By Kaye Lin

Voice of America

February 28, 2014

A group of Rohingya Muslims from Burma, also known as Myanmar, have staged a brief demonstration outside the Burmese embassy in Washington. The group called on the government in Rangoon to stop violence and oppression against their community.

Clashes between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have spread from Rakhine state to other areas of Burma. Both sides blame the other for the fighting, which has claimed hundreds of lives and forced tens of thousands from their homes since June 2012. While many Buddhists have lost their homes and lives, most of the dead and displaced are Muslim.

In Washington Thursday, Rohingya gathered outside the Burmese embassy to protest the violence and what they say are discriminatory policies by the government in Rangoon.

Event Coordinator Yusef Iqbal says Rohingyas should have full citizenship rights in Burma.

“They need to recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group. Rohingyas have served in the cabinet and as a recognized ethnic group. Burmese history has that. There are ethnic Burmese radio programs with Rohingya ethnic programs. Rohingyas are part of Burma and has been part of Burma, and will always be part of Burma," said Iqbal.

The Burmese government classifies the Rohingya as "immigrants" and refers to them as “Bengalis,” thus making them ineligible for citizenship.

But Rangoon denies allegations that Rohingya suffer oppression or abuse.

This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Burmese service.

By Jared Ferrie

Reuters

February 28, 2014

The United States on Friday urged Myanmar to allow humanitarian agencies "unfettered access" in Rakhine state, following reports the government had ordered medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to stop working there.

The Nobel Prize-winning charity has been giving health care to both ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, a mostly stateless minority who live in apartheid-like conditions and who otherwise have little access to healthcare.

"Free, regular and open access is essential to ensure the benefits of humanitarian activities are delivered appropriately to all people of Rakhine State," a U.S. embassy official told Reuters.

Government spokesman Ye Htut told media that MSF had been ordered to cease operations. He accused the organization of falsely claiming it treated victims of violence around the time of an alleged massacre in mid-January, which the government denies took place.

The United Nations and human rights groups say at least 40 Rohingya were killed by security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhist civilians in a restricted area of the conflict-ridden western state.

MSF said on January 24 it had treated 22 people in the area of the alleged massacre for injuries including a gunshot wound, stab wounds and beatings.

A diplomatic source who declined to be identified told Reuters that MSF was in negotiations with officials in the capital, Naypyitaw, after suspending operations late on Thursday.

An MSF spokesman declined to comment. Ye Htut and other government officials were unavailable for comment.

"INTERNAL AFFAIR"

Myanmar's government has repeatedly rejected reports by MSF, the United Nations and human rights groups that Rohingya villagers in Maungdaw township were attacked and their homes looted.

On January 29, the government called diplomats to a briefing where officials said they had found no evidence of a massacre, but promised further investigation.

A request by U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell to include an international representative on the investigating team was denied by Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, who said it was "an internal affair".

Incidents in Maungdaw township and other parts of Rakhine state are difficult to verify independently as they are off limits to journalists and the government controls access by international aid groups, despite a wave of democratic reforms since military rule ended in 2011.

If confirmed, the massacre would take to at least 277 the number of people killed in religious conflict across Myanmar since June 2012. More than 140,000 people have been displaced.

Most of the victims were Muslims and the most deadly incidents happened in Rakhine State, where about a million Rohingya live.

MSF has worked in the state for almost 20 years treating hundreds of thousands of people from all ethnic groups through programs including maternal health and treatment for HIV and tuberculosis, according to its website.

"Insecurity, delayed authorization and repeated threats and intimidation by a small and vocal group of the Rakhine community have hindered MSF's work," the group said on its website.

(Additional reporting by Thin Lei Win in Bangkok; Editing by Alan Raybould and Robert Birsel)

United to End Genocide Condemns Denial of Health Care to World’s Most Persecuted in Burma

United to End Genocide President and Former Congressman Tom Andrews issues statement from Burma

United to End Genocide released the following statement by its President, former US Congressman Tom Andrews, in response to the decision by the government of Burma to terminate the delivery of health care services to the Rohingya ethnic minority in Rakhine State. Andrews is in Burma and was in Rakhine State yesterday, visiting IDP (internally displaced persons) camps housing more than 90,000 Rohingya Muslims.

The Government of Burma ordered Medicines Sans Frontières (MSF), the primary health care provider to the Rohingya ethnic minority, to cease its activities in the country. MSF provides HIV/AIDS and TB treatments to people in several parts of Burma and primary care to tens of thousands in the western state of Rakhine, who have been described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

MSF has come under increasing criticism by the Burmese government since it reported treating 22 people near a site where the United Nations says over 40 people were killed in mid-January. The government of Burma continues to deny any massacre occurred.

For more information contact:

Erik Leaver

202-556-2130 | eleaver@endgenocide.org

By MSF

February 28, 2014

Amsterdam - Médecins Sans Frontières Holland (MSF) has been ordered by the Union Government of Myanmar to cease all activities in the country. MSF is deeply shocked by this unilateral decision and extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of patients currently under our care across the country.

Today, for the first time in MSF’s history of operations in the country, HIV/AIDS clinics in Rakhine, Shan and Kachin states, as well as Yangon division, were closed and patients were unable to receive the treatment they needed. TB patients were unable to receive their life-saving medicine, including drug-resistant TB patients.

Devastating impact

This decision by the Union Government will have a devastating impact on the 30,000 HIV/AIDS patients and more than 3,000 TB patients we are currently treating in Myanmar.

