UN expert urges Myanmar to act on local regulations targeting Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State

Source unmultimedia, 31 May

 

Tomás Ojea Quintana

Myanmar must respond unambiguously to the revival of a local order limiting the number of children that Rohingya Muslims can have to two, or face fines and prison sentences under section 188 of the Myanmar Penal Code.

The call comes from the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana.

He says "This local order in the Northern Rakhine State townships of Buthidaung and Maungdaw is a clear-cut human rights violation targeting a particular ethnic and religious group", adding that "The Central Government must provide an unequivocal response".

The human rights expert says "Not only is the local order a violation of Myanmar's international human rights obligations and commitments, it also goes against the recommendations of the Investigation Commission set up by the President last August. That commission urged the Government to refrain from implementing non-voluntary family planning measures that may be seen as discriminatory or that would be inconsistent with human rights standards".

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which Myanmar has ratified together with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, obliges state parties to respect and protect the right of women and men 'to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights.' Also, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called on the Government not to restrict the number of children of Rohingya people.

Donn Bobb, United Nations.

Duration: 1'26″

Rohingyas hit with multiple charges for not registering as ‘Bengalis’

Source dvb,

30 May 2013

Men offer Friday prayers in a temporary mosque after returning to a Rohingya IDP camp from a shelter from cyclone Mahasen, outside of Sittwe, on 17 May 2013. (Reuters)

Prosecutors in Sittwe have hit seven Rohingyas in Arakan state with myriad charges, including rioting, after they were arrested for refusing to register as 'Bengalis'.

During a hearing on 23 May, senior immigration official Yan Aung Myint charged the seven suspects from Thetkalpyin displacement camp with robbery, intimidation and disturbing officials on duty. Twenty-four individuals, who authorities claimed might be on the run, were also charged in absentia.

The hearing comes after a scuffle erupted between government officials and the Rohingya on 26 April, after authorities tried to register the internally displaced persons (IDPs) as 'Bengalis' in accordance with a programme headed by the Ministry of Immigration and Population.

Prosecutors said that around 100 residents, armed with sticks and swords, quickly gathered at the scene and began attacking authorities, which included policemen and soldiers who were accompanying the officials.

According to the defendants' attorney Hla Myo Myint, the skirmish began after one of his clients, Suleman, was slapped in the face by an official, which prompted children in the camp to begin throwing rocks at authorities.

Army sergeant Win Aung reportedly sustained a head injury after being struck by a rock at the scene, while local Arakanese team member Tun Hla Aung and immigration official Sai Myint Thu sustained lacerations on their backs.

Security forces reportedly fired shots in an attempt to disperse the crowd as they hurled rocks and screamed "Rohingya! Rohingya!" Seven individuals from Thetkalpyin and two from Bawdupha displacement camps were arrested in the skirmish's wake.

According to Hla Myo Myint, the officials who went to the camps to register the IDPs had no legal right to force his clients to identify as Bengalis – a term commonly used by government officials that implicitly infers that the group are illegal immigrants

"The officials had no authority to determine their ethnicity – according to the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law, the decision has to come at the last stage and made by a government body," said Hla Myo Myint.

"Reportedly the [officials] were listing them [as Bengali] by force."

Hla Myo Myint, who has represented high-profile opposition activists including the National League for Democracy's chair Aung San Suu Kyi in the past, said his clients' families and the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) asked that he provide legal counsel to the group. Two of the individuals Kyaw Myint and his son Hla Myint who are being charged are both USDP members.

"I'm doing this for the rule of law – one of the main objectives of the NLD – to allow human rights for them regardless of their religion and ethnicity," said Hla Myo Myint.

The next court appointment has been set for 6 June, but will likely to be postponed until officials can decide if the 24 individuals charged in absentia have actually fled.

Arakan state is home to more than 140,000 IDPs, after two bouts of religious violence pitting Arakanese Buddhists against Muslim Rohingya last year led to massive displacement.

Anti-Muslim Violence Hits Lashio, Mosque, Shops Burned

Source Irrawaddy news, 29 May

Firefighters try to put out a fire that was started by mobs during unrest in Lashio, Shan State, on Tuesday night. (Photo: Facebook/Ye Htut)

RANGOON—Sectarian violence spread to a new region of Burma, with a mob burning shops in the Shan State town of Lashio, after unconfirmed rumors spread that a Muslim man had set fire to a Buddhist woman.

The spread beyond the western and central towns where deadly mob attacks and arsons have occurred since last year will reinforce doubts that President Thein Sein's government can or will act to contain the violence.

The extent of Tuesday night's violence was unclear, as the area is remote and officials were difficult to reach at a late hour. Unconfirmed reports on Muslim news websites said a large mosque and a Muslim orphanage had been burned down.

A politician in Lashio in Shan state, Sai Myint Maung, said authorities banned gatherings of more than five people after about 150 massed outside a police station demanding that the alleged culprit in the unconfirmed immolation be handed over. The mob also burned some stores, he said.

According to the rumors, the man doused the woman with gasoline and set her alight. The attack could not be confirmed, but a Muslim-oriented news website that described it said the attacker was not Muslim.

A police officer and a monk also confirmed that a mob burned down a mosque, a Muslim orphanage and shops in the northeastern town after rumors spread that a Muslim man had set fire to a Buddhist woman.

According to the policeman and the Buddhist monk contacted by telephone on Wednesday morning there were no fatalities after violence erupted the night before in the northeastern city.

A resident who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals said by phone that some shops were burned near the police station and the hospital where the victim was said to have been taken. A Lashio resident, Than Htay, said he could see smoke and had heard about the ban on gatherings. He said calm had been restored.

However, the website of the Muslim-oriented M-media Group said Lashio's biggest mosque had been torched by a mob while firefighters stood by, and a Muslim school and orphanage was also burned down. It did not say if there were any casualties. Its report acknowledged the burning of the woman but said the perpetrator was not a Muslim.

While the account could not immediately be confirmed, the website's accounts of past violence against Muslims in Burma were subsequently reported in other media. Several photos circulating on Facebook also showed what was purported to be the mosque in flames.

The sectarian violence began in western Arakan state last year, when hundreds died in clashes between Buddhist and Rohingya Muslims that drove about 140,000 people, mostly Rohingyas, from their homes.

The violence had seemed confined to that region, but in late March, similar Buddhist-led violence swept the town of Meikthila in central Burma, killing at least 43 people. Several other towns in central Burma experienced less deadly violence, mostly involving the torching of Muslim businesses and mosques.

Muslims account for about 4 percent of the nation's roughly 60 million people. Anti-Muslim sentiment is closely tied to nationalism and the dominant Buddhist religion, so leaders have been reluctant to speak up for the unpopular minority.

Thein Sein's administration, which came to power in 2011 after half a century of military rule, has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to protect Muslims.

He vowed last week during a U.S. trip that all perpetrators of the sectarian violence would be brought to justice, but so far, only Muslims have been arrested and sentenced for crimes connected to the attacks.

Muslims, however, have accounted for far more of the victims of the violence, and rights groups have accused certain authorities of fomenting a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Serious ethical questions surround the west’s deepening of ties with Burma. It is time to adjust policy.

Source Independent uk, 26 May

The government's image might have improved, it's human rights record has not

The visit of Burmese President Thein Sein to the White House earlier this week was an historic event; widely seen as representing a 'high watermark' for the country in terms of its standing in the international community, it did much for the image of the former pariah state.

However, the Government of Burma does not deserve to be regarded as legitimate quite yet. Instead, now more than ever, the political elite in Naypyidaw should be subjected to intense scrutiny, their reformist credentials critically reviewed and their public statements received with due scepticism.

There are many reasons why this is necessary. For one thing, to regain perspective: the creeping narrative from certain quarters of the press has been that recent reforms in the country somehow mean that the old establishment is willing to cede power. This is demonstrably not the case. President Thein Sein, himself an ex-general once described as a 'consummate insider' of the former Junta, indicated recently that he has no intention of letting the most self-serving institution of all, the military, take an ancillary role in government.

The dominance of the armed forces over Burmese political life was enshrined in the nation's latest constitution, developed under the auspices of the old regime and rejected by Aung San Suu Kyi when it was wheeled out in 2008. The charter ensures that ultimate power in the country remains with the 'Tatmadaw' as they are known in Burmese, who are guaranteed a substantial share of seats in parliament (enough to effectively veto any attempts at constitutional reform), sweeping emergency powers and the right to dismiss its appointed civilian government. The status quo is also enforced by a highly politicised judiciary lacking in genuine independence.

Until such a state of affairs changes- or the constitution is publicly ratified in a referendum that is free and fair, unlike the sham of five years ago- the country's political status cannot be regarded as anything other than quasi-democratic.

Another reason why Burma's government should not yet be given an easy ride is that it is, in the view of rights groups, implicated in extremely serious crimes committed against minorities. According to Human Rights Watch, abuses perpetrated against the Rohingya ethnic group last year which allegedly involved state agencies, amounted to offences against humanity and ethnic cleansing. A miserably inadequate and tendentious government-ordered report into the violence recommended "family planning" for the victims in order to reduce tensions- but failed to meaningfully advance accountability.

The 130,000 plus Rohingya displaced in Rakhine state by last year's violence are now on course to suffer a preventable humanitarian crisis as the rainy season approaches, bringing with it the risk of thousands of deaths from water-borne diseases and poor sanitation. It is instructive to note that the government has so far refrained from doing anything substantial to stop this from happening.

Ethnic cleansing, impunity for atrocities, crimes against humanity, an undemocratic constitution and inaction in the face of an imminent humanitarian disaster- these are hardly minor failings associated with Thein Sein's administration. Regardless, the west has proceeded to expeditiously deepen ties with his government, whose mandate to rule, based on the highly controversial 2010 election, is in itself questionable.

Having just returned from the latest of two trips to Burma in recent weeks, and having had the opportunity to speak to many people with insights into the situation there- including ethnic minority representatives, foreign diplomats and aid workers- it seems clear that an alteration of present western policy could do much good.

This would not mean disengagement from the country, but a willingness to get tough with the government on the crucial issues mentioned above- particularly with regard to the plight of the Rohingya. As I have argued before, the latter are in an extremely precarious position, effectively stateless in their homeland, forced to exist without access to many of the rights afforded them under international conventions. The minority continue to be ghettoised, systematically denied aid along with the right to travel or marry freely and may be edging toward what some commentators are openly beginning to call genocide.

The only long-term solution to this pattern of abuse is to grant the Rohingya the citizenship rights they should automatically be entitled to as a resident race in Burma, but are denied as the result of a discriminatory Junta-era law.

Thein Sein opposes this. Shortly after the first outbreak of violence last year he stated that the 'only solution' to the ethnic tensions in Rakhine state was to expel the minority, presumably by force, to another country or to surrender them to the care of the UN.

This appears to remain his position- one that ensures that Rohingya suffering will continue indefinitely. It is extremely hard to see how such a situation could be remotely tolerable to governments like ours that claim to have 'the promotion of human rights… at the heart of [its] foreign policy objectives.'

Enough is enough. Without considerable external pressure, recent internal reforms- which represent a first step in the right direction but not an end in itself- would never have taken place; it would be beyond delusional to expect human rights abuses to halt without more of the same.

The Foreign Office and The US State Department realise this, of course. The question is whether or not they are willing to overstep expediency and adjust policy.

Rohingya, gas and democracy

Source kashmirreader, 26 May

 

Persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, though on-going for the past few decades suddenly took a more beastly turn with unabated massacres of Muslims in the western state of Arakan last year. Ostensibly it was the alleged rape of a Buddhist woman by some Muslim men that sparked the whole cycle of violence against the Rohingya community, in June first and then a more planned massacre in October.

Coined as one of the most persecuted people in the world by UN, Rohingyas do not even possess citizenship rights owing to the tyrannical policies of successive communal governments in Myanmar. Such is the deep-rooted hatred towards the Rohingya that the Buddhist majority is openly advocating their complete expulsion with slogans of "Burma for Burmese". Few in Myanmar accept that Rohingya are true Burmese though many have lived there for generations.

Facing gruesome oppression, there has been no escape for the helpless Rohingyas as neighboring Bangladesh refused to entertain them. Myanmar's President Thein Sein's solution to the problem was grossly frank: "We will send them away if any third country would accept them."

While the violence against Rohingyas is not a new phenomenon, the dynamics are different this time around. Recent developments in Myanmar and its subsequent westward tilt might help explain the crisis. For years Myanmar was ruled by a totalitarian military regime heavily influenced by China. Needless to say, the West, particularly US showed little interest in the region after many unsuccessful attempts at control.

However, the recent regime change in Myanmar brought the country in the renewed focus of western powers. Myanmar's shift to democracy was hailed by the whole world; Aung San Suu Kyi having remained captive for years was given the Noble prize for peace. As Myanmar moved towards a democratic setup and away from China, the tentacles of globalization and capitalism began to ingress. Especially in the wake of trillions of dollars' worth of Gas recently discovered in the Arakan region.

The US is engaged in an economic confrontation with China. Building on its strategic objective of encircling China, the US has gradually been preparing proxies in Southeast Asia, heavily influencing countries like South Korea, Philippines and Taiwan. Myanmar under military junta was in the Chinese camp and had signed important deals on gas with Bangladesh, China and India. Two pipeline projects tapping the vast gas reserves in Myanmar are already in place: Myanmar-Bangladesh-India (MBI) pipeline which is transporting gas from Myanmar to Bangladesh and India and the dual oil and gas China-Myanmar pipelines.

As soon as the military rule in Myanmar came to an end USA moved in to secure its interests and bridge the gap that had been created over the years. It is part of the American strategy aimed at Southeast Asia in a bid to contain China.

Doors also opened for western corporations, NGOs among others to penetrate into Myanmar. World Bank opened its first office in the country in August 2012 in a bid to implant all that is needed for western capitalism to strengthen its foothold in the strategically important country. Shell, British Petroleum, Chevron are investing heavily in Myanmar to counter investments made by China.

West, especially the US has assumed silence on the Rohingya Massacre, partly because Rohingya are Muslims and partly because these took place when the supposed savior of humanity –Democracy - replaced military dictatorship.

However, the façade of the universality of democracy that the West propounds comes crashing down in its selective promotion of democracy in some countries and dictatorship in others. This hypocrisy forms the basis of hegemony and control by western powers. In Myanmar the democratic government is being supported by the West even in the wake of unabated persecution of Rohingyas.

Of course, if it were the military Junta that was in power while the Rohingya were massacred last year, the West and its sensationalist media would be all over Myanmar criticizing it. But because it is the democratic setup which is the culprit this time around, the West has assumed a deathly silence.

The Shwe pipeline project, a consortium of four Indian and South Korean companies led by Korea's Daewoo International that passes through Arakan state has also exasperated the Rohingya crisis. The pipeline project and its benefits have inspired the communal government of Myanmar to cleanse the country of Rohingyas.

Hypocrisy and capitalism is working overtime in 'democratic' Myanmar and the blood of Rohingya Muslims is being used to run this unholy and inhumane alliance. Consequently, the West has facilitated massacres against Rohingyas by skillfully exploiting Buddhist extremist hatred towards Muslims.

 

Nasaka officer threatens to seal all business to join the program of digital sign and photograph in Maungdaw south

Source KPN, 25 May

 

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burma border security force (Nasaka) commander of area number 7 threatened the Rohingya villagers to seal all their business if they didn't join the program of digital signatures and photographs on May 24 meeting at high school of Alay Than Kyaw, said a village administration officer.

"The commander called all Rohingya villagers and village admin officers with members to Alay Than Kyaw high school, where he had given a speech "to join at their (authority) program of digital signatures and photographs which mention the race as Bengali, in the place of Rohingya." The commander also threatened the villagers, he will seal all the business – fishing, farming and business- if not join the program."

In the meeting, the Nasaka commander discussed many different issues with village leaders and administrators regarding the present situation of Arakan State, said an aide of Nasaka.
"If anyone doesn't comply with the order, he/she will be punished according to the law and also will be imprisoned five years," the commander added.

We don't want to join the program as Arakan State government spokesperson U Win Myaing has insisted that recent household data collection for Muslim in Arakan, is related to next year's census and preparation for the next coming census in 2014, where the UN Population Fund issued a statement on May 3 in which it said that "[h]ousehold data collection activities being undertaken in the camps, other sites in Sittwe, and other towns, Rakhine State, involving the update of family lists by teams composed of several government departments, are unrelated to the National Population and Housing Census scheduled for April 2014" and these activities are also not connected to the pilot census exercise that took place successfully from March 30 to April 10. Actual data collection for the 2014 National Population Census will take place from March 29 to April 10, 2014 in all parts of Myanmar. Every person present within the borders of Myanmar on the night of March 29, 2014 will be included in the census." So, we did not want to participant the program for using us as Bengali in the name of Rohingya which authority trying to label us Bengali, said the villagers from Maungdaw south.

The commander also mention the recent Arakan State government imposed a two-child limit for Muslim Rohingya families, a policy that does not apply to Buddhists Rakhine in the area – Maungdaw and Buthidaung where Rohingyas are about 95 percent Muslim and comes amid accusations of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of sectarian violence. But, this Law was issued sine long times when Nasaka started to control the marriage of Rohingya with these conditions and to extort money from Rohingya community. It is not a new one, but now it issued from state government, said a school teacher.

According to sources, Burma's central government, Arakan State authorities and Arakanese politicians have long claimed that the Muslim population in the region is rapidly growing and pushing out local Buddhist communities.
Rohingyas villagers in northern Arakan State are now passing days and nights in panic for giving pressure to join the government program of digital sign and photograph by Nasaka, the politician said.

"They have no alternative way to go anywhere from Arakan soil, so they have to live at a big cage in Arakan State, Burma."

Rohingyas face riot charges for refusing to register as ‘Bengali’

Source DVB,

22 May 2013

A man from a Rohingya IDP camp carries a fishing net as he walks towards a beach to fish near his camp, outside of Sittwe. (Reuters)

Nine Rohingyas, who were arrested late last month for refusing to register as "Bengalis" at a displacement camp in western Burma, will be prosecuted for instigating riots, according to a state official.

Arakan state's attorney general Hla Thein told DVB that the group is likely to be hit with multiple charges including rioting and injuring public servants, when they appear at their next court hearing on Sunday.

"They are going to be pressed with charges at the court on 26 May for rioting, hurting a public servant – a Tatmadaw (military) official was hospitalised after sustaining head injuries during the incident, aggravated theft for snatching phones off some public servants trying to report the situation to authorities and criminal intimidation for threatening to harm the public servants," said Hla Thein.

On 26 April, scuffles broke out between displaced Rohingyas and government officials, who were compiling lists of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) under a programme headed by the Ministry of Immigration and Population.

The skirmish erupted after Rohingya inhabitants at Thetkalpyin and Bawdupha displacement camps near Sittwe refused to be registered as 'Bengalis' on the officials' list.

Security forces reportedly fired shots in an attempt to disperse the crowd who were throwing rocks at officials and repeatedly chanting "Rohingya! Rohingya!" Shortly after the incident, seven individuals from Thetkalpyin and two from Bawdupha were detained by authorities.

After two episodes of ethno-religious rioting last year, more than 140,000 people, a majority of whom are Muslims, are still displaced and living in IDP camps in western Burma's Arakan state.

In a highly anticipated report published in late April, a government-backed commission charged with investigating the violence recommended upping the number of security forces in the restive state and pinned the rioting on generations of bitterness. The commission also suggested providing the Rohingya minority with voluntary family planning.

The official report also refused to call the stateless Rohingya by name and rather referred to the ethnic minority as "Bengalis", a term commonly used by government officials that implicitly infers that the group are illegal immigrants.

According to Arakan state's attorney general, the population study that led to the scuffle was being conducting in accordance with recommendations made by the government-backed commission.

"The programme aims to find out how many legal and illegal inhabitants there are in Bengali refugee camps and their professions, to assist with the rehabilitation [process]," said the state's attorney general Hla Thein.

"It was not meant to be a census – the Arakan Investigation Commission's report recommended resettlement and rehabilitation programmes for local populations and for that, we need to study how we can provide them with assistance."

Following the arrest of the nine Rohingyas, residents in the camps said they have been unable to secure any information about the suspects since they were detained.

"The [detainees] from Thetkalpyin are not allowed to have any visitors – we cannot send them food and have no information on their status. Their relatives in Rangoon were apparently looking for lawyers," said a resident in Thetkalpyin camp.

Who Are the Rohingya Muslims, and Why Should We Care?

Source huffingpost, 20 May

On Monday, Burmese President Thein Sein is due to visit the White House. The visit represents another milestone in recently burgeoning U.S.-Burma relations, and an opportunity to engage Thein Sein on the significance of respecting international human rights norms -- such as protecting its minority Muslim population's religious freedoms -- to continued Burmese democratic reform. The country's otherwise tainted record on religious freedom, including escalating communal violence, threatens to undermine its transition from one-party, autocratic military rule to more representative governance.

It adversely impacts our global security as well.

By way of background, more than 75 percent of the world's population resides in countries where official restrictions on religious freedom prevail. Despite laudable strides toward democratic reform, Myanmar (also referred to as Burma) is among those nations. In fact, it stands out as among the world's 25 most populous nations with the most government restrictions on, and social hostilities due to, religion. Notably, Burmese religious hatred, bias and violence are frequently directed toward its Rohingya Muslim population.

Who are the Rohingya Muslims?

The U.N. has long characterized the Rohingya Muslims, a religious and ethnic minority community numbering approximately 1 million in Myanmar, as one of the world's most persecuted minorities. Anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim sentiment has long tainted the nation's political and social spheres.

During the country's more than 60-year military rule since 1962, the Burmese army committed numerous human rights violations, for instance, including killing, raping and torturing its Rohingya Muslim population culminating at times in mass expulsions (and a chronic refugee crises in neighboring Bangladesh).

Such deplorable human rights and humanitarian conditions is further exasperated by the Rohingya and other Muslims' official "statelessness." Despite the fact that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right to a nationality, prohibiting its arbitrary deprivation, the Burmese Citizenship Act, enacted back in 1982, codified the legal exclusion of the Rohingya denying them equal citizenship rights.

To be sure, this denial of Burmese citizenship has resulted in additional injustices and inequalities, including the group's lack of access to identity documents, education and employment. It has also rendered group members vulnerable to arbitrary detention, forced labor and discriminatory taxation. The Burmese government has further restricted their rights to marry, own property and move freely -- rights guaranteed to non-citizens as well as citizens under international law.

Unfortunately, Burmese President Thein Sein remains steadfastly opposed to repealing or amending the 1982 Citizenship Act. And the plight of the Rohingya Muslims will not improve until the law is stripped of its discriminatory provisions.

Contemporary Developments

Both government officials and fellow civilians continue to persecute the Rohingya Muslims even with the country's current democratic transition since a nominally civilian government was ushered in by popular elections in March 2011.

Human rights violations not only include the denial of citizenship rights mentioned above, but also restrictions on religious freedom such as mosque constructions as well as religiously motivated violence.

Indeed, sectarian violence often perpetrated by members of the majority Buddhist population has most recently erupted in June 2012, October 2012, March 2013, April 2013; it persists and is spreading to previously unaffected areas of the country.

The violence has reaped devastating effects.

The communal violence has left approximately 13,000 people homeless. More than 120,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in temporary shelters with limited access to food, medical care, sanitation facilities and other types of humanitarian necessities.

Responsible Burmese officials and security forces -- who have refused to protect the Rohingya Muslims at critical moments, participated in the persecution and obstructed access to humanitarian aid -- have not been subject to prosecution. Not surprisingly, a general climate of impunity prevails as Rohingya Muslims continue to endure brutal police repression, forced conscription to perform labor, arbitrary detention, beatings, killings and mistreatment.

Why Should We Care?

Last year, we re-designated Myanmar as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act because of related pervasive violations. During President Thein Sein's visit on Monday, he must understand that the status quo arguably threatens our global security.

Recent evidence from Georgetown University suggests that state restrictions on religious freedom may contribute to violent extremism. Such repression, as described above, may radicalize targeted religious communities and/or enhance the violent message of militants abroad. While I am an ardent supporter of nonviolence even in the face of legitimate political and other grievances, it is difficult to ignore the implications here.

Burmese officials who arbitrarily arrest, detain, beat, injure and kill Rohingya Muslims may enhance the appeal of those advocating a more violent response to government repression -- perhaps within the country but also well beyond. Indeed, media outlets around the world, including segments of the Muslim and Arab world, have already begun reporting on the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma.

Conversely, Georgetown's research findings suggest that enhanced religious freedom may help "moderate, contain, counteract, or prevent the origin or spread" of violent religious extremism.

Through broader U.S. engagement, communication and dialogue -- such as Monday's momentous White House meeting -- President Thein Sein must come to understand the underlying significance of religious freedom to enhanced global security. He must understand that continued Burmese persecution of the minority faith community may contribute to violent extremism by inadvertently promoting its appeal.

Further, violent extremists elsewhere will manipulate those incidents of persecution to serve a more nefarious, violent narrative to recruit others to their abhorrent cause. The implications are far-reaching.

What We Should Do

Notably, the U.S. has expended more than $24 million in humanitarian aid to help address the suffering in Myanmar. But in the current climate of fiscal austerity, such levels of financial aid, even for humanitarian purposes, cannot be reasonably sustained.

Moreover, sanctions have proven grossly ineffective largely because of the willingness of other countries in the region to continue trading with Myanmar for their own economic and other strategic self-interest.

Potential solutions? What if we attempted to address the underlying causes of the communal strife and violence.

As an initial, necessary measure the Burmese should eliminate the discriminatory provisions of the 1982 Citizenship Act rendering the Rohingya Muslims "stateless." Statelessness deprives the Rohingya of equal protection under the law and facilitates additional injustices, thus contributing to increased likelihood of sectarian and other destabilizing conflict.

Burmese officials should adopt pluralism as an ideal model allowing for greater inclusivity of all of its religious and ethnic minorities. Formal inclusion of the Rohingya and other Muslims into the public and political spheres provides a nonviolent means to making a meaningful contribution to society thereby contributing to our global security.

Moreover, the sociological consequence of religious pluralism is a general recognition and acceptance of all faiths practiced by diverse groups. Arguably, this represents an ideal model for a diverse country like Myanmar.

It is significant to note that while there does not appear to be any current evidence of violent radicalization among the Rohingya or other Muslims in Myanmar, guarding against the phenomenon (there and abroad) is a critical consideration in light of the continuing Global War on Terror (GWOT).

By protecting religious freedom and conferring citizenship rights upon the Rohingya, the Burmese will continue its effective transition toward democracy. Unfortunately, the persistent waves of violence otherwise threaten to undermine its progress as well as global security. President Thein Sein should walk away from Monday's meeting at the White House with that realization.

Loading Slideshow

• Muslim Rohingya women sit inside a tent at Mansi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Sittwe on May 14, 2013. Boats carrying scores of Rohingya Muslims fleeing a cyclone have capsized off Myanmar's coast, the UN said on May 14, heightening fears over the storm which threatens camps for tens of thousands of displaced people. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Muslim Rohingya man prays in front of a temporary relief camp in a school in Thetkaepyin village, on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Muslim Rohingya woman waits for a truck to move back to her temporary relief camp in the village of Thetkaepyin on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up on May 17 after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. At least 40 people were either killed by Cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact, including 25 Muslim Rohingya whose bodies washed up on the shores of Bangladesh after their boat capsized while sailing from Myanmar. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• Muslim Rohingya families unload their belongings from a truck as they return back to a camp for iternally displaced people in the village of Mansi on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013 following their evacuation from the site. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up on May 17 after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. At least 40 people were either killed by Cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact, including 25 Muslim Rohingya whose bodies washed up on the shores of Bangladesh after their boat capsized while sailing from Myanmar. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• Muslim Rohingya carry their belongings as they arrive back to a camp for iternally displaced people in the village of Mansi on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up on May 17 after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. At least 40 people were either killed by Cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact, including 25 Muslim Rohingya whose bodies washed up on the shores of Bangladesh after their boat capsized while sailing from Myanmar. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Muslim Rohingya woman prepares her kitchen after arriving back to a camp for iternally displaced people in the village of Mansi on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up on May 17 after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. At least 40 people were either killed by Cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact, including 25 Muslim Rohingya whose bodies washed up on the shores of Bangladesh after their boat capsized while sailing from Myanmar. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Muslim Rohingya family sits outside their temporary relief camp in a school in Thetkaepyin village on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Muslim Rohingya family waits for a truck to move back to their temporary relief camp in the village of Thetkaepyin on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Muslim Rohingya woman collected rice supplies at a temporary relief camp in a school in Thetkaepyin village on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Muslim Rohingya family travels in a truck to their temporary relief camp in the village of Thetkaepyin on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Rohingya Muslim child receives a pack of food as local authority removes them to a dentention center in Banda Aceh on April 8, 2013, after stranded on remote island Pulo Aceh. Indonesian police on April 7 detained 80 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar on a remote island off Sumatra after they had got lost attempting to reach Malaysia, an official said. It was the latest boatload of Rohingya to arrive on the shores of Indonesia, as thousands flee Myanmar after tensions between Muslims and Buddhists exploded in their home state of Rakhine last year. (CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• In this photograph taken on March 2, 2013, ethnic Rohingya refugees who were among two boatloads of asylum-seekers carrying 184 people from Myanmar rescued by Indonesian fishermen on February 26 and 28, 2013 off the waters of Sumatra island read a Quran at the immigration quarantine center in Langsa district in Aceh province. Indonesia is expecting an influx of Rohingya as Thai authorities crack down on Rohingya refugees entering their country. The UN considers the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim ethnic group, one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, and Myanmar views its roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, denying them citizenship. Buddhist-Muslim unrest in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine has left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced since June 2012. (CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Rohingya man peers into a makeshift mosque as families crowd a tented camp November 25, 2012 on the outskirts of Sittwe, Myanmar. An estimated 111,000 people were displaced by sectarian violence in June and October affecting mostly the ethnic Rohingya people who are now living in crowded IDP camps racially segregated from the Rakhine Buddhists in order to maintain stability. Around 89 lives were lost during a week of violence in October, the worst in decades. As of 2012, 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar. According to the UN, they are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

• In this photo taken on Sept. 8, 2012, Muslims gather during a visit by a delegation of American diplomats including U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell, unseen, at a refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar. Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar's ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when -or even if- the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

• In this photograph taken on March 2, 2013, an ethnic Rohingya refugee who was among two boatloads of asylum-seekers carrying 184 people from Myanmar rescued by Indonesian fishermen on February 26 and 28, 2013 off the waters of Sumatra island stands by the window of an immigration quarantine center in Langsa district in Aceh province. Indonesia is expecting an influx of Rohingya as Thai authorities crack down on Rohingya refugees entering their country. The UN considers the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim ethnic group, one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, and Myanmar views its roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, denying them citizenship. Buddhist-Muslim unrest in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine has left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced since June 2012. AFP PHOTO / CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN (Photo credit should read CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP/Getty Images)

• Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, center, listens to Muslim refugees as he visits Kaynipyin camp in Pauktaw in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, Rakhine is the state where sectarian violence between Muslim Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists killed about 200 people and left at least 110,000 displaced, the vast majority of them Muslims late last year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

• Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, top seated third right, accompanied by Myanmar Border Affair Minister Lt. General Thein Htay, top seated second right, meets Muslim refugees as he visits Satmalay camp in Pauktaw in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. Rakhine is the state where sectarian violence between Muslim Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists killed about 200 people and left at least 110,000 displaced, the vast majority of them Muslims late last year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

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Muslim Rohingya women sit inside a tent at Mansi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Sittwe on May 14, 2013. Boats carrying scores of Rohingya Muslims fleeing a cyclone have capsized off Myanmar's coast, the UN said on May 14, heightening fears over the storm which threatens camps for tens of thousands of displaced people. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

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Iran Calls for Immediate Solution to Myanmar Crisis

Source farnews, 18 May

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammad Khazayee called on the international community and the regional countries to take immediate action to resolve the current crisis in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar.

The Iranian envoy to the UN made the remarks in a meeting with the ambassadors of the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in New York on Friday. "At a time when Muslim countries are concerned about the situation in Myanmar, the political whim of certain Western states to establish better relations with Myanmar's government has weakened the process of looking into the situation of Muslims in the country, and Muslim countries, unfortunately, are not using all their means (to push for an end to the violence)," Khazayee said. The Iranian envoy also voiced Iran's deep concern over the escalating violence and cases of human rights violations against Muslims in Myanmar. Meantime, Khazayee called on the OIC member states to prepare a resolution against the barbaric acts currently underway against Muslims in Myanmar. Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast renewed Tehran's call for an immediate halt to extreme violence in Myanmar. Mehman-Parast strongly criticized extreme ethnic violence in Myanmar that has also destroyed holy places buildings in Muslim residential areas. He said conflicts in Myanmar hurts the feelings of the whole Islamic world, stressing that such acts will also put the Myanmar political and economic situation in danger. Mehman-Parast further stressed the need to take serious action against the agents of such violence in Myanmar. He then urged the Myanmar government to cooperate root and branch with the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and contact group as well to prevent occurrence of such extremist actions and systematic conflicts in that country. Earlier in April, a leading rights watchdog, citing evidence of mass graves and forced displacement, said Myanmar has waged "a campaign of ethnic cleansing" against Rohingya Muslims. The Rohingya, who are denied citizenship by the country also known as Burma, have faced crimes against humanity including murder, persecution, deportation and forced transfer, New York-based Human Rights Watch said. Myanmar officials, community leaders and Buddhist monks organized and encouraged mobs backed by state security forces to conduct coordinated attacks on Muslim villages in October in the Western state of Rakhine, HRW said. "The Burmese government engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement," said HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson. HRW noted that while ethnic cleansing was not a formal legal term, it was generally defined as a policy by one ethnic or religious group to remove another such group from certain areas by violent and terror-inspiring means. In Rakhine, more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims have been forcibly displaced, denied access to humanitarian aid and are unable to return home, the group said. At least 180 people died in two outbreaks of Buddhist violence against Muslim in Rakhine since June 2012, according to the official toll, but rights groups believe the real figure is much higher. In a report based on more than 100 interviews, HRW said that it had uncovered evidence of four mass-grave sites in Rakhine, accusing the security forces of trying to destroy evidence of crimes.

Burma expels Rohingya members from political party

Source DVB, 17 May 2013

A woman looks for her name in a voters list for the upcoming by-elections in Rangoon on 24 March 2012. (Reuters)

Burma's electoral commission has ordered a newly formed political party to expel six of its senior members for listing their ethnicity as "Rohingya" in their official biographies, according to party members.

Earlier this month, the Union Election Commission (UEC) forced the Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP), which was formed in March this year, to oust six of its central executive committee members for allegedly being "non-citizens".

UEC director Tin Maung Cho told DVB that the six members had "breached" existing regulations for political parties as the Muslim Rohingya are not recognised as an official ethnic group in Burma.

According to Article 10(a) of the Political Parties Registration Law, a person can only become a political party member if they qualify as a Burmese citizen, an associate citizen, a naturalised citizen or a temporary certificate holder.

"They were listed as the 'Rohingya', which is not recognised by the state," said Tin Maung Cho. "Foreigners are not allowed to take part in political parties," he said, backing the government-held view that the Muslim minority are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

He added that the UEC had instructed the party to submit biographies of all other members of their central executive committee.

But the DHRP chairperson, Kyaw Min, insisted that members had already listed as "Rohingya" before the party was formally registered in March, but no issues had been raised at the time.

"We had to submit members' biographies when we applied for the party registration and they were listed as [Rohingyas]," said Kyaw Min. "Now the [UEC] is asking us to re-submit everyone's biographies."

It appears that the six members are being regarded as "non-citizens" simply on the basis of calling themselves "Rohingya" – a term the government rejects – although they are likely to hold Burmese citizenship. "We have to look into this," said Kyaw Min.

The term Rohingya is heavily disputed in Burma, with state officials and most Burmese people referring to the group as "Bengali". But the Muslim group, which comprises some 800,000 people mainly residing in northwestern Burma's Arakan state, insists the term had been used for centuries until the military junta stripped them of their citizenship in 1982.

Earlier this year, Shwe Maung, a self-proclaimed Rohingya MP from Maungdaw township, stirred controversy by calling for official recognition of the term, and prompted some nationalist groups to call for his citizenship to be "investigated".

The Burmese government was recently implicated in ethnic cleansing against the stateless group, which has been described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

But state officials have remained unrepentant. "How can it be ethnic cleansing? They are not an ethnic group," Arakan state spokesman Win Myaing told Reuters this week.

The DHRP has played a vocal role in defending the rights of the Rohingya, which is likely to have irked members of Burma's political elite. Both reformist President Thein Sein and opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, have come under fire for refusing to speak up for the predominantly stateless minority.

Its chairman, Kyaw Min, originally won a seat in parliament for Buthidaung, northern Arakan state, in the annulled 1990 elections and has since worked with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

He was sentenced to 47 years in prison in 2005 for championing labour rights, but was released in a general amnesty in January 2012.

Tags: 1982 Citizenship Law, Election Commission, rohingya

15 kids among 22 drown in Bay

Source dailystar, 16 May

 

Raging waves lash upon the sea shores at Cox's Bazar on Thursday. Maritime ports of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar have been advised to keep hoisted danger signal No. seven in the morning as Cyclone Mahasen moved slightly north-northeastwards over the Bay. Photo: Focus Bangla

Coast guard personnel on Thursday recovered 22 bodies from Teknaf shore after a trawler had capsized in the Bay of Bengal due to the impact of Cyclone Mahasen.

Of the deceased, 15 were children, three women and four men, reports our Cox's Bazar correspondent.

Police, quoting locals, said many bodies were still floating near the coast.

It was not clear that when the accident took place but Didar Ferdous, inspector (investigation) of Teknaf Police Station, told The Daily Star that the trawler with an unknown number of passengers on board sank in the Bay sometime on Wednesday after the cyclone hit the coastal belts.

The passengers, mostly Rohingyas, might have started their journey from Teknaf to reach Malaysia on Wednesday, he added.

When asked about the high number of children among the dead, police said they might be offspring of the men who had earlier travelled to Malaysia.

Babul Akhter, additional superintendent of police in Cox's Bazar, said a trawler capsized with 200 Rohingyas on board in Myanmar two days ago. "These 22 bodies might be the victims of Myanmar capsize," he added.

Police and the local administration, however, could not confirm when the incident occurred.

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The dainikpurbokone news report shows thekids' picture-

Myanmar: Rohingya Muslims 'Moved to Beaches' as Cyclone Mahasen Lands

Source ibtimes, 15 May

Women pass their time in a Rohingya internally displaced person (IDP) camp outside of Sittwe (Reuters)

Myanmar authorities have attempted to force Rohingya refugees in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, to move closer to beach areas as the cyclone Mahasen approaches the exposed coast.

Sources speaking to IBTimes UK said that Rohingya Muslims refused any attempt to relocate as the cyclone, which has already killed at least seven people and displaced 3,881 in Sri Lanka, nears.

The Myanmar government planned to move 38,000 internally displaced people, but many refused fearing the authorities' intentions.

Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya living in Germany with contacts in Sittwe, claimed that Rohingya "were forced to go" but only five families agreed. "100% confirmed that the authorities are forcing Rohingya refugees in Sittwe to move to the beach," he said. "State Chief Minister warned today that will take serious action and President Office Minister Aung Min also told the same like at meeting in Yangon today."

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His report was confirmed by Aung Aung, a Rohingya living in a refugee camp in Sittwe.

Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK, confirmed to IBTimes UK that he heard reports of Rohingya forced closer to the beaches but was unable to confirm it. "Rohingya are still not being moved [to safety]," he said.

Hla Maung said he lost his mother and two young daughters during the clashes between Muslims and Buddhists.

He told the BBC: "I lost everything ... I don't want to go anywhere. I'll stay here. If I die, I want to die here," he said.

At least 192 people were killed in June and October last year in sectarian clashes between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya. Reuters reported that people at a camp near the sea by Hmanzi Junction near Sittwe said they would rather prefer to die in the storm than evacuate.

Farmaner said he is particularly concerned about the cyclone hitting Bangladesh. There are up to 250,000 Rohingya living in southern Bangladesh, many of whom fled from Myanmar in the early 1990s complaining of abuses by the army.

UN says storm expected to make landfall in Chittagong: "In its strongest force, the cyclone will be hitting area where hundreds of thousands of refugee are stacked," he said. "There are people very vulnerable in terrible condition and we've not heard any attempt by Bangladeshi government to move them.

"Refugee living in official camps are already not in a very good condition. Those who live in unofficial camps, made of makeshift shelter, are in an appalling condition," he added.

About 140,000 people were displaced in June and a second wave of violence in October in western Rakhine state.

Burma Campaign UK says the international community "applied the most low-level diplomacy" and failed to put pressure on the Burma government, who did nothing to prevent the crisis.

"It's already a humanitarian crisis but it will become an humanitarian disaster. Lives will be lost. If the international community had put pressure on Burma that could've been avoided."

Burma Campaign UK called on the British government and international community to take action to force President Thein Sein to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid, and stop violating international humanitarian law.

At least 50 Rohingya Muslims were feared drowned on Tuesday when boats evacuating them from the path of the cyclone capsized off western Burma.

In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed more than 130,000 people in Myanmar. .

Eight Million at Risk from Cyclone Mahasen [PHOTOS]

Village hit by cyclone Nargis, in 2008 (Reuters)

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail: g.mezzofiore@ibtimes.co.uk
To contact the editor, e-mail: editor@ibtimes.co.uk

Boat carrying 100 Rohingya Muslims capsizes off Myanmar Feared drowned

Source Reuters, 14 May

SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - A boat carrying about 100 Rohingya Muslims capsized off western Myanmar with many feared drowned at the start of a mass evacuation from low-lying regions ahead of an approaching storm, a U.N. official said on Tuesday.

The boat struck rocks off Pauktaw township in Rakhine State and sank late on Monday, Barbara Manzi, head of the Myanmar office of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told Reuters.

She said an unknown number of people were missing.

A military intelligence officer told Reuters at least 50 people drowned when the boat went down at around midnight. It was one of six leaving Pauktaw, said the official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to media.

Kirsten Mildren, a spokeswoman for OCHA in Bangkok, said she understood there was one big boat with an engine towing two smaller, wooden boats without engines, and that between 100 and 150 people were on the three vessels.

"We understand that yesterday evening they went out with the approval of government officials. This was part of an official government evacuation plan although the boats were not government boats. They were moving from a low-lying area to a safer area," she said.

The approaching storm is a tropical depression named Mahasen which is expected to strengthen into a cyclone.

Forecasts by the U.S. Navy's Joint Warning Centre show the storm making its way north over the Bay of Bengal. It is expected to make landfall on Thursday near Chittagong in Bangladesh before moving into neighbouring Myanmar.

It threatens a region of Myanmar where about 140,000 victims of ethnic and religious unrest are living in camps. The United Nations warned last week that Myanmar could face a "humanitarian catastrophe" if people were not evacuated.

The United Nations said about 69,000 people, most of them Rohingya Muslims, were living in "precarious" conditions at risk of flooding and other damage during the rainy season, which begins this month and continues until around September. Mahasen could bring "life-threatening conditions", it said.

The evacuations, a combined effort between the government and aid agencies, are seen as a test of Myanmar's willingness to assist stateless Rohingya Muslims, an impoverished and long-persecuted people who bore the brunt of sectarian violence in Rakhine State last year.

Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country but about 5 percent of its 60 million people are Muslims. They face a growing anti-Muslim campaign led by radical Buddhist monks.

TEMPORARY SHELTERS

Evacuations began on Monday in some areas such as Pauktaw, a port town about 27 km (17 miles) by sea from the state capital Sittwe. Nearly 20,000 Rohingya were living in camps in Pauktaw after last year's violence, including about 12,000 in flood-prone areas, according to U.N. data.

At least 192 people were killed in June and October last year in unrest between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims who are denied citizenship by the government in Myanmar and considered by many there to be immigrants from Bangladesh.

Hundreds of Rohingya homes were destroyed in Pauktaw in October.

In Sittwe, up to 45,000 displaced people living in low-lying areas have been identified as the most vulnerable to Mahasen. Some have begun to be moved to higher ground.

In Bangladesh, authorities told residents of outlying islands to start evacuating. Large vessels were told to remain at anchor in outer areas, while fishing boats and other smaller boats were warned to remain near the coast and not venture out to sea.

Officials in the Bangladeshi town of Cox's Bazar near the border with Myanmar said medical teams with as many as 30,000 Red Crescent volunteers were being formed.

In eastern India, authorities put 10 coastal districts on alert.

Images taken by NASA's Aqua satellite on May 13 showed the storm's centre northeast of Sri Lanka with it packing winds of up to 50 knots (92 km per hour/57 miles per hour). Those winds are expected to increase to 130 km per hour (80 mph) as the storm moves north.

The space agency said it "sees a strengthening" of the storm and forecasts an upgrade to a Cyclone 1 level by Wednesday.

In 2008 a cyclone swept across Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta, south of the old capital, Yangon, killing up to 140,000 people.

(Writing by Jason Szep; Additional reporting by Soe Zeya Tun in SITTWE, Amy Sawitta Lefevre in BANGKOK, Serajul Quadir in DHAKA and Annie Banerji in NEW DELHI; Editing by Alan Raybould and Robert Birsel)

Myanmar police steal drugs from monk

Source Bangkokpost, 13 May

Four police officers in Myanmar's Rakhine State have been arrested after being caught with a large haul of methamphetamine pills, which they had seized from a Buddhist monk.

The law enforcement officers had confiscated around 120,000 of the yaba pills from a local monk, but suspicions were raised after half of the drugs went missing.

The Irrawaddy reported that the Maungdaw Township court found the local police chief and three other officers had taken around 60,000 of the pills to sell themselves, instead of delivering them to the evidence room.

Maungdaw in Western Myanmar is one of the principle transport routes for drugs from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

Security forces shoot and wound Rohingya in Maungdaw

Source Kaladan press, 9 May

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Security forces –police, Hluntin and Nasaka- shot and wounded a Rohingya in Maungni village of Maungdaw yesterday night, according to a school teacher from Maungdaw.

A poster of Long March for Muslim in Burma inside Bangladesh

"The security forces – police personnel- shot to a Rohingya who was going to his home from neighboring home while the township administration officer and district administration officer were at present in the spot."

"The high officers from Maungdaw didn't said any word to the police personnel who shot to Rohingya –whowas going to his home, not running or attacking them. Rohingya had no weapon or any harmful things in his hand."

The high officers and security force round up the village at night for Gawni Meah – a Rohingya from village- but shot an innocent Rohingya who was going to his house and admitted to hospital with wounded, said a member of village administration office.

On the other hand, some official said the high officers and security forces were high alert in Maungdaw for fear of attack from Bangladesh – a long march organized by Islami Andolaon Bangladesh (IAB) on 9,10 and 11 May 2013 which said towards Myanmar protesting genocide against Muslim of Arakan - , but no program of long march on May 9, as the situation of Bangladesh is not giving them fever.

"The security forces are high alert in Maungdaw for long march and harassing Rohingya community in the name of long march group enter in Maungdaw."

"The long march program only said they will march along the border not into Burma and not to enter Arakan, said a politician, from Cox's Bazar.

Seventy-six Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar found adrift off Indonesia

Source firstpost, 8 April

Banda Aceh, Indonesia: Indonesian police say they have rescued 76 hungry, dehydrated Rohingya asylum seekers who fled Myanmar in a rickety boat hobbled by a storm.

Local police chief Lt Col Djadjuli says fishermen towed the boat to shore Monday after discovering it off Indonesia's westernmost Aceh province.

Rohingya migrants sit on the boat at a port in Aceh, after their boat was rescued off Aceh, Indonesia on Monday. AP

The group — all members of the ethnic Rohingya minority — includes five women and five children, said Djadjuli, who uses one name.

One migrant told investigators they were fleeing sectarian violence in Myanmar, hoping to seek asylum in Australia.

Many Rohingya have left Buddhist-majority Myanmar, which considers them illegal Muslim settlers from neighboring Bangladesh.

On Friday, Buddhist fishermen and Rohingya Muslim asylum seekers brawled at an Indonesian immigration detention center following an argument over rising tensions in their homeland, killing eight and injuring 15.

Associated Press

What Does It Mean To Be Liquidated

Source elderledge, 6 May

 

Rohingya Face Burmese Version Of The "Final Solution"
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

In 1940 the German occupiers in Poland began to move the three million plus Polish Jews into overcrowded and unsanitary ghettos. One of which was the now infamous Warsaw ghetto. It was here that the Jews of Warsaw were first met with the face of the Nazi "final solution". Their very existence in Poland had spawned a perverse question amongst the racially motivated extremist both in Poland and Germany alike. For the Nazis this question was often refereed to as the "Jewish question". It quite simply could be summed up as "how to kill or expel all Jewish peoples within Europe". However Warsaw showed us that had Hitler been more successful in his attempts to slaughter the Jewish people in Europe that his ambitions may very well had spread much further than Polish or European borders.

By 1942 the Germans had arrived at the conclusion Hitler had been leading them toward all along. The "final solution" as Hitler saw it was the total extermination of the Jewish race both in Europe and the rest of the world. It was then, and only then, that Hitler believed his mythical Aryan race could flourish. So between July 23rd and September 21st the Nazi SS began carried out deportations from Warsaw sending hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths in the Treblinka death camps. This was the first round of deportations. And it was the first hint the Jews of Warsaw had been given that they were not safe in their attempts to survive by cooperating with their oppressors.

During the time that passed after September of 1942 and April of 1943 the Jews of Warsaw experienced what it means to be "liquidated". What was left of their lives was being taken away as they watched the SS approach the camp and count the remaining living. They were like lambs in the eyes of their tormentors. And yet in that short period of time they found the strength to become like lions.

Today the Rohingya of Myanmar are in a very similar situation as the Jews of Warsaw were in the winter of 1942. They are trapped in ghetto like camps that are monitored and surrounded by Burmese military. Angy mobs of Rakhine Buddhists are the Rohingyas' version of the Nazi SS. And for the Rohingya still alive today, they are facing the very meaning of what it is to be liquidated.

In January of 1943 the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto arose like lions in the face of wolves. Outgunned, outnumbered, and barely able to organize themselves; the Jewish resistance fighters came out of the woodwork and attacked the SS as they attempted to restart deportations. Of the intended 8,000 Jews to be deported that day the Germans could only gather roughly 5,000. Yet the Jewish resistance didn't give up. They continued to fight back.

This is where the story for the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Rohingya of Burma splits in parallels. The Rohingya of Burma have no way to fight back. There is no resistance movement in the Rakhine like their is in the Shan state. Unlike the Kachin people, the Rohingya have no paramilitary units to call upon. Life for the Rohingya is a life of facing death while the world watches. It is a story unlike that of past genocides in the fact that we are watching truly helpless people being butchered while we as a world community do nothing to stop it.

During the Armenian genocide the Armenian people were largely unable to stop the deportations and massacres they suffered under the Turks. Yet for the bravery of a small number of Armenian men and boys, the Armenians did offer up some form of resistance. They may have been badly beaten by Turkish military. Their families were all murdered or sent to die in the deserts of Arabia. But they were able to fight back.

In Rwanda the Tutsi who were mercilessly slaughtered in the streets and in their homes were unable to push back against Hutu militias who had prepared for the genocide. And yet again the Tutsi people found hope in the resistance of armed Tutsi militias that helped force the murderous regime to cease its campaign of ethnic cleansing. The wounds that were left may still be raw today. But for the fact that resistance was made there are still Tutsi people alive in Rwanda today.

The parallels that genocides of the past have with one another are unmistakable. This is a crime that follows patterns. It is a sin that repeats itself when the patterns it follows are not broken. And in cases like this of the Rohingya people, it is a crime that will reach completion if the chain of events is not altered.

Burma may be proceeding more cautiously now that the world is watching. The leaders that have given the green light to this campaign of genocide against the Rohingya may be trying to romance the West and China alike. But even with these hindrances in their plans to kill off or expel the Rohingya, the process is still happening. The stages of genocide are still occurring like clock work in Myanmar.

From the moment the first Rohingya community was burnt out of their homes and villages the process of creating ghettos began. From the establishment of the first IDP camp within Burma the process of creating ghettos was complete. This is the same path the Nazis used in Germany and the rest of occupied Europe. This is the same pattern that Hitler followed when pursuing his genocide of the Jewish people. So why is the world assuming that this will not lead to the same results that occurred in Poland?

Liquidation is a terrifying reality for those who are victims of genocide. It means that the world as you know it has ended. The people you lived amongst your entire life now want you gone... exterminated... killed off... however you put it, it is a permanent word. There is no place that is safe for you anymore. Anywhere you could even hope to flee to could never be home. Liquidation means to you what death means to others... finality.

For the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto life meant starvation, disease, and suffering. Yet liquidation was somehow worse. It was the end to the torment they had been living in. And yet it was the death of hope.

Can we not offer the Rohingya something other than the death of hope? Can we not offer the Rohingya some form of resistance to their seemingly final solution? Or will we stand idly by as the Rohingya become the next name on a long list of genocide victims?