Tuesday 29 April 2014

Pathways to peace in Rakhine State


By
Taylor O’Connor
– 29 April 2014Posted in: Burma

Please read full here ---http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2014/04/29/pathways-to-peace-in-rakhine-state/

Coexist



Image: Logo of local interfaith initiative, Coexist Myanmar

Violence has raged on in Myanmar’s Rakhine State for nearly two years now. As security forces continue to be implicated in acts of violence targeting Muslims and known instigators of violence operate freely, it becomes increasingly clear that the Myanmar’s political leaders have no interest to resolve the conflict. While humanitarian agencies in Rakhine State come under attack by the communities in which they live, international praise and increased investment allow the government to neglect addressing conflict related issues. Members of the international community involved in Myanmar must have deep awareness of the context and knowledge of a number of interrelated issues if they are to avoid further aggravation of the conflict. Mindful planning and coordinated action would ease tensions and support resolution of key issues.

This article will describe the historic development of the conflict and highlight recurrent patterns of violence. It will explain local and national issues underlying the conflict and give an overview of the critical work many local actors are doing to resolve them. Finally, it will provide strategies that a range of international actors can take to contribute to peaceful resolution of the conflict. A positive approach is taken throughout this article; though, it should be understood that both ill-informed engagement and neglect would further exacerbate the conflict and prolong the suffering of its victims. For their involvement in Myanmar, the international community shares responsibility for outcomes in Rakhine State, whatever they may be.

A Wider Perspective
From an outsider’s perspective, it is difficult to understand the vicious communal violence and anti-Muslim rhetoric that have plagued Myanmar during the last two years. While many in the international community heap praise on the country’s government for its political reforms and reward it handsomely with a steady flow of investment, there is no end in sight for a conflict whose predominant victims have suffered silently for decades -----Please continue read here
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2014/04/29/pathways-to-peace-in-rakhine-state/
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Monday 28 April 2014

Myanmar's treatment of Rohingya Muslims amounts to 'ethnic cleansing' and 'crimes against humanity'.

Opinion
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/04/when-will-world-act-myanmar-abu-201442714754757866.html
When will the world act on Myanmar's abuses?


Myanmar's treatment of Rohingya Muslims amounts to 'ethnic cleansing' and 'crimes against humanity'.
Last updated: 28 Apr 2014 06:38
Emanuel Stoakes

Emanuel Stoakes

Emanuel Stoakes is a freelance journalist and researcher whose principal area of interest is human rights and conflict.


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Myanmar's 'recently-extended census contains a hidden time-bomb of sorts', writes Stoakes [AFP]

Commentaries by respected journalists, analysts and rights advocates appear to have consensus that the reform process in Myanmar appears to be slowing, if not completely stalled.

It seems like a reasonable observation - evidence in the form of unresolved land confiscation issues, continuing sexual crimes perpetrated with impunity by the military, poor treatment of the press and the drafting of discriminatory laws give credence to this state of affairs.

Most of all, highly credible allegations of crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya minority underline the country's enduring backwardness on urgent moral issues. The offences continue to this day, perpetrated as a matter of long-standing state policy.

By any yardstick, abuses that reach this threshold ought to elicit serious international pressure and shouldn't be allowed to drag on open-endedly, especially if the country responsible looks set to receive a growing flood of foreign investment.

Yet, this is exactly what is happening in Myanmar and there are no indications that accountability will be realised in the near future.

The government has shown blatant disregard for the issue by placating extremist groups who have long been calling for the ethnic cleansing of the minority; continuing to limit their basic human rights; denying that a horrendous massacre took place in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary; systematically restricting aid; publicly defending a well-known anti-Muslim and anti-Rohingya hate preacher; and allowing total impunity to reign in the aftermath of violence committed by state forces.

A humanitarian crisis

Their response to a humanitarian crisis taking place in Rohingya amounts to more of the same.

Foreign workers struggle in Malaysia

Aid organisations had to flee en masse in the wake of mob attacks last month and are only just returning as the rainy season approaches, bringing with it the added risk of cyclones and the spread of water-borne diseases.

Evidence in the form of leaked minutes from meetings between Myanmar authorities and NGO representatives indicate that efforts to alleviate the shortage have been hampered by government agencies. The material also records how the same authorities have provided totally inadequate replacement cover and even turned down offers of increased funding to boost their capacity.

The effect of the absence of NGOs, including Medecins Sans Frontieres who were expelled in February by the government, has been dramatic. Carlos Saldina Galache, a journalist colleague who recently visited the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in which over 140,000 Rohingya are confined, told me that the lack of aid has created a humanitarian situation that has "gone from bad to worse…The IDPs are basically deprived of everything, they have no healthcare at all, and suffer shortages of food and water".

"People are dying because of this," he added, echoing the terse summaries of NGO sources I also consulted on the impact of the aid shortage.


Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch, whom I spoke to recently on the crisis in the camps, referred to the situation as a "humanitarian disaster with its roots in ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and systematic discrimination".

"It's time for the international community to act decisively and apply maximum pressure on the Burmese government to reverse this rapidly deteriorating situation before it's too late," he continued.

A ticking time bomb

In my view, Robertson's call for global action is more than appropriate given the current situation - moreover, such efforts should be directed towards ending government-backed policies of persecution more generally. Myanmar simply cannot be expected to change its abusive posture on the minority of its own accord, not least because of the populist utility of anti-Rohingya policies to a ruling party terrified of losing next year’s election.


As a consequence, the only "solution" to the Rohingya problem that the political elite in the capital, Naypyidaw, appear to be willing to envisage at the present time is a counterfeit one. Hmuu Zaw, a spokesman for President Thein Sein, has indicated that the government is willing to review the citizenship claims of the Rohingya, but only according to a junta-era law that was designed to disenfranchise the minority, and for which only a small number will be able to prove they are eligible.

This may be the only answer Myanmar will offer to its foreign critics, but such a response will ensure that the present conditions for the overwhelming majority of the group will remain as miserable and persecutory as before. If such a gambit is attempted, it should not be readily accepted by influential foreign powers.

In the analysis of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), international criticism of Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya has "helped to prevent further deterioration" in their treatment and remains an "essential" part of efforts to aid them. External political forces that have leverage over the government, such as the EU and the United States, should continue to push for measures that protect the vital rights of the Rohingya as a whole if they sincerely wish to ease their plight.

Indications are that the need for this will only increase in the near future. Before long, tensions are likely to skyrocket; this is because the recently-extended census contains a hidden time-bomb of sorts, constituted by the data it will eventually release on religious demographics.

The inevitable fall-out from the census revelations will almost certainly mean increased internal pressure on the government to restrict Muslim freedoms within the country.

As some journalists have indicated and other sources speak of in ominous terms, the population survey will probably reveal that a far higher number of Muslims than has been previously estimated live in Myanmar. The current level is often cited as 4 percent of the population; credible projections indicate that up to 12 percent may be a more accurate figure.

Such a revised percentage would undoubtedly play directly into the hands of political actors like Wirathu, the notoriously racist monk who is regarded as the spiritual leader of the influential Buddhist-chauvinist 969 movement. The narrative presented by him and his colleagues has been that adherents of Islam are attempting to take over Myanmar through a variety of sinister means, including attempts to outbreed their Buddhist counterparts. The largely Muslim Rohingya, who are heavily concentrated in areas near the border with Bangladesh, are often paradoxically associated with this sort of practise.

The inevitable fall-out from the census revelations will almost certainly mean increased internal pressure on the government to restrict Muslim freedoms within the country and result in heightened sectarian tensions.

Such prospects, perhaps counter-intutively, should prompt less careful diplomacy on the issue of Rohingya rights and more direct, unrelenting foreign pressure; the impulse to wait until the national mood changes will mean unjustifiable delays - widespread prejudice towards the group is not going to disappear anytime soon.

After decades of abuse, encompassing at least three ethnic cleansing campaigns, the time is more than ripe for an increase in diplomatic efforts to ensure the survival of this long-persecuted people.

Emanuel Stoakes is a freelance journalist and researcher whose principal area of interest is human rights and conflict.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Source:
Al Jazeera

Friday 11 April 2014

Myanmar archbishop speaks out against new religion laws

Myanmar archbishop speaks out against new religion laws

Archbishop Bo warns on state interference and hate speeches

Myanmar Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of Yangon says proposed laws on race and religion would restrict freedom of religion and democracy.


Myanmar Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of Yangon says proposed laws on race and religion would restrict freedom of religion and democracy.



Myanmar Archbishop Charles Maung Bo of Yangon said proposed laws on "the protection of race and religion" are unnecessary, and warned against the state interfering in an individual's right to choose their religion.

