Migrant rescue effort fortified

Source Bankokpost, 26 Feb

A Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) crew member steers a launch toward the mother ship MV Phoenix in the Chao Phraya river in Samut Prakan east of Bangkok. The group is preparing for a mission in the Andaman sea to track and rescue refugee boats. (Reuters Photo)

SAMUT PRAKAN — The humanitarian team that sent ships to rescue refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean will launch a Southeast Asia mission this weekend to comb the seas for boat people, including Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar.

American entrepreneur Christopher Catrambone and his Italian wife Regina set up the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) in response to the 2013 Lampedusa tragedy, when several hundred migrants drowned after their boat sank as they tried to cross to Europe from Libya.

In Samut Prakan, Catrambone on Friday took journalists on a tour of the MV Phoenix, whose crew will coordinate with coast guards, navies and non-government organisations to track and rescue boat people as needed.

"If we can save one life, this entire mission is worth it," Catrambone said.

For years, tens of thousands of Rohingya have been fleeing by boat from Myanmar, where they live in apartheid-like conditions, face violence and are denied access to health care, employment and education. Smuggling boats also carry migrants fleeing poverty in Bangladesh.

However, the discovery last year of mass graves and trafficking camps along the Thai-Malaysia border led to a crackdown on the traffickers, forcing them to abandon the ships and leaving thousands of migrants stranded at sea.

Aid agencies and rights groups criticised Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia for playing "ping-pong at sea" and not allowing the refugees and migrants to disembark. Eventually they were allowed to land in Malaysia — their main destination — as well as Indonesia.

Since then, the number of migrants leaving Myanmar and Bangladesh by boat has dropped off sharply because of Thai and Bangladeshi crackdowns on human smugglers.

According to Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project rights group, about 1,500 people sailed from Bangladesh and Myanmar between September and December 2015, compared with 32,000 people tracked during the same period in 2014.

The crew of the Phoenix crew will use drones as "eyes in the sky" to search for distressed boats, but if anyone is rescued, disembarkation will still be a problem.

When asked by a journalist if the region's governments would allow Rohingya boat people to land, ship captain Thomas Johansen replied: "Negative. When we establish communication with them (government officials), the ball is with them, they have to reply, they have to do something."

The MV Phoenix, which has been docked at a Thai port for repairs since November, is scheduled to set out to sea on Saturday, south toward Langkawi, Malaysia, and then spend three weeks in international waters in the Andaman Sea.

MOAS is partnering with the Bangkok-based advocacy group Fortify Rights, which will manage data collection and provide guidance on the situation of the Rohingya.

Thailand's crackdown on human trafficking has not eliminated the flow of people leaving, and people are still voluntarily leaving on boats, Catrambone said.

"Rohingya have faced abuses for decades and untold numbers have died at sea," Fortify Rights executive director Matthew Smith said in a statement. "Until the root causes are addressed in Myanmar, we're going to see men, women, and children risk their lives in perilous journeys at sea."

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BROUK: Four Steps the NLD Led Government Can Take On Rohingya Crisis

Media release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK)

Thursday 18^th February 2016

Four Steps the NLD Led Government Can Take On Rohingya Crisis

The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK today publishes a new briefing paper calling on the NLD-led government, which will take power in April, to take four practical steps to start addressing human rights violations against the Rohingya. The briefing paper is available on our below website link.http://www.brouk.org.uk/Practical steps the NLD-led government can take in its first six months to address human rights violations against the Rohingya

Addressing the root causes of prejudice and human rights violations against the Rohingya will take many years, but in order to start this process, and to have an immediate impact saving lives and reducing human rights violations, here are practical steps an NLD government can take in its first six months:

• Action against hate-speech and extremists - Take action to prevent hate speech and incitement of violence, and demonstrate moral leadership, with Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders personally and specifically speaking out against prejudice and hatred, and challenging the extreme nationalist narrative.

