpower. The government said it will do securitization of returnees according to the Burma Citizenship Law of 1982 and those who do not meet criteria under the law would not be allow to come back.
Local residents of Maungtaw urged the government not allow Rohingya refugees to resettle near the villages of Rakhine people. The call was made in a public gathering of local people held on 7 December. The call was made as the government prepares to repatriate tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh in recent months. A nine-point statement was issued on 6 December after the meeting which include condemnation of the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), which said, are supporting Rhingyas. The statement also condemns criticism by the international community on the government and the military for their handling of the crisis..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Human Rights Network via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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"The year 2016 marked a historic and peaceful transition of government in Burma, also known as Myanmar. Yet while the political handover occurred without incident, conditions during the year continued to decline for Rohingya Muslims, as well as for other religious and ethnic minorities. In addition, fresh and renewed fighting in some ethnic areas highlighted the schism between Burma?s civilian-controlled leadership and the military, which controls three powerful ministries and significant portions of the economy..."
Source/publisher:
United States Commission On International Religious Freedom via"Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
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"Mr. President,
We are discussing the crisis in Myanmar in this Chamber for the first time in 2018. It is now five months since the start of the violence that has forced 688,000 Rohingya across the border. And the outflow of people continues, although at a lower rate. As of 5 February, between 1,000 and 1,200 people were reportedly waiting on a beach in Maungdaw planning to leave for Bangladesh. Since the last briefing by Under-Secretary-General Feltman on 12 December 2017, the General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/72/248 on the human rights situation in Myanmar by vote..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Date of publication:
2018-02-13
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-14
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"In the early hours of 25 August 2017, the Myanmar military launched ?clearance operations” in Rakhine State, ostensibly in response to coordinated attacks by Rohingya armed groups on Border Guard Police outposts.
This resulted in an estimated 688,000 mainly Rohingya people from Rakhine State fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh. The speed and scale of displacement resulted in a critical humanitarian emergency; together with previously displaced people, this took the total number of Rohingya in Bangladesh to more than 900,000.3 The majority of these people are now living in extensions to pre-existing camps and pre-existing makeshift settlements, in spontaneouslyformed new settlements, and amongst the host community in Cox?s Bazar district.
Since 25 August, a number of patients from different areas of Rakhine State have shared with MSF accounts of widespread violence targeting Rohingya, including raids on houses and villages, random and indiscriminate shootings, the deaths of relatives or neighbours after being shot or stabbed, dead bodies littering their escape route, widespread destruction and sexual violence..."
Source/publisher:
Doctors Without Borders via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-14
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"Mr. President,
Members of the Security Council,
Abdullah is a father of eight from Buthidaung, in the northern part of Myanmar?s Rakhine State.
Fleeing to Bangladesh in September last year, he became a refugee for the third time.
The first was in 1978, when he came to Bangladesh as a young boy, and the second in 1991. That time he remained for three years, and then returned to Myanmar as part of an organised voluntary repatriation operation, anxious to recover his home and his four acres of land.
Back home, he and his family started to rebuild their lives. They had seven cows, and were able to make a living. But, he says, around two years after his return, ?hope started to fade away.? Forced labour, confiscation of crops and cattle, and relentless, incremental restrictions on their freedom of movement, their right to worship, and their access to livelihoods constrained their existence..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-02-13
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-14
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"The Myanmar security forces are committing serious human rights violations against the Rohingya population that remained in northern Rakhine State through the military?s campaign of violence last year. Since 30 November 2017, thousands of Rohingya women, men, and children have fled to Bangladesh, bringing the total number of Rohingya who have fled since August 2017 to 688,000.[1]
On 25 August 2017, Myanmar?s military launched an operation against the Rohingya population across northern Rakhine State, after a Rohingya armed group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), attacked around 30 security force outposts, killing 12 state officials. The military?s campaign has been marked by crimes against humanity, including the widespread killing of Rohingya women, men, and children; rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls; mass deportation; and the systematic burning of villages..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-02-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-14
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Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-10-19
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-14
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"This report documents the widespread, systematic use of sexual violence by the Myanmar Army during its brutal ?clearance operation” in northern Rakhine State in the second half of 2017. This operation has driven over 680,000 Rohingya villagers into Bangladesh.
Testimonies of 36 refugees, eight of whom are rape survivors, provide evidence that government troops raped well over 300 women and girls in or near at least seventeen villages across Maungdaw and northern Buthidaung townships, as well as in Maungdaw town, during the operation. With over 350 villages attacked and burned at this time, this number is likely only a fraction of the actual total of women raped.
In the weeks before the official launch of the operation on August 25, thousands of Myanmar Army troops were deployed from existing military camps in Rakhine State, and from central Myanmar, to reinforce Border Guard Police posts throughout northern Rakhine State. These troops were the main perpetrators of sexual violence, at every stage of the operation..."
Source/publisher:
Kaladan Press Network via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-02-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-14
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Source/publisher:
United States Institute Of Peace via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-01-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-14
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"Six months after the start of a brutal military campaign which forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya women, men and children from their homes and left hundreds of Rohingya villages burned the ground, Myanmar?s authorities are remaking northern Rakhine State in their absence.
Since October 2017, but in particular since the start of 2018, Myanmar?s authorities have embarked on a major operation to clear burned villages and to build new homes, security force bases and infrastructure in the region. According to the civilian-led government, much of the work is part of preparing for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, and also wider efforts to develop one of Myanmar?s poorest states and address decades of chronic under-development and investment there. However, the nature, speed and scale of the development raise serious concerns, not least because access to the region remains severely restricted, making it difficult to obtain a complete picture..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2018-03-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-14
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" A major humanitarian crisis has unfolded in Burma?s Rakhine State since August 2017, after
attacks by a Rohingya armed group on police posts were followed by retaliatory attacks
against the Rohingya population.
More than six hundred thousand Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, and reports of human
rights abuses have sparked widespread international condemnation, particularly from Western
nations and Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries.
In contrast, China?s response has been largely supportive of the Burmese government—in
effect affirming Burma?s characterization of the attacks as ?terrorism.” Military cooperation
between the two states has also been reaffirmed..."
Source/publisher:
United States Institute Of Peace via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2017-08-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-14
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Myanmar clearing Rohingya villages to make way for construction of military installations, rights group says...Security forces have bulldozed houses and started constructing at least three new security facilities in Myanmar?s western Rakhine state, said Amnesty International?s Remaking Rakhine State report, which was published on Monday.
The report, which said construction of the three army outposts began in January, is based on satellite imagery and witness statements from Rohingya refugees.
"What we are seeing in Rakhine state is a land grab by the military on a dramatic scale. New bases are being erected to house the very same security forces that have committed crimes against humanity against Rohingya," Tirana Hassan, Amnesty?s crisis response director, said..."
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2018-03-13
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-13
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"Six months after the start of a brutal military campaign which forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya women, men and children from their homes and left hundreds of Rohingya villages burned the ground, Myanmar?s authorities are remaking northern Rakhine State in their absence. Based on in-depth analysis of satellite imagery; a review of recent photographs and videos showing destruction in specific Rohingya villages; and interviews with Rohingya in northern Rakhine State and across the border in Bangladesh, as well as with activists and other experts, this briefing sheds light on the ongoing efforts to rebuild and reshape northern Rakhine State.Through eyewitness testimony and expert analysis of satellite images, Remaking Rakhine State reveals how flattening of Rohingya villages and new construction have intensified since January in areas where hundreds of thousands fled the military?s campaign of ethnic cleansing last year. New roads and structures are being built over burned Rohingya villages and land, making it even less likely for refugees to return to their homes...
?What we are seeing in Rakhine State is a land grab by the military on a dramatic scale. New bases are being erected to house the very same security forces that have committed crimes against humanity against Rohingya,” said Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International?s Crisis Response Director.
?This makes the voluntary, safe and dignified return of Rohingya refugees an even more distant prospect. Not only are their homes gone, but the new construction is entrenching the already dehumanizing discrimination they have faced in Myanmar...”
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International (ASA 16/8018/2018 )
Date of publication:
2018-03-12
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-13
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"Myanmar on Friday defended deployment of its troops near the Bangladesh border, where thousands of Rohingya refugees have taken shelter, calling it an "anti-terrorism operation".
The move has drawn criticism from Bangladesh, which summoned Myanmar?s ambassador on Thursday, while the UN refugee agency raised their concerns at the military build-up.
Some 200 troops were deployed to the border on Thursday, close to a nearby strip of land between Myanmar and Bangladesh that is home to makeshift camps housing some 6,000 Rohingya refugees.
The strip of land is officially designated as Myanmar territory but is widely referred to as "no man?s land" because it lies beyond the country?s border fence.
"We acted this way based on the information we got regarding terrorism, especially the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA) movement," Zaw Htay, a spokesperson for the Myanmar government, told AFP news agency on Friday.
"It was not aimed at antagonising Bangladesh," Htay said.
Bangladesh has called for an immediate pullback of Myanmar security forces - who have reportedly issued warnings using loudspeakers for Rohingya to leave the "no man?s land" - from the area..."
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2018-03-02
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-03
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"A plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh back to Myanmar is scheduled to begin on January 23, 2018. This film, based on interviews conducted with Rohingya refugees and others in Bangladesh, highlights concerns with the plans..."
Source/publisher:
Fortify Rights
Date of publication:
2018-01-22
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-03
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Will a visit by Nobel laureates help Rohingya Muslims?..."Myanmar?s leader has been widely criticised for turning a deaf ear to global condemnation of her response to the Rohingya crisis. Now Aung San Suu Kyi faces a new warning from three women - who like her - are Nobel Peace Prize winners.
"Wake up or face prosecution for genocide" is their message. Irish peace campaigner Mairead Maguire, Tawakkol Karman from Yemen, and Iranian Shirin Ebadi are in Bangladesh.
They are touring Rohingya refugee camps to assess their needs, particularly women who says soldiers from Myanmar raped and tortured them.
But how does the visit help the Muslim minority? And is it embarrassing for Myanmar?s own Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi?
Myanmar?s leader has been widely criticised for turning a deaf ear to global condemnation of her response to the Rohingya crisis. Now Aung San Suu Kyi faces a new warning from three women - who like her - are Nobel Peace Prize winners.
"Wake up or face prosecution for genocide" is their message. Irish peace campaigner Mairead Maguire, Tawakkol Karman from Yemen, and Iranian Shirin Ebadi are in Bangladesh.
They are touring Rohingya refugee camps to assess their needs, particularly women who says soldiers from Myanmar raped and tortured them.
But how does the visit help the Muslim minority? And is it embarrassing for Myanmar?s own Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi?"...Rohingya, Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, Asia Pacific, Bangladesh
Source/publisher:
Al Jazeera (Inside Story)
Date of publication:
2018-02-26
Date of entry/update:
2018-02-28
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"Do you remember being a child, wide awake at night, breath drawn, every creak and whisper of breeze a monster under the bed, an intruder down the hall? Then as day breaks, childish fear evaporates and the night?s terrors are forgotten.
For hundreds of thousands of children who are right now living in the sprawling refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, fear does not fade when the sun rises. The nights are long. And each day brings a new worry.
Today marks six months since these children were ripped away from the stability of their homes. Six months of trying to make sense of the horrors they have seen and this strange and often scary place.
In the words of a 12-year-old boy: "We live a captive life here. There is not enough space for us to play. We cannot do anything we want to do..."
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2018-02-25
Date of entry/update:
2018-02-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"Bangladesh is racing to turn an uninhabited and muddy Bay of Bengal island into home for 100,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar, amid conflicting signals from top Bangladeshi officials about whether the refugees would end up being stranded there..."
Source/publisher:
Reuters via "The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2018-02-22
Date of entry/update:
2018-02-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
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Buddhists show support of Rohingyas
Buddhist leaders from around the world issued a statement that urged Buddhists in Burma to show compassion and respect to the Muslims in Rakhine State. Many Buddhists in that state have been complicit in holding demonstrations and acting violently toward the Rohingya Muslims.
"We are concerned about the growing ethnic violence and the targeting of Muslims in Rakhine State and the violence against Muslims and others across the country," the statement said. "The Burmese are a noble people, and Burmese Buddhists carry a long and profound history of upholding the Dharma. We wish to reaffirm to the world and to support you in practicing the most fundamental Buddhist principles of non-harming, mutual respect and compassion." "
Source/publisher:
Burma Taskforce
Date of publication:
2017-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2018-02-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"Sister Chan Khong, the eldest monastic in the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhists, and Thay?s long-time collaborator, has written an open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, to ask for compassionate action to prevent the violent oppression of Rohingya muslims in her country."
Source/publisher:
Plum Village
Date of publication:
2017-02-16
Date of entry/update:
2018-02-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Buddhism and society, Buddhist Ethics
Language:
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