In Rakhine state, MSF was unable to provide basic healthcare to the tens of thousands of vulnerable people in camps displaced by the ongoing humanitarian crisis or in isolated villages. This includes facilitating life-saving referrals for patients that require emergency secondary hospital care to Ministry of Health facilities, as well as family planning and care for pregnant women and newborn babies.

There is no other medical non-government organisation that operates at the scale of MSF with the experience and infrastructure to deliver necessary life-saving medical services.

22 years of presence

In our 22 years of presence in Myanmar, MSF has proven that we deliver healthcare to people based solely on need, irrespective of race, religion, gender, HIV status or political affiliation.

Since 2004, MSF has treated over 1,240,000 malaria patients in Rakhine state alone, where the disease is particularly endemic. Like HIV/AIDS and TB, malaria knows no ethnic boundaries.

MSF’s actions are guided by medical ethics and the principles of neutrality and impartiality. MSF is in discussions with the Government of Myanmar to allow our staff to resume life-saving medical activities across the country and continuing addressing the unmet heath needs of its people.

Rohingya from Myanmar, who were rescued from human traffickers, are held at a detention center near Thailand's border with Malaysia February 12, 2014. Two police raids last month freed a total of 636 people, mostly Rohingya, who were en route to Malaysia. (Photo: Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

By Flora Bagenal

The Christian Science Monitor

February 27, 2014

International rights groups are calling for neighboring countries to protect Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar, where leaked documents allegedly reveal state-sponsored persecution.

As Myanmar defends itself against allegations of state-sponsored persecution of its Rohingya Muslim minority, attention has turned to what neighboring countries are doing to protect Rohingya asylum seekers. International refugee rights organizations say a coordinated response is needed for what is a growing refugee crisis in the region.

The mistreatment of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, is consequential for neighboring countries trying to cope with a rising number of refugees while also making economic inroads into Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Police and immigration officers in countries from Thailand to Australia are accused by rights groups of gross mistreatment of Rohingya, who live mostly in Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh and are essentially stateless under Myanmar's law. 

Rohingya are widely disdained by the Buddhist majority in Myanmar. The community is not recognized as a legitimate ethnic minority under a 1982 citizenship law, despite Rohingya having lived in Myanmar for generations. 

Since 2012, when Myanmar began inching towards democracy, sectarian violence has erupted against Muslims, including Rohingya. Arson attacks and killings have displaced over 140,000 Rohingya; many live in camps in Rakhine state where their movement and access to basic services such as healthcare and education are severely limited. 

State-sponsored discrimination? 

On Tuesday a report published by the Southeast Asia-based human rights organization Fortify Rights claimed to have obtained evidence of state-sponsored policies that deny Rohingya the same rights as other ethnic groups in the country and severely restrict their freedom. 

It cited leaked government documents that detail a raft of measures allegedly used to restrict the size of the Rohingya population including limits on who they are allowed to marry and the number of children they can have.

The Myanmar government flatly rejected the findings. A spokesperson for President Thein Sein told the Myanmar Times that the government “Do[es] not remark on baseless accusations from Bengali lobby groups.” The government does not recognize the term Rohingya and refers to the community as Bengalis.

Regional implications 

The policies are designed to make life so intolerable for Rohingya they leave the country, says Matthew Smith, director of Fortify Rights. He says Southeast Asia needs to face squarely what is a growing refugee crisis, and is critical of the response from Thailand, in particular. 

It's unclear how many Rohingya have fled Myanmar since violence escalated in 2012. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNCHR) estimates that 27,000 asylum seekers left by sea in the year ending June 2013. Some left from Bangladesh and are thought to be Bangladeshi migrant workers. However, Vivian Tan, a regional spokesperson in Bangkok for the UNCHR, says most are Rohingya seeking asylum. Those who survive the treacherous journey end up in neighboring countries including Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

“There is an increasing sense of hopelessness in [Myanmar] that is pushing more and more to flee,” says Ms. Tan. "We urge countries in the region to keep their borders open and to give these people the protection they need.”

Malaysia, a majority Muslim country, is a top destination for Rohingya: Over 34,000 are registered with the UNHCR there. Malaysia has won praise for its humanitarian response to refugee arrivals, but rights groups say that it lacks a clear legal policy, putting migrants and refugees at risk of exploitation and arbitrary arrest. 

Australia has also been criticized by rights groups for its treatment of boat people, many of whom are Rohingya. Recent riots in an Australian-run detention centre for asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea left one detainee dead and injured others. 

In Thailand, the government has come under increasing pressure after a series of media reports have shown Rohingya in cramped and inhumane detention centers and even implicated the Thai authorities in selling refugees to brokers for international human trafficking rings. 

Thorny diplomacy

A change of attitude towards Rohingya in Myanmar is the only thing likely to stem the flow of boat refugees in the long term. But influencing the Myanmar authorities – notoriously suspicious of outside interference – is a thorny diplomatic issue.

Singapore-based analyst Alistair Cook, a research fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Studies at Nanyang Technological University, says countries including Thailand and Malaysia are cautious about raising the Rohingya issue with the Myanmar government at a time when they are building trade and economic ties. 

“Myanmar is very sensitive to the outside world and this is an incredibly delicate issue,” says Mr. Cook.

He says there’s a need to humanize the issue and reframe it so the Rohingya are no longer referred to constantly as a burden. 

