2011/06/22 By ZAFAR AHMAD ABDUL GHANI, President Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organisation Malaysia Kuala Lumpur (letters@nst.com.my) JUNE 20 was World Refugee Day. The Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organisation Malaysia (Merh-rom) regrets that there is no change in our condition over the years. June 20 also marked the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention. We must analyse whether this convention has done enough to protect refugees.
United Nations agencies, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), parties to the Refugee Convention and world leaders must adopt new strategies to deal with refugee issues.
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Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Refugees: UN convention fails to protect displaced people
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
New Refugee Arrests Undermine Recent Progress
 In this photo taken on Feb. 16, 2011, Rohingya boat people wait for medical treatment after being rescued, at a port in Aceh Besar, Aceh province, Indonesia. (Photo: AP) BANGKOK - on June 7, the day after 96 Pakistani Ahmadiyah refugees and asylum seekers were freed on bail in what was hailed as a landmark new departure in Thailand's dealings with refugees, six other Pakistani asylum seekers and one refugee were arrested in Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok. The seven were sent to Bangkok's Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre (IDC), site of the high-profile June 6 release, says the UN refugee agency (UNCHR). "We are deeply concerned about these arrests that just increase the sense of insecurity that refugees and asylum seekers already feel", said Jean-Noël Wetterwald, UNHCR regional representative and coordinator for Southeast Asia. The June 7 arrests were followed up on June 9 with the arrest of nine more Ahmadiyah asylum-seekers in Ayutthuya, with still more Ahmadiyah detained on June 15. The new arrests include children under five years old, as well as a number of Sri Lankan nationals. The Ahmadiyah are members of a minority Islamic group that is oppressed in Pakistan, where they are not recognized as Muslims and are often victims of sectarian violence. Speaking on Monday evening at Bangkok's Foreign Correspondent's Club, Thailand National Human Rights Commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara described possible human rights violations at the IDC, such as detention conditions he depicted as crowded and unhealthy. One year ago today, Thailand assumed the Presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Thailand has long been a destination for refugees fleeing oppression in south and southeastern Asia, and currently around 140,000 Burmese refugees are in Thailand, mostly in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border. Monday, June 20, was World Refugee Day, with Burma cited as the world's fifth-highest source of refugees with 415,700 worldwide, around 200,000 of which are Rohingya. The Rohingya are a Muslim people numbering around one million, mostly living in northern Arakan State in western Burma. They are denied Burmese citizenship and have long been persecuted. According to Refugees International, state and army land seizures, forced labor, arbitrary arrests and extortion of Rohngya are common. More than 40 Rohngya are detained in Suan Plu IDC, which sits close to the main banking and finance district in Bangkok. Others are held elsewhere in Thailand, some of whom have languished inside detention centers for more than two years, although negotiations are taking place between refugee rights groups and the Thai authorities for the release of the Rohingya detainees. In early 2009, allegations that the Thai army abandoned nearly 1,000 Rohingya at sea caused international anger, prompting then newly-installed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva to say he would investigate the claims. A diplomatic cable sent from the US Embassy in Bangkok, which was released early on Tuesday, outlined that prior to March 2009, the US sought to influence Thailand's 'pushback' of Rohingya trying to enter Thailand by sea. The American representatives, including then-Ambassador to Thailand Eric John, said they raised the issue with Thai officials and lawmakers, including PM Abhisit, resulting in what the Americans perceived to be a temporary respite in Thailand's maritime pushbacks. The cable acknowledged the role played by media coverage, including that of The Irrawaddy, in pressuring the Thai authorities to relax the pushbacks. After the advocacy push and media coverage, the next group of Rohingya arrivals to Thailand's shores were well-treated, according to the US account. However, the Thai authorities cited their concerns that the granting of full refugee status to a party of 78 Rohingya being held at Ranong would prompt more refugees to come to Thailand in the hope of acquiring the same status and possible eventual third-country resettlement to a Western nation. The cable mentioned US efforts to address the 'root causes' of the Rohingya problem, namely the human rights situation in Burma and Arakan State specifically. The US said it wanted Burma's fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to pressure Burma into improving conditions in Rohingya-populated regions of Burma, measures that some analysts believe would reduce the numbers of Rohingya seeking refuge abroad. On June 9, US Assistant Secretary for Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration Eric P Schwartz reiterated the American position that "the solution to the Rohingya issue lies in Burma." However, it is not clear that the US can convince Burma's neighbors that Burmese Government policy toward Rohingya is the cause of their flight to Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia . By SIMON ROUGHNEEN Tuesday, June 21, 2011 |
Monday, June 20, 2011
Burma a top source country for Refugees
