Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
About 7,390,000 results (August 2017) About 26,800,000 results (February 2018)
Source/publisher:
www via Google
Date of entry/update:
2017-08-27
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
About 153,000 results (August 2017)
Source/publisher:
Various sources via Youtube
Date of entry/update:
2017-08-20
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
more
Description:
"The Advisory Commission on Rakhine State was founded [on August 23, 2016] as a neutral and impartial body which aims to propose concrete measures for improving the welfare of all people in Rakhine state. It is composed of six local and three international experts, and is chaired by Kofi Anna...At the behest of the Ministry of the Office of the State Counsellor of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and in collaboration with the Kofi Annan Foundation, the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State has been founded as a neutral and impartial body which aims to propose concrete measures for improving the welfare of all people in Rakhine state. It is composed of six local and three international experts, and is chaired by Kofi Annan. In its work, it considers humanitarian and developmental issues, access to basic services, legal questions including citizenship and the assurance of basic rights, and security to all people in all communities. It will submit its final report and recommendations to the Government of Myanmar in the second half of 2017."
Source/publisher:
Advisory Commission on Rakhine State
Date of entry/update:
2017-02-04
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
Wikipedia
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-18
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
"...Responding to the rescue of nearly 400 Rohingya refugees from the Bay of Bengal after a two month-long failed attempt to reach Malaysia, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director, Biraj Patnaik, said..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International
Date of publication:
2020-04-16
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-19
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Format :
PDF
Size:
5.01 MB
more
Description:
About 137,000 results (February 2018)
Source/publisher:
Google
Date of entry/update:
2018-02-22
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Description:
About 51,400,000 results (August 2018)
Source/publisher:
www via Google
Date of publication:
2018-08-27
Date of entry/update:
2018-08-27
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Description:
About 38,900 results (0.31 seconds)
Jacques P Leider
Source/publisher:
Google Search
Date of publication:
2019-10-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-30
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Description:
"The internal conflict in Myanmar refers to a series of ongoing insurgencies within Myanmar that began shortly after the country, then known as Burma, became independent from the United Kingdom in 1948. The conflict has been labeled as the world?s longest running civil war....."Main fronts:
Kachin State...
Kayah State...
Kayin State...
Rakhine State...
Shan State..."
Source/publisher:
Wikipedia
Date of entry/update:
2018-01-02
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Shan State, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Karen (Kayin) State, Karenni (Kayah) State, Armed conflict in Burma -- offensives
Language:
English
more
Description:
"ADVOCATING AND AMPLIFYING THE VOICE OF THE ROHINGYA WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, GOVERNMENTS, CORPORATIONS, AND CIVIL SOCIETY...The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group from the northern Rakhine State in western Burma. Despite having lived in Burma for generations, the Rohingya are considered ?foreigners” by the Burmese government.
The Burmese government has isolated the 1.3 million Rohingya in Burma. Burma?s 1982 Citizenship Act denies the Rohingya people citizenship. They are limited in their rights to marry, have children, work, obtain healthcare, and go to school.
Fleeing violence, over 140,000 Rohingya live in what many describe as ?concentration camps” where they face severe restrictions and are denied basic necessities including medical care. Since 2012, an estimated 100,000 Rohingya have fled Burma by boat. Apart from the risk of drowning, many of those who flee fall into the hands of human traffickers, and are forced to work on rubber plantations or in the sex trade.
Ultranationalist groups in Burma have also dehumanized the Rohingya through rampant hate speech. This demonization of the Rohingya, coupled with the government?s denial of their rights, has created an environment in Burma that, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, puts the Rohingya at grave risk of mass atrocities and even genocide..."
Date of entry/update:
2017-11-16
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burma Action Groups, Expatriate Groups, Round Tables etc.
Language:
English
more
Description:
Tools for humanitarian assistance..."For up-to-date relevant information including maps, contact list, initial assessment form and 3W data...3W maps/reports for 2012 can be found HERE.
268 organizations were contacted to provide inputs for this round of the 3W (Who is doing what, where) exercise. Amongst them, 87 agencies provided updates – (1) Embassy/Donor (3) Red Cross societies, (12) UN Agencies, (25) LNGOs and (46) INGOs. The 3W products reflect implementing agencies? projects in 329 townships, 4,089 village tract and 11,479 villages throughout the country...".....If this site does not have the latest situation reports, go to the Alternate URL - the OCHA myanmar page at http://reliefweb.int/country/mmr
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU)
Date of entry/update:
2012-07-04
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
English
more
Description:
"...This week, Myanmar’s government issued two presidential directives in response to the ICJ’s January order that the government and military prevent genocide of the Rohingya Muslim ethnic group and preserve evidence of crimes that could amount to genocide.The court ordered Myanmar to report on its compliance by May 23 and then every six months while Gambia’s case alleging that abuses against the Rohingya violated the Genocide Convention proceeds...."
Source/publisher:
Human Right Watch
Date of publication:
2020-04-09
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-12
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Description:
Timely reports on the humanitarian situation in Myanmar - from UN, Government and media sources.
Source/publisher:
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
Date of entry/update:
2012-07-31
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Humanitarian assistance - emergencies, Humanitarian assistance to Burma -- contact lists and mixed content, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Language:
English
more
Description:
Various articles, photos videos, profiles, campaigns etc. on the Rohingya. Unfortunately, the material is not precisely dated.
Source/publisher:
Restless Beings
Date of entry/update:
2014-08-21
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
English
more
Description:
News and articles about Rohingya, ရိုဟင်ဂျာ အကြောင်း သတင်းနှင့် ဆောင်းပါးများ
Source/publisher:
Rohingya Blogger (RB)
Date of entry/update:
2012-08-11
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Burma/Myanmar Politics blogs, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Rakhine (Arakanese) - cultural, political
Language:
Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
more
Description:
Several recent stories on the Rohingyas
Source/publisher:
Al Jazeera
Date of entry/update:
2017-09-03
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
"Democracy Now"
Date of entry/update:
2018-02-07
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Description:
1600+ results - December 2012; 2500 - August 2013
Source/publisher:
"New Age" (Bangladesh)
Date of entry/update:
2012-12-24
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
United Nations Information Centre, Yangon
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-18
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
Judgement of the Peoples? Tribunal on Myanmar...
Rohingya: The silence of Aung San Suu Kyi and the betrayal of human rights...Rohingya crisis ruled as genocide by Permanent Peoples? Tribunal...17 RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE PEOPLES? TRIBUNAL ON MYANMAR...PRELIMINARY JUDGMENT AND DISPOSITIONS...VIDEO OF JUDGMENT?S ANNOUNCEMENT (22.SEPT.2017)
Source/publisher:
Permanent Peoples? Tribunal
Date of entry/update:
2017-11-26
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Rights of indigenous peoples - international bodies, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
English
more
Description:
The Rohingya Issues written by Jacques P Leider.
31 books.
Jacques P Leider
Source/publisher:
"Academia.edu" (USA)
Date of publication:
2019-10-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-30
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
more
Description:
Extensive and wide-ranging online collection of useful documents. The archive ends in October 2016 when Network Myanmar closed. The main link here, however, contains some updates beyond the 2016 cut-off.
Source/publisher:
Network Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2014-09-25
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. - academic, library and think-tank sources and individual scholars, Arakanese/Rakhine/Rohingya history
Language:
English
more
Description:
Reports from October 2007
Source/publisher:
UN Country Team in Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2013-04-30
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Individual Documents
Description:
"Summary / Description
This Gender Analysis Snapshot highlights key gender findings and priority actions emerging from a Rapid Gender Analysis conducted by a local member organisation of the Myanmar Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group. The analysis draws on participatory research with more than 300 respondents across several townships in Central Rakhine State, including focus group discussions, key informant interviews and community mapping exercises.
The snapshot provides insights into gender roles, vulnerabilities and protection risks affecting women, men, girls, boys and LGBTIQ+ persons in conflict-affected communities. It highlights how restrictive gender norms, movement constraints and deteriorating economic conditions are shaping access to resources, livelihoods and decision-making.
Designed as a practical reference for humanitarian actors, the snapshot translates locally generated evidence into key gender insights and priority actions to support more inclusive and gender-responsive humanitarian programming in Myanmar.
About the Myanmar Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group
The Myanmar Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group promotes gender-responsive humanitarian action in Myanmar. It brings together women-led organisations, NGOs, UN agencies and other partners and is co-led by UN Women and UNFPA..."
Source/publisher:
Asia Pacific Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, UN Women via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2026-03-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UN Women, Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
269.6 KB
more
Sub-title:
World Court Concludes Hearings in Gambia’s Landmark Action Against Myanmar
Description:
"On January 29, the three-week hearings on the merits of Gambia’s genocide case against Myanmar before the International Court of Justice came to a close. The case, filed in 2019, alleges that Myanmar’s atrocities against ethnic Rohingya in 2016 and 2017 violate the Genocide Convention of 1948.
During the hearings, Gambia argued that the extreme brutality, pervasive sexual violence, targeting of children, and widespread burning and destruction of villages by Myanmar’s military against the Rohingya population are among the indicators of genocidal intent: to destroy the Rohingya, in whole or in part, on the basis of their identity as a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
Judges also heard direct testimony in closed session from Rohingya from the villages of Min Gyi (Tula Toli), Chut Pyin, and Maung Nu in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State. They recounted children being shot, stabbed, and thrown in fires, as well as gang rape and families forced into burning buildings, atrocities that the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and others had previously reported.
Myanmar was represented at the hearings by Ko Ko Hlaing and Thida Oo, whom the United States, Canada, and other governments have sanctioned for their roles as ministers in the military junta. They argued that the 2016-2017 military operations were targeted counterterrorism operations and that no genocidal intent can be established.
Rohingya watching in the courtroom and from afar have long sought accountability for military atrocities, particularly as Rohingya remaining in Myanmar still face grave risk. Since the 2021 military coup, the junta has committed widespread abuses nationwide.
The case “is not about esoteric issues of international law,” Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said in his opening remarks. “It is about real people, real stories and a real group of human beings, the Rohingya of Myanmar.” They dream of being able to live in peace and safety in their homeland, he said. “Myanmar has denied them that dream. In fact, it turned their lives into a nightmare, subjecting them to the most horrific violence and destruction one could imagine.”
While a judgment in the case is not expected for at least six months, the hearings marked a critical moment in the Rohingya’s pursuit of justice, with accounts of their suffering being heard by the world’s top court..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2026-01-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) unequivocally condemns the recent airstrike by Myanmar’s military on Kyauk Ni Maw village in Rakhine State on 9 January 2025; and the continuing bombing of other cities like Kyauktaw and Ponnagyun.
As of 9 January 2025, this devastating attack, which claimed the lives of at least 41 civilians, including women and children, and left more than 52 others injured, demonstrates the junta’s escalating violence and blatant disregard for human life. Due to the cutoff of internet and mobile phone services, communication and the provision of medical assistance have become even more difficult, with uncertainty about when the next attack might occur. This has significantly increased the likelihood of further deaths. Over 500 homes were destroyed in the aftermath, leaving a community in ruins and intensifying Myanmar’s growing humanitarian crisis.
The airstrike, targeting an area under the control of the Arakan Army, follows an alarming pattern of military operations deliberately aimed at civilians in ethnic minority regions. The Myanmar junta’s indiscriminate use of violence against ethnic groups and pro-democracy movements further underscores its contempt for international humanitarian law and universally recognised human rights norms.
“This atrocity is yet another stark reminder of the Myanmar military’s systematic brutality and its targeted assaults on civilians, especially in ethnic minority areas,” said Mercy Chriesty Barends, APHR Co-Chairperson and member of Indonesia’s House of Representatives.
“Enough is enough! ASEAN and the international community can no longer turn a blind eye to these crimes. Decisive action must be taken to hold the junta accountable and end the relentless suffering of Myanmar’s people, “ she added.
The massacre in Kyauk Ni Maw is part of a broader trajectory of violence that has persisted since the junta’s unlawful coup in February 2021. These crimes include widespread airstrikes, arbitrary detentions, and systematic attacks on ethnic and religious minorities. Millions have been displaced, impoverished, and left at risk of starvation, compounding an already dire humanitarian situation.
APHR expresses profound concern over ASEAN’s continuing failure to address the crisis effectively. Despite a series of statements and initiatives, the regional bloc has yet to implement meaningful measures to hold the junta accountable for its egregious actions.
Wong Chen, APHR Board Member and member of the Malaysian Parliament urged bold measures: “ASEAN must suspend Myanmar’s participation in all meetings, isolate the military diplomatically, and devise a comprehensive strategy to dismantle the junta’s machinery of terror. Silence is complicity, and ASEAN’s credibility as a regional organisation is at stake.”
With the upcoming ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM) Retreat in Langkawi on 18–19 January 2025, APHR emphasises the urgent need to prioritise the atrocities in Myanmar on the agenda. Rangsiman Rome, APHR Board Member and member of Thailand’s Parliament stressed, “These atrocities must not be treated as business as usual. ASEAN has a responsibility to act decisively and demonstrate that it values justice and human dignity.”
ASEAN’s unique position as a neighbouring bloc with direct influence on Myanmar demands leadership in addressing these atrocities. Arlene D. Brosas, APHR Board Member and member of the Philippines House of Representatives, pointedly stated, “The resilience of Myanmar’s people in the face of unimaginable cruelty is remarkable. But resilience should not be mistaken for an absence of suffering. The world owes it to them to act decisively and deliver justice.”
APHR calls on the United Nations and the broader international community to escalate targeted sanctions against the junta’s leadership and their revenue streams, including the natural gas sector. Humanitarian assistance must be significantly expanded, particularly for ethnic minority regions such as Rakhine, to ensure immediate relief for those in need.
APHR reaffirms its unwavering solidarity with the people of Myanmar. The organisation calls for urgent, coordinated action to end these atrocities, hold perpetrators accountable for crimes against humanity, and restore democracy and civilian rule in Myanmar. ###..."
Source/publisher:
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
Date of entry/update:
2025-01-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"In the afternoon of Wednesday 8th January, air strikes carried out by Myanmar’s military junta struck the village of Kyauk Ni Maw, in Ramree Township in the country’s Rakhine (also known as Arakan) state, killing at least 41 civilians and injuring 52 more.
The targeted village is predominantly Muslim and under the control of the Arakan Army (AA), an armed group in Western Rakhine. The attack caused widespread damage and devastation to the area, igniting fires which destroyed over 500 homes. According to locals, there were numerous women, children and elderly residents among the victims.
It was also reported that the situation in Kyauk Ni Maw cannot be independently confirmed, as access to the internet and mobile phone services in the area has been largely cut off.
U Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the AA has denounced the attacks, claiming it as a war crime. He stated that “Assaulting unarmed civilians in an area free from conflict is explicitly a war crime.”
The AA is one of countless armed groups engaged in combat with the Myanmar military junta across the country. The AA is currently battling the junta for control of Rakhine, where it has already captured swathes of territory within the last year.
Rakhine state has experienced the highest numbers of civilian casualties in the country since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi‘s civilian government in a military coup in February 2021, which ignited a national armed uprising and the development of countless armed factions.
Since 1 February 2021, AOAV has recorded an 857% increase in civilian casualties in Myanmar, from 353 to 3,379, 28% (1,930) of which were recorded in Rakhine. Between 2021 and 2024, the military junta has intensified its air strikes across the country, for example, the number of airstrikes increased by 2,563%, from 8 to 213 between 2021 to 2024. The number of civilian casualties as a result has increased by 3,145%, from 62 to 2,012 between the same time period.
Overall 2024 was the most harmful year since AOAV records began in 2010, overtaking 2023, which had previously been Myanmar’s most violent year. In 2024, AOAV recorded 451 incidents of explosive violence in Myanmar, resulting in 3,776 casualties, 89% (3,379) of which were civilians (1,494 killed and 1,885 injured). The military junta accounted for 88% of civilian casualties in 2024, whereas non-state actors accounted for 9% of civilian casualties.
So far in the first nine days of January 2025, AOAV has recorded 4 incidents of explosive violence, resulting in 83 casualties, 80% (66) of which were civilians (44 killed and 22 injured), this figure is mainly comprised of casualties from the attack on Kyauk Ni Maw village. The numbers of civilian casualties in Myanmar are expected to continue rising as the year goes on, with the conflict showing no sign of de-escalation and civilian casualties increasing year on year.
AOAV’s casualty figures represent the lowest of estimations in terms of the number of people killed and injured by explosive weapon use. In an effort to quantify the explicit harm caused by specific explosive weapons, AOAV solely records incident-specific casualty figures, as reported in English-language media.
AOAV condemns the use of violence against civilians and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. All actors should stop using explosive weapons with wide-area effects where there is likely to be a high concentration of civilians..."
Source/publisher:
Action on Armed Violence (London) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2025-01-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
End Pushbacks; Allow Access to Registration, Medical Care, Assistance
Description:
"(Bangkok) – Bangladeshi authorities should allow Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar to obtain protection and humanitarian assistance, Human Rights Watch said today. An estimated 18,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in recent months to escape abuses amid the surging fighting between Myanmar’s military junta and the ethnic Arakan Army, while another 10,000 are reportedly waiting at the border. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) forces have pushed back thousands of Rohingya since early August 2024.
On September 23, Bangladeshi security forces arrested an estimated 100 Rohingya refugees in a raid on shelters where new arrivals were staying, as well as about 30 who were crossing the Naf River. They forcibly returned the refugees to Myanmar the following day, saying they were acting under orders.
“Bangladeshi authorities need to allow Rohingya fleeing renewed attacks in Myanmar to enter the country and ensure that they receive protection and aid,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The recent arrivals are in urgent need of food and medicine but are afraid that seeking assistance will put them at risk of being forcibly returned to Myanmar.”
Human Rights Watch in August and September 2024 interviewed 10 Rohingya who recently entered Bangladesh, as well as humanitarian workers and Bangladeshi border authorities. Refugees described being denied entry by border guard officers, forcing them to turn to smugglers to escape threats to their lives and safety in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.
Bangladesh has not registered any new arrivals, leaving them without access to food rations and health care and at constant risk of being forcibly returned to Myanmar. Bangladeshi authorities should urgently collaborate with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to register new Rohingya refugees.
In recent months, the Myanmar military and Arakan Army have committed mass killings, arson, and unlawful recruitment against Rohingya in Rakhine State. About 630,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar under a system of apartheid that leaves them especially vulnerable to renewed fighting. The conflict has displaced more than 320,000 people in Rakhine State and southern Chin State since hostilities resumed in November 2023. Dozens of Rohingya have drowned while fleeing as overcrowded boats capsized. On September 23, most of the 18 passengers on a boat reportedly drowned after it capsized in the Naf River.
Bangladesh already hosts about one million Rohingya refugees and authorities say that the country is not able to accept any more. Muhammad Yunus, who is leading the interim government, has called on donors and international partners to fast-track third-country settlement and increase humanitarian assistance.
While Yunus has acknowledged that sending Rohingya back to Myanmar means “pushing them to death,” the BGB has ramped up forced returns since the escalation of fighting in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw township in early August. The border guards have set up at least one new site in the Teknaf border region to detain refugees slated for return. A Bangladeshi border guard official told Human Rights Watch they had pushed back 6,000 Rohingya since August 5.
Border guard forces have also reportedly detained unaccompanied children and returned them to Myanmar. Bangladesh should engage the UNHCR to assist in the urgent identification and reunification of families, Human Rights Watch said.
Bangladesh is obligated to respect the international law principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture, or other serious ill-treatment, or a threat to life. This principle is codified in the UN Convention against Torture, to which Bangladesh is a party, and in customary international law.
Rohingya refugees told Human Rights Watch that smugglers demanded everything in their possession, even spare clothing, as payment to take them to Bangladesh. A refugee from Maungdaw said that in August, Bangladeshi border guards provided him and four family members with food and water but refused their boat entry. He paid Bangladeshi smugglers with his wife’s gold jewelry, who then brought them across the border by bribing the border guards. “It’s a business for them,” he said. “When we are living in between death and life.” There were also reports of smugglers, after being paid, abandoning Rohingya before reaching Bangladesh’s mainland.
Many recent arrivals are sheltering with relatives, often hiding out due to fear of forced return or harassment at checkpoints. “We are hiding and unable to leave the shelter,” said a 28-year-old Rohingya man who entered Bangladesh in July along with six family members. “Security forces have already set up multiple checkpoints and have said that no new Rohingya refugees will be allowed in the camps. We are hungry and desperate because the UN agencies have not included us in their database or provided food rations.”
A Bangladeshi foreign ministry official told Reuters that the government had not decided whether to register recent arrivals: “If we decide to register them, it could open the floodgates, and that’s something we can’t afford. But at the same time, how long can we ignore this issue?”
A humanitarian worker said that some newly arrived Rohingya have been denied access to health services due to lack of documentation, despite aid agencies’ policies that all refugees should be granted access to medical care, regardless of registration status.
Unregistered refugees said that they were too fearful to seek health care for illnesses or injuries. A man who arrived in early August said that when his 6-month-old son became sick, the family was unable to obtain adequate medical care “because we are not registered, and instead had to go to a quack doctor.” A 53-year-old Rohingya woman said that she had to consult an expensive private physician when she was ill. “I didn’t try to go to the NGO-run hospitals because I heard that they don’t allow anyone without a refugee medical record book, which I don’t have,” she said.
New arrivals also expressed fear that armed groups or criminal gangs would abduct or extort them. Violence in the camps has surged, with groups like the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) carrying out killings, kidnappings, forced recruitment, and robberies.
A 24-year-old Rohingya man said: “We faced a lot of trouble and difficulties in Myanmar due to the fighting among the Arakan Army, military, RSO, ARSA, and the Arakan Rohingya Army, which eventually forced us to flee to Bangladesh. But there are turf wars between Rohingya armed groups inside the camp, so we still have to worry about our safety and live in constant fear of being recruited by these armed groups.”
Humanitarian workers said that as the Arakan Army has been expanding its control over Rakhine State, the Rohingya armed groups that had backed the Myanmar military are returning to the refugee camps, where they are fighting for control.
Bangladeshi authorities should work with the UNHCR to register new refugees so they can safely access medical care, food rations, and protection services, Human Rights Watch said. Critical health services should be provided to all new arrivals without any documentation requirements. Donors, including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and Australia, should increase funding to meet the massive needs of the refugee population to help Bangladesh support the Rohingya and host communities.
The UN Security Council should adopt measures to prevent further atrocities in Rakhine State and make progress toward durable solutions for the Rohingya, Human Rights Watch said. The council should end its inaction in the face of anticipated vetoes by China and Russia and negotiate a resolution to institute a global arms embargo on Myanmar, refer the situation to the International Criminal Court, and impose targeted sanctions on the junta and military-owned conglomerates.
“International will to press for a rights-respecting government in Myanmar is crucial for a lasting solution to the Rohingya crisis,” Ganguly said. “Instead of quiet diplomacy that achieves little, governments need to coordinate and adopt strong measures to place real pressure on the junta to end its abuses.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-09-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Since early 2024, fighting in northern Rakhine state has led to the worst attacks on the Rohingya population since 2017, when Myanmar’s military drove more than 750,000 across the border into Bangladesh. The new attacks are a stark reminder of the Rohingyas’ vulnerability. The world has known about their plight for decades, and in 2024, only 636,000 Rohingya — or 23 percent of the 2.8 million Rohingya around the world — still live in their homeland, Myanmar.
Since early 2024, fighting in northern Rakhine state has led to the worst attacks on the Rohingya population since 2017, when Myanmar’s military drove more than 750,000 across the border into Bangladesh. The new attacks are a stark reminder of the Rohingyas’ vulnerability. The world has known about their plight for decades, and in 2024, only 636,000 Rohingya — or 23 percent of the 2.8 million Rohingya around the world — still live in their homeland, Myanmar.
These figures are from a new report by Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) on the global Rohingya community. Behind the Wire offers an alarming illustration of the devastating impact of prolonged discrimination and persecution on the entire group. This persecution intensified in the 1980s when Myanmar’s military regime deliberately rendered the Rohingya stateless. Since then, their statelessness has been passed down from one generation to the next. The majority of Rohingya children are now born outside Myanmar and have never known their homeland. By the end of this decade, only one in five will be born in Myanmar.
The four countries where most exiled Rohingya now live are Bangladesh, with 1.1 million; Pakistan, with 400,000; Saudi Arabia, with 340,000; and Malaysia, with 210,000.
MSF estimates that only one percent of the total Rohingya population has managed to obtain a passport, citizenship or resettlement in a country where they have no fear of arrest and abuse. Most others are contained or marginalized by harmful policies that deny them basic human rights and self-determination, both in Myanmar and elsewhere. Fifty-seven percent live in barbed-wire-fenced camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar, or in closed villages in Myanmar where apartheid-like conditions are the norm.
While most international attention focuses on the Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh, the overall situation of the 2.8 million Rohingya has been deteriorating, says MSF, negatively impacting the community’s ability to cope with the consequences of exclusion from citizenship and a place in the world. There is no credible international dialogue underway that addresses the Rohingya as a people scattered around the world. International attention tends to focus on immediate humanitarian and conflict-related crises and, as MSF points out, broader perspectives are largely ignored.
Of course, the current crises in Arakan and Bangladesh do deserve full attention, but they should be considered part of the search for comprehensive solutions for the entire group.
The Current Crisis in Arakan
Military forces of the State Administration Council (SAC) — Myanmar’s illegitimate regime — are gradually retreating from Rakhine (or Arakan as it is increasingly called). With most of Arakan under control of the Arakan Army (AA), the key question is how to achieve the kind of stability needed to ensure that all Arakan’speoplecan live in peace and harmony and lead safe and productive lives. Shifting from military control to civilian governance is always a tall order, but in the case of Arakan, trust between its two main communities, the Rakhine and the Rohingya, has suffered serious setbacks since the start of the AA’s current campaign in November 2023, making this transition even more difficult.
Although the SAC is losing the war in Arakan, it has won an important battle. It has successfully employed its tried-and-tested divide-and-rule strategy, not only deepening the divide between the Arakan and Rohingya communities, but also creating a split that has brought some Rohingya armed groups to the SAC’s side. Both the AA and SAC have increased their recruitment of Rohingya fighters. In both cases, reports indicate that many have been forcibly recruited, particularly by Rohingya militias aligned with the SAC.
Although the SAC is losing the war in Arakan, it has won an important battle.
These militias — Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA), Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) — have long been unpopular with most Rohingya. Earlier this year, as the war in northern Arakan escalated, it became abundantly clear that the militias worked closely with the SAC to forcibly recruit young Rohingya from the camps in Bangladesh and traffic them into the hands of the military regime. Some sources say that as many as 2,000 crossed the border into Myanmar. It is highly unlikely that this could have been done without the knowledge of senior officials in Bangladesh.
Tragically, Rohingya have been forced to fight on both sides of the conflict. This complicated and brutal warfare has contributed significantly to the thick fog of war in northern Arakan. Many individuals have provided information and evidence to help piece together a complex conflict puzzle, sometimes at great personal risk. Their efforts must be acknowledged. However, as of mid-September, none of the conflict parties (SAC, AA, RSO, ARA and ARSA) has released information about the number of fatalities or wounded.
At the same time, civilian casualties are said to be high, which would be consistent with reports from other parts of Myanmar, showing shocking disregard for the laws of war and humanitarian law. The willful destruction of entire villages and towns, critical infrastructure and the targeting of schools, clinics and houses of worship demonstrate a total lack of respect for human life.
Serious allegations have been lodged against all parties, but verification has been problematic mostly due to the lack of independent access to conflict areas. A truth deficit remains, and an independent assessment mission will be necessary to obtain a more complete picture of what happened since early 2024, particularly in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships.
To establish a credible record, the cooperation of all conflict parties will be needed. Moreover, an independent mission should examine the impact of violent conflict on all ethnic communities in Arakan. While the Rohingya are the largest population group in northern Arakan, there are many others, such as the Rakhine, Hindus, Maramagyi, Mro, Thet and Kaman. Amid the flood of information coming out of northern Arakan, details about the impact of conflict on some of these groups have been scant.
With most of Arakan now under AA’s military control, its civilian branch, the United League of Arakan (ULA), may soon have an opportunity to share proposals to operationalize what the group calls “The Way of Rakhita,” its, until now, fairly vague vision for a future Arakan. In an interview with The Diplomat in early September, AA commander Twan Mrat Naing said, “We are always in favor of repatriation [of Rohingya Muslims] in principle, and there should be voluntary, dignified and safe repatriation under conducive conditions.” That is a welcome statement, but it remains to be seen what specific proposals the ULA will present. Will they envisage an inclusive Arakan, one where all ethnic communities can find a place they can call home, based on equality and respect? One thing is clear: without dismantling the apartheid system — put in place by successive regimes — genuine progress will remain out of reach.
It is important to acknowledge that for decades, the Rohingya have borne the brunt of violence and oppression in Arakan. However, the justifiable fears and grievances of all other communities must also be recognized and addressed. Without dialogue and understanding among all groups, progress will be limited.
Equally, it must be clear that there are no quick fixes. Arakan has multiple crises: a security crisis, an economic and development crisis, and a human rights crisis. Much of the state’s critical infrastructure has been destroyed, while outward flight has depleted essential human resources in critical sectors, including agriculture. Food security is no longer guaranteed, the toll on all ethnic communities is significant and the destruction of entire villages and livelihoods has led to incalculable economic damage. The United Nations reports that 533,000 people in Arakan are now displaced, while many others have fled.
Given the enormous destruction of human and economic capital, a long-term recovery plan will be needed—one that addresses not only the economy but also the restoration of inter-communal relations, including a transitional justice plan. Discussions about transitional justice are always difficult, particularly when suffering continues. Reconciliation cannot succeed unless all are prepared to listen to others’ fears and grievances. Postponing dialogue risks making matters worse.
In the case of the Rohingya, the all-important issue of citizenship will be high on the agenda, and in addition, freedom of movement will also be critically important. The lack of freedom of movement infringes on many other rights, including access to livelihoods, education, health care and religious worship. In other words, addressing lack of freedom of movement paves the way for the enjoyment of many other rights.
The Current Crisis in Bangladesh
For Rohingya in refugee camps in Bangladesh, 2024 has been an exceedingly difficult year. With the violence and insecurity in camps increasing and enforced abductions leaving behind terrified families of hundreds of young men, trauma is widespread, and hope has dimmed.
Given the major destruction and displacement in Arakan, the immediate returns of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh will not be possible. However, Bangladesh, Arakan’s leadership and the Rohingya should start discussions about how returns might ultimately take place. Fostering hope is critical, as is ensuring that Rohingya repatriation becomes part of Arakan’s longer-term recovery plan. In this context, the recent statement by Bangladesh’s head of government, Mohammed Yunus, is encouraging. He pledged continued support for the Rohingya and their “eventual repatriation to their homeland, Myanmar, with safety, dignity and full rights.”
To improve the situation in the camps near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh and its international partners should consider enabling greater freedom of movement, improving access to livelihoods, allowing the use of sturdier building materials and providing education to all Rohingya children and young people in the camps. There could hardly be a greater gift from Bangladesh to Arakan than the education of young Rohingya.
Additionally, there is one immediate recommendation for Bangladesh. It would be an act of great humanity and neighborliness to facilitate the establishment of a humanitarian corridor into Maungdaw district. Reducing the severe shortages of humanitarian supplies in Arakan would not only directly aid all communities but also significantly contribute to stabilizing the current situation.
Looking Ahead
Even though bilateral relations are important for addressing issues between immediate neighbors like Bangladesh and Myanmar, the insistence on a state-centric approach — one that dictates that faraway Naypyidaw should be the entry point for all contacts between states — has increasingly lost relevance.
The AA’s de facto territorial control demands greater pragmatism in the conduct of interstate relations. Myanmar’s western neighbors should begin to accept this reality and reach out to Arakan’s leadership, particularly to the United League of Arakan (ULA), the civilian arm of the Arakan Army. The SAC regime in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, is not only far from Arakan but has also lost control over much of Myanmar. Pragmatism is particularly urgent to ensure immediate humanitarian access and assistance.
At the same time, important questions about atrocities committed in Arakan remain, particularly in Buthidaung and Maungdaw. ULA/AA’s willingness to cooperate with an independent investigation might help to overcome the understandable reluctance of key players.
Another major issue is the future of the Rohingya as a people. As the new MSF report shows, the situation of most Rohingya around the world is deeply troubling. Limiting responses to mostly short-term humanitarian issues while ignoring the longer-term plight of a community of 2.8 million has been a failure of the international community. A new initiative is needed — one that addresses the Rohingya community as a whole, focusing on improving their immediate needs as well as their future. Obviously, highly sensitive issues will have to be addressed. One of these, mentioned by MSF, could be the acceptance that not all Rohingya will return to Arakan, particularly descendants of older generations who left 20 to 40 years ago and have never seen their homeland. But such questions can only be addressed as part of a comprehensive effort to do justice to the Rohingya people and their plight.
A new comprehensive effort could be based on the Global Compact on Refugees, which represents the political will and ambition of the international community for strengthened cooperation and solidarity with refugees and affected home countries. It is based on four principles: (i) enhancing refugee self-reliance, (ii) easing pressure on host countries, (iii) supporting conditions in countries of origin and (iv) expanding access to refugees’ countries of origin..."
Source/publisher:
United States Institute of Peace
Date of entry/update:
2024-09-25
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Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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"Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in Bangladesh marked the seven-year anniversary of displacement from their homes in neighboring Myanmar on Aug. 25, 2024. It was a somber occasion for the long-persecuted Myanmarese Muslim minority, who have faced dire living conditions while clustered into the world’s most crowded refugee camps.
Since 2017, their status has been continually challenged by both intermittent hostility from within Bangladesh and an ongoing civil war in Myanmar, during which the military government has continued to crack down on the Rohingya’s homeland in Rakhine state.
But recent events in Bangladesh may offer a glimmer of hope for the Rohingya. Months of political unrest led to the ouster of the authoritarian prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, whose government failed to find a solution to the refugee problem.
The new interim government leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has pledged to defend their rights as refugees and work to secure their eventual repatriation.
As a scholar who has written about the Rohingya crisis and spent time in the refugee camps, I believe the odds are still stacked against the Rohingya. Policymakers must contend not only with growing hostility among Bangladesh’s local population and the ongoing Myanmarese civil war, but also with an underappreciated third factor that challenges a political resolution to the crisis: ongoing and growing violence and infighting among Rohingya refugees.
Murder, rape and kidnapping
More than 750,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in August 2017 after facing a brutal government crackdown. Since then, around 235 Rohingyas have been killed in refugee camps in Bangladesh. In addition, there have been dozens of cases of rape against Rohingya girls and women and scores of kidnappings recorded by the Bangladeshi authorities.
The killing of high-profile people among the refugee population, including the 2021 assassination of Mohib Ullah, a moderate Rohingya leader, has contributed to spiraling violence in the camp.
Such violence, combined with dire humanitarian conditions, have led to a security vacuum in the camp that has been filled by various Rohingya armed groups, operating with divergent goals and methods but creating something of a turf clash embroiling the refugees living there.
Armed groups in the camps
Out of 11 known active armed Rohingya groups – some of which were engaged in the insurgency in Rakhine state against Myanmar’s central government prior to crossing the border – five are heavily implicated in violent activities in the camps.
The most prominent of these is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Formed in northern Rakhine state in 2016, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army gained prominence after attacking Myanmar security forces in October 2016 and August 2017, prompting the government crackdowns on, and exodus of, Rohingya.
Government troops killed an estimated 25,000 Rohingyas and forced more than 750,000 from the state in a campaign that led much of the international community to label the violence a genocide.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attempt to establish control over the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh has led to a backlash from other groups vying for their own foothold, including the Rohingya Solidarity Organization – a long-dormant group that reemerged in Bangladesh in 2021 with support from Bangladeshi security agencies.
Two other groups with links to drug trafficking and other illegal trade — the formerly Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army-affiliated Master Munna Group and the Nobi Hossain Group, which is nominally aligned with the Rohingya Solidarity Organization — have added to the infighting. Meanwhile, the Islami Mahaj group seeks to recruit members in the camp through its Islamist agenda.
Trafficking and drugs
The displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees has provided criminal groups with opportunities to expand their activities. Since 2017, illegal trade across the Myanmar-Bangladesh border has flourished, as has the flow of arms from Myanmar and India, the smuggling of Yaba pills – a kind of methamphetamine – and other drugs, trafficking of women and children, and the illegal sale of relief goods.
Rohingya refugees fled across the border to Bangladesh
Organizations like the Master Munna and Nobi Hossain groups are involved in racketeering, extortion and smuggling in the refugee camps and clash with each other to establish dominance over territory.
During my fieldwork in the camps, I have observed how panic can engulf refugee populations, especially after high-profile murders, as residents fear reprisal attacks and more clashes between the armed groups. As a result, thousands of Rohingya have frequently relocated their stay from one camp to another in search of safety.
Fighting benefits Myanmar’s military
Alongside the toll this violence takes on the victims, the infighting — and the criminal activities of armed Rohingya groups — exacts a political cost for the refugees.
Myanmar uses the fighting as a pretext to blame Bangladesh for ongoing unrest and to defend its treatment of the Rohingya as a legitimate security rationale. In September 2020, Myanmar’s representatives at the United Nations General Assembly accused Bangladesh’s government of harboring “terrorists,” a contention that Bangladeshi diplomats strongly denied.
The violence has also encouraged hostility among Bangladeshis toward the refugees, who are increasingly perceived as troublemakers and criminals.
Meanwhile, nongovernmental organizations and aid workers have been hampered in their ability to deliver services to refugees and civilians in the camps. And an already weary donor community sees risks in the growing militancy and criminality in the camps.
Old tension takes new shape
Tensions between various Rohingya refugee communities isn’t new. Prior to 2017, there were already problems between those registered with the UN’s refugee agency in Bangladesh and living in official camps, and those who were not registered and living in makeshift camps.
But recently, I have observed open hostility between earlier generations of Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh in 1978 and 1991-1992 and the newcomers from the 2017 exodus. What’s different and particularly alarming now is that these tensions started escalating into deadly violence after 2017.
The violence and killing in the camps involve, by my estimate, roughly 5,000 people. It represents a small fraction of the 1.3 million Rohingya refugees overall – including both those who fled before and during the 2017 exodus. But the actions of this minority have been incredibly damaging for the Rohingya and their future; it jeopardizes vital regional and global support and makes eventual repatriation to Myanmar more uncertain.
The change in government in Bangladesh does offer an opportunity for the Rohingya, especially if the incoming administration sticks by pledges to bolster the country’s judicial institutions and protect minority groups. But unrest in the camps will only add to the problems facing the new government and could undermine support for a solution to the Rohingya crisis.
The fear is it may condemn Bangladesh’s Rohingya minority to many more years in uncertain and increasingly violent conditions..."
Source/publisher:
"The Conversation" (Melbourne)
Date of entry/update:
2024-09-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Title: Interim Government of Bangladesh Must Adopt Human Rights-Based Measures for Rohingya Refugees
Description:
"Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
In light of the escalating violence between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Burmese military junta in Rakhine State, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) calls for urgent and decisive action by the interim government of Bangladesh to ensure the protection and rights of Rohingya refugees. The ongoing conflict has forced many Rohingya to undertake perilous journeys to escape violence, only to face tragic outcomes, including drowning and pushbacks by Bangladesh authorities.
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK extends its sincere gratitude to the government of Bangladesh for its ongoing efforts to host over a million Rohingya refugees, providing them with shelter and safety amid one of the world’s most protracted humanitarian crises. We also commend Muhammad Yunus, the interim leader of Bangladesh, for his recent commitment, expressed in his first major policy address, to continue supporting the Rohingya community. His pledge underscores the critical role Bangladesh plays in both humanitarian support and economic stability.
“The world is closely observing Bangladesh’s response to the Rohingya refugee crisis. The interim government has a crucial opportunity to affirm its commitment to human rights by immediately halting pushbacks and ensuring that all refugees receive the protection and support guaranteed by international law,” said Tun Khin, President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK. “This is a defining moment for Bangladesh to act with urgency and restore the dignity and safety of those who have endured unimaginable suffering.”
The plight of Rohingya refugees is exacerbated by the dangerous sea crossings they undertake, fleeing violence only to be met with further suffering. Reports indicate that many boats have capsized or been forcibly returned, violating the principle of non-refoulement as outlined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which prohibits returning individuals to places where they face serious threats.
BROUK urges the interim government of Bangladesh to take the following constructive and necessary measures to address this crisis and safeguard the rights of Rohingya refugees:
End Boat Pushbacks and Uphold Refugee Protection: Immediately cease the practice of pushing back Rohingya boats and ensure that all individuals seeking safety are granted access to protection. This is a fundamental obligation under international law. Bangladesh should ratify the Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
Enhance Humanitarian Support: Remove restrictions on the provision of full education and health services, and construction of decent housing with proper sanitation. Improve livelihood opportunities for refugees, ensuring their basic needs are met and their rights are protected.
Strengthen Security and Prevent Violence: Implement robust measures to protect refugees from violence and exploitation. This involves enhancing security within the refugee camps, preventing recruitment by armed groups, and ensuring that refugees are safe from harm.
Promote Effective International Collaboration: Engage actively with international organisations and human rights bodies to address the needs of Rohingya refugees. Collaboration should focus on creating sustainable solutions for refugee protection and support.
Uphold the Principle of Non-Refoulement: The interim government must strictly adhere to the principle of non-refoulement, prohibiting the return of refugees to a country where they face serious threats. Any plans or discussions regarding repatriation must be suspended until there are verifiable guarantees of safety and human rights protections for the Rohingya in Burma, with comprehensive consultations involving international human rights organizations.
Addressing these critical issues provides the interim government with a vital chance to affirm its dedication to human rights and international norms.
We also call on the international community to fully fund the humanitarian needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, which donors have consistently failed to do.
“The interim government must seize this moment to enact meaningful, rights-respecting measures for Rohingya refugees and the international community must provide funding and other support to ensure this happens. Bangladesh’s leadership is essential to ensuring justice and protection for those in need,” said Tun Khin, President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.
The interim government of Bangladesh has a unique opportunity to transform its approach towards Rohingya refugees. By adopting these recommendations, Bangladesh can demonstrate its commitment to upholding the dignity and safety of some of the world’s most vulnerable people..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of entry/update:
2024-09-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Description:
"The Arakan Army (AA) says its troops have penetrated Maung Shwe Lay Naval Base, the junta’s last remaining stronghold in Thandwe Township, Rakhine State.
“Fighting is raging around Maung Shwe Lay and Kwin Wyne naval bases,” AA spokesman Khaing Thukha told The Irrawaddy.
He said the two bases, located near the world-famous Ngapali Beach, are key naval strongholds in the western coastal province.
AA troops launched the onslaught on Maung Shwe Lay Naval Base in Thabyugyaing after seizing Thandwe town and the adjacent Ngapali Beach last month.
“AA troops have entered parts of the naval base and seized most of it. Junta soldiers around the base have fled their posts and the AA is clearing the area,” a source close to the ethnic army said.
Fighting is also raging in Kyeintali town, around 60 kilometers down the coast from Thandwe.
The junta responded to attacks on Maung Shwe Lay by reinforcing its fleet of four to five patrol boats with naval vessels from Pathein in Ayeyarwady Region. The base now houses around eight Navy boats, according to residents.
The regime has been using the boats to ship reinforcements and artillery supplies, the AA information department reported on Monday.
Junta forces are also conducting aerial attacks on villages surrounding the base as clashes intensify, inflicting civilian casualties, the AA said.
Since launching its Rakhine offensive in November, the AA has seized Pauktaw, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Myebon, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Ramree townships, plus Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State. It has also captured most of Maungdaw Township on the border with Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rakhine (Arakanese) - cultural, political, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
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Description:
"Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
CNN
—
As tears roll down her face and her body shivers with pain, Hamida cradles her 4-year-old daughter and baby boy on her lap, comforting them as they cry for their father.
The 22-year-old ethnic Rohingya is surviving on the kindness of fellow refugees in a camp near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh – and trying to process the horrors she endured in neighboring Myanmar, where a civil war is raging between the country’s military and rebel groups including the Arakan Army.
“After they entered my home, they hit me, beat me, and I was struggling to get free when they raped me,” Hamida says. “For at least one hour, they tied me up.”
Hamida – who asked to only use her first name for fear of reprisals – says seven Arakan Army soldiers gang-raped her during the attack in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state in late July.
“I screamed, so they closed my mouth with their hands,” she says. “They raped me. They beat me with their guns. They kicked me. Still, I can’t move (without) pain.”
During the attack, she says her husband heard her screams and ran into their hut to save her – but he was pinned down and forced to watch.
“They slaughtered my husband after they raped me,” she says. “Four Arakan Army soldiers were holding him down tightly, and one slaughtered him with a big sharp knife.”
CNN can’t independently verify Hamida’s account of the attack – nor those of other survivors who fled to safety across the Naf River, which provides a natural border between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Known as the world’s biggest refugee camp, more than a million Rohingya Muslims are sheltering in makeshift tents near the town of Cox’s Bazar – most of whom fled there in August 2017, after Myanmar’s military killed an estimated 10,000 people in what United Nations experts labeled a genocide.
Now, new arrivals like Hamida are bringing reports of mass murder, bombing attacks on civilians, and burning villages – which bear hallmarks of the 2017 attacks, seven years later. But this time, the ethnic Rakhine rebel group Arakan Army is being blamed for the brutality.
‘It felt like the end of the world’
Witnesses say the deadliest day for attacks was August 5, when an estimated 200 people were killed as drones rained down bombs on those fleeing fighting in the town of Maungdaw.
Videos circulated widely online show piles of bodies – mostly women and children surrounded by their belongings – scattered around a mangrove forest along the shoreline, slaughtered as they tried to board boats to Bangladesh.
Abdul Bashar, a 48-year-old father who survived the drone attacks, says they took place around 6 p.m. that day.
“When we reached the border fence, we saw a large bomb fall on a group of people, killing many of them,” he says. “They were attacking with drones, gunfire, and heavy weapons. It felt like the end of the world.”
Bashar saw his 17-year-old son die, along with his sister, who was killed as she breastfed her 8-month-old daughter.
“I couldn’t look back because bombs were falling heavily,” he said. “I had two of my children with me, and I was bleeding.”
Bashar is now sheltering in a Cox’s Bazar camp with his 10-year-old nephew – whose parents and five siblings died in the attack. The boy survived despite severe shrapnel wounds to his arm.
“I feel that death would be better than living through this,” Bashar said.
A new report from human rights group Fortify Rights urges the International Criminal Court (ICC) to “investigate a massacre of Rohingya civilians perpetrated by the Arakan Army (AA).” A separate report from Human Rights Watch says the attacks “raise the specter of ethnic cleansing.”
In an interview with CNN, Arakan Army spokesperson Khaing Thu Ka denied allegations of atrocities, calling the reports “fake news and disinformation.”
He said AA fighters had “never targeted or killed innocent civilians,” claiming the August 5 drone attacks were carried out by the military.
The Myanmar military blames the AA for the attacks. CNN cannot independently attribute the reports of responsibility or verify the number of people who were killed.
In response to a separate question about Hamida’s testimony of gang rape, the AA’s Khaing Thu Ka said the group would “certainly investigate” her case.
The Rohingya people – a largely Muslim ethnic group with a distinct language and culture – have long been persecuted and denied citizenship in majority-Buddhist Myanmar, with official propaganda describing them as “Bengalis” or “illegal immigrants.” They are also denied official status in Bangladesh, making them known as “the world’s most unwanted people.”
Bangladesh’s new interim chief Muhammad Yunus has promised to continue supporting the Rohingya in his country, but has appealed for the fighting in Myanmar to end so they can return to their homeland with “safety, dignity and full rights.”
Overnight exodus
Tight controls remain in place along the 18-mile (30-kilometer) shoreline of the Naf River snaking between Myanmar and its neighbor – with Bangladeshi border guards under orders to try to keep the fleeing Rohingya out.
Refugees are now using the cover of darkness to try to evade capture, often setting out from Myanmar around 10 p.m. to make the 1.8-mile (3-kilometer) journey across the water.
As midnight approaches, CNN travels down the long coastal road to a tiny fishing village on the southern tip of Bangladesh – to meet with a Rohingya refugee who sneaked out of the camp to meet his sister, who is due to arrive on a boat from Myanmar that evening.
All the phones on her boat had been switched off for security during the journey, so he went for hours without hearing an update.
“I am really very concerned,” said Mohammed, who didn’t want to use his real name. “This is my big sister.”
He’s worried that his sister, who can’t swim, could drown during the crossing. Many refugee boats have sunk in recent weeks, the bodies of their desperate passengers eventually washing ashore and buried in shallow graves on the beach.
Compounding Mohammed’s fears are the pre-dawn sounds of explosions and rifle fire just across the river – a reminder of why his sister and other Rohingya are fleeing.
On the Bangladesh side, it has become a game of cat and mouse for the coast guard to spot boats emerging from the inky waters before they make it onto land. The full moon casts a silver glow over the river, putting incoming boats in extra danger of being spotted.
A senior border guard who spoke to CNN on the beach said if boats do make it to land on their watch, they usually provide food to the people onboard before sending them back.
Mohammed’s sister never appears that night, and by dawn, his panic starts to rise.
“The world is now dark for me,” he said. “I lost everything … in my life.”
Hours later, he hears that his sister made it to land further up the coast – but was kidnapped by brokers demanding payment for her release. Eventually she was able to reunite with Mohammed in the camps, but the family spent all of their money trying to get her to safety.
‘AA wants to wipe out Rohingyas’
Despite the challenges of getting across, Bangladeshi officials told CNN that more than 5,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar during recent fighting.
Calls are now growing for Bangladesh to allow humanitarian access for the incoming refugees.
“UNHCR is calling on Bangladesh to provide access to safety for refugees escaping the violence in Northern Rakhine State, most recently in Maungdaw township,” said Shari Nijman, spokesperson for UNHCR Bangladesh. “Among new arrivals are many women and children, including some with critical injuries from gunshots and shelling.”
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) – which operates multiple clinics in Cox’s Bazar – told CNN they treated 54 people who arrived with “war wounds” between August 5-11, 48% of whom were women and children.
Jamila Begum, 45, made it across in a boat with four of her orphaned grandchildren.
She said her family tried to run from their homes on August 5 during a pause in the fighting, but then bombs “fell on the roof of the house,” killing Begum’s daughter, her husband and their 7-year-old daughter. Begum managed to grab the youngest child – a 6-month-old baby – from her daughter’s arms.
Begum fled with the grandchildren and they hid for five days before boarding a boat to Bangladesh. But her eldest grandchild didn’t make it – he died from his injuries before they were able to find a boat, and she was forced to leave him on the beach.
After they left, she heard the AA had set fire to her village.
“AA wants to wipe out Rohingyas from Rakhine State,” Begum says, echoing the feelings of the dozen other refugees CNN spoke to.
Now, Begum is safe in the camps but fears for the future of her grandchildren, as their only guardian.
“Sadness will not go from our lives,” she says..."
Source/publisher:
"CNN" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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"COX’s BAZAR—The persecuted and stateless Rohingya minority is caught in a new violent crackdown in Myanmar, with children among those killed, two reports from influential expert groups warned Tuesday.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 during a crackdown by the military that is now the subject of a United Nations genocide court case.
But around 600,000 remain in the country’s western state of Rakhine, where they have found themselves in the middle of an escalating conflict between junta-run Myanmar’s armed forces and the rebel Arakan Army.
The situation has been inflamed further by the Myanmar military’s forced recruitment of Rohingya to battle the rebel group, including reportedly more than 2,000 from Bangladeshi refugee camps.
Watchdog Fortify Rights said its interviews with eyewitnesses established that the Arakan Army had this month launched a drone and mortar attack on Rohingya civilians.
The bombardment killed more than 100 Rohingya men, women and children on the border with Bangladesh, Fortify Rights said.
“The fact that the AA first sent a surveillance drone before launching the massive attack shows clearly that the group intentionally attacked a civilian crowd,” the group said.
The Arakan Army denied responsibility for the assault in an Aug. 7 statement and again through its political wing 10 days later.
The International Crisis Group think tank said that many Rohingya on the ground blamed the rebel group for the attack, along with other acts of violence and persecution.
“The combination of words and alleged deeds have fueled polarization and driven greater numbers of Rohingya to volunteer for the military or armed groups,” it said.
‘Moral duty’
The reports come days after the UN Human Rights Office said it had information showing the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army had both committed serious abuses against the Rohingya.
They included extrajudicial killings, abductions, forced recruitment, indiscriminate bombardments of villages and arson attacks.
“Recurrence of the crimes and horrors of the past must be prevented as a moral duty,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said.
The Arakan Army, which says it is fighting for more autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine population in Myanmar, has made steady territorial advances this year near the Bangladeshi border.
Bangladesh is home to around 1 million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled the 2017 crackdown.
Further complicating the security situation for Rohingya there was the ousting this month of autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India.
Hasina was replaced by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is leading an interim government ahead of expected elections..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Clashes between the Myanmar junta’s military and the Arakan Army (AA) have been reported in multiple locations around Gwa Township, the strategic southernmost township in Rakhine State, since Sunday, according to residents.
The AA, a member of the Brotherhood Alliance of three ethnic armies, has advanced to a location approximately 32 km to the north of Gwa town after seizing Kyeintali town in Thandwe District on Aug. 14, and fighting has broken out in at least at four areas in the township.
Gwa town abuts the Arakan Mountains, known locally as the Rakhine Yoma, and the northernmost rural areas of Ngathaingchaung town in Ayeyarwady Region’s Yegi Township. Gwa is also home to the headquarters of the junta’s Light Infantry Battalions 562 and 563.
As they prepare to defend themselves against expected AA attacks, junta troops inside these bases are shelling the north of the town, the residents said.
“As the clashes are getting closer to the town, the residents are growing more concerned. But the junta’s military has now blocked all the routes to Ayeyarwady Region,” a Gwa resident said.
Hundreds of people managed to flee Gwa in recent weeks, but as the junta’s military has now blocked the escape routes, thousands of residents are now trapped in the town and live in fear that clashes in the township will escalate.
Taungup, Thandwe and Gwa are coastal townships in the southernmost part of Rakhine State, and are near Ayeyarwady Region’s northernmost Myanaung District and Bago Region’s westernmost townships.
The AA has not yet been able to take control of Taungup Township, although it captured Ma-ei town in the township in May. The AA took control of Thandwe Township in late July.
According to a local media report, junta forces in Taungup began deploying artillery and troops at Taungup University on Aug. 23 in preparation for an AA attack.
Since the Brotherhood Alliance launched Operation 1027 last October, the AA has seized at least 15 towns in Rakhine State and one in southernmost Chin State. Rakhine State has 17 townships and only the capital Sittwe along with Munaung, Ann and Gwa townships remain firmly under the control of the junta’s military. The 13 other townships have been partially or entirely seized by the AA.
The International Crisis Group said on Tuesday that the AA has made rapid advances across Rakhine since November last year and is set to create the single largest area controlled by an ethnic armed group since the coup in February 2021.
“The AA will do its best to take control of strategic Gwa Township as soon as possible before the junta’s military can send in reinforcements through Ayeyarwady Region,” said an analyst who is monitoring the conflict in Rakhine.
For its part, the junta is determined to maintain control of the township, as it needs it as a base from which to reinforce and supply townships farther north.
The AA said in a statement on Aug. 26 that heavy clashes are ongoing in Kyeintali Town in Thandwe Township, as the junta’s navy has deployed eight vessels in the town’s waterways.
“Intense clashes are breaking out between our Arakan Army and the fascist junta military’s Maung Shwe Lay Naval Base near Kyauk Par Sat Village, Kyeintali town,” the AA said.
It said the naval vessels were sending reinforcements, arms and ammunition to nearby areas via waterways, while continuously shelling villages in the area..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
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Local URL:
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Description:
"The Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine group, is carving out a proto-state on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. Fighting with regime forces has taken a heavy toll on civilians, including Rohingya. The Arakan Army, communal leaders and outside powers all have roles to play in fostering stability.
What’s new? The Arakan Army has seized most of central and northern Rakhine State, on Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh, and seems on the verge of expelling the military. Scrambling for a riposte, the junta has conscripted Rohingya Muslims. The Arakan Army’s response is widely reported to include serious abuses against Rohingya civilians.
Why does it matter? Rakhine State faces huge humanitarian challenges as the Arakan Army assumes administration of an emerging proto-state. Fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands. A blockade diverts essential goods from civilians. External actors accustomed to working with national governments must determine how to address humanitarian and security issues with a non-state counterpart.
What should be done? The Arakan Army should avoid incendiary rhetoric, protect civilians, support credible investigations of reported abuses and initiate dialogue with Rohingya leaders. Mindful of risks and legal constraints, Bangladesh should increase engagement with the Arakan Army to stabilise borderlands, and donors should explore ways to expand humanitarian operations throughout Rakhine State.
Executive Summary
After restarting its fight for Rakhine State in late 2023, the Arakan Army is in the process of carving out a proto-state of over a million people on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. Although the Myanmar military has countered with indiscriminate attacks and a blockade that is causing huge economic distress, the armed group, which draws support mainly from the state’s Rakhine Buddhist majority, has pushed on, reaching into northern townships where it is alleged to have attacked Muslim Rohingya civilians. Desperate to retain these areas and control of the border, the military has conscripted and collaborated with Rohingya and orchestrated the destruction of Rakhine homes. When the dust settles, the Arakan Army will likely emerge as Rakhine State’s de facto governing authority, and outside actors will have to decide how and whether to engage with it. To foster stability, the Arakan Army should mend relations with the Rohingya, support an independent investigation of alleged abuses, and reach out to Dhaka and donors, which should find ways to work with the group on shared humanitarian and security objectives.
In just a few months, the Arakan Army has created the largest area in Myanmar under the control of a non-state armed group – in terms of both size and population – and is now on the verge of securing almost all of Rakhine. The cost of its success has been high, not least for civilians in the state. Hundreds of thousands from both the Rakhine and Rohingya communities have been displaced. The regime carries out deadly airstrikes on a daily basis, and both it and the Arakan Army are credibly alleged to be committing serious abuses against civilians. In late May, in one of the worst atrocities since the 2021 coup, regime forces were accused of massacring scores of Rakhine civilians in a village on the outskirts of the state capital, Sittwe. More recently, the Arakan Army is widely reported to have been responsible for the deaths of as many as 200 Rohingya civilians while assaulting Maungdaw town in the northern part of the state.
While the Arakan Army is likely to complete its rout of the military, it is less clear whether its political wing, the United League of Arakan, has the resources and capability to govern the territory and people who come under its rule, much less bring stability to the region. Strong support among the majority Rakhine will buy the group time to address difficult living conditions – including the lack of electricity and internet, the loss of essential services and an economy destroyed by conflict – but it is uncertain how long the public’s resilience will last.
The Arakan Army faces serious challenges in realising its vision for an autonomous state. Rakhine boasts few easily exploited natural resources and has poor trade and transport connections with neighbouring Bangladesh and nearby India, which have been less amenable to engaging with Myanmar’s ethnic armed groups than China or Thailand. As a result, the state is heavily reliant on regime-controlled central Myanmar for essential goods and almost entirely dependent on Naypyitaw for electricity, communications and banking services. At the same time, both China and India are seeking influence in Rakhine for geostrategic reasons, while Bangladesh wants to see the speedy return of up to 1 million Rohingya refugees. Navigating this complex environment will be no small task for the armed group.
The Arakan Army is also struggling to manage difficult ethnic relations within Rakhine, a state that since 1942 has been wracked by recurrent outbreaks of communal violence between the majority Rakhine, who are mainly Buddhist, and the Muslim Rohingya, who are a minority at the state level but dominate northern Rakhine. Since February, the military regime in Naypyitaw has fanned the flames, including by pressing Rohingya into service fighting the Arakan Army and cooperating with Rohingya armed groups that it had previously labelled terrorists. These groups have also forcibly recruited young men and boys from Rohingya refugee camps across the border in Bangladesh, either for their own ranks or to hand over to the military as conscripts.
While many Rohingya have been forced to enlist, some have also volunteered and been implicated in attacks on Rakhine civilians and mass arson campaigns, infuriating the Arakan Army, and prompting incendiary remarks from the group’s leaders, which have further fuelled worsening intercommunal tensions. As fighting has intensified in two mainly Rohingya townships in northern Rakhine State, Maungdaw and Buthidaung, Arakan Army forces have been accused of serious human rights abuses against the Rohingya, including the attack on 5 August, for which the group denies responsibility.
Rakhine State remains at a perilous juncture, requiring leaders of both the Rakhine and Rohingya communities to rise above their historical animosity and defuse tensions. They should avoid toxic rhetoric, establish a dialogue aimed at preventing further violence and spurn the regime’s efforts to pit them against each other. The Arakan Army, for its part, needs to ensure that its forces protect civilians and respect their human rights. It should also incorporate more Rohingya into its administration and commit to supporting an independent investigation into allegations of abuses against civilians, which should begin as soon as practicable.
For all the challenges it is facing domestically, Bangladesh also has a key role in Rakhine State, as do other outside actors. The emergence on its border of a de facto statelet that aspires to permanent autonomy will require the new interim government in Dhaka to expand the scope of its engagement with the Arakan Army, whatever its views of those ambitions. While strengthening ties with the group, Bangladeshi envoys should emphasise the importance of treating the Rohingya humanely and with dignity. To stabilise the borderlands, and address drivers of irregular migration, Dhaka should also allow for more humanitarian aid to the area and trade across the frontier. Finally, Dhaka should improve security in the refugee camps, reduce the influence of armed groups there and allow a genuine Rohingya civil society movement to emerge. Other foreign governments should explore how they can work with the Arakan Army and neighbouring states to improve humanitarian access and expand assistance for all ethnic communities affected by conflict in central and northern Rakhine State.
For neighbouring states and other outside actors, the emerging situation in Rakhine State creates quandaries – not least the question of how to work with a de facto authority like the Arakan Army amid an international system that for legal and practical reasons privileges relationships with nation-states. Despite these dilemmas, as Crisis Group has noted elsewhere, neighbours and donors will likely find that the greatest potential for positive humanitarian and security impact lies in working with Rakhine State’s de facto administrators toward mutual goals – mindful of human rights, conflict and legal risks and constraints that may present themselves.
The Arakan Army now faces a stiff test. Having made major battlefield gains over the Myanmar military, it needs to show it can bring stability to a neglected corner of the country and govern in the interests of all the people living there..."
Source/publisher:
International Crisis Group (Belgium)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict and peace-building in Burma - theoretical, strategic and general, Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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"This month marks seven years since the 2017 “clearance operation” when Myanmar’s military forces, the Tatmadaw, unleashed waves of violence against Rohingya ethnic minorities in Rakhine State, Myanmar.
The conflict triggered the expulsion of over 700,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh, marking the largest and fastest influx into the country. The U.S. government later determined that these attacks constituted genocide and crimes against humanity.
Rohingya in Myanmar
Rohingya who stayed in Myanmar following the genocidal attacks continue to face violence at the hands of the Tatmadaw. Conditions are dire, marked by severe deprivations of rights, discrimination, and exposure to armed conflict. In Rakhine State, where the majority of Rohingya reside, they face severe restrictions on their movement, limited access to essential services, and deep-seated prejudice based on their ethnicity and religion.
Many Rohingya live in impoverished conditions, often in makeshift shelters that have inadequate sanitation and are unable to withstand extreme weather events. Rohingya have limited access to healthcare, and even to seek medical treatment, they must obtain permission to leave their communities. Rohingya are also denied access to education, employment, and livelihood opportunities, which exacerbates their hardship and prevents them from moving out of poverty. Intensifying armed conflict in Rakhine State has further eroded their security.
While the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA)—a powerful ethnic armed group seeking sovereignty for Rakhine State—fight to maintain or secure control of territory, Rohingya and other civilians are caught between these warring parties with devastating consequences. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians, arson and looting of civilian property, killings, and forced recruitment by both sides of the conflict continue to occur.
In early August of 2024, the AA launched attacks on Rohingya civilians in Rakhine State, which are part of a larger trend of intensifying conflict that does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The U.N. Children’s Fund has called on all parties to uphold their obligations under international law to protect civilians, especially children and families.
Rohingya in Bangladesh
Rohingya living in Bangladesh also face significant protection and humanitarian concerns. Since 2017, Rohingya refugees have been living in sprawling, overcrowded camps where necessities are scarce. Small temporary shelters, often made from bamboo and plastic tarps, leave residents vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, such as heavy monsoon rains, landslides, and intense heat. These shelters are also susceptible to fire and arson. Fencing around the camps with limited exits make it difficult for people to evacuate during emergencies.
While primary education has improved, educational opportunities for Rohingya youth and young adults needs to be ensured. This education gap not only hinders immediate development for youth but also undermines prospects and livelihoods, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and marginalization.
Adults also face barriers to earning livelihoods as current policies prohibit Rohingya from working, forcing them to depend on humanitarian aid that is often unreliable. Due to ongoing cuts in support from international donors, the U.N. World Food Programme significantly reduced food assistance to Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar. While partially restored, the assistance remains inadequate.
The reality for Rohingya plays out in the larger context of political unrest in Bangladesh. Several tumultuous weeks marked by violent protests and numerous deaths have led to the ousting of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister and economic turmoil. Amidst the crisis, Rohingya refugees face heightened vulnerabilities and protection concerns. It remains to be seen how the interim government will address Rohingya refugees who have been referred to as a burden on the economy in previous political debates.
Moving Forward
As we commemorate this somber date, it is important to reflect on the current realities facing the Rohingya in Myanmar and Bangladesh and consider what needs to change so they can move forward.
The international community and donor governments should:
At a minimum, fully fund the Rohingya Joint Response Plan and the Myanmar Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.
Funding for food vouchers should be prioritized.
Support local non-governmental organizations and groups on the front lines of delivering humanitarian assistance, especially those operating in Rakhine State, Myanmar.
Work with the government of Bangladesh to allow livelihood opportunities for Rohingya.
The government of Bangladesh should:
Allow Rohingya to pursue livelihoods and entrepreneurial opportunities within camps.
Work with local partners to ensure educational opportunities for Rohingya youth and young adults.
The U.S. government should:
Work with the U.N. to mitigate protection concerns for Rohingya refugees given the changing circumstances on the ground in Bangladesh.
Expedite processing times for Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and immediately resume departures for Rohingya in Bangladesh.
The U.S. Congress should pass the Rohingya Genocide, Accountability, and Protection (GAP) Act (H.R.8936) to provide protection, support, and humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons..."
Source/publisher:
InterAction
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"GENEVA – On the seventh anniversary of attacks by the military junta, that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, has called for an emergency convening of UN Member States to halt a new round of atrocities underway in Rakhine State. He issued the following statement:
“The best way for the world to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the onset of genocidal attacks against the Rohingya in Myanmar is by acting to halt the new round of atrocities under way in Rakhine State.
Despite warning signs in 2017, untold numbers of Rohingya men, women and children were massacred in Rakhine State and more than 700,000 were forced to literally run for their lives over the Bangladesh border.
Now, seven years later, history is repeating itself. In Rakhine State, Rohingya civilians are being systematically attacked, displaced and killed. Just like seven years ago, glaring warning signs are being ignored by the international community, as the lives of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya hang in the balance.
Myanmar’s military junta has carried out a deliberate campaign to inflame tensions between Rohingya and Rakhine communities in Rakhine State, fueling resentment and prejudice to toxically high levels.
The junta has forcibly conscripted young Rohingya men into the very army that was responsible for the 2017 genocidal attacks. It forced Rohingya to participate in staged “protests” against the Arakan Army, pictures of which circulated online and heightened tensions with the Rakhine population. Some Rohingya militant groups have cynically aligned with the junta and participated in attacks on Rakhine villages.
Rohingya villages are reportedly being burned to the ground by Arakan Army forces that continue their military campaign to expel junta forces from Rakhine State. Both Arakan Army and junta forces have been imperiling innocent Rohingya by setting up bases inside Rohingya villages, exposing them to the hell-fire of artillery and drone attacks from both sides.
The death toll continues to mount in northern Rakhine State, with tens of thousands of Rohingya displaced, cut off from humanitarian aid and forced to fend for themselves to find food, water and shelter. Growing numbers, including young children, are starving or perishing from diseases and lack of access to medical care.
Now, just as in 2017, thousands of Rohingya, with nowhere else to turn, are seeking safety and shelter in Bangladesh. Despite being shot at, shelled and attacked with drones, the number of desperate families attempting to cross the border continues to grow. Scores have perished as overcrowded boats sink to the bottom of the Naf River that separates Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The way to end this cycle of horror and violence – a cycle that is repeating itself even as governments take note of the seventh anniversary of the Rohingya genocide – is to put an end to the conditions that enabled that genocide. These include lethal doses of international ignorance and indifference and the impunity that it fostered.
World leaders have issued statements every year on the anniversary of the beginning of the 2017 genocidal attacks, condemning the violence and expressing sympathy for its victims. These statements, no matter how well intentioned, are grossly inadequate.
Given the horror that is unfolding, once again, for the Rohingya in Myanmar, I implore world leaders to replace words of commemoration with action.
It is time for an emergency convening of UN Member States to address this crisis.
The UN Security Council should immediately convene and act to address this unfolding disaster before more innocent lives are lost. If the Security Council will not act, then I call for an emergency convening of UN Member States and non-state actors that are ready to act on behalf of those who are under seige. Such a convening can begin to address the crisis by:
Shining the spotlight of world attention on a crisis that remains in the shadows – attention that can cultivate and sustain the political will for action;
Launching an emergency action plan that includes the strong, practical measures necessary to address the cause of the crisis and its consequences while building strong, sustained support for the implementation of the plan from Member States;
Mobilising robust emergency humanitarian aid and the access necessary to reach those in need; and
Supporting mechanisms to hold those responsible for grave human rights violations, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, to account.
Finally, I urge the Government of Bangladesh to once again demonstrate its generosity and commitment to humanitarian action by opening its borders to Rohingya fleeing for their lives. And, I call on Member States to provide Bangladesh with the support needed to meet this profound responsibility.
The worst way to mark the anniversary of the 2017 Rohingya genocide is with empty words and hollow declarations. The Rohingya need and deserve much more. There is no time to lose.”
Mr.Thomas Andrews (United States of America) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. A former member of the US Congress from Maine, Andrews is a Robina Senior Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School and an Associate of Harvard University’s Asia Center. He has worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and parliamentarians, NGOs and political parties in Cambodia, Indonesia, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine and Yemen. He has been a consultant for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma and the Euro-Burma Network and has run advocacy NGOs including Win Without War and United to End Genocide.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Comprising the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, Special Procedures is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity..."
Source/publisher:
UN Human Rights Council (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide, Human Rights and international relations
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"In an effort to raise awareness and advocate for justice and accountability for the serious crimes that their community has suffered in Myanmar, Rohingya survivors living in the camps in Cox’s Bazar have tirelessly worked, together with LAW, during the past seven years to raise their voice and support others to do the same. They travelled to Argentina to give their testimonies at the investigative hearings for an important universal jurisdiction case in the Argentine federal criminal court, attended hearings before the International Court of Justice as part of The Gambia delegation that brought the case against Myanmar for violation of Genocide Convention, shared their experiences for those to appear in research reports to build evidence for the ongoing legal proceedings, learned different ways to express their life stories through visual means, such as art, for these stories to travel further, reach a wider public. They have conducted information sessions with their communities living in the camps to counter misconceptions about international justice, and served as a peer support group for survivors of torture and sexual and gender-based violence within the community providing them a trusted pathway to contribute to the ongoing accountability avenues.
On the 25th of August 2024, as we mark seven years since the deadly “clearance operations” committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya community in 2017, we witness the specter of ethnic cleansing against Myanmar’s stateless Rohingya minority being on the rise yet again. Accountability for past and ongoing crimes is therefore essential and we share with you a brief summary reflecting the past one-year results of the tireless work to advance accountability, and updates on the legal developments in relation to accountability for the Rohingya crisis.
1. Rohingya women at the forefront of the fight for justice
In December 2023, “Shanti Mohila”, a Rohingya women-led entity based in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, was honoured with the title of Raphael Lemkin Champion of Prevention by the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide for their exceptional efforts in advocating for justice for the Rohingya community. Their work embodies the spirit of the Genocide Convention, demonstrating the crucial role of grassroots efforts in preventing atrocities and preserving human dignity. The majority of LAW’s network of volunteers – the Survivor Advocates – are members of Shanti Mohila. They work closely with LAW as grassroots champions, conducting information sessions, sharing resources, and raising awareness and countering misconceptions about international justice, supporting survivors, contributing to legal research, and participating in global advocacy efforts.Read more about Shanti Mohila’s work here.
In February 2024, **Survivor Advocates/Shanti Mohila members participated in a series of art facilitation sessions conducted by LAW, in collaboration with Artolution Inc.**These sessions were an opportunity for survivors to find different ways to express stories from their life in exile in Bangladesh, memories from the time in Myanmar, and hopes for returning to their homeland in Rakhine state, Myanmar, everything through art.
2. Legal Developments related to accountability and justice for the Rohingya crisis
International Court of Justice (ICJ) In March 2024, LAW commenced an evidence collection exercise for the preparation of detailed witness statements for The Gambia’s Reply to Myanmar’s counter-memorial. Between March and May 2024, LAW conducted interviews with clients from multiple villages and gathered over 300 pages of witness testimonies that contributed to The Gambia’s Reply.On 23 May 2024, The Gambia submitted its Reply to the ICJ. Myanmar is expected to file its rejoinder by 16 December 2024. Oral hearings in the case are anticipated to commence later in 2025.
Universal Jurisdiction case in Argentina On 28 June 2024, Argentine Prosecutor Guillermo Marijuán asked the federal criminal court in Buenos Aires, Argentina to order international arrest warrants against 25 Myanmar government officials for the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya community between 2012 and 2018. The Prosecutor’s request for warrants is based on an investigation under the principle of universal jurisdiction initiated in Argentina through a criminal complaint in 2019. This is the first time that arrest warrants are being sought against the Myanmar military for the crime of genocide, the historic persecution and violence suffered by the Rohingya community. The court is yet to respond to this request.Read more about this development here.
3. Publications and resources
In December 2023, LAW published a research report on the enduring impact of the systematic SGBV committed against Rohingya in Myanmar during the 2017 “clearance operations”, particularly in terms of its consequences for not only survivors’ mental health but also their reproductive capacity and its impact on the community as a whole.The research concludes that the long-term health and social impacts of the sexual violence committed against the Rohingya constituted two acts of genocide: causing serious bodily or mental harm and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. Therefore, LAW finds reasonable grounds to believe that the Myanmar military’s 2017 actions against the Rohingya can be legally characterized as genocide under Article 2 of the Genocide Convention. LAW aims to bring the perpetrators to justice in international courts and ensure ongoing care and support for survivors and witnesses of this violence.Read the full report here. Read the summary in Burmese here.See the video summary (EN) here or click on the picture above. For the Burmese language video click here.
In May 2024, the article “What kind of court is this?: Perceptions of International Justice Among Rohingya Refugees”, authored by Prof. Payam Akhavan, Prof. Rebecca Hamilton, and Antonia Mulvey (LAW’s Executive Director) was published in the Human Rights Quarterly (Vol. 46, No. 2).Based on the findings of a community-participatory research conducted by LAW and a team of Rohingya researchers in Cox’s Bazar, the article seeks to understand what “justice” means for Rohingya people, contextualizing it within their cultural framings of justice and their current reality of displacement in a protracted crisis. Amidst the ongoing crisis in the camps linked to the conflict in the Rakhine state, the article strives to advocate for justice actors to ensure meaningful participation of the Rohingya in the international justice mechanisms and that their perceptions inform the accountability discourse and more broadly, reflects on how grassroots perspectives can and should shape the global justice discourse.For further details and to access the article, visit HRQ’s website here (open access).
In July 2024, LAW published an animated five video series explaining the ongoing international justice and accountability mechanisms concerning the Rohingya, and also how other communities who faced mass atrocities sought justice. These videos provide simplified information on the ongoing cases before different international courts, the expected outcomes, and how the Rohingya can participate in these processes.Watch the videos in English here: Youtube Playlist (also available in Rohingya and Burmese on LAW’s YouTube channel)
Rohingya communities now face the most significant threat of wide-scale violence since 2017
The resumption of conflict in Rakhine State between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army since November 2023 has resulted in a disproportionate impact on the Rohingya civilians. The Rohingya Survivor Advocates, Shanti Mohila, and LAW are deeply concerned over the direct or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects in Rakhine State in the face of binding provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice for the protection of Rohingya. In its most recent statement, the OHCHR has expressed deep alarm over hundreds of civilians being reportedly killed while trying to flee the fighting, and particularly, members of the Rohingya community finding themselves trapped between the military and its allies and the Arakan Army, with no path to safety.
Read LAW’s statement at the 56th regular session of the Human Rights Council here; See LAW’s Legal and Programme Advisor, Ishita Kumar in an interview with Al Jazeera here on the ongoing developments. LAW will continue to monitor the situation of the Rohingya closely to pursue accountability for both past and ongoing atrocity crimes on behalf of the survivors with the goal to challenging the cycle of impunity in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Legal Action Worldwide (Genève)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations, Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide
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"NEW YORK/KATHMANDU/BANGKOK, 25 August 2024 – Seven years after hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people fled violence and persecution in Myanmar, conflict continues to intensify in Rakhine State, on the western coast of Myanmar, with a surge in casualties and displacement in Maungdaw Township and reports of increasing numbers of people seeking shelter and protection in Bangladesh.
UNICEF has received alarming reports that civilians, particularly children and families, are being targeted or caught in the crossfire, resulting in deaths and severe injuries. Humanitarian access in Rakhine has become extremely challenging. Critical services, including access to safe water and healthcare are jeopardised, exacerbated by electricity, telecommunications and internet blackouts since January. This is impacting both civilian activities and humanitarian operations.
“Seven years after a deadly wave of violence forced thousands of families from their homes in search of safety, new reports of violence are painful reminders of the continuing threats to children in Myanmar,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “In Rakhine and across the country, children and families continue to pay the price for conflict, with their lives, livelihoods, and futures. Parties to the conflict must uphold their obligations to protect children.”
On 5 August 2024, artillery shelling and drone attacks reportedly killed about 180 people, including a significant number of women and children, near the bank of the Naf River, which marks the border between southeastern Bangladesh and northwestern Myanmar, as they attempted to escape hostilities. On the same day, an estimated 20,000 people were reportedly displaced from three downtown Maungdaw wards.
In separate incidents on 6 and 19 August, boats carrying dozens of people - including women and children – sank in the Naf River, with children among the casualties, the latest in a series of capsizing incidents involving children.
Since 13 November 2023, the escalating conflict has displaced an estimated 327,000 people in Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in Chin. This brings the total current estimated internal displacement in Rakhine State to well over half a million people.
Across Myanmar, the humanitarian crisis that escalated in February 2021 continues to rapidly deteriorate, with children bearing the heaviest burden of unabating violence, including grave violations, mass displacement, and the near collapse of health and education service provision systems. Escalating attacks and clashes have displaced an estimated 3.3 million people, nearly 40 per cent of whom are children. In 2024, a record 18.6 million people - nearly one-third of the country's population – including 6 million children, require humanitarian assistance.
The Rohingya population who fled attacks and violence in 2017, joined refugees already in Bangladesh from previous waves of displacement. Together, they total almost one million displaced people. Seven years later, about half a million Rohingya refugee children are growing up in the world’s largest refugee camp, with many of them born there as refugees. The refugee community relies entirely on humanitarian assistance and lives in temporary shelters in highly congested camp settings. Working with the Interim Government of Bangladesh and partners, UNICEF provides water and sanitation, establishes diarrhoeal treatment centres, enables access to health and nutrition services for children and pregnant women, as well as to quality education; and supports children affected by violence, abuse and neglect with protection and response services.
“Bangladesh’s continued support to the refugee population – especially children - is both commendable and critical,” said Russell. “Over the past 12 months, we have been increasingly concerned about the security situation in the camps and reports of child rights violations. We stand ready to support the new Interim Government of Bangladesh to ensure that these children are protected and have access to critical services.”
In Myanmar, UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law to protect civilians, particularly children, and ensure their safety and well-being. UNICEF also calls for safe and unimpeded access to deliver humanitarian aid by all humanitarian actors..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
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Sub-title:
US State Department envoy Beth Van Schaack describes challenges providing aid and justice to the minority group.
Description:
"The U.S. and other countries are in need of “creative solutions” to assist tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingyas displaced by conflict in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where the ruling junta has restricted access to aid providers, according to a State Department envoy who monitors international crime.
In the meantime, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack told RFA Burmese, Washington is working with authorities in neighboring Bangladesh to support the nearly 1 million Rohingyas sheltering across the border at camps in Cox’s Bazar and helping to document persecution of the group for potential referral to international criminal courts.
“Providing humanitarian assistance inside Myanmar is much more of a challenge,” said Van Schaack. “We don't necessarily have access to cross border points where that assistance can come in, so it's just much more difficult to do that work. But I want to acknowledge how dire the situation is, and we need to look for creative solutions.”
Van Schaack spoke to RFA as Rohingyas marked the seventh anniversary of a 2017 military crackdown on Rohingya militants in Rakhine state that triggered an exodus of some 740,000 people to Bangladesh.
Since then, the number of displaced Rohingyas in camps across the border has swelled to nearly 1 million, by United Nations estimates, with more attempting to cross daily. The group has found itself caught in the crossfire between the junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup d’etat and the ethnic Arakan Army, or AA, which is fighting for self-determination in Rakhine state.
Both sides have been accused of killing Rohingya, with the AA fighters blamed for attacking people accused of supporting junta forces.
On Aug. 5, dozens of Rohingya people were killed by fire from heavy weapons as they waited for boats to cross to Bangladesh, survivors told Radio Free Asia. Some survivors said the AA was responsible though the insurgents denied that.
Civilian minorities ‘ultimate sufferers’ in conflict
Van Schaack categorized the need for assistance for the Rohingya community within Myanmar as “enormous,” but said that with junta restrictions to access and the chaotic nature of the civil war, delivering it is impossible.
“There are a number of different groups that are ascendant, and they're having conversations amongst themselves about what a future, inclusive, democratic Myanmar looks like,” she said. “But because that's the case, we can't. There's only so much we can do with respect to the territory.”
The Ambassador-at-Large said that with a new government in place in Bangladesh, after student-led protests earlier this month turned deadly and touched off a mass movement that forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign, the hope is that the U.S. can provide greater humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar, with the goal of allowing them to return home to Myanmar.
“But they cannot do so until it is safe, until they are returning home voluntarily and until there is a sustainable plan for them to restart their lives in their ancestral homelands,” she said.
Amid the fighting in Rakhine state, it’s difficult to determine the extent of the crimes against Rohingyas, Van Schaak said.
“We do know that atrocities are being committed and that because the violence has risen, it's inevitably the civilian population – civilian communities of multiple ethnic groups – that are the ultimate sufferers of this situation,” she said.
“So we have called upon the parties to commit to more comprehensive efforts at a ceasefire,” she said. “But this government is unwilling to relinquish power at this point, and so we see these continual acts of violence and atrocities.”
‘Pages and pages of documentation’
Van Schaak said that in addition to providing humanitarian assistance to Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and other areas where they have sought refuge, the U.S. government is also helping to bring justice to their community, by conducting investigations and operating as a clearinghouse of evidence for courts around the world to bring cases.
In August 2022, the U.S. State Department determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya during the crackdown in 2017, but information gathering is still underway to classify the latest crimes against the ethnic minority.
She acknowledged that even with clear evidence to proceed to trial, some courts, like the International Criminal Court in The Hague, can do little more than issue an arrest warrant without the perpetrator in custody. So while senior members of the junta remain within Myanmar, it will be difficult for those cases to proceed.
“But those prosecutors and investigators are ready – they have dossiers on responsible individuals, they have pages and pages of documentation ... [not only] with respect to the genocide against the Rohingya, but also crimes committed since the since the coup in 2021,” she said.
While the conflict in Myanmar continues, Van Schaak urged ethnic armies such as the AA to “distinguish themselves from the Tatmadaw,” using the official name for the country’s military, which “throughout its history has been characterized by violence, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.”
“The ethnic armed groups, if they want to build legitimacy in the eyes of the international community, if they want to be a part of the solution, they need to strictly adhere to the laws of war,” she said.
“Treat civilian communities with respect and dignity, treat individuals in their custody humanely – even members of the Tatmadaw – and ultimately, work towards a democratic future for Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Human Rights and international relations
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"GENEVA – UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk today expressed grave alarm and raised profound concerns about the sharply deteriorating situation across Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine State where hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed while trying to flee the fighting.
Over the past four months, tens of thousands of people, many of whom are Rohingya, have fled a major offensive by the Arakan Army to take control of Buthidaung and Maungdaw towns from the military. In one of the deadliest attacks along the Naf River bordering Bangladesh on 5 August, dozens were reportedly killed, including by armed drones. It remains unclear which party to the conflict was responsible.
“Thousands of Rohingya have been forced to flee on foot, with the Arakan Army herding them repeatedly into locations that offer scant safe haven,” Türk said. “As the border crossings to Bangladesh remain closed, members of the Rohingya community are finding themselves trapped between the military and its allies and the Arakan Army, with no path to safety.”
Despite repeated warnings and calls for action, the ongoing violence underscores the prevailing sense of impunity and the persistent challenges in ensuring protection of civilians in accordance with international law, the High Commissioner said.
“This month marks seven years since the military operations which drove 700,000 across the border into Bangladesh. Despite the world saying “never again” we are once more witnessing killings, destruction and displacement in Rakhine. Parties to the armed conflict are issuing statements denying responsibility for attacks against the Rohingya and others, acting as though they are powerless to protect them. This stretches the bounds of credulity,” said Türk.
According to information documented by the UN Human Rights Office, both the military and the Arakan Army, which now controls most of the townships in Rakhine, have committed serious human rights violations and abuses against the Rohingya, including extrajudicial killings, some involving beheadings, abductions, forced recruitment, indiscriminate bombardments of towns and villages using drones and artillery, and arson attacks. Such attacks stand in sharp contrast to obligations of all parties under international humanitarian law and to the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice to protect the Rohingya against risk of further harm.
Credible sources have described increasing numbers of Rohingya, nearly half of whom are children, seeking assistance for conflict-related injuries. There have also been reports of people dying of diarrhoea, due to lack of access to clean water and grossly inadequate living conditions. Food warehouses holding vitally important supplies for civilians have been attacked, ransacked and burnt. Buthidaung and Maungdaw hospitals have been closed due to the violence, further aggravating an already disastrous humanitarian crisis compounded by an extensive telecommunications shutdown.
“Both the military and the Arakan Army bear direct responsibility for the human tragedy that is unfolding in Rakhine,” said Turk. “Both parties must immediately cease attacks against civilians, protect those fleeing the conflict, and ensure their unimpeded access to life-saving humanitarian assistance.”
“These atrocities demand an unequivocal response - those responsible must be held accountable, and justice must be pursued relentlessly,” said Türk. “Recurrence of the crimes and horrors of the past must be prevented as a moral duty and a legal necessity. It is the responsibility of the international community, with ASEAN at the forefront, to take all necessary measures to protect the Rohingya and other civilian victims of this cruel conflict.”..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"The Asia Justice Coalition is a network of organizations whose purpose is to promote justice and accountability for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law in Asia, and to contribute to the fulfillment of the rights of victims and their families.
As we are coming to the fourth year of the military coup in Myanmar and the seventh anniversary of the 2017 exodus of more than 730,000 Rohingya forced to flee from Rakhine State to Bangladesh during the Myanmar military’s so-called ‘clearance operations’, the atrocities committed against the Rohingya continue unabated. According to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), the past year has witnessed horrific levels of brutality and inhumanity across Myanmar, including crimes committed with an intent to punish and induce terror in the civilian population. The escalation of conflict in Rakhine State since November 2023, compounded by the international community’s inaction, is eerily reminiscent of the 2017 atrocity crimes committed against the Rohingya by the Myanmar military.
Situation in Myanmar
The Myanmar military has committed widespread and systematic human rights violations, including crimes against humanity and war crimes, across the country. Since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, more than 5,534 civilians have been killed by the Myanmar military, and over 27,226 people have been arbitrarily arrested and detained. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCHA), more than 3 million people have been internally displaced, and 18.6 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. In continuation of its persistent patterns, the military junta routinely conducts raids, torches civilian properties, including schools and hospitals, and burns down homes. In defiance of international humanitarian law, the military has been conducting airstrikes, using anti-personnel landmines, and intentionally targeting and killing civilians, and causing the destruction of civilian property. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), in the first half of 2024, military airstrikes increased by 112% compared to the whole of 2023. On 10 February 2024, the military began enforcing the 2010 People’s Military Service Law, enabling the conscription of Burmese citizens, men ages 18 to 35 and women ages 18 to 27, as well as older professionals such as doctors and engineers, for up to two years and as long as five years in a State of Emergency.
The resumption of conflict in Rakhine State between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army since November 2023 has resulted in a further and swifter deterioration of the situation. Intensified attacks between the two parties have disproportionately affected over 600,000 Rohingya living under de facto indefinite detention and apartheid-like conditions in Rakhine State. Despite denying the Rohingya citizenship in Myanmar, the military is forcefully recruiting the Rohingya to fight the Arakan Army with the use and threat of force, abductions, and kidnappings, and on the pretext of securing freedom of movement and the grant of citizenship. In furtherance of the military’s attempts to cause intercommunal strife, the Rohingya were also forced to protest against the Arakan Army with threats of repeat of 2017 military operations, the imposition of heavy fines, and the razing of villages. Similarly, the Arakan Army is forcibly recruiting and deploying the Rohingya against the military junta, effectively using them as human shields.
The Arakan Army has gained control of and strategically positioned itself around the majority of Rohingya villages in Rakhine State and has systematically conducted offensives against the Rohingya. The attacks include raiding and forcing the evacuation of Rohingya townships, such as Maungdaw and Buthidaung, killing and torturing civilians, shelling and conducting drone attacks, torching houses across the village, and other direct, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks on civilians and civilian objects. The Rohingya continue to live with increasing restrictions on movement, arbitrary arrests and detention, access to education, healthcare, employment, food, water, sanitation, and the imposition of taxes, by both the military junta and the Arakan Army. The deliberate restriction on humanitarian aid to Rakhine State, the seizure of food and other goods, the attack, torching, and destruction of World Food Programme warehouses have resulted in a situation of famine and exacerbated the hardships of the Rohingya. Rohingya women and the LGBTQIA+ population in Rakhine State are at heightened risk of discrimination, exploitation, and sexual and gender-based violence by the Arakan Army as well as the military junta.
Situation in Bangladesh
The situation of the Rohingya in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar and Bhasan Char has worsened over the years. Over 1 million refugees continue to live with restrictions on movement, lack of access to adequate food, water, durable housing, education, livelihood, and health care. The dire situation within the camps has heightened the risks of human trafficking, forced marriages, and child labour and forced thousands of Rohingya to escape life in the camps by paying huge amounts to undertake precarious boat journeys on the sea.
The widespread operation of insurgent and armed groups, including the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, Rohingya Solidarity Organisation, and others, has contributed to increased violence and insecurity in the refugee camps. Armed groups have killed, abducted, detained and tortured with impunity in the camps. Moreover, Rohingya refugees, especially boys and men, have been reportedly enticed, manipulated, and abducted from camps in Bangladesh to join organised armed groups or transferred to Myanmar to forcibly join the military junta. Bangladeshi officials, including the police, have failed to actively monitor, maintain peace and security, and provide protection to the Rohingya. The rising incidents of sexual abuse and exploitation of women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ persons within the camps, without any real redress, further reflect the absence of accountability. The renewed fighting between the military and the Arakan Army forced at least 4000 Rohingya in Rakhine to flee to the Bangladesh border, only to be beaten and pushed back by Bangladeshi officials in flagrant violation of international law.
International Accountability Efforts
The ongoing case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Gambia v. Myanmar pertains to Myanmar’s state responsibility under the Genocide Convention. Despite the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ for Myanmar to take all measures to prevent the commission of genocidal acts and to ensure that the military and security forces do not commit genocidal acts, the Myanmar military continues to commit atrocities against the Rohingya. On 3 July, the ICJ found that the interventions filed by seven states (the Maldives, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, the UK, France, and Germany) are admissible ‘in so far as they concern the construction of provisions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide’. Consequently, all seven states are authorised to submit their written observations in accordance with Article 86 of the Rules of Court.
Since 2019, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been investigating but has not yet made any significant progress concerning the arrest warrants in the situation. The ongoing ICC investigation is aimed at seeking individual criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity, such as deportation, persecution, and other inhuman acts, committed against the Rohingya population, at least in part on the territory of Bangladesh. However, in a welcome move, the Federal prosecutor in Argentina has sought international arrest warrants against 25 Myanmar officials, including Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Min Aung Hlaing, for the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya community between 2012 and 2018. The case before the Federal Court in Buenos Aires is based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, initiated by the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) in November 2019.
In July, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued a joint communiqué reaffirming its support for the Five-Point Consensus, despite the brazen disregard of the agreement by the Myanmar military and consistently undermining regional stability. The non-compliance of the military junta with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2669 (2022) and the failure of ASEAN to hold the military accountable show the limitations of the Five-Point Consensus framework and the incapacity of the regional bloc. The deferral of responsibility to ASEAN by the international community has emboldened the Myanmar military and resulted in accountability gaps. As per the recent report of UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews, many banks based in ASEAN are facilitating the Myanmar military junta’s access to weapons and related materials, and thus contributing to and exacerbating the conflict.
The Asia Justice Coalition is deeply concerned and condemns the indifference of the international community to the worsening situation of the Rohingya and other civilians in Rakhine State. It calls upon:
All parties to the conflict to immediately end the ongoing attacks and military operations across the country, including by ceasing all violations of international law against Rohingya and other minorities.
The military junta to facilitate safe, rapid, and unimpeded humanitarian access.
The new interim government of Bangladesh to provide increased protection and security to the Rohingya and investigate and prosecute security officials responsible for rights violations against the Rohingya.
The Bangladesh interim government to end restrictions in the refugee camps and provide Rohingya freedom of movement and access to education, livelihood, and health services.
ASEAN to overhaul the Five-Point Consensus and set a concrete and timebound action plan, block Myanmar from all its meetings, and impose financial sanctions, and an arms embargo against Myanmar.
The UN Security Council to hold a public session on the situation in Myanmar, impose targeted economic sanctions on the military and affiliates, and a binding global arms embargo, including on transfers of jet fuel and dual-use technology, and refer the situation to the ICC.
The UN member states and regional bodies to impose targeted sanctions, stop the supply and transfer of arms to the Myanmar military, and ensure effective implementation and prosecution of sanction breaches under their respective domestic laws.
UN member states to fully cooperate with and provide access to theIndependent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) to undertake its mandated activities, including facilitating secure access to victims and witnesses.
Neighbouring countries, including India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, to devise a comprehensive regional response to the refugee crisis, provide protection, support, and humanitarian aid to all refugees fleeing Myanmar, observing the principle of non-refoulement, and authorize and fund emergency cross-border aid to civilians, including internally displaced people in Myanmar.
All countries to use all avenues and diplomatic channels at their disposal in pursuit of justice and accountability for the people of Myanmar, including civil and criminal legal actions based on the principle of universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Fortify Rights, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists, Legal Action Worldwide
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Education in Burma/Myanmar - general, Food Security and nutrition in Burma/Myanmar, Public Health, Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Sub-title:
Escalating Fighting amid 7 Years of Desperation
Description:
"(Bangkok) – Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are facing the gravest threats since 2017, when the Myanmar military carried out a sweeping campaign of massacres, rape, and arson in northern Rakhine State, Human Rights Watch said today. August 25, 2024, marks the seventh anniversary since the start of the military’s crimes against humanity and acts of genocide that forced more than 750,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
In recent months, the Myanmar military and the ethnic Arakan Army have committed mass killings, arson, and unlawful recruitment against Rohingya communities in Rakhine State. On August 5, nearly 200 people were reportedly killed following drone strikes and shelling on civilians fleeing fighting in Maungdaw town near the Bangladesh border, according to Rohingya witnesses. About 630,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar under a system of apartheid that leaves them exceptionally vulnerable to renewed fighting.
“Rohingya in Rakhine State are enduring abuses tragically reminiscent of the military’s atrocities in 2017,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Once again, armed forces are driving thousands of Rohingya from their homes with killings and arson, leaving them nowhere safe to turn.”
Rohingya have been caught in the middle of the fighting since hostilities resumed in November 2023, ending a year-long unofficial ceasefire. As the Arakan Army has rapidly expanded its control across Rakhine State, the military has responded with indiscriminate attacks on civilians using helicopter gunships, artillery, and ground assaults. In late April, Arakan Army forces began attacking Rohingya villages in Buthidaung, culminating in their May 17 capture of the town, during which they shelled, looted, and burned Rohingya neighborhoods.
Armed clashes have since moved west to Maungdaw, spurring further abuses and displacement, including arson and looting. Four videos from the August 5 attacks shared on X, formerly Twitter, on August 6 show dozens of bodies of men, women, and children. Geoconfirmed identified the location, which Human Rights Watch corroborated, at the western edge of Maungdaw town. Rohingya witnesses told Human Rights Watch they believed the Arakan Army was responsible. The junta and Arakan Army have blamed each other for the attacks.
“Over the last two months, there was serious fighting between the Arakan Army and Myanmar military, with artillery shells and drones,” said a 24-year-old Rohingya man from Myo Ma Ka Nyin Tan, Maungdaw, in August. “Many Rohingya villagers were killed and injured every day. I went to several funerals.” He fled on August 5 when fighting descended on his neighborhood. “We made our way to the riverbank to cross, where thousands of people were making the journey. Suddenly, drones appeared and started dropping bombs on the crowd. In our group of 70 to 80, close to 20 were killed, and 10 others, including myself, were injured.”
“The Naf River was full of dead Rohingya bodies as we fled,” said another villager, 18, who told Human Rights Watch that his father was killed in a drone attack. “I saw many dead bodies in the paddy fields and on the riverbank.” His boat capsized in the river while crossing into Bangladesh, drowning two dozen people. He and his brother found a plastic barrel which they floated on to the shore. The Border Guard Bangladesh arrested his mother while she attempted to cross the border and have detained her since, he said. Border guards have increased pushbacks of asylum seekers along the Rakhine border since January.
The conflict has displaced more than 320,000 people in Rakhine State and southern Chin State since November 2023. Meanwhile, the junta has ramped up its deadly blockages of humanitarian aid as a form of collective punishment, which is in violation of international humanitarian law and contrary to the 2022 United Nations Security Council resolution and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) five-point consensus.
Rohingya are being pressured from all sides in Myanmar and Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch said. In recent months, the junta has unlawfully recruited thousands of Rohingya men and boys from Rakhine State and the refugee camps in Bangladesh, with support from Rohingya armed groups, inflaming tensions between the Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities.
In Bangladesh, about one million Rohingya refugees are facing increasingly dire conditions in the Cox’s Bazar camps amid surging violence by armed groups and criminal gangs. In August alone, there have been reports of members of the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army carrying out killings, abductions, forced recruitment, extortion, and robbery. Bangladesh authorities have failed to ensure refugees access to protection, education, livelihoods, and movement.
“My heart aches for the safety of our Rohingya students and the entire community in the area,” a Rohingya teacher in the camps wrote in a note to Human Rights Watch. His students have been increasingly absent from classes, he said, either abducted for ransom, unlawfully recruited, or kept home by their parents out of fear. “Brutal gang activity has created a climate of terror. The fear is palpable, a suffocating weight.”
Bangladesh’s interim prime minister, Muhammad Yunus, said he will “continue to support the million-plus Rohingya people sheltered in Bangladesh,” although his foreign adviser told Reuters that they are not in a position to accept more refugees. Bangladesh is bound by the customary international law prohibition on refoulement, not to forcibly return anyone to a place where they would face a threat to life or a real risk of persecution, torture, or other ill-treatment.
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have consistently said they want to go home but only when their safety, access to land and livelihoods, freedom of movement, and citizenship rights can be ensured. Since January 2023, more than 5,000 Rohingya have attempted dangerous boat journeys to Indonesia and Malaysia in the hope of a better life. An estimated 520 of them have died or gone missing.
While the international response to the 2017 violence was meager and no one has yet been held to account for the crimes against the Rohingya, there have been some important steps toward justice, Human Rights Watch said. In June, an Argentine prosecutor requested arrest warrants for 25 individuals within the Myanmar political and military authorities. The case was filed under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows national authorities to prosecute suspects of grave crimes regardless of nationality or where the crimes were committed.
In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accepted the interventions of seven governments in Gambia’s case against Myanmar under the Genocide Convention. Hearings on the merits of the case will most likely take place in 2025. At the same time, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has an ongoing investigation into the situation, although its jurisdiction is limited to alleged crimes committed at least in part in Bangladesh, an ICC member country.
The UN Security Council should expand the ICC’s jurisdiction in the case by referring the situation in Myanmar to the court, Human Rights Watch said. Council members have so far not followed up on the December 2022 resolution with tangible measures, fearing vetoes by China and Russia.
Security Council members should support holding an open meeting to address the deteriorating situation in Rakhine State and build momentum for a follow-up resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The council should also play a role in enforcing the binding provisional measures ordered by the ICJ in the genocide case, which the military has blatantly disregarded.
“Over the past seven years, UN bodies and governments haven’t done enough to end the system of apartheid and persecution that has exposed Rohingya to further suffering,” Pearson said. “Ending the ongoing cycles of abuses, destruction, and displacement requires international efforts to hold those responsible to account.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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"Statement by Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
Geneva, 22 August 2024 – This week marks seven years since a wave of violent atrocities by the Myanmar security forces drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya women, men and children to flee their homes in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Rohingya lost their loved ones and property, and many were subjected to horrific sexual violence. The majority sought refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh where they remain, still awaiting the day when it will be safe to return to their homes in Myanmar.
No one has yet been held accountable for these horrific crimes. This has emboldened perpetrators in Myanmar to continue their brutal actions without fear of the consequences. When crimes go unpunished, this can fuel more violence. This cycle of impunity must be broken.
This year, armed conflicts have increased across Myanmar, including in Rakhine State, as opposition to military rule grows. This has left Rohingya particularly vulnerable, with horrific reports of killings, torture, rape and the burning of villages. Earlier this month, a drone attack on Rohingya fleeing the violence reportedly killed a high number of civilians. The Mechanism has opened new investigations into these crimes and is collecting evidence of all alleged perpetrators regardless of their affiliation. However, this cycle of atrocities is likely to continue until perpetrators of earlier crimes face justice.
International justice is often slow, and this can be very frustrating for victims who rightly hope for justice that can bring an end to their suffering. At the Mechanism, we understand their frustration and are making our best efforts to produce results.
We have collected and analysed a very large quantity of evidence, including videos, photographs, social media posts and geospatial imagery. We have interviewed hundreds of survivors, eyewitnesses, and people with insider knowledge about the orders given to commit crimes.
We have accelerated the amount of evidence and analysis we are sharing with the authorities involved in the cases concerning the Rohingya at the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and in Argentina. To date we have shared 80 packages containing more than one million items of supporting information and analysis. This includes reports on the movements of military units during the clearance operations and various analyses on the armed groups present in the area when the atrocities against the Rohingya were committed. We are also collecting and analysing evidence of the loss and expropriation of Rohingya property before, during and after the clearance operations.
We are identifying the individuals who are most responsible for the crimes committed against the Rohingya, including those who ordered the crimes, those who failed to punish crimes committed by those under their command and those that actively promoted the hate campaign which fueled these crimes. We are working towards the day that this evidence will be presented in a court of law, and the perpetrators will have to answer for their actions.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM or Mechanism) was created by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes and other violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011. It aims to facilitate justice and accountability by preserving and organizing this evidence and preparing case files that can be used by authorities to prosecute individuals in national, regional and international courts..."
Source/publisher:
UN Human Rights Council (Geneva) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UN human rights documents on Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations
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"Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.
ROHINGYA POPULATION ONCE AGAIN ENDURING ATROCITIES IN MYANMAR
This Sunday, 25 August, marks seven years since security forces in Myanmar (Burma) initiated so-called “clearance operations” against the Rohingya population, a distinct Muslim ethnic minority, in Rakhine State. The operations were characterized by brutal violence and grave human rights violations on a mass scale in what a UN Human Rights Council-mandated Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar concluded to be genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The violence forced over 720,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh where they endure dire conditions in some of the largest refugee camps in the world.
Seven years on, survivors and victims of the Rohingya genocide remaining in Myanmar are facing the threat of atrocity crimes as Rakhine State is besieged by armed conflict again. The Rohingya are increasingly caught in the middle of escalating fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine armed group, which has surged in Rakhine State since November 2023 when an informal ceasefire broke down. In recent months the AA has advanced across Rakhine State, taking control of many predominantly Rohingya areas from the military junta. In response, the military has carried out relentless indiscriminate aerial attacks and blocked Rohingya attempting to escape.
Last month, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, warned that the situation “carries echoes of the lead-up to genocidal violence in 2016 and 2017,” while highlighting how the junta has deliberately stoked tensions between the Rakhine and Rohingya communities in Rakhine State. The Rohingya have also been disproportionately targeted in the junta’s forced conscription campaign. Reports have also emerged of atrocities committed by the AA against Rohingya civilians, including mass arrests, forced displacement, looting and the blocking of humanitarian aid. According to the Women’s Peace Network, at least 200 Rohingya – mostly women and children – were killed in drone attacks launched by the AA near the Naf River during the first week of August. Around 20,000 Rohingya were forcibly displaced from downtown Maungdaw prior to this and attempting to escape other attacks by the AA in the area.
Impunity for past atrocity crimes in Myanmar has enabled the ongoing commission of atrocities, while the renewed fighting in Rakhine State compounds existing vulnerabilities and risks for the Rohingya. The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect’s Executive Director, Savita Pawnday, said, “For decades, the Rohingya have been systematically persecuted, with little-to-no redress for their generational suffering. On this somber commemoration, the international community must commit to action, including by pursuing justice for both past and ongoing atrocities in Myanmar and cutting off access to the jet fuel, weapons and funds the junta needs to continue to commit atrocities.”..."
Source/publisher:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Crimes Against Humanity, Human Rights and international relations
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"The MAU tracks market prices in Central and Northern Rakhine State and Chin State. Data are collected from three vendors per product per market in the last week of each month.1 Data and product specifications are available online through the MPR dashboard at www.themimu.info/market-analysis-unit.
KEY FINDINGS
Cooking oil prices rose 12% further in July as transportation costs pushed essential food prices higher;
Some vegetables prices rose 30%, although other vegetable prices also fell by as much as 30%;
The price of fish products rose 10-16% in July as fishermen reported increasing operating costs;
Toothpaste and detergent prices rose 10-20%, climbing at a pace similar to June;
Charcoal prices rose 27% as electricity cuts continued to boost demand and in turn strain supply;
Hygiene NFI prices remained 300% above 2023, and other NFIs—while stable in July—were still 100% higher;
Shipping costs are likely to push prices up in August, as fuel prices climb and transportation links fray;
Myebon households may face particular stress, after two consecutive months of very steep price hikes.
Product-Level Price Changes
Essential Foods – Rising transportation costs lifted essential food prices in July. Prices for higher-quality rice rose 6% in July, although lower-quality rice prices were fairly stable. Cooking oil prices rose at least 12% in most markets monitored, while prices for pulse held steady for a second straight month. Meybon saw the steepest price hikes for essential foods in July.
Vegetables – Shifts in supply increased prices for some vegetables while lowering prices for others. Prices for green chili and garlic rose 30-33% in July, while prices for onion and long bean fell 18-30% on reports of increased supply. Eggplant and watercress prices were fairly stable in July. Kyauktaw saw the steepest vegetable price increases in July.
Meat and Fish – Fish prices rose in July and fishermen said their operating costs were rising. Prices for fish paste and dried fish rose 10-16% in July, although prices for fresh fish and chicken were stable. Shrimp prices fell 8% in July partly due to increased monsoon season supply.
Hygiene Products – Prices for hygiene products rose another 10-20% in July amid rising transportation costs. Toothpaste and detergent prices rose another 19-20% in July, and soap prices rose 10%. Prices for sanitary pads were stable in July. Prices for hygiene products increased most dramatically in Myebon.
Other NFIs – Electricity cuts boosted charcoal prices in July, but other NFIs were relatively stable. Charcoal prices rose 27% in July and longyi prices rose 5-12%, but most other NFI prices were relatively stable. Minbya and Rathedaung saw a mix of rising and falling NFI prices, while in other markets prices were stable or rising. NFI prices rose steeply in Meybon..."
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Information Management Unit (Myanmar) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Food Security and nutrition in Burma/Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations
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793.86 KB
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Description:
"Increasing deadly attacks against Rohingya people in Myanmar’s Rakhine State bear a terrifying resemblance to the atrocities of August 2017, Amnesty International said ahead of the seventh anniversary of the crisis.
“As the seven-year anniversary of the Rohingya crisis nears, the horrific situation in Rakhine State looks disturbingly familiar. Rohingya men, women and children are being killed, towns are emptying out, and vestiges of Rohingya history and identity are being eroded. Many are once again seeking shelter in refugee camps across the border in Bangladesh, where economic, security and livelihood conditions have deteriorated,” Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher Joe Freeman said.
“After being subjected to a brutal and systematic campaign of violence in August 2017 following decades of state-backed persecution, Rohingya civilians are now caught in the middle of intensifying conflict in Rakhine State between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar military, which has forcefully conscripted Rohingya to fight on its side.”
The military has responded to battlefield losses with devastating aerial attacks that have killed Rohingya as well as ethnic Rakhine civilians. They have targeted civilian areas, destroying homes, marketplaces and other civilian infrastructure.
“The Myanmar military must immediately end their renewed campaign of violence and refrain from unlawful attacks on civilians, who are bearing the brunt of the conflict not only in Rakhine State but across the country, with millions displaced,” Freeman said.
As they advance through Rakhine State and capture more territory, the Arakan Army has also faced mounting allegations of atrocities.
“In addition, the international community must apply more pressure on the Arakan Army to abide by international humanitarian law. All allegations of war crimes perpetrated by the Myanmar military or by any armed groups in the country should be effectively investigated,” Freeman said.
Arakan Army advances on the northern Rakhine town of Buthidaung reportedly resulted in large-scale arson on 17 May of this year, displacing thousands of Rohingya residents. And on 5 August, an attack that survivors blamed on the Arakan Army killed an unknown number of Rohingya civilians fleeing the town of Maungdaw near the border with Bangladesh. The Arakan Army has denied attacking Rohingya.
“The rapidly escalating conflict in Myanmar is all the more reason for the United Nations Security Council to finally refer the situation in the country to the International Criminal Court. There can be no progress without accountability. The future of Myanmar hinges on protecting, promoting and upholding the human rights of all people in the country,” Freeman said.
“This includes scrapping discriminatory laws or policies that are used to cement the apartheid system against hundreds of thousands of Rohingya men, women and children in Rakhine and restoring their rights to health, education and freedom of movement.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh continues to host nearly one million Rohingya refugees in camps in poor conditions for the seventh consecutive year. Last year, at least 12,000 refugees in the camps were rendered homeless due to devastating fires and the impact of cyclone Mocha. Acute funding shortfalls led to food insecurity in the camps, as well as shortcomings in healthcare and education.
“Bangladesh’s new interim government should prioritize the protection of Rohingya refugees’ human rights and their safety in camps, uphold the principle of non-refoulment, and adopt a rights-respecting policy towards the Rohingya,” Freeman said.
Background
On 25 August 2017 Myanmar security forces launched a widespread and systematic assault on Rohingya villages after an armed group calling itself the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army carried out deadly attacks on police posts. Arakan is another name used for Rakhine State.
The military response included extrajudicial killings, destruction of properties and sexual assault. As a result of the military’s so-called “clearance operations”, more than 740,000 Rohingya women, men and children fled northern Rakhine State to neighbouring Bangladesh. Taking into account previous waves of violence against them, an estimated one million Rohingya refugees now live in Bangladesh.
Amnesty International has said the 2017 attacks against the Rohingya amounted to crimes against humanity, recommending that at least a dozen senior officials be investigated for their roles in the violence, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating alleged crimes committed in 2016 and 2017 against the Rohingya population, but only those committed partly in the territory of Bangladesh or other states, because Myanmar has not ratified the ICC’s Statute. Amnesty International has called for the United Nations Security Council to refer the full situation in Myanmar to the ICC, so that an investigation of all crimes committed in Myanmar can be conducted.
Min Aung Hlaing has never been held accountable and on 1 February 2021, the military seized power in a coup, with Min Aung Hlaing chairing the newly created State Administration Council (SAC). SAC-backed soldiers, police and militias have killed more than 5,000 civilians in Myanmar since the 2021 coup.
Amnesty International has documented torture, arbitrary detention and unlawful air strikes by the Myanmar military following the coup. In November 2022, the organization called for the suspension of aviation fuel imports, which the Myanmar military uses to bomb civilians. While many companies have withdrawn from the supply chain after being made aware of the risks, shipments have continued..."
Source/publisher:
"Amnesty International" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Sub-title:
The Muslim community has been caught in crossfire between ethnic minority insurgents and junta forces.
Description:
"Twenty-six members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority drowned when their boat capsized as they were trying to flee to Bangladesh, witnesses said, an accident likely to compound fears that the largely Muslim community is facing a new round of genocide.
Rohingya living in Rakhine state in western Myanmar have been caught in crossfire between ethnic minority insurgents fighting for self-determination against Myanmar’s military, with both sides accused of killing them.
Some analysts have warned that the latest attacks are worse than those inflicted on the community in 2017, when a Myanmar military crackdown against Rohingya militants triggered an exodus of some 700,000 people to Bangladesh.
As then, Rohingya are again fleeing the violence to Bangladesh, many crossing a border river in small boats.
On Monday, a crowded boat crossing the Naf River to Bangladesh sank killing 26 of those onboard, witnesses said, the latest in a spate of deadly accidents on the river.
"There were 30 people on the boat including 18 children. Only four survived. The rest died,” said one of the witnesses who declined to be identified because of security fears.
Rescue workers searching for bodies had found seven victims, including four children and a pregnant woman, he added.
Aung Kyaw Moe, deputy minister of human rights for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, said the boat was heading to Bangladesh because of intense fighting in Maungdaw township on the border between junta troops and the Arakan Army, or AA, insurgent group.
"They fled for their lives. They were worried about where the heavy artillery would fall,” he said. “The Naf River is dangerous because of the ebb and flow of the tide. They had to risk their lives."
Aung Kyaw Moe said the situation in Rakhine state was confusing because some areas were controlled by junta forces while others were in the hands of the AA, with tens of thousands of Rohingya caught up in the conflict.
The AA draws its support from the largely Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community, the majority in the state. The rebels are fighting Myanmar’s military for greater autonomy, in alliance with ethnic minority forces from other areas and democracy activists who took up arms after the army overthrew an elected government in 2021.
Both sides have been accused of killing Rohingya, with AA fighters blamed for attacking people believed to be supporting junta forces.
On Aug. 5, dozens of Rohingya people were killed by fire from heavy weapons as they waited for boats to cross to Bangladesh, survivors told Radio Free Asia. Some survivors said the AA was responsible though the insurgents denied that.
Torched homes
On Aug. 12, Human Rights Watch said both the junta and the AA had committed extrajudicial killings and widespread arson against Rohingya, Rakhine and other civilians in Rakhine state.
“Ethnic Rohingya and Rakhine civilians are bearing the brunt of the atrocities that the Myanmar military and opposition Arakan Army are committing,” said the group’s Asia director Elaine Pearson. “Both sides are using hate speech, attacks on civilians, and massive arson to drive people from their homes and villages, raising the specter of ethnic cleansing.”
The recent attacks on Rohingya were “worse than in 2017” and represents a “second wave of genocide”, two experts told a press briefing in the United States this month.
There were about 60,000 displaced people in Rakhine state before the latest round of fighting resumed late last year but now there are more than 500,000, aid groups there say.
Echoing growing concerns about the Rohingya, the U.K.-based Burma Human Rights Network, or BHRN, called on Wednesday for the international community to protect Rohingya, particularly those in Maungdaw.
It cited witnesses as saying many Rohingya had been killed in boat accidents or from bombs on the banks of the Naf River. The group cited witnesses as saying AA fighters had torched Rohingya homes in Maungdaw.
“These problems started when the junta forcibly recruited Rohingya for military service,” Kyaw Win, director of Burma Human Rights Network, told RFA. “If there are violations by AA troops on the ground, the AA needs to be exposed and action needs to be taken.”
The AA, in an Aug. 18 statement, accused “Muslim armed forces” of setting fire to homes and it warned that rights activists making accusations could affect harmony between ethnic groups. The AA said it had evacuated nearly 20,000 people, including Rohingya, from embattled Maungdaw town and would move more to safety.
Kyaw Win said forces opposed to the junta throughout the country, including the National Unity Government and other insurgent groups, had been reluctant to criticize the AA, their anti-junta ally.
But he said the international community should investigate the AA's actions and take measures, including sanctions, if necessary..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Human rights issues, UN human rights bodies and mechanisms
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Description:
"Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing.
Fayaz and his wife believed they were moments from safety when the bombs began to fall: “We were getting on the boat one after another - that’s when they started bombing us.”
Wails and shouts filled the air around 17:00 local time on 5 August, Fayaz* says, as thousands of scared Rohingyas made their way to the banks of the Naf river in the town of Maungdaw.
Attacks on villages earlier in the area meant this was what hundreds of families, including Fayaz’s, saw as their only option - that to get to safety, they had to escape from western Myanmar to Bangladesh’s safer shores.
Fayaz was carrying bags stuffed with whatever they had managed to grab. His wife was carrying their six-year-old daughter, their eldest was running alongside them. His wife’s sister was walking ahead, with the couple’s eight-month-old son in her arms.
The first bomb killed his sister-in-law instantly. The baby was badly injured - but alive.
“I ran and carried him... But he died while we were waiting for the bombing to stop.”
Nisar* had also made it to the riverbank by about 17:00, having decided to escape with his mother, wife, son, daughter and sister. “We heard drones overhead and then the loud sound of an explosion,” he recalls. “We were all thrown to the ground. They dropped bombs on us using drones.”
Nisar was the only one of his family to survive.
Fayaz, his wife and daughters escaped and would eventually make it across the river. Despite his pleas, the boatman refused to allow Fayaz to bring the baby's body with them. “He said there was no point in carrying the dead, so I dug a hole by the river bank and hastily buried him."
Now they’re all in the relative safety of Bangladesh, but if they are caught by authorities here they could be sent back. Nisar clutches a Quran, unable still to process how his world was shattered in a single day.
“If I’d known what would happen, I would never have tried to leave that day,” Nisar says.
It is notoriously difficult to piece together what is happening in Myanmar's civil war. But the BBC has managed to construct a picture of what happened on the evening of 5 August through a series of exclusive interviews with more than a dozen Rohingya survivors who escaped to Bangladesh, and the videos they shared.
All of the survivors - unarmed Rohingya civilians - recount hearing many bombs exploding over a period of two hours. While most described the bombs being dropped by drones, a weapon increasingly being used in Myanmar, some said they were hit by mortars and gunfire. The MSF clinic operating in Bangladesh has said it saw a big surge in wounded Rohingya in the days that followed – half of the injured were women and children.
Survivors’ videos analysed by BBC Verify show the river bank covered in bloodied bodies, many of them women and children. There’s no verified count of the number of people killed, but multiple eyewitnesses have told the BBC they saw scores of bodies.
Survivors told us they were attacked by the Arakan Army, one of the strongest insurgent groups in Myanmar which in recent months has driven the military out of nearly all of Rakhine State. They said they were first attacked in their villages, forcing them to flee, and then were attacked again by the river bank as they sought to escape.
The AA declined to be interviewed but its spokesman Khaing Tukha denied the accusation and responded to the BBC’s questions with a statement which said “the incident did not occur in areas controlled by us”. He also accused Rohingya activists of staging the massacre and falsely accusing the AA.
Nisar stands by his account, however.
“The Arakan Army are lying,” he says. “The attacks were done by them. It was only them in our area on that day. And they have been attacking us for weeks. They don’t want to leave any Muslim alive.”
Most of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims live as a minority in Rakhine – a Buddhist-majority state, where the two communities have long had a fraught relationship. In 2017, when the Myanmar military killed thousands of Rohingyas in what the UN described as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”, local Rakhine men also joined the attacks. Now, amid a spiralling conflict between the junta and the AA, which has strong support in the ethnic Rakhine population, Rohingyas once again find themselves trapped.
Despite the risk of being caught and returned to Myanmar by the Bangladeshi authorities, Rohingya survivors told the BBC they wished to share details of the violence they faced so it would not go undocumented, especially as it unfolded in an area that is no longer accessible to rights groups or journalists.
“My heart is broken. Now, I’ve lost everything. I don’t know why I survived,” Nisar says.
A wealthy Rohingya trader, he sold his land and house as the shelling increased near his home in Rakhine. But the conflict intensified faster than he expected, and on the morning of 5 August, the family decided to leave Myanmar.
He is crying as he points to his daughter’s body in one of the videos: “My daughter died in my arms saying Allah’s name. She looks so peaceful, like she’s sleeping. She loved me so much.”
In the same video, he also points to his wife and sister, both severely injured but alive when the video was filmed. He could not carry them out as bombs were still falling, so he made the agonising choice to leave them behind. He found out later they had died.
“There was nowhere left that was safe, so we ran to the river to cross over to Bangladesh,” Fayaz says. The gunfire and bombs had followed them from village to village, and so Fayaz gave all his money to a boatman to carry them across the river.
Devastated and angry, he holds up a photo of his son’s bloodied body.
“If the Arakan Army didn’t fire at us, then who did?” he asks. “The direction that the bombs came from, I know the Arakan Army was there. Or was it thunder falling from the sky?”
These accusations raise serious questions about the Arakan Army, which describes itself as a revolutionary movement representing all the people of Rakhine.
Since late last year, the AA, part of the larger Three Brotherhood Alliance of armed insurgents in Myanmar, has made huge gains against the military.
But the army’s losses have brought new dangers for Rohingyas, who have previously told the BBC they were being forcibly recruited by the junta to fight the AA.
This, together with the decision by the Rohingya militant group ARSA to ally itself with the junta against the Rakhine insurgents, has soured already poor relations between the two communities and left Rohingya civilians vulnerable to retribution.
One survivor of the 5 August attack told the BBC that ARSA militants who had aligned themselves with the junta had been among the fleeing crowd - and that might have provoked the attack.
“Even if there was any military target, there was a disproportionate use of force. There were children, women, the elderly that were killed that day. It was also indiscriminate,” says John Quinley, a director of the human rights group Fortify Rights, which has been investigating the incident.
“So that would leave us to believe that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a war crime did happen on 5 August. The Arakan Army should be investigated for these crimes and Arakan Army senior commanders should be held accountable.”
This is a precarious moment for the Rohingya community. More than a million of them fled to Bangladesh in 2017, where they continue to be restricted to densely-packed, squalid camps.
More have been arriving in recent months as the war in Rakhine reaches them but, it’s no longer 2017, when Bangladesh opened its borders. This time, the government has said it cannot allow any more Rohingyas into the country.
So survivors who can find the money to pay boatmen and traffickers – the BBC was told it costs 600,000 Burmese kyat ($184; £141) per person - then have to slip past Bangladeshi border guards and chance their luck with locals, or hide in Rohingya camps.
When Fayaz and his family arrived in Bangladesh on the 6 August, the border guards gave them a meal but then put them on a boat and sent them back.
“We spent two days afloat with no food or water,” he says. “I gave my daughters water from the river to drink, and pleaded with some of the others on the boat to give them a few biscuits from the packets they had.”
They got into Bangladesh on their second attempt. But at least two boats have capsized because of overcrowding. One woman, a widow with 10 children, said she had managed to hide her family during the bombing, but five of her children drowned when their boat overturned.
“My children were like pieces of my heart. When I think of them, I want to die,” she says, weeping.
Her grandson, a wide-eyed eight-year-old boy, sits beside her. His parents and younger brother also died.
But what of those who were left behind? Phone and internet networks in Maungdaw have been down for weeks but after repeated attempts, the BBC contacted one man, who wished to remain anonymous for his own safety.
“The Arakan Army has forced us out of our homes and are holding us in schools and mosques,” he said. “I am being kept with six other families in a small house.”
The Arakan Army told the BBC that it rescued 20,000 civilians from the town amid fighting against the military. It said it was providing them with food and medical treatment, and add that “these operations are conducted for the safety and security of these individuals, not as forced relocations”.
The man on the phone rejected their claims. “The Arakan Army has told us they will shoot us if we try to leave. We are running out of food and medicines. I am ill, my mother is ill. A lot of people have diarrhoea and are vomiting.”
He broke down, pleading for help: “Tens of thousands of Rohingya are under threat here. If you can, please save us.”
Across the river in Bangladesh, Nisar looks back at Myanmar. He can see the shore where his family was killed.
“I never want to go back.”
Additional reporting by Aamir Peerzada and Sanjay Ganguly
* Names have been changed on request..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Title: Urgent International Action Needed to Address Escalating Humanitarian Crisis in Rakhine State
Description:
"The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) calls for immediate international intervention in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State. The ongoing conflict between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar military junta has resulted in devastating attacks on Rohingya civilians, exacerbating an already dire situation. Immediate action is needed to prevent further atrocities and provide life-saving aid to affected communities.
The humanitarian situation in northern Rakhine State has reached catastrophic levels, particularly for the Rohingya people. On August 5, 2024, up to 200 Rohingya men, women, and children fleeing violence in Maungdaw were killed in a brutal attack as they tried to cross the Naf River into Bangladesh. This massacre is the latest in a series of violent incidents, including a deadly assault in Buthidaung on May 17, where the entire town was nearly decimated. Eyewitnesses clearly stated that the Arakan Army was responsible for these brutal assaults.
“The Rohingya in Rakhine State are in imminent danger, and the international community cannot afford to turn a blind eye,” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK. “These are not isolated incidents—they are part of a systematic campaign of violence and terror that must be stopped. We need immediate international action to protect civilians and ensure that aid reaches those who need it most.”
Rohingya communities in northern Rakhine State are subjected to strict movement restrictions, internet blackouts, and severely limited access to humanitarian assistance. The International Court of Justice has already recognized the risk of genocide against the Rohingya, and the recent escalation in violence underscores the urgent need for protective measures.
BROUK calls on the United Nations, international humanitarian organizations, and governments worldwide to urgently intervene in Rakhine State. The immediate priorities must include:
Ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access to all affected areas, including Maungdaw and Buthidaung, to provide life-saving aid, including food, medicine, and shelter.
Facilitating safe passage for Rohingya and other civilians to reach designated areas of protection.
Supporting the establishment of a humanitarian corridor from Bangladesh to northern Rakhine State tofacilitate the delivery of essential supplies and services.
Enabling an independent international investigative team to enter Rakhine State to investigate the widespread and systematic violations against the Rohingya and other civilians, and to ensure robust monitoring of ongoing human rights abuses and potential war crimes.
Pressuring all parties to the conflict to adhere strictly to international humanitarian law and to cease all hostilities against civilians.
“The situation in Rakhine State is a humanitarian catastrophe demanding immediate and sustained international intervention. The Rohingya cannot endure another tragedy while the world remains silent,” said Tun Khin. “This is a test of our collective humanity. We must act now to stop this crisis and ensure justice for the Rohingya people. We are calling on governments, the United Nations, and international human rights organizations to act before more innocent lives are lost.”
For more information contact Tun Khin, President of BROUK at +44 788 871 4866..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Description:
"19 August 2024: The Arakan Army (AA) must ensure the protection of civilians in northern Rakhine state and uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law, says the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M).
An attack on Rohingya men, women and children on 5 August 2024 may have resulted in the deaths of up to 200 people, according to credible reports. The victims were attempting to escape violent conflict between the AA and Myanmar military in Maungdaw, northern Rakhine state, and cross the Naf River into Bangladesh.
Survivors and witnesses report bombs being dropped from drones, artillery fire, and soldiers shooting people with small arms. The AA has been accused of being responsible. The recent events follow the reported large-scale, coordinated killing, arson and shelling attacks on Rohingya in Buthidaung on 17 May, which AA troops are also alleged to have committed.
The humanitarian situation in northern Rakhine state, in particular for Rohingya communities, is dire. Rohingya in northern Rakhine are at risk of genocide, according to a 2020 ruling issued by the International Court of Justice, and the region is subject to an internet shutdown and tight movement restrictions imposed by the Myanmar military.
SAC-M has not yet been able to determine who is responsible for the recent atrocities against the Rohingya and other civilians in northern Rakhine state. However, it is satisfied that the AA and its political wing the United League of Arakan (ULA) are now the primary military and governance authorities in the region, having almost entirely defeated and displaced the Myanmar military.
As such, SAC-M calls on the ULA/AA, as the de facto authority in northern Rakhine state and a party to the conflict, to act immediately to protect all civilians at all times as its principal obligation under international law. In particular, the ULA/AA must:
Work with the Government of Bangladesh to establish a humanitarian corridor from Bangladesh and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to all communities in Rakhine state.
Assure, ensure and facilitate safe passage for Rohingya and other civilians to take shelter in designated areas of protection.
Request, enable and cooperate fully with an independent international investigative team to enter Rakhine state to investigate the treatment of Rohingya and other civilians in Rakhine state.
Invite independent international monitors to be stationed in Rakhine state to monitor and report on the protection of civilians and the observance of other obligations under international law.
The ULA/AA has said that it is committed to upholding the human rights of all ethnic and religious communities living in Rakhine. Now it must prove it.
SAC-M calls on the United Nations and its agencies and other States to uphold their own obligations and expedite efforts to prevent further grave violations of international law in Myanmar and hold perpetrators of those violations to account.
This Sunday 25 August marks seven years since the start of the massive 2017 atrocities during which thousands of Rohingya men, women, boys and girls were killed in the ensuing mass murder, rape and gang rape, torture, burning and arson carried out by the Myanmar military. Three quarters of a million Rohingya were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Seven years on, victims are still waiting for justice and accountability. And now new atrocities are being added to the old ones. The total impunity for perpetrators of grave violations of international law in Myanmar ensures the conditions for continuing atrocities against civilians, as this most recent massacre attests. The international community must do more to deliver justice and finally bring impunity in Myanmar to end.
ဩဂုတ်လ ၁၉ ရက်၊ ၂၀၂၄ ခုနှစ်။ ။ ရက္ခိုင့်တပ်တော် (AA) သည် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်မြောက်ပိုင်းရှိ အရပ်သားများအား အကာအကွယ်ပေးရေးနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာ လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာ ဥပဒေအောက်တွင် ၎င်း၏ တာဝန်ဝတ္တရားများကို လိုက်နာထိန်းသိမ်းဆောင်ရွက်ရမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အထူးအကြံပေးကောင်စီ (SAC-M) မှ ပြောကြားလိုက်သည်။
ခိုင်လုံသော အစီရင်ခံမှုများအရ ၂၀၂၄ ခုနှစ်၊ သြဂုတ်လ ၅ ရက်တွင် ရိုဟင်ဂျာအမျိုးသား၊ အမျိုးသမီးနှင့် ကလေးငယ်များအပေါ် တိုက်ခိုက်မှုတစ်ခုကြောင့် လူပေါင်း ၂၀၀ အထိ သေဆုံးခဲ့သည်ဟု သိရှိရသည်။ ဒုက္ခသည်များသည် AA နှင့် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်တို့ကြား ဖြစ်ပွားသည့် ပြင်းထန်သော တိုက်ပွဲများကြောင့် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်မြောက်ပိုင်း၊ မောင်တောမြို့နယ်မှ နတ်မြစ်ကို ကျော်ဖြတ်ကာ ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်နိုင်ငံဘက်သို့ ထွက်ပြေးရန် ကြိုးပမ်းနေခဲ့ကြသည်။
ဒရုန်းများမှ ကြဲချသော ဗုံးများ၊ အမြောက်ပစ်ခတ်မှုများနှင့် စစ်သားများက လူများကို လက်နက်ငယ်များဖြင့် ပစ်ခတ်ခဲ့ကြောင်း အသက်ရှင်ကျန်ရစ်သူများနှင့် မျက်မြင်သက်သေများက သတင်းပေးပို့ကြသည်။ ရက္ခိုင့်တပ်တော် (AA) အနေနှင့် တာဝန်ရှိသည်ဟု စွပ်စွဲခံထားရသည်။ ယခုလတ်တလော ဖြစ်ရပ်များသည် ဘူးသီးတောင်တွင် မေလ ၁၇ ရက်က ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့သော ပမာဏကြီးမားလှသည့် အကွက်ကျကျစီမံသတ်ဖြတ်မှု၊ မီးရှို့မှုနှင့် ပစ်ခတ်မှုတို့တွင် AA တပ်ဖွဲ့ဝင်များလည်း ပါဝင်သည်ဟူသော စွပ်စွဲမှုများ၏ နောက်ဆက်တွဲဖြစ်သည်။
ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်မြောက်ပိုင်းရှိ လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှု အခြေအနေ၊ အထူးသဖြင့် ရိုဟင်ဂျာအသိုင်းအ၀ိုင်း၏ အခြေအနေသည်အဆောတလျင်ပင်ဖြစ်သည်။ ၂၀၂၀ ခုနှစ်၊ နိုင်ငံတကာတရားရုံး (ICJ) မှ ချမှတ်သော စီရင်ချက်တရပ်အရ၊ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်မြောက်ပိုင်းရှိ ရိုဟင်ဂျာများသည် လူမျိုးသုဥ်းသတ်ဖြတ်မှုအန္တရာယ်နှင့် ဆက်လက်ရရင်ဆိုင်နေရပြီး ဒေသတွင်း အင်တာနက်ပိတ်ဆို့ခြင်းနှင့် သွားလာလှုပ်ရှားမှုအား တင်းကျပ်စွာ ကန့်သတ်ခြင်းများ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ လုပ်ဆောင်ထားသည်။
SAC-M သည် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်မြောက်ပိုင်းရှိ ရိုဟင်ဂျာများနှင့် အခြားအရပ်သားများအပေါ် လတ်တလော ကျူးလွန်ထားသည့် ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုများအတွက် မည်သူ့တွင် တာဝန်ရှိသည်ကို မဆုံးဖြတ်နိုင်သေးပေ။ မည်သို့ပင်ဆိုစေကာမူ AA နှင့် ၎င်း၏ နိုင်ငံရေးပါတီဖြစ်သည့် ရက္ခိုင့်အမျိုးသားအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (ULA) တို့သည် ယခုအခါတွင် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်ကို လုံးလုံးနီးပါး ချေမှုန်းကာ ဖယ်ရှားပြီး ဒေသတွင်း အခရာကျသည့် စစ်တပ်နှင့် အုပ်ချုပ်မှု အာဏာပိုင်များ ဖြစ်လာမှုသည် ကျေနပ်အားရဖွယ်ရာဖြစ်သည်။
ထို့ပါသောကြောင့် SAC-M အနေဖြင့် ULA/AA အား ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ် မြောက်ပိုင်းတွင် လက်တွေ့အားဖြင့် အုပ်ချုပ်လျက်ရှိသော အာဏာပိုင်နှင့် ပဋိပက္ခတွင် ပါ၀င်နေသော အဖွဲ့တစ်ဖွဲ့အနေနှင့် တောင်းဆိုလိုသည်မှာ နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေအောက်ရှိ ၎င်း၏ အဓိကတာဝန်ဝတ္တရားများအရ အရပ်သားအားလုံးကို အချိန်တိုင်း အကာအကွယ်ပေးရန်အတွက် ချက်ချင်းဆောင်ရွက်သွားရန်ဖြစ်သည်။ အထူးသဖြင့် ULA/AA သည်-
ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်နိုင်ငံမှတဆင့် လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုစင်္ကြံတစ်ခု တည်ဆောက်ရန်နှင့် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်ရှိ လူမှုအသိုက်အဝန်းအားလုံးသို့ လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုအကူအညီများ ပေးပို့ရာတွင် ဖြစ်မြောက်စေရေးအတွက် ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်အစိုးရနှင့် လက်တွဲဆောင်ရွက်ပါရန်။
သတ်မှတ်ထားသော အကာအကွယ်ပေးသည့်နယ်မြေများတွင် ရိုဟင်ဂျာများနှင့် အခြားအရပ်သားများအတွက် လုံခြုံစွာ ဖြတ်သန်းသွားလာခြင်းအား ခိုင်မာသေချာစေပြီး ဖြစ်မြောက်စေရန် ကူညီဆောင်ရွက်ပေးပါရန်။
ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်း ရိုဟင်ဂျာများနှင့် အခြားအရပ်သားများအပေါ် ပြုမူဆက်ဆံမှုများအား စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရန် လွတ်လပ်သော နိုင်ငံတကာ စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးရေးအဖွဲ့တစ်ခုအား တောင်းဆိုရန်၊ ၎င်းအဖွဲ့အား အထောက်အကူပေးရန်နှင့် အပြည့်အဝ ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ပါရန်။
အရပ်သားများအား အကာအကွယ်ပေးရေးနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေအောက်တွင်ရှိ အခြားသော တာဝန်ဝတ္တရားများနှင့်စပ်လျဥ်း၍ လိုက်နာစောင့်ကြပ်ကြည့်ရှုရန်နှင့် အစီရင်ခံရန်အလို့ငှာ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်တွင် နေရာချထားပေးရေးအတွက် လွတ်လပ်သော နိုင်ငံတကာစောင့်ကြည့်လေ့လာသူများအား ဖိတ်ကြားပါစေရန်။
ULA/AA မှ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်း နေထိုင်ကြသော လူမျိုးရေး၊ ဘာသာရေး အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းအားလုံး၏ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအား မြှင့်တင်ပေးရန်အတွက် ၎င်းအနေနှင့် ကတိကဝတ်ပြုထားပြီးဖြစ်ကြောင်းပြောကြားထားပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ ယခုတွင်မူ ယင်းအား သက်သေပြရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။
SAC-M က ကုလသမဂ္ဂနှင့် ၎င်း၏အေဂျင်စီများနှင့် အခြားအဖွဲ့၀င်နိုင်ငံများအား ၎င်းတို့၏ တာဝန်ဝတ္တရားများကို လိုက်နာရန်နှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေအား ထပ်မံ၍ ဆိုးရွားစွာ ချိုးဖောက်မှုများကို တားဆီးရန်အတွက် အားထုတ်မှုများအား မြန်ဆန်စွာ အလုပ်တွင်စေရေးနှင့် အဆိုပါချိုးဖောက်မှုများကို ကျူးလွန်သူများအား တာဝန်ယူ/ခံမှုရှိစေရေး ကြိုးပမ်းဆောင်ရွက်သွားရန် SAC-M မှ တောင်းဆိုသည်။
ယခု ဩဂုတ်လ ၂၅ ရက်၊ တနင်္ဂနွေနေ့သည် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်မှု၊ မုဒိမ်းပြုကျင့်ခံရမှုနှင့် အုပ်စုဖွဲ့ မုဒိမ်းမှု၊ ညှဉ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်မှု၊ မီးလောင်မှုနှင့် ရှို့မီးများမှတဆင့် ရိုဟင်ဂျာ အမျိုးသား၊ အမျိုးသမီး၊ ယောက်ျားလေးနှင့် မိန်းကလေး ထောင်ပေါင်းများစွာ သေဆုံးခဲ့ရသည့်အချိန်ကာလ အစပြုသည့် ကြီးမားသော ၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ် ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှု စတင်သော ခုနှစ်နှစ်ပြည့် အထိမ်းအမှတ်ဖြစ်သည်။ ရိုဟင်ဂျာ တစ်သန်း၏ လေးပုံသုံးပုံသည် အိမ်နီးချင်း ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ် နိုင်ငံသို့ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်ရန် အတင်းအကြပ်စေခိုင်းခံခဲ့ရသည်။
ခုနစ်နှစ်လွန်လေပြီးသကာလ ကျူးလွန်ခံရသူများသည် တရားမျှတမှုနှင့် တာဝန်ခံ/ယူမှုအား စောင့်မျှော်နေဆဲဖြစ်သည်။ ယခုတွင်မူရက်စက်မှုအသစ်များက အဟောင်းနှင့်ပေါင်း ထပ်လောင်းပေါ်ပေါက်နေလေတော့သည်။ ယခုနောက်ဆုံး အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက် သတ်ဖြတ်မှုသည် ခိုင်မာသော အထောက်အထား အဖြစ် သက်သေထူနေသည့်အလျောက် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေကို ပြင်းထန်လေးနက်စွာ ချိုးဖောက်မှုများ၏ ကျူးလွန်သူများ အပြစ်ပေးအရေးယူခံရခြင်းမှ ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့် ရရှိနေမှုသည် အရပ်သားများအပေါ် ဆက်လက် ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုပေါက်ထွန်းစေသည့် အခြေအနေများအား သေချာစေလေသည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင်း တရားမျှတမှုအား ဆောင်ကြဥ်းရန်နှင့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုကျူးလွန်သူများ အပြစ်ပေးအရေးယူခံရခြင်းမှ ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့် ရရှိနေမှုအား နောက်ဆုံးအနေနှင့် အဆုံးသတ်ရန်နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းက မဖြစ်မနေ ပိုမို လုပ်ဆောင်ရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-19
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Individual Documents
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Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
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Sub-title:
Killings of Civilians, Mass Arson, Unlawful Recruitment in Rakhine State
Description:
"Killings of Civilians, Mass Arson, Unlawful Recruitment in Rakhine State
(Bangkok) – Myanmar junta forces and the opposition Arakan Army have committed extrajudicial killings and widespread arson against Rohingya, Rakhine, and other civilians in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State in recent months, Human Rights Watch said today. The military’s unlawful recruitment of Rohingya men and boys has stoked communal tensions between the Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities.
In April and May 2024, the junta military and allied Rohingya armed groups as well as the advancing Arakan Army all committed atrocities against civilians. On May 17, as the Arakan Army gained control of the remaining junta military bases in Buthidaung township, its forces shelled, looted, and burned Rohingya neighborhoods in Buthidaung town and nearby villages, causing thousands of Rohingya to flee. The clashes have since moved west to Maungdaw, where fighting has surged over the past week, with reports of killings and other abuses against the Rohingya population, including children, women, and older people. All parties to the conflict should halt unlawful attacks, cease the use of hate speech, and allow unimpeded humanitarian access to those in need.
“Ethnic Rohingya and Rakhine civilians are bearing the brunt of the atrocities that the Myanmar military and opposition Arakan Army are committing,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Both sides are using hate speech, attacks on civilians, and massive arson to drive people from their homes and villages, raising the specter of ethnic cleansing.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed 33 ethnic Rohingya and Rakhine victims and witnesses to abuses and analyzed satellite imagery, open-source material, private videos and photos, and medical records.
The Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group, has engaged in periods of heavy fighting with the Myanmar military for control of Rakhine State since late 2018. Hostilities between junta forces and the Arakan Army have surged since mid-November 2023, ending a year-long unofficial ceasefire. As the Arakan Army has rapidly expanded its control across Rakhine State, the military has responded with indiscriminate attacks using helicopter gunships, artillery, and ground assaults. From November to July, junta forces carried out over 1,100 airstrikes nationwide, more than one-fifth of them in Rakhine State, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).
By April, fighting had intensified in the predominantly Muslim townships of Buthidaung and Maungdaw, where an estimated 240,000 Rohingya lived. Junta forces and allied Rohingya armed groups carried out arson attacks on ethnic Rakhine villages on the outskirts of Buthidaung town and Rakhine areas within the town in mid-April, according to satellite imagery analysis, witness accounts, and local media reports.
In late April, the Arakan Army began burning Rohingya villages east of Buthidaung town. Satellite imagery and thermal anomaly data analyzed by Human Rights Watch reveal that more than 40 villages and hamlets in Buthidaung township were partially or completely destroyed by fire from April 24 to May 21. Burning destroyed thousands of structures across the township, including predominantly Rohingya areas downtown. Human Rights Watch concluded that the pattern of destruction caused by fire throughout Buthidaung suggests that all these attacks were deliberate.
Residents said Arakan Army fighters began setting fire to Buthidaung town on the evening of May 17, despite having told them to evacuate by 10 a.m. the following day. Thousands of Rohingya displaced from nearby villages were sheltering in schools, homes, and the hospital in downtown Buthidaung. Witnesses said the burning, shelling, and gunfire were not in response to any evident fighting between the forces.
“Without any conflict, the Arakan Army besieged the town,” said a man who fled Buthidaung’s Ward 2. “They started launching heavy weapons and at the same time began setting the houses on fire. People ran, fleeing for their lives, while older people and children were left behind in burning houses. It was a real scene of Qayamat [apocalypse].”
The capture of Buthidaung displaced an estimated 70,000 people, mostly Rohingya, who fled to the west and south amid further attacks. The Arakan Army announced that it had captured all Myanmar junta bases in Buthidaung on May 18. Satellite imagery indicates that the arson attacks continued in the area through May 21, following the paths of people fleeing.
Human Rights Watch also verified videos and photographs posted on social media and shared privately that showed destroyed houses in Buthidaung in April and May and large groups of people fleeing.
Rohingya described being caught between junta and Arakan Army forces, both trying to coerce them to take sides in the conflict. The junta military has unlawfully recruited thousands of Rohingya men and boys from Rakhine State and the refugee camps in Bangladesh, with support from Rohingya armed groups, and has forced Rohingya to participate in sham protests against the Arakan Army. Such efforts have inflamed relations between the Rohingya and Rakhine, triggering the spread of hate speech and misinformation online and offline.
The Arakan Army has denied attacking Rohingya civilians, asserting it issued sufficient warning and that the May 17-18 fires resulted from junta airstrikes and arson committed by Rohingya militia. In an August 5 letter to Human Rights Watch, the Arakan Army stated, “We do not condone or engage in unlawful attacks or arson attacks against civilians.”
The laws of war prohibit deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and on civilian objects, such as homes, schools, and hospitals. Summary killings, mutilation of bodies, recruitment of children, looting, and arson are all prohibited as war crimes. Warring parties must take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians, must cancel attacks if it becomes evident the target is not a military objective, and must provide effective advance warnings of attacks unless circumstances do not permit.
The Myanmar junta and Arakan Army should urgently allow access to Rakhine State to an independent international inquiry and to humanitarian agencies, Human Rights Watch said.
“The military junta and Arakan Army need to take immediate steps to protect civilians and civilian property during the hostilities,” Pearson said. “Governments with influence over the warring parties should weigh in forcefully or once again face a situation of ethnic cleansing.”
Names have been withheld or replaced with pseudonyms to protect the identities of victims and witnesses.
Crisis in Rakhine State
In 2017, more than 750,000 Rohingya fled the Myanmar military’s crimes against humanity and acts of genocide in the same areas beset by armed conflict today, seven years on. About 630,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine State under a system of apartheid that leaves them exceptionally vulnerable to renewed fighting.
Since the February 2021 coup, the Myanmar military has committed crimes against humanity and war crimes across the country. Security forces have continued to persecute the Rohingya, arresting thousands for “unauthorized travel” and imposing new movement restrictions and aid blockages on Rohingya camps and villages.
The conflict has displaced an estimated 310,000 people in Rakhine State and southern Chin State since it resumed in November 2023. Yet the junta has ramped up its deadly blockages of humanitarian aid to civilians across Rakhine, a form of collective punishment that violates international humanitarian law. Security forces have shut down major roads and waterways, banned the transport of medical supplies, and attacked healthcare facilities. Internet and telecommunication outage data and reports from civil society groups demonstrate a total lack of internet services in Rakhine State between January 10 and May 31, 2024. These restrictions sustain the military’s longstanding “four cuts” strategy, designed to exert control over an area by isolating and terrorizing civilians.
Unlawful Forced Recruitment; Rising Hostilities
The military has been stoking communal tensions between the Rohingya and Rakhine communities through forced recruitment and other exploitative tactics, similar to its efforts during the 2012 ethnic cleansing campaign, Human Rights Watch said.
In late March, the military coerced Rohingya to participate in anti-Arakan Army protests in Buthidaung and Sittwe townships, threatening to burn down their homes, launch artillery attacks, or detain them if they refused. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that the military organized the protests “most likely in order to destabilize Rakhine State to its own advantage by inflaming communal tensions.”
The military activated the 2010 People’s Military Service Law in February, enabling conscription of Myanmar citizens. Despite having long been denied citizenship and regarded as foreigners, the Rohingya became the first targets of the conscription campaign.
Security forces have abducted and forcibly recruited thousands of Rohingya men and boys through nighttime raids, coercion, false promises of citizenship, and threats of arrest, abduction, and beatings. The military has been sending forced recruits to abusive two-week military training, then deploying them to the front lines, where some have been killed or injured. Local media reported in late April that the military had conscripted 5,000 Rohingya into military training.
Yusuf, who lived in the village of Htin Shar Pyin, said that junta soldiers forcibly recruited him with about three dozen other Rohingya in a 3 a.m. raid in late March. “The military now wants us to join them in their fight against the Arakan Army almost seven years after they brutalized our mothers and sisters in 2017,” he said. “None of us joined them willingly.” Yusuf said he saw over 1,000 Rohingya conscripts at the cantonment. For two months, he was deployed to the front lines in Buthidaung.
In Bangladesh, where one million Rohingya refugees live in camps, Rohingya armed groups forcibly recruited and smuggled at least 1,800 refugees into Rakhine State on behalf of Myanmar junta forces between mid-March and early June. A camp majhi (community leader) said that the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) armed group had tried to force the majhis to provide lists of 25 young men per camp block.
A Rohingya refugee said that on May 4, RSO members took his 15-year-old son, 17-year-old nephew, and about 20 other young men and boys to Myanmar. “We have stopped eating and drinking due to grief,” he said. “I want to get my son back. He is too young to understand anything about war.”
Rohingya said that the forced recruitment inflamed hostilities with Rakhine communities and made them a target of the Arakan Army. “Five young men were forcibly taken from our village by the military for conscription,” said a resident of Nan Yar Kone, a village attacked in early May. “I think this was why the Arakan Army launched the attack on our village in retaliation.”
In March and April, official Arakan Army social media accounts, including leader Twan Mrat Naing’s, referred to the Muslim Rohingya as “Bengali,” a pejorative term long used by the military to label them as foreigners. Both Rakhine and Rohingya accounts have spread misinformation and hate speech online.
“Before the recent clashes in Buthidaung, our relationship [with the Arakan Army] wasn’t so bad,” said Sadek, 19, from Htin Shar Pyin. “After these clashes, they started looting our houses and took all of our belongings on trucks.”
Another villager from Htin Shar Pyin said that during attacks on his village on May 14, Arakan Army fighters told them: “‘You sent your sons to the military for training to kill us. The military is your father. Is the military coming to protect you now? You don’t have the right to live in this area anymore.’ Afterward, they started burning the houses.”
April-May Violence
Between April 11 and 20, the junta military and Rohingya armed groups looted and set on fire ethnic Rakhine areas in Buthidaung town and villages to the south, according to satellite imagery reviewed by Human Rights Watch, witness accounts, and local media reports. Within the town, property in predominantly Rakhine, Hindu, and Khami areas in Wards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were set on fire in arson attacks between April 11 and 17, with Ward 4 most affected. The damage visible in the satellite imagery resulted from numerous fires originating in different parts of the town over several days, suggesting they were deliberately ignited. A Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) office and pharmacy were burned down on April 15.
A 26-year-old Rakhine villager from Buthidaung town said:
[Rohingya] Muslims collaborated with the SAC [State Administration Council junta] to destroy Rakhine villages and loot everything from the houses. The Muslims came in groups. The SAC forces were few, maybe around 10 or 20, but there were over 100 or around 200 Muslims. They destroyed our Buddhist religious buildings. They broke into the houses, took everything they wanted, loaded them onto their trucks, and then finally burned the houses. They also shot at us as we fled.
A 13-minute video made up of five clips was posted on Facebook by the account “Democratic Voice of Arakan” on May 26. The video, recorded from a moving vehicle, starts in Ward 3 and shows destroyed or partially destroyed buildings on both sides of the road in Wards 3 and 6 for the first five minutes. Satellite imagery captured on April 27 shows that most of the buildings filmed in this video were destroyed during the April attacks.
A photograph posted in a series on Facebook by Western News on April 24 shows dark smoke clouds filling the sky. Initially geolocated by Bellingcat and verified by Human Rights Watch, the photograph was taken south of Buthidaung Road in Ward 4 on April 14, according to the image timestamp.
While defeating junta units in Buthidaung, Arakan Army forces also began launching arson attacks on the surrounding Rohingya areas. Predominantly Rohingya villages and hamlets on the eastern bank of the Mayu River show destruction by fire in late April and early May, while smoke plumes and fires were detected on a dozen villages.
Ibrahim, 28, was severely injured in an attack on his village, Da Pyu Chaung:
Many people were killed in our village when the Arakan Army carried out random shootings and drone attacks. I was lying on the porch at our house. Suddenly a bomb fell on my neighbor’s house. Fragments severely damaged my face. The whole family of six next door was killed – two parents and four children – along with five others who were sheltering there. Days after the attack on our village, the Arakan Army captured MOC [Military Operations Command] 15. The Arakan Army also burned our village down.
The Arakan Army announced it captured the junta’s Military Operations Command 15 headquarters on May 2, about six kilometers east of Buthidaung town, after two weeks of fighting. A few days later, junta forces blew up the main bridge entrance to Buthidaung town from the east.
Da Pyu Chaung village is located less than 500 meters from the MOC headquarters. Satellite imagery captured in early May shows the village reduced to ashes along with other settlements nearby.
A Rakhine villager who witnessed Arakan Army fighters burning houses in U Hla Pay and Ywet Nyo Taung said the Arakan Army framed the attacks as “clearance operations” against the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).
Rohingya fleeing attacks in late April and early May sought shelter across the river in Buthidaung town. Much of the ethnic Rakhine community had already fled the town, escaping earlier attacks and hostilities or having been evacuated by the Arakan Army.
May 17-18
Rohingya said that Arakan Army fighters warned them to leave Buthidaung town by the morning of May 18 but began setting fire to houses the night before. “Arakan Army fighters gave us an ultimatum to vacate the town by 10 a.m. tomorrow,” a 28-year-old Rohingya man said during a phone interview the night of May 17. “But now they suddenly came and forced us to leave instantly and started setting every house on fire. Now everywhere is in flames.”
An 85-year-old man from Ward 2 said his son had attended a meeting with Arakan Army fighters who told Rohingya to leave their houses by 10 a.m. on May 18. “But they came at around 10 p.m. on May 17 and started firing and setting fire to the houses while villagers were busy preparing food and packing their belongings to leave the next day,” he said.
Rohingya told Human Rights Watch that Arakan Army fighters set fire to buildings across Buthidaung town; fired artillery shells; shot at villagers who were fleeing or not willing or able to leave; and looted houses. “They didn’t hesitate to torch our houses, even with people inside,” said Kabir, who lived in Ward 1. “They started setting fire to our homes around 9 p.m. We were inside when they began. They launched mortar shells at our houses and burned our village mosque.” Satellite imagery reveals fire damage in all seven wards, with Wards 1, 2, 3, and 6 most affected.
Witnesses reported mortar and drone attacks on Buthidaung General Hospital, a mosque in Ward 1, a guest house in Ward 2, government buildings, schools including the high school, and other buildings where thousands of displaced Rohingya were sheltering. New tents and shelters are visible in the courtyard of Basic Education High School in Ward 1 in satellite imagery captured since late April.
Thermal anomalies were detected by an environmental satellite on May 17 in all seven wards. Satellite imagery from May 18 confirmed that the thermal anomalies were caused by fire, and that the destroyed areas were Rohingya neighborhoods that had not been affected during the April attacks. Residential buildings and other infrastructure surrounding the Basic Education High School in Ward 1 and Buthidaung General Hospital in Ward 2 were destroyed, along with Buthidaung market in Ward 6.
Fatema, 22, lived in Ward 4 with 10 family members, 6 of whom were killed on May 17. She fled her house with her husband and two children when it was set on fire at about 8 p.m., but five other family members, including her 70-year-old father-in-law, were trapped on the upper floor: “After we got out of the house, we waited a long time for them, but they never came out.” Arakan Army fighters started shooting at the masses of fleeing villagers, she said. “Without saying anything, they started shooting toward the crowd. My brother-in law was hit and killed by a bullet. We couldn’t pick up his dead body or gather other remains because we were all running to save our own lives.”
Fatema said she saw 10-12 people shot and killed while fleeing, including a young boy. “His mother had to leave him by the road,” she said.
“The Arakan Army didn’t let us retrieve the bodies,” Kabir said.
Witnesses said they identified the Arakan Army fighters by their uniforms and insignia, and heard them speaking Rakhine.
Arson attacks were also carried out in villages south of Buthidaung town. Residents of Htin Shar Pyin said Arakan Army troops had first attacked the village a few days earlier, launching shells and burning houses. Sadek said that the attacks resumed the evening of May 17, reaching his home around 9:30 p.m. He had gone to a nearby shop while his parents were finishing dinner. “Suddenly, countless mortar shells were launched at our houses, and they were set on fire,” he said. “I saw from the shop that my house was burning. I saw it burn to ash.”
Sadek fled with other villagers. “I saw almost 15 dead bodies scattered around as I fled,” he said. “The bodies were covered with cloths so I couldn’t identify anyone. Arakan Army troops were guarding the bodies: no one was allowed to approach them. I don’t know if my family members are still alive.” Another villager from Htin Shar Pyin said his 16-year-old cousin had been killed.
Satellite imagery from May 18 shows at least three impact craters with a diameter of about 2.5 meters located less than 100 meters from the southern part of Htin Shar Pyin village, people visible in the fields next to the village, and large vehicles along the road between Htin Shar Pyin and Done Chaung.
On May 18, the Arakan Army announced it had seized Buthidaung town and overtaken all military bases.
The UN told Reuters that at least 45 Rohingya died during the attack and its immediate aftermath.
Fleeing the Town
Thousands of Rohingya fled Buthidaung town the evening of May 17. With the main bridge providing access from the east side destroyed, people were forced to flee west and south of the town.
Large numbers were trapped in Ward 5, which was only partially burned, or outside the Buthidaung jail. “The Arakan Army is allowing Rohingya to stay in Ward 5, but they aren’t allowing us to flee to Maungdaw,” said a man sheltering at a warehouse. “It’s like a confinement.”
“Arakan Army fighters say those who violate their orders will be punished,” another man said.
Those who escaped the town to the west converged with junta troops retreating from the remaining bases overtaken by the Arakan Army, including the military’s Buthidaung Tactical Operations Command (TOC), which was captured after intense fighting on May 17. Witnesses said that Arakan Army fighters began firing at civilians and setting fire to houses in their efforts to overrun the military troops, some of whom continued fighting along the route.
Ahmad, 21, fled to Tat Min Chaung, near the Tactical Operations Command:
The scene was chaotic, with the military fleeing ahead and us caught in the middle. Many fleeing villagers were killed or arrested by the Arakan Army. I was hit in the shoulder by a bullet. People were killed before our eyes as we ran for our lives in the paddy fields. Some were hit by bullets, others were killed by heavy artillery shells. After arriving in a forest, we looked back and saw the village and the TOC on fire.
Sadek had fled to Tat Min Chaung from Htin Shar Pyin. “That night, a group of Arakan Army fighters were burning houses and launching heavy artillery,” he said. “The next day, they called us and started detaining villagers, accusing them of being recruited by the military or having ties with it.” Sadek was also shot during the attacks: “I was holding the wound with one hand as I ran to the crowd in the rice field.” Human Rights Watch reviewed his medical records from a hospital in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, including x-rays that show a bullet in his chest. His medical chart from May 24 states: “Gunshot 7 days ago over right side of chest. One entry wound; no exit wound.”
Fatema said that when she arrived at the Tactical Operations Command around 2:30 a.m. with other fleeing Rohingya, they were questioned by Arakan Army fighters. “They asked us if any Myanmar military were in the crowd,” she said. “We said no, since there were none. But they selected some young people and accused them of having ties with the military or being military recruits. They kicked and punched them and took them inside the base. They didn’t let us proceed so we stayed there the whole night.”
Two people said that while fleeing west, they saw bodies of people who had been beheaded, including at least two children. “When we arrived in Thar Mai Khali [Tat Min Chaung], we saw a mother and her child on her lap, both beheaded,” Yusuf said. “Then we saw another adolescent girl who had been beheaded. All were lying beside the road to the east of the mosque. We also saw thousands of villagers, including women and children, in the bushes. Children were screaming at the entrance of the village, and we saw four houses being burned down.” The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights confirmed at least four beheadings.
At 1:42 p.m. on May 18, satellite imagery captured a large crowd of people in a rice field, appearing to carry plastic sheltering, around 350 meters east of Tat Min Chaung.
Tat Min Chaung and nearby villages in the area show traces of burning. The image also shows impact craters across the Buthidaung Tactical Operations Command.
Satellite imagery shows that from May 17 to 21, about 17 additional villages south and northwest of Buthidaung town were burned, following patterns where people from downtown and surrounding villages had been trying to flee, including around Tat Min Chaung and Htin Shar Pyin areas.
Thousands who fled south ended up sheltering in schools and makeshift camps in Sein Hnyin Pyar under a curfew, movement restrictions, and limited aid. “I don’t know how my family is surviving without food,” Yusuf said. He fled to Bangladesh, but his wife, children, mother, and brothers remain in Buthidaung. “People are now very helpless and in extreme and dire situations. They are living under the open sky in rain and shine. I cried so much for my family; I have run out of tears.”
Many attempted the arduous journey into Bangladesh; only some succeeded. Border Guard Bangladesh forces have ramped-up pushbacks of asylum seekers along the Rakhine border since January. “On our way to Bangladesh, we suffered a lot: no food, no rest,” Fatema said. “We only survived on tender leaves of trees and water.”
Ibrahim from Da Pyu Chaung floated on the Naf River for two days after the Border Guard Bangladesh pushed his boat back, before finding another area where he could enter. He arrived in Bangladesh a month after his face and jaw were severely injured in the attacks. “During these days, we starved many times,” his father said.
Sadek arrived in Bangladesh after a week in the jungle. “On my way, I didn’t see any village untouched,” he said. “I was always in fear of being found.”
Ahmad traveled for six days through the mountains with his gunshot injury but was unable to cross the border. “I need to go to Bangladesh to get treatment for my bullet wound,” he said. “I’m currently struggling. There are no medical facilities in Maungdaw. The border is sealed, and more border security forces have been deployed. I still don’t know my parents’ whereabouts.”
Blockages of Aid, Telecoms
The junta’s increasing and deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid has endangered millions of people. In Rakhine State, an estimated 1.6 million people have been cut off from hospital access since early 2024, according to the UN.
MSF said on June 27 that it had been forced to suspend all medical activities in northern Rakhine State due to the “extreme escalation of conflict, indiscriminate violence, and severe restrictions on humanitarian access,” leaving people “with zero access to healthcare in the face of huge needs” and contributing to the “total decimation of the healthcare system.” Both Buthidaung and Maungdaw hospitals were shut down.
On June 22, a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Maungdaw storing a month’s worth of lifesaving food and supplies for 64,000 people was looted and burned.
The UN and humanitarian organizations have reported that lack of access to medical care has caused growing malnutrition, waterborne illness, and preventable deaths, including of children due to treatable diarrhea and of pregnant women. “All communities are without proper primary and secondary healthcare and our teams observed pregnant women and unborn babies losing their lives due to the lack of healthcare,” MSF said.
“We do not know what to do or how to survive,” said a Rakhine villager displaced in April. “No food. Our children are sick. We urgently need medicine. We are filled with fears of aerial attacks and artillery.”
For months, the junta has severely restricted internet and phone services, with grave impacts on access to information, the humanitarian response, and the ability to document attacks. According to the Internet Outage Detection and Analysis (IODA) project, Rakhine State experienced a complete internet outage from January 10 until May 31. Human Rights Watch also documented through use of the tool GPSJam multiple instances of likely Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) jamming in and around the Buthidaung area, affecting telecommunication providers.
The Rohingya population remains particularly vulnerable to the junta’s restrictions, which contravene the December 2022 UN Security Council resolution and numerous other international calls.
In January 2020, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) imposed provisional measures ordering Myanmar to prevent all genocidal acts against the Rohingya while it adjudicates alleged violations of the Genocide Convention. In a June report, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded: “Actions taken by all parties that endanger the Rohingya appear inconsistent with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice.”
On July 10, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar in which it “strongly condemns the attack in Buthidaung township on 17 May 2024 and the continuous targeting of Rohingya Muslims … and urges all parties to the conflict to fully comply with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice.”
“For Rohingya people – oppressed, scapegoated, exploited, and stuck between warring parties – the situation carries echoes of the lead-up to genocidal violence in 2016 and 2017,” the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmartold the Human Rights Council on July 3..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-12
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Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"In the past week MSF staff in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, have treated a number of war wounded Rohingya people who crossed the border from Myanmar in search of safety.
Mortar shell injuries and gun shot wounds indicate the worsening humanitarian situation for the Rohingya in Rakhine state.
Civilians caught up in the ongoing conflict in Rakhine state must be protected.
