SPECIAL NOTE:
LIMITED & DELAYED POSTS
Starting in September 2019,
Rohingya Crisis News
has limited its operations, and delayed its fewer posts,
owing to numerous internal factors unrelated to the Rohingya Crisis.
Some article links are being added, from time to time, particularly during major events (for instance, in early December, 2019, and late January 2020, during hearings and decisions at the International Courts of Justice; and at the end of 2020 / early 2021 during the fires, island relocations, repatriation negotiations, and Myanmar military coup).
but most regular daily or weekly updates have been discontinued.
It is unclear when regular operations of
Rohingya Crisis News
will resume.
Meanwhile, we'll post occasional updates (& retroactive article listings).
We also encourage you to periodically check
these generally credible & extensive news sources,
for their Rohingya news listings:
The
Rohingya Crisis News.
remains an ongoing concern,
and every reasonable effort will be made to maintain its operations.
We appreciate your concern for this issue, and urge all parties to work towards
a civil, humane, ethical and durable settlement of the Crisis.
Thank you for your
interest and attention.
~ RCN Editor.
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2021-2022 NEWS
(THE CRISIS CHANGES)
Major Media Reports
(UPDATED AT LEAST WEEKLY)
Click on article titles to open.
TABLE of CONTENTS:
CURRENT CRISIS EVENTS:
(2021):
(also see:
Current Affairs Summary
)
2021
JANUARY 2021:
2021-01-01 Friday
2021-01-02 Saturday
2021-01-03 Sunday
2021-01-04 Monday
-
Rohingya issue:
China and Russia for Myanmar,
India abstains from voting.
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
In a proposal about the Rohingya issue and various other human rights issues in Myanmar -- presented to the United Nations' 75th General Assembly -- China and Russia, yet again, took a stance favoring Myanmar, and India abstained from voting.
[The proposal criticized alleged extensive human rights violations in Myanmar's Rakhine, Kachin, Chin and Shan states.
130 countries voted against Myanmar, nine of whom had previously voted for Myanmar.
Among the abstainers were
predominantly-Buddhist Asian nations of Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Singapore, and Japan [(some of whom depend upon Myanmar for rice)], and predominantly-Hindu / increasingly anti-Muslim India, who also depends upon its new port in Myanmar's Rakhine province, which connects landlocked northeastern India with the sea.
Myanmar was supported by regional neighbors China, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines -- and by Russia, Belarus, and Zimbabwe -- [(all of whom face international condemnation for human rights abuses in their own countries)].
-
Bangladesh says photographer’s arrest
not related to controversial transfer
of Rohingyas.
-
Arab News (Saudi Arabia)
[NOTE: This media outlet is in an authoritarian Muslim nation, and associated with the Saudi government.]
[Abul Kalam charged with assaulting officers, while photographing Rohingya refugees being transported from mainland camps to Bhasan Char island -- but held on allegedly prior infractions.]
-
Rohingya photographer Abul Kalam
gets bail.
-
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[Arrested while photographing busses leaving the mainland Kutupalong refugee camps (near Cox's Bazar), transporting Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island. Kamal has been charged in a case filed June 1, at Ukhiya Police Station, alleging he assaulted public servants and obstructed them from discharging their duties. Will likely be released on bail Tuesday, Jan. 5.]
(same topic (photographer arrested) at:
-
1 Month of Rohingya Relocation:
Finding happiness on
the island of hope
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
(NOTE: This source's reporter, Molla, appears controlled or guided by the Bangaldesh government.)
-
PHOTO ESSAY:
A day on Bhasan Char,
Bangladesh’s remote island for Rohingya
-
AP / AFP / Hindustan Times (India)
(NOTE: This source's principal photographer, Molla, appears controlled or guided by the Bangaldesh government.)
2021-01-05 Tuesday
-
Rohingya Photojournalist
Released on Bail from Bangladesh Prison,
Still Faces Charges.
-
VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. propaganda radio)
A Burmese [(Myanmarese)] photojournalist has been released on bail from a Bangladeshi prison, but he still faces charges and up to three years in prison.
Bangladeshi authorities arrested Abul Kalam, Dec. 28 as he was photographing buses taking Rohingyas from the Kutupalong camp to a new camp on the island of Bhasan Char.
In an appearance in court Dec. 31,
officials charged Kalam, a Rohingya refugee, with assaulting and interfering with public officials -- charges that could carry a three-year prison sentence, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported.
RSF says the real reason for Kalam’s arrest was "the local authorities are annoyed by his coverage of their handling of the Rohingya refugee issue, in particular, the forced transfer of the refugees to Bhasan Char."
-
4 Rohingyas held with firearms
in refugee camp.
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
2021-01-06 Wednesday
2021-01-07 Thursday
-
Official HRW statement:
Rohingya Arrested in Myanmar
Just for Traveling.
Oppressed Ethnic Group Denied Right to Freedom of Movement
-
Human Rights Watch
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, government restrictions on movement in Myanmar have been widespread, but certain people have been more affected than others. On January 6, Myanmar police detained 99 ethnic Rohingya in Yangon for traveling without documentation in the country where they were born and lived all their lives.
The Rohingya – mostly women as well as children reportedly as young as 5 years old – were apparently bound for Malaysia. They sought to escape Myanmar’s longstanding oppression of the group. Rohingya are effectively denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law so the government considers them "illegal" aliens, refusing to issue legal documentation that would allow them to travel within the country.
All 99 Rohingya are now being held in government quarantine on the outskirts of Yangon, after which they will likely be transferred to immigration detention to await criminal charges.
In Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, an estimated 600,000 Rohingya are confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement, cut off from access to adequate food, health care, education, and livelihoods. In 2017, a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar’s security forces against the Rohingya involved crimes against humanity and acts of genocide.
Rohingya frequently face arrest and prosecution for attempting to travel between townships or outside of Rakhine State.
On December 24, authorities arrested 13 Rohingya in the Bago Region after they left Maungdaw township. That group is being detained in a government quarantine facility in Pyay town, and after they are released it is expected they too will be transferred to an immigration police cell to await charges.
International human rights law guarantees the right to freedom of movement for everyone to travel within the country and to leave the country.
The right to freedom of movement does not depend on nationality, and statelessness cannot be invoked as a justification for the denial of free movement.
Both groups of Rohingya should be released, allowed to self-isolate until their quarantine is over and they test negative, and permitted to travel freely, subject to Covid-19 restrictions applicable to everyone in Myanmar. Criminal charges should not be brought against them for simply being Rohingya and trying to move from one place to another.
The government should lift all travel restrictions on Rohingya and repeal discriminatory regulations that limit their right to freedom of movement. The government should amend the 1982 Citizenship Law in line with international standards
2021-01-08 Friday
2021-01-09 Saturday
2021-01-10 Sunday
2021-01-11 Monday
2021-01-12 Tuesday
2021-01-13 Wednesday
2021-01-14 Thursday
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Fire destroys 550 homes, 150 shops, in Rohingya refugee camp -
©2021 NBC News
CLICK IMAGE TO OPEN VIDEO LINK.
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-
A Rohingya Camp Fire
Leaves Hundreds Homeless
-
New York Times
[paraphrased from all sources:]
An hour after midnight, a raging fire swept through the the decades-old Nayapara refugee camp (E-block) -- destroying over 500 crude shelter-homes, along with 150 shops and other facilities.
Though there are no reported deaths or injuries, the fire wiped out virtually all the possessions and food of around 3,500 Rohingya refugees, many of whom had sheltered there for several years.
World Food Program photo.
Click on the image below
to open whole photo.
Firefighters' two-hour battle with the fire was complicated by exploding cooking-gas cylinders, and crowded camp conditions.
Authorities say they have moved victims to another place (not specified), but will rebuild their shelters as quickly as possible.
Relatively
cold conditions
prevail.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.
Bangladesh authorities have been struggling with the overcrowded camps, and have attempted to move many of the Rohingya to a distant island compound -- despite resistance from the refugees and human-rights groups.
-
Rohingyas in Rakhine still subjected
to government persecution, violence:
~ Human Rights Watch
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
The squalid, oppressive conditions forced on 600,000 Rohingya [still in Myanmar] are crimes against humanity -- severe deprivation of liberty, apartheid, and persecution-- Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.
Other problems include continuing disenfranchisement of ethnic Rohingya, military control of 25% of national assembly seats, and the lack of an independent, transparent election commission.
The current Union Election Commission cancelled elections in 57 mostly ethnic-minority townships, claiming security reasons, but with little or no explanation, or consultation, to the affected candidates and political parties, the report added.
Despite the military regularly committing abuses against civilians -- while fighting with ethnic rebel groups in Rakhine, Chin, Shan, Karen, and Kachin States -- the government has not acted to hold abusive soldiers or military commanders accountable, according to HRW. ...
2021-01-15 Friday
-
Rohingya Repatriation:
Tripartite meeting
on January 19
Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China
to negotiate Rohingya refugees' fate.
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
Officials of Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China will meet Tuesday, January 19, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with Bangladesh's government seeking a fast start to repatriating the Rohingya refugees from refugee camps in Bangladesh, back to their homeland, Myanmar
-- not possible in the over-three-years since their mass flight to Bangladesh from Myanmar, in late 2017.
Bangladesh's Foreign Minister, AK Abdul Momen, expressed the wish that China "play a vital role here," adding that the Bangladesh government wants "a quick start of repatriation."
He noted that the Chinese Foreign Minister, on Tuesday, met with Myanmar authorities in Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw, to expedite the repatriation.
China is a major investor, trade partner and development partner in Myanmar, and plays a crucial role in negotiating peace between Myanmar's army and hostile armed ethnic groups.
[RCN Editor's note:
China arms both the Myanmar military and rebel factions, and China wants to use the Rohingya homeland -- Rakhine state on Myanmar's west-coast -- for China's recent developments:
• offshore gas wells,
• China's "Belt-and-Road Initiative" (land routes connecting China to the West),
• China's crucial new seaport on Myanmar's west coast (connecting inland China to the sea).
~RCN Editor]
Two prior attempts to repatriate the Rohingya have failed, because the refugees -- having fled mass killings, rapes and village burnings -- refuse to return to Myanmar until there are adequate guarantees for their safety, basic rights, and citizenship in their homeland.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has endured serious socio-economic, security, environmental and diplomatic difficulties from the presence of a million Rohingya
-- many of them refugees who have fled to Bangladesh at various times since 1980s.
Bangladesh's Momen has argued that the repatriation is of utmost importance, because, in his opinion, presence of so many Rohingya, indefinitely, creates a regional threat to peace and development.
On Wednesday, Momen said he had handed a list of 840,000 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar [so Myanmar could verify their identities, and their "eligibility" to return], but so far Myanmar has only verified 42,000 of them.
While noting that "Myanmar is... not our enemy,"
Momen added that Myanmar "must create a conducive environment" for the Rohingya to return "in safety and security." Momen noted that he's hopeful Myanmar will do so, because they had taken back Rohingya refugees in 1978 and 1992.
[RCN Editor's note:
However, since then, Myanmar's government has been dominated by the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's military, which has repeatedly discriminated against the Rohingya -- including stripping the Rohingya of their citizenship, followed by arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, torture and disappearances, forced relocation of thousands of Rohingya into concentration camps, and ultimately village burnings, with mass rapes and killings -- particulary the assaults of late-2017 which drove most of the remaining Rohingya out of Myanmar into Bangladesh.
~RCN Editor]
The meeting is set for Tuesday, January 19th.
[RCN Editor's note:
Not mentioned in any of this coverage is the fact that the Rohingya, themselves, will not be included in this crucial discussion of their fate. Nor will any global organizations, including the United Nations, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, any human rights group, or any humanitarian organization. The meeting intended to decide fate of the Rohingya will be conducted solely by three governments who do not want them, and consider them a nuisance, or worse.
~ RCN Editor]
-
Rohingya:
Why Bangladesh is in a diplomatic fix
over Saudi repatriation.
-
Deutsch Welle (Germany)
Riyadh has urged Bangladesh to take back some 54,000 Rohingya that are currently in Saudi Arabia. But agreeing to this would complicate Bangladesh's Rohingya repatriation talks with Myanmar. ...
NOTE:
For more on the Saudi/Rohingya issues, see the RCN page:
"Background on Saudi/Rohingya Issues"
2021-01-16 Saturday
-
Myanmar police scuffle with
nationalist monk's followers.
-
Rueters / Straits Times (Singapore)
[paraphrased:]
Police in Yangon [Myanmar's largest city] tangled with about 50 protesting followers of Myanmar's fiercely nationalist Buddhist monk -- Ashin Wirathu -- outside Insein prison, where he has been held for months, without trial, on sedition charges.
The charges accuse Wirathu of bringing "hatred or contempt" against the government, or exciting the public against it.
[RCN Editor's note:
Wirathu's firey campaign of hatred against the Rohingya Muslims -- whipping up Buddhists to attack Rohingya, and propelling events towards the current Rohingya crisis -- brought him to international disrepute a few years ago. But Myanmar's government did nothing to him until he began railing against the government, also.
~ RCN Editor.]
2021-01-17 Sunday
-
Bhashan Char:
3rd batch of Rohingyas
to move at January end.
A total of 3,414 Rohingyas -- previously relocated to the island -- are doing well, say top officials.
-
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[NOTE: This pro-government media appears increasingly anti-Rohingya -- not reporting the Rohingya perspective in many of its recent articles.]
[paraphrased:]
The Bangladesh government plans to move a third batch of Rohingya refugees from their camps in Cox's Bazar to the island of Bhashan Char, at the end of January, accourding to multiple sources.
About 2,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine state will be relocated in the next batch, they added.
The government claims that all the Rohingya currently on the island are doing well, and cooperating with the government. ...
[RCN Editor's note:
Not mentioned in this article is the fact that the Rohingya, themselves, have not been independently interviewed by reputable international media, to confirm the government's claims. The government has
forbidden "unnecessary" travel to the island,
blocking most media, U.N. inspectors, and human-rights and humanitarian officials -- despite prior government promises to the contrary.
The first group of Rohingya who were moved to the island, last April/May, were refugees, fleeing overcrowded Bangladesh camps, who boarded boats bound for Malaysia, and became stranded at sea. They were
"rescued" by the Bangladesh navy, which promptly "quarantined" them on the Bhasan Char --
and continually denied the refugees' request to be returned to their families at the mainland camps --
despite the
objections of human rights groups
and
the U.N.
Human rights groups
recieved word
that
some of the protesting Rohingya were beaten.
At the time of the two previous Rohingya relocations -- to the island from mainland camps, in December -- witnesses reported that some of the Rohingya
were being coerced into the relocation,
and
scenes of distraught Rohingya, in tears,
were
videotaped
at the boarding sites.
A Rohingya photographer there was
arrested while photographing the relocation,
and has been
confined to his residence.
The few news reports emanating from the island seem to strictly adhere to the government's perspective -- including this article.
~ RCN Editor.]
Saudi envoy:
Rohingyas with Bangladeshi passports
considered Bangladeshis.
‘They’re not Bangladeshi citizens who are from Myanmar, they’re Myanmar citizens,’ [replies Bangladesh's] Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan.
-
UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[NOTE: This pro-government media appears increasingly anti-Rohingya -- not reporting the Rohingya perspective in many of its recent articles.]
(same topic & source at:
-
UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
)
[paraphrased:]
[NOTE: While unclear, this article appears to indicate that the Saudi government is attempting to get Bangladesh to renew passports for 55,000 Rohingya, living in Saudi Arabia, who entered with Bangladeshi passports.
Some of Saudi Arabia's Rohingya with current Bangladeshi passports have been deported to Bangladesh, and apparently 55,000 more could be sent to Bangladesh, if that country accommodates the Saudis, who are among its major financiers.
There appears to be some hesitation on this issue, by Bangladesh, and the issue appears entangled with Bangladesh's immediate negotiations to repatriate several hundred thousand Rohingya back to Myanmar,
because the granting of Bangladesh passports to Saudi Rohingya implies that they are actually from Bangladesh -- a claim Myanmar has made about all of the Rohingya, in its effort to drive them out of Myanmar, and into Bangladesh.]
NOTE:
For more on the Saudi/Rohingya issues, see the RCN page:
"Background on Saudi/Rohingya Issues"
2021-01-18 Monday
2021-01-19 Tuesday
-
Rohingya Repatriation:
Dhaka wants global community's presence
[in Myanmar, to guard the Rohingya]
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
Just ahead of today's three-party meeting between Bangladesh, Mynamar, and China, the Bangladesh government stated it's desire for "the international community" to have observers in Myanmar to safeguard returning Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary specifically named, as desired observers: the United Nations, China, ASEAN (the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations), Japan, Korea and India
The Foreign Secretary also expressed a preference for "village-based" repatriation -- returning an entire village community of Rohingya back to their homeland, as a group. He suggested repatriating the Rohingya of a single village could be an initial "pilot" effort to validate the concept.
He urged Myanmar to expedite verifying the return eligibility of 840,000 Rohingya refugees whose names Bangladesh provided to Myanmar, recently. Myanmar, so far, has only verified 42,000 of them.
-
Bangladesh-Myanmar-China meeting
on Rohingya repatriation
begins.
Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China
begin negotiating Rohingya refugees' fate.
-
UNB / DailyStar (Bangladesh)
(same article, different ending, at:
- UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
Officials of Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China met "virtually" Tuesday, January 19, to confer on repatriating the Rohingya refugees from refugee camps in Bangladesh, back to their homeland, Myanmar.
Prior efforts have failed, due to lack of cooperation from Myanmar.
Before the meeting, China declared that it would continue to support Bangladesh and Myanmar in achieving an early and durable resolution of the issue -- and that China would promote regional peace, development and prosperity.
[RCN Editor's note:
Not mentioned in any of this coverage is the fact that the Rohingya, themselves, will not be included in this crucial discussion of their fate. Nor will any global organizations,
including the United Nations, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, any human rights group, or any humanitarian organization.
This meeting -- intended to decide fate of the Rohingya -- is being conducted solely by three governments who do not want them, and consider them a nuisance, or worse.
~ RCN Editor.]
-
Bhasan Char gets police station
[NOTE: This article appears to be a government press release]
-
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladseh)
Tuesday, Bangladesh's Home Minister Kamal formally opened the new Bhasan Char Police Station.
* * *
The government plans to move about 100,000 Rohingyas to the island of Bhasan Char, in phases. At present, 3,762 Rohingyas live on Bhasan Char.
The police station reportedly makes it possible to ensure overall law and order on the island, including security provisions.
-
Fire destroys 4 UNICEF schools
in Rohingya camps
UNICEF alleges "arson"
-
AFP/ Straits Times (Singapore)
[paraphrased:]
A fire destroyed four empty schools in a Rohingya refugee camp.
(Schools in Bangladesh have all been ordered closed since March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Bangaldesh's Refugee Commissioner, Rezwan Hayat, says he believes the fire -- which comes within days of another massive camp fire -- was accidental,
and a consequence of "flimsy, flammable materials."
However, a UNICEF spokesperson alleged "arson" as the cause.
Many Rohingya are conservative, and are against educating girls. UNICEF said it was working with "partners" to quickly rebuild the schools.
UNICEF has around 2,500 "learning centers" scattered across the 34 refugee camps around Cox's Bazar. Before the pandemic forced their closure, around a quarter-million Rohingya children studied in them.
[See UNICEF Bangladesh on Twitter,
as cached on Google.
]
|
|
Fire destroys 550 homes, 150 shops, in Rohingya refugee camp -
©2021 NBC News
CLICK IMAGE TO OPEN VIDEO LINK.
|
-
Why are Rohingya camps
going up in flames?
Local public representatives, politicians smell conspiracy, blame NGOs
-
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
The overcrowded, Rohingya refugee camps around Cox’s Bazar are becoming serious fire hazards, with fires now a common occurrence in the camps.
-
The latest incident happened early Monday. Four UNICEF schools, built to educate Rohingya children, were destroyed when -- according to the UN agency -- an arson attack resulted in the fire.
-
Likewise, a few days earlier, January 14, over 500 makeshift dwellings were destroyed in a massive fire consuming much of the Nayapara Rohingya refugee camp, at Teknaf. No casualties were reported.
In most cases, officials have not determined the actual cause of each fire -- raising questions and speculations among the public.
OFFICIAL UNCERTAINTY:
Cox’s Bazar Fire Service / Civil Defence deputy assistant director, speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, admitted: "We could not... learn the [detailed] causes of the fires" (which he said injured "no one"), but he added that "witnesses" reported that the fires were triggered by gas in "a gas cylinder" ignited by "a mosquito coil"
*
* [NOTE: Refugees' shelters are supplied with small cylinders of cooking gas. A "mosquito coil" is a coil of mosquito-repelling incense, commonly used in mosquito-infested places (like coastal Bangladesh) Once, lit, the coil commonly smolders for several hours producing a mosquito-repellent smoke. ~RCN Editor.]
THE "MYSTERIOUS" JAN. 14 BIG FIRE:
In Teknaf upazila, Hnila union, a Rohingya leader at the Nayapara refugee camp -- Mohammad Rafiq -- reported that the big fire there, January 14, "originated [in] a woman’s makeshift hut," but noted that "no one could [determine] the real cause," adding, "This whole thing seems mysterious."
He reported that "[over] 500 Rohingya shanties were gutted," adding that, although "they are being repaired,... many of us [remain] under the open sky."
LOCAL POLITICIANS POINT FINGERS AT NGOs:
However local public representatives and politicians say they suspect a conspiracy behind the recurring fires. They claim some of the NGOs (non-governmental organizations), working in the camps, are behind the fires -- which the local officials say they think are man-made, rather than simple accidents:
-
Palangkhali Union Parishad (UP) party Chairman Gafor Uddin Chowdhury, accused unnamed "NGO officials" of "deliberately setting the camps on fire" through "promising" that they would build the Rohingyas "new permanent homes" -- benefitting both the Rohingya refugees, and the NGOs (because of "more allocations" of money, donated to the NGOs, to fund their housing-replacement projects. But Chowdhury did not name any specific NGOs as being behind the fires.
-
Similarly, the former president of Cox's Bazar Chhatra League, a student group -- Ali Ahmed, a permanent resident in Palangkhali union -- added that the Rohingya camp fires "are surrounded by mysteries," noting that "Every fire incident" happens "late at night" with "no casualties... reported." He claims that "people believe... some NGOs are involved" because "they get fresh budget allocations" after the fires, "to build new homes." He believes the "mysteries... should be thoroughly investigated."
GOVERNMENT: NO COMMENT:
RRRC Shah Rezwan Hayat (the Refugee Relief & Repatriation Commissioner) did not respond to repeated attempts to phone him for comment on the matter.
2021-01-20 Wednesday
[paraphrased:]
High-ranking foreign-affairs officials of Bangladesh, Myanmar, and China met "virtually" Tuesday, January 19, to confer on repatriating the Rohingya refugees from refugee camps in Bangladesh, back to their homeland, Myanmar.
The online meeting, begun at 2pm, included Bangladesh's Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Myanmar's Deputy Minister Hau Do Suan, and China's Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui. This was the second such trilateral meeting in a year -- the first having occurred this time last year.
THIRD TRY:
Prior efforts to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar have failed -- in November 2018, and again in August 2019 -- due to lack of cooperation from Myanmar, and lack of trust in Myanmar by the Rohingya refugees
(who fled to Bangaldesh to escape attacks, mass rape and killings by Myanmar's military). Rohingya refugees refused to return to Myanmar, their homeland, over concerns that
Myanmar did not ensure the Rohingyas' safety, nor citizenship, nor basic rights -- despite genocide charges pending against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice.
This time, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Momen reported that the three parties "discussed starting Rohingya repatriation in the first quarter [of 2021]. But Myanmar said there are issues regarding logistics and physical arrangement, and addressing those will take some time." Bangladesh's foreign secretary, however, said "we can expect that it will begin in the second quarter. ... I am cautiously optimistic."
PRE-CONDITIONS:
Bangladesh's delegation claimed it asked for the presence of the international personnel, especially from the United Nations, India, Japan, and ASEAN member nations -- apart from China -- to be in Myanmar's Rakhine state during the Rohingya repatriation.
Purportedly, China and Myanmar were "positive" about the proposal, but made no concrete decision on the matter.
[RCN Editor's note:
Myanmar has acknowledged Bangladesh requests on the repatration issue, previously, and even agreed to some -- without ever following through on any of the commitments.
~ RCN Editor.]
Bangaldesh's foreign secretary said
conducive conditions must be created in Rakhine
for the Rohingyas' voluntary return,
and asked Myanmar's government to send its delegation to Bangladesh to meet with, and convince, the Rohingya refugees.
Myanmar's delegation said Rohingya had to consent to Myanmar's laws, and promise to not take any action against the state. Myanmar mentioned the ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army), which had battled with the Myanmar army just before the 2017 crisis erupted.
Bangladesh countered that, although there were some "armed criminal gangs" among the refugees, they had no "religious or political ideology," and noted that Bangladesh was "trying to control them."
VILLAGE GROUPS or "VERIFIED" ROHINGYA ONLY?
Bangladesh... proposed "village-based repatriation," where Rohingyas of one village return to their homeland together as a group, to feel safe.
The foreign secretary said this is also more practical that returning only a few Rohingya of a village at a time.
Of the list of 840,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, provided by Bangladesh to Myanmar, Myanmar has, so far, verified the eligibility-to-return of only 42,000 (5%) of the refugees on the list.
Myanmar's delegation in the conference indicated they wanted to start the repatriation with just those "verified" refugees -- however, Bangladesh's delegation responded that "the number is not important here, rather the issue of confidence of the Rohingyas is."
According to an unnamed source, the issue can be resolved in a Joint Working Group meeting planned for the first week of February -- less than three weeks away.
Bangaldesh's foreign secretary asked Myanmar to speed up its Rohingya-verification process, and proposed holding JWG-level and secretary-level meetings this coming February and March,
to "take forward the discussion we had today to resolve the crisis."
CHINA'S ROLE:
When asked how China would perform its part in the repatriation effort,
Bangladesh's diplomat expressed confidence in China's power, and trusted its need for "credibility" and its pursuit of related "economic interests."
[RCN Editor's note:
China has numerous major -- even crucial -- economic interests in the region, and is the single largest source of development money for both Bangladesh and Myanmar.
China has plans to extend its "Belt-and-Road Initiative" -- a system of transportation routes to the west -- through both traditional Rohingya homelands in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state, and through southeastern Bangladesh (now home to a million Rohingya refugees).
Further, China has numerous other major and critical economic interests in Myanmar, particlularly in Rakhine state -- the Rohingya's homeland -- including offshore gas wells and a new Chinese seaport at Kyaukphyu. Political stability there is crucial to China's ambitions.
For details, see:
"CHINA & MYANMAR"
(Jan. 17, 2020)
~ RCN Editor.]
BANGLADESH COMMITTED; CHINA & MYANMAR NOT:
Bangaldesh's diplomat alleged that repatriation is opposed by some vested quarters, assuring that Bangladesh would take actions to control them.
China and Myanmar were reportedly flexible, but non-committal, in this week's meeting.
(same topic, other sources, details & perspectives:
[RCN Editor's note:
Not mentioned in any of this coverage is the fact that the Rohingya, themselves, will not be included in this crucial discussion of their fate. Nor will any global organizations,
including the United Nations, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, any human rights group, or any humanitarian organization.
This meeting, intended to decide fate of the Rohingya, is being conducted solely by three governments who do not want them, and consider the Rohingya a nuisance, or worse --
including:
...
which has
blocked any forceful U.N. action against Myanmar
-- while
imprisoning and sterilizing its own Muslims.
These are the 3 parties who are now deciding the fate of the Rohingya Muslim refugees.
~ RCN Editor.]
Biden to review whether
Rohingya persecution [is] genocide.
-
Anadolu Agency (Turkey)
[NOTE: This is a government news agency, in a repressive Muslim nation. The article appears largely derived from Malysian government's Bernama article (linked below).]
[paraphrased:]
Anthony Blinken -- U.S. President Joe Biden's nominee to be Secretary of State -- has said that the new administration will conduct an interagency review to establish whether or not Myanmar has committed "genocide" against the Rohingya [-- a finding that has legal implications for U.S. relations with Myanamar.
~RCN Editor.]
Blinken was speaking during his confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate, which is expected to confirm him promptly. Blinken said that -- if confirmed -- he will oversee the Myanmar review process, himself.
(same topic at:
-
Bernama [WARNING: Visiting this web site may cause your computer to malfunction. NOTE: This is the government news agency of Malaysia, a Muslim-dominated democracy]
)
2021-01-21 Thursday
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Biden Administration to Probe
Rohingya Genocide Claim
What would it mean for the U.S. government to officially declare the Myanmar atrocities "genocide"?
-
The Diplomat (Japan)
[paraphrased:]
President Biden's nominee for Secretary of State, during his confirmation hearings, announced that the new U.S. government will conduct an interagency review to decide whether to declare that Myanmar has committed "genocide" against the Rohingya.
Certainly, there is strong evidence, and widespread opinion, that genocide has happened. ...
However -- like former President Trump's justifiable, last-minute declaration that China is guilty of "genocide" against its Uyghur Muslim minority -- any declaration, by President Biden, that Myanmar is guilty of "genocide" against the Rohingya, creates great diplomatic and strategic problems, with both Myanmar and China. ...
* * *
Will moral or practical considerations shape the official findings of the promised "interagency review"? If a finding of "genocide" happens, what will the outcomes be? With "national sovereignty" being a priority for southern-Hemisphere nations, will anyone be able to make the charge stick, and have the intended consequences? ...
-
Myanmar Authorities Seize 34 Rohingya
in Ayeyarwady Region.
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar/Burma)
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar authorities arrested 34 Rohingya found on a boat in the Ayeyarwady Region (south of Rakhine state, and home to the nation's largest city, Yangon), and took them into custody. They are charged with illegal travel.
Rohingya in Myanmar -- officially denied citizenship, and treated as illegal immigrants in their home country -- are denied freedom of travel in Myanmar. They are confined to their homeland, Myanmar's west-coast Rakhine state -- many in concentration camps and youth detention centers.
Some Rohingya attempt to travel out of Rakhine state, and through other parts of Myanmar, in hopes of fleeing to neighboring countries, notably Malaysia and Thailand.
Myanmar has normally charged such captives as criminals, but temporarily resorted to returning them to Rakhine state, because of COVID-19 pandemic risks. However, at present, the 34 are being held in Ayeyarwady Region by authorities, pending further action.
Human rights groups have urged that Myanmar allow the Rohingya to travel freely.
2021-01-22 Friday
2021-01-23 Saturday
-
Rohingya Repatriaion:
[Myanmar] committed to starting it
in line with 2017 deal.
Myanmar minister tells Bangladesh FM
-
UNB / Daily Star (Bangaldesh)
[NOTE: UNB often reproduces government statements with little or no journalistic evaluation or comment.]
[paraphrased:]
Recently, in a letter to Bangladesh's Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen,
Myanmar's International Cooperation Affairs Minister said that Myanmar is committed to their 2017 agreement with Bangladesh on Rohingya repatriation.
BACKGROUND (2017 deal):
On November 23, 2017, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation agreement. They later signed a document regarding "Physical Arrangement" -- supposed to accommodate the Rohingyas' return to their homeland in Myanmar.
But both subsequent repatriation attempts -- November 2018 and August 2019 -- failed, because the Rohingyas' did not trust Myanmar's government.
Myanmar's minister also said Myanmar was committed to peaceful relations with its neighbors, and to peaceful resolution of problems.
He also indicated that the two countries need mutual cooperation and solidarity in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bangladesh's foreign ministry noted that the two ministers -- Bangaldesh's Momen and Myanmar's Tin -- had served as their respective nations' UN representatives at the same time, and had developed an intimate acquaintance.
2021-01-24 Sunday
-
Bangladesh to Buy Myanmar Rice,
Putting Aside Rohingya Crisis.
-
Reuters / U.S. News
[paraphrased:]
Setting aside their differences over the Rohingya refugee crisis, Bangladesh and Myanmar have made a deal for Bangladesh to buy massive amounts of rice
from Myanmar -- 100,000 tonnes -- as Bangldesh's government races to solve a shortage of the key food for Bangladesh's over 160 million people
[-- about half the population of the U.S. ~ RCN Editor].
High rice prices are a problem for the Bangladesh government, as it accelerates efforts to replenish its depleted rice reserves. Last year, floods ravaged Bangaldesh's rice crops, sending their prices to a record high. Bangladesh will also buy 150,000 tons of rice from India, and is looking for more.
Ironically, Bangladesh is typically the world's third-largest rice producer -- commonly producing 35 million tons of rice, annually. However, the country uses nearly all of its production just to feed its own people. And floods or droughts frequently force Bangladesh to look abroad for adequante supplies.
2021-01-25 Monday
2021-01-26 Tuesday
2021-01-27 Wednesday
-
'Any repatriation process
must take Rohingya on board'
Rohingya community leaders wary of China’s involvement in process, terming it half-hearted.
[interviews with Rohingya community leaders, including:
- Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) senior member Hla Myint,
- Burma Human Rights Network executive director Kyaw Win,
- Free Rohingya Coalition co-founder Nay San Lwin.]
-
Anadolu Agency (Turkey)
[CAUTION: This source is the government news agency of Turkey, a repressive Muslim nation, and should be regarded with reasonable skepticism.
HOWEVER -- during the recent pressured or forced relocations of Rohingya Muslims -- this has been one of the few media outlets reporting the Rohingyas' arguments to the contrary of the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Consequently, it is one of the few sources of balance to the government-echoing media coverage of the December-2020 / January-2021 events, and merits attention.]
The Rohingya community must be taken on board in any repatriation process to Myanmar and problems concerning their basic rights -- including citizenship -- should be resolved beforehand,
the community’s leaders demanded.
The persecuted community is also wary of China’s involvement in the process unless the Rohingya are consulted and Myanmar is pushed to prepare the grounds for their return.
“The Rohingya want to go home as early as possible… [However,] Myanmar did not create a conducive environment, nor is there any evidence that indicates a change of attitude,”
Hla Myint, a senior member of the Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO),
told Anadolu Agency in an interview.
Last week, Myanmar agreed to calls by Bangladesh at a tripartite meeting facilitated by China to start the much-awaited repatriation of Rohingya in the second quarter of this year.
Bangladesh has pushed hard to begin the repatriation, but Myanmar has been delaying it, seeking time for logistical arrangements.
“Myanmar tries to foil the [repatriation] process through delaying tactics,” Myint confirmed, adding the Buddhist-majority country had assented in earlier agreements to repatriate the Rohingya refugees but failed.
Referring to China’s recent steps to facilitate the repatriation, he said the economic ties between China and Myanmar mean that “international crimes can continue unabated because profit is placed before people.”
“China is a regional superpower, economic tiger and neighbor of Myanmar. It has invested heavily in Myanmar. Its projects in Myanmar are not only economically important, but it is geo-politically very crucial,” he said.
However, he said “China can play a role in a transparent and inclusive mediation process and it can also address the Rohingya citizenship issue. But that is a big 'if'.”
‘Choice between two bad situations’
Kyaw Win, executive director of the Burma Human Rights Network,
described the current steps taken for repatriation as a “very bad tool for resettlement.”
“We are concerned that some Rohingya feel pressured to return because the conditions of the camps are inadequate or because they fear Bangladesh may force them to go to the camps on Bhasan Char island,” Win said.
Bangladesh is shifting Rohingya to far off Bhasan Char island from its Cox’s Bazaar settlement, where they have been living in camps ever since they fled genocide crimes in Rakhine state in 2016 and 2017.
“Forcing the Rohingya to choose between two bad situations is a very bad tool for resettlement, and it will do nothing to prevent future waves of refugees from returning if the human rights situation in Burma is not addressed,” he added, referring to another name for Myanmar.
‘Citizenship rights precede repatriation’
“No refugees will agree to be repatriated without assurance of full citizenship, ethnic rights to settle back [in Myanmar],” said
Nay San Lwin, who co-founded the Free Rohingya Coalition.
“We also have a great deal of concern regarding Burma's continued use of the National Verification Card [NVC] process which denies Rohingya citizenship and full rights,” he said.
“Until Burma [Myanmar] moves to grant Rohingya full citizenship and allows them to return to their original villages, repatriation cannot possibly be equitable,” Lwin emphasized.
Hla Myint of ARNO echoed Lwin’s sentiments.
“The verification techniques, NVC, resettling them in segregated camps rather than resettling in their place of origin and above all denying their ethnic and citizenship rights will be the major obstacles in the repatriation.
“It is unclear how the process might move forward, but the inclusion of other countries, transparency and involvement of the Rohingya refugees is of utmost necessary,” Myint said.
He argued that there were no changes in the policies of Myanmar towards Rohingya.
“They have excluded us from the recent election, [and Myanmar] continued its genocidal purge and has forcibly moved us into IDP camps since 2012,” he added.
He said the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees and other displaced people to their homes or to a place of their choosing “should be the baseline of repatriation, and Myanmar should act to reflect that on the ground.”
Lwin [Free Rohingya Coalition leader]
argued that Myanmar had just verified 42,000 – only 5% -- among the list of 840,000 refugees provided by Bangladesh.
“As a first step, all refugees must be verified. Myanmar must build houses for returnees in their original villages. These two are the first things Myanmar must do before repatriation begins,” he noted.
“No one should live in a so-called transit camp even for a day or two. Myanmar's plan is to hand the returnees National Verification Cards at the reception centers and take them to so-called transit camps.”
Lwin said Myanmar must “stop forcing the Rohingya to accept the NVC, also called by the Rohingya community the “genocide card.”
Role of China worries Rohingya:
Win [executive director of the Burma Human Rights Network,]
said China has offered COVID-19 vaccines to those who returned home, “but otherwise, we fear that their role is to expedite a flawed solution to a deeply rooted problem in Burma.”
“Fundamentally, their approach is flawed because they are seeking to be a mediator while excluding the party [Rohingya] that was harmed from negotiations,” said Win.
He said China “seems to simply want the problem to go away, but like too much of the world, they are not as concerned with why it happened and if it will occur again.”
Referring to excesses committed by China in its Uighur-dominated Xinjiang region, Win said “because of China's own genocide against the Uighur people in East Turkistan, it is hard to imagine they could be a reliable mediator for the Rohingya.”
High-handed abuses of the basic rights of Uighurs, many of whom call Xinjiang “East Turkistan,” have invited sharp criticism of China. Earlier this month, the US said Beijing committed genocide of the victim community and Washington even sanctioned some goods coming from the western region of China.
Free Rohingya Coalition leader Lwin
said China was a good ally of Myanmar and “is trying to ease the pressure on Myanmar from the international community.”
“We are very cautious of involving China as a mediator in this process. Both China and Myanmar are perpetrators of genocide. We can't trust both,” he said, urging “the entire international community to get involved in this process.”
“We want international protection in our homeland so the violence won't repeat again. Going back to our homeland without international protection is going back to the killing fields again,” he said.
Myint [of ARNO]
said the Rohingya community hopes that Myanmar will have a “change of heart towards them and will work toward an inclusive, democratic, federal country where justice and equality prevail.”
However, he said the Rohingya do not expect much from the fresh repatriation process.
“We fear that repatriating the Rohingya without ensuring their rights and security and forcing them to accept the NVC will further prolong their suffering,” he warned.
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, 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.
As many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down while 113,000 others were vandalized, it added.
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Will vaccine nationalism lead to
the exclusion of Rohingya refugees?
by BRAC University Cyber Law teacher Md Saimum Reza Talukder.
-
Daily Star (Bangaldesh)
2021-01-28 Thursday
2021-01-29 Friday
-
Hundreds of Rohingya missing
from Indonesian refugee camp.
Believed trafficked to Malaysia
-
AFP / Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
tttttttttttttttt
-
Bangladesh relocates thousands [more]
of Rohingya Muslims
to remote island.
The group that fled violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar are not allowed to move off the island, which emerged from the sea just two decades ago.
-
Reuters / NBC News
A group of more than 1,700 Rohingya Muslim refugees set sail for a remote island in the Bay of Bengal, with more readying to go on Saturday, a Bangladesh navy official said -- despite concerns about the risk of storms and floods lashing the site. ...
They are the newest addition to the roughly 3,500 Rohingya refugees from neighboring Myanmar that Bangladesh has sent to the island of Bhasan Char since early December, from border camps where a million live in ramshackle huts.
* * *
Bangladesh says the relocation is voluntary, but some of the first group, sent in December, spoke of being coerced.
* * *
"Today we are expecting 1,700-plus people to arrive here," Commodore Abdullah Al Mamun Chowdhury, the officer in charge of the island, told Reuters by telephone on Friday.
* * *
"Tomorrow they will be moved to Bhasan Char. All together we are expecting 3,000-plus people," Chowdhury said.
* * *
The island, which emerged from the sea just two decades ago, is several hours' journey away from the southern port.
* * *
The government also says overcrowding in camps in the Cox's Bazar district is fueling crimes, as efforts to return them to Myanmar flounder.
"What options do we have? How long can we live in the crowded camps under tarpaulins?" asked Mohammed Ibrahim, 25, en route to the island where some of his relatives have already been moved.
"This is going nowhere, the way the international community is handling our crisis," he told Reuters by mobile telephone. ...
* * *
Bangladesh has also dismissed flood concerns over the island, citing the building of a 12-km (7.5-mile) -long stretch of embankment that is 2 meters (6.5 feet) high, in addition to housing for 100,000 people, hospitals and cyclone centers.
It has drawn criticism for its reluctance to consult with aid bodies,
including the U.N. refugee agency, over the transfers.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says the agency has not been allowed to evaluate the safety and sustainability of life on the island. ...
-
UK stands by Bangladesh
on Rohingya issue:
~ envoy.
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
According to the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh
-- speaking at a Rohingya issue-discussion event at the Independent University, Bangaldesh(IUB) --
the United Kingdom stands by the Bangaldesh government on the Rohingya issue.
The event was attended by officials of UNHCR, World Bank, IOM Bangladesh, and the U.N. resident coordinator.
-
Rohingya Repatriation:
Friendly talks with Myanmar
still on.
says Prime Minister
-
AFP / Bangkok Post (Thailand)
[paraphrased:]
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, yesterday, said that -- without engaging in any conflict -- Bangladesh is continuing friendly discussions with Myanmar about repatriating Rohingyas, and about regional security and development.
She noted that "Responding to... endangered humanity," Bangladesh "has given shelter" to about one-million Rohingya refugees, despite the country's "limitations, including internal resource constraints."
Addressing the graduation ceremony of Bangladesh's Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC), the Prime Minister noted that Bangladesh "didn't engage in conflict with anyone" protecting "regional security and development," except for "creating scopes." She noted that this was "so... the forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens [are able to] return to their homeland."
-
UN, embassies fret over
Myanmar coup talk
Supreme Court postpones decision on military-linked party's claim of electoral fraud
-
AFP / Bangkok Post (Thailand)
[paraphrased:]
On Friday, over a dozen embassies in Myanmar -- including the European Union and United States delegations -- urged the country to "adhere to democratic norms." They joined the United Nations in a joint expression of international concern over a possible military coup.
Friday, political tensions eased up, slightly, when Myanmar's Supreme Court postponed its consideration of allegations of electoral misconduct by Myanmar's election commission chairman Hla Thein and President Win Myint.
The court declared that the submissions -- which were filed by the military-affiliated Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) -- will be "reserved for judgement' -- added to a list of cases for judgement.
The Myanmar Times quoted a high court lawyer as saying that the court will arrange for an order on whether or not the case will be accepted. The "verdict will then be written," he said, noting that "the process" will continue for "at least one month."
Although the decision is seen as a setback for Myanmar's military, democracy in Myanmar remains fragile. It has only been just a decade since the country emerged from nearly hafl a century of military rule. And it's still governed under a constitution authored by the military junta -- a constiution that mandates power-sharing between the civilian government and the country’s generals.
For weeks, now, the military has claimed that there were widespread voter irregularities in the November election. Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the election in a landslide.
The military's call for voter list verification became more intense this week. On Tuesday, an army spokesman refused to rule out any possibility of a military takeover in response to what he referred to as a political crisis.
Fears grew after the army's commander, Gen Min Aung Hlaing — possibly Myanmar's most powerful person — appeared to echo that sentiment Wednesday, saying that Myanmar's constitution could be "revoked" in certain circumstances.
The newly elected Members of Parliament are expected to begin taking their seats in Parliament on Monday. Security in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital, was tight Friday -- as police guarded roads with fences and barbed wire.
Friday, the US embassy and representatives of 16 other countries -- including the European Union and Myanmar's former colonial master, Britain — issued a statement urging the military to "adhere to democratic norms."
Calling for the "peaceful convening of the Parliament" February 1st, and "election of [its]president and speakers," the statement added that the concerned nations "oppose any attempt" to change any "outcome of the elections" or to "impede Myanmar’s democratic transition."
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres also expressed "great concern" over the recent developments, according to his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric -- who said the Secretary General "urges all actors" to avoid any "incitement or provocation," calling for officials to "demonstrate leadership," while adhering "to democratic norms," while "respecting the outcome" of the recent election.
November's election was only the second democratic election Myanmar has had the end of 49 years of military dictatorship.
As expected, Aung San Suu Kyi (immensely popular in Myanmar) -- and her party -- won a sweeping victory in the polls, renewing their administration's authority for another five years.
But the army alleges 10 million cases of voter fraud across the nation. They want the claim investigated, and they are demanding that the election commission release lists of voters for verification.
In response, Thursday, the commission, defending itself, issued a statement declaring that the polls had been free, fair and credible. They said the results indicated "the will of the people”.
Though denying allegations of voter fraud, the commission acknowledged that, in previous elections, there were "flaws" in the voter lists -- adding it was currently investigating 287 complaints.
(same topic, more details at:
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar/Burma)
[NOTE: While this appears to be an independent media outlet, of Myanmar, it may be subject to Myanmar military control.]
)
2021-01-30 Saturday
-
Myanmar army
walks back 'coup' talk.
Statement says army chief's comments misinterpreted and constitution will be protected.
-
Reuters / Bangkok Post (Thailand)
[paraphrased:]
On Saturday, Myanmar’s military said it will protect and abide by Myanmar’s constitution, and will act according to law -- addressing recent concerns that Myanmar's armed forces might try to seize power.
The military, known in Myanmar as "the Tatmadaw," issued an an official statement, sayng that recent remarks made by Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the military's commander-in-chief -- about abolishing the constitution -- had been misinterpreted. ...
* * *
The general's comments brought widespread criticism from the international community. The United Nations and several foreign embassies insisted that Myanmar's elected government reaffirm its commitment to democracy.
FEBRUARY 2021:
2021-02-01 Friday
SPECIAL REPORT:
MYANMAR MILITARY COUP
February 1, 2021
THE MYANMAR MILITARY
(THE "TATMADAW")
HAS SEIZED POWER
FROM THE CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT
IN A MILITARY COUP
-- DETAINING MYANMAR'S ELECTED CIVILIAN LEADERS:
STATE COUNSELOR
AUNG SAN SUU KYI
AND
PRESIDENT WIN MYINT
AND THEIR ASSOCIATES.
In moves resembling post-election protests by former U.S. President Donald Trump, the Myanmar military (the "Tatmadaw") -- frustrated by its very poor showing in the November elections, and the losses of its civilian ally, the USDP party -- has claimed widespread voter fraud and other election irregularities, and (without evidence) filed complaints with election authorities, and court challenges to the election.
With no immediate success from those efforts, the Tatmadaw leader,
Senior Gen. Min Aung Laing,
recently threatened to interfere with the peaceful continuance of the re-elected government, by implying that the constitution was not being properly adhered to, and that "other" action may be "required."
An international outcry -- by the United Nations, the U.S., and 16 other nations -- against this thinly veiled threat of a coup, brought assurances two days ago from a military spokesman, saying that the general was "misundertood," and that the military "will protect and abide by Myanmar’s constitution, and will act according to law."
HOWEVER, today, February 1st, 2021, Myanmar's brief experiment with civilian democracy -- only a few years old -- was halted by a sweeping military coup taking over all of the nation's government.
WHY NOW?
Myanmar's military, the Tatmadaw, controlled the country for 49 years, until -- bowing to international pressure -- it allowed for a democratically-elected civilian government. This resulted in the 2015 election of their former prisoner, dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, to the nation's highest civilian office, and a presidency and parliament dominated by her NLD party.
However, in the country's new constitution, the military retained much power: 25% of the seats in parliament, the right to seize control if the president declared "a state of emergency," and control of three critical ministries (departments), including "Defense" (the military), and "Home" (homeland security and law enforcement) -- essentially retaining all the power of physicial force in the government.
However, since coming partially to power, the civilian government has tried, repeatedly, to curtail the military's independence and power, and last year attempted such changes to the constitution. It was unable to do so because changing the constitution requires consent of at least some of the military's members of parliament. But the possibility remains a risk to the military.
The military's leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, is obliged to retire from the military at the mandatory retirement age of 65 -- which he reaches this coming July. Accustomed to many years of power, and with his family continually enriched by that power, he did not want to retire and become powerless.
Moreover, Hlaing's role in the Rohingya genocide has become a topic of discussion about charges of war crimes, possibly brought against him in the future by the U.N.'s International Criminal Court. Once out of power, he could be more easily arrested.
In the November elections, Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party won over 80% of the available seats in the parliament, completely overwhelming the USDP party allied with the military -- a defeat even more extreme and humiliating to the military than in the previous election. Consequently, it was clear that the military would have had even less power in the nation's government once the new parliament was seated.
Whether for ambition, self-preservation, greed, or simple vanity, Hlaing apparently has post-retirement political ambitions, and recently negotiated with the country's civilian leader, popular State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, about his future. But the two -- suspicious and hostile to each other from decades of conflict (Suu Kyi had been a prisoner of the military government for many years) -- apparently did not come to an agreement that would satisfy Hlaing.
Sources have speculated that China has assured Hlaing that it will back a coup, if he chooses. China wants to exploit Myanmar, extensively (and has begun doing so), but faces opposition from the democratically elected civilian authorities, who are repsonding to public concerns. The new parliament poses an even stronger challenge to China. The military, however, is apparently more willing to do deals with China, regardless of the impact on civilians.
The newly-elected parliament was about to convene, today, Monday, -- but had postponed its meeting until Tuesday, fearing a possible coup. That first meeting since the election would have seated an overwhelming majority of NLD party representatives -- weakening the military's remaining power in Myanmar, and the situation of its top general, Hlaing.
The coup, today, brings all that to a halt -- putting the military (and Hlaing) back in total control of the national government.
NLD party leaders (including State Counsellor Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and various other officials) have been arrested and replaced with military loyalists. Human-rights advocates have been arrested, the military patrols the streets and restricts travel, curfews have been imposed, and communications have been curtailed across the nation.
WHO LOSES?
FOR THE ROHINGYA,
this presents the gravest of dangers, because the Tatmadaw is the force that -- over the last decade -- has imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in ghettos and concentration camps, and slaughtered or raped tens of thousands of them... driving most of the Rohingya out of their Rakhine state homeland, into Bangladesh, in late-2017 / early-2018, creating the current refugee crisis.
FOR BANGLADESH,
this wrecks their recent efforts to arrange for mass repatriation of the Rohingya back to Myanmar. The refugees have refused previous efforts because of their fears of further harm at the hands of the Tatmadaw. Though Bangladesh has lately attempted to arrange for international observers in Myanmar -- to provide some assurance of security and safety to the returning refugees -- any such reassurances offered to the Rohingya, now, will almost certainly lack any credibility.
FOR MYANMAR'S PUBLIC,
their election has been invalidated, and their fragile, new democracy has been taken away, indefinitely. With martial law now controlling the entire nation, and strangling freedom of information, the Tatmadaw's lethal conflict with Myanmar's many ethnic-minority groups -- including the Rohingya -- is likely to become far worse.
HOW LONG?
The military claims its "temporary" control of the country, in the current "state of emergency," will continue for only the next year or so, with "new elections" in 2022.
However, after being in power for nearly half a century -- and then conceding much of their power to a civilian government for only a few years, before seizing it back, today -- it seems that any return to signficant civilian control of Myanmar is unlikely in the forseeable future.
NOTHING TO LOSE in the COUP,
and
NO REASON TO TAKE the ROHINGYA BACK:
The Tatmadaw -- controlling the nation's military, police, and prosecutors, and operating massive business enterprises throughout the nation -- has much to gain, and little to lose, by continuing to control the nation.
Foreign Pressure for Democracy
The Tatmadaw generals previously surrendered partial power to an elected civilian government only after years of economic and diplomatic pressure from the nation's development and trading partners in Europe, the U.S., Canada, East Asia, and Southeast Asia -- often acting in concert through the United Nations.
Communist China replaces Myanmar's Democratic Partners
However, ever since the Rohingya Crisis has made Myanmar a global pariah state, most of those countries have cut or curtailed ties with Myanmar, and only a few countries have maintained strong relations with Myanmar -- while anti-democracy Communist China has eagerly stepped in to take the place of Myanmar's previous foreign pro-democracy trading-and-investment partners.
China and the Tatmadaw both have business interests throughout the country -- particularly in in Rakhine state, the Rohingya homeland -- including Chinese ports, overland transport routes to the West, pipelines to China fed by offshore gas wells, and planned garment factories. Confiscation of Rohingya lands, and forcing the Rakhine population (including the remaining Rohingya) into Chinese factories as cheap labor, are now practical for the China/Tatmadaw military-and-business alliance.
With China, the Tatmadaw now has most of the foreign economic (and military) support it needs, from an ally just as opposed to democracy, and just as opposed to Muslims (China's Uyghurs or Myanmar's Rohingya), as the Tatmadaw.
The Remaining Challenge -- Myanmar's Own People
The only threat remaining to the Tatmadaw, is internal opposition within Myanmar -- both from the majority Burman population, and from the various ethnic minorities who ring the country, with their own rebel factions. The Tatmadaw is unlikely to welcome any former residents who have grievances against it, including the Rohingya (let alone their rebel group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army).
GLOBAL MEDIA REPORTS:
MYANMAR (BURMA) MEDIA:
-
The Irrawaddy
[NOTE: This publication appears independent -- but is likely subject to military censorship or control at any time. At the time of the coup, it was probably the most knowledgeable, reliable source on emerging events.]
-
Myanmar Times
[NOTE: This publication appears to be subject to military censorship or control]
NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES:
U.S. MEDIA:
|
2021-02-01:
[SEE ABOVE]
2021-02-02:
2021-02-06:
2021-02-09:
-
ROHINGYA REPATRIATION:
MYANMAR COUP:
Rohingyas will be
repatriated to Rakhine
says Myanmar coup leader;
Martial law declared
in several cities.
Daily Star
(Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
Yesterday, Myanmar's army chief said that Rohingya refugees who escaped to Bangladesh in 2017, during a crisis, will be repatriated to Myanmar's Rakhine state.
He said military rule will be different this time, compared to the half-century of total martial law that ended in 2011.
At the same time, though, martial law was declared across vast regions of Myanmar, following massive protests against the now-ruling military junta.
The orders, covering areas of Yangon, Mandalay and other places, banned protests or gatherings of more than five people. It also imposes a curfew from 8:00pm to 4:00am.
Military chief General Min Aung Hlaing, in uniform, made his first speech on TV since seizing power -- insisting that "voter fraud" justified the army's putsch.
Hlaing echoed previous military claims that the power-grab was consistent with Myanmar's constitution -- but declared that this time things will be "different" compared to the army's prior 49-year reign, which ended with an elected civilian government assuming limited authority in 2011.
Hlaing said that when "tasks" of the current "emergency period" are finished, "multi-party," "free and fair," "general elections will be held" in a manner "according to the constitution."
* * *
Rallies across the nation wrapped up early in the evening. But it's expected that protesters will defy authorities, gomg into the streets again today. ...
2021-02-11:
2021-02-12:
2021-02-16:
-
OPINION:
Where Do the Rohingya Go
After the Coup in Myanmar?
by Mayyu Ali, a Rohingya poet who fled his home in Myanmar after the Myanmar military's ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.
New York Times
[paraphrased:]
In Myanmar's nationwide protests against the military coup, nobody is speaking about the persecuted Rohingya minority's future. ...
-
Rohingya Refugees Face
New Crackdown in India
-
Voice of America (VOA)
[U.S. gov't radio service]
Rohingya refugees are fleeing India or going underground amid fears that the government will arrest them for unauthorized entry into the country.
In the past month, security forces have intercepted scores of Rohingya across India and sent them to jail, triggering a panic among the country’s Muslim refugee community who fled violence in Myanmar and took refuge in India. ...
* * *
A year ago, it was estimated that 40,000 Rohingya refugees lived in India, scattered across different states.
Being stateless in their home country of Myanmar, the Rohingya are unable to travel to another country legally. India, which did not sign the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, treats all Rohingya entering the country as illegal immigrants. An estimated 300 to 500 Rohingya are currently being held in Indian jails on charges of illegal entry.
* * *
Hussain Ahmad, a Rohingya rights activist based on Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, said the Rohingya refugees are being unfairly harassed by the Indian authorities.
Ahmad, who also monitors the movement of Rohingya refugees in south Asia, cited
a 1982 law in Myanmar that left most Rohingya effectively stateless, even though their families had lived in the country for generations.
In 2017, the military in Myanmar responded to a series of attacks on police stations with a brutal campaign of killing and rape that drove close to 1 million [mostly Rohingya] people into neighboring countries, and that has been widely condemned as genocide.
Now, Ahmad said, “Indian police are asking for travel documents from these refugees who are on the run, scared of their lives. How will the stateless Rohingya refugees be able to produce Burmese passports or Indian visas?”
* * *
Anti-Rohingya sentiment surges
Anti-Rohingya sentiment has been growing in India since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power
with an overwhelming election victory in 2014.
In recent years, the BJP and other Hindu organizations have begun a campaign demanding the expulsion of all Rohingya refugees from India.
Many Rohingya believe the latest crackdown on the refugees in India is linked to a state election in West Bengal, which is expected within the next few months.
“They began harassing Rohingya refugees in India just before the national election in 2019. Now they have begun the crackdown on the Rohingya before the election in Bengal,” Hussain Ahmad said.
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, agreed that the Rohingya refugees are being targeted largely for political reasons.
* * *
“For political reasons we find that the Rohingya are being targeted largely because the Hindu nationalist government … tends to persecute all Muslims, including Rohingya refugees.”
State-level leaders of the BJP in West Bengal contacted by VOA declined to comment on the Human Rights Watch allegations
Bangladeshi human rights campaigner Pinaki Bhattacharya noted that the Rohingya in Myanmar have been described by the United Nations as “the most persecuted minority in the world” and called for India to do more to help them.
“In 2019, India amended its Citizenship Act offering to grant citizenship to the ‘persecuted’ non-Muslim minorities from its neighboring countries. India shares its border with Myanmar. Yet India did not offer to shelter or grant citizenship to the minority Rohingya who fled Myanmar after facing a genocidal level of persecution there,”
Bhattacharya said.
“India is witnessing an upsurge of right-wing Hindu force that aims to turn India a Hindu Rashtra or Hindu Nation. Rohingyas are being hounded in India indeed because they are Muslim.”
2021-02-22:
[paraphrased:]
Their boat -- which set sail about 10 days ago -- is believed stranded in the area of India's Andaman & Nicobar Islands -- north of Indonesia's most western major island, Sumatra. It is suspected that the boat has run out of food, and even drinking water, and that many of those aboard are sick.
According to a Rohingya-related human rights group, the Arakan Project,
at least 8 of those aboard have died -- chiefly from dehydration. They estimate boat has about 90 passengers, and that 65 of them are women and girls. The organization's director reports that they are out of food and drinking water, and in desperation have turned to drinking seawater
[an act that, if continued, is typically fatal ~RCN Editor ].
When the BBC contacted
India's navy and coast guard, both denied the boat was in their territorial waters -- but a senior coast guard official acknowledged to Reuters that the boat had been seen
near their islands. Earlier, today, the Arakan Project director reported that
Indian navy ships nearby had provided the refugees food and water.
The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), says "immediate action is needed to save lives and prevent further tragedy. ...
We appeal to all governments to deploy their search and rescue capacities and promptly disembark those in distress."
Last year, an estimated 200 Rohingya died at sea, trying to flee to Southeast Asia, the U.N. said.
Japan set to halt new development aid
to Myanmar:
~ Asahi daily
-
Reuters
[paraphrased:]
Japan is finalising plans to stop new development aid to Myanmar, according to the Asahi Shimbun daily newspaper -- reporting on Thursday -- while Western allies impose sanctions on Myanmar's military junta, and threaten further action in response to the Southeast Asian country's military coup. ...
2021-02-23:
MARCH 2021:
-
2021-03-05 - Friday
-
REFUGEES at SEA:
SOS call to local paper
saves 81 Rohingya at sea,
but no country says welcome.
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
A passenger on damaged boat carrying 90 Rohingya refugees — stranded near the Andaman islands hundreds of miles south of Bangladesh, and running out of food and water, with 8 already dead — made a distress call, February 18, to his brother in Australia, via satellite phone, when he could not get help any other way.
It may have been the passengers' only hope, but it has not brought a complete and final rescue.
The brother in Australia, using GPS coordinates and a map, realized that the lost boat was near the Andaman Islands, territories of India between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea (north of Indonesia's westernmost major island, Sumatra).
When the brother, in Australia, could not get any response from Bangladeshi authorities, he resorted to looking up the phone number of a newspaper on the islands, and called, begging a journalist for help.
The journalist relayed the information to India's Coast Guard, and published the story February 21st. The Coast Guard eventually advised him, February 23rd, that they were responding to the situation with a rescue operation.
Since then, India's foreign ministry has reported that the boat was found, and two Coast Guard ships were helping those aboard the stranded vessel, and were repairing it so that it could safely return to Bangladesh.
However, last week, Bangladesh's foreign minister, AK Momen, said he expects the boat to be taken in by either India (the closest country, because of their Andaman Islands), or Myanmar -- not Bangladesh.
Yet, at the same time, India denies responsibility for refugees (it is one of the few major nations not a signatory to the 1951 Convention on Refugees), and has no laws protecting refugees.
[RCN Editor's note: Under the new Hindu-nationalist government of Narenda Modi and his BJP party, India passed a law against Muslim immigration in recent years, and has sought to deport Rohingya Muslim refugees to Myanmar, even after the February coup there. ~RCN Editor.]
Nevertheless, international aid organizations insist that all nations are bound, by the law of the sea, to rescue those in distress, and deliver them to a safe place.
The journalist -- Denis Giles, the
editor of the Indian newspaper Andaman Chronicle, in Port Blair, (capital of India's Andaman and Nicobar archipelago), reported that
the passengers had received food, water, medicine, and other aid — but still no nation offering refuge.
-
2021-03-05 - Friday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
UN envoy calls for urgent action
to reverse Myanmar coup.
to Myanmar.
Associated Press
[paraphrased:]
The United Nations' special envoy for Myanmar, Friday, called for urgent action by the U.N. Security Council to reverse Myanmar’s military coup -- reporting that about 50 peaceful protesters were killed this week during the military’s worst crackdowns, with scores more seriously injured.
Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener, a Swiss diplomat -- in briefing a closed council meeting (released by the U.N.) said that “robust” action and council unity are critical to push "for a [halt] to the violence... and [for] restoration of Myanmar’s democratic institutions."
“We must denounce the actions [of] the military,” she said. "It is critical that [the Security Council] is resolute and coherent... putting [Myanmar's] security forces on notice, [while] standing [firmly] with the people of Myanmar... support[ing] the clear November election results.” ...
-
2021-03-08 - Monday
-
2021-03-10 - Wednesday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
UN calls for reversal of Myanmar coup
and condemns violence
Associated Press
(Same source at:
Associated Press / U.S. News
Associated Press / CTV News
(Canada)
)
[paraphrased:]
UNITED NATIONS (AP) --
On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously called for reversal of Myanmar's military coup. The UNSC strongly condemned violence against peaceful protesters. and called for "utmost restraint" by Myanmar's military.
Approved by all 15 Security Council members -- including Myanmar's friend and neighbor, China (who has previously used its veto power to shield Myanmar from UNSC action) -- the Council formally adopted a "presidential statement" in a very brief virtual meeting.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield -- the Council's current president -- announced that the statement was agreed upon. A "presidential statement" of the Security Council is a step below an official "resolution," but goes on the official record of the United Nations' most powerful body.
The statement, drafted by the United Kingdom, calls for immediate release of government leaders -- notably including Aung San Suu Kyi , Myanmar's elected State Counsellor, and Myanmar's elected President Win Myint. Both have been detained by the security forces since they were ousted in Myanmar's Feb. 1 military coup.
The statement supports the Myanmar's democratic transition, and it "stresses the need to:
- "uphold democratic institutions and processes;
- "refrain from violence;
- "fully respect human rights and fundamental freedoms; and
- "uphold the rule of law."
China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun issued a statement, saying that "it is important the council members speak in one voice." He declared that it is now time for de-escalation, diplomacy and dialogue.
The U.S. Ambassador, Thomas-Greenfield, acting as UNSC president, stressed that all the Council members "spoke with one voice to condemn the ongoing violence against peaceful protesters."
SOFTER WORDING THAN 1st PROPOSED:
The presidential statement is weaker than the initial draft proposed by the United Kingdom. That version would have
condemned the military coup, and would have threatened UN sanctions "should the situation deteriorate further."
However, diplomats said that council members China, Russia, India and Vietnam, along with Myanmar, objected to stronger earlier draft versions of the statement.
Nevertheless, it is the first UNSC presidential statement about Myanmar adopted by the UN since the Rohingya purge 2017, and reflects Council unity in attempting to reverse the coup.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke of hope that the statement will make Myanmar's military realize "that it is absolutely essential to release all prisoners, it is absolutely essential to respect the results of the elections, and to allow for a situation in which we move back to a democratic transition."
Guterres told reporters that, in spite of all the "imperfections" in Myanmar democracy (under heavy military control), "I believe that it is important to go back to where we were before the coup."
THE ROHINGYA & "THE RIGHTS OF MINORITIES":
The Council's statement also spoke to Myanmar's 2017 military crackdown against against the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar's Rakhine State, which involved mass rape, murder and village-burnings, which drove over 700,000 Rohingya to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.
It "highlights that the current situation has the potential to exacerbate
existing challenges in Rakhine state and other regions."
The statement also expressed concern that "recent developments pose particular serious challenges for the voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons."
"It is vital that the rights of minorities are fully protected," it stressed.
The statement also calls for "safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all people in need."
"DIALOGUE & RECONCILIATION:"
The Council encouraged "constructive dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar."
Their statement commends
continuing efforts by ASEAN (the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations
-- which includes Myanmar and its neighbors to the east and south) "to engage with all relevant parties in Myanmar."
The council repeated support for the
UN special envoy to Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener.
It encouraged her efforts to continue communication and "engage intensively with all relevant parties in Myanmar, and to visit Myanmar as soon as possible."
Schraner Burgener, has an office in Myanmar's capital, Naypyitaw. She said last week that the military told her that the time is not yet right for a visit.
Though she says she does not have "the solution on the silver plate" she claimed to have some ideas (not disclosed) to discuss with Myanmar's military, with Suu Kyi, and with ousted parliamentarians and others.
China's Zhang urged the global community to create "an enabling
environment" for the various parties to address their differences "under the constitutional and legal framework." He supported diplomatic and mediation efforts by both ASEAN and Schraner Burgener.
Official U.N. statement at:
Same topic at:
Same topic, March 11:
2021-03-11 - Thursday
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
Rights Groups Urge India to Halt Plans
to Deport Rohingya Refugees to Myanmar.
Voice of America (VOA)
(U.S. government radio)
The detention of some 220 Rohingya refugees in the northern India city of Jammu -- followed by a police statement that they would be deported to Myanmar -- has triggered a panic among the Rohingya Muslim community who fled genocidal violence in Myanmar and took refuge in India.
|
Some Rohingya children and an old woman outside a Rohingya refugee camp in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, bordering Bangladesh.
That eastern part of India -- along with Jammu and other parts of northwest India, and India's capital city area, Delhi / New Delhi -- are where most of India's Muslims (20% of India's population) reside, and where most of India's 40,000 Rohingya refugees live. (VOA photo / Shaikh Azizur Rahman)
|
|
Police have told Rohingya refugees, living in slums in Jammu city, that more Rohingyas are to be rounded up and deported. The refugees have urged the Indian government not to send them back to Myanmar where, they say, their very lives would be in danger.
“My husband has been detained although he has a UNHCR (refugee ID) card. Police said -- along with other Rohingya -- he would be deported to Myanmar. No Rohingya want to return to Myanmar now. Myanmar is still unsafe for us,”
said
Minara Begum, a Rohingya woman living in Kiryani Talab of Jammu, after her 28-year-old husband, Abdul Ali, was detained Saturday.
“I am very worried if my husband will ever be able to return to us. He worked as a day wager and was the sole breadwinner for the family. I cannot make out how I will live alone with our two little children now.”
Minority Rohingya Muslims have, for decades, fled to neighboring Bangladesh and other countries -- including India -- largely to escape discrimination, violence and poverty. Last year it was estimated that 40,000 Rohingya refugees lived in India, scattered across different states. Around 6,500 of them live in Jammu.
However, an anti-Rohingya sentiment has been surging in predominantly Hindu India, after the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in 2014. The ruling party regards the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and a security risk. In 2017, in Jammu, local BJP leaders launched a campaign demanding that all Rohingya who live in slums, and eke out their living by doing menial jobs, be expelled from the city.
|
|
An anti-Rohingya poster in Jammu city as spotted in 2017. Several right-wing Hindu groups launched a campaign demanding the expulsion of all Rohingya refugees from the city. (VOA photo / Mir Imran)
|
On Saturday, police in Jammu called some refugees, saying that their biometric details would be collected. After the refugees reached the spot, they were detained. Police also arrested some other refugees from their slums in Jammu and the neighboring Samba district. The refugees are being held in a nearby detention center.
Mukesh Singh, the local inspector general of police, said that after the nationality of the detained Rohingyas is ascertained, they would be deported to Myanmar.
Fearing arrest, hundreds of Rohingya refugees planned to flee Jammu, looking for safety. However, witnesses say police surrounded their camps and did not let them move out.
* * *
Mohammad Sirajul -- a Rohingya youth community leader living in a refugee camp in Delhi -- said that the ongoing crackdown on the Rohingya refugees in India is unfair from a humanitarian point of view.
“Since all Rohingya are stateless in Myanmar, none from our community can have a Burmese passport. Police in India are asking for our passport and Indian visa. How shall we produce passport and visa when we are stateless?” asked Sirajul.
“We fled Myanmar to escape a genocidal campaign against our community there. The entire world identifies us as the ‘most persecuted minority in the world’. But we are being hounded in India.”
Rights groups say conditions in Myanmar are still not conducive for the ethnic Rohingyas, and they have called on the Indian government to halt plans to deport the refugees.
Any plan to forcibly return Rohingya to Myanmar would put them back in the grip of the oppressive military junta that they fled, said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
“Myanmar’s long-abusive military is even more lawless now that it is back in power. The Indian government should uphold its international law obligations and protect those in need of refuge within its borders. The increasingly brutal repression by Myanmar military, following the coup, puts any Rohingya returnees at serious risk of abuse,” Ganguly said.
“Instead of putting more lives in harm’s way, India should join other governments in pressing the military junta to restore democratic rule.”
Hong Kong-based rights activist Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman [-- liaison officer of Asian Legal Resource Centre -- told VOA that] Rohingyas are being hounded in India because they are Muslim.
"India has hosted non-Muslim refugees from many neighboring countries for decades, providing safety to them. Even refugees from the majority Buddhist community in Myanmar are living peacefully in India. But in an aggressively proactive move, India is preparing to deport the Rohingya Muslim refugees who survived genocide and lost their ancestral homes and assets in Myanmar," Ashrafuzzaman... told VOA.
"The actions by the Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government clearly indicate that their policies are discriminatory against Muslims."
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Official Amnesty Int'l. statement:
Vast arsenal and notorious troops
deployed during nationwide
‘killing spree’
protest crackdown
~ new research.
2021-03-17 - Wednesday
2021-03-18 - Thursday
(Official U.N. statement:
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar:
UN experts raise alarm
over forced evictions,
escalation of rights violations.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(United Nations)
UN human rights experts* today deplored allegations of forced evictions, arbitrary detention and killings of pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar, saying States should consider applying the principle of universal jurisdiction to prosecute those responsible for acts that may amount to crimes against humanity.
Since last Friday at least 121 people have been killed by security forces. More than 2,400 people have been detained and the whereabouts of hundreds are unknown, since the military rulers ousted the democratically elected Government on 1 February 2021.
Among the actions reported to UN experts was a police and military raid last week lasting several hours in the Mingalar Taung Nyunt neighbourhood of Yangon, a compound housing around 960 employees of Myanmar Railways and their families. Many of the railway staff and their families were forcibly evicted at gunpoint as punishment for their participation in a nation-wide general strike.
“Forced evictions constitute a gross violation of the right to adequate housing and several other human rights. These actions must stop immediately,” the experts said. “Those affected must be allowed to return to their homes and property, and those responsible brought to justice.”
There have also been reports of forced evictions in other parts of the country, including in Chin State (Hakka and Falam), Sagaing State (Homalin) and Shan State (Taungyyi).
The experts deplored the persecution and intimidation of pro-democracy protesters, including alleged arbitrary detentions, summary executions and killings of protesters. Live rounds have also been fired randomly at private homes.
“The response of the security forces to the protests is getting more and more violent. We are very troubled by the excessive and deadly use of force and the imposition of martial law in parts of Myanmar. We call on the security forces to cease all violence against peaceful protests, and respect their right to peaceful protest,” the experts said.
“These incidents form part of a disturbing emerging pattern of systematic and widespread attacks against the civilian population of Myanmar, and those responsible should be held criminally responsible under international law. States may therefore investigate and prosecute any commander or perpetrator responsible for these acts, including under the principle of universal jurisdiction.”
The UN human rights experts have previously raised their concerns with Myanmar.
-
MYANMAR COUP & ROHINGYA:
Some Exiled Rohingya
See ‘Rare Opportunity’
in Myanmar Coup.
Voice of America (VOA) on YouTube
[NOTE: VOA is a U.S. government broadcaster; the U.S. government opposes the coup.]
U.N. and Western criticism of Myanmar’s military junta over last month’s coup has given hope to some ethnic Rohingya activists living in exile, who have long pushed other nations to help stop persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar.
“We have to become more diplomatic in this situation -- when the opportunity really presented itself for us to actually do some outreach, and extend our compassion to our fellow citizens,”
said Yasmin Ullah, a Rohingya activist in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Born in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State, Ullah and her family fled in 1995 to Thailand, where she remained a stateless refugee until her settlement in Canada in 2011.
She told VOA that her community now has its “best chance to be able to make amends” through extending solidarity to the anti-junta demonstrations and pushing for a federal democratic system in Myanmar.
“It is a very rare opportunity for us to do this. And I think if we blow this, we might not get another one,” she added.
'More vulnerable'
Members of the Rohingya, who blame the military for the 2017 deadly crackdown against them, have warned a more powerful military could further endanger minority groups in Myanmar (also known as Burma).
“This [Myanmar’s coup] does not create hope for a better future for Burma,” said Nasir Zakaria, the president of Rohingya Cultural Center of Chicago. “It makes the Rohingya more vulnerable in Burma.”
In 2017, Myanmar’s army reportedly led a campaign of killings, rape and beatings against the Muslim minority that drove out over a half million of them to Bangladesh. The U.N. has called it a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”
Despite living in poor conditions in Bangladesh, many Rohingya refugees refuse to return to Myanmar, saying stranded relatives in Rakhine State are living in constant fear.
Shortly after the coup, military ruler Min Aung Hlaing said he wanted to bring back the Rohingya from [their refugee camps in] Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The [Myanmar] army has reportedly reached out to Rohingya leadership to reassure them, and also donated money to build a mosque in Sittwe as a goodwill gesture.
However, Zakaria said, that has done little to build trust among the refugees.
“The IDP [internally displaced persons] camps [in Myanmar/Burma], with Rohingya living inside them, have not received any form of aid or humanitarian assistance from Burma,” said Zakaria. “Why would they help refugees in Bangladesh when they don't help the Rohingya in Burma?”
Ro Nay San Lwin, the co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, shared similar skepticism of the military’s alleged attempts to turn a new page.
“The military chief said in 2018 that this crisis is unfinished business from World War II, so we are really worried,” Lwin told VOA via phone from Frankfurt, Germany.
Confined to villages
The remaining Rohingya stranded in Rakhine, Lwin said, are confined in their villages that have turned into “concentration camps” because of military curfews. He said the community had been unable to voice its support for anti-coup demonstrations because of fears of military violence.
“What we are worried about is that the military now is busy [with its] crackdown against protests across the country. When the situation is stable, it might launch another round of violence against the Rohingya and wipe out the remaining population,” Lwin said.
This week, the U.N. humanitarian agency said at least 149 protesters had been killed in the crackdown. On Wednesday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said it had “grave concern” that the military was torturing political activists, students and youths.
Some experts say developments in Myanmar have created an atmosphere in which minority groups such as the Rohingya can find a common ground with the protesting Burmese.
Ronan Lee, the author of Myanmar’s Rohingya Genocide and a scholar with the International State Crime Initiative, said more people in Myanmar were starting to draw a comparison between the military’s violence against the protesters and the Rohingya. He said many protesters have now begun to question the inconsistency of their silence when the military brutalized Rohingya civilians.
“Better this realization comes late than never at all, and some protesters in Yangon have even carried signs with slogans to indicate their regret over the Rohingya’s mistreatment,” Lee said. He added that the Rohingya leadership should work with Myanmar’s youth, who are increasingly rejecting racism in politics.
Rare opportunity seen
“Defeating Myanmar’s coup would provide an opportunity for the country to at last change its constitution in order to kick the military from politics permanently. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to reimagine Myanmar’s future," Lee said.
Some experts, however, warn that a broad [Rohingya] involvement in the anti-military protests will further expose the Rohingya to Buddhist extremists in the military.
"It will be prudent to take a balanced approach under the current circumstances, because our community of the remaining 600,000 [Rohingya] people in [Myanmar's] Rakhine State is highly vulnerable,”
said Wakar Uddin, a professor at Pennsylvania State University.
“The risk is too high and the price will be enormous if the military is antagonized by any small misstep by the people who they hate most,” he said, arguing for sustained international pressure to resolve the Rohingya issue, regardless of which group rules Myanmar.
-
ANALYSIS:
As camp conditions deteriorate,
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
face a terrible dilemma.
-
Doctors Without Borders - USA
[MSF-Medicenes Sans Frontieres]
There are currently around 860,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Most of them live in Cox’s Bazar district, the site of the world’s largest refugee settlement.
For years Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been providing medical humanitarian services here, centralized around the so-called “mega camp”—which is actually made up of 26 smaller camps.
Authorities have ringed the camps with barbed wire and razor wire fencing. Living conditions for the people trapped here keep getting worse due to COVID-19 restrictions, among other factors.
Bernard Wiseman, MSF head of mission in Cox’s Bazar, describes the hard dilemma the Rohingya are facing now:
- Mainland camp conditions described.
- Bhasan Char island relocation issues.
2021-03-19 - Friday
2021-03-22 - Monday
2021-03-23 - Tuesday
-
ROHINGYA CAMP FIRE:
At least 15 killed by huge fire
at Rohingya refugee camp
in Cox's Bazar Bangladesh
Hundreds injured;
Hundreds more missing.
45,000 homeless.
CBS News
[paraphrased:]
- Massive fire tore through vast refugee camp in southern Bangladesh -- where estimated 1 million Rohingya refugees have fled from neighboring Myanmar.
* * *
- Killed: 15 people ;
- Injured: 560 people;
- Missing: 400 others --
(fears that many victims may be buried under rubble).
- Displaced: at least 45,000 more.
* * *
- Hundreds of firefighters fought the blaze; aid workers tried to pull refugees to safety. Some refugees screamed or cried, searching desperately for lost family members.
* * *
- Witnesses say barbed wire, that encircles the camps, trapped some victims inside as they tried escape the flames.
* * *
- This is just the latest fire, here — at least four reported in Cox's Bazar camps just since January.
- Bangladesh launching probe into cause of latest fire;
- Officials say that so many fires, occuring in such a short time, are too much of a coincidence -- implying possible arson.
-
MYANMAR COUP:
TEXT:
Military 'sad' at protest deaths
but vows to stop 'anarchy'.
AFP / Bangkok Post (Thailand)
[paraphrased:]
- Over 260 people killed since eruption of nationwide protests against the coup, says local monitoring group.
- Military admits 164 dead.
- UN rights expert warns they may be guilty of "crimes against humanity."
- Military says they're fighting "insurgents holding weapons" -- report 5 police, 4 soldiers killed.
- Military bans several local media outlets, arrests dozens of journalists, throttles internet connections, suspends mobile data services.
- Protests continue.
- Martial law in Yangon; many residents flee. Foreign embassies warn their nationals.
- Neighboring Thailand bracing for a flood of refugees -- tens of thousands.
- EU blames military chief Hlaing, and sanctions him and other top leaders; U.S. sanctions them, too, and Myanmar's police chief. However, no effect.
Same topic, in video, at:
-
MYANMAR COUP:
VIDEO:
Military 'sad' at protest deaths
but vows to stop 'anarchy'.
AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
on YouTube
2021-03-24 - Wednesday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Defence Chiefs of 12 Nations
condemn violence by Junta
WION (India)
Defense Chiefs statement:
"We urge the Myanmar armed fores to cease violence and work to restore respect and credibility with the people of Myanmar that it has lost through its actions."
-
MYANMAR COUP:
U.S. Treasury Dept issues sanctions
against Myanmar military.
Jurist (U.S. law journal)
Defense Chiefs statement:
-
MYANMAR COUP & ROHINGYA:
Myanmar junta's civilian rivals
promise justice for Rohingya.
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
A leader of an organization of civilian rivals to the military junta in Myanmar promised, Wednesday, to deliver justice for Myanmar’s Rohingya minority -- indicating they had also suffered from the the military.
“We will not rest," said Dr. Sasa, in a posting on Facebook, "until we bring [the guilty] military generals [to face] justice for... war crimes, atrocities... crimes against humanity... committed against the... people of Myanmar.”
Sasa, a medical doctor... has spoken publicly for a group which includes members of Myanmar's civilian government who were overthrown by the military coup, February 1st. The military has accused Sasa of treason, and he has gone into hiding.
-
ROHINGYA CAMP FIRE:
Humanitarian community calls for compassion.
UNB / The Independent (Bangladesh)
-
ROHINGYA CAMP FIRE:
PHOTOS & TEXT:
Bangladesh defends
use of fences
after deadly Rohingya camp fire.
International humanitarian agencies call for the removal of barbed wire fences -- while Bangladeshi officials deny they trapped refugees or hampered rescue.
AFP / Al Jazeera (Arab news service, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media organization has credibility problems; but the text of this article generally concurrs with other sources.]
-
Not writing off 'subversion'
behind Rohingya camp fire
~ home minister.
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
-
EDITORIAL:
Fire in Rohingya camps
How can the risks be reduced?
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
-
Aid workers struggle
to reunite Rohingya children
separated by deadly fire
in Cox’s Bazar camp.
Reuters / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
-
Shelters being built in
Bangladesh Rohingya camp
after fire
Associated Press
-
Cox's Bazar Fire:
IOM pledges $1 million to relief efforts
at Rohingya camp.
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
-
Rohingya Refugee Crisis
Center for Disaster Philanthropy
[CAUTION: This source is unknown to us. ~RCN Editor.]
2021-03-25 - Thursday
-
ROHINGYA CAMP FIRE:
Official U.N. statement:
UN emergency fund allocates $14 million
for Rohingya refugees left homeless
by massive fire.
U.N. News
-
ROHINGYA CAMP FIRE:
ANALYSIS:
Official ACAPS statement:
ACAPS Briefing Note:
Bangladesh:
Rohingya refugee response
-- fire in camps 8E, 8W & 9
(25 March 2021)
ACAPS on ReliefWeb.int
(independent NGO providing disaster analysis)
-
PHOTOS & TEXT:
Rohingya made homeless
by devastating Bangladesh camp blaze.
[Detailed, captioned photos of the devastation,
and of refugee efforts at coping and rebuilding.]
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab news service, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media organization has credibility problems. However, the photos and captions in this article appear credible, and consistent with reports from other sources.]
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
Supreme Court to hear petition
seeking to stop deportation of Rohingya refugees
The intervention application has been filed by Mohammad Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, through advocate Prashant Bhushan.
-
Hindustan Times (India)
[paraphrased:]
A plea has been filed on behalf of 150 Rohingya refugees detained in the northern-India state of Jammu -- alleged by the Jammu government to be illegal immigrants. Jammu officials say currently 6,523 Rohingya are in Jammu, and the government has begun identifying the undocumented immigrants, and detaining them -- apparently with the intent of deporting them to Myanmar. ...
The plea -- specifically by a Rohingya refugee, Mohammad Salimullah, through legal advocate Prashant Bhushan -- seeks immediate release of the refugees from jail, and an order restraining the central government ("Centre") from deporting them to Myanmar. It further asked that the refugees be issued official "refugee" identification cards. ...
Many Rohingya have fled to India during the last decade, fleeing persecution in neighboring Myanmar. January 10, last year, the court said it would hear a number of pleas challenging the government's decision to deport the Rohingya Muslim immigrants to Myanmar...
[RCN Editor's Note: India is rougly 80% Hindu and 20% Muslim. Under the Hindu-nationalist, anti-Muslim government of India's current Prime Minister Nahendra Modi, a law was recently passed forbidding only Muslim foreigners from immigrating into India. However, provisions of international law and India's constitution create questions about the legality of deporting refugees back to a country where they have been persecuted and killed.
~RCN Editor.]
-
MYANMAR COUP & ROHINGYA:
Official U.S. government statement:
Treasury Sanctions
Military Holding Companies
in Burma [(Myanmar)].
U.S. Department of the Treasury
WASHINGTON –
Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated [for sanctions] two military holding companies,
- Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL)
and
- Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC).
The Burmese military controls significant segments of the country’s economy through these holding firms, which enjoy a privileged position in the Burmese economy.
The companies dominate certain sectors of the economy, including trading, natural resources, alcohol, cigarettes, and consumer goods.
These sanctions specifically target the economic resources of Burma’s military regime, which is responsible for the overthrow of Burma’s democratically elected government and the ongoing repression of the Burmese people. These sanctions are not directed at the people of Burma.
“The United States stands with the people of Burma and urges a return to its democratically elected government,” said Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control Andrea M. Gacki. “By designating MEC and MEHL, Treasury is targeting the Burmese military’s control of significant segments of the Burmese economy, which is a vital financial lifeline for the military junta.”
MEHL and MEC are designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14014, “Blocking Property With Respect to the Situation in Burma,” for being owned or controlled by the military or security forces of Burma. ...
2021-03-26 - Friday
-
ROHINGYA CAMP FIRE:
Situation Report #1 (March 26, 2021)
-
Project HOPE
on ReliefWeb.int
tttttttttttttttt
The fire destroyed and damaged over 12,000 shelters made of highly flammable bamboo and tarpaulin. More than 61,000 Rohingya refugees and host community were affected by the fire. Early reports state that 13 people have died, 563 were injured, and 400 remain missing, including children. 50,000 people are reported to be displaced.
Project HOPE and partners are bracing for a large surge in patients in undamaged clinics. One clinic reports an estimated 3-4 times the patient load is expected over the next several months. The destroyed health facilities will take months to rebuild, and housed much of the primary, secondary, and clinical lab services for the affected population. Undamaged clinics are in desperate need of medicines and medical supplies to serve the influx of new patients, as well as additional equipment to temporarily enhance the types of procedures in the absence of the destroyed hospitals. For example, many of the remaining clinics do not have exam tables or other advanced equipment that patients will now need since referral pathways have been disrupted.
Initial assessment data shows damages to WASH facilities, community centers, learning centers, child friendly spaces, mosques, service centers, shops, hospitals and health centers. The affected population is in high need for shelter, food, clean water, health, protection, child protection, and psycho-social support. There is also a growing need for clothes, kitchen utensils, and material to help in the reconstruction of shelters. Increased cases of diarrhea were observed due to the high temperature, increased humidity, and damaged WASH facilities.
Key concerns also include the health, safety and protection of women, pregnant women, new mothers, and children. It is critical to ensure the continuation of maternal, neonatal, child health services, protection and child protection services to avoid complications and loss of lives.
-
ROHINGYA CAMP FIRE:
'Can't Take This Pain':
Rohingya Mother Searches for Son
After Refugee Camp Blaze
-
Reuters / U.S. News
[Having lost her husband to Myanmar prison, and two of her sons in house fire set by Tatmadaw, she now looks, in vain, for her 11-year-old son, whom she fears dead in the massive refugee camp fire.]
(Same topic at:
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab news, Qatar) (March 27)
[NOTE: This media outlet has credibility problems]
)
2021-03-27 - Saturday
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
India Can't Be Capital For Illegal Immigrants,
Centre [central government] Tells Supreme Court.
The plea also sought direction to Ministry of Home Affairs to expeditiously grant refugee identification cards through the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) for Rohingya refugees in informal camps.
-
PTI / NDTV.com (India)
[paraphrased:]
New Delhi:
The central government of India, Friday, addressing the Supreme Court on the matter of Rohingya refugees in India, said that India cannot be the capital for illegal immigrants.
The government was responding to a new plea on behalf of Rohingya refugees detained in Jammu. The plea seeks immediate release of the refugees from jail, and an order restraining the government from deporting them to Myanmar. It further asked that the refugees be issued official "refugee" identification cards. ...
An intervention application was also filed by the United Nations' special rapporteur regurding the matter, but the high court refused to hear it at this stage of the proceedings. ...
Many Rohingya have fled to India during the last decade, fleeing persecution in neighboring Myanmar. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
VIDEO:
More than 100 people killed
protesting against Myanmar coup.
More than 100 people were killed, as security forces gunned down unarmed civilians across Myanmar, according to the Associated Press and local reports.
The violence happened as the military junta celebrated what they call “Armed Forces Day” with a parade.
NBC News
2021-03-28 - Sunday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
VIDEO:
"A day of terror and dishonour":
Myanmar forces kill dozens of people,
including children,
in what may be deadliest day since coup.
CBS News
-
MYANMAR COUP:
VIDEO, PHOTOS & TEXT:
Generals celebrated
amid global fury
over massacre
The US accused Myanmar's security forces of committing a "reign of terror," Saturday -- deadliest day since the February 1st coup.
BBC News
-
MYANMAR COUP:
PHOTOS & TEXT:
UN officials condemn Myanmar junta
after 100-plus civilians killed in one day.
Sharma & Reuters / CNN (Cable News Network)
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Army chiefs worldwide
condemn Myanmar military
Defence chiefs from twelve countries, including the US, Britain, South Korea and Japan, have condemned Myanmar for its use of force against unarmed civilians.
- BBC
-
MYANMAR COUP:
ANALYSIS:
Myanmar’s Unrest, Explained
Weeks of demonstrations, and a deadly crackdown, have roiled the nation since a Feb. 1 coup brought back full military rule, following years of quasi-democracy.
New York Times
-
Supplying Trucks to a Murderous Military
-
Suddeutsche Zeitung ("SouthGerman Newspaper")
(Germany)
The military leaders of Myanmar are deploying widespread violence to crush peaceful demonstrations in the country.
The soldiers are frequently deployed with the help of trucks built by a Chinese company – a large stake in which is held by a German company with a rich tradition [Volkswagen AG -- in turn held largely by a German state's government].
It is a story of ethics and responsibility in global trade.
[Article shows numerous photos of German-connected Sinotruk military trucks used by Myanmar's junta to attack, capture and carry away protestors and other civilians.]
2021-03-29 - Monday
-
MYANMAR COUP & ROHINGYA:
Suu Kyi ally wants equal rights
for persecuted Myanmar Muslims.
Bloomberg / Japan Times (Japan)
[paraphrased:]
A Myanmar physician, Dr. Sasa -- who claims to be the envoy, to the United Nations, of Myanmar’s elected parliament (as defined by the NLD party of Aung San Suu Kyi) --
says that now is "the time for me to call our Rohingya brothers and sisters my family," adding: “We are one family. Now we have got only one common enemy: that is these military generals."
Sasa is part of an organization calling itself the CRPH (Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) -- a parallel government established by members of Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NDL), who won the recent election, but were overthrown by the February 1st military coup. Most of the CRPH leaders are on the run from the military, or in hiding.
Sasa said that, if the protests against the military succeed, and topple the military, the restored civilian government would work out solutions to the civil conflicts that have torn the nation apart for years -- and would ensure a restoration of full rights, and citizenship, to the Rohingya.
Sasa promised that “Everybody will have equal rights... in principle... no one [ought to] be left behind [because of their] culture... color... race or... religion... Those days are over.”
[RCN Editor's note:
In the early 2000s, the governments of many countries (particularly the U.S., U.K., and Europe) once helped pressure the Myanmar military to allow an elected civilian government, bringing Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD party to power.
But, since then, Suu Kyi's global reputation, and her NLD party's reputation, have been shattered by her very public defense and denial of the Rohingya genocide. Owing to their hostile treatment of the Rohingya, and their defense of the military atrocities against the Rohingya, the NLD and Suu Kyi have now found themselves without the full respect, trust and affection of the international allies who once backed them.
So, now that Suu Kyi and the NLD have been overthrown in a military coup -- and they desperately need international support, again -- they have very few enthusiastic supporters, or at least far less global sympathy than they had before the Rohingya crisis.
This envoy's remarks appear to suggest that, out of desperation, the NLD is willing to recant its prior hostility to the Rohingya -- and commit to embrace them, instead -- in hopes of regaining international support
(a job that an envoy to the U.N. would be responsible for achieving).
However, whether his commitment is shared by Suu Kyi and the rest of the NLD, is NOT clear from this article. Nor is it clear that Sasa's declaration has any more sincerity and reliability than a desperate politician's campaign promise.
~RCN Editor]
-
Rohingya refugees to speak
on their aspirations
[at university, tomorrow].
Webinar online, open to all.
ANNOUNCEMENT:
[paraphrased:]
Webinar to occur on Monday, March 29, 2021 at 3pm, on the Facebook page of the Brac University Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ)... featuring speeches from 5 of CPJ's Rohingya research volunteers. Others will appear, also. Viewers can watch online at CPJ’s Facebook page
(
https://www.facebook.com/cpj.bracu
)
-
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
2021-03-30 - Tuesday
2021-03-31 - Wednesday
APRIL 2021:
2021-04-01 - Thursday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
U.N. Security Council debates:
At UNSC Meeting on Myanmar,
India 'Condemns Violence',
But Urges 'Engagement' With Regime.
The US and other countries are pushing for more robust measures against the Myanmar military authorities in the wake of the recent coup.
The Wire (India)
USUNmiissionGOV
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Official joint statement:
Joint Statement on Behalf of the Co-Chairs of the
UN Group of Friends for the Protection of Journalists
on the Situation in Myanmar
-
United States Mission to the United Nations
The co-chairs of
the United Nations Group of Friends for the Protection of Journalists
– Lithuania, France and Greece – and the [70] undersigned Members of the Group of Friends and the UN Member States,
express their deep concern over the attacks on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the situation of journalists and media workers in Myanmar and strongly condemn their harassment, arbitrary arrests and detention, as well as of human rights defenders and other members of civil society. ...
* * *
We strongly condemn the attacks on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including for members of the media, in Myanmar,
both online and offline, the use of internet shutdowns to curtail access to information and the apparent specific targeting of both local and international journalists for violence and arbitrary detention.
We call for an immediate and unconditional release of all peaceful protesters, journalists and members of civil society and other persons who have been arbitrarily detained in Myanmar and demand that the charges against them are dropped.
We share deep concern raised by UN Women over violence that has disproportionately targeted women, recorded during the crackdown against peaceful protesters in Myanmar.
Women in detention are also reportedly experiencing sexual and gender-based harassment and violence. We call on the security forces to respect the human rights of women, including female journalists.
We call for an immediate end to assaults on journalists and media workers in Myanmar, an accounting of those reported missing, and transparent investigations into all allegations of human rights violations and abuses, and access to justice and redress for victims.
Journalists must be free to report on the developments in the country, including the protests, without fear of reprisal or intimidation.
Independent reporting is all the more important in the current context, helping to counter the disinformation campaigns, both online and offline, in Myanmar and to provide the public with factual accounts of events taking place in Myanmar. ...
2021-04-02 - Friday
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
Assam tries to deport Rohingya girl,
Myanmar refuses to accept.
Immigration officials of Myanmar refused to accept her -- stating that the check-gate is shut for the last one year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
PTI / Hindustan Times (India)
[paraphrased:]
When a team of the Assam Police took a 14-year-old Rohingya girl was to India's border with Myanmar, in Manipur, for deportation, Myanmar refused to accept her, Indian officials said on Friday.
Thursday, following the Indian central government's clearance, she was taken from Silchar in India's northeastern province of Assam, to an international check-gate at Moreh in the neighboring province of Manipur, for deportation, they said.
However, they reported, Myanmar immigration officials refused to accept the girl, saying that the check-gate is closed for the last one year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Further, according to Indian police, the Myanmar officials said to the Indian authorities that the situation in Myanmar is also inappropriate for any kind of deportation.
The Indian police team returned the girl to Silchar -- handing her back over to the shelter home, there, where she has been living.
The girl was found, two years ago, at a house in Silchar, unconscious, under mysterious circumstances, officials said.
Later, it was learned that her parents lived in one of the refugee camps at Cox's Bazar, in Bangladesh, the police said.
Because the girl is a minor, she was not transferred to a detention centre -- instead provided shelter, initially, at Ujjala Ashroy Center, and thereafter in a home operated by the Nibedita Nari Sangstha, according to police.
Two years ago, when brought to the shelter home, she didn't know any language of India, a staffer of Ujjala Ashroy Center said.
The girl stayed there a year, studying, and learned a local language, she said.
After that, she was moved to a women home's run by Nibedita Nari Sangstha, she added.
Nibedita Nari Sangstha's chief said she has written numerous letters to the Indian central government, over the last few months, with the intention of helping the girl return to her Myanmar home -- an objective for which official clearance was granted recently.
However, the government's move to deport her to coup-hit Myanmar -- even after learning that her parents were in Bangladesh -- has brought criticism from many.
"In such a condition," asked Kamal Chakraborty, noted human rights activist, "how can the Indian government [attempt] to hand her... to Myanmar?."
Several Myanmar Rohingya have been arrested in India in the past few years, for crossing into the India illegaly, as they were fleeing persecution.
MORE TO THE STORY:
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
Minor Rohingya Girl Gets Reprieve
After Myanmar Refuses
Indian Deportation Attempt.
The Wire (India)
...which adds:
[paraphrased:]
According to the Assam Tribune, the girl had asked that she be returned to her parents in Bangladesh. They are staying at a camp there, as refugees, in Cox’s Bazaar, rather than in Myanmar. However, India's Ministry of Home Affairs, and its Ministry of External Affairs, reportedly stuck to protocol, and decided that her request was not allowable.
In early March, about 150 Rohingya immigrants, who escaped persecution in Myanmar, living in India's northern state of Jammu, were detained by authorities, and transferred to a "holding centre" -- pushing the scattered Rohingya community in India into uncertainty. Similar detentions have happened in New Delhi, according to the Indian Express.
During the March 26 Indian Supreme Court hearing about the Rohingya issue, India's Chief Justice, S.A. Bobde, remarked "The fear is... once they are deported [from India], they may get slaughtered. But," said the judge, "we cannot stop it."
ALL OF MYANMAR'S PEOPLE TURNED AWAY -- OR NOT?:
Not just rejecting the Rohingya, the Indian central government, and the Manipur state government, have been lukewarm to sheltering Myanmarese who, recently, have been walking into India from across the border, amid Myanmar's brutal military repression.
By March 30, the Manipur government had reportedly withdrawn an order that had barred civil society organisations and district administrations from providing food or shelter to refugees from Myanmar who might have crossed the border in recent days.
A government order issued March 26, declared that medical attention could only be provided for "grievous injuries." The order asked that people seeking refuge in India be "politely turned away."
The original Manipur government order was criticized on social media, by various quarters -- including former Indian national security advisor Shivshankar Menon. He called the order "beyond shame."
March 31, journalist Vijaita Singh
shared a video on Twitter,
saying it originally came from Mizo National Front politician Rajya Sabha MP K. Vanlalvena -- and was shot the previousl week -- showing children among the people being turned away at Manipur's border with Myanmar.
Meanwhile, Mizoram's state government has struck a different chord -- asserting publicly that it will provide support to fleeing Myanmar nationals seeking refuge. Nearly 400 have escaped from Myanmar to Mizoram since late February.
On March 21, Mizoram's chief minister Zoramthanga met with Zin Mar Aung -- the acting foreign minister of the government-in-exile composed of Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmakers who were ousted February 1 by the military coup. Tweeting about their meeting, Mizoram's minister significantly referred to her as Myanmar's 'foreign minister.'
A DIFFERENT VERSION OF THE STORY:
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
Centre (India's Central government) Halts Deportation
of 16-Year-Old Rohingya Girl
to Myanmar.
Officials, who say the girl is an illegal immigrant, had taken her to a northeastern border town and started processing her papers on Thursday, the police said, even as rights groups pressed the government to halt the process
All India & Reuters / NDTV.com (India)
[paraphrased:]
New Delhi:
Today, at the last minute, Indian officials stopped the deportation
to Myanmar of a 16-year-old Muslim Rohingya girl -- saying they had been unable to contact Myanmar officials entangled in the coup across the border.
Officials -- who say that the Rohingya girl is an illegal immigrant -- had taken the girl to a northeastern India border town, and had started processing her papers, Thursday, police said... even while rights groups were pressing the government to stop the process.
But a Manipur government official of the border district of Tengnoupal, Mayanglambam Rajkumar, said they decided against the deportation today. He didn't say whether the transfer was postponed or cancelled.
"We... contacted our counterparts in Myanmar [but] have not received any response," he said, blaming the aftermath of Myanmar's coup for the breakdown in communications.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya -- largely denied citizenship in Myanmar, their home country -- have lived in India for years. However, the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi considers them a security threat, and is detaining them.
The girl, like the rest of her family, were among hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar's military-led 2017 crackdown, which UN investigators said had "genocidal intent" -- charges Myanmar denies.
The girl's father, Mohammed Zaber, now living in Bangladesh, in a Rohingya refugee camp, said she left Bangladesh in 2019 to seek a better life in Malaysia, but was detained on the way, in India. He appealed to India's government "send my daughter to me" at the camp "in Bangladesh," Mr Zaber said.
A police official said the girl will now probably return to the non-profit agency that had been caring for her in Assam.
An Indian foreign ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the case. A home ministry spokesperson, asked for comment, did not immediately respond.
The UNHCR (the United Nations' refugee agency), opposed the deportation, saying Thursday: "The situation in Myanmar is not yet conducive for voluntary return in a safe, secure, and sustainable manner."
India has not signed onto the UN Refugee Convention, and it rejects the UN "non-refoulement" position: that deporting the Rohingya violates the principle against "refoulement" (sending refugees back to a place where they face danger).
-
Fire kills 3 in market
near Rohingya camp
in Bangladesh.
-
(Reuters?) / ABC News
[paraphrased:]
2021-04-03 - Saturday
2021-04-04 - Sunday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
A group of 10 heads of missions
visited Rohingyas camp
in Bhashanchar
UNI (India)
[NOTE: This article appears to be a reprint of an official statement of the Government of Bangladesh (GOB).]
[paraphrased:]
Dhaka, Apr 4 (UNI)
Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a day-long trip, on Saturday, to Bhashan Char island, for a group of Ambassadors and High Commissioners based in Dhaka.
They were the Heads of Missions of the Embassies or Delegations of the European Union, the USA, the U.K, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, Turkey, and the Netherlands.
The visit was part of the Bangladesh Government’s engagement with the United Nations and the rest of the International Community on the issue of relocating Rohingya refugees from Cox's Bazar to Bhashanchar.
The objective of the visit was to provide the Ambassadors with an opportunity to witness the massive development and humanitarian projects undertaken by the Government of Bangladesh in Bhashanchar.
During the tour, the group had the chance to visit different infrastructures including embankments, buildings, shelters, other facilities and amenities available on the island.
The group visited several capacity-building projects such as sewing, handicrafts making etc, the skills that the Rohingyas would be able to utilize on their return to Myanmar.
The Ambassadors freely interacted with the Rohingya representatives and shared their thoughts and hopes.
During the interactions, the Rohingyas profusely thanked the Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Government of Bangladesh for the exemplary humanitarian support that have been extended to the Rohingyas since the mass exodus. At the same time, they expressed their willingness to return to their homeland in Myanmar. “I want my children to grow with their own national identity in their own country,” a Rohingya representative stated. The Rohingyas conveyed their satisfaction over the existing facilities in Bhashanchar, which they considered safe, secured crime-free compared to the congested camps in Cox’s Bazar.
Some Rohingyas underscored the need to expand learning facilities for children and provide them opportunities for farming and fishing which would help in keeping them active. The group of Ambassadors spent some time with the Rohingya children in an informal learning center.
This was the first-ever visit to Bhashanchar by foreign Heads of Missions. The trip was preceded by a UN team’s visit from 17-20 March 2021. Earlier a team, led by the Assistant Secretary General of the [Organizatino of Islamic Cooperation] went to Bhashan Char.
* * *
It may be mentioned that Rohingya relocation, which started from 4 December 2020, is in alignment with the GOB’s overall efforts towards repatriation. So far 18,334 Rohingyas have been relocated to Bhashanchar. The Bangladesh government has a plan to relocate, in phases, 100,000 Rohingyas to Bhashanchar.
2021-04-05 - Monday
-
ROHINGYA in MALAYSIA:
Death Threats, Hate Speech
Turn Rohingya Activist's Malaysia Home
Into a Prison.
Reuters / U.S. News
(same topic at:
-
UCA News
(Hong Kong / Malaysia)
[An independent publication of Roman Catholics],
which reports:
A prominent Rohingya refugee activist, living in Malaysia. said he has gone into hiding in the face of frequent death threats in the Muslim-majority nation -- where an estimated 100,000 Rohingya asylum seekers are generally treated as pariahs.
Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani,
51 -- ...who is originally from Myanmar -- leads the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization Malaysia.
His activism, on behalf of fellow Rohingya, has made him enemies among ethnic Malays who want the asylum-seekers gone.
A false rumor began to spread online a year ago that Zafar had demanded to be granted Malaysian citizenship. He then started receiving death threats.
Concerned for his safety, the activist has left his home on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur with his family and has not returned. He and his family now live in a small, undisclosed location, which he is afraid to leave.
“I’m still scared. For a year, I’ve not set foot outside. I’ve not seen the earth outside,” Zafar told the Reuters news agency. Zafar said police have taken no action about the torrent of hate and abuse directed at him online.
The experience has left him exhausted and depressed. “I cannot relax my body, my brain, my heart,” he lamented. “I cry, asking why people are doing this to me.”
Numerous Rohingya asylum seekers experience the same anxiety in Malaysia, where they have fled from ethnic cleansing in Myanmar in the hope of a safe haven. Instead, they have found themselves on the margins of society reduced to lowly paid laboring jobs.
-
Rohingya soon to have
their first Quran translation.
TRT World (Turkey)
[NOTE: This is a broadcaster owned by the repressive Muslim government of Turkey.]
For the first time, the Rohingya Muslims will be able to listen to an authentic recitation of the Quran in their own language -- as an audio and video translation of Islam’s holiest scripture will go online in a few days.
The translation, which is based on Saudi Arabia’s King Fahad English version of the Quran, will be released in instalments with the first few parts expected to be shared in the coming Ramadan, starting from mid-April, the organisers behind the project tell TRT World.
* * *
...decades of persecution and state censure by the Buddhist government [of Myanmar] also decimated the Rohingya language -- with their books and scriptures destroyed, and education banned.
“We were not allowed to read and write in Rohingya. They will give us maximum punishment for that, which was either being killed or getting jailed,” says Muhammad Noor, a Rohingya activist and entrepreneur, who is part of the translation campaign. ...
[The complex history of Rohingya use of Koran translations is described, along with the current project. ~RCN Editor]
2021-04-06 - Tuesday
2021-04-07 - Wednesday
(Same topic at:
...which reports:
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are living in renewed fear after deadly fires broke out more than 30 times in the southeastern Cox’s Bazar district in recent weeks.
Rights activists said these fires are part of a “very worrying trend” in the overcrowded, sprawling shantytown that is home to dozens of interconnected makeshift refugee settlements.
“Every day and night Rohingyas across the camp are living in fear that fire will break out again somewhere in the camp,” a Cox’s Bazar-based Rohingya rights activist... told VOA. ...
“Fires are breaking out time and again,” he said, “at least 32 times in different parts of the Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar in the past 17 days, after the devastating March 22 fire.”
The rights activist said the perpetrators in recent fires were caught and turned over to authorities.
“We caught seven or eight people red-handed while they were setting ablaze some shacks,” he said. “They were all handed over to police.”
* * *
Last week, a statement from the UNHCR in Bangladesh said, “Multiple small fires have been reported across camps in Kutupalong and Nayapara [of Cox’s Bazar] in [the] last week. This is a very worrying trend. Refugees have managed to put out the fires quickly with only a limited number of families affected.”
While several thousand victims of the March 22 fire remain without shelter, more incidents of fire have been reported, leading refugees to live in constant fear.
On April 2, at least three people were killed and more than 20 shops were gutted in a makeshift market near Kutupalong refugee camp, according to police and witnesses.
* * *
Mohammad Harris, 32, living in Balukhali, told VOA that refugees live in constant fear.
“We are very scared. We are passing sleepless nights. That devastating fire on March 22 destroyed my home completely,” Harris said.
“Somehow, I have built a shack with bamboo and polythene again, taking lots of trouble,” he said. “With my wife and children, five of us are living here, but the way incidents of fire are taking place at one place or other in the camp every day, I fear, this house will get burnt to ashes, too.”
ARSON SUSPECTED:
Abdus Shukur, 45, another refugee, from Kutupalong, said he believes the fires were caused by arson.
“Some people are secretly sprinkling a white inflammable powder on the roofs of our shacks. Some others are setting them on fire,” Shukur told VOA. “It is clear, they are not accidents. Some people are setting fire to the shacks as part of a conspiracy.”
The suspected perpetrators, he said, may be conspiring to scare Rohingya refugees from Cox’s Bazar by repeatedly setting fire to their makeshift homes.
"They want more Rohingya to move to Bhasan Char,” he said, referring to a remote Bay of Bengal island, “or they want all Rohingya to go back to Myanmar.”
Bangladesh has set up a facility on Bhasan Char, where it wants to relocate at least 100,000 Rohingya refugees from camps in Cox’s Bazar. A few thousand Rohingya have moved to the island in recent months but most are unwilling to relocate there, saying that the island is prone to flooding during high tide and largely disconnected from the mainland.
A day after the March 22 fire, Bangladesh said it would investigate the cause of the blaze, but authorities so far have not said what triggered the devastating fire.
Several senior government officials did not respond to questions from VOA asking about the cause of the fires. However, one mid-level police officer said that the cause is rivalry among feuding Rohingya criminal gangs.
“There is rivalry among different Rohingya anti-social groups,” the officer told VOA on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “Members of one group are setting fire to the shanties belonging to its rival groups or their supporters.”
However, many Rohingya refugees living in the Cox’s Bazar disagree.
“At least three of those who were caught red-handed were [non-Rohingya] Bangladeshis,” said a Cox’s Bazar-based Rohingya refugee who withheld his name for fear of reprisal by police and locals. “We strongly believe the masterminds behind the fires are those who view the Rohingya as their enemy in Bangladesh and want them to flee the camps of Cox's Bazar.
“Those masterminds are using some hired anti-socials, who are Bangladeshis as well as Rohingyas, to carry out the fire attacks on us,” he added. “The fires cannot be rooted to any Rohingya conspiracy, we believe.”
Part of Balukhali Rohingya Refugee camp, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, as it looks now, two weeks after a devastating fire ravaged the area. With the support of aid agencies and others, the refugees have rebuilt most of the shanties. (Nur Islam/VOA)
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
OPINION:
Between a refugee camp and a silt island:
Rohingyas and the ethics of resettlement.
by Mohshin Habib, Christine Jubb, Henri Pallard, and Zakir Morshed
-
Australian Broadcasting Corp. (Australia)
[paraphrased:]
The transfer of refugees from the mainland camps in Banglidesh, to Bhasan Char island, is the consequence of a confluence of factors.
-
Myanmar's recent military coup makes repatriation of the Rohingya refugees, back to Myanmar, almost impossible.
-
The devastating fire that swept across the camp at Cox’s Bazar, March 22 -- killing fifteen and leaving 400 still missing -- graphically demonstrated how precarious the Rohingyas' living conditions are.
The Rohingya are not safe in the mainland camps, nor in Myanmar. Without the means to ensure a decent, dignified life for themselves, their future seems very bleak.
* * *
In this context, we believe, resettlement of Rohingya on Bhasan Char island must be considered.
The international community's condemnation of Bangladesh -- for deciding to relocate Rohingya refugees is hypocriticial -- since the international community has largely ignored the plight of the refugees and of Bangladesh, both -- instead satisfying itself with comparatively meager donations (themselves drying up, due to COVID-19's ravages of the global economoy).
No country has offered to accept a single refugee from Cox’s Bazar
Nor has any country effectively pressured Myanmar to take back its Rohingya refugees in a safe and humane way.
Meanwhile,
the Rohingya refugee camps on Bangladesh's mainland have become the world's most densely populated areas -- wreaking environmental degradation, and significantly risking the health and security of Bangladesh and the region.
* * *
...Bangladesh’s effort to innovate and to improve well-being of displaced people arriving on its territory, may deserve more supportive -- or, at least, sympathetic -- international consideration.
2021-04-08 - Thursday
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
India's top court paves way for
Rohingya deportations to Myanmar
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrassed:]
India’s Supreme Court, Thursday, rejected a plea to stop India's government from deporting about 150 Rohingya Muslims -- whom police had detained last month -- back to Myanmar, clearing the way for the Rohingya to be sent back to their home country, where hundreds have recently been killed following Myanmar's military coup.
The Indian central government, of [anti-Muslim, Hindu-nationalist] Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been trying to deport Rohingyas -- a Muslim minority of Myanmar, who took refuge in India over the last several years, fleeing persecution and periods of violence.
Two refugees petitioned India's Supreme Court to release Rohingya men and women detained last month in the Indian region of northern Jammu, and to block the Indian government from deporting them.
But India's Chief Justice, Sharad Arvind Bobde, said deportations can go ahead if officials follow due process.
The judge added that, despite the argument raised about the current "state of affairs in Myanmar... we cannot comment [on] something happening in another country."
Since Myanmar's army seized power, February 1st, in a coup. hundreds of people in Myanmar have been killed.
The Indian Supreme Court ruling is triggering panic among Rohingya refugees in India, according to a Rohingya community leader in New Delhi, who called it “a terrifying order" form "the highest court in India." Considering "the horrifying situation in Myanmar" he had been hopeful that the court "would rule in our favour."
The Modi government claims the Rohingya are in India illegally and are a security threat. Since 2017, at least a dozen Rohingya refugees have been deported, say community leaders.
Last week, Indian officials tried to deport a 16-year-old Rohingya girl from India. They drove her to the Myanmar border, but the attempt failed because Myanmar authorities could not be reached, Indian officials reported.
Many of the Rohingya who are in India have identity cards issued to them by UNHCR -- the United Nations' refugee agency -- recognising them as refugees. However, India did not sign on to the U.N. Refugee Convention. The country also rejects a U.N. position which declares that deporting the Rohingya from India is a violation of the principle of non-refoulement – forbidding forcibly returning refugees to a nation where they face danger.
Thursday’s court order exhibits a "blatant disregard" for the non-refoulement principle, says Fazal Abdali, a lawyer handling Rohingya deportation cases.
"It sends a message," he said "that India" has ceased to be "a refuge for persecuted minorities.”
[RCN Editor's note:
Over the last several years, an estimated 40,000 Rohingya have taken refuge in India -- always an 80%-Hindu / 20%-Muslim nation (now with over 1,000,000,000 people). But, in recent years, India's Hindu majority has grown increasingly intolerant of its Muslim minority -- electing to power the BJP, an anti-Muslim, Hindu-nationalist political party, headed by India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi. Among the BJP's first major political controversies was a law forbidding foreign Muslims to immigrate to India.
Though the international diplomatic community generally criticized this blatantly discriminatory Indian law, and related moves towards a Hindu/Muslim "apartheid" in India, few nations could actually defend their own conduct in this matter:
- The United States briefly banned all Muslim immigration, under President Trump, and continued a barely-Constitutional variation of the Muslim ban until the inauguration of President Biden;
- The United States, under President Trump, banned all but 23,000 refugees (immigrants fleeing persecution, violence, or war) per year -- less than one half, of one 100th, of one percent of the U.S. population. (President Biden has only raised that number to about 100,000 refugees annually -- about one refugee for every 3,000 Ameicans);
- The U.K. and the European Union, have all begun resisting the recent flood of Muslim immigrants from Africa and (particularly) the Middle East (chiefly refugees fleeing U.S. wars there, or fleeing the Syrian Civil War);
- Russia continues its brutal conflicts with Russian Muslims; and
- China's atheistic Communist government has begun attenpts to stamp out the practice of Islam in China, altogether, imprisoning hundreds of thousands of its Uighur Muslims in "re-education" camps, forcing sterilization of some Uighur Muslims, and banning any significant practice of Islam in traditionally-Islamic Western China;
Majority-Muslim nations -- like the rest of the world's nations -- have taken no significant action against India (a rising economic power valuable to them for trade and investment) in response to India's anti-Muslim actions.]
March 25
Supreme Court to hear petition
seeking to stop deportation of Rohingya refugees
March 27
India Can't Be Capital For Illegal Immigrants,
Centre [central government] Tells Supreme Court.
April 2
Assam tries to deport Rohingya girl,
Myanmar refuses to accept.
PTI / Hindustan Times (India)
April 12
ANALYSIS:
Rohingya refugees face deportation threat
Frontline Magazine / The Hindu (India)
April 15
A Rohingya Girl Stuck Between Three Countries
The 14-year-old was about to be deported to Myanmar from India when authorities refused to admit her back. Meanwhile, she wants to be reunited with her parents in Bangladesh.
The Diplomat
(Japan) (April 15)
)
2021-04-09 - Friday
-
MYANMAR COUP & ROHINGYA:
US Special Envoy:
Restoring Democracy in Myanmar
Will Ease Bangladesh's Rohingya Burden.
[paraphrased:]
U.S. Special Envoy for Climate, Amb. John Kerry, met with Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Momen, and Prime Minister Sheik Hasina, to negotiate climate cooperation. (Bangladesh, despite being among the lowest nations in carbon emissions, is one of the countries most severely threatened by climate change -- chiefly due to its long coastline and low elevation.)
Momen cites Rohingya presence as destructive to Bangladesh's ecology, and asks for U.S. help to arrange "a safe and dignified return" of the Rohingya to Myanmar. Kerry lauds Bangladesh's accommodation of Rohingya, but says restoring democracy to Myanmar will make practical and plausible the Rohingya's return.
The U.S. is the leading humanitarian aid donor in response to the Rohingay crisis, having provided nearly $1.2 billion in aid since August 2017, includeing $200 million last year for U.N. aid in Bangladesh and Myanmar.]
- Radio Free Asia (RFA)
(U.S. government affiliate)
2021-04-10 - Saturday
2021-04-11 - Sunday
2021-04-12 - Monday
2021-04-13 - Tuesday
2021-04-14 - Wednesday
2021-04-15 - Thursday
-
Bleak Ramadan for Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims,
in danger of further abuses by the military,
analysts warn.
- The persecuted community are at risk of ‘genocidal actions’ as the junta takes on ethnic armed groups
- Meanwhile, Rohingya in Bangladeshi refugee camps are living in fear of fires and facing an uncertain future
-
South China Morning Post (China)
[CAUTION: This media is subject to Chinese government control, and may plant viruses on your computer, or gather information about you.]
[paraphrased:]
Rohingya Muslims still living in Myanmar are now observing the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan, this week, while they are in danger of further abuses from Myanmar's military -- say analysts and activists. Meanwhile, their counterparts who have fled to refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh now
live in constant fear of fires, and face an uncertain future. ...
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
A Rohingya Girl Stuck
Between Three Countries
-
The Diplomat
(Japan)
[paraphrased:]
The 14-year-old was about to be deported to Myanmar from India when authorities refused to admit her back. Meanwhile, she wants to be reunited with her parents in Bangladesh. ...
-
March 25
Supreme Court to hear petition
seeking to stop deportation of Rohingya refugees
-
March 27
India Can't Be Capital For Illegal Immigrants,
Centre [central government] Tells Supreme Court.
-
April 2
Assam tries to deport Rohingya girl,
Myanmar refuses to accept.
PTI / Hindustan Times (India)
-
April 12
ANALYSIS:
Rohingya refugees face deportation threat
Frontline Magazine / The Hindu (India)
Technology gives hope
amid embers of Rohingya camps
After fire devastates refugee settlement, digital initiatives help rebuild lives
-
World Food Program (WFP)
in Nikkei Asia (Japan)
[paraphrased:]
COX'S BAZAR, BANGLADESH --
On March 22, a massive fire swept through the densely populated Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh,
destroying at least 10,000 shelters and displacing nearly 45,000 people. At least 11 people died in the fire, but more than 300 are still missing in addition to 360 who suffered severe injuries.
The sudden disaster posed a humanitarian challenge to the World Food Program (WFP), the United Nations agency in charge of feeding the refugees.
Several of its nutrition centers and food distribution points were destroyed in the fire.
"The scope and scale of this fire was unprecedented," said Richard Ragan, the WFP country director in Bangladesh. Together with partner organizations and thousands of volunteers, the agency supported the families since the start of the tragedy in meeting their more urgent needs of food and water.
A unique factor in WFP's rapid response was the use of
- biometrics, to:
- provide new identity documents to families who lost them in the fire
and
- facilitate immediate access to emergency supplies.
and
- blockchain technology
- to enable them to shop for fresh and staple foods at e-voucher stores once they are opened again.
It was the first time that such technologies were deployed in a disaster situation like the camp tragedy.
Using biometric information stored with the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR and accessible through Building Blocks and SCOPE -- two platforms designed by WFP -- refugees left without documentation are able to be identified again.
Together with the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration, the partners are rolling out fresh documents at a rapid pace. A week after the fire, over 7,000 families had received new identification cards.
Humanitarian assistance often takes place in remote areas that lack communications networks. The WFP SCOPE cards can be read in these conditions and topped up with credits or voucher-based points.
WFP's Building Blocks works online, but can be used with or without cards.
Both platforms have helped humanitarian agencies transition from paper-based to digital systems so the agencies can understand better the people they are serving and provide them with the right assistance.
Case in point: The fire took everything from Dil Mohammed and his family. Essentials that he received using his new SCOPE card are now the only possessions he owns.
For WFP and UNHCR, the Rohingya refugee camps are the first places where they are testing such integrated data solutions within their operations around the world.
"This is what innovation is -- this is what digitization is all about. We have people using biometric information, registering, and being prepared to pick up a wide range of entitlements from a number of agencies. This is a group effort between WFP and its sister U.N. agencies, UNHCR and IOM," said Richard Ragan, the WFP country representative in Bangladesh.
[RCN Editor's Note:
While there are advantages to collecting biometrics on refugees (as the article indicates), there are also extreme dangers to powerless minorities.
Biometric identification, and its digital recording and dissemenation, can facilitate others' efforts to discriminate against that minority, deprive and oppress them, and even target, arrest, imprison, and kill them.
Given the grisly history of the treatment of the Rohingya -- not only in Myanmar, but increasingly in India, and even Bangladesh, as well as other nations to which they have fled -- the establishement of a biometric record of these individuals makes it far harder for them to disappear and blend into foreign countries, or even their own, for safety.
The horrific history of the most notorious modern genocides -- from Nazi Germany's Holocaust, to Rwanda, to Bosnia -- has depended upon first establishing and requiring identity documents (typically with some level of biometric identification) that directly or implicitly identify a person's ethnicity.
While the United Nations and NGOs may engage in biometric identification with benevolent intent, such entities are notoriously poor stewards of sensitive data -- and simply unequipped (technologically, intellectually, economically and culturally) to provide adequate security for such data, to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands
-- especially against such nation-states so skilled and active in international personal data theft as India and China (chief ally of Myanmar's military).
In their bureaucratic rush to establish order in the chaos, and provide needed aid to the refugees,
the officials responsible for allowing or establishing biometric identification may have permanently set up the Rohingya refugees for easier identification and targeting, discrimination, persecution, and eventual genocidal elimination.
Technology is no better than the people who have it.
~RCN Editor]
2021-04-16 - Friday
-
ROHINGYA CAMP FIRE:
Japan announces $1 million emergency aid
for Rohingya camp fire victims.
UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
Japan has decided to extend emergency support of around $1 million for the victims and survivors of the Rohingya camp fire in Cox's Bazar. The aid is for health, medical care, food, water, sanitation, shelter. ...
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
Rohingya relocation:
UN positive about Bhasan Char
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[RCN Editor's note:
THIS ARTICLE IS SUSPECT.
The article's author is not identified, and the only source for the title's claim (of U.N. approval of Bhasan Char) is an unnamed "diplomatic source." The source sounds like a Bangaldeshi official -- not a U.N. source.
Bangladesh and the U.N. have long been at odds over the question of putting refugees on the island -- particularly with regard to safety, there (especially from cyclones and flooding). The Bangladeshi government has, until recently, refused U.N. experts access to the island to evaluate it.
This article does not appear to interview any non-Bangaldeshi source, let alone any of the U.N. delegation who visited the site (but have not yet published their report).
The article notes the history of the U.N./Bangladesh dispute -- and reports that Bangladesh is pressuring the U.N. to begin aid operations there. It lists the nations whose diplomats were among the U.N. experts finally allowed to survey the island, recently. ~ RCN Editor.]
-
OPINION:
Long After the World Moved on,
Bangladesh Is Still Sheltering
Rohingya Refugees.
by Sayeed Ahmed, writer and engineer
The Diplomat (Japan)
"The world owes Bangladesh... standing ovation for taking in... astonishing 1.3 million Rohingyas. ..."
-
OPINION:
Why Don’t More People Know About
the Atrocities in Myanmar?
I’m waiting for the day when the plight of the Rohingya appears on the front page of every major American newspaper and is championed by every leader in the Muslim word.
Jewish Journal (USA)
by Tabby Refael, writer/speaker/activist in Los Angeles
[paraphrased:]
"...what has... been amazing... utter silence of Muslim countries... some of which... continue to obsessively demonize Israel... claiming... Jewish Israelis are [commiting[ ethnic cleansing [against] Muslim Palestinians.
Meanwhile, in Myanmar, Buddhists are... accused of committing genocide against the [mostly-Muslim] Rohingya.
What utter hypocrisy on the part of the Muslim world. ...
...the most urgent task... save the Rohingya, but Muslim [nations] also missing... critical opportunity to speak with... rare unified voice against [these] Burmese atrocities.
[However,] Muslim [nations] are not the only ones [staying] silent on this issue...
Why [have there not been] major protests outside [Myanmar's] embassy in Washington... or [at their] consulate in Los Angeles?
Because Americans [typically] can’t [find] Burma on a map, [only a] few know about the [abuse] of the Rohingya -- and, [lately], many don’t know that [Myanmar's] military junta has butchered [or] arrested countless people. ...
2021-04-17 - Saturday
-
Indian Express (India)
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
OPINION:
Refoulement, Rohingya and
a Refugee Policy for India
India may continue to take cover under the fact that it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention of the UN. But, at a time when it seeks to be a major global power, it cannot shy away from the humanitarian responsibility.
by Devika Nair and Sangram Chinnappa
-
The Wire (India)
2021-04-18 - Sunday
2021-04-19 - Monday
2021-04-20 - Tuesday
-
China, Myanmar and others criticised
in report on rising religious persecution.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
A report from the Vatican's religious-freedom charity says religious freedoms are increasingly violated, and persecution happens in over 25 different countries -- China and Myanmar among the worst.
The Vatican's 800-page "Religious Freedom in the World Report," for 2019-2020 -- issued Tuesday -- said that "religiously-motivated persecution and oppression," has seen a "significant increase."
It says that in some countries, such as Turkey, Pakistan and Niger, prejudices against some religious minorities led some locals to blame the minorities for the COVID-19 pandemic, and to deny them access to medical aid.
The report was drafted by a global Catholic charity,
Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN), which studies violations of freedoms perpetrated against any religion.
* * *
The report was exceptionally scathing about China and Myanmar.
In Myanmar, the report said, Rohingya Muslims "have been the victims of the most egregious violations of human rights in recent memory."
Last year, the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect Rohingya from genocide. The government has denied accusations of genocide.
The ACN report said the military coup on Feb. 1 was "likely to make things worse for all religious minorities" in Myanmar, where about 8% of the population is Christian.
* * *
As for China, the report cited "the apparatus of repression constructed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in recent years is ... fine-tuned, pervasive, and technologically sophisticated" -- most egregiously violating freedoms of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang "where the atrocities have reached such a scale that a growing number of experts describe them as genocide."
-
OPINION:
The Myanmar Protests are Forgetting
the Rohingya Muslims.
by Ashfaq Zaman, humantiarian & entrepreneur,
Cable News International
-
Newsweek
[paraphrased:]
... We should not [only try to] turn back the clock to January 31, before the coup in Myanmar. We must turn it back to early 2015, prior to the campaigns of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya.
In the rivalry between the Myanmar military's generals, and Myanmar's civilian leaders (like like Aung San Suu Kyi) in the National League for Democracy (NLD), both sides appear to be comfortable with the crimes against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
If Suu Kyi's supporters truly want democracy, they ought to demand a true democracy for all of Myanmar' citizens -- not simply a Buddhist-supremacist state that are forces some of its citizens to live as refugees. A properly functioning democracy, in its essence, is not about the rule of the majority, but about protection of the minority. ...
* * *
Myanmar's civilian leaders... should be urged to admit their ignorance or, or complicity with, past events -- and spread that spirit of honesty and reconciliation throughout Burmese society.
Myanmar needs more than a rearranging of thrones -- it needs a full truth-and-reconciliation movement, similar to post-apartheid South Africa. Myanmar cannot achieve democracy without addressing historical racial injustices -- as South Africa did with its 1995 Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The global community must stand with all of Myanmar's people -- and stand against all abuses of human rights in Myanmar -- not just the abuses that the opposition leader wants to recognize.
Only then will Myanmar be able to move forward with the return, and the enfranchisement, of the roughly one-million Rohingya people abroad, who have been displaced -- who have received a repatriation agreement that, in theory, allows them to return home, but really does nothing practical to ensure their safety.
2021-04-21 - Wednesday
2021-04-22 - Thursday
2021-04-23 - Friday
2021-04-24 - Saturday
2021-04-25 - Sunday
..............................
2021-04-26 - Monday
2021-04-27 - Tuesday
Bangladesh rescues 30 Rohingya
adrift for two days
after pirate attack.
-
AFP / Channel NewsAsia
(Singapore)
[paraphrased:]
According to an official, Tuesday (April 27) Bangladesh's coast guard rescued 30 Rohingya refugees headed for Malaysia on a boat in the Bay of Bengal, which wound up adrift at sea for two days after being attacked by pirates -- who robbed the refugees and disabled the boat's engine.
The small boat had little food, because it was planning to rendezvous with a larger boat farther out to sea. A coast guard spokesman said that the refugees "would have faced serious consequences," if the coast guard had not intervened.
Bangladesh police say the refugees will be transported to the controversial Bhasan Char island refugee facility, where -- over international objections -- Bangladesh has begun moving tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from its mainland refugee camps near Cox's Bazar.
Official HRW statement:
Japan:
Suspend Aid Benefitting Myanmar Junta
Urgently Review All Non-Humanitarian Projects
-
Human Rights Watch
The Japanese government should immediately review its aid portfolio for Myanmar and suspend non-humanitarian projects that benefit the junta or military,
Human Rights Watch said today.
Japan should immediately suspend Official Development Aid (ODA) infrastructure projects carried out by Myanmar government ministries and other assistance involving military-controlled entities.
Following the February 1, 2021 military coup, the Japanese government stated it would refrain from carrying out new non-humanitarian ODA programs in Myanmar, but it has yet to adopt a clear, public position regarding ongoing projects. The latest figures show that in 2019, Japan provided about 169 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) in loan assistance, 15 billion yen ($140 million) in grant aid, and 6.7 billion yen ($62 million) in technical assistance to Myanmar.
“As Myanmar’s security forces gun down protesters on the streets, Japan should not take a ‘wait and see’ approach but should promptly and responsibly review its aid portfolio to Myanmar,” said Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer. “Japan should suspend all non-humanitarian aid projects that benefit the junta or military as part of global efforts to pressure Myanmar’s generals to cease their violent crackdown, release all political prisoners, and restore the democratically elected government.”
Ongoing nationwide protests have demonstrated widespread opposition to military rule. The response of the junta’s State Administration Council to the largely peaceful protests has been increasingly brutal. Since the coup, security forces have killed over 750 people, including at least 45 children, and detained an estimated 3,431 activists, journalists, civil servants, and politicians.
Human Rights Watch and four other organizations sent a letter to Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on February 25 saying that the Japanese government should halt non-humanitarian ODA programs to Myanmar.
A Foreign Ministry official told Human Rights Watch on April 15 that Japan’s plans for a 100 million yen ($930,000) financial grant to the Myanmar police, originally announced on July 2, 2020, had been “undetermined” due to the coup. The official did not clarify whether the aid has been permanently terminated or suspended, and no public statement has been made regarding this project, or any other ongoing aid project. ...
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar army base burned down by guerrillas
as coup continues.
[Continued military air attacks on Karen and Kachin regions prompts counterattacks by rebels, who support Myanmar's ousted civilian government.]
-
AP / USA Today
2021-04-28 - Wednesday
2021-04-29 - Thursday
2021-04-30 - Friday
MAY 2021:
-
2021-05-01 - Saturday
-
2021-05-02 - Sunday
-
2021-05-03 - Monday
-
Official U.S. Statement:
The President's Emergency Presidential Determination
on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2021
-
U.S. Mission to Int'l Org's in Geneva
"Today, the President affirmed the United States’ commitment to humanitarian values by issuing an Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions that raises the refugee admissions ceiling to 62,500 for Fiscal Year 2021 [from the Trump administration's last limit of 18,000 in 2020].
"Together with the April 16 Emergency Presidential Determination that made U.S. resettlement available to more refugees from all regions of the world based on vulnerability, this Emergency Presidential Determination reflects the urgent, global nature of the refugee crisis and the part the United States will play by permitting more eligible refugees to be admitted to the United States. ..."
-
2021-05-04 - Tuesday
-
2021-05-05 - Wednesday
-
Myanmar’s military [is] disappearing young men
to crush uprising.
-
Associated Press
[paraphrased:]
Across? Myanmar, the country’s security forces are arresting thousands of people, and forcibly disappearing?them -- especially boys and young men -- with a sweeping effort to crush the three-month uprising against the military's takeover of Myanmar.
In most cases,?their families?have no idea where they are,?the Associated Press has estimated, from over 3,500 arrests?made since February. ...
tttttttttttttttt
-
Official joint statement:
Global Civil Society Statement
on Myanmar
Call for Arms Embargo on Myanmar.
-
Human Rights Watch
& 150 other organizations, jointly,
including:
- Amnesty International
- Fortify Rights
- ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
- International Council of Jurists
- World Council of Churches
[paraphrased:]
We, the undersigned organizations, call on the United Nations Security Council to urgently impose a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar to help prevent further violations of human rights against peaceful protesters and others opposing military rule. In recent weeks, Myanmar security forces have killed hundreds of people, including dozens of children, merely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
Since the February 1, 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military junta has responded with increasing brutality to nationwide protests calling for the restoration of democratic civilian rule. As of May 4, security forces have killed at least 769
people, including 51 children as young as 6, and arbitrarily detained several thousand activists, journalists, civil servants, and politicians. Hundreds have been forcibly disappeared, the authorities unwilling to provide information on their well-being or where they are being held. Over the past few months, the military has demonstrated a callous disregard for human life that has driven its strategy for decades. In video footage from cities and towns across the country, soldiers can be seen shooting down protesters, including children, brutally beating medical aid workers, and firing shotguns into crowds of peacefully protesting doctors.
In addition to the latest violations of human rights, Myanmar’s security forces have a history of grave abuses against peaceful critics of the government and military, and war crimes and other international crimes against the Rohingya and other ethnic minority groups. Of particular note is the military's widely documented use of sexual and gender-based violence as a weapon against ethnic communities.
No government should sell a single bullet to the junta under these circumstances. Imposing a global arms embargo on Myanmar is the minimum necessary step the Security Council should take in response to the military’s escalating violence. Arms and materiel provided to Myanmar’s security forces are likely to be used by the security forces to commit abuses in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law.
For this reason, the undersigned organizations urge the United Kingdom, the Security Council’s “penholder” on Myanmar, and other Security Council member states to begin negotiations on a resolution authorizing an arms embargo as soon as possible. This will demonstrate to the junta that there will be no more business as usual.
Security Council members have increasingly spoken with one voice on Myanmar. The Council has called for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and others arbitrarily detained, including civilian leaders. It has condemned the military’s crackdown on peaceful protesters and called for an end to the ongoing violence. But unity is not an end in itself. The Council should now build on that unity and negotiate a resolution that would include an arms embargo and other substantive measures.
A comprehensive UN arms embargo on Myanmar should bar the direct and indirect supply, sale, or transfer of all weapons, munitions, and other military-related equipment, including dual-use goods such as vehicles and communications and surveillance equipment, as well as the provision of training, intelligence, and other military assistance. Such an embargo should be accompanied by robust monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.
We note with disappointment the failure of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) April 24, 2021 summit to take more robust action to protect Myanmar’s people. Less than a day after the summit’s conclusions were published, the military’s violence continued, which only highlights the need for UN member countries and the Security Council to take decisive action to pressure the junta to reverse course.
The time for statements has passed. The Security Council should take its consensus on Myanmar to a new level and agree on immediate and substantive action. An arms embargo would be the centerpiece of a global effort to protect the people of Myanmar from further atrocities and help bring an end to impunity for crimes under international law.
Myanmar’s people cannot afford to wait any longer for the Security Council to take action.
-
Official statement:
Bangladesh:
Remove Fencing,
Support Fire-Affected Refugees:
~ Fortify Rights
Barbed-wire fencing [around Cox's Bazar refugee camps] contributed to loss of life, injuries in deadly camp fires.
-
Fortify Rights
(Southeast Asia human rights org.)
-
2021-05-06 - Thursday
-
2021-05-07 - Friday
-
[Bangladesh's] Foreign minister hopeful U.S.
would consider taking Rohingyas
from Bangladesh.
Discusses availability of COVD-19 vaccines.
Urges US to address difficulties faced by Bangladeshi student visa applicants.
-
UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
Bangladesh's Foreign Minister, AK Abdul Momen, says the United States may consider taking a substantial number of the forcibly-displaced Rohingyas now in Bangladesh, as a large portion of the new U.S. refugee-acceptance limits set for 2021 and 2022.
Dr. Momen met with U.S. Ambassador, and expressed appreciation of U.S. President Joe Biden's announcement, recently, that he would expand the total number of refugees, worldwide, allowed to enter the U.S. -- up to 62,500 in 2021, and up to 125,000 in 2022. ...
[RCN Editor's note:
62,000 is less than one-fifth, of one-tenth, of one percent of the U.S. population of 330,000,000 —
and less than one-half, of one-half, of one percent of the world's
26,000,000 refugees
(people fleeing violence, persecution or war -- 40% of them children).
Former U.S. President Trump allowed only 18,000 refugees, from all conflict regions in the world, in his last year in office. For many years, the United States — the world's wealthiest nation, and one of the 3 largest in land area — has not even ranked anywhere near the top 5 nations taking in refugees. Many of the world's much smaller and much poorer nations (in Asia, Africa, Europe and South America), including Bangladesh, have far surpassed the U.S. in this service, in the 21st Century.
~ RCN Editor.]
-
MYANMAR COUP:
(VIDEO)
'They have guns but we have people'
Inside Myanmar's Spring Revolution
-
BBC News
More than 750 people have been killed since the Myanmar military seized power three months ago. Thousands of people have been detained, including elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The borders are closed and the internet effectively blocked, but people are documenting their ongoing resistance to the coup.
In Yangon, a musician and his sister have, for the last two months, been filming for the BBC.
They take us inside their fight.
Clashes have also erupted between various militias and government security forces.
-
2021-05-08 - Saturday
-
2021-05-09 - Sunday
-
2021-05-10 - Monday
-
2021-05-11 - Tuesday
-
2021-05-12 - Wednesday
-
2021-05-13 - Thursday
-
2021-05-14 - Friday
-
Myanmar to release
arrested Japanese journalist.
-
BBC News
[paraphrased:]
A Japanese journalist arrested in Myanmar last month -- then charged with spreading fake news -- is to be released, Myanmar's state media said Thursday.
Yuki Kitazumi is the first foreign journalist who is known to have been charged since the military coup in February.
Myanmar authorities insist he violated the law -- but say he will be released at Japan's request.
* * *
Since the February 1 coup, nearly 800 people have been killed in Myanmar, and thousands detained -- among them many local journalists. So far, Myanmar authorities have detained about 80 local journalists for their reporting.
The human rights monitoring group AAPP (Assistance Association for Political Prisoners), says 50 of them are currently in detention -- half of them having been prosecuted.
A few foreign journalists, too, have been arrested.
-
2021-05-15 - Saturday
-
2021-05-16 - Sunday
-
2021-05-17 - Monday
2021-05-18 - Tuesday
-
US Announces Increase in Aid
to Rohingya.
-
VOA (Voice of America)
[U.S. government radio]
[paraphrased:]
The United States says it is providing new assistance to Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority, many of whom have fled violence for neighboring Bangladesh or have been internally displaced.
* * *
The $155 million in additional funds will be used to sustain “critical efforts to support Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh and internally displaced Rohingya and other affected people in Burma.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release.
“Our assistance will help meet the immediate needs of the nearly 900,000 refugees in Bangladesh who fled from horrific violence in Burma’s Rakhine State, including women and children,” Blinken said.
He said U.S. aid for those affected by the Myanmar crisis since 2017 now tops $1.3 billion.”
“The United States recognizes the cost and responsibility that the response has placed on host countries, especially Bangladesh,” Blinken said. “We will continue to support all countries in the region that prioritize protection of Rohingya refugees.”
Last week, the U.N. refugee agency said it is seeking $943 million to provide assistance for more than 880,000 Rohingya refugees and 472,000 Bangladeshis in the communities hosting them.
It appears unlikely the Rohingya refugees will be able to return home soon, as Myanmar is living through a political and social crisis in the wake of a Feb. 1 military coup.
Blinken said many military officials involved in the coup were also responsible for persecuting the Rohingya.
-
U.N. Rohingya Appeal Receives
$340 Million in Funding.
-
Reuters / U.S. News
Nations provide funding to the U.N.'s
2021 Joint Response Plan
to the Rohingya crisis.
.........................
-
Official U.N. statement:
UN launches response plan to
‘safeguard the well-being and dignity’
of Rohingya in Bangladesh
Under the leadership of the Government of Bangladesh, the Organization for Migration (IOM)?and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) launched a $943 million plan on Tuesday to “safeguard the well-being and dignity” of Rohingya refugees in the country and their host communities.
-
U.N. News (United Nations)
[paraphrased:]
The
2021 Joint Response Plan
joins Bangladesh with 134 UN agencies and NGO partners to “meet the needs of more than 880,000 Rohingya refugees and 472,000 Bangladeshis in the surrounding host communities in Cox’s Bazar District”, said UNHCR spokesperson?Andrej Mahecic.
...
-
Rohingya refugee group buys community center
on Milwaukee south side
-
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (USA)
[paraphrased:]
In the United States,
the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is believed to have one of the largest Rohingya populations in the country -- around 3,000. A south-side church, there, is now being renovated into a community center for the city's Rohingya refugees. ...
2021-05-19 - Wednesday
2021-05-20 - Thursday
-
Freed Japan reporter calls on Tokyo
to take 'concrete action'
against Myanmar junta.
-
Reuters
[paraphrased:]
Friday, a Japanese journalist -- who was just recently freed from jail in Myanmar -- urged his government to take “concrete action” against Myanmar's military regime, including reviewing Japanesse development aid to Myanmar.
Myanmar authorities arrested
Freelance reporter Yuki Kitazumi -- who was covering the unrest engulfing Myanmar after the Feb. 1 military takeover -- charging him with spreading false information.
Kitazumi lived in Myanmar's main city, Yangon, for several years, where he ran a media company. He was freed following negotiations headed by Japan's ambassador to Myanmar. Last week, the journalist returned to Japan.
However, in a Tokyo news conference, he noted, “that has [not] resolved the problem,” referring to the turmoil in Myanmar.
Since the coup triggered a wave of protests, Myanmar’s security forces have killed over 800 people, says the activist group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
AAPP says over 4,000 people in Myanmar have been detained -- and 20 of them have been sentenced to death.
Kitazumi said Japan enjoys powerful influence over Myanmar, due to historic ties, and urged to his government to use “concrete action” to assist resolving the conflict between the generals and the pro-democracy movement.
* * *
Throughout Myanmar's decade-long political reform (after the 2011 end of Myanmar's military-only government), Japan has been a large investor, major technical resource, and key source of development aid, for Myanmar’s semi-civilian governments ...
-
Sri Lanka:
Covid increases China influence
in India's backyard
NOTE: This article also has relevance for Myanmar, Bangladesh & the Rohingya.
Includes very relevant graphs for all countries in the region.
-
BBC
-
EDITORIAL:
Donor pledges for the Rohingya
not enough.
International community must show more solidarity towards refugees
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
2021-05-21 - Friday
-
Bangladesh locks down
Rohingya camps
after COVID-19 spike.
-
AFP / Channel NewsAsia
[paraphrased:]
A spike in coronavirus cases over the last several days led Bangladesh authorities to lockdown five Rohingya refugee camps,
Thursday (May 20), in southeastern Bangladesh, officials said.
The restrictions bar gatherings and movement between camps, where over 100,000 Rohingya refugees live, said Bangladesh's deputy refugee commissioner.
* * *
On Wednesday alone, out of 247 Rohingya tested, 45 indicated positive for the virus -- and the same number tested positive on Thursday --
according to the local health coordinator.
"The infection number is alarming," says the Principal of Cox's Bazar Medical College, who has monitored the COVID-19 situation in the Rohingya camps since last year.
Since the virus was first detected in the camps last year, the authorities have tightly controlled entry into the area,
fearing that COVID-19 might wreak havoc in the extremely congested, squalid settlements.
The restrictions have helped to keep down cases and deaths.
An international aid worker says
the number of cases have, at the same time, jumped in Teknaf -- among the host Bangladeshi population -- prompting authorities to impose a lockdown at the country's southern-most border town.
A senior police officer says authorities have increased security, and have set up checkposts in the refugee camps.
In February, Bangladesh launched its COVID-19 vaccination drive. So far, about six-million people have received one or two doses. But the campaign has not yet reached the Rohingya refugees.
-
UK accused of a ‘abandoning’ Rohingya
with ‘catastrophic’ 40% aid cut
-
The Guardian (U.K.)
[paraphrased:]
The U.K. government is being accused of abandoning the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, because it has cut aid to the humanitarian response to the Rohingya refugee crisis by more than 40%.
The UK's FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) has pledged £27.6m to the
joint response plan of the humanitarian sector’, launched this week -- only 60% or so of the £47.5m it gave last year. ...
-
Japan's Motegi warns of aid rethink
if Myanmar situation
does not improve.
[paraphrased:]
On Friday, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said
Japan will have to rethink its development aid to Myanmar if the situation in that country does not improve
-- and he added that
Japanese private investment in Myanmar also might not be possible.
Japan is a major aid donor to Myanmar, and in recent years, big Japanese companies have been aggressively expanding business there, seeing Myanmar as the last major frontier market in the region.
However, Japan is also afraid of pushing Myanmar closer to China. ...
[RCN Editor's note:
Japan has previously cut aid to Myanmar under similar circumstances, in 2007,
when Myanmar's military launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protestors.
~ RCN Editor.
]
2021-05-22 - Saturday
2021-05-23 - Sunday
2021-05-24 - Monday
-
Myanmar junta leader casts doubt
on return of Rohingya
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
In an interview, Myanmar's military leader, General Min Aung Hlaing — who launched a coup against Myanmar's elected civilian government February 1 — has indicated that his country's Rohingya people are not eligible to return to Myanmar.
He said the Rohingya (whom his army has mostly driven out of Myanmar's Rakhine state, to Bangladesh and elsewhere) are, instead, non-citizen "refugees" whom Myanmar has no obligation to accept. ...
-
Rohingya camps in Bangladesh
report single-day high
for new COVID cases
Authorities impose full lockdown in 5 refugee camps while 29 others kept under close surveillance, says official.
-
Anadolu Agency (goverment of Turkey)
[NOTE: This is the official press agency of a repressive Muslim government.]
After testing 312 Rohingya, 49 were reported positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours,
the office of Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) said in a report released Sunday night.
The death toll among Rohingya from the virus in the world’s largest refugee camps also rose to 15, including two fatalities recorded in the last two days, the report added.
Bangladesh is home to more than 1.2 million stateless Rohingya, most of whom fled a brutal military crackdown in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017.
So far, 665 Rohingya have recovered from the disease, including 11 in the past day.
To stem the spread of the virus in the congested makeshift Rohingya settlements in Bangladesh,
authorities on May 20 imposed a 12-day full lockdown at the five most infected camps out of a total 34,
excluding new settlements of around 20,000 Rohingya on a remote island in the country’s southern Bay of Bengal.
“We have put five camps under complete lockdown while the rest have been kept under close monitoring,” RRRC Chief Coordinator Dr. Abu Toha M.R. Bhuiyan told Anadolu Agency.
Citing authorities' efforts to contain the virus in the Rohingya camps, he added that in the last 24 hours, 117 new contacts have been quarantined in isolation centers.
“Currently, 836 virus infected Rohingya are being quarantined, while the cumulative number of contacts quarantined to date is 3,361,”
Bhuiyan said.
...
-
VIDEO & TEXT:
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi
appears in court in person
for first time since February coup.
-
Channel NewsAsia (Singapore) on YouTube
[paraphrased from all sources:]
Myanmar's recently deposed civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was in court for the first time since her arrest by the Myanmar security forces, following their February 1st coup. Suu Kyi's lawyer said she had only 30 minutes with him to prepare to respond to the numerous charges brought against her -- ranging from illegal possession of walkie-talkie radios to spreading false information.
Despite the military government having stripped her and her party from power, her lawyer reported that
she had a defiant message for the public: She vowed that her party (the NLD - National League for Democracy, which won overwhelming victories in the recent election) will live on as long as the people support it.
Following the brief court appearance, Suu Kyi was returned to an unidentified location, which even she does not know the location of.
Meanwhile, sudden, brief protests continued to erupt around the country, and a few militants have attacked coup officials, security forces, and collaborators, killing some. Improvised bombs been recently used.
2021-05-25 - Tuesday
2021-05-26 - Wednesday
-
Myanmar military killing protestors, civilians
as 'psychological warfare' after coup.
-
PBS News Hour
[paraphrased:]
A research project by the Associated Press and the Berkeley School of Law, shows that the Myanmar military has begun using raw terrorism and random killings against its population to discourage protests and resistance to its coup.
Videos have captured the military shooting unarmed protesters, and even dragging their bodies through the streets.
Some people have disappeared into the custody of security forces, and have never heard again...
The military has taken to unusual, frequent cremation of the remains of many who have been taken off the streets, even though cremation is not the normal cultural practice in Myanmar. Family members are not allowed to view the bodies before cremation.
Other families are given excuses for their deaths (such as natural causes) that did not match visible injuries on their bodies -- injuries that indicated torture.
The Berkeley School of Law -- associated with the University of California at Berkeley (near San Francisco), has been working on developing the "Berkeley Protocol" which is becoming accepted as a standard for collecting evidence of war crimes (including videos of police shootings), that may be used in future international war crimes trials. ...
-
UN General Assembly President:
World Has 'Not Forgotten Rohingya'
-
Radio Free Asia (RFA)
[a U.S. gov't-affiliated radio service]
The ultimate goal is the repatriation of the Rohingya to their homeland, said Volkan Bozkir, who traveled to [the refugee camps at] Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. ...
-
Rohingya Repatriation:
It looks uncertain
Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina tells
UN General Assembly president.
-
UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
Bangladesh's Prime Minister told the UN General Assembly president that that current situation in Myanmar makes repatriation of the Rohingya seem "uncertain"
-- even though her country has been negotiating with Myanmar for their return.
Meanwhile,
she noted, Bangladesh has prepared temporary shelter on an island [(Bhasan Char)], to hold 100,000 of the refugees -- and has already moved "more than 18,000" there. ...
The UNGA president praised Bangladesh's generosity in sheltering over one million Rohingyas. ...
2021-05-27 - Thursday
-
Official statement:
Fading Humanitarianism:
The Dangerous Trajectory
of the
Rohingya Refugee Response
in Bangladesh
-
Refugees International
on ReliefWeb.int
[excerpt:]
Donors, diplomats, and aid agencies must continue to pressure the Myanmar junta to end atrocities [in their coup in Myanamar] and must prepare for the humanitarian fall out.
However, this should not distract from the imperative to provide refuge to those who have already fled the horrors of the Myanmar military. Yet this is exactly what is happening with the Rohingya in Bangladesh.
The government of Bangladesh has taken on an immense challenge in hosting more than 860,000 Rohingya refugees
over the past three and a half years. The country deserves great credit for this effort.
However,
Bangladesh has restricted refugee rights from the beginning, and conditions for Rohingya in Bangladesh were deteriorating well before the coup. A mix of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, monsoons, fires, and criminal violence have strained an already challenging humanitarian response.
Pandemic restrictions have limited important services
including shelter repair, psycho-social support, and gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response activities.
In addition,
the government of Bangladesh has adopted an increasingly securitized approach to Rohingya refugees,
which has exacerbated these challenges.
Despite the coup, Bangladesh continues to insist on near-term repatriation for the Rohingya.
A stark example of the ways that Bangladeshi policies are making Rohingya more vulnerable is a massive fire that broke out on March 22, 2021.
Barbed wire fencing constructed by the authorities around the refugee camps hindered escape and slowed efforts to contain the blaze. Several people died in the fire, thousands of shelters were damaged, and nearly 50,000 people were displaced
Attempts by UN agencies to "Build Back Safer" with measures to prevent similar quick spread of fires and to improve access to services have been delayed by a slow government response and may no longer be possible.
Similarly, the movement of refugees to Bhasan Char — an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal — reflects the shift toward a policy more akin to detention than refuge.
Bangladesh has yet to allow independent assessments of the island. Questions remain about how voluntary the initial movement of refugees to the Bhasan Char has been. Meanwhile, the ongoing restrictions on livelihood and education opportunities in the camps are getting worse as Bangladeshi authorities threaten to crack down on even the limited paid volunteer opportunities available to residents.
Shifts in government authority and lines of responsibility from the national level to the camp level are also creating new obstacles for humanitarian workers.
Visa and project approvals have become increasingly difficult to obtain. Humanitarian officials have fewer clear interlocutors within the government, making it more difficult to address everyday issues that arise within the camps. The Bangladeshi officials that head sections of the camps, the Camps-in-Charge (CiCs), have gained greater autonomy over project approvals, making it more difficult for humanitarian officials to implement projects across camps.
The government has also taken on a more aggressive and restrictive stance at the top levels of planning for the humanitarian response.
This was seen in contentious negotiations between the government and UN agencies around the latest Joint Response Plan (JRP), the document that provides a roadmap used to match donor funding with humanitarian needs.
The 2021 plan was finally launched on May 18, but was greatly slimmed down from previous plans, leaving out details on several critical services,
such as narrowing the scope of activities to combat gender-based violence.
It also failed to mention the coup and the resulting reduced prospects for repatriation.
While having an agreed-upon roadmap of humanitarian needs is essential and should be fully funded, donor countries must be increasingly diligent in monitoring and consulting implementing partners and beneficiaries to ensure [that] gaps in services do not arise due to the less-detailed JRP. Donors must be prepared to press Bangladeshi officials if such gaps are identified.
More immediately, donors must push back on the increased restrictions and closing of humanitarian space, and ensure that their significant funding---amounting to some USD $2.4 billion since 2017---is being used effectively, and not taken for granted.
Finally, government policies and restrictions are holding back efforts to better inform and engage the Rohingya refugees themselves.
The latter remain largely left out of decisions affecting their everyday lives. Failure to empower refugees and to offer them education, livelihoods, and other opportunities to build their self-reliance, will only push the community further into despair.
Bangladesh cannot be alone in shouldering responsibility for the Rohingya.
International pressure must remain on Myanmar both to address the immediate coup-driven crisis and for a longer-term solution for Rohingya and other refugees.
In the meantime,
UN agencies and governments must offer responsibility-sharing measures to ease the burden on Bangladesh and incentivize a more protection-centered approach.
Such measures should include further development, trade, and investment incentives as well as offers of third country resettlement. While Bangladesh has resisted such measures in the past, the new reality of the coup may offer an opening for reconsideration.
-
53 Rohingya test positive [for COVID-19]
at Kathua jail facility [in India]
-
Indian Express (India)
[paraphrased:]
Pointing out that they were found Covid-positive during a three-day special test drive at the centre, [the] Kathua Chief Medical Officer... said all of them are asymptomatic.
2021-05-28 - Friday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
SPECIAL REPORT:
The Rohingya refugees trapped
on a remote island
miles from land.
-
BBC News
Bangladeshi authorities have heralded [Bhasan Char island] as part of the solution to the overcrowded refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, home to almost a million Rohingya refugees who arrived in recent years. ...
The refugee camps, where the Rohingya have now made their homes, have become -- authorities say -- hotbeds of crime.
The new $350m (£246m) development on Bhasan Char -- an island which emerged 15 years ago from the sea -- is touted as a fresh start.
But refugees whom the BBC spoke with by phone, on this small island of Himalayan silt, say differently. They describe
a place where there is no work, few facilities and little hope of a better future.
Those who try to flee, they say, are caught and beaten, while refugees are turning on each other as frustrations rise.
Worse, at just 2 meters (6 feet) above sea level, they fear one big storm could wash them away. ...
2021-05-29 - Saturday
-
They Call It ‘Insane’:
Where Myanmar Sends
Political Prisoners
For 134 years, Insein Prison has stood as a monument to brutality. Since the Feb. 1 coup, journalists, elected leaders and pro-democracy protesters have been held in the aging facility
-
New York Times
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
SMUGGLED TEXT & PHOTOS:
The Rohingya refugees trapped on
a remote island miles from land
-
BBC News
[paraphrased:]
Rohingya refugee Dilara was one of the first Rohingya refugees -- of a planned 100,000 refugees --- to arrive on the "floating" island of Bhasan Char: a small piece of land, measuring just 40 sq. km (15 sq. miles). Previously, it had only been used by fishermen for a brief stop-off point.
Authorities in Bangladesh have lauded the island as a partial solution for overcrowding in the mainland refugee camps around Cox's Bazar, where nearly a million Rohingya refugees have arrived in recent years.
Most fled a military onslaught by Myanmar's military in 2017 -- attacks that United Nations officials later called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing." Other Rohingya refugees fled earlier violence in Myanmar.
Bangladesh authorities say that the mainland refugee camps in Bangladesh, where the Rohingya have now settled, have become hotbeds of crime.
The authorities tout their new $350m (£246m) refugee barracks development on Bhasan Char -- an island which had just emerged from the sea only 15 years ago -- as a fresh start for the Rohingya.
But refugees whom the BBC spoke with, by phone, on this little island of Himalayan silt, say otherwise. They describe it as a place without work, with few facilities, and with little hope of a better future.
Those who try to flee the island, they report, are caught and beaten. And, as frustrations rise, refugees are beginning to turn on each other. Worse, sitting just 2 meters (6 feet ) above sea level, they fear that one big storm may wash them away.
Despite the BBC having been granted a tour of the island, in 2020, it is still hard to determine what is actually happening there, 60km (37.5 miles) away from the mainland. No journalists -- nor aid agencies, nor human rights groups -- have been allowed free access to Bhasan Char.
The following accounts are the voices of a few island residents. Their names are changed to protect their identities. ...
2021-05-30 - Sunday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
14 Rohingyas, fleeing Bhasan Char,
held in Ctg's Sandwip.
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
Police detained 14 Rohingya refugees in Chattogram's Sandwip upazila today, as they fled from Bhasan Char island -- attempting to return to a camp Cox's Bazar.
Police say the refugees -- two men, eight women, and four children -- escaped from Bhasan Char by boat with the aid of a local broker.
However, when they reached the mainland, locals caught them.
Police are now charging them with a violation of the Foreigners Act.
This event brings to 29 the total of Rohingyas so far detained while fleeing Bhasan Char.
-
2 senior UN officials in Dhaka;
Bhasan Char visit to be finalised.
Two senior officials of UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, arrived today on a four-day visit to observe the Rohingya situation in both Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps and Bhasan Char.
-
UNB / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
From the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner, the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection of Refugees (Gillian Triggs), and the Assistant High Commissioner for Operations (Raouf Mazou), will be in meetings in the capital, Dhaka, then go to Bhasan Char island, and the mainland refugee camps at Cox's Bazar.
2021-05-31 - Monday
-
Thousands of Rohingya protest
against conditions on
Bangladesh island
[as U.N. officials visit.]
-
AFP / France24 (France)
[paraphrased:]
In the presence of visiting UN officials, several thousand Rohingya staged what authorities called "unruly" protests, on Monday, against the living conditions on Bhasan Char island,
police reported. An AFP reporter confirmed the news independently with a Rohingya resident on the island.
Bhasan Char is a new silt island off the Bangladesh coast, where the 18,000 (of a planned 100,000) Rohingya refugees have been moved by authorities, allegedly to alleveiate overcrowding at the vast refugee camps on the Bangladesh mainland.
According to police,
Monday's protest involved as many as 4,000 people. It coincided exactly with an inspection visit from officials of the UNHCR (the United Nations refugee agency).
The local police chief told AFP that the Rohingya there "became unruly the moment the UNHCR representatives landed (on Bhasan Char island) by helicopter today."
He added that:
"They broke [windows] on warehouses by throwing rocks." and reported that "they came at the police."
According to the chief, their demand was that "they don't want to live here."
When the first relocations to the island began in Dec. 4, reporters for AFP were told by several Rohingya that their arrival was not voluntary, and that they were beaten and intimidated into accepting relocation to the island -- claims repeated by human rights organizations.
Bangladesh's government has denied the allegations, and insists that the island's refugee accommodations are better than those on the mainland.
The U.N. has repeated that it has not been involved in the relocation process.
[RCN Editor's note:
Since Bangladesh began preparing Bhasan Char for relocations, the U.N. -- which is Bangladesh's principal source of Rohingya refugee aid -- has repeatedly sought access to the island for its inspectors and experts to evaluate it for safety.
Numerous experts have expressed concern about the island, including the physical accommodations for the Rohingya, their freedom of communication and mobility, options for earning a living, provisions for water, food, sanitation, health and safety, and the low-lying island's extreme vulnerability to cyclones which frequent the region.
However, until last month, U.N. experts were denied access to the island.
That recent visit, and its outcomes, remained largely secret -- though the Bangladesh authorities apparently tried to "spin" the event as a U.N. endorsement of the island relocation.
This event -- apparently involving two high-ranking U.N. officials visiting the island -- would soon turn out to raise concerns among U.N. officials about the island and Bangladesh government's handling of the refugees.
~RCN Editor.]
Same topic at:
-
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)*
[*NOTE: The Dhaka Tribune article appears to be based solely on Bangladesh government statements.])
...which includes this additional info [paraphrased:]
Protesters apparently complained about the unavailability of activities to generate income, and about food rations,
the police chief reported.
He reported that
the two U.N. officials conferred with a "large group" of Rohingya on the island, noting their issues for future discussions with Bangladesh authorities.
He added that the officials had then traveled to Cox's Bazar (where the mainland refugee camps are), and would next go to the capital, Dhaka, to confer with Bangladesh government officials.
-
Al Jazeera (Arab news, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media has credibility problems]
...which includes this additional info [paraphrased]:
Since December, the Bangladesh government has relocated 18,000 refugees to Bhasan Char, a low-lying silt island, from mainland refugee camps near Cox's Bazar, and plans to move another 82,000 there. ...
Bangladesh's government insists that relocation to the island is voluntary, and that Bhasan Char is safe, and that the facilities there are far better than the facilities in the mainland camps around Cox's Bazar.
Yet police told AFP that at least 49 Rohingya refugees -- men, women and children -- have, in recent weeks, been arrested after fleeing the island, trying to return to Cox’s Bazar.
But Rohingya leaders say that many more have fled the island -- scores, if not hundreds -- who have escaped and returned to Cox’s Bazar.
One of the refugees who was reportedly on Bhasan Char told AFP that he left Bhasan Char by swimming to a waiting Bangladeshi fishing boat, paying the owner $300.
He said that before he agreed to move to Bhasan Char,
he had been assured that, after two weeks, it would be possible for him to return to his family in the Cox’s Bazar area.
He claimed that the refugees on Bhashan Char get "only food" but "no other facilities."
He said that they were promised that they would get to work on the island, and farm and fish [the Rohnigyas traditional occupations ~RCN Editor.] -- but those promises were not fulfilled.
He added that the refugees "are in dire straits" on the island, and insisted that the camps at Cox’s Bazar "are a thousand times better."
-
The Diplomat (Japan)
...which includes this additional info [paraphrased]:
Refugees International, a U.S.-based NGO, published a report last week saying Bangladesh's island-relocation plan for the Rohingya “reflects the shift toward a policy more akin to detention than refuge.”
The report said there remain “serious questions… about the informed and voluntary nature of the relocations,” and it claimed that some Rohingya were promised Bangladeshi citizenship, and various other inducements, to accept relocation to the island.
The report said: "In recent weeks, Refugees International has received credible reports that camp officials have falsely promised payments and Bangladeshi citizenship to the Rohingya who relocate to the island,” adding: “Other refugees report ‘volunteering’ to be relocated only after being offered amnesty from pending criminal charges.”
Bangladesh's government has strenuously denied those reports, insisting its ultimate goal is repatriation of the Rohingya to Myanmar.
But the likelihood of repatriating refugees from mainland camps at Cox’s Bazar, to Myanmar -- already slim before Myanmar's military coup in February -- seem to have disappeared for the foreseeable future.
Interviewed by the Chinese-language "Phoenix" TV station, the junta's leader -- Senior General Min Aung Hlaing -- declared such a return was unlikely, and repeated the common claim that Myanmar's Rohingya were illegal immigrants.
JUNE 2021:
-
2021-06-01 - Tuesday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
UNHCR concerned by
Bhasan Char demonstration
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR - U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees) has noted deep concerns about reports of events on Bhasan Char island, where, yesterday, several thousand Rohingyas demonstrated when two high-ranking UNHCR officials visited the island housing project where the refugees were being kept.
In a statement last night, the UNHCR said:
"We are deeply concerned to learn of reports of refugees who have been injured during today's events on the island. We regret that those affected reportedly include children and women,"
While the UNHCR statement did not explain how, exactly, the Rohingyas were injured, various media have reported that thousands of Rohingyas demonstrated on Bhasan Char, yesterday, when two high-level officials from the headquarters of the UN refugee agency visited the housing project.
* * *
According to police, the protest involved as many as 4,000 people, and happened during an inspection visit from officials of the UNHCR.
* * *
An international human rights activist reported that police used batons to disperse protesters. He cited Rohingya sources as reporting that several protesters were injured.
However, Bangladesh police rejected the claim. Additionally, a police spokesman claimed that Rohingya protesters attacked officers, and injured several officers -- also damaging cars on the island.
Around 20,000 Rohingya refugees have been relocated to Bhasan Char since last December. The Bangladesh Navy constructed the island facility to house 100,000, to be relocated from the refugee camps around Cox's Bazar, where around a million Rohingyas have taken shelter (most after the brutal 2017 military crackdown on Rohingyas in Myanmar's Rakhine State.
The Bangladesh government has reportedly sought the United Nations' engagement in Bhasan Char, but the UN has said it was negotiating with the Bangladesh government on the specific details of how to engage with them. However, a UN team, after
a visit to Bhasan Char, in March this year reportedly made positive remarks about the island situation.
[RCN Editor's note: The U.N. is important to Bangaldesh as the main source of aid for the Rohingya refugees. However, the U.N. has been reluctant to "engage" with the Bhasan Char program because Bangladesh authorities conceived, planned and implemented that controversial project without U.N. consultation, and U.N. inspectors were barred from the island until after Bangladesh government had transferred over 15,000 Rohingya to the island, while ignoring U.N. concerns.
The Daily Star previously reported
the U.N. inspection team "positive remarks" story (April 16), but it appeared to be from an unidentified source -- likely a Bangladesh government insider, and not a U.N. representative. Officially, the U.N. has apparently kept quiet about their findings, discussing them only with Bangladesh officials. ~ RCN Editor.]
Yesterday, a UNHCR delegation -- which included two UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners (for Operations, and for Protection to Bhasan Char) -- made a visit to the island. They later flew on to Cox's Bazar, where the mainland refugee camps are.
After the visit, the UN refugee agency, issued a statement saying that their main priority is refugee safety and well-being.
The UN people added that they were continuing "to urgently seek additional information" about "the condition of those affected," while urging they "receive adequate medical assistance."
During yesterday's visit, while on the island, the UNHCR delegation met with a large group of Rohingya refugees there, and listened to various issues that the refugees raised -- issues that the delegation will discuss with Bangladesh authorities.
Today, the delegation visits the Rohingya refugee camps around Cox's Bazar. They will then return to the capital, Dhaka, and meet with senior officials of the Bangladesh government, according to the U.N. statement.
-
ASEAN:
Amid divisions,
ASEAN leaders
plan Myanmar visit
this week.
-
Reuters / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
The chair and secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plan to travel to Myanmar this week, even as the 10-nation bloc remains divided on how to respond to the military coup there, according to four diplomatic sources.
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
'Rohingyas confirmed to AHCs
that relocation to Bhashan Char
completely voluntary'
[~Bangladesh government press release]
A section of international media and civil society organizations are continuously campaigning against Bhashan Char and Rohingya relocation, says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
-
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[NOTE: This report -- like many others from the Dhaka Tribune -- appears to simply echo official Bangladesh government statements, without independent investigation, reporting, corroboration, correction or questioning. ~RCN Editor.]
[paraphrased:]
The Rohingyas who were relocated to Bhashan Char, and who staged a demonstration -- Monday, during the visit to the island by two senior UNHCR officials -- have also confirmed to those officials that their relocation to Bhasan Char was completely voluntary.
The Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this, Tuesday, in a press release.
The government report added that Rohingyas demanded the United Nations establish a presence on Bhashan Char.
[RCN Editor's note: Bangladesh has been trying to get the U.N. -- Bangladesh's chief source of aid for the Rohingya -- to provide that aid on Bhasan Char. But the U.N. has balked because of concerns about the island's facilities and safety, resident mobility and communications, and the ethics of the possibly-forced relocations.
So now, apparently, Bangladesh authorities are trying to make it look like it's the Rohingyas' idea for the U.N. to come there -- contradicting other reports that seem to indicate that some Rohingyas (perhaps most) just want to get off the island.~RCN Editor.]
* * *
Speaking out about Monday’s disturbance, for the first time, the Foreign Ministry said they had sought a UN presence on the island to ensure facilities like education, skill development, and livelihood activities.
The ministry statement acknowledged that
during the UNHCR officials' tour of the island, "a large number of Rohingya [refugees] gathered... and launched a demonstration."
The officials' statement said "the crowd got agitated," explaining that "in the process, some... Rohingyas reportedly got minor injuries."
The statement added that "the situation normalized... "Once the delegation left the island."
[RCN Editor's note: It apparently did not say how, or by whom, the Rohingya got those "injuries." And it does not say how situation was "normalized," after the U.N. officials were out of sight.~RCN Editor.]
"The crowd" it reported "had free and frank interactions" addressing the [visiting UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners], and in the process "vented out their frustration... concerns over uncertainty vis-a-vis repatriation."
[RCN Editor's note: This official statement implies that the Rohingya on Bhasan Char were preoccupied with a desire to return to Myanmar, rather than return to the mainland Bangladesh camps at Cox's Bazar -- echoing the Bangladesh goverment's priorities, but seemingly contradicting virtually every other source on this matter. ~RCN Editor.]
The report added that, the protesting Bhasan Char refugees expressed desperation to escape the present situation, and -- absent any progress with repatriation -- aslked to be considered for relocation to a third country."
[RCN Editor's note: This official statement implies that the Rohingya on Bhasan Char were preoccupied with a desire to return to anywhere, but Bangladesh, rather than return to their families and communities at the mainland Bangladesh camps at Cox's Bazar -- again echoing the Bangladesh goverment's priorities, but seemingly contradicting virtually every other source on this matter. ~RCN Editor.]
The release expressed "great disappointment" that some in "international media or Civil Society Organizations" are "continuously campaigning against [the relocation of Rohingya to] Bhashan Char... [and are distributing] distorted information misrepresenting the facts."
The statement further discouraged "Excessive focus on temporary arrangement" or "undue criticism" -- arguing that "the focus [shiuld be on] the permanent solution... repatriation and reintegration of Rohingyas [back to] Myanmar."
The statement insisted that it was "expected" that the U.N. "assume their responsibility" "taking into account the... reality [on the] ground" and the "concerns of the host community."
[RCN Editor's note: Apparent plain language translation: "Everybody just shut up and quit griping about what we're doing with (and to) the Rohingya. Either get them out of Bangladesh, or cooperate with us on how we want to handle them here. No more criticism or resistance." ~RCN Editor.]
SPECIAL NOTE:
JUNE 2, 2021
UNHCR BANGLADESH TOUR
CONCLUSIONS
June 2, 2021 marked the conclusion of
the official tour
of Rohingya refugee sites in Bangladesh
by senior officials from the office of the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Bangladesh has relied on the United Nations to provide the bulk of aid for the Rohingya refugees.
However, the U.N. has quarreled with Bangladesh over Bangladesh's planned relocation of tens of thousands of Rohingya from the refugee camps on the mainland (near Cox's Bazar), to a low-lying, vulnerable tiny island offshore, Bhasan Char -- where Bangadesh has built a vast "prison-like" concentration camp to resettle 100,000 of the approximately 850,000 refugees now at Cox's Bazar.
The U.N. has objected to being excluded from the planning and oversight of the project, has doubted the safety and suitability of the accommodations, and is reluctant to aid in what some are describing as a forced relocation of Rohingya to the island, and imprisonment of them there.
The Bangladesh government, which spent $300 million on the project, insists it is safe, accommodations are adequate and superior to conditions on the mainland, and that all relocations have been voluntary.
During the inspection tour, when the UNHCR officials landed by helicopter at Bhasan Char, they were greeted by a mass protest -- initially estimated by police at "up to 4,000" Rohingya, out of the 18,500 on the island.
What the protesters were actually saying and demanding depends upon whose story you listen to -- but NO independent journalists were present at the time, apparently, and the government has tightly controlled media access to information about the restricted-acccess island.
Consequently, the ONLY TWO major sources of information about this are:
-
The Bangladesh government, which has its own agenda, involving their handling of the Rohingya, and appears to "spin" every event through a government propaganda machine.
-
The U.N. officials who were there (and they are traditionally reluctant to anger the governments of host countries by openly contradicting them. Instead, at most, they usually just use vague, evasive language and statements.)
Most other major media sources tend to either re-publish the government's press releases and statements, or those of the U.N., or bits of both.
It is the belief of Rohingya Crisis News that there is not only an inconsistency
between
the U.N. and Bangladesh officials' stories, but even inconsistencies within each faction.
(For instance, initial reports from the Bangladesh police chief on the island indicated "up to 4,000" protesters (repeated by leading Bangladesh and French media). But subsequent government statements pared the number down to "a few hundred" (echoed by U.S.-sponsored Benar News).
Probably more important than the details of the protest, though, are the differing statements from the U.N. officials on the actual position of the U.N. on the overall question of Bhasan Char -- statements which differ within the U.N., as well as differing from official Bangladesh government statements.
A selection of major articles and press releases on this crucial issue follow. A careful read of each will reveal subtle but fundamental and decisive differences. It remains to be seen what the truth actually is -- but it appears that:
-
Bangladesh is insisting everything is fine, and the U.N. (and everyone else) should stop griping
about Bhasan Char, and what it's doing with the Rohingya, and just start forking over the aid to the island.
- The U.N. is conceding that Bhasan Char has merit, but they're still not satisfied
that...
- Relocation there is voluntary;
- Refugees have freedom of movement...
- around the island, and
- to-and-from the mainland camps (where many have families);
- The island is truly safe for the refugees.
(risk of flooding / cyclones, personal security, healthcare)
- The refguees have...
- Adequate education & skills training;
- Opportunity for economic activity
(working & earning; access to cash)
...and the U.N. does not want to aid the Bhasan Char project until satisfied that these conditions are met, or will be.
While the
Bangladesh government
appears to be announcing that
"the U.N. has inspected, and approved our facility. Let's just get on with it,"
the
United Nations refugee agency
seems to say
"almost, but not quite yet. There's still a lot that needs to be straightened out. Let's talk."
Bangladesh officials
have said the protesters want to be "repatriated" (to Myanmar), or to go to a "third country."
But
independent accounts
indicate that those Rohingya who are fleeing (or wanting to leave) Bhasan Char just want to get back to the camps on the Bangladesh mainland, to rejoin their families, friends and community.
Four things ARE clear from statements on both sides, and from indepedent accounts:
- a LOT of Rohingya are not happy on the island,
and do NOT want to be there; and
Bangladesh is:
- keeping Rohingya on the island against their will, and
- arresting those whom it finds have made it off the island, back to the mainland, and
- filing criminal charges against them.
Review the following articles -- mindful of their sources (either the U.N. or, in most cases apparently, Bangladesh officials) -- and make your own best guess as to the truth. Note that, in the articles below, NO independent journalist has been allowed free access to the Rohingya on Bhasan Char.
In the articles below, remarks attributed to the
Rohingya
on Bhasan Char are either supplied by
U.N. officials,
or (more often) are actually supplied by the
Bangladesh government
(and thus possibly coerced, censored, altered, or otherwise misrepresented).
~ RCN Editor
|
-
2021-06-02 - Wednesday
Official U.N. statement:
-
UNHCR’s Assistant
High Commissioners
conclude four-day visit to Bangladesh.
Wrapping up today their four-day visit to Bangladesh, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners for Protection and for Operations - Gillian Triggs and Raouf Mazou - called for international support and solidarity with Rohingya refugees and Bangladesh.
The protection, well-being, and concerns of refugees, as well as renewed efforts towards solutions should be at the forefront of the response.
-
UNHCR (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees)
[NOTE: color / boldface / italics & subtitles added by RCN Editor:]
A joint visit to Bangladesh of the...
- UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs,
and
-
UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Raouf Mazou,
...took place from 30 May to 2 June.
It included visits to:
- the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar where the vast majority of Rohingya refugees reside,
and
- the island of Bhasan Char,
as well as
- meetings with senior Government officials.
Throughout the visit, the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners reiterated their sincere appreciation to the Government and the people of Bangladesh for their humanitarian spirit and generous hospitality towards Rohingya refugees
as they sought protection from violence and persecution in Myanmar over decades. This includes, notably, the recent influx of more than 740,000 Rohingya refugees since August 2017. They also reiterated the urgent need to continue working towards comprehensive solutions, including the voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.
The Assistant High Commissioners emphasized that the responsibility for the current Rohingya refugee situation in Bangladesh rests with Myanmar, and that is where the solution lies. However, the recent developments in Myanmar make the prospects of voluntary repatriation in the short term more challenging.
“While Bangladesh has shown humanity and solidarity, in line with the guiding principles of the Global Compact on Refugees,
the international community must step up and give practical effect to the obligation to share responsibility, and to protect refugees and support the host Bangladeshi Government,”
said Triggs.
COX'S BAZAR:
The Assistant High Commissioners
visited the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar
and met with the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), responsible for the overall coordination of the Rohingya refugee response in Cox’s Bazar as well as the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Cox’s Bazar.
Despite the COVID-19 challenges, they noted remarkable strides have been made in preparing for and responding to the pandemic, both within and outside of the camps, for refugees and host communities alike.
The Assistant High Commissioners visited a COVID-19 treatment facility in the local community of Ukhiya, which was built in just 8 weeks. This facility alone has responded to the needs of around 1,000 patients in the past year, almost 70% of whom came from the Bangladeshi host community.
“The inclusive Health Sector response in Cox’s Bazar has saved lives. The Government has set a positive example by including the Rohingya refugees in the national COVID-19 response plan and the related national vaccination plan.
UNHCR opened two of a total of 12 operational COVID-19 treatment facilities and established the first Intensive Care Unit in the District hospital.
Responding to the needs of both communities [refugee and host community] on an equal basis is essential to ensuring that everyone is kept safe,”
said Mazou.
Additional challenges have been presented by COVID-19 and related restrictions in the camps.
The Assistant High Commissioners observed a reduced humanitarian presence in the camps and associated protection risks.
UNHCR advocates for essential protection services for the most vulnerable, including women and children
who are particularly exposed to gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation, early marriage and child labour.
In its work, UNHCR listens to the voices of refugees.
During the visit to the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, the Assistant High Commissioners had the opportunity to discuss with refugees
and to better understand their situation and needs. Many stressed the need for the resumption of education and skills training.
BHASAN CHAR:
The Government facilitated a visit of the Assistant High Commissioners to Bhasan Char. While on the island, they clearly recognized the significant financial investments by the Bangladeshi government in facilities and infrastructure, including housing.
However, it was clear that the 18,000 Rohingya refugees currently on the island have protection and assistance needs. That is: access to meaningful livelihoods opportunities, skills development, education, health and access to cash to facilitate their daily lives.
UNHCR recognizes the potential that Bhasan Char could provide as an alternative temporary location for some Rohingya refugees while in Bangladesh. UNHCR proposes further discussions with the Government to ensure protection of refugees, as well as on our future operational engagement on the island.
[RCN Editor's note: Plain-English translation:
"The Bhasan Char project has potential, but it's not good enough yet for the U.N. to support it."
~RCN Editor.]
At the same time,
UNHCR remains concerned about reports of refugees being arrested and detained for attempting to leave Bhasan Char. UNHCR strongly discourages the use of relocation to Bhasan Char as a punitive measure.
“Bhasan Char has some potential, though the human and protection elements of refugees living there must be fully considered.
Refugees who decide to relocate to Bhasan Char must do so on a voluntary basis. They should have freedom of movement on the island and must be granted the possibility to return to Cox’s Bazar and to maintain family connections with those in the camps,”
said Triggs.
While on Bhasan Char,
UNHCR had the opportunity to talk to a large group of refugees, predominantly young men. They raised their concerns about the lack of access to livelihoods and self-reliance opportunities, skills development, as well as access to education.
UNHCR was deeply concerned to learn of reports of refugees who were injured on the day of the visit to Bhasan Char.
OVERALL:
While ultimately, the desired solution by the majority of the Rohingya refugees is to return home voluntarily, safely, sustainably and in dignity, when conditions in Myanmar allow,
the crisis is now in its fourth year and refugees cannot remain fully dependent on aid.
“Livelihoods and skills training opportunities will provide refugees with a sense of purpose and autonomy while they are in Bangladesh, while preparing them for reintegration when conditions allow them to return home,” stressed Mazou.
Today, 2 June, the UNHCR Assistant High Commissioners were grateful for the opportunity to meet and discuss these various issues with senior Government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.
While continuing to work together with the support of the international community towards voluntary repatriation,
the Assistant High Commissioners discussed the possibility of introducing alternative solutions for Rohingya refugees, including resettlement to third countries for the most vulnerable with specific protection needs, as well as complementary pathways overseas, which could include employment and educational opportunities.
UNHCR once more calls on the international community, including through the recently launched 2021 Joint Response Plan, to continue to support the Government of Bangladesh who have taken on a huge responsibility in hosting almost 1 million Rohingya refugees in the largest refugee camp in the world. This must not become a forgotten crisis.
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
UN Officials Endorse
Bangladesh's Program
to Move Rohingya
to Island
But they say that economic activities should be created for the refugees living on Bhashan Char, an isolated site in the Bay of Bengal.
* * *
[UNHCR Asst. High Commissioner] Mazou said there must be economic activities for the refugees.
He also said the U.N. would continue to have a presence in the Cox’s Bazar camps and work with the government to ensure assistance to refugees, emphasizing economic activities apart from education and health care.
“Livelihood and skills training opportunities will provide refugees with a sense of purpose and autonomy while they are in Bangladesh, while preparing them for reintegration when conditions allow them to return home,” Mazou said.
[UNHCR Asst. High Commissioner] Triggs said Rohingya who relocate to the island must do so voluntarily.
“Bhashan Char has some potential, though the human and protection elements of refugees living there must be fully considered,” Triggs said. “They should have freedom of movement on the island and must be granted the possibility to return to Cox’s Bazar and to maintain family connections with those in the camps.” ...
-
Benar News on
RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. government-sponsored news agencies)
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
In a change of heart,
UN hints at engagement
with Rohingya at Bhasan Char.
-
BDnews24.com (Bangladesh)
Discussions are going on between the United Nations and the government of Bangladesh over the global body’s engagement in managing the Rohingya relocated to Bhasan Char island, an official of the UNHCR says. ...
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
UN delegation lauds Bhasan Char project;
Calls for international community’s support.
-
Daily Star (Bangladesh)
-
UNHCR: Bhashan Char much better
than Cox’s Bazar camps
UN officials praise PM Hasina for her role in tackling the Rohingya crisis
-
UNB / Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[
CAUTION:
Both the Dhaka Tribune and (especially) the news service UNB (United News of Bangladesh) appear to routinely reprint government statements, verbatim, without clearly identifying the source -- instead deceptively presenting the material as their own original article.
This article
appears to be mainly a reprint of a Bangladesh government press release or statement. Remarks attributed to specific people, including Rohingya or U.N. officials, may therefore be misrepresented to fit the government's claims. ~RCN Editor.]
2021-06-03 - Thursday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
Rohingya Muslim refugees
'injured in protests'
on isolated island
during UNHCR visit.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Rohingya Muslim refugees, angry at living conditions in a relocation camp on the remote Bangladeshi island of Bhasan Char, suffered baton injuries when they protested being denied access to a visiting U.N. team, according to two of the refugees.
They allege that Bangladeshi authorities charged at them with batons, when hundreds of them attempted to force their way to the U.N. officials visiting the island.
The two claimed that the mob was trying to report their dissatisfaction with the lack of work and healthcare on the island, and were angry that the only Rohingya allowed to speak with the U.N. officials were those who would say nothing against Bangladesh.
Authorities have admitted that there was a protest. [Initial police reports said "up to 4,000" of the 18,000 already on the island ~RCN Editor.] And they admitted some protesters suffered "minor injuries" — but insisted the crowd had "free and frank interactions" with the visiting U.N. officials.
The U.N. officials later said they is "deeply concerned" about the reported injuries.
-
Ousted Myanmar politicians
call for Rohingya
to join fight against junta.
NUG says it will scrap law denying citizenship, in 'notable step forward' for rights of Rohingya people.
-
The Guardian (U.K.)
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar’s parallel government [elected civilians deposed by the military, and their colleagues] is urging the Rohingya to join them in fighting Myanmar's military junta -- promising to offer the Rohingya justice and citizenship.
Rights experts have welcomed the statement, calling it “an important and notable step forward” towards full rights for the Rohingya, who've endured decades of violence and discrimination in Myanmar.
* * *
The statement said that the civilian NUG [National Unity Government] would [if returned to power] scrap the 1982 citizenship law that denies the Rohingya citizenship in Myanmar. The law has effectively rendered them stateless -- one of the world's largest stateless populations. Instead, the proposed changes would make Myanmar citizenship based on birth in Myanmar, or upon birth to a Myanmar citizen anywhere, according to the NUG.
The NUG, is seeking international recognition, but has faced questions -- from the U.S. and others -- over whether it will recognise the rights and citizenship of the Rohingya.
* * *
President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (a British Rohingya group), said that the NUG’s statement is welcome, but further clarity is needed -- including how the NUG will commit to seeking international justice.
He said "The NUG must, crucially, recognise" now that "a genocide is taking place" upon "the Rohingya." He added that if the NUG won't face "the reality of the past," "no way [exists] to build a common future."
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar called the NUG’s announcement as one “important and notable step forwards” -- adding he was "hopeful" the NUG statement "marks... long-deserved though long-denied... initial... movement" towards peace, justice and security," finally, "for the Rohingya,” He added that foreign governments should amplify pressure on Myanmar's military junta, so such commitments can be transformed into law by Myanmar’s legitimate representatives.
2021-06-04 - Friday
[paraphrased:]
Boat left Bangladesh refugee camp Feb. 11, with 90 aboard. Nine died as the boat wandered south towards Malaysia and Indonesia.
Malaysia refused entry over COVID-19 fears. Engine failed, and boat drifted into India's territorial waters near Andaman Islands, where fishermen fixed it.
[RCN Editor's note: India's coast guard apparently sent it back out to sea, rather than provide shelter. Bangladesh refused shelter, as well. An international outcry arose over the failure of nations to abide the int'l Law of the Sea rule that those in distress at sea, when known, must be provided rescue & safe haven.~RCN Editor.]
Boat ran aground on vacant Idaman island, in Indonesia’s northernmost province, Aceh.
Villagers found the stranded boat, and reported it to Indonesian authorities, who are now dealing with the refugees.
[RCN Editor's note: This has been an ongoing story, since Feb.11; see previous "REFUGEES at SEA" stories in this section. ~RCN Editor.]
OPINION & ANALYSIS:
The Real Kingmakers of Myanmar
by Min Zin, political scientist & head of a policy think tank in Yangon, Myanmar; long-time dissident.
-
New York Times
This crisis isn’t just a battle between the military and civilians over the future of democracy. It is the latest evidence that the nation-building process in Myanmar -- one of the most ethnically diverse states in the world -- is still woefully incomplete, more than seven decades after the country’s independence from Britain.
Whoever understands this should then be able to see that the 20 or so ethnic armed organizations, that for years have been seeking various degrees of autonomy for their respective peoples, may be the kingmakers of the moment. ...
2021-06-05 - Saturday
2021-06-06 - Sunday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
Govt to shift 80,000 more Rohingyas
to Bhasan Char soon,
seeks global help.
-
BSS, Dhaka / Daily Star (Bangladesh)
[NOTE: This is apparently a press release from the Bangladesh central government.]
[paraphrased:]
In a meeting at the Prime Minister's office — attended by senior representatives of the major western donor countries (US, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, France and the Netherlands), the European Union, and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees — the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary called on them to be more active in providing aid to the Rohingya.
He indicated that the government was preparing to move another 80,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char island as soon as possible.
2021-06-07 - Monday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
Official HRW statement:
"An Island Jail in the Middle of the Sea":
Bangladesh’s Relocation of Rohingya Refugees
to Bhasan Char.
-
Human Rights Watch
[transcript excerpt:]
Since December 2020, the Bangladesh government has moved nearly 20,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, a remote silt island in the Bay of Bengal.
With the approaching monsoon season, refugees and humanitarian workers alike fear that inadequate storm and flood protection could put those on the island at serious risk.
This, alongside food shortages, unreliable water sources, lack of schools and health care, and severe restrictions on freedom of movement, makes many refugees fear they are stuck on “an island jail in the middle of the sea,” as one child described it. ...
2021-06-08 - Tuesday
2021-06-09 - Wednesday
-
Official U.N. statement:
‘Mass deaths’ alert in Myanmar
as 100,000 flee
junta’s heavy weapons.
In Myanmar, international action is needed urgently to prevent “mass deaths” there, after civilians fled attacks by so-called “junta bombs”, a top independent UN rights expert has warned.
-
U.N. News (United Nations)
“Mass deaths from starvation, disease and exposure could occur in Kayah State after many of the 100,000 forced to flee into forests from junta bombs are now cut off from food, water and medicine by the junta. The international community must act”, UN Special Rapporteur for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, tweeted late on Monday.
In his alert, Mr. Andrews noted that the Kayah state attacks were just the latest in a series throughout Myanmar that had caused mass displacement and suffering, from Mutraw in Karen state to Mindat in Chin state and Bago city.
The independent rights expert, who reports to the Human Rights Council, emphasised that that the lives of many thousands of men, women and children were under threat from indiscriminate attacks, on a scale not seen since the 1 February coup, “that likely amount to mass atrocity crimes”.
The development echoes concern by the UN Country Team in Myanmar, which on Monday underscored the rapidly deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Kayah State and other parts of the country, linked to protests caused by the military takeover. ...
-
Bangladesh:
Rohingya Voices Matter
- Activist Toolkit
-
Amnesty International
This toolkit carries outputs to raise awareness on Rohingya community, and demand their rights to be protected. ...
2021-06-10 - Thursday
2021-06-11 - Friday
2021-06-12 - Saturday
2021-06-13 - Sunday
2021-06-14 - Monday
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
56 shanties gutted in fire
at Rohingya camp
in southeast Delhi
No casualties reported. Refugee camp in Madanpur Khada, near India's capital.
2021-06-15 - Tuesday
-
U.N. put Rohingya ‘at risk’
by sharing data without consent,
says rights group
Refugees tell Human Rights Watch they fear forced repatriation and persecution, after personal details passed on to Myanmar.
-
The Guardian (U.K.)
[paraphrased:]
The UN, by improperly gathering and sharing personal information on Rohingya refugees, and may have put hundreds of thousands of them in danger of persecution or involuntary repatriation to Myanmar. The U.N. collected and shared refugees’ personal information with Bangladesh, says Human Rights Watch (HRW), who urges an investigation.
During the past 3 years, UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, has registered over 800,000 Rohingya refugees who are living in camps in Bangladesh, to provide the refugees with identity cards so they could get essential aid and services.
But the U.N. failed to inform many of them that their personal data -- including photographs, fingerprints and biographical information -- was to be passed on by the Bangladeshi government to authorities in Myanmar, for possible repatriation, said the crisis and conflict director of Human Rights Watch.
She noted that the UNHCR's "data collection practices with Rohingya" were "contrary to the agency’s own policies" and ultimately "exposed refugees to further risk.”
She noted that refugees have a "right to control their data," and to determine "who has access to it... for what purposes." She said that the UNHCR, and other agencies, ought to be "accountable to those whose data" is held by the agency.
U.N. response:
The UN is denying any wrongdoing or policy violations -- claiming it had explained all of the purposes of their data-gathering actions, and had obtained consent from the refugees, according to a UNHCR spokesperson.
The UNHCR representative said each Rohingya refugee family was "asked to consent" to the possibility of "their data being shared" with other "partners on the ground... to receive assistance… [and were] separately and expressly asked [if] they gave... consent to have their data shared with... Myanmar by... Bangladesh" to establish their right of return.
Evidence to the contrary:
However, 24 Rohingya refugees who were interviewed by HRW, from September 2020 to March 2021, about their experience in registering with the UNHCR, present a different story. Of the 24 refugees, 23 reported that they were never informed that their personal data would be used for anything other than establishing aid access.
Of the three HRW interviewees who could read English, one said that he didn't realize what had happened until after his interview.
“After [taking] my data, they printed... a receipt. I [returned] to my tent, and then.... looked at the paper, and [only then] noticed that... there was a tick box that the [interviewer] at the centre [went ahead and] marked as ‘yes’ without ever asking me... [the check box said] my data [will] be shared with Myanmar,” the refugee reported.
