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Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Ravina Shamdasani
Location: Geneva
Date: 29 November 2016 

Since the attacks, on 9 October, on three Border Guard police posts in Maungdaw and Rathidaung in northern Rakhine State, the UN Human Rights Office has received reports of serious human rights violations during security operations.

The High Commissioner is alarmed by these reports, which include allegations of extrajudicial killings, mass destruction of civilian infrastructure, arbitrary arrests and sexual violence, as well as a renewed spike in hate speech, including on social media. The Government needs to condemn such inflammatory – potentially very dangerous – rhetoric no matter who is responsible. Failing this, there is a real risk that it could exacerbate the current spiral of violence. 

The High Commissioner unequivocally condemns the reported use of violence by armed individuals in northern Rakhine State, and recognizes that this is not something the authorities can ignore. However, it is essential that the Government ensures its attempts to restore security are firmly grounded in international human rights laws and standards, and that this is recognized by the affected population. 

Offensives in Kachin and Northern Shan State also continue to cause human rights violations and displacement. Protection of civilians and unfettered humanitarian access to conflict affected areas is critical. Measures that may heighten the vulnerability or pose threats to the safety and security of internally displaced people – such as requiring IDPs to cross conflict lines – must be avoided. The authorities must ensure respect for international humanitarian law and the rights of internally displaced people. Continued failure to do so will draw a sharp response from the international community.

The High Commissioner also regrets that, beyond the formation of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State led by Kofi Annan, the Government has largely failed to act on the recommendations made in a report by the UN Human Rights Office in June this year on the situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar*. The report documented a wide range of human rights violations and abuses against the Rohingya, including arbitrary deprivation of nationality, severe restrictions on freedom of movement, threats to life and security, denial of rights to health and education, forced labour, sexual violence, and limitations to their political rights, among others. The report raised the possibility that the pattern of violations against the Rohingya may amount to crimes against humanity.

(Photo: Reuters)

By Abdul Aziz
November 29, 2016

Border Guard Bangladesh in Cox's Bazar district have pushed back a total of 107 Rohingya Muslims who fled the country in the face of ongoing crackdown in Rakhain state by Myanmar troops.

Cox's Bazar -- Two BGB battalions prevented the trespassing at different points of the Naf river and Ghundhum area on Tuesday morning.

Teknaf 2 BGB Commander Abujar Al-Zahid said they sent back at least 70 Rohingyas boarded in seven boats till 7am while they were trying to enter Bangladesh illegally through four border points on the Naf river.

However, the commander could not specify the exact entry points.

On the other hand, Cox’s Bazar 34 BGB Commander Imran Ullah Sarkar said they pushed back 37 Rohingyas from Ghundhum border around 8am.

The 37 included 13 children, 14 women and 10 men, he added.

The commander continued that BGB has so far sent back 453 Rohingyas this month.

Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims tried to cross into Bangladesh illegally after Myanmar troops launched a crackdown in the Rakhine state in response to attacks on three border posts on October 9 that killed nine police officers.

Bangladesh has stepped up security along its border with Myanmar to prevent influx of Rohingyas fleeing violence in the Rakhine state that has killed at least 86 people and displaced 30,000 others.

Myanmar and the military have denied accusations by Rohingyas and rights groups of raping women, torching houses and killing civilians during their operations.

Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingyas as its citizens and dubs them ‘Bangali’. Rohingyas, who managed to land in Bangladesh, have taken shelter at refugee camps and other places in Cox’s Bazar.

Bangladesh has so far pushed back thousands of Rohingyas.

The latest violence is the most serious since the 2012 communal clashes. Many have criticised Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi for her silence although her party is in power.

US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat



By Jebun Nesa Alo
November 29, 2016


US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat has praised Bangladesh for “skillfully handling” the Rohingya issue and said Washington is closely monitoring the situation.

“I truly admire Bangladesh government for providing support and home to some Rohingyas that are here,” she said at a meeting with Diplomatic Correspondents Association Bangladesh in Dhaka on Monday.

“Bangladesh government has very patiently and skillfully been working on the Rohingya issue with the government of Burma,” she said.

Rohingya activists say more than 100 Rohingyas have been killed since Myanmar began its anti-insurgency operations in the Rakhine state in early October after attacks on border outposts that killed several policemen.

The latest crackdown has rendered an estimated 30,000 Rohingyas homeless.

Bernicat said: “We have been putting pressure on Burma both before and after the election to respect all the people living in the country including Rohingyas.”

The army denies burning down Rohingya villages, torturing, raping and killing the Rohingyas.

Ambassador Bernicat condemned the latest attacks, saying Washington had called for “formal transparent investigation” into the situation.

The Rohingyas, who number about one million in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, are not recognised by the government as citizens. A UN official has accused Myanmar of “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingyas.

“No one has had access to the conflict area for some time and the UN had called on Myanmar to allow international aid agencies to that distressed state,” Bernicat said.

Hundreds of Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since October to escape persecution despite tight security measures by the BGB and Coast Guard. Dhaka refuses to open its border and has urged the international community to help it deal with the crisis.

Bernicat said the US was “closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh.

“We have provided assistance to the Rohingya community living in Bangladesh and will continue to do so.”

November 29, 2016

Eight boats carrying Rohingya refugees have been turned away by Bangladesh as thousands amass on the border.

Thousands of Rohingya refugees have crossed into Bangladesh by boat in recent weeks [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

Multiple boats packed with Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar have been turned back by Bangladesh border guards despite appeals by the country's opposition to provide shelter to the persecuted Muslim minority.

