Boatpeople Emerge from Jungle North of Phuket: American Helps to Feed Them

Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 12, 2014 17:24 Pres.Obama should warn Burma to immediately stop Rohingya tragedy and return all their stolen rights. Thailand leader must rtaise the Rohingya boat people issue at 2014 Asean summit in Myanmar. We appreciated Ms Lemmo's noble services towards humanity .
Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 12, 2014 17:24

Barefoot and bereft, boatpeople emerge from the jungle north of Phuket

Photo by Nicole Lemmo

1. Boatpeople Emerge from Jungle North of Phuket: American Helps to Feed Them

By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

PHOTO ALBUM Scores more desperate boatpeople emerge from the jungle north of Phuket, latest in a wave driven by hatred and human trafficking that has to be overcome to save thousands of lives. More »

please read here --- http://phuketwan.com/tourism/boatpeople-emerge-jungle-north-phuket-american-helps-feed-21360/ 

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Disgusting that in this modern age people are treated like this...where is the United Nations...ohh I forgot...they are too busy in their plush offices in Bkk ...is their anything that one can do to help ie food or clothes etc...forget their beliefs just for a few moments...just so sad
Posted by PhuketStan on November 12, 2014 10:01

Breaks my heart to read about there Plight.
Well done to Ms Lemmo, very very kind of,you.
Posted by Robert on November 12, 2014 11:08

Just in time for the 2014 Asean summit in Myanmar! If Thailand doesn't step up now with some tough words/actions against Burma's racist policies I think they're in for a big human tsunami...
Posted by Lana on November 12, 2014 11:42

Thought the Rotary Club of Patong Beach, we have distributed Baht 19,000 for various refugee groups over the past month. I am headed to Kuraburi today and I shall check on the situation and advise through Phuketwan if funds are needed and what goods are needed.
Brad Kenny - President
Posted by Brad Kenny on November 12, 2014 12:31

  http://phuketwan.com/tourism/boatpeople-emerge-jungle-north-phuket-american-helps-feed-21360/

Thailand Must Halt Human Trafficking, Declares District Chief North of Phuket

  Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 10, 2014 18
The District Chief Khun Manit can not control the rescued people in the camp or police custody. There are people around him who always busy to steal the victims but he doesn't know them really. Every victim can be sold @ minimum 2000 US dollars . I am sure the sincere and honest officer Khun Manit realizes it now. The officers and honest volunteers should have very difficult to clarify the traffickers. Every Rohingya pretend to be rescuers ,activists and translators are directly work for traffickers. I am sure most of the victims are going to be recycled again in between traffickers and rescuers. If the rescued victims can be kept out of Rohingya helpers touch ,Khun Manit dream will be easy to reach goal. Otherwise the trafficking will be continued .rohingya victims are hot cake to pickpocketing a big money within hours in the south.
Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 10, 2014 18

The Director of Takuapa District, Manit Pleantong, is leading a change

Photo by phuketwan.com

Thailand Must Halt Human Trafficking, Declares District Chief North of Phuket

By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Latest The province of Phang Nga, north of Phuket, is likely to become the first along the Andaman coast of Thailand to take action to end the secret trade in people that results in rape, deaths and abuse. More

Re: Thailand Must Halt Human Trafficking, Declares District Chief North of Phuket
Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) wrote on Monday November 10, 2014 at 18:46

The District Chief Khun Manit can not control the rescued people in the camp or police custody. There are people arou...

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http://phuketwan.com/tourism/thailand-halt-human-trafficking-declares-district-chief-north-phuket-21311/#acomment_72670

Burma's Forces Help Traffickers to Trade Rohingya, Says Rights Group

Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 7, 2014 13:13

As per BRAT news room ,we didn't have any evidences that anyone or group of Burma directly traffick Rohingya and Kaman from the ground .Those who are fleeing are due to continue genocidal action in their own country. The government approved Rakhine Action Plan which force ancestral Rohingyas to be foreigner Bengali , not returning their National ID cards and delaying to return their seized home are the real factor for mass fleeing . It is true that ,Rohingya arriving Thailand ,Malaysia always fall at the hands of waiting traffickers. Then starts various method of discrimination against the captives. The victims lives are recycling among the traffickers gangs. There are very rear groups have good intention to stop the Rohingya tragedy at the hand of traffickers. It is more than true that some Rohingyas and foreigners make big money from Rohingya plights. They seem to see plight of Rohingya to be continued for their continue earning money . Frankly ,we have lost confidence on so called Rohingya helping group . The trafficking will be continue if the sincere and honest activists ,rights groups are not coming forwards. If so called news suppliers and helpers of the Rohingyas become part of traffickers , how the tragedy of Rohingyas will be stopped ?As Rohingyas we are directly concerned and we know the real pain of tragedy.

Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 7, 2014 13:13

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Burma's Forces Help Traffickers to Trade Rohingya, Says Rights Group

By Fortify Rights media release

Friday, November 7, 2014

Latest A rights group confirms what boatpeople have told Phuketwan - that the Burmese Navy and other organisations play an active role in shipping Rohingya south. More »
Please read full here--

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/burmas-forces-help-traffickers-trade-rohingya-says-rights-group-21332/

credit:Phuketwan

Government 'Genocide' Leads to 80% Heroin Addiction for Myanmar Youth

by Frances Martel 31 Oct 2014 44 post a comment

Asia's drug problem is ravaging communities at an alarming rate, but in the nation of Myanmar, the drug addiction epidemic has become so pervasive that shopkeepers give customers syringes as change when they do not have currency.