• Ensure humanitarian access - Immediately lift all restrictions on the operations of international aid agencies and also start to devote more government resources to assisting IDPs and isolated villagers.
• Reform or repeal of the 1982 Citizenship Law - The lack of full citizenship lies at the root of most of the discrimination faced by the Rohingya. There is no way this issue can be avoided, and it is much better that an NLD-led government bite the bullet and deal with it at the start of their period in government when they have a new and strong mandate, strong party unity, and elections are years away. It will have to be addressed at some point. Better it is done while the NLD-led government is strongest.
  

• Justice and accountability - An NLD-led government should set up a credible independent investigation with international experts to investigate these crimes and propose action. If the NLD government fails to do so, the United Nations should establish its own Commission of Inquiry.

The briefing paper also analyses the NLD and Military approach to the Rohingya issues, and what the election results reveal about anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim prejudice in the country.

These results appear to reinforce something that BROUK has long believed, which is that while prejudice against Muslims is widespread, it is not necessarily that deep. Prejudice against Rohingya is greater than Muslims in general, but is not the top concern of many Rakhine. The prejudice that exists is widespread, but for many periods has been below the surface. It usually comes to the surface when prejudice and hatred is stirred up by political and religious extremists. It is a top down process, not a grassroots bottom up expression of repressed tensions, as many have tried to argue.

For decades successive regimes and governments in Burma have pursued a twin-track policy of impoverishment and human rights violations in order to attempt to drive Rohingya out of the country. Under the government of President Thein Sein human rights violations against the Rohingya sharply escalated, as he attempted to use Buddhist nationalism and anti-Muslim prejudice in the country to win public support.

The incoming NLD government presents the first opportunity in decades to not only halt the escalation of anti-Rohingya policies and laws, but also put it into reverse, ending violations of international law and applying the rule of law and international human rights standards.

"At the election people voted for hope, not hate," said Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK. "This Rohingya issue is not as intractable as many diplomats and observers try to argue. If there is strong moral leadership and action countering hate speech and incitement, it will be possible to take practical steps to start to end human rights violations against the Rohingya. There is a unique opportunity to make real progress but if those arguing for a soft and slow approach win the debate, the opportunity will be lost and the crisis and suffering will continue for many more years."

For more information contact:

Tun Khin on + 44 7888714866
Muhammad Noman on +44 7850463444

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK)

http://www.brouk.org.uk

https://www.facebook.com/burmeserohingya.orguk

RAS met with Turkish Consul General Mr. Umut Acar

by admin,

A 7- members delegation of the Rohingya American Society (RAS) led by Shaukhat Kyaw Soe Aung (aka) MSK Jilani, met with Turkish Consul General Mr. Umut Acar on Wednesday, February 04, 2016 at the Turkish Consulate General office in Chicago, Illinois.

 

At the meeting, Rohingya issue was raised and discussed thoroughly and the Turkish Consul General assured that the Turkish government would continue to support the Rohingya minority cause and make effort to bring this issue to the international level and Burmese societies for the restoration of the Rohingyas’ basic fundamental human rights, including citizenship rights in Burma (Myanmar). At the end of the meeting with Consul General Mr. Umut Acar, the RAS delegation handed over-

 

“A MEMORANDUM TO THE GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF TURKEY”.
as below--

 

To,

His Excellency Umut Acar

(Consul General)

Turkish Consulate General

455 N. Cityfront Plaza Dr. (NBC Tower), Suite: 2900

Chicago, IL 60611 Date: February 04, 2016

A Memorandum to the Government and People of Turkey

 

WE, THE LEADERSHIP AND MEMBERS OF THE ROHINGYA AMERICAN SOCIETY (RAS) would like to introduce that RAS is a non-profit community Development organization duly registered and based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is serving the Rohingya community and Burmese Muslim for upliftment and development.

 

In 2014, under the program of the RAS, we established a Rohingya community center and a mosque in the name of Masjid Mubarak in which various programs for youths, children and women were undertaken weekly and bi-weekly basis on self-help basis. Now 175 children are studying basic Islamic teaching and Al-Quran daily in evening classes.

 

Taking this opportunity, we would like express our heart-felt thanks and appreciation to the people and Government of Turkey to come forward with helping hand to the violence torn Sittwe in Arakan state, Burma. We are very much thankful to the former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (Current Prime Minister) along with the Former First Lady Mrs. Emine Erdogan and her daughter to visit the refugee camps in the year 2012.

Since then, Turkey was tirelessly working for the Rohingyas in Arakan state still today including the tough action of sending Frigate navy ships to oversee and rescue of fleeing, floating Rohingya boat people in the sea.

 

In this regard, we would like to inform you that recently there was a one sided and one of the most unjustifiable elections (Nov.08 2015) was held in Burma totally excluding 1.3 million Arakan native Rohingya people with deprivation of the voting rights of Rohingyas.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led the National League for Democracy (NLD) won with majority votes and the first parliamentary session was held on February 02,2016, the dirtiest parliament ever held since the independence of Burma (Jan-04, 1948) in which there was not a single Muslim and Rohingya MP.

 

The whole world is praising the free and fair Burma election 2015 and election winner party NLD under the leadership of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi whereas we, the Rohingyas cannot accept it based on injustice, cruelty and state sponsored slow burning genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority people who are living on their ancestral homeland for many centuries.

Only few countries and some human rights NGOs expressed concern about the exclusion of Rohingyas in voting and election process but, no practical result was yielded and the suffering of Rohingyas increased in many folds.

 

On the basis of available update information, the current new Government of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is powerless to change the fate and status of the native Arakan Rohingya people under the current Myanmar Constitution which is run by top brass military Chief and the Army (Tetmaddaw) taking the four important Ministries, Defense, Home Ministry, border control Ministry and the Treasury.

The NLD spoke person recently announced that NLD Govt. has no any plan in the agenda about the Rohingya people and the current Commander in chief said Rohingyas are Bangladeshis and they are not citizens of Burma.

 

The situation of Rohingyas in Arakan state, Burma (Myanmar) is very serious now, currently, there are gross human rights violations towards Rohingya people. The Rohingyas are being beaten severely, tortured and killed. The Rohingya women and girls are being raped and killed. They were not given any treatment for their injuries and health problems even if they go to Govt. hospitals. The day to day lives have become like in hell for Rohingyas. The state sponsored slow burning genocide is going on still today.

We, our people, the Rohingyas in Burma become helpless and hopeless and we are at the brink of extinction. We have become the victims of Genocide and human rights abuses by the Burmese security forces and extremist Buddhist people because of our faith in Islam and our identity Rohingya name.

 

The Rohingya face massive violence and lack of basic fundamental human rights such as, access to healthcare, education and employment. They live in “apartheid-like conditions” due to, among other things, successive Burmese Govt.’s refusal to recognize them as citizens.

But, this is nothing new. Between May, 1991 and March, 1992, more than 260,000 Rohingya fled the country over “human rights abuses committed by the Burmese military, including the confiscation of land, forced labor, rape, torture, and summary executions.

 

Even Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Laureate who fought for decades for democracy, human rights and reform in Myanmar, has been conspicuously quiet on the issue of Rohingyas’national citizenship status.

 

So, we fervently appeal the Turkey Government to take active part for the protection and prevention of Genocide against the Rohingya people in Burma taking leading role.

We also appeal for the continued efforts of Turkey Government for providing humanitarian aids and relief in all available forms to the suffering Rohingyas in Sittwe and other refugee camps in Arakan State of Burma (Myanmar).

 

We have to continue raise our voice to highlight the injustices and gross human rights violations towards the minority Rohingya and other Muslims in Burma. We have to continue urging and demanding the United Nations, Powerful World Leaders and International Communities to take REAL ACTIONS to end the GENOCIDE against minority Rohingya Muslim in Arakan, Burma.

At this critical situation of Rohingya people, we need the continued help and assistance of the people and Govt. of Turkey along with other members of the OIC to survive on our native homeland Arakan as dignified people enjoying freedom, justice, equality, human rights, citizenship rights from the newly emerging NLD led Suu Kyi Government.