Dhaka, Bangladesh – Escalating numbers of Rohingya people with violence-related injuries have crossed the border into Bangladesh over the past week, indicating the worsening humanitarian crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Civilians caught up in the conflict must be protected.
In the four days leading up to 7 August, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, treated 39 people for violence-related injuries. More than 40 per cent were women and children. Many had mortar shell injuries and gunshot wounds. Numbers peaked on 6 August when our teams treated 21 wounded people. MSF staff at the clinic say this is the first time in a year that they have seen serious injuries on this scale.
“Considering the rise in the number of wounded Rohingya patients crossing from Myanmar in recent days, and the nature of the injuries our teams are treating, we are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of the conflict on Rohingya people,” says Orla Murphy, MSF’s country representative in Bangladesh. “It is clear that safe space for civilians in Myanmar is shrinking more each day, with people caught up in the ongoing fighting and forced to make perilous journeys to Bangladesh to seek safety.”
It is clear that safe space for civilians in Myanmar is shrinking more each day.
Patients have described the desperate situation in Rakhine state to MSF staff. Some reported seeing people bombed while trying to find boats to cross the river into Bangladesh and escape the violence. Others described seeing hundreds of dead bodies on the riverbanks. Many patients spoke of being separated from their families en route to safer areas and of loved ones being killed in the violence. Many people said they were fearful that family members remaining in Myanmar would not survive.
Conflict has been escalating in Rakhine state since October 2023, causing immense suffering to Rohingya communities and crippling the healthcare system.
“Our patients tell us that they faced extreme difficulties in accessing medical facilities in Myanmar due to the highly volatile situation there,” says Murphy.
The conflict has also impacted our ability to run medical activities safely. In June, MSF was forced to suspend our services in northern Rakhine state because of the violence, depriving people of vital medical care and further deepening the humanitarian crisis.
We call for the immediate protection of civilians caught up in the conflict.
“People must not come under indiscriminate attack and should be allowed to leave for safer areas, while all those in need of vital medical care should have unhindered and sustained access to medical facilities,” says Murphy..."
Source/publisher:
Médecins Sans Frontières
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-09
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Type:
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Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Rohingya activists and local media reports say that civilians have been targeted by the Arakan Army in Maungdaw, a town close to the border with Bangladesh.
Description:
"New reports are emerging of atrocities against Rohingya civilians in western Myanmar, as a powerful ethnic armed group approaches the town of Maungdaw in Rakhine State.
Rohingya activists and local media outlets say that an unknown number of Muslim Rohingya civilians have been killed by the Arakan Army (AA) in recent days, as it has extended its control over the mainly Rohingya town close to the country’s border with Bangladesh.
Wai Wai Nu, a well-known Rohingya activist based at the UC Berkeley School of Law’s Human Rights Center, posted on X yesterday that the situation in Maungdaw had evolved into “a deadly catastrophe” and that the town’s Rohingya population had fallen victim to “escalating atrocities.”
Citing local community sources, she said that the Rohingya had been “entirely expelled from the downtown” of Maungdaw and were now trapped along the Naf River, which forms the township’s long border with Bangladesh. She reported that “over a hundred” Rohingya had been killed, and that AA drone strikes near the Naf injured many others. She said that Rohingya were also being killed in the crossfire of the battle between the AA and the remaining Myanmar military forces in and around the town.
Another Rohingya journalist claimed that the AA “killed more than 200 [Rohingya]” in Maungdaw yesterday, and that “thousands” were on their way to cross the Naf River into Bangladesh. His post on X was accompanied by a video appearing to show dead bodies strewn along the ground.
The AA is the armed wing of the United League of Arakan, an ethnic Rakhine organization fighting to establish an independent Rakhine polity in western Myanmar. The AA has made significant gains in Rakhine State since the collapse of a ceasefire with the military junta in November, and now reportedly exercises primary control over more than half of the state’s 17 townships. The AA has been battling for control of Maungdaw for several months, after overrunning the neighboring township of Buthidaung in May. On August 2, The Irrawaddy reported that the AA was concentrating its fire on the last junta battalion defending the town. On the 5th, Narinjara News reported that AA soldiers were reported to have entered the town, where they were engaging in gunfights with the military. The report also stated that the AA was attacking fleeing junta soldiers with drones, while the Myanmar Air Force responded with air strikes.
According to a report in Arakan Express News, the AA has been “in control” of Maungdaw since early yesterday morning. (The AA has not yet announced the seizure of the town.) It, too, stated that “at least 150 Rohingya civilians were killed and over 500 were injured” during the battle for the town, and that the AA “has dropped drone bombs and sank the boats of Rohingya civilians trying to cross towards Bangladesh.” The AFP news agency reported that a boat carrying 29 Rohingya civilians sank in the Naf River yesterday, resulting in at least 10 drownings, but did not state what caused the sinking.
These local reports are unconfirmed and preliminary and vary considerably in terms of their details and the number of casualties claimed. While it may be some time before more details emerge, the reports are worrying in light of the more substantiated atrocities that have taken place in Rakhine State in recent months.
In May, after the AA captured Buthidaung, arson attacks reduced large parts of the town to ash, forcing tens of thousands to flee. Rohingya eyewitnesses claimed that the AA was responsible for the attacks; the group denied it, blaming junta air and artillery strikes. It also accused Rohingya militant groups of collaborating with the regime, which has also forcibly conscripted a large number of Rohingya and deployed them against the AA in Rakhine State.
However, the most thorough independent assessments seem to point to AA responsibility for most of the arson in Buthidaung. According to analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the AA carried out these attacks in retaliation for earlier arson attacks by the military junta and Rohingya militants on the town’s Buddhist- and Hindu-majority neighborhoods.
In June, the AA announced that it was on the verge of capturing Maungdaw, and “urgently” called on all of its residents to evacuate. Given the events of the previous month, some reasonably interpreted this as a warning that it would treat any civilians remaining as legitimate targets.
It is clear that the Myanmar military has an underlying responsibility for the situation facing the Rohingya. Most of those trapped in and around Maungdaw were survivors of the genocidal “clearance operation” launched by the Myanmar military in August 2017, which ended up driving more than 740,000 Rohingya civilians across the border into Bangladesh and wiped dozens of Rohingya villages off the map.
Now, facing the AA’s onslaught, it has sought to harness the lingering sectarian bitterness in Rakhine State in order to advance its own goals, partnering with Rohingya militant groups and conscripting Rohingya civilians – some of the very same people it sought to ethnically cleanse in 2017 – to fight the AA.
The Irrawaddy reported on August 2 that “Muslim militia groups such as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organization, as well as Muslim forced conscripts, are fighting alongside the regime” in Maungdaw. In her posts on X yesterday, Wai Wai Nu stated that the junta is “reportedly collaborating with armed groups,” which she said “falsely claim their #Rohingya representation.” These groups were also “blocking Rohingya civilians from possible escape routes from #Maungdaw,” she added.
However we weigh the responsibility for the situation currently facing the Rohingya, there is nowhere really for these people to go. The most accessible route is across the Naf River into Bangladesh, over which nearly three-quarters of a million Rohingya fled after the military’s “clearance operation” in 2017. By all accounts, this is the route that many are now seeking to take, given the hostility they face from the various political factions within Myanmar. As things stand, the AA’s treatment of the Rohingya of Buthidaung and Maungdaw will form a large black asterisk next to the progress of the Spring Revolution..."
Source/publisher:
"The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-07
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Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"More than five years have passed since the atrocities committed against the Rohingyas in the Rakhine State of Myanmar in August 2017 forced nearly a million of them to take refuge in Bangladesh. With the prolongation of the Rohingya crisis, newer challenges are emerging for Bangladesh. The Rohingyas living in the camps in Bangladesh are willing to return to their homeland. The International Court of Justice’s verdict on July 22, 2022, rejecting all four Preliminary Objections of Myanmar, has paved the way to ensure accountability, an essential mechanism for finding a solution to the Rohingya crisis. At the same time, there have been public statements from government officials in Bangladesh, China, and Myanmar that repatriation will start soon. However, critics, both within the country and outside, point out that such repatriation should not compromise the principle of nonrefoulment. In this context, in the last few years, several pathways to the repatriation of the Rohingya have been envisaged and brought to the attention of policymakers and other national and international stakeholders. Eight potential pathways can easily be identified.
1 The Bilateral Approach
Bangladesh engaged with Myanmar bilaterally from the beginning of the crisis. One could list at least eight meetings when the Memorandum of Arrangement (MoA) on the Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State was signed, on November 23, 2017. The last bilateral meeting took place virtually on June 14, 2022. But nothing concrete has materialized so far, although there have been developments between the two countries, with China’s participation – to which I will return below. However, from the beginning, there were specific weaknesses in the bilateral approach. Three could be flagged. One is the signing of an “Arrangement” between Bangladesh and Myanmar, in place of an “Understanding” or “Agreement.” One cannot help but point out that in signing a “Memorandum,” the weakest type is an “Arrangement.” This is because neither “Understanding” nor “Arrangement” has any legally binding force; they only indicate the “willingness” of the parties. Only an “Agreement” is legally binding on the parties. Moreover, there have been few examples of signing an “Arrangement” between two countries globally.
The MoA signed in Nay Pyi Taw stipulated that the return “will commence at the earliest and shall be completed in a time-bound manner agreed [to] by both parties.i It is easy to see that not only did the Rohingya did not return, but also, no period of time was mentioned in the “Arrangement.” The parties only agreed to the “process of return.” Such, “process of return shall commence within two months of the signing of this Arrangement.”ii However, there is a vagueness in how this “process” is to be completed. The signed document only mentions that the “process” shall be “completed within a reasonable time from the date the first batch of returnees is received.” This flexibility allowed Myanmar to flout and delay the process and the period. Second, a Joint Working Group will be established “within three weeks of signing this arrangement.”iii This has occurred – but, so far, without progress on repatriating the Rohingyas residing in Bangladesh. Third, “a specific instrument on the physical arrangement for the repatriation of returnees will be drawn up upon agreement in a speedy manner following the conclusion of this Arrangement.”iv No such “agreement” has been reached in the last five years, or since the signing of the “Arrangement” in 2017, which only shows the limitation of the wording “speedy manner”!
In the bilateral meeting, however, one crucial issue seems to have been ignored. This relates to Myanmar committing “genocide” or “crimes against humanity.” On the contrary, the foreign minister of Bangladesh handed over three ambulances for their use in Rakhine State as a gift from Bangladesh to Myanmar on the day of the signing the MoA. A gesture of this kind does not show that Bangladesh was dealing with a “genocidal regime” or a regime that has committed violent atrocities against its residents, the evidence for which was abundant from the day the Rohingyas were driven out in August 2017. Moreover, the body language of the Bangladesh delegation remained subdued, although Bangladesh could have engaged with Myanmar on a high moral ground, particularly given the fact that the latter had committed mass atrocities against the Rohingyas.
What were the reasons for this? Three factors seem to have played out. The first was Foreign Minister Mahmud Ali’s earlier experience dealing with Myanmar on the Rohingya exodus. Mahmud Ali negotiated the Burmese Refugees Repatriation Agreement in 1992, when he was the country’s additional foreign secretary. This probably gave him the confidence that this time, too, he could pull it off and have the Rohingyas return to Arakan without delay, without realizing that this time the context was markedly different. Not only was there evidence that the Myanmar military had committed mass atrocities, even genocide, but also that Myanmar had entered the global world with key Asian countries – including China, India, and Japan – on its side, with the Western countries having withdrawn sanctions after Aung San Suu Kyi’s release and her assuming governmental power. Second, Bangladesh could have been advised by “friendly countries” to have the MoA signed, with Bangladesh believing that such countries would be able to impress upon or pressure Myanmar for a quick repatriation of the Rohingyas. And third, Bangladesh also wanted a quick solution as part of its civilizational quest of not having conflicts with its neighbors and focusing more on its robust developmental trajectory. This point may sound odd, but it should not be minimized, particularly considering the fact that Bangladesh never saw Myanmar as an “enemy.” Instead, Bangladesh, despite hosting over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees, a population larger than Bhutan’s, continues to have regular trading and other relations with Myanmar. However, whatever the merit of this approach, nothing productive has resulted from Bangladesh engaging with Myanmar bilaterally on the Rohingya issue.
2 The Multilateral Approach
The involvement of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the Rohingya issue has been critical, with its role mentioned as early as November 2017 in the Memorandum of Arrangement: “UNHCR and other mandated U.N. agencies as well as interested international partners would be invited to take part, as appropriate, in various stages of return and resettlement, and to assist returnees in carrying on life and livelihood as members of Myanmar society.”v It took another six months, until May 2018, for Myanmar to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and UNHCR, which categorically stated that “after the necessary verification, those who have left Myanmar are to return voluntarily and safely to their households and original places of residence or a safe and secure place nearest to it of their choice.vi However, there has not been much headway in the repatriation of the Rohingya. On the contrary, the multilateral approach, particularly as undertaken by UNHCR and other mandated U.N. agencies, has focused more on Bangladesh than Myanmar. Flagging one area – education, for instance – would suffice to provide credence to the contention.
The U.N. agencies have impressed upon Bangladesh that it needs to provide education to the Rohingya refugees, but what kind of education is meant? According to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, “refugee children need to be included in the national education systems of their host countries.”vii This would suggest that the Rohingya refugees get an education in a “formal curriculum” and in the local language. Understandably, the Rohingyas must be able to communicate with the host community’s members. But given the context that the Rohingyas are not only “refugees” but are also “stateless,” not knowing Burmese and English would add to their plight, as it would further marginalize them from the majority Burman population and jeopardize their future when they return to Myanmar.
However, a balance could be struck on the issue of language. This could be done by pursuing a twofold policy. First, it would entail implementing 100% literacy – indeed, not only for the 73 percent illiterate Rohingya refugees but also for the 60.7% illiterate members of the host community in the Cox’s Bazar district.viii Second, it would mean rendering knowledge of English to Rohingya refugees and children of the host community. At the regional level, knowing English would help the members of both communities communicate and gain employment both within and beyond borders. The protection area, or safety net, needs to be broadened to include the Rohingya refugees and the vulnerable local population residing in the vicinity.
Employment opportunities of this precise kind should also be explored, in fact, of the type that would make the Rohingyas equally, if not more, helpful once they are repatriated to Myanmar. Becoming skilled in as many languages as possible would only add to the opportunities of the job seeker. Indeed, only at their peril could Bangladesh and the international community ignore the education of the refugees and the host community members. But then, when Bangladesh decided to relocate 100,000 Rohingya refugees out of the total 1.1 million to Bhasan Char Island in the Bay of Bengal, 60 kilometers from the mainland, mainly to provide skills development training for agricultural work,ix the international community, including nongovernmental humanitarian agencies, objected to the relocation on the ground that the island is not safe for habitation.
Only in May 2021, after over a year of procrastinating and when some 13,000 Rohingyas had already been moved to the island at Bangladesh’s expense, did the U.N. agencies agree to support the relocated Rohingyas. Still, only 30,000 Rohingyas have been relocated out of the proposed 100,000.x Funds for relocation were flagged repeatedly, more so because the funding for the Rohingyas has been gradually declining since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the economy of donor countries in 2020, followed by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war since February 2022. One estimate shows that in 2019, Bangladesh and the U.N. agencies raised $636.7 million out of the $920.5 million required for the refugee program. But in 2022, the donors delivered only half the budget of $881 million.xi In the meantime, the entire gaze of the international humanitarian agencies, despite the May 2018 MoU cited above, shifted from Myanmar to Bangladesh, which must have made Myanmar even less interested in pursuing the repatriation of the Rohingyas and resettling them. Yet the multilateral approach, including the involvement of the U.N. and other agencies, remains critical for resolving the plight of the stateless Rohingyas.
3 The Tripartite Pathway
Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China agreed to form a “tripartite joint working mechanism” for Rohingya repatriation in New York on September 24, 2019. Subsequently, several trilateral meetings were held. The most recent meeting took place in Kunming in April 2023, amid news that a pilot project on repatriation would commence before the rainy season. But before assessing the pros and cons of the tripartite meeting in Kunming, it is worth pointing out China’s interests in resolving the Rohingya crisis. Three reasons could be flagged.
The first reason is Chinese investments and the quest for stability. China has been Bangladesh’s largest source of foreign direct investment since 2022. In fiscal year (FY) 2021-22, China invested approximately $940 million in Bangladesh.xii Moreover, China remains Bangladesh’s most influential trading partner. The bilateral trade between the two countries showed robust growth of 58% in FY 2022.xiii However, China’s investment in Myanmar has been more significant than Bangladesh’s. One estimate shows China invested over $25 billion from 1988 to June 2019.xiv Even since the military coup in February 2021, China’s investment in Myanmar has remained as steady as ever. Economic investments in both countries also compel China to seek stability, lest the investments become too risky and costly.
Second, China wants to offset Western influences in Myanmar. This has made China remain at Myanmar’s side, despite Myanmar’s serious human rights violations over the years – including in the postcoup period since February 2021, which saw more than 3,000 civilians killed, nearly 17,000 detained, and more than 1.5 million displaced.xv This has become all the more important since the United States’ declaration of the Burma Act 2023, which allows the Biden administration to interpret the act more liberally, mainly when providing military aid to ethnic armed organizations.xvi The act also gives the Biden administration the discretionary authority to make significant changes.xvii This has undoubtedly compelled China to put pressure on Myanmar for an early resolution of the Rohingya crisis, including initiating a process for their repatriation to the Arakan, lest the region become ripe for conflicts, with the United States getting involved near the Chinese border.
Third, any breakthrough in the tripartite pathway, particularly in making the Rohingyas return to their ancestral lands in the Arakan and making them legal residents of Myanmar, would boost Chinese status in the region and the world. Besides Rohingya refugees returning to Myanmar, the Chinese three-phase plan of November 2017 sought a long-term solution based on poverty alleviation.xviii
However, the tripartite approach has yet to make much headway. In 2018 and 2019, the trilateral initiative failed to repatriate a single Rohingya from Bangladesh. This time, the three countries met in Kunming in April 2023 and planned to initiate a pilot project to repatriate over 1,000 Rohingya refugees. The initiative saw a 20-member Rohingya delegation visiting Arakan on May 5, 2023, to see the two model villages erected for the pilot project.xix Although it is too early to say whether the pilot project will materialize before the onslaught of the rainy season, as envisaged, the complexity cannot be underestimated. One is the mixed reaction among the members of the Rohingya delegation after the visit.xx The extent to which the Rohingyas are eager to compromise on their four-point demands – seeking national identification and citizenship rights, return of their original land or properties, rights to livelihood and movement, and security assurance – remains a core issue.xxi
Moreover, the UNHCR, although aware of the visit, is not involved in the tripartite initiative, which could dampen the enthusiasm among the Rohingyas for the pilot project. But given the international isolation of Myanmar, coupled with the factor of civil unrest at home and various judicial processes being undertaken against Myanmar on the issue of genocide, it is not difficult to see that Myanmar would want to initiate the repatriation in order to make a difference in its dismal position, both at home and abroad. At the same time, Rohingya repatriation, even in a pilot form, would provide an electoral dividend to the ruling party in Bangladesh, with the national election scheduled in two or three months. Initiating a pilot project on the Rohingya repatriation in the remaining months of 2023, possibly discreetly, cannot be ruled out.
However, this project is currently on hold, for three reasons. First, there are disputes between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the list provided by Bangladesh and the identity of the Rohingyas. These disputes have arisen more from the Rohingyas’ demand to resettle their original land, which the Myanmar military is not eager to do. Moreover, the Myanmar military has transformed some Rohingya lands beyond recognition. Second, the MoU reached between Myanmar and the UNDP and UNHCR in May 2018 has lapsed and needs renewal, which has yet to be done. Bangladesh and the international agencies require firm guarantees from the Myanmar military that the repatriated Rohingyas would feel safe and can engage in livelihood-related activities without fear and discrimination, something to which the Myanmar military has yet to commit and provide in writing. Finally, since only a few months are left before the Myanmar military would like to go slowly and wait for the outcome.
4 Accountability
The issue of accountability has seen significant developments in the last five years. The two provisional rulings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) were the most promising ones, particularly for pursuing the crime of genocide committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingyas and providing legal recognition of the Rohingya identity. This was achieved unanimously with the consent of judges from Myanmar, China, India, Russia, and many more countries. Let me elaborate on this.
The ICJ hearing on the Rohingya genocide was held in The Hague on December 10-12, 2019. This is a unique case. An African country, The Gambia, brought charges against an Asian country, Myanmar, for committing genocide against the Rohingyas in the Arakan. This is something that no one expected. Indeed, if it surprised the world, it surprised Myanmar the most. In less than two months after the hearing on January 23, 2020, the ICJ granted the provisional measures requested by The Gambia.xxii Two things from the provisional measures stand out clearly.
First, the order of the ICJ was unanimous. This Myanmar had never expected. In all probability, Myanmar was looking for a split decision at the ICJ, which would have allowed it to rally at home that not all members had agreed to the provisional measures and, therefore, the order could be ignored. Fortunately for the Rohingyas and those supporting their cause, this did not happen. Second, the ICJ identified the group at the center of the case as “Rohingyas.” This statement by the ICJ is worth noting:
The Court’s references in this Order to the “Rohingya” should be understood as references to the group that self-identifies as the Rohingya group and that claims a longstanding connection to Rakhine State, which forms part of the Union of Myanmar.xxiii
Indeed, this was a significant victory for the Rohingyas, with implications far beyond the provisional measures. In many ways, it was a direct slap on the face of Myanmar for keeping a taboo on the word “Rohingya.” There is no denying the fact that the recognition of the “Rohingya identity” remains critical. If anything, it is the most significant stumbling block and, conversely, a way to resolve the crisis.
The disruptive policy of Myanmar, which has gradually disenfranchised and dehumanized the Rohingyas, comes from an “unspoken racial feeling” of the military and civilian elite of the country. This, unfortunately, found a “legal” expression in the 2008 National Constitution of Myanmar. As Thant Myint-U points out:
The Constitution … included an arcane formula tied to race. Any taing-yintha (or multinational races) “whose population constitutes at least 0.1% of the national populace” (around 50,000 people in 2010) was entitled to representation in local legislative assemblies and ministerial portfolios in local administrations. If a taing-yintha constituted more than half of two contiguous townships, it was entitled to an “autonomous zone.” So, in addition to ethnically-based states for the Shan, Kachin, and five others, there would now be “self-administered zones” for the Nagas, Danus, and a few smaller ethnic groups.
I’ve heard many Burmese warn that giving Muslims in northern Arakan taing-yintha status, as “Rohingya,” would lead automatically to their being entitled to a zone of their own. “A part of Burma would fall under Sharia law,” a university lecturer whispered. To consider the Muslims of northern Arakan as one of the “National Races” fused anxieties around both race and religion. The ethnonym “Rohingya” was particularly toxic for this reason, as it means literally “of Arakan” and therefore implied that those to whom it referred were indigenous. On the other hand, if they were called “Bengalis,” they could be seen … as immigrants and not natives deserving special protection and special rights (Myint-U, 2020:108-109).xxiv
Good sense prevailed during the hearing at the ICJ, where Suu Kyi and her team refrained from using the words “Bengalis” or “illegal migrants” for the Rohingyas. Given the proliferation of research on the Rohingyas in recent times, Myanmar is well aware that labeling the Rohingyas as “Bengalis” or “illegal migrants” would take them nowhere. Instead, this would make them closer to being accused of committing genocide against the Rohingyas. Myanmar also knows that the International Criminal Court has opened an investigation into crimes committed against the Rohingyas in Arakan. Also, there is a lawsuit pending in the Argentinian Supreme Court on the issue of the Myanmar military committing genocide against the Rohingya population. Furthermore, now that the United States has officially declared that the Myanmar military has committed genocide against the Rohingya, the issue of accountability will get an additional boost and pressure the Myanmar military to resolve the issue.
5 Reimposing Sanctions
Economic pressure in the form of sanctions on Myanmar is required. Although sanctions often economically harm the disempowered more than the empowered, the West has utilized sanctions, not always from the standpoint of economic merit but also on moral grounds, which certainly brings pressure on the sanctioned regime to reform and rectify within. The United States withdrew sanctions from Myanmar in 2016, followed by other countries. This is where the Myanmar military cleverly used Aung San Suu Kyi. Her acceptance by the military created space for sanctions to be withdrawn and allowed Myanmar to begin globalization. Many would argue that the Myanmar military created a semblance of democracy and allowed Suu Kyi to come to power precisely because sanctions made it difficult for the military to govern the population and cleverly assessed that the West would fall for the bait and withdraw the sanctions if space were provided to Suu Kyi, even if it was on the military’s terms. However, now, with Suu Kyi’s internment, the time has come to reimpose sanctions, which will make a difference not only to the lives of the Rohingyas but also to the Myanmar people who have been suffering since February of last year.
Sanction politics has come back since the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine. However, it must be quickly pointed out that the international community, particularly the Western countries, did not shy away from imposing sanctions on Iran, North Korea, and even China on various items. There is no reason, therefore, not to reimpose sanctions on Myanmar because of its perceived noneffectiveness. Anything less at this stage will only empower the Myanmar military. In December 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama lifted sanctions against Myanmar, saying “it had made strides in improving human rights.”xxv But a year later, under President Donald Trump, new sanctions were imposed on Myanmar military commanders in 2018 and 2019, as evidence of atrocities by the military came to light.xxvi
Western countries have thus far imposed sanctions only on military personnel and companies in Myanmar. The United States has placed visa and financial sanctions on 9 Myanmar military officers, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and on two military units for their involvement in attacks on Rohingya and Burmese civilians.xxvii The European Union also sanctioned 22 Myanmar military officials and some gas companies,xxviii which has hardly impacted the Myanmar military. Sanctions on a larger scale to put pressure on the military are still absent. Moreover, the current sanctions were imposed in response to Myanmar’s recent military coup and are unrelated to the Rohingya issue.
A beginning on reimposing sanctions could be made by exposing and shaming the companies that have invested in Myanmar, by telling them that since they are profiting from a country that is killing its people and has forcibly displaced 1.1 million of its population and is now under investigation for committing genocide and crimes against humanity, these companies will also be held responsible for their “complicity in crime” if they continue to profit from their investments. It is worth pointing out that foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into Myanmar increased by $259.6 million in the quarter ending in September 2022, compared with an increase of $392.5 million in the previous quarter.xxix Moreover, Myanmar approved $1.45 billion in FDI during the first seven months of 2022-23, mainly from Singapore, a conduit for foreign money into Myanmar and China.xxx In this context, investigative information would be required because the Myanmar military has stopped disclosing the projects it has approved since the coup.
But the sad aspect here is that Myanmar is still eligible for trade benefits from the United States under the General System of Preferences. Even the Burma Act makes an exception for U.S. imports from Myanmar.xxxi This sends the wrong signals to Myanmar and U.S. allies that maintain trade preference programs with Myanmar. At the same time, international financial institutions provide significant development funding to Myanmar. For instance, the World Bank announced $460 million in credits to upgrade electricity power generation and improve health services.xxxii There ought to be sanctions on such projects until the discriminatory laws, policies, and practices are addressed. The international community, particularly the Western countries that campaign for a rule-based international order, must use its collective influence to ensure that sanctions are reimposed, so that the Myanmar military will feel pressure to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
6 A Policy of Decoupling
“Decoupling” refers to a policy, widely practiced by various countries, that means to separate a particular activity from others. The former policy is pursued while contradicting the latter policy, in order to attain critical objectives. This is mainly because countries have varied interests and priorities, which are not always all equally important but are carried out to meet urgent national goals. This creates space for separating one policy from the other without jeopardizing the country’s relationships and core national interests. Some countries, for instance, have strategic and economic interests in Myanmar, and thus policy changes cannot be brought about instantly. This is understandable, but such countries also have the power to impress upon Myanmar the need to change its policy in a different area by taking action related to that area. In situations like this, what is required from such countries is to decouple the Rohingya issue from their strategic and financial interests.
This is where Japan made a difference when it cosponsored a resolution in the United Nations in November 2021 favoring the Rohingya community.xxxiii Although this was done in the context of changes in Myanmar in February 2021, which saw the removal of Suu Kyi and the military takeover of the government, with the U.N. Myanmar seat held by the forces favorable to the former, it is still a good sign that a longtime strategic partner of Myanmar decided to put pressure on the latter by decoupling the Rohingya issue from its strategic interests. Japan formerly used to abstain from such resolutions, but by cosponsoring the resolution, Japan for the first time decoupled the Rohingya issue from its strategic interests in Myanmar. And since Japan cosponsored the resolution, it is bound to put pressure on Myanmar.
Even by recognizing the “Rohingya identity,” pressure is being put on Myanmar to change its decision of not recognizing the Rohingya community as one of the ethnic groups of Myanmar. Myanmar so far recognizes 135 ethnic groups clustered in eight “national races.”xxxiv It may be pointed out that several countries, including Myanmar, refer to the Rohingyas as “Arakanese Muslims” without realizing that there are also Rohingya Hindus,xxxv and even Rohingya Christians.xxxvi More importantly, one should use the word “Rohingya” mainly because the ICJ, to which all U.N. members are legally bound, has recognized the community as Rohingya. Therefore, there is no reason why “Rohingya” should not be used while discussing the latter’s plight vis-à-vis Myanmar. That itself would contribute to decoupling and putting pressure on Myanmar. Similarly, inviting a Rohingya delegation to India or Japan, for instance, would decouple the Rohingya issue from these countries’ core strategic or economic interests and make Myanmar realize that the Rohingya issue will not go away. Instead, the more quickly it is resolved, the more stable and comprehensive these countries’ relationships will be.
But unfortunately, one also sees other kinds of decoupling, which only go on to empower the Myanmar military, to the detriment of the Rohingyas’ lives and of the dissenting forces supportive of the National Unity Government in exile. This relates mainly to the sale and manufacturing of weapons. The following report is noteworthy:
Companies in the United States, Europe and Asia have been helping Myanmar’s military manufacture weapons used in human rights abuses, according to three former United Nations experts. Companies from 13 countries – including France, Germany, China, India, Russia, Singapore and the United States – have been providing supplies that are “critical” to the production of weapons in Myanmar. … It found that high precision machines manufactured by companies based in Austria, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. are currently being used by the Myanmar military at its weapons factories. … Software to operate these machines is being provided by companies based in France, Israel and Germany. … Singapore, meanwhile, functions as a strategic transit point for potentially significant volumes of items, including certain raw materials, that feed the Myanmar military’s weapons production, and Taiwan is believed to serve as an important route for the military’s purchase of the high precision machines. … The military also regularly sends these machines from KaPaSa factories to Taiwan, where they are serviced by technicians associated with the European manufacturers of the machines, after which they are shipped back to Myanmar.xxxvii
The countries mentioned in the report often emphasize a rule-based international order and the need for democratic principles and human rights to thrive in Myanmar. But at the same time, they have no qualms in decoupling such principles, selling weapons to Myanmar, and profiting from this. The time has come to expose and shame such deals while impressing on their practitioners the need to decouple their arms sales and pressure Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
7 Economic Incentives
The idea of offering economic incentives may sound odd, particularly with the backdrop of Myanmar committing genocide against the Rohingyas. But let us take a dispassionate or “realist” look at this approach. It is already known that the Myanmar military is either directly or indirectly involved in the drug trade, particularly for Yaba, a synthetic drug composed of a methamphetamine substance. Historically, Myanmar has always been a significant producer of opium, which has contributed to the country’s gross domestic product. UNODC recently provided data on the opium cultivation in Myanmar, which has seen a declining trend.xxxviii However, the decline in opium cultivation has resulted in a situation where drug lords, albeit with the connivance of the Myanmar military, have shifted their illicit narcotics production from natural to synthetic drugs.
The bulk of the production takes place in Myanmar’s Shan state. Looking at the output, one can easily see its enormity. One recent report revealed that the authorities in Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar seized 90 million methamphetamine tablets and 4.4 tons of crystal methamphetamine in January 2022 alone,xxxix which gives us a sense of the size of the trade. More than 70% of seizures of Yaba occurred in the Cox’s Bazar district,xl mainly because of its geographical location, as it shares a critical border with Myanmar. Not surprisingly, there are indications that the Myanmar military profits from Yaba production and its distribution worldwide, including in Bangladesh.
The seizure of Yaba went up sharply after the Rohingya exodus in 2017 and peaked in 2020. The Rohingyas, however, are not consumers of Yaba; one hardly finds a severe addict among the Rohingyas. However, the Rohingyas became involved in the narcotics trade because of the opportunity to earn quick money, which caused a steep rise in drug-related incidents in Bangladesh, particularly in the Cox’s Bazar area.xli But since 2021, mainly due to the efforts of the Bangladesh Border Guards and other security agencies, there has been a steady decline in the seizure of Yaba.xlii This gives the impression that the flow of Yaba is on the decline. But this is very deceptive, because there has been a steep rise in the seizure of crystal meth ice, which is nothing but concentrated Yaba and is more profitable when drug dealers successfully transport it. It is worth pointing out that Myanmar has long been a leading producer and trafficker of illicit drugs, with drug exports generating $1-2 billion annually.xliii The trafficking and selling of illegally mined jade and gemstones also bring benefits of up to $31 billion annually.xliv During the 1990s, the Myanmar military increased its cooperation with several insurgent groups in the region. In exchange for a cease-fire, the government placed the insurgent groups’ territory beyond the reach of Burmese law. This agreement allowed insurgents and the military junta to create partnerships to increase trade in illegal goods, including drugs, gems, and timber.
The Myanmar military has no qualms about getting involved in the lucrative illicit drug trade. From wildlife and human trafficking to smuggling illegal drugs, jade, and gemstones, Myanmar’s informal economy is expansive and is often facilitated by its military. In fact, over the years, the Myanmar military has transformed itself into a “military-business complex” (MBC), which thrives on the illicit narco-trade, instability, and conflicts. Not surprisingly, as an MBC, the Myanmar military would need economic incentives that are more significant than the illegal drug trade to see benefits from the repatriation of the Rohingyas.
This could come in two ways. The first one is by initiating a mini–Marshall Plan with international support. Many have forgotten that the Marshall Plan made a difference in post–World War II Europe.xlv Europe’s number of refugees after World War II was in the millions. But the Marshall Plan helped reorganize and develop Europe in many ways. The time has come to think of a mini–Marshall Plan in the Arakan, which would be attractive to the Myanmar military, and thus would enable it to shun the illicit drug trade and repatriate the Rohingya refugees residing in Bangladesh and elsewhere.
The second way is an offshoot of the first one. A concerted effort is required to establish special economic zones, employing many marginalized people in the bordering states, including Rohingyas. Public-private partnerships between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Arakan could also benefit the Rohingyas. Such economic engagements are bound to make the Rohingyas’ repatriation more saleable to Myanmar. The international community must work together to create space for legal business to flourish and make the MBC more formal and legal. A mini–Marshall Plan tied to the Rohingyas in the Arakan is otherwise required to interest Myanmar in resolving the Rohingya crisis.
8 Militancy
There is still a mystery regarding the events that exacerbated the Rohingyas’ exodus to Bangladesh in August 2017. Four dates in 2017 are critical. On August 23, the Advisory Commission on the Rakhine State (i.e., the Kofi Annan Commission) submitted its final report to the Myanmar national authorities. On August 24, the media, both at home and abroad, published the report in detail. On August 25, the so-called Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked the Myanmar military forces. The very next day, August 26, the Myanmar military resorted to what came to be referred to as “a textbook case of ethnic cleansing,”xlvi which in the next three months saw more than 750,000 Rohingyas, mostly women and children, flee Myanmar to take refuge in Bangladesh. The mystery lies in the militancy of ARSA: why would it resort to violence and attack the Myanmar military forces when the Annan Commission’s report remains favorable to the cause of the Rohingyas, including the need to provide them with citizenship in Myanmar? As the report stated:
The Commission … notes the need to revisit the [1982 citizenship] law itself and calls on the government to set in motion a process to review the law. Such a review should consider – amongst other issues – aligning the law with international standards, re-examining the current linkage between citizenship and ethnicity, and considering provisions to allow for the possibility of acquiring citizenship by naturalisation, particularly for those who are stateless. The Commission calls for the rights of non-citizens who live in Myanmar to be regulated, and for the clarification of residency rights.xlvii
Does this mean that the Myanmar military created a pretext in the name of ARSA? Or could it be that the Myanmar military, as part of its counterinsurgency strategy, floated an “armed group” called ARSA? Whatever the case, it confirms the intricate relationship between militancy and the Rohingya crisis – one feeds into the other, which is even more the case for the stateless Rohingya refugees. Historically, youth have been the first to rebel against oppressive conditions. Most Rohingyas residing in Bangladesh refugee camps are between 15 and 24 years of age, and they constitute approximately 22.41% (199,431 youth) of the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar (899,704).xlviii Naturally, the nonresolution of the Rohingya issue would make youth restless; some of them would not shy away from joining the militant forces and taking up arms against the Myanmar military in order to forcibly impress upon them the need to recognize the Rohingya identity and enable the displaced Rohingyas to return to their native land in the Arakan.
Moreover, suppose the Myanmar military does not settle the Rohingya repatriation issue, even under international pressure? In that case, it will create space for armed militant groups among the Rohingyas and the disaffected youth of Myanmar to rise up against the Myanmar military. Insurgent groups favorable to the Rohingyas’ cause can create alliances with other insurgent groups in the region. The Myanmar government’s inaction on the Rohingya repatriation issue could give it more public support in the future. Fringe militant groups have also emerged among the Rohingyas on both sides of the border. They can become more organized in the future and join the insurgency in Myanmar to ensure Rohingya repatriation.
There is an additional, more sinister, problem. The Bangladeshis who wholeheartedly welcomed the Rohingyas in the early days of the exodus could aid them with arms and ammunitions, given their historical record of empathizing with victims, apart from their constitutional obligation to support “oppressed peoples throughout the world” (Article 25, para. C, of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh). There have been historical instances of militancy paving the way for refugee repatriation. The most remarkable example is the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh, when 10 million Bengali refugees went to India to flee the genocide committed by the Pakistan military. The armed struggle of the Mukti Bahini of Bangladesh, which was supported by India and other external actors, set the path for the country’s independence and the refugees’ subsequent repatriation. The militant approach might be the least desirable but probable one, if the international community fails to reason with the Myanmar military regarding restrictions on repatriating the Rohingyas. However, the militant pathway is bound to destabilize the region, which would only see international and regional actors getting involved in either supporting or quelling the militancy, from the standpoint of their respective national and strategic interests. And therein lies the fear!
In Lieu of a Conclusion
All these eight potential pathways are significant. Collectively, they are like an octopus, and one should be cognizant of all the paths to see how one can resolve the Rohingya crisis. If someone thinks the Rohingya issue will disappear because of other pressing global problems, they are only looking at one or two pathways. Each pathway has its momentum, and once it unrolls, despite limitations and difficulties, there is no way it can be stopped unless and until the crisis, which has given birth to the pathways, is resolved. No ideas and practices that are grounded in reality can be erased. They can sometimes become challenging, but when found relevant to people for determining the course of the crisis, they return and make their presence all the more urgent. Interventions on the part of Bangladesh and the international community, again at three interrelated levels, can make the eight pathways effective.
At the first, national level, Bangladesh’s policymakers need to spend more time resolving the Rohingya crisis. The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) could fall back on one of its success stories, the resolution of maritime boundaries with India and Myanmar, where the GoB had a dedicated expert with the rank of additional secretary and later secretary working full time on the issue. The additional secretary worked in consultation with the foreign minister and foreign secretary, but having a dedicated expert made a difference to this case. Likewise, it is high time to appoint a dedicated expert on the Rohingya issue, with the rank of additional secretary or secretary, who will have a dedicated team with members from all relevant sectors to work on the various options and provide workable suggestions to the government. At the same time, the GoB should activate its foreign missions and members of civil society, including the media, to highlight the plight of the Rohingya refugees nationally, regionally, and internationally. Second, the stakeholders should give more effort to regional initiatives, including engaging countries that are friendly to Myanmar. Tripartite meetings on the Rohingya crisis involving Myanmar, Bangladesh, and a supportive third country, both at Track 1 and 2 levels, should be initiated to put pressure on Myanmar and let the other countries know of the crisis’s urgency. Third and finally, a more significant effort ought to be started at the international level, including supporting the Rohingya diaspora community in forming a Rohingya civil entity, which would then take the responsibility to flag its cause internationally, including at the United Nations, European Union, and other international bodies. The proposed Rohingya civil entity also needs to work on the kind of economic, educational, and even health policies it plans to pursue once the Rohingyas return to their motherland, with the full dignity of the person.
Looking back at the eight pathways, one can easily see that some are more promising. Still, it is too early to say which one or two will have a lasting impact on the outcome of the Rohingya crisis. At this stage, impatience will not help. The Rohingya crisis is a human issue; therefore, one should have faith in humans if one is looking for a resolution to the plight of the Rohingyas in Myanmar.
Endnotes
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2 Taw, N.P. (2017, November 23). Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State Between the Government of the People’s Republic of
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3 Taw, N.P. (2017, November 23). Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State Between the Government of the People’s Republic of
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4 Taw, N.P. (2017, November 23). Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State Between the Government of the People’s Republic of
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5 Taw, N.P. (2017, November 23). Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State Between the Government of the People’s Republic of
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6 Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population of the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (GoM), United Nations Development
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44 Levin, D. (2015, October 22). Myanmar’s Jade Trade Is a $31 Billion ‘Heist,’ Report says. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/world/
asia/myanmars-jade-trade-is-a-dollar31-billion-heist-report-says.html.
45 Agnew, J., & Entrikin, J. N. (Eds.). (2004). The Marshall Plan Today Model and Metaphor (1st ed.). Routledge.
46 UN News. (2017, September 11). UN human rights chief points to ‘textbook example of ethnic cleansing’ in Myanmar. United Nations. https://news.un.org/
en/story/2017/09/564622-un-human-rights-chief-points-textbook-example-ethnic-cleansing-myanmar#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20situation%20
seems%20a%20textbook,access%20to%20human%20rights%20investigators.
47 Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. (2017, August 23). Overview of key points and recommendations. Towards a Peaceful, Fair and Prosperous
Future for the People of Rakhine: Final Report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State.
48 UNFPA. (2021, August 19). Transformative education for adolescent youth in the Rohingya camps, one micro-garden at a time. Reliefweb. https://reliefweb.
int/report/bangladesh/transformative-education-adolescent-youth-rohingya-camps-one-micro-garden-time#:~:text=In%202021%2C%203%2C600%20
adolescent%20youth,activity%20should%20not%20be%20underestimated.
This essay originally appeared in the anthology “The Accountability, Politics, and Humanitarian Toll of the Rohingya Genocide” To download the full anthology, click here.
Dr. Imtiaz Ahmed is a professor of International Relations at the University of Dhaka. He is also a visiting Pprofessor at Taylor’s University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He has authored, co-authored, and edited 55 books and 20 monographs and published more than 125 research papers and scholarly articles in leading journals and edited volumes. Ahmed heads several national and international projects on mass violence, violent extremism, and the Rohingya crisis. His recent publications are the following books: “Rohingyas in Myanmar and Bangladesh: The Violence-Protection Dialectic and the Narratives of Certain Unsafety/Uncertain Safety,” co-authored with Niloy Ranjan Biswas (Dhaka: 2022); “Imagining Post-Covid Education Futures,” edited (Dhaka: 2023); and “Celebrating 100 Years of the University of Dhaka: Reflections from Alumni – National and International, in 7 Volumes,” edited (Dhaka: 2023). .."
Source/publisher:
New Lines Institute
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-07
[field_licence]
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Description:
"The United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) continues its offensive operations to completely capture the remaining camps of the terrorist military junta near Maungdaw along the Bangladesh-Arakan border. Since June 16, 2024, we have been urging civilians in Maungdaw town to evacuate as quickly as possible before the battle to capture the town began.
On the other hand, the military junta and extremist Muslim armed groups such as ARSA, RSO, and ARA are using weapons and manpower to intimidate and prevent innocent civilians from reaching safe places, in addition to coercion and persuasion based on Islamic religious extremism. At the same time, Muslims and non-Muslim minority civilians such as Rakhine, Hindu, and Khami trapped in Maungdaw town face daily threats, oppression, and killings from terrorists.
Additionally, we are saddened to learn from social media that in recent days, many Muslims fleeing the town have reportedly died from artillery or small arms fire, bombings, drownings, airstrikes, or massive explosions near the coast of Maungdaw, causing great distress. We respectfully announce that these deaths did not occur in areas under our control and are not related to our organization. We are investigating the details of these incidents and will promptly release information as soon as we have verified the facts.
The ULA/AA is an organization that, from the beginning of military training, has clearly instructed its members to adhere to military discipline, the soldier’s code of conduct, human rights laws, and international humanitarian laws during warfare. Our organization does not support terrorism and condemns all forms of violence against civilian population. We will not allow any terrorist groups to establish a foothold in the Arakan and will eliminate all terrorist organizations.
To ensure the safety of innocent civilians amidst the increasingly intensified battles around the capture of Maungdaw, we request every civilian to strictly adhere to the following guidelines:
1. All civilians should evacuate from Maungdaw town toward areas with the Arakan Army, which can provide safety, rather than venturing into dangerous areas.
2. Civilians unable to evacuate should take shelter in safe places in their vicinity, mark their locations with white flags, and stay as far away as possible from combat zones and terrorists.
3. Avoid staying in military junta’s roads, houses, and major buildings where defense positions and sniper posts are established, or where military junta personnel are stationed.
4. Stay as far away as possible from military junta and extremist groups like ARSA, RSO, and ARA to prevent being used as human shields.
5. If you encounter terrorists mingling with civilians while fleeing from the battlefield, promptly report to the nearest ULA/AA troops.
We urge the innocent civilians in Maungdaw to strictly follow these directives and recommendations to avoid harm and remain safe.....
United League of Arakan.....
DISCLAIMER: The English version of this statement serves as a translation of the original Burmese text for informational purposes only. In case of any discrepancies, the Burmese original shall prevail..."
Source/publisher:
United League of Arakan, Arakan Army
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-07
[field_licence]
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2024-08-05
[field_licence]
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"Sources: CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.....Format:
Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
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2024-08-05
[field_licence]
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
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2024-08-05
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Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
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2024-08-05
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Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
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2024-08-05
[field_licence]
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353.87 KB
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Description:
"Sources: CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees......Format:
Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
Source/publisher:
CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-05
[field_licence]
Type:
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357.51 KB
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"Sources: CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.....Format:
Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
Source/publisher:
CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-05
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations
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356.04 KB
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"Sources: CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.....Format:
Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-05
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
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355.91 KB
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Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-05
[field_licence]
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Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
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2024-08-05
[field_licence]
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
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2024-08-05
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-05
[field_licence]
Type:
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355.92 KB
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"Sources: CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.....Format:
Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-05
[field_licence]
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356.68 KB
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"Sources: CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.....Format:
Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
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2024-08-05
[field_licence]
Type:
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356.16 KB
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"Sources: CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.....Format:
Infographic......Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
Source/publisher:
CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-05
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
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Infographic....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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2024-08-05
[field_licence]
Type:
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Source/publisher:
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2024-08-05
[field_licence]
Type:
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Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-08-05
[field_licence]
Type:
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Infographic.....Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
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CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
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2024-08-05
[field_licence]
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UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations
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Sub-title:
Recent attacks by the Arakan Army have prompted junta troops to plant more mines outside their camps.
Description:
"Landmines and unexploded ordnance are posing a greater threat to residents of western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where intense fighting has caused junta troops to lay more landmines near their outposts.
Data collected by Radio Free Asia indicates that 11 civilians have been killed and 31 injured by landmines in Rakhine state between April 1 and July 25.
Junta troops have been planting landmines to protect their camps, according to groups working to raise awareness about the dangers of landmines.
However, ethnic minority rebels have been attacking junta outposts since last November, causing many junta troops to abandon the sites.
That’s when the leftover landmines become a danger to nearby residents, said Zaw Zaw Tun, director of the Action for Community Resilience Organization, which is based in Rakhine’s capital, Sittwe.
“Currently, people cannot avoid areas with landmine threats, which are increasingly impacting their daily lives,” he said.
The Arakan Army, or AA, has made significant gains against the military junta that seized power in a 2021 coup. It has captured 10 townships in Rakhine state and neighboring Chin state since late last year – part of a series of setbacks for the embattled junta.
On July 13, the AA issued a warning advising against travel to areas near towns, roads, bridges and junta outposts in Rakhine state.
Recently, there have been frequent landmine incidents in Gwa, Kyaukphyu, Mingba and Ponnagyun townships in Rakhine state.
Forest areas
One resident told RFA that although the junta warned civilians to avoid certain areas, local residents have had no choice but to go into forest areas to sustain their livelihoods.
Another resident said junta troops have planted landmines in the areas surrounding Kyaukphyu.
“Some farmers have lost their land in Kyaukphyu because of these landmines,” he said. “The junta has planted more mines along forest routes near the villages. It is very dangerous for the local population.”
RFA was unable to contact the junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun and AA spokesman Khaing Thukha to ask about the recent landmine casualties.
UNICEF reported earlier this year that civilian casualties from landmines and unexploded ordnance across Myanmar have significantly increased since the 2021 military coup.
There were 1,214 explosions from landmines and unexploded ordnance between January 2021 and March 2024, resulting in 422 deaths and 1,643 injuries, according to UNICEF.
In comparison, from 2015 to 2020, there were 786 explosions of landmines and unexploded ordnance from the conflict, resulting in 254 deaths and 954 injuries..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-07-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-Personnel Landmines - Specialist organisations and commentary, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
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Description:
"Bangladeshi authorities on Sunday refused entry to around 60 Myanmar junta armed forces personnel who tried to enter Bangladeshi waters on boats.
The junta personnel returned to Myanmar after drifting for several hours on the international boundary in the Naf River, Bangladeshi officials in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar said. The Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry has yet to comment on the incident.
They drifted for four to five hours as personnel from the Bangladesh Coast Guard and Border Guard Bangladesh prevented the boats from entering Bangladesh.
The officials in Teknaf said they took the step in line with their earlier communications with the junta asking it to take measures to stop the influx of people from Myanmar fleeing fighting between regime forces and the ethnic Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State.
The Bangladesh Coast Guard intercepted the trawlers carrying the junta personnel on Sunday in the Teknaf-Myanmar transit ghat near Jaliapara, Teknaf Municipality.
Bangladeshi authorities have stepped up patrols around the Naf River since May to prevent unauthorized entry.
Lieutenant Colonel Md Mohammad Uddin Ahmed, commanding officer of Teknaf-2 Battalion of Border Guard Bangladesh, also declined to comment on the decision to push the Myanmar forces back.
Earlier, however, he said authorities had stepped up patrols along the border considering the worsening situation on the Myanmar side.
Sunday’s incident took place just days after 140 Myanmar Border Guard Force members and soldiers crossed into Bangladesh last week after being defeated by the Arakan Army in northern Rakhine State.
Bangladeshi officials said many of those Myanmar personnel were “pushed back” after a short interrogation.
In June, the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry said more than 752 junta personnel and their families had been handed over since mid-February, despite the lack of an extradition treaty.
In February, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan announced a closed-border policy, which has since been breached numerous times.
Bangladeshi authorities have in the last few weeks also refused entry to Rohingya civilians fleeing violence in Rakhine..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2024-07-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians
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Description:
"In June, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was forced to indefinitely suspend our medical humanitarian activities in northern Rakhine state, Myanmar, following the extreme escalation of conflict; MSF’s office in Buthidaung was burnt down. While MSF has been able to maintain a minimum level of activities in some townships in the central part of Rakhine, our teams in those areas also struggle with severe access restrictions, and the consequences of violent conflict. Here are some of the major challenges in healthcare provision we are facing in Rakhine.
''Teleconsultations means a lot to the people since this is the only contact left between the community and MSF.'' CAROLINE DE CRAMER, THE OUTGOING PROJECT MEDICAL ADVISER
Difficulties in accessing patients and delivering healthcare
Since November 2023, when the conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army resumed, MSF teams faced major difficulties in accessing patients. For eight months, MSF did not have authorisation to run any mobile clinics in Rakhine state, including in the displaced people’s camps in Pauktaw, where MSF is often the only healthcare provider. These camps are only accessible by boat, but with the escalation of conflict in Pauktaw, our teams could no longer travel to provide healthcare, nor could patients in need of emergency care reach the hospital in Sittwe.
This presents a major issue for patients with chronic health problems, emergency needs, and women with complicated pregnancies. In June, MSF received travel authorisation to resume our mobile clinic for a month in the mainly Rohingya Aung Mingalar neighbourhood in downtown Sittwe. Our teams are operating here with reduced capacity, including due to severe supply constraints. Our clinics in Pauktaw and other in towns remain inaccessible for the time being.
Travel restrictions are not affecting just MSF, but also other organisations and institutions providing lifesaving assistance and healthcare. MSF is no longer authorised to send any medicines to the camps in Pauktaw. Our community staff have managed to continue the provision of basic health services, but it is difficult to provide patients with basic healthcare, as medical supplies dwindle and medical staff can’t reach them.
''When patients can reach out to a nurse, health promotion officer, or doctor, it is a form of mental health support.'' CAROLINE DE CRAMER, THE OUTGOING PROJECT MEDICAL ADVISER
Emergency referrals blocked
Before the resumption of the conflict in November 2023, when people in the camps or villages supported by MSF needed hospital care, they relied on our teams to provide emergency referrals, including pick up of patients and transportation to hospitals by car or boat. This is no longer possible due to travel restrictions imposed by the authorities, leaving people without the option of receiving specialised medical care.
For people attempting to reach hospital independently, the journey is fraught with difficulty. For patients in Pauktaw, reaching Sittwe by sea is practically impossible, while healthcare services available to them in other towns are limited, equally affected by the conflict, and often require an even longer journey.
People sometimes die on the way to seek healthcare or because they cannot even attempt the journey due to the prohibitive cost and difficulty of travelling. As a result, MSF has seen an alarming trend in maternal and neo-natal deaths. In January, our teams reported the deaths of a mother and her twins, and of two mothers who each lost a baby because they were forced to deliver at home. In June, our teams reported the death of another mother who was unable to receive antenatal care since April. She was scared to leave the displacement camp in Pauktaw due to the road blockages.
''It’s only way for them to feel that they are not forgotten, that we are still present, and that they can count on us.'' CAROLINE DE CRAMER, THE OUTGOING PROJECT MEDICAL ADVISER
Public healthcare facilities no longer function
Since the resumption of the conflict, many health workers have left their jobs in public healthcare facilities, mostly due to safety and security issues. This has forced some facilities to close completely. Those that are still open struggle to function due to shortages of staff, medical supplies and fuel. Electricity networks no longer supply power in Rakhine, so health facilities depend on generators, but fuel to run them is not easily available due to supply routes being disrupted or cut off, impacting their ability to perform medical procedures.
Lack of phone signal makes teleconsultations challenging
To reach patients, MSF medical teams provide consultations by telephone or text message. However, this also poses a challenge, because phone networks are often disrupted, resulting in intermittent and very weak phone coverage across many areas. Patients and community volunteers often need to walk long distances or climb hills to try and get a phone signal.
“Teleconsultations means a lot to the people since this is the only contact left between the community and MSF,” says Caroline de Cramer, the outgoing project medical adviser. “When patients can reach out to a nurse, health promotion officer, or doctor, it is a form of mental health support. It’s only way for them to feel that they are not forgotten, that we are still present, and that they can count on us.”..."
