Discrimination against the Rohingya

See also Main Library > Refugees > Burmese Refugees in Bangladesh and Main Library >Administration and administrative areas > Arakan (Rakhine) State - http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=1241&lo=d&sl=0 - which carries OBL's main documentation on the current crisis of the Rohingya, with links to UN, governmental, NGO and other sources.
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Title: UN Mission Head Says Risk of Genocide Recurring in Myanmar
Sub-title: The head of a U.N. fact-finding mission on Myanmar says that "there is a serious risk of genocide recurring" against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority.
Description: "The head of a U.N. fact-finding mission on Myanmar warned Tuesday that "there is a serious risk of genocide recurring" against the estimated 600,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority still living in the country. Marzuki Darusman told the General Assembly's human rights committee that "if anything, the situation of the Rohingya in Rakhine state has worsened," citing continued discrimination, segregation, restricted movement, insecurity and a lack of access to land, jobs, education and health care. The government of Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority nation, has refused to recognize Rohingya as citizens or even as one of its ethnic groups, rendering the vast majority stateless. Myanmar's military began a harsh counterinsurgency campaign against the Rohingya in August 2017 in response to an insurgent attack. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape what has been called an ethnic cleansing campaign involving mass rapes, killings and burning of their homes. The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, which Darusman heads, said in its final report last month that Myanmar should be held responsible in international legal forums for alleged genocide against the Rohingya..."
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Source/publisher: Associated Press (USA) via US News (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-10-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-23
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Title: Abe calls on Suu Kyi to ensure Rohingya can return to Myanmar
Description: "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday to create an environment in her country that will allow Rohingya Muslim refugees to return from Bangladesh. "With regard to the alleged human rights violations in Rakhine State, it is indispensable that the Myanmar government and military take appropriate measures promptly," Abe was quoted by the Japanese Foreign Ministry as telling Suu Kyi in their meeting in Tokyo. Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh to escape a military crackdown in Myanmar and their repatriation remains a challenge. Since 2017, some 742,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh in search of safety, according to the United Nations. The Rohingya are considered stateless people in Myanmar where they have for decades faced discrimination and persecution. Suu Kyi expressed her intention to address the Rakhine issue "correctly" and take necessary steps, the ministry said. Abe pledged Japan's support. Abe kicked off a series of back-to-back meetings with foreign leaders visiting Japan to attend Emperor Naruhito's enthronement ceremony on Tuesday. Suu Kyi is among the dignitaries from over 180 countries expected to take part in the imperial event..."
Source/publisher: "Japan Today" (Japan)
Date of publication: 2019-10-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-22
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Title: Bangladesh says thousands of Rohingya agree relocation to island
Sub-title: Rights groups have warned the island might not be able to withstand violent storms during the annual monsoon season.
Description: "Bangladesh's refugee commissioner has said thousands of Rohingya living in Bangladesh refugee camps have agreed to move to an island in the Bay of Bengal despite fears the site is prone to flooding. Some 740,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in August 2017 in the face of a military crackdown, joining 200,000 refugees already in makeshift tent settlements at Cox's Bazar. Dhaka has long wanted to move 100,000 refugees to the islet, saying it would take pressure off the overcrowded border camps where almost a million Rohingya live. "Approximately 6,000 to 7,000 refugees have already expressed their willingness to be relocated to Bhashan Char [the island]," the Bangladesh official Mahbub Alam told AFP news agency from Cox's Bazar, adding that "the number is rising". He did not say when the refugees would be moved, but a senior Navy officer involved in building facilities on the island said the relocation could start by December, with some 500 refugees sent daily..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-10-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-21
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Title: Genocide: Gambia to file case against Myanmar at ICJ
Topic: ICJ, Bangladesh rohingya crisis
Sub-title: Gambia will be taking Myanmar to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to face charges of genocide against its Rohingya minority, said Gambia's Attorney General and Minister for Justice Abubacarr Marie Tambadou.
Topic: ICJ, Bangladesh rohingya crisis
Description: "The charges, which will be filed by the Gambian Ministry of Justice's legal team, will be the first time that the Myanmar authorities will be accused of the crimes of genocide at the International Court of Justice, according to Asia Justice Coalition. "I can confirm that on October 4, I have instructed our lawyersto file the case at the International Court of Justice," the Asia Justice Coalition quoted Tambadou as saying at a conclave on 'Justice and Accountability for the Rohingya' at the Hague recently. Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas and most of them entered Cox's Bazar since August 25, 2017 amid military crackdown against Rohingyas in Rakhine State. Tambadou said, "I could smell the stench of genocide from miles away when I visited the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar. It was all too familiar for me, after a decade of interacting with the victims of the Rwandan mass rapes, killings and genocide." Tambadou previously served as a special assistant to the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda..."
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2019-10-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-21
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Title: Japan: Hold Myanmar to Account for Atrocities
Sub-title: Oppose Investments Harming Ethnic Rohingya, Benefiting Military
Description: "The Japanese government should publicly hold Myanmar to account for military atrocities committed against Rohingya and other ethnic minorities, Human Rights Watch said today. It should discourage Japanese investment that would benefit the military or at the expense of minority groups. On October 21, 2019, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, is slated to speak in Tokyo at a conference sponsored by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) to promote investment and business opportunities in Myanmar. When she has spoken at previous investment forums in Japan, Aung San Suu Kyi has downplayed or ignored the military’s serious abuses against the Rohingya. “The Japanese government has been pitifully reluctant to speak out against abuses by Myanmar’s military, so officials should use Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to raise these issues directly,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Japan’s recent re-election to the UN Human Rights Council should encourage the government to improve its human rights foreign policy, including by calling on Japanese companies not to contribute to rights violations in Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-10-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-21
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Title: Rohingya crisis: Bangladesh exhorts Germany to put pressure on Myanmar
Description: "In his maiden bilateral meeting with his German equivalent, Momen outlined the four points proposed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the 74th United Nations General Assembly last month. He also urged the European nation and the international community to take 'effective steps' to ensure that Myanmar facilitates the safe, secure, dignified and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya refugees. He also sought Germany’s support in ensuring accountability for the atrocities committed against Myanmar's Muslim minority group. During the meeting, Momen also highlighted the success story of Bangladesh as a 'development miracle' of the world and called on German businesses to invest in Bangladesh and take advantage of the country’s demographic dividend and lucrative promotion packages for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The whole gamut of bilateral relations between the countries were discussed in the meeting, the foreign ministry said..."
Source/publisher: "bdnews24.com" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2019-10-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-21
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Title: Bangladesh imposes more restrictions on Rohingya refugees
Sub-title: Following failed repatriation attempts and the murder of a local politician, Bangladesh authorities are cracking down on Rohingya refugees.
Description: "The government of Bangladesh has recently put severe restrictions on Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Many have had their mobile phones taken away. And some Rohingya children have been forced to drop out of Bangladeshi schools. Al Jazeera's Tanvir Chowdhury reports from Cox's Bazar..."
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Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-10-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
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Title: The Efforts of the Government of Indonesia in Negotiating Peace on the Rohingya Crisis Through Humanitarian and Political Support: A Multi-stakeholders Humanitarian Diplomacy Practice
Description: "Rohingya ethnics who are Muslim, and which are an ethnic minority in Myanmar are known, from some media sources, to get racial discrimination by the majority of Buddhist ethnic in the State of Rakhine, Myanmar. This racial discrimination it has drawn much criticism. Myanmar, which has historically been held by the military junta and is currently in the process of developing democratization, has become the spotlight of the world media with this case. Basically, the conflict in Myanmar is more likely to be known as ethnic conflict, not religious conflict. Because, unintentionally, Rohingya ethnic group are Muslims and Rakhine people are Buddhist. Rohingya people has been discriminated for years by their own country and also by the major ethnic group in Myanmar because they are seen as minority by language, religion and physical characteristics. They are not considered as ‘native’, not a part of Burma and considered have a closer relation to Bangladesh. Too many forms of discrimination experienced by the Rohingyas, such as no citizenship given, limitation of employment opportunity, human rights violations, property confiscation, forced labour, extrajudicial killings, rape, and village combustions. Many of the Rohingya people flee the country from this devastating situation seeking refuge in the neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and just recently, to Indonesia. In Bangladesh, with help from international organizations such as UNHCR, WFP, etc., the refugee camp is built in Cox’s Bazaar. In Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, they are arrived by boat and the Governments of those three countries had initial response as ‘refusing’ the Rohingya people to enter the country. However, as a commitment of humanity, the Government of Indonesia (GoI), through the Army Force Commander, executed orders to assist these refugees by delivering food and clean water to their boats that has been floating for quite some time over Malacca Straits. Because the GoI is still unable to grant permission to these boats to dock to Indonesian shores. But in the higher level of diplomacy, Indonesia is one of the countries who, oftentimes, highlights and supports solidarity for peace making process in Myanmar at Governmental level..." .
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Source/publisher: Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations (Switzerland) via "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2018-12-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
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Title: Indonesia and the Rohingya Crisis
Description: "Indonesia has performed a delicate balancing act with respect to Myanmar and the Rohingya refugee crisis. Led by the Foreign Ministry, the government of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has tried to demonstrate concern for the Rohingya without alienating a fellow member of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It has tried to pre-empt domestic calls for harsher measures against Myanmar by embracing some Islamist groups within a moderate government-sanctioned humanitarian coalition. It has tried to engage Myanmar on other issues, including counter-terrorism, to ensure that channels to the government were kept open even as relations with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi deteriorated in late 2017. By mid-2018, Indonesia’s Rohingya policy was focused primarily on getting aid to the camps around Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh. But its newly secured position on the United Nations Security Council opened the possibility that it could work for a resolution of Rohingya refugee crisis and conflict in Rakhine State more generally. If it is to have any chance of success, however, all ministries and government agencies will have to take the same line. Indonesia’s relations with Myanmar are driven by its commitment to (ASEAN); its belief – especially during the government of Thein Sein – that its own democratic transition offered models for Myanmar; its desire to be a peace broker; its efforts to ensure access for humanitarian aid; and its need to respond to domestic pressure to defend fellow Muslims under attack. The Jokowi government’s response to the 2017 violence against ethnic Rohingya and resulting refugee outflow began with highly visible diplomacy on the part of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. As it became clear that Myanmar (and Aung San Suu Kyi in particular) did not welcome an activist Indonesian role, the Foreign Ministry focused on the provision of humanitarian assistance in partnership with a civil society coalition. The partnership, led by Indonesia’s two largest Muslim organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, serves two main purposes. It keeps the government engaged on the Rohingya issue when it has little leverage to affect Myanmar’s policies in Rakhine state, and it provides an outlet for Indonesian NGOs to put their anger at the violence against fellow Muslims to constructive use. It also appears to be a reasonably effective response to Islamist critics of President Jokowi, who at the height of the crisis in September 2017 were calling on his administration to do more..."
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Source/publisher: "Institute For Policy Analysis Of Conflict" via "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2018-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
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Title: Life in Everyday Death: The Rohingyas in Bangladesh and Myanmar
Description: "A 12-year-old boy in ragged clothing shoulders a child, his younger sister of 3 years, as they walk mile after mile, escaping their home, because their father was shot dead on the spot and their mother was raped in front of them and killed thereafter. They are fleeing with many others who have similar experiences. Some of them lost their parents, or brothers and sisters while others saw their entire families burn alive. Two pregnant women walk for miles with inexplicable hardship, but try their best to keep their babies inside alive. The group finally enters Bangladesh after walking one day and seven hours, crossing lands and hills, and riding by boat. Like this group, more than half a million Rohingyas have fled persecution in Myanmar to Bangladesh since the military crackdown started on August 25, 2017. Following an alleged attack on 30 police camps and one military base by the radical Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), Myanmar security forces indiscriminately fired on Rohingya civilians, burnt their houses down, raped girls and women, and killed hundreds of Rohingyas mercilessly. The intensity of atrocity was so extreme that the global community, including the United Nations, the European Union, human rights groups like International Organization of Migration (IOM), Amnesty International, and the Human Rights Watch, came forward to stand beside Rohingyas and condemn Myanmar for its deadly violence, severe brutality, and crimes against humanity. The United Nations Human Rights Council termed it as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” and major international media outlets like the New York Times, ABC News, and CNN have called it genocide..."
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Source/publisher: "BERKLEY CENTER for Religion, Peace & World Affairs" (USA) via "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2017-10-25
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
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Title: Safeguarding Rohingya Population
Description: "Torment on Rohingya minority has been once again flared up on Friday, allegedly, scores of men purportedly from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), assaulted on Myanmar security forces, killing at least a dozen of personnel. Since 1982 after the denial of Rohingya citizenship in Myanmar (former Burma) several violent attempts have been fabricated to evacuate Rohingya minority from Rakhine state withal Myanmar. Recurrence of tension in Rakhine-state of Myanmar is harrowing world community's sentiment as well. Rohingya people are an ethnic Muslim group primarily located in Rakhine state (formerly Arakan-state). Rohingya Muslims usually follow sufi trends, one of the noteworthy versions of Islam. They are estimated 1-1.5 million in number out of 50 million population of Myanmar. But irony of fate that they are treated like aliens in their own fatherland while Myanmar military junta have turned down their citizenship via new citizenship law of 1982. As human being they hardly get rights to live profoundly. To get citizenship they must provide evidence that they are living in Myanmar hereditarily since 1823. For getting married and having work they must need permission from the government by showing symbolic white cards. Very often they face torture by the security forces and local Buddhists i.e brutal beating, gang rape, abduction, molestation, arson, mass killings and so on. Even women and children do not get rid of the turmoil. After being harassed on diverse military campaigns and communal violence they seek to get shelter vastly on Bangladesh and rest on Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia..."
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Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2017-08-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
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Title: Tracing the Exclusion of the Rohingya in Myanmar: Research Notes
Description: "Myanmar is a non-secular Buddhist majority country. The majority of Myanmar peoples are Buddhist, including both ethnic Burmans and non-Burman ethnic minorities. Buddhists make up 89.8 percent of the population, Christians 6.3 percent and Muslims 2.3 percent. In the contemporary climate of Myanmar, Many Buddhists see Islam as a threat to Buddhism; they use Bangladesh, Indonesia and Afghanistan as examples of Islam’s takeover of previously Buddhist majority locations. Myanmar was born out of the ashes of the murder of its integrationist freedom 5ghter leader General Aung San, the father of Aung San Suu Kyi. He was assassinated on July 19, 1947, a few months before the independence of Burma on January 4, 1948. His legacy of seeking integration and the violence associated with his murder still alludes Myanmar today. These research notes witll set forth the history of Muslims in Mynamar as in attempt to understand the contemporary exclusion of the Rohingya from the modern nationstate of Mynamar and to argue for the continued failure of Myanmar to become a multicultural society of ethnoreligious equality and plurality..."