Thousands of desperate Rohingya from Myanmar's western Rakhine state have flooded over the border into Bangladesh in the past week, bringing with them horrifying claims of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of Myanmar's security forces.

Eight boats attempting to cross the Naf River separating Rakhine from southern Bangladesh were pushed back on Monday after six were refused entry on Sunday, Colonel Abuzar Al Zahid, the head of the border guards in the Bangladeshi frontier town of Teknaf, told AFP

"There were 12 to 13 Rohingya in each of the boats," Zahid said.

Dhaka says thousands more are massed on the border, but has refused urgent international appeals to let them in, instead calling on Myanmar to do more to stop people fleeing.

In the past two weeks, Bangladeshi border guards have prevented more than 1,000 Rohingya, including many women and children, from entering the country by boat, officials told AFP.

Mass protests by opposition groups and religious movements have called on Bangladesh to accept Rohingya [Abir Abdullah/EPA]

Bangladesh's main opposition leader Khaleda Zia late on Sunday joined a growing chorus of political parties and religious groups in the Muslim majority country calling for the Rohingya to be given shelter.

'Torched our home'

At least 30,000 have been internally displaced in Rakhine and many have tried to reach Bangladesh over the past month despite heightened border patrols, seeking refuge in Rohingya camps across the Bangladeshi border. 

Samira Akhter told AFP by phone that she reached an unofficial refugee camp in Bangladesh on Monday, after fleeing her village in Rakhine state with her three children and 49 others.

"The military killed my husband and torched our home. I fled to a hill along with my three children and neighbours. We hid there for a week," said Akhter, 27.

Dudu Mia, a Rohingya leader in the camp, said at least 1,338 had arrived in the community since mid October.

Violence in Rakhine - home to the stateless ethnic group loathed by many of Myanmar's Buddhist majority - surged in the past month after security forces poured into the area following a series of attacks on police posts blamed on local fighters.

A UN official said last week that Myanmar is engaged in "ethnic cleansing" of Rohingya Muslims, as reports emerged of troops shooting at villagers as they tried to flee.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch condemned Myanmar's torching of three Rohingya villages.

The rights group urged the UN to investigate the destruction of 430 buildings in the northern Maungdaw district between October 22 and November 10. 

But Myanmar's new civilian government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has rejected the allegations.



Media Statement

THE ROHINGYAS: ACT NOW TO STOP THE GENOCIDE!

There is increasing recognition of the fact that ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the Rohingyas, --- A GENOCIDE --- is taking place in Rakhine, Myanmar. A number of groups and individuals are coming to terms with this grim reality especially after the “evidence of a new reign of terror and wholesale destruction of communities exercised by the Myanmar state against the Rohingya population has emerged” in October/November 2016. On the 25th of November 2016, the Malaysian government officially referred to the “alleged ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingyas.

Given the constraints of bilateral relations within the context of their common ASEAN membership, the Malaysian government has more than at any time in the past admonished the Myanmar government for its acts of commission and omission vis-à-vis the tragic plight of the Rohingya people. The Malaysian government should now try to convince the other ASEAN governments that a slow genocide has been unfolding in Rakhine since 1978. 

It should share the overwhelming evidence garnered by credible researchers and human rights organizations of mass killings of Rohingyas, their forced displacement, the denial of access to food, healthcare and employment and the systematic refusal of the state of Myanmar to recognize Rohingya identity. Collectively, the nine ASEAN governments should now persuade the Myanmar government to:

1) Stop immediately the massacre of the Rohingyas;
2) Restore the most fundamental rights of the Rohingyas as human beings
3) Recognize the right of the Rohingyas to their identity
4) Accord the right to citizenship to the Rohingyas.

Malaysia and other ASEAN governments should convince other Asian governments which have vast economic ties with Myanmar such as China, India and Japan to raise issues pertaining to justice for the Rohingyas with the Myanmar government. Diplomacy should be utilized to the fullest for this purpose. There is no reason why governments outside Asia should not also be drawn into this effort on behalf of the Rohingyas.

There is an additional reason why the world should act now. On 24 November 2016, 19 groups of Rohingyas from different parts of the world took the initiative to write to the Permanent People’s Tribunal in Rome urging the Tribunal to examine the situation in Myanmar from the perspective of state crime and genocide. These Initiators are backed by Supporting Initiators from Malaysia, Cambodia, South Africa, Britain and the United States of America. The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and the Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (CENTHRA) are among the Supporting Initiators.

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, President, JUST and Mr. Azril Mohd Amin, Chief Executive, CENTHRA, Malaysia.

27 November 2016.



Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO)


Press Release
28 November 2016

UN intervention is the only viable solution in Rohingya situation

For more than 6 weeks the innocent and peaceful-living Rohingyas have been made systematic targets of wholesale destruction, killing, raping and looting and arson attacks. The Myanmar military and security forces have killed more than 500 people, raped hundreds of women, burned down over 2500 houses, destroyed mosques and religious schools, and perpetrated other inhuman acts.

While the persecution against Rohingya has been callous, persistent and recurring again and again for many decades -- causing refugee problem and boat people crisis that pose regional instability and threat to international peace security -- the Myanmar Government has manifestly failed to protect them, and Nobel Peace Prize Winner State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is personally complicit and officially guilty in making Rohingyas’ plight worse. 

As outlined in Articles 6 and 7 of the Rome Statute, well documented reports and videos confirm that genocide and crimes against humanity (including ethnic cleansing) have been committed against Rohingyas by the Myanmar Government. 

