Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
For Rohingya refugees, see also the Arakan State section of "Administration and administrative areas" http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=1241&lo=&sl= and the Rohingya section of Human Rights.
Individual Documents
Sub-title:
The UN human-rights chief says it’s not ‘safe’ for the Rohingya to return home, but ‘safe’ for whom?
Description:
"For the past five years, there has been much speculation about repatriation of Rohingya refugees. Recently, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, added a new dimension to the issue. On August 16, she visited the Rohingya camp in Ukhia, an administrative region in Cox’s Bazar district, Bangladesh.
The Rohingya expressed hope that she would promote their right to return to Myanmar. According to media reports, she tried to explain that the situation in Rakhine state is not yet favorable for the repatriation of Rohingya and advised them to wait and be patient.
On August 25, 2017, the Myanmar military carried out a massacre of the Rohingya population in Rakhine state. The Bangladeshi government gave shelter to the Rohingya on humanitarian grounds.
During the five years that have passed since then, Myanmar has tried to cover the issue of repatriation of the Rohingya under the cloak of various dramas. Myanmar has continually tried to convince the international community that it is serious about taking back the Rohingya, but its actual steps have fallen short.
On November 23, 2017, a 19-point agreement was signed between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar regarding the repatriation of the Rohingya, but its practical reflection is still not visible. On August 22, 2019, Myanmar announced that 3,450 Rohingyas would be divided into seven groups and taken back to their own country. But that too remains unfulfilled.
In 2019, after a hearing of the case imposed by The Gambia against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, an interim order on January 23, 2020, did not include any direct instructions regarding the repatriation of the Rohingya.
Then the Rohingya repatriation talks got stuck because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the military coup in Myanmar. On February 1, 2021, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seized power.
Although the resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on June 18, 2021, regarding Myanmar mentioned many issues including the country’s democratic problems, there were no instructions regarding a solution of the Rohingya crisis. As well, no action by the UN is yet visible on the implementation of the resolution adopted on the Rohingya issue at the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on July 12, 2021.
The Rohingya crisis has various aspects including the indifference of the international community, the silence of the United Nations, and the issue of Rohingya citizenship. One thing to note here is the elimination of all voices from the oppressed population.
Rohingya leader Mohibullah was instrumental in repatriation efforts. His meeting with US president Donald Trump in July 2019, his multiple visits to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and such actions as organizing a mass meeting of Rohingya on the anniversary of their arrival in Bangladesh on August 25, 2019, were noteworthy.
But on September 29, 2021, he was shot dead by gunmen in Lambasia Rohingya Camp East-West Block No 1. Although the details of the murder are not known, many believe that the Myanmar regime was behind it.
What everyone is ‘waiting’ for
As for Michelle Bachelet’s concerns about the situation in Rakhine state, the exact situation is not being disclosed to the international community by Myanmar. At times, it has tried to divert the attention regarding the Rohingya back to Rakhine by favoring some organizations like the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).
But the reality is that there are several economic projects being undertaken by China, India, Russia and others around Rakhine state. These include the Thelong Myanmar-China oil and gas pipeline project, including the construction of a deep-sea port, India’s Kaladan multi-purpose project, two hydropower projects, and a four-lane highway connecting Myanmar and Thailand and India.
Other notable projects include investment by the Russian oil company Bashneft, and the Japanese government’s planned economic zone near Maungdoo, Rakhine.
The Myanmar government is working diligently to implement these projects. Repatriation of Rohingya to Rakhine state could derail such economic plans. This goes a long way toward understanding why Myanmar continues to politicize the situation in the state.
Based on all this, Michelle Bachelet’s “please wait” message takes on a new perspective. When will the wait be over?..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-23
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Individual Documents
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Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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"In August 2017, the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. Hundreds of thousands fled and are now living in refugee camps in Bangladesh. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Thomas Kean explains why prospects for near-term repatriation remain low.
What is the situation of the Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh five years ago?
Nearly all of the approximately 730,000 Rohingya who fled Myanmar in the second half of 2017 remain in sprawling refugee camps in southern Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. The total number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh – including both those displaced by the 2017 atrocities and the several hundred thousand who sought refuge earlier – is close to one million. To date, not a single refugee has returned to Rakhine State through the formal repatriation mechanism that Myanmar and Bangladesh set up in November 2017, soon after the exodus started. There were two failed attempts, in 2018 and 2019, to convince several thousand refugees to return, but those selected were unwilling to join the process absent sufficient Myanmar government assurances about their security, access to citizenship and livelihood opportunities upon return. The two countries have not yet been able to restart the process, and prospects for returns have only grown dimmer following the Myanmar coup in February 2021.
Living conditions for the refugees are poor and worsening. Most live in Kutupalong, the largest refugee camp in the world. They have few job opportunities and little access to formal education, while crime and violence, including killings of Rohingya community leaders, are on the rise. Factions within the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which launched attacks in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017 that the Myanmar military used to justify its crackdown on the Muslim minority, have been fighting with rival groups for control of the camps. Bangladesh has blamed ARSA for the killing of a prominent Rohingya leader, Mohib Ullah, in September 2021. On the night of 9 August, two more community leaders were shot dead in the Jamtali camp. Partly in response to this violence, Bangladesh has been imposing tighter restrictions on the refugees, including limiting their ability to come and go from the camps, gain access to the internet and mix with locals.
The combination of prolonged displacement and deteriorating camp conditions has prompted some refugees to take difficult decisions about where their future lies. An unknown number – almost certainly in the hundreds, but possibly in the thousands – have returned to Myanmar informally. Others have paid hefty sums to traffickers to embark on dangerous boat journeys to Malaysia, which hosts the largest Rohingya refugee population after Bangladesh, while a smaller number seek passage to Indonesia.
Almost 30,000 Rohingya have also relocated to Bhasan Char, a small silt island in the Bay of Bengal that the Bangladesh government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing specifically to host up to 100,000 refugees. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been pushing Bhasan Char as a “temporary solution”, insisting that it offers refugees better facilities than the overcrowded camps where most still reside. Humanitarian organisations long lobbied against this plan, primarily out of concern about the island’s exposure to cyclones and flooding, as well as about limitations on freedom of movement and lack of access to livelihoods. The Bangladeshi government eventually went ahead with the plan, anyway, moving the first group of Rohingya to the island in May 2020. From December of that year, it began sending thousands each month and it became fairly clear that Dhaka planned to continue relocations with or without international support. In October 2021, the UN high commissioner for refugees, on behalf of UN agencies working on the Rohingya refugee response, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bangladeshi government to cooperate on service delivery to the island. The memorandum could be a positive development as it commits Dhaka to ensuring that relocations are voluntary and refugees have accurate information on living conditions awaiting them on the island. (There were allegations of coercive relocations when the first refugees arrived there.) For those who do choose to relocate to Bhasan Char, escaping the worsening situation in the Cox’s Bazar camps is likely to be the major motivation.
The rise in crime and violence in and around the camps has heightened public pressure on the Bangladeshi government to adopt a tougher stance.
The Bangladeshi government’s decision to press on with relocating Rohingya to Bhasan Char reflects a hardening of its position toward the refugee population. Although it opened its borders to the desperate refugees in 2017, Bangladesh made clear from the beginning that it would not allow them to stay indefinitely and that it expected international support to both host the Rohingya and facilitate their return to Myanmar. Now, the lack of progress on repatriation has left both the Bangladeshi people and the government increasingly frustrated – at Myanmar, outside actors and the refugees themselves. This development was foreseeable: for a country that still has high levels of poverty and unemployment, hosting over a million refugees is clearly an enormous challenge, particularly for the communities hosting them in Cox’s Bazar. The rise in crime and violence in and around the camps has heightened public pressure on the Bangladeshi government to adopt a tougher stance.
As Dhaka becomes more impatient, it is also making life more difficult for the refugees. It has progressively placed greater restrictions on their movement, including by fencing off the camps, and closed some private schools and businesses that were being run inside. There has also been little progress on delivering formal education using the Myanmar curriculum, something that many refugees say they want and Crisis Group has advocated for. These restrictions have raised concerns that the Bangladeshi government is attempting to coerce refugees to return to Myanmar or, at least, relocate to Bhasan Char. While that may not be entirely fair, with repatriation seemingly a long way off, Dhaka should at least ensure that all children in the camps have access to formal education – preferably the Myanmar curriculum – and that families have some livelihood opportunities. Providing some means for self-sufficiency and hope for a better future would have obvious benefits for the refugees. It may also help mitigate the possibility that frustration with their dire conditions will manifest in growing security risks.
What have been the primary impediments to repatriation both before and after the February 2021 coup in Myanmar?
Even prior to Myanmar’s February 2021 coup, progress on official repatriation efforts had been scant. After the two failed attempts in 2018 and 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed further discussions between Bangladesh and Myanmar, which was then governed by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). The nascent process had also been plagued by bureaucratic disputes over documentation, with Myanmar agreeing to accept only a small fraction of the refugees that Bangladesh had proposed for repatriation. Moreover, the Myanmar government showed no sign of addressing refugees’ concerns on key points, such as citizenship, security and livelihoods. Naypyitaw failed to provide proper information on even the most basic questions, such as where the refugees – many of whom came from villages that the military razed to the ground after the 2017 exodus – would be sent after arriving at transit camps on the Myanmar side of the border.
To complicate the situation further, in December 2018 the Myanmar military began fighting a new war in Rakhine State against insurgents from the Arakan Army, a pro-Rakhine ethnic armed group. The heavy fighting that raged in the state over 2019 and 2020 meant that repatriation was virtually impossible for security reasons, above and beyond the Rohingyas’ other concerns.
Most refugees are ... wary of returning to Myanmar when it is ruled by the very generals who orchestrated the 2017 violence against them.
Although Rakhine State has largely been spared the post-coup violence that has engulfed much of Myanmar since February 2021, the military’s power grab has been a further setback to any prospect of repatriation. Despite the junta’s public claims that it is committed to moving ahead with the process – likely a reflection of its desire to cultivate international approval and mitigate its post-coup isolation – Naypyitaw shows little inclination to do more than pay lip service to repatriation efforts. Pressure from Western governments, several Muslim countries and China (which has weighed in at Bangladesh’s request) appears to have had little impact. In January, bilateral talks between Myanmar and Bangladesh finally resumed, but so far there has been little progress. Most refugees are, in any case, wary of returning to Myanmar when it is ruled by the very generals who orchestrated the 2017 violence against them.
As for hostilities between the Arakan Army and the military, fighting largely paused after the two sides reached an informal ceasefire in November 2020, but new power dynamics have emerged in the aftermath that any repatriation effort will need to take into account. The insurgents have consolidated control over much of the state, particularly its rural areas, rolling out an administrative, judicial and security system through which it polices communities, administers justice and collects taxes. This system is like a patchwork: in some areas, the Arakan Army has full control, while in others it shares authority with the military regime or has little direct control. The implications for repatriation are direct, as many Rohingya would be returning to areas now administered by the group or at least under its strong influence.
The Arakan Army’s administrative rollout has also put it on a collision course with the military regime, which means fighting might resume. Clashes between the group and security forces have been reported across the state over the past months, with dozens of soldiers reportedly killed. Maungdaw Township in northern Rakhine State, where many of the refugees originated, appears to be a particular hotspot for conflict: located on the border with Bangladesh, the area is strategic for both the military and the Arakan Army. There have been several clashes in the area in recent months; on 18 July, the insurgents ambushed a convoy of the regime’s Border Guard Police, killing at least four and capturing thirteen. These events do not bode well for Rohingyas’ ability to return to Rakhine State.
How is the situation for the Rohingya who remain in Myanmar?
For the estimated 600,000 Rohingya still in Myanmar, nearly all of whom live in Rakhine State, the situation remains bleak, but there are at least some signs that popular attitudes toward them are shifting.
The Rohingya are still subject to discriminatory state policies – since the coup, the military regime has tightened restrictions on movement in some areas – and the country’s economic collapse over the past eighteen months has further worsened their plight. Around 120,000 live in displacement camps that were set up following an outbreak of communal violence in 2012. They are almost entirely dependent on international aid. The remaining Rohingya are also often caught between the military and the Arakan Army – sometimes having to pay taxes to both sides or wrestle with duplicative administrative requirements. Many would likely be caught in the crossfire if war were to resume. Not surprisingly, some are trying to leave the country through risky and expensive overland journeys, mainly to Malaysia. The regime has arrested hundreds of Rohingya trying to flee the country over the last eighteen months; because the vast majority lack citizenship documents, it is a criminal offence for them to cross a state or region boundary.
At the same time, however, the rise of the Arakan Army has eased some of the ethnic tensions in Rakhine State. The ethnic armed group shifted the narrative in Rakhine, portraying the Burman-led central government, rather than the Muslim minority, as the real enemy of the Rakhine people. The two-year war that paused in 2020, in which Rakhine civilians suffered abuses at the hands of the military, which was backed by the NLD government, reinforced this idea. But the Arakan Army has also changed its tone on the Rohingya significantly. Prior to 2018, it was antagonistic, reflecting the group’s desire to win popular support among local Rakhine Buddhists, who have long resented the Muslim minority. More recently, however, the Arakan Army has made some conciliatory moves: its leader, Twan Mrat Naing, tweeted greetings for the Muslim festival of Eid, and the group issued a condolence letter when a prominent Rohingya academic died in April.
The insurgents are facilitating greater freedom of movement for the Rohingya in areas they control and providing them with some services.
These gestures are in addition to more concrete measures the insurgents have taken to bring the Rakhine and Rohingya together and that could, over time, diminish the risk of communal violence. For example, the Arakan Army has organised sporting events involving the two communities, included Rohingya leaders in its administrative structures and asked Rakhine communities in some areas to refer to the Rohingya by the more neutral term “Muslims” rather than “Bengalis” (which the Rohingya consider derogatory, as it implies that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh). Perhaps most importantly, the insurgents are facilitating greater freedom of movement for the Rohingya in areas they control and providing them with some services, such as access to judicial mechanisms. Useful further steps would be for the Arakan Army to include Rohingya representatives in higher levels of its administrative system for the areas it controls and address complaints that some of its Rakhine administrators are not treating the community fairly.
Beyond Rakhine State, the coup also appears to have triggered something of a shift in the way at least some within the broader Myanmar population view the Rohingya. The vast majority among the country’s Burman majority population had accepted the military’s claims that its 2017 operations against the Muslim minority were a legitimate response to a terrorist attack, in part because the immensely popular Aung San Suu Kyi had also propagated this narrative. After the coup, though, many experienced or witnessed for the first time the military’s capacity for inflicting extreme violence on civilians, something that had until then been largely confined to ethnic minority regions. The junta’s brutality against Burman communities appears to have prompted some to reassess the events of 2017, concluding that the military did indeed commit atrocities against the Rohingya. Manifestations of this change in sentiment emerged in numerous apologies and public expressions of support for the Rohingya both online and at demonstrations against the coup, something that would have been previously unimaginable.
The National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel administration formed by ousted lawmakers and operating mostly from abroad, has also adopted a policy toward the Rohingya that guarantees their right to citizenship and commits to ending other discriminatory policies against them. Although these promises have not been tested, because the NUG is not in control of the state, they are nevertheless notable given that the NUG is largely an offshoot of Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD, which did little to dismantle repressive policies against the Rohingya when it was in power.
What can donors and other outside actors do for Rohingya refugees?
With any meaningful repatriation highly unlikely in the foreseeable future, it is essential that donors increase their support for Bangladesh’s response to the refugee crisis. International funding for the refugee response has declined significantly in 2022, in part due to other humanitarian emergencies, such as the war in Ukraine, and there is a growing risk of donor fatigue. The funding gap is compounded by rising food prices, which means that the money that is coming in is not buying as much. Leaving Bangladesh to handle this massive refugee crisis on its own is hardly fair given the country’s own development challenges. It can only make things worse for a refugee population already living in miserable conditions.
But while more funding for the refugees in Bangladesh is necessary, it is also just a temporary fix. Improving the lives of the refugees and mitigating the impact on Bangladesh will require more than humanitarian aid. Thus, even though repatriation seems unlikely while the military is in charge of Myanmar, it remains important to make as much progress as possible, which means that Bangladesh will need to continue engaging the junta on the subject. Such engagement will at least keep the pressure on the military and give refugees some hope of returning home. While some may choose to return of their own accord, either through the formal mechanism or informally, regardless of who is in power, it is crucial that Dhaka stick to its policy of not forcing refugees to return against their will. Bangladesh should ensure that any repatriation is safe and dignified. Similarly, it should continue to work with international donors and humanitarian organisations to improve conditions both in the camps in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char. Bangladesh’s very active civil society – its universities, think-tanks and NGOs – should do its part to positively influence policy and public opinion toward the Rohingya in Myanmar by engaging counterparts in Myanmar civil society and the NUG.
Third-country resettlement should be part of the conversation about durable solutions for [the Rohingya].
With prospects for repatriation so dim and integration in Bangladesh infeasible given both public opinion toward the Rohingya and the sheer number of refugees, it seems increasingly clear that third-country resettlement should be part of the conversation about durable solutions for this population. Dhaka has previously resisted this idea, arguing that the possibility of resettlement would encourage more Rohingya to cross the border into Bangladesh and that it would reduce the pressure on Myanmar to take refugees back. These are both risks, but Bangladesh needs to weigh them against the risks created by the situation in Cox’s Bazaar and the lack of other viable plans for drawing down the numbers in the camps. After five years, the time may now be ripe for Bangladesh to review its policy and for foreign governments – particularly in the West, but also in Asia – to make clear they are ready to support Dhaka by accepting some refugees for voluntary resettlement. At the same time, other countries hosting large Rohingya populations, including Malaysia, India and Saudi Arabia, should reverse a worrying trend toward greater restrictions and even threats to send them back to either Myanmar or Bangladesh. In order to help resolve the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, these countries should be normalising their Rohingya populations, not cracking down on them.
While pushing Naypyitaw to create the conditions for repatriation to begin, Dhaka should also consider engaging the Arakan Army. To date, the Bangladeshi government has largely ignored the group’s overtures due to its policy of not engaging entities that undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighbouring countries. But given the insurgents’ expanding grip on Rakhine State, it will likely need their backing for any repatriation to proceed on a significant scale. This is something the Arakan Army may be willing to entertain, not least because of its desire to open a dialogue and build a relationship with Dhaka. Given the fraying ceasefire between the military and Arakan Army, this step will require some discreet, careful diplomacy, but it is important.
Apart from providing humanitarian aid – both in the Bangladesh camps and in Rakhine State – foreign governments and other outside actors should continue to support efforts to hold the Myanmar military responsible for its abuses against the Rohingya. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are investigating the 2017 atrocities and an Argentine court, asserting universal jurisdiction, is similarly investigating claims of genocide. But the most advanced process is at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where The Gambia has brought a case against Myanmar under the UN Genocide Convention. The first hearings got under way in December 2019, with Aung San Suu Kyi flying to the Netherlands to personally defend her country against allegations it had violated the convention. After the coup, the court allowed the military regime to appoint a new legal team to defend the case – a decision that was not without controversy, given how the regime took power – but has recently rejected the objections to the case put forward by the junta’s legal team. While hearings can now proceed, it is likely to be many years before the court reaches a verdict.
Five years after the massive exodus of 2017, it is clear there is no simple, straightforward solution to one of Asia’s largest refugee crises. Focusing on repatriation alone, or on just funding the aid response, is not sufficient. While finding a way for the Rohingya to return home should remain the goal, it is important that a range of strategies are pursued in parallel in order to bring about the best outcome for this beleaguered population and for the communities hosting them in southern Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
International Crisis Group (Belgium)
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-22
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Individual Documents
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Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations
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Sub-title:
“Failing meaningful and safe return to Myanmar, I worry what the future holds. How long can people live with so little basic protection and hope?”
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"I have spent nearly 30 years exposed to emergencies and humanitarian crises. Yet, standing at our “Hospital on the Hill” in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, now the world’s largest refugee camp, I was taken by the sheer scale of this makeshift setting. A jumble of humanity packed together in precarious bamboo and plastic shelters, all contained within kilometers of razor wire fencing.
As we mark five years since the brutal campaign of violence meted out at the hands of the Myanmar military, I remember a Rohingya mother of six who said, “The military were brutally killing Rohingya and burning our houses… now, we live here in the refugee camps. It is five years of living in distress…”
The plight of the Rohingya – persecuted in Myanmar, living in containment in Bangladesh, trafficked and living illegally in Malaysia and elsewhere – is fast becoming a pressure cooker that no one seems inclined to take off the stove.
The approach to assistance in Bangladesh, the only country to open its borders and offer sanctuary to now over 1 million Rohingya, is increasingly unsustainable, with funding harder to secure. Five years on, the humanitarian response must transition from a minimum provision of emergency services to one better suited to a long-term resettlement reality.
For Bangladesh, this policy shift remains unacceptable. With good reason, Dhaka wants the Rohingya to return to Myanmar, which stripped them of their citizenship 40 years ago. This is also what nearly every Rohingya I have spoken with wants. But the country has been at war with itself since the military seized power in February 2021, and in Rakhine, tensions between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army are increasing. Our teams on the ground know firsthand the conditions for those that remain in Rakhine are unacceptable, and safe repatriation to this region is simply not a responsible option yet.
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Additionally, across the region, Rohingya are treated as illegals and exploited by those who seek to benefit from their precarious status. In Malaysia and Indonesia, those who arrive by boats are turned away at sea, with some left adrift for months and others dying due to heat and starvation. In April this year, more than 500 Rohingya escaped from a detention center in Malaysia allegedly due to poor living conditions and lack of access to medical services.
Bangladesh feels the weight of responsibility is unfairly on them alone. I agree with Bangladesh. Regional states are becoming part of the problem, favoring securitization of their own borders over persevering to find solutions together. It feels like ASEAN has run out of steam, with nothing new to try and no one willing to champion what has become a fraught political problem.
The latest scabies outbreak in the camps and the increasing number of dengue fever cases are symptomatic of the emergency health needs of the population, while year-on-year increases in mental health and non-communicable disease consultations at Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) facilities are indicative of the protracted nature of the crisis. In Cox’s Bazar, our mental health professionals told me how emotionally draining it is to know that they cannot change the root cause of people’s mental health conditions. At the end of a psychosocial session, our patients return to an existence devoid of prospects, in overcrowded camps that are becoming increasingly unsafe.
It is easy to argue this response has been a success. It has reduced loss of life, alleviated the worst suffering, and created order out of chaos. But we must ask ourselves: Are we becoming complicit in a system of containment (or repression) for a population with nowhere else to go?
The reality is we are substituting for the failures of Myanmar to redress its wrongs. We are also trying to cope with the cost of political inaction, an impotent failure of collective progress from regional states and the international community to find durable or even temporary solutions but better ones.
In all of this, the Rohingya remain extremely grateful to Bangladesh for giving haven, as hopeless as their situation appears to be. They don’t consider themselves to be stateless, but rather, denied the right to citizenship in a state and region they historically identify as their own. The majority say they want to return, but they will not risk a repeat of history where their children may be taken at any moment, never to be seen again.
Looking out from Doctors Without Borders’ Hospital on the Hill, I realize we must all push back against the overwhelming sense this cannot be fixed. There are things that can be done. A good start would be ending draconian refugee policies practiced across the region.
Australia’s new government could set the tone for humanity and solidarity, starting with the Rohingya. They can seek to open resettlement pathways for Rohingya from Malaysia and Bangladesh. Australia could recalibrate its anti-human trafficking support across the region to be more accommodating of people who qualify as refugees and deserve extra protections.
Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia must be more accommodating of refugees. They cannot be treated as irregular economic migrants. While both are extraordinarily vulnerable, refugees seek refuge from persecution and require special protection.
Diplomatic channels with Myanmar must remain open, and a stronger, coherent regional and international approach with Myanmar must be hammered out, with China at the forefront. China can lead in negotiating the safe return of Rohingya from Bangladesh, but it must consider how Rohingya will be compensated for lost property and livelihoods within those negotiations. Returns must be more than a political façade and must solve the issues of the Rohingya themselves.
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Failing meaningful and safe return to Myanmar, I worry what the future holds. How long can people live with so little basic protection and hope? Trauma is cumulative. After 40 years of statelessness and injustice, I worry the care we provide only manages to keep people alive to live in hopelessness..."
Source/publisher:
"The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-22
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Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"On a vacant patch of land in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state alongside the western flank of Myanmar, grass grows lengthy below the new solar. A home as soon as stood on this plot, although all hint of it’s lengthy gone. Mohammed, a 36-year-old Rohingya man, grew up in that home and lived there till 2012, when he and his household have been compelled to flee by a band of ethnic Rakhines wielding sticks and torches. That summer time mobs of Rakhine villagers and Burmese troopers razed Rohingya villages and killed lots of of individuals belonging to the long-persecuted Muslim minority group. Some 140,000 Rohingyas have been displaced within the melee and herded into camps, the place they’ve remained ever since.
The pogrom of 2012 laid the groundwork for an even bigger bout of bloodshed 5 years later. In 2017 Burmese safety forces launched a marketing campaign of mass killing, rape and arson in northern Rakhine, in what the un has branded as genocide. Nearly 750,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh, the place they stay on the earth’s largest refugee camp (see map).
In the last decade because the rampage of 2012 and the 5 years because the genocide of 2017, the Rohingyas have been topic to circumstances designed to empty the life from the ethnic group, in accordance with the un. Crossing over into Bangladesh afforded some respite, at first. Yet the Bangladeshi authorities has lengthy since begun to view the refugees as a burden. Violence within the camps is rampant, with a lot of it dedicated by the Bangladeshi safety forces. No matter which aspect of the border Rohingyas discover themselves at the moment, their expertise is identical: starvation and distress surrounded by barbed wire.
The Burmese military, which has run Myanmar for a lot of the previous 50 years, started persecuting Rohingyas many years in the past. It first tried to drive them off their land in 1978, utilizing the now acquainted instruments of homicide, arson and rape. Its excessive command considers them Bangladeshi interlopers, with no declare to Burmese citizenship—as do many different Burmese. It enshrined that view in legislation 40 years in the past, turning the Rohingyas into the world’s largest neighborhood of stateless folks.
It was not till 2012, nonetheless, that the federal government started to herd Rohingyas into camps. This segregation, along with the imposition of a matrix of repressive legal guidelines, which embody restrictions on marriage and having kids, quantity to a system of apartheid, in accordance with Human Rights Watch (hrw), an advocacy group. After the genocide of 2017, this vice tightened.
Today a few fifth of the Rohingyas who stay in Myanmar stay in what Fortify Rights, a strain group, calls “modern concentration camps”. One unlucky resident, Hla Maung, lives cheek by jowl with 11 kin in one of many cramped shelters into which households are crowded. These buildings have been initially designed to final two years. Many have been badly broken by monsoons and flooding over the previous decade. In April some 28,000 Rohingyas have been residing in shelters deemed by the un to be structurally unsound. Because worldwide assist businesses should apply to journey to the camps two weeks prematurely, they can not all the time restore shelters instantly. “Living conditions are, by design, squalid,” noticed hrw in a latest report.
Harsh restrictions on motion make life tougher nonetheless. More than three-quarters of displaced Rohingyas can’t go away their camps in any respect, in accordance with a survey carried out in 2015 by the Centre for Diversity and National Harmony, a Burmese ngo. The relaxation could journey, however solely to a Rohingya ghetto in Sittwe or to Sittwe General Hospital, the only facility within the state that gives specialised therapy. Medical referrals are granted just for emergencies and even then getting the required journey authorisation can take days. Access to well being care within the camps is proscribed. In the extra distant ones, docs go to for simply a few hours a couple of times per week. Rates of illness and youngster mortality are larger within the camps than elsewhere within the state, in accordance with the International Rescue Committee, an assist organisation.
Those who can go away the camps should get a “village departure certificate” which prices as much as 5,000 kyat ($3.45). Sometimes safety forces demand travellers current an id card proving their citizenship, which most Rohingyas lack. All Rohingyas should go by way of quite a few checkpoints manned by troopers who demand bribes, and to go away they need to typically additionally pay for a “security escort”, which prices as much as 20,000 kyat. These restrictions forestall Rohingyas from working, making it troublesome for them to complement the money or meals assist they obtain from ngos, which residents say is inadequate for his or her day by day wants.
For the roughly 300,000-350,000 Rohingyas who haven’t been herded into camps, circumstances are nonetheless dire. They, too, are not often granted permission to get therapy at Sittwe General Hospital. And although they proceed to stay in their very own houses, a mesh of restrictions hems them in as effectively. They aren’t allowed to go away their districts with out authorisation. Security checkpoints strewn all through their villages are manned by troopers who implement curfews (from 6pm to 6am) and guidelines limiting gatherings in public areas to not more than 5 folks. Violations of those guidelines result in beatings or detention.
These circumstances seem calculated to carry concerning the “slow death” of the Rohingyas, says the un. Their numbers in Myanmar have dropped precipitously. Before 2017 the nation was residence to as many as 1.3m Rohingyas. (No dependable numbers exist as they weren’t included within the final census in 2014, the primary in 30 years.) Now the inhabitants is nearer to 600,000. Most fled to Bangladesh. But many are more likely to have died due to the grim residing circumstances.
There are dismaying parallels between the experiences of Rohingyas in Rakhine state and people within the refugee camps of Bangladesh. At first refugees might work in surrounding cities, recollects Hakim Ullah, who has lived within the refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar district since 2017. Now they want permission to go away the camps. Shops and colleges within the camps have been demolished earlier this yr by the Bangladeshi authorities, who’ve banned paid work and personal schooling. “The refugee camps have become detention camps”, says Rahamat Ullah, a Rohingya civil-rights activist who lives in Cox’s Bazar.
Nor have refugees traded freedom for security. Militant teams and felony gangs working within the camps usually commit murders, kidnappings and robberies. Bangladesh’s safety forces do a lot of the terrorising themselves, in accordance with stories from human-rights teams. The Armed Police Battalion, the specialist unit answerable for safety within the camps, acts “with impunity”, says Ashraf Zaman of the Asian Human Rights Commission, a strain group primarily based in Thailand. The battalion has reportedly overwhelmed kids and raped girls. The Bangladeshi forces are so brutal, that they remind Mr Hakim Ullah of the Burmese military. (Bangladeshi authorities didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark from The Economist.)
As lengthy because the Burmese military is in energy, little concerning the Rohingyas’ situation is more likely to change. “Life in the camps is worse than prison,” says Mohammed, who now lives in a camp outdoors Sittwe. At least prisoners know the size of their sentence. Rohingyas have no idea if they may ever be launched. Even if they’re, many would haven’t any residence to return to. The authorities way back bulldozed the ruins of homes like Mohammed’s, and offered the land to builders—making it simpler to take away each final hint of the group..."
Source/publisher:
Business Lend
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups.
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Bangladesh’s leader has told a visiting U.N. official that hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh must return home to Myanmar, where they had fled violent persecution
Description:
"DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bangladesh's leader told a visiting U.N. official on Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority Rohingya refugees living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh must return home to Myanmar, where they had fled waves of violent persecution.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the comment to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. Bachelet arrived on Sunday and visited Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar district near the border with Myanmar.
“The Rohingya are nationals of Myanmar and they have to be taken back,” Hasina was quoted as saying by her press secretary, Ihsanul Karim.
Muslim Rohingya face widespread discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where most are denied citizenship and many other rights. More than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh starting in late August 2017 when the Myanmar military launched a “clearance operation” against them following attacks by a rebel group. The safety situation in Myanmar has worsened following a military takeover last year.
Currently, Bangladesh is hosting more than 1 million Rohingya refugees.
The refugees will mark the fifth anniversary of their latest influx in Bangladesh amid botched attempts to send them home. Earlier this month, Bangladesh sought cooperation from China in repatriating Rohingya to Myanmar during a visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi. China had brokered a November 2017 agreement with Myanmar aimed at sending them back.
Hasina and several Cabinet ministers earlier expressed frustration over what they called Myanmar's inaction in taking them back under the agreement. The U.N. and Bangladesh authorities have tried at least twice to began repatriations, but the refugees refused to go, citing safety concerns in Myanmar.
When Bachelet visited the camps on Wednesday, refugees urged the U.N. to help improve safety inside Myanmar so they can return.
The U.N. said in a statement that the refugees described “their grievances, their pains” to Bachelet.
“When our rights are respected, we can have our livelihoods again, and we can have land, and we can feel that we are part of the country,” it quoted refugees as telling her.
Bachelet emphasized the importance of ensuring that safe and sustainable conditions exist and that any returns be conducted in a voluntary and dignified way, it said.
“The U.N. is doing the best we can to support them. We’ll continue doing that,” she said. “But we also need to deal with the profound roots of the problem. We need to deal with that and ensure that they can go back to Myanmar -– when there are conditions for safety and voluntary return.”
In March, the United States said the oppression of Rohingya in Myanmar amounts to genocide after authorities confirmed accounts of mass atrocities against civilians by Myanmar’s military in a widespread and systematic campaign against the ethnic minority..."
Source/publisher:
"ABC News" (Sydney)
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Discrimination against the Rohingya
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"Outbreak at a glance: Dengue is endemic in Bangladesh. As compared to the previous four years (2018 to 2021), the Rohingya refugee/Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN) [1] camps in Cox’s Bazar district, are experiencing an acute surge in dengue cases, that started at the end of May 2022 (epi week 22). As of 24 July (end of epi week 29), a total of 7687 confirmed cases and 6 deaths have been reported, with 93% (7178) of the cumulative number of cases being reported since the start of the surge at the end of May 2022 (Figure 1). A similar surge has not been observed in the larger Cox’s Bazar district outside of the Rohingya refugee/FDMN camps nor at the national level with case numbers and trends within expected levels of incidence for the same period. As dengue is recurrent in this part of the country, the population may be at risk of secondary infection, which puts them at higher risk for severe disease.....Description of the outbreak:
From 1 January to 24 July 2022, a total of 7687 cases of dengue, confirmed by rapid diagnostic test (RDT), and six deaths (case fatality rate, 0.08%) have been reported from the Rohingya refugee/FDMN camps in Cox’s Bazar district, Ukhia Upazila and Teknaf Upazila (sub-districts), with the former sub-district being the most affected of the two. An acute surge of cases began during the week commencing 23 May (epi week 22), and peaked the week ending 26 June (epi week 25), with 93% (7178) of the cumulative number of cases being reported between 23 May and 24 July. A decreasing trend in reported dengue cases was observed following the peak when 1291 cases were reported in epi week 25; however case numbers remain high despite the decline: epi week 26 (1241), epi week 27 (1152), epi week 28 (962), epi week 29 (1000).
Cases of reported dengue in Rohingya refugee/FDMN camps are significantly higher as compared to similar periods over the past four years; 2018 (4 cases), 2019 (7 cases), 2020 (3 cases), and 2021 (1530 cases and 3 deaths with a surge from October to December) (Figure 1). However, at a national level and in the larger Cox’s Bazar district, case numbers have been within expected endemic levels of incidence; by comparison to the dengue case from the camps, the larger Cox’s Bazar district reported approximately 121 cases from 1 January to the end of June (epi week 27).
Camps located in Ukhia Upazila are predominantly affected by the outbreak. Camp 3 accounted for over 50% of all reported cases and Camps 4 and 1W each account for less than 10% of cases as of 24 July 2022. More than two-thirds of cases (67%) were among persons 15 years and older with males accounting for 60% of cases. The majority of cases (81%) were hemodynamically stable – not showing any warning signs for severe dengue syndrome (such as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) or Dengue Shock syndrome (DSS)) nor having any coexisting conditions – while approximately 15% of cases were mild and required observation and admission to primary health facilities. Severe dengue with signs of DHF and DSS was observed in 0.3% of cases and required admission to Cox’s Bazar District Hospital located within the camp. Among patients admitted to the hospital, 1% required blood transfusion. Previous dengue infection was reported in 1% of current cases.
Serotyping results from 10 samples processed at the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) reference laboratory in the capital Dhaka identified DENV-3 (5 samples), DENV-2 (3 samples). Two samples had inconclusive results.
Dengue is endemic in Bangladesh with recurrent outbreaks. The Rohingya refugee/FDMN camps in Cox’s Bazar district previously experienced an acute dengue outbreak from October to December 2021 during which 1530 cases, including 3 deaths, were reported. Case numbers began to decline at the beginning of 2022, and by the end of February, the event was under control until the resurgence of cases in May 2022.
Epidemiology of the disease
Dengue is a viral infection transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes and is found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas. The primary vectors that transmit the disease are Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and, to a lesser extent, Aedes albopictus.
Dengue virus (DENV) has four serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4) and it is possible to be infected by each. Infection with one serotype provides long-term immunity to the homologous serotype but not to the other serotypes; sequential infections put people at greater risk for severe dengue. Many DENV infections produce only mild illness; over 80% of cases are asymptomatic. DENV can cause an acute flu-like illness.
There is no specific treatment for dengue; however, timely detection of cases, identifying any warning signs of severe dengue infection, and appropriate case management are key elements of care to prevent patient death and can lower fatality rates of severe infection to below 1%.
Occasional cases acquired overseas have been reported among individuals returning from an area with active dengue transmission, however, there is no conclusive evidence that there have been cases of dengue imported to Bangladesh.....Public health response: The government of Bangladesh and the Health Sector established a multi-sector coordination group and organized meetings with technical partners to manage and coordinate the response.
WHO supported the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) to undertake an entomological survey of disease-causing mosquito vectors, including dengue vectors, within and around the camp areas.
WHO led a risk assessment visit to the epicentre of the current outbreak (Camp 3) on 21 June 2022.
WHO, through the Epidemiology Technical Working Group (TWG), continues to provide timely situational updates and guide on appropriate response.
A dengue treatment protocol is being finalized by WHO to guide the detection and management of dengue cases including a referral pathway.
WHO is currently finalizing the protocol on case detection and management.
Cox’s District Referral Hospital and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are managing severe cases. Other hospitals and isolation facilities at Primary Health Care Centers (PHC) or dedicated centers are also managing moderate and mild cases.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) PHC located in Camp 3 has dedicated ten isolation and six observation beds for dengue case management to cope with the surge.
WHO has procured and is distributing RDT kits to health sector partners to ensure timely diagnosis across all sentinel facilities, some of which have isolation capacity.
Multi-agency integrated response interventions including Water and Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), environmental management, health, and Risk Communication and Community Engagements (RCCE) are currently being scaled up in the affected camps.
WHO is supporting the transportation of NS1 antigen-positive dengue samples from different health facilities to the IEDCR Reference Laboratory in the capital Dhaka for PCR testing and serotyping.....WHO risk assessment: In August 2017, approximately 700,000 Rohingya nationals fled from Myanmar to Cox’s Bazar district, joining more than 200,000 Rohingya nationals already present, and settling into informal makeshift camps, marked by inadequate access to potable water or quality sanitation and challenging living conditions. The speed and magnitude of the influx exerted pressure on existing resources, strained healthcare services, water, and other social amenities. As a result, there have been high levels of global acute malnutrition (GAM) in children under five years; persistent transmission of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD); recurrent cholera epidemics that are transitioning into an endemic state; persistent diphtheria transmission since 2017; and occasional upsurges of measles, varicella, and skin infections.
Dengue virus has the potential to cause epidemics resulting in high morbidity and mortality. In Bangladesh, hospital capacity is limited and further increases in severe dengue cases may pose considerable challenges in case management. The Severe Acute Respiratory Infections Treatment Centres (SARI ITC) bed occupancy for COVID-19 admissions is 26% as of 26 June. As hospitals become burdened with people affected by the COVID-19 virus, the increase in hospitalized dengue cases may put undue strain on healthcare capacities.
Currently, the district of Cox’s Bazar can detect dengue using RDTs done in approximately 50 sentinel sites distributed across the 33 camps located in Ukhia and Teknaf Upazilas (sub-districts). There is currently no capacity for dengue virus serotyping at Cox’s Bazar Medical College Laboratory.
Cox’s Bazar previously experienced an acute dengue outbreak from October to December 2021. The current surge in dengue cases could be considered a continuation of last year’s transmission. As dengue is recurrent in this part of the country, the population may be at risk of a secondary infection that may lead to serious complications if not treated promptly and adequately.
Key challenges experienced during last year’s dengue upsurge included delays in the international procurement process for dengue RDT kits, the long process necessary for undertaking dengue virus serotype in the capital Dhaka given such capacity is not available in Cox’s Bazar, and weak vector surveillance and control.
In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, other ongoing health events such as cholera/AWD (persistent low level of transmission) and diphtheria (persistent low level of transmission since September 2021) may pose additional challenges in response measures by competing for resources.
Population movement is now more pronounced in Bangladesh with the relaxation of COVID19-related movement restrictions. Cox’s Bazar does not have a direct international point of entry. However, it is close to the seaport in Chattogram and has a domestic airport that receives a large volume of local and international tourists and international humanitarian workers. These factors increase the possibility of international dengue introduction and spread.....WHO advice: The proximity of mosquito vector breeding sites to human habitation is a significant risk factor for dengue virus infection. Although dengue does not spread from human to human, Aedes species mosquitoes can become infected after biting dengue-infected individuals, thus creating a cycle of transmission capable of spreading dengue and leading to clusters of cases.
Vector control activities should focus on all areas where there is a risk of human-vector contact. WHO promotes a strategic approach known as Integrated Vector Management (IVM) to control mosquito vectors. IVM should be enhanced to remove potential breeding sites, reduce vector populations, and minimize individual exposure. This should involve vector control strategies for larvae and adult mosquitoes, including:
Environmental management (i.e., source reduction by improving water storage practices) and eliminating stagnant pools of water.
Larviciding non-potable waters using WHO prequalified larvicides
Distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) in severely affected camps
Provision of ITNs for fever/dengue inpatients in health facilities.
Indoor space spraying (fogging) is another approach for rapid containment of a dengue outbreak but may be challenging to deliver in densely populated areas within camps. Larvicidal prevention measures recommended by MOHFW and WHO are considered more impactful in breaking transmission compared to the targeting of adult mosquitoes with fogging and fumigation.
Personal protective measures during outdoor activities include the topical application of repellents to exposed skin or treatment of clothing, and the use of long sleeves shirts and pants. Indoor protection can include the use of household insecticide aerosol products or mosquito coils. Window and door screens, as well as air conditioning, can reduce the probability of mosquitoes entering the house. Insecticide-treated nets offer good protection to people against mosquito bites while sleeping during the day. Since Aedes mosquitoes are active at dawn and dusk, personal protective measures are recommended particularly at these times of day.
Entomological surveillance should be undertaken to assess the breeding potential of Aedes mosquitoes in containers as well as conducting insecticide resistance testing for vector control intervention.
Rapid detection of severe dengue cases and timely referrals to tertiary hospitals can reduce mortality. Case surveillance should continue to be enhanced in all affected areas and across the country. Where feasible, resources should be allocated to the strengthening of sample referral mechanism for the confirmation and sub-typing of the dengue virus.
WHO does not recommend that any general travel or trade restrictions be applied to Bangladesh based on the information available for this event..."
Source/publisher:
World Health Organization (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-03
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Sub-title:
Trained refugee volunteers are the first line of defence against the frequent fires that tear through camps in the dry season.
Description:
"First, a hole appears in the shelter’s tarpaulin roof, then flames and billowing black smoke. In less than a minute, the tarpaulin has melted completely, and the entire bamboo structure is ablaze.
In the dry season that lasts from December until April in southern Bangladesh, fires like this one are an ever-present threat in Kutupalong – the mega camp that sprang up in August 2017 when more than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to Bangladesh in a matter of weeks.
The government of Bangladesh welcomed the Rohingya but has ensured the temporary nature of the camps with restrictions on the types of building materials refugees and aid agencies can use. As a result, virtually everything in Kutapalong, from shelters to learning centres to walkways, is made from bamboo and tarpaulin, both of which are highly flammable. In addition, the camps are among the most densely populated places in the world with very little space between shelters to act as a natural fire break. In 2021, over 150 fires were reported, the largest of which killed at least 15 people and burned down some 10,000 shelters.
Fortunately, this one is part of a training drill, and refugee volunteers are standing by to put it out, first with a hose attached to a small three-wheeled fire truck, and then with fire extinguishers. They use hand-powered water pumps attached to backpacks to extinguish the last few embers.
“Our people are afraid of fire,” says, Mohammed Yasin, 35, one of the volunteers taking part in the training. “They can break out at any time; we always live in fear.”
Both Bangladeshis and refugees are exposed to “one of the most disaster-prone calendars” in the world, according to Mohamed Othman, who heads up disaster response for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Cox’s Bazar. The fire risk in the dry season is followed by the risk of flooding and landslides in the cyclone and monsoon seasons.
“The nature of the settlements, global climate change, the disaster calendar – all of these things add to the risks of emergencies, which is why we are focusing on preparedness and providing refugees with the tools to respond quickly when a fire or a flood happens,” Othman explains.
The main responders to those emergencies are trained refugee volunteers like Yasin. “This is one of the few humanitarian operations in the world where refugees are leading the emergency response,” says Othman. “They’re the first responders. They are protecting their families and their communities.”
The three-wheeled fire trucks, similar to the “tomtoms” that are the main form of transport in this part of Bangladesh, are a new tool for the volunteer fire-fighters. The small vehicles are better suited than traditional fire trucks to the narrow paths that criss-cross the camps. However, some areas are only accessible on foot.
“We can’t reach all the places where fires break out in time,” says Yasin, who has been working as a Safety Unit Volunteer for the past four years, fighting fires in the dry season and forming part of a cyclone response team in the rainy season. “When we get there, some of the shelters have already burned down.”
Daniel Graham, a technical specialist with Helvetas – a partner organization of UNHCR – who is supervising the training, describes the three-wheelers as one part of a multi-layered response.
“We burn four shelters every day for training,” he explains, adding that a total of 3,500 volunteers will be trained to use the mini-fire trucks, two of which have been delivered to each of the camps.
Each block of each camp has several volunteers like Yasin who are equipped with a fire extinguisher, a helmet and some rubber boots.
The blocks also have fire stands with buckets and sand but so far, only seven of the camps have water tanks that can be used by anyone to collect water for dousing a fire before it gets out of control.
Othman said UNHCR and partners plan to install 50 water tanks in each camp. So far, the authorities have approved the installation of 15 per camp. “We hope after installing those, we will be allowed to add the remaining 35 gradually,” he added.
The volunteers, about a third of whom are women, are trained on how to safely put out a blaze, as well as how to rapidly dismantle shelters surrounding one that is burning to prevent fires from spreading.
Asked why he continues volunteering, despite the risks, Yasin says simply: “These are my people, they are very close to my heart. It feels great to save their lives, and it also saves my life too."..."
Source/publisher:
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2022-06-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)
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Sub-title:
Following Eid, Authorities Ramp Up Restrictions, Crackdo
Description:
"On May 7, a 62-year-old Rohingya refugee was returning to her shelter in Kutupalong camp after collecting food rations when she was stopped at a checkpoint with other Rohingya by officers from Bangladesh’s Armed Police Battalion, or APBn, who refused to let them through. “The police officers suddenly became angry and started beating us with bamboo sticks.” She remembers falling. “Some people were hurt. I injured my waist. I was finally able to flee but lost my rations and ID.”
Human Rights Watch spoke with five Rohingya refugees who described being beaten by APBn officers and other officials at camp checkpoints over the past few days.
In two camps, Bangladesh authorities have introduced a draconian permission application for movement within the camp areas, which some refugees compared to the oppressive conditions they faced back in Myanmar. The authorities are reportedly planning to institute the policy across all camps.
The crackdown follows the temporary detention of 656 Rohingya on May 4 and 5 for celebrating the Eid ul-Fitr holiday outside the camp confines, as well as months of worsening restrictions on Rohingya’s freedom to move, work, and study.
“We live in camps surrounded by barbed wire fencing, with no options for celebration, so we went [to a nearby beach] to celebrate Eid,” a Rohingya refugee said. “But they detained us, and then charged us each 200-500 BDT [US$3-6] for transportation back to camp.”
Two Rohingya said the police beat them when they tried to get critical medicine for their parents. “My mother has ‘kala jaundice’ [hepatitis C],” one told us. “Yesterday, I was stopped by APBn when I went to the Lambasia checkpoint with her medical documents and prescription. The only way to buy the medicine is from a pharmacy outside the camp, but they didn’t allow me to leave. The APBn beat me, and I fled in fear.”
Governments have an international legal obligation to ensure medical care for refugees at least equivalent to that available to the general population.
The checkpoint harassment is seemingly part of the authorities’ efforts to coerce refugees to relocate to the remote island of Bhasan Char or to return to Myanmar. Donors funding the refugee response, including the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union, should urge Bangladesh to reverse these harsh restrictions before the refugees’ lives closely mirror the constraints and harassment they fled..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Save the Children is deeply saddened by the deaths of at least 17 people, including children, when a boat carrying 90 Rohingya refugees capsized off the coast of Myanmar on Saturday.
Several of the bodies found were children aged between 11 and 12, according to local reports. More than 50 people remain missing.
May is the first month of the region's monsoon season, increasing the risk of capsizing to those taking perilous sea voyages in search of a better life. Hundreds of Rohingya have died in similar boat incidents in the past few years, Save the Children said.
Sultana Begum, Regional Humanitarian Advocacy and Policy Manager at Save the Children, said:
"This should be a wake-up call for us all. The long-drawn-out persecution of Rohingya people has now claimed more innocent lives, among them, children .
"Past experiences of violence, as well as poverty and insecurity, push Rohingya families to make these deadly sea journeys in search of a better life. These journeys are extremely dangerous, and those fleeing risk death, grave physical and mental harm, and sickness.
"The need to ensure that Rohingya people are safe, respected, and protected is as pressing as ever. Countries across the region should develop a system to monitor refugee boat movements and rapidly respond to prevent further loss of life at sea. They should then ensure their rights as refugees are respected in-country. Without this, it is difficult to see how the next generation of Rohingya children are able to have a future in which they are safe, protected "and their rights are fulfilled."
Save the Children is one of the leading International NGOs working in Cox's Bazar District in Bangladesh. The agency is supporting Rohingya refugee children and their families with access to education, health and nutrition, food, water, shelter and child protection services. We have reached more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees, including 462,785 children since the response started in 2017..."
Source/publisher:
Save the Children (London)
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Children, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Description:
"DHAKA - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi appealed today for sustained and predictable support for Rohingya refugees and their local host communities in Bangladesh, while emphasizing the need to maintain refugees’ hopes for voluntary return to Myanmar once the situation allows.
Grandi is currently wrapping up a five-day trip to Bangladesh where he met Rohingya refugees, the country’s top leadership, UNHCR donors and humanitarian actors.
“The world must remember the crisis that Rohingya refugees and their hosts have been facing for the last five years. The refugees’ lives depend on how the international community responds in caring for them,” Grandi said, after visiting the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char island.
Bangladesh hosts some one million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled for their lives from Myanmar in 2017 while others arrived many years earlier. Grandi expressed gratitude to Bangladesh and underlined the important strides in the refugee response under the leadership of the Government, including COVID-19 vaccinations for more than 88 per cent of the refugee population over 18 years of age.
“Bangladesh, which has led in assisting nearly a million refugees, remains a priority partner for UNHCR, but continued international support is crucial to provide life-saving assistance and build hope,” Grandi stressed. “This is why I am here, to try to shine a spotlight on Bangladesh, its people, and the Rohingya refugees it has been hosting for decades, and to remind the international community of the importance of their support, including flexible funding to protect Rohingya refugees until they can safely return home.”
The High Commissioner said the solutions lie within Myanmar. While UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and UNDP continue to work on community projects in Rakhine state under a tripartite agreement with Myanmar, initiatives must be scaled up and more support is needed to create conditions for voluntary returns in a just, safe, and sustainable manner. “The Rohingya refugees I met reiterated their desire to return home when conditions allow. The world must work to address the root causes of their flight and to translate those dreams into reality,” Grandi said.
While in Bangladesh, it is important that Rohingya refugees can live in safety and dignity, that they can send their children to school and learn from the Myanmar curriculum, which is being rolled out in the refugee camps. Some 52 per cent of the refugee population are under the age of 18.
“Skills development and livelihood activities in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char are extremely important in allowing refugees to build peaceful communities, contribute to a safe environment and support their sustainable return,” Grandi added.
Some 28,000 Rohingya refugees have been relocated to Bhasan Char by the Government of Bangladesh, and the High Commissioner observed that essential humanitarian services have been scaled up. He called for continued strong Government leadership on the island, enhanced education services, skills development and livelihood initiatives.
Humanitarian agencies need more than US$881 million this year to support approximately 1.4 million people, including 920,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, and around 540,000 Bangladeshis in neighbouring communities. As of May 2022, the Joint Response Plan is only 13 per cent funded..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Sub-title:
There is still time for the world to step up and do the right thing
Description:
"For the Bangladeshi foreign secretary to reach out to Singapore and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for assistance with regard to repatriation of the Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar to their homeland Myanmar is appreciated and expected, and is yet another step taken by Bangladesh to ensure that the Rohingya population return back home.
By now, Myanmar’s indolence and lack of cooperation when it comes to taking back their own people has been well documented, as has the lacklustre support the international community has shown towards expediting the repatriation of the over one million refugees who currently reside within the borders of Bangladesh.
Yet Bangladesh, while continuing to go above and beyond in how they provide for this persecuted population, must also not stop putting pressure on the international community for doing the right thing and helping the Rohingya return home.
It has been five years since the last mass exodus of Rohingya refugees from Rakhine State. Since then, the fact that we are no closer to repatriation is a sorry state of affairs, and in addition to Myanmar itself for allowing the atrocities to be committed against its own people, the international community, the rights agencies, and collective governments across the world should be held accountable for allowing this sustained injustice to perpetuate.
Yet, there is still time for the world to step up and do the right thing. For Singapore and the rest of the Asean, putting pressure on Myanmar, holding the current military regime accountable, and ensuring that the Rohingya are able to return home safely, with all of the rights afforded to a citizen, is the least they can do.
Failure to do so would just be a continuation of the impunity Myanmar continues to enjoy, and it will tell the world that organizations and nations alike are all talk, with personal interests trumping morality and doing the right thing..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-21
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"The Commission is releasing an extra €22 million in humanitarian aid to ensure life-saving support for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh, as well as Rohingya and other conflict-affected people in Myanmar. The funding will address immediate needs, including protection services, food assistance, nutrition, health and shelter.
Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: "The Rohingya crisis has reached unprecedented proportions and sustained international solidarity is essential to tackle the enduring humanitarian needs. The EU's new aid package underlines our commitment to the most vulnerable refugees and their host communities in Bangladesh, as well as conflict-affected population in Myanmar".
With this additional funding, EU humanitarian aid and disaster preparedness support in Bangladesh this year exceeds €41 million, with a focus on addressing the most pressing needs of Rohingyas and their host communities in the country. In Myanmar, EU humanitarian funding now totals over €27 million to respond to increased needs since the military take-over.
Background
In Bangladesh, over 919,000 Rohingya refugees live in precarious and deteriorating conditions with a majority located in congested Cox's Bazar refugee camps. Approximately 27,000 refugees have been relocated to the island of Bhasan Char. Gaps in humanitarian coverage have a dramatic effect as Rohingya refugees remain entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. In Myanmar, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has sharply increased from 1 million to 14.4 million people since 2021, and there are currently 936 700 internally displaced people reported in the country, while humanitarian access is increasingly constrained.
The EU has been actively helping people in Bangladesh (since 2002) and Myanmar (since 1994) with a keen focus on disaster preparedness and emergency response activities, providing life-saving support to Rohingya refugees and funding emergency assistance to people affected by natural hazards..."
Source/publisher:
The European Union
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-20
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The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), European Union-Burma relations - European Parliament
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"Geneva, Dhaka (16 May 2022) – The United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (“IIMM” or “Mechanism”), completed a working visit to Bangladesh Saturday. Assistant Secretary-General Nicholas Koumjian, the Head of the Mechanism, deemed the mission highly successful, and thanked the Government of Bangladesh for its pledge of full cooperation with the Mechanism. He stated that “the highly professional and practical approach of the Bangladeshi Authorities is greatly appreciated. We were able to agree to practical arrangements that will allow the Mechanism to advance its evidence gathering activities in Bangladesh while ensuring the security and privacy of all with whom we interact.”
The delegation, led by Mr. Koumjian, visited Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar from 7 to 14 May 2022. This was the second official visit of the Mechanism to Bangladesh. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mechanism had not been able to return to Bangladesh since its first mission to Cox’s Bazar in November 2019.
In Dhaka, the delegation met with representatives of the Government of Bangladesh to discuss Bangladesh’s ongoing cooperation with the Mechanism. Mr. Koumjian also delivered a lecture on international justice mechanisms at BRAC University and met with civil society representatives at the Liberation War Museum.
In Cox’s Bazar, the delegation engaged with relevant authorities and civil society organizations. The delegation conducted six interactive dialogues with over 150 Rohingya representatives to raise awareness about the Mechanism’s purpose and methods of work.
In an effort to explain the Mechanism’s work and what it can and cannot do, Mr. Koumjian spoke with representatives from different groups of Rohingya, including women’s organizations, and gave an interview to Radio Naf, which broadcasts in the Rohingya language. He expressed appreciation to the camp authorities for facilitating these meetings and to all those who took the time to attend.
Mr. Koumjian stressed that the Mechanism places great importance on engaging with the Rohingya forcibly displaced from Myanmar and now present in Cox’s Bazar. “We want to assure victims that the Mechanism is working to contribute to proceedings, including at the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, to ensure justice and accountability for the crimes that were committed against them,” he said. “We also want to listen to their concerns and to let them know that their safety and security are of paramount importance to us. We will never share their information without their informed consent.
Mr. Koumjian explained that “My team and I were very moved as we listened to the Rohingya representatives recount the suffering their people endured. Many speakers explained that their hope and desire is to return to the country where they were born, rebuild their communities and enjoy all normal and basic rights. These words inspired my team and I to redouble our efforts to gather compelling evidence to contribute to judicial processes that we hope will bring some measure of justice to the Rohingya and instill confidence that will enable their safe and voluntary return to their homes in Myanmar.”
The Mechanism was established by the Human Rights Council in September 2018 to collect, consolidate, preserve, and analyze evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011. The Human Rights Council also directed the Mechanism to prepare files that will facilitate fair and independent criminal proceedings in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have, or in the future may have, jurisdiction over these crimes..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations ( New York )
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-18
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Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Rights groups see the trend as a fallout of heightened insecurity in the community following cases of detention and forceful deportation of a Rohingya woman to Myanmar
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"A series of arrests of Rohingyas attempting trying to cross over to Bangladesh from India in the past weeks indicates an emerging trend of reverse migration triggered by forceful deportation of some members of the refugee community to Myanmar.
A BSF team on Monday (May 2) arrested 24 Rohingyas, including 10 children, from the state’s Unakoti district. Many among those arrested were possessing refugee cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
After preliminary investigation, police said, the group came from Jammu by train to Tripura via Kolkata in West Bengal and Guwahati in Assam. They planned to cross over to Bangladesh through the international border at Kailashahar, police suspect.
Earlier, on April 28, six Rohingiyas were arrested by Tripura police at Dharmanagar Railway Station soon after they arrived from New Delhi by Tripura Sundari Express. They too were reportedly planning to sneak into Bangladesh. One woman in the group was carrying UNHCR’s refugee card.
Prior to the two back-to-back arrests in Tripura, the Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested 13 members of the community, including six children and two women, at New Jalpaiguri railway station in West Bengal. They reached the NJP railway station in two groups from Jammu and New Delhi, the railway police said, and were waiting to board an Assam-bound train.
During preliminary interrogation, the group told the police that they had planned to go to the Rohingya camp in Bangladesh by sneaking out of India through the international border in Tripura. They were arrested under the Foreigners’ Act for travelling without proper travel documents.
An estimated 40,000 Rohingyas live in India. Of them, at least 20,000 are registered with the UNHCR as refugees.
Heightened insecurity
Rights groups see the trend as a fallout of heightened insecurity among the community following renewed cases of detention and a case of forceful deportation of a Rohingya woman to Myanmar by the Government of India.
In March this year, a 37-year-old Rohingya woman, Hasina Begum, was deported from Jammu to Myanmar, a country she fled to escape persecution in 2012. “She was deported despite holding a UNHCR’s refugee card and objecting to her push back through the international border in Moreh in Manipur by the Manipur Human Rights Commission,” said Sabber Kyaw Min, director of the New Delhi-based Rohingya Human Rights Initiative.
The commission had said her deportation would be a violation of the constitutional right to life.
International law prohibits the forced return of refugees to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened. India, however, is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention of 1951 or its 1967 Protocol. The country also does not have a clear refugee policy.
Perception of Rohingyas
Ever since the BJP came to power in 2014, India has viewed the Rohingya issue as a “security threat” rather than a humanitarian crisis. Last year, the Union government had announced plans to deport Rohingya refugees currently lodged in detention centres. The government made clear its plan after the Supreme Court had refused to stay their deportation.
Hasina was among the 170 refugees detained in Jammu on March 6, 2021 and lodged in Hiranagar Jail, considered as “holding centres” for Rohingyas to undergo verification process for deportation. Her three children aged 14, 13 and 9 years are now stranded in Jammu without their mother.
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, termed the government’s action as “cruel disregard for human life and international law.” The HRW said the deportation highlighted the life-threatening risk Rohingya refugees are facing in India.
Min said they also got some unconfirmed reports of another Rohingya man, Jafar Alam, being deported to Myanmar from Jammu.
Since October 2018, India has deported 12 Rohingyas to Myanmar, as per rights groups. The government, however, maintained that they left voluntarily.
The day Hasina was deported, the authorities in Jammu detained 25 Rohingya refugees and sent them to Hiranagar holding centre for pre-deportation verification.
Also read: US to declare Rohingya repression in Myanmar a genocide
Amnesty India said the detention was an “abject dereliction of India’s human rights obligations and an egregious violation of international law.”
There are 235 Rohingya refugees, including around 20 minors, reportedly lodged at the Harinagar holding centre to undergo nationality verification needed for their deportation. These developments contributed to the sense of insecurity, Min said.
Also read: Rohingya children face a dark future without healthcare & education
“As per our estimate, around 600 Rohingya refugees have gone to Bangladesh since March this year because of the heightened insecurity,” he added.
Fake allegations
Their cause has been further hampered by the fake allegations of their involvement in the April riot in New Delhi’s Jahangirpuri. “We had nothing to do with the riots. We are peace loving and law-abiding people. We are committed to abide by the laws of our host countries. Yet, we are targeted,” Min added.
Faced with the hostile situation, the community now feels Bangladesh could be a better refuge. Bangladesh has sheltered the highest number of Rohingya Muslim refugees, the most persecuted minority in the world. Nearly 1 million of them live in camps in the eastern nation’s Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char Island..."
Source/publisher:
The Federal
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-06
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Individual Documents
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Burmese refugees in India, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma
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"A breakthrough for Rohingya refugee children living in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in Bangladesh sees the first 10,000 children enrolled to receive education based on the national curriculum of their home country Myanmar. This milestone will be reached this month.
The Myanmar Curriculum Pilot, launched by UNICEF and partners in November 2021, is a critical step forward towards ensuring the fundamental right to education for Rohingya refugee children. It will help prepare the children for their return to Myanmar.
“There is a tremendous demand for education among Rohingya refugee children, and UNICEF and partners are on the ground in the camps, responding to that demand,” said Mr. Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative to Bangladesh.
There are over 400,000 school-aged Rohingya children in the Bangladesh refugee camps. With approximately 300,000 of these children attending learning centres, UNICEF and partners are running a mammoth education operation in what is the largest refugee settlement in the world. There are 3,400 learning centres across multiple camps, of which 2,800 are supported by UNICEF.
To date, most of the children have been learning through the so-called Learning Competency Framework Approach (LCFA), which covers levels one to four and caters primarily to children aged 4-14. The LCFA was created as an emergency measure for Rohingya refugee children and is a largely informal learning system. The curriculum that is now being piloted is based on the Myanmar national curriculum, and it provides Rohingya refugee children with formal and standardized education. In addition, the Myanmar Curriculum fills a critical secondary education gap: It provides schooling also for older children who have largely lacked access to education.
The Myanmar Curriculum Pilot initially targets 10,000 children in grades six to nine. In normal circumstances, grades six to nine cater to children aged 11-14. However, many Rohingya refugee children have fallen behind in their education, and so most children enrolled in grades six to nine are aged 14-16. UNICEF aims to scale up in phases so that by 2023, all school-aged children are taught through the Myanmar curriculum.
Despite much progress, approximately 100,000 school-aged Rohingya refugee children are not in school. UNICEF and partners are working to reach out to these children and to remove the barriers that prevent them from going to school. Private and community-based learning facilities that meet the needs of both boys and girls, and which are operated with sufficient oversight, could also play a role in providing educational services. UNICEF engages with all stakeholders who play a role in the effort to provide Rohingya refugee children with equitable and inclusive access to standardized education.
“We need to do all we can to give these children hope, to provide them with education, to prepare them for their futures in Myanmar. UNICEF will continue to work with the Rohingya refugee community, the Government of Bangladesh and partners until every refugee child is reached with quality education,” said Mr. Yett..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Population Fund (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-02
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UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Children, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Bangladesh’s government must urgently take steps to support the community-led learning facilities in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and strengthen their resources in line with the country’s international commitment to protect children’s right to education, 25 undersigned organizations said in a statement today.
About 30 community-led schools have been shut down or dismantled by the authorities since December 2021. The closure of community learning facilities in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh is detrimental to the community’s development and a gross violation of children’s right to education which puts them at the risk of becoming a lost generation.
Nearly half a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are children, who constitute 52% of the refugees registered in the camps. They have been deprived of access to education in an accredited curriculum since they sought refuge in Bangladesh in August 2017.
In January 2020, Bangladesh’s government made a promise to introduce the Myanmar curriculum for about 10,000 children from grades six to nine. The Rohingya community has been offering education to their children through the community schools due to a delay in the rollout of the program by more than two years since Bangladesh’s government announced its plan.
Rohingya refugees said that some schoolteachers were detained by the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) and released in exchange of signing a paper with the condition that they will stop teaching.
“It is not a crime to teach students and show them the right path of life. It is a basic human right,” said a Rohingya community teacher.
Rights groups have documented allegations against authorities threatening refugees with confiscating their refugee identification cards and relocation to the remote Bhasan Char island if they violate the ban on operating or attending community-led schools.
Access to education and other human rights of the Rohingya refugees are as critical as the battle is for justice and accountability for the crimes committed against the Rohingya people. It is pivotal for their right to voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return to their homes in Myanmar.
“All that the community want is the formal education that will be useful to continue studying in Myanmar,” said a Rohingya youth, whose identity is being withheld for his safety.
Education is one of the most important activities that can keep the Rohingya population away from being exploited by harmful groups including child traffickers, drug smugglers, armed groups, and others who sense opportunity in people’s misery.
It is pivotal to empower the Rohingya refugees to claim their rights and speak for themselves. Loss of critical academic years is not only depriving the community of their educational development but also increasing their dependency on uncertain humanitarian aid.
The existing learning centres authorized by the government and operated by UNICEF and other humanitarian partners offer education to children from four to 14 years of age. The program leaves out the older age groups, some of whom were about to take their matriculation examination at the time of the exodus in 2017.
The undersigned 25 organizations call on Bangladesh’s government to:
Ensure access to education for all Rohingya children by building capacity for all learning facilities within the refugee camps including by granting legal status to community schools in line with their international commitments;
Immediately re-open all community schools and put a stop to all harassment, threats and attacks against refugees, avoid any discriminatory policies that affect the right to education of Rohingya children in Bangladesh;
Put an end to the crackdown on community-led schools and Rohingya refugees for operating them;
Launch prompt, transparent, impartial and independent investigation into the allegations against members of law enforcement agencies for detaining Rohingya refugees and authorities threatening them with forced relocation to Bhasan Char island for operating schools;
Establish and strengthen government infrastructure to provide complete access to education to Rohingya population. Ensure that any vacancies are filled by individuals with knowledge and commitment to integrating Rohingya culture and practices into the teaching modules.
The organizations also call on the United Nations and the international community to:
Urgently engage with Bangladesh’s government to raise concerns about the closure of community-led schools in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and provide support to education for all children in the camps and elsewhere;
Offer assistance to build capacity for all learning facilities within the refugee camps including community schools with regards to access to teaching materials, teachers and learning spaces;
Allocate adequate and specific funds towards and implement education programmes and projects as part of a comprehensive and long-term commitment to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-29
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"In April 2022, Human Rights Watch, the European Rohingya Council, and 37 other concerned groups wrote to Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, about the government of Bangladesh’s closure of schools for Rohingya refugee children. The letter to the EU is reproduced below, and the letter to the US is linked here.
***
April 15, 2022
Josep Borrell Fontelles,
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Jutta Urpilainen,
Commissioner for International Partnerships
Janez Lenarčič,
Commissioner for Crisis Management
Cc: Ambassador Charles Whiteley,
Head of EU Delegation to Bangladesh
Dear High Representative Borrell, dear Commissioners Urpilainen and Lenarčič,
As a leading donor to the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, the European Commission has provided crucial support for Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh. Education for many of those children is now in peril.
We therefore hope that the EU will publicly call on Bangladesh authorities to reverse their decision to close schools for tens of thousands of Rohingya children in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar who now have no access to education, and urge like-minded governments to do the same. We also urge you to pressure the Bangladesh government to officially recognize and approve the work of Rohingya community-led schools in the refugee camps and allow humanitarian funding to support formal, accredited education for Rohingya students, including secondary education. Under current restrictions, EU funding may only support informal, unaccredited, basic lessons for younger children.
Annex: Bangladesh Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner’s School-Closure Order
In December, the authorities ordered,[i] without explanation, the closure of early childhood development programs, informal “home-based learning centers” with 22,000 students, and community-led “private” schools that were teaching the formal Myanmar curriculum to up to 40,000 students.[ii] The home-based and early childhood programs were established with support from the EU and other donors. The community-led schools provided Rohingya refugee children’s only access to instruction in a formal curriculum and to secondary-level classes since August 2017, but the authorities did not recognize or allow the schools to request approval or legal status, and they received no humanitarian funding. To our knowledge, neither the EU nor any UN agency has advocated publicly on behalf of the community-led schools.
Since December, Bangladesh authorities have demolished and forcibly closed community-led schools, detained a teacher who had not closed his school, and warned that teachers and families whose children continue to study will suffer confiscation of their family data cards, which are needed to obtain essential humanitarian aid and services, and will be transferred to a remote, flood-prone island, Bhasan Char. The camp authorities also ordered the closure of madrasas, which provide Islamic religious instruction.
Refugees and humanitarian groups fear the school closures are part of government plans to coerce more families to relocate to Bhasan Char. Refugees on the island face severe movement restrictions, food and medicine shortages, abuses by security forces, and are prevented from returning to the mainland.[iii]
The Bangladesh government is opposed to Rohingya refugees integrating locally and prohibits Rohingya children from studying outside the camps. Humanitarian groups may provide only informal, basic lessons, and instruction in the Bangla language and school curricula is banned.[iv] However, the community-led schools taught the Myanmar curriculum, in response to widespread demand among Rohingya refugees for education that will enable their children to repatriate and build successful lives in their homeland. Bangladesh agreed in January 2020 to permit the humanitarian education sector to teach the Myanmar curriculum, initially to 10,000 secondary-level students.[v] Under the education sector’s plan, supported by the EU and other donors, the community-led schools were to gain government recognition and be included in the sector.[vi] The school closures undermine this plan.
The EU has prioritized funding for education in emergencies and pledged to “advocate for and support education system reform” in emergencies and protracted crises, “such as expanding and strengthening the teaching workforce.”[vii] EU law also links the preferential trade status granted to Bangladesh to its fulfillment of basic human rights and subjects Bangladesh to “enhanced engagement.” The EU should ensure that its enhanced engagement also covers pressing human rights issues including all children’s access to education.[viii] In April 2018, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was “deeply concerned” that Bangladesh’s refusal to grant legal status to Rohingya prevented them from accessing education outside the refugee camps.[ix]
Bangladesh’s policies are denying Rohingya refugee girls and boys the chance for a better future. The closure of community-led schools will place former students at increased risk of trafficking, and teachers whose schools were closed have said their male former students are now engaged in child labor and that girls have been married off. Bangladesh saved countless Rohingya lives by opening its borders in August 2017, but the authorities’ restrictions on schooling are creating an education and protection crisis for a generation of Rohingya refugee children, which could ultimately impact peace and security in the camps. We hope that you will continue to raise these critical issues with the Bangladesh government on an urgent basis.
We would be grateful if you would agree to meet with representatives from a number of our organizations to discuss these issues in more detail in the coming weeks..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-19
[field_licence]
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Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Recently, the US officially recognised the coordinated atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority, perpetrated by the Myanmar military through a bloody "clearance operation," as "genocide," the gravest of crimes. Within the first three weeks of the deadly military crackdown in August 2017, Bangladesh took in more refugees than the entirety of Europe did during the Syrian crisis. Since then, Bangladesh has been generously sheltering more than 1.2 million Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds. Following this refugee influx—the fastest and largest—Bangladesh and Myanmar signed two bilateral agreements in 2017 and 2019 for the repatriation of these forcibly displaced Rohingyas. But due to the reluctance and non-cooperation on Myanmar's part, repatriation remains a distant reality. The situation has become further complicated due to the ongoing conflict between the military regime and the pro-democracy front, following the audacious coup on February 1, 2021.
However, Naypyidaw's recent proposal to take back 700 Rohingyas frustrated Dhaka, as the former compiled the "verified list" in a way that apparently showed its "lack of goodwill" for repatriation. Again, the question arises: Is repatriation the only sustainable solution to end the plight of the stranded Rohingyas?
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But, as per the legal maxim of William E Gladstone, "Justice delayed is justice denied." As almost five years have elapsed without an enduring solution, it's high time we rethought a viable way out of this crisis. The 1951 Refugee Convention, a universal treaty on the status and rights of refugees, could be a legal statute to resolve any refugee crisis with three possible solutions: local integration, resettlement in other countries or voluntary repatriation. An in-depth assessment of those options, discerning distinct spectrums of the crisis, could offer one that would be feasible in resolving the protracted Rohingya crisis.
An impact assessment study, jointly conducted by the UNDP and the Policy Research Institute, unveiled the immense socio-economic pressure and environmental costs of supporting Rohingya refugees for Bangladesh, an already overpopulated country with more than 165 million people. The total geographical area of Bangladesh is 147,570 sq-km, 92nd in terms of country size, and smaller than the US state of Iowa. It is understandable why it is impossible for Bangladesh to accommodate 1.2 million Rohingyas—more than the total population of Bhutan—on its limited land. Moreover, Bangladesh, which has long been struggling with its own unemployment problems, has neither the financial capability to ensure basic needs and life-saving assistance for the Rohingya refugees, nor provide them with employment opportunities.
Arguably, even if Bangladesh started integrating the refugees locally, it would motivate the Tatmadaw not only to continue delaying the repatriation, but also to conduct its brutality on around 600,000 Rohingyas now living in Myanmar, and to make them stateless. Besides, the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights stated point-blank that they did not want Bangladeshi citizenship, and would rather go back to their homeland. So, integrating them locally, against their will, would equate depriving them of fundamental and human rights. This is why the World Bank has been recently hit with extensive criticism for its proposal of local integration—an unacceptable solution on all grounds—of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh.
Apart from Bangladesh, the members of this persecuted minority are now living in 19 other countries. As of today, no other country has expressed interest in granting citizenship to the Rohingya refugees with due economic and social rights. As the countries with the capability to accept Rohingyas are already struggling with the global refugee problem, it is illogical to expect that they would resettle millions of Rohingyas as citizens. According to the UNHCR, around 84 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes, of whom more than 26 million are refugees. The number has been intensified by the recent Ukraine war, which has resulted in the second largest ongoing refugee crisis in the world, after Syria. As overseas resettlement is a voluntary option, depending on the willingness of third-party countries, it should not even be considered as an option until any large country, in terms of geographical area and financial capability, wilfully declares their acceptance of Rohingya refugees.
Given the socio-economic conditions of Bangladesh and the intense global refugee crisis, dignified repatriation ensuring internationally monitored safe zones remains the only sustainable solution to put an end to the Rohingyas' struggles. As formal diplomatic manoeuvres see no light at the end of the tunnel, Bangladesh may venture into informal diplomacy as well. Though the Tatmadaw is directly ruling Myanmar now, they indirectly ruled this quasi-civilian state, as a near-deep state, even when they were not in power. This is why defence diplomacy, especially military-to-military cooperation, could be fruitful not only to understand the Tatmadaw's psychology, but also in convincing them for the safe and dignified repatriation of the Rohingyas. Also, deepening bilateral ties through economic dependency, such as exploring unexamined avenues of economic sectors, leasing agricultural lands, importing natural gas, etc between these two neighbours could also be helpful. Obviously, this does not mean that Bangladesh should stop pushing world communities to exert continuous pressure on Myanmar to expedite the Rohingya repatriation process and end the cycle of systemic abuse against the Rohingyas. Instead, Bangladesh should leave no stone unturned to ensure the safe and dignified repatriation for the most persecuted minority of our time..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star (London)
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Sub-title:
Authorities Demolish Shops, Close Schools, Curb Movement
Description:
" Bangladesh authorities have, in recent months, intensified their restrictions on Rohingya refugees’ livelihoods, movement, and education, Human Rights Watch said today. Officials have arbitrarily destroyed thousands of shops while imposing new obstacles on travel within the camps in Cox’s Bazar, denying the Rohingya the ability to live freely and independently.
Bangladesh authorities should lift the new restrictions, allow markets and schools to reopen, and facilitate donors’ efforts to improve refugees’ access to livelihoods, health care, and education.
“Bangladesh is understandably burdened with hosting nearly one million Rohingya refugees, but cutting them off from opportunities to work and study is only compounding their vulnerability and dependence on aid,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Bangladesh government should formalize and expand employment opportunities to bolster the Rohingya’s self-reliance and enable them to support their families and communities.”
Human Rights Watch, in February and March 2022, spoke with 13 Rohingya refugees who described how the new restrictions have prevented them from being able to provide for their families, give their children an education, or build communities. At the same time, Bangladesh officials have pressured the refugees to relocate to Bhasan Char island or return to Myanmar. The worsening conditions in the camps raises concerns that authorities are acting deliberately to coerce refugees to leave, Human Rights Watch said.
Even prior to the shop demolitions, Rohingya reported that access to employment was their greatest concern in the camps, according to a 2021 survey by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Although refugees are not officially permitted to work, over half the Rohingya and 30 percent of children ages 15 to17 reported doing informal work, putting them at risk of exploitation and arrest.
The informal marketplaces set up by Rohingya became vital sources of income for covering basic needs and supplementing aid rations. But beginning in October 2021, officials began bulldozing shops in several camps, often without notice. More than 3,000 shops have been destroyed, affecting tens of thousands of refugees.
Mohammed Ali, 37 (all refugees are identified by pseudonyms), ran a clothing shop that was demolished without notice, destroying 300,000 BDT (US$3,500) worth of clothes and leaving him in debt. “I had to take loans to build up the products in my store,” he said. “Now it’s become impossible for me to pay them back.”
A shopkeeper, Abdul Amin, 28, said that shop owners had tried to negotiate with the Camp-in-Charge (CiC, a Bangladesh official) when they heard other markets were being demolished. “They didn’t hear our requests,” he said. “They didn’t even allow us to take the remaining products from our shops. They just came and demolished with bulldozers. My loss is worth about a million BDT ($11,600).”
Abdul Amin said that 40 refugees depended on his business, including his 15 family members and the families of his four employees. “Now I cannot buy extra food needed for my family,” he said. “I cannot afford medicine needed for my mother. I cannot give my children education.… My workers have been continually telling me how tough it has become for them also to support their families.”
Refugees said that the income from the shops helped them supplement the limited food rations of oil, rice, and lentils. “The ration we get as aid isn’t enough for a whole family,” said Mohammed Ali, who had earned about 30,000 BDT ($350) a month at his clothing shop to support his family of 10.
Amir, 37, ran a mobile phone repair shop earning about 500 BDT ($6) a day, which allowed him to buy vegetables, fish, and necessary supplies for his six-person family. “Now the authorities won’t even allow me to run my business from my shelter,” he said. “I really don’t understand how our simple initiative to live slightly better lives in the camps harms Bangladesh.”
A grocery shop owner, 35, said his family of 11 and the families of his two employees were dependent on the store income. “The demolition of the marketplace destroyed my shop and so many like mine,” he said. “Now we’ve turned into beggars again.”
Bangladesh’s deputy refugee commissioner, Shamsud Douza, said the shops were demolished because they were “illegal.” A senior government official told the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, “Livelihood opportunity is not the responsibility of Bangladesh.”
Many refugees said their attempts to continue operating their businesses from their shelters had also been shut down. “Since the demolition, authorities won’t allow us to run another business,” Mohammed Ali said. “They said it’s prohibited, and that we are not living in our own country, we are living in another country, and we cannot earn money in another territory.”
The nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh lack recognized legal status, which puts them on precarious footing under domestic law and makes them vulnerable to rights violations. However, as a party to core international human rights treaties, Bangladesh is obligated to ensure everyone in its jurisdiction, including refugees, has access to fundamental rights, including freedom of movement, livelihoods, education, and health care, Human Rights Watch said.
Rohingya also described new arbitrary restrictions on movement within the camps in recent months, including threats, frequent curfews, and harassment at checkpoints. “Before, we used to move freely around the camps to visit friends and families,” Amir said. “But now we face a lot of questioning by the authorities whenever we’re outside our shelter.”
One refugee, 43, said that in the past, he had been able to travel freely within the camps, but in December, officers of the armed police battalion (APBn) stopped him at a checkpoint on his way to visit family in another camp, claiming he did not have the camp official’s permission. “This time, they made me wait at their checkpoint until my family members bribed the APBn officials,” he said. “Since then, I stopped going outside of my shelter.”
Another refugee, 22, said that majhis (Rohingya community leaders) told his block that camp officials had ordered Rohingya not to leave their shelters at night. In February, two police officers stopped him at a checkpoint in the late afternoon while he was returning to his shelter after visiting relatives. “One of them started slapping me, saying that I was lying,” he said. “They took me to the APBn police barrack in Camp 12 and kept me there overnight.” He was released the next day after paying a 30,000 BDT ($350) bribe.
The authorities began building fencing in the camps in 2019, ostensibly to ensure the refugees’ safety. Instead, the fencing denies them freedom of movement while placing them at serious risk during emergencies, such as fires, which has led to preventable deaths. Six fires have broken out in 2022 thus far, which Save the Children called “avoidable,” urging officials to create additional openings in the fencing.
New restrictions have also been placed on education, depriving Rohingya children of the opportunity to learn and build self-reliant futures. In December, Bangladesh authorities banned Rohingya-led community schools, affecting about 60,000 students.
Refugees and humanitarian groups fear the recent dire restrictions are part of the government’s efforts to coerce refugees to relocate to Bhasan Char or repatriate to Myanmar. Bangladesh authorities have already moved about 22,000 Rohingya to the remote, flood-prone island, where they face severe movement restrictions, food and medicine shortages, and abuses by security forces. Many have been transferred without full, informed consent, and have been prevented from returning to the mainland.
The Bangladesh government has also renewed efforts to repatriate the Rohingya, declaring its top priority “is immediate repatriation of the Rohingyas to their homeland Myanmar.” In January, Bangladesh officials held the first meeting of a new task force formed with Myanmar junta officials, announcing joint plans to “expeditiously complete the verification process.”
Two prior repatriation attempts failed, with Rohingya refugees unwilling to return due to the ongoing risk of persecution and abuse in Myanmar. In December, the special rapporteur on Myanmar reported that “conditions for the safe, sustainable, dignified return of the Rohingya to their homeland currently do not exist,” given the frequent atrocities by the Myanmar junta and ongoing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution faced by the Rohingya.
Refoulement, the forcible return of refugees to places where their lives, physical integrity, or freedom would be threatened, occurs not only when the authorities directly expel refugees, but also when indirect pressure is so intense that it leads people to believe they have no option but to return to a country where they face a serious risk of harm.
The 2022 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, which is requesting US$875 million, is thus far unfunded. Donors, including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and Australia, should increase funding to meet the massive needs of the Rohingya refugee population while urging Bangladesh to reverse its restrictions on livelihoods, movement, and education, Human Rights Watch said.
“The US, UK, and other donors should help ensure that Rohingya refugees have access to education, employment, and other necessary tools for rebuilding their lives,” Ganguly said. “It’s critical for governments to work together to address these issues and show solidarity with the Rohingya in the face of the Myanmar junta’s mounting crimes.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Sub-title:
Protect Refugees; End Forced Returns
Description:
"The Indian government’s forced return of an ethnic Rohingya woman to Myanmar on March 22, 2022 highlights the life-threatening risks facing Rohingya refugees in India, Human Rights Watch said today. International law prohibits the forced return of refugees to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened.
Rohingya Muslim refugees in India face tightened restrictions, arbitrary detention, violent attacks often incited by political leaders, and a heightened risk of forced returns. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has reported that at least 240 Rohingya in India are currently detained on charges of illegal entry. In addition, about 39 are being detained in a shelter in Delhi while 235 others are detained in a holding center in Jammu.
“The Indian government gains nothing by forcibly returning a Rohingya woman to Myanmar, while she is separated from her children and put at grave risk,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government’s decision to expel Rohingya refugees despite mountains of evidence that their lives and freedoms would be at risk in Myanmar shows cruel disregard for human life and international law.”
An estimated 40,000 Rohingya are in India, at least 20,000 of whom are registered with UNHCR. Since 2016, ultranationalist Hindu groups have targeted Rohingya refugees in Jammu as part of growing attacks on Muslims in India and called for their expulsion from the country. Since October 2018, the Indian government has deported 12 Rohingya to Myanmar, claiming that they left voluntarily. However, the government denied repeated requests by UNHCR to gain access to them to independently assess whether the decision was voluntary.
Hasina Begum, 36, and her husband and three children are all registered as refugees with UNHCR. She was among the Rohingya detained by Jammu and Kashmir authorities on March 6, 2021, when the authorities sent them to a holding center as part of a verification process, saying that the government planned to deport them. Her husband told Human Rights Watch that he and his children have not seen her since she was detained over a year ago.
The authorities forcibly returned her to Myanmar despite a March 21, 2022 order by the Manipur State Human Rights Commission putting the deportation on hold. The commission said that the plan to deport her appeared on its face to violate the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed by the Indian constitution and article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the principle of nonrefoulement, or nonreturn.
Hasina Begum’s husband, Ali Johar, 37, after learning that she might be deported, wrote to UNHCR, appealing for the agency to intervene. He said he had not received a response. UNHCR officials told Human Rights Watch that they had contacted the Indian authorities about the case.
A public anti-Rohingya campaign by ultranationalist Hindu groups, claiming that the Rohingya Muslims are “terrorists,” has incited vigilante-style violence, including arson attacks on the homes of Rohingya in Jammu and Delhi. In 2018 following a fire in a Rohingya settlement in Delhi that burned at least 50 homes, a leader from the youth wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party applauded the action on Twitter, saying “Well done by our heroes…Yes we burnt the houses of Rohingya terrorists.”
In Myanmar, about 600,000 Rohingya remain confined to camps and villages in Rakhine State under the military’s system of apartheid, persecution, and severe deprivation of liberty. Restrictions and other abuses have worsened since February 1, 2021, when the military leadership, responsible for the 2012, 2016, and 2017 mass atrocity crimes against the Rohingya, carried out a military coup. Nearly a million Rohingya Muslims are now refugees in Bangladesh, unable to return to Myanmar.
“We can’t go there,” Johar told Human Rights Watch. “They [the Myanmar military] will kill us. If the conditions get better, we will go back.”
In January 2020 the International Court of Justice unanimously ordered Myanmar to protect the Rohingya from genocide while it adjudicates alleged violations of the Genocide Convention. Despite these binding measures, the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar reported in September 2021 that the “Rohingya remain at grave risk of mass atrocity crimes.” In December, he reported that “conditions for the safe, sustainable, dignified return of the Rohingya to their homeland currently do not exist,” given the ongoing crimes against humanity and daily atrocities being committed by the Myanmar junta against the Rohingya and others.
However, Indian authorities have said that they will deport Rohingya irregular immigrants not holding valid travel documents required under the Foreigners Act. Although India is not a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, the prohibition of refoulement has become a norm of customary international law that India is bound to respect.
The Indian government should halt the deportation of all Rohingya to Myanmar because of the serious risk they face of persecution, Human Rights Watch said. Indian authorities should provide anyone at risk of deportation with the opportunity to see a lawyer, to meet with UNHCR, and to present their arguments against deportation before an impartial adjudicator. The authorities should prohibit any deportation that amounts to refoulement.
“The Indian authorities are increasingly adopting discriminatory policies against religious minorities, especially Muslims, and their policy toward the Rohingya appears to reflect that bigotry,” Ganguly said. “The Indian government should not abandon its long history of providing refuge to the persecuted to allow religious beliefs to dictate who deserves protection.”..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Description:
" The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is appealing for USD 128 million in support of 1.4 million refugees and host community members in need in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar District.
Since the influx in 2017, over 900,000 Rohingya have sought temporary refuge in Bangladesh, where the protracted crisis is now entering its fifth year.
While the Government of Bangladesh and the local and international community have been providing immediate humanitarian assistance from the onset, the needs are immense and meeting them is dependent on continued support until the Rohingya are able to voluntarily return to Myanmar in a safe and dignified manner.
IOM continues to provide basic daily requirements to the refugees in a highly complex operation, thus, it is imperative for life-saving assistance to continue.
“Even as we face other pressing humanitarian crises elsewhere in the world and continue to grapple with the pandemic, the world must not forget the Rohingya refugees," said IOM Director General, António Vitorino. "We must continue to advocate for sustainable solutions in Myanmar that would eventually facilitate their voluntary and dignified return home. In the meantime, we continue to work together to ensure that they are safe and are able to live in dignity.”
IOM’s appeal is part of the Joint Response Plan (JRP) for Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, encompassing 136 UN agencies and NGOs, 74 of which are Bangladeshi organizations. The humanitarian actors are collectively seeking to raise more than USD 881 million through the JRP, launched on Tuesday with the Government of Bangladesh.
The humanitarian community reiterated the need for continued support and financial assistance for the refugees in Bangladesh to ensure that they are not forgotten, amid emerging crises around the world.
For IOM, healthcare is a major area of focus. Additional funding will enable IOM to maintain its network of community health workers, along with the 49 primary and secondary healthcare centers that it runs or supports. Together these centers provide over 100,000 consultations per month with some operating as COVID-19 vaccination sites, supporting the Government of Bangladesh’s roll-out of vaccines for refugees over the age of 18.
Basic health is also dependent on access to clean water and sanitation. IOM is providing access to latrines and clean water, reaching almost 300,000 people on a daily basis. This includes running the largest solar-powered water treatment and distribution facilities in a humanitarian setting, together with wastewater treatment and solid waste management.
The need for new and better-quality shelters remains high. Support is needed to continue infrastructural work to improve sites, in addition to stabilizing slopes and continuously improving living conditions. This work also entails providing accessways, drains and lighting in public spaces.
To protect the most vulnerable – especially women and children who account for over 75 per cent of the population – IOM works at both the individual and community level to mitigate the risks of gender-based violence, abuse, child neglect and human trafficking. More funding is needed for Child-Friendly Corners that offer children a place to interact in safety, and Women and Girls Safe Spaces designed to improve women’s access, and participation.
Every month, IOM supports in delivering alternative sources of fuel to more than 96,000 households for cooking, contributing to food security while also reducing the environmental impact. Bamboo is the most widely used material in the camps, and over 700,000 bamboo poles have been processed through the IOM-run Bamboo Treatment Facility – the largest of its kind. Treating bamboo poles reduces pest damage and lengthens the bamboo’s lifespan, while also minimizing pressure on forests and ensuring cost efficiency.
“Along with the Government of Bangladesh and our partners, IOM will continue to support the Rohingya until they can safely return to Myanmar," said Fathima Nusrath Ghazzali, Officer in Charge at IOM Bangladesh. “This appeal is a critical element of the humanitarian community’s ongoing response, and the organization is grateful to its donors for their continued support and engagement.” ..."
Source/publisher:
International Organization for Migration ( Switzerland)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
IOM Burma/Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, UN System humanitarian assistance, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
7.08 MB (Original version) - 44 pages
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Sub-title:
The UK's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Simon Manley, delivered this statement during the 2022 Rohingya Joint Response Plan.
Description:
"Thank you Honourable State Minister Shahriar Alam, High Commissioner Grandi and Director-General Vitorino.
Thank you for giving voice to the refugees. As we enter the fifth year of this tragic crisis, we must inject renewed energy to address both its causes and symptoms. We need a long-term solution that enables the Rohingya to return voluntarily and safely to Myanmar, as soon as conditions allow. And we must make progress on accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. The UK will continue to press for these objectives in New York at the UN Security Council and here in Geneva at the Human Rights Council. We will not allow this crisis and its causes to be forgotten.
We remain deeply grateful to Bangladesh for its continued hosting of the refugees. The UK is committed to supporting Bangladesh in managing the refugee crisis while the Rohingya remain. For our current financial year, we originally provided £27.6 million to the response. We are pleased to announce that we have increased this by a further £9m. This brings the UK’s total support since 2017 to £330 million.
UK support for this year includes a new contribution to the UN’s response on Bhasan Char, which now forms part of the overall response. In providing UK support, we welcome the commitment for relocations to be voluntary and for the Rohingya to be able to travel between the island and Cox’s Bazar.
At the same time, there is a need for the Rohingya to lead safe, dignified and purposeful lives both on Bhasan Char and in the Cox’s Bazar camps, where the vast majority will continue to live. There should be equal opportunities in both locations.
At last year’s launch, we emphasised the importance of education and livelihoods. Progress on both issues has sadly been frustrated, including of course by the impact of COVID. Thankfully, schools are now open. We hope to see a step change this year in access to quality education, particularly for girls, and some form of recognition or certification for their studies. And we hope a skills framework will be launched in the coming months and linked to livelihood opportunities.
These are critical ingredients to prepare the Rohingya for their eventual return home. But also to combat worsening criminality and insecurity in the camps. These issues are particularly affecting women and girls, many of whom suffer appalling abuse and exploitation.
The world faces unparalleled humanitarian needs, including in Yemen, Ethiopia, Syria, Afghanistan and now Ukraine. Against that background, and with resources already stretched by the pandemic and inflation, it is essential that we structure our collective efforts in a way which maximises the value of the money we spend, takes a longer-term perspective and optimises the range of different resources, including bilateral and multilateral development funding.
I would like to thank all those involved in the response in Bangladesh, from the Honourable Prime Minister down. The UK remains focused on the plight of the Rohingya and the strain this protracted crisis places on Bangladesh.
And, we remain firmly committed to working together to improve the situation for the Rohingya while they are in Bangladesh and the communities that host them, and to working with others to resolve the underlying causes of the crisis, including through the restoration of democracy and an end to the repression and impunity in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Govt. UK (London)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Description:
"At the launch of the 2022 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis in Bangladesh, U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas announced more than $152 million in additional humanitarian assistance for those in Bangladesh, Burma, and elsewhere in the region affected by the Burmese military’s genocide, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing against Rohingya. With this new funding, our total assistance for this response reaches more than $1.7 billion since August 2017, when over 740,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to safety in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. This announcement demonstrates our solidarity with Rohingya and the generous communities hosting them as well as our ongoing commitment to strengthening the international response to the Rohingya crisis and the escalating violence in Burma.
The humanitarian assistance includes nearly $51 million from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and more than $101 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). With more than $125 million for programs specifically in Bangladesh, this funding will enable our humanitarian partners to provide life-saving assistance to the over 920,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. It also provides support to more than 540,000 affected members of the local host community in Bangladesh. This assistance helps ensure children and young adults have access to education and vocational training, provides families with food, healthcare, access to clean water and sanitation to prevent the spread of disease, supports the protection of Rohingya refugees’ human rights and well-being, strengthens disaster preparedness, and helps combat the effects of climate change. We commend our humanitarian partners for a strong and well-coordinated response as this crisis approaches its fifth year.
The United States recognizes that Bangladesh and its people have taken on an enormous responsibility in hosting refugees. We are working with the Government of Bangladesh, Rohingya, and people within Burma toward finding solutions to this crisis, including the safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable return and reintegration of Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons when conditions in Burma allow. Secretary Blinken has determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya, and that many of those responsible for these atrocities are the same people who led the military coup in 2021 and ongoing violence across Burma. We are relentlessly pressuring Burma’s military regime to stop its violence and return to the path of democracy. At the same time, we also must expand education and livelihood opportunities, including cash-for-work programs and access to local markets, for Rohingya refugees in the region. Education and income-generating activities are among the most effective methods to create safer refugee camps in Bangladesh.
The United States remains committed to delivering aid to Rohingya, and we welcome the generous pledges made by other donors at today’s event. However, more support is desperately needed. We urge other donors to come forward now with additional funds to sustain and increase support for the Rakhine State/Rohingya refugee crisis and those suffering from the escalating violence perpetrated by the genocidal military in Burma today..."
Source/publisher:
United States Department of State
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Racial or ethnic discrimination: ethical and legal standards, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Genocide
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Description:
"Please see below statement from Refugees International Deputy Director for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East Daniel P. Sullivan:
“The United States will finally recognize the crimes committed against the Rohingya people for what they are: genocide and crimes against humanity. The U.S. genocide declaration is a welcome and profoundly meaningful step. It is also a solid sign of commitment to justice for all the people who continue to face abuses by the military junta to this very today.
Rohingya refugees and diaspora have long called for this recognition, with the support of Members of Congress, legal experts, and advocacy groups like Refugees International alike. This is a day to celebrate a significant victory. But it is also time to redouble efforts to hold the perpetrators of that genocide accountable and to prevent future atrocities.
The United States must now use the momentum of this genocide determination to spur concrete actions. While several steps have been taken to increase pressure on the Burmese junta since its coup in February 2021, effective global coordination is lacking. The United States must use the gravity of the genocide determination to lead a new diplomatic push, including with Myanmar’s neighbors in Southeast Asia, for further targeted sanctions, an arms embargo, and support for evidence collection and accountability efforts before the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.
The United States can also show solidarity with Rohingya survivors by maintaining humanitarian assistance for the million Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh and by working with Bangladesh to offer resettlement to Rohingya refugees in the United States.”
Refugees International has urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to make a Rohingya genocide determination, including through a joint letter from 95 organizations. The letter builds on Refugees International’s efforts with the previous U.S. administration as part of the #CallitGenocide campaign, which included a nearly 9,000-signature petition and a legal and human rights experts letter (signed by two senior officials in the Biden administration). Refugees International’s analysis on why the attacks on the Rohingya constitute genocide can be found here..."
Source/publisher:
Refugees International via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Human Rights and international relations, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"COX’S BAZAR – The almost one million Rohingya refugees and their host community in Cox’s Bazar remain vulnerable and need continued support – almost five years since they were forced to flee their homes for safety, according to the latest Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment conducted by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners.
The Rohingya’s extreme vulnerabilities are further exacerbated by large-scale hazards, including fires and floods that hit the camps in 2021. Almost all 900,000 refugees – 95 percent of them - remain entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance today. In the host community, where most families rely on daily-wage jobs, a slow economic recovery after COVID-19 lockdown measures has caused their vulnerability levels to increase, with 52 percent of the families considered moderately to highly vulnerable now compared to 41 percent in 2019.
“The Ukraine crisis is a stark reminder that no one chooses to be a refugee. In this year of unprecedented humanitarian need, we hope the international community won’t lose sight of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who are more vulnerable than ever and may be plunged further into destitution by the impact of food and fuel price hikes,” said Sheila Grudem, WFP Senior Emergency Coordinator in Cox’s Bazar.
Access to food remains a top priority for both refugees and host communities, with 82 percent and 59 percent of families, respectively, reporting so. They are also worried about the continuation of food assistance. A growing number of families in both communities fall into debt to cover their most essential needs, such as food. This is particularly worrying as their ability to withstand any new shocks and stressors will be compromised.
In 2021, WFP continued to provide monthly cash-based food assistance to almost 900,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and increased the number of fresh food corners available at its retail outlets in the camps. All refugees can now purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, live chicken and fish from the outlets using their monthly entitlements, known as “e-vouchers”. This assistance also provides substantial economic opportunities for the host community, injecting US$11 million into the local economy every month.
WFP also continued its cash assistance to host community families affected by the economic consequences of COVID-19, reaching 450,000 people in 2021. WFP directly provides economic opportunities year-round in the host community through cash-for-work programmes as well as livelihoods grants and business skills trainings.
“In 2022, we count on the continued support of all donors to help us provide vital assistance to Rohingya families as well as their host community, who has demonstrated remarkable solidarity by welcoming them almost five years ago. Any drop in funding will directly threaten the food security of refugees and make the recovery of the communities more difficult,” Grudem added..."
Source/publisher:
World Food Programme (Rome)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
WFP (World Food Programme), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
" A six-year-old boy has been killed and an estimated 2,000 people have been left homeless – including 1,000 children – by the sixth fire this year to tear through the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, says Save the Children.
The fire raced through camp 5 of the world’s largest refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar at around 4.30 p.m. local time on Tuesday afternoon, destroying 400 shelters, which for almost five years have been the closest thing to home for Rohingya families fleeing Myanmar.
This follows a massive fire in January, which destroyed 1,200 shelters and left more than 5,000 people homeless, and four smaller fires between January and March.
Some of the families who lost their homes are staying with relatives in the same camp area, while others have been displaced to nearby camps. Eight volunteers working with Save the Children also lost their homes in the blaze.
Save the Children is providing psychological first aid, food, medical support and reunifying children separated from their families during the fire.
“We have nothing left, everything burnt to ashes in the fire,” said 13-year-old Fahim*, whose family lost their shelter and all their possessions in the blaze.
Save the Children is concerned that the fire could trigger distressing memories for children, many of whom saw their homes set alight in Myanmar. In a survey conducted by Save the Children in August last year, about 73% of Save the Children staff said children they worked with referred to traumatic experiences in Myanmar when talking about more recent events in the camps, including fires.
Save the Children’s Country Director in Bangladesh, Onno van Manen, said: “This is the sixth fire to tear through Cox’s Bazar in less than three months. Year on year, we’re seeing a huge increase in the number of fires in the camps—and the risk is only going to go up as the climate crisis worsens.
“No one should have to watch the few belongings they own be reduced to wreckage. These camps were supposed to be a safe haven for refugees who fled their homes in Myanmar. Events like these are incredibly distressing for children, and Save the Children is providing them with the emotional support they need to recover.
"The shelters made of dry bamboo and tarpaulin are incredibly flammable. More fire-resistant materials must be permitted and additional openings in the fencing need to be built so that refugees can reach safety in an emergency. The risk of fires in these densely populated and confined areas is enormous, but it is avoidable with the right support and infrastructure in place.”
According to the Inter Sector Coordination Group Daily Incident Reporting, there were over 150 fires in the camps in 2021 - a staggering 180 per cent increase on the 84 fires seen in 2020.
Save the Children is calling on the international community to financially support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh while pursuing a long-term solution to the Rohingya crisis that addresses its root causes and allows for safe, dignified, and voluntary returns of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar when it is safe to do so..."
Source/publisher:
Save the Children (London)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
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Description:
"In 2021, the ICRC in Bangladesh continued its humanitarian response.
Working closely with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS), we conducted regular visits to places of detention while engaging in continuous and confidential dialogue with the detention authorities; helped reconnect people who have lost contact with their family; provided assistance for the people with disabilities; supported vulnerable people and communities in Cox's Bazar (CXB) and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
In CXB, we maintained our support to the health structures, including the district's main hospital facility – the Sadar Hospital, dedicated to both host communities and displaced people from Rakhine. Moreover, in CHT we continued livelihood-support projects for communities in need, while also maintaining and upgrading public infrastructure to help the communities benefit from clean water and better hygienic conditions.
As our regular activities, we sought to promote knowledge and respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) among authorities, armed and security forces, academia, religious circles, and other key stakeholders in the country.
Here is a snapshot of our humanitarian response in Bangladesh in 2021.
77,208 Detainees in 68 prisons benefited from a programme to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19
119 Missing people traced and put in contact with their families as part of the Restoring Family Links programme
112 Health workers and first responders benefited from training sessions enabling them to manage stress
3,613 People with disabilities fitted with prostheses and orthoses and provided with physiotherapy services and/or assistive devices
4,000 Displaced people from Rakhine assisted with food and essential household items on a monthly basis..."
Source/publisher:
International Committee of the Red Cross (Geneva) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Food Security and nutrition in Burma/Myanmar, Public Health, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
2.96 MB 410.11 KB
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Description:
"Introduction: With the decline of the Cold War, attention towards ‘environmental conflicts’ was well merited and now it is being fruitful in understanding the study of how environmental degradation
acts as an agent in international and civil conflicts. The case of Cox’s Bazar is no different,
the influx of Rohingya is adversely affecting the livelihood of the host community due to deforestation, inflation and competition over. Although national and international humanitarian
agencies are providing services and creating opportunities for the local population along with
the Rohingyas, resources appear relatively scarce compared to the scale of needs which in long
term might turn into an adverse situation creating hostile conflict between the host community
and the rohingya refugees.....
Defining environmental conflict:
Environmental conflict can be broadly understood as a social conflict relating to the environment. It can be a conflict over the environment, most notably in terms of access to and control
over environmental resources. These so-called “resource conflicts” are defined by Elen Turner
as consisting of “social conflict (violent or nonviolent) associated with both struggles to gain
access to natural resources and struggles resulting from the use of natural resources.” From a neo-Malthusian perspective, environmental conflicts also consist of conflicts resulting from
environmental processes – especially resource scarcity supposedly putting strains on social
relations – even if the conflict per se is not over those “scarce” environmental resources. It
rather generates from unequal distribution of those resources (Billon, 2015)..."
Source/publisher:
Academia Letters
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-04
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"Introduction: building business, breaking peace?
Myanmar’s economic opening and transition to democracy has given businesses significant opportunities to expand in a high-growth but problematic emerging market.
Foreign direct investment has grown 10-fold since 20111 across all sectors of the
Myanmar economy. But Myanmar also ranks in the bottom 5 per cent of 189 countries
surveyed by the World Bank for ease of doing business,2 permeated by endemic
corruption at the individual, institutional and political levels.3 The United Nations
Development Programme lumps these issues under the umbrella of ‘business rights’,
including contractual certainty, financial fairness and freedom from corruption and
extortion,4 together considered as the building blocks for successful business
development.
While opening brought optimism that trade and growth would lift Myanmar’s
poorest, these gains have primarily benefited existing local elites as most new investments require local partners who hold high-level roles in Myanmar’s political–
military nexus. Moreover, Myanmar’s military undertook an ethnic cleansing of
2 million Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state – just the type of authoritarian action
that economic opening was promised to temper. Today, some 700,000 Rohingya are
refugees in neighbouring India and Bangladesh, with a further 100,000 in internally
displaced persons camps.5 While many international non-governmental organisations
(INGOs) have condemned the violent cleansing, no businesses operating in Myanmar
have spoken out against it as of February 2017, and none have withdrawn their
government partnerships or left the country. This silence comes as many companies
have explicitly framed their entry (or re-entry) into the Myanmar market as action to
help solidify peace in one of the world’s least developed states, promoting their roles as
agents of peace and sustainable socio-economic development.
Myanmar’s society remains a patchwork of ethnic groups, regional fighting and
power struggles that often pre-date military rule. While growth grows the pie (and
spoils of peace), unevenness of this distribution has exacerbated societal cleavages.
There are 135 ethnic minorities in Myanmar and 18 conflict groups that base their
allegiance and fight upon the stated basis of grievances resulting from social, political
and economic deprivation.6 These conflicts tend to be based in the country’s border
areas, where employment opportunities, infrastructure and state capacity are limited,
and the likelihood of abuses by official forces is high. Nearly all of these conflicts are
rooted in the uneven division of economic opportunities and civil rights in Myanmar,
along with the heavy-handed rule used to maintain it.
Layered within these historically repressive tactics is state-supported ethnic conflict.
These issues have manifested in Rakhine state between Buddhist majority ‘ethnic
Rakhines’ and a Muslim Rohingya minority. The Rohingya are called ‘Bengali
Muslims’ by most in Myanmar, due to their migration from what is now Bangladesh
beginning in the late 1700s, and as an indicator of the desire to designate Rohingyas as
outsiders.7 This is the government’s third major cleansing attempt of Rohingya, following similar efforts in 1978 and 1991.8 Many have used the new liberalised media
landscape to promote divisive ethnic speech, most visibly Buddhist nationalists Ashin
Wirathu and Ma Ba Tha.9 These overtures culminated in a series of ‘Protection of Race
and Religion’ laws that designated Myanmar as a Buddhist state and legalised antiRohingya discrimination.10 Criticised by the UN, INGOs and some domestic NGOs,
the bills were nevertheless passed throughout 2014 and 2015.
To understand why economic opening and rapid development has failed to bring an
inclusive peace to Myanmar, we compare Myanmar’s imperfect opening to existing
assumptions on how businesses can and should operate in fragile states. The literature
has been proliferating rapidly with theories about how, where and why businesses can
contribute to peace-building.11 The business community has also been urged to be
more involved in post-conflict peace-building processes,12 through the Responsibility
To Protect, UN Sustainable Development Goals, Business and Human Rights Guiding
Principles, United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and similar multilateral initiatives.
But the empirical evidence that can support and refine such pushes remains wanting.
We have gaps in understanding national-level variations in motivations behind business
engagement in peace, how international business-peace agendas influence local business
communities, which local business agents are the most effective for peace and development, how competition from firms based in countries with more illiberal
predispositions influences ethical business decision-making and where peace-building
business activities have worsened local ethnic conflict instead of alleviating it. This
article explores new avenues for theory on these issues through analysis of national
business engagement in peace and development in Myanmar after the country’s 2011
economic opening, emphasising business owners in conflict-affected Rakhine state.
This article presents three primary findings about business actions in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Routledge (London)
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-02
[field_licence]
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"On Sunday, 27 February 2022, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "the Court"), Mr Karim A. A. Khan QC, concluded a five-day visit to Dhaka and Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. This represented the first visit by the Prosecutor of the Court to Bangladesh.
During the visit, Prosecutor Khan emphasised that the investigation being conducted by his Office into crimes within the Court's jurisdiction allegedly committed against the Rohingya from Myanmar would be a priority during his tenure. He confirmed to all stakeholders that he had allocated additional resources to the investigative team and was seeking to accelerate the collection and analysis of evidence, which had previously been impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Prosecutor Khan delivered this message directly to survivors and affected communities during his visit to Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, home to hundreds of thousands of members of the Rohingya community who have fled violence in Myanmar. In meetings with Rohingya women and youth activists, Prosecutor Khan discussed how his Office can further empower them to contribute to the investigation. During a meeting with local Imams and other religious leaders, the Prosecutor also addressed ways that Rohingya leaders can support victims of sexual and gender-based violence to come forward with their accounts in the context of the Office's ongoing investigations.
"We are here to work with you to build the foundations of justice. The road to accountability will not be simple, but it is a goal we can only achieve by working together, as a partnership between us", stated the Prosecutor.
During the course of the visit, Prosecutor Khan also held several productive meetings with officials of the Government of Bangladesh, and engaged with diplomatic corps and representatives of civil society organisations in Dhaka. Meetings were held with their Excellencies, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina; Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Anisul Huq; State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Abdul Momen; Foreign Secretary, Mr Masud Bin Momen, and Secretary for Maritime Affairs, Rear Admiral (retd.) Khurshed Alam.
In his meeting with the Prime Minister, the Prosecutor recognised the crucial role that Bangladesh had played in providing refuge to the Rohingya as they fled Myanmar in 2017. "That decision represented a moment of true empathy and courage. It also demonstrated the understanding among the Bangladeshi people of the impact of atrocity crimes, based on their own lived experience. This approach of courageous solidarity continues to be reflected in the assistance provided by Bangladesh to our work in pursuit of justice for the Rohingya community", stated the Prosecutor.
The Prosecutor expressed his sincere appreciation to the authorities of Bangladesh for facilitating his visit. He also expressed his gratitude to the non-governmental organisations and United Nations partners that had supported his direct engagement with survivors and affected communities in Cox's Bazar.
The Prosecutor held a press conference in Dhaka at the conclusion of his mission to Bangladesh, fielding questions from local and international media present. During the press conference, the Prosecutor announced his intention to undertake additional visits to Bangladesh in order to further support and advance the work of his Office in relation to this investigation.
The Prosecutor had the following message at the conclusion of his visit:
"I am profoundly grateful for the generosity and support shown to me by the Bangladeshi people and the Rohingya community during this visit. As I stated to survivors in Cox's Bazar: We are here to serve you and help deliver justice. I am leaving here confident that with the renewed focus of my Office on this investigation, combined with the strengthened partnerships we have developed with survivors and national actors, we can now enter a phase of accelerated action. It is my hope and expectation that this will ultimately lead to those that may be responsible for atrocity crimes committed against the Rohingya community being held accountable in accordance with the law."
Background:
In November 2019, ICC Judges granted the former Prosecutor Bensouda's request to open a full investigation into alleged crimes within the ICC's jurisdiction in the Situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar (read her statement following the Judges' authorisation to proceed with an investigationby clicking here).
The Prosecutor may investigate any crimes which fall within the ICC's jurisdiction - and which were committed at least in part on the territory of Bangladesh (or any other State Party or State formally accepting the jurisdiction of the ICC), insofar as the crimes are sufficiently linked to the situation, and irrespective of the nationality of the perpetrators. In this context, the investigation may cover alleged crimes committed since 1 June 2010, the date of entry into force of the Rome Statute for Bangladesh (or from the date of entry into force of the Rome Statute for any other relevant State Party), and includes any future crimes, as long as they are sufficiently linked to the situation..."
Source/publisher:
International Criminal Court
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-02
[field_licence]
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Individual Documents
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International Criminal Court, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations
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"Introduction
With the decline of the Cold War, attention towards ‘environmental conflicts’ was well merited
and now it is being fruitful in understanding the study of how environmental degradation
acts as an agent in international and civil conflicts. The case of Cox’s Bazar is no different,
the influx of Rohingya is adversely affecting the livelihood of the host community due to deforestation,
inflation and competition over. Although national and international humanitarian
agencies are providing services and creating opportunities for the local population along with
the Rohingyas, resources appear relatively scarce compared to the scale of needs which in long
term might turn into an adverse situation creating hostile conflict between the host community
and the rohingya refugees.
Defining environmental conflict
Environmental conflict can be broadly understood as a social conflict relating to the environment.
It can be a conflict over the environment, most notably in terms of access to and control
over environmental resources. These so-called “resource conflicts” are defined by Elen Turner
as consisting of “social conflict (violent or nonviolent) associated with both struggles to gain
access to natural resources and struggles resulting from the use of natural resources.” From a neo-Malthusian perspective, environmental conflicts also consist of conflicts resulting from
environmental processes – especially resource scarcity supposedly putting strains on social
relations – even if the conflict per se is not over those “scarce” environmental resources. It
rather generates from unequal distribution of those resources (Billon, 2015).
Theoretical approach into understanding how host communities
and refugees might indulge in environmental conflict
How does environmental degradation lead to violent conflicts?
Homer-Dixon’s (1999) argument that where environmental change contributes to conflict development,
it does so through indirect mechanisms such as host of social, cultural and economic
variables. Competition for resources can be mapped onto existing perceptions of inequality,
resulting in a hardening of group identities and providing a catalyst for hostility
towards out-groups. Research in the political economy of natural disasters finds that sudden
environmental stress can, under certain social conditions, be a catalyst for deepening social
segmentation and intensified intergroup competition and conflict. The social psychology of
intergroup conflict suggests that communities become more deeply segmented under conditions
that foster perceptions of relative deprivation and threats to self-esteem which can be
accelerated by resource degradation and uneven distribution of it (Billon, 2015).
How relationship between the host community and refugees deteriorates
The presence of refugees can create tensions and conflicts with host communities for a number
of reasons.
• First, refugees are often well served by humanitarian agencies and enjoy better access
to water, food, health and education than the host population (OECD 2001). (MARTIN,
2005)
• Second, The OECD (2001) has argued that the economic benefits generated by refugees
‘seldom outweigh the negative impacts of a large-scale refugee presence over extended
periods’. In some contexts the host community can benefit, but the economic rewards
can be confined to a small group of elites.
• Third, the presence of refugees can lead to environmental degradation, putting a strain
on local resources such as water and firewood. Martin (2005) stresses that although environmental degradation is often cited as an important factor in refugee-host relations,
in many cases these issues are instrumentalised by political leaders.
• Fourth, host communities may be opposed to the presence of refugees on social or
cultural grounds (OECD 2001).
• Fifth, refugees may be seen to pose a threat to the security of host communities by harbouring
fighters or by increasing criminality. More broadly, there is some evidence to
suggest that the presence of refugees may increase the risk of intrastate conflict (MARTIN,
2005).
A case study on the host community - Rohingya relationship
However, studies exploring descriptive details regarding attitudes, beliefs and perceptions towards
refugees are generally very limited and this is especially true for the case of the Rohingya
refugees. A large-scale survey exploring perception and experience of the host community
regarding the Rohingya population was conducted by Xchange Foundation (2018) (Walton,
2012). Participants were found feeling unsafe (85%) about the Rohingya residing nearby, reluctant
(85%) to allow the Rohingya children to go to the same school used by their children
and prohibitive (48%) regarding the Rohingya accessing local facilities.The local people also
face multi-dimensional problems due to the Rohingya crisis. Most of them used to graze their
cattle in the fields, which are now occupied by the Rohingya people) (Jerin, 2019). The local
people often feel insecure and do not know what they would do if the Rohingya refugees
become violent. The Rohingya refugees often try to enter local villages. The local people
used to enjoy many facilities such as free medical check-up and healthcare, stipend, and counselling
provided by different NGOs and international agencies. But the termination of such
services after the crisis began made the local people resentful of the Rohingya presence (Jerin,
2019). The coronavirus pandemic is aggravating tensions between Rohingya refugees and
local communities in Bangladesh, underscoring long-held grievances on the margins of the
massive aid response. Increasingly, distrust and stigmatisation have been aimed at Rohingya
refugees accused of carrying the virus. Aid groups report a rise in anti-Rohingya hate speech
and racism, as well as “rapidly deteriorating security dynamics” between the two communities
(Anas, 2020). Distrust is also aimed at aid groups perceived to be favouring the Rohingya at
the expense of local communities. “They don’t care about local people. Some local aid staff
working on the refugee response echo similar beliefs. ((Babu), 2020)
Analysts say the tensions reflect growing resentment among the local communities, who
have lived in the shadows of the refugee response for years which increased rapidly in 2017.
The influx of refugees and the enormous aid infrastructure has raised prices and sent wages
plummeting, while locals say they haven’t benefited enough from hundreds of millions of
dollars earmarked for the Rohingya response each year. ((Babu), 2020)
“They feel like their lands and opportunities have now been permanently lost due to
refugees,” said MA Razzaque, who directs research at the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh
(PRI) . “If we can eat a meal, we can’t have another. The Rohingya families get gas, but we
struggle to find firewood.” Also driving animosity is the perception that aid is plentiful for
refugees, but scant for local communities. The Rohingya crisis resulted in significant differences
in the tourism sector the tourist attractions and hotel and restaurant businesses in Cox’s
Bazar and along the border with Myanmar were affected adversely due to fewer tourist arrivals
since the beginnings of the Rohingya crisis and widespread publicity about problems in
the area (Panday2004, pp. 100-101). Maystadt and Verwimp (2009) state that the economic
structure, agriculture sector and local livelihoods can be affected by the presence of refugees,
particularly in large numbers, because of competition in the labour market and increased price
of daily goods ((Babu), 2020).
Conclusion
While local community members are generally sympathetic to the plight of the newcomers,
there is growing anxiety of being “outnumbered” by foreigners in one’s own land. This sense
of vulnerability is going to become more and more complex as time goes by. These are the
issues that the government will have to deal with sooner than later. And the international community
will have to do more than just pay lip service about what a grand job the Bangladesh
government is doing to host such a huge refugee populace. It is not merely a question of cents
and dollars. Rather, the longer the Rohingyas stay on Bangladeshi soil, the greater will be the
dangers of conflict erupting between Bangladeshis and Rohingyas..."
Source/publisher:
Academia Letters
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-02
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Type:
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Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Discrimination against the Rohingya
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Sub-title:
Virtual awards show hosted by actor Jay Ellis on Monday
Description:
" Fortify Rights and Doha Debates won an inaugural Anthem Award for training and supporting Rohingya refugee photographers in Bangladesh, said Fortify Rights today. The project will receive the Silver Award in “Best Local Community Engagement” at an award show that will air live on Monday, hosted by TV and film actor Jay Ellis.
“The Rohingya and all people of Myanmar are in their darkest hour, under attack by a brutal military junta, making it even more important to shine a light on the positive forces for change among the community,” said Matthew Smith, CEO of Fortify Rights. “There has never been a more important time to fortify support for refugees, and we’re hopeful this award can help us do more of that.”
Fortify Rights Senior Multimedia Specialist Taimoor Sobhan will accept the award on behalf of Fortify Rights and Doha Debates at the virtual awards show that will air live on February 28 at 1 p.m. PT at anthemawards.com.
The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences established the Anthem Awards as a new initiative of the Webby Awards to celebrate “the purpose and mission-driven work of people, companies, and organizations worldwide.” A panel of judges, including actors Daniel Dae Kim and Ashley Judd as well as prominent business and organization leaders, selected the winners from nearly 2,500 submissions from 36 countries.
Since 2018, in partnership with Doha Debates, Fortify Rights has provided on-the-ground photography and media skills training for three young Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who are survivors of genocide in Myanmar. The organization equipped the three “media fellows” – Dil Kayas, Omal Khair, and Azimul Hasson – with mobile phones, which Myanmar authorities forbade them from possessing in their native Rakhine State. They have since documented their lives in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps on Instagram, amassing thousands of followers. The project won a Shorty Award in 2020 and was a finalist for a 2019 Shorty Award.
The 23-minute documentary film, EXODUS, produced by Fortify Rights and Doha Debates and directed by Fortify Rights Senior Multimedia Specialist Taimoor Sobhan, delves into the lives of the media fellows as they survive the Rohingya genocide.
Other Anthem Award winners this year include Dr. Jane Goodall “for her lifetime of passionate advocacy for the conservation of the natural world”; American film director, producer, screenwriter, and comedian Adam McKay “for holding up a mirror to society through his work”; and Japanese professional tennis star Naomi Osaka “for claiming her third grand slam title while igniting a conversation about mental health, racial injustice, and police brutality...”
Source/publisher:
Fortify Rights
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-26
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Type:
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Category:
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They say the junta is trying to placate the international community amid an international genocide hearing.
Description:
"Ethnic Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh will not return to their home in neighboring Myanmar’s Rakhine state unless they are granted equal rights and freedom of movement, they said Thursday, days after the junta announced that it is preparing for their immediate repatriation.
The junta’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Feb. 20 that it is readying the return of “displaced persons from Rakhine state.” The announcement notably avoided both the use of the term “Rohingya,” a mostly Muslim ethnicity that the military says does not exist in Myanmar, and the term “Bengali,” which the junta favors and implies the group is originally from Bangladesh.
The junta statement also called for a meeting with the secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), saying that after agreeing to the bloc’s initial recommendations on the re-admission of displaced persons in Rakhine state, assistance is needed to implement them.
Rohingya refugees and activists in Bangladesh told RFA’s Myanmar Service on Thursday that they have no confidence the junta will act on the recommendations and said they need assurances their rights will be protected before they return.
Ali Jenner, a Rohingya refugee from the Baluhali refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, said he and others in the camp “have no trust in the junta at all.”
“If the Rohingya people can get equal citizenship, security rights, equal rights and all our original rights as other citizens there, then we can agree to go back,” he said.
The West African nation of Gambia filed a case at the ICJ in November 2019 accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention during the alleged expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya amid a brutal crackdown in 2017.
The ICJ, which is the judicial arm of the United Nations, began hearings on Feb. 21, the day after the junta statement on returning refugees, to determine whether it has jurisdiction to examine claims that atrocities committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya constituted a genocide.
The hearings are scheduled to last until Feb. 28 and will include arguments presented by representatives of Myanmar and Gambia
The junta’s defense lawyers — Christopher Staker and Stefan Talmon — have argued that Gambia submitted its case on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and that the ICJ has no jurisdiction because the OIC is not a country. They also argue that Gambia is not an aggrieved country and has no right to sue Myanmar.
Gambia defended its right to sue Myanmar in an appeal issued on Feb. 23. Gambian Attorney General Dawda Jallow says the case was not only brought to the ICJ to protect the rights of the Rohingya, but to uphold Gambia’s rights as a signatory to the U.N. Convention on Genocide.
Response to pressure
Rohingya living in refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh have said they are hopeful that the ICJ can bring justice for the Myanmar military’s rights violations against the ethnic minority group.
But others are wary of how the case may influence the junta in the near term.
Khin Maung, the founder of the activist group Rohingya Youth Union, who lives in Thinkhali Refugee Camp No. 13 in Bangladesh, said he cannot trust a junta statement he believes was issued as a response to international pressure.
“We welcome the fact that they want to call us home. But did they create necessary conditions for us to return to Rakhine state? That’s what we should be thinking about,” he said.
“[Junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing] is trying to use us for his advantage. He is doing this because of international pressure and not because of goodwill. We are ready to go back, no matter who makes the decision to call us back, but it is impossible to return unless our requirements are met.”
Khin Maung said it is “impossible” for Rohingyas to return home without guarantees of citizenship or security and freedom of movement in the areas where they had previously lived. Discussions about a repatriation should first be held with the Rohingyas themselves, he said.
‘Crimes on a nationwide scale’
However, junta Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min Tun told RFA that the plan to repatriate the Rohingya was created long prior to the ICJ hearings and was not part of a bid to placate the international community.
He said the Rohingya had previously said they would accept the offer to return to Rakhine state, but that Bangladesh had refused to let them leave.
“We have been saying all along that we will accept and let them live as before. Accommodations were prepared,” he said.
“It’s just that they didn’t come back even after we made three or four offers. The other side did not release them … They are working on it with a political agenda.”
Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin told RFA that members of her ethnic group cannot expect that their rights will be respected by the junta when “the military is currently committing crimes against humanity on a nationwide scale.”
In the year since Myanmar’s military seized power from the country’s democratically elected government in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup, security forces have killed nearly 1,580 people across the country.
“Even if the Rohingya return, it will probably be just a handful,” Nay San Lwin said. “Most of them have said that they will return only if they can live in peace with the full basic rights they deserve.”..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
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"As the Rohingya crisis approaches its fifth year, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Kelly T. Clements, called for continued international support for Rohingya refugees, and the government and people of Bangladesh. She reiterated UNHCR’s commitment towards voluntary repatriation and other solutions, while underlining the need to build resilience and invest in refugees’ capacities in preparation for a future safe and voluntary return to Myanmar.
The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees Kelly T. Clements and UNHCR Director for Asia and the Pacific Indrika Ratwatte undertook a joint visit to Bangladesh from 13 to 18 February, which included visits to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar where some one million Rohingya refugees reside, as well as to the island of Bhasan Char, and meetings with senior Government officials, local and international partners.
Throughout their visit, the Deputy High Commissioner and Director for Asia and the Pacific reiterated their sincere appreciation to the Government and people of Bangladesh for hosting Rohingya refugees who have sought protection from violence and persecution in Myanmar. They emphasized the need to continue working towards voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar while also advocating for a broader longer-term focus on education, skills development and livelihoods.
The delegation spoke with refugees to understand their needs and challenges, and the contributions they wish to make to their own future. “While refugees clearly express a desire to return home, they also feel their lives would be at risk if they did so today. Therefore, we also need to start working towards other solutions while redoubling efforts to provide access to education, skills training and livelihood opportunities for them and their generous host communities,” said Deputy High Commissioner Clements.
“The strong work of refugee volunteers throughout the pandemic – often as first responders – and support for their communities in the camps highlighted not only their dedication and capacity, but the opportunity to incorporate those skills into more innovative initiatives such as environmental protection,” observed Mr. Ratwatte. “Providing youth with more learning opportunities, tools and skills will allow them to build peaceful communities and contribute to a safe environment.”
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Government and UNHCR officials noted the positive strides to support the Bangladeshi communities hosting refugees, which includes the establishment of COVID and other specialized health facilities in Cox’s Bazar town and Ukhiya upazila, as well as the first large-scale water provision and distribution scheme in southern Teknaf that will provide safe water to more than 225,000 people.
On their first visit to Bhasan Char, the delegation recognized the positive work being done by the Government and local civil society partners on the island. “Bhasan Char has the potential to become a temporary stay for the Rohingya refugees, and there has been clear improvement in the conditions and availability of services since UNHCR and UN partners began supporting the Government in October. However, its sustainability will depend on scaling up health and education services, improving access to livelihoods and income generating activities, and above all, continuing to ensure the voluntariness of relocations to the island and regular family visits to and from the mainland,” said Ms. Clements.
With return to Myanmar unlikely in the immediate future, the visit underscored the need for a more comprehensive approach to humanitarian support. This includes alternative solutions for Rohingya refugees such as resettlement to third countries for the most vulnerable with specific protection needs, and complementary pathways overseas which could include employment and educational opportunities.
UNHCR reaffirmed its commitment to continue to support both Bangladeshi and Rohingya communities, while calling on the international community to stand by the Government and people of Bangladesh until the situation in Myanmar allows for a safe, dignified, and sustainable return..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, 8 February 2022 - Supported by LGED (Local Government Engineering Department) of the Government of Bangladesh, generously funded by the World Bank and implemented by Mukti Cox’s Bazar, UNFPA, the Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency, opened a new Women Friendly Space - WFS- (called in Rohingya dialect Shanti Khana), a peaceful haven for many thousands of girls and women in the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar.
Located in Camp 15, around 5,000 women and girls will have free access to recreational activities, such as henna making, painting, drawing, hand-stitching and sewing, as well as gender-based violence awareness-raising sessions and distribution of life-saving dignity kits, containing soaps, washing powder, slippers, clothes, panties and hand sanitisers for COVID-19 protection and prevention.
“We have been on a fruitful journey with UNFPA, dating back to 2008 and working with the Bangladeshi Host community. When the influx happened, we boosted our assistance of protecting women and girls and expanded it to the Rohingya community. We welcome the opening of another space, whose function will be for women to learn about their rights, develop their skills and share their feelings, away from the eyes of men, who will not be allowed in this space” Mr. Bimal Chandra Dey Sarker, Chief Executive of Mukti Cox’s Bazar, shared.
The new Shanti Khana will provide integrated services for women and adolescent girls with case management services for gender-based violence survivors, referral pathways to specialized health interventions, midwifery and family planning services, as well as mental health and psychosocial support.
Secondly, it will be a place for capacity building of NGO caseworkers, as well as effective community mobilization through men, boys and Imams (religious leaders) engagement in preventing gender-based violence.
“Women play an integral part in the economy and in the community. They know how their community works and, if given chances and opportunities, they can actively participate and contribute to a world free of gender-based violence” Mr. Arjun Jain, Principal Coordinator of the UN Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) in Cox’s Bazar highlighted “Protection of women and girls must be a priority, and community engagement, including the involvement of Rohingya community volunteers, is essential in creating a world where all women have access to health services, midwifery services and family planning ones”.
“Grateful to the World Bank for its support, providing a place of peace, relief and support to the refugee women, UNFPA believes that the Partnership with the Local Government Engineering Department is unique and an excellent one, allowing the marriage of hardware and software in a place where needed the most” Dr. Eiko Narita, UNFPA Bangladesh Representative a.i stated “As of now, there are nine operational Women Friendly Spaces, and with this funding, two additional ones have been made possible. We have another four pending in construction and for this, LGED’s support in approval would be crucial” she emphasized.
The Additional Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC office) Mr. Mohammad Shamsud Douza participated in the event: “Serving thousands of women and girls in the area, this new space will not only contribute to the well-being of women and girls, but it will benefit the community as a whole” he began “women will be able to come here to find peace, knowledge, share their stories in confidentiality with caseworkers and get midwifery services as well”.
The event saw the presence of adolescent girls and WFS caseworkers, already ready to enjoy the space on one hand and provide GBV sessions for women, midwifery services and psychosocial support on the other. “It is a safe place, men cannot enter, and girls can share their thoughts and feelings”, Asia, WFS caseworkers said.
A Tour of the newly WFS closed the event and renewed the spirit of collaboration and joint work to respond to the Rohingya protracted refugee crisis, as well as showing solidarity among the Rohingya community in the refugee camps..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Population Fund (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Sub-title:
Tens of Thousands of Students Will Lose Access to Education
Description:
"The Bangladesh government should urgently reverse a decision to close thousands of home-based and community-led schools for Rohingya refugee students, Human Rights Watch said today. Unless the foreign minister or the disaster management minister overturns the action, approximately 30,000 children will lose their access to education.
The decision was issued on December 13, 2021 by the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, a Bangladesh government official responsible for education policy in the refugee camps where about 400,000 school-age children are confined. Four Rohingya teachers and two community leaders confirmed the school closures, but said no rationale was provided. Humanitarian workers said they had no warning of the decision or ability to provide alternatives.
“Bangladesh’s decision to close schools for Rohingya refugee children violates the right to education on a massive scale,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “This cruel decision should be immediately reversed so that Rohingya children can get an education, which will be especially critical for their return to Myanmar when it is safe to do so.”
The Bangladesh government saved countless lives when it opened its borders to ethnic Rohingya fleeing atrocity crimes by Myanmar’s military in August 2017. However, as part of a policy to prevent refugees from integrating in the country, the authorities barred Rohingya children’s access to public and private schools. They also severely restricted the education programs that humanitarian groups could provide inside the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, near the Myanmar border. Now the alternative schools inside the camps are at risk.
The government’s 19-point decision, effective immediately, states that “home-based learning center[s] will be closed.” At these centers, set up in people’s shelters, humanitarian groups supported by international donor funding provide non-formal lessons that have been approved by the Bangladesh government. Roughly 22,000 Rohingya children are currently enrolled in the home-based centers, according to humanitarian groups. Another 92,000 students attend approved non-formal lessons at small, one-story bamboo “learning centers” outside people’s homes, which teach three daily shifts of just two hours per shift, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.
The decision also orders that “all private learning center[s] must be shut down,” referring to community-led schools established by Rohingya refugee volunteer-teachers. These schools have enrolled about 10,000 children and teach the formal Myanmar curriculum, but are not officially approved. These schools have not received any support from humanitarian donors and charge minimal if any fees to cover basic learning materials. Bangladesh camp authorities had closed one of these unauthorized schools, with more than 400 students, on October 14, a teacher at the school said. But the community-led schools are the basis of a p lan, which the Bangladesh government supports, to allow Rohingya to study the formal Myanmar curriculum.
Humanitarian workers said that the home-based schools are “essential” to access learning and psychosocial support, and that approximately 84 percent of the students are girls. They said the community-led schools are especially crucial for adolescents, who are too old to attend the officially approved lessons at the learning centers and have few other education options. Together, these schools had provided the only education accessible to Rohingya children during the 18 months when the authorities had closed learning centers as part of restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, until the government partially lifted the closure on September 22.
Bangladesh authorities closed at least two community-led Rohingya schools with hundreds of students on December 13. In one camp, the assistant camp-in-charge – a Bangladesh official – and police officers arrived and closed a school with 800 students and seized all the furniture and education materials “without asking a single question,” a teacher said. The authorities also seized a teacher’s UN-issued identity document, which they have yet to return.
At a school in another camp, a teacher with 50 students said that a Rohingya community leader, told him that the camp-in-charge had instructed community leaders, or majhis, to inform all teachers they had to stop teaching immediately. “I was surprised,” the teacher said. “These kids are at least studying, otherwise they do not have anything to do and their future would just be ruined.”
Two community leaders in different camps said that Bangladesh camp authorities had instructed them to provide lists of community-led Rohingya schools and teachers, and to instruct these teachers to close their schools. “I was instructed to make a list of private schools, and teachers teaching at those schools,” one community leader said. “[The authorities] follow up with us.”
Education staff at humanitarian groups said that officially approved learning centers could not accommodate the students forced to drop out of the home-based and community schools set to be closed. “The impact could be huge, and this decision might not leave any way for these students to integrate into Myanmar society if they are able to return,” one aid worker said.
The Bangladesh decision also orders that the Myanmar national anthem “must be played daily on each shift at every learning center.” It prohibits teaching Rohingya children “how to draw the national flag of Bangladesh, how to write and speak in Bangla, and most important, the national culture of Bangladesh.”
While the decision provides no explanation for these orders, staff at two international humanitarian agencies said that they believed the orders were related to a recent visit to a learning center by two Bangladesh officials who asked Rohingya children, “What is your country?” The children replied, “Bangladesh,” and drew pictures of Bangladesh’s flag, they said. Human Rights Watch could not independently confirm their account.
“Foreign donors and the United Nations have for more than four years quietly tried to persuade the Bangladesh government to stop blocking Rohingya children’s education,” Van Esveld said. “A stronger, more coordinated effort is needed so that Bangladesh reverses its outright harmful policy to deny education to a generation of children who have no more time to lose.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-12-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Class-action lawsuit says the company’s failure to police content played a role in a brutal campaign against the group
Description:
"Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are suing Facebook for $150 billion over the company’s alleged failure to prevent its platform from being used to incite violence against the minority group.
The class-action lawsuit was filed in the US on Monday by two law firms–Edelson PC and Fields PLLC–while British lawyers submitted a letter of notice to the company in London, Reuters reported.
“The company's failures to police content and its platform's design contributed to real-world violence faced by the Rohingya community,” the complaint says.
Social media companies enjoy strong protections from such legal action under a US law known as Section 230, which says online platforms are not legally liable for content posted by third parties.
The complainants have said they will seek to apply Myanmar law if the US law is used as a defence, but there appears to be no precedent of a foreign law being used to successfully counter a Section 230 defence.
On Thursday, 16 Rohingya youth representatives will file a separate complaint against Facebook to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental group that issues guidelines for multinational companies.
That complaint comes after the refugees tried unsuccessfully to secure “remedies” from the company in the form of funding for projects in camps in Bangladesh, where more than 900,000 Rohingya live in squalid conditions.
“After more than a year of tense discussions with Facebook Human Rights Director Miranda Sissons and the rejection of a modest request for the multi-billion dollar company to fund educational programs in the camps, the youth have decided to file an official complaint,” said a statement from Victim Advocates International, a group that is assisting the refugees.
The complaint will be filed in Ireland, home to Facebook’s Global Operations office.
The complainants are asking Facebook to divert a small portion of its profits to supporting Rohingya refugees, to adjust its business model “through the lens of equity, human rights, and compassion” and to commit not only to financial reparations, but to a “culture change” aimed at preventing further abuses of the platform, the statement said.
“We have decided to file a complaint… in the hope of starting a process that will allow us to reclaim our dignity, through demanding our right to a remedy, and to an education,” the refugees said in a joint statement.
“We believe we are owed a remedy from Facebook,” they added.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine State from August 2017 amid military-led mass killings, gang rape, and arson, in what rights groups and UN investigators said was part of a genocidal campaign against the group.
UN investigators said in 2018 that the use of Facebook played a key role in spreading hate speech that fueled the violence.
Monday’s lawsuit references claims by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who leaked several thousand internal documents earlier this year that highlighted the company’s failure to take effective action against abusive content in countries where hate speech is considered likely to cause the most harm.
Facebook has previously admitted it was "too slow to prevent misinformation and hate" in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-12-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) sent a letter to Abul Kalam Abdul Momen, the Bangladeshi Minister of Foreign Affairs, advocating for increased humanitarian access and improved living conditions for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. More than 900,000 Rohingya are currently taking refuge in Bangladesh following a brutal campaign of genocide that the Burmese military have perpetrated against Rohingya Muslims.
Joining Rubio and Merkley in sending the letter were Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Chris Coons (D-DE), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ed Markey (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
“We understand from discussions with numerous stakeholders that limitations on the movements of humanitarian workers and Rohingya volunteers have impeded the delivery of important social services in Cox’s Bazar,” the senators wrote. “While we acknowledge the need for caution and some restrictions due to the COVID pandemic and we understand that Bangladesh has recently relaxed some of those restrictions, we want to stress that it remains critical that humanitarian actors and Rohingya volunteers have ongoing access to the camps to ensure that refugees continue to receive basic social services and protections.”
“We are also concerned with limitations on some programming, including educational and livelihood opportunities,” the senators continued. “We welcome the Government's steps toward providing Rohingya children with an education in the camps, a sacrosanct right per the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. We urge you to work with UNICEF to revive and expand the pilot of the Myanmar curriculum across all ages and grades to enable UN humanitarian agencies and NGOs, funded by international donors, to provide Rohingya children with formal, accredited education in the camps.”
The senators also expressed concern and alarm over reports that refugees have been forcibly relocated to Bhasan Char, an island encampment built to house Rohingya refugees. Refugees have been prohibited from leaving and, in some cases, forcibly returned to Bhasan Char after escaping. The senators urged Bangladesh to allow freedom of movement for refugees, to allow independent monitoring of the relocation process to ensure it is truly voluntary, and to allow the United Nations to conduct a technical assessment of the flood-prone island’s habitability. The senators noted that the United States — the largest international donor to the refugee resettlement process in Bangladesh — has prohibited the use of any American funds to support forced relocations to Bhasan Char.
Rubio is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The full text of the letter is below.
Dear Minister Momen,
We are grateful to the people and Government of Bangladesh for providing more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees with relative safety, security, and sustenance after fleeing horrific violence in Burma. The Government of Bangladesh – with support from international donors led by the United States, humanitarian agencies, and Rohingya and Bangladeshis in Cox’s Bazar – has admirably managed many aspects of the crisis, including limiting the spread of infectious disease and minimizing loss of life to natural disasters. We welcome especially your efforts to vaccinate over 35,000 Rohingya against COVID-19. Without taking away from these laudable efforts, we write to you to discuss concerns about humanitarian access, education and livelihood opportunities, and relocations to Bhasan Char.
We understand from discussions with numerous stakeholders that limitations on the movements of humanitarian workers and Rohingya volunteers have impeded the delivery of important social services in Cox’s Bazar. While we acknowledge the need for caution and some restrictions due to the COVID pandemic and we understand that Bangladesh has recently relaxed some of those restrictions, we want to stress that it remains critical that humanitarian actors and Rohingya volunteers have ongoing access to the camps to ensure that refugees continue to receive basic social services and protections. We are particularly concerned about the protection environment given the broader feelings of insecurity that refugees, especially women, are expressing as a result of criminal and militant groups operating in the camps and recent fires. We also note with great sadness the murder of Mohib Ullah in Cox’s Bazar and urge the government to work in a transparent manner to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice as well as to redouble efforts to ensure that criminal groups are not able to operate with impunity in the camps. More broadly, we call upon the Government of Bangladesh to allow consistent, unimpeded access to the camps for humanitarian actors and volunteers and a full resumption of protection activities.
We are also concerned with limitations on some programming, including educational and livelihood opportunities. We welcome the Government's steps toward providing Rohingya children with an education in the camps, a sacrosanct right per the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. We urge you to work with UNICEF to revive and expand the pilot of the Myanmar curriculum across all ages and grades to enable UN humanitarian agencies and NGOs, funded by international donors, to provide Rohingya children with formal, accredited education in the camps. We are supportive of the broad education goals identified in the 2021 Joint Response Plan, and ask you to work in partnership with the UN, donors, and NGOs to offer improved, accredited education to Rohingya youth.
In the face of these challenges, we understand that Rohingya frustration is increasing. We note the Government of Bangladesh’s significant investments to develop Bhasan Char and welcome the recent announcement that your government has concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. It is imperative that your government take all steps to implement this MOU, including provisions allowing for freedom of movement for Rohingya Refugees on Bhasan Char. Nonetheless, we are troubled by recent reports that some Rohingya that have attempted to escape from Bhasan Char were detained and returned to the island, and that others were relocated to Bhasan Char against their will, which would go against your Government’s stated commitments to a voluntary process in which refugees are able to give fully informed consent. We urge the Government to demonstrate its commitments to voluntary and fully informed relocations by allowing Rohingya to return to the mainland if they so choose while also allowing independent monitoring of the relocation process. We encourage you to allow the UN to conduct a comprehensive technical assessment of Bhasan Char’s habitability. We do not support the forced relocation of Rohingya to Bhasan Char and have prohibited the use of funds to support such a policy.
Until Rohingya can safely return home, Bangladesh will unfortunately carry an outsized responsibility to ensure their protection. As elected officials in the United States, we are prepared to do our part to help Bangladesh attain sufficient international support and resources to help both Rohingya and affected Bangladeshi communities in Cox’s Bazar; encouraging meaningful consideration of third country resettlement options; holding Burma accountable for addressing the root causes of the crisis in Rakhine and for atrocities committed against the Rohingya; and continuing to urge the international community, including our own country, to respond strongly to the coup in Burma.
We extend our deepest gratitude for everything Bangladesh has done for the Rohingya since 2017 and, indeed, since the 1970s. As elected representatives of the United States, the largest donor to the humanitarian response in Cox’s Bazar, we look forward to continuing to work with you to find durable solutions to this crisis..."
Source/publisher:
Senator Marco Rubio
Date of entry/update:
2021-11-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
He was likely lynched by a mob, police say
Description:
"Ads
He was likely lynched by a mob, police say
An alleged leader of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) has been found dead at the Whykong Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar district.
The deceased was identified as Mohammad Hashim, 32, son of the late Nurul Amin of camp No 22 of Unchiprang in Whykong union.
Sub-Inspector Mahabubur Rahaman of Whykong police outpost said Hashim was probably lynched by a mob. "However, the exact cause of death will be clear after post-mortem," he said.
Also read - Family blames Rohingya militants for Mohib Ullah murder
According to police sources, Hashim used to assault Rohingya Muslims, presenting himself as an ARSA leader.
Hashim was one of the masterminds behind the recent assassination of top Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah, the sources said, not ruling out his involvement in the subsequent madrasa attack.
Also read - 6 hacked to death in Rohingya camp attack
Md Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of the Teknaf police station, said the body was sent to the Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update:
2021-11-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič is concluding today a three-day visit to Bangladesh to see the situation on the ground in the context of the worsening humanitarian crisis affecting Rohingya people. In the margins of his visit, he announced an additional €12 million in humanitarian aid funding for the Rohingya in Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Commissioner for Crisis Management Lenarčič said: "The EU is providing an additional humanitarian aid for the affected Rohingya in Bangladesh as well as in Myanmar, where the root causes of this crisis lie. This new funding reaffirms the European Union stands by Bangladesh and its people which hosts nearly a million Rohingya, who had to flee their homes to save their lives. At the same time I wish to commend our partners, who are supporting the refugees on a daily basis. We closely monitor the humanitarian situation in the region and remain committed to provide life-saving assistance, including through innovative ways to elevate displaced Rogingya's standard of living, as well as long-term support to Rohingya and host communities in Bangladesh and Myanmar”.
While in Cox's Bazar, Commissioner Lenarčič visited the world's largest refugee settlement, the Kutupalong camp, meeting with the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner and representatives of the United Nations, humanitarian and civil society organisations. Upon arrival to Dhaka, the Commissioner met with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen, Bangladeshi Minister of Disaster Management and Relief, Dr Md. Enamur Rahman, and the Bangladeshi Minister of Water Resources, Mr Zahid Faruk. The massive influx of Rohingya populations into Bangladesh is the largest refugee movement in the region in decades, and the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world since the Syrian emergency.
Background
Bangladesh continues to be a safe haven for over 884,000 Rohingya refugees. They fled brutal repression and wide-ranging discrimination in Myanmar's Rakhine state and currently live in refugee camps in the Cox's Bazar district. Being the world's largest stateless population, most of them without formal refugee status, the Rohingya cannot pursue education or formal employment. They remain vulnerable to exploitation and serious protection risks. Living in refugee camps, they depend entirely on humanitarian aid.
In 2021, the European Union has contributed €28.15 million* in humanitarian aid and disaster preparedness funding to Bangladesh. Since 2017, the EU has allocated over €283 million for the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh, Myanmar and the region.
For More Information
Factsheet on Bangladesh
*Updated on 28.10.21 at 15:38..."
Source/publisher:
European Commission (Brussels)
Date of entry/update:
2021-10-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
38.51 KB
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Sub-title:
Refugee camps in Bangladesh have become a source of business for vested interests.
Description:
"The Rohingya refugee crisis, which entered its fifth year in August, is showing no signs of winding down. Repatriation of refugees is nowhere in sight, even as management of the large number of refugees that Bangladesh is hosting is getting increasingly complex for its government.
On September 29, Mohibullah, an influential Rohingya community leader, was assassinated by unidentified men near his office in Lambasia in the Kutupalong camp, just a few hundred feet away from two police stations.
While speculation is rife over the identity of his killers, Mohibullah’s brother blamed the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) for the killing in a video posted on social media shortly after the assassination.
“Bangladesh authorities should urgently investigate Mohibullah’s killing along with other attacks on Rohingya activists in the camps,” Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch’s South Asia director said a statement, adding that the murder is a stark reminder of the risks faced by those in refugee camps for speaking up for freedom and against violence.
On October 2, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told journalists that Mohibullah was assassinated by groups with a “vested interest,” since he advocated for safe and dignified repatriation of refugees back to Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
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In addition to hosting ARSA militias, the Kutupalong refugee camp is known to be a hotbed of trafficking rings and criminal gangs who terrorize camp residents by night. There have been several incidents of violent crimes including robberies, assaults, abductions, and killings in this camp.
Analysts believe that Mohibullah’s nonviolent and democratic approach to solving the Rohingya crisis angered groups that viewed armed resistance as the only solution to the crisis. Nur Khan, a prominent human rights activist in Bangladesh, told Deutsche Welle that Mohibullah’s killing was part of an elaborate plan to leave the refugee community without a civilian leader. “You can’t solve a political problem only militarily. That’s why a leader like Mohibullah, who emerged from a civilian community, was important to solving the crisis,” Khan said.
In a 2019 Reuters interview, Mohibullah predicted that he would be killed by hardliners in the camps who were sending him death threats. Not only Bangladeshi police but also the United Nations and foreign embassies failed to protect Mohibullah although they knew that his life was under threat, Nay San Lwin, a co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, told DW.
The repatriation of Rohingyas had been put on the back burner partly because of Myanmar’s unwillingness to take back the Rohingya refugees but also because international focus has shifted from the Rohingya crisis to the military coup in Myanmar and a looming civil war there.
Mohibullah’s assassination has brought back attention to the Rohingya repatriation issue. It has forced uncomfortable questions to the fore. Are there vested interests behind keeping the refugees in Bangladesh?
On October 5, Foreign Minister Momen said that while Bangladesh is talking about repatriation, “several international agencies are talking of long-term rehabilitation. There has been no conflict in Rakhine for the last four years; yet, they (agencies) do not tell them (Rohingyas) to repatriate. All they (agencies) talk about is keeping them in good condition and about their human rights here.”
Momen endorsed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s observations a day earlier that the Rohingya camps have become a place of business for the NGOs and aid agencies working in Cox’s Bazar.
“They (agencies) are making absurd demands like giving Rohingyas the right to buy land, giving opportunities in employment and proper schooling. But these are not acceptable,” the foreign minister said, adding that the intention of the NGOs and agencies in the Rohingya camps is to have the refugees stay in Bangladesh. “If they (Rohingya) stay here, their (agencies’) employment will be extended,” Momen pointed out.
The renewed discussion of Rohingya refugees came amid the Bangladesh government signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.N. under which the global body will provide humanitarian support to the Rohingya refugees on the remote island of Bhasan Char.
Just 34 percent of the $1 billion needed to take care of the Rohingya refugees has been disbursed to the Bangladesh government and aid agencies. With the Taliban’s recapture of power in Afghanistan humanitarian needs in that country are expected to soar, which means that funds for the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazaar will be cut back further.
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The Bangladesh government has been lobbying at many global forums including the U.N. General Assembly to ensure safe and dignified repatriation of the refugees back to Rakhine. Will Mohibullah’s murder bring global attention back to the refugee camps in Bangladesh?..."
Source/publisher:
"The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2021-10-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Too often, we have seen the inability to nip unrest in the bud lead to nefarious parties being emboldened
We firmly agree with Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen that the current situation in the Rohingya camps must be resolved as soon as possible, and to that end, local authorities and law enforcement agencies must take firm action to improve law and order.
While news that the police have, so far, detained eight people over the recent attack on a madrasa in the camps that left at least six dead gives some reassurance, the larger story here is that, following this attack and the murder of Rohingya leader Mohibullah not too long ago, there is unease and volatility in the camps that must be extinguished as soon as possible.
The fact that 25 Rohingya refugees have been murdered over the past one year is alarming to the extreme, more so because these camps are supposed to be safe spaces for these refugees who had to suffer through unimaginable horrors back home at the hands of the Myanmar army.
This lack of safety in the camps also paints Bangladesh in a bad light, and threatens to devalue all the good work that has been done to shelter the Rohingya and provide them with the refuge that their own country could not.
Too often, we have seen the inability to nip unrest in the bud lead to nefarious parties being emboldened and encouraged to do even more harm, and scale up to the point where the situation gets out of hand.
As such, the authorities concerned have an obligation to improve the current condition of the camps, and put an end to any and all incidents of violence that continue to exist, along with identifying those who are instigating unrest in the camps. Failure to do so threatens not only the safety of the Rohingya within the camps, but also the safety of Bangladesh as a whole..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update:
2021-10-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"The Ministry o f Human Rights o f the National Unity Government (NUG) expresses its alarm
at reports o f killings and extreme acts o f violence in a Rohingya camp in Bangladesh on the
evening o f 21 October 2 0 2 1. According to local sources, as many as seven people were
murdered by attackers bearing knives and firearms. Others were seriously injured.
This heinous act deepens the trauma already experienced by the Rohingya residents of these
camps, themselves survivors of grave atrocities. The NUG extends its condolences to the
families o f those murdered, and will continue to pray for the quick recovery o f the injured.
This incident also lays bare the extreme insecurity in which Rohingya camp members continue
to live. Only three weeks ago, Mohib Ullah, a community leader and champion of Rohingya
rights, was also murdered in a brutal targeted attack. The NUG is gravely concerned about the
plight o f Rohingya camp residents, who face harsh conditions and now live under the threat of
wanton violence by extremists and criminal groups.
The NUG calls on relevant authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation to
ensure accountability, and to take urgent steps to improve camp security.
The NUG remains committed to the voluntary, safe and dignified repatriation of Rohingya to
Myanmar. Furthermore, we remain steadfast in our belief that the establishment o f a Federal
Democratic Union, where all ethnic groups live in peace, is the most durable solution for our
country. It is only through a shared commitment to equality, inclusivity, justice, human rights
and accountability and by working together that we can move forward for the fulfilment of all
people in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Human Rights
Date of entry/update:
2021-10-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
33.6 KB
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Description:
"Introduction
The purpose of the rapid assessment was to gather information on the priority protection concerns perceived by communities in 2021 and the causes of these concerns. Additionally, the assessment sought to understand which protection concerns communities perceived to have increased in 2021. The assessment was a joint initiative between UNICEF and the Child Protection Sub-Sector to inform a range of stakeholders of the importance of child protection in the humanitarian response and the key focus areas for intervention in 2022. When triangulated with other sources such as the bi-weekly reports from child protection focal points and CPIMS+ trends analysis, the results are largely consistent, therefore addition validity to these findings.
Methodology
The methodology for the assessment was random sampling of community members in Camp 1E, Camp 1W, Camp 2E, Camp 2W, Camp 3, Camp 4, Camp 6, Camp 7, Camp 8E, Camp 8W, Camp 10, Camp 11, Camp 12, Camp 14, Camp 15, Camp 16, Camp 17, Camp 18, Camp 19, Camp 20, Camp 21, Camp 22, Camp 24, Camp 25, Camp 26, and Camp 27. A sample size of 690 male and female adults were interviewed by partner staff and recorded on a Kobo survey form on the Kobo Humanitarian database. The sample size was 684 with 342 female (41 with disabilities) and 341 male (26 with disabilities) and 1 other gender.
Limitations
The assessment was conducted over 4 days and was limited to Rohingya refugee camps. Therefore, the child protection issues in the host community are not captured in the findings within this report. Furthermore, the assessment was a perception-based assessment and therefore the inherent biases of the respondents must be considered. Additionally, it is important to note that child protection concerns are often underreported such as sexual and gender-based violence and violence in the home, due to cultural sensitivities surrounding these issues. Additionally, while neglect is often the most visible child protection concern, it is not necessarily the result of direct actions by the caregiver but relates to the overall condition in the camps..."
Source/publisher:
Protection Cluster and UN Children's Fund via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-10-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Human Rights and international relations, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Public Health
Language:
Format :
pdf
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1.05 MB
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Sub-title:
New MoU between UNHCR and Bangladesh kept private
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"The Government of Bangladesh and the U.N. Refugee Agency should revise and release their recent agreement regarding the provision of U.N. services to Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char island, said Fortify Rights today. Both parties should ensure the right to freedom of movement to and from the island as well as the meaningful participation of Rohingya refugees in any decisions affecting them.
On October 9, the Bangladesh Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a common framework for humanitarian services for Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char island. The MoU has not been made public; Fortify Rights obtained and reviewed a copy of the signed document.
“The U.N. and Dhaka should revise their MoU, especially a provision outlining restrictions on freedom of movement,” said Ismail Wolff, Regional Director at Fortify Rights. “UNHCR’s lifesaving services are essential and needed on the island, but the agency must ensure it is not propping up a refugee prison with this agreement.”
The MoU not only fails to ensure the right to freedom of movement of Rohingya on Bhasan Char island, but one provision explicitly codifies the government and UNHCR’s restrictions on refugee movement, permitting Rohingya movement from the island only under conditions agreed upon between both parties. Section (2)g of the document seen by Fortify Rights states that the government and UNHCR will decide on the precise ways Rohingya will be permitted to leave the island on an as-needs basis.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Mohammed Mohsin, and the Bangladesh Representative of UNHCR, Johannes van der Klaauw, reportedly signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organizations. The memorandum allows for close cooperation between the Bangladesh government and the U.N. Refugee Agency to deliver services on the island.
A public statement by the U.N. on October 9 stated that the MoU covers “key areas of protection, education, skills-training, livelihoods and health, which will help support the refugees to lead decent lives on the island and better prepare them for sustainable return to Myanmar in the future.” The MoU provides UNHCR unhindered access to Bhasan Char, a welcomed move, and stipulates that refugees will be permitted to move freely on the island for daily activities.
The MoU also remains unpublished, despite the Rohingya people’s longstanding requests for transparency in decisions affecting them.
“Bangladesh citizens, Rohingya refugees, and the public-at-large deserve access to the MoU,” said Ismail Wolff. “There is no defensible reason to refuse anyone access to this document, especially Rohingya people, who have been subjugated by powerful actors for too long.”
The MoU also includes reference to Rohingya as “Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals” and “FDMNs,” terminology representative of Dhaka’s longstanding refusal to confer deserved refugee status on Rohingya, the majority of whom fled genocide and other atrocities in Myanmar. Bangladesh should ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol and develop a domestic legal framework to regulate the status and protection of refugees, said Fortify Rights.
At the time of writing, there are nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and an estimated 20,000 Rohingya on Bhasan Char island. The Bangladesh government currently confines those refugees on the island, forbidding them from leaving.
From June to September 2021, Bangladesh security forces reportedly arrested more than 200 Rohingya for attempting to leave the island, forcing them to return or detaining them on the mainland. These arrests would constitute arbitrary detention, said Fortify Rights. During the same period, dozens of Rohingya reportedly died at sea while trying to escape the island.
Refugees on the island face widespread human rights violations, including severe restrictions on freedom of movement, beatings, and threats and ill-treatment by Bangladesh security forces. In 2020, testimonial evidence indicated that some relocations to the island were coerced and involuntary.
Over the last year, Fortify Rights interviewed dozens of Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char regarding conditions on the island, including restrictions on freedom of movement and the fate of those who attempted to escape.
On August 14, 2021, a fishing boat capsized while carrying more than 40 Rohingya refugees, including children, fleeing Bhasan Char island. Bangladesh police reported that some had survived; Fortify Rights interviewed two survivors after authorities returned them to the island. Some Rohingya lost almost their entire families in the avoidable accident.
One Rohingya man, 27, who was on the boat when it capsized, told Fortify Rights: “I had three children. I lost every one of them on the boat while we were trying to escape the island. Along with my children, I lost a niece, my younger brother, and wife of my younger brother.”
The same man explained his rationale for leaving the island:
The reason we tried to escape the island was because of the many hardships [we faced] even for daily survival. . . After our arrival [on Bhasan Char], we found this place was nothing less than a prison. We are made crippled. . . We’re surrounded by the authorities, and we can’t move anywhere. It’s very difficult to escape the island because of the security personnel. . . The authorities know that people are in a circle of persecution and unhappy with the current system they put us in. They [the authorities] also know that if they allow movement for the people, they will not come back, so they keep all of us under control.
Almost all Rohingya on the island Fortify Rights spoke with reported restrictions on freedom of movement. A 30-year-old Rohingya mother of three told Fortify Rights how she has demanded to return to the mainland refugee camps, saying: “The suffering is unbearable on this island. . . Even on this island, the movement is restricted for us. . . We are demanding the authorities send us back to the [mainland] camps.”
Another Rohingya refugee, 32, told Fortify Rights in June 2021 about barbed-wire fencing on the island: “There is fencing around the camps on Bhasan Char. We can show you how they are keeping us. It’s as if we are in a jail.”
In 2015, the Bangladesh government began developing Bhasan Char as part of plans to relocate more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees from overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar District. Despite multiple requests by the U.N., the Government of Bangladesh did not grant U.N. agencies access to the island until March 2021 and began transferring Rohingya to the island before any protection and technical assessment by the U.N. Over the last two years, Fortify Rights and others repeatedly urged the Bangladesh government to allow the U.N. to conduct protection assessments and review the sustainability and environmental conditions on the island before any transfers are made.
While governments are obligated to protect the right to freedom of movement, restrictions are allowed under international law if they are necessary to achieve specific legitimate aims and only if they are proportionate to achieving those aims. However, given the remote and isolated nature of Bhasan Char island, the inability of refugees to leave, and the severe restrictions on freedom of movement, Bhasan Char is essentially an island detention center, said Fortify Rights. There is no basis in international law for detaining refugees solely based on their immigration status. Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bangladesh is a state party, protects the rights to liberty, which in this case would include refugees.
“Rohingya tell us they are grateful for Bangladesh’s protection, but they must be free, and they must be front and center of all decisions that impact them. Time and again, governments and other actors have failed to ensure meaningful participation of refugees in the decisions that directly impact their lives and rights,” said Ismail Wolff. “The Bhasan Char project has been a human-rights misadventure from its very inception. The U.N. and the Bangladesh government must address previous violations and ensure the rights of Rohingya refugees are fully respected.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights"
Date of entry/update:
2021-10-19
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Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Human Rights and international relations
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"DHAKA (Reuters) - U.N. officials signed a deal with Bangladesh on Saturday to help provide basic services to thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who have been moved to camps on a remote island in the Bay of Bengal.
The Bangladeshi government has moved nearly 19,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island from border camps despite protests by some refugees and opposition from rights groups, who say the low-lying island is vulnerable to flooding and storms.
Authorities in the densely populated South Asian country eventually want the island to accommodate about 10% of the 1 million Rohingya refugees who currently live in ramshackle border camps after fleeing violence in neighbouring Myanmar.
UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, said the agreement signed on Saturday allowed for close cooperation with the government on providing services for the island’s growing refugee population.
“These cover key areas of protection, education, skills-training, livelihoods and health, which will help support the refugees to lead decent lives on the island and better prepare them for sustainable return to Myanmar in the future,” a UNHCR statement said.
About 81,000 Rohingya should be living on the island within three months, Mohammad Mohsin, a senior official at the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told reporters after singing the accord.
Refugees in Bhasan Char, some of whom have protested against living conditions on the island, welcomed UNHCR’s involvement.
“Now we’ll get enough of the assistance that we need,” Mohammed Arman, a Rohingya refugee told Reuters by telephone.
Residents of the island’s camps have said they face restrictions on movement, no opportunities to earn a livelihood and inadequate healthcare and education.
Dozens of people died after a fishing boat crammed with Rohingya trying to flee the island sank in August.
Some Rohingya have spoken of being coerced to go to Bhasan Char, but Bangladesh says relocation is voluntary and has dismissed safety concerns - citing the building of flood defences, housing for 100,000 people and hospitals..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-10-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Human Rights and international relations
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"Responding to the killing of leading Rohingya activist Mohib Ullah, who was shot dead this evening in the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazaar, Saad Hammadi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner, said:
“Mohib Ullah was a leading representative of the Rohingya community, who spoke out against violence in the camps and in support of the human rights and protection of refugees. His killing sends a chilling effect across the entire community. The onus is now on the Bangladeshi authorities to expedite an investigation into his murder and bring all those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair trials.
“We call on the Bangladeshi authorities and the UN Refugee Agency to work together to ensure the protection of people in the camps, including refugees, civil society activists and humanitarian workers from both the Rohingya and host community, many of whom have shared concerns about their safety.
“Violence in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar has been a growing problem. Armed groups operating drug cartels have killed people and held hostages. The authorities must take immediate action to prevent further bloodshed.”
Background
Mohib Ullah, 48, who led the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, was shot dead at around 8:30PM at his office in the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar. Mohib Ullah had represented the Rohingya community at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2019.
At least two thousand Rohingya refugees have been forced to flee their shelters to other camps since violence broke out last year between two rival factions seeking to control the illicit trade of contraband drugs inside the camps. On 7 October 2020, around a dozen shelters in Kutupalong refugee camp were burned to the ground.
Rohingya refugees told Amnesty International that the clash broke out between a group that has been operating a drug cartel within the refugee camp and another armed group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) as they vie for control of the camps..."
Source/publisher:
"Amnesty International" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-30
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Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights Defenders
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"30 September 2021: The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) mourns the death of Mohib Ullah, one of the Myanmar Rohingya people’s leading human rights advocates and defenders. Mohib Ullah was murdered on 29 September 2021 in the Rohingya refugee camp of Lambashia, Kutupalong in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. He was chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights.
SAC-M co-founder and member Yanghee Lee said, “I knew Mohib Ullah well from my work over many years as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar. He was passionately committed to the human rights of the Rohingya people. He was a man of courage and determination, an irreplaceable leader of the Rohingya people’s struggle for peace and justice.”
Marzuki Darusman, co-founder and member of SAC-M, was chairperson of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM). He said, “Mohib Ullah provided invaluable assistance to the FFM’s investigations. He and his colleagues in the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights chronicled the events during and after August 2017 when the Myanmar military conducted one of the most brutal operations in recent times. His efforts led directly to international support for the Rohingya people and efforts to bring the military leadership to justice.”
In 2017, Myanmar’s military unleashed a genocidal campaign of violence on Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine state, forcing three quarters of a million people to flee to Bangladesh. Those who fled joined a quarter of a million earlier Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh where they are now confined to sprawling camps and continue to endure dire conditions.
“Mohib Ullah’s death must lead to stronger and more determined international support for the struggle for human rights in Myanmar, for the Rohingya and for all the other peoples of Myanmar,” said Chris Sidoti, the third member of SAC-M and also a member of the UN FFM. “The most important tribute we can pay him is more effective action for peace and justice for all Myanmar’s peoples.”
SAC-M calls on Bangladeshi authorities to investigate Mohib Ullah’s murder thoroughly and to charge, prosecute and punish the perpetrators according to law. It urges UN human rights mechanisms to monitor and report on the adequacy and effectiveness of the Bangladeshi investigations. Bangladeshi authorities have a duty to protect the lives of the one million Rohingya refugees confined to camps in Bangladesh whilst ensuring this tragedy is not exploited to impose further restrictions on the lives of those who have already lost so much..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-30
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Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Sub-title:
Myanmar’s Coup Built on Years of Failed Accountability
Description:
"On August 1, Myanmar’s commander-in-chief, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, dressed in civilian clothes, made a televised speech six months to the day after leading a coup that thrust the country back under brutal military rule. Amid claims of establishing a multiparty democracy, the junta leader announced that his manufactured state of emergency, which has given rise to massive human rights abuses, would be extended until August 2023.
Later that day, Min Aung Hlaing appointed himself prime minister of the State Administration Council (SAC) junta’s “caretaker government.”
“We have to try to bring them back to a stable condition,” he said of the junta’s use of force against the millions of peaceful protesters who have taken to the streets since February 1. “We must apply our collective strengths.”
The past eight months have offered a stark demonstration of the military’s application of its “collective strengths.” Since the coup, security forces have carried out a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests with the same callous disregard for life that has driven their scorched-earth strategy in ethnic regions for decades. Police and soldiers have killed over 1,000 people, including about 75 children, arrested more than 6,000 protesters, journalists, and others, and tortured and raped detainees.
Human Rights Watch determined that the military’s post-coup abuses—vast, methodical, and systematic—amount to crimes against humanity. The broad-based and consistent nature of the crackdown reflects not the individual actions of security officers, but a countrywide policy of the junta.
Crimes against humanity committed since February 1 include murder, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and other sexual violence, severe deprivation of liberty, and other inhumane acts causing great suffering. Across the country, security forces have repeatedly used lethal force, including live ammunition, mortar shells, and grenades, while using so-called less-lethal weapons indiscriminately and excessively. Video footage has captured soldiers shooting down children on motorbikes, brutally beating medical aid workers, and firing shotguns into crowds of peacefully protesting doctors.
These displays are tragic but not surprising for anyone who has been paying attention to the human rights situation in the country. In 2017, Min Aung Hlaing orchestrated crimes against humanity in which the military committed genocidal acts and other horrific abuses against ethnic Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, killing thousands and forcing over 730,000 to flee to Bangladesh. The same notorious military units implicated in the 2017 atrocities—since sanctioned by the US and UK—have been deployed in the streets of Yangon, Mandalay, and other cities and towns since the coup, terrorizing protesters calling for civilian democratic rule.
The throughline of these two grave crises—the 2021 coup and the 2017 atrocities against the Rohingya—lies in the decades-long impunity enjoyed by Myanmar’s military, or Tatmadaw.
The Tatmadaw is an institution driven by brutality. It sows disunity and fear with the sole aim of propping up the supremacy of its leadership. It seeks to create an oppressive atmosphere of terror, in ways both overt and subtle. It knows no other way of exercising power. And has done so unchecked for decades.
The coup has made clear that the bloodshed happening today on the streets is a direct corollary of a military that for years has faced few to no consequences for its crimes.
In the four years since the military’s atrocities in northern Rakhine State, the situation for Rohingya in Myanmar and abroad offers a dismal reflection of justice delayed. In Rakhine State, 600,000 Rohingya remain trapped under a system of discriminatory laws and policies that amount to apartheid under international law.
In Bangladesh, nearly a million Rohingya refugees live in sprawling, overcrowded camps, their prospects of voluntarily returning to a Myanmar where they could live safely and securely more distant than ever. The commander-in-chief who orchestrated the ethnic cleansing campaign that led to the massacres of their families and neighbors has now not only evaded justice, but installed himself as leader of the country.
There have been some flashes of progress toward accountability. Gambia, one of the smallest countries in Africa, has brought Myanmar before the International Court of Justice for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention in its atrocities against the Rohingya. The International Criminal Court is conducting a limited investigation into alleged crimes against humanity which were completed in Bangladesh that will identify individuals for prosecution.
But as a whole, the international response to the Tatmadaw’s cycles of ethnic cleansing and forced deportation of the Rohingya has been fragmented and halting. The UN Security Council, the body with the authority to respond with binding resolutions on states, has remained paralyzed. At the time of coup, the Council had not produced a formal document on Myanmar in over three years.
Diplomats meanwhile have favored the closed-room tactics of quiet diplomacy and “dialogue” over strong measures for accountability—a futile approach compounded by an enduring and misguided faith in the former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s imagined democratic credibility.
A clear and consistent multilateral strategy for accountability and justice never emerged in the wake of the 2017 violence. Instead, the military maintained its grasp on Myanmar’s levers of political and economic power, with Min Aung Hlaing remaining untouched at the helm.
When armored vehicles rolled through the streets of the capital, Naypyidaw, before dawn on February 1, with the military detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders, foreign governments were quick to voice concern. Their condemnation grew louder as the death toll of protesters rose in March and April.
Some consequences followed. The US, UK, EU, and Canada sanctioned junta leaders and major military enterprises, including its two main conglomerates, the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) and Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL). But the sanctions’ toll on the military’s cash flow has not been enough.
France and other governments have skirted the global call for sanctions on the massive foreign oil and gas revenues that bankroll the junta and its weapon purchases. Japan and Australia have done even less, issuing no sanctions on military leaders or entities since February, despite condemning the coup.
Meanwhile, the Security Council’s historical inaction on Myanmar endures, with permanent members Russia and China—long serving as Myanmar’s protectors at the Council—resisting substantive action, and Western members too timid to push the limits. As a result, the Council has done little beyond issuing statements calling for the release of political prisoners and an end to the violence.
“What are we waiting for?” a US diplomat asked in a speech at a July council meeting. “The longer we delay, the more people die. This Council is failing in our collective responsibility to safeguard international peace and security. And it is failing the people of Burma.”
The UK, the Security Council’s designated penholder for resolutions on Myanmar, has for years taken a hyper-cautious approach to the country. Since the coup, it has bound its own hands under the banner of maintaining consensus among council members, focusing on anodyne statements over substantive action. This strategy already failed to achieve an ounce of justice for the Rohingya, only emboldening the military with a sense of reprieve.
The unwillingness of the UK, US, and France to press for a resolution in fear of vetoes by China and Russia has ultimately betrayed the Council’s mandate to ensure international peace and security as well as the millions of people risking their lives in Myanmar by opposing the coup.
“We will do everything we can to mobilize all the key actors and international community to put enough pressure on Myanmar to make sure that this coup fails,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said days after the coup. Eight months on, that momentum has waned. The Security Council failed to capitalize on the international outcry triggered by the coup and the window it offered for real, swift impact.
The people of Myanmar continue protesting, but they do so with a sense of having been abandoned. “There is nobody coming to help them to stop this violence,” said activist Khin Ohmar.
The dangerous narrative persists that there is a way forward with the Tatmadaw seated at the table. Calls for “all parties to engage in dialogue,” as the UK ambassador to Myanmar recently tweeted, ring hollow in the face of the military’s depravity and stark repression of any opposition. The UK and other governments’ delayed action under the pretense of waiting for effective leadership from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is similarly empty. The regional bloc has a track record of neglecting its responsibility to act to protect the people of Southeast Asia. Since releasing its five-point consensus in April, ASEAN has taken no meaningful steps to press the junta to end its abuses. Min Aung Hlaing, meanwhile, has been unwilling to meet even ASEAN’s low bar.
In June, faced with Security Council inertia, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on member states to prevent the flow of weapons into Myanmar. Lamentably, the Security Council has yet to follow the General Assembly’s lead with a binding global arms embargo.
The Human Rights Council held a Special Session following the coup but adopted a watered-down resolution in the interest of consensus. Subsequent resolutions have been stronger, but the crisis has received reduced attention from the Council in recent months.
Over the next months, UN member states will be drafting a Myanmar resolution for the Third Committee of the 76th General Assembly session now underway. Drafters should ensure the resolution expressly condemns Min Aung Hlaing and the Tatmadaw as orchestrators of the crisis, identifies the abuses committed since February 1 as crimes against humanity, and calls for the Security Council to advance international accountability.
The resolution should recognize the coup and the atrocities against the Rohingya as intersecting crises with shared perpetrators that demand a cohesive response. This could reinvigorate pressure on the Security Council to pass a resolution instituting a global arms embargo and referring the Tatmadaw’s grave crimes across Myanmar since at least 2011 to the International Criminal Court. The Council should also impose targeted sanctions including global travel bans and asset freezes on the leadership of the junta and military-owned conglomerates.
To cut off the military from the revenue funding its ongoing crimes against humanity, the US, UK, EU, and other governments should work together to strengthen international sanctions. Governments should target the junta’s gas revenues, its largest source of foreign income, totaling about US$1 billion annually in duties, taxes, royalties, fees, and other profits. Broad coordination and enforcement are crucial for these to have an effective influence on the military’s calculations.
Myanmar’s crisis may have faded from the front pages of world news, but its urgency still pulses across the country, a hum both daily and catastrophic.
“They are attempting for the disintegration of the Tatmadaw,” said Min Aung Hlaing, denouncing the opposition Civil Disobedience Movement in his August 1 speech. In fact, what the protesters are risking their lives for is nothing more than respect for their rights and freedoms, and justice for their suffering. But concerned governments supporting the fight for civilian democratic rule in Myanmar also need to recognize that achieving such aims will require excising the Tatmadaw from the vast control it wields in every layer of Myanmar life..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Discrimination against the Rohingya
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Title: IOM Bangladesh Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis Response - Monthly Situation Report (August 2021)
Description:
"IOM Supports COVID-19 Vaccination for Rohingya Refugees
The COVID-19 vaccination campaign for the Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar camps started on 10 August. As part of the Government of Bangladesh National Committee on COVID-19 vaccination plan, the vaccination campaign was for the refugees who are 50 years and above.
The first dose of the vaccine was given to 36,943 refugees -- 21,673 male and 15,270 female -- at the first phase of the campaign, which aimed to reach 43,093 refugees through this facility-based approach. By covering 86% of the targeted beneficiaries, the campaign’s first phase ended on 23 August while eligible community leaders who are supporting the camp operations were also vaccinated.
Out of the 34 selected sites for vaccination, 10 were IOM health facilities where 17% of vaccinated refugees were provided first dose of the vaccine. A total 46 IOM health workers were trained on vaccination Standard Operating Procedures as well as guidelines on Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI).
Community Health Workers (CHWs) played a key role in mobilisation and were also responsible for vaccination card distribution. There were Risk Communication and Community Engagement activities that took place prior, during and after the campaign, for raising awareness, promotion of this campaign, and establishment of trust and feedback mechanisms from the community.
For this campaign, IOM has distributed 11,693 Information, Education & Communication (IEC) materials related to vaccination and reached 134,666 beneficiaries through house to house visits, and conducted awareness-raising sessions. The next round for the second dose will begin in early September.
In addition, through the provision of tablets and orientation for staff on data entry, IOM also supported five government facilities in Cox’s Bazar with COVID-19 vaccination registration for the host community, with 423 registrations done this month..."
Source/publisher:
International Organization for Migration (IOM) ( Switzerland) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
IOM Burma/Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Human Rights and international relations, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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2.6 MB
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Description:
"More than 164,000 Rohingya children in the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in Bangladesh returned to learning centres today after one of the longest disruptions to schooling globally due to COVID-19.
Learning centres run by humanitarian agencies, which provide primary-level education for Rohingya refugee children, were closed 18 months ago, leaving children vulnerable to child marriage and child labour as a means for families to survive.
The government announced that learning centres could reopen for children in grades two to four after a drop in positive testing rates for COVID-19 nationally and in Cox’s Bazar to around 5% this week from over 30% in early August. Bangladeshi schools reopened on September 12 but Rohingya children were still waiting to resume their education.
Save the Children welcomed the re-opening of learning centres but called on the government to allow other age groups to also return to their classrooms and for a pilot programme using the curriculum from Myanmar. About 456,000 children are living among almost 900,000 refugees in the camps at Cox’s Bazar.
Taslim,* 9, said it would help for teachers to use the Myanmar curriculum and to have teachers from Myanmar.
“This would help me to be a doctor or teacher and be able to fulfil my dreams,” she told Save the Children.
Save the Children’s Bangladesh Country Director, Onno Van Manen, said Rohingya children and families were keen to return to learning and quality education.
“Efforts need to be re-doubled to provide quality education to Rohingya children. This can be achieved through community outreach to convince families to send their children back to school and by urgently resuming the rollout and expansion of the pilot program to allow Rohingya children to study in their mother-tongue using the curriculum,” he said.
Save the Children, with the help of Rohingya and Bangladeshi teachers, have provided education to Rohingya refugees and the host community at 100 learning centres in Cox’s Bazar camps since 2017 when almost one million Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar into Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
Save the Children (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-25
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"On behalf of the United States, Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced nearly $180 million in additional humanitarian assistance for those affected by the Rakhine State/Rohingya refugee crisis in Burma, Bangladesh, and elsewhere in the region.
With this new funding, our total humanitarian assistance for this response reaches more than $1.5 billion since August 2017, when more than 740,000 Rohingya were forced to flee ethnic cleansing and other horrific atrocities and abuses in Burma’s Rakhine State to safety in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
This total funding has included more than $1.2 billion for programs in Bangladesh and allows our humanitarian partners to provide life-saving assistance to the nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. It also provides support to more than 472,000 affected members of the local host community in Bangladesh.
U.S. humanitarian assistance for this crisis delivers across multiple realms, including education, food security, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, disaster response, water, sanitation, and hygiene. We applaud humanitarian actors for a strong and well-coordinated humanitarian response, which includes preventing and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United States recognizes the challenges and responsibilities that the response has placed on the people and Government of Bangladesh, and we underscore the continued commitment of the international community to addressing and resolving this crisis. In the aftermath of Burma’s February 1 military coup d’état and brutal military crackdown, our commitment to the people of Burma, including Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as members of other ethnic and religious minority groups, remains unwavering. We will continue to support Bangladesh and other countries that have made the humanitarian gesture to receive refugees from Burma.
Many of those who led the military coup in Burma are the same individuals responsible for the atrocities against Rohingya, as well as atrocities and other human rights abuses against members of other ethnic and religious minority groups. The military junta must immediately stop the violence, release all those unjustly detained, restore Burma’s path to democracy, and implement ASEAN’s Five Point Consensus. We also call on the regime to allow immediate and unhindered humanitarian access to people in need —including for the delivery of critical COVID-19 assistance.
The United States commends the many countries that have supported this response and that continue to work toward a just and durable solution for Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons. We commend the people and Government of Bangladesh, who have responded generously to the refugees who have arrived in Bangladesh. However, more assistance is required. We urge other donors to come forward now with additional funds to sustain and increase support for the Rakhine State/Rohingya refugee crisis..."
Source/publisher:
United States Department of State
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Humanitarian assistance - emergencies, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Description:
"Objectives 1 Coordinate and monitor field activities comprehensively addressing them or reaching out to responsible sectors/units
2 Continued implementation of the Capacity Sharing Initiative (CSI) and remote management tool
3 Provide an efficient and effective delivery of core relief items, LPGs and other distributions to the persons of concern
4 Ensure that relocation of refugees is organised and implemented in line with protection standards
5 Prepare and respond to any emergency needs caused by weather related events and other emergency situations such as COVID-19
6 Foster community participation & empowerment through promotion of community representation structures for refugee camp and block committees and community led projects
Progress (January - June 2021)
Drain cleaning system: in coordination with World Food Programme (WFP), Site maintenance and Engineering Project (SMEP), partners and camp authorities, UNHCR established regular drainage cleaning across UNHCR-managed camps. Responsibilities are defined based on the type of drainage line (primary, secondary and tertiary); first and second cycles of cleaning have begun.
Capacity Sharing Initiative (CSI): Training for camp-in-charge officials continued through the month of March, as part of the interagency joint Capacity Sharing Initiative in collaboration with IOM and the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC). The training, conducted by the sector leads, included humanitarian principles and refugee protection, operational standards, principles and overviews of the main sectors including WASH, Shelter and Non-Food Items, Health, Protection, and Site Management. 38 camp-in-charge and assistant camp-in-charge officials undertook the training. Furthermore, 60 camp-in-charge staff took part in Nutrition and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support training.
Emergency preparedness and response: The 2021 Emergency Response Team (2021), consisting of 55 staff members, was established. The staff are from different units across the operation and are all trained on emergency preparedness and response, VHF, and operating satellite phones. Fire incidents and response: So far, 119 fire incidents occurred in 2021 including two large fire incidents in Nayapara Registered Camp in January and Balukhali camps (Camp 8 and 9) in March. UNHCR analyzed the incidents and conducted a mapping of fire response facilities in the camps. Four three-wheeler vehicles were procured and equipped with fire extinguishers. A modified version of the vehicles with water pumps is currently being developed.
Community-led projects: Despite limited access to the camps by partners due to COVID-19 restrictions, 389 community-led projects are in progress out of which 102 have been completed. These projects are identified through consultations with the community and coordination with relevant actors. Projects included construction and repair of pathways, bridges, and stairs to facilitate safe movement in the camps, in particular through the monsoon season. The projects are identified and led by the Rohingya refugee communities with support from UNHCR partners including cash for work opportunities for Rohingya refugees in the camps.
Safety Unit and Site Management Volunteers: Over 1,500 refugee and host community volunteers took part in training on topics including cyclone preparedness, water and flood safety, WASH facility assessment and fire safety. The effectiveness of the training has been proven during different incidents in 2021. Each week, volunteers conduct hundreds of awareness sessions at households and distribution points on COVID-19 prevention, cyclone and monsoon preparedness and fire safety. In response to the large fire incidents, volunteers helped extinguish the fires, move people to safety and help with crowd control. The volunteers also play an important role in UNHCR’s remote monitoring by sharing information when access to the camps is reduced.
Relocations: UNHCR continued to facilitate relocations, including for households in areas where fences are being constructed, and those in areas at high risk of flooding. In 2021, 2,424 households have been relocated. However, relocations remain challenging due to lack of space in the camps. Site management partners support the households with non-food items, referrals to registration and services in the new location, and refer individual protection cases. Over 400 families have been identified in need of relocation in different camps which are in flood zones.
Distribution of non-food items: Regular distribution of non-food items is ongoing at UNHCR’s distribution points. Regular and seasonal distributions continued, including female hygiene kits, bathing soap, laundry soap, water purification tablets, mosquito nets, sleeping mats, tote bags and umbrellas. In addition, following the large fire incidents, blankets, kitchen sets, solar lamps, mosquito nets and clothes were distributed to aected families. In preparation for the monsoon season, tie-down kits were distributed to all households..."
Source/publisher:
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-17
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"Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, 9 September 2021 – August 2021 marked four years since almost a million Rohingya people fled to Bangladesh from neighbouring Myanmar, settling in a broad network of refugee camps in the coastal city of Cox’s Bazar. Rendered stateless, the Rohingya were seeking dignity, rights and protection from persecution. The Government and people of Bangladesh were the first responders to the crisis and even after four challenging years, they continue to generously host more than 860,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar district.
With the support of UN agencies and over 130 national and international NGOs, the Government of Bangladesh continues to provide life-saving assistance. All this time, UNFPA has had the honour of being a part of these efforts and continues to constantly devise new ways to respond to the varied and evolving needs of the refugees, and also support the local host communities of Cox’s Bazar.
Here are just some of the stories of the support UNFPA is providing to safeguard the sexual and reproductive health and rights of the refugees, and to help prevent and respond to gender-based violence and harmful practices against women and girls.
Safe places, emotional relief: UNFPA’s Women Friendly Spaces
As a result of the refugee crisis, Cox’s Bazar is home to some of the most vulnerable women and girls on Earth, many of whom were subjected to rape and other horrendous forms of gender-based violence in the past.
To help women and girls overcome their traumatic experiences, UNFPA supports a network of 28 Women Friendly Spaces in the camps and surrounding host communities. The Women Friendly Spaces provide women and girls a safe space where they gather to interact with each other and engage in recreational activities such as henna making, tailoring, tie-dyeing and drawing.
In addition, each Women Friendly Space employs midwives and caseworkers to provide emotional and psychosocial support and to host awareness raising sessions on crucial issues like gender-based violence, safe pregnancy and childbirth, family planning, , healthy relationships, child marriage and human trafficking.
Hamida, a 27-year-old Rohingya woman who began to attend the awareness raising sessions shortly after arriving in the camps in 2017 was immediately inspired by the new things she was learning about. “I realized that information is power and I started looking for opportunities to develop myself, as well as for ways to contribute to the collective betterment of my community,” she recalls.
In no time, she had become a teacher and mentor for other women in the camps through the Women Support Groups peer outreach initiative. The Women Support Groups are a network of thousands of female Rohingya camp volunteers, who advance the rights of Rohingya women to make autonomous choices about their bodies and lives.
“Through my efforts to help other women and girls in the camps, I have gained the respect of my community, family members and husband. At first, no one listened to me. However gradually, they started to embrace me as they understood that information gives them choices and opportunities,” Hamida proudly declares.
Family planning methods and male engagement
In addition to building the network of Women Friendly Spaces since 2017, UNFPA has been active in ensuring that family planning services remain available to women and girls in the camps. Currently, 40 partners in the UNFPA-led Sexual Health and Reproductive Working Group are collaborating to provide family planning information and services in 193 health facilities in the camps and surrounding host communities. Just between January-December 2020, almost 1.3 million condoms were distributed to men in the targeted communities, and about 135,000 women have been reached with a variety of contraceptive methods, ranging from contraceptive pills and intrauterine devices to intramuscular injectables and implants.
To ensure that family planning information reaches communities at the grassroots level, UNFPA actively collaborates with religious leaders in the camps as part of awareness raising efforts.
Nour Kolil is a Rohingya cleric working with UNFPA. “My role as an Imam is to guide young couples on achieving a healthy and fulfilling marital union,” he explains. “For this, I strongly encourage them to visit health facilities to receive more information on sexual and reproductive health and rights. My message is always about the happiness of the couples, making sure they have the ability to ensure health, education and food for their children. Managing the size of the family is also crucial.”
Through peer group counseling and courtyard meetings, special measures are also taken to ensure that information on family planning reaches men and boys in the camps. As men often carry more decision-making authority within Rohingya families, it is absolutely crucial that they are aware of the benefits of managing family size, birth spacing and women’s rights.
Midwifery services in the Women Friendly Spaces
In addition to securing the availability of family planning, significant measures have been taken to ensure that every pregnant woman in the camps has access to a safe delivery assisted by a midwife. Between 2018-2020, the number of deliveries performed in health facilities in the camps increased from 4,870 to 6,064, contributing significantly to preventing maternal deaths.
Midwifery services have also been integrated into the Women Friendly Spaces, an approach which has proven to be particularly useful during the COVID-19 pandemic with its movement restrictions and other challenges.
“Each day, I serve about a dozen women who come to our midwifery room to request family planning methods, counselling and general information on bodily health,” says Jannatul, a 24-year-old midwife working in one of the Women Friendly Spaces. “I also give advice on preventing and treating sexually transmitted infections. I am happy that the women trust me with such issues. It is because my counselling is always respectful, confidential and non-judgmental.”
Over a period of time, Women Friendly Spaces have become “go-to” places for women and girls to discuss sensitive topics.
“Since the midwifery room is always open, I find it a practical and comfortable place to consult about contraceptive methods. I like that I get to talk to another woman about women's issues,” explains Monowara, a resident of the camps who regularly visits the Women Friendly Spaces to discuss her needs with Jannatul.
Building the life-skills of adolescents through Psychosocial Support kits
In addition to ensuring the availability of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, UNFPA is working hard to address the various needs of the enormous youth population residing in the camps. Approximately 22 per cent of the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar consists of adolescents between the ages of 15 and 24.
Going through the complex psychological and physical changes of puberty is exceptionally difficult for them in the challenging conditions of the camps. To support Rohingya adolescents in making a smooth transition from childhood to adulthood, UNFPA has been providing gender-responsive life skills education in the camps since 2018. Just in 2020, almost 3,140 adolescent boys and girls participated in the programmes, equipping them with crucial skills to better cope with the daily challenges they face as adolescents in the camps.
17-year-old Mokaroma, a graduate of one of UNFPA’s life skills education programmes, cannot contain her enthusiasm as she describes the various things she learned about sexual and reproductive health, gender norms and COVID-19 during the sessions.
“Before coming to Bangladesh, I used to go to school, but I was taught little about things like the negative effect child marriage and early pregnancy have on young girls,” she shares. “After attending the learning sessions, both me and my parents now know why child marriage is harmful. I don’t want to get married now, as I want to study more. I am happy that my family fully supports me in this decision!”
As providing life skills education has been challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic, UNFPA has launched novel initiatives to ensure that the youth population can continue to cultivate these skillsets remotely. With the generous support of Australia, psychosocial support kits containing a radio and a memory card full of pre-recorded, educational radio episodes were distributed to over 2000 adolescents in 2020. The radio episodes covered topics such as gender identity, peaceful conflict resolution, healthy nutrition and menstruation.
“From the episodes, I learned the dos and don’ts of menstruation. The information on healthy foods that are good for our body during our periods was completely new to me. I actually played the session for my mother, as she never had the opportunity to learn about these things when she was young. I have also shared what I have learned with my neighbors and friends, so my whole community is benefiting from the episodes,” shares 18-year-old Maimuna, one of the recipients of the kits and participant of UNFPA’s Champions of Change life skills programme.
A possible future?
Even after four years, operating in the refugee camps continues to be challenging. COVID-19 has particularly put established ways of working to the test and made organizations rethink the way they approach humanitarian response. Despite these challenges, UNFPA has not lost its determination, and new innovations and ideas have begun to flourish.
For example, this year UNFPA has started to address lack of access to adequate menstrual hygiene products in the camps by training Rohingya women to produce their own reusable sanitary pads. UNFPA has also constantly arranged focus group discussions with women in the camps to keep track of their evolving needs and build the capacity of our staff members through training, including sessions on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA).
While mobility restrictions and climate-related emergencies during the pandemic may have impeded or slowed down UNFPA’s essential operations from time to time, UNFPA’s efforts to address the ongoing crisis are currently more dynamic and creative than ever. For this, UNFPA thanks its donors including the Australian High Commission, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the United States, Canada, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom, Friends of UNFPA, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Republic of Korea and Sweden and United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, all of whom have loyally continued to support UNFPA’s lifesaving work throughout these four years.
With renewed inspiration, UNFPA stands ready to push ahead despite the challenging times. Along with our many partners, we will not stop until every Rohingya person can be assured that their rights and choices are fully protected and that they have the opportunity to aspire for a better, more just future..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Population Fund via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-09
[field_licence]
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UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Education abroad, Human Rights and international relations, Akha (cultural, political, economic)
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"SITUATION OVERVIEW
Under the leadership of the Government of Bangladesh, the humanitarian community continued providing lifesaving assistance and support to Rohingya refugees and members of the vulnerable host community in an increasingly resource-strained environment. The COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the effects of devastating monsoon rains, has exacerbated suffering and humanitarian needs.
The emergency health response was scaled up according to the rising trends of COVID-19 cases in the refugee camps and host communities, while increases in cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) required a simultaneous multi-sectoral response. In end-July, flash floods and landslides battered the camps, tragically causing six fatalities and affecting thousands of refugees. It is the second year in a row that the monsoon season was preceded by a period of reduced preparedness and disaster risk reduction activities due to COVID19 lockdown restrictions, contributing to a need for a more robust emergency response.
In line with a strict national COVID-19 lockdown, humanitarian activities in the camps were delivered at drastically reduced levels. Thousands of Rohingya refugee and host community volunteers worked tirelessly to deliver the most critical services in the response with COVID-19 prevention measures in place. However, the humanitarian community remained concerned by the deterioration of the overall protection environment in the camps; the need for reliable access to services including case management, psychosocial support and referrals, particularly in response to cases of gender-based violence and child protection issues, remained as critical as ever.
Despite these vast challenges, preparations for the upcoming launch of the COVID-19 vaccination for Rohingya refugees -- a demonstration of equity and inclusiveness as part of the Government’s National Deployment and Vaccination Plan -- brought hope for vulnerable Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
Inter Sector Coordination Group via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Humanitarian assistance - emergencies, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Right to Food - standards, definitions and mechanisms, Right to food: standards, mechanisms and resources, Human Rights and international relations
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"If they want to achieve their rights they need to fight with education, not weapons, they said
Rohingya children should be educated in their own language as they need to cope up with their life in Myanmar in future after getting repatriated, speakers said at a webinar
They were speaking at a webinar titled, ‘Education for Rohingya children’ organized by PEN Bangladesh, on Wednesday, marking International Literacy Day.
Masum Billah, of the Out of School Education Program of Brac, said the Rohingya children need to get educated in their vernacular language or in English.
“They will learn Bangla naturally as they are living here. However, the medium of their schooling should not be Bangla. They should get educated in English or in their own language in schools. That will help them in the long run,” he said.
He also said, Brac is running 700 learning centers in the camps; however, young adults do not have many opportunities to study in the camps. “Only two schools are there for secondary education,”
However, there are some religious schools in the camps but some children do not want to go there, according to the Brac official.
“They are more eager to go to learning centers as they can have cultural activities like drawing, singing and dancing there,” he told the webinar.
Journalist Israt Jahan Urmi said the people who had a traumatic childhood are more prone to get involved in criminal activities later in their lives but education can save them.
“Children need education to keep them occupied. When they get repatriated, they need to go back with institutionalized education,” she said.
Security analyst AK Mohammed Ali Sikder said the Rohingya children should learn their vernacular language and need to be educated about their culture and heritage.
“If they want to achieve their rights they need to fight with education, not weapons,” said the retired Bangladesh Army major general.
PEN Bangladesh Vice-President Biswajit Ghosh, who presided over the webinar, said: “Literacy is a human rights issue and Rohingya children should not be deprived of it just because they were displaced from their homeland.”
Researcher Gouranga Mohanta said: “If we can plan the right kind of education program, implementation would not be a real challenge.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Education rights: standards and mechanisms, Akha (cultural, political, economic)
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Sub-title:
August 25 is observed by Rohingya as 'Genocide Remembrance Day,' but theirs is not just the story of a single day in 2017
Description:
"Kabir, a Rohingya refugee, fled his village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 25, 2017. But this was not the first time he had been forced to flee, nor the first time Myanmar soldiers had burned down his home. Nor is Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where he now lives, the first camp he has sought refuge in.
In August 2017, Myanmar security forces launched a campaign of killings, rape and arson against the Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine amounting to crimes against humanity and acts of genocide. More than 730,000 escaped to Bangladesh over the next few weeks.
August 25 has come to be observed by Rohingya as “Genocide Remembrance Day,” but their plight is not the story of a single day, or even a single mass exodus. The roots of August 25, 2017, lie in the decades of state repression and violence that preceded it, orchestrated by successive governments to erode their freedoms and enshrine their vulnerability.
Kabir, now 27, grew up in Rathedaung township. As a teenager, he worked as a day laborer on farms or construction projects.
Kabir had to carry travel permits to pass through security checkpoints to get to work. He was, like almost all Rohingya in Myanmar, denied the citizenship that would recognize his family’s roots in the country. The authorities would harass them on the job, he told us, fining Rohingya workers for missing a day or beating them for making a mistake.
“But still I was happy,” he said. “At least we could work.”
In 2012, he said, things changed. A targeted campaign of hate and discrimination against the Rohingya started across Rakhine state, led by ethnic Rakhine nationalists and Buddhist leaders, stoked by the military and police.
That July, Buddhist monks in Rathedaung issued a statement presenting a plan for the “Arakan Ethnic Cleansing Program” of Rohingya. Violent attacks flared and tensions grew. “Our Buddhist neighbors ostracized us,” said Kabir, identified in this article by only his first name for his security.
By October, Rakhine villagers, often alongside police and soldiers, were burning Muslim homes, destroying mosques, and looting property in townships across Rakhine state.
“For 15 days, they couldn’t set our houses on fire because it was raining,” Kabir said. “But one day, our neighbors along with Buddhists from other areas attacked our village. We tried to fight back but couldn’t. Finally, we fled.”
Kabir’s family ended up in a settlement with other displaced Rohingya in Koe Tan Kauk, or Dunse Para in the Rohingya language, a village tract in Rathedaung along the Bay of Bengal. Rohingya across Rakhine were living under an oppressive regimen, denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.
In October 2016, the ethnic armed group later known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked three police outposts in northern Rakhine state, including one in Koe Tan Kauk. Myanmar military and police responded with brutal “clearance operations,” killing and raping Rohingya and burning down their homes. The authorities arbitrarily rounded up young men, interrogating and torturing them.
Soldiers rounded up all the men and teenage boys from Kabir’s settlement in Koe Tan Kauk and held them at a local military camp. The soldiers separated 12 of them from the group, including Kabir, and took them to a nearby school, where they interrogated them about ARSA and beat them. Kabir said he saw one man’s nails pulled out.
“They took each of us on our own into a room for interrogation,” he said. “Waiting outside you could hear the screams. When it was my turn, they beat me with a stick and military belt at the same time. At one point, one of them kicked me in the genitals, and I fell unconscious.”
The young Rohingya men were held at a pagoda for three days. Some were then sent to the prison in Sittwe, the state capital. Kabir and others were released after paying bribes and signing a paper from their interrogators saying they weren’t tortured.
Soldiers and border-guard police kept the Rohingya camps and hamlets in Koe Tan Kauk under constant surveillance into 2017. Rohingya men and women were barred from fishing or collecting wood; schools remained closed.
The security-force presence grew. In August, naval craft arrived off the coast of Koe Tan Kauk, bringing soldiers from the notoriously abusive light infantry divisions (LIDs) to northern Rakhine state.
On August 25 at about 4am, villagers in Koe Tan Kauk awoke to the sound of gunshots. The military later reported that two of the several ARSA attacks carried out simultaneously that morning had taken place in Koe Tan Kauk. Seven members of the armed group were killed.
Security forces, including the 33rd LID, and local ethnic Rakhine arrived that same morning, shooting at Rohingya villagers who attempted to flee to the forested hills. Some, they captured and slit their throats.
Women and girls were brought to the military camp and raped. Older persons, and people with disabilities, were burned alive in their homes as the entire Rohingya areas of Koe Tan Kauk were torched.
“The whole camp was burned,” Kabir said.
Satellites first detected active fires in Koe Tan Kauk in the early afternoon of August 25. The imagery revealed 700 buildings burned, encompassing every Rohingya hamlet and camp. The extensive areas destroyed meant it was very likely the burning was deliberate.
A United Nations Fact-Finding Mission reported later that the Myanmar naval ships stationed just offshore fired weapons at the village. Hundreds were killed. Almost every person from Koe Tan Kauk whom the UN interviewed said he or she had lost at least one family member.
Again, Kabir and his family fled. First to Inn Din, then Bossara, north of Koe Tan Kauk in Maungdaw township.
“From there, we walked for nine days to reach Aley Than Kyaw,” Kabir said, to the beach in southern Maungdaw. The trek took them through the jungle mountains where every day thousands more Rohingya were fleeing, seeking refuge as the military torched their villages and homes.
Kabir paid 100,000 kyat (US$70) a head for his family to cross the Naf River by boat to reach Bangladesh. In Cox’s Bazar, they joined what would become the world’s largest refugee camp.
Four years later they live there still, entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance and his sister’s small income from her work at an aid organization. Nearly a million Rohingya live in the sprawling, overcrowded camps, facing deadly landslides and the risk of disease, fires among the bamboo and plastic shelters, and violence.
An initial welcome by the Bangladeshi government and host communities has been replaced with increasing restrictions on their rights to livelihoods, freedom of movement, and adequate education and health. Bangladeshi authorities are threatening to move an additional 80,000 Rohingya to join the 20,000 refugees already sent to Bhasan Char, a remote, low-lying island that many fear is unfit and unsafe for habitation.
The prospect of Kabir and his family returning safely to Myanmar, meanwhile, has never been more distant. In Rakhine state, 600,000 Rohingya remain trapped in squalid and oppressive conditions amounting to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty.
Since the military coup on February 1 this year, they have lived under an abusive junta led by the same generals responsible for the grave crimes against them.
Those seeking to flee by boat in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea have never faced greater risks, the UN refugee agency recently reported. Rohingya who have reached Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia or India live on the margins as undocumented migrants, facing constant threat of arrest and detention, or forced return to military-controlled Myanmar.
And everywhere, Rohingya are still awaiting justice. That is what they have been asking for, not just for the past four years, but for decades. They are demanding that those responsible for these crimes against the Rohingya be held to account, and that governments claiming to be in their corner should do all that they can to make that happen.
Myanmar’s military coup has only underscored the devastation that decades of impunity can bring.
“We are losing hope here, too,” Kabir said in Cox’s Bazar. “We were very industrious people in our village. But our fate made us live this refugee life. Still, I have hope that one day we will be able to go back to our village to live with safety and security.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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"Yesterday in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, over 4,000 Rohingya refugees received their first COVID-19 vaccine, as part of a national vaccination drive to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
Rohingya refugees eligible for vaccination in the first cohort include some 48,000 individuals over 55 years of age. The drive will continue until 17 August.
UNHCR welcomes the commencement of the vaccination of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, in line with national authorities’ broader public health efforts. Equitable inclusion of Rohingya refugees in allocation of vaccines is critical to curbing the spread of the ongoing pandemic.
Johannes Van Der Klaauw, UNHCR’s Representative in Bangladesh emphasized, “The Rohingya refugee and host community volunteers have an essential frontline role in containing the spread of COVID-19 in the camps. The first step in fully protecting communities; however, is through the rollout of vaccination. We are grateful to the Government of Bangladesh for having included Rohingya refugees in the vaccination campaign.”
The vaccination drive for Rohingya refugees is being led by the Bangladesh authorities with technical support from the UN Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization and other humanitarian partners.
The fight against the pandemic has been led by thousands of refugee and host community volunteers, who have worked since 2020 on informing refugees about health and hygiene, monitoring any signs of illness, and connecting the refugee community with critical health services. While the threat of COVID-19 remains critical, their efforts have helped to prevent and curb outbreaks and have saved lives.
The vaccinations follow the devastating monsoon rains that hit Cox’s Bazar District over the past weeks, causing flash floods and landslides which killed eight Rohingya refugees and 15 Bangladeshis in the host communities. Almost 25,000 refugees were displaced due to landslides, flooding, wind and storms. Thousands of facilities have been damaged including primary health clinics, distribution points and latrines. Access was hindered due to damage to roads, pathways and bridges.
UNHCR’s Emergency Response Teams, and partners, refugee and host community volunteers were deployed to assess the damage, to provide support to families forced to relocate, to begin immediate repairs of shelters and other site improvements and to ensure access to essential services for all. While the weather has improved over the last few days, the monsoon season will continue for another couple of months followed by the cyclone season..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Sub-title:
Crowded Camp Conditions, Lack of Permanent Shelters
Description:
"Heavy rains over the past week have displaced more than 21,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The resulting flooding and mudslides have destroyed about 6,418 shelters. With months of monsoon season still ahead, the refugees face heightened risks because they are being prevented from taking measures that could lessen the devastation from flooding.
In the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, where nearly one million Rohingya refugees who fled atrocities by the Myanmar military live, Bangladesh authorities have prohibited the construction of stronger shelters capable of withstanding not just the annual monsoon, but also frequent dry-season fires. This prohibition is a constant reminder to the Rohingya living in the world’s largest refugee camp that their stay in Bangladesh is temporary.
Making that political point has cost lives. Ever since the vast majority of refugees arrived in 2017, humanitarian agencies have warned that shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin leave the inhabitants in danger. But the Bangladesh authorities have refused to let the agencies build any permanent structures that can be used as schools and double up as evacuation shelters in an emergency.
“We wish the authorities would allow us to build a little stronger shelters so that we do not have to face the same tragedy every year,” one refugee said, explaining that his tarpaulin roofing was leaking even before the monsoon started. Others described a shortage of drinking water because of inundated wells, lack of food, and clogged sewage facilities. Some refugees said they were moving in with relatives, risking spread of Covid-19.
An additional 5,000 Rohingya in the “no man’s land” at the Myanmar border are also experiencing floods. “Of over 500 shelters, only about 50 or 60 are still intact,” a 38-year-old Rohingya man said.
Humanitarian workers fear the spread of water borne diseases; there are already hundreds of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) cases reported in the camps. Aid groups are experiencing a funding crisis, receiving only 30 percent of the US$943 million required for the 2021 joint response plan.
Bangladeshi host communities are also affected. At least 17 people including six Rohingya refugees have died in the landslides and floods.
Bangladesh authorities should act now to save lives, including by permitting permanent shelters and removing fencing that reduces mobility. International donors should immediately assist Bangladesh support both its nationals and the Rohingya who were forced to flee Myanmar’s crimes against humanity and acts of genocide..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Natural Disasters - General, Human Rights Watch Reports on Burma/Myanmar
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"Humanitarian organization CARE is opening a 40-bed COVID isolation center in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh on 1 August 2021. With the country currently in the grip of its most severe COVID surge since the pandemic began, and monsoon flooding forcing many Rohingya refugees to shelter in communal facilities, the center comes at a critical time.
Ram Das, CARE Bangladesh Deputy Country Director – Humanitarian, said, “The needs are huge and the isolation center will enable us to isolate mild cases from the rest of the community in the densely populated camps.”
The isolation center will include separate well-equipped dormitories for male and female patients, and separate washrooms and bathing spaces, as well as solar electricity, around-the-clock availability of doctors and ambulance facilities, free medicines, oxygen support, and a COVID-19 sample collection facility. The center will provide three meals a day to patients. People with mild COVID-19 symptoms will be referred to the isolation center from the various health facilities in the camps. CARE will monitor suspected and mild COVID-19 cases in the isolation center twenty-four hours a day, while moderate and severe cases will be referred to advanced medical facilities for treatment.
Health volunteer Yeasmin, a Rohingya woman living in the camp, said, “The isolation centre will be good for us. In the camps, many people live together in small shelters. If any family member is infected by coronavirus, isolating is not possible. The isolation center will help people stay separately from their family. If we find an infected person, we will refer them to the center for better treatment.”
Ramesh Singh, CARE Bangladesh Country Director, said, “This isolation center will go a long way in filling a critical gap in services in the camps, given the increasing transmission of COVID.”..."
Source/publisher:
Care International (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Humanitarian assistance - emergencies
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Days of heavy rainfall have pounded Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, destroying dwellings and sending thousands of people to live with extended families or in communal shelters.
In the 24 hours until Wednesday afternoon, more than 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) of rain fell on the camps in Cox’s Bazar district hosting more than 800,000 Rohingya, the U.N. refugee agency said. That’s nearly half the average July rainfall in one day, and more heavy downpours are expected in the next few days and the monsoon season stretches over the next three months.
“The situation is further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is currently a strict national lockdown in response to rising cases across the country,” the agency said.
It said six people died in the camps earlier this week — five people in a landslide caused by the rains and a child swept away by floodwaters.
Citing initial reports, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said more than 12,000 refugees were affected by the heavy rain and an estimated 2,500 shelters were damaged or destroyed. More than 5,000 refugees have been temporarily relocated to other family members’ shelters or communal facilities, the agency said in a statement.
Hannah Macdonald, a spokesperson for the UNHCR, said in an email that emergency response teams have been deployed to help affected families.
Refugees said they were struggling to eat and drink properly.
“Due to the continuous rainfall for the last four days, today my house is full of water,” said Khatija Begum, who has five children. “We are not even able to eat.” Begum said she fears her children will drown and die in their sleep.
The refugee agency said the bad weather, landslides and floods have further exacerbated the suffering and humanitarian needs of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Cyclones, heavy monsoon rains, floods, landslides and other natural hazards are an annual difficulty in the camps. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar began a harsh crackdown on the Muslim ethnic group following an attack by insurgents.
The crackdown included rapes, killings and the torching of thousands of homes, and was termed ethnic cleansing by global rights groups and the United Nations. While Bangladesh and Myanmar have sought to arrange repatriations, the Rohingya are too fearful to return home.
The International Organization for Migration says Cox’s Bazar district, where more than 1 million Rohingya refugees live, is one of the most disaster-prone parts of Bangladesh.
It is a delta nation crisscrossed by many rivers that regularly receives intense rainfall due to its monsoon climate and location on the Bay of Bengal, where the warm waters can generate destructive tropical cyclones..."
Source/publisher:
Associated Press
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"HIGHLIGHTS:
WHO has been supporting the Government of Bangladesh through the Civil Surgeon’s office to develop a protocol for COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) pilot testing in the Cox’s Bazar district. During the reporting period, 9 health care workers from 3 different health care facilities in Cox’s Bazar have been trained on the COVID-19 Antigen RDT system.
WHO and the IPC Technical Working Group (ICP TWG) initiated a two-week hands-on mentorship on the use of the recently developed kobo reporting tool for IPC focal person at the SARI ITCs.
WHO and IOM, as chair and co-chair of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Technical Committee completed the After-Action Review (AAR) for the major fire that occurred in the camps on 22nd March 2021. Based on the findings revealed by the AAR, the number of MMTs have been increased to ensure a wider coverage and a prompt response in case of emergency.
WHO has closely collaborated with BBC Media Action in the production of a video series aimed at raising awareness on different health issues and improve health care seeking behaviour among Rohingya refugees.
SUBJECT IN FOCUS: Blood Transfusion Services in Cox’s Bazar: establishing public blood banks and transfusion centers at Upazila level..."
Source/publisher:
World Health Organization (Geneva) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
World Health Organisation (WHO), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakanese/Rakhine/Rohingya history
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.73 MB
more
Description:
"862,875 Rohingya refugees assisted
143,545 Bangladeshis supported in the host community
Highlights
From 1 May, WFP increased the General Food Assistance (GFA) value from US$ 11 to US$ 12, aligning with food price inflation and increased vulnerability identified in the Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment (REVA-4) released in April 2021. The value increase will allow beneficiaries to access the same quantity of food as previously.
WFP re-introduced live fish and chicken in eight additional Fresh Food Corners; ten outlets now offer these popular items.
WFP expanded its livelihoods programme to Moheskhali, Pekua and Kutubdia with 14,097 new host community women supported with monthly subsistence allowances and training.
The 2021 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya Refugee crisis was launched. The plan outlines the needs of Rohingya refugees and their host communities, plus United Nations and NGO partner operations under the leadership of the Government of Bangladesh. It targets over 884,000 refugees and 472,000 of members of the host community requiring US$ 954 million..."
Source/publisher:
World Food Programme (Rome) via reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
WFP (World Food Programme), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Humanitarian assistance - emergencies
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
436.46 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"Wherever they are and wherever they go, Rohingya children in south and southeast Asia
face discrimination, exclusion, and denial of their most basic rights. For most of these
children, these challenges begin in Myanmar, where the Rohingya community has suffered
decades of state-sponsored persecution and violence. However, even after Rohingya
families have left Myanmar – often in search of safety or a better life for themselves and
their families – Rohingya continue to experience unequal treatment and denial of their
rights, which over time has exposed them, their children, and their children’s children to
ever-widening cycles of deprivation and marginalisation.
This report examines the situation of Rohingya
children in five countries in southeast and south
Asia: Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand,
and Indonesia. As places of origin, transit, and/or
destination, these countries are home – either
permanently or temporarily – to hundreds of
thousands of Rohingya children. All countries are
required under international law to respect, protect,
and fulfil these children’s human rights. Yet too often
these rights are denied.
Based on in-depth desk research, key informant
interviews, and analysis of national laws, the report
examines three areas affecting Rohingya children’s
lives and enjoyment of their rights: legal status and
access to identity documentation; access to
education; and risks to security and wellbeing, in
addition to other child protection concerns. While
not intended as a comprehensive examination of the
situation, the report seeks to provide a snapshot of
the challenges – in law, policy, and practice – that
prevent Rohingya children in these countries from
living their lives in safety and with dignity, equality,
and respect for their rights.....LIFE ON THE MARGINS:Based on publicly available information and estimates
by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and
other credible sources, there are close to
700,000 Rohingya children in the five countries
covered by this report. Rohingya boys and girls live
lives on the margins of society across the region.
Most lack any formal legal status – deprived of the
right to a nationality in Myanmar and effectively
rendered stateless as a result. Most Rohingya
children inherit their de facto statelessness from their
parents and – when they grow up – go on to pass it
on to their children, perpetuating cycles of exclusion
and marginalisation. Rohingya children also often
struggle to access birth registration, which means
they often have often no official record that they
even exist. Failure to provide children with birth
certificates exposes them to a range of age-related
abuse and exploitation and can prevent them
from exercising other rights and receiving legal
recognition and protection as children.
Across the region, Rohingya children struggle
to access comprehensive, quality education. The
reasons for this are varied and wide-ranging. In
some countries, discriminatory policies prohibit
Rohingya children from accessing formal education,
while in others, policies which on paper should
facilitate access to education are not enforced or
fully implemented. In several countries where access
to formal education is restricted, United Nations
(UN) agencies, NGOs and Rohingya community
groups have stepped into provide informal education; however, quality varies and lack of
resources – including adequate funding, facilities and
teaching staff – poses significant challenges.
While primary-level education is generally more
available, lack of schools and limited financial
resources mean that secondary level students
often struggle to continue their studies. Even
when they do, education is often not accredited,
which means that children leave school with no
officially recognised qualification. Adolescent girls
experience greater difficulties going to school as
cultural attitudes deprioritise girls’ education and
they face greater threats to their physical safety
when traveling long distances to the nearest
school. As a result, girls are much more likely to
drop out of school, placing them at greater risk
of early marriage and adolescent pregnancy.
Without education, children grow up with limited
opportunities to build a better life for themselves,
and this can have devastating impacts on their
emotional and psychological well-being. It also
seriously limits their ability to earn an income,
often condemning them to a life of poverty..."
Source/publisher:
Save the Children (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children, Human Rights Education, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.39 MB
more
Description:
"Stateless Rohingya Muslims face constant setbacks in returning to their Myanmar homeland.
Battered by monsoon rains, Rohingya refugees try to rebuild their makeshift dwellings in the world's largest refugee camp.
Tens of thousands were left without shelter when fire tore through their Cox’s Bazar camp in March. Eleven people were killed.
The fire was the start of another miserable chapter for the displaced Rohingya, who fled their homes in Myanmar after the military launched a crackdown against the Muslim minority.
Now, nearly a million of them live in squalid conditions in camps in neighboring Bangladesh.
The pandemic has made it much harder for international aid to get through. The Rohingya are worried they'll be forgotten.
The United Nations is appealing for more funding to help the Rohingya to return home..."
Source/publisher:
"DW News" (Germany)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations, Burmese and other stateless people in Burma, Bangladesh and India, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
Local URL:
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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.
Many agencies working in the borderland of Bangladesh and Myanmar to support Rohingyas, particularly wounded ones, old people, children, and pregnant women, have said that this is one of the most devastating humanitarian catastrophes in the history of refugee crises. Myanmar's de facto leader, and also
a Nobel laureate in peace, Aung San Suu Ki, has also been accused by the international community of supporting the genocide committed by the Myanmar security forces.
The reason the Rohingyas, often called “the most persecuted people in the world," have been repressed and afflicted for decades is because of their identity as an ethno-linguistic and religious minority within the state structure of Myanmar. Additionally, a growing anti-Muslim Buddhist sentiment instigated by Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist monk named by TIME “Burmese Bin-Laden,”
has contributed to the current critical condition unsuitable for Rohingya
Muslims’ peaceful living in Rakhine state.
The citizenship of Rohingya people was taken away by the Myanmar Citizenship Law of 1982, which conferred citizenship to 135 nationals, excluding Rohingyas, even though they have been residents of Arakan, what is now called Rakhine state, since the eighth century. Following the independence of Burma, now Myanmar, in 1948, the Rohingyas were close to gaining state recognition, but
after General Ne Win took power in 1962, the military regime started and this hope was lost. During this period of time, the Rohingyas underwent a brutal experience of human rights violations, atrocities, and a severe degree of oppression in their everyday experiences. Their lives were restricted, freedom of movement was cut off, education was halted, and even marriage became subject
to military approval. Following the Citizenship Law of 1982, the Rohingyas started living in an “open jail” as they were confined to their villages. In 1978, a severe military crackdown took place in Arakan state that triggered a massive influx of 200,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh. The second influx occurred in 1991 when around 250,000 Rohingyas took refuge in Bangladesh. Following
an effective international pressure, under an agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar, almost all in 1978 and some 236,000 Rohingyas in 1992 were repatriated, but a large number of them returned to Bangladesh because the situation of the Rakhine state remained unchanged.
A big riot of Rakhine Buddhists supported by state agencies and Rohingya Muslims took place in June 2012, forcing around 120,000 Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh. In October 2016, 87,000 Rohingyas left Myanmar to escape deadly military operation. However, 2017 has witnessed even more extreme atrocities committed by the Myanmar security force, compelling around 600,000 Rohingyas to flee and take refuge in Bangladesh. Of the 600,000, 50 percent are
children, 30 percent are women (85 thousand are pregnant), 15 percent are old, and the remaining 5 percent are youth.
Many reports and Rohingyas' narratives have confirmed that thousands of Rohingya youths were killed in Rakhine state by the security forces. Now, the majority of Rohingyas live in Bangladesh (1,100,000 [combined with previously living 500,000 and newly arrived 600,000]), 800,000 live in Myanmar, and the remaining 700,000 live in other countries (India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). Due to their miserable lives and inhuman state of livings, the Rohingyas have become an ideal example of how people lead their lives in the presence of "everyday death." Many attempts
are being made to resolve the Rohingya crisis, but nobody knows when, and how, Rohingya people will gain a peaceful life with due human dignity..."
Source/publisher:
Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
73.32 KB
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Sub-title:
Bangladesh Provided Myanmar Information that Refugee Agency Collected
Description:
"The United Nations refugee agency improperly collected and shared personal information from ethnic Rohingya refugees with Bangladesh, which shared it with Myanmar to verify people for possible repatriation, Human Rights Watch said today. The agency did not conduct a full data impact assessment, as its policies require, and in some cases failed to obtain refugees’ informed consent to share their data with Myanmar, the country they had fled.
Since 2018 the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has registered hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladeshi camps and the Bangladesh government has issued them identity cards, which are needed for essential aid and services. Bangladesh then used the information, including analog photographs, thumbprint images, and other biographic data to submit refugee details to the Myanmar government for possible repatriation.
“The UN refugee agency’s data collection practices with Rohingya in Bangladesh were contrary to the agency’s own policies and exposed refugees to further risk,” said Lama Fakih, crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. “UNHCR should only allow data that it collects to be shared with countries of origin when it has properly obtained free and informed consent from participants.”
Since 2016, over 800,000 Rohingya from Myanmar were expelled or fled crimes against humanity and acts of genocide across the border to Bangladesh. The Myanmar government continues to carry out the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against the remaining Rohingya population.
From September 2020 to March 2021, Human Rights Watch interviewed 24 Rohingya refugees about their registration experiences with UNHCR in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh and spoke to 20 aid workers, analysts, local activists, journalists, and lawyers who observed or participated in the Rohingya registration. Human Rights Watch sent detailed questions and its research findings to UNHCR in February and April, and received responses from UNHCR on May 10.
UNHCR denied any wrongdoing or policy violations, stating that it had explained all purposes of the data gathering exercise and obtained consent. The agency said that its data collection efforts were aimed at finding durable solutions for the refugees and that no Rohingya were put at risk.
In 2018, the Bangladesh government sought to supplement previous registrations by beginning a joint registration exercise with UNHCR. The government aimed to provide an identity card for refugees – called a “Smart Card” – that allows them to obtain aid and services. The government also sought to gather personal data collected by UNHCR to submit to Myanmar for repatriation eligibility assessments. UNHCR said this would help protect the refugees’ right of return.
In a January meeting with Human Rights Watch, UNHCR said that field officers had asked Rohingya for permission to share their data for repatriation eligibility assessments, explaining that a Smart Card would still be issued to those who did not agree. However, at the time of the registration exercise, UNHCR staff said publicly that the data was not linked to repatriations, including on a September 2018 Rohingya community radio show, and in November 2018 comments to international media. Rohingya refugees had in fact staged protests in the camps that month partly out of concern that data collection would be used to facilitate forced returns.
The refugees Human Rights Watch interviewed also gave a different account than UNHCR staff had outlined in the January meeting. All but one of the 24 said that UNHCR staff told them that they had to register to get the Smart Cards to access aid, and they did not mention anything about sharing data with Myanmar, or linking it to repatriation eligibility assessments. Three said they were told after giving their data that it might be used for repatriation purposes. One said he noticed after leaving the registration center that the box to share data with Myanmar, on a receipt printed out and given to refugees only in English, had been checked “yes,” although he was never asked. He was one of only three among the refugees interviewed who could read English.
Human Rights Watch viewed the English-only receipt that UNHCR gave to Rohingya refugees after their registration. It includes a box noting “yes” or “no” as to whether the information can be shared with the Myanmar government.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 21 refugees whose names were included in the list verified by Myanmar for repatriation. Twelve of the 21 people were added to repatriation eligibility assessment lists in 2019 – lists drawn up based on the data collected by UNHCR.
The 21 said that after being registered they later learned that their information had been shared with Myanmar and their names were on lists of people verified for return. They all went into hiding in other camps because they feared being forcibly returned. So far, Bangladesh has not forced any Rohingya in the camps to return against their will to Myanmar.
One of the 24 refugees interviewed said that the UNHCR field officer registering him asked if he consented to have his data shared with the Myanmar government. He said he felt pressure not to refuse: “I could not say no because I needed the Smart Card and I did not think that I could say no to the data-sharing question and still get the card.”
UNHCR in this case did not seek free and informed consent, which would have required making certain that the refugees knew and understood the risks of sharing their and their family’s data with Myanmar, that they had the ability to opt-out without prejudice, and that they could get the Smart Card even if they did not agree.
UNHCR staff told Human Rights Watch that they did not discuss any specific risks with Rohingya before registering them, and the Rohingya interviewed said they were not told about any such risks.
Between 2018 and 2021, the Bangladesh government submitted at least 830,000 names of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar along with biometric and other data for each person, for repatriation eligibility assessments. Myanmar reportedly agreed to allow about 42,000 Rohingya to return. UNHCR told Human Rights Watch that it played no role in drawing up these lists but that the names and other data included in the lists submitted from 2019 onwards, including biometrics, came from analog versions of the data it had gathered during the joint registration exercise, for example, non-digital thumbprint images.
In its global guidelines on sharing information on individual cases, UNHCR acknowledges the risks of sharing such information and says that “UNHCR should not share any [individual case] information with the authorities of the country of origin.”
In the Myanmar context, risks include involuntary Rohingya returns to Myanmar, particularly given Bangladesh’s forced repatriation of Rohingya to Myanmar in the 1970s and 1990s. In those cases, UNHCR tacitly condoned Bangladesh’s coerced returns.
Bangladesh’s submission of lists to Myanmar may also have put refugees, or at least the subset that Myanmar agreed to return, on track to receive Myanmar’s National Verification Cards (NVCs), which many Rohingya reject because they believe it undermines their claims to Myanmar citizenship.
The UNHCR-Bangladesh exercise appears to have violated the agency’s policy on protecting personal data that it collects, which requires UNHCR to tell people in a language and manner they understand why it is collecting their data and whether it will be transferred to another entity. It also appears to have undermined the objective of UNHCR’s policies that aim to ensure that consent is not coerced.
UNHCR’s Handbook on Voluntary Repatriation says that the agency should never directly link registration or other verification exercises with registration for voluntary repatriations because “[l]inking the two may create confusion for the refugees by giving the impression that one needs to register for voluntary repatriation in order to be entitled to assistance in the country of asylum. This may seriously jeopardize voluntariness.”
Linking the eligibility assessment and registration for services did create confusion, Human Rights Watch said. Nearly all of the refugees interviewed did not understand that their data would be shared with the Myanmar government. In the one case in which the refugee was told that it would be, he said he felt he could not refuse consent without jeopardizing his access to services.
UNHCR should have recognized that Bangladesh sharing data with Myanmar raised serious protection concerns. “[T]he idea of sharing data with Myanmar, or allowing data to be shared with Myanmar, on this community should have been out of the question until there were minimum guarantees in place – which there aren’t,” said an aid worker familiar with the process in Bangladesh.
Finally, UNHCR has a policy requiring a data protection impact assessment before it enters into data transfer arrangements like the one in Bangladesh. However, staff said they did not carry out a “full-fledged” impact assessment, only undertaking several risk assessments prior to signing the data-sharing agreement with Bangladesh. The apparent failure to take into account the history of forced returns from Bangladesh to Myanmar, in those assessments, is important.
UNHCR should not combine collecting people’s data for services or identity cards with data collection for repatriation eligibility, Human Rights Watch said. UNHCR should ensure that people who agree to have their data shared are able to withdraw that consent and know how to do so. The agency should only share data or allow data that it collects to be shared with countries of origin when it has taken all efforts to obtain free and informed consent.
“Humanitarian agencies obviously need to collect and share some data so they can provide refugees with protection, services, and assist with safe, dignified, and voluntary returns,” Fakih said. “But a refugee has the right to control their data, who has access to it, and for what purposes, and UNHCR and other agencies should be accountable to those whose data they hold.”
Purpose of the UNHCR-Bangladesh Registration Exercise
In 2017, the Bangladesh government conducted its own registration of Rohingya refugees by collecting personal data, including biometrics, and collaborated with UNHCR through its Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission to conduct a family counting exercise. In 2018, the government asked UNHCR to participate in a joint exercise to link the registration data that it had collected and the data collected by UNHCR in collaboration with the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission. UNHCR signed a data-sharing agreement with Bangladesh in January 2018.
Following Myanmar and Bangladesh’s November 2017 repatriation agreement (the Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State), which required Bangladesh to conduct a “pre-verification” exercise to vet refugees before Myanmar would carry out its own assessment of return eligibility, Bangladesh and Myanmar also entered into an agreement outlining the verification and repatriation process, including collecting and sharing refugee data.
The agreement stated that “[r]elevant information or data generated by, and available with, relevant UN agencies may be used for reference, as and when necessary … Bangladesh may provide verified lists of returnees from Bangladesh to the UNHCR Representatives for ascertaining voluntariness from prospective returnee families.” The annexed verification form requested extensive identifying data.
UNHCR’s independent evaluation of its emergency response, published in December 2018, noted that for the lists Bangladesh would need to prepare for Myanmar, authorities would “require a level of detail about place of origin, family composition and so on” that the government had not obtained in its initial registration.
UNHCR’s independent evaluation found that the agency saw the joint registration exercise as an opening to assist the “durable documentation” of Rohingya for potential returns. In its May 2021 written response to Human Rights Watch, UNHCR said that this unique verification process stems from the discriminatory nationality restrictions that Rohingya face, because most now lack official documentation proving they are from Myanmar.
UNHCR officials said that as part of the joint registration exercise, field officers asked Rohingya two questions: first, whether they consented to have their data shared with partners for assistance in Bangladesh and, second, whether they consented to have their data shared with Myanmar to assess repatriation eligibility. They said the agency began the registration exercise in June 2018, collecting “a significant amount of information about the family, place of origin and relatives overseas,” and fingerprints, iris scans, photographs, and shared much of that data with the Bangladesh government.
Following the joint exercise, Bangladesh issued refugees over age 12 identity cards known as Smart Cards, which are linked to their biometric data. UNHCR officials said that they advocated successfully to include the phrase “Forcibly Displaced Myanmar National/Person of Concern to UNHCR” on the cards, as well as a written commitment that the card bearer should be protected from being forcibly returned. The cards gave Rohingya valid identification and allowed them access to food, aid, health care, and other essential services.
During the registration exercise, some Rohingya raised concerns that the data would be used to facilitate repatriations and be integrated into the Myanmar National Verification Cards (NVC) system – an inherently discriminatory process that identifies Rohingya as non-citizens. A visit to the Bangladesh camps in early 2018 by Myanmar’s social welfare minister, Dr. Win Myat Aye, stoked those fears. He said during the visit that NVC cards would help to verify the identity of refugees returning to Myanmar. Some Rohingya held protests against the registration exercise in late 2018, which in a few cases the camp authorities met with violence.
A 2020 study by the Engine Room, an international organization working with data and technology to encourage social change, said a number of refugees spoke of fears around data sharing with Myanmar, telling them, “We are still having doubts about one matter ... they assured us that they won’t share our biodata with the [government of Myanmar], but what if they cheat us and share this data … [and] send us back to [Myanmar]?”
In response to refugee concerns, UNHCR officials made confusing public statements about the purpose of the data collection exercise. For example, in November 2018, after protesters complained that Myanmar would access the data, a UNHCR official told Reuters that the data was being collected for a verification process that would help Rohingya refugees get better protection and ensure their access to services in Bangladesh and was “not linked to repatriation.”
In its May 10, 2021 response to Human Rights Watch, UNHCR said that Reuters had selectively excerpted this statement without providing more context and that UNHCR staff consistently said that Bangladesh may share data with Myanmar to verify eligibility for returns, and this would not be linked to any “actual return movement.”
In September 2018, a UNHCR assistant registration officer had addressed the issue on a Rohingya community radio show, Bala-Bura:
There isn’t any association between the Smart Card and the repatriation to Myanmar. Repatriation is based on your own willingness and it doesn’t look like it could actually happen right now. It could only happen when there is peace in your country, when you get your rights back, when you get your house, land and properties returned, when you get the freedom of movement—these are the criteria for voluntary [returns]. And this [Smart Card] is to live in Bangladesh, to stay safely in Bangladesh, to get assistance- this card is being given to ensure all of that. There is not any association with the repatriation to Myanmar. When you receive that identity card or the “Smart Card,” the first advantage you will get is that you can stay peacefully and safely in Bangladesh.
At the same time, the official said that Bangladesh would share some limited information on who people were and what village they came from with Myanmar but did not explain that this would be linked to repatriation eligibility assessments, nor that it would include additional data including photographs or thumbprint images. In a January 2019 operational update, UNHCR said the exercise was intended to ensure that refugees had identity documents and could use those documents to get services, and “contribute to ensuring a refugee’s right to return.”
The statements from UNHCR officials contributed to refugees incorrectly believing that the data UNHCR collected was not going to contribute to anything related to potential returns.
As one aid worker, who at the time was attending meetings between Rohingya leaders and UNHCR on this issue put it, “UNHCR kept saying to them [Rohingya leaders] the memorandum of understanding it signed with Myanmar had nothing to do with repatriations and nor did the joint registration exercise. It was basically ignoring the Rohingya and their concerns that there was a link.”
Free and Informed Consent
UNHCR predicates its assistance and protection on free and informed consent by beneficiaries. A 2020 UNHCR guide for making refugee status determinations, for example, states that UNHCR should inform an individual of:
the extent of the information to be disclosed, the recipient of the information, the purpose of the disclosure and the likely use of the information. Consent must be sought each time the information is to be disclosed to a different third party or used for purposes which the Applicant was not informed about and would not have reasonably expected at the time of the initial consent.
In addition, to be valid:
consent must be informed, that is consent must be based upon a clear appreciation and understanding of the facts, implications and consequences, which obliges UNHCR to inform the person of the purpose(s) of data collection, and how the data is, or is likely to be, used. Consent must also be freely given, meaning that the individual must have a genuine choice and be able to refuse or withdraw consent without adverse consequences.
While UNHCR policy allows for processing data without consent under some circumstances, including emergency situations, this should not override the need for consent or appropriate alternatives during registration exercises so as to not expose individuals or groups to harm, or otherwise jeopardize their protection.
UNHCR staff told Human Rights Watch in 2021 that when registering Rohingya for the joint registration exercise in 2018, field staff asked refugees whether they consented to have
their data shared with Myanmar to assess their repatriation eligibility. They said that Rohingya could have registered for the Smart Card even if they did not want their data shared with Myanmar. They contended that the vast majority of refugees consented but did not say how many refused. The Rohingya interviewed by Human Rights Watch disputed these claims.
Human Rights Watch believes that combining registration required for services with consent to a repatriation eligibility assessment is contrary to the principle of free consent. Rohingya refugees require a Smart Card to get all services in the refugee camps. UNHCR’s policies provide that the agency should never directly link registration or other verification exercises with registration for voluntary repatriations.
UNHCR disputed the relevance of this principle by arguing it applies to registration for voluntary repatriation, not sharing names to assess eligibility for return. But the aim of the policy – to ensure that consent is not coerced – should also apply in the registration exercise that UNHCR conducted with Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch found that UNHCR gave refugees mixed messages about how their data would be used and did not provide enough information for people to understand when, how, and for what purposes their information would be shared with the Myanmar government.
UNHCR said that when communicating with refugees and media about the registration exercise, UNHCR staff members consistently noted the possibility that the government of Bangladesh may share the data with the government of Myanmar for the purpose of verifying their eligibility for return, but this would not be linked to any actual returns. In February, a UNHCR official said the question about sharing data for eligibility assessments during the joint registration exercise was a “tick box” on a consent form that each refugee signed. She claimed the agency “always asked this question and the refugees understood what we meant very quickly.”
This is contrary to the experience of 23 of the 24 Rohingya refugees interviewed, who said that they believed at the time that the data collection was only to get the Smart Card and access to services, and a counting exercise. They said they did not sign a form, but instead gave their data in their own language to a field officer typing into a computer, and received a printed English language-only receipt with that data at the end of the interview. One Rohingya man who shared with Human Rights Watch the English language receipt said he was shocked to see that his data could be shared with Myanmar:
When I got to the [registration] center no one there told me why they were collecting my data, it was assumed that I knew like everyone that it was in order to receive services and for a counting exercise. After they took my data, they printed out a receipt. I walked back to my tent, and then I looked at the paper, and noticed that on the top there was a tick box that the person at the center had marked as “yes” without ever asking me, that my data would be shared with Myanmar. I was so angry when I saw that, but I had already given my data, and I needed services, so I didn’t know what I could do about it. And I am one of the few people who probably even realized that. Most Rohingya do not read English. But why did they do that? Why don’t they ask the person in front of them instead of just clicking and maybe even causing us harm by doing that?
The man said that before his data was collected, a senior UNHCR official told a community meeting he had attended that, “in the future, if you agree, UNHCR and Bangladesh will share your information with Myanmar so the government can verify where you are from,” but that he was never told this collection exercise would be for that purpose.
Another Rohingya man said:
UNHCR did not tell us it would be used for anything linked to repatriations. When the registration exercise started, we had said we didn’t want to participate because we were worried about repatriations, but the UNHCR staff told us, “We will not share your information with Myanmar until you give us permission to.” And then they never came back to us to ask if they could share our information.
He added that when field staff collected his data, they did not discuss consent in any detail. In its May responses, UNHCR stated that Rohingya refugees were provided extensive counseling on the sharing of their information with Myanmar for the purposes of verification of eligibility for return, but at the same time acknowledged that in some cases a more thorough explanation and counseling for refugees may have helped them better understand the process and its purpose.
UNHCR said that the vast majority of refugees in 2017 and 2018 were expressing a desire to return home “if conditions were conducive” – a sentiment that refugees also expressed to Human Rights Watch at the time. The Rohingya refugees have repeatedly said that they wish to return to Myanmar when it is safe and their citizenship rights, right to freedom of movement, and other human rights are guaranteed. But when Bangladesh started submitting names to Myanmar for repatriation eligibility assessments in 2018, Rohingya refugees told Human Rights Watch that they still did not feel safe to return.
The one Rohingya man who said UNHCR did ask his consent to share his data with Myanmar said he felt pressure not to refuse. He added that he assumed, based on UNHCR’s mandate to protect vulnerable people, the data would only be shared at a time when safe and dignified repatriations were possible. “We would be very worried to have our full information shared without those conditions, especially now with the Myanmar military in control of the government,” he said.
Bangladesh officials said that by early 2021 they had submitted lists with at least 830,000 names to Myanmar. Bangladesh’s foreign minister reported that the lists included all the data the government had on each individual, including biometric data. Myanmar authorities verified the eligibility of 42,000 people for return, though UNHCR considered the situation in Myanmar not conducive for safe refugee returns.
Once they were verified for return, UNHCR interviewed those selected, and almost all said they did not want to return, with some going into hiding out of fear of forced repatriation.
Human Rights Watch believes that biometric data should only be gathered when necessary and proportionate, and when fully compliant with privacy and data protection legislation and internal data retention and privacy policies. If biometric data collection (such as fingerprint images) is deemed necessary, in line with various data protection regulations and established principles of data collection in sensitive contexts, UNHCR should collect and store as little data as possible about vulnerable people.
Implementation of UNHCR Policy
UNHCR has a policy and practical guidance to protect personal data that it collects on beneficiaries and shares with third parties. The policy specifies that “before entering into data transfer arrangements with Implementing Partners or third parties which may negatively impact on the protection of personal data of persons of concern, UNHCR needs to carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).”
UNHCR told Human Rights Watch that it did not carry out a “full-fledged DPIA,” but undertook several risk assessments prior to signing the data-sharing agreement with Bangladesh and embedded and applied risk-mitigating measures into the agreement. In its assessments, UNHCR said it took into account “application of data protection provisions, refugees’ consent, UNHCR’s prior written authorization to disclose, limitations to the use of data, the format in which data are being shared, and balanced any identified risks against the benefits of upholding refugees’ right to return to their country.” It is important, though that it did not seem to take into account the context of historical involuntary returns from Bangladesh to Myanmar.
A former senior UNHCR staff member said that while the agency has a policy in place, “UNHCR has not put procedures to enforce the policy. DPIAs are generally not conducted.” He added that while the policy document seeks “adequacy” with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, in practice staff deviate from the requisite standards including informed consent.
UNHCR’s policy also dictates that when it collects personal data. it should inform the person “in a manner and language that is understandable” of the specific purpose for which the data will be processed and whether the data will be transferred to another entity.
Twenty-one of the 24 Rohingya interviewed said they found out their names were on repatriation eligibility assessment lists only after the Myanmar government had verified them for return.
UNHCR said it was unable to share a copy of its data-sharing agreement with Bangladesh without the government’s permission. Human Rights Watch asked the Bangladesh government for a copy of the agreement but has yet to receive a response.
UNHCR said its protection staff in Bangladesh and Myanmar have monitored whether the sharing of refugee data has resulted in any harm to refugees or their families and had not identified any harm thus far.
Potential Harm
Involuntary Repatriations
In a May meeting with Human Rights Watch, a UNHCR official defended the agency’s data sharing with Bangladesh – knowing that Bangladesh would, in turn, share this data with Myanmar as part of the process for verifying eligibility to return – by saying that UNHCR’s engagement would help to ensure that any returns would be voluntary. UNHCR said that an April 2018 memorandum of understanding between the agency and Bangladesh on the voluntary return of Rohingya to Myanmar includes a role for UNHCR to assist Bangladesh to register refugees who indicate a willingness to return and to ascertain the voluntariness of their decision after the eligibility for return is verified and confirmed between Bangladesh and Myanmar. It also states that UNHCR will assist in voluntary returns but only when the conditions for safe and dignified return are in place.
In its May written response to Human Rights Watch, UNHCR repeated that Bangladesh is upholding its commitment not to involuntarily repatriate Rohingya and pointed out that in November 2018 and August 2019, Bangladesh did not force any Rohingya who had been verified for return to go back to Myanmar. It said that “UNHCR has insisted since the beginning of the Rohingya refugee crisis that the refugees have a right to return if conditions are conducive yet that this should be voluntary and on the basis of informed consent.”
If the necessary conditions are not in place for safe and dignified return, UNHCR engagement on return is usually limited to planning, monitoring, counseling, advocacy, and ongoing analysis of obstacles to and conditions necessary for return, and identifying the necessary actions to address them. By indirectly assisting Bangladesh, through the collection of data, to draw up lists for verifying return eligibility, UNHCR has in effect assisted with potential repatriations, governed by the bilateral agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
This comes in the context of previous forced repatriation from Bangladesh to Myanmar, first in 1978 and then between 1992 and 1997, including UNHCR’s involvement in those episodes of mass forcible return, or refoulement. A study by the Stimson Center found:
In the 1970s and 1990s, UNHCR made choices that prioritized relationships with the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar over explicitly addressing human rights and protection concerns facing refugees… protection practices and norms such as individually interviewing refugees prior to return, were often sidelined in favor of maintaining these relationships.
In 2021 Bangladeshi authorities have continued their rhetoric around the need for repatriations, including directly after the February 1 military coup in Myanmar. Human Rights Watch questions the extent to which UNHCR will be able to prevent forced returns should they be attempted, given its inability to prevent the Bangladeshi government from relocating – including involuntary transfers – Rohingya to facilities on the remote island of Bhasan Char, where they lack freedom of movement and sustainable livelihoods or education.
The principle of nonrefoulement, the right of refugees not to be returned to a country where their lives or freedom would be threatened, is the cornerstone of international refugee protection, enshrined in article 33 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Although Bangladesh is not a party to the UN Refugee Convention, it is bound to uphold the principle of nonrefoulement as a matter of customary international law.
Returning Rohingya to Myanmar would put them at grave risk of arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill-treatment, and possible death. An estimated 600,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine State, confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement or access to adequate food, health care, education, and livelihoods. Approximately 130,000 internally displaced Rohingya have been arbitrarily held since 2012 in open-air detention camps.
A 2020 report by Human Rights Watch found that that the repression imposed on the Rohingya amounts to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty. The UN-backed Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar warned in 2019 that the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar faced a greater-than-ever threat of genocide in the face of ongoing marginalization and brutality by the authorities.
The 21 Rohingya who told Human Rights Watch that their names had been on repatriation eligibility assessment lists and been verified for return fled their huts and went into hiding into other camps because they were afraid of being forcibly returned. One said his family fled because Bangladeshi security forces threatened that if they did not return to Myanmar, “then they would bulldoze our hut inside the camp.” Another Rohingya man said Bangladeshi authorities had told him he must return to Myanmar or he would be forced to, though he was not ultimately forced to do so.
One aid worker who witnessed families fleeing their huts said that in November 2018, when authorities tried to get the first group of Rohingya that had been verified for return to leave, she saw camp leaders trying, and ultimately failing, to forcibly round them up and put them on buses.
Denial of Citizenship and Potential Statelessness
The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group who have lived for generations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. They are not listed among the 135 national ethnic groups Myanmar recognizes and are effectively denied citizenship under the discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law. Without citizenship, they are for practical purposes stateless, facilitating long-term and severe Myanmar government human rights violations, including deportation, arbitrary confinement, and persecution.
Myanmar authorities have issued documents under successive “citizenship verification” systems, including “white cards,” or temporary registration cards, which were nullified in 2015. The end of the “white cards” was followed by the current National Verification Card (NVC) process, which has been marked by coercion and deceit. Rohingya are also registered on documents under repressive travel authorization and administrative procedures, such as household lists, Form 4s, and “Village Departure Certificates.”
At the time of their registration in Bangladesh, many Rohingya were concerned that their data would be integrated into the Myanmar NVC system, which they believe would undermine their claims to citizenship. A 2019 repatriation assessment conducted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with support from the Myanmar government stated that all returning refugees will be registered for NVCs upon arriving at Rakhine State “reception centers.”
Arbitrary Detention
In line with its repatriation agreements with Bangladesh, the Myanmar government has built “reception centers” and “transit camps” in northern Rakhine State to process and house returnees. They are surrounded by high barbed-wire fencing and security outposts, similar to the central Rakhine State detention camps. Such camps, constructed on land from which the Rohingya had fled, including villages that were burned and bulldozed in their wake, would invariably limit basic rights, segregate returnees from the rest of the population, restrict freedom of movement, and exacerbate persecution. The ASEAN repatriation assessment outlines “strict security measures,” including the extensive presence of armed border guard police at the camps that raise grave rights concerns.
One Rohingya man told Human Rights Watch that his name had appeared on a Myanmar government list of suspected members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the ethnic Rohingya armed group. He said that around August 2019, he found out from a Bangladesh government-appointed representative in the camp that his name had been included on one of the repatriation eligibility assessment lists and he was verified for return. “I am worried that the Myanmar authorities added my name to the list as a trap, so they can bring me back to Myanmar and then arrest me for membership in ARSA,” he said.
Recommendations
Human Rights Watch appreciates the vital role that UNHCR plays in ensuring that Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are issued identity documents and have access to basic services. Human Rights Watch also recognizes that Bangladesh authorities require some personal data to issue these documents. It is less clear, however, to what extent facial images, fingerprints, and other biometric data are necessary and proportionate to serve this purpose. As UNHCR guidelines recognize, there are significant risks that this information could be shared with refugees’ countries of origin and the personal information collected should only be shared with the country of origin after an individual confirms that they want to voluntarily return home.
In its April 14 letter to UNHCR, Human Rights Watch included detailed recommendations for the agency to consider. These included investigating the manner in which data collection proceeded in Bangladesh in 2018. More broadly, Human Rights Watch recommends the following to UNHCR:
Do not combine collecting data on individuals to provide services or identification documents with collecting data for repatriation eligibility assessment or repatriation. Data collection for repatriation purposes should remain a separate exercise, ideally with a strict firewall in the databases maintained;
Instruct field officers to engage in detailed consent discussions with every person being considered for eligibility for repatriation, and for repatriation, which should include ensuring that refugees understand any risks of having their data shared and that they have the ability to opt-out without prejudice;
Only share data or allow data that it collects to be shared by host countries with countries of origin, when individuals have given free and informed consent;
Ensure that people who agree to have their data shared for repatriation purposes are able to later withdraw that consent, and are informed how to do so in a clear manner at the time they give initial consent;
Impose restrictions and safeguards that limit the authorities who can access and share data within the government and prohibit access to this data by third governments and other parties;
Carry out mandatory data assessments and, to ensure independence, use teams supervised by an independent body to conduct data impact assessments before engaging in new programming that requires sensitive data collection. Assessments of this risk should include an examination of the historical context of the communities and countries involved; and
Ensure that all data collection, including biometric data, meets the requirements of necessity and proportionality.
Human Rights Watch also recommends that donor governments play a greater role in ensuring rights-based data practices. This includes requiring agencies and organizations that collect sensitive data to use independently supervised entities for data protection impact assessments for new projects before data collection begins, and to conduct annual data protection audits..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-15
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Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), UN System humanitarian assistance, Human Rights Watch Reports on Burma/Myanmar, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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"A Muslim minority ethnic group in Buddhist dominated Myanmar, the Rohingya constitute about 4 percent of the country’s population. They inhabit the northern part of the Rakhine (formerly Arakan) State of Myanmar, one of the least developed parts of the country.
Persecuted for decades by the Burmese State, their numbers inside Myanmar have diminished steadily over the years from well in excess of a million to a few hundred thousand. Denial of citizenship, religious persecution, killings, rape, massacres and refusal to provide
even the most basic of human rights by subjecting them to forced labor, seizure of their land and property, extortion, denial of the freedom to travel to find work, and most humiliatingly
placing restrictions on marriage and the number of children they can have has led to hundreds of thousands of impoverished Rohingya fleeing to neighbouring countries, especially Bangladesh, over the course of the last seven decades. The United Nations (UN) has described them as "the most persecuted minority in the world".
At the core of the issue is the identity and religion of the Rohingya, with the Myanmar government refusing to acknowledge or use the term Rohingya, insisting on calling them ‘Bengali’ instead to highlight their alleged foreign origins. The largeststateless community in the world,the close to a million Rohingya living in appalling
conditions in makeshift refugee camps in Bangladesh are confronted with an enormous humanitarian crisis. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated on 13 December 2017, that while there were 400,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in early
2017, by the end of that year this number had swelled to over 1,000,000. The scale of the crisis is put into clear perspective by the fact that in contrast to their swelling numbers in Bangladesh, only an estimated 180,000 Rohingya remain in their native Rakhine State in
Myanmar. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently termed the State of the Rohingya as "catastrophic" and "completely unacceptable". Their miserable condition is being sought to
be exploited by radical Islamic organizations backed by the Pakistani intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) such as the Lashkar-e-Taibah (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), as well as by other Sunni militant organizations, to serve their own nefarious purposes. Rohingya insurgent organizations such as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) are being set up, and the attacks against Myanmar security forces launched by these insurgents
are providing the excuse for a highly disproportionate response by the Myanmar government, thereby exacerbating the already grave plight of the Rohingya. That the ISI-backed groups are
also looking to direct the attention of radicalized elements from the Rohingya against the Sheikh Hasina-led government in Bangladesh and against India lends wider security ramifications to the issue.
US Vice President Mike Pence assessed the situation aptly when he described the Rohingya expulsion as a "historic exodus" and a "great tragedy unfolding", adding that the situation may "sow seeds of hatred and chaos that may well consume the region for generations to
come and threaten the peace of us all"..."
Source/publisher:
European Foundation for South Asian Studies (Amsterdam)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Sub-title:
Bangladesh: Remove Fencing, Support Fire-Affected Refugees
Description:
"The Government of Bangladesh should remove barbed-wire fencing confining Rohingya refugees to camps and support those affected by suspicious fires that destroyed buildings and shelters and killed at least 14 refugees in Cox’s Bazar District since January 2021, said Fortify Rights today.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should order the immediate removal of barbed-wire fencing surrounding the Rohingya camps,” said Ismail Wolff, Regional Director at Fortify Rights. “The fences are a deadly experiment that infringe on basic freedoms and have now contributed to injury and death.”
In April 2021, Fortify Rights interviewed 13 refugee eyewitnesses and other Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar District who said that barbed-wire fencing enclosing the camps hampered efforts to escape fires and directly contributed to injuries and at least one death during a major blaze in the Kutupalong-Balukhali camp on March 22. Fortify Rights also spoke with five humanitarian aid workers operational in Bangladesh and reviewed and analyzed videos and photographs of the recent fires and aid-agency maps of the fencing.
The fencing, which the Bangladesh authorities erected during the past 17 months, is part of a broader system of restrictions on refugees’ freedom of movement. The fencing surrounds the camps and includes limited exit points, confining nearly one million Rohingya refugees who fled persecution and genocide in Myanmar and creating unnecessary protection risks.
At least 86 fire incidents occurred in at least 25 of the 34 Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar District this year, according to data reviewed by Fortify Rights from the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG)—the central coordinating agency for the international Rohingya refugee response in Bangladesh. The incidents ranged from minor fires that were quickly extinguished to major blazes that left at least 14 dead, hundreds injured, and thousands without shelter, according to the U.N. refugee agency and media reports.
In the most severe incident this year, a massive daytime fire engulfed large sections of the Kutupalong-Balukhali camp on March 22, affecting more than 48,000 people and leaving 10,100 households without shelter according to ISCG. The fire resulted in at least 11 deaths and injured more than 560 people, according to a joint assessment conducted by humanitarian organizations operational in Bangladesh. The fire began in the afternoon and spread rapidly through four sections of the camp.
Some refugees are still rebuilding their homes as monsoon season approaches.
He was trying to climb the fence. The barbed wire cut him. It was impossible to jump. He tried to climb the fence . . . Suddenly, the fire caught up to him. This happened as he was trying to escape and jump the fence . . . The fire was so dangerous, and people could not rescue him.
A Rohingya family member later confirmed with Fortify Rights the young man had died in the fire.
“Some were climbing the wire fence to escape,” said a 29-year-old Rohingya refugee who was in the camp during the fire on March 22 and saw at least 15 people injured. “Those who could not escape were burned in the fire.”
A 27-year-old Rohingya woman from Balukhali camp described to Fortify Rights her attempt to flee the March 22 fire with her three-month-old child:
I saw black smoke in the sky . . . [and then] the fire became very close. I started to go back to Boli Bazar market and saw that it was also on fire. When the fire became dangerously close, we started fleeing towards the fencing. We tried to get over [the fence]. We were running here and there inside the fencing. We ran along the border of the fence but couldn’t jump over it . . . It was such a horrible day. I thought my baby and I were going to die . . . We have lost everything. My shelter and belongings are all burned.
A Rohingya on the other side of the fence cut through the fence with bolt cutters, rescuing the woman and her child. She described how others tried to get through the fence:
Some men used their hands to break the fence, injuring their hands on the barbed wire. People were cut by the barbed wire trying to flee. They got stabbed in the legs, arms, head, and back. Some were bleeding . . . The fence should be taken down.
On April 12, another fire occurred in Balukhali camp, damaging several buildings and shelters. A Rohingya refugee man, 26, told Fortify Rights he witnessed Bangladesh police beat a Rohingya man trying to extinguish the flames:
I saw it myself. The police beat him with the end of their guns and a stick. The police hit him more than five times. He was trying to put out the fire . . . There were three police hitting him. The rest of the police tried to push the other people back to prevent them from putting out the fire..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights"
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-13
Copyright holder:
html
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Sub-title:
Scores of Rohingya reportedly adrift at sea
Description:
"Regional governments in South and Southeast Asia should support safe disembarkation and humanitarian assistance for scores of Rohingya refugees on a boat reportedly adrift at sea.
“Too many Rohingya lives have already been lost at sea due to the callous inaction or pushbacks of regional governments,” said Amy Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights. “Regional governments in South and Southeast Asia should urgently protect those on board to prevent any further loss of life.”
Fortify Rights spoke with Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India, who made phone contact with passengers on the boat. A Rohingya on the boat told a family member in Bangladesh by phone that there are 90 people on board, including 65 women. The stranded Rohingya also told family members that the boat departed Bangladesh on February 11 and that the boat went adrift after the engine failed. Fortify Rights received taped phone conversations between Rohingya refugees, who claimed to be on the boat, and their relatives.
“More than five people died today,” a Rohingya man says on one recording. “Please try to send water by any means.”
In another audio recorded on February 22, a Rohingya man on the boat says: “The India Navy is helping us. They provided food to us. Please tell my mother to pray for us. We can drink water now.”
After locating the boat on February 22, the Indian Navy reportedly provided food, water, and first aid to the refugees on the boat. According to Reuters, a senior Indian Coast Guard official confirmed they tracked the boat to an area off the coast of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
On February 22, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)–the U.N. agency mandated to protect refugees–called for the “immediate rescue of a group of Rohingya refugees in distress on the Andaman Sea.” The statement said: “Many [of the Rohingya refugees] are in a highly vulnerable condition and are apparently suffering from extreme dehydration. We understand that a number of refugees have already lost their lives, and that fatalities have risen over the past 24 hours.”
“Mohammed Jubar”–not his real name–in Kutupalong refugee camp told Fortify Rights on February 22 that his brother departed on the boat more than ten days earlier. He said his brother called him from the boat on February 21, saying he and others were out of drinking water and stranded at sea.
“I heard people are dying on the boat,” Mohammed Jubar told Fortify Rights. “If they have to stay on the boat, my brother will also die.”
Mohammed Jubar told Fortify Rights that on February 21 he received a call from a dallal–a term in the Rohingya language to describe an intermediary involved in human trafficking–requesting a payment.
“[The dallal] told us to give 200,000 Bangladeshi Taka [US$2,300],” Mohammad Jubar said. “If we pay him, he said on the phone he will bring my brother home.”
The name of the trafficker is on file with Fortify Rights.
Another Rohingya refugee in Malaysia, who spoke to a relative on the boat, told Fortify Rights that his relative and others on the boat “need water and food.”
“Pushback” actions and policies violate the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the “rejection at the frontier, interception and indirect refoulement” of individuals at risk of persecution. The principle of non-refoulement is part of customary international law and binding on all states. Under this principle, all countries are obligated to protect Rohingya from being returned, including through returns that are informal, such as pushbacks out to sea.
In February 2020, at least 15 Rohingya from refugee camps in Bangladesh reportedly drowned in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean after their boat, carrying more than 100, capsized en route to Malaysia. In April 2020, Fortify Rights documented killings, beatings, and severe deprivations of food and water by crew members on boats of Rohingya refugees.
In March 2019, the National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) and Fortify Rights published a 121-page report, “Sold Like Fish,” based on a multi-year investigation into mass graves and human trafficking of Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh to Malaysia from 2012 to 2015.
On February 1, the Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected Government of Myanmar. The junta has arrested more than 600 people and used lethal force in its crackdown on peaceful anti-coup protesters. Rohingya continue to face genocide and other international crimes in Myanmar, and migration routes available to them remain deadly. There are more than a million Rohingya refugees in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh, where the government continues to restrict basic freedoms of Rohingya refugees.
“We’ve seen this emergency before, and it can be avoided,” said Amy Smith. “Governments should urgently rescue and provide immediate protection to Rohingya stranded at sea.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights"
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Humanitarian assistance - emergencies, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Description:
"PREFACE: The Rohingya crisis defies easy summary. Terms such as ethnic
cleansing, genocide, abuse of human rights, have all been
applied to what is undoubtedly a major humanitarian crisis of our
times. Understanding and responding to the plight of hundreds of
thousands of Rohingyas requires a multi-disciplinary approach,
with the need for engagement from a wide variety of
perspectives. Legal and medical questions, issues around
cultural contexts and the physical environment, psychological
and social factors, religious and political considerations, are all
highly relevant. There is no simple solution to a whole complex
of interconnected issues: here, as in so many other cases, the
eruption and tragic human consequences of collective violence
raise innumerable challenges. It is all the more urgent that we
can bring people together to engage in the kind of informed
debate that can assist intelligent action.
We are delighted that such a distinguished and broad range of
scholars and practitioners have contributed their insights in this
booklet of abstracts, and that some of them will be able to
contribute further in person at the conference held at UCL on 4-
5 July 2019. We welcome participation in what we hope will be a
productive set of encounters, seeking both to understand and,
through enhanced understanding, to inform more effective
responses to this still unfolding crisis.....Genocide Studie.....FORWARD : According to the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), there are over 70 million people worldwide
who have been forcibly displaced from their homes. As an
underlying principle of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) to be achieved by 2030 is to leave no one behind, it is
essential that the needs and aspirations of the forcibly displaced
are addressed. Of these about 10 million are stateless. With
limited or no legal rights, and often denied refugee legal status,
the challenges they face are severe. About one third of the
stateless forcibly displaced, belong to the Rohingya diaspora.
The Rohingya are a Muslim-majority ethnic group from today's
Rakhine State in Myanmar. After a long period of systematic
exclusion, the Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in
1982. Since the late 1970s, nearly two million Rohingya have fled
Myanmar, with another one million living as internally displace
people (IDPs) within Rakhine State, in waves of violent forced
displacement perpetrated by the Myanmar authorities.
Violence towards the Rohingya in Myanmar from 2017, caused
the mass displacement of people to southeastern Bangladesh.
The Human Rights Council acting under UN resolution 34/22 has
cited this as a crime against humanity and called for an
investigation for genocide against the authorities in Myanmar.
The majority of the nearly one million displaced persons are
residing in overcrowded temporary makeshift shelters, of
bamboo frames and plastic sheeting, in Cox’s Bazar district.
Kutupalong is the world’s largest refugee camp. These camps
are highly susceptible to rainfall-triggered landslides, flash
flooding and cyclones and the likelihood of a public health
emergency from infectious diseases is high, which in this
vulnerable population threatens new disaster...."
Source/publisher:
University College London
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Human Rights and international relations, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Statelessness in Burma/Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Description:
"HIGHLIGHTS
As of end of March 2021, there were 13 operational Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Isolation and Treatment Centres (SARI ITC) in the refugee camps, with a total of 502 available beds, in addition to 415 beds that are on standby for COVID-19 case management.
Since the begining of the outbreak; cummulatively, 34,224 COVID-19 tests were conducted among the Rohingya refugees by March 2021. Of these, 438 tested positive.
The Director General of Drug Administration (DGDA), Health Sector partners and WHO conducted a series of meetings and field monitoring visits on 21st and 23rd January to strengthen Post Marketing Surveillance (PMS) by risk based sampling and testing through mini laboratories to enhance access to safe, effective and quality medicines and vaccines for all..."
Source/publisher:
Health Cluster and World Health Organization via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Public Health, COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Human Rights and international relations, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.52 MB (13 pages)
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Sub-title:
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Description:
"Ahead of next Tuesday’s (18 May) donor conference and launch of the 2021 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency is calling for renewed international commitment, support and solidarity for Rohingya refugees.
The 2021 JRP brings together the efforts of the Government of Bangladesh, and 134 UN agencies and NGO partners to target almost 1.4 million people this year. The US$943 million plan seeks to meet the needs of more than 880,000 Rohingya refugees and 472,000 Bangladeshis in the surrounding host communities in Cox’s Bazar District. Most Rohingya refugees, some 740,000, fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in 2017.
With the refugee crisis in its fourth year, Bangladesh needs robust and sustained international support to ensure the safety and wellbeing of stateless Rohingya refugees. This must not become a forgotten crisis. Both Rohingya refugees and Bangladesh, having generously hosted them for decades, must see the world standing with them.
Adding to the complexity of this crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded vulnerabilities for refugees and host communities alike. To date, the Government of Bangladesh, with the support of the humanitarian community, has effectively managed the COVID-19 response and the spread of the disease in the Rohingya camps and surrounding areas, though the trajectory of the virus remains unpredictable. A coordinated and inclusive response has saved lives. However, it is critical to ensure the continued delivery of all humanitarian assistance and protection services.
The needs of Rohingya refugees reach beyond subsistence and physical safety. Refugees, like any other people, cannot be allowed to wait for years without access to education and options for a decent life and a meaningful future. In order to mitigate the risks of people taking dangerous onward journeys, more must be done to ensure that refugees have hope in Bangladesh, and of a future back home in Myanmar. Otherwise, they may increasingly risk such journeys by land or sea to find a solution elsewhere.
Last year, the United Nations appealed for more than US$1 billion to meet the needs of the Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar District. At the end of 2020, this appeal was just 59.4% funded. We stress that the international community must not only maintain support for refugees and their hosts, but also adapt to new and emerging needs and pursue the search for durable solutions.
The search for durable solutions must remain focused on the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar, when conditions allow them to do so. However, the ongoing crisis and political instability in Myanmar have added new layers of complexity to this challenge.
Jointly co-hosted by the Government of Bangladesh, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR, the virtual 2021 JRP launch event will highlight the most immediate needs and ongoing humanitarian response..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Humanitarian assistance - emergencies, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Wrapping up today their four-day visit to Bangladesh, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners for Protection and for Operations - Gillian Triggs and Raouf Mazou - called for international support and solidarity with Rohingya refugees and Bangladesh. The protection, well-being, and concerns of refugees, as well as renewed efforts towards solutions should be at the forefront of the response.
A joint visit to Bangladesh of the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs and UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Raouf Mazou, took place from 30 May to 2 June. It included visits to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar where the vast majority of Rohingya refugees reside, and the island of Bhasan Char, as well as meetings with senior Government officials.
Throughout the visit, the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners reiterated their sincere appreciation to the Government and the people of Bangladesh for their humanitarian spirit and generous hospitality towards Rohingya refugees as they sought protection from violence and persecution in Myanmar over decades. This includes, notably, the recent influx of more than 740,000 Rohingya refugees since August 2017. They also reiterated the urgent need to continue working towards comprehensive solutions, including the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.
The Assistant High Commissioners emphasized that the responsibility for the current Rohingya refugee situation in Bangladesh rests with Myanmar, and that is where the solution lies. However, the recent developments in Myanmar make the prospects of voluntary repatriation in the short term more challenging.
“While Bangladesh has shown humanity and solidarity, in line with the guiding principles of the Global Compact on Refugees, the international community must step up and give practical effect to the obligation to share responsibility, and to protect refugees and support the host Bangladeshi Government,” said Triggs.
The Assistant High Commissioners visited the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and met with the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), responsible for the overall coordination of the Rohingya refugee response in Cox’s Bazar as well as the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Cox’s Bazar.
Despite the COVID-19 challenges, they noted remarkable strides have been made in preparing for and responding to the pandemic, both within and outside of the camps, for refugees and host communities alike. The Assistant High Commissioners visited a COVID-19 treatment facility in the local community of Ukhiya, which was built in just 8 weeks. This facility alone has responded to the needs of around 1,000 patients in the past year, almost 70% of whom came from the Bangladeshi host community.
“The inclusive Health Sector response in Cox’s Bazar has saved lives. The Government has set a positive example by including the Rohingya refugees in the national COVID-19 response plan and the related national vaccination plan. UNHCR opened two of a total of 12 operational COVID-19 treatment facilities and established the first Intensive Care Unit in the District hospital. Responding to the needs of both communities on an equal basis is essential to ensuring that everyone is kept safe,” said Mazou.
Additional challenges have been presented by COVID-19 and related restrictions in the camps. The Assistant High Commissioners observed a reduced humanitarian presence in the camps and associated protection risks. UNHCR advocates for essential protection services for the most vulnerable, including women and children who are particularly exposed to gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation, early marriage and child labour.
In its work, UNHCR listens to the voices of refugees. During the visit to the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, the Assistant High Commissioners had the opportunity to discuss with refugees and to better understand their situation and needs. Many stressed the need for the resumption of education and skills training.
The Government facilitated a visit of the Assistant High Commissioners to Bhasan Char. While on the island, they clearly recognized the significant financial investments by the Bangladeshi government in facilities and infrastructure, including housing. However, it was clear that the 18,000 Rohingya refugees currently on the island have protection and assistance needs. That is, access to meaningful livelihoods opportunities, skills development, education, health and access to cash to facilitate their daily lives.
UNHCR recognizes the potential that Bhasan Char could provide as an alternative temporary location for some Rohingya refugees while in Bangladesh. UNHCR proposes further discussions with the Government to ensure protection of refugees, as well as on our future operational engagement on the island. At the same time, UNHCR remains concerned about reports of refugees being arrested and detained for attempting to leave Bhasan Char. UNHCR strongly discourages the use of relocation to Bhasan Char as a punitive measure.
“Bhasan Char has some potential, though the human and protection elements of refugees living there must be fully considered. Refugees who decide to relocate to Bhasan Char must do so on a voluntary basis. They should have freedom of movement on the island and must be granted the possibility to return to Cox’s Bazar and to maintain family connections with those in the camps,” said Triggs.
While on Bhasan Char, UNHCR had the opportunity to talk to a large group of refugees, predominantly young men. They raised their concerns about the lack of access to livelihoods and self-reliance opportunities, skills development, as well as access to education. UNHCR was deeply concerned to learn of reports of refugees who were injured on the day of the visit to Bhasan Char.
While ultimately, the desired solution by the majority of the Rohingya refugees is to return home voluntarily, safely, sustainably and in dignity, when conditions in Myanmar allow, the crisis is now in its fourth year and refugees cannot remain fully dependent on aid.
“Livelihoods and skills training opportunities will provide refugees with a sense of purpose and autonomy while they are in Bangladesh, while preparing them for reintegration when conditions allow them to return home,” stressed Mazou.
Today, 2 June, the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners were grateful for the opportunity to meet and discuss these various issues with senior Government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.
While continuing to work together with the support of the international community towards voluntary repatriation, the Assistant High Commissioners discussed the possibility of introducing alternative solutions for Rohingya refugees, including resettlement to third countries for the most vulnerable with specific protection needs, as well as complementary pathways overseas, which could include employment and educational opportunities.
UNHCR once more calls on the international community, including through the recently launched 2021 Joint Response Plan, to continue to support the Government of Bangladesh who have taken on a huge responsibility in hosting almost 1 million Rohingya refugees in the largest refugee camp in the world. This must not become a forgotten crisis..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing cast doubt on the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled to Bangladesh in comments made in his first interview since taking power in a Feb. 1 coup.
Min Aung Hlaing was asked by Chinese-language Phoenix television whether the Muslims could be allowed back to Rakhine State - from where most fled an army crackdown in 2017 that U.N. investigators said had "genocidal intent".
"If it doesn't comply with Myanmar's laws, what else is there to consider? I don't believe there is any country in the world that would go beyond their own country's refugee laws to accept refugees," Min Aung Hlaing responded, according to a transcript of the interview.
When asked whether that meant vocal international appeals on behalf of the Rohingya were to no avail, he nodded.
Min Aung Hlaing, who headed the army in 2017 when some 700,000 Rohingya fled from advancing troops, reiterated the view of nationalists in Buddhist-majority Myanmar that the Rohingya are not one of its ethnic groups.
He said the term Rohingya had only emerged since independence from Britain in 1948.
"After we gained our independence, the census also registered the words 'Bengali', 'Pakistani' and 'Chittagong', but never the word 'Rohingya', thus we never accepted it," Min Aung Hlaing said.
Rohingya have been widely referred to as Bengali by Myanmar authorities - implying that they are outsiders from Bangladesh, although some can trace their roots in Myanmar back for centuries.
Myanmar's elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was overthrown by Min Aung Hlaing on Feb. 1, had also come under international criticism for defending the army against charges of genocide relating to the Rohingya.
She and the military rejected accusations of genocide saying the security forces were engaged in legitimate operations against Rohingya insurgents when the refugees fled to Bangladesh.
Not long after the coup, Min Aung Hlaing said efforts to repatriate refugees from Bangladesh would continue, but there has been no sign of progress while the junta has struggled to impose control in Myanmar.
Bangladesh is keen to see the Rohingya go back to Myanmar from the huge camps in which most of them are living in southeastern Bangladeshi border districts.
Bangladesh's Dhaka Tribune journal reported on Monday that efforts were underway to restart talks on the repatriation between Bangladesh and Myanmar with the help of China..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
The Biden administration has a chance to reassert the United States’ moral authority on human rights.
Description:
"Justice delayed is justice denied. As lawyers who have advised nearly every international criminal and hybrid tribunal, as well as over two dozen peace negotiations around the world, we have seen firsthand the consequences of ignoring atrocities in the name of preserving peace or alliances.
The Biden administration is faced with an historic opportunity. By labeling the atrocities committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as genocide, the Biden administration has a chance to reassert the United States’ moral authority on human rights and to lead the international community on issues of justice and accountability. The Biden administration should speak out firmly and clearly in favor of holding Myanmar and the individual perpetrators accountable for “the crime of all crimes.”
We know firsthand the gravity of the atrocities committed against the Rohingya. In March and April 2018, our pro bono law firm, the Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG), at the request of the U.S. Department of State, undertook a large-scale, comprehensive human rights documentation investigation mission in the refugee camps and settlement areas in eastern Bangladesh. Our investigation mission aimed to provide an accurate accounting of the patterns of abuse and atrocity crimes perpetrated against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and to help inform the policy decisions related to accountability in Myanmar.
Our team of expert investigators interviewed over 1,000 Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar camps, documenting shocking patterns of violence, abuse, and widespread human rights violations committed against the Rohingya. Among the abuses are widespread killings, torture, persecution, rapes, and other sexual violence.
Our team, including many former State Department lawyers, analyzed 15,000 pages of interview responses from 1,024 questionnaires. The evidence led us to conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes have been committed against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State.
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When we sent our factual findings report and data to the State Department in 2018, the Trump administration chose not to label any of these crimes as genocide or crimes against humanity, thereby excusing the United States from any legal or moral obligation to take action.
This April, the Biden administration demonstrated its willingness to acknowledge the crime of genocide in another context, as President Biden became the first sitting U.S. president to formally call the crimes committed against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire genocide. The United States should not wait 106 years (or even 106 days) to similarly label the crimes committed against Rohingya civilians. By acknowledging the Rohingya genocide, the Biden administration has the rare opportunity to reverse a previous wrong and lead with moral clarity on the international stage.
As the international community has stayed largely silent in the face of the Rohingya genocide, we have already begun to witness the consequences.
Over 18,000 Rohingya have been relocated from the camps in Cox’s Bazar to a remote island in Bangladesh in the past six months. Those still living in Cox’s Bazar have faced deadly fires and suspiciously consistent destruction of their homes and livelihoods.
In Myanmar itself, this silence and complicity has eroded the legitimacy of democratic government and empowered the military. As Aung San Suu Kyi defended the actions of Myanmar’s military against the Rohingya population before the International Court of Justice, she both undermined her moral authority to lead a democratic Myanmar and emboldened the military to bring an end to her leadership role, as seen in this year’s coup and unrest.
To secure a durable peace in Myanmar and to provide justice, redress, and a hopeful future for the victims of the Rohingya genocide, the United States must use its position of power on the international stage to lead with values of human rights and recognize the Rohingya genocide. As an international leader, America may be “back,” but it should not be back to business as usual with delayed recognition of genocide..."
Source/publisher:
"The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"On 5 April 2021, the Government of Bangladesh instituted a second national lockdown and imposed new containment and risk mitigations measures (RRRC 05/04/2021). The second lockdown follows a steep increase in COVID-19 transmission rates. On 19 May 2021, five camps with the highest number of cases were placed under complete lockdown while the remaining 34 camps were subject to heavier COVID-19 containment and risk mitigation measures. Under the new guidance, only health activities and food and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distributions will be allowed. Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) activities but must be implemented by Rohingya volunteers under remote management or by staff adjacent to the camps. All other humanitarian activities have been temporarily suspended, including monsoon preparedness (RRRC 19/05/2021).....Methodology: This report builds upon the 2020 COVID-19 and Secondary Impacts report and the 2020 Impact of the Monsoon and COVID-19 Containment Measures report. The report includes an analysis of publicly available secondary data and focuses on the anticipated secondary impacts resulting from the lockdown measures. It does not seek to predict the direct impact of COVID-19 in Cox’s Bazar or to assess the humanitarian response’s capability to respond to a second wave of COVID-19.....Limitations: This document should be used with additional and more specific research to inform preparedness and response planning. As this is an evolving situation, measures are changing quickly and directives are sometimes unclear. While the long-term secondary impacts of COVID-19 remain unknown, this report anticipates the short-, medium-, and expected long-term impacts based on the current situation..."
Source/publisher:
Assessment Capacities Project via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Humanitarian assistance - emergencies, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Public Health, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
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Sub-title:
The case of Rohingya refugee crisis
Description:
"Background: The Rohingya are a large Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar at the center of a humanitarian catastrophe. Myanmar government does not recognize them as citizens or one of the 135 recognized
ethnic groups in the country. Myanmar regards them as illegal immigrants, a view rooted in their heritage in East Bengal, now called Bangladesh.1 However, the history of the geographic region of Myanmar dates back to centuries and it is evident from
the chronological conflicts that the roots of the Rohingya community belong to that region and the people are subjected to mere communal conflicts. But before discussing their origin the question
naturally arises that where did this term “Rohingya” come from. As mentioned by Dr. Nasir Uddin, in his book “To host or to hurt”, ‘After summarizing the unpublished thesis of A.S. Bahar entitled “The Arakani Rohingyas in Burmese Society”, M. A. Alam codify the origin of the Rohingyas as follows: “ Rohang, the old name of the Arakan, was very familiar region for the Arab seafarers even during the pre-islamic days. Tides of people like the Arabs, Moors, Turks, Pathans, Moghuls, Central Asians, Bengalis came mostly as
traders, warriors, preachers and captives overland or through sea route. Many settled in Arakan, and mixing with the local people, developed the present stock of people known as ethnic Rohingya. (To host or to hurt, Nasir Uddin) The history of the region of Burma has seen a sequence of ethnic shifts, conquests, expansion and
collapse that is quite typical of the history of most regions of the world. In the last millennium and a half, there has tended to be a core state or core in the Irrawaddy Valley, which repeatedly expanded towards
and contracted from the periphery of the modern day territory of Myanmar; therefore by the mid 90’s around one third of the population of Myanmar was made up of ethnic groups distinct from the Burman
majority. This naturally reflected the history of interaction with China to the north, India to the west, Thailand and Laos to the east and Indonesia and Malaysia to the south. In particular, the mountainous
regions to the north and east of the central Irrawaddy regions have long been home to a diverse range of non-Burmese ethnicities. Some of these groups live exclusively in modern day Myanmar but many live
on both sides of the various borders. Up to the nineteenth century, the evidence points to a degree of ethnic and religious tolerance, even as the Burmese regions became increasingly dominated by
Buddhism, while more marginal groups retained animist beliefs or adopted Christianity or Islam. These discussions lead to the fact that it is particularly important to separate the history of Arakan from
that of Burma up to the 1800s. The core of the Burmese civilization in central Burma, along the Irrawaddy Valley is geographicaly and culturally linked to the tibetian region, southwest China and the
rest of East Asia. The south (the modern day Mon and Taninthayri provinces) is part of the wider Malaysian Peninsula and has sea links to the south, including Sri Lanka and parts of Indonesia. In fact,
this was the original vector for the early spread of Buddhism to Burma.
However, Arakan region in the west has always been separated from the rest of Burma by a high and difficult-to-traverse coastal mountain range. As such, for most of its early history, both in terms of ethnic
makeup and political economic interaction, the natural links of the region were across the Bay of Bengal to India rather than with the rest of Burma. It was also a relatively poor province, reliant on subsistence
agriculture and fishing, so it was generally of little interest to would be conquerors..."
Source/publisher:
Department of Architecture (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Muslims in Burma, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
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Size:
7.69 MB (86 pages)
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Description:
"The year was defined by the Rohingya crisis, which lingers on and remains un-resolved. The agreement signed by the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh in November 2017 had several aborted starts in 2018. Both governments came under the pressure of China to deal with the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees bilaterally, without the involvement of other (international) parties. What was evi-dently a forced repatriation plan was eventually halted in November. The outcry of human rights and refugee organisations continued unabated, as did western outrage against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, widely seen as callous and complicit in the military’s atrocities against the Rohingya. As ties with the United States worsened, ChIn response to the series of terrorist attacks in August 2017 by the Rohingya militant organisation named the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
(ARSA), the Myanmar military carried out what it termed ‘clearance operations’, which in the space of a few weeks in September, and involving mass rape, arson and indiscriminate killings, led to one of the greatest refugee crisis in recent decades.1 Approximately 750,000 Rohingya (representing the majority of this stateless, largely Muslim ethnic group) fled Rakhine state seeking refuge on the other side of the border, in the Chittagong district of eastern Bangladesh. The fallout within Bangladesh was that this impoverished South-East Asian country was confronted with a crisis withina’s economic clout in Myanmar was consolidated, as evidenced by the expansion of economic projects and Beijing’s leverage on Nay Pyi Taw during the
crisis. At home, however, Suu Kyi remained personally popular. Despite some efforts at rebooting, her government’s performance has oscillated between ineptitude and incompetence. Some personnel reshuffles and new strategic plans notwithstanding, its shortcomings remain well-known, being plagued by personalisation, the central-
isation of decision-making and over-reliance on loyalty, to the detriment of expertise and professionalism. The NLD’s cohabitation with the military has continued, but no open rifts have thus far surfaced.....Introduction: In response to the series of terrorist attacks in August 2017 by the Rohingya militant organisation named the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the Myanmar military carried out what it termed ‘clearance operations’, which in the space of a few weeks in September, and involving mass rape, arson and indiscriminate killings, led to one of the greatest refugee
crisis in recent decades.1 Approximately 750,000 Rohingya (representing the majority of this stateless, largely Muslim ethnic group) fled Rakhine state seeking refuge on the other side of the border, in the Chittagong district of eastern Bangladesh. The fallout within Bangladesh was that this impoverished South-East Asian country was confronted with a crisis with which it could barely cope. Within the borders of Myanmar, physical destruction across Rakhine state was observed, yet there was also widespread
support across most segments of Myanmar society for the way in which the authorities handled the crisis. The agreement signed by the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh in November 2017 went through several aborted starts in 2018. Both governments came under the pressure of China to deal with the repatriation
of the Rohingya refugees bilaterally, without the involvement of other (international) parties. The outcry of human rights and refugee organisations continued unabated, as did western outrage against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, widely seen as callous and complicit in the military’s atrocities against the Rohingya.
Of course, dealing with the Rohingya crisis and the repatriation issue
was not the only issue faced by the Myanmar government in 2018, but the fallout from the violence continued to cast a long and dark shadow on the country’s international image. Domestically, Aung San Suu Kyi remained personally popular, despite an overall poor government performance. Being about halfway into the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) term in office, it is now a good time to assess the performance of the government in terms of its domestic, economic and foreign policy. Its performance has been rather disappointing. Always bound to disappoint in light of the unrealistically high expectations that accompanied it, the government led defacto by Aung San Suu Kyi has combined ineptitude, centralisation and personalisation of decision-making. Substantial time has been spent on drawing up strategic plans, and less on actually building up human capacity,
expertise and turning plans into practice. This article is structured as follows. First, it revisits developments in domestic policy. Stalled progress in the peace process and increasingly fraught relations with ethnic Rakhine suggest that despite some efforts at
rebooting, transition has stalled.2 The subsequent section reviews the mixed picture insofar as the economy is concerned. Lastly, it examines how the country’s international ties have been affected by the crisis, enabling China to consolidate its already strong influence..."
Source/publisher:
University of St Andrews (Scotland)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
126.02 KB (14 pages)
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Description:
"Abstract: The tension and violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, Myanmar has been escalating to the extent that it could be called ethnic cleansing or crime against humanity. The international
community has insufficiently done in preventing and protecting the Rohingya that are facing persecution in Myanmar. The national mechanism in Myanmar which consists of the Rakhine
Conflict Investigation Commission, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, and the Central Committee for Rakhine State Peace, Stability, and Development Implementation intends
to address the truth and solution to the crisis. Moreover, due to the latest incident in Muangtaw where nine policemen were killed, the Myanmar government also establishes another commission
to investigate such an incident. The international community also calls for the independent truth commission to address the Rohingya issue. It is high time to examine and assess those mechanisms
to what extent they help mete justice and accountability for atrocities in Myanmar. This paper will also compare and contrast the works of human rights and investigation commissions established
by Myanmar and the others in order to suggest the best practices to enhance the mechanisms in Myanmar.....INTRODUCTION: Atrocity crimes are pervasive in many areas of the world. They are gross human rights violations which the international community must not tolerate because they are crimes of international concern which pose a threat to peace and international security. 1 However, some
atrocity crimes happen in the areas out of sight of the world. Little is known about what has been happening in those areas, such as in Myanmar. Myanmar seems to be a peaceful Buddhist country
in Southeast Asia; however, it has been facing internal armed conflicts for decades since the country has become independent from the United Kingdom in 1948. 2 The conflicts and human
rights abuses have erupted in several states namely Kachin, Shan, Kayah, Kayin, and Rakhine.3 Particularly, in Rakhine State, Myanmar attempts to hide atrocities against the Muslim minority –
the Rohingya – from the attention of the international community to avoid responsibility and accountability. This paper focuses on the problems in Rakhine State, in particular the Rohingya
issue. The Rohingya conflict is now not only a domestic concern but being treated as an international problem. Several reports from non-governmental organizations and international affairs literatures regarding the Rohingya issues have been published. Yet, only a few legal publications and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs)’ reports have addressed or touched upon the Rohingya problem regarding the possibility of the crime of genocide and crime against
humanity. 4 None of the legal literature has examined the attempts of the government and the international community to bring justice and accountability to the Rohingya. Therefore, this will be the very first preliminary study on the transitional justice mechanisms of the contemporary conflicts. This paper will explore, examine, analyze, and assess the legal implications of the mechanisms to resolve the Rohingya issue established by both Myanmar in the domestic level and the international community at the international level. This paper argues that despite the number of mechanisms, they are fragmented, overlapping, and have not served sufficient justice and
accountability for the violence against the Rohingya. Therefore, the government of Myanmar should push more effort to address this issue.
The first part of the paper will explore the background of the Rohingya story in terms of both historical and contemporary contexts to address the root causes and figure how conflict evolves through time. The second part will describe both domestic, hybrid, and international
mechanisms dealing with the atrocity against the Rohingya in Myanmar. This will explain how those mechanisms emerge and function. The third part will assess and analyze the impacts of each
mechanisms based on their progress, procedures, and outcomes. This part will also compare and contrast the work of those mechanisms to evaluate the capabilities to probe the ongoing conflict.
The fourth part will juxtapose the existing mechanisms to the other types of mechanisms used elsewhere and will also look at the way forward to bring justice and accountability to Myanmar.
This part will also provide a critical review of the paradox of justice and peace in the Myanmar context and the introduction of the anticipated mechanisms. Lastly, this paper will conclude with
some preliminary observations of the works and studies of those transitional justice mechanisms and will provide some recommendations to enhance the capacity of the mechanisms..."
Source/publisher:
Jutha Saovabha
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Sub-title:
Authorities impose full lockdown in 5 refugee camps while 29 others kept under close surveillance, says official
Description:
"Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh recorded the highest number of single-day coronavirus cases Sunday with 49 new infections, pushing the total tally to 992.
After testing 312 Rohingya, 49 were reported positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the office of Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) said in a report released Sunday night.
The death toll among Rohingya from the virus in the world’s largest refugee camps also rose to 15, including two fatalities recorded in the last two days, the report added.
Bangladesh is home to more than 1.2 million stateless Rohingya, most of whom fled a brutal military crackdown in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017.
So far, 665 Rohingya have recovered from the disease, including 11 in the past day.
To stem the spread of the virus in the congested makeshift Rohingya settlements in Bangladesh, authorities on May 20 imposed a 12-day full lockdown at the five most infected camps out of a total 34, excluding new settlements of around 20,000 Rohingya on a remote island in the country’s southern Bay of Bengal.
“We have put five camps under complete lockdown while the rest have been kept under close monitoring,” RRRC Chief Coordinator Dr. Abu Toha M.R. Bhuiyan told Anadolu Agency.
Citing authorities' efforts to contain the virus in the Rohingya camps, he added that in the last 24 hours, 117 new contacts have been quarantined in isolation centers.
“Currently, 836 virus infected Rohingya are being quarantined, while the cumulative number of contacts quarantined to date is 3,361,” Bhuiyan said.
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.
Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, while more than 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires and over 114,000 others were beaten, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA)..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"The British government has announced shocking cuts to its aid in support of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The £27.6 million announced amounts to a 42% cut in aid to Rohingya refugees compared to what the government contributed in October 2020, and less than a quarter of what the UK contributed in 2019.
The statement, which was dated yesterday but distributed today, made no mention of the fact that it amounts to a cut of around 42% in aid to Rohingya refugees.
“Even in a climate where aid cuts were expected due to the government’s broken promise of delivering 0.7% of GNI in aid, this is still shocking”, said Karin Valtersson, Campaigns Officer at Burma Campaign UK. “The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are genocide survivors, they are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet, many are survivors of sexual violence, of torture, of having witnessed family members including children being killed by the Burmese army.”
The Rohingya fled genocide at the hands of the Burma military in 2017 and the refugee camp is the largest in the world. According to official figures, over 880,000 refugees reside in the camp, over half are children.
The announcement of the slashing of support for the Rohingya refugees comes at the same time as Burma Campaign UK warns of overall cut to the Burma aid budget. The aid for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is not part of the Burma aid budget.
Poverty levels are rising steeply in Burma as the people are bravely opposing the military coup and at the same time are suffering the consequences of military brutality and an economic crash due to both the coup and the Covid epidemic.
“Dominic Raab talks the talk but he doesn’t walk the walk on Burma. He likes to offer statements, whether it is on justice or support to protestors, but doesn’t follow it up with action. This includes aid. In their most dire moment of need, Dominic Raab has decided to abandon the poorest people of Burma”, said Karin Valtersson.
The military coup has made it even more unlikely for the Rohingya to be able to return to Burma in the short-term, as the general that led the genocide against them, Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, is now the leader of the country. Instead of cutting aid to the Rohingya camps, the international community, including the British government, should work with Bangladesh to plan for a protracted refugee crisis with decent shelter and living conditions for the Rohingya.
“Over half of the refugees in the camp are children, and they are living in squalid conditions with not enough access to sanitation or hygiene, and very little education. The camp is fenced in by barbed wire and the security in the camp is deteriorating. The living conditions of these children are unimaginable as they are and these cuts will make their situation even worse”, said Karin Valtersson.
The way in which the UK government releases aid spending figures year on year makes it hard to do precise year on year comparisons. According to Burma Campaign UK research, the aid allocation to the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh since the genocide of 2017 is as follows:
2017-2018: £129m,
2019: £117m,
2020: £47.5m,
2021: £27.6m..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Today I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to the United States Government for announcing a new assistance fund of nearly $155 million to sustain critical efforts to support the brave Rohingya people who have been forced to flee Myanmar and live in refugee and IDP camps and host communities in Bangladesh, and other affected people in Myanmar. I would also like to reiterate my sincere thanks to the People and Government of the United States of America for standing in solidarity and being a strong voice for the people of Myanmar and recognizing the NUG as a voice for the People of Myanmar. The United States has been a good friend and taken large steps to help end the cruel regime in Myanmar by issuing sanctions on the junta, many of its entities, and individuals connected with it. We are thankful that in our darkest hour, when the military junta is doing everything in their power to commit acts of terrorism against
our brave people, the United States of America is standing with and generously supporting the brave people of Myanmar in many different ways. As the Union Minister of the Ministry of International Cooperation, and Spokesperson of the NUG, I sincerely welcome the statement below from U.S. Department of State Secretary
Antony J. Blinken: “At the launch of the 2021 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, the United States announced nearly $155 million in new assistance to sustain critical
efforts to support Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh and internally displaced Rohingya and other affected people in Burma. “Our assistance will help meet the immediate needs of the nearly 900,000 refugees in Bangladesh who fled from horrific violence in Burma’s Rakhine State, including women and children,” said U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony J. Blinken. FULL
STATEMENT: https/ /www.state.gov/the-united-states-announces-new.../" We are thankful for this aid and urge the international communities to not cut aid to the brave people of Myanmar, but instead to increase help sent in every way possible.
The junta is daily murdering innocent civilians and brave self-defenders, including women and children, and destroying and looting homes and supplies. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for the International Communities to..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
71.78 KB
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Description:
"At the launch of the 2021 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, the United States announced nearly $155 million in new assistance to sustain critical efforts to support Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh and internally displaced Rohingya and other affected people in Burma. Our assistance will help meet the immediate needs of the nearly 900,000 refugees in Bangladesh who fled from horrific violence in Burma’s Rakhine State, including women and children.
As the leading contributor of assistance in response to the Rohingya refugee crisis, the United States is helping to support the victims of atrocities and other vulnerable people in need. With this new funding, our total humanitarian aid for those affected by the crisis in Burma, Bangladesh, and elsewhere in the region since the brutal violence by the Burmese military in August 2017 is more than $1.3 billion, including more than $1.1 billion for programs inside Bangladesh. Given the tremendous funding needs for this crisis, we welcome the contributions that some member states have made to this humanitarian response in recent months. We encourage the broader international community to do more and urge other countries and stakeholders to contribute as well.
The United States recognizes the cost and responsibility that the response has placed on host countries, especially Bangladesh. We will continue to support all countries in the region that prioritize protection of Rohingya refugees. In the aftermath of the February 1 military coup and the brutal military crackdown in Burma, we remain committed to addressing the Rohingya crisis, recognizing that the coup leaders are many of the same individuals responsible for previous human rights abuses, including atrocities against Rohingya. We continue to work with international partners to support justice and accountability for all those responsible for the coup and human rights abuses.
We continue to advocate for the rights of Rohingya and urge their inclusion in discussions about their future. We also continue to underscore the need for unhindered humanitarian access to all people requiring assistance in Burma. We urge Bangladesh to take steps to protect refugees, particularly at this time of increased risk to them, and not create conditions that would force them to return to a country where they could face persecution and violence.
The United States is committed to promoting peace, security, and respect for the human rights and human dignity of all people in Burma, including Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
United States Department of State
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Humanitarian assistance, international standards and principles, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Sub-title:
The Rohingyas were equal citizens and enjoyed all the rights and privileges as any other until 1982 when the Citizenship rules of Myanmar were re-written and this time it left out the Rohingya.
Description:
"Ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya – a reality: Many believe that the Rohingya have been a part of Myanmar well before the British colonists arrived and have been an integral part of the country ever since. They have been mostly concentrated in the Rakhine region of the country and have been subjected to horrific atrocities from time to time. There have been countless instances of genocide-like situations for the community before but nothing as brutal as what started in 2012 and has been going on ever since albeit with varying degrees of intensity. The events have plagued a stratum of people who have in many ways got used to living in conditions that are sub-human and have accepted the same as their destiny.
The world is aware of what has been going on in Myanmar for way too long now, but nothing has been done so far to save the countless lives that are being lost on a daily basis. As many as 800,000 people have been displaced from the Rakhine region into Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and India. Their living conditions in those countries are not better than what it would have been had they been at the mercy of Lucifer himself. The ones who were unlucky enough to stay back have faced a greater ordeal. They have been restricted to a concentration camp-like holding areas and have been denied basic human rights like the right to movement, medical treatment, etc. They are not allowed to work or earn and are forced to live off the scraps that the government gives them. There are no medical facilities in these camps and the one doctor who treats patients is not even a doctor. Children are dying of malnutrition and of diseases like dysentery and diarrhea that are easily treatable.....The silence of a Noble Peace Prize winner: It’s almost ironic that the Prime Minister-equivalent of Myanmar is 1991 Noble Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Her father was the one who broke the shackles of colonialism and made the country in the image of a nation that gave equal rights and privileges to all citizens irrespective of their religion, caste, creed, etc. The Rohingya in Myanmar were equal citizens and enjoyed all the rights and privileges as any other until 1982 when the Citizenship rules of the country were re-written and this time it left out the Rohingya. Stripped off their honour and right to exist, they started crumbling under the oppression meted out to them by the security forces and the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists with whom they were sharing the land.
When Suu Kyi was questioned about the genocides of 2016 and beyond by a journalist, she replied by saying that she would not go so far as to call it a genocide. Shockingly, even after the truckload of evidence and testimonials at her disposal, she continues to shrug off the genocides by calling the evidences exaggerated and asking the world to ask the question “why the same was happening” instead of telling her that “it was happening”. That was one of the most perplexing statements that I heard from a world leader in a long time.....The impact of Ashin Wirathu and his 969 Movement: Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist monk who was hailed by the then president of Myanmar as the son of Buddha has been known to be someone who has peddled his hate for the Muslim community under the guise of Nationalist fervour for long. He was even featured on the TIME Magazine cover with a headline that read “THE FACE OF BUDDHIST TERROR”. He was imprisoned on charges of inciting violence and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment but with the situation in Myanmar changing and the need of a leader to mobilize mass emotion felt, he was given a pardon and released after serving 8 years of his sentence. The man immediately got back to his work and using his “969 Movement”, did exactly what the ones who had released him believed he would — spread chaos and violence with his venomous speeches.
Within a short span of time, he had incited enough hate to generate multiple riots. But he did something that was far more important for the government and military than any of the violence that he was inciting. He was able to integrate many different ethnic Buddhist groups under the common umbrella of “hatred for the Muslim Bengalis” and this let the government and the forces concentrate their full might on the Rohingya sidelining all the protest and the other disturbances from different ethnic groups that had plagued the country. The Buddhists completely forgot how brutally they were subdued by the very same government and military and were up in arms in support of what they were doing.....The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army – retribution or mistake: The Rohingya, who had faced violence for so long finally found a voice in the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), also known by its former name Harakah al-Yaqin (meaning Movement of Faith). The organization was founded by Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi, a Karachi-born Rohingya who served as an imam to a 150,000 Rohingya diaspora in the city of Mecca. He received training under the Taliban in Karachi and arrived in Rakhine, Myanmar in 2012 coinciding with the beginning of the religious riots. On 9 October 2016, Ataullah led hundreds of insurgents to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, where they attacked Burmese Border Police posts. A week later, Ataullah appeared in an online video, claiming responsibility for the attacks. Ataullah led a second large-scale attack on 25th August 2017, which resulted in the deaths of 71 people. This was just the instigation and reason that the Myanmar Army needed to get into action. Using the attacks as pretext, the army intensified its operations and cracked down with renewed vigour and never seen before horror. When asked if ARSA was a religion-based terrorist group in an interview, one of its members made it clear that they were not religious in nature and their struggle was only for the rights of the Rohingya many of whom were Hindus.....My views on the subject: It must be agreed that Myanmar’s Rohingya have been a subjugated lot for centuries. In the absence of the very basic of human rights, it is always possible for people to resort to violence especially when they are funded from outside. With the kind of torture and insults that the Myanmar Rohingya have had to face post-2012, it is no surprise that they rose up in revolt. The Myanmar government and the military used the violence on their part as a weapon against them and targeted not only terrorists but mostly innocent civilians. They threw small kids into burning houses. There was a woman who was attacked by the security forces and after being hit on the head, she fell unconscious. By the time she gained consciousness, she realized that she was raped by at least 20 different people. A 48-year-old man who, up till the attacks was a shopkeeper, never got to meet his son who was in another part of the same area and never made it back. He had a good life but he is now one of the 8 million refugees in Bangladesh lying in the mud and in a dilapidating thatched hut with 5 little children.
It is necessary to bring the terrorists to justice, but the law of my country has always taught me that it is ok to let 10 guilty escape rather than punish one innocent. That is the belief that we Indians have grown up with. To us what is happening to the Rohingya is beyond anything that we could ever learn to come to terms with. I am confident that there must have been other ways to deal with this situation. Many parts of my country are plagued by terrorism and radicalism, but we never see our military burning away villages or using helicopter-borne artillery targeting one and all. With piles of evidence and first-person accounts to contain with, it is left to be seen when the world community will do something about this ongoing genocide. It is also left to be seen if the Rohingya community will survive this extermination..."
Source/publisher:
EastMojo
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Arakanese/Rakhine/Rohingya history, Statelessness in Burma/Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"In recent years, the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, particularly in conflict contexts, has become increasingly visible. Cultural heritage destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali, and Syria drew the attention of the world’s media, caused public outcry, and in one instance led to a successful International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution (Burke 2016; González Zarandona, Albarrán, and Isakhan 2018; Kraak 2018; Moffett 2017; UN News 2017a). Although the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage in Myanmar (Figure 1) has been less visible internationally, throughout the 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis there were numerous documented examples of cultural heritage destruction both by the Myanmar authorities and by ordinary residents of Myanmar (a country often still known as Burma1). The 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis drew world attention to the circumstances of this persecuted Muslim ethnic minority and to the nature of the military crackdown that caused around 700,000 Rohingya to flee their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for Bangladesh (UN News 2017b; OCHA 2018; UNHCR 2018).
During 2017, Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, partially or totally razed almost 300 Rohingya villages and destroyed numerous mosques in northern Rakhine state (Human Rights Watch
2017a, 2017b, 2018). The Myanmar authorities have subsequently remodelled large parts of northern Rakhine state which has included constructing at least one military base on lands previously occupied
by the Rohingya (Amnesty International 2018a, 2018b; Associated Press 2018; Child 2018). Largescale destruction of heritage in Rakhine state did not begin in 2017. During 2012, conflict between Buddhists and Muslims caused the destruction of entire neighbourhoods around the Rakhine state capital, Sittwe, displacing more than 140,000 people, overwhelmingly Muslims (Human Rights Watch 2012; Republic of the Union of Myanmar 2013).
In this article we map heritage destruction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state from the time of this 2012 violence to the present, and we consider the role of religion and recent political change in violence
towards cultural heritage in contemporary Myanmar. We trace patterns of heritage destruction as legal and/or illegal iconoclasm specifying the key elements of heritage destruction in Rakhine state.
Our analysis focusses on the use of heritage destruction as a tool of genocide, and we suggest that heritage destruction in Rakhine state ought to be understood as part of the authorities’ policies of
genocide against the Rohingya. We conclude the article with a call for UNESCO to act to extend its ‘Unite4Heritage’ campaign to include the destruction of heritage by state actors. Traditionally, iconoclasm was considered the destruction of images – paintings and statues,
mainly – for religious and political motives. Particular (Western) iterations of this phenomenon have been identified during the eighth and ninth centuries in Byzantium, and the Reformation in
Europe, where religious images were considered idols and thus erased to avoid idolatry. Nonetheless, the concept of iconoclasm has gradually evolved to start considering other types of destruction, not
only images, but also ideas, buildings, cultural property and heritage; the targets of iconoclasts because they reflect a part of a group’s identity (see Latour 2002 for an extended discussion).
In this paper, we not only consider Rohingya heritage as those culturally significant sites for them, such as mosques and neighbourhoods, but also the traditions practised by the Rohingya for
centuries in those sites. The paper does not point to a particular type of ‘heritage’, but rather it takes heritage in its broadest meaning. That is, we consider heritage not only the tangible expressions of Rohingya culture as exemplified by mosques, but also other forms considered
intangible and moveable, and providing evidence of long-term Rohingya settlement in Rakhine state such as the presence of Rohingya villages (the destruction of which can serve to erase
physical evidence of long-term Rohingya residency). In doing so, the aim of this paper is not to detail all the heritage which has been destroyed in Rakhine state, but to map the destruction of
Rohingya heritage to demonstrate the link between heritage destruction and a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
International Journal of Heritage Studies
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Criminal Court, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Statelessness in Burma/Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
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Size:
2.09 MB
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Description:
"Introduction: Not so many people were acquainted with the issue of Rohingya prior to the communal conflict that erupted in 2012. In fact, the conflict has brought the “hidden” issue to the surface, to a new level of visibility particularly among common people. Nevertheless, there is still relatively plenteous unknown patency behind the
tragedy that occurred to the Rohingyas, besides a simple fact that it is an ethnoreligious conflict between Buddhist majority of Burman and Arakanese against the Muslim minority of Rohingya. The United Nations, indeed, even has regarded the Rohingyas as one
of the world’s most persecuted minorities1 and among the world’s least wanted.2 This paper observes three major issues that are strongly linked and contributed to the creation of predicament for the Rohingyas. Comprehending these three issues are pivotal in order to see and possess thorough understanding about the Rohingyas The first issue covers the problem that related to the legal status of the Rohingyas. Second, the issue that related with the human rights abuse that happened toward the Rohingyas. Third, the issue of Buddhist fundamentalism.....The Birth of The Stateless Rohingya: The statelessness of Rohingya is a product of legal-political process
conducted by the Burmese regime ever since the birth of modern Burma. The main driving force behind this policy has been the (political) stance of the Burmese authority that does not consider
the Rohingya as a part of its native population (shown by the Panglong Agreement). In fact, the origin of Rohingya is still debatable hitherto. Both sides, the Burmese and the proRohingya, claim to have the most precise argument regarding the origin of Rohingya.
Based on the point of view of Burmese historians, Khin Mau Saw, for
example, stated that there had never been the term “Rohingya” before 1950’s (when the Mujahids changed their name into “Rohingyas”) supported by the fact that there was no such name as “Rohingya” in the Census of India 1921 (Burma) compiled by G.G Granthan,
I.C.S (Superintendant of Census Operation Burma) or in the Burma
Gazetter, Akyab District compiled by R.B Smart..."
Source/publisher:
Ricky Raymon
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Human Rights and international relations, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Statelessness in Burma/Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
84.34 KB
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Description:
"Saffron robed Buddhist monks, leather clad punks, shirtless muscle-bound hunks, taffeta ballgown wearing “princes protesters”, chefs in toques, black robed lawyers, construction workers in hard hats, nurses and doctors in scrubs, tattooed martial artists, nat spirit worshipers, civil servants, drag queens, trade unionists, farmers, teachers, taxi drivers, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, the old, the young, women, men, girls and boys — this week and last, these were just some of the groups who joined the biggest protests against military rule ever seen in Myanmar.
Protesters arrived on foot, in convoys of bicycles, motorcycles, horse pulled drays, cars, trucks, tractors, and boats. They represented every religion, ethnic, and age group, and they gathered in hundreds of villages, towns, and cities. One protest took place on the water using boats among the floating villages of Inle Lake, a popular tourist spot. Yangon’s shops sold out of red balloons, the colour Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party. The flags and traditional dress of Myanmar’s ethnic minority communities were proudly displayed. Yangon’s usually hidden Rohingya community even openly joined in, and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh showed solidarity by holding candle-light vigils and sharing photos displaying the three fingered salute that has been adopted by the protesters.
Amid a sometimes carnivalesque atmosphere, protesters sang songs, gave speeches, recited poetry, painted banners, and posted on social media — the protests have an undoubtedly youthful edge. It would hardly have been possible to imagine, let alone bring together, a more diverse mix of Myanmar’s fifty-five million people. But apparent within this extraordinary diversity, was unity behind a common goal: the restoration of Myanmar’s democratically elected civilian government and the removal of the military from political power.
By undertaking a coup and arresting Myanmar’s recently re-elected civilian political leaders, military boss Senior General Min Aung Hlaing precipitated nationwide social unrest. Day after day, protesters have ignored military instructions to disperse, and there is widespread and growing resistance to the new military junta with public servants and hospital staff downing their tools. Banks were reported closed because they lacked the staff to open. It seems every day more people join the resistance. Notably, this has included defections of police — usually under military control — to join the protests, labelling themselves “People’s Police” and calling for the restoration of the democratically elected civilian government.....The threat of military violence: The military will not give up easily. Every protester, however enthusiastic, knows the threat of catastrophic violence constantly looms. To hold on to power, the military could unleash unspeakable violence against peaceful protesters at any moment. They have recent form for this. In 2017, the military subjected Myanmar’s Rohingya community to indiscriminate murders, widespread sexual assaults, village burnings, and mass detention — more than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. Similar violence could easily be brought to bear on the protesters.
For the protesters, the casual brutality of Myanmar’s military was highlighted during the first days of the coup when peaceful gatherings in the capital Nay Pyi Taw were met with water cannons and rubber bullets interspersed with live rounds, leading to the shooting of a 19-year-old woman in the head. Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, a grocery store worker who travelled from her village with her sisters, remains in a critical condition and is not expected to survive the shooting. She may not be the first protester murdered by Myanmar’s military but in a country where social mores often lean to the traditional, the optics of shooting a young woman as she peacefully asked for the return of the democratically elected government has further undermined the military’s standing.
Growing protests demonstrate the coup lacks public support and its military leaders lack legitimacy. While previous military coups have been unpopular, the military was often able to use “divide and rule” tactics to play groups off against each other and undermine coordinated resistance. However, this time the coup leaders have simultaneously unified virtually every key sector of the country against them.....Myanmar’s generational change: Before the coup, Myanmar’s demographics were already flowing strongly against continued military influence in government. While a defining feature of modern Myanmar politics has been the strong influence of the 1988 uprising that catapulted Aung San Suu Kyi and many other civilian government leaders — including ousted President Win Myint — to political prominence, more than seventy per cent of Myanmar’s population was not born when that uprising occurred. Myanmar’s young people have been kept away from power by the political endurance of those who first came to prominence in 1988 and have largely filled key leadership roles in Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration, but as time passes that situation was always bound to change.
Myanmar’s young people have grown up as Myanmar liberalised its previously highly restricted communications and media sectors, they have good links with and knowledge of the world beyond Myanmar and are accustomed to freely expressing their political opinions. The aspirations of Myanmar’s youth often contrast wildly with those of their parents and grandparents, who grew up under military-rule when the country was a hermit state closed to outside media and hostile to foreign influences. Young protesters are making clear that they do not want to be ruled by old, male soldiers and indications are they will continue to resist until the military is overthrown.
Myanmar’s street protests are also making clear many don’t merely want a return to the pre-coup status quo, which included extensive military influence in government, no civilian oversight of the military, and a military veto on constitutional change — they want the military out of politics permanently. And quickly. Much more quickly than Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian administration, tarnished internationally by its failure to oppose genocide against the Rohingya, have pushed for during its time in power.....The importance of Rohingya solidarity: Young people will hope the tide of demographics helps lead to the washing away of martial rule, but to take on Myanmar’s entrenched military, they will need all the allies they can find. This is a central point I make in my book Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide, where I call for Myanmar’s young people and the Rohingya to embrace each other as natural allies. My hope is that as Myanmar’s younger generation move closer to political power, a more humanitarian approach towards the Rohingya could be a consequence of a generational change in Myanmar politics, and I strongly encourage the Rohingya leadership to actively engage with young people to seek common ground.
Of course, it would be understandable if some Rohingya opted to sit out these protests, treating Aung San Suu Kyi’s arrest as fair comeuppance for her endorsement of military actions against them, but the Rohingya’s leadership understands that removing the military from political power in Myanmar must be a priority — the strong solidarity with protesters already shown by Rohingya groups is proof of this.
There have been powerful examples of Rohingya solidarity with the protests and a statement condemning the coup from the Rohingya Women’s Network is a particularly significant endorsement, considering the specific targeting of Rohingya women and girls by Myanmar’s military.
The Rohingya have been disappointed by Myanmar's civilian politicians, but they support Myanmar's moves towards democracy — and they especially support calls for the rejection of the compromised 2008 Constitution that allows the military to avoid civilian government oversight. The coup and its aftermath present real opportunities for the Rohingya and Myanmar’s young people to forge common cause for the removal of the military from political influence in Myanmar permanently and reforming the constitutional framework so they can never return to power....Myanmar’s Rohingya reckoning: There are strong indications this important political realignment was already under way in Myanmar before the coup, with some youth activists concerned about the growth of racism in politics having taken action to curb it. Young inter-faith activists and groups like Generation Wave have been vocal supporters of human rights for all in Myanmar, including the Rohingya, and were strongly critical of ongoing military influence on politics.
Young political activists, especially those from ethnic minority groups, had been growing increasingly frustrated with restrictions on freedom of expression and with public expressions of racism. The #BlackLivesMatter-inspired “Don’t call me Kalar” social media campaign is an excellent example of this. “Kalar” is a pejorative often applied by racists to Rohingya and others with darker skin, but young people embraced with gusto an online campaign to end the practice, demonstrating similar cleverness, wit, and political edginess as we have seen in many anti-coup protests.
Public silence during the 2017 Rohingya crisis has increasingly been a subject of concern for anti-coup protesters, many of whom are fast coming to terms with the inconsistency of their silence when the military brutalised the Rohingya while they themselves now call for international help to remove that same military from power. It is better this realisation comes late than not at all. The sight of democracy protesters in downtown Yangon carrying signs reading, “I really regret about Rohingya crisis”, are an indication a rethink about the reaction towards the Rohingya’s most recent crisis in 2017 is underway for some.
One of many recent tweets I have received points to this reckoning, and highlights the legacy of decades of state media demonisation of the Rohingya, who were commonly portrayed as sinister foreign interlopers rather than a group indigenous to Myanmar:
Many in Myanmar have been unaware the Rohingya were uncontroversially recognised as citizens during the civilian government era that followed independence between 1948 and 1962, but had their rights restricted and their citizenship rights disputed once the military seized power in the 1962 coup that presaged five decades of military rule. The Rohingya know better than most the value of a democracy and the perils of military rule. Considering the international support they can harness, the Rohingya should now be a key ally of democracy protesters in the campaign to oust the military. The most effective way for the Rohingya and others in Myanmar to fight the military is by cooperating.
Myanmar’s coup is a step too far for most and defeating it is an opportunity for the country to at last change its constitution in order to kick the military from politics. This presents Myanmar with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the country’s future. The shared experience of military oppression of the Rohingya and Myanmar’s majority, made tangible by the coup and its aftermath, opens up a path forward — one that realises the future imagined when the country emerged from colonial rule in 1948, a time when the Rohingya played a full role in politics and were regarded as a legitimate part of the national fabric.
But achieving this future means the military’s coup first needs to be defeated — and in the short term, that’s far from a sure bet.
Ronan Lee is Visiting Scholar at the International State Crime Initiative in the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London. He was formerly a Queensland State Member of Parliament (2001–2009) and served on the frontbench as a Parliamentary Secretary (2006–2008) in portfolios including Justice, Main Roads and Local Government, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships. He is the author of Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide: Identity, History and Hate Speech..."
Source/publisher:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Size:
555.15 KB
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Description:
"With a vast ethnic and cultural diversity,1 as well as high
levels of poverty, Myanmar has witnessed the emergence
of a myriad of armed non-state actors (ANSAs), which have
splintered and morphed over time, and has subnational
tensions arising from tremendous distinctive dynamics.
The majority of such actors, known as ethnic armed
organizations (EAOs), have primarily pursued a high level
of autonomy along with the recognition of identity and
rights. These claims have been ongoing since before the
colonial period, intensifying after independence in 1948
and still persisting in 2017. The 1980s and 90s saw important progress towards peace, with several ceasefire deals and the creation of the Border Guard Forces (BGFs) following plans for demobilization. Yet, these deals have all failed and have, therefore, generated
the proliferation of ANSAs. It was not until 2015 that the
government of Aung San Suu Kyi achieved the signing
of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA); however,
this process has failed to be inclusive, leaving aside key
actors after the government imposed restrictions for its signature and as a result, have maintained their armed confrontation.
Myanmar is composed of seven states, seven regions, six selfadministered zones (or divisions) and one union territory.2
One of the seven states, Rakhine (situated on the west coast of the country), is the site of ongoing tensions between the Myanmar armed
forces and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).
Violence escalated sharply from October 2016, when ARSA
first attacked, and continued to spiral, with the last military
crackdown on 25 August 2017. Thus, in order to understand the complex setting in Myanmar, it is crucial to outline the dynamics of these longterm tensions, while focusing on the latest developments in
Rakhine state and the challenges these give rise to..."
Source/publisher:
Geneva Academy Of International Humanitarian Law And Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Various groups, Political role of the Tatmadaw, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
Language:
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pdf
Size:
207.21 KB
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Description:
"We live in a rapidly changing world in which people often seek about human rights. But it turns meaningless when we see the number of refugees around the world is increasing rapidly. It will be unbelievable to hear that,the present world is facing the most global refugee crisis and we are witnessing a massive shift of humanity due to racial violent disorder, religious virulence, extreme nationalism, political and social conflict. In recent worlds Rohingya Muslims refugee have been the focus of considerable loved ones public concern .
It is believed that Rohingya Muslims are the most persecuted population all over the world.They have faced decades of systematic discrimination, stateless and targeted violence since the early 20th century. But the Rohingya affair has been largely ignored by the world community due to geopolitics , something that pushed some scholars to think that they represent a ghost and forgotten ethnic group, suffering slow burning genocide. The UN called the Myanmar authority to put an end the brutal security operation claiming the atrocities against the Rohingya as ‚a textbook example of ethnic cleansing‛
As Myanmar authorities are subjecting the Rohingya Muslim minority to collective punishment ,millions of Rohingya muslims crossed the international border and took shelter in Bangladesh. Bangladesh provided shelter for them from the humanitarian perspective as it was going on for many years with a significant spikes following violent attacks in 1978 ,1991-1992 ,2016 and finally in late August 2017.
Following the co-ordinate attack on 30 police camps and an army base by so called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)1 a group previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin on August 25, 2017,causing deaths of 12 police officers, the Myanmar military began a major crackdown in the villages of Northern Rakhaine State. The atrocities included attacks on Rohingya people and locations, looting and burning down Rohingya villages, mass killing of Rohingya civilians, gang rapes, and other sexual violence. As a result Rohingya Muslims started to flee to save their life to avoid ethnic and religious persecution by Myanmar’s security forces and as a neighbouring country their destination is of course Bangladesh. As of 15 October 2017, the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG)2 reported that 537,0001 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh since the attacks.But anoher report says that at least 720,000 Rohingya fled after the bloody crackdown and entered Bangladesh to join some 300,000 already living in the camps who took shelter during past influx. More than 6,700 Rohingya Muslims including at least 730 children under the age of five were killed in the first month of the crackdown according to Medcins Sans Frontieres (MSF) an international humanitarian medical non governmental organization (NGO) of French but Myanmar claims officially the figure is only 400. Whatever the figure is, the question arises towards international community whether it will be regarded as ‚Genocide ‚or ‚Ethnic cleansing.‛.....Ethnic cleansing defined: Ethnic cleansing and genocide seems to be same in nature but completely two distinct concept. The term ethnic cleansing is a literal translation of the Serbo-Croatian phrase :‚etnicko ciscenje‛ , that is focused in the context of the 1990’s conflict in the former Youguslavia . But the roots of the term and who started the term is still unknown. It is believed that the term ethnic cleansing is invented by Slobodan Milosevic.3 The expression ethnic cleansing has been used in resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly and has acknowledged in judgements and indictments of the ICTY.
There is no international treaty relating to the crime Ethnic Cleansing. As it has not been considered as an independent crime under international law ,so no exact definition will be given or what exact acts will be constituted for the purposes of the ethnic cleansing is not cleared. However a United Nations Commission of experts mandated to look into violations of international humanitarian law in the territory of the former Youguslavia defined ethnic cleansing in its interim report S/25274 as "… rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area."4..."
Source/publisher:
Jagannath University (Dhaka)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, International Criminal Court, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
333.98 KB
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Summary:
"Rohingya refugees from the Arakan state of Myanmar found their
ways a number of times to Bangladesh to escape state-sponsored
persecution. While there is no dearth of studies on refugees, Ro-...
Description:
"Rohingya refugees from the Arakan state of Myanmar found their
ways a number of times to Bangladesh to escape state-sponsored
persecution. While there is no dearth of studies on refugees, Ro-
hingya has so far received very little research attention. This article
tries to understand the dynamics and severity of reported humil-
iation by the government on the Rohingya population, and how
are they marginalized in their destination points. A qualitatively
and quantitatively designed questionnaire was used to interview
134 refugees from two existing camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
Both qualitative and quantitative analyses reinforce that the level
of abuse and persecution perpetrated upon them surpass all human
rights standards. This was confirmed by both the in-depth and the
case studies. These people were forced out by state-sponsored perse-
cution and again they are forced to be repatriated due to the fact
that Bangladesh cannot afford to welcome them back. It is difficult for anyone who has never been forcibly displaced to imagine
what it is like to be a refugee.
— Kofi Annan
Contemporary global concerns essentially revolve around the dynam-
ics of environment, climate change, health, war, and widespread poverty.
However, Myanmar tends to remain a peripheral entity from the centralities of the current global discourse. Arakani minorities in Myanmar struggle to obtain exorcism from persecutions perpetrated on them by the tyrannical government. The world conscience sends an impression that they are blind to the call for democracy of the mass population. No loud protests are heard from the authoritative nations against the captive democracy in Myanmar. Historically, freedom has remained a myth for the Myanmarese1 in general
and the minorities in particular. Arakan is the district that has been the witness to the endured persecutions on its inhabitants of varied range. The argument employed here is whether this population from Arakan should be considered “refugees” or “stateless.” Determinations as to who qualifies as a refugee are subjective because political and economic boundaries have become blurred, although the human rights groups and political activists tend to expand the definition to entail those fleeing catastrophes emerging in the natural landscapes in current times—climate change, for instance. Refugees, by definition, are those fleeing from war, conflict, persecution, or a fear of
persecution (Abrar, 1999; Aman-ud-dollah, 1999; Barsky, 2000; Robinson & Segrott, 2002) that act in the decision to escape (Middleton, 2005, p. 2; Smith, 1991). Refugee flows, asylum-seekers, internal displaces, and development-induced displacees have increased exponentially in volume and have gained political significance since the end of the Cold War (Castles, 2003). Generally,
there are two major patterns of refugee—first, the vast majority of refugees are hosted by neighboring countries with over 80% remaining within their region of origin due to the gravitation law effect; second, the number of urban refugees continues to grow. While I agree with this statement, I defer widely at the same time because refugee flows by and large are directed to the nearest countries with weaker borders that share identical culture and religion. Therefore, Rohingyas headed in huge number to Bangladesh, rather
than to India (Figure 1). While the number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) has fallen—the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) responsibility was estimated at 25.1 million—available information suggests
that a total of 67 million people had been forcibly displaced at the end of 2007, including 16 million refugees, of whom 11.4 million fall under UNHCR’s mandate and some 4.6 million Palestinian refugees under the responsibility of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The number of IDPs is estimated at 51 million worldwide; some 26 million were displaced as a result of armed conflict and another 25 million were displaced by natural disasters. In addition, while often not considered as being displaced per se, it is estimated that there exists some 12 million stateless people worldwide (UNHCR, 2008; Russell & Teitelbaum, 1992)..."
Source/publisher:
Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies via Routledge (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
285.61 KB
more
Description:
"SITUATION AT A GLANCE: 1 MILLION People in Need of Humanitarian Assistance in Burma UN – January 2021.....106,000 IDPs in Protracted Displacement in Burma’s Kachin and Northern Shan UN – March 2021.....126,000 IDPs—Originally Displaced in 2012—in Burma’s Rakhine IDP Sites UN – March 2021.....99,000 IDPs Displaced by Burmese Military–AA Fighting in Rakhine and Chin UN – March 2021.....884,041 Refugees in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar UNHCR – February 2021......A major fire in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar District displaces more than 10,000 Rohingya refugee households in late March. In response, USG partners deliver food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, and WASH assistance to affected households.
Violence and in security in Burma escalate following the February 1 Burmese military coup d’état against the civilian government. The UN, USG, and humanitarian organizations call for an immediate end to violence against civilians.
Clashes between Burmese military forces and ethnic armed organizations in Kachin, Kayin, and Shan generate additional displacement and humanitarian needs.....KEY DEVELOPMENTS: USG Partners Respond to Major Fire in Bangladesh Refugee Camps
A fire of unknown origin spread across three Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar District on March 22, resulting in 11 deaths and approximately 600 injuries, according to the Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG). The fire displaced more than 10,000 households and damaged approximately 1,600 facilities providing services for refugees and host community members, directly affecting more than 48,000 people. As of April 5, an estimated 12,500 people remained displaced as a result of the fire, while approximately 32,500 individuals had returned to the camps they previously resided in, the ISCG reports. As of April 15, a total of 84 fires had erupted in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in 2021, surpassing the 82 fires recorded during the entirety of 2020.
In response to heightened humanitarian needs following the March 22 fire, humanitarian organizations— including U.S. Government (USG) partners—are delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) assistance to affected households in Cox’s Bazar. USAID/BHA partner the UN World Food Program (WFP) had distributed approximately 1.3 million prepared meals, more than 92,000 gallons of safe drinking water, and an estimated 15,200 rations of High Energy Biscuits to fire-affected households as of April 12, while State/PRM partner the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had provided approximately 317,000 gallons of safe drinking water and 11,000 jerry cans to affected households. In addition, USG partner the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) established temporary child-friendly spaces and nutrition screening sites and provided access to emergency latrines for more than 23,000 people, while USG partner the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has distributed more than 8,000 hygiene kits, in addition to providing health services, psychological first aid, and shelter assistance to vulnerable individuals. State/PRM partner the UN World Health Organization (WHO) also reached more than 9,500 individuals with psychological first aid. Moreover, the UN released $14 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund for relief agencies to provide multi-sector assistance for approximately 82,000 people, and the European Union also announced $588,000 in emergency funding to provide emergency shelter support and WASH assistance to households affected by the fire..."
Source/publisher:
United States Agency for International Development (Washington, D.C.) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Bangladesh-Burma relations
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
381.33 KB
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Summary:
"What instruments and mechanisms are available to harness the ‘political will’ to pursue justice for the allegations of ‘atrocity crime’ in Rakhine, Myanmar? Analysing country’s ratification trend,...
Description:
"What instruments and mechanisms are available to harness the ‘political will’ to pursue justice for the allegations of ‘atrocity crime’ in Rakhine, Myanmar? Analysing country’s ratification trend, declarations upon ratification on relevant global instruments, and interactions with the un on human rights issues, this paper reveals the ‘mind’ of Myanmar and its obligations. Exploring the mechanism of four International Crime Tribunals (icts), it outlines the pathways to pursue justice. Revealing the inadequacies of current actions by key state actors resulting in invidious outcomes that privilege impunity for atrocity crimes, the paper suggests ways to harness the political will to pursue justice. This paper contends that the establishment of an ict for the trial of atrocity crimes in Rakhine (ictm-R) would be best facilitated by: a consensus mandate to prosecute individuals and not the state; precisely defined jurisdiction; and
provisions to integrate the host nation’s apparatus, buttressed by the advocacy of the right groups and media..."
Source/publisher:
Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Netherlands)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Arakan (Rakhine) State, UN (CEDAW) documents on discrimination against women, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
311.33 KB
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Description:
"Conflict is inevitable and normal thing. Also the existence of the conflict in not a problem but the problem is how to handle it. When the conflict cause death of thousands and 1 migrate a lot that means the conflict reach a high level and it needs for immediate solution.
In addition the very notion of ethnicity is a struggle topic in the social sciences for years.2 The Muslims minority in Myanmar (Rohingya) is suffered from violence in their home country and as result many of them fled to the neighbor country such as Bangladesh. They
are one of the most marginalized refugee communities in south and Southeast Asia. In general the problem in Myanmar is a humanitarian and moral issue due to racial differences and governance problem. The Rohingya people are victims of the discriminatory policies of
the government. 3 If we look to the political and military conflicts in the world map, we found that the most areas of tension are concentrated in places where there are Muslim minorities. This paper
will focus in the Muslims minority in Myanmar. Firstly this paper will explain the historical background of the Muslim minority and the political system in the country. Then the conflict in Myanmar and how it escalates until it become hard to solve it. Moreover this paper will discuss the political interest and it’s related with violence. After that it will discuss the response of the international community. Then it will discuss the solutions alternative for this conflict. The current Burmese government‘s will not provide a solution to the ethnic conflict in Myanmar. In addition Burma‘s ethnic problems could be solved by negotiation between the groups with a powerful mediator. This will happen through the establishment of a real federal political system that guarantees the autonomy for all ethnic groups in Myan-
mar or gives the independence for the Muslims minority in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Sultan Qaboos University:College of Economy and Political Science
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
197.9 KB
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Description:
"The international community has shown great interest in the Rohingya1Muslims problem, especially in the aftermath of the violence in June and October 2012.While scores of writers in international media have focused on the subjectivity of the conflict, there are academics and policy-makers pondering what could be done to achieve long-term solutions to the inherent problem. Myanmar2 has experienced myriad ethnic conflicts since its indepen- dence from the British in January 1948, but what makes the Rohingya problem unique
and why has it caught the attention of the wider international community? Is it because the Rohingya Muslims are less fortunate community than the other groups or is it because they are distinctive?
It is puzzling to see some social or cultural groups within a society tend to express themselves more radically than the others. It is equally intriguing to see how governments often respond differently to such phenomenon. A society may be divided along the lines of culture, religion, political affiliations or other forms of divisions. One dominant theor- etical model social scientists employ to study political stability in a segmented society is “consociational democracy”. 3 Arend Lijphart defines consociational democracy as a “government by elite cartel designed to turn a democracy with a fragmented political
culture into a stable democracy”. 4 Under such political arrangement, the elites attempt to form a stable government by accommodating or integrating diverse views and interests of people belonging to different cultural groups. A successful consociational democracy
requires that the elites have the “ability to accommodate the divergent interests and demands of the subcultures” and also have the “ability to transcend cleavages and to join in a common effort with the elites of rival subcultures”. The possibility of such cooperation between rival elites would depend on their “commitment to the maintenance
of the system and to the improvement of its cohesion and stability” provided that the elites understand the “perils of political fragmentation”.5 Consociational democracy emphasizes the role of “elite behavior” in diverse societies.6 Cooperation between elites within the same group and also with elites of other groups or
cultures is essential. In successful consociational democracy, the elites find ways to accommodate different sections of the society by sharing power as well as reaching decisions by means of “consensus” or “unanimity”. 7 In an attempt to find a common
ground to establish a grand coalition government, the elites try to achieve two objectives. First, the goal of elites is to settle “conflicts of interest” that may exist among the parti- cipating members. Second, by settling conflicts of interest, the elites also want to achieve a settlement or result that is “most favorable” to their own supporters. The extent to which the elites can reach a consensus agreement is dependent upon how much each participating elite can make “concessions”. The elites know that they cannot solve conflicts of interest unilaterally, and therefore, need to make a strategic “bar-
gaining”. One elite’s interest may not necessarily be the same as that of the other elites and vice versa. Such differences would give each elite a chance to bargain for the best possible outcome that involves “competition as well as cooperation”.8 Purpose of Study
This article attempts to understand the nature of conflict between Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine9 Buddhists of Rakhine state in the Western part of Myanmar in 2012. The violent conflict first started in June, and seemingly subsided for three months, but later erupted again in October. While the two groups blamed each other for inciting the violence, they could not find a mutually acceptable peaceful solution among themselves.
The Rohingyas accused the Rakhine state government and the central government of deliberately attempting to eliminate their population and termed the violence as state sponsored ethnic cleansing. The central government denied such allegations, but failed to produce a concrete plan for long-term solutions. In this article, I attempt to explain
the underlying factors causing such mayhem and argue that consociational democracy should be pursued to achieve long-term solutions to the problem. However, I must be clear here that consociational democracy cannot work effectively or may even be irrelevant without first addressing the Rohingyas’ citizenship and identity problems. In order to understand the nature of violence in 2012, I will briefly discuss the historical context of the problem. I will then analyze the policies of the Myanmar government toward the issue, and discuss the general perception of the Myanmar people toward the conflict. I will also study the reactions of international community vis-à-vis the Rohingya conundrum. After presenting the different perspectives, I will discuss why I believe consociational democracy is the ideal approach to solve the problem..."
Source/publisher:
"Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs" via "Routledge" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
105.78 KB
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Description:
"In the aftermath of Myanmar’s military coup on 1 February 2021, hundreds of thousands of people from almost every ethnic group, including people from the Rohingya community, have marched in the streets nationwide in opposition to the military’s power grab. Some activists hope that the protests present a turning point for the persecuted Rohingya minority, given that some Burmese seem to be changing their views of their Muslim countrymen, who they considered to be illegal migrants before. But reinstating a democratic system will not automatically turn the situation in favor of the Rohingya. The reason for this? Buddhist Nationalism.
For decades, Myanmar ethnic minorities, who speak their own languages and have distinct cultures, have faced persecution at the hands of the military. The state has also continuously waged military campaigns against some groups, most notably the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority group indigenous to Rakhine State. More than 750,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh since 2017, when the military’s brutal campaign against the group led to the burning of villages, mass-murder, and rampant sexual violence. A United Nations human rights report concluded that the campaign was conducted with “genocidal intent.”
Following the military’s campaign, Aung San Suu Kyi boosted her own image as the protector of the Bamar—the dominant majority ethnic group—before the domestic audience by defending the Tatmadaw against charges of genocide at the ICJ. Ultimately, neither the military nor the NLD defended the Muslim Rohingya minority in this Buddhist-majority country.
On February 8, the third day of the general strikes, I entered into a group of protesters with a placard that read “Rohingya stand for Democracy.” I walked together with them around Tamwe and Mingalar Taung Nyunt townships, singing slogans for almost one hour. The reaction I got was neutral. When, the next day, we—myself and a group of Rohingya youth—went on to protest next to Sule Pagoda with vinyl placards bearing demands such as “reject the military coup” and “abolish the 2008 constitution,” we received a similar reaction. We received no particular attention from the crowd, although we used the term “Rohingya,” which has, in the past, been incredibly controversial in Myanmar. We were not met with criticism or threats because of the unity that the military coup had inspired. It now binds together the many different factions that oppose military rule.
The day became a significant turning point for the Rohingya community in Yangon. Before, we had been too concerned to openly identify as Rohingya. But, in the aftermath of the coup, there was a need for solidarity and a show of unity amongst all people in Myanmar. This is what led us to overcome our fear of harassment. The initiative of a few protesters openly identifying as Rohingya encouraged others to join too. On the ground, our feelings of tension were palpable—this was a rare moment of equality, but one mixed with nervousness. The forthcoming support those first few protesters received online, however, helped inspire even more members of our community to come forward and step out of the shadow of persecution. Once more, we showed the degree of our commitment to the land of Myanmar, and that we stand together in the struggle for our country’s future..."
Source/publisher:
Tea Circle (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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316.55 KB
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Summary:
"Burma is the second largest country in Southeast Asia, and prior to the current period of opening that began in 2010, had been under tight military control since 1962. Until recently, on the rare...
Description:
"Burma is the second largest country in Southeast Asia, and prior to the current period of opening that began in 2010, had been under tight military control since 1962. Until recently, on the rare occasions when the country has invited inter- national attention, it has done so for its lack of democracy and its abusive human rights record. Despite Burma’s diversity, with 135 ethnic groups legally recognized by the 1982 Citizenship Law, the Rohingyas are not listed as such, although many have lived in Burma for generations. Thus the Rohingya remain
stateless, with a total population in Burma of approximately 800,000, a component of the four percent of the Burmese population who are Muslim in a country that is 90% Buddhist. The Rohingyas have been much maligned, called ‘ugly as ogres,’dirty, terrorists, and ‘kalar,’ a racial slur. Myanmar’s government refers to the
Rohingya as ‘Bengalis’ or ‘illegal Bengalis,’ which speaks of their status as uprooted Bangladeshi immigrants during the British occupation. Anti-Muslim violence occurred in 1978, 1997, and 2001, in different areas of Burma, and violence between the Muslim Rohingyas and the Rakhine Buddhists has been referred to by one UN official as a ‘chronic crisis’ (Fuller, 2012: 19). In the June 2012 violence, almost 5,000 Rohingya houses were burned down by Rakhine
Buddhists, police, military, and other ‘security’ forces, more than 30,000 Rohingyas became homeless, and many lost their lives. The violence between June 2012 and March 2014, including a major wave of violence in October 2012, resulted in the deaths of more than 200 people and displaced another 140,000, the vast majority of
them Rohingya. While there have been Rakhine victims, the majority have been Rohingya. While some Rohingyas are taking shelter in displacement camps, others have tried to enter neighboring countries such as Bangladesh. Most often they are denied entry, facing dangerous and often deadly conditions at sea. Their plight has
triggered international calls by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), human rights groups and other countries to grant them entry into Bangladesh and other countries according to international law.
Despite elections in Burma in 2010 that led to a nominally civilian government, the military’s influence remains strong, as it is constitutionally guaranteed 25% of the parliamentary seats. Former military general and now president, Thein Sein, and
Burmese opposition leader and now member of parliament, Aung San Suu Kyi, have both vowed to work towards democratic change. The nature of these changes, and the international interest in Burma that has skyrocketed since the first signs of democratic progress in the country, are the focus of much discussion and debate.
Our purpose here is to analyze how the three media sources construct the story of the sectarian violence threatening to derail the reform process, and the implications this may have for Myanmar’s media and for media systems in countries in transition. We find that combining attention to Mutua’s SVS framework with attention to the politics of immediation provides insight into how different patterns of media representation imply different policy solutions. The next section contextualizes Mutua’s approach and framework..."
Source/publisher:
"International Communication Gazette"
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rakhine, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Muslims in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Format :
pdf
Size:
161.34 KB
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Description:
"In the vulnerable southeastern Bangladeshi city, Cox’s Bazar, an esti-
mated 1 million Rohingyas languish in spartan refugee camps following brutal
ethnic cleansing from their homes in Rakhine, a state over the border in
western Myanmar (see Figure 1).1 This was not the first—nor likely to be the
last—catastrophe to fall upon the Rohingya, but it has been the most devastating
since anti-Rohingya violence in the country began escalating in the early 1990s.
Since independence from the British in 1948, the Rakhine state has generally
been neglected by Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, affecting the state’s Buddhists,
Muslims (not all of whom are Rohingya), Christians, animists and others. There is
a long-standing belief among the Buddhist majority that Muslims seek to under-
mine Myanmar’s Theraveda Buddhist identity, stemming from fears of Rohingya
Muslims in particular, but increasingly toward all Muslims in Myanmar generally.
Myanmar’s extremist clergy, called Sangha, and their followers are joined by
counterparts in Sri Lanka and Thailand who also espouse conspiratorial canards
of Muslims weaponizing their fertility and male virility to achieve numerical,
social, religious and cultural dominance in these countries, and thus eradicate
Theraveda Buddhism in those nations.
Buoyed by the support from key international partners, Myanmar has both down-
played the extent of the alleged atrocities and justified the actions it admits to taking
against the Rohingya by insisting that even ordinary Rohingya are coconspirators
with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which launched several
high-profile insurgent attacks against security forces based in Rakhine in October
2016, August 2017, and most recently in January 2018..."
Source/publisher:
The Washington Quarterly
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Ethnic Cleansing, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
219.26 KB
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Description:
" After grabbing power in a February 1 coup that has been resisted by massive demonstrations and condemned by the US, EU and UN, Myanmar’s military regime would appear to have few cards to play to win acceptance.
But one the coup-makers amazingly think they can play is the plight of Muslim Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, who were driven across the border during brutal military campaigns in 2016-17, and those who have remained behind in Myanmar.
Shortly after overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government, the new military regime sent a letter to Bangladesh’s government through its ambassador in Myanmar to explain their reasons for the coup, namely unsubstantiated allegations of fraud at the November 2020 election Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) resoundingly won. In the letter, the full contents of which has not been made public, the military regime also mentioned a possible solution for solving the Rohingya crisis. That prompted Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Abdul Momen, quoted by the Dhaka Tribune on February 6, to say “these are good news. It’s a good beginning.”
Inside Myanmar’s Rakhine state, several local military commanders have visited Muslim-inhabited areas close to the Bangladesh border and a camp for internally displaced Rohingyas in the state capital Sittwe..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2021-02-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Political role of the Tatmadaw, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar
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Summary:
"The present Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) seeks to mobilize assistance for close to 945,000 people in 2021, in support of the efforts of the Government of Myanmar to aid those affected by...
Description:
"The present Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) seeks to mobilize assistance for close to 945,000 people in 2021, in support of the efforts of the Government of Myanmar to aid those affected by humanitarian crises and challenges in different parts of the country. As has been the case for previous years, the HRP places protection at the centre of an inclusive response tailored to the particular needs of the most vulnerable women and men, girls and boys.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 further demonstrated the critical importance of localization in Myanmar. In 2021, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) will build on the partnerships with national NGOs and local civil society actors that were strengthened as we adjusted to new operational realities in 2020. We will redouble our efforts to put in place robust channels for systematic two-way dialogue and engagement with affected people, and to capitalize on innovations around cash and voucher assistance to further extend our reach.
Humanitarian partners remain committed to contributing to the achievement of durable solutions for displaced people. The National Strategy on Resettlement of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and Closure of IDP Camps provides a key entry point in this regard. Progress on implementation of the Strategy in 2020 was slowed down by COVID-19 but new opportunities are emerging. Our efforts in this regard in 2021 will seek to create new links across the humanitarian-development nexus, while remaining firmly anchored in the perspectives and concerns of displaced people themselves. In Rakhine, the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State will continue to be an important reference point for engagement between humanitarian organizations and the Government of Myanmar.
Our dialogue with the authorities will continue to emphasize the importance of humanitarian access, so that needs can be fully assessed and analyzed, humanitarian activities can be prioritized on the basis of those needs, and the impact of our efforts can be effectively monitored. The Myanmar HCT remains committed to working in accordance with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, and without any adverse distinction based on region, ethnicity, religion or citizenship status..."
Source/publisher:
OCHA (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-01-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Agriculture in Burma/Myanmar: general and research, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups., Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Human rights and education, Food Security and nutrition in Burma/Myanmar, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
10.58 MB
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