UN assembly concerned about Kachin conflict and Rohingya

UN assembly concerned about Kachin conflict and Rohingya

A resolution passed on Monday by the 193 member third committee of the United Nations General Assembly reiterated the International community's growing concern about human rights abuses in Kachin and Arakan (Rakhine) state.

Rohingya Americans Praise Obama’s Speech

BURMA

By LALIT K JHA / THE IRRAWADDY|

US President Barack Obama gives a speech at historic Rangoon 

University on Monday. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

WASHINGTON—The Rohingya community in the United States on Monday welcomed US President Barack Obama’s speech in Rangoon and, along with other Burmese communities and rights bodies, urged him not to ignore human rights issues in the country.

Rakhines again set on fire Rohingya village in Maungdaw south

Maungdaw, Arakan state:  A group of Rakhines from Kanbay Natala –news shelter villager- together with Burmese border security force (Nasaka) are setting on fire to Horsara under Zaw Matet village tract – a   Rohingya village, today, according to a village elder.

“The Horsara village is situated near the Maungdaw- Aley Than Kyaw highway and beside a new shelter village (natala) and Nasaka outpost under Nasaka area number 7. The Nasaka always harass the Rohingya villagers and the travelers on this road. With them, the new shelter also giving trouble to Rohingya community who pass this point.”

Burma: Satellite Images Show Widespread Attacks on Rohingya

Obama Should Press Thein Sein to End Sectarian Violence

November 17, 2012

• 
  Town of Pauktaw, Pauktaw Township, on 8 November 2012: Post-attack overview of the two zones of building destruction. .
  Damage Analysis: Human Rights Watch; Satellite Sensor: Pléiades-1; Image © ASTRIUM 2012; Source: SpotImage

Downloadable Resources: 

Damage analysis, Pauktaw Township

Damage analysis, Yan Thei, Mrauk-U Township

Damage analysis, Myebon Township

Damage analysis, Sittwe

Related Materials: 

“The Government Could Have Stopped This”

NaSaKa Tortured Rohingya Family to Sign as Bangali on Forms in Pauk Taw Tsp

         Myanmar government organized a commission which includes Immigration, Nasaka(Boarder Security Force), Military, etc to investigate Rohingyas if they are citizens of Myanmar according to the 1982 citizenship law or not. They are using three questioning forms (papers).

           According to a local Rohingya from Pauk Taw, on 10^th of Nov 2012, the commission went to the house of Soyod Hussein @ Dudu Meya s/o Abdu Sothor in Anauk Yway @ Aanu Raing village tract, Pauk Taw town ship and forcibly asked Soyod Hussein and his son Emam Hussein to sign on the form (mentioning their ethnicity and religion as Begali and Islam).

 The Rohingyas denied to sign saying “we are not Begali, we are Rohingyas”. Then they were seriously beaten, at the end they were made to sign on the forms by torturing.


Source: Here

BROUK Speaks at British Parliament Press Conference

Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, spoke today at a press conference held in British Parliament on the Rohingya crisis. The press conference was organized by Rushanara Ali MP, Labour shadow minister for International Development. The main speakers at the press conference are Rushanara Ali MP Jonathan Ashworth MP, Baroness Kinnock Chairman of All Party Parliamentary Group Democracy for Burma, Sadiq Khan Shadow Justice Secretary, Baroness Uddin from House of Lords, Tun Khin President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, Mark Farmaner from Burma Campaign UK. At the Press conference MP’s office staffs, NGOs, Foreign Common Wealth Office staff and Medias were attended.

Foreign aid workers burned by Myanmar’s ethnic fires

Angry anti-Muslim factions threaten United Nations, Doctors Without Borders.