 Burma produces the world's fifth highest number of refugees, above that of both war-torn Sudan and Colombia, according to a UN report released today to mark World Refugee Day. It emphasised that developing countries are the ones who are shouldering the burden of those fleeing violence and persecution, a concern that will ring true for the hundreds of thousands who have escaped Burma to neighbouring Thailand and Bangladesh. The report found that 415,700 registered refugees hail from Burma, which places it in the top five of global source countries, and the highest in East Asia. The top country, Afghanistan, has produced more than three million refugees. State-sanctioned persecution against the Muslim Rohingya minority group in western Burma has led to hundreds of thousands fleeing across the border to Bangladesh. Only 28,000 of these are registered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which says another 200,000 live in squalid, unofficial refugee camps. Other estimates have put the figure close to 400,000. Kitty McKinsey, Asia-Pacific spokesperson for the UNHCR, which released the annual Global Trends 2010 report today, told DVB that the Bangladeshi government has "not permitted" the agency to register the vast majority of Rohingya, who hail from western Burma's Arakan state. Those who are unregistered and who live outside of the two official UN-run camps lead a "precarious existence", McKinsey said, where they cannot access education and healthcare and have no official identity. Aid group Medicins Sans Frontiers have said previously that the Rohingya are subject to a "chronic humanitarian crises". The report also said that Thailand was sheltering 96,675 refugees in nine camps along the border with Burma. Sally Thompson, deputy director of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), said however that this figure does not account for the 50,000 or so who have arrived from Burma since the last official registration in 2005. TBBC puts the figure living in camps at 143,000, nearly 80 percent of whom are from war-torn Karen state, where the insurgent Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) has been battling the Burmese government for more than 60 years. Thompson said however that the UNHCR's figures do not tell the whole story. "Outside of the camp we believe that many of the people who are in the migrant work force would have same claims as the people in refugee camps", she told DVB. Around three million Burmese in total are estimated to be living in Thailand. TBBC also believes there are around 450,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in rural eastern Burma alone, many of whom have fled their villages and live in makeshift homes in the jungle. The UN report said that 797,388 stateless people were living within Burma's borders out of a total population "of concern" of 859,403. McKinsey said the stateless figure referred to those in northern Arakan state where the Rohingya hail from. Gains have also been made in the past year: close to 20,000 refugees from Burma have now been resettled by the UNHCR, more than any other population documented in the report. Additionally, Japan's first ever intake of resettled refugees last year were from Karen state. Source: Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) |
Statement on the World Refugee Day 2011: Squalid Condition of the Rohingya Burmese Refugees in the World
| 20 June 2011
Press Release
Statement on the World Refugee Day 2011: Squalid Condition of the Rohingya Burmese Refugees in the World
We, National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR) (exile)-Headquarters based in the United States of America and the South East Asia Regional Office in Malaysia, would like to express our concern over Burma's regime's installation of the worst proportion of inhuman pogrom against ethnic minorities in Burma. Particularly of the Rohingyas in western border of Burma through out the forced labour, force eviction, forced extortion, forced extermination, forced relocation, torture, extra judicial killings, rape, model village settlement, restriction on their movement and freedom of worship, education, social and business development Rohingya refugees which make continuous flow of refugees. Hence the Rohingya Burmese refugees are languishing under the traumatic mistreatments around the world specifically in Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Suadi Arabia.
As Rohingya refugees are Burma's first refugees and defined as the world most oppressed group, the plights received international attention and UNHCR's supports thereupon global leaders have yet to pave solution for the plights. In Bangladesh, the situation is cramp and the government restricts aid of Rohingya. About 28,000 Rohingya Burmese refugees are in squalid at the UNHCR runs camps of Kutupalong and Nayapara in southern district of Cox's Bazar, have been there for three decades, and about 30,000 Rohingyas in unregistered camp are for years. While no one know how the rest about 250,000 Rohingyas in outside refugee camps are surviving. The UNHCR has resettled less than thousand Rohingyas from the registered camps since the year 2006. The enormous problems in Bangladesh are direct impacts on vulnerable Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Despite having well knowledge of the world on repatriated refugees, UNHCR and Bangladeshi government have still uphold to establish agreement with Burma for involuntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees. We would like to call upon Bangladesh itself depends on funds, should not ban international aid of the other and to respect non-refoulement and customary laws. The expression of majority willing to repatriate by UNHCR in Aug 1994 was flawed after MSF survey in March 1995 revealed that 63% did not want to repatriate. Therefore we deeply concern for processing of repatriation of Rohingya refugees which advantages on their malnutrition or starvation, stuck, with other stimulation by offers.
