As the U.S. drastically cuts refugees accepted into the U.S., one American midwestern community struggles to lift those who have arrived -- but finds Rohingya Muslim refugees, fleeing Burmese Buddhist persecution, now avoiding U.S. citizenship classes that include Burmese Buddhist refugees and translator.
Two Reuters journalists, who are currently serving seven-year prison sentences in Myanmar, are to be awarded a prize for press freedom, by the U.N.’s cultural organization.
The 2019 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize -- which honors the defense and promotion of press freedom -- is being awarded to Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo as a tribute to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression, according to a press release from UNESCO. The two journalists had been working on stories about a military crackdown, and alleged human rights violations, in Rakhine state in Myanmar, when they were arrested. They were also named, last December, as TIME’s Person of the Year -- along with three other journalists and a news organization.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were first detained by authorities on Dec. 12, 2017, on the grounds of possessing classified state documents by the Myanmar government. The arrest has been largely condemned as a set-up by police -- in retaliation for [the reporters'] investigation of the massacre of Rohingya people in Rakhine State, at the hands of Myanmar military forces. The two men had been invited to dinner in the former capital of Yangon by police forces, where they were presented documents -- and immediately detained. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were detained for 265 days before they were sentenced to seven years in prison for violation of the Official Secrets Act, an archaic law dating back to the colonial era.
While they were awaiting trial, in February 2018, their investigation was published by Reuters, and included graphic photography and detailed accounts providing evidence that state security forces were implicated in carrying out extrajudicial killings of 10 Rohingya at the village of Inn Din. The Myanmar government has been accused of ethnic cleansing and genocide of Rohingya Muslims by the U.N. and various human rights organizations since 2016. ...
41 Rohingya Men
Land on Northern Beach.
- AP / New York Times
Malaysian police say a group of 41 Muslim Rohingya men have been detained in the northernmost state of Perlis, the second group to have landed in the country in just over a month. Police say the men landed Monday on the same beach where 34 Rohingya women and children were found stranded March 2. Noor Mushar said one of the men told police they were part of over 200 Rohingya in a large boat that sailed overnight from Thailand and that 47 of them were transferred to a smaller boat to Perlis. Based on the information, he said some 200 Rohingya are still believed to be stranded at sea in Thai waters, and six others that landed in Malaysia are still missing.
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Bangladesh Struggles To Cope
With Pressures Of Hosting
1 Million Rohingya Refugees.
- NPR (National Public Radio)
...The sudden influx of 700,000 refugees in 2017 has had a huge negative impact on the local community, says Mohammad Abul Kalam, the head of Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission in Cox's Bazar.
"We're being outnumbered by the sheer number of the refugee population,"
he says.
Beyond this, "The infrastructure has been under unbelievable pressure," Kalam says — not just from the refugees themselves, but also from the tremendous aid effort underway to keep so many people sheltered, fed and healthy.
Kalam is the Bangladesh government's top local official regarding the Rohingya. He says the area's roads and bridges are being beaten up by convoys of aid vehicles shuttling from Cox's Bazar to the camps.
"They were not meant for this much population," he says.
Kalam points out that Ukhiya, the administrative district that includes the camps, has a population of 230,000 people. "Yet we now have more than 700,000 in the refugee population," he says. "So the entire demographic balance has been reversed."
* * * Kalam notes that the refugees' activities have been detrimental to the environment. They've cut down all of the forests surrounding the camps for firewood in what is a nature preserve. They've diverted streams as they've terraced hillsides to build new shelters.
He claims they are driving up some food prices — while, at the same time, food aid diverted to local markets is driving down demand for Bangladesh-grown rice. And, he says, the refugees are pushing down wages by accepting jobs at lower pay than Bangladeshis are willing to accept. Aid convoys beat up the local roads and further congest what was already heavy traffic.
The refugees are not supposed to leave the camps. Nor are they allowed to work in Bangladesh. Kalam says they do both. He doesn't blame them.
"You cannot really stop people from being engaged in work of one kind or another," he says. "It always happens."
But he says the Rohingya are taking away jobs from Bangladeshis, particularly low-skilled jobs on farms and other manual labor.
The presence of nearly a million refugees is in this part of Bangladesh, he says, is unsustainable.
"It's very, very difficult for us," he says. "We are already an overpopulated country with more than 160 million population in very limited space. * It would be really very difficult for Bangladesh to allow them to integrate within our own society."
* [RCN editor note: The entire population of Bangladesh -- equal to about half the population of the entire United States -- is squeezed into a country the size of the state of Illinois.]
* * *
So Bangladesh last year proposed another solution: move from the overcrowded camps outside Cox's Bazar to a camp with brand-new dormitories that can accommodate 100,000 refugees.
Bhashan Char island -- a barely-visible dot in this map (click to enlarge) -- is several miles out to sea, and exposed to the ravages of the ocean, in a region where major cyclones (and occasional tsunamis) commonly cause widespread death.
Bhashan Char -- which means "floating island" -- has only risen from the sea in the last 20 years, and is barely higher than the sea that surrounds it. It floods often, and is especially vulnerable to cyclones. Bangladeshis avoid it during monsoon season. But this is where Bangladesh proposes moving at least 100,000 Rohingya. ©2019 Reuters News Service
The only problem: It's on an island in the Bay of Bengal, more than 15 miles from the mainland.
The Bhasan Char island emerged 20 years ago, formed in the bay's shifting currents. It is uninhabited and was designated by the government as a forest reserve in 2013. [RCN editor note: The Bangladesh government had previously listed the island -- which floods frequently during high tides and storms, and could be devastated by a major cyclone, commonly fatal in Bangladesh -- as "unihabitable." Since the Rohingya crisis, and the Bangladeshi government's initial plans to move Rohingya here, others have warned that a possible cyclone catastrophe could kill countless inhabitants of the island.] Kamal says Bangladesh has spent $300 million building housing, concrete seawalls and cyclone shelters on the giant sandbar.
"Very good quality shelters and other infrastructure are put in place there, including long barriers meant to secure the inhabitants from any cyclonic hit from the Bay of Bengal," he says. "The government is suspecting that the Rohingyas will have a better life there."
But Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director for Human Rights Watch, says it's a terrible idea. She warns the island will serve more as a detention facility than upgraded refugee housing.
"The truth is these are people who are going to be locked on this island," she says. "Because they're not really allowed to leave."
Most international aid groups have been skeptical of the plan to relocate refugees to Bhasan Char. Supplies, aid workers, even teachers would have to be ferried in by boat. The island is controlled by the Bangladesh navy and it's unclear if the Rohingya would have the same access to international aid that they currently do in the camps.
* * *
In his bamboo and tarp shelter, Hamid Hassin, 30, says he has no desire to move to the island. He doesn't want to be separated from other Rohingya in the camps and is worried the low-lying island could flood in a major storm.
"We fled Myanmar to save our lives," he says. "I don't want to end up dying on that island."-
(same article at:
NPR (National Public Radio)
on WJCT radio )
Reuters News Service reporters Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, in handcuffs, being taken to court. ©2018 BBC (U.K.) -
Imprisoned Myanmar journalists
awarded Pulitzer Prize
- CNN (Cable News Network)
Two Reuters reporters have been awarded one of journalism's most prestigious prizes -- while locked in a cell in Myanmar's most notorious prison.
The Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting was handed to Reuters -- with a special mention for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who are serving seven years in Yangon's Insein Prison for "exposing state secrets."
The men led an explosive Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya men in the far western village of Inn Dinn -- part of a military-led campaign against the Muslim minority which began in 2017. The Myanmar government denies human rights abuses, saying it was targeting Rohingya militants who attacked police posts in August 2017.
* * * Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo say they were set up by a police officer posing as a source. They say that in late 2017, officers invited them to a secret meeting at a restaurant on the outskirts of Yangon and handed them documents.
Police swooped and arrested them with the classified information in their possession.
* * *
Now, as Myanmar's Supreme Court hears their final appeal against conviction, Pulitzer prize administrator Dana Canedy announced that the pair had been inducted into the elite group of winners... "for expertly exposing the military units and Buddhist villagers responsible for the systematic expulsion and murder of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar -- courageous coverage that landed its reporters in prison."
Reuters Myanmar bureau chief Antoni Slodkowski told CNN late last year that the reporting was "not just based on testimonies of victims, which are key and incredibly important, but it includes one after another stories from the people who actually did this, and in some cases were actually proud of what they had done,"
In April 2018 seven soldiers were sentenced to "10 years in prison with hard labor in a remote area" for their part in the Inn Dinn massacre, where the victims were forced to dig their own graves the day before they were beaten, stabbed and shot to death.
The Reuters reporting elicited the only admission of guilt from the Myanmar government, which routinely rejects criticism of the actions of its troops in Muslim-majority villages in the far west of the mainly Buddhist nation. ...
* * *
[RCN editor note: This is the second consecutive year Reuters journalists have won a Pulitizer prize for reporting on the Rohingya Crisis. Reuters photojournalists won a Pulitzer last year (April, 2018) for extensive and extraordinary photography revealing important details of the Crisis. See: "Reuters wins Pulitzer for photography of Rohingya crisis," April 16, 2018, with photos, at Reuters News Service.-
(Official statements at:
- Pulitzer Center (announcement)
- Pulitzer Center (details)
- Amnesty International (on Twitter)-
"Congrats to Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo on their Pulitzer. It’s thanks to the bravery of journalists like them that the Myanmar military's atrocities against the Rohingya were exposed. They must be released immediately & unconditionally."
)
-
Myanmar leader pardons
9,500 prisoners --
but not two
Pulitzer Prize-winning
Reuters reporters.
- AP / Japan Times (Japan)
More than 9,500 prisoners were ordered released Wednesday, in Myanmar, under a presidential amnesty -- but they did not include two Pulitzer Prize-winning Reuters reporters.
The Facebook page of the Office of President Win Myint said he signed a pardon for 9,551 prisoners, including 16 foreigners, to be released nationwide to mark the country’s traditional New Year.
Official lists of those to be freed are usually not made public, but activists monitor releases, especially at Yangon’s Insein Prison, where most important detainees are held.
Supporters waited outside the prison for the possible release of the two Reuters reporters jailed for breaking the Official Secrets Act, but they were not freed by late Wednesday afternoon.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are serving seven-year sentences. They say they were framed because of official displeasure over their reporting on the crackdown by security forces on members of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine state
* * *
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent human rights organization, said it knew of only two political detainees, imprisoned since 2000, who were released Wednesday. The group said last month that Myanmar has 364 political prisoners: 45 serving sentences, 94 being held awaiting trial, and 225 awaiting trial but not jailed.
Last year 8,490 Myanmar citizens and 51 foreigners received New Year’s pardons. At least 36 of those freed in 2018 were political prisoners, according to the association.-
(same topic at:
- AP / USA Today
- Wall Street Journal (USA) ) -
'We're broken':
Rohingya on hunger strike
in Saudi detention.
At least seven hospitalised after 650 Rohingya men refuse food at a detention centre in Jeddah, activists say.
- Al Jazeera (Arab news network; Qatar)
NOTE: This media outlet has limited credibility)
Scores of Rohingya detainees inside a Saudi detention centre have gone on a hunger strike for the third time in recent months, activists told Al Jazeera.
Almost 650 men, most of whom have been kept at the Shumaisi detention centre in Jeddah since 2012 for not having valid documentation, started the strike on Saturday, Ro Nay San Lwin, campaign coordinator for the Free Rohingya Coalition, said.
By Tuesday night, at least seven had been taken to hospital, he said, as the strike continued in 10 rooms at the detention camp.
Footage secretly filmed by a detainee, and sent to Lwin -- that was shared with Al Jazeera -- showed the Rohingya men lying on the floor.
"The immigration police are harassing them, saying if you carry on this hunger strike, we will not even give you water," Lwin said in a phone interview from Frankfurt, Germany.
Ambia Perveen, vice chairman of the NGO European Rohingya Council (ERC), who has also received video via WhatsApp since Saturday, said the police have now taken away the prisoners' blankets, pillows, shirts and other necessities.
* * *
Most of the Rohingya entered Saudi Arabia in 2012 -- following violence breaking out in Myanmar's western Rakhine state -- searching for a better life.
Upon arrival, their fingerprints were registered under a different nationality as they carried fake passports obtained from brokers in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Lwin explained.
Myanmar stripped the Muslim-majority Rohingya of their citizenship in 1982, rendering them stateless.
Many of them entered Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage visas but overstayed to work. They were detained at various immigration checkpoints and during raids, according to activists.
"They didn't commit any crime," said Lwin. "Their only crime is they didn't have the valid resident permit, which is why they were arrested."
* * *
Matthew Smith, a cofounder and chief executive of Fortify Rights [an organization for human rights in Southeast Asia], said the Saudi government is "layering human rights abuses on to a community that is already experiencing genocide in Myanmar".
"Nobody should be detained for their immigration status, and the Saudi authorities should immediately, and unconditionally, release all Rohingya that are in detention for immigration-related reasons," Smith told Al Jazeera by phone from Washington, DC.
Since the start of this year, Saudi Arabia has forcibly deported dozens of Rohingya to Bangladesh - some of whom have been detained upon arrival at the Dhaka airport.
Lwin explained that embassy officials from four countries were brought to the Saudi detention centre, and only Bangladesh agreed to take the Rohingya detainees, even though they are not from there.
ERC's Perveen said countries such as Saudi Arabia and India are "indirectly helping Myanmar to wipe us out".- U.N. Sets Up
Elephant Response Team
In Rohingya Refugee Camp...
Why elephants pose a threat to rohingya refugees...
- NPR (National Public Radio)
...14 people, all but one of them refugees... have been killed by elephants over the past year and a half in and around the [Rohingya refugee] camps. The most recent fatality was in February.
Asian elephants can weigh up to 12,000 pounds. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as endangered. In Bangladesh, there are only a few hundred left in a couple of areas in the wild. And one of those areas is exactly where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya are now taking shelter in sprawling refugee camps.
* * *
To deal with the elephant problem, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, has helped set up elephant response brigades among the refugees.
* * *
"We are involved with the elephants here simply due to the fact that their migratory path has been cut off with the influx of refugees."
The elephants end up in the camps, McCallion says, because they're instinctively trying to follow a path they've taken in the past. "It's just in their DNA, and they will keep naturally trying to take that route."
He says the elephants travel each year back and forth between Myanmar and Bangladesh foraging on local vegetation. But as the Rohingya refugee camps have expanded, the settlements have taken over areas where the elephants used to graze and blocked them from getting to other grazing spots.
McCallion says the elephants aren't naturally aggressive. The fatal encounters usually occur, he says, when an elephant ends up cornered in a camp:
"The elephant can feel trapped. It can feel confused once it's behind the shelters. The danger is when the elephant ends up in the midst of a camp and doesn't know how to get out. That's when it gets to a stage where the animal could react in a very aggressive way."
The main goal of the elephant response teams is to keep the animals out of the camps in the first place. ...
* * *
If an elephant does enter the camp, Salam and his colleagues use whistles to summon more members of the team. ... - U.N. Sets Up
-
Journalists in Myanmar
Still Under Threat
Despite Latest Pulitzer Wins
- The Irawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)
(NOTE: This media, while it has appeared to be relatively independent, may be subject to the control ot the Myanmar military)
... Myanmar climbed 20 places in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index between 2013 and 2017 -- but has since slipped, and is now ranked 138 out of 180 countries.
Journalists are still often prosecuted under Article 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Act, which criminalizes online defamation and hampers investigative reporting. Dozens of journalists have been subjected to criminal prosecution, for their work, by both the government and military. Among those charged by the military have been journalists from The Irrawaddy and The Voice. Last year, three journalists from Eleven Media were sued by the Yangon government for incitement. ... -
OPINION:
U.N. Bureaucrats Just Want
the Rohingya Off Their Plate.
Dumping refugees on a doomed island in Bangladesh
is as callous as it is predictable.
- Foreign Policy (USA political journal)
by Azeem Ibrahim
(senior fellow at the Center for Global Policy in Washington,
and author of "The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar's Hidden Genocide.")
The United Nations recently announced that it would help fund Bangladesh’s initiative to move at least some of its Rohingya refugees, who fled Myanmar, from Cox’s Bazar to the island of Bhashan Char in the Ganges delta.
Given the population pressures in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, this seems like a good idea—but it’s anything but. Stranding the Rohingya on the island could have catastrophic consequences.
Bhashan Char is unstable land that only emerged from the sea in 2006, it is extremely vulnerable to monsoons, and it would certainly not allow for the development of stable, self-sufficient communities in the long term. The move would be a disaster for the refugees’ future.
Bhashan Char island -- a barely-visible dot in this map (click to enlarge) -- is several miles out to sea, and exposed to the ravages of the ocean, in a region where major cyclones (and occasional tsunamis) commonly cause widespread death.
The funding from the U.N. is supposed to mitigate some of these problems, such as by constructing flood protections and housing capable of withstanding the normal weather extremes in the region. U.N. support for the initiative is officially conditional on the rights of the Rohingya being respected:- All relocation to Bhashan Char is to be voluntary;
- There is to be humanitarian response infrastructure on the island;
- The government of Bangladesh must -- at all times, prior and after relocation -- provide the relevant information, on the project, to the refugees who take up the offer of relocation.
For one, this project entrenches Dhaka’s current policy that the Rohingya refugees are to be kept as a separate population so that they will be much easier to repatriate—the idea being that if the locals and the Rohingya do not form any real bonds, there will be nothing to keep any Rohingya in Bangladesh. So they are to be dumped on just about the only uninhabited land in a crowded Bangladesh and conveniently placed more than an hour away by boat from any other humans. The Rohingya know -- from past persecution in Myanmar -- that this kind of segregation leaves them vulnerable to changing political winds. They are tolerated for now. A future government in Dhaka may choose to turnon a segregated, disenfranchised, and vulnerable population for any number of reasons.
|
|
| Bhashan Char -- which means "floating island" -- has only risen from the sea in the last 20 years, and is barely higher than the sea that surrounds it. It floods often, and is especially vulnerable to cyclones. Bangladeshis avoid it during monsoon season. But this is where Bangladesh proposes moving at least 100,000 Rohingya. ©2019 Reuters News Service |
It will be almost impossible for refugee facilities built on the island to become self-sufficient. The island and its environs cannot produce enough food for the numbers of refugees envisioned under the current project. Nor is there any clear way for the new communities on the island to develop economically to be able to trade for their food with the Bangladeshi mainland.
In other words, this is going to be a perennially precarious place to live for the people there, and the communities to be established will remain permanently dependent for funding and food—to say nothing of medical aid, education, and so on—on the U.N., and on the government of Bangladesh.
This is not a stable and sustainable solution—even if the island is not swept away in the next hurricane.
Nevertheless, this move allows the U.N. to be seen as supporting both the refugees and the government of Bangladesh, even if the end result is going to be the establishment of refugee communities that are even more isolated, vulnerable, and unsustainable than the tent cities around Cox’s Bazar. In their current state, the refugees have at least some degree of safety in numbers—and on dry land. And they are living on dry land. Bhashan Char may not be as bad as an internment camp in Myanmar, but it is still a serious downgrade for the refugees’ safety and future prospects.
Unfortunately, this is par for the course for the U.N. and tragically consistent with its previous policies and initiatives on the Rohingya.
In 1993, the U.N. monitored the repatriation of some quarter of a million Rohingya from Bangladesh to Myanmar, after a mass exodus from Rakhine state between 1991 and 1992. As in the current crisis (in which more than 1 million Rohingya have fled over the border to Bangladesh), having an oppressed people able to return to their homes seemed like the ideal outcome. The U.N. was therefore happy to pursue that superficially attractive outcome, regardless of the fact that the refugees were returning to conditions that were just as bad as before and worse—as proved by the subsequent crises faced by the Rohingya in Rakhine.
This is not simple ignorance on the part of the U.N. There has been a consistent pattern of behavior among at least some U.N. officials, dealing with Myanmar and Bangladesh, to prioritize economic and political considerations over the humanitarian needs of the Rohingya and other refugee populations:
The most infamous example of this, of course, is the tenure of Renata Lok-Dessallien as the U.N.’s top official in Myanmar from 2014 to 2017, during which time the U.N. mission effectively helped shield the government of Myanmar against any censure on humanitarian grounds, while [the government] was setting in place the conditions for the 2017 genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine state.
The perplexing behavior of the U.N. in the Rohingya case study -- but also in humanitarian situations more widely -- is depressingly easy to unpack. On the one hand, the U.N. humanitarian agencies, and the people who work in them, are consummate professionals and dedicated human rights advocates. They are often the first to ring the alarm bells when humanitarian concerns arise. The analyses they produce are robust and thorough.
The problems come from the fact that the policy response at the U.N., to emerging and ongoing humanitarian crises, is then formulated by political actors: typically, the political representatives of the member states of the U.N. -- each acting not as agents of the international community, nor of international law, but rather as ambassadors of their own national interests. And, from their point of view, humanitarian crises are regrettable, but they still need to do business with the states that perpetrate them.
So U.N. humanitarian agencies are watching the Rohingya crisis closely, and continue to recommend actually useful and productive policy approaches:
- that Myanmar should give equal citizenship rights and protections to Rohingya residents;
- that Bangladesh must allow the Rohingya to become a functional, sustainable community within Bangladesh as long as Myanmar refuses to guarantee their safety and their property if they return;
- and so on.
-
Bangladesh Struggles To Cope
With Pressures Of Hosting
1 Million Rohingya Refugees.
- NPR (National Public Radio)
on WJVT radio
The sudden influx of 700,000 refugees in 2017 has had a huge negative impact on the local community, says Mohammad Abul Kalam, the head of Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission in Cox's Bazar.
"We're being outnumbered by the sheer number of the refugee population," he says.
Beyond this, "The infrastructure has been under unbelievable pressure," Kalam says — not just from the refugees themselves, but also from the tremendous aid effort underway to keep so many people sheltered, fed and healthy.
Kalam is the Bangladesh government's top local official regarding the Rohingya. He says the area's roads and bridges are being beaten up by convoys of aid vehicles shuttling from Cox's Bazar to the camps.
"They were not meant for this much population," he says.
Kalam points out that Ukhiya, the administrative district that includes the camps, has a population of 230,000 people. "Yet we now have more than 700,000 in the refugee population," he says. "So the entire demographic balance has been reversed."
* * *
Kalam notes that the refugees' activities have been detrimental to the environment. They've cut down all of the forests surrounding the camps for firewood in what is a nature preserve. They've diverted streams as they've terraced hillsides to build new shelters.
He claims they are driving up some food prices — while, at the same time, food aid diverted to local markets is driving down demand for Bangladesh-grown rice. And, he says, the refugees are pushing down wages by accepting jobs at lower pay than Bangladeshis are willing to accept. Aid convoys beat up the local roads and further congest what was already heavy traffic.
The refugees are not supposed to leave the camps. Nor are they allowed to work in Bangladesh. Kalam says they do both. He doesn't blame them.
"You cannot really stop people from being engaged in work of one kind or another," he says. "It always happens."
But he says the Rohingya are taking away jobs from Bangladeshis, particularly low-skilled jobs on farms and other manual labor.
The presence of nearly a million refugees is in this part of Bangladesh, he says, is unsustainable.
"It's very, very difficult for us," he says. "We are already an overpopulated country with more than 160 million population in very limited space. It would be really very difficult for Bangladesh to allow them to integrate within our own society."
[RCN editor note: The entire population of Bangladesh -- about half the population of the entire United States -- is squeezed into a country the size of the state of Illinois.]
* * *
Bhashan Char island -- a barely-visible dot in this map (click to enlarge) -- is several miles out to sea, and exposed to the ravages of the ocean, in a region where major cyclones (and occasional tsunamis) commonly cause widespread death.
Bhashan Char -- which means "floating island" -- has only risen from the sea in the last 20 years, and is barely higher than the sea that surrounds it. It floods often, and is especially vulnerable to cyclones. Bangladeshis avoid it during monsoon season. But this is where Bangladesh proposes moving at least 100,000 Rohingya. ©2019 Reuters News Service
So Bangladesh last year proposed another solution: move from the overcrowded camps outside Cox's Bazar to a camp with brand-new dormitories that can accommodate 100,000 refugees.
The only problem: It's on an island in the Bay of Bengal, more than 15 miles from the mainland.
The Bhasan Char island emerged 20 years ago, formed in the bay's shifting currents. It is uninhabited and was designated by the government as a forest reserve in 2013. [RCN editor note: The island is frequently flooded, and experts warn it could be obliterated by a major cyclone. Cyclones are a common catastrophe in the region, and have killed several thousand people in coastal regions of Bangladesh in recent years.] Kamal says Bangladesh has spent $300 million building housing, concrete seawalls and cyclone shelters on the giant sandbar.
"Very good quality shelters and other infrastructure are put in place there, including long barriers meant to secure the inhabitants from any cyclonic hit from the Bay of Bengal," he says. "The government is suspecting that the Rohingyas will have a better life there."
But Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director for Human Rights Watch, says it's a terrible idea. She warns the island will serve more as a detention facility than upgraded refugee housing.
"The truth is these are people who are going to be locked on this island," she says. "Because they're not really allowed to leave."
Most international aid groups have been skeptical of the plan to relocate refugees to Bhasan Char. Supplies, aid workers, even teachers would have to be ferried in by boat. The island is controlled by the Bangladesh navy and it's unclear if the Rohingya would have the same access to international aid that they currently do in the camps.
* * *
In his bamboo and tarp shelter, Hamid Hassin, 30, says he has no desire to move to the island. He doesn't want to be separated from other Rohingya in the camps and is worried the low-lying island could flood in a major storm.
"We fled Myanmar to save our lives," he says. "I don't want to end up dying on that island." -
Largest-ever sewage treatment plant
opens in Bangladesh refugee camp
[at] Cox's Bazar.
- [London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)
The largest sewage treatment facility ever constructed in a refugee camp has opened in Bangladesh -- and has been heralded as a huge step forward in the management of humanitarian crises.
The industrial-scale treatment plant built in Cox's Bazar – home to nearly one million Rohingya refugees who have fled persecution in Myanmar – will be able to deal with the human waste of 150,000 people a day, roughly equivalent to the population of Oxford.
Construction of safe sanitation systems in refugee camps is a challenge: poor infrastructure often means human waste is often dumped in nearby fields or open pits, contaminating already scarce water supplies and becoming a breeding ground for disease.
Cox's Bazar saw more than 200,000 cases of acute diarrhoea last year, as well as respiratory infections and skin diseases... all related to poor sanitation and hygiene.
Diarrhoea is currently the second-biggest killer of young children globally, and a report published by Unicef on Friday – World Water Day – found that more children die from contaminated water than [from] violence in war due to poor infrastructure.
“The system is absolutely extraordinary, it’s the first time that there has ever been such a huge biological disposal site in a refugee camp,” said Andy Bastable, the head of water and sanitation for Oxfam.
“If faecal waste is not properly and safely disposed of then it ends up contaminating the groundwater and people drink it. Or you can get sewage swimming all around the camp, which has many health implications,” he added. “A sustainable way of dealing with faecal sludge is a huge achievement.”
In emergencies, the most common method of waste disposal is to pay private companies to collect the waste from latrine toilets in tankers but this is often dumped in nearby fields or rivers.
Treating the faecal sludge on site will prevent this from happening, says Oxfam.
“Before Bangladesh there was virtually zero sewage treatment in any refugee situation,” Mr Bastable said. “For instance, there’s the horrible example in the 2010 Haiti earthquake, where a big hole was dug into the ground in a solid waste disposal area. It turned into a big, horrible quagmire.”
Oxfam’s treatment plant, which cost roughly £150,000 to construct, was built on land provided by the Bangladeshi government and is one of many waste management innovations currently under development in the camp.
According to the Andrej Mahecic, UNHCR spokesperson, there are plans to construct more treatment facilities across the refugee camp, which is likely to remain in place for many years to come.
“This model will be rolled out across other sites in Cox’s Bazar area in 2019, and UNHCR is considering replicating it in future refugee crises,” he said.
The plant, designed by a German company, Borda, also produces biogas -- and options to supply this, as cooking fuel, are currently being explored.
“The initial investment is well worth it because the plant is cheap and easy to run, and could last for 20 years – benefiting local communities when this emergency is over,” said Salahuddin Ahmmed, Oxfam water and sanitation engineer. “We expect to replicate this model in future crises.”
-------
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-
Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar
resist plan to
be relocated to island.
- Kyodo News (Japan)
Bangladesh is facing a dilemma over the planned transfer of thousands of Rohingya Muslims crowded into makeshift camps along the country's border with Myanmar to an uninhabited island in the Bay of Bengal.
To ease social, economic, environmental and internal security hazards, the government plans to relocate nearly 100,000 Rohingya refugees from the camps in Cox's Bazar to Bhasan Char, which is about 1 hour by motor boat from the nearest shore.
Bhashan Char island -- a barely-visible dot in this map (click to enlarge) -- is several miles out to sea, and exposed to the ravages of the ocean, in a region where major cyclones (and occasional tsunamis) commonly cause widespread death.
Bhashan Char -- which means "floating island" -- has only risen from the sea in the last 20 years, and is barely higher than the sea that surrounds it. It floods often, and is especially vulnerable to cyclones. Bangladeshis avoid it during monsoon season. But this is where Bangladesh proposes moving at least 100,000 Rohingya. ©2019 Reuters News Service
However, it seems that the Rohingyas are reluctant to move to their newly constructed dwellings on the island, located about 40 kilometers from the mainland.
Although travel to the island is currently restricted to only day laborers, Kyodo News on Thursday last week became the first foreign media organization to tour the housing units and speak to the project's development authorities.
* * *
Refugees at the camps prefer them to the island as they are not far away from their homeland in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Experts believe that the proximity of Myanmar to the Cox's Bazar refugee camps keeps them socially and culturally alive as Rohingya.
The refugees maintain close contact with family members and relatives and get information on a regular basis via informal channels from Rakhine.
Furthermore, a substantial number of these refugees receive financial assistance from relatives and family members working abroad, especially in the Middle East, Europe and even Japan.
According to the refugees, the belief is all too prevalent that once they leave Cox's Bazar, they will be deprived of most of the social facilities that they are currently enjoying unofficially. Refugees primarily selected for relocation to Bhasan Char are showing apathy to the notion of shifting to a remote island.
They believe that Bhasan Char is not easily accessible and a physically hostile territory in comparison to their current settlements.
* * *
On the other hand, sources close to aid agencies have claimed that after a series of negotiations the United Nations has agreed to facilitate the government's relocation plan to Bhasan Char on condition that refugees will move there voluntarily.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees also insists on the voluntary relocation of 100,000 refugees to their new temporary abode.
Mamun, the project director, told Kyodo News that Bhasan Char now is almost ready for the refugees. The Bangladeshi government estimates the cost of the project at over 23.12 billion Bangladeshi taka (about $272 million), fully funded by the government.
"We have tried to transform this two-decade-old uninhabited island into a livable place for the Rohingya refugees," said Mamun.
Besides housing quarters and water and power supplies, the island has been provided with infrastructure including flood protection embankments, roads, emergency shelters, hospitals, schools, a mosque, and helipads, he said.
Construction on Bhasan Char:
Mamun said that under the direct supervision of the prime minister's secretariat, a team from the navy supervised every aspect of the project in liaison with British and Chinese consultants and engineers. Up to 16,000 workers have been working round the clock for over 15 months to complete the project.
Chinese construction giant Sinohydro is working on a 13-km-long embankment and appears to have finished a large chunk of it.
Mamun said around 600 hectares [(240 acres)] of the 5,200-hectare [(2100-acre)] island are being used for the project -- being divided into 120 plots of land with a total of 1,440 housing units, each divided into 16 rooms each measuring about 3.6 meters [(12 feet)] by 4.2 meters [(14 feet)] -- [(168 square feet)]. One family will be assigned to each room.-
[(RCN editor note:
ABC News toured the island facilities last year, and reported structures resembling prisons, with small rooms with bars on the windows.
See:
this December photo-feature / report at:
- "A tour through the 'floating island' that 100,000 Rohingya refugees may have to call home," Dec.19, 2018, ABC News.htm )]
He explained that by having 120 cyclone shelters it is clearly safer than the
refugee camps. [RCN editor note: in 1970, a catastrophic cyclone killed 300,000 in Bangladesh; since then, other cyclones and storms have killed several thousands of people in the region -- in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.]
Officials said 93 percent of the construction has been completed and the site is almost ready to receive refugees from Cox's Bazar.
According to the navy, the government drew up the relocation plan with the aim of reducing the population density in the camps.
But it still remains uncertain whether the authorities will be able to actually bring the refugees there.
The refugees say they will resist relocation to the island as it is regularly swept by high tides and is vulnerable to flooding.
The island, once known as Jaliar Char and later renamed Bhasan Char, which means floating island, by Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina, has been formed through sedimentation over the past two decades.
Refugees camped in Cox's Bazar said living on the mainland is safer than the island, which is threatened by cyclones and tidal waves.
Tarimina, 50, who is staying at Unchiprang camp, said, "We have heard that the island goes underwater during storms. We are fine in the camps."
Mostafa Begum, 25, who claims her husband was killed by Myanmar soldiers, said she is worried about how she and her five children will live on the island.
Tanmoy Das, deputy commissioner of Noakhali district, said the relocation was supposed to take place before the onset of monsoon rains. Reports now indicate that it will happen after the monsoon season.
Boat services between Bhasan Char and the mainland have been set up by the navy in preparation for the transfer.
People working with an aid agency said, on condition of anonymity, that the government plans to initially shift 60 willing families in October this year before the formal inauguration of the relocation project by Hasina.
The administration has already started talking and distributing leaflets in the Burmese language to Rohingya community leaders in the camps to motivate the refugees with regard to the plan.
The leaders will be taken to the island so that they can see the facilities for themselves and report back to their communities to encourage them to make the move, the sources added. -
Rohingya crisis:
Top UN officials
to visit Bangladesh.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Three top United Nations officials will visit Bangladesh from April 24-26 to highlight the need for supporting the humanitarian needs of Rohingya refugees sheltered in Cox’s Bazar.
UN announced the visit of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi; the Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), António Vitorino; and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, in a statement today.
In Dhaka, the delegation will hold talks with senior government officials including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen to explore ways the international community can provide further support to Bangladesh on Rohingya issue.
The delegation will then travel to Cox’s Bazar to meet with refugees, assess preparations underway ahead of the monsoon season and visit projects, including those involving food distribution and shelters.
They will also meet refugees who are working as volunteers, and observe a UNHCR-Bangladesh registration exercise, designed to provide identity cards to all refugees, ensuring their access to aid services and protection as well as establishing their right to return to Myanmar.
The aim of the visit is to highlight the need to continue strong international support for the humanitarian response while solutions for the Rohingya are pursued, including the creation of conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State that would allow for the voluntary, safe and dignified return of refugees to their homes. ...-
(same topic at:
- United News of India (India)
- BDnews24 (Bangladesh)
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) )
-
Myanmar's Top Court
Rejects Final Appeal
by Jailed Reuters Journalists.
- Reuters / New York Times
Myanmar's top court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years in jail for breaking the Official Secrets Act, in a landmark case that has raised questions about the country's transition to democracy.
"They were sentenced for seven years and this decision stands, and the appeal is rejected," Supreme Court Justice Soe Naing told the court in the capital, Naypyitaw, without elaborating.
Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, have spent more than 16 months in detention since they were arrested in December 2017 while working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys.
Lawyers for the reporters had appealed to the Supreme Court citing lack of proof of a crime and evidence that the pair were set up by police. A policeman told a lower court last year that officers had planted secret documents on the two reporters. ...-
(same topic at:
- Associated Press (AP)
- AP / CBS News
- CBC News (Canada)
- The Guardian (U.K.)
- AP / Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
- Canberra Times (Australia) ) -
EDITORIAL:
Democracy is on the ropes
in Myanmar
and the rest of the world.
- Washington Post
* * *
... Authoritarian leaders from Turkey to Vietnam are silencing the news media.
The latest annual index of press freedom in 180 countries published by Reporters Without Borders "shows that an intense climate of fear has been triggered" in many places, raising the danger level for journalists.
The United States fell three places in the index to 48th in the world. On the same day that the Myanmar journalists lost their appeal, President Trump pathetically demanded the New York Times apologize to him "on their knees & beg for forgiveness" and declared the newspaper is "truly the Enemy of the People."
U.S. presidents were once considered to be the leaders of the free world. It is a sad day when the incumbent has more in common with the prison wardens of Myanmar. Neither in the United States, nor Burma, nor anywhere between, should journalists be thus tarred for work that is essential to a healthy and thriving democracy.
|
|
| Reuters News Service reporters Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, in handcuffs, being taken to court. ©2018 BBC (U.K.) |
-
Fire guts shanties
in Bangladesh
Rohingya refugee camp.
(text and photos)
- AP / Fox News-
(same article at:
- AP / San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
- AP / Business Standard (India) )
* * *
The official in Cox's Bazar district, Mikaruzzman Chowdhury, says no injuries occurred in the fire, [and] firefighters were able to douse the blaze before it spread further. ... -
VIDEO:
Facing Myanmar's brutal persecution,
Rohingya refugees still can't return home.
...Amna Nawaz talks to Refugees International's Dan Sullivan about genocide, and the hostile conditions in Myanmar preventing Rohingya from returning home.
- PBS News Hour (U.S.) on YouTube.com
----------
-
AUDIO PODCAST:
What’s The Future For The Rohingya?
- Refugees International (org.)
The abuse of Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar continues, with hundreds more fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh in recent months.
-----------
-
In Rohingya Camps,
Political Activities Risky
For Some
- Reuters / VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
A new civil society is growing among the Rohingya in the refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar area. Some refugee campaigners are seeking justice for reported violence in Myanmar. A small group of women are working for increased rights for females. Others are simply working to improve life in the settlement that is now home to more than 900,000 people.
But several refugees told Reuters reporters that, along with the political awakening, violence has increased at the camps. They say militants and religious conservatives are competing for power. The refugees describe increasing fear in the camps, where armed men have raided shelters at night, kidnapped critics and warned women against violating conservative Islamic traditions.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, or ARSA, is active in the camps, refugees say. So are several other armed groups. ARSA is also known as Harakah al-Yaqin -- the movement of faith.
"In the daytime, the al-Yaqin guys become normal people," said one young woman, who, like other refugees, requested not to be identified for her safety. "But at night," she said, "it’s like they have a kind of magical power."
* * *
Talks and threats:
Reuters spoke with UN employees, diplomats, Bangladeshi officials and researchers about the forces competing for influence in the world’s largest refugee settlement.
Some are hopeful that the stateless Rohingya are beginning to find political expression.
However, there are also fears. Officials worry that a turn to violence could make solving the refugee crisis through talks impossible.
"Refugee camps in many parts of the world are becoming recruitment grounds for terrorists," said Mozammel Haque, the head of Bangladesh’s cabinet committee on law and order. He said if this happens, it would affect Bangladesh and nearby countries. ...
* * *
Night terrors:
Bangladeshi security forces guard the outside of the camps to stop refugees from leaving. But violent men run the crowded camps inside, especially at night, refugees told Reuters.
In some parts of the camps, those men claim ties to ARSA, said more than six refugees. United Nations officials and other workers watching the group’s activities say it is unclear how many of those men are under orders from the group’s leadership. But some of them reportedly have asked wealthier refugees and shopkeepers to pay taxes. They say the money will be used to fight back in Myanmar, refugees said.
One refugee who volunteers as an aid worker in the camps told Reuters he witnessed a kidnapping in January by men he believed belong to ARSA. Men with wooden sticks moved quickly into one area of the camp and took away a man who had refused to attend one of ARSA's meetings, he said.
"They just carried him off like a goat to the slaughter." ...
* * *
Police have recorded a rise in violence in the camps in recent months, said Iqbal Hossain, a police official in Cox’s Bazar.
"So far we have not found any link to any militant groups," said Hossain. He added that there were only 992 officers deployed to the camps [which are home to a million Rohingya ~RCN editor]. ...
* * *
ARSA propaganda shows the group as ethnic freedom fighters and does not suggest a position on religious tradition. But some refugees -- and a report by an international non-governmental organization -- say ARSA members and Islamic leaders push for extremely conservative religious behavior.
Four women told Reuters they had received threats for going out to work for aid groups in the camps. Many women with jobs in the camps are experiencing paid employment for the first time in their lives.
Mohammed Kamruzzaman is an education specialist with the aid group BRAC. He told Reuters that 150 of its female teachers had stopped coming to work in January after receiving or hearing about "violent threats" ...-
(same topic at:
- Reuters News Service (April 3) ) -
Expert suggests Bangladesh
follow Indira Gandhi’s way
to deal with Myanmar.
An international affairs expert has advised the government to study how Indira Gandhi tackled Pakistan in 1971 and deal with Myanmar accordingly to address the Rohingya crisis.
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, who is also the director of the Center for Genocide Studies in Dhaka University, says Bangladesh needs to change the "body language" when it deals with Myanmar on the Rohingya refugee issue.
"It would be easier to do it now than at any time before. We have had the election. We (the government) have a five-year mandate. So I think the government should be in a position….the body language ought to change," he said, speaking at a seminar in Dhaka on Sunday.
The Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) organised the seminar titled ‘Rohingya crisis: International Role for Tangible Solutions in Rakhine’ with its president Raheed Ejaz in chair.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Md Shahriar Alam, was present as chief guest, while UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh, Steven Corliss, spoke as a panelist. DCAB General Secretary, Nurul Islam Hasib, made welcome remarks.
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque, secretaries to the foreign ministry -- Md Khurshed Alam, Kamrul Ahsan, Mahbub Uz Zaman, and Khalilur Rahman -- were also present.
Prof Imtiaz said this body language change is "very important" in diplomacy.
"The body language must change with Myanmar when we are negotiating. They are the ones who committed genocide, not us," he said. "Look at the body language of Indira Gandhi way back in 1971".
Gandhi was a staunch supporter of Bangladesh against Pakistan’s genocide in 1971.
"I can give examples of an extraordinary number of people that I know back in India and back in 1971 and what was their body language.
"That body language ought to change particularly given the fact that this regime or part of the members was responsible for committing genocide," he said, urging media to "keep a constant gaze" on Myanmar.
He said people would say that Myanmar is a "hard shell". "But IR (international relations) says the harder the shell, the easier to crack. Always remember that….that’s part of the diplomacy." ...
-
European Union extends
Myanmar arms embargo,
other sanctions
for a year.
- Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) —
The European Union is prolonging, by a year, an embargo on any arms that could be used in security crackdowns in Myanmar -- as well as sanctions against 14 top military and border officials.
EU headquarters said Monday that based on an annual review the restrictive measures will be extended until April 30, 2020.
The travel bans and asset freezes were imposed on the 14 officials "for serious human rights violations, or association with such violations" against Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority.
* * *
The EU also refuses to cooperate with, or provide training to, the Myanmar military. -
Russia expresses solidarity
with Bangladesh
on Rohingya issues
- UNI (India)
Russia expressed solidarity with Bangladesh on Rohingya issues and reiterated to continue its supports -- including humanitarian assistance.
The Rohingya issues were discussed in detail during the bilateral talks between Foreign Minister Dr. Momen and his Russian counterpart Mr. Lavrov, held at Moscow today. During the meeting,
Dr. Momen briefed his Russian counterpart on the status of 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals, the Rohingyas, who have taken temporary shelter in Bangladesh.
Dr. Momen sought active support of the Russian Federation in expediting the process of repatriation of these displaced people by encouraging Myanmar to create a conducive environment in the Rakhine state for return of the Rohingya. ...-
(same topic at next article)
-
Moscow welcomes Dhaka's idea
of involving ASEAN
in Rohingya repatriation.
Russia expresses solidarity with Bangladesh on Rohingya issues
- United News of Bangladesh
Russia has welcomed the idea of involving ASEAN [(the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations)] in the Rohingya repatriation process.
It also expressed solidarity with Bangladesh on Rohingya issues and reiterated to continue its support including humanitarian assistance.
The Rohingya issue was discussed in detail during the bilateral talks between Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov held in Moscow on Monday.
During the meeting, Dr Momen briefed his Russian counterpart on the status of 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals, the Rohingyas, who have taken temporary shelter in Bangladesh.
Dr. Momen sought active support of the Russian Federation -- in expediting the process of repatriation of these displaced people -- by encouraging Myanmar to create a conducive environment, in the Rakhine state, for return of the Rohingya, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This was the first official visit of the present Bangladesh Foreign Minister to Moscow and the third as a whole at the invitation of the Russian Foreign Minister.
The two Foreign Ministers took stock of the various aspects of bilateral ties and discussed important regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.
During the talk, Foreign Minister Dr. Momen reiterated the strong admiration of the people of Bangladesh for the Russian Federation due to the valued support and contribution received from the people of the then Soviet Union during the Liberation War in 1971 and for the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts after independence.
Both the foreign ministers expressed deep satisfaction over the current progress of bilateral engagements between the two friendly countries.
Dr Momen put emphasis on the initiatives of the two countries to boost the volume of bilateral trade to the expected level.
He urged the Russian investors and companies to enter into joint ventures or 100 percent owned business ventures in the 100 special economic zones, which are currently being set up in Bangladesh as well as in High-Tech Parks.
Lavrov informed that the Economic forum in Saint Petersburg would be the ideal platform for Bangladesh to attract Russian and foreign investors.
Foreign Minister Dr Momen also sought support from Russia for duty-free quota-free access of Bangladesh’s products to the Russian market and also to the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union.
A memorandum of Cooperation between the Government of Bangladesh and the Eurasian Economic Commission is expected to be inked soon.
Both the Foreign Ministers have expressed deep satisfaction on the pace of progress of the project for implementing the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant under the state export credit extended by the Government of the Russian Federation, which stands as a signature initiative in the bilateral relations.
The Russian Foreign Minister assured Bangladesh of the timely completion of the project and training of the essential scientific and technical personnel.
The two Foreign Ministers expressed their satisfaction over the successful operations and engagements of Gazprom in different gas fields of Bangladesh.
Both the Foreign Ministers expressed their satisfaction over the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic and Scientific and Technical Cooperation Commission which was held in Moscow in October 2018.
The two Foreign Ministers consented on extending cooperation in the areas of education and culture.
They also expressed satisfaction over the ongoing defence cooperation between the two countries.
They also exchanged opinions and experiences on cooperation in different international and regional fora between Bangladesh and Russia.
He particularly thanked Bangladesh for supporting different Russian candidatures.
They also discussed and exchanged views on the current important global as well as regional issues.
At the end of the bilateral official talks, both the Foreign Ministers took part at a joint press conference.
Later, Momen met with the senior officials of GAZPROM International [Russia's state-affiliated petrochemical company]. and discussed about geophysical survey, and the exploration of natural resources from the Bay of Bengal, with the joint cooperation of BAPEX Bangladesh.
GAZPROM expressed their interest to invest in LNG [liquified natural gas] sector in Bangladesh.
-
OPINION & ANALYSIS:
Is the UN doing enough
for Rohingyas?
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The United Nations keeps on failing the Rohingyas, one of the most persecuted communities in the world, by not taking any concrete measures to compel Myanmar to take its people back to their homeland in Rakhine.
UN officials from top to bottom, including the full UN Security Council and Secretary General António Guterres, along with state heads and royals, and the World Bank president, have been visiting Bangladesh since the latest influx began in August 2017, but these visits do not seem to be yielding any results whatsoever.
The latest high-profile visit by three UN top officials, which just concluded, also failed to provide any glimmer of hope for the Rohingyas, who have already suffered a lot and are still suffering.
Mark Lowcock, UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, António Vitorino, director general of International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN migration agency, and Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, led the delegation that visited Cox’s Bazar on April 24-26.
According to the UN, the aim of the visit was to highlight the ongoing need for support for the humanitarian needs of almost a million Rohingya refugees.
With respect to this type of visit, what happens is this:- a UN dignitary meets with the prime minister and the foreign minister;
- then, he or she flies to Cox’s Bazar and sit with the Bangladeshi officials, led by the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, and international organizations working to aid the Rohingyas;
- afterwards, a visit to Rohingya camps takes place for interactions with the refugees,
- followed by a trip to Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Bandarban, where several thousand Rohingyas live officially in Myanmar.
- Before concluding the trip, the dignitary holds a press conference to reiterate the global body’s commitment to keep working toward safe and sustainable solutions for the Rohingyas.
In UN’s defence, one may argue that this type of visit "draws the attention of the international community."
In response, one may be forgiven for asking how much attention the protracted humanitarian crisis still needs.
The UN supremo visited the Rohingyas and gave a heart-rending account of the Rohingyas’ sufferings. The whole Security Council was there. The former UN human rights chief has described the atrocities as "textbook example of ethnic cleansing," while the fact-finding mission of the UN itself in its report indicated to genocide.
Despite having solid evidence in hands, if the UN does not or cannot act, it is nothing but the failure of the global body, which has already lost much of its credibility over the years for failing to protect the helpless.
Given the bleak scenario as regards to the Rohingya people, who are currently leading a terrible life both in Myanmar and Bangladesh, where the situation is much better than the former, it is incumbent upon the UN to give much more attention to Naypyidaw.
The global body should make all-out efforts to force Myanmar to live up to its commitment to implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission that are the road map for the permanent solution to the crisis.
If the Rohingyas are being failed continuously by the UN, people’s trust in it, which has already been affected to a significant extent, will diminish further, turning the global body into an inactive one.
- 2019 May 1 - Wednesday
-------
- 2019 May 2 - Thursday
-
'We will lose any hope
of going home':
Rohingya live in fear
of resettlement.
Plans to relocate Rohingya people, in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, promise to dash their dreams of returning to traditional life.
- The Guardian (U.K.)
For the past seven years, Mohammad has been able to see the beach on the outskirts of Sittwe, and the Indian Ocean beyond, only through a barbed wire fence.
"The only difference between a prison and the Rakhine camps is that, in prison, at least they know how long their sentence is," says the 23-year-old, shaking his head.
Mohammad is one of 128,000 Rohingya Muslims forced from Sittwe, the capital of [Myanmar's] Rakhine state, and into camps [in Myanmar], after Buddhist extremists burned down their homes in 2012.
For seven years, those who who did not flee across the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh have been penned in, denied access to education, jobs, healthcare -- or even the chance to "to go for a walk along the beach and rest under a tree", says Mohammad.
Despite pledges by the Myanmar government to close the camps, documents seen by the Guardian show the Rohingya will not be allowed to return to the homes from which they fled.
Instead, rows of modular housing blocks being built next to the camps will be their new homes. There will be no land to grow crops or tend animals, no resumption of a traditional way of life or return to the city, where easy access to markets would allow them to sell their goods.
Their movements will be restricted and, without identity documents, they will remain stateless, denied access to services and at risk of arrest if they should leave the compound.
"I want to work back in the community, I want my generation to be educated," says Mohammad.
The bamboo houses with tin roofs in which Mohammad and his fellow Rohingya live are packed tightly together. The camps are connected by a dirt road, along which Myanmar police sit at checkpoints behind fences made of bamboo spikes.
Men loiter at a makeshift teashop while children play with a tin can and a piece of string. Manual water pumps and wells are the main source of water in each camp, while electricity is minimal, generated by a solar panel connected to a battery setup or generator.
Sitting in her hut in the compound, Ma Hla Than, a mother of four daughters who lived in Sittwe before the conflict, says: "I want to go back to my place of origin. I want to return there, as I feel safe there. Here, the entire population is living together in one room, speaking and listening to each other. It’s too much."
Myanmar’s minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, Win Myat Aye, has said construction of the new housing development is a response to an independent report published in 2017 by the advisory commission on Rakhine state, appointed by state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and chaired by the late Kofi Annan, a former UN secretary general.
However, one of the commission investigators, diplomat Laetitia van den Assum, former foreign affairs minister of the Netherlands, says the Myanmar government was cherry-picking from the 88 recommendations made in their final report and failing to address the root causes of the conflict.
"The priority was to ensure that the Rohingya could return to their place of origin," she says. "But it has to be made hand in hand with allowing them freedom of movement, and access to education and healthcare."
Many Rohingya fear they will be pressured to move to the new resettlement sites.
Kyaw Aye, who has lived in the camp for seven years, says: "We don’t want to depend on rations, we are ready to stand on our own two feet. If we accept moving to the new resettlement sites we will lose the attention of the international community and any hope of returning home to our place of origin."
The Rohingya -- the majority of whom live in the western state of Rakhine -- were recognised as citizens after Myanmar gained independence in 1948. But, in 1982, the government stripped them of their national registration cards -- and many in Myanmar see them as illegal immigrants. They have experienced decades of persecution and discrimination.
Some Rohingya say they need more protection. The powerful Buddhist nationalist group, Ma Ba Tha, infamous for vitriolic hate speech against Muslims, must be constrained, they say.
With the daytime heat is unrelenting, it is impossible to stay inside the tin-roofed camp shelters. At night, meanwhile, the mosquitoes come out. "It’s impossible to sleep and the smell of the clogged drains is sickening," says Aye Mura, who longs to leave the camp and return home so that she can find work as a seamstress in Sittwe to fund her daughter’s education.
She sometimes sells her food ration cards to save money to send her daughter to school in another nearby camp. "I have nothing, what can I do?" she says.
"We were people before, and we were used to surviving without international support," says Mohammad, outside his hut. "We can survive on our own, but we need freedom of movement and true rights."
-
Tropical Cyclone Fani
2019 India Path, Timing:
Damage Expected From
northern Andhra Pradesh
to Odisha, Jharkhand,
West Bengal and Bihar.
- Newsweek (USA)
Cyclone Fani, one of the strongest tropical storms to hit India in two decades, is on a scheduled forecast path toward a direct hit along the [Indian] coast Friday morning.
The latest Cyclone Fani forecast updates suggest the storm will make landfall on a track on the coast of India’s Odisha state, near the city of Puri.
Major damage is expected along the coast near Puri and from northern Andhra Pradesh to Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar. Nearly one million people have been evacuated ahead of Fani’s strike, including more than 100,000 in the city of Puri.
* * *
Just hours ago the JTWC reported that Tropical Cyclone Fani’s maximum sustained winds were 155 miles per hour. Winds were forecast to diminish some before landfall, but the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of widespread and significant wind-related damage along the coast.
Predicted damage (from Accuweather) includes:- Total destruction of thatched houses
- Extensive damage to kutcha houses (huts made of mud, wood, straw, and dry leaves), and some damage to more sturdy building
- Bending and uprooting of power and communication poles
- Major damage to roads and flooding of escape routes
- Widespread damage to standing crops and plantations
* * *
Fani is the sixth-strongest tropical cyclone recorded in the Bay of Bengal, according to Weather Underground, which said the storm is unusually large and attacking from an unusual position for this time of the year.
"Cyclone season in the Bay of Bengal peaks during April-May and October-November, on either side of the monsoon season," Weather Underground reported. "Fani is an unusual springtime threat for eastern India, as most of the April and May cyclones in this region move east or northeast toward Bangladesh and Myanmar. In eastern India, most of the worst cyclones have struck during the fall months. "-
(Official statement by:
- World Vision (relief agency)-
World Vison is ready to respond to Cyclone Fani, which continues to intensify, threatening millions of families and their children in Bangladesh and India.
The major coastal cities and communities in Bangladesh and India are among those in the path of the storm,...
* * *
[According to] World Vision Bangladesh National Director, Fred Witteeven:
Heavy rains are also forecast to lash the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar -- home to over 900,000 Rohingya refugees -- in the coming days.
"World Vision has emergency supplies ready to go in the camps and we have had thousands of refugees working on improvements to camp roads and drains over the previous months.
"Nevertheless people are living in homes made of bamboo and on steep hillsides, which puts them at even greater risk." ... )
RCN Editor's note: Most of the recent news coverage of the Rohingya Crisis focuses on those Rohingya who have fled Myanmar violence for Bangladesh since mid-2017. However, this article is about the hundred-thousand or more Rohingya, still in Myanmar today, who have been effectively imprisoned in concentrated "displacement" camps -- following violence (between some Rohingyas and some Rakhines) in Myanmar's Rakhine state in 2012, and since.
-
'We will lose any hope
- 2019 May 3 - Friday
-
Rohingya repatriation:
4th JWG [Joint Working Group]
meeting in Naypyidaw [Myanmar]
ends without any breakthrough.
Bangladesh proposes visit from Myanmar, to directly interact with Rohingyas
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
As feared, the fourth meeting of the joint working group (JWG) of Bangladesh and Myanmar ended on Friday in [Myanmar's capital,] Naypyidaw, without any breakthrough in regard to the repatriation of Rohingyas, a process that was supposed to begin over 15 months ago. ...
* * *
"I would not say that there has been any major changes to Myanmar’s attitude regarding repatriation," said a senior member of the delegation. "However, I can say that Myanmar appears to be somewhat ready for deeper engagement on the issue, and they want to keep discussions ongoing."
Another delegation member said: "We have proposed that they to send a team to interact with the Rohingyas and persuade them to return to their homes, after creating a favourable condition for safe, dignified, and sustainable repatriation. The Myanmar side seemed positive about it.
"However, no time frame for the visit of any team, or beginning of the repatriation, was agreed upon," he added.
The official also said if or when a team came to interact with the Rohingyas, the JWG would begin with the Rohingya who have already been verified by Myanmar.
"All in all, it can be said that we have to travel quite a way before the beginning of the repatriation," he added.
* * *
Dhaka [(the Bangladesh government)] highlighted the need for deeper engagement between Myanmar authorities and prospective returnees with a view to convincing and motivating them.
Bangladesh also emphasized the need to allow greater engagement of the international community—including ASEAN and interested partners—in improving the ground situation in Rakhine, proposing appropriate mechanism for coordination of action, among those actors, to create greater confidence.
Dhaka also highlighted the need for sharing verifiable information on the ground situation in Rakhine, so that prospective [Rohingya] returnees could take informed decision.-
(same topic at:
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
- Arab News*
*(CAUTION: The quality, objectivity & independence of this media is unknown, and suspect.) ) -
Myanmar army says it killed
six unarmed prisoners
Myanmar's army has said it shot dead at least six people detained in a village school in Rakhine state.
- BBC News
[Paraphrased from radio broadcast:]
The Myanmar Army (the "Tatmadaw") has admitted that some of its soldiers shot to death a group of unarmed captives who were being held in a school for interrogation -- suspected of ties to the Rakhine Buddhist rebel Arakan Army.
BBC ONLINE ARTICLE:The Myanmar army claims that its soldiers were acting in self-defense, after the prisoners attempted to grab the soldiers' guns.
* * *
A spokesman confirmed troops fired on unarmed detainees -- saying they had tried to grab the soldiers' weapons. The detained were being questioned for links to the rebels of the Arakan Army, who are ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.
He told AFP that warning shots had been fired first but that "six were killed, eight were injured and four escaped".
But Ma Gne - a widow of one of the men shot dead - told AFP that her husband and the others "were killed for no reason".
The victims' families said the bodies of the dead were laid out in front of the school.
A multi-ethnic country, Myanmar is home to a number of rebel groups.
While a lot of attention in recent years has been on the exodus of the Muslim Rohingya to Bangladesh, other ethnic minorities also clash frequently with the government's military.
The impoverished state of Rakhine in western Myanmar -- [the homeland of ethnic Rohingya Muslims and Hindus, and Rakhine Buddhists] -- has seen years of fighting and unrest.
More than 30,000 mainly Buddhist civilians have been displaced in the latest fighting between national forces and the [Rakhine] rebels.[RCN editor's note:
The Myanmar army is currently dealing with an insurgency of rebels calling themselves the "Arakan Army," (AA) after the original name of their homeland, Myanmar's Rakhine state. The Arakan Army has promoted the empowerment of the Buddhist Rakhine people, the principal ethnic group of Rakhine state, and their search for autonomy and dominance in the state.
The Arakan Army is unrelated to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), another Myanmar rebel group, but one which is principally made up of a few Rohingya Muslims -- and whose August 2017 attacks on government security forces became the pretext for the massive military assault upon the Rohingya, driving most Rohingya from Rakhine state (their ancestral homeland), into Bangladesh.
In fact, the Arakan Army (AA) appears to be predominantly Buddhist Rakhines -- the religious/ethnic faction that sided with the Myanmar army during the 2017-2019 crackdown on Rohingya Muslims and Hindus, which led to the current Rohingya Crisis.
The current violence, apparently initiated last month by the AA, has added to the concerns of the U.N., and other agencies and NGOs (non-governmental org's -- especially aid agencies), about the dangers of returning Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar. ~ RCN editor.]
-
ANALYSIS:
'Money interests
fuel world neglect
of Rohingya crisis'
Expert says Rohingya issue ignored for many reasons
-- citing, in particular, Myanmar's alliance with several countries [notably those where Islamaphobia is famously reflected in discriminatory policy.].
- Anadolu Agency (Turkey)
(CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.)
The world is ignoring the Rohingya crisis for several reasons, said an NGO leader in Canada, on Friday -- citing, in particular, the alliance of Myanmar's government with China, India, Israel, and Russia, as well as the global climate of Islamophobia.
"Both India and China have a strategic economic interest in Myanmar.
"The Myanmar government recently agreed to the China-Myanmar Economic
Corridor (CMEC) agreement, which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative,"
Yuriko Cowper-Smith, a board member at the NGO Canadian Rohingya Development Initiative (CRDI), told Anadolu Agency.
Starting in China’s Yunnan province, Cowper-Smith explained, the [new Chinese] economic corridor goes through [the Myanmar cities of] Mandalay and Yangon, and reaches Myanmar’s coast at the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in [Myanmar's] Rakhine state -- the site of a brutal 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya.
"Neither India nor China would want to upset this status quo with any sort of international intervention, and so neither government will broach the Rohingya issue with the Burmese [Myanmar] government, let alone the United Nations," she added.
"Therefore, the UN Security Council avenue is closed as a possibility."
She downplayed any expectations of the U.S. or NATO taking action, saying: "The likelihood of this option seems low, as President Trump is not a fan of the UN system, or of trans-national justice."
She added: "Although a Muslim nation, which has a significant Rohingya refugee population, Saudi Arabia also has economic interests in Rakhine state, which lessens the likelihood of them speaking out against the Burmese state."
Cowper-Smith added that...- the global climate of Islamophobia,
- fear of terrorism,
as well as the- lack of access to Rakhine state by international observers
-
(same article at:
- The Peninsula (Qatar)
(CAUTION: This media outlet is in a repressive Muslim country; its independence, objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.) ) -
Rohingya repatriation:
-
Category 5 cyclone Fani
Makes Landfall.
- Reuters / Sydney Morning Herald
(Australia)
Cyclone Fani has made landfall on India's eastern coast as a category 5 storm, lashing the emptied beaches with rain and winds gusting up to 205 kilometres per hour [(125 mph)].
The India Meterological Department said the "extremely severe" cyclone in the Bay of Bengal hit the coastal state of Odisha around 8am Friday, local time (12.30pm AEST) and was forecast to weaken to a "very severe" storm as it moved north-northeast toward the Indian state of West Bengal.
* * *
India has evacuated more than a million people living along its east coast ahead of the extremely severe cyclone, government officials said.
* * *
The cyclone is forecast to drop as much as 20 centimetres [(8 inches)] of rain on northern parts of the state of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, then continue north, hitting the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Bhutan, as well as parts of the Indian states
of West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya.
This could mean that heavy rains lash the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, home to over 900,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution in Burma.
World Vision's Bangladesh national director Fred Witteeven said the organisation had emergency supplies ready to go in the camps.
"Nevertheless people are living in homes made of bamboo and on steep hillsides, which puts them at even greater risk," Witteeven says.
By late Thursday in India, Fani had sustained winds of about 250 km/h [(155 mph)], nearly in the range of a Category 5 hurricane, said Derrick Herndon, an associate researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies. The World Meteorological Organisation said the storm was "one of the most intense" in 20 years in the region.
"It's remarkable in terms of its wind speed," Herndon said. "The sustained winds are really near the top range of the winds we see in this part of the world."
* * *
Sea levels may rise about 1.5 metres [( 5 feet )] above astronomical tide, said Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, secretary at India's Ministry of Earth Sciences.
-
(same topic at:
- CNN (Cable News Network)
- CBC News (Canada)
- New York Times:-
Rohingya refugees at risk from the storm:
Aid agencies feared that one million Rohingya refugees, [who] now live in makeshift settlements in the low-lying area of Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh, were at risk from the cyclone. The United Nations refugee agency said it had positioned emergency tents in the Bangladesh camps.
The aid agency CARE, which works in the area, said Friday that the risk was high.
"The densely populated Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar are susceptible to deadly mudslides triggered by torrential rainfall," said Zia Choudary, the country director of CARE Bangladesh.
"The concentration of the one million displaced Rohingya people in Cox’s Bazaar is now among the densest in the world and, even if the region is not hit directly, the impacts of Cyclone Fani will create havoc."
The storm was expected make landfall in Bangladesh early Saturday. )
Official U.N. statement: -
Cyclone Fani hits India,
UN moves to protect
vulnerable refugees in Bangladesh.
One of the strongest storms to batter India in decades made landfall near the northeastern coastal city of Puri on Friday morning. UN agencies are monitoring Cyclone Fani’s movements closely and taking measures to protect families living in refugee camps in Bangladesh, which is on alert.
- U.N. News (United Nations)
The cyclone lashed the coast with maximum wind speeds of up to 175 kilometres per hour (125mph), heavy rainfall and coastal flooding, with 28 million people living along the route of the massive storm.
* * *
"The impact (is) expected to be less severe in areas such as, for example, Cox’s Bazar," WFP’s spokesperson Claire Nullis added, which is home to the world’s largest refugee camp, populated mainly by Rohingya who have fled northern Myanmar.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration, IOM, were also taking measures to ensure the protection of families during the expected heavy rains and strong winds.
In an interview with UN News, IOM Deputy Chief of Mission in Bangladesh, Manuel Pereira, said that ‘tie-down kits’ were being distributed to secure houses and shelters for the past two weeks, and underlined that they were working to “avoid any loss of lives”.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement that its staff had been completing engineering and disaster risk reduction work around Cox’s Bazar, to make the camps safer and more accessible, during the monsoon and cyclone seasons.
Spokesperson Hervé Verhoosel added that extra stocks of food and prepositioned supplies were in place, in case of any impact and teams were monitoring the potential impact on the refugee camps.
Bangladesh is home for 900,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, most of whom fled Myanmar in 2017.
-
Remove all barriers to repatriation,
Bangladesh asks Myanmar
at JWG meeting on Rohingya.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)-
(same topic at:
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh) )
Bangladesh has urged Myanmar to remove all barriers to the repatriation of Rohingyas -- and to take concrete steps to create conducive conditions for their return.
It also emphasised on positive steps towards a "well-defined time-bound pathway" to citizenship that would encourage the Rohingyas to return voluntarily.
The suggestions were put forward at the fourth Bangladesh-Myanmar Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting in [Myanmar's capital,] Nay Pyi Taw, yesterday.
* * *
Bangladesh particularly stressed the need to remove legal and administrative barriers -- including freedom of movement, safety and security -- to ensure basic rights of the returnees, said the statement.
* * *
At the JWG meeting yesterday, Dhaka stressed on early start of physical repatriation. The process remained stalled although Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a bilateral deal on repatriation in November 2017.
In June last year, Myanmar also signed a tripartite deal with the UN Refugee Agency and the UNDP, granting them assess conditions in Rakhine state.
The UN says conditions in Myanmar have NOT been conducive for sustainable, voluntary and dignified return of the Rohingyas, who have been fleeing persecution in Rakhine since 1980s. They were denied citizenship and basic rights, including rights to movement, education and healthcare.
Escalation of armed clashes between the Myanmar Army and Arakan Army, a Buddhist rebel group seeking greater autonomy in Rakhine, has further complicated the situation there.
* * *
Despite preparations from both the countries, Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar camps refused to return [to Myanmar] in November last year, arguing that the conditions were not safe and secure for them, and that there were no guarantees for their citizenship and recognition as an ethic group.
-
Cyclone Fani:
UN moves to protect
vulnerable Rohingyas
in Bangladesh.
- Daily Star (Bangaldesh)
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have taken measures to ensure the protection of Rohingya families in Cox's Bazar district during the expected heavy rains and strong winds caused [by] cyclone Fani. ...
-
Dozens killed as
Cyclone Fani hits
Bangladesh and India.
- Reuters / Australian Broadcasting Corp.-
(same topic at:
- BBC News )
Tropical Cyclone Fani, which made landfall early on Friday, lost some of its power and was downgraded to a depression as the storm hovered over Bangladesh.
A storm surge still breached embankments to submerge dozens of villages on Bangladesh's low-lying coast, a disaster ministry official in Dhaka said.
* * *
About 1.2 million people living in the most vulnerable districts in Bangladesh had... been moved to some 4,000 shelters.
-
Cyclone prompts
refugee safety review
in Bangladesh.
UN agencies take steps to
make camps housing
one million people
safer.
- Asia Times (China)
(CAUTION: This media is probably subject to Chinese government control).
After the strongest storm in years devastated the state of Odisha in eastern India and parts of Bangladesh, UN agencies are monitoring its movements closely and taking measures to protect people living in refugee camps near Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar.
UN News reported on May 3 that the impact of Cyclone Fani, as the storm was called, was expected to be "less severe in areas such as … Cox’s Bazar" where nearly one million Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are housed in makeshift huts and similar, potentially vulnerable structures.
Even so, the UN had extra food and other supplies in place in the camps. "Tie-down kits" have been distributed "to secure houses and shelters … [and to] avoid any loss of lives."
In other parts of Bangladesh, schools were shut, airports closed and transport suspended.
The World Food Program said in a statement quoted by UN News that its "staff had completed engineering and disaster risk reduction work around Cox’s Bazar, to make the camps safer, and more accessible, during the monsoon and cyclone seasons."
The world’s largest refugee camp is located near Cox’s Bazar -- and efforts to have the [Rohingya] refugees repatriated, [from there] to Myanmar, have made little progress.
Plans to relocate some of the refuges to an island off the coast of Bangladesh may also be re-considered after Cyclone Fani. The island, Bhashan Char, is in one of Asia’s most cyclone-prone areas.
-
12 people, suspected
to be Rohingya,
held in Mizoram
[in Eastern India].
- The HIndu (India)
A total of 12 people, suspected to be Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh, were arrested in Mizoram for entering the State without valid travel documents, a police officer said on Monday.
Eight women and four boys from Bangladesh were taken from a house to Bawngkawn police station here on Sunday, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Northern Range) Lalbiakthanga Khiangte said.
It is suspected that they might be victims of human trafficking.
Mr. Khiangte said the arrested people had mobile phones without sim cards in their possession.
Investigation is on to find out their identities.
The 12 people were found in the residence of a woman who claimed that her cousin who lived at Tahan in Myanmar had asked for her a favour to keep the ‘guests’ before they were taken to the neighbouring country.
* * *
In late April, eight Rohingya women were detained at India-Myanmar border Vairengte town for trying to enter Mizoram illegally and were pushed back.
They had claimed that they were from Kutupalong refugee camp at Sabulara in Bangladesh and were abducted on April 19 by a group of men who brought them to Mizoram by truck. ...-
(same topic at:
- "12 Suspected Rohingya Without Valid Documents Arrested In Mizoram: Report"
May 6, at NDTV (India)-
A total of 12 suspected Rohingya from Bangladesh were arrested in Mizoram for entering the state without valid travel documents, a police officer said today.
Eight women and four boys from Bangladesh ... It is suspected that they were victims of human trafficking. ...
May 8, Press Trust of India
in Business Standard (India)-
The twelve suspected Rohingya refugees, who were rescued three days ago, here,
allegedly from a human trafficking gang, have been shifted to state-run shelter
homes,
a senior police officer said.
A group of eight women and four minor boys were apprehended from the house of a local woman in Aizawl on Sunday for residing in India without valid travel documents.
The woman, who had been hosting the group, told police that she provided them shelter as a favour to her cousin in Tahan, Myanmar.
She also said that it was the fifth time that people took refuge at her home, before being transported to Myanmar.
"While the boys were sent to a home for orphans, the women have been moved to another protected shelter home, both maintained by the state social welfare department.
"It seems that all 12 of them were brought to Mizoram from Bangladesh refugee camps," Deputy Inspector General of Police (Northern Range) Lalbiakthanga Khiangte said.
The DIG also said that the group was probably trafficked to Mizoram through the porous Assam border.
"No one understood the language in which they were speaking, making the interrogation process extremely difficult for us," Khiangte said, adding that an investigation is underway to nab the culprits who brought them here illegally.
* * *
Many [Rohingya refugees] fall prey to trafficking gangs, who lure them with promise of better jobs and livelihood. ...
May 15, at Hindustan Times (India)-
Rohingya activists in India and Malaysia say both the desperate refugees and the traffickers are using the India-Myanmar border crossings in Manipur and Mizoram for the "high risk" journey to Myanmar and further on to Thailand and Malaysia. ...
(CAUTION: Al Jazeera has bias & credibility problems.) )
-
SPECIAL REPORT:
May 6-7, 2019
REUTERS JOURNALISTS RELEASED
FROM MYANMAR PRISON.
Two reporters -- who discovered, documented and revealed a Rohingya massacre by Myanmar's army, and were later arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 7 years in prison -- and lost their appeal to the nation's Supreme Court last month, have suddenly been released from prison.
- BBC News
Two Myanmar journalists, who discovered and exposed the only confessions and photographic proof of a massacre committed during the Myanmar military's 2017 purge of Rohingyas -- and who were subsequently arrested and imprisoned by Myanmar -- have been unexpectedly released, among other prisoners released during an annual mass-amnesty program.
Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, reporters for Reuters News Service, were released from Myanmar's notorious Insein Prison, Monday, May 6. -- surrounded by Reuters colleagues and numerous other reporters and photographers.
Wa Lone expressed joy at his release, thanking the "many people inside, and outside [the prison]," who expressed support for the reporters, and pressured the Myanmar government for their release.
Lone indicated he was looking forward to seeing his family again (his first child was born while he was in prison), and "getting back to my newsroom."
Despite having been in prison for over a year and a half ("over 500 days" according to the BBC), Lone empahsized that he would never stop working as a journalist.
* * *The Reuters Reporters' story:
[Paraphrased from prior articles listed on this site:]
When, in August, 2017, the Myanmar military began its violent purge of Rohingyas from Myanmar's north-western Rakhine state, the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh reported thousands of atrocities, committed against the Rohingya, by the Myanmar military and indigenous Rakhine Buddhists -- mass killings, gang rapes, villages torched, elderly burned alive in their homes, children and infants thrown into fires.
Rohingya refugees, escaping by boat, watch their villages burn
©2017 SCMP . TV
But, in their frantic flight, none of the Rohingya refugees collected video or photographic proof of the crimes -- all of which were denied by the Myanmar military and government.
The Myanmar military cordoned off the conflict area -- forbidding journalists, human rights activists, foreign dignitaries and U.N. officials from entering, investigating and reporting on what was happening to the Rohingya in Rakhine state.
Instead, in mid-November, 2017, the Myanmar military conducted its own official "investigation," into the widespread allegations of atrocities -- and exonerated itself completely.
However, around the same time,
two Myanmar journalists,
Wa Lone
and
Kyaw Soe Oo
-- working for Reuters News Service
(the world's leading international news-reporting syndicate)
-- managed to track down rumors of a massacre of ten Rohingya at the Rakhine State village of Inn Dinn.
Managing to find their way around security forces, they reached the village, and found some of the local Rakhine Buddhists willing to talk about what had happened.
In fact, to their surprise, one of villagers provided them with photographs taken immediately before and after the group slaughter -- showing the captive victims, as well as some of the Myanmar soliders and Rakhine civilans who apparently had participated in the killings.
Witnesses -- including at least one participant in the killing -- spoke openly about what had happened, when ten young Rohingya men were bound, placed in a trench, then shot to death by soliders and hacked to death by Rakhine Buddhists.
These 10 Rohingya villagers were photographed by a Rakhine Buddhist villager shortly before they were ordered into a mass grave, where they were shot by Myanmar soliders, and some stabbed to death by Rakhine Buddhist villagers. ©2017 SkyNews
When the Reuters reporters documented and published their discovery -- and a villager's cellphone-video, of some of the event, was leaked to the media -- global opinion hardened against the Myanmar military and government, who were forced to admit their denials were not entirely true.
But on Dec. 17, 2017, the reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were lured to a meeting in a cafe in Yangon -- apparently with the promise of further information for their investigative reporting. The invitation (as later testified by the reporters, and by a police captain involved) was a set-up by the Myanmar authorities, to entrap the journalists. While sitting at the cafe table, the reporters were handed a bundle of papers, and then promptly arrested for possesing them -- allegedly secret government documents.Officially, the Myanmar military arrested, tried and convicted a handful of soldiers reportedly involved in the Inn Dinn massacre, and sentenced them to a few years in prison in a distant province (though there were reports that they'd been subsequently seen "out on the loose").
But, January 10, 2018 -- the day the Myanmar military publicly admitted the now-proven killings (while making excuses for them) -- was the day the reporters were summoned to court on the "official secrets" charge.
At their trial, a police captain, who had been part of the scheme, testified that it was a set-up -- and he was promptly jailed by the Myanmar security forces on an unspecified charge. Another officer, in violation of court rules, listened and took notes during others' testimony before being called to give his own testimony.
An initial rulling by the presiding judge appeared to turn things to the reporters' favor, but the judge reversed himself within a few days, and the reporters were convicted of violating Myanmar's "Official Secrets Act" -- and sentenced to 7 years in prison.Attempts to persuade Myanmar's leading civilian government official, Aung San Suu Kyi, to intervene, fell on deaf ears, with Suu Kyi declaring that the reporters -- unpopular with Myanmar's mainly Buddhist, anti-Muslim public -- were guilty, and shoud be punished.
Global media and world leaders decried the verdict -- and lambasted Suu Kyi for her complicit intransigence -- while raising the cause of the journalists to a global cause.
Last December, TIME Magazine named the two reporters, along with another one elsewhere, as its 2018 "Persons of the Year."
But, on January 11 of this year, an appeals court upheld their sentences -- stimulating global criticism
from sources as diverse as the U.S. State Department, Al Jazeera, the Wall Street Journal and Amnesty International -- as well as leading media, conservative and liberal, around the globe. Until today's release, many of them kept up pressure on Myanmar's government to release the reporters.
The reporters lodged a final appeal with Myanmar's Supreme Court, February 1st. And just few weeks ago (the week of April 10-13) -- just days before the Reuters journalists were to argue their final appeal to the Myanmar Supreme Court -- the United Nations cultural organization, UNESCO, annaounced it was awarding its annual Press Freedom Prize to them, for extraordinary heroism in reporting.
And the next day America' s Pulitzer Center awarded them the famed annual Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.However, the global support appeared to all be to no avail, as the Myanmar Supreme Court, on Tuesday, April 23rd -- without comment or explanation -- ruled to uphold their convictions and sentences.
The European Union's ambassador to Myanmar attended the hearing, and immediately after criticized the ruling, and urged Myanmar's official civilian President to arrange for the reporters' immediate and unconditional release.
That same day, the British* Foreign Secretary lodged a complaint with Myanmar about the matter, and appealed directly to Aung San Suu Kyi -- Myanmar's defacto top civilian official -- "to recognise that, as someone who fought for democracy in Burma, she should be taking a personal interest in the future of these two brave journalists."* (NOTE: Myanmar, as "Burma," was a British colony from the 1800s until after World War II, and Britain retains significant, if testy, relations with Myanmar/Burma (particularly economic and academic ties). Further, the U.K. was instrumental in agitating for Aung San Suu Kyi's transition from political prisoner to Myanmar's highest civilian government position in 2012. And British-educated Suu Kyi married a British citizen.) There was no sign of any sympathy or cooperation from Myanmar's government. When it came time for the traditional annual selective-amnesty release of prisoners from Myanmar's prisons (for the Buddhist New Year), about 8,500 prisoners were released -- but not the Reuters reporters.
However, on another round of Buddhist New Year amnesty releases, today, May 6, 2019, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were released, after over a year and a half in prison.
Both men indicated
gratitude towards their supporters, and a desire to reunite with their families -- and then
plans to resume their work as journalists.
~ RCN editor.
---------------
-
[World Bank] to provide $165mn
for Rohingya services.
- UNB / The Independent (Bangaldesh)
The government of Bangladesh on Wednesday signed a $165 million grant financing agreement with the World Bank to provide basic services and build disaster and social resilience for Rohingyas taken shelter in Cox’s Bazar fleeing violence in Myanmar.
To help Bangladesh deal with the world’s fastest-growing exodus, the Emergency Multi-Sector Rohingya Crisis Response Project will build 53 multipurpose disaster shelters in and around the camps, pave more than 200 km of roads, provide water and sanitation services for around 200,000 people, and set up 1,500 solar street lights.
The project will also help strengthen emergency response services, provide community works and services, and prevent gender-based violence.
* * *
Dandan Chen said Bangladesh has generously provided shelter to about a million Rohingya refugees but the needs of both the Rohingya and the host community are huge. "This project addresses the current refugee crisis but goes further to help strengthen the government’s overall capacity to plan, coordinate and respond to emergencies," she said.
* * *
The $165million grant is the third in a series of planned financings of approximately half a billion dollars announced by the World Bank in June 2018.
Earlier, the World Bank committed a $75 million grant that includes a $13 million from Canada, to meet health and learning needs of the Rohingya.-
(same topic at:
- UNB / The News Hour (Bangladesh)
(NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.) ) -
Swept up in Muslim genocide crisis,
Hindu Rohingyas stuck in Bangladesh.
- America Magazine
(Catholic Jesuit news magazine)
(NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.)
-
VIDEO:
In exile, a bittersweet flourishing
of Rohingya culture
- The Telegraph (Australia)-
(same topic at:
- Cairns Post (Australia)
- Adelaide Advertiser (Australia) )
RCN Editor's commentary:
This article reports on China's often-repeated expression that regional "development" (in cooperation with China) is the solution to the Rohingya "problem."
In fact, this editor, and other analysts, believe that China's goal is to essentially exploit all the surrounding countries and people (and the Rohingya particularly), for its own purposes, through it's official expansionist "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI).
The Chinese suggest that BRI is largely an economic "partnership," for "mutual" benefit. But critics see it as predatory Chinese economic colonialism -- intended to subjugate and exploit other countries, their resources, and their people.
China has particular interests in Myanmar/Burma -- particularly in its western Rakhine state along the Indian Ocean coast (the homeland of the Rohingya):
The explusion of Rohingya Muslims from their lands in Myanmar's Rakhine state has left their lands free for:-
Chinese coastal and river port developments,
China has already begun the development of a massive commercial port on the Rakhine coast, at Kyaukpyu, which it plans to use as China's closest seaport to inland Chinese cities in South-Central and Western China.
The Rakhine coast is also a logical place for Chinese military bases to support China's expansionist goals, and to challenge its longtime principal regional rival: neighboring India.
-
Chinese-affiliated rice farming, to feed China,
the world's largest population.
(Myanmar is the world's largest exporter of rice -- and China is the worlds' greatest consumer of rice.)
-
Chinese-affiliated energy projects,
including assets to support and protect China's current supply of natural gas from offshore wells along Myanmar's Rakhine coast, and pipelines or other shipment of it to China, across Myanmar.
China, while conceding that the Rohingya must someday be returned to Rakhine state, has refused to support the idea of full repatriation -- with the Rohingya being given back control of their land and property, and full freedom and citizenship within Myanmar.
Instead, China has accommodated Myanmar's view that returning Rohingya should be forced to live in "temporary" "internment" camps, and -- rather than resume their traditional independent lives of farming on their own lands, and fishing on their own shores -- accept whatever "employment," is offered to them from new local "developments" in Rakhine state (now being plundered by the Myanmar military, and its commercial allies from China and India).
This arguably creates the impression of a people being disposessed, imprisoned, and forced into servant labor, largely for the benefit of China.
~RCN Editor.For supporting reports & analysis, see:
-
Is Rohingya persecution caused by
business interests rather than religion?
- 2017-01-04 -- The Guardian (U.K.) -
Why do China, India
back Myanmar
over the Rohingya crisis?
"Heavy investments in Rakhine state have seen the two countries take a markedly different approach to the Western powers leaning on Suu Kyi’s beleaguered government."
- 2017-10-18 -- South China Morning Post -
Chinese Minister's spadework
lays the foundation for Suu Kyi's visit
- 2017-11-28 -- The Hindu (India) -
Rohingya: India acts fast
to counter Chinese moves in Myanmar
- 2018-07-13 -- The Economic Times (India) -
U.S. says China's treatment
of Muslim minority
worst abuses
'since the 1930s.'
- Reuters News Service
The U.S. State Department on Wednesday slammed human rights violations in China, saying the sort of abuses China had inflicted on its Muslim minorities had not been seen "since the 1930s." ...
-
Chinese coastal and river port developments,
-
In a new gesture,
China links Rohingya issue
with BCIM* success.
* [Bangaldesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor:
the region's segment
of China's expansionist
"Belt & Road Initiative"]
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
China -- which protected Myanmar in the UN Security Council using its veto power -- believes implementation of the Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor can solve the Rohingya problem.
"The real solution of the problem lies in development," Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Zhang Zuo said on Wednesday in Dhaka in a post-BRI, or Belt and Road Initiative, press briefing.
His comment came in the backdrop of the international pressure, on Myanmar, to accept Rohingyas as their citizens, to make a sustainable solution of the decades-old crisis.
[The crisis] took an appalling turn, in Aug 2017, when over 700,000 Rohingya people fled ‘ethnic cleansing’ in [Myanmar's] Rakhine State, and took shelter in Bangladesh.
China has been wielding its veto power in the UN Security Council to ward off international pressure on Myanmar. The Chinese foreign minister was engaged with both Bangladesh and Myanmar to find a solution.
"China pays very close attention to the Rohingya issue," the ambassador said one being asked.
"We also hope that in the process of implementing the BCIM economic corridor, we could come up with a very good solution to the Rohingya problem," he said, appreciating Bangladesh for giving shelter to Rohingyas despite difficulties.
Zhang said China is willing "to continue to play a constructive role and we would like to provide as much help as we can, according to the needs of the both sides".
"Myanmar and Bangladesh could keep dialogue and keep communicating over this while keeping each other’s concerns in mind so that they can find ways to start substantial repatriation process as soon as possible."
But the ambassador said repatriation is "only part of the overall solution proposed by China".
"We believe that the real solution to the problem lies in development. So we hope that after the violence is stopped and the people are repatriated, the Rakhine state could be further developed. We believe that development could help effectively solve the poverty problem."
China and Myanmar signed a document on the construction of economic corridor which, the ambassador said is a "very important" part of the BCIM.
"This can also be seen as one of the early outcomes of the larger BCIM project," Zhang said, adding that they will work with all the other countries involved in the BCIM economic corridor initiative "to see early, substantial progress and early outcomes".
He also believes that India will not hold "any reservations" about the BCIM.BRI MEET ACHIEVED ‘REMARKABLE’ OUTCOMES
The ambassador said the second BRI meet from April 25 to 27 was "successfully" held in Beijing with the theme ‘Belt and Road Cooperation: Shaping a Brighter Shared Future’.
Over 6,000 foreign guests from 150 countries and 92 international organisations took part in the forum.
They reached a broad consensus on "high-quality" belt and road cooperation, delivering substantial results. He said the meet achieved "a series of remarkable outcomes".
There are some major outcome highlights summarised from President Xi Jinping’s keynote speech, and the Joint Communique of the Leaders’ Roundtable.
Those are: drawing the blueprint for future cooperation actions, promoting a global partnership of connectivity, focusing on deepening practical cooperation, building long-term supporting mechanisms and committing to reform and opening up to show China’s sense of responsibility, among others.
"The BRI is a long-term project and a common cause for global partners. China would like to work with all parties to promote the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation in the spirit of an architect refining the blueprint," the ambassador said.
"We are willing to, together with cooperative partners, sow the seeds and reap the fruits."-
(same topic, reaction, at:
May 10 -
India's Muslims fear
for their future
under Narendra Modi.
- BBC
NOTE: This article is included because this matter significantly affects the 40,000 or so Rohingya refugees in India, as well as various border issues with Bangladesh and Myanmar, related to the Rohingya Crisis.
With incumbent Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and his anti-Muslim BJP party now in power in India -- and appearing to again be the likely victors in the May 2019 elections -- Rohingya Muslims are the subject of various Indian government efforts to expel them from India (which adjoins Myanmar and surrounds Bangladesh), or block them from entering India in the first place.
However, India -- a nation that is 80% Hindu, 20% Muslim -- remains a hopeful haven for the Rohingya.
India is also a haven and trafficking route for human-traffickers, who seek to decieve and exploit desperate Rohingya, trafficking them (especially women and girls) within and through India to destinations promising work (which often turns out to be sweatshop labor, prostitution or arranged marriage).
For the article, click on the title, above.
~ RCN Editor
-
Bangladesh Chinese Envoy Rapped
for Linking Rohingya Crisis
to Economic Trade
- Benar News / RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
A Bangladeshi official and political observers, on Friday, criticized a statement by the Chinese ambassador -- who suggested this week that the Rohingya refugee crisis could be solved through economic development in neighboring Myanmar’s Rakhine state [the Rohingya homeland].
Linking the plight of Rohingya Muslims, to trade and infrastructure investments in the sub-region, would be tantamount to disregarding the human rights issues that led to a massive exodus of refugees from Myanmar, the official and analysts told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
"Development alone could not resolve the Rohingya crisis," Mohammad Abul Kalam, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, told BenarNews on Friday.
"The political will of Myanmar’s government is most crucial," he said. "Unless the rights of the Rohingya people in Rakhine are not ensured, the crisis will not be over."
BenarNews asked Kalam, and others in Bangladesh, for their views on a remark made by Chinese Ambassador Zhang Zuo, on the Rohingya, during a news briefing the envoy gave in Dhaka, on Wednesday, about Beijing’s massive "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) infrastructure initiative.
"The real solution of the problem lies in development," Zuo said -- referring to the 740,000 Rohingya refugees who fled their homes, and crossed into Bangladesh, at the height of a Myanmar military crackdown in 2017.
"We hope that after the violence is stopped and the people are repatriated, the Rakhine state could be further developed."
"We also hope that, in the process of implementing the BCIM economic corridor, we could come up with a very good solution to the Rohingya problem," the ambassador added.
BCIM is an acronym for the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation (a sub-regional organization, also known as the "BCIM Economic Corridor"). It was conceptualized in the early 1990s to improve trade between the four Asian nations.