“I was so angry... but I had already given [them] my data, and I [was in need of] services... I didn’t know what [was possible to] do about it.” ...
* * *
Senior HRW researcher Belkis Wille:
“Bangladesh shared the names and details of 830,000 Rohingya with Myanmar, which -- broadly speaking -- is the entire Rohingya refugee population that came to Bangladesh. So that would suggest that nobody had any objection to having their data shared with Myanmar, at least in terms of the checkbox on the form.”
“It is hard to imagine that not a single person had a concern and said 'no' [to giving consent]. And that is one of the key reasons why we think what we saw in our individual interviews may be what you would see across the broader Rohingya population, which is that they weren’t being asked this question or, if they were, it wasn’t in a way that they understood or in a way that they felt comfortable saying 'no' to.”...
[RCN Editor's note:
This topic has been an issue, repeatedly, ever since the U.N. announced plans, in 2018, to gather biometric data on the Rohingya. Articles on this topic can be found on the appropriate year pages of this website:
- 2018-07-06: U.N. announces plan to gather biometric data for Rohingya ID cards.
- 2018-11-26: Mass Rohingya protest includes objections to U.N. biometric data gathering.
- 2019-08-09: U.N. announces it has issued biometric ID cards to 500,000 Rohingya.
~RCN Editor.
]
-
Myanmar militia group halts attacks on troops;
Suu Kyi ‘confident’ in
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
2021-06-16 - Wednesday
2021-06-17 - Thursday
-
Official STCI report:
Stranded, stateless, detained:
New report reveals 700,000 Rohingya children
denied basic rights across Asia.
-
Save the Children International
[transcript:]
More than 700,000 Rohingya children across Asia face severe discrimination and denial of their most basic rights, Save the Children said today.
According to a new report to mark World Refugee Day, No safe haven, Rohingya children across Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia are prevented from accessing quality education and legal protection, which can expose them to abuse, child labour, child marriage, trafficking and detention.
Of the at least 700,000 Rohingya children in Asia, most live outside their home country, Myanmar. The majority now is in Bangladesh, where nearly half a million children are living in refugee camps. But large numbers of Rohingya have also taken refuge in other neighbouring Asian countries.
Malaysia hosts more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees - around a quarter of whom are estimated to be children. Thailand (3,000-15,000) and Indonesia (several hundred) host the smallest Rohingya populations of the five countries, with no exact estimates of the number of children. Some 234,000 Rohingya children remain in Rakhine State in Myanmar, of whom around 69,000 are confined to squalid camps. All are subject to severe restrictions on their movement.
The Rohingya community in Myanmar has experienced decades of state-sponsored persecution and violence. According to Save the Children’s report,
neighbouring countries often fail to act as safe havens, as Rohingya refugees continue to be demonised, discriminated against and treated as criminals – locked up in immigration detention centres -- or left to die on boats trapped at sea for months.
Rohingya girls and boys living outside of Myanmar told Save the Children that they are afraid to leave their homes in case they are detained and deported as ‘illegal immigrants’. ...
(Along with UNICEF, Save the Children Int'l is one of the world's principal charities focused on serving children in need. They have been among the principal providers of aid to Rohingya children. ~RCN Editor.)
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar village burned after fighting;
residents blame security forces.
-
Reuters / Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
[paraphrased:]
A village of 800 was burned to the ground, killing two elderly residents. Residents (who fled to the woods) blame the Myanmar military, who were confronting opponents of the regime. The military (which torched Rohingya villlages in 2017) blames "terrorists" for the fires.
Britain's embassy in Myanmar published on Twitter a condemnation of "Reports that the junta has burned down an entire village in Magway, killing elderly residents [which] demonstrate once again that the military continues to commit terrible crimes and has no regard for the people of Myanmar."
Western nations' condemnation of Myanmar's military junta has grown in response to the Myanmar military’s use of force against opponents. A human rights group, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, has reported that Myanmar's security forces have, since the coup, killed over 860 civilians. The military says the figure is lower.
-
MYANMAR COUP:
UN alarmed by abuse of civilians
in growing Myanmar conflict
The United Nations’ office in Myanmar has expressed concern about escalating human rights abuses after reports that opponents of the ruling military may have executed 25 civilians and allegations that troops burned down a village
-
Associated Press / ABC News
(Official U.N. statement at:
-
U.N. in Myanmar Alarmed
at Sharp Deterioration
of Human Rights Environment.
- United Nations - Myanmar office
The UN in Myanmar is alarmed at recent acts of violence that illustrate a sharp deterioration of the human rights environment across Myanmar.
One such case is the discovery of two mass graves in Myawaddy Township (Kayin State), containing the
human remains of twenty-five people
who had reportedly been
detained on 31 May by the Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO).
Another case is the reported burning by security forces of more than 150 homes in Kin Ma Village in Pauk Township (Magway Region) on 15 June, leaving two dead and approximately 1,000 people homeless.
The United Nations in Myanmar reiterates its call on all actors in the current crisis to ensure that international human rights norms and standards are respected.
This includes upholding the obligation to minimize collateral harm to civilians and to civilian infrastructure, and prohibiting the application of collective punishments against communities, families or individuals.
The United Nations in Myanmar calls for those responsible for human rights violations to be held accountable, including the perpetrators and their chain of command.
-
The Tatmadaw’s Assault on Healthcare Reform
in Myanmar
“Healthcare is in an immediate crisis. If the coup continues we are heading towards becoming a failed state.”
-
The Diplomat (Japan)
2021-06-18 - Friday
-
UN assembly condemns Myanmar coup,
calls for arms embargo.
-
Associated Press
[paraphrased; with RCN Editor's enhancements in square brackets:]
The U.N. General Assembly — in a rare move, in a nearly unanimous resolution, Friday — condemned Myanmar’s military coup, calling for an arms embargo against that nation. The resolution — which showed widespread global opposition to the military junta who has taken control of Myanmar's government — also demands restoration of Myanmar's transition to democracy.
The resolution...
- Calls on the military junta in Myanmar to restore the nation’s democratic transition;
- Condemns the military's "excessive and lethal violence" following the coup;
- Calls on all the world's nations "to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar;" and
- Calls on Myanmar's security forces to unconditionally and immediately release President Win Myint, State Counsellor Suu Kyi and other [civilian] government officials and politicians [who have been] detained following the coup, "and all those who have been arbitrarily detained, charged or arrested."
Supporters had hoped that the 193 members of the U.N. General Assembly would unanimously approve the resolution by consensus. However [Russia's ally] Belarus called for a vote. In the end,
119 countries voted "yes." Only Belarus voted "no," but 36 countries abstained (including Myanmar’s [two largest] neighbors: China and India, as well as Russia) without actually voting against the resolution.
The resolution was the product of prolonged negotiations by a "Core Group" that included the European Union and numerous Western nations [among them the U.S., U.K., and Canada] — along with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Myanmar and 9 others. [
ASEAN's
"Five-Point Consensus" on Myanmar
was integrated into the resolution.]
According to one U.N. diplomat, an agreement was reached with ASEAN to seek consensus. However, in the actual vote, ASEAN members split. Myanmar's U.N. ambassador (who still supports the ousted democratic government [that appointed him]) voted "yes." The ASEAN [democracies] of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines also voted "yes," as did [Communist] Vietnam. But the [military dictatorship of Myanmar's neighbor] Thailand — along with [Communist] Laos, and [the authoritarian monarchies of] Cambodia and Brunei — abstained.
While the resolution did not get the overwhelming support its promoters wanted, the U.N. General Assembly action — even though not legally binding — represents an international condemnation of the Myanmar military's February 1st coup (which ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, and put her and many other government leaders and politicians, under arrest). The measure also demonstrates strong global opposition to the military's crackdown on protesters who are demanding an end to the army takeover.
After the vote, Christine Schraner Burgener, the U.N.'s special envoy to Myanmar, warned the General Assembly of "the risk of a large-scale civil war," adding "Time is of the essence... The opportunity to reverse the military takeover is narrowing and regional threat increasing."
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
Diarrhoea kills at least 4 Rohingya
on remote Bangladesh island.
Officials claim to have contained outbreak
which infected 1,500 refugees
— nearly 10 percent of those shifted to Bhashan Char
-
AFP / Al Jazeera
[NOTE: Though AFP is a reputable news service, Al Jazeera has credibility problems. However, this same topic is validated in a June 30th statement by Human Rights Watch (see 2021-06-30 articles, below).]
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
Rohingya refugees struggle for vaccine in COVID-hit India
Death of a Rohingya woman of COVID-19, while in detention, highlights the plight of poverty-stricken refugees.
-
AFP / Al Jazeera
[NOTE: Al Jazeera has credibility problems, and a presumed bias against the current anti-Muslim government of India.]
[paraphrased:]
-
REFUGEES at SEA:
VIDEO:
Rohingya held at sea,
ahead of World Refugee Day
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Ahead of World Refugee Day, desperate Rohingya refugees are being held by at sea as the traffickers demand payments, human rights groups say. ...
2021-06-19 - Saturday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
(VIDEO)
Myanmar:
Who are the ethnic armies
training protesters?
-
BBC News
Ever since the military staged its coup February 1st, violence and chaos have plagued Myanmar as security forces brutally suppress pro-democracy protesters.
Now, many of the protesters are being trained by armed ethnic groups
who have been fighting Myanmar's military since the nation's independence from Britain in 1948.
Clashes have also erupted between various militias and government security forces.
Who are these ethnic armed groups of Myanmar? Can they help topple the junta? ...
-
'UN resolution fails
to adequately reflect
on Rohingya crisis'
-Bangladesh’s Permanent Mission to the UN says.
-
Daily Star
(Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
Bangladesh's government expressed deep disappointment during the adoption of a resolution called "Situation of Myanmar." The government said it did not adequately reflect on the Rohingya crisis, nor recommended any action to resolve the crisis.
June 18, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the 'Situation in Myanmar' with 119 votes in favour, only 1 against, and 36 abstentions (including Bangladesh).
The resolution focused on the current crisis facing democracy in Myanmar -- including the military's declaration of emergency, and its detention of the nation's political leader. IT calls for democracy to be restored, and recognizes the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as having a central role. It welcomes the 5-point consensus decided at the recent ASEAN Leader's Summit in Bangkok.
The resolution was initially drafted by "core" UN General Assembly members -- the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Canada among them -- who did so in conslultation with the ASEAN leaders.
However, as Bangladesh's UN delegation noted,
the resolution avoids addressing the Rohingya issue, particulary their repatriation to Myanmar, with dignity, safety and sustainability. The omissions prompted Bangladesh's abstention.
Other member-nations of the [53-member] Organization of Islamic Cooperation also abstained, including some from ASEAN and SAARC (the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation).
. ...
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
Uttar Pradesh police arrests 4 Rohingyas
involved in human trafficking.
The Uttar Pradesh police arrested four Rohingyas on Friday, alleging that they were living illegally in India and were part of a human trafficking ring.
-
India Today (India)
[NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.]
|
Special Note:
WORLD REFUGEE DAY:
JUNE 20th, 2021
This day is recognized globally as the day of remembrance of the plight of refugees, throughout the world. "Refugees" are generally defined as people driven from their homes ("displaced") by war, persecution or violence. Many international peace, aid and human rights organizations issue statements on this day, and global media (and some governments) give special attention to the issue of refugees on this day.
This year, various parties made special note of the plight of the Rohinya, and/or the people of Myanmar, generally (fleeing the coup).
|
2021-06-20 - Sunday
-
Official U.N. statements:
World Refugee Day
-
U.N. News (United Nations)
[excerpt:]
Background:
Every minute, 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. There are several types of forcibly displaced persons:
- Refugees:
A refugee is someone who fled his or her home and country owing to “a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion”, according to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. Many refugees are in exile to escape the effects of natural or human-made disasters.
- Asylum Seekers:
Asylum seekers say they are refugees and have fled their homes as refugees do, but their claim to refugee status is not yet definitively evaluated in the country to which they fled.
- Internally Displaced Persons:
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are people who have not crossed an international border but have moved to a different region than the one they call home within their own country.
- Stateless Persons:
Stateless persons do not have a recognized nationality and do not belong to any country.
Statelessness situations are usually caused by discrimination against certain groups. Their lack of identification — a citizenship certificate — can exclude them from access to important government services, including health care, education or employment.
- Returnees:
Returnees are former refugees who return to their own countries or regions of origin after time in exile. Returnees need continuous support and reintegration assistance to ensure that they can rebuild their lives at home.
UN Action
1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol
Refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol help protect them. They are the only global legal instruments explicitly covering the most important aspects of a refugee’s life. According to their provisions, refugees deserve, as a minimum, the same standards of treatment enjoyed by other foreign nationals in a given country and, in many cases, the same treatment as nationals.
The 1951 Convention contains a number of rights and also highlights the obligations of refugees towards their host country. The cornerstone of the 1951 Convention is the principle of non-refoulement. According to this principle, a refugee should not be returned to a country where he or she faces serious threats to his or her life or freedom. This protection may not be claimed by refugees who are reasonably regarded as a danger to the security of the country, or having been convicted of a particularly serious crime, are considered a danger to the community.
The rights contained in the 1951 Convention include:
- The right not to be expelled, except under certain, strictly defined conditions;
- The right not to be punished for illegal entry into the territory of a contracting State;
- The right to work;
- The right to housing;
- The right to education;
- The right to public relief and assistance;
- The right to freedom of religion;
- The right to access the courts;
- The right to freedom of movement within the territory;
- The right to be issued identity and travel documents.
Some basic rights, including the right to be protected from refoulement, apply to all refugees. A refugee becomes entitled to other rights the longer they remain in the host country, which is based on the recognition that the longer they remain as refugees, the more rights they need.
[RCN Editor's note:
Many of these rights have been denied the Rohingya in the various nations, in the region, where they have taken refuge -- particularly in Bangladesh -- despite the fact that most of those nations (except, notably, India) have signed the 1951 Convention. ~ RCN Editor.]
-
Statement by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
on World Refugee Day
-
The White House (USA)
At a time when the number of refugees and other displaced persons has reached an alarming and historic high—more than 82 million worldwide—the United States has a moral obligation to ensure that refugees have access to life-saving care, opportunities to pursue an education, and livelihoods that allow them to live with dignity and hope for the future.
On this day, we reaffirm our sacred commitment to alleviate suffering through humanitarian relief, and redouble our efforts to achieve lasting solutions for refugees—including through resettlement. We also recommit to engaging in diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the ongoing conflicts that compel refugees to seek safety elsewhere.
Protecting refugees is part of our DNA. Our nation was founded by those fleeing religious persecution. When we take action to help refugees around the world, we honor our past and live up to our highest values. We show our greatest strength as a nation.
We do this because it’s the right thing to do, but make no mistake: helping refugees helps the United States, too, bringing greater regional stability and making the world a safer place for all of us.
That’s why
I revised the United States’ annual refugee admissions cap to 62,500 for this fiscal year, and plan to raise it to 125,000 next year.
While meeting these targets will be a challenge, I have directed my Administration to work as quickly as possible to rebuild and improve refugee processing and to expand our capacity to admit refugees. We need to lead by example. And the refugees who arrive at our shores will continue to strengthen our communities, as they always have, bringing new life, energy, and ideas to our great country.
The United States is proud to stand as a beacon of liberty and refuge to the world, and whether it’s taking in those seeking safety or providing more humanitarian relief than any other nation, we’re going to do our part.
-
World Refugee Day
-
Catholic Relief Services
More than 80 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes because of persecution, conflict, poverty and violence.
There are more refugees and internally displaced people now than at any other time in history.
This is truly a global humanitarian crisis. In this pivotal moment when COVID-19 is making displaced communities even more vulnerable, we remember that Church teaching encourages us to welcome foreigners seeking the security and livelihoods they cannot find in their home countries.
Two-thirds of all refugees come from only five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.
People fleeing violence in Syria form the largest refugee group... 13 million people... forcibly displaced.
In August 2017,
more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh, expanding the country’s refugee population to nearly 1 million.
Most of these refugees live at the Kutupalong Balukhali Expansion Site—the world’s most densely populated refugee settlement.
CRS has been working with Caritas Bangladesh since the onset of the crisis to provide wide-ranging support including safe shelter for families, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, and counseling and education for vulnerable women and children. ...
-
OIC* body addresses plight of displaced
on World Refugee Day
[* Organization of Islamic Cooperation -- 53 predominantly-Muslim nations]
-
Arab News (Saudi Arabia government media)
The OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) has joined the international community in observing World Refugee Day 2021, calling on all states to enhance global cooperation toward achieving better protection of refugees’ rights across the world.
In light of the
worrying trends of discrimination and xenophobia against refugees based on their sex, race, religion or origin, escalated by the COVID-19 pandemic;
World Refugee Day is an occasion to build empathy for the plight of refugees and to recognize their resilience in rebuilding their lives. It is also an occasion to celebrate the strength and courage of all people who have been forced to flee their home countries to escape conflict or persecution, and mobilize political will and resources to help them thrive.
With more than half of refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people located in OIC countries, the IPHRC commended OIC countries for providing sustained humanitarian support to refugees, in line with the divine injunctions and Islamic principles of compassion and solidarity. ...
* * *
...the commission urged all countries to cooperate in developing the best ways to strengthen national legislation and action plans to promote human rights-based policy formulation, with the involvement of all stakeholders, as well as to enhance international cooperation to deal with trans-border refugees in line with universal human rights standards.
The IPHRC expressed concern over the dwindling level of financial support allocated to humanitarian relief for refugees that deprived them of shelter, access to health care and education. ...
-
Pope Francis appeals for aid
to Myanmar displaced
on World Refugee Day
-
AP / Euronews (European news service)
[paraphrased:]
At the Vatican, Sunday -- World Refugee Day -- Pope Francis endorsed an appeal from the bishops of Myanmar for support to overcome the humanitarian crisis.
Inside Myanmar, thousands have been displaced and are cannot go home. Violence -- including raids on villages -- has become widespread since Myanmar's military seized power in February, expelling the fledgling democratic government headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. ...
The military has cracked down, violently, on nonviolent resistance momvement
* * *
Francis begged the authorities to permit humanitarian corridors for providing aid to the many displaced people, and to "respect" "churches, pagodas, monasteries, mosques, temples, [along with] schools and hospitals... as neutral shelters."...
-
World Refugee Day:
Rohingya shelter
-
Catholic Relief Services (on Facebook)
(June 18)
[paraphrased:]
When over 1 million Rohingya refugees fled persecution in Myanmar, they took up residence along the unstable hillsides of Bangladesh. Tarp tents did little to protect them from the frequent monsoons and landslides. Because of your generosity, many families have been able to transition to sturdier shelters. And because of the generosity of refugees among each other, this assistance goes even further. ...
-
On World Refugee Day
‘let Rohingya learn’.
-
Religion News
[The quality of this media is unknown.]
Today, on the occasion of World Refugee Day, 2021, Burma Task Force, a program of the Human Rights Advocacy NGO Justice for All, has published its new report
“Let Them Learn: Confronting the Need for Rohingya Education”
...
* * *
As a persecuted minority in Myanmar (Burma), Rohingya Muslims have long faced drastic limits on access to school in their homeland of Rakhine State. Increasingly disenfranchised, most Rohingya were violently displaced by the brutal Burmese military during genocidal “clearance” operations in August and September 2017. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children have been crowded into vast refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh with little access to education and no access to higher education.
* * *
“The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the poverty and isolation of these displaced people. In this crisis, the Bangladesh Government should completely cease internet shutdowns and restrictions on mobile phones, to allow distance learning to develop,” stated report writer Adem Carroll,
* * *
In addition to keeping the Rohingya people in poverty, the current lack of educational opportunities may lead to alienation, criminal activities, child marriage, and trafficking. However, the crisis of Rohingya refugee access to education goes far beyond Bangladesh. The report focuses primarily on Rohingya education in Burma, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and India. ...
-
How Countries Can Do Better
on World Refugee Day
70th Anniversary of Refugee Convention an Opportunity to Commit to Nonrefoulement
-
Human Rights Watch
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, but on World Refugee Day, as we laud the 148 countries that have acceded to the 1951 Convention or its 1967 Protocol, we look with alarm at a belt of countries stretching from Libya through most of the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia that have yet to sign on, and at state parties that continue to flout its principles.
Disappointingly many countries not party to the Convention also claim to not be bound by its principles that are customary international law. The most fundamental is nonrefoulement which bars the return of refugees to places where they would face the threat of persecution. This year alone, we have seen non-signatories like Thailand push back dissidents fleeing the military junta in Myanmar. ...
* * *
But even being a party to the Convention has unfortunately not guaranteed respect for the principle of nonrefoulement.
* * *
...in the United States, party to the Refugee Protocol, the Biden administration has maintained the Trump administration’s use of the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to expel asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border without giving them an opportunity to state or pursue refugee claims.
The 70th anniversary should be an occasion to pressure governments to ratify the Refugee Convention. And on World Refugee Day especially, countries that are already party to the Convention should reaffirm their commitment to uphold the foundation of international refugee law and not send refugees back to potential harm.
-
VIDEO: 'Life is dead':
Rohingya have little cause
to celebrate
On World Refugee Day, Rohingya people living in Bangladesh says COVID and conflict have added to their miseries - leaving them with little to look forward to. David Doyle has more.
-
Reuters News Service
-
Observing World Refugee Day
With Rising Global Displacement
-
Forbes
-
UNHCR celebrates the resilience of Rohingyas
on World Refugee Day
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Tahsan Khan visited Cox’s Bazar camps and met with refugees to learn about their experiences on the occasion of World Refugee Day 2021
-
The Business Standard (Bangladesh)
[NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.]
"Until Rohingya refugees can return to Myanmar voluntarily, safely, and sustainably, we will continue to stand with them and to support them to live with dignity while they remain in Bangladesh. We continue to seek expanded education, skills training and livelihoods opportunities, to allow Rohingya refugees to live with purpose while in Bangladesh, and help facilitate their reintegration in Myanmar when they can finally return home, as they aspire to do." ~UNHCR Press Release
...
-
World Refugee Day:
VIDEO:
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
still hope to return to Myanmar.
-
Deutsche Welle (Germany) on YouTube.com
[paraphrased:]
Stateless Rohingya Muslims face continual setbacks in returning to their homeland in Myanmar.
In the largest refugee camp in the world, battered by monsoon rains, refugees attempt rebuilding makeshift dwellings.
Tens of thousands of refugees were suddenly left without shelter when a fire roared through their camp in March. Eleven were killed.
That fire started another miserable chapter of life for the displaced Rohingya.
Nearly a million live in Bangladesh camps, in squalid conditions.
The pandemic makes it much more difficult for international aid to reach the Rohingya, who worry they will be forgotten.
The U.N. is asking for more funds to help the Rohingya return home.
-
World Refugee Day:
Uncertainty prevails
over Rohingya repatriation
Rohingya repatriation has not progressed as the Myanmar government always shuffle various excuses
-
The Business Standard (Bangladesh)
[NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.]
-
World Refugee Day:
Rohingyas' Misery In India
-
MIG-TV (Media India Group)
(India)
on YouTube (June 19)
For several centuries, India has been welcoming refugees from various parts of the world. However, in the recent past there has been a stark change in India’s approach to the issue of refugees and their status, as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has projected refugees as a threat to national security, to rouse nationalist passions and garner Hindu votes. The Rohingyas have borne the brunt of this campaign and specially maligned. On the occasion of World Refugee Day, Media India Group reports on plight of Rohingya refugees in Delhi.
-
Thomson Reuters Foundation:
What Nations Can Learn from
Colombia’s Integration of Venezuelans
-
Thomson Reuters Foundation
on RefugeesInterntational.org
On March 1, Colombian President Ivan Duque issued a decree that would give temporary protective legal status to most of the 1.8 million forcibly displaced Venezuelans in the country.
The new permit—known as a Temporary Protected Statute for Venezuelan Migrants (EPTV)—will have myriad benefits for Venezuelans and Colombians alike.
With the new EPTV, Colombia is showing that, if they can legalize the presence of its displaced population, so can other refugee and migrant hosting countries. In fact, shortly after Colombia’s decree, the United States joined ranks with Colombia by granting Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans in the United States.
Colombia has long been a leader in the region for welcoming Venezuelans, but this move is particularly monumental during the pandemic.
While nativism and xenophobia towards refugees and other displaced people are taking root globally, Colombia has taken a major step in the opposite direction by providing critical support to Venezuelans and acknowledging their contributions to the country. ...
In other countries where access to legal status is a challenge for displaced people, such a measure could provide refugees and forced migrants with the protections they are due. ...
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
New Delhi shanty town blaze
exposes plight of India’s Rohingya refugees.
-
South China Morning Post (China)
(June 20)
[NOTE: This media may be subject to Chinese government control. China has significant vested interests in exploiting the Rohingya homelands.]
)
[paraphrased:]
Last weekend, on the outskirts of India's capital, around 57 Rohingya refugee families... were left homeless by a fire that roared through their shanty town, made of bamboo-and-tin shacks – some of which had stood since 2012.
Although no one suffered injuries in the blaze, the makeshift settlement -- with a mosque and a school -- was devastated.
Making matters worse, officials of the Uttar Pradesh state government halted the refugees' attempts to rebuild. ...
Rohingya refugees (mostly Muslim) are treated as intruders by India's current anti-Muslim, Hindu-nationalist government. ...
2021-06-21 - Monday
-
THAILAND:
Govt defends decision
not to back UN Myanmar motion
-
Bangkok Post (Thailand)
[RCN Editor's Note: Thailand, like next-door neighbor Myanmar, is currently a military dictatorship, which has (in recent years) overthrown a democratic civilian government. ~RCN Editor.]
-
Rohingya Artists Tackle COVID-19 Fears
as Refugees Wait for Vaccines.
-
Reuters / GlobalCitizen.org
[paraphrased:]
Over 700,000 Rohingya... live in Bangladesh's refugee camps. There, a vaccination drive -- which was scheduled to start in March -- was postponed indefinitely, owing to delays in the delivery of supplies from the international COVAX vaccination program, according to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases are staying relatively low in the camps, despite a recent upsurge, but Rohingya artists say many refugees have misconceptions about coronavirus vaccines -- and the artists aim to allay those fears and doubts through artistic work. ...
2021-06-22 - Tuesday
[paraphrased:]
In an attempt to build support for his globally reviled coup, Myanmar's commanding general, Min Aung Hlaing, visited Moscow this week. He met with top allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, including the secretary of the Russian Security Council. He will attend the Moscow Conference on International Security, which is hosted by Russia's Defense Ministry.
Although neighboring China is Myanmar's chief ally, Myanmar is nervous about the amount of influence China may exert on Myanmar. The Myanmar military sees distant Russia as less likely to meddle in their affairs.
Russia, for its part, sees Myanmar as key to its attempts to gain influence in Southeast Asia.
In March, [just weeks after the coup,] Russia's Deputy Defense Minister visited Myanmar, pledging greater cooperation. Myanmar's air force commander visited Russia in May, viewing a helicopter exhibition.
Though the nearly unanimous
June 18th resolution
of the U.N. General Assembly
calls for the world's nations to withhold arms from Myanmar's military, the resolution is not legally binding. Myanmar can continue getting arms from both Russia and China.
[RCN Editor's note: An official U.N. embargo generally has to be authorized by the smaller U.N. Security Council (where Russia & China have a veto) — not in the U.N. General Assembly. Like Myanmar, China (especially in Xinxiang province) and Russia (especially in Chechnya) are both authoritarian nations strongly inclined to severely oppress their Muslim minorities. ~RCN Editor.]
Rohingya refugees can teach US governors
about the value of work.
New research study suggests Rohingya -- and perhaps most people, generally -- prefer work over handouts.
-
Quartz
[NOTE: The quality of this online publication is unknown. However, it links to a transcript of the study at the National Bureau of Economic Research.]
[paraphrased:]
Researchers from Harvard, American University, New York University, and the World Bank performed an ambitious experiment among the Rohingya, at refugee camps in Bangladesh, testing whether they were happier with work or handouts -- giving separate groups either work or handouts. The results indicated a strong preference for work.
A
National Bureau of Economic Research working paper
has been published with the results of the experiment, but the study has not yet been peer-reviewed for validity.
* * *
When Rohingya in the work group were asked to continue working another week, 97% showed interest, and, reportedly, 73% said they'd work for free. Even when they were offered $2.50 to just take a survey, rather than work for free, they still preferred work. The researchers have concluded that certain non-financial benefits of work appeared to be worth more than the $2.50 the Rohingya could have gotten without working.
* * *
The researchers indicate this study may discredit the current notion, popular among Republican political leaders, that providing generous COVID-19 benefits are deterring people from returning to work. ...
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
Understanding the death of Saiful,
a child refugee on Bhasan Char.
Only five months after being relocated to the island of Bhasan Char off the coast of Bangladesh, the life of 10-year-old Rohingya Saiful would come to an abrupt end in May. Today, his death shines a light on the treatment of refugees from the persecuted ethnic group.
- Southeast Asia Globe
[NOTE: The quality of this source is unknown.]
(NOTE: This essay reports that
a boy named Saiful -- who lost a leg to a land mine, and later became the "poster child" for the benefits of Rohingya relocation to Bhasan Char island -- has, instead, died there (from unreported causes) just a few months later.
Articles introducing him first appeared at:
-
Rohingya Relocation:
New home for landmine victim Saiful
Daily Star (Bangladesh), Dec. 30, 2020
)
2021-06-23 - Wednesday
2021-06-24 - Thursday
2021-06-25 - Friday
2021-06-26 - Saturday
2021-06-27 - Sunday
2021-06-28 - Monday
2021-06-29 - Tuesday
2021-06-30 - Wednesday
-
ANALYSIS:
Genocide Designation for Myanmar
Tests Biden’s Human Rights Policy.
After the coup in Myanmar, President Biden is being pushed to do what the Trump administration would not: Declare atrocities against the Rohingya in 2017 as genocide.
-
New York Times
[RCN Editor's note: This is an exceptionally detailed and thorough analysis of the complex issues surrounding the Biden Administration's hesitation to officially declare that Myanmar has committed "genocide" agains the Rohingya. Excellent background on this complex, high-stakes issue. ~RCN Editor.]
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar junta frees more than 2,000
anti-coup protesters.
Critics of regime, and journalists,
among those released
but thousands more remain in detention.
-
The Guardian (U.K.)
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar’s military junta has released more than 2,000 prisoners. Among them were peaceful protesters and journalists, some of whom have been held for months.
However, thousands more people are still in detention facilities, where torture has been widely reported.
More than 700 of the releases were from notorious Insein prison, Wednesday morning.
... The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), an advocacy group, warned that the prisoner release was an effort by the military junta to indicate that it was relaxing its strict, repressive governing. However, the group warned, "This is not the case... In fact, the junta is making space for even more detainees, and even more torture victims. The people who remain in prison will be tortured more severely than those released." ...
* * *
According to AAPP, since the coup, 6,421 people have been detained -- including peaceful opponents of the military junta, from elected politicians to protesters, medics, journalists, and social media celebrities.
AAPP estimates that, since the February coup, the junta has killed at least 883 protesters -- including dozens of children.
American journalist Danny Fenster is one of those still held at Insein prison. May 24th, he was detained while trying to leave Myanmar.
Wednesday, Myanmar's military issued another threat to journalists, warning reporters against using the term “military junta” when referring to the regime. The junta also instructed media in the country to not “quote and exaggerate... false news” — warning that “action will be taken against them under the existing laws”. ...
-
Official HRW statement:
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
Rohingya Refugees Facing Medical Crisis
on Bhasan Char.
Partly Because of Poor Planning, the Island's Meager Health Care System is Being Overwhelmed.
-
Human Rights Watch
More than a quarter of the approximately 18,000 Rohingya refugees being held on Bangladesh’s silt island of Bhasan Char are reportedly suffering from a sudden outbreak of diarrhea. At least three children have died, according to news reports.
While diarrheal disease is preventable and certainly should not be fatal, it remains a challenge in many parts of the world where sufficient access to safe water, sanitation, hygiene, and health care is limited.
But Bangladesh could have avoided such an outbreak if the government, as previously planned, had allowed technical and humanitarian experts to visit Bhasan Char to determine safety and protection needs. Instead, the authorities relocated thousands of refugees to the remote island without first ensuring that it had adequate health care and access to resources on the mainland.
Dr Tanvir Anwar, a physician on the island, told The Daily Star that
Bhasan Char’s meager health-care system is overwhelmed by the outbreak and that medical facilities – admitting 40-50 diarrhea patients per day – are turning away anyone with illnesses except for acute diarrhea. He said people are being treated in corridors and on the floor and that there is a “crisis of medicine as the disease is increasing rapidly.”
Refugees whom Human Rights Watch (HRW) spoke with on the island confirmed this, saying that as people experiencing other illnesses were turned away from the health-care facilities, health workers told them that they just didn’t have enough capacity. Furthermore, emergency supplies from the mainland have been delayed because of monsoon-season rain.
This chain of events was predictable and preventable.
Since the Bangladeshi government proposed Bhasan Char as a solution to overcrowding in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, where nearly a million Rohingya refugees live, United Nations and humanitarian experts and rights groups have been raising red flags that the low-lying island’s remoteness and location in cyclone-prone waters, among other concerns, make it unfit for safe and sustainable habitation.
A recent HRW report found that health-care facilities on the island are gravely inadequate and that there is no capacity for emergency medical care. Fourteen people who had sought medical treatment on the island told us they received inadequate care.
In four cases, when following up with their families, we learned that the patients had died. In each of these cases the families believed their relative’s death was due to grossly inadequate emergency medical care on the island.
As one refugee said, “In the [mainland] camps if any of us became sick at least we would be able to go to a doctor or hospital or the NGOs [non-governmental organizations] could arrange better treatment, but here when our people are dying, no one cares.”
Authorities need to transport people who are seriously ill either by boat or helicopter to the nearest hospital on the mainland, which is three hours away by boat plus an additional two-hour drive by car. Transport by helicopter is sparse. Just getting off Bhasan Char for emergency care requires obtaining a series of permissions and overcoming hurdles that refugees say have impeded them from seeking life-saving care.
A 35-year-old refugee told us that he believes the additional time required to obtain permission to leave the island may have cost his wife’s life from complications during childbirth: “If they had taken her to the hospital in Chittagong [north of Cox’s Bazar] on emergency basis by fastest possible means, my wife might have survived.”
The island’s location — and the Bangladeshi government’s lack of planning — not only keep refugees from leaving the island in case of emergency, but also prevent people on the mainland from bringing emergency medical supplies, food, water, and other necessities to the island.
One doctor told The Daily Star that health workers from Noakhali, where the nearest mainland hospital is located, tried to travel to Bhasan Char with rehydration fluids and other medicines to respond to the diarrhea outbreak — but they could not complete the journey because of bad weather.
The current crisis portends an even greater calamity during the monsoon season when both boat and helicopter services are suspended during inclement weather.
The government has not indicated its plans should a cyclone hit and the refugees (along with several thousand Bangladeshi officials and volunteers) become trapped on the island without sufficient food, water, or medical care.
[HRW's positions:]
- The Bangladeshi government should address this imminent crisis by immediately transporting any refugees who require medical attention or who wish to return to the mainland.
- The government should initiate comprehensive policy and technical consultations with the UN refugee agency on future humanitarian operations on Bhasan Char. It should clarify plans to ensure emergency provision of safe drinking water, especially for children, as well as adequate medical care, food, and other necessities.
- The government should follow through on its promises for an independent assessment of the habitability and emergency preparedness of the island and make any necessary adjustments, including returning refugees to Cox’s Bazar if it is deemed unsafe or unsustainable.
Otherwise, the current health crisis is only a foreshadowing of the preventable loss of life that could come.
JULY 2021:
-
2021-07-01 - Thursday
-
2021-07-02 - Friday
-
2021-07-03 - Saturday
-
2021-07-04 - Sunday
-
2021-07-05 - Monday
-
2021-07-06 - Tuesday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
In Myanmar, the military and police
declare war on medics.
-
Associated Press / Asahi Shimbun
(Japan)
[paraphrased:]
In Myanmar, the military junta has launched a war on health care -- including doctors, themselves, who were among the earliest and fiercest opponents of the military takeover in February. Now, security forces arrest, attack and kill medical workers, calling them enemies of the state. Now that medics are being driven underground, during a global pandemic, the nation's already-fragile healthcare system is simply crumbling. ...
-
2021-07-07 - Wednesday
-
2021-07-08 - Thursday
-
2021-07-09 - Friday
-
2021-07-10 - Saturday
-
2021-07-11 - Sunday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
18 Rohingyas arrested
after fleeing Bhashan Char.
They were captured in the Bangabandhu Economic Zone area.
-
Dhaka Tribune (Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
18 Rohingyas from Chittagong, who reportedly fled the refugee facilities on the island of Bhashan Char, were arrested on the mainland by police, Sunday.
Those arrested include eight children, six women, and four men. Locals captured them, in Mirsarai upazila of Chittagong, and handed them over to police.
According to a local Police Sub-Inspector one of the arrestees is a pregnant woman, and several of the children are ill.
A Police Station Officer-in-charge confirmed that the locals detained the Rohingyas in the Mirsarai Bangabandhu Economic Zone area prior to handing the Rohingya over to the police.
When interrogated, those arrested said they had reached the area aboard a reserve trawler from Bhasan Char. They said they were trying to get to the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar.
A few weeks earlier, June 22, police arrested another 14 Rohingyas from the same area.
Reportedly, they each paid brokers Rs20,000 for a ride to Malaysia — but, instead, the brokers dropped them off close to the Zorarganj Marine Drive, then fled.
-
2021-07-12 - Monday
-
2021-07-13 - Tuesday
-
2021-07-14 - Wednesday
-
2021-07-15 - Thursday
[paraphrased:]
Starting in August, with help from the World Health Organization, Bangladesh will begin giving COVID-19 vaccinations to around 48,000 Rohingya refugees over age 55, officials said Thursday.
COVID-19 infections are rising across Bangladesh, with a massive surge in recent weeks.
Bangladesh has recorded over a million infections, with over 17,000 deaths — but experts say that the true numbers are four to five times higher.
Over 2,100 Rohingyas have so far tested positive for COVID-19. At least 24 have died.
At least five Rohingya refugee camps are currently in lockdown, severely restricting the movement of aid workers, as well as other visitors.
Though Rohingya refugees welcomed the vaccinations, they said the vaccinations should cover more people -- noting that the densely populated camps put everyone at risk of being infected. Bangladesh authorities said the limited number of vaccinations was due to shortages, but expressed hope that they would eventualy be able to vaccinate "everyone" "in phases." ...
-
Myanmar government slams UN
on Rohingya resolution.
-
AFP / Channel NewsAsia
(Singapore)
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar's military junta government, Wednesday (Jul 14), rejected a resolution by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that calls for a reconciliation between Myanmar and the persecuted Rohingya minority. The government slammed "one-sided allegations" about its treatment of the stateless Rohingya community.
Monday, the UNHRC adopted a resolution that calls for "constructive and peaceful dialogue and reconciliation, in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar, including Rohingya Muslims,"
However, in a statement, the foreign ministry of Myanmar's military government said that the UNHRC resolution was "based on false information and one-sided allegations."
The statement went on to assert that "The term 'Rohingya' which is invented with (a) wider political agenda is also unrecognised and rejected by the government," adding that the Rohingya community had "never been recognised as the ethnic nationality of Myanmar."
Rohingya have long been seen by Myanmar as intruders from Bangladesh. They have been denied citizenship, as well as rights and access to services. In 2017, a deadly military assault on their communities drove 700,000 into Bangladesh as refugees -- an act that now has the country facing charges of genocide.
BROADER INTENT, CHINA PASSIVE:
The UNHRC resolution also expresses "unequivocal support for the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations." It calls for an immediate end to fighting and hostilities, which have reportedly claimed 900 lives since the military's coup in February.
China, among the 47 members of the UNHRC, would not join the consensus, but did not insist that the text be voted on.
2021-07-16 - Friday
2021-07-17 - Saturday
2021-07-18 - Sunday
2021-07-19 - Monday
2021-07-20 - Tuesday
2021-07-21 - Wednesday
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Why did India abstain from voting
on the Myanmar resolution
at the UN General Assembly?
The resolution calls on Myanmar’s military to end the state of emergency and to reopen the ‘democratically elected parliament’, among other things.
-
The Scroll
(India)
[RCN Editor's note: This analysis — of India's June 18th vote to abstain from the U.N. General Assembly's resolution about Myanmar — is an exceptional analysis and critique of India's very complicated relationship with Myanmar and the Rohingya. It does much to explain India's abstention from the globally popular U.N. resolution, and also explains much about others' abstentions, as well.
~RCN Editor.]
-
UNHCR goodwill ambassador Tahsan
visits Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps.
-
UNB / Daily Star
(Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
On World Refugee Day, he visited with Rohingya refugees about their experiences. ... met with Rohingya filmmakers and musicians... sang with them and praised them...
Occassion also was first anniversary of the first intensive care unit (ICU) at Cox's Bazar. Established at Sadar Hospital, with UNHCR support, it has so far served 660 people at Cox's Bazar [of the hundreds of thousands there ~RCN Editor]
-
US cites China, Myanmar, Ethiopia
in genocide report
-
AP / WWMT-TV
[paraphrased:]
Monday, the Biden administration leveled allegations of genocide or ethnic cleansing against China and Myanmar — accusing them of persecuting Muslim minorities in their countries.
They also cited a few other countries, and ISIS militants, for other acts of ethnic cleansing or genocide.
The administration renewed U.S. allegations of genocide
against China for its repression of its Uyghur Muslims and other
minorities in China's northwest Xinjiang region.
It also warned that
Myanmar,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, and South Sudan face possible further sanctions from the U.S. for ethnic cleansing in the various conflicts that they are involved with.
The Biden administration sent those messages in its release of the annual State Department report to Congress about genocide and atrocities prevention, in which the federal government outlines steps it is undertaking to prevent and halt those activities around the world.
"This administration will defend and protect human
rights around the world, and recognizes the prevention of atrocities is a core
national security interest and a core moral responsibility," the report
said.
The report added that the U.S. continues to believe China's actions against its Uyghurs constitutes a "genocide" — a finding first
announced by former President Trump's administration — which also reported a
finding that Myanmar was conducting "ethnic cleansing" against the Rohingya
Muslims in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state. ...
* * *
The report noted that Myanmar, (also referred to by its earlier name, Burma), continues at
particular risk for genocide. The report said the United States will continue to coordinate with its allies and partners to pressure Myanmar's military government to halt all
repression (including the violence against the Rohingya, and the crackdowns on dissenters that followed the military coup in February).
* * *
The report also cited Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Islamic State militants, and Syrian President Bashar Assad and his government for abuses. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
COVID-19 PANDEMIC:
Myanmar doctors in hiding
and hunted by the junta
as Covid crisis ravages the country.
-
CNN (Cable News Network)
[paraphrased:]
A severe Covid-19 epidemic is ravaging Myanmar -- already on crippled from February's military coup. In major cities, people are waiting in line for hours for oxygen, and the seriously ill are dying in their homes because they are too afraid to visit Myanmar's understaffed, ill-equipped hospitals.
Images from Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, show families of the sick gathered at oxygen plants, waiting, in hopes of refilling oxygen tanks. The pictures show crematoriums filled with mourners and coffins. The pictures show funeral workers and volunteers, wearing white hazmat suits, laboring non-stop at cemeteries, burying rows of shrouded bodies.
Throughout months of bloody political turmoil, the nation's security forces have killed over 900 citizens -- shooting protesters dead in the streets, or laying siege to entire villages. The ongoing crackdown has led to thousands of people being detained, with numerous reports of torture across the country.
Civil society has been eroded. Myanmar's health care system — already vulnerable — has collapsed. Doctors and other healthcare workers — many of whom joined strikes to protest the coup — have had to go into hiding to escape attack or arrest by the junta forces.
With Myanmar facing its worst Covid-19 outbreak, doctors and volunteers, who spoke with CNN, are accusing the military of using the COVID-19 pandemic as a weapon against their own fellow citizens. The medics say the military has restricted essential oxygen sales to the public. They say the military has turned away sick patients from military-run hospitals. Outbreaks of COVID-19 have also reached prisons — including Myanmar's main prison, Insein, holding anti-coup protesters.
Instead of seeking medical help, terrified sick residents are now choosing to treat themselves at home, doctors say. When the sick do go to a hospital, often they are turned away because the hospitals are running out of oxygen, and treatments, and beds, and there are not enough medical staff to treat the patients, the doctors report.
On Wednesday, Myanmar's military-controlled health ministry reported that there were 6,093 new coronavirus cases — which brings the total confirmed cases to 246,663, nationwide. They also reported 247 fatalities — raising Myanmar's confirmed COVID-19 death toll to 5,814. But doctors and volunteer groups dismiss those numbers as woefully under-reported.
Myanmar's once-promising vaccine program, developed under the prior civilian administration, has now crumbled under junta rule. Minimal testing, a shortage of official data, and general public distrust of Myanmar's ruilng military, means no one can clearly determine the extent of the crisis. ...
2021-07-22 - Thursday
2021-07-23 - Friday
2021-07-24 - Saturday
2021-07-25 - Sunday
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
24 Rohingya Refugees,
Including 7 Children,
Arrested In Assam In 2 Days.
Nine were arrested from the railway station in Guwahati on Sunday morning, and
15 were arrested from the Badarpur station in Karimganj district on Saturday
-
Reuters / NDTV.com (India)
[paraphrased:]
- The latest group of nine Rohingya refugees, arrested Saturday, were alleged to be carrying with false U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) IDs.
- The previous 15 Rohingya, arrested Friday, had no valid papers, so authorities decided to treat their cases as cases of illegal entry into the country.
Indian authorities, who monitor the country's border with Bangladesh, have arrested several Rohingya in recent months. ...
* * *
Earlier in the week, India's Home Ministry told parliament it would consider any people entering the country illegally — including Rohingya refugees —a "threat to national security."
A Junior Home Minister said that foreign nationals who enter India without valid travel documents, and those who continue to stay in India after their documents have expired, will be treated by authorities as "illegal migrants."
India has not signed the UN Refugee Convention. It rejects the UN position that deporting Rohingya to Myanmar violates the principle of non-refoulement - not sending refugees back to the place they fled, to face danger.
In April, India's Supreme Court — ruling on the fate of a number of Rohingya refugees in the northern Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir — blocked their immediate deportation, declaring that the legally prescribed process must be followed.
[RCN Editor's note:
Despite India being 20% Muslim, India's government is currently led by the popular anti-Muslim, Hindu-nationalist BJP party. A few years ago, the BJP-led parliament passed a law specifically banning Muslim immigration (though it has been challenged in court). Rohingya refugees are mostly Muslim.
~RCN Editor.]
2021-07-26 - Monday
2021-07-27 - Monday
-
Myanmar:
Rights expert calls for ‘COVID ceasefire’,
urges UN action.
-
U.N. News (United Nations)
[excerpted:]
The UN independent expert on the human rights situation in Myanmar on Tuesday called for a “COVID ceasefire” for the country, as infections and deaths soar even as the military junta escalates attacks against healthcare workers.
Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said junta forces have engaged in at least 260 attacks against medical personnel and facilities, resulting in at least 18 deaths. Meanwhile, over 600 health care professionals are currently eluding outstanding arrest warrants, and at least 67 have been detained.
He urged the Security Council and Member States “to use all the tools of the UN”, including adopting resolutions, to demand Myanmar’s military rulers, known officially as the State Administrative Council (SAC), stop all attacks, particularly against healthcare professionals.
“Too many in Myanmar have needlessly perished and too many more will die without action by the United Nations”, he warned.
“Member States of the United Nations cannot afford to be complacent while the junta ruthlessly attacks medical personnel as COVID-19 spreads unchecked. They must act to end this violence so that doctors and nurses can provide life-saving care and international organisations can help deliver vaccinations and related medical care.”
* * *
Mr. Andrews said the junta has murdered at least 931 people, while some 5,630 others are being held in arbitrary detention where they are at risk of coronavirus infection. Another 255 people have been sentenced for “trumped up crimes”, he added, with 26, including two minors, being sentenced to death. ...
* * *
“Of course, the best outcome would be for the junta to stand down so that a legitimate civilian government can lead a coordinated response to the COVID-19 crisis,” he added.
“But in the immediate term, the junta’s relentless attacks and detentions must end. For this to be possible, the people of Myanmar need the UN and its Member States to step up with strong, principled action.”
(same topic (COVID-19 / Myanmar healthcare attacked, failing) at:
-
July 6
July 21
)
2021-07-28 - Wednesday
-
TEXT & VIDEO:
They Were Driven From Their Homes.
Then Floods Struck Their Camps.
Heavy rains and landslides in Bangladesh
have killed at least 11 Rohingya refugees
and destroyed entire hillsides of shelters.
-
New York Times
[paraphrased & excerpted:]
Heavy monsoon rains washed away Rohingya refugee camps in
Bangladesh this week. Settlements turned into fast-flowing rivers overnight. At least 11 people died, say officials, and thousands are homeless, again.
Rohingya refugees, by the hundreds of
thousands, are living in Cox’s Bazar.
Tuesday, at least six of them died there
in Balukhali and Palong Khali camps. Five more
died in a Teknaf camp Wednesday morning, an official said.
The Inter Sector Coordination Group — the international
relief organization who oversees the camps — says that up to 13,000 people are suffering from the severe floods and landslides. Locals say that dozens of people are reported missing.
Witnesses say
many of the refugees affected
in recent flooding
and landslides
were already living in squalid conditions since losing their
homes in a March 15th blaze in the camps, which left tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees homeless.
Mohammad Jubair, a Rohingya volunteer, says he saw a landslide wipe out an entire hillside of shelters at the Balukhali refugee camp, Tuesday -- killing at least three Rohingya: a mother and both of her children.
* * *
Relief workers said that, since last week, rains had been pouring, but they quickly grew worse Tuesday when floodwaters washed away most shelters.
(same topic at:
-
NBC News
(VIDEO) (July 29)
-
Associated Press
(July 29)
-
The Guardian
(U.K) (TEXT & VIDEO) (July 29)
-
Daily Star
(Bangladesh) (TEXT & MAP)
...which notes:
Six people -- including five children -- were killed in landslides that were triggered by rains falling early today in the Cox's Bazar upazilas of Teknaf and Maheshkhali... Yesterday, eight more people -- including six Rohingya refugees -- were killed by landslides resulting from heavy rain in the Ukhia, Teknaf and Maheshkhali upazilas.
-
UNB / Daily Star
(Bangladesh) (TEXT & PHOTO) (July 29)
...which notes:
"In [just] the last 24 hours... over 300mm [(11 inches)] of rain -- nearly half [of the] average rainfall for [the whole month of] July -- [has fallen] on [Cox's Bazar] camps hosting [over 800,000] Rohingya refugees, UNHCR said... yesterday.
-
AP / Channel NewsAsia
(Singapore) (TEXT & PHOTOS) (July 29)
-
AP in VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. government radio)
)
2021-07-29 - Thursday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
US urges UN Council to press Myanmar
to return to democracy.
[Other factions shared similiar concerns
in informal Security Council meeting.]
A senior American diplomat
is urging the U.N. Security Council
to press Myanmar’s military
to stop the violence and restore democracy.
-
AP / ABC News
[paraphrased:]
UNITED NATIONS -- On Thursday, Deputy U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis urged U.N. Security Council members to pressure Myanmar’s military to halt violence and restore democracy. Amb. DeLaurentis warned that with COVID-19 surging across Myanmar, and hunger increasing, "the longer we delay [action], the more people die."
He described Myanmar as "reeling from a [sudden growth] in COVID-19 cases," and said the country faces a “burgeoning health catastrophe” as a direct result of "the military’s brutality" and its "administrative failures" since their "coup six months ago." The violence and military crackdown that followed have also displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and up to 2.8 million additional people may be facing food shortages, he said.
U.N. special investigator on human rights in Myanmar says...
The U.S. diplomat's appeal for Security Council action follows a call two days ago by the U.N. special investigator on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, who urged the Security Council — as well as all 193 member states of the U.N. — to push for an emergency "COVID ceasefire" in light of exploding coronavirus infections and deaths.
"Too many in Myanmar have [died] needlessly, and too many more [are going to] die without [U.N.] action, Andrews warned. “The U.N. must act [now] to [stop] the military junta’s attacks, [and its] harassment and detentions, [during] a COVID-19 crisis ... [This is needed] so... doctors and nurses can [give] life-saving care, and [so] international organizations can help [provide] vaccinations and related medical care.”
Myanmar reneges on ASEAN pledge:
In an informal meeting, Amb. DeLaurentis told the U.N. Security Council that Myanmar's military has [reported] it plan[s] to [not] honor [the] commitments it made at an April summit of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Myanmar, (originally known as Burma), is one of the 10 members of that regional group.
At the
ASEAN summit last April,
leaders of ASEAN member-nations published a
five-point action plan
calling for:
- a halt to violence,
- constructive dialogue,
- appointment of an ASEAN special envoy as mediator,
- humanitarian aid, and
- the mediator’s visit to Myanmar.
But just the next day after attending the summit, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s junta leader, said he would consider those five points after the situation in Myanmar stablizes; and in May he reportedly said to Chinese television that he didn’t see a way to implement the five points.
The U.S.'s deputy ambassador asked the council, "What are we waiting for?... This council is failing [its] collective responsibility to safeguard [global] peace and security. And... failing the people of Burma," adding "We must do more,... we must do more now.”
Myanmar Kachin ethnic representative says:
Advocates for the rights of northern Myanmar's Kachin ethnic groups, called "Kachin Political Interim Coordination Team" were represented by member Gum San Nsang, who spoke to the council in a virtual briefing. He said they "consider ASEAN’s five-point consensus... a great step forward, [but] the current health crisis demands [prompt], robust action."
Nsang asked that the U.N. Secretary-General urgently convene a meeting of key parties (ASEAN and China included) to dispatch teams to Myanmar communities, for administering coronavirus vaccines and providing humanitarian assistance.
Nsang asked the Security Council to
- impose both an arms embargo and a no-fly zone on Myanmar’s borders with Thailand, China and India,
- impose sanctions on Myanmar's senior military leaders and on the various state-owned enterprises,
- refer Myanmar for criminal prosecution by the International Criminal Court for alleged aggression against civilians.
Opponents of Myanmar's military are seeking alliances with Myanmar's various ethnic minority groups, to strengthen their resistance. So far, at least 20 ethnic minorities (among them the mostly-Christian Kachin), have maintained sporadic armed struggles with Myanmar's military, for decades, seeking greater autonomy.
Nsang said that, “We can see light [showing from] the end of the tunnel," in spite of pain, suffering, sickness, disease, hardship and terror.
Nsang noted that "the Feb. 1 coup... placed [Myanmar] on [a] fast track [towards] national unity and national cohesion. ... Solidarity within and across [Myanmar's] ethnic and religious communities [has reached] a sobering height." Speaking of his own Kachin state," he noted that "inter-tribal tensions... we witnessed up until [just] before the [February] coup, hardly exist now.”
National Unity Government representative:
Myanmar's ousted civilian lawmakers have set up a shadow "National Unity Government" (NUG). The NUG's minister for women, speaking in a virtual briefing, said that food is getting scarce in Myanmar, and that "the economy is collapsing... the health system has collapsed [in the face of] a new wave of COVID-19 [which is] spreading like wildfire [throughout] the country."
She dismissed the military junta’s official report of just 6,000 positive coronavirus cases, and only 400 deaths, nationwide, from COVID-19, as “the tip of the iceberg.” pointing out that the nation lacks a data-collection system.
She claimed "growing evidence... the military council is [deliberately] targeting... health care workers," claiming that over 250 attacks have been documented as having victimized front-line healthcare workers and medical staff, this year.
Human Rights Watch representative:
Human Rights Watch's representative to the U.N. chastised the Security Council for not starting negotiations for a Security Council resolution on Myanmar’s crisis.
He pointed out that the U.N. General Assembly had "already called for an arms embargo on Myanmar,” adding that the Security Council ought to “urgently follow up [on that request] and impose a [legally binding] global arms embargo on Myanmar," as well as "targeted sanctions on military leaders," sanctions on "associated companies," and a ban against anyone paying "gas revenues to the junta."
[RCN Editor's note: An official U.N. embargo generally has to be authorized by the smaller U.N. Security Council (where Russia & China have a veto). That poses a particular hurdle for the last request -- a ban on paying "gas revenues" to Myanmar's military -- since China already has a huge stake in actively exploiting Myanmar's offshore gas fields. ~RCN Editor.]
Although U.N. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, General Assembly resolutions are not. And though the General Assembly passed its resolution with a 119-1 vote, there were 36 abstentions -- reflecting divisions that create difficulty to get the Security Council to agree on a binding resolution. China and Russia were among the countries who abstained on the GA vote; they are among the five permanent Security Council members (along with the U.S., U.K. and France), each of whom, alone, can block any Security Council action by casting a "veto" vote.
-
MYANMAR COUP:
(TEXT, PHOTOS & GRAPHS)
Covid and a Coup:
The double crisis pushing Myanmar
to the brink
It's a double whammy that has left Myanmar
with no room to breathe —
a military coup coupled with
a pandemic that has killed thousands. ...
"which way to die?"
-
BBC News
[paraphrased:]
Doctors and medical staff have turned on the military government, being among the first to protest the coup. The military has retaliated, with many healthcare workers being arrested or "disappearing."
Testing and vaccinations have fallen. COVID-19 cases have risen drastically -- particularly since the Delta variant entered the country. Hospitals, and Myanmar's entire healthcare system, are overwhelmed as disease and deaths skyrocket.
Oxygen, desperately needed by many COVID victims, is in extremely short supply, with many dying for lack of it. And the military is allegedly confiscating much of the available oxygen for their own military hospitals (which turn away civilians).
Death tolls are rising -- the military reports 280,000 cases and 8,200 deaths -- and many say the military government's figures hide a death toll many times higher than it acknowledges, as crematoriums and cemeteries are overwhelmed.
2021-07-30 - Friday
2021-07-31 - Saturday
-
Rohingyas in Bangladesh:
No question of their integration
with locals.
...Bangladesh government tells World Bank,
responding to suggestion for giving Rohingya privileges;
Gov't says repatriation its only goal.
-
The Daily Star
(Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
Bangladesh does want not the Rohingya refugees to integrate into the local society, according to a statement by the Bangladesh government
-- responding an inquiry from the World Bank seeking suggestions for developing a proposed global Refugee Policy Review Framework.
AK Abdul Momen, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister, told The Daily Star yesterday that the World Bank had sent a letter with a document which spoke about Rohingyas' birth certificate, freedom of movement, education and job privileges, and infrastructure.
FM Momen said that — during a Wednesday meeting with World Bank and UN officials —
Bangladesh officials "clearly stated" their policy that "Rohingya repatriation" to Myanmar was the Bangladesh government's "only goal" for them.
He added
"We cannot allow freedom of movement or other privileges, including education and job, like those enjoyed by the Bangladeshis," ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar junta accused of crimes against humanity
six months on from coup
Human Rights Watch says
army’s suppression of protests
has included torture and murder,
as small protests mark milestone
-
Reuters / The Guardian
(U.K.)
[paraphrased:]
Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar’s military junta of crimes against humanity,
as small groups of protesters marked six months since the armed forces seized power.
* * *
The army has branded its opponents terrorists, and says its takeover was in line with the constitution.
-
U.S top diplomat Blinken
to court Southeast Asia
in virtual meetings next week.
Online meetings planned with ASEAN
and its Lower Mekong subregion countries
(Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.)
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
...The meetings will have Blinken online in the same virtual meetings that include representatives of Myanmar’s military government. The U.S. official said that this will not give legitimacy to those officials, but rather serve as a chance to get U.S. messages to Myanmar's military government.
He added that the U.S. will not "walk away from ASEAN" just because of "a group of generals" "bad behavior" in "Burma." He noted that U.S. officials are also engaging with Myanmar's civilian underground National Unity Government, which opposes the military government.
(same topic at:
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab news, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media has credibility and bias issues;
HOWEVER, this specific article appears to be objective and credible.]
)
AUGUST 2021:
SPECIAL NOTE:
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY #4
August 25th is the fourth anniversary of the current crisis, which 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 August 25th, 2017 -- 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.
That night, Rohingya rebels (the ARSA - Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) launched small attacks on various Myanmar security forces, killing a dozen members of Myanmar's security forces.
|
ABOVE: Across Myanmar's Rakhine state, thousands of Rohingya homes, across hundreds of villages, have gone up in flames... sometimes with men, women and children trapped inside by attackers. ©2017 BBC
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BELOW: Rohingya refugees fleeing their homeland by the thousands, late-2017.
|
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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. UNHCR/R.Arnold
|
|
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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.
Viewing of the listed videos requires a very strong stomach.
NOT for children.)
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.
- 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 "IDP" (internally displaced people") concentration camps, 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.
- In February of this year, Myanmar's military -- which had brutalized, terrorized and driven out the Rohingya -- seized power from the elected government, and annulled their election, in a violent coup. Myanmar's elected civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was arrested, along with the nation's president and other civilian leaders; and those who were not arrested have gone into hinding, and formed an "underground" "National Unity Government" (NUG), and have promoted a national uprising against the military.
Consequently, the Rohingya's principal enemy -- Myanmar's military -- controls much of the country, but not all. The NUG, in a desperate attempt to gain international support, has offered to reconcile with the Rohingya, but they lack control of the nation. And the Rohingya do not trust the NUG, which includes leaders who had sided against the Rohingya before the coup.
Like the previous anniversary, the fourth Crisis anniversary saw little political noise and media coverage of the ongoing crisis -- this time because the world's interest in Myanmar matters is preoccupied with the coup, and the resulting violent military junta, and the subsequent revolt of Myanmar's civilians.
For a timeline of events, throughout the first two years of the Crisis, see the New York Times two-year timeline, listed and linked at
Aug.23rd, 2019
~ RCN Editor.
|
-
2021-08-01 - Sunday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar army ruler takes prime minister role,
again pledges elections.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Six months after Myanmar's army seized power from the elected civilian government, the military's leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, has assumed the title of prime minister in a new "caretaker" government, according to a state media report Sunday.
Min Aung Hlaing has headed the State Administration Council (SAC), which was organized just after the February 1st coup. The SAC has run Myanmar since then, but the new caretaker government will replace it.
On Sunday, Gen. Hlaing, in a speech repeated his pledge [first made shortly after the coup] to hold elections by 2023. (However, the latest announcment set August 2023 as the deadlinel, apparently 6 months later than his original promised deadline for elections).
Hlaing also said: “I guarantee the establishment of a union based on democracy and federalism.”
He also said his administration is prepared to work with a regional envoy on Myanmar, when appointed by ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member). ..
The announcements were made exactly 6 months after Myanmar's army seized all power from the civilian government, Feb. 1, following elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. The military said the election was fraudulent. ...
-
Six months after Myanmar coup,
battle for diplomatic recognition
-
Al Jazeera (Arab news, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media often has credibility problems; HOWEVER, this specific article appears to be an exceptionally thorough, sophisticated and objective analysis of this crucial issue. ~RCN Editor.]
[paraphrased:]
Political leadership of Myanmar is now split between the ruling military junta, who seized all governmental control in February, and a "shadow" government, the NUG (National Unity Government), made up chiefly of democratically elected civilian leaders who were ousted by the coup, and operate in hiding.
The two opposing power blocs are now gearing up to fight each other in a critical battle in the United Nations. In September, the U.N.'s Credentials Committee will convene, and the two factions will battle for official U.N. recognition.
Myanmar’s representative to the UN, Kyaw Moe Tun,
[appointed by the former civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi],
has remained loyal to administration of the now-imprisoned Suu Kyi
-- loyalty he demonstrated in February, in a speech he made to the U.N. General Assembly.
[RCN Editor's note: Ambasssador Tun has also cast votes, in the U.N., that criticize, or oppose the military regime and its conduct. ~RCN Editor.]
The military has tried to remove Amb. Tun from the U.N., but have failed so far. However, recently, the military regime’s foreign minister has nominated a 26-year military official, Aung Thurein, to replace Amb. Tun.
Both sides have much going against them in the struggle for official diplomatic recognition as the legitimate government of Myanmar.
Though none of the world's countries have yet officially recognized the civilian NUG as the official government of Myanmar, most countries "support" it. On the other hand, China has generally backed the military — which has de facto control of Myanmar — and has snubbed the NUG.
Diplomats, globally, say that neither faction has shown the ability to effectively govern Myanmar — casting doubt on the legitmacy of both sides' claims to be a government.
While NUG has, in effect, no control over the government, the military government, also, has been unable to manage the affairs of the country effectively.
The military's coup, some say, is proving to be a failure,
as protests and resistance continue, and civil war looms as a possibility, while COVID-19 ravages a nation with a healthcare system in collapse, and an economy rapidly following. Foreign investments in the country are slowly being withdrawn.
The hope of the NUG to be recognized as the legitimate representative of Myanmar, some diplomats say, will depend somewhat upon whether the NUG finally starts publishing effective-sounding plans and programs for restoring civil society,
and gives the appearance of a capable and responsible government-in-waiting.
Additionally,
the NUG will have to convince the world that it will end Myanmar's long discrimination against, and persecution of, its Rohingya minority — actions that have brought global outrage and contempt for both the military and civilian government establishments in Myanmar — and restore the Rohingyas' full citizenship and civil rights, if Myanmar's civilian leaders are to regain global respect.
The former civilian administration of Aung San Suu Kyi preserved the popular National Citizenship Act of 1982 which stripped the Rohingya of citizenship.
And, following the military's bloody purge of the majority of Rohingya from the country in 2017 (driving most into refugee camps in Bangladesh), Aung San Suu Kyi went to the U.N.'s International Court of Justice, and led the legal defense of the Myanmar's military's brutal conduct.
But, for now, the civilian NUG appears willing (if grudgingly) to retract its opposition to the Rohingyas' citizenship and rights, and has made loud commitments to that effect. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
After months of failed talks
ASEAN under pressure
to name Myanmar envoy.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
-
2021-08-02 - Monday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Fears of Another Long Dictatorship
as Myanmar Coup Maker
Appoints Himself PM
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar, in exile)
(same topic at:
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab news, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media has credibility problems.]
)
-
MYANMAR COUP:
U.S. says Myanmar poll plan
shows need for ASEAN to step up efforts.
Says Burmese (Myanmar) military is just stalling for time...
-
Reuters News Service
-
Official HRW statement:
Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
at Risk During Monsoon
Crowded Camp Conditions, Lack of Permanent Shelters
-
Human Rights Watch
[paraphrased:]
Heavy rains over the past week have displaced more than 21,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The resulting flooding and mudslides have destroyed about 6,418 shelters. With months of monsoon season still ahead, the refugees face heightened risks because they are being prevented from taking measures that could lessen the devastation from flooding.
In the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, where nearly one million Rohingya refugees who fled atrocities by the Myanmar military live, Bangladesh authorities have prohibited the construction of stronger shelters capable of withstanding not just the annual monsoon, but also frequent dry-season fires. This prohibition is a constant reminder to the Rohingya living in the world’s largest refugee camp that their stay in Bangladesh is temporary.
Making that political point has cost lives. Ever since the vast majority of refugees arrived in 2017, humanitarian agencies have warned that shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin leave the inhabitants in danger. But the Bangladesh authorities have refused to let the agencies build any permanent structures that can be used as schools and double up as evacuation shelters in an emergency.
“We wish the authorities would allow us to build a little stronger shelters so that we do not have to face the same tragedy every year,” one refugee said, explaining that his tarpaulin roofing was leaking even before the monsoon started. Others described a shortage of drinking water because of inundated wells, lack of food, and clogged sewage facilities. Some refugees said they were moving in with relatives, risking spread of Covid-19.
An additional 5,000 Rohingya in the “no man’s land” at the Myanmar border are also experiencing floods. “Of over 500 shelters, only about 50 or 60 are still intact,” a 38-year-old Rohingya man said.
Humanitarian workers fear the spread of water borne diseases; there are already hundreds of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) cases reported in the camps. Aid groups are experiencing a funding crisis, receiving only 30 percent of the US$943 million required for the 2021 joint response plan.
Bangladeshi host communities are also affected. At least 17 people including six Rohingya refugees have died in the landslides and floods.
Bangladesh authorities should act now to save lives, including by permitting permanent shelters and removing fencing that reduces mobility. International donors should immediately assist Bangladesh [to] support both its nationals and the Rohingya who were forced to flee Myanmar’s crimes against humanity and acts of genocide.
-
2021-08-03 - Tuesday
-
2021-08-04 -Wednesday
-
2021-08-05 - Thursday
-
2021-08-06 - Friday
-
UN to operate on
controversial Rohingya island
it once criticized
-
Devex News
(international humantarian news)
[NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown]
[paraphrased:]
Despite having long resisted Bangladesh's attempts to
move 100,000 Rohingya refugees from mainland camps to Bhasan Char island, the U.N. is now saying it will provide support to the Rohingya interned in the facilities on that "prison" island. ...
-
Two arrested over plot to kill
Myanmar UN ambassador.
No comment from Myanmar's military, whom their nation's U.N. ambassador criticizes.
-
BBC News
[paraphrased:]
Two citizens of Myanmar were arrested in the United States for having allegedly plotted to kill or injure Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations.
The office of the U.S. attorney in New York reported that Ye Hein Zaw and Phyo Hein Htut planned to hire attackers in order to force Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun to step down.
Tun is a vocal critic of the military junta +in Myanmar, who seized power, February 1, in a coup.
The junta later fired Tun, but he continues at the U.N. as representative of the country's overthrown civilian government.
Myanmar's military, so far, has issued no public comment on the matter.
(same topic at:
-
AP / U.S. News
...which notes
[paraphrased:]
Although Myanmar's military has attempted to remove Tun from his U.N. post, the U.N.'s 193-member General Assembly accredits diplomats, and — despite the military's urging — has not taken action to remove him.
-
New York Times
-
Associated Press
-
Reuters News Service
-
NBC News
-
CNN (Cable News Network)
-
Washington Post
-
RFA (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S. government broadcaster)
-
[Toronto] Globe & Mail
(Canada)
-
Reuters / The Guardian
(U.K.)
-
[London] Daily Telegraph
(U.K.)
-
Reuters, AP, AFP / Deutsche Welle
(Germany)
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab news, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media has credibility issues.]
-
AP / Times of India
(India)
-
Reuters / Daily Star
(Bangladesh)
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar, in exile)
...which adds:
"News of two Myanmar citizens who have been arrested in the US, for allegedly plotting to kill or injure Myanmar’s UN ambassador, has spread like wildfire among Myanmar nationals at home and abroad. ..."
"...The plot is interesting but poorly planned and there is an indication that the regime’s networks operating outside of Myanmar are involved. ..."
"...Who is the arms dealer in Thailand? Is he a Thai or Myanmar citizen? It is likely that he is a Myanmar citizen. There are many prominent and shady Myanmar businessmen who are close to the regime who live and thrive in Bangkok. They also have extensive networks along the border with Myanmar where goods, construction materials, liquor, automobiles and arms are exported to Myanmar.
..."
"...There have been several mysterious disappears and killings of Myanmar and ethnic leaders and opposition members in exile. ..."
-
New York Times / Bangkok Post
(Thailand)
-
AFP / Straits Times
(Singapore)
-
AP / Sydney Morning Herald
(Australia)
-
AP / Australia Broadcasting Corp.
(Australia)
-
AP / Asahi Shimbun
(Japan)
)
-
2021-08-07 - Saturday
-
A sample of hell’:
Rohingya forced to rebuild camps again
after deadly floods
-
The Guardian
[paraphrased:]
At least 21,000 refugees displaced after heavy rain devastates Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the latest in a series of disasters to hit the area. ...
-
As violence soars in refugee camps,
Rohingya women speak up.
‘It has just become unbearable.
-
The New Humanitarian
[paraphrased:]
A climate of fear has spread across Bangladesh’s sprawling Rohingya camps — as militant groups and criminal gangs compete for control — refugees and humanitarians warn. ...
Community leaders and female Rohingya in particular are threatened and intimidated for being educated or outspoken about women’s rights – stretching conservative norms to a level of oppression.
Women report being harassed, kidnapped, attacked, or extorted by men they believe are affiliated with Rohingya militant groups or gangs. Some women say they have been told not to work outside the home. Others say assailants demand a cut of their earnings. Most say they are afraid to leave their homes at night, when there’s little security and government-imposed curfews bar aid workers from staying past 4 pm.
For some women, the frustrations and fears have reached a point where silence is no longer an option.
* * *
‘The night government’
The New Humanitarian
interviewed six Rohingya women who say they were told to stop working, were pressured to hand over money, or were physically abused. They said they wanted their stories to be told and for the problem to be discussed publicly.
Similar accounts were corroborated in interviews with a dozen aid workers, researchers, other refugees, and a government official.
“Before coming here, we were scared the Bangladeshis would be rough with us. Now our own people are,” said a woman leader, whose family member was kidnapped for several hours by a group suspected of extorting money in her camp.
None of the women said they dared to seek help from the Bangladeshi police or authorities that oversee the refugee camps, where there is no formal justice system and crimes routinely go unpunished.
“There’s nowhere for us to complain,” said a female community organiser, who is regularly threatened online because she has an education, and is forced to pay “taxes” on her NGO salary. She said she knows of young women who were abducted and worries that she could be as well.
The women believe the threats and abuses are perpetrated by a militant group known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, or ARSA. But gangs and other criminal groups also operate in the camps, and affiliations are difficult to verify – even for refugees themselves.
* * *
No protection for Rohingya aid volunteers
The security situation varies in each of the settlements’ 34 camps. It also changes over time; intimidation comes and goes in waves.
In some camps, female aid workers report being told to pay “taxes” from their NGO job earnings, and payment receipts with ARSA’s logo circulate on social media. In others, the main goal appears to be stopping women from working. Supportive husbands and relatives of educated women have also been targeted.
Aid groups say the threats are disrupting programmes that are highly dependent on community volunteers.
A March internal briefing by aid coordinators focused on gender issues said some teachers, health outreach volunteers, and others have stopped working due to the “new wave of threats” and “severe forms of violence. ...
* * *
Speaking out
Many Rohingya say the worsening insecurity is a key reason why thousands have volunteered to relocate to Bhasan Char, a disaster-prone island on the Bay of Bengal that rights groups call a floating jail. Rohingya refused previous government attempts to transfer to the island, but some 19,000 people have relocated there since December.
Mariam, the civil society activist, wanted to be one of them: She saw it as a way to escape harassment and threats in the mainland camps.
“If I go to Myanmar, there will be a problem. Here, there are problems,” she said. “I told my family, ‘let’s go to Bhasan Char,’ but they didn’t agree.”
Rights groups have urged authorities to boost security in the camps, especially at night. Aid groups say there must be “zero tolerance” when women or their families are threatened or harassed.
But some aid workers also worry that properly documenting the extent of the violence could push Bangladeshi authorities to raise already tight restrictions on the Rohingya.
Authorities have ringed some of the camps with watchtowers and barbed-wire fencing – which may have prevented Rohingya from running to safety during a massive fire that engulfed parts of four camps in March. After the fire, Bangladesh’s home affairs minister said the fences were meant to contain “the worsening situation of law and order in the camps”.
“If Rohingya can be painted as terrorists, this could eventually be used as a good argument by the government why they should leave Bangladesh,” said a UN official, who asked not to be identified in order to speak freely.
Trying to shed light on the problem has also landed Rohingya in trouble.
The New Humanitarian
has spoken to refugees who fled into hiding after they were threatened for helping to research criminal activities in the camps.
Some women, however, no longer want to be silent. ...
-
2021-08-08 - Sunday
-
2021-08-09 - Monday
-
2021-08-10 - Tuesday
-
Bangladesh starts COVID-19 vaccine drive
for Rohingya refugees.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Tuesday — during a surge in COVID-19 infections in Bangladesh — the country finally began to vaccinate thousands of Rohingya refugees living in the world’s largest refugee camp, officials said.
For a long time, aid workers have been warning that a humanitarian disaster could happen if there a significant COVID-19 outbreak hits the refugee camps around Cox’s Bazar where more than a million Rohingya have taken refuge.
About 48,000 Rohingya, ages 55 and older, will be vaccinated between Tuesday and Thursday, with help from UN agencies, according to the chief health official in the district.
"This is just the beginning," he added — assuring that "All adult Rohingya... will be vaccinated in phases.”
Recently, there has been a rise in infections in the refugee camps.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted last year, about 20,000 cases, resulting in 200 deaths, have been recorded in the refugee camps.
By contrast, in Myanmar's Rakhine state (the Rohingya homeland), officials have said they have no plans to vaccinate the Rohingya still living there.
In recent weeks, Bangladesh has battled a frightening surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths, with over 1.36 million people infected, resulting in 22,897 deaths.
The head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ operations in Cox’s Bazar said that what is needed is "united efforts by national agencies" along with "international organisations" to ensure that "all adults in the camps" are vaccinated.
-
2021-08-11 - Wednesday
- 2021-08-17
ASEAN’s Hypocrisy is Fuelling the Crisis in Myanmar
OpEd-Irrawaddy
- 2021-08-19
Argentine Court Rohingyas testify about the horrors they faced
-DailyStar
-
2021-08-25 - Wednesday
SPECIAL NOTE:
CRISIS ANNIVERSARY #4
August 25th is the fourth anniversary of the current crisis, which 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 August 25th, 2017 -- 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.
That night, Rohingya rebels (the ARSA - Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) launched small attacks on various Myanmar security forces, killing a dozen members of Myanmar's security forces.
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ABOVE: Across Myanmar's Rakhine state, thousands of Rohingya homes, across hundreds of villages, have gone up in flames... sometimes with men, women and children trapped inside by attackers. ©2017 BBC
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BELOW: Rohingya refugees fleeing their homeland by the thousands, late-2017.
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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. UNHCR/R.Arnold
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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.
Viewing of the listed videos requires a very strong stomach.
NOT for children.)
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.
- 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 "IDP" (internally displaced people") concentration camps, 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.
With the third anniversary of the current crisis approaching, Bangladesh made noisy but ineffective demands that Myanmar repatriate (accept back) the Rohingya refugees.
Like the previous anniversary, the fourth Crisis anniversary saw little political noise and media coverage of the ongoing Rohingya crisis, owing to the world's focus on the larger issue of the ongoing chaos in Myanmar following the military coup, and the civilian revolts against it.
For a partial timeline of events, throughout the crisis, see the New York Times two-year timeline, listed and linked at
Aug.23rd, 2019
~ RCN Editor.
|
- 2021-08-26
The Myanmar Coup as an ASEAN Inflection Point -Air University, U.S. Air Force
SEPTEMBER 2021:
OCTOBER 2021:
-
2021-10-01 - Friday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Since February 1 coup in Myanmar,
over 15,000 people estimated to have
crossed the border into India:
~ UN chief
-
Economic Times
(India)
[paraphrased:]
Since Myanmar's February 1 military coup, over 15,000 people are estimated to have fled from Myanmar across the border into India,
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the General Assembly, with a report that
armed clashes have been erupting mostly in the Myanmar regions and states that border China, India and Thailand -- raising fears of regional consequences from the crisis. ...
- 2021-10-01
U.S., rights groups urge full probe of Rohingya leader's killing in
Bangladesh -NBC
- 2021-10-01
UN rights chief calls for investigation into 'heartbreaking'
killing of veteran Rohingya activist -UN
- 2021-10-04
Myanmar Junta Rebuffs ASEAN Request to Meet Suu Kyi -Irrawaddy
- 2021-10-05
Myanmar Junta Leader Could Be Excluded From ASEAN Summit -Malaysian FM -Irrawaddy
- 2021-10-05
Myanmar Junta Could be Excluded From ASEAN Summit: Malaysia
The Diplomat (Japan)
- 2021-10-05
Myanmar Regime-Appointed Administrators Quit After Threats From
Resistance -Irrawaddy
- 2021-10-05
Five arrested over killing of Rohingya leader in Bangladesh
AFP / Channel NewsAsia (Singapore)
- 2021-10-06
Bangladesh: Rohingya Refugee Activists at Risk, Mohib Ullah killing
shows -Human Rights Watch
- 2021-10-09
-
U.N deal offers no guarantees
of free movement
for Rohingya on island:
- leaked agreement.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased, with added background:]
After years of wrangling with Bangladesh over demands that United Nations aid agencies support Bangladesh's plan to forcibly move 100,000 Rohingya refugees from the mainland camps at Cox's Bazar to the remote, flood-prone island of Bhasan Char, the U.N. has finally signed onto an agreement with Bangladesh to provide its services to refugees at the island compound,
despite the U.N.'s long misgivings about the safety, opportunity and freedom of the island exiles.
- 2021-10-09
While sowing discord around China the US is heading to be a
'failing state' -Global Times (China) WARNING: This site probably contains malware. Avoid.
- 2021-10-10
They Were Promised a New Home. Then They Tried to Escape It.: Rohingya on Bangladesh Island of Bhashan Char Seek to Leave
-New York Times
Bangladeshis relocating Rohingya refugees (who fled Myanmar) to a vulnerable, environmentally unstable island that is giving some [of them] cause to run again.
(
Same article
at: Economic Times (India)
)
-
2021-10-11 - Monday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
U.N. and Bangladesh sign deal to aid Rohingya
relocated to island in Bay of Bengal.
They were captured in the Bangabandhu Economic Zone area.
-
AP / NPR (National Public Radio)
[paraphrased:]
After years of resisting demands from Bangladesh for assistance with its forced relocation of Rohingya refugees -- from mainland camps, to a vast, new compound on the shallow, vulnerable new island of Bhasan Char -- the United Nations finally gave in, and agreed to support the move with aid and services to the Rohingya relocated there.
The U.N. said Bangladesh had finally made sufficient safety improvements to the island's ability to withstand storms, and would allow the development of health, education and occupational opportunities for the Rohingya on the island.
Over 19,000 Rohingya have already been moved to the island complex -- which was built to house 100,000 -- though most say they don't want to move there. The island's lack of resources, education and work opportunities have made life miserable for many -- some of whom have attempted to escape the island, and return to the mainland camps at Cox's Bazar, where most of the 1.1 million Rohingya refugees have made their home. Bangladesh, though, insists it will eventually fill the island with another 81,000 Rohingya from the mainland camps.
- 2021-10-14
A new phase for Myanmar's resistance
-NHK World (Japan)
- 2021-10-14
Myanmar military refuses visit by ASEAN envoy
-NHK World (Japan)
- 2021-10-14
-
U.N deal offers no guarantees
of free movement
for Rohingya on island:
- leaked agreement.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased, with added background:]
After years of wrangling with Bangladesh over demands that United Nations aid agencies support Bangladesh's plan to forcibly move 100,000 Rohingya refugees from the mainland camps at Cox's Bazar to the remote, flood-prone island of Bhasan Char, the U.N. has finally signed onto an agreement with Bangladesh to provide its services to refugees at the island compound, despite the U.N.'s long misgivings about the safety, opportunity and freedom of the island exiles.
Leaked information about the agreement indicates that it does not include any concessions from Bangladesh to the U.N.'s longstanding demands that the refugees be allowed freedom of movement between the island and the mainland camps at Cox's Bazar, where the majority of the 1 million Rohingya refugees continue to live. The Bangladesh government wants to inter the refugees on the island, without allowing them to leave, and has arrested those attempting to do so, including those seeking to return to their families on the mainland. ...
The U.N. has apparently given up its demand for the refugees freedom of movement, and those Rohingya refugees being moved to the island will, essentially, be imprisoned there until arrangements are made for their repatriation to Myanmar, or other countries are willing to take them. ...
- 2021-10-15
Debate over whether Myanmar’s military junta should be
expelled from ASEAN ABC-Australia on YouTube
- 2021-10-15
ASEAN to exclude Myanmar's leader from summit in key rebuke -AP
- 2021-10-15
ASEAN to exclude Myanmar's military leader from summit -AP / [Toronto] Globe & Mail (Canada)
-
2021-10-16 - Saturday
- 2021-10-16
Myanmar junta 'extremely disappointed' over leader's exclusion from
ASEAN summit Reuters-CNN
- 2021-10-17
Myanmar junta blames 'foreign intervention' for ASEAN summit exclusion
Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
- 2021-10-17
Former job is key in case against US journalist in Myanmar AP-WXYZ
- 2021-10-18
Myanmar junta chief says military government committed to restoring
peace -Sky News
- 2021-10-18
Myanmar to release 5600 anti-regime prisoners ahead of ASEAN summit
-NPR
- 2021-10-19 - Tuesday
- 2021-10-19
Myanmar frees hundreds of political prisoners after ASEAN pressure
Reuters-ABCnetAU
- 2021-10-19
Myanmar: Three million in urgent need of life-saving assistance, protection
-UN Country Team in Myanmar (United Nations)
- 2021-10-19
Thousands Flee Myanmar for India
Amid Fears of a
Growing Refugee Crisis
-NYTimes
- 2021-10-20 - Wednesday
- 2021-10-20
Is ASEAN's snub to Myanmar military the start of a new approach~
OpEd-Channel NewsAsia
- 2021-10-20
Refugee's actions led to footballer's escape from Myanmar -Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
- 2021-10-21 - Thursday
-
2021-10-21
Activists declare solidarity with Myanmar people -India
-HindustanTimes
- 2021-10-21
ASEAN Withdraw Invite to Myanmar Junta Leader -Human Rights Watch
- 2021-10-21
Myanmar forces spyware on to all phones in 'death sentence for
activists' -The [London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)
- 2021-10-21
Myanmar Prisoner Releases Fall Short- Deposed Leaders- Journalists Still Held -Human Rights Watch
- 2021-10-21
Myanmar Resistance Gives Telecoms Firms Three Days to Restore Internet
-Irrawaddy
- 2021-10-21
Singapore has financial leverage to pressure Myanmar -US official
-Reuters
- 2021-10-21
The K-pop fans who have become anti-authoritarian activists in Myanmar
-Slate
- 2021-10-21
UK Says Myanmar Junta Not Invited to G7-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
-Irrawaddy
- 2021-10-21
US in talks with ASEAN, Singapore to restrict Myanmar junta’s
access to funds Benar-RFAorg
2021-10-22 - Friday
- 2021-10-22 - Friday
- 2021-10-23 - Saturday
-
Myanmar decries move
to block junta leader
from Asean summit.
-
Reuters, AFP / StraitsTimes
(Singapore)
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar's military government said Friday (Oct.22) that it rejects the decision of its fellow members of the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to only invite a non-political individual to represent Myanmar at their upcoming summit meeting (Oct. 26-28) -- snubbing Myanmar's military leader, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
The junta's foreign ministry said it will not be able to accept any results of the summits discussions and decisions.
It is not yet clear if anyone will represent Myanmar at the summit.
[RCN Editor's note: Anyone in Myanmar who accepts the ASEAN invitation, to represent the Myanmar at the summit, would probably face retribution from the junta. ~RCN Editor.]
United Nations sources say that, since the February 1st coup this year, over 1,000 civilians have been killed by security forces in Myanmar, in a crackdown on protests and strikes.
Myanmar's junta dismisses the claim as exaggerated.
Global pressure has mounted on ASEAN to take a tougher stance on Myanmar's failure to comply with the peace plan agreed to at ASEAN's April meeting
-- which called for actions to end violence, and allow humanitarian aid access, and for the junta to begin a dialogue with its opponents.
At Friday's emergency meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers, they divided over whether to adhere to ASEAN's charter tradition of "non-interference in a member's internal affairs", or to act to sanction Myanmar's Hlaing so that ASEAN and its members maintain global credibility. Myanmar's junta said that their decision violated ASEAN's traditional principles.
INTERNAL PRESSURE:
At the same time, on Friday, Mr Nandar Hla Myint, the head of Myanmar's military-affiliated political party, the USDP (Union Solidarity & Development Party), said the military should begin negotiations with opponents of the coup.
The USDP was overwhelmingly defeated by Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD (National League for Democracy) party in the last election -- results that the junta denied.
Myint said Gen. Hlaing's government is obliged to take the initiative for dialogue..
Though he did not specify that detained NLD leader Suu Kyi should be included in the discussions, he did note that she has not endorsed violent opposition to the junta.
Although the junta (calling itself the "State Administration Council") has promised new elections in 2023, USDP leader Myint said that the elections could decend into violence, endangering the lives of candidites, unless the crisis is resolved.
Meanwhile, international pressure continues to mount for the junta to engage with their opponents.
(same topic at:
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab news, Qatar)
)
[NOTE: This media outlet has credibility issues.]
-
Myanmar junta abducting children
of people targeted for arrest,
says UN expert
Children as young as 20 weeks old are being seized to force opponents to hand themselves in
-
The Guardian (U.K.)
-
Time for ASEAN to Give Myanmar's Opposition a Seat at the Table
OpEd-Irrawaddy
-
2021-10-25 - Monday
-
ASEAN begins summit
without Myanmar leader
-
BBC World News & other sources
[paraphrased:]
For the first time in his 30-plus-year history, the Association of SouthEast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has convened a summit while barring participation of a member nation's leader.
Myanmar's Senior General Min Aun Hlaing, who led the February 1st coup, was not invited to the summit
-- a decision reached Friday by n emergency meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers, in their first-ever such snub of a member nation's government.
ASEAN had been under intense global pressure to sanction Myanmar's military junta for their coup and subsequent violent represssion of opponents.
ASEAN had been seeking to focus on international trade and development issues, but international outrage over the Myanmar regime's conduct threatened to undermine global support for the organization's members.
U.S. President Biden, who had planned to attend, made exclusion of the Myanmar junta a pre-condition for his attendance
-
2021-10-26 - Tuesday
-
Myanmar junta rebuked
by SE Asian leaders
after ASEAN summit no-show
- Myanmar is a test
for ASEAN's credibility,
says Thailand's Prime Minister
- Junta showed "unwelcome attitude,"
says Indonesia president
- Myanmar junta rejects ASEAN's move to exclude them
- ASEAN will also meet leaders from U.S., China, & S.Korea
- U.S. Pres. Biden will attend by video link.
- U.S. security advisor meets with Myanmar's shadow gov't
-
Reuters News Service
-
MYANMAR COUP:
REPORT:
Violence Against or Obstruction of
Health Care in Myanmar
February-September 2021
-
Physicians for Human Rights
[partial excerpts:]
[Myanmar's] military-run State Administrative Council (SAC) has targeted doctors and other health workers for taking a leading role in the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
Doctors and nurses have been served with warrants and arrested, health workers have been injured while providing care to protestors, ambulances have been destroyed, and health facilities have been raided.
Now, nine months into the coup, the emergency in Myanmar has evolved into a protracted crisis. The violence against health care workers continues as part of the military’s offensive against anti-coup movements, and civilians’ access to health care is becoming increasingly compromised.
* * *
The incidents here highlight these concerns:
- Access to health care is being severely impacted as part of the Myanmar military’s blanket offensive against the anti-coup movement.
- Health workers are targeted: they are intimidated, arrested, and prevented from caring for those injured in the course of political violence and the growing conflict.
- There are widespread interruptions to health care training.
- Health supplies are confiscated, critically affecting COVID-19 treatment and oxygen supplies during the third wave (which spiked between June and August 2021).
- Transport routes are blocked and aid agencies are prevented from reaching people in need.
- Health workers across Myanmar face a series of restrictions.
- Patients are blocked from accessing health care.
- State and non-state actors continue to use explosive weapons at or near health care facilities.
- Professional health care standards are at risk.
- Threats and violence from state and non-state actors have made health workers fearful of providing care.
- Health workers are forced to provide care clandestinely and in conditions inadequate for medical care, such as makeshift clinics in harsh jungle settings, underground facilities that are subject to frequent raids by security forces, and curfews imposed through martial law that prevent critical in-patient care and follow up.
- Medical shortages, power outages, and intentional destruction and disabling of general infrastructure jeopardize the proper operation of health facilities and put patients’ lives at risk.
Notable Developments Since Last Report (February):
- Health facilities are used to arrest civilians suspected of participating in the anti-junta movement
- Health care is denied to health workers and people in detention
- Health workers are targeted for providing care
- Widespread interruptions to health care training
- The COVID-19 response was affected
- Transport routes are blocked and aid agencies are prevented from reaching people in need
- Health workers across Myanmar face a series of restrictions
- Patients are blocked from accessing health care
- State and non-state actors continue to use explosive weapons at or near health facilities
Analysis:
-
Through persistent attacks on health workers, the junta has weakened access to medical care in Myanmar.
The health sector is unable to adequately provide care to civilians seeking medical attention, and, conversely, civilians are often restricted to junta-run care facilities which they strongly mistrust.
-
With medical supplies now scarce as a third wave of COVID-19 hits, the junta is denying or obstructing medical care to civilians, diverting it to military personnel instead.
This reinforces to the civilian population that the military will focus support on those who are allied with it rather than those who oppose it, and contributes to community fear-mongering that the junta is actively weaponizing COVID-19 to destroy the opposition.
-
The NUG’s September 7 call for a “people’s defensive war” has led to an increase in fighting in the borderlands, so aid organizations and health care providers – seen as siding with the NUG and other opposition groups – are likely to continue being targeted by the military’s ongoing violence to quell the protests,
with further arrests and attacks of health care workers highly likely.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
[paraphrased:]
UN Security Council Resolution 2286, adopted May 2016, strongly condemns attacks on medical personnel in conflict situations. Many states have formally reiterated their commitments -- including in the July 2019 Call for Action, signed by more than 40 states, to strengthen respect for international humanitarian law and principled humanitarian action.
Further, as the conflict evolves into a protracted crisis amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we join the global leaders' call for a “COVID ceasefire” for regional and global health security. We join the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, calling on the UN Security Council and all UN members to invoke Resolution 2565, demanding “all parties to armed conflicts immediately... pause to facilitate the equitable, safe and unhindered delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations in areas of armed conflict."
-
2021-10-28- Thursday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
SPECIAL REPORT:
AP: Myanmar military
uses systematic torture
across country
-
Associated Press
[paraphrased:]
Since its seizing the government in a coup in February, Myanmar's military has been torturing its detainees, methodically and systemically, all across the nation, The Associated Press has discovered though interviews of 28 people who have been imprisoned and released in the last few months. Also based on photographic evidence, sketches, letters, and testimony from two Myanmar military captains, and from an aide to a senior commander, the AP's new investigation is the most comprehensive look at torture in Myanmar, since the coup, looking into the secretive detention system, which hold over 9,000 people... 131 of whom have died from toture, so far. ...
-
2021-10-30- Saturday
NOVEMBER 2021:
-
2021-11-02 - Tuesday
-
2021-11-05 - Friday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Imminent Myanmar army offensive
in Chin state;
521 civil rights groups
urge UN intervention.
Human rights groups call on the UN Security Council to address escalating attacks by Myanmar's military against the rebellious Chin state in eastern Myanmar.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Human Rights Watch (HRW), on behalf of 521 domestic and international organizations, has issued
an urgent statement
calling on the U.N. Security Council to act before the Myanmar military's offensive expands in the embattled Chin State border region -- a major hotbed of resistance to Myanmar's junta.
The UN's humanitarian agency (UNHCR) said clashes between the military and "people's defense forces" were becoming more intense in Chin state, as well as the adjoining regions of Magway and Sagaing. Witnesses, the U.N., and local media are reporting that Myanmar's military is massing troops and heavy weapons, hinting at immenint attacks on militia groups that formed in response to the military's February 1st coup.
Witnesses, local media and aid groups reported that, in Thantlang town, churches and houses have been burned, and the charity "Save the Children" says its facility was destroyed.
Reuters cannot confirm the reports because of press restrictions and communications blackouts, in the area, by the junta.
-
MYANMAR COUP:
No progress in journalist’s case
as ex-US envoy leaves Myanmar.
Bill Richardson’s private visit was centred on COVID-19 humanitarian work but he also met with military officials, foreign diplomats and UN representatives.
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab news, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media has credibility problems.]
[paraphrased:]
Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Bill Richardson, left Myanmar concluding his private humanitarian mission to expand COVD-19 vaccine distribution in Myanmar, and facilitate aid distribution. Known for his role in extracting people from captivity, he failed to gain the freedom of U.S. journalist Danny Fenster -- though gaining freedom for one of his own former colleagues.
Instead, journalist Fenster was charged, Thursday with an additional crime, adding years to his potential sentence.
Officially, Richardson was there on behalf of his own humanitarian group, Richardson Center for Global Engagement, to find ways to speed delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to Myanmar from COVAX (the U.N.-backed international project to aid vaccine-poor nations). At one point in July, Myanmar's death rate was the highest in Southeast Asia, with bodies accumulating in front of crematoriums. At present, only a quarter of Myanmar's 55 million people have been vaccinated.
[RCN Editor's note:
Bill Richardson is the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (under Pres. Clinton), and has served as Governor of New Mexico, Congressman, and U.S. Secretary of Energy. He was a (short-lived) Democratic presidential candidate in 2008.
He served, briefly, on a board convened by Myanmar's civil government to resolve the crisis in Rakhine state (the Rohingya homeland), until his frustration with Aung San Suu Kyi boiled over in an argument, and he resigned, Jan. 2018, citing the panel's, and Suu Kyi's, whitewashing of the Rohingya genocide. He later recommended withholding aid to Myanmar, pending investigations into human rights abuses, particularly against the Rohingya, in Myanmar's Rakhine state. (See RCN article listings for
January/February 2018
)
~RCN Editor.]
-
2021-11-06 - Saturday
-
Fear stalks Rohingya refugee camps
after murders
-
AFP / Channel NewsAsia
(Singapore)
-
AFP / NDTV
(India)
[paraphrased:]
Gangs linked to the Rohingya rebel group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), terrorize the refugee camps at Cox's Bazaar at night -- when Bangladesh security forces leave the camp.
Brutal killings have happened repeatedly, in the camps, at night, when Bangladesh authorities abandon them until sunrise. Gangs are believed heavily involved in the region's methamphetimine drug trade, and alleged to rule the camps, at night, by intimidation and violence.
Recently, one the camps' most prominent and popular civil leaders and advocates, Mohib Ullah, was gunned down -- and his group's other leaders face death threats.
Though Ullah had been a major voice for the Rohingya -- gathering evidence of crimes against them, advocating for improvement of their living conditions, organizaing mass protests for them, and even conferring with U.S. President Donald Trump -- ARSA militants viewed Ullah, a peace advocate, as a competing voice for the Rohingya.
A month before his September 2021 assassination, Ullah reportedly sent a letter to Bangladeshi authorities, identifying 70 people as ARSA members, and noting that his group feared for their lives -- but the authorities deny receiving the information, and deny that ARSA rules the camps at night.
Some in the camps suspect Bangladesh officials deliberately collude with ARSA by abandoning the camps to them at night -- though the authorities passionately deny it.
-
Myanmar’s military accused of
using human shields
in clashes with insurgents
Reports have emerged in eastern border states of troops seizing hostages to protect themselves from ambush
-
[London Daily] Telegraph (U.K.)
[paraphrased:]
-
MYANMAR COUP:
UN investigator:
Crimes against humanity under Myanmar junta
The head of the U.N. body investigating the most serious crimes in Myanmar says preliminary evidence collected since the military seized power on Feb. 1 shows a widespread and systematic attack on civilians "amounting to crimes against humanity."
-
AP / ABC News
[paraphrased:]
Citing widespread, systematic attacks upon civilians,
Nicholas Koumjian --
the head of the U.N.'s
Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
-- says his body has gathered over 1.5 million items of evidence and over 200,000 communications since the military coup, and is saving them for future prosecution.
He notes that "particular groups were targeted" by the junta -- notably "journalists, medical workers... political opponents" -- particularly with "arrests and detentions" which seem to be "without due process of law."
The U.N.'s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar was established in September 2018 by the U.N.'s Human Rights Council.
It collects, consolidates, preserves and analyzes evidence of the gravest violations of international law, particularly international crimes, committed in Myanmar.
The evidence that agency gathers is for future national, regional or international tribunals -- prosecuting genocide, or crimes against humanity, or war crimes.
U. N. Secretary General Guterres appointed Koumjian in 2019 to head the agency. An American lawyer, Koumjian was an international prosecutor for serious crimes in Cambodia, East Timor and Bosnia.
The evidence gathered, so far, includes testimony, videos, photos and social media posts from Facebook and other platforms.
The Human Rights Council instructed the agency to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in its handling of the Rophingya genocide case brought there by Gambia, acting for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (the 53-member association of Muslim-dominated nations).
-
2021-11-08 - Monday
-
2021-11-09 - Tuesday
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar military build-up ‘mirrors’
movements before Rohingya atrocities,
says U.K.
Deputy ambassador to UN draws comparison to 2017 genocide -- as UN aid chief says more than 3 million people need life-saving aid.
-
The Guardian
(U.K.)
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
U.N deal offers no guarantees
of free movement
for Rohingya on island:
- leaked agreement.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
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-
MYANMAR COUP:
Danny Fenster:
Myanmar court gives US journalist 11 years jail
for alleged subversion;
and facing futher, harsher charges;
50 other journalists imprisoned.
Deposed elected officials sentenced up to 90 years.
-
BBC News
[paraphrased:]
A Myanmar court has sentenced American journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in Myanmar's notorious Insein prison, for breaching immigration law, unlawful association and encouraging dissent against the military.
Earlier this week, Fenster was slapped with additional charges of terrorism and sedition, which carry maximum sentences of life in prison. His trial on the added charges begins on November 16th.
American authorities, and global jorunalism organizations, have vigorously protested his arrest, trial and conviction.
Fenster, 37, was the managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, online site, when he was detained at Yangon's airport in May. However, Frontier reports that Fenster previously worked for another independent news website, Myanmar Now, which had been critical of Myanmar's military since the coup -- but Fenster had quit that post in July last year, several months before the coup, after which the military outlawed Myanmar Now. Yet the court ignored the evidence that Fenster had not been involved with Myanmar Now since long before the ban, and and convicted him for involvement with it.
Critics from Human Rights Watch and Crisis Group Myanmar have decried the conviction as "outrageous," and say it is a ploy to intimidate all journalists reporting on Myanmar. On analyst suggested that the junta may be holding Fenster as a desperate act of hostage diplomacy -- in hopes they'll get some favor or concession from the hostile U.S. government.
Fenster is not alone:
Fenster is one of dozens of Mynamr journalists who have been detained since the military coup in February. [Since the military junta seized power in a coup d'etat, February 1st, about 80 journalists have been detained or imprisoned in Myanmar, with 50 still in captivity. ~RCN Editor.].
The junta has also imprisoned many of the elected officials it has deposed, with military-domianted courts sentencing the former civilian leaders to sentences ranging up to 90 years.
-
2021-11-10 - Wednesday
-
2021-11-11 - Thursday
-
2021-11-12 - Friday
-
MYNAMAR COUP:
The Refugee Brief – 12 November 2021
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES:...
Conflict in Myanmar
creating growing humanitarian needs,
says UN.
-
UNHCR (United Nations)
The UN Security Council on Wednesday expressed its “deep concern” about the unrest in Myanmar and called for an “immediate cessation of violence” as well as efforts to ensure civilians are not harmed.
Ahead of the meeting, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, warned that the humanitarian situation in the country is deteriorating -- with more 3 million people now in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance due to growing conflict and insecurity, COVID-19, and a failing economy.
He said that without an end to the violence “this number will only rise”.
Since the February takeover, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes by fighting
-- including 37,000 in northwest Chin State in recent weeks. Some 223,000 people in the country are now internally displaced.
-
Bangladesh urges world leaders
to take Rohingya crisis seriously
-
Anadolu Agency
(government of Turkey)
in Daily Sabah (Turkey)
-
Rohingya in Bangladesh camps
fear both the police and ARSA
Refugees say they are caught in the middle of alleged police ‘atrocities’ and violence by an armed community group.
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab news, Qatar)
-
2021-11-13 - Saturday
-
2021-11-14 - Sunday
-
2021-11-15 - Monday
-
Myanmar Frees U.S. Journalist Fenster
After Negotiations With Ex-U.S. Diplomat
-
Reuters / U.S. News
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar authorities released
U.S. journalist Danny Fenster
from prison on Monday, and he has left the country,
his employer reported, after negotiations between the ruling military junta and Bill Richardson (former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.).
Fenster, 37, the managing editor
of independent online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was arrested in May, and
Friday was sentenced to
11 years in prison in Myanmar,
for alleged incitement and for alleged violations of immigration laws and unlawful assembly laws. The ruling drew international condemnation.
- 2021-11-18
-
Hate speech in Myanmar
continues to thrive on Facebook
-
Associated Press
[paraphrased:]
Years after being scrutinized for contributing to Myanmar's ethnic and religious violence, Facebook still struggles to detect and moderate misinformation and hate speech, on its Myanmar platform, according to internal documents seen by The Associated Press.
The company commissioned a report, three years ago, which determined that Facebook was exploited to 'foment division and incite offline violence" there. At the time, Facebook pledged it would do better -- and developed numerous tools and policies to counteract hate speech.
Even so, however, the breaches persist -- even exploited by hostile actors -- following the Feb. 1, 2021 coup, which resulted in gruesome abuses of human rights across Myanmar.
Today, when scrolling through Facebook in Myanmar, it's easy to find posts that threaten murder and rape in Myanmar. ... Thousands of posts support the coup, with threats and exhortations to violence. ...
[RCN Editor's note: Facebook was a major factor in the Rohingya genocide eruption in late-2017, triggering the Rohingya Crisis. Hate speech against the Rohingya spread throughout their homeland, chiefly via Facebook, inciting violence against the Rohingya by both military forces and local civilians.
Source of the Facebook hate rants included Myanmar's military and radical-nationalist Buddhist monks. ~RCN Editor.]
-
2021-11-20 - Saturday
-
2021-11-21 - Sunday
-
2021-11-23 - Tuesday
-
Official HRW statement:
Bangladesh: Halt Forced Relocation
of Rohingya Refugees.
End Movement Restrictions, Abuses on Bhasan Char ‘Prison Island’
-
Human Rights Watch
(New York) – Bangladesh authorities should halt relocations to Bhasan Char island until freedom of movement and other rights of Rohingya refugees are protected, Human Rights Watch said today. Refugees and humanitarian workers said the authorities have already identified hundreds of families in the mainland camps to be relocated, starting imminently. ...
-
2021-11-24 - Wednesday
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
Red Cross warns of 'serious problems'
with remote Bangladesh island
housing Rohingya refugees
-
Reuters / CNN
A senior Red Cross official warned that "serious problems" remain with a remote island off southern Bangladesh housing Rohingya refugees, as officials prepared to ship thousands more people there this week.
Since last December, Bangladesh has moved about 19,000 Rohingya refugees, members of a persecuted mostly Muslim minority from Myanmar, to the island of Bhasan Char from mainland border camps.
Rights groups have likened it to an island jail and said some relocations were involuntary.
Alexander Matheou, Asia-Pacific director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said restrictions on free movement and a shortage of job opportunities and health care would "deter people from choosing to go in large numbers" to the island, several hours' from the mainland.
Matheou, who visited on Tuesday, told Reuters by phone the site was "well-designed and organized in terms of housing" and had access to clean water, but the health services were "too basic to cope with a large population" and there was no established system of referrals to the mainland.
He said the main issue among refugees he spoke to was that they could not move back and forth to the mainland to see their families.
"While that's difficult, that is really, really upsetting people," he said. "So those issues could all act as a deterrent for people to voluntarily coming... I think that those will sort of undermine the success of the project unless they're addressed." ...
-
2021-11-25 - Thursday
DECEMBER 2021:
- 2021-12-05
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
Rohingya from Bangladesh island camp
visit families
-
Arab News
(Saudi Arabia)
[NOTE: This publication is a product of the Saudi government (who has sought to deport its own Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh).]
[paraphrased:]
DHAKA:
Rohingya families relocated from mainland refugee camps at Cox's Bazar, to remote island Bhasan Char, will be allowed limited visits to their families on the mainland, according plans announced by Bangladeshi officials. The first group was allowed to visit families on the mainland, for eight days, this week. ...
[RCN Editor's note:
Bangladesh has planned to move 100,000 of its 1.1 million Rohingya refugeees to the shallow, new island, and has already moved 20,000 refugees to there, over intense opposition
from refugees, human rights groups, aid organizations, and (until recently) the United Nations. Opponents have decried the forced separation of families for the relocation, along with the previously-unihabited island's extreme vulnerability to storms and floods, the lack of health and education services, and the inability of the refugees there to earn a living.
Following the U.N.'s reluctant agreement, recently, to provide services on the island, Bangladesh announced it will accelerate its relocations of refugees to the island, sparking a renewed chorus of opposition.
No doubt this current token gesture of family reunification is intended to quiet the opposition.
Because of the exceptional cost and difficulty of transporting tens of thousands back and forth between the island and Cox's Bazar -- hundreds of miles, by land and sea -- it's extremely unlikely that such reunions will be all-inclusive, nor repeated, for long.
~RCN Editor.]
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Five dead after Myanmar security forces
ram car into Yangon protest:
- media.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Five people were killed, when Myanmar security personnel, in a car, rammed into anti-coup protestors, during a Sunday morning protest in Yangon, according to the local news portal Myanmar Now.
Witnesses on the scene informed Reuters that dozens had been injured.
Videos and photos on social media postings show a vehicle that allegedly crashed through the protesters, with bodies lying in the road.
Despite the morning violence, another protest emerged in Yangon that afternoon.
The anti-military protests continue, despite the military's killing of over 1,300 civilians since the military's Feb. 1 coup. The scattered protests are frequently small groups showing opposition to the overthrow of Myanmar's elected civilian government, which had been led by Aung San Suu Kyi (a Nobel laureate), and against the return of military rule to Myanmar. ...
- 2021-12-06
-
MYANMAR COUP:
UN calls on Myanmar to halt excessive force
after media reports five killed.
-
Channel NewsAsia
(Singapore)
[paraphrased:]
The United Nations is calling for Myanmar to hold accountable anyone who uses excessive force against unarmed civilians,
following Sunday's attack by security forces who rammed a car into anti-coup protesters in Yangon -- killing five of them, and injuring dozens, according to witnesses and media reports. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar's ousted Suu Kyi
jailed for four years,
critics scorn junta.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
In military-ruled Myanmar, Monday, a court sentenced deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison,
on charges of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions, said a source familiar with the proceedings. Suu Kyi denied the charges. Critics -- including prominent human rights groups, and elected civilian leaders in exile -- dismissed the case as a farce.
The court also gave the same sentence to President Win Myint,
said the source (speaking on condition of anonymity).
The news came as the court delivered its initial verdicts, among numerous cases pending against Suu Kyi, and various other civilian leaders who were detained by the military, Feb. 1., in a coup, following their re-election.
The possible sentences in the charges still pending against Suu Kyi could amount to over a century in prison. ...
-
Rohingya refugees sue Facebook
for $150 billion
over Myanmar violence.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Lawyers representing Rohingya refugees have filed suit in the United States and Britain against Meta (originally known as Facebook), for $150 billion, accusing the global social media giant of permitting and distributing hate speech against the Rohingya on its platform -- which, they allege, accelerated the spread of hate speech by design -- leading to violence against the Rohingya.
A Reuters investigation in 2018 (cited in the lawsuit) found 1,000 examples of hate speech against the Rohingya on Facebook. That same year, U.N. human rights investigators reported that Facebook was a key factor in fueling violence against the Rohingya.
Facebook has previously conceded it did not act fast enough to halt the spread of hate speech against the Rohingya on its platform.
However it is expected to claim legal protection under a U.S. federal communications law, known as Section 230 (which protects internet service providers from liability for others' posts on their sites). Plaintiffs are expected to attempt to sue under Myanmar law, but whether or not it can be applied in U.S. and British courts, is unclear. ...
[RCN Editor's Note:
It is widely alleged -- by numerous news reporters, human rights groups and investigators, public officials in democracies, and by Rohingya refugees, themselves -- that Facebook was a major influence in inciting public hostility to the Rohingya in Myanmar, and that Facebook posts were a prime motivating influence for Myanmar public support for (and even participation in) genocidal actions against the Rohingya (particularly in 2017/2018).
Consequently, Facebook activity (including Facebook's own algorithms and policies) are widely blamed as a key factor precipitating the Rohingya Crisis. ~ RCN Editor.]
- 2021-12-07
- 2021-12-08
-
MYANMAR COUP:
OPINION:
Aung San Suu Kyi’s part
in the struggle for democracy
is over.
by Azeem Ibrahim, director at Newlines Institute for Strategy & Policy; author of "The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide."
-
Washington Post
[paraphrased:]
Aung San Suu Kyi, and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, rose to power by courting Myanmar's Burman ethnic majority, and nationalist Buddhists, at the expense of the rest of the country's minorities -- and by cooperating with Myanmar's military, defending their abuses of minorities, including the Rohingya,
standing by the military as they massacred thousands of Rohingya and drove hundreds of thousands from their homeland.
Consequently, she allied herself with the very forces that would eventually take back all the democratic gains of the last decade -- and, ironically, throw her back into military capitivity.
Now thrust from power, with Suu Kyi under arrest, the NLD old guard is being replaced by an evolving underground civilian National Unity Goverment (NUG), which is drawing in a younger generation, and a broader coaltion -- embracing the minorities Suu Kyi once ignored or opposed. The future of democracy in Myanmar is now in the hands of this new coalition.
- 2021-12-09
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar chides U.N.
for bias, meddling
after Suu Kyi conviction.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Alleged massacre in Myanmar village
highlights bitter fight.
-
Associated Press
[paraphrased:]
Outrage spread on social media, Wednesday, in Myanmar, in response to accounts and images about alleged killing and burning of 11 civilians, in a northwest Mynamar village, who were captured by government troops.
The alleged killings were in Sagaing region, at Done Taw village. Photos and video of charred corpses circulated widely Tuesday. The images were reported to be have been taken just shortly after the people were killed, and their bodies burned.
The information could not be independently verified, but a report from a person who said he went to the site, told Associated Press, generally matched the descriptions of the incident in independent Myanmar media.
The military government has not commented. If the allegations are confirmed, they will be the latest atrocity in the increasingly bitter struggle that erupted after the military’s seizure of power, February, and its overthrow of the elected civilian government.
The village takeover was initially opposed with nonviolent street protests. However, police and soldiers applied lethal force to the demonstrators, and violence escalated when opponents of the military turned to weapons in self-defense.
The witness, whom the AP interviewed, reported that around 50 soldiers marched into the village around 11 a.m., Tuesday, and seized anyone who did not escape.
"They arrested 11 innocent villagers," the witness, said -- describing himself as a farmer and activist, remaining anonymous for his own safety,
The witness claimed that the captured men were not part of the local People’s Defense Force (PDF), which sometimes combats the army. He reported that the captives hands were tied behind them, and they were then set on fire.
He gave no reason for the soldiers' attack. Myanmar media have suggested they seemed to have been retaliating for an attack upon them, that morning, by PDF members.
Other witnesses, quoted by Myanmar media, alleged that the victims were part of a defense force, but the AP's witness said they were part of a less formally organized local protection group.
Resistance activities in Myanmar cities and countryside abound, but the deadliest fighting is in the rural areas, where Myanmar's army (the "Tatmadaw") can unleash greater force against the opposition. In the past few months, the struggle has been most intense in Sagaing, and in other areas of Myanmar's northwest region.
A senior U.N. spokesman expressed deep concern over reports "of the horrific killing of 11 people" -- strongly condemning such violence. He added “credible reports indicate that five children were among those people killed."
The U.N. representative reminded Myanmar's junta of their duty, under international law, to ensure safety and protection of civilians. He called for the individuals responsible "for this heinous act" to be held accountable.
The U.N. spokesman repeated the U.N.'s condemnation of the violence by Myanmar’s forces, stressing that the situation demands a unified international response. Since Dec. 8, he said, "security forces have killed more than 1,300 unarmed individuals, including more than 75 children, through their use of lethal force or while in their custody since the military takeover on Feb. 1."
The alleged killings in Done Taw were sharply criticized by representatives of Myanmar’s underground National Unity Government (NUG), which has declared itself the country’s administrative alternative to the military-installed government.
"On the 7th of December in Sagaing region, sickening scenes reminiscent of the Islamic State terrorist group bore witness to the the military’s escalation of their acts of terror," said NUG spokesperson, Dr. Sasa.
"The sheer brutality, savagery, and cruelty of these acts shows a new depth of depravity, and proves that, despite the pretense of the relative détente seen over the last few months, the junta never had any intention of deescalating their campaign of violence," he added.
Aung San Suu Kyi conviction & U.N. response:
Those allegations come on the heels of Monday’s conviction of the nation's top elected civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on the junta's charges of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions, with a sentence of four years in prison (quickly cut in half). The junta court's action is widely criticized as further action by Myanmar's military rulers to rescind Myanmar's moves towards democracy in recent years.
Wendesday, the U.N. Security Council, in New York, expressed "deep concern" at the sentences handed to the ousted Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and others -- and repeated its previous calls that all those arbitrarily detained by the junta, since the Feb. 1 coup, be released.
The members of the Security Council once again stressed their continued support for the democratic transition in Myanmar, and underlined the need to uphold democratic institutions and processes, refrain from violence, pursue constructive dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar, fully respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and uphold the rule of law," the council said in a statement. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
The women abused and tortured
in detention.
Women in Myanmar have been tortured, sexually harassed and threatened with rape in custody, according to accounts obtained by the BBC.
-
BBC
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar Set to Shut Down
With 'Silent Strike'
to Defy Junta
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar, in exile in Thailand)
[paraphrased:]
Timed to coincide with global Human Rights Day, (Dec. 10), the strike is a deliberate public defiance of the military regime, intended to show that the military lacks the authority to rule the lives and activities of Myanmar's people. ...
- 2021-12-10
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing
accused of crimes against humanity
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab News, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media has credibility and bias problems.]
[paraphrased:]
The leader of Myanmar’s military junta, Min Aung Hlaing, has just been accused in the International Criminal Court (ICC) of crimes against humanity for his role, as army chief, overseeing a deadly crackdown against protesters and activists who are opposed to his junta's February 1 coup.
The Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP), in a submission on Friday, urged The Hague court to initiate a criminal investigation "into... widespread and systematic... torture [in] the violent crackdown against the [anti-coup] protest movement” in Myanmar. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
-
Myanmar anti-coup activists
protest against junta
with 'silent strike'.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Friday, in a "silent strike", Myanmar protesters closed their businesses, and stayed home, defying rule by the military and its overthrow of Myanmar's democratically elected government in the February coup. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar shadow government
seeks help from Japan lawmakers
for recognition.
-
Kyodo News / Japan Times
(Japan)
[paraphrased:]
- 2021-12-11
-
U.S. imposes sweeping human rights sanctions
on China, Myanmar and North Korea
-
Reuters / Japan Times
(Japan)
[paraphrased:]
Friday, the United States imposed sweeping human rights-related sanctions against dozens of persons and entities associated with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and North Korea
-- also adding SenseTime Group, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company, to an investment blacklist.
The United States was joined by Canada and the United Kingdom in sanctions over human rights abuses in Myanmar. Washington also imposed its first new sanctions on North Korea since Joe Biden became President, and targeted Myanmar military entities, along with others. The action marked Human Rights Day.
* * *
China’s Washington embassy denounced the U.S. act as "serious interference in China’s internal affairs" constituting "severe violation of basic norms governing international relations."
The embassy's spokesman warned it would cause "grave harm to China-U.S. relations" -- urging the U.S. government to rescind its decision.
North Korea's mission at the U.N., and the Washington embassies of Bangladesh and Myanmar, did not immediately comment.
The sanctions are the latest among many sanctions, and are timed to coincide with Biden’s virtual Summit for Democracy. In that event, he announced various initiatives to strengthen democracy, globally, and announced support for American pro-democracy legislation. ...
* * *
The Treasury Dept. said it was sanctioning two Myanmar military entities, along with an organization that supplies reserves for the military. One of the entities targeted, the Directorate of Defense Industries, makes weapons for Myanmar's military and police -- who have been used them in its brutal crackdown against opponents of their Feb. 1 coup.
The Treasury Dept. also sanctioned four regional chief ministers -- including the head of the junta’s administration in the Bago region. The Treasury Dept. says 82 people or more were killed there, in April, in a single day.
Canada sanctioned four entities tied to Myanmar's military government, and the United Kingdom put fresh sanctions on the military. ...
* * *
Human rights campaigning group Global Witness says the measures fall short, by not sanctioning Myanmar’s natural gas industry -- a major source of foreign currency supporting the junta, and said the sanctions were "unlikely to materially impact the military junta’s bottom line." ...
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-
MYANMAR COUP:
In Myanmar's Chin state,
a grassroots rebellion grows
-
Reuters / Japan Times
(Japan)
[paraphrased:]
As elsewhere in Myanmar, civilians enraged by the February military coup, and the subsequent crackdown against protesters, are taking up arms. Myanmar's ruling junta seems worried by the threat they pose in Chin state.
Chin state had been mostly peaceful for a number of years. But in recent weeks, the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's military, has sent reinforcements to Chin state, launching a major offensive against rebels, say some analysts and human rights groups.
Over a dozen opposition groups, calling themselves Chinland Defence Force (CDF) units, have sprung up across the state, say three of the sources. They describe an expanding network of fighters who know local terrain -- giving them a major advantage.
The analysts say the groups have established supply chains, stockpiled food and weapons, and linked with a long-established ethnic group, the "Chin National Front (CNF)," for combat training and better coordination of operations.
The military has described all resistance forces, and Myanmar's underground civilian shadow government, as “terrorists.”
A CNF spokesman says the group, after the military coup, has helped to train Chin youth and protesters, for basic guerrilla warfare. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
ANALYSIS:
Myanmar’s generals want Aung San Suu Kyi
locked up forever
Yet the opposition to their regime has grown far beyond its figurehead
-
The Economist
(U.K.)
- 2021-12-15
-
ASEAN:
"Give Cambodia a Chance,"
PM Hun Sen Says
Ahead of Visit to Myanmar.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has hit back at critics of his plan to meet with the Myanmar military junta -- but said he can’t be blamed if his gambit fails.
-
Cambodianess
(Cambodia)
[NOTE: This is published in an authoritarian country. Media quality is unknown.]
[paraphrased:]
Despite international criticism of his plan, Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen -- who takes the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year -- has announced that he plans to visit Myanmar. He will be the first head of state to meet there with the military junta since it overthrew Myanmar's civilian government last February. ...
(Same topic, more details, at:
-
Jan. 5, 2022
-
Jan. 6, 2022
-
Jan. 7, 2022
-
Jan. 8, 2022
-
Jan. 9, 2022
-
Jan. 12, 2022
-
Jan. 13, 2022
-
Jan. 14, 2022
-
Jan. 19, 2022
-
Jan. 21, 2022
)
- 2021-12-19
-
UN rapporteur:
Do more to resolve Rohingya crisis
-
Associated Press
[paraphrased:]
On Sunday, a United Nations special rapporteur said that the international community ought to construct a better partnership with Bangladesh, while cutting off Myanmar's military in dealings over the Rohingya refugee crisis -- pressuring on Myanmar, from which the refugees have fled.
Speaking in Dhaka, The U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said he would encourage the global community to return to Geneva and form stronger and coordinated efforts. ...
-
ROHINGYA in INDIA:
VIDEO & TEXT:
Nuh: Rohingya Camp Gutted in Fire,
Here's a Ground Report
of Their Living Conditions.
At the Rohingya refugee camp in Nuh, Mewat of Haryana, in India, over 32 shanties were gutted in the fire. The shanties, a part of a small compact camp, was home to over 100 people, among them several children and women. ...
-
The Wire (India)
-
BHASAN CHAR ISLAND:
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Rohingya refugee island
is a prison in all but name.
Commentary by Dr. Azeem Ibrahim, Washington think-tank analyst.
-
Arab News (gov't of Saudi Arabia)
- 2021-12-20
-
MYNAMAR COUP:
Tortured to death:
Myanmar mass killings revealed
-
BBC News
The Myanmar military carried out a series of mass killings of civilians in July that resulted in the deaths of at least 40 men, a BBC investigation has found.
Eyewitnesses and survivors said that soldiers, some as young as 17, rounded up villagers before separating the men and killing them. Video footage and images from the incidents appear to show most of those killed were tortured first and buried in shallow graves.
The killings took place in July, in four separate incidents in Kani Township - an opposition stronghold in Sagaing District in Central Myanmar.
It's thought the killings were a collective punishment for attacks by militia groups demanding a return to democracy following a military coup in February. A spokesman for the military government did not deny the allegations. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Human Rights Watch calls on Japan
to suspend military exchange
with Myanmar.
The exchange program for cadets from foreign countries provides the same courses that Japanese cadets take, including a broad range of military training.
-
Japan Times (Japan)
-
2021-12-20 - Monday
- 2021-12-21
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Scores of Myanmar Junta Troops Die
in Failed Attack on MNDAA Base,
Kokang Fighters Say
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar, in exile in Thailand)
[paraphrased:]
Nearly 100 soldiers of the Myanmar mililtary junta, including several of the army's captains,
were killed or wounded
in northern Shan State, Sunday,
in fierce fighting with forces of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA -- also known as the Kokang Group), according to an MNDAA local web information page, The Kokang,.
The battle reportedly happened in Mongkoe District, near Phaung Sai Village, when regime forces tried to occupy an MNDAA military base.
Reportedly, about 500 junta troops, from six battalions, attempted ten times to occupy the MNDAA’s base. The base was bombarded by military jet fighters, and over 1,500 artillery rounds, the Kokang reported.
However, regime forces retreated, leaving bodies of fallen combatants, firearms and ammunition on the battlefield. Two of the MNDAA troops were killed, with six others wounded.
Photos depict bodies of junta soldiers left in the battlefield, and also show firearms and ammunition that were seized by the MNDAA. ...
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-
Luxury jewellers risk funding
military abuses in Myanmar:
~ Report
Global Witness says international jewellers must review their supply chains to ensure they are not funding conflict, corruption or state oppression in Myanmar.
-
Al Jazeera
- 2021-12-27
-
Myanmar court defers verdicts
in Suu Kyi trial
to Jan. 10:
- source
-
Reuters News Service
-
MYANMAR COUP:
'Horrified' UN official
condemns reported killings
in Myanmar
-
Reuters / CNN
[paraphrased:]
A senior U.N. official says he was horrified by reports that Friday, Dec.24, at least 35 civilians were killed in Kayah State, near Mo So village, by security forces in Myanmar. Opposition activists blamed the incident on government soldiers. The U.N. envoy called for an investigation by authorities.
Martin Griffiths -- U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator -- says the reports of the civilians killed, including at least one child, seemed credible. Photos showed charred bodies.
So far, the military has no comment on the incident, and the junta's spokesman could not be reached for comment.
State-run media reports soldiers had shot at, and killed, some "terrorists with weapons," from among forces fighting the military government -- but the state media said nothing about civilian casualties.
* * *
The aid group Save the Children says two of its staff, who were taking a holiday trip to their home villages, have gone missing in the attack.
The group suspended its operations in Kayah State and in parts of neighboring Karen State, as well as the Magway region.
-
Official U.N. statement:
UN Special Envoy
calls for New Year’s ceasefire
in Myanmar.
The UN Special Envoy on Myanmar has appealed for a New Year’s ceasefire following weeks of escalating violence in the country.
-
U.N. News (United Nations)
-
Myanmar military ‘fighting for its life’
in face of ‘unprecedented’ resistance
to coup.
-
PBS News Hour
[paraphrased:]
- 2021-12-28
- 2021-12-29
2022
JANUARY 2022:
- 2022-01-04
-
BANGLADESH REFUGEE CAMPS:
Thousands of Rohingya shops demolished
in Bangladesh,
leaving refugees desperate.
Bangladesh praised for taking in nearly a million Rohingya refugees -- but destruction of shops that serve communities has attracted criticism.
-
AFP / The Guardian
(U.K.)
[paraphrased:]
Since last month, Bangladesh authorities have bulldozed over 3,000 Rohingya-run shops in mainland refugee camps,
a Bangladesh government official confirmed Tuesday. Struggling Rohingya refugee families voiced dismay at the demolitions. ...
-
REFUGEE CAMP FIRE:
Bangladesh:
Fire rips through COVID treatment centre
for Myanmar refugees.
A devastating fire has ripped through a COVID-19 treatment centre for Myanmar refugees sheltering in Bangladesh, the UN migration agency (IOM) said on Tuesday.
-
U.N. News
(United Nations)
In a tweet, IOM said that no-one was hurt at the health facility, part of the vast Cox’s Bazar camp complex, after the blaze began suddenly on Sunday evening.
Parts of the hospital were badly damaged, but health services are expected to “resume soon”, the agency said. . ...
Field teams have been working around the clock to save the hospital and restore some normality to camp life. They are also assessing the damage and assist those in need.
Pictures posted on social media show charred metal bed frames and workers clearing away piles of ash at the isolation and treatment centre for people with severe acute respiratory infections.
Earlier, IOM teams, Disaster Management Unit volunteers, and Government of Bangladesh response services, rushed to the hospital and worked hard to put out the fire and assist those in need.
The IOM teams are also working to raise awareness amongst refugees about what to do in the case of sudden fire in the camps. ...
- 2022-01-05
-
ASEAN:
Concerns Over Hun Sen’s Aims
Ahead of ASEAN Chair’s Visit
-
The Irrawaddy
( Myanmar, in exile in Thailand )
[NOTE: This media appears to have a strong anti-junta bias,
but has been one of the most effective reporters of Myanmar events.]
[paraphrased:]
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, later this week, will fly into Myanmar...
He has hope for a peaceful solution to Myanmar's ongoing crisis, as he prepares for a Jan. 7 visit in an effort to bring Myanmar back into the brotherhood of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).
Myanmar was isolated by that regional bloc last year, particularly over the failure of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to uphold his promise to ASEAN to implement a peace plan.
Hun Sen will meet with top junta leaders, including Hlaing, but may not be allowed to meet Myanmar’s deposed civilian political icon -- now its most famous prisoner -- Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar's junta spokesman, Tuesday, said the regime will not allow it -- limiting Hun Sen's access to meet and hold discussions with "only those who represent political parties..., but there are limitations on those who are still facing legal charges."
Wednesday, before heading to Myanmar, Hun Sen said he had set no pre-conditions before his visit, but that his goals were close to
ASEAN's five-point consensus
or to the peace plan.
RCN Editor's note:
ASEAN "FIVE-POINT CONSENSUS"
At the ASEAN summit last April, leaders of ASEAN member-nations agreed to a five-point "consensus" action plan for Myanmar. It calls for:
- a halt to violence,
- constructive dialogue,
- appointment of an ASEAN special envoy as mediator,
- humanitarian aid, and
- the ASEAN-appointed mediator’s visit to Myanmar.
While Myanmar's junta initially acceeded to the plan, it quickly backed away from the commitment,
saying the plan could not be implemented until things in Myanmar were "stable"
-- a breach of faith that contributed to ASEAN's exclusion of Myanmar's junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, from its regional summit last October.
That decision was made by the leader of Brunei, who was chair that year. The new chair, however, is the authoritarian leader of Cambodia, with different views. He has indicated that "Myanmar" should be present at all ASEAN meetings.
~RCN Editor.
|
According to Cambodia's state news agency, Hun Sen asked that all observers not draw any early conclusions about the outcome of his visit. He emphasized that, if the visit's results are fruitful, they may bring peace to Myanmar -- and Myanmar's people will acknowledge the efforts of ASEAN's member states.
He said his return is scheduled late on Jan. 8, but could be delayed if fruitful developments occur.
Myanmar citizens, though, worry that the PM’s visit
-- the first visit of a foreign leader to meet the ruling generals --
lends legitimacy to the junta regime.
It’s not unusual to see outrage on social media over Hun Sen’s visit...
Many question Hun Sen’s contact with the military regime -- arguing that he should make contact with all of Myanmar's key actors -- including civilian shadow "National Unity Government."
Tuesday, a joint statement from 200 civil society groups within Myanmar and abroad, condemned the Cambodia prime minister for the planned visit.
Both ASEAN and the U.N. General Assembly have backed ASEAN's "Five-Point Consensus," the statement noted, declaring that the two organizations "must ensure that Hun Sen does not act alone in 2022 -- lending legitimacy to the Myanmar military junta, and further emboldening them to cause more harm to the people."
Hun Sen's new position:
It's not ASEAN's responsibliity;
"under-the-table negotiations" are best:
Cambodia's Foreign Minister, Prak Sokhonn, last week, told the U.N. special envoy on Myanmar (Dr. Noeleen Heyzer), that Cambodia would take "a practical step-by-step approach toward achieving progress on the implementation of the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus."
The Phnom Penh Post,
(a media outlet in repressive Cambodia)
reported that Hun Sen orginally declared that Myanmar was at fault for its exclusion from the ASEAN summit. But soon after receiving the revolving chairmanship of ASEAN, Hun Sen changed his rhetoric:
On Dec. 15, Hun Sen, despite his role as ASEAN chair, said:
"It is not up to ASEAN to resolve this issue. ASEAN is here to help, but Myanmar needs to solve its own problems by itself"
-- adding:
"It is important for me to meet Myanmar’s [military] leaders, but under-the-table negotiations are the best and most fruitful approach for us to take. Don’t disturb me, just give me time."
Recently, two bombs exploded near Cambodia's Embassy in Myanmar, though no one was hurt. The blasts have not deterred Hun Sen, though; Cambodia's Foreign Ministry spokesman says the visit will go forward as planned.
Indonesia chat:
Tuesday, Hun Sen spoke to Indonesia's President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and they reportedly discussed the Myanmar issue.
Cambodia's foreign office issued a press statement on the outcome of the phone call between the two leaders, saying they "exchanged views on the current developments in Myanmar and underscored the important need to focus ASEAN’s efforts to assist Myanmar in finding suitable solutions to achieving national reconciliation, durable peace, stability and development."
Cambodian Institute for Democracy co-founder Ro Vannak said the chat between Hun Sen and Jokowi -- just days before the Myanmar visit -- was an act of public diplomacy showing solidarity within ASEAN toward all parties to the conflict, not only within Myanmar, but also beyond.
According to Vannak, Hun Sen prizes Indonesian input on regional issues because that country has been an important mediator and facilitator, in the past, in regional conflicts.
Now, says Vannak, Hun Sen may need Indonesia full support if his visit to Myanmar is to succeed. Vannak says Hun Sen's to Jokowi might have been intended to bolster that support.
(Same topic, more details, at:
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...and below:
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ASEAN:
[ASEAN Chair,
Cambodian PM] Hun Sen
set for Myanmar visit
as envoy warns of looming civil war.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will visit Myanmar on Friday, despite criticism that his trip risks legitimising country’s coup leaders.
-
Al Jazeera
( Arab news, Qatar )
[NOTE: This media has credibility issues.]
[paraphrased:]
Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen, is getting ready to visit crisis-wracked Myanmar -- at the same time as his top diplomat warned Myanmar has “all the ingredients" to erupt in "civil war”.
Civil society groups object, saying the visit offers legitimacy to the Myanmar junta -- but the Cambodian officials insist the goal is a peace plan, and adherence to
last year's ASEAN 5-point plan for Myanmar.
Still, Hun Sen will not be allowed to visit Myanmar's deposed, imprisoned civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and other restrictions will be imposed by Myanmar's junta.
This year, Cambodia holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen will visit Myanmar Friday and Saturday.
Last Monday, Cambodia's Foreign Minister, Prak Sokhonn -- who is also ASEAN’s special envoy for Myanmar -- described the outlook there as dire, with "two governments,... several armed forces, [a] civil disobedience movement, [with] guerrilla warfare around the country." He added that Myanmar's deepening "political and security crisis" has produced an "economic, health and humanitarian crisis” with "all the ingredients" to trigger a "civil war."
* * *
The Cambodian Foreign Minister dismissed allegations that his Prime Minister's visit will legitimize Myanmar's ruling junta, and said that Cambodia's efforts will stay focused on a peace plan for Myanmar, and on ASEAN's “five-point consensus” on Myanmar, agreed to by ASEAN's leaders last year.
He said that the visit seeks to "pave" a path "for progress” by developing "a conducive environment" that will permit "inclusive dialogue and political trust" between "all parties concerned."
However, Myanmar’s military spokesman, Tuesday, hinted that Hun Sen will not be allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi -- but rather would be limited to meeting "only those [representing] political parties... but [with] "limitations for those... still facing legal charges." The junta spokesman declined to say whether Hun Sen will meet any members of Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi’s party.
Around 200 civil society groups, in both Myanmar and Cambodia, have condemned Hun Sen’s visit.
Tuesday they issued a statement urging that ASEAN and the United Nations ensure that “Hun Sen does not act alone in 2022 -- lending legitimacy to the Myanmar military junta, and further emboldening them to cause more harm to the people.” ...
(Same topic, more details, at:
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|
|
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...and previous article.
|
- 2022-01-06
-
ASEAN:
VIDEO:
Cambodia PM Hun Sen heads to Myanmar
as first foreign leader to visit
since military coup.
-
Channel NewsAsia
(Singapore)
(Same topic, more details, at:
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...and statement below:
|
-
ASEAN:
Official Amnesty Int'l statement:
Cambodia:
PM Hun Sen should cancel Myanmar trip,
avoid ‘empty gestures’
-
Amnesty International
As Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen prepares to visit Myanmar on 7-8 January, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research Emerlynne Gil called on him to prioritise human rights action over empty gestures:
“Hun Sen’s rogue diplomacy may do more harm than good by breaking ranks with ASEAN’s response to the Myanmar crisis and sending mixed messages to Myanmar’s coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing, who has been blocked from recent high-level ASEAN meetings in a rare rebuke.”
“If Hun Sen truly wants to help, he should cancel this trip and lead ASEAN to strong action to address the country’s dire human rights situation rather than indulge in empty gestures that will likely result in little more than a self-congratulatory photo op.”
“As the incoming chair of ASEAN, Cambodia should help revive the five-point consensus adopted in April last year that called for an immediate end to violence and work to expand it further to protect human rights and ensure accountability for abuses.”
“The nightmare has continued for the 55 million people of Myanmar. Last month security forces were accused of killing and burning more than 30 civilians, including two staff members of the humanitarian aid organization, Save the Children, in eastern Karenni State.”
“The international community cannot rely on ASEAN alone when it has repeatedly demonstrated that it is unable to take meaningful action to prevent such atrocities from recurring. The UN Security Council must urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court and impose targeted sanctions and a global arms embargo.”
* * *
Since seizing power, Myanmar’s military has killed more than 1,400 people and arrested or detained more than 10,000, many of them peaceful protesters. It has also unfairly tried many of Myanmar’s top civilian leaders who were ousted in the coup and sentenced them to lengthy prison sentences. Former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to four years in December in one of many bogus cases against her.
(Same topic, more details, at:
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|
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...and previous article, above.
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- 2022-01-07
(Same topic, more details, at:
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-
REPATRIATION:
Rohingya repatriation:
Myanmar now proposes
new joint committee
-
Daily Star
(Bangladesh)
[paraphrased:]
In late December, Myanmar proposed forming a new joint committee, of Myanmar and Bangladesh officials, to resolve the Rohingya identity-verification issues, almost three years after the two nations held a (failed) bilateral meeting on the topic of Rohingya refugee repatriation from Bangladesh, back to Myanmar. Bangladesh officials are enthuisiastic about the idea. ...
Previous attempts at arranging return of the Rohingya to Myanmar have failed, because the Rohingya refugess fear they will face further discrimination, persecution, and death, at the hands of Myanmar's military, upon their return. Most fled savage attacks upon them. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
The doctors and nurses
defying the military
-
BBC News
A significant proportion of healthcare in Myanmar is now being delivered outside state hospitals -- by doctors and nurses who oppose the military, and are loyal to the National Unity Government challenging the junta's legitimacy
-- medical workers in the country tell the BBC. ...
- 2022-01-11
-
Official U.N. statement:
At least four children killed
during escalation of conflict
in Myanmar
-
U.N. News
(United Nations)
At least four children have been killed, and multiple others have been maimed, during an escalation of conflict over the past week in Myanmar, said the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday.
Last Saturday, the body of a 13-year-old boy was discovered in Matupi, Chin State, while a 12-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy were injured by heavy weaponry in Loikaw, Kayah State, following intense airstrikes and mortar attacks.
On the same day, a 7-year-old girl was injured by heavy weapons fire in Hpa An, Kayin State.
On 7 January, one 14-year-old and two 17-year-old boys were fatally shot in Dawei Township, in the Tanintharyi Region. And on 5 January, two young girls, aged 1 and 4, were injured by artillery fire in Namkham, Shan State.
International humanitarian law
In a statement, UNICEF Regional Director, Debora Comini, said the agency was “gravely concerned” by the escalating conflict and condemns the reported use of airstrikes and heavy weaponry in civilian areas.
UNICEF is also particularly outraged over attacks on children that have occurred across the country.
“Parties to conflict must treat the protection of children as a foremost priority and must take all steps necessary to ensure that children are kept away from fighting, and that communities are not targeted”, Ms. Comini said.
According to her, this protection is required by international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Myanmar is a signatory.
Recalling other recent incidents, UNICEF called for urgent action to ensure independent investigations, so that those responsible can be held to account.
Unprecedented crisis
Overall, the people of Myanmar are facing an unprecedented political, socioeconomic, human rights and humanitarian crisis with needs escalating dramatically since the military takeover and a severe COVID-19 third wave.
According to a UN Humanitarian Needs Overview published in December by OCHA, the turmoil is projected to have driven almost half the population into poverty heading into 2022, wiping out the impressive gains made since 2005.
The situation has been worsening since the beginning of the year, when the military took over the country, ousting the democratically elected Government. It is now estimated that 14 out of 15 states and regions are within the critical threshold for acute malnutrition.
For the next year, the analysis projects that 14.4 million people [in Myanmar] will need aid in some form -- approximately a quarter of the population. The number includes 6.9 million men, 7.5 million women, and 5 million children.
- 2022-01-13
-
ASEAN:
Malaysia Minister Criticizes Hun Sen
for Myanmar Junta Meeting
- Cambodian leader did not consult with Asean, says Saifuddin.
- Says trip achieved nothing, despite junta cease-fire extension.
-
Bloomberg News
(Same topic, more details, at:
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...and statement below:
|
-
UNITED NATIONS & ASEAN:
Official U.N. statement:
Readout of the Special Envoy
of
the Secretary-General
on
Myanmar’s virtual call
with
the Prime Minister of
the Kingdom of Cambodia
-
United Nations
in ReliefWeb.int
[excerpted:]
In her virtual discussion with
H.E. Mr. Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Hun Sen,
[the] Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia,
the Special Envoy of
the [U.N.] Secretary-General on Myanmar,
Ms. Noeleen Heyzer,
urged for immediate action,
based on strengthened United Nations -
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
cooperation,
to prevent further deterioration
of the situation in Myanmar,
and address the desperate needs of its people.
She expressed deep concern about continued intensification of military operations, including aerial attacks in parts of the country, emphasising that the people of Myanmar needed to see indicators and results on the ground, requiring any goodwill to be demonstrated in concrete terms.
* * *
The Special Envoy stressed that a Myanmar-led process, that is guided by the will of the people, towards a peaceful, democratic and inclusive future needed to be supported by a coherent international approach grounded on regional unity
She committed to working closely with the Chair of ASEAN and its members towards this end, making available the wide array of comparative advantages and expertise of the United Nations to reinforce and complement regional action, grounded on the “Five-Point Consensus,” as a vital step. ...
(Same topic, more details, at:
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...and previous article, above.
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-
ROHINGYA in MYANMAR:
ARSA:
Video Showing Rohingya Militants
Causes Alarm in Myanmar’s Rakhine State
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar, in exile in Thailand)
[paraphrased:]
In western Myanmar, in northern Rakhine State’s Maungdaw township (district), fears are growing after circulation of a video that shows fighters of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) conducting a military drill in a location believed to be in the district.
ARSA's leader, Ata Ullah, was seen in the video, along with two other key leaders, as well as ARSA fighters. Sources tell The Irrawaddy the drill happened somewhere in Maungdaw township near the Myanmar/Bangladesh border.
In various incidents over the last few months, local residents have encountered ARSA fighters, and some have been shot at -- a few killed. The public are now afraid to make normal trips into the surrounding countryside, even for necessities such as food.
Locals have reported the incidents to border guard police. Another local rebel militia, the Buddhist-Rakhine "Arakan Army" (AA)* has visited the afflicted village and heard villagers' accounts.
[* RCN Editor's note:
The Muslim-Rohingya ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) & Buddhist-Rakhine AA (Arakan Army) are on opposite sides of the ongoing factional conflict between their respective ethnic groups in Rakhine state (historically known as "Arakan"). At the same time, both groups oppose Myanmar's military junta, and, before that, they opposed the previous military/civilian-coalition central government.
ARSA's small attacks on border guards in August 2017 provided Myanmar's military the excuse for sweeping operations that raped or killed over 10,000 Rohingya Muslims, and drove most of the remaining 1,000,000 Rohingya out of their Rakhine state homeland, and into Bangladesh (where most remain, today).
Following the purge, ARSA largely disappeared, but recently began resurfacing in clandestine power struggles in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, near the Myanmar border -- assassinating a peaceful Rohingya leader. With the collapse of civil order in Myanmar, following the February 2021 coup, ARSA has found opportunities to return to Rakhine state amid the chaos.
However, the ethnic Buddhist-Rakhine AA has recently been noted by observers as effectively the dominant power in Rakhine state, at present -- outfighting both ARSA and Myanmar's national military junta, in Rakine state. ~RCN Editor.]
Like the Buddhist-Rakhine people, in Maungdaw, the Muslim residents in the area are also concerned about ARSA's resurrection,
says Maungdaw resident U Ko Latt.
"It is fair to say that our region has been peaceful since ARSA disappeared. There has been no tension between the Rakhine and Muslim communities." he said, adding: "As ARSA has resurfaced, local Rakhine people are concerned they will be attacked. People dare not go from village to village and work on farms far from their village, now."
A Muslim village head in Maungdaw said: "We are concerned that things that happened in the past will happen again. We are also concerned that we will suffer the consequences of anything that ARSA may do. We only want to live a peaceful life now. We have no links to any group." ...
-
[India's National Investigation Agency (NIA)]
told to probe illegal Rohingya immigration
While asking the NIA to look into the matter, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) said in a communication to the agency that “there is a well-designed larger conspiracy to exploit the illegal migrants and also to destabilize the population ratio and demographic scenario of the country”
-
Hindustan Times
(India)
[RCN Editor's note:
While this article is from a generally reliable source, it cites questionable statements by the current national government of India, which is dominated by the ruling anti-Muslim, Hindu-nationalist BJP party. The BJP has promoted numerous anti-Muslim measures, even against its own large Muslim minority (one-fifth of India's population). The BJP has attempted to outlaw all Muslim immigration into India, and has aggressively opposed entry of Rohingya Muslim refugees. It arrests those it finds, and has sought to imprison them or deport them to Myanmar (the country they fled). ~RCN Editor.]
- 2022-01-14
-
ASEAN:
Concern in ASEAN over
Cambodia PM’s Myanmar visit,
Malaysia minister says.
-
Reuters / Asahi Shimbun
(Japan)
(Same topic, more details, at:
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|
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...and article below:
|
-
ASEAN:
Sokhonn: Singapore backs Cambodia's move
over Myanmar crisis.
-
Sokhonn: Singapore backs Cambodia's move
over Myanmar crisis.
Phnom Penh Post
(Cambodia)
[NOTE: This media is in a repressive country.]
(Same topic, more details, at:
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...and prevous article, above:
|
-
WORLD COURT:
Hearings on Rohingya genocide case
set for February at World Court.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
-
WORLD COURT:
VIDEO:
Myanmar's military to challenge
the jurisdiction of the ICJ
on Rohingya genocide.
-
WION
(India)
[paraphrased:]
-
MYANMAR COUP:
AUNG SAN SUU KYI:
Aung San Suu Kyi faces
5 new corruption charges
in Myanmar.
-
AP / NPR (National Public Radio)
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar's military-installed government has now filed 5 new charges of corruption against Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's ousted civilian leader,
in matters associated with granting permits to rent or buy a helicopter, said a legal official, Friday.
Suu Kyi -- detained since last February's military coup -- has already been tried on 5 other charges of corruption -- each punishable by as much as 15 years in prison, plus a fine.
She has also been convicted of other offenses, and sentenced to six years' imprisonment, over "illegally" violating coronavirus restrictions and importing and possessing walkie-talkies.
Human rights groups and her supporters say the cases against her are contrived by the military so as to justify its coup, and to prevent her return to politics. The government rejects the criticism. ...
(same topic at:
-
Al Jazeera
(Arab news, Qatar)
[NOTE: This media has credibility & objectivity problems.]
)
- 2022-01-15
-
JOURNALISM in MYANMAR:
Outspoken news anchor
reports from Myanmar’s jungles
amid media crackdown.
Htet Htet Eaindra Aung fled Yangon, and now files reports, on the run, from remote and embattled Kayin state.
-
Radio Free Asia
(U.S. gov't affiliate)
[paraphrased:]
-
Concern in Delhi over Myanmar conflict, PLA ‘links’ with junta
To secure India's “vital interests”, officials are of the view that there is “no option but to engage with those in power in Naypidaw”
-
Indian Express
(India)
[NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.]
[paraphrased:]
The Indian national government in Dehli is concerned that the conflicts in Myanmar may be spilling over into northeast India, which borders Myanmar. They're concered that the rebel PLA ("Peoples' Liberation Army) in India's Manipur state are working across the border, with the Myanmar military, to help suppress the civilian revolt against the junta in Myanmar -- an alliance that troubles the Indian government. And, last year, 30,000 refugees fled Myanmar into India. Indian officials say they have “no option but to engage with those in power in [Myanmar's capital] Naypidaw”, and to continue pressing for a return to democracy there, ...
- 2022-01-16
(same topic at:
-
WION
(India)
-
AFP / Dawn magazine
(Pakistan) (Jan.17)
[NOTE: The quality of this media is unknown.]
)
[paraphrased:]
Hundreds of Buddhist monks have fled from two major towns in Myanmar, reported a witness on Sunday (Jan 16). They are among thousands who have recently been displaced by fierce fighting between Myanmar's military and rebel groups opposing last February's coup.
In eastern Myanmar's Kayah state, Loikaw town saw intense fighting last week. The U.N. estimates almost 90,000 people (more than half the town's population) have fled the area -- but local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have placed that number far higher: 170,000.
A Buddhist monk told the AFP news service that about 30 monasteries had been abandoned – rare in a nation where monks are revered, and where temples are traditionally considered safe havens.
The monk reported that "It was impossible for [the monks] to stay there," ...a hard but necessary decision. He is among about 5,000 people who have fled into Myanmar's eastern Shan state. He noted that another dozen monasteries in nearby Demoso town were also evacuated.
In Taunggyi in Shan state, a community leader said last week he'd seen at least 30 monks arrive there seeking refuge. And a Christian priest reported that around 15 priests also fled Loikaw last week.
A policeman, asking for anonymity, said, rebel fighters have taken over homes and churches, and also attacked a prison. He compared the town to "a cemetery," describin "the situation" there as "very bad." He reported that about 600 vehicles were fleeing the town every day.
Both Loikaw and Demoso are rebel strongholds. The UN says that, since December, fighting has intensified in that region.
Over Christmas, the bodies of 35 or more people -- including NGO workers for the charity Save the Children -- were found burnt in Kayah state. The atrocity is blamed on junta troops.
A few days ago, Tom Andrews, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, called on Min Aung Hlaing, the junta's leader, to "halt the air and ground attacks" against Loikaw -- and lift the blockade of those trying to escape -- and let aid get through.
-
MYANMAR COUP:
AUNG SAN SUU KYI:
[Philippines] condemns Myanmar leader
Aung Sang Suu Kyi’s jail sentence.
-
CNN Philippines
(Philippines)
[paraphrased:]
The Philippines condemned the four-year jail term given to Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Myanmar's ousted civilian leader, by a military court Jan. 10. ...
- 2022-01-19
- 2022-01-20
-
MYANMAR COUP:
French Energy Giant 'Total'
Joins Push for Myanmar Sanctions.
-
AP / U.S. News
[paraphrased:]
The French global energy conglomerate 'TotalEnergies'
is asking the U.S. and French governments to back sanctions targeted at Myanmar’s oil and gas funds -- reportedly the single largest source of income for Myanmar's military leaders.
This includes hundreds of millions of dollars annually from its offshore Yadana gas field, in which Total is the main operator and majority-stake investor.
The proposed sanctions would target Myanmar's state-owned MOGE (Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise) -- a joint venture partner in all Myanmar offshore gas projects -- including the Yadana gas field, with Total and Chevron, plus Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production. Total holds the majority stake in that venture, and runs the venture's daily operations, while MOGE -- on behalf of the Myanmar government -- collects the resulting revenues. ...
(Same topic at:
-
additional articles Jan. 20
-
additional articles Jan. 24
-
additional articles Feb. 22
)
)
- 2022-01-21
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar sentences lawmaker
from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party
to death.
NLD politician and hip hop artist
Phyo Zayar Thaw handed sentence
-- along with democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu.
-
AFP / The Guardian
(U.K.)
[paraphrased:]
In Myanmar, a military court sentenced a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD - the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi), and another democracy activist, to death for terror offences,
as the junta ramped up a crackdown on the toppled leader’s party.
Myanmar has been in chaos since the military's February coup. Over 1,400 have been killed in the military's subsequent crackdown on dissent, reports a local monitoring group.
Opposition leaders – including NLD allies -- have gone into hiding. "People’s Defence Forces" have emerged, nationwide, to battle the military.
Former NLD lawmaker and hip hop artist Phyo Zayar Thaw
Phyo Zayar Thaw, who is a member of the NLD, was arrested in November, and has now been sentenced to death for offences alleged under the country's anti-terrorism act, said a junta statement issued Friday.
Kyaw Min Yu – a prominent democracy activist better-known as “Jimmy” -- also received the death sentence from the military court, the statement added.
<>
He'd been charged with orchestrating several attacks against regime forces -- among them a brazen August shooting on a Yangon commuter train, which killed five policemen.
Their sentences were also reported on state media’s nightly news.
In its crackdown on dissent, the junta has issued death sentences to dozens of anti-coup activists, but Myanmar, so far, has not actually executed anyone for decades. ...
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ASEAN:
Cambodia prime minister’s
trip to Myanmar
was not to legitimize the junta,
says minister delegate.
-
CNBC
(Same topic, more details, at:
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...and article below:
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ASEAN:
Cambodia’s Hun Sen
hits back at Malaysian FM
for criticizing Myanmar strategy.
Cambodian PM should have consulted other ASEAN states before meeting the junta leader, Saifuddin Abdullah had said.
-
Benar News / Radio Free Asia
[paraphrased:]
Cambodia's Prime Minister, and new ASEAN chair, Hun Sen, called Indonesia’s president by phone, Friday, and lashed out about Malaysia’s foreign minister being "arrogant" in criticizing Cambodia’s strategy to deal with Myanmar. ...
(Same topic, more details, at:
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...and previous article, above:
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Total and Chevron pull out
of Myanmar gas project.
French group cites lack of progress in sanctions on gas revenues flowing to junta.
-
Financial Times
(U.K., U.S., & Japan)
[paraphrased:]
TotalEnergies and Chevron are preparing to abandon Myanmar’s main Yadana offshore gasfield -- giving in to continuing pressure from campaigners who have urged them to halt that leading source of revenue for Myanmar’s military junta. ...
* * *
Myanmar's natural gas projects produce over US$1 billion annually for Myanmar’s military junta.
Total, along with Myanmar's state-run MOGE (Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise), operates the gas platform along with its pipelines. Chevron and the Thai group PTT are junior partners in the venture.
There has been growing threat that MOGE would face international sanctions.
The western companies had resisted campaigners' and investors' post-coup pressure to halt payments to MOGE, arguing that it might put the companies Myanmar-based staff in danger, or disrupt the country's electricity supply.
Total blamed its recent shift on western governments' lack of progress in implementing financial sanctions.
The day before, in a message to Human Rights Watch, Total's boss acknowledged support for sanctions. He said Total had communicated with US authorities about possible penalties.
Thai-based partner PTT has not commented on the sanctions, yet.
Total declined to disclose any losses from its withdrawal, but says it will transfer its stake within the next six months, without compensation. Its 2021 profits from Myanmar were US$105 million.
A spokesman for the campaign group Justice for Myanmar noted that his group welcomes Total's pullout, adding it's "essential" for "international governments" to implement "targeted sanctions on oil and gas," so as "to deny the junta funds" acquired through the country's "remaining oil and gas projects." He adding that other oil and gas companies should do likewise.
Myanmar has become a hazard for the reputations of multinational companies who do business with the military junta.
Norway's telecom company Telenor, for months, struggled to leave Myanmar. ... [NOTE: See details on the Telenor issue, in the next article below.]
-
Myanmar junta backs Telenor unit sale
after buyer M1 pairs with local firm:
~sources
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
A Myanmar firm will reportedly partner with Lebanon's M1 Group to take over the Myanmar telecom business of Norwegian telco Telenor, after Myanmar's military junta sought a local buyer for it, said three sources familiar with the issue. ...
[RCN Editor's note:
Telecommunications are a vital element of society in Myanmar, as elsewhere, and play a key role in the both the insurrection againt the military, and in the military's attempt to track down, monitor and punish rebels.
Additionally, as one of the major momey-making enterprises in Myanmar, telecommunications for its 50 milllion people is a lucrative industry. Myanmar's military, the Tatmadaw (which is also Myanmar's largest
business enterprise) has long had a major stake in that industry.
Rebels, recently, have taken to blowing up cell towers of government-affiliated telecom companies, and key international telecom companies have sought to distance themseleves from the military junta. This has created problems for both the military and the civilian population, and is a factor in the high-stakes telecom industry maneuvering in Myanmar.
~RCN Editor.]
]
FEBRUARY 2022:
- 2022-02-01
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar: What has been happening
since the 2021 coup?
There have been mass protests, armed resistance and mass killings in Myanmar since the military seized control a year ago.
-
BBC News
___________________
-
Myanmar shadow government
drops objections to
ICJ's Rohingya genocide case.
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar's shadow government, the "National Unity Government" (NUG), which was set up following last year's military coup, has recently said that it accepts jurisdiction of the ICJ (International Court of Justice) to hear charges that Myanmar committed genocide against its own Rohingya minority.
Before Myanmar's military junta seized power, last year, the country's civilian government, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi (now ousted), had filed objections with the ICJ over the case, in a move expected to delay proceedings.
The NUG, a parallel government administration, which includes some of Myanmar's deposed civilian lawmakers in exile, issued a statement Tuesday saying that it is withdrawing all those preliminary objections to the case. ...
It is not clear if this gesture will affect the ICJ case, since the ICJ has been interacting with junta representatives in Brussels. The NUG urged the ICJ to deal, instead, with Myanmar's permanent U.N. representative, Kyaw Moe Tun.
[RCN Editor's note:
Ambassador Tun was at the U.N. in New York City, when the Feb.1, 2021 coup overthrew the civilian government that appointed him. Tun refused to bow to the junta, and (despite an assassination attempt on him by the junta) has continued to side with the country's overthrown civilian leaders, in his continued position at the U.N., which has continued to recognize him as the legitimate representative of Myanmar to the U.N.]
- 2022-02-03
- 2022-02-14
-
ROHINGYA at the WORLD COURT:
Official HRW Statement:
Myanmar:
Rohingya Genocide Case
Steps Toward Justice
Q&A Explores World Court Scrutiny of Military Atrocities
-
Human RIghts Watch
International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings — beginning February
21, 2022 — underline the critical importance of bringing justice for
the Myanmar military’s abuses against ethnic Rohingya,
Human
Rights Watch and the Global Justice Center said today. The groups
released a question-and-answer
document outlining recent developments in the case, including the
impact of the February 1, 2021 military coup in Myanmar, on the ICJ
proceedings.
The hearings at the court from February 21 to 28 are for the case
brought by Gambia against Myanmar alleging that the military’s
atrocities in Rakhine State against Rohingya Muslims violate the
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
(Genocide Convention).
“The International Court of Justice hearings are the next
step in the landmark case to break the cycle of violence and impunity
in Myanmar,” said Nushin Sarkarati, associate international
justice director at Human Rights Watch. “The case could build a
pathway to justice, not only for the Rohingya, but for everyone in
the country.”
In November 2019, Gambia filed
a case before the ICJ alleging that Myanmar’s atrocities
against the Rohingya in Rakhine State violate various provisions of
the Genocide Convention. The case before the ICJ is not a criminal
case against individual alleged perpetrators, but a legal
determination of state responsibility for genocide.
The ICJ held hearings in December 2019, on Gambia’s request,
for provisional measures to protect the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar
from genocide, which the court unanimously
adopted in January 2020. The new hearings will cover Myanmar’s
preliminary objections to the case, which challenge the court’s
jurisdiction and Gambia’s legal standing to file the case.
The court’s provisional measures require Myanmar to prevent
all genocidal acts against the Rohingya, to ensure that security
forces do not commit acts of genocide, and to take steps to preserve
evidence related to the case. Myanmar is legally bound to comply with
this order. However, Human Rights Watch and others have documented
ongoing grave abuses against the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in
Myanmar, contravening the provisional measures ordered by the
court.
Since the February 2021 coup, junta security forces have carried
out mass killings, torture, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, and
other abuses that Human Rights Watch believes amount to crimes
against humanity.
Security forces have killed over
1,500 people since the coup, including at least 100 children, and
arbitrarily detained over 11,000 activists, politicians,
journalists, and others. Rohingya have also faced even greater
movement restrictions and harsher punishments for attempting to leave
Rakhine State, which amount to the crimes against humanity of
persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty.
In 2019, Myanmar’s government appointed
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to lead its delegation to the
ICJ. During the 2021 coup, the military arrested
Aung San Suu Kyi and a junta-controlled court sentenced
her to six years in prison. She still faces over 150 years
in prison combined on various additional fabricated charges. On June
24, 2021, the junta announced that it appointed
a panel of eight senior junta officials to represent Myanmar’s
delegation before the court.
During the February hearings, representatives of Myanmar and
Gambia will present arguments as to whether the ICJ has jurisdiction
to examine the genocide claims against Myanmar. The hearings will
take place in a hybrid format, including both in-person and virtual
participants. Live streaming of the hearings will be available in
English and French on the court’s
website and on UN
Web TV.
While the ICJ case focuses exclusively on alleged crimes against
the Rohingya, the military has committed brutal abuses across
Myanmar. In the wake of the coup, ethnic groups have sought
greater solidarity in the pursuit of justice, as the military’s
atrocities against the Rohingya have been echoed in attacks on
civilians around the country. The ICJ case could set the stage to
scrutinize the Myanmar military’s longstanding international
crimes more widely,
Human Rights Watch and the Global Justice Center
said.
“As the Myanmar military continues to commit atrocities
against anti-coup protesters and ethnic minorities, it should be put
on notice there will be consequences for these actions – past,
present, and future,” said Akila Radhakrishnan, president of
the Global Justice Center. “The ICJ’s proceedings are
laying the groundwork for accountability in Myanmar – not only
for the Rohingya, but for all others who have suffered at the hands
of the military.”
- 2022-02-15
-
Myanmar military committed war crimes
in Karenni (Kayah) state:
~ Report
Fortify Rights says evidence shows military massacred civilians and used them as cover, as it urges ASEAN to support arms embargo.
-
Al Jazeera
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar's military has murdered civilians, and has also used them as human shields, as part of a series of atrocities in Myanmar's eastern Karenni (Kayah) State. The acts may amount to war crimes,
according to a prominent human rights group, Fortify Rights, which published their concerns in a new report, Tuesday.
The organization says that it has documented attacks upon residential homes, churches, camps for displaced persons, and various other non-military targets in the state -- killing 64 people -- between last May and this January. ...
- 2022-02-16
-
ASEAN:
ASEAN Envoy
Seeks Myanmar Junta Blessing
to Meet Its Opponents
-
Reuters / U.S. News
[paraphrased:]
A special Southeast Asian envoy, from ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to the crisis in Myanmar, said on Thursday that he wants to visit Myanmar next month, and made an appeal to Myanmar's military junta to give its consent for the envoy to also talk with Myanmar's underground NUG (National Unity Government), a shadow government that the junta has labelled "terrorists." ...
- 2022-02-18
-
ROHINGYA at WORLD COURT:
Myanmar junta, [and]
ousted government
fight for recognition
at top U.N. court
-
Reuters
- Part of ICJ case on alleged genocide against Myanmar's Rohingya
- Two members of Myanmar junta legal team on U.S. sanctions list
- Ousted government says it, not junta, should represent Myanmar
- Court declines comment on how legal agents are accredited
- Hearings set to begin Monday, a year since military coup" ...
-
UNHCR Deputy calls for enhanced access
to education and livelihoods
for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
-
UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(United Nations)
As the Rohingya crisis approaches its fifth year, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Kelly T. Clements, called for continued international support for Rohingya refugees, and the government and people of Bangladesh. She reiterated UNHCR’s commitment towards voluntary repatriation and other solutions, while underlining the need to build resilience and invest in refugees’ capacities in preparation for a future safe and voluntary return to Myanmar. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Notorious Junta General Removed
from Upper Myanmar Command
as Resistance Intensifies
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar, in exile)
[paraphrased:]
One of the most notorious generals in the Myanmar junta -- Lieutenant General Than Hlaing -- has just been relieved of command of the junta's clearance operations attacking civilian resistance groups in Myanmar's most restive region -- regarded by some as a sign of the military's failed efforts at subduing those opponents.
Immediately following the February 2021 coup, Than Hlaing was given command of Myanmar's police, which he used for violent and lethal crackdowns on peaceful protesters and striking workers.
Subsequently, he was given command of the military's attempt to crush rebel People’s Defense Forces (PDF) in the country's northwest -- Sagaing and Magwe regions, and Chin State.
His demotion is seen [by this publication] as a sign that his operation has failed to crush the resistance. ...
-
Philippines, Like New Zealand,
Rejects Myanmar in Trade Pact.
The Philippines joins New Zealand in its decision to reject Myanmar, under the world’s largest free trade pact, which took effect this year.
-
AP / U.S. News
[paraphrased:]
The Philippines will not approve Myanmar’s entry to the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), the 15-nation, world's-largest free trade pact, which went into effect Jan. 1.
No reason was given, and the Philippines said it would yield if their position obstructs a collective position of ASEAN (the 10-nation bloc of Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar).
It’s not clear, yet, if any other countries in the RCEP — all 10 ASEAN members, plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand — will also snub Myanmar, eventually barring it from the world's biggest trading bloc.
* * *
New Zealand said it won't recognize Myanmar’s effort to join the trade bloc, because New Zealand opposes Myanmar's military government.
* * *.
RCEP was originally planned to include around 3.6 billion people, throughout Asia -- covering nearly a third of international trade and global GDP. Before the deal was signed in November, India dropped out, but the RCEP still includes over 2 billion people, and about a third of all the world's trade and business activity.
The RCEP slashes tariffs between countries on thousands of products, streamlines trade procedures, and provides shared advantages for member countries.
Experts expect it to boost trade within the RCEP members by 2%, or $42 billion. ...
[RCN Editor's note:
The China-centric RCEP effectively replaces the America-centric TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), a trade deal that would have made the U.S. the dominant trading partner for most of Asia.
Factions in both Republican and Democrat camps, however (with support from presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton) -- particularly labor unions, anti-immigration and sovereign-rights nationalists, environmentalists, some farmers and ranchers, many manufacturers, and others -- reacted negatively to the idea of compromise, cooperation, and free competition with Asia. Together, they killed the TPP just as the deal was about to be sealed.
Asia then turned to China, instead -- yielding the RCEP, giving greatly increased economic and political power, and influence, for China, throughout Asia and the Pacific -- with the U.S. at a profound and permanent loss of power and influence with nearly half of the world's people.
~RCN Editor.]
- 2022-02-21
-
Myanmar junta takes place
of Aung San Suu Kyi
at Rohingya hearing.
Military, which seized power in February 2021, seeks to throw out UN case alleging it committed genocide
-
The Guardian
(U.K.)
-
Myanmar Junta Rejects
ASEAN Envoy's Request to
Meet Shadow Govt Representatives.
-
AFP / The Irrawaddy
( Myanmar, in exile in Thailand )
-
Junta Airstrikes Hit Lower Myanmar
as Fighting Intensifies
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar, in exile in Thailand)
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar's military junta has launched airstrikes in Kayah State, in and around Moebye, where there has been intense fighting between People’s Defense Forces (PDF) and the military regime's soldiers, since last Wednesday. ...
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Myanmar People Urged to Join
‘Six Twos Revolution’
General Strike Against Regime
-
The Irrawaddy
(Myanmar, in exile in Thailand)
[paraphrased:]
In Myanmar, anti-regime forces are calling Myanmar's people to join in a mass protest that is planned for Tuesday. It is being called the “Regathering for the Six Twos Revolution”, referring to the date, 22.2.2022. The protest is also referred to by the slogan “Revolt by the Rural, Defiance by the Urban.”
* * *
People are being urged to take to the streets wearing bamboo hats or others, and a traditional face powder, Thanakha, while holding flowers or bouquets. They're urged, if possible, to scatter papers with anti-coup slogans, and flowers, while raising a three-finger salute. They're also urged to bang pots and pans (a popular Myanmar protest technique) at 8 p.m. ...
- 2022-02-24
-
Thousands flee air strikes
as fighting erupts in Myanmar
-
Reuters / CNN (Cable News Network)
[paraphrased:]
On Thursday, local media, witnesses, and an aid group said that Myanmar's military had deployed ground troops, and had launched air and artillery strikes, in an attack upon rebel forces in eastern Myanmar -- causing thousands to flee the area.
It was the second day of bombardment of Nan Mei Khon village, in Myanmar's Kayah state, which borders Thailand. Soldiers have met months of resistance there, from the rebel Karenni National Defence Force (KNDF), one of several militias challenging the Myanmar junta's rule. ... Attacks were coming by air and land. Thousands have been trapped, unable to escape.
Since the military coup overthrew Myanmar's elected civilian leaders, February 1st of last year,
fighting in Kayah state has displaced over 90,000 people,
according to the UN refugee agency; It estimates that
441,000 people have fled Myanmar's violence since the coup. ...
MARCH 2022:
- 2022-03-12
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Armed Resistance to Myanmar Junta
Holding Firm Against Military Onslaught
-
VOA (Voice of America)
(U.S. government media)
The armed resistance to Myanmar’s military regime that seized power from a democratically elected government over a year ago is holding firm against a wave of brutal offensives in recent months and may even be gaining strength, analysts say.
Having taken root in much of the countryside, they add, resistance forces are starting to pressure the overstretched military in some towns and cities as well.
“The military is having to fight not just out in the sticks; they’re having to fight right around these provincial towns,” said Matthew Arnold, an independent analyst tracking Myanmar’s post-coup violence.
Galvanized by the military’s bloody crackdown on the mass protests that met its February 2021 coup, towns and neighborhoods across the country have been banding together, mostly with crude rifles and explosives, to oppose the junta’s power grab. At least 350 militias, so-called people’s defense forces, or PDFs, have announced themselves since the putsch. ...
- 2022-03-15
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Witness:
Army attacks in eastern Myanmar
worst in decades
-
Reuters News Service
-
MYANMAR COUP:
Official U.N. statement:
Myanmar:
‘Appalling’ violations demand
‘unified and resolute international response’.
-
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
(United Nations)
In a new report — warning that serious rights abuses uncovered in Myanmar may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity — UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, appealed to the international community to take “concerted, immediate measures to stem the spiral of violence” there.
The report’s findings indicate that military and security forces bombarded populated areas with airstrikes and heavy weapons, and deliberately targeted civilians.
“The appalling breadth and scale of violations of international law suffered by the people of Myanmar demand a firm, unified, and resolute international response”, the UN rights chief underscored. ...
Same topic at:
(
Al Jazeera
(Arab news, Qatar)
-
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Shades of Kharkiv:
Parallels between the conflicts
in Myanmar
and Ukraine
Both Russia and Myanmar intentionally target civilians, apartments, and hospitals and block humanitarian convoys.
by Zachary Abuza, professor at the National War College in Washington, D.C., and adjunct at Georgetown University.
-
RFA.org (Radio Free Asia)
(U.S.-government-affiliate Asian media)
As the war in Ukraine drags on, with no clear-cut Russian victory in sight, we are seeing important parallels with the conflict in Myanmar, which has fallen from the headlines.
The Russian offensive in Ukraine has faltered, and there has been a heavier reliance on indiscriminate air attacks with non-precision guided munitions and artillery.
The Russians don’t have sufficient forces to capture and hold cities, so they surround them and use long-range artillery fire.
They are intentionally targeting civilians, apartment blocks, and hospitals.
Like Myanmar’s military, Russian forces have
laid siege and prevented humanitarian convoys from reaching civilians.
There can be no pretense that this is simply collateral damage.
The Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar military is known, has razed villages, burning down at least 6,700 homes,
according to the group Data for Myanmar.
It’s a punitive act because they cannot hold territory.
And yet their ruthless “Four Cuts” strategy — employed for decades to deny insurgents support from local people — has not deterred the public from supporting the shadow National Unity Government since last year’s coup.
Both Russia and Myanmar rely on poorly trained, conscript militaries, with low morale.
As Russian forces have been depleted through deaths, injury or desertion,
we are seeing the leadership call up mercenaries
from Chechnya, Syria, and their own Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization. In Myanmar, where the Tatmadaw has been slowly hollowed out, there is greater reliance on the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia.
Both regimes have stepped up arrests of dissenters.
-
Russia has imposed
almost a total blackout of media not under state control,
forcing most foreign reporters from its borders. Russia is transforming its internet into a Chinese-style intranet.
-
In Myanmar, there have been
attempts to shut down the internet
in the conflict-wracked regions like Sagaing to prevent evidence of government atrocities, while policing social media to target dissent.
In both countries, the assaults and arrests of journalists continue apace. As in the towns and cities that the Russians occupy, the Myanmar military has been
summarily executing civilians.
The leadership of both countries believe that if they act with enough violence they can submit the civilian population to their will and will be able to evade all accountability.
In recent fighting in Myanmar, over five dozen civilians were burnt to death.
Neither government tries to hide their war crimes; indeed they want them there for all to see, as a warning of things to come.
There is a shared belief that they can weather international sanctions
and both governments are
displaying callous disregard for the economic crisis
that they are causing their populations. Both have quickly reversed over a decade of economic progress. The junta in Myanmar oversaw an 18 percent contraction of the economy in 2021, and more than half the population now lives in poverty. Both regimes are sanctioned, and have seen much of their trade diminish. Today the citizens of Yangon are experiencing electric shortages and a lack of water.
The wars in both countries have seen incredible courage against all odds.
We’ve witnessed valiant fighting by Ukrainians defenders as well as by Myanmar’s People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) and their allied Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs). But they are up against insurmountable odds. Even if the Tatmadaw has a smaller fighting force than is often suggested, it is still larger and better resourced than the PDFs, with the power of conscription.
Like the Russian army, the Tatmadaw is weaker and more poorly armed than budgets would suggest because of endemic corruption. Authoritarianism tends to weaken most institutions including the security services.
When PDFs display captured equipment or army prisoners of war, it’s pretty shocking how poorly armed and equipped they are, given the military’s primacy and budget. But clearly much of the military budget goes to prestige items while young conscripts fighting the war remain poorly fed, armed, and equipped.
The PDFs continue to have significant challenges in raising funds and acquiring arms and ammunition.
Recently we’ve seen several battles that have left about dozen PDF personnel killed having run out of ammunition. The NUG just announced that their PDFs will have a $30 million budget this year. While that’s significant amount for sub-state militia, it is paltry compared to the resources of the Tatmadaw.
Just through their asymmetrical dominance in materiel, the Russian military and the Tatmadaw are able to grind out a long war.
Like the Ukrainian forces, the PDFs and their affiliated EAOs have high morale, relatively good discipline, and a just cause that they are fighting for. They hold themselves to higher standards
on the battlefield
in terms of trying not to commit war crimes, intentionally target civilians, or looting and pilfering. And unlike the Tatmadaw or the Russians,
they enjoy overwhelming popular support.
The one thing that the PDFs and EAOs have not focused on sufficiently is targeting the Tatmadaw’s long and vulnerable supply lines.
The Myanmar military has never fought on as many fronts simultaneously and they have never had to fight in the ethnic majority Bamar heartland. The Ukrainians have taken advantage of this vulnerability to a much greater degree. While the NUG may beg for the provision of manpads – portable, surface-to-air missiles - the best way to target the military’s air assets is by targeting the supply of jet fuel.
As much as we can root for the underdogs in Ukraine and Myanmar, neither is likely to win a clear-cut military victory. But they don’t have to. Guerrilla forces simply have to not lose. They have to wear down the occupying force, trap them in a war of attrition
that forces them to further alienate the population through barbaric attacks and systematic human rights abuses. And in that regard the PDFs are doing admirably.
In both cases,
the way the conflicts likely end is from within.
-
In Russia, the oligarchs may not pose a challenge to President Vladimir Putin simply because they do not control any coercive instruments. The threat Putin faces comes from his own security services, which he appears to be scapegoating for the military’s poor performance.
-
The real threat to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, and his deputy Soe Win comes from lower-ranking generals and colonels who have not shared in the military regime’s spoils. These are the people who have to execute the war and who understand that — given the rate of casualties and defections — that they do not have the manpower to hold territory.
These are the people who know how despised the military is, and how little legitimacy its regime has. They are the people who know that the war is unwinnable — and have an interest in protecting what’s left of the military’s political, economic, and institutional interests. They know they can only do that through a negotiated settlement — and that is impossible with this senior leadership still in place.
- 2022-03-20 - Sunday
-
Biden administration rules Myanmar army
committed genocide
against Rohingya.
[Announcement comes tomorrow.]
-
Reuters News Service
[paraphrased:]
Despite dithering by Trump and Biden administrations over the issue, the current administration's State Department will finally announce, tomorrow, that a review of Myanmar's conduct towards the Rohingya indicates that Myanmar's actions against the Rohingya have amounted to "genocide."
This U.S. ruling is expected to bolster the genocide case against Myanmar currently in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
[RCN Editor's note:
Under U.S. law, a finding of "genocide" by the State Department results in legal restrictions being placed upon U.S. relations with the guilty party.
This could limit U.S. trade and (most importanly) aid to Myanmar. It also carries various other restrictions and penalties, though there is relatively little direct effect that the U.S. sanctions are likely to have on Myanmar's rulilng junta.
However, the U.S. ruling on genocide is among the world's most respected, most trusted, and loudest condemnations — and undermines the global credibility and perceived legitimacy of Myanmar's government. And the associated economic sanctions undermine investors' confidence in Myanmar's economy and enterprises (which include many operated by the mililtary).
~RCN Editor.]
Updates at:
March 21
- 2022-03-21 - Monday
-
VIDEO & TEXT:
WATCH:
Secretary of State
Antony Blinken
says
Myanmar repression
of Muslim Rohingya
is
genocide
-
Associated Press / PBS
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar's violent repression of its mostly-Muslim Rohingya
population amounts to "genocide," said U.S. Secretary of State
Antony Blinken, speaking Monday at New York's U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The declaration is intended to both produce
international pressure on Myanmar, and to lay groundwork for potential legal action.
U.S. authorities based their 'genocide' determination on confirmed accounts of
mass atrocities against Rohingya civilians, by Myanmar’s military, waging a widespread,
systematic campaign against that ethnic minority, said Blinken. ...
-
ASEAN:
ANALYSIS & OPINION:
Russia's War Causes Disarray in ASEAN
by Thitinan Pongsudhirak: professor & director, Institute of Security and International Studies, Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Political Science, in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Bangkok Post (Thailand)
in The Irrawaddy (Myanmar, in exile)
[paraphrased:]
A string of major events, in recent years, has shaken the foundations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The organization, which originally included Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, has since grown to include Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei and Myanmar.
These 10 very different governments, and their resulting different relations with the superpower countries -- China, the U.S., and Russia -- are making it increasingly difficult for ASEAN to come to a consensus decsion on anything.
Recently:
- Cambodia, in the year it chaired ASEAN, could not arrive at an ASEAN consensus agreement on anything.
- China's aggressive conduct in the South China Sea has triggered a diverse range of ASEAN member positions towards China, ranging from sympathetic (Cambodia) to outraged (Vietnam and the Philippines).
- U.S. anti-China moves -- under Obama and Trump -- created pressure on Southeast Asia, with ASEAN members divided on whether to go along with the U.S. moves.
- China-centric RCEP trade agreement created difficulty for ASEAN members, particularly over the extent to which they would side against the U.S. position on trade with China.
- Myanmar's military junta, with its abhorrent behavior -- attacks upon the Rohingya, and its subsequent violent coup -- has created challenges to ASEAN's basic principles (including non-interference in member's internal affairs), and has created a legitimacy crisis for any Myanmar representation in ASEAN.
- Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- which violates a core ASEAN principle of the sovereignty of territory -- failed to evoke a consensus of condemnation from ASEAN members, with very differing positions among the members..
It may be (the author suggests) that ASEAN, with its current 10-members, has reached the end of its useful life -- and may need to revert to its original, smaller, more-homogenous membership, if it is to be effective and meaningful again.
- 2022-03-24 - Thursday
-
OPINION:
Biden’s Rohingya genocide declaration
can’t just be empty words.
by Josh Rogan
-
Washington Post
[paraphrased:]
On Wednesday, the Biden administration accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine
-- 28 days after Russia's invasion began.
Just two days earlier, the Biden administration accused Myanmar's military of genocide
-- over 5 years after the campaign of genocide against the Rohingya began.
It's probably no coincidence that the two announcements came in the same week.
Likely, the Biden administration is trying to show it can juggle multiple foreign crises simultaneously. And Secretary of State Blinken noted that he'd heard from numerous foreign leaders that Ukraine shouldn't be the only foreign crisis priority for the administration, while many others suffer atrocities around the world.
When clear evidence of genocide against the Rohingya emerged in 2017-2018, the Trump administration declined to call it "genocide." But Biden, too, was slow to respond -- until Monday's announcement, well over a year after he took office.
The Crane Center for Mass Atrocity Prevention's executive director, Amber Maze, says this shows the victims that they do not matter, and shows the perpetrators that they can get away with it, motivating repeat offenses.
By comparison, Biden took only two months to confirm Trump’s finding that China’s abuse of its Uyghur Muslims was "genocide." The implication is that the deciding factors in this official, legal finding is too often about politics and policy -- not about the evidence.
While Rohingya groups are encouraged by the overdue U.S. finding, they warn that a statement is not enough. They fear that Biden's proccupation with Ukraine -- if not matched with meaningful actions against Myanmar's military -- will only embolden the junta to feel free to commit any atrocities they choose.
Though the State Dept. supports some forms of justice and accountability for the Rohingya genocide -- like the case brought against Myanmar's government at the International Court of Justice, by Gambia -- any action dependent upon the U.N. Security Council will probably be halted by Russia or China, or both. Dictatorships who commit mass atrocities are inclined to stick together.
The Biden Administration, and the Congress, should produce more substantial efforts over the Myanmar crisis, now, to show that the America's genocide declaration amounts to more than empty talk. America should engage in dialog with ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and with countries coping with the refugees who have fled Myanmar (particularly Bangladesh, Malaysia, and India).
At present, 242 NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) are urging Congress to pass the Burma Unified through Rigorous Military Accountability Act of 2021 -- a bipartisan bill that would broaden sanctions against Myanmar's military regime as punishment for its abuses of Myanmar's minorities and its attack upon democracy in general.
As Secretary Blinken noted, since the Holocaust, there have been eight genocides. That shows we're not doing enough to prevent or halt mass atrocities, nor doing enough to hold the perpetrators accountable. Allowing genocide to become normal endangers our broader ambitions towards stability and security -- and a common humanity.
- 2022-03-27 - Sunday
-
Myanmar leader vows to 'annihilate'
opponents of army rule.
-
Associated Press
[paraphrased:]
Myanmar's military junta chief, Min Aung Hlaing, vowed to "annihilate" opponents of the junta -- while urging Myanmar's regional ethnic minorities to refrain from supporting those opponents. ...
[RCN Editor's note: The "ethnic minorites" chiefly populate the states of Myanmar's border regions, and have long fought for increased autonomy, often through very militant militias. Despite rivalries with each other, and long, bitter resentment of the dominant Burman population of Myanmar (Burma), those militias are now reportedly combining with the Burman civilian rebels (and the underground "National Unity Government" / "NUG") to fight the ruling junta. ~RCN Editor.]
- 2022-03-29 - Tuesday
-
Response plan launched
to support 1.4 million
Rohingya and Bangladeshis
“Robust and sustained international support” is again needed for Rohingya refugees and the Bangladeshi communities generously hosting them, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday.
-
U.N. News
(United Nations)
“Humanitarian agencies are seeking more than $881 million to support approximately 1.4 million people — including over 918,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char, and around 540,000 Bangladeshis* in neighbouring communities,”
UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told journalists during a press briefing in Geneva.
The launch of the 2022 Joint Response Plan (JRP) for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis,
was co-hosted by the Government of Bangladesh, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR.
The JRP brings together the activities of 136 partners, 74 of which are Bangladeshi organizations – while also recognizes the significant contributions that the refugees themselves make to the response. ...
Do not forget the Rohingya:
...As global displacement continues to rise, UNHCR and partners emphasized the need to keep the Rohingya situation in the public’s eye – lest it become a forgotten crisis. ...
Precarious location:
Given their geography, the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar are especially vulnerable to natural disasters. ...
Returning to Myanmar:
The UNHCR spokesperson explained that many of the people on the move long to again live in their own country. ...
“The solutions ultimately lie within Myanmar”.
...UNHCR and its partners maintain a presence in Rakhine State, to support Myanmar in creating the conditions conducive for the refugees to return. ...
Expanding assistance:
For the first time, the JRP also included humanitarian activities on Bhasan Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal, to which the Bangladesh Government has relocated over 24,000 Rohingya refugees. ...
*[RCN Editor's note:
In recent years, the flood of international aid to the Rohingya in the Cox's Bazar camps, in Bangladesh, has raised bitter jealousy among the neighboring native Bangladeshis -- and turned many of them (and, to some extent, their government) against the Rohingya.
The current U.N. move to include aid for the very poor Bangladeshis, neighboring the Rohingya camps, may help to ameliorate those tensions, and lessen pressure on the Rohingya to get out of Cox's Bazar, and on the Bangladesh government to evict them.
However, it's worth noting that Cox's Bazar is on the same general route that China — as part of its "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) to expand trade and influence routes westward — wants to use for its "Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar" (BCIM) corridor from Western China, across Myanmar and through the Rohingya homeland (around Myanmar's northwestern coast), then across Bangladesh, and on to India and points West.
Bangladesh is being aggressively courted by China for an accommodation of that route, which may be complicated by the Rohingya refugee camps at Cox's Bazar.
Bangladesh's Foreign Minister, A.K. Momen, who handles Bangladesh's relations with China, has been particularly hostile to the continued Rohingya presence in Cox's Bazar — perhaps influenced by that Chinese pressure and opportunity. Consequently, aid to Bangladeshis around the Cox's Bazar camps may not be enough to soften the Bangladesh government's pressure on the Rohingya to leave their neighboring camps.
~RCN Editor.]
- 2022-03-31 - Thursday
-
Official HRW statement:
India:
Rohingya Deported to Myanmar
Face Danger
Protect Refugees;
End Forced Returns
-
Human Rights Watch
[excerpted:]
(New York) –
The Indian government’s forced return of an ethnic Rohingya woman to Myanmar on March 22, 2022 highlights the life-threatening risks facing Rohingya refugees in India,
Human Rights Watch said today.
International law prohibits the forced return of refugees to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened.
Rohingya Muslim refugees in India face tightened restrictions, arbitrary detention, violent attacks often incited by political leaders, and a heightened risk of forced returns. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has reported that at least 240 Rohingya in India are currently detained on charges of illegal entry. In addition, about 39 are being detained in a shelter in Delhi while 235 others are detained in a holding center in Jammu.
“The Indian government gains nothing by forcibly returning a Rohingya woman to Myanmar, while she is separated from her children and put at grave risk,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government’s decision to expel Rohingya refugees despite mountains of evidence that their lives and freedoms would be at risk in Myanmar shows cruel disregard for human life and international law.”
An estimated 40,000 Rohingya are in India, at least 20,000 of whom are registered with UNHCR. Since 2016, ultranationalist Hindu groups have targeted Rohingya refugees in Jammu as part of growing attacks on Muslims in India and called for their expulsion from the country.
Since October 2018, the Indian government has deported 12 Rohingya to Myanmar, claiming that they left voluntarily. However, the government denied repeated requests by UNHCR to gain access to them to independently assess whether the decision was voluntary. ...
*[RCN Editor's note:
India is currently governed by the Hindu-nationalist BJP party, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP has been openly hostile to Muslims -- even to the 20% of India's own population who are Muslim -- and has sought to outlaw all Muslim immigration, including Muslim refugees and migrants like the Rohingya. India is not a signatory to the international convention on refugees, and the Indian government considers itself free of any legal obligation to refugees.
~RCN Editor.]
APRIL 2022:
2022-04-02 China to back military-ruled Myanmar regardless of situation -AP
2022-04-04 Bangladesh: New Restrictions on Rohingya Camps -Human Rights Watch
2022-04-04 Myanmar central bank says FX deposits should be converted into local currency. -Reuters / Channel News Asia (Singapore)
2022-04-05 Myanmar orders foreign money held by banks changed to kyats -AP
2022-04-07 Gunmen shoot deputy governor of Myanmar Central Bank -AP
2022-04-07 Despite risk of death Thailand sends Myanmar refugees back -AP
2022-04-08 Foreign businesses protest Myanmar foreign currency rules -AP
2022-04-08 Myanmar's deputy central bank governor shot and hospitalised Report. -Reuters / Channel News Asia (Singapore)
2022-04-11 Myanmar army launches air strikes against rebels near Thai border. -Reuters / Channel News Asia (Singapore)
2022-04-13 Myanmar New Year celebrations dampened by protests, boycotts. -Reuters / Channel News Asia (Singapore)
2022-04-14 Troops burn villages in Myanmar heartland, seek to crush resistance. -Reuters / Channel News Asia (Singapore)
2022-04-17 Myanmar political prisoners not among about 1600 people freed in new year amnesty AFP-Channel News Asia (Singapore)
2022-04-18 In rare comments, Myanmar's Suu Kyi urges people to 'be united': Source -Channel News Asia (Singapore)
2022-04-19 Myanmar military government denies rumors of fuel shortages -AP
2022-04-20 Over 500 Rohingya flee Malaysian detention; 6 die on highway -AP / ABC News
2022-04-20 - 6 Rohingya Refugees Killed Fleeing Detention Center in Malaysia -New York Times
2022-04-20 Six killed as hundreds of Rohingya flee Malaysia detention -Al Jazeera (Arab news, Qatar)
2022-04-21 Military-led Myanmar seeks to reassure foreign investors -AP
2022-04-22 Myanmar's ruling military offers minorities new peace talks -AP
2022-04-24 Zee Media correspondent threatened for showing Rohingya news -Zee Media / India.com (India) [NOTE: The bias and quality of this media is unknown).]
2022-04-27 Myanmar- What has happened since the 2021 coup -BBC
2022-04-27 Factbox- Legal cases against Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi. -Reuters.html
2022-04-27 Explainer- Suu Kyi's uphill battle in Myanmar junta's secretive courts -Reuters
2022-04-27 Myanmar's Suu Kyi handed five-year jail term for graft -Reuters.html
2022-04-27 Myanmar court sentences Suu Kyi to 5 years for corruption -AP
2022-04-27 Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi handed 5-year jail term for corruption -Channel News Asia (Singapore)
2022-04-29 Malaysian state energy company leaves Myanmar gas project -AP
2022-04-29 Malaysia's Petronas withdraws from Myanmar's Yetagun gas field -Reuters
2022-04-29 Rohingya Refugees in India Face Discrimination and Deportation -Foreign Policy (U.S. political journal)
MAY 2022:
2022-05-02 Bangladesh Shutters Dozens of Schools Set Up by Rohingya in Camps -New York Times
2022-05-02 Myanmar's Suu Kyi charged with bribery as new trial opens -AP
2022-05-02 Philippines plans to give Myanmar 5 million Sputnik V vaccines -Reuters
2022-05-03 Cambodia PM appeals to Myanmar junta for access to Suu Kyi -Reuters
2022-05-03 Cambodia PM appeals to Myanmar junta for access to Aung San Suu Kyi. -Channel News Asia (Singapore)
2022-05-04 Myanmar Supreme Court 'summarily dismisses' Suu Kyi appeal: source -Reuters
2022-05-05 Bangladesh detains 450 Rohingya celebrating Eid on beach -Times of India (India)
2022-05-06 Bangladesh detains 450 Rohingya celebrating Eid on beach -Dawn (Pakistan) [NOTE: The bias and quality of this media is unknown).]
2022-05-06 Cambodia hosts meeting on humanitarian assistance to Myanmar -AP
2022-05-06 As Myanmar's junta puts cronies in its crosshairs, businesses fear worse to come -Myanmar NOW
2022-05-07 More resettlement offers for Rohingya refugees says minister -Free Malaysia Today (Malaysia)
2022-05-07 Call to engage Myanmar's exiled govt matches ASEAN policy [says Malaysian PM] Saifuddin -MalaysiaKini (Malaysia)
2022-05-07 Myanmar Junta Propaganda App Ditched by Apple and Google -Irrawaddy
2022-05-09 Delhi BJP asks residents to alert them about 'Rohingya settlements' -- promises "bulldozer" action. -Indian Express (India) [NOTE: The bias and quality of this media is unknown).]
2022-05-09 Preparations underway at Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar to tackle Cyclone Asani -Daily Star (Bangladesh)
2022-05-09 Military Tensions Rise in Western Myanmar as Arakan Army Chief Warns Regime -Irrawaddy
2022-05-09 Sale of Myanmar Coup Leader's Mansion Raises US$2 Million in 3 Days -Irrawaddy
SPECIAL NOTE:
LIMITED & DELAYED POSTS
Starting in September 2019,
Rohingya Crisis News
has limited its operations, and delayed its fewer posts,
owing to numerous internal factors unrelated to the Rohingya Crisis.
Some article links are being added, from time to time
(especially in early December, 2019, and late January 2020, during hearings and decisions at the International Courts of Justice, and again in December, 2020, and January/February 2021 when renewed relocation and repatriation efforts, Myanmar military coup, and numerous other major developments, were happening.)
but most regular daily or weekly updates have been discontinued. Updates (and backfills of old stories) will continue intermittently, but on no regular schedule.
Suggested sources for current developments & background information:
-
Rohingya Crisis The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
-
Rohingya Refugee Crisis Explained
-UNHCR (United Nations) (as retrieved 2021-10-22)
|
Also see:
- Current Affairs Summary
- 2017 Crisis News
- 2018 Crisis News
- 2019 Crisis News
- 2020 Crisis News
|
|
After the meeting, Home Minister Kamal said: "We have already reached a decision to the effect that we will construct barbed wire fences around the Rohingya camps so that the citizens of Myanmar who are there can stay in one place."
Biden should also make plans to use American and multilateral leverage to persuade China to holster its permanent veto on the U.N. Security Council with regard to Myanmar.
This would enable the heretofore inactive body to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC), as it should. The Prosecutor at the ICC already has jurisdiction to investigate the forced deportation of Rohingya as a crime against humanity, but the court should be empowered to investigate all manner of atrocities in Myanmar, and without a referral, it can’t do that.
In coordination with the issuance of a new Executive Order (E.O.), the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated [for sanctions], pursuant to that E.O., 10 individuals and three entities connected to the military apparatus responsible for the coup. ..."