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Source/publisher: "Mahidol University" (Thailand) via "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2017-09-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
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Title: Ethno-Political Conflict: The Rohingya Vulnerability in Myanmar
Description: "This study has been conducted to find out the root causes and consequences of ethnic conflict regarding especially the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. As Rohingya crisis in Myanmar is a contemporary and crucial issue not only in South and Southeast Asia but also in the world; that is why, it has been selected as a research topic. This study is conducted in qualitative approach. In this study, secondary sources have been used for data collection which is based on content analysis. Text books, journal articles, reports of government and non-government organizations, television and newspaper reports are the main sources of data. In this study it has been found that the Rohingya people are considered as the world’s least wanted groups. They are the world’s most persecuted minorities. About 43 percent of the Rohingyas are still refugees and of them 87 percent are deprived from basic needs. The main objectives of the study are: (i) to examine the root causes of ethnic conflict; (ii) to analyze the current humanitarian vulnerability of the Rohingyas. Rohingya conflict begins with mainly the denial of separate identities and rejection of their citizenship. A large number of Rohingyas are now stateless refugees who are too much vulnerable. The study will reveal the current vulnerable conditions of the Rohingyas. The findings of the study may help the different global organizations of human rights in policy supports for the Rohingyas..."
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Source/publisher: University of Dhaka (Bangladesh) via "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2015-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-19
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Title: Myanmar: Who are the Rohingya?
Description: "Shortly after Myanmar's independence from the British in 1948, the Union Citizenship Act was passed, defining which ethnicities could gain citizenship. According to a 2015 report by the International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School, the Rohingya were not included. The act, however, did allow those whose families had lived in Myanmar for at least two generations to apply for identity cards. Rohingya were initially given such identification or even citizenship under the generational provision. During this time, several Rohingya also served in parliament. After the 1962 military coup in Myanmar, things changed dramatically for the Rohingya. All citizens were required to obtain national registration cards. The Rohingya, however, were only given foreign identity cards, which limited the jobs and educational opportunities they could pursue and obtain. In 1982, a new citizenship law was passed, which effectively rendered the Rohingya stateless. Under the law, Rohingya were again not recognised as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups. The law established three levels of citizenship. In order to obtain the most basic level (naturalised citizenship), there must be proof that the person's family lived in Myanmar prior to 1948, as well as fluency in one of the national languages. Many Rohingya lack such paperwork because it was either unavailable or denied to them..."
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Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2017-09-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 726.06 KB (32 pages)
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Title: Myanmar's Crimes Against Humanity
Sub-title: State Policy to annihilate Rohingya
Description: "Apartheid, an Afrikaans word meaning “apartness,” describes an ideology of racial segregation that had been practiced in South Africa from the time of the Cape Colony’s founding by the Dutch East India Company in 1652. Keeping two different traffic lights in the black and white in the same road may damage both. Similarly, implementing the 1982 citizenship law for Muslims excluding Buddhists will never bring democracy and peace in Myanmar. This legal analysis considers persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar constitute genocide, as defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The Genocide Convention, 1 which was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948 and entered into force in 1951, declares that genocide is a crime under international law. I will present legal point of view and historical point of view to see the clear picture of crime against humanity against Rohingya in Myanmar. Though Rohingya enjoyed citizenship right as well as indigenous ethnic right until 1965, during the dictatorship era, General Ne Win planned to annihilate Rohingya through State policy. Ne Win, changed name of Rohingya first, then, started the institutionalized persecution. Military junta, since 1988, systematically committed genocidal process against Rohingya. The 153-page report, “‘All You Can Do is Pray’: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State,” describes the role of the Burmese government and local authorities in the forcible displacement of more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims and the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Burmese officials, community leaders, and Buddhist monks organized and encouraged ethnic Arakanese backed by state security forces to conduct coordinated attacks on Muslim neighborhoods and villages in October 2012 to terrorize and forcibly relocate the population. The tens of thousands of displaced have been denied access to humanitarian aid and being unable to return home..."
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Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2016-12-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 2.45 MB (47 pages)
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Title: Myanmar’s Rohingya: Human Rights Abuses and Systemic Violence
Description: "Large scale violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state directed at the Rohingya Muslim minority group can be traced to March 1997 where allegations of the rape of a Buddhist woman by a Muslim man led to Buddhist monks instigating violence which led to the burning of entire Muslim neighborhoods in Mandalay. This coincided with the Mahamuni Buddha incident where Muslims were accused of stealing a large ruby from the sacred Buddhist site of pilgrimage (Schober 2007, 58). Alleged rapes of Buddhist women by Muslim men have led to major violence in June 2012 which left hundreds dead in Sittwe Rakhine state as well as 2013 and 2014 in other areas of Myanmar (BBC 2014). Increasing tension between ethnic groups and frequent outbreaks of violence led the military junta to create ‘safe’ villages for Rohingya Muslims. In effect this forced ethnic enclaving on the part of the government led to camps where Rohingya were sealed off from other communities and could not engage in economic, social or other activities outside of their patrolled villages. The latest round conflict erupted in late 2016 and continues at present with massive destruction of over 400 Muslim villages in Rakhine state being burned due to military operations against this minority group (Human Rights Watch 2017) and tens of thousands being displaced (Barry 2017). At present UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee is being denied access to Muslim villages in Rakhine state during her investigatory visit and is instead reportedly being allowed access to government vetted and approved individuals (Al-Jazeera 2017). The paper seeks to analyze the context of violence against the Rohingya from Galtung’s perspective of structural and cultural violence. In particular the author will detail the internal and external plight of the Rohingya and identify mechanisms which have failed to protect these people and finally provide some insight into drivers of this conflict and some possible pathways to peace..."
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Source/publisher: Journal of Urban Culture Research via "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2017-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-19
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Size: 905.36 KB (18 pages)
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Title: Rohingya: A Crime Against Humanity
Description: "Persecuted and oppressed in Myanmar, Rohingyas flee across the border into Bangladesh. Starving and stateless, they live in squalid makeshift camps. The recent ethnic clashes between Rohingya Muslims and the Rakhine Buddhists in the Rakhine (Arakan) province of Myanmar have attracted global attention. It is as if a veil had been lifted to reveal a hideous blemish. The terrible ethnic and religious violence recently happened in June 2012, in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, pitted Buddhists against the mostly Muslim Rohingyas minority. The latest—when an ugly incident of rape and murder of a Buddhist woman allegedly by three Rohingyas—turned into a disaster for the Rohingya Muslims community in Myanmar. According to United Nations (UN) reports, there are more than 800,000 Rohingyas residing in Myanmar, mostly in the province of Rakhine, and many hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in other countries. Thus, Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. The ruling Junta stripped Rohingyas of all the rights of a citizen through a law called “Citizenship Law” in 1982, thus making Rohingyas the only stateless community of the world. However, the ruling Junta in Myanmar did not want to know nor let others know that the Rohingyas have a long history, a language, a heritage, a culture and a tradition of their own that they had built up in the Rakhine, through their long history of existence there. Moreover, through their “criminal propaganda”, the Buddhist majorities have been feeding so much misinformation against the Rohingya. According to Siddiqui (1999), the level of disinformation has reached such an alarming level that if some of the people were to talk with a Rakhine Buddhist, they would say that the Rohingyas are refugees in Rakhine and they do not belong to Myanmar, but that they belong to Bangladesh. However, such allegations are unfounded. Some scholars distinguished that in fact the forefathers of Rohingyas had entered into Rakhine from time immemorial (Karim, 2000)..."
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Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2015-03-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 2.82 MB (10 pages)
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Title: The Slow-Burning Genocide Of Myanmar's Rohingya
Description: "“What can we do, Brother, they (the Rohingya) are too many? We can’t kill them all.” Ex-Brigadier General, formerly stationed in Arakan or Rakhine State, and Ambassador to Brunei, Fall, 2012.1 “How can it be ethnic cleansing? They are not an ethnic group.” Mr. Win Myaing, the official spokesperson of the Rakhine State Government, May 15, 2013.2 “We do not have the term ‘Rohingya.’” Myanmar President Thein Sein, Chatham House, London, July 17, 2013.3 “There are elements of genocide in Rakhine with respect to Rohingya . . . . The possibility of a genocide needs to be discussed. I myself do not use the term genocide for strategic reasons.” Tomás Ojéa Quintana, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, London Conference on Decades of State-Sponsored Destruction of Myanmar’s Rohingya, April 28, 2014.4 Over the past thirty-five years, the State in Myanmar has intentionally formulated, pursued, and executed national and state-level plans aimed at destroying the Rohingya people in Western Myanmar. 5 This destruction has been state-sponsored, legalized, and initiated by a frontal assault on the identity, culture, social foundation, and history of the Rohingya who are a people with a distinct ethnic culture..."
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Source/publisher: Compilation © 2014 Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal Association via "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2014-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-19
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Title: Japan continues to help Myanmar whitewash the Rohingya crisis
Description: "Braving the sweltering summer heat, more than 100 businesspeople gathered in central Tokyo on Aug. 6 to get the latest update on Myanmar’s economy. Participants were showered with promises of lucrative investment opportunities in sectors including health, education and infrastructure, and repeatedly told about the two countries’ wonderful bilateral relationship. A sobering breeze set in, however, when the keynote speaker, Myanmar Ambassador to Japan Thurain Thant Zin, was asked about the United Nations-mandated Fact-Finding Mission’s latest 111-page report on the Myanmar military’s business ties. Among the Japanese companies noted in that report are beer manufacturer Kirin Holdings, for providing financial support to the military, and tobacco manufacturer Japan Tobacco, for having a joint venture with military-operated Myanmar Economic Corp. (MEC). Kirin Holdings publicly acknowledged last year after an investigation by Amnesty International that it donated $6,000 for “humanitarian assistance” to the Rakhine state government in 2017. After an internal investigation last December, Kirin admitted it could not determine whether the donation was used for said purposes. Japan Tobacco denied having a joint venture with MEC..."
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Source/publisher: "The Japan Times" (Japan)
Date of publication: 2019-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-18
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Title: World Bank under fire for Rakhine development plan in Myanmar
Topic: World Bank, Myanmar, Asia, Rohingya
Sub-title: Rights groups are concerned that the development initiative could exacerbate divisions in the conflict-torn state.
Topic: World Bank, Myanmar, Asia, Rohingya
Description: "Aid groups and human rights advocates have warned the World Bank that a $100m development project it is planning for Myanmar's conflict-riven Rakhine State could worsen tensions in the area. Last Friday, the World Bank published the first details of a proposal to fund cash-for-work programmes and support small businesses in one of Myanmar's poorest regions, with a plan to funnel these funds through the Myanmar government. "It is difficult to imagine how meaningful recovery and development are possible in Rakhine without addressing the underlying human rights issues that currently impact every aspect of life for communities," more than a dozen Myanmar-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said in a letter to the World Bank's Myanmar office..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-05-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-18
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Title: Health access denied in northern Rakhine
Sub-title: Massive shortfalls in government services, blocks on NGOs and travel restrictions for residents continue to starve communities in northern Rakhine State of access to healthcare and flout the recommendations of the Kofi Annan commission.
Description: "In March this year, a young woman carrying twins went into labour in a village nine kilometres from the government hospital in the town of Maungdaw in northern Rakhine State. After two days in labour under the care of an untrained traditional midwife, her condition had sharply deteriorated and her family took her to the hospital, a 40-minute drive away. It was too late to save the twins, who were delivered dead, but the mother survived and was able to return home after a few days in hospital. The mother’s ordeal is just one example of the suffering and unnecessary death caused by inadequate healthcare in northern Rakhine. After the crisis of 2017, the situation become critical, but it has worsened further in northern as well as central Rakhine since fighting escalated this year between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army. I have worked in public healthcare in northern Rakhine since 2017 and have seen the deterioration firsthand. Much more needs to be done, especially in primary healthcare, reproductive health services, immunisation and emergency support, for those in need. United Nations figures show that more than 720,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh during the military “clearance operation” that followed attacks by the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on security posts in northern Rakhine in August 2017. About one-third of the Rohingya population, or about 300,000 people, remained in northern Rakhine after the exodus, and along with other residents they have since been waiting for a significant improvement in access to healthcare..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2019-10-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya issue 'more economic than identity crisis or religious'
Description: "In Myanmar the constitutionally defined ethnic categories are often described as derive from the colonial state. But the contemporary scholarship would not support the inflexibility of such categories of the ethnic identification because it rejects the reification of ethnic distinctions and the obscuring of recesses of ethnic change. The Rohingya Muslims are living in Arakan since 1400s CE. The majority Buddhist Burmese conquered Arakan in 1785 and started to execute the Rohingya from the region. In 1826, the British took control over Arakan and encouraged farmers from Bengal to come to the depopulated area of Arakan. “The sudden influx of immigrants from British India sparked a strong reaction from the mostly-Buddhist Rakhine people living in Arakan at the time, sowing the seeds of ethnic tension that remain to this day”(Kallie S, Asian History). In the aftermath of Britain's withdrawal from Indian subcontinent, religious conflicts between Muslim and Buddhist took place in several times. In 1962, General Ne Win occupied the power of Burma and started to deny Burmese citizenship to the Rohingya people. “Since that time, the Rohingya in Myanmar have lived in limbo” (Kallie S, Asian History). The Burmese Government is always claiming the Rohingya are migrated from the British India and from the western part of Bangladesh. But the previous notes show the distinct history about their living in Burma. Rather than “during the four decades of Burmese rule (1784-1824), because of ruthless oppression, many Arakanese fled to British Bengal. According to a record of British East India Company, about thirty-five thousand Arakanese..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "South Asian University" (India) via "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2015-11-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 245.94 KB (11 pages)
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Title: Rohingya Refugees Who Returned to Myanmar on Their Own Say They Still Face Hardship
Description: "Some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled a brutal military-led crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in 2017 and sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh say they have not been able to go back to their original villages after returning to Rakhine of their own volition. Thousands of members of the Muslim minority group were killed during the violence, and more than 740,000 others escaped across the border, where they now live in sprawling displacement camps in southeastern Bangladesh. About 6,000 of the refugees took up shelter in a so-called “no-man’s land” near a border crossing point along Bangladesh’s frontier with Myanmar. They, along with others in camps in Bangladesh proper, have demanded that the Myanmar government grant them citizenship, ensure their safety, and rebuild their destroyed houses before they agree to return home. But about 300 refugees who returned to Rakhine state of their own volition say they still face unfavorable conditions that persecute them and prevent them from being able to live in their original villages, which were burned down during the crackdown..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-10-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya: The History of a Muslim Identity in Myanmar
Description: "The name Rohingya denotes an ethnoreligious identity of Muslims in North Rakhine State, Myanmar (formerly Burma). The term became part of public discourse in the late 1950s and spread widely following reports on human rights violations against Muslims in North Rakhine State during the 1990s, and again after 2012. Claims for regional Muslim autonomy emerged during World War II and led to the rise of a Rohingya ethnonationalist movement that drew on the local Muslim imaginaire, as well as regional history and archaeology. To explore the historical roots of distinctive identity claims and highlight Buddhist-Muslim tensions, one must reach back to the role of Muslims in the precolonial Buddhist kingdom of Arakan and their demographic growth during the colonial period. Civic exclusion and state harassment under Burma’s authoritarian regimes (1962–2011) put a premature end to political hopes of ethnic recognition, and yet hastened a process of shared identity formation, both in the country and among the diaspora. Since the 1970s, refugees and migrants turned to Bangladesh, the Middle East, and Southeast Asian countries, forming a transnational body of Rohingya communities that reinvented their lives in various political and cultural contexts. A succession of Rohingya nationalist organizations—some of whom were armed—had negligible impact but kept the political struggle alive along the border with Bangladesh. Although Rohingya nationalists failed to gain recognition among ethnic and religious groups in Burma, they have attracted increasing international acknowledgment. For postdictatorial Myanmar (after 2011), the unresolved Rohingya issue became a huge international liability in 2017, when hundreds of thousands fled to Bangladesh following military operations widely interpreted as ethnic cleansing. In December 2017, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights acknowledged that elements of genocide may be occurring..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History" via "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2018-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 303.73 KB (38 pages)
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Title: Myanmar jails 21 Rohingya, detains children, for trying to travel
Sub-title: Rights groups say group is being punished for trying to escape dismal camps amid severe restrictions on everyday life.