Without elaborating, Zuo said repatriation was
"only part of the overall solution proposed by China"
[to the Rohingya Crisis].
As proposed, the BCIM Economic Corridor would connect Kunming (the capital and largest city of Yunnan province in southwest China) with Kolkata (in the Indian state of West Bengal). The connection would run through the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, and [through] Mandalay, the second-largest city of Myanmar.
"The Chinese ambassador tried to convey the message that the proposed BCIM corridor will cross via Rakhine state. So, resolving the Rohingya crisis was a precondition to implementing the BCIM corridor," Retired Maj. Gen. A.N.M. Muniruzzaman, president of the nonprofit think-tank Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies, told Benar.
Muniruzzaman, who attended the Chinese envoy’s briefing, claimed China appeared to be looking at the Rohingya crisis through the lens of Beijing’s national interest.
"China has been constructing a deep seaport in Rakhine state. They are building up an energy terminal there," he said. "[But] development is not the only strategy to resolve the Rohingya crisis."
In November, Myanmar signed a renegotiated deal with China’s state-run CITIC Group to develop a multibillion-dollar deep sea port in Kyauk Pyu in Rakhine State, on the Bay of Bengal. The agreement came as Myanmar moved closer to Beijing.
Analysts and academics expressed agreement, alleging the Chinese diplomat made it appear that Beijing was looking at the Rohingya refugees from an economic perspective.
"In the pretext of development, China has been overlooking the human aspect of the Rohingya crisis," Delwar Hossain, a professor of international relations at Dhaka University, told BenarNews.
U.N. human rights investigators have accused Myanmar’s military of committing ethnic cleansing against the minority group during the brutal crackdown taken in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security posts.
Beijing had proposed to mediate between Bangladesh and Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya refugee exodus, which peaked between August and September 2017. Negotiations for the Rohingya repatriation have stalled.
In March this year, Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told a U.N. Security Council meeting that the refugee crisis had gone from "bad to worse."
Dhaka, he said, would no longer be able to take in refugees from Myanmar.
Mahmida Khatun, executive director of the private think-tank Center for Policy Dialogue, also questioned the Chinese envoy’s comments.
"China says it wants development of Bangladesh and Myanmar," she said, "but they keep silent on Rohingya repatriation."
Khatun said Myanmar must first guarantee the security and safety, fundamental rights, freedom of movement, education and job opportunities in the place where the refugees would be returned.
Many residents of Buddhist-majority Myanmar regard Rohingyas as "Bengalis," implying that the minorities entered illegally from Bangladesh, even though they have lived in Myanmar for generations. Most of them have been denied citizenship and prevented from traveling outside Rakhine state.
"The Myanmar government should commit to ensure social development, in addition to economic development, in Rakhine state," she said.-
(same topic at:
- May 9 )
-
UK officials
immediately saw through
Burma 'whitewash'.
- The Times [of London] (U.K.)
[In late 2017,] British diplomats privately accused [Myanmar's] Burmese security forces of "conniving" in razing villages and imposing an "Orwellian whitewash", cables released to The Times show.
Distrust in the regime’s account of the Rohingya crisis emerged [this week], as two Reuters journalists were freed this week by presidential amnesty from seven-year jail sentences for reporting on the persecution.
As the nation led by the Nobel peace prizewinner Aung San Suu Kyi cracked down on the freedom of the press, British officials were scornful of the military’s accounts of events.
The crisis -- which led to hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Rohingya Muslim minority fleeing into Bangladesh in 2016* -- has poisoned relations between Britain and Burma. [* This may be a typo; probably should read "2017" ~RCN editor.]
British diplomats joined what they regarded as a military-organised propaganda trip to the conflict…
-
Bangladesh rescues 23
Malaysia-bound Rohingya girls
from traffickers.
- AFP / New Straits Times (Malaysia)
Twenty-three teenage Rohingya girls were rescued after being brought from refugee camps to the capital Dhaka to be sent to Malaysia by air, Bangladesh police said Sunday.
Dhaka police also arrested four human traffickers including a Rohingya couple and recovered over 50 Bangladeshi passports from them on Saturday.
Police spokesman Mokhlesur Rahman said they raided a residence in the northern part of the city and found the teenagers hiding in a room behind a tailoring shop.
"They were promised jobs in Malaysia and brought from refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar," he told AFP, referring to the Rohingya settlements in Bangladesh’s southeastern coastal district.
The girls – aged between 15 and 19 – could have been potential victims of forced prostitution, the official said.
"We have filed cases against the four arrested persons and sent the girls back to their camps in Cox’s Bazar," Rahman said.
Abul Khair, local police chief of Ukhiya, where Kutupalong, the largest refugee camp in the world, is situated, said he received the girls and would send them to their homes in the camps.
* * *
Jishu Barua, an aid worker specialised in human trafficking prevention, said he dealt with 100 cases of human trafficking in the camps in the last six weeks.
"But this figure represents only a small portion of what is actually going on," he told AFP.-
(same topic at:
- The Star (Malaysia) )
-
Rohingya among
4 Terror Suspects
in Malaysian Custody.
- RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
Two Rohingya were among suspects apprehended in a foiled Islamic State (IS) plot in Malaysia to attack worship sites and assassinate "high-profile personalities" during Ramadan, police said Monday, in the first terror-related arrests there involving members of the Myanmar ethnic minority.
Officials said the Rohingya and two other suspects were arrested in raids in Kuala Lumpur and Terengganu between May 5 and 7, and planned to bomb Hindu temples, Buddhist temples, churches and entertainment spots during the first week of the Islamic month of fasting, which began May 6.
"This is the first time we arrest Rohingyas. Prior to this, there was no case involving them," a police source close to the investigation told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
The order to execute the plot was given by a Malaysian militant operating in Syria, but his identity was not known, Abdul Hamid Bador, Malaysia’s new chief of police, told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.
* * *
Regional haven
Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country, has been seen a safe haven in Southeast Asia for Rohingya fleeing from persecution in Buddhist majority Myanmar and violence in Rakhine state. There are at least 90,200 Rohingya living in Malaysia, according to UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee agency.
Last year, Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu expressed worry about the possibility of Rohingya expatriates turning to extremism.
"We are concerned that the Rohingyas could be manipulated to become suicide bombers or recruited into terrorist cells in this region," he told a Kuala Lumpur meeting of counterterrorist security professionals in August.-
(same topic at:
- May 19 )
-
[Former U.S. ambassador]
Bill Richardson
says Aung San Suu Kyi
'doesn't deserve credit'
for releasing two jailed journalists.
- PRI (Public Radio International)
Today in Myanmar, two Reuters journalists are enjoying time with their families days after their release from prison. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo served more than 500 days in jail after they were arrested for violating the country's Official Secrets Act when they uncovered details around the killings of 10 Rohingya men and boys.
Myanmar's civilian leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, was one of the biggest obstacles to winning the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, according to
former UN Ambassador and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
He spoke to Marco Werman about his meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi and his attempts to negotiate the freedom of these journalists. ...
* * *
Richardson:
I had backed her for 20 years as a public official. I think what happened was she got infatuated with her power -- with the fact that she was president -- and the fact that she felt she needed the support of the military. She lost her conscience, and I deeply regretted that, because she was a political prisoner herself, and she said that these journalists are committing security secrecy crimes, which was totally false. There was a real regret on my part, to resign, because it obviously broke our relationship.Interviewer:
Aside from the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi was a political prisoner herself, spoke fervently about human rights and won a Nobel Peace Prize for that, what signs were there, back in the day, that her moral compass might someday go astray?
Richardson:
The fact that she didn't tolerate criticism. It was obvious that this advisory panel she named was just to buttress what the Myanmar government was doing against the Rohingya: not giving them citizenship protection, and committing massive human rights violations. I wasn't going to be part of that.
The first incident that I saw this was when I opened the advisory committee meeting with her by saying, "To start, you might release the Reuters journalists. They're just doing their job. It's giving you a bad name."
She lashed out at me saying, "This is all wrong. You are wrong. This is not your charter."
That's when I knew that our charter was going to be whitewashing what she wanted, and I wasn't going to be a part of it.
I don't think she deserves credit for releasing the two journalists. I think it was the enormous public pressure, and maybe the military itself realized that this was a big problem for the Myanmar government.
My information is that she resisted their release until the very end. She finally did it, but under enormous pressure. I'm not applauding the release of the journalists by Aung San Suu Kyi. It was international pressure.Interviewer:
How do you process the release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in terms of Myanmar's democracy? Do you see this as a new opening that diplomats in the West might pursue, and would you encourage that, given your current feelings about Aung San Suu Kyi?
Richardson:
I think that the judicial process would not release the two journalists; it took presidential pardon. Maybe there is a positive sign that, as the elections near in Myanmar, that Aung San Suu Kyi realizes they cannot continue these massive human rights violations, especially jailing journalists. There are a lot of other political prisoners, and other journalists, that are in jail today, that deserve to go out.Interviewer:
Do you think this is a cautionary tale for US diplomats on whom they choose to ally themselves with, and the pursuit of democracy?
Richardson:
This is a cautionary tale for US diplomats, and all diplomats. Just don't believe press releases. Aung San Suu Kyi is a perfect example. She was a champion of human rights, but once she got power, she felt that she could abuse human rights to retain that power, and retain the support of the military. She tries to justify her actions, which have been cruel in terms of the Rohingya people, but also in terms of freedom of the press and democratic principles that she used to stand for.-
(same topic at:
- New York Times / Irish Times (Ireland)
...which reports:
The biggest obstacle to releasing two imprisoned Reuters reporters in Myanmar last week was not the country’s military, diplomats and others say, but its de facto civilian leader: Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and former political prisoner.
Her seemingly incongruous opposition to freeing the two reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were let go last week after more than a year in detention, was well known among the diplomatic emissaries who repeatedly had urged her to release them. At times, she became angry when foreigners raised the case of the two men, who were imprisoned in connection with their coverage of the country’s crackdown on the Rohingya minority.
In an interview on Japanese television, [Suu Kyi] -- the leader of the National League for Democracy and the country’s state counsellor -- declared that they broke the law, even before a court had delivered a verdict. After their conviction, she insisted that their legal appeals must be completed before she would intervene, despite clear evidence that police entrapped them.
Suu Kyi defied a relentless if quiet campaign by the Reuters news service, the US government and other western nations to free the pair. But the international pressure appeared to have an effect in recent weeks, at least among Suu Kyi’s top aides.
In late April, after Myanmar’s supreme court upheld the reporters’ conviction, her spokesman, Zaw Htay, quietly advised an intermediary that their families should stop filing legal appeals, clearing the way for a presidential pardon, according to three people in the chain of communications.
* * *
Rare concession
After the families received his back-channel message, they dropped plans for further appeals and quickly drafted a new pardon request, said Pan Ei Mon, Wa Lone’s wife. Zaw Htay declined to comment on his role in communicating with the families or on Suu Kyi’s opposition to the reporters’ release until now.
The release of the Reuters journalists is a rare concession by the Myanmar authorities in the face of intense global pressure, but it is unlikely to shift attention away from the hundreds of people still imprisoned or facing charges for speaking out.
* * *
‘State of denial’
"Because of her stubbornness and her state of denial over the abuses in Rakhine and the international criticism she received, she became the main obstacle in resolving the case," said David S Mathieson, an independent analyst of Myanmar’s politics. "It became a very personal case for her, publicly and privately."
As the reporters remained in prison, they became a symbol of the government’s attempts to suppress free speech and to minimise or deny the atrocities in Rakhine. Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy, share power with the military in a contentious arrangement enshrined in the military-drafted constitution of 2008.
The daughter of the country’s founding general, Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest and became a symbol of resistance to tyranny. Many of her supporters expected her to expand protections for human rights and free expression after her party swept parliamentary elections in 2015.
Instead, crackdowns on free speech have persisted during her tenure, and hundreds of people are now in prison or face charges for speaking out.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who had been investigating the massacre of 10 villagers in Rakhine state, were arrested as they left a meeting with the police. One officer handed them rolled up papers, which were later said to contain state secrets.
Entrapped
At trial, a police captain testified that the two had been entrapped. He was later convicted of having violated the police disciplinary code and was sentenced to a year in prison. Other prosecution witnesses gave conflicting accounts of the arrest and contradicted the police claim that information in the papers was secret.
Nevertheless, the court found the pair guilty in September of having violated the colonial-era Official Secrets Act and sentenced them to seven years in prison.
Within Myanmar, the prevailing view was that the two men were guilty and traitorous for having exposed the massacre, complicating any possible pardon.
But the barrage of international criticism and quiet pressure from diplomats and others seeking their release prompted members of Suu Kyi’s government to seek a solution.
The simplest answer, it seemed, was for the government to free them as part of an annual general amnesty, in which thousands of prisoners are released in mid-April. But time was running short. The supreme court released its decision upholding the pair’s conviction on April 23rd. Barely a week later, the office of the president, Win Myint, had the families’ new pardon petition in hand.
With the legal process complete, they were pardoned in time for a third and final wave of prisoner amnesties last Tuesday.
* * *
[Amb. Bill Richardson's argument with Suu Kyi, about the reporters, is repeated here. See interview, above.]
* * *
Another source of pressure on Suu Kyi came from the Trump administration, which some free-press advocates considered a surprise because of its attacks on the news media. Vice-president Mike Pence took the lead in seeking the Reuters reporters’ freedom.
Presidential pardons
In November, Pence confronted Suu Kyi about the case at a regional forum in Singapore. Suu Kyi responded that the legal appeals process would have to conclude before any chance of presidential pardons.
During the trial, the US ambassador to Myanmar, Scot Marciel, attended court hearings along with diplomats from other nations. Administration officials said that after the conviction, people around Suu Kyi sought to push her toward a position of leniency.
Last Tuesday, Pence, speaking at a conference on Latin American issues at the state department, opened his speech by praising the release of the reporters and saying he hoped it "signals a positive and permanent respect for a free and independent press".
Conviction flawed
As part of the strategy to free the reporters, their supporters in Myanmar organised a 28-member legal team that included a retired judge, a former member of parliament and legal experts from a wide range of nongovernmental organisations. In December, the team issued a statement calling the conviction flawed and an obvious case of entrapment.
Thar Lon Zaung Htet, founder of the Protection Committee for Myanmar Journalists and a secretary of the Myanmar Press Council, helped the families communicate with top officials over the months, including Suu Kyi, and with arguably the country’s most powerful figure, Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing,
"When I met Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing, I asked him to help in the Reuters reporters’ case," Thar Lon Zaung Htet said. "He replied to me that he would help if he could. When I asked Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, she did not answer." -
VIDEO: Bangladesh:
Micro-gardening
helps Rohingya refugees
improve diet.
Micro-gardening kits are distributed to tackle malnutrition and improve the diet of Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar.
- Al Jazeera
(CAUTION: Al Jazeera has bias & credibility problems.)
-
Bangladesh police 'rescue'
dozens of Rohingya
being trafficked to Malaysia.
- Reuters / The Star (Malaysia)
Bangladeshi police prevented dozens of Rohingya Muslims, most of them women, about to be trafficked to Malaysia by boat, authorities said on Tuesday (May 14).
Traffickers had picked up at least 69 Rohingya from refugee camps in the Cox's Bazar district, promising them work in Malaysia where many Rohingya already live, police said.
Scores of Rohingya Muslims have boarded boats in recent months to try to reach Malaysia, part of what authorities fear could be a new wave of people smuggling by sea after a 2015 crackdown on trafficking.
An estimated 25,000 Rohingya crossed the Andaman Sea for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in 2015, many drowning in unsafe and overloaded boats.
"After getting information from a secret source, our team carried out an operation last night and rescued them," police officer Abul Khair told Reuters, adding that there were 43 women and 11 children. They would be returned to camps.
Police did not arrest any traffickers.
* * *
Buddhist-majority Myanmar regards Rohingya as illegal migrants from the Indian subcontinent* and has confined tens of thousands to sprawling camps in Rakhine, since violence swept the area in 2012.
* [calling Rohingya people "Bengalis" -- implying that they come from the Bengal region that is now divided between Bangladesh and India's West Bengal state ~RCN editor ],-
(same news topic at:
- May 18, 2019 )
-----------
-
Myanmar army chief's
Twitter account suspended
over anti-Rohingya hate speech.
- The Guardian (U.K.)
A Myanmar army general accused of masterminding genocide against the country’s Muslim Rohingya people has had his Twitter account suspended, following complaints about him using the social media platform for hate speech.
Min Aung Hlaing, the south-east Asian country’s top ranking general, had his @sgminaunghlaing account taken offline this week.
The move against the commander-in-chief, who claims his army did not use "excessive force" when about 700,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar in 2017, was hailed by prominent Rohingya activist Tun Kinh as a "massive victory" for members of the ethnic group.
Min Aung Hlaing, who was also accused of using social media to spread anti-Rohingya propaganda, had his Facebook account deleted in August 2018, after the United Nations called for Myanmar military leaders to be prosecuted for genocide.
He used social media to refer to Rohingya people as "Bengali", implying that they were immigrants rather than Myanmar citizens. On Facebook he denied army atrocities and claimed that the military was targeting militants rather than committing genocide.
The suspension came after Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, met Twitter executives in Silicon Valley, last week, and questioned them over why Min Aung Hlaing’s account remained live. The general’s Twitter account had not been used in about a year, but the suspension was still hailed as a significant gesture.
Tun Kinh said: "The fact that Twitter has joined Facebook in deleting his account – which he used to sow hatred and spew out his defensive propaganda – is a massive victory for the Rohingya people."
He added that "Min Aung Hliang was the mastermind of the Rohingya genocide … it is crucial that Twitter now follows through in deleting other accounts used by the regime for the same purpose."
-
Stateless Rohingya Refugees
in Bangladesh
Receive Identity Documents
for First Time.
- VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
Bangladeshi authorities and the U.N. refugee agency [(UNHCR)] have registered more than a quarter million Rohingya refugees -- and presented them with identity documents that grant them a number of rights and safeguards.
Unlike citizens of a country, stateless people have few rights. They may be deprived of an education, a job or health care. Those who are not registered at birth have no identity. That is the situation for millions of Rohingya who were stripped of their citizenship in neighboring Myanmar in 1982. Many of them are sheltering in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, after fleeing killings and persecution in Myanmar.Change for better:
For most of the more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, things are about to change for the better. The U.N. refugee agency says the more than 270,000 Rohingya refugees who have completed the registration process have, for the first time ever, received an identity card.
UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic says the ID card includes a photo and key information, such as name, date of birth and place of birth. It also indicates Myanmar as the country of origin.
"The first and foremost purpose of this registration is humanitarian, in order to safeguard their right to return, to regulate their stay -- and also to make sure that we do not know only how many people there are, that we have a detailed profile which allows us, with the more accurate data, to deliver far better assistance to this massive refugee population," Mahecic said.
Mahecic says the UNHCR and Bangladeshi authorities hope to complete the registration process for the entire refugee population by November. He cites a number of benefits associated with having an ID card.Target assistance:
Mahecic says the data will allow aid agencies to target assistance to people in acute need, including women and children heading families and people with disabilities. With the monsoon season approaching, he says the registration data will help reunite families who are separated during storms.
He notes the refugees are ripe for exploitation by smugglers and traffickers. Mahecic says the ID card will help authorities combat that nefarious trade.-
(U.N. official statement at:
- U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees )-
(same topic at:
- AFP / Yahoo News )
-
Bangladesh stops
84 Rohingya
from perilous sea journey to Malaysia.
- AFP / New Straits Times (Malaysia)
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Bangladesh authorities prevented 84 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar from attempting a perilous boat journey to Malaysia [about a thousand miles away], officials said Saturday.Police in Pekua said 67 Rohingya Muslims from Kutupalong – the largest refugee settlement in the world – were stopped as they waited to board a fishing trawler.
They included 31 women and 15 children.
On Saint Martin’s, a small Bangladesh island in the Bay of Bengal, the country’s coast guard stopped 17 other Rohingya, and five Bangladeshi traffickers, before
they could board a rickety fishing boat.
Fayezul Islam Mondol, the regional coast guard commander, said they were acting on a tip off.
* * *
Thousands of refugees attempt to flee the camps each year in pursuit of better opportunities in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.
They frequently spend their life savings to embark on dangerous boat journeys they believe will improve their lives, but many fall prey to international human trafficking gangs.
Most attempt the journey before March, when the sea is calm before the monsoon season sets in, but experts say traffickers are now convincing the refugees to attempt the crossing even in rough waters.
"This is a very alarming situation," Jishu Barua, an aid worker specialising in trafficking, told AFP.-
(same topic at:
- AFP / Manila Times (Philippines)
and also at:
- May 14, 2019 )
-
Are they really Rohingya?
Rohingya refugees in Malaysia repudiate terrorism and recently-captured terror suspects -- and question whether they are truly Rohingya.
- The Star (Malaysia) *
News that two of their own have been arrested by the Malaysian police, for terrorism, rocked the Rohingya community here to the core this past week.
Community leaders said they were shocked that the Rohingya here could be involved in these activities as they were "peace loving" people who were against violence. Some of the leaders even questioned if those picked up by the police were really Rohingya. ...-
* [NOTE: This source does not appear to conform to western journalism standards. It refers the suspects as if they have already been convicted of "terrorism." And it refers to "Arsa"/ARSA -- the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army -- as a "terrorist" organization ("one man's 'terrorist' is another man's 'freedom fighter'," seems an especially relevant journalistic caution, in this case). ~RCN Editor.]
-
(same topic, original event, at:
- May 13 )
-
Rohingya families
have little to celebrate
this Ramzan [(Ramadan)].
Refugees living in makeshift houses, on government land, rely on odd jobs to make ends meet -- 'Inhumane conditions.'
- The Hindu (India)
[A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF LIFE IN A REFUGEE CAMP, with THOUGHTS & FEELINGS of REFUGEES, at their traditional 'joyous' annual religious holiday. Informative. ~RCN editor]-
(same topic at:
- The Hindu (alternate page) )
-
OPINION:
[India's] Moral ambiguity
on the Rohingya
by Angshuman Choudhury,
Senior Researcher & Coordinator, South East Asia Research Programme, Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies, New Delhi, India. India must break its silence on the gross human rights violations by Myanmar.
- The Hindu (India)
India’s abstention from voting on a UN Human Rights Council draft resolution, in March this year, on the "situation of human rights in Myanmar" needs closer examination.
Co-sponsored by the European Union (EU) and Bangladesh, the resolution "expresses grave concern at continuing reports of serious human rights violations and abuses in Myanmar", particularly in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States -- and calls for a full inquiry into these by the Council’s own mechanism and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In its follow-up explanatory statement, India’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Rajiv Kumar Chander, said that it would "only be counter-productive" to support "extensive recommendations regarding legislative and policy actions" and "threatening Myanmar with punitive action, including at the ICC, to which that state is not a signatory".
It is understandable that -- as a non-signatory of the Rome Statute [establishing the ICC] -- New Delhi [India's capital / government] would register its dissent against any punitive interventions by the ICC on another non-signatory country (Myanmar).However, what is deeply unfortunate is India’s continued diplomatic and moral passivity on the Rohingya crisis.
Despite the Myanmar Army facing charges of serious war crimes, including genocide — according to a UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) and several other international human rights organisations — India refuses to take a strong moral stand for the sake of maintaining cordial bilateral relations with Naypyidaw [Myanmar's capital / government].A deference:
India continues to toe Myanmar’s line on the issue, which:
- harps on the "complexity" of the whole situation;
- lays emphasis on economic development,
rather than political rights, for the Rohingya; - lays stress on internal inquiries,
instead of international mechanisms; and - even refuses to call the Rohingya community by its name.
In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not even publicly condemned the horrible atrocities that the Rohingya have faced at the hands of Myanmar’s security forces.
On his last visit to Myanmar in September 2017, he simply expressed concern at the "loss of lives of security forces and innocent people due to the extremist violence in Rakhine State". There was no reference to the excessive and arbitrary force used by security forces on Rohingya civilians in response to the "extremist violence".
Radhika Coomaraswamy, who was a part of the three-member UN FFM [(Fact-Finding Mission)], during a recent briefing, said, "Acknowledging that human rights violations have been committed, holding people accountable and reforming the Tatmadaw, is the only way forward."
India, for its part, continues to maintain ties with the Myanmar armed forces (Tatmadaw) -- supplying them with combat hardware, and imparting UN peacekeeping training. An edition of the India-Myanmar bilateral army exercise, IMBEX 2018-19, took place this January at Chandimandir.
Arms and business ties
According to the arms transfer database of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India is one of Myanmar’s top arms suppliers, and weapons sales includes military aircraft, artillery, naval vessels and reconnaissance equipment, armoured vehicles, anti-submarine torpedoes and missiles.
One analysis by the Dutch advocacy group, Stop Wapenhandel (Stop Arms Trade), claims that India transferred combat equipment in violation of international embargoes.
* * *
India’s core logic here is to "modernise" the Tatmadaw [(Myanmar's army)] with the intent of securing [India']s 1,640-km-plus [(over 1,000-mile)] border with Myanmar -- and forge a sustainable strategic partnership at China’s doorstep.
But, in this inflexible realpolitik approach, there is little space for end-user accountability and human rights.
Whether Myanmar is using some of its India-supplied weapons to maim non-combatant civilians in Rakhine State -- and other ethnic regions -- is a question that New Delhi has not asked so far.
* * *
Further, Indian companies continue to invest in Myanmar, with several having direct links with Tatmadaw-owned businesses.Through Dhaka’s lens
India has so far refused to exert any pressure on Myanmar, instead choosing to balance ties with Dhaka [Bangladesh's capital / government] and Naypyidaw [Myanmar's capital / government] by sending humanitarian aid to both. But India’s soft, backfoot approach is being increasingly seen by Bangladesh -- which is hosting nearly a million Rohingya refugees -- to be tilted in Myanmar’s favour.
Bangladeshi journalist Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan argues that "Indian policy regarding the Rohingya crisis has always favoured Myanmar." He also flagged India’s recent abstention as another sign of New Delhi’s no-support for Dhaka on the Rohingya issue. It is clear that if India continues to tacitly favour Myanmar at international forums, its much-valued bilateral ties with Bangladesh may suffer greatly.
Instead of just pushing one-time economic aid into Bangladesh and Myanmar, India could have forged a regional ‘compact’ -- much like the Jordan Compact on Syria -- to ensure sustained humanitarian assistance in addressing the short- and long-term needs of the displaced Rohingya population. This would have ensured uniform donor interest and better monitoring of where aid is going to.
Instead, India has deported (or refouled) more than a dozen Rohingya refugees from its own territory [India] back to Myanmar -- in violation of international and domestic legal norms.
Using the geo-economic leverage that it enjoys with Myanmar, India could compel Myanmar to bring the alleged perpetrators of war crimes to book -- or at least get a guarantee that such conduct would not be repeated in the future.
But New Delhi does not want to corner Aung San Suu Kyi, whose own relations with the Generals remain dicey.For now, India is happy to be in a stable, but morally tenuous, friends-with-benefit relationship with Myanmar. The victims continue to be the stateless Rohingya.
-
(same essay at:
- The Hindu (alternate page) )
-
OPINION:
The grim reality behind
Rohingya crisis rhetoric
by Mohammad Zaman,
an international development / resettlement specialist, and advisory professor at the National Research Centre for Resettlement, Hohai University, Nanjing, China.
(NOTE: The author works for a university in authoritarian China, an ally of Myanmar. ~RCN editor)
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
-- via Asia News Network (ANN)
as published in The Nation (Thailand)
(NOTE: The quality of this media outlet is unknown.)
Repatriation to Myanmar is nowhere in sight as threat of disease and hostility from local hosts rises.
There are over a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh – the latest batch of 800,000 came after August 25, 2017, joining 250,000 that had arrived since the first exodus of mid-1990s.
As Myanmar nationals, Rohingya Muslims have historically faced ethnic and religious persecution -- culminating, in 2017, in a fierce, protracted genocidal campaign by the Myanmar army against its own people... that forced communities to seek shelter in Bangladesh -- unleashing a humanitarian crisis unprecedented in recent history.False starts:
In the last two years, there have been many twists and turns concerning the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees to their homeland:
-
First,
a repatriation agreement signed in November 2017 failed
due to the
unwillingness of the Myanmar government to recognise the rights and citizenship of Rohingya Muslims.
-
Second,
Myanmar imposed an unfair screening and verification process
to eliminate so-called illegal Bengali Rohingyas from the list of returnees.
-
Third, in November 2018,
a much-publicised repatriation bid, for some 2,000 families, was stalled after the refugees refused to return -- for fear
of fresh persecution and confinement
in newly-built camps across the border in Rakhine state.
-
Fourth,
the planned relocation of 100,000 Rohingya to Bhasan Char Island, in the Bay of Bengal, found no voluntary takers among the refugees
for such a remote home on a flood-prone island.
-
Finally, according to a UN official,
the repatriation plan is now at a "total standstill".
There is equal disquiet among Bangladesh government officials about the future of the refugee situation. The challenge is to find the right balance -- between...- the official rhetoric calling for their speedy return,
...and... - long-term plans for the refugees in Cox’s Bazar camps, supported largely by external aid and assistance.
The ongoing [refugee-relief] initiatives -- for more durable houses, improved roads, solar street lamps, training and employment for women, markets/shops within the camps, and finally provisions for schools for the kids -- are all indications of a much longer -- or even permanent -- stay.
* * *
Given the ongoing military atrocities against the Rohingya [still] inside Myanmar, the refugees in [Bangladesh's] Cox’s Bazar are not going back home any time soon. Aid workers, diplomats and humanitarian agencies working on long-term plans for improving camp conditions will not, however, publicly state this for fear of contradicting the official position.
* * *
At this point -- despite constant diplomatic efforts by Dhaka -- there seems to be no hope for immediate repatriation.
Indeed, the Myanmar government seems least interested in resolving the crisis. The military "clearance operation" is completed; the Myanmar army is sticking to its lies and deceptions, unwilling to give in to any demands of the international community.
* * *
Even the strategy to send back refugees to so-called "safe zones" inside Myanmar is not gaining any ground. If it does happen, which is unlikely, it would be tantamount to sending them to concentration camps, and robbing them of their future rights and citizenship – which are their primary demands.There cannot be any safe zones in Myanmar unless the perpetrators of the Rohingya crisis -- including the military generals who committed crimes against humanity and genocide -- are brought to justice.
* * *
No jobs, no schools, no hope:The current scenario offers no hope or relief for any prospective returnees to Myanmar, nor those stranded in Bangladesh camps.
-
The refugees...:
- are not allowed to work (although many sneak out to work);
- they can’t
- leave the camp,
- open a bank account, or
- own a mobile phone;
- and children can’t attend schools – which could lead to social and cultural integration.
The present overcrowded living conditions, poor quality of water, and inadequate vaccination, have left Rohingya refugees prone to contagious diseases. As a result, both the refugees and the host communities in Cox’s Bazar are reportedly vulnerable to serious health risks.
* * *
Meanwhile, the host communities are slowly turning hostile towards their "guests".
The concern is equally evident in Dhaka. At a recent meeting, leading economists and policy analysts rejected the idea of allowing the refugees access to the local labour market -- instead recommending their quick repatriation to ease pressure on Bangladesh. Thus, any plan for a long-term stay -- or opening the door for resettlement and integration -- would lead to conflicts with local communities, and raise a range of security issues for Bangladesh.
A Rohingya diaspora in Bangladesh also means a second-class status -- and extinction of Rohingya culture. Many refugees don’t want this to happen. They want to return to their homes and re-establish their life on their ancestral lands, with dignity and full rights as Myanmar nationals.
* * *
The Rohingya crisis has not run its course yet.
The Bangladesh government should continue to pursue voluntary, safe and dignified repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar.
Since the UN finds the situation to be at a "total standstill", Bangladesh should look elsewhere -- and work with India and China
for an acceptable resolution.
-
India has not been friendly to the Rohingya, and never supported Bangladesh in any international forum to solve the protracted Rohingya crisis.
Myanmar seems more important to India than Bangladesh -- due to India’s economic and geopolitical interests.
- China has a strong grip on Myanmar at various levels, including the government and the military establishments.
Bangladesh must seriously engage both China and India to find a resolution for a dignified return of the refugees. Until this happens, the crisis will continue and bring miseries to the refugee population as well as the host communities.
-
First,
a repatriation agreement signed in November 2017 failed
due to the
unwillingness of the Myanmar government to recognise the rights and citizenship of Rohingya Muslims.
-
VIDEO:
Bangladesh:
Rohingya refugee camp
prepares for monsoon season.
Some 1,400 rescuers take part in a disaster management drill in Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar.
- AFP on YouTube.com -
Nationwide drive
[in United Arab Emirates]
to generate donations
for Rohingya refugees
- Gulf News (U.A.E.)
(NOTE: The quality of this media outlet is unknown. It is in an authoritarian Arab country: the United Arab Emirates.)
Abu Dhabi: More than a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are slated to benefit from the latest humanitarian campaign of the Emirates Red Crescent Authority, after it launched a nationwide drive to generate donations for them, in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
The humanitarian campaign will also be publicised on local television stations from Friday to invite all residents across the country to participate in assisting Rohingya women and children. The current campaign is entitled, "From the UAE for Rohingya Children and Women".
There are 1.2 million refugees, in which 720,000 are children, 240,000 women, and 48,000 elderly, and they need food supplies, medical assistance, water, education and housing, according to Red Crescent officials.
International statistics indicate that among 1.2 million people, about 660,000 children lack access to basic health care services, clean water, food and education facilities; over 253,000 women don’t have access to clean water and sufficient food.
* * *
...at the headquarters of Emirates Red Crescent in Abu Dhabi, Dr Mohammad Ateeq Al Falahi, Director General of the authority, said: "So far, in Bangladesh, more than one million refugees have sheltered there. We need to benefit all of them especially the women and children.
"We target to reach all Rohingya refugees who have sheltered in different neighbouring countries of Myanmar. Since the trouble started a few years back they have started taking refugees in Bangladesh, at the same time, we also started providing them possible help," he said.Public participation:
"This time, our government decided to let the UAE people participate in helping Rohingya Muslim brothers and generate their donations. That’s why, this time, we allow -- through this campaign -- everybody to share," said Dr Al Falahi.
Before, different organisations from the UAE were working there; but now, 20 UAE humanitarian organisations will work together as one team, and maximise our reach to needy people," he said.
* * *
There are a number of different UAE organisations working in refugee camps in Bangladesh, [including] Emirates Red Crescent, who have so far spent Dh5.5 million (US$1.4 million), alone, ...more than 700,000 people have benefited from the Red Crescent’s actions, alone.
"We build wells, provided them with clean water, medical assistance, plastic sheets, constructed temporary houses and gave food. We also cooperated with Bangladesh Red Crescent," he said.-
The campaign is being launched under directives of
- President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan,
- His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, and
- His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
"We feel proud that the UAE was the first country which started humanitarian efforts in Bangladesh for Rohingya refugees and carried out a number of projects for the benefits of children and women in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Affairs, Saudi Arabia and Malaysian hospitals," added Dr Al Falahi.
What is the Rohingya crisis?
The Rohingya people are a mostly Muslim minority group (some Hindu) residing in the western state of Rakhine in Myanmar. The crisis refers to their mass migration following ethnic cleansing by Myanmar’s majority Buddhist regime.
When it began?
Rohingya have always been a sidelined minority in Myanmar, but this latest crisis started with anti-Muslim riots in 2012. Evidence of human rights abuses surfaced on a much wider scale in 2015, and mass migration into neighbouring countries has continued since.
How many people have been displaced?
Since 2015, over 900,000 of the 1.3 million total Rohingya population in Myanmar have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh alone. More than 100,000 are being held in confinement camps in Myanmar. More than 24,000 have been killed, and 18,000 have been raped, since 2017 alone.
-
UNHCR:
Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
Face Water Shortage.
- VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
The U.N. refugee agency [UNHCR] says water rations for tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees, in Bangladesh, have been cut, because of a serious shortage.
The U.N. refugee agency reports that temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), and sporadic rainfall, have reduced the region's water supply to a critically low level.
UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic says aid agencies will begin trucking in water in the next two weeks for the more than 140,000 Rohingya refugees living southeast Bangladesh's Teknaf Peninsula. He estimates the operation will cost about $60,000 a month.
Because of the growing shortage, the UNHCR began rationing the refugees' daily water supply.
"We are talking here about 20 liters [about 5 gallons] a day," Mahecic said. "This is a minimum standard in an emergency -- and we, because of the shortage of water, had to go even lower now -- to 15 liters [about 4 gallons] a day, per person. This is supposed to meet all of peoples' needs for water during the day. So, from hygiene, preparing food, sanitation, everything."
* * *
Mahecic notes the situation is different in the northern part of Bangladesh's Teknaf Peninsula, where the 900,000 Rohingya refugees living in the Kutupalong settlement in Cox's Bazar have water available through boreholes.
* * *
The dry spell in the southern part of the peninsula is expected to last a few more weeks, andwill likely be broken when the monsoon season begins in June.
In preparation, Mahecic says the UNHCR is building better facilities to capture and preserve rain water. He said hundreds of refugees are participating in a project to create a reservoir to capture monsoon rain in Teknaf and preserve it throughout the year.
The project -- run by the World Food Program, with humanitarian agency ADRA, and supported by UNHCR -- should temporarily improve the situation.-
(U. N. statement at:
- U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
- UNHCR-Canada ) -
Strategic support necessary
to deal with Rohingya crisis:
~UNHCR envoy.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Ambassador, and prominent South Korean actor, Jung Woo-sung has laid emphasis on a 'strategic support' plan for the Rohingya people and their host community in Bangladesh, amid the absence of a political solution to Rohingya crisis.
"Although there was a great support from the Bangladesh government as well the host community, I still see a lack of political solution for the Rohingya refugees," he told UNB in an interview during his second visit to Bangladesh to see the Rohingya situation on the ground.
* * *
Talking about his role in helping these vulnerable people, the UNHCR envoy said there are people who do not even get to know about them, as the conflicts continue other parts of the world.
"There's a need for everyone to know about these problems globally. So, my role is to share the stories to people in Korea, and around Asia, and the plights of refugees -- which I believe, may lead to a solution for them," said Jung, who has undertaken extensive awareness and fundraising activities for [the] Rohingyas [whom] he has met in Cox's Bazar, twice.
He thanked the government of Bangladesh and the local community expressing his deep respect for showing the generosity by giving Rohingya people shelter safely.
The UNHCR Goodwill envoy expressed satisfaction over the progress made so far -- though he still sees a lack of political solution for the Rohingya people.
Responding to a question, he said the number of "persons of concern" (refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people and returnees) globally was 45 million. "Now in 2019, the number has increased deeply to almost 70 million."
According to UNHCR 2018 data, an unprecedented 68.5 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 25.4 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18.
* * *
A Joint Response Plan (JRP), launched in February 2019 in Geneva, has estimated US$ 920 million funds to meet humanitarian needs of Rohingya people and vulnerable Bangladesh host community in 2019. As of mid-May, only 18 percent of the required fund is managed.
Asked how celebrities contribute to the benefits of the refugees, Jung said the UNHCR, and other partner agencies, have their specific needs to support the situation. "I've never seen a situation or an emergency situation that was fully funded."
He said for him as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, it is his role to ask individuals and people to continue raising funds and give funds for the refugees. "And celebrities like me could also personally make donation."
Jung, however, said it is important that they do not force people to donate or support refugees, but continue to persuade them. "It's very important to continue the support for them. This brings me back to Bangladesh for my second time."
* * *
The film star said he is very happy to hear that there are many fans in Bangladesh. "And I'm actually honoured to know of it," he said -- adding that he is not sure through which movies or films the fans got to know of his work. ... -
U.N. PRESS RELEASE:
Rohingya refugee men
join push to
curb sexual violence.
Volunteer outreach programme in Bangladesh refugee settlements recruits men to challenge gender violence, forced marriages.
- U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
When he hears sexual insults or slurs targeting women, Rohingya refugee Mohammed challenges them.
"When we talk of sexual violence, I say to a boy, ‘You are born of a mother. You have a sister,’" he says.
"For a young man who thinks of women, I tell him to think of his mother or sister. ‘Would you want something to happen to them?’"
Mohammed is a refugee role model, one of 105 in the giant complex of refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar District, which is now home to nearly one million Rohingya refugees.
* * *
While facing persecution and exclusion in Myanmar, the Rohingya lived in well-spaced village communities in which self-correcting traditional practices flourished.
The violent conditions under which Rohingya refugees were uprooted from their homes, coupled with the unnatural living conditions in the densely populated camps, are among the principal drivers of abusive behaviour in exile.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, supports the identification, counselling and referral to services for all survivors, including men and boys.
The role model programme seeks to encourage men to challenge sexual harassment and violence in exile, and rethink complex gender issues which sometimes lead to violent disputes.
"We need to educate these young men. So we need to explain what we’re doing and what they can do," says Mohammed, 23, another role model volunteer in the settlements, where residents are safe, housed and fed, but have few opportunities to work or study formally.
"Many of these young men say: We are useless!" Mohammed says. "Many are uneducated. They feel they can do things with a young woman … and feel they can get away with it."
Mohammed is part of a group of five young men in their late teens and twenties, working alongside an imam in the settlement to challenge these attitudes.
The young men, who are all community volunteers, are trained to identify issues arising from domestic violence, early marriage, dowry payments, polygamy and aggressive behaviour towards women. They were trained through role-playing as perpetrators, victims and bystanders, according to UNHCR programme coordinator Jahidur Rahman.
"Our role in this was to show how to change bystanders into change makers," Rahman says. The programme is new and, to launch it, the organizers set up meetings in mosques and community centres. The young role models were encouraged to work through sports, as a path to build trust with the community.
* * *
In a direct outreach to women and girls -- who make up more than half the population of the camps -- a network of refugee women volunteers go door-to-door throughout the settlement. If they suspect evidence of sexual violence, they contact camp authorities and have the victim moved to a woman-friendly space.
* * *
"I heard about the discussions concerning sexual violence, and I wanted to get involved," Imam Mohammed says.
"The camp staff asked me to identify the biggest problems in the community," [Imam Mohammed says.] "From the list, I saw a major problem of child marriage, and a rising divorce rate. I sat down with community leaders, and we prepared a document for the camp authorities. I included the Holy Koran, which prohibits violence against wives, and which discourages dowries when there is no money."
Early marriage and dowries are often linked. Parents who arrange the marriage of a daughter are relieved from supporting her, but the price is a dowry. And money in the camps is scarce.
Ahmed, another role model leader, explains how the process becomes enmeshed in violence.
"Sometimes, if the dowry is supposed to be 60,000 Taka (roughly US$700), the parents can’t pay the whole amount. So they negotiate a down payment and promise to pay the rest later."
He then describes with pride how he persuaded two families to forego a dowry to preserve harmony. "And the neighbours accepted the idea," he says, "because it was better for the community than violence."
That sense of pride is evident in all the young men as they describe their work in the community.
At the beginning some may have joined simply to have something to do. But now they’re part of the team, they see themselves as leaders in the community. And their work also emphasizes the importance of men in this process.
"I spend two to three hours a day working on this," says Ahmed. "When I play football, when I see someone doing or saying bad things, I start by talking to them."
The initial success of the programme has led to plans to expand it. The pride and persuasive skills of the young role models is helping to alleviate tensions and bring communities together, even though it will take longer to tackle the underlying causes.
-
UAE raises Dh33 million
[(US$9 million)]
for Rohingya refugees.
Gulf News (U.A.E.)
(NOTE: The quality of this media outlet is unknown. It is in an authoritarian Arab country: the United Arab Emirates.)
Abu Dhabi: A nationwide campaign to support Rohingya refugees raised Dh33 million on its first day on Friday, with residents across the country showing their support. Launched by the Emirates Red Crescent, the humanitarian initiative -- "From the UAE for Rohingya Children and Women" -- aims to provide the more than 1 million displaced refugees with food supplies, medical assistance, clean water, education and housing. According to international statistics, the vast majority of Rohingya refugees are made up of women and children -- with at least 660,000 children lacking access to health care services, education, food and water, and over 253,000 women having no access to clean water and sufficient food. ...
-
Rohingya massacre:
Myanmar grants soldiers
early release.
Myanmar Soldiers Jailed
for Killing Rohingya
Served Less Time in Prison
Than the Journalists
Who Exposed Them.
The only people to have been convicted for the 2017 crackdown on Rohingya, in Myanmar's western Rakhine State, have been released (apparently in November) -- after serving less than a year of their 10-year sentences for aiding or committing murder.
This news follows last month's release of the two journalists who were imprisoned after they discovered and reported the soldiers' crimes.
BBC News
Seven soldiers jailed in Myanmar for killing 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys have been released early from prison.
These 10 Rohingya villagers were photographed by a Rakhine Buddhist villager shortly before they were ordered into a mass grave, where they were shot by Myanmar soliders, and some stabbed or hacked to death by Rakhine Buddhist villagers. ©2017 SkyNews
The soldiers were sentenced in 2018 to 10 years in prison for the Inn Din village killings, but they "are no longer detained", prison officials say.
Reuters [news service], which uncovered the massacre and first reported the early releases, said the men were freed in November.
They are the only people to have been convicted for the 2017 crackdown on Rohingya in the western Rakhine State.
* * *
On Monday, a spokesperson for the prison department told reporters that the seven soldiers convicted over the Inn Din executions were "no longer detained in our prisons," without giving further details.
One of the soldiers confirmed to Reuters that he had been released but declined to comment further, saying: "We were told to shut up."
Two fellow inmates told the news agency that the release came in November -- less than a year into the 10-year prison term.
* * *
The journalists who exposed the massacre [Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo] were sentenced to seven years in prison for their reporting. [They] were granted a presidential amnesty in May after serving 16 months.
* * *
Authorities launched a probe into the Inn Din killings after the journalists' investigative work was published.
The massacre -- and the jailing of the journalists investigating it -- is seen by observers as indicative of the army's role in the treatment of Rohingya in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
What was the Inn Din massacre?
These 10 Rohingya villagers were photographed by a Rakhine Buddhist villager shortly before they were ordered into a mass grave, where they were shot by Myanmar soliders, and some stabbed to death by Rakhine Buddhist villagers. ©2017 SkyNews
The final report by Reuters gathered testimonies from a range of participants -- including Buddhist villagers who confessed to killing Rohingya Muslims and torching their homes. Accounts from paramilitary police also directly implicated the military.
A group of Rohingya men seeking safety on a beach were singled out, as their village was raided, the report said.
Buddhist men from the village were then ordered to dig a grave, and then the 10 men were killed -- at least two hacked to death by the Buddhist villagers, with the rest shot by the army.
This was thought to be the first time soldiers had been implicated with photographic evidence and by fellow security personnel.Who was jailed?
The military eventually confirmed the massacre had taken place -- and, in April 2018, 10 soldiers were sentenced to prison for their involvement in the killings.
The soldiers were to serve 10 years of hard labour for "contributing and participating in murder."
The two journalists were arrested before their findings were published, after being handed documents by two policemen who they had met at a restaurant for the first time.
Reuters News Service reporters Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, in handcuffs, being taken to court. ©2018 BBC (U.K.)
The [reporters] were charged with violating the country's Official Secrets Act. But a police witness testified, during their trial, that the restaurant meeting was a set-up to entrap the men.
Aside from the Inn Din killings, the military exonerated itself of any wrongdoing in Rakhine -- despite large amounts of testimony from Rohingya refugees describing atrocities.-
(same topic, extensive additional details, at:
- Reuters / MSN.com
- RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
- TIME Magazine (USA)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
- France24.com (France)
- Anadolu Agency (Turkey)- (CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.)
-
(NOTE: The credibility of this source is unknown. This source may be subject to Myanmar military control, although it has exhibited some independent reporting in the past, and has faced Myanmar government retribution.)
)
-
Rohingya repatriation:
UNHCR, UNDP signs
extension of MoU
with Myanmar.
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), today signed extension of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Myanmar for one year -- aimed at creating conducive conditions for voluntary and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya from Bangladesh.
The MoU was first signed in Naypyiday on June 6 last year, which has been extended for one more year.
The MoU provides a framework of cooperation to create improved and resilient livelihoods for all communities living in northern Rakhine state, according to a press release.
All the parties – UNHCR, UNDP and Myanmar’s Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population – have reaffirmed their full commitment to the timely and effective implementation of the MoU, it said.
* * *
Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a deal on repatriation of the Rohingya in November, three months after some 750,000 Rohingya had fled military crackdown by the Myanmar military.
Repatriation was scheduled to start in November last year, but the Rohingyas did not agree, saying the conditions in Myanmar were not conducive.
* * *
Talking about the extension of the tripartite MoU, Ro Nay San Lwin -- coordinator of Free Rohingya Coalition, a worldwide network of Rohingya diaspora -- said to The Daily Star that it is regrettable that the UN is cooperating with Myanmar, which is not doing anything to improve the conditions of Rakhine [state] for their return.
"UN agencies have not even consulted the Rohingyas, the survivors of genocide," he told The Daily Star, from Germany, over phone.
There is no guarantee of safety of the Rohingya or their citizenship there. The genocide survivors cannot return to a country under such conditions, he said -- demanding that the UN should expose these to the world. -
UAE’s Rohingya campaign
raises Dhs50m
[(US$13.6 million)],
widens ambit on social media.
WAM / Gulf Today (U.A.E.)
(NOTE: The quality of this source is unknown. It is in an authoritarian Arab country: the United Arab Emirates.)
As the UAE’s campaign to support Rohingya refugees raised around Dhs50 million during the first three days, the authorities are trying to spread its message to more people with support of social media influencers.
The latest move is inspired by the UAE’s past experience of receiving unexpected support of people from distant lands, since the advent of technological tools, a senior official told WAM.
"Since we started using the latest technological tools -- such as online payment system and social media -- a few years ago, people from distant foreign lands have been donating money (through electric money transfer), and some social media influencers abroad have been voluntarily promoting our humanitarian campaigns," said Fahad Abdulrahman bin Sultan, Deputy Secretary-General for International Aid at the Emirates Red Crescent.
"This underscored the UAE’s global reputation and credibility as an honest and efficient organiser of relief programmes and we are trying to utilise that experience (by engaging social media influencers to widen the campaign's ambit)." ...
-
Amnesty International Report
Says Myanmar Military Is
Again Committing War Crimes.
NPR (National Public Radio)-
(same article at:
- NPR / Oregon Public Broadcasting (USA) )
In a new report released Wednesday, the organization claims "indiscriminate" attacks against civilians began on Jan. 4, after the Arakan Army (an ethnic Rakhine armed group) launched a series of coordinated attacks on police posts that left 13 officers dead.
The Arakan Army is one of several insurgent groups fighting Myanmar government forces and is made up of ethnic Buddhists. The government considers the group a terrorist organization.
The ambush prompted the government to order military forces, including new units, to "crush" the group, spawning fresh, and perhaps more egregious, violations than those committed in 2017, Amnesty International contends.
"Less than two years since the world outrage over the mass atrocities committed against the Rohingya population, the Myanmar military is again committing horrific abuses against ethnic groups in Rakhine State," said Amnesty International's Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia, Nicholas Bequelin, in a statement.
ABOVE: In 2017, across Myanmar's Rakhine state, thousands of Rohingya homes, across hundreds of villages, were set afire by the Myanmar army and Rakhine neighbors... sometimes with Rohingya men, women and children trapped inside by attackers. ©2017 BBC
"The new operations in Rakhine State show an unrepentant, unreformed and unaccountable military -- terrorizing civilians, and committing widespread violations, as a deliberate tactic."
Evidence gathered from interviews, photographs and satellite imagery indicate
In 2017, these 10 Rohingya villagers were photographed by a Rakhine Buddhist villager shortly before they were ordered into a mass grave, where they were shot by Myanmar soliders, and some stabbed or hacked to death by Rakhine Buddhist villagers. ©2017 SkyNews -
troops are:
- instigating violent clashes,
- carrying out extrajudicial executions,
- conducting arbitrary arrests,
- torturing prisoners, and
- destroying historical sites,
* * *
While the military campaign has been directed at quashing an Arakan rebellion, the vulnerable Rohingya population is also a target -- as well as other Buddhists and Christians.
According to the report, a military helicopter opened fire on Rohingya laborers cutting bamboo on April 3 -- killing at least six men and boys, and injuring at least 13 others.
"The helicopter came from behind the mountain," a survivor of the attack told Amnesty International. "Within minutes, it fired rockets. I was running for my life, thinking about my family and how I would survive."
* * *
Meanwhile, Amnesty International says the government military isn't the only force committing atrocities. The Arakan Army is also perpetrating human rights violations, victimizing local villages and businesses.
Rebel soldiers have "threatened and intimidated village administrators and local business people, warning them in letters against interfering with the group's activities. The letters were each accompanied by a bullet and bore the [Arakan Army's] official seal."
* * *
BELOW: Fleeing the Myanmar army and ethnic Rakhine neighbors, Rohingya refugees walk on a muddy path as others travel on a boat after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar (Burma) border, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 6, 2017. ©2017 Reuters
Amnesty International estimates about 30,000 people have been displaced by the conflict since January. Nearly all humanitarian aid has been blocked, and -- as both sides continue to destroy farmland and harvests -- human rights groups are warning of a "looming food insecurity crisis."
The report follows the release of two Reuters reporters earlier this month, after spending more than 500 days in prison. They were captured after reporting the massacre of 10 Rohingya men, at Inn Din, in Rakhine, in 2017. The investigation earned the pair a Pulitzer Prize last month.
Amnesty International said it is imperative to step up international pressure on Myanmar's government -- advocating for targeted sanctions, and a comprehensive arms embargo, by the International Criminal Court.
"With Myanmar's military committing atrocities as brazenly as ever, it's clear international pressure needs to intensify," Bequelin said. "Again and again, the international community has failed to stop the Myanmar military's crimes and protect the civilian population. The [U.N.] Security Council was established to respond to exactly these kinds of situations; it's time it took its responsibility seriously."-
(Official statement at:
- Amnesty International )-
(same topic at:
- ITV News (U.K.)
...which adds:
Last month, the main UN human rights agency expressed concern about the upsurge in fighting, especially attacks on civilians by both sides.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the agency had "credible reports of the killing of civilians, burning of houses, arbitrary arrests, abductions, indiscriminate fire in civilian areas, and damage to cultural property".-
(same topic at:
- BBC News
- [London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)
- AAP / Canberra Times (Australia)
- AFP / Asia One (Singapore)-
(NOTE: While AFP has high credibility,
the credibility of Asia One is unknown.)-
(NOTE: The credibility of this source is unknown.)
-
(U.S. propaganda radio)
-
Myanmar police hunt
radical Buddhist monk
over Suu Kyi comments.
Ashin Wirathu, at forefront of radical nationalist movement, known for extremist language.
[Wirathu is blamed for largely inciting the 2017 violence against the Rohingya. ~RCN Editor]
- The Guardian (U.K.)-
(same topic at:
- Fox News
- New York Times )
(same article at: The Guardian (U.K.)
in The Irish Times (Ireland) )
Myanmar police have issued an arrest warrant for Ashin Wirathu, a firebrand monk known as the "Buddhist Bin Laden", over alleged incendiary remarks about Aung San Suu Kyi.
Wirathu has long been accused of inciting sectarian violence against Myanmar’s Muslims -- in particular the Rohingya community -- through hate-filled, Islamaphobic speeches.
The monk, who is at the forefront of Myanmar’s radical nationalist movement, supported the military crackdown on the Rohingya in August 2017 in Rahkine state. The UN has since defined the military violence as ethnic cleansing which was carried out with "genocidal intent".
* * *
The police confirmed on Tuesday that a warrant had been issued for Wirathu’s arrest under article 124(a) of the legal code. It covers sedition -- defined as "attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government". The charge carries a three-year sentence.
It is believed to be connected to defamatory comments made by Wirathu about Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
The police were still trying to hunt down the monk on Wednesday. He usually lives in his own compound within the Masoeyein monastery in Mandalay but his whereabouts were currently unknown.
If he is charged, this would not be Wirathu’s first time in prison. He was first jailed in 2003 by the military junta, but released in 2012, under an amnesty -- and began touring the country, whipping up hatred against Muslims with his extremist sermons.
While a senior Buddhist council temporarily prevented Wirathu from preaching, over the past few months he has been a regular feature at pro-military rallies -- again stirring up anti-Muslim sentiment by calling for boycotts of Muslim businesses, and referring to the Rohingya as illegal immigrants.
He has also been banned from Facebook since January 2018 and he was banned from entering Thailand last month.
While Buddhism espouses non-violence, Wirathu has openly said he is "proud to be called a radical Buddhist." ... In a 2013 sermon, [he] said of Muslims in Myanmar: "You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog."
Speaking at a rally in October, the monk spoke out against attempts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the crimes against the Rohingya in Rahkine. "The day when the ICC comes here," he said, "is the day that Wirathu holds a gun." -
[Bangladesh police make]
16-point recommendations
to ensure security
in Rohingya camps.
A section of the Rohingyas is getting involved in crime which is triggering violence, murder and other breaches of law
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
To ensure security in the Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps, 16 recommendations were sent from the police to relevant quarters.
The 16 point recommendations include...:- stoppage of holding indiscriminate illegal markets,
- forming of a valid guideline for bazaars,
- placement of light posts and CCTV cameras,
- stopping use of illegal [cellphone] SIMs by Rohingyas,
- establishment of barbed wire fences, and
- ensuring presence of rehabilitation official at the camps at night.
According to several sources, the situation at the camps undergo a massive change at night with several depraved Rohingyas engaged in open trade and abuse of narcotics along with other unlawful acts. This is created due to absence of electricity and problems related to infrastructure.
A section of the Rohingyas is getting involved in crime which is triggering violence, murder and other breaches of law.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said: "Unless Myanmar repatriates the Rohingyas, they may become victims of international terrorism, which will threaten not only Bangladesh but the whole world."
In the last 21 months, many Rohingyas have become involved in murder, smuggling, rape and human trafficking.
In the same period, 328 cases were lodged with 711 accused. Of these, there were 31 murders, 31 cases related to illegal weapons and 118 linked to drugs.
[NOTE: These crime statistics, for a cramped refugee population of over one-million, are arguably trivial in comparison to the crime statistics for any typically violent major American city. ~RCN Editor]
Reportedly the older Rohingyas have sophisticated weapons.
But Cox’s Bazar police Superintendent (SP) ABM Masud Hossain, says: "We have ensured 24 hour police presence at the camps; joint forces are carrying out patrols and 24 hour police presence has been confirmed."
Most of the crimes committed in the camps were related to extortion from illegally established markets and family feuds; also, the weapons recovered are locally made and not modern, he observed.
Recommendations have been made to improve communication, power, CCTVs and barbed wire fences, said the police officer, adding: "Once these are in place, the situation will become normal."
-
VIDEO & TEXT:
In world’s largest refugee camp,
Rohingya children face a desperate choice
Rohingya children, refused access to Bangladesh schools, get little or no schooling in refugee camps -- and almost none beyond 5th grade. A handful break the law to get a basic education.
PBS News Hour
Profiled example:
10-year-old Rohingya refugee girl
defies father's plans to marry her off;
With mother's help, she
defys Bangladesh law, and
runs away to Bangla school. -
Tokyo stands by Bangladesh
over Rohingya repatriation issue.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Japan today extended its full support to Bangladesh’s call for safe and dignified return of Rohingyas to their homeland as the two countries came up with a joint press statement following talks between Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina and her counterpart Shizo Abe. ...
* * *
[Hasina also thanked Japan for a US$2.5 billion development loan, and said the two nations were working on closer relations and various shared interests and concerns, detailed in the article. ~RCN editor]-
(same topic at:
- NHK World (Japan) )
-
VIDEO:
Rohingya Relocation Plan
Raising Concerns.
- NHK World (Japan)
The number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh has reached 900,000 with the majority living in refugee camps. In an attempt to ease congestion, the Bangladeshi government hopes to transfer some of them to an uninhabited island. But as NHK World's Orie Sugimoto reports, the plan is not without controversy. ... -
OIC condemns inhumane situation
of Myanmar's Rohingya.
Reuters News Service
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit [in Cairo, Egypt] condemned the inhumane situation of Rohingya Muslims, urging a halt to violence, it said in a statement on Saturday.
The summit in Mecca also stressed that Myanmar’s government has the responsibility to protect its citizens, the statement added.
[NOTE: Among major international organizations, he OIC is second only to the U.N. in the number of member nations. It represents over 50 Muslim-dominated nations throughout the world. ~RCN Editor]-
(same article at:
- Reuters / U.S. News ) -
Bangladesh Coast Guard picks up
58 Malaysia-bound Rohingya
at sea.
- The Star (Malaysia)
Bangladesh coast guards on Thursday (May 30) stopped 58 Rohingya refugees from making a potentially dangerous journey to Malaysia by sea and arrested two suspected traffickers, an official said.
Acting on a tip-off, a patrol ship challenged a fishing boat near Saint Martin's, a small Bangladesh island in the Bay of Bengal, and found the Rohingya on board, coast guard Lieutenant Josel Rana said.
"We've found 58 refugees and detained two human traffickers on the boat," he told AFP. ...
* * *
So far this year, law enforcement agencies in Bangladesh have rescued over 400 Rohingya refugees from coastal villages as they were waiting to board boats bound for Malaysia.
But this is the first time in 2019 that Rohingya refugees were rescued at sea, raising concerns that the situation in Bangladesh's overcrowded camps - home to nearly one million - is worsening. ... -
OPINION:
The World Bank is rewarding
ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.
by Azeem Ibrahim,
Center for Global Policy.
- Washington Post
This month, the World Bank published a proposal for a $100 million development project in Rakhine state, the region of western Myanmar that recently saw the systematic ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim community. The aim of the project is to fund credit for small businesses in the region and boost economic development.
Aiding local economic development in a conflict-torn region sounds like a good idea on paper. But as many nongovernmental groups involved in the region point out, the World Bank is pushing ahead with its plans even though the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine is not even close to resolution
* * *
About 1 million Rohingya remain in refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh — almost the entire pre-2017 Rohingya population of western Myanmar. The international community has done nothing to hold individuals in the Myanmar state apparatus to account for the ethnic cleansing of the past two years. And the government of Myanmar has done nothing to implement civil and legal protections for Rohingya individuals so that they can return to the country of their birth.
This World Bank funding project also attaches no conditions on Myanmar in order to access this funding. To spell it out: The World Bank is funding a state that has carried out ethnic cleansing in just the past 24 months, with no strings attached.
The armed forces of the federal state of Myanmar and the local police have burned down Rohingya villages and bulldozed Rohingya mosques, and then proceeded to reallocate lands and cattle to local Buddhist-nationalist supporters.
And now the World Bank is helping to fund the redevelopment of the region for the benefit of the occupying settlers.
To be sure, $100 million for a development project is not a large amount. But the signal this sends is catastrophic. This project demonstrates that the international community and the institutional order of the West simply do not care about crimes against humanity. ...
-
Rohingya refugees prepare camps
for monsoon season.
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
As monsoon season begins in Bangladesh, Rohingya refugees are working with humanitarian agencies to fortify the flood-prone terrain where they have taken refuge.... reports, pictures from Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh... -
Rohingya Refugee Camps
Turn to LPG, Reforestation
to Save Depleted
Bangladesh Forests
- IOM (Int'l Org.for Migration)
at ReliefWeb.int
In mid-2017 violence across the border in Myanmar drove nearly a million Rohingya onto the previously uninhabited hillsides of Cox’s Bazar.
Families desperate for fuel to cook the rations they received from aid agencies scoured the area looking for firewood. The result, according to IOM, was the deforestation of some 7,000 hectares [(17,200 acres; or 27 square miles)].
With the monsoon and cyclone season fast approaching, the implications of a treeless landscape in and around the camps are stark. Soil erosion is a growing problem and there is an ever-present risk of deadly landslides triggered by heavy rains.
In 2018 the humanitarian community in Cox’s Bazar stepped in to address the problem, launching programmes to reduce the need firewood and to replant trees in and around the refugee camps.
IOM, in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), launched "Safe Plus" – a project to provide the refugees and local communities with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) stoves and fuel, while rehabilitating deforested areas.
Under the scheme, refugees and local villagers are given LPG stoves, fuel tanks and access to re-fills. Some 45,000 LPG stoves have already been distributed, with a target of 80,000 by June.
* * *
The LPG programme has been universally welcomed by the refugees and local communities, who say it reduces their spending on firewood and means cleaner air in their homes and in the camp.
It also reduces the risk of violence for women forced to walk further from the camp to collect increasingly scarce firewood. ...
[article includes contact info on IOM-Bangladesh rep.George McLeod] -
Rohingya crisis a lesson for world
...[Bangladesh Prime Minister]
tells conference in Tokyo
-- says Dhaka preferred talks over discord, despite provocation.
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the Rohingya crisis is a lesson for other situations of crises in the region, and elsewhere in the world, to overcome chaos with the power of peace, humanity and development.
"We have sought dialogue and consensus over discord, even in the face of extreme provocation and crisis. We are not only responding to a humanitarian call, but we’re also aware about not allowing the crisis to escalate into chaos and regional instability," she said.
The PM was delivering her keynote speech at the 25th International Nikkei Conference on Future of Asia at Imperial Hotel [in Tokyo, Japan] yesterday ...
- 2019 June 1 - Saturday
-
[Bangladesh's Prime Minister]
seeks OIC support
to launch Rohingya case
at [the International Court of Justice]
She urged all to demonstrate zero tolerance for terror
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought the support of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states to launch the Rohingya case at the International Court of Justice—with funding and technical help—to ensure the legal rights of Rohingyas and address the question of accountability and justice.The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is one of the world's largest multi-national alliances -- second only to the United Nations in the size of membership. It is comprised of 57 mostly-Muslim nations across Africa, Asia, Europe and various ocean islands. The organization has had limited effect in its efforts, owing largely to the wide range of geographic, religious, cultural, political and economic differences between (and within) the member countries -- several of whom have warred with each other.
The OIC was formed in 1969 over widespread Muslim concern about Palestinian / Israeli affairs and conflicts.
~RCN Editor.
Mentioning that the Abu Dhabi Conference of Foreign Ministers (CFM) held in March created a pathway to move the International Court of Justice she said: "We thank Gambia for steering the process this far. We are appealing to the member states to support launching the case with voluntary funding and technical help."
The prime minister was speaking on behalf of the Asia Group at the 14th OIC Makkah Al Mukarramah Summit titled "Hand in Hand Towards the Future" at Safa Palace on Saturday, reports UNB.
Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh has sheltered more than 1.1 million forcibly displaced Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar despite resource constraints.
"But their dignified return is still uncertain – as Myanmar consistently fails to honour its promises to create a conducive environment for return to Northern Rakhine," she said.
Mentioning that poverty still remains the biggest challenge, the premier said it is both a cause and a consequence of ignorance, disasters, and eroding human values.
She stressed the need to implement the "OIC-2025: Programme of Action" through joint Islamic action to address this anomaly.
The prime ministers also urged the OIC to devise a comprehensive strategy to meet the adverse changes in the strategic spaces in a world facing the challenges of economy, ecology, and security.
"In a world faced with challenges of economy, ecology, and security, the OIC has to devise a comprehensive strategy to meet adverse changes in the strategic spaces in which each of us operates as states," she said.
"We have more than a third of the world's strategic resources and the majority of its youth. We, ourselves, should able to solve our own problems," she continued.
Sheikh Hasina urged all to pursue a course of zero tolerance for terror, prevent territories be used by any individual or group for launching a terror or extremist agenda, and fight it together.
To this end, she recalled her four-point formula for the Muslim world—announced at the Riyadh conference—which were: stop the supply of arms, stop the flows of terrorist financing, remove divisions within the Muslim Ummah, and pursue the peaceful settlement of conflicts through dialogue.
The premier said it is heartening to see the OIC is taking a much-needed path of reform and renovation to adapt to the twenty-first century.
"While we change and adapt, we must aim for the values of Islam —fraternity, equality, and justice—as demonstrated by Rasul-E-Kareem (SA)," she said.
She said Islam—which came as a harbinger of light to a dark world—is now misconstrued with the ideology of extremism and violence because of its misinterpretations.
Regarding the recent terror attacks in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, she extended sympathies and solidarity to the bereaved families of the Christchurch attacks. She also condemned the terror attacks in Sri Lanka— which killed one of her grandchildren—eight-year-old Sheikh Zayan.
"We share the pain and agony of helpless peoples of Palestine, Syria, and elsewhere getting mercilessly murdered every day. Let this summit set the course—under your Majesty's stewardship—to turn the tide. Let there be a beginning of an end to the Muslim indignity and misery," she said.
Mentioning that OIC was conceived to get back the land and sovereign rights of its Palestinian brothers and sisters, safeguard dignity and rights, and strengthen solidarity and cooperation amongst peoples of the Muslim world, Sheikh Hasina said: "Seven decades on, the Palestine question still persists, and our nations and communities still stand divided.
"We should make the best use of OIC institutions—like the Islamic Development Bank—by synchronizing their policies and practices with OIC agenda under the program."
Saying that the Islamic world today needs to incubate ideas and innovation into marketable products and services, she invited all to participate in turning the Islamic University of Technology (IUT)—which Bangladesh is hosting—into a centre of excellence.
She sought OIC members countries' support for Bangladesh candidate -- an expert in migration studies and action -- Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque for the post of deputy director general of International Organization for Migration.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud hosted the conference of the OIC, comprising 57 member states, to develop a unified stance of Muslim leaders on rising tensions in the Gulf.
The OIC first met a month after an arson attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on August 21, 1969.-
(same topic at:
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh) )
-
South China Sea dispute,
Rohingya crisis
are key regional threats:
~Malaysian defence minister.
- Straits Times (Singapore)
Disturbances in the South China Sea, the movement of Rohingyas in the region, and non-traditional security threats (such as maritime and cyber security risks) pose the biggest challenges to the region, Malaysia's Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu said on Saturday (June 1).
The region needs to build on collaborative defence diplomacy to deal with these challenges, Mr Mohamad said in his address to the Shangri-La Dialogue.
* * *
He... highlighted the large movement of Rohingya refugees as [a] regional challenge.
"The plight of Rohingyas has snowballed into a crisis. No longer is the situation in (Myanmar's) Rakhine a domestic conflict.
"Malaysia will continue to subscribe to the Asean* principle of non-interference. But the widespread movement of Rohingyas creates instability," he said, adding that it could be a factor in extremism.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have fled Myanmar in recent years, many of them heading to Bangladesh where they have been living in temporary camps, while they await a decision on their future, and repatriation back to Myanmar. Some, however, have made their way to neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.
But reports that have hinted at their involvement with terrorism have raised alarm bells.
Last month, Malaysia arrested four men who were said to be planning attacks on temples and churches to avenge the death of a Malay-Muslim fireman, who died from injuries sustained after he responded to an emergency call at a Hindu temple, where a riot had taken place last November.
There were people who felt that the government had not suitably addressed his death.
Of the four people arrested, two were ethnic Rohingyas.
* [ASEAN - Association of SouthEast Asian Nations] -
UAE raises Dh65 million
[(US$17.7 million)]
for Rohingya refugees
Funds to help provide displaced lot with food, medical aid, water, education and housing.
- Gulf News (U.A.E.)
(NOTE: The quality of this media outlet is unknown. It is in an authoritarian Arab country: the United Arab Emirates.)
The weeklong fund-raising campaign in support of Rohingya refugees -- that began in the last week of May -- has raised Dh65 million, the Emirates Red Crescent Authority (ERC) announced on Saturday.
Expected to support more than a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the nationwide campaign generated funds through various platforms including social media, while thousands of individuals and charities also came forward for the cause.
The ERC launched the campaign under the directives of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, aiming to provide more than one million displaced refugees with food supplies, medical assistance, clean water, education and housing.
The campaign was supported by all the UAE leaders,...
-
[Bangladesh's Prime Minister]
- 2019 June 2 - Sunday
----------
- 2019 June 3 - Monday
-
Massive fire destroys 'jhuggis'
belonging to Rohingyas
in Jammu [India]
- ANI / Business Standard (India)
A massive fire broke out in Jammu's Maratha Mohalla last night. The incident happened near [the] Jammu [India] railway station.
Around 150 jhuggis -- including 41 of those belonging to Rohingyas -- were gutted in fire. No injuriess have been reported.
While speaking to ANI, one of the residents said, "It was a massive fire, wind fuelled it. Fire brigade came after an hour.
"No one from administration has come yet." -
PRESS RELEASE:
3 in 4 Rohingya Refugee Babies
are Born in Unsanitary
Bamboo Shelters.
Save the Children estimates after assessment in community of 20,000 expectant mothers need access to proper maternal care, says Save the Children
- Save The Children foundation
An estimated 75 percent of Rohingya babies are born in the unsafe and unsanitary bamboo shelters in which refugees live, based on an assessment by Save the Children. Home births in such conditions put the lives of both mother and baby at great risk. Save the Children is warning that hundreds of mothers and babies in the refugee camps could die this year of entirely preventable causes if mothers don’t get proper maternal health care.
Data from Save the Children’s Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) from July 2018 to April 2019 shows that of the expected 400 births in a community of some 20,000 people[1], only 119 babies were safely delivered in Save the Children’s properly-equipped health facility, with the remaining births taking place at home.
Save the Children’s assessment comes as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) jointly release new data from the Rohingya refugee camps, which estimates that for every 100,000 live births, 179 mothers die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth – almost two-and-a-half times higher than the worldwide target for maternal mortality of under 70 per 100,000 live births.
Worryingly, the UNFPA/CDC study also found that half of all maternal deaths in the camps happen at home. This means mothers received no emergency care, which could have been lifesaving. Save the Children has heard anecdotally that some families don’t seek out care during pregnancy complications because they fear sterilization or infanticide based on their experiences in Myanmar and would rather keep the woman at home at all costs. Health care providers need to earn the trust of this community so that expectant mothers get the care they need when they need it.
Home births put the lives of both mother and baby at serious risk, as unskilled birth attendants are often unable to identify or handle emergencies in time, and are unaware of mothers’ preexisting conditions,
such as high blood pressure, diabetes, anemia and malnutrition, which can lead to complications during delivery.
Also, the poor hygiene practices can lead to severe infections for mothers and newborns.
The maternal mortality rate paints a grim picture of the unhygienic conditions in which many girls and women in the camps deliver their babies. It also shows that despite the availability of free prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care, more work needs to be done to dismantle barriers and encourage expectant mothers and their families to access health care.
The circumstances in which mothers give birth in the Rohingya camps must improve rapidly in order to save lives. That is why Save the Children is calling for:- Rapid investment to make high-quality health facilities available for expectant mothers and their families.
- Expectant mothers in the refugee camps to have access to proper prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care.
- Further consultation with community leaders to address traditional practices that prevent pregnant women from seeking proper medical care.
"Pregnant women in the refugee camps face tremendous challenges and barriers to accessing proper maternal and newborn care," said Dr. Golam Rasul, senior health program manager for Save the Children’s Rohingya response. "Besides addressing the traditional practices that keep many Rohingya women in the home during and after the birth, we must invest in more special care for maternal complications and care for small, premature, or sick newborn babies. This could help save hundreds of lives as this crisis becomes more protracted."-
(similar topic at:
- Medicenes Sans Frontiers
(Doctors Without Borders)
on ReliefWeb.int
(June 7) )
-
Massive fire destroys 'jhuggis'
- 2019 June 4 - Tuesday
- 2019 June 5 - Wedneday
----------
- 2019 June 6 - Thursday
-
U.N. PRESS RELEASE:
Rohingya refugees fret
for their children’s futures.
UNHCR is promoting more learning opportunities and higher teaching standards for thousands of young Rohingya refugees.
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
When Abu Sayed, father of six, thinks about the future of his children, he breaks down and weeps.
"My life is almost gone. If they cannot have an education, they will be ignorant," he says, sitting in his family’s bamboo shelter in the vast Kutupalong refugee settlement, the largest in the world.
"I can see with my own eyes that their life is becoming meaningless because they do not have enough education and skills to have a good career. (It) is about their future," he says. "If I die tomorrow I will die with a pain in my heart and a regret."
Abu Sayed is among some 745,000 Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state since August 2017 to seek safety in Bangladesh. More than half – 55 per cent - are children.
His three younger children receive a basic primary education at the Sunflower temporary learning centre, a short walk from the family’s shelter. ... The centre is supported by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and run by its Bangladeshi partner, BRAC.
Students at the settlement receive just a few hours of education per day, learning English, Burmese, life skills, and maths, with learning centres operating three shifts per day. However, the centres have no fixed curriculum. Going forward, there is no secondary education available to students.
"Young people require, and desire access to meaningful education that offers clear pathways to progression and is officially recognized by state agencies," says James Onyango, UNHCR’s education officer in Cox’s Bazar.
"People will need skills and recognized qualifications to help them develop their communities. We’re only too aware of the dangers of a lost generation of youth," he adds.
The outcomes of a recent learning assessment indicated that [the] majority of [Rohingya refugee] students are only able to participate in the first three grades of basic education. As a result, organizations working in the education field are now grouping learners together according to their assessed levels, rather than their age groups, to facilitate more structured learning.
However, the education programme does not address the needs of older learners who have never been to school, or those whose education was interrupted at upper grades when they fled Myanmar. There is no standard, accredited curriculum, no defined pathway to recognized qualifications, and few opportunities to study beyond the age of 14.
While some progress is being made toward providing access to quality primary education, older children are missing out. While he is happy to see his younger children being able to study at the two-storey centre, the first of its kind at the settlement, Abu Sayed worries about his older son Mohammed Ayaz and daughter Anu Ara, who are among thousands of children of secondary school age without access to education.
"My elder son studied until sixth Grade in Myanmar … but the [older ones] cannot continue studying while coming here," he said. "We are worried. I wish we could have the opportunity for our children to receive education."
A keen student in Myanmar, Mohammad Ayaz, 15, dreamt of becoming a doctor, until the violence forced him to quit school and run for his life. These days, he says, he passes the time in the sprawling refugee settlement trying to keep busy, but too often he simply hangs out with his friends.
"We wander aimlessly in the camp," he sighs. "People my age have no good jobs here. I help at a small grocery stall and some of my friends are volunteers with organizations. I wish I could continue studying, so that I could keep on learning new things every day."
Improving education is a priority for UNHCR, Onyango says, noting that the Refugee Agency opened a first teacher training facility for the settlement last October.
"In collaboration with other humanitarian agencies, we’re also looking at strengthening the capacity of teachers and improving the overall quality of educational services," he explains. "We’ve also been piloting some literacy learning sessions for adolescent boys and girls, we nonetheless remain deeply conscious that this is inadequate."
Improving services is supported by dedicated teachers at the settlement. At the Sunflower temporary learning centre, Rohingya teaching facilitator Umme Habiba is working in a packed class of around 40 children, alongside a local Bangladeshi teacher.
Just 18, she studied until 8th grade in Myanmar, and used to be a private tutor. She welcomes any chance to expand her skills. "To become a good teacher, it is important to have a good education.
"Some of my friends were eager to study in Myanmar but there was no chance. Without education, there is no future," she says. "Our future, and our present, are at risk." -
Turkish [Foriegn Minister]
extends Eid greetings
to Rohingya Muslims.
Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterates Turkey's support for Rohingya Muslims.
- Anadolu Agency
(CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.) -
Turkish agency aids
Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh.
Poor families living in refugee camps provided with passenger, cargo carrier vehicles, sewing machines.
- Anadolu Agency (Turkey)
(CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.)
A Turkish humanitarian aid group has distributed aid to oppressed Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Sadakatasi Association facilitates refugees living in camps to earn a living.
A total of 400 sewing machines, 60 passenger vehicles and 30 cargo vehicles were delivered to refugee families.
-
U.N. PRESS RELEASE:
- 2019 June 7 - Friday
-
Aung San Suu Kyi
finds common ground
with Orbán over Islam.
On a rare trip to Europe, Myanmar leader and Hungary PM discuss issue of ‘growing Muslim populations.’
- The Guardian (U.K.)
From her failure to speak out against ethnic cleansing to imprisoning journalists, the reputation of Aung San Suu Kyi in the west has taken a battering in recent months.
But the leader of Myanmar has found a new ally in far-right, staunchly anti-immigrant Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán.
In a rare trip to Europe, state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace prize laureate who was once the figurehead of the fight for democracy in Myanmar, met Orbán in Budapest. There, the two leaders found common ground on the subject of immigration and Islam.
"The two leaders highlighted that one of the greatest challenges at present for both countries and their respective regions – south-east Asia and Europe – is migration," read a statement released after their meeting.
"They noted that both regions have seen the emergence of the issue of co-existence with continuously growing Muslim populations."
* * *
Once lauded as the great democratic hope for Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected as civilian leader in 2015 after living under house arrest by the military for 15 years, has proved a marked disappointment to most western governments who were her champions.
Her failure to condemn the military’s violent crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority in 2017 – which saw thousands of Rohingya raped and killed in what the UN described as an exercise in ethnic cleansing – and her defence of the military’s brutal actions against Myanmar’s Muslims, have proved particularly contentious.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has since repeatedly failed to offer assurances, to the million Rohingya now living in refugee camps in Bangladesh... that, if they return, their security, and pathway to citizenship, would be guaranteed.
* * *
Orban, meanwhile, has an equally bad track record. His government declared a "a crisis situation due to mass immigration" in 2015, stirring up fear in Hungary over an alleged threat of migrants. The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights released a recent report accusing Orbán’s government of using anti-migrant rhetoric that fuels "xenophobic attitudes, fear and hatred".
* * *
Aung San Suu Kyi has increasingly spoken out against the imposition of western ideas and principles in Myanmar, a view which was reflected by Orbán in the statement released after their meeting, where he emphasised his rejection of the "export of democracy" from other western countries.
"Aung San Suu Kyi has fallen so astonishingly far from being the darling of the EU that she now counts a meeting with Orban, the pariah of Europe, as an important accomplishment," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
"After shamefully helping the Myanmar military cover up their genocide against Rohingya Muslims, now she’s glad-handing and making friends with Europe’s most xenophobic, anti-democratic leader."
Robertson added: "The message of this meeting to Brussels should be clear: Myanmar is not listening to your quiet diplomatic niceties."
A spokesperson for the Myanmar government could not be reached for comment.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s trip to central Europe was with the aim to strengthen economic ties in the region. Prior to Hungary, she visted the Czech Republic, where she met with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.-
(same topic at:
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
- VOX.com
(NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown). ) -
Rohingya crisis:
Japan will stay beside
Bangladesh.
Says Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Hiroyasu Izumi
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Terming the prevailing situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine state complicated, Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Hiroyasu Izumi has said his country will stay beside the host country for immediate resolution into the crisis.
"Japan is beside Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue, and it will continue its supports resolving the crisis," Izumi said while addressing a press conference at his Baridhara residence in Dhaka yesterday evening.
Claiming that Myanmar Army has been fighting against the Arakan Army for nearly two years after the exodus of Rohingyas to Bangladesh, the ambassador said the overall situation in Rakhine state has become more complicated than before.
Responding to a query on whether Japan would put any pressure on Myanmar to smooth repatriation of Rohingyas, Izumi said, "Only pressure is not enough. Dialogue with Myanmar is a must to put an end to the crisis".
About safe and dignified repatriation of Rohingyas, he said, "We will support and advocate for the implementation of Kofi Annan Commission’s report resolving the Rohingya crisis."
* * *
Earlier, on June 5 and 6, Izumi -- along with a popular Japanese football player and Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF Japan, Makato Hasebe -- visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
Addressing the press conference, [footballer] Hasebe said he was surprised to see that so many children in the refugee camps are being deprived of the rights of education.
The world community should come forward to help in ensuring the education of the Rohingya children, said the internationally famed footballer.-
(same topics at:
- Kyodo News (Japan)
- sssssssssss ) -
3 Rohingya ‘kidnappers’
die in alleged gunfight
with police in Teknaf
[in northeast India].
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
Three Rohingya refugees with links to crime have been killed in a so-called shootout with law enforcers during a police drive to rescue an abducted child in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf Upazila. ...
* * *
They were all [allegedly] members of an organised kidnapping racket that had abducted a three-year-old child from the Leda Camp a few days ago, according to the police. They had demanded a ransom of Tk 500,000 from the child's parents.
Police launched a raid in the wee hours of Friday, on information that the kidnappers were holding the child hostage on the hilly area behind the Leda Camp, said the [police] OC.
"The kidnappers opened fire as soon as the police reached the scene, forcing a retaliation from the law enforcers."
"The child was rescued unharmed after the gunfight ended. Police also found three members of the kidnapping ring, bodies lying on the ground, with bullet-wounds."
* * *
Three policemen were also injured in the operation and received primary care at the hospital. ... -
Football helps Rohingya refugees
find their feet
as champions
for brighter future.
- Australian Broadcasting Corp. (Australia)
From kicking balls made of plastic bags, in Bangladesh, to playing on green fields in Brisbane [Australia], football is helping 20 young Rohingya refugees gain the confidence to become leaders.
Rohingya United is one of the teams taking part in Kicking Goals Together, a program run by the Australian Catholic University that supports refugees, migrants and international students. ...-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
PRESS RELEASE:
Bangladesh: Caring for
mothers and newborns
amid the Rohingya refugee crisis.
- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
(Doctors Without Borders)
Nearly two years after they began crossing into Bangladesh after fleeing horrific violence and persecution in Myanmar, more than 700,000 Rohingya people are still trapped in precarious living conditions in refugee camps near the border. Denied access to health care for years in Myanmar, many of them still have trouble reaching the services they need. The influx of refugees has also strained Bangladeshi health services.
* * *
In Ukhia, Bangladesh, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs the Goyalmara Green Roof hospital, where a team provides specialized care to mothers and children, Rohingya and Bangladeshi alike. ...
* * *
Twenty-five miles away in the town of Cox’s Bazar, MSF medical coordinator Jessica Patti is facing another challenge. It’s not enough to open a hospital and wait for the patients to arrive—before they can come they have to know it’s there. MSF staff have been increasing their efforts to raise awareness about the Goyalmara hospital amongst other humanitarian organizations providing aid in the region.
* * *
Reaching the refugee camps in Bangladesh is not a guarantee of survival for Rohingya refugees, especially babies. A refugee newborn’s chances of survival often depend on escaping the crowded and unsanitary conditions of the settlements. Many Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are unable to reach appropriate medical care until it is too late.
Reasons for this can include traditional practices of the community, an understandable lack of trust in unfamiliar health facilities, and difficulties moving within and outside the camps. Humanitarian organizations operating in the region—including MSF—need to do more to understand the barriers to care the Rohingya people face. There is also a need to increase access to specialized health care facilities like Goyalmara hospital.
"The first 28 days for newborns are critical—they need both preventive and curative medical care," says Patti. "Unfortunately, lack of health care facilities -- for both refugees and Bangladeshi citizens -- can mean newborns are extremely susceptible to death in their first month. We opened Goyalmara hospital to focus on neonatal and pediatric care, and we want unwell newborns to be referred here from other hospitals in order to receive specialized care."
Referrals are critical to saving lives. ...-
(same article at:
- MSF on ReliefWeb.int )-
(similar topic at:
- Save The Children foundation
(June 3) ) -
300 Rohingya in Bangladesh
Traveled Abroad on
Bangladeshi Passports.
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
Aung San Suu Kyi
- 2019 June 8 - Saturday
-
Outcry as ASEAN report
predicts 'smooth' return
of Rohingya to Myanmar.
[Bangladesh & Myanmar] signed a repatriation deal in November 2017 -- but, so far, virtually no Rohingya have volunteered to return [to Myanmar], out of fear for their safety and rights.
- AFP / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)-
(same topic at:
- AFP / Straits Times (Singapore)
- Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
- June 10 )
An Asean [Association of SouthEast Asian Nations] report -- predicting half a million Rohingya refugees will return to Myanmar in two years -- has left observers incredulous for glossing over army atrocities, ignoring an ongoing civil war in Rakhine state, and failing to mention the persecuted Muslim minority by name.ASEAN -- The Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (shown on the map, below, in shades of green) -- includes Myanmar (in pink), Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, and tiny Brunei.
The ASEAN nations have a combined population of a half-billion (compared to the United States at one-third billion). Indonesia, alone, has the world's 4th largest population: 222 million. Most ASEAN countries are poor, and have unstable or limited democracy, or none. The tiny city-nation of Singapore (shown in red, at the tip of the Malay peninsula) is the region's economic and political hub.
The ASEAN region is a complex mix of religious, ethnic and language groups. Malaysia and Indonesia are predominantly Muslim, and the southern Philippines are mostly Muslim. Northern Philippines are Christian, while most of the other ASEAN nations (Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore) are predominantly Buddhist and/or non-religious. Most ASEAN countries have a significant Christian and/or Hindu minority.
China -- increasingly expansionist -- is the region's dominant power, posing the greatest threat to the ASEAN nations, especially around the South China Sea. The U.S., under President Obama, attempted to forge an economic alliance (the "TPP" -- Trans-Pacific Partnership) with ASEAN and other East Asian nations (shown in dark purple) to counter China's growing power.
But the increasingly isolationist U.S. abandoned the TPP, leaving ASEAN nations little economic recourse, except to cooperate with China -- which has begun aggressive moves to gain control of the South China Sea, and expand its economic and political influence, and consumption of resources, in the region, through its "Belt and Road" initiative. China particularly intends to use Myanmar (Burma) as western China's access to the sea, through a new seaport China is building on Myanmar's west coast, in Rakhine state. ~RCN Editor.
The leaked report, penned by the Southeast Asian bloc's "Emergency Response and Assessment Team" (Asean-Erat) and seen by AFP, is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
It gives a glowing assessment of Myanmar's efforts to entice Rohingya refugees back from Bangladesh, where some 740,000 have taken shelter in fetid, overcrowded camps.
Claiming to root out insurgents, Myanmar's military drove the Rohingya from Rakhine and over the border in a 2017 crackdown, the latest in several waves of persecution.
Evidence of widespread murder, rape and arson prompted UN investigators to call for the prosecution of top Myanmar generals for "genocide."
The two countries signed a repatriation deal in November 2017 but so far virtually no Rohingya have volunteered to return out of fear for their safety and rights.
The "Preliminary Needs Assessment for Repatriation in Rakhine State, Myanmar," works off the basis of 500,000 Rohingya returning.
That is the official number of refugees given by Myanmar, well below figures from Bangladesh and the UN.
The word "Rohingya" is not used in the report, which instead refers to the community as "Muslims."
It claims automated, rather than manual, processing of returnees would mean repatriation will be "completed in a little more than two years."
The report praises Myanmar on efforts to ensure "smooth and orderly" returns -- echoing the Southeast Asian country's view that delays in repatriation are due to bungled paperwork by Bangladeshi officials.
Bangladesh puts the blame for the setback on Myanmar and says no refugees have yet volunteered to return.'Ludicrous':
Amnesty International said it was "astonishing" the report failed to mention the military atrocities that drove the Rohingya out, the continued segregation of those who remained or ongoing armed conflict in Rakhine.
The rights group last week accused the military of committing new "war crimes" in the state as it battles against ethnic Rakhine rebels.
"It's ludicrous to think that returns in this context could be safe, voluntary or dignified," the group's Myanmar researcher Laura Haigh told AFP.
An estimated 400,000 Rohingya still live in Rakhine -- often in conditions Amnesty has likened to "open-air prisons", languishing in camps or villages for years, with scant access to healthcare or education.
[However,] the Asean report dismissed the movement restrictions as "short-term inconveniences," and also said local communities "felt safe" around Border Guard Police (BGP) units accused of helping drive the Rohingya out.
* * *
Asean-Erat could not immediately be reached for comment.
The 10-nation bloc normally sticks to diplomatic niceties, and refuses to interfere in the internal affairs of member states -- although Malaysia has openly condemned Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya.
Critics accuse Myanmar of playing for time, by choosing to bring in Asean on the issue of repatriation -- a bloc more sympathetic than the West or the UN.
But ASEAN will not "enhance the (global) credibility of the process in a significant way," said Soe Myint Aung from the Yangon Centre for Independent Research (YCIR).
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened a preliminary probe into military abuses against the Rohingya
The UN refused to comment on the report before receiving it officially. -
Delhi [India]: At Rohingya camp,
a festival under shadow of disease.
Inside a one-room house with no toilet, Kalam and his wife raised two children. The camp was beginning to feel like home, when a fire gutted 47 homes on April 15, last year.
- Indian Express (India)
A decade ago, when Fayazul Kalam was a teenager, he fled Myanmar for Bangladesh. By the time he turned 18, he found himself in Jammu, [India] -- and six months later, at Delhi’s Kalindi Kunj Rohingya camp.
Inside a one-room house with no toilet, Kalam and his wife raised two children. The camp was beginning to feel like home, when a fire gutted 47 homes on April 15, last year.
* * *
A year on, the houses haven’t been rebuilt, and 200-plus people have built temporary homes at an adjacent plot, using bits of blankets, mattresses, wooden doors and cardboard pieces — all susceptible to fire.
Salimullah (35), who lives and runs a shop there, said, "The Zakat Foundation of India (ZFI) was to build the homes, but that didn’t happen. We’ve made the structures using materials donated to us last Ramzan."
ZFI president Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood told The Indian Express, "The Centre [India's central government] released a mandate that banned construction in the area… we don’t know why, or when the ban will be lifted."
* * *
The old plot is now covered with flowers and creepers. Next to it at the new camp, the sweltering summer is taking a toll on 66 Rohingya families — electricity connection is temporary and when the "line" is cut, rented fans and coolers become useless.
"Children are the worst hit… they get dehydration, diarrhoea and rashes. In the last month, I had to take my two children, aged three and five, to the dispensary thrice… every time at the cost of work," said Kalam (26), who drives a rented e-rickshaw.
* * *
For Salimullah, the fire meant double jeopardy, as his kirana store on the main road was also gutted. "I set it up again, but since this is a low-lying area, people have stopped coming here because it’s inconvenient… they hesitate," he said.
* * *
Eid [the most joyful Muslim holiday] festivities, too, were low-key at the camp. "It would have been a celebration if we were back in the old camp… Most of us have heatstroke now," Salimullah said.
* * *
Once summer ends, rain will bring another problem — flooding. "The camp is low-lying and even with a little rain, water can enter homes and bring new problems… it happened last time too," said Mohd Shakir, a resident.
* * *
A few kilometres away at Shaheen Bagh are clusters of displaced pockets — from a group of families from UP’s Ayodhya to 85 Rohingya families from Myanmar. The housing is similar to the camp at Kalindi Kunj, with five hand-pumps for 300-plus people.
* * *
Mohd. Ayas (30), recovering from a bout of typhoid, said he had to rush his 10-month-old son to a dispensary nearby at least four times in the last month.
"He vomits and has an upset stomach. The heat has caused blisters on his arms, doctors have asked me to give him ORS," said Ayas, a daily wager, who has missed work for over two weeks.
Last week, when temperature touched 47 degrees Celsius [116 degrees Farenheit, in humid India], Ayas took his two children to the Kalindi Kunj Metro station.
"We just sat on the steps — it was cooler than being here, and the baby stopped crying," he said.
* * *
The hand-pump under a tree’s shade remains busy all day. Toddlers sit in a puddle there, while their mothers wash utensils and clothes.
"It’s the only way to handle the heat, even though the water is dirty and smells. Younger children end up drinking it and then fall sick. Drinking water is expensive if you are a daily wage earner… it costs Rs 15-20 for a water can. It’s so hot that a family of five needs two such bottles daily… some days, we let them drink the hand-pump water," said 30-year-old Rashida Begum.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
Outcry as ASEAN report
- 2019 June 9 - Sunday
- 2019 June 10 - Monday
-
Bangladesh PM
attacks Myanmar
over Rohingya deadlock.
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has slammed Myanmar for delays in the repatriation of Rohingya refugees who fled violence in the neighbouring country. ...
Many still fear for their safety if they return to Myanmar, where the Muslim minority has faced decades of repression and erosion of rights.
But the Bangladeshi prime minister's comments late Sunday are a sign that the country's patience is wearing thin.
The two governments signed a repatriation deal in November 2017, yet so far virtually no Rohingya have volunteered to return.
"The problem lies with Myanmar as they don?t want to take back the Rohingyas by any means," Hasina told a press conference.
She also criticised international aid agencies working in the refugee camps in the border district of Cox's Bazar --who object to any forced relocations - saying they are not interested in ending the crisis.
"The problem that I now see is that different international agencies that are providing voluntary services or working at Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar never want any refugee to go back," she said.
"The principal problem lies here."
Bangladesh has said it will not force Rohingya to return to Myanmar, where the Muslim minority faced several waves of persecution before the 2017 crackdown which saw widespread murder, rape and arson.
But Hasina called for an investigation into the organisers of protests against repatriation that have been held within the squalid camps.
"Who instigated the movement?" she asked.
"Those who provide assistance to Rohingyas have a serious objection, though the government has constructed very beautiful houses and structures at Bhashan Char," Hasina said of the shelters Bangladesh has built on a barren, flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal.
Hasina's comments follow the leak of a report by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations emergency response team, seen by AFP last week, which gave a glowing assessment of Myanmar's efforts to entice Rohingya refugees back.
The report left observers incredulous for glossing over army atrocities, ignoring the ongoing civil war in Rakhine state and blaming the delays in repatriation on bungled paperwork by Bangladeshi officials.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
[ASEAN's]
AHA Centre defends
leaked report
on Rohingya refugees.
- Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
[The Association of SouthEast Asian Nations] (ASEAN)'s disaster-management unit, AHA Centre, has come out to defend its assessment of the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, following an outcry over the report it had submitted to Myanmar at the end of May.ASEAN -- The Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (shown on the map, below, in shades of green) -- includes Myanmar (in pink), Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, and tiny Brunei.
The ASEAN nations have a combined population of a half-billion (compared to the United States at one-third billion). Indonesia, alone, has the world's 4th largest population: 222 million. Most ASEAN countries are poor, and have unstable or limited democracy, or none. The tiny city-nation of Singapore (shown in red, at the tip of the Malay peninsula) is the region's economic and political hub.
The ASEAN region is a complex mix of religious, ethnic and language groups. Malaysia and Indonesia are predominantly Muslim, and the southern Philippines are mostly Muslim. Northern Philippines are Christian, while most of the other ASEAN nations (Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore) are predominantly Buddhist and/or non-religious. Most ASEAN countries have a significant Christian and/or Hindu minority.
China -- increasingly expansionist -- is the region's dominant power, posing the greatest threat to the ASEAN nations, especially around the South China Sea. The U.S., under President Obama, attempted to forge an economic alliance (the "TPP" -- Trans-Pacific Partnership) with ASEAN and other East Asian nations (shown in dark purple) to counter China's growing power.
But the increasingly isolationist U.S. abandoned the TPP, leaving ASEAN nations little economic recourse, except to cooperate with China -- which has begun aggressive moves to gain control of the South China Sea, and expand its economic and political influence, and consumption of resources, in the region, through its "Belt and Road" initiative. China particularly intends to use Myanmar (Burma) as western China's access to the sea, through a new seaport China is building on Myanmar's west coast, in Rakhine state. ~RCN Editor.
News agency AFP -- citing a leaked report penned by AHA Centre's Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ERAT) -- had said, on Friday, that the assessment glossed over allegations of Myanmar military atrocities in Rakhine State, and ignored the ongoing conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army.
AHA Centre's executive director, Adelina Kamal, said AFP misinterpreted the assessment.
Speaking to CNA, Ms Adelina said: "I think they have misinterpreted our report. This is why for sensitive issues like this, we need to understand the context and read the entire report.
"Our assessment is very focused – tasked by ASEAN leaders to conduct needs assessment to identify areas that ASEAN can offer to facilitate the repatriation process so it’s very focused - it’s just to facilitate."
ERAT had put together the 60-page Preliminary Needs Assessment report after visiting Rakhine State in March.
"The focus of the report is preliminary assessment. It’s not a repatriation plan. What AFP put out, it seems as if it’s a repatriation plan that will be confined to two years," Ms Adelina said.
AFP had quoted the Preliminary Needs Assessment as predicting that "half a million Rohingya refugees will return to Myanmar in two years".
Ms Adelina explained: "Based on our calculations, if Myanmar were to manually process refugees based on its current capacity, which is 300 a day, then it would take six years.
"If we were to automate the process, it can be cut down to two years," she explained.
AFP also quoted Amnesty International as saying that it was "astonishing" the (ERAT) report failed to mention the military atrocities that drove the Rohingya out, the continued segregation of those who remained, or ongoing armed conflict in Rakhine.
In late May this year, Amnesty International accused the Myanmar army of committing new "war crimes" in Rakhine amid its ongoing battle with the Arakan Army.
However, Ms Adelina said ERAT had written the report factually, and had worked within its mandate.
In 2018, ASEAN leaders tasked AHA Centre to look at ways to work with Myanmar and facilitate repatriation.
"ASEAN's ERAT has specific areas of expertise – disaster management," Ms Adelina said.
"And so we have been requested by Myanmar to provide assessment for them - it's very focused and we cannot go beyond our mandate," she said.
"We can only recommend how to improve the repatriation process – registration, improving facilities, providing refugees treatment such as how they can get medical access," she said.
In other words, ERAT does not have the authority to focus on issues not tasked to them by ASEAN leaders or Myanmar - including looking into allegations of human rights abuses by the army.
In July 2018, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi appointed Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo to head [Myanmar's own] "Independent Commission of Enquiry," to probe into allegations of serious crimes in Rakhine State.
In September that year, the United Nation's Fact Finding Mission released a 400-page report that said the Myanmar army must be accountable for allegations of genocide, which it said had forced more than 700,000 Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh in August 2017.
AFP had also said the Preliminary Needs Assessment failed to use the term "Rohingyas" in its report, and instead chose the term "Muslims".
In response, Ms Adelina said that it is more important to focus on constructive solutions, and to focus on helping Myanmar.
Ms Adelina said ERAT's Preliminary Needs Assessment covered four major components: Physical safety, material safety, registration of the Rohingyas and cohesion.
She declined to give further details when asked to clarify what aspects of physical safety was covered in the report.
* * *
The full report has been handed to the Myanmar government as well as the ASEAN secretariat and will be made public by the government.
ASEAN leaders are set to meet in Thailand on Jun 20, where the issue of Rohingya repatriation is expected to be discussed.
It is likely that ASEAN leaders will then decide if AHA Centre - or any other agency - will need to follow up and take the next step. -
Bangladesh, Myanmar Trade Blame
Over Stalled Rohingya Repatriation.
- RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
.....................................-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Rohingya crisis:
Only 22% of $920m JRP
[Joint Response Plan] 2019 appeal
met so far.
Lack of funding for key sectors may affect the lives of Rohingyas
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Halfway into 2019, only 22% of the $920 million annual appeal for the Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis has been met so far, prompting officials of the government and international organisations to express concerns over the slow pace of fund collection.
They have expressed fear that the apparent apathy in funding -- especially in some key sectors such as food security, health, shelter, protection and nutrition -- can have significant negative impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees, who had to flee their homes due to unprecedented atrocities orchestrated by Myanmar security forces, local Buddhist mobs, and people from other ethnic groups in Rakhine State.
The officials placed great emphasis on the necessity for smooth flow of funding to ensure efficient operation of relief activities in one of the gravest humanitarian crises in recent history.
JRP 2019 was launched in Geneva on February 15, seeking $920.5 million to cover expenses in the period between January and December.
About 69% of the $950m appeal in JRP 2018 was met -- while around 64% of the $434m sought under JRP 2017 was provided.
According to the financial tracking system of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), only $202.3m_less than one quarter_of the $920.5m asked for in JRP 2019 has been met.- For food security, $54.1m (21.3%) of the $254.1m sought was funded.
- Of $128.8m for shelter, only $7.5m (5.8%) has so far been collected.
- For health, $6m (6.8%) of $88.7m has been provided.
- For nutrition, out of $48.1m, a paltry $2.2m, (4.6%), has been made available, while
- for protection, $8m out of $38.9m has been collected.
"The current flow of funding is not what we expected. In all our meetings with the international community, we ask them to ensure the proper funds needed to look after the Rohingyas," Abul Kalam, refugee relief and repatriation commissioner (RRRC) based in Cox’s Bazar, told Dhaka Tribune.
"We always get assurances from donors that money will be no problem," he added.
"We do hope that they will live up to their pledges," said Kalam (who is also an additional secretary of [Bangladesh's] Disaster Management Ministry, and the top government official dealing with the Rohingya issue in Cox’s Bazar).
"Prior to, and after, opening our border to the Rohingyas, we have been led to believe that money will never be a problem. Now, after about half of the year, 22% of the fund appeal has been met, which is inadequate," said a senior government official, who did not wish to be named, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
"These people (the Rohingyas) are under our care. If their well-being is affected due to the lack of funding, Bangladesh will have to take the blame. This is the last thing we want," he added, expressing his optimism that the international community will do what is needed to maintain smooth flow of funding.
"We are grateful to our donors for their support so far, and we sincerely hope that the donors will be more generous in the coming days," said an official of a UN organization.
"It is needless to say that vital issues in respect to the well-being of the Rohingyas will be compromised if proper funding does not arrive at the proper time," he added.
"Look, it (the Rohingya crisis) is a long haul. No one knows when the crisis will end. If the flow of funding continues in this way, the people may become worried about the future," said an official of an international humanitarian organisation.
"Continued funding is also vital to conduct the relief efforts without problems," he added.
-
EDITORIAL:
Rohingya crisis unlikely to be solved
without help from China, Russia.
The two superpowers seem reluctant to pressure Myanmar to take its people back
by Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, in
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Any solution to the Rohingya crisis, which has undoubtedly affected Bangladesh very bad manner, will continue to remain elusive for many years, considering the hundreds of thousands of persecuted people from Rakhine already in Bangladesh, prior to the latest exodus in late August 2017.
People in Bangladesh and across the globe, believe there will be no solution, be it permanent or temporary, without help from China and Russia, two superpowers and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a most powerful body.
Beijing and Moscow, especially Beijing, have significant influence over Naypyitaw. As such, they are well positioned to pressure Myanmar to take the Rohingyas back and facilitate a permanent solution by addressing the root causes, including citizenship for the Rohingyas.
But it does not look like they are prepared to do so, at least for the time being, and perhaps anytime in the near future. Any help from India will also be handy as it has some influence with Myanmar.
So far, the efforts of Bangladesh to get China, Russia, and India on its side have not produced any significant outcomes worth mentioning.
As things stand, Bangladesh cannot get anything through the United Nations from China and Russia, two veto wielding nations at the UNSC, mainly due to the geopolitical and economical interests these countries have in regards to Myanmar.
In all the voting on Myanmar at the UN, China and Russia have always voted against any motions favoured by Bangladesh, while the country’s first neighbour India, has abstained, reflecting a grim scenario for Bangladesh. In short, Myanmar is more important for China and Russia than Bangladesh is.
The international community, including three other veto-wielding powers, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, are not interested at all in imposing any major economic sanctions or considering any military action against Myanmar, bypassing the UN system.
Against the backdrop of such a hopeless situation, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced she will visit China in July to talk to the leadership of the world’s most populous country about the crisis.
We the people trust the Prime Minister will try to make the Chinese leaders understand why Beijing should do more to put pressure on Naypyitaw to take the Rohingyas back as the Myanmar authorities are not willing to adhere to the bilateral agreement signed between the two countries in November 2017.
Hasina is likely to reiterate her proposal for a temporary solution by returning the Rohingyas to a safe zone in Rakhine before going for a permanent solution in accordance with the recommendations of the Annan Commission.
Experts believe that if China can be persuaded, it will not be a problem to get the support of Russia, and that if these two nations fall in line, any Indian opposition would be easily overcome.
The people of Bangladesh will now eagerly wait for the Prime Minister to visit China, hoping they will be able to get past one of the gravest circumstances the country has ever experienced.
-
Bangladesh PM
- 2019 June 11 - Tuesday
-
Thailand: 65 Rohingya Stranded
with Suspected Traffickers
from Myanmar [and Thailand].
- BenarNews / RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio)-
(same topic at:
- Bernama News (Malaysia)
- AFP / SBS News (Australia)
(Australian Public Broadcasting)
- AFP / Taipei Times (Taiwan)
- AP / Fox News )
Sixty-five Rohingya landed on an island in southern Thailand on Tuesday with six suspected human traffickers, including five from Myanmar, after their wooden boat ran out of fuel, officials said.
Five children were among the Rohingya passengers that included 29 men and 31 women who were stranded on Rawi island in Satun province, Thai Coast Guard Cmdr. Thanapong Sudrak told reporters.
He said a Thai man and five Myanmar nationals were on board, and were being held for questioning, as authorities believe they helped facilitate the travel in what could be a case of human smuggling or trafficking.
"We moved them to the mainland for questioning because there was one Thai man on board and we will investigate if this is human trafficking," Thanapong said, emphasizing that Coast Guard crewmen had provided water and food to the passengers and their suspected "facilitators."
Police identified the Thai man as Sangkom Papan, 50, from nearby Ranong province, next to Myanmar, but did not release the identities of the five Burmese
"Officials from agencies involved discussed an urgent plan to help them and to interrogate the Thai," Police Col. Samrej Jai-eau, the deputy chief of the police station in La-ngu district of Satun, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
* * *
Four years ago, Thai authorities discovered the graves of 32 Rohingya and Bangladeshis near the Malaysian border, prompting a crackdown on illegal immigration. Thailand subsequently sealed its maritime borders to boats smuggling people from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
In 2017, a Thai court convicted and sentenced Former Army Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen to 27 years for trafficking Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladeshis as part of a crime syndicate that was exposed through the unearthing of the graves in the jungle in southern Songkhla province. The former military officer was among dozens of people convicted.
* * *
A co-founder of the rights groups Fortify Rights told BenarNews that Rohingya would be expected to continue fleeing their homes in Myanmar -- where they have been subjected to decades of hostility, and denied citizenship.
U.N. officials believe a few hundred thousand Rohingya remain in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state -- despite the destruction of villages during a military crackdown beginning, in August 2017, that led to an exodus of more than 700,000 into Bangladesh.
"The numbers of Rohingya arriving in Thailand have decreased in recent years, when compared to 2015, but they’ve never really stopped coming," said Matthew Smith, co-founder and chief executive officer of Fortify Rights.
Thai authorities are obligated to provide protection, Smith said.
"Rohingya are continuing to flee mass atrocities and genocide in Myanmar and inhumane conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh," he said. "They’re refugees and they have rights."
* * *
House rescue:
In a separate incident, Thai police, on Tuesday, said they had rescued 38 Myanmar nationals who were confined in darkness in a house while awaiting their "facilitators" in the Had Yai district of the southern province of Songkhla.
Authorities identified them as workers who were hoping to reach Malaysia, but did not release additional details.
* * *
Police Inspector-General Suchart Teerasawat said Myanmar nationals often pay their facilitators or brokers about 20,000 baht (U.S. $637) per person.
People found guilty of human trafficking in Thailand could be sentenced up to 15 years in prison and fined up to 1 million baht ($29,759). Thai law imposes double punishment for government officials who are found guilty.
The crime persists despite the stiff penalties, officials said.
"We have ordered local police to eradicate trans-boundary human trafficking, a big problem similar to that of Rohingya," Suchart told BenarNews. "But there’s still an influx of illegal workers from Myanmar destined for Malaysia." -
[Bangladesh] Government
asks honorary consuls
to engage international bodies
in Rohingya repatriation.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said Bangladesh does not have the capacity to host Rohingya refugees for an indefinite period of time.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has requested honorary consul generals of different countries working in Bangladesh and abroad to engage their respective governments and civil societies to facilitate the repatriation of Rohingyas refugees.
The foreign minister made the call with an aim to create a favourable environment in the Rakhine State of Myanmar for the Rohingya community and initiate the refugee repatriation process, said a press statement published on the ministry’s website on Tuesday.
The minister said Bangladesh does not have the capacity to host Rohingya refugees for an indefinite period of time.
"The security and stability of the region will be threatened if the placement of this community, which had been distressed and deprived of basic rights for generations, is prolonged in this country," the release said.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Rohingya crisis:
Gov't efforts remain ineffective
with [the Bangladesh gov't in] Dhaka
not in control.
Foreign minister briefs foreign diplomats Wednesday.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)-
(same topic at:
- also at Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) )
-
Thailand: 65 Rohingya Stranded
- 2019 June 12 - Wednesday
-
Mount pressure on Myanmar
~ Bangladesh to diplomats
Bangladesh Foreign Ministser briefing diplomats, urges focus on Rohingya issue.
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh has urged the international community to ramp up pressure on Myanmar so that it creates a congenial environment for the earliest repatriation of displaced Rohingyas with safety and dignity.
After briefing diplomats stationed in Dhaka this morning, Foreign Minister Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen said Bangladesh clarified its position about the matter.
"They told us that they're with us. We told them to increase pressure further on Myanmar to create a conducive environment," he told the media adding that "Almost all of them agreed to do so."
The minister briefed the heads of diplomatic missions and UN agencies in Dhaka... on the recent developments related to Rohingya repatriation. Senior foreign ministry officials were present at the event.
* * *
Minister Momen said Bangladesh strongly protested the fabricated remarks and disinformation spread by Myanmar officials. He presented relevant facts and arguments to invalidate Myanmar's allegations, and also to expose [the Myanmar government in] Nay Pyi Taw's disrespect to its obligations and commitments.
"Basically, we gave the diplomats an update about Myanmar as one of its ministers at a recent event in Japan blamed Bangladesh for the lack of progress in Rohingya repatriation."
"He also claimed that Bangladesh is not cooperating with Myanmar in this regard."
Foreign Minister Momen strongly protested against the comment, saying: "We sincerely want Myanmar to take back its citizens. But Myanmar has repeatedly been breaching its promises."
He said the repatriation was supposed to begin first in January last year and later in November, 2018. "But it didn't happen."
Momen said they joined the 4th joint commission meeting in Myanmar in May last with a high hope to get very positive results. "But we still couldn't commence the repatriation process."
He said Nay Pyi Taw recently had the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conduct a study on two villages out of 800 in Myanmar to show that the situation was very good there.
"The reports Myanmar is producing through others are completely false and fabricated, and no one believes those. Basically, Myanmar didn't keep any of its promises," the minister said.
He said Myanmar was supposed to create a conducive environment in the Rakhine State but did nothing instead.
"We didn't find any new development there during our last joint commission meeting," he said.
He further said, not a single displaced Rohingya could be repatriated to Myanmar from Bangladesh and the no-man's land. "The disinformation being spread by Myanmar is not correct."
Momen voiced concern as the Rohingyas staying in Cox's Bazar are getting involved in crimes and said, "That's why we want to force Myanmar to take back its citizens."
* * *
He said that Dhaka would also request Myanmar's friendly countries to convince Nay Pyi Taw to ensure safe return of its displaced people. "Or else, if the terror activities continue to rise or uncertainty prevails, the investment they (Myanmar's friendly countries) want to make will be harmed."
The Foreign Minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to visit China next month, and will raise the issue with due importance. "We would tell China that your interests will be hampered if uncertainty prevails there and peace and discipline can't be restored."
He hoped to get a good response from China as the country also wants Myanmar to take back its citizens.
Asked what kind of pressure Bangladesh wants international community to create on Myanmar, the minister said, "We told them (diplomats) that the sovereign countries themselves will determine it."
"Muslims are not the only ones being disgraced and ill-treated here, but also the whole of humanity. I told them that if you have the least sympathy for humanity, then you'll find out the proper way for mounting pressure on Myanmar," he added.
Momen also mentioned the decision of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for establishing the legal rights of Rohingyas and addressing the question of accountability and justice.
He said the OIC member states at a recent meeting in Saudi Arabia spontaneously agreed to bear the expenses in this regard on voluntary basis.
The minister sought comprehensive engagements and decisive actions from the international community for the earliest repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingya population and their reintegration in Myanmar with safety and dignity.-
(same topic, more details at:
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh): - sssssssssss ) -
China's, other Asian nations'
involvement sought
to solve Rohingya crisis.
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh has raised the Rohingya issue at an international media forum and sought more Chinese—and other Asian nations'—involvement to solve the Rohingya crisis – for regional peace and stability.
The Bangladeshi authorities raised the issue at the China-South Asia Media Forum, held on the sidelines of the second China-South Asia Cooperation Forum – that ended on Tuesday evening at the Hilton Yuxi Fuxian Lake Resort, China.
Bangladesh stressed that the Rohingya crisis needs to be solved, permanently, ensuring the safe return of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Myanmar's Rakhine State, reports UNB.
* * *
Speaking at the roundtable dialogue of the forum, [Controller of News, Bangladesh Betar] Tania Naznin said: "We expect more Chinese and other Asian nations' involvement to solve the Rohingya crisis."
She requested members of the media in China, and other countries, to visit Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar district and report on the situation on the ground. ...
-
Bipartisan House bill
seeks to punish Burma
for genocide.
- The Hill (U.S. political journal)
A pair of powerful House lawmakers introduced legislation, Wednesday, intended to punish the Burmese government for its brutal campaign targeting ethnic minority groups across [Myanmar/Burma].
Sponsored by Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), the proposal aims to hold Burma's military junta accountable for a long-running campaign of violence against the Rohingya, a Muslim group occupying western regions of the state, as well as more recent campaigns targeting other minority groups within the Buddhist-majority country.
Among the penalties, the bill would bar any new military assistance to Burma until the regime enacts reforms; slap new trade sanctions on the government; and impose new visa and financial limits on the military leaders behind the atrocities.
"Since August of 2017, the Burmese military has inflicted horrific violence against the Rohingya in Burma's Rakhine State, and today is using the same tactics against the Kachin and other ethnic minorities," Engel, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
"We will not rest until there is justice."
The idea of imposing new restrictions on Burma's military regime is hardly new. In the last Congress, the House passed similar sanctions legislation as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The measure won overwhelming bipartisan support in the lower chamber but hit a roadblock in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has opposed the proposal. [NOTE: Sen. McConnell claims a close personal friendship with Myanmar's anti-Rohingya civilian government figurehead, Aung San Suu Kyi, and steadfastly defends her government against any Congressional action. ~ RCN editor.]
* * *
A United Nations report released last year found evidence that Burmese forces were responsible for mass killings, gang rapes and other "violations [that] undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law." The U.N. labeled the purge a "genocide," and recommended the perpetrators be tried before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
The Trump administration, to the consternation of the Rohingya champions on Capitol Hill, has not gone so far.
While the State Department, last year, released its own report on the Burmese atrocities — finding that the Burmese military "targeted civilians indiscriminately and often with extreme brutality" — the agency stopped short of labeling the tragedy a "genocide."
That omission has angered lawmakers in both parties, who are warning that a failure to confront Burmese leaders, more aggressively, threatens the reputation of the United States as a champion of human rights.
Aside from the sanctions provisions, the Engel-Chabot bill would require new reporting on crimes against humanity in Burma; provide U.S. assistance with investigations that could lead to the prosecution of war criminals; and promote efforts to spread Burma's vast mineral wealth, largely controlled by the military elite, more broadly throughout the country.
"Chairman Engel and I introduced the BURMA Act in the last Congress because we believe there must be consequences for the Burmese military’s barbaric atrocities," Chabot said. "Today we continue the effort to hold the perpetrators accountable."-
(Official Announcement at:
- Foreign Affairs Committee;
U.S. House of Representatives )-
(Sen. Chabot's press release at:
- "CHABOT, ENGEL INTRODUCE BURMA SANCTIONS ACT" )-
(see, also, Jewish lobby support at:
- June 14 )
-
Mount pressure on Myanmar
- 2019 June 13 - Thursday
-
Rohingya repatriation:
Bangladesh informs UN
about Myanmar's inaction.
The UN chief expressed his deep concern
over the delay in repatriating Rohingyas.
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)-
(same topic at:
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh) )
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam conveyed the information to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at a bilateral meeting—on the Rohingya issue and the celebration of birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman—in New York, reports UNB.
The UN chief expressed his deep concern over the delay in Rohingya repatriation, the Bangladesh Permanent Mission to the UN said in a statement on Tuesday. ... -
Rohingya Girl Found Dead,
Allegedly Raped,
in North Rakhine.
[Villagers suspect local police.]
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
Maungdaw Township General Administrative Department (GAD) deputy administrator U Phyu Hla told The Irrawaddy the girl was found near the Rohingya village of Ngan Chaung. He declined to provide further details.
* * *
Local Rohingya media reported that locals believe that the girl was first gang-raped, then murdered, by plainclothes Border Guard Police (BGP) from Na Kha Kha No. 6, or Battery 6, based about a 15-minute walk from the village. Rohingya Today cited two local women who claim to have seen BGP personnel from Battery 6, who had earlier been vandalizing an abandoned home, later carrying something the size of a body wrapped in black tarpaulin at 6 p.m. Wednesday -- but did not know of the missing girl at the time.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Luxembourg assures support
for resolving Rohingya crisis.
[Discusses its development projects in Bangladesh]
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) -
Stranded Rohingya people
linked to trafficking.
- Reuters / U.S. News-
(same article at:
- Reuters / BangkokPost (Thailand)
- Reuters / BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)-
(same topic at:
- The Star (Malaysia)
- Manila Times (Philippines)
- Japan Times (Japan)
- June 11
- June 14 )
[Thai] police said, on Thursday, that there is enough evidence to press human trafficking
charges against the captain and crew of a boat carrying 65 Rohingya Muslims, which
was shipwrecked this week on a southern island [of Thailand].
Many Rohingya Muslims have boarded boats in recent months to try to reach Malaysia -- part of what authorities fear could be a new wave of people-smuggling by sea, after a 2015 crackdown on trafficking.
The 65 Rohingya men, women and children were discovered on Tuesday on Rawi island off Thailand's southern Satun province where their boat had beached due to engine trouble while en route to Malaysia.
Police have already charged the crew with assisting the migrants to illegally enter Thailand.
"We have completed talking to some of the Rohingya and we now have evidence to press human trafficking charges against the Thai captain and the five Myanmar crew," Pol Maj Gen Supawat Thapkliew, the head of police in Satun, told Reuters.
"We have not completed questioning all the Rohingya to determine whether they were tricked or they came willingly," he added.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Thursday ordered relevant agencies to care for the Rohingya — 29 men, 31 women and five children — while authorities complete their investigation.
"The prime minister wants to stress that the Rohingya migration issue is important to the government and Thailand have worked with other countries on this issue continuously," Lt Gen Werachon Sukondhapatipak, the government spokesman, told reporters.
Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal migrants from the Indian subcontinent -- and has confined tens of thousands to sprawling camps in Rakhine state, segregated from the Buddhist Rakhine population, since violence swept the area in 2012.
The unrest prompted tens of thousands of Rohingya to flee Myanmar by sea -- an exodus that peaked in 2015, when an estimated 25,000 people crossed the Andaman Sea for Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia... many drowning in unsafe and overloaded boats.
More than 700,000 Rohingya fled into Bangladesh in 2017 after a crackdown by the Myanmar's army, according to UN agencies. -
OPINION:
ASEAN: Prioritize the
rights of the Rohingya.
by Chris Lewa, in
- Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
As ASEAN prepares for its 34th Summit in Bangkok on June 20 to 23, the heads of member states must keep the Rohingya crisis at the top of their agenda. With the world’s largest refugee camp now sitting at the doorstep of ASEAN, the regional dimensions of the crisis can no longer be ignored.
ASEAN’s demonstrated interest in finding solutions to this complex and protracted crisis is welcome. But instead of focusing on the repatriation of nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar, ASEAN must work first to address the human rights crisis faced by hundreds of thousands of Rohingya still inside Myanmar.
They must create safe conditions for refugees to return.
It is also crucial that ASEAN works closely with UNHCR — the UN agency mandated to provide international protection to refugees and to facilitate their voluntary repatriation ...
-
Rohingya repatriation:
- 2019 June 14 - Friday
-
Rohingya-carrying boat captain charged.
- AFP / ManilaTimes (Philippines)
A Thai boat captain has been charged with smuggling 65 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, police said Thursday, after their vessel was shipwrecked off Thailand’s southern coast.
The same area was the hub of multimillion-dollar trafficking route, which unraveled in 2015, after the discovery of mass graves of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants, along the border with Malaysia.
Police said the boat -- which was carrying the stateless Rohingya minority, and was found on Tuesday on an island off the coast of Satun province -- was captained by Sangkhom Paphan, a Thai from nearby Ranong province.-
(same topic at:
- AFP / Frontier Myanmar* (Myanmar/Burma)
*(NOTE: Frontier Myanmar may be subject to Myanmar military control)
- June 11
- June 13 )
-
PRESS RELEASE:
The Burma Act in the
[U.S.] House [of Representatives]:
What it means for the Rohingya.
- Jewish World Watch
(NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.)
Congress is not giving up on the Rohingya! After much anticipation, the House companion bill to the newest incarnation of the Burma Act was introduced on Tuesday, June 14. The "Burma United through Rigorous Military Accountability Act" (H.R. 3190) — sponsored by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) — authorizes significant humanitarian assistance, and aims to hold Burma’s Tatmadaw military accountable -- not only for the atrocities it continues to perpetrate against the Rohingya Muslim minority population, but also for campaigns targeting other minority groups within the Buddhist-majority country.
The "Burma Act of 2019" (H.R. 3190) would:- Prohibit expansion of American military assistance to Burma until reforms take place;
- Require reporting on crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide;
- Impose trade, visa, and financial penalties on those responsible for orchestrating the atrocities;
- Support U.S. assistance in investigations that could lead to the eventual prosecution of war criminals; and,
- Promote reforms to limit the Tatmadaw’s stronghold on Burma’s abundant natural resources.
Rep. Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and champion of the Rohingya cause, promised, "We will not rest until there is justice."
Like Jewish World Watch, certain members of Congress remain steadfast and indefatigable in their refusal to stand idly by in the face of the world’s most recent genocide. This is not the first time Reps. Engel and Chabot have tried to ring the alarm for the Rohingya. They co-sponsored similar legislation two years in a row, only to see it flounder in the Senate. Rep. Chabot spearheaded a successful House resolution last year, which labeled the atrocities committed against the Rohingya by the Tatmadaw as "genocide" — a significant accomplishment in the face of the the State Department’s persistent refusal to make such a designation, despite mounting evidence from myriad reputable sources including the UN, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Fortify Rights, and the Public International Law and Policy Group (the entity contracted by the State Department to assist in its assessment).
This time around, Reps. Engel and Chabot are back, with an even more comprehensive bill that would enact several measures to ensure justice -- including targeted sanctions against those in the upper echelons of the Tatmadaw, and other bans and financial penalties that follow the cash, and impact the many businesses owned by the Tatmadaw and their family members.
On April 11, Senator Ben Cardin (D-M.D.) reintroduced the "Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act" (S. 1186) in the Senate. Like its House companion, the Senate bill includes:- targeted sanctions;
- new funds for humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar;
- periodic reporting on sanctions compliance; and
- assistance to investigative and justice-seeking mechanisms.
Take action! Urge your Senators to support the Burma Act now!
Jewish World Watch is confident that the time is ripe to have these two bills finally move through both chambers and catalyze tangible changes for the 1 million Rohingya who escaped genocide and now live in squalid camps in neighboring Bangladesh, as well as numerous other minority groups still suffering inside Myanmar, facing various forms of persecution at the hands of the unrepentant Tatmadaw.
These pieces of legislation are poised to exert real pressure on the perpetrators of violence and help to create a better future for survivors of the genocide. But the path will not be easy and success is far from certain. Previous bills have failed to pass, largely because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to bring the Senate versions to vote. [RCN EDITOR'S NOTE: Senator McConnell (R-KY) is the Senate Majority Leader, and, as such, effectively controls the U.S. Senate. McConnell claims a strong personal friendship with the Myanmar government's top civilian official, Aung San Suu Kyi, which pre-dates her role as an official. He has blocked all Congressional action against Myanmar.]
We must send a clear message that intransigence -- in the face of genocide and crimes against humanity -- will not be tolerated, and is a failure of moral leadership. Our rallying cry must be widespread, loud, and persistent to show our legislators that meaningful action is long overdue.
Washington’s inaction in the face of such clear-cut genocide, and other mass atrocities, not only jeopardizes the United States’ position as a global promoter of human rights, but also sends the worst possible message to the Tatmadaw -- and [to] other egregious rights violators around the world: that they can continue perpetrating unconscionable abuses with zero repercussions, and with total impunity. We already see this happening inside Myanmar, as the Tatmadaw preys upon other minority groups using the same tactics it employed against the Rohingya, and continues to terrorize those internally displaced Rohingya who remain inside Rakhine state.
We have a collective responsibility to help end this ongoing genocide. Jewish World Watch is working in coalition with American Jewish World Service and other organizations through the Jewish Rohingya Justice Network to amplify our voices and broaden our reach. Please join us in making noise for the Rohingya by contacting your members of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 3190 and S. 1186.-
(same topic at:
- American Jewish World Service (AJWS)
(NOTE: The quality of this media is unclear; it is an established global support organization for Jews. AJWS, however, has long expressed serious concern over the genocidal treatment of the Rohingya.) )-
(Same topic & official announcements at:
- June 12 ) -
When Rohingya Refugees
Fled to India,
Hate on Facebook Followed.
- New York Times
KOLKATA, India — Mohammad Salim, a Rohingya Muslim refugee, thought he had left genocidal violence and Facebook vitriol behind when he fled his native country, Myanmar, in 2013.But lately, his new home, India’s West Bengal state, has not felt much safer. And once again, Facebook is a big part of the problem.
During India’s recent national elections, Mr. Salim said, he saw Facebook posts that falsely accused Rohingya Muslims of cannibalism go viral, along with posts that threatened to burn their homes if they did not leave India. Some Hindu nationalists called the Rohingya "terrorists," and shared videos on the social network in which the leader of India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vowed to expel the minority group and other Muslim "termites." A week ago, new posts popped up falsely accusing the Rohingya of killing B.J.P. workers in West Bengal.
"Many groups demonized us on Facebook and WhatsApp, and they succeeded in whipping up a strong anti-Rohingya passion in the state," Mr. Salim, 29, said in a recent interview in a village near Kolkata, West Bengal’s capital.
He said he had quit selling fruit juice at local rail stations and was moving with his pregnant wife and two toddlers to a new, undisclosed location — their fourth home in the past 15 months — because he was afraid of being attacked by right-wing Hindus or arrested.
Mr. Salim’s experience -- echoed in interviews with other Rohingya Muslims who sought refuge in India -- shows the widening, real-world repercussions of Facebook’s failure to stop anti-Rohingya hate speech on its platform -- an issue that the company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, promised last year to solve.
For years, Facebook ignored dehumanizing anti-Rohingya propaganda on its Myanmar pages -- despite substantial evidence that it was leading to mass killings, rape and the destruction of villages. After United Nations investigators criticized Facebook last year -- for playing a "determining role" in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, and the flight of 700,000 refugees -- Mr. Zuckerberg told the United States Senate: "What’s happening in Myanmar is a terrible tragedy, and we need to do more."
But anti-Rohingya hate speech and falsehoods have since spread to India, where Facebook has 340 million users. That is creating the potential for violence in tinderbox regions like West Bengal [the Indian state on Bangladesh's western border], a Hindu-majority state with a substantial Muslim population, where the B.J.P. has stoked fears of Muslim "infiltrators" from Bangladesh. In total, the government estimates there are about 40,000 Rohingya in India.
"Hate speech and misinformation is adding fuel to the already existing hatred towards the Rohingyas," said Mariya Salim, an independent activist on minority and women’s rights, who lives in Kolkata. "It’s not a secret that online calls for violence can easily turn into real-life threats." ....
-
(same topic at:
-
Vice News
(NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.) ) -
PRESS RELEASE INFOGRAPHIC:
Rohingya Refugee Camps,
2019 Cyclone-Monsoon Preparedness
- Bangladesh.
- World Vision (charity) on ReliefWeb.int -
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION:
'Engage Rohingyas in
multi-year planning,
provide formal education'
[Ideas aired at roundtable sponsored by a newspaper, UNHCR, and the NGO Coast, with other NGOs, media, and Bangladesh government officials.]
- UNB (United News of Bangladesh)
Speakers at a roundtable suggested engaging Rohingyas in multi-year planning, providing formal education and more support as their repatriation continues to be delayed.
They also urged involving Rohingyas with meaningful and productive activities.
National Daily Samakal organised the roundtable titled ‘Human Dignity to Rohingya People: Bangladesh Perspective’ in cooperation with Coast, an NGO working in Cox’s Bazar, and sponsored by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
It was held in a city hotel on Thursday moderated by Mustafiz Shafi, acting editor of Daily Samakal, and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, executive director of Coast.
Rejecting the prevailing negative perceptions about Rohingyas, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Abul Kalam said Rohingyas are becoming victims of atrocities and Myanmar’s negative propaganda.
He said it was important to speak about the situation accurately based on facts.
Steven Corliss, the UNHCR country representative, said that the root cause of Rohingya refugee’s displacement and the solutions to this crisis lie in Myanmar.
Praising the generous response of the Bangladeshi people, he suggested keeping a distinct focus on supporting the host communities, to ensure peaceful social cohesion, as the response continues.
Sayed Abul Maksud, renowned columnist, urged to keep the human spirit that the nation and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has shown in opening the border.
Shirin Haque of Narripakkha said, "Rohingya children and adolescents should be provided higher education. They should be brought under health care training and in productive work to save them from traffickers and religious fanatics."
Barrister Manzoor Hasan of BRAC University pleaded for Rohingya people’s voice in the decision making.
He also urged providing technical education for the Rohingya youths, who constitute more than half of the forcibly displaced Myanmar population.
Asif Munier, refugee and migration expert, said that Bhasan Char or other similar projects will not solve the problem -- and suggested the authorities concerned to create multi-year planning for a comprehensive response.
Mustafiz Shafi of Samakal said, "We should be united on the issue, to keep up our spirit as a humanitarian state."
Nayeem Gowhar, Julfikar Ali Manik of New York Times and Boishakhi TV and a long-term researcher on the Rohingya issue, and Abu Morshed Chowdhury, President of Cox’s Bazar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also took part in the discussion.
Mujibul Haque Munir of Coast presented the keynote questions to the participants.
-
CPJ urges Myanmar
not to harass
local top journo
[journalist/editor Aung Marm Oo].
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged the Myanmar authorities to stop harassing and threatening to arrest Aung Marm Oo, editor-in-chief of the privately-owned Rakhine-state-based news agency Development Media Group.
Aung Marm Oo went into hiding after the country's authorities filed a complaint on May 1 seeking his arrest for unspecified violations of the colonial-era Unlawful Association Act, CPJ said in a news release published on its website yesterday.
The compliant can result in up to five years' imprisonment and fines, according to independent news outlet The Irrawaddy and the journalist, who corresponded with CPJ.
The Unlawful Associations Act is often used by Myanmar authorities to stifle news coverage of armed conflicts, CPJ said based on reports.
Development Media Group -- based in Rakhine state's capital of Sittwe -- reports regularly on politics, society, and security in western Rakhine state, where government forces are locked in conflict with insurgents,
"Myanmar's press freedom situation has deteriorated to such an extent that a journalist is now in hiding to avoid arrest on undisclosed accusations," said Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative. "Myanmar authorities should stop harassing Aung Marm Oo and allow his independent media group to continue reporting without fear of reprisal."
Special Branch police -- under the military-controlled Home Ministry -- have questioned Aung Marm Oo's colleagues and family members about his whereabouts, including his wife, mother, and brother, the journalist told CPJ by email. He said police searched his home earlier this month and he only narrowly escaped arrest at the time.
Development Media Group reporters Nay Win San and Thet Naing were interrogated about the case at the No. 1 Sittwe police station in Rakhine on May 5 and 6, respectively, Aung Marm Oo said. During those interrogations, police did not indicate what news stories or reporting prompted the accusation, Aung Marm Oo said.
CPJ called the military's public relations arm, the True News Information Team, for comment but did not receive a response.
On May 8, Aung Marm Oo sent a letter to the Myanmar Press Council -- an independent body tasked with resolving media disputes -- requesting mediation on the case, as permitted under the country's Media Act to prevent frivolous lawsuits against journalists, he said. As of today, the council had not replied.
Aung Marm Oo's harassment comes amid rising pressure on the nation's press by the military; on April 1, Myanmar's military filed an online criminal defamation complaint against The Irrawaddy's Burmese-language editor Ye Ni under the Telecommunications Law's Section 66(d), which carries a possible two-year prison sentence, over the news publication's reports on armed clashes in Rakhine state that allegedly caused civilian casualties, CPJ reported at the time.
* Cica -- The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia is "an inter-governmental forum for enhancing cooperation to promote peace, security and stability in Asia," established in 1992 with UN support. Most countries on the Asian continent are members. Observers include the United Nations, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, League of Arab States, and Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries (central Asia).
These remarks, by the President of Bangladesh, occured during the 5th Summit of Cica -- held in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan (in central Asia), on Saturday. The event was reportedly attended by 40 representatives of different countries and international organizations, including national presidents and prime ministers. Tajikistan’s President Emomail Rahmon served as chair.
Discussions on issues of security and cooperation in the Asia Pacific region—and assistance in the global fight against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and transnational crimes—are the main objectives of this conference.~from cited sources & Wikipedia: RCN Editor.
-
Rohingya-carrying boat captain charged.
- 2019 June 15 - Saturday
-
[Bangladesh] President
to Cica [summit]*:
Rohingya crisis
may destabilize region.
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[Bangladesh's] President Hamid said stability and security in Asia are imperative for economic development
Stressing the importance of a peaceful solution to the Rohingya crisis, President Abdul Hamid has said the crisis could destabilize the entire region if left unresolved.
"We seek a peaceful solution to the crisis, and signed instruments on repatriation with Myanmar. If it is left unresolved, the crisis could destabilise the entire region," said the president. [He] stated this while addressing the 5th Summit of [the] Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (Cica) -- held in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, on Saturday -- reports UNB.
He also sought support and cooperation from Bangladesh's Cica partners so that the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals can return to their homeland with safety, security, and dignity.
President Hamid said: "The world knows Bangladesh is hosting 1.1 million forcibly-displaced Myanmar nationals. You must be aware of the evidence of genocide and gross violations of human rights, which has been termed a textbook example of ethnic cleansing and humanitarian catastrophe of unmanageable magnitude."
"These people were forcibly displaced from their ancestral homes and they took shelter in Bangladesh. We have opened the door and are still hosting them," he added.Asian Security
Mentioning that Asia is facing issues like violent extremism, international terrorism, and forced migration—among others which go beyond borders—the president stressed the need to coordinate a response among the states to tackle them.
The president said: "Asian security is vulnerable as: irregular migration, drug trafficking, territorial claims, ethnic conflicts, separatism, economic problems, and climate change are visible here. To address these crucial challenges, Cica needs to enhance its capacity by promoting the concept of indivisible security."
"We must work together so that the existing discord in the region does not impede the process of resolving issues related to security and cooperation in Asia," he added.
Stability and security in Asia are imperative for economic development, Hamid said adding: "We can achieve that through dialogue and cooperation."-
(same topic at:
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
- Anadolu Agency (Turkey) *
* (CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect. This outlet's article appears to contain pro-Turkish-government propaganda and pro-Rohingya biased language.) )
-
[Bangladesh] President
- 2019 June 16 - Sunday
- 2019 June 17 - Monday
-
UN report condemns
its [own] conduct in Myanmar
as 'systemic failure.'
Exclusive: ‘Serious errors’ found in agencies’ approach to Rohingya crisis in Rakhine.
- The Guardian (U.K.)
A damning report by the UN on its own conduct in Myanmar has condemned the organisation’s "obviously dysfunctional performance." over the past decade -- and concluded there was a systemic failure.
-
(Official U.N. statement at:
"UN chief accepts independent report on Myanmar, highlighting 'systemic' failure surrounding Rohingya crisis" )
-
Same topic at:
- Reuters News Service
-
AP /
Washington Post -
Reuters /
New York Times -
Reuters /
U.S. News -
Reuters /
CBC TV (Canada) - [London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)
-
UNB /
The Independent (Bangladesh) - The Star (Malaysia)
- Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
-
Reuters /
Taipei Times (Taiwan) - 7News.com.au (Australia)
-
AAP /
Canberra Times (Australia) -
The Guardian (U.K.)
in The Hill
(U.S. political journal)
The report, seen by the Guardian before publication, was commissioned by the secretary general, António Guterres, after accusations that the UN system ignored warning signs of escalating violence before an alleged genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority.
The report, written by a Guatemalan former foreign minister, Gert Rosenthal, concludes there were various damaging failures, including competing strategies between agencies, a "culture of mistrust" in relations with Myanmar’s government and "mixed and incomplete signals coming from the field." The report is due to be made public this week.
"Without question, serious errors were committed and opportunities were lost in the UN system following a fragmented strategy rather than a common plan of action," Rosenthal writes. "The overall responsibility was of a collective nature; in other words it can truly be characterised as a systemic failure of the United Nations."
Myanmar’s military launched a crackdown on the Rohingya in Rakhine state in August 2017. The violence, which the UN described as ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, included the killing of thousands of people, the rape of women and children and the razing of villages. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh.
Rosenthal’s report emphasises the damaging impact of competing strategies between some UN agencies and individuals. The polarisation of approaches -- between quiet diplomacy with the Myanmar government, and public condemnation of escalating human rights abuses -- became more magnified as the situation in Rahkine worsened, the report says.
"Even at the highest level of the organisation there was no common strategy," Rosenthal writes. As a result, the UN system was "relatively impotent to effectively work with the authorities of Myanmar to reverse the negative trends in the area of human rights."
"The United Nations' collective membership, represented by the Security Council, bears part of that responsibility, by not providing enough support to the secretariat when such backing was, and continues to be, essential," Rosenthal wrote.
The 15-member Security Council, which visited Myanmar's Rakhine state last year, has been deadlocked -- with Myanmar allies China and Russia pitted against western states over how to deal with the situation.
~Reuters News Service
The situation descended into "unseemly fighting" where "those that promote constructive engagement sometimes incur the wrath of those who favour a more robust advocacy role, and vice versa," the report says. "One can only speculate that [former] secretary general Ban Ki-Moon was either unwilling or unable to arbitrate a common stance between these two competing perspectives."
Rosenthal emphasises that he did not investigate particular 6:46 PM 6/20/2019 individuals -- but his report addresses the controversial actions of the former resident coordinator for Myanmar, Renata Lok-Dessallien, who was accused of downplaying concerns about worsening abuses against the Rohingya to further her development agenda.
Rosenthal’s findings confirm what many had claimed, that "there appear to have been instances of deliberately de-dramatising events in reports prepared by the resident coordinator."
His report says Lok-Dessallien was brought in to push forward a development agenda, and she "suddenly found herself embroiled in a situation with strong political overtones," which was not her area of expertise. Despite pleas for assistance, Lok-Dessallien was "understaffed and without clear instructions from headquarters."
Rosenthal writes that Myanmar’s government "appeared to exploit the diverse narratives that they were hearing from different UN entities to play one against another" and forward its own agenda.
This was reiterated by a UN source in Myanmar who described the relationship with the UN and the government as unchanged. "It seems to be that the Myanmar government and military have a set policy with senior UN people -- where they try to affect who is hired, work with them for as long as they play ball, and then cut ties and ask for their removal when they do something they don’t like, as we have seen with Knut Ostby," he said. "The UN of course mostly gives in to their demands -- and then the whole cycle starts again."
Ostby, the current resident [U.N.] coordinator [in Myanmar], is stepping down -- reportedly as a result of pressure from the [Myanmar] government over the situation in Rakhine.
* * *
The UN had been reluctant to make the internal report public, according to Matthew Smith, the chief executive of the NGO Fortify Rights, which was among those to have highlighted UN dysfunction in Myanmar for years.Smith welcomed the fact that the report had been written but was critical of its content. "The report repeatedly states that it’s difficult to assign responsibility to individuals, which is ironically representative of the problem," [the Fortify Rights NGO chief] said.
"Failures in the UN rarely lead to accountability. Who else could be responsible for a systematic failure than the individuals involved?
Human Rights Watch said the report was disappointing, given the scale of the Rohingya crisis, for not identifying specific U.N. officials responsible for the failures.
"The report now looks increasingly like a check-the-box exercise by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, designed to show commitment to accountability when in reality it accomplishes exactly the opposite," Phil Robertson, the group’s deputy director for Asia, said in a statement.
~Reuters News Service
"This report will be helpful if it can push the UN in a better direction, but it appears to have dodged the most difficult task of unearthing what specifically went wrong in Myanmar. There are no easy answers but some level of accountability is needed."
The former assistant UN secretary general, Charles Petrie -- who, in 2012, authored a report on similar UN failures in Sri Lanka during the endgame of the civil war -- said he thought Rosenthal had "done a very good job," but that "ultimately he doesn’t say anything new."
"It’s really a question of the system not having the determination and courage to implement the lessons that are so blatantly clear," he said.
-
Cox's Bazaar District Landslide Hazard
- Susceptibility Model
Version 1_02019-06-17
- REACH Initiative
Inter-Sector Coordinating Group (ISCG)
(on ReliefWeb.int)
[Map of landslilde risk areas at Rohingya refugee camps.]
-
UN report condemns
- 2019 June 18 - Tuesday
- 2019 June 19 - Wednesday
-
Rohingya organization thanks
[Bangladesh Prime Minister];
demands pressure on Myanmar.
The Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights [ARSPHR] announced this on Tuesday.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
A Rohingya refugee group based in a Cox’s Bazar camp, on Tuesday, thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her comments on Myanmar's government’s negligence in taking Rohingyas back.
On June 9, upon returning from her foreign tour, the prime minister said: "The Myanmar government has not done enough to prove they are ready to accept Rohingyas returning home."
The group, the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPHR), also demanded the international community put pressure on Myanmar to make Rakhine safe for Rohingyas.
They thanked Sheikh Hasina for sheltering 1.1 million Rohingyas.
In a statement, ARSPHR mentioned that it wrote a letter to the prime minister saying they do not want to stay in Bangladesh for long.
"The international community has lost its focus and is too distracted by humanitarian issues in the refugee camps," said the statement, adding that they did not think that enough pressure is being put on the Myanmar leaders to make the repatriation process possible.
"We keep hearing them say that Rohingya refugees will be in Bangladesh [for] a very long time. This is not what we want. Bangladesh is not our home. We do not want to stay in refugee camps in Bangladesh forever," the statement added.
The statement continued that the reluctance of the Myanmar government to take responsibility for Rohingyas' safe return is barring them from returning to their homes in Rakhine.
"We think it is because the international community does not really care about what Rohingya refugees want. They are not really listening to us," ASPHR said.
"We know this is not an easy situation for Rohingya refugees and host communities [in Cox’s Bazar]. This situation is not sustainable," the statement said.
ASPHR said they want to work together with the government for safe and dignified repatriation.
* * *
Around 1.1 million Rohingyas are living in camps in Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar's northern Rakhine state during a 2017 military campaign the UN has described as ethnic cleansing. -
Rohingya body wants involvement
in decision-making.
All Rohingyas want to return home if the situation is right in Rakhine, says the ARSPHR chief.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPHR) -- a group that claims to fight for the just causes of one of the world’s most persecuted people -- has demanded that they have a say in every decision regarding the Rohingyas, especially on repatriation.
While talking to the Dhaka Tribune from Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday, ARSPHR Chairman Mohib Ullah claimed that the repatriation process would have advanced further if the views of the Rohingyas were taken on-board.
He also categorically said Rakhine State is the home of the Rohingyas, and all of them want to go back to Myanmar if the conditions are safe.
"Look, we, the Rohingyas, are the main stakeholders in the Rohingya issue, but we have not been included in any of the decision making. If you look at the agreements so far signed by Bangladesh, Myanmar, and UN agencies, there was no involvement of the Rohingyas," Mohib Ullah said -- claiming that ARSPHR, currently based in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya upazila, speaks for all Rohingyas both in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Criticizing the international community -- especially the United Nations system -- he said: "As far as the international community is concerned, we simply do not exist. You cannot just get a solution without including the very people you are working for in the discussions. There will be no repatriation without us.
"We just want to work with everyone to find a solution to the problem. That is all," he added -- alleging that the international community is not exerting enough pressure to force the Myanmar government to take back its people.
In response to a question, Mohib Ullah said: "All the Rohingyas want to return home to Rakhine if the situation is right. Bangladesh is not our home. Myanmar is our home. We want to go back to our homes as soon as possible."
In response to another question, the ASPHR chief said the organization does not have any ties with separatist or extremist entities. "The objective of our organization is to seek justice and rights, no more than that."
Praising Bangladesh and the host community in Cox’s Bazar, Mohibullah said: "We are grateful to Bangladesh. We are particularly grateful to the host communities, as they are suffering due to our presence."
When asked if the Rohingyas are willing to be relocated to Bhashan Char, he said most of them prefer to stay where they are now, as they know little about the island.ARSPHR thanks PM Hasina
Meanwhile, the ARSPHR -- which moved to Kutupalong, Cox’s Bazar in 2017, after the latest exodus, due to unprecedented atrocities orchestrated by Myanmar security forces, local Buddhist mobs and people from other groups in Rakhine -- has thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her comments on the Myanmar government’s negligence in taking back the Rohingyas.
On June 9, upon return from her foreign tour, the prime minister said: "The Myanmar government has not done enough to prove they are ready to accept the Rohingyas returning home."International community criticized
In a statement on Tuesday, the ARSPHR demanded that the international community increase pressure on Myanmar to ensure that Rakhine State is safe for the return of the Rohingyas.
ARSPHR also mentioned that it wrote a letter to the head of the government, saying they do not want to stay in Bangladesh for long.
* * *
ASPHR said they want to work together with the government for safe and dignified repatriation.
-
ASEAN: Prioritize Rohingya
Rights, Protection
[~ Rights Groups]
Human rights organizations call on ASEAN
to prioritize Rohingya rights.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
........................................
ABOVE: Rohingya refugees, escaping by boat, watch their villages burn, ©2017 SCMP . TV
BELOW: Thousands of Rohingya refugees -- fleeing attacks by their government and neighbors in their Myanmar homeland -- struggle along a muddy path, as others travel by flimsy boat, after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar (Burma) border, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 6, 2017. ©2017 Reuters
BELOW: Around a million Rohingya refugees find shelter on steep and unstable hillsides, in Kutupalong, the world's largest refugee camp, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. ©2017 The Guardian 
CLICK for SLIDESHOW:
Where do the most refugees come from?
~Reuters News Service
Which countries take in the most refugees?
~Reuters News Service -
Displaced people, worldwide,
reached a record: 70 million,
~ UN says.
- BBC World News
[Paraphrased from BBC World News radio broadcasts]The U.N. has announced that the number of displaced people in the world has mushroomed to an all-time high of 70 million. Secretary General Antonio Guitierrez noted that "85 percent of them" are in "low-income or middle-income countries." The announcment indicates that the numbers are so vast that it is hard to find a safe place for them all.
[RCN Editor's note: By contrast, many upper-income nations, such as the U.S., have blocked immigration by refugees (the displaced people fleeing war, persecution and violence).
The U.S., in particular, under the presidential orders of Donald Trump, has generally opposed the immigration of any refugees from the rest of the world -- first cutting the U.S.'s annual refugee-immigration limit in half, from 110,000 to just 45,000 -- less than one sixth, of one tenth, of one percent of the U.S. population -- and has subsequently suspended most refugee immigration that even that small quota would have allowed.
Yet, ironically, millions of those refugees are fleeing wars initiated by the U.S. (Afghanistan and Iraq), or partially resulting from them (Syria), or from other U.S. military action (Libya).
By contrast, tiny, overcrowded Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest and least-combative countries, has welcomed well over a million Rohingya refugees over the last decade -- including, since late 2017, the recent massive influx of three-quarters of a million Rohingya, fleeing the recent ethnic cleansing campaign of the Myanmar military. ~RCN Editor]-
(same topic at:
-
BBC World News
Which adds:
The number of people fleeing war, persecution and conflict exceeded 70 million globally last year -- the highest number in the UN refugee agency's almost 70 years of operations.
The almost 70.8 million people forcibly displaced is 2.3 million more than the previous year, according to the agency's annual Global Trends report.
The figure is also double the level recorded 20 years ago.
The number averaged out to 37,000 new displacements every day.
* * *
The number also represents a sharp increase in the number of displaced people as a proportion of the world's population. According to figures kept since the 1951 Refugee Convention, its previous peak was in 1992, at 3.7 per 1,000 of the population. By 2018, the number had more than doubled to 9.3 [per 1,000].
According to the UN Refugee Agency, the actual figure for 2018 is likely to be higher, ...
(same topic at: -
CNN (Cable News Network)
[Exceptional details & stats, with clarifying charts & graphs. A must-see. ~RCN Editor.]
"One in every 108 people on the planet has been displaced, says UN Refugee Agency."
- The Star (Malaysia)
- Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
- Xinhua News Agency (China) (CAUTION: This is a Chinese government media outlet, and Chinese websites can be hazardous to browse. NOTE: The quality of this media is suspect; it is the official medium of an authoritarian Communist nation.)
- FotoTempo.co (Columbia) (CAUTION: The quality and security of this media outlet is unknown.) )
-
"Global forced displacement tops 70 million"
~UNHCR, 2019-06-19 -
UNHCR - Figures at a Glance
(with graphics)
"We are now witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record."
-
UNHCR Population Statistics - Data - Overview
including: "UNHCR's populations of concern" -
Resettlement Data Finder (RDF)
Explore UNHCR’s resettlement programme using this database query builder. -
Resolution: "Refugees and Displaced Persons"
by the General Assembly, 15 Dec. 1946 )
(Official U.N. statements & documents at:
-
BBC World News
-
Rohingya organization thanks
[Bangladesh Prime Minister];
- 2019 June 20 - Thursday
-
World Refugee Day
-
The 2019 World Tour Events:
World Refugee Day
- United Nations - UNHCR -
World Refugee Day 2019
- International Rescue Committee (IRC) -
Far from home
on World Refugee Day
- Reuters News Service -
Poor nations hosting
most refugees worldwide,
need more Western help
~UN.
- Channel NewsAsia (Singapore) -
World Refugee Day:
U.S. Leading Decline
in Global Support
for Refugees
Under Trump Administration.
- Newsweek -
OPINION (TEXT & VIDEO):
U.S. committed to refugee assistance,
but can't solve the crisis alone.
by Ambassador Callista Gingrich,
- Fox News -
Canada resettled
more refugees than U.S.
in 2018, U.N. says.
- CNN (Cable News Network)
[RCN Editor's note: Canada has one-tenth the population and wealth of the United States -- and most of its land area is frigid wasteland, essentially uninhabitable (and utterly foreign to most refugees, who mainly come from warm or hot countries). Yet Canada took in more refugees than the U.S. last year.
In fact, the Trump administration has set the maximum limit on refugees at less than 45,000 per year (one-sixth of one-tenth of one percent of the U.S. population) -- and has, since, essentially turned away most refugees fleeing to the U.S. from war, persecution and violence. ~RCN Editor.] -
World Refugee Day:
How well is Japan
fulfilling its obligations
in 2019?
- Japan Times (Japan) -
Venezuelan migrants
cross into Peru
as border tightens.
- Reuters News Service -
The Refugees [whom] the World
Barely Pays Attention To:
Climate Refugees:
No International Definition, Recognition or Protections
- NPR (National Public Radio)
- ROHINGYA REFUGEES, specifically:
-
Situation Refugee Response
in Bangladesh
- United Nations - UNHCR -
VIDEO:
Elderly Rohingya Refugees
'Failed' By Aid Response,
Says Amnesty.
- VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
-
OFFICIAL STATEMENT:
Japan's Cold-Blooded Approach
to the Rohingya Crisis
- Human Rights Watch-
(same essay at:
- Japan Times (Japan) (June 27)
- The Diplomat (East Asia) )
Japan’s decision to side with the Myanmar government’s political rhetoric is unsettling. But it is only a small part of Tokyo’s eager embrace of the Myanmar government’s attempt to divert attention away from the Rohingya crisis -- and instead to promote foreign business opportunities in war-torn Rakhine state.
Earlier this year, Japan and Myanmar co-organized the Rakhine State Investment Fair, seeking to draw in foreign and national investors -- while overlooking the deadly rights abuses, and massive displacement of people, in the state.
Ichiro Maruyama, the Japanese ambassador to Myanmar, justified hosting the investment fair by claiming that "if there is economic development… there will be no conflict." In late May, Maruyama also bucked global condemnation of the Myanmar military’s atrocities in Rakhine state, saying that Japan "cannot agree to the international community applying pressure or taking action against Myanmar concerning the Rakhine issue. Things will become more complicated."
Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, echoed Maruyama’s sentiment at the investment fair, saying that "for too long the international community’s attention has been focused narrowly on negative aspects related to problems in north Rakhine rather than on the panoramic picture that shows the immense potential of this state for peace and prosperity." Sadly, she continues to besmirch her Nobel Peace Prize by continuing to deny the findings of the UN’s fact-finding mission and prevent the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar from visiting the country.
The Japanese and Myanmar governments’ prioritization of business development is happening as tens of thousands of refugees and displaced people suffer from deteriorating living conditions.
In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where most of the Rohingya refugees have fled, they live in overcrowded camps, facing a heightened risk of domestic and sexual violence, communicable diseases, community tensions, fires, and landslides. Human Rights Watch found the camps lack any sort of effective evacuation plan in case of a natural disaster in this typhoon-prone region. Access to basic education and medical services is severely limited, along with freedom of movement.
In Myanmar, another more than 128,000 Muslims — about 125,000 Rohingyas and 3,000 ethnic Kamans — have been held for the past seven years in de facto open-air detention camps, without access to livelihoods or adequate basic services.
If Japan is going to invest in Myanmar and reap economic benefits, especially in Rakhine state, it needs to do so while pursuing accountability for the atrocities committed against the Rohingya people by the Myanmar military. For starters, Japan can begin supporting Myanmar-related resolutions at the UN, demand access for the UN special rapporteur, and respect the Rohingyas’ right to self-identification.
Positioned as the new "leader of the liberal order in Asia," Japan has a responsibility to promote human rights in its foreign policy. So far, its values-free diplomacy toward Myanmar has been indisputable proof that Japan would be the last to [abandon a convenient deal] out of moral indignation.-
(same topic at:
- Jan. 28
- Feb. 22
- Mar. 6 (2 articles) )
-
EU announces €18m fund
[over US$25 million]
to strengthen resilience
for Rohingyas, host communities.
To date, the EU has contributed €24.8 million
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The European Union (EU) has announced a fund of €18 million (nearly Tk171.5 crore) to help improve resilience among both the Rohingya refugees and the Bangladeshi host communities in Cox's Bazar.
Over 288,000 children and families of both the communities will be benefited as a part of the EU-supported United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) program, titled "Building Rohingya Refugee and Host Community Resilience."
Rensje Teerink, EU Ambassador to Bangladesh, made the announcement during an event held at a hotel in Dhaka on Thursday.
Teerink said the funding would help to improve resilience among the Rohingya refugees as well as the local host communities in Cox’s Bazar, the district along Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
The project -- which was launched in January this year and is expected to end by 2021 -- is focused on four key areas of nutrition: water, sanitation and hygiene, education, and child protection.
The host communities, and the forcibly displaced Rohingyas, will equally share the benefits of the project, which especially prioritizes women having children.
"We need to act decisively to secure a better future for all who were affected by the refugee crisis. With this strategic support, we aim to ensure continuity between humanitarian and development actions for the Rohingyas and Bangladeshi communities," she said.
"We shall tackle the underlying issues to improve access to water, education, child protection and food and nutrition security in Cox’s Bazar. Our aim is to strengthen local development efforts and reduce the need for humanitarian assistance in the future."
"The support from the EU allows us to address the issue of resilience in a holistic manner, integrating and harmonizing services for the delivery of better results for Rohingya and Bangladeshi children, adolescents and families," Tomoo Hozumi, Unicef representative in Bangladesh, said.
"At the same time, the situation remains critical with 1.2 million people [Rohingyas] requiring humanitarian assistance in one of Bangladesh’s poorest and most vulnerable districts."
The EU will fund the lion’s share of the project – €15 million, or about Tk143 crore – while Unicef will contribute the rest of the fund.
Home to some 2.3 million people [(about half of them Rohingya refugees)] Cox’s Bazar is one of the most vulnerable districts to natural disasters in Bangladesh -- including cyclones, flooding and landslides caused by monsoon rains, and the impact of climate change.
Around 33% people in the coastal district live below the poverty line -- where education indicators are among the lowest in the country, with the primary school completion rate standing at 55%. More than half of the girls are married off before the age of 18, and close to 50,000 children are engaged in child labour.
The district records very high rates of malnutrition. One in every two children suffers from stunting due to poor maternal nutrition, and the lack of adequate infant feeding and care practices. -
U.S. Report:
Bangladesh Ignoring
Sex Trafficking of Rohingya.
- AFP in BenarNews
(U.S. gov't affiliate in S.E. Asia)
Bangladeshi criminal groups take Rohingya women from refugee camps at night, exploit them in sex trafficking and return them during the day, the United States said Thursday, in an annual report accusing Dhaka of not probing "potential crimes" against the stateless minority.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government "does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so," the U.S. State Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report said -- explaining why it kept Bangladesh on Tier 2 Watch List, just one step above the lowest ranking.
"Despite at least 100 credible reports of forced labor and sex trafficking of Rohingya within Bangladesh, the government did not report investigating or prosecuting these potential crimes, and the Bangladesh High Court did not entertain anti-trafficking cases filed by Rohingya," the report said.
Released by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington, the report kept Indonesia and Thailand on Tier 2, while the Philippines remained on Tier 1. Malaysia was placed on Tier 2 Watch List for the second year. The report identifies the best countries as Tier 1 and the worst as Tier 3.
The designations carry consequences, Pompeo said iduring a speech at an event marking the report’s release attended by human-trafficking survivors and diplomats. He said President Donald Trump last year restricted certain types of assistance to 22 countries ranked in Tier 3.
"Human trafficking is a stain … on all of humanity," Pompeo said. "We must hold the perpetrators of this heinous crime accountable. We must achieve justice for survivors as they rebuild their lives," he said.
An estimated 25 million people around the world are trapped in labor- or sex-trafficking, according to the report.
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal challenged the findings.
"We do not agree with this report," he told BenarNews. "It is not true that the government is not taking measures to stop human trafficking."
The U.S. Congress enacted the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act more than 18 years ago to prevent trafficking, protect victims and punish traffickers. The law requires the Secretary of State to produce an annual report on human trafficking and to rank foreign governments based on anti-trafficking efforts.
The law stipulates that that the worst performers in the TIP Report could be subject to potential restrictions on U.S. foreign aid and other funds.
According to the TIP Report, Bangladeshi traffickers also sometimes transport Rohingya girls from refugee camps to Chittagong and Dhaka [in Bangladesh], and to Kathmandu, Nepal, and Kolkata, India for sex work. Some traffickers "trade" these girls over the internet, it said.
The report cited reports from NGOs and foreign organizations alleging that some Bangladeshi border guard, military, and police officials had been involved in facilitating trafficking, including accepting bribes from traffickers.
"Traffickers defraud and coerce Rohingya women and girls from refugee camps into sex trafficking through fraudulent job or marriage proposals, and abduction," the report said.
"Other observers reported some police conducted slow and flawed investigations to allow traffickers to evade punishment, including when suspects included fellow officers," it said.
Indonesia making ‘significant efforts,’ report saysThe report said Tier 2 Indonesia demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period by establishing 13 anti-trafficking law-enforcement task forces and continuing to create and disseminate awareness materials.
"However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Investigations, prosecutions, and convictions decreased," the report said. "Although the government reported ongoing investigations, it did not report any prosecutions or convictions of officials allegedly complicit in trafficking."
Corrupt Indonesian officials reportedly continued to facilitate the issuance of false documents, accept bribes to allow brokers to transport undocumented migrants across borders and protect venues where sex trafficking occurred, it said.
Malaysia on Tier 2 Watch List for Second YearThe TIP report praised the Malaysian government for probing allegations of official complicity in the 2015 discovery of graves of victims at human-smuggling camps along Malaysia’s border with Thailand.
But it said Kuala Lumpur also "did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared to the previous year" in the fight against trafficking.
"Corruption related to processes for foreign nationals to work in Malaysia remained pervasive and the government did not report initiating new prosecutions or convicting any complicit officials during the reporting period," it said. "Therefore Malaysia remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the second year."
U.S. law requires countries be automatically downgraded to Tier 3 after two consecutive years on Tier 2 Watch List, unless granted a waiver based on credible evidence the government has a written plan that makes significant efforts to comply with minimum standards.
Philippines: Robust efforts to prevent trafficking
The Philippine government has demonstrated serious and sustained efforts against trafficking, the report said, lauding the country’s robust efforts to prosecute traffickers and keeping it at Tier 1.
It noted that while Manila "meets the minimum standards, it did not vigorously investigate and prosecute officials allegedly involved in trafficking crimes."
An estimated 10 million Filipinos reside or work abroad and the government processes around 2.3 million new or renewed contracts for Filipinos to work overseas each year.
Thailand ‘does not fully meet minimum standards’Tier 2 Thailand has demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, the report said, citing the government’s "efforts to identify more victims and sentencing of convicted traffickers, including complicit officials, to significant prison terms.
"However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. The government prosecuted and convicted fewer traffickers and investigated only 43 cases of labor trafficking," it said.
The report lauded the government’s amended 2008 anti-trafficking law, which imposes harsh penalties for sex trafficking and labor trafficking, including fines of up to U.S. $62,000 for those involving a child victim.
Thailand investigated 304 trafficking cases, compared to 302 in 2017, prosecuted 438 suspected traffickers and convicted 316 traffickers in 2018, the report said.
The report was released a week after 65 Rohingya landed on an island in southern Thailand with six suspected human smugglers, including five from Myanmar, after their wooden boat ran out of fuel, officials said.
After interviewing the 65 Rohingya, police on Thursday said they had charged five Myanmar men and the Thai boat captain with human smuggling. Investigators said they were compiling evidence to determine if additional charges of human trafficking can be pressed.
"The Rohingya were interviewed and their story sounds like human trafficking," said Police Maj. Gen. Damras Wiriyakul, the commander of the Police Region 9 Bureau, told reporters on Thursday.
ABOVE: Rohingya refugees struggle ashore, smuggled to safety in rickety wooden fishing boats, often by costly and ruthless people-smugglers, arriving in a strange land with only what they can carry. (UNHCR photo)
ABOVE: Exhausted Rohingya refugees hike along the steep slopes of Kutupalong camp -- the world's largest refugee camp, on the mountain slopes of southeastern Bangaldesh. With monsoon season approaching, the fear of catastrophic landslides is ever-present. (UNHCR photo)
ABOVE: Elderly Rohingya woman's makeshift shelter clings to the steep slopes of the world's largest refugee camp. Monsoons threaten flash floods and landslides. But most Rohingya refugees fear their homeland even more. (UNHCR photo)
ABOVE: Although mature and elderly adults abound among the world's displaced people, children make up the largest percentage. Thousands of these Rohingya children have arrived in the "safety" of Bangladesh, fleeing the people in Myanmar who tortured, raped or murdered their parents -- often in front of them. Here in orphan limbo, forbidden full education or employment opportunities, they live listless, hopeless lives -- becoming desperate, easy prey for those who take them for forced labor, sexual exploitation, and terrorism -- while the "civilized" world ignores them, and bars them from "better" places. (UNHCR photo) -
The 2019 World Tour Events:
- 2019 June 21 - Friday
-
Rohingya crisis:
[Bangladesh's] Foreign minister
blames UN.
Rohingyas are still fleeing homes, while Myanmar lays mines to prevent their return, Momen says.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[Bangladesh's] Foreign Minister, Dr AK Abdul Momen, came down heavily on the United Nations -- blaming the global body, along with others, for the ongoing Rohingya crisis, for which Bangladesh is suffering immensely without being any party to it.
He said Rohingyas are still fleeing their homes, and Myanmar is laying mines to obstruct their return.
"The UN made procedural mistakes in regards to the Rohingya issue. This crisis was not created in one day. Hatred and acrimony have been spread against the Rohingyas for a long time. The UN has not been aware," the foreign minister told reporters after a seminar in Dhaka on Thursday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) organized the seminar on the 70th Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions at the Bangladesh International and Strategic Studies (BISS) auditorium.
Putting emphasis on creating the mindset to resolve conflicts across the world, the foreign minister noted that the UN believes in this, but it does not work accordingly.
"After the incidents [in Myanmar], the UN made some statements. But they did it for Bangladesh. Their footing is weak where it is supposed to work," he said.
Earlier, speaking at the seminar as the chief guest, Dr Momen said: "We are painfully aware that respect for humanitarian law has been on the decline, causing further humanitarian crisis. Take the example of Myanmar."
The military operations in Rakhine resulted in forced displacement of over a million innocent civilians, he reminded.
"Not only that, but the international reports, including those from the UN, suggest that the Rohingyas were subjected to mass atrocity crimes, and the worst form of human rights violations in Myanmar," he added.
The minister further said: "They [Myanmar] have laid mines to prevent the return of the displaced Rohingyas. Even today, Rohingyas continue to flee their homes to save themselves from forced starvation and deprivation of livelihood.
"It is not only Muslims, but also Buddhists, Hindus and other Rohingyas who are being forced out of their traditional homes and jobs," Dr Momen said. "The international community must take strong resolve to ensure that Myanmar is held accountable for this gross violation of human rights. Otherwise the spirit and value of the Geneva Conventions will continue to be undermined."
Shedding light on international humanitarian laws, Dr Momen said the four Geneva Conventions are among the very few international treaties that have been universally ratified, and these conventions reflect universal values of ethical behaviour.
"If we look at today’s global context, the power of international humanitarian law could be found in the battlefields of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan or Yemen. The consequences of these wars are heartbreaking," said the minister.
"Conflict shatters lives in many different ways," he added.
Detailing the rights under the Geneva Conventions, Dr Momen said [that] every individual who is not (or no longer actively) participating in the hostilities of wars is entitled to protection, and must be treated humanely.
* * *
Ikhtiyar Aslanov, head of the ICRC [(International Committee of the Red Cross)] delegation in Bangladesh, said: "For me, it is not about anniversaries or debates on legal phrasing; it is about protecting people from the worst of the wars which rage today.
"It is about the laws that assert that as long as conflict remains a reality, there also must be a limit to suffering. And this is the message the ICRC has been carrying forward, including in Bangladesh since 1971," he added-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
[Bangladesh Prime Minister]
urges int’l bodies to
help rehabilitate Rohingyas
in Myanmar.
Putting emphasis, again, on repatriation of the Rohingyas, she questioned how long Bangladesh will bear the burden.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon international organizations -- including International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) -- to help rehabilitate the displaced Rohingyas in Myanmar. ...
-
Rohingya crisis:
- 2019 June 22 - Saturday
-
Minister:
[Bangladesh Prime Minister]
expected to discuss
Rohingya issue
during China visit.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The Rohingya issue is likely to come up when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina meets with the Chinese premier during her official visit in July.
[Bangladesh] Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said ...in Dhaka on Saturday... "Myanmar has great respect for China. If [the Chinese government in] Beijing requests [the Myanmar government in] Nay Pyi Taw, then we hope the Rohingya issue will be resolved quickly."-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Malaysia rattles ASEAN summit,
demands 'justice' for Rohingya.
- AFP - New Straits Times (Malaysia)-
(same article at:
- AFP - Daily Star (Bangaldesh) )
(same topic at:
- Bloomberg News (USA) )
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya as citizens, instead officially labelling them "Bengalis," short-hand for "illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh."
* * *
In talks Saturday with Southeast Asian counterparts, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Saifuddin Bin Abdullah called for the
"perpetrators of the Rohingya issue to be brought to justice",
his ministry said in Tweet.
He also said repatriation of the minority -- from the fetid, overcrowded refugee camps of Bangladesh -- "must include the citizenship of the Rohingya."
* * *
Malaysia, a Muslim country which hosts a large Rohingya refugee population, is one of the few members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to speak up for the minority.
The 10-member bloc normally abides by a principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
ASEAN was heavily criticised by rights groups after a report it commissioned lauded Myanmar's work on the repatriation issue.
Rakhine state, the western region home to the Rohingya, remains cut by violence.
Only a handful of the Muslim minority have returned under a discredited repatriation deal.
Myanmar has not offered citizenship to the mass of Rohingya in Bangladesh's camps should they return -- while the minority also want safety guarantees, and restitution of seized lands and torched villages, before agreeing to go back. -
ASEAN foreign ministers
seek time frame for
return of Rohingya.
- Kyodo News (Japan)-
(same article at:
- Kyodo News / Nikkei Review (Japan) )
Speaking after a meeting of the ministers in Bangkok, Don Pramudwinai -- representing the host country, [Thailand] -- said that ASEAN wants Myanmar and Bangladesh to discuss the issue and set a timeline for the return of the refugees.
Don added that Myanmar informed ASEAN about the issuance of identification cards to the refugees to identify them when they return to Rakhine State.
"ASEAN recognizes the intention of Myanmar to solve this issue and will help promote the relevant process and see the repatriation begins,"
he said.
He noted that the related parties have to build trust among the refugees -- assuring them that they will live in Rakhine State with safety.
Although the grouping has a policy of non-interference in members' internal affairs, the Rohingya issue has been fixed on the agenda of relevant meetings since 2017, when the Myanmar military clashed with armed Rohingya groups, drawing criticism from the international community.
* * *
At their meeting, the ministers also renamed the grouping's Indo-Pacific outlook as the "ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific."
The outlook -- which aims to ensure that ASEAN plays a "central and strategic role" in the evolving regional architecture -- will be adopted by the leaders on Sunday.
* * *
In the weekend summit of the ASEAN leaders, the Rohingya crisis -- as well as the South China Sea situation -- are set to figure highly in their talks. Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be attending.
China, which claims almost the entire South China Sea, has reclaimed a number of the disputed reefs and fortified them with military features over the past few years.
Laos and Cambodia, which have strong economic ties with China, have a more pro-Beijing stance on the issue. In contrast, Vietnam, which has competing claims with China, takes a harder line on Beijing's assertiveness in regional waters.
To what extent the leaders can unite against China's land reclamation and militarization activities in the South China Sea will be closely watched.
* * *
On Saturday, the leaders of the 10-member grouping are scheduled to meet with representatives of various groups such as the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Assembly and ASEAN Business Advisory Council, to be followed by a plenary session focusing on internal cooperation.
* * *
The opening ceremony will take place on Sunday, followed by a leaders' retreat.
Also Saturday, ASEAN economic ministers agreed at a meeting on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership [RCEP] to continue efforts toward concluding negotiations on the Asia-wide free trade deal involving 16 countries by November.
"The ASEAN economic ministers urge and assign officials to exert efforts to drive the negotiations in various topics under the RCEP such as rule of origins, investment in order to find an ASEAN stance before meeting with the six partners of ASEAN," Auramon Supthaweethum, director general of the Thai Trade Negotiations Department, told Kyodo News. She was referring to upcoming RCEP Trade Negotiations Committee meetings in Australia and China.
The RCEP is being negotiated among the 10-member ASEAN [plus] China, India, Japan, South Korea, [Australia] and New Zealand.
ASEAN [members are Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines].
-
Minister:
- 2019 June 23 - Sunday
-
ASEAN Leaders Hold Off
From Demanding Citizenship
for Rohingyas.
- Bloomberg
Southeast Asian leaders held back from collectively demanding that Myanmar provide citizenship for Rohingyas -- even as some member nations sought more rights for the persecuted minority group.
The region’s leaders had faced pressure from rights groups -- ahead of their biannual meeting this weekend -- to take a tougher stance on Myanmar, including holding the military accountable for the atrocities committed. The nation has also been criticized for failing to ensure the safe repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims forced into Bangladesh.
"We stressed the importance of and expressed our continued support for Myanmar’s commitment to ensure safety and security for all communities in Rakhine State as effectively as possible and facilitate the voluntary return of displaced persons in a safe, secure and dignified manner," the leaders said in a joint statement after the summit in Bangkok.
Malaysia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Saifuddin Abdullah had earlier called for justice to be brought to the perpetrators of the Rohingya crisis, and said the repatriation process should include citizenship for them, the Malaysian foreign ministry said in a Twitter post on Saturday. There are some 730,000 displaced Rohingyas, and citizenship for them is something Myanmar’s government has long refused to do. ...Asean Leaders Pressured to Push Myanmar on Rohingya Repatriation:
Asean’s leadership pledged to "go further" with recommendations made in a report by the Asean Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management that offers a plan for capacity building and the provision of basic services for the repatriation.
* * *
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, speaking on the sidelines of the Bloomberg Asean Business Summit in Bangkok on Friday, vowed to help Rohingya Muslims seeking refuge in Malaysia. He said on Sunday that the Rohingyas should be consulted as they return.
"I raised the issue of Rohingya and many reports don’t take into account the views of the migrants, the refugees," Mahathir said. "It is a must that their views are considered because they feel afraid to return to Rakhine state. And we hope that if they return, the international community can supervise and ensure that when they come back, they wouldn’t be subjected to certain actions by Rakhine state and Myanmar."-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
ASEAN Leaders Hold Off
- 2019 June 24 - Monday
-
UN fears Myanmar internet blackout
a 'cover' for abuses.
Mobile internet has been shut down in parts of conflict-torn western Myanmar under a government decree. A UN investigator warns the army could be using the blackout as a cover for "gross human rights violations."
- Reuters & AFP / Deutsche Welle (Germany)- United Nations
- Committee to Protect Journalists )
(Official statements by:
-
(Same topic at:
- Reuters News Service
- Reuters / U.S. News
- Reuters / New York Times
- CNN (Cable News Network)
- The Guardian (U.K.)
-
Al Jazeera (Arab news; Qatar)
-
(NOTE: This media outlet has credibility and bias issues.)
- IANS / Outlook India (India)
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
-
The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)
-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
- Reuters,AFP,DW / Taiwan News (Taiwan)
- Reuters / Japan Times (Japan)
- Australian Broadcasting Corp. (Australia)
-
VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio) ) - June 27
- July 2 )
United Nations special rapporteur Yanghee Lee warned that Myanmar's military could be committing rights abuses under the cover of a mobile internet ban in Rakhine [state] and [neighboring] Chin state.
Thousands of troop reinforcements have been deployed to the western region, where ethnic rebels are waging an insurgency for more state autonomy.
The internet blackout began on June 21 when the government ordered mobile providers to cut data services to nine townships.
"I fear for all civilians there," Lee said in a statement, calling for the restrictions to be immediately lifted. "I am told that the Tatmadaw [Myanmar's army] is now conducting a 'clearance operation' -- which we all know, by now, can be a cover for committing gross human rights violations against the civilian population."Cut off from the world:
Telecoms operator Telenor Group said the Ministry of Transport and Communications had ordered a temporary shutdown of services because of "disturbances of peace" and the "use of internet activities to coordinate illegal activities."
Ministry permanent secretary, Soe Thein, told local media the measure was in line with Myanmar's Telecommunications Law, which allows for services to be blocked "when an emergency situation arises."
More than a million people live in the parts of Rakhine and Chin affected by the measures. Given that many do not own personal computers, the mobile blackout effectively cuts them off from the outside world.
Insurgents with the Arakan Army have been fighting government troops in the troubled region since late 2018, seeking more political autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. Both sides have been accused of committing abuses. Some 35,000 civilians have been displaced by the conflict, which has also spilled into neighboring Chin state.
Conflict escalates:
The statement from Lee -- an independent expert who reports to the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Myanmar -- said there were credible reports army helicopters had launched an attack on Rakhine's Minbya Township on June 19. The following day, the Arakan Army fired on a navy ship in the state's capital, Sittwe, killing two soldiers.
* * *
The same area was the site of a brutal government crackdown in 2017 that sent around 750,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing over the border to Bangladesh.
The military was accused of committing atrocities against the stateless ethnic minority, including arson, rape and mass killings. The military denies these allegations.
-
UN fears Myanmar internet blackout
- 2019 June 25 - Tuesday
- [London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)
It’s been nearly two years since 671,000 Rohingya fled violence and persecution in Myanmar for the safety of Cox’s Bazar, near the southeastern tip of Bangladesh.
Between August and October 2017, they joined more than 200,000 Rohingya displaced over the previous 20 years -- with around one million of these displaced people now living in Bangladesh.
Only 50,000 have official refugee status; the vast majority live in legal limbo as "Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals" (FDMNs).
Their situation remains tenuous in many ways -- presenting serious immediate and long-term challenges for the government of Bangladesh, aid organisations, and the international community.
* * *
We were among a group of researchers from the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and the International Food Policy Research Institute -- in collaboration with the World Food Programme and Action Against Hunger -- who conducted a survey of approximately 2,100 Rohingya FDMN in October 2018.
We found that the Rohingya are, at best, surviving -- not thriving.
* * *
Access to food assistance is nearly universal, the data show. At the time of the survey, 62 per cent received a food parcel consisting of rice, lentils and micronutrient-fortified cooking oil; 34 per cent received electronic food vouchers (e-vouchers) that could be redeemed for 19 different food items; and four per cent reported receiving both.
* * *
The good news is that the Rohingya were able to access this assistance easily and there were virtually no reported instances of harassment or payments to persons in position of authority. For those Rohingya arriving after October 2017, these transfers comprise approximately 80 per cent of household income.
These aid efforts by the Bangladeshi government, the World Food Programme, and the international community have averted a potential humanitarian disaster.
* * *
Yet by any measure – income, consumption, assets – the Rohingya are poor. Monthly per capita income for those Rohingya who arrived after August 2017 is $19 -- and $22 for those who arrived earlier.
By comparison, income levels of Bangladeshi households in the host community are 46 per cent higher ($29). Whilst their calorie intake is above the minimally required level, Rohingya households have monotonous diets and eat little fruit, vegetables, meat or dairy products.
While children’s nutritional status has improved, under-nutrition remains unacceptably high. Among Rohingya children aged six to 59 months who arrived after August 2017, 32 per cent are chronically undernourished and 13 per cent are acutely undernourished.
Children in Rohingya households who arrived earlier are not better off: 36 per cent are chronically undernourished and 12 per cent are acutely undernourished. A lack of nutrients during pregnancy, monotonous diets and poor hygiene conditions in the camps are important factors in the continuing poor nutritional status of children.
Rohingya families try to supplement the food assistance they receive -- but, because they do not have legal refugee status, those who arrived between August and October 2017 have limited options.
Around 10 per cent of their income comes from working inside or outside the camps, with the remainder coming from other sources or running their own businesses. As a result many are forced to buy food on credit or are reliant on other strategies to survive such as skipping meals.
Rohingya households that have lived in Bangladesh longer -- particularly those with refugee status -- have better access to other forms of income.
As a result, while 70 per cent of their income comes from food assistance, 19 per cent comes from working inside or outside the camps, and two per cent from their own businesses.
The Rohingya in Bangladesh face difficult circumstances with few options for viable, productive livelihoods – and their long-term prospects appear grim. While averting a humanitarian disaster is an impressive achievement, the status quo is not sustainable.
International efforts to guarantee the Rohingya safe return to Myanmar have been ineffectual. Continued financing by Bangladesh and the donor community is threatened by competing needs and donor fatigue.
Equally important, the FDMN children are not in school and adults have no access to training, further endangering their long-term prospects. In the absence of new initiatives, the Rohingya settlements in Bangladesh may become places of hopelessness, anger or even violence.
One way to help the Rohingya would be to relax legal restrictions which prevent them working outside the camps. Research shows that the Rohingya could be absorbed in the local labour force without lowering wage rates as long as there are significant government or NGO payments to the host population along with investments in job creation.
This idea faces considerable opposition, however – both among the Cox’s Bazar Bangladeshi community and in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh. This should come as no surprise – research shows that without investing in the local population, wages of the host community would fall if the Rohingya were allowed to work.
The Rohingya also face the problem of displaced people around the world: actual or potential large-scale influxes of migrants are deeply unpopular among many groups in both developed and developing countries, and Bangladesh is no exception.
* * *
Some opponents of long-term support to those in the camps voice concerns that allowing them to work or have refugee status could discourage Myanmar from providing a safe return, or even lead to additional forced exiles.
* * *
The international community has some options to encourage greater Rohingya access to employment. Syrian refugees in Jordan, for example, have benefited from World Bank loans and trade concessions (eased access to the European Union market) -- which have spurred investments in firms that employ both refugees and native Jordanians.
* * *
Difficult policy choices lie ahead for the people of Bangladesh, their government, and -- to a large extent -- the Rohingyas themselves. Humanitarian efforts, to date, have opened a window of opportunity to consider longer term solutions – but that window will not be open forever.-
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ICC prosecutor seeks
Bangladesh and Myanmar
investigation.
- Reuters News Service-
(ICC official statement at:
-
ICC Presidency assigns the
Situation in Bangladesh / Myanmar
to Pre-Trial Chamber III.-
(same topic at:
- NPR (National Public Radio)
- Reuters / U.S. News & World Report
- AP / New York Times
- AP / The Independent (U.K.)
- AFP / Times of India (India)
- AFP / Frontier Myanmar* (Myanmar/Burma)
*(NOTE: Frontier Myanmar may be subject to Myanmar military control) )
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement she would ask judges for permission to investigate crimes that had "at least one element" in Bangladesh, which is a member of the ICC.
She added that her investigation would cover crimes that also took place "within the context of two waves of violence in Rakhine State on the territory of" Myanmar.
The war crimes court said in a separate statement it had assigned a three-judge panel to hear Bensouda’s request.
If granted, the ICC would become the first international court to look into alleged atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority of Myanmar.
Although Myanmar is not a member of the court, the ICC in September determined it has jurisdiction over some crimes in the region when they had a cross-border nature, given that Bangladesh is a member.
"The Court has jurisdiction over the crime against humanity of deportation allegedly committed against members of the Rohingya people," it said in a September 2018 ruling. "The reason is that an element of this crime - the crossing of a border - took place on the territory of a State party (Bangladesh)."
The following day, Myanmar’s government said it rejected the court’s jurisdiction.
An independent U.N. fact-finding mission in August concluded that Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Muslim Rohingya. Bensouda’s office began a pre-investigation examination in the Bangladesh-Myanmar case last year, and a delegation from the court visited Bangladesh in March.
With 122 members, the U.N.-backed ICC is a court of last resort, only stepping in when member countries are found to be unwilling or unable to prosecute war crimes on their territory — or when a case is referred to it by the U.N. Security Council.
That occurs only rarely as the United States, Russia and China are not ICC members, and can use their veto powers to prevent a referral, as Russia has done with Syria.
-
Myanmar must give Rohingya
'pathway to citizenship':
~U.N. investigator.
- Reuters News Service
Myanmar must grant citizenship to stateless Rohingya with roots in the country, a senior U.N. investigator said on Wednesday, as she urged the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi to "be the democrat she once told us she was".
Buddhist-majority Myanmar does not recognize the Muslim Rohingya as citizens despite a long history in the country. ...
"I have seen much brutality in the different parts of my career but the rape and forced eviction of the Rohingya shook me to my core," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, a member of the U.N. fact-finding mission that gathered evidence on the violence.
Coomaraswamy said statelessness was at the root of the "horrific" Rohingya crisis, which was among the worst she had seen, second only to the Rwandan genocide.
She told how soldiers shot at fleeing villagers, gang raped women and burned down houses with children inside.
Myanmar has rejected a report by the United Nations investigators calling for top generals to be prosecuted for genocide, saying the international community is making "false allegations".
Coomaraswamy was speaking after addressing a global conference on statelessness in The Hague where the plight of the Rohingya is in the spotlight.
The Rohingya are among an estimated 10 to 15 million stateless people in the world who are not recognized as citizens of any country.
Sometimes called "legal ghosts", stateless people are deprived of basic rights from education to employment and vulnerable to exploitation, violence and arbitrary detention.
"These are heartbreaking issues and one is never quite the same after ... seeing the impact that forced statelessness has," Coomaraswamy told delegates.BULLDOZED VILLAGES
The Rohingya are the world’s largest stateless population. About 900,000 are in Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands remain in Myanmar and others are scattered throughout Asia.
Coomaraswamy said she was struck by one elderly refugee she met who showed her a dirty plastic bag of papers.
These included the citizenship document her grandparents had received at independence, a paper from 1982 denying her citizenship, and a card she had just received stating she was a "Bengali Muslim" which gave her access to some services.
"She was holding it like this was her life. She had left everything behind (when she fled) including even her jewelry. She said she sleeps with this bag under her pillow," Coomaraswamy told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Myanmar has said it will take back some Rohingya who can show they have a long history in the country. But many fled to Bangladesh with nothing, and many do not want to return without full citizenship.
Coomaraswamy urged the international community to stop pressuring Rohingya to return and ensure those behind the violence are brought to justice.
"Before you force people to go back into Myanmar you must make sure the conditions are right and the Rohingyas will have ... a clear pathway to citizenship," she said.
"The problem is their villages have been bulldozed – without a tree standing."
She said those still in Myanmar were in decrepit camps with severe restrictions on their movement, limited access to food and healthcare and sky-high malnutrition rates.SUBTERRANEAN WORLD
The mission will hand its evidence to a new prosecutorial authority in September so that it can build cases against the generals behind the atrocities, she said.
Coomaraswamy said the desperation and sadness was overwhelming when investigators met refugees immediately after the August 2017 violence.
When the team returned to Bangladesh last month the Rohingya were "much more organized, much clearer on what they want and deeply disappointed in the international community," she said.
"They would like to see justice and citizenship."
She said the continued defense of the military by Myanmar’s civilian leader and Nobel peace prize winner Suu Kyi posed serious concern.
"We would hope she would change and be the democrat she once told us she was and have ... the Rohingyas (who lived there) come back ... with a guarantee of full rights."
Coomaraswamy told the conference that increasing numbers of people globally were ending up stateless after "falling between the cracks".
They lived in a "subterranean world" without formal rights, documents or sense of belonging, at risk of violence and easy prey to traffickers.
"Statelessness is no longer the exception in the world – it has become endemic," she said.-
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Myanmar army rejects
ICC bid for
full Rohingya probe.
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
Myanmar's military on Thursday (Jun 27) rejected an International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's call for a full investigation into alleged crimes against Rohingya Muslims.
Fatou Bensouda launched a preliminary probe in September into the 2017 crackdown by Myanmar's military that forced some 740,000 Rohingya over the border into Bangladesh with accounts of rape, mass killings and razing of villages
On Wednesday she said she would take the issue to the next stage by submitting a request to ICC judges to open a full investigation.
It is not clear when that decision would be made.
Myanmar has not signed up to the ICC, but the court ruled in September it has jurisdiction over alleged atrocities because Bangladesh - where the Rohingya are now refugees - is a member.
Myanmar had rejected the ruling in September in a typically defiant manner, a position a military spokesman reiterated Thursday.
"The military and government have not neglected the issue and have been trying to take action against those who committed abuses," Myanmar military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Htun told AFP Thursday.
"Myanmar has an investigative committee looking at this and they (the ICC) should respect what we are doing," he said, adding that the "ICC's interference harms the dignity" of Myanmar and its military.
The government and army have acknowledged virtually no wrongdoing related to the "clearance operations" they justified as a means of rooting out Rohingya insurgents in western Rakhine state.
Seven soldiers jailed for their role in the killing of 10 Rohingya were freed despite serving less time than two Reuters reporters imprisoned for exposing the massacre.
Asia Pacific Director for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) Frederick Rawski said an ICC intervention was "entirely appropriate".
"The military has proven itself wholly unwilling and incapable of providing justice for crimes under international law perpetrated against Rohingyas," he said.
UN investigators have separately called for the prosecution of top Myanmar generals for "genocide".-
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[Bangladesh Prime Minister]
Sheikh Hasina
says Rohingya crisis
may disrupt stability
Rohingya crisis may disrupt security: PM. Warns Bangladesh’s stability may be at stake if the refugees are not repatriated soon.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[Bangladesh] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, yesterday, said Bangladesh’s security and stability may be hampered if the Rohingya refugees cannot be repatriated to Myanmar soon.
In reply to a query from Awami League lawmaker Nur Mohammad in the Jatiya Sangsad, Hasina said, "The displaced Rohingyas, who have been deprived of basic rights by Myanmar, are dissatisfied. If we cannot send them back soon, there is apprehension that our security and stability will be hampered."
The PM also slammed Myanmar for making excuses for delaying repatriation of the refugees though it signed three pacts with Bangladesh, pledging to complete the repatriation process within two years.
"They [Myanmar] are delaying the process on various excuses."
Bangladesh and the international community are putting pressure on Myanmar to create conducive conditions in Rakhine State, but unfortunately the situation there has not improved, due to Myanmar government’s rigid stance, the PM noted.
In a scripted answer, the premier told the House that Myanmar is carrying out propaganda, in the international arena, that the Rohingya repatriation is being delayed due to Bangladesh’s non-cooperation.
"We are continuing bilateral efforts with Myanmar to resolve the crisis. We are also making diplomatic efforts with international and regional forums to mount pressure on Myanmar to take the Rohingyas back."
* * *
Myanmar signed a repatriation deal with Bangladesh in November 2017. In June last year, the UN [Development Program] and the UN Refugee Agency [(UNHCR)]struck a tripartite deal with Myanmar on creating conditions conducive for Rohingya return.
Though the repatriation was scheduled to start in November last year, Rohingyas say conditions in Rakhine are not safe for them, and there is no guarantee that they will be granted citizenship.
* * *
Bangladesh sheltered the Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds, but it is bearing the brunt, as their stay in Cox’s Bazar is taking a heavy toll on forests, and local community and businesses.
In recent months, a number of Rohingyas were arrested in different parts of the country, after they sneaked out of the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. Dozens more were detained while trying to go abroad with Bangladeshi passports. Besides, scores of Rohingyas were found involved in drug trafficking.
The PM said, "It is very tough for us to arrange food, clothes and accommodation for over 11 lakh [(1.1 million)] Myanmar nationals for an indefinite period."
* * *
Hasina, the leader of the House, said she repeatedly raised voice in different international forums that it is Myanmar’s responsibility to take back all the displaced Rohingyas and it has to take initiatives in this regard.
She also informed the House that world leaders are now putting immense pressure on Myanmar to stop inhuman torture on Rohingyas and take back its citizens from Bangladesh.
"At the 72th general assembly of the United Nations, I put forward a five-point proposal, including complete implementation of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Commission’s recommendations, and also a three-point proposal on the sidelines of the 73rd general assembly for repatriation of over one million forcibly displaced Rohingyas."
Various international organisations and forums -- such as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) -- have been working to mount pressure on Myanmar to take back its nationals, she added.
* * *
The lawmakers’ questions for the PM were tabled, breaking away from the usual practice in which the premier answers their queries directly. It was done so that the MPs had enough time to speak on the proposed budget for fiscal 2019-20.
* * *
In reply to another query, Hasina said the government has set a target for creating some 1.5 crore [(15 million)] jobs in the next five years.-
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Canada urged to take
international action
on Rohingya genocide.
- Candian Press / Global News (Canada)
OTTAWA — The Trudeau government is facing mounting pressure from across the country to take more international action to hold Myanmar to account for the genocide of the Rohingya people.
Thirty-four senators (a third of the Senate) — and more than 100 human-rights organizations and advocates — sent a joint letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, this week, urging Canada to initiate proceedings [against Myanmar], before the International Court of Justice, for breaching the United Nations convention against genocide. The court deals with disputes between states.
* * *
In September 2018, Canada became the first country in the world to officially recognize the violence perpetrated against the Rohingya, by Myanmar’s security forces, as "genocide." Canada also stripped Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung Sun Suu Kyi, of her honorary Canadian citizenship over her inaction on the violence in her country.
But branding the situation a "genocide" carries with it an international legal obligation to intervene -- potentially with force -- which is why the push is now on, to see Canada take this next step.
"As concerned parliamentarians and members of civil society, we strongly believe that those responsible for the genocide against the Rohingya must be held to account by the international community," the letter says.
"We firmly believe that Canada is in a position to exercise strong and effective global leadership in response to the genocide by pursing this matter before the International Court of Justice."
This letter follows several similar letters that have also been sent to Freeland, and [to] Justice Minister David Lametti, in recent weeks -- including one from an all-party group of [Members of Parliament] who also called for Canada to take international legal action.
In addition, Toronto and Montreal city councils have passed unanimous motions, and several other Canadian mayors and rights organizations have sent their own letters to Freeland -- urging Canada to seek justice for the mass killing and atrocities perpetrated against the Rohingya people in Myanmar.
Last year, the UN human-rights council released a report on its fact-finding mission on three states in Myanmar, documenting the systematic targeting of civilian Rohingya by the military -- including mass gang rape, sexual slavery and the razing of hundreds of villages.
This followed a report by Canada’s special envoy to Myanmar, Bob Rae, who urged Canada to take a leadership role in the humanitarian crisis — but focused more on calling for increased spending on the migration crisis in the region.
* * *
In a statement on Thursday, Freeland’s deputy press secretary Marie-Pier Baril said the government believes those responsible for the atrocities against the Rohingya Muslims must face justice -- noting that Canada has sanctioned key military commanders.
But rather than initiating the process independently, Canada has called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation, faced by the Rohingya, to the International Criminal Court -- which handles charges against individuals of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"Canada will continue to lead international efforts to support the Rohingya’s basic needs, to exert pressure on the Myanmar government and to bring justice to the Rohingya for all they have suffered," Baril said.
"We will continue to work closely with like-minded partners to explore all avenues for holding perpetrators to account, including through the International Court of Justice."
* * *
Canada is also providing more than $300 million in humanitarian aid for this crisis, including to aid partners in Bangladesh.
* * *
[Canadian] Fareed Khan, spokesperson for the Rohingya Human Rights Network, stressed the need for more urgent action to help the hundreds of thousands who have fled [Myanmar] -- and the hundreds of thousands more who remain trapped in Myanmar, facing ongoing rape, torture and death.
"As Canadians, as human beings, it’s our moral responsibility to act, to lift the Rohingya out of the despair and hopelessness that many of them feel because of what they have endured," Khan said during a recent press conference in Ottawa.
"If we want to live up to our claims of being defenders of human rights, if we want to live up to our own image of being a moral nation, we have no choice but to act to stop genocide."-
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Indonesia opts for pragmatism
in addressing Rohingya crisis
at UN Security Council.
- Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
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ANALYSIS:
Why the UN failed to
save the Rohingya.
Insiders say U.N. sought to downplay criticism of Myanmar -- and was hamstrung by China, Russia opposition to firm response.
by Joshua Carroll, in
- Al Jazeera (Arab news; Qatar)-
(NOTE: This media has pro-Muslim bias & credibility problems.)
Their view, the researcher recalls, was "this was all screwed up... this was not going to help the Rohingya population".
* * *
An aid worker who was helping to manage the detention camps in the western state of Rakhine -- where the UN and others provide food, and other basic necessities, to tens of thousands of Rohingya who were forcibly relocated after riots in 2012 -- offered Mahony a grim assessment of her role there.
"I just feel like I've spent six months as a jailer," she told him.
* * *
While assistance in the camps has saved many lives, Mahony's research in 2015 and 2017 led him to the conclusion that it also makes the UN, and its partners, complicit in what he considers a system of apartheid.
* * *
The UN has been dogged for years by uncomfortable questions about its approach to the Rohingya.
Senior officials have been accused of downplaying human rights abuses and ignoring the warning signs in the run-up to military-led mass killings that started in August 2017 -- and sent some 730,000 (mostly Muslim) Rohingya fleeing across the border into Bangladesh.
* * *
An independent review, published last week, found "systemic failure" in the UN's handling of the crisis. The report -- written by former Guatemalan Foreign Minister and UN Ambassador Gert Rosenthal -- was a response to growing pressure for an inquiry.
But, while some have welcomed the review, others (including Rohingya activists) are angry that Rosenthal failed to hold any individual leaders accountable -- instead arguing that "the overall responsibility was of a collective character … it truly can be characterised as a systemic failure".
"The system failed because individuals didn't fulfil their obligations," said Nay San Lwin, an activist with the Free Rohingya Coalition. "This is blaming the system to avoid accountability."
His group has called for the resignations of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as well as Renata Lok-Dessallien, who held the top UN post in Myanmar until late 2017.
They say that in 2012, Guterres, who was then UN High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], was told by Myanmar's then-President Thein Sein of plans to detain Rohingya in camps -- and [was] asked to facilitate their removal from the country.
While Guterres publicly dismissed the request, the Free Rohingya Coalition says more should have been done.
"Myanmar's intent to commit international crimes was thus made clear to the most senior levels of the UN -- yet no action was taken," the group said in a statement last week. ...-
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PM’s China Visit:
Dhaka wants
stronger role of Beijing
on Rohingya.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[The government in Bangladesh's capital] Dhaka is expecting [the government in China's capital] Beijing (a close ally of Myanmar) to play a more effective role in addressing the Rohingya crisis -- as [Bangladesh] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visits China, from July 1-5.
"We hope Rohingya issue will get prominence during her visit. We have high hopes to see progress in this regard," [Bangladesh's] Foreign Minister, Dr AK Abdul Momen, said at a press briefing at his ministry yesterday.
Foreign Minister Momen, [along with the] PM’s Adviser on Private Industry and Investment Salman F Rahman, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, Information and Communication Division State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, officials concerned, and a delegation of business leaders, will accompany the PM.
During the visit, Hasina will hold bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang, and Chinese National Peoples’ Congress Chairman Li Zhanshu. She will attend banquets to be hosted by Chinese premier and president.
At the meetings, the PM will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues as part of the strategic relationship between the two countries.
Bangladesh and China will sign eight memorandums of understanding and agreements on power, loan, economic and technical cooperation, investment cooperation, sharing of hydrological data, and cultural and tourism exchanges.
She will also address the Annual Meeting of the New Champion of the World Economic Forum to be held on July 1-3.
However, Rohingya repatriation will feature prominently during the meetings with Chinese leaders.
"We will tell them that Rohingya are Myanmar people. They faced persecution and fled to Bangladesh. We sheltered them temporarily," the minister said, adding that a long-term stay of such a huge number of people may help rise of radicalism in the camps.
* * *
While speaking at the Parliament on June 26, PM Hasina said Bangladesh’s security and stability may be hampered if the Rohingya refugees cannot be repatriated soon.
"We will strongly demand speedy repatriation of Rohingya," Momen said.
Over 741,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh to escape military crackdown in Rakhine since August 2017 -- and joined some 300,000 Rohingyas, who had already taken shelter in Bangladesh in the previous years to escape atrocities in Myanmar, where they were denied citizenship and basic rights since 1982.
Myanmar signed a repatriation deal with Bangladesh in November 2017. In June last year, the UNDP and the UN Refugee Agency struck a tripartite deal with Myanmar on creating conditions conducive for Rohingya return.
Though the repatriation was scheduled to start in November last year, the process never started as the Rohingyas claimed the condition in Rakhine was not safe for them and there was no guarantee that they would be granted citizenship.
China has been advocating for bilateral solution to the crisis since the beginning. The UN Security Council also could not take any concrete action against Myanmar thanks to the vetoes issued by China and Russia.
Referring to Chinese Ambassador-to-Bangladesh Zhang Zuo’s recent visit to Rohingya camps, [Bangladesh's foreign] minister said that Zuo supported Bangladesh’s position.
"He [Zuo] said they [Rohingya] must go back to Myanmar. So, we see a change in their mindset," Momen added.
He also said China, Russia and even India are now shifting their positions and speaking in favour of Bangladesh.
"Bangladesh always believes in peaceful solution to any problem. We solved many of the problems, including land boundary and maritime boundary with India, which is an example of how problems can be solved through dialogue," he said.
Besides, he said, maritime dispute with Myanmar was also solved through dialogue and legal process.
"Myanmar is our friend. We solved the Rohingya problem earlier in 1980s and 1990s. We hope we can succeed the same way," Momen said.
* * *
The minister said Bangladesh and China signed 27 MoUs [(memoranda of understanding)] and agreements -- worth more than $20 billion -- during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Bangladesh in October 2016.
"The works under these deals are in progress," he said.
Asked about China-led "Belt and Road Initiative" [BRI], and the concerns regarding the debt trap of Chinese loans, Momen said the government is well aware of such issues.-
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U.S. calls for end to
mobile data blackout
in two Myanmar states.
- Reuters News Service
The United States on Saturday urged an immediate end to a mobile data blackout in parts of two Myanmar states, saying a service restoration would help provide transparency to what the government says are law enforcement actions to avert unrest.
Morgan Ortagus, the State Department spokeswoman, said the United States was "deeply concerned" by the data shutdown that has curbed internet-based communications for as many as 1 million people in Rakhine and Chin states.
On Monday, Yanghee Lee, the special U.N. rapporteur who monitors human rights in Myanmar, said the Myanmar military was conducting a "clearance operation" against Arakan Army rebels in the blacked out areas. She said she feared troops were committing "gross human rights violations" against civilians under the cover of the shutdown. ...-
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Bangladesh highlights
UN’s failure to prevent
atrocities in Myanmar.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
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Myanmar to send envoys
to Rohingya camps
in Bangladesh.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Myanmar is sending a high-level delegation soon to camps in Bangladesh to explain to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims how they can return home, Myanmar's UN ambassador said Monday.
Some 740,000 Rohingya fled a crackdown by Myanmar's military in 2017 in Rakhine state and are living in camps in Cox's Bazar. Many refugees have been traumatized, providing accounts of rape, mass killings and razing of villages.
Myanmar's Ambassador Hau Do Suan told a General Assembly meeting that his government will "dispatch a high level delegation to Cox's Bazar very soon, by the end of July, to explain to the displaced people the arrangements made for the repatriation and resettlement."
He said some 30,000 Rohingya had requested to return, of whom about 13,200 have been verified as former residents and "can return to Rakhine anytime".
Myanmar has faced international pressure to allow the Rohingya to return to Rakhine and grant them citizenship rights.
The United Nations has complained that progress to address the refugee crisis has been far too slow.
"The only viable solution for the refugees is the safe, voluntary and dignified repatriation to Myanmar," said UN envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner-Burgener.
"And the key responsibility for creating conducive conditions in Rakhine lies with Myanmar."
She said that a "first step" to addressing the Rakhine crisis would be to halt the heavy fighting with the Arakan Army (AA), a group pushing for more autonomy for the state's ethnic Buddhists.
The United Nations has described as "ethnic cleansing" the mass expulsion of the Rohingya, but Myanmar's army insists the campaign was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents who staged deadly raids on border posts in August 2017.
- 2019 July 1 - Monday
- 2019 July 2 - Tuesday
-
U.N. investigator reports
possible fresh war crimes
in Myanmar
- Reuters News Service-
(same topic at:
- [London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)
- NPR (National Public Radio)
- Reuters / New York Times
- Reuters / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
-
Reuters / The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)
- (NOTE: Although this media appears independent, it may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
-
AFP / SBS News (Australia)
- (public broadcasting network)
)
Myanmar security forces and insurgents are committing human rights violations against civilians -- in restive western states -- that may amount to fresh war crimes, a United Nations investigator said on Tuesday.
A 2017 military crackdown drove more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. U.N. investigators have said that Myanmar’s operation included mass killings, gang rapes and widespread arson and was executed with "genocidal intent".
The government denies committing those atrocities and says its military campaign across northern Rakhine was in response to attacks by Rohingya militants.
Government troops are currently fighting ethnic rebels in conflict-torn Rakhine and Chin states. The Arakan Army is an insurgent group that is fighting for greater autonomy for the two states.
On June 22, [Myanmar] authorities ordered telecoms companies to shut down internet services in the two states. Telenor Group said the ministry of transport and communications had cited "disturbances of peace and use of internet activities to coordinate illegal activities".
Yanghee Lee, the U.N. independent expert on human rights in Myanmar, said last week [that] the army may be committing gross human rights violations under cover of a mobile phone blackout in Rakhine and Chan -- but on Tuesday she went further:
"The conflict with the Arakan Army -- in northern Rakhine State, and parts of southern Chin State -- has continued over the past few months, and the impact on civilians is devastating. Many acts of the Tatmadaw ([Myanmar's] army), and the Arakan Army, violate international humanitarian law -- and may amount to war crimes, as well as violating human rights,"
Lee said.
The Arakan Army had reportedly abducted civilians, including 12 construction workers in Paletwa and 52 villagers near the Bangladesh border, she told the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Lee cited reports of civilians, mostly ethnic Rakhine men, being detained and interrogated by the Tatmadaw for suspected links to the Arakan Army and said several had died in custody. In April, a military helicopter opened fire on Rohingya men and boys collecting bamboo, she said.
Some 35,000 people have fled the violence this year, she said.
Myanmar’s Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun said that the government had declared a ceasefire through August, and was trying to bring about national reconciliation.
"The government of Myanmar is working tirelessly to end ethnic strife and end conflict and to achieve sustainable peace in Myanmar through a peace process," Tun told the forum.
"Freedom of expression and media is one of most visible areas of change in Myanmar," he said. "No restriction is imposed on the use of internet and social media, but we need to strike a balance between security and freedom and rights and responsibility."
Lee said the blackout was endangering villagers, obstructing aid and shielding the military.
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- June 24
- July 2 (article below) )
-
The Government Cut Their Internet.
Will Abuses Now Remain Hidden?
- New York Times
RATHEDAUNG, Myanmar —
Rakhine State -- a ribbon of marsh and mountain on the western coast of Myanmar -- is isolated in the best of times, racked by guerrilla warfare and ethnic cleansing that takes place far from international scrutiny.
Now, an internet blackout has all but severed parts of the state from the outside world -- in a dramatic display of how easily a government can silence a population in the digital age.
“The internet will resume when stability is restored in that area,” said U Myo Swe, the chief engineer for Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications.
The blackout, which came at the behest of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, was “for the benefit of the people,” Mr. Myo Swe said.
Government-mandated internet or social media shutdowns, -- which have occurred with increasing frequency in places like Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Sudan -- are often deemed necessary for silencing the kind of innuendo and rumor that causes online mobs to catalyze real ones.But such telecommunications embargoes can be designed to foil members of the political opposition as well. And they can particularly hurt vulnerable communities in conflict areas, who depend on internet connections to keep them out of the crossfire or publicize abuses in remote locations.
“I’m worried that there will be more human rights violations during the internet shutdown,” said U Aung Thaung Shwe, a member of Parliament from Buthidaung Township in northern Rakhine State, where civilians have been killed as hostilities have increased between insurgents from the Rakhine ethnic group and the Myanmar military.
“It seems like the internet shutdown is only for the military’s sake,” he added. “It destroys the rule of law and security.”
The online blackout for cellphones -- which began on June 21, and affects eight townships in Rakhine State, and one in neighboring Chin State -- “is depriving aid workers and rights monitors of vital communications in a time of crisis,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Telenor Myanmar, one of the nation’s largest cellular providers, said in a statement that “freedom of expression through access to telecoms services should be maintained for humanitarian purposes, especially during times of conflict.”
The United States joined the condemnation, saying that the shutdown “has curtailed some forms of internet-based communication for as many as one million people,” according to a statement by Morgan Ortagus, a spokeswoman for the State Department.“Internet service should be restored without delay,” Ms. Ortagus said, to “limit further damage to Burma’s international reputation.”
The United States refers to Myanmar by its previous name, "Burma."
Once hailed for what its army leaders portrayed as a peaceful transition toward democratic governance, Myanmar has had its reputation battered by continuing military aggression -- most notably against ethnic minorities, who make up at least one third of the nation’s population.Since 2017, over 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have been expelled from Myanmar, in a murderous campaign that some United Nations officials say may constitute genocide. The pogroms by the Myanmar military were aided by mobs of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.
This year, a long-simmering ethnic Rakhine insurgency exploded as well, complicating the security landscape in an already wounded region. The Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group that claims 7,000 soldiers, has launched fatal raids on Myanmar soldiers.The response by the Myanmar military has been fierce, human rights groups say: massacred children, arbitrary detentions and the destruction of Rakhine historical monuments. More than 35,000 ethnic Rakhine have fled the fighting, according to the United Nations.
Yanghee Lee, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said that the internet suspension could be designed to cloak abuses by the military, known as the Tatmadaw.“I am told that the Tatmadaw is now conducting a ‘clearance operation,’ which we all know by now can be a cover for committing gross human rights violations against the civilian population,” Ms. Lee said. “We must not forget that these are the same security forces that have so far avoided accountability for the atrocities committed against the Rohingya in Rakhine State less than two years ago.”
Ms. Lee, who has spoken out in defense of Myanmar’s persecuted ethnic groups, has been barred from the country.
A decade ago, when the country was still fully controlled by a military junta, few people had internet access -- particularly in remote regions like Rakhine. SIM cards [to enable cell phones] could cost $2,000 -- far more than the average yearly income.But as the military began transferring some power to a civilian government led by Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar began opening up. SIM cards are now affordable. Facebook has become a key news source, even as hate-filled posts, some fanned by the military, have heightened communal tensions.
This time around, the internet blackout in Rakhine was again attributed to social media excesses, said Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for the Myanmar military.
“There is racial hatred in Rakhine,” he said, “because of racial hate speech and propaganda on social media.”
Under pressure for having allowed hate speech to fester on its platform, Facebook has taken down accounts associated with the Arakan Army and the Myanmar commander-in-chief. But far more incendiary accounts have not been banned.
At an army base in Rathedaung, a few miles from where the Arakan Army launched an attack this year, soldiers crouched behind fences of barbed wire and branches.Rakhine villagers walked by, avoiding eye contact with the infantrymen. Tensions between the two sides reach back centuries.
Next to the base was a telecommunication tower, shiny and new, also encircled by crude fencing.
After much of the state’s Muslim population was forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, Myanmar officials vowed to reinvigorate Rakhine through investment. In the northern townships, where most of the Rohingya used to live, a construction boom is bringing new government buildings, roads and other infrastructure.
Myanmar’s official line: Rohingya are returning, but cracks in that story abound .]
But the renewed fighting has dimmed the state’s economic prospects. Internet stoppages will only dissuade potential investors further.
“The government says the internet shutdown is for the benefit of the people, but I don’t see any benefit for the people,” said Kaung Mrat Naing, a resident of Maungdaw, a northern Rakhine township. “This only makes trouble for the people.”
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(same topic at:
- June 24
- June 27
- July 2 (prior article) )-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
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U.N. investigator reports
- 2019 July 3 - Wednesday
- 2019 July 4 - Thursday
-
Prosecutor seeks probe
of crimes against
Rohingya Muslims.
- AP / Washington Post
The International Criminal Court prosecutor on Thursday filed a request with judges to open a formal investigation of crimes against humanity allegedly committed against Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she wants to investigate crimes of deportation, inhumane acts and persecution allegedly committed as Rohingya were driven from Myanmar, which is not a member of the global court, into Bangladesh, an ICC member.
The announcement marked a significant step in efforts to deliver justice to victims of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises of recent years. ICC judges will carefully study the 146-page written request before deciding whether to authorize an investigation.
Bensouda said that a preliminary probe established "a reasonable basis to believe that at least 700,000 Rohingya people were deported from Myanmar to Bangladesh through a range of coercive acts, and that great suffering or serious injury has been inflicted on the Rohingya through violating their right to return to their state of origin."
Her written request said that the coercive acts allegedly committed by Myanmar’s armed forces, border guards and police included "killings; rapes and other forms of sexual violence; acts of physical and psychological violence intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health; and the destruction of property including homes, livestock and entire villages."
Last year, the court ruled that it has jurisdiction over alleged deportation of Rohingya to Bangladesh because part of the crimes allegedly happened in Bangladesh.
Myanmar’s military has been accused of widespread rights violations leading about 700,000 Rohingya to flee the country since August 2017. Bensouda said she wants her investigation to date back to October 2016.
Bensouda said her investigation is limited by the fact that Myanmar is not a member of the court, meaning her investigation "would not extend to all crimes potentially committed in Myanmar, but will focus on crimes allegedly committed in part on the territory of Bangladesh."
But she added that investigating deportations also will mean "taking a close look at the alleged violence that left the Rohingya no genuine choice but to flee Myanmar."
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya to be "Bengalis" from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless.
The long-simmering Rohingya crisis exploded in August 2017 when Myanmar’s military launched what it called a clearance campaign in Rakhine in response to an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group. The campaign led to the mass Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh and to accusations that security forces committed mass rapes and killings and burned thousands of homes.
The International Criminal Court is a court of last resort that takes on cases when national authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute alleged atrocities.
Bensouda said that potential cases arising from her investigation should be admissible under ICC rules due to "the gravity of the acts committed ... and the absence of relevant national investigations or prosecutions in Myanmar" or other countries.-
(same topic at:
- Associated Press
- VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
- AP / WNCN-TV (CBS-17) (USA)
- AP & Bloomberg / Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
- Bloomberg / Japan Times (Japan) ) -
UN official likens
Rohingya living conditions
to Nazi concentration camps.
Thousands of Rohingya remaining in Myanmar are denied basic freedoms and forced to live in ‘urban ghettos’, says investigator.
- The Guardian (U.K.)
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya muslims in Myanmar are living in concentration camps and urban ghettos like those in Nazi-occupied Europe, a UN investigator has said.
Christopher Sidoti, a member of the UN fact-finding mission into crimes against the Rohingya that last year accused Myanmar’s military of genocide, warned the crisis is far from over for the persecuted minority.
Sidoti said 128,000 people forced from their homes by violence are now in camps in central Rakhine and urban ghettos, living in conditions that he likened to those endured by Jewish people under the Nazis.
Rohingya people remaining in Myanmar live in villages where their movements are severely curtailed and their rights to get married and have children are strictly controlled, he said.
"There are concentration camps – let’s call it what it is – with 128,000 internally displaced people in central Rakhine, outside Sittwe," said Sidoti. "In Sittwe, there are three areas where Rohingya people live and they have become urban ghettos like those Jews lived in under Nazi-occupied Europe."
Sidoti, a keynote speaker at a conference on the Rohingya crisis at University College London on Thursday, added: "The mass expulsions and shootings may have stopped, the military may have achieved their purpose – the makeup of the Rakhine state has changed – but the crisis is not over."
There are only an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 Rohingya left in Myanmar, he said, compared with 2 or 3 million in 2012.
"We said a year ago there were circumstances to give rise to an inference of genocidal intent," Sidoti said.
"What has happened in the past two years has strengthened the genocidal intent. Villagers are still isolated, and their movement restricted; fishermen can’t go to fish and kids can’t go to school. They need written permission from the authorities to travel any distances, and permission to marry and have children. You might need six different written approvals, from six different authorities, to go to hospital. The whole thing has been calculated to watch them fade away."
Sidoti said he expected the panel’s new report, which will be published in the next few months, to say that the inference of genocide has "strengthened".
His comments came as the UN warned that civilians in Rakhine and Chin states may be suffering fresh war crimes and human rights violations as fighting between military and rebel groups intensified.
Speaking to the UN human rights council (UNHRC), Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, detailed accounts of abduction and torture of civilians by both the Myanmar army and the rebel insurgent group the Arakan Army, which is fighting for greater autonomy in the region.
"The conflict with the Arakan Army in northern Rakhine state and parts of southern Chin state has continued over the past few months and the impact on civilians is devastating," Lee told the UNHRC on Tuesday. "Many acts of the Tatmadaw [Myanmar armed forces] and the Arakan Army violate international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes, as well as violating human rights."
Speaking to the Guardian after her address to the council, Lee said the situation was worsening by the day, and that the UN security council needed to draw up a resolution swiftly condemning the actions of the Myanmar military.
It was in Rakhine state that the Myanmar military carried out its violent clampdown on the Muslim Rohingya community in August 2017, razing villages, killing thousands and sending almost 800,000 Rohingya over the border to Bangladesh in attacks that the UN has since described as ethnic cleansing and having "genocidal intent".
The fresh wave of violence in the state is now between security forces and the rebel army of ethnic Rakhine Buddhist fighters, which has been escalating since January, resulting in more than 35,000 people fleeing their homes.
With media and humanitarian organisations barred from entering the conflict areas, accurate information is hard to verify, though it is thought that the Tatmadaw have now posted about 35,000 troops in the area, with more arriving in recent days.
Lee recounted numerous incidents of human rights violations, including reports of the Myanmar military opening fire from a helicopter on civilians collecting bamboo, forced labour, looting of houses and attacks on monasteries suspected of housing those fleeing violence.
There have also been multiple deaths of civilians taken into custody by the Tatmadaw, most recently Zaw Win Hlaing, who was detained in mid-June and died from injuries on Monday, which his mother told local media had been caused by him being beaten by rocks.
The Arakan Army was also culpable for abuses, added Lee, including the abduction of 12 construction workers in the village of Paletwa and another 52 villagers living near the Bangladesh border.
In an unprecedented move, in June the Myanmar military ordered a telecommunications blackout across eight townships in Rakhine state and one in neighbouring Chin state, cutting access to phones and internet, which is still in place. Lee and other human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights said the blackout was being used to cover up the abuses being carried out in the region.
It is thought the internet blackout is also being used by the Myanmar military to prevent financial transactions going through to the Arakan Army.
Lee, who has been banned from visiting Myanmar by the government, repeated her previous call for Myanmar to be referred to the international criminal court (ICC) for war crimes. Myanmar is not a signatory to the Rome statute and is not under the jurisdiction of the ICC, but the court ruled last year that it could prosecute Myanmar for alleged crimes against humanity against the Rohingya people.
Lee said: "So long as impunity for alleged atrocity crimes prevails, we will continue to bear witness to flagrant violations of rights perpetrated against ethnic minority populations in the name of counterinsurgency, entrenching grievances and prolonging insecurity and instability."
On Thursday, Fatou Bensouda, the international criminal court prosecutor, filed a request to open a formal investigation of crimes against humanity allegedly committed against the Rohingya.
Bensouda said she wants to investigate crimes of deportation, inhumane acts and persecution allegedly committed as the Rohingya fled Myanmar – which is not a member of the global court – into Bangladesh, which is an ICC member.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Man dies after 'custody abuse'
in Myanmar's Rakhine.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
A detainee in Myanmar's Rakhine state died from injuries allegedly sustained in custody, his family said, as the army wages war against rebels in the same area which saw the 2017 mass expulsion of Rohingya Muslims.
Myanmar's army has deployed thousands of troops to the troubled western state, in recent months, to try to crush Arakan Army (AA) insurgents, who say they are fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.
The military has cut off whole villages, and rounded up locals for interrogation, as it tries to flush out AA members and sympathisers.
Zaw Win Hlaing, 28, was detained on June 19 in Mrauk U township, his mother told AFP by phone.
Five days later he was sent to a local hospital before being transferred for treatment in the state capital, Sittwe.
But his condition deteriorated and he died on Monday, local media reported.
His mother confirmed Wednesday her son's death, saying he had coughed up "huge amounts of blood".
"My son told me they beat and tortured him by hitting his back with a longyi (a traditional sarong-like garment) packed with stones," Thein Nu Sein said, sobbing.
* * *
Army spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told AFP he had heard the accusations about Zaw Win Hlaing's death, adding any official complaint would be investigated.
He insisted torture is "banned" during military interrogations.
* * *
Northern Rakhine is under complete lockdown -- as well as a government-imposed internet blackout -- making any independent reporting difficult.
* * *
On Tuesday in Geneva, UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee warned abuses on both sides of this latest conflict "may amount to war crimes".
Dozens of civilians have been caught in the crossfire, even while sheltering in monasteries.
The army confirmed it shot dead six Rakhine detainees in late April, saying its forces acted in self-defence.
Rights groups are calling for independent investigations into the deaths of at least 14 civilians who died in or shortly after being held in military custody.
"The military is operating in Rakhine State with total impunity," said John Quinley from Fortify Rights.
* * *
More than 35,000 people are believed to have fled their homes and nearly 100,000 are without access to basic services.
Northern Rakhine was also the epicentre two years ago of the military's brutal crackdown against the state's Rohingya Muslim population.
Some 740,000 Rohingya fled over the border into Bangladesh in violence UN investigators have said warrants the prosecution of top generals for "genocide".-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Dutch House of Reps
adopts resolution for Rohingya.
Resolution requests government to seek support of other states to open case against rights abuse in ICJ [(International Court of Justice)].
- Anadolu Agency (Turkey)
(CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.)
HAGUE, the Netherlands
The Dutch House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, on Thursday adopted a motion asking the government to investigate Myanmar's genocide against Rohingya Muslims, in order to pave the way to open a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The resolution -- which requests the government to gather support of other countries to back the case -- was accepted by majority of votes. ...-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
Prosecutor seeks probe
- 2019 July 5 - Friday
-
VIDEO
Monsoon Season Brings
Heavy Rain, Flooding
to Rohingya Refugee Camp.
- Daily Telegraph (Australia)-
(same video at:
- Cairns Post (Australia)
- [Adelaide] Advertiser (Australia) )
-
(Official U.N. statements at:
- UNHCR briefing transcript
-
UNHCR article:
"Heavy monsoon rains drench Rohingya sites in Bangladesh"
...which notes:
Three days of continuous rain in Bangladesh have destroyed 273 shelters and injured 11 people in the Cox’s Bazar settlements where more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees live.
An estimated 350mm [(14 inches)] of rain fell in 72 hours, from Monday -- and more heavy downpours are expected throughout next week -- with four months of the monsoon season to go. According to preliminary reports, there have been 26 landslides.
Refugee volunteers, trained by UNHCR and partners, worked throughout the night on Wednesday in heavy rain to help families in urgent need. In some cases, this involved rescuing refugees from shelters destroyed by landslides. We have temporarily relocated 2,137 people, either because their shelters suffered substantial damage or as a precaution.
Our network of Emergency Response Teams has been mobilised to identify the needs of the most vulnerable and prioritise them for assistance. As an immediate response, pre-positioned emergency supplies are being distributed to help rebuild, repair and strengthen damaged shelters.
In support of the humanitarian response led by the Bangladeshi authorities, UNHCR and partners, including WFP and IOM, made preparedness for the monsoon season a priority, including building retaining structures on hillsides, installing drainage, and building roads and bridges. Reservoirs have been also constructed to hold monsoon rains and stabilise water supplies.
We remain on high alert, ready to deploy additional Emergency Response Teams to support our network of refugee volunteers and partners as needed.
To date, the 2019 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh has received only a third (US$301 million) of the US$920 million that is needed. )
-
Solving Rohingya Crisis:
China to press Myanmar.
Chinese PM tells Hasina at Beijing meet.
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)-
(same topic at:
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh) )
He gave the assurance during a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Li Keqiang agreed that the return of the forcibly displaced people to their homeland is a solution to the problem.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque said, "The Chinese prime minister said they’ll try so that the two countries [Bangladesh and Myanmar] can find a solution to the problem. And China will persuade Myanmar in this regard."
Appreciating Hasina for her humanitarian response to the Rohingya crisis, Li Keqiang said China can understand that it is a big challenge for Bangladesh.
The Chinese PM said they thought the crisis would have to be solved through bilateral channels. China had previously helped solve the problem as both Bangladesh and Myanmar are its friends, he added.
During the talks, Hasina said peace and stability is very essential for development, but the displacement of the Rohingyas from their homes in Myanmar affects the peace and stability in the region.
Mentioning that the Rohingya crisis would worsen with the passage of time, she said it needed to be resolved quickly. "The return of the Rohingyas to their homeland is the solution to the crisis."
The PM said Bangladesh engaged in bilateral arrangements and made all sorts of efforts for the repatriation of Rohingyas, but they do not want to return to Myanmar as they are afraid.
In this context, she said China can play a role in creating a congenial environment in Myanmar for ensuing safety, dignity, and citizenship of the displaced Rohingyas and their access to their land and property in Myanmar to remove their fears.[ECONOMIC RELATIONS:]
Talking about economy and trade, the Chinese PM said the China-Bangladesh trade volume grew by 16 percent last year.
Hasina stressed the need for addressing the trade imbalance between the two countries as the trade growth is in favour of China. "So, China should make investment in Bangladesh, develop factories, and industries with the buyback guarantee."
Mentioning that Bangladesh is setting up 100 special economic zones, she urged China to invest in those zones.
Li Keqiang said they want balanced trade relations and assured Hasina of working to reduce the trade imbalance.
Noting that 97 percent Bangladeshi products now enjoy duty-free access to Chinese market, the Chinese PM said they will try to allow duty exemption to the rest of the goods. "China is closely monitoring the outcomes of the FTA feasibility study," he added.
About the implementation of projects, Hasina said during the Chinese president’s visit to Bangladesh in 2016, Dhaka had signed a number of agreements and MoUs with Beijing to implement projects in Bangladesh.
She put emphasis on expediting the project implementation process.
Hasina urged China to ease the terms and conditions of loan agreements and take necessary measures for timely disbursement of fund for implementation of the projects.
Her Chinese counterpart said his country would consider the matter.
The Bangladesh PM sought Chinese assistance for implementing the Delta Plan 2100, setting up a Climate Adaptation Centre, and mobilising resources in implementation of the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration project.
She also urged China to expedite the implementation of Dhaka-Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar high-speed train service project.
About visas, the PM said Bangladesh provides preferential visas to Chinese nationals under the umbrella of "on arrival visa" arrangements. But a similar treatment is not offered to Bangladeshi nationals travelling to China.
She hoped that China would ease the visa process for Bangladeshi passport holders, students, and businessmen in particular.
About the BCIM economic corridor, the two prime ministers highlighted its importance and potentials to connect markets of the region and agreed that it should be implemented quickly.
The Bangaldesh-India-China-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor -- planned to connect Kunming (China), to Mandalay (Myanmar), Dhaka (Bangladesh) and ultimately Kolkata (India).
China claims the BCIM corridor must pass through Rakhine state, on Myanmar's w`est coast -- the Rohingyas' homeland, but also an area with value to China.
Currently, China is building a seaport on the Rakhine coast, at KyaukPyu, which will become the primary seaport for Western and South-Central China (and China's only Indian Ocean port). Vital oil and gas shipments to China from the Middle East can arrive here without having to traverse the greater distances through Malaysia, Indonesia and the tense regions of the South China Sea. A naval base here could greatly expand China's projection of seapower.
The Rakhine region is suitable for large-scale production of rice -- THE essential food of the Chinese diet.
And, already, China is harvesting natural gas from offshore wells along the Rakhine coast -- and wants a secure route through Rakhine state to transport this and future drilling products to China.
Rakhine state may be a somewhat out-of-the-way jog for China's BCIM corridor route, but -- for China -- Rakhine state, the Rohingya's homeland, is not just part of a route... it's a key destination.~ RCN Editor
The foreign secretary said the Chinese PM termed Bangladesh a partner of China in South Asia. "We value our relationship with Bangladesh and would like to take it to a higher level... we’ve a strategic partnership and we hope that it’ll be deepened and strengthened further," Li Keqiang said.
Bangladesh Ambassador to China Md Fazlul Karim and PM’s Speech Writer Md Nazrul Islam were present at the briefing.
Chairperson of National Advisory Committee for Autism and Neurodevelopment Disorders Saima Wazed Hossain, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, PM’s Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Foreign Affairs Ministry Muhammad Faruk Khan were present, among others, during the talks.
After the meeting, Hasina joined a banquet hosted by her Chinese counterpart at the Great Hall of the People.
Earlier, on her arrival at the venue around 10:45am (local time), she was welcomed by the Chinese PM and accorded a state reception.NINE INSTRUMENTS SIGNED:
Bangladesh and China yesterday signed nine instruments for further strengthening cooperation on power, water resources, culture, and tourism sectors as well as providing 2,500 tonnes of rice for the displaced Rohingyas.
The instruments, including two loan deals, were signed in presence of the two prime ministers after their meeting.
Of the instruments, four were signed between the Economic Relations Division (ERD) of Bangladesh and the Ministry of Commerce of China, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque told reporters.
The four deals are Framework Agreement of Expansion and Strengthening of Power System Network under DPDC Area; Framework Agreement of Power Grid Network Strengthening Project under PGCB Project; Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation between the two governments; and Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of Investment Cooperation Working Group.
The ERD also inked two loan agreements with the Export-Import Bank of China.
The two agreements are Government Concessional Loan Agreement of Expansion and Strengthening of Power System Network under DPDC Area Project; and Preferential Buyer’s Credit Loan Agreement of Expansion and Strengthening of Power System Network under DPDC Area Project.
Besides, an MoU on provision of Hydrological Information of Yaluzhangbu/Brahmaputra River and its Implementation Plan was signed between the water resources ministries of the two countries.
Another MoU on Cultural and Tourism Exchange Programme was signed by Ministry of Culture of China and Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Bangladesh.
A Letter of Exchange (LOE) on the Rohingya Refugees Rice Aid was signed by the disaster management and relief ministry of Bangladesh and China International Development Cooperation Agency.
Under the LoE, China will provide 2,500 tonnes of rice as assistance for the displaced Rohingyas who have taken shelter in Bangladesh.
-
VIDEO
- 2019 July 6 - Saturday
-
Rohingya Crisis:
[Bangladesh's] Hasina, [China's] Xi
for quick solution.
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday agreed [with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina] that there should be a quick solution to the Rohingya crisis so that the displaced people can go back to their homeland soon.
"The two leaders agreed that the Rohingya crisis will have to be solved quickly. It can’t be kept unsolved anymore. Two years have elapsed after signing of the agreements. There’s no difference in opinion," [Bangladesh] Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque told reporters, after a bilateral meeting between [Bangladesh] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and [Chinese] President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Speaking at the meeting at Diaoyutai State Guest House, the PM said Bangladesh was hosting 1.1 million Rohingyas, which is a big challenge for the country. It has emerged as environmental and security challenges and trafficking problem in particular.
"We expect goodwill of the Chinese government, and the president, so that the displaced Rohingyas can go back," Hasina said.
In response, the Chinese leader said his country had previously worked with Myanmar and Bangladesh in this regard and it would continue to do so.
Xi Jinping said their goal is also quick return of the Rohingyas to their homeland.
The Rohingya issue was discussed also during the dinner hosted by the Chinese president, said the foreign secretary.
"At the meeting, it was agreed that the representatives of the two countries will work together. They’ll also use their goodwill on Myanmar," Shahidul said.
The PM told the Chinese president that the Rohingyas did not want to go back to Myanmar, as they were afraid of a recurrence of persecution there.
In response, Xi Jinping said there is a very slim possibility of a recurrence of such incidents, as there is international attention on it.
The president said his country would try as much as possible, in this regard, as both Bangladesh and Myanmar are its close friends. China treats the two friends equally, he added.[ECONOMIC RELATIONS:]
Talking about the projects being implemented with Chinese assistance in Bangladesh, Hasina said during the Chinese president’s visit to Bangladesh in 2016, 27 agreements and MoUs [(memoranda of understanding)] were signed between the two countries, to implement a number of projects.
She put emphasis on expediting project implementation.
The PM requested the Chinese president to ease the terms and condition of loan agreements, for timely disbursement of fund to expedite the project implementation.
Xi Jinping said he would take proper measures in this regard.
About trade and investment, the PM said Chinese companies should invest in Bangladesh with a buyback facility to ease the big trade imbalance against Bangladesh.
Hasina said Chinese entrepreneurs can invest in economic zones, as her government was setting up 100 economic zones across the country.
The Chinese president said they were aware about it, and would make all efforts to reduce the trade imbalance. He said they encourage Chinese investors to invest in Bangladesh.
The Chinese side discussed the trade gap issue very rationally, rather than arguing that there were not enough products to be imported from Bangladesh to reduce the trade gap, said the foreign secretary.
The PM sought Chinese assistance for implementing the Delta Plan 2100 and setting up a Climate Adaptation Centre, and implementation of Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration project.
The Chinese leader assured that they would help Bangladesh set up the Climate Adaptation Centre and consider extending Chinese assistance for Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project.
Highly appreciating Bangladesh’s GDP growth, Xi Jinping said both countries could learn from each other’s development.
Both the sides gave importance to the Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, saying that the initiative would have to be revived, working together with India.
* * *
CPC TO HELP RESOLVE ROHINGYA CRISIS:
The Communist Party of China (CPC) yesterday said it would contact the top Myanmar leaders to amicably solve the Rohingya crisis and start the repatriation as soon as possible.
CPC Minister for International Affairs Song Tao gave the assurance when he met PM Hasina at Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing.
"We’ll contact Myanmar political leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, to solve the Rohingya problem amicably and so that the repatriation of the first batch of the Rohingyas starts as soon as possible," he said. ...-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Myanmar has political will
to take Rohingyas back:
~ Chinese [foreign minister].
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday said Myanmar has a 'political will' over the repatriation of displaced Rohingyas.
He made the remark at a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Dr AK Abdul Momen in Beijing, the capital of China.
"The Chinese foreign minister informed that Myanmar has a 'political will' to take back its Rohingyas from Bangladesh," said Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque said while briefing reporters after the meeting.
Highlighting the Rohingya crisis, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Momen said Bangladesh has no conflict with Myanmar. "We're good neighbours and we want Myanmar to take its nationals back from Bangladesh," he said.
In reply, the Chinese foreign minister hoped that the repatriation of the first batch of Rohingyas will be made soon. "We hope that Bangladesh and Myanmar will make arrangements over the Rohingya repatriation and we'll always stay beside the two countries on this issue," Haque quoted the Chinese foreign minister as saying.
The foreign secretary said Bangladesh, China and Myanmar sat over the issue in New York and Beijing. "A new door may be opened up due to the talks," he hoped. -
Thousands protest amid outcry
over Myanmar child-rape case.
[Protesters, from across Myanmar, march on the nation's largest city
-- outraged by rape of 3-year-old girl, and by a poor police response.]
- Reuters / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)-
[NOTE: This is apparently NOT the Rohingya girl raped and killed as reported on
June 13
(see above). However, it raises broader questions about child rape and the authorities in Myanmar -- a major factor in the recent-years' attacks on the Rohingya, conducted or supported by the Myanmar authorities].
Police said this week they had arrested a suspect in the rape of a toddler - nicknamed Victoria - at a private nursery school in the administrative capital, Naypyitaw, in May.
Social media users have criticised the speed and professionalism of the police response, after the girl's family filed a complaint more than a month ago -- underscoring a lack of trust in authorities in a country still emerging from decades of military rule.
A government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi took power, after sweeping elections, in 2015 -- but key institutions, such as the police, remain under military control, and efforts to strengthen the rule of law have floundered.
Organisers estimated as many as 6,000 protesters gathered on Saturday at the Yangon office of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) wearing white T-shirts, some printed with the words "Justice for Victoria". One banner read: "We don't want any more Victorias."
"We need an explanation that people can accept and justice for the kid," said 33-year-old protest organiser Aung Htike Min.
The protesters also called on the government to create a safe environment for Myanmar's children.
* * *
The police force's deputy director general, Aung Naing Thu, said on Friday -- in a news conference broadcast live on Facebook, and watched by thousands of people -- that police had filed a case, at court, against a driver at the victim's nursery, who was in custody.
A thorough investigation was conducted, he said, but efforts to identify the perpetrator had been delayed because officers were waiting to speak to the victim, a three-year-old girl who was recovering from medication she was given after the assault.
"We filed the lawsuit against the suspect based on the testimony of the child and technical records," said Aung Naing Thu, referring to security-camera footage that he said implicated the driver.
The nursery had also been closed because it lacked the correct license to operate, he said.
Demonstrators were sceptical about the account given by Myanmar police, a force that is widely perceived as corrupt or incompetent.
Ye Myint Win, 37, who joined Saturday's protest along with his wife and 2-year-old daughter, told Reuters authorities should take child rape cases more seriously.
"I found it very suspicious and I don't trust the investigation of CID," he said.-
(same topic at:
BBC News
)
-
Rohingya Crisis:
- 2019 July 7 - Sunday
- 2019 July 8 - Monday
-
[Bangladesh Prime Minister]
slams US congressman
for proposal to attach Rakhine
with Bangladesh.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today strongly criticised the US congressman for his proposal to attach Myanmar’s Rakhine State with Bangladesh to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
"Each state is a sovereign one. Why they want to attach Rakhine State with us?" the prime minister said, responding to query, while briefing the media this afternoon.
She was briefing the media on her five-day official visit to China...
"Myanmar is our neighbor. And I have sheltered the Rohingyas on humanitarian ground. The U.S. man expressed his audacity by placing such proposal," the PM said.
The premier also said: "Myanmar imposed its burden on us. Despite this, I am still maintaining good relation with the country, without initiating any hardline."
According to US media report, Congressman Bradley Sherman, Chairman of Sub-committee on Asia Pacific of the Congress, made the proposal on June 13 during a hearing on the State Department’s budget for South Asia.
Sherman also called upon the State Department to consider the proposal of bringing Rakhine state of Myanmar under Bangladesh, the Economic Times [of India] reports, quoting the US media report.
* * *
China to remain beside Bangladesh:
Sheikh Hasina said that China would do whatever necessary to accelerate repatriation of Rohingya people to Myanmar.
"China is attached to Myanmar. Despite this, it assured that it will talk to Myanmar for repatriating Rohingyas," the prime minister said.
"China assured us it will remain beside Bangladesh in the repatriation of the Rohingyas. Is it not good news for us?" Hasina responded to a query at the press briefing. ...-
(same topic at:
- News18 India (India)
[CAUTION: Quality and safety of this source is unknown.] )
-
Buddhists Go to Battle:
When Nationalism
Overrides Pacifism.
[NOTE: The Rohingya Crisis is largely a Buddhist-nationalist purge of the (mostly non-Buddhist) Rohingya. ~RCN editor]
- New York Times
Incited by a politically powerful network of charismatic monks like Sumedhananda Thero, Buddhists have entered the era of militant tribalism, casting themselves as spiritual warriors who must defend their faith against an outside force.
Their sense of grievance might seem unlikely: In Sri Lanka and Myanmar, two countries that are on the forefront of a radical religious-nationalist movement, Buddhists constitute overwhelming majorities of the population. Yet some Buddhists, especially those who subscribe to the purist Theravada strain of the faith, are increasingly convinced that they are under existential threat, particularly from an Islam struggling with its own violent fringe.
As the tectonic plates of Buddhism and Islam collide, a portion of Buddhists are abandoning the peaceful tenets of their religion. Over the past few years, Buddhist mobs have waged deadly attacks against minority Muslim populations. Buddhist nationalist ideologues are using the spiritual authority of extremist monks to bolster their support.
“The Buddhists never used to hate us so much,” said Mohammed Naseer, the imam of the Hillur Mosque in Gintota, Sri Lanka, which was attacked by Buddhist mobs in 2017. “Now their monks spread a message that we don’t belong in this country and should leave. But where will we go? This is our home.”
-
[Bangladesh Prime Minister]
- 2019 July 9 - Tuesday
-
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
battle monsoon landslides
and floods.
- BBC News
Thousands of people have been relocated and at least one person has died after Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh were battered by heavy monsoon rain.
Weather warnings suggest the downpour is likely to continue.
According to UNICEF, more than 3,000 families have been affected. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it had relocated thousands of refugees in recent days.
The camps house more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees. ...-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
- 2019 July 10 - Wednesday
-
Dozens of Malaysia-bound Rohingyas
detained in Myanmar.
- Kyodo News (Japan)
/ Bangkok Post (Thailand)
YANGON (Myanmar/Burma):
Police in strife-ridden Rakhine State in western Myanmar have detained dozens of Rohingya Muslims who were seeking to get to Malaysia by boat, state media reported on Wednesday.
The 63 members of the stateless, persecuted minority in Myanmar -- 29 men and 34 women -- and four crew members were arrested near a beach in Maungtaw, Rakhine, [in Myanmar,] on Tuesday, after their boat ran out of fuel in bad weather, and drifted ashore, according to the report.
Thirty-four of the Muslims were from refugee camps in Cox's Bazar in neighbouring Bangladesh -- while the rest were from Rakhine.
More than 740,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military launched a harsh crackdown in Rakhine in August 2017.
Two of the detained are alleged to have worked with the crew members as traffickers. The refugees had agreed to pay 1.7 million kyat (about $1,130) for passage to Malaysia by boat, the report said. ...-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
Dozens of Malaysia-bound Rohingyas
- 2019 July 11 - Thursday
-
Former UN chief concerned
over monsoon floods
in Rohingya camps.
Ban Ki-moon says threat exacerbated by Bangladesh's vulnerability to climate change.
- AP / Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (Canada)
Former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon expressed concern that monsoon floods could threaten the lives of Rohingya refugees in sprawling camps in Bangladesh.
Ban -- who was visiting in his role as head of The Hague-based Global Commission on Adaptation to climate change, or GCA -- said he was "saddened and dismayed" by what he saw while visiting the Kutupalong camp, Wednesday, in the southern coastal district of Cox's Bazar, where more than one million Rohingya Muslims, from Myanmar, have fled military-backed persecution in their home country.
Bangladesh has a history of violent cyclones -- but has reduced the number of casualties from such natural disasters by investing in roads and other public infrastructure, building cyclone shelters, and training volunteers across its vast coastal region (which has the world's largest continuous beach).
Still, the UN's children's agency UNICEF said, earlier this week... that thousands of families living in the refugee camps -- and Bangladeshi communities in surrounding villages -- are at risk from flooding and landslides caused by heavy rainfall in the last few days.
The situation is particularly grim in the camps -- though many of the more than 4,000 families affected have been relocated to safer areas, it said.
One seven-year-old boy drowned following heavy rains, and two children were injured, the agency said. It said that schools and other facilities serving more than 60,000 children have been damaged.
"It's just impossible to think of how all these young people live in this condition... I know that there are more than half a million young people," Ban told The Associated Press in an interview during his visit to the camps at Kutupalong.
Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Ban was visiting along with the World Bank's Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva and other commissioners of the GCA, which was initiated by the Netherlands and set up in 2018. Ban and Microsoft founder Bill Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are co-chairs along with Georgieva.
Ban and other GCA leaders could see vast areas of the delta nation, of 160 million, under water, as they flew on Air Force helicopters from Dhaka, the capital, to Cox's Bazar.
"Bangladesh, of course, is one of the most vulnerable countries and climate change is happening much, much faster," said Ban, who also met with the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to discuss the country's efforts to adapt to flooding, rising sea levels and extreme weather.
"Bangladesh has been wisely investing, with a vision of Prime Minister Hasina. That is why we are here -- to learn the lessons from Bangladesh, and to disseminate this message to the world far and wide," he said.
Georgieva praised Bangladesh's progress in reducing damage and deaths from the monsoon season floods.
During the ride to Cox's Bazar, the officials saw low-lying land "as far as the eye can see, a lot of water, it is monsoon season, but also roads are elevated so they can sustain the flooding," she said. "More and more green belts that protect the inland communities, and I also saw that the agriculture is clearly doing well."
The GCA was launched with the support of 17 convening countries including China, Canada and the U.K., and low-lying countries vulnerable to climate change -- including Bangladesh and the Marshall Islands.
-
Official report:
Bangladesh's Rohingya Camps Hit
by 7th Day of Wind, Rain.
- IOM (Int'l Org. for Migration) (U.N. affiliate)
....................................... -
Myanmar has much more to do
for safe Rohingya return
says [former U.N. Secretary General]
Ban Ki Moon.
- BDnews24.com
.....................................-
(same topic at:
- VOA / Malaysia Sun
[NOTE: VOA is U.S. propaganda radio] ) -
Myanmar:
No homecoming for Rohingyas.
[Housing erected in Myanmar, for returning refugees, is for Hindus only -- none for Muslims.]
- BBC News
In Myanmar’s Rakhine state, hundreds of new houses have been handed over to families displaced by the violence of the Rohingya crisis in 2017. But none of the homes were for the Muslim minority group.
Almost two years on, there’s no sign [that] the 700,000 Rohingyas who fled across the border to Bangladesh will be returning soon. Myanmar continues to deny its troops carried out ethnic cleansing and genocide.
The BBC's Myanmar correspondent Nick Beake has gained rare access to the affected part of Rakhine.-
(same topic at:
- UNHCR
- AFP / South China Morning Post
[NOTE: This media may be subject to Chinese government control. Quality unknown.]
- Jewish World Watch
[NOTE: This media is for the global Jewish community.]
- Deccan Herald
[NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.] ) -
EDITORIAL:
Caution needed:
on [India's] Supreme Court decision
on Rohingya’s status.
Supreme Court decision, on the Rohingya’s status, must protect those fleeing persecution.
- The Hindu (India)
The [India] Supreme Court’s decision to examine the question whether illegal immigrants are entitled to refugee status needs to be welcomed, but with caution. It is debatable whether the Centre is right in claiming that this has emerged as a substantial question of law in the context of the Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. For, it is fairly obvious that those escaping persecution in their home country are invariably undocumented. It logically follows that those fleeing conditions of war or conflict will have to be treated as refugees first before their cases can be examined in detail, and deemed fit for deportation as illegal entrants. It will be strange if any court holds that no illegal immigrant is entitled to refugee status. That would amount to a perverse denial of the very existence of refugees as a class. ...
* * *
India is not a signatory to the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees, 1951, and a Protocol adopted in 1967 on the subject. However, since Independence it has by and large adhered to the larger humanitarian principles underlying these instruments. In this backdrop, it is astonishing that the present regime is determined to deport the Rohingya, in utter disregard of the danger to their lives in Myanmar, and in violation of the principle of non-refoulement, the norm that prohibits states from forcibly returning refugees to conditions that caused them to flee their homes in the first place. It will be amoral and unjust if this most vulnerable group from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, numbering about 40,000 in India now, is denied refugee status. With the Centre taking a stand against treating them as refugees, a positive ruling is needed from the apex court to prevent their forcible deportation. ...
-
Former UN chief concerned
- 2019 July 12 - Friday
-
Official report:
The Refugee Brief – 12 July 2019
- U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
..............................................
-
Official report:
- 2019 July 13 - Saturday
- 2019 July 14 - Sunday
-
Deadly monsoon
destroys 5,000 shelters
in Bangladesh Rohingya camps.
- AFP / The Hindu (India)-
(same article at:
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore) )
At least 10 people have died and thousands of shanty homes have been destroyed by monsoon rains in overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh's southeast, officials said on Sunday.
Bangladesh's meteorological department said the Cox's Bazar district —home to nearly one million Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar— has seen at least 58.5 centimetres (nearly two feet) of rain since July 2.
An International Organisation for Migration (IOM) spokeswoman said heavy rains triggered mudslides in the refugee camps, which are mostly built on hill-slopes, destroying some 4,889 tarpaulin and bamboo shacks in the first two weeks of July.
* * *
More than 200 landslides have been reported since April in the camps, built near the border with Myanmar, and at least 10 people were killed, a United Nations report said, adding nearly 50,000 people have been affected.
In the last week alone, two Rohingya minors died and another 6,000 people were left without shelter because of heavy rains.
The UN said the schooling of some 60,000 children had been interrupted with over 750 learning centres partially damaged and five heavily damaged.
Displaced refugees said they were suffering as rain disrupted logistics and daily activity in the camps. "It's tough to go to food distribution centres by wading through a swamp of mud," Nurun Jan, a Rohingya refugee said. "Rains and gusty wind have made our life miserable."
Refugees also described a shortage of drinking water and a looming health crisis due to flooded toilets, which foster disease outbreaks.
World Food Programme (WFP) spokeswoman Gemma Snowdon said they had to significantly increase assistance in the camps to cope up with the monsoon. "So far 11,400 people have required the extra food assistance due to the heavy rains, compared to 7,000 during the whole of July 2018," she said.
* * *
Last year the UN refugee agency moved 30,000 Rohingya out of areas considered at high risk of landslides and floods.
Heavy rains frequently trigger flooding and landslides in Bangladesh's southeastern hill districts, and in 2017 at least 170 people were killed.
* * *
Some 740,000 Rohingya fled a military crackdown in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar's Rakhine state in August 2017, joining about 200,000 already living in camps in Bangladesh.
Officials said landslides were increasing in the region because forests had been cleared to make way for the sprawling Rohingya camps. One of the settlements, Kutupalong, is now the world's largest refugee centre.
Refugee homes are particularly susceptible to damage or destruction because Bangladeshi authorities will only allow them to be built with tarpaulin, twine, bamboo, or other flimsy materials to maintain the "temporary" character of the camp, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).
A senior Bangladesh official said the government has barred permanent structures as they hope the refugees will eventually return home.
* * *
Bangladesh wants to relocate up to 100,000 refugees to Bhashan Char, a remote island in the Bay of Bengal, but this is opposed by the Rohingya and international rights groups. Dhaka says any relocation to the island would be voluntary.
-
Deadly monsoon
- 2019 July 15 - Monday
-
OFFICIAL MAPS:
India, Nepal, Bangladesh:
Monsoon Rains
– DG ECHO Daily Map - 15/07/2019
- European Commission's Directorate-General
for European Civil Protection
& Humanitarian Aid Operations
on ReliefWeb.int
[Map showing current and forecast rainfall and flooding -- indicating flooded and endangered areas throughout South Asia, including markings for Rohingya camps in southeast Bangladesh.]
-
OFFICIAL MAPS:
- 2019 July 16 - Tuesday
-
OFFICIAL U.N. REPORT:
Rohingya refugee crisis:
Monsoon season hits Bangladesh.
- United Nations Population Fund
on ReliefWeb.int
Rohingya refugees and the local host communities of Cox’s Bazar District in Bangladesh continue to display immense resiliency amid the harsh conditions inflicted by the ongoing monsoon season.
For much of July, relentless rains have been pounding the area, which is home to more than 1 million Rohingya refugees. According to ISCG data for 4-11 July, flooding, landslides and wind storms have affected 13,738 people, within this time frame, throughout the 34 camps. ... -
Myanmar must take back
all Rohingyas,
[Bangladesh Prime Minister]
tells outgoing French ambassador.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday reiterated her call to Myanmar to begin the repatriation of the Rohingyas and said that the country must take back them from Bangladesh.
"The repatriation process should start. How long will we bear the burden? … The sooner the Rohingyas are repatriated, the better it will be for all," she said.
The PM made the comments when French Ambassador Marie-Annick Bourdin paid a farewell call on her at the Gono Bhaban yesterday afternoon.
She said international organisations and UN agencies should work inside Myanmar for the rehabilitation of the displaced Rohingyas. The work should include construction of houses for them.
Referring to the influx of 1.1 million Rohingyas into Cox’s Bazar, the PM said they outnumbered local people. "As many as 40,000 Rohingya babies have so far been born in the Rohingya camps," she said.
* * *
In reply, the French ambassador said her country will continue to support Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue. "We started supporting Bangladesh on the issue right from the beginning, and it will continue," she said.
Marie-Annick Bourdin, however, said the situation in Myanmar for the return of Rohingyas was not conducive at present. ...
-
OFFICIAL U.N. REPORT:
- 2019 July 17 - Wednesday
-
Aung San Suu Kyi's bid
to reform charter
sparks rival demonstrations.
- Reuters / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
YANGON:
Hundreds of people demonstrated in [Myanmar's largest city,] Yangon, on Wednesday (Jul 17), in support of proposed constitutional amendments that would reduce the power of the military.
A separate protest against the reforms was planned for later in the day.
* * *
Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party is pushing for change despite objections from military lawmakers, who hold a veto over amendments.
The demonstrators, led by activists not aligned to the party, wore red headbands printed with the words "Amend the 2008 Constitution".
"The current government is trying to move forward, but they can't because of the 2008 constitution," said protest organiser Pyae Phyo Zaw -- who also called for elected leaders to be given oversight of the security forces.
After decades of military rule, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi took the reins in 2016 after an electoral landslide, but is forced to share power with the generals.
Under the constitution drafted by the former military government, the military chief nominates a quarter of lawmakers and the ministers of defence, home affairs and border affairs.
It also blocks Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president, with a prohibition on presidential candidates with foreign spouses or children. Aung San Suu Kyi had two sons with her late husband, Michael Aris, a British academic.
* * *
A flyer for Wednesday's separate counter protest called on "those who love their race and religion" to turn out to help preserve that clause.
A nationalist movement led by Buddhist monks is critical of Aung San Suu Kyi and casts the military as protector of the Buddhist-majority nation.
* * *
A report containing thousands of amendments proposed by various political parties was submitted on Monday for debate at the parliament in the capital, Naypyitaw, but has not been made public.
Nay Phone Latt, an NLD lawmaker in Yangon's regional parliament, told Reuters one of the party's key proposals was to set a timeline for the gradual reduction of military seats in parliament, beginning with a move from 25 per cent to 15 per cent in 2021.
* * *
The NLD holds the most seats in parliament, but the military lawmakers mean it lacks the 75 per cent majority needed to amend the constitution.
"We need military men’s support, so it depends on the stance of the military," Nay Phone Latt said. "But we hope that it can be accepted by the military as it would reduce bit by bit over time."
Kyaw Khine Win, another demonstrator, said he rallied in favour of amending the charter because it was written to bar Aung San Suu Kyi from leading the country and imposed "forcefully".
"We want a country which is commanded by the people," he said.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Top Myanmar Generals
Are Barred From Entering U.S.
Over Rohingya Killings.
[U.S. becomes first nation to directly sanction Myanmar generals.]
- New York Times-
(same topic at:
- Washington Post
- CBS News
- BBC News
- Reuters & AFP / Deutsche Welle (Germany)
- Reuters / The Hindu (India)
- IANS / India Today (India)
- Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
- Straits Times (Singapore)
- Reuters / SBS News (Australia) )
The four generals and their immediate family members will be barred from entering the United States, Mr. Pompeo said on Tuesday. "With this announcement, the United States is the first government to publicly take action with respect to the most senior leadership of the Burmese military," he said in a statement. ... -
Myanmar says military 'dignity'
harmed by US ban
on army chief.
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
YANGON: A US travel ban on Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing -- over his role in orchestrating a bloody crackdown against Rohingya Muslims -- harms the dignity of the military, a spokesman said Wednesday (Jul 17), adding critics failed to properly understand the crisis.
* * *
The sanctions against the army chief and three other top military brass was the strongest censure from a western power since the army launched its offensive against the Rohingya in August 2017 following attacks on police posts.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the senior military figures were responsible for human rights violations including extrajudicial killings during the "ethnic cleansing" of the stateless minority when more than 740,000 were driven into Bangladesh.
* * *
But military spokesman and Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said the campaign was in self-defence, and they had carried out their own investigations.
"Our actions should be respected," he said, adding that the sanctions "harmed the dignity of the military".
He said the US misunderstood the history of the fighting in Rakhine state where the Rohingya crackdown occurred.
"The military carried out our duty to protect the lives of ethnic minorities and to protect the region," he added.
* * *
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya as one of its many official ethnicities, insisting they are interlopers from Bangladesh.
* * *
The US, Canada and the European Union have passed sanctions against members of the powerful military before, but stopped short of reaching the very top of leadership.
But rights groups and UN investigators have called for stronger action against Min Aung Hlaing -- including international prosecution for genocide.
* * *
Pompeo said, in his statement, that the US remains concerned the Burmese government had taken no action against rights violators.
He cited the "egregious" example of the release of soldiers who massacred 10 Rohingya Muslims.
The soldiers spent only a few months in prison - less time than two Reuters journalists who exposed the massacre and were behind bars for more than 500 days on state secrets charges.
* * *
The sanctions against Min Aung Hlaing, deputy commander-in-chief Soe Win, brigadier generals Than Oo and Aung Aung also apply to their immediate family members.
Min Aung Hlaing has yet to comment on the moves and has remained defiant as accusations mount.
In a rare interview in February, he said there was "no certain proof that the national army was involved in the persecution" of Rohingya.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
Aung San Suu Kyi's bid
- 2019 July 18 - Thursday
-
US travel ban
on Myanmar army chief
not enough, says UN.
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
KUALA LUMPUR: A US travel ban on Myanmar's army chief and three other top officers -- for their role in orchestrating a crackdown against Rohingya Muslims -- does not go far enough, a UN rights investigator said on Thursday (July 18).
* * *
The sanctions announced on Tuesday were the strongest censure yet from a Western power since the army launched its offensive against the stateless minority in August 2017 following attacks on police posts.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said army chief Min Aung Hlaing and the other officers were responsible for human rights violations - including extrajudicial killings during the "ethnic cleansing" of Rohingya when more than 740,000 were driven into Bangladesh.
* * *
But the United Nations Special Rapporteur to Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said the US move "does not go far enough, it should go further".
Lee, during a visit to Malaysia, criticised the sanctions as unrealistic, saying that the officers were unlikely to travel to the US anyway.
Washington should go further by seizing their assets, and those of their families, and extending the sanctions to cover other senior commanders, she said.
* * *
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya as one of its many official ethnicities, insisting they are interlopers from Bangladesh.
* * *
The US, Canada and the European Union have previously passed sanctions against members of the powerful military, but stopped short of reaching the very top of leadership.
But rights groups and UN investigators have called for stronger action against Min Aung Hlaing - including international prosecution for genocide.
* * *
Pompeo said in his statement that the US remains concerned the Burmese government had taken no action against rights violators.
He cited the "egregious" example of the release of soldiers who massacred 10 Rohingya Muslims.
The soldiers spent only a few months in prison - less time than two Reuters journalists who exposed the massacre and were behind bars for more than 500 days on state secrets charges.
* * *
The sanctions against Min Aung Hlaing, deputy commander-in-chief Soe Win, brigadier generals Than Oo and Aung Aung also apply to their immediate family members.
* * *
A Myanmar military spokesman criticised the sanctions, saying they harm the armed forces' dignity.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Rohingya activist calls U.S. ban
on Myanmar generals
a first step.
- AFP / Japan Times (Japan)-
(same article at:
- AFP / Straits Times (Singapore) )
The State Department, on Tuesday, said that [Myanmar] army chief Min Aung Hlaing, three other top officers, and their families, would not be allowed to visit the United States -- due to their roles in "ethnic cleansing" of the mostly Muslim Rohingya.
Participating in a high-level State Department meeting on religious freedom, peace activist Wai Wai Nu said it was critical to address the "decades-old impunity" enjoyed by the military in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma).
"Many of us in Burma welcome this decision of the State Department. However, we think this is a first step -- and we are hoping to see more concrete and efficient steps in the future," she told reporters.
This, she said, should include an end to impunity in the country.
"The only way to move forward, I believe, is holding the perpetrators accountable, and abolishing institutionalized religious and ethnic discrimination against ethnic minorities," she added.
Wai Wai Nu founded two groups promoting inter-ethnic harmony and women’s rights. Along with other survivors, and witnesses to abuses -- who are taking part in the ministerial -- she met Wednesday, at the White House, with President Donald Trump.
Wai Wai Nu, whose father was also an activist, was arrested with her family in 2005, when she was a law student.
The family was freed in 2012, amid a political opening in Myanmar, as the military junta reconciled with the West, and eventually allowed civilian, elected leaders. ...-
(same topic at:
- July 19 ) -
Trump to Rohingya refugee:
'Where is that exactly?'
While meeting with victims of religious prosecution on July 17, President Trump asked a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar where his home was.
- Washington Post (VIDEO)
....................-
(same event, in video, at:
- PBS-TV (Public Broadcasting System)
-
[London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)
...with this summary note:-
President Donald Trump was asked by a Rohingya refugee what the plans were to help them return home. The President in turn asked where Rohingya is.
-
The Guardian (U.K.)
...with this summary note:-
Donald Trump has had some awkward exchanges with survivors of religious persecution during a meeting with them in the Oval Office on Wednesday. When the Nobel laureate and Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad requested aid for the Yazidis, the president replied: ‘And you had the Nobel prize? That's incredible. They gave it to you for what reason?’ When asked by a Rohingya refugee about the plan to help his people, Trump replied: ‘Where is that exactly?’
- The Guardian (U.K.) on YouTube.com
- Irish Times (Ireland) )
-
(same topic, in article at:
-
Indian Express (India)
...which reports:-
Donald Trump appeared clueless when a Rohingya refugee enquired what help can be extended to the community by the State and, in turn, the US President asked: “"Where is that (Myanmar) exactly?”
Trump was having an interaction with a group of survivors of religious persecution -- which included Nobel laureate Nadia Murad, as well -- in the Oval Office, on the sidelines of a major meeting at the State Department on Wednesday.
A Rohingya stepped forward and introduced himself saying, “I am a Rohingya from Bangladesh refugee camp. Most of the refugees are willing to go back home as soon as possible. So, what is the plan to help us?”
Replying to the Rohingya, the US President said, “Where is that exactly?” He was then informed, “Bangladesh is right next to Burma,” by one of Trump’s advisors.
In another incident, Trump seemed unaware about the work and cause of Nobel laureate Nadia Murad as she requested him to help the Yazidis of Iraq. "And you had the Nobel Prize? That’s incredible. They gave it to you for what reason?” Trump asked.
-
ICC prosecutors expect investigation
into Rohingya persecution
after October.
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
A team of International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors expect to get the green light to launch an investigation into the atrocities committed against the Rohingyas in Myanmar’s Rakhine State shortly after October.
Victims of the alleged persecution have been given until Oct 31 to make their submissions to the free trial court or the prosecutor’s office, ICC Deputy Prosecutor James Stewart said at a press briefing in Dhaka on Thursday.
After that, the prosecutors hope the authorisation to investigate the crimes against humanity will come "as quickly as possible".
Stewart is visiting Bangladesh following ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's request, on July 4, to the judges, to authorise a probe into the alleged crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya people in Myanmar.
* * *
The panel of prosecutors, as part of its "normal practice" to work in a country, is in the process of signing a MoU [(memorandum of understanding)], with the Bangladesh government, to press ahead with the investigation.
"We are preparing the way for the investigation. We are not investigating now," Stewart said. "The judges will decide whether to grant authorisation to investigate."
"We are here to engage with the government and other relevant stakeholders including in affected areas, to explain and answer questions on the ICC process, and where we are currently in the judicial proceedings."
He said, the team expects the Bangladesh government to offer "basic cooperation", including security, if they are allowed to look into the issue.
Asked about the lengthy process of starting the investigation and the subsequent trial, Steward said, they understand the pain and anguish of the victims of alleged crimes, but they have to work within the legal mandate given by the Rome Statute
"It may be frustrating for some that the process takes the time it does, but we hope the wait will be worthy," he said, adding that they will be ready to start the probe as soon as they get the permission.
The ICC was established to deal with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed after July 1, 2002, and the crime of aggression after July 17, 2018, on the territory of a party state.
"We are a court of last resort, however, and can only act where these crimes are not being investigated and prosecuted by the national authorities," the deputy prosecutor said.
Myanmar is not a state that is party to the court -- but Bangladesh is.
"So any potential investigation could only focus on crimes allegedly committed, in part, on the territory of Bangladesh."
But the crimes have been committed in Myanmar.
Replying to that question, he said, following Prosecutor Bensouda's analysis, she determined that there is a reasonable basis to believe that at least 700,000 Rohingyas people were deported, from Myanmar to Bangladesh, through a range of coercive acts, and that great suffering, or serious injury, has been inflicted on the Rohingya, through violating their right of return to their state of origin.
"In addition, there is a reasonable basis to believe that the Rohingya people have suffered persecution as a result of these alleged crimes. Investigating deportation, and the other alleged crimes, would mean, of course, taking a close look at the alleged violence which left the Rohingya no option but to flee Myanmar.
"Our mandate is purely legal. The ICC and the office of the Prosecutor have no political role to play," he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Stewart will travel to Cox’s Bazar on Friday.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
US travel ban
- 2019 July 19 - Friday
-
Bangladesh prepares to move Rohingya
to island at risk of
floods and cyclones.
Foreign affairs minister defends controversial proposal as ‘only solution’ despite misgivings of human rights campaigners.
- The Guardian (U.K.)
The first Rohingya refugees could be relocated to an island in the next few months under controversial plans drawn up by the Bangladesh government, the country’s state minister of foreign affairs has said.
Some of the nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar and are now living in camps in Cox’s Bazar will be relocated to the silt island of Bhasan Char in the estuary of Bangladesh’s Meghna river, accessible only by boat.
The proposal has concerned human rights groups and NGOs who are particularly worried about Bhasan Char’s isolation – the island is prone to severe flooding and cyclones and is more than a three hour boat ride from the mainland. Rohingya people living in the camps have repeatedly said they will not go out of fears for their safety.
But speaking to the Guardian, minister of foreign affairs Shahriar Alam said the plan would go ahead, with the first refugees expected to arrive there within two to three months.
"The plan is to give the refugees a better shelter," Alam said.
* * *
Asked what would happen if people didn’t want to go, Alam replied: "We cannot force them to move, of course."
* * *
Bhasan Char -- 30km [(about 20 miles)] from the mainland -- only emerged from the river over the past two decades. Concerns have been raised over how much free movement those on the island would have.
Over the past year, multiple NGOs have emphasised the difficulty, and high risks, involved in evacuating hundreds of thousands from the island, in the event of natural disaster.
* * *
Journalists have not yet visited Bhasan Char. Alam said they had to bring over UN bodies first, such as the International Organization for Migration.
"We want them to see the place first and we will move them [the refugees] only after that. We are not rushing but we firmly believe this is the only solution," he said.
Alam added that he was not worried about flooding. "A category 10 cyclone will not just impact them [the refugees moved to the island], it will impact 20% of our population … We are vulnerable anyway, so they won’t be any more vulnerable." ...-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Bangladesh Calls for
Financial Sanctions on Myanmar,
as Country Pushes for
Rohingya Repatriation.
- VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
Bangladesh wants Myanmar to repatriate the nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees who have fled genocide, and a top Bangladeshi official wants international financial sanctions to back it up.
* * *
Foreign Minister Abul Kalam Abdul Momen called Wednesday for the international community to place concerted financial pressure on Myanmar in an interview with VOA Bangla. ... -
Bangladesh police arrest 12
as Rohingya trafficking fears rise.
- Reuters News Service / Thomson Reuters Found.
DHAKA, July 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) -
Bangladesh has arrested 12 men suspected of targeting Rohingya refugees for trafficking, police said on Friday, amid concerns over the growing desperation of the refugees.
Two Rohingya women and a Bangladeshi child were also held in the operation by the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite force of the Bangladesh police, in the capital Dhaka late on Thursday. Police said they were being questioned.
The arrests came as U.N. investigator Yanghee Lee warned traffickers were increasingly targeting Rohingya both in Myanmar and in neighbouring Bangladesh (where hundreds of thousands fled, following a brutal military crackdown in 2017).
Mainly Buddhist Myanmar regards the Muslim minority Rohingya as illegal migrants.
"These traffickers are involved in sending people to Malaysia and the Middle East," Major Mohammad Ashraful Haque told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
He said they had taken 250,000 taka ($3,000) from each of the three and had given them fake identity documents.
"We suspect that they were bringing in more Rohingya," he added.
In a statement, the RAB said the suspects were part of a "human trafficking ring" that had long been "taking advantage of the desperate Rohingya".
Scores of Rohingya have boarded boats in recent months to try to reach Malaysia and Thailand, prompting fears of a fresh wave of people smuggling by sea.
An earlier upsurge of sectarian violence in Myanmar prompted tens of thousands of Rohingya to flee -- an exodus that peaked in 2015, when an estimated 25,000 left for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Many drowned in unsafe and overloaded boats.
There are now about 900,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps on Bangladesh's southeast coast, in an area that covers about 6,000 acres -- just under half the size of [New York City's] Manhattan [island].
Heavy rains have pounded the camps in the past two weeks, destroying hundreds of temporary structures.
Bangladesh has pledged to boost its anti-trafficking efforts in the camps, following criticism from Washington.
Government figures show authorities in Bangladesh rescued at least 250 Rohingya from human traffickers in the first half of this year.
But Haque said the arrests were "just the tip of the iceberg".
"We are trying to find out more stakeholders involved in this. It's difficult, because these arrests make traffickers careful. We will follow this for a long time, and find out more," he said.-
(same article at:
- Reuters / YahooNews ) -
Rohingya groups urge
tougher US sanctions
on Myanmar.
Rohingya rights group calls U.S. travel ban, on top Myanmar military officers, 'insult to genocidal inquiry of Rohingya.'
- Anadolu Agency (Turkey)
(CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.)Rohingya rights groups on Friday urged the U.S. to impose tougher sanctions on top military officials of Myanmar for crimes against Rohingya Muslims -- calling the existing sanctions toothless.
Free Rohingya Coalition:
"The U.S. sanctions -- travel restrictions on two Myanmar senior generals and two minions that don't travel to the U.S. -- is an act adding insult to the genocidal injury of the Rohingya people," said Maung Zarni, a Burmese coordinator of Free Rohingya Coalition, an advocacy group working for the rights of the persecuted people.
The U.S. announced Tuesday that for their roles in the ethnic cleansing of the country's Rohingya Muslim minority, it is banning four top Myanmar military officials and their immediate families from traveling to the United States.
If the U.S. is serious about accountability it should impose "crippling financial, political, diplomatic and economic sanctions, invoke the Genocide Convention, and file a legal challenge at the International Court of Justice," said Zarni, who is also a fellow of the Genocide Documentation Center of Cambodia.
The U.S.' Myanmar policy is based on "the farce that there is a 'fragile democratic transition,' led by Washington's former 'democracy queen,' Suu Kyi -- while her National League for Democracy (NLD) party-military coalition government is committing the gravest crimes, including genocide and war crimes, against Rohingya and other national minorities," he stressed.
Burma Human Rights Network:
Another Rohingya rights group welcomed the sanctions, but also urged the U.S. to take further actions.
The London-based Burma Human Rights Network -- using an earlier name for Myanmar -- said in a statement Thursday that the group "welcomes the public designation of four senior military figures by U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, but calls on the United States to follow with targeted sanctions against military-owned companies and businesses."
The U.S. action "is a major step in acknowledging and punishing their cruel and inhumane actions against the Rohingya and other minorities inside of Burma," said Kyaw Win, the group's executive director.
"But we also ask them to go further, as the military will not be thwarted from committing further crimes by symbolic actions alone."
They also called on the U.S. and other nations to impose "targeted sanctions against [Myanmar's] military-owned companies and businesses"
The group underlined that the targeted sanctions must include top generals' business interests and partners -- operating both inside Myanmar and abroad -- in order to ensure their effectiveness.
"It is time that the world recognizes the awful crimes committed by these men, and that they are held accountable," Win added.
A persecuted people
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.
Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar's state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience."
Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar's army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.
-
(same topic at:
- July 18 ) -
US to stand strong
to resolve Rohingya crisis;
hold perpetrators accountable.
Int'l community urged to mount pressure on Myanmar.
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
The United States has reiterated that they will stand strong on resolving the Rohingya issue and also hold the perpetrators in Myanmar accountable for committing the crimes of atrocities against Rohingyas.
US Vice President Mike Pence conveyed the US position expressing concern over the violation of basic right of the Rohingyas in Myanmar.
Pence delivered keynote speech at the 2nd Ministerial meeting on advancing religious freedom hosted by the US Department of State yesterday, according to a revised media release issued today.
He expressed happiness with the progress that has been achieved since the last Ministerial in 2018. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen attended the meeting.
Delegates from 106 countries with about 40 Foreign Ministers attended the meeting at the invitation of Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State.
Secretary Pompeo reinforced that ensuring religious freedom for all remains the top foreign policy priority of the USA.
He thanked all the governments for their participation and called for collective efforts to ensure the freedom of thoughts, freedom of conscience and religion as reflected in the US Constitution.
Foreign Minister Momen highlighted the commitment of the government to ensure basic rights of its people.
He mentioned that inspired by the call of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh has been relentlessly working to maintain the religious rights of all sects of people.
Momen said [that] under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has upheld religious pluralism and rights of minorities.
He elaborated how the government of PM Sheikh Hasina maintained a 'Zero Tolerance' approach to any form of violence and discrimination, under any pretext, against religious minorities, and successfully prevented rise of extremist contents in Bangladesh.
This has resulted in the unprecedented socio-economic growth of its economy, he said.
Besides, non-communalism and peaceful coexistence, PM Hasina also promotes a national slogan 'Religion unto individual, festivals unto all', to promote religious tolerance and create a sense of accommodation among religious sects.
Foreign Minister Momen thanked the US government and the international community to extend support to host 1.1 million Rohingyas in Bangladesh.
He called on the international community to increase the pressure on Myanmar to take back these people.
Momen observed that, at times, certain media is disseminating hatred and violence against selected religious groups.
He called for the media to play a constructive and responsible role in promoting religious freedom, thereby supporting peace and stability.
Momen reiterated that violence and wars emanate from a mindset of hatred and ignorance.
Therefore, in order to have sustainable peace and stability across nations, he called for creating a mindset of tolerance -- a mindset of respect for others, irrespective of religion, ethnicity, colour and background.
Momen said [that] to create such a mindset, everyone -- including religious, social, community, academia, and media leaders -- must work together in collaboration and partnership.
He proposed to host a similar ministerial at regional level in Bangladesh soon. ...-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
Bhashan Char island -- a barely-visible dot in this map (click to enlarge) -- is several miles out to sea, and exposed to the ravages of the ocean, in a region where major cyclones (and occasional tsunamis) commonly cause widespread death.
Bhashan Char -- which means "floating island" -- has only risen from the sea in the last 20 years, and is barely higher than the sea that surrounds it. It floods often, and is especially vulnerable to cyclones. Bangladeshis avoid it during monsoon season. But this is where Bangladesh proposes moving at least 100,000 Rohingya. ©2019 Reuters News Service -
Bangladesh prepares to move Rohingya
- 2019 July 20 - Saturday
- 2019 July 21 - Sunday
-
12 Rohingya Muslims
prevented from entering
Tripura [northeast India] from Bangladesh
~ [India's Border Security Force]
- Business Standard News (India)
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Saturday said the force has thwarted an attempt of at least 12 Rohingya Muslims to enter into Indian territory, through Tripura [(in northeast India)], from Bangladesh.
Two men, five women and as many children had tried to enter Sipahijala district, about 50 km from here.
"Our troops thwarted their attempts to enter into our territory through Futia village in the international border on Thursday. We have successfully prevented their entry. They are still on the zero line," BSF Deputy Inspector General C L Belwa said.
A company commander-level flag meeting was held two days back on this with Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) which was followed by a battalion commander-level meeting, he said.
"We have seized biscuits and soft drinks from their (Rohingyas') possession, which were manufactured in Bangladesh. These were provided by the World Food Programme, at Cox's Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh," he said.
During the meeting on Thursday, the BGB accepted that Rohingyas came from Bangladesh side and sought two days time for a final decision, Belwa said.
According to sources in the BSF and the police, over 250 Rohingya Muslims have been detained during the past one year from different parts of the North-East, which share 2000 km long border with the neighbouring country.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
12 Rohingya Muslims
- 2019 July 22 - Monday
-
OPINION:
Suu Kyi should learn from US sanctions
on Myanmar military leaders
over Rohingya
- The Statesman (India)
via Asia News Network
in StraitsTimes (Singapore)
............................ -
Rohingya Crisis:
Dhaka seeks NAM, ASEAN
member states' role.
[At meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) nations, Bangladesh ambassador compares plight of Rohingya refugees, from Myanmar, with Palestinians under Israeli occupation.]
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York Ambassador Masud Bin Momen has urged the NAM [(Non-Aligned Movement)] member states -- including the ASEAN [(Association of SouthEast Asian Nations)] neighbours of Myanmar -- to remain engaged, and put in more efforts, so that Myanmar authorities do not fail in taking the Rohingyas back.
While referring to the oppression against the Palestinian people and violations of international law and international human rights law in the occupied Palestinian territory, he cautioned that mere expression of concerns for the misdeeds in Palestine and other places in the world did not stop these from recurring again.
"Therefore, we must ensure that nations respect international law, and the international community should take necessary measures to hold accountable the perpetrators responsible for crimes against humanity such as those took place against the Rohingyas in Rakhaine State of Myanmar," he said.
Ambassador Masud said was delivering the national statement at the debate of the Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Coordinating Bureau in Caracas, Venezuela on Sunday, said a media release on Monday.
The theme of the debate was, "Promotion and consolidation of peace through respect for international law."
Stating that misunderstanding and cross-cultural ignorance are among the root causes of conflicts that they see today, he said international law which is an essential tool for the protection, maintenance and consolidation of peace draws upon the principles of peace expressed by great scholars and thinkers of the past.
* * *
The Ministerial meeting was attended by 16 ministers, and other high level representatives of 85 countries -- from Africa, Asia, Oceania, Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean region.
The Ministerial meeting was chaired by the Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza Montserrat.
President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro also addressed the meeting. ...
-
OPINION:
- 2019 July 23 - Tuesday
- 2019 July 24 - Wednesday
-
Satellite images reveal scale
of Myanmar's Rohingya crisis.
Myanmar appears unprepared for return of refugees, who might be put in camps.
- The Guardian (U.K.)-
(same topic at:
- Reuters / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
- Reuters / Straits Times (Singapore)
- Reuters / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
- Frontier Myanmar (Myanmar/Burma)
(NOTE: This media may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
- July 25 )
Analysis of satellite imagery has cast further doubt on promises that arrangements are being made by Myanmar for the safe and humane return of Rohingya Muslims, and revealed that the destruction of their villages has continued.
Despite repeated assurances by the Myanmar government that it would repatriate the 700,000 Rohingya who fled over the border from Rakhine state after a military-led violent crackdown in August 2017 – violence described by the UN as having "genocidal intent" – the preparations for their return have been "minimal", a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has found.
"We’ve found no evidence of widespread preparation for Rohingya refugees to return to safe and dignified conditions," stated the report.
* * *
The report also found satellite evidence that the burning of the Rohingya villages in Rakhine has continued until this year, long after the initial outbreak of violence in August 2017 when the razing of Rohingya villages and the killing and rape of Rohingya men and women sent hundreds of thousands over the border to refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region.
BELOW: The Rohingya village of Maw in 2017 (left). In the righthand image, taken in 2018, the scale of the destruction can be clearly seen. (source: Google Earth/ASPI via The Guardian.)
The ASPI researchers identified at least 58 Rohingya settlements that were subjected to fresh demolition in 2018, while satellite imagery also showed the demolition of other Rohingya villages in 2019, as part of what appears to be a campaign by the Myanmar military to ensure there are no habitable villages for the Rohingya to come back to.
"What surprised me most was the scale of the continued burning after 2017," said Nathan Ruser, one of the authors of the report. "It wasn’t just scattered villages or occasional homes being burned in 2018 and 2019, the military went through whole landscapes and burned every village. So there is still that widespread, ongoing destruction of Rohingya residential areas."
Ruser added: "This in particular undercuts the message from the Myanmar government that they are willing to pursue a repatriation process."
* * *
Meanwhile, more than 320 Rohingya settlements destroyed in the violence show no sign of reconstruction -- despite claims that repatriated refugees would be allowed to return to their original villages.
The data and satellite imagery, said the report, "cast doubt on the credibility of claims that refugees will be allowed to return to their homes".
"Instead, we’ve found ongoing destruction of additional settlements and the construction of highly securitised camps and military bases that have been built, fortified or expanded on the sites of razed Rohingya settlements."
BELOW: Hla Pho Khaung village. The second picture, from 2019, shows the construction of the Hla Pho Khaung transit camp, which it is believed has been built to house returning refugees. (source: Google Earth/ASPI via The Guardian.)
* * *
While the conditions stipulated by the UN for the return of the Rohingya is that their return must be "voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable" -- which would include freedom of movement -- the ASPI report backed up fears that any returning refugees would, instead, be placed in camps or highly militarised areas.
Rather than rebuilding Rohingya villages, the satellite images show that the construction focus in Rakhine has been on building or enlarging at least 45 camps, which human rights groups have previously expressed concern would be nothing more than "open-air prisons". In addition, six military facilities have been built or expanded on former Rohingya settlements.
While some of the structures are intended to house the 128,000 internally displaced Rohingya refugees who are already living in squalid camps in Rakhine, "it’s very likely that the majority of these new camps, especially the ones that are under construction, are designed for returning refugees," said Ruser.
Nonetheless, the international community has insisted progress is being made towards beginning repatriation, especially as conditions in Cox’s Bazar have worsened in recent months with the destructive and often fatal monsoon flooding. The governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh have signed a pact agreeing to work jointly towards repatriation.
-
Regulator launches inquiry into
Rohingya charitable fund
The fund is not a registered charity but, as it raised money for charitable purposes, it falls within the Commission’s jurisdiction.
- CharityUpdate.co.uk (U.K.)The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a charitable fund for Rohingya refugees -- which never registered as a charity -- after concerns about how it was operating.
The inquiry was launched in April 2018, after the Commission received information from a partner agency about a separate investigation into the fund’s two trustees: Mohammed Hasnath and Ruksana Ali. The inquiry could not be announced until now, due to the risk of prejudicing that investigation (which the Commission has been informed has now ended).
The fund raised money between July 2017 and March 2018 for the prevention and relief of poverty of Rohingya refugees, via two online donation platforms, and through social media.
The fund is not a registered charity but, as it raised money for charitable purposes, it falls within the Commission’s jurisdiction.
The Commission has acted to safeguard the fund by making an order under section 76(3)(d) of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’) to freeze a number of bank accounts holding the charitable funds.
The trustees are also ordered under section 76(3)(f) of the Act from undertaking specified transactions in the administration of the fund without prior written approval from the Commission.
The inquiry is examining:- Whether the trustees have properly exercised their legal duties and responsibilities under charity law in the administration, governance and management of the fund;
- Whether the trustees have put charitable funds at risk by using them for non-charitable purposes;
- Whether the trustees can adequately account for the end use of the charitable funds which have already been applied;
- The conduct of the trustees; and
- The optimal way to apply the protected charitable funds to support the Rohingya refugees who are the intended beneficiaries.
-
Satellite images reveal scale
- 2019 July 25 - Thursday
-
Myanmar 'ill-prepared'
to repatriate thousands
of Rohingya.
Hopes dwindle as report shows little progress in preparing camps for return of refugees.
- Religion News
(by Union of Catholic Asian News, Hong Kong, China)-
(same topic at:
-
Reuters / The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)
- (NOTE: Although this media appears independent, it may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
- July 24 )
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said in a study released July 24: "Satellite analysis shows minimal preparations for a return of half a million refugees."
The study, " Mapping conditions in Rakhine State ," found that preparations supposedly being made, for the return of the refugees, cast doubt on the conditions under which they would be expected to live.
The new study, based on satellite imagery from Dec. 2018 to June 2019, studied 392 Rohingya settlements identified by UNOSAT, the United Nations imagery analysis service, as having been burned, damaged or destroyed in the 2017 crackdown.
It reveals that more than 320 settlements showed no signs of reconstruction -- and that 45 camps had been built or enlarged... some of which were believed to be already housing internally displaced people.
More worryingly, the report also described a pattern of what it called "securitization" in the region since 2017, after finding what it suspected to be military facilities built on former Rohingya settlements.
It identified at least 58 settlements that had been subject to new demolition in 2018 -- and that demolition had continued in other settlements in 2019.
"The continued destruction of residential areas across 2018 and 2019, clearly identifiable through our longitudinal satellite analysis, raises serious questions about the willingness of the Myanmar government to facilitate a safe and dignified repatriation process," said Nathan Ruser, from the ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Center.
"The visual analysis we provide in the report demonstrates this powerfully."
The Myanmar government and military are yet to respond to the report.
Kyaw Min, chairman of the Yangon-based Human Rights and Democracy Party, which fights for Rohingya rights, told ucanews.com he was not optimistic about thousands of Rohingya being able to return to their homes in Rakhine.
"Their houses were burned and destroyed — where will they live if they return?" Kyaw Min asked.
He added that it would take at least seven years for repatriation to be completed, even if the government’s plan to accept 300 refugees per day proceeded smoothly.
The release of the new report comes as protracted negotiations continue between Myanmar and Bangladesh for the repatriation of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims ...
-
Reuters / The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)
-
Barred from jobs,
Rohingya refugees eat up
Bangladesh labour market
~ Study
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
Rohingyas who are not officially allowed to work in Bangladesh are eating up the labour market of the host community in Cox’s Bazar, a study finds.
They have also lowered the wage rate of the local people, the Policy Research Institute (PRI) study revealed on Thursday.
"Though they are not supposed to be employed, but we saw them everywhere," Dr MA Razzaque, research director of PRI, said while presenting the report at an event in the presence of Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and UNDP country chief Sudipto Mukherjee.
PRI conducted study titled ‘The Rohingya refugee crisis and its impact on the host community’ with the support of UNDP.
Over 700,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh following August 2017 military crackdown in the Rakhine State that the UN termed "ethnic cleansing".
The latest influx has taken the Rohingya population to more than 1.1 million in Bangladesh.
"With less than 0.31 percent* of the earth’s population, Bangladesh hosts 4.7 percent of its total refugees," Dr Razzaque said.-
* [RCN Editor's note: Bangladesh has a reported population of over 144 million people -- actually about 2.05 percent of the planet's population of about 7 billion -- according to the 2006 World Almanac.]
"They have created impacts on prices of essentials. Coarse rice was Tk 32 per kilogram before the influx. After the influx, it rose to Tk 38," he said.
The rate of all wage labourers before the influx was Tk 417 per day n Teknaf which fell to Tk 357 – marking a 14.3 percent decline.
In Ukhia, it fell to 6.08 percent.
But in Cox’s Bazar where all NGOs and foreigners are staying to work for the Rohingyas, the daily wage rate rose to 4.2 percent because of the presence of foreigners.
The study also found that 2,500 households have fallen below the poverty line, while 1300 more have become vulnerable.
* * *
PRI Chairman Dr Zaidi Sattar said there have been some "positive impacts" of the crisis, arising from the presence of international agencies and NGOs, that are here to mount a massive humanitarian effort, addressed towards the management of Rohingya refugees -- with complimentary support to local communities.
"At least $200-300 million of spending has been added to economic activities in Cox’s Bazar, whose annual GDP of $4 billion could get a 6 percent boost each year while the crisis lasts," he said.
* * *
"But the bottom line is the global community must continue their pressure on the Myanmar government to take back the forcibly displaced Rohingyas from Bangladesh."
The foreign minister reiterated that solution of the crisis lies within Myanmar.
"The overall impact we cannot estimate in numbers. It can create uncertainty and derail many our development aspirations," Momen said.
"Myanmar will also be sufferer. There are lots of companies who are trying to invest in this area fear the pockets of radicalisation and uncertainty. So we are asking the international community to put pressure on Myanmar so that their nationals can go back with safety and security".
"We’ll never force them to go. The repatriation will be voluntary," Momen added.
-
Myanmar 'ill-prepared'
- 2019 July 26 - Friday
-
Myanmar delegation to
interact with Rohingyas
in camps Saturday
- UNB (United News of Bangaldesh)-
(same topic at:
- Dhaka Tribune
- AFP / Malay Mail (Malaysia)
- RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio) )
Myanmar Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Myint Thu will lead the delegation which will have officials from its Social Welfare Ministry and the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine.
"They’ll mainly have interaction with Rohingyas," Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammed Abul Kalam told UNB.
He said the team will also have a meeting with the members of repatriation taskforce on the same day (Saturday).
The Myanmar delegation members will brief Rohingyas about steps they are taking for safe return of Rohingyas, officials said.
* * *
Earlier, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen urged the Myanmar side to come and give assurance to Rohingyas living in Cox's Bazar camp. "There’s a trust deficit (among Rohingyas). You need to remove the mistrust."
The Foreign Minister said Myanmar, after Bangladesh's extensive discussions with China, is showing a kind of willingness regarding repatriation. "They (Myanmar) also invited me. I said I’ll surely visit," he said adding that he will visit to see the people who will be repatriated in the first batch.
Expecting to see the commencement of Rohingya repatriation before September, Bangladesh has urged the UN to work more in Rakhine State of Myanmar to help create a conducive environment there so that Rohingyas can get back confidence to return to their place of origin.
Dr Momen hoped that the first batch of Rohingya repatriation will begin before September or before the UN General Assembly but things depend on Myanmar as they created the problem.
"It's my belief. But all depend on Myanmar who created the problem. Solution lies in Myanmar," he said indicating that Myanmar wants to avoid criticisms in the UNGA.
* * *
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation deal in November 2017.
The first batch of Rohingyas was scheduled to return on November 15, last year -- but it was halted amid unwillingness of Rohingyas to return, amid lack of conducive environment in Rakhine State.
-
Rohingya repatriation soon
amid mounting pressure
on Myanmar,
hopes FM
[(Bangladesh Foreign Minister)].
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[Bangladesh] Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, on Thursday, reiterated his hope that Myanmar will soon start taking back its nationals from Bangladesh, as global pressure on the neighbouring country is mounting.
"I'm always optimistic. I'm hoping that the repatriation process will start soon," he said, adding that initially there was less pressure on Myanmar but it is mounting on them now.
The foreign minister was addressing, as the chief, a dissemination workshop titled "The Rohingya Refugee Crisis and Its Impact on the Host Community" held at Brac Centre Inn jointly organised by Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) and UNDP.
Bangladesh is now hosting around 1.2 million Rohingyas and most of them entered Bangladesh since August 25, 2017.
Dr Momen said development projects both in Bangladesh and Myanmar will be affected if uncertainty prevails with pockets of possible radicalisation due to longer stay of Rohingyas in Bangladesh.
He said Bangladesh is asking the neighbours and international community to help resolve the Rohingya crisis as quickly as possible.
The Foreign Minister also said the projects of Japan and China will also be affected if this problem remains unresolved and they, for their own interest, should ask Myanmar to take back their nationals.
Terming Myanmar a friendly country, Dr Momen said Myanmar took back their nationals in the past -- though not a single person has been repatriated this time.
Referring to Prime Minister's recent China visit, the Foreign Minister said China sees political will in Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya crisis and is willing to assist the repatriation process.
"We’ve achieved many things through discussion and dialogue. Therefore, I'm hopeful that we’ll be able to repatriate Rohingyas," he said mentioning that Bangladesh will not force anybody to leave.
PRI Chairman Dr Zaidi Sattar said the global community must continue its pressure on the government of Myanmar to take back the forciblydisplaced Rohingyas from Bangladesh.
"These displaced people must be repatriated to their homeland on condition that their return is safe, secure and dignified," he said, adding that the repatriation of 500-600 people a day could be a good beginning.
PRI Research Director Dr MA Razzaque presented the report.
UNDP Resident Representative Sudipto Mukherjee and Research Initiatives Bangladesh (RIB) Executive Director Dr Meghna Guhathakurta, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Zaidi Sattar said Bangladesh is now hosting 4.7 percent of the world's refugee population with only 0.3 percent of global output.
Talking about poverty impact, he said 2,500 households fell below the poverty line while 1,300 more turned vulnerable.
Prof Dr CR Abrar of Dhaka University International Relations Department said Bangladesh is a shining example of refugee management and their protection.
According to a PRI survey, the prices of all essential food items have risen up to 50 percent since the Rohingya influx.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Ethnic insurgents
kill 4 cops in Myanmar.
Arakan Army launches attacks, as Myanmar charges 9 Rakhine men for terror funding.
- Anadolu Agency (Turkey)-
(CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.)
-
(same topic at:
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
)
Some 70 members of the Arakan Army, a militant group that recruits mainly from the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group, attacked a police outpost in Buthidaung township in Rakhine's north on Friday morning, reported online magazine The Irrawaddy, citing a senior military officer.
"The fighting left four police injured, and an Arakan Army member died," military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun was quoted as saying.
He alleged the rebels shot at villages where Rohingya Muslims were in majority, and they retreated when security forces arrived.
Police has taken wounded Rohingya villagers to a hospital, he added.
The northern parts of Rakhine state has witnessed armed-fighting on a daily basis, since the Arakan Army launched synchronized attacks on police outposts in January, killing 13 officers.
Myanmar government has blocked internet access in eight township of Rakhine and one in adjacent Chin state since mid-June.
With intensified fighting and internet blackout, rights groups voiced concern over the rights violations against civilians in the area.
Amnesty International said, in its recent report, that both Myanmar security forces and Arakan Army have been committing rights violations against civilians in the area.
Several dozens of ethnic Rakhine men including some elected village administrators were detained and charged for alleged ties to Arakan Army over the past few months.
Earlier this month, authorities declared four top leaders of Arakan Army including its commander-in-chief Maj. Gen. Tun Myat Naing as fugitives after police filed charges against them under the counter-terrorism law.
A few days later, Singapore authorities detained and deported nine Rakhine men including younger brother of Tun Myat Naing to Myanmar on suspicion of fund-raising and other activities in support of Arakan Army in the island state.
-
Myanmar, ASEAN Team
to Visit Rohingyas Camp.
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
Bangladeshi officials in Cox’s Bazar said the delegation will arrive in Dhaka on Friday, Jul. 26, fly to Cox’s Bazar the following Saturday and leave Cox’s Bazar that Sunday.
Officials said four representatives from Myanmar’s embassy in Dhaka would join a 10-member Myanmar delegation led by U Myint Thu, permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, and that Ko Ko Naing, director-general of Myanmar’s Disaster Management Department, will be part of the delegation.
On May 23, 2019, the UN refugee agency signed a memorandum of understanding with the Disaster Management Department to collaborate on humanitarian work.
Apart from the Myanmar delegation -- but at the same time -- five members of the AHA Centere, the ASEAN emergency response team, will also visit Rohingya leaders.
"We want to see a positive outcome following the visit," Muhammad Abul Kalam, the Bangladesh Refugees, Relief and Repatriation commissioner, said.
An unnamed Cox’s Bazar official, who deals with the Rohingya repatriation process, said that, at similar meetings in the past, Myanmar officials had explained their national verification process in relation to the repatriation of the Rohingya population.
"But, after hearing all the presentations, the Rohingya leaders raised only two questions:- One was
- when and how their citizenship would be given,
and the other was - whether the Myanmar government would recognize the Rohingya ethnicity among the others in Myanmar,"
"But the Myanmar officials did not reply to their questions."
"This time, they [the delegation] also are coming as part of their commitment, as they want to update and convince the Rohingya leaders over repatriation," the senior official said.
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen,
on Thursday, meanwhile, said countries friendly to Myanmar should play their due roles in starting the repatriation of Rohingya people in a sustainable way.
"Not a single Rohingya has gone back in the last two years, as things are not moving in the way they should," he said at a discussion in Dhaka, according to a report from the Dhaka-based daily New Age.
The Rohingya community declined to go back to Myanmar, due to a trust deficit with the Myanmar authorities, he said... adding that friends of Myanmar -- including India, China, Japan and ASEAN members -- could deploy [their own] non-military observers, to ensure the safety and security of the returnees in Rakhine.
The UN’s development program country director for Bangladesh, Sudipto Mukerjee, said the Rohingya crisis should be used to sustainably address historical shortcomings in protecting the natural treasure of Cox’s Bazar, [Bangladesh], [the area where the Rohingya refugees have camped]. according to the New Age. report published on Friday. ...-
(same topic at:
- ssssssssssss )
- when and how their citizenship would be given,
-
Myanmar delegation to
- 2019 July 27 - Saturday
-
Rohingya call for recognition
as
Myanmar holds fresh
repatriation talks
Virtually no Rohingya have volunteered to go back to Myanmar,
where the group has faced decades of repression.
- The Guardian (U.K.)-
(same topic at:
- AP / New York Times
- Reuters / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
- AFP / Straits Times (Singapore)
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
- AP / Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
- AFP / RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio) )
Some 740,000 Rohingya fled a 2017 crackdown by Myanmar’s military and are living in squalid conditions in camps in Bangladesh’s south-eastern border district of Cox’s Bazar.
The two countries signed a repatriation deal in November 2017 but so far virtually no Rohingya have volunteered to go back to Myanmar, where the group has faced decades of repression.
The Myanmar team -- led by [Myanmar's] permanent foreign secretary U Myint Thu -- arrived in Cox’s Bazar on Saturday amid tightened security in the camps.
The delegation visited Kutupalong – the world’s largest refugee settlement – where they discussed repatriation with Rohingya community leaders, over several hours, said Bangladesh refugee commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam. "Both parties seemed positive about it and the discussion will continue tomorrow [Sunday]," he said.
One of the Rohingya leaders who joined the talks, Dil Mohammad, said the talks "went well" as he reiterated demands for Myanmar to recognise Rohingya as an ethnic group.
"We hope this discussion will be fruitful. We told them that we won’t return unless we are recognised as Rohingya in Myanmar," he said.
Myanmar denies the minority citizenship, and refers to them as "Bengalis" – inferring that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
It is the second time in less than a year that Myanmar officials have tried to convince Rohingya refugees to return to their homeland in violence-wracked Rakhine state. A repatriation offer was rejected by Rohingya leaders in October.
The massive camps have sparked tensions between the neighbouring nations with Bangladesh blaming Myanmar for delays in repatriating the refugees.
Dhaka has said it will not force any Rohingya to leave, while Myanmar has faced international pressure to allow the Rohingya to return to Rakhine and grant them citizenship rights.
The UN has complained that progress to address the refugee crisis has been far too slow.
The new visit comes in the wake of talks between Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing.
China is a key ally of Myanmar, and Hasina said then that Beijing would "do whatever is required" to help resolve the Rohingya crisis.
-
Aung San Suu Kyi's
Myanmar dam dilemma
with China.
- BBC News[RCN Editor's note: Although the following article is about a different Myanmar area and people than the Rohingya of Rakhine, this article is included because it illustrates the complex and powerful influence of China on the fate of minorities in Myanmar, wherever China sees a potential opportunity to exploit Myanmar -- as it has apparently begun to do with Rakhine state. ~RCN Editor.]
In 2011, construction work on a massive dam project in Myanmar's restive Kachin state was halted after large protests. China is now lobbying hard for the work to resume, but as BBC News Burmese's Soe Soe Htoon found, local people are still not convinced they will ever see its benefits.
"I always cry every time I talk about the dam," says Jar Lie.
Eight years ago, she was forced to abandon her 40 acres of farmland and move to a resettlement village in Aung Myin Tha, around six miles (nine kilometres) away.
Her land was to be flooded by the vast reservoir created by the $3.6bn (£2.8bn) Chinese-financed Myitsone dam, at the source of the Irrawaddy river.
Her new village has a market, a hospital, sealed roads and a school, all provided by the company building the dam, Beijing's State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC).
But Jar Lie says that without farming land, life here is very difficult.
"We could eat what we grew before; there was no need to buy anything. Here without land we can't do anything; we don't know how to earn money. I am very sick here."
The dam was due to be completed this year - but so far work has barely begun, and the project has exposed simmering tensions over the balance of power between China and the country it often refers to as its younger brother.
The Myitsone was to be the largest of seven dams [that] SPIC is promising to build in the region, to provide quickly-developing Myanmar with much-needed electricity.
By some estimates, the project would by itself generate more energy than the entire country produces now.
The full contract the former military government signed with SPIC has never been publicly released. But in a rare interview in May, with BBC News Burmese, the former deputy minister of Myanmar's state power company, U Maw Thar Htwe, confirmed the most provocative part of the deal - that 90% of the electricity the dam generated would go back over the border to China.
According to U Maw Thar Htwe, the government will get a 10% stake in the dam but will only see a return on its investment two decades after it starts operations.
'The dam will kill the river':From the start there have been questions over whose interests the dam would actually serve.
The Irrawaddy is often described as the lifeblood of Myanmar, and the Myitsone area is believed to be the birthplace of the Kachin people, after whom the state is named.
Since 1962, ethnic Kachin rebels have been fighting the Burmese military for greater control over the resource-rich region.
It is one of the world's longest-running civil wars, and Kachin independence leaders viewed the dam as a direct threat to their people and their livelihoods.
The dam, which would be one of the largest in the region, would displace thousands more people -- and environmentalists warn it would flood an area the size of Singapore.
"We are going to lose this critical watershed area for the Irrawaddy river and flood some of our last remaining forests -- dense jungle that holds rich biodiversity," says environmentalist Dr Myint Zaw.
"The dam will most likely kill the river," he warns.
"It will have a huge downstream effect -- changing the tides of the river, and affecting the livelihoods of millions of fishermen."
In 2011 widespread protests broke out against the dam. Outside Myanmar, activists from both environmental and human rights groups threw their weight behind the campaign, and in a rare concession to people power the Myanmar central government put the project on hold.
No major work has happened on it since.
A government commission into the fate of the project was formed in 2016, and submitted its final report to the president's office in November last year. But the government has never published the findings, and rumours abound.
Now eight years after it was halted, China has stepped up efforts to convince local residents and officials to support it.
China's former ambassador to Myanmar, Hong Liang, visited the area in December last year and claimed afterwards that the Kachin people did not oppose the resumption of the dam.
In a statement, he blamed outsiders for causing the opposition movement against it, something Kachin leaders who met him later stronger denied.
Then in June, a group of Chinese experts tried to reassure lawmakers in the Kachin parliament about the dam's environmental impact.
In a written statement to BBC News Burmese, SPIC said the purpose of the dam was to "provide clean, efficient and sustainable power supply for Myanmar's development".
In a hint that it believes the project will be unfrozen, the company said it believes a "fair and objective decision" will be made.
"The Myitsone Hydropower Project has been strictly examined and approved by the governments of Myanmar and China," it stated.
'We need to keep our promises':When she was in opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi spoke out against the dam. But since becoming Myanmar's de facto leader after the historic elections in 2015, she has changed her view.
She has said deals struck under the former military government should be honoured.
Speaking at a public forum earlier this year she made a rare comment about the dam, saying: "For the dignity of our country, and for our country to be trusted in the world, we will need to keep our promises."
"We cannot do whatever we like to the big projects that have started in the past because we are in power now. If we do that, our country will be seen as unreliable. If the world does not want to work with us, then it will have a big impact on our country."
Fears [that] the project will be revived have sparked a new wave of protests.
In late April, as Aung San Suu Kyi was in Beijing for a summit on Chinese foreign investment, thousands took to the streets back home, demanding the dam be scrapped for good.
But analysts say she faces a dilemma.
She needs to establish prosperity and peace, if she is to convince the Burmese people of the benefits of democracy -- and reliable electricity will be part of that.
But she also needs to convince them she's not selling off the country.
And Myanmar needs China.
China has far-reaching influence as a major investor and trading partner, and it is also playing a key role in peace talks with armed ethnic groups along its border with Myanmar.
"There is very widespread opposition to the dam -- but China's role in Myanmar is so wide and significant, so they need to consider all these elements," says analyst Khun Htoi who closely studies China-Myanmar relations.
"They [China] are the redeemer of Myanmar in front of the international community, and they are the biggest investor in the country. Without their investment, it's questionable whether Myanmar can go on or not."
And if the [Myanmar] government cancels the project outright, it could have to repay some $800m that the state-owned Chinese developer says it has already invested.
In a sign of the influence of social media in Myanmar, a crowdfunding campaign has been set up by a group of prominent activists and artists asking people to donate $1 each to pay back China to abandon the dam.
"I want to take back Myitsone, no matter what. Myitsone was sold on paper only without giving us any notice or say. So, for the stake of future generations, we want to compensate China," says Juu, the writer behind the campaign.
Despite some high-profile backers, the campaign hasn't taken off, with other activists criticising the movement as a token gesture that wasn't realistic.
'Let the river flow freely':For the local people of Kachin, this is about more than the economics.
On the banks of the river, local singer Lu Ra stands in the water, running her toes through the pebbles.
Around her, Myanmar tourists who paid a small amount of money to hire local Kachin traditional dress from stalls above the river, take photos. Buddhist monks have come here to bathe and take photos of this picturesque area.
"Look at this beautiful place, the river, the forests and the mountains," Lu says, looking across at the peaks circled in white clouds.
"If this dam project is built, we won't see this landscape anymore. We are saying please don't build it, just let the Irrawaddy river flow freely forever. We have a duty to protect it."
Our request to visit the dam site was turned down, so we travelled by boat with Jar Lie past the land that used to be hers.
In the middle of the river, we pass under the giant pillars of an unfinished bridge which is part of the dam project, a symbolic reminder for the local people of the fate hanging over their future.
When the boat engine starts failing we drift towards shore - but a company security guard comes rushing down and orders us to leave the area.
Jar Lie points through tears at where she once lived as the boat slowly moves away.
"These are my lands but I am not allowed by the company to step onto my land, or even collect plants or herbs," she says.
"I won't come back and see this area again. It's too painful to see it but not be able to walk on it."-
(same topic at:
-
Jan. 29, 2019
)
-
Rohingya call for recognition
- 2019 July 28 - Sunday
-
Myanmar to
consider Rohingyas
as foreigners.
Myanmar foreign affairs permanent secretary
tells reporters in Cox’s Bazar.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
The Myanmar government will consider Rohingyas as foreign nationals, said Myanmar Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Myint Thu, to reporters, after a meeting with Hindu Rohingyas, at the Kutupalong D-4 camp, in Cox’s Bazar’s, Ukhia [Bangladesh], yesterday.
Detailing his government’s position on the issue of Rohingya repartition from Bangladesh, Myint Thu said there were three types of citizenships in the Myanmar Citizenship Act 1982.
According to it, whoever has been living in Myanmar for three generations would be entitled to get "naturalised citizenship".
Even if the Rohingyas are not direct Myanmar citizens, they will be allowed to live legally in Myanmar as foreign citizens, according to clause three of the citizenship act, Myint Thu said -- adding that, in this process, they will get a national ID card.
The [Myanmar] foreign secretary, who is leading a 10-member team to Bangladesh, also had a meeting with Muslim Rohingyas at Camp-4 in the morning.
But his meetings over the last two days with Rohingya leaders failed to make any headway on the issue of repatriation.
Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights Chairman Mohibullah, who led a 30-member team in the meeting, said [that] -- after Saturday’s unsuccessful meeting with the Myanmar delegation -- they met again yesterday morning.
Mohibullah said the Myanmar delegation had come up with the same old proposals that they rejected before.
"They said we will have to live in ADP camps. We don’t agree with that proposal," the Rohingya leader said.
He also said that not a single Rohingya would return to Myanmar if they were not guaranteed citizenship.
Mohibullah said they proposed that the Myanmar delegation, who reached Cox’s Bazar on Friday, return after two months -- after taking recognition of [the Rohingyas'] rightful demands.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed the repatriation deal on November 23, 2017.
On January 16, 2018, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a document on "Physical Arrangement", which was supposed to facilitate the repatriation of the Rohingyas.
The "Physical Arrangement" stipulates that the repatriation would be completed preferably within two years from the start.
The first batch of Rohingyas was scheduled to return on November 15, last year but it did not happen, amid unwillingness of the Rohingyas, due to a lack of congenial environment in [Myanmar's] Rakhine State.
* * *
Rohingya refugees, fleeing attacks in August, 2017, escape by boat, as they watch their homes burn, ©2017 SCMP . TV
A brutal campaign by Myanmar’s military in 2017 drove 730,000 Rohingya Muslim to flee to Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar -- where they [now] live in camps, fearing further persecution if they return.
A UN investigation has said Myanmar’s operation -- mass killing, gang rape and arson -- was executed with ‘genocidal intent’.
Myanmar, however, denies the allegations.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
Myanmar to
- 2019 July 29 - Monday
-
Bangladesh not to be taken hostage
on Rohingyas citizenship:
~ [Bangladesh Foreign Minister] Momen
- BSS / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[Bangladesh's] Foreign Minister, Dr AK Abdul Momen, today, said the Rohingya citizenship issue was an internal affair of Myanmar -- and Bangladesh would not like to be taken hostage on the matter.
"Our focus is on their (Rohingyas) dignified and safe return …. We don’t have any issue regarding their citizenship there," he said, while interacting with a group of newsmen at his office at the foreign ministry here.
Momen said Myanmar has expressed its plan for the first time to provide the Rohingyas "part to citizenship" or "natural citizenship" and it’s a "breakthrough".
The foreign minister said he observed positive sign from the visiting Myanmar delegation. "It’s a good sign. What they are offering this is part to citizenship and it’s a good deal," he added.
Momen said the Rohingyas should go back to their motherland to realize their rights and "they (Rohingyas) should understand, it’s not possible to realize their all demands (citizenship) unless they are going back (to Rakhine)".
* * *
Momen said Bangladesh today handed over a list of more 25,000 verified Rohingyas belonging to 6,000 families to Myanmar for repatriation
Bangladesh earlier handed over a list of 30,000 Rohingyas in two phases and among them Myanmar by now already verified 8,000 for repatriation in the first batch.
The foreign minister said the countries those have close ties with Myanamr -- like China -- also want to see the Rohingyas’ return to Myanmar.
"These are all good signs (to resolve the crisis)," he repeated.
Momen said he received an invitation from his Myanmar counterpart but "I told him I will go when the first batch of Rohingyas will return home".
Meanwhile in the morning, the visiting Myanmar delegation expressed its readiness to take back their Rohingya nationals -- amid fears of their fate once they returned to their homeland.
"Actually I asked them (Rohingyas) that this is the right time to consider whether they should to go back or not, because we provided explanation to their key issues," Myanmar’s foreign affairs permanent secretary Myint Thu, who leads a 19-member delegation, told a news briefing here.
He added: "Myanmar is ready to welcome the Rohingyas (back home) . . . but the only thing is they (Rohingyas) have to decide (about their return) by themselves".
Bangladesh’s acting Foreign Secretary Kamrul Ahsan, who was present at the briefing as well, however, said Naypyidaw must generate trust among the Rohingyas for their spontaneous return saying "as long as confidence is not built up they (Rohingyas) won’t go back".
Ahsan simultaneously added: "we (Bangladesh) won’t push back anyone forcibly".
A 19-member Myanmar delegation in the last two days visited the Rohingya camps, one specially erected for Hindu residents of Rakhine who too were forced to flee their home along with the majority Rohingya Muslims.
This was the third visit by a Myanmar delegation to the Rohingya camps but this time they were accompanied by a 5-member ASEAN observer group during the interactions when the newsmen were barred from going along with them.
About 1.1 million Rohingyas fled Myanmar into Bangladesh following alleged mass murder, rape and other atrocities in Rakhine since August 2017. The displaced Rohingyas are now living in 30 camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar district.
Myanmar agreed to take back the Rohingyas under a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh on January 16, 2018. But, the deal did not progress much as there was little tangible action from the Myanmar side and refusal of the displaced persons to go back, amid uncertainty and insecurity.
Previously, the first batch of Rohingyas was scheduled to return on November 15 last year but eventually they declined to go back, fearing that the situation in Rakhine was still not favourable. -
Bangladesh hands over fresh list
of 25,000 Rohingyas
to Myanmar.
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh today handed over a fresh list of 25,000 Rohingyas to Myanmar for verification, before their repatriation to their place of origin in Rakhine State.
Bangladesh has, so far, handed over names of around 55,000 Rohingyas to the Myanmar authorities.
[Bandladesh's] Acting Foreign Secretary, Kamrul Ahsan, conveyed it to reporters -- after a lengthy meeting with a Myanmar delegation led by its Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Myint Thu. ...
[NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS EXPANDED IN THE NEXT DAY'S ISSUE. SEE July 30, BELOW.]-
(same topic at:
- July 30 ) -
Rohingya want recognition, citizenship, security
before returning to Myanmar.
- Vatican News (The Vatican)
A Myanmar delegation held repatriation talks during the weekend with Rohingya leaders in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region.
-
Bangladesh not to be taken hostage
- 2019 July 30 - Tuesday
-
Rohingya Repatriation:
Dhaka hands over fresh list of 25,000.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh yesterday gave Myanmar a fresh list of Rohingyas for their repatriation, which has not yet begun in nearly two years after the influx.
Bangladesh’s acting foreign secretary Kamrul Ahsan said the list with names of 25,000 Rohingyas of 6,000 families was handed over to a Myanmar delegation during a meeting at the state guesthouse Meghna.
The meeting was held between Bangladesh foreign ministry officials, led by Kamrul, and the Myanmar team, led by the country’s Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Myint Thu.
On Saturday and Sunday, the visiting delegation met with Rohingyas in their camps in Cox’s Bazar to convince the refugees to return to Myanmar.
Rohingya repatriation has been a contentious issue as the UN says the conditions in Rakhine are not conducive to their return.
On the other hand, the situation has worsened since clashes between Arakan Army and Myanmar army intensified early this year.
* * *
Earlier, Bangladesh had handed over lists of some 30,000 Rohingyas in two phases for verification of their identity, but only 8,000 of them were verified. However, they were not willing to go back to Myanmar when repatriation was scheduled to begin on November 15 last year, a year after signing of an agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Rohingyas say they want guarantee of citizenship, freedom of movement, recognition of ethnic identity and return to their place of origin from where they were uprooted during a crackdown since August 25, 2017.
* * *
After the meeting yesterday, Kamrul told reporters that building trust among the Rohingyas was a major issue.
"One such visit can’t solve these issues. They [Myanmar] need to come more to create confidence among them [Rohingyas]," he told reporters, reports UNB.
The acting foreign secretary said Rohingyas would not go back to their homes until the trust was rebuilt. "We won’t force anybody to go against their will."
Myanmar’s Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary, Myint Thu, said they were trying to convince the Rohingyas to go back to Myanmar, but Rohingya representatives -- during their discussions at Rohingya camps -- smiled when they were requested to return.
"I asked them [Rohingyas] that this is the right time for them to consider whether they should go back or not, because we explained to them the key issues. So, this is their personal decision," he told reporters.
* * *
On the slow progress of repatriation from the Myanmar side, Myint Thu claimed they have been ready for the repatriation since January 23, 2018.
"We’re ready to welcome them… we’re ready to receive them. But the only thing is they have to decide it themselves. We’ve provided them with information. We’ve heard their voices and concerns."
* * *
Myint Thu said this time they brought representatives from the Asean [(the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations)], which conducted the preliminary need assessment in Northern Rakhine in March this year and they shared their experiences.
"We’ll continue to engage with people through a joint working group mechanism, as well as our collaboration with the government of Bangladesh," he said highlighting their cooperation with Asean friends.
The Myanmar delegation leader said they would continue to discuss the repatriation as well as how they would cooperate between the two governments, Asean member states and friendly countries to help accelerate the verification and repatriation process.
A representative of Asean, who attended the meeting, said what they did in Northern Rakhine was a preliminary need assessment to review the repatriation plan, assess the readiness of the facilities and find the areas for collaboration.
"This is part of a series of assessments," he said indicating that they may expand the assessment in Cox’s Bazar.
The official also said the Rohingya community wanted that their voices need to be heard. "And we want to listen to them."
Commenting on Asean’s involvement, Kamrul said, "We would say this is a good sign. It can be said the repatriation process is moving in the good direction."
* * *
A foreign ministry official told The Daily Star the fact that Myanmar delegation has directly talked to the Rohingyas and wished to continue the dialogue was somewhat "melting of ice".
* * *
He said the Bangladesh side has requested a meeting in a month with the Myanmar officials dealing the verification of Rohingya identities.
"We raised the issue why identity of only 8,000 Rohingyas were verified when we had earlier handed over list of some 30,000. Myanmar officials agreed to hold the meeting but said they need approval from their higher authorities," the official said.
* * *
Kamrul said UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener was serving as a bridge between the UN system and the government of Myanmar on the issues of Rakhine.
"So, she’s helping us resolve the issues," he said.
* * *
Myint Thu said the factsheet that they prepared and circulated in the camps included Christine’s suggestions. "So, we came up with a factsheet providing information on the repatriation process, access to justice, access to education, health and social services and then citizenship issues."-
(same topic at:
- July 29 ) -
Malaysia:
Myanmar must be accountable
for Rohingya to return.
- AP / ABC News
Malaysia's foreign ministry said, Tuesday, that Myanmar's government must pursue justice for alleged human rights abuses against the Muslim Rohingya minority, so that hundreds of thousands, who fled a brutal military crackdown, can return safely to the country.
The call came ahead of a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Bangkok this week. It also followed a weekend meeting between a Myanmar government delegation and representatives of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to discuss creating conditions for their safe repatriation.
* * *
"Many efforts are ongoing to solve the Rohingya crisis, but ultimately, we need the political will in Myanmar and internationally to move forward," Malaysia's foreign ministry said in an email reply to questions by The Associated Press.
"Malaysia maintains the view that the government of Myanmar has the primary responsibility to act on allegations of human rights abuse committed in Rakhine state. Ensuring accountability is imperative to finding a solution to the crisis, and to the creation of a conducive environment for the return of displaced Rohingya to Myanmar," the ministry said.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to which Malaysia belongs, has agreed to take Myanmar to the International Court of Justice for rights violations -- while International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked the court, last year, to open an investigation into possible crimes against humanity.
However, attempts to censure Myanmar at the U.N. Security Council failed due to lack of support from China and Russia.
Malaysia's foreign ministry said in its email that it was concerned that "international power politics" have dampened efforts to bring the Rohingya crisis before an international judicial mechanism. It said Malaysia will continue to work with other countries to push for accountability in Rakhine.
The ministry acknowledged that the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations has not focused on addressing the atrocities in Rakhine but said ASEAN's role, largely limited to providing humanitarian assistance, could contribute positively in expediting the repatriation process.
ASEAN, which has a policy of non-interference in each other's affairs, has been criticized for failing to take a tougher stance against Myanmar.
ASEAN foreign ministers are expected to receive a briefing from Myanmar when they meet Wednesday.
In a draft of the proposed ASEAN ministerial communique seen by the AP, the ministers say they hope an investigative body set up by Myanmar's government will seek accountability through an impartial investigation into the alleged human rights violations. The statement didn't mention the word "Rohingya," identifying the group as "displaced persons."
"We stressed the need to find a comprehensive and durable solution to address the root causes of the conflict and to create a conducive environment so that the affected communities can rebuild their lives," the ministers said.
Over the weekend, Myanmar officials held talks with representatives of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to discuss conditions for their safe return, and agreed to further talks. In November, the refugees rejected a plan for their repatriation out of fears for their safety. ... -
Official U.N. statement:
Public Statement by Chair
of Working Group on
Children and Armed Conflict.
[about armed conflict in Myanmar]
- United Nations Security Council
At its eighty-third meeting, on 30 July 2019, the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the fifth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Myanmar (document S/2018/956), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group: ...RCN Editor's note:
The document, at length, scolds Myanmar's army, and various (non-Rohingya) rebel armies in Myanmar:
-
"Strongly condemning all violations and abuses that continue to be committed against children in Myanmar, urging them to immediately end and prevent all violations of applicable international law involving:
- the recruitment and use of children,
- abduction,
- killing and maiming,
- rape and other forms of sexual violence,
- attacks on schools and hospitals, as well as
- the military use of schools, and
- denial of humanitarian access
-
The report further expresses
"deep concern at the high number of children killed and maimed, including as a direct or indirect result of:
- actions by the Myanmar military and security forces,
- fighting between parties to armed conflict, and
- attacks against civilian populations,
The Myanmar government, its army and border guards come under the most intense focus in the statement, which condemns much of their violent conduct towards children, and "urges" reform -- noting that some of the rebel armies have already done so.
It specifically urges "the Government of Myanmar to put an end to impunity by ensuring that those responsible for violations and abuses are brought to justice and held accountable without undue delay, including through rigorous, timely, independent and impartial investigation and prosecution."
It further urges Myanmar to "grant the United Nations agencies and their partners immediate, safe and unhindered access, including humanitarian access, to Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States, as well as other domestic and international non-governmental organizations providing humanitarian assistance;" -- and for Myanmar to allow U.N. officials to engage with the rebel armies, unhindered.
Finally, the statement calls for safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of children to their homeland -- and for religious leaders to act to protect children, and ensure peaceful coexistence between religious factions. (In recent years, hardline nationalist Burman/Buddhist monks have been stirring up Myanmar's population against the nation's ethnic and religious minority groups -- particularly against the Rohingya -- and have been widely blamed for motivating much of Myanmar's widespread public discrimination, abuse and violence against the Rohingya.). ~ RCN Editor.
-
(Official U.N. statement, full text, at:
- The U.N. website
- This website )
-
Rohingya Repatriation:
-
ISCG Situation Report:
Rohingya Refugee Crisis,
Cox’s Bazar.
- Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG
on ReliefWeb.int
Elections for refugee community representation took place in Nayapara Registered Camp between 8 and 11 July, with 49 block committee leaders and members elected for 49 blocks. Out of the 10,330 eligible refugee voters, 8,280 refugees voted representing overall 80.1% of the voter turnout. Of the overall population eligible to vote, 74% of eligible male adults voted, while 85 % of eligible female adults voted; 45% of those elected were female and 55% were male.
The results of these elections showed that there is significant appetite for refugees’ active participation in camp representative mechanisms and women are ready to play leadership roles in the public sphere.
* * *
The 2019 South-Western Monsoon in South Asia has caused slope failure, flash flooding, winds and waterlogging in the Rohingya refugee camps -- which, so far, has affected 50,840 refugees, approximately 6,321 of whom have been temporarily displaced by flooding and waterlogging.- 1,171 shelters have been destroyed,
- 9,129 shelters have been damaged in some way, and
- 1,056 facilities have required repair.
[REFUGEE POPULATION DATA]:
- 911,566 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar
- 905,754 refugees identified in camps according to the RRRC-UNHCR Registration exercise (including 34,172 registered before 31 Aug 2017).
- Family Counting data also counts 6,619 refugees outside of formal camp boundaries. The methodology is based on interviews with each family, collecting gender- and agedisaggregated statistics, geolocations & protection needs.
- 5,812 refugees estimated in host communities in Ukhiya/Teknaf Upazilas per Needs and Population Monitoring (NPM) round 15.
- NPM estimates are based on key informant interviews and triangulated through field observations and spontaneous community group discussions.
-
ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting:
ASEAN foreign ministers
discuss
S. China Sea, Rohingya.
- Kyodo News (Japan)
in Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations [(ASEAN)] began their annual series of meetings in Bangkok, on Wednesday -- with South China Sea tensions, the Rohingya refugee crisis, and Korean Peninsula issues on the agenda.
The Asean foreign ministers met among themselves in the morning, and with their counterparts from China and Russia in the afternoon. They will meet with other "dialogue partners" -- including Japan and the United States, on Thursday -- followed by the 27-member Asean Regional Forum on Friday.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Busadee Santipitaks said the ministers discussed the situation in the South China Sea where some Asean members have overlapping claims with China. Tensions remain high there, with a Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile test in the sea coming to light recently.
A joint communique to be issued at the end of the Asean ministers' meeting is expected to mention concerns over land reclamation and other activities in the sea that have eroded trust and confidence, while increasing tensions.
They are also expected to welcome progress in negotiations between Asean and China on coming up with a code of conduct among claimants in the South China Sea to manage tensions, which they hope will reach fruition by 2021.
At the meeting with his Asean counterparts, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said both sides have "a strong resolve to advance consultations," having already "streamlined the text and established a clearer architecture and elements."
China, which claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, has reclaimed a number of disputed reefs and built airstrips and other military facilities there over the past few years.
Busadee said the morning session also dealt with efforts to achieve the voluntary repatriation "as soon as possible" of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from refugee camps in Bangladesh, as well as to ensure their livelihoods after they return.
More than 740,000 members of the persecuted ethnic minority group fled across the border from Myanmar's Rakhine State since August 2017 to escape a brutal military crackdown on insurgents.
The spokesman said Asean firmly supports dialogue to that end, including between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.-
(same topic at:
- next item... ) -
Official statement:
Joint Communiqué of the 52nd
ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting,
Bangkok, 31 July 2019
- Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
on ReliefWeb.int
-
Official statement:
Rohingya refugees disappointed
again.
Myanmar Delegation Fails to Make Convincing Case for Safe Return.
- Human Rights Watch
Myanmar officials arrived at the sprawling refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh this week to discuss the repatriation of the Rohingya population.
Armed with "fact" sheets, colorful brochures, and PowerPoint presentations, officials whose government committed a campaign of ethnic cleansing that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh two years ago were now trying to persuade them it was safe to return home.
They were not convincing. "They didn’t even use the term ‘Rohingya,’" one refugee noted, alluding to the government’s longstanding unwillingness to recognize the ethnic group.
The 10-member delegation -- led by the permanent secretary of the Myanmar Foreign Ministry, Myint Thu -- explained categories of citizenship and promoted the government’s National Verification Card (NVC) process. Many Rohingya despise this deeply flawed process, which they view as a perpetuation of the discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law, which has effectively left them stateless in their own country.
The newly digitized NVC process would require Rohingya to reapply for their citizenship using their biometric data, which may further encourage discrimination. Myint Thu told them this was a first step towards achieving "naturalized citizenship." The problem is that many Rohingya already consider themselves Myanmar citizens.
"We showed them documents that prove that our ancestors were Burmese," said Dil Mohammad, one of Rohingya participants. "Why do we need to go through that NVC process again which will identify us simply as a foreigner?"
Given the horror of the atrocities they survived, the refugees understandably first want Myanmar authorities to assure them that they and their families will be safe if they return home, before they discuss terms of their repatriation.
Instead of this bizarre charm offensive, Myanmar should be dismantling the systematic and institutionalized discrimination against the Rohingya that has caused mass flight to Bangladesh and elsewhere for years. A good place to start is by amending the country’s problematic citizenship law.
Donors and concerned governments should also call on Myanmar to do everything necessary to permit the safe, dignified, and voluntary return of Rohingya refugees. But more than that, the government needs to ensure that the Rohingya return to a better place – one where they can become citizens, have freedom of movement, access services, and rebuild their livelihoods. To do this the authorities also need to take steps to ensure justice and redress.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Cardinals Tagle, Bo
visit Rohingya refugees
in Bangladesh.
- Vatican News
(NOTE: This is a religious media outlet)
- 2019 Aug. 1 - Thursday
-
VIDEO:
Myanmar tries to
persuade Rohingya
to repatriate.
Rohingya refugees, after fleeing Myanmar in 2017, are now being asked to repatriate. Many don’t want to, saying the country treated them like pariahs.
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
ASEAN -- The Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (shown on the map, below, in shades of green) -- includes Myanmar (in pink), Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, and tiny Brunei.
The ASEAN nations have a combined population of a half-billion (compared to the United States at one-third billion). Indonesia, alone, has the world's 4th largest population: 222 million. Most ASEAN countries are poor, and have unstable or limited democracy, or none. The tiny city-nation of Singapore (shown in red, at the tip of the Malay peninsula) is the region's economic and political hub.
The ASEAN region is a complex mix of religious, ethnic and language groups. Malaysia and Indonesia are predominantly Muslim, and the southern Philippines are mostly Muslim. Northern Philippines are Christian, while most of the other ASEAN nations (Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore) are predominantly Buddhist and/or non-religious. Most ASEAN countries have a significant Christian and/or Hindu minority.
China -- increasingly expansionist -- is the region's dominant power, posing the greatest threat to the ASEAN nations, especially around the South China Sea. The U.S., under President Obama, attempted to forge an economic alliance (the "TPP" -- Trans-Pacific Partnership) with ASEAN and other East Asian nations (shown in dark purple) to counter China's growing power.
But the increasingly isolationist U.S. abandoned the TPP, leaving ASEAN nations little economic recourse, except to cooperate with China -- which has begun aggressive moves to gain control of the South China Sea, and expand its economic and political influence, and consumption of resources, in the region, through its "Belt and Road" initiative. China particularly intends to use Myanmar (Burma) as western China's access to the sea, through a new seaport China is building on Myanmar's west coast, in Rakhine state. ~RCN Editor.
-
ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting:
Safe repatriation
of Rakhine refugees
a priority:
~ [Singapore Foreign Minister] Vivian.
ASEAN foreign ministers' joint statement stressed "the need to find a comprehensive and durable solution, to address the root causes of the conflict, and to create a conducive environment so that the affected communities can rebuild their lives."
- Straits Times (Singapore)
[Singapore's] Foreign Minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, told his Asean [(Association of SouthEast Asian Nations)] colleagues, yesterday, that it remains an "immediate priority" to start the repatriation of refugees -- who fled Myanmar's Rakhine state -- in a safe, voluntary and dignified basis.
According to a statement from [Singapore's] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Balakrishnan -- who is in Bangkok this week attending the annual Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting -- said racial and ethnic discrimination remained a challenge in all societies, and called on Asean member states to take a strong stand against it.
Later in the day, in the traditional joint communique, the foreign ministers supported Asean taking on a bigger and more visible role in providing humanitarian assistance, promoting sustainable development and facilitating the repatriation process. ...
* * *
While Myanmar has rejected international attempts to investigate its military for the alleged atrocities [against the Muslim Rohingya], it worked with Asean to conduct a preliminary needs assessment for repatriation. The report was heavily criticised for whitewashing what some parties have likened to ethnic cleansing.
* * *
The Asean foreign ministers' joint statement called for a comprehensive assessment of needs to be conducted at suitable intervals, and said: "We stressed the need to find a comprehensive and durable solution to address the root causes of the conflict and to create a conducive environment so that the affected communities can rebuild their lives."
* * *
Meanwhile, Dr Balakrishnan welcomed Asean's commitment and effort in addressing environmental and climate challenges, including combating marine pollution, illegal movement of waste, and transboundary haze pollution, said the statement...
* * *
The Asean foreign ministers' meet, followed by dialogues with Asean's partners as well as the East Asia Summit and Asean Regional Forum, are being convened as several issues cloud regional security [and economic growth]. The growing United States-China trade war is weighing on regional growth, while a spat between Japan and South Korea over high-technology material and wartime forced labour has raised questions over regional security arrangements, amid continued missile tests by nuclear-armed North Korea that took place as recently as yesterday.
Stand-offs among rival claimants in the strategic South China Sea - which include China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei - continued this week.
* * *
Dr Balakrishnan yesterday also met China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Asean Foreign Ministers' Meeting, where they both reaffirmed excellent relations between Singapore and China.
In their discussions, they welcomed new areas of cooperation such as the Singapore-Shanghai Comprehensive Cooperation Council, Singapore-Shenzhen smart cities twinning, and collaboration under the Belt and Road Initiative.
The ministers exchanged views on regional and international developments and took stock of the positive developments in Asean-China relations.
[Chinese foreign minister] Wang expressed appreciation for the constructive role that Singapore has played in advancing Asean-China cooperation. -
ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting:
Rohingya crisis:
Bangladesh seeks Thai role
as Asean chair.
Thai foreign minister assured that Thailand will continue to work to resolve Rohingya issue.
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[Bangladesh's] Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has sought support from Thailand to resolve the Rohingya issue -- mentioning that Bangladesh has a lot of expectations from Thailand as the current chair of Asean [(the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations)].
[Bangladesh's Momen] also highlighted the negative impact of the presence of these large numbers of Rohingyas on the host community, and the potential security risk for the entire region; and sought Thai help in early repatriation of Rohingyas in safety and security.
The issues came up for discussions when Dr Momen met Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Don Pramudwinai, in Bangkok, on Thursday.
The Thai foreign minister assured that Thailand will continue to work to resolve Rohingya issue.
The meeting held in Bangkok on the sidelines of the 26th Asean Regional Forum in the evening.
During the meeting, Dr Momen mentioned that the government of Bangladesh attaches highest priority to maintaining good relations with the neighbouring countries.
He sought the Thai Foreign Minister’s support for his country’s investment in Bangladesh, particularly in agro-based industries, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Both the Foreign Ministers agreed to promote and facilitate more interactions among the businessmen from both sides.
They expressed satisfaction over the existing bilateral relations.
Dr Momen emphasized increasing bilateral trade and investment and collaboration in different areas.
He thanked the Thai government for supporting the initiative of the establishment of Bangabandhu Chair PhD fellowship at Asian Institute of Thailand and stressed making the best use of this mechanism.
Dr Momen reached Bangkok on Thursday afternoon to attend the 26th Asean Regional Forum during the 52nd Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (52nd AMM).
The minister will return home on August 3 after attending the Forum, post-ministerial conferences (PMCs) and other related meetings there, an official said.-
(same topic at:
- NewAgeBD.com (Bangladesh)
(NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.) ) -
ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting:
Australia launches
$55M anti-trafficking effort
for ASEAN.
[Australia, along with Malaysia & other ASEAN nations, expresses concern over Rohingya crisis.]
- AP / MSN.com
-
(same topic at:
- Bangkok Post (Thailand) )Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the 10-year program was an extension of Canberra's assistance to the region to tackle the menace in the last 15 years. She said Australia has helped train more than 13,000 judicial officials who bolstered their legal systems to fight human trafficking and ensure better protection for victims in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Payne said at the launch of the program with her ASEAN counterparts that the bloc has made progress with the 2015 launch of its own action plan to combat trafficking, especially in women and children, but deeper cooperation was required as the scale of the challenge remained "immense."
"There are many deep-rooted factors that enable transnational crime from corruption through to the unequal status of women and children and other vulnerable groups," she said. "Our partnership with ASEAN on human trafficking continues to grow, promoting a fairer and more just region."
Millions of Filipinos and Indonesians work abroad -- while the crackdown on minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has led to hundreds of thousands fleeing to Bangladesh, and other neighboring countries, making them prey to traffickers.
The International Organization for Migration said that out of some 7,000 victims of trafficking that it assisted globally in 2015, a quarter came from ASEAN countries.
The U.S. State Department annual report on human trafficking showed that the problem is massive, with Myanmar in the worst tier for failing to protect Rohingya from violence in Rakhine state. The U.S. report said Rohingya were subject to exploitation, with some children abducted in transit, and girls sold into forced marriages in India, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The U.N. has described the violence that drove Myanmar security forces to commit mass rapes, killings and arson as "ethnic cleasning." Myanmar's government says it has been routing out Rohingya insurgent groups.
Some 700,000 Rohingya have fled the violence into neighboring Bangladesh.
Payne, in a speech at her annual meeting with ASEAN foreign ministers, expressed Australia's concern over the situation in Rakhine state. She said Australia is committed to work with Myanmar, Bangladesh and the region to seek a durable solution to the Rohingya crisis.
* * *
Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said, later Thursday, that Myanmar has to overcome a "trust deficit" in its plans to bring Rohingya refugees home. A high-level Myanmar team met with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh recently, and agreed to hold further talks. Rohingya representatives have voiced suspicion over Yangon's sincerity because the government refuses to grant them full citizenship.ASEAN ministers, in a joint communique Wednesday, voiced hope that an investigative body set up by Myanmar's government will seek accountability through an impartial investigation into the alleged human rights violations. They also stressed the need to address the root causes of the conflict and for the proper factors to be in place for the Rohingya to return home.
-
VIDEO:
- 2019 Aug. 2 - Friday
-
Malaysia PM’s Call for
Rohingya Citizenship,
or Separate State,
Rankles Myanmar.
- RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
The Myanmar government, on Friday, denounced Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad -- over comments he made, suggesting the creation of a separate state for the country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslims -- calling it a violation of ASEAN’s non-interference principles.
* * *
In an interview with Turkey’s Anadolu Agency
on July 26, Mahathir said Myanmar’s Rohingya had faced a genocide -- during a brutal military-led crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017 -- and that those who fled their homeland should be granted the right to citizenship, or given a self-governing territory.
* * *
Mahathir’s suggestion did not help the situation, said Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay during a news conference held by the president’s office in the capital Naypyidaw.
"What the Malaysian prime minister had said is not in line with ASEAN’s non-interference policy, nor with basic principles in the ASEAN Charter," he said -- referring to the constituent instrument of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional intergovernmental organization comprising 10 countries in Southeast Asia.
"Myanmar and ASEAN are working together on many issues in Rakhine state -- and what he said did not help, but instead weakened our cooperation," [Myanmar's] Zaw Htay said.
The government spokesman also said that the comments could affect cooperation between the Myanmar and Bangladeshi governments on a refugee repatriation program [that] they both agreed to in November 2017. The returns have yet to get underway, because almost none of the Rohingya has expressed a willingness to cross back into Myanmar under current conditions.
"Myanmar cannot accept this kind of [interference] in other nation’s internal affairs," Zaw Htay said.
[Myanmar's] Myint Thu addresses [Malaysia's] ambassador:Myint Thu, permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, summoned Malaysian Ambassador Zahairi Baharim, on Wednesday, to express his dismay and the [Myanmar] government’s objections to Mahathir’s comments.
Besides lambasting the diplomat for going against ASEAN’s cardinal principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of the organization's member states, and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of those nations, Myint Thu informed Zahairi that Myanmar categorically rejected Mahathir's allegations of genocide, Myanmar News Agency reported.
* * *
The exchange came just days after Myint Thu led a high-level Myanmar delegation that included representatives from ASEAN on an official visit to Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region to meet with refugees from various camps to brief them on preparations for repatriation and inform them that full citizenship for the stateless minority was not an option.
It was the second time that Myanmar officials have visited the camps to try to convince the apprehensive Rohingya to begin the repatriation process.
About 1.2 million Rohingya refugees live in the sprawling camps in southeastern Bangladesh, some of whom fled there from previous violence in Myanmar.
The refugees have said they will not return to Myanmar unless they are granted full citizenship, and given guarantees of safety in the country, which considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, denies them citizenship, and subjects them to systematic discrimination.
‘It can be done’
Despite the heavy criticism by [the Myanmar government in] Nypyidaw, other Malaysian officials voiced support for [Malaysian Prime Minister] Mahathir’s proposal.
Ahmad Fahmi Mohd Shamsudin, deputy president of the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia, a local NGO, said it would be possible to create a separate territory and grant citizenship to the Rohingya refugees.
"It can be done by putting pressure on and louder action by the international community, especially the ASEAN countries and communities, so this issue can be solved completely," he said in a statement to the Malay daily Sinar Harian.
The "human tragedy" that occurred in Rakhine state can only be resolved if the Myanmar government acknowledges the rights to citizenship for the Rohingya, Ahmad Fahmi said.
"The citizenship recognition will allow the ethnic group to get their rights and fair treatment based on the principle of humanity," he said. "The right to citizenship is important as it will allow the ethnic group to have access to the political system and also the socio-economy of the said government."
Syed Hamid Albar, former Malaysian foreign minister and former special envoy from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to Myanmar, also weighed in on the issue.
"We welcomed the statement by Dr. Mahathir that urges that the 1.2 million Rohingya refugee be given full citizenship in Myanmar, or be given their own territory to form a state," he tweeted this week.
"The call made by an ASEAN leader has to be fully supported to solve the ongoing crisis with humanity and justice," he wrote.
Syed Hamid went on to point out that Myanmar originally comprised many separate states, and that British colonial rule had forced various ethnic groups, including the Rohingya, to become one nation.
"And now they should be treated as citizens or [have territory returned to them] to allow them to form a state," he tweeted.
‘Myanmar’s internal issue’:
Bangladeshi officials took a different tack, however.
"Our prime minister has made it clear that Bangladesh does not support harming Myanmar’s sovereignty. This is our official position," Bangladesh's Information Minister, Hasan Mahmud, told BenarNews (an RFA-affiliated online news service), on Friday.
A [Bangladeshi] foreign ministry [person] -- who spoke on condition of anonymity, because he had not been authorized to speak publicly on the issue -- said the country does not support giving the Rohingya a separate state.
"Rohingya are people from Myanmar," he said. "What Bangladesh only wants is the safe, voluntary, and sustainable return of all Rohingya who entered Bangladesh."
"It is Myanmar’s internal issue whether it will grant citizenship to the Rohingya," the official added.-
(same topic at:
- ANN / DailyStar (Bangladesh)
in Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines)
...which adds:
The situation in Rakhine has deteriorated as violence in Rakhine escalated since early this year.
Maung Zarni, a coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition, meanwhile, said [that Malaysia's Prime Minister] Mahathir Mohamad was "discharging his obligations as a head of state, to call for ending the ongoing genocide, restoring Rohingya full and equal citizenship -- or simply intervening to return [to the] Rohingya their ancestral land stolen by Myanmar.
"Mahathir is absolutely factual when he said Myanmar is committing a genocide."
Zarni, who is also a fellow at the Genocide Documentation Center of Cambodia, told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency that there was an "overwhelming evidence that has been amassed by the UN Fact-Finding Mission, as well as my own research and that of world renowned research institutions -- such as [the] Yale Law School Human Rights Clinic or [the] U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum -- to unequivocally support Mahathir’s statement about Myanmar commissioning a genocide."
He also stated that all member states of the UN "are obligated to intervene orally, diplomatically or even militarily to prevent, end or punish a state that violates the Genocide Convention."
Zarni criticized Asean for its policy to remain silent, about ongoing genocide against Rohingya.
Kyaw Win, head of a UK-based rights group, stated that Myanmar has a "well-planned strategy to eliminate the Rohingya population from the country" and it "knows how to buy time"
Win, who is also executive director of the Burma Human Rights Network, said it was a moral duty of every human being to raise voice against a country engaged in committing mass atrocities, such as genocide or crimes against humanity.
The rights activist called for a pragmatic approach that can achieve the return of the Rohingyas, to their home, with dignity and rights. )
-
Malaysia PM’s Call for
- 2019 Aug. 3 - Saturday
-
ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting:
Rohingya crisis:
India urges world
to help Bangladesh.
India recognizes humanitarian burden shouldered by Bangladesh’s society, and economy, says ASEAN forum report
- Anadolu Agency (Turkey)-
(CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.)
India recognizes the humanitarian burden on Bangladesh’s society and economy, said the Security Outlook 2019 of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum -- held on Friday -- according to BSS, Bangladesh’s state-run news agency.
India praised Bangladesh’s generosity towards displaced people in the report, the agency reported on Saturday
“India is deeply conscious of the humanitarian and security implications of the displacement of nearly one million people (Rohingya) in Bangladesh from contagious areas of Rakhine state in Myanmar,” said the outlook report.
“India recognizes the economic burden this crisis places upon Bangladesh’s society and economy,” it added.
The report said bordering northeastern India, Myanmar’s stability and prosperity is crucial for regional security. India has provided aid to Myanmar to facilitate the return of Rohingya to Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the place of their origin.
Thailand, as the ASEAN chair, hosted this year’s forum with the participation of foreign ministers from 26 countries and representatives from the European Union, U.S., U.K., Japan, China, and India.
Addressing the event, A K Abdul Momen, Bangladesh’s foreign minister, sought support and cooperation from the world community to carry out the Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar in a safe manner. ...
-
ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting:
- 2019 Aug. 4 - Sunday
-
India wants Bangladesh to
start Rohingya repatriation again.
- BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
India wants Bangladesh to start the Rohingya repatriation again in August, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said.
Talking to reporters on Sunday, Momen said he met his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar at the Asean meeting in Bangkok last week and discussed the issue.
"He told me to start sending them whatever the number is. Start the process this month, preferably in mid-August," Momen said, adding that "India is also ready to support in this regard".
Jaishankar also conveyed that India built 250 houses in the Rakhine State where 1,000 people can easily live, Momen said. "It’s a good time for them to go," Momen quoted him as saying.
"I’m also very positive," [Bangladesh's] Momen said, as he believed the process will start anytime soon.
He did not make it clear what made him so optimistic. "I hope the process can start this month."
Over 700,000 Rohingyas took shelter in Cox's Bazar after the 2017 "ethnic cleansing" by Myanmar's army. Both countries signed deals to send them back. But Bangladesh had to postpone the plan in November, when Rohingyas refused to go back, citing safety and security concerns.
Dhaka is maintaining that the return will be "voluntary and with safety and security".
Jaishankar is coming to Dhaka on August 20 for a two-day visit, first as the foreign minister.
During the visit, they would discuss the agenda of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's New Delhi visit planned for October and also take stock of the progresses of all deals signed in recent years and implementation of the Indian line of credit, Momen said.-
(same topic at:
- next article... ) -
[Bangladesh Prime Minister] Hasina
likely to visit India in Oct;
Teesta water sharing,
Rohingya crisis on agenda.
- Business Standard (India)
DHAKA, Bangladesh --
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is likely to visit India in October to discuss several bilateral and regional issues, including the long-pending pact on the Teesta water sharing and the Rohingya crisis, Foreign Minister Dr A K Momen said here today.
It will be Hasina's first visit to India after assuming office for the third consecutive term. Hasina's alliance, dominated by her party Awami League, won the general election with a thumping majority in December last year.
"We are expecting the visit to take place on the first week of October. We will finalise the date and the agenda after Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's official trip to Dhaka later this month," Momen told PTI.
Jaishankar will visit Bangladesh on August 20 on a two-day visit.
* * *
The agenda of the prime minister visit will include discussions on "all bilateral and regional issues, including sharing of water in 54 common rivers and the Teesta in particular," Momen said. ...
Teesta water is crucial for Bangladesh, especially in the leanest period from December to March, ...
* * *
He said the Rohingya crisis was also likely to come up during Hasina's visit.
"New Delhi has conveyed to Dhaka that the repatriation process should start immediately...I am confident that the process of repatriation will start soon," the minister said -- adding that major Myanmar allies (including India, China and Japan) have extended their support to Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue.
Bangladesh -- which is facing a big influx of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar -- is seeking enhanced India's support in... mounting pressure on Myanmar to take back the refugees who have taken shelter in [Bangladesh].
* * *
Momen said, in a recent meeting with Jaishankar in Bangkok, the Indian minister told him that [India's government in] New Delhi has already talked to the Myanmar government and its military authorities, and urged them to bring back Rohingyas as soon as possible.
"The Indian foreign minister told me to start the repatriation process as early as possible," he said.-
(same topic at:
- previous article ) -
‘The land where we lived has gone'
– the life story of a Rohingya refugee.
As a young man, Habiburahman fled oppression in his native Myanmar
and lives, stateless, in Australia.
Now he has written a book about his struggle – and his suffering people.
- The Guardian (U.K.)-
(same topic at:
- SBS News (Australia)
(public broadcasting network) )
-
India wants Bangladesh to
- 2019 Aug. 5 - Monday
-
Myanmar Military’s Vast Business Revenue
Enables Abuses, U.N. Says.
- New York Times
BANGKOK — The Myanmar military controls an extensive business empire that enables it to avoid accountability, and conduct operations with impunity against ethnic groups -- contributing to widespread human rights abuses, according to a United Nations report released Monday.
A United Nations fact-finding mission urged foreign businesses and governments to sever ties with more than 140 companies owned or controlled by the military, which has carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing, murder and rape of Rohingya Muslims.
“The Myanmar armed forces are enabled in a very enhanced way to act outside of civilian control and therefore perpetuate their impunity in their involvement in gross human rights violations,” Marzuki Darusman, the chairman of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar and a former attorney general of Indonesia, said in an interview.
The military’s businesses operate largely out of the public eye and have close ties to state-owned enterprises and large private firms known in Myanmar as crony companies. Together, the armed forces, the state-owned enterprises and the crony companies account for a huge share of the country’s economy.
The United Nations mission argues that if the military did not have these outside sources of revenue, all of its budget would have to come from the government and could be subject to review.
The mission called for a criminal investigation of two crony companies, KBZ Group and Max Myanmar, that donated money to build a border fence aimed at preventing the return of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who were driven from their homes by the military in 2017.
The three-member panel issued a report last year saying that Myanmar’s top generals, including the commander in chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, should face charges of genocide in an international court.
That report detailed horrendous crimes, including throwing babies into fires, slitting the throats of men, and raping women and girls, that it said were part of an organized campaign to drive the Rohingya from Rakhine State in 2017. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled across the border to Bangladesh and now live in squalid refugee camps.
Since the exodus, the military, some of its businesses and allied companies have begun constructing new roads and buildings in areas that had been occupied by the Rohingya, the new report said.
The redevelopment will make it difficult, if not impossible, for many of the refugees to return to where their homes once stood and may also constitute violations of international human rights law.
“Private companies with enduring links to the Tatmadaw are financing development projects in northern Rakhine in furtherance of the Tatmadaw’s objective of re-engineering the region in a way that erases evidence of Rohingya belonging in Myanmar, and preventing their return to access their homeland and communities,” the mission said in its 111-page report, using the official name for the Myanmar armed forces.
The United Nations mission encouraged travelers to avoid military-owned hotels and tourism companies, including Myawaddy Travels and Tours Company, Nawadae Hotel and Tourism and the Okkala Golf Resort. Mr. Marzuki said the panel would be developing a more detailed list to assist travelers in their choices.
The Tatmadaw owns and operates two conglomerates,- Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited,
and - the Myanmar Economic Corporation.
Their wide variety of business activities include banking and insurance, tourism, jade and ruby mining, timber, construction, and the production of palm oil, sugar, soap, cement, beverages, drinking water, coal and gas. The companies also have extensive real estate holdings.
Many of the companies are set up to supply goods and services to the military, such as food, clothing, insurance and cellphone service.
The conglomerates also own two of the country’s largest banks, Myawaddy Bank and Innwa Bank, which give the military direct access to the international banking system.
General Min Aung Hlaing is the chairman of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited. He also effectively controls the Myanmar Economic Corporation, which is owned by the Defense Ministry. (Under the Constitution, General Min Aung Hlaing appoints the defense minister.)
Last month, Washington imposed sanctions on General Min Aung Hlaing and three of his highest-ranking subordinates for their roles in the atrocities carried out against the Rohingya, barring them and their immediate family members from entering the United States.
One of them, the Tatmadaw’s deputy commander in chief, Gen. Soe Win, is the vice chairman of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited.
Mr. Marzuki said the mission had not been able to determine the military companies’ annual revenue, or how much wealth they control. He said the investigation would continue.
“This has been going for the past 50 years,” he said. “Imagine the accumulated resources and reserves.”
The Tatmadaw began battling various ethnic groups soon after independence from Britain in 1948 and has continued ever since. Much of the fighting has been over control of resources, such as the lucrative jade and ruby trade in Kachin and Shan States, in which the military’s companies have a major interest.
The military seized power in 1962 and ran the country, also known as Burma, until 2011, when it started returning some authority to civilians. But under the Constitution, the Tatmadaw is not accountable to any civilian authority.
The mission found that at least 14 companies from seven nations, including Russia, China and North Korea, had provided arms and equipment to the Tatmadaw since 2016.
“The mission finds that any foreign business activity involving the Tatmadaw and its conglomerates M.E.H.L. and M.E.C. poses a high risk of contributing to, or being linked to, violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” the report said, using the initials for Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited and the Myanmar Economic Corporation.
(Official U.N. statement:
"Myanmar companies bankroll
‘brutal operations’ of military,
independent UN experts claim
in new report."
- United Nations
...which notes:
Money earned by the Myanmar military from international and domestic business deals, “substantially enhances its ability to carry out gross violations of human rights with impunity” according to a report released on Monday by an independent United Nations group looking into military-business ties in the South East Asian country. ...)
-
(same topic at:
- "UN urges sanctions on
Myanmar army-linked businesses."
- Deutsche Welle
...which notes:
UN investigators are calling on world leaders to impose sanctions on companies linked to Myanmar's military. They say almost 60 foreign businesses, including firms from Europe, could be helping to fund rights abuses.
"The revenues the military earns from domestic and foreign business deals substantially enhances its ability to carry out gross violations of human rights with impunity," the mission said.
The report identified at least 59 foreign companies — including firms from France, Belgium, Switzerland, Hong Kong and China — that have dealings with army-linked ventures. It also named at least 14 companies that have sold arms to the Myanmar military, including state-owned entities in Israel, India, South Korea, and China.
* * *
The report from UN's fact-finding mission focused on the army's two main conglomerates, Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corp — holding companies with investments in various industries, from gemstones and copper, to pharmaceuticals and clothing.
The UN panel has previously said the military leaders in charge of the two conglomerates should be investigated for genocide and war crimes.
* * *
Myanmar has one of the fastest-growing economies in the region -- and its transition from military to civilian rule over the past decade has attracted foreign businesses. However, investors have come under pressure to ensure they are not indirectly aiding human rights abuses.
Marzuki Darusman, the chair of the UN fact-finding mission, stressed that the international community needed to do more to curb the military's funding -- for example: through sanctions, and by encouraging foreign companies to do business with entities independent of the army.
"This will foster the continued liberalization and growth of Myanmar's economy, including its natural resource sector, but in a manner that contributes to accountability, equity and transparency for its population," he said.
The US, the EU, Australia, and Canada have imposed sanctions on senior officers in Myanmar over the killings in Rakhine state. The International Criminal Court has also launched a preliminary probe into rights abuses.
- also see: Aug. 6:
"U.N. slams Israel arms sales to Myanmar, in Rohingya genocide report."
(in Middle East Monitor
& various Israeli newspapers). )
- Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited,
-
ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting:
ASEAN calls for
safety of Rohingya.
- Jakarta Post
ASEAN [(the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations)] has called on the Myanmar government to guarantee the safety of the Rohingya community -- both in the country and in exile -- as the region’s foreign ministers push for more dialogue with the refugees in the ongoing repatriation process.
Myanmar attracted international attention two years ago when its military initiated a crackdown on Rakhine state, driving about 730,000 Muslim Rohingya to cross into Bangladesh.
Since earlier this year, civilians in Rakhine have also been caught up in clashes between the military and the Arakan Army, an insurgent group that recruits from the mainly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine population and is fighting for greater autonomy for the state.
The call on Myanmar was stated in a joint communiqué issued at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, last week, in their bid to ensure a voluntary return of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to [Myanmar's] Rakhine [state] in a safe, secure and dignified manner...-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
Myanmar Military’s Vast Business Revenue
- 2019 Aug. 6 - Tuesday
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Socio-economic impacts
of the Rohingya influx
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
by Syed Mansur Hashim, Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in association with the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) and the local administration of Cox’s Bazar, unveiled the findings of a joint impact assessment study on July 25, 2019. The report titled "Impacts of the Rohingya Refugee Influx on Host Communities" looks at the impact of the massive influx of Rohingyas on the host communities and how it has affected the long-term development needs of Bangladeshis living in the affected areas.
ABOVE: Rohingya refugees, escaping by boat, watch their villages burn, ©2017 SCMP . TV
BELOW: Thousands of Rohingya refugees -- fleeing attacks by their government and neighbors in their Myanmar homeland -- struggle along a muddy path, as others travel by flimsy boat, after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar (Burma) border, in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 6, 2017. ©2017 Reuters
BELOW: Around a million Rohingya refugees find shelter on steep and unstable hillsides, in Kutupalong, the world's largest refugee camp, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. ©2017 The Guardian
BELOW: Rohingya refugees in a refugee camp's makeshift marketplace. ©2018 Reuters / Mohammed Ponir Hossain
BELOW: some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugee children now in Bangladesh. Tens of thousands have seen their parents murdered during the government-sanctioned violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Bangladesh wants them to return to Myanmar -- as soon as conditions are "safe" ©2018 Associated Press
BELOW: Nearly a million Rohingya refugees now take shelter in this camp in Bangladesh -- the world's largest refugee camp. The hastily-built camp has had a devastating environmental impact on the area, and brought hardships to the area's native inhabitants. ©2018 Dhaka Tribune
The immediate effect of Bangladesh hosting about a million people on its soil, as pointed out in the report, is that...- prices of daily essentials have risen by about 50 percent,
- wages of day labourers have decreased,
- some 2,500 households fell below the poverty line,
- about 5,500 acres of reserve forests have been decimated, and
- 1,500 hectares of wildlife habitat destroyed.
That poverty has increased by nearly three percent in the host community is something that is not talked about much. We also learn that about 75,000 people in the host community have become more vulnerable in poverty terms due to the refugee crisis. Day labourers are bearing the brunt of the refugee influx since cheap labour is available from the Rohingya community and a ban on fishing on the Naf River along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border is causing hardship and threatening livelihoods of some 35,000 fishermen and their dependents. These fisher folk families each had, according to the study, an annual income of around Tk 70,000 per annum which has now all but dried up.
The damaging effects of hosting so many people in the areas of some hill districts has had an adverse effect on the local economy. We are informed that the road infrastructure has sustained damage to the tune of about USD 200 million.
The study also looks at repatriation costs -- and here the figures become astronomical! It’s estimated that USD 3.2 billion will be required for refugees to return to their home country under the best-case scenario, and if we are looking at 600 refugees returning on a daily basis, the process will take five years to complete. The study states, however, that if the number of returnees drops to 200 people a day, the cost will escalate to USD 11.6 billion and the number of years it will take to repatriate the entire refugee population will be 13 years.
In the first three weeks of the influx (in August 2017), Bangladesh received more refugees than all of Europe did in 2016 at the height of the Syrian crisis. Putting that into perspective, Bangladesh, which has less than 0.31 percent of the global population [RCN Editor note: That number is false], hosts 4.7 percent of its total refugees. Only now has the data become available to gauge the socio-economic burden of this foreign population living on Bangladeshi soil. The researchers used both qualitative and quantitative tools to gather data and information on community perceptions "in order to be able to assess the impacts, as well as secondary sources."
The arrival of the Rohingyas (in three phases) from the Rakhine state started in 1978. The latest wave, in 2017, was by far the largest -- and the [Rohingya] refugee population [in Bangladesh] is [currently] estimated at 882,676 (or 203,137 families). Children make up more than half the population. The government, with support from the international community, set up temporary settlements for refugees. The political process for their repatriation has been dragging on for the last two years and in the meantime, we have seen its adverse impact on host communities.
Price of rice has increased significantly, because rice is also the staple food for Rohingyas. The survey found rice prices in Teknaf and Ukhiya post-influx to be Tk 38 per kg during May-June 2018, lower on average than the national price by Tk 6 per kg (Tk 44 in April 2018).
Survey data shows that mean wages of all labourers declined from Tk 417 pre-influx to Tk 357 post-influx, or a decline of 14 percent in Teknaf (in Ukhiya it was 6 percent). The agricultural wage in Ukhiya is said to have fallen at a much higher rate. Agricultural wage in Teknaf has apparently fallen by 11 percent. These figures tell us that there is now an abundant pool of agro-labourers and they are coming from the refugee population, who are mostly working close to their camp area (in Teknaf and Ukhiya).
Overall, the impact of nearly a million new people living in the two hill districts has taken a toll on agriculture production. According to data from the Department of Agriculture Extension (DoAE), between August 2017 and March 2018, at least 100 hectares (ha) of cropland in the Teknaf/Ukhiya area was damaged due to refugee presence. "An additional 76 ha of arable land has been occupied by refugee settlements and humanitarian agencies. Around 5,000 acres of land have been rendered useless because of sandy soil flowing down from the mountain slopes, which are being used for refugee housing purposes. Grazing lands have been destroyed."
The environment is perhaps the worst casualty. Six thousand acres of government land that were forest and hilly areas were initially used to house the refugee population. These forest areas have been levelled to make room for temporary housing and we know from the Forest Department data (Cox’s Bazar) that the refugee influx has destroyed approximately 4,818 acres of forest reserve worth about USD 555 million. Every day, nearly three quarters of a million kg of timber, vegetation and roots are collected from the reserve forest to be used as cooking fuel (equivalent to the surface area of four football fields).
The report goes on to discuss, in detail, what effects the Rohingya crisis has had on the rise in cost of housing, damage to physical and business infrastructure, increase in poverty levels, health services, education and social protection on host communities, etc. It also deals with the rising tension between the host communities and refugees.
The fact that refugees now outnumber the local populace is not helping matters, primarily because finite resources are now being shared and depleted at an alarming rate, and there is little that government agencies can do about it. As the refugee crisis drags on -- from months, to now years -- security issues are creeping in.
While local community members are generally sympathetic to the plight of the newcomers, there is growing anxiety of being "outnumbered" by foreigners in one’s own land. This sense of vulnerability is going to become more and more complex as time goes by. These are the issues that the government will have to deal with sooner than later. And the international community will have to do more than just pay lip service about what a grand job the Bangladesh government is doing to host such a huge refugee populace. It is not merely a question of cents and dollars. Rather, the longer the Rohingyas stay on Bangladeshi soil, the greater will be the dangers of conflict erupting between Bangladeshis and Rohingyas. This must be avoided at all costs, and the time has come to up the ante on the military junta in Myanmar: to start repatriation of its people, or face charges of genocide at The Hague.
-
U.N. slams
Israel arms sales
to Myanmar
in Rohingya genocide report.
- Middle East Monitor
(NOTE: quality of this media is unknown.)-
(same topic at:
- Jerusalem Post (Israel)
- Times of Israel (Israel)
- Ha'aretz (Israel), July 17 )-
(Official U.N. statement at:
- - Aug. 5: "Myanmar companies bankroll ‘brutal operations’ of military, independent UN experts claim in new report."
- United Nations )
The UN report found that Myanmar companies bankrolled "brutal operations" in villages in Rakhine state stormed by soldiers -- during which thousands were slaughtered, many were burned alive in their homes, and women and children were raped.
In its report submitted to the 39th session of the Human Rights Council, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar found "consistent patterns of serious human rights violations and abuses." In addition to serious violations of international humanitarian law, the UN "concluded that many of these violations amounted to crimes against humanity and included murder; imprisonment; enforced disappearance; torture; rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence; persecution and enslavement."
The team which compiled the report focused on the economic interests of the Myanmar military, and ways to punish its officers for crimes which the UN had said amounted to genocide. For the first time, the degree was established by which [Myanmar’s] military uses its own businesses, foreign companies and arms deals to support its campaigns against the Rohingya. ...
The Fact-Finding Mission identified several companies from various countries -- including Israel -- supplying arms to Myanmar’s military. Israel is said to have exported arms to Myanmar before a Supreme Court order prohibited the practice in 2017.
However, Israeli companies welcomed a delegation from Myanmar’s military to an arms-expo in Tel-Aviv last month. In response to a question from Ha'aretz as to why Israeli companies were showing equipment to Myanmar representatives when they are not allowed to sell arms to that country, sales representatives at a number of booths claimed to be unaware of such a ban.
The UN report noted that in April 2017, when genocidal campaigns against Rohingya Muslims became a global concern, Israel Aerospace Industries -- an [Israeli] state-owned enterprise -- delivered two attack frigates to the Myanmar Navy.
Rohingya refugees, escaping by boat, watch their villages burn
©2017 SCMP . TV
This is said to have followed the filing of a petition before the Israeli Supreme Court, in early 2017, seeking a ban on implementing a defence cooperation agreement signed between Israel and Myanmar, due to the conduct of the [Myanmar] army in northern Rakhine in October 2016.
Privately-owned Israeli arms manufacturing companies have also sold arms and provided military training to Myanmar.
"Israel, in particular, allowed the transfer of arms covered by the ATT (Arms Trade Treaty)," said the UN Mission, "at a time when it had knowledge, or ought to have had knowledge, that they would be used in the commission of serious crimes under international law."
Denouncing the sale of arms to Myanmar, the report said that Israel -- along with [North] Korea, Russia, and Ukraine -- should not have permitted arms sales when knowledge of the killing in Myanmar was "widespread".
The team also found that the Myanmar military had sought to procure equipment from companies in the United Kingdom, Austria, Japan, and Canada -- though it was unable to confirm if those deals went ahead.
In conclusion, the Fact-Finding Mission called on the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar.
-
British firm Veripos
sold technology to
Burma military,
says UN report.
- [London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)
United Nations report has revealed that a British company sold more than £70,000 [US$100,000] worth of navigation technology to the Burmese [(Myanmar)] army, which is accused of carrying out genocide and war crimes against the Rohingya.
Aberdeen-based Veripos is one of 59 international firms identified in the six-month study.
* * *
The latest UN study found that the Burmese army has been able to maintain its policy, of ethnic cleansing, thanks to its control over a business empire estimated to be worth more than £98 billion [US$110 billion], and purchases of military technology and equipment from abroad.
[The U.N. report] called for the assets of companies doing business with the military to be frozen, as they risked contributing to further human rights violations.
In addition to Veripos, state-owned firms from China, Russia, Ukraine, North Korea, India, the Philippines and Israel had inked billion-dollar deals with the military.
They had supplied fighter jets, warships, ballistic missile systems, handguns and combat vehicles. Private companies from Belgium, France, Canada, Austria and Norway were also named by the UN.
In a statement, Veripos told The Guardian:-
“Through an intermediary in Singapore, Veripos provided GPS products to the Myanmar Naval Hydrographic Center between 2014 and 2017 in compliance with applicable legislation and regulation.
“Our products are used for civil marine applications, eg hydrographic survey. Veripos remains committed to the highest standards of ethical behaviour, and will abide by any regulations provided by the United Nations as a result of this report.”
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
- 2019 Aug. 7 - Wednesday
- 2019 Aug. 8 - Thursday
- 2019 Aug. 9 - Friday
-
Legal notice served
on [India's] Supreme Court
over Rohingya refugees.
- HindustanTimes (India)
In an unusual and unprecedented development, a legal notice has been served on the Supreme Court on behalf of 16,424 Indian citizens challenging the apex court’s decision to hear a petition to examine if refugee status can be given to Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar to India.
The notice -- sent by an advocate, Vibhor Anand, to the Supreme Court on August 4, through its secretary general -- said that [advocate Anand] had been authorised by the 16,424 citizens, living in various parts of the country, to serve the legal notice, so that the top court opens its eyes and ears to the voices of the majority population of India.
Arguing that Rohingya Muslims were a security threat to the country, Anand, in the legal notice, said the Supreme Court decision had created a lot of anger among the people of the country, and that the court was biased in its approach in taking up the case, when more important cases were pending.
Anand said these 16,424 people include Kashmiri Pandits, retired army officers and civil servants. He said they had responded when he sought individual views through WhatsApp and emails on the issue of Rohingya Muslims.
In the Supreme Court, the central government has taken the stand that the country cannot become the refugee capital of the world -- and has defended the Border Security Force’s efforts ([including the BSF's use of ] chilli spray and stun grenades), to push back Rohingya Muslims seeking to cross the border.
Reacting to news of the notice, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi tweeted: "Got word that some well meaning lawyer has sent a legal notice to Supreme Court on the issue of Rohingya refugees. Have been a practising advocate for nearly 3 decades, this is historic and unheard of."
Supreme Court advocate Viplav Sharma said a notice being served on the Supreme Court was practically unheard of. "Legal notices are not served on court but parties to a dispute. So when a notice is sent to the court it becomes unprecedented," Sharma said.
Senior advocate and former Supreme Court bar association president Vikas Singh said, "This kind of a notice is completely unheard of. It looks like a publicity stunt". -
Official U.N. statement:
More than half a million
Rohingya in Bangladesh
get ID cards for first time:
~UN refugee agency
- United Nations
More than 500,000 Rohingya refugees who fled a brutal crackdown in Myanmar two years ago, have received identification cards that the UN insisted on Friday were critical to safeguarding their right to return home.
Issued to all refugees over the age of 12, in camps in southern Bangladesh, the biometric, fraud-proof card is for many, the first time that they have owned an official document that proves their identity.
"Most of these people are stateless and most of these people have not had any form of identification document, so for the vast majority of the Rohingya refugees, this is the first ID, a first proof of identity that they have,"
UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told journalists in Geneva.
An estimated 900,000 Rohingya refugees live in crowded settlements in Cox’s Bazar, according to UNHCR, which is working with the Bangladeshi authorities to complete the operation.
More than 740,000 of those in camps fled from neighbouring Myanmar in the last two years amid State-led violence described as tantamount to ethnic cleansing, by the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.
"The point here is first and foremost to protect and safeguard the right of these people to return to the places they came from", Mr. Mahecic told journalists in Geneva.
The development comes amid ongoing reports of violence between State forces and ethnic separatists in Myanmar, and concerns by UN-appointed rights experts and agencies that conditions are not suitable for the safe return of refugees, in place such as Rakhine state.
"There are a number of agreements that have been signed both bilaterally and trilaterally in relation to the potential repatriation," Mr. Mahecic said, in reference to accords signed between the UN, Myanmar and Bangladesh -- the aim of which is to create conditions that are suitable for the return of ethnic (predominantly Muslim) Rohingya to Rakhine.
He added: "We have made clear, all along, that any repatriation needs to be voluntary, and it needs to be in line with the international standards."
On average, 5,000 refugees are registered daily, at seven different sites in Cox’s Bazar.
More than 550 local staff have been recruited, UNHCR said, with the goal of completing the registration process during the last quarter of 2019.
Although the identity cards carry unique biometric data ([including] fingerprints and iris scans), Mr. Mahecic stressed that they were not citizenship documents for Myanmar.
"These cards are basically their registration," he said. "They regulate their stay in Bangladesh. People will need to have, obviously, a pathway to citizenship -- and a different set of identification -- if, and when, they return."-
(same topic at:
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
- Arab News *
*(NOTE: The quality and bias of this media is unknown.) )
-
Legal notice served
- 2019 Aug. 10 - Saturday
- 2019 Aug. 11 - Sunday
-
Manipur [in northeast India]:
Six Rohingya migrants arrested
for entering India
with fake Aadhaar IDs.
After thorough interrogation, the immigrants admitted that they were Myanmar national (Rohingyas) and revealed their real identities.
- Indian Express (India)
(NOTE: The quality and bias of this media is unknown.)
Manipur Police arrested six Rohingya immigrants trying to enter into India with fake documents at the Imphal airport. The immigrants were detained on Saturday morning after they deboard an indigo flight from Delhi.
* * *
The police team found that the Aadhaar card presented by the six individuals were fake.
It is learnt that three of the six individuals had Manipur as their address on the Aadhaar card, while the rest had Hyderabad. One of the detained men could speak Hindi -- but the rest neither spoke Hindi nor Manipuri, they only understand Urdu, said the police. Subsequently, they (Rohingyas) were taken into custody for proper verification.
* * *
After thorough interrogation, the immigrants admitted that they were Myanmar nationals (Rohingyas) and revealed their real identities.
They have been identified as [specific named people] of Myanmar.
The immigrants, aged between 20 to 30, were reportedly trained in Madrasas in Delhi and other parts of the countries, and their documents (including Aadhaar) were arranged by some agents, including those from Manipur.
“It is yet to be established the purpose of their visit, their destination and objective. But we suspect that these immigrants entered the state with the help of some agents who have criminal intent, and we are seriously working on to establish the details”, said the DIG Ngashangva.
The DIG further disclosed that they have identified a few possible suspects (agents) who has helped the immigrants and soon will be arrested.-
(same topic at:
- Aug. 14 )
-
Manipur [in northeast India]:
- 2019 Aug. 12 - Monday
- 2019 Aug. 13 - Tuesday
- 2019 Aug. 14 - Wednesday
-
Identify people who
are helping Rohingya,
says Manipur [Chief Minister]
The Chief Minister was referring to the arrest of six Rohingya from the Tulihal International Airport in Imphal on Saturday.
- The Hindu (India)
Expressing concern over the presence of Rohingya in Manipur, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has said efforts should be made to identify the people who are facilitating their entry and providing them shelter in the state.
The Chief Minister was referring to the arrest of six Rohingya from the Tulihal International Airport in Imphal on Saturday. The six passengers had arrived from New Delhi with forged documents.
Addressing people on the occasion of Patriots’ Day on Tuesday, he said, “It indicates that many of them are taking shelter in the state and we have to find out the persons who are behind the illegal entry of Rohingya from different places.”
Urging the locals to trace Rohingya, and the agents who are bringing them to Manipur, the Chief Minister said the “already sinking” Manipuri population will disappear in the coming years, if they do not take the inititative.
Police investigation revealed that the six Rohingya were trained in a Madrasa in Delhi and had come to the state with the help of some agents based in the national capital and Manipur, DIG T. Ngasangva had told reporters on Sunday.
The Rohingya had admitted that they were residents of Yangon and Mandalay in Myanmar, the DIG said.-
(same topic at:
- Aug. 11 )
-
Identify people who
- 2019 Aug. 15 - Thursday
-
REPATRIATION:
Myanmar, Bangladesh agree
to start Rohingya repatriation
next week.
- Reuters News Service-
(same topic at:
- Reuters / The Guardian (U.K.)
- Reuters / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
- Reuters / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
- Reuters / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore) )
Myanmar and Bangladesh will start a fresh attempt, next week, to repatriate thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state, officials said on Thursday, nearly a year after a major attempt failed.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine, for neighbouring Bangladesh, after a military-led crackdown in August 2017 [that] the United Nations has said was perpetrated with "genocidal intent" -- [and] many refugees refuse to go back, fearing more violence.
A total of 3,540 refugees have been cleared for return, by Myanmar, from a list of more than 22,000 names recently sent by Bangladesh, officials from both countries told Reuters.
The first group of refugees would return to Myanmar next week -- providing any agree to go back.
"We have agreed to the repatriation of 3,540 people on August 22," Myint Thu, a spokesman for Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Reuters by phone.
Previous attempts at persuading Rohingya to return to Rakhine have failed, due to opposition from refugees. An effort in November sowed fear and confusion in the camps, and finally failed after refugee protests.
A senior Bangladeshi official told Reuters the new effort was a "small-scale" repatriation plan -- adding that nobody will be forced to return.
"Bangladesh wants nothing but a safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable repatriation," said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to media.
Mohammed Eleyas, a Rohingya activist with the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, said refugees had not been consulted about the process.
Myanmar should agree to the key demands of the community before repatriation begins, he said ...
U.N. officials have been asked to survey the refugees verified by Myanmar, to determine whether they want to return, according to internal emails by the refugee agency, UNHCR, seen by Reuters.
"UNHCR will provide refugees with the relevant and reliable information available on the conditions in Myanmar, subject to current constraint on access in the areas of return," one of the emails said.
A UNHCR spokeswoman referred questions to Myanmar's ministry of foreign affairs.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya remain inside Myanmar -- confined to camps and villages, across Rakhine state, where they are denied citizenship and their movements [are] restricted.
‘CLEANING CAMPS'
The U.N. has said conditions in Rakhine state -- where government troops have been fighting an insurgency for months -- are not conducive for the return of refugees.
The region has been enveloped in a new war -- with government troops fighting Arakan Army insurgents, members of an ethnic armed group that recruits from the mostly Buddhist Rakhine (who make up the majority in the area).
A U.N. investigator said in July that human rights violations against civilians by security forces and insurgents may amount to fresh war crimes, citing reports of deaths during army interrogations.
Myanmar authorities have blocked most humanitarian agencies, including the U.N., from the area.
In July, an Australian think-tank said the government had made "minimal preparations" for the return of refugees.
An analysis of satellite imagery showed no signs of reconstruction in the overwhelming majority of former Rohingya settlements -- while destruction of homes continued as recently as this year, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said.
Min Thein, a director at Myanmar's social welfare ministry, said officials had been sent to reinforce several centres, built on the border with Bangladesh, that have sat empty for months.
"We are preparing to be ready – cleaning the transit camps, reinforcing the staff levels," said Min Thein.-
(same topic at:
- Aug. 16 )
-
REPATRIATION:
- 2019 Aug. 16 - Friday
-
REPATRIATION:
Bangladesh eyes new
Rohingya repatriation attempt
next week.
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)-
(same topic at:
- Washington Post
- AFP / Frontier Myanmar (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
DHAKA: Bangladesh and Myanmar are considering a fresh attempt next week to repatriate a few of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown two years ago, Dhaka officials said Friday (Aug 16).
Some 740,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in August 2017 from a military offensive in Myanmar that the United Nations likened to ethnic cleansing, joining 200,000 already there.
The two nations signed a repatriation deal later that year but virtually no Rohingya have volunteered to return to Myanmar, where the group has faced decades of repression.
A previous attempt in November 2018 to return 2,260 Rohingya on a repatriation list fell flat, with those earmarked to return refusing to leave without guarantees for their safety.
The mooted new push follows a visit last month to hill camps, that are home to the Rohingya, by high-ranking officials from Myanmar -- led by [Myanmar's] Permanent Foreign Secretary, Myint Thu.
Bangladesh's foreign ministry has forwarded a list of more than 22,000 refugees to Myanmar for verification and Naypyidaw cleared 3,450 individuals for "return".
Dhaka later forwarded the list to the UN's refugee agency seeking its assistance to survey the refugees' "intentions regarding repatriation".
Kimberley Phillips, the UNHCR [(U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees)] spokeswoman in Yangon, said they would "meet with those who express an interest in returning - in a confidential setting - to confirm that voluntariness".
Top Bangladeshi foreign ministry official Delowar Hossain told AFP there were "possibilities" for the repatriation of the cleared individuals within a few days.
"However we cannot confirm anything yet," he said.
Another top official from the ministry said -- on condition of anonymity -- that the possible repatriation has been slated for Thursday Aug 22.
However Rohingya community leaders expressed "grave concern" saying they were not aware of any repatriation plan.
They said no refugees would return without confirmation of their preconditions - safety, security and citizenship.
Mohib Ullah, a top community leader, said nobody shared any information about the repatriation attempt.
"We don't know what is happening ... We will only repatriate through dialogues (about the preconditions). Without dialogues, no repatriation," he told AFP.
Myanmar has, til now, denied the minority citizenship -- and refers to them as "Bengalis," inferring that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
The massive camps in southeast Bangladesh have sparked tensions between the neighbours, with Bangladesh blaming Myanmar for delays in repatriating the refugees.
Dhaka said it would not force any Rohingya to leave while Myanmar has faced international pressure to allow the refugees to return and grant them citizenship rights.
The UN complained the progress to address the refugee crisis has been far too slow.-
(same topic at:
- Globe Post (U.S.)
(CAUTION: The quality & bias of this media is unknown.)
- Aug. 15 )
-
REPATRIATION:
VIDEO:
Rohingya refugees subjected to
organized crime in camps.
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
Rohingya refugees, in camps in Bangladesh, are facing danger from their own people. According to reports, over the last two years, at least 31 refugees have been killed in camps in Bangladesh. Many others have been abducted for ransom. ... -
Myanmar Military Uses
Threat of Prison
to Stifle Criticism
Ahead of Elections.
- New York Times
Call it the courtroom war of the colonels.
More than two dozen Myanmar Army colonels have bypassed the battlefield, to fight their adversaries in civilian courts -- using criminal defamation cases to stifle criticism of the army’s authority -- ahead of parliamentary elections next year.
The military’s spokesman, Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, says the officers are simply defending the “dignity” of the armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw. ...-
(same topic at:
- New York Times )
-
REPATRIATION:
- 2019 Aug. 17 - Saturday
- 2019 Aug. 18 - Sunday
-
REPATRIATION:
Rohingya repatriation
will begin anytime:
~[Bangladesh Foreign Secretary].
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Repatriation of the Rohingya refugees, who fled to Bangladesh following the brutal military crackdown in Myanmar since August 2017, will begin anytime, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said today.
“Repatriation [of Rohingyas] is always on the table. It can start anytime. It is a continuous process,” Shahidul Haque told journalists after a discussion in the capital.
He was replying to a query on whether the repatriation of Rohingyas will start on August 22 as reported by an international news agency.
Reuters, on Thursday, reported that Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to start a fresh attempt to the repatriation of Rohingyas on August 22.
The Red and Green Research, an initiative of journalists, organised the discussion titled ‘Rohingya Crisis: Way Forward’ at the BIISS auditorium.
Nearly 750,000 Rohingyas fled Rakhine for Bangladesh after a military-led crackdown in August 2017. The United Nations said the perpetrators had “genocidal intent”.
Previous attempts at persuading the Rohingyas to return to Rakhine have failed due to opposition from refugees. An effort for the repatriation of Rohingyas in November 2018 failed after the refugees protested.
The refugees at that time said they want to return to Myanmar, but sought the guarantee of citizenship, UN-backed safe zone in Rakhine, recognition of their ethnicity as Rohingya and return to the place from where they were driven out.
“Repatriation [of Rohingyas] has always been one of the priority issues for Bangladesh. We are always saying that the peaceful solution to the crisis is that the Rohingyas return to their homeland. We have never suggested any alternatives,” Shahidul said.
He added that Bangladesh would try to encourage the Rohingyas to return to their homeland in next couple of weeks. -
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
Rohingya Refugee Children
Missing Out on
Education and
Viable Future.
- VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
GENEVA - A study by the U.N. Children’s Fund [(UNICEF)] finds more than half a million Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar are not learning the life skills they need to prepare them for the future or to protect them from present-day abuse and exploitation.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children have been languishing in squalid, overcrowded refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar for two years — ever since a mass exodus of 745,000 refugees fleeing persecution and violence in Myanmar began.
The U.N. Children’s Fund reports more than a quarter million [Rohingya refugee] children, up to age 14, are receiving a non-formal education -- while more than 25,000 others are receiving none.
Author of the UNICEF report, Simon Ingram, said adolescents are most disadvantaged.
He said 97 percent of children aged 15 to 18 years are not attending any type of educational facility, putting them at particular risk.
“When you meet teenagers in the camps, they speak readily of the dangers they face, especially at night, when drug dealers operate, and gang fights are reported to be a regular occurrence," he said. "Cases of trafficking are also being reported, although they are hard to quantify. The camps can be especially hazardous for girls and women.”
UNICEF and partners have provided learning to more than 190,000 Rohingya children in more than 2,000 centers. These agencies are calling on the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to allow the use of their national educational resources to provide more structured learning for Rohingya children.
Ingram told VOA that UNICEF is appealing to Myanmar authorities to provide education to the children in the refugee camps. Until now, he said, the children have been taught in the Burmese language by volunteer teachers from the refugee population.
“And, with the best will in the world, that is not the same as having a properly trained teacher, someone who has experience of delivering the Myanmar government’s own curriculum. So, that is really what we are looking for and those are the conversations that are now ongoing with the government in Myanmar and we hope that we will receive a positive response to that,” said Ingram.
Ingram said it is critical for refugee children to be taught in Burmese as that is the language they will need if and when they return back to Myanmar.
Unfortunately, he notes, Rohingya adolescents will continue to live in limbo until it is safe for them to go home. He acknowledged that going home does not appear to be a realistic possibility for the foreseeable future.
-
REPATRIATION:
- 2019 Aug. 19 - Monday
-
REPATRIATION:
Bangladesh ready to repatriate
3500 Rohingya refugees
to Myanmar.
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Some 3,500 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been cleared to return home to Myanmar beginning this week, a top official said Monday (Aug 19), nearly two years after a military crackdown sparked their exodus.
Some 740,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in August 2017 from a military offensive in Myanmar - joining 200,000 already there - but virtually none have volunteered to return despite the countries signing a repatriation deal.
Bangladesh refugee commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam, however, said he was "optimistic" about a new repatriation process scheduled to start on Thursday.
A previous attempt, in November 2018 -- to return 2,260 Rohingya -- failed, after they refused to leave the camp without guarantees for their safety.
"Everything is ready ... the land transit point has been prepared," Kalam told reporters after a meeting with Myanmar officials in Cox's Bazar, southeast Bangladesh, where the refugees live in vast camps.
"Nobody will be forced to return unless they volunteer," he said.
Bangladesh and Myanmar officials plan to repatriate 300 Rohingya each day, with some 3,500 refugees cleared to make the journey home, Kalam said.
The new push follows a visit last month to the camps by high-ranking officials from Myanmar led by Permanent Foreign Secretary Myint Thu.
Sunday will mark the second anniversary of the crackdown that sparked the mass exodus to the Bangladesh camps.
Kalam said Myanmar and United Nations officials were meeting with selected refugees on Tuesday to encourage them to return to Rakhine state.
The Rohingya (who are mostly Muslim) are not recognised as an official minority by the Myanmar government, which considers them Bengali interlopers [from Bangladesh and eastern India] -- despite many [Rohingya] families having lived in [Myanmar's] Rakhine [state] for generations.-
(same topic at:
- Al Jazeera (Arab news network; Qatar)
(NOTE: This news outlet is not objective.) )
-
REPATRIATION:
Bangladesh, UNHCR
to survey Rohingya
regarding return to Myanmar.
- Reuters News Service-
(same topic at:
- Reuters / New York Times
- Reuters / BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
- Reuters / The Star (Malaysia)
- Reuters / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
- Japan Times (Japan) )
Bangladesh will work with the United Nations refugee agency to determine if more than 3,000 Rohingya refugees will accept Myanmar’s offer to return home, an official said on Monday -- nearly a year after a major repatriation plan failed.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine for camps in Bangladesh after a military-led crackdown, in August 2017, [that] the United Nations has said was perpetrated with "genocidal intent" -- but many refugees refuse to go back, fearing more violence."It will be a joint exercise led by UNHCR [(the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)]," Abul Kalam, Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation commissioner, told Reuters by telephone on Monday, referring to the refugee agency.
The United Nations Security Council is due to discuss the latest repatriation plan, behind closed doors, on Wednesday, at the request of France, Britain, the United States, Germany and Belgium, diplomats said.
Myanmar has cleared 3,450 people from a list of more than 22,000 refugees provided by Bangladesh, government spokesman Zaw Htay told a news conference in the capital Naypyitaw on Friday.
"We have already negotiated with Bangladesh to accept these 3,450 people on August 22," he said, adding they would be divided into seven groups for repatriation.
A foreign ministry spokesman previously gave Reuters a figure of 3,540 refugees verified under the plan.
Zaw Htay said officials had scrutinized the list to determine whether the refugees had lived in Myanmar and whether they had been involved in attacks on the military.
The 2017 crackdown was preceded by attacks on security forces by insurgents calling themselves the "Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army," which Myanmar has classified as a terrorist organization.
Previous attempts at persuading Rohingya to return to Rakhine have failed due to opposition from refugees. An effort in November sowed fear and confusion in the camps -- and finally failed after refugee protests.
-
REPATRIATION:
Refugees, UNHCR raise concerns
over rushed
Rohingya repatriation bid.
- Frontier Myanmar* (Myanmar/Burma)
*(NOTE: Frontier Myanmar may be subject to Myanmar military control) )
YANGON — The United Nations and Rohingya refugees have raised concerns about a surprise effort by the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar to repatriate up to 3,450 refugees starting from August 22, citing a short timeline and a lack of transparency.A UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson said the agency, on Tuesday, expects to begin surveying the intentions of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who have been cleared for repatriation – just two days before the planned repatriation is expected to begin.
The Bangladesh government provided the United Nations with a list of 3,450 Rohingya refugees who have been cleared for repatriation by Myanmar on the evening of August 8. Myanmar approved the names from more than 22,000 provided by Bangladesh. It is not clear how the governments prepared the lists.
UN officials were given just a two-week window to survey the refugees who have been cleared for repatriation, to find out whether they want to return to Myanmar, according to internal emails seen by Frontier. But this window fell over the Eid al-Adha holiday, limiting the availability of both UN and Bangladesh government staff.
Frontier also understands that the list of cleared refugees was transmitted in hard copy only and without the registration numbers typically used to identify individuals and families in the camps, and included duplications of names and variations in spelling.
Bangladesh designated its Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission [(RRRC)] to lead the process of sharing information with refugees -- but commissioner Mr Mohammad Abul Kalam was away from work until August 18 due to a medical procedure.
A meeting between UNHCR, the RRRC and the heads of the refugee camps was scheduled for August 18, according to internal emails seen by Frontier.
“The proposed timeline does present a challenge,” Ms Caroline Gluck, a UNHCR spokeswoman based in Bangkok said, in an emailed response to questions on August 18.
“UNHCR is working intensively to review the lists forwarded to the Government of Bangladesh by the Government of Myanmar. We are also making practical preparations to reach out to the refugee community, following the government’s lead. These efforts are now underway.”
UNHCR began sharing information with refugees last week -- distributing a two-page document in the camps in three languages.
Refugees cleared for return would have the opportunity to meet with UNHCR -- and express their wish to return, or not -- the document said. Conditions not in place:
While UNHCR will survey the intention of refugees, it will not be involved in the physical repatriation of any who decide to return on August 22.
The agency is not a party to the repatriation memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh in Myanmar, [and] also does not deem conditions in Myanmar to be conducive to repatriation taking place.
Gluck of UNHCR told Frontier that for the refugee agency to have a role in facilitating returns, conditions must first be in place for voluntary, safe and dignified return and the physical, legal, and material safety of returnees.
“This includes UNHCR’s ability to monitor the return and reintegration of returnees,” she said.
Mr Marin Din Kajdomcaj, head of operations for UNHCR in Cox’s Bazar, told Frontier Myanmar earlier this month that conditions in Myanmar are not yet in place for Rohingya refugees to return.
“The bottom line is, clearly, as this moment we don’t see the conditions for return,” he said.
Gluck reiterated this position on August 18 -- but said the UNCHR respected the right of individual refugees to return if they wished, and would provide support where it could.
A previous attempt in November 2018 to return 2,260 Rohingya to Myanmar came to nothing, after those identified for return refused to leave Bangladesh, amid refugee-led protests in the camps.
Restrictions on UNHCR’s access to parts of northern Rakhine State prevent the agency from fully assessing the conditions, Gluck told Frontier.
“The security situation in these areas is a factor constraining access, which speaks directly to the current environment and conditions for return in these parts of Rakhine State,” she said.
The Tatmadaw has been fighting the Arakan Army, in central and northern Rakhine State, since January 4 -- in a conflict that has displaced an estimated 60,000 people. The number of civilian casualties from this conflict is difficult to independently verify, due to restrictions on access to the area, and an internet blackout imposed in nine townships since June 21.
Gluck said that the root causes of displacement -- as highlighted in the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State -- also needed to be addressed, so that refugees have confidence that their return can be dignified and sustainable.
More than 128,000 Muslims – mostly Rohingya, but some of Kaman ethnicity – remain confined to camps in central Rakhine, unable to make trips outside without government permission, cut off from most livelihood and educational opportunities, and dependent on aid from international agencies for their survival.
“The situation in Rakhine State is not safe for returns. There is still chronic persecution and Rohingya lack access to education, livelihoods, freedom of movement and basic security,” said Mr John Quinley, human rights specialist at Fortify Rights.
“The same military, that led a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya, is supposed to now be the ones protecting them upon return. This is deeply problematic and dangerous.”
A July study by researchers in Australia -- based on open-source data and satellite analysis -- indicated that Myanmar has made minimal preparations for the return of refugees.
Frontier was unable to reach Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, and the Embassy of Bangladesh in Yangon declined to comment.
A broken promise:
On July 27 and 28, a Myanmar government delegation -- led by [Myanmar's] Ministry of Foreign Affairs permanent secretary, U Myint Thu, and five members of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations emergency response team -- held talks with Rohingya leaders in the camps.
They agreed, during the talks, to hold a dialogue on the repatriation conditions, set out by Rohingya leaders, within two months.
Demands include:
- the restoration of citizenship and its attendant rights,
- the right of refugees to return to their places of origin, and
- the involvement of UNHCR in the repatriation process.
While some Rohingya refugees who met the delegation said they doubted Myanmar’s sincerity, others told Frontier after the talks that they hoped the dialogue would lead to a solution.
Mr Mohib Ullah, the leader of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights told Frontier on August 4 that he expected pressure from ASEAN, the US and the EU would force Myanmar to negotiate.
“We are not staying a long time in these places,” he said, referring to the camps. “We are preparing for dialogue with Myanmar, and then we will go back.”
The UNHCR’s Kajdomcaj was also enthusiastic about the initial talks.
“We have seen both parties very, very interested in continuing the dialogue, and the support of the UN is very strong in seeing refugees as part of the solution,” he said on August 5.
On August 18, Rohingya youth leader Mr Mohammed Nowkhim said that Myanmar and ASEAN had broken their promise.
They only held talks with the Rohingya to relieve international pressure, he said -- while the repatriation agreement was proof that Myanmar didn’t want to solve the issue.
Rohingya refugees wanted to go home as soon as possible, he added, but only after discussing the terms with the Myanmar government. Until then, he said, nobody would go voluntarily.
“There will be no repatriation without talking to us,” he said.
-
REPATRIATION:
Panic in the world's largest
refugee settlement:
'I will kill ... my entire family
if I am forced to leave,'
- Los Angeles Times (U.S.A.)
Plans for a second attempt at repatriating Rohingya Muslim refugees to Myanmar have spread panic in the world’s largest refugee settlement -- home to 1.2 million people -- prompting humanitarian officials to reassure families that no one will be forced to return.
Last week, news spread through the sprawling temporary camps in southern Bangladesh that the Myanmar government had created a list of 3,450 refugees who were eligible to return with their families.
But hardly any refugees are willing to go back to Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where they have suffered systematic persecution, and hundreds of thousands fled a 2017 government offensive that the United Nations termed a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
An earlier attempt at repatriating 2,200 Rohingya families, in November 2018, was halted after protests by refugees, and criticism from advocacy groups, [who] argued that Myanmar had not created safe conditions for their return.
Increasingly seen as a burden by their hosts in Bangladesh, the Rohingya refugees reacted in fear to the news of possible repatriation -- worried they would be forcibly sent back. Fearing that their names might be on the list, some male members of families have gone into hiding, while female members say they are considering suicide.
“I will mix poison in the food. I will kill myself, my children, my entire family if I am forced to leave,” said Fatima Noor, a 50-year-old resident of Camp 24, one of three camps from which the first group of eligible returnees is due to be drawn.
The names are expected to be made public on Thursday. More than 20,300 families live in the three camps.
Responding to the panic, Bangladeshi authorities fanned out Monday, along with U.N. refugee officers, to announce from loudspeakers that no one will be forcibly sent back to Rakhine. U.N. personnel also made door-to-door visits to explain the repatriation process.
In private conversations, aid workers and Bangladeshi officials acknowledged that they don’t expect any refugees to accept the terms of repatriation.
“No one, in no way, will be forced to return,” said Shamimul Haq Pavel, an official with [Bangladesh's] Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, the Bangladesh government agency overseeing the humanitarian response.
“This is an absolutely voluntary decision, and families will be allowed to change their mind at the last minute,” Pavel said.
Adding to the anxiety was that the refugees learned of the repatriation plan through news reports last week -- days before the second anniversary of the start of the devastating Myanmar offensive in Rakhine [that drove them out of Myanmar, and into Bangladesh].
Nearly 800,000 Rohingyas fled Rakhine for Bangladesh -- starting in August 2017 -- and have been marooned in overcrowded, flood-prone camps in Cox’s Bazar, along the southeastern border of Bangladesh.
Refugee advocacy groups have demanded that Myanmar guarantee their safety, freedom of movement, and a pathway to citizenship, before they are repatriated. The last two have been legally denied to Rohingya for years -- and Myanmar, which refuses to recognize the group as legal residents, has not signaled any changes.
Rohingya community leaders expressed alarm at not being consulted about repatriation, especially after the last effort provoked mass outrage.
“The repatriation process cannot progress if the Rohingya community is not consulted,” said Mohib Ullah, chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights. “We have no information about where they are sending us. They will kill us if we go back to Rakhine. We will protest for our rights until our last breath.”
Louise Donovan, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency [(UNHCR)], said the agency would hold confidential meetings with interested refugees, to discuss the details of repatriation -- including a second meeting to ensure they are going back voluntarily.
The U.N. drew criticism last year for signing an agreement with Myanmar to support “the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of refugees,” and officials insisted current plans called for allowing only small numbers of Rohingya to go back.
“[The U.N. refugee agency] has stated many times that it does not believe the current situation is ready for large-scale returns,” Donovan said. “We nonetheless respect the right of individual refugees to return should they wish to do so, and [we] will provide support where we can.”
The plan accelerated last month after Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Beijing and urged China, a close ally of Myanmar, to help resolve the refugee crisis. Bangladesh is struggling to cope with the economic and environmental impact of hosting more than 1 million refugees. Most of the bill is being paid by international donors, but a response plan launched in February that called for $920 million in funds had received less than one-third that amount by June.
Hasina’s visit led to a flurry of diplomatic activity -- with Myanmar sending a 19-member delegation to visit the camps in Bangladesh, where they met Rohingya leaders, and assured them of their safety if they chose to return to Rakhine.
Bangladeshi authorities handed over a list of 6,000 refugee families, of which the Myanmar government approved 3,450 for return. Aid officials say the lists might not include all members of a particular family because the refugees arrived in waves and often registered in different camps -- leading to concerns that repatriation could once again split up families.
In recent months, violence has flared in parts of the state between ethnic Rakhine insurgents and Myanmar government forces -- prompting the government to suspend cellphone internet service in several townships, including those where Rohingya would be expected to return.
Activist groups have argued that the information clampdown could provide cover for further human rights abuses.
Inside the three tense camps, Rohingya leaders are preparing for mass protests on Sunday to mark the start of the Myanmar crackdown. Camp 24, where Fatima Noor lives, was eerily quiet on Monday.
“My life is over. I will likely die in these camps,” she said. “If I went back, I’ll be condemning my children and my grandchildren to the same life I had in Rakhine.”
-
REPATRIATION:
- 2019 Aug. 20 - Tuesday
-
REPATRIATION:
Rohingya Muslims Say
They Don't Want to Return
to Myanmar.
- AP / New York Times
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Few Muslim Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have responded to plans for their repatriation to Myanmar -- and all who did said they don't want to go back, officials from the U.N. refugee agency and Bangladesh's government said Tuesday.
Bangladesh's refugee commissioner, Abul Kalam, said only 21 families -- out of 1,056 selected for repatriation starting Thursday -- were willing to be interviewed by officials about whether they wish to return. He said all the families said they would not go back.
He said the mood in the sprawling camps in Cox's Bazar where about 1 million Rohingya refugees are sheltered was calm and cordial.
"There has been no chaos like in the past. They have gone to the officials for the interviews and talked freely. This is very positive, they now understand the situation better," he said.
"We have tomorrow, I am hopeful that many other families will face the interviews," he said.
Louise Donovan, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, said in an email that a second interview would be conducted with refugees who agree to go back in "intention surveys" like the ones conducted Tuesday.
Some Rohingya interviewed Tuesday said they would not return unless Myanmar gives them citizenship. Myanmar has refused to recognize them as citizens -- even though many of their families have lived there for generations -- and insists on calling them Bengalis [implying they are from Bangladesh and neighboring India].
"We want a guarantee of citizenship first, and they must call us "Rohingya" -- then we can go," said Ruhul Amin, head of a nine-member family. "We can't go without our rights."
Myanmar has verified that the selected families, comprised of 3,450 people, came to Bangladesh following attacks led by Myanmar's military.
On Friday, a Myanmar Cabinet minister said both Myanmar and Bangladesh had agreed to start the repatriation and had sought help from the UNHCR.
Last year, a similar attempt by the UNHCR and the two countries failed, with no refugees wanting to return voluntarily -- a condition Bangladesh said it would follow under an agreement with Myanmar.
* * *
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her administration will not use any force to send the refugees back, and [that] the repatriation will only happen if they are willing to return.
-
REPATRIATION:
Official statement:
Myanmar-Bangladesh:
Halt Rohingya Returns.
- Human Rights Watch
The Myanmar and Bangladesh governments should suspend plans to repatriate Rohingya refugees until returns are safe, voluntary, and dignified, Human Rights Watch said today. With new repatriations set to start on August 22, 2019, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh camps protested that they will face the same violence and oppression in Myanmar that they fled.
Myanmar authorities have verified 3,454 people for an initial round of returns from a list of 22,000 submitted by Bangladesh authorities. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, and Bangladesh authorities said they are seeking to confirm that these refugees wish to return.
“Myanmar has yet to address the systematic persecution and violence against the Rohingya, so refugees have every reason to fear for their safety if they return,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director [for Human Rights Watch]. “Bangladesh has been generous with the Rohingya – though conditions in the camps have been difficult – but no refugee should feel compelled to return to a place that isn’t safe.”
* * *
“We know that thousands of Rohingya back in Myanmar are still in detention camps,” one refugee told Human Rights Watch, referring to an estimated 125,000 Rohingya who have been confined to open-air camps in central Rakhine State since 2012. “If those people are released and return to their villages, then we will know it is safe to return and will go back home.”
* * *
The refugees held protests after the repatriation plan was announced demanding that those responsible for atrocities be held to account. They also called on the Myanmar government to guarantee full citizenship rights and return land and properties to the refugees, including compensation for homes and businesses that the military burned.
* * *
Bangladesh and Myanmar previously attempted repatriation in November 2018, initiated without consulting UNHCR or the Rohingya. Refugees on the list for return went into hiding and refused to leave, fearing for their lives.
In July 2019, Myanmar officials arrived at the sprawling refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar to discuss repatriation, but denied Rohingya citizenship claims -- and instead promoted a digitized National Verification Card (NVC) process.
* * *
Bangladesh authorities said they are preparing for repatriation. “Repatriation may start any moment,” [Bangladesh's] Foreign Secretary, Shahidul Haque, said recently. “In the next few weeks we shall encourage the Rohingyas to go back.”
[Myanmar's] Ko Ko Naing, director general of Myanmar’s Disaster Management Department, said that reception centers had been set up at Nga Khu Ya and Taung Pyo Letwe, in [Myanmar's] Rakhine State, to receive 300 people a day -- and that the refugees would initially be placed at a temporary camp in Hla Poe Kaung before they are sent back to their villages.
The “reception centers” and “transit camp” are surrounded by barbed-wire perimeter fences and security outposts, similar to the physical confinement structures in the central Rakhine camps.
UN officials said they have not had enough time to survey the refugees who have been cleared for repatriation to find out whether they want to return to Myanmar. (UNHCR as well as Bangladesh authorities have asserted that any returns will be voluntary.)
* * *
Some Hindu refugees said that they would like to return to Myanmar, but their names were not on the initial list. Shishu Pal Shil, the Hindu camp majhi (leader), told Human Rights Watch: “When we came to know about the repatriation of the Rohingya Muslims, I asked when our name will come in the list. He said possibly in the next round. We are always ready to go back to Myanmar.”
Conditions in Rakhine State are not conducive for voluntary, safe, or dignified repatriation of Rohingya.
The remaining Rohingya population in Rakhine State is confined to camps and villages with no basic freedoms, subject to ongoing state persecution and violence.
The Myanmar government has taken no action to improve conditions or address the root causes of the crisis, including systematic persecution and violence, statelessness, and military impunity for grave violations.
Since November 2018, fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army armed group in Rakhine State has displaced at least 27,000 people.
Since June, internet services have been shut down in eight townships in Rakhine State and one township in neighboring Chin State where there is fighting between the Arakan Army forces and Myanmar military.
Although Bangladesh is not a party to the UN Refugee Convention, it is bound under customary international law not to forcibly return refugees to a place where they would face persecution, torture, other ill-treatment, or death.
Any repatriation plan should follow international standards and be developed with consultation and informed consent from Rohingya refugees, with objective, up-to-date, and accurate information about conditions in areas of return, including security conditions, assistance, and protection to reintegrate.
“Many Rohingya have said that they would like to return to Myanmar so long as they don’t suffer the same abuse, indignities, and atrocities they have endured in the past,” Ganguly said. “Bangladesh should not join this dangerous rush to send refugees back to conditions that they may be forced to flee again.”
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
Official statement:
Hundreds of thousands
of Rohingya people
trapped in stateless limbo.
Two years after a campaign of targeted violence in Myanmar, little has changed for those uprooted
- Doctors Without Borders - USA
(Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF))
* * *
The Rohingya -- a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Myanmar’s Rakhine state -- have been subject to decades of persecution and state exclusion.
Two years ago, starting on August 25, 2017, news of Myanmar’s campaign of targeted violence against the Rohingya dominated the headlines. Since then, little progress has been made to fully address the Rohingya refugee crisis -- including issues regarding the lack of legal status for those displaced in the region, and the underlying causes of discrimination against the community in Myanmar.
To date, no meaningful solutions have been offered to the Rohingya people, who have been pushed to the margins of society in virtually all of the countries to which they have fled.
[In Bangladesh:]
In Bangladesh, more than 912,000 Rohingya still live in the same basic bamboo structures as when they first arrived. They face travel and work restrictions, and remain wholly reliant on humanitarian aid.
[In] Myanmar: “We hold our frustration inside”:
The situation facing Rohingya people who are still in Myanmar is similarly bleak.
In 1982, a citizenship law rendered the Rohingya effectively stateless, and in recent years they have been stripped of even more of their rights, ranging from civic inclusion to education, marriage, and family planning rights to freedom of movement and access to health care.
In 2012, violence between the Rohingya and Rakhine communities left entire villages razed.
Since then, some 128,000 Rohingya and Kaman Muslims in central Rakhine have lived in overcrowded and squalid displacement camps. Denied both jobs and freedom of movement, as well as access to basic services, they too rely entirely on humanitarian assistance.
“There aren’t any real opportunities for employment here; there are hardly any fish to catch either,” says Suleiman, a Rohingya man living in Nget Chaung, home to some 9,000 people. “Because there’s so little trade, we can’t buy the things we want. People here are sad. They are frustrated that they can’t go anywhere or do anything more. We hold our frustration inside because we cannot speak out—there are no opportunities for that. We cannot even travel to the next township, so people keep everything inside, bottled up.”
An estimated 550,000 to 600,000 Rohingya are still living across Rakhine state. Their already-difficult lives have become harder as they and other communities suffer the consequences of a worsening conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group.
“We just want our freedom, to have our own livelihoods, and to sleep at night without worrying,” says Suleiman. “The longyi [cloth] is a symbol of Myanmar, and all the ethnicities of Myanmar have their own pattern, but not us. We wear the longyi, but we have no pattern. We own nothing. I wish people could look at us and see us for who we are. I just want people to know who the Rohingya are.”
[In] Malaysia: Pushed into the shadows:
Rohingya people have also been fleeing to Malaysia over the past 30 years. But those who make the journey end up marginalized and without legal status.
Unable to work legally, they often disappear into Malaysia’s urban black market economy, where they are vulnerable to exploitation, debt bondage, and hazardous jobs. Walking down the street -- or even seeking medical care -- can result in refugees being extorted or sent to detention centers.
Iman Hussein, 22, fled Rakhine in 2015 -- spending time in Thailand before arriving in Penang, Malaysia. Like many refugees, he has eked out a living by working in Penang’s booming construction industry. His employer hasn’t paid him his salary for the past 10 weeks -- but Hussein says he has no choice but to keep working, as he lives on-site, and would be destitute if he left.
“Over the past two years, very little real effort has been made to address the underlying causes of discrimination the Rohingya face and enable them to return home safely,” says Benoit de Gryse, MSF operations manager for Myanmar and Malaysia.“If the Rohingya are to have any chance of a better future, the international community must redouble diplomatic efforts with Myanmar, and champion greater legal recognition for an incredibly disempowered group.”
-
(same topic at:
- Aug. 29 (Dhaka Tribune) )
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
Official statement:
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
need a roadmap for the future.
- Doctors Without Borders - USA
(Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF))
...........................................
-
REPATRIATION:
- 2019 Aug. 21 - Wednesday
-
REPATRIATION:
Rohingya repatriation Thursday:
To be or not to be?
100 out of 3,540 Rohingyas appear for interviews; Foreign minister blames Rohingya leaders and NGOs for discouraging them to return.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Only around 100 -- out of the 3,540 Rohingya refugees enlisted for repatriation to Myanmar -- appeared for interviews at the Shalbagan refugee camp, in Cox’s Bazar’s, Teknaf upazila, on Tuesday, according to camp officials.
During the interview, 21 refugee families spoke with representatives from the UNHCR (the United Nations refugee agency), and the Bangladesh government’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC) -- answering a series of questions about what they wanted regarding their repatriation to their homeland, Shalbagan camp-in-charge Mohammad Khaled Hossain told Dhaka Tribune.
The interviews took place from 10am till 4pm.
“We have initiated the process to interview the Rohingya refugees, approved by Myanmar for repatriation on August 22,” Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam said. “Members of eight teams comprising UNHCR and RRRC representatives spoke with the Rohingyas and explained the repatriation process.
“We went door to door to tell the Rohingyas that Myanmar had agreed to grant them citizenship, accepted all their demands, and asked them to go back to their country,” the RRRC commissioner said. ** FALSE PROMISES?
RCN editor's note: These assurances, by Bangladeshi authorities -- apparently without any matching public declaration from Myanmar -- appear to be false, especially if the following articles, cited previously, are true:- Aug.19:
-
Refugees, UNHCR raise concerns
over rushed
Rohingya repatriation bid.
- Frontier Myanmar (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
which notes:- [Rohingya representatives'] demands include:
- the restoration of citizenship and its attendant rights,
- the right of refugees to return to their places of origin, and
- the involvement of UNHCR in the repatriation process.
-
Refugees, UNHCR raise concerns
- July 29:
-
Bangladesh not to be taken hostage
on Rohingyas citizenship:
~ [Bangladesh Foreign Minister] Momen
- BSS / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
which notes:
[Bangladesh's] Foreign Minister, Dr AK Abdul Momen, today, said the Rohingya citizenship issue was an internal affair of Myanmar -- and Bangladesh would not like to be taken hostage on the matter.
"Our focus is on their (Rohingyas) dignified and safe return …. We don’t have any issue regarding their citizenship there," he said...
-
Bangladesh not to be taken hostage
- July 28:
-
Myanmar to
consider Rohingyas
as foreigners.
Myanmar foreign affairs permanent secretary tells reporters...
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
which notes:
The Myanmar government will consider Rohingyas as foreign nationals [rather than Myanmar citizens], said Myanmar Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Myint Thu, to reporters, after a meeting with Hindu Rohingyas, at the Kutupalong D-4 camp, in Cox’s Bazar... yesterday.
-
Myanmar to
- Aug. 19:
-
Panic in the world's largest
refugee settlement...
- Los Angeles Times (USA)
which notes:
Refugee advocacy groups have demanded that Myanmar guarantee their- safety,
- freedom of movement,
and- a pathway to citizenship
before they are repatriated.The last two have been legally denied to Rohingya for years -- and Myanmar, which refuses to recognize the group as legal residents, has not signaled any changes.
Given the evidence, it appears glaringly obvious that Myanmar intends to detain and concentrate the returning Rohingya in "transition" camps -- just as Myanmar has done for 7 years with over 100,000 of the Rohingya still living in Myanmar -- all still without citizenship.
If so, this is the exact opposite of the recent assurances -- given to the Rohingya refugees -- by the Bangladeshi authorities. -
Panic in the world's largest
But it was difficult to convince the Rohingyas that it was safe to repatriate, Kalam said.
“It has become rather difficult to explain to them [the refugees] that Myanmar has accepted all their demands.”
He said they would continue the effort to convince the Rohingyas for the repatriation.
“Perhaps, at some point, the Rohingyas will move back to their own country of their own volition. Until then, they cannot be forced to go back,” he added.
Bangladesh and Myanmar are trying to resume the repatriation in a small scale from tomorrow.
* * *
Rohingyas still reluctant, despite promises:
Most of the Rohingya refugeeswho attended the interview said they did not want to go back to their country without the guarantee that they would have security, citizenship and a place where they would not be tortured and oppressed like before.
Rahima Khatun, 40, one of the Rohingyas enlisted for the repatriation tomorrow, said: “The UNHCR members came to my camp in the morning, and said I had to go to the CIC office as my family was on the list [for repatriation]. But I told them I wouldn't return to Myanmar, because the Myanmar government has not fulfilled all our demands."
Her daughter Mallika Begum, 20, said: “Our relatives in Myanmar told us not to go back, because the situation in Rakhine is not stable yet. So we asked the UNHCR to omit our names from the list."
Hamidur Rahman, 55, resident of the same camp, said: “Why would we return to Myanmar? Who will be responsible for our safety? Rakhine is not calm yet. Myanmar has not accepted our conditions and demands either."
He further said the Myanmar authorities had imprisoned Rohingyas in camps in Rakhine.
“The [Myanmar] government should release those Rohingyas and provide them with citizenship and other facilities first. If they do that, we will move back to Rakhine – not before."
Rohingya leaders, NGOs blamed for Rohingyas' reluctance:
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said both Bangladesh and Myanmar are “fully ready" to resume the repatriation of Rohingyas, but some Rohingya leaders and NGOs are reportedly discouraging them to return.
“We have heard that some Rohingya leaders have emerged there [in the camps]. They don't want any Rohingyas to return[to their homeland]. Some INGOs and NGOs are instigating them [Rohingyas] as well," he told reporters at his office yesterday, UNB reported.
He said Bangladesh wants to see Rohingyas return to Rakhine as soon as possible.
“We want the safe and secure return of the Rohingyas and free mobility in their own region. Myanmar has agreed on that," Dr Momen said, adding that many Rohingyas were willing to go back.
The foreign minister mentioned that Rohingyas mainly want citizenship and they, as per their demand, would not go back until the were giventheir citizenship.
“Myanmar says it's a process," he said, adding that Rohingyas will get cards after their return, and then go through the process of getting citizenship.
Dr Momen said Myanmar had only cleared 3,450 Rohingyas for repatriation. “We want them to go back as soon as possible."
He said peace in the region would be hampered if their stay became longer in Bangladesh.
Responding to a question on China's involvement in resolving the issue, the foreign minister said China was significantly involved and was helping Bangladesh convince Myanmar to take back their nationals.
The repatriation process...:
* * *
Hosting more than 1.1 million refugees has caused a number of socio-economic problems for the local community.
Under international pressure, Myanmar signed an agreement with Bangladesh in January 2018 to take back the Rohingyas.
Following a series of painstaking discussions between a proactive Bangladesh and an unwilling Myanmar, the two countries attempted to begin repatriation on November 15 last year, but the effort failed due to the unwillingness of the Rohingyas, and objections from the international community.
The refugees maintain that there is no guarantee, yet, that Myanmar will ensure their dignified return, and establish their identity as Myanmar nationals.
Since that failed attempt, there has been no development in the repatriation process.
On July 27 this year, a high-level government delegation from Myanmar visited Cox's Bazar to directly interact with the Rohingyas – the first since the crisis began in 2017.
-
(same topic at:
- PBS News Hour
(Public Broadcasting System) ) - Aug.19:
-
REPATRIATION:
Rohingya refugees turn down
second Myanmar repatriation effort.
Bangladeshi official says potential returnees
fear for their safety in Rakhine state.
- The Guardian (U.K.)
A second attempt to repatriate the thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh has failed after the authorities failed to convince the refugees it would be safe to return.
The Myanmar government had approved more than 3,000 Rohingya to be brought back to the country beginning on Thursday but, as during the first repatriation attempt in November, no refugees agreed to voluntarily board the buses to Myanmar.
A Bangladeshi government official confirmed that four families, or about 18 people, from Shalbagan camp 26 in Cox’s Bazar had initially expressed interest in going back. They had almost boarded a vehicle to cross the border, but were dissuaded by fellow refugees who told them they would not be able to return to their original villages or have a pathway to citizenship.
A statement from the UN refugee agency said: “So far none of those interviewed have indicated a willingness to repatriate at this time. UNHCR will continue assisting the government of Bangladesh in this process to ensure that all those cleared for return are interviewed.”
Mohammad Abul Kalam, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, said on Thursday that efforts would continue over the next few days. UNHCR had only interviewed a third of the 3,450 refugees, or 1,037 families as part of the agency’s intention surveys, he said.
“None of the listed refugees turned up expressing their willingness to return to Myanmar today,” he said. “Most Rohingya who took part in the intention survey very clearly said that they were very afraid of their physical safety in Rakhine and this is the main reason they do not want to go to Myanmar now.”
Kalam expressed disappointment that repatriation had stalled again and said Bangladesh had “done our best to help the Rohingya return to their homes”. He said the onus was now on Myanmar authorities to address the Rohingyas’ issues “sincerely and convincingly”.
According to those in the camps, about 20 Rohingya refugees living in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar crossed the border back to Myanmar of their own accord earlier this month, and have ended up in transit camps in Rakhine.
The failed repatriation efforts come as a UN report revealed the extent to which the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, systematically used sexual violence, including the gang rape of men and women, as part of a strategy to intimidate the Rohingya during “clearance operations” in 2016 and 2017. It was these crackdowns that precipitated the exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh, where they still live in squalid camps.
The UN fact-finding mission concluded that the Tatmadaw used sexual violence as “part of a deliberate, well-planned strategy to intimidate, terrorise and punish a civilian population”.
The continued lack of accountability for these crimes, which were experienced or witnessed by hundreds of thousands of refugees living in Cox’s Bazar, was cited by many of those in the camps as one of the main reasons they refused to return to Myanmar.
“Our village was burnt by the military and the moghs [Rakhine Buddhists] and we witnessed many girls and women raped,” said one woman who was on the list of 3,450 refugees approved for repatriation. “None of those criminals has been brought to justice so how can we feel safe to return to our homes?”
The failed repatriation efforts this week coincide with the second anniversary of the 2017 crackdown in Rakhine.
With little prospect of them going back to Myanmar, the Rohingya “feel as though they are in limbo with no end in sight” said Elizabeth Hallinan, Oxfam’s advocacy manager for its Rohingya response. “They are alive, but merely surviving.”
-
(same topic at:
- Guardian (U.K.) (2nd article) )
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
Official statement:
Myanmar:
Two years since Rohingya exodus,
impunity reigns supreme for military.
- Amnesty International
With the threat of returns to Myanmar once again looming over Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, Amnesty International warned that Rakhine State remains unsafe while those responsible for atrocities continue to evade justice.
This Sunday marks two years since the Myanmar military launched operations in Rakhine State which forced more than 740,000 Rohingya women, men and children to flee their homes and villages. The brutal campaign was marked by widespread atrocities, which a UN investigation team has said amount to crimes against humanity and likely genocide.
Despite international outrage and the adoption of a UN Human Rights Council resolution to pursue accountability in Myanmar, the generals who oversaw the attacks on the Rohingya are still in their posts. In January 2019, Amnesty International documented how the military had carried out new war crimes during the conflict with the Arakan Army in Rakhine. ...
-
REPATRIATION:
- 2019 Aug. 22 - Thursday
-
REPATRIATION:
Rohingya refugees
being sent back to Myanmar
fear torture, persecution.
- Global News (Canada)
Authorities in Bangladesh, along with the United Nations’ refugee agency, are hoping to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees. They have started consolations with more than 3,000 of the refugees to find out if any wish to go back to Myanmar, but those who spoke to Reuters were deeply opposed to the idea, one saying he would rather “drink poison.” ... -
REPATRIATION:
No Rohingya turn up
for planned repatriation
to Myanmar.
- AP / Washington Post
No Rohingya Muslims staying in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh turned up for a planned repatriation to Myanmar on Thursday because they want to be guaranteed safety and citizenship first, officials said.
Bangladesh refugee commissioner Abul Kalam said none of the 295 families interviewed since Tuesday by the Bangladesh government and the U.N.’s refugee agency had agreed to return to Myanmar.
“Not a single Rohingya wants to go back without their demands being met,” he told reporters.
Rohingya Muslims have long demanded that Myanmar should give them citizenship, safety and their own land and homes they left behind.
* * *
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her government will not force the refugees to return and the repatriation will only happen if they are willing.
* * *
The UNHCR said in a statement Thursday that many Rohingya interviewed actually want to go home if the conditions are met.
“Many stated that they do hope to go home to Myanmar as soon as conditions allow and that assurances regarding their citizenship status, freedom of movement, and security in Myanmar could be provided,” it said.
It said U.N. agencies need access to the refugees’ home areas.
“Building confidence is essential ... it is essential that UNHCR and UNDP have more predictable and effective access to refugees’ places of origin and potential areas of return in Rakhine state,” it said.
Officials said the situation in the camps was calm on Wednesday and Thursday, unlike in November last year, when thousands protested what they feared might be a forced repatriation then.-
(same topic at:
- AP / ABC News
- BBC News ) -
REPATRIATION:
No Rohingya turn up
for repatriation to Myanmar
- AFP / Frontier Myanmar (Myanmar/Burma)
(NOTE: This media may be subject to Myanmar military control)
TEKNAF —
A fresh push to repatriate Rohingya refugees, to Myanmar, fell flat on Thursday -- with no one turning up to hop on five buses and 10 trucks laid on by Bangladesh.
Members of the Muslim minority, 740,000 of whom fled a military offensive in 2017, are refusing to return without guarantees for their safety and a promise that they will at last be given citizenship by Myanmar.
"The Myanmar government raped us, and killed us. So we need security. Without security we will never go back," Rohingya leader Nosima said in a statement.
"We need a real guarantee of citizenship, security and promise of original homelands," said Mr Mohammad Islam, a Rohingya from Camp 26, one of a string of sites in southeast Bangladesh that are home to around a million people.
"So we must talk with the Myanmar government about this before repatriation."
The vehicles provided to transport the first batch out of 3,450 earmarked for return turned up at 9:00 am local time at the camp in Teknaf.
But more than six hours later none had showed up and the vehicles departed empty. Officials said they would return on Friday.
"We've interviewed 295 families. But nobody has yet shown any interest to repatriate," Bangladesh Refugee Commissioner Mr Mohammad Abul Kalam told reporters.
He said that officials would continue to interview families.
* * *
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Mr A.K. Abdul Momen told a TV channel in Dhaka that Thursday's no-show was "very disappointing" but he hoped "good sense would finally prevail".
"The Rohingya want to achieve all their demands by taking us [Bangladesh] as hostage. But I don't know how long we can accept it," he told Jamuna TV.
Chinese and Myanmar diplomats were also at the Rohingya refugee camp.
The latest repatriation attempt comes in the wake of July talks between Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
China is a key ally of Myanmar, and Hasina said then that Beijing would "do whatever is required" to help resolve the Rohingya crisis.
"Myanmar has yet to address the systematic persecution and violence against the Rohingya," Human Rights Watch said Thursday. "So refugees have every reason to fear for their safety if they return."
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY
& REPATRIATION:
Rohingya say 'no'
to repatriations
around anniversary
of atrocities.
- CNN (Cable News Network)
* * *
Bangladesh and Myanmar were set to start repatriating Rohingya refugees Thursday, a move that has been widely resisted by many living in the sprawling camps on the border between the two countries.
Myanmar has cleared 3,450 people to return, from a list of more than 22,000 provided by Bangladesh, according to Abul Kalam, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner for Bangladesh. Kalam said there was capacity to return 300 people per day.
"All infrastructure and logistics have been mobilized including adequate security measures to facilitate a voluntary and safe repatriation," Kalam said, adding that the process would be voluntary.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which was asked by Bangladesh to assess the willingness of those chosen to go back, said "the refugees have the right to decide for themselves without pressure," said UNHCR's Senior Regional Public Information Officer Caroline Gluck.
August 25 marks two years since the Myanmar military launched a campaign of violence on the ethnic Muslim minority in the country's Rakhine State, forcing more than 740,000 to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. Myanmar has long claimed to have been targeting terrorists.
Survivors said security forces stormed and burned down entire villages, raped women and girls, and slaughtered men, women and children. The atrocities have been described as genocide by the UN fact-finding commission, which called for Myanmar's military leaders, including the commander-in-chief, to be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes and genocide.
The UNHCR began meeting refugees on the list on Tuesday accompanied by Bangladesh government officials and said the process was "proceeding and ongoing."
"If any refugee expresses interest in returning, we would carry out a second interview with the individuals in a confidential setting to reconfirm their voluntariness and provide them as much information as we could about prevailing conditions in Myanmar," Gluck said.
International rights groups have fiercely objected to plans to return the Rohingya, for fear they'll continue to face persecution or be confined to permanent displacement camps without freedom of movement or the right to a livelihood.
Many refugees are still terrified of going back and it remains unclear if any accepted the offer of voluntary repatriation Thursday.
A statement signed by Rohingya leaders in the camps on Wednesday expressed concern over "how this secret list of names was created and why we are include on it. We never volunteer our names to go on the list."
"We have collected signatures from many of the 3,450 people who are on the repatriation list to show our unity and to raise our voice against this repatriation," the letter read.
The two countries unsuccessfully tried to start repatriations in November 2018 but the move faced massive opposition from the refugees living in the Cox's Bazar camps.
"We are scared to return to Myanmar because if we go they will kill us," 51-year-old Rohingya refugee Majeda told CNN at the time.
* * *
... Many Rohingya have said they are willing to go back but only under the right conditions. Rohingya leaders said these include the right to citizenship, the return of lands, and for military leaders to be held accountable for abuses.
It is unlikely that any of those demands will be met. ...
- VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY
& REPATRIATION:
Massacred at Home,
in Misery Abroad,
730,000 Rohingya Are Mired
in Hopelessness.
- New York Times
Ever since more than 730,000 Rohingya started fleeing to Bangladesh, two years ago this Sunday, to escape a vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing, governments from both countries have repeatedly vowed that a return of the Muslim minority to Myanmar was imminent.
But that promise has been broken, time and again.
The Rohingya have not returned by the hundreds of thousands -- or even by the thousands.
* * *
The first batch of about 1,200 returnees was supposed to be sent home in January 2018. That plan was delayed by the Bangladeshi government, after an international outcry over the idea of returning traumatized victims to the epicenter of one of the worst eruptions of ethnic cleansing in this century.
* * *
After the two countries promised in April 2018 to proceed with safe, voluntary and dignified repatriations, several new deadlines were set. None were met.
* * *
Most recently, the Myanmar government said the repatriation of 3,450 Rohingya would begin on Thursday. That target, too, passed with no movement across the border.
Maintaining the fiction that repatriations are about to occur is politically useful for both sides.
- Myanmar -- which United Nations officials say should be tried on genocide charges over the orchestrated killings that began on Aug. 25, 2017 -- is keen to prove it is not a human rights pariah.
- Bangladesh -- struggling with overpopulation and poverty -- wants to reassure its citizens that scarce funds are not being diverted to refugees. ...
* * *
- Myanmar -- which United Nations officials say should be tried on genocide charges over the orchestrated killings that began on Aug. 25, 2017 -- is keen to prove it is not a human rights pariah.
-
Chinese Ambassador Says
Beijing Stands with Myanmar
on Rohingya Issue.
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
YANGON— During a meeting with Myanmar military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in Napyitaw on Thursday, Chinese Ambassador Chen Hai reiterated that China stands with Myanmar when it comes to international pressure over the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State, according to a [Myanmar] army website.
The Office of the Commander-in-Chief released a brief statement about the discussions between Chen and Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, saying the Chinese envoy highlighted three key points:- Beijing doesn’t accept international pressure on Myanmar regarding the Rohingya and human rights;
- it seriously condemns the recent violent attacks in northern Shan State and Mandalay Region’s garrison town of Pyin Oo Lwin; and
- it “would continue to support Myanmar’s peace process and possible ways to improve peace dialogue” with ethnic rebel groups.
- the Ta’ang National Liberation Army,
- the Arakan Army, and
- the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army
On Aug. 19 the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned the three rebel groups’ offensive and ongoing serious clashes between warring parties in northern Shan State.
And on Thursday, Chen flew to Napyitaw to personally deliver Bejing’s diplomatic message to army chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing -- who arrived back in Yangon from Moscow, where he attended the International Army Games on Monday. ...-
(same topic at:
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) (Aug.24) )
-
REPATRIATION:
- 2019 Aug. 23 - Friday
-
REPATRIATION:
No Rohingya Return
to Myanmar
on Dhaka’s Official
Repatriation Date.
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
Not a single one of the Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh during a military counterinsurgency operation in August 2017 returned to Myanmar on Thursday, the day Dhaka had slated as the beginning of the repatriation process.
The Bangladeshi government earlier informed the government that 3,450 displaced Rohingya would be repatriated on Aug. 22, said Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U Win Myat Aye, who is currently in Rakhine State’s capital Sittwe to supervise the repatriation process.
“I haven’t received any report of their repatriation. We will see,” the Union minister told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
The Myanmar military’s counterinsurgency operation following the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attacks on border police outposts in northern Rakhine State in 2017 caused more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee into Bangladesh, according to the UN, though the Myanmar government disputes the figure.
Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a repatriation agreement in November 2017 but the process has stalled.
The Myanmar government has prepared two camps in Maungdaw—the Taung Pyo Letwe reception center for those who return by road, and the Nga Khu Ya reception center for those who return by boat.
[Myanmar's] Maungdaw District administrator, U Soe Aung, said the Myanmar authorities are ready and waiting to begin repatriation. “As they [the Bangladeshi authorities] have not yet contacted us, it appears they are not coming back [on Thursday],” he told The Irrawaddy.
He said Myanmar began preparing shelters, health care services and security arrangements for repatriated displaced persons in November last year.
Over 400 Hindus who were among those displaced by the counterinsurgency operations are also taking shelter at a refugee camp in Bangladesh, he said.
“Over 400 Hindus are in Bangladesh. We don’t know if they are on the repatriation list. The Bangladeshis only sent the number of people to be repatriated,” he told The Irrawaddy.
Myanmar readied itself last year when Bangladeshi authorities said the first batch of displaced persons would return on Nov. 15, 2018, but none of them returned.
To facilitate the repatriation process, the government has built the Hla Poe Hkaung transit camp for returning refugees, in addition to the two reception centers. The camp is located near the village of Hla Poe Hkaung in Maungdaw Township.
The camp has 625 makeshift buildings with 5,000 rooms, as well as a clinic and a playground. It is equipped with electricity and running water, according to the Maungdaw District administrator.
According to international media reports, Rohingya groups are demanding guarantees that they can return to their places of origin “in dignity”, as well as citizenship and freedom of movement.
Displaced Rohingya who have been living in makeshift tents on the border near Taung Pyo Letwe remain there, and have not yet returned, the district administrator said.
A total of 261 displaced Rohingya have returned to Myanmar independently since last year, outside of the official, government-facilitated repatriation process, according to the Maungdaw District General Administration Department. Many were discovered by Myanmar authorities while crossing the border or attempting to travel by sea to a third country.
They were relocated to the villages of their relatives, in accordance with plans drawn up by the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine, and food supplies were also distributed to them, U Soe Aung said.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )- CRISIS ANNIVERSARY
& REPATRIATION:
Bangladesh 'to be tougher'
on Rohingya refugees.
- BBC NewsBangladesh has said it will harden its stance
towards Rohingya refugees
currently in the country.Hundreds of thousands of people, mainly Muslims, are living in refugee camps [in Bangladesh] after fleeing violent persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.
Foreign Minister Abdul Momen told the BBC that Bangladesh was unable to keep bearing the economic burden, but did not say exactly how policy would change.
On Thursday, officials arranged for buses to start repatriating refugees.
However, the scheme failed as it depended on people returning to Myanmar voluntarily. When it was time for the buses to leave, not a single person turned up.
Mr Momen accused some non-government groups of persuading refugees not to leave.
* * *
Mr Momen's comments came as two Rohingya men were shot dead by police during a gunfight at a refugee camp in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district.
Officials told AFP news agency that the two refugees were accused of killing Omar Faruk, an official from the ruling Awami League party, on Thursday.
"Both men died as they were rushed to a hospital" from Jadimura refugee camp, local police inspector Rasel Ahmad said.
- CRISIS ANNIVERSARY
& REPATRIATION:
Two Years on,
a Look at the
Rohingya Crisis
- Reuters / New York TimesYANGON — This month marks the second anniversary of the fleeing of more than 730,000 Rohingya from Myanmar's northwest Rakhine State to Bangladesh after a military-led crackdown in response to an attack by Muslim militants on Myanmar police posts.
Here is a timeline of key events in the crisis:
-
[RCN Editor's note: I have added the first item, about the Annan report -- a commonly overlooked, important event that may have influenced both ARSA and the Tatmadaw to attack.]
- Aug. 25, 2017 - A final report is released by The Advisory Commission on Rakhine State (better known as the "Annan Commission," for its leader, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan) -- an international panel, convened by Myanmar's government, to advise on resolving conflict issues between Rohingya, Rakhine, Myanmar's government and leadership, and others. It's much-awaited report recommends concessions by all parties.
- Aug. 25, 2017 - Muslim insurgents calling themselves the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launch an assault on 30 Myanmar police posts and an army base in the north of Rakhine State, in which nearly 80 insurgents and 12 members of the security forces are killed.
- Aug. 26, 2017 - As fighting spreads between the army and ARSA, thousands of Rohingya flee to Bangladesh. Some 3,000 Rohingya cross the Naf border river, says a Bangladeshi border guard commander.
- Sept. 2, 2017 - More than 2,600 houses are razed in Rohingya-majority areas of northwest Myanmar in the week following the Aug. 25 attack, the government says.
- Sept. 11, 2017 - The U.N. human rights high commissioner calls the military operation in Rakhine "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing", citing satellite imagery and accounts of extrajudicial killings.
- Sept. 19, 2017 - In a televised speech, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi vows to punish the perpetrators of human rights violations in Rakhine, but does not address U.N. accusations of ethnic cleansing by the military.
- Oct. 10, 2017 - Suu Kyi holds inter-faith prayers at a Yangon stadium. On the same day, Bangladesh border guards report more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossing into their country, in a sudden surge, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
- Oct. 12, 2017 - Rohingya Muslims are not natives of Myanmar, says the army commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, during a meeting with U.S. ambassador Scot Marciel.
- Oct. 13, 2017 - An investigation begins into the conduct of soldiers during the counteroffensive that sent Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, the office of Myanmar's army commander-in-chief says.
- Nov. 2, 2017 - Suu Kyi urges people "not to quarrel" on her first visit to Rakhine since the military crackdown.
- Nov. 27-Dec. 2, 2017 - Pope Francis visits Myanmar and Bangladesh, avoiding the word "Rohingya", which is rejected by Myanmar, until meeting refugees in Bangladesh.
- Dec. 13, 2017 - Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are arrested after police invited them to a Yangon restaurant. At the time, they were working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslims in Inn Din village in Rakhine.
- Dec. 18, 2017 - The Myanmar military releases a statement saying it found unidentified bodies in a mass grave in Inn Din.
- Dec. 21, 2017 - The United States imposes sanctions on 13 "serious human rights abusers and corrupt actors" including the general who oversaw the crackdown against the Rohingya Muslims.
- Jan. 10, 2018 - Pre-trial hearings begin in the Reuters case, with prosecutors seeking charges under the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty sentence of 14 years.
- On the same day, the military says its soldiers murdered 10 captured Muslims in Inn Din during insurgent attacks, whose bodies were those discovered in the mass grave.
- Feb. 23, 2018 - Myanmar has bulldozed at least 55 Rohingya villages that were emptied during last year's violence, Human Rights Watch says, citing a review of satellite imagery.
- March 12, 2018 - Myanmar's military is building bases where some Rohingya homes and mosques once stood, Amnesty International says.
- April 11, 2018: - Seven Myanmar soldiers are sentenced to 10 years of hard labour for participating in the Inn Din massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslims.
- July 30, 2018 - Myanmar establishes a commission to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in Rakhine.
- Sept. 3, 2018 - The two Reuters journalists are found guilty and jailed for 7 years.
- Sept. 13, 2018 - Suu Kyi says in hindsight her government could have handled the situation in Rakhine better, at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi.
- Nov. 15, 2018 - A Rohingya repatriation effort stalls amid protests at refugee camps. No one wanted to return, said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
- Jan. 4, 2019 - The Rakhine nationalist Arakan Army insurgent group kills 13 policemen and wounds nine in attacks on four police posts as Myanmar marks Independence Day, setting off more conflict in the region.
- March 18, 2019 - Myanmar's army says it has set up a military court to investigate its conduct during the 2017 crackdown.
- May 7, 2019 - The two Reuters journalists are freed under a presidential amnesty.
- May 27, 2019 - A military spokesman says Myanmar has granted early release to seven soldiers jailed for the Inn Din killings.
- June 22, 2019 - Myanmar authorities order telecoms companies to shut down internet services in the conflict-torn west, operator Telenor Group says, where government troops are fighting Arakan Army rebels.
- Aug. 20, 2019 - The U.N. refugee agency and Bangladesh authorities launch a new repatriation bid, starting consultations with more than 3,000 Rohingya refugees to determine if any want to go home, officials said.
-
(same topic at:
- Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)For a summary of the Crisis, see the gold-background Special Note, below, on: Aug.25th. )
- CRISIS ANNIVERSARY
-
REPATRIATION:
- 2019 Aug. 24 - Saturday
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
[Human Rights Watch]:
Myanmar obstructing
international probe.
August 25, 2019, marks two years since the Myanmar military began a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Rakhine state.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The Myanmar government should stop obstructing international efforts to investigate widespread crimes committed against Rohingya Muslims, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.
The international rights organization said it in a report on August 22.
August 25, 2019, marks two years since the Myanmar military began a campaign of what the UN dubbed ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity that drove 740,000 Rohingya to neighbouring Bangladesh.
HRW said the donors and concerned governments should press Myanmar to:- protect their basic rights,
- facilitate international justice for victims, and
- ensure that any returns of Rohingya refugees are voluntary, safe, and dignified.
* * *
"Two years since the Myanmar military carried out ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population, the government still denies its troops committed any atrocities," said Phil Robertson, deputy director of HRW's Asia division.
The [Myanmar] government restricts access to Rakhine State by news media and aid workers, and -- since June 21 -- has imposed an internet blackout across nine townships, including one in Chin State.[HRW's statement included these remarks:]
The [Myanmar] government should immediately amend its discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law to provide Rohingya equal access to Myanmar citizenship. The government should also take necessary steps to ensure the security of the Rohingya population from abusive security forces and other groups.
In September 2018, the UN Human Rights Council created the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar to collect and preserve evidence of crimes for possible use in future criminal proceedings.
The Myanmar government should cooperate with this body and with other UN bodies, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, is seeking an investigation into the crime against humanity of deportation, since Rohingya were deported to Bangladesh, a party to the ICC.
However, even if the judges grant her request, an ICC investigation would not cover most of the crimes committed in Myanmar. The UN Security Council should refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC so that all ICC crimes can be considered.
The Security Council and other governments should also impose or expand targeted sanctions on Myanmar military leaders and key military-owned enterprises.
Sanctions should include travel bans, asset seizures, and restrictions on access to financial institutions, as well as a comprehensive military embargo.
Many of the refugees with whom Human Rights Watch spoke said they feared returning under the current conditions. They said they did not feel safe going back to a country where they faced systematic persecution and violence.
Human Rights Watch and other human rights and humanitarian groups have determined that conditions for voluntary, safe, and dignified return of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine State do not currently exist.
The Myanmar government has restricted UNHCR from reaching or monitoring areas where the Rohingya would return, and so the UN agency has not publicly stated that conditions are suitable for their return.
Before any refugee returns, the Myanmar government should significantly improve conditions and address the root causes of the crisis, including systematic persecution and violence, statelessness, and military impunity for grave violations.
An estimated 500,000 Rohingya remain in appalling conditions in Rakhine State.
Security forces have confined them to camps and villages and severely restricted their freedom of movement.
The government has denied them fundamental freedoms and deprived them of access to sustainable livelihoods and basic humanitarian services including adequate food, medical care, and education.
-
(same topic, more details, at:
- Human Rights Watch
official report (Aug.22) )
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY
& REPATRIATION:
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Myanmar ignoring deal
for 19 months.
No prospect of Rohingyaa returning to Myanmar anytime soon due to Napyitaw’s failure to create favourable conditions.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Exactly 21 months ago yesterday, a bilateral instrument was signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas from Rakhine who are sheltered in Cox’s Bazar. However, not a single person was taken back due to the unwillingness of the country’s second neighbour.
According to the deal signed on November 23 by then Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and the Myanmar minister attached with the office of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw, the repatriation was supposed to begin by January 22, two months after inking the instrument.
The agreement also states that the whole process of repatriation was to be completed by January 22, 2020.
This agreement covers only about 740,000 Rohingyas, who had to flee their homes in Rakhine after August 25, 2017, to escape the unprecedented atrocities committed by Myanmar security forces, local Buddhist mobs and people from other ethnic groups, and about 80,000, who had crossed into Bangladesh in October 26 for the same reason. Another estimated 2.5-3 million Rohingyas, who had been living in Bangladesh for decades, are not covered by the deal.
Based on the deal, Myanmar was supposed to create a environment conducive for the safe, secure and dignified return of the displaced people. Since November 23, 2017, there have been many global developments, but nothing could stop Myanmar from ignoring the deal it signed with Bangladesh.
Despite making repeated pledges at many bilateral meetings and before international forums, Myanmar literally did not take any visible concrete steps that can make the Rohingyas in Bangladesh believe that they can safely return home. On the contrary, reports suggest that Rohingyas who are still in Rakhine are facing many problems owing to the actions of the authorities.
A number of people, including government officials, Bangladeshi and foreign diplomats, believe that the Myanmar government is intentionally obstructing the repatriation process to serve their own interests.
Clearing 3,450 people in about two years is a shameful example of Myanmar’s ill intentions, they say, adding that [Myanmar's government in ] Naypyitaw is unlikely to budge without a strong international response. Such a response seems far away, as Myanmar has strong support from countries such as China, Russia, and even India to a significant extent.
On the other hand, Bangladesh is facing one of the gravest crises since its independence, without being a party to the crisis. Given the reality on the ground, Dhaka appears to be "helpless."
Government officials concerned claim that they are doing all they can to address the problem, but there are many people who do not agree with the notion.
Despite having significant political and business engagements with China, Russia and India, Bangladesh has failed to prove itself more important than Myanmar, observe some Bangladeshi and foreign diplomats.
"As of now, Bangladesh can only wait and see," said a former top diplomat.
Since the signing of the deal, Bangladesh has made two attempts to begin the repatriation – one on November 15, 2018, and the other on Thursday. Both have failed due to the unwillingness of the Rohingyas to return.
It is understandable why the Rohingyas are not willing to return. They do not trust the Myanmar government, given the treatment they received while in Myanmar.
The international community, including the United Nations, has not yet been able to get access to the affected areas in Rakhine. Until there is an assurance from the international community on the safety and security of the Rohingyas, as well as the presence of some kind of monitoring mechanism, the the displaced people are unlikely to return to their homes.
When contacted, several Bangladeshi officials have expressed frustration over the whole scenario, saying nothing can be done if Myanmar keeps on breaking its pledges.
"It is extremely difficult to deal with a country like Myanmar," said a top government official concerned, adding that it was difficult to predict the future course of the crisis.
-
REPATRIATION:
US envoy:
Pressure should be on Myanmar
for Rohingya repatriation.
U.S. is one of the leading countries which provided humanitarian assistance of $542 million both for Rohingyas and the host community in Cox’s Bazar.
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Earl R. Miller, has said they will continue to put pressure on Myanmar to create conditions on the ground for the "voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable" return of all Rohingyas to Myanmar's Rakhine State.
The US envoy made the remarks while visiting Natarkandi High School at Astamir Char under Chilmari upazila of Kurigram on Saturday.
While explaining U.S. position, the envoy said: "The pressure should be squarely on Myanmar to make sure the return of all Rohingyas to Myanmar."
Ambassador Miller said Bangladesh has opened its heart and border to over a million people who have been persecuted and highly appreciated Bangladesh's generosity in sheltering Rohingyas.
He said the US is one of the leading countries which provided humanitarian assistance of $542 million both for Rohingyas and the host community in Cox's Bazar.
* * *
The US envoy also declared about donating $100,000 to flood-affected people.
US Ambassador inaugurated a program named Care Bangladesh for distributing cash money among 5,000 people of 200 families under assistance program for flood-hit people in Kurigram.
Kurigram Deputy Commissioner Sultana Parvin, Police Super Mohibul Islam Khan, US Aid Bangladesh Mission Director Derrick S Brown, Care Bangladesh's Country Director Zia Chowdhury, Upazila Chairman Shawkat Ali, Upazila Nirbahi Officer Shah Md Shamsuzzoha, were, among others, present.
-
(also see:
- "US State Department:
Will continue pushing for Rohingya repatriation"
(also in Dhaka Tribune, same day, below) )
-
US State Department:
Will continue pushing
for Rohingya repatriation.
The US State Department is set to engage in political dialogue for Rohingya repatriation and to pursue peace.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The US State Department has said they are calling on others to join them for pushing forward the process of Rohingya repatriation.
The department made this remarks through a press release on Saturday, said US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.
Calling upon all the involved parties to fasten the repatriation, the release said: "The United States appreciate the Government of Bangladesh’s ongoing generosity in hosting these refugees. However, we continue to call on others to join us in contributing to this humanitarian response."
"Our thoughts are with the victims of these abuses, and the more than one million refugees who have been forced to find refuge in Bangladesh. Justice and accountability are essential for Myanmar’s efforts to build a strong, peaceful, secure, and prosperous democracy," the statement said.
"We call upon all those involved to respect human rights, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and engage in political dialogue to pursue peace," it further added.
Addditional remarks:The US State Department also continues to encourage the government of Myanmar to implement the Kofi Annan-led Advisory Commission’s report and recommendations, which offer the best path forward for the country and all the people of Rakhine State, as well as all those who fled.
"We are set to work with international organizations to encourage Myanmar to create the conditions that would allow for the voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return of refugees to their places of origin, or other places of their choice," the release said.
The United States is the leading contributor of humanitarian assistance in response to the Rohingya crisis, providing nearly $542 million since the outbreak of violence in August 2017.
Two years ago, Myanmar’s security forces engaged in a brutal attack against hundreds of thousands of unarmed men, women, and children in a grossly disproportionate response to attacks by militants on security posts in the northern Rakhine State.
The Burmese military’s horrific atrocities against Rohingya villagers, and actions that constituted ethnic cleansing, caused an exodus of more than 740,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh.
-
(also see:
- REPATRIATION:
US envoy:
Pressure should be on Myanmar
for Rohingya repatriation.
(also in Dhaka Tribune, same day, above) )
-
Bangladesh 'to be tougher'
on Rohingya refugees.
- BBC News
Bangladesh has said it will harden its stance towards Rohingya refugees currently in the country.
-
EDITORIAL:
For Myanmar, too much impunity
and too little accountability
- Washington Post
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
- Bangladesh wants the Rohingya to return to Myanmar, but will not force them back.
- The Rohingya will not return to Myanmar, until they are guaranteed safety and security, full citizenship, return of their lands, and punishment of their attackers.
- Myanmar has no intention of granting any of their wishes, and only promises to inter the returnees in concentration camps ("IDP -- internally displaced people") as it has already done with over 100,000 of the Rohingya still in Myanmar.
- China and India -- with largely anti-Muslim governments, and with designs on the Rohingya homeland in Rakhine for critical seaports, offshore drilling, onshore pipelines, and other "developments" (many now in progress) -- have blocked any effective international intervention in the crisis, particularly through China's "veto" power in the United Nations Security Council (with additional backing from veto-wielding Russia). China is also the chief ally of Myanmar's powerful military, the actual government of newly "democratic" Myanmar.
- The U.S. and Europe have been largely indifferent to the issue -- indulging in their own nationalistic, paranoid, selfish and bigoted rejections of Muslim refugees -- and are playing no significant role in changing the situation.
- Conservative;
- Strongly allied with, or supportive of, the current Bangladeshi government (particularly Foreign Minister Momen, who is obviously no Rohingya fan); and
- Less-than-enthusiastic about the presence of Rohingha in Bangladesh.
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY
& REPATRIATION:
Rallies mark two years of exile
in Bangladesh.
- BBC News
Tens of thousands of Rohingya held demonstrations inside their refugee camps in Bangladesh on Sunday, two years after their exodus.
Nearly 750,000 fled their native Rakhine state in Myanmar in August 2017 as a violent crackdown on the ethnic group surged.
On Thursday, Bangladesh set up a voluntary return scheme – but not a single Rohingya decided to leave.
They are calling for Myanmar to grant them citizenship before they return.
The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar, most of whom live in Rakhine state, and have their own language and culture. But despite living in Myanmar for generations, they are not recognised as citizens or counted in the census.
Myanmar instead considers them to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
On 25 August 2017, Rohingya militants attacked dozens of police posts, killing several officers. The response from authorities, while supposedly an attempt to arrest militants, saw entire villages burned, and civilians attacked, raped and killed, UN investigators found. Local Buddhist mobs were also involved.
The United Nations says it was a "textbook example" of ethnic cleansing; the Rohingya call it a "genocide remembrance day".
Myanmar's military says it was carrying out counterterrorism operations and did not target civilians.
An internal investigation in 2017 cleared the military of blame in the Rohingya crisis.
What now for the Rohingya?About one million displaced people now live in Bangladesh, most in huge, sprawling refugee camps - the largest of which is home to more than half a million people, placing an economic burden on Bangladesh.
Earlier this year, Bangladesh said it could no longer accept more refugees, as a January 2018 deal -- between it and Myanmar -- to repatriate the Rohingya, failed to materialise.
But return is voluntary - and barely any have returned while Myanmar continues to deny them citizenship. Myanmar has offered to allow the Rohingya freedom of movement if they accept a national ID card -- which Rohingya believe would mean accepting their status as illegal immigrants.
Those who did not flee now number less than half a million in Rakhine. They accuse the government of systemic oppression.
The attempted repatriation on Thursday involved nearly 300 families, with buses ready to bring them back to Myanmar.
The United Nations refugee agency, which interviewed families to see if they wanted to return, said: "So far, none have indicated a willingness to repatriate at this time."
Bangladesh losing patienceThe refugee crisis has brought tremendous domestic political pressure on the government of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as the host community loses patience with the Rohingya.
Many experts in Bangladesh believe that China has a big role to play in exerting pressure on Myanmar so that it ensures safer conditions for returning refugees.
Another important factor is the law-and-order situation inside the camps. Incidents suggest an armed group among the Rohingya is getting stronger.
Many people fear that Islamic extremists might be spreading in the refugee camps, which are characterised by extreme poverty.
On the same day, the UN fact-finding mission responsible for uncovering Myanmar human rights abuses, said rape was widely used by soldiers in "the Myanmar military's genocidal intent to destroy the Rohingya population".
It continues in Kachin and Shan states today, the fact-finding mission said.
Sexual violence by the military was "part of a deliberate, well-planned strategy to intimidate, terrorise and punish a civilian population," it concluded.
Two years in exileIn Kutupalang, the world's largest refugee camp, prayers and songs rang out as up to 30,000 people took part in marking the anniversary.
"I have come here to seek justice for the murder of my two sons. I will continue to seek justice till my last breath," 50-year-old Tayaba Khatun told AFP news agency.
Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah said: "We have asked the Burmese (Myanmar) government for dialogue. But we haven't got any response from them yet.
"We were beaten, killed and raped in Rakhine. But still that is our home. And we want to go back."
In their two years of exile, the Rohingya in Kutupalong have opened small shops and built schools in the refugee camp, creating a small sense of normalcy.
"I came from Burma, unable to tolerate the torture there, so I came to Bangladesh," Ali Akbar told Reuters, from his phone repair-and-recharge stall. "Coming here I have started this business, I am happy here."
Mohammed Salim said he fled when his home in Myanmar was burned, crossing jungle to get to the camp where charities provided food and clean water.
"Now we are passing good time, we are happy here... they burned our houses, took away our cattle, seized our lands. If they return our lands, homes and also they give us citizenship then we will go back, otherwise we will not go."
Not everything in the camps is peaceful, however.
On Saturday, Bangladeshi police said they had shot and killed two refugees in Jadimura refugee camp in Cox's Bazar.
The pair who were shot during a manhunt for suspects in the killing of Omar Faruk, an official from the ruling party, allegedly at the hands of armed refugees.
That version of events was called into question by rights activists, who told AFP they believed the encounter had been staged.
-
(same topic at:
- New York Times
-
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
(PHOTO ESSAY) - Reuters / U.S. News
-
VOA (Voice of America) on YouTube
(U.S. propaganda radio) -
Reuters / The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma) (Aug.26)
-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
- which adds...
At least 100,000 Rohingya refugees rallied in camps in Bangladesh on Sunday, marking two years since the start of a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar that forced more than 730,000 to flee across the border.
Massive crowds gathered in the morning on a hillside for memorial prayers for relatives killed in the violence.
Others marched under the sweltering sun chanting, “We want justice” and “No more genocide,” some wearing white shirts bearing the words "Rohingya Genocide Remembrance." ... )
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
ANALYSIS:
2nd anniversary of
Rohingya influx:
No end in sight
It has become a routine question, of many, as to why the global body -- especially the UN Security Council -- is not acting, despite the presence of so much compelling evidence.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
On this day two years ago, the Myanmar military -- aided by local Buddhist mobs and miscreants from other ethnic groups -- began a barbaric crackdown on the Rohingya community in [Myanmar's] northwest Rakhine [state].
Although the crackdown began after 12 Myanmar security personnel were killed allegedly by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), there have been credible reports that the preparations to systemically eradicate the Rohingyas from Rakhine began long before the incident involving ARSA. Many believe the incident was just an excuse to launch a brutal military campaign against unarmed and innocent civilians.
The then United Nations high commissioner for human rights described the Myanmar military campaign as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Later, many individuals and reports confirmed that the Myanmar military committed crimes against humanity, including genocide.
The barbaric actions of Myanmar continued for several months and forced about 740,000 Rohingyas -- which is nearly the population of Bhutan -- to cross the border into [Bangladesh's]Cox's Bazar to save their lives.Also Read- Who will protect the Rohingya children?
According to numerous reports, including that of the UN, there are no war crimes that the Myanmar military did not commit. Mass killing, gang rape, the killing of babies, burning of people alive and burning of mosques, holy books, and homes are some of the crimes committed in Rakhine during the military campaign.
With the arrival of the about 740,000 Rohingyas, Bangladesh was faced with one of the gravest crises in its history. Despite its limited resources, Bangladesh gave the refugees shelter and security. The arrivals after August 25, 2017, are in addition to 80,000 Rohingyas who took shelter in 2016, and nearly [300,000] who have been living in Bangladesh for decades.
Meanwhile, in the past two years, the international community has confined its activities to talking -- rather than action to solve this protracted crisis, and hold the perpetrators to account.
The host community has suffered -- and Bangladesh diplomacy has been inefficient, as a situation for the people to hope for a breakthrough in terms of repatriating the displaced Rohingyas is yet to be created.
The Rohingya settlements in Cox's Bazar have become one of the most frequently visited places by international dignitaries. Past visitors include heads of states and government officials, the entire UN Security Council, the UN secretary general, and members of royal families.
Visiting dignitaries assured that they would provide aid for the refugees, and they did so to a large extent. However, they shied away from taking any visible action that might compel Myanmar to take its own people back.
The only move worth mentioning is the decision of the International Criminal Court, on its jurisdiction, to look into the enforced deportation of hundreds of Rohingyas by Myanmar.
The Rohingya issue was discussed in many international forums, including the UN Security Council, UN General Assembly, and UN Human Rights Council, and many reports were published that held Myanmar responsible for many heinous crimes. The General Assembly and Human Rights Council also passed resolutions condemning the atrocities. However, the resolutions are non-binding.
It has become a routine question, of many, as to why the global body -- especially the UN Security Council -- is not acting, despite the presence of so much compelling evidence.
The answer lies with the Security Council, whose resolutions are binding on countries. The Security Council does not act because China and Russia -- two veto-yielding permanent members -- are staunch allies of Myanmar.
The other permanent members – the United States, United Kingdom and France – are for a resolution, but they are not pressing for a Security Council resolution -- due to the veto threat of China and Russia, who regard the Rohingya issue as a bilateral one, between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The other influential countries appear to be not interested, at least for now, in going beyond imposing some targeted sanctions that are obviously not working.
It is anybody's guess as to when the international community will think that time has come to act.
As far as Bangladesh diplomacy is concerned, many experts observed that it has been inefficient as well as inadequate over the past two years.
Prior to the August 25 crackdown, the government had reported that there would be large scale military operations in Rakhine, but the report did not work as it should have. Ahead of the crackdown, Bangladesh could have asked the UN and influential countries to rein in Myanmar and sensitise the international media about the brewing issue, which could have minimised the devastation at the least.
After the crackdown, Bangladesh diplomacy did not see many successes in regards to the repatriation of the Rohingyas. Despite significant political and financial engagements with [China, Russia, and India], [Bangladesh's government] could not prove itself more important to them than [Myanmar's]. It is the belief of many that if these three countries support Bangladesh, the Rohingya crisis will be solved quickly.
All but a few wishful thinkers knew that it would take a long time for the crisis to end. However, no one thought that it would take so long for the repatriation to even begin -- considering the existence of an agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Now -- after two botched attempts to begin repatriation, and the unwillingness of Myanmar to honour the agreement -- even the most optimistic Bangladeshi official cannot think of predicting when the repatriation will begin.
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
VIDEO & TEXT:
Tula Toli:
2 years on
from the bloody crackdown.
'Abu Hassan (name changed). This is your home. Look at how it is now. Look at the state of it. You can’t recognise it. Have a good look and get angry'
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Amateur video footage, captured on mobile phones by Rohingya refugees, shows a desolate Tula Toli -- a village in [Myanmar's] northern Rakhine state -- so different from what it looked like two years ago when the Myanmar military launched a bloody crackdown against Rohingya Muslims in August 2017.
The mobile phone footage from two Rohingya refugees who now live in the camps of Bangladesh, provides the world a first glimpse of what Tula Toli looks liketwo years after the massacre on 30 August 2017.
In a series of thirty-four video clips, ranging from a few seconds to one minute twenty-seven seconds, totalling 16 minutes, the men walked around Tula Toli and filmed the remains of their village where 4500 people once lived.
In August 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya started fleeing the violence and persecution unleashed by Myanmar's military, the Tatmadaw, and other Burmese security forces in Rakhine state.
On the 1st and 2nd of September 2017, hundreds of survivors from Tula Toli started entering Bangladesh. These refugees described the torching of their village and the cold-blooded massacre of hundreds of people.
Soon news of the atrocities reached all the major media and news outlets. Women victims, in particular, recounted the savagery they experienced and witnessed -- mass rapes, killings, and infants burned to death.
In 2018, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission unequivocally stated that massacres like Tula Toli and Chut Pyin "involved planned and deliberately executed mass killing."
The videos depict an area of great natural beauty. As the men trudge through vegetation, they point out burnt bamboo poles where homes once stood. Their voices betray fear as they hyperventilate during their narration.
The entire area has become overgrown and wooded according to the men. As they locate their old homes, mainly based on the location of large trees which remain standing, they address members of the community back in the Rohingya camps of Bangladesh directly by name.
"Abu Hassan (name changed). This is your home. Look at how it is now. Look at the state of it. You can't recognise it. Have a good look and get angry. "
The men located their own homes and the remains of the homes of other family members. Their tone decidedly becomes enraged.
One of the men addresses the family of his dead wife and says: "This is your home. So many people were killed here. I couldn't video this earlier in the day because we saw the military dogs."
Most of the killings in Tula Toli took place in Char Fara, the hamlet closest to the river. The men located the home of a person they called Putiya. In a chilling reminder of the ground they were standing on, one of the men says: "This is Putiya's place. They finished his family. And in this area, they killed over 500 people. They killed everyone here. You can't see the holes they dug here for the bodies, because it is dark."
The men report that -- of the six hamlets in Tula Toli -- all the Rohingya hamlets are uninhabited, wooded and overgrown. Of the two Rakhine hamlets, one has been abandoned. The hamlet where the Kwi people live remains inhabited -- and it is where the military base is located.
The images of this one rural community represent a partial picture of what happened -- and is happening -- in the rest of northern Rakhine state.
Elsewhere, the Myanmar government has ordered the flattening of destroyed villages with bulldozers and the erection of new buildings.
Some of these are being used to house non-Rohingya from other parts of Rakhine.
The removal of Rohingya villages prompted Human Rights Watch to comment: "Bulldozing these areas threatens to erase both the memory and the legal claims of the Rohingya who lived there."
A key demand of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is that they be allowed to go back to their former villages. The alternative, they fear, is to be herded into what the Rohingya call "open-air prisons" - the existing IDP [(internally displaced persons)] camps. A fuller picture of the changes on the ground is impossible, given the Myanmar government's refusal to lift travel restrictions for the region.
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
Refugees find sanctuary
in Bangladesh
after Myanmar nightmare.
[A quick overview of the 2017 escape of the refugees, and of the positive and negative aspects of their subsequent refuge in Bangaldesh.]
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
'After two years,
we need to focus on
the local community.'
Inside a squalid refugee camp for about a million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar, Giorgi Gigauri, chief of mission of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in Bangladesh, discussed the latest developments in Rohingya crisis with Dhaka Tribune's Kamrul Hasan
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)How is the IOM helping the displaced Rohingya community in Bangladesh?
We work on shelter, healthcare, not just for the Rohingya but also for the host communities of Teknaf, and Ukhiya. We do – WASH – Water and Sanitation Hygiene – we just recently launched one of the largest humanitarian water network systems in the world. We do CWC – Communication with Community, we work to prevent gender-based violence, and human trafficking.
Then we also work to keep peace among the hosts, and the Rohingyas.
Who do you think suffered the most from the influx?
The Rohingyas themselves are the most affected of course, but it is crucial to remember that the locals have been deeply affected by this crisis. In 2017, everyone's focus was on the Rohingyas. But now, after two years have passed, we need to focus on the local community, that includes creating jobs, and also other livelihood assistance. Reforestation can be carried out to rebuild the ecosystem.
Are the current activities enough for the development of the Rohingya children?
This is a very important issue. We do not want to create a lost generation. This is not just about ensuring that children have access to education, this is their future investment.
Their mental health is also an issue. Children need to be occupied. They need to be doing something. If you have nothing to do, bad people will try to take advantage of that. It is everyone’s job to make sure this does not happen.
Have the issues related to gender-based violence, and social stigma for Rohingya women been addressed properly in the last two years? Are the measures taken for their physical, and psychological development sufficient?
The government, the UN, and many NGOs have done a lot of work, but we need to do more, not just for women, but also men, and children.
We need to identify the most damaged, and prioritize them.
It is important to remember that communities all around the world have always developed a community-based coping mechanism.
Are the supporting initiatives enough for the Rohingya?
If you take a person and isolate them, and make them do nothing, they will definitely be frustrated. There is frustration. Some of them were quite affluent, and losing everything came as a shock to them.
It is never a good idea to leave any population idle.
The government policy is very clear. The Rohingya people cannot work. They are not allowed to earn. But there are many things happening inside camps that includes volunteering program (for Rohingya men).
But we need to go one step further. We need to give them training, and education.
Is there any risk of being trafficked from the camps?
Of course, there is a risk. It is much easier for the traffickers to prey on the most vulnerable, and the Rohingyas are very desperate.
There are precarious situations where people can come and go, and exploit it. We have to do more to counter trafficking in the camps.
But trafficking is also a national problem for Bangladesh. The Rohingya trafficking is just a new element.
Although the local people are suffering from multidimensional problem due to the crisis. How are they reacting to the displaced people, and how is the IOM providing support to the local community?
The host community is very welcoming, understanding, and helpful to the displaced people. As time goes by, it will be difficult to be tolerant, because they are using your land, and resources.
If we do not address the problem, it will slowly create tensions, and could result in a conflict.
We have to make sure that the host community are compensated as much as possible. A lot of money is coming from the World Bank, ADB, and the UN.
It has been said that financial support for Rohingya crisis is gradually decreasing. What’s your view?
There are two perspectives. In the immediate future, I am less worried, because of the big donors.
If you look at the upcoming contribution already being implemented by the World Bank, and ADB, the pipeline of funds seems to be okay.
Now we have to make sure that the money is well spent.
In the long term, it is difficult to speculate. We all want them to go back. We really hope that repatriation can take place as soon as possible.
What is the IOM’s perspective on repatriation?
We know the Rohingyas want to return. As long as the return is voluntary, dignified, and sustainable, what better outcome can anybody hope for? This is everything we ever wanted.
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Rohingyas want
dialogue with Myanmar first,
repatriation later.
Without the dialogue, and unless [Myanmar's government in] Naypyidaw meets their demands, the Rohingyas will never opt for repatriation.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The Rohingyas, sheltered at various camps in Cox's Bazar, have called for dialogue with Myanmar authorities first, before they attempt to repatriate the refugees from Bangladesh.
Without the dialogue, and unless Naypyidaw meets their demands, the Rohingyas will never opt for repatriation and resettlement at their homeland, Rohingya leaders said on Sunday
The call came in the morning from a massive gathering of over 100,000 Rohingyas, who came from most of the camps across Teknaf and Ukhiya, to observe two years of their latest exodus from Rakhine.
Cox's Bazar Additional Superintendent of Police Md Iqbal Hossain said: "Over 100,000 Rohingyas gathered here observing two years of their latest exodus from Myanmar."
The event was held at a field in Camp No 4 (Extension) at Kutupalong's Modhurchhara in Ukhiya.
Organized mostly by the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), the event was addressed by a number of Rohingya leaders. A nearly 20-minute-long munajat followed before the program ended.
ARSPH Chairman Md Mohibullah, who arrived at and left the venue under police protection, told the demonstration: "Myanmar government must hold dialogue with us first. They must talk to us first about our demands and meeting them."
"Then we'll talk about our repatriation and our resettlement in our own land."
The Rohingya leaders, while addressing the demonstration, reiterated their demands -- top priority of which is- Myanmar citizenship as Rohingyas,
- safety and security of their lives once repatriated, and
- resettlement in their home and land that they lost during the crackdown of security forces in 2017.
The Rohingya leaders also demanded that the International Criminal Court must try and punish the Myanmar military officials and Mogh extremists for the atrocities they committed against the Rohingya population of north-western Myanmar.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas, who sat on the field and the hillocks surrounding it under a scorching sun, roared in agreement.
Shura Khatun, who attended Sunday's demonstration along with a group of Rohingya women, said she had attended last year's congregation as well.
"We came here to commemorate those killed by Myanmar security forces. We paid homage to all victims of the atrocities," she added.
Amir Ahmed, a teacher at a school in Camp No 1, said they gathered here in harmony over their ordeal as refugees.
"Citizenship as Rohingyas, security of our lives and return of our homes and lands must be ensured before we are repatriated," he said.
Another Rohingya man, who lives in Camp No 8, said: "We are not happy here. But we are at least alive, and that is mostly everything to us nowadays.
"We know we are a burden on this country. But we didn't have another choice. We didn’t have anywhere else to flee with whatever we could grab when the attacks started that day [August 25, 2017]."
The man in his mid-30s stressed that they will go back to their homeland if the Myanmar government meets their demand and implements them in coordination with the International community, including the United Nations.
* * *
Thousands of Rohingyas had attended Sunday's demonstration with festoons, posters, banners and placards -- all of which mentioned their demands including citizenship and justice.
Meanwhile, observing the black day, a number of other Rohingya groups held demonstrations at different camps in Kutupalong, Balukhaki and Unchiprang areas of Ukhiya and Teknaf. They also made the same demands.
Since their arrival in Bangladesh, fleeing brutal persecution, the 730,000 Rohingyas have been living in dire situations in cramped shelters in this coastal district.
With them and the 400,000 Rohingyas who crossed into Bangladesh over the past decade or more, Cox's Bazar currently hosts more than 1.1 million refugees, according to official data.
However, sources from different NGOs said that the current Rohingya population in at least 30 camps were well over 1.4 million, including the children who were born here. Dhaka Tribune could not verify this data independently. ...
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REPATRIATION:
Leading NGOs silent about
repatriation provocation charges.
Information Minister Hasan Mahmud also reiterated the same allegation on Friday.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
A second attempt to start the repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar has failed. The foreign ministry says that some non-government organisations (NGOs) were hampering the progress of repatriation on Thursday.
Information Minister Hasan Mahmud also reiterated the same allegation on Friday.
However, leading NGOs, especially the international ones, kept mum about the issue, with many of them refusing to comment.
Though Dhaka Tribune repeatedly contacted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and BRAC, about their stance on the allegation, only BRAC responded.
Mohammed Abdus Salam, head of the Humanitarian Crisis Management Programme being implemented by BRAC, said they were not aware of activities in the refugee camps that are discouraging Rohingya from returning to Myanmar.
"Had there been such instigations in the camps, the NGO Affairs Bureau (which works under the PMO) after a thorough investigation, must have stopped the accused NGOs, if there was any," he observed.
When asked about BRAC's reaction about the claim by the foreign ministry and the information minister, Salam said their NGO has no "formal" comments on that.
On Thursday, the parliamentary standing committee on the foreign ministry recommended identifying -- through proper monitoring -- the NGOs accused of hampering the progress of starting the repatriation.
The committee's chairman, Faruk Khan, told the meeting that the ministry reported some NGOs for misleading the Rohingyas regarding repatriation.
"These NGOs are telling the Rohingya refugees not to return to Myanmar until some conditions, including their citizenship rights, are met," he said.
Similar allegations surfaced on March 13 this year when Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, referring to intelligence reports, said many NGOs working for the Rohingyas were operating with "ill motive."
Information Minister Hasan Mahmud at a program on Friday said: "Many NGOs are against the repatriation since they receive massive funds for running projects in refugee camps."
He, nevertheless, said: "Not all the NGOs are linked to provoking Rohingyas, regarding their return to Myanmar."
He went on to say: "Before the August 22 repatriation procedure, some NGOs -- in a joint statement -- claimed that Myanmar lacked the atmosphere suitable for repatriation.''
"They did the same in the past. We can see that Rohingyas have lost their faith (about Myanmar). Many are taking advantage of the situation, by demotivating them about the return," he said.
On Wednesday, 61 NGOs -- in the joint statement -- said Rohingyas have been struggling for their rights, security, and dignity, ever since they were forced to flee to Bangladesh from their homeland two years ago.
They also expressed their concerns about the possibility of a worsening crisis in Myanmar, urging Bangladesh and Myanmar to engage the refugees on their safe and voluntary returns.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday said, both Bangladesh and Myanmar were "fully ready" to resume the repatriation of Rohingyas to their homeland but some Rohingya leaders and NGOs were reportedly discouraging them from returning.
"We've heard some Rohingya leaders emerged there. They don't want the return of any Rohingya (to their homeland). They're trying to stop returnees," he said.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Rohingya in Myanmar:
'We keep our frustration inside
because we cannot speak out.'
Currently, some 128,000 Rohingya and other Muslims are forcibly detained in camps or camp-like settings in Central Rakhine [state, in Myanmar].
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Suleiman is a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) [Doctors Without Borders] watchman, living in NgetChaung village, in [Myanmar's] central Rakhine State. He and 9,000 other Rohingya Muslims are forcibly confined to the village and the adjacent internment camp, with poor living conditions and very limited access to basic services.
The restrictions on movement for the Rohingya in central Rakhine State followed outbreaks of violence between the Rohingya and other Rakhine communities in 2012.
Currently, some 128,000 Rohingya and other Muslims are forcibly detained in camps or camp-like settings in Central Rakhine.
Before restrictions were imposed, Suleiman was a teacher and travelled to different towns and cities to provide English and Burmese classes in mosques.
Born and brought up in NgetChaung village, Suleiman has eight children. He says the MSF arrived in NgetChaung just seven days after the crisis in 2012.
“I went to Sittwe for my education. When I was 15, I had no money to continue my studies. So, I came home and began to make a living as a teacher, running classes in English and Burmese for the children and adults coming to the mosque,” Suleiman said.
“I was in another village, when the crisis began in 2012 and I came home as things were tense,” he added.
Discussing the night his village was attacked, Suleiman said: “One night at about 2am, we saw some unknown people and fearing trouble, we ran for our lives. When we found a place to hide, we looked back and saw that our village was on fire. In the morning, we went there only to see that our houses and domestic animals were burnt to ashes. A policeman came, inspected the place, and went back.
“Some soldiers who came to speak to us told us that we could stay and live here but that we couldn’t go anywhere else. For a long time, we lived in tents. It took almost two years to rebuild everything,” he added.
“We keep our frustration inside because we cannot speak out. There are no opportunities for employment; there is little trade, we can only buy fish or prawns -- and sometimes people from nearby Rakhine villages come and sell us food,” he added.
“People here are frustrated, as they cannot go anywhere, or do anything. There are tensions and sometimes there is aggression and even sexual violence between communities. The Rohingya are like other ethnicities in Myanmar: we just want freedom to have our own livelihoods and to sleep at night without worrying,” Suleiman said.-
(same topic at:
- Aug. 20 (MSF) ) -
REPATRIATION:
Official statement:
of the Bangladesh Foriegn Ministry
(published as news article)
Bangladesh dismisses Myanmar’s
non-cooperation allegation.
It is [Myanmar’s] job to create a conducive environment for the Rohingyas to return, says [Bangladesh]
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[ RCN Editor's note: This article is apparently almost entirely a transcript of an official statement of Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry. It is clearly not a normal journalistic article, and appears to be simply a reprint (perhaps slightly summarized) of the official statement of the Foreign Ministry. ~RCN Editor.]
Bangladesh has dismissed, outright, Myanmar’s allegation of non-cooperation with regard to the beginning of the repatriation of the Rohingyas [who have been] sheltering in Cox’s Bazar [in Bangladesh], to escape the atrocities of the security forces of [the Myanmar government in] Naypyitaw.
It is the responsibility of Myanmar to create an environment where displaced Rohingyas feel safe to return to their homes, said Bangladesh.
“Accusations of non-cooperation in the repatriation effort against Bangladesh by a party who is fully responsible for the protracted crisis is baseless, ill-motivated, and totally unacceptable,” said a press statement issued by the [Bangladesh] Foreign Ministry on Sunday.
After the second attempt to begin the repatriation did not work out on Thursday, due to the unwillingness of the Rohingyas to return -- owing to the failure of Myanmar to create favourable conditions -- [Myanmar's government] accused [Bangladesh's government] of being responsible for the failure.
“The Government of Bangladesh urges the Government of Myanmar to fully concentrate on the implementation of its obligations and commitments necessary for a durable solution of the problem,” said [Bangladesh's] Foreign Ministry statement.
“The Government of Myanmar should seriously consider a comprehensive engagement of the international community in creating an environment conducive to their [the Rohingyas] return, as well as in the monitoring of the repatriation and reintegration process in Myanmar,” it added.
“In fact, the Government of Myanmar needs to take decisive action with demonstrable political will to reasonably address the core concerns of Rohingyas, in line with the spirit and provision of bilateral instruments on repatriation, and the recommendations of the ‘Advisory Commission on Rakhine State,’ in order to create a conducive environment for return to northern Rakhine.
“The Government of Myanmar must also assume its responsibility to encourage Rohingyas to opt for voluntary return by sharing authentic information with them in all possible ways. Unsubstantiated claims on the part of the Government of Myanmar are not going to contribute to repatriation,” it further said.
In view of Myanmar’s repeated claim that they are prepared to receive the displaced persons, and the recent interactions of a high-level delegation from Myanmar with representatives of the displaced people at camps in Cox’s Bazar on July 27-28 this year, Bangladesh agreed to facilitate the commencement of repatriation on August 22, said the statement.
In line with its commitment to the principle of voluntary return, the Government of Bangladesh handed the list of 3,450 individuals so far verified by Myanmar to UNHCR through the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Dhaka on August 8, to ascertain whether these people are ready to return voluntarily to northern Rakhine under the present circumstances. The Government of Bangladesh ensured all necessary arrangements on the Bangladesh side, including security and logistics for the voluntary return of Rohingyas to northern Rakhine.
Out of the list of 3,450 Rohingyas provided by Bangladesh, UNHCR interviewed 339 families comprising 1,276 individuals, till August 22. In the interview process, all available information and the fact sheets provided by the Government of Myanmar, were shared with the families concerned.
Moreover, a number of measures, including security arrangements, were taken so that the people concerned could freely express their intent. Unfortunately, none of the families interviewed agreed to return under the present circumstances, as they consider the security situation and overall environment in Rakhine not yet conducive for their return.
Almost all the families interviewed expressed their deep concern over the security situation in Rakhine. The overwhelming majority of families underscored the lack of progress in addressing justice and rights related issues, including citizenship, freedom of movement, and land use rights.
All families interviewed have reaffirmed their desire to return, once their concerns are reasonably addressed by the Government of Myanmar. Diplomats from the Chinese and Myanmar Embassies in Dhaka were present in Cox’s Bazar from August 21-22 to monitor the entire repatriation process, including the preparations of the Government of Bangladesh.
During recent interactions from July 27-28, with the high-level delegation from Myanmar led by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the representatives of the displaced Myanmar residents called for the presence of international civilian monitors in northern Rakhine to guarantee security and to monitor the repatriation and reintegration process.
The Myanmar delegation also agreed to continue dialogue with the displaced people at frequent intervals, to find mutually acceptable solutions at the earliest possible time, on core issues, including the granting of fundamental rights and citizenship.
Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh expressed utter dismay that the Myanmar delegation was unable to report any progress concerning citizenship, rights, and security for their return to northern Rakhine.
As per bilateral instruments on repatriation, the responsibility of encouraging the displaced people to opt for voluntary return lies entirely with Myanmar. It is Myanmar’s responsibility to create an environment conducive to return to Rakhine, through decisive action to reduce the trust-deficit of Rohingyas, including dissemination of authentic information.
The non-commencement of repatriation, due to the unwillingness of the people concerned, could therefore be attributed to the failure of the Government of Myanmar in fulfilling its obligations.
The Government of Bangladesh maintains its principled position of not preventing anyone who intends to return to Myanmar from doing so, regardless of ethnic and religious identity.
-
Rohingya in Malaysia,
pushed into further danger.
Over the past two years, very little effort has been made to address the underlying causes of the discrimination that the Rohingya face, and to enable them to return home safely'
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The condition of Rohingya people living in Malaysia is precarious. Lack of legal status pushes them, and other refugee and asylum seekers towards an uncertain life.
Unable to work legally, they often disappear into Malaysia’s urban black market economy, where they are vulnerable to exploitation, debt bondage, or work accidents. Walking down the street or even seeking medical care can result in refugees being sent to detention centres, says MSF press release.
Iman Hussein, 22, a Rakhine who fled in 2015, spent time in Thailand before arriving in Penang, Malaysia. Like many refugees, he also eked out a living by working in Penang’s booming construction industry.
His employer has not paid him his salary for the past 10 weeks, but he has no choice, but to keep working, as he lives on the site, and would become destitute if he leaves the job.
“Over the past two years, very little effort has been made to address the underlying causes of the discrimination that the Rohingya face, and to enable them to return home safely,” says Benoit de Gryse, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) operations manager for Myanmar, and Malaysia.
“If the Rohingya are to have any chance of a better future, the international community must redouble its diplomatic efforts with Myanmar, and champion greater legal recognition for an incredibly disempowered group.”
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Japan continues help Myanmar
whitewash Rohingya crisis
Japan Times (Japan)
|
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY #2
August 25th is the second anniversary of the current crisis, that drove most of Myanmar's long-persecuted Rohingya minority (chiefly Muslim) from majority-Buddhist Rakhine state. After decades of discrimination, apartheid and violence against them, the Rohingya were nearly all driven out of Myanmar in August / September / October of 2017.
The violence erupted the day after the release of the "Annan Report," by an international commisison which outlined reforms needed to ensure peace in Rakhine, and civil rights for the Rohingya, in August, 2017. That night, Rohingya rebels (the ARSA - Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) launched small attacks on various Myanmar security forces.
The Myanmar military (the Tatmadaw) -- which had been moving attack forces into Rakhine state -- immediately responded the next day, August 25th with a sweeping, violent "crackdown" against all Rohingya throughout Myanmar's Rakhine state, using shock troops and helicopter gunships. The initial military violence against the Rohingya civilians (men, women and children) included mass murders, kidnappings, torture, countless gang rapes, homes and whole villages torched -- often with the elderly or children in them -- and Rohingya infants tossed into fires. (Details established by U.N. and other investigators, and video of the atrocities, is listed and linked from the August 27th section of the 2018 News page.
In the largest sudden refugee flight in modern history, the panicked Rohingya fled, by the hundreds of thousands, into neighboring Bangladesh -- the place that other Myanmarese claim is the Rohingyas' actual homeland, despite many Rohingya having roots in Myanmar dating back centuries. Within a few months, the vast majority of Myanmar's Rohingya had been driven into Bangladesh, most of them settling, temporarily (which has become permanent) in the Kutapalong refugee camp, and its adjoining camps -- now, in all, the world's largest refugee camp. Before the current crisis, about 1,100,000 Rohingya lived in Myanmar, mostly in northern Rakhine state, near the coast and Bangladesh. The over 750,000 who fled in the current crisis, added to the over 200,000 already in Bangladesh (having fled previous attacks by Myanmar's military and Buddhist civilians), puts the Rohingya population in Bangladesh at around 1,000,000. Most of Myanmar's Rohingya are now living in Bangladesh. The situation has remained a massive national and international crisis, for Bangladesh, Myanmar, and their neighbors -- and a major international issue on the world stage. With the second anniversary of the current crisis approaching, Myanmar and Bangladesh made hasty efforts at arranging a few token repatriations. However, none of the Rohingya Muslims would participate. On, and around, the second Crisis anniversary, much political noise and media coverage of the crisis has erupted. The articles throughout late August and early September reflect this, particularly around August 25th. For a timeline of events, throughout the crisis, see the New York Times two-year timeline, listed and linked at Aug.23rd, above [A note about sources: Most of the articles found and listed-in / linked-from Rohingya Crisis News, around this time, are from the Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh), which published a flood of such material during the repatriation attempt and the crisis anniversary. Note that the Tribune apppears to be: These attitudes appear to be reflected in many Dhaka Tribune articles, past and present, particularly around this time -- often essentially reprinting Bangladesh government statements with little or no journalistic evaluation or opposing views. By comparison, the Daily Star (Bangladesh, also) appears to be pro-Rohingya, but also more thorough and balanced in the range of views it reports.)] ~ RCN Editor. |
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
VIDEO & TEXT:
Rohingyas demand justice
for genocide in Myanmar.
Seek recognition as citizens
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Thousands of Rohingya refugees gathered for a rally at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar and demanded justice today -- on completion of two years since the Rohingya influx began, following persecution by Myanmar armed forces.
Rohingya leaders urged the international community to take steps to ensure justice against the genocide carried out against the Rohingya community in Myanmar.
The rally was held on occasion of completion of two years of the Rohingya refugee crisis near the extension field of Camp-4, Block-B at Kutupalong Refugee camp, reports our Chattogram staff correspondent.
The Rohingya leaders also said they would agree for repatriation if their demands for citizenship in Myanmar is met and a safe environment is ensured in Rakhine state.
They also asked the Myanmar government to give them recognition as Rohingya community.
Bangladesh now hosts some 1.1 million Rohingyas, including 743,000, who fled the brutal military crackdown in Rakhine since August 25, 2017.-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
The day a 13-year-old
Rohingya girl’s life
turned into a nightmare.
“The Myanmar army and Moghs have repressed and tortured us so much that we have lost all interest in returning to Rakhine.” Asked [if she] would go back -- if Myanmar gave them citizenship as Rohingyas, ensured security for their lives, and returned their homes and lands -- the girl adamantly replied in the negative.
The military denies almost all the allegations, made by refugees, during what it said was a legitimate counterterrorism operation that began on August 25, 2017
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
“I found her unconscious and naked, lying on the ground face down. Her body was ravaged. I didn’t know whether she was alive or dead when I found her.
“Since then, her life, our lives have not been the same,” said a Rohingya woman about her daughter who was raped by Myanmar army troops at Dhioltoli, Maungdaw, in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 26, 2017.
The woman and her daughter -- who is now 15 years old -- currently live in a cramped home, on the slope of a hill, in Kutupalong refugee camp of Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar.
They have been living here since they crossed over into Bangladesh through Tambru in Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari in the first week of September 2017.
United Nations’ investigators, in a recent report, said that the Myanmar army’s campaign included mass killings and gang-rapes -- and it was carried out with genocidal intent to destroy the mainly Muslim ethnic minority.
The [Myanmar] military denies almost all the allegations, made by refugees, during what it said was a legitimate counterterrorism operation that began on August 25, 2017.
The mother and her daughter both agreed with the UN report, saying the troopers did kill the men, and rape adolescent and young girls of their village, during the attack two years ago.
In the evening of August 25, 2017, the woman said, she, her husband, and her daughter, joined other villagers fleeing their Dhioltoli homes -- after Myanmar’s armed forces launched the crackdown, following attacks on security posts earlier that day. ...
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
Funding remains
great challenge
Only 36% met of required $920m for 2019.
[A quick overview of the funding shortfalls, especially for specific needs.]
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY
& REPATRIATION:
[Bangladesh] Foreign minister:
Government to take steps to handle
future Rohingya rallies
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) .mht (same topic at:
- Daily Star (Bangladesh) )
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said the government will take appropriate steps in consultation with all stakeholders to deal with situations like the recently-held mass rally by Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar.
"We weren’t informed beforehand about the Rohingya rally (held in Rohingya camp on Sunday)," he told reporters after attending a discussion, marking the National Mourning Day in Dhaka on Monday.
He said they came to know about the rally through the media and have already talked to the Home Ministry to find ways to deal with such a situation in the future.
Dr Momen said the government did not make any objection to it as they came to know that Rohingyas gathered there for offering doa.
Thousands of Rohingyas attended the rally marking the August 25 what Rohingyas described as "Genocide Day" and placed a number of demands, including their safety, citizenship and punishment of those involved in killings of Rohingyas in Rakhine State of Myanmar.
"There’s a huge rally. Many demands came," Dr Momen said, adding that they are thinking afresh how to "handle" such situation in the future.
Asked whether the government will stop any movement by Rohingyas, he said they will surely take whatever steps are required.
The foreign minister said Myanmar is responsible for Rohingyas’ unwillingness to return to their place of origin.
"They (Myanmar) have failed to convince Rohingyas," he said, adding that there is still trust deficit among Rohingyas.
On Sunday, the Bangladesh government urged the Myanmar government to fully concentrate on implementation of its obligations and commitments necessary for a durable solution to the Rohingya problem.
"The Myanmar government should seriously consider a comprehensive engagement of the international community in the creating of an environment conducive for their return as well as in the monitoring of repatriation and reintegration process in Myanmar," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in a press statement. ...
-
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
-
Rohingya youth stabbed dead
in Cox's Bazar.
He was a member of the Kutupalong camp in Ukhia.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
A Rohingya youth was stabbed dead by another member of the community at Kutupalong camp in Ukhia in Cox's Bazar.
The deceased was identified as Rahim Ullah, son of Abdus Salam of "D" block of the camp.
Ukhia police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abul Mansur said Shahidullah and his associates stabbed Rahim following an altercation around 10pm on Sunday night, leaving him severely injured.
Other Rohingyas rescued Rahim and took him to a makeshift hospital at Kutupalong camp and then shifted him to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital, where on-duty doctors declared him dead.
Rezaul Karim, in-charge of Kutupalong Rohingya camp, said he heard the incident, but does not know the details.
In the last two years, 43 Rohingyas were killed in internal conflicts of criminal gangs, while 32 others died in gunfights with security forces, said Police Superintendent (SI) of Cox’s Bazar ABM Masud Hossain.
Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas, most of whom entered the country since August 25, 2017. ...-
[
RCN Editor's note:
While this may sound like a substantial crime rate to the editors of the Dhaka Tribune, it's probably not excessive for a population of over a million refugees -- nor even for the normal population of Bangladesh. It's certainly not excessive by global norms, or even U.S. urban norms. It calculates to 3.4 homicides per 100,000 people, per year.
By comparison, according to a 2013 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the U.S. 7-year (2005-2012) average homicide rate is 4.9 (much higher than the Rohingya refugee rate), and the global average is 6.2 (nearly double the Rohingya refugee rate). ~RCN Editor. ] -
Third Rohingya shot dead
in Bangladesh refugee camp.
- Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Bangladesh police shot dead a third Rohingya refugee on Monday (Aug 26) after they were accused of the murder of a ruling party official that has sparked anger among the local population.
* * *
Police said Mohammad Hasan, a suspected Rohingya "dacoit" or gang member, was shot dead after he allegedly opened fire at officers during a raid to arrest him at Jadimura refugee camp.
"He is an accused in the murder of Omar Faruk," local police chief Prodeep Kumar Das told AFP -- referring to a ruling Awami League party youth wing official who was shot in the head by suspected Rohingya criminals on Thursday.
On Saturday police said they had shot dead two Rohingya refugees at the same refugee camp in the Cox's Bazar district over their alleged roles in the murder.
Rights activists, who asked not to be named, said they believe the two Rohingya men were killed by police in what appeared to be a staged encounter.
The incident comes days after a second failed attempt to repatriate the refugees which saw not a single Rohingya turn up to return across the border to conflict-scarred Rakhine state.
On Sunday, the Rohingya marked two years since the military crackdown in Myanmar with some 200,000 rallying in a refugee camp where refugee leaders vowed they won't return home unless their rights and security are ensured.
Faruk's murder had sparked anger among the local population, with hundreds of furious people blocking a key highway leading to the camp for hours on Thursday, burning tyres and vandalising shops visited by refugees.
Rohingya refugees have said the recent bloodshed has created an atmosphere of fear in the camp, where security has been tightened.
With the latest death, at least 33 Rohingya have been killed by Bangladeshi police and security forces since the exodus in August 2017, a police inspector Ruhul Amin told AFP.
He said that most were suspected drug traffickers, accused of smuggling yaba, a popular methamphetamine pill from across the Myanmar border. ...
-
EDITORIAL:
Crimes in the
Rohingya camps
Security needs to be beefed up.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
THE recent discoveries by police of the bullet-hit body of a 35-year-old Rohingya man near Noyapara Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf -- and the body of an 18-year-old Rohingya woman recovered from Balukhali refugee camp in Ukhiya -- are chilling reminders of deteriorating law and order in the Rohingya refugee camps.
On Wednesday, two Rohingya men, both allegedly drug traders, were killed in “shootouts” with the police in Cox's Bazar.
Lack of security has become a major concern in the densely populated Rohingya camps -- where refugees are either becoming the victims or the perpetrators.
Last year, according to a report in this daily, 22 Rohingyas were killed in the unregistered camps. There have also been cases of rapes, drug trafficking, robberies and human trafficking. Very recently, four Rohingya women were rescued from being trafficked to Saudi Arabia.[ RCN Editor's note: While this may sound like a substantial crime rate to the editors of the Daily Star, it's probably not excessive for a population of over a million refugees -- nor even for the normal population of Bangladesh. It's certainly not excessive by U.S. urban norms. ~RCN Editor. ]
With thousands of young men in these camps who are unemployed, hungry, and with an uncertain future ahead, it is not surprising that some of them will resort to crime. Trafficking and drug rings that include Rohingya men have become notoriously active in these camps, adding to the lack of security. And it goes without saying that the most vulnerable groups in these camps are the Rohingya women and girls who fall victim to violence either inside their makeshift homes by their partners or outside by other Rohingya men.
The huge area encompassing the complicated labyrinth of the camps and the constant onslaught of trafficking and drug gangs make it logistically very challenging to provide adequate security. Although there is police presence in these camps along with other officials and their associates, it is not enough to combat the crimes. We urge the authorities to beef up security in these camps to protect the refugees who have fled the worst kind of trauma in their home country. They should not have to live in fear in their place of refuge.
-
TEXT & VIDEO:
A Distant Refuge:
Portraits of the Rohingya
in Portland, Oregon (USA)
Rohingya Refugees In Portland Navigate New Freedoms, Persistent Fears.
- Oregon Public Broadcasting (USA)
Noyeem’s own memories of home as a Rohingya from Myanmar are of cruelty and violence.
“I saw people burning my village. Many were killed in front of me. I was only 13 years old.” — Mohammad Noyeem
Noyeem was referring to atrocities he witnessed firsthand in 2012 when Myanmar’s military helped ethnic Rakhine civilians murder hundreds of Rohingya in Rakhine State.
The Rohingya, a largely Muslim minority ethnic group, has long been oppressed in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. An exclusionary law passed in 1982 by the authoritarian Ne Win regime stripped the Rohingya of their citizenship.
This statelessness became a defining feature of Rohingya life in Myanmar. It meant a lack of access to adequate education and restrictions on their ability to marry and to have children, among other violations of their human rights.
Democratic reforms in 2011 only unshackled long-simmering sectarian hatred. The Rohingya were increasingly demonized as “illegal immigrants” and “terrorists” by radical Buddhist monks and politicians, a United Nations report found.
After the 2012 bloodletting, Myanmar’s government declared a state of emergency in Rakhine State and imposed even harsher restrictions. A ban on gatherings of more than four people. A lockdown on travel. The Rohingya homeland became a massive, open-air prison.
Even youths like Noyeem were subjected to arbitrary violence.
“I was beaten a lot, with my hands tied behind my back.”
Desperate to secure a better life for their son, Noyeem’s parents pushed him to flee Rakhine State in 2015.
This decision meant Noyeem was spared from a more brutal campaign of genocide by Myanmar’s military in 2017. It also set his life path on a divergent trajectory than most Rohingya, a path marked by access to citizenship and formerly unthinkable opportunities in the distant United States.
‘Then The Boat Started Sinking’:Noyeem’s exodus from Myanmar is a Homeric tale of survival.
He walked more than 10 miles north through dense jungle from his village of Thawinchaung to Anauk Myin Hlut on the coast — evading snakes and security checkpoints.
From there, he — like thousands of other Rohingya that year — boarded a smuggler’s boat, bound for the relative safety of Malaysia.
Noyeem said he embarked on Jan. 19, 2015. He didn’t see dry land again for three months.
Denied permission to land by Malaysian and Indonesian coast guards, Noyeem’s boat was abandoned in the Andaman Sea by its captains.
Supplies ran out. Passengers took to drinking seawater. Among the children, about 20 died of dehydration and diarrhea, Noyeem said.
Then the boat started sinking.
“It was something like ‘Titanic.’ I jumped into the water and swam for 5 hours.” ...
* * *
In March 2018, nearly three years after his sea rescue, Noyeem arrived in Portland, Oregon, joining the nearly 10,000 Rohingya who’ve been resettled in the United States within the last two decades, according to publicly available data.
Between January 1, 2002 and August 1, 2019, 8,897 Rohingya refugees were resettled in the U.S.
This American Rohingya diaspora has set down roots in cities as varied as Chicago, Dallas and Milwaukee.
Portland’s own Rohingya community consists of more than 100 families — roughly 1,000 people — clustered along a swath of strip malls and low-rent apartments in the city’s southeastern fringe.
[Article continues with the homeland trauma stories, and current lives, of some of the Rohingya refugees in Portland. It describes their opportunities, aspirations and efforts, and also their regrets, longings and concerns for those left behind. It also notes the actions, by key American politicians, to shape their fate and the fate of those left behind.]
-
REPATRIATION:
Bangladesh needs
deeper political engagement
for Rohingya repatriation,
experts say
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Bangladesh needs to have deeper political engagement with Myanmar as well as allies of both the countries – China, Japan and India – for sustainable solution to Rohingya crisis, experts and diplomats said today.
Apart from Bangladesh government, national and international civil society, non-government organisations (NGOs) and human rights organisations also need to keep up pressure on Myanmar for a sustainable repatriation of the Rohingyas, they said.
The observations came at an event titled “The Rohingya Refugee Crisis: Towards Sustainable Solutions – a book launch and policy colloquium” in capital Dhaka’s BRAC Centre Inn today.
ActionAid Bangladesh, the Centre for Peace and Justice and the Centre for Genocide Studies jointly organised it, two days after the second anniversary of Rohingya influx from Myanmar to Bangladesh following a brutal military crackdown against them in Rakhine state.
While addressing the event, Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, director of Centre for Genocide Studies at Dhaka University, said that Bangladesh needs to get engaged with three countries of Myanmar -- China, Japan and India -- in a much more creative way, to find out a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis.
"Myanmar thinks these three countries are in its pocket," said Prof Imtiaz Ahmed during book launch programme.
He said a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis, and their safe return to Rakhine state, is possible if Myanmar does two things:- amendments to the existing laws, and
- creating a safe zone in Rakhine, with deployment of security personnel from China, Japan and India -- along with the presence of Myanmar security forces.
-
REPATRIATION:
Dhaka to brief diplomats
over Rohingya issue
tomorrow.
- UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)-
(same topic at:
- Dhaka Tribune )
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen will brief the diplomats and representatives of the UN agencies at 4:00pm at State guesthouse Padma in capital Dhaka, said an official.
UN Resident Coordinator in Dhaka Mia Seppoon , Tuesday, said now it is up to the world to help keep it that way, by making sure Bangladesh does not shoulder this burden alone -- as Bangladesh has "certainly done its part" when it comes to the Rohingya crisis.
She said Bangladesh responded with empathy to a group of people who fell victims to hatred, and now the global leadership needs to act.
UN Resident Coordinator said the UN is committed to getting the right for both the Rohingyas and the people of Bangladesh as they deserve the world's support in confronting problems related to Rohingyas.
"Any solution has to be sustainable. Sustainability is not something that can happen overnight. It takes time and thoughtful consideration for how everything we do today will set the stage for what is possible tomorrow," she said.
Despite all the preparations, no Rohingya turned up on August 22 to avail of the "voluntary" repatriation offer given to them to go back to their place of origin in Rakhine State of Myanmar -- prompting the authorities to suspend the repatriation process.
Meanwhile, a meeting of a taskforce was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here today that discussed the current challenges and what steps need to be taken in the coming days, an official told UNB.
The first batch of Rohingyas was scheduled to return on November 15 last year but it was also halted amid the unwillingness of Rohingyas to go back for lack of a congenial environment in Rakhine.
* * *
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation deal on November 23, 2017, but there has been a little progress.
On July 29, Bangladesh handed a fresh list of 25,000 Rohingyas from around 6,000 families to Myanmar for verification before their repatriation to Rakhine state.
With the latest list, Bangladesh has so far handed the names of around 55,000 Rohingyas to the Myanmar authorities and around 8,000 of them have been verified. Myanmar only cleared 3,450 Rohingyas for beginning the repatriation.
On January 16 last year Bangladesh and Myanmar inked a document on "Physical Arrangement", which was supposed to facilitate the return of Rohingyas to their homeland.
The "Physical Arrangement" stipulates that the repatriation will be completed preferably within two years from the start.
-
(same topic at:
- Daily Star (Bangladesh) )
-
REPATRIATION:
Most ASEAN Members Back
Myanmar's Repatriation, Aid Efforts
in Rakhine.
[Myanmar delegate rejects Indonesia's resolution proposal; asserts Myanmar's policy on accepting aid.]
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media, while it has appeared relatively independent, may be subject to the control of the Myanmar military)
CHIANG MAI, Thailand—
The majority of members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) backed Myanmar’s efforts in terms of humanitarian relief and repatriation of Rohingya in western Myanmar -- during the 40th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in Bangkok this week.
Daw Su Su Lwin -- [Myanmar’s] former First Lady cum ruling National League for Democracy lawmaker, who also serves as chief of the Parliament Affairs Empowerment Advisory Group -- is leading Myanmar’s delegation of 19 lawmakers. They are among more than 400 participants at the Aug 25-30 event, including members of ASEAN and observer parliaments, and officials from the AIPA and ASEAN secretariats.
During the assembly, Indonesia proposed for discussion, on Tuesday, a draft resolution on the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. However, the Myanmar delegation rejected it during the AIPA executive meeting on Aug. 25, saying the proposed resolution does not reflect the Myanmar government’s existing efforts there.
“Indonesia responded harshly, and threatened to walk out. They withdrew their resolution, but the other ASEAN member states supported Myanmar’s stand,” said Daw Pyone Kaythi Naing, a member of the Myanmar Parliamentary International Relations Committee, who has been participating in AIPA meetings since 2016.
“We rejected Indonesia’s draft resolution from the political agenda, because we do not accept the action of shaming and blaming specific countries,” she told The Irrawaddy.
* * *
Repatriation programs have been created jointly by Bangladesh and Myanmar, but only a handful of displaced people, mostly Hindus, have come back to the country since 2018. The majority of the Rohingya in Bangladesh’s refugee camps are still reluctant to return.
Rohingya groups have raised security concerns and demanded citizenship for returnees.
The government wants returnees to go through a verification process before being considered for citizenship.
Daw Pyone Kaythi Naing added that the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (known as the AHA Center) has implemented humanitarian and repatriation operations in “a practical, pragmatic and constructive way,” through its preliminary need assessments, since the AHA Center commenced operations in November 2018.
One initiative launched by the AHA Center is the ASEAN-Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT) comprising 10 members from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Myanmar. Implementation of other efforts is ongoing.
“Indonesia is already involved in the [humanitarian response] process and they should not raise such a resolution, which could hamper the existing process,” said Daw Pyone Kaythi Naing, who is also a member of the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine State (UEHRD).
It is the third AIPA assembly at which Myanmar and Indonesia have confronted each other on this issue. It was previously raised in the Philippines in 2017 and in Singapore in 2018. Daw Su Su Lwin, the delegation leader, handled the issue both in Singapore and Thailand.
In previous years, Myanmar’s AIPA delegations have been led by either the Parliament speaker or deputy speakers, but this year they are busy with charter reform efforts at home.
Daw Su Su Lwin delivered an extensive speech to the first plenary session of AIPA on Aug. 26 about the Myanmar government’s humanitarian relief and repatriation efforts for displaced persons, through continuous collaboration, based on memorandums of understanding between the UNDP, UNHCR and Myanmar.
She reiterated Myanmar’s concerns “regarding the misrepresentation and unjust manner” at the global level, in relation to the humanitarian needs of northern Rakhine State.
As Myanmar is in a significant transition towards achieving a genuine democratic federal union through the peace process and charter reforms, Daw Su Su Lwin said, “It is sad that some parts of the global community focus partially through a magnified lens on a single issue, which is only one among a number of other issues of equal import which the current government is trying to address.”
Myanmar lawmakers said Myanmar welcomes support from any country that is willing to help implement recommendations based on the AHA Center’s assessments.
“If people want to know what we are doing, what the challenges are, and to discuss ways to overcome these challenges, we welcome anyone. We have opened various channels at this political forum, at AIPA, in Myanmar’s parliaments and other forums,” added Daw Pyone Kaythi Naing.
She said Myanmar is ready to cooperate either bilaterally or multilaterally with any country, “as long as it does not hurt [Myanmar]’s sovereignty.”
Cooperation with ASEAN is made possible, she said, because the ASEAN community was ready “to help us with a pragmatic approach and without further adding complexity to an already complicated crisis.”
Myanmar is being offered help from other countries too, “but if their offers could be problematic to our already-complex situation, we would not be able to accept it,” the lawmaker said. -
REPATRIATION:
Thailand promises continued support
for Bangladesh.
While calling on [Bangladesh's] prime minister, the Thai ambassador also said she is committed to take Bangladesh-Thailand bilateral relations to a new height.
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Thailand has said it will continue its support to Bangladesh for the swift repatriation of Rohingya refugees.
Newly-appointed Thai Ambassador Arunrung Phothong Humphreys conveyed this message when she called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office on Wednesday.
The prime minister's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim later briefed the media.
He said [Bangladesh's] Prime Minister Hasina termed Rohingyas as "the big burden" for Bangladesh.
"They are citizens of Myanmar [and] must return to their homeland," she said.
Thailand has said it will continue its support to Bangladesh for the swift repatriation of Rohingya refugees.
* * *
She noted that Bangladesh is located at a very strategic position in South Asia. "Bangladesh is the gateway to South Asia for those who will come from the East. It's now a very important country in the regional and international forum."
Prime Minister Hasina assured all out cooperation to the ambassador in discharging her duties in Bangladesh. She expressed deep satisfaction at the present state of bilateral relations between the two countries. ...
-
Semi-official statement:
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Myanmar's Rohingya refugees
commemorate two years of exile.
by Gemma Snowdon, a communications officer for
the United Nations World Food Programme.
- Australian Broadcasting Corp....Many children might celebrate their first birthday in the park, but Tammana and her friends play in front of their shelter made from bamboo and tarpaulin.
Instead of a large birthday cake, Tammana receives a small packet of biscuits.
Instead of a private occasion with family and friends, her gathering is visible to the gaze of hundreds of people who are passing through her family's small section of the camp each hour.
A second anniversary:
As Tammana celebrates a year of life in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar camp, her mother Sahara Khatoun, 28, is also marking a milestone: two years since she fled with her husband from their home in Myanmar, walking for days and days to escape attacks by Burmese forces and reach safety.
Life as they knew it was over.
Rohingya families like Tammana's experienced decades of persecution in Myanmar before a violent crackdown in 2017 forced them to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.
When the Rohingya reached Cox's Bazar, the most impoverished district of Bangladesh, many in the local community opened their arms and doors, sharing what they had with the waves of refugees flooding in.
Most Bangladeshi locals farm small plots of land or work as fishermen.
They top up their incomes with day labouring. Despite having so little, they shared a lot as the waves of refugees kept arriving.
I have spoken to many of the people who were the first to provide assistance and I have found one common theme: everyone emphasised how they could not turn their backs on people who were crossing the border in a state of desperation. They gave what they could. It's always said with an air of nonchalance, as if people are thinking "well what else would I have done? Ignore them?".
This week, two years ago, marks the beginning of the Rohingya crossing the Bangladeshi border, and the stories of what they'd witnessed began filtering out.
By the end of that year more than 700,000 people had fled across the border.
Two years later, much has changed. But much remains the same.
The situation has somewhat stabilised. Access to food and basic services is now relatively reliable.
Threat from extreme weather:
Camp conditions are improving as ongoing engineering work mitigates the near constant threat of disaster in the camps with one monsoon and two cyclone seasons each year.
Aid organisations are well-prepared for these climate events with food stocks stored around the camp for minor or major emergencies.
Work to reduce the impact of bad weather, like paving roads, creating better drainage systems, and stabilising potentially dangerous slopes, has been constant and continues.
Yet Rohingya refugees remain vulnerable.
While summer is the season many across the world look forward to, in Cox's Bazar heavy monsoon rains bring dread.
In early July a week of rain left thousands displaced due to flooding and landslides.
Some stayed with family and friends while their shelters were repaired, others took refuge in camp learning centres or other temporary accommodation. Those whose homes are damaged beyond repair will be assigned a new shelter.
More than 52,000 people have been affected by extreme weather since the start of the monsoon. The World Food Program assisted more than 12,000 refugees in July alone by delivering extra food.
It isn't only fear of climate related events that looms large, though.For the vast majority of refugees everyday life totally dependent on aid organisations.
Without ongoing international support the situation would become increasingly desperate.
While many had homes and farms in Myanmar, now the Rohingya live in tiny shelters with limited privacy and no access to livelihoods or income.
For every step forward, it can sometimes seem that two steps back soon follow.
A widespread vertical gardening project set up in limited space across the camps provides fresh vegetables. But heavy rains washed many of the gardens away and brought everyone back to square one.
Despite the precarious situation the sense of community among Rohingya in the camp is strong. Families seldom complain and are quick to open their homes and hearts to anyone who approaches their shelter.
People in the camps are very aware that their survival, as well as that of their children, is dependent on the continued support and generosity of the world.
Getting the message out:
Many are doing what they can to ensure their story is not forgotten.
Rohingya news networks streaming news and opinions from people in the camps, and an increasingly vocal new generation of aspiring journalists, are broadcasting in English to international audiences.
They have growing numbers of followers on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.
In early-2019 WFP trained 30 young men and women in storytelling and content creation for social media.
The WFP Storytellers, as they're known, spend their days documenting life in the camps and sharing it with the world.
The opportunity to share their stories with the world is something the Rohingya have spent decades fighting for.
Most of us have an identity that is recognised by those around us, we have citizenship and a place to call home, we have the ability to voice our opinions and practice our religion. But these are things the Rohingya have never experienced.
It sometimes seems as though a new normal has emerged in the lives of Myanmar's Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar.
Communities have formed, daily errands need to be completed, and family celebrations happen.
But it's important to remember that
life as a refugee is not normal.Hundreds of thousands of people have had their lives turned upside down, and have no idea what the future holds.
Most want to return to Myanmar but they don't believe the conditions are right for their return.
They want citizenship, access to education, and recognition of their identities. And if the day comes for their return, it must be voluntary, safe and dignified.
The citizens of Cox's Bazar are commemorating two years of their new life this week. It was remembered it as a sombre occasion, full of pain and loss.
But they wonder whether the rest of the world remembers them too.
-
ANALYSIS:
Rohingya Crisis:
Cost of being a generous host
ROHINGYA GENOCIDE & WORLD'S HYPOCRISY:
Myanmar guilty, Bangladesh victim.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[DETAILED ILLUSTRATED ANALYSIS OF THE COSTS BORNE BY BANGLADESH, AS HOST TO THE ROHINGYA REFUGEES.]
-
HISTORY, ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Myanmar's Rohingya refugees
commemorate two years of exile.
- Australian Broadcasting Corp. (Australia)
............................................-
(same topic at:
- Official statement:
Human Rights Watch ) -
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
Rohingya crisis:
Population exploding
as 91,000 babies are born
in two years.
'A child is a gift from Allah, and we wanted it so that we can forget our sorrow'
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
* * *
...The family planning district unit said, despite their hectic effort to raise awareness about the importance of birth control, it appears that Rohingya refugees are not interested in the matter.
An NGO health care outreach volunteer from the host community said, while working with an International NGOs, she found that they could convince women to adopt birth control methods, but their partners did not let them do so, saying it is against their religious belief.
The reporter found the same while talking to 52 years old Rohingya Abdul Majid, who took shelter in Madhuchhara camp of Ukhiya. He said, "A child is a gift of Allah and it is unethical to stop the birth of a child by taking medicines."
Dr Borhan Uddin working in camp 11 said they have observed that most of the pregnant woman near the Friendship hospital in the camp came to take treatment during their pregnancy, many of them even came four times before the child birth.
Dr Ayesha Kabir working at camp 29 in Teknaf said: “Rohingya women are more prone to pregnancy. They do not like to discuss about family planning. The refugee problem is becoming more and more complex. Most of them gave birth in [their own] shelter,” she added.
The family planning unit of Cox's Bazar said, the government is taking three approaches --- condom, contraceptive pills and injections.
Aid workers of family planning said the women are not willing to use pills. Condom and injections are being used by some of the refugees.
* * *
Pintu said, according to their information, there are 10,000 women pregnant inside the camp at the moment.
However, the civil surgeon said the level of awareness is not very hopeful, as the level of using birth control method only rose to 36 percent from 13 percent. -
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY:
Official report:
Bangladesh:
Parents fear for lost generation
of Rohingya children.
[A.I. expresses concerns for Rohingya refugee children deprived of any education, and harsh living conditions for all Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and threat of relocation to a dangerous island.]
- Amnesty International
Two years after a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign forced around 700,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh, refugees are still trapped in unbearable conditions in overcrowded camps, Amnesty International said in a new briefing.
[The A.I. briefing -- ] “I don’t know what my future will be”: Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh -- warns that a ‘lost generation’ of Rohingya children are being systematically denied an education in Bangladesh -- and documents the sense of hopelessness and uncertainty expressed by many young people in the camps.
Amnesty International is calling on the Bangladeshi government to lift restrictions that limit the enjoyment of refugees’ rights. The organization also calls on the international community to support Bangladesh in pursuing longer-term solutions to help Rohingya refugees rebuild their lives.
* * *
“There is a very real danger of a lost generation of Rohingya refugee children. The Bangladeshi government refuses to accept that Rohingya refugees may not be able to return to Myanmar for some time, and places restrictions on their lives -- including denying children the right to quality education. Even those who have lived in Bangladesh for decades still cannot send their children to school, or move around freely,” said Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty International.
“Many people we spoke to had spent nearly two years in makeshift shelters which offer no protection from monsoon floods or soaring temperatures. As well as the daily challenges created by the difficult conditions in the camps, people are being pushed to breaking point by the lack of opportunities and uncertainty about the future."
With the situation for Rohingya in Myanmar still dire, Amnesty International is calling on the Bangladeshi government to look beyond emergency measures and develop a long-term response to respect and protect the rights of refugees.
* * *
No school for Rohingya children:
It is estimated that nearly half, of the roughly one million Rohingya refugees residing in Bangladesh, are under the age of eighteen. Most fled from Myanmar with their families in the aftermath of the wave of violent attacks against their villages that began in late August 2017, and have been in Bangladesh for around two years. Others were born in Bangladesh.
Opportunities for education in Bangladesh have always been extremely limited for Rohingya children -- both with respect to the education facilities that have been allowed to operate in the camps, and permission for registered Rohingya students to attend local Bangladeshi schools.“ There are no classes to attend, and nothing to do. How long can this go on? ”
In January 2019, the Bangladeshi government issued a notice that secondary schools near Cox’s Bazar were to expel their Rohingya students, who were listed by name. Mohamed, living in Nayapara Camp, described his daughter’s devastation at this development.~ Saeed, 17 years old
“She enjoyed going to school, and was learning so much. I encouraged her to keep studying. It is so important that daughters get the same opportunities for education as our sons do. And when they said the Rohingya children could not go to school any more she came home in tears.”
The Bangladeshi government maintains that offering comprehensive education would encourage refugees to remain in Bangladesh rather than return to Myanmar. Other than “child friendly spaces,” and learning centres that offer playtime and early primary school lessons, education for Rohingya refugees in the camps -- or in local schools nearby -- is prohibited by the Bangladeshi government.
This is a stark violation of one of the most crucial of these children’s’ human rights - the right to education - and will have untold consequences for their futures. Young people in the camps described feeling hopeless about the future. ...
-
REPATRIATION:
OPINION:
Insistence on Voluntary
Rohingya Repatriation to Myanmar
Lacks 'Moral Imagination'
['Voluntary repatriation' is not a viable solution. Emigration to other countries is.]
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This publication may be subject to Myanmar military control, although it has seemed largely independent, in the past.)
The International Donors are meeting frequently to discuss the 1 million Rohingya refugees sitting in the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazaar. The strange assertion that “the refugees will go home to Rakhine, soon, voluntarily, because we have a plan” is again being recycled; apparently there is even a draft plan to send back 500,000 in the next two years.
Added to...- the insistence on voluntary repatriation
...are proposals that... - the Annan Report be adopted,
...and [that]... - there be an international criminal investigation of Myanmar’s army.
How any one of these three recommendations will lead to a lasting resolution for any Rohingya refugees is beyond me.
At the risk of pointing out the obvious:- few refugees are going to voluntarily repatriate to Rakhine;
- the Annan report was issued before the 2017 flight, to address the earlier 2012 exodus; and
- whether or not there are war crimes trials in the distant future is irrelevant to refugees stuck in refugee camps now.
Repeating such a tired formula shows the lack of imagination on the part of advocates like UK Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson and the UNHCR, who cannot imagine a solution that requires anyone except powerless refugees to take risks.
The rhetoric of the international community about the Rohingya is familiar to those who study refugee crises:- A group flees a country because they are persecuted.
- A second country receives them initially with generosity.
- But soon concerns about security, financial costs and “burden sharing” are raised.
- The international refugee relief regime then establishes “temporary” refugee camps to address humanitarian concerns highlighted by CNN and the international media.
- And then a few months later, refugees who are deathly afraid are told everything has changed, and they should go [back] “voluntarily” to the place they fled. (For the Rohingya this is burned out villages, and unbuilt IDP camps controlled by the government they fled in the first place.)
This happened recently in Cox’s Bazaar in 2017-2018.
In fact it is also what happened in Cox’s Bazaar in 1978, 1991-1992 and 2012-2013,
which is perhaps why Rohingya refugees today are wary of voluntary repatriation schemes
—such schemes are dangerous for refugees!
Refugees also know that repatriation schemes were catastrophic for refugees in:- Congo in 1994-1996,
- Palestinians in 1948,
- Europeans after 1945;
- Central Americans
and - Syrians
The peace scholar John Paul Lederach writes about such situations.
He points out that lasting peace is likely to emerge only if there is a “moral imagination.”A lack of moral imagination is what Robert Chatterton Dickson from the UK High Commission, international NGOs, Human Rights Watch, and the UNHCR, have -- as they continue to recycle old “solutions.” They do not have the imagination to make moral demands on their own publics. And so, refugees are urged to risk “voluntary” repatriation, and home countries like Myanmar are pressured to comply.
What might a moral imagination look like in the case of the Rohingya?It might mean Chatterton’s UK takes in 50,000 Rohingya refugees across two years as an example to ASEAN nations, China and other Western countries. This is difficult in Brexit-obsessed Britain, but no more so than in other countries challenged to follow Britain’s lead. And in fact these countries have decades of successful refugee resettlement programs for Indochinese, Europeans, Latin Americans, Africans and others.
Certainly, it is easier to imagine this type of burden-sharing leading to a permanent solution, than it is for Myanmar’s NLD to successfully repatriate over 1 million Rohingya (or even 500,000) into a politically volatile Rakhine State, where smaller schemes failed in the recent past.
The problem is that the UNHCR simplistically frames “durable solutions” as a “choice” between:- voluntary repatriation,
- permanent second country resettlement,
- third country resettlement.
- the insistence on voluntary repatriation
In fact, there are other, scarier, “likely solutions” to refugee crises, which refugees fear more. Among such “solutions” are
- new persecution,
- return flight,
...and, in the case of the Rohingya: - being displaced again by the inevitable typhoon.
But the biggest catastrophe refugees fear is the situation that occurred in 1996-1997 when Rwandan refugees were forcibly repatriated after about two years in Congo. About 1 million were resettled in Rwanda, but some 300,000 turned eastward, most dying in the Congolese forest. Hundreds of thousands also fled into cities of neighboring countries, surreptitiously resettling. If that was not bad enough, The First and Second Congo wars were triggered, in which 4-5 million “excess deaths” occurred between 1996-2004.
This is only the worst recent example.
Today, premature repatriations are forced in Central America by the United States, and in the Mediterranean by the European Union. Refugees are the ones that pay the highest costs up front, not the international donors.
Still, most refugee situations are eventually resolved -- albeit rarely in ways focusing solely on one of the three solutions, as the international refugee relief regime asserts.
Rare is resolution by the “repatriation only” formula, which is akin to “putting the toothpaste back in the tube.”
For example:
-
In Europe, after World War II, it took about 14 years to clear 10 million or more people from refugee camps. These refugees resettled in their home countries, other European countries, or third countries like the United States and Israel. There was first, second and third country resettlement.
-
The Indochinese refugee crisis was largely settled between 1978 and 1995 with a combination of repatriation (particularly of Cambodians, who only went after a peace agreement establishing the 1992-1993 UN mandate over Cambodia), surreptitious resettlement within Southeast Asia, and at least 1 million sent to Western countries, and China.
-
Most recently, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany imaginatively, and at great political risk, admitted about 1 million Middle Eastern refugees, mainly from Syria. Turkey, a country of second settlement, does better and is accommodating 2.7 million Syrians, 90 percent living outside camps.
-
There are also about 3 million
Venezuelan refugees today, of whom about 1 million are in Colombia.
But sadly, little moral imagination is generated to address the Rohingya refugee crisis.
The international community jumps quickly to the conclusion that “we’re tired”; as if Bangladesh and Myanmar—not to mention the refugees themselves—are not. The result is that tired diplomacy is reflexive and the risks that are inherent to mass repatriation operations go unacknowledged.
The West, China, Bangladesh and other South Asian or ASEAN nations -- with billions of people -- could easily take in substantial proportions of the world’s refugees. And of course, Myanmar will take back a good proportion in the event of a durable peace, just like Cambodia did.
In the meantime to Myanmar there will be only a few thousand here, and a few thousand there (or fewer) despite the grand ambitions of the international refugee relief regime.
What is needed first, though, is an acknowledgment by the UNHCR that the doctrine of “voluntary repatriation only” does not work. Resolution requires a moral imagination, rather than insisting on policies that have already failed repeatedly.
Sure, perhaps Bangladesh and Myanmar can move 500,000 refugees back in the next two years. But does anyone really believe that such a solution is durable?
- Envoy: China to play more constructive role to resolve Rohingya crisis;
- [Bangladesh] Foreign minister to brief diplomats this afternoon;
- [Bangladesh Foreign Ministry is meeting to discuss next moves.]
Newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Li Jiming, has said China will play a more constructive role in resolving the Rohingya crisis.
He made the remarks while talking to reporters after his maiden meeting with Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen at his officeon Thursday.
They discussed a number of important issues, including ways to find a sustainable solution to Rohingya crisis.
* * *
China, which was on the ground during the latest repatriation attempt, is now trying to have a trilateral meeting with Bangladesh and Myanmar to find new ways to deal with the repatriation issue, said a diplomatic source.
Rohingya crisis:
[repatriation history overview]
* * *
The first batch of Rohingyas was scheduled to return on November 15 last year but it was also halted amid the unwillingness of Rohingyas to go back citing a lack of congenial atmosphere in Rakhine State.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation deal on November 23, 2017, but there has been little progress.
On July 29, Bangladesh handed a fresh list of 25,000 Rohingyas, from around 6,000 families, to Myanmar for verification before their repatriation.
With the latest list, Bangladesh has so far handed the names of around 55,000 Rohingyas to the Myanmar authorities, and around 8,000 of them have been verified. Myanmar only cleared 3,450 Rohingyas for beginning the repatriation.
On January 16, 2018 Bangladesh and Myanmar inked a document on Physical Arrangement, which was supposed to facilitate the return of Rohingyas to their homeland. The Physical Arrangement stipulates that the repatriation will be completed preferably within two years from the start.
Briefing diplomats:
Meanwhile, Bangladesh will brief diplomats stationed in Dhaka about the latest update on the situation of the Rohingya, on Thursday afternoon, after two failed attempts to begin the repatriation of the displaced people.
Foreign Minister Dr Momen will brief the diplomats and representatives of the UN agencies at 4pm at State guesthouse Padma in the city.
The briefing may focus on the issue of the latest thwarted repatriation attempt due to the intransigence attitude of Myanmar, a senior official told UNB.
It may also highlight Myanmar’s blame game and the need to keep up the international pressure on Myanmar, especially on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly that begins in September, the official said.
UN Resident Coordinator in Dhaka, Mia Seppo, on Tuesday, said it is now up to the world to help keep it that way, by making sure Bangladesh does not shoulder this burden alone as it has certainly done its part when it comes to the Rohingya crisis.
She said Bangladesh responded with empathy to a group of people who fell victims to hatred, and now the global leadership needs to act.
[She] said the UN is committed to getting the rights for both the Rohingyas and the people of Bangladesh as they deserve the world’s support in confronting problems related to Rohingyas.
“Any solution has to be sustainable. Sustainability is not something that can happen overnight. It takes time and thoughtful consideration,because everything we do today will set the stage for what’s possible tomorrow,” she added.
Meanwhile, a meeting of a taskforce was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here on Wednesday that discussed the current challenges and what steps need to be taken in the coming days, an official told UNB.
Bangladesh’s key missions abroad will also brief the respective countries on the Rohingya issue, to expedite the process in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis.
-
(same topic at:
- Daily Star (Bangladesh) )
[Bangladesh] Govt prefers
diplomatic engagement with Myanmar
over war.
[Obaidul Quader, General Secretary of the Awami League (Bangladesh's ruling party), who is also Road Transport and Bridges Minister, says the Bangladesh government prefers diplomatic engagement with Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya Crisis, rather than war.
He also criticizes the BNP (opposition party) for its recent critique of the Awami League -- saying the BNP hasn't used its own opportunties to exercise diplomacy to resolve the matter, despite contact with foreign diplomats.]
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said that Bangladesh does not want to engage in war with Myanmar over Rohingya repatriation.
“We do not want send the Rohingya people to their homes through a war. Diplomatic overture is on and Rohingya refugees will be sent to Myanmar through diplomatic activity,” said Quader.
He made the statement while addressing a discussion program arranged by the Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) to mark national mourning day at the BMA auditorium in the capital on Thursday.
Obaidul Quader, who is also a Cabinet minister, was highly critical of the opposition BNP saying that it used to hold meeting with diplomats on a regular basis but BNP did not raise concern to foreign representatives over Rohingya crisis in last two years.
He said: “BNP is now alleging that Bangladesh government failed to send back Rohingyas to Myanmar due to diplomatic failure.”
He claimed that Awami League led government has been determined in its effort with the international community to send the Rohingya refugees back .
The ruling party general secretary also alleged that BNP is now proposing a national unity over Rohingya issues for political advantages.
He said: “When the whole world is pressuring on Myanmar and people of Bangladesh are united over the issue --- on the contrary, BNP has been trying to downplay the initiative in the name of national unity.”
The government is actively engaged in finding a solution to the Rohingya issue so that the displaced community could go back their motherland, he added.
-
[RCN Editor's note:
Bangladesh is not exactly well-positioned to engage in any war with Myanmar/Burma, which has a military more than double the size of Bangladesh's, and whose military has the close and emphatic support of China. Myanmar/Burma is a country of much greater land area and resources, compared to the severely overcrowded, much-smaller Bangladesh, and Myanmar's military has extensive recent combat experience, battling insurgents.
~ RCN editor]
-
Lighting the way to education
in a refugee camp.
‘Big mothers,’ ‘big sisters’ are impacting early childhood development of Rohingya children.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
................................. -
Rohingya Crisis:
Be more active, aggressive.
Dhaka urges international community to help hammer out sustainable solution to Rohingya crisis.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)-
(same topic at:
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
“Global leadership and international organisations have to be more active to compel Myanmar to make arrangements for the Rohingya return,” [Bangladesh] Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said yesterday.
“They [global leadership] also have responsibilities. We have appealed to them to be more aggressive and take initiatives to address the crisis,” he told reporters after a meeting, with foreign diplomats, and representatives, of the UN and other international bodies, in Dhaka.
It’s not a problem for Bangladesh only, but for the entire world too, he noted.
Asked about the international community’s response, he said they lauded Bangladesh for the way it is handling the crisis.
“The whole world is recognising what we have done,” Momen said referring to comments made by the foreign diplomats at the meeting.
He also communicated to the international community that Myanmar has been playing a blame game after the second attempt to repatriate Rohingyas failed.
None of the 1,276 Rohingyas of 339 families, interviewed by the UNHCR, volunteered to return to their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine State on August 22.
A similar repatriation bid also failed on November 15 last year as the Rohingyas said they had no guarantee of citizenship, safety or freedom of movement.
Since August 25, 2017, more than 743,000 Rohingyas fled violence in Rakhine and took shelter in Bangladesh. They joined some 300,000 others, who had fled previous waves of violence in Rakhine and took refuge in Cox’s Bazar. The coastal district is facing economic, environmental and social challenges due to the huge influx of refugees.
Momen came down hard on Myanmar for its August 22 press release in which it squarely blamed Bangladesh for what it said was the failure to send back the displaced people.
“Myanmar claimed that Bangladesh didn’t comply with the arrangements. In that context, we told the international community that we did all we could do.
“It is Myanmar’s responsibility, not ours, to convince the Rohingyas to return to their homeland voluntarily. They didn’t go to Myanmar because it didn’t play its due role,” he mentioned.
“Our responsibility is to arrange logistics. And we have done that. Myanmar gave a list of 3,450 Rohingyas and we immediately gave it to the UNHCR to learn about their willingness to return home. Representatives of Myanmar and China were also involved in the entire process. They have seen it.”
The foreign minister further said all the arrangements made by Bangladesh are transparent.
Referring to Myanmar’s claim that it created an environment conducive to Rohingya return in Rakhine, Momen said, “The Rohingyas don’t trust Myanmar. Myanmar should allow the UN and other international agencies to visit Rakhine State, and see their arrangements.
“Take the leaders of the Rohingya community and show them what you have done,” he said pointing at the Myanmar authorities.
“They [Rohingyas] are worried because they were persecuted there. They want safety, security and free mobility. Myanmar has repeatedly assured us that if the Rohingyas return [to Rakhine], they will ensure these.”
Myanmar should be accommodative on those demands and enhance its trustworthiness, the foreign minister said.
Asked about China’s fresh move to arrange a trilateral meeting between Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China, he said the date and the venue were yet to be fixed.
Momen also said the new Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Li Jiming, had a meeting with him at the foreign ministry yesterday and assured him of a more constructive role by Beijing in the Rohingya repatriation.
“The Chinese leaders agree that the repatriation of the Rohingyas is the solution. They say Myanmar has created the problem and it has to solve it. China is with us.”
Asked if the world community is shifting focus from the Rohingya crisis, he replied in the negative, and said they are supporting Bangladesh and the global opinion is in its favour.
Bangladesh has received a little more than a third of $920 million required for providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees this year.
“Foreign aid usually comes towards the end of the year. The same could happen this time too,” Momen said.
Asked about the allegations that some NGOs are discouraging Rohingyas to return to Rakhine, he said the government will take action if it finds evidence of such activity by any NGO.
On claims of presence of armed groups inside the camps, he said the government has no information about it.
He, however, said the authorities recently learnt about a group that made some sharp weapons at a camp.
“We are collecting more information on the group. They will be brought to book,” Momen said.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque were also present at the briefing.
-
(same topic at:
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
...which adds:
Dr Momen also talked about a proposed trilateral engagement involving Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.
Referring to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent visit to China, and her meetings with the Chinese president and the premier -- and his [own] meeting with the Chinese foreign minister -- [Bangladesh Foreign Minister] Dr Momen said [that] all the Chinese leaders had said that the repatriation of the Rohingyas was the only solution, and that Myanmar had created the problem and Myanmar would have to solve this problem.
“China said: ‘We are with you [Bangladesh] in this regard,’” he added.
The minister went on to say: “China is saying both Bangladesh and Myanmar are their friendly countries. They said they would work with Bangladesh and Myanmar as a third party to solve this problem. Their [Chinese] ambassador has said that thing. They said, if necessary, to take them onboard so they can help solve the problem.”
To a question, he said: “The date is yet to be fixed. Now, he [the Chinese ambassador] will talk to Myanmar before coming back to us.”
About the aborted repatriation attempt, Dr Momen said he had told the diplomats that Bangladesh had done what needed to be done.
“It is the responsibility of Myanmar to convince the Rohingyas to go to Rakhine voluntarily. Rohingyas did not go as Myanmar could not fulfil their obligation. Our job was to provide logistics, which we did,” he said, adding that Myanmar had no reason to blame Bangladesh.
“The representatives of Myanmar and Chinese governments were involved with the entire process. They have seen. We are transparent with nothing to hide,” said the minister.
“Myanmar has said that they have created a conducive environment. But their people do not trust them. There is a trust deficit. And, Myanmar has failed to reduce the trust deficit,” he said suggesting that Myanmar should take people international and national media, people from UN agencies and some Rohingya community leaders who are called “Majhis,” to show that the safety, security and mobility of the Rohingyas were ensured.
“The Rohingyas are worried as in the past they were oppressed and people were killed. They want full safety and security and full mobility. Myanmar has assured us of full safety and security and full mobility. If this is so, why don’t you show to others. What there are saying needs to be proved and they should take the lead,” said Dr Momen.
“We are ever ready to send these people back. But, it is Myanmar which has to encourage them to return and ensure safety and security. About the other demands raised by Rohingyas, Myanmar should be more accommodative,” he said. )
-
Minister:
41 NGOs withdrawn
from Rohingya camps.
[Bangladesh government suspects them of helping to organize the August 25th rallies of Rohingya refugees that commemorated the second anniversary of the Crisis -- and at which Rohingya leaders spoke to crowds about their demands before repatriation.]
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
............................................ -
BMPCA:
Rohingyas organizing themselves
using telecom network illegally.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
............................................
|
HIGH ACTIVITY - DELAYED POSTS The late spring & summer of 2019 have been months of unusually high activity in Rohingya Crisis affairs... with an unusual gush of significant news:
(with much political noise & numerous media articles). At the same time, the RCN editor has been challenged with other responsibilities, resource limitations, technical problems, and other issues, limiting the pace at which RCN can be updated. Consequently, some articles are not being discovered or posted until days, weeks, or even months after their publication -- and must be inserted into RCN long afterwards (though they are still posted under the original date of publication, give or take a day). Assuming good luck for all, this will change, soon -- and we are working to make it so. In the meantime, whenever you check RCN for the "latest" Rohingya Crisis news, please be sure to at least scan back over the last few weeks' entries, in case an important older story has finally been posted. Thank you for your
~ RCN Editor. |
- 2019 Sept. 1 - Sunday
-
[Bangladesh] Govt probing
Aug 25 Rohingya rally,
roles of NGOs.
3-member team asked to submit report within 7 working days.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The [Bangladesh] government has launched an investigation into the much-talked-about rally of the Rohingyas (in their settlements on August 25, to commemorate the two years of their latest exodus) -- and [also launched an investigation into] the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in organising the gathering, as well as their activities.
In this regard, a three-member probe committee was formed on Tuesday (August 27), and it has been asked to submit the report within seven working days.
"Yes, I formed a three-member committee on Tuesday to look into the issue related to the rally, and the role of NGOs in organising that gathering, and their overall functioning in connection with the crisis," Abul Kalam, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) based in Cox’s Bazar, told Dhaka Tribune.
"The committee, headed by an Additional RRRC, has been asked to submit its report," he said.
About the terms of reference for the committee, Kalam, also an Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, and the top government man on the ground in terms of dealing with the Rohingya crisis, said: "Apart from the circumstances surrounding the rally on August 25, and the roles of NGOs, the probe team will explore ways how to stop such things from happening in the future."
"The committee will also find the areas of improvement with regards to coordination between different departments of the government working on the issue," he said.
Earlier, a senior Foreign Ministry official told this correspondent that the ministry referred this matter to the Ministry of Disaster Management, suggesting an inquiry.
About 100,000 displaced Rohingya people attended the rally on August 26, causing a stir among the locals, and the government itself.
Many NGOs were blamed for helping the Rohingyas in organising such a big gathering. They were also blamed for provoking the displaced people not to return to Rakhine.
According to Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, 41 NGOs have been withdrawn from the activities in the Rohingya settlements in Cox’s Bazar.
There was also a certain degree of controversy due to differences in the statements provided by the individuals belonging to the government.
For instance, Foreign Minister Dr Momen claimed, after the Rohingya rally, that the government did not know about it, while documentary evidence shows that the rally had taken place with the full knowledge of the Cox’s Bazar district administration.
-
(same topic at:
- Daily Star (Bangladesh) )
-
Uproar over smart (NID) card
of Rohingya killed in 'gunfight.'
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
..................................... -
Myanmar Army Says
to Punish Soldiers
in Rohingya Atrocities Probe.
- Reuters / New York Times
YANGON — Myanmar's army will court-martial soldiers, after a new finding in an inquiry into atrocities in Rakhine state, from which more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled a 2017 army-led campaign [that] the United Nations says was executed with "genocidal intent".
On Saturday, the website of Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing said a military court that visited the northern state found soldiers had shown "weakness in following instructions in some incidents" at a village said to have been a Rohingya massacre site.
In 2018, the Associated Press news agency reported the existence of at least five graves of Rohingya in the village, Gutarpyin, in the township of Buthidaung.
But government officials at the time said 19 "terrorists" had died and their bodies were "carefully buried".
On Sunday, military spokesman Tun Tun Nyi told Reuters the investigation's findings were secret.
"We don’t have the right to know about it," he said by telephone. "They will release another statement about it when the procedure is finished."
The court, comprising a major-general and two colonels, was formed in March to respond to accusations of mass killings, rape and arson by the security forces made by the United Nations and rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
It visited Rakhine twice in July and August.
Myanmar forces had launched their offensive in Rakhine in response to a series of attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security posts near the Bangladesh border.
Last year a U.N. fact-finding mission said the military campaign was orchestrated with "genocidal intent", and recommended charging Min Aung Hlaing and five other generals with the "gravest crimes under international law".
Myanmar has denied the accusations -- although Min Aung Hlaing said last month a number of security men may have been involved.
A previous military investigation in 2017 exonerated the security forces of any crimes.
Myanmar is facing growing international calls for accountability over the Rakhine campaign.
The International Criminal Court has opened a preliminary examination into the violence, while a panel formed by Myanmar that includes Philippine diplomat Rosario Manalo and Japan's former U.N. envoy, Kenzo Oshima, is due to publish its findings.
-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
[Bangladesh] Govt probing
- 2019 Sept. 2 - Monday
-
BTRC asks mobile phone operators
to stop services
in Rohingya camps.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
....................................
-
BTRC asks mobile phone operators
- 2019 Sept. 3 - Tuesday
-
UN rights investigator on Myanmar
lambasts Suu Kyi
over Rohingya crisis.
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
SEOUL. South Korea:
Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has washed her hands of the Rohingya crisis, a United Nations rights investigator said, on Tuesday (Sep 3) -- ahead of a meeting between South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and the tarnished democracy icon, [Suu Kyi].
Yanghee Lee, a university professor in Seoul who is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights to Myanmar, said Suu Kyi was "terribly misguided and misinformed" about the abuses against the stateless Muslim minority in her country.
The Nobel laureate was under house arrest for years when Myanmar was a military dictatorship before her party won elections in 2015 by a landslide, in the first fully free vote for generations.
Hopes were high that she would usher in a new era of freedom, but more than 740,000 Rohingya have since been driven out of the Buddhist-majority country and into Bangladesh in a 2017 army crackdown.
The US in July banned Myanmar's army chief Min Aung Hlaing and other officers for their role in the campaign of "ethnic cleansing".
Suu Kyi was spared from the sanctions but no longer deserved to be called a democracy activist, Lee told AFP.
"She should step up and really speak out for the treatment that the Rohingya had suffered for decades," she told AFP.
"It's time for her to speak out and use the word, call them the way they identify themselves as the Rohingya."
Myanmar calls the persecuted minority "Bengali", treating them as illegal interlopers from Bangladesh and refusing to grant them citizenship or basic rights.
Lee - who has been banned from entering Myanmar over her criticism of its government - was speaking as South Korea's Moon, a former democracy activist himself, was due to meet Suu Kyi later Tuesday as part of a tour of Southeast Asia.
South Korea is the sixth-largest foreign investor in Myanmar, but Lee said that meant Seoul was "inadvertently contributing" to rights violations against Rohingya and urged Moon to be "principled" during the encounter.
"Our president enjoys a great history of being a human rights lawyer," said Lee. "But I'm afraid he hasn't been really speaking out for human rights for people.
"I think it's a shame that we are joining the bandwagon of other countries that looks out for ... their countries' economic interest before the suffering of the people," she said, describing the Rohingya crisis as the "worst case of ethnic genocide in the 21st century".
-
Myanmar Forces Rohingya to Accept [ID] Cards
That Preclude Citizenship Group.
- Reuters / New York Times
YANGON — Myanmar authorities are forcing members of the Rohingya Muslim minority -- at gunpoint -- to accept identity cards that categorize them as foreigners, stripping them of the chance to become citizens, a rights group said on Tuesday.
Myanmar has drawn global condemnation for its treatment of the Rohingya -- and the report by the group Fortify Rights, on the campaign to make them accept National Verification Cards (NVCs), is likely to compound concerns about their treatment.
"The Myanmar government is trying to destroy the Rohingya people through an administrative process that effectively strips them of basic rights," said Matthew Smith, the group's chief executive officer.
The government has coerced Rohingya to accept the NVCs, "which effectively identify Rohingya as 'foreigners'," the group said.
"Myanmar authorities tortured Rohingya, and imposed restrictions on Rohingya freedom of movement, in the context of implementing the NVC process," it said.
The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar has denied citizenship to most Rohingya, who are generally seen as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, even though many trace their roots in Rakhine State in western Myanmar back for generations.
* * *
Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay was not immediately available for comment.
Military spokesman Major General Tun Tun Nyi dismissed accusations that anyone was being forced to accept the cards at gunpoint, or through torture.
"It is not true, and so I have nothing else to say," he told Reuters by telephone.
The issue could have implications for prospects for the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Many say they will not go back unless their security can be guaranteed, and they can be sure of being granted citizenship.
Last year, a U.N. fact-finding mission said the 2017 military campaign in Rakhine State was orchestrated with "genocidal intent" , and recommended charging the military’s Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, and five other generals, with the "gravest crimes under international law" .
Myanmar has denied the accusations, although Min Aung Hlaing said, last month, a number of security men may have been involved.
-
Bangladesh may 'force' 100,000 Rohingya
to resettle on uninhabited island.
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
........................................ -
Bangladesh Blocks Internet Services
in Rohingya Refugee Camps.
- Reuters / New York Times-
(same topic at:
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
(updated Sept. 10) )
DHAKA — Bangladesh's telecom regulatory authority, on Tuesday, ordered mobile phone operators to partially block high-speed data services to areas where Rohingya refugees are living in sprawling camps, citing security concerns following recent violence in the area.
The move came following a spike in violent crime in the southern district of Cox's Bazar, where more than one million Rohingya are sheltered.
"We have asked the operators to stop 3G and 4G services from 5pm to 6am in the camps in Cox's Bazar," said Zakir Hossain Khan, spokesman for the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), adding the decision had been made for security reasons.
"They have also been asked to inform us by Sept. 9 what measures they are taking to withdraw the SIMs that are being used by the Rohingya community and what they will do to stop selling SIMs to them," he added.
The operators were [initially] asked on Sunday to block mobile services and stop selling mobile SIMs to the Rohingya.
The order to stop mobile services had been reissued following reports of providing mobile phone services to Rohingya through selling of SIM cards by carriers defying a government ban, Khan said.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar's Rakhine state for Bangladesh after a military-led crackdown in August 2017 that the United Nations has said was perpetrated with "genocidal intent" . Myanmar has denied almost all the allegations.
Efforts to begin repatriating 3,450 Rohingya cleared by Myanmar failed on Aug. 22 after none agreed to go, almost a year after a similar effort failed amid protests.
But with continuing uncertainty over their return to Myanmar, refugees in Bangladesh are being drawn towards drugs and violent crime, according to officials.
Tensions are running high in the camps after a youth wing leader from Bangladesh's ruling Awami League party was killed last week, allegedly by Rohingya refugees, and at least four Rohingya were shot dead by police.
"We are working round-the-clock to maintain safety and security in the camps. But the situation is getting worse day by day," said Iqbal Hossain, additional superintendent of police in Cox’s Bazar.
Rohingya refugees said the communication blackout will isolate Rohingya from family in Myanmar.
"Why Bangladesh is being too harsh towards us? How we will communicate with our relatives in Myanmar?," Abdur Rahim, a Rohingya leader in Cox's Bazar, told Reuters by phone.
"This will have a bad impact on crimes also. How will we inform the police immediately if any crimes are happening in the camps?"
Bangladesh has four mobile companies that include Grameenphone, majority owned by Norwegian telecoms group Telenor; Robi Axiata; Telecom Ventures’s Banglalink; and state-owned Teletalk.
The operators did not immediately respond to requests for comment.-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss )
-
For one Rohingya refugee,
a dream of home
that may never be fulfilled.
- Vox
....................................
-
UN rights investigator on Myanmar
- 2019 Sept. 4 - Wednesday
-
Rohingya man killed
in landmine explosion
along Naikhongchhari border.
The deceased is presumed to be a Rohingya refugee... around 32-years-old.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
A Rohingya refugee was killed in a landmine explosion, in Bandarban, on Tuesday night.
The body of the deceased, Md Shahjahan, 32, was recovered near Ghumdhum border of Naikhongchhari upazila on the Bangladesh side.
He was a resident of the Cox's Bazar Rohingya camp. The incident took place along the border, around 7pm on Tuesday.
Ghumdhum police outpost in-charge Emon Chowdhury said: "Upon receiving the information, the body has been recovered and sent to the Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital morgue.
"The state of the body suggests that he was killed in a landmine explosion, as his legs were blown clean off."
It has been a long-time complaint, of locals, that Myanmar security forces had been planting landmines along the border with Bangladesh in Tumbru, Ghumdhum, and Ashartali areas of the Naikhongchhari upazila.-
(same topic at:
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore) ) -
Myanmar military not even sparing
ethnic Rakhine people.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
............................. -
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
What Happens if Rohingya
Stay in Bangladesh Forever?
- Council on Foreign Relations
Earlier this month, the Myanmar government embarked upon a new plan to begin repatriating Rohingya who had fled Rakhine State after waves of brutal violence there. It was the second time Naypyidaw tried to begin the repatriation process—the first attempt was in November—and this time the Myanmar government reportedly had approved some three thousand Rohingya to return, with the backing of Bangladesh for this action.
None apparently voluntarily took up the offer -- instead fleeing back to the camps in Bangladesh, or hiding out.
That Rohingya would not want to return to Myanmar is hardly surprising. It has been only two years since the deadliest wave of violence against them in Rakhine State. Rakhine State, where most Rohingya in Myanmar live, remains a violent and unstable place.
In recent months, violence in Rakhine State has been rising again, as the army battles the ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army. The military has resorted to its usual scorched earth tactics in response, and the UN’s human rights office has accused the Tatmadaw of launching attacks against civilians in this fighting.
Amnesty International has further issued a report claiming that the Myanmar military is committing new atrocities in Rakhine State, against both ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya—including extrajudicial executions.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar government, while telling Rohingya that they can come back safely, has not exactly created a safe, trustworthy environment for their return. The ongoing violence in Rakhine State certainly does not indicate a strong prospect for safe return. Senior Myanmar government leaders continue to demonize the Rohingya and also refer to those still in Myanmar as illegals.
A report released this week by Fortify Rights, a human rights and investigative group closely monitoring the situation for Rohingya, found that Myanmar authorities have continued to force Rohingya still living in Myanmar to accept National Verification Cards, which basically mark them as foreigners and preclude their getting citizenship rights.
And the Myanmar and Bangladesh authorities did not appear to consult with Rohingya who were put on a list for repatriation, or prepare anywhere for them to restore their lives in Myanmar. The UN fact-finding mission found that the Myanmar government has simply leveled portions of northern Rakhine State where Rohingya had lived. Naypyidaw has done little to rebuild to prepare for a return, or offer infrastructure or social services of any kind in northern Rakhine State.
Instead, Myanmar companies are developing tracts of land formerly occupied by Rohingya. A UN fact-finding report released in early August found that the Tatmadaw’s “crony companies” are funding projects in Rakhine State now designed to reengineer the province’s ethnic makeup, and “erase evidence of Rohingya belonging to Myanmar.”
Instead, the more than one million Rohingya in Bangladesh may try to stay in Bangladesh indefinitely, a scenario that is becoming increasingly plausible—though as Bertil Lintner notes, the Bangladesh government desperately does not want them to remain.
Already, the camp on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border is the largest refugee camp in the world, overflowing with people, crowded, and highly vulnerable to disease and human trafficking. As Lintner notes,- Bangladeshi citizens are growing increasingly resentful of the refugees, and worried that they might take locals’ jobs;
- The camp’s massive size is causing environmental damage; and
- There are real fears that, the longer so many Rohingya stay as refugees in desperate conditions in Bangladesh, they could become targets for radicalization by extremist groups.
Yet, given the abysmal prospects for Rohingya if they returned to Myanmar, he is probably correct to note that the Rohingya are “there to stay” in Bangladesh, at least for a long time.
If this is the reality, what can Bangladesh, and other governments and aid agencies do about it?
For one -- while continuing to prepare for the (remote) possibility that Rohingya would be safely repatriated to Myanmar -- the UN and other third party actors could push harder for a third country settlement solution for at least some Rohingya. There is at least some precedent for this option—Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have almost all been resettled in third countries—although it will obviously be difficult in the current global environment of large refugee flows and leaders increasingly opposed to taking in refugees. Still, there are third countries, in the region and globally, where more Rohingya resettlement might be possible... at least [in] modest numbers -- including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Canada.
Yet the likelihood is that the Rohingya are going to remain in Bangladesh -- and both the Bangladesh government and outside actors need to prepare for that possibility.
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
No signal:
Bangladesh bans mobile phones
for 1m Rohingya refugees.
It is frustrated with its unwelcome guests; but isolating them further will not help.
- The Economist (U.K.)
Barred from travelling beyond the confines of their over-crowded, ramshackle camps -- on a sliver of land in Bangladesh’s border district of Cox’s Bazar -- about 1 [million] Rohingya refugees have hitherto had to rely on mobile phones as virtually their sole link to the outside world.
Yet, on September 2nd, the Bangladeshi government abruptly ordered all telecommunications companies to shut down mobile services, and stop selling SIM cards in the camps. The companies have been given just seven days to take action.
The surprise move was greeted with dismay and anger in the camps, and beyond. It will increase the Muslim Rohingyas’ sense of abandonment and despair, just two years after about 750,000 of them were mercilessly driven out of their villages in Rakhine state, just over the border in Myanmar—an operation condemned as a “genocide” by the United Nations.
Responding to the mobile-phone shutdown, a UN official was quoted as saying that it would “further isolate and victimise the already persecuted people.” He worried that it would serve to push the Rohingyas “towards negative coping habits, be it crime, violence or extremism.”
The Bangladeshi authorities have tried to restrict mobile access in the camps before; they cited “security” concerns for this latest, more draconian crackdown. It reflects the deteriorating relationship between the refugees and the local population.
That is not surprising given the sudden influx of hundreds of thousands of desperate, traumatised people into an already poor area. The Bangladeshi police allege that the Rohingyas have been “abusing” their mobile-phone access for criminal activities, including the trafficking of methamphetamine pills.
Police have recently killed four Rohingyas during an investigation into the death of a local Bangladeshi official, Omar Faruk, thought to have been killed by Rohingya criminals.
His murder provoked hundreds of incensed locals to block access to one of the camps on August 22nd and attack shops used by the refugees.
The Bangladeshi government’s frustration with the refugees is mounting. It has, rightly, been praised for accepting the Rohingyas, but the mobile-phone ban is just one more bit of evidence that its patience is wearing very thin.
In February the government announced that it would no longer take in any more Rohingyas. A particular source of irritation has been the utter failure of the repatriation schemes painfully negotiated with the Myanmar government.
In the latest attempt, on August 22nd, not one of 3,450 nominated Rohingya refugees turned up for the buses laid on to take them back to Rakhine state. After decades of ethnic cleansing and economic marginalisation, still denied citizenship and any basic civil rights, they remain understandably fearful of how they will be treated by Myanmar’s army and police if they return.
The Bangladeshi foreign minister, Abul Kalam Abdul Momen, has blamed the UN for not putting enough pressure on Myanmar to take the Rohingyas back. In an interview on September 4th with DW, a German broadcaster, he argued that this is an “international issue”, and that “it is time for others to come forward...We cannot afford to keep them for years.”
He also raised the spectre, again, of dispatching the Rohingyas off to a cyclone-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, an option already dismissed by the UN and human-rights groups. In any case, that island would only have room for 100,000 people.
Two years on from the genocide, compassion for the Rohingyas in Bangladesh seems to be running out. After a period of relative calm and stability since 2017, uncertainty and fear is returning to the camps.
-
Rohingya man killed
- 2019 Sept. 5 - Thursday
-
A Million Refugees
May Soon Lose Their Line
to the Outside World.
- New York Times
About one million Rohingya Muslims in camps in Bangladesh could soon lose a vital connection to the outside world if the government moves forward with a threat to suspend cell service to the world’s largest refugee settlement.
Citing “state security” and “public safety,” the Bangladeshi telecommunications minister ordered a halt this week to mobile phone service in camps crowded with Rohingya Muslims who fled ethnic cleansing in their native Myanmar. The blackout is scheduled to take effect by Sunday.
“Our suffering will be unlimited if mobile phone communication goes off,” said Ramjan Ali, a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh.
The directive from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, which was issued last Sunday, notes that only Bangladeshis with national identity cards are allowed to possess local SIM cards, and bans the sale of cellphone services in the camps. Telecom companies that violate the order will be fined, it said.
* * *
Already, mobile internet services have been disrupted at night and early in the morning in the camps, members of the Rohingya community said. A nighttime curfew keeps aid workers and others out of the sprawling settlements, which have been inundated with mud and raw sewage during the monsoon season.
* * *
As in any community of this size, occasional violence has stalked the camps, including a series of murders and other violence attributed to the illegal drug trade. The criminal activity was one reason Bangladeshi officials gave in justifying the mobile phone ban.
But Rohingya said that innocent people, already devastated by having to flee their homes in Myanmar, were being unfairly punished.
“How will we communicate with our relatives without mobile phone communication?” said Mohammed Yusuf, who lives in a camp. “If any of our relatives falls sick or dies, we won’t even know what has happened.”
From Sri Lanka and Indonesia to Sudan and India, the authorities are using online blackouts to obscure areas of conflict. Across the border from the camps, in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, the government has shut off mobile internet services for many residents, since June.Also see: [Governments around the world are increasingly shutting down internet and mobile services.]
Rakhine State has been convulsed not only by anti-Rohingya pogroms but also by conflict between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and the Myanmar military. While internet access was restored in four townships this month, human rights groups warn that the military is continuing incursions against ethnic Rakhine that could constitute war crimes.
* * *
For months, both Myanmar and Bangladesh have maintained a fiction that Rohingya repatriations are imminent. In the last failed attempt, late last month, 3,450 Rohingya were cleared to return home — a home where most of their villages have been razed and refuge comes in the form of internment camps.
The Bangladeshis prepared buses for the Rohingya to go back to Myanmar. No one showed up.
Instead, Rohingya in the camps observed the second anniversary of their exodus from Myanmar with peaceful rallies. As tens of thousands of people looked on, elders prayed and women gave speeches. Camp leaders spoke out against a plan by the Bangladeshi government to move some Rohingya to a cyclone-prone island in the middle of the Bay of Bengal. They wept at news of continuing repression at home.
Since the mass gathering in the camps, a number of top Bangladeshi administrators with oversight of the camps have been reassigned. More than 40 nongovernmental organizations working with Rohingya refugees have been ordered to cease operations, their employees said.
Aid workers noted that had the mobile phone ban been in effect late last month, social media would not have been inundated by images of a sea of Rohingya convened in nonviolent protest.
-
(same topic at:
- The Guardian (U.K.) )
-
Support Rohingya island relocation
or leave the country:
~ Bangladesh to UN
- DW.com (Germany)
in Daily Star (Bangladesh)
In an interview with a German media outlet, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that the Bangladeshi government wants the United Nations aid agencies to support its plan to relocate 100,000 refugees to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal.
"The UN has failed to put enough pressure on Myanmar to take back the refugees. Dhaka wants UN agencies to accept the Rohingya island relocation plan, or leave the South Asian country," the minister told Deutsche Welle (DW) in an exclusive interview.
Here is the full interview published verbatim for our readers:
DW:
Most Rohingya refugees do not want to return to Myanmar. Is that why you want to relocate them to the Bhasan Char island?
AK Abdul Momen:
I think it is time to relocate them to Bhasan Char. But the island cannot accommodate all of them; we can send only 100,000 refugees there.
We didn't want to repatriate them forcefully. We had hoped it would be done voluntarily.
The island offers economic activities to the refugees. But the aid agencies working in the Cox's Bazar refugee camp don't want to move to Bhasan Char. In Cox's Bazar, they stay in five-star hotels, so they don't want to go to another place.
We are also identifying international non-government organizations that are politicalizing the Rohingya issue.Does that mean that you would relocate Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char even if the UN agencies don't support the plan?
Yes, possibly. We have seized many leaflets, CDs and videos that urge Rohingya not to go back to Myanmar if certain demands are not met. Myanmar authorities have agreed to one of these demands: provide safety, security and mobility to the Rohingya people. Demands such as granting citizenship to Rohingya, punishment for people involved in the Rohingya massacre, recognizing Rohingya as an ethnic group, and allowing them to return to their own homes have not been met.Can Bangladeshi authorities relocate 100,000 Rohingya to Bhasan Char without UN support?
We can do that.How would the UN react to it?
The UN has to agree to the plan or it can take the refugees with them. Already some of these people are getting involved in criminal activities.
The number of Rohingya refugees in the area is more than double than the number of local citizens. The local residents are increasingly complaining of criminal activities. We cannot allow that. That is why we could force their relocation.
Bangladesh is not a rich nation. We're the world's most densely populated country. Still we have done a lot for the Rohingya. It's time for others to come forward because it is not just our problem. It's an international issue, and had we not given them protection, they could have faced a genocide.It sounds like a threat.
We are willing to send them anywhere, to anyone who wants to take them. We cannot afford to keep them for years.And if that doesn't happen, would the refugees have to go to the Bhasan Char island?
It would be a temporary arrangement. We cannot keep them there forever.Can Bangladesh afford to antagonize the UN?
The UN is not helping us much. They are not working to create a conducive environment in Mynamar's Rakhine state. Why don't these UN aid agencies work in Myanmar? They should go to Myanmar, especially to Rakhine state, to create conditions that could help these refugees to go back to their country. The UN is not doing the job that we expect them to do.Would you expel the UN agencies if they don't support your plan?
We'll do it if necessary.The island is prone to cyclones. Is it safe for human inhabitation?
It is safe. We have built embankments and beautiful houses there. If we tell Bangladeshi people to go there, they would definitely go there.If the refugees move to Bhasan Char, will they be able to move freely or will they be contained on the island?
I think they will move freely.
The interview was conducted by Naomi Conrad and Arafatul Islam in Dhaka on August 26, 2019.
-
(same topic, with video of the island, at:
-
Bangladesh bans two aid agencies
from Rohingya refugee camps.
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)-
(same topic:
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
on YouTube (VIDEO) )
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh:
Bangladesh on Thursday (Sep 5) said it has banned two aid agencies from Rohingya camps in the country's southeast, alleging they were telling refugees to reject repatriation to their homeland in Myanmar.
The move came amid growing impatience from Dhaka about the presence of the refugees in the country, two years after some 740,000 were driven over the border by a military crackdown on the Muslim minority.
The latest repatriation attempt by Bangladesh and Myanmar two weeks ago, the second in less than a year, failed with not a single refugee volunteering to cross the border back home.
US-based Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and local organisation Al Markazul Islami were accused by the government's NGO Affairs Bureau of "instigating" the stateless minority against the recent repatriation attempt.
Kamal Hossain, the government administrator of Cox's Bazar district where the refugee camps are located, said Dhaka had issued a notice for the NGOs to immediately stop their activities across the country.
"The administration is taking action accordingly to the issued order," he told AFP, adding that the NGO Affairs Bureau also ordered bank transactions by the two agencies to be halted.
More than 130 aid agencies work in the three dozen squalid camps in Cox's Bazar, where the 740,000 Rohingya fled to, joining some 200,000 others already living here.
Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen, last week, said Dhaka would crack down on aid agencies if they "do something going beyond their terms and references".
The Rohingya have refused to go home until Myanmar gives them guarantees of safety and citizenship status.
Tensions have ratcheted up in the camps in recent weeks as refugees marked the two-year anniversary of the 2017 exodus.
Four refugees have also been killed in the fallout over the murder of local ruling party official Omar Faruk, which police blame on Rohingya hitmen.
Bangladeshi authorities on Monday also ordered operators to shut down mobile phone services in the camps amid the outbreak of violence.
- Deutsche Welle (DW.com) (Germany)
on YouTube )
-
Bangladesh bans two aid agencies
-
A Million Refugees
- 2019 Sept. 6 - Friday
-
Rohingya crisis:
Govt to take over
all administrative duties
in camps.
UNHCR along with IOM is helping RRRC to ensure humanitarian assistance to the Rohingyas in 34 camps.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The [Bangladesh] government has started the process to take over all administrative responsibilities in the Rohingya camps, two years since the latest influx of Rohingyas that began on August 25, 2017, due to an unprecedented brutal military crackdown by Myanmar.
Confirming the matter to Dhaka Tribune, Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC) official, and Camp-in-Charge (CIC) Zahid Akhter said: “The government, around two months ago, had sent some officials for administrative duties here (at the Rohingya camps), and currently they are getting necessary training.”
"Establishing a definite service system (in the Rohingya camps) was not that easy. Registered camps have one CIC, and during the initial influx, the in-charges did not have any extra hands for assistance in their work. Later, upon expansion, each camp had one CIC. The concerned CICs got two volunteers to assist them.
"But controlling this large number of displaced people, along with the huge number of NGOs, was not that easy. Thus, during the early stages of the influx, the government outsourced recruitment and site management responsibilities through United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization of Migration (IOM) as it did not have adequate time to respond to the crisis," he added.
"The principal responsibilities of a site management team is to help manage the site while ensuring a service map for the sites, and assist in administrative duties. The best thing about outsourcing site management responsibilities was ensuring a very good service-map (who, where will provide what types of services). But there were also some negatives of this decision.
"These aid workers working at the camps, only think about providing assistance to the Rohingyas but have failed to understand what the government is thinking regarding the proceedings, and how they (government) want to provide services to the Rohingyas. The NGOs working at the camps (for site management) are deployed through UNHCR or IOM, and their loyalty seemed to be tilted towards these bodies," the RRRC official said.
"A good number of humanitarian activities are taking place inside the Rohingya camps, and in order to achieve the desired objectives, the government will recruit 40 to 50 individuals.
“But only seven to nine of us are carrying out this huge task,” he added.
Addressing the proceedings, RRRC Additional Commissioner Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said, as funding to look after the persecuted people sheltered in Cox’s Bazar is in the decline, UNHCR has asked Bangladesh government to take over all administrative duties in the Rohingya camps.
"As a part of the initiative to bring all administrative duties under the government's umbrella, seven to nine officials were deployed in the Rohingya camps as apprentice officers, and they are expected to start managing these sites (administrative duties) in full swing, hopefully by the end of 2019.
"It is a long process, and would take more time to take over all other activities related with the Rohingya crisis." he added.
Led by a commissioner, RRRC is a unit of the Bangladesh government responsible for the administrative duties inside the Rohingya camps.
The monumental task of helping Rohingyas
Anybody, who has not been in the camps recently, will be surprised to see the level of development achieved in the last two years.
UNHCR along with IOM is helping RRRC to ensure humanitarian assistance to the Rohingyas in the 34 camps.
In every camp, either IOM or UNHCR leads the humanitarian operations, while a Camp-in-Charge from RRRC performs the administrative duties.
According to ISCG, the coordinator of the whole operation, the camps are divided into 16 different sectors where Rohingyas get access to 11 types of services. (Bangladesh: Cox’s Bazar refugee response (4W) - as of 05 August 2019, published by ISCG)
The agencies which are responsible for site management, are providing referral services (granting special permissions regarding movement of Rohingyas, and providing services if not received) and this is playing a key role in abolishing the gaps between the service maps.
The major services that these bodies are providing include: Site management; site development, education; food security; health; child protection; protection from gender based violence (GBV); water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH); and shelter/NFI, and communication with community (CwC).
In the camps, all services for Rohingyas are provided by a mix of NGOs (local, national and international) along with the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), and Department of Social Services under the Ministry of Social Welfare, while district units of every other concerned ministry are also involved in the procedure. -
OPINION:
From victims to villains:
The changing discourse on Rohingyas
by Nazmul Ahasan
commentator and communications executive.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Yet another attempt to send Rohingyas back to Myanmar ended up in an embarrassing debacle last week: Not a single Rohingya showed up for the arranged repatriation. Humiliated by their brazen act of defiance, an angry foreign minister vowed to rein in their apparent “comfort” in Bangladesh.
Coincidence or not, since then, a series of blatantly disparaging and incendiary articles, “reports” and opinion pieces about Rohingyas have appeared in mainstream media outlets—so much so that it could almost be called a coordinated campaign.
For instance, a front-page story of a well-circulated Bengali newspaper read: “The Rohingya showdown: conspiracy to destabilise the country.” The article dealt with a massive rally Rohingyas held on August 25 to commemorate “Rohingya Genocide Day.” Rohingyas around the world observed the day previous year, too. But this year, on the heels of the failed repatriation bid, the rally has suddenly become a subject of controversy.
Luckily, a journalist friend sent me a video clip of the rally. Far from engaging in a “conspiracy” against Bangladesh, the speakers expressed their gratitude towards the government for hosting them, as they lamented their tragedy and demanded justice for atrocities perpetrated against them.
Mohib Ullah, a prominent Rohingya leader, was also targeted by some in the media for his principal role in organising the rally. Ullah is among the few Rohingya leaders preaching a non-violent political solution to the crisis, and has mainstream public appeal. Since the rally, he has been accused of receiving funds from Pakistan, but no reliable evidence has yet been cited to support these allegations. Even the now-forgotten White House meeting on religious persecution, which had become controversial for the Priya Saha episode, resurfaced with a new twist. Since Ullah attended the meeting as a Rohingya representative, he is now being branded as anti-Bangladesh, although he made one single appeal to President Donald Trump: help us get back our home.
The role of NGOs in the aftermath of the crisis has clearly not been perfect. But their contributions to educating the Rohingya children, ensuring that refugees receive sufficient food and health aids and creating awareness worldwide have been critical. But in the local media, NGOs have been subjected to crude vilification, accused of working to sustain the crisis for self-interest.
Some even saw a conspiracy by NGOs and humanitarian organisations to convince the Rohingyas to not go back, when they protested using English posters and placards. Such an assertion is not only unfair but also offensive. The same goes for the notion that Rohingyas are refusing to go back because they are living comfortably in refugee camps. No refugee camp—certainly not the camps in Cox’s Bazar—can be a substitute for home. Why should one expect the Rohingyas to go back to the place where they endured and witnessed unimaginable horror and destruction—simply on a promise by their oppressors?
Not a single organisation, be it intergovernmental in nature or a credible human rights body, is convinced that the situation in Rakhine is conducive to proper repatriation. The verification criteria set by Myanmar will not make even a fairly large group of Rohingyas eligible for return.
The government in Rakhine has only built (or is planning to build) several hundred congregated housing units, which are not only insufficient but also mean Rohingyas would not get back their lost land.
More importantly, Myanmar has failed to ensure whether returned Rohingyas would be granted full rights as citizens, nor has it been able to credibly assure that Rohingyas would not be subjected to similar treatment which led to their expulsion in the first place. The demands to investigate countless claims of gross human rights abuses against military and security personnel are still rejected outright by the Myanmar government.
Therefore, if one blames Rohingyas for refusing to go back under current circumstances, they would be blaming the victims, and inadvertently or willingly, doing Myanmar’s bids.
The fact that the Rohingya crisis has put enormous pressure on a resource-strapped country like ours is undisputable. And it is understandable that, as citizens, we are concerned about it. But unsubstantiated and exaggerated figures are invented to exacerbate anger.
Last week, for example, a leading news portal cited unknown officials to claim that the government spent Tk 72,000 crores for Rohingyas in two years, excluding the substantial amount of foreign assistance. In reality, the government in the 2018-19 budget allocated only Tk 400 crores for the Rohingya.
Clearly, those who came up with these fictitious figures did not do the math, but judging by the number of shares and reactions the story attracted on social media, many got misinformed and, in the process, agitated by the presence of the Rohingyas.
Then there is the insinuation of Rohingyas being criminals. This is a classic xenophobic trope about refugees and migrants. Even respected media outlets cannot seem to delve into the Rohingya issue without focusing on the supposed “degradation of law and order situation” in the refugee camps.
The other day, another journalist friend of mine posted a status on Facebook. Citing local police statistics, he wrote that over the last two years, roughly 38-43 murders were committed in the camps. That is well below the typical per-million murder rate in Bangladesh.
The notion that Rohingyas are involved in drug offenses is often exaggerated, as the whole debate surrounding drug trade generally is. Sure, Rohingyas are involved in the drug trade, but so are Bangladeshis—the most serious yaba offenders listed by several government agencies are actually powerful locals in Cox’s Bazar.
Admittedly, Rohingyas have been drug mules, as have the locals. But to blame Rohingyas for the proliferation of yaba is unfair, because they are simply a small linkage of a more complicated and very large chain. Blaming Rohingyas also ignores the role of more serious enabling factors such as the geographical proximity of Cox’s Bazar to Myanmar, the demand of drugs near the border, failure of law enforcement and border forces, and a lack of employment in the refugee camps.
Other xenophobic insinuations include notions that Rohingyas are illiterate and thus breed like rabbits—ironically, coming from the people of the world’s most densely populated country.
Some also claim that Rohingyas are ungrateful towards host communities and are about to expel and replace the locals. An opinion piece run by a leading news portal compared Rohingyas with “abscess” that needed to be removed. Does this sound familiar?
Sadly, many on social media are influenced by these fear-mongering, hateful posts. People who welcomed Rohingyas with open arms are turning against them, although they have never met a Rohingya before. This is a textbook example of how the media could turn people’s humane instincts into hate.
There is no denying that local residents around the refugee camps are genuinely frustrated. They feel threatened as they are now outnumbered by refugees. When Rohingyas first arrived in small numbers, some locals were sympathetic enough to allow them to live temporarily on their agricultural lands. But many of the guests are unable or refusing to leave now.
The crisis also attracted a large number of NGOs and humanitarian organisations. The locals resent the fact that they are not properly recruited by these organisations. Moreover, the price of primary commodities, rent and the cost of living, in general, have shot up, affecting local livelihoods.
The best ways to alleviate these concerns would be to include local representatives in the decision-making process—especially in issues that directly impact them. Both the government and the NGOs should make it a policy to recruit locals on a preferential basis in appropriate positions and prefer local sources in their procurements. The authorities should also engage with the Rohingyas occupying the private lands of the locals to accommodate them in the camp.
No one disputes the need to repatriate the refugees as soon as possible—not even Rohingyas themselves. But again, it is not the Rohingyas who are pulling the strings. Therefore, provoking the domestic population against the refugees can only have serious ramifications—ones that may not be controllable.
What disturbs me the most is that we are behaving with the Rohingyas the same way as racist politicians do with immigrants like us in the West. When far-right Western politicians or hate-spewing newspapers embark on awful immigrant-bashing rants, we’re astonished. When our desperate people were caught or treated inhumanely in foreign jails or camps in Thailand and Libya, or died trying to cross the Mediterranean or Bay of Bengal, we were mournful. After all, we are a country whose economy is vastly supported by millions of migrants scattered around the world, legally or illegally.
But when it is us having to host desperate people, we are not hesitating to switch to the oppressor’s role.
Let us not ruin the spirit with which we greeted “the most persecuted minority in the world” -- and set an example for the rest of the world as to how to stand in solidarity with an oppressed people.
-
Rohingya crisis:
- 2019 Sept. 7 - Saturday
-
BGB [Bangladesh Border Guard]
pushes back 6 Rohingyas
in Teknaf.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
...................................... -
The troublesome case
of Rohingya trafficking.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
............................................. -
Bangladesh should end restrictions
on movement of Rohingya refugees
~Human Rights Watch
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Human Rights Watch today said the Bangladesh government should end restrictions on Rohingya refugees’ freedom of movement and access to the internet and online communications.
The New York-based rights body further said that the government restrictions have intensified following a failed attempt to repatriate refugees to Myanmar, a large rally by Rohingya refugees, and the killings of a local politician and four refugees.
“Bangladesh authorities have a major challenge in dealing with such a large number of refugees, but they have made matters worse by imposing restrictions on refugee communications and freedom of movement,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
“The authorities should take a level-headed approach instead of overreacting to tensions and protests by isolating Rohingya refugees in camps,” he added.
On September 1, 2019, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ordered telecommunication operators to shut down mobile phone services in the camps within seven days. The next day, the BTRC ordered mobile network operators to shut down 3G and 4G services in the camps each day between 5pm and 6am.
“While the authorities say the shutdown is to enhance security, they have not explained how. The 13-hour daily shutdown puts approximately one million refugees at serious risk by cutting off communications with security, health, and other necessary services,” the HRW report further questioned.
On September 4, Bangladesh’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense recommended building a security fence around the camps. A standing committee member, Muhammad Faruk Khan, said: “We have been observing the Rohingyas are freely moving around the camps and outside. Therefore, to ensure security we recommended taking measures so that no one can come out of the camps and no one can enter inside the camps.”
“While the authorities have a duty to protect camp residents, security measures should not infringe upon their right to freedom of movement outside the camps,” HRW said.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has recognised that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a party, applies “without discrimination between citizens and aliens,” including refugees. The committee noted that, “Aliens have the full right to liberty and security of the person.... They have the right to liberty of movement.”
The government actions appear to be in response to recent incidents involving the Rohingya refugees. A highly publicised attempt by the Bangladesh government to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar on August 22 failed because the refugees believe that the current conditions in Myanmar make their return unsafe, the HRW said.
It further said the authorities and some local leaders in Cox’s Bazar also expressed alarm after a massive demonstration in Kutupalong camp on August 25, the two-year anniversary of the Myanmar military’s ethnic cleansing campaign in Rakhine State that caused a mass exodus of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh.
The government suspended three officials, including the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, Mohammad Abul Kalam, from Cox’s Bazar for allowing the refugees to organize such a large gathering, it claimed.
The government also banned certain nongovernmental aid organizations from working in the camps, including the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and an Islamic aid organization, Al Markazul Islami, for allegedly supporting the August 25 rally, including by providing refugees with T-shirts for the event, the rights organization mentioned -- adding that two foreign aid workers were given notice to leave the country.
The Bangladesh government has increased the military presence in the camps to protect law and order. But refugees said the authorities were harassing them instead, particularly the organisers of the August 25 rally, the report said.
One Rohingya activist told Human Rights Watch that previously, refugees would be eager to help police provide security in the camps. “But now the protectors are turning cruel just because we gathered on August 25,” he told Human Rights Watch.
“Some of our people are being interrogated by [intelligence] agencies continuously regarding that gathering. But we gathered there with intention to call the Myanmar government to sit with us, not to make the Bangladesh government anxious,” he added.
“Bangladesh authorities and the local community are understandably frustrated that there is no end in sight to the Rohingya refugee crisis,” Adams said. “But they should direct their ire at the Myanmar army and government, which caused the problem, instead of taking it out on refugees.”
-
BGB [Bangladesh Border Guard]
- 2019 Sept. 8 - Sunday
- 2019 Sept. 9 - Monday
- 2019 Sept. 10 - Tuesday
-
August 25 Rohingya rally:
Contradictory findings
out of two inquiries.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
........................................ -
Rohingya crisis:
Villages destroyed for
government facilities.
- BBC News
Entire Muslim Rohingya villages in Myanmar have been demolished and replaced by police barracks, government buildings and refugee relocation camps, the BBC has found.
On a government tour, the BBC saw four locations where secure facilities have been built on what satellite images show were once Rohingya settlements.
Officials denied building on top of the villages in Rakhine state.
* * *
...last month, a second attempt to start repatriating Rohingya refugees failed, after none of the 3,450 people approved by Myanmar to return agreed to do so. They cited the lack of accountability for atrocities committed in 2017, and uncertainty over whether they would get freedom of movement or citizenship.
Myanmar blamed Bangladesh, and said it was prepared to receive large numbers of returnees. To demonstrate this they invited journalists, including the BBC, to see their facilities.
Access to Rakhine is normally tightly restricted. We travelled in a government convoy, and were not allowed to film or interview people without police supervision.
But we were able to see clear evidence of the deliberate eradication of Rohingya communities.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which has been analysing satellite images, estimates that at least 40% of Rohingya villages damaged by the 2017 violence have since been completely demolished
What did the BBC find in Myanmar?
The government took us to Hla Poe Kaung transit camp, which it says can house 25,000 returnees, who would stay for two months before moving to permanent housing.
The camp, which was completed nearly a year ago, is in poor condition; the communal toilets have fallen apart. It was built on the site of two Rohingya villages, Haw Ri Tu Lar and Thar Zay Kone, demolished after the 2017 violence.
When I asked the camp administrator Soe Shwe Aung why they had destroyed the villages, he denied any had been demolished. But when I pointed out that satellite images showed otherwise, he said he had only recently taken the job and was not able to answer.
We were then taken to Kyein Chaung, a relocation camp, where houses have been built with Japanese and Indian government funding as long-term accommodation for returning refugees. But a Rohingya village called Myar Zin was bulldozed to clear land for this camp, which lies close to a massive new barracks for the Border Guard Police - a unit of the security forces accused by Rohingyas of serious abuses in 2017. Speaking off-camera, officials there confirmed the demolition of Myar Zin.
Just outside the main town, Maungdaw, was Myo Thu Gyi, which once had a population of more than 8,000 Rohingyas.
In September 2017, I filmed Myo Thu Gyi while driving past it in another government convoy. Many of the houses had been burned, but larger buildings were still intact, and the trees that usually surround Rakhine villages were still there. But now, passing where Myo Thu Gyi used to be, there is a large government and police complex. The trees have gone.
We were also taken to Inn Din, a village notorious for a massacre of 10 captured Muslim men in September 2017, and one of the few atrocities the Myanmar military has admitted to.
About three quarters of the population of Inn Din was Muslim, the rest Rakhine Buddhist. Today, no trace of the Muslim quarter remains. The Rakhine quarter is quiet and peaceful. But when you reach where the Rohingya houses used to be, the trees have gone, replaced by barbed-wire fences enclosing an extensive new Border Guard Police barracks.
The Rakhine Buddhist residents told us they would never accept Muslims living next to them again.
What does this mean for the refugees?
The extensive and continuing destruction of Rohingya communities long after the violent military campaign of 2017 had ended means few of the refugees would be able to go back to their old lives and communities.
The only visible preparations for a large-scale refugee return are dilapidated transit camps like Hla Poe Kaung, and relocation camps like Kyein Chaung. Few refugees are likely to overcome the trauma they suffered two years ago for that kind of a future. It raises questions over the sincerity of Myanmar's public commitment to take them back.
I was able to meet a young displaced Rohingya on my way back to Yangon. We had to be discreet; foreigners are not allowed to meet Rohingyas without permission. He has been trapped with his family in an IDP camp for seven years, after being driven out of his home in Sittwe, one of 130,000 Rohingyas displaced in a previous outbreak of violence in 2012.
He is unable to attend university, or to travel outside the camp without permission. His advice for the refugees in Bangladesh was not to risk coming back, and finding themselves similarly confined to guarded camps.
What does the government say?
We approached the Myanmar government's spokesman for a response to our findings in Rakhine, but have not received a reply.
Officially, the government is committed to a phased return of the refugees, in collaboration with Bangladesh. But ministers still refer to the Rohingyas as Bengalis, who they say arrived in waves of illegal immigration over the past 70 years. There is little evidence of such immigration.This reflects a widespread belief in Myanmar that they do not belong. The government has refused Rohingya requests for citizenship and guaranteed freedom of movement. It is willing to give them what are called National Verification Cards, which it says could be a step towards eventual citizenship. But most Rohingyas reject these cards because they would be required to identify themselves as Bengalis.
At the height of the military campaign against the Rohingyas in early September 2017, the commander of the Myanmar armed forces General Min Aung Hlaing said they were taking care of what he called "unfinished business" left from 1942.
He was referring to the fighting then between Japanese and British forces in Rakhine, in which Rohingyas and Rakhine Buddhists backed opposing sides, often killed each other, and caused large-scale movements of displaced civilians. The commander said Muslims had flooded into northern Rakhine state over what is today the border with Bangladesh.
The two districts of Maungdaw and Buthidaung on the border, where the great majority of villages destroyed since 2017 were located, was the only region of Myanmar with a Muslim majority. Since the Rohingya exodus the remaining Muslims, perhaps only 10% of the original population, may now be in a minority.
The government's refusal to allow a credible investigation, to offer freedom of movement or a clear path to citizenship, will deter most refugees from returning. That would leave the balance between Muslims and non-Muslims as it is; perhaps the "unfinished business" is now finished.-
(same topic at:
- BBC News (VIDEO)
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) ) -
‘Rohingya return to Myanmar
depends on accountability
of perpetrators’
Says Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
The voluntary and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar will depend partly on a process of accountability for those most responsible for the crimes that uprooted them from their homes, said the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM).
In its first report submitted to the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, IIMM’s head Nicholas Koumjian said that each day passes without accountability for international crimes brings concomitant sufferings for the hundreds of thousands of stranded in makeshift refugee camps outside Myanmar, and hoping and waiting to be able to safely return to their homes.
“Few are likely to seek to return to a place where those that perpetrated serious crimes against them, or their families, still reside with impunity and retain the means or authority to inflict further harm,” he said.
Over 743,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar amid military crackdown in Rakhine state, which was termed by the UN Fact-Finding Mission as having “genocidal intent”.
The IIMM was established by the UN Human Rights Council to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse the evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011.
It is also mandated to prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings in accordance with international law standards in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have or may in the future have jurisdiction over the crimes.
IIMM Head Nicholas Koumjian, who officially began his functions in Geneva on July 1 this year, focused on putting in place a broad strategy and concept of operations for the mechanism so that it be operational as soon as possible.
Koumjian said IIMM will engage with the states, regional and inter-governmental organizations, UN entities, civil society and other stakeholders to obtain further evidence of crimes and other relevant information and documentation pertaining to its mandate.
“It is essential to convery to the public that the Mechanism is concerned with all serious international crimes committed in Myanmar regardless of the race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or political affiliation of either the perpetrators or the victims of such crimes,” Nicholas Koumjian said.
The files prepared by the IIMM will not expire and will remain available for use in criminal proceedings in any national, regional or international courts or tribunals, no matter how much time has passed, he added.
-
August 25 Rohingya rally:
- 2019 Sept. 11 - Wednesday
- 2019 Sept. 12 - Thursday
-
Bangladesh [Prime Minister]
blames Myanmar
for Rohingya repatriation failure.
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
DHAKA: Bangladesh's prime minister has blamed Myanmar for the failure of a recent attempt to repatriate Rohingya refugees, saying its neighbouring country did not do enough to win the community's trust.
The comments from Sheikh Hasina came three weeks after a fresh push to return the Muslim minority to Myanmar's conflict-scarred Rakhine state that fell flat when no-one turned up.
* * *
"We've seen Myanmar could not win Rohingya's trust in creating a conducive situation (in Rakhine) for their dignified return," Hasina said in parliament late Wednesday (Sep 11).
"We had full preparation, but still the repatriation did not start ... uncertainty looms over Rohingya getting back their homes, land and other properties."
Hasina said she had asked other Asian nations including China, India and Japan to help resolve the crisis.
Her comments reflect Dhaka's frustration over the lack of a resolution to the refugee crisis. A previous repatriation offer was rejected by Rohingya leaders in October.
Her government has also started to crack down on activity in the camps amid a recent outbreak of violence and rising tensions with locals.
Dhaka has imposed a virtual internet blackout in the camps in the border towns of Teknaf and Ukhia
by cutting access to 3G and 4G mobile internet networks.
[Experts] have said 2G networks are too slow for internet use.
Rohingya leaders have repeatedly said the refugees will not return to their homeland unless their safety is ensured, their rights and citizenship are granted and they are allowed to resettle in their villages. -
Myanmar's Hindu Refugees
in Bangladesh
Want to Go Home,
But None Have so Far.
- Radio Free Asia (RFA)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
......................................
-
Bangladesh [Prime Minister]
- 2019 Sept. 13 - Friday
-
Official statement:
Bangladesh:
Internet Blackout
on Rohingya Refugees
- Human Rights Watch
.............................. -
VIDEO:
Rohingya refugees
forced into prostitution
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
on YouTube.com
.......................................... -
ASEAN:
Please help the Rohingya.
- The Star (Malaysia)
........................................ -
Govt turns to barbed-wire fencing
to combat human trafficking
from Rohingya camps.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
.......................................... -
New EU funding
assists WFP
to provide food
for Rohingyas.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
................................. -
EDITORIAL:
The Rohingya are a people of nowhere.
They shouldn't be abandoned
- Washington Post
TWO YEARS ago, Myanmar’s military launched a crackdown of fire and violence against the Muslim Rohingya population of Rakhine state in the western part of the country. In the attacks, which the United States has described as ethnic cleansing and U.N. investigators called possible crimes against humanity, civilians were killed, their villages burned to the ground and some 750,000 people fled for their lives.
Now, the displaced Rohingya languish in neighboring Bangladesh, a seething humanitarian challenge, while Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as Burma, tries to cover up and forget the destruction of Rohingya villages and homes.
Consider one of the most woeful days of the violence. On Sept. 2, 2017, 10 Rohingya men from the village of Inn Din were roped together while watching Buddhist villagers dig a shallow grave. Before long, all 10 men lay dead in the grave. Two had been hacked to death by the Buddhists, and eight were shot by the Burmese security forces, according to Reuters, which interviewed witnesses to the massacre and exposed it.
Recently, Jonathan Head, Southeast Asia correspondent for BBC News, was on a government tour of Rakhine state. Myanmar has refused to allow unfettered international investigations of the violence against the Rohingya, and journalists are not permitted to move about freely. The tour was tightly controlled and intended to show off Myanmar repatriation facilities.
But Mr. Head found four locations where police barracks, government buildings and refugee relocation camps have been built on what satellite images show were once Rohingya settlements. The government denies doing this.
One of the settlements was identified as Inn Din. The satellite imagery shows a Buddhist quarter untouched, quiet and peaceful. But “no trace of the Muslim quarter remains,” Mr. Head reported, saying that “when you reach where the Rohingya houses used to be, the trees have gone, replaced by barbed-wire fences enclosing an extensive new Border Guard Police barracks.” The Buddhist residents “told us they would never accept Muslims living next to them again,” he said.
Meanwhile, the tormented Rohingya are facing additional difficulties in Bangladesh.
The refugees have resisted two attempts to repatriate a handful of them back to Myanmar, where they have suffered persecution and second-class status for decades.
The Bangladesh government was rattled by a protest rally last month of some Rohingya to commemorate the second anniversary of their flight and to demand repatriation to Myanmar with full citizenship.
On Monday, the regional telecom regulator ordered network operators to halt all cellphone service in the area covering the Rohingya camps near Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh near the Myanmar border. The blackout will certainly raise tensions in the camps as the Rohingya feel more isolated than ever.
A solution to their humanitarian crisis is nowhere in sight. Military and political leaders in Myanmar show no sign of relenting in their long hostility toward the Rohingya.
The Rohingya are now a people of nowhere. They shouldn’t be abandoned.
-
The Linguistic Innovation Emerging
From Rohingya Refugees
- Forbes (USA)
.....................................
-
Official statement:
- 2019 Sept. 14 - Saturday
- 2019 Sept. 15 - Sunday
-
UNHCR:
Rohingyas should not be restricted
from communicating [with] relatives.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
...................................... -
'ARSA is not stopping us
from going back'.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
...................................... -
US, China envoys
visit Rohingya camps
in Cox's Bazar.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
.................................. -
Situation may worsen
without more funding
for Rohingyas
warns [World Food Programme].
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
..................................... -
Australia to play important role
in Rohingya repatriation
~ Marise Payne.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
............................................. -
Rohingya 'robber' killed
in Cox’s Bazar 'gunfight'.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
A Rohingya man alleged to be a robber was killed in a “gunfight” with police in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar early today.
The deceased Habib Ullah alias Habiran, 40, son of Ali Ahmed, was a resident of Teknaf’s Nayapara Mochoni Rohingya refugee camp in Hnila union, our Cox’s Bazar correspondent reports quoting police.
Pradip Kumar Das, officer-in-charge (OC) of Taknaf Police Station claimed that law enforcers arrested Habib along with firearms from Hnila union in an anti-narcotics drive.
Gleaning information from Habib that huge arms and ammunition were secretly kept at Mochani Hill, police conducted a drive in the area at 1:00am, accompanied by Habib.
Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, Habib's cohorts opened fire triggering a gunfight, the OC said.
Sub-Inspectors (SI) Sujit Dey and Moshiur Rahman sustained bullet injuries in the incident, claimed OC Pradip.
Later, police recovered bullet-hit Habib from the spot and sent him to Cox’s Bazar Zila Sadar Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, said the OC.
Police recovered two light guns and 10 rounds of bullets from the spot.
The body was kept at the hospital for autopsy, he said.
Two cases were filed with the police station in connection with the incident.
-
UNHCR:
- 2019 Sept. 16 - Monday
-
Rohingya still in Myanmar
face 'threat of genocide':
~United Nations.
- NBC News
..................................-
(same topic at:
- sssssssssss ) -
Bangladesh envoy unable to visit
'reconstructed' Rohingya villages.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
..................................................... -
OPINION:
Time to step up for the Rohingya.
- Bangkok Post (Thailand)
................................
-
Rohingya still in Myanmar
- 2019 Sept. 17 - Tuesday
- 2019 Sept. 18 - Wednesday
-
Official statement:
Spate of Bangladesh 'Crossfire' Killings
of Rohingya.
- Human Rights Watch
..............................
-
Official statement:
- 2019 Sept. 19 - Thursday
-
Rohingyas, a big burden
for Bangladesh Prime Minister.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
...........................................
-
Rohingyas, a big burden
- 2019 Sept. 20 - Friday
- 2019 Sept. 21 - Friday
- 2019 Sept. 25 - Saturday
- 2019 Sept. 28 - Friday
-
Bangladeshi leader at UN:
Rohingya refugee crisis worsening.
[Warns of emerging 'regional threat';
Calls for international involvement.]
- Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) (summarized by RCN) --
Warning that a wider regional problem is at hand, Bangladesh’s leader said Friday that the crisis involving Muslim Rohingya refugees from neighboring Myanmar is “going beyond the camps” where they are staying.
In her nation's annual address to the United Nations General Assembly, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked that the international community “understand the untenability of the situation” involving the Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, fleeing military persecution there.
Hasina added “The crisis is now going beyond the camps. Despite all our efforts to contain it, the crisis is now becoming a regional threat,” adding that -- as congestion and environmental problems grow in the camps -- health and security are threatened.
Although saying Bangladesh will continue working with Myanmar to promote the repatriation of the Rohingya, Hasina, this week, proposed a UN resolution declaring that Myanmar, as well as the international community, must ensure the safety of any returning Rohingya.
"We are bearing the burden of a crisis which is Myanmar’s own making," she said. "It is an issue solely between Myanmar and its own people, the Rohingyas. They themselves have to resolve it. Voluntary return of the Rohingyas to their homes in Rakhine state in safety, security and dignity is the only solution to the crisis."
* * *
This week, Bangladesh said that its authorities will erect barbed-wire fences around over 30 Rohingya refugee camps... to stop their expansion. -
Rohingya support
Bangladeshi leader's proposal
to end crisis.
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
A proposal by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the United Nations for resolving the Rohingya refugee crisis has been hailed by the Muslim community. Her earlier appeals have seemingly gone unheard, however.
The four-point proposal:- Myanmar must manifest clear political will, supported by concrete actions, for the sustainable return and reintegration of the Rohingya to Myanmar.
- Myanmar must build trust among the Rohingya by discarding discriminatory laws and practices and by allowing "go and see" visits, to northern Rakhine, by Rohingya representatives.
- Myanmar must guarantee the security & safety of the Rohingya by deploying civilian monitors from the international community in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
- The international community must ensure that the root causes of the Rohingya problem are addressed and the violation of human rights and atrocities committed against the Rohingya are accounted for.
- Bangladesh to fence refugee camps
- VIDEOs:
- One million people live in Bangladesh refugee camps
- Violence against Rohingya goes on
- Are militants tightening grip on Rohingya refugee camps? )
-
Bangladeshi leader at UN:
- 2019 Sept. 29 - Sunday
- 2019 Oct. 2 - Wednesday
-
Bangladesh Troops Accused
of Raping Rohingya Girl.
- AP / VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
An elder brother of the alleged victim, a 12-year-old girl, said three soldiers entered their shanty at a refugee camp Sunday evening and sexually assaulted his sister
-
Bangladesh Troops Accused
- 2019 Oct. 5 - Saturday
- 2019 Oct. 18 - Friday
- 2019 Oct. 21 - Monday
-
Bangladesh foreign minister:
'We're balancing our ties with China and India'
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
In an exclusive DW interview, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen spoke about the Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar as well as his country's ties with China and India. He says his country wants to maintain good relations with everyone. -
The Ambiguous Plight of the Rohingya
The case of 30 men, women and children
raises worries about the opaque treatment
of the Muslim minority in Southeast Asia.
- U.S. News & World Report
-
Bangladesh foreign minister:
- 2019 Oct. 24 - Thursday
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Rohingya crisis redraws fault lines
in Myanmar politics.
by Toru Takahashi, Editor-in-Chief,
Editorial Headquarters for Asia
- Nikkei Asian Review (Japan)
Conflicting views of public, military and international community hem Suu Kyi in
...an unusual alignment of the public and the military that leaves her with few options.
...anti-Muslim prejudice is at play in a country that is 90% Buddhist.
To keep the government running smoothly, Suu Kyi has little choice but to cooperate with the military, which holds absolute authority when it comes to security, and to heed the will of the people.
* * *
Religious and ethnic strife is a thorny problem that cannot be thought of in purely logical terms. But intolerance of others is incompatible with democracy.
* * *
Suu Kyi has sought to position herself in the vanguard of democratization again, calling for changes to undemocratic provisions in the constitution, such as the quota of legislative seats guaranteed to the military. Addressing the Rohingya problem will test her ability to navigate the complexities at the nexus of power and human rights.
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
- 2019 Oct. 31 - Thursday
-
It Isn't Just the Rohingya.
Myanmar Is Now Attacking
Buddhists in Rakhine State, Too.
- Foreign Policy (U.S. political journal)
This latest battle could be the army’s undoing.
-
It Isn't Just the Rohingya.
- 2019 Nov. 1 - Friday
- 2019 Nov. 11 - Monday
- 2019 Nov. 12 - Tuesday
- 2019 Nov. 13 - Wednesday
- 2019 Nov. 14 - Thursday
-
International Crminal Court
to open investigation
into crimes against
Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims.
- AP / CBS News-
(same topic at:
- CNBC.com )
-
U.N. Official Statement:
Third Committee Approves 5 Draft Resolutions
on Situations in Iran, Myanmar, Syria,
amid Outcry over Targeting of Certain Countries
- United Nations
...the Committee approved the draft resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar by a recorded vote of 140 in favour to 9 against (Belarus, Cambodia, China, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Philippines, Russian Federation, Viet Nam, Zimbabwe), with 32 abstentions.By its terms, the [U.N. General] Assembly would [-- if it approves the Committee's recommendation --] express grave concern at continuing reports of serious human rights violations — as well as violations of international humanitarian law — in Myanmar, against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, including those involving arbitrary arrests, deaths in detention, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It would call upon Myanmar — in particular its security and armed forces — to immediately end all violence and ensure the protection of the human rights of all persons in Myanmar, including Rohingya Muslims and persons belonging to other minorities.
Speaking out against the draft, Myanmar’s delegate said it “grossly mischaracterized” the situation in Rakhine State. The issue is not one of religious persecution, but rather a complex political and economic situation involving a variety of factors, including poverty and cross-border migration.
Several delegates pointed to other instruments that are being used to address the situation in Myanmar, with Canada’s delegate highlighting that Gambia recently requested the International Court of Justice to instigate proceedings against the Government of Myanmar. Liechtenstein’s delegate, while welcoming mechanisms established by the Human Rights Council and General Assembly, said the draft fails to note that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court decided to open a case on the enforced deportation of the Rohingya people. It also fails to recall the Security Council’s authority to refer the situation to the Court. She deplored these omissions, as they were part of draft resolutions approved on previous occasions.
-
International Crminal Court
- 2019 Nov. 15 - Friday
-
ANALYSIS & EDITORIAL:
[China,] Leave Myanmar in Peace
[China's offers of help are suspect;
China is not just helpful, it's also a problem.]
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)
(NOTE: This media, while it has appeared to be relatively independent, may be subject to the control of the Myanmar military) -
Rohingya Man Among Two Arrested in Bangladesh
for Aiding Extremists.
- AP / The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)
(NOTE: This media, while it has appeared to be relatively independent, may be subject to the control of the Myanmar military)
-
ANALYSIS & EDITORIAL:
- 2019 Nov. 16 - Saturday
- 2019 Nov. 17 - Sunday
- 2019 Nov. 18 - Monday
- 2019 Nov. 19 - Tuesday
-
Myanmar Rohingya:
Will Omar get justice
for his murdered family?
[Three legal developments offer hope.]
- BBC News
11-year-old Omar... explained how his parents were murdered by the Myanmar army in August 2017. Three of his brothers and two of his sisters were also killed.
"When I wake up every morning I start crying. Then I wipe my tears away and I get ready to go to school," he said.
Two years on, it is still hard to process the brutality of what happened to Omar and his fellow Rohingya who had been living in Myanmar - or Burma as it was previously known.
You would be forgiven for assuming such stories would have brought swift and decisive international action. They did not. Visible progress towards any kind of justice for the minority Muslim group has been painfully slow.
But now we've seen three legal developments - seemingly unrelated - which some legal experts are calling a big step forward, and which offer a degree of hope to Rohingya campaigners. ...
-
Myanmar Rohingya:
- 2019 Nov. 20 - Wednesday
- 2019 Nov. 21 - Thursday
- 2019 Nov. 23 - Saturday
-
EDITORIAL:
Is reconciliation necessary
in Rohingya crisis?
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
reprinted in
- Straits Times (Singapore)
[In its editorial, the prominent Bangladesh-based Daily Star newspaper -- long sympathetic to the Rohingya -- says that, at this point, consistent pressure on Myanmar to create a safe environment for Rohingya refugees to voluntarily return, seems to be more realistic.]
-
EDITORIAL:
- 2019 Nov. 25 - Monday [The Int'l Courts of Justice case against Myanmar has unified competing factions in Myanmar, behind Suu Kyi and her defense of Myanmar.]
-
Israeli envoy wishes Myanmar leaders
'GOOD LUCK' on Rohingya genocide trial
- Ha'aretz (Israel)
After Haaretz query, tweets by Ronen Gilor -- expressing support for Myanmar's leaders in the ICJ trial -- were deleted.
-
Israel denounces atrocities
against Rohingya in Myanmar
after diplomat’s tweet
- Times of Israel (Israel)
Ambassador Ronen Gilor publicly wished ‘good luck’ to southeast Asian nation’s officials facing a genocide trial in international court, then deleted message.-
(same topic at:
-
Ha'aretz (Israel)
"Embarrassed by Haaretz report on ambassador's support for Burmese government facing genocide trial, Foreign Ministry says tweet was an 'error'" )
-
Ha'aretz (Israel)
-
HISTORY, ANALYSIS & OPINION:
The Rohingya Quandary
by Manzoor Ahmed, Professor Emeritus at Brac University.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh) - 2019-11-29
[paraphrased] Topics:- The Rohingya have a many-generations-long, complex history in Myanmar.
- Myanmar's military has a long history of stirring the populace against the Rohingya.
- China & India have selfish ambitions in Myanmar, so do not come to the Rohingyas' defense.
- Deprivation of rights, and countless abuses, have been the Rohingya's experience in Myanmar.
- Bangladesh will be dealing with Rohingya refugees for a long time.
- Warnings of a generation of Rohingya children without education, hope, or a future.
-
Rohingya Muslim group
says they are not 'Bengalis'
Rohingya group condemns Myanmar rebel coalition for referring to them as ‘Bengali Muslims’
- Anadolu Agency (Turkey)
in BigNewsNetwork.com- (CAUTION: This media outlet is state-run media of Turkey, a repressive Muslim country; its objectivity, accuracy and quality are suspect.)
- 2019 Dec. 1 - Sunday
- 2019 Dec. 2 - Monday [The Int'l Courts of Justice case against Myanmar has unified competing factions in Myanmar, behind Suu Kyi and her surprise decision to personally defend Myanmar's government and military at the ICJ. But Suu Kyi is entering a risky, high-stakes, legal gamble.]
|
ICJ HEARINGS - DECEMBER 2019
NOTE: December 2019,
The ICJ, an establishment of the United Nations, has international "final authority" to issue international orders in matters of genocide. The charges were brought by the the small African nation of Gambia, on behalf of the 52-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), with the support of Canada and the Netherlands. Gambian prosecutors appeared, and presented charges and evidence -- while Myanmar's chief civilian official, Aung San Suu Kyi, appeared in court to defend her nation's government, and specifically Myanmar's military rulers and their forces who carried out the sweeping attacks upon the Rohingya during late 2017 In the attacks, Myanmar's military, with civilian mobs, torched Rohingya villages, killed (in various often-brutal ways) an estimated 40,000 Rohingya (including the elderly, women, and children) -- and raped thousands more -- driving most of the remaining million-plus Rohingya from their homeland, into Bangladesh, where they remain. Myanmar's Suu Kyi responded that, however brutal the attacks may have been, they were in response to "terrorists" and did not rise to the level of "genocide." The remaining 400,000 or so Rohingya still in Myanmar are now mostly confined to government-controlled concentration camps, and face ongoing discriminatory treatment. Despite efforts by Bangladesh to persuade the nearly one-million Rohingya refugees sheltering in Bangladesh to return to Myanmar (including 300,000 who fled persecution before the 2017 attacks), the Rohingya have refused, until their security and civil rights are guaranteed by Myanmar and the international community. While the case will probably take years to resolve, Gambia has asked the ICJ to enact some urgent immediate relief for the Rohingya, in the form of orders to Myanmar for the safety of the Rohingya there. The following Decmeber 2019 articles chiefly detail the ICJ trial and related news -- while also covering other topics and stories. ~ RCN Editor. |
-
Aung San Suu Kyi:
The democracy icon who fell from grace
- BBC News-
(same topic at:
- VOA (U.S. propaganda radio) (Dec. 12) )
-
Steinhardt Professor Helps
Prepare Rohingya Refugees
for Natural Disasters.
Environmental Education professor Raul Lejano and his team have created natural disaster prevention programs to educate Rohingya refugees for potential extreme weather events.
- Washington Square News- (NOTE: The quality of this media is uknown; it appears to be an official publication of New York University (NYU), in the U.S.)
-
[Bangladesh government in] Dhaka
to have its presence
during Rohingya case hearing at Hague.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) -
Bangladesh orders
Rohingya rights group
office locked.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The order comes amid rising impatience in Bangladesh more than two years into hosting around a million Rohingya refugees...
-
Canada, Netherlands to assist Gambia
against Myanmar.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Canada and the Netherlands today expressed their intention to jointly assist Gambia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the alleged acts of genocide committed against Rohingyas by Myanmar.
The ICJ, also called the World Court, is set to start hearing from tomorrow on Rohingya genocide drawing Myanmar to dock-
(same topic at:
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) ) -
Rohingya among 2 held
with 100,000 yaba pills
in Cox's Bazar.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
RAB conducted a drive on a boat in the Bay of Bengal.
-
'Boycott Myanmar Campaign' launched.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)-
(same topic at:
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) ) -
Rohingya demand justice
ahead of Myanmar genocide hearings.
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh appeal to international community to hold Myanmar accountable for its crimes.
Al Jazeera (Arab news; Qatar)-
(NOTE: This media has pro-Muslim bias & credibility problems.)
-
Atrocities against Rohingyas:
Hearings on genocide case against Myanmar
begin on Tuesday.
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The hearings will take place in The Hague over three days. -
Genocide against Rohingyas: ICJ hearings...
[New, real pressure on Myanmar]
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
The Gambia case has apparently put Myanmar under real pressure for a change. -
Aung San Suu Kyi: 'I know nothing'
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh) -
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Myanmar in the Dock
by Larry Jagan, Myanmar specialist; former BBC regional editor.- Bangkok Post (Thailand)
-
Hearing on Rohingya genocide
against Myanmar at UN court
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased] On behalf of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the African nation of Gambia is suing Myanmar in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and accuses Myanmar of violating the UN Genocide Convention.
This afternoon, the hearing of the case began in court in The Hague, in the Netherlands.-
(same topic at:
- Wall Street Journal
- Daily Star (Bangladesh) )
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES, Dec. 10, 2019
about the ICJ
Myanmar Rohingya Genocide Case:
-
Gambia's Lawyer at
Myanmar Rohingya Genocide Case:
"They Systematically Killed Men."-
VOA (U.S. propaganda radio)
on YouTube.com
-
(same topic at:
- Reuters / The Irrawaddy (Myanmar)
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)) -
VOA (U.S. propaganda radio)
-
In Myanmar Army’s Corner,
Aung San Suu Kyi Will Defend It
in Rohingya Genocide Case.
- New York Times
Once a champion for human rights, she is now expected to argue at The Hague that the world has been deceived by report after report of atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.-
(same topic at:
- CNN (Cable News Network)
- BBC (U.K.) on YouTube.com
- Deutsche Welle (Germany) on YouTube.com
-
VOA (U.S. propaganda radio)
on YouTube.com )
-
Rohingya call for Myanmar's Suu Kyi
to acknowledge atrocities.
- AFP / Daily Star (Bangladesh) -
Shan, Karen Groups
Back Genocide Charges
Against Myanmar Military
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
-
Rohingya genocide still going on:
Gambia to UN court
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Payam Akhavan, a lawyer for The Gambia, today told the International Court of Justice that the Rohingya genocide is still going on in Myanmar. -
[Myanmar] Military Tells Bangladesh:
Myanmar Ready to Accept Rohingya Refugees.
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
-
Suu Kyi, her army commanders
must be held accountable:
~Nobel laureates
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Muhammad Yunus and seven other Nobel Peace laureates have asked Aung San Suu Kyi to publicly acknowledge crimes including genocide committed against Rohingya people in Myanmar. -
Myanmar genocide hearing at ICJ:
Who are the judges?
- Daily Star (Bangladesh) -
UN expert for ensuring safety of online activists
calling for Rohingya justice.
Threats to online campaigners start following announcements of international proceedings against Myanmar...
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
-
Aung San Suu Kyi Defends Myanmar
Against Rohingya Genocide Accusations
- New York Times
After hearing a roll call of horrors inflicted on Rohingya Muslims, the Nobel laureate explained Myanmar’s case in The Hague.-
(Official U.N. statement:
- U.N. News )
-
(same topic at:
- Fox News
-
Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
on YouTube.com )
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES, Dec. 11, 2019
about the ICJ
Myanmar Rohingya Genocide Case:
-
Suu Kyi rules out ongoing genocide
in Myanmar’s Rakhine.
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi today ruled out the allegation of ongoing genocide or genocidal intent at Rohingya villages in Rakhine of Myanmar.
She was speaking in Myanmar's defence at the UN's top court, a day after the Gambia urged her to stop the ongoing genocide against Rohingyas. ...-
(same topic at:
- BBC News (U.K.)
- Deutsche Welle (Germany) )
-
Muslims not part of conflict in Rakhine:
~Suu Kyi
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Refuting the allegation of the ongoing genocide against Rohingyas in Rakhine, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi today told the UN’s highest court that Muslims are not part of the conflict.
She was speaking in Myanmar's defence at the UN's top court, a day after the Gambia brought the allegation of the ongoing genocide against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine. ... -
Official statement:
Aung San Suu Kyi denials
must not distract from
ongoing Rohingya crisis
- Amnesty International -
Myanmar genocide hearing
may put an end
to horrific Rohingya abuse:
~ASEAN
- Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia yesterday welcomed the first hearing in the case against Myanmar at the UN’s highest court as an initial step towards justice and possible recognition of the crime of genocide committed against the Rohingya.
-
US slaps sanctions on Myanmar military chief
over Rohingya atrocities.
Reuters / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on four Myanmar military leaders, including the commander-in-chief, in the toughest action taken yet by Washington for alleged human rights abuses against the Rohingya and other minorities.-
(same topic, at:
- Fox News (Dec. 10)
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
-
Reuters / Al Jazeera (Arab news; Qatar)
-
(NOTE: This media, Al Jazeera, has pro-Muslim bias & credibility problems.)
-
Reuters / South China Morning Post (China)
-
(NOTE: This media may be subject to Chinese government control.)
)
-
OPINION:
Israel's shameful role
in Myanmar's genocidal campaign
against the Rohingya.
- Ha'aretz (Israel)
by Charles Dunst
Peace icon turned pariah, Aung San Suu Kyi, is in The Hague defending Myanmar from genocide charges. Israel gave Myanmar’s military regime the tools and diplomatic space to carry out those atrocities.
-
Rohingya refugees, cut off from the world,
got to briefly watch Myanmar’s rulers go to trial.
- Washington Post -
Aung San Suu Kyi in The Hague
for Rohingya genocide showdown.
- AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa / Deutsche Welle (Germany)
The once internationally respected leader is in The Hague to reject an accusation that the Myanmar military committed genocide. The Gambia is leading the case, asking the court to invoke emergency measures.ADDITIONAL ARTICLES, Dec. 12, 2019
about the ICJ
Myanmar Rohingya Genocide Case:
-
'No genocidal intent': Aung San Suu Kyi
makes case for Myanmar
at genocide trial.
- Deutsche Welle (Germany) on YouTube.com-
(same topic at:
- Channel NewsAsia (Singapore) on YouTube ) -
Myanmar's Suu Kyi warns genocide case
could reignite Rohingya crisis.
[...warns ICJ judges that allowing Gambia's case to proceed could "undermine reconciliation".]
- AFP / [London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)-
(same topic at:
- AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
- NDTV (India)
- ASEAN Post (ASEAN: The Assn. of SouthEast Asian Nations) )
-
ICJ speech: Suu Kyi fails to use 'Rohingya'
to describe minority
- Al Jazeera- (CAUTION: Al Jazeera has significant bias & credibility problems.
In conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, it generally sides with Muslims (in this case, the Rohingya).)
-
Myanmar's Rohingya say 'world will judge'
Suu Kyi's denial of genocide.
- AP / The Guardian (U.K.)
Leaders in refugee camps says justice will be delivered based on the evidence they have provided of Myanmar atrocities
-
'No genocidal intent': Aung San Suu Kyi
-
Myanmar Democracy Icon's
Dramatic Fall From Grace
- VOA (U.S. propaganda radio) (Dec. 12)
Many former supporters watched in dismay as the Nobel peace laureate denied accusations that Myanmar's military conducted atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim population-
(same topic at:
- BBC News (Dec. 4) )
-
As Myanmar Genocide Hearing Closes,
Focus Is on Trapped Rohingya.
- New York Times
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi testified that members of the Muslim ethnic group still in Myanmar were being helped, but many are desperate.
-
Aung San Suu Kyi wants
Rohingya genocide case
thrown out by UN court.
Aung San Suu Kyi says it’s ‘misleading’ to label Myanmar’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims as genocide.
- Reuters / South China Morning Post (China)
[NOTE: This media may be subject to Chinese government control. Quality unknown.]- Myanmar leader warns that proceeding would ‘undermine reconciliation’, saying country’s own justice system should be given chance to work first.
- 17-judge panel to make decision ‘as soon as possible’, but no date given.
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES, Dec. 13, 2019
about the ICJ
Myanmar Rohingya Genocide Case:
-
Myanmar Rohingya:
Suu Kyi accused of 'silence'
in genocide trial.
- BBC News
The Gambia has denounced Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's "silence" over alleged atrocities against Rohingya Muslims. -
AUDIO PODCAST:
Rohingya Lawyer Reacts
To Myanmar Genocide Trial
- NPR (National Public Radio)
Rohingya activist Wai Wai Nu talks with NPR's Noel King about what it was like to sit in on the International Court of Justice genocide trial this week in The Hague.-
(same content at:
- WUFT (public radio, U.S.) )
-
The Rohingya genocide:
A crisis we’ve stopped talking about.
- The New Daily (Australia) -
New Rohingya book tells of
the 'slow burn of genocide'
First, They Erased Our Name
by Rohingya refugee Habiburahman
- News24 (South Africa)
-
COMMENTARY:
Myanmar Rohingya:
Aung San Suu Kyi cuts
a haunted figure in court
- BBC News
by Nick Beake, BBC Myanmar correspondent -
Thousands hail Suu Kyi
on return to Myanmar
- Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Support remains strong at home after state counsellor's appearance at genocide hearings in The Hague.
-
Community Theater:
Bridging the immunization gap
in the Rohingya refugee camps
- WHO (World Health Org.)
(United Nations)
Immunization is a proven tool for controlling and eliminating preventable life-threatening infectious diseases and is estimated to avert 2 to 3 million deaths globally every year. It is also one of the most cost-effective health investments, with proven strategies that makes it accessible to even the most hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations in the world.
In Cox’s Bazar, WHO is contributing to bridging the immunization gap by promoting community theater in the Rohingya refugee camps. The initiative brings together Rohingya and Bangladeshi youths in a collective action to disseminate key messages and ensure that every child and pregnant woman living in the refugee camps and nearby host communities are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases. ...
-
What Makes Gambia a Good Champion
Of The Cause Of The Rohingyas?
Interview with Reed Brody
(counsel with Human Rights Watch, and a member of the International Commission of Jurists)
Originally Published in The Fatu Network;
reprinted by
- Human Rights Watch -
Myanmar Rohingya Repatriation
Seen Delayed by
Genocide Trial, 2020 Elections.
- RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
The Myanmar government will not push for the much-delayed repatriation of Rohingya refugees living for more than two years in displacement camps in Bangladesh until the genocide case at the U.N’s top court is over and possibly until Myanmar’s next elections are held in late 2020, in-country observers said Monday.
Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh in November 2017 to repatriate some of the more than 740,000 Rohingya who fled during a military-led crackdown in northern Rakhine state that began in August of that year.
But very few refugees have returned on their own, because most of them fear continued violence and systematic discrimination. They have demanded that Myanmar take action to ensure their safety, give them access to education and healthcare, lift travel restrictions on them, and grant them citizenship.
Now Myanmar is facing genocide charges for its treatment of the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) where Muslim-majority Gambia brought a lawsuit against the country on behalf of the [52-nation] Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Last week the court held a hearing on provisional measures in the case.
Myanmar faces other lawsuits, including one filed in November in Argentina that names Aung San Suu Kyi herself under the principle of “universal jurisdiction,” and an authorization by the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity over the alleged forced deportation of the Rohingya.
* * *
A Myanmar government delegation led by a director general from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs meanwhile is traveling to the refugee camps in Bangladesh's Cox’s Bazar district this week to brief the refugees about the government’s repatriation plans.
Former information minister Ye Htut said the refugees might make inflexible demands of Myanmar since they have the political upper hand given the current circumstances.
“They will not return until their demands are met,” he said. “They might accuse our government’s efforts at repatriation of not being genuine.”
“Regardless, this issue needs to be discussed and resolved in a long-term scheme, so it is not a bad thing for us that the government’s delegates are discussing it with them. To put it frankly, the conditions give the refugees the upper hand.”
“If these discussions were held in 2017, things would have been different,” Ye Htut added. “For now, there are lawsuits in international courts and international pressure, so they would be making uncompromising demands.”
* * *
Ye Htut also said that the government will avoid any issues that make its ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party vulnerable to voters as the 2020 general election approaches.
RFA was unable to reach foreign affairs ministry officials Chan Aye, director general of the International Organizations and Economic Department, and Aung Ko, director general of the Political Department, for comment on the visit to the camps.
The ministry announced that Soe Han, its permanent secretary and spokesman, met Manjurul Karim Khan Chowdhury, Bangladesh's ambassador to Myanmar, on Dec. 11 to discuss the upcoming visit by top officials, who will be accompanied by members of ASEAN’s Emergency Rapid Assessment team (ERAT).‘They will not agree to return’:
Aye Lwin, a Muslim leader in Myanmar -- who was a member of a commission headed by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan that called for an end to restrictions on the Rohingya minority to prevent further violence in Rakhine state -- suggested that those who visit the refugee camps explain citizenship procedures to the Rohingya and the differences between individuals who can be considered for citizenship based on documents that prove their eligibility and those who cannot.
“Several issues are already covered in the MoU,” he said of the repatriation agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh. “If they discussed the issues within the framework that they had agreed upon, there would be no problem between the two countries. They need to explain them thoroughly.”
* * *
Myanmar authorities in reception camps have issued returning Rohingya National Verification Cards (NVCs) as a precursor to applying for citizenship for those who qualify.
But the Rohingya who have applied for citizenship with newly issued NVCs report that no progress has been made on their applications, even after a year.
The Myanmar government has not explained the delays in the citizenship applications process for NVC holders.
The cards are highly unpopular with displaced Muslims, who say they identify them as “Bengali,” a term they reject because it implies they are immigrants from Bangladesh.
“I think they must have concerns that if they accept the NVCs, they will become stateless,” Aye Lwin said. “Having an NVC is good for people who have no proof. Government officials should also explain that those who have proof can also apply for citizenship. Then, I think it could resolve 70 percent of the problems.”
Mohammad Juhad from the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, said he is aware that the refugees who have proof should apply for national ID cards in line with the 1982 Citizenship Act, and that those who don’t will be issued NVCs, so that they can undergo assessments for citizenship.
He said most refugees do not have any documents since they had to hastily flee their burning villages during the 2017 crackdown and leave behind their possessions, including identification papers.
Mohammed Juhad added that he wants the Myanmar government to issue national ID cards if the refugees can recount the places where they had lived and the number of years they had lived there.
Nearly 170 male and 290 female refugees returned to Myanmar through the Ngakhuya Refugee Welcoming Outpost in Rakhine state between October 2018 and October 2019, according to the government.
Myanmar officials have rejected a recent suggestion by the Chinese government for groups of refugees to visit their former communities in Rakhine state and report back to others still in the camps about whether it is safe for them to follow suit.
* * *
Mohammed Juhad said the refugees will consider the repatriation option depending on the ICJ's ruling.
“All the Rohingya from refugee camps are looking forward to the ICJ's court ruling,” he said.
“Whoever is coming [to visit] from the Myanmar government, they [the Rohingya] will not agree to return,” Mohammed Juhad added.
“There are many international courts,” he said. “We don’t know what kind of rulings they will issue. We will decide whether to return or not after they issue their rulings.”
-
Aung San Suu Kyi Denies
Burmese Genocide of Rohingya
at The Hague.
Interview with Reed Brody
(counsel with Human Rights Watch, and a member of the International Commission of Jurists)
originally published in Democracy Now!
as reprinted by
- Human Rights Watch
Burma’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has asked the U.N. International Court of Justice to drop the genocide case against Myanmar, formerly Burma. Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize winner who spent over a decade fighting against the Burmese military, which she is now defending.
Last week, Suu Kyi appeared in person at the court to dispute the charges and called the allegations of genocide against Rohingya Muslims “incomplete and misleading.”
The Burmese military killed and raped thousands of Rohingya and forced more than 700,000 to flee into neighboring Bangladesh in a brutal army crackdown in 2017.
Gambia brought the genocide case to the International Court, accusing Burma of trying to “destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part, by the use of mass murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence.”
In Barcelona, Spain, [HRW speaks] with Reed Brody, a counsel and spokesperson for Human Rights Watch. He is also helping Gambian victims seeking to prosecute the former dictator Yahya Jammeh. ... -
Rohingya Children Need an Advocate in Brussels
by Alex Firth, Associate,
Children's Rights Division. Human Rights Watch
Originally Published in European Interest,
reprinted by
- Human Rights Watch -
Myanmar seizes boat
carrying 173 Rohingya Muslims:
~Military spokesperson.
...amid signs that more members
of the Muslim minority group
are making perilous sea voyages
to escape persecution.
- Reuters / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)-
(same topic at:
- Bangkok Post
-
AFP in VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
article:
Almost 200 Rohingya Caught
Fleeing Bangladeshi Camps by Boat.
[Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's killing fields
fled worsening situation in Bangladesh camps.
Myanmar navy intercepts and arrests them,
& will turn them over to
Myanmar immigration authorities.] )
-
Cash ban stokes worry
among Rohingya volunteers
‘Women are already not getting enough opportunities. It makes it very hard for them to earn a living.’
- The New Humanitarian
(formerly IRIN News)
(NOTE: The quality of this media is uknown.)
COX’S BAZAR/Bangladesh --
A government order banning cash aid in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps is putting pressure on humanitarian groups to cut cash-for-work schemes, threatening a rare source of income for aid-dependent refugees – women in particular. -
OPINION:
In Myanmar's Game of Thrones the Rohingya lose
by Karim Raslan - Ceritalah ASEAN
- ABS-CBN (Philippines)
-
Bangladesh Rohingya Remain ‘Hopeless’
following Myanmar Meetings.
- RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
Myanmar and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) delegates hold discussions about repatriation, with Rohingya, at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Dec. 19, 2019. -
Indonesia Provides Rp 7.5b to Support Repatriation of [Rohingya to Myanmar]
- Jakarta Globe (Indonesia)
(NOTE: The quality of this source is unknown)
The Indonesian government has agreed to provide Rp 7.5 billion ($536,000) in grant to help the repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar...
-
Rohingya weep in Myanmar court
as they face charge of illegal travel.
- Reuters / The Peninsula (Qatar)
(NOTE: The quality of this source is unknown; it is in an authoritarian Muslim nation. However, it appears to cite Reuters -- a reputable, leading global news agency -- as its source.)
PATHEIN, Myanmar: Dozens of Rohingya Muslims including children wept in a Myanmar court on Friday as they were brought in to face charges of illegally travelling without proper documents.
They were arrested on Nov. 28 on a beach in the Irrawaddy river delta region while fleeing from western Myanmar's Rakhine State.
The group of 93, including 23 children, were brought to a court in the delta town of Pathein to listen to the testimony of an immigration officer who accused them of not having necessary documents for travelling.
If convicted they face up to two years in prison.
"They said they ran away because conditions are difficult over there," said defence lawyer Thazin Myint Myat Win, referring to Rakhine State where most members of Myanmar's Rohingya community live.
* * *
Some 600,000 Rohingya are living in conditions the United Nations has described as deplorable in Rakhine State, subject to restrictions on movement that touch almost every aspect of their lives including healthcare and education.
Many try to flee, often on boats bound for Malaysia, Indonesia or elsewhere in Southeast Asia, particularly after the end of the rainy season in November, when the sea is calmer.
* * *
Girls wearing colourful head scarfs and boys were lined up in the court to listen to the testimony before adults were brought in.
They cried as the judge spoke to them through a translator.
"You cannot make a noise in the court during the hearing. If so, you will lose your rights," judge Khin Myat Myat Tun told them.
One of the defendants told the court they had not illegally entered the country. The judge told him their lawyer would make that point and he did not need to do so now.
The next hearing is on Jan. 3.
* * *
In recent weeks, several groups of Rohingya have been arrested while attempting to flee by boat.
In November, a Pathein court sentenced 14 people to two years in jail for illegal travel.
-
Official press release:
Rohingya crisis:
EU strengthens humanitarian support
with €10 million.
- European Union (EU)
The European Commission is releasing a further €10 million in humanitarian aid to address the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh and Myanmar. This comes on top of the €33 million funding already announced earlier this year and aims to ensure life-saving assistance to refugees, displaced people and host communities across Myanmar's Northern Rakhine State and the border district of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.
“The EU's support has helped save countless lives over the last two years since the crisis began, but cannot stop now as hundreds of thousands of Rohingya rely on humanitarian aid to survive.
Today's additional funding is another clear sign that the EU remains committed to stand by the side of the Rohingya for as long as it takes. We will continue to support both refugees and host communities in Cox's Bazar, as well as the vulnerable Rohingya people left in Myanmar. At the same time, the EU continues to work to secure the conditions for the safe, dignified and sustainable return of the Rohingya to Myanmar” said Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic.
The additional funding will focus on providing quality health care and help address the undernutrition for the one million Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh, after living conditions further deteriorated over the last months.
It will also provide food nutrition and protection for all displaced people living in Myanmar's Rakhine state, where the humanitarian situation has further deteriorated this year due to the escalation of violence in the region. ...
-
Head of Myanmar Catholic Church
Calls for Int’l Understanding
of Country’s Struggles
- The Irrawaddy (Myanmar/Burma)-
(NOTE: This media outlet, though it appears independent, may be subject to Myanmar military control.)
The Cardinal said in his Christmas message that Myanmar has its own struggles for democracy and has its own legitimate reasons for its security concerns. He said that the international community needs to understand Myanmar because any punishments against the country would affect all citizens of Myanmar. ...
-
'I want to tell of our suffering':
comms crackdown
puts Rohingya on mute
- The Guardian (U.K.)
The Bangladeshi government is making life hard for young people trying to document levels of hardship in the world’s largest refugee settlement
...But offering a glimpse inside the Cox’s Bazar camps – home to more than one million Rohingya who have fled persecution and violence in Myanmar– has become harder since the Bangladeshi government launched a crackdown that they say is for security reasons. The measures used include temporarily blocking internet services and confiscating mobile phones.
Hassan says the poor internet connection makes it difficult to post photos on Instagram. “It’s also hard for other reasons,” he adds. “My grandfather is in another part of the camp and I cannot call him if I urgently need to. That makes me upset.” -
Calcutta HC [High Court]
Stays Deportation
of Rohingya Couple
- LiveLaw (India)
(NOTE: The quality of this source is unknown)
The Calcutta High Court, on Tuesday, granted relief to a "Rohingya" couple ...
-
Cambodia can play strategic role
in resolving Rohingya crisis ...
Bangladesh's officials call on Cambodia to intervene into Rohingya ...
- KhmerTimes (Cambodia)
(NOTE: The quality of this source is unknown; it is in a repressive country.) -
Joint Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (J-MSNA):
Rohingya refugees
- on ReliefWeb.int
In successive waves over four decades, Rohingya refugees have been fleeing to Bangladesh from Rakhine State, Myanmar. ... Bangladesh, increasing the total number of Rohingya refugees... -
HIV, sexual infections rising among Rohingya in Bangladesh
- Deutsche Welle (Germany)
HIV infections among the Rohingya in Bangladesh have been increasing for months. Experts blame social stigma and a lack of awareness for the spread of the disease. -
VIDEO:
Bleak prospects for refugees in Bangladesh Camps
- MSN.com -
[Philippine president] Duterte
to Malaysia, Indonesia:
Accept Rohingya refugees.
Philippines ready to accept migrating Rohingya from Myanmar
- Arab News
(NOTE: The quality of this source is unknown; it is apparently in a repressive Muslim country.)
MANILA: President Rodrigo Duterte has urged Malaysia and Indonesia to accept Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution in the northern Rakhine province of Myanmar (Burma).
Duterte made the call on Monday as he expressed anew his solidarity with the persecuted minority group, reiterating his willingness to accept them in the Philippines.
“I am prepared. I have communicated my desire that if the Rohingya in Burma want to migrate, I will accept them,” the tough-talking president said in a speech Monday evening in Cotabato City where he led the distribution of Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). A series of explosions that rocked Cotabato City and neighboring towns on Sunday night did not prevent Duterte from attending the event. “We have big lands. The people there are pitiful, the Muslims,” Duterte said, referring to the Rohingya refugees.
In his speech, Duterte pointed out that the Rohingya people are not accepted in Burma because of their religion.
“They’re from Sri Lanka, then they migrated (to Burma) ... but they are unwanted because the people there are Buddhists ... They (Rohingya people) are Muslims so they’re being executed,” according to Duterte. “So they became boat people and went to Australia. When they got there, Australia pushed them back (to Myanmar),” he continued.
Duterte then recalled how the Philippines took in Vietnamese boat people fleeing the Vietnam War between 1975 to 1992. “We accepted Vietnamese in the past, didn’t we? ... there in Palawan,” Duterte said, as he reiterated his openness to also accept the Rohingya people.
“Let’s take them in. Mindanao [the main southern island of the Philippines, dominated by Muslims] is big, there are fields where they can farm . . . Let’s teach them how to survive. We will accept the Rohingya refugees,” said the president.
Duterte then called on Malaysia and Indonesia, both Muslim majority countries, to do the same.
“Let’s share among us- Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines,” he said.
* * *
In February this year, Duterte also offered Filipino citizenship to the Rohingya refugees.
“Those who really have nowhere else to go, I will accept them. I will make them Filipinos,” he said before a convention of municipal mayors at the Manila Hotel.
* * *
In April last year, Myanmar criticized Duterte after the Philippine president said in a speech that we was willing to provide sanctuary for Rohingya fleeing what he called “genocide” in the Rakhine State.
Responding to his remarks, Myanmar government Zaw Htay said Duterte “doesn’t know anything” about their country and that it was the “usual behavior” of the Philippine president “to speak without restraint.”
Duterte later apologized to his Myanmar counterpart Aung San Suu Kyi for his genocide remark.
-
Aung San Suu Kyi's party official killed
in Myanmar's Rakhine
- AFP / New Straits Times (Malaysia)
[paraphrased by RCN]
Ye Thein -- Buthidaung township party chairman for Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) -- was held for weeks by the insurgent "Arakan Army" (AA), which is fighting for increased autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.
The rebels reported that Thein was killed on Christmas day, in military attacks, though the report could not be verified. An NLD spokesman said the group bore responsibility.
* * *
The AA has conducted a series of daring kidnappings, raids and bombings against Myanmar's national army, and against local officials in Rakhine state.
Myanmar’s military has responded forcefully, sending thousands of soldiers to Rakhine state, and committing what Amnesty International described as torture, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions.
The clashes are happening in the same area from which Myanmar's military drove about 740,000 Rohingya Muslims across the border into Bangladesh during a bloody 2017 campaign. ...-
(same topic at:
- AFP / Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
- Reuters / KLGO Radio AM/FM (USA) )
-
Myanmar Rohingya:
UN condemns
human rights abuses.
U.N. General Assembly resolution passed with 134 in favour, 9 against, and 28 abstentions. Not binding, but reflects world opinion.
- BBC News
The UN General Assembly has approved a resolution condemning human rights abuses against Muslim Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar.-
(same topic at:
- Associated Press
- AP / New York Times
- AP & The Independent (U.K.)
- AP / The Guardian (U.K.)
- Jerusalem Post (Israel)
- AP / The Hindu (India)
- Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
- AP / The Straits Times (Singapore)
- Japan Times (Japan)
- Austrlian Broadcasting Corp. (Australia)
-
SBS News (Australia)
(public broadcasting) )
-
UN ups 2020 budget,
includes funds for war crimes probes.
- AFP / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
The United Nations General Assembly on Friday adopted a $3.07 billion operating budget, which -- for the first time -- includes funding for the investigation of war crimes in Syria and Myanmar.
|
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