Arakan Rohingya Union Welcomes the Recognition of Rohingya Ethnic Minority by the President of the United States and Secretary General of the United Nations

Arakan Rohingya Union Welcomes the Recognition of Rohingya Ethnic Minority by the President of the United States and Secretary General of the United Nations

November 16, 2014

Arakan Rohingya Union warmly welcomes the recognition of the Rohingya ethnic minority by the President of the United States, Barack Obama, and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and their unequivocal support for the rights of Rohingya people in Arakan state, Burma. 

Public statements of the President of the United States in Burma --

“Discrimination against a Rohingya or any other religious minority, I think, does not express the kind of country that Burma over the long term wants to be” at a news conference in Yangon. 

“Victims deserve justice, and the perpetrators of crimes and abuses must be held to account in a credible and transparent manner…much of the violence against the Rohingya and other Muslim communities in Rakhine State, but the government has a responsibility to work with the people to improve the humanitarian situation…All of us in our own lives have to be vigilant aside bias and prejudice. Burma, like all nations, will be stronger and more successful if it draws on the strength of all of its people. Its remarkable diversity should be seen as a strength, not a threat” to Irrawaddy Magazine. 

Public statements of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Burma -- 

“I expressed my concern about the Rohingya population who face discrimination and violence; I am urging that the human rights and dignity of people in Rakhine State should be respected” to Irrawaddy.

“…the United Nations uses that word (Rohingya) based on the rights of minorities” at Naypyitaw. 

Arakan Rohingya Union demands the Government of Burma to:

(a) Abide by the international law and respect the call from the global leadership on the Government of Burma to allow self-identification of Rohingya and reinstate their official ethnicity;

(b) Immediately reinstate their full citizenship; 

(c) Take strong measures against the Union and State Government officials conducting relentless

campaign against the identity of Rohingya ethnic minority that fuels violence, hate, and bigotry against Rohingya by the Government forces and Buddhist Rakhine mobs;

(d) Draft a new Arakan/Rakhine State Action Plan that allows the Rohingya ethnic minority to regain their citizenship and the basic rights and to scrap the proposed plan to send the Rohingya to detention camps if they decline the Government’s imposition of “Bengali”, “Illegal Bengali Immigrants”, “Kala” or any other derogatory term on them;

(e) Immediately lift all the bans on Rohingya and provide them freedom of worship, free to travel, right to marry, right to education and healthcare, right to property ownership, and other rights;

(f) Immediately cease the detention of innocent Rohingya on false and fabricated charges, release them unconditionally, and launch an investigation to the torture and death of the prisoners.