Description: "A five-year-old child is among 30 Rohingya who have been arrested in Myanmar for attempting to travel to the main city of Yangon from western Rakhine state, where they were among hundreds of thousands confined to squalid camps in a system some rights groups have compared with apartheid. Twenty-one adults from the group were last week jailed for two years under a law that bars using false identity cards after a one-day trial in which they were reportedly denied a lawyer, Human Rights Watch said. Eight of the children have been sent to a “training school” in Yangon region while authorities say they are still deciding what to do with the five-year-old. Thousands displaced amidst Myanmar violence (2:00) “These 30 men, women, and children are being punished for simply seeking an escape from the daily brutality they’ve been subjected to for years,” said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director. The Rohingya, who are mostly Muslim, are frequently arrested for attempting to leave Rakhine state, where tens of thousands have been living in camps since fleeing their homes after communal riots in 2012..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-10-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Abe meets Myanmar military chief
Description: "Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called on Myanmar's military chief to address allegations of human rights violations against minority Rohingya Muslims. Some 700,000 Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since Myanmar's security forces launched a massive sweep operation against Rohingya militants in 2017. On Wednesday in Tokyo, Abe held a meeting with the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar's Defense Services, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. Abe said Japan hopes efforts by Myanmar's military will improve the situation. He also recognized the commander-in-chief's decision to halt military action against the minority people..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "NHK WORLD-JAPAN"
Date of publication: 2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Five-year-old boy among 30 Rohingya arrested for travelling in Myanmar
Sub-title: Nine children sent to juvenile detention centres as remainder of group face up to two years in prison for failure to produce ID cards
Description: "Myanmar faces calls to release 30 Rohingya men, women and children arrested in September while trying to travel from Rakhine state to the city of Yangon. A total of 21 Rohingya face up to two years in jail under Myanmar’s Residents of Burma Registration Act, which stipulates that citizens must be in possession of “registration cards” to prove their identity. The act has been used against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority, who are denied citizenship of the country and are officially stateless. Nine children travelling as part of the group were sent to juvenile detention centres. A five-year-old boy’s fate is yet to be decided, activists said. Authorities told Radio Free Asia that the Rohingya, having left villages in Rakhine state where they reportedly faced violence and ethnic cleansing, were attempting to reach Malaysia. They allegedly paid traffickers between 500,000 and 700,000 kyats (£270-£380) to transport them to Yangon, where they hoped to find work or passage out of Myanmar. “It’s a cruel irony that these Rohingya will be trading what was effectively confinement to open-air detention in Rakhinestate for confinement in a state prison in Pathein,” said Brad Adams, executive director at Human Rights Watch (HRW)..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication: 2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: International community failed to influence Myanmar on the Rohingya crisis
Sub-title: UN Resident Coordinator (UNRC) in Dhaka Mia Seppo said: 'UN alone cannot be blamed; there is a collective failure to influence Myanmar.'
Description: "The United Nation (UN) on Wednesday recognized the international community’s failure to influence Myanmar in taking back the Rohingyas and find a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis. UN Resident Coordinator (UNRC) in Dhaka Mia Seppo said: “UN alone cannot be blamed; there is a collective failure to influence Myanmar.” She was speaking at a press meet DCAB Talk organized by Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAP) at Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) auditorium in the Dhaka. Mia Seppo spoke about how the UN has an unwavering commitment to resolve this crisis, bringing together member states to the table to talk about the crisis and has made progress in accountability on human rights violations by Myanmar. “It is really important to keep in mind that any solution provided for the Rohingya crisis has to be sustainable. “Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas and most of them entered Bangladesh on August 25, 2017 amid military crackdown on Muslims there,” she added..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya refugees hesitant to return to Myanmar
Description: "Bangladesh is warning that it is no longer able to bear the economic burden of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in the country. They may be safe there but their status remains unresolved. Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker has the story from Kutupalong camp in southeast Bangladesh..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar: Rohingya Jailed for Traveling
Sub-title: End Arbitrary Restrictions on Persecuted Muslim Minority
Description: "Myanmar authorities should immediately release 30 Rohingya Muslims detained for attempting to travel from Rakhine State to the city of Yangon, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should lift all travel restrictions on ethnic Rohingya and repeal discriminatory regulations that limit their right to freedom of movement. Police arrested the group of Rohingya on September 26, 2019. A week later, a court sentenced 21 of them to two years in prison, and sent eight children to a child detention center. The youngest, a 5-year-old, is being held at Pathein prison with his mother. “Myanmar authorities seem intent on persecuting Rohingya whether they stay at home or try to travel freely in the country,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “These 30 men, women, and children are being punished for simply seeking an escape from the daily brutality they’ve been subjected to for years.” The authorities apprehended the group for traveling without official permits and documentation after they arrived in Ayeyarwady Region via boat from Sittwe township in central Rakhine State. The group was en route to Yangon, where they planned to seek work or attempt to continue onward to Malaysia, according to media reports..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-10-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Seoul Conference on Rohingya Genocide [Day 1] Wrap-up by Dr. Zarni
Description: "International Conference on Protection of Rohingya Survivors and Accountability for Genocide "Rape as a Weapon of Wars and Genocides, Past and Present in the Region"..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Free Rohingya Coalition"
Date of publication: 2019-10-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Title: Seoul Conference on Rohingya Genocide [Day 2] Wrap-up by Dr. Zarni
Description: "International Conference on Protection of Rohingya Survivors and Accountability for Genocide "Rape as a Weapon of Wars and Genocides, Past and Present in the Region"..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Free Rohingya Coalition"
Date of publication: 2019-10-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Bangladesh plans to relocate Rohingyas to 'refugee island'
Description: "More than a million Rohingya refugees live in sprawling camps in Bangladesh. But, with the host community turning against the refugees and concerns about security, the government wants to relocate them. Last week, a renewed bid to return several thousand of them to Myanmar failed as not a single refugee agreed to sign up. Now the government is planning to relocate 100.000 of them to the remote island of Bhasan Char, possibly against their will. DW gained exclusive access to the island..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "DW News" (Germany)
Date of publication: 2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar is not safe for Rohingyas to return: Lee
Topic: UN United Nations Rohingya Bangladesh Myanmar Bangladesh in foreign media
Topic: UN United Nations Rohingya Bangladesh Myanmar Bangladesh in foreign media
Description: "The UN's independent investigator on Myanmar says it's not safe for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh to return because Myanmar has failed to dismantle its "system of persecution" of Rohingyas. Yanghee Lee said in a report to the General Assembly circulated Friday that living conditions for the remaining Rohingyas in northern Rakihine state "remain dreadful", reports Associated Press. The Rohingya can't leave their villages and earn a living, she said, making them dependent on humanitarian aid whose access "has been so heavily diminished that their basic means for survival has been affected." "While this situation persists, it is not safe or sustainable for refugees to return," said the UN special rapporteur appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, adds AP. Lee also expressed concern that a household-counting exercise in Rohingya villages "is an effort to erase the Rohingya from administrative records and make their return less possible." She said the government's requirement that any refugee who returns must be issued "a national verification card" is not a solution to citizenship for the Rohingya, the news agency also adds..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Prothom Alo" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2019-10-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: UN investigator: Myanmar is not safe for Rohingyas to return
Description: "The U.N.’s independent investigator on Myanmar says it’s not safe for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh to return because Myanmar has failed to dismantle its “system of persecution” of Rohingyas. Yanghee Lee said in a report to the General Assembly circulated Friday that living conditions for the remaining Rohingya in northern Rakihine state “remain dreadful.” The Rohingya can’t leave their villages and earn a living, she said, making them dependent on humanitarian aid whose access “has been so heavily diminished that their basic means for survival has been affected.” “While this situation persists, it is not safe or sustainable for refugees to return,” said the U.N. special rapporteur appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. Lee also expressed concern that a household-counting exercise in Rohingya villages “is an effort to erase the Rohingya from administrative records and make their return less possible.” She said the government’s requirement that any refugee who returns must be issued “a national verification card” is not a solution to citizenship for the Rohingya..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Washington Post" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-10-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar Rejects Rohingya Refugee Visit to Rakhine State to Inspect Conditions For Repatriation
Description: "Myanmar has rejected an offer by China to facilitate a visit by a group of Rohingya refugees to its Rakhine state to investigate the situation there ahead of a possible repatriation from temporary camps across the border in Bangladesh, a senior Myanmar foreign ministry official confirmed Thursday. Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters on Wednesday that Myanmar’s government had dismissed the proposal, originally floated by Li Jiming, the new Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, during talks with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar last month and formally discussed during a meeting last week between Myanmar, Chinese and Bangladeshi delegates on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. On Thursday, Aung Ko, the director general of the political affairs department for Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told RFA’s Myanmar Service his government had never agreed to the offer and is waiting for Bangladesh to “allow” the refugees to return to the border, whereupon they will be accepted following individual assessments..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-10-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Can the ICC bring justice to Myanmar?
Sub-title: An investigation of crimes committed in Myanmar would be a historic undertaking, but many hurdles remain.
Description: "More than 700,000 men, women, and children, many identifying as Rohingya, crossed the border from Myanmar’s Rakhine State into Bangladesh in 2017, fleeing violence at the hands of the military and security forces. A UN Fact-Finding Mission was established to determine the facts and circumstances of alleged human rights violations, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) will soon decide whether to authorise an investigation into alleged international crimes that partly occurred in Bangladesh. Given the complexities of recent history in Myanmar and the workings of the ICC, it’s worth looking at some questions raised by this possibility. Why is the International Criminal Court’s decision important? The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber’s determination will be significant for those seeking justice. The Fact-Finding Mission has documented killings, sexual and gender-based violence, forced labour, forced recruitment of soldiers, and torture across Myanmar, with a particular focus on the Rohingya. That mission has now handed over materials to a UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). It commenced work in July and has a mandate to collect and analyse evidence for future national, regional, or international prosecutions. Some countries have sanctions in place against senior Myanmar military figures, but the ICC is currently the only international mechanism where judges are reviewing these allegations..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Interpreter"
Date of publication: 2019-10-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya refugees continue to risk lives to seek safety: UNHCR
Sub-title: Rate of fatalities rises among refugees and asylum seekers who embark on sea journeys in Southeast Asia, report says.
Description: "Refugees from Southeast Asia, many of whom are members of Myanmar's Rohingya minority, continue to risk their lives to reach safety, according to a new report by the United Nations, which also highlights a much higher rate of deaths over the last year. The report released on Tuesday by the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) said one person in every 69 refugees and asylum seekers who embarked on a sea journey last year in the region died or went missing at sea. That is up from the one in every 81 ratio between 2013 to 2015, at the height of Southeast Asia's refugee and migrant boat crisis in the Andaman Sea. "As long as the root causes of displacement are unresolved, refugees will continue to feel compelled to undertake dangerous journeys in search of safety for themselves and their families," UNHCR Director for Asian and the Pacific Indrika Ratwatte, said in a statement..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-10-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: In Myanmar, underground poetry nights build bridges between Rohingya and Burmese writers
Description: "The first of three poetry readings over the summer and into the fall in Yangon, the events created space for Rohingya and Myanmar communities to share and exchange ideas in an otherwise deeply polarized society: Nearly two years earlier, the Myanmar military waged a brutal campaign against the Rohingya in Myanmar that drove over 740,000 of the persecuted Muslim minority into neighboring Bangladesh. Those who remain in Myanmar live in "urban ghettoes," a UN official said this summer. That campaign was the culmination of deep social and political tensions that have existed for decades in Myanmar, where the predominantly Buddhist country has long denied citizenship to the Rohingya along with education, healthcare, freedom of movement and other human rights. The word Rohingya itself is taboo in Myanmar, where citizens pejoratively refer to Rohingya as “Bengalis,” implying their status as immigrants from Bangladesh..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Public Radio International (PRI)" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-10-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: The Rohingya problem: Is there an ASEAN solution in sight?
Topic: Asean, Myanmar, Repatriation, Rohingya
Sub-title: ASEAN’s commitment to decision-making by consensus and non-interference in the internal affairs of member states severely restricts its ability to play an effective and pro-active role in the Rohingya crisis.
