The government of Myanmar has long instituted a campaign to keep the world from seeing their crimes against the Rohingya. The expulsion of Médecins Sans Frontières will likely lead to more, writes freelance journalist Tim Robertson.

By Tim Robertson

Crikey

March 4, 2014

The January violence against the Rohingya in the Rakhine state was typical of the difficulties in reporting from Myanmar. Foreign journalist are barred from the area where the violence took place and humanitarian agencies are also incapacitated by a government intent on hiding the truth from the rest of world.

The United Nations called on the government of Myanmar to investigate “credible information” of violence against the Rohingya Muslims between January 9-14, in which over 40 people are thought to have been killed. The government responded by denying any such charges and accused the UN of fabricating the allegations.

Throughout this farce Medecins Sans Frontieres was the only credible and independent source of information on the attacks. They reported that they treated 22 patients on January 14, who were believed to be victims from the Maungdaw township in Rakhine state.

This seems to have been the catalyst for their expulsion. And yet another layer of accountability has been removed from an already threadbare arrangement. The message from President Thein Sein to other NGOs operating in the country is hardly ambiguous. His attempts to instil a culture in which crimes like murder, rape and torture are ignored and concealed paves the way for further depraved and widespread atrocities.

But the regime has had a change of heart; they will allow MSF to return, but have attached a sinister caveat: they will not be able to return to the Rakhine state where most of the Rohingya population live. They are not simply being denied medical care (a crime under international law in itself), they are being placed in a vice and held hostage by the unsupervised Buddhist nationalist security forces and villagers who are the very thugs responsible for much of the violence.

Travelling in Myanmar, it doesn’t take one long to stumble across the sense that much of the nation is consumed by the threat Islam poses to Buddhism and its devotees; it fills pages of newspapers and it was often the first thing Buddhists wanted to tell me about. Many seem to be genuinely fearful for their safety and their religion’s ability to overcome the perceived aggressiveness of Islam. In Yangon last month one man told me it wouldn’t be long before Burma began to resemble Pakistan — that is to say, a predominately Islamic state with a high-level of violence.

This Buddhist nationalistic movement is led by the religious leaders. Draped in their saffron robes, the monks preach hatred and racism, while masquerading as pacifists. It also comes as little surprise that the Burmese Buddhist community has close ties with the Sri Lanka Buddhist community — another pseudo-nonviolent group that was happy to see those of another creed butchered by their loyal government.

It’s a prophetic alliance: the situation in the Rakhine state could well be heading towards a genocide similar to that carried out against the Tamils in 2009. One of the first things the Sri Lanka government did was ensure foreign journalists were tethered to Colombo, claiming it as a necessary requirement to ensure their safety. It’s the same excuse used by the Myanmar government.

The systematic removal of independent people and organisations that may bear witness to the marginalisation and persecution of the Rohingya is a tactic that contradicts the rhetoric of a country supposedly in reform. It’s a tactic that won’t be able to hide a full-scale genocide, but it may succeed in obscuring a great many horrors in the meantime.

And perhaps this will be enough for the West to remain silent; to continue wishing that what’s happening in Myanmar wasn’t, and that by not objecting too loudly attention won’t be drawn to the fact foreign investors have been flooding into the country since sanctions were lifted. The possibilities for profit have been fully realised by the world’s leading economies; a decision by the World Bank in January to invest US$2 billion in the country was further affirmation that Myanmar is — as those investors are no doubt fond of saying — “open for business”.

So the level of complicity now extends beyond Myanmar’s border. Those with financial interests in the country are unlikely to welcome condemnation from other parts of the world, which could potentially pose a very real threat to their new ventures. This kind of self-interest is helping veil what’s really happening in the Rakhine state.

In Egypt last year, the United States government refused to call what was obviously a coup by its rightful name, because doing so would mean they would be legally obliged to stop supplying the regime with aid. The Rohingya will likely face a similar problem. If the “crisis” or “situation” (mere euphemism for wholesale murder, torture, persecution and destruction) worsens and the Genocide Convention is invoked, it demands intervention.

But those who are charged with invoking it have too many interests in not intervening. It’s a veritable catch-22.

Chairs: 

• Professor Amartya Sen, Thomas W. Lamont University Professor
• Professor Arthur Kleinman, Victor and William Fung Director, Harvard University Asia Center; Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University; Professor of Medical Anthropology in Global Health and Social Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Panelists: 

• Professor David Dapice; Ash Center, Harvard Kennedy School; Department of Economics, Tufts University
• Professor Adam Richards, Division of General Medicine, UCLA
• Dr. Maung Zarni, Center for Democracy and Elections, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur
• Ms. Hseng Noung, Shan Women Action Network and Women’s League of Burma
• Ms. Cheery Zahau, Human Rights Activist

Sponsored by the Harvard University Asia Center and the Harvard Global Equity Initiative

RB News 

March 4, 2014

Chittagong, Bangladesh - 17 year old Samjidah, is a Rohingya girl living in Kutu Palang unregistered refugee camp. She is the daughter of Abul Hussain. Samjidah was raped by two police, accompanied by two locals at 5:45pm on March 3, 2014.

The Rape took place at Kohnson Bannia near Kutu Palang in front of her younger sister. According to local sources, the girl is new comer in Bangladesh. She had fled the Arakan (Rakhine) state for Myanmar to escape persecution by the Myanmar government and extreme racism from local Rakhines.

2-3 months after her arrival at the unregistered camp, she was sent to Chittagong by her guardians for a durational job. After two months of work she left to return to the camp along with one of her much younger sisters.

2 police were involved in the gang rape. Police Mostafa from Gomddom and a (thus far unnamed) sub-police station policeman. The two local men are Zashim Driver, son of sayed Ahmed, from the same village of Kohson Bannia and Jodiya Borua, son of Babul Lal Borua, from Gomddom Borua para village.

Local witnesses said that the situation of the girl was very serious She was last seen by locals to be unconscious. The criminals took Samjidah and her sister into custody. Their location and fate unknown. Their family left with uncertainty. 

Sexual violence, Early and forced marriage and are all too common for Rohingya females who have fled the Arakan (Rakhine) state of Myanmar for Bangladesh. Significantly more so for those living in unregistered camps and ghettos. 

There is no legal recourse for those who commit such atrocities to the Rohingya women and children. There is no law written to protect them nor a desire to do so by the Bangladeshi government.

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

By Assed Baig

Anadolu Agency

March 4, 2014

In 2013, in preparation for Myanmar’s census the government asked the Rohingya Muslims of western Myanmar to sign papers declaring that they were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The result would have been the Rohingya identity being wiped from official records. Instead of agreeing, they responded by defiantly chanting: “Rohingya, Rohingya, Rohingya!” Following the protests the police began to arrest people they believed to have organized the demonstrations. The authorities refused to accept that they were not actually organized but were instead a spontaneous expression of the frustration the Rohingya felt at having their identity denied to them and forced to sign papers calling themselves illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. 

According to the UN, the Rohingya are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Hundreds of thousands remain in camps and tens of thousands have been forced to flee the country, risking a perilous journey at sea. In 1982, under the citizenship act brought in by the military junta, the Rohingya had their citizenship removed and became stateless. 

Win, one of Anadolu Agency’s contacts within Myanmar, was arrested on the accusation that he had organized a Rohingya demonstration against the census, though he is adamant that he had not. Win was held in detention for a week. “They beat and electrocuted me,” he says and then falls silent, not saying another word. He has clearly been traumatized by the ordeal. Win was only released after his family paid a ransom of one million Burmese Kyat, around US$1000, which they raised by borrowing and asking for help from relatives abroad. His family now say that he is suffering from the psychological effects of the torture. “He is not the same man,” his sister says. “He has changed,” she says, with a dejected look in her eyes. 

Win’s family said that since his release every time he sees police near the house he begins to cry and becomes gripped with fear. His wife and children have to deal with the psychological damage the torture has left on Win’s mind. There are no doctors in the camps in Sittwe, let alone psychiatrists to help with the trauma.

Though Win was arrested for allegedly organizing protests, the authorities do not need any particular reason to detain the Rohingya. Muhammed Shafiq owns a little store that is little more than a roadside shack. He was arrested after going to a nearby military base in search of a soldier who had purchased some goods from him on credit but had disappeared. He did not even enter the base, he simply asked if the soldier was there but was detained and beaten by soldiers belonging to battalion 354. “They tied my hands behind my back and kicked and punched me for half an hour,” he told me. “I only wanted to see if the soldier was there, he owed me money,” said the 22-year-old. “They stripped me naked and searched me,” said Shafiq.

In one of the many Internally Displaced Persons camps an old woman approaches AA and asked to tell her story. Shugu Begum has not seen her son for two years. 

“He was arrested in front of me during the violence,” she says. “We have been moved to camps and I have not seen him for two years,” she says as tears roll down her face. 

Shugu looks tired and skinny. Her grey hair is tied back and she has the look of desperation on her face, she asks, “Do you know where he is?”

Andrew Day

RB News 

March 4, 2014

Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh - If one were to look, they would find consistent cases of arbitrary arrests against Rohingya refugees in either of the two state run UNCHR refugee camps in Bangladesh. The two makeshift camps named Kutupalong and Nayapara have a combined registered refugee population of about 29000. The following cases of arrests, all a means for extortion by local authorities have taken place in Nayapara refugee camp between February 20-28, 2014. 

Starting with this letter written to Rohingya Blogger of an arrest of a paralysis patient who is still held by police. The information in the letter has since been confirmed by RB News (with the exeption of the SI written about was learned to be an Assistant Sub Inspector named Zakir):

"A refugee identified as Sha Alam 55 s/o Suluma MRC#16013, Block-E, Shed#942, Room#4 Nayapara refugee camp has been arbitrarily arrested by police of Teknaf police station on 28.02.2014 at about 2.00 am. A group of police led by SI (Sub-Inspector) Hanif, Mohammad Shah Alam and Kamrul, entered the camp without the knowledge of Camp in Charge, who is the overall authority of the camp and went to refugee Sha Alam’s house and called him out of his room. After getting him out, police took him to Teknaf police station. The police arrested him to blackmail money alleging him in false case. When the information was reached to various concerned authority of UNHCR and the government, the police could not release him in exchange of money. They sent him to the Cox’s Bazar prison fabricating a false case against him as a human trafficker. The main purpose of the police was to realize toll from him alleging in a false case. But, as the guardians of the victim were unable to pay the huge amount of money demanded by the police, the guardians informed the matter to the concerned authority of UNHCR and the Camp in Charge to get assistance in his release. Then the Head of Sub-Office, UNHCR contacted to the Officer in charge of police and requested him to release the innocent arrestee. Denying his request, the OC of police has sent him to the Cox’s Bazar jail.

The refugee is a paralysis patient. He does not know what is human trafficking.

Besides this, police have arrested many refugees and released them in exchange of money. But they can not inform any concerned authority of the UNHCR and the Camp authority fearing repercussion. On the other hand, the police frequently enter the camp without the knowledge of Camp in Charge at deep night and arrest the innocent refugees from the camp and blackmail huge amounts of money alleging false cases. After taking bribes the arrestees are released. 

