Migrant Workers Speak of Suu Kyi Joy

Source from Irrawaddy news, 30 May 2012

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Around 2,000 Burmese workers gather to hear Suu Kyi in Mahachai. (Photo: Reuters)

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SAMUT SAKHON –Burmese migrant workers based in central Thailand have spoken of their delight after meeting pro-democacy icon Aung San Suu Kyi during her first trip abroad for 24 years.

The man opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) leader addressed a crowd of around 2,000 of her compatriots in the Thai port town of Mahachai.

The Nobel Laureate told the gathering, many of whom carried placards saying "We Love Daw Suu" and held gifts of flowers aloft, that she would fight for the rights of Burmese in Thailand, but added that she hoped that migrant workers could return to Burma in the future, if the country's economy develops and prospers.

Inside Samut Sakhon migrant verification centre, one of nine across Thailand to enable undocumented Burmese migrants, Suu Kyi met with NGO workers and trade unionists who assist workers and heard stories from a group of 30 now living in Thailand.

One of those present was Nai Lin from Sagaing in Burma. Speaking to The Irrawaddy after the meeting, the 25-year-old revealed that he told Suu Kyi how he lost his right hand in a work injury sustained while employed at a plastics factory.

"I told The Lady about my accident and about how Thai police often stop me and other Burmese to try to get money from us," he said. "She told us that she will do all she can—not just for one or two workers but for all of us."

Nai Lin said he would like to go back to Burma someday soon, if the country's reforms lead to economic growth and development.

"My father, mother and three sisters are all there," he said. "I miss them a lot, I am here alone."

In between two short addresses delivered from a fourth floor balcony—part-obscured by a tangle of electricity cables in a similar setting to campaign speeches given in cities across Burma—thanaka-pasted women held aloft posters of Suu Kyi and of her father, independence hero Gen Aung San, and chanted her name.

Hseng Htay, a Burmese migrant working at fishery factory in Mahachai said, "I feel that she really wants to talk to Burmese migrant workers and see our working conditions. As she pays attention to us, we are very happy and proud of it."

"We hope that our working condition will be improved due to her image. She will also talk with Thai authorities. So I think her words will have influence as she is internationally recognized figure."

Prior to Tuesday, Suu Kyi had not left Burma since leaving England to tend to her ailing mother in Rangoon in 1988, before becoming the leader of the country's opposition and winning the 1990 general election. Since 1989, she has spend 15 years under various forms of detention, before being freed in November 2010 and winning a seat in Burma's military-dominated legislature in April this year.

The 66-year-old arrived at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport on Tuesday night, pausing momentarily for photographers before speeding to the plush riverside Shangri-La hotel where she will address the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Friday.

A 45-minute drive away, Samut Sakhon hosts around 300,000 Burmese migrants, many of whom work in the fishing industry centered on the port town of Mahachai. After her address to the WEF on Friday, The NLD MP will travel to the Thai-Burma border to visit some of the 140,000 Burmese refugees in nine camps along the frontier, and meet with Burmese NGO workers and medics who have long catered for refugees from war-torn Karen State.

Wednesday, however, was focused was on the estimated two-three million Burmese migrants in Thailand, many of whom are undocumented, and make up between 5-10 percent of the Kingdom's workforce.

Usually making up for labor shortages in low-paying menial sectors, Burmese migrant workers are also often victims of human traffickers and can end up working in slave conditions in factories or on fishing boats.

"Please respect the law in your host country, but learn the law so you can defend your rights here," Suu Kyi urged the crowd.

Outside on the thronged and baking-hot street below the balcony from where Aung San Suu Kyi spoke to the crowd, Bangkok-based Burmese activist Thar Tun Aung said that it was a great day for his compatriots living in Thailand.

"It is a major occasion for us, many of us are away from your country for many years now," he said. "The Lady gives us hope that we can go back."

Another migrant, a 26-year-old woman named Khin Than Nu, works at a Thai canning factory and dreams of her home in Burma's Mon State.

"We left our parents in Burma, and all my brothers and sisters work here to support our parents," she told the Associated Press. "I hope Daw Suu will help develop our country, and bring jobs so we can go home."

Delhi plays reluctant host to Myanmar's nowhere people

Source from The Time of India, 26 May 2012

NEW DELHI: Hands clasped behind his back, Nazeer Ahmad stands stiff. He's in a lungi, kurta and skullcap at the edge of a huddle of men speaking to a reporter in the shade of a barely-there tin sheet propped up on bamboo stilts. Listless as he stands on a dusty, barren plot at southeast Delhi's Madanpur Khadar, he doesn't join the group. Only when the reporter moves away, he steps up.

"The UN has wronged us," he says. "The UN has given refugee status to all other Burmese refugees but for us. It says India doesn't allow it. Why?" His eyes redden in frustration and shoulders droop as he pulls an 8- or 9-year-old girl to stand in front of him. "Why can't I send her to school? Are my children different from others?" Ahmad is a Rohingya Muslim, one of an estimated 4,000 now in India's cities. The Rohingyas are from Myanmar's Arakan region, a strip of land the size of Kerala. It has India (Manipur) to its north, Bangladesh to its northwest across the river Naf, a range of difficult hills cut it off from the rest of Myanmar on the west and the Bay of Bengal to its south.

Activists say Rohingya Muslims are among the world's most persecuted people. Bias against this ethnic Muslim group is racial and religious, say Rohingya scholars, and is rooted in history. Their 'Indian' - read non-Burmese - looks and their religion have been held against them ever since the 18th century when Buddhists conquered the Muslim-ruled Arakan. The hill tracts separating them from the rest of Myanmar added to their woes. They remained "outsiders". The attempt to depopulate the area and push Arakanese Muslims out has been a sustained campaign, says Tun Khin, London-based leader-activist of the UK's Burmese Rohingya Organization.

Things turned ugly when the military junta came to power in 1972 and in two years, Rohingya Muslims were stripped of their nationality. Killings, confiscation of property, destruction of mosques and sexual attacks forced more than 200,000 out of the country. In 1982, a citizenship law declared the Rohingyas as "non-national" or "foreign residents". The Burmese authorities call them "naikanzha" (non-resident without right to land, law or rights) and the region's Buddhists "thairansa" (residents), says Ahmad, flashing his non-resident Burmese ID card. Arakan's people are Buddhist and Muslim, and the region was renamed Rakhine in 1989 when Burma was renamed Myanmar.

Their madrassas are padlocked, they have to pay heavy fines if they want to marry, which means most cannot, says 26-year-old Omer Hamza. They can't send their children to school and they can't stay over in other villages. The last is the reason most of them make the transit to India via Bangladesh, not directly through Manipur. Reaching the Indian border requires them to pass through villages in Myanmar, which is disallowed so the risk of being jailed is high.

Chased out, they live in the largest numbers in Bangladesh. About 600,000 live in camps in Saudi Arabia, 200,000 in Pakistan. Arakan has about 1.2 million Muslims, says Khin and the 900,000 who remain in Arakan form Myanmar's largest minority group.

Ahmad fled with his children, wife and mother. The 50-year-old registered himself and his family at the UN's human rights office in 2009. They issued him a letter recording his registration and a UNHCR card was issued to him in 2011.

Ahmad's story repeats itself, with changes in details, in each of the approximately 50 tents under the banner of Darul Hijrat of Zakat Foundation, which are now home to about 300 Rohingya Muslims. They were sheltered here by the charity after they were chased out of their Vasant Kunj camp earlier in May.

Inside a tent, Rashida carelessly cradles a weeping three-year-old boy. Both she and the child are running fever; Rashida's eyes are drawn and she sits tight. The 37-year-old finds it difficult to hold a full bladder all day.

Ever since they were brought here on May 15, the empty plot became 'home', but since the bathroom is an adjoining empty plot, the women wait till night to relieve themselves and bathe. "Where to go in these barren fields? It's all in the open. It's scary," says the mother of two daughters and five sons, hastily adding that she is not complaining. It's not a matter they can discuss with the men, so Fatima simply sits tight.

She rushes to say she is grateful to the NGO for giving them ground under their feet, a cover over their heads, firewood for cooking and rice. The local MLA has promised to provide a water tanker every day.

Toilet inconveniences and health issues that the women face are, after all, no issue at all, they say, compared with the grave matter of their place in the world. Rashida says she simply can't figure out why they aren't granted refugee status, which would ensure "a taleem" (education) for her children - five boys and two girls.

But nations are cagey about Rashida and her fellow Rohingyas, uncertain where to fit them in a terror-wary and energy-hungry world.

 

Who is their leader? Are they a security risk?

About 620 Rohingya families hit the headlines in Delhi in April when they landed up unannounced in tony Vasant Vihar's UNHCR office to demand refugee status. They first camped in Vasant Vihar, were evicted, squatted in Vasant Kunj, were thrown out, and then many dispersed while 50 families were given shelter by the charity which took pity on them. "It's a humanitarian effort. We don't know how long we can keep them. Let's see," says the NGO.

As far as organizing protests go, it was a puny affair, their fight reduced to being a "nuisance factor" in new-age Delhi, the city that's known to make space for refugees. Yet, the coming together of a poor people, rudderless and on the face of it leaderless, raised an alarm. Who is behind them?

The Rohingya leadership is elusive. Some of the more articulate are being pushed to speak up, following the media coverage of their protest outside the UNHCR office. A file of their papers includes appeals filed by a group named Myanmar Rohingya Refugee Committee, led apparently by Delhi-based Shomshul Alam, who lives in Khajuri Khas, Jammu-based Abul Hossin and a Mohammed Salim, who is also from Delhi, says Hamza.

In their Madanpur Khadar group, Nazeer Ahmad and Zia-ur-Rahman are engaging with outsiders. A couple of 'leaders' are studying in Deoband too. These are faceless people. It looks more like a desperate poor community cobbling together a representation of sorts.

Tun Khin says he doesn't know of any organized group of the Rohingya Muslims in India. "The poorer ones with very little provisions are in India."

But many suspect a "hand" behind them. Their synchronized appearance, apparently out of thin air from across the country, led to a question in the Rajya Sabha with BJP's Balbir Punj objecting to their remaining in the country and demanding a probe to identify the "organizer". After a monthlong standoff from April between the Indian government, UNHCR and the protesters, they were given permission to stay in the country till 2015 pending a series of verifications by sundry agencies.

Alongside, a strident letter to the PM and all-who-matter from VHP leader Praveen Togadia has demanded the Rohingyas be thrown out as they were a "security risk". Togadia, whose letter and a series of attachments are available online refers to a 2005 paper by security analyst B Raman. The paper says the Bangladesh wing of HUJI recruited a "number of Rohingya Muslims" and took them "to Afghanistan to fight Soviet and Afghan troops" in the 1980s. The VHP's note on Raman's paper names "24 Bangladeshi/ Rohingya mujahideen" who died during the Afghanistan jihad.

Raman also mentions that a Rohingya group is "projecting itself as HUJI Myanmar".
The Burmese regimes accuse them of being Bangladeshi infiltrators. One of the main attacks is to red-flag the bogey of Islamization of Myanmar via these 'Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators'. In Bangladesh, where lakhs have taken shelter, they are called Burmese. "Where do I go?" asks Khin.

In India, the call to throw out the Rohingyas is also based on reports of a number of such Muslims joining terror outfits. How much is the security risk from shelterless people mired in misery? B Raman says, "We don't know their background. We don't know who they were in contact with. One has to be cautious." One of the reasons, says Raman, that Aung San Suu Kyi is not supporting the Rohingyas is because of certain Rohingya groups' actions against the Burmese army. "While she is talking about some ethnic groupings, she has stayed quiet on the Rohingya," says Raman, adding that they should simply be repatriated.

One-way ticket out of Myanmar

They look hunted at the idea of a return to Myanmar. Hamza says the very thought of repatriation terrifies; refugee is the only status they can aspire to. "Whatever happens, we can't return. They've taken our houses, our land."

"We can't return to Myanmar and we aren't allowed to be refugees. Where do we go?" says a shaking Ahmad, father of four sons and three daughters. "It will be double 'zulum'. It's not an option," chorus the refugees.

The trip from Arakan to Delhi took him just a week, says Hamza, now the maulana among the Madanpur Khadar group. He had a tiny farm in Arakan. Hamza escaped to India in 2009 in 'jamadil awal' or winter. The last straw was when the Burmese army picked him up in an extortion bid. Hamza's brother, a petty shopkeeper, paid a hefty sum for his release. "We knew that now that they had got the money, they would target me again," he says.

The exit plan didn't take long. "The route and arrangements are in place because people have been leaving for a long time now," says Hamza. From his Arakan village, it was a kishti (canoe) to Chittagong. He bussed it from Chittagong to Dhaka, which ferried "only Burmese", then a private vehicle from Dhaka to Kolkata and by train to Delhi. It took a week and cash changed hands at every checkpost from his village onwards, ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 3,000 at each point. "When a group moves, many get caught and are dumped in prisons. I was lucky," he says.

Being cautious over security reasons is one thing, hawkish another. The UN's denying them refugee status and being satisfied with the Indian government's extension of their stay is a big dampener for them. "We came to India because it is the land of 'raham-karam' (mercy and fate/ providence)," says Hamza.

The UNHCR card that they flash will "only ensure that the police don't harass us. But we can't send our children to school," says Fatima. This concern about the children is not a parrot-like drone; it seems born of watching the very many half-clothed kids running around in the dirt. "My life is finished, but I must think of the children's future," says Hamza, aged 26.

Fatima (27), mother of three kids, reached India several years ago, got married here and has lived in several cities for stretches of six to seven months, returning to a given town after a gap. Jalalabad, Jammu, Muzaffarnagar, "some place in Haryana", and now in Delhi, she racks her memory. She says with a quiet smile: "We have no place to go. 'Jaane ka koi rasta nahin'. (There are no roads leading anywhere). Wherever we go, we are chased away."

The Rohingyas live across India from Jammu to Hyderabad, from Uttarkhand's Bagwari to Jaipur, in pockets in Jalalabad, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar. These are the main places from where the 620 families came to Delhi, says Hamza, each city having its own loose network of "Burmese refugees". "We reach the country but have no fixed schedule. We move from a city when we are thrown out," he says matter-of-factly.

World salivates over energy-rich Arakan

The Rohingya Muslims need help in two ways: with a refugee status to those who have fled the country and putting pressure on the Burmese government to restore land rights to those who remain in the country. Rehabilitation of this ethnic group seems all the more important especially because of the terror links that have surfaced. But nations seem more likely to look the other way.

It's not as if the world hasn't heard of Arakan in resource-rich Myanmar, the country abundant in oil, natural gas, coal, zinc, copper, precious stones, timber and hydropower with uranium deposits thrown in too.

Arakan is Myanmar's richest oil-producing region. Arakanese locals claim they have been extracting oil for over 300 years using makeshift pulleys. Whatever the actual history, Myanmar is certainly one of the world's oldest oil producers, its first barrel exported in the 1850s. As per CIA figures, Myanmar could have 50 million barrels of oil and 283 cubic metres of natural gas. According to experts, gas will be the main focus of the much-needed foreign investment over the coming years, though there is little data on the extent of reserves.

With the military junta giving way to a civilian government that came to power in February last, the world is eyeing Myanmar hungrily. Strategic affairs analyst Robert Kaplan wrote in Stratfor, "Geographically, Myanmar ... is where the spheres of influence of China and India overlap. Think of Myanmar as another Afghanistan in terms of its potential to change a region: a key, geostrategic puzzle piece ravaged by war and ineffective government that, if only normalized, would unroll trade routes in all directions."

He goes on to talk about the immense potential of the region. "At Ramree Island off the Arakan coast, the Chinese are constructing pipelines to take oil and natural gas from Africa, the Persian Gulf and Bay of Bengal across the heart of Myanmar to Kunming. There will also be a high-speed rail line roughly along this route by 2015.
"India too is constructing an energy terminal at Sittwe [Arakan] that will potentially carry offshore natural gas northwest through Bangladesh to West Bengal. The Indian pipeline would split into two directions, with another proposed route going to the north around Bangladesh. Commercial goods will follow along new highways to be built to India. Kolkata, Chittagong and Yangon, rather than being cities in three separate countries, will finally be part of one Indian Ocean world."

If that weren't euphoric enough, "The salient fact here is that by liberating Myanmar, India's hitherto landlocked northeast, lying on the far side of Bangladesh, will also be opened up to the outside. Northeast India has suffered from bad geography and underdevelopment, and as a consequence it has experienced about a dozen insurgencies in recent decades ... Myanmar's political opening and economic development changes this geopolitical fact, because both India's northeast and Bangladesh will benefit from Myanmar's political and economic renewal.
"With poverty reduced somewhat in all these areas, the pressure on Kolkata and West Bengal to absorb economic refugees will be alleviated." He signs off on an impossibly positive note, "If Myanmar can build pan-ethnic institutions ... it could come close to being a midlevel power in its own right..."

The operative words being "if" and "pan-ethnic". A look at the state of the Rohingya Muslims, one can only wonder.

The road ahead

Rohingyas saw a ray of hope when the civilian government promised to talk with the many dispossessed ethnic groups in Myanmar including the insurgent groups. But once the government announced the groups it would be talking to, their name was conspicuously missing. "While the government has engaged in talks with several other ethnic groups, not even a whisper in the wind of talking about Rohingyas," says Khin.

Discrimination is growing, says Nurul Islam, president of the London-based Arakan Rohingya National Organization. In a March 29 interview, he said, "There is no change of attitude of the new civilian government of U Thein Sein towards Rohingya people; there is no sign of change in the human rights situation of Rohingya people. Persecution against them is actually greater than before."

For the world, their predicament has remained a blind spot. There's little coverage on their plight.

The UNHCR, which takes care of 'Arakanese Muslims' in the region, does not mention the term Rohingya in its online literature on Myanmar, choosing to refer to them as Arakanese Muslims. "The UNHCR works in Arakan with an understanding with the regime. It is on a contract. Though Rohingya is established in international community, UNHCR avoids using the term," says Khin. Can lopping off their core identity help assimilate or mainstream this ethnic group?

The UNHCR says it supports the 800,000 Muslim residents in the northern part of the region that was renamed Rakhine state (NRS), who do not have citizenship." Its website says, "There has been no improvement in the legal status or living conditions of the Muslim residents of NRS. With the government's response to the proposals being a reiteration of current policies, UNHCR foresees a continuing need for programmes to assist residents without citizenship in NRS."

Fears are strong that the coming 2014 census that the Burmese government has promised may bypass the existence of the Rohingya Muslims altogether. NGOs are stepping up their agitation in the run-up to the census, says Khin.

These fears were given credence by recent reports that senior government officials have said that there are no 'stateless people in Myanmar' while the immigration minister reiterated the allegation that the Rohingyas are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

At Madanpur Khadar, they have no place to go. And they are praying they will not outstay their welcome. The charity has taken no decision, but has provisioned for about a month, says Dr Najaf, its secretary.

Does India have reason to fear Rashida? If you look at the plight of this young population, not today. But if we don't take care of her and her children, who knows what these kids will be doing a few years from now? They're sitting ducks, easy prey.

 

Burma Freedoms Mean More Persecuted Rohingya Will Flee the New Apartheid

Source from Phuket Wan, 25 MAy 2012

 

PHUKET: Concern is mounting that the increasing signs of openness in Burma actually could mean harsher repression for the stateless Rohingya, and more boatpeople on the Andaman Sea off Phuket in coming ''sailing seasons''.

Boatpeople: 'Ugly as ogres' to some, neglected human beings to others 

Feeling more free now to speak their minds, the neighbors of the Rohingya in Burma - also known as Myanmar - are openly expressing contempt for the minority Muslim group, according to those with contacts in the isolated Rakhine state.

Some onlookers assumed that increasing freedoms in Burma would benefit the Rohingya in their quest to be accepted as citizens. But the opposite has proven to be true so far, says Chris Lewa, founder and director of a rights group, The Arakan Project.

''There is some evidence that the people who do not want the Rohingya in the region have been emboldened to become more outspoken about their land and their jobs 'being stolen,'' she said.

''The Rohingya are not mentioned by name and what's being said does not constitute race hatred, but that could change.

''Although it is very difficult to make predictions, the reform agenda in Burma conscientiously excludes the Rohingya and they have very little support, even among Burma's opposition parties.''

Although Rohingya can now travel between villages without requesting official permission, they cannot stay away from home overnight. Jobs and an income are denied.

Fears are also growing among those Rohingya who have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where life in or around refugee camps is no better, as talk grows of forced repatriation to Burma.

The outlook for the Rohingya is not promising elsewhere in the region.

In Malaysia, the target destination for many who take to the sea looking for a better life, acknowledgement of Rohingya as refugees has ceased for the time being, possibly in an effort to reduce Malaysia's appeal to others looking to escape.

There is growing concern now, as Western nations make concessions to a more liberal government in Burma, that the 800,000 stateless Rohingya will be the biggest losers.

Violence cannot be discounted.

Dr Wakar Uddin, chairman of the Burmese Rohingya Association of North America, was recently quoted as saying: ''If somehow the Burmese government [manages] to get sanctions lifted and the Rohingya issue is not resolved, we are finished.

"There is no hope because they will not revisit this. Whatever needs to be done about the Rohingya, it has to be done before the sanctions are lifted.''

Lack of hope was echoed by Nurul Islam, president of the London-based Arakan Rohingya National Organisation, who said: ''There is no change of attitude of the new civilian government of Thein Sein towards Rohingya people; there is no sign of change in the human rights situation of Rohingya people.

''Persecution against them is actually greater than before.''

The word ''Rohingya'' is seldom used by officials in any of the countries bordering Burma, even though they share the common problem of what to do with unwanted boatpeople.

In Thailand, where the inhumane ''pushbacks'' of hundreds of unwanted Rohingya boatpeople were exposed in 2009, the military continues to determine policy, with mixed results.

Although the military says about 5000 boatpeople were detected in or near Thailand in the latest November to April ''sailing season,'' others say the real number could be approaching twice that figure.

There have been no Rohingya held in detention in Thailand for about 12 months. There would be no point.

Those boatpeople who are apprehended cannot be sent back to Burma because they do not have Burmese citizenship.

The suspicion is that those who are apprehended are handed on to people traffickers, who pass them across the border, into Malaysia.

In looking for comparisons to the Rohingya and their treatment, apartheid in South Africa brings striking similarities.

While apartheid marked the subjugation of the black majority by a white minority, the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority appears to have the overwhelming support of most other Burmese.

There is no doubt that racism is at the heart of Burma's disdain for Rohingya. The shame is that the world is now openly embracing a regime that endorses racial segregation.

Greg Torode, a journalist on the South China Morning Post newspaper, first exposed the depth of Burmese racism back in 2009 when he reported that a Burmese envoy based in Hong Kong, Ye Myint Aung, described the Rohingya as ''ugly as ogres.''

In a letter to all heads of foreign missions in the city, Ye Myint Aung wrote: ''You will see in the photos that their complexion is 'dark brown','' noting that the complexion of Burmese is ''fair and soft, good-looking as well''.

Racism at its most blatant and insidious offers up the most logical explanation of all for Burma's treatment of the Rohingya.

Just as Ye Myint Aung was never held to account for his words, Burma has never been seriously questioned about its modern, apparently acceptable version of aparttheid.

85 Rohingya Boatpeople Land in Mon State

Source from Irrawaddy news, 25 May 2012

 

An Indonesian navy officer counts Rohingya refugees at a naval base on Sabang island in 2009 after the refugees were found floating at sea on a wooden boat. (PHOTO: Reuters)

Eighty-five Rohingya boatpeople who were picked up by Mon fishermen in the Andaman Sea have been landed at Aim Dein village in Ye Township, Mon State.

"They were at sea for two weeks," said a local Mon woman had who voluntarily taken food and water to the destitute people. "Then they had engine problems during a storm and could go no further."

According to local residents in Ye, only one of the boatpeople is a woman; the rest are men. They were put ashore at Aim Dein at 3 pm on Thursday by fishermen who picked them up while they were drifting at sea.

Aim Dein is a remote coastal village 10 miles from Ye in southern Burma or Myanmar.

"The boatpeople told us that 17 others had died at sea from starvation," said an Aim Dein local. "They said they were en route to Malaysia."