Due to ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity, the Rohingyas are fleeing to Bangladesh for a temporary shelter to save their lives. They strongly desire to return to their ancestral homeland of Arakan as soon as possible and live a life in peaceful-coexistence with other ethnic groups, as responsible citizens of Myanmar, rather than to live in humiliation as refugees in alien lands. 

But it is frustrating that United Nations, powerful countries and Myanmar neighbours, have taken no concrete step to response to the serious humanitarian needs of the helpless Rohingyas and to stop the ongoing genocide against them. 

The Rohingya are hated, rejected, persecuted, annihilated and killed, and are treated as non-nationals. They do not enjoy any legal rights under Myanmar law and so do not have any redress in Myanmar. Therefore, the international Community should intervene in the matter. Particularly the UN intervention, on the grounds of humanitarianism with the specific purpose of preventing or alleviating widespread suffering or death of ethnic Rohingya with full security, is the only viable option left over to protect and save over a million of innocent lives. It seems implausible that the Rohingya would have any other redress except via the UN intervention.

We, therefore, urge upon the UN and international community for urgent intervention in the case of well documented genocide against the Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority to protect and save the lives of more than one million of innocent people. We also urge for an impartial international investigation into the crimes against Rohingyas, and for urgent humanitarian aids to the needy. 

For more details, please contact: 

U.K.: Ronnie +44-7783118354 
Japan: Zaw Min Htut +81-8030835327
Australia: Dr. Hla Myint +61-423381904
USA: Dr. Habib Ullah +1-4438158609
Canada: Nur Hasim +1 (519) 572-5359
Bangladesh: Ko Ko Linn +880-1726068413

Email: info@rohingya.org 


RB News 
November 27, 2016

Maungdaw, Arakan – A woman claiming to have been raped by Myanmar Military says that 100 more Rohingya women from Sin Thay Pyin hamlet of Laung Don village tract in Northern Maungdaw  were also raped by the Military.

On November 25th, 2016 a group of 500 soldiers were said to have raided Sin Thay Pyin hamlet in Laung Don village tract. Most of the men were able to escape at this time, but 70 men were said to have been left behind and arrested. Afterwards the military was reported to have taken all of the women and children out of their homes and had them gathered in one place. Villagers said many of the women were raped at this time and 3 of the women were also taken away to a nearby forest at this time. 

While the military was present a group of Na La Ta  villagers was said to have come and looted the houses in the village. 

A 70 year old villager name Abdul Hafiz, son of Sayed Ahmed, died on Friday the 25th. Witnesses reported that he died as a result of torture. Abdul Hafiz had been arrested earlier in the month on November 14th, and said he was tortured at this time as well. He was released earlier in the month but was unable to flee when the military returned on friday. 

During the day the the women in the village had been outside since 9am, as the military had gathered them. They did not return home until 9pm.  Abdul Hafiz’s family found him dead in their home when the women were allowed to return, a villager told RB News. The men who had been arrested earlier in the day were released at 11pm. They said they were severely tortured while thy were detained. After they were released the military left the village. 

Yesterday, November 26th 2016, at 7am a group of 200 soldiers returned to the village and was reported to have tortured the women there and raped many of them as well.

Women from Sin Thay Pyin East and Middle hamlets fled their villages at this time in fear of rape, but the military was reported to have fired shots in the air to stop them. The women were then forced to gather again under the sun and were stripped naked of all of their clothing, a local woman told RB News. She said the military then stole all of their gold and cash at this time.

Another eye witness said he witnessed these events from a distance, “I saw all of it. They were firing [shots]. There were about 300 women. They all gathered in the field under the sun. The soldiers forced them to place their scarves in one place, then their blouses, then even their longyis. I saw all of it with my own eyes.”

The women were said to have been forced to stand naked for two and a half hours I the sun. The soldiers then took advantage of the group of women. 

“More than 100 women were raped. At least 40 killed. Since they  took away the dead bodies immediately after killing it is very difficult to say the exact figure. 19 killed on Friday was confirmed.” a rape victim told RB News.

Three women who were taken away returned yesterday evening. At this time the remaining women and children are believed to still be in the field without any shelter.

On Friday some dead bodies were buried by the soldiers in Cashew Garden, located in Sabai Gone Village. Yesterday the villagers claimed to have found two mass graves there. The villagers said they had to dig around to find the bodies. They believe there will be more to be found, and said that Na Ta La villagers buried other bodies on the eastern side of the village. 

Yesterday afternoon more than 50 Na La Ta villagers, including a disabled man named Soe Win, came to Sin Thay Pyin hamlet and looted what remained inside the houses there. Witnesses said they saw them loading up hand pulled trolleys with belongings and also taking buffaloes, cows and goats from the village.

Report contributed by MYARF.

The dead body found from mass grave on November 26, 2016
© Provided by AFP A man carries the body of six-month-old Alam for his burial in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh, on November 26, 2016

By Munir Uz Zaman
November 26, 2016

Alam's short life ended on Saturday in a dark, tattered tent in Bangladesh, the Rohingya child's skeletal body succumbing to illness contracted while fleeing Myanmar where his stateless people are under attack.

He was six-months-old.

Alam died hours after arriving at a makeshift refugee camp close to Teknaf, the gateway to Cox's Bazar, a poor, densely populated coastal area already home to more than 230,000 Rohingya refugees.

But for the Rohingya, Bangladesh is far from a promised land.

So far little or no aid has been provided for the new arrivals, with Bangladeshi authorities fearing food, medicine and shelter will encourage more to cross the border.

With her child's emaciated body by her side, 22-year-old Nur Begum describes how a Myanmar army raid that killed her husband and two other children forced her to flee Rakhine State for Bangladesh with the tiny Alam.

After three-week trip with little food, Begum and her increasingly sick child made it to the camp in Leda, across the Bangladeshi border.

But Alam's journey was at an end.

"I finally had some food in the camp and thought I would be able to feed him," his distraught mother told AFP. "But he left me before I had the chance."

© Provided by AFP Rohingyas bury the body of six-month-old Alam in Bangladesh on November 26, 2016 after the child died hours after arriving at makeshift refugee camp

Her baby was buried on Saturday, his body washed and then carried to a Rohingya graveyard on a wooded hill near the camp.

Up to 30,000 Rohingya have abandoned their homes in Myanmar since early October, after soldiers poured into the strip of land in western Rakhine state following deadly raids on border posts.

The refugees who have reached Cox's Bazar so far have brought with them horrifying stories of gang rape and murder. 

The Myanmar army flatly denies the allegations.

That Myanmar does not want its more than one million Rohingya population is not in dispute.

It refuses them citizenship while many in the majority Buddhist country call the Muslim minority "Bengalis" -- shorthand for illegal immigrants.

- Poorest of the poor -

Bangladesh provides a mixed reception to the Rohingya.

Although people around Cox's Bazar have centuries-long historical ties with the Rohingya, locals increasingly perceive the refugees as a crime-prone nuisance.

© Provided by AFP Nur Begum, the mother of six-month-old Alam, a Rohingya child who died in a refugee camp in Bangladesh on November 26, 2016

Only 32,000 Rohingya are formally registered as refugees. 

The remaining 200,000 scratch an existence without help from government or charities.

And their numbers swell with every crisis across the border in Myanmar.

To avoid more arrivals Dhaka has blocked refugee boats from landing and called for Myanmar to stop the exodus.

"We have stopped several hundred boats since last week," Abu Russel Siddique, spokesman for Teknaf Border Guard Bangladesh, told AFP.

Authorities already tightly control aid workers and arrest people who illegally help the minority.

"Bangladesh has said often that it cannot sustain any more refugees, and in fact, has refused to allow humanitarian assistance to the Rohingyas because it might be a pull factor," said Human Rights Watch's South Asia chief Meenakshi Ganguly.

But she added "people don't leave their homes, make perilous journeys, simply for free blankets and medicines."

The country's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Friday told reporters that Rohingya arrivals would be treated humanely, but so far no aid has reached the new entrants.

That has heaped pressure on pre-existing Rohingya refugee encampments.

"Some 15,000 Rohingya have already been living here in inhuman conditions for years," said Dudu Mia, a head of a Rohingya camp, explaining 1,000 people new arrivals came last week.

"There are days many of us don't have any food either." 

- 'I don't want to die' -

Conditions are fast-deteriorating, hitting exhausted Rohingya arrivals hard.

For heavily-pregnant Siru Bibu, who fled by boat with four children after her husband and other relatives were killed by an army operation, the situation that has greeted them is dire.

"If it goes another week, my children will starve," she said.

© Provided by AFP Rohingyas offer funeral prayers for six-month-old Alam in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, on November 26, 2016

Rumours abound of under-cover officials keeping strict tabs on who is giving what to the unregistered arrivals at the camps.

On Thursday authorities detained and immediately jailed seven people for to up to two months for assisting the Rohingya.

"Anyone trying to help us is warned or being arrested. As a result, the newly arrived refugees are living in fear," a camp elder told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Driven from Myanmar and unwanted in Bangladesh, traumatised Rohingya refugees are now laying low.

"Police have arrested some of our neighbours and we heard that they were sent back across the border," Yasmin Akhter, a 25-year-old mother who was only able to bring two of her six children to Bangladesh.

"I hope they won't do it to us... I don't want to die."

Deen Mohammad (L) and his wife Roshida (R), whose two elder sons were taken by the Burmese military, in a refugee camp in Teknaf in southern Cox's Bazar district UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images

By Will Worley
November 26, 2016

'They took women in rooms and then locked them from inside. Up to 50 women and girls of our village were tortured and raped'

Rohingya Muslims in Burma are being ethnically cleansed, according to a UN official, and government soldiers have allegedly killed children and raped women in the northern Rakhine state. 

Burmese troops have been conducting counter insurgency operations in the region against Rohingya militants, but the fallout is said to have been bloody, with numerous reports of atrocities emerging from Rohingya refugees.

But despite nature of the allegations, there has been relatively little media coverage of the violence.

Some Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh because of the fighting – but the authorities there have now barred them from entry to the country. 

Those Rohingya that managed to reach Bangladesh said Burmese troops were "killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river (into Bangladesh)," according to John McKissick, head of the United Nations refugee agency in the Bangladeshi border town of Cox's Bazar.

He continued: “It's very difficult for the Bangladeshi government to say the border is open because this would further encourage the government of Myanmar to continue the atrocities and push them out until they have achieved their ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority in Myanmar.”

Vivian Tan, a press officer for the UN agency, said Mr McKissick was "recounting what different sources, including new arrivals, have told him about the conditions they fled" and added the reports were "very worrying". 

The government said it was "disappointed" by Mr McKissick's remarks. 

But they were welcomed by Phil Robertson, Deputy Director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW) a monitoring group.

He told The Independent: “It’s refreshing to see this senior UN official in Bangladesh speak truth to power about what is happening in Rakhine state now, even if it did spark a sadly nonsensical reply from the Myanmar government.

"We’ve seen ethnic cleansing in Rakhine state before, when HRW documented ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya in 2012. No one was held responsible for those atrocities, everything was swept under the rug by the Myanmar government. 

"No one should forget either that that the Myanmar military conducted similar security sweeps and committed atrocities against the Rohingya in 1978 and 1992, driving hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into Bangladesh in both instances." 

The Rohingya people are a Muslim minority and have their own language. Despite living in Rakhine in Burma, they are much maligned within their own country and have often suffered discrimination and persecution at the hands of hard line Buddhist nationalists. 

Mr Robertson continued: "It’s time for the Myanmar government to urgently allow access for a new, UN assisted investigation to take place into the torching of villages and serious rights abuses now occurring in parts of Maungdaw township – and be prepared to hold the perpetrators accountable."

An attack killing nine Burmese government border guards, by suspected Rohingya militants, in October led to the “collective punishment” of the minority group, the UNHCR's Mr McKissick said.

While the Burmese authorities insist the military operation is aimed at routing out militants, Rohingya who have made it out of Rakhine into Bangladesh say government troops have been killing and burning down villages.

One of these refugees was farmer Deen Mohammad, who told AFP: "They (Myanmar's military) took my two boys, aged nine and 12 when they entered my village. I don't know what happened to them." 

"They took women in rooms and then locked them from inside. Up to 50 women and girls of our village were tortured and raped."

Access to journalists and aid workers has been blocked, preventing the outside world from knowing what is really going on in Rakhine. 

However, HRW has released satellite imagery which it said showed the razing of Rohingya villages in the state. As of 21 November, 1,250 Rohingya buildings had been destroyed, the group said. 

Mr Robertson said the government had been seeking to "repress and rebut negative media stories about their actions in Rakhine state from day one" of the crisis. He cited the sacking of Myanmar Times journalist Fiona MacGregor after she wrote a story in the newspaper reporting on the Rohingya's plight.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who famously led democracy efforts in the country, has been accused of failing to protect the Rohingya. Despite holding enormous influence in Burma, she has remained quiet, only saying an investigation into the reports of atrocities was underway in accordance with the law.

International criticism is growing and the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, has condemned the lockdown as "unacceptable".

Malaysia, which has a sizable Rohingya community, has said it will “will summon the ambassador of Myanmar to convey the government of Malaysia's concern over this issue,” according to a foreign office statement. 

It added: “Malaysia also calls on the government of Myanmar to take all the necessary actions to address the alleged ethnic cleansing in the northern Rakhine State.”

Protests were held in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok and Dhaka against the alleged ethnic cleansing. 

Additional reporting by Agencies.

Ethnic Rohingya refugees use a shoe to hit a placard with portrait of Myanmar State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest against the persecution of Rohingyas in Myanmar, outside the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, yesterday. Photo: AFP, Reuters


By AFP
November 26, 2016

Rohingya woman reveals horror tale 

Teknaf, Bangladesh -- The brutal gang rape that Habiba and her sister endured is a story that is becoming depressingly familiar among the thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing to Bangladesh to escape the violence of Myanmar's soldiers.

"They tied both of us to the bed and raped us one by one," said 20-year-old Habiba, who has now found shelter with a Rohingya refugee family a few kilometres (miles) from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

"We're almost starving here. But at least no one is coming here to kill or torture," said Hashim Ullah, Habiba's older brother who escaped with his sisters.

Habiba and her sister Samira, 18, say they were raped in their home in Udang village by troops who then burnt down their house.

"They torched most of the houses, killed numerous people including our father and raped many young girls," said Habiba, who agreed to be identified in this story.

"One of the soldiers told us before leaving that they will kill us if they see us around the next time they come here. Then they torched our house."

The satellite images released by Human Rights Watch show Wa Peik Village in Maungdaw District, Myanmar. The left picture was recorded in 2014 and the right one on November 10, 2016 show burnt out homes. Photo: AFP, Reuters

Widespread allegations of rape have raised fears that Myanmar's security forces are systematically using sexual violence against the stateless Rohingya.

The violence has forced thousands to flee, prompting a UN official to accuse Myanmar of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" of the Muslim minority.

Similar stories of violence and dispossession fill the rows of plastic-roofed shacks that have become the only refuge for thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled Rakhine state.

The escapees have told of gang rapes, torture and murder being carried out by Myanmar troops in the small strip of land that has been under military control after deadly raids on police border posts last month.

Foreign journalists and independent investigators have been barred from entering the area.

While the military and government have rejected the charges, rights groups have long accused the military of using rape as a weapon of war in several other ethnic conflicts which simmer in the country's borderlands.



By Yvonne Ridley
November 25, 2016

CommonSpace columnist Yvonne Ridley says campaigners and the international community must apply pressure on Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi

SHOCKING new satellite pictures from Myanmar have exposed evidence of widespread ethnic cleansing in the troubled Rakhine State, according to human rights groups.

The news is a further blow to the tens of thousands of us around the world who campaigned for years to have pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi set free from the house arrest enforced by the ruling military junta in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

For the uncomfortable truth is there is little to separate the diminutive Suu Kyi from the dictatorship which was globally reviled because of its treatment towards her and her vast army of supporters. She was swept to power on a peaceful, non violent campaign but her hands are now stained by the blood of innocents.

Oh how we all celebrated at Myanmar's elections last year, hailing them as historic, the birth of a new era of democracy and political freedom in a country which had been in the grip of the awful military junta.

Edinburgh was among many to offer the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) the freedom of the city while universities and other institutions feted her with accolades and awards as she did a global lap of honour after being released.

However, we must now accept that the fragrant, charismatic Suu Kyi is morphing into a dictator who is beginning to mirror the old regime she so despised. The generals of the Myanmar military who were forced into embracing a sliver of democracy by the international community or endanger their own lucrative, global business arrangements must be both bemused and delighted by the transition of the world's most famous house arrest prisoner.

For the truth is Suu Kyi has built her political reform of Myanmar around a frenzy of ultra-nationalism and Islamophobia. Her supporters might grudgingly admit this was the price she had to pay for democracy but the reality is she made a calculated decision on the backs of those who needed her most ... the Rohingya people.

Nearly a million of the ethnic minority group were were banned from voting as the NLD swept to power in Myanmar. Her vast network of influence from the NLD and countless NGOs was created and supported by billions of dollars from the fat cats who dominated Wall Street and London's Square Mile. 

Of course, the support of the banksters has not been unconditional given that foreign investment into the country's industry and infrastructure was promised to the big corporations and institutions which invested so heavily in Suu Kyi’s rise to power.

Since it was British and US taxpayers money that helped fuel the 'Saffron Revolution' of 2007 as thousands of Bhuddists (the cornerstone of the NLD) took to the streets it is highly unlikely a Westminster government will freely intervene. 

The immense show of people power was largely bought and paid for by the West and it ensured Suu Kyi’s uncontested victory in recent elections. Although the generals moved swiftly to ensure she could not become president of Myanmar she still vowed to make all decisions even though a close ally was appointed over her.

Under the constitution, drawn up by the generals, anyone with foreign children is barred from becoming president, and she has two British sons. However, she sneered at the rule book declaring: "If I’m required to field a president who meets the requirements of section F of the constitution, alright then we’ll find one. But that won’t stop me making all the decisions as the leader of the winning party."

Now the petitions are being drawn up again, but this time against Suu Kyi. It is vitally important that those of us who supported her yank her chains and remind her and the military junta that no one is above the law. This latest petition aimed at Westminster urges the British government to suspend the Myanmar ambassador in London.

Although still held back by the London-based government, the human rights abuses should provoke statements and alarm from within Holyrood including those who supported and feted Suu Kyi when she last visited Scotland.

Although her supporters are partly responsible for creating this monster, Myanmar is still susceptible to international pressure and the threat of suspending an ambassador in London will send a chill wind through the corridors of power. The last thing the corrupt generals want is a threat to their money-making enterprises overseas.

So how bad is the persecution of the Rohingya people? The high resolution images show that between November 10 and 18, 820 buildings were destroyed in five villages in the jungles of the remote state. The damage is in addition to earlier reports by the human rights group of around 430 demolished buildings, along with evidence of multiple fires.

In 2013, Human Rights Watch accused the Burmese authorities of "ethnic cleansing" against the Rohingyas. The region of Maungdaw, northern Rakhine, is now seeing the biggest upsurge of violence against the minority in four years. 

Yale's Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic analysed research conducted by Fortify Rights and Al Jazeera, to see if genocide had been committed as defined by the 1948 United Nations. 

There is clear evidence that four acts of the 1948 UN convention on genocide had been committed and atrocities include:

- The Rohingya, who have their own distinctive language, culture, history and traditions, have been killed by security forces, or by the local Rakhine population as security forces stood by without intervening

- Some have been subjected to rape, torture, arbitrary detention and other crimes

- Inflicting conditions to destroy the group

- Preventing births within the group as well as restricting and/or blocking marriages

"What we want Burma to do is allow for a UN-assisted investigation into what’s happened on the ground in these districts," said Phil Robertson, deputy director of HRW’s Asia division.

In the meantime Suu Kyi, once hailed as a female version of Nelson Mandela, who secured a landslide in the November 2015 elections, remains silent as do her biggest supporters in Washington and Westminster. Only the Chinese defence ministry has urged calm and restraint. Oh the irony.


Rohingya Muslims are loathed by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali", even though many have lived there for generations (AFP Photo/Sam Jahan)

By Sam Jahan, Munir Uz Zaman
November 25, 2016

Horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder are emerging from among the thousands of desperate Rohingya migrants who have fled to Bangladesh in the past few days to escape unfolding violence in Myanmar.

John McKissick, head of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) in the Bangladeshi border town of Cox's Bazar, told the BBC that Myanmar authorities' actions against the Rohingya amounted to "ethnic cleansing".

Up to 30,000 of the impoverished ethnic group have left their homes in Myanmar, the UN says, after troops poured into the narrow strip where they live earlier this month.

McKissick said troops were "killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river" into Bangladesh.

Dhaka has resisted urgent international appeals to open its border to avert a humanitarian crisis, instead telling Myanmar it must do more to prevent the stateless Muslim minority from entering.

"It's very difficult for the Bangladeshi government to say the border is open because this would further encourage the government of Myanmar to continue the atrocities and push them out until they have achieved their ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority in Myanmar," McKissick said.

The scale of human suffering was becoming clear Thursday, as desperate people like Mohammad Ayaz told how troops attacked his village and killed his pregnant wife.

Cradling his two-year-old son, he said troops killed at least 300 men in the village market and gang-raped dozens of women before setting fire to around 300 houses, Muslim-owned shops and the mosque where he served as imam.

"They shot dead my wife, Jannatun Naim. She was 25 and seven months pregnant. I took refuge at a canal with my two-year-old son, who was hit by a rifle butt," Ayaz told AFP.

Ayaz sold his watch and shoes to pay for the journey and has taken shelter at a camp for unregistered Rohingya refugees.

- 'Deep concern' -

Many of those seeking shelter say they walked for days and used rickety boats to cross into Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of registered Rohingya refugees have been living for decades.

The Rohingya are loathed by many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali", even though many have lived there for generations.

Most live in impoverished western Rakhine state, but are denied citizenship and smothered by restrictions on movement and work.

As the crisis deepened, Bangladesh said late Wednesday it had summoned Myanmar's ambassador to express "deep concern".

"Despite our border guards' sincere effort to prevent the influx, thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens including women, children and elderly people continue to cross (the) border into Bangladesh," the government said.

"Thousands more have been reported to be gathering at the border crossing."

- Torture and rape -

Since the latest violence flared up, Bangladesh border guards have intensified patrols and coast guards have deployed extra ships. Officials say they have stopped around a thousand Rohingya at the border since Monday.

Farmer Deen Mohammad was among the thousands who evaded the patrols, sneaking into the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf four days ago with his wife, two of their children and three other families.

"They (Myanmar's military) took my two boys, aged nine and 12 when they entered my village. I don't know what happened to them," Mohammad, 50, told AFP.

"They took women in rooms and then locked them from inside. Up to 50 women and girls of our village were tortured and raped."

Mohammad said houses in his village were burned, echoing similar testimony from other recent arrivals.

Human Rights Watch said Monday it had identified more than 1,000 houses in Rohingya villages that had been razed in northwestern Myanmar using satellite images.

Myanmar's military has denied burning villages and even blamed the Rohingya themselves.

Jannat Ara said she fled with neighbours after her father was arrested and her 17-year-old sister disappeared.

"We heard that they (Myanmar's army) tortured her to death. I don't know what happened to my mother," said Ara, who entered Bangladesh on Tuesday.

Rohingya community leaders said hundreds of families had taken shelter in camps in the border towns of Teknaf and Ukhia, many hiding for fear they would be sent back to Myanmar.

Police on Wednesday detained 70 Rohingya, including women and children, who they say will be sent back across the border.

"They handcuffed even young girls and children and then took them away with a view to pushing them back to Myanmar," said one community leader who asked not to be named, adding they faced "certain death" if made to return.

Bangladeshi activists of several Islamic groups join a rally protesting the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, after Friday prayers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Nov. 25, 2016. Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as citizens.

November 25, 2016

DHAKA, BANGLADESH — Thousands of Bangladeshis marched in the capital's streets Friday to protest the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, one of several similar rallies in the region.

Chanting "Stop killing Rohingya Muslims,'' they marched in Dhaka as violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state escalated, forcing thousands to leave their homes.

The protesters from several Islamic groups burned an effigy of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a flag of Myanmar. They carried banners reading “Open border to save the Rohingya.” Bangladesh's southeast borders Myanmar.

Organizers said some 10,000 protesters joined the rally in Dhaka. Smaller protests occurred in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Also, rights group Amnesty International asked Bangladesh not to forcibly send fleeing Rohingya back to Myanmar.

Up to 500,000 undocumented Rohingya have been living in Bangladesh after arriving from Myanmar in waves since the 1970s. Some 33,000 registered Rohingya refugees are lodged in two camps in southern Cox's Bazar district.

Entrance blocked 

Local media reported that a few thousand Rohingya Muslims have entered Bangladesh this week with the help of smugglers, but authorities didn't confirm that.

Maj. Gen. Abul Hossain, director general of the Bangladesh Border Guard, said Friday that “only some'' arrived by boats.

On Thursday, Bangladeshi border guards blocked at least a dozen boats carrying Rohingya from entering Bangladesh, said Lt. Col. Abu Jar Al Jahid, a commanding officer of the border agency in Cox's Bazar's Teknaf area.

Amnesty International condemned Myanmar’s persecution of Rohingya Muslims and Bangladesh's unwillingness to accept them.

"The Rohingya are being squeezed by the callous actions of both the Myanmar and Bangladesh authorities. Fleeing collective punishment in Myanmar, they are being pushed back by the Bangladeshi authorities. Trapped between these cruel fates, their desperate need for food, water and medical care is not being addressed,'' said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia director.

Myanmar's security forces are mounting indiscriminate reprisal attacks against Rohingya in response to an October 9 assault on three border posts that killed nine border officers, the rights group said in a statement Thursday.

The group said it has heard accounts of Myanmar's security forces, led by the military, firing at villagers from helicopter gunships, torching hundreds of homes, carrying out arbitrary arrests and raping women and girls.

RB News 
November 25, 2016 

Maungdaw, Arakan – Sin Thay Pyin hamlet in Laung Don village tract and Pan Myaung hamlet in Nga Sar Kyu village tract were surrounded by a group of 500 Myanmar Military soldiers, paramilitary and Border Guard Police (BGP) on November 25th. The combined forces attacked the village resulting in 19 Rohingya being killed and several injuries, according to locals. It was also reported that women were raped in the attack. 50 villagers were also reportedly arrested in the assault on the village. 

On November 25th, 2016 at 2AM a group of 500 soldiers, paramilitary and BGP surrounded Sin Thay Pyin hamlet in Laung Don village tract and Pan Myaung hamlet in Nga Sar Kyu village tract. The combined forces were reported firing continuously on the villages from 5AM in the morning, and at least 19 villagers were killed. Most of the dead bodies were removed by the forces, according to locals. 

Many children and some elderrly were injured in the attack. Reportedly many women were raped at this time as well, and at least 50 men who were unable to escape the village were arrested and detained arbitrarily. 

One man who was able to escape said he witnessed many people slaughtered. 

At 12PM the forces brought a group of Na Ta La villagers (Ethnic Burmese relocated in Rakhine) from Zaydi Pyin village which is the nearest Buddhist area near where the incident had occurred. The Ta La villagers were given the dead bodies to bury there. 

