3 NGOs banned in Bangladesh for ‘encouraging’ Rohingya influx

Cox’s Bazar, July 2 (UNB) - The government on Thursday banned the activities of three international NGOs for encouraging the Rohingya refuges crossing the border from Myanmar.

The government has asked France's Doctors without Borders (MSF), Action Against Hunger (ACF) and Britain's Muslim Aid UK to suspended their activities on charge of alluring the refugees of relief materials and thus encouraging their influx into Bangladesh.

Contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Cox’s Bazar Joynul Bari confirmed the government decision and said the three organisations were providing aid to the illegal Rohingya refugees without permission of the NGO Affairs Bureau.

“They were providing negative information to the international media about Bangladesh tarnishing the image of the country,” he said.

Denying the allegations, Muslim Aid Teknaf area officer Sarwar Alam told UNB that they have suspended their activities as per the order of the district administration but it will take at least two weeks to fully stop their activities in Teknaf.

He said, “If we suspend our activities here it’ll create tension in the Rohingya camps and the border area.”

Meanwhile, Upazila Nirbahi Officer ANM Nazimuddin said, “We’ve preparations to face the situation if any crisis is created due to the suspension of the activities of the three NGOs.”

Around 300,000 Rohingya Muslims are living in the country, the vast majority in Cox's Bazar, after fleeing persecution in Myanmar. About 30,000 are registered refugees who live in two camps run by the United Nations.

Recently, Bangladesh has turned away boats carrying hundreds of Rohingya fleeing the violence in Myanmar despite pressure from the United States and rights groups to grant them refuge.

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Bangladesh is ordering international humanitarian groups to stop providing aid to ethnic Rohingya refugees who have fled deadly communal violence in neighboring Burma.

Diderik Van Halsema, a spokesperson for Doctor's Without Borders, (MSF) tells VOA his organization is one of three groups that have reportedly been ordered to suspend their services to the Rohingya along the border with Burma.

“At MSF we do confirm that we have received a letter from the Bangladeshi authorities requesting us to stop our activities at our project in Cox's Bazaar district in Bangladesh. We are currently discussing this matter with the Bangladeshi authorities, so obviously we don't want to influence those conversations and we await the outcome of that.”

Another group, Muslim Aid UK, told the French news agency that officials ordered them to stop their so-called “illegal” services in the same area because they were supposedly “encouraging an influx of Rohingya refugees” from Burma.

Sectarian violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Burma's western Rakhine state has left dozens dead since June. Rights groups say Burmese security forces have also carried out a campaign of killings and mass arrests against the Rohingya population.

The Rohingya are considered by most Burmese to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and most are denied citizenship there. But they are also denied citizenship in Bangladesh, which argues the group has been living in Burma for centuries.

Despite pressure from the United States and rights groups, Bangladesh has turned away boats carrying scores of Rohingyas who are trying to escape the violence in Burma.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch released a report saying that Burmese security forces have committed killings, rape, and mass arrests against Rohingya in the aftermath of the communal violence.

Burma's government, which has a long history of violence against ethnic minorities, has denied that security forces have committed abuses against the Rohingya, saying they exercised “maximum restraint” in dealing with the conflict.

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Bangladesh bans foreign charities helping Rohingya

(AFP) 

DHAKA — Bangladesh has ordered three international charities to stop providing aid to Rohingya refugees who cross the border to flee persecution and violence in Myanmar, an official said Thursday.

France's Doctors without Borders (MSF) and Action Against Hunger (ACF) as well as Britain's Muslim Aid UK have been told to suspend their services in the Cox's Bazaar district bordering Myanmar, local administrator Joynul Bari said.

"The charities have been providing aid to tens of thousands of undocumented Rohingya refugees illegally. We asked them to stop all their projects in Cox's Bazaar following directive from the NGO Affairs Bureau," he told AFP.

Bari said the charities "were encouraging an influx of Rohingya refugees" from across the border in Myanmar's Rakhine state in the wake of recent sectarian violence that left at least 80 people killed.

The charities have provided healthcare, training, emergency food and drinking water to the refugees living in Cox's Bazaar since the early 1990s.

MSF runs a clinic near one of the Rohingya camp which provides services to 100,000 people.

Speaking a Bengali dialect similar to one in southeast Bangladesh, the Rohingyas are Muslims seen as illegal immigrants by the Buddhist-majority Myanmar government and many Burmese.

They are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Golam Sarwar, a senior official of Muslim Aid UK in Bangladesh, confirmed to AFP that his group had stopped its Rohingya project following the order.

The government says some 300,000 Rohingya Muslims are living in the country, the vast majority in Cox's Bazaar, after fleeing persecution in Myanmar. About 30,000 are registered refugees who live in two camps run by the United Nations.

In recent weeks, Bangladesh has turned away boats carrying hundreds of Rohingya fleeing the violence in Myanmar despite pressure from the United States and rights groups to grant them refuge.

Myanmar security forces opened fire on Rohingya Muslims, committed rape and stood by as rival mobs attacked each other during the recent wave of sectarian violence, New York-based Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

The authorities failed to protect both Muslims and Buddhists and then "unleashed a campaign of violence and mass roundups against the Rohingya", the group said in a report.

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