Later on Thursday, Mon township authorities, police and maritime officers interviewed the 85 boatpeople. No comment was made, however, on what would be done with the Rohingya boatpeople nor where they would be sheltered in the meantime.

On Wednesday, Maung Kyaw Nu, the president of the Burmese Rohingya Association of Thailand, appealed to Burmese MPs and to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to assist the almost 2 million Rohingya living in Burma and elsewhere.

Rohingya people perennially leave their homes and families in Burma and Bangladesh where they face extreme discrimination and are denied citizenship.

The Muslim Rohingya often find they have little alternative but to try to travel illegally across the Andaman Sea to try to find work in Thailand, Malaysia or another third country.

They are frequently described by human rights groups as "one of the most persecuted people in the world."

Thailand is among the countries criticized for treating Rohingya boatpeople inhumanely. The Rohingya issue drew international attention in 2009 when the Thai military was accused of intercepting boatloads of Rohingyas, sabotaging their vessels, and abandoning them at sea.

Rohingya Appeal to Suu Kyi

Source from Irrawaddy news, 24 May 2012

 

A Rohingya mother and her children carry water from a stream to their refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (PHOTO: Reuters)

BANGKOK—An exiled Rohingya activist last night appealed to MPs and to National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi to assist the almost 2 million Rohingya living in Burma and elsewhere.

"I would like to ask our beloved Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to speak out of behalf of Rohingya people, and ask for the return of our lost rights, the rights our forefathers had," said Maung Kyaw Nu, the president of the Burmese Rohingya Association of Thailand.

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic minority living mostly in western Burma's Arakan State where they are denied Burmese citizenship, and subjected to various forms of discrimination: they generally have to wait two to three years for permits to marry; are usually prohibited from leaving the village where they live; and are subject to human rights and other abuses by local civil and military authorities.

When Rohingya couples do receive permission to marry, they must sign an agreement that they will not have more than two children. If a couple marries without official permission, the husband can be prosecuted and spend five years in detention—with Buthidaung jail in northern Arakan State thought to hold prisoners in this category.

However, the Rohingya say they were promised equal rights by Burma's colonial-era independence heroes, including Aung San Suu Kyi's father, Gen. Aung San, in return for their support in the struggle against British rule.

"In 1946 General Aung San visited my area," said Maung Kyaw Nu. "He said to our people 'I give you a blank cheque, please co-operate with me.'"

All told, around 750,000 Rohingya live in Burma, mostly in Arakan State in the country's west, with an estimated 1 million more living in exile in Bangladesh, Malaysia, India and elsewhere—an exodus prompted by decades of human rights violations and discrimination.

Rohingya endure squalid and dangerous conditions in camps in Bangladesh and third countries, such is the oppression they face at home, say activists. Some Rohingya undertake a perilous sea journey to Thailand, where in 2009 Thai authorities were accused of pushing Rohingya boats out to sea and leaving the refugees to their fate on the open waters. Other Rohingya attempt get to Indonesia or Australia in search of a new life, including a group of 26 who were almost shipwrecked en route to Australia from Indonesia, subsequently helped to land in Timor-Leste by local fishermen.

The push factor could be increasing, according to Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director Phil Robertson, who says relations between the Rohingya and the majority Buddhist Rakhine in the western region are deteriorating, even as Burma continues a recent glasnost. "While there are now some Rohingya MPs, some Buddhist Rakhine in the state assembly are raising issues for the Rohingya," he said.

Phil Robertson says Burma's treatment of the Rohingya and the country's 100-plus other ethnic minorities is a litmus test for the government's reform credentials. "Is there a place for the Rohingya in Burma?" he asked.

Thai photographer Suthep Kritsanavarin has visited the region. "Between the Rakhine and the Rohingya there is always tension," he said, speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, where his exhibition "Stateless Rohingya: Running on Empty," is on display.

Burma is scheduled to host a meeting of the Asean human rights commission from June 3-6. It seems unlikely that the Rohingya issue will be discussed at the get-together, as according to Phil Robertson, the Rohingya were not discussed during the commission's last meeting in Bangkok.

"So far, Asean has been ducking this issue," he said, asking: "Can Asean grapple with a fundamental regional problem, and solve it?"

Dhaka aid embargo hurts Bangladesh as much as Rohingya refugees

Source from guardian.com.au, 24 May 2012

 

Blocking humanitarian aid to deter more Rohingya refugees is worsening a wider malnutrition crisis in Teknaf and Ukhia

Global acute malnutrition in Rohingya children is now reaching 27% in the Kutu Palong makeshift refugee camp. Photograph: Misha Hussain

Rafiqul's arm is no wider than a tube of sweets. The 18-month-old Rohingya refugee suffers from acute malnutrition and, without medical treatment and nutritional therapy, his chances of survival are becoming slimmer.

The latest survey by Médecins sans Frontières found that global acute malnutrition, one of the basic indicators for assessing the severity of a humanitarian crisis, is as high as 27% in the Kutu Palong makeshift camp, where an estimated 20,000 unregistered refugees live. It is almost double the emergency threshold of 15% set by the World Health Organisation.

Yet the Bangladesh government refuses to formally allow humanitarian assistance into the camp or the surrounding border districts of Ukhia and Teknaf. The majority of the estimated more than 200,000 unregistered Muslim Rohingyas in Bangladesh live in these two districts after fleeing persecution in neighbouring Burma, which is predominantly Buddhist.

Government officials claim humanitarian aid would create a "pull factor" for other Rohingyas, putting even more pressure on an already strained local labour market. A recent article in the Samakal, a Bangla-language daily, quoted a foreign ministry source describing Rohingyas as "excess baggage on the economy, society and national security".

Ironically, the policy of blocking aid for the Rohingyas appears to be hurting the host population as much as the refugees. A report by Action Contre la Faim (ACF), released this month, found disturbing statistics for Bangladeshi children in the districts: 16.5% of children under five suffer from acute malnutrition in Ukhia while the rate is 21.5% in Teknaf.

According to the report, the prevalence of acute malnutrition in both districts, two of the poorest in the country, has increased since 2009. The report cited decreasing purchasing power parity of agricultural day labourers, floods and the lack of humanitarian assistance as possible reasons for the malnutrition crisis.

The seasonal rains also have an impact on the availability of day labour such as construction, fishing or rickshaw-pulling. "Neither my husband nor I have been able to find work for more than three weeks [because of the rains]. We have no income, and no food," said Rafiqul's mother, Rezana.

Clandestine humanitarian aid

The reports come exactly a year after the government rejected a $33m UN joint initiative aimed at reducing hunger and poverty for both Bangladeshis and refugees in the region. The government claimed it would draw more Rohingyas across the border.

However, Echo, the humanitarian aid arm of the European Commission, which funds three NGOs operating under the radar in Ukhia and Teknaf, is sceptical as to whether aid really does create a "pull factor". "Our funding in the Kutu Palong makeshift camp and surrounding populations has increased over the past two years. Yet there hasn't been a corresponding increase in camp numbers, which on the contrary [have] significantly decreased," says Olivier Brouant, an Echo humanitarian expert.

Nevertheless, the NGO Affairs Bureau, the department responsible for granting work permits to NGOs, has denied any organisation that mentions Rohingya in their application. None of the NGOs working in Ukhia or Teknaf has a permit, despite having permission to work in other locations. This has forced a handful of aid agencies to run clandestine humanitarian programmes, creating additional challenges.

Without the permit, NGOs struggle to bring in cash for day-to-day operations, import medical equipment and treatment or ready-to-use therapeutic food, which is essential for children suffering from malnutrition. The NGOs work under the threat of being shut down if they communicate the grim situation within the districts to the international press.

Bangladesh, like many other developing countries with large refugee populations, is in an unenviable position. Its political leaders have to solve worsening malnutrition in the host population while shouldering the ethical responsibility of taking in refugees despite not signing the 1951 Refugee Convention.

In recent months, positive steps have been taken to address the former concern. A $2m joint World Food Programme-ACF community-based nutritional programme started this year aims to treat more than 15,000 Bangladeshi children suffering from acute malnutrition, as well as 2,000 pregnant and nursing women.

Unfortunately for the Rohingyas, the situation across the border seems no better. Despite progress towards democracy in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party has been non-committal on the Rohingya issue. The situation in Burma remains too fragile for the refugees to return home safely.

While the Bangladesh government weighs up its duty to its citizens with its moral obligations to refugees, Rezana and thousands like her do not know where to turn. "I'm damned if I stay, I'm damned if I don't," says Rezana, "so where should I go?"

Restore Rangoon University: President’s Adviser

 Source from Irrawaddy news, 21 May 2012

Rangoon University's Students Union building before it was blown up by Burmese dictator Ne Win in 1962.

Burmese President Thein Sein's economic advisor has called for the restoration of Rangoon University and its Students Union building in an open letter which has gained much public support.

U Myint, chief of the Centre for Economic and Social Development of the Myanmar Development Resource Institute and a former economics lecturer, distributed the proposal at a discussion on agricultural development policies in the former capital on Saturday.

Within a couple of days his campaign had generated a huge following and widespread discussion on social media networks such as Facebook.

U Myint, who was an undergraduate student at Rangoon University in the 1960s, said in his letter that the institution is just like the Irrawaddy River as "it belongs to everyone in Burma."

Rangoon University was one of the most prestigious seats of learning in Asia for many years, but "has lost much of its former glory and splendor" just like the Irrawaddy River, he said.

U Myint added that a unified, clear and strong stand on restoring the university was "public sentiment" just like the campaign to save the Irrawaddy, referring to nationwide protests against the Chinese-backed Myitsone hydropower dam in Kachin State.

Maung Wuntha, a prominent journalist who studied at Rangoon University from 1961-67, told The Irrawaddy that, "Saya U Myint is right and has pointed out the most important and necessity tasks to accomplish."

"Now is the right time to respond to the call for the reestablishment of Rangoon University with public support." agreed Maung Wuntha.

The Rangoon campus, an original hub of the students' political movement since British colonial rule, has been at the center of major events throughout Burmese history. But regular classes have not been held there since the 1990s after the former military junta systematically moved universities to suburban areas in order to quell dissenter activities.

 

U Myint records the views of the university's lecturers who must teach at new campuses on the city's outskirts and say that, "our biggest and enduring wish is to return to the main university campus in Yangon."

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Hla Myint, a former physics professor at Mandalay University and advisor of the Tatmadaw (armed forces) Engineering Institute, said, "Moving the universities to remote areas for security reasons has caused many problems for the teachers and students."

U Myint also suggested restoring the Students Union building, reinstating classes at the Rangoon campus as well as bringing back hostels and all the necessary infrastructure of the union.

"The new Students Union building," which was a sensitive issue under the previous regime, "will be a landmark in the national reconciliation process and fill a void that has been in our hearts for some time," he said.

"I recall the facilities there consisted of a small reading room and library, a restaurant, a barber shop, meeting rooms and a recreation room with a ping-pong table."

Maung Wuntha said, "It is going to be 50 years this coming July 8." He was a student leader in 1962 when the union building was demolished by dictator Ne Win after protests against his coup a few months previously.

The students' demonstration was violently quashed on July 7 with their headquarters blown up the very next day to deter any further dissent.

Kyaw Ko Ko, the chairman of the All Burma Federation of Student Union (ABSFU) organizing committee, said, "the letter of U Myint echoes the view of the ABSFU, which sees Rangoon University as part of our national heritage."

"And the ABFSU organizing committee has also been recently demanding that classes are reopened at the campus and for the Students Union building to be rebuilt," he added.

The student leader shares U Myint's views regarding the importance of preserving the campus and protecting it from the advances of businessmen in post-sanctions Burma as it enjoys a prime location in the center of the city.

U Myint has called for the Burmese authorities to use its assets wisely while the country opens up to economic development. Although current student leaders have welcomed his letter, they have emphasized that other actions are also important.

"There needs to be an improvement in the level of teaching and curriculums from the primary and secondary levels in order to reach the quality of learning of the university campus," said Ye Yint Kyaw, another leader of the ABFSU upper Burma organizing committee.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy, D Nyein Lin, a student activist and former political prisoner, also said that there must first be changes in teachers' attitudes as many obstacles to learning remain.

"Even students who were imprisoned for the students' movement are still not allowed to return to class," he explained. "The students also should be allowed to form a union without being pressured by their teachers or professors."

U Myint is positive that the current government will support bringing Rangoon University back to life and added that "it will be a gift to the youth of the country."

Troubles continue for Myanmar's Rohingya minority

Source from AFP, 21 May 2012

 

KLANG, Malaysia — For five years, Abdul Rahim Abdul Hashim was repeatedly press-ganged into forced labour at a Myanmar military camp, until the ethnic Rohingya teenager could take no more.

Abdul Rahim crossed the border into neighbouring Bangladesh late last year and secured passage on a rickety boat for the perilous 3,200-kilometre (2,000-mile) sea voyage to Malaysia.

"I could not stay (in Myanmar) anymore. We could not go to school, I could not get any job," said Abdul Rahim, 18, of the plight of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that alleges particularly acute repression under Myanmar's government.

The newly civilian government's moves to relax decades of military rule have been hailed worldwide and provided hope of a new era for majority Burmese and ethnic minorities who have long claimed oppression.

But refugees and activists say initial optimism is fading among many Rohingya -- whom the United Nations calls one of the world's most persecuted minorities -- as repressive practices have continued and an exodus abroad shows no sign of abating.

"I don't want to go back. There will be no change," Abdul Rahim said in the Rohingya language through a translator.

Myanmar has an estimated 750,000 Rohingya, according to the United Nations, mainly in the western coastal state of Rakhine bordering Bangladesh. Another one million or more are believed to already live in exile in other countries.

A Muslim minority in mainly Buddhist Myanmar who speak a Bengali dialect, Rohingyas claim decades of persecution by a government that they say views them with suspicion.

Activists say forced labour is common and Rohingyas face discriminatory practices including travel restrictions, limits on family size, and a refusal to issue them passports that leaves them effectively stateless.

"There is no change at the moment. The Rohingya still see no future," said Chris Lewa, director of Bangkok-based The Arakan Project, an advocacy group monitoring the Rohingya.

An estimated 7,000 Rohingya, some from exile in Bangladesh but also directly from Myanmar, risked the voyage to Malaysia since October, she said.

Many still flee to Bangladesh but Muslim Malaysia has steadily become a magnet due to its more developed economy and because authorities have closed one eye to illegal migration in recent years due to a need for cheap labour.

Malaysia has an estimated two million illegal migrants, most seeking economic opportunities, but the UN refugee agency said there also are about 97,000 legitimate refugees fleeing persecution or other hardship, mostly from Myanmar and including 23,000 Rohingya.

"The new destination country is Malaysia. This year it could be more than ever coming here," Lewa said.

Once in Malaysia, Rohingya remain vulnerable to harrassment and have limited access to services such as health care.

Lewa said Myanmar invited Rohingya to vote, stand as candidates and form political parties in 2010 elections, but adds that a corresponding offer of possible citizenship never materialised, crushing the hopes of many.

"While the new government has engaged in a series of reforms toward democratisation, there has been no real progress for the Rohingya, no change at the policy level and very little on the ground," Lewa said.

"Forced labour, marriage restrictions, restrictions on movement and arbitrary arrests continue."

Abdul Rahim embarked on the dangerous journey south along the Myanmar, Thai and Malaysian coasts with two dozen others aboard a small boat in Bangladesh.

"I was very scared," he said.

Intercepted by Thai authorities, they were detained in a jungle camp for several weeks and fed just once a day until Abdul Rahim and several others bribed their way out.

They eventually made their way by bus and on foot to the Malaysian border.

Those who make it must dodge Malaysian authorities while scraping out a meagre living through manual labour.

In a bare room in a residential neighbourhood in Klang, a port town 30 kilometres west of the capital Kuala Lumpur, scores of young Rohingya men recounted their troubles back home as they sat together after an Islamic lesson.

Abdul Rahim said he was regularly snatched from his home to help build roads, cut down trees and perform other hard labour at the military camp.

"In Myanmar we can never sleep. Now we can sleep here," he said.

Several of the men said they paid smugglers up to $1,000 for passage, yet now earn just 30 ringgit ($10) a day transporting boxes of produce at a local fishmarket.

Some harbour dim hopes of resettlement through the UN refugee agency to a third country such as the United States or Australia.

But others embark on the even longer boat journey to Australia via Indonesia.

"They have no hope. If they die (at sea), never mind. (They may) find a better life," said a Rohingya exile who only gave his name as Yahya.

Winners of the Human Rights Defenders Award

Source from US Department of State, 18 May 2012

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce that Ales Byalyatski of Belarus and Uganda's Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law are the joint winners of the 2011 Human Rights Defenders Award. This award recognizes individuals or non-governmental organizations that show exceptional valor and leadership in advocating the protection of human rights and democracy in the face of government repression.

Ales Byalyatski has bravely advocated on behalf of victims of political oppression and their families despite harassment by the Government of Belarus. As the founder of "Vyasna," one of Belarus' leading human rights organizations, Byalyatski provided legal and practical support to victims of an on-going crackdown and acted as a key source of information about human rights violations. He is currently a political prisoner, serving a four and a half year sentence for defending human rights.

Uganda's Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law is honored for effectively defending the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, often at great personal risk. The Coalition, which is comprised of 40 Ugandan NGOs, has successfully defended the rights of LGBT individuals in Ugandan courts, sparked public dialogue on LGBT rights in Uganda, and challenged widespread misperceptions and prejudices. The Coalition's structure, effectiveness, and engagement with Ugandan civil society, government officials, and the Ugandan public provides a model for other human rights activists around the world.

This year's nominees came from every corner of the world. Common World and the Little Bird Mutual Assistance Hotline in China, as well as the Mutual Support Group and the Center for Legal Action in Human Rights, from Guatemala were nominated organizations, as were an impressive group of individual nominees: Jorge Molano of Colombia, Adilur Rahman Khan from Bangladesh, George Freeman from Sierra Leone, Govinda Prasad Sharma Koirala of Nepal, Swaziland's Justice Thomas Masuku, Igor Kalyapin from Russia, Zarganar from Burma, and Zaw Min Htut, a Rohingya rights activist living in Japan.

The United States stands with these and all human rights defenders and civil society activists who work hard every day, in every part of the world, to make real the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Myanmar's Suu Kyi to address British parliament in June

Source from Asiaone, 19 May 2012

WASHINGTON - Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be given the rare honour of addressing both houses of Britain's parliament when she makes her first trip outside Myanmar in 24 years next month, British officials said on Saturday.

The Nobel peace laureate has accepted Prime Minister David Cameron's invitation to visit Britain and will spend a week there from June 18, officials accompanying Cameron at a summit of the Group of Eight leading economies in the United States told reporters.

Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, said last month she would visit Norway and Britain in June, but it was the first time the British government had confirmed the trip.

Suu Kyi will give a speech to both houses of parliament during her stay, a rare honour accorded in the past to figures such as former South African President Nelson Mandela and, last year, to U.S. President Barack Obama.

Her journey caps months of dramatic change in Myanmar, including a historic by-election on April 1 that won her a seat in a year-old parliament that replaced nearly five decades of oppressive military rule.

Her trip is expected to include a visit to the British city Oxford, where she attended university in the 1970s.

Suu Kyi, 66, was first detained in 1989, and spent 15 of the next 21 years in detention until her release from house arrest in November 2010. She refused to leave the country during the brief periods when she was not held by authorities, for fear of not being allowed to return.

Cameron invited Suu Kyi to visit Britain when he met her in Yangon in April. Her British husband, Michael Aris, died of cancer in 1999.

Britain is proposing the creation of an international commission to encourage "responsible" trade and investment in Myanmar, also known as Burma, now that sanctions on the country are being lifted, British officials said.

The plan is designed to help make sure trade benefits all Myanmar's people, rather than a "select few", a British official said.

The United States, the European Union, Japan, Canada and Australia have all moved in recent weeks to ease or suspend sanctions on Myanmar, as the once pariah nation embarks on democratic reforms and seeks engagement with the world.

British officials said Cameron would outline proposals at the G8 for a Commission for Responsible Investment in Burma that could bring together representatives from the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, international companies and human rights campaigners.

The panel would establish principles that businesses would be encouraged to sign up to when trading with or investing in Myanmar, the officials said.

Burmese ‘Slaves’ Rescued from Thai Factory

Source from Irrawaddy news, 17 may 2012

 

Burmese workers are provided with food at a police station after being rescued. (Photo: BAT)

Nearly 150 Burmese migrant workers, who for up to two years had been locked inside a shrimp factory in Mahachai near Bangkok, were rescued on Tuesday by Thai police and social organizations.

Kyaw Thaung, a spokesperson for the Burmese Association in Thailand (BAT), told The Irrawaddy that his organization found out about the workers through an employee who had escaped.

"There are 146 workers altogether. They were placed in the basement underneath the factory and forced to work like slaves," said Kyaw Thaung.

He said the BAT staff informed local authorities about the conditions in the factory and the plight of the desperate workers, but were told they would have to produce stronger evidence, such as photographs or videos, before the authorities could take further action.

The staffer, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Irrawaddy that he had to risk his life to obtain such evidence.

"I had to shoot photos and videos secretly, and I was afraid of being found out by the factory thugs or the police. I don't have any documents to stay in Thailand," he said.

After his evidence was submitted to local Thai police and a UN agency, the factory owner, Burmese charge-hands and security guards were arrested, and the workers were finally freed from bondage.

The rescue effort also reportedly involved the BAT, the Anti-Human Trafficking Division of the Royal Thai Police (AHTD), United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), the Foundation for Education and Development (FED) based in Thailand's Phang Nga Province, and the Burmese embassy in Bangkok.

A male worker who escaped from virtual slavery told The Irrawaddy that some of the victims were trapped there for up to two years and that when unwell were not allowed to receive medical treatment. Everybody had to work approximately 20 hours a day without any days off, he said.

He also said that Kyaw Soe, the Burmese charge-hand who was arrested together with the factory owner, treated the workers cruelly and even slapped their faces sometimes.

"Once I got out of the factory, I felt I had gone from hell to heaven," he said.

On May 15, Thai police in nearby Samut Prakan Province arrested more than 1,000 migrant workers, 386 of whom were from Burma, while the rest were from Laos and Cambodia. The arrest was carried out due to alleged drug dealing by some workers, Thai newspapers reported.

According to organizations assisting migrant workers in Thailand, there are about four million Burmese, only half of whom have official documents, currently working in the kingdom.

Rohingya welcome Indian Government’s decision and request to grant official refugee status to Rohingya asylum seekers

By BRAT, 18 May 2012

 

The undersigned Rohingya organisations have welcomed the decision of the Indian government to grant long-term visas to the Rohingyas. The UNHCR called it "a huge step forward for their protection and safety in India".  

 

Rohingya, a peace loving people inhabiting Arakan with a long history, are not tolerated in Burma for their South Asian appearance in contrast to Southeast Asian. They have been subjected to ethnic, religious and political persecution in their native country, where they have absolute rights to be on an equal footing with all other citizens. 

 

The Burmese military regime followed by ruling Burmese civilianized military government has declared Rohingya non-nationals rendering them stateless. Grave human rights violations that amount to crimes against humanity have been perpetrated against them. Since Burma's independence about 1.5 million Rohingyas have either been expelled or have had to leave their homeland to escape persecution.  Under extreme situation, a large number of Rohingya boat people voyaged in rickety boats to South East Asian countries in search of protection. Since 2009 a number of them drowned in the high seas while scores of others were rescued or jailed in some countries in the region. 

 

It is horrible that the Burmese government and state patronized extremists in Arakan are at present restless trying to tarnish the image of the Rohingya people through series of anti-Rohingya propagandas under racist and xenophobic plans. The xenophobes are also trying to stir up public opinion against Rohingya asylum seekers in the countries of their refuge. 

 

It is terrible that in his open letter, dated 14 May 2012, to Hon. Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Ji Singh, the Chief of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Dr. Praven Togadia has made a fictitious, highly controversial and largely unsubstantiated allegation against the Rohingya people and their asylum seekers in India. Nevertheless, we appreciate the benign Government of India for allowing the Rohingya refugees to stay on in India and pursue asylum with access to education for their children in public schools.  We are also thankful to the Indian public and Indian student communities for helping the asylum seekers.

 

While recognizing with gratitude the humane treatment of the persecuted Rohingya asylum seekers we request the Indian government to consider granting them official refugee status in the absence of 'national protection'.

 

Meanwhile, we urge upon the Indian government and the international community to find out a permanent solution of the Rohingya problem and of Rohingya diasporas.   

 

Signatories to this joint statement: 

Arakan Rohingya National organisation (ARNO),      

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK),         

Burmese Rohingya Association Japan (BRAJ)                       

Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia (BRCA) 

Burmese Rohingya Community in Norway (BRCN)   

Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT)       

Rohingya League for Democracy (Burma) (RLDB)     

 

For more information,

please contact: Aman Ullah    +880-15584 86910

Tun Khin      + 44- 788 871 4866

Statement by the President on Burma

Source from cnn, 17 May 2012

 

Obama appoints ambassador to Burma, eases investment restrictions

(CNN) – President Obama announced Thursday he is appointing an ambassador to Burma and easing bans on U.S. investments.

The decision comes in the wake of the president's move last November to provide a U.S. opening in Burma for the first time in decades. In a statement released by the White House, Obama said he was heartened by progress in the country since then.

"Pesident Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma have made significant progress along the path to democracy. The United States has pledged to respond to positive developments in Burma and to clearly demonstrate America's commitment to the future of an extraordinary country, a courageous people, and universal values. That is what we are doing," Obama said in the statement.

Full statement after the jump:

Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the relationship between the United States and Burma. Since I announced a new U.S. opening to Burma in November, President Thein Sein, Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma have made significant progress along the path to democracy. The United States has pledged to respond to positive developments in Burma and to clearly demonstrate America's commitment to the future of an extraordinary country, a courageous people, and universal values. That is what we are doing.

Today, I am nominating our first U.S. Ambassador to Burma in 22 years, Derek Mitchell, whose work has been instrumental in bringing about this new phase in our bilateral relationship. We also are announcing that the United States will ease its bans on the exportation of financial services and new investment in Burma. Opening up greater economic engagement between our two countries is critical to supporting reformers in government and civil society, facilitating broad-based economic development, and bringing Burma out of isolation and into the international community.

Of course, there is far more to be done. The United States remains concerned about Burma's closed political system, its treatment of minorities and detention of political prisoners, and its relationship with North Korea. We will work to establish a framework for responsible investment from the United States that encourages transparency and oversight, and helps ensure that those who abuse human rights, engage in corruption, interfere with the peace process, or obstruct the reform process do not benefit from increased engagement with the United States. We will also continue to press for those who commit serious violations of human rights to be held accountable. We are also maintaining our current authorities to help ensure further reform and to retain the ability to reinstate selected sanctions if there is backsliding.

Americans for decades have stood with the Burmese people in their struggle to realize the full promise of their extraordinary country. In recent months, we have been inspired by the economic and political reforms that have taken place, Secretary Clinton's historic trip to Naypyidaw and Rangoon, the parliamentary elections, and the sight of Aung San Suu Kyi being sworn into office after years of struggle. As an iron fist has unclenched in Burma, we have extended our hand, and are entering a new phase in our engagement on behalf of a more democratic and prosperous future for the Burmese people.

India's Myanmar refugees get visas after month of protests in Delhi

Source from TheNational, 24 May 2012

 

Rohingya refugees from Myanmar will receive new residency visas and rights from the Indian government after a month long standoff that saw them take up residence outside New Delhi's Sultan Garhi tomb, above. Simon de Trey-White for The National

NEW DELHI // A month-long standoff between the ethnic Rohingya people of Myanmar, backed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and the Indian government ended yesterday with the government agreeing to grant long-term visas to the Rohingya.

The new visas will be valid until 2015. This will allow the Rohingya, who come from Myanmar's coastal Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh, to stay on in India and pursue asylum. It will give them access to education for their children in public schools, one of their main demands during a month of demonstrations.

The UNHCR called the government's decision "a huge step forward for their protection and safety in India". But the decision does not give the Rohingya what many of them sought - official refugee status. That would have allowed them access to a resettlement programme in a third country and financial assistance from UNHCR if they are unable to work.

Sujzaed Islam, 32, who has lived in India for the past four years, described the Indian government's visa decision as "muddy".

"We now have to go back to where we came from in India and apply for new visas. People already fear the Indian system, so this does not make it any easier," he said.

"I was reduced to being a porter for the [Myanmar] military even though I got the highest marks in school. I was not allowed to go to college."

Three decades ago, the government of Myanmar said the Rohingya, along with other ethnic minorities, did not qualify for citizenship, thus denying them many rights.

About 2,500 Rohingya, who are all Muslim, participated in the protest in New Delhi in an effort to obtain better access to refugee services in India, where about 7,000 refugees from Myanmar have registered with the UNHCR in New Delhi.

According to Human Rights Watch, there are an estimated 100,000 refugees from Myanmar living in the north-east of India. The UNHCR has no access to this part of the country because the border is contested. Travel, by both Indians and foreigners, to the region that borders China and Myanmar is carefully monitored by the Indian government.

Many of the protesters in New Delhi had feared they would be sent back to Myanmar as the April elections indicated the country, long ruled by a military junta, was embracing political reform.

A week ago the police removed the protesters from their makeshift camp in front of the UNHCR's office in Delhi.

They then squatted outside the Sultan Garhi tomb in Vasant Kunj in Delhi until yesterday.

The Rohingya who participated in the protest returned to their jobs across India yesterday, after assurances by the UNHCR that the government would provide the long-term visas.

Zaibur Rahman, 26, came to New Delhi with his wife and eight-month-old child, Misbah, to join the protest. He had been working as an electrician in the state of Uttar Pradesh for the past four years. He fled Myanmar after the military junta took away his uncle and his brothers for "being caretakers of a mosque", said Mr Rahman.

"We are stateless there and we are refugees here. All I want is for my child to not meet the same fate as the rest of my family."

India does not grant refugees and those seeking asylum the right to work in the country. Instead, they work in what Indians call the informal sector, as maids, waiters or in garment factories, where identification papers are rarely an issue.

The UNHCR said that India's ad hoc system makes protecting vulnerable people especially challenging.

"In India, there is no national legal framework for refugees and because of this, there are different approaches to different groups of people," said Nayana Bose, with the UNHCR. This means that the status and rights of each refugee group must be negotiated.

Despite the hurdles, Sayed Islam, who fled Myanmar for India a decade ago, has no intention of returning.

He brought his eight children and wife to the protests in New Delhi from their home in Jammu and Kashmir where he works as a day labourer.

Mr Islam always carries a one-kyat currency note to remind him of his home country, along with his Myanmar ID card.

"We are restricted in [Myanmar] and are not even allowed to travel to neighbouring villages without permission," he said. "Our daughters cannot get married without official consent. Our sons cannot attend college. Our land has been taken away from us."

"We left for a better life and we do not want to go back. We want to live here with better rights."

Rohingya exhibition and panel discussion at FCCT in Bangkok

By BRAT,

The photo exhibition- "Stateless Rohingya…Running on Empty" would be launched at Foreign Corespondents Club of Thailand-FCCT from 7pm of Friday May 18, 2012.

"Stateless Rohingya…Running on Empty" is an exhibition by award-winning photographer Suthep Kritsanavarin. It features images captured over three years throughout the region.
This presentation is an in-depth portrayal of the plight of the Rohingyas, an ethnic and religious minority in Myanmar – one of the world's most persecuted – and the international diaspora of their community from Australia to Malaysia.

Powerful images chronicle the story of a people estranged in their own homeland; denied citizenship, education and jobs in Burma – and their perilous journeys by boat in search of a land where they may claim as home.

Suthep, who is known for his pictures of the Mekong River, has also produced a short (12-minute) documentary that reveals the political and social challenges of this stateless community from northern Arakan/Rakhine state, acknowledged by human rights activists as one of the region's most unknown neglected people.

The documentary will be shown at a panel on May 23 to coincide with his exhibition.

The panel will address questions about the identity of the Rohingyas and why have fled their land, the historical source of the Myanmar government's denial of statehood and their struggle for humanitarian recognition.

Human Rights Watch representative Phil Robertson will attend to talk about the plight of the Rohingya, along with a top Thai academic, a Rohingya leader Maung Kyaw Nu (a former political prisoner of conscience and currently chairman of BRAT) and Intl award winner photo-journalist Suthep.

FCCT invites you to join in the launch of the photo show (May 18) and the panel (May 23) to discuss the situation of the Rohingya.

Dhaka proposes Rohingya issue in OIC

Source from Kaladan Press, 14 May 2012

Chittagong, Bangladesh: The Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in her statement highlighted the issue of Burmese refugees- Rohingya refugee- being hosted in Bangladesh for the last two decades and put forward some concrete proposals to address the issues in the First International Ministerial Conference on Refugees in the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) - the Muslim World- began in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on May 12, according to a press release from the ministry.

"The proposals include the requirement of international dialogue and engagement with non-OIC countries; addressing the root causes of protracted refugee situation; and strengthening the principle of international burden-sharing -- considering the shrinking global space for asylum and a growing trend of asylum fatigue."

The Foregin Minister also mentioned that the refugee problem imposes disproportionately heavy burden on host countries, who generally belong to the under developed country category or least developed countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh.

The foreign minister underscored engaging the host countries in decision-making and gap analysis relating to refugee protection, and stressed that their financial and associated economic contributions should be accounted for in the "official" discourse on protection.

Urging the UNHCR to take the lead role, Dipu Moni opined that the OIC could be a political partner in that dialogue.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni May 13, urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) António Guterres to resume repatriation process of the Burmese refugees in Bangladesh on the sidelines of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ministerial Meeting at Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, the press released said.

But, the Guterres opined that there might be some differences in understanding between the UNHCR and the government of the countries concerned about different aspects of Rohingya refugee problem.

"To clarify the issues, the Bangladesh government may consider sending a team to Geneva or the UNHCR may send a team to Dhaka," Guterres said.

Dipu Moni preferred a latter option and requested the UN refugee agency chief to adequately sensitize the UNHCR Dhaka office to take necessary measures to resume the repatriation process that has been stalled since 2005.

The two-day meeting is the first of its kind under the aegis of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) where UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is one of the co-organizers according to a press release from the ministry.

Similarly, Department of International Relation of Chittagong University (CU) organized a two-day lectur session in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sub-office in Chittagong to give the students a practical knowledge about the Rohingya refugees and their miserable condition, Chittagong University (CU)  on May 12, according to CU Department of International Relation's statement.

Dirk Hebecker, head of UNHCR sub-office in Cox's Bazaar, was the key lecturer on the first day of the programme and explained about the origins of the Rohingya refugees of Bangladesh, their problems and challenges.

Fahmida Karim, an official of UNHCR Dhaka office, and Faridul Alam, chairman of International Relation department of CU, were also present at the programme.

Humanitarian crisis looms large over Myanmar’s Muslim refugees in Delhi: UNHCR's discimination based on faith

Source from  TwoCircles.net, 14 May 2012

With no water, food and toilet, Delhi Police have kept them in a jungle area of Vasant Kunj

New Delhi: Dildar Begum was around 13 when her parents with many others from their community and locality set out for India two years back as the cruelty of the military regime became unbearable. Miles and miles they walked on foot through the jungle on the India-Myanmar border to reach India. But two years later today, Begum, now 15, and several hundreds of the Muslim refugees of her country are still in jungle – now not on border, but in the national capital of Delhi.

The Delhi Police have kept them in a jungle area of Vasant Kunj locality on Mahipalpur Road in South-West Delhi. They have no access to water, food and toilet. There could a humanitarian crisis in a few days as the police are not allowing any relief to them.

Sucheta, Students Union president of Jawaharlal Nehru University, has been trying to provide them with some health aid. But the Delhi Police have denied them access to the refugees. "When I asked them to show the order, they just pushed us out of the Vasant Kunj Police Station," Sucheta told TCN.

These Muslim refugees of Myanmar have been staying in different parts including Jammu & Kashmir of India for last several years. But a few months back they moved to Delhi collectively – they are around 3 thousand in number – to put pressure on the UN office that looks into the cases of refugees. They want official status of refugees. They have met UN officials but they are giving date after date. Next date of meeting is on 15th May.

Naseeruddin, a young refugee, said "they (UN officers) are just holding meetings. They are not granting us refugee status." Narrating the cruelty of the military regime in Myanmar he said: They had capture our property. They would use us as bonded labor. They took us to camps for hard labor and returned in the evening without money. When we reach home we found our women have faced their cruelty at home. In that situation we decided to leave our country."

Dildar Begum says "not only Muslims, some other communities including Hindus have come to India, and they have been granted refugee status, but they are discriminating against us as we are Muslims."

TCN told Naseeruddin that government is changing in Myanmar. Democracy is returning there. So he should think to return to his own country. He said: "Yes, we will go but only after the new government returns our property and all the communities who have migrated from Myanmar are ready to come back."

Sucheta of JUN says humanitarian crisis is looming large here. "Last night when I came here I saw a woman refugee with a newborn baby was crying for help to reach hospital. I do not know whether her baby is alive or not. They have no access to water, leave alone medical facilities." She demands the UN and Indian government that they should be given refugee status without any further delay.

JNU students hold protest demanding basic rights for Myanmar refugees

Source from Indiaexpress, 11 May 2012

 

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union on Thursday took to the streets demanding that the government as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) take immediate steps to address the "pathetic and abysmal" condition of Myanmar refugees in Delhi.

The JNUSU presented a memorandum to the High Commissioner who they said has promised to "negotiate with the government to grant refugee status to the Burmese."

The refugee camp was earlier located behind the UNHCR office in Vasant Vihar. It has now been shifted to the premises of a mosque in Sultangarhi in the Vasant Kunj-Mahipalpur area.

The refugees who had got onto a bus to reach the protest venue, were stopped from leaving the camp premises by police. Only a few members were able to reach the protest venue. In Vasant Vihar, students were not allowed to reach the UNHCR office.

"We could not allow them to protest because Section 144 is imposed in the area," said a senior police officer.

The refugees said they used whatever little space they had in the camp for cooking and sanitary purposes. As a result, diseases like diarrhoea and malaria were spreading, apart from several cases of dehydration. Women and children were the worst affected.

JNUSU President Sucheta De said, "It is indeed shocking that neither the UNHCR nor the government is showing even the minimum humanitarian concerns to address the basic needs of these refugees. JNUSU has been visiting the refugee camp and trying to organise some relief by collecting funds from the JNU community. But it is an enormous task and public bodies have to be pressurised to address the urgent needs of these refugees.".

Myanmar urges millions of exiles to return

Source from AFP, 12 May 2012

 

YANGON — Myanmar's president has urged the nation's millions-strong diaspora to return, state media reported Saturday, as the country seeks skilled workers to help smooth the passage of reform.

Several million people fled Myanmar's corrupted economy and political repression under army rule, leaving the nation desperately short of professionals to help it manage massive economic and political change.

Pledging to help emigres establish businesses as resource-rich Myanmar braces for a surge of foreign investment and an expected economic boom, President Thein Sein asked migrants who left for "various reasons" to return.

"Offers are being constantly extended to Myanmar citizens who have been abroad for various reasons to come back home," he was quoted as saying by English-language state newspaper the New Light of Myanmar

"Those who were abroad include technicians, experts, businessmen as well as those who are engaged in different careers.

"The state would render necessary assistance to them if they have any difficulties in doing business in the nation."

Many exiles have been emboldened to return by a surprising series of political and economic reforms since Thein Sein took office last year.

The diaspora -- a significant proportion of the roughly 60 million population -- include skilled workers who have made successful lives overseas.

The new military-backed civilian government that took power last year has surprised observers with a series of conciliatory gestures to its opponents.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took a seat in parliament after her pro-democracy party swept April by-elections and hundreds of political prisoners have been freed, although many others remain behind bars.

The European Union has responded by suspending for one year a wide range of trade, economic and individual sanctions, although it left intact an arms embargo.

But the United States maintained its main sanctions on Myanmar, hoping to use them to press the regime to end ongoing ethnic violence, which has marred the regime's reformist image.