The Na Ta La villagers dug a hole near a sand bank located on the eastern side of Sin Thay Pyin hamlet, an eyewitness told RB News. Some of the bodies were seen thrown into a stream located between Sin Thay Pyin Hamlet and Pan Myaung hamlet, the same villager added. 

Despite the dange in recovering the bodies some villagers took the risk and were able to recover a few of the bodies, though most were taken away by the Na Ta La villagers. 

A young girl who is a grade one student was injured. Four people including the girl were considered to be in critical condition after the attack, and due to lack of access to medical treatment or aid their conditions are worsening, according to villagers.

During the assault many women were reported as having been raped, and three women who were considered attractive were taken away by soldiers to the forest and their condition and whereabouts are still unknown. 

A man who escaped the fighting and round ups said “They rounded us up at 2AM. They fired continuously from 5AM. We had to run away to survive. By 12 in the afternoon I was unable to call my own home. My family’s phone has been shut off and I can’t reach them any more. Now I am seeing dead bodies being taken from the village, I saw four dead bodies floating in the stream.” 

Perveen Fatima d/o Khairul Amin (7-year-old) and Sayedul Amin s/o Shukur Ahmed (13-year-old) are among the injuried people. 

Nurul Amin s/o Shukur Ahmed, Jahangirl s/o Molvi Zafor, Molvi Mustafa Kamal s/o Abdul Shukur and Nur Kamal s/o Salim were among those who were killed in the attack. 

The body of Jahangir was covered with hay by soldiers, and the villagers were able to collect his body to return it for burial. There were reportedly six more bodies recovered, but at he time of this writing the villagers monitoring these events had their phone shut off. 

A Maungdaw based Human Rights watchdog said, “Initially I was able to contact the villagers who were trapped in their villages, but since this afternoon their phones are all turned off. When I was able to talk with them they said a group of combined police, paramilitary and military were killing the people and telling them that they should ask the United Nations, OIC, or international protesters to rescue them they would then kill the Kalar (derogatory term for Rohingya) until they arrive. Some villagers who escaped said they saw dead bodies being pulled out from the eastern side of the village. They said they saw some bodies floating in the water between Sin Thay Pyin and Pan Myaung as well. The villagers added that some women had been taken to the forest and it drew concern they may be abused or raped by soldiers. Many people were injured during the day, including a seven year old girl. The military, paramilitary and BGP are believed to still be inside the villages at this time. The attacks today indicate that security forces have very little concern about the international community. They continue to behave with impunity and disregard any human rights concerns. They carry on killing while many are holding protests for us. It is like the international community can not save us. They [Security forces] are doing this to make us leave the country,”

Report contributed by MYARF.

Sayed Amin (13-year-old)


Jahangirl - killed by security forces and covered his dead body with hay

Lack of medical treatment he died in the evening.

RB News
November 25, 2016

Maung Aye Tun, son of U Htu Aung Zan, was a Rakhine Buddhist who reverted to Islam 25 years ago, before the time of the Na Sa Ka border guard. He changed his name to Abdul Munaf after embracing Islam.

His profession was working as a hired farmer in Yay Khae Chaung Khwa Sone village tract. He was married to a Rohingya woman, and stayed with her until his last breath. After he was married he was blessed with eight children, six boys and two girls.

Though Maung Aye Htun, whose Muslim name was Abdul Munaf, was an Indigenous Rakhine, he was not allowed to hold a National Scrutiny Card (Pink card), but instead had to hold a Temporary Identity Card (White card). The Immigration department described both of him and his children as Rakhine-Bengali on their documents. 

Abdul Munaf’s house was in the West Hamlet of Yay Khae Chaung Khwa Sone and his eldest son lived in Gonenarr Hamlet in Yay Khae Chaung Khwa Sone, Abdul Hashim ran a shop in the Middle Hamlet of Yay Khae Chaung Khwa Sone where he sold rice, salt, kerosene and petrol along with food.

On the 12th of November 2016 bad luck and darkness came int their lives as the military shot continuously in their village. Bullets hit Abdul Hashim in the neck and waist. The entire village was on fire when the military set the houses on ablaze. Both houses were burnt along with their belongings in the fire, which is estimated to be worth more than 7.5 million Kyat.

Then homeless the family of Abdul Munaf took refuge in Yay Dwin Kyun village tract on the 13th of November. The military then ordered a raid on Yay Dwin Kyun village tract and Abdul Munaf was arrested along with 16 Rohingyas who were rich and well educated. They were taken to the regional police station in Nga Ku Ra, then later kept in custoy at Ywet Nyo Taung police post.

When Abdul Munaf’s brother, who is a Buddhist Rakhine fom Kan Pyin village tract, became aware his brother was in police custody he went to the police post and explained to the military that that Abdul Munaf was his brother, and ethnic Rakhine who converted to Islam. After speaking to his brother the police asked that Abdul Munaf disavow his religion and become Buddhist again. They threatened to kill Abdul Munaf if he didn’t convert, but him a new home if he did. Abdul Munaf refused to denounce his religion at any cost. They burnt his beard and tortured him until he went unconscious, then threw him on the side of the road near police post 12, thinking he was dead. 

Some of the other men who were arrested were released on the same day at 12 PM and saw Abdul Munaf on their way back home. They caried him back to Yay Dwin Kyun village tract.

The 55 year old man didn’t get a chance to receive any medical treatment. Nevertheless Abdul Munaf accepted al these cruelties against him rather than denounce his religion. He died from his injuries on Friday November 18th 2016 at 7AM and was burried by the villagers at 2pm in Yay Dwin Kyun village tract.

Report contributed by MYARF.




    • Rohingya Exodus