Topic: Asean, Myanmar, Repatriation, Rohingya
Description: "On 22 August 2019, Myanmar’s authorities launched a third repatriation attempt to facilitate the return of displaced Rohingya Muslims. The government dispatched buses to Cox’s Bazaar tasked with bringing back some 3,000 Rohingya refugees to their place of abode in Rakhine State. Not a single refugee boarded the transportation provided. Unlike the first two repatriation attempts, this third attempt was of heightened significance. A team from ASEAN was at the Myanmar reception centres to witness the repatriation exercise. For Myanmar, the presence of ASEAN officials was an opportunity to validate its preparations for the repatriation exercise and to affirm that Myanmar was serious in facilitating the return of the displaced Rohingya. In this sense, the presence of ASEAN officials had good public relations value for Myanmar. Reactions to the failed repatriation attempt have been varied. The Myanmar authorities expressed surprise at the refugees’ refusal to return to Rakhine. They blamed the presence of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) for this failure, asserting that the group was active in Cox’s Bazaar, deterring Rohingya from returning home. The Myanmar government accused the Bangladeshi authorities of not doing enough to counter its activities and facilitating the return of the Rohingya Muslims..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "ASEAN Today"
Date of publication: 2019-09-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar wants controlled Rohingya return
Description: "Wary of international interference, Myanmar insisted Saturday it wants Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled to neighboring Bangladesh repatriated to their former homes so they can live in a “more conducive environment” than the one they left. But it said such a relocation must take place under controlled conditions. Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmar’s minister for the office of the state counselor, said in his nation’s address at the U.N. General Assembly that Myanmar is working with Bangladesh and the United Nations to find “long-term and practical solutions” to bring home some of the more than 740,000 Rohingya in the country’s Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh. “We fully share the concern of the international community over the violence that affects communities in Rakhine,” Kyaw Tint Swe said. “Our priority now is to expedite repatriation and to create a more conducive environment for verified returnees.” He also warned of “destructive movements in the camps aimed at preventing repatriation.” Myanmar’s military began a harsh counterinsurgency campaign against Rohingya Muslims in August 2017 in response to an insurgent attack. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled what has been called an ethnic cleansing campaign involving mass rapes, killings and burning of their homes. Many of them are residing in camps in and around Cox’s Bazar, a Bangladeshi town near the border with Rakhine..."
Source/publisher: "The Japan News" (Japan)
Date of publication: 2019-09-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: 'Destructive movements' in Rohingya camps preventing repatriation, alleges Myanmar minister at UN
Sub-title: A senior official of Myanmar alleged at the United Nations on Saturday that "destructive movements in the camps (in Bangladesh) aimed at preventing repatriation and exploiting the plight of dispersed person (Rohingyas)."
Description: "However, Union Minister for the Office of the country's State Counsellor, Kyaw Tint Swe, did not specifically point out or clarify what did he mean by the term "destructive movement". Kyaw Tint Swe said in his speech on the fifth day of debate in the UN General Assembly in New York, US, "We call on Bangladesh to faithfully implement the bilateral agreement which is the only feasible way to resolve the issue of displaced person." "We also call on Bangladesh to allow the speedy repatriation of those who have long expressed their desire to return including some 400 people of Hindu fate," he said in his speech. "… introducing new elements, putting forward new conditionality will be a futile exercise," he said adding that exertions of discriminatory scrutinisation and political pressure with malicious intent will not contribute to our efforts in resolving the problem. Myanmar is prioritizing the repatriation of scores of people who fled violence in northern Rakhine state for Bangladesh, he said. Smooth and successful repatriation require genuine repatriation and committed efforts as well as strict adherence to signed agreements, he said at the UN assembly..."
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2019-09-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Barbed wire fences for Bangladesh Rohingya camps
Sub-title: Officials frustrated by collapse of refugee repatriation attempt
Description: "Bangladesh is set to erect barbed-wire fencing, guard towers and cameras around Rohingya camps, the home minister said Thursday citing security concerns, in a move critics said would turn the refugee settlements into prisons. Dhaka has been growing frustrated with the Rohingya in Bangladesh – who number nearly a million – since the collapse of a recent repatriation attempt to encourage them to return home to Myanmar. The stateless Muslim minority live in large camps in southeastern border towns, with the majority having fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017 after a military crackdown. “There are three large camps. We’ll fence the three camps with barbed wires,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters Wednesday. “Watch towers and CCTV cameras” would also be set up to monitor activity in the Cox’s Bazar district settlements, he added..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication: 2019-09-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Beijing sees Solution to Rohingya Crisis
Description: "China sees a “very good solution” to the ongoing Rohingya crisis in the process of implementing the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar) Economic Corridor stressing that its “real solution” lies in development. “China pays very close attention to Rohingya issue. We also hope that in the process of implementing the BCIM Economic Corridor, we can come up with very good solution to the problem,” said Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Zhang Zuo at a briefing at Westin Hotel here on Wednesday evening. Bangladesh has been “actively promoting” the BCIM Economic Corridor, a key BRI project connecting China with South Asia and the resourceful Indian Ocean. Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun recently said Bangladesh is centrally situated along the BCIM Economic Corridor and expected to be hugely benefited from the enhanced connectivity..."
Source/publisher: "Belt & Road News" (China)
Date of publication: 2019-05-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: OIC to Myanmar: Keep your commitments over Rohingya repatriation
Description: " It also urged Myanmar to shoulder its responsibility in providing indiscriminate protection to all citizens Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Dr Yousef A Al Othaimeen has urged Myanmar to honor its commitments as to its pledged full cooperation with Bangladesh regarding the repatriation of the Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State. He called upon the international community to keep up its support to Bangladesh over Rohingya issue as Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas. The OIC secretary general also urged Myanmar to shoulder its responsibility in providing indiscriminate protection to all citizens as well as full observance of all international human rights agreements, according to OIC headquarters on Thursday. Secretary General Othaimeen and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and discussed the Rohingya issue. Othaimeen paid tribute to the efforts made by the Prime Minister Hasina and the people of Bangladesh in their generous hospitality to over one million Rohingyas, offering them shelter and care, in addition to Bangladesh’s firm commitment to the cause of the Rohingya. The OIC secretary general has commended Saudi Arabia’s efforts for the Rohingyas and advocated support for Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2019-09-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya Refugees Risk Going Back to Another Genocide in Myanmar
Description: "Myanmar’s government is pushing for the more than 1 million Rohingya refugees currently in Bangladesh to start returning to the country, in an effort to project an image of peace and reconciliation to the outside world. Yet as grim as the situation is for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, where they live in what is now the world’s largest refugee settlement, their prospects back in Myanmar are even worse. It is little surprise, then, that few if any Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar, have taken up the offer. This is Myanmar’s second attempt at facilitating the repatriation of Rohingya, after an earlier effort failed last November. Bangladesh’s government, which supports repatriation, has been making life harder for Rohingya refugees in the country. In early September, it shut off mobile internet access in refugee camps, a move condemned by human rights groups because it could make it more difficult to deliver humanitarian services. The Bangladeshi government desperately wants to close the overcrowded camps, fearing major disease outbreaks, but only if Rohingya refugees leave the country and do not integrate into Bangladeshi society. It fears the refugees’ impacts on the job market and social stability..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "World Politics Review (WPR)"
Date of publication: 2019-09-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Dr M slams UN, Myanmar govt over Rohingya crisis
Description: "The United Nations and Myanmar government came under fire on Tuesday for their inaction in resolving the Rohingya crisis which has displaced more than a million people in the country. The UN’s silence on the crisis is deafening, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said, adding that the 75-year-old organisation has not fulfilled its purpose of preventing such man-made atrocities. “Without Security Council's action, others must do their part to resolve the crisis and bring the perpetrators to justice,” he said at a high-level side event “Rohingya Crisis - A Way Forward” at the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday. Also present was Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed. Myanmar’s military has been accused of murdering thousands of Rohingya in western Rakhine state since 2017, which has resulted in the mass exodus of these Muslim minorities to neighbouring countries, and led to the world’s largest refugee camp at Cox Bazar in Bangladesh. Dr Mahathir said what happened in the Rakhine State is genocide. “What took place were mass killings, systematic rape and other gross violations of human rights,” he said. He commended the Organisation of Islamic Conference's (OIC) effort to bring the matter to the International Court of Justice, and hopes that other countries would support OIC to ensure the perpetrators do not get away with the heinous crimes they have committed..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
Date of publication: 2019-09-25
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar military chief seeks Muslim redemption
Topic: UN, MYANMAR, ROHINGYA, MIN AUNG HLAING, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Sub-title: Min Aung Hlaing, accused of war crimes against Rohingya Muslims, has evidently had a change of heart
Topic: UN, MYANMAR, ROHINGYA, MIN AUNG HLAING, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Description: "Myanmar’s internationally reviled military chief, widely accused of commanding “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes” against the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority, has evidently now discovered religious tolerance. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, and several of his deputies made a rare, if not unprecedented, late August visit to a Muslim mosque in the town of Pyinmana, close to the national capital of Naypyitaw. Two weeks later, in what some see as a sort of public relations roadshow, the military chief visited the Joon Mosque in the central city of Mandalay. Then, on September 17, in the commercial capital Yangon, he visited the Muslim Free Hospital, a local clinic established in 1937 that despite its name is actually a multicultural charity. As is customary for religious shrine visits in Myanmar and elsewhere, Min Aung Hlaing made donations of rice, oil, salt, peas and cash to the mosques, offerings that were earmarked as given by himself, his family and his deputies’ families. Less familiar, the military chief also offered up messages of tolerance, inclusion and unity to his Muslim audiences, noting at one stop that all Myanmar citizens are “living in the same land, drinking from the same source and living under the same roof.” That’s, of course, unless you’re among the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya forcibly driven out of the country in 2017 by his military’s “area clearance” operations in Rakhine state, and are now languishing in abysmal refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication: 2019-09-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: House to vote on Rohingya genocide: the time to act is now!
Description: "The House of Representatives is set to vote on the BURMA Act of 2019 (H.R. 3190) as early as tomorrow, September 24. The legislation has garnered 53 cosponsors in the House, but will need even more support to move forward. The Rohingya are in a more dire situation than ever, with those who remain in Myanmar subjected to ongoing atrocities, while those seeking safe haven as refugees in Bangladesh are being squeezed by Dhaka via a series of rights-effacing restrictions. It’s time for Washington to step up its response to this clear-cut genocide. The Trump Administration must take a much harder line with Myanmar, sending a strong message that the regime cannot get away with such atrocities and hollow sham repatriation attempts. It must also share more of the burden with Bangladesh so as to assuage the country’s mounting frustration with the continued presence and needs of the Rohingya. The BURMA Act provides a solid strategy for meeting both of these objectives by acknowledging the extent of the atrocities perpetrated by the Myanmar military, activating counter-impunity mechanisms like robust sanctions against the top architects of the genocide, and increasing humanitarian assistance to help Bangladesh better manage the response. As a recap, in August of 2017, a brutal campaign waged by the Myanmar military apparatus, known as the Tatmadaw, triggered a mass exodus of more than 750,000 Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh — an operation that rights groups, the UN, U.S. elected officials, and even some governments have branded a genocide. It has been two years since the “final solution” against the Rohingya began, but their circumstances have not improved since the horrific crackdown. If anything, they have continued to deteriorate. The Rohingya in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, have been living in a purgatorial limbo for the past two years — caught between a homeland that yearns for their extermination and a host country that wants them out. The Rohingya are essentially being squeezed by both sides, systematically stripped of their dignity and deprived of their rights with ever-increasing severity..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Jewish World Watch" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-09-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: EU urges UNSC sanctions against Myanmar human rights violators
Description: "The European Parliament has called on the UN Security Council to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations in Myanmar. It also called on the Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC). So far, the UN Security Council has been divided over any concrete action against Myanmar for opposition of veto powers – China and Russia. The European Parliament adopted a resolution with 546 votes in favour, 12 against and 94 abstentions on Thursday on “Myanmar, notably the situation of the Rohingya”. Over 730,000 Rohingyas fled brutal military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since August 2017, which according to the UN independent investigators, amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity. The Rohingyas took shelter in Bangladesh, and two attempts of repatriation failed as the refugees said the guarantee of citizenship and safety was not ensured. The remaining 600,000 Rohingya in Rakhine still face the threats of genocide, according to the UN investigators. They are subjected to ongoing discriminatory policies and practices, systematic violations basic rights, while there are tight military controls in place limiting access to aid agencies and media in Rakhine. On April 29 this year, the EU extended a ban on selling arms to Myanmar and prolonged sanctions against high-ranking officials over their role in the Rohingya crisis. The embargo on weapons and other equipment that could be used for repression would stay in place until at least April 30, 2020. In Thursday’s resolution, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) expressed grave concern about the ongoing and long-lasting conflict and called upon Myanmar government and the security forces to immediately stop the violations..."
Source/publisher: The Phnom Penh Post (Cambodia) via "Asia News Network" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2019-09-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar’s Rohingya persecuted, living under threat of genocide, UN experts say
Description: "The 600,000 Rohingya remaining inside Myanmar face systematic persecution and live under the threat of genocide, an independent international UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar says in a new report. “The threat of genocide continues for the remaining Rohingya,” said Marzuki Darusman, chair of the fact-finding mission, recalling that a year ago the mission said it had found “genocidal acts” in Myanmar’s 2017 “clearance operations” that killed thousands and caused more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee for their lives to Bangladesh. “Myanmar is failing in its obligation to prevent genocide, to investigate genocide and to enact effective legislation criminalising and punishing genocide,” Darusman said. The report, published on 16 September, was to be presented the following day to the UN Human Rights Council, which created the mission in 2017. It says Myanmar’s ethnic groups have a common – but not identical – experience of marginalisation, discrimination and brutality at the hands of the Myanmar armed forces, the Tatmadaw..."
Source/publisher: "ALIRAN"
Date of publication: 2019-09-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Genocide of Rohingya Muslims A Classical Model of Ethnic Cleansing
Topic: Rohingya Muslims, Rakhine State, Genocide, Humanitarian Crisis, Citizenship.
Topic: Rohingya Muslims, Rakhine State, Genocide, Humanitarian Crisis, Citizenship.
