Press Release: Urgent aid, security and international actions are needed to save Rohingyas in Arakan

Date: 11.02.2013 

PRESS RELEASE

Urgent aid, security and international actions are needed to save Rohingyas in Arakan

During the last few days, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) has received the following information from the ground: 

1. A Rakhine gang suddenly entered the village of Kadirbil, 3 miles east of Maungdaw Town and attacked a house owned by a poor Rohingya, Dil Mohammed and brutally slaughtered his 4 innocent children aged 2-10 years with sharp knives. Their mother, Ms. Roza Begom, was kidnapped and so far nobody knows of her whereabouts.
2. There are more than 220 pregnant women in one camp in Pauktaw. For their delivery they cannot go to a health centre and they will have to deliver their babies in the mud, without a doctor. Rohingya women in Pauktaw Township are highly at risk. 
3. Rohingya who are in Buthidaung jail are facing torture by government security forces.
4. Many patients are facing hostility and intimidation when they try to go to a clinic or hospital.
5. Many Bengali Rakhine are entering Maungdaw and government authorities are settling them on Rohingya lands.
6. NaSaKa security forces are arresting Rohingyas in Buthidaung and Maungdaw every day. Rohingyas in Buthidaung and Maungdaw are facing serious extortion in their daily life.
7. In Sittwe, many Rohingyas are not getting aid and government authorities are continuously denying access. Many Rohingyas were forced to beg for food from locals and registered IDPs in order to survive. There is severe overcrowding, child malnutrition, totally inadequate water and sanitation, and almost no education available in the camps. 

The Rohingya issue is a global issue and the international community has to come forward with collective action to save Rohingyas. Thein Sein's military-backed government is systematically carrying out its ethnic cleansing plan to Rohingyas. 

BROUK President Tun Khin said “It is very important that the UN, OIC, EU, UK, US and other members of the international community come up with concrete action to pressure the Burmese government. It should start by setting benchmarks. The suspension of EU sanctions was conditional on the lifting of restrictions on aid. There are more restrictions on aid to Rohingyas these days in Arakan State. The EU should reconsider about lifting sanctions as the government is restricting aid to Rohingyas”. 

BROUK urges the UN, EU, ASEAN, US, UK and other countries to send a UN Peacekeeping Force to Arakan state in order to protect the helpless Rohingya people; and to constitute a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate the international crimes committed against the Rohingya and bring the perpetrators to justice. 

For more information, please contact Tun Khin +44 (0) 7888714866.