“The Rohingya are presented as inanimate objects that suck state resources and cause problems wherever they go. This undermines their basic humanity,” says Cook. “We need to shed light on the complexities of their situation and encourage greater understanding of their long history in this region.”

RB News 

February 27, 2014

Minbya, Arakan – 11 Rohingyas from Minbya and Mrauk-U townships in Arakan state were killed while trying to make their way to Yangon on February 14, 20. 

18 Rohingyas from Minbya and Mrauk-U townships in the southern part of Arakan state left from Minbya for Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar on February 12th. They left with the help of two human traffickers of Chin Ethnicity. 

After two days of travel the group reached Kone Kar stream. The Kone Kar stream is outside of Minbya township. On February 14, they were found by and organized group of Rakhine extremists who are sheltering in the forest. When attacked, the 18 Rohingyas tried to escape from the group of thugs. Only 7 of them managed to get away. 11 people were slaughtered. This, according to the survivors who made it back to their villages after a few days. No injuries by the hands the Rakhines were reported by the 7.

The names of the 11 killed Rohingya people are:

(1) Nazir Ahmed S/o Molvi Abdul Jail (18-year-old) 

(2) Kala Chay S/o Abdul Rahman (17-year-old) 

(3) Maung Ba S/o Abdul Razak (25-year-old) 

(4) Abdul Mabud S/o Dudu Ali (23-year-old) 

(5) Zawna Bawdin S/o Fawzol Karim (19-year-old) 

(6) Enamul Haque S/o Mohammed Hamza (22-year-old) 

(7) Ali Akbar S/o Mohammed Akbar (25-year-old) 

(8) Mohammed Noor S/o Abu Taher (30-year-old) 

(9) Anwar S/o Noor Hasan (20-year-old) 

(10) Omar Farooque S/o Abdul Gaffar (24-year-old) 

(11) Wazi Rahman S/o Abdul Hashim (25-year-old)

As the Rohingya people in Arakan state are living in an open prison, they have no job opportunity and are facing a lot of problems for their daily livelihood. To live better, they are forced to put their lives in the hands of human traffickers within Myanmar. Many have been taking dangerous voyages to other places. Many take to the sea in boats and by foot on land. Many have been killed since 2012 while struggling to reach another destination while searching for some place, anywhere any place better then where they were.

Hla contributed in reporting.

By Shwe Aung

Democratic Voice of Burma

February 27, 2014

Burma’s Parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann urged relevant ministries to draft laws protecting national race and religion during Thursday’s assembly.

The recommendation follows a message from President Thein Sein recommending legislative action on a petition he received in July 2013 from the Organisation for Protection of National Race and Religion (OPNRR), headed by Ashin Tilawka Biwuntha (also known as Tiloka Bhivamsa), member of the government appointed National Head Monks Committee.

Upon Thein Sein’s receipt of the petition, which was forwarded to the Speaker, 1.3 million people had signed in favour of creating legislation to protect national race and religion. Since that time, the OPNRR said that they have gathered nearly three million additional supporters.

In his message to the Speaker, Thein Sein declared that as the 2008 Constitution contained no provisions to govern “much delicate religious issues”, oversight should defer to the Parliament.

The OPNRR independently drafted four laws: the Faith Conversion Bill; the Marriage Bill, the Monogamy Law; and the Population Control Law. The group urged that the drafts, which have been handed over to relevant governing bodies, be submitted to Parliament “in any way possible” to “resolve racial inequality” and to preserve the “national race” and Buddhist religion.

Pe Than, a member of Burma’s Parliament, explained that, “The Speaker urged concerned government bodies to see to proposing the bills, for example, the Religious Ministry for the Religion Conversion Bill; the Supreme Court for the Monogamy Bill; and the Immigration Ministry for the Population Control Bill, in coordination with the Foreign Ministry and the National Human Rights Commission.”

Ashin Parmouhka, a member of OPNRR, claims that the laws are necessary to prevent further racial and religious violence in the country, which since 2012 has suffered several bouts of deadly communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims that overwhelmingly affected the latter.

“If you want to see peace and an end to religious and racial conflict in Burma, these laws must be adopted,” he said. “If you want more conflicts and unrest in the country, then don’t adopt the laws.”

Critics of the push for racial and religious protection laws say that not only are they exclusionary and divisive, but the proposal could be damaging to women’s rights, as they contain provisions that heavily restrict freedoms of marriage and childbearing.

“I see the decision… as a violation of women’s rights and also freedom of faith,” said renowned writer and dissident Htet Myat. “I don’t see any alarming threats to religion and disorderly behaviour by women that would warrant these laws.”

Though the proposal was originally submitted to Thein Sein in July of last year, it has just now entered into parliamentary discourse.

On Tuesday news of leaked official documents buttressed claims by international rights bodies that Burma has enforced orders so restrictive to the basic rights of minorities – namely Rohingya Muslims – as to implicate the government in crimes against humanity.

RB News

February 27, 2014

Fortify Rights released 79 pages report that had analysed 12 government documents from 1993 to 2013 and found that government policies imposed "extensive restrictions on the basic freedoms of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine state".

The policies restricted Rohingya's "movement, marriage, childbirth, home repairs and construction of houses of worship".

BROUK, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK President Tun Khin has certified the report of Fortify Rights on BBC World News.

The interview with BBC World News as below:

By Thin Lei Win

Thomson Reuters Foundation

February 26, 2014

BANGKOK - Human rights groups are concerned that Myanmar’s first census in 30 years will inflame ethnic tensions, further marginalise ethnic groups and be used as a tool for repression - especially against stateless Rohingya Muslims who are already denied basic human rights.