Refugees have to pawn ration books and gold ornaments and must borrow money from neighbors to meet the demand of police for recovering the arrestee. Now the innocent refugees are unable to stay in their room for fear of police arrest, like in Burma. Suddenly, they will enter the camp and detain innocent refugees and say, “You are human traffickers or robber”. Then the victims are compelled to give money anyway for release. Fearing they will have to bear torture of police. So if this harassment and persecution is going on against innocent refugees, how can we live here? The police have laid the trap for refugees to realize money. For the distressed and innocent refugees of Nayapara camp, we like to urge the international communities through the Rohingya Blogger to provide us protection from police harassment and oppression."

Sha Alam is still held in jail now. His opportunity to be released by bribery has passed as it was reported to concerned authorities. In other cases of arrests in this time period, they or their families managed to raise the funds needed and quietly pay the guards off in order to avoid imprisonment and torture. 

• Sirajul Haque Father name Sharif Hossain MRC 16886 Block E/859/7 The police called him to open the door. He was harassed and was forced to pay 50000bdt
• Mohammed Hossain Father's name Shobbir Ahmed MRC 15899 C/859/1 Forced to pay 90000bdt
• Abdul Monaf Father name Abdul Salam MRC Z-3096 E/914/5 Forced to pay 15000bdt
• Khairul Amin Father's name Abdul Amin MRC Z-3179 C 885/2 He was out from his home at about 11:20 AM to use a nearby toilet. He was harassed and forced to pay 5000bdt

Arbitrary arrests of the persecuted Rohingya ethnic minority in Bangladesh is a regular part of life for those who have fled from Arakan state, many of which having fled in the early 1990's. This quotation from Physicians for Human Rights in 2010 shows a mirror image of these current atrocities committed by police forces.

"Refugees report beatings, racial epithets, humiliation, and extortion once detained. With no resources, families are compelled to borrow money to pay bail or explicit bribes to Bangladeshi authorities to have their detained family members released."

This is the treatment of registered refugees in the cox's bazaar district. They live in densely populated quarters around open streams of sewerage. No laws have been written to protect them. They have no one to turn to when being wrongfully persecuted and accused by local citizens or police. 

In addition to this, there are over 200'000 Rohingya people who live in ghettos outside Kutupalong and Nayapara. They are not officially recognized as refugees. The Government of Bangladesh is state party to certain international human rights treaties that obligates them not to deport or expel any person from its territory when that person’s right to life or right to be free from torture is at risk. No part of the treaties though requires that the government has to look after them at all for food, medicine or protection. These people are quite literally starving and dying from disease. The only words from FM Dipu Moni was of the population crisis that faces Bangladesh. Recommending that the stateless Rohingya agree to voluntary refoulement. This seeming to be the loophole that the government will rely on to push back those who fled from Myanmar.

By Syed Mohammed

The Times of India

March 2, 2014

HYDERABAD: When they arrived in the city a little over three years ago from Myanmar, the Rohingya refugees were hopeful of a new life and emancipation from military junta's persecution. While their new home did assuage their feelings of utter hopelessness, lack of steady employment remains a major cause for concern.

The Rohingya influx began in the aftermath of the ethnic violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, with the first batch arriving in the city in October 2011. From a mere 35 in October 2011, their number shot up to over 1,500 in just three years. They are now spread across five neighbourhoods - Balapur, Barkas, Shaheen Nagar, Kishan Bagh and Shastripuram - all in the Old City.

But most of them are without work. For instance, Dudey Miya's daily trips to the local labourer point, popularly known as adda, in Barkas to find work are often unfruitful. Three days a week, he is forced to return to his dingy room, dejected and jittery. "I have a wife and five children. How can I feed them when I rarely get work? Just imagine my plight if any of them fall sick. A refugee card entitles me to certain benefits but I am yet to get one. I have been waiting for months," he says.

Like Miya, 35-year old Noor-ul-Haq is also waiting for his refugee card. He says that he lacks the wherewithal to make trips to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Delhi. "Each trip costs us a minimum of Rs 1,800. We cannot afford to pay this money even once a year. Some of us have taken loans to go to Delhi but now they are unable to pay them off," he laments.

While donations from NGOs and individuals do come in, others believe the Rohingyas have outstayed their welcome. From expressing apprehensions over policemen knocking on their doors in the aftermath of the Mahabodhi Temple serial blasts last July, to being easy targets for anti-social elements, the refugees are being increasingly harassed. Some, in hushed tones, have also claimed that there have been instances of sexual assaults.

They refuse to elaborate on the incidents of sexual exploitation and do not want to identify men involved in such cases out of fear. "If I open my mouth, they might go to any extent to silence me. Some of my countrymen who launched a meek protest were beaten up severely," one of the refugees said on the condition of anonymity.

"We are frequently asked to show our documents as we are easily identifiable. We have been robbed on the streets and our mobile phones have also been snatched," says Khaleel Hussain (name changed). "But things are a little better now," he quickly adds.

Observers say that as many as 40 asylum seekers, including women and children, have left the city to other parts of the country in search for better livelihood and hoping for acceptance. Mazhar Hussain from Cova, an NGO and implementation partner of UNHCR, says, "Let us assume that there were 50 people at the adda before the Rohingyas arrived. Now, there are more than 50 of these refugees who look for work. This is bound to upset the local work force," he says.

By Rustam Shah Mohmand

The Express Tribune

March 2, 2014

It is pathetic how the world and the regional countries have shown such inexplicable indifference to the unending suffering of the Rohingya — the Muslim minority of Myanmar and according to the UN, the ‘most persecuted ethnic community in the world’.

The ruthless and systematic policy of oppression practised by the military junta in Myanmar (formerly Burma) for the last nearly half a century against an ethnic minority of more than 1.4 million Muslims has been one of the darkest episodes of ethnic discrimination in contemporary times. Concealing this crime was easy because the regime, one of the most totalitarian and brutal, has been isolated from the world. It not only resorted to a carefully orchestrated campaign of oppression against the Rohingyas but also went a step further — it questioned the Rohingya’s right of community citizenship and denied their right to be called nationals of Myanmar because it asserted, without any documented evidence, that all Rohingya have entered the country illegally. That is a bizarre rationale which does not rest on any plausible foundation because the minority Muslims have been living in the country since ages. Their ancestors converted to Islam when Muslim traders came to the region in the 7thand 8th century and continued to interact with the indigenous Burmese population.

The military junta have no grounds to unleash a reign of terror upon a helpless and peaceful community. The state repression has taken many forms. Employment is denied to the Rohingya community in a country where the government happens to be the main employer. Restrictions are in place on the movement of the community not only internally but also on their travels abroad. Systematic and consistent attacks on their villages continue.

What is most distressing is that the police and the army, quite unashamedly, take part in the brutal attacks on the poor Rohingya Muslims. There are no state institutions like schools or hospitals in the areas inhabited by the Rohingya. They are forced either not to seek education for their children or beg Buddhist teachers to secretly allow their children to enter schools. Even the monks — otherwise peace-loving and peaceful religious leaders have been spearheading attacks against Muslims. Hundreds of Rohingyas have been killed in the last five years as the genocide campaign picked momentum, while thousands have been made to escape to the unwelcoming lands of Bangladesh. Dozens have perished and drowned in the rivers while trying to escape to Bangladesh as they were pursued by relentless gangs of attackers including military personnel.

The peace icon and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi disappointed many of her admirersbeyond Myanmar when she failed to raise her voice in defence of citizens of her country who were being massacred and whose properties, villages and markets were being systematically burnt and destroyed via state sponsored acts of terrorism. Few voices have been raised either in the neighbourhood of Myanmar or in the wider international community against the regime’s policy of pursuing a genocidal campaign against Rohingya Muslims. Perhaps, this attitude of the Islamic or regional countries have emboldened the military junta to inflict more pain and misery on the poor ethnic Muslims.

Indeed, the issue is not of ethnic discrimination alone. It is fundamentally an issue of suppression of human rights; it is an issue of crimes against humanity.

At a time when the world is keen to embrace Myanmar after half a century of isolation because of the brutal record of oppression by the military junta, it will be tragic for a country of 60 million to be universally condemned for the continuance of the genocidal policies that have, in the last four years, forced more than 150,000 ethnic Rohingyas to flee the country of their ancestors. The world should wait and see whether the advent of a new era of liberalisation and guided democracy will also deliver some relief to the long persecuted Rohingya or whether the military junta will continue to call the shots and drive the country into an unending spiral of ethnic strife.

By Desiree Tresa Gasper

The Star

March 2, 2014

KOTA TINGGI: Police believe they have resolved the case involving the attempt to assassinate two Myanmar political leaders in Bukit Bintang last month.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said this followed the arrest of a Myanmar national recently for the attempted murder of Myanmar member of parliament and Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) chairman Dr Aye Maung and Arakan League for Democracy Party chairman Aye Thor Aung.

“We are now in the midst of looking for another Myanmar national and Thai national whom we have identified,” he said.

In the 11.30pm incident at Jalan Alor on Feb 5, two men on a motorcycle fired six shots at a car in which Aye Maung and Aye Thor Aung, together with three other Myanmar nationals, were travelling in.

The five were said to have just left Plaza Low Yat when the shots were fired.

When asked to comment on a foreign agency report about fear of ethnic violence in Myanmar spreading to Malaysia, Khalid said: “No, I don’t think so, but, we are monitoring closely whatever happens in Myanmar.”

By The Daily Star

March 3, 2014

Dhaka has urged Nay Pyi Taw for an "amicable solution" to take back the Myanmar refugees from Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who reached the Myanmar capital yesterday to attend the third Bimstec summit, made the call during her meeting with the country's president Thein Sein at the Presidential Palace.

According to official estimate, around 30,000 registered Rohingya refugees and some 3 lakh to 5 lakh undocumented Myanmar nationals are living in Bangladesh. Of them, a significant number intruded here following persecution during the previous military rule in Myanmar.

Hasina also had a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, head of Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy, at the parliament and discussed issues of common interests and concerns of the two sides.

During the hour-long meeting, the Bangladesh prime minister said the refugee issue should be resolved through peaceful and amicable talks between the two friendly countries.

However, there came no response from the Myanmar president on the issue.

President Thein Sein told Hasina that Bangladesh could become a partner of an initiative taken by India, Thailand and Myanmar on establishing road connectivity.

In response, Hasina said connectivity of this region would considerably improve with the introduction of the Bangladesh -Myanmar-Kunming (China) road. "It will also boost trades in the region," she added.

However, there was no mention of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar initiative in the reports of the state-owned BSS and private UNB news agencies.

Leading a 54-member delegation, Hasina is due to address the Bimstec summit today and on the sidelines she will hold bilateral meetings with the president of Sri Lanka, and prime ministers of India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Briefing reporters after the meeting with Myanmar president, Hasina's Special Assistant Mahbubul Hoque Shakil said the two leaders laid importance on peace and stability of the region, reports BSS.

The prime minister reiterated that her government would continue to show zero tolerance to terrorism. "Bangladesh's soil would never be let used for terrorist activities against the country or against any of its friends," she said.

She identified poverty as the "main and common enemy" of the region and stressed the need for inter-state connectivity for the development of the people of the region.

"The countries of this region will be economically strengthened further and mutual trade and business enhanced through regional connectivity," she said, adding that the people would ultimately be benefited.

Hasina also said Bangladeshi entrepreneurs were interested to invest in Myanmar, particularly in agro-processing industries. The two leaders emphasised boosting bilateral trade.

The prime minister invited the Myanmar president to Bangladesh and the latter accepted it. The president said he would visit Dhaka at a convenient time.

MEETING WITH SUU KYI

The PM's special assistant told reporters that in the meeting Suu Kyi said both -- Hasina and herself -- had to cross a long path of struggle and movements for democracy.

She said Bangladesh had set an example in developing the fate of the poor, particularly of the rural women and children. Myanmar can follow Bangladesh as it had become an inspiration in alleviating poverty.

The icon of democracy lauded the role of Hasina for the development of women and children and said "One house, One farm", "Ghorey Fera" and "Asrayan Project" were some remarkable examples of her government, which played a significant role in poverty reduction. Such projects were inspiration for any country, she added.

In response, Hasina said her government had emphasised developing the fate of the rural women and children to ensure their economic emancipation.

Suu Kyi also introduced to Hasina "Saving Box" programmes in her electoral areas which were inspired by Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina also had meeting with Speaker of Myanmar parliament Shwe Mann and discussed issues related to strengthening democracy in both the countries.

In the evening, she along with other participating heads of governments / states joined the dinner hosted by the Myanmar president at Myanmar International Convention Centre.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, Ambassador at-Large M Ziauddin, Secretary to Prime Minister's Office Abul Kalam Azad, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque, and Bangladesh Ambassador to Myanmar Anup Kumar Chakma were also present at Haisna's meetings.

RB News

March 2, 2014

Sittwe, Arakan – A young boy from Aung Mingalar ward of Sittwe, the capital city of Arakan state, who was suffering from tonsil pain died in Sittwe Geberal hospital after injection by a nurse on March 1, 2014.

A two year old boy, Aung Myo Khant, son of Maung Maung Khine, was admitted the government run hospital in Sittwe on Wednesday, February 26th. His family was instructed to admit him to the hospital by local doctors. The young boy died on March 1, 2014 at 4:45 pm. 

“He wasn’t in serious condition and needed no surgery according to local doctors. He was instructed to be admitted to the government hospital. His situation was quite alright during past three days. Here the procedure is we need to buy the required injection from outside and need to keep with the patient at the hospital. The nurse or doctor used to come to the bed at the hospital and ask the patient or caretaker to provide the injection. Then the nurse gives injection at that place.” a resident from Aung Mingalar explained about the procedure of the government hospital to RB News.

He continued “Yesterday at 2 pm a nurse came to the bed of Aung Myo Khant. She said she has to give injection. The caretaker of the patient was in fear to ask why the nurse didn’t ask for the injection from the patient. At the end the nurse gave an injection to the young boy. The boy died after two and half hours after getting the injection.”

The Rohingya residents in Aung Mingalar are shocked to know about the death of the young boy. As the boy died after the injection of the nurse which wasn't provided by the patient’s caretaker, the people in Aung Mingalar believed that the boy hadn't died normally. They have a big doubt about the nurse. As the law in Arakan state does not protect the Rohingyas they are unable to file a complaint against the death of the boy. The people said they are unable to do anything but they are very sad for the death of the boy.

Kyaw Swar Win contributed in reporting.

By MSF

March 2, 2014

Yangon -- On February 27, Médecins Sans Frontières Holland (MSF) received a written order from the Union Government of Myanmar to cease all operations in the country, which led to a full closure of all MSF Holland clinics on February 28. This act left patients confused and desperately concerned across the whole country.

HIV activities resume

After dialogue with the Union Government in Naypyitaw on February 28, we have now been informed by the Minister of Health and the Minister of Home Affairs that we can resume part of the activities as covered by our original Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday March 3. This includes HIV/AIDS and other activities in Kachin and Shan states, as well as Yangon region.

Whilst we are encouraged by this and will resume these activities for now, MSF remains extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of vulnerable people in Rakhine state who currently face a humanitarian medical crisis.

Clinics in Rakhine remain closed

MSF Holland clinics in Rakhine remain closed since February 27, following a verbal communication from the Rakhine State authorities to suspend our activities.

Prior to the suspension, MSF carried out a variety of activities in nine townships across in Rakhine, treating anyone who was unable to access the medical care they required.

All MSF services are provided based on medical need only, regardless of ethnicity, religion or any other factor.

MSF looks forward to continuing the dialogue with the Union Government to ensure that essential life-saving services continue to reach those that need them.

March 2, 2014

BRAJ condemns the Myanmar government decision not to let MSF operation in Arakan

March 2, 2014

Since 1992 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been working in Myanmar, it is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. MSF has been offering medical assistance to people around the world based on need, irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation. In June 2012, the deadly inter-communal clashes in Rakhine state, Myanmar, triggered an official state of emergency. An estimated 14,0000 people were displaced and many houses were burned down. Those IDPs ended up living in makeshift camps without sufficient shelter, sanitation, food or healthcare.

MSF has long experience – nearly 20 years – of working in remote and neglected Rakhine state, offering basic, maternal healthcare and medical treatment for the innocent victims of extremists. The teams have treated hundreds of thousands of people from all ethnic groups, including the Rakhine community and the Rohingya Muslim minority population. But insecurity, delayed authorization and repeated threats and intimidation by a small and vocal group of the Rakhine community have been hindering MSF’s works. Still many thousands of people are suffering without being able to obtain the treatment they urgently needed.

The Burmese government concerned officials would like to expel international relief group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) that they will not be allowed to extend its contract for operations in the country because they are accused of misinforming the international community over incidents in Arakan State’s Duchira Dan last month. The government ministry level meeting it is decided and informed the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Home Affairs not to extend the MoU with MSF. Some leaders and organizations of Rakhine community have recently sent an appeal letter to the President U Thein Sein raising their voices in protest of dismissing MSF works in the region. An estimated 5000 Rakhine staged a protest demonstration against MSF in Sittwe and warned them to leave the country within seven days. 

In the last month Duchira Dan massacre the available eye-witnesses and UN source stated that 48 Rohingyas are mercilessly killed and their homes are burned to ash and several Rohingyas victims are injured with gunshot and slash wounds but the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission had concluded an inquiry into an alleged massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Maungdaw’s Duchira Dan-West village, saying it has found no solid evidence of any massacre or incident taking place. 