 

In conclusion, the RAS humbly urge the United Nations Security Council, the Government of the United States of America, the British Government, European Union and the Turkish government to:

1. Prosecute all those responsible for Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity against the Rohingya minority. They must be brought to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for killing, raping, torturing, detaining and abusing Minority Rohingyas and other ethnics.
2. Urge the Burmese government to amend or repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law to recognize the Rohingya people as a citizen of Myanmar.
3. Urge the United Nations to establish an Independent Commission of Inquiry immediately to specifically investigate the gross human rights violations towards the Rohingya people in Arakan, Burma.
4. Urge the United Nations Security Council to send their Peace Keeping Mission to Arakan State urgently to control and monitor the human rights abuses on daily basis.
5. Urge the Turkish government and international community to more increase humanitarian aid to assist Rohingyas in Arakan State of Burma, both those who are in the IDP camps and Rohingya still in their villages under government’s restrictions. Assistance should also be provided to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh camps.
6. There should be a significant increase in the number of international observers and news media groups on the ground in Arakan, and they should provide regular reports of situation of the suffering and vulnerable Rohingya people to the UN Secretary General and Geneva based UN Human Rights Council office.

We thank your Excellency for your time and patience listening to us and do hope you will do the best to save the minority Rohingya Muslims from the state sponsored ethnic cleansing and GENOCIDE.

Sincerely yours,

The Executive Committee Members

Rohingya American Society (RAS)

Milwaukee, Wisconsin,

USA.

Correcting the false narrative of the Ma Ba Tha can be the starting point for a future Myanmar

by Dr. Habib Siddiqui,

 

Wirathu and his band of criminal Buddhist monks have hijacked Buddhism and poisoned the political discourse inside Myanmar. Ma Ba Tha uses the rape of a Rakhine woman allegedly by Rohingya Muslims in Arakan to paint a very damning picture of the divide between "us" and "them". And such a nasty propaganda, a false one, which I must remind our readers, has worked because people are always willing to believe the worst about one's enemies if they are programmed as such.

 

For too long, in the context of Burma, her various ethnic and racial groups were poisoned to hate each other, which only helped the divisive forces inside, let alone the military that ruled the fractured country with strong arms tactics and brutal strategy. Wirathu and the hateful, xenophobic monks like him were used as the willing partners to prolong this environment of hatred and intolerance against the minority Muslims, esp. the Rohingya people, and strengthen the grip of the military that ruled and other divisive forces within the country to arrest a change for the better in the political scene.

 

 

Fortunately, even though most Muslims were barred from voting and participating in the latest election process, people inside Myanmar have spoken loud and clear. They have rejected the criminal messengers and propagators of hatred and dehumanization.

It is high time to stop Ma Ba Tha once and for all time. This would require not only serious efforts within the movers and shakers within the poisoned society, esp. those with some authority, e.g., the NLD and various political parties that represent the very mosaic of this diverse country but also a brave intelligentsia that knows its historical role to correct the wrongs and create an environment of inclusion and tolerance and hope.

Surely, such an endeavor is never going to be an easy one, but we can all try our best with our limited resources to make that happen, and multiply our voices for a change for the better.

 

 

The process can start by educating the broader public about the falsity of the very claim that Ma Ba Tha has been exploiting to poison Myanmar. If I recall correctly, Dr. Zarni was able to expose that there is no truth to the claim that the Rakhine Buddhist woman was raped and killed by Rohingya Muslim(s). He wrote that "the rape narrative of the Rakhine woman - the late Ma Thida Htwe - raped by 'Bengali men' was patently false, but spread by President Thein Sein's men the likes of Major Zaw Htay (Hmu Zaw), Colonel Ye Htut (now deputy information minister) as a trigger event to set the fire of genocidal hatred towards the Muslims. Ma Thida Htwe was NOT raped but was simply murdered - the doctor who examined her body told Ko Zaganar [a popular comedian], in no uncertain terms, that there was absolutely no evidence of rape on Ma Thida Htwe's dead body. The doctor was forced to sign the medical report which claims falsely she was raped. The rape story was spread by government agents on the social media and was used as a launching pad to start waves of mass killings against the Rohingya and the Muslims across Burma or Myanmar." "Within a month of his death - when [Maung Thura[ Zaganar attempted to meet Htet Htet's wife," writes Dr. Zarni in his blog, "she was found dead in a village well. How convenient!" It is believed amongst the independent analysts that NASAKA security forces killed Ma Thida Htwe and possibly Htet Htet's wife.

 

As subsequent inquiries have proven most of the anti-Muslim pogroms and genocidal activities inside Burma (or Myanmar) owed their origin to the government – central and local. These crimes were sometimes scripted and often times sanctioned by the government.

 

I can only pray and hope that the NLD government will take a different course making the country a safe and secure one for all its various groups of the population.

 

Myanmar nationals said to be among 39 drowned

Source mmtimes, 1 Feb

Myanmar migrants were among the 39 people who drowned in the Mediterranean on January 30, according to Turkish state media.

A Turkish coast guard official stands on the shore overlooking a boat accident in the Aegean Sea that led to at least 39 migrants drowning on January 30. Photo: AFP

A boat ferrying migrants and asylum seekers to Lesbos, Greece, sank just a few miles from Turkey's Aegean coastline, according to the Turkish Coast Guard. A patrol leading the rescue effort saved 62 people, but at least 39 – including five children – drowned, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily reported. Many of the rescued were hospitalised for hypothermia.

As the search continues, the number of casualties is expected to grow. Among the deceased were nationals from Syria, Afghanistan and Myanmar, the coast guard said.

The Myanmar government could not immediately confirm the report, but said it is investigating whether Myanmar citizens were involved in the accident.

"We asked our Myanmar embassy representatives in that country to check whether the deceased really do include Myanmar citizens. It is possible that even though the news said they are from Myanmar, they may not be," said U Zaw Htay, director of the President's Office. "If they are Myanmar citizens, the embassy has the responsibility to provide support."

The Myanmar embassy in Ankara did not return request for comment yesterday.

The accident over the weekend is not the first time that Myanmar migrants have been onboard boats of asylum seekers being smuggled to Europe via the Mediterranean, although a spokesperson from the UNHCR said yesterday it was fair to say that Myanmar nationals are in the minority. Of the over 1 million migrants fleeing to Europe by sea last year, half were Syrians escaping war.

Media reports of the accidents punctuating the perilous sea journeys throughout last year did include references to Myanmar passengers, however. In May, a rescue of over 600 asylum seekers trying to cross the Aegean Sea included 200 people identified as fleing Myanmar, Iraq and Afghanistan. In August, Turkish security forces detained 435 migrants before they embarked on an attempted crossing of the Aegean Sea; 19 of them were from allegedly from Myanmar. And in November, the coast guard said they rescued 27 migrants of Afghan and Myanmar origin who were trying to cross in an inflatable boat.

It is unclear whether any of the Myanmar nationals identified by the Turkish authorities include Rohingya – officially called "Bengali" by the Myanmar government, and largely denied citizenship rights.

U Zaw Htay said the government has "no right to say whether [those in the accident] are Myanmar citizens or not" until an investigation is completed, and added that the government does not have a responsibility to those who are not citizens.

Myanmar was internationally criticised for failing to take responsibility for its part in the regional smuggling crisis that flared in May last year when boats full of migrants and asylum seekers from Rakhine State and Bangladesh were stranded on the Andaman Sea. Hundreds were estimated by the UN to have died as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand started a "push-back" policy that prevented the boats from disembarking.

In order to stem its own unprecedented influx of migrants and asylum seekers, the European Union has begun drafting legislation that would criminalise volunteers or holidaymakers who assist asylum seekers. In the first month of 2016, more than 52,000 people arrived by sea in Greece and 218 have died off the Turkish coast, according to the International Organisation for Migration. A nationality breakdown involving Myanmar was not available.