Second Rohingya Trafficking Camp Raided, Rights Group Calls for UN Intervention

Young Rohingya among those in the first camp raided yesterday Photo by Metee Mooktaree                Maung Kyaw Nu's  comments. Where are UNHCR officers? Where are UN Human Rights Commissioner officers? Where are ASEAN Human Rights representatives ? Where are National Human Rights Commission of Thailand's Directors ? Are there any one in south where Rohingya fall after fall at human traffickers. I am sure the rescued Rohingya are going to fall at the hands of traffickers again after release from government custody. It's very easy money making for traffickers by selling human beings. 700 Human heads x 2000 USD = 1400000 (One million four hundred  thousand dollars ).Rohingya's lives are very cheap in Arakan.The racists took lives freely. But in Thailand every Rohingya is sold 2000 USD. Some calling UN intervention to save Rohingya boat people here ? But we didn't see any UN official in south .We are tired of calling UN intervention to send UN Peace keeping forces in Arakan to protect the remaining Rohingyas, but in vain. What about new Secretary general of ASEAN's feed back in this humanitarian crisis ? This's my request to ASEAN civil society to come forward to save the Rohingya in South Thailand from the hands of human traffickers. I am also asking Thailand to stop HELP ON system and sheltering them on humanitarian grounds. Where are the Human Rights protectors of Thailand and through out the world ? Are the Rohingya not human in your Human Rights manifestation ?? If you believe that Rohingya are part of your ASEAN family members, please come and speak out to save the Rohingya boat people in Thailand. Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President,Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand,(BRAT) on January 12, 2013 01:52   By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian Friday, January 11, 2013   PHUKET: Hundreds more captive Rohingya were freed from traffickers in a fresh raid by authorities early today as an international rights organisation called on the Thai government to permit UN access to the rescued people. Human Rights Watch spokesperson Phil Robertson said: ''We are concerned that Thailand will quickly move to deport these groups without consideration for their rights.'' Unprecedented raids by Thai authorities on two large secret camps close to the border with Malaysia have ''rescued'' about 700 Rohingya, with many women and children among them. But the whereabouts of the group freed yesterday from a hillside camp and the second group released in a raid on a warehouse in Songkhla province today are not known. After yesterday's raid, the first group of between 367 and 397 were housed at Songkhla Immigration and police stations around the township of Padang Bezar. A witness in the town said the seven accused people traffickers, 11 Rohingya women and most of the 62 Rohingya children were being held at Immigration. One of the Rohingya told the witness, an outsider who happened to be in Padang Bezar, that he had spent two months in captivity at the camp after a 20-day boat trip from Burma. He said he had been beaten regularly because he could not raise the 50,000 to 60,000 baht to cover the cost of his illegal transfer to Malaysia. He also told the witness that five men had disappeared during his time at the camp, and it was feared they had been put to death. The freed Rohingya had only the clothes they wore, the witness said. ''They are smelly and there are signs of skin disease, including scabies,'' the witness said. It was not possible to discover today what Thai authorites plan for the group of Rohingya freed yesterday or the second group of 307 freed in a raid early today. Two-hundred and thirty men, 30 women and 47 children were freed in today's raid on a warehouse at Sadao, which is also in Songkhla province, on the border with Malaysia. The large number of freed Rohingya is likely to further stress the illegal immigration system. Thailand's military have been ''helping on'' Rohingya boatpeople by making sure they keep heading towards ''a third country'' and do not land in Thailand. The presence of women and children among the Rohingya boats was revealed for the first time when a vessel ran out of fuel and was apprehended off the Thai holiday island of Phuket on January 1. The discovery may have changed attitudes in Thailand towards the surreptitious processing of the Rohingya. With more women and children found over the past two days in the hands of people smugglers on the Thai-Malaysia border, anxiety is likely to increase. Accusations that the Thai military sometimes sells Rohingya to people traffickers have been made to