The census, funded by Western donors and the Myanmar government and supervised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is planned for March 30 to April 10.

The main point of contention is the census’ ethnic classification system, which the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute (TNI) calls “politically problematic, culturally sensitive and informationally flawed”.

Critics say the system, which includes 135 ethnic groups, is based on a flawed list produced in the 1980s, and creates unjustified subdivisions in some instances, while lumping together groups with separate ethnic identities.

A number of Myanmar’s ethnic groups have criticised the census, while others have demanded a postponement and reclassification.

“It has the potential to be a fiasco. Some would argue it already is,” said Matthew Smith, the executive director of Fortify Rights.

He urged donors and agencies to hear out civil society concerns and proceed when it can be guaranteed that the process will not contribute to ethnic disunity or human rights violations.

TNI said that as of February, there had been “no significant public participation in census preparation, planning and management”, though according to UNFPA regional spokesman William A. Ryan, Myanmar’s Minister of Immigration and Population has been holding meetings with ethnic groups to counter misunderstandings, and many groups are now on board.

“It’s important to understand that it’s not a perfect set of categories. The government has said this isn’t the last word on ethnicity, and the data they get will provide a starting point on a wider dialogue on a better definition of ethnicity, done in collaboration with different ethnic groups,” Ryan told Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview.

UNEQUAL TREATMENT

With the constitution and election laws allowing representation for groups with large enough populations, the classification will have direct political ramifications, the International Crisis Group (ICG) warned.

“Groups fear that if their communities are subdivided or misclassified, they may be denied that political representation. There is no possibility to report mixed ethnicity, forcing people into a single identity, to the potential disadvantage of some smaller groups,” it said.

Myanmar, which has emerged from half a century of iron-fisted military rule, has been praised for embarking on democratic reforms in the past two years, opening up the media, allowing protests and negotiating for peace with the country’s many ethnic armed groups.

Rights groups warn the reforms are still fragile, pointing to continuing offensives against the Kachin Independence Army in the north, the arrest of journalists and activists, and ongoing violence against the and .

“Myanmar is struggling to end decades-old, multiple and overlapping ethnic conflicts in its peripheries. At the same time, recent months have seen an increasingly virulent Burman-Buddhist nationalist movement lead to assaults on Muslim minority communities,” ICG said.

With elections in late 2015 - the first relatively free and fair polls in a generation - the next two years will be highly volatile, it said.

“A poorly timed census that enters into controversial areas of ethnicity and religion in an ill-conceived way will further complicate the situation,” it added. 

London-based Burma Campaign UK last week added to the mounting criticism.

“The forms are … only in Burmese, with the exception of a few English language forms for foreigners. This again reinforces the perception that many ethnic people have, that ethnic people are not being treated equally in the census,” it said, adding there is little awareness of the census among the population, even in former capital Yangon.

ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE 

“Perhaps the most serious possible outcome of the census is the potential for anti-Muslim violence,” said Burma Campaign UK. 

According to TNI, the last census in 1983 reported the national population to be 89.4 percent Buddhist, 4.9 percent Christian, and 4.4 percent Muslim.

Although it is widely believed Muslims were undercounted for political reasons, any divergence from the 1983 figures could inflame communal tensions, especially against the Rohingya.

Since June 2012, religious conflict across Myanmar has killed at least 240 people and displaced more than 140,000 - most of them Rohingya whom Myanmar does not recognise as citizens.

“Many Rohingya fear the census will become a tool to further deny their access to citizenship rights and to further alienate them from the country's diverse population. We share those concerns,” said Smith of Fortify Rights, which on Tuesday released a 79-page report on government abuses against the Rohingya using leaked government documents.

“There's a risk the census will contribute to statelessness rather than help end it, which is patently unacceptable.”

By Dr Azeem Ibrahim

Huffington Post

February 26, 2014

The United Nations Organization is often dismissed as an ineffectual body, unable to follow up on its declarations with effective action. But in a recent welcome move, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has urged world powers to refer North Korea to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) following a U.N. report documenting crimes against humanity. The US State Department acknowledged its "deep concern about the human rights situation" in North Korea following the report's "compelling evidence of widespread and systematic human rights violations."

Now it is time the UN took similar action on Burma, where the rights situation is among the world's worst, with the Rohingya people being systematically persecuted by a government claiming to be moving toward democracy. There have been international calls for action ever since the killings began. President Obama, the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis and many others have urged Burma's President Thien Sein to end the ongoing campaign of genocide against the Muslim minority, which contradicts the recent signs of political and economic liberalization in the country.

The Rohingya people have been declared stateless although many have lived in Burma for centuries; they have been called illegal immigrants, they are refused marriage licenses and are restricted to having two children. CAIR notes that these restrictions meet the legal definition of genocide as outlined in the UN 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The campaign of violence has taken the lives of thousands of Muslims, with more than 140,000 displaced to makeshift refugee camps where food and medical treatment are restricted; more than 2 million acres have been confiscated from Muslim villages by corrupt state officials and their patrons.

Burma's 1982 Citizenship Law is racist, breaks Burma's treaty obligations, and so violates international law. It does not recognize Rohingya as an ethnic group in Burma. It helps render the Rohingya stateless, and helps underpin discrimination against them.