Description: "Considerable historical evidence affirms that the Rohingya Muslims are indigenous inhabitants and rightful citizens of Myanmar, who have been living in Rakhine State not for decades, but for centuries. The Myanmar government has been systematically eradicating the Rohingya people due to their Islamic religious identity. This analysis finds that the ongoing persecution on Rohingya Muslims is a manifestation of a classical model of ethnic cleansing. The disasters experienced in Rakhine State present a complete evidence of systematic, widespread and prolific human rights violations, including heinous crimes against humanity. This article presents an academic perspective on repeated incidents, based on authentic proofs to international community of ethnic cleansing committed by the Myanmar army. This research has been carried out through various types of sources, such as recent and previously published books, articles, local and international newspapers, TV channels, magazines, documentaries, human rights organizations’ reports, and eye-witness accounts of the victims. Finally, it provides suggestions to resolve the rising problems, which may bring a permanent solution to the long-lasting humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA) via "AL-SHAJARAH" (Malaysia)
Date of publication: 2018-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 876.04 KB
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Title: Rohingya: The History of a Muslim Identity in Myanmar
Topic: Arakan, Rakhine state, ethnonationalism, Rohingya, Burma, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, state oppression, refugees
Topic: Arakan, Rakhine state, ethnonationalism, Rohingya, Burma, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, state oppression, refugees
Description: "The name Rohingya denotes an ethnoreligious identity of Muslims in North Rakhine State, Myanmar (formerly Burma). The term became part of public discourse in the late 1950s and spread widely following reports on human rights violations against Muslims in North Rakhine State during the 1990s, and again after 2012. Claims for regional Muslim autonomy emerged during World War II and led to the rise of a Rohingya ethnonationalist movement that drew on the local Muslim imaginaire, as well as regional history and archaeology. To explore the historical roots of distinctive identity claims and highlight Buddhist-Muslim tensions, one must reach back to the role of Muslims in the precolonial Buddhist kingdom of Arakan and their demographic growth during the colonial period. Civic exclusion and state harassment under Burma’s authoritarian regimes (1962–2011) put a premature end to political hopes of ethnic recognition, and yet hastened a process of shared identity formation, both in the country and among the diaspora. Since the 1970s, refugees and migrants turned to Bangladesh, the Middle East, and Southeast Asian countries, forming a transnational body of Rohingya communities that reinvented their lives in various political and cultural contexts. A succession of Rohingya nationalist organizations—some of whom were armed—had negligible impact but kept the political struggle alive along the border with Bangladesh. Although Rohingya nationalists failed to gain recognition among ethnic and religious groups in Burma, they have attracted increasing international acknowledgment. For postdictatorial Myanmar (after 2011), the unresolved Rohingya issue became a huge international liability in 2017, when hundreds of thousands fled to Bangladesh following military operations widely interpreted as ethnic cleansing. In December 2017, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights acknowledged that elements of genocide may be occurring..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA) via Oxford Research Encyclopedia (UK)
Date of publication: 2018-05-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 303.74 KB
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Title: Rohingya: The Identity Crisis
Topic: citizenship, colonialism, crisis, identity, Myanmar, Rohingya.
Topic: citizenship, colonialism, crisis, identity, Myanmar, Rohingya.
Description: "The people who call themselves Rohingya are the Muslims of Mayu Frontier area, present-day Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships of Arakan (Rakhine) State, an isolated province in the western part of Myanmar across Naaf River as boundary from Bangladesh (Chan, 2005). For the past three decades, the Rohingya have been seeking to restore their unrecognised ethnic identity, for any ethnic group has the right to identify itself or decide what name it should be called. Rohingya identity crisis began when they were divested from their cultural, national and ethnic identity in 1982, while Cheesman (2017) argues that 1982 citizenship law did not affect the Rohingya though he mentioned in the abstract that ‘people who reside in Myanmar but are collectively denied citizenship – like anyone identifying or identified as Rohingya – pursue claims to be taingyintha so as to rejoin the community.’ Recently, almost all news channels and agencies, social and human right activists, journalists etc. have addressed and tackled the Rohingya crisis. Much of the focus was on the ongoing violence and systematic ethnic cleansing committed by some fanatic Buddhists and military forces. Thus, this 21st century most outrageous tragedy has nearly prevailed all social media, depicting the worst discrimination and bloodiest atrocities ever..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication: 2018-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 188.62 KB
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Title: Estonian MEP: EU must put pressure on Myanmar to end atrocities against Rohingyas
Description: "Members of the European Parliament discussed the situation of the Rohingya in Myanmar at a plenary session in Strasbourg. Estonian MEP Urmas Paet said in his speech that due to the continued violence of the Myanmarese government and army against the Rohingya, the European Union must make new decisions as to how to put pressure on the state. "The latest UN fact-finding mission in Myanmar said that some 600,000 Rohingyas remaining in the state are living in fear of a new genocide," Paet said. "The crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmarese army and war crimes against ethnic communities are continuing, and the army and government are enjoying impunity," he noted. The Estonian MEP said that the Rohingya in Myanmar are being discriminated against and have been deprived of their basic rights. "They are facing the threat of arbitrary arrest, they have no freedom of movement and only have limited access to healthcare services," he added. Paet said that some 700,000 Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh to escape the violence of the Myanmarese army are also facing several problems. "The Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh is overcrowded. The conditions there are unsanitary and the access to healthcare is limited," he said. "Children lack opportunities for receiving an education and human trafficking is on the rise." The Estonian MEP said that the European Union and other international organizations must make an effort to gain access to the Myanmarese conflict regions in order to provide aid and monitor the system on the spot. Human rights violations in the state must be investigated in depth and the perpetrators have to be held responsible..."
Source/publisher: "The Baltic Times" (Latvia)
Date of publication: 2019-09-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: European Parliament adopts resolution urging UNSC to impose full arms embargo against Myanmar
Sub-title: UNSC urged to refer Myanmar to International Criminal Court
Description: "The European Parliament passed a resolution yesterday, urging the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar. They also urged the UNSC to adopt targeted sanctions against those natural, and legal individuals who appear to be responsible for serious human rights violations. In a resolution titled “Myanmar, notably the situation of the Rohingya,” the members of European Parliament (MEP) reiterated their strong condemnation of all past and present human rights violations which, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity, perpetrated by the armed forces of Myanmar against the country’s minority Rohingya population. They expressed grave concern about the ongoing and long-lasting conflict, and once again urged the Myanmar government, and its security forces to immediately stop the violations. The resolution also commended the efforts undertaken by the government, and people of Bangladesh to provide refuge, and security to Rohingya refugees. It also urges the Bangladeshi side to fully respect the principle of non-refoulement, and not force Rohingya refugees back into Myanmar, where their lives could be in danger. The MEPs welcomed the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor to open a preliminary investigation into crimes under the court’s jurisdiction, committed against the Rohingya population since 2016..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication: 2019-09-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: UN expert implores Myanmar’s Suu Kyi: “open your eyes, listen, feel with your heart
Description: "A UN human rights expert has implored Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to ‘feel with her heart before it is too late’, saying that even if refugees wished to return they have little to go back to. Yanghee Lee, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told the Human Rights Council the situation in Myanmar was of extreme concern, and was not what she and others had hoped to see nearly four years after the election of the National League for Democracy. “I would like to ask the State Counsellor if the Myanmar that exists today is what she had truly aspired to bring about throughout the decades of her relentless fight for a free and democratic Myanmar? I implore you Madame State Counsellor to open your eyes, listen, feel with your heart, and please use your moral authority, before it is too late.” Despite international condemnation, Lee said Myanmar had done nothing to dismantle the system of violence and persecution against Rohingya, and that the Rohingya who remain in Rakhine live in the same dire circumstances that they did prior to the events of August 2017. “They are denied citizenship and recognition, face regular violence (including in the context of the ongoing conflict between the Arakan Army and the Tatmadaw), are unable to move freely and have little access to food, healthcare, education, livelihoods and services,” she said. “Myanmar claims to have done what is necessary for the repatriation to be successful, and continues to blame Bangladesh for any delay,” she said. “However, information I have leads me to believe that the contrary is true.” Lee noted that satellite imagery showed the development of 34 camps, but said their precise purpose was unclear. She said they may be intended to detain the remaining Rohingya population and those who decide to return..."
Source/publisher: "Reliefweb" via UNHCR (Switzerland)
Date of publication: 2019-09-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Has the world failed Rohingya Muslims | Inside Story
Description: "The UN warns hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims remaining in Myanmar face a "serious risk of genocide" Two years after Myanmar's military crackdown on the Rohingya, UN Investigators say conditions remain 'deplorable' for the muslim ethnic minority, 600,000 Rohingya living in Rakhine state face a serious risk of genocide and that it is impossible for hundreds of thousands who fled to Bangladesh to return. Last year, the UN fact finding mission found that military officers carried out a campaign against the Rohingya with "genocidal intent". The investigators are now calling for Myanmar to be held responsible, and army generals to face trial over rapes and killings. But would that be enough to end the suffering of one of the most persecuted minorities in the world?..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera English (Qatar)
Date of publication: 2019-09-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Nobel Peace Laureate Could Face Prosecution Over Myanmar Military’s Actions
Description: "Myanmar’s civilian leader, a Nobel laureate once extolled as a champion of democracy, could face prosecution for crimes against humanity because of the military’s attacks on Rohingya Muslims and other minority groups, United Nations investigators said on Tuesday. Their statement was a new sign of how far the leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, had fallen from grace in the three years since she took office, overshadowed by the military’s campaign against the Rohingya. She was first acclaimed as an icon of the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar, having won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and endured many years of house arrest. Now she has become an international pariah for her government’s response to brutal oppressions by Myanmar’s military. In a report to the United Nations top human rights body in Geneva on Tuesday, a panel of investigators, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, said the 660,000 Rohingya people who remain in Myanmar face systematic persecution..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The New York Times" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-09-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar: Myanmar’s Rohingya Persecuted, Living under Threat of Genocide, UN Experts Say - မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိရိုဟင်ဂျာများ ဖိနှိပ်ညှင်းပန်းခံရ၊ ဂျန်နိုဆိုက် အန္တရာယ်လက်ရောက်တွင် နေထိုင်နေရသည်ဟု ကုလကျွမ်းကျင်ပညာရှင်များကဆို။
Description: "The 600,000 Rohingya remaining inside Myanmar face systematic persecution and live under the threat of genocide, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar says in a new report. “The threat of genocide continues for the remaining Rohingya”, said Marzuki Darusman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, recalling that a year ago the Mission said it had found “genocidal acts” in Myanmar’s 2017 “clearance operations” that killed thousands and caused more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee for their lives to Bangladesh. “Myanmar is failing in its obligation to prevent genocide, to investigate genocide and to enact effective legislation criminalizing and punishing genocide,” Darusman said. The report, published today, will be presented on Tuesday to the Human Rights Council, which created the Mission in 2017. It says Myanmar’s ethnic groups have a common – but not identical – experience of marginalization, discrimination and brutality at the hands of the Myanmar armed forces, the Tatmadaw. The report includes much new information about human rights abuses resulting from the Tatmadaw’s decades-long fight against the country’s minority ethnic groups. On the Tatmadaw’s conflict with the Arakan Army, the report says: “In an attempt to prevent civilian support to the insurgency, the Tatmadaw has cut the lifelines of ethnic Rakhine communities, restricting both people’s freedom of movement and humanitarian access” so that many cannot make a living or get food.....မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိရိုဟင်ဂျာများ ဖိနှိပ်ညှင်းပန်းခံရ၊ ဂျန်နိုဆိုက် အန္တရာယ်လက်ရောက်တွင် နေထိုင်နေရသည်ဟု ကုလကျွမ်းကျင်ပညာရှင်များကဆို။..."
Source/publisher: The United Nations Human Rights Council (A/HRC/42/50)
Date of publication: 2019-09-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 3.68 MB 386.41 KB
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Title: Bangladesh: Internet Blackout on Rohingya Refugees
Topic: Refugee Rights, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced People
Sub-title: Shutdown Hinders Emergency Response, Risk Lives
Topic: Refugee Rights, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced People
Description: "New telecommunications and internet restrictions on Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh will disrupt critical humanitarian and emergency services, Human Rights Watch said today. The network shutdown imposed on camp locations in Teknaf and Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar severely limits communications and access to information for nearly one million refugees. On September 9, 2019, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission directed all telecommunication operators to shut down 3G and 4G services in the camps, media reports said. Camp residents report that high-speed service has been shut down since September 10. A week earlier, the government had ordered a shutdown of all 3G and 4G services between 5 p.m. and 6 a.m. While 2G services appear to remain available, this may only allow limited calls and text messaging. The Bangladesh government should immediately lift the restrictions. “The Bangladesh government has a responsibility to ensure safety and security in the Rohingya camps, but shutting down internet access isn’t the way to do it,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Restricting communications in the refugee camps will hinder desperately needed services, worsening already dire living conditions and putting lives at risk.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch"
Date of publication: 2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya Repatriation Failure: PM blames Myanmar
Sub-title: Says Rohingyas scared of returning home as Myanmar has not created conducive environment
Description: "Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Myanmar is dragging its feet on resolving the Rohingya crisis although it signed bilateral agreements with Bangladesh following pressure from the international community, including the United Nations. Referring to the two failed attempts to start the Rohingya repatriation, Hasina said, “We’ve seen that Myanmar could not win Rohingyas’ trust in creating a conducive situation [in Rakhine state] for their dignified return.” She said Myanmar should have ensured a sustainable Rohingya repatriation by guaranteeing their security, freedom of movement and work opportunities in Rakhine. Replying to a query from Awami League MP Rumana Ali in parliament yesterday, the PM also said Bangladesh sent Myanmar information about 55,511 Rohingyas for verification, but the country identified only a part of these people as their citizens.” She said, “We had full preparation, but still the repatriation did not start as the Rohingyas did not agree to return. “We have seen that the Rohingyas are scared of going back to Rakhine due to various reasons, including no improvement of the security situation there. “Myanmar is not doing a family-based Rohingya verification and uncertainty looms over Rohingyas’ getting back their homes, land and other properties.” Fleeing military atrocities, including killings, rapes, tortures and burning of houses in the Rakhine State, more than 743,000 Rohingyas took shelter in Bangladesh since August 25, 2017. They joined the 300,000 others who had arrived earlier..."
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star"
Date of publication: 2019-09-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: ‘Rohingya return to Myanmar depends on accountability of perpetrators’
Description: "The voluntary and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar will depend partly on a process of accountability for those most responsible for the crimes that uprooted them from their homes, said the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). In its first report submitted to the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, IIMM’s head Nicholas Koumjian said that each day passes without accountability for international crimes brings concomitant sufferings for the hundreds of thousands of stranded in makeshift refugee camps outside Myanmar, and hoping and waiting to be able to safely return to their homes. “Few are likely to seek to return to a place where those that perpetrated serious crimes against them, or their families, still reside with impunity and retain the means or authority to inflict further harm,” he said. Over 743,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar amid military crackdown in Rakhine state, which was termed by the UN Fact-Finding Mission as having “genocidal intent”. The IIMM was established by the UN Human Rights Council to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse the evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011. It is also mandated to prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings in accordance with international law standards in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have or may in the future have jurisdiction over the crimes. IIMM Head Nicholas Koumjian, who officially began his functions in Geneva on July 1 this year, focused on putting in place a broad strategy and concept of operations for the mechanism so that it be operational as soon as possible..."
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star"
Date of publication: 2019-09-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Bangladesh: End Policies Preventing Communication for Rohingya
Description: "The Burma Human Rights Network is calling on Bangladesh to rescind policies that would stop Rohingya refugees from purchasing sim cards. The Rohingya depend on sim cards to communication their plight to the world and to contact friends and family living outside the camps. The sale of sim cards to refugees was already been regulated to prevent sales to anyone without a National Identity Card, but Bangladesh has now taken the extraordinary steps this week of working with private telecommunications companies to achieve both of the following outcomes. First, to shut off access to areas within the refugee camps during evenings and second enforcing the blocking of sales of sim cards to refugees. There have been recent incidents of violence in the camps, the origin of which is at times unclear; in some cases, Bangladesh suggests it was the fault of the Rohingya. In other cases evidence suggests that the violence resulted from unprovoked attacks against them by Bangladesh natives. However, there is speculation that the crackdown on sim cards may be in response to a rally held by the Rohingya on August 25th. That rally was organised to recognize 2 years since the Burmese army began a genocidal campaign against the civilian population in 2017. The rally drew over 200,000 refugees who were well organized and by all accounts it was a peaceful event. “Access to sim cards has been a vital service for the Rohingya for years and they have utilized them extremely effectively to raise awareness of their plight to the world. By blocking access to communication for the Rohingya, Bangladesh will effectively isolate them from the world and prevent them from engaging in basic communications they have depended on to make sure the world hears their concerns. The misdeeds or violence in the camps should be addressed by security services fairly and proportionately by addressing those who engage in such activities. There is no reason to punish the rest of the refugee population by further cutting them off from the world,” Said BRHN’s Executive Director, Kyaw Win..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN)
Date of publication: 2019-09-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 91.81 KB
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Title: The Bangladeshi government rallies humanitarian support for its Rohingya island relocation
Topic: Bhasan, CharCox's, Bazar, Myanmar
Sub-title: Bangladesh’s plan to relocate Rohingya refugees to a small silt island will expose them to worse threats than they already face. With repatriation still impossible, humanitarian agencies must push the government to work with communities on more sustainabl
Topic: Bhasan, CharCox's, Bazar, Myanmar
Description: "The World Food Programme and other UN agencies are preparing to facilitate Bangladesh’s plan to relocate tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees to the small silt island of Bhasan Char. Bangladesh is now home to more than one million Rohingya who have fled Myanmar. The Bangladeshi government claims that relocating 23,000 refugees from Cox’s Bazar refugee camp as soon as April will relieve overcrowding issues. Humanitarian agencies and human rights groups have questioned and opposed the plan. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee visited Bhasan Char in January and has emphasized that Bangladesh would need the full, prior, and informed consent of the refugees. But the Bangladeshi government has yet to hold any official public consultations with Rohingya refugees. Based on Yanghee Lee’s comments, it seemed that the UN wouldn’t back the plan. However, UN humanitarian agencies are now facilitating the move. They’ll be complicit in a plan that exposes the refugees to additional risks, rather than addressing problems with the current camps..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "ASEAN Today"
Date of publication: 2019-04-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar: End Campaign to Deny Rohingya Citizenship and Erase Identity - “လူမျိုးတုန်းသတ်ဖြတ်မှု၏ လက်နက်ကိရိယာများ" နိုင်ငံသားစိစစ်မှုသက်သေခံကဒ်ပြားများနှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ ရိုဟင်ဂျာမွတ်ဆလင်များ၏ နိုင်ငံသားဖြစ်ခွင့်ကို ငြင်းပယ်ခြင်း
Sub-title: Fortify Rights’ latest 102-page report exposes new details on root of Rohingya crisis
Description: "The Government of Myanmar should end discriminatory measures that deny Rohingya equal access to citizenship, said Fortify Rights in a new report today. The report exposes a systematic campaign to erase the identity of Rohingya Muslims. “The Myanmar government is trying to destroy the Rohingya people through an administrative process that effectively strips them of basic rights,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights. “This process and its impacts lie at the root of the Rohingya crisis, and until it’s addressed, the crisis will continue.” The 102-page report, “Tools of Genocide”: National Verification Cards and the Denial of Citizenship of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, reveals how Myanmar authorities forced and coerced Rohingya to accept National Verification Cards (NVCs), which effectively identify Rohingya as “foreigners” and strip them of access to full citizenship rights. Myanmar authorities tortured Rohingya to accept NVCs and restricted the movement and livelihoods of Rohingya who refused NVCs. Due to a highly restrictive environment created by the government, international humanitarian agencies also effectively furthered the government’s NVC policies and erasure of Rohingya identity, according to the report. The violations documented in the report associated with the government’s NVC process and the denial of citizenship are within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to consider in its investigation into atrocity crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar, Fortify Rights said.....“လူသားတို့၏ ကိုယ်ပိုင်သရုပ်လက္ခဏာဖြစ်တည်မှုနှင့် ပတ်သက်ပြီး နိုင်ငံရေးလွှမ်းမိုးမှုများကို ဆထက်တိုးပြုလုပ်ခြင်း၊” အကာအကွယ်ပေးခံရသော အုပ်စုများအား ပစ်မှတ်ထား ခွဲခြားဆက်ဆံသည့် “အစီအမံများ သို့မဟုတ် ဥပဒေများ” ချမှတ်ဆောင်ရွက်ခြင်း အစရှိသည့်လုပ်ရပ်များသည် “ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများဖြစ်ပွားစေရန် အားပေးအားမြှောက်ပြုသည့် အနေအထားတစ်ခုကို ဖန်တီးသည့်” လုပ်ရပ်များဖြစ်ကြပြီး၊ ထိုကဲ့သို့သော လုပ်ရပ်အချို့နှင့်ပတ်သက်ပြီး လူမျိုးတုန်းသတ်ဖြတ်မှု ဟန့်တားရေးဆိုင်ရာ ကုလသမဂ္ဂရုံးမှ သတိပေးချက်ထုတ်ပြန်ထားပါသည်။ လူအုပ်စုတစ်စု၏အဖွဲ့ဝင်များအား သတ်ဖြတ်မှုကဲ့သို့သော သီးခြားတားမြစ်ထားသည့် လုပ်ရပ်များအပြင် လူမျိုးတုန်းသတ်ဖြတ်မှုများအား ကျူးလွန်သော နိုင်ငံများသည် ၎င်းတို့ပစ်မှတ်ထားသည့် အုပ်စုတစ်စုအား တိုက်ခိုက်ဖျက်ဆီးရန်အတွက် အထောက်အပံ့ဖြစ်စေသော ဥပဒေနှင့်အုပ်ချုပ်မှုဆိုင်ရာ နည်းလမ်းများအား “အလုံးစုံ သို့မဟုတ် တစ်စိတ်တစ်ပိုင်းအနေဖြင့်” မကြာခဏ အသုံးပြုကြပါသည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင်အစိုးရအဆက်ဆက်သည် ရိုဟင်ဂျာမွတ်ဆလင်များ၏ ဖြစ်တည်မှုနှင့် အခွင့်အရေးများအား ဖျောက်ဖျက်ရန်အတွက် အစီအမံများနှင့် ဥပဒေများကို အကောင်အထည်ဖော်ခဲ့ပြီး၊ လူမျိုးတုန်းသတ်ဖြတ်မှုအတွက် လုပ်ဆောင်နိုင်သော အနေအထားတစ်ခုကို ဖန်တီးလျှက်ရှိပါသည်။ ဤအစီအရင်ခံစာမှ မြန်မာအစိုးရသည် ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအား နိုင်ငံသားဖြစ်ခွင့်ကိုငြင်းပယ်ရန်အတွက် ခွဲခြားဆက်ဆံသည့် အုပ်ချုပ်မှုဆိုင်ရာအစီအမံများပြုလုပ်နေကြောင်းကို မှတ်တမ်းတင်ထားသည်။ အစိုးရက ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအား “နိုင်ငံခြားသားများ”ဟု ခွဲခြားထားသည့် နိုင်ငံသားစိစစ်ရေးကဒ်များကို ရိုဟင်ဂျာများက လက်ခံလာစေရန် အင်အားသုံးခြင်း၊ အတင်းအကျပ်ခိုင်းစေခြင်းတို့ကို ပြုလုပ်ခဲ့ပြီး၊ မြန်မာအာဏာပိုင်များမှ..."
Source/publisher: "Fortify Rights"
Date of publication: 2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Leaked ASEAN report shows Rohingya must determine their own repatriation process
Topic: Myanmar, Rakhine State, Rohingya
Sub-title: A leaked ASEAN report ignores risks to Rohingya and violence in Rakhine, showing that plans for repatriation will need to be driven by refugees themselves.
Topic: Myanmar, Rakhine State, Rohingya
Description: "A leaked ASEAN report seen by AFP and others has drawn sharp criticism from Rohingya groups, civil society, and former state officials and diplomats across ASEAN. The report allegedly claims that 500,000 of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh will make a “smooth” return to Myanmar over the next two years. The region’s leaders will meet in Bangkok for the ASEAN summit on June 22-23 and the new report is on the agenda. ASEAN made a commitment to support Myanmar with its Rohingya repatriation efforts. To fulfil this promise, ASEAN must change the mandate of the team behind the report—the Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre)—so that they specifically address violent conflict in Rakhine and the marginalisation of both the Rohingya and the ethnic Rakhine. Any viable repatriation plan must be driven by input from Rohingya in both Bangladesh and Rakhine State and must respect their right to self-determination..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "ASEAN Today"
Date of publication: 2019-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Bangladesh: Clampdown on Rohingya Refugees
Sub-title: End Restrictions on Movement, Internet; Investigate Killings of 4
Description: "The Bangladesh government should end restrictions on Rohingya refugees’ freedom of movement and access to the internet and online communications, Human Rights Watch said today. Government restrictions have intensified following a failed attempt to repatriate refugees to Myanmar, a large rally by Rohingya refugees, and the killings of a local politician and four refugees. “Bangladesh authorities have a major challenge in dealing with such a large number of refugees, but they have made matters worse by imposing restrictions on refugee communications and freedom of movement,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “The authorities should take a level-headed approach instead of overreacting to tensions and protests by isolating Rohingya refugees in camps.” On September 1, 2019, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ordered telecommunication operators to shut down mobile phone services in the camps within seven days. The next day, the BTRC ordered mobile network operators to shut down 3G and 4G services in the camps each day between 5 p.m. and 6 a.m. While the authorities say the shutdown is to enhance security, they have not explained how. The 13-hour daily shutdown puts approximately one million refugees at serious risk by cutting off communications with security, health, and other necessary services..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch"
Date of publication: 2019-09-07
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: UN: Act to Prevent Future Atrocities
Sub-title: Myanmar Report Shows Need for Bold Action in High-Risk Situations
Description: "United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should act to prevent future UN failures in the face of atrocities, a coalition of 16 organizations said in a joint letter to the secretary-general that was released today. The May 2019 report of an independent investigation by a Guatemalan diplomat, Gert Rosenthal, raised serious concerns about the UN’s handling of the human rights crisis in Myanmar. The secretary-general should promptly carry out reforms to prevent what the report called the recurrence of the “systematic” failures and “obvious dysfunctional performance” and to ensure individual accountability for those failures. “The UN leadership promised it would never again turn a blind eye to atrocities after ignoring massive civilian deaths in Sri Lanka a decade ago, but it happened again,” said Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch. “The UN leadership needs to avoid another catastrophe, including by holding officials who failed to act during Myanmar’s ethnic cleaning campaign accountable.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch"
Date of publication: 2019-09-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: UN rights investigator on Myanmar lambasts Suu Kyi over Rohingya crisis
Description: "Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has washed her hands of the Rohingya crisis, a United Nations rights investigator said on Tuesday (Sep 3) ahead of a meeting between South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and the tarnished democracy icon. Yanghee Lee, a university professor in Seoul who is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights to Myanmar, said Suu Kyi was "terribly misguided and misinformed" about the abuses against the stateless Muslim minority in her country. The Nobel laureate was under house arrest for years when Myanmar was a military dictatorship before her party won elections in 2015 by a landslide, in the first fully free vote for generations. Hopes were high that she would usher in a new era of freedom, but more than 740,000 Rohingya have since been driven out of the Buddhist-majority country and into Bangladesh in a 2017 army crackdown..."
Source/publisher: "CNA"
Date of publication: 2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: UN experts fear Myanmar tortures suspects held incommunicado
Description: "Myanmar is holding insurgent suspects incommunicado in a practice that may be covering up torture, UN human rights experts said on Tuesday (Sep 3). Myanmar's human rights record has been under international scrutiny since a 2017 army-led campaign forced more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighbouring Bangladesh. The army has said they were targeting terrorists, but the United Nations has said the campaign was executed with "genocidal intent". Since late 2018, government troops have been battling the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group that recruits from Rakhine state, where Buddhists make up the majority. The three UN experts - Yanghee Lee, Agnes Callamard and Nils Melzer - said they had grave concerns about the army's use of incommunicado detention in the recent conflict, as well as allegations of torture, ill-treatment and deaths in custody..."
Source/publisher: "CNA"
Date of publication: 2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rights group skeptical that Myanmar’s military seeks justice
Description: "Plans announced by Myanmar’s military to prosecute soldiers for actions at a village where security forces reportedly killed as many as 400 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority drew skepticism Monday from the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch. The military announced over the weekend that investigations had determined that orders were not properly followed at a village in Rakhine state. It gave no dates or other details of the offense, but said a court martial is being convened to act “in accordance with the military discipline due to the weakness in following the instructions in some of the incidents at Gutabyin village.” The Associated Press reported in January last year that evidence indicated that security forces had carried out a massacre in the village, also known as Gu Dar Pyin, and that the victims were buried in at least five mass graves. The military -- known in Myanmar as the Tatmadaw -- denied the report, and it is unknown if the new announcement is related to the same incident..."
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star"
Date of publication: 2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: UN officials, INGOs acquiesced on NVCs for Rohingya, says report
Description: "Senior United Nations personnel and some international humanitarian organisations have supported Myanmar government polices against Rohingya Muslims by backing their acceptance of National Verification Cards, human rights advocacy group Fortify Rights says in a new report. The accusation is made in “Tools of Genocide: National Verification Cards and the denial of citizenship of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar”, a 102-page report released in Bangkok on September 3. The release of the report comes as the International Criminal Court is considering whether to seek a full investigation into allegations that Rohingya Muslims were the victims of crimes against humanity during a “clearance operation” by the Tatmadaw in northern Rakhine State that began in August 2017. The operation, launched after coordinated attacks on security posts by the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, was accompanied by widespread reports of killings, mass rape, torture and the torching of villages and sent about 740,000 people fleeing to safety to neighbouring Bangladesh..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar"
Date of publication: 2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: ‘Genocide card’ - Myanmar Rohingya verification scheme condemned
Sub-title: Human rights group says 'citizenship scrutiny' has gradually limited Rohingya rights in Myanmar and at root of crisis.
Description: "The National Verification Card (NVC) scheme targetting Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims is part of a systematic campaign by Myanmar authorities to erase their identity, according to a new report by Fortify Rights published on Tuesday. The human rights organisation says the NVC process and denial of citizenship fall within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in its probe into crimes against the minority group, which was initiated last year. "The Myanmar government is trying to destroy the Rohingya people through an administrative process that effectively strips them of basic rights," Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights, said in a statement by email. "This process and its impacts lie at the root of the Rohingya crisis, and until it's addressed, the crisis will continue."..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera"
Date of publication: 2019-09-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar to hold court martial after Rohingya atrocities probe
Sub-title: Army says court martial proceedings are under way after inquiry at village said to have been a Rohingya mass grave site.
Description: "Myanmar's army says rare court martial proceedings are under way following an investigation into atrocities in Rakhine state, two years after a brutal military crackdown forced more than 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh. In a statement on Saturday, the office of Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing said a military court that visited the northwestern state found soldiers had shown "weakness in following instructions in some incidents" at a village said to have been a massacre site of the Rohingya, a Muslim-majority, long-persecuted minority in Myanmar. No additional details were provided. In 2018, The Associated Press news agency reported the existence of at least five graves of Rohingya in the village, Gu Dar Pyin, in the township of Buthidaung..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera"
Date of publication: 2019-09-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya crisis: Video of Myanmar forces' crackdown emerges
Sub-title: Mobile phone footage of Myanmar forces' crackdown on Muslim Rohingya in 2016 could be used as evidence in court.
Description: "Mobile phone footage taken by Rohingya fleeing a killing spree in Myanmar could be used as evidence in future investigations, according to aid agencies. It has been two years since Myanmar's security forces launched a crackdown on nearly 700,000 Rohingya in Rakhine state. Yet not a single person has been brought to justice. Many of them came to the town of Cox's Bazar just over the border in Bangladesh, from where Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker reports..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera"
Date of publication: 2019-09-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: 41 NGOs withdrawn from Rohingya camps: FM
Topic: Rohingya Camps
Sub-title: Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today said 41 non-government organisations (NGOs) have been withdrawn from all kinds of activities in Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps for their wrongdoings.
Topic: Rohingya Camps
Description: "The Foreign Minister came up with the information while inaugurating waste management activities at Dakshin Surma under Sylhet City Corporation. Dr Momen also said actions will be taken against NGOs if they do something going beyond their terms and references. The NGO Affairs Bureau on Thursday suspended six different projects being run out of the Cox's Bazar branch of an NGO called Mukti - on allegations of making sharp weeding tools for distribution among Rohingyas. Some 600 of these tools were allegedly made. An official suspension order signed by the Assignment Officer of NGO Affairs Bureau Sirajul Islam Khan was issued on Wednesday. On August 29, the Foreign Minister said action will be taken against the NGOs operating in Rohingya camps if evidence is found about their activities that go beyond the terms and references..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star"
Date of publication: 2019-09-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar army says to punish soldiers in Rohingya atrocities probe
Description: " Myanmar’s army will court-martial soldiers after a new finding in an inquiry into atrocities in Rakhine state, from which more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled a 2017 army-led campaign the United Nations says was executed with “genocidal intent”. On Saturday, the website of Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing said a military court that visited the northern state found soldiers had shown “weakness in following instructions in some incidents” at a village said to have been a Rohingya massacre site. In 2018, the Associated Press news agency reported the existence of at least five graves of Rohingya in the village, Gutarpyin, in the township of Buthidaung. But government officials at the time said 19 “terrorists” had died and their bodies were “carefully buried”. On Sunday, military spokesman Tun Tun Nyi told Reuters the investigation’s findings were secret..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Reuters"
Date of publication: 2019-09-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Poor healthcare, prospects for Rohingya babies in Bangladesh
Description: "Health workers in the world’s largest refugee camp say they’re struggling to provide proper care for babies born to Rohingya women in Bangladesh. More than 100 babies are born every day in Rohingya refugee camps in southeast Bangladesh. That's where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have sought refuge, since fleeing violence in Myanmar in the past two years. Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker reports from Kutupalong Camp in Cox's Bazar..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera English"
Date of publication: 2019-08-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: The International Community Must Speak Out Against Planned Rohingya Refoulement
Description: "The Burma Human Rights Network is calling upon the international community to speak out against the Burmese-Bangladesh plan for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees back to Burma scheduled to begin on August 22nd. Over 800,000 Rohingya fled Burma between 2016 and 2017 as the Burmese military waged a genocidal campaign, veiled as counter-insurgency, against the civilian population. Similar agreements to repatriate the Rohingya have been planned before, with massive resistance from the Rohingya population who said conditions were not safe or just enough for them to return voluntarily. This most recent announcement also seems to have been planned without input or consent of the Rohingya, and if carried out may amount to refoulement. “The conditions in Burma are not suitable for the Rohingya to return, and this view is loudly expressed by the Rohingya living in the refugee camps in Bangladesh. The Rohingya who remain in Burma are still being denied their rights and no mechanisms have been put into place to assure their safety. The Government continues to try to force National Verification Cards on the Rohingya which is used to degrade their status and erase their identity. Freedom of movement for the Rohingya does not exist. And there is still a serious armed conflict going on in the exact region that the Rohingya would be repatriated to. To move forward with repatriation at this time is unthinkable,” said BHRN Executive Director, Kyaw Win..."
Source/publisher: "Progressive Voice" via Burma Human Rights Network
Date of publication: 2019-08-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya Genocide 2 Years On – Holidays Bans Not an Adequate Response
Description: "As we approach the second anniversary of the Burmese military offensive against the Rohingya on 25th August 2017, in which thousands were killed and 700,000 fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, Burma Campaign UK today called on the British government, EU, USA and other governments to start implementing the recommendations on the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. To date not a single government anywhere in the world has done so. The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar was created by the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish the facts of what has been taking place in Rakhine State against the Rohingya, and in Kachin and Shan States. In a report published 18th September 2018, it concluded that the Burmese military were responsible for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and made a series of recommendations, including referring the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court. The Mission also called for a UN mandated global arms embargo, targeted sanctions on military companies, and a review of support for the 2020 election in Burma, if the Rohingya continue to be disenfranchised. To date, rather than take these measures, the few governments which have taken any action have mostly only introduced bans on a small number of military personnel taking holidays in their countries..."
Source/publisher: "Progressive Voice" via Burma Campaign UK
Date of publication: 2019-08-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Two Years On: Rohingya Deserve Justice, A Place at the Table
Description: "61 NGOs warn of worsening crisis in Myanmar; call for refugees’ engagement on safe, voluntary returns: Two years after mass atrocities in Myanmar forced more than 740,000 people to flee for their lives, the Government and the people of Bangladesh continue to generously host nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees. While UN agencies and over 130 local, national, and international NGOs have supported the Government of Bangladesh to provide life-sustaining assistance, refugees require much more than basic support for survival; they need their rights, security and dignity. Many long to return but fear further violence and persecution back home. Refugees report feeling fearful and anxious following recent reports about possible expedited repatriation to Myanmar in the current conditions which do not guarantee their safety and rights. Current levels of engagement do not afford them their right to make informed decisions about their future, including voluntary return. Worsening Conditions in Rakhine State (Myanmar): Discriminatory policies in Myanmar mean that Rohingya communities in Rakhine State continue to face severe movement restrictions, as well as limited access to education, healthcare, and livelihoods opportunities. Some 128,000 displaced Rohingya and other Muslim communities have remained trapped in confined camps in central Rakhine State since 2012, unable to return home..."
Source/publisher: "Progressive Voice" via 61 Non Governmental Organizations
Date of publication: 2019-08-21
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 121.58 KB
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Title: 'Genocide Day': Thousands of Rohingya rally in Bangladesh camps
Sub-title: Refugees in Bangladesh camps demand rights and citizenship on second anniversary of exodus after Myanmar crackdown.
Description: "Thousands of Rohingya refugees have marked the second anniversary of their exodus into Bangladesh by rallying and praying as they demand Myanmar grant them citizenship and other rights before they agree to return. Almost 200,000 Rohingya participated in a peaceful gathering, which was attended by UN officials, at the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar on Sunday, police officer Zakir Hassan told AFP news agency. Children, hijab-wearing women, and men wearing long lungis shouted: "God is great, long live Rohingya" as they marched in the heart of the world's largest refugee camp to commemorate what they described as "Genocide Day". READ MORE 'Conditions here are inhumane': Rohingya in Bangladeshi camps Some carried placards and banners, reading "Never again! Rohingya genocide remembrance day" and "Restore our citizenship". On August 25, 2017, nearly 740,000 Muslim-majority Rohingya fled Rakhine State for Bangladesh - joining 200,000 already there - after Myanmar's armed forces launched a brutal crackdown following attacks on security posts..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera"
Date of publication: 2019-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Asean should guarantee safe return of Rohingyas to Myanmar
Description: "Asean has a lot of work to do for the sake of its own relevancy as Myanmar and Bangladesh make another attempt to repatriate thousands of Muslim Rohingyas to strife-torn Rakhine state. The authority in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw had announced last week that Myanmar would accept 3,450 refugees from the list of 22,000 provided by Bangladesh earlier this month, as the first batch of people to resettle in Myanmar. It is not known publicly how the list was made and on what ground their names were submitted to the Myanmar authority. The repatriation of nearly one million refugees, who fled from difficulties and conflict at home since 1990s to shelters in Bangladesh, will be an uphill task, due to scarred memories of all involved. Of the 911,000 people sheltered in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, nearly 740,000 left Rakhine state following brutal violence in August 2017. This saw Myanmar’s military (Tatmadaw) reacting in a heavy-handed manner to the series of attacks by militants working under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The so-called clearance operation caused atrocities including arson, torture, gang rape, murder and massacre, acts that the United Nations considered ethnic cleansing. The UN even suggested that genocide charges be raised against those responsible from the Tatmadaw..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Daily Star"
Date of publication: 2019-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: For Myanmar, too much impunity and too little accountability
Description: "TWO YEARS AGO this weekend, the military in Myanmar began a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Rakhine state against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Killings, arson and sexual violence drove more than 745,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in camps across the border in Bangladesh, creating a human rights catastrophe and one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. A fact-finding mission for the United Nations reported Thursday that the military, known as the Tatmadaw, had been responsible for hundreds of gang rapes during the cleansing campaign, and that the Myanmar government was culpable “under the Genocide Convention for its failure to investigate and punish acts of genocide.” Earlier this month, the U.N. mission revealed that the Tatmadaw is bankrolled by a web of about 200 foreign and domestic companies, providing vital support to the autonomous security forces. With the Rohingya still stranded in Bangladesh, it’s time that Western governments did more to hold the military and its backers to account. Two domestic conglomerates, Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited and Myanmar Economic Corporation, collectively own at least 120 of the companies. Both are run by top military officials. In addition, more than a dozen firms from other countries — including China, Russia and North Korea — have supplied weaponry to the Tatmadaw. The U.N. report documents how the Tatmadaw leaned on “crony companies” to make donations to the military. More than $10 million was donated at three separate fundraising ceremonies sponsored by the Tatmadaw..."
Source/publisher: "The Washington Post"
Date of publication: 2019-08-25
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar's Rohingya | AFP Animé
Description: "Two years after the start of the influx of Rohingya refugees from Burma to Bangladesh, hostility has increased. Videographic on the Rohingyas. VIDEOGRAPHIC..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "AFP news agency"
Date of publication: 2019-08-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar's Killing Fields: A special investigation into the mass exodus of Rohingya
Description: "A Walkley Award winning special investigation into the mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. We examine evidence that Myanmar’s security forces used systematic rape and terror tactics to expel hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from the country. Dateline reporters scour the globe to bring you a world of daring stories. Our reputation is for fearless and provocative reporting. Australia's beloved, award winning and longest running international current affairs program..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: SBS Dateline
Date of publication: 2018-05-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya crisis: the world's fastest growing humanitarian crisis- BBC News
Description: "As thousands of Rohingya refugees continue to pour into Bangladesh, Clive Myrie reports on the world's fastest growing humanitarian crisis. The plight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people is said to be the world's fastest growing refugee crisis. Risking death by sea or on foot, more than half a million have fled the destruction of their homes and persecution in the northern Rakhine province of Myanmar (Burma) for neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017. The United Nations described the military offensive in Rakhine, which provoked the exodus, as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". Myanmar's military says it is fighting Rohingya militants and denies targeting civilians..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "BBC News"
Date of publication: 2017-10-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Bangladesh ready to repatriate 3,500 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar
Description: "COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Some 3,500 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been cleared to return home to Myanmar beginning this week, a top official said Monday (Aug 19), nearly two years after a military crackdown sparked their exodus. Some 740,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in August 2017 from a military offensive in Myanmar - joining 200,000 already there - but virtually none have volunteered to return despite the countries signing a repatriation deal. Bangladesh refugee commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam, however, said he was "optimistic" about a new repatriation process scheduled to start on Thursday. A previous attempt in November 2018 to return 2,260 Rohingya failed after they refused to leave the camp without guarantees for their safety. "Everything is ready ... the land transit point has been prepared," Kalam told reporters after a meeting with Myanmar officials in Cox's Bazar, southeast Bangladesh, where the refugees live in vast camps..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "CNA"
Date of publication: 2019-08-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: U.N. agency, Bangladesh begin survey of Rohingya over return to Myanmar
Description: "The United Nations’ refugee agency and Bangladesh authorities on Tuesday started to consult more than 3,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to determine if any want to return home, officials said, as a fresh repatriation bid was launched. More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine for neighboring Bangladesh after a military-led crackdown in August 2017 the United Nations has said was perpetrated with “genocidal intent”, but many refugees refuse to go back, fearing more violence. Myanmar cleared 3,450 people to return, from a list of more than 22,000 provided by Bangladesh, authorities said. “The intentions surveys are beginning today,” Louise Donovan, a UNHCR spokeswoman in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh, told Reuters..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Reuters"
Date of publication: 2019-08-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Cloudflare Hypocrisy: Terminating 8chan While Still Working For Genocidal Burma Military Leader
Description: "Burma Campaign UK today slammed American web services company Cloudflare as ‘complete hypocrites’ for terminating its services for the 8chan website, used by terrorist white nationalists involved in mass shootings in America and elsewhere, whilst still working for Min Aung Hlaing, head of the Burmese military. United Nations investigators have said Min Aung Hlaing should be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court for genocide of the ethnic Rohingya from Burma. “Cloudflare are complete hypocrites, saying they draw the line at content on 8chan while at the same time working for a military leader responsible for genocide,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The only conclusion that can be drawn is that Cloudflare see American lives as more valuable and important than the lives of the Rohingya. You only cross a line for Cloudflare when you kill Americans, not foreigners.” Cloudflare provides website services for Min Aung Hlaing’s personal website, and for the military-controlled Burmese police force, which also played a role in the genocide of the Rohingya in addition to numerous other human rights violations across the country. In December 2018 Burma Campaign UK placed Cloudflare on its ‘Dirty List’ of companies linked to Burma’s military. Cloudflare have not responded to correspondence from Burma Campaign UK but defended working for Min Aung Hlaing when approached by media..."
Source/publisher: "Progressive Voice" via "Burma Campaign UK"
Date of publication: 2019-08-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Correction: Myanmar-ASEAN story
Description: "Malaysia’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that Myanmar’s government must pursue justice for alleged human rights abuses against the Muslim Rohingya minority so that hundreds of thousands who fled a brutal military crackdown can return safely to the country. The call came ahead of a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Bangkok this week. It also followed a weekend meeting between a Myanmar government delegation and representatives of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to discuss creating conditions for their safe repatriation. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after a counterinsurgency campaign by Myanmar’s military in the western state of Rakhine in response to attacks in 2017 by a Rohingya insurgent group. The campaign led to accusations that security forces committed mass rapes and killings and burned thousands of homes..."
Source/publisher: "The Washington Post" via Associated Press
Date of publication: 2019-08-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: "Rohingya refugee crisis is a time bomb that must be quickly defused to avoid any future flare-up"
Sub-title: Dr. Shamsul Bari, a former Director of UNHCR, talks to The Daily Star about the Rohingya refugee crisis, its local, regional and global implications and the possible solutions to the crisis.
Description: "Based on your experience in dealing with refugees the world over, how would you categorise the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh? During my long career with UNHCR, I had the opportunity to deal with refugee problems all over the world. In fact, the influx of Rohingyas into Bangladesh in 1978 was one of the first refugee groups I dealt with at the UNHCR, which I joined the same year. However, compared to that group of around 250,000 refugees, most of whom went back, and a similar number of Rohingya refugees who came in the early 1990s, who too largely went back, and a lesser number who came in 2012 and drew international attention for their desperate efforts to travel to Malaysia and other Asean countries in rickety boats, the influx of August 2017 was of a very different nature and on a much larger scale. The latest batch of refugees was composed of people who were victims of a brutal military pogrom in Myanmar, which was planned ahead and meticulously executed. They came as a human avalanche, accompanied by heart-wrenching scenes of pain, suffering and destitution. Their narratives about the horrific circumstances which made them flee Myanmar reminded the world of human tragedies that have “shocked the conscience of mankind” throughout history. Sympathy and compassion for these refugees poured in from all corners of the world. Financial and material support flowed in from governments, international financial institutions, UN bodies, civil societies and individuals alike. Charges of genocide and crimes against humanity were raised against Myanmar forces. Calls for international accountability measures against them were rife. More than seven hundred thousand came in continuous waves in a very short period. Together with another four hundred thousand, who had remained in Bangladesh from earlier influxes, they form the largest single refugee group in the world today..."
Source/publisher: 2019-08-05
Date of publication: The Daily Star
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: UN urges sanctions on Myanmar army businesses, says foreign partners could be complicit
Sub-title: United Nations investigators urged world leaders on Monday to impose targeted financial sanctions on companies linked to the military in Myanmar, and said foreign firms doing business with them could be complicit in international crimes.
Description: "A panel of human rights experts identified scores of companies tied to the army, which controls vast swathes of Myanmar's economy through holding firms and their subsidiaries, and is accused by the UN of executing a campaign with "genocidal intent" against the Rohingya minority. More than 730,000 Rohingya, members of a persecuted Muslim minority, fled Myanmar's Rakhine state into neighbouring Bangladesh amid a military-led crackdown in August 2017 that the UN and Western countries have said included mass killings and gang-rapes. The UN investigatory panel condemned the violence in a report last year that called for the economic isolation of the military. Investigators said the purpose of the new report was to help countries cut financial ties with all army-linked companies. "For the first time, this report comes out with a clear picture of the involvement of specific European and Asian companies, and makes a point that in fact there is this relationship and it's a violation of UN treaties and UN norms," panel chairman Marzuki Darusman said in an interview in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Sunday. A military spokesman did not answer phone calls seeking comment. Zaw Htay, a spokesman for civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi's government, could not immediately be reached for comment. The Myanmar government was sent an advance copy of the UN report. The investigators identified at least 59 foreign companies with some form of commercial ties to the Myanmar military, including firms from France, Belgium, Switzerland, Hong Kong and China. Of those, 15 operate joint ventures with the two military conglomerates or their subsidiaries, the report said. Calling for the imposition of an arms embargo on the country, the investigators also named 14 companies that have sold weapons and related equipment to security forces in the country since 2016, including state-owned entities in Israel, India, South Korea, and China..."
Source/publisher: The Daily Star
Date of publication: 2019-08-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: ‘The land where we lived has gone' – the life story of a Rohingya refugee
Description: "There has been much written about the Rohingya people of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. The Muslim ethnic group has been persecuted for generations, most recently from 2017, when 800,000 picked up whatever they could carry to flee to Bangladesh. But little has been written from the point of view of a Rohingya growing up in Myanmar – the daily humiliations, the struggle for survival, the fear, the stories whispered through generations to ensure they are not lost. Habiburahman, known as Habib, was born in a village in the west of the country around 1979 – he is not quite sure of the year. He has written his life story, and through that, the story of his people. We meet in his publishers’ bland office in Melbourne, Australia. He is dressed in a neat blue shirt and dark trousers, and his black hair is slicked back. He laughs readily and his phone buzzes with messages. Habib arrived in Australia by boat in 2009 and, although he is a recognised refugee and has a temporary visa, his status remains unresolved. He is still stateless. He has no passport. “I have nowhere to go,” he says, with a laugh that has little humour in it. We speak in English and Habib wrote the book in English with the help of a French journalist, Sophie Ansel, who has reported extensively on the Rohingya. He explains that the book began with Ansel writing him questions, to which he would provide long answers about his life. It was first published in 2018 in French and is now being released in English. Habib says he wanted to write his story because “my generation, my grandfather, great-grandfather – we have been oppressed for a long time and this has never been reported. Our history is [becoming] lost. The land where we lived in the past is now replaced with government buildings, new projects; everything has gone. The new generation of Burmese, they don’t know anything about Rohingya.” He called the book First, They Erased Our Name..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: The Guardian
Date of publication: 2019-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Malaysian premier’s remarks on Rohingya angers Myanmar
Sub-title: Activists back Mahathir for calling end to genocide and restoring full rights to Rohingya
Description: "Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s comments on the Rohingya genocide has angered Myanmar, as it continued to deny crimes against the Muslim community in Rakhine state. In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency last week, Mahathir had said that the Rohingya faced “massacre or genocide” and “they should either be treated as nationals, or they should be given their territory to form their own state.” Taking exception, Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement on Wednesday, expressed “dismay and objected” to the Malaysian leader’s comments. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Myint Thu who met Malaysian Ambassador to Myanmar Zahairi Baharim on Wednesday at the headquarters of Myanmar Foreign Ministry in Naypyitaw, rejected the allegations of genocide. “Such allegations are not supportive to the ongoing efforts of Myanmar government and ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] in finding a sustainable solution for peace, development and social harmony in Rakhine State,” he told the Malaysian envoy. He also said that Malaysian leader’s statement was not constructive and described it as a breach of the principles enshrined in the ASEAN Charter. “It was also against the ASEAN’s cardinal principles of non-interference in the internal affairs and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ASEAN member states,” said the ministry statement. Rohingya experts, however, blamed Myanmar for "buying time" and diverting the focus of international community, by repeatedly denying crimes, it has committed against the Rohingya Muslim community in the Rakhine state. Some 750,000 Rohingya fled state persecution since August 2017 and took shelter in neighboring Bangladesh as thousands were killed, raped and hundreds of Rohingya villages were completely burnt..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: ASIA - PACIFIC
Date of publication: 2019-08-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya, Myanmar talks disappoint rights group
Sub-title: Myanmar delegation failed to make convincing case for safe return of Rohingya to their homes, says Human Rights Watch
Description: "An international human rights watchdog has described recent talks between the Rohingya representatives and the Myanmar delegation, as "disappointing". The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that during the talks, the Myanmar delegation failed to make a convincing case for the safe return of refugees. The 10-member delegation, led by the Permanent Secretary of the Myanmar Foreign Ministry, Myint Thu arrived at the sprawling refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh earlier this week, to discuss the repatriation of the Rohingya population. The HRW South Asia Director Meenakshi Ganguly said that the Myanmar officials, armed with "facts" and colorful brochures, tried to persuade the displaced population to return home, claiming it was safe. "They did not even use the term Rohingya," Ganguly said, quoting a refugee. She said it reminded the Myanmar government’s longstanding unwillingness to recognize the ethnic group. The Myanmar team also explained the categories of citizenship and promoted the government’s National Verification Card (NVC) process..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: ASIA - PACIFIC via Human Rights Watch
Date of publication: 2019-08-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya activists slam ASEAN's call for dialogue with Myanmar
Sub-title: Regional bloc accused of whitewashing Myanmar's crimes against Rohingya.
Description: "The efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to encourage a "dialogue" between the refugees and the Myanmar government has sparked fierce criticism from Rohingya activists who accuse the bloc of whitewashing the Myanmar military's crimes and legitimising its deeply flawed repatriation plans. A team from the humanitarian arm of the 10-member trade bloc joined a Myanmar government delegation on a visit to the camps last week in a bid to launch fresh repatriation talks with Rohingya leaders and activists. Almost 730,000 Rohingya crossed the border into Bangladesh and arrived in Cox's Bazar in August 2017 after fleeing military-led massacres in Myanmar's western Rakhine state. However, relations between members of the Rohingya and those who are supposed to help them have often been fraught. The United Nations's refugee agency, UNHCR, has sown mistrust by signing secret repatriation deals with Myanmar and pushing an identity card scheme that many Rohingya opposed, leading to alleged intimidation and violence when security forces tried to get them to sign up. Rohingya refugees reject Myanmar delegation's offer to return (2:34) Bangladesh authorities, praised for their generosity in hosting the Rohingya, imposed severe restrictions on the refugees, preventing them from moving freely, getting an education, earning a living and denying them official refugee status. At a meeting during the visit by the team, a Rohingya youth activist asked the ASEAN visitors what they were doing to help some 128,000 Rohingya in Rakhine state who are trapped in disease-ridden detention camps..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera
Date of publication: 2019-08-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya flow into Bangladesh continues, albeit low: Anisul to UN
Sub-title: Reiterating that Bangladesh sheltering 1.1 million Rohingyas for the sake of humanity, Law Minister Anisul Huq today told the United Nation that the flow of Rohingyas into Bangladesh still continues, albeit low.
Description: ''"The most disconcerting fact is that the flow of Rohingyas, albeit low, still continues," he said while submitting a report to the UN Committee against Torture. The report highlighted on Bangladesh's two priority sectors -- protecting human rights and providing shelter to forcibly displaced Rohingyas in the country. A 19-member delegation, including Senior Secretary to the Law Ministry, foreign secretary and permanent representative of Bangladesh to UN joined him in the UN office. Anisul said, "We've opened our border to 700,000 Rohingyas and allocated over 6,000 acres of forest land allowing environmental degradation and social instability in the area for sheltering them for the sake of humanity in 2016." As a host to 1.1 million Rohingyas, the Law Minister said Bangladesh maintained the principle of non-refoulment, despite significant resource constraints and challenges. The report submitted by Bangladesh to the Committee against Torture was prepared in accordance with procedural obligations under the Convention. The country became a state party to the Convention against Torture on 5 October 1998 through accession. Anisul in the report focused on three aspects of the Convention - legal, administrative and judicial actions taken by the government for implementing the Convention. The Law Minister in the report marked two priority sectors -- curbing violence against women and children - for Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher: The Daily Star
Date of publication: 2019-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Rohingya Refugees Disappointed Again
Topic: Refugee Rights, Asylum Seekers
Sub-title: Myanmar Delegation Fails to Make Convincing Case for Safe Return
Topic: Refugee Rights, Asylum Seekers
Description: "Myanmar officials arrived at the sprawling refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh this week to discuss the repatriation of the Rohingya population. Armed with “fact” sheets, colorful brochures, and PowerPoint presentations, officials whose government committed a campaign of ethnic cleansing that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh two years ago were now trying to persuade them it was safe to return home. They were not convincing. “They didn’t even use the term ‘Rohingya,’” one refugee noted, alluding to the government’s longstanding unwillingness to recognize the ethnic group. The 10-member delegation, led by the permanent secretary of the Myanmar Foreign Ministry, Myint Thu, explained categories of citizenship and promoted the government’s National Verification Card (NVC) process. Many Rohingya despise this deeply flawed process, which they view as a perpetuation of the discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law, which has effectively left them stateless in their own country. The newly digitized NVC process would require Rohingya to reapply for their citizenship using their biometric data, which may further encourage discrimination. Myint Thu told them this was a first step towards achieving “naturalized citizenship.” The problem is that many Rohingya already consider themselves Myanmar citizens. “We showed them documents that prove that our ancestors were Burmese,” said Dil Mohammad, one of Rohingya participants. “Why do we need to go through that NVC process again which will identify us simply as a foreigner?” Given the horror of the atrocities they survived, the refugees understandably first want Myanmar authorities to assure them that they and their families will be safe if they return home, before they discuss terms of their repatriation..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch
Date of publication: 2019-07-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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