In "Silent Offensive," a stunning report by the Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand--a women's group covering the border region between Thailand and Myanmar--drug addicts and their families tell stories of the horrific lengths to which heroin addicts will go to feed their addiction, and just how pervasive heroin is in certain communities. As the Global Post notes, a customer in some areas of the Kachin border state will receive syringes as change in stores. Previously, store owners would also dispense candy or cigarettes instead of money, as customers perceived these to be more valuable than actual Burmese money. The report notes that, in addition to syringes, "gas stations also make change using bottles of sterile water, which addicts draw into syringes to turn powdered heroin into an injectable liquid."
The Global Post estimates that 80% of young people in Kachin are drug addicts. In its capital, Myitkyina, "needles are strewn in the fields, on the streets and on the local university’s campus. In the internet cafes, patrons are warned not to shoot up while checking email."

In an extensive report by Patrick Winn, the Global Post reports that the problem is particularly acute in the mountains of Kachin, in large part because police presence is minimal in the mostly Christian area, especially compared to the totalitarian displays in the Buddhist center of the country. The divide has led many to accuse the government of deliberately allowing heroin to spread like wildfire, incapacitating the region's youth to prevent an uprising.
The words "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide" flow freely in Winn's article, as those who oppose drug use in the region and have lost friends and family to heroin suspect the government's motives for taking a passive role in policing the region. “It’s an ethnic cleansing policy. ... This drug is being used as a weapon," says one Kachin drug researcher working at Kansas State University. A student at Myitkyina University, who single-handedly launched an anti-heroin offensive at the capital school, condemns the government for "a form of genocide," stating, "They can fight us outright and waste money and soldiers’ lives, or they can let drugs destroy us at our core, our education system, for free.”

UNHCR launches 10-year global campaign to end statelessness

News Stories, 4 November 2014

© UNHCR

One of the striking "I Belong" campaign images created by United Colors of Benetton.

GENEVA, November 4 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency, with endorsement from high-profile supporters, on Tuesday launched a global campaign aimed at ending the devastating legal limbo of statelessness, which affects millions of people around the world.
"The goal of eradicating statelessness is looking increasingly possible thanks to dramatic recent progress in the number of states acceding to two key UN human rights treaties," said a UNHCR press release announcing the "I Belong" campaign.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and more than 30 celebrities and world opinion leaders today published an Open Letter, saying that 60 years after the United Nations first agreed to protect stateless people, "now it's time to end statelessness itself."

At least 10 million people worldwide are currently stateless and a baby is born stateless every 10 minutes. Not allowed a nationality, they are often denied the rights and services that countries normally offer their citizens.

"Statelessness can mean a life without education, without medical care or legal employment . . . a life without the ability to move freely, without prospects or hope," the Open Letter said. "Statelessness is inhuman. We believe it is time to end this injustice."
Acclaimed actress and director Jolie said being stateless meant adults and their children having no legal identity, no passport, no vote, and few or no opportunities to get an education. "Ending statelessness would right these terrible wrongs. But it would also strengthen society in countries where stateless people are found, by making it possible to draw on their energy and talents. It is both an obligation and an opportunity for governments everywhere to put an end to this exclusion," she said.

Most situations of statelessness are a direct consequence of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or gender. Twenty-seven countries at present deny women the right to pass their nationality on to their children on an equal basis with men, a situation that can create chains of statelessness that span generations. There is also a very real link between statelessness, displacement and regional stability.

UNHCR's campaign is being launched amid signs of a shift in international attitudes surrounding statelessness. Three years ago, there were barely 100 states parties to the two statelessness treaties – the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Today the number of accessions stands at 144, bringing critical mass within reach.

Despite such progress, new risks of statelessness have emerged with the growing number of major conflicts. Wars in Central African Republic and Syria, for example, have forced millions of people into internal displacement or into becoming refugees.
Tens of thousands of refugee children have been born in exile and UNHCR is working with the governments and partners in the countries receiving refugees on prioritizing birth registration for these children. The fact that many lack documents or that in some situations fathers have gone missing because of the conflict means that many of these children may face difficulties in proving they are citizens.

UNHCR has partnered with the United Colors of Benetton to create the "I Belong" campaign, which aims to draw global attention to the devastating life-long consequences of statelessness. Benetton has developed the creative content of the campaign and the campaign website to host it. Following the campaign launch, the Open Letter will become an online petition on this microsite, aiming to collect 10 million signatures in support of ending statelessness within a decade.

The refugee agency also released on Tuesday a "Special Report on Statelessness," which highlights the human impact of the phenomenon, and a 10-point Global Action Plan to End Statelessness. This aims both to resolve major existing crises and to ensure no child is born stateless in the future.
"Statelessness makes people feel like their very existence is a crime," said Guterres. "We have a historic opportunity to end the scourge of statelessness within 10 years, and give back hope to millions of people. We cannot afford to fail this challenge."
While issues of statelessness remain politically contentious in some countries, in others ending it can be as simple as changing a few words in a country's citizenship law. Over the past decade, legislative and policy changes have allowed more than 4 million stateless people to acquire a nationality or have their nationality confirmed.

For example, a 2008 High Court ruling in Bangladesh allowed 300,000 stateless Urdu speakers to become citizens, ending generations of despair. In Côte d'Ivoire, where statelessness was a root cause of a decade of armed conflict, legal reforms in 2013 allow long-term residents in the country to acquire a nationality. In Kyrgyzstan, more than 65,000 former Soviet citizens have acquired or confirmed their Kyrgyz citizenship since 2009.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, which, alongside the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, provides the international legal basis for ending statelessness.

"With enough political will, UNHCR believes statelessness can be resolved. And unlike so many other problems facing governments today, statelessness can be solved in our lifetime," Tuesday's press release said. There are currently 83 state parties to the 1954 Convention and 61 to the 1961 Convention.
http://ibelong.unhcr.org

Seven years after Saffron, an activist’s struggle continues

Seven years after Saffron, an activist’s struggle continues

By Kayleigh Long   |   Monday, 03 November 2014

10

Page 1 of 2

A key figure in the protests that engulfed Myanmar in September 2007, Gambira spent four years and two months behind bars – and was brutally tortured by his captors – before being released from prison in a January 2012 amnesty. Having once taken on the military regime, Gambira is now engaged in a new battle: overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder that stems from his time in prison, writes Kayleigh Long.
Gambira (right) talks with therapist Dr Rory Magee at The Cabin in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. Photo: Supplied

Page 2 of 2

It was the meditation that Gambira learned as a young monk that helped him to survive prison, with its beatings, boredom and awful food. It helped him to be free – “free from fear, free from anger, free from grief”, he says – despite the bare walls and iron bars.
These days, he meditates just once a day, before bed. It helps him sleep.
While the rest of us take it for granted, sleep does not come easy for Gambira, who shot to prominence as one of the leaders of the 2007 protests. When it does finally arrive, his dreams are filled with recurrent nightmares.
“I have dreams – it is like physical torture. They’re not really beating [me] now, but it is not far away,” he told The Myanmar Times during a recent interview in Chiang Mai.
A pair of jeans and a plain T-shirt – sometimes matched with black-rimmed glasses and a leather jacket – have replaced the monk’s robes that the 35-year-old wore for most of his adult life.
Some outward signs of his time in the Sangha remain. When speaking Burmese, he has a deep, rhythmic voice - a cadence that likely developed from years of chanting. One of the hardest aspects of transitioning to lay life, he says, was adjusting to the informal tone of conversation.
Like many monks, Gambira had a formidable memory. This helped him greatly when he went underground before the uprising, as it was too dangerous for plans to be written down.
He can still recall much about the four years and two months he spent behind bars - normally solitary confinement - in prisons in Yangon, Sagaing, Ayeyarwady and Mandalay regions. But since walking free in January 2012, Gambira has struggled to remember basic things, such as taking the minimum-dose mood stabilisers he has been prescribed, or the antihistamines for his sinus problems.
A physician who treated him upon his release said he showed signs of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) from the severe beatings inflicted by guards. When he first got out, his speech had been affected and he was prone to slurring.
Life after prison was tough. Never out of the spotlight for long, Gambira made a short-lived return to the Sangha, and an even shorter marriage. He was rearrested several times and eventually moved to Thailand, where he sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Some of the scars he bears from prison, like those around his wrists from being forced to wear steel handcuffs for three months, will not fade. With treatment, though, there is hope that his poor memory, insomnia, headaches and recurrent nightmares – all textbook PTSD symptoms – can be alleviated, if not cured.
Life at The Cabin
In mid-2014, Gambira became an outpatient at The Cabin, a high-end rehabilitation facility on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. At US$13,000 a month, The Cabin’s treatment programs would normally be outside Gambira’s means, but he has been taken on for free as part of the centre’s CSR program.
His treatment at The Cabin is a regular schedule of yoga, mindfulness meditation and eye movement directional reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, overseen by his therapist, Rory Magee.

coninue read here ---

 

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/in-depth/12141-seven-years-after-saffron-an-activist-s-struggle-continues.html

credit :Myanmar Times.

Appeal to World News Medias and Global Civil Societies to save life of Mr. Nur Awal from Buthidaung !

Breaking News from Buthidaung

Appeal to World News Medias and Global Civil Societies to save life of Mr. Nur Awal !

Dear Sir/Madam
       We do hereby appeal to all to save life of Mr. Nur Awal son of U Hla Sein (a Health Assistant ) of ward no 7 ,Buthidung. He was arrested and severely tortured by the Burmese security forces. His situation is very serious among the arrest victims. Some Rohingyas were arrested and inhumanly touring with false accusation of blasting bomb in Buthidaung ,Arakan. Even none was injured at this toy bomb blast .It was learnt that the toy bomb was planted by USDP agent before OBAMA visits Burma. The Burma regime always blame Rohigyas with false accusation . Mr. Nur Awal's parents are very worried of their son's life and appeal to the world to come forwards for rescuing their son's life.

Roughly translated by Maung Kyaw Nu

လူၾကီးမင္းတို ့ကို အေရးၾကီးသတင္း တစ္ခုတင္ျပခ်င္ပါတယ္ ၊၊၊ ၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊ ဘူးသီးေတာင္ၿမဳိ႕နယ္တြင္ ဗုံးေဖာက္ခြဲသည္ဟု မဟုတ္မမွန္ စြပ္စြဲ၍ အျပစ္မဲ့ ရိုဟင္ဂ်ာမ်ားကို မတရားသျဖင့္ဖမ္းဆီးျပီးအလြန္ ရိုင္းစိုင္း ၾကမ္းၾကဳတ္ နိပ္စက္ခံေနရသည့္ အျပစ္မဲ့ရိုဟင္ဂ်ာထဲမွာ ဦး ႏုရ္ရာ၀ါလ္ (ဘ) ဦးလွစိန္ (က်န္းမာေရး ၀န္ထမ္း) ဆိုသူသည္ က်န္းမာေရးဆိုးရြားေနေသာေၾကာင့္ သူမိဘမ်ားက အင္မတန္စိုးရိမ္းေနပါသည္ ...... ၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊ သို ့ျဖစ္ပါရ္် လူၾကီးမင္းတို ့တက္ႏိုင္သမွ်ၾကိုးစားျပီး ၄င္းတို ့လြတ္ေျမာက္ရန္ကမၻာမီဒီယာႏွင့္လက္တဲြျပီး လွူပ္ရွားေပးပါရန္ ေမတၱာရပ္ခံအပ္ပါသည္ ၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊၊ ႏုရ္ရာ၀ါလ္ရဲ ့ပုံကို ေအာက္မွာ ေဖၚျပထားပါသည္

Thailand's Trafficking Trade Trauma Grows as Officials Avoid the Truth

Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT)
Many Rohingyas are on the way to Thailand because of recent Rakhine action plan that force them to change their ancestral Rohingya identity into "BENGALI" which is completely foreign to them. This pro government plan force them to leave for other countries.Otherwise Rohingya will be kept in well guarded CONCENTRATION CAMPS in their own country . There some people from Bangladesh on the boat to Thailand .too. At this genocidal situation ,some greedy people take advantages from the boat people.The traffickers gangs are very organized and strong to run this inhuman slave trade . The have good net work .Comparatively more victims are raped and died this year at the concentration caps of traffickers. If the dedicated authority not come forwards ,the human tragedy will be continued. The Burmese government has not intention to stop it. According to UN GA report ,Burma would like to drive all Rohingyas from their native area. Who will come to help this unfortunate people ? What is the obligation of UN and international community to stop the genocide and human trafficking ? Are they not coming forwards to save the HUMANITY ? At least outside world knows about the human tragedy because of Phukewan's ground repots.
Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 2, 2014 03:23

Bangladeshis in confinement at the Takuapa community hall yesterday

Photo by phuketwan.com

Thailand's Trafficking Trade Trauma Grows as Officials Avoid the Truth

By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Latest International coverage of Thailand's trafficking trade grows more intense each day but inside the country, officials prefer to pretend the country is not being tainted. More »

please read here full----

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/thailands-trafficking-trade-trauma-grows-officials-avoid-truth-21299/

Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) 
When this humanitarian crisis should end? The victims die as in the war Field at the hands of traffickers. Even some drown due to crash of boat. Burma always say not to interfere of their internal affairs . It means they can kill ,drive and force the Rohingyas to become homeless . How the world is completely silence about this ? The tragedy of boat people victims are unbearable.
Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President of Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) on November 1, 2014 13:30

A victim lies in a secret jungle camp, unable to help hmself

Click a thumbnail to view more photographs

Victims Left in Thailand Traffickers' Jungle Camp as Raiders Carry Out Others

By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison

Friday, October 31, 2014

PHUKET: Rescuers who raided a secret camp in the jungle of southern Thailand at the weekend were forced to leave behind five men they could not carry.

Four adults and six children were able to flee the camp in the company of the raiders while hundreds of other captives fled into the scrub during the chaos before the raid.

Because the human traffickers are usually armed and capable of bringing in reinforcements, the raiders were forced to leave the five men behind.

They feared the traffickers, who fled with their captives, would return.

The three men who went with the raiders were carried out on poles and hammock-style slings.

It's hoped that the adults will be able to give evidence against the traffickers, who at this camp have been accused of perpetrating many rapes, including one captured in a horrific and graphic video.

The woman who escaped on Saturday night told rescuers the victim in the rape video had bee raped ''many times'' and had since been sold as a wife.

The photographs above were taken inside the jungle camp by the raiders.

Awareness of Thailand's role in being a conduit for the trafficking of boatpeople from Burma and Bangladesh grows with each incident.

Although most of the boatpeople are Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Burma's Rakhine state, more recent arrivals have included Bangladeshis who were either kidnapped or enticed then coerced into seeking jobs in other parts of the country and found themselves on boats sailing south.

Overnight, a group of 17 boatpeople was involved in a crash in the southern province of Surat Thani.

It's believed they were belng trafficked. The group is being held at Thachang Police Station while authorities decide what to do with the men.

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/victims-left-traffickers-jungle-camp-raiders-carry-others-21295/

UN BILL URGES MYANMAR TO DROP IDENTITY PLAN

Draft resolutions urges 'access to full citizenship on equal basis' for Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims. Last updated: 01 Nov 2014 00:54 Listen

The violence has displaced some 140,000 Rohingya Muslims [Reuters]

A new UN draft resolution takes aim at Myanmar's aggressive campaign to have its Rohingya Muslims identify as a term they reject, urging "access to full citizenship on an equal basis." The European Union-drafted resolution, obtained on Friday by The Associated Press, puts pressure on the Southeast Asian country to change its campaign, preferably before world leaders including President Barack Obama arrive for a regional summit in less than two weeks. Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya have been denied citizenship and have almost no rights. Attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps. Others are fleeing the country. Authorities want to officially categorise the Rohingya as "Bengalis," implying they are illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. The Rohingya counter that many of their families have been in Myanmar for generations. Effectively stateless, they are wanted by neither country and say the Myanmar government's campaign feels like an effort to have them systematically erased. The vast majority of Rohingya live in the state of Rakhine. President Thein Sein, a former general, is considering a "Rakhine Action Plan" that would make people who identify themselves as Rohingya not only ineligible for citizenship but candidates for detainment and possible deportation. The resolution now before the General Assembly's human rights committee is nonbinding, but a strong vote in its support would send a message that international opinion is not on Myanmar's side. The resolution expresses "serious concern" about the Rohingya's status. It calls on the government to "allow freedom of movement and equal access to full citizenship for the Rohingya minority" and to "allow self-identification." Myanmar's plan worries some in the Muslim world, and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation pushed for strong language in the resolution. The Rohingya have emerged as a sensitive issue as Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist state, tries to move away from decades of repressive military rule toward democracy. This week, Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations, Tim Kyaw, told the General Assembly's human rights committee that his country is not "targeting a religion." He warned that "insisting on the right to self-identification will only impose obstacles to finding a lasting solution" to ethnic tensions. Vijay Nambiar, the UN secretary-general's special adviser on Myanmar, told AP this week that Myanmar's government is facing increasing pressure to allow the Rohingya to identify as something other than Rohingya or Bengali. But, Nambiar said, "In the immediate future, the government says that's not possible."

UN Resolution Urges Myanmar to Drop Identity Plan

UNITED NATIONS — Oct 31, 2014, 7:32 PM ET

By CARA ANNA Associated Press

A new U.N. draft resolution takes aim at Myanmar's aggressive campaign to have its Rohingya Muslims identify as a term they reject, urging "access to full citizenship on an equal basis."
The European Union-drafted resolution, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, is one piece of international pressure on the Southeast Asian country to change its campaign, preferably before world leaders including President Barack Obama arrive for a regional summit in less than two weeks.

Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya have emerged as a sensitive issue as Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist state, tries to move away from decades of repressive military rule toward democracy.
The Rohingya have been denied citizenship and have almost no rights. Attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps. Others are fleeing the country.

Authorities want to officially categorize the Rohingya as "Bengalis," implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. The Rohingya counter that many of their families have been in Myanmar for generations. Effectively stateless, they are wanted by neither country and say the Myanmar government's campaign feels like an effort to have them systematically erased.
The vast majority of Rohingya live in the state of Rakhine. President Thein Sein, a former general, is considering a "Rakhine Action Plan" that would make people who identify themselves as Rohingya not only ineligible for citizenship but candidates for detainment and possible deportation.

The resolution now before the General Assembly's human rights committee is nonbinding, but a strong vote in its support would send a message that international opinion is not on Myanmar's side.
A Myanmar diplomat assigned to that committee, reached by telephone Friday for comment, said, "It's too early to say."

The resolution expresses "serious concern" about the Rohingya's status. It calls on the government to "allow freedom of movement and equal access to full citizenship for the Rohingya minority" and to "allow self-identification."
Myanmar's plan worries some in the Muslim world, and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation pushed for strong language in the resolution.
This week, Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations, Tim Kyaw, told the General Assembly's human rights committee that his country is not "targeting a religion." He warned that "insisting on the right to self-identification will only impose obstacles to finding a lasting solution" to ethnic tensions.

Vijay Nambiar, the U.N. secretary-general's special adviser on Myanmar, told The Associated Press this week that Myanmar's government is facing increasing pressure to allow the Rohingya to identify as something other than Rohingya or Bengali.
But, Nambiar said, "In the immediate future, the government says that's not possible."

The Persecution of the Rohingya

The Opinion Pages | Editorial

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDOCT. 29, 2014

The government of Myanmar has created a plan to expel the country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. Under the proposal, all Rohingya who refuse to identify themselves as “Bengalis” (a term used for illegal migrants from Bangladesh) and do not have documentation acceptable to the government will be detained in camps before being driven out of the country. Incredibly, the government appealed to the United Nations last month for assistance with this project. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, not surprisingly, refused to help relocate people being interned by their own government.

Some 140,000 of the estimated 1.1 million Rohingya in Myanmar are already living in internment camps, forced to flee their homes by anti-Muslim rampages incited by the radical Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu and his extremist group 969. The conditions in the camps are appalling. In addition to malnutrition, a lack of medical care, employment and education, the Rohingya face beatings and torture by local authorities. More than 100,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar by boat for Malaysia and Thailand. Thousands more have fled overland.

This is only the latest form of persecution. Under a 1982 law, Myanmar denied citizenship to the Rohingya, and last November it rejected a United Nations resolution calling for it to grant them citizenship. Instead, the government of President Thein Sein came up with the new proposal, which falsely holds out the possibility of citizenship at some future time, but only if the Rohingya agree to reclassification as Bengalis and have the required documents, which thousands of displaced people simply don’t have. The plan would result in the enforced segregation and expulsion of a people based on their ethnic and religious identity.

Myanmar is expected to received $5 billion this fiscal year in foreign investments, thanks to the easing of economic sanctions by the United States and Europe on the promise of continued democratic and human-rights reforms. The United States and other governments must make it clear that Myanmar will face consequences if it continues to abuse the Rohingya.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/opinion/the-persecution-of-the-rohingya.html?smid=tw-share

source:The New York Times

A HANDFUL CHARACTERLESS ROHINGYA OPERATES HUMAN TRAFFICKING !
  
Rohingya flee from their ancestral homes because of new Rakhine Action Plan , random killing ,raping ,arbitrary arrest and forcefully making them foreigners naming Bengali against their will. By taking this advantage ,a few trafficking groups mostly consisting of Rhingya god fathers started barbaric mafia business alongside the Burma-Thailand -Malaysia borders. REMARKABLY  in Thailand ,Rohinyas work  as volunteers of rescue team  ,no doubt, are also partly working with trafficking gangs, too.They pretend as activist ,social workers , helping to the authorities as volunteers for rescue operation ,feeding the rescued or detained victims. This handful characterless Rohingyas also earned good recommendation from a few NGOs and news medias as their interpreters and helpers. By misusing recommendation ,they, by hook and crook, try to reach the victims and start trafficking. This group also sell ,rape ,torture ,kill and steal the victims from the police custody and welfare shelters.Then they confine the victims and start various types of tortures. Even before start rescuing operation ,the Rohingyas volunteers often demand 200 USD per head from main boss of traffickers for sharing advance operation news to traffickers. So ,we can easily witness every rescuing operation only get a few acute sick or disabled people during the operation .  Hundreds managed to run away as per pre planned of Rohingya informers. How it be possible if the traffickers are not get information in advance before the operation ? This so called Rohingya volunteers are in fact working for traffickers and they shareholders too. This handful characterless Rohingyas stop their ROTI SELLING  now and become RICH MEN .If the authority and Civil society of Thailand really would like to decrease or eliminate the trafficking , first they should have fully stop so called Rohingyas using as volunteers .Otherwise ,the trafficking will be going full scale . On other hands , Burma's law breakers /killers /rappists must go for trail and the lost rights of Rohingyas' must be gained . The international community's blind eye on this barbaric trafficking and on going Rakhine action plan will lead another Pol Pot style genocide . The genocide will take thousands of Rohingyas' lives in Arakan ,Burma. Please come forwards to SAVE HUMANITY !
Maung Kyaw Nu

The seven-year-old shows his hand, infected in a secret jungle camp

Photo by phuketwan.com

Secret Jungle Camp Raided: Women and Children Revealed as Traffickers' Victims

By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

 

PHUKET: Volunteers who raided a human trafficker's secret jungle camp in southern Thailand in search of two rapists failed to catch their targets but found evidence of the harsh treatment of children and other captives.

Ten people, including six children, have been taken into care as a result of the raid. About 300 others in the camp, close to Thailand's border with Malaysia, fled as their trafficker-guards deserted them to escape the raiders.

Three men, who struggled to move, are now being treated in a hospital in the town of Sadao. A woman and six children are being sheltered in a safe house.

The woman, shown a graphic video of a rape that allegedly took place in the camp, said that the female victim was a friend and confirmed she had been in the camp.

The friend, who was single, had been raped ''many times'' and had since been sold as a wife, the woman said. She also identified the two rapists.

Other women in the camp had been raped. Captives sometimes died because conditions in the jungle were so primitive, she said.

The woman has three sons aged seven, five and eight months.

She told her rescuers that the family fled the violence against Rohingya Muslims that erupted in 2012 and her husband died in a UN refugee camp in 2013.

She was pregnant at the time of her husband's death and could not work. The food supply was miserable.

Soon after giving birth, she joined about 600 others on a boat, with all three sons. They were trucked from coastal Thailand to the secret camp.

All three boys are in poor health after spending seven months as captives of the traffickers, rescuers told Phuketwan.

Skin diseases have been triggered because the camps are in the open, with earth as flooring. The eldest boy showed two badly infected hands and lesions on his body and legs.

The woman said she had no relatives capable of paying the ransom demanded by the traffickers in exchange for their captives, which is why she and her children had been in the camp for seven months.

She had not been beaten or abused because she had a reputation as a herbalist, she said.

At one stage, she said, some of the guards in the jungle camp had taken her with them to visit a more important trafficker and to treat his cancer, she said.

The video of the rape is the first visual evidence of the brutality inside the jungle camps that survivors, rescued from the camps, have previously described.

Activists hope that eventually, the traffickers can be arrested and charged as a result of Saturday's raid on the jungle camp.

Thousands of Rohingya are reported to have fled Burma - also known as Myanmar - by boat in the past fortnight.

Observers are puzzled as to whether some have already been deposited in secret in Thailand or are perhaps taking a more direct route to Malaysia.

   MAUNG KYAW NU'S VIEW!

We don't care of anyone utter or not our thousands years old historical name "ROHINGYA ၇ုိဟင္ဂ်ာ",but the history of ROHANG -ARAKAN will reavel it and stand by ROHINGYA. The ancient stone(tablet) writings,archaeological evidences and architectural findings are more than enough to prove our glorious existence of ROHINGYA .Rohingyas were ,are and will be in Arakan since the world exist. NONE of the power can delete our ROHINGYA name from the earth . We know how to defend it . .

It is strongly warned that not to play with our ancestral name ROHINGYA.We will defend it with our lives.If necessary every Rohingya irrespective of women and old men will take GUNS to defend ROHINGYA IDENTITY.This is our rights.

Maung Kyaw Nu.

Rohingya

Obama asked to ‘just say their name’

File photo of US President Barack Obama (PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons)

• By BINNY MARY PAUL
• 30 October 2014
  

As Burma prepares to welcome US President Barack Obama to Naypyidaw in November, human rights groups and activists have been urging Obama to press Burma’s government to improve the country’s socio-political environment.
US-based activist organization United to End Genocide (UEG), for example, is making extensive efforts to lobby the president to address the plight of the Rohingyas during his visit to Burma.

As part of its lobbying efforts, UEG has launched a campaign called #justsaytheirname, which is designed to encourage President Obama to address the Rohingya issue and thereby reaffirm their right to self-determination and self-identification.
The NGOs campaign is inspired by UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee’s recent decision to use the word “Rohingya” in her report on Burma’s human rights situation—defying pressure from the Burmese government, which prefers to use the term “Bengalis.”
Ms. Lee presented her report on Burma’s human rights situation in a speech to the UN General Assembly on 28 October. During the speech, she said: “I am acutely aware of the sensitivity around the use of the term ‘Rohingya’ that is not recognised by the [Burmese] government.”

Lee also pointed out that being forced to identify as “Bengali” was a violation of their basic rights: “I am concerned about the Rohingyas being required to identify themselves as ‘Bengali’ and if they do not they are excluded from the citizenship verification process that is being rolled out in Arakan state,” she said.
EUG President Tom Andrews said, “As President Obama prepares to make his second trip to Burma in November, he should follow the Special Rapporteur’s lead, speak out against the systematic abuse of the Rohingya and just say their name when he does so.”
Mr. Andrews then added, “It is more than just a name. It is 1.3 million people being persecuted and a culture in danger of being erased in Burma.”