Pleas for support from Aung San Suu Kyi have been disappointed, as Burma's Nobel Laureate has indicated she is not in a strong position to help Burma's minorities. Expected to run for president in the 2015 election, she has evidently bowed to popular anti-Muslim sentiment with an expediency that has profoundly disappointed human rights advocates internationally. Burma is a multi-ethnic state with at least seven minority groups living in the mountainous border regions of the country covering about 65 percent of the country. These hill tribes have been persecuted systematically by the generals over the last 60 years of military rule in an attempt to make Burma homogenous; the violence against the Rohingya people is yet another ugly example of state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing.

The first census for 30 years is to be held between March 30 and April 10, 2014. However, limited access to some of the more remote areas and issues of ethnicity and citizenship, with more than 135 ethnic groups and at least 19 major languages, pose difficulties and challenges. The government is planning to count Burmese refugees living in Thailand, which is estimated to be around 130,000 people, and Burmese nationals living abroad. The Rohingya people will be counted under the "other" category on the census along with ethnic Chinese and Pakistanis. If ethnic Rohingya are excluded from being listed as an ethnic group in the census form, this lack of recognition will lead to further discrimination and concerns that they may then be officially deported.

An immediate challenge is to ensure that the process is conducted fairly and to ensure that the findings are respected on a political level. The United Nations is offering training and resources for the census operation, with additional funding from other countries, but there is no indication so far that the citizenship categories will be challenged and re-defined. The UN, World Bank and other bodies and countries involved in the census process have a duty to use their influence if they have reason to think that negative outcomes could result from the census.

The last official census in Burma in 1983 is widely thought to have underestimated the number of Muslims in the country. There was initially a feeling that the census could be an opportunity for ethnic identities to be acknowledged, but growing numbers of ethnic organizations are calling for major changes in the process, or postponement of the census. They see that the census is already causing division within and between ethnic groups, with increased anti-Muslim violence impacting on the peace processes currently underway. Ethnic and religious tensions caused by the release of the data just months before the election in 2015 could even lead to the election process being disrupted.

Burma Campaign UK says that Burma's census should be postponed, because the potential risks associated with going ahead with the census are greater than the potential benefits.

"The structure of the census is totally unacceptable to us... We are simply asking for equal rights for all ethnic minority groups," stated U Kyaw Min, Democracy and Human Rights Party.

If United Nations does have an effective role in Burma's future, perhaps it would be better if it counted the human rights abuses and the deaths of the Rohingya people instead of counting citizens: Certainly, the accountability of Burma's leaders and their role in the genocide of people within its borders is called for. We can only hope that U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, will indict Burma along with North Korea and refer them both to the International Criminal Court for their crimes against humanity.

Dr Azeem Ibrahim is the Executive Chairman of the Scotland Institute and lectures in International Security at the University of Chicago.

Follow Azeem Ibrahim on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AzeemIbrahim

The Diplomat
February 26, 2014

By Assed Baig

Anadolu Agency

February 26, 2014

In a series of features, Anadolu Agency correspondent Assed Baig, reveals the extent of oppression inflicted on Rohingya muslims.

In Sittwe, the capital of the Rakhine state in Western Myanmar, reaching Rohingya camps and villages means navigating past police checkpoints manned by armed officers. The Rohingya are not allowed beyond this point. They are essentially trapped in their own areas because leaving requires special permits that can only be obtained through a long and expensive process.

"We look at that checkpoint everyday, we can never go past there. We’re stuck here, how many people have the money to pay for the permits and bribes to be able to travel to other areas?" says Tahir, a driver who took the Anadolu Agency (AA) to the Rohingya camps.

Boxed in by land, their only route of escape is the sea, where hundreds have perished trying to reach Malaysia, Bangladesh and sometimes more distant destinations. Regardless, they still risk the perilous journey, sometimes paying people traffickers only to end up in the hands of criminals in Thailand, who demand Rohingya families pay ransoms for their release. Others set out on fishing boats by themselves, risking imprisonment by Myanmar’s authorities if intercepted; those stopped by Bangladesh’s authorities are forced back to sea. Some Rohingya have ended up being sold into slave labor on fishing boats at sea. 

Even those who pay bribes to seek official permission to travel are not guaranteed permits. Simply reaching other Rohingya villages within Rakhine state is sometimes impossible. Couples waiting to get married, but who live in separate parts of Rakhine, struggle with arranging the unlikely event of coming together for their wedding union.

The first village beyond the police checkpoint is Bu May. Police stand around doing nothing except watching the Rohingya come in and out. They enforce a curfew at 8pm everyday, putting out barbed wire fences and not allowing anyone to leave or enter. In the event of an attack by Rakhine Buddhists, this village is first in the firing line. The police presence however, is hardly reassuring for the Rohingya. According to a Human Rights Watch report published in 2013, the police were implicated in the violence against the Rohingya who, like other minorities in the country, place little faith in the authorities’ willingness to protect them.

Even children remember the role of the authorities in the violence. One child told AA: "I remember the police attacking the village, first it was the Buddhist mobs, then the police." She trembles as she looks directly at a police officer standing at the barbed wire fence outside Bu May.

The conditions in Rohingya areas are a world away from the Rakhine parts of Sittwe. Apart from a few who have generators, the Rohingya go without power. There is no running water, only some hand-powered water pumps installed by international aid agencies. The road, if you can call it that, has potholes that limit travel speeds to 10 mph, although bicycle rickshaws and walking are the main form of transportation anyway. Most of the area has no roads, only a dusty, sandy terrain that cars attempt to tackle with wheels that struggle for traction.

In contrast, downtown Sittwe has roads, electricity, hotels, restaurants, Internet cafes and running water. You can buy a fridge and washing machine in Sittwe town; the Rohingya can only dream of these comforts. Abandoned mosques in Sittwe town are left as a quiet symbol of the attacks which forced the Rohingya Muslims out; police stand guard at their entrances, preventing extremists from wiping away the last signs that Rohingya ever existed in Sittwe town.

The Rohingya rely on supplies from a handful of Rakhine, motivated by compassion or economic benefit, who will still do business with them. Last year, the consequences for one such Rakhine driver was to be beaten by Buddhist extremists and paraded through Sittwe town with a sign around his neck, labeling him a traitor. 

Though the goods are coming from only a few miles away, the Rohingya have to pay drivers extra to bring the goods in, leading to prices comparable to international imports. For food, many rely on the distribution of rice bags provided by international donors and the World Food Programme.

- The camps

Two years on from the violence that drove the Rohingya into camps, there are still Rohingya living in make-shift tents; made from empty rice bags to protect themselves from the sun and rain and dry grass to separate themselves from the earth below. Some have only one small tent for families of five or more. Inside, they are bare, with whatever little food they have placed in the corner.

The camps fall into two categories, registered Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps, which are eligible for food aid and have some wooden structures in place; and neglected, unregistered camps, which have to rely on the generosity of other Rohingya.

Almost everyone wants to return to their original homes in Sittwe town. One man, who lives in an unregistered camp, told AA that the Rohingya were being punished for fighting back against the mobs that attacked them.

Children play in the dirt whilst used water runs beside them through small self-made trenches in the camps. Others kick around an improvised football made from compressed paper. Two children sit in the shade making toys; cars out of empty food tins.

"We find it hard to get food, our children cannot get an education and it’s been two years and I have not received food from anywhere," says Muhammed Raheem, a Tay Kyawan camp resident.

"I just want to go home to the Nasi quarter where I used to live, life was not like this, it was not this difficult, we are suffering," he adds.

The state, for their part, continues to downplay any violence against the Rohingya and imply that both sides are equally responsible for violence by calling it a 'conflict.' It denies any sort of massacre has taken place, as was the case in January’s Du Che Yar Tan Massacre. 

"The Rohingya burnt down their own houses,” says one Rakhine man in Sittwe. 

The Myanmar authorities have repeated the same claim but AA could not find any Rohingya or eyewitnesses who saw people setting fire to their own homes.

- Education

Rohingya are not allowed to join Rakhine students at Sittwe University, which is located just beyond the checkpoint, its shiny windows and well-kept gardens taunting them.

Xavi, an English-speaking Rohingya NGO worker, is one of those who struggles with being denied the basic right to education. 

"Studying before the violence was difficult enough with the discrimination we faced, but now, it is non-existent," he says. "I had the grades to study medicine but I cannot. I'm not allowed to go to university."

Despite the difficulties Xavi -- like many of his compatriots -- does not want to leave Myanmar.

"I want to stay and help my people. I want to raise the level of education and situation here," he says.

He says he thinks 98 percent of Rohingya are uneducated, not through any fault of their own, but because circumstances mean they have no opportunities to pursue academic studies. 

"We need to educate ourselves. No one is going to help us, not the Rakhine, not the government and not the international community," he says defiantly. "We do not have the luxury of being afraid anymore, we must speak out."

Xavi still has his certificate with the grades he achieved before the violence started. Articulate and well-spoken in English, he has not given up on his dream of going to university, no matter how distant or unachievable it may seem. As far as he is concerned, he has the grades and that should be all that he needs.

But in reality, grades are not enough on their own -- Xavi is not the only one. Another young man pulled AA’s reporter aside in a market, keen to talk about education. "I want to tell the world that we are suffering, but we don’t need anything, we just need an education. I want to go to university," he says.

Visibly upset, he bit his lip to hold back his emotions. With those few sentences he walked off. There are similar stories throughout the camps of young men and women trying to gain an education. They teach others and try to raise the consciousness of their people, but too often they themselves are targeted by the authorities. 

The schools in the Rohingya areas are limited and cannot teach children until the age of eight or nine. Instead, many children are forced to work.

Five-year-old Abdullah sits on the beach with his father, picking fish out of a net. He started work when he was four-years-old.

"If they don’t work, we don’t eat," says one father.

By Nyo Tun

RB Opinion

February 26, 2014

A reflection of thoughts arose in my mind from my reading of the following news in the Democratic Voice of Burma’s reports:

(1) Amending 59(f) will allow foreigners to exploit ‘simple’ Burmese, says Wirathu 

(2) Rohingya crisis: Burma govt implicated in ‘Crimes against Humanity’ and the complete report of Fortify Rights

I will briefly describe what are the main contents of these topics including Fortify Rights' report. For example, in the Number 1 Wirathu said: “The Amendment of the Article 59(f) will allow deceitful persons to exploit the Burmese people who are simple and naïve. Our people don’t have high enough intelligence”.

I will argue against this statement by illuminating that it is entirely illegal to make the laws by such belief of Wirathu: "we must make the laws with our blood", or "with our national heritage" or "with our majority's will " or " by our intellectuals' reasoning power". Validating the assumption of 'lest the deceitful will do such and such harms' in making the laws will split the nation into friends and foes; who are standing close to the authority and who are standing distant from the authority; and such law-making process with the intent of purging 'the deceitful' will legitimize untranslatable languages of dominant groups' lusty emotions and passions.

In a similar way, I would reinforce the finding of Fortify Rights that Myanmar government intentionally outstrips Rohingya of fundamental rights that amount to the Crime against Humanity. The report said Myanmar government has prescribed various illegal laws to oppress the Rohingya communities, simply because these 'Bengalis' are 'deceitful'. I would also like to add that this is also the currently prevailing opinion and attitude against Rohingyas in many Burmese communities. As in No.1, I will argue that such a law-making process immersed in the founded assumption of conceiving a particular group as inferior-minded and ill willed is entirely illegal.

In brief, I will describe the current prevailing opinion of the law-making process and evolving attempts to legitimize such discriminatory law-making practices are unacceptable for a democratic nation and continuing to hold such discriminatory practices in law-making will lead to what I can only describe as crime perpetrated by the government itself.

By Associated Press

February 25, 2014

An independent human rights group said Tuesday it has obtained official documents directly implicating the Myanmar government in abusive and discriminatory policies targeting the country's long-persecuted minority Rohingya Muslim community.

Matthew Smith, executive director of the Southeast Asian-based Fortify Rights, said a dozen leaked official and public records detail restrictions on travel, religion, home repair, marriage and families.

While these policies have long been known, in some cases dating back decades, it's the first time the official orders have been made public, he said, describing the chilling effect of seeing them in writing.

"It represents a level of planning and knowledge among Myanmar authorities that raises the abuses to the threshold of crimes against humanity," Smith said. "These abuses have been carried out for years with complete impunity, driving the population into the ground."

Presidential spokesman Ye Htut did not respond to requests by The Associated Press for comment, but was quoted by the Myanmar Times as saying government officials "do not remark on baseless accusations from Bengali (Rohingya) lobby groups."

Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million, only recently emerged from a half-century of brutal military rule. It has been hit by sectarian violence since it began its bumpy transition to democracy in 2011. As many as 280 people have been killed, most of them Rohingya attacked by Buddhist mobs, and another 140,000 forced to flee their homes.

Nowhere have Rohingya — described by the U.N. as one of the most persecuted religious minorities in the world — been more pursued than in Rakhine state, which sits along the coast of the Bay of Bengal and is cut off from the rest of the country by a mountain range. It is home to almost all of Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya. Though many are descended from families who have been there for generations, the government says they are Bangladeshi and has denied them citizenship.

Confidential documents published in the 79-page report reveal that official orders issued by Rakhine state authorities from 1993 to 2008 outline consistent state policies restricting Rohingya.

Some of the "regional orders" — dated 1993, 2005 and 2008 — are copied to various departments falling under state and central government jurisdictions. However, they also have been discussed on the record since 2011, the group said, adding that to the best of its knowledge almost all the policies are still in place and are being enforced.

The report said the orders laid the groundwork for a two-child policy in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, requiring Rohingya "who have permission to marry" to "limit the number of children, in order to control the birth rate so that there is enough food and shelter."

One document gives detailed instructions for officials to confirm that women are the real mothers of infants, forcing them to publicly breastfeed if it's suspected that they are trying to claim others' children as their own.

RB News

February 25, 2014

Maungdaw, Arakan – Three Rohingya houses were torched in Duchiradan village tract in Maungdaw Township of Arakan State.

Today at 2:30 am three Rohingya houses from Fursi hamlet in Duchiradan village tract were torched. The owners of the houses were away from their homes as they left to escape the violence on January 13th and 14th committed by local police and Rakhine extremists. The houses were empty when they were torched by unknown group. 

The locals said this wasn’t a normal fire that broke out; it was an arson attack by either Rakhine extremists or the security police. 

Rakhine state government and union government always used to accuse that the Rohingyas themselves were torching their homes. This of course is totally unacceptable as no normal person would do such a thing. The government never mentioned about the crimes committed by the police and their puppets, the Rakhine extremists. Last month the government has made some fake photos and presented them to the diplomats in Yangon. 

The owners of the three houses in Duchiradan are:

(1) Daw Hamida 

(2) Daw Mariam Khatoo (aka) Bottarni 

(3) U Osi Rahn

MYARF contributed in reporting.

Press Release

MYANMAR: ABOLISH ABUSIVE RESTRICTIONS & PRACTICES AGAINST ROHINGYA MUSLIMS

Leaked Documents Implicate Government Actors in Crimes Against Humanity

By Fortify Rights

February 25, 2014

Bangkok— Leaked government documents reveal severe violations of human rights of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, including restrictions on the freedom of movement, marriage, childbirth, and other aspects of daily life in northern Rakhine State, Fortify Rights said in a new report released today. The report implicates state and central government officials as perpetrators of the crime against humanity of persecution. Crimes against humanity are among the most serious crimes under international law.

“The impacts of these restrictions are severe and have been well-documented for decades, but the official orders have been kept out of the public domain until now,” said Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights. “This architecture of abuse contributes to political instability and violence and must be lifted immediately.”

The 79-page report, Policies of Persecution: Ending Abusive State Policies Against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, is based primarily on the analysis of 12 leaked official documents and a review of public records, as well as interviews with Rohingya and others in Myanmar and Thailand. The documents published in the report reveal restrictions that deny Rohingya basic human rights, including the rights to nondiscrimination, freedom of movement, marriage, family, health, and privacy. All of the restrictions and enforcement methods described in the report appear to be in effect at the time of writing.