Source/publisher:
Médecins Sans Frontières
Date of entry/update:
2024-07-12
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Category:
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"မိဘပြည်သူများသို့ အသိပေးထုတ်ပြန်ချက်
၁၃၈၆ ခုနှစ်၊ နံယုန်လပြည့်ကျော် (၁၁) ရက်
၂၀၂၄ ခုနှစ်၊ ဇူလိုင်လ (၂) ရက်
အာရက္ခတပ်တော်အနေဖြင့် သံတွဲမြို့ရှိ ဖက်ဆစ်စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ စခန်းများအပါအဝင် သိမ်းပိုက်ရန် ကျန်ရှိနေ သေးသော အခြားမြို့များရှိ စစ်စခန်းများအားလုံးကို မရပ်မနား ထိုးစစ်ဆင်တိုက်ခိုက်လျက်ရှိသောကြောင့် တိုက်ပွဲ များ ဆက်လက်ပြင်းထန်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ဤကဲ့သို့ တိုက်ပွဲများပြင်းထန်နေမှုကို အခွင့်ကောင်းယူလျက် မသမာသူ အုပ်စုတစ်စုသည် မိမိတို့ ULA/AA နာမည်ကိုအသုံးပြုပြီး သံတွဲ၊ ငပလီပတ်ဝန်းကျင်ရှိ ဟိုတယ်နှင့် ခရီးသွားလာရေး လုပ်ငန်းရှင်များထံမှ အတင်းအဓမ္မ ငွေလိမ်လည် တောင်းခံကောက်ယူနေကြောင်း သိရှိရပါသည်။
မိမိတို့ ULA/AA နာမည်ကိုအသုံးပြုပြီး အယောင်ဆောင် ငွေလိမ်တောင်းခံနေသောသူများအနေဖြင့် ယခုကဲ့သို့သော လုပ်ရပ်များအား ချက်ချင်းရပ်တန့်ရန် သတိပေးလိုက်ပါသည်။ မိမိတို့အနေဖြင့် သံတွဲ၊ ငပလီပတ်ဝန်းကျင်ရှိ ဟိုတယ်နှင့်ခရီးသွားလာရေးလုပ်ငန်းရှင်များထံမှ ယခုကဲ့သို့ အခွန်ကောက်ခံခြင်း၊ ငွေကြေးတောင်းခံခြင်းမျိုး မရှိပါကြောင်း မိဘပြည်သူများအား လေးစားစွာဖြင့် အသိပေးအပ်ပါသည်။ အကယ်၍ ယခုကဲ့သို့ ခြိမ်းခြောက် ငွေညှစ်တောင်းခံခြင်းများ ထပ်မံရှိလာပါက မိမိတို့ ULA/AA ဗဟိုဌာနချုပ်နှင့် သံတွဲဒေသ တာဝန်ခံများထံသို့ အချိန်မရွေး တိုက်ရိုက်ဆက်သွယ်ပြီး စုံစမ်းမေးမြန်းနိုင်ပါကြောင်း အသိပေးထုတ်ပြန်အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Arakan Army
Date of entry/update:
2024-07-02
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Individual Documents
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Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
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"Re: UN Security Council must take immediate intervention to coordinate protection of Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar
Your Excellencies,
We, 89 Myanmar, regional, and international civil society organizations, strongly urge the UN Security Council (UNSC) to immediately convene an emergency meeting and coordinate an intervention to halt surging violence and atrocities, and protect Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Rakhine State and across Myanmar. We call on the UNSC to urgently adopt a binding resolution with targeted economic sanctions, an arms and aviation fuel embargo against the junta, and a referral of the crisis in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or a creation of a criminal tribunal.
In recent months, the Myanmar military junta’s war of terror against Myanmar people and its fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) have resulted in horrendous human rights violations and international crimes in Rakhine State. Across the country civilian populations from Rohingya, Rakhine, Kaman, Chin, Mro, and other ethnic communities are suffering the constant reality of the junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, including airstrikes, artillery shelling, and massacres, with no end in sight. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported to the Human Rights Council on 18 June, “The military has lost control over a considerable amount of territory, so it is resorting to increasingly extreme measures.”
Reports indicate that, on 17 May, Rohingya homes have been targeted, looted, and torched, and four Rohingya civilians were beheaded by AA troops in Buthidaung Township, Rakhine State. Over 200,000 Rohingya civilians in Buthidaung Township—home to Rohingya survivors from 2017 genocide—have been forcbily displaced in consequence of the AA’s arson attacks, abductions, enforced disappearance, and other serious human rights abuses, as well as its intense fighting with the military junta. Amidst reports of blocked roads and extortion by AA soldiers, Rohingya have been displaced in open fields with no access to medicine, clean water, and adequate food. Many have lost direct contact with their families due to telecommunication blackouts imposed by the junta, and some have had their phones taken away by AA soldiers, leaving their families in the dark about their fates.
Atrocities against the Rakhine ethnic group by the Myanmar military junta are also pervasive. On 29 May, the junta brutally tortured and massacred at least 76 men, with knives, gunfire and beatings, and burned most of their bodies to destroy the evidence, during a raid of Byine Phyu Village, Sittwe Township, Rakhine State. Junta soldiers abducted hundreds of villagers, and held women and children captive, denying them food and water and raping them. Over 80 homes and a monastery were burned down. On 4 June, the junta launched a coordinated ground, air, and naval attack on Singaung Village in Thandwe Township, Rakhine State, killing dozens of people. Extreme violence and atrocities are set to continue in Rakhine State as the junta and the AA ordered civilians to evacuate their villages before latest clashes between them.
Since February, the junta has further systematically arrested, abducted, and enlisted by force ethnic youth from Rakhine State and refugee camps in Bangladesh to serve as frontline fighters, human shields, human minesweepers, and porters—including forcing them on frontlines to die. Hundreds of Rakhine youth have been arrested, held incommunicado, and forced to join the Myanmar military. Alongside them, thousands of Rohingya in villages and internment camps in Rakhine State have reportedly been forcibly enlisted or persuaded with offers of potential freedom of movement, money, rice, or national ID cards, to “fight for [their] faith”, or threatened with a humanitarian aid block. On the Bangladesh border, vulnerable Rohingya refugees have been kidnapped from camps and forced into the Myanmar military to fight the AA. Abductions were perpetrated by Rohingya militia groups—the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, the Rohingya Solidarity Organization, and the Arakan Rohingya Army—groups reportedly partnering with the junta and denounced by Rohingya civil society and activists as unrepresentative of their community. Rohingya youth are being relentlessly forcibly recruited by the Myanmar military, the perpetrators of genocide against them.
In particular, the junta’s instigation of anti-AA protests and coercion of Rohingya recruits to participate in burning down Rakhine homes compound the plight of the Rohingya community. The acute vulnerability of the Rohingya continues to be systematically exploited by the Myanmar military and other armed groups to exacerbate inter-ethnic and religious conflict between the Rakhine and Rohingya communities, two major ethnic minorities in Rakhine State.
In addition, during times of heightened tension, hate speech against the Rohingya—including the use of terms such as “Bengali terrorists” and “Muslim terrorists”—and the portrayal of all Rohingya as collaborators of the junta have been rampant in statements by organizations, media, and individuals. Such sweeping descriptions of an entire ethnic group and their most predominant religion exacerbate ethno-religious conflict, and escalate public hatred against a severely persecuted ethnic minority of Myanmar.
Excellencies, the international community bears responsibility for the continuation of mass atrocities—massacres, torture, airstrikes, artillery shelling, sexual violence and other gross international crimes—against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities by the military junta, the main perpetrator, in Rakhine State and across Myanmar. After nearly one and a half years since the UNSC’s adoption of Resolution 2669, the junta has continued to massacre civilians. In the first four months of 2024 alone, the junta committed 46 massacres, killing 369 people. Furthermore, despite the UN Human Rights Council’s resolution calling on all states to refrain from the export, sale, or transfer of aviation fuel to Myanmar, UN Member States continue to supply the junta with aviation fuel, enabling them to carry out more airstrikes and other aerial attacks across Myanmar, exacerbating immense human suffering and mass displacement during the grave humanitarian crisis.
To uphold its mandate for international peace and security, the UNSC must convene an emergency meeting and coordinate an immediate intervention to protect civilians and stop the horrific violence against the Rohingya and ethnic minorities in Rakhine State and across Myanmar. Once again, we call on the UNSC to urgently adopt a new resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter that imposes targeted economic sanctions and a comprehensive arms embargo against the junta, including a complete ban on all sales, transfers, and diversions of aviation fuel to Myanmar. This resolution must also refer the crisis in Myanmar to the ICC or create a criminal tribunal on Myanmar without delay.
Rohingya, Rakhine, and other ethnic minorities in Rakhine State and across Myanmar will continue to suffer unless and until ongoing crimes are halted by the UNSC’s immediate intervention..."
Source/publisher:
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"As the Civil war in Myanmar intensifies, the Arakan Army (AA) has emerged as a formidable force against Myanmar military in Rakhine State. Recent escalation in hostilities between the rebel group and the military in Rakhine has not only disrupted Junta’s hold in the region but also poses serious security threats to Bangladesh. Stray Mortar shelling in Bangladesh’s bordering regions included, last month, AA rebels even kidnapped innocent fishermen from the Naf river that Bangladesh shares with Myanmar. AA’s activities are becoming a growing concern for Bangladesh especially considering that Bangladesh has consistently responded with patience and dignity to the numerous provocations and challenges posed by Myanmar.
On October 27, 2023, the Three Brotherhood Alliance (3BTA), composed of the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and Ta’ang National Liberation Army and numbering some 15,000 fighters, launched Operation 1027, an anti-SAC offensive in Shan State. The coalition had been preparing for this offensive for years, according to local interlocutors, and its forces were equipped with advanced weapons, including drones acquired on foreign markets.
The Arakan Army, founded in 2009, initially aimed at gaining greater autonomy for the Rakhine people. Since the offensive last October, it has actually steered close to its goal and undoubtedly has become one of the strongest pillars challenging the Myanmar junta in the ongoing civil war. The rebel group has taken control of more than half the Rakhine State – nine of its 17 townships. They have seized key territories in the neighbouring Chin state as well. The AA’s tactical prowess and strategic territorial gains have drawn the attention of regional stakeholders, including Bangladesh. The proximity of AA operations to this border has heightened security concerns for Bangladesh, as cross-border skirmishes and the potential for infiltration increase.
The Escalation of Conflict in the borders of Bangladesh
On May 22, Arakan Army launched a large-scale attack on Maungdaw town in northwestern Rakhine State near the border with Bangladesh. If the Arakan Army can seize Maungdaw, only one town in northern Rakhine will remain under the regime’s control: Sittwe, the state’s capital. Capturing Maungdaw will also give the Arakan Army control over the 270-km border with Bangladesh. That possibility does not seem far-fetched as the group has captured more than 10 junta camps in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw in less than two weeks, killing about 200 junta troops.
Direct Security Implications for Bangladesh
The AA’s intensified activities near the border areas in southeastern Bangladesh, particularly in Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar, have experienced stray gunfire, mortar shelling, and airstrikes from Myanmar forces. These incidents have not only caused casualties among Bangladeshi civilians but have also forced thousands to flee their homes, creating a humanitarian crisis.
Just this month, ferry services on the Teknaf-Saint Martin route have been suspended since 6th June due to firing from Myanmar. This had caused a massive food shortage in the region endangering lives of more than 10000 residents. Often shots were fired at trawlers and boats to Saint Martin’s. One of such trawlers was carrying Bangladeshi election officials. Arakan Army members are believed to have fired the shots.
The conflict has also led to an influx of displaced persons, including Myanmar Border Guard Police personnel, into Bangladesh. More than 752 fleeing junta personnel and their families have been repatriated since mid-February after the AA launched offensives near Rakhine’s international border. This sudden influx strains security for Bangladesh-Myanmar border which is already a contested place due to Myanmar people trying to enter the country illegally especially the Rohingya community still living in Myanmar.
Bangladesh’s internal security is already complicated as it is with the existence of over a million Rohingya refugees already residing in camps in Bangladesh. The potential for further displacement due to ongoing violence in Rakhine and Chin states remains high, posing a continuous threat to Bangladesh’s border security and humanitarian stability.
Broader concerns if Arakan army controls Rakhine
Beyond the immediate border incidents, the presence of the AA near Bangladesh raises broader security concerns. The AA’s control over large swathes of territory in Rakhine State, including strategic border areas, increases the risk of arms smuggling, human trafficking, and other illicit activities. Bangladesh geography puts it at the heart of three major Asian drug trade routes: the Golden Wedge, the Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent. This, unfortunately, makes the country a lucrative transit for the region’s drugs, especially from Myanmar and India, undermining Bangladesh’s internal security.
Moreover, the AA’s conflict with the Myanmar military has the potential to draw in other armed groups and create a broader insurgency landscape. This could lead to a spillover of violence into Bangladesh, exacerbating the security challenges. The presence of armed militants in close proximity to Bangladeshi territory necessitates a robust security response to prevent infiltration and maintain regional stability.
What should be the future?
The AA had previously assured that they will cooperate regarding border stability issues with neighbouring countries. These words seem hollow when they still have not apologized for the deaths Bangladeshi civilians caused by their fighting. The further show of utmost disrespect to Bangladesh’s neutrality by kidnapping Bangladeshi fishermen fishing, firing at Bangladeshi trawlers within the borders of their own country is totally inexcusable.
Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal are two routes for Arakan or the Rakhine state’s contact with the outside world. Due to the location of Saint Martin’s, most of the north Bay of Bengal is within Bangladesh’s maritime boundary. And so, for the future growth of Rakhine state, creating a friendly relationship with Bangladesh should be priority for the Arakan Army-not provoking the country.
As this situation evolves, Dhaka must remain vigilant and proactive in managing the implications of the AA’s activities to safeguard its national security and humanitarian interests. Diplomatic engagement and cooperation among the parties is essential to ensure the security and stability of Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"Eurasia Review"
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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"INTRODUCTION: You’re now listening to “Advocate” by APHR, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights.
Hello, I’m Karina Tehusijarana, Media Manager of APHR. I’ll be your host for today and currently I’m with APHR Board Member U Shwe Maung. Thank you for joining us today.
Hi. You’re welcome. Thank you.
U Shwe Maung is a Rohingya rights activist and former politician who served as a member of parliament in Myanmar’s House of Representatives from 2011 to 2016. As well as being a board member of APHR, he is also a founding member of the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of religion or belief or IPP Forb, and serves as president of the Arakan Institute for Peace and Development.
Today, we will be talking about the five point consensus, the current situation in Myanmar, as well as the current situation facing the Rohingya in Myanmar, and the role of Myanmar MP’s, as well as Southeast Asian MP’s.....INTERVIEW: Thank you. Before we get started talking about the situation in Myanmar and the situation of Rohingya. We would like to maybe get to know you a little bit better. So can you tell us about your background and how you first entered politics?
Thank you. By training I am a mechanical engineer and a software engineer. But by situation, I joined politics in 2010 because we had a nationwide demonstration in 1988. Then also I was one of the student leaders. I formed a student union and I tried to maintain peace and stability and peaceful coexistence among the Rohingya and Rakhine community. Rather than the demonstration of the Myanmar military regime. Because my mother was an eyewitness of 1942 violence against Rohingya. And before independence my mother always talked about those stories. Horrible story. So I always remember that.
So in 1988 I saw a lot of instability among the community. So some movements, especially Rakhine community people are leaving from the Buthidaung to situate. Because they were scared of some kind of situation. Probably they recall 1942 conflict or violence against our community.
So what I did is I formed a student union together with my Rakhine friends and Rohingya friends. So we really are, we really achieved it, you see. So actually I am the chairman of the student union. I governed the northern Rakhine state force for like four months. Everything was okay. Especially I focus on peaceful coexistence to avoid similar violence that happened in 1942.
To make a long story short, after the military coup in 1988. So there was an organization called the Rakhine Nationality Protection Committee in Maungdaw. They wrote a memorandum to the military hunter chief. Basically those memorandum was saying that they are just writing anti-Rohingya. Not to grant Rohingya citizenship and to restrict movement travel and to ban access to university. And then also to make travel bans from one township to another. And so many things.
So everything the SLORC, which was the State Law and Order Restoration Council formed in 1980, September 18, implemented and harassed prosecution and violence including forced labor against Rohingya. Everything, according to that memorandum. So I have a copy of that.
So from 1988 to 2010, the situation at Rohingya was horrible. The whole community became poor, helpless because of daily persecution. Whenever we talk about persecution against Rohingya, people always think of the Myanmar military and government. As a matter of fact, it was not true. Of course, Governments and their regimes are primarily responsible. At the same time, almost all local authorities are by Rakhine community, Muslims and Rohingyas are very limited.
My father was the last high ranking police officer in Myanmar police. After that my father retired in 1978. After that there was no recruit of any police officer. Just some ordinary police member. So then people are under a lot of human rights violations. Finally there was a crisis between both people. So people are fleeing their violence. So by that time there was a lot of international pressure in the region.
So probably this is one of the reasons the Myanmar military and its political association approached me and a few Rohingya activists or elders, including me, to join. To join and to participate in the 2010 election. So that we could raise our human rights concern to the government through the parliament officer. So what I thought. So whatever it is their intent by that time, since people are suffering a lot. So I decided to join. Although I didn’t believe them fully because we didn’t have any other option.
So it becomes like a sip of water in the middle of the desert. Especially for the Rohingya people for their daily persecution. Then I agreed to join that military backed party. Then I participated in the election. And then I was elected, especially my fellow Rohingyas who were in Buthidaung constituency, like 80% of voters are Rohingya. So they elected me. Although there was a kind of accusation across Myanmar.
I believe in democracy. I did my best to have a free and fair election.
So I was elected by the people. Then I suffered for my Rohingya people. From 2010 to 2016, January.
Joined the APHR
Thank you for that background. Could you also tell us about how you first joined APHR?
I think I joined APHR in 2013. So APHR Executive Director, Mr. Ismail Wolff came to Myanmar. Then he approached me and explained to me the mandate of APHR. So I was quite interested. Then I decided to join.
Challenges in Myanmar’s Parliament
Thank you. As you mentioned, you were a member of parliament from 2011 to 2016. Could you tell us a little bit about what kind of challenges you faced at the time in Myanmar’s parliament?
From day one of my office, I faced criticism and attacks from members of parliament from the Rakhine community. Especially Dr. Aye Maung, who was chairman of the Rakhine Nationality Development Party, from day one. So he started attacking five Rohingya MPs. So there were five Rohingya MPs, including me. They said we should not be in the parliament. And then if we are in the parliament, the Arakan state will be separated. And there are so many nonsense accusations. And then it will be governed by the Muslim. It could be a muslim state. And then also he joined the 969 movement.
Also he has a lot of followers who are extremists. So on social media and then by interviewing with the various local media and then international media, by print media. So they have started attacking me. And also they try to removed from the seats by complaining to the Union Election Commission. But they failed because there was no law by that time. So how to remove an elected member of parliament from the office? But they kept trying. They keep trying to make a problem. But finally, I was appointed by my party to have a local election in Maungdaw district inter party election.
The Maungdaw district means it includes three townships by that time. Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung. So I was like a district election commissioner. So although I was appointed, I did have a very free and fair election in 2012, May, if I remember correctly. It was in my constituency as well as in Maungdaw and Rathedaung. So mostly over there since Rohingyas are the majority.
Although Rohingyas are the majority in some villages, there are Rakhine majority. So from the Rohingya majority village the election winners are Rohingya. From the Rakhine majority villages the Rakhines are the winner.
So by that time I have a lot of information that the Rakhine Nationality Development Party led by Dr. Aye Maung had a meeting in Sittwe. So they are quite upset and uncomfortable. Because according to some reports from my sources who have very close ties, the high ranking officers and party officials of RNDP. They told me that there was some kind of discussion about how to stop that election, and what I have been doing in my region. But finally they took advantage of an incident which happened in Ramree township regarding a drug. So still as of today is although twelve years now nobody know who raped her and who killed her.
But however, the propaganda in the newspaper and then Rakhine politicians and all these Rakhine extremist activists. They are just accusing. They said that Rakhine girl was raped and killed by a Rohingya man. In fact it was not Rohingya. It was a local. So he is not a Rohingya. He’s just a Muslim in that area.
But according to sources, what we received, that the accused, the murderer, he was suicide in prison. Also his wife conducted suicide in prison. And probably therefore nobody knew what was the reality. But by the excuse of that incident, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party led by Dr. Aye Maung and their followers conducted an anti Rohingya movement. According to the term this is an Anti Bengali movement. So they started to create problems in Sittwe and also Maungdaw in other Rathedaung areas in June 2012.
Then the second episode of the violence was in October 2012. So because of that, you see we have as of today more than 120,000 IDPs are still outskirted in the Sittwe. So that’s how Dr. Aye Maung and his followers conspirated for this violence against the Rohingya. But people mostly understand that, so they want to be noted.
So these things are, although there was a police and soldiers, they were only left with a few police forces, a few military. Whenever they went to a village to do an assault and to set fire on Rohingya homes, only a couple of police force. Most of them are the Rakhine extremist youth with a long sword. So they set fire and then they kill the people.
So according to my interview with a lot of local people in my constituency, Sittwe and Maungdaw, after that violence. So they explained to me that they were mostly killed by those extremists. You see that long sword holder who is Rakhines. So also it means they are vigilantes. They are collaborators with the Myanmar police force.
When we talk about the Myanmar police force, one thing to be noted very importantly. In Rakhine state. So 99% of the police force are Rakhine ethnic people. Only a handful of police forces are of other ethnic from other states. So whether they receive orders from the Yangon or Naypyidaw, they themselves are well determined to conduct these kinds of crimes against humanity, atrocity against the Rohingya people. This was 2012.
Even after that, I received a lot of challenges in the parliament when I submitted proposal, questions. So based on my question, the Home Minister and Immigration Minister need to answer in the parliament that they always blame our Rohingya people. They are always highlighting that these Rohingyas are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
So this is why after the 2012 conflict, there was an international convention at the International Convention Center in Naypyidaw in September 2012. So there was a huge gathering together with all ambassadors, head of the UN Missions and most of the prominent international NGOs. But at that meeting, everybody was invited, Rohingya were not invited.
It’s a joke. They were talking about reconciliation and the social harmony between the community. But they invited only the Rakhine community and all government ministers, Vice President, Head of the mission in Myanmar, ambassadors and that’s all.
When I heard about that, I called the Border Affairs Ministry. I said, minister, how is it possible? So the government of Myanmar was doing a conference for reconciliation and social harmony. So how can it be one sided without my community? But finally I said, oh, what a mistake. So I will tell my director general to send 50 invitation cards. Finally I was able to bring 49 more Rohingya, my fellow Rohingyas activists together with me to attend that meeting. Otherwise we’ll never know.
Even in that meeting, the Director General of Immigration was always talking about illegal immigration during the world war, during the colonial period and then blah blah blah. Also, he mentioned that after the colonial period that a million people left, from Myanmar to India. But he mixed up the general colonial system and Rakhine state.
In Rakhine state or Arakan state, we Rohingyas are indigenous people. We never migrate from anywhere. The Arakan state’s official name is Rakhine, but we changed it. He said. Politically it’s Arakan. The Arakan states belong to the Rohingya, Rakhine, and other indigenous people. So we never migrated from anywhere.
But however politically, they always play divided rule policy, and always accuse us blatantly. So for that I also raise my voice over there, which is not true. Even before the 2012 violence, the Home Minister and Immigration Minister even accused our people as if they were illegal immigrants.
This is why finally some extremist people get a chance to create more hate speech against the Rohingya. So when I raised that issue, from that day on, I became a full fledged enemy of the Myanmar quasi civilian government as well as the USDB party. Since then, they have been trying to remove me from the office. But they cannot do that. They are telling me to go under the scrutiny of immigration again if I am a citizen. I said, hey, why? I was already scrutinized by your good office.
In the 2010 election, I was elected officially from the clearance of immigration. Why again I need to go. It is illegal. It’s not including the law. Then I was quite aggressive. And then I stand with my because I am very confrontational because my fathers, my ancestors, everybody were indigenous people of the land. So I didn’t have any concern, any worry. So I kept doing it. But however, when we had another time, the 2015 election, the Election Commission did not allow me to run again from my office.
Even before that, in 2014, November 14, there was a visit by US President Barack Obama. I was invited on behalf of the Rohingya community. On that day in the Myanmar parliament, there was an important proposal. The proposal said there was no Rohingya in Myanmar. And except me, because I was absent on that day as I had a meeting with President Obama, So almost all parliamentarians, 99% of the parliament, voted for that resolution. The resolution was that there were no Rohingya in Myanmar.
But when I went to the office the next day, I was quite shocked. On the same day, November 14, 2014, I was having a meeting with President Obama. But since then I have again become a target of Myanmar, not only the government, but also the Myanmar police department.
But in that situation also there was another problem of Duchiradan fire. The Myanmar foreign minister accused the Rohingya people of setting fire to their own villages. I told that it was not true. Villagers told me that that village was under fire, the fire was set under the supervision of border police in Maungdaw. So when I talk to the media like that and the President thinks in, send an arrest warrant for me to the speaker of the parliament. But I was able to convince the speaker of the parliament not to sign an arrest warrant for the voice of an MP.
So I requested the speaker of the parliament. Sir, if you endorse the arrest warrant, this will be a very ugly history of Myanmar democracy. Because of the voice of an MP on behalf of his constituents. So if an MP is sent to jail and then hanged to the death, that would be a very ugly history. So I know you are a very good speaker. We are trying to build genuine democracy in our country. So I talk. I am an officially elected member of parliament. I have the right to talk on behalf of people, what people told me.
But without doing any proper investigation, how come President Thein Sein sent an arrest warrant blindly for me, which is not fair and which is not legal. Then in front of me, the speaker of parliament called President Thein Sein. He said, Mister president, my representative was accusing you of not conducting any proper investigation. Then you are accusing a member of parliament that he did defame the Myanmar police force. In fact, my father was a police officer. I didn’t have any intention to defame, but to highlight the truth. As foreign minister accused that villager Rohingya themselves set fire, which is a make believe story. I said that was not true. Then finally, President Thein Sein was not able to arrest me.
After that, In September 2015, I came together with the APHR mission to have advocacy with the US Congress State Department. And since then, I interviewed with the Voice of America primary section. So I simply told them that the Myanmar election in 2015 would be unfree and unfair. Because the Myanmar government disenfranchised a million Rohingya people. Because of my death statement to the VoA interview, President tension released another arrest warrant to arrest me upon my return to Myanmar.
So finally, because of that, I remain in the USA. Then I decided to remain in the USA until the situation becomes normal. But as of today, it’s not normal. Even the worst in history. This is why I’m here today in the USA. This is my brief, the story of my parliamentary period from 2010 to 2016.
Five Point Consensus
Thank you very much for sharing your experience. As you mentioned, in 2010-2011, there was a period of an attempt of democratization in Myanmar. And then there was the formation, as you called it, the quasi civilian government, which was nevertheless very flawed, especially in its treatment of Rohingya, as you have shared. But of course, as you know, in February 2011, the Myanmar military junta attempted to stage a coup to take over the government and overthrow the civilian parts of the government. And shortly after, in April 2021, ASEAN signed the Five Point consensus, which was supposed to lead to a peaceful resolution of that conflict. Can you share with us what your view of the current situation in Myanmar is and how you view ASEAN’s role as of now?
After the military coup in 2021, the situation of our country was the worst in the history before. In 2012 and 2017, Myanmar military conducted mass atrocities against humanity only against the Rohingya. By that time, nobody was able to sympathize with us. So as a truth, if I need to tell you, I am one versus 50 million. I am the only person officially in the parliament and the whole Myanmar who was talking about this was a violation of my right.
These atrocities, violent prosecutions were happening against the Rohingya conducted by Myanmar military police and other vigilantes in Sittwe, Mrauk-U, Buthidaung, Maungdaw and the whole Arakan state. But nobody believes us.
But when there was a military coup in February 2021, these same military did the same thing. Even in some areas worse than in the Rohingya, what they did against Rohingya. So I must say there are now 50 million people in Myanmar, except the supporters of the Myanmar military and blah blah. Yes, there’s always the system. But almost all Myanmar population are under the persecution and daily violence of the Myanmar military.
So regarding this Five Point Consensus, when I heard about the Five Point Consensus from the day one, it came to my mind that it could be a total failure. Because I know this Myanmar military junta very well. They are world class liars. They never keep their promise. They are always named seekers.
The reason why the Myanmar junta signed the Five Point Consensus is just to get support from ASEAN. That’s all. So Min Aung Hlaing, he doesn’t have any political willingness to have a Federal Democratic Union of Myanmar.
Although they have been telling all the time through the newspaper and TV, it was a skyful of lies. It’s not true. Their ultimate goal is in their mind, the military must be forever the ruler of Myanmar. This was in their mind. It was painted in their mind. Nobody can remove them. But sometimes politically they said several things. But I never believed them.
So to make a long story short. So this Five Point Consensus is now we can see very clearly it is a total failure. Because the junta doesn’t have political willingness. Even that junta led by Min Aung Hlaing. They become, you say, terrorists. They are terrorizing the whole population. Initially Rohingya, now the whole population of Myanmar. And they will still persecute everywhere. Killing, attacking and war crime. So in my view, these Five Point Consensus is no more meaningful. It’s a total failure. They don’t have any willingness to implement. It will never happen.
What Should ASEAN and the International Community Do?
Given that, your view on the five point consensus. What do you think that ASEAN and maybe the rest of the international community should do instead? About the situation in Myanmar?
Thank you. It’s a very good question.
APHR is the first human rights organization which raised concern for potential genocide of Northern Arakan, for the events of Buthidaung. After that the US government and some European Union and other countries. Even though as of now, as a human organization, Only APHR, not any other human rights organization are raising their voice for the Rohingya, I mean the genuine voice for a lack of potential genocide.
I personally believe that APHR statements, especially our APHR chairperson Mercy comments, hit some kind of level to the US State Department. So I share with them. Also, I submitted a lot of reports to the US State Department. So probably this is a kind of document which could be referred to very concretely and as an evidence. So Thanks again APHR for taking first place to raise concern for the potential genocide against Rohingya.
I was thinking for a long time. What should ASEAN do? I am very familiar with the ASEAN Charter. Which is very inappropriate and illogical. This is the most illogical charter in the world.
So first of all, ASEAN needs to amend their charter. Especially they need to remove the non interference policy. If they don’t interfere, what is the purpose of it? There will always be good interference and bad interference. You should interfere for the betterment of humanity.
If you fail to interfere or intervene in the human rights violation, you are against humanity. There’s no way. So if ASEAN wants to promote human rights. If ASEAN member states want to have a peaceful region, sustainable development in the region and human rights violations, a free region. First of all, they need to amend and remove that non interference policy.
And secondly, especially in this situation in Myanmar. ASEAN should think to set up a peacekeeping mission. Even force is not possible. A peacekeeping mission. Because every block in the world has the right to do that. NATO is a block they have been doing for the security and stability of their region. Also, we have the Quad block.
ASEAN is one of the important blocks on this planet. Also it plays a great role for the peace and stability and security of the region. So ASEAN member states must call a meeting, an emergency meeting. And it is very important to set up a peacekeeping mission to intervene in Myanmar.
Because the Myanmar military junta is no more valid. They lose the majority of their land. Most of the lands are controlled by the revolutionary forces. Especially those led by people defense forces in ERO. Under the guidance of the National Unity Government.
ASEAN members should recognize NUG as a legitimate government of Myanmar. But so far I can see only East Timor is recognizing NUG. No other country. So still they are just dancing with Min Aung Hlaing on international events. It’s a shame for the ASEAN association as well as member states.
So they should have a clear that it is not only Myanmar, but by taking advantage of the situation in Myanmar.
If ASEAN wants to implement or to end persecution and violence against 50 million people, including Rohingya, they must intervene with their power. We have examples of intervention in the case of Cambodia by the Malaysian military. That is for the betterment of humanity. It was okay. Also in East Timor we have some kind of intervention.
So I think that is the only solution now. Otherwise Myanmar military junta leader, he will not listen to anyone on this planet. So that is what ASEAN should do. If ASEAN really wants to help and end violence against Myanmar people and also for the crisis of Rohingya.
Buthidaung
Thank you very much, U Shwe Maung. As you have spoken about, the Rohingya people in Myanmar have faced persecution and violence for years now. I mean like decades. But of course, more recently there has again been an escalation of violence, as you know, against Rohingya in Rakhine state. Last month there were reports of violence in your home township of Buthidaung. And then more recently it has also spread to Maungdaw. Could you maybe tell us a little bit about what’s going on right now there?
Yeah, so let me start with my township. Now. Buthidaung has more than 200,000 of, I will not use the term IDP, they are not Internally Displaced Persons, they are FDP, Forcibly Displaced Persons by the Arakan Army in 2012 and 2017. Myanmar military soldiers, security forces, police forces and some extreme Rakhine youths. They jointly committed this crime against humanity, violences, persecution, atrocity.
But in 2024, although the Arakan Army was outcrying that they are fighting for freedom, fighting against the Myanmar military junta, that is true, I don’t deny. But at the same time, they are also trying to accomplish their unfinished business in terms of the Rohingya, Myanmar military junta and Arakan Army having the same thought.
As I mentioned earlier, the youth, the people, the fighters, vigilantes, who were involved with Myanmar military soldiers in 2012 and 2017. Today they are active forces of the Arakan Army. I have reported several times to Myanmar, but nobody cared.
So being an elected member of parliament from Buthidaung, I reach everywhere. I interview a lot of people. So this is the gentleman. Also, I reminded Arakan Army high ranking officials to be very careful with the recruits in the Northern Rakhine state. Because in northern Rakhine state, majority of Arakan Army forces are the companion and collaborators with Myanmar military police during the genocide and the violence in 2012 and 2017.
But they didn’t listen to me. But this is why this thing is happening. Although they have been raising their voice. That fight was against Myanmar, the southern part of Rakhine state, that’s true, but not for the case of Buthidaung. Maungdaw is also situated because they have two missions. First mission is to occupy the Northern Rakhine state, also to defeat the Myanmar military. Their second mission is to drive out the Rohingya, from the town to the remote area.
So their ultimate policies, they will kill less people. They will create such a situation so that Rohingya will lift themselves with the fear and persecution that the Arakan Army has done. This is their plan. Even a couple of years ago, the elder brother of Arakan Army chief Tun Myat Naing, said through a video, we have a record for them. I watched that video several times. So that is exactly the policy that they implemented in my hometown, Buthidaung township.
On the eve of 17 May 2024. So they started this thing. But when I was talking about a month ago, I had some kind of difficulty because. Because of the Internet outage, telephone lines are not clear. It’s very difficult for us to verify. But today is very clear. A lot of eyewitnesses have now reached the jungle.
Recently I interviewed five eyewitnesses of Buthidaung violence against Rohingya. So they told me very clearly. Now I will start telling you the situation, what the eyewitness told me on the evening of the 17 May. So a lot of people approached some Arakan Army outposts to the south of the Buthidaung, near the Ba Gone Nar bridge.
He said, what shall we do now? He said, you are too late announcing with the loudspeaker. He said to leave the people by 10:00 a.m. on May 18. But now the situation is so bad. A lot of people are now killed. A lot of arson attacks. All the arson attacks, killing drone attacks are committed by the Arakan Army. Nobody else.
Because according to eyewitnesses by that time, with the telephone call as well as eyewitness statement by the 15 May, there were no single Myanmar military soldiers in Buthidaung town. Even you say the airplane attack. Airplane attacks are in Sittwe and Maungdaw, that’s how we know the truth because people never lied to us. Everybody knows that.
But in Buthidaung, there was no single issue of the bombing because they didn’t do that. I don’t know why they didn’t do that. Because if there was a shell. People are very familiar. One of the eyewitnesses told me that they recognize the shell as the Arakan Army shell. Heavy artillery or Myanmar military. Because Myanmar militaries are stationed western part of the city. The Arakan Army stationed the southern part and eastern part of the Buddha town. Even they recognize the sound of gunshot, is the gunshot of the Myanmar military or Arakan Army.
It has been fighting. Fighting was not only in May, it has been happening like two years ago. They are very familiar. So they are very quite sure. All eyewitnesses consistently told me that they are quite sure. Even during the day of 17 May, they started drone attacks on the hospital where a lot of Rohingya forcibly displaced persons. I am not using IDP, they are FDP, forcibly displaced persons caused by the Arakan Army. They are temporarily refuged Buthidaung township hospital and high school.
The Arakan Army launched with heavy weapons from Buthidaung south and east where they were stationed. If there was an attack from the Myanmar military. Because we know our Rohingya people also don’t believe Myanmar military, whenever they attack previously, the shells or weapons come from the eastern side or from the western side. So direction is different.
On 17 May, all the directions of the heavy artillery were from the south and east. It means the place on the east side of Mayu river. And the people called me on that day from the villagers, and also Ka Kyet Bet, which is the border of Ka Kyet Bet village and Buthidaung South. They started. It means they are threatening the people. They are threatening the people.
Before the sunset of 16-17 May, some elders approached the Arakan Army at the bridge. They said, is it possible for us to leave, not to wait until the 18 may. Let us leave by now to a safe place where we should go. He said no. He said not allowed to leave. Even during the night of the 17 May or the 18 may. You all are allowed to leave only at 06:00 a.m. of 18. Maybe by that time they are confused.
My eyewitness number five is a very intelligent man. He has some kind of suspect. The way the Arakan Army soldiers explain to them not to leave the whole night is very risky. If somebody tries to leave the house, they say they will be shot dead. That is very clear. I have a statement from them. So I will share this statement with the US government and EU, the European Union, of course, with APHR, with all stakeholders. Because by that time, we didn’t get a chance to get those eyewitness statements.
And then people are waiting, waiting for the sunrise so that they can leave. But at the same time, the Arakan Army was telling them that they sent the release and noticed it in a timely manner. Because they didn’t leave. They accused that all arson attacks and killings were committed by the Myanmar soldiers. Which is an absolute lie. It’s not true.
Then on the 17 May, starting from 09:00 a.m. according to all my five eyewitnesses, they consistently told me that the Arakan Army entered block by block. If there are four Arakan Army soldiers, a group, some group, they have ten soldiers or ten forces. Five of them have guns. It’s a gun like the AK 47. Other five have a fire stick with the kerosene, with the clothes and at the end of the stick, this kerosene. And then with the fire, they are set on fire.
I asked my witness, did you see if they set fire to your houses? He said, I saw with my own eyes, how can I make fire? This is why I left home. So I asked him, are you sure the person who set the fire was the Arakan Army? He said, Sir, it’s not Myanmar. I asked him, how do you know that? He explained to me that I saw their badge here. Arakan Army badge, also Arakan Army Logo, also speak Rakhine language.
Myanmar soldiers never speak Rakhine. They are not fluent in Rakhine. But the Arakan Army, they never speak in Burmese. Because they are very chauvinist. They mostly speak their Rakhine language. They know them very well. They are 100% sure.
So to make a long story short, all of my five witnesses are very consistent. Starting from that, they do assault attacks and people are leaving. Then they are also shooting who are leaving their home. They are killing also. Whenever people try to take pictures, they shoot them. Because they know when the people took the pictures, it may reach the outside world. They’re trying to destroy evidence which is also a violation of ICJ provisional measures.
And then also my own sister, my own sister in law who is living at my home, they are forced to leave. My house was set on fire. Also my aunt, a lot of my relatives, my friends, almost everyone, they are forced to leave. And then they are told to leave the town immediately. Then they set fire.
Also they confirm there was no single Hindu’s house burned. Although they are doing propaganda. They say even there were no 1,600 Hindu families. I know. I am a member of parliament from my constitution. All of the hindu people live in my ward too. They are very peaceful people. They are very friendly to the Rohingya. Rohingya never provoked them. We never have any problems. They are just trying to get the attention of the media, probably by the government of India. Because recently the government of India and the Arakan Army have had some kind of relationship. Yeah, I read some media.
Probably for that reason. Arakan Army Chief Tun Myat Naing himself shared this nonsense article of the hostage of 1,600 Hindu family and Buddhist families. It was not true. Even there were no 5,000 Rakhine houses. Because I am a member of parliament for the Buthidaung. There were no 5,000 Rakhine in the downtown. There were only a few houses. My eyewitness told me that not more than 500 maximum. But most of them are Rohingyas.
On the night of the 17 May and night of the 18 May they set fire to the whole town. Also they forcibly deported all the people. Southern part of the Buthidaung which is at the mouth of Bay of Bengal. This is their policy. So they could leave. This is why a lot of people have already left for Maungdaw. A lot of people left for Sittwe. According to my source, now more than 1,000 families are in Ramree. It means they are kind of implemented. Implementing unfinished business of mayonnaise as well as unfinished business of the Arakan Army to annihilate Rohingya from the town as well as from the area. And the same thing they are implementing now in Maungdaw.
Same thing they are doing. They are shooting. They are killing. As of now according to my report, more than two dozen innocent Rohingya civilians are killed by their heavy weapon and drone attack. Maung Hna village of Maungdaw. And then in Aye Tar Li Yar village of Maungdaw there were no Myanmar military forces. Only civilian people.
Myanmar military and police are four miles away from Maungdaw Town. The eastern side of Maungdaw Town. There was a border police battalion fighting around that area. There was no reason for the Arakan Army to launch heavy artillery into the Maungdaw town. So you can ask me why they are doing they are doing. They are implementing their plan.
According to a secret report, they have a plan to create Buthidaung and Maungdaw Rohingya-Free City. And then they will bring the Rakhine people from other areas. So Maungdaw and Buthidaung became a Rakhine majority area. So we can conclude that this is a kind of annihilation of Rohingya.
And then also it is another method of genocide. Genocide without killing a lot of people. Genocide not necessarily required to kill everyone. If there was nobody on the land of, soil of Arakan that is genocide according to Genocide Prevention Convention. So they are doing the same thing they have already done in Maungdaw North and Maungdaw South. So they always force all villagers to leave. Even they are not allowed.
There was no fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army. Even those villages are not allowed to return their villages in Maungdaw north and south. Therefore they sought refuge in the Maungdaw town. So when they are attacking Maungdaw town, they are attacking the whole population of Maungdaw township.
So they are not allowed to go back to their villages and home. Even if they are supposed to leave Maungdaw Town, where will they go? Bangladesh government to close their border. I wrote in my tweet, there was nowhere except jumping into the Naf river. If they jump under the Naf river, there was no other thing except you see dying in the river because Bangladesh crossed the border. Even somebody was swimming in the Naf river. Also Myanmar military, of course Myanmar military jet fighters bombed. They bombed some of the Rohingya villagers because the Arakan Army was never stationed in Rakhine villages.
So one thing we learned in Buthidaung and Maungdaw, although Rohingyas are the majority, there’s also some Rakhine and others. Because in 2012-2017, a lot of people left even though the majority said they were Rohingya. But in Maungdaw also some are Rakhine, some villages are in Rakhine.
The Arakan Army never made a launchpad in the Rakhine village. They always make a launchpad for the Rohingya village. This is why Myanmar military bomb is to that area. In this time, all this began. Rohingyas is not target of Myanmar military in this only. But Rohingyas are their main target in 2012 and 2017. That is true, but not at this time. Because at this time they are struggling. They are fighting against the Arakan Army, so they are more focused on the Arakan Army. However, both are against the Rohingya. Nobody has sympathy. No Myanmar military or Arakan Army has sympathy.
If the Rohingya are killed by any attack by the Arakan Army or Myanmar military, they don’t care. So there is the situation in Maungdaw. But also I could foresee a similar situation in Sittwe. As per the statement of the Arakan Army and the recent press conference made by a spokesperson of the Arakan Army, they will do the same thing in Sittwe.
Also in Sittwe, the Rohingya population, Buthidaung and Maungdaw, are creating Forcibly Displaced Person when people need to leave the rural area. But now the problem is I received several calls from my constituency in Buthidaung. They said last week they told me that they have only a little food left only for a couple of days. By now, probably they may have died.
Because for the last three days, I didn’t receive any. Any call. Probably my own sister, probably my own relative, probably my own niece and sister in law. They could have died now because they don’t have food. So the Arakan Army says, we have requested the international community. International community didn’t send the Russian. Therefore they died.
But there is no excuse that because of the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, the Myanmar military did not force Rohingya out of the town. They fight with the Arakan Army. The Arakan army is responsible for creating this FDP. So if these people are dying from starvation, the Arakan Army is fully responsible. International community must make the Arakan Army responsible, accountable for that. This is the situation.
But in Rangoon, we have a lot of Rohingya. But we have three kind of, actually four different situations. Buthidaung is now the worst. Maungdaw is almost approaching the situation of Buthidaung. After that, Sittwe will become the same thing. I hope it does not happen. But also I request the international community to prevent those kinds of atrocities.
But in Rangoon, who are originally living there and who have already reached there, are still at a safe place. Because the Myanmar military government is not doing anything against the Rohingya living in Yangon and other areas. But, all of their relatives, their own parents, siblings in those townships Sittwe, Buthidaung, and Maungdaw, they’re suffering. So suffering is the same.
What can ASEAN do?
Thank you very much, U Shwe Maung, for giving us that detailed explanation of what is going on in Rakhine state against the Rohingya and between the Arakan Army and also the Myanmar military junta, as you mentioned. Of course, this kind of violence has created many forcibly displaced persons. And a lot of these forcibly displaced rohingya have also been forced to seek refuge in neighboring countries such as Bangladesh. From there, thousands of rohingya have also, due to the desperate conditions that they face, put themselves in the hands of human smugglers. Sometimes to seek a better life in other countries by getting on boats that are very unsafe in countries like trying to reach countries like Malaysia. But then they get stranded and some have been stranded in Indonesian waters, for example. And this has been happening over the years, as you mentioned, 2012, 2017. And also more recently, there have been a few boats that have become stranded. Again, how do you see the situation? And how do you think that ASEAN and ASEAN member states should respond to this refugee crisis?
I must say it is very crucial now for the ASEAN as well as the international community to prevent mass atrocities and violence and persecution against Rohingya. According to pillar three of the Responsibility to Protect. Because the Myanmar military junta is, although it’s a defective government, still it was a government. So the Myanmar military junta is clearly failing to protect the Rohingya. On top of that, the Rohingya were under the persecution and genocide in 2012 and 2017 at this time by the Arakan Army.
So it is very important for the international community, especially the United Nations Security Council, to implement pillar three. The pillar three clearly mentioned if a state failed to protect its own people, it becomes responsible to the international community.
So instead of doing that, if we keep waiting, that will be the ugly history of our period. So at the same time, ASEAN also should cooperate or initiate sending or creating a peacekeeping postal mission. In collaboration with the United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Security Council, in close cooperation with regional stakeholders, including Bangladesh, to create a safe place or a safe zone for the Rohingya. So that Rohingya people could live peacefully, peacefully side by side with other communities on their homeland forever.
Otherwise, we will not be able to. Nobody will be able to end this thing. So there will be a question. But to implement pillar three of R2P. that the United Nations Security Council must approve it. Suppose if it is approved by the UN Security Council, it is very highly likely that either China or Russia will be too. We know that. So even in that situation we should not give up.
And in that situation, I would like to request the international community, especially NATO led by the United States government in cooperation with ASEAN and regional stakeholders and close cooperation with the prime minister of Bangladesh who initiated and proposed the General assembly for a safe zone for Rohingya.
So the US government, especially NATO, is led by the US government. Because NATO is, I understand it is their primary responsibility for the peace and security of 30 countries in the NATO region. But however, this Rohingya issue has become not only a regional issue, but also a global issue. All donor countries, including the EU, are tired of supporting the Rohingya. They are tired of tackling this issue. So this is not only regional for me, this is also global.
So therefore, my last call to end this crisis is regionally and then globally. If the UN Security Council fails or is unable because of a veto from China or Russia, NATO must take initiative under the leadership of the US government and in the cooperation of ASEAN.
Also, I would like to request ASEAN to cooperate with either UN Security Council resolution or the United States government initiative. This is, in my opinion, the only solution. Otherwise Rohingya will face a full fledged genocide. Like Rwanda, like Cambodia. We should not wait for such a situation to happen.
We need to prevent this potential, very highly likely genocide of the Rohingya. So at the same time, I’m not talking about the Rohingya. When the international community will intervene for the Rohingya, at the same time they can implement or as a peacekeeping mission for the 50 million people of Myanmar. Out of 50 million people, their highest risk is now for the Rohingya, because others have only one enemy. Only Myanmar military junta. Myanmar military junta as well as the Arakan Army. So this is why this is the only option or only endeavor I could see to end the Rohingya crisis.
The Role of MPs and Regional Solidarity
Thank you very much, U Shwe Maung. Maybe just for the last question for this podcast. As you know, since the coup in 2021, many Myanmar members of parliament are now in exile. What do you think that Myanmar MP’s in exile can do? To what role can they play to help bring about a resolution to both the Rohingya situation as well as the Myanmar conflict as a whole? And what do you think other MP’s from other Southeast Asian countries can do in solidarity with the Myanmar people?
That is a very good question. Actually, we APHR, are also an association of members of parliament. It’s also a kind of solidarity, although I understand it’s incomplete or not perfect. So we need a perfect one. So it would create a perfect task force incorporating the main major, the parliamentarian from all ASEAN countries, let’s say United Parliamentarian for Ending Human Rights Persecution Task force.
So if we could do that, if APHR could initiate that, it would be good. But I understand it is very challenging. This is one part of the solidarity, because relatively speaking, in every country, members of parliament’s voices are relatively stronger than any other individual or human rights organization. Most of the governments listen to, not only respected members of parliament, but also regional parliamentarians.
So this is why the task force was made by the regional lawmakers from ASEAN member states. So that will help a lot to promote peace and stability and to end violence and persecution in the region. So regarding Myanmar MPs who are in exile, I also, I have great sympathy for that. Because I was an exile MP, I was even worse than their situation. I was forced, by violation of law in 2015, then I have been staying in the US. But after that, our fellow member of parliament became our MP’s in exile. But they are doing a very good job to create a future Federal Democratic Union in cooperation with the National Unity Consultative Council and National Unity Government. They play a great role.
And also at the same time so they have some kind of thing. I have been also advocating for the CRPH and I’m in exile. So in cooperation with NUCC and NUG to create a legislation to recognize the Rohingya ethnic as an official ethnic of Myanmar.
Because we are although indigenous people, 1982 Citizenship Law and a lot of military instruction led to some kinds of acts. You see they have something that makes them Rohingyas like aliens. So although we are indigenous people since there was a lot of criticism and attack, it is very important to make legislation. It’s a small resolution. Only one sentence says “We recognize the Rohingya as a legitimate and indigenous people of Myanmar.” That’s it. Period.
But although I have been calling for more than three years, it still hasn’t happened yet. But the NUG minister as well as the MP in exile gave me a lot of positive thoughts. It could happen in the future when they are in power. But I said, without reaching power it is better to do it now. Because in the future all stakeholders can not deny it.
But recently I learned that I even heard with my own ears during this public assembly hosted by NUCC, some Rakhine community. There are NGO who are supporters of the Arakan Army and United Liberal Arakan. Even they disagree with the amendment of the 1982 Citizenship Law, point to be noted. ULA has been telling their opposing military junta, how come they like the 1982 Citizenship Law.
Whenever the media asked the question about citizenship they said according to law. They are opposing the whole Myanmar military junta which law they are referring to. It’s a joke. They are referring to 1982 Law indirectly. But during the people’s assembly conducted by NUCC, I heard they were like the Arakan National Congress or something. When I checked their profile in the website at Wikipedia, they are a strong supporter of, It’s like a branch of the Arakan Army.
Also the Arakan Army being an Ethnic Revolutionary Organization. They are member of NUCC. So I learned from several sources that in the NUCC because of objections by ULA, NUCC and/ NUG or CRPH is unable to make legislation for the Rohingya.
Even now. Even during the recent interview with the Arakan Army Chief and also at a press conference made by the Arakan Army. When we analyzed that even they are like super powers in Myanmar. This is their strongest ERO among the ERP. Even they don’t care. It looks like they don’t care. They will not care if NUG asks them to or accept Rohingya to make a dialog with Rohingya, etcetera.
So although we appreciate and we feel their Myanmar MP’s exile are like colleagues, also Rohingya are in line with 50 million people. We stand with NUG and 50 million people for a future Federal Democratic Myanmar. But according to my 30 years experience in the region and then my political career, I am quite confident that the ULA and the Arakan Army will not allow that to happen. Because the home of the Rohingya is inside the Arakan, not in the other part of Myanmar. In Yangon it’s like a handful among the people in other areas.
So therefore, although there will be a further democratization union. But in a situation where NUG will be able to govern physically, even at that time, the Rohingya issue will be a big challenge. So therefore, we should not only wait for the restoration of human rights by the fall of the Myanmar military only for the rise of the energy government. But because now the Arakan Army is a very bully to the Rohingya. The more powerful they become, the more they become sort of, you see more and more now they’re bullied. So in that situation the only solution will be a safe zone and the implementation of pillar three of R2P.
Thank you very much, U Shwe Maung. And thank you very much again for taking the time to speak with us for this podcast today..."
Source/publisher:
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"New Report: The Intensifying Rohingya Genocide
Media Release From Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
For four and a half years, the United Nations Security Council, with the UK as penholder on Myanmar, has failed to uphold provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice on Myanmar to prevent acts of genocide against the Rohingya.
As a result of this failure, in the past six months alone, hundreds if not several thousands more Rohingya have been killed. A new report from the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK sets out how Rohingya have been targeted as part of the Myanmar military’s intensifying genocidal campaign, against the backdrop of a brutal and increasingly complex war in Rakhine State between the Myanmar military and its proxies, and the Arakan Army.
The Myanmar military has forcibly recruited Rohingya men and youth – including minors – by abducting them from their homes, villages, markets, some during night raids and often at gunpoint. Once conscripted, Rohingya have been subjected to forced labour and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, then sent to the frontlines in Rakhine State to be used as cannon fodder. The regime’s treatment of forcibly recruited Rohingya may constitute the genocidal act of causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group, says the new report.
All 600,000 Rohingya left in Rakhine State continue to live under wide-ranging repressive laws and policies. This includes 140,000 Rohingya who have been confined to camps since 2012 and are living under a state of indefinite arbitrary detention. According to the report’s analysis, the Myanmar military is perpetrating the genocidal act known as ‘slow death’, which involves deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction in whole or in part of the Rohingya group. This includes the deliberate deprivation of resources indispensable for survival – namely adequate food, water, shelter, sanitation and medical care – by the military regime. The severe restrictions on freedom of movement imposed on the Rohingya underpin this act. They also leave Rohingya extremely vulnerable during times of armed conflict.
During the period covered by this report, 13 November 2023 – 23 May 2024, the Myanmar military, its proxies, and the Arakan Army are also alleged to have committed war crimes against Rohingya communities, including murder, torture, cruel treatment, extrajudicial executions, sexual violence, rape, taking hostages, conscripting and using children, pillaging, and deliberately attacking civilians.
“Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State face either a fast death being killed by the Myanmar military or Arakan Army, or a slow death as a result of being systematically deprived of the basic necessities of life,” said Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK. “We are witnessing another significant increase in violence against the Rohingya and once again the UN Security Council looks on and does nothing.”
This new report provides detailed research and new information on the situation on the ground in Rakhine State, including a timeline of events. It also sounds the alarm about the abrupt escalation of the human rights and humanitarian crisis.
200,000 Rohingya internally displaced in northern Rakhine State are now in dire need of international humanitarian aid to prevent further loss of life. In addition, 110,000 Rohingya – half of them children – are currently trapped in Sittwe township, surrounded by landmines and unable to flee as the conflict edges closer to the city.
The report warns that the international community cannot afford to fail the Rohingya yet again. There must be concerted international public pressure for an open meeting of the UN Security Council to frankly discuss the regime’s repeated breaches of the ICJ’s provisional measures order over the past four-and-a-half years. All relevant organs of the United Nations must make consistent efforts to leverage the ICJ’s provisional measures order within their own mandates, to seek urgent protection for the Rohingya and end the cycle of impunity in Myanmar, including support for the referral of the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court or the creation of an ad hoc international tribunal.
“For the past 12 years, by repeatedly failing to take action to prevent violations of international law against the Rohingya, the UN Security Council has been sending a message to authoritarian regimes worldwide that they can get away with attempting to wipe out minorities they don’t like,” said Tun Khin. “The Rohingya genocide was not inevitable, it was allowed to happen and is still being allowed to happen.”
Background
The International Court of Justice issued its provisional measures order on Myanmar to ‘take all measures within its power’ to protect the Rohingya as part of the ongoing genocide case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar in January 2020. The United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Maldives have filed declarations of intervention in support of The Gambia in the case. The case has moved to a second round of written pleadings as part of the merits phase of the case. Oral hearings are unlikely to take place until 2025 at the earliest, after which the Court will issue its judgment following a period of deliberation.
This latest report from the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK is the ninth in its series detailing both the continual breaches of the order over the past four and a half years, and the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
629.77 KB
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Description:
"Junta police and government employees have left Thandwe as the fighting between the regime and the Arakan Army (AA) moves closer to the town in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Thandwe residents said.
While initial reports suggested that police had surrendered to the AA at noon on Sunday, a resident close to Police Department staff said police had fled the town in plain clothes along with their weapons.
“They didn’t surrender. They fled to Gwa. There was a rumor that the two sides were exchanging fire after the AA troops attacked the police station. In fact, police just fired some shots as they were getting into their vehicles to flee,” he said.
Another Thandwe resident said a department employee told him that senior police officials had ordered police officers in the town to leave.
“Municipal staff and Immigration Department staff were told Sunday not to sleep in the town and to get as far as 10 miles [16 km] away from the town. So, they fled hastily overnight. They did not even take their belongings,” the resident told The Irrawaddy.
Guards at Thandwe Prison were released from their duties at noon on Sunday, according to a source close to the prison. It is not clear if the prisoners were freed.
Thandwe residents and Rakhine State-based media outlets reported the AA had seized Thandwe Airport on Sunday, but pro-junta Telegram channels dismissed the reports. Thandwe residents fled the town on Sunday and Monday for fear of junta air raids.
An unexploded bomb dropped by a junta jet hit a house in No. 1 Ward in Thandwe town on Monday morning.
Fighting broke out in Thandwe Township on April 13..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Media Release From Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
For four and a half years, the United Nations Security Council, with the UK as penholder on Myanmar, has failed to uphold provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice on Myanmar to prevent acts of genocide against the Rohingya.
As a result of this failure, in the past six months alone, hundreds if not several thousands more Rohingya have been killed. A new report from the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK sets out how Rohingya have been targeted as part of the Myanmar military’s intensifying genocidal campaign, against the backdrop of a brutal and increasingly complex war in Rakhine State between the Myanmar military and its proxies, and the Arakan Army.
The Myanmar military has forcibly recruited Rohingya men and youth – including minors – by abducting them from their homes, villages, markets, some during night raids and often at gunpoint. Once conscripted, Rohingya have been subjected to forced labour and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, then sent to the frontlines in Rakhine State to be used as cannon fodder. The regime’s treatment of forcibly recruited Rohingya may constitute the genocidal act of causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group, says the new report.
All 600,000 Rohingya left in Rakhine State continue to live under wide-ranging repressive laws and policies. This includes 140,000 Rohingya who have been confined to camps since 2012 and are living under a state of indefinite arbitrary detention. According to the report’s analysis, the Myanmar military is perpetrating the genocidal act known as ‘slow death’, which involves deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction in whole or in part of the Rohingya group. This includes the deliberate deprivation of resources indispensable for survival – namely adequate food, water, shelter, sanitation and medical care – by the military regime. The severe restrictions on freedom of movement imposed on the Rohingya underpin this act. They also leave Rohingya extremely vulnerable during times of armed conflict.
During the period covered by this report, 13 November 2023 – 23 May 2024, the Myanmar military, its proxies, and the Arakan Army are also alleged to have committed war crimes against Rohingya communities, including murder, torture, cruel treatment, extrajudicial executions, sexual violence, rape, taking hostages, conscripting and using children, pillaging, and deliberately attacking civilians.
“Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State face either a fast death being killed by the Myanmar military or Arakan Army, or a slow death as a result of being systematically deprived of the basic necessities of life,” said Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK. “We are witnessing another significant increase in violence against the Rohingya and once again the UN Security Council looks on and does nothing.”
This new report provides detailed research and new information on the situation on the ground in Rakhine State, including a timeline of events. It also sounds the alarm about the abrupt escalation of the human rights and humanitarian crisis.
200,000 Rohingya internally displaced in northern Rakhine State are now in dire need of international humanitarian aid to prevent further loss of life. In addition, 110,000 Rohingya – half of them children – are currently trapped in Sittwe township, surrounded by landmines and unable to flee as the conflict edges closer to the city.
The report warns that the international community cannot afford to fail the Rohingya yet again. There must be concerted international public pressure for an open meeting of the UN Security Council to frankly discuss the regime’s repeated breaches of the ICJ’s provisional measures order over the past four-and-a-half years. All relevant organs of the United Nations must make consistent efforts to leverage the ICJ’s provisional measures order within their own mandates, to seek urgent protection for the Rohingya and end the cycle of impunity in Myanmar, including support for the referral of the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court or the creation of an ad hoc international tribunal.
“For the past 12 years, by repeatedly failing to take action to prevent violations of international law against the Rohingya, the UN Security Council has been sending a message to authoritarian regimes worldwide that they can get away with attempting to wipe out minorities they don’t like,” said Tun Khin. “The Rohingya genocide was not inevitable, it was allowed to happen and is still being allowed to happen.”
Background
The International Court of Justice issued its provisional measures order on Myanmar to ‘take all measures within its power’ to protect the Rohingya as part of the ongoing genocide case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar in January 2020. The United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Maldives have filed declarations of intervention in support of The Gambia in the case. The case has moved to a second round of written pleadings as part of the merits phase of the case. Oral hearings are unlikely to take place until 2025 at the earliest, after which the Court will issue its judgment following a period of deliberation.
This latest report from the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK is the ninth in its series detailing both the continual breaches of the order over the past four and a half years, and the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
629.77 KB
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Description:
"The MAU tracks market prices in Central and Northern Rakhine State and Chin State. Data are collected from three vendors per product per market in the last week of each month. Data and product specifications are available online through the MPR dashboard at www.themimu.info/market-analysis-unit.
KEY FINDINGS
Rice prices rose 4-8% in May, but in general essential food prices were more stable than other product types;
Vegetables prices rose 15-37%, and recent price in-creases outpaced those at this time last year;
Hygiene NFI prices rose at their fastest rate in months, adding 16-54% on top of five months of past price hikes;
Meat/fish prices rose 6-10% in May, although recent months have seen prices falling more often than rising;
Mosquito net prices spiked in May, although NFI prices were other stable following April's sharp increases;
Hygiene NFI prices were 100-200% above last year, while other NFIs were often double 2023 levels;
Wholesale price and supply should be monitored as retailers suggest local conflict is not their only challenge;
Relentless price hikes for hygiene NFIs may be critical as prices push three-times above last year's levels.
Product-Level Price Changes
Essential Foods – Essential food prices were stable or slightly higher again in May, with rice prices up 4-8%. Rice prices fluctuated in May but trended upward slightly as retailers worried about stable access to supply. Prices for cooking oil also fluctuated but were overall 3% lower. Prices for pulses were flat after rising steadily in March and April.
Vegetables – Vegetables saw a third straight month of rising prices amid continued reports of falling supply. Prices for egg-plant and watercress rose 15-22%, and green chili prices were up 37%. Other vegetable prices fluctuated with little clear trend, although Minbya saw a number of falling prices.
Meat and Fish – Meat and fish prices rose 6-10% in May. Shrimp and fish paste prices rose 6-7% in May, while prices for chicken and dried fish rose 10%. Fresh fish prices varied by market. Retailers said reduced supply of fresh fish increased demand (and therefore prices) for substitutes like dried fish.
Hygiene Products – Hygiene product prices climbed 16-54%, marking the largest increase in six months of higher prices. Prices for sanitary pads and detergent rose 16% and 31%, respectively, while toothpaste rose 54%. Soap prices rose and fell in different markets. Multiple retailers reported rising wholesale prices for hygiene items and overall less supply than normal.
Other NFIs – NFI prices were relatively stable in May, although mosquito net prices jumped 50%. Plastic tarp prices fell in several markets but spiked 40-60% in Mrauk-U and Ponnagyun. Prices for charcoal and longyis fell 2-9%. Prices for cooking pots and mosquito nets rose, while other NFIs were stable. Retailers said Yangon supplies had begun raising mosquito net prices..."
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Information Management Unit (Myanmar) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Food Security and nutrition in Burma/Myanmar, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
771.16 KB
more
Description:
"18 June 2024: SAC-M is seriously concerned over the impact on civilians of armed conflict in Maungdaw township, northern Rakhine state, after the United League of Arakan / Arakha Army (AA) issued an advanced notice and emergency announcement on 16 June 2024 warning of imminent assaults on remaining Myanmar military junta camps in Maungdaw and advising all residents to evacuate Maungdaw immediately.
The majority of civilians in Maungdaw are Rohingya, many of whom are already displaced due to armed conflict and attacks in other parts of northern Rakhine state. In recent weeks, all communities in Rakhine have reportedly suffered human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law at the hands of the Myanmar military junta, the AA and other armed actors. Rohingya in northern Rakhine again find themselves at heightened risk of being subjected to human rights atrocities.
SAC-M emphasises that all armed actors have obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure the protection of civilians at all times during armed conflict. Issuing evacuation notices does not absolve actors of these obligations. The obligation to protect civilians during armed conflict extends to ensuring unhindered access to humanitarian assistance. The AA leadership has claimed it is committed to the protection of civilians.
Today, the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights presented his most recent report on the situation in Myanmar to the UN Human Rights Council during its 56th session. The High Commissioner expressed his concern about the situation in Maungdaw and emphasised that the Rohingya have nowhere left to flee. Member States of the Council will adopt an annual resolution during the session on the rights of Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) continues to collect evidence of the most serious violations of international law in Myanmar. This is not limited to violations allegedly committed by the military junta.
SAC-M calls again on the international community to take urgent steps to address impunity in Myanmar and advance accountability, by securing a jurisdiction where the evidence collected by the IIMM can be used in criminal prosecutions. The Security Council or the assembly of state parties to the Rome Statute should refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC in Myanmar in 2021, but the Court has not acted on this. If the ICC cannot be seized on the situation in Myanmar, then the international community should establish a special international criminal tribunal for Myanmar.
The military junta is by far the primary source of violence and violations of international law in Myanmar, including alleged genocide committed against the Rohingya. Rohingya in Myanmar are at ongoing risk of genocide, according to an interim ruling ordered by the International Court of Justice in 2020. The junta has continued to target Rohingya in Rakhine, including by using Rohingya as human shields and forcibly conscripting Rohingya into the armed conflict.
The AA is reported to have committed serious attacks against Rohingya in Buthidaung township, which neighbours Maungdaw, in May 2024, killing an estimated 1,500 people and displacing 200,000, according to Rohingya activists. The evacuation notice of 16 June and impending attacks in Maungdaw, and rhetoric of senior members of the AA, give cause for concern over a possible intention on the part of the AA to forcibly transfer the Rohingya population from Rakhine state..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"The Arakan Army has completely seized nearly all the SAC’s military camps in Maungdaw Township, located near the Bay of Bengal. Surrounding and cutting off the remaining SAC’s camps in and around Maungdaw Township have also been accomplished.
The SAC force has long been using Maungdaw Township as a base for military operations and has prepared extensively for urban warfare. As further assaults on these remaining camps are imminent, residents of Maungdaw Township are urged to avoid staying in areas such as roads and houses from which the SAC forces have fortified positions, the locations which could be targeted by the snipers from top of the buildings, and any place where the SAC forces are present.
Due to concerns for the safety of the residents of Maungdaw, the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army urgently advises all residents to evacuate Maungdaw immediately, starting from 9 PM on June 16, 2024..."
Source/publisher:
Arakan Army
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rakhine (Arakanese) - cultural, political
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
90.58 KB
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Description:
"In the late evening of Friday 17 May 2024, Rohingya neighbourhoods in the town of Buthidaung in Myanmar’s Rakhine State were disturbed by an ominously familiar sight. Armed gunmen had come to their doors and ordered them to leave before the gunmen set their houses alight. If they refused, they were told, they would be burnt with their house.
As the Rohingya community fled to fields to the west, the gunmen torched their houses. By morning, most of what remained of Buthidaung had burnt to the ground. Buthidaung was the largest town to be burnt in a cycle of arson attacks throughout April and May, in which the junta and affiliated militants burnt approximately 2,400 structures, and the resistance-aligned Arakan Army retaliated by burning a further 8,500 structures across around 50 villages.
With communications in this area of Myanmar effectively cut off, with no independent media presence and with a desperate lack of supplies and food reaching the area, it is challenging to pin down specifics of what happened on 17 May. Using detailed analysis of satellite imagery, news reports, statements and open-source analysis of incidents on the ground, it is possible to provide crucial context to the violence that has occurred over the past weeks—enough to begin to verify the perpetrators.
This Strategist special report explains what happened that night and presents new satellite imagery analysis that reveals a systematic campaign of retaliatory arson that has occurred in the township since 24 April and continued until at least 21 May.
The majority of these arson attacks occurred in uncontested Arakan Army territory with attacks on rural villages reportedly forcing many Rohingyas to flee from their burnt village to Buthidaung town itself prior to the arson attack there.
Following the genocidal anti-Rohingya violence of 2017, when the majority of Maungdaw Township’s Rohingya community was expelled or killed in a series of violent campaigns by the military, the township of Buthidaung in the Mayu River valley became home to the largest Rohingya community remaining in Myanmar, with over 150,000 Rohingya living in the township. Although the Rohingya community in Buthidaung is not as controlled or restricted as those living in internally displaced person camps across the rest of the state, the area is still subject to significant human rights abuses, including unreasonable restrictions on movement and access to services, along with a complete impunity for government forces in the area.
Following the outbreak of clashes between the Arakan Army and Burmese state forces in 2019, the township became more isolated and cut off from services and supplies. The township has been effectively under siege since the latest outbreak of violence during which the Arakan Army has captured much of Rakhine state from the junta.
With an increasingly dispossessed community, the junta has leveraged people’s desperation into actions deliberately calibrated to stoke communal tensions. In February and March 2024, junta authorities in Buthidaung town coerced and co-opted Rohingya residents to hold anti-Arakan Army demonstrations that were widely publicised in pro-junta media. These efforts were generally disregarded as a ploy to inflame communal tensions. However, the situation became more critical in March and April, as the junta started to enforce widespread conscription in an attempt to address its staggering losses on the battlefield over the preceding five months. Despite the Rohingya community long being denied citizenship or residency permits by government authorities, the junta sought conscripts from the Rohingya community using a mixture of false promises of citizenship along with threats and intimidation.
Despite having previously fought against the Burmese army, some Rohingya armed groups carried out forced recruitment into junta-aligned militias, including by abducting boys (reportedly some as young as 14) from Bangladesh refugee camps to return to Myanmar and fight.
Starting on 11 April, the military junta and Rohingya militants began burning down predominantly Buddhist and Hindu neighbourhoods of Buthidaung town to stoke further sectarian tensions. Over the following week, these attacks destroyed roughly 2,400 structures across 150 acres of Buthidaung town, with several of Buthidaung’s most densely populated neighbourhoods being entirely destroyed, including an office and pharmacy of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders.
While these attacks were taking place in Buthidaung town through April, the Arakan Army was gaining full control on the other side of the Mayu River. It besieged and captured remaining junta military bases one-by-one.
And from 24 April, the Arakan Army began an arson campaign against Rohingya villages, retaliating against the whole Rohingya community for arson attacks in Buthidaung town. Over the following 10 days, it burnt 27 villages and hamlets on the eastern bank of the Mayu River, according to our analysis of satellite imagery.
Buthidaung town was, by all accounts, a chaotic place on 17 May, as conflict in the township was reaching its nadir. The Arakan Army had told residents that they would assault the town at 10am the next day, and ordered a general evacuation. However, by around 6pm on Friday afternoon, the group was overrunning four junta battalions on the western edge of town. According to statements by the Arakan Army, the remnants of these units then fled into the town, with local media reporting clashes at the entrance to Buthidaung town throughout Friday. This hastened the Arakan Army’s advance, and by 9:30pm much of the town was under their control, according to eyewitnesses. On the night of the arson attack, there was significant movement of Arakan Army and Burmese junta troops through the town, along with continued and hasty displacement of civilians.
Given the chaotic scene on the ground, and the immense communication restrictions in the area, independently and firmly establishing the perpetrator of this attack is challenging. However, satellite imagery analysis of arson attacks enables us to establish a clear pattern of retaliatory violence by the Arakan Army against Rohingya villages and neighbourhoods. The images show that as Arakan Army forces advanced across rural Buthidaung township in late April and May, they left a trail of rubble and ash as they burnt down Rohingya villages, seemingly indiscriminately.
That trail started on 24 April, around a week after the initial bout of junta-directed and Rohingya-committed arson in Buthidaung town ended. On that day, the village of Raza Berha (Nan Yar Kone), with around 100 homes, became the first Rohingya village torched on the Mayu River’s eastern bank. Satellite imagery from the next morning shows much of the northern part of the village destroyed. Over the next week, around a dozen villages would be burnt, including the large settlements of Kun Taing Ywar Gyi and Taung (Pale Taung).
The comprehensive destruction, completely burning all villages in this area of the township, strongly suggests that this has been a deliberate campaign of arson and that these towns were not merely damaged by airstrikes, artillery fire or columns of fleeing troops.
In a 4 May statement announcing their control over the entire eastern bank of the Mayu River, the Arakan Army provided some clarification regarding their territorial control over the area in the preceding months. They state that for much of 2024, Arakan Army troops had surrounded and blocked the 15th Military Operations Command HQ in the area, and that since around 20 April, there had been heavy clashes within the base itself before the Arakan Army seized it on 2 May. As early as the start of April, local media was reporting that every battalion in Buthidaung was besieged by the Arakan Army.
Accordingly, 4km away from the nearest battalion base, when Raza Berha village burnt in the last week of April, the only armed group with presence in this part of the countryside was the Arakan Army. Similarly, other villages burnt in the early days of this arson campaign were some distance from besieged junta bases.
Over the following weeks, as the Arakan Army captured the remaining besieged junta battalions one-by-one, a disturbing pattern emerged of nearby villages being burnt immediately following their capture.
On 25 April, the 565th Light Infantry Battalion was captured and, within a week, the neighbouring Rohingya villages of Shawdawr Para and Hadimma Para were burnt.
On 2 May, the 15th Military Operations Command HQ was captured, and that night the neighbouring Rohingya village of Da Bru Yaung was burnt.
On 3 May, the 551st Light Infantry Battalion was captured and within three days the neighbouring Rohingya village of Setawr Para was burnt.
On 13 May, the 353rd Light Infantry Battalion was captured and, the following night, the neighbouring Rohingya village of Na Khine Daung was burnt.
On 18 May, the final Junta battalions with the Buthidaung Tactical Operations Command were captured, with the neighbouring villages of Thar Mai Khali, Myaung, Daing Net Ywar, Kyauk Hpyu Taung and Let Wea Det Pyin Shey all burnt over the next two days, along with nearby town of Buthidaung itself.
This pattern was not repeated, however, in villages near military bases that were captured prior to the junta-directed arson attacks in Buthidaung town in mid-April. The 564th Light Infantry Battalion HQ was the first in the township to fall to the Arakan Army, being captured on 5 April. None of the villages surrounding this military base were burnt following its capture. This provides further evidence that the recent spate of arson attacks was in direct retaliation to junta-orchestrated provocations of communal tension.
The village of Na Khing Daung serves as a useful case study providing insight into the timeline on the Arakan Army’s control of the area. Following the arson attack on Buthidaung town and its widespread condemnation, official propaganda channels from the Arakan Army released photos showing their troops caring for injured Rohingya civilians in Na Khing Daung on 14 May. As Arakan Army troops were capturing the neighbouring 353rd Light Infantry Battalion the previous day, fleeing junta troops opened fire at the village as they passed through, causing injuries among civilians, according to local media reporting. A video from the same date and previously released through official Arakan Army channels shows scores of Rohingya from Na Khing Daung who were detained by junta forces being released by Arakan Army troops.
These two videos show the Arakan Army in firm control of the village on 14 May, with junta forces that were previously nearby rapidly disintegrating and fleeing across the countryside. Satellite imagery from the early afternoon of that day shows fire beginning to consume the village, with houses along the main road through the village having already been burnt. These fires would continue overnight and into the next day until, by the next satellite pass, the entire Rohingya hamlet within the village was burnt to the ground.
Tellingly, the ethnically Daingnet (a predominantly buddhist ethnicity from northern Rakhine state numbering around 80,000 people) hamlet of the same village remained completely undamaged. A mosque in the Rohingya hamlet was burnt, while the monastery 200m away was spared.
The burning also continued in many villages following the complete capture of Buthidaung township by the Arakan Army, with around a dozen villages, mostly to the west and southwest of Buthidaung town being burnt down following the expulsion of all junta positions in the area.
Together, the satellite evidence clearly demonstrates a systematic pattern of arson attacks across much of Buthidaung township, both in areas under complete Arakan Army control, and in a manner suggestive of on-the-ground arson attacks as compared to damage from airstrikes or artillery.
Thankfully, it appears that there have been no reports of continued arson attacks in the area beyond 21 May. It is possible or even likely that the Arakan Army command has reacted to the attention the atrocities generated, and prevented their troops on the ground from committing further arson. However, this is not enough. The already vulnerable and dispossessed Rohingya community of Buthidaung is now languishing in even worse conditions than before, with some reports suggesting that up to 60 displaced people have died, largely as a result of a lack of clean drinking water.
The Arakan Army urgently needs to restore community relations in the Rohingya heartland of which it is rapidly seizing control. It faces an uphill climb given the extent of the recent violence in which it has played a significant part, but there is room for reconciliation, especially as Rakhine and Rohingya communities can point to a common enemy as the actor responsible for provoking sectarian tension and as a springboard for common reconciliation.
The Arakan Army must act with initiative and urgency by providing immediate aid and assistance to displaced and desperate communities. It should reach out to key Rohingya leaders in areas under its control and commit to treating the Rohingya community as brothers just like all other members of the Arakanese nation, and demonstrate this commitment. It should recognise that at the individual level, Rohingya militants coerced into fighting alongside the junta are victims of the junta and not targets for reprisals. It should call them ‘Rohingya’ instead of the variety of slurs it has used and that immediately demonstrates the Arakan Army’s hostility. It should also recognise the opportunity in both human capital and economic development that could be realised if the Arakan Army is able to reverse its course and foster community relations in northern Rakhine state that facilitates widespread repatriation of Rohingya citizens.
The national resistance organisations must make it clear, both privately and publicly, that such atrocities are unacceptable, and that if the Arakan Army wants a seat at the table in a future federalised and democratic Myanmar, it must treat all civilians under its control with dignity and respect. It should publicly name the Arakan Army as the perpetrator of these atrocities that it condemned. It should facilitate dialogue and reconciliation efforts between the Arakan Army and Rohingya community leaders both inside and outside of Burma.
International actors should continue to recognise that the military junta remains the biggest impediment to peace and stability in both Rakhine and Myanmar more broadly, and that this communal violence has been directly and deliberately provoked by them. Even over the last week, junta forces and affiliated militias cordoned off a village in Rakhine state before executing over 70 civilians and burning scores of houses. Any policy that seeks to restore a pre-coup status quo is misguided and counterproductive. Despite this outbreak of violence, the Arakan Army—should it reflect and evolve from these atrocities—is far more likely to transform into a responsible and reliable partner in the region than the military junta.
AUTHOR
Nathan Ruser is an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. All maps and imagery created by Nathan Ruser, using Planet satellite imagery.
Methodology
Identification of burnt areas.
Burnt areas were initially developed in a ‘point’ manner, by comparing areas of FIRMS hotspot detections with urban land use and through visual interpretation of post-fire Planet imagery (3m resolution) of the township.
These points were refined and expanded into polygons of burnt area through more detailed comparison of pre and post-fire imagery examined through the web-based Planet Explorer tool. The dates of these comparisons were variable based on local dates of burning and cloud-cover conditions. Areas with FIRMS hotspot detections in urban areas, but where satellite imagery revealed only scattered burning of individual houses and not significant parts of the urban area, these points were removed. The detailed delineation of burnt areas was developed by ‘tracing’ burnt areas in the Planet Explorer tool with direct comparisons to pre-burn imagery, then exported to geojson files and combined within QGIS.
To ensure that no villages were missed, Sentinel-2 imagery (10m resolution) across the township was accessed through Google Earth Engine and analysed using the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) formula. This highlighted burnt areas across the township and these were then individually examined with Planet Imagery.
Metadata.
Metadata for the burnt area is split into two categories: metadata surrounding the village and metadata surrounding the arson.
Metadata for village information was obtained by joining the burnt-area polygons to the nearest settlement from Myanmar Information Management Unit’s (MIMU) national and geocoded database of settlements. The Rohingya name of villages (where available) was manually extracted from the field “Commonly_Used_Local_Vlg_Name_Eng” when the name in that field appeared to be of Rohingya origin. The MIMU dataset is not perfect – especially in areas of ethnic named villages – and may miss settlements or name them incorrectly, therefore this metadata should be considered as a guide and not a replacement for detailed on-the-ground knowledge.
Metadata for burn date was primarily detected from FIRMS data. For cases where FIRMS did not detect a fire hotspot (often due to timing of the burns and cloud cover) the date was estimated by establishing the ‘last unburnt’ and ‘first burnt’ dates from Planet imagery. This is why in the text of the report some references are made to burning happening “within x days”, for cases when an exact burn date is unavailable and the ‘first burnt’ data was used instead.
Estimating the impact of the burnt area.
For all this analysis it was replicated twice, once for the area burnt in Buthidaung town between April 11-17, and separately for areas burnt by the Arakan Army between April 24 and May 21.
The burnt polygons were reprojected into the local UTM grid and then the area was calculated for each polygon. These areas were summed across the polygons to calculate the total area burnt.
The estimate of burnt structures was derived from splitting the burnt area into a grid of 50x50m cells, a random subset of these was picked (25 cells for the mid-April burning and 50 cells for the Arakan Army burning) and the number of structures was counted using pre-burn, very-high-resolution (
Source/publisher:
Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-13
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Type:
Individual Documents
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Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Introduction:
The plight of the Rohingya people represents one of the most urgent humanitarian crises of our time. Decades of persecution and systemic discrimination have rendered them stateless and vulnerable, with successive governments in Myanmar perpetuating egregious human rights violations. In the wake of the 2021 coup, their suffering has only intensified, necessitating immediate and concerted international intervention.
Despite broad humanitarian assistance and widespread condemnation of the actions against them, the Rohingya continue to endure unimaginable hardships, exacerbated by regional neglect and a lack of organized representation on the global stage.
The Global Rohingya Initiative, spearheaded by the New Lines Institute, represents a landmark initiative designed to ensure the voices of the Rohingya community are heard in all discussions with international entities, are leading efforts to build enduring frameworks, and are at the center of any path forward. Our comprehensive approach encompasses a range of activities, from advocacy and capacity-building to policy development and international engagement, with a steadfast commitment to centering Rohingya perspectives and experiences with an aim to equip Rohingya leaders to develop a new global Rohingya representative body with offices in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
The Global Rohingya Initiative stands as a beacon of hope and solidarity in the face of adversity. It is imperative that we heed the Rohingya call for justice and solidarity, recognizing the pressing need to empower them with a unified voice and agency in shaping their own future..."
Source/publisher:
New Lines Institute
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Sub-title:
What we are seeing now is worse than any other period of violence in the state since 2017.
Description:
"Since the day conflict resumed in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on 13 November 2023, a continued disruption of basic services and blockage of supply routes has led to severe challenges for people in accessing necessities such as food, essential healthcare, and a safe place to shelter.
What we are seeing now, as expressed by some of our staff, is worse than any other period of violence in the state since 2017, when hundreds of thousands of people from Myanmar’s minority Muslim Rohingya community were forced to flee to Bangladesh.
Conflict has resulted in the destruction of infrastructure, including homes, schools, and healthcare facilities, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Fuel, electricity, and phone connection are scarce, isolating people and reducing their ability to seek help.
While this is affecting all communities in Rakhine, we are concerned about the escalating ethnic dynamics and divisive language being used, with armed groups pushing Rohingya men to fight alongside them and forcing Rohingya communities to protest against the opposing side.
Yet, in the face of this crisis, humanitarian organisations are left powerless to respond.
Unable to deliver healthcare
MSF has been in Rakhine state since 1994 providing medical assistance for people with diseases like malaria, HIV/TB, diabetes, hypertension, care for children under-five, and care for pregnant and breastfeeding women. Every time the stability of the state has wavered, our medical programmes are constrained and people’s access to healthcare has suffered.
Humanitarian access in the state has been heavily controlled through administrative procedures. All humanitarian organisations depend on travel authorisations to run their activities, and when conflict ignites, travel restrictions hinder humanitarian activities, rendering it difficult to provide lifesaving services.
Emergency referrals are at times life-saving for patients, particularly for Rohingya people who face severe restrictions imposed on all aspects of their lives.
With the resumption of the latest conflict in November 2023, travel authorisations were revoked and most of our clinics were forced to close. Six months on, none of the 25 mobile clinics MSF was running in Rakhine are operational. As a consequence, MSF’s outpatient consultations have significantly dropped from 6,696 in September 2023 to 236 in April 2024.
We have seen a drastic reduction in the numbers of emergency referrals we are able to support in Rakhine state. MSF teams referred 264 patients in need of emergency care to hospitals in October 2023, but this number decreased to only 28 patients in March 2024 because of lack of authorisation to run services and because of lack of functioning hospitals to refer patients to.
These emergency referrals are at times life-saving for patients, particularly for Rohingya people who face severe restrictions imposed on all aspects of their lives, including their freedom of movement, making travelling to access available secondary healthcare a huge challenge.
Scarcity of medical supplies
Not only are people blocked from reaching the remaining health facilities, essential drugs can’t reach them either. Both the transportation of people and of supplies is extremely challenging within Rakhine (between townships under control of different armed groups) and from outside the state (Yangon to Sittwe), leading to scarcity in essential medication, including antibiotics and drugs for HIV, pregnancies, non-communicable diseases, mental healthcare and injuries.
Any medical supplies between townships that could be used for care of wounded soldiers are banned. This includes sanitary pads and diapers, as these could hypothetically be used to apply pressure to a wound to stop the bleeding.
Decimation of available healthcare
Lack of authorisation notwithstanding, the increasing intensity of the violence, with airstrikes and armed clashes leading to heightened insecurity, has also made the functioning of humanitarian organisations almost impossible.
The conflict affected MSF’s structures as well – a shell landed in the Mrauk-U office compound in the beginning of 2024, and the MSF’s office and pharmacy in Buthidaung was burnt down on 15 April – leading to a decimation of available healthcare options for people in Rakhine state.
The availability of public healthcare has reduced rapidly. Healthcare structures have been damaged by artillery, airstrikes, or caught in the centre of active conflict, forcing staff to leave hospitals and health centres. In central Rakhine, Mrauk-U and Pauktaw hospitals are no longer functioning, and Min Bya hospital was already damaged by artillery at the end of last year. In northern Rakhine, the township hospitals of Maungdaw and Buthidaung are not functioning, leaving people with no secondary healthcare options.
The way the dynamics of the conflict have played out over the last six months has significantly impacted every aspect of daily life for communities in Rakhine and hugely increased the demand for humanitarian assistance.
In Pauktaw, where MSF ran clinics for both Rohingya people living in displacement camps and Rakhine communities, the disruption of MSF activities have had serious consequences. People in these areas no longer have access to healthcare, as MSF’s clinics are closed and access routes – mostly by water - are heavily controlled by checkpoints. Pregnant women in Pauktaw can no longer access Sittwe General Hospital, including for emergency care. As a consequence, at least one Rohingya woman and her baby died after they were denied access to Sittwe. Two other patients who were on their way back after receiving care drowned in the sea, as people are forced to find alternative ways to travel – if they can travel at all.
Between November 2023 and March 2024, MSF teams have recorded nine maternal deaths or stillbirth cases, likely a fraction of the deaths arising due to lack of available healthcare.
Disease outbreaks will go unattended
The end of the dry season is also approaching fast. Usually, water scarcity leads to an increase in cases of acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) and skin diseases. Every year, MSF and other organisations aim to respond to both prevent and treat these diseases, but in many townships in Rakhine this is currently impossible.
In many other townships, it is challenging for humanitarian and health organisations to have any visibility on outbreaks and illness at all.
Last November, there were more than 100 cases of AWD in Maungdaw. MSF, in collaboration with the local health authority, supported 80 emergency referrals of patients in need of hospitalisation from this cohort. This year, these emergency services are not available, and MSF is already seeing the dire consequences.
In Aung Mingalar in Sittwe, where 98 cases of AWD were reported in children under-five and pregnant women alone in April and May this year, two patients passed away. In that same period, 222 cases were reported in just one Rohingya IDP camp in Pauktaw, of which 201 were in one week, and 7 children died. In many other townships, it is challenging for humanitarian and health organisations to have any visibility on outbreaks and illness at all, as the access restrictions and challenges make it impossible to carry out assessments.
Nowhere to go
Now, all communities across the entire state are confronted with movement restrictions and challenges in accessing healthcare that Rohingya people have endured for years. Rohingya people were stripped of their citizenship at home in Myanmar in 1982, denying them their fundamental rights and freedom. Many cannot move from one village or state to another, as they lack the relevant identity documents, leaving them with nowhere to escape to.
Despite being denied citizenship, Rohingya men are – often forcibly – included in the rounds of recruitment by the Myanmar military, due to the announcement of a conscription law in February that applies to Myanmar citizens. At the same time, many other armed groups in Rakhine, including the Arakan Army, are also actively recruiting Rohingya. People from different communities expressed their fears of reprisal if they did not support one of the two opposing parties to the conflict.
Fighting for survival
It has now been over six months since MSF was last able to carry out its regular mobile clinics. Until recently, we were still trying to find ways to support communities by helping township hospitals with medical donations and assigning our medical staff. But then the township hospitals had to shut as they started running out of essential supplies of medicines and fuel to even have the hospital run, or to have the operating theatres’ run.
We are witnessing a near-total absence of humanitarian assistance in Rakhine state as people face relentless obstacles for their survival. Without any support, battling these is getting harder and harder.
The forced closure and targeting of health facilities, and the blocking of people’s access to health facilities, is unacceptable. Healthcare must be depoliticised and kept out of any political or military conflict.
In order to guarantee access to critical care and to reduce the risks of disease outbreaks in Rakhine, it is crucial that all parties to the conflict ensure healthcare structures can operate and that people can reach these facilities. Essential drugs must be allowed to be transported to save lives and respond to outbreaks and emergencies – including when it means crossing townships in Rakhine..."
Source/publisher:
"The New Humanitarian" (Geneva)
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-11
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Type:
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Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma
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"In August 2017, the world witnessed a massive influx of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh, fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar. As of now, Bangladesh hosts more than 1.3 million Rohingyas, predominantly in Cox’s Bazar district, which has become the largest refugee settlement in the world. While the Bangladesh government and international aid organizations have made commendable efforts to provide for these displaced people, the situation has reached a breaking point, especially due to the political instability in Myanmar.
Recently, another 45,000 Rohingyas fled to an area on the Naf River near the border with Bangladesh due to the escalating violence in conflict-torn Myanmar’s Rakhine State. UN rights chief Volker Turk and UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Thomas Andrews has already urged to open the border again and take these Rohingyas. But Bangladesh cannot and should not bear the burden of taking in more Rohingya refugees. This stance is not rooted in a lack of empathy but rather in the harsh realities confronting the nation and its capacity to sustain such a large population.
Firstly, the economic strain on Bangladesh is considerable. Cox’s Bazar, one of the poorest districts in Bangladesh, has seen its resources stretched to their limits. The sudden influx of refugees has dramatically increased the demand for basic services such as healthcare, education, and sanitation. According to the World Bank, the annual cost of hosting the Rohingyas is around $1.21 billion. This figure is staggering for a developing nation like Bangladesh, which has its own challenges in eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development. The resources allocated to the refugees could have been utilized to improve the living standards of Bangladeshi citizens. The prolonged economic burden is unsustainable and unfair to the local population, who have shown remarkable hospitality despite their own hardships.
The environmental impact is another pressing concern. The Rohingya camps have caused significant deforestation in the region, as trees are cut down to make space for shelters and to provide firewood for cooking. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has reported that around 8,000 acres of forest land have been razed in Cox’s Bazar since the arrival of the Rohingyas. This deforestation has led to soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and increased vulnerability to natural disasters such as landslides and floods. Environmental degradation is a local issue and contributes to broader ecological challenges that affect the entire nation.
Social tensions have also escalated as a result of the refugee crisis. The massive presence of Rohingyas has disrupted the local economy and labor market, leading to increased competition for jobs and resources. This has bred resentment among local Bangladeshis, who feel that their needs and opportunities are being overshadowed by the international focus on the refugee crisis. Additionally, there have been reported increases in crime rates and social unrest in the areas surrounding the refugee camps. The rise in criminal activities, including drug trafficking and human trafficking, has further strained the already limited law enforcement capabilities.
The education of Rohingya children poses another complex challenge. With limited access to formal education and a lack of proper educational infrastructure, a whole generation of Rohingya children risks growing up without basic literacy and numeracy skills. This educational deficit not only affects their future prospects but also hinders the overall development of the refugee community. The international community has provided some support, but the efforts have been insufficient to meet the overwhelming demand. Meanwhile, the local Bangladeshi children in Cox’s Bazar face disruptions in their own education as resources and attention are diverted to address the needs of the refugees.
Health concerns are equally dire. The overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in the refugee camps have led to outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, diphtheria, and measles. The healthcare facilities, already inadequate to serve the local population, are now overwhelmed. The health crisis extends beyond the camps, as infectious diseases do not recognize borders and can easily spread to the surrounding communities. The strain on the healthcare system indicates that Bangladesh’s capacity to manage such a large influx of refugees is being tested to its limits.
Furthermore, the international response has been far from adequate. While numerous countries and organizations have pledged financial support and aid, the actual disbursement of funds has continuously fallen short of the commitments. For example, in the 2024 joint response plan (JRP), only 72.9% was funded halfway through this year. The fund shortage in the 2021, 2022, and 2023 JRP is 26.9%, 30.6%, and 34.8%, respectively. At the same time, the international community’s response has been more reactive than proactive, failing to address the root causes of the crisis or provide a long-term solution. Bangladesh has been left to shoulder the burden with insufficient global support, highlighting a stark disparity between promises and actions.
It is crucial to acknowledge that the Rohingya crisis is fundamentally a political issue that requires a political solution. The root of the problem lies in Myanmar, where the Rohingyas have been systematically marginalized and persecuted. The international community must exert pressure on Myanmar to ensure the safe and dignified return of the Rohingyas to their homeland. Diplomatic efforts, economic sanctions, and international legal actions should be pursued vigorously to compel Myanmar to address human rights violations and create conditions conducive to the voluntary repatriation of the Rohingyas.
While the humanitarian impulse to aid the Rohingyas is commendable, it must be balanced with the pragmatic limitations faced by Bangladesh. The country has done more than its fair share in providing refuge and support to the Rohingyas, often at great cost to its own citizens and environment. It is time for the international community to step up and share the responsibility. Bangladesh cannot continue to bear this burden alone. The focus must shift to sustainable solutions that address the root causes of the crisis and ensure a fair distribution of responsibilities among nations. Only through such concerted efforts can we hope to resolve the Rohingya crisis in a manner that is just and sustainable for all parties involved..."
Source/publisher:
"Eurasia Review"
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Local URL:
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"Exposing the underreported involvement of Burmese Authoritarian left on Rohingya Genocide as an activist who is a descendant of Bengali ethnicity and who also has the distance relatives from Rohingya ethnicity. However, I'm not a ethno-nationalist in any sense. I am only writing this for accountability, responsibility and universal human rights.
Rohingya Genocide was indeed a commonly known incident even for those who don’t really know much about Burma. Before the Rohingya Genocide, Burma was only well known for Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy, even for the activist circles. Later, Rohingya Genocide is something that made Burma famous again, not in the good way.
Everyone well aware that Rohingya Genocide is committed by the Myanmar Military Army and Aung San Suu Kyi defended them at ICJ. There are some interpretations that since ICJ sued the whole nation instead of the Myanmar Military Army as the sole entity, Aung San Suu Kyi had to defend the nation. Regardless, if it’s the case, she could simply say the Myanmar Military Army did it and the state has nothing to do with it. She didn’t do as such. Rohingya Genocide has its root in 2012 Rakhine-Rohingya riots and the 969 grassroot movements which in turn has their roots in far-right islamist Pakistan separationist movement from Burma of 1946 and Arakan massacres by Rohingya in 1942 (during colonial era of divide and rule politics of British colonialism).
The main underreported information of the whole Rohingya Genocide was the passive involvement of Burmese Authoritarian Left. Venerable Wirathu, the xenophobic and racist monk whom Time magazine called “The Face of Buddhist Terror” used to be active among the far-left circles. One of his first books from around 2000s, named “The Criminals of History”. In that book, Venerable Wirathu wrote about how the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee was reactionary and tool of the military dictatorship at the expense of the grassroot monk community. After his release of prison at 2012, he was seen preaching anti-military and pro-NLD messages at the local branches of NLD party. In 2012, Venerable Wirathu was invited by the chairman of the Kayan New Land Party, Than Soe Naing, to discuss and deliver knowledges on nationalism, self-determinism, federalism and democracy. Here, it’s important to know that federalism used to a word of kryptonite for the military junta until 2015. The military junta believed in one state solution for Burma. The opposition, including those from the far-left, believed in federalism and self-determinism. So, the military interpreted federalism as an enemy of their one state solution (unitary union). Communist Party of Burma always believed in the one state solution (unitary union). However, since it was too weak around 2010s, it endorses the united front against the military junta. Here, it’s important to know the history and ideological development of the political party that invited Venerable Wirathu to deliver the speech. Since 1979, Kayan New Land Party (KNLP) was a close ally of Communist Party of Burma. It even adopted the Maoist "people's war" strategy upheld by the CPB since 1979. In 1983, under CPB's leadership, KNLP alongside Karenni National People's Liberation Front and Shan State National Liberation Organization formed the central regional command which lasted until CPB was forced underground due to internal mutiny from its Wa and Kokang cadres. The video of Venerable Wirathu delivering speech about nationalism, self-determinism, federalism and democracy at Kayan New Land Party can be seen in the following YouTube link.
YouTube Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFFTzRR2RyQ
Also, All Burma Federation of Student Union, the historical pro-CPB student union, was resurrected by a far-left student union leader called Kyaw Ko Ko in 2007. In 2014, which is after 2012 Rakhine-Rohingya riots, the success of 969 movement led by Venerable Wirathu, All Burma Federation of Student Union invited Venerable Wirathu and fellow monks to host an event that was organized by All Burma Federation of Student Union (ABFSU) to memorated the student union leaders who were killed by the military in 1988. The image from the event is attached as the featured photo of the whole article. It’s still available at the official Facebook page of a branch of All Burma Federation of Student Union whereas it cannot be found the official Facebook page of the All-Burma Federation of Student Union (ABFSU) anymore.
Also, current All Burma Federation of Student Union (ABFSU) which was refounded back in 2007 by Kyaw Ko Ko had some members who became ultra-nationalist right-winger. All Burma Federation of Student Union was refounded with Kyaw Ko Ko as its chairman. Back then, the organising committee contained 12 members. One of the senior members (secretary of student committee) was Ye Min Oo, who later became popular as Wira Ye Min Oo for his close relation with the racist monk Venerable Wirathu.
Some references about him can be seen here:
https://english.dvb.no/charges-against-arakanese-nationalist-baseless-lawyer/
https://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/all-burma-students-unionabfsu-has-been-reformed/
In 2013, Ye Min Oo was arrested for with the two charges, one of them for anti-Muslim riots. Later, the leaders of 969 movements (mostly monks) launched a nation-wide campaign called "Free Ye Min Oo".
Reference: https://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/alert-chit-ko-lin-former-pp-ye-myat-hein-former-pp-new-hnin-ye-aka-noe-noeformer-pp-and-ye-min-aung-younger-brother-of-ye-min-oo-were-sued-under-penal-code-353506/
The campaign was led by "U Pammokha", one of the future leader of Patriotic Association of Myanmar (MaBaTha), the far-right ultranationalist monk led pro-military and anti-NLD association.
Again in 2024, there are several reports from international humanist communities about the war crimes committed against Rohingya community by both the Myanmar military junta and the Arakan Army. The Arakan Army and their allied brotherhood are considered the strongest ethnic armed organization and played the imperialistic type of influence on the whole revolution against the military junta. Their operation 1027 was indeed effective against the Myanmar military junta. However, it doesn't give them the license to commit genocide or war crimes.
As of now, given all these reports of international humanist communities about the war crimes committed against Rohingya community by Arakan Army, around 100 non-government civil society organizations published statements and call for an investigation of Arakan Army. Among them, GSC (General Strike Committee) and so other left-wing groups such as Alliance of Students’ Unions Yangon and so on. However, Kyaw Ko Ko, an influential student leader from 2007 generation who also is the founder of “Social Democratic Party”, took the pro-AA position on the on-going Rohingya genocide of Arakan Army. GSC (General Strike Committee), Alliance of Students’ Unions Yangon and several far-left or left-leaned left-wing groups retracted from the statement.
Anti-Junta Mass Movement – AJMM was one of the few groups among the far-left or left-leaned left-wing groups that didn’t retract their statement. The argument given by all of these individuals and these groups for retracting their statement calling for “formal investigation into Arakan Army for genocide or massacre level war crimes committed against Rohingya people” was that they claimed there were no information to back the accusations up. However, a lot of Rohingya refugees and Rohingya activists have been providing audio recordings, video recordings, and photographic documentations of the situations. A Rohingya left-wing activist named Arafat Jamil can been seen confronting Kyaw Ko Ko for his silence on his official Facebook page about the current Rohingya genocide by Arakan Army. Kyaw Ko Ko replied (in briefly translated version) that “Arakan Army despite being ethno-nationalist right-wing group is more left-wing than most of the so-called left-wingers in Burma. I'm dealing with them, so, I know they're more left-wing than you”.
The interaction can be founded under this post: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Z27QnKGrjwWyNw3R/?mibextid=WC7FNe
In the meantime, United League of Arakan (Arakan Army) publicly stated via “The New Humanitarian” that “from the perspective of the local native indigenous population, ‘Rohingya’ is a political movement to separate a part of Arakan, our fatherland, by destroying the integrity of our ancestral history. We see it as a very unfaithful and dishonest act. However, it does not mean that we will never recognize the term ‘Rohingya’. We want them to admit the historical facts of colonial migration in addition to the removal of politically motivated distorted historical claims harmful to other communities in the region.”
This whole narrative of Arakanese Buddhists being the local native indigenous population and ‘Rohingya people’, the political movement name of “Bengali settlers living in Arakan” was not a new one. The former General of the Myanmar military army and the former president of Myanmar’s quasi-military regime, U Thein Sein, also said the similar thing. He said and I quote “These are no Rohingya among the races in Burma. We only have Bengalis who were brought for farming during British rules”.
A satellite army which is helped and nurtured by Arakan Army called "Bamar People's Liberation Army" which use the classical right-wing ethno-nationalist representation of Bamar ethnicity is in total silence of the whole war crimes committed by Arakan Army. Their founder "Maung Saung Kha" who was a ex-NLD member, who identified himself as a left-wing, despite his active presence on Social Media, refused to offer comments on the war crimes and accused genocide of Arakan Army committed against the Rohingya community. Let alone the genocide, they don't even warn the ULA/AA for their same wavelength racist remarks of "Rohingya" people as post-colonial settlers.
Both the Myanmar military and Arakan Army always conflated Bengali people with Rohingya people. Indeed, they're unique ethnicity with unique language and culture. Among Chittagong Hill Tracts, there are a lot of genocides happening. Myanmar military junta and Arakan Army are committing war crimes against Bengali and Rohingya. On the other hand, the Bangladesh Army is committing war crimes against Chakma people and other Buddhist ethnic minorities for almost a century too. The world has woke up to the sufferings of Rohingya people, yet the Burmese left-wingers are selectively woke only when the Myanmar military junta is the oppressor, not when their ally. Here, I urged everyone to learn more about the sufferings of Rohingya people, Bengali people when it comes to the state of Myanmar and Chakma people when it comes to the state of Bangladesh.
Summing up, it’s not new for Burma to witness the left infightings for interests-based politics and so-called authoritarian far-left movements uniting with far-right movements for political gains. Burma has this curse of authoritarian far-left movements messing up people's lives since independence. Since independence, the CPB have been following Stalin’s Third International lead and tried to establish a one-party rule against the democratic socialism regime of AFPFL led by a popular third camp socialist Kyaw Nyein. Due to the hostility between socialists and communists within AFPFL, General Ne Win conducted a coup in 1962 and founded a NazBol alike ideology called “Burmese Way to Socialism”..."
Source/publisher:
libcom.org
Date of entry/update:
2024-06-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Human Rights and international relations
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"GENEVA (23 May 2024) – Thousands of innocent lives will be lost if the international community fails to respond to ominous signs of another Rohingya bloodbath in Rakhine State, a UN expert said today.
“Once again, the world seems to be failing a desperate people in their hour of peril while a hate-driven unnatural disaster unfolds in real time in Myanmar’s Rakhine State,” said Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar.
“While the military-imposed internet shutdown makes it challenging to get information from Northern Rakhine, alarming and credible reports of killings, enforced disappearances, and widespread arson are emerging,” Andrews said.
Satellite imagery reveals the burning of large parts of the Buthidaung town, with reports that tens of thousands of Rohingya are being displaced.
“Information that has already emerged from northern Rakhine State more than warrants an immediate emergency response by the international community,” the Special Rapporteur said.
“With multiple armed groups actors operating in Rakhine, including the Myanmar military, the Arakan Army, and Rohingya groups, including the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, I call on all to adhere to international humanitarian law and take all steps to protect innocent civilian lives, regardless of religion or ethnicity. Mechanisms to provide emergency humanitarian aid must be immediately established and all parties must support the robust infusion of aid into Rakhine,” the expert said.
“While an investigation must ultimately uncover the truth and justice must be pursued to hold those responsible fully accountable, the military’s role is clear in fostering toxic conditions in Rakhine State, from propaganda fueling ethnic tensions to the forced recruitment of young Rohingya men into the junta’s military.”
Andrews recalled that by opening its border in 2017, Bangladesh saved the lives of untold numbers of Rohingya who fled in the face of genocidal attacks.
“Once again, Bangladesh’s generosity may be their only hope as large groups of Rohingya are forcibly displaced and move towards the border. I urgently appeal to the Government of Bangladesh to reverse its closed border policy and demonstrate their humanitarian support for the Rohingya once again,” he said.
The Special Rapporteur warned however that Bangladesh does not have the capacity to meet the demands of this crisis without the emergency intervention and support of the international community. Rations cuts, inadequate infrastructure, spiraling violence, and reported forced recruitment by Rohingya militant groups have threatened the lives and wellbeing of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. He urged all States to provide an emergency infusion of funds to help rescue and support desperate families fleeing conflict and address the current conditions in the camps.
“The choice of these States to either step up or step away from this horror could literally be a matter of life and death for countless Rohingya,” Andrews said.
Mr. Thomas Andrews (United States of America) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. A former member of the US Congress from Maine, Andrews is a Robina Senior Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School and an Associate of Harvard University’s Asia Center. He has worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and parliamentarians, NGOs and political parties in Cambodia, Indonesia, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine and Yemen. He has been a consultant for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma and the Euro-Burma Network and has run advocacy NGOs including Win Without War and United to End Genocide.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Comprising the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, Special Procedures is the general name of the Council's independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity..."
Source/publisher:
UN Human Rights Council (Geneva) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-05-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UN Human Rights pages on Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Geneva, 23 May 2024 – The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar is closely monitoring the escalation in fighting in Rakhine State in Myanmar and assessing if crimes against humanity or war crimes have been committed.
We are examining numerous reports of high intensity fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, including increased violence and the destruction of property in Buthidaung Township which has reportedly resulted in the displacement of thousands of mainly Rohingya civilians, and is also impacting on Rakhine and Hindu communities.
The Mechanism is also collecting evidence of potential serious international crimes committed in other parts of Myanmar as conflict continues to increase across the country.
The Mechanism is mandated to investigate the most serious international crimes in Myanmar regardless of the affiliation of the perpetrators. This includes crimes committed by the Myanmar security forces, as well as members of armed groups.
Under the laws of war, people who are not taking active part in hostilities may not be targeted, and all parties should take measures to minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects, such as homes, schools and hospitals.
The testimonies of witnesses and survivors of crimes are vital for us to build criminal cases against perpetrators. Equally important are people with knowledge of illegal orders or policies. We encourage anyone who has information about serious crimes committed in Rakhine State, and elsewhere in the country, to contact us through our secure and confidential channels..."
Source/publisher:
Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2024-05-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Crimes Against Humanity, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Format :
pdf
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142.56 KB
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"KEY FINDINGS:
Market operations varied by township based on very different local security conditions;
Kyauktaw and Minbya markets gained new life while Maungdaw and Sittwe markets grew quieter;
Supply of vegetables and fuel worsened in April as part of a trend with little sign of changing soon;
Medicine and hygiene NFIs were most scarce, although NFIs in general were often unavailable;
Mrauk-U and Pauktaw markets functioned best, and supply improved in Mrauk-U again in April;
Maungdaw retailers still faced dire challenges, and shipping costs rose in Maungdaw in Sittwe.
Market Functionality - Market operations continued to vary regionally based on security conditions. Operations resumed in Minbya Town in April, but Maungdaw and Sittwe operated irregularly. Security conditions improved slightly but remained tenuous in some markets.
Market Activity - Some markets continued to regain life, but Sittwe and Maungdaw remained subdued. Activity increasingly returned to Minbya and Kyauktaw Town markets, despite lingering security risks there. Village markets in Pauktaw and Ponnagyun remained swollen due to the loss of nearby town markets. Maungdaw market activity dipped further in April, and Sittwe activity shifted to ward markets. Most markets still served only nearby villages as fuel costs limited customer movement.
Availability of Goods - Supply of fuel and vegetables worsened in April, but supply was otherwise stable. Availability of vegetables worsened as local production declined regionally, and fuel supply worsened after improving slightly in March. Supply was poorest in Maungdaw, Sittwe, and Minbya Towns, with the latter two relying mostly on ward markets which seldom sell NFIs.
Transport & Logistics - Shipping costs rose further in Sittwe and Maungdaw but were stable elsewhere. Shipping costs outside of Sittwe stabilized in April after two months of moderate price relief. Retailers continued sourcing goods from neighboring townships, and several paid high prices to order goods from Yangon via Toungup. Sittwe and Maungdaw markets still remained isolated in the region and faced rising shipping costs.
Retailer Challenges - Retailers in some markets reported fewer challenges in April than in March. Retailers in Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U reported fewer challenges related to supply and cash access as market activity there grew. Yet retailers in Maungdaw continued to face multiple severe hurdles to selling goods. Safety/security and weak demand were common concerns, while worries about poor cash access receded slightly (in part due to greater prominence in April of ward retailers, who mostly sell vegetables and require less working capital)..."
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Information Management Unit (Myanmar) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-05-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Food Security and nutrition in Burma/Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Public Health, Human Rights and international relations
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Format :
pdf
Size:
11.37 MB
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Description:
"Scam centers have plagued the border areas of Thailand, Myanmar and China as nationals from all three countries are tricked into – and subsequently enslaved in – online fraud. Typically, the businesses force trafficked workers to call people across Asia and convince them to deposit money in fake or fraudulent investments.
Tens of thousands involved in the criminal schemes were deported from Myanmar in 2023 by both junta and rebel army officials. Many are linked to forced labor, human trafficking and money laundering, which proliferated after COVID-19 shut down casinos across Southeast Asia.
In March, more than 800 Chinese nationals were deported from Myawaddy township’s infamous gambling and scam center, Shwe Kokko, in Myanmar’s Kayin state, in relation to online fraud. An investigation by RFA found that up to 3,000 foreign nationals are being held at the casino, including people from Thailand, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Ethiopia and Uganda.
RFA Burmese recently spoke with Major Naing Maung Zaw, spokesperson for the ethnic Karen Border Guard Force, or BGF, which controls Myawaddy township. He said that the BGF is cooperating with China to eradicate money laundering and online scam operations in Kayin state and has vowed to evict foreign nationals involved in the activities from Myawaddy by the end of October.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
RFA: The Karen BGF has issued a notice to foreigners engaged in online business in the vicinity, including Myawaddy in Karen state, mandating their departure within six months. Why did you make this announcement?
Major Naing Maung Zaw: The intent is to gradually resolve the issue by prompting the departure of these people, thereby mitigating the prominence of this particular locale in the illicit [online fraud] business sector ... While the problem has recently surfaced in Myawaddy, its roots stretch both domestically and internationally over an extended period of time … So far, the situation hasn’t reached a critical level, but there’s increased pressure.
RFA: Since the BGF issued the notice, have any foreigners left?
Major Naing Maung Zaw: Yes, some foreigners went home. Those who came here via agents, they are secretly leaving the region.
RFA: Why is the BGF giving them six months to leave?
Major Naing Maung Zaw: Many critics … [are] dismissing this plan as mere theatrics, [since the BGF is] stretching it out to six months. While there may be some truth to their assertions, we must also consider the social implications.
We called on these companies and they came to negotiate. I have already told them that whether [their business] is legal or illegal, they must vacate the premises on their own terms … They must remove all relevant equipment from their workplaces. These factors necessitate careful consideration.
‘We don’t accept this willingly’
RFA: How many foreigners are working in these online businesses?
Major Naing Maung Zaw: That's hard to say. I prefer to have an exact number if I’m going to answer something. Currently, I think there are a few thousand.
RFA: When did these foreigners come to Kayin state?
Major Naing Maung Zaw: They arrived relatively recently. To be frank, the issue arose here not too long ago. Myawaddy is the most recent center for the [online fraud] business in Myanmar.
RFA: When they first came to Kayin state, did you try to stop them?
Major Naing Maung Zaw: We only became aware of the matter regarding [online fraud] when others drew attention to it. Our primary focus is on land leasing. Our goal is singular and simple … to embark on a new city project. We will develop our region. We have started to implement it in order to provide employment opportunities to residents.
We do not accept this [scam] situation willingly … In the past, we had restrictions on this [kind of business], and contracts were already in place. We are prepared to provide proof of the timing and terms of our contractual agreements at any time.
‘A gradual exodus’
RFA: Now that the [BGF] commanders have given them six months, they will continue to operate their businesses. What are you going to do about continued illicit activities?
Major Naing Maung Zaw: Since we made the announcement, we established a supervisory team to monitor and inspect the businesses for possible closure. It is already being implemented.
It’s important to remember that when there are thousands of people in one place, it is impossible to send all of them home in a short time ... We’re not giving them time to run their businesses. They have to pack their belongings to leave, making it logistically difficult for large groups to depart all at once. Instead, they are trickling out gradually – just a few individuals initially, gradually increasing over time. Our approach aims to facilitate a gradual exodus of these people.
RFA: The Thai and Chinese governments, as well as the U.S. government, are trying to crack down on these money scamming gangs. Are you in communication with these countries?
Major Naing Maung Zaw: We have maintained regular communication with the Chinese embassy and have been engaged in ongoing efforts. Now, the Chinese news media has also started talking about it.
We have a history of facilitating the repatriation process for foreigners, coordinating closely with the Chinese, Thai, and American embassies upon their requests via official letters ... They give us locations and we find their people. There have been a lot of cases where we have returned the concerned to the embassies with the assistance of the Myanmar police force. Our commitment moving forward is to continue to address [the issue of scam operators] domestically, ensuring the well-being of all involved parties..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-05-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Sub-title:
Ensure that the Rohingya can return to their ancestral homeland with full rights
Description:
"For close to seven years, ever since the mass exodus from Rakhine State in 2017, Bangladesh has shouldered the immense responsibility of sheltering over one million Rohingya refugees who fled persecution and genocide in Myanmar. Despite the challenges, Bangladesh has gone above and beyond in providing humanitarian assistance and refuge to this persecuted community, setting an exemplary standard for global humanitarian response. There is no room for debate on this.
However, this temporary solution cannot be a permanent one, and it is a shame that we continue to see inaction as the status quo. To that end, we wholeheartedly agree with Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud who emphasized the need to begin repatriation, noting that Myanmar's internal conflicts -- a most perpetual issue -- cannot be an excuse for delaying the Rohingya repatriation.
The Rohingya crisis has long demanded a sustainable resolution that addresses the root causes -- the systematic discrimination and violence perpetrated by the Myanmar authorities against the Rohingya people. The international community must no longer turn a blind eye. It must hold Myanmar accountable for its actions in Rakhine State and ensure that the Rohingya can return to their ancestral homeland with full rights, dignity, and security.
While diplomatic efforts have achieved little success so far, Bangladesh must persist in its engagements across all stakeholders. A viable solution can only be achieved through a collective effort that ensures accountability for the atrocities committed and guarantees the Rohingya's fundamental rights and citizenship in Myanmar.
Bangladesh's humanitarian leadership in the Rohingya crisis has been beyond incredible, but the burden should have never fallen solely on one nation. It is about time the rest of the world share the responsibility of finding a just and lasting solution to this protracted crisis..."
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of entry/update:
2024-05-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, International Bill of Human Rights, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma
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"The Arakan Army has greatly expanded the territory it controls in Rakhine State, on Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh, seizing many areas inhabited by Rohingya Muslims. With the regime keen to foment inter-communal strife, Rakhine and Rohingya leaders should act swiftly to calm tensions.
Over the past six months, one of Myanmar’s most powerful armed groups, the Arakan Army, has swept across much of Rakhine State, on the country’s western border, expelling regime troops from cities and military bases. But in Rakhine’s north, the force, composed mainly of fighters from the Rakhine ethnic group, has become embroiled in a complex three-way battle that also involves Rohingya Muslims. Desperate to hold on to power, the military regime has sought to foment inter-communal tensions, rallying some Rohingya to its side through a mix of coercion and inducements. Although the Arakan Army, whose goal is to create an autonomous enclave, says it wants to govern for all communities, some of its recent statements and actions have angered Rohingya people. The conflict has accordingly taken on a dangerous communal overtone. A war pitting the Buddhist Rakhine against the Muslim Rohingya would come at great cost to both sides. At this pivotal juncture, leaders from both communities should take the long view – tamping down incendiary rhetoric, guarding against abuses, rising above historical animus and spurning the regime’s efforts to set them at odds to preserve prospects for a more peaceful future..."
Source/publisher:
International Crisis Group (Belgium)
Date of entry/update:
2024-05-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya
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Format :
pdf
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278.99 KB
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Description:
"(excerpt)
Myanmar
An update from Myanmar: Our team on the ground tells us they are concerned by the spreading of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, especially in northern Rakhine State.
We fully support community leaders in Rakhine State, especially women, and youth, who are coming together and redoubling efforts to promote social cohesion amid increasing signs of tension and the risk of communal violence re-emerging in the current very volatile context.
Addressing the root causes of systemic discrimination and impunity in Rakhine State will be essential in establishing a sustainable pathway out of the current crisis facing Myanmar. The failure to do so will only fuel Myanmar’s vicious cycle of violence; that’s according to the UN team.
And we have, of course, been consistent in condemning all forms of violence against civilians in Myanmar, and we reiterate our call for the protection of civilians, including aid workers, in accordance with international humanitarian law, for the cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access..."
Source/publisher:
UN Department of Global Communications
Date of entry/update:
2024-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
111.19 KB
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Sub-title:
Exploring the historical nexus between Cox’s Bazar and the Rohingya
Description:
"While classical literature extensively documents the historical trajectory of Cox's Bazar, contemporary discourse often overlooks its intrinsic association with the Rohingya refugees. It is pertinent to acknowledge that the annals of Cox's Bazar are inherently intertwined with the Rohingya narrative.
The incursion of Burmese forces into Arakan in 1784 precipitated a mass exodus of Rohingya and Rakhine ethnic communities towards the Ramu region (present day Cox’s Bazar), marking the inaugural instance of refugee influx into Cox's Bazar. Subsequently, in response to this humanitarian crisis, the British colonial administration dispatched Captain Hiram Cox to facilitate the settlement of displaced Rohingya and Rakhine ethnic people, in 1798.
The eponymous nomenclature "Cox's Bazar" thus derives from Captain Hiram Cox, symbolizing the historical intervention undertaken to address the exigencies of displaced refugees.
Prior to the year 1784, the geographical region presently identified as Cox's Bazar Sadar -- inclusive of its municipal boundaries -- alongside the Ukhiya and Teknaf sub-districts wherein contemporary refugee settlements are positioned, exhibited a notable absence of substantive human habitation. This area was characterized by sparse population density, with only a limited number of individuals inhabiting the territory corresponding to the current Ramu and Chakaria sub-district.
It is to be noted that the territorial expanse comprising the entirety of the Chittagong Division, encompassing Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Bandarban, Khagrachhari, Feni, Lakshmipur, Comilla, Noakhali, Brahmanbaria, and Chandpur districts, along with the present-day Rakhine State, was historically under the jurisdiction of Arakan -- an autonomous domain distinct from Myanmar and Bengal.
The settlement and agricultural development of the entire Cox's Bazar district and the present-day Rakhine State of Myanmar were undertaken by the antecedents of the Rohingya populace. The vast tracts of land in these regions were previously uncultivated and sparsely inhabited. Following the Anglo-Burmese war in 1824 and with the implementation of British legislation such as the Waste Land Rules of 1839, 1941, 1863, and 1865, a substantial influx of individuals migrated to these areas with the intention of establishing residence and cultivation.
This phenomenon bears resemblance to the governmental policies of both Pakistan and Bangladesh, wherein efforts were made to settle Bengali populations in the hill tracts of Bangladesh.
It is imperative to acknowledge that the initial arrival of Rohingyas in Cox's Bazar was contemporaneous with the displacement of Rakhine ethnic groups, who were compelled to flee persecution stemming from the Burmese invasion. The vestiges of this historical displacement are discernible in the Burmese market locale within Cox's Bazar city, serving as a poignant testament to the shared heritage and collective tribulations endured by diverse communities in the region.
Prior to the year 1784, the geographical region presently identified as Cox's Bazar Sadar exhibited a notable absence of substantive human habitation
Rohingya ethnogenesis
The Rohingya populace residing in the Arakan region is discerned as a distinctive nation or ethnicity, emanating from the amalgamation of disparate cultures, races, and societal vicissitudes over an extensive historical continuum spanning millennia. The Rohingya ethnic identity is the product of a heterogeneous confluence of migratory movements and cultural amalgamations.
This amalgamation encompasses the historical influx of Arab traders and religious emissaries during the 7th to 9th centuries, Bengali migrants in the 15th century, Indian settlers during the 17th and 19th centuries, in addition to subsequent waves of Bengali, Chittagonian, and individuals from Portuguese, Moorish, Persian, Mughal, and Pathan backgrounds at various junctures in history. The Rohingya are recognized as indigenous owing to their possession of distinctive cultural mores, traditions, and values, which underpin their self-identification as a discrete socio-cultural entity. Despite their minority status within the national context, they persist as a coherent ethnic group within their domicile.
The Rohingya population is deemed indigenous based on their preservation of distinctive cultural traditions, customs, and values, which distinguishes them as a separate entity within their nation, thereby meeting the criteria for indigenous status within contemporary anthropological discourse.
People of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar
It is of scholarly interest to highlight those elderly inhabitants, specially who are aged 70 years and older, within the regions of Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong, exhibit a tendency to eschew the usage of the term "Rohingya" when referring to Rohingya refugees, preferring instead to employ the appellation "Burmaiya," signifying individuals originating from Burma/Myanmar.
One of the inclinations of this is that the senior citizens of Cox’s Bazar deemed themselves as Rohingya, ie the Rohingya citizen of Bangladesh and the refugees as the Rohingya citizen of Myanmar. It implies that the ethnicity is the same while their citizenships are different. One might argue, but there are some differences when it comes to language and culture. As we all know, language and culture evolve over a period of time. We don’t speak the same as we spoke, eg 20 years ago. Many of the terminologies have been incorporated in our culture due to cultural intermingling.
As someone rooted in rural life of Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong and exposed to various societal strata through familial and professional connections, I've observed striking parallels between the linguistic and cultural norms of marginalized communities in our villages and those of the Rohingya populace. While we've had opportunities for linguistic and cultural development, the Rohingya have faced constraints in this regard.
The linguistic discourse prevalent among marginalized communities and rural agrarians in our villages three decades prior bears remarkable resemblance to the contemporary linguistic vernacular of the Rohingya populace
The linguistic discourse prevalent among marginalized communities and rural agrarians in our villages three decades prior bears remarkable resemblance to the contemporary linguistic vernacular of the Rohingya populace, while the cultural paradigms embraced by the Rohingya community conspicuously parallel to those espoused within our societal milieu of three decades past.
While we've had the opportunity to develop our language and culture over time, through education, exposure to media like Bollywood and Hollywood, and the incorporation of new words and cultures, the Rohingya have not had the same chances. That's the fundamental difference I've noticed.
Historically, all countries in the world have borders with the same ethnic groups living on both sides of the border and Rohingya is no exception. Only difference is some Rohingya are Burmese by nationality, and some are Bangladeshi. The indigenous population of the Naga community residing within the territorial confines of India is recognized as Kachin within the borders of Myanmar, whereas the Indian Mijo ethnic group is designated as Chin within the corresponding geographical domain of Myanmar. Similarly, the autochthonous Shaan populace of Myanmar is denominated as Thai within the boundaries of Thailand.
Those individuals acknowledged as Rakhine within the Rakhine State are identified by the appellations Mogh within the regions of Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong, and alternatively referred to as Marma within the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Although the Durand Line delineates the demarcation between Pakistan and Afghanistan, it fails to segregate the Pashtun ethnicity across both nations, thereby preserving their ethnic identity notwithstanding the divergence in citizenship status. While national borders may be imposed to define the territorial sovereignty of individual states, the intrinsic ethnicity, along with its consequent ethnic affiliations and interrelations, persist beyond such delineations..."
Source/publisher:
Dhaka Tribune
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Description:
In the Arakha region, ongoing clashes persist between the terrorist fascist military council and the Arakha Army, notably escalating in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Ann, and Thandwe cities. The intensification of hostilities in Buthidaung Township is particularly concerning, attributed to the continued efforts to secure control over the Military Operation Command Center (MOC - 15).....
Amidst the fierce fighting and the imminent defeat of the terrorist fascist military council, they are resorting to inciting communal conflict among various communities in the Arakha region, exploiting differences in religion and nationality. Additionally, there is obvious manipulation by the terrorist fascist’s military council, evident in their deliberate training of Muslim extremists to stoke communal tensions and arming terrorist groups within the Muslim community, all aimed at furthering their agenda during the ongoing conflict......
Conversely, Muslim terrorist factions, whether acting independently or in collaboration with the military council, have initiated a series of attacks against the Arakha Army. Additionally, these groups have engaged in criminal activities such as theft and vandalism of non-Muslim public property, posing a grave threat to the lives and security of residents in the Arakha region. Incidents, including house burnings and direct threats to civilians, have become increasingly prevalent, particularly in the Buthidaung and Maungdaw areas. In response to these escalating threats, a curfew was imposed from 7:00 PM to 6:00 AM starting April 26, 2024.....
Residents of the Buthidaung and Maungdaw areas are urged to strictly adhere to the curfew from its initiation until further notice. Non-compliance will result in appropriate disciplinary measures. Residents must notify the nearest ULA administrative authorities for necessary travel and secure permission..."
Source/publisher:
United League of Arakan
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, Rakhine (Arakanese) - cultural, political
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124.34 KB
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Description:
"The Infliction of Mental Harm as Genocide Against Rohingya
Read the Report
အစီရင်ခံစာ ဖတ်ရန်
The popular imagination associates genocide with mass killing. But the Genocide Convention lists four other prohibited genocidal acts, including “causing serious bodily or mental harm.” International tribunals prosecuting genocide have focused more on serious bodily harm and have found serious mental harm difficult to define precisely. This study, “My Tears Could Make a Sea”: The Infliction of Mental Harm as Genocide Against Rohingya by Fortify Rights and the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School, draws on quantitative data, eyewitness and survivor testimonies, and tools of social science to assess how inflicting mental harm can destroy a group of people in whole or in part. More specifically, by applying the law of genocide to this account of mental harm, it addresses an urgent question: Is the Myanmar military responsible for inflicting serious mental harm on the Rohingya people as an act of genocide to destroy them as a group?
“My Tears Could Make a Sea” will help governments, prosecutors, investigators, scholars, human rights groups, and aid workers better understand, and act against, mental harm as genocide generally and against Rohingya people. It includes more than 35 recommendations to relevant parties, including the Myanmar military junta, the National Unity Government of Myanmar, U.N. member states, the International Criminal Court, and humanitarian organizations providing aid to Rohingya genocide survivors..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights"
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
18.9 MB 17.91 MB
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Description:
"1. We have noted that military junta has forcibly recruited Rohingyas living inside Rakhine State as soldiers, provided them with military training, and equipped them with weapons with the intention of provoking communal conflict.
2. Similarly, we have found that the military junta has carried out malicious and cunning acts by making Rohingyas organize fake demonstrations, along with forcing them to act as if they oppose the Arakan Army, who are fighting against the terrorist military to escalate ethnic conflict.
3. In addition, the terrorist military has been blatantly burning and destroying homes of civilians and office buildings of international humanitarian aid organizations, as well as perpetrating other acts of violence in Buthidaung.
4. The National Unity Government strongly condemns the subversive acts that are destroying the peaceful coexistence of the people in Rakhine State. We make a special plea to the population to be cautious and mindful of the political tricks employed by the terrorist military to create ethnic conflict. We urge the exercise of inter-ethnic trust, mutual respect, understanding and tolerance..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
730.7 KB
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Description:
"၁။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုက လူမျိုးရေးပဋိပက္ခဖြစ်စေရန် ရည်ရွယ်၍ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ် အတွင်း နေထိုင်ကြသည့် ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအား (တရားမဝင်အဓမ္မ) စစ်သားအဖြစ် စုဆောင်းခဲ့ပြီး စစ်သင်တန်းများ ပို့ချကာ လက်နက်များ တပ်ဆင်ပေးလျက် ရှိနေကြောင်း လေ့လာသိရှိရသည်။
၂။ အလားတူ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်အား တော်လှန်တိုက်ပွဲဝင်နေသည့် အာရက္ခတပ်တော်အား ရိုဟင်ဂျာများက ဆန့်ကျင်နေကြောင်း ထင်မှတ်မှားစေသည့် ဖိအားပေးစေခိုင်းမှုများနှင့် အတူ အတုအယောင် ဆန္ဒပြပွဲများ ကျင်းပစေကာ လူမျိုးရေး ပဋိပက္ခ အရှိန်မြင့်တက်လာအောင် ယုတ်မာကောက်ကျစ်သည့် အကြံဆိုးဖြင့် ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ ပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သည်ကို တွေ့ရှိရသည်။
၃။ ထို့အပြင် ဘူးသီးတောင်မြို့အတွင်း အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်က ဦးဆောင်ကာ အရပ်သား ပြည်သူများ၏ နေအိမ်အဆောက်အအုံများ၊ နိုင်ငံတကာ လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှု အကူအညီပေးရေး အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၏ ရုံးအဆောက်အအုံများကို မီးရှို့ခြင်း၊ ဖြိုချခြင်းနှင့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကို ပေါ်ပေါ်ထင်ထင် လုပ်ဆောင်နေကြောင်း သိရှိရသည်။
၄။ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်းမှ ပြည်သူများ၏ ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ အတူယှဉ်တွဲ နေထိုင်နေမှုကို ဖျက်လိုဖျက်ဆီး ပြုလုပ်နေကြသည့် အဖျက်အမှောင့်လုပ်ရပ်များကို ပြင်းထန်စွာ ရှုတ်ချ ကြောင်းနှင့် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်းနေ ပြည်သူများအနေဖြင့် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်တပ်၏ လူမျိုး ရေး၊ ဘာသာရေး ပဋိပက္ခဖြစ်စေရန် ပြုလုပ်နေသည့် နိုင်ငံရေးလှည့်ကွက်များအား လူမျိုးစု အချင်းချင်းကြား ယုံကြည်မှု၊ အပြန်အလှန် လေးစားမှု၊ နားလည်သည်းခံမှုတို့ဖြင့် သတိထား ကျော်ဖြတ်ကြရန် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် အထူးအလေးအနက်ထား မေတ္တာရပ်ခံ ပန်ကြားလိုပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
228.31 KB
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Description:
"The intensification of conflict in Myanmar since October 2023 has led to a lack of humanitarian access to areas where people need urgent assistance, as well as a decimation of the health care system and increasing fears of military conscription or forced recruitment by other armed groups.
The normalization of the prohibition of humanitarian access is alarming. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in Myanmar have witnessed a near-total absence of humanitarian assistance for communities who rely on it, including the Rohingya people, a persecuted minority trapped by movement restrictions and lack of legal status, which is particularly affected by the conflict.
Since November 2023, all organizations delivering health care in Rakhine state have been denied authorization to operate, while movement across the entire country is heavily restricted and unsafe. In northern Rakhine state, two township hospitals have been forced to close, and there is now virtually no secondary health care available for vulnerable communities.
MSF has been forced to suspend or reduce regular activities, including running 25 mobile clinics in Rakhine state where staff typically provide 1,500 patient consultations per week. During March 2024, MSF provided only 81 consultations. This severe disruption to the emergency referral process has caused numerous fatalities, particularly among pregnant mothers and babies.
Nimrat Kaur began working as a project coordinator for MSF in Maungdaw, Myanmar in mid-April 2023, just before Cyclone Mocha hit last year. She has seen firsthand the challenges faced by people living there. Upon leaving Myanmar, Nimrat shared her experience and that of her colleagues, reflecting on the events she witnessed and the impact the project has had on people’s lives.
What did you witness in northern Rakhine state?
Since November 13, 2023, we have seen an escalation of conflict in Rakhine state and the townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung have been cut off from the rest of the state. People were locked out and blocked in. Communities were not able to move across the state, and supplies could not [pass]. I don’t just mean health care supplies, but basic life-supporting supplies like food, fuel, and water. These kinds of things have been restricted, which led to whatever supplies were available becoming inflated in price. There were some fearful days, and we had to move the team to the safe room almost three or four times one day.
"I am fortunate I had the opportunity to leave the violence, but there are many who don’t have the opportunity to even move. I really feel for that. That thought really consumes me."
How has MSF been supporting communities in this area?
Usually, in northern Rakhine, we provide [care through] mobile clinics. This is where a mobile team of doctors, nurses, and other staff go to rural areas far off from the main town. Since the conflict started, we haven’t been able to run these clinics. This is because of the increased insecurity and because we did not receive authorization. People in the areas we usually visit already have very limited access to health care. We’re extremely concerned about the impact of having no access to essential health care for people who usually rely on our mobile clinics for medical services.
How has the conscription law affected people in northern Rakhine?
Three months into the latest eruption of conflict, the conscription law was announced in the country. The law states citizens are expected to serve in the armed forces for anything from two to five years. I’ve seen how this has affected everyone. Rakhine communities have been trying to leave the state and go to Sittwe or Yangon and find refuge somewhere. Unfortunately, my Rohingya colleagues and the wider Rohingya community do not have the paperwork to move outside of their own village, so I really wonder what is going to happen to them and I am really worried about their safety. I could see the change in the staff’s understanding of what is happening in the country—that the conflict is now at another level.
Why is the Rohingya community particularly vulnerable?
In Rakhine state, it’s a mix of ethnicities. There are Rakhine, Rohingya, and Hindis. Arakanese are citizens of Rakhine, but the Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in 1982.
Generations of Rohingya people have really struggled for what they have now. You cannot understand how challenging and limited life is for them.
In our team, we have Rohingya staff, some of whom have been able to get a citizenship card, but this is an exception and not the case for most. Other Rohingya staff [from the] same team, same age group, and same village, do not even have a national identification card or a basic yellow card, which is needed to move even just within their own village.
For Rohingya staff working in Maungdaw, it takes months to be authorized to travel from Maungdaw to Sittwe, where the other MSF project is based. It is even longer for the authorization to travel to Yangon because of the paperwork required. For Rohingya staff to travel they need to receive a village administration verification, ward administration verification, police administration verification, and then often other authorizations from other authorities. And then of course, on top of this, you must pay fees, and these fees are not the standard fees people with citizenship cards pay.
Many Rohingya staff in Maungdaw have not seen the other township that they’re working for. The whole time they have been in Maungdaw because they are not permitted to travel. This gave me a sense that these circumstances are very different compared to the circumstances in other states we work in.
What are the current health care options for communities in northern Rakhine?
We haven’t been able to run mobile clinics since the conflict started, and already these communities were vulnerable because of the lack of access to safe health care. We tried to provide a few months' worth of medications to our patients who are taking diabetes or hypertension drugs. We have also supported [them] with teleconsultations, which we have tried to maintain for people who need mental health care. But this also unfortunately could not last for more than a few weeks because since January 10, Buthidaung and Maungdaw have not had any electricity, and with no electricity, there hasn’t been any cell coverage.
The latest blow for people has been the closing of Maungdaw and Buthidaung township hospitals. We’re unsure why Maungdaw [closed], but admitted patients had to leave with no alternative option to go to. Buthidaung closed because it ran out of human resources and supplies. These two township hospitals were our only health care stakeholder left with whom we could work and refer emergency patients to. This has a huge impact on communities here. If the township hospitals are closed, where do people go?
With hospitals shut down, people reach out to MSF and other health care organizations on the ground to support them, but we have had limited capacity in terms of resources. We usually stock up for a minimum of four to five months, but those stocks have not lasted very long. We still don’t have any way to bring in our supplies. Staff have not felt safe working in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, or Rathedaung.
"The latest blow for people has been the closing of Maungdaw and Buthidaung township hospitals. This has a huge impact on communities here. If the township hospitals are closed, where do people go?"
Day-to-day activities are becoming more difficult. We need fuel to run an office so we can have internet and be connected to the rest of our team. It has really affected us to not be able to serve the community we are there for.
I am fortunate I’ve had the opportunity to leave the violence, but there are many who don’t have the opportunity to even move. I really feel for that. That thought really consumes me..."
Source/publisher:
Médecins Sans Frontières
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"MSF’s outgoing project coordinator outlines the dire needs of the Rohingya in Rakhine state amid escalating violence.
The intensification of conflict in Myanmar since October 2023 has led to a lack of humanitarian access to areas where people need urgent assistance, as well as a decimation of the health care system and increasing fears of military conscription or forced recruitment by other armed groups.
The normalization of the prohibition of humanitarian access is alarming. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in Myanmar have witnessed a near-total absence of humanitarian assistance for communities who rely on it, including the Rohingya people, a persecuted minority trapped by movement restrictions and lack of legal status, which is particularly affected by the conflict.
Since November 2023, all organizations delivering health care in Rakhine state have been denied authorization to operate, while movement across the entire country is heavily restricted and unsafe. In northern Rakhine state, two township hospitals have been forced to close, and there is now virtually no secondary health care available for vulnerable communities.
MSF has been forced to suspend or reduce regular activities, including running 25 mobile clinics in Rakhine state where staff typically provide 1,500 patient consultations per week. During March 2024, MSF provided only 81 consultations. This severe disruption to the emergency referral process has caused numerous fatalities, particularly among pregnant mothers and babies.
Nimrat Kaur began working as a project coordinator for MSF in Maungdaw, Myanmar in mid-April 2023, just before Cyclone Mocha hit last year. She has seen firsthand the challenges faced by people living there. Upon leaving Myanmar, Nimrat shared her experience and that of her colleagues, reflecting on the events she witnessed and the impact the project has had on people's lives.
What did you witness in northern Rakhine state?
Since November 13, 2023, we have seen an escalation of conflict in Rakhine state and the townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung have been cut off from the rest of the state. People were locked out and blocked in. Communities were not able to move across the state, and supplies could not [pass]. I don't just mean health care supplies, but basic life-supporting supplies like food, fuel, and water. These kinds of things have been restricted, which led to whatever supplies were available becoming inflated in price. There were some fearful days, and we had to move the team to the safe room almost three or four times one day.
How has MSF been supporting communities in this area?
Usually, in northern Rakhine, we provide [care through] mobile clinics. This is where a mobile team of doctors, nurses, and other staff go to rural areas far off from the main town. Since the conflict started, we haven't been able to run these clinics. This is because of the increased insecurity and because we did not receive authorization. People in the areas we usually visit already have very limited access to health care. We're extremely concerned about the impact of having no access to essential health care for people who usually rely on our mobile clinics for medical services.
How has the conscription law affected people in northern Rakhine?
Three months into the latest eruption of conflict, the conscription law was announced in the country. The law states citizens are expected to serve in the armed forces for anything from two to five years. I've seen how this has affected everyone. Rakhine communities have been trying to leave the state and go to Sittwe or Yangon and find refuge somewhere. Unfortunately, my Rohingya colleagues and the wider Rohingya community do not have the paperwork to move outside of their own village, so I really wonder what is going to happen to them and I am really worried about their safety. I could see the change in the staff's understanding of what is happening in the country---that the conflict is now at another level.
Why is the Rohingya community particularly vulnerable?
In Rakhine state, it's a mix of ethnicities. There are Rakhine, Rohingya, and Hindis. Arakanese are citizens of Rakhine, but the Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in 1982.
Generations of Rohingya people have really struggled for what they have now. You cannot understand how challenging and limited life is for them.
In our team, we have Rohingya staff, some of whom have been able to get a citizenship card, but this is an exception and not the case for most. Other Rohingya staff [from the] same team, same age group, and same village, do not even have a national identification card or a basic yellow card, which is needed to move even just within their own village.
For Rohingya staff working in Maungdaw, it takes months to be authorized to travel from Maungdaw to Sittwe, where the other MSF project is based. It is even longer for the authorization to travel to Yangon because of the paperwork required. For Rohingya staff to travel they need to receive a village administration verification, ward administration verification, police administration verification, and then often other authorizations from other authorities. And then of course, on top of this, you must pay fees, and these fees are not the standard fees people with citizenship cards pay.
Many Rohingya staff in Maungdaw have not seen the other township that they're working for. The whole time they have been in Maungdaw because they are not permitted to travel. This gave me a sense that these circumstances are very different compared to the circumstances in other states we work in.
What are the current health care options for communities in northern Rakhine?
We haven't been able to run mobile clinics since the conflict started, and already these communities were vulnerable because of the lack of access to safe health care. We tried to provide a few months' worth of medications to our patients who are taking diabetes or hypertension drugs. We have also supported [them] with teleconsultations, which we have tried to maintain for people who need mental health care. But this also unfortunately could not last for more than a few weeks because since January 10, Buthidaung and Maungdaw have not had any electricity, and with no electricity, there hasn't been any cell coverage.
The latest blow for people has been the closing of Maungdaw and Buthidaung township hospitals. We're unsure why Maungdaw [closed], but admitted patients had to leave with no alternative option to go to. Buthidaung closed because it ran out of human resources and supplies. These two township hospitals were our only health care stakeholder left with whom we could work and refer emergency patients to. This has a huge impact on communities here. If the township hospitals are closed, where do people go?
With hospitals shut down, people reach out to MSF and other health care organizations on the ground to support them, but we have had limited capacity in terms of resources. We usually stock up for a minimum of four to five months, but those stocks have not lasted very long. We still don't have any way to bring in our supplies. Staff have not felt safe working in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, or Rathedaung.
Day-to-day activities are becoming more difficult. We need fuel to run an office so we can have internet and be connected to the rest of our team. It has really affected us to not be able to serve the community we are there for.
I am fortunate I've had the opportunity to leave the violence, but there are many who don't have the opportunity to even move. I really feel for that. That thought really consumes me..."
Source/publisher:
Médecins Sans Frontières
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Public Health, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
The loss of the facility is another blow to a decimated health care system.
Description:
"The office and pharmacy of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Rakhine state, Myanmar was destroyed in a fire on April 15, along with all of its medical stock and office equipment. We urge all parties to the conflict to respect health care facilities as per their obligations under international humanitarian law.
BUTHIDAUNG, April 16, 2024—MSF is deeply alarmed that our office and pharmacy in Buthidaung, Rakhine state, Myanmar, burnt down on April 15. The burning down of MSF’s office and pharmacy is just the latest blow to what is a decimation of available health care options for people in Rakhine state and their continued denial of access to humanitarian assistance.
No staff were injured, but all medical stock and office equipment were destroyed. This includes lifesaving drugs such as antibiotics, instrumental in the treatment of diseases like pneumonia, primarily affecting children under five years old.
The destruction of the MSF office comes amid increasing violence witnessed in Buthidaung since last Friday. We hear reports of more than 200 homes burned down and witness thousands of people who are displaced by the violence seeking refuge in an area directly across from where our office was located.
We are urging parties to the conflict to respect the protection of health care facilities as is per their obligation under international humanitarian law. We urge relevant authorities to consider the urgent need to expedite approvals for the movement of medical supplies, facilitate our ability to restock the destroyed supplies at our Buthidaung office, and restore humanitarian access, now impeded in the state since November 2023..."
Source/publisher:
Médecins Sans Frontières
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Humanitarian Law (reports of violations in Burma), Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Local URL:
more
Sub-title:
Over 1,000 Abducted in Violation of Conscription Law, Prohibition on Child Soldiers
Description:
"(Bangkok) – The Myanmar military has abducted and forcibly recruited more than 1,000 Rohingya Muslim men and boys from across Rakhine State since February 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. The junta is using a conscription law that only applies to Myanmar citizens, although the Rohingya have long been denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law.
Rohingya described being picked up in nighttime raids, coerced with false promises of citizenship, and threatened with arrest, abduction, and beatings. The military has been sending Rohingya to abusive training for two weeks, then deploying them. Many have been sent to the front lines in the surging fighting between the junta and the Arakan Army armed group, which broke out in Rakhine State in November 2023, and a number have been killed and injured.
“It’s appalling to see Myanmar’s military, which has committed atrocities against the Rohingya for decades while denying them citizenship, now forcing them to fight on its behalf,” said Shayna Bauchner, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The junta should immediately end this forced recruitment and permit Rohingya unlawfully conscripted to return home.”
Human Rights Watch documented 11 cases of forced recruitment, drawing on interviews with 25 Rohingya from Sittwe, Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Pauktaw, and Kyauktaw townships in Rakhine State and in Bangladesh.
On February 10, the military activated the 2010 People’s Military Service Law, enabling the conscription of men ages 18 to 35 and women ages 18 to 27 for up to five years during the current state of emergency. The announcement followed months of increased fighting with ethnic armed groups and resistance forces.
The junta announced that conscription would start in April, with a monthly quota of 5,000, but the authorities in Rakhine State began forcibly recruiting Rohingya in early February.
In late February, the military abducted over 150 Rohingya in raids on villages in Buthidaung township, according to people interviewed, Rohingya activists, and media reports. A 22-year-old Rohingya man said that light infantry battalion soldiers abducted him and 30 other young men and boys at gunpoint at about 11 p.m. on February 25 in Buthidaung town.
“The youngest boy taken away with us was 15 years old,” he said. “There were three recruits under 18 among us. After we were apprehended and taken to the military battalion, we saw the list of Rohingya who were going to be recruited. All the Rohingya youths in the region were included.”
Further raids took place in Maungdaw township in March. A 24-year-old Rohingya man who was abducted with about two dozen others from Ka Nyin Tan village said the officers told them, “Protecting Maungdaw is upon you.”
An estimated 630,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine State under a system of apartheid and persecution, including about 150,000 held in open-air detention camps. Since the February 2021 military coup, the junta has imposed severe movement restrictions and aid blockages on the Rohingya, increasing their vulnerability to forced recruitment.
Rohingya camp management committee members said that junta authorities have been tallying “eligible” Rohingya or compelling the committees to make lists. Two members said when they tried to refuse, junta authorities further restricted movement in the camps and threatened mass arrests and ration cuts. “We had no other option,” one committee member said.
At meetings in camps in Sittwe and Kyaukpyu, junta officials promised to issue all forced recruits pink citizenship cards, reserved for “full” citizens. “In the meetings, officers picked up their citizenship cards and told people, ‘We will give you this type of ID card if you join the military service,’” a camp management committee member in Thet Kae Pyin camp said. “People believed them.” Authorities also promised 4,800 kyat (US$2.30) a day and two sacks of rice.
About 300 Rohingya from the Sittwe camps were sent to two weeks of military training in late February. Upon completion, the military gave the forced recruits 50,000 kyats ($24) but no citizenship cards. “When the junta broke their promise to issue citizenship cards to the first 300 Rohingya recruits, people stopped believing them and started avoiding the recruitment campaigns,” a camp management committee member said. Rohingya in the Sittwe camps said that for the second round of forced recruitment, the few hundred Rohingya were taken at gunpoint in raids.
Officials have also threatened to beat Rohingya to death if they refuse to join or to punish their families if they fled.
Many young Rohingya men have tried to escape Rakhine State or gone into hiding in the jungle to escape forced recruitment. The authorities rounded up and beat about 40 Rohingya from Kyauk Ta Lone camp when their family members ran away, according to Radio Free Asia.
The 22-year-old man described the military training as a brutal two-week period under constant harassment, with trainees forced to dig bunkers and split wood, with limited food and water. “We became weak within a few days,” he said. “Some recruits fell unconscious. Three of us were bleeding from our mouths and noses. The military officers used abusive language, called us ‘kalar’ [a slur for Muslims], and degraded our mothers and sisters. Those 12 days felt like 12 years of our lives.”
He witnessed numerous groups of forcibly recruited Rohingya arriving at the cantonment. He was ultimately able to escape, the only one from his ward to do so: “Of us 31, no one else has been released to this day.”
The forcible recruitment campaign has already resulted in casualties. After their training, 100 Rohingya from the Sittwe camps were sent to fight on the front lines in Rathedaung. Five were killed in fighting and 10 were seriously injured, one of whom later died, according to family members and camp leaders. The military authorities promised the families compensation of a million kyat ($476) and two sacks of rice. The five bodies have not been returned.
While 43 forced recruits later returned to the camps, there has been no news from the remainder. “We still don’t know their whereabouts,” a camp leader said. “We don’t know if they’re still alive.”
“They tricked my son into the military,” said the mother of a man who was killed. She said:
They took him to do electrical work, then forced him into the training. Now he’s dead because he was sent to war. They didn’t let us see the bodies. I couldn’t touch my son one last time. When he was taken away, his wife and I followed. He was held at a nearby cantonment for a few hours and we were able to talk to him from outside the fence. Then they were brought to a car. That was the last talk. He was crying.
Conscription without previous legal authorization is a form of arbitrary detention in violation of international human rights law, and the treatment of those forcibly recruited may amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which Myanmar ratified in September 2019, prohibits the forced recruitment, conscription, or use of anyone under 18 in armed conflict.
On March 18, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his concern about “reports of forcible detention and recruitment of youths, including Rohingya, and the potential impact of forced conscription on human rights and on the social fabric of communities in Myanmar.”
“The Myanmar military’s forced recruitment of Rohingya men and boys is its latest exploitation of a community made vulnerable to abuse by design, over decades of oppression,” Bauchner said. “Concerned governments should be strengthening avenues to justice to hold junta leaders accountable for their abuses, past and present.”..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"A month after the prime minister of Bangladesh raised concerns about the possibility of Rohingya repatriation, UNHCR representatives in Myanmar met with the junta’s education minister on February 7 to discuss repatriation. Meanwhile, Bangladeshi officials are reluctant to act in any way that might be perceived as taking sides between the junta and the ethnic Arakan Army; Bangladesh has perhaps started to understand there is a new sheriff in Rakhine, just across the Naf River.
But what do AA victories mean for the Rohingya repatriation promoted by the UNHCR and the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh? Our answer is that after 45 years of persecution of the Rohingya: Not much. The Rohingya also know that safety conditions have actually become worse in Rakhine since they fled.
The million stateless Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar is still one of the world’s most intractable refugee situations. Their Myanmar homeland insists they are foreigners from Bangladesh; their Bangladeshi hosts insist that they belong in the land of their birth, Myanmar. The rebellious AA insist that they can be part of a new Rakhine, but only if they meet AA conditions, and not as equals. And to top it off, the junta’s military has started to conscript the few Rohingya still in Myanmar to fight against the AA.
Humanitarians from the UN, meanwhile, have tired of an impoverished population that has poor English, few urban skills, and is easily dismissed as different and even primitive. Thus, even as hundreds of Rohingya are drowning at sea, the border post to Bangladesh has been captured by AA forces, and Sittwe itself may come under siege, Myanmar, Bangladesh and the UNHCR avoid the subject of resettlement in third countries, claiming simply that “Rohingya refugees require sustained, predictable and adequate financial support to live safely and decently, and to prepare for a sustainable return.”
This would perhaps be promising, except that of course the voluntary repatriation policy was tried before, beginning in 1978, the first time UNHCR became involved in a Rohingya refugee movement. The Tatmadaw has repeatedly expelled the Rohingya as a way to reinforce Burmanization policies adopted after the military coup in 1962.
Persecuted by Tatmadaw; viewed as primitive by global community?
For centuries, Rohingyas lived in Rakhine, predating the British East India Company in 1824, and more were brought in by British colonizers to farm between 1824 and 1938. Many were Muslim but engaged in a range of religious practices also seen in neighboring British Bengal.
In 1962, the hyper-nationalist Burmese Buddhist forces of the Ne Win regime seized control, and defined the Rohingya as ineligible for citizenship unless they could prove their ancestors were in Rakhine before the 1824 British conquest. General Ne Win’s military insisted that the Rohingya were foreign citizens and initiated mass deportation of 200,000 in 1978. A quick repatriation occurred with the help of UNHCR. Most were pushed back to Myanmar after an experienced UN observer remarked that the lack of food and basic sanitation in the camps led to them becoming “death traps.”
A similar episode happened in 1990 when the military deported 250,000 Rohingya, using Islamophobia to divert attention of the ethnic Bamar from the developments of 1988 pro-democracy movements. And just as in 1978, a quick repatriation was arranged with UNHCR help.
History repeated in 2012 when Rakhine was again cleared of Rohingya. The repatriation back to Myanmar was not as aggressive but the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar just grew larger. Then finally in 2017, the greatest expulsion of all was undertaken by the Burmese military, and perhaps another 800,000 Rohingya fled after the Tatmadaw burned villages, committed massacres, and ethnically cleansed Rakhine of its Rohingya population. And still, now seven years later, the international response is ambivalent, even as some 30,000 Rohingya babies are born each year, and hundreds of thousands of young children grow up in refugee camps where radicalization is a predictable by-product.
Trapped by righteousness of historical narratives
The Rohingya ultimately are trapped between competing and complex historical narratives.
Myanmar’s nationalist Burmanization narrative continues to insist that the Myanmar people are defined by government-determined nationalities called Taingyingtha, which are considered sub-groups of the dominant Burmese Buddhist majority. By such definitions, Rohingya were foreigners and intruders from British Bengal; righteousness by this logic demands that they return to its successor state, Bangladesh. And of course, Bangladesh’s own citizenship definition excludes Rohingya because the British in 1824 classified Rohingya as Burmese.
To complicate matters further, the Buddhists of Rakhine themselves are in revolt against the Burmese military and have occupied border posts between Myanmar and Bangladesh. The AA’s General Twan Mrat Naing recently told the BBC that, if “Rohingyas or Bengalis or Chittagonian Muslims” would like to enjoy the benefits of equal treatment under [Arakan] law, they must get along with other ethnic groups and abandon contesting “doctored” historical narratives and claims of Rohingyas. In other words, ethnic Rakhine communities, which root their own identity in historical claims of Buddhist Arakan dominance, have attitudes toward the Rohingya that are similar to the heirs of the Konbaung Kingdom ruling from modern Naypyitaw.
For all that, nobody has seriously asked the Rohingya where they fit in a future Myanmar or Rakhine. As a result, the million Rohingya are trapped in Cox’s Bazar as wards of the international humanitarian regime represented by the UNHCR. There they are accused of being freeloaders in the international humanitarian system which created the camps in the first place. There they have been repeatedly excluded from their rights as refugees. Jeff Crisp, formerly of the UNHCR, described the Rohingya as being among the most disadvantaged refugees not only because they are caught between Burma and Bangladesh, but because the Rohingya were assumed by the UNHCR to be primitive, and repatriation to Myanmar considered the only solution. They were excluded from the mass resettlement assistance successfully extended to Indochinese, Yugoslavians, Ukrainians, Europeans and millions of others who moved beyond refugee camps while retaining their right to eventually return.
And then there is the demography problem…
In short, the Rohingya refugee problem cannot be resolved through wishful thinking of the UNHCR, Myanmar or Bangladesh governments about mass repatriation. About 30,000 Rohingya have been born every year in the camps since 2017, a rate that will accelerate soon. Indeed, a 2022 survey showed that 22% of the refugees were under 5 years old, which means they were mostly born in the camps after 2018. Doing nothing is to court a long-term disaster, from the radicalization of the young population, or perhaps a Bay of Bengal typhoon.
What this means is that there are now over 1 million Rohingya trapped in the camps. Without resettlement policies, the number will begin doubling every 20 years or so, meaning 1 million will become 2 million. The basic demographic reality is that the population will be young, energetic, and excluded. The question is only what their energies will be turned toward: engagement with the modern world, or rebellion and dreams of violent return.
Looking forward: Resolution of refugee problems
But the Rohingya situation is not the first seemingly intractable refugee crisis. Indeed, probably the most intractable is the Palestinian refugee crisis which has festered in the Middle East since 1948, and which despite the successful resettlement of millions of Palestinians across the Middle East (2 million in Jordan alone), continues to produce explosions, even in 2024. It is well beyond this article to suggest solutions for the Palestinian refugee situation, except to note that the Palestinian situation is a warning of how badly things can go wrong when there is too much wishful thinking about quick repatriation.
But not all refugee situations turn into the Palestinian situation in Gaza. Also relevant for Rohingya refugees is how the Indochinese refugee situation was resolved after perhaps 3 million fled between 1975 and 1990. Perhaps 250,000 died at sea, but the remainder made it to neighboring countries, especially Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the Philippines. There they were housed in camps like those in Cox’s Bazar today. There was also of course great hope that “all” would return to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. But most did not. The largest numbers are in the United States, China, and in the case of Cambodians, in Vietnam. More such refugees and their descendants are still in Thailand.
Similarly, the aftermath of the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s saw millions resettled in Europe. Decades earlier, 10 million European refugees from World War II were dispersed across Europe, North America and, in the case of the survivors of the Holocaust, to Israel. Following the Bangladesh Revolution in 1972, India and Bangladesh cooperated to resettle 10 million refugees back in Bangladesh – an exception to the general rule that a good proportion of refugees end up resettled outside the home country. Indeed, the current president of Bangladesh, Sheikha Hasina, was herself a refugee in the 1980s.
Unresolved refugee crises today also include the millions of Syrians who are hosted mostly in the Middle East or Germany, Ukrainians who have taken sanctuary in European countries, and Venezuelans who are being hosted in Colombia, Ecuador, and other neighboring countries.
Refugee problems require regional solutions
All this is a way of saying that the Rohingya situation does not need to end up like Gaza, and will not if there is a concerted international effort to address the needs of the Rohingya from a regional perspective, just like was done with the former Yugoslavians, Europeans, and Ukrainians. Myanmar’s war-torn zones are likely to remain unsettled, and in the short term will offer little potential for refugee return – in fact, a premature return to AA territory is likely to victimize the Rohingya further.
The mid-term solution is of course to integrate Rohingya into the burgeoning cities of South and Southeast Asia, where there are labor shortages. Indeed, this is happening with Venezuelans in Colombia and Ecuador; Ukrainians in Europe; and Syrians in Turkey and the Middle East. This does not mean that the refugees give up their right to return to a homeland. But spreading responsibility means that the generosity of single hosts is not stretched, and radicalized refugee groups seeking violent return are less likely to develop. Prospects for the Rohingya to return to Myanmar in future can be retained, despite the current uncertainty over when a peaceful return may be possible. And indeed the Rohingya will be the best to judge this. The frustrating aspect, from the perspective of the existing nation-state system, is that such a regional solution implies letting the Tatmadaw get away with atrocities, at least in the short term. It also runs the risk of incentivizing further bad behavior by the Tatmadaw or perhaps even the AA. This is a puzzle for the regional and international actors to ponder.
But, to reduce the risk of catastrophe, the UNHCR, ASEAN, and nearby countries need to be more willing to share the burden of hosting Rohingya refugees, which currently falls primarily on Bangladesh, albeit reluctantly.
Tony Waters is a Visiting Professor at Leuphana University, Germany, and formerly at Payap University Chiang Mai. R.J. Aung (a pseudonym) is a former peace and development worker in Yangon and Thailand, and a native of Yangon..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2024-03-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"More than three years since a military coup in Myanmar led to a surge in conflict across the country, the United Nations estimates that almost two million people have been internally displaced by the ongoing violence, while thousands more have fled to neighbouring countries.
In Rakhine State – an area in the west of Myanmar that has seen a particular increase in fighting since November 2023 – the humanitarian crisis created by this conflict comes on top of several other pre-existing emergencies, the most significant of which is the continuing fallout from large-scale and violent attacks against the area’s Rohingya ethnic minority in 2017, which drove hundreds of thousands to flee for their lives across the border into Bangladesh.
More than six years later, close to one million Rohingya remain trapped in miserable conditions in the overcrowded camps of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, while many of the estimated 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Myanmar are confined to dismal fenced camps or rural villages, are prohibited from moving without approval from the authorities, and face ongoing persecution in their daily lives.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been responding to the needs of the region’s Rohingya communities for more than three decades. In Myanmar, we operate two humanitarian medical projects in Rakhine State, where we are one of the only providers of essential health services for many Rohingya, who have been stripped of their citizenship by the ruling authorities. As a direct result of this imposed statelessness, the Rohingya endure discrimination and exclusion across all aspects of their lives, including restrictions on their freedom of movement, education and livelihoods opportunities, as well as access to healthcare. (Elsewhere in Myanmar, we also operate in the conflict-affected areas of Shan and Kachin.)
MSF is also the largest provider of health services in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, where we run hospitals and provide critically needed primary and secondary care, including sexual and reproductive healthcare and mental health services for a population with few other options. In Malaysia, MSF runs clinics for Rohingya patients, many of whom endure appalling conditions and indefinite confinement in immigration detention centres.
As a result, MSF has seen first-hand the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Myanmar, and the continued suffering of the Rohingya, whose statelessness leaves them with nowhere to go —facing indefinite encampment in squalid conditions in Bangladesh, unable to return safely to Myanmar, and unwelcome in other parts of the region. We have also borne witness to the failure of the international community to find a solution to this crisis, and to the increasing global indifference to the plight of the Rohingya, as the world’s attention has been drawn to other emergencies.
Stateless and in need of assistance
That indifference is particularly alarming given the dependence of many Rohingya on humanitarian assistance for survival. In Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees do not have the right to leave their camps and are not legally allowed to work. That leaves them trapped and dependent on international support — support that has been reducing year on year, leaving them stuck in increasingly deplorable living conditions.
Meanwhile, the Rohingya still in Rakhine State also depend on international humanitarian agencies for some of their most fundamental needs. And yet, not only have the authorities in Myanmar often deliberately blocked humanitarian activities in Rakhine State (where renewed violence is also currently making it extremely difficult for our teams to operate), but what response exists remains critically under-funded by humanitarian donors.
A crisis where Canada makes a difference
Canada is an important actor in this context. Since the start of the current Rohingya displacement crisis in 2017, when violence drove so many Rohingya from Myanmar into Bangladesh, Canada has played a leading role in the international response, both as a donor and through its humanitarian diplomacy.
Canada’s willingness to take action, starting with the appointment of a Special Envoy to Myanmar in the first months following the August 2017 attacks, through to the launch in 2018 of Canada’s strategy to respond to the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh, was based on recommendations made in Special Envoy Bob Rae’s report that same year. This highlighted the urgency of the crisis to other member states in the international community at a critical time, as did Canada’s efforts to fund and help facilitate the global humanitarian response in Cox’s Bazar. Through its official strategy, Canada committed to “alleviating the humanitarian crisis; encouraging positive political developments in Myanmar; ensuring accountability for the crimes committed; [and] enhancing international cooperation.”
Canada must renew its Rohingya and Myanmar strategy
In March 2024, however, Canada’s strategy (which was renewed for a second phase in 2021) is set to expire, and these objectives remain mostly unmet. In part that is because the context has changed: since the coup of 2021, for example, the situation for people in Myanmar has deteriorated significantly. At the time of writing, communities in many of the areas where MSF is present remain in grave danger while their villages are used as battlegrounds. Meanwhile, the emergence of a number of other international crises have directed the world’s attention away from Myanmar, Bangladesh and the Rohingya.
But that loss of global attention is precisely why Canada’s continued engagement on this emergency is so crucial. It is also why MSF is calling on Canada to renew its strategy for a third phase – because we are already seeing the impact that reduced donor engagement is having on our Rohingya patients and their communities.
In Cox’s Bazar alone, some of our facilities are becoming increasingly overburdened as other humanitarian actors depart for lack of funding. Our teams are also seeing the consequences of reduced water and sanitation services, increased violence in the camps (including sexual violence), and outbreaks of disease amid deteriorating conditions. In Myanmar, Rohingya and other communities in Rakhine are facing increasingly desperate circumstances as assistance continues to dwindle and conflict further reduces humanitarian activities.
A global humanitarian priority
As an independent humanitarian medical organization, MSF will continue to deliver critically needed care ourselves to displaced Rohingya in Bangladesh, Myanmar and beyond, whatever the commitment by international humanitarian donors may be. But we can’t do it alone.
So it is crucial that Canada and other governments continue to make the Rohingya a priority for humanitarian assistance funding. And since financial support alone will not solve this crisis (nor alleviate the conflict in Myanmar), sustained diplomatic engagement is also essential. Such efforts should focus on ensuring a safe and sustainable future for the Rohingya, and an end to their statelessness.
Through the launch of its strategy in 2018, Canada made an important commitment to these objectives, and to the Rohingya people. As the global response to their suffering continues to wane, and amid the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Myanmar – and in the face of a growing number of other international crises consuming global resources and attention – that commitment is needed now more than ever..."
Source/publisher:
Doctors Without Borders
Date of entry/update:
2024-02-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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"Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, February 23, 2024 — IRC teams on the ground in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, are reporting growing numbers of people arriving at the Myanmar border as conflict continues to push people out of their hometowns. With over 2.7 million people internally displaced in Myanmar - 800,000 of whom have been displaced since October 2023 - the humanitarian crisis in the region is likely to worsen at an alarming pace.
Despite the Bangladesh government refusing to accept any more refugees, citing the large numbers they have been hosting for over six years, the IRC is monitoring the situation and preparing to scale up our refugee response inside Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, should this decision change. Already, Cox’s Bazar is home to one million Rohingya refugees who fled persecution in August 2017. Since then, they have remained trapped in inadequate living conditions, including overcrowding and poorly built shelters prone to flooding or catching fire.
This week, IRC Bangladesh held a two-day exhibition and panel event, “Through the Lens of Hope: Rohingya Crisis Unfolded” calling on world leaders to highlight their growing needs retrain their attention and remember those people who have been living in camps in Cox’s Bazar for years without adequate shelter or support. The overall humanitarian situation in Cox’s Bazar is poised to worsen and, as the conflict in Myanmar continues to escalate close to the border, especially in Rakhine State, Bangladesh urgently requires the support of the international community, including donors, to properly support those who are seeking safety from the conflict.
The IRC began responding to the Rohingya crisis in August 2017 and launched its response officially in March 2018. With over 400 staff in Bangladesh and operating across 27 camps across the district, our teams provide essential healthcare to the host community as well as the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar, as well as reproductive and maternal healthcare, child protection, education, prevention and response to Gender-Based Violence, and Emergency Disaster Risk Reduction (EDRR)..."
Source/publisher:
International Rescue Committee
Date of entry/update:
2024-02-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Sub-title:
The military has suffered numerous battlefield setbacks in Rakhine state and elsewhere in recent months.
Description:
"Myanmar’s junta is offering freedom of movement to Rohingya Muslims restricted to camps for the displaced in Rakhine state as part of a bid to entice them into military service amid the nationwide rollout of a conscription law, according to sources in the region.
The enactment of the People’s Military Service Law on Feb. 10 has sent draft-eligible civilians fleeing from Myanmar’s cities, saying they would rather leave the country or join anti-junta forces in remote border areas than fight for the military, which seized power in a 2021 coup d’etat.
Myanmar’s military is desperate for new recruits after suffering devastating losses on the battlefield to the ethnic Arakan Army, or AA, in Rakhine state. Since November, when the AA ended a ceasefire that had been in place since the coup, the military has surrendered Pauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Myay Pon and Taung Pyo townships in the state, as well as Paletwa township in neighboring Chin state.
But rights campaigners say the junta is drafting Rohingya into military service to stoke ethnic tensions in Rakhine state, while legal experts say the drive is unlawful, given that Myanmar has refused to recognize the Rohingya as one of the country’s ethnic groups and denied them citizenship for decades.
Some 1 million ethnic Rohingya refugees have been living in Bangladesh since 2017, when they were driven out of Myanmar by a military clearance operation. Another 630,000 living within the country are designated stateless by the United Nations, including those who languish in camps for internally displaced persons, or IDPs, and are restricted from moving freely in Rakhine state.
Residents of the Kyauk Ta Lone IDP camp in Rakhine’s Kyaukphyu township told RFA Burmese that junta forces, including the township administration officer and the operations commander of the military’s Light Infantry Battalion 542, took a census of the camp’s Muslims for the purpose of military service on Monday.
Junta personnel compiled a list of more than 160 people deemed eligible for conscription and informed them they would have to take part in a two-week military training program, according to one camp resident who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
“The township administration officer came … and told us that Muslims must also serve in the military, but we refused to follow his order,” the resident said. “Then, the military operations commander arrived here along with his soldiers, and forced us to do so under the military service law. They collected the names of more than 160 people.”
Freedom of movement
Some 1,500 Rohingyas from around 300 families have been living at Kyauk Ta Lone since ethnic violence forced them to flee their homes in Kyaukphyu 12 years ago.
Since taking the census on Monday, junta officers have repeatedly visited the camp, trying to persuade Rohingya residents to serve in the military with an offer of free movement within Kyaukphyu township, said another camp resident.
“They won’t guarantee us citizenship,” he said. “But if we serve in the military, we will be allowed to go freely in Kyaukphyu.”
Other camp residents told RFA they “would rather die” than serve in the military, and suggested the recruitment drive was part of a bid by the military to create a rift between them and ethnic Rakhines – the predominant minority in Rakhine state and the ethnicity of the AA.
No date was given for when the training program would begin, they said. After receiving training, the recruits would be assigned to a security detail along with junta troops guarding routes in and out of Kyaukphyu, and dispatched to the battlefield “if necessary.”
Rohingya IDPs are afraid to serve in the military, but are unable to flee the camp because it is surrounded by junta troops, residents added.
Other recruitment efforts
The military service census at the Kyauk Ta Lone IDP camp came as Rohingyas in the Rakhine capital Sittwe, the Rakhine townships of Buthidaung and Maungdaw, and other parts of Kyaukphyu reported that junta troops have been arresting and collecting data from members of their ethnic group as part of a bid to force them into military training.
On Monday and Tuesday evening, military personnel arrested around 100 Rohingyas of eligible service age from the Buthidaung villages of Nga/Kyin Tauk, Tat Chaung, Pu Zun Chaung and Kyauk Hpyu Taung, said a resident who also declined to be named.
“People doing business in the village were arrested. Village elders were also arrested,” said the resident, who is also a Rohingya. “At least one young person from every house was arrested and taken to the army. The parents of those who were arrested are quite worried now.”
Junta troops said that the AA had established camps near the Rohingya villages and residents would have to undergo military training to defend the area, he added. They said the residents would be equipped with weapons and returned to their villages after the training was complete.
Rohingyas in Sittwe and Maungdaw, where an AA offensive is now underway, also reported junta census efforts and pressure to join military training. They said that larger villages are expected to provide 100 people for training, while smaller ones should send 50 residents.
Law does not apply
A lawyer who is representing Rohingyas in several legal cases told RFA that the People’s Military Service Law “does not apply” to members of the ethnic group because they do not have citizenship status in Myanmar.
He added that the junta's attempt to recruit Rohingyas is part of a bid to drive a wedge between them and the people of Myanmar, many of whom oppose the military regime.
Nay San Lwin, an activist on the Rohingya issue, said that the junta hopes to divert attention from its losses to the AA in Rakhine state by igniting tensions between ethnic Rakhines and Rohingyas.
“If the Rohingyas are forced into their army, there could be a lot of problems between the Rakhines and the Rohingyas,” he said. “That's what they want. Once that happens, they’ll drop all support for the Rohingyas as usual. But the main reason is to use the Rohingyas as human shields.”
Nay San Lwin noted that as successive governments in Myanmar have denied the Rohingya citizenship, there should be no pressure to force them to serve in the military.
The junta has released no information on efforts to recruit Rohingyas in Rakhine state and attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun and Rakhine State Attorney General Hla Thein, who is the junta’s spokesman in the region, went unanswered Thursday.
The AA issued a statement on Wednesday calling on ethnic Rakhines to take refuge from junta oppression – which it said includes unlawful arrests, extortion, forced military recruitment, and extrajudicial killings – in AA-controlled territory, instead of fleeing to other areas of the country.
Conscription eligibility
According to Myanmar’s compulsory military service law, men aged 18-35 and women aged 18-27 face up to five years in prison if they refuse to serve for two years, while highly skilled professionals aged 18-45 must also serve, but up to five years. More than 13 million of the country’s 54 million people are eligible for service.
Conscription is slated to be implemented at the end of April 2024, with a goal of recruiting up to 60,000 service members each year, in batches of around 5,000 people..."
Source/publisher:
"Radio Free Asia" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2024-02-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Local URL:
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Description:
"On 7 February, Obaidul Quader, Bangladeshi Minister for Road Transport and Bridges, told the media that Rohingya refugees from Myanmar will no longer be allowed to enter his country. “They have already become a burden for us,” Quader curtly opined. The statement came amid reports of the continuing violence between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar military which have resulted in the intrusion of Myanmar security force personnel and civilians, including Rohingya, from Rakhine state into neighbouring Bangladesh. While the minister didn’t elaborate on the official steps to prevent such an inevitable influx, the recent developments have yet again underlined the pitiable plight of the Rohingya, whose lives have swung perilously between despair and demise.
De-humanising existence in Bangladesh
It is easy to blame Bangladesh for being unreceptive to the Rohingya. However, it has been the forced host, according to the UNHCR, to nearly one million refugees, 975,350 Rohingya from 202,836 families.[1] on its territory for the past seven years. Fifty-two percent of this population are children. They live in cramped, bamboo-and-plastic camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh’s border district with Myanmar, as well as in Bhasan Char, a nearby island, where more stable facilities were provided to ease the pressure on Cox’s Bazar.
International aid for the upkeep of the refugees has declined steadily over the years, burdening Bangladesh. In February 2023, the World Food Programme announced a reduction in the value of its food assistance to $10 per person from $12.[2] The amount was further reduced to $8 in June, even as the percentage of refugees who did not have adequate food consumption increased from 79 percent to 90 percent. Donor budgets had been stretched by the pandemic, economic downturn, and competing global crises. This meant that families were either having less nutritious food or the parents were forced to eat less or skip some of their meals so that their children could eat. In December 2023, however, a $87 million grant from the United States allowed the amount to return to $10 per person.[3]
Shortage of food and consequent rampant malnutrition, huge issues in themselves, aren’t the only challenge for the Rohingya. In 2023, the camps in Bangladesh witnessed cyclones and landslides. Multiple fires, some of which have been labelled as “planned acts of sabotage” by investigators,[4] have periodically gutted a large number of shanties. Human trafficking has increased significantly, as have crime and gang violence within the camps, resulting in deaths and serious injuries. The inmates aren’t allowed to work, and children don’t have access to education. The widespread vulnerabilities have been exploited by alternative agendas. These include those who exploit the desperate desire to escape.
Over the years, Rohingya, both those from Myanmar and the camps in Bangladesh, have sought to flee from despair by undertaking perilous journeys on rickety and leaky wooden boats in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, hoping to reach Malaysia and Indonesia. Over time, more women and children are undertaking such journeys. Total numbers have grown dramatically, picking up between November and April, when the seas are calmer. According to the UNHCR, in 2023, nearly 4,500 Rohingya embarked on deadly sea journeys in Southeast Asian waters, of whom some 569 perished or went missing.[5] This number of reported missing or dead persons is the highest since 2014.
Compelling such desperation is the stark reality that the prospect of ever returning to their homes in Myanmar has dwindled. Always bleak, given the hostile attitude of the Myanmar military, who have refused to give the Rohingya citizenship and protect them on their return, the possibility of return is now negligible. The ongoing violence between the AA and the Myanmar military has dashed those hopes even further.
Shattered Malaysian Dreams
As of the end of January 2024, there were 108,310 Rohingya refugees in Malaysia registered with the UNHCR.[6] UNHCR says its statistics “do not map or reflect new arrivals into the country.” The attraction of Malaysia as a land for a better life and opportunities notwithstanding, recent incidents involving the Rohingya point to the opposite.
In Malaysia, most refugees, especially those who enter the country illegally after arriving by sea, are considered undocumented migrants. Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations’ Refugee Convention of 1951. It does not have any laws to recognize and provide for those fleeing persecution and conflict. The country has no system to process asylum applications. The refugees have no right to work, receive education or healthcare. They can only register with the local UNHCR office, and get a recognition card that provides them some measure of protection and support, including limited access to healthcare, education, and other services provided by the UN and its partners. However the UNHCR card is only an identity document and has no formal legal value in Malaysia.
The refugees, therefore, live a precarious existence as “illegal migrants,” doing odd low-paid jobs in restaurants, retail, and other service sectors, as well as agriculture and construction, but are always at risk of arrest. The fact that they are mostly semi-literates or illiterates has exacerbated the situation. Without legal protection and proper contracts, they are not entitled to receive Malaysia’s national minimum pay of Ringgit 1,500 (US$329) per month or Ringgit 7.21 ($1.64) an hour. Worse still, in recent times, the country’s immigration department has accelerated a crackdown on undocumented migrants, arresting them and sending them to immigration detention centres, which since 2019 have been beyond the reach of the UNHCR.[7]
Frequent riots have broken out in these poorly managed centres, leading to, on at least two occasions, inmates escaping and subsequently getting rearrested after a manhunt. In early February 2024, 131 Myanmar men, including 115 Rohingya, escaped such a facility in Perak state. One of them was hit by a vehicle on the highway and killed.[8] Earlier, in April 2022, more than 528 Rohingya refugees, including children, fled a temporary detention centre in Penang state, and six were killed trying to cross the highway. Most of the others were rearrested.
Media reports have highlighted the plight of underage Rohingya girls, travelling from Myanmar and Bangladesh, being forced into abusive marriages with Rohingya men already in Malaysia.[9] Traditionally, parents of Rohingya brides are expected to pay grooms a dowry amount, which can be high, depending upon the suitability and demand of the groom. The journeys from Bangladesh and Myanmar to Malaysia often add to the spiral of exploitation. Boats have sunk, killing all on board. On many occasions, traffickers themselves have sexually abused the girls. Living on the fringes of the fringe, such girls, are not part of any statistics on Rohingya who live in Malaysia.
The Indonesian Pushback
Compared to Malaysia, Indonesia has received fewer Rohingya arrivals, although there has been a steady increase in arrivals to the two western islands of the country. Between November and December 2023, an estimated 1,500 Rohingya landed in north Sumatra. Another approximately 1,500 Rohingya have arrived in Aceh, the westernmost province of Indonesia. Around 70 percent of these refugees are women and children. Most of them are housed in temporary shelters, which have become overcrowded with fresh arrivals.
Life of refugees, especially the children, in overcrowded shelters is far from ideal. They do not have the freedom to go out of the cramped shelters. Like Malaysia, Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, is not a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees. Though it has a record of taking in refugees if they arrive, it has become far less receptive to refugee arrivals. While some Indonesians sympathise with fellow Muslim Rohingya, others blame them for consuming scant resources and coming into conflict with the locals.
Consequently, the Rohingya have faced the ire of the residents who don’t want them in their communities and have frequently protested such arrivals. In December 2023, for instance, a mob of Indonesian university students attacked the basement of a local community hall in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, where 137 Rohingya were taking shelter. Videos of the incident showed the students, many wearing jackets with different universities’ insignias, running into the convention centre’s basement, chanting, “Kick them out” and “Reject Rohingya in Aceh.”[10] Elsewhere in Aceh, residents have tried to prevent Rohingya boats from reaching the shore and surrounded the tents of Rohingya on beaches and other temporary locations, demanding that they be relocated.[11] The Indonesian navy, too, in December 2023 forcibly pushed a boat packed with refugees back to international waters after it approached Aceh’s shores.[12]
Those in the temporary shelters have faced an organized online misinformation campaign, which also targets the local UNHCR staff. Anonymous accounts on Instagram, TikTok, and X have spread false information and have also identified UNHCR staff in Aceh, publishing personal information (“doxing”), leading to numerous online threats.
Then-President Joko Widodo blamed the surge in the arrivals of Rohingya on human trafficking and pledged to work with international organisations to offer temporary shelter. He appealed to the international community for help and intensified patrols of its waters due to a sharp rise in Rohingya refugees.
Plan of Action
Although inadequate amounts of humanitarian funds do keep coming to the agencies working with the Rohingya, amidst other ongoing humanitarian catastrophes, this crisis is clearly at risk of sliding off the global, and certainly regional, priority list. While the world, as well as the most prominent regional organization, ASEAN, has been shown to have little leverage with the military junta in Myanmar, there is no other country that can (or will) step forward to deal with the basis for the crisis. Since Myanmar will not, Rohingya options are limited— either to survive in the dehumanizing environment the Bangladeshi refugee camps provide or to attempt high-risk sea journeys that, even when ending with a successful landing either in Indonesia or Malaysia, provide little hope of upliftment.
The UN agencies are desperately working with impacted states and other stakeholders, including refugees, to develop a comprehensive regional response to address these dangerous journeys. However, there are few signs of progress.
This regional and global amnesia to the crisis has to end. The root causes of these dangerous maritime movements must be addressed. The international community must step up to make good on pledges made at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva in December 2023, which included “advancing solutions and enhancing self-reliance for Rohingya refugees to provide hope and reduce the compulsion to take dangerous boat journeys.”[13]
Meantime, conditions in Bangladesh need to be drastically improved. And those already in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia must be allowed to live a life of dignity, with the right to movement and employment.
Dr. Bibhu Prasad Routray is the Director of Mantraya. This analysis has been published as part of Mantraya’s ongoing “Fragility, Conflict, and Peace Building” project. All Mantraya publications are peer-reviewed.
END NOTES
[1] UNHCR, “Rohingya Refugee Response/Bangladesh: Joint Government of Bangladesh – UNHCR Population Factsheet”, 31 January 2024.
[2] “U.N. to cut food aid for Rohingya refugees, citing fund shortfall”, Reuters, 17 February 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-cut-food-aid-rohingya-refugees-citing-fund-shortfall-2023-02-17/.
[3] World Food Programme, “WFP’s Rohingya Refugee Operation in Bangladesh Receives Major Funding Boost of US$ 87 Million from the United States”,13 December 2023, https://www.wfp.org/news/wfps-rohingya-refugee-operation-bangladesh-receives-major-funding-boost-us-87-million-united
[4] Ruma Paul, “Bangladesh panel says fire at Rohingya camps ‘planned sabotage’”, Reuters, 12 March 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bangladesh-panel-says-fire-rohingya-camps-planned-sabotage-2023-03-12/.
[5] UNHCR, “Urgent action needed to address dramatic rise in Rohingya deaths at sea”, 23 January 2024, https://www.unhcr.org/us/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-urgent-action-needed-address-dramatic-rise-rohingya-deaths-sea.
[6] UNHCR, “Figures at a glance in Malaysia”, https://www.unhcr.org/my/what-we-do/figures-glance-malaysia.
[7] “Dozens of Rohingya refugees flee Malaysian immigration detention centre”, Al Jazeera, 2 February 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/2/dozens-of-rohingya-refugees-flee-malaysian-immigration-detention-centre.
[8] “More Than 100 Rohingya Flee Malaysian Detention Center”, Voice of America, 2 February, 2024, https://www.voanews.com/a/more-than-100-rohingya-flee-malaysian-detention-center-/7467813.html.
[9] Kristen Gelieneau, “‘I feel trapped’: Scores of underage Rohingya girls forced into abusive marriages in Malaysia”, Associated Press, 13 December 2023, https://apnews.com/article/rohingya-refugees-bangladesh-myanmar-malaysia-migration-f481e725f97d1b004a474e5facb10144.
[10] “Indonesian students evict Rohingya from shelter demanding deportation”, Al Jazeera, 27 December 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/27/indonesian-students-evict-rohingya-from-shelter-demanding-deportation.
[11] Human Rights Watch, “Indonesia: Protect Newly Arrived Rohingya Refugees”, 16 January 2024, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/01/16/indonesia-protect-newly-arrived-rohingya-refugees.
[12] “More Rohingya refugees arrive in Indonesia despite rejection from locals”, Associated Press, 31 December 2023, https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-myanmar-rohingya-refugees-202c304c3a1a9c447511960063e4e822.
[13] UNHCR, “Urgent action needed to address dramatic rise in Rohingya deaths at sea”, op.cit.
Dr. Bibhu Prasad Routray
Dr. Bibhu Prasad Routray served as a Deputy Director in the National Security Council Secretariat, Government of India and Director of the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM)’s Database & Documentation Centre, Guwahati, Assam. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the South Asia programme of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore between 2010 and 2012. Routray specialises in decision-making, governance, counter-terrorism, force modernisation, intelligence reforms, foreign policy and dissent articulation issues in South and South East Asia. His writings, based on his projects and extensive field based research in Indian conflict theatres of the Northeastern states and the left-wing extremism affected areas, have appeared in a wide range of academic as well policy journals, websites and magazines..."
Source/publisher:
"Eurasia Review"
Date of entry/update:
2024-02-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Description:
"Theme: Camp Coordination and Camp Management..."
Source/publisher:
CCCM Cluster, UN High Commissioner for Refugees via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2024-02-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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"The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) today petitioned a Court in Argentina to issue international arrest warrants for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and six other Myanmar officials responsible for the genocide against the Rohingya people.
“This is a historic and unprecedented step towards accountability for the decades-long genocide against the Rohingya people. It shows that our long fight for justice is starting to bear fruit,” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK.
“The Argentinian judiciary has already committed to investigate these crimes. Now, we ask the Court to act on overwhelming evidence that these seven individuals are responsible, and to immediately issue international arrest warrants. Those committing genocide should have nowhere to hide from the law.”
Today’s development is part of the investigation in Argentina into the role of Myanmar’s civilian and military leaders in committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya. Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, such crimes can be investigated anywhere in the world regardless of where they were committed. The case was opened in 2021 based on a petition by BROUK.
The Argentinian prosecution has initially focused its investigation on a massacre in a Rohingya village in Rathedoung township, Rakhine State, on 27 August 2017. Myanmar military and police attacked the village, killing hundreds of Rohingya people through indiscriminate fire, mutilating bodies of victims, torching houses, and committing widespread rape and sexual violence against women and girls. Moving forward, the Prosecutor will continue the investigation into other villages and areas in Rakhine State that were subjected to “clearance operations” in 2017.
BROUK’s request for an arrest warrant names seven individuals responsible for the attack, but arrest warrants can potentially be issued for more perpetrators as the case progresses. Those named for now include senior military leaders with command responsibility for the massacre, such as Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s Commander-in-Chief and current leader of the military coup in 2021, and Soe Win, Deputy Commander-in-Chief. The request also names two lower-ranking officials, a village Chairman and a police officer, who were direct perpetrators of killings and rapes during the attack. They are accused of genocide and crimes under the Argentinian penal code including aggravated murder, sexual abuse and torture.
In its 2018 report, the Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar recommended that Min Aung Hlaing and other perpetrators should be prosecuted for the Rohingya genocide.
The request is based on detailed and credible evidence uncovered during the case’s investigation phase. This included eyewitness testimony from seven Rohingya genocide survivors, who traveled to Buenos Aires to testify in court in June this year.
The First Instance Federal Court Number 1 in Buenos Aires and the Prosecutor will now consider BROUK’s request for an arrest warrant. If the Court accepts it, it will automatically trigger a request to Interpol to issue international arrest warrants for the individuals identified. BROUK also asked that ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the European Union, African Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and States such as the US, the UK and Canada that have imposed economic sanctions and travel bans on perpetrators are notified about the arrest warrant.
“Those responsible for this genocide, including the horrific crimes committed on 27 August 2017, must be held to account, whether they planned them or carried them out directly. This massacre caused unimaginable suffering and is, in many ways, on its own enough to prove that a genocide is taking place. Sadly, however, it is only one of many examples of the violence and abuse Rohingya have faced for decades,” said Tun Khin.
The case in Argentina is the first universal jurisdiction case anywhere in the world concerning the Rohingya genocide. Since the case opened, BROUK has further intensified its investigation against the Myanmar military and those abetting their crimes, including by requesting information from Facebook on how anti-Rohingya hate speech was shared on the platform. During the investigation, the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) has extended support to the Prosecutor in Argentina.
BROUK’s efforts complement other international justice processes against the Myanmar military, such as the cases at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
These efforts have taken on new urgency since 1 February 2021, when the Myanmar military tried to seize power through a coup. Since then, the military and its proxies have killed thousands of people opposing its rule and arrested tens of thousands.
“Our fight for justice is not just for the Rohingya, but for all victims of the Myanmar military, regardless of what ethnic groups they belong to. The military has terrorized Myanmar and its people for decades, and repression has only intensified since the coup almost two years ago,” said Tun Khin.
“We commend the Argentinian judiciary´s decision to investigate the crimes committed by the military. If our request for an arrest warrant is accepted, it would be a historic development that brings hope to millions of victims. It would also show Min Aung Hlaing and other officials that the eyes of the world are on them.”
Background
The seven individuals identified in BROUK’s request for an arrest warrant are (all titles refer to their positions at the time of the massacre on 27 August unless otherwise noted):
Min Aung Hlaing, Commander-in-Chief and 2021 military coup leader
Soe Win, Deputy Commander-in-Chief
Aung Kyaw Zaw, Commander of the Bureau of Special Operations No. 3
Maung Maung Soe, Chief of the Army's Western Command
Aung Aung, Commander of the Army’s Light Infantry Battalion No. 33
Kyaw Shay, police officer
Aung San Mya, village Chairman
For more information, contact Tun Khin on +447888714866..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of entry/update:
2023-12-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Discrimination against the Rohingya
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"At least 200 civilians have been killed and 335,000 displaced in Myanmar (Burma) since 27 October when a group of ethnic armed resistance organizations – known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance – launched a campaign against the ruling military junta. “Operation 1027” has galvanized other groups across the country to join in attacks against the junta, making the current fighting the “largest in scale and most extensive geographically” since the February 2021 coup, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Clashes have been particularly heavy in northern Shan, Sagaing, Chin, Rakhine and Mandalay states where armed resistance groups have reportedly targeted military bases and outposts, as well as trade routes.
In Rakhine State, a year-long informal ceasefire between the junta and the Arakan Army ethnic armed group ended on 13 November when the group launched attacks. According to OCHA, 20,000 people have fled the fighting since mid-November in Pauktaw township alone. The junta has cut off access to the town and trapped hundreds of people in the crossfire, while also obstructing access to camps for internally displaced Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Date of entry/update:
2023-11-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Human Rights and international relations, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Description:
"New report exposes how Rohingya genocide is intensifying amid aid restrictions and armed conflict
The Myanmar military junta is continuing to ignore the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) orders to protect the Rohingya as state policies are pushing hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of bare survival in Rakhine State, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) said today in a new report.
The report, Struggling to survive, documents how Rohingya people live increasingly desperate lives amid widespread restrictions on humanitarian aid by the junta. Due to restrictions on their freedom of movement, access to healthcare and livelihoods, Rohingya communities are almost entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. At the same time, the Myanmar military and armed groups have tortured, killed and arbitrarily detained Rohingya people as renewed armed conflict threatens to put even more civilians in the firing line in Rakhine State.
“There is no doubt that the Myanmar military is still trying to erase the Rohingya from the face of the earth. Our report exposes how genocidal practices in Rakhine State are not only continuing, but have even intensified over the last six months,” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK.
“Rohingya women, children and men are struggling to survive. Further curbs on aid access, coupled with conflict-related violations, have only made this situation more alarming. The international community must act once and for all to end this ongoing genocide.”
BROUK’s report is timed to coincide with reporting deadlines imposed on Myanmar in the genocide case The Gambia brought to the ICJ in 2019. In 2020, the “World Court” ordered Myanmar to ‘take all measures within its power’ to protect the Rohingya, and to submit reports every six months on its compliance.
A desperate situation in Rakhine State
The report lays bare how policies by the military junta, known as the State Administration Council (SAC), continued to subject Rohingya people to extreme hardships in May-November 2023. Many of these amount to the genocidal acts outlined in the Genocide Convention.
A stark example is the SAC’s failure to protect people in the context of Cyclone Mocha that hit Rakhine State in May 2023, killing some 400 Rohingya and destroying homes, clinics, and sanitation facilities in IDP camps. Long-standing and arbitrary restrictions on Rohingyas’ freedom of movement prevented many from evacuating camps and villages to seek safety. In the cyclone’s aftermath, the regime has blocked humanitarian aid to Rohingya communities, with devastating consequences.
Six months after the cyclone, the 140,000 Rohingya confined to IDP camps have been subjected to increasingly unsanitary, degrading conditions, without enough food, water, or basic shelter. The junta’s restrictions on humanitarian access and lengthy delays in issuing travel authorisations to humanitarian organisations have prevented timely repairs to shelters and sanitation facilities, as well as the delivery of adequate food and nutrition supplies. Discriminatory policies and practices prevent Rohingya from accessing adequate medical care and have led to further preventable deaths since the cyclone.
All Rohingya in Rakhine State continue to live in an open-air prison, with the junta taking no steps to end severe and long-standing restrictions on their freedom of movement and access to education, health care and livelihoods. Threats, extortions and arbitrary detentions are routinely used by security forces against Rohingya.
Despite the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State, Myanmar continues to push ahead with attempts to repatriate Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. These moves are opposed by Rohingya refugee communities themselves, while UNHCR has clearly stated that conditions in Rakhine State are not safe for refugees to return in dignity and safety. BROUK’s report highlights that ‘model villages’ for the returnees have been constructed in areas where atrocity crimes during the 2016-2017 ‘clearance operations’ are known to have taken place, in breach of the ICJ’s order instructing Myanmar to ‘prevent the destruction of and ensure the preservation of evidence’ related to alleged genocidal acts.
Armed conflict in Rakhine State
Renewed armed conflict threatens to put Rohingya civilians at greater risk of harm. On 13 November, a fragile ceasefire between the Arakan Army (AA) and SAC forces collapsed, sparking armed clashes in Rakhine State. Rakhine and Rohingya civilians have already been killed and injured by indiscriminate shelling by SAC forces over the past week.
Meanwhile, the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA) has been increasingly active in the region in recent months, following a crackdown on the group inside Bangladeshi camps. Armed clashes between ARSA and the AA in July have added to fears that Rohingya civilians will increasingly be caught in the crossfire.
BROUK has documented a catalogue of human rights abuses by the AA and ARSA towards Rohingya civilians, including abductions, extortions, arbitrary arrests, and ill-treatment amounting to torture. In late September, for example, the AA imposed a lockdown on Rohingya villages in southern Buthidaung, and abducted and brutally beat 10 Rohingya men falsely accused of ARSA sympathies. Similarly, a few weeks earlier, ARSA are widely suspected of killing a Rohingya elder they accused of providing transportation to AA and SAC soldiers.
The Myanmar military has further arbitrarily arrested and tortured Rohingya men on accusations of ties to the AA or ARSA, in an act of collective punishment.
The high price of international inaction
BROUK calls on the international community to immediately take action to end Myanmar’s genocide against the Rohingya. This must include pressure to lift aid restrictions in Rakhine State, strengthened sanctions against the junta, and support for international justice efforts. BROUK welcomes recent moves by the governments of the UK, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Maldives to formally lend support to The Gambia’s genocide case at the ICJ. BROUK urges the international community to find concrete ways to leverage the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ, to ensure they fulfil their purpose of protecting the Rohingya. This includes securing public hearings at the UN Security Council on the junta’s continued breaches of the order and seeking consequences for non-compliance.
“Time is running out for the more than 600,000 Rohingya still living inside Rakhine State. The world must immediately take steps to pressure the Myanmar junta to lift all restrictions on aid as well as Rohingyas’ access to hospitals, schools and livelihoods,” said Tun Khin.
“At the same time, international justice is the only way to hold the military to account for its decades of violence against not just the Rohingya, but all people in Myanmar. More states must lend support to efforts to hold the junta to account for its atrocity crimes.”..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of entry/update:
2023-11-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Human Rights and international relations, International Criminal Court (Myanmar)
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pdf
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697.37 KB
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Description:
"In Rakhine State, 51,590 individuals have been displaced across 10 townships due to the ongoing AA-Tatmadaw conflict. Additionally, 4,472 individuals have been displaced in Paletwa township in Chin State, bringing the total number of displaced persons to 56,062. As of August 2023, a further 4,174 individuals newly displaced remain in Mrauk-U, Kyautaw, Sittwe, Myebon, Minbya, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, and Ponnagyun townships.
In collaboration with partners and other UN agencies, UNHCR is responding to the humanitarian needs and continues to provide assistance to affected communities. Since January 2023, UNHCR provided core relief items, emergency shelter support, dignity kits and cloth masks to some 44,917 individuals in Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw,
Ponnagyun, Myebon, Sittwe, Pauktaw, Paletwa, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships..."
Source/publisher:
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2023-09-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Public Health, Human Rights and international relations
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7.34 MB
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Description:
"On 25 August 2017, the world witnessed the beginning of the forced displacement of more than 750 000 Rohingya people from Rakhine State in Myanmar, fleeing violence and persecution from the Myanmar military. The vast majority of them settled temporarily in the Cox’s Bazar District of Bangladesh, whereas others fled across the region.
Six years later, and despite international efforts and calls on Myanmar to create the conditions for their return to their homeland, the crisis is still alive now which is the shame for the international community.
Almost half a century has passed since 2017, but Myanmar has not taken back a single Rohingya to their country. Instead, drama has been created around the return at various times. Despite the sincere efforts of the Bangladesh government, Myanmar has always given an ax blow to the possibility of Rohingya return. On November 23, 2017, a 19-point agreement was signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar due to the concerted efforts of the Bangladesh government and international criticism. In the light of that agreement, Myanmar initially plans to take back 3,450 Rohingyas divided into seven groups.
The deal did not see the light of day on the issue of proof-of-citizenship. In 2019, the Gambia filed a case against the Myanmar government at the International Court of Justice, which is still ongoing. During the hearing of that case, all their lawyers and counsel, including Aung San Suu Kyi, avoided the word ‘Rohingya’ and their citizenship. Surprising but true, in February 2021 there was a political change in Myanmar, but there was no change in opinion.
Rohingya shelter project has been established in Bhasanchar along with Cox’s Bazar to improve the quality of life of Rohingyas on behalf of Bangladesh government. The Bangladesh government is doing everything possible to ensure all the benefits of the Rohingyas. There is little cooperation from Myanmar. There are many questions about the strong role of the international community. On June 18, 2021, the resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the issue of Myanmar discussed the country’s various problems, especially democratic problems, state of emergency, political prisoners, restoration of democracy, but the issue of Rohingya return did not find a place.
Due to the long process of return of Rohingyas, murders, kidnappings, shootings, torture, drug trafficking and other criminal activities are a regular occurrence in the camps. The activity of several armed groups in the camps is an open secret. According to the information of Cox’s Bazar District Police, there are more than 2500 cases against Rohingyas from 2017 to 2022, with more than 5000 accused. More than 10 terrorist groups including Arsa, RSO, Nabi Hussain Group, Munna Group, Dakat Hakim Group are active. It is said that behind these groups are the invisible hands of various groups in Myanmar. On September 29, 2021, Rohingya leader Muhibullah (Master Muhibullah) was killed at around 8:30 pm. He was vocal about the return of the Rohingyas.
As a result of the efforts of the Bangladesh government, the issue of Rohingya return is gaining importance at the international level. The Rohingya return process is delayed due to international political turmoil and Myanmar’s indifferent attitude. Among the reasons being used as a political tool behind this delay are citizenship, voluntary return and living conditions for the Rohingya in Myanmar.
The 1982 military government barred the Rohingya with the Burma Citizenship Act. Since then, Myanmar has refused to recognize Rohingya as citizens of their country. Myanmar is using Rohingya citizenship as a tool in this return process. The international community has always been silent on the issue of citizenship law. So far, two final attempts to return the Rohingyas have failed due to objections regarding the security of the Rohingyas. In the light of the agreement of November 2017, a joint working committee of the two countries was formed to solve the Rohingya problem in Dhaka on December 19 that year. Then Myanmar started the politics of delay in the name of checking the list. An initial attempt at a comeback in 2018 ended in failure. A Chinese-brokered repatriation initiative failed in 2019, citing concerns that the Rohingya’s environment in Rakhine state is not suitable for return. Negotiations on Rohingya return stalled in February 2021 after Myanmar’s military coup d’état changed the government.
However, the hope is that in 2023, China has taken the initiative to continue trying to return the Rohingyas as a mediator between Bangladesh and Myanmar without international intervention. Diplomatic level discussions are already ongoing. However, again two things are left out in this process. The first is the consent of the Rohingya and the second is the place of return. As part of this process, a group of Rohingya went to Rakhine state for the first time in May this year to see if there is a habitable environment. According to the media, after returning to the camp in Cox’s Bazar, some of them agreed to return to Myanmar after seeing the environment there, while others said they did not agree. There is also a demand for all the family members to go back to the original village together. In the early stages, camps or model villages in northern Maungdu and nearby areas of Myanmar came up for repatriation.
Just as it is not clear whether all Rohingya family members will be taken in together, Myanmar has given birth to new politics over whether Rohingyas will be taken back to their villages or returned to model villages. Again, whether this return process is delayed by the turmoil of international politics has also given rise to renewed discussions. Especially, after the US plans to set up a resettlement program for the Rohingya came to light. However, the international community should forget all political differences and take the humanitarian aspect into serious consideration and help the Rohingya return immediately.
Bangladesh’s top priority is Rohingya repatriation, as more than 1 million Rohingya have been staying here for 6 years. Efforts are underway to repatriate a small group to Rakhine under a pilot project. Bangladesh wants international organizations to help in this. A section of the international community is playing politics with the Rohingyas in the camps in Cox’s Bazar. Due to this, their repatriation process is becoming difficult at times.
The international community and the great powers did little to pressurize the Junta to repatriate the Rohingya. Prior to Junta, the international community also failed to convince the democratic government to repatriate the Rohingya and bring the perpetrators to justice. Bangladesh has tried bilaterally, trilaterally, and multilaterally for the past six years for a viable solution. It has left no stone unturned, yet found nothing. Bangladesh eagerly wants to explore the initiative as something is better than nothing. Owing to bilateral political, economic, connectivity, and economic issues, Bangladesh itself has to solve the problem. While Bangladesh is trying heart and soul to repatriate the Rohingya to their birthplace, the NGOs are not doing enough for the most persecuted community of its time.
Advocacy networks such as UNHCR, HRW, and Amnesty International failed to create effective pressure on Myanmar. Like the NGOs, the Great powers also failed to pressurize Myanmar effectively. The declining fund, deteriorating camp conditions, growing insecurity, and adverse impact of the refugees on the host community have made Bangladesh a desperate host looking for reducing the burden, where its international partners are only performing their formal duties within a set boundary. This crisis is also destabilizing regional security. It is important to note that aid for the Rohingya is decreasing daily. The current Ukraine conflict has the entire world on edge. Although the world community has lost sight of the Rohingya humanitarian issue as a result of the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, it also has the responsibility of international community to provide an external guarantee for Rohingya’s safety upon repatriation..."
Source/publisher:
Eurasia Review
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-21
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Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Indian authorities summarily imprison Rohingya refugees for years
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"(COX’S BAZAR and BANGKOK, July 28, 2023)—The Government of India should immediately and unconditionally release indefinitely detained Rohingya refugees and end the arbitrary arrest and detention of refugees, said Fortify Rights today. The government should also investigate violations within its detention facilities and hold officials found responsible to account.
In a new investigation, Fortify Rights documented evidence of Indian authorities beating Rohingya refugees, denying them due process rights, and indefinitely detaining hundreds, in some cases for several years. Indian authorities have detained Rohingya refugees in at least New Delhi, Jammu, Manipur, and Assam for immigration-related offenses.
“The Indian government must end its indefinite detention of refugees and investigate the violent crackdown and beatings of Rohingya refugees in detention,” said Zaw Win, Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights. “No one should be imprisoned for being a refugee – a status no one willingly chooses. Indian authorities must protect Rohingya who have fled an ongoing genocide in Myanmar.”
Fortify Rights interviewed 14 people in India, including 12 Rohingya refugees, three of whom are currently detained in India. Fortify Rights also obtained and reviewed photographs and video footage from inside detention centers in India.
On July 24, 2023, Indian police reportedly arrested more than 70 Rohingya refugees in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, in a separate incident, on July 18, 2023, hundreds of Rohingya refugees detained in Jammu protested their indefinite detention, including through a hunger strike. Indian authorities responded with tear gas and beatings, injuring several refugees. Two days after the incident, a Rohingya infant present during the incident reportedly died. Fortify Rights did not independently confirm the child’s cause of death.
A Rohingya refugee, 30, originally from Buthidaung Township in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, has been detained in India for five years. He told Fortify Rights how Indian authorities arrested and beat him on May 1, 2018, at the India-Myanmar border in Manipur. He said: “[The Indian authorities] beat us with a rod asking us why we were ‘crossing the border illegally’ . . . They beat us very often. They beat my leg and knee. They beat us inside the custody [detention center].”
Later, and without legal representation, the authorities brought the man to court, summarily convicted him, and sentenced him for entering India without permission.
“I have been in detention for the last five years,” he told Fortify Rights. “It is hell here in detention . . . We want to be free.”
Another detained Rohingya man (location withheld for security reasons) told Fortify Rights that Indian authorities arrested him in December 2020 for immigration offenses under Section 14 of India’s Foreigners Act, 1946. He remains in detention after being summarily convicted and sentenced to one year in prison. He said:
[The Indian authorities] detained me . . . It was on the bus . . . in Karimganj District in Assam . . . they took us to prison . . . [I have] stayed in detention for more than two and a half years now. Going through the court like this, I have become so hopeless.
Fortify Rights confirmed from the court documents that the court sentenced him to one year in prison. Despite serving this sentence and being a refugee recognized by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the U.N. agency mandated to protect refugees, Indian authorities continue to detain him. He told Fortify Rights: “UNHCR provided us with their cards, which means, from what I understand, that they must protect and help their cardholders as refugees . . . If a UNHCR-recognized refugee has to continue to stay in jail even after finishing his sentence, he is not safe.”
Another Rohingya refugee originally from Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State and now detained in India (location withheld for security reasons) told Fortify Rights how Indian authorities detained him while he was traveling in Assam:
We showed [the Indian authorities] our [UNHCR] refugee identification card. The policemen told us that the Indian government does not accept refugee identification for travel. So, they took us to the court. It was in Assam that we were arrested. We were detained for nine months in a detention center in Assam.
From 2021 to 2022, Indian authorities transferred this refugee between three different detention facilities. He said, “After three years, we were told that we would be moving [to a different facility] . . . We were told that our prison period had finished, and we were moved to the refugee camps, but it is not a camp; it is a detention center.”
Indian authorities effectively denied him legal representation. At the time of writing, he remains in indefinite detention.
Speaking about the conditions in the detention center, he told Fortify Rights: “UNHCR is not helping us in detention . . . We are not fed well in detention. They provide rice with lentils . . . There is no education for our children . . . We are hardly surviving.”
Fortify Rights also spoke to relatives of those detained and some who fled to Bangladesh and other neighboring countries out of fear of arrest or being forcibly returned to Myanmar.
A Rohingya man, 49, originally from Maungdaw Township, told Fortify Rights that he fled India to Bangladesh fearing arbitrary arrest by Indian authorities.
Another Rohingya man told Fortify Rights that he witnessed Indian authorities arrest and separate a refugee family in Narwal, Jammu in May 2021. Fortify Rights obtained and reviewed video footage of the incident, which shows a Rohingya woman being arrested by authorities, put into a vehicle, and separated from her infant child. The Rohingya man who witnessed the incident said:
In a family of a husband, wife, and four children, the police only arrested the mother and one child. A breastfeeding infant was not taken with the mother. The people are very traumatized by how the police forcefully separated the infant from the mother. Then the people tried to flee the area . . . I have videos of the breastfeeding child being left behind when the police arrested the mother.
Fortify Rights also received and reviewed a mobile-phone audio recording from July 19, 2023, between a Rohingya relative and a family member inside a detention center—the location of which is withheld for security reasons. In the audio recording, a Rohingya woman explains that Indian authorities had beaten her, and she pleads with her relative to tell the authorities not to beat her, saying: “[A]t night, we will be beaten, and [I] already have been beaten so badly . . . Please ask my brother to ask [the police] not to beat me . . . Please tell them not to beat me.”
She also pleaded in the audio recording to be granted bail and have a lawyer represent her. At the time of writing, she remains in detention.
Indian authorities have also cracked down on Rohingya en masse in detention. Most recently, on July 18, 2023, Indian authorities violently cracked down on Rohingya refugees in Hiranagar Detention Center in Jammu. According to mobile-phone video footage obtained and reviewed by Fortify Rights and substantiated by interviews with refugees, Rohingya detainees staged a protest against their indefinite detention. Some took part in a hunger strike, calling for their release. Indian authorities responded with tear gas and beatings, injuring several refugees and reportedly killing a detained infant.
Mobile-phone footage reviewed and on file with Fortify Rights shows the aftermath of the protest and crackdown by authorities in the detention center. On July 20, 2023, two days after the crackdown, Fortify Rights spoke to a relative of a detainee at the Hiranagar Detention Center. He said: “When I [spoke to] him, he told me, ‘There are people who got injured as [the authorities] fired teargas [at us]. . . We are doing a hunger strike here.”
Media reports and Rohingya advocates allege that the Rohingya child who died in the Jammu detention facility died from injuries related to tear gas inhalation. Indian authorities denied the allegation to Indian media, claiming the death was unrelated to the crackdown.
A Rohingya refugee community leader in India, knowledgeable of the incident, told Fortify Rights that some Rohingya in the Hiranagar detention facility “have been detained for more than two years.”
On July 18, 2023, Superintendent of Kathua District Detention Center Koushal Kumar told journalists: “[Rohingya refugees] tried to break open the gate and come out, but we closed the gate . . . I cannot [say] the exact number of persons injured.”
On July 19, 2023, the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative, a leading Rohingya organization in India, said they “strongly condemn” the Indian authorities’ crackdown on Rohingya refugees and called for “an immediate end to the human rights abuses and arbitrary detention.”
India should conduct an independent investigation into the violent incident at the Hiranagar Detention Center and release those detained, Fortify Rights said today.
“We’re concerned that the recent violence against Rohingya in India could lead to renewed calls to force them back to Myanmar, and that must be avoided at all costs,” said Zaw Win. “Refugees have rights, and India is obligated to respect those rights.”
On March 5, 2021, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir invoked powers under Section 3(2)(d) of the Foreigners Act of 1946 and Section 2(d) of the Citizenship Act of 1955 to convert Hiranagar Detention Center in Kathua District to a “holding center” to detain Rohingya with immigration-related offenses.
Section 2(b) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 defines “illegal migrants” as foreigners who entered India without a valid passport or travel documents or those who entered with a valid passport or travel document but remained in the country beyond the permitted period. The Foreigners Act regulates the entry of foreigners into the country, their presence, and departure. Section 3(2)(d) of the Foreigners Act empowers the central government to issue orders removing or restraining the presence of foreigners in specific areas.
Customary international law and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a state party, forbids the arbitrary, unlawful, or indefinite detention of any person, including refugees and migrants. Refugees may only be detained as an exceptional measure of last resort following an individualized assessment and after the exhaustion of all alternatives to detention.
Article 21 of the Indian Constitution protects this right stating that “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” Moreover, Article 22 of the Constitution protects all persons arrested and detained. These protections include the right to know the grounds of arrest and detention, the right to a lawyer, and the right to be presented before a court.
India has also signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). As emphasized by the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance in 2019, Indian authorities’ discrimination against Rohingya, who are an ethnic minority, violates India’s obligations under the UDHR, ICCPR, and CERD. While the Foreigner’s Act empowers the Indian central government to place restrictions on groups of foreigners, such restrictions should not override its commitments under CERD. Any restrictions also should not violate refugee rights to equality before the law and the equal protection of the law guaranteed under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.
India has signed but has not ratified the U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT). As a signatory, India is bound to follow the principle of non-refoulement, which is a peremptory norm of international law. Article 3 of UNCAT enshrines the principle of non-refoulement, prohibiting states from returning any person on its territory or under its jurisdiction to a country where they face persecution. India’s previous returns of Rohingya to Myanmar, which is committing genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya people, violated this peremptory norm.
India should also sign and ratify the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, said Fortify Rights.
In 2019, Fortify Rights documented Indian authorities beating and threatening to return Rohingya refugees to Myanmar while forcing dozens into Bangladeshi territory. All Rohingya in that instance were UNHCR-recognized refugees.
“India should provide a safe haven for Rohingya fleeing genocidal attacks and other international crimes in Myanmar,” said Zaw Win. “Rather than continuing their persecution, the Indian government should allow Rohingya refugees access to legal status, education, livelihoods, and freedom of movement.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights"
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-28
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Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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"Mukesh Kapila
I clung atop a palm tree praying furiously while cyclonic winds threatened to whip me away. It was the early 1970s and I was a humanitarian volunteer on Moudubi island in the Bay of Bengal. I was teaching and living in the island’s ramshackle school. That first visit to Bangladesh was in the dark shadow of its 1971 Liberation War which saw three million killed in genocidal atrocities. It was soon after Supercyclone Bhola had already cost 0.5 million lives in 1970. Fully expecting that by now the island would have disappeared under rising seas, I am heartened to see just the opposite. A google-maps flyover reveals a bustling Moudubi and a lively Facebook page extols my former school’s many achievements.
The plucky survival of this tiny speck is a metaphor for a nation once described as a “basket case” meriting just a two-hour stop-over by US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. Today Bangladesh is a lower-middle-income country. It’s 169 million people have seen poverty headcount halve and income jump to US$2500 per capita (in current dollars) from US$400 at the Millennium.
Many more Bangladeshi children survive birth, grow up healthy and educated to live longer and productively. The nation has got better at coping with frequent disasters and its population will stabilise by mid-century as growth rate falls below 1% annually. But it still ranks modestly at 129th (out of 191 ) on the Human Development Index and its resilience is under test. It is the sixth most climate-vulnerable country, even as it confronts many social, economic, and political challenges, in common with other developing countries.
I returned many times to see how Bangladesh navigates an increasingly perilous world. This was in different official capacities in the British government, International Red Cross Red Crescent, and United Nations I learnt that key was the grim determination and natural resourcefulness of its people. Also the supportive partnerships its government has built with many nations and international organisations to attract aid, trade, and financial investment.
My latest visit took me to Cox’s Bazar. Recalling the darkest days of the 1970s when 10 million Bangladeshis found safety in India, it is Bangladesh’s turn now to provide a safe haven for one million Rohingya fleeing Myanmar. Cox’s Bazar is the world’s largest refugee settlement and the Rohingya live in some 33 heavily-congested camps that are frequently devastated by fires, cyclones flooding, and disease outbreaks. Nevertheless, it is an enterprising and energising place.
Bangladeshis are naturally generous and the authorities have diverted significant national resources to help the Rohingya while facilitating some 100 countries, international organizations, philanthropies and NGOs to come and bolster Bangladesh’s own humanitarian endeavors. I saw that despite the challenging and fragile physical environment, commendable efforts addressed critical refugee needs starting with infrastructure for shelter, sanitation, and clean water. Healthcare facilities provide clinical services, immunizations, maternal and childcare. Tackling malnutrition and preventing communicable diseases get special attention.
In an echo of Bangladesh’s own development journey, fostering hope, empowering communities, and rebuilding productive lives are recognised as important to enhance future prospects for the refugees. Learning centres provide basic education, vocational training and skills development to thousands of refugee children and youth. Bangladesh has also established legal aid services to guide refugees seeking justice and protection in collaboration with international partners. That includes registering and documenting all refugees to further safeguard their rights.
The Rohingya have been fleeing Myanmar for at least 50 years, with big purges in 1978, 1992, 2012, and the biggestever exodus in 2016. No one becomes a refugee out of choice, and none want to stay exiled longer than necessary. Neither do they wish to depend on the charity of others. “We don’t want to be confined in camps. We want to get back our land, and we will build our own houses there,” said Oli Hossain. Another refugee, Abu Sufian, added that “We want nothing but a safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable repatriation.” Rohingya prospects were discussed recently in Geneva between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. Long-term solutions require most refugees to eventually return home with a minority settling permanently in Bangladesh or third countries.
The Muslim Rohingya fled their Buddhist-dominated homeland in Rakhine state where they had lived for centuries because the Myanmar state and military denied their ethnic identity, cancelled their citizenship and inflicted terrible violence and atrocities that are alleged as genocide in a case working its way through the International Court of Justice. There are no prospects of meaningful Rohingya returns while Myanmar’s repressive regime continues and the nation remains embroiled in other internal conflicts. Overall, these have forcibly displaced around 3 million Myanmar people, mostly minorities living at the periphery of this vast nation.
Re-settlement in other countries is relatively modest. Malaysia hosts around 150,000 Rohingya, Thailand nearly 100,000, and small numbers live precariously in India, Nepal, and Indonesia. Hundreds of fleeing Rohingya have lost their lives in perilous sea crossings. Safer migration and re-settlement in Asia-Pacific or in the West should be possible if nations act in solidarity according to their Refugee Convention obligations. The energy and enterprise of the Rohingya make them an asset to any country that admits them.
The global refugee system is heavily-stretched, and a refugee may, on average, spend twenty years in limbo before finding a durable solution. That is both inhumane and a waste of human resources. Recognising that most of the Rohingya are likely to stay in Bangladesh for some time before returning home means helping the Bangladesh authorities and international agencies to care for them in a more sustained manner. Also, enabling the refugees to depend less on humanitarian aid and contribute more to their host country’s economy and development. Fairness also requires helping the approximately 538,000 local Bangladeshi population to benefit equitably from hosting their Rohingya guests. De-congesting Cox’s Bazar by voluntarily relocating some of the Rohingya to safe parts of the country can ease and distribute the burden.
But the challenges are considerable. The Rohingya Humanitarian Response Plan of the United Nations and partners seeks US$875.9 million for 2023 of which only 28% had been received at mid-year. Recently, Rohingya food rations have had to be cut… again and again. Discontent and insecurity are to be feared in a geopolitically sensitive part of the world. Of course, there is also much pain and suffering in other parts of the world. But there are still enough resources to go around even under current difficult global scenarios. The world’s dispossessed should not be put into undignified competition with each other.
Neither Bangladesh nor the Rohingya should be left alone and the international community must be more generous in playing its part. This can be a collective win-win and breathe genuine meaning into this year’s World Refugee Day slogan to bring “hope away from home”..."
Source/publisher:
E-International Relations
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-13
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Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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