The Rohingyas are an ethnic minority group of Burma which is under constant tyranny of Burmese military regime. So far half of Rohingyas population were expelled from the country or have to leave their homeland to save their lives since Burma's independence. They are denied citizenship rights effectively rendered stateless, facing institutionalized persecution while living in miserable poverty. In 1982, Ne Win passed the notorious Citizenship Law which is placing them in the relative legal limbo that is statelessness. The Rohingya population of Arakan has been suffered from the various kinds of persecution politically, socially, racially and religiously under the government sponsor ethnic cleansing pre-planned program. Rohingyas in Arakan are regarded as illegal immigrants and their access to government hospital or other medical institutions is not allowed while Rakhine people have free access to obtain treatment as the Thein Sein’s government guarantee his citizen’s health care but not Rohingyas. MSF has been only source for innocent Rohingya victims of Rakhine extremist for medical treatment, the central government, local government authority and local Rakhine community do not want MSF offer medical care to Rohingya in order to expel or eliminate Rohingya from Arakan soil.

We would like to urge the government of Myanmar and appeal to the international community UN, US, European Union, ASEAN and Japan that:

1. To permit MSF extension of its contract for operations as it has been operating in the country, HIV/AIDS, TB clinics in Rakhine, Shan and Kachin states, as well as Yangon division. 
2. To protest the government decision to dismiss/cease MSF operation in the region and their medical relief operation must be in Myanmar otherwise thousands of HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria patients will be lack of medical treatments.
3. To support or endorse international independent enquiry commission monitored by UN rights group to unveil the real facts of massacre or ethnic cleansing the democratically elected government has committed on Rohingyas.
4. To send UN peace-keeping force in Arakan to protect ethnic Rohingya community from mercilessly arbitrary killing and gross human rights violations.
5. To bring all the perpetrators guilty of killing, raping and devastating Rohingya property to justice and take appropriate legal action in accordance with the laws.

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui

RB Opinion

March 2, 2014

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Nobel Prize-winning charity group also known as Doctors Without Borders, have been asked by the Mynamar government to shut its operation inside Arakan. The group has been operating in Burma (Myanmar) since 1992 under an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Ministry of Health and prviding health care to both ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, a stateless minority who live in apartheid-like conditions and who otherwise have little access to healthcare. The internationally acclaimed group has also been providing healthcare in Kachin and Shan states, as well as programs across the country offering antiretroviral treatment to around 30,000 HIV patients. Since 2004, MSF has treated over 1,240,000 malaria patients in Rakhine (Arakan) state alone. 

The stateless Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar are portrayed deliberately as Bangladeshis to deny them basic human rights and justify a genocidal campaign within this Buddhist country. As a result of a series of ethnic cleansing drives since May of 2012, nearly a quarter million Muslims have lost their homes and are now internally displaced. Thousands have been raped, burned, killed and imprisoned to terrorize this endangered group. The Rohingyas are denied access to basic healthcare units and clinics. 

MSF have been one of the very few agencies – and in most parts of the Rakhine state of Myanmar the only medical organization – providing the necessary healthcare service to this most suffering people of our time who can’t even move from one part of the country to another. Obviously, such humanitarian activities – treating and prolonging the lives of a targeted minority - challenge the eliminationist policy, espoused by the Myanmar’s criminal government and the Rakhine state government and their Buddhist population who have been hideously intolerant, racist and murderous. 

As reported by Jonah Fisher of the BBC News, aid agencies in Arakan face a very difficult choice of either keeping quiet in situations that are outright inhuman, murderous and apartheid or speaking out, risking infuriating the Buddhist majority to whom non-violence (ahimsha) has lost its meaning. Most agencies have chosen the first option, reasoning that their priority is to try and assist the most needy and vulnerable. MSF have not kept quiet, and consistently raised issues of access and the dire conditions in camps for displaced Rohingya. Not surprisingly, MSF have been unpopular with both the Buddhist people and government – central and local. And had it not been for the fear of negative publicity, MSF would have been shut down by the rogue government when its MoU expired in January 2013. The group had been permitted to continue operations while negotiating an extension, well until lately. 

January of this year witnessed another murderous campaign in Arakan State’s Duchira Dan [also written Du Char Yar Tan]. The UN condemned the matter. Navi Pillay, the chief of UN Human Rights Commission said that UN had "credible information" that 48 Rohingya Muslims had been killed in violence in early January. "I deplore the loss of life ... and call on the authorities to carry out a full, prompt and impartial investigation and ensure that victims and their families receive justice,'' Ms Pillay said. She added, "By responding to these incidents quickly and decisively, the government has an opportunity to show transparency and accountability, which will strengthen democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar.'' 

However, as usual, the Burmese authorities said there had been no casualties. But the MSF, much to the annoyance of the government, confirmed that their medics had treated 22 patients near the site of the alleged attack. Such a contrarian view was the final straw that broke Myanmar government’s back, or so it appears that they got caught red-handed! 

Myanmar government was irate and its Presidential spokesman and deputy information minister Ye Htut announced Thursday that MSF will not be allowed to operate in the country because the group’s activities are seen as “detrimental to regional stability” by the government. The group is alleged to have misinformed the international community over incidents in Duchira Dan last month. 

“In the most recent Duchira Dan incident, the MSF not only wrote to the Rakhine State government to claim they had treated 15 victims with gunshot and slash wounds but they also announced this to the international community,” said Ye Htut. “In response, the regional and central governments asked MSF to arrange a meeting between officials and the persons they allegedly treated.”

Challenging the government position, Peter-Paul de Groote, the Head of Mission of MSF Myanmar, said, “We can confirm that our staff treated 22 patients in the area near Du Char Yar Tan [Duchira Dan] village from a variety of violence-related injuries in the days after 14 January.”

As I have noted several times, the Myanmar government wants to hide its crimes against humanity and as such the presence of a well-respected international NGO like MSF is loathed in this apartheid state. Lest we forget it did not allow the OIC to open an office. Buddhist protests are stage managed to show that such concerned NGOs, human rights and international monitoring agencies are unwelcome in the killing fields of Myanmar. So it was no surprise that in the last few weeks several protests were staged by Buddhist Arakanese residents in the Rakhine state, demanding that the European relief group and other INGOs be evicted from the region because of their alleged “bias” in favor of the Rohingya minority.

MSF have consistently denied that their aid and assistance is biased, and say that they provide all necessary treatment to those in need regardless of race or religion – Rohingya and Rakhine alike. 

The United States on Friday urged Myanmar to allow humanitarian agencies "unfettered access" in Rakhine state, following reports the government had ordered MSF to stop working there. "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.

In the midst of worldwide condemnation for closing down MSF activities the Myanmar government on Sunday said that MSF have been allowed to resume operations in Kachin and Shan states, as well as in the Yangon region, also known as Rangoon. However, MSF cannot operate inside Arakan where the group's work is required more urgently than in any other part of Myanmar.

"Whilst we are encouraged by this and will resume these activities for now, MSF remains extremely concerned about the fate of tens of thousands of vulnerable people in Rakhine state who currently face a humanitarian medical crisis," the agency said in a statement.

So what to do with Myanmar? Was MSF wrong to voice its concern about government sanctioned discrimination and neglect of the Rohingya people that are barred from receiving basic healthcare? 

Since June of 2012, the civilized world has demanded that an international inquiry committee be allowed to visit the Rakhine state to check the veracity of the claims of ethnic cleansing. However, such demands have met deaf ears in Myanmar. Just as it has happened in other places of Myanmar, Maungdaw Township – the latest scene of the crime - remains closed to journalists, NGOs and human rights groups. A request by U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell to include an international representative on the investigating team was also denied by Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, who said it was "an internal affair".

In a slow but calculated manner the Rohingya people are getting killed and pushed out of this apartheid state. Typical of a genocidal mindset, Myanmar government is still in the denial state. 

The Rohingyas of Arakan are in a dire state. They are encamped in prison like cells. In search of a new roof over their head, security for their loved ones and earning a livelihood many Rohingyas have chosen to brave the unsafe ocean while many continue to die in that process. And many have put their lives in the hands of human traffickers within Myanmar to get out of the Rakhine state. To them, any place is better than the land of the murderous savages.

On February 12, eighteen Rohingyas from Minbya and Mrauk-U townships in the southern part of Arakan state left for Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, with two human traffickers of Chin ethnicity. On February 14, after the group had reached Kone Kar stream outside of Minbya Township they were ambushed and severely attacked by an organized group of Rakhine extremists. Only 7 managed to escape and return back to their villages after a few days, the remainder - eleven Rohingyas - were slaughtered. 

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

And yet, the apartheid state continues to give the impression that nothing is going wrong inside Myanmar; and there is no incident of mass killings, harassment, abduction, etc., against the minority Muslims. 

How long can Myanmar go on with her Goebbels-type propaganda hoping that her evil falsehood would triumph over truth? 

Genocide is a process and not an event. If the international community is looking for that ultimate event before they take concrete actions to tame the savage regime and its partners within the Buddhist population in Myanmar, I am afraid there won’t be any Rohingya left alive. They must take punitive action now. The closure of the MSF activities inside Arakan should be a sufficient eye-opener for anyone willing to wake up and smell the cup of coffee or tea.

By Telegraph & Argus 

March 1, 2014

A Bradford MP has highlighted in Parliament the persecution of the Rohingya people in Burma.

David Ward (Lib Dem, Bradford East) has called on the Government to work to establish an international investigation into violations of international law against the Rohingyas.

He has tabled an Early Day Motion to raise the issue.

He said: “The Burmese government has proved time and time again that it is clearly not willing to take substantial action to either investigate or end violence and discrimination against the Rohingya people.”

By Shwe Aung

Democratic Voice of Burma

March 1, 2014

On Thursday Parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann delegated draft legislation for the protection of race and religion in Burma, after monastic lobbyists petitioned for the laws. The Organisation for the Protection of National Race and Religion (OPNRR), headed by monk Ashin Tilawka Biwuntha, drafted four bills: the Faith Conversion Bill; the Marriage Bill; the Monogamy Bill; and the Population Control Bill. The group urged that the drafts be submitted to Parliament, claiming that protection of Burma’s race and religion is urgently needed to avoid such conflict as has ravaged parts of the country since 2012.

The proposed laws restrict interfaith marriage and could impose childbirth limitations.

DVB staff reporter Shwe Aung spoke with writer and former political prisoner Htet Myat about the proposed legislation, which he views as unnecessary and counter-productive to the nation’s efforts towards peace and social stability.

SA: Do you think now is an appropriate time to create racial and religious protection laws?

HM: The aim of the race protection laws was to address problems in Arakan State. I cannot accept these bills. I would like to say, frankly, that these bills are unnecessary. What we are seeing today is reminiscent of the 1960′s; They are trying to make Buddhism the national religion.

But these laws will prohibit the rights of women in Burma. When I read the meeting minutes of the monks who proposed the bills, I realised that not only does it prohibit women’s rights but also abuses the right to freedom of religion. I think at this moment, we don’t need this in our country. There is no such threat against Buddhism. I believe that the bills should not be approved at this time. I can’t accept this legislation.

SA: The leading monk from the OPNRR, which put the legislation forward, said that the new laws are necessary to stop racial and religious violence in Burma. Do you have any comment on this?

HM: The way he worded it, it seems like a threat. It meant that if the bills are not approved, there will be more conflict. If we consider the Meikhtila incident, it is obvious that people are behind it… some authorities didn’t do enough to control the situation. The conflict began in Arakan State and broadened to reach other parts of the country. Also in Pegu division, incidents happened in one town after another. There are people creating these problems. These problems were created by some people behind it.

People of different faiths have been living together for a long time without any problems. If there is no agitation from behind, there is no problem. Those who are creating problems should take responsibility. Relevant authorities should take legal action against them. If there are people creating conflicts, they should be held to account.

SA: The draft legislation was sent to the President last July. Why is it just reaching Parliament now?

HM: I think there are movements to launch propaganda against Aung San Suu Kyi, to prevent her from becoming President in the 2015 elections. The monks who proposed these bills are also organising against the amendment of Article 59 (f) [which disqualifies Suu Kyi for presidency]. It is co-incident with the submission of these bills. The election is only one year away. I am very suspicious about these moves.

By IRIN

March 1, 2014

Bangkok -- Abdul Kalam, 53, a Rohingya from Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, arrived in Thailand more than 30 years ago, after escaping forced labour in his home village of Nalywah. 

“I know I am not safe here. I worry a lot about it. I have seen too many people die in detention or in human trafficking camps,” said Kalam, who is well known within the Rohingya community and is the current president of Thailand’s Rohingya National Organization, which campaigns for the rights of boat people who have arrived in the country over the past decade. 

Despite having official refugee status from the UN Refugee Agency for almost 10 years, he himself cannot seek third-country resettlement as Thailand does not allow Rohingyas to be processed as refugees. 

There is no data on the total number of Rohingyas in Thailand, but unconfirmed reports suggest there could be between 3,000 and 20,000. 

“Most do not want attention because the boat crisis has made them more vulnerable,” said Chris Lewa, director of The Arakan Project, an advocacy group that works with Rohingyas. “Before, authorities did not bother about them existing in Thailand, but now authorities want to know where they are.” 

According to the UN, over 24,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar by boat since two deadly bouts of sectarian violence in 2012 left close to 140,000 people, mostly Rohingyas, displaced. 

The Rohingya, an ethnic, linguistic and religious (Muslim) minority numbering some 800,000 in Rakhine, have long faced persecution and discrimination in Myanmar where they are de jure stateless and considered undocumented immigrants. 

Invisible 

The lack of reliable data on their numbers in Thailand highlights their invisibility and absence of protection, according to Matthew Smith, the executive director of Fortify Rights International (FRI), a Myanmar-focused international legal advocacy organization. For many of the undocumented new arrivals, their only two options in Thailand are indefinite detention or being trafficked to Malaysia. 

While many who entered Thailand before 2009 managed to set up small businesses, and even marry into the Thai Muslim community in the south, the ongoing exodus from Myanmar has made Thai officials wary of further influxes, resulting in a nationwide clampdown. 

“We were able to negotiate with the police before,” said Kalam. “But now, for the people who do not have any documents, they can be arrested any time, according to law.” 

The estimated 2,000 Rohingyas who landed on Thai soil in 2013 were all detained, according to a recent report by Equal Rights Trust (ERT), a social justice think tank based in London. 

The imprisoned Rohingya suffered overcrowding, health problems due to inadequate sanitation and food, and family separation (with women and children in shelters, and men in detention centres), according to Thailand's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). 

“Hell is real for the Rohingyas in Thailand,” said Niran Pitakwatchara, an NHRC commissioner, adding that at least five Rohingya men had died in detention. 

Close to 300 people were held in two cells meant to accommodate just 30 people, according to Human Rights Watch.

Thailand is also one of the few countries in the world that does not put a cap on detention times, which leads to informal solutions, such as escape and the release of Rohingya to traffickers, says ERT. 

"[Officials] say [releasing them to traffickers] is more humane than to either deport them back to Burma or keep them in indefinite detention inside Thailand," Dmitrina Petrova, the executive director of ERT, explained. 

At the mercy of traffickers 

While local media recently reported that 1,300 Rohingyas were deported to Myanmar in the last few months, some say they are most likely being bought and sold “like cargo”, according to Petrova. 

At the end of January 2014, at least 531 Rohingyas were still being detained after police raided a traffickers' camp on 27 January and arrested them, and according to the Arakan Project, an additional 150-200 who arrived by boat in 2013 may also be in detention. 

“At the mercy of traffickers, Rohingyas can either pay for transport to Malaysia where they begin a life of irregular migrant work, or they end up in bonded labour on fishing boats,” she said. 

The brokers charge upwards of US$2,000 per person for the trip, according to Kalam. 

Nay Myo Amyoke, 35, a Rohingya from the Rakhine city of Sittwe who has been living in Thailand for four years, has lost several friends to traffickers since January 2013. “They are not missing,” he insisted. “They are in the brokers' hands and a few have died in the camp. Some went to Malaysia and were arrested again there.”

Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) and UN agreed to financial aid to Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

By World Bulletin

March 1, 2014

Turkey and UNICEF agreed on Friday to send US$1.82 million in humanitarian aid to support displaced Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

The money is planned to be used to provide clean water and to improve hygiene conditions for Rohingya Muslims who have been forced live within Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camps.

The sum was collected through a humanitarian aid campaign for Rohingya Muslims organized by Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency.

Senior UNICEF official Dominique Hyde said the organization is grateful to Turkey for delivering aid to the displaced Rohingya population in Myanmar and also congratulated Turkey for its open door policy for Syrian refugees.

The Rohingya of Myanmar are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world according to the UN. They have suffered pogroms at the hands of Rakhine Buddhist extremists and now as many as 100,000 are left to languish in camps that have turned into ghettos. Their citizenship was removed in 1982, making them stateless.

Approximately 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims live in Myanmar.