Related Stories

• UN Rapporteur: ‘

Among the many rights denied to Rohingyas in Burma is the right to self-identification and self-determination, both of which are fundamental human rights enshrined in international law.
Ever since March 2014, when the Burmese government back-tracked on an earlier policy and struck the term “Rohingya” out of census list—insisting that the group be referred to as “Bengali” instead—the political conundrum surrounding this issue has escalated.
Subsequently, Presidential Spokesperson Ye Htut said, “It will be acceptable if they write ‘Bengali’—we won’t accept them as ‘Rohingya’.”
Ms. Lee also pointed out that it was the responsibility of the Burmese government to preserve the Rohingya community’s rights. “I note that the right of minorities to self identify is related to the obligation of the state to ensure non-discrimination against individuals and groups,” she said.
UEG is also accusing foreign governments of succumbing to pressure from Naypyidaw on the Rohingya issue, noting that many countries have avoided using the term “Rohingya” in order to maintain favorable diplomatic ties with Thein Sein’s government.
UEG’s Tom Andrews said, “Incredibly, governments of the world are bending to pressure by the Thein Sein government of Burma to no longer use the term ‘Rohingya’ when referring to the Rohingya ethnic minority.”
“Even Secretary of State John Kerry obliged the government by not mentioning the Rohingya by their name when he last visited Burma,” he said.
credit:DVB

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand Events at FCCT

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand

Events at FCCT

 

7pm, Thursday October 30, 2014

"Sila Lidskosti - Nicholas Winton" (The Power of Good - Nicholas Winton) - 64 mins, Directed by Matej Minac
Screening Courtesy: Embassy of the Czech Republic

 

 

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"Sila Lidskosti - Nicholas Winton" (The Power of Good - Nicholas Winton)

 

64 mins, Directed by Matej Minac
Screening Courtesy: Embassy of the Czech Republic

 

 

 

7pm, Thursday October 30, 2014

FREE ENTRY for Members & Non-Members; Snacks will be served

 

A rare, not-to-be-missed documentary!

Here is the gripping, much-talked-about film that first brought ' Britain's Schindler' to world-view - the man who saved 669 Jewish kids from Nazi camps in Prague, and sent them to Britain.

Nicholas Winton was a young stockbroker, who visited Czechoslovakia in 1938, saw camps full of Jewish refugees, and " had an intuition" of dangers ahead. He used his hotel as an office, and immediately started working on sending Jewish kids abroad.

He found foster-homes for them in Britain, and organized eight 'Kindertransport' trains to take the children to safety, although most would never see their parents again. The last train carrying 250 children was ready to leave Prague, when Hitler invaded Poland, and the train was stopped. No-one saw any of those children again.
What makes the story more amazing is that Winton told no-one about it, not even his wife Grete. 50 years later, in 1988, she came across a scrap-book in the attic full of pictures of the rescued children, with a list of their names. The story was published for the first time, and Winton was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, and honoured by the US House of Representatives.
Meanwhile Jewish-Slovakian Director Matej Minac (who made this docu-film), used him as a fictional character in his 1999 film 'All my Loved Ones', not knowing that the real Nicholas Winton was still alive! That was when he did intensive research on the 'rescued children' through archives around the world.
This incredible film shows it all. Minac uses archival material, film-clips, photographs, powerful music, to capture the trauma of the Jewish families - the tension, and the tears of parting.

Then he moves forward and meets the 'rescued kids' today, who have their own children and grand-children, but who have never forgotten their own, miraculous childhood escapes. Some are famous individuals, like the narrator, Joe Schlesinger of CBS television, writer Vira Gissing, who first wrote about Winton, politician Alfred Dubs, and publisher Tom Schreder.

A reserved and soft-spoken individual, it is extraordinary to meet Sir Nicholas Winton himself, at the age of 99 years when the film is made, with his wife and family. Today he is 105 years old, and still alive!

In a memorable scene Sir Nicholas Winton meets his 'rescued kids', now ageing adults, for the first time on the BBC programme 'That's Life ' in 1988, and is reduced to tears. To quote the Director of the film " It is incredible that all these people live today, due to the heroic deeds of one man !"
The inspirational documentary is now being used in schools and colleges around the world.
The film has won awards, and has inspired many individuals to help in children's causes. Director Minac made another film 'Nicky's Family' in 2011, recounting the many people who were inspired by Sir Nicholas Winton, to take up charity projects in countries as far removed as Cambodia and Africa.
We are proud to present this rare and outstanding docu-film, that recounts the amazing achievements of a living individual, who is a beacon of inspiration to the world around him. At a time of political turmoil and chaos around the globe, we want to celebrate the 'power of good' , of one individual, that made a difference to an entire generation of people.

Don't miss this rare and outstanding docu-film !

 

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Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand

Penthouse, Maneeya Center Building

Obama Prepares to Travel to Myanmar at a Critical Time

by Joshua Kurlantzick
October 29, 2014

Crowds hold U.S. flags as President Barack Obama's motorcade drives through Yangon on November 19, 2012. Obama became the first serving U.S. president to visit Myanmar (Jason Reed/Courtesy: Reuters).

In November, President Obama will travel to Myanmar to attend the East Asia Summit, which brings together a broad range of nations from across the Pacific Rim. It will be the president’s second trip to Myanmar, following his landmark 2012 trip, which was the first by a sitting U.S. president to Myanmar since the country gained independence six decades ago. During the East Asia Summit, Obama almost surely will hold bilateral meetings with Myanmar President Thein Sein and other senior Myanmar leaders, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The timing of the president’s visit to Myanmar will be important, but the rosy hue of U.S.-Myanmar relations that colored the president’s 2012 trip has dimmed significantly. This will be Obama’s only visit to Myanmar before the landmark 2015 national elections, the first truly contested national elections in Myanmar since 1990, when Suu Kyi’s party swept parliamentary elections and then the military essentially ignored the vote and kept control of the country. In the 2015 elections, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy is almost sure to win a sweeping majority of seats again. However, both foreign diplomats, Myanmar analysts, and some opposition politicians already are warning that the 2015 elections could be undermined or outright rigged by the military, to favor the military’s de facto party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Myanmar political scientists and many foreign diplomats in Yangon report that the USDP and the military are building up paramilitary squads that could be used for intimidation on election day. The potential intimidation could range from distributing cash to co-opt opposition supporters to purposefully instigating Buddhist-Muslim violence to show the public that an unstable Myanmar cannot be turned over to a political opposition with no experience in governing.
In addition, since the high point of Myanmar’s reform process in 2012 and early 2013, the country’s political opening has stalled and, in my opinion, slid backwards.

The recent murder of a Myanmar journalist while in army custody has highlighted the regression of the country’s media environment since 2012 and 2013. Although the online and print media in Myanmar remains far freer than it ever was under junta rule, journalists are once again being harassed, detained, tried—and apparently, murdered—by the military and police. In addition, journalists who dare the cover the conflict in western Myanmar’s Arakan State, where violence against Rohingya Muslims continues unabated, face severe threat from Buddhist paramilitary groups and their supporters.

The deteriorating media environment is not the only sign of Myanmar’s backsliding. Cease-fires between the government and several ethnic minority insurgencies are collapsing, with the insurgents and the army preparing for war again. Arakan State remains a humanitarian emergency, and Thein Sein’s government has taken few constructive measures to help restore order and rights in Arakan State. The government initially simply denied the violence in Arakan State, pretending that massacres of Rohingya had not happened and tossing foreign aid groups out of Arakan State. Now, the Thein Sein government has come up with a plan for the Rohingya that is unworkable and simply racist: It wants the Rohingya to identify themselves as “Bengali” if they want to be granted Myanmar citizenship. If they do not accept this identification, the government plans to toss more Rohingya into detention camps. (A previous, military government stripped the Rohingya of their citizenship, though many of them had lived in Myanmar for generations.) But self-identifying as Bengali is akin to Rohingya marking themselves as foreigners, since to them—and to other Burmese—the term Bengali suggests that they are not indeed from Myanmar, came to Myanmar illegally, and thus can be discriminated against.

Rohingya have few options. The NGO Arakan Project recently reported that over 100,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar in the past two years, with many dying at sea or finding themselves at the mercy of pirates, the ruthless Thai navy, and a human slavery trade that runs through Thailand.

Obama thus should use his time in Myanmar to highlight to Naypyidaw that, although the Obama administration has made rapprochement with Myanmar a major goal of its Asia policy, rapprochement increasingly depends on continued political reform in Myanmar. A rigged 2015 election, Obama should warn Naypyidaw, would immediately undermine U.S.-Myanmar relations, and a return to all-out war with ethnic insurgencies also should be a serious impediment to closer ties. Finally, Obama should make clear that the Thein Sein government’s proposed plan for the Rohingya is unsatisfactory and outright racist.
In my next post, I will look at how, despite its rich natural resources and large, untapped consumer market, Myanmar has thus far proven relatively unattractive for U.S. companies. As an article in the Wall Street Journal noted, despite the relaxation of U.S. sanctions on Myanmar, as of August 2014 U.S. companies have committed less than $250 million to investments in the country of fifty million people, a minuscule amount for a market the size of Myanmar.

Thai court dismisses defamation case against UK activist

Mark Fenn

Wednesday 29 October 2014

A Bangkok court has dismissed a defamation charge against a British human rights worker, who is being sued after alleging labour abuses in Thailand’s tinned fruit industry.

The court ruled that the prosecution of Andy Hall was unlawful because the police acted alone and not in partnership with the attorney general, as required for offences committed outside the country.
The case related to an interview Mr Hall gave to Al Jazeera in Burma last year. Natural Fruit Company launched the legal action against Mr Hall following his research into the firm, which detailed trafficking of migrant workers, child labour, forced overtime and violence against staff.
Mr Hall, who turns 35 today, still faces three more criminal and civil defamation cases brought by the Natural Fruit Company, which exports tinned pineapple and juice. If found guilty, he could face up to seven years in prison and be forced to pay millions of pounds in damages. The second, a $10m (£6m) civil defamation case, begins today.
Mr Hall said: “I always felt confident that I would win my case. I don’t feel I did anything wrong. I feel it’s my duty to protect migrant workers and I never had any doubt,” he told The Independent.
Phil Robertson, a Thailand spokesman for Human Rights Watch, said the case “leaves a chilling effect on others wishing to investigate corporate rights-abusing behaviour in Thailand”.

Tips on how to find out your child's learning style by Jason Perkins

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand

Events at FCCT

6.30pm-8.30pm, Tuesday October 28, 2014

Tips on how to find out your child's learning style by Jason Perkins -

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 Tips on how to find out your child's learning style by Jason Perkins

6.30pm-8.30pm, Tuesday October 28, 2014

This is not an FCCT-sponsored event. It is a paid function and responsibility for program content is solely that of the event organizer

RSVP: ipn@ipnthailand.com or 081-8262399
Cost: FREE for IPN cardmembers and Baht 600 for nonmembers (includes presentation, handouts, light dinner (from a selection of 3), one glass of wine and soft drinks). Attendees are welcomed to email questions they have related to the topic toipn@ipnthailand.com to be answered during the Q&A session.

Does your child have trouble with spellings? Reading? Can't seem to work with numbers or sit still in class?

If yes, then there is absolutely no need to panic. It probably just means that he or she simply has a different learning style.

Every child has a different way of learning and understanding your child's own learning style can help assure academic success.

IPN's talk this month will discuss how theory of multiple intelligence can point out your child's strengths and weaknesses.

During this talk, our guest speaker Jason Perkins, IB Coordinator at St. Andrews International School, will discuss:
What is an Intelligence?

Differences between Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligence

How to investigate our own Learning Styles

Understanding the traditional view of Intelligence and IQ testing

Fun activities that combines Multiple Intelligences