“Regional Order 1/2005,” obtained by Fortify Rights, lays the foundation for a two-child policy enforced in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, requiring Rohingya “who have permission to marry” to “limit the number of children, in order to control the birth rate so that there is enough food and shelter.” This order—which in practice translates to a strict two-child policy— also prohibits Rohingya from having children out of wedlock.

Confidential enforcement guidelines, also obtained by Fortify Rights, authorize security forces to use abusive methods to implement these “population control” measures. One document instructs officials to confirm women are the birth mothers of infants and to accurately record the number of children in each family when entering private homes unannounced. The guideline urges the authorities to force Rohingya women to breastfeed infants in their presence “if there is suspicion of someone being substituted” in the family registry.

Some state and central government officials showed public support for the Rohingya two-child policy in northern Rakhine State last year, while others offered the international community categorical denials that childbirth restrictions ever existed. Information obtained by Fortify Rights not only confirms the policies existed but also indicates they are still in effect.

Birth restrictions violate the human rights of Rohingya couples to marry, found a family, and determine for themselves the number and spacing of their children. Fears of penalties for unsanctioned pregnancies have caused Rohingya to flee the country or undergo illegal and unsafe abortions, often leading to untreated health consequences and even death, Fortify Rights said.

“The government is systematically persecuting Rohingya on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and at times gender,” Matthew Smith said. “Rohingya women in particular find themselves in the crosshairs of these targeted policies, facing severe discrimination because they’re women as well as Rohingya Muslims.”

Confidential documents published in Policies of Persecution reveal that official orders issued by Rakhine State authorities from 1993 to 2008 outline a consistent state policy of restrictions on Rohingya marriage. Rohingya couples cannot live together unless they are married, and they must meet ten administrative requirements before the authorities will consider issuing permission to marry. The authorities typically require applicants to pay high fees as well.

Other policies curtail Rohingya freedom of movement. Rohingya in Rakhine State are barred from travelling within or between townships without authorization, and they are only permitted to travel outside the state in rare circumstances with additional, difficult-to-obtain authorizations. Restrictions on movement severely inhibit livelihoods and access to healthcare, even in medical emergencies, impinging upon their right to health.

Government policies described in this report explicitly provide criminal punishments for Rohingya who violate the restrictions, with penalties including up to several years in prison, fines, or both.

The abuses resulting from the policies of persecution explained in this report are central to the forced migration of Rohingya in Southeast Asia, Fortify Rights said. The policies appear to be designed to make life so intolerable for Rohingya that they will leave the country, and indeed many have. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, and elsewhere over the last two decades, in many cases risking death at sea and abuses by human traffickers, including killings and ill treatment.

Policies of Persecution explains how the abuses taking place in Rakhine State rise to the level of persecution as a crime against humanity, implicating the involvement of state and central government authorities. Three “regional orders” from Rakhine State—dated 1993, 2005, and 2008—are signed by state-level government officials and copied to various departments falling under state and central government jurisdictions. Rakhine State government officials and ministers of the central government have also discussed on record the restrictions against Rohingya since at least 2011.

In 2011, the Minister of Defense at the time, Lieutenant-General Hla Min, approvingly referenced and explained in Myanmar’s parliament the restrictive policies against Rohingya. On July 31, 2012, Myanmar’s Minister of Home Affairs Lieutenant-General Ko Ko told parliament that the authorities were “tightening the regulations [against Rohingya] in order to handle travelling, birth, death, immigration, migration, marriage, construction of new religious buildings, repairing and land ownership and [the] right to construct building[s]....”

“The reality is that the official state policies and practices against Rohingya are plainly abusive,” said Matthew Smith. “The international community should unequivocally condemn these policies and practices and work with the government of Myanmar to ensure they’re abolished.” 

Fortify Rights is calling for an independent investigation by international and Myanmar actors into human rights abuses in Rakhine State, including into abusive restrictions against Rohingya.

For more information, please contact:

Matthew Smith, matthew.smith@fortifyrights.org, +66.85.028.0044 (Thailand)

Follow us on Twitter: @matthewfsmith @fortifyrights @taylormlandis

BACKGROUND

There are at least 1.33 million Rohingya in Myanmar; all but 40,000 are stateless due to the country’s 1982 Citizenship Law, which denies Rohingya equal access to citizenship rights. The government refers to Rohingya as “Bengali” and regards them as “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh, despite the fact that they have lived in Myanmar for generations. The restrictions imposed on Rohingya are ostensibly framed by the government of Myanmar as a response to an “illegal immigration” problem and threats to “national security.” Tensions between Rakhine Buddhists—also a repressed ethnic minority of Myanmar—and Rohingya Muslims have existed for decades. In 2012, significant waves of violence and well-coordinated arson attacks erupted, disproportionately affecting the Rohingya population and other Muslim communities, and in some cases involving killings by state-security forces. More than 140,000 Rohingya have been displaced to under-resourced internal displacement camps. International health and aid workers face threats and obstructions to their work from members of the local Rakhine population.

ABOUT FORTIFY RIGHTS

Fortify Rights is an independent organization that strives to strengthen the human rights movement through the defense and protection of human rights. We provide technical support to human rights defenders and conduct independent monitoring and strategic advocacy. By independently documenting and exposing human rights violations while teaming with activists to advocate for change at local, national, and international levels, we aim to fortify the human rights movement. We are a non-profit human rights organization based in Southeast Asia and registered in Switzerland and the United States. Follow us on Twitter @FortifyRights.

Policies of Persecution: Ending Abusive State Policies Against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar