Discrimination against the Rohingya
See also Main Library > Refugees > Burmese Refugees in Bangladesh and Main Library >Administration and administrative areas > Arakan (Rakhine) State - http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=1241&lo=d&sl=0 - which carries OBL's main documentation on the current crisis of the Rohingya, with links to UN, governmental, NGO and other sources.
Individual Documents
Description:
I. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS;
II. THE 1996 INFLUX;
III. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND;
IV. THE REPATRIATION:
The first stage, September 1992-January 1994;
Mass repatriation, July 1994 - December 1995;
V. THE REINTEGRATION PROGRAM;
VI. CONTINUING DISCRIMINATION:
Citizenship Legislation and Identity Cards;
International Law and the 1982 Citizenship Act;
Current Status of Returnees;
Forced Labor;
Land Ownership and Arbitrary Taxation;
Forced Relocations;
Model Villages;
Freedom of Movement;
VII. CONCLUSIONS.
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch/Asia
Date of publication:
1996-08-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
htm
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390.52 KB
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Description:
"...Human Rights Watch said that various factors sparked last year?s confrontations between Buddhists and
Muslims, including anger over the destruction of Buddhist images in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in March 2001.
Military authorities confiscated pirated photos and videos of the Bamiyan statues being blown up by the Taliban,
fearful they would enflame Buddhist sentiment. But in some cities outside Rangoon, there were credible reports
of military intelligence officers stirring up anti-Muslim violence..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2002-07-18
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Muslims in Burma, Religious freedom: reports of violations in Burma, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Description:
"Muslims from Arakan State in northwestern Burma, have become the latest targets of Burmese military atrocities. Since late 1991, they have been streaming into neighboring Bangladesh at the rate of several thousand a day with stories of rapes, killings, slave labor and destruction of mosques and other acts of religious persecution. By mid-March, the Bangladesh government had registered over 200,000 refugees and the exodus was continuing. In many ways, the treatment of these Muslims, called Rohingyas, seemed to be part and parcel of the stepped up military offensive against ethnic minorities and opposition activists by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), the military junta that has become one of the most abusive governments in Asia. Intensive fighting has been taking place along Burma's eastern border against the Karen and Mon people as well, with refugees pouring into Thai border camps with
similar accounts of rape and forced labor..."
INTRODUCTION;
ARAKAN AND THE ROHINGYA MUSLIMS:The 1978 Exodus;
The 1990 Election and Its Aftermath;
PATTERNS OF ABUSE 1991-92:
Rape;
Forced Labor;
Population Transfers and Religious Persecution;
Summary Executions;
Source/publisher:
Asia Watch - A Division of Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
1992-05-07
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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htm
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166.7 KB
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Description:
International
Mission
of Inquiry by the
International Federation of Human Rights Leagues.
I. Arakan:
A. Presentation of Arakan - A buffer State;
B. Historical background of the Muslim presence in Arakan;
C. Administration organisation, repressive forces and armed resistance...
II. The forced return and the reinstallation of the Rohingyas:
hypocrisy and constraints:
A. The conditions of return from Bangladesh after the 1991-92 exodus;
B. Resettlement and reintegration. ..
III. Repression, discrimination and exclusion in Arakan:
A. The specificity of the repression against the Rohingyas;
B. The Arakanese: an exploitation with no way out. ..
IV. A new exodus:
A. The years 1996 and 1997;
B. The current exodus.
Source/publisher:
Federation International des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH)
Date of publication:
2000-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
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Description:
Includes sections on the Chin and the Rohingyas and other non-Buddhist groups
Source/publisher:
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State
Date of publication:
2000-09-05
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
Burmese Rohingyas in Malaysia. Contains a good discussion of the Rohingyas' de facto statelessness under the 1982 Citizenship Law as well as background material on the Rohingyas' situation in Burma.."Burmese authorities bear responsibility for the Rohingya's flight. Burma's treatment of the Rohingya is addressed in the background section of the report, and the report offers specific recommendations to the Burmese government. The focus of this report, however, is on what happens to Rohingya when they reach Malaysia. There, they are not treated as refugees fleeing persecution who should be afforded protection, but as aliens subject to detention or deportation in violation of Malaysia's international human rights obligations..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2000-06-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Malaysia, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Laws, decrees, bills and regulations relating to nationality, citizenship and immigration (commentary), Burmese and other stateless people in Thailand and Malaysia
Language:
English
Local URL:
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Source/publisher:
UNHCR
Date of publication:
1998-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
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Description:
UNHCR-commissioned paper
Tessa Piper
Source/publisher:
WRITENET UK
Date of publication:
1993-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English
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Description:
Extracts on the Rohingyas from the report of the ILO Commission of Inquiry into forced labour in Myanmar (Burma). ".... the situation in the northern part of Rakhine State appears to be more severe in all respects than that prevailing in most other parts of the country. Most of the witnesses questioned on this subject, who were members of the Rohingya ethnic group, and who had left the country very recently, claimed to have been subjected to systematic discrimination by the authorities..." (ILO Report, para 435).
The 1998 ILO Inquiry into forced labour in Burma covers a wide range of human rights violations in addition to forced labour. The Commission of Inquiry, which is the most senior body to have examined human rights in Burma, reported that the Rohingyas suffer a higher level of discrimination than other groups in the country.
Source/publisher:
ILO (customised by BPF)
Date of publication:
1998-07-02
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Forced Labour in Myanmar (Burma) Report of the ILO Commission of Inquiry, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Governing Body of the International Labour Office (English), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Format :
htm
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178.49 KB
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Description:
"Forced Migration in the South Asian Region:
Displacement, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution"
Paper submitted for publication in a book edited by Omprakash Mishra on "Forced Migration in South Asian Region", Centre for Refugee studies Jadavpur University, Calcutta and Brookings Institution Project on Internal Displacement.
"In the eyes of the media and the general public, whether in Bangladesh or further afield, the situation of the Rohingya from Burma[ii] is usually referred to as a ?refugee problem?. Over the last two decades, Bangladesh has born the brunt of two mass exoduses, each of more then 200,000 people, placing them among the largest in Asia. Each of these massive outflows of refugees was followed by mass repatriation to Burma. Repatriation has been considered the preferred solution to the refugee crisis. However, this has not proved a durable solution, since the influx of Rohingyas over international borders has never ceased. And it is unlikely that it will stop, so long as the root causes of this unprecedented exodus are not effectively remedied. The international community has often focussed its attention on the deplorable conditions in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, rather than on the root causes of the problem, namely the denial of legal status and other basic human rights to the Rohingya in Burma. This approach doubtless stems from the practical difficulty of confronting an intractable military regime which refuses to recognise the Rohingya as citizens of Burma, and of working out solutions acceptable to all parties involved. The actual plight and continuous exodus of the Rohingya people has been rendered invisible. Though they continue to cross international borders, they are also denied the right of asylum, being labelled ?economic migrants?. The international community has preferred to ignore the extent of this massive forced migration, which has affected not only Bangladesh, but also other countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, etc..."
Chris Lewa
Date of publication:
2001-02-28
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese and other stateless people in Burma, Bangladesh and India
Language:
English
Format :
htm
Size:
118.9 KB
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Description:
Rohningyas in Bangladesh: some comments about international assistance for refugees. Sociological analysis of acteurs in migrant situations, questions of space and place in and around refugee camps, migrant's identities.
Am Beispiel der Fl?chtlinge aus Myanmar, der Rohingyas, im S?dosten Bangladeshs, die mit internationaler Hilfe in Fl?chtlingslagern angesiedelt wurden, u.a. folgende Fragen untersucht: Akteure der Fluchtsituation, R?ume und Schaupl?tze in und um Fl?chtlingslager, Identit?t von Fl?chtlingen. Eine Lehrforschung des Sociology of Development Research Centre.
Gliederung: Einleitung; Methoden; Geschichte(n) des Problems; Akteure; R?ume und Schaupl?tze; Fazit; Literatur.
Stephanie Hering
Source/publisher:
Universitats Bielefeld
Date of publication:
1999-11-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
Deutsch, German
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Description:
Delivered at the Medecins Sans Frontieres Conference:
?10 Years for the Rohingya Refugees: Past, Present and Future”
Dhaka ? 1 April 2002.
"As long as the situation in Rakhine State does not show any fundamental improvement, Rohingya people will continue to enter and seek shelter in Bangladesh. The refugees in the two remaining camps are only the visible side of an outflow that has never ceased. Indeed, the exodus of Rohingya to Bangladesh has never stopped. Every day, new Rohingya individuals and families continue to cross the border illegally and seek sanctuary in Bangladesh. It is no longer a mass exodus, but a constant trickle. This influx seems to be encouraged and at the same time strictly controlled by the Myanmar authorities, and concurrently it is rendered invisible by the Bangladesh administration. New arrivals are denied access to the refugee camps, and these undocumented Rohingya have no other option than to survive among the local population outside the camps. Their exact number is unknown. An estimate of 100,000 has regularly been cited for several years now, which does not take into account the constant increase. According to the local press, there may be as many as 200,000 living in the Cox?s Bazar-Teknaf-Bandarban area and this amount appears to be more realistic. They are not referred to as refugees but labelled as ?economic migrants”..."
Chris Lewa
Source/publisher:
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
Date of publication:
2002-04-01
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
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htm
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35.6 KB
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Description:
"During February and March 1992 Amnesty International conducted over 100 interviews in Bangladesh with Burmese Muslim refugees from the Rakhine (Arakan) State, which is in the southwest of Myanmar (Burma)[1] bordering Bangladesh. All of those interviewed told Amnesty International that they had fled from their homes in the Maungdaw and Buthidaung township areas of the Rakhine State to escape a wide range of human rights violations at the hands of the Myanmar security forces, including ill-treatment, deliberate killings, and arrests on religious and political grounds. In their testimonies, these refugees said they were themselves victims of human rights violations, or had witnessed such violations committed against others, or were personally acquainted with the victims of such abuses.
The human rights violations documented in this report are part of a general pattern of repression by the Myanmar security forces against Muslims in the Rakhine State. Troops have entered Muslim villages in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, occupied and closed mosques, confiscated farmers? livestock and crops, seized villagers for forced labour, and evicted them from their houses.
The repression of Muslims in the Rakhine State is part of the gross and consistent pattern of human rights violations committed by the SLORC against all forms of political opposition and dissent and against vulnerable and weak sectors of the country?s population, such as ethnic minorities, who the military authorities suspect may not support its national ideology. All the available evidence indicates that Muslims are targeted for repression by the Myanmar security forces simply because they belong to a particular religious minority, some members of which seek greater autonomy from central Myanmar control.
Reports of human rights abuses against Muslims in the Rakhine State by Myanmar security forces rose sharply in early 1991, and they began to leave Myanmar in the thousands to seek asylum in Bangladesh. Those numbers increased dramatically in late 1991 and early 1992, with more than 200,000 now believed to be in Bangladesh."
KEYWORDS: RELIGIOUS GROUPS - ISLAMIC / MINORITIES / FORCED LABOUR / TORTURE/ILL-TREATMENT / DEATH IN CUSTODY / EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTION / WOMEN / SEXUAL ASSAULT / ARBITRARY ARREST / POLITICAL PRISONERS / TRIALS / MILITARY TRIBUNALS / LONG-TERM IMPRISONMENT / FARMERS / FARM WORKERS / AGED / RELIGIOUS GROUPS - HINDU / FAMILIES / CHILDREN / JUVENILES / STUDENTS / COMMUNITY LEADERS / TEACHERS / RETIRED PEOPLE / CIVIL SERVANTS / REFUGEES 1 / DISPLACED PEOPLE / MISSIONS / PRISONERS? TESTIMONIES / MILITARY / PARAMILITARIES / POLICE / POLITICAL VIOLENCE / EMERGENCY LEGISLATION /
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International USA (Al INDEX: ASA 16/06/92)
Date of publication:
1992-04-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
htm
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122.71 KB
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Description:
"Muslim minorities across Asia are under siege?and their persecution fuels fundamentalists' rage...the Burmese government has convinced many Buddhists in the Arakan region that the Rohingyas are fighting for an independent Islamic state?a goal embraced by radical militant groups in exile in Bangladesh but not by the majority of Muslims living in Arakan. "It's propaganda," says Christina Fink, a cultural anthropologist at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. "It's a way for the regime to divide the Arakanese and make sure the people are less interested in the pro-democracy movement and more interested in driving the Muslims out."
The United Nations has overseen the return to Burma of more than 200,000 Rohingya refugees. But many have found their houses and land appropriated by Buddhist settlers and their basic rights still denied by the authorities. For example, to qualify for citizenship, says Fink, the Rohingyas must prove that their grandparents on both sides were born in Burma, but "there are very few who can." Many have abandoned hope and go back to Bangladesh, only to find they are no longer allowed access to the refugee camps, says French anthropologist Chris Lewa, who studies the Rohingya refugees. "Perhaps as many as 100,000 live in slums around Cox's Bazar," she says. "They are not wanted in Bangladesh or in Burma. Effectively, they are stateless people."..."
Andrew Perrin
Source/publisher:
Time Asia Vol. 161 No. 9
Date of publication:
2003-03-10
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Religious freedom: reports of violations in Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
English
Local URL:
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