Chitagong, May 22: The Muslim ethnic
minority (Rohingyas) continue to suffer from multiple
restriction and human rights violations, said Amnesty International on
Wednesday,
They, generally known as the Rohingyas, who live in
northern Arakan (Rakhine)
State, western Burma are often forced to work on roads and at military camps
and they are also subjected to forced eviction and house destruction, land
confiscation and various forms of extortion and arbitrary taxation including
financial restrictions on marriage, the rights group said.
Amnesty called on the junta to ease its discrimination against the group,
including harsh citizenship laws, which excluded many Rohingyas
from being naturalized even tough their ancestors have reportedly lived in the
country for generations.
Amnesty International is concerned that the local
The vast majority of Rohingyas are effectively denied
Burmese citizenship, rendering them stateless, Amnesty said.
Rohingyas are often unable to seek employment outside
their village or trade goods and produce unless they have official permission
and obtain a pass, which they must pay for and often cannot afford. As an
estimated half of the Rohingyas are poor day
laborers, these restrictions on their movement also greatly affect
their ability to find work in other villages or towns.
As the junta doesn’t recognize the Rohingyas as an
ethnic group, they have not been invited to the national convention currently
underway in
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