Patrick WinnNovember 12, 2012 06:21

 

Satellite imagery published by Human Rights Watch in October shows the devastation of an arson spree in Kyauk Pyu, one of several areas afflicted by ethnic violence between the Muslim Rohingya and local Buddhists in Myanmar's coastal Rakhine State. According to the UN, roughly 28,000 people, most of them Rohingya, have been displaced into fields and temporary camps. (Human Rights Watch/Courtesy)

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Plight Of The Rohingya: ASEAN Credibility Again At Stake – Analysis

By: RSIS
November 12, 2012

The suffering of the Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine state is putting pressure on ASEAN to intervene. Coming just before their 21st Summit, the wisdom and stewardship of ASEAN leaders will be tested once again.

By Yang Razali Kassim

THE PLIGHT of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar – whom some label as victims of “ethnic persecution” – is threatening to blow up in the face of ASEAN, just weeks before the regional grouping convenes its 21th summit this month in Cambodia. To help defuse the humanitarian fallout from the Rohingya crisis, ASEAN has offered to work closely with the Myanmar government and the United Nations in the same way this tripartite arrangement effectively provided relief to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Activists in French capital support Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar

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Related Viewpoints:

• Myanmar kills Muslims and that’s fine!

Activists in Paris have staged a demonstration to mark the global day of action against the massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by extremist Buddhists, Press TV reports.

ERT Issues Emergency Report and Writes to Myanmar President on Violence in Rakhine State

London, 2 November 2012

The Rohingya of Myanmar have been subject to systematic, state sponsored attacks in Rakhine State, Myanmar, since June this year. The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) has been monitoring the situation and making recommendations since the outset of the violence. However, past recommendations made by ERT and other human rights organisations to the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh and to the international community have not been adequately acted on. In October 2012, a new outbreak of more intense and widespread violence has begun. The nature and extent of this new violence together with mass evictions and forced relocation of Muslims by security forces has resulted in claims of ethnic cleansing being made by many advocacy groups. ERT is of the position that unless decisive action is taken, the violence is likely to continue and increase, and will have a devastating impact on the Rohingya and other Muslim communities of the country, destabilising Myanmar and having security and human rights repercussions throughout the region.

ASEAN declaration falls short on human rights: UN

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, says drafts of the ASEAN Declaration of Human Rights may not meet international human rights standards.

A Rohingya woman from Burma, who tried to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, cries while holding her six-day-old baby in a Bangladeshi coast guard station, before being sent back to Burma. 

 

Ms Pillay says the Declaration should be postponed, because of the inadequate involvement of civil society and other stakeholders in the drafting of the Declaration.

A Joint Statement of undersigned 12 Rohingya Organizations

(Date: November 10, 2012)

“Immigration Check to the Muslims of Arakan by the Burmese Government”

We, the undersigned following Rohingya organizations are deeply concerned about the current inhuman treatment and behaviors of the Burmese Immigration Department of Arakan ruling political party (RNDP) by the order and direction of President Thein Sein to check the immigration status of the Muslims of Arakan known as Rohingyas with the pretext of Data collection and immigration status under the Burma’s 1982 discriminatory citizenship law (Black Law) to grant citizenship sorting out the illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. The Data collection and checking immigration status launched since November 06, 2012 starting from the Muslim Rohingya villages of Pauktaw Township, Arakan State.

Displaced and stateless Rohingyas fleeing hell and facing limbo

By SHARUNA VERGHIS

 

Stateless Rohingya children in material and environmental disadvantage face severe consequences on their physical and mental health in adulthood.

Displaced and stateless Rohingyas face a life of disadvantage, and a future of untold health risks.

UN calls on Myanmar to allow Rohingyas to become citizens

NUSA DUA (Indonesia), Nov 9: The UN human rights chief called on Myanmar on Friday to allow Muslim Rohingyas to become citizens after deadly sectarian violence in recent months in the western state of Rakhine.

The group’s statelessness is at the heart of two major outbreaks of unrest between Buddhist and Muslim communities that has left 180 dead and forced more than 110,000, mainly Rohingya, into makeshift camps since June.

End persecution

Nov 10, 2012

The situation faced by the Rohingyas in Myanmar’s western Rakhine region is the most serious political and humanitarian problem for the country’s government which has softened its policies lately and is trying to acquire a new image. The issue has also acquired international dimensions with the attempts of the persecuted Rohingyas to flee to other countries, especially to Bangladesh and Malaysia. Bangladesh has completely sealed its land border with Myanmar to stop the Rohingyas from coming in and many of them are now undertaking perilous journeys to Malaysia in rickety boats. The UN has described the Rohingyas as among the most persecuted minorities and there is even a demand for UN peacekeeping forces to be stationed in the Rakhine area.

Protest calls for Morsy to take a stand on violence in Myanmar

Around 100 members of the Free Egyptians Party (FEP) marched through Zamalek on Sunday to call for President Mohamed Morsy to take a stance on the violence against Muslims in Myanmar. The protest marched up Brazil Street towards the Embassy of Myanmar, only to be stopped by police 100 metres away from their target.

Members of the Free Egyptian Party march through Zamelek calling on President Morsy to take a stance on the violence against Muslims in Myanmar
(Photo by Joel Gulhane)

The Burmese Aren't Very Nice to Rohingya Muslims

News

By Patrick Henderson

On October 24th, fires raged through a neighbourhood in the coastal town of Kyaukpyu, Burma. Over 800 homes and houseboats were destroyed, 14 hectares of land were obliterated and thousands were left homeless, purely because the area is home to the Rohingya, a Muslim group that the UN have labelled as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. 

Integrated approach to Rohingya issue

The fresh outbreak of sectarian violence in the strife-torn Rakhine State of Myanmar is a matter of grave concern from whichever point of view it is seen. According to latest estimates, over 28,000 people have become homeless after more than a week of clashes between the warring communities of Rakhine and Rohingya, which witnessed death of some 90 people and gross violation of human rights. The manner in which fuel was put on the fire of violence in the name of cleansing of ‘stateless’ Rohingyas is quite unprecedented.

In Corner of Myanmar, Muslims Seek Relief

U.S  EDITION
Friday, November 2, 2012 As of 6:59 PM EDT

November 2, 2012, 6:59 p.m. ET

A Port-Town Ghetto Springs Up as Checkpoints, Violence Hem In Rohingyas; Clashes Threaten Economic, Democratic Gains

James Hookway/The Wall Street Journal

 

Soldiers march in Sittwe, capital of Rakhine state, on Wednesday.

SITTWE, Myanmar—A Muslim enclave in this scrappy port town on the Bay of Bengal is quickly turning into a prison-like ghetto, highlighting the risk that Myanmar's dramatic democratic revival could unleash centuries-old ethnic hatreds that had partly been held in check by nearly 50 years of military rule.

In Corner of Myanmar, Muslims Seek Relief

U.S  EDITION
Friday, November 2, 2012 As of 6:59 PM EDT

November 2, 2012, 6:59 p.m. ET

A Port-Town Ghetto Springs Up as Checkpoints, Violence Hem In Rohingyas; Clashes Threaten Economic, Democratic Gains

James Hookway/The Wall Street Journal

 

Soldiers march in Sittwe, capital of Rakhine state, on Wednesday.

SITTWE, Myanmar—A Muslim enclave in this scrappy port town on the Bay of Bengal is quickly turning into a prison-like ghetto, highlighting the risk that Myanmar's dramatic democratic revival could unleash centuries-old ethnic hatreds that had partly been held in check by nearly 50 years of military rule.

REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Myanmar

Adrian Edwards for the High Commissioner for Refugees said the government now estimated that in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state more than 35,000 people have now been displaced by the ongoing inter-communal violence. UNHCR staff had travelled to affected villages and found groups of displaced people in urgent need of food and shelter.

The Myanmar authorities had granted permission for humanitarian teams to assess the situation and needs in areas affected by the unrest that started nearly two weeks ago. In the last two days UNHCR staff had conducted inter-agency visits to several villages in Myebon, Mrauk-U and Minbya townships, to the east and north-east of Rakhine’s state capital Sittwe.