In Thailand, recent repeated mistreatments towards Rohingya boat people show Thai-authorities barbarous commitment of genocide crimes against humanity and defiance against international communities and international laws. Thai army and Internal Security Operation Command-ISOC are responsible for misconception of the Rohingya as threat to Thai national security.
That lead in March 2008, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej attempted to explore a deserted island to place Rohingya refugees living in Thailand, Bankok Post Paper on 28 March 2008.
Again in Dec 2008, total about 1116 Rohingya and some Bangladeshi boat people were towed into international waters and more than half were feared dead including firing, some were shot dead on boat and some were thrown over boat to drown.
Current PM Abhisit Vejjajiva had promise to hold all those involved to account. Instead of investigation to bring into account or compensation for those lost of lives, Thai PM is still upheld its authorities to treat rank-less behaviour towards vulnerable boat people.
Again in Jan 2011, three boats of Rohingya refugees landed over the weekend of January in Southern Thai-waters, were similarly pushed back into international waters. A group 91 persons rescued near India-Andaman Island and another group 129 persons rescued near Indo-Acheh.
We therefore would like to urge international community to take action on Thai-authority and PM for pursuing similar crimes.
In Saudi Arabia, Rohingyas been there for five decades and still facing arrests, detentions and forceful deportations, and exempt from basic rights. They are living mostly in Makkah, Jeddah and Madina in poor conditions. Even though Former King Abdullah had showed a little favour towards their plights, detention of Rohingyas is slightly increased from 5,000 persons estimated in 2008 Oct who were nab from Mecca and Jeddah. Those detainees were forced to accept to say Bangladeshi and several hundreds were deported to Bangladesh in this manner. They are kept without adequate foods and equipments in dilapidated buildings by guarding due to overcrowding in prisons and failure of deportation.
Most of them are in inhuman situation and suffering from types of diseases, shortage of food and in non hygienic and squalid environment. Half of those detained in dilapidated building had been escaped. This kind of treatments are totally unexpectable in Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia therefore we would like to call Saudi Arabia to show humanity towards its Muslim brothers and at least they must be protected under Islamic universal Laws.
In Malaysia Rohingyas is the first among Burmese refugee groups. Rohingya refugees in Malaysia have been languishing more than two decades in limbo with lack of basic needs. Malaysia is not a signatory country therefore Rohingya refugees are still subject to arrest, detention and other abuses. Current UNHCR representative has yet to explore assistance of widow, over aged and sick Rohingyas, Rohingya families whose husband are kept in Australian detentions, registration of unregistered Rohingyas whose data were collected since the mid-2009, fair and equal opportunity in resettlement quota. Because there are less than 250 Rohingyas found in UNHCR resettlement, about 43,000 refugees from Malaysia in the past decade. Compare to the past years UNHCR has able to get release of refugee detainees from some detentions. But it does not mean they are protected. There are still swapped in raids and hundreds of unreported numbers are still languished and detained in dehumanized conditions where UNHCR service not explore or access. The Malaysian government is also still silent on Home Minister said in Feb 2010 that the refugees to be allowed to work was being considered while waiting to be resettled in third countries. We would like to call Malaysian government to corporate to find permanent solution for the plights of Rohingyas refugees in Malaysia and to upgrade its detention system.
Repressions of oppressed Rohingya refugees in host countries became one of the issues why Rohingya refugees in neighboring countries are busy to find a safe place through risky journey. We see secondary movements of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Malaysia and Rohingya refugees in Malaysia departing for Australia because they expect to find more secure and safe place. From the year 2006, we escalated that total Rohingyans landed to Australia from Malaysia are; 8 Rohingyans by a boat in Aug 2006, 42 Rohingyans by four different boats in between September to Dec 2009, 98 Rohingyans and 8 different ethnic Burmeses by six different boats in between March to October 2010 and recently 18 Rohingyans landed near Ashmore Reef by a boat on 12 May 2011. This last group was told that they would be transferred to where they came from and they are kept separately for final decision near North West Point Immigration Detention Centre of Christmas Island. One of the key reasons of their arrival was after the talk of swap deal. We urge Malaysian government not to accept this 18 Rohingya men as Malaysia is not in position to fulfill their basic needs and Malaysia has yet to settle existing Rohingya cases.
108 Rohingyans landed by a boat in Pulau Kendi, off Penang on 4 March 2007, were detained in Juru detention camps and half of them were deported to Burma border through voluntary corporation with Thai. The rest were langusihed for fear of repatriation so that they were finally handed over to human traffickers in Malays-Thai border.
A few of trafficked in fishing boat were landed in Terenganu beach in Oct 2007 after broke down the engine. They were detained in Ajil detention camp and some accessed UNHCR's intervention.
93 Rohingyans landed by a boat in Kedah in Mrch 2010 after received aid from Thai. They were detained prolong then finally some got UNHCR's intervention.
Some of those Thai pushed back Rohingya boat people in Indonesia captured in Malay-waters in March 2010, were detained prolong and a few were met UNHCR assessment.
We also found that Rohingya boat people asylum-seekers in Australian detentions are being the longest group and treated unequally in visa processing and then detained inappropriately by advantaging on security checks despite Australia has well understanding about Rohingya position and Australia itself is one of the country which advocate for their plights and contributed for the welfare of Rohingyas both in home and exile. Such prolong detention contracts psychological torture and affects mental and then that bruise their families left behind. On the consequences of pressure so far 32 of 42 Rohingya refugees arrival in 2009 were released after averagely detained 13 months, the rest six persons in Northern Immigration Detention Centre (NIDC), 3 persons in Villawood and one person in Maribyrnong detentions are still languishing in limbo. Including two of them; Mr Habiburahman is head and Mr Sayad Kasim is Joint Secretary of NDPHR (exile) South East Asia Regional Office based in KL, Malaysia, have been detaining now in 18 months in NIDC. Their lives in Malaysia were risked and they both had been personally experienced with arrests, detentions and deportation to human traffickers in Malay-Thai border.
We acknowledged their detention is worst than mandatory detention as mandatory detention has a mandate with key values which ensure fair and humane treatment. The period of their detention excessive length of proper process while thousands of clients who arrived lately and faking Rohingya cases were already released. Unfortunately, such indefinite detention doesn't import the way to have good conduct and good order in Australian society. They proved their identities received UNHCR-Malaysia but their cases are still hanging for puppet security checks regardless of government notice released on 17 March 2011. There is no Rohingya threat to Burmese society or other country. Rohingya community in Burma have been terrorized at least five decades by terror military government. Moreover, they are bounded in the cycle of arrests, detentions, deportations and other brutal abuses in neighbouring countries. Therefore, their detention is nothing more than arbitrary detention of innocent refugees.
We concerns seriously for prolong detention of the world most oppressed Rohingya refugee asylum-seekers detained in Australia and Australia as a leader in humanitarian fields and that uplift international laws, should not detained inappropriately, nor materialize the swap deal to send back Rohingya refugee boat people asylum-seekers to the country where is not safe for refugees and asylum-seekers even for legal migrants. Despite boat people issue in Australia brought to a hot debate by politicians, their rights in Australian territory should not be deprived for political interaction. This is nothing more than degrading of Australia's human rights record and letting to mess-up the situation.
In summary we also would like to call international communities to encourage UNSC to take action unexceptionally on military regime. Burma's neighbouring countries or its associations does not import security and safety of the Burmese people therefore there is nothing to rely on them.
Thank you,
Executive Committee National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR), exile Headquarters, United States of America
For media contact: Kyaw Soe Aung Te: +14147364273 |
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Australia seeks UN agency nod to seal Malaysia refugee swap
The newspaper reported that Canberra’s planned refugee swap deal with Putrajaya has run into “a potentially serious snag, with the United Nations refugee agency failing to give its immediate blessing”.
“UNHCR endorsement of the so-called ‘Malaysia solution’ will be critical for the government to secure backbench support and to counter suggestions that the deal will abrogate Australia’s human rights and child protection responsibilities,” the newspaper said today.
Malaysia is not a signatory to UN refugee covenant but UNHCR offices in Canberra and Kuala Lumpur have signalled their readiness to endorse a deal on the grounds “it would improve protection for refugees in Malaysia and provide a basis for regional co-operation”, the paper added.
Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has also assured Labor’s Left that the UNHCR is on board, and had been expected to announce a deal this week, the paper said.
“But it is understood that the UNHCR’s Geneva head office is being extra cautious about the deal. It wants guarantees, for example, that none of the asylum seekers will be returned to their countries of origin against their will.
“An informed source said ‘purists’ in Geneva were taking extra time before giving UNHCR endorsement. Malaysian officials had also been dispatched to Geneva to promote the final memorandum of understanding,” the newspaper reported.
‘‘Discussions around the proposed [deal] raise important principles of refugee protection that need to be carefully assessed,’’ a spokesman for the UNHCR Canberra representative, Richard Towle, said. ‘‘UNHCR remains actively involved in those discussions.’’
The newspaper reported that the fact that the deal commits Australia to taking 4,000 refugees from Malaysia in exchange for the transfer to Malaysia of 800 asylum seekers who arrive by boat in Australian waters is seen as a positive by some UNHCR officials as it raises Australia’s overall intake of refugees.
Under the deal, the asylum seekers sent from Australia to Kuala Lumpur will spend an initial period in a processing centre undergoing health and identity checks.
They will then be issued UNHCR cards that confirm they are not illegal immigrants and will live in the community as they wait years for UNHCR processing.
Both countries have not publicly said who the refugees are under the swap deal but The Malaysian Insider understands it could include Iranians, who have been hitting headlines of late on suspicion of being drug mules in Malaysia.
It is expected the deal will see Australia provide funding to the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration to cover the health and education costs of the group, as well as covering all Malaysian government’s costs.
As a sweetener, Australia is expected to fund an expanded presence for the UNHCR in Malaysia, where the agency struggles to assist and monitor at least 90,000 refugees.
An Australian source played down the Geneva meeting, saying it was inevitable that face-to-face talks at the UNHCR headquarters would be needed to finalise operational details, the daily said.
UNHCR officials had been briefed on the deal from the outset and had always offered qualified support, a source told The Age.
Source: The Malaysian Insider
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Immigration Minister loses to APP activists
Report from Nick Folkes
Time and time again Chris Bowen has proven to be a disappointment to the Australian public due to his utter incompetence, vacuous positions and constant charades. This is the same minister who put together FuelWatch and GroceryChoice with dethroned Kevin Rudd. Unfortunately for the people of Australia, Bowen now oversees the portfolio of Immigration and Citizenship with dire consequences.
While listening to 2GB radio on Friday 13th May a couple of irate Fairfield residents alerted listeners to Chris Bowen’s Sunday BBQ at South-Western Regional Park. The 2GB callers complained about Chris Bowen and his poor performance handling the asylum shopper explosion that has seen Australia accept record numbers of illegal boatpeople due to a lack of legislation and enforcement. Chris would have to be one of the clumsiest frontbenchers known to the public, with a sad record to prove his uselessness. In all honestly, Chris Bowen is as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike.
In the previous weeks, Chris Bowen’s office had circulated a flyer promoting the Sunday BBQ to Fairfield residents. The flyer encouraged residents in the local area to come along, ask questions and dine on taxpayer-funded sausage sandwiches.
After hearing about the feel-good lefty sausage fest over the radio, I couldn’t resist an opportunity to personally meet Bowen in the park and ask some tough questions. The “genius” multicultural proponent was in our sights. A group of Protectionist members and supporters agreed to come along and confront Bowen in the park.
Bowen and his staffers were clearly rattled when they saw us approach and make the long march to the hotplates. One of his staffers in charge of the BBQ was shaking and visibly upset that their warm and fuzzy halal certified BBQ was about to go mainstream.
Listening to Bowen from a short distance we could ascertain that the invited McMahon electors weren’t asking Bowen any serious questions on the asylum seeker crisis which has been destroying Australia’s once-envied border protection. I introduced myself to Bowen and shook his hand. I asked if it was fine to ask some questions, to which he agreed.
We left Chris in a cloud of burnt sausages and travelled down to the park bridge. Chris would have to cross the bridge to gain access to his car so we decided to set up our protest on the bridge and make sure Bowen the Troll didn’t slip under the bridge. We held our placards and Aussie flags proudly to give him one more final hurrah. We lined the bridge and gave him a salute to remember. Chris was again undoubtedly one sorry and confused individual as he raced past us over the bridge to his car and escaped from the clutches of realism and the viewpoints of everyday Australians.
There is no doubt Bowen has his greasy fingers all over the recently announced half-baked Malaysian solution. This is yet another example of a government making policy on the run. It is clear Bowen and Gillard are at the helm of a sinking ship with no rudder. The recalcitrant Malaysians must be rubbing their hands in glee at such a preferential deal whereby Australia deports 800 illegal boatpeople and accepts 4,000 asylum shoppers in return. Most of the 4,000 asylum shoppers who will be resettled in Australia (“the land of the big Centrelink hand-outs”) are Rohingya Burmese, an ethnic Muslim minority from Burma and Bangladesh. Again, the hapless Australian taxpayer will foot a bill in excess of $330 million. What a spectacular waste of our money.
Gillard believes this is the first step in creating a regional solution to the issue. This is the same galoot who wouldn’t reopen the Nauru Island detention facility because Nauru isn’t a signatory to the UN refugee convention. Gillard and Bowen have now opened the door to Malaysia and possibly Thailand, both whom are not signatories to the UN convention, to possible offshore processing. The boat people keep arriving, yet Bowen could not say where the illegal asylum shoppers would be sent, because the Labor-Green coalition government has signed no bilateral arrangement with Malaysia, PNG, East Timor or anywhere else. This is a panicked announcement from a government in despair.
It is not very often you get the French, Germans and British to agree, but they did a few months ago by declaring multiculturalism a failure. Bowen has decided to ignore the warnings coming out of the Europe in regard to the complete failure of a liberal utopian fairytale called multiculturalism. Bowen believes Australian multiculturalism is different to European multiculturalism, but failed to elaborate.
Bowen said, “multiculturalism is about mutual respect”. Mutual respect has nothing to do with multicultural policy. State-sanctioned multiculturalism not only divides society, but it also deceives us when as it places Third World and barbaric cultures on equal par with our better developed Australia culture, which is derived from Western civilisation. A quote attributed to Albert Einstein is “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. I don’t think any sane citizen could challenge that definition, except for the useful idiot Bowen.
Last Australia Day, Bowen said “The Australian flag should not be changed as the vast majority of Australians support the current design”. Well, the vast majority of Australians also support tougher border protection policies through legislation.
The forgotten people of Australia deserve better than a Minister who lives in a perpetual world of spin, mismanagement and deceit.
Source: Nicholas Hunter Folk er
Friday, June 10, 2011
US to help assist Rohingya refugees
"The solution to this refugee challenge lies in Burma. Voluntary return of Rohingya in large numbers will only be possible when the basic rights of these people are safeguarded, and -sadly - that is not today the case," Schwartz told a press conference at the American Centre.
He said until such changes take place in Burma the US will continue to do what they can to assist the government and the people of Bangladesh.
Replying to a question Schwartz said political reform and democratization in respect of human rights in Burma are important objective not only for USA but also for the international community.
He said recently US senior official visited Burma to have discussion with senior officials about democratization in respect to human rights.
Schwartz said he did not go to Myanmar on this visit but hoped that he and other officials of the department will visit the area from where
Rohingyas come and promote efforts for social and economic development in the Southwestern part of Burma.
He said humanitarian problems don't have humanitarian solution but those have political solution and the political solution is not in 'our side yet'
The US assistant secretary said until political solution all should try to continue to provide assistance to the victims of repression and prosecution as the Roghigya did nothing wrong.
Schwartz said he had been in Bangladesh for the last three days to explore issues surrounding Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and the region.
On Tuesday he traveled to Cox's Bazar and visited the Kutupalong camp and surrounding areas hosting Rohingya refugees and met with camp officials and officials adjoining areas, members of the local community and representatives of international and non-governmental organizations.
He said he also had opportunity to speak with a number of refugees and to learn of the significant challenges they confront.
Schwartz appreciated the Bangladesh government and its people for hosting hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who have fled persecution in southwestern Burma where the regime systemically denies the human rights and human freedom of the Rohingyas.
He said the US has supported the refugee program in Bangladesh since 1991.
In 2010 US provided over 23 million US dollar to regional appeals of the UNHCR and ICRC as well as 1.28 million US dollar to NGOs assisting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
He said the US is eager to continue and augment its support to the humanitarian efforts of the government and look forward to consulting closely with Bangladesh officials in the future.