Archbishop Bo told ucanews.com that such rules risked dialing back religious freedom in Myanmar at a time when citizens are gaining freedoms in most other areas.

A nationalist movement led by Buddhist monks last year had lawyers draft a package of legislation to regulate interfaith marriage, religious conversion and population growth, backed by a petition with more than 1.3 million signatures. The government of the country's reformist president, Thein Sein, is now drafting laws based on the proposal, which is targeting the Buddhist-majority country’s Muslim minority.

At the heart of the movement, dubbed 969, is an apparent fear that Buddhist women are being forcibly converted to Islam, and that Muslims are growing in number and influence. Inter-communal violence has displaced tens of thousands of people in Rakhine State, where the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority lives, and elsewhere since mid-2012. The vast majority of those displaced are Muslims.

The most controversial law being proposed would require a Buddhist woman to have her marriage sanctioned by local authorities, her parents and in-laws before marrying a non-Buddhist. Her husband also would be required to convert to Buddhism.

Speaking at his Yangon residence, adjacent to the city's St. Mary's Cathedral, Archbishop Bo said such matters should not be legally restricted.

"Suppose if somebody wants to marry a Muslim, he would have to become a Muslim according to the [religious] laws. If he marries a Catholic girl, he must become a Catholic," he said. "But it's different. This is the law of the religion. But they want to enforce it in the state law."

New York-based Human Rights Watch last month called for Thein Sein and Myanmar's Parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann to reject the proposal, saying it contained measures "seriously jeopardizing women’s autonomous decision making and their freedom to start a family of their choice".

"It is shocking that Burma is considering enshrining blatant discrimination at the heart of Burmese family law," Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director said in a statement. "This law would strip away from women their right to freely decide whom to marry, and would mark a major reversal for religious freedom and women’s rights in Burma."

The Attorney General’s office and government ministries are expected to come up with final drafts of the package of laws in May. Since he has not spoken about the issue publicly, it is unclear how strongly Thein Sein supports the laws on "protection of race and religion," but the large number of signatories suggests opposing it could be politically difficult with a landmark general election expected in late 2015.

However, Myanmar’s popular opposition leader, the Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has come under international criticism for not strongly condemning anti-Muslim sentiment in the country, has called the proposed law a "violation of women's rights and human rights".

Also proposed is a measure to legally regulate conversion from Buddhism to another religion.

"Conversion is an individual freedom," Archbishop Bo said. "They cannot force anybody to become one religion or the other. Even the pope said we have to respect even the atheist who doesn’t profess any religion. I think we have to respect the conscience of each one. We cannot force them to join one religion or the other; not the parents, not the state, not the monks."

The proposed laws would also attempt to restrict population growth. The Myanmar government has already enacted policies aimed at limiting Rohingya families to two children.

"All these areas I don’t think anyone can impose on anyone," said Archbishop Bo, adding that such laws could jeopardize new freedoms, mainly the newfound ability of Myanmar citizens, with some restrictions, to hold public demonstrations.

"If we restrict these, it’s not democracy," he said.

The drafters also want laws to limit the number of wives a man can take, even though polygamy is already illegal under Myanmar law.

Archbishop Bo also warned of an increasing trend in Myanmar for hate speech, which is most commonly directed against Muslims. He said he had spent time in a rural area on the outskirts of Yangon recently and heard a Buddhist monk preaching anti-Muslim sermons though a loudspeaker day after day.

"This hate speech is occurring all over the country," he said, singling out U Wirathu, a prominent Buddhist monk and the leader of the 969 movement.

He offered his support for a new campaign called Panzagar, or "flower speech," founded this month by Myanmar blogger Nay Phone Latt, which aims to tackle hate speech in Myanmar, particularly on social media.

"Even the ordinary simple Buddhists are becoming definitely prejudiced against the Muslims. So if anything happens, they always go for violence. So I think the government should move against this hate speech," he said. "So far the authorities have not made any statement on this hate speech."

The archbishop said he would use his sermons this Easter to call for more religious tolerance in Myanmar, adding that a positive approach to promoting religion was needed.

"The religious leaders must preach the goodness of their own religion in order to attract them. It’s a sort of negative mind for the Buddhists to preach against," he said.

"Preaching the goodness of one’s religion, or holiness of one’s religion, should be emphasized, rather than attacking the other religion. If we have respect for the other religion, it’s positive."