The police and army were present in all the villages visited. UNHCR staff spoke to displaced people who shared their fears of being attacked again if the troops left. Medical staff in the assessment teams were able to treat many of the wounded, including people suffering from burns, gunshot and arrow injuries. There were also a number of new mothers – 14 in two villages – who said their labour had been induced by the violence.

A few families said children had been left behind when they fled. Among the children who made it to safety - many were malnourished. Most of the displaced people UNHCR staff met said they needed food and shelter material. Aid agencies including UNHCR had sent food and plastic sheets but there were still many needs to be met.

The latest wave of unrest brought to 110,000 the total number of people displaced by inter-communal violence in Rakhine state since June this year. UNHCR had joined the international community in calling for an immediate return to calm between the communities.

Answering questions he said the figures quoted came from the Government and there was not sufficient visibility for UNHCR to do their own registrations.

Elisabeth Byrs for the World Food Programme said the WFP was providing food assistance to more than 65,000 people who were deplaced in June and was looking to increase its operations in the region. It was delivering food by boat, considered the easiest method to reach isolated villages.

Myanmar unrest could develop into 'terrorism': govt

AFPNovember 1, 2012, 3:29 am

AFP © Enlarge photo

YANGON (AFP) - Communal bloodshed in western Myanmar risks developing into "armed terrorist acts", the government said Wednesday, after security forces were targeted by homemade firearms in deadly fighting.

Myanmar said 180 guns were seized during the new wave of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state, which has killed dozens, displaced tens of thousands and seen whole neighbourhoods razed.

It said several people had been arrested on suspicion of making the weapons.

"The clashes between two communities are likely to turn from normal unrest to armed terrorist acts after the security forces were attacked with handmade guns," the government said, in a statement on the president's website.

World Bank approves first Myanmar aid in 25 years

Saturday, 03 November 2012

Author / Source: AFP

YANGON, Nov 2: The World Bank will inject $245 million of aid into Myanmar to support its reform drive, resuming assistance for the former pariah nation after a quarter-century absence, officials said Friday. The Bank has earmarked $80 million for a grant and $165 million for a no-interest loan for poverty alleviation schemes, including microfinance, according to the bank’s office in Yangon. Infrastructure projects in villages in rural areas would be among the beneficiaries, the bank said after its board of directors in Washington approved a new strategy for helping the former junta-ruled country.

Rohingya Memorandums to World Leaders

On 2nd November 2012, a five member delegates from the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization in Malaysia (MERHROM), has handed over memorandums to the American Embassy, British High Commission, Chinese Embassy and European Union situated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, demanding urgent intervention to stop killings and conflict. Full text of memorandum is as follows:

Rohingya appeal to world leaders

KUALA LUMPUR: Rohingya living in Malaysia have made a strong plea to world leaders to stop the ethnic cleansing of their countrymen in the Myanmar state of Arakan.

International support needed to protect Rohingyas from persecution

Written by Human Security Alliance, Asian Muslim Action Network and Odhikar

Posted: 02 November 2012 14:48

For Immediate Release Dated: October 26, 2012 Joint Statement from Human Security Alliance, Asian Muslim Action Network and Odhikar International support needed to protect Rohingyas from persecution We, the undersigned organizations are deeply concerned at the recent reports in the international media that scores of Rohingyas were killed in the fresh outbreak of violence in the northern Arakan state.

CSW CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL ACTION TO END VIOLENCE IN ARAKAN STATE, BURMA

For Immediate Release

1 November 2012

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is calling on the international community to invoke the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ principle, in light of the Burmese Government’s failure to end the conflict in Arakan State, western Burma, between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. 

Refugees believed drowned fleeing Burma violence

Perilous voyages ... boats carrying Rohingya Muslims from Burma are intercepted by coast guard officials while trying to cross to Bangladesh earlier this year. Photo: AFP

At least 130 refugees fleeing violence in western Burma are believed to have drowned when an overcrowded fishing boat capsized and sank. Six survivors were rescued by local fishermen, local activists said.