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
Description:
" IOM’s Director General William Lacy Swing said rebuilding community cohesion in Myanmar is key to resolving the crisis created by the flight of 700,000 refugees to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh since last August.
DG Swing made the remarks in a meeting Thursday with Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of Myanmar in the nation’s capital Nay Pyi Taw. He also welcomed a plan recently agreed to by UNDP and UNHCR (the UN agencies, respectively, for development and refugees) and the Myanmar government.
The Joint Myanmar Government-UN plan is designed to create the conditions for voluntary, safe and dignified return and reintegration of the refugees with quick impact projects to benefit communities. The aim is to create confidence-building and social cohesion measures leading to economic growth and development.
“Myanmar faces great challenges, and there is an urgent need to help bring communities together to enable the country to achieve its great potential” Swing said.
IOM has a track record in peace and reconciliation worldwide, and he offered its support in this regard.
In wide-ranging discussions, Swing and Aung San Suu Kyi discussed IOM’s decade-long, active presence in Myanmar where its 600 staff are providing a range of services to vulnerable communities in 13 of the country’s 14 states and regions, including Rakhine state. IOM’s work focuses on safe and orderly migration, community development, health care, disaster risk reduction and preventing human trafficking and smuggling.
The meeting coincided with peace and reconciliation talks in the capital which Aung San Suu Kyi is leading. With a number of the country’s multiple ethnic groups still involved in active conflict, the government faces many challenges beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis of the refugees.
One of those is migration with its long borders with Thailand, Laos, China, India and Bangladesh. (Some 25 per cent of Myanmar’s population are migrants, whether internally or in foreign countries.)..."
Source/publisher:
International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Date of publication:
2018-07-13
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
IOM Burma/Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Summary:
"Monsoon preparedness has given way to monsoon response as rains and wind from the Gulf of Bengal have descended upon Cox's Bazar. The start of May saw IOM accelerate efforts to boost camp shelter...
Description:
"Monsoon preparedness has given way to monsoon response as rains and wind from the Gulf of Bengal have descended upon Cox's Bazar. The start of May saw IOM accelerate efforts to boost camp shelter readiness following Cyclone Fani's near miss in April. Efforts included re-enforcing slopes with bamboo poles and trellising and installing drainage systems to channel excess water into newly-dug basins and out of the camps. Category 3 Cyclone Fani was expected to hit Cox's Bazar and sent IOM into emergency mode as staff and volunteers on the ground distributed over 90.000 cyclone preparedness kits. Ultimately. Fani veered to the west and thankfully missed Cox's Bazar. While IOM and its partners were able to rehearse its disaster responses. The monsoon seasons started in late-May, causing damage in and around the camps. With the rains in full swing. Site Management Support (SMS) teams were disbursed camp-wide to repair damage and respond to injuries. Rain and wind resulted in a total of 12 landslides, over 2,800 partially-damaged households, and 176 totally damaged households. Infrastructure was also hit by severe weather, with over 300 latrines, four health facilities and 23 waterpoints damaged, according to IOM figures. Coifs Bazar is at especially high-risk for extreme weather and experiences major cyclones at an average of every six years..."
Source/publisher:
reliefweb via International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Date of publication:
2019-05-31
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.43 MB
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Description:
"As the Myanmar military has committed atrocity crimes during operations in Kachin, Rakhine, and Shan States, older people confront particular risks. Some older people stay behind as villages empty at word of a military advance, often due to their strong ties to home and land or to being physically unable to flee. After finding them, soldiers arbitrarily detain, torture, and at times kill older women and men.
A 67-year-old ethnic Rakhine farmer who stayed behind when most of his village fled in March 2019, in part because a severe hearing impairment meant he had not heard fighting nearby between the military and Arakan Army (AA), described what Myanmar soldiers did after forcing him out of his home: “When I got to where the captain was, the soldiers tied my hands… behind my back, with the rope that’s used for cattle. They asked me, ‘Did the AA come to the village?’ I said no, I’d never seen [the AA]… and then the soldiers beat me.”
During the military’s attack on the Rohingya population in 2017, many older women and men were burned alive in their homes. Mariam Khatun, an ethnic Rohingya woman around 50 years old, fled to the nearby forest with her three children when Myanmar soldiers entered her village in Maungdaw Township. “My parents were left behind in the home,” she said. “I had two young children, how could I take them as well? … My parents were physically unable to move.”
As she and her children reached the river next to the village, Mariam Khatun looked back and saw the village burning, knowing her parents were still inside their home.
Amnesty International’s review of lists of people killed from different Rohingya villages indicates older people often suffered disproportionately. A quantitative study by Médecins Sans Frontières found similarly, showing that in the month after the military began its brutal operations on 25 August 2017, the highest rates of mortality – by far – were among Rohingya women and men age 50 and older.
For older people in Rakhine and Kachin States who have fled, the journey through Myanmar’s mountainous borderlands was often difficult, worsened by the military blocking main routes and restricting humanitarian access. Amnesty International documented several cases of older people dying as they tried to flee to safety, unable to access health care..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International
Date of publication:
2019-06-18
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"When the UN’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Myanmar completed a 444-page report last year documenting atrocities committed by security forces against Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya minority, its experts reported to the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly, the Security Council, and a global audience via the media. Last month, the mission’s Experts took it upon themselves to report to the Rohingya themselves.
On a May 5 visit to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, FFM Chairman Marzuki Darusman and Expert member Christopher Sidoti met with scores of refugees – the majority of whom had fled an explosion of violence in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State two years ago.
Among those present were witnesses, survivors and community leaders who had contributed vital testimony to the report. The meeting marked the first time the Experts were able to formally brief them, and the first time the Rohingya were able to pose questions of their own.
Most of those present asked about the slow pace of justice and said they were desperate to return home. Trapped inside a vast network of camps that have become the largest refugee settlement in the world (900,000 people), they complained they were being excluded from discussions over their future by governments and humanitarian organizations.
One man stood up to ask about some of the greatest challenges the exiled Rohingya now face: access to education, and jobs. “Our concern is what’s going to happen to the next generation,” he said. “If we’re stuck here … what will happen to them?”
A few minutes later, a woman stood up to thank the Experts for taking the time to listen. “In Myanmar we never had the chance to speak about our rights and our demands,” she said, “and even here in the camps women especially don’t have that opportunity.”
The woman said the FFM’s report had helped inform the world about the “indescribable violence” the Rohingya community had experienced. She added: “we would like to know, how can this type of suffering be stopped from happening again?”
A Unique Opportunity
Investigative missions established by the Human Rights Council report primarily to UN member States in Geneva and New York. But because the FFM’s mandate was extended an additional year – it expires in September 2019 – the Experts had the opportunity to go back and meet with those they reported on.
“For us, this was the most important report back we’ve done,” Sidoti said. “Our report was the product of what they told us. Theirs are the stories we told. So we wanted to ensure that after their cooperation with us we had an opportunity to tell them what we found and what we recommended and what’s going to happen from here.”
“I hope very much that as a result of our experience this will become standard for Human Rights Council investigations,” Sidoti said, shortly after FFM staff handed out summarized copies of their 2018 findings. “The mandate given to the investigative teams should require a report, not just to UN mechanisms, but also to the affected communities.”
During their visit, the Experts held two meetings in the refugee camps, one exclusively with women. They also met with Rohingya on the Bangladeshi side of a strip of land at Konarpara, which straddles the Myanmar frontier, and heard new testimony from recent arrivals.
The trip was part of a 10-day journey through the region that began May 3 and ended with the Experts urging the international community to cut all financial ties to Myanmar’s military, saying its commanders needed to be “isolated” and brought before a credible court to answer charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Date of publication:
2019-06-03
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Various rights: reports of violations against several ethnic groups
Language:
English
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Description:
"Yesterday AFP media reported a leaked copy of the ASEAN Preliminary Needs Assessment for Repatriation in Rakhine State. The document is secret and we Rohingya refugees were not consulted in the assessment.
The ASEAN say Myanmar will only accept 500,000 Rohingya back to Myanmar but there are over 1 million of us living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. The experts in the UN IFFM report last year said 725,000 Rohingya fled violence and persecution in Myanmar in 2017 and 2018. So we want to ask what will ASEAN and Myanmar do about other 500,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladsh?
The ASEAN report congratulate Myanmar for increase the security forces in Rakhine in Rakhine State. Rohingya has been victims of genocide by Myanmar security forces for decades. What will ASEAN and Myanmar do to stop these forces from continuing the genocide against Rohingya when we return home?
The ASEAN report also does not use our ethnic name: Rohingya. Many ASEAN countries like Malaysia and Indonesia visit the camp to take photo with us and call us Rohingya to our face but now they refuse to give us dignity. Why is ASEAN organization not using our ethnic name?
Just like the recent extension of the Myanmar, UNDP and UNHCR secret MoU, Rohingya refugee leaders are not being consulted about the decision that directly affect our human rights. Why is it so difficult for ASEAN and the UN to consult us and respect our human rights and dignity?
We know the answer to all of these three questions. ASEAN and UN view Roingya as a crisis and problem. They do not view us as human being with rights and dignity.
We want to make it clear to the world that ASEAN and UNHCR do not speak on behalf of the Rohingya refugees. Rohingya refugees can speak for ourselves.
There will be no repatriation without talking to us..."
Source/publisher:
Progressive Voice via " Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights"
Date of publication:
2019-06-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"In August 2017, a major humanitarian crisis in the
Rakhine State of Myanmar triggered a mass exodus of
around three-quarters of a million stateless Rohingya
refugees into neighbouring Bangladesh, adding to
the estimated 200,000–300,000 Rohingya refugees
in Bangladesh who had fled Myanmar earlier and the
estimated 73,000 Rohingya refugees in Malaysia.
Limited information is available on the culture and
mental health of the Rohingya, which poses significant
challenges to the provision of Mental Health and
Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) and related services
to this group. Therefore, UNHCR commissioned this
document with the aim of providing a concise review
of the literature concerning the culture, context,
mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of Rohingya
refugees.
The content of the document is based on an extensive
review of the published and grey literature including
various sources of information provided by United
Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations,
and governments. The search included published
and unpublished archival data, academic articles,
documents, and other relevant documentary
materials from disciplines ranging across the social
sciences, anthropology, ethno-cultural studies,
psychology and public health. A core group of
multidisciplinary personnel wrote and reviewed draft
versions of the document after which an advanced
draft was sent out for wide review among academics,
NGO staff and UN experts.
The first part of the review provides a broad overview
of the general context focusing on the historical,
geographic, demographic, economic, political,
religious, gender, and cultural factors relevant to
the Rohingya people. The Rohingya are the largest
Muslim group in Myanmar. Their history is complex,
involving exposure to a long legacy of human rights
violations including torture, rape, assault, extrajudicial
killings, and restricted access to education and health
care. Many, and probably most. Rohingya have been
displaced, either within Myanmar or as refugees now
residing in Bangladesh, Malaysia and other countries.
The second part of the report focuses on the
mental health of the Rohingya people, including the epidemiology of mental health conditions, the
range of risk factors (e.g. exposure to potentially
traumatic events, poverty, shortage of food, shelter,
healthcare, loss of identity, being stateless, sexual
and gender-based violence), and protective factors
(e.g. religion, spiritual adherence and practice,
formal and informal social support). This section
also describes the various terms in the Rohingya
language to indicate mental health conditions. These
concepts are not equivalent to the psychological
concepts of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder
or anxiety disorder, although they could overlap to
some extent overlap with them. Thus, MHPSS service
providers need to clearly explain what they mean
when they use international constructs of mental
ill-health in conversations with Rohingya clients.
Rohingya cultural idioms of distress (common modes
of expressing distress within a culture or community)
and explanatory models (the ways that people explain
and make sense of their symptoms or illness) are
closely related to religious ideas and concepts held
by the person. The Rohingya worldview of the self/
person tends to distinguish between the brain (mogos/
demag), the mind-soul (dilor/foran), and the physical
body (jism). It is important that MHPSS providers
working with Rohingya have a global idea of these
concepts since they influence the expectations and
coping strategies of their Rohingya clients.
The third part of the review describes the current
humanitarian context, particularly in Bangladesh
where multiple agencies are involved in MHPSS
interventions within various sectors such as health,
nutrition, education and protection (including
child protection, community-based protection and
prevention and response around sexual and genderbased violence – SGBV).
This review highlights the importance of
understanding the key sociocultural aspects of mental
health and wellbeing to assist humanitarian agencies,
government, and non-government organizations
in providing effective culturally informed services
to the Rohingya. An overarching aim in providing
this information is to encourage a consistent and
coordinated multi-sectoral approach to address the
mental health needs of the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2018-10-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Public Health
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.21 MB
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Description:
"The Rohingya Muslims have faced persecution in Myanmar for decades. And yet no violence in their recent history has compared to that which the Myanmar military inflicted in August 2017. After militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked police and army posts in northwestern Rakhine State on August 25, the military responded by killing thousands of Rohingya civilians, raping hundreds of Rohingya women and girls, and burning entire villages to the ground. In the course of a little more than three months, more than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee for their lives to Bangladesh. Myanmar authorities claimed they had conducted a “clearance operation” to rid the country of militants. In reality, they were fulfilling a long-standing dream of Myanmar’s Buddhist nationalists: the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslims.
The refugees joined hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who were already in Bangladesh seeking refuge after previous attacks, bringing the total to 1.2 million. Today, more Rohingya live as refugees than remain in Myanmar. Bangladesh and humanitarian organizations are struggling to provide for the needs of refugees, while Myanmar refuses to take the steps necessary to ensure the safe and voluntary return of the Rohingya to their homes in Rakhine State. International attention to the plight of the Rohingya has waned, even as the Myanmar military continues to terrorize those who remain in Rakhine State. Many Rohingya in the camps in Bangladesh say that they fear they will soon be forgotten..."
Meenakshi Ganguly, Brad Adams
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2019-06-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
Terming the prevailing situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine state complicated, Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Hiroyasu Izumi has said his country will stay beside the host country for immediate resolution into the crisis.
“Japan is beside Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue and it will continue its supports resolving the crisis,” Izumi said while addressing a press conference at his Baridhara residence in Dhaka yesterday evening.
"Claiming that Myanmar Army has been fighting against the Arakan Army for nearly two years after the exodus of Rohingyas to Bangladesh, the ambassador said the overall situation in Rakhine state has become more complicated than before.
Responding to a query on whether Japan would put any pressure on Myanmar to smooth repatriation of Rohingyas, Izumi said, “Only pressure is not enough. Dialogue with Myanmar is a must to put an end to the crisis”.
About safe and dignified repatriation of Rohingyas, he said, “We will support and advocate for the implementation of Kofi Annan Commission’s report resolving the Rohingya crisis.
Earlier on June 5 and 6, Izumi along with a popular Japanese football player and Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF Japan, Makato Hasebe, visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
Addressing the press conference, Makato Hasebe said he was surprised to see that so many children in the refugee camps are being deprived of the rights of education.
The world community should come forward to help in ensuring the education of the Rohingya children, said the internationally famed footballer..."
Hiroyasu Izumi
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-06-07
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"There are an estimated 911 359 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, according to the latest ISCG situation report (April 2019). This includes 34 172 refugees from Myanmar who registered before 31st August 2017. All refugees, including new arrivals, face compounding vulnerabilities, including in health. WHO has been responding to this crisis since September 2017. A summary of response actions from epidemiological weeks 21 and 22 of 2019 is presented below by WHO functions..."
Source/publisher:
reliefweb via World Health Organization (WHO)
Date of publication:
2019-06-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
932.59 KB
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Description:
"UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, supports the identification, counselling and referral to services for all survivors, including men and boys.
The role model programme seeks to encourage men to challenge sexual harassment and violence in exile, and rethink complex gender issues which sometimes lead to violent disputes.
“We need to educate these young men. So we need to explain what we’re doing and what they can do,” says Mohammed, 23, another role model volunteer in the settlements, where residents are safe, housed and fed, but have few opportunities to work or study formally.
“Many of these young men say: We are useless!” Mohammed says. “Many are uneducated. They feel they can do things with a young woman … and feel they can get away with it.”
Mohammed is part of a group of five young men in their late teens and twenties, working alongside an imam in the settlement to challenge these attitudes.
The young men, who are all community volunteers, are trained to identify issues arising from domestic violence, early marriage, dowry payments, polygamy and aggressive behaviour towards women. The were trained through role-playing as perpetrators, victims and bystanders, according to UNHCR programme coordinator Jahidur Rahman. “Our role in this was to show how to change bystanders into change makers,” Rahman says. The programme is new and, to launch it, the organizers set up meetings in mosques and community centres. The young role models were encouraged to work through sports, as a path to build trust with the community.
In a direct outreach to women and girls who make up more than half the population of the camps, a network of refugee women volunteers go door-to-door throughout the settlement. If they suspect evidence of sexual violence, they contact camp authorities and have the victim moved to a woman-friendly space.
“I heard about the discussions concerning sexual violence, and I wanted to get involved,” Imam Mohammed says.
“The camp staff asked me to identify the biggest problems in the community. From the list, I saw a major problem of child marriage, and a rising divorce rate. I sat down with community leaders, and we prepared a document for the camp authorities. I included the Holy Koran, which prohibits violence against wives, and which discourage dowries when there is no money.”
Early marriage and dowries are often linked. Parents who arrange the marriage of a daughter are relieved from supporting her, but the price is a dowry. And money in the camps is scarce. Ahmed, another role model leader, explains how the process becomes enmeshed in violence..."
Don Murray
Source/publisher:
The UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2019-05-24
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination/violence against women: standards, mechanisms and commentary - international and Myanmar-specific
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"More than half of all refugees living in the Rohingya settlements in Cox’s Bazar, south-eastern Bangladesh are children under the age of 18. Currently, approximately 36% of Rohingya children aged 3-14, and 91% of young people still lack access to any learning opportunities in the overcrowded refugee sites. Many Rohingya children also lacked schooling in Myanmar. They and their parents are eager to have more and better quality education opportunities which can give them the skills to help rebuild their communities in the future..."
Source/publisher:
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2019-06-04
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma
Language:
(English subtitles
Local URL:
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Description:
"“My life is almost gone. If they cannot have an education, they will be ignorant,” he says, sitting in his family’s bamboo shelter in the vast Kutupalong refugee settlement, the largest in the world.
“I can see with my own eyes that their life is becoming meaningless because they do not have enough education and skills to have a good career. (It) is about their future,” he says. “If I die tomorrow I will die with a pain in my heart and a regret.”
Abu Sayed is among some 745,000 Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state since August 2017 to seek safety in Bangladesh. More than half – 55 per cent - are children.
His three younger children receive a basic primary education at the Sunflower temporary learning centre, a short walk from the family’s shelter. Painted red and yellow, the centre is supported by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and run by its Bangladeshi partner, BRAC.
Students at the settlement receive just a few hours of education per day, learning English, Burmese, life skills, and maths, with learning centres operating three shifts per day. However, the centres have no fixed curriculum. Going forward, there is no secondary education available to students..."
Caroline Gluck, Iffath Yeasmine
Source/publisher:
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2019-06-06
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"2018 has been a difficult year for human rights in South Asia. Crackdowns on the Right to Freedom of Expression intensified across the region. Enforced disappearances continued to scar communities in Pakistan and Bangladesh; civilian casualties remained at record highs in Afghanistan, civil society organisations continued to be harassed and shut down in almost every country. Journalists continued to be targeted, members of the political opposition were arbitrarily arrested, religious and ethnic minority groups and Indigenous Peoples continued to be demonised.
The year began with the tragic news of the death of one of the region’s strongest, most prominent and fearless voices for human rights, the Pakistani lawyer and activist Asma Jahangir. For decades, she exemplified the struggles of millions in South Asia—and her loss came at a time when she was perhaps needed the most: blasphemy-related violence and violent protests threatening the lives of religious minorities intensified in Pakistan. The space to speak freely shrank dramatically, with a pall of fear descending over newsrooms where self-censorship is routinely exercised while social media users came under attack from the authorities.
In India, under the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, impunity for human rights violations continued to flourish. Attacks on religious minorities and marginalised communities have not just become a threat, but also a norm in the new India. The authorities continue to remain openly critical of human rights defenders and organisations, often contributing to a climate of hostility against them. The government has failed to credibly investigate and at times even acknowledge the attacks..."
Biraj Patnaik
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International
Date of publication:
2019-01-22
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Myanmar's military has lavished tens of millions of dollars on the latest lethal hardware, leaning on allies as part of a strategy to become a first-class fighting force.
The spending spree comes despite enduring European Union and US arms embargos and calls earlier this month from a United Nations fact-finding mission for the international community to sever financial ties to Myanmar's military.
Senior generals already face sanctions for a scorched earth campaign that drove more than 740,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh.
And allegations of fresh abuses are mounting as it now tackles ethnic Rakhine rebels in the same area, according to an Amnesty International report Wednesday.
But the army has continued spending, offered discounts by governments with a stake in its strategic location and an eye on a major arms market.
Here are a few which it has turned to for arms, equipment or training.
China
Despite easing economic sanctions, the US still does not sell weapons to Myanmar. China has no such qualms.
Beijing has provided diplomatic cover for Myanmar at the UN. It has also been its main source of weapons, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which estimates that from 2013–17 China accounted for 68 percent of Myanmar arms imports.
That includes armoured vehicles, surface-to-air missile technology, radar, and unarmed drones, said Mr Siemon Wezeman, SIPRI senior researcher for the Asia-Pacific.
He added Myanmar also placed orders for Sino-Pakistani manufactured JF-17 Thunder fighter jets valued at US$25 million each, seen in action in late 2018 at a Myanmar Air Force display.
"Name it and the Chinese supply it," Wezeman told AFP..."
Source/publisher:
Frontier Myanmar
Date of publication:
2019-05-29
Date of entry/update:
2019-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
China-Burma-India relations, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Life After Conflict: Healing the Environmental Wounds of War:
earthrise looks at ways of healing one of the silent and often forgotten casualties of war – the environment.
In conflict, one of the silent and forgotten casualties is often the environment.
From the chemical contamination of soils with chemicals, and the collapse of water and food supplies, to the habitat damage caused by displacement, war has devastating consequences. Not only man-made infrastructures but also natural ecosystems are destroyed and lives lost.
But even amid the most vicious struggles, there are people fighting to protect the world we live in and recover what was lost.
"Protection of the environment is a norm. It's something which we do, where are standards in place. Yet, during conflict, it is almost as if anything goes. You can cause whatever damage you like and there is no accountability, there's no redress," says Doug Weir, director, The Conflict and Environment Observatory
The Rohingya and the elephants
In August 2017, a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing began in Myanmar. The military and armed fighters claimed the lives of more than 6,000 Rohingya in just one month. Fearing death, thousands more fled the country for the forests of Bangladesh.
The scale of the exodus was enormous, and today they are still unable to return home.
Over 1.2 million refugees are living in the sprawling refugee camps in Bangladesh. When they arrived, they were unaware that the forest in which they took shelter was already occupied - by wild elephants. Shortly after they settled, elephants began to rampage through the camp, killing 13 people in the space of five months.
"All the camps used to be forest, they used to be elephant habitat," says Raquib Amin, an IUCN Bangladesh representative. "There is a space we call elephant corridor ... since the camp, [we are] completely blocking that corridor. Elephants cannot pass through the camp ... it is in search of its shelter, its food, its migration path."
earthrise travelled to Kutupalong Camp in Bangladesh to find out how the Rohingya are learning to live with their elephant neighbours and how they are saving lives, both human and elephant, in the process.
Saving Syria's Seed Bank
In Lebanon, ICARDA seed bank, where seeds are saved from a bank in Aleppo, Syria, is helping scientists develop new pest and weather resistant crops. Crop diversity, which is so essential for food security, has declined by three quarters since the 1900s. The world's insurance policy is a network of 1,750 seed banks which safeguard plant biodiversity and can be turned to in times of crisis.
But conflict can make even the seed banks themselves vulnerable.
"It became impossible to access the gene bank in October 2015 because we were banned from accessing the centre by the armed group controlling the area," says Syrian seed conservationist Ali Shehadeh. "They stole the vehicles, they stole a lot of equipment ... nothing was left in the headquarters except the building and the gene bank."
We meet a remarkable team of scientists who have fled the horrors of the Syrian war and are rebuilding the ICARDA seed bank in the heart of the fertile crescent where agriculture began..."
Source/publisher:
Al Jazeera
Date of publication:
2019-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Rohingya crisis is a lesson for other situations of crises in the region and elsewhere in the world to overcome chaos with the power of peace, humanity and development.
“We have sought dialogue and consensus over discord, even in the face of extreme provocation and crisis. We are not only responding to a humanitarian call, but we’re also aware about not allowing the crisis to escalate into chaos and regional instability,” she said.
The PM was delivering her keynote speech at the 25th International Nikkei Conference on Future of Asia at Imperial Hotel here yesterday with the theme “Seeking a New Global order - Overcoming the Chaos”.
Hasina said despite having extreme limitations, Bangladesh offered shelter to over 1.1 million forcibly displaced Rohingyas as a responsible nation.
“The future of the world lies in convergence of interests common to humanity. As a member of the global community, Bangladesh will continue to work with all friends and partners to ensure a stable and sustainable world order for our future generations.”
The PM shared some of her ideas with the Asian leaders to make a better Asia.
“Today’s world is confronted with challenges and conflicts in many ways. We need to pledge to strengthen the world with greater openness, jointly address global challenges, safeguard fairness and justice and inject new impetus to cooperate using innovative ideas and measures.”
Economies should take innovative practices surpassing alliances, Hasina said, adding that partnerships need to build on mutual trust and respect, common development and prosperity for a win-win strategy and to the benefit of people.
She said Asian countries need to cooperate with each other in the spirit of openness, inclusiveness, equality, sharing benefits and joint contributions.
Asia’s future would depend on sustainable and balanced development, improving international order and establishing win-win international relations, the PM observed.
Mentioning that human civilisations flourished despite having suffered the horrors of war and the scourges of nature, the premier said she was confident that the daunting challenges confronting human civilisations would ultimately produce a positive outcome through strong, rational and responsible leadership and through partnerships among nations.
In this regard, she firmly said the power of humanity and positive forces is bound to prevail. “The global community is looking up to us, the rising Asia, to innovate, aspire, and lead the world towards continued peace and prosperity.”
Hasina said despite positive experience, the growing trend of trade protectionism has been seen in recent years. On the other hand, Asia has long been in support of liberalising trade and investment. Forthright, the protectionist move from many countries may eventually lead to a worldwide trade tension.
“It’s a simple economics that tariff rise will cause decline in GDP growth.”
The PM hoped that the Nikkei Forum would suggest how to strengthen the cooperation between the Asian countries and how to deal with protectionism within multilateral trading regime.
Putting emphasis on UN system and multilateralism, she said, “Our emphasis has always been to promote peace and progress that would directly benefit people. In a multi-polar world, we would strive to strengthen the UN system and multilateralism for all countries.”
Increasing close interdependence among economies in Asia and beyond would add further wealth to the economies and societies. Cross-border movement of goods and people cause exchange of a wide range of knowledge and experience and ideas, Hasina told the programme.
“It is the dynamism of connectivity that forms the cornerstone for peace and prosperity around the world. Infrastructure, free trade and liberal investment give foundation to Asian development.”
The premier said the unprecedented levels of wealth and opportunity, rising life expectancy, greater access to education, falling infant mortality and reductions in absolute poverty have been witnessed in recent years.
Laying emphasis on facing development challenges collectively, Hasina said, “We may pool together as a group to boost world peace and stability, promote a multi-polar world and protect legitimate rights and interests of developing countries.”
Terming private sector the main engine of Bangladesh’s economy, she said her government attaches utmost priority to private entrepreneurship and investments, both domestic and foreign.
She said Bangladesh has one of the most liberal foreign investment regimes in South Asia, which includes legal protection of foreign investment, generous tax policy schemes and concessionary duty on import of machinery.
“We also offer 100 percent foreign equity, unrestricted and full repatriation of dividend and capital on exit. We enjoy preferential access to most of the leading world markets, including the EU, Canada, and Japan. All these generate significant incentive for global investors, and we’re witnessing growing interest from foreign investors,” she said..."
Minister Sheikh Hasina
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-31
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, began his five-day visit to Myanmar this morning. This is the first visit by the head of the UN Refugee Agency to Myanmar since August 2017.
Grandi is scheduled to spend the first two days in Myanmar’s Rakhine State where he will visit communities in Sittwe, and the northern townships and will meet with state and district officials.
Later in the week, the UN refugee chief is scheduled meet senior Myanmar Government officials in the capital Nay Pyi Taw.
This week’s visit to Myanmar comes on the heels of the High Commissioner’s mission to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh at the end of April. More than 900,000 stateless Rohingya refugees currently live in crowded settlements in Cox’s Bazar, of whom an estimated 741,000 fled from Myanmar since August 2017.
In the course of his stay in Myanmar, Grandi will follow up on a range of issues raised by refugees from Myanmar and will discuss Myanmar’s efforts to find comprehensive and durable solutions to the crisis in Rakhine State..."
Source/publisher:
Progressive Voice via "The UN Refugee Agency"
Date of publication:
2019-05-20
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"According to the statement delivered following their talks at the Japanese premier’s office, the two leaders discussed finding a “durable and early solution” to the protracted Rohingya crisis erupted with the displacement of over a million Rohingya populations from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
Sheikh Hasina appreciated Japanese realization of the gravity of the crisis as “Prime Minister Abe and I discussed finding a durable and early solution to the humanitarian and political crisis”.
“Japan understands that the solution to this crisis lies in the early, safe and dignified return of this displaced people to their homeland Myanmar and it is necessary for Myanmar to create conducive atmosphere in Rakhine State of Myanmar for the return of the displaced people,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina thanked the Japanese government for their generous support to Dhaka in handling the crisis, and for their efforts to support early repatriation of the forcibly displaced people to Myanmar.
The prime minister said she and Abe reiterated their commitment to take Bangladesh-Japan relations to new heights of cooperation and partnership..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-29
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"“The refugee issue is not only their problem, it is our problem,” Jung told a group of reporters during an interview held at the office of the UNHCR in central Seoul. “When I say ‘we,’ it could be taken as a limited meaning, but it is a problem (for all) of humanity and we belong to it.”
Jung, who has been a UNHCR honorary ambassador since 2014, visited the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh from May 19-23.
An estimated 910,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Rakhine state in northern Myanmar and now live outside Myanmar. About 55 percent are under the age of 17.
The Rohingya are denied citizenship by Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country that sees them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. This has led to the world’s fastest-growing refugee crisis.
“In other refugee camps, they had hope that they could go back home. But Rohingya refugees had doubts about whether they could go back to the land (where) they feel at home. They are the ones who are in the most devastating and appalling situations,” Jung said.
What frustrates Rohingya refugees the most is the lack of access to education for their children, he said.
Acknowledging that a political solution is needed to end the ongoing crisis, Jung said the burden should not lie solely on the Bangladeshi government.
“Economically developed countries in Asia, such as South Korea, should more proactively perceive (the problem), sympathize and continue to give support,” he said. “We cannot leave Bangladesh, Myanmar and Rohingya Muslims with the burden of finding a solution.”
Jung also stressed the role of Koreans and the Korean government.
Recalling how South Korea rose from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War with the help of the international community, Jung said, “I think we, who are living in the contemporary world, should take more interest in the refugee issue.”
He also expressed concerns about the hateful anti-refugee sentiment that exists within Korean society, as well as the government’s proposal to toughen the Refugee Act.
“We are giving temporary opportunities for them to stand on their own feet while protecting their dignity because they are people who are in difficulty,” he said. “Toughening the act would be about controlling, alienating and managing refugees, which is far from the purpose of the act.”
After all, every refugee is an individual who dreams of the lives all Koreans dream of, he said.
As a goodwill ambassador for the UNHCR, Jung has visited refugee camps in Nepal, South Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, Bangladesh, Djibouti, Malaysia and Bangladesh. His book, “If You Could See What I Have Seen,” based on his five years with the refugee agency, is set to be published next month..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-29
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The MoU was first signed in Naypyiday on June 6 last year, which has been extended for one more year.
The MoU provides a framework of cooperation to create improved and resilient livelihoods for all communities living in northern Rakhine state, according to a press release.
All the parties – UNHCR, UNDP and Myanmar’s Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population – have reaffirmed their full commitment to the timely and effective implementation of the MoU, it said.
Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a deal on repatriation of the Rohingya in November, three months after some 750,000 Rohingya had fled military crackdown by the Myanmar military.
Repatriation was scheduled to start in November last year, but the Rohingyas did not agree, saying the conditions in Myanmar were not conducive.
Talking about the extension of the tripartite MoU, Ro Nay San Lwin, coordinator of Free Rohingya Coalition, a worldwide network of Rohingya diaspora, said to The Daily Star that it is regrettable that the UN is cooperating with Myanmar, which is not doing anything to improve the conditions of Rakhine for their return.
“UN agencies have not even consulted the Rohingyas, the survivors of genocide,” he told The Daily Star from Germany over phone.
There is no guarantee of safety of the Rohingya or their citizenship there. The genocide survivors cannot return to a country under such conditions, he said, demanding that the UN should expose these to the world..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of individual ethnic groups
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Planning Minister MA Mannan yesterday urged the international community to find a permanent solution to the Rohingya crisis.
He said the recent influx of more than one million Rohingyas from Myanmar was a considerable stress on Bangladesh’s development efforts.
“I call upon the international community to come forward in support of these forcibly displaced people and to devise a permanent solution to this problem,” he said.
He was addressing a session at the 75th annual conference of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap) in Bangkok, Thailand.
The minister said Bangladesh was one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change although its contribution to the global carbon emission was almost zero.
He said disasters caused by climate change were creating extreme poverty in the country, posing a threat to people’s empowerment and founding of an equitable society.
He said it was also leading to massive migration of rural people to urban areas, posing a challenge to sustainable urbanisation and creating climate refugees within the country.
“Therefore, I would appeal to the whole international community through the Escap for collective action without any delay to save the people and the planet. Otherwise, all of our development efforts would be meaningless.”
About the country’s growing economy, Mannan said over the last decade, the country has gained commendable success in achieving gender parity in education.
Female enrolment rate at the primary school is now 99.4 percent and about 2.7 million girls are receiving stipend at the secondary and higher secondary levels, he added.
With a view to bringing quality healthcare services to the doorsteps of the rural people, the country has set up more than 14,000 community clinics across the country.
The average life expectancy has increased to 72 years while the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate has dropped significantly, according to the minister.
Monowar Ahmed, secretary to Economic Relations Division, was also a part of the Bangladesh delegation..."
MA Mannan
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Starting from 25 August 2017, targeted violence against Rohingya communities in Rakhine State, Myanmar, forced hundreds of thousands of people - mostly women and children - to flee their homes, reaching a total of 909,861 refugees as of 15 March 2019 1 and leading to what has been defined as one of the largest and the ‘fastest growing’ refugee crisis in the world2 . The Rohingya refugee crisis is a protection crisis, where refugees were forced to flee to Bangladesh to seek refuge from persecution, discrimination, gender-based violence and other serious human rights violations. The crisis has also a particular gendered nature, because of the significant number of women and girls now in the refugee camps who had experienced severe forms of abuses and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) while fleeing Myanmar. Many refugees have witnessed family members killed, sexually assaulted and abused or endured long separation and are in deep psychosocial distress. Additional risks and needs are placed onto them in displacement, as a result of the current living conditions, with one-third of refugee families having at least one specific protection vulnerability that requires specialized protection attention3 . Additionally, 55 percent of all refugees being children, the majority of whom do not have access to formal education, adding to their vulnerability as education is an essential protection factor. While the overall influx has significantly slowed since the onset of the crisis, in 2018 a total of 16,765 Rohingya refugees continued to cross into Bangladesh4. As of August 2018, at the peak of last year’s monsoon season, around 200,000 individuals were estimated to be at risk of landslides and floods, while an additional 49,000 were already affected in some way by weather-related incidents as a result of monsoon rains.
Bangladesh is in fact prone to natural hazards and disasters, and camps are yearly exposed to two seasons at risk of cyclone in April-May and October-December, as well as the monsoon season from June to September when heavy rains further generate floods, flash-floods, water-logging and landslides. In coastal areas, particularly in Teknaf, storm surges also represent a significant threat. Fire is also a serious hazard across all camps, given the widespread presence of flammable materials, light construction materials used, high congestion and proximity of shelters. Considering the aforementioned risks, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and emergency preparedness and response (EPR) are key planning and programming priorities and must be integrated into regularly yearly humanitarian cycles, in order to effectively prevent exposure to further risk and protect girls, boys, women and men of different ages and diversity determinants.
In support of the Government of Bangladesh and its people who welcomed the Rohingya refugees, opening their borders and their homes to them, the humanitarian community rapidly scaled up its operations to provide life-saving assistance and protection. The majority of refugees who arrived since August 2017 settled in camps in expansion areas adjacent to existing registered camps of Kutupalong and Nayapara, and makeshift settlements in Teknaf and Ukhia Upazilas. By the end of 2018, a total of 34 camps had been demarcated. An additional camp in Choukhali, in Northern Teknaf, is currently being developed. Severe congestion in most camps, especially in the Kutupalong Mega-camp (home to more than 600,000 refugees and divided into 23 camps) presents serious general and specific protection risks. As refugees spontaneously settled in these largely unplanned settlements, density is as high as 10m of land per person, compared to the international UNHCR emergency standard of 45m5 . Over-congestion and a difficult terrain, mainly constituted by steep slippery slopes and flood-prone low-lying areas, make it very challenging to improve refugees’ access to humanitarian services, in particular for those with impaired mobility and disabilities. As such, access and outreach of mobile teams and volunteers, as well as ensuring that vital information reaches all persons, in particular during cyclone and monsoon seasons, should be a key priority for all Sectors. Close proximity of shelters increases fire hazards and heightens the risks of spreading of communicable disease, should a weather-related emergency arise. Deforestation, including caused by collection of firewood, also exacerbates risks of landslides and flooding, and impairs a peaceful coexistence with the host community. These harsh conditions can also trigger or intensify psychosocial and mental distress, increase community tensions and prevalence of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and violence against children. In order to mitigate environmental risks, relocations to safer locations, structural improvement works and stabilization of the terrain, as well as the building of essential infrastructure for basic service provision were successfully carried out by SMSDS Agencies as much as possible. In 2018 and at the beginning of 2019, the humanitarian community strived to stabilize and improve the camp conditions; including in order to mitigate risks in the 2019 monsoon and cyclone seasons. However, the situation in most camps continues to pose serious challenges for mobility and physical protection from the natural elements, particularly during the monsoon season and is expected to severely worsen during a cyclone (i.e. non-permanent shelters and absence of cyclone safe shelters for the largest majority of the refugee population).
Among the several lessons-learned and good practices from 2018, community based protection networks of volunteers have been established and have continued to work closely within the rest of the community. In this regard, women volunteers form a substantial part of the community networks and their inclusion and direct participation is crucial to an equitable and efficient mobilization and providing information related to the emergency linking them to existing static and mobile protection teams.
It is within this historical background and operational context and based on the lessons-learnt from the 2018 emergency response, that the Protection Sector, jointly with its GBV and CP Sub-Sectors, is leading the cyclone emergency preparedness and response protection plans in 2019; with substantial support of the Sector Lead Agencies and in partnership with all protection partners..."
Source/publisher:
reliefweb via UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Date of publication:
2019-04-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Human rights issues, UN human rights bodies and mechanisms
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.6 MB
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Description:
NATIONALISTS FOILED BY COMMUNITY SPIRIT.....STATEMENTS AND PRESS RELEASES: ရခိုင်ရွာသားများ ဥပဒေမဲ့သတ်ဖြတ်ခံရခြင်းနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ MNHRC မှ မှန်ကန်သည့် ရပ်တည်ချက်ပြရန်လို By 24 Civil Society Organizations...MNHRC Must Take Stand on Extrajudicial Killings of Rakhine Villagers By 24 Civil Society Organizations...Release of Journalists in Myanmar: Foreign Secretary’s Statement By Foreign Secretary of United Kingdom...ကယားပြည်နယ် လွိုင်ကော်မြို့တွင်ထားရှိသော ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်းကြေးရုပ်ထုနှင့် ပတ်သက်သည့် ကယားပြည်နယ်အစိုးရအဖွဲ့နှင့် ဝန်ကြီးချုပ် ဦးအယ်လ်ဖောင်းရှို၏ သဘောထားအပေါ် ကန့်ကွက်ခြင်း By Myanmar Cultural Research Society...Rohingya Refugees and International Supporters Welcome and Endorse UN Fact-Finding Mission’s Timely Call for Withdrawal of Financial and Other Support to Myanmar By The Free Rohingya Coalition...UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar urges financial isolation of Myanmar military By UN High Commissioner for Human Rights...UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar Urges Financial Isolation of Myanmar Military By UN Human Rights Council.....REPORTS: ရေးမြို့နယ်တောင်ပိုင်း၊ မန်ကျည်းကျေးရွာအုပ်စုရှိ တောင်သူများ လယ်ယာမြေလုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်လက်မှတ် (ပုံစံ-၇) လျှောက်ထားရာတွင် ကြုံတွေ့နေရသော အခက်အခဲများ အစီရင်ခံစာ မှတ်တမ်း By Mon Area Community Development Organization.....RELATED POSTS: New Report Identifies Freedom of Religion or Belief As Key to Peace, Reconciliation and Democratisation...Burma’s Identity Crisis: How Ethno-religious Nationalism Has Led to Religious Intolerance, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide...Statement on Discrimination and Coercion Faced by Minority Groups in Citizenship Registration Process...Buddhist Mob in Rakhine State Attacked Christians Celebrating Christmas...Enlightenment or Entitlement? Jack Dorsey’s Irresponsible Tweets.
Source/publisher:
"Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2019-05-19
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM) urged the international community on Tuesday to cut off all financial and other support to Myanmar’s military, saying its commanders need to be isolated and brought before a credible court to answer charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
FFM Chairperson Marzuki Darusman said the measures were needed because Myanmar has not done enough to resolve the nation’s conflicts and protect human rights, including those of over a million ethnic Rohingya civilians who have been forced into exile.
“There has been no movement toward a resolution of the crisis,” Darusman said at the conclusion of a 10-day visit to Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. “The situation is at a total standstill.”
The FFM’s 444-page report, submitted to the Human Rights Council in September 2018, documented how Myanmar’s military brutally and systemically violated the human rights of ethnic minorities throughout the country. It focused on the military’s ‘clearance operations’ against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State in 2017, when security forces killed thousands of Rohingya civilians, raped and sexually abused women and girls and burned their villages in an explosion of violence that forced the exodus of more than 700,000 people in two months. Both military and civilian sides of Myanmar’s government persistently deny the facts and disclaim any responsibility for crimes under international law.
Following this violence, Myanmar authorities have leveled empty Rohingya villages with bulldozers, effectively destroying criminal evidence, while making no substantive progress in resolving the ethnic animosities that have helped fuel the crisis..."
Source/publisher:
UN Human Rights Council via "Progressive Voice"
Date of publication:
2019-05-14
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Human rights issues, UN human rights bodies and mechanisms
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Although there was a great support from the Bangladesh government as well the host community, I still see a lack of political solution for the Rohingya refugees," he told UNB in an interview during his second visit to Bangladesh to see the Rohingya situation on the ground.
Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.2 million Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar with around 741,000 fleeing Myanmar since August 2017, officials say.
Despite living in Myanmar for generations, the Rohingya people lost their citizenship following a change in Myanmar laws in 1982.
Talking about his role in helping these vulnerable people, the UNHCR envoy said there are people who do not even get to know about them as the conflicts continue other parts of the world.
"There's a need for everyone to know about these problems globally. So, my role is to share the stories to people in Korea and around Asia and the plights of refugees, which I believe, may lead to a solution for them," said Jung who has undertaken extensive awareness and fundraising activities for Rohingyas that he has met in Cox's Bazar twice..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-24
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Grandi who concluded his five-day visit to Myanmar on Friday, had "constructive and substantive" meetings on Thursday with State Counsellor Daw Aung San SuuKyi and other senior officials, and conveyed UNHCR call.
He noted the positive efforts of the government to develop a national strategy on closure of IDP camps, and stressed the need for sustainable, safe and voluntary solutions to their plight in full consultation with the communities concerned.
On Thursday, Grandi also signed a separate Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Disaster Management of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement covering UNHCR's broader activities throughout the country.
The High Commissioner indicated his satisfaction that the Tripartite MoU will soon be extended for a further year and appreciated the commitment of the government to improve conditions.
Small projects are carried out by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and UNDP teams, under the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the government of Myanmar in June 2018 and have the potential to help foster positive relations between communities, according to UNHCR..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rakhine
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Low rainfall in parts of southeast Bangladesh’s Teknaf peninsula means that UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and partners are expecting in the next 10-12 days to begin trucking water to more than 140,000 Rohingya refugees living there.
With only sporadic rainfall since November, the water table has dropped to the point where water supplies for refugee settlements are now at critical level. Already, two weeks ago, the daily ration of water for refugees was reduced from the normal minimum standard of 20 litres a day per person to 15 litres a day. As always, reducing water availability increases concern over hygiene and health standards and the potential of water borne diseases - something humanitarian agencies fight hard to prevent.
Trucking water is expensive, but it is a life-saving measure. We estimate that the cost of transporting water by road to settlements sheltering some 140,000 refugees could be up to $60,000 a month. Current weather models are not forecasting rain any time soon.
The geography of refugee settlements in southern Teknaf means that groundwater is not available through boreholes. All water must be preserved by capturing rain water in small reservoirs – something that is now depleted. Water shortages in this part of Bangladesh occur during the summer period and affect refugees and the local population alike. This year the situation is being compounded by the El Niño phenomenon – an abnormal weather pattern that affects the global climate and disrupts normal weather patterns, which as a result can lead to intense storms in some places and droughts in others.
During the summer, temperatures in this part of Bangladesh can reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in the settlements. With the monsoon due to arrive in June, UNHCR is expanding efforts to build better facilities to capture and preserve rain water. Hundreds of refugees are currently being involved in a project run by the World Food Programme (WFP) with humanitarian agency ADRA and supported by UNHCR to create a new local reservoir to capture monsoon rain in Teknaf and preserve it throughout the year. This project should improve the situation temporarily..."
Stephen Pattison, Joseph Tripura, Andrej Mahecic
Source/publisher:
The UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2019-05-24
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
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Description:
"The UAE has launched a major campaign to help support hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees forced to flee Myanmar.
The nationwide drive aims to assist those from the minority Muslim group who now find themselves in camps in India, Bangladesh and elsewhere.
Under the initiative, organisers hope to provide education, food, health services, sanitation and shelter for some of the more than 1.2 million people.
The figure includes an estimated 720,000 children, 240,000 women, and 48,000 elderly.
Announcing the campaign on Thursday, Dr Mohammed Ateeq Al Falahi, Secretary-General of the Emirates Red Crescent, highlighted the escalating predicament faced by many of the Rohingya.
"The UAE has always been proactive in its solidarity with Rohingya refugees, especially children and women, and has worked from the very first moment to support them," he said.
"There is no doubt that the consequences of the Rohingya crisis have caused a difficult reality for refugees.
“We are now in a new phase of the UAE's humanitarian response to them. This is a continuation of the previous stages and in keeping with the challenges posed by the worsening refugee situation and the escalating crisis.” Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar in 2017 in the midst of a brutal campaign of violence described by the UN as ethnic cleansing and possible genocide.
Many were from Rakhine state in the west of the country, where a military-led crackdown which claimed to be targeting militants resulted in villages razed and thousands killed.
The government of Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country, has refused to give the Rohingya citizenship, claiming they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh..."
Mohammad Ponir Hossain
Source/publisher:
The National
Date of publication:
2019-05-23
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
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"There are over a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh – the latest batch of 800,000 came after August 25, 2017, joining 250,000 that had arrived since the first exodus of mid-1990s. As Myanmar nationals, Rohingya Muslims have historically faced ethnic and religious persecution, culminating in 2017 in a fierce, protracted genocidal campaign by the Myanmar army against its own people. The military launched a violent crackdown leading to arbitrary killings of Rohingya, including children and the elderly, gang rape of women, inhuman torture, and razing of village after village that forced communities to seek shelter in Bangladesh, unleashing a humanitarian crisis unprecedented in recent history.False starts In the last two years, there have been many twists and turns concerning the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to their homeland. First, a repatriation agreement signed in November 2017 failed due to the unwillingness of the Myanmar government to recognise the rights and citizenship of Rohingya Muslims. Second, Myanmar imposed an unfair screening and verification process to eliminate so-called illegal Bengali Rohingyas from the list of returnees. Third, in November 2018, a much-publicised repatriation bid for some 2,000 families was stalled after the refugees refused to return for fear of fresh persecution and confinement in newly-built camps across the border in Rakhine state. Fourth, the planned relocation of 100,000 Rohingya to Bhasan Char Island in the Bay of Bengal found no voluntary takers among the refugees for such a remote home on a flood-prone island. Finally, according to a UN official, the repatriation plan is now at a “total standstill”.
With no solution to the refugee crisis in sight, there is growing concern in Dhaka and among the host communities in Cox’s Bazar, who have been severely impacted by the influx of huge numbers of outsiders in their neighbourhoods. There is equal disquiet among Bangladesh government officials about the future of the refugee situation. The challenge is to find the right balance between the official rhetoric calling for their speedy return and long-term plans for the refugees in Cox’s Bazar camps, supported largely by external aid and assistance. The ongoing initiatives for more durable houses, improved roads, solar street lamps, training and employment for women, markets/shops within the camps, and finally provisions for schools for the kids are all indications of a much longer – or even permanent – stay..."
Mohammad Zaman
Source/publisher:
The Nation via "The Daily Star"
Date of publication:
2019-05-22
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Ramadan is the month when Muslims try to get closer to each other with greater love and affection with the spirit of the holy month. But the Rohingya Muslims living in Cox's Bazar camps find it painful when they get together for having iftar meal as their tragic memories constantly haunt them.
"We used to take Iftar and offer prayers together with our family members and relatives before August 25, 2017. Now, we've got detached from our homeland and beloved ones. Having Iftar with them is merely a memory now," recalls Rafiq Alam, a Rohingya now living at Balukhali Moynaghona camp No-11.
Visiting 32 Rohingya camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf, the UNB correspondent found no shortage of Iftar items there but a sense of isolation and sadness was there among the Rohingya people.
Rohingya Lalu Mia, a resident of Balu camp, said, "We had simply water for Iftar during Ramadan last year. Now, there's no scarcity of Iftar meal, but a feeling of sadness grips us as we couldn't meet our relatives for the last two years after being displaced from our homeland in Maungdaw under Rakhine State."
Some female Muslim Rohingyas like Yasmin, 21, of Naikhong area, Julekha, 25, and Mayesha of Mijjiripara also shared their own tragic stories..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-21
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Turkey is committed to working with Bangladesh in regional and international levels to bring an end to the Rohingya crisis that has been affecting Bangladesh in socio-economic, environmental and even diplomatic fronts.
Turkish Member of Parliament Ravza Kavakci in a briefing session reiterated the steadfast commitment and firm determination of Turkish government in this regard.
He was speaking at the session “Bangladesh-Turkey: Solidarity for Humanity” organised by Bangladesh Consulate in Istanbul on Saturday.
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque presented the latest situation of the Rohingya crisis, which has exacerbated mostly since the influx of some 750,000 Rohingyas from August 2017 following military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-19
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Informed by locals, police went to Karimdad Mia’s jetty in Ujantiya area of the upazila around 1:30am and rescued the Rohingyas, who had gathered there to board a Malaysia-bound engine boat, said Mohammad Iqbal Hossain, additional superintendent of Cox’s Bazar police.
Some Rohingyas and the crew of the boat managed to escape, the official said, adding that the rescued Rohingyas fled from the refugee camp in Kutupalong of Cox’s Bazar.
They were allured of opportunity to be sent to Malaysia by traffickers, Iqbal Hossain also said.
Police are trying to identify the human traffickers and their middlemen operating in the area, he added.
In St Martin’s Island, a patrol team of Coast Guard Bangladesh intercepted a boat carrying Rohingya refugees in Dakkhin Beach area last night, according to a press release of the Bangladesh Coast Guard’s Detective Branch.
They rescued 17 Rohingya refugees who were being trafficked to Malaysia and also arrested five traffickers, the press release added..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-18
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Trafficking: Burma-specific material
Language:
English
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Description:
"Eighteen months on from the mass expulsion of 740,000 Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh, no sustainable solution for the refugees is in sight. Repatriation to Myanmar should remain the long-term goal – not only to relieve the huge burden on Bangladesh but also because that is the strong preference of the refugees themselves. But the unfortunate reality is that Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh will be unable to return home to Myanmar for the foreseeable future. Systems are now largely in place to provide for their essential humanitarian needs in the sprawling refugee camps. It is now time to move beyond the emergency phase of managing this crisis. Shifting focus in this way requires Bangladesh to ease its restrictions on longer-term assistance. Specifically:
The Bangladesh government should lift its ban on the provision of formal education in the camps; local and international organisations are ready to provide such education.
It should also improve law and order in the camps, where militants and gangs increasingly operate with impunity and are consolidating control to the detriment of non-violent political voices and leaders. This requires instituting a regular and effective Bangladeshi police presence in the camps and investigating crimes and bringing perpetrators to justice.
For their part, donors should help Bangladesh not only to meet the refugees’ immediate humanitarian needs but also to cover the costs of measures that improve their lives and prospects for the future..."
Source/publisher:
International Crisis Group (ICG)
Date of publication:
2019-04-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Over a quarter of a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have now been jointly registered and provided with identity cards by the Bangladesh authorities and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
Rohingya refugees sheltering in Bangladesh are stateless. Despite living in Myanmar for generations, the Rohingya lost their citizenship following a change in Myanmar laws in 1982. Today, more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees are in crowded settlements in Cox’s Bazar, 741,000 of these being people who have fled from Myanmar since August 2017.
The registration exercise, which began in June 2018, is about safeguarding the right of Rohingya refugees to be able to return home voluntarily to Myanmar in future. So far, the Government and UNHCR have registered 270,348 refugees (59,842 families) in the settlements in Cox’s Bazar district. Each day, over 4,000 refugees are registered at six different locations, where more than 450 staff are working long hours with the goal of completing the process by late 2019.
Comprehensive registration is important for improving the accuracy of data on refugees in Bangladesh. It provides national authorities and humanitarian organizations with a better understanding of the population and their needs. Data will facilitate the planning of programmes and the targeting of assistance to where it is needed most, particularly for people in acute need, such as women and children heading families and people with disabilities..."
Joseph Tripura, Stephen Pattison, Caroline Gluck, Andrej Mahecic
Source/publisher:
The UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2019-05-17
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"The humanitarian crisis caused by escalating violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State is causing suffering on a catastrophic scale. As of 27 September, over 500,000 Rohingya refugees had fled across the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh since 25 August. Thousands more reportedly remain stranded and in peril in Myanmar without the means to cross the border into Bangladesh.
The United Nations and our partners are working closely with the Government of Bangladesh to scale up and coordinate the humanitarian response so as to ensure that refugees are protected in line with international standards, and to provide desperately needed support including food, shelter, health care and water..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations
Date of publication:
2017-10-16
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
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Description:
"Twenty-four Rohingya refugees have been rescued from being trafficked to Malaysia in the capital Dhaka in Bangladesh, a police official said.
Police also detained four traffickers as well as seized dozens of Bangladeshi passports from the smugglers, Mazedul Islam told the local daily Prothom Alo.
Of the 24 rescued Rohingya refugees, 22 were women aged between 15 and 22, officials said.
Islam said the traffickers have brought the refugees to Dhaka from Cox's Bazar and kept them confined at a house.
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,Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience."
Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.
The UN has also documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- and brutal beatings and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces.
In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity and genocidal intent.000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women, and children, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017..."
SM Najmus Sakib
Source/publisher:
Asia Pacific
Date of publication:
2019-05-12
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Trafficking: global, regional and national reports
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"A Bangladeshi official and political observers on Friday criticized a statement by the Chinese ambassador, who suggested this week that the Rohingya refugee crisis could be solved through economic development in neighboring Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Linking the plight of Rohingya Muslims to trade and infrastructure investments in the sub-region would be tantamount to disregarding the human rights issues that led to a massive exodus of refugees from Myanmar, the official and analysts told BenarNews.
“Development alone could not resolve the Rohingya crisis,” Mohammad Abul Kalam, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told BenarNews on Friday.
“The political will of Myanmar’s government is most crucial,” he said. “Unless the rights of the Rohingya people in Rakhine are not ensured, the crisis will not be over.”
BenarNews asked Kalam and others in Bangladesh for their views on a remark made by Chinese Ambassador Zhang Zuo on the Rohingya during a news briefing the envoy gave in Dhaka on Wednesday about Beijing’s massive One Belt, One Road (OBOR) infrastructure initiative.
“The real solution of the problem lies in development,” Zuo said, referring to the 740,000 Rohingya refugees who fled their homes and crossed into Bangladesh at the height of a Myanmar military crackdown in 2017. “We hope that after the violence is stopped and the people are repatriated, the Rakhine state could be further developed.”
“We also hope that in the process of implementing the BCIM economic corridor, we could come up with a very good solution to the Rohingya problem,” the ambassador added.
BCIM is an acronym for the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation, a sub-regional organization also known as the BCIM Economic Corridor. It was conceptualized in the early 1990s to improve trade between the four Asian nations.
Without elaborating, Zuo said repatriation was “only part of the overall solution proposed by China.”
As proposed, the BCIM Economic Corridor would connect Kunming, the capital and largest city of Yunnan province in southwest China, with Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. The connection would run through the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka and Mandalay, the second-largest city of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Benar News
Date of publication:
2019-05-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
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"More than half of over 700,000 Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh since August 25, 2017 are children
A new research has revealed that about 32% of Rohingya children, aged between six and 59 months, who arrived in Bangladesh after August 2017 are chronically undernourished, while another 13% are acutely undernourished.
The study also found that 36% of Rohingya children in the same age group who took refuge in different Cox’s Bazar refugee camps before August 2017 are chronically undernourished, while another 12% are acutely undernourished.
The report was launched at a workshop on forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh, organized by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), at a Dhaka hotel on Thursday.
BIDS conducted the study jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institution (IFPRI) last October. The report was presented by researchers Mohammad Younus and Binayak Sen of BIDS, and Paul Dorosh of IFPRI.
Rohingya children’s nutritional status improved between 2017 and 2018, but their undernourishment remains unacceptably high due to poor maternal nutrition and hygiene conditions in the camps, the report revealed.
Speaking at the programme as the chief guest, Planning Minister Abdul Mannan said although the Bangladesh government’s performance in most cases is criticized, its role in tackling the Rohingyas has been largely commended in the international arena.
“The Rohingyas are actually not in good condition,” said the minister..."
Md Saidun Nabi
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-05-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Children's rights: resources and organisations
Language:
English
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Description:
"The World Bank has given a $165 million grant under the project "Emergency Multi-Sector Rohingya Crisis Response" to help Rohingya people in Bangladesh.
An agreement was signed, between Bangladesh's government and the World Bank at Economic Relation Division (ERD) of planning commission on Wednesday.
Dandan Chen, World Bank acting country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan said: "The government and people of Bangladesh have shown generosity to almost a million Rohingya refugees, but now they need to address: basic services, sanitation, education, and environment.
"This project addresses the current refugee crisis but goes further to help strengthen the government's overall capacity to plan, coordinate, and respond to emergencies."
Under the project, 53 multi-purpose disaster shelters in-and-around the Rohingya camp will be built. It will pave more than 200km of roads, provide water and sanitation services for around 200,000 people and set up 1,500 solar streets light..."
Bilkis Irani
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-05-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"One million Rohingya refugees continue to live in Bangladesh, with little prospect for safe return to their homeland in western Myanmar. Forcibly displaced by years of persecution and a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign at the end of 2017, the Rohingya are understandably afraid to go home. The government of Myanmar has neither addressed the atrocities committed in the past nor improved the wretched conditions for the few hundred thousand Rohingya estimated to still be living in the Rakhine region of Myanmar. In fact, the government is pursuing policies that are causing the situation of the Rohingya to deteriorate further. This population continues to be denied citizenship and faces severe human rights abuses, heavy restrictions on their daily lives, and little access to humanitarian aid or basic services.
In February and April 2019, Refugees International interviewed Rohingya who had arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar just days before. Those interviewed described ongoing harassment, arbitrary detention, and forced labor at the hands of Myanmar’s security forces. The newly arrived refugees also reported that the security situation in the Rakhine region had recently deteriorated. In early 2019, the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic armed group from the non-Rohingya Buddhist community in Rakhine State, carried out several attacks against police stations in the region. In response, Myanmar security forces initiated a crackdown that displaced more than 20,000 people and contributed to a sense of growing insecurity in those areas to which Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh would seek to return.
The long-term trendlines for the Rohingya in Rakhine show no signs of improvement. For example, more than 120,000 Rohingya have been living in displacement camps since 2012 in what the UN has described as deplorable conditions. The government’s plans to close the camps have resulted in little more than shifting the displaced to structures next to the camps with no greater degree of freedom of movement or opportunity to return to their lands of origin..."
Daniel P. Sullivan
Source/publisher:
Progressive Voice via "Refugees International"
Date of publication:
2019-04-24
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rakhine, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
793.72 KB
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Description:
"The flood of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh in late 2017 created a sudden medical emergency that now has turned into a protracted crisis. For VOA News, reporter Dave Grunebaum shows how the health care community is adapting..."
Dr. Khalid Eltahir
Source/publisher:
VOA News
Date of publication:
2019-05-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Bangladesh and the UN must continue to work together to improve the conditions for nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees.
The year 2018 was a dire and desperate year for the Rohingya minority from western Myanmar. Two-thirds of the population that had been living in western Rakhine State before the end of 2017 remain displaced in crowded camps in Bangladesh. The several hundred thousand who remain in Myanmar face serious restrictions, and what the chair of an independent, international fact-finding mission describes as an “ongoing genocide.”
What will the year 2019 have in store for the Rohingya? Here are key developments to keep an eye on and some thoughts on what must be done to improve the outlook..."
Source/publisher:
Fair Observer
Date of publication:
2019-01-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"UN aid agencies and NGO partners launched the 2019 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis, and are seeking to raise USD920 million to meet the massive needs of more than 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and over 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in host communities..."
Source/publisher:
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2019-02-15
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State, 2019 - Burma/Myanmar Government sources (pages from "The Global New Light of Myanmar"), Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Myanmar was also urged to remove barriers preventing commencement of the repatriation at the meeting of the joint working group on Rohingya repatriation.
The fourth meeting of the joint working group was held in Nay Pyi Taw today where these issues were discussed, said a press release of the foreign ministry.
Discussions were held on all issues related to safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of the forcibly displaced Myanmar residents to their homeland.
Bangladesh emphasised on concrete steps for creating conducive environment in Rakhine and particularly on removing legal and administrative barriers to ensure such environment.
Bangladesh called to ensure basic rights of the returnees including freedom of movement, guaranteeing their safety and security, and positive steps towards a well-defined time-bound pathway to citizenship that would encourage the Myanmar residents to return voluntarily.
Referring to dispute on eligibility of more than two thousand prospective returnees from the first batch of verification, Bangladesh proposed to host the first meeting of the dispute settlement mechanism soon to which Myanmar agreed, the release said.
Bangladesh highlighted the need for deeper engagement between Myanmar authorities and prospective returnees with a view to convincing and motivating them.
Foreign Secretary (Asia and Pacific)Mahbub Uz Zaman led the Bangladesh side during the talks. The Myanmar side was led by its foreign Secretary U Myint Thu..."
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-05-03
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Cyclone Fani made landfall in India on Friday, the strongest to make landfall in the country in two decades. At least seven people died in Odisha state after the cyclone made landfall on Friday, according to local police.
Damage reports are still emerging, but more than 1 million people were evacuated from coastal areas of India as a precaution.
As the storm moves along India’s eastern coastline, neighboring Bangladesh is also bracing for impacts, and officials were working to evacuate 2.1 million people from coastal areas on Friday.
Even though the flood-prone country isn’t in the direct path of the storm, rain bands and high winds could inundate low-lying areas of Bangladesh quickly.
Those at increased risk include Rohingya refugees living in settlements outside of Cox’s Bazar. Many reside in homes built without permanent foundations, placing them at risk of landslides and flash flooding.
Direct Relief working with local staff inside India and with health provider networks in India and Bangladesh.
One of those groups is Doctors for You, an organization that rapidly dispatched a medical team to Odisha, India, which was badly impacted by the cyclone.
The medical team will be focusing on care for vulnerable people, including women, children and adolescents, the group reported. They’ll be providing primary healthcare and reproductive health services with mobile health units and medical outposts.
Another organization Direct Relief is coordinating with is Calcutta Rescue, an organization responding with a medical team in the Kolkata area.
In Bangladesh, Direct Relief is coordinating with HOPE Hospital Foundation for Women and Children in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The group has conducted extensive disaster response training for medical staff and is ready to respond if needed. Direct Relief has supported the organization with medical and financial support as they’ve expanded services to care for Rohingya refugees living in the area..."
Lara Cooper
Date of publication:
2019-05-04
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Cyclones - regional, Arakan (Rakhine) State, 2019 - Burma/Myanmar Government sources (pages from "The Global New Light of Myanmar"), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"As Cyclone Fani approaches India and Bangladesh, CARE experts have warned that the increased occurrences of disasters in poorer countries is saddling millions of innocent people with the “debt of climate change.”
Severe cyclonic storm Fani is expected to result in very heavy rainfall and cause significant destruction in parts of India and Bangladesh between May 3rd and 4th, weather forecasters have predicted. This comes as the toll from Cyclone Kenneth is beginning to emerge across northern Mozambique. Last week, the southern African country was struck by Kenneth, a Category 4 storm described as one of the strongest cyclones to hit Africa since modern record-keeping began. It came barely a month after Cyclone Idai killed more than 1,000 people across Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique.
While no study has specifically measured how climate change affected the likelihood of these cyclones, global warming is known to intensify certain tropical storm effects. Although poorer countries in the global south – such as Mozambique and Bangladesh – have contributed the least to climate change, they are already experiencing devastating climate impacts and will bear the brunt of future global warming, according to CARE experts.
“We know that poor countries are being forced to shoulder the burden caused by fossil fuel emissions,” said Sven Harmeling, CARE’s global policy lead on climate change. “They not only endure the worsening impacts of climate change, resulting in more frequent and intense disasters, but also face a worsening financial situation. We call on the countries and companies most responsible for the causes of climate disruption to heed our warning: if coordinated climate action is not urgently taken, poor countries will suffer even more from increasing injustice.”
Mozambique - considered one of the most indebted countries in the world - was last week granted a $118.2 million rebuilding credit facility by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the climate-linked cyclone Idai disaster. Though this appears generous, it still leaves the country responsible to pay off the substantial loan..."
Source/publisher:
reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-04-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Cyclones - regional
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
" World Vison is ready to respond to Cyclone Fani, which continues to intensify, threatening millions of families and their children in Bangladesh and India.
The major coastal cities and communities in Bangladesh and India are among those in the path of the storm, which is forecast to make landfall in eastern India on Friday. Ahead of a severe cyclone, evacuation has started for thousands of people from areas along India's eastern coastline. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) says Cyclonic Storm Fani is the first severe, cyclonic storm to have formed in April in India’s oceanic neighbourhood since 1976.
"Cyclone Fani is the strongest recorded cyclone in years for this part of the world at this time of year. Tens of millions of people are in its path. We are extremely concerned about the impact on children and families living in coastal areas, where winds will be strongest, as well as those living in low lying areas that will be prone to flash-floods and landslides,” says World Vision Bangladesh National Director, Fred Witteeven.
Heavy rains are also forecast to lash the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, home to over 900,000 Rohingya refugees in the coming days.
“World Vision has emergency supplies ready to go in the camps and we have had thousands of refugees working on improvements to camp roads and drains over the previous months. Nevertheless people are living in homes made of bamboo and on steep hillsides, which puts them at even greater risk."
World Vision’s emergency response leaders in Bangladesh and India said World Vision is closely coordinating with other INGOs and government authorities, in their respective countries and are ready to respond.
“World Vision is well prepared to immediately respond to the needs of the communities when cyclone Fani makes landfall. Plans for immediate procurement and distribution of emergency relief material have also been made. All programmes where World Vision works, along the path of Cyclone Fani have been alerted and we have activated the disaster preparedness plans at the community-level. These grass-roots disaster management taskforce’s are the first responders and are trained by World Vision,” says Franklin Jones, Interim Head, Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, World Vision India.
World Vision is strategically positioned in the areas in path of the cyclone to be able to mobilise quickly when it makes landfall.
“Asia Pacific region is the world's most disaster-prone region, and millions of children are at risk. That’s why we believe disaster preparedness and climate change awareness are so important in building local and national-level resilience to mitigate the risks of future disasters. World Vision invests in building community resilience and the resilience of children to cope with disasters. A prepared community makes for a resilient community. World Vision, in India and Bangladesh, is geared to take action, focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable communities, especially children,” Meimei Leung, Regional Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs Director, Asia Pacific, World Vision..."
Source/publisher:
reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-05-03
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Cyclones - regional, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The measures, which include an embargo on weapons and other equipment that could be used for repression, will stay in place until at least April 30, 2020.
"The sanctions include an embargo on arms and equipment that can be used for internal repression, an export ban on dual-use goods for use by the military and border guard police, and export restrictions on equipment for monitoring communications that might be used for internal repression," the EU said in a statement.
About 14 top military and border officials are under individual EU sanctions - barring them from travelling to or through the European bloc and freezing any assets they hold in Europe - over alleged human rights violations, including killings and sexual violence.
It also recalled that it had last adopted conclusions on Myanmar in December 2018 and called on the government of Myanmar to take "meaningful action" without further delay and to make progress in all areas of concern set out in the council's previous conclusions in February 2018.
The EU also refuses to cooperate with, or provide training to, the Myanmar military.
The Rohingya, described by the United Nations as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012..."
Source/publisher:
Al Jazeera
Date of publication:
2019-04-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The Rohingya have been fleeing persecution and ethnic cleansing since escalating waves of violence against the Rohingya people started in Myanmar in the 1970s; entire families started fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh in search of protection. Despite their presence in Myanmar dating back to the seventh century, the Government of Myanmar continues to deny the Rohingya their most basic human rights. This marginalisation and denial of rights was enshrined and legitimised through the introduction of the 1982 Citizenship Law. The Law introduced unobtainable and unrealistic requirements for minority groups, like the Rohingya, to be able to claim formal citizenship - thereby de facto excluding them the chance to be recognised as equal citizens. As one of the largest stateless populations in the world, their access to employment, education and healthcare, as well as movement within Myanmar, is fraught with extreme difficulty.
The most recent wave of violence hit the Rohingya in August 2017 when the Myanmar military began a disproportionate and indiscriminate campaign of ethnic cleaning which saw 745,000 Rohingya – most of whom were children – seek safety in neighbouring Bangladesh. Today, there are nearly a million Rohingya living in temporary camps in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh.
For many Rohingya born and raised in the camps, Bangladesh is all they know. Despite this,
Bangladesh considers Rohingya as “illegal immigrants”, instead of refugees, and subsequently their access to basic human rights, such access to education, employment or freedom of movement, are severely restricted.
Nineteen months after the mass exodus in August 2017 the situation on the ground is moving from humanitarian disaster to a crisis of protracted displacement for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya that arrived since then, bringing with it new and pressing concerns. As such, Xchange decided to return to Bangladesh for a sixth time to speak first-hand to the newly arrived Rohingya awaiting solutions..."
Source/publisher:
reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-05-01
Date of entry/update:
2019-05-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, who is also the director of the Center for Genocide Studies in Dhaka University, says Bangladesh needs to change the “body language” when it deals with Myanmar on the Rohingya refugee issue.
“It would be easier to do it now than at any time before. We have had the election. We (the government) have a five-year mandate. So I think the government should be in a position….the body language ought to change,” he said, speaking at a seminar in Dhaka on Sunday.
The Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) organised the seminar titled ‘Rohingya crisis: International Role for Tangible Solutions in Rakhine’ with its president Raheed Ejaz in chair.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam was present as chief guest while UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh Steven Corliss spoke as a panelist. DCAB General Secretary Nurul Islam Hasib made welcome remarks.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque, secretaries to the foreign ministry Md Khurshed Alam, Kamrul Ahsan, Mahbub Uz Zaman, and Khalilur Rahman were also present.
Prof Imtiaz said this body language change is “very important” in diplomacy.
“The body language must change with Myanmar when we are negotiating. They are the ones who committed genocide, not us,” he said. “Look at the body language of Indira Gandhi way back in 1971”.
Gandhi was a staunch supporter of Bangladesh against Pakistan’s genocide in 1971.
“I can give examples of an extraordinary number of people that I know back in India and back in 1971 and what was their body language.
“That body language ought to change particularly given the fact that this regime or part of the members was responsible for committing genocide,” he said, urging media to “keep a constant gaze” on Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
bdnews24.com
Date of publication:
2019-04-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"In Dhaka on the first day they met with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, thanking her for the government’s enormous and generous efforts on behalf of the Rohingya over several decades, and especially since the start of the 2017 crisis.
The three UN leaders then made a point of visiting the camps together. The UN, they said, had responded to the Rohingya crisis in a unified manner. They wanted to emphasize that that unity and solidarity with the refugees, and the local people hosting them, continues. UNHCR, IOM and partners work in support of the government to manage the 34-camp complex.
The problems the refugees face remain immense. The leaders noted that more than half of the 540,000 refugee children under the age of 12 have no access to education, and the rest have access only to very limited schooling. Only a handful of teenagers are going to school..."
Source/publisher:
The UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2019-04-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State, 2019 - Burma/Myanmar Government sources (pages from "The Global New Light of Myanmar"), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Top United Nations officials have urged the international community not to forget the plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and called for global support to ensure their safe and voluntary return to Myanmar.
Speaking to reporters following a visit to refugee camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar on Friday, Mark Lowcock, the UU under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the body was seeking to raise nearly a billion dollars to help the Rohingya refugees and their host community.
More than 700,000 members of the persecuted minority fled Myanmar following a brutal military crackdown in response to attacks by a Rohingya armed group.
More than 1.2 million now live in overcrowded and squalid refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh.
Lowcock said the "great exodus" of Rohingya refugees arriving at Cox's Bazar "caused all sorts of issues"...."
Source/publisher:
Al Jazeera
Date of publication:
2019-04-27
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Risking death by sea or on foot, nearly 700,000 have fled the destruction of their homes and persecution in the northern Rakhine province of Myanmar (Burma) for neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017.
The United Nations described the military offensive in Rakhine, which provoked the exodus, as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".
Myanmar's military says it is fighting Rohingya militants and denies targeting civilians.
The Rohingya, who numbered around one million in Myanmar at the start of 2017, are one of the many ethnic minorities in the country. Rohingya Muslims represent the largest percentage of Muslims in Myanmar, with the majority living in Rakhine state.
They have their own language and culture and say they are descendants of Arab traders and other groups who have been in the region for generations.
But the government of Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country, denies the Rohingya citizenship and even excluded them from the 2014 census, refusing to recognise them as a people..."
Source/publisher:
BBC News
Date of publication:
2019-04-24
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-25
[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, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged the United Nations to play a role in sending back over one million Rohingyas from Bangladesh to their homeland Myanmar.
They need to go back to their homeland and the UN could help Bangladesh return them, she told three top UN officials at her Sangsad Bhaban office, reports UNB.
After the meeting, PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.
The UN officials are in Bangladesh on a three-day joint visit to highlight the need for support for the humanitarian assistance to over one million Rohingyas living in Cox’s Bazar.
The officials are UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi, Director General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Antonio Vitorino and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock.
She mentioned that over one million Rohingyas are a big burden for Bangladesh. “How long will it continue?” she said.
The PM said the local residents of Cox’s Bazar are suffering due to the influx of Rohingyas. “But still they’re listening to me, they’re extending their cooperation to the government. Their cultivable lands are being destroyed, even though Rohingyas have been given shelter destroying the forests.”
The UN officials reaffirmed UN’s commitment to continue support and cooperation particularly for the education and other basic needs of the Rohingya children...''
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-04-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"With no progress in sight in regards to the protracted Rohingya crisis, Bangladesh is going to receive yet another high-profile group of dignitaries from the United Nations (UN), which, according to many, has failed hundreds of thousands of persecuted people from Myanmar's Rakhine State.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi, Director General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) António Vitorino and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock will arrive in Dhaka on Wednesday on a three-day visit to Bangladesh.
The objective of the joint visit is "to highlight the ongoing need for support for the humanitarian needs of almost a million Rohingya refugees," a UNHCR press release said on Monday.
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, government officials concerned did not appear to be optimistic about any qualitative changes to the ongoing crisis due to this kind of high-profile visit.
The country witnessed many visits similar to this, but the situation remains as it was in the beginning of the latest crisis in August, 2017, they said.
All the UN needs to do is to put pressure on Myanmar to take their people back, and that is something the global body is not doing or unable to do, they added...''
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The compassion of most of the locals in Ukhiya and Teknaf upazilas appear to have reached its limit, as many say, their lives were badly affected due to the lengthy stay of over 1.1 million persecuted Rohingya refugees, from neighbouring Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Their compassion, which was exemplary at the beginning of the exodus in late August of 2017, now seems to have turned into fury, which is occasionally expressed by the host community in the form of processions and human chains.
During visits to some parts the two upazilas, between Thursday and Saturday, the Dhaka Tribune came across quite a few people who expressed their fury, not only against the Rohingyas but also against the government, for what they called a “great mess.”
Talking to this correspondent, the people, without any exception, said they want the government either to send the Rohingyas back to Rakhine or spread them across the country..."
Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Nearly twenty months into the latest exodus of Rohingyas to Cox’s Bazar from Rakhine, there appears to be no sign of a breakthrough in the repatriation of the persecuted people to their homes.
An agreement on repatriation was signed by the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar more than sixteen months ago, but there has been no further progress.The stalemate in regards to repatriation has made both the Bangladesh government and Rohingya refugees equally frustrated.
On August 25, 2017, Myanmar security forces, aided by local Buddhist mobs and people from different ethnic groups, launched a brutal crackdown on the Rohingyas, forcing hundreds of thousands to cross into Cox’s Bazar.
Since the crackdown, which many including the United Nations say amounts to genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, more than 730,000 Rohingyas took shelter in Bangladesh’s coastal district of Cox’s Bazar. This figure is in addition to about 3-4 four million Rohingyas who have long been living in Bangladesh, causing a number of socioeconomic problems.
High profile delegations from Myanmar and Bangladesh have held several meetings with each other in both countries since the crackdown began, and a repatriation agreement was signed in Naypyidaw on March 23. According to the deal, repatriation should have begun within two months of the signing of the instrument.
Furthermore, the deal calls on Myanmar to take all necessary measures to ensure a favourable environment for the safe, secure and dignified return of the Rohingyas, but the country has failed to do so despite making repeated pledges..."
Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-03-29
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"In an exclusive interview recently with the Dhaka Tribune's Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, Magali Roudaut, the country chief of MSF in Bangladesh, talks about the different health challenges faced by Rohingya refugees in the country, and how the organization provides services to both the refugees and the host communities
The mental health and physical wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas living in overcrowded refugee settlements in Cox’s Bazar remain a serious cause for concern, Magali Roudaut, the Bangladesh country representative of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has said.
“Mental health continues to be a significant concern. Many of our Rohingya patients experience flashbacks, generalized anxiety, panic attacks, recurring nightmares and insomnia, as well as illnesses such as post traumatic stress disorder and major depression. We are also seeing more chronic mental health problems and psychiatric needs,” she said.
“The result of trauma experienced in Myanmar, a lack of livelihood opportunities, and concerns about their future impacts their mental health wellbeing,” said Roudaut, a French national.
Médecins Sans Frontières, which means Doctors Without Borders in English, is a Geneva-based international independent medical humanitarian organization. They have been providing services in the refugee camps since the latest episode of Rohingya crisis began in August 2017.
“As well as providing mental health services to Rohingya refugees, a significant portion of MSF’s mental health activities serve local communities around the refugee settlements, ensuring that the mental health needs of the local population are also addressed. From late August 2017 till February 2019, we have conducted 23,751 individual mental health consultations and 37,202 group consultations for mental health,” she added.
Asked about the challenges to their physical health, Roudaut said: “Overcrowded living spaces in the camps and bad quality water contribute to the risk of disease outbreaks in the camps. Many of these contagious diseases can be easily prevented through vaccination.”
Currently, children until two years of age are receiving routine vaccinations, but older children have not been systematically vaccinated and remain vulnerable to preventable diseases, like measles or diphtheria, she said, stressing the need for inclusion of all children above two in the routine vaccination program..."
Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-04-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"United Nations aid agencies and NGO partners launched today the 2019 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. The appeal seeks to raise US$920 million to meet the massive needs of more than 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and over 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in host communities.
Critical aid and services such as food, water, sanitation and shelter represent more than half of the funding needs this year. Other key sectors of the appeal include health, site management, protection activities including child protection and addressing sexual and gender-based violence, education and nutrition.
More than 745,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh since August 2017, escaping violence in Myanmar and joining roughly 200,000 others already displaced in the Cox’s Bazar area by previous cycles of violence.
With the generosity and support of the Bangladeshi authorities and local communities, who were the first to respond to the emergency, critical needs were met and many lives were saved..."
Source/publisher:
The UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2019-02-15
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-25
[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, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"United Nations aid agencies and NGO partners launched today the 2019 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. The appeal seeks to raise US$920 million to meet the massive needs of more than 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and over 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in host communities.
Critical aid and services such as food, water, sanitation and shelter represent more than half of the funding needs this year. Other key sectors of the appeal include health, site management, protection activities including child protection and addressing sexual and gender-based violence, education and nutrition.
More than 745,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh since August 2017, escaping violence in Myanmar and joining roughly 200,000 others already displaced in the Cox’s Bazar area by previous cycles of violence.
With the generosity and support of the Bangladeshi authorities and local communities, who were the first to respond to the emergency, critical needs were met and many lives were saved..."
Source/publisher:
The UN Refugee Agency
Date of publication:
2019-02-15
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-25
[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, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''The planned relocation of 100,000 Rohingyas from refugee camps near the Myanmar border to Bhasan Char, an island off the coast of Bangladesh, may not happen, the Bangladesh Chronicle reported on March 27.
The Chronicle quoted Bangladesh’s foreign minister AK Abdul Momen as saying that he and his government thought the Rohingya would get a better life on the island, but various international organizations have placed conditions on the move, insisting it would have to be voluntary.
On March 25, the United Nations stated it appreciated Bangladesh’s efforts to seek alternative locations for the Muslim refugees from Myanmar. The UN statement went on to say that “we’re discussing with the government the critical protection and operational issues that should be considered before any relocations take place in order to ensure that refugees would be able to live in safe and sustainable living conditions on Bhasan Char.”
According to Momen, Bangladesh hosts about 1.1 to 1.2 million Rohingya in the Cox’s Bazar area in the southeasternmost corner of the country. Bangladesh has been engaged in talks with the Myanmar government about the future of the refugees, most of whom arrived in 2016 and 2017.
But it seems clear that the Myanmar government does not want them back and the Rohingya have said they won’t return to Rakhine State across the border unless the international community can ensure their safety, and they are recognized as citizens of Myanmar, which is unlikely to happen...''
Bertil Lintner
Source/publisher:
Asia Times
Date of publication:
2019-04-01
Date of entry/update:
2019-04-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''With almost 90 percent of Myanmar's population being devoted Buddhists, the religion has been at the heart of the nation's very identity for centuries.
But while the pillars of Buddhist teachings are love, compassion and peace, there is a very different variation to the philosophy being taught at the Ma Ba Tha monastery in Yangon's Insein township.
The monks there are connected to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, the systematic persecution and genocide of the Rohingya in Rakhine state.
Al Jazeera's unprecedented access to the Ma Ba Tha monastery and its leaders offers a glimpse into how their ultra-nationalist agenda is becoming the blueprint for the political structure of the country. Is the joining of forces between monks and generals threatening Myanmar's young and fragile democracy?...''
Source/publisher:
Al Jazeera
Date of publication:
2019-03-18
Date of entry/update:
2019-03-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Local URL:
more
Description:
''The Rohingya people have faced decades of systematic discrimination, statelessness and targeted violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Such persecution has forced Rohingya women, girls, boys and men into Bangladesh for many years, with signiicant spikes following violent attacks in 1978, 1991-1992, and again in 2016. Yet it was August 2017 that triggered by far the largest and fastest refugee inlux into Bangladesh. Since then, an estimated 745,000 Rohingya—including more than 400,000 children—have led into Cox’s Bazar. The immediate cause of their light was described by the UN-mandated Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar as a “widespread and systematic attack on [civilians]” including “murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture, rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence, persecution, and enslavement” with “elements of extermination and deportation” as well as “systematic oppression and discrimination [that] may also amount to the crime of apartheid.”
The Government of Bangladesh has kept its borders open to leeing Rohingya and leads the humanitarian response. The people of Bangladesh continue to show exceptional hospitality in the face of human tragedy on a massive scale. In keeping with its national policies, the Government of Bangladesh refers to these Rohingya as “Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals” in the present context. The UN system refers to this population as Rohingya refugees, in line with the applicable international framework for protection and solutions, as well as the resulting accountabilities for the countries of origin and asylum in addition to the international community as a whole. These terms refer to the same population...''
Source/publisher:
Reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-02-15
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-19
[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, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.67 MB
more
Description:
''Myanmar soldiers are shelling villages, detaining civilians and blocking aid as part of a new crackdown in Rakhine state by some of the army units implicated in atrocities against the Rohingya, a rights group says.
Villagers and local activists in the northern Myanmar state have told Amnesty International that artillery or mortar shells are being fired in the vicinity of townships and people are returning to abandoned communities to find properties looted and damaged.
Military activity in the restive state has intensified since early January when an armed ethnic Rakhine group called the Arakan Army attacked four police posts, reportedly killing 13 officers.
More than 5,200 people have been displaced by the subsequent fighting, the UN says, and dozens of families have reportedly fled into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Nearly a million Muslim Rohingya people are sheltering in sprawling refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, but most of those displaced in the latest fighting belong to Buddhist ethnic minorities who, unlike the Rohingya, are recognised as Burmese citizens...''
Source/publisher:
The Guardian
Date of publication:
2019-02-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''United Nations aid agencies and NGO partners launched today the 2019 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. The appeal seeks to raise US$920 million to meet the massive needs of more than 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and over 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in host communities.
Critical aid and services such as food, water, sanitation and shelter represent more than half of the funding needs this year. Other key sectors of the appeal include health, site management, protection activities including child protection and addressing sexual and gender-based violence, education and nutrition.
More than 745,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh since August 2017, escaping violence in Myanmar and joining roughly 200,000 others already displaced in the Cox’s Bazar area by previous cycles of violence...''
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Date of publication:
2019-02-15
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"On February 15, the United Nations (UN) released its Joint Response Plan 2019 (JRP) in Geneva, asking donors for an additional US$920.5 million to support around 900,000 Rohingya refugees stuck in squalid camps in Bangladesh.
JRP 2019 is a planning document reflecting a total wish list for funds that will be used by UN agencies and more than 100 other foreign and national non-governmental organizations.Funds requested also include various forms of support for 336,000 Bangladeshis living in “host communities” near the camps.
The document itself is a 94-page opus maximus that is heavy reading for the acronym-challenged faint of heart..."
Michael Hayes
Source/publisher:
Asia Times
Date of publication:
2019-02-16
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, the government of Myanmar denies their armed forces raped Rohingya women and girls in a campaign of ethnic cleansing that forced more than 740,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee the country since late 2017.
In a long-delayed submission to the United Nations women’s rights committee this week, Myanmar said there was “no evidence to support these wild claims” – a darkly risible denial to a very painful truth. The overwhelming evidence compiled by Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations, the media, and the UN uncovered gruesome accounts of rape, killings, and other crimes against humanity in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. A UN-backed fact-finding mission said the atrocities included genocidal acts.
Hundreds of Rohingya women and girls have said they were raped. I spoke to dozens of them. They risked both renewed trauma and stigma – with little real hope of remedy – to tell their stories. A 15-year-old girl, for instance, said soldiers dragged her out of her hut, tied her to a tree, and then raped her...''
Skye Wheeler
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2019-02-07
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Women's rights, UN (CEDAW) documents on discrimination against women, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
''Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed deep concern over the humanitarian impact of the continuing violence and the “potential for both further internal displacement and the outflow of refugees”.
“As part of inter-agency efforts, UNHCR stands ready to support the humanitarian response in the affected areas in Myanmar”, he stated, noting that more than 720,000 mostly-Muslim Rohingya had fled a 2017 military operation in Rakhine state, which was condemned at the time as being tantamount to genocide, by the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights...''
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2019-02-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Thirty Rohingya refugees were rescued from being trafficked to Malaysia in two separate incidents on Thursday night and Friday morning in the city of Cox's Bazar, officials said on Friday.
Members of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), a paramilitary force under Bangladesh's Ministry of Home Affairs, also detained two traffickers.
Of the 30 rescued, 17 were women, six were men and seven children, a BGB spokesman said.
According to BGB director Asaduzzaman Chowdhury, the first batch of 12 Rohingya were found in the Shah Parir Dwip region, close to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border at 10:30pm.
The 18 other refugees were spotted at Shilikhali, an area located near the refugee camps, at around 7am on Friday.
"Upon speaking to two members of the group we came to know that these people paid the traffickers two lakh takas ($2,400) for each family," said Chowdhury.
"We warned them that these kinds of adventerous moves could end up costing their lives as it is dangerous to cross the sea. After that we sent them back to their respective camps."
It has been 18 months since more than 730,000 mainly Muslim Rohingya fled persecution in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar and set up camps across the border about 40 kilometers south of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh's top tourist location.
The camps, sprawled over about 6,000 acres - just under half the size of Manhattan - have become more organised, but recent police activity suggested the risk of being trafficked had grown.
The latest trafficking incident took place a day after Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie finished her three-day visit to the camps just ahead of a $920 million funding appeal by the United Nations...''
Source/publisher:
Gulf Times
Date of publication:
2019-02-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Is Myanmar headed towards more representative and less military-steered democracy? On February 6, Myanmar’s parliament voted to establish a new preparatory committee to deliberate amending the country’s military-drafted 2008 constitution, which gives the armed forces an outsized “leadership role” in politics.
The ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) rose to power in a landslide November 2015 election win, in part on a vow to make democratizing changes to the charter. Nearly three years in office, however, the NLD has not yet made those promised amendments, a mark on its record as new elections scheduled for next year start to emerge on the political horizon.
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD government has struck a balance with the autonomous military, seen in her dogged defense of the armed forces’ actions in Rakhine state, where internationally criticized “clearance operations” forced over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh...''
Bertil Lintner
Source/publisher:
Asia Times
Date of publication:
2019-02-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, National League for Democracy - Policies, Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
''Visiting Bangladesh this week, Angelina Jolie, the Special Envoy for the UN Refugee Agency, said the world must not turn away from the nearly one million Rohingya refugees who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. She urged continued support for those who have been displaced, until the Myanmar authorities show the genuine commitment needed to end a decades-long cycle of violence and displacement.
Yesterday in the capital, Dhaka, the Special Envoy held official meetings with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, in which she expressed UNHCR’s gratitude to the people and Government of Bangladesh for their generosity in receiving over 700,000 refugees since August 2017. She reiterated UNHCR’s support for collective efforts to enable Rohingya refugees to live dignified lives in Bangladesh and the pursuit of lasting solutions. She also raised concerns that without an urgent expansion and strengthening of educational opportunities, the future of a generation of Rohingya children would be at risk. While in Dhaka, Jolie also visited two museums – the Liberation War Museum and the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum – where she viewed exhibitions about the country’s history, including its own experience of large-scale displacement.
Jolie began her three-day visit on Monday in Chakmarkul and Kutupalong refugee camps, where she heard testimonies from Rohingya women, children and men who have endured a lifetime of persecution and discrimination. There she witnessed some of the remarkable humanitarian response efforts to date, including a registration process, led jointly by the Government and UNHCR, that is providing many refugees with a legal identity for the first time. She also visited a transit centre for newly arrived refugees and a hospital giving much-needed care and support to women and girls...''
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Date of publication:
2019-02-07
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Statelessness
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie heard testimonies this week from Rohingya refugees who have endured years of persecution and discrimination in Myanmar and survived a desperate flight across the border.
Speaking in Kutupalong refugee camp on Tuesday, Jolie said, “I am thankful that here in Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees have their existence recognized, and are being provided by the Government and UNHCR with documentation and proof of their identity – in some instances for the very first time in their lives.”
The visit marked Jolie’s 64th mission with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, since 2001, and her first mission to Bangladesh. She met with displaced Rohingya people in Myanmar in 2015 and in India in 2006. Decades of injustice have driven nearly 1 million Rohingya to flee their homes in Myanmar and seek refuge in Bangladesh – the majority of them in the last 18 months...''
Christopher Reardon
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Date of publication:
2019-02-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''U.N. refugee agency special envoy Angelina Jolie has visited camps in Bangladesh for Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar and condemned the world's failure to prevent a crisis that saw 730,000 people driven from their homes...''
Source/publisher:
The Irish Times
Date of publication:
2019-02-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Statelessness
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Canada wants to play a role in solving the Rohingya refugee crisis, The Bangladesh Chronicle and New Age reported on February 5. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s special envoy to Myanmar, Bob Rae, stressed during a recent visit to Bangladesh the need for productive initiatives to solve the crisis.
Rae said after a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen that “talks are underway, but we don’t know whether they’ll be successful.” So far, no refugees have been repatriated to Myanmar.
According to estimates by United Nations agencies and the Bangladesh foreign ministry, the number of “undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh is 1,116,000,” news sites reported. “This is not just a problem for Myanmar and Bangladesh, but will be an issue for other countries in this region,” Rae said...''
Bertil Lintner
Source/publisher:
Asia Times
Date of publication:
2019-02-06
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Canada wants a transition plan for the Rohingyas as the repatriation process appears slow amid the refugees' lack of willingness in returning to Myanmar due to insecurity and non-conducive conditions in Rakhine.
“Not short or long-term, we need to make a transition plan for the Rohingyas,” said Bob Rae, Canadian prime minister's special envoy to Myanmar, insisting on providing education and income generating activities for the refugees. If they do not get education and jobs, they would turn to crimes and radicalisation, he said.
His comments come just days before the UN launches a joint response plan and appeals for $920 million for the Rohingyas this year.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, however, called for continuous pressure on Myanmar from the international community for Rohingya repatriation. Providing education to the 400,000 Rohingya children could act as a pull factor for the refugees, he said, adding, “We need to address these pull factors.”
The suggestions came at a panel discussion on potential long-term implication of the Rohingya crisis jointly organised by the Canadian High Commission in Bangladesh and Reading Club Trust at the Westin Dhaka hotel. Diplomats, academics, students and civil society members attended it...''
Bob Rae
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-02-06
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Angelina Jolie, the Special Envoy for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is visiting Bangladesh this week. Bangladesh has been heavily affected by the influx of more than 730,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar since August 2017 and now hosts nearly a million refugees. The majority of refugees – more than 620,000 people – live in just one area: Kutupalong, the largest refugee settlement anywhere in the world today.
Jolie is undertaking a three-day mission in Cox’s Bazar to assess the humanitarian needs of the Rohingya refugees and some of the more critical challenges facing Bangladesh as a host country.
The Special Envoy will conclude her in-country visit in Dhaka for official meetings with the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, and the Foreign Minister, AK Abdul Momen, to discuss how UNHCR can best support the current response led by the Bangladeshi Government, along with the need for safe and sustainable solutions to the plight of one of the world’s most persecuted minorities...''
Source/publisher:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Date of publication:
2019-02-04
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''The Rohingya crisis continues to take a heavy toll on the nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya remaining in Myanmar, and Myanmar’s international reputation, and remains a significant barrier to peace. No durable solution is on the horizon for the refugees, most of whom are in crowded camps exposed to health and natural disaster risks. Muslims remaining in Rakhine State suffer increasingly entrenched conditions of apartheid, with limited access to essential services and livelihoods. The human catastrophe on both sides of the border represents a major threat to peace and security. The ethnic Rakhine are also on a collision course with Naypyitaw, particularly over the detention and potential high treason conviction of a key Rakhine leader. This has undermined the Rakhine population’s confidence in politics and is driving broad support for the Arakan Army insurgency, which has sharply escalated attacks and threatens to tip the state into prolonged armed conflict. Elsewhere, in the north east, armed conflict has eased due to the unexpected declaration by the military on 21 December of a unilateral ceasefire in Shan and Kachin States. However, clashes between ethnic armed groups continue, the peace process remains moribund, and insecurity is exacerbated by increasingly lucrative opportunities for armed groups in drug production, human trafficking, and a range of other illicit activities...''
Source/publisher:
International Crisis Group (ICG)
Date of publication:
2019-01-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Shan, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''A chickenpox outbreak in Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps has raised a public health concern in the region, officials say.
The number of patients with chicken pox, also known as varicella, reported last week was 5,376, which is more than double the number reported the week before, according to a World Health Organisation report published on Thursday.
Chickenpox cases had earlier been reported on several occasions, but more and more cases kept coming since the second week of January. As many as 10,240 cases were reported between January 2018 and January 31 this year. Of them, 9,972 cases were reported last month...''
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-02-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
''The number of varicella cases reported in week 4 has increased to 5 376, which is more than double from week 3. WHO and the health sector are working in collaboration with community health working group; education sector and risk communication group for multi-prong response
Partners were provided with important guidance on key issues such as temperature control storage, disposal of drugs and content of Emergency health kits were shared with partners through a health logistics meeting
WHO was involved in developing a microplan for water quality surveillance in refugee camps for 2019.
The health sector is actively coordinating a systematic ratinalisation process to reduce duplication of health facilities in the refugee camps SITUATION OVERVIEW There are an estimated 909 000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, according to the latest ISCG situation report (9 January 2019). This includes 33 956 previously registered refugees from Myanmar in Kutupalong refugee camp and Nayapara refugee camp. Rohingya refugees continue to arrive in Bangladesh, though the overall influx has slowed substantially since the onset of the crisis in late August 2017. Lately, new refugees have arrived from India. All refugees, including new arrivals, face compounding vulnerabilities including health. WHO has been responding to this crisis since September 2017 to date. Summary of response actions from epidemiological weeks 3 and 4 2019 are presented below; according to the WHO teams...''
Source/publisher:
Reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
750.69 KB
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Description:
''The ability to treat large volumes of waste on-site at Rohingya camps, rather than having to transport it elsewhere, is a critical step to safe and sustainable disposal of such waste in emergency situations, said the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
"This will significantly reduce health risks for refugees and host communities, and the likelihood of the outbreak of disease," UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said at a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on Friday.
UNHCR and Oxfam have together put into service this week in Cox's Bazar the biggest human waste treatment facility ever built in a refugee settlement, said the spokesperson.
The facility, funded by UNHCR, can process the waste of 150,000 people – 40 cubic metres a day, reports the UNB.
Close to a million Rohingyas live in a complex of settlements in the Cox's Bazar area.
Kutupalong, the largest refugee settlement in the world, is home to more than 630,000 refugees, and managing the waste in this terrain requires innovative approaches...''
Mahmud Hossain Opu
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-02-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-02-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday renewed her call to the international community to force Myanmar to take back its over one million Rohingya nationals from Bangladesh.
“Myanmar must take back its nationals and the international community should help Bangladesh send back the Rohingyas,” she said.
The PM made the comments when visiting Deputy Foreign Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Quoc Dzung, also special envoy to the Vietnam prime minister, met her at the Gono Bhaban.
PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.
He said the PM mentioned that Bangladesh has prepared a temporary shelter for the Rohingyas at Bhashan Char to provide them with a better living place...''
Source/publisher:
The Daily Star
Date of publication:
2019-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
''Police in India's northeastern state of Tripura have arrested 31 Muslim Rohingya who were fleeing a recent crackdown by India's Hindu nationalist government.
The group, which included 16 children and six women, was arrested on Tuesday after it was denied entry into Bangladesh and border officials from the two nations failed to agree on what to do with them.India regards the Muslim-majority Rohingya as illegal aliens and a security risk and has ordered that tens of thousands of them who live in scattered settlements and slums around the country be identified and repatriated to Myanmar.
READ MORE
Over 1,000 Rohingya flee India for Bangladesh fearing crackdown
As many as 1,300 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from India in recent weeks as fears of deportation to Buddhist-majority Myanmar sparked an exodus...''
Tanmoy Chakraborty
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2019-01-22
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Earlier this month, India sparked panic among its long-suffering Rohingya refugee population by deporting a family of five to their home country of Myanmar, where they will most certainly face human rights violations and imprisonment. This expulsion came on the heels of the controversial forced repatriation of seven Rohingya men last October.
For Rohingya refugees currently residing in India, who the authorities claims are as many as 40,000, this second deportation seemed to harbinger a frightful pattern, especially as India's far-right government had previously pledged to deport all Rohingya. Ruling party officials have made such threats despite international law prohibiting states from refoulement, sending persons to nations where they risk persecution. In Myanmar, such persecution is a near-certainty. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after an army crackdown more than a year ago...''
Ashley Starr Kinseth
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2019-01-29
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Chicago has one of the largest number of Rohingya refugees to have been resettled in the United States.
More than 1,600 Rohingya are based in Chicago, having spent years in Malaysia after fleeing persecution and violence in Myanmar in the 1990s and 2000s.
Rohingya are an ethnic, mostly Muslim minority who have faced decades of discriminatory policies and violence in Myanmar where the government considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
The Rohingya Cultural Center of Chicago was founded in 2016 by Nasir Zakaria, a Rohingya refugee who settled in the US in 2013.
The centre provides English lessons and Quran classes, as well as computer training, translation services and assistance with resettlement paperwork.
It also organises football teams for the youth.
Last December 2018, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution labelling the Rohingya crisis as "genocide".
President Donald Trump has capped the number of refugees that can be resettled in the United States in 2019 at 30,000, the lowest ceiling a president has placed on the refugee programme since its creation in 1980...''
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2019-01-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''The head of the U.N. children’s fund urged Myanmar on Monday to implement the recommendations of a panel on the Rohingya crisis led by former U.N. head Kofi Annan, saying it had yet to create conditions right for the return of refugees from Bangladesh.
Speaking at a forum in the capital, Naypyitaw, UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore said children from the Rohingya Muslim minority, a persecuted and mostly stateless community from Buddhist-majority Myanmar, were living “a precarious and an almost hopeless existence” in camps in neighboring Bangladesh.
About 730,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine state, in western Myanmar, since a military crackdown in 2017 after Rohingya insurgents attacked security posts, U.N. agencies estimate. Tens of thousands remain behind in Rakhine, where they are subjected to restrictions on movement and have limited access to healthcare and education.
Fore said Myanmar’s “commitment” to enacting the recommendations of Annan’s committee – which include ensuring freedom of movement and access to education – would help mend the lives of suffering children...''
Source/publisher:
U.S.News
Date of publication:
2019-01-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''The displaced Rohingya population prefers living in the cramped and squalid refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar, rather than living in a potentially better-sheltered and relatively more comfortable facility on Bhasan Char.
The Bangladesh government is almost at the final stage of relocating 100,000 Rohingyas who were forcefully driven away from their land in a Myanmar army crackdown.
However, the unwillingness of the Rohingyas to relocate to the remote island is delaying the relocation plan.
Construction has already been carried out at Bhasan Char, previously known as Thengar Char, a river island which emerged twenty years ago at the mouth of the Meghna River.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to formally inaugurate the housing complex on the flood- prone isolated island soon...''
Sushanto Biswas
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-01-29
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Delhi is yet to respond to the repeated requests from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Professor Yanghee Lee to visit India that houses around 40,000 Rohingyas from the Rakhine state.
“No reply yet,” Professor Lee told the Dhaka Tribune at a press briefing in a Dhaka hotel on Friday evening.
The press conference was arranged following her visit to Bangladesh from January 19 to January 25 to visit the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char Island.
She had expressed concern over the deportation of Rohingyas from Saudi Arabia and pushing of Rohingyas into Bangladesh by India and urged to ensure their protection terming them as the world’s most persecuted community from Myanmar...''
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-01-27
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''While Bangladesh may have opened its borders to Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar’s genocide, the prolonged stay has soured relations between the host country and the displaced community.
A researcher from University of Singapore has opined that a strong link between the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission and the local government can help mitigate problems among displaced Rohingya people and the host community.
In a lecture Sunday on “Complex Humanitarian Emergencies and Disaster Management in Bangladesh: The 2017 Rohingya Exodus” at the BRAC Centre, Dr Alistair DB Cook identified several obstacles to providing humanitarian support for all and resolve the problem.
Dr Cook’s research, co-authored by Foo Yen Ne – a senior analyst at NTS Centre – was published last year by Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Dr Cook is also Coordinator of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme at the University in Singapore...''
Dr. Alistair DB Cook
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-01-27
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
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Description:
''The United Nations is again warning that Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh cannot be sent back to Myanmar, because it is not safe.
The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, who has been visiting Bangladesh, says the crisis could have global consequences...''
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2019-01-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
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Description:
British High Commissioner in Dhaka Alison Blake has appreciated Bangladesh's achievements and amazing development stories, saying the United Kingdom will remain a partner in the country's development journey.
''She said this while talking to reporters after her meeting with Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday, reports UNB.
The British envoy said: "I have congratulated the Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina) on Bangladesh's achievements and the amazing development stories."
The high commissioner said she shared with the minister how her government was excited about being able to work together to build stronger relationship with countries like Bangladesh.
Blake also appreciated the government's fresh offer to have dialogue with other political parties.
"I welcome very much the government's attempt to establish a dialogue with all the political parties, because Bangladesh has set a very ambitious target of a fully developed country status by 2041," Blake said, adding that there is enormous work before Bangladesh to achieve the goal...''
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-01-27
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
''There appears to be no chance of Rohingya repatriation in the near future as Myanmar has completely failed to create a situation conducive for the return of hundreds of thousands of persecuted people to Rakhine, a United Nations human rights expert said on Friday, urging Bangladesh to get prepared for a long haul.
Instead of creating a favourable situation for the return of the Rohingyas, Myanmar is in fact on a mission to force the remaining Rohingyas in Rakhine to flee to Bangladesh through different types of crimes and intimidations, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Professor Yanghee Lee told a press conference at a local hotel upon completion of her seven-day visit to Bangladesh.
She thanked the Bangladeshi authorities for facilitating her visit on Thursday to Bhashan Char, where the government wants to relocate the Rohingyas, but urged upon Bangladesh not to hurry in sending these people to the isolated island in the Noakhali district...''
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of publication:
2019-01-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"A UN human rights expert on Rohingya refugees has warned Bangladesh against rushing to relocate them from Cox’s Bazar to Bhashan Char island until a framework for their protection has been agreed".
Ro kyaw tho
Source/publisher:
bdnews24.com
Date of publication:
2019-01-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
''In 2018, UNICEF extended lifesaving services to over 1.2 million people affected by the crisis. This included 380,000 people provided with access to safe drinking water; 20,000 children under 5 treated for severe acute malnutrition; and 1,235,475 people over 1 year old who received oral cholera vaccine.
More than half of Rohingya refugee children aged 4 to 14 have now been engaged in non-formal basic education by UNICEF and the Education Sector. UNICEF reached 145,209 Rohingya children in 2018 with support from 4,028 trained teachers.
UNICEF and the Department of Social Services launched an integrated case management and cash assistance programme in June 2018, benefitting 4,200 children and 3,000 foster caregivers.
Comprehensive preparedness and mitigation measures taken with both government and NGO partners in advance of the monsoon in June 2018 resulted in no major epidemics or outbreaks. Actions such as chlorination of water points, intensive C4D messaging, relocating at-risk facilities and establishing mechanisms to reunite children separated during extreme rain, were some of the measures taken...''
Source/publisher:
Reliefweb
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
237.57 KB
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Description:
''More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled violence at the hands of security forces in Myanmar - that's in the last year alone. Today, nearly a million of them live in refugee camps in Bangladesh, where, as NPR's Sasha Ingber reports, they're using traditional music to document atrocities and hold on to who they are.
SASHA INGBER, BYLINE: Inside a dim mud house a 40-minute bus ride from Thangkali refugee camp, Mohammed Taker takes his instruments off a shelf. The 35-year-old keeps his mandolin and harmonium stashed here, coming in the morning and going back to the refugee camp in the evening.
MOHAMMED TAKER: (Through interpreter) If the government finds out that I'm singing songs, they will find me.
INGBER: He's worried that if he plays music in the camp, informants from Myanmar - formerly known as Burma - will send word to the government.
TAKER: (Through interpreter) We have people in our community who are friends with the Burmese government, and maybe they will sell them information. It's possible to find me because I'm one of only a few musicians. (Playing mandolin)...''
Sasha Ingber
Source/publisher:
National Public Radio (NPR)
Date of publication:
2019-01-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-27
[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, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
''UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee has said that it is clear that Rohingya refugees cannot return to Myanmar in the near future.
She has urged the Bangladeshi government to prepare to host the refugees for the long term and is concerned about the security of the refugees.
Bangladesh's government plans to move around 100,000 refugees to an island in the Bay of Bengal, where the government said they will have access to education and healthcare, but the UN special rapporteur has concerns about the island's isolation.
Al Jazeera's Natasha Ghoneim reports from Dhaka...''
Natasha Ghoneim
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera
Date of publication:
2019-01-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-27
[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, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Some 4,500 people have been displaced in the fighting in recent weeks, Mr Ostby noted, adding that the Myanmar authorities have announced that they intend to “crush” the so-called Arakan Army insurgents.
“I think the situation as far as we know, has not broken out to major fighting, but there have been more troop build-ups”, Mr Ostby said, before speaking of his shock at attacks on police outposts last Friday that claimed 13 officers’ lives.
Noting that humanitarian access to communities in need of help in Rakhine state “has not improved since 2017” - when some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled violence there to neighbouring Bangladesh - the UN official warned that facilities were not in place to cope with yet more mass movement of people...''
Ruslana Sirman
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2019-01-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-26
[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, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
''Myanmar’s army says it killed 13 ethnic Rakhine fighters in counter attacks, after the well-armed group carried out deadly strikes on police posts earlier this month.
Rakhine state has seen new levels of violence in recent weeks between the Arakan Army (AA) – insurgents fighting for greater autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists – and security forces.
Many of the battles are taking place in the same region from which more than 720,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh after August 2017, when the army launched a crackdown the UN deemed ethnic cleansing.
The AA are a more formidable force than the fighters claiming to represent the Rohingya and have inflicted historically higher death tolls on the military.
On Myanmar’s independence day on January 4, the AA launched pre-dawn raids that killed 13 police officers and wounded nine before the army stepped in, setting off violence that has displaced thousands...''
Source/publisher:
The Guardian
Date of publication:
2019-01-19
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies)
Language:
English
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Description:
''The United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, on Friday said Myanmar security forces have been engaged in an intimidation campaign against Rohingya people living in border areas and camps in Bangladesh to ensure they do not return to Myanmar.
“It is evident that Myanmar is not working to create conditions for return for the Rohingya but is engaging in a sustained campaign of violence, intimidation and harassment,” she told a press conference at a hotel in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Friday evening. The press conference marked the conclusion of her 11-day visit to Bangladesh and Thailand.
To the contrary, she said, Myanmar security forces have continued to force Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh...''
Muktadir Rashid
Source/publisher:
The Irrawaddy
Date of publication:
2019-01-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-26
[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, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
''Bangladesh and the UN must continue to work together to improve the conditions for nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees.
The year 2018 was a dire and desperate year for the Rohingya minority from western Myanmar. Two-thirds of the population that had been living in western Rakhine State before the end of 2017 remain displaced in crowded camps in Bangladesh. The several hundred thousand who remain in Myanmar face serious restrictions, and what the chair of an independent, international fact-finding mission describes as an “ongoing genocide.”
What will the year 2019 have in store for the Rohingya? Here are key developments to keep an eye on and some thoughts on what must be done to improve the outlook...''
Daniel Sullivan
Source/publisher:
Fair Observer
Date of publication:
2019-01-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-26
[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, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more
Description:
"On November 26 last year fed up of being ignored, Rohingya refugees in camps in southeastern Bangladesh did something out of ordinary: they went on strike. For three days, leaders of the Rohingya community declared, that no man or woman working in the camp as a shopkeeper, teacher, health worker, or builder – would providing their crucial manpower.
The call to arms was in response to new identity cards issued by the Bangladesh authorities and the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. The ‘smart’ cards did not identify their ethnicity as ‘Rohingya’..."
Vidya Krishnan
Source/publisher:
Asia Times
Date of publication:
2019-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
more