Phuketwan. The claims are impossible to prove or disprove because the present system is covert and non-transparent. Human Rights Watch wants the Thai Government to involve the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to assess the welfare and rights of the freed Rohingya. ''This is what Malaysia is already doing,'' Mr Robertson said. ''We are very concerned to make sure the rights of these groups are respected.'' Between one and two Rohingya boats a day are now departing from Bangladesh or Burma with the total for the ''sailing season'' between October and April expected to exceed 20,000 people. Now that their homes in troubled Rakhine province have been destroyed, Rohingya have told Phuketwan that they would rather make the perilous boat journey than ''die in displaced persons' camps.'' Although boatloads of Rohingya apprehended in Burma are returned to Rakhine state, Phuketwan has been told that those apprehended in Thailand are most usually transferred onto other boats, some of them provided by smugglers, to repeat the journey. Three sources have confirmed that the 73 men, women and children apprehended off Phuket recently were placed on another boat and sent south once more. Phuketwan contacted a media liaison officer at Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs today but there was no promised return call. Other stories Burma Must Recognise Rohingya Thai Army Raids Traffickers' Border Camp, 366 Rohingya Held Captive Phuket Boat People: At Sea Again But Not Forgotten Boatpeople Families 'Already Back at Sea' Save Phuket Boat Families Today, Rights Group Tells Thai Government Phuket Boat Families Trucked Back to Burma Border in Tears Phuket Boat Kids Brought Ashore as Future is Debated Will These Phuket Boat Children End Up For Sale by Human Traffickers? Phuket Stop for Boatpeople: Rohingya Children Now Fleeing 'Certain Death' in Burma Sailing Past Holiday Phuket, Record Numbers of 10,000 Boatpeople Making a Shameful Exodus Phuket Hopes and Dreams, Suffocated in a Death Truck Desperation Marks Rohingyas' Fight for Rights and Survival Phuket NY Countdown: The Saddest Story Why Singapore Lacks a Real Heart Fleeing Rohingya Captive on Thai Border Comments     Where are UNHCR officers? Where are UN Human Rights Commissioner officers? Where are ASEAN Human Rights representatives ? Where are National Human Rights Commission of Thailand's Directors ? Are there any one in south where Rohingya fall after fall at human traffickers. I am sure the rescued Rohingya are going to fall at the hands of traffickers again after release from government custody. It's very easy money making for traffickers by selling human beings. 700 Human heads x 2000 USD = 1400000 (One million four hundred  thousand dollars ).Rohingya's lives are very cheap in Arakan.The racists took lives freely. But in Thailand every Rohingya is sold 2000 USD. Some calling UN intervention to save Rohingya boat people here ? But we didn't see any UN official in south .We are tired of calling UN intervention to send UN Peace keeping forces in Arakan to protect the remaining Rohingyas, but in vain. What about new Secretary general of ASEAN's feed back in this humanitarian crisis ? This's my request to ASEAN civil society to come forward to save the Rohingya in South Thailand from the hands of human traffickers. I am also asking Thailand to stop HELP ON system and sheltering them on humanitarian grounds. Where are the Human Rights protectors of Thailand and through out the world ? Are the Rohingya not human in your Human Rights manifestation ?? If you believe that Rohingya are part of your ASEAN family members, please come and speak out to save the Rohingya boat people in Thailand. Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President,Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand,(BRAT) on January 12, 2013 01:52

Burma Must Recognise Rohingya

Former Asean Secretary General Dr Surin Pitsuwan on Phuket last year Photo by phuketwan.com/file By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian Thursday, January 10, 2013 News Analysis PHUKET: Indonesia is interceding in Burma as the Asean partners desperately try to stem international damage from years of Asean subterfuge and inaction on the Rohingya issue. Dr Surin Pitsuwan, who has just retired after five years as Secretary General of the 10-nation group, told Phuketwan today that human rights in Burma was an issue that had to be addressed. Since the pushbacks from Thailand were exposed in 2009, the word ''Rohingya'' has reverberated around the region. The covert pushbacks were Thailand's way of dealing with an issue that Burma and its neighbors wanted to hide from the word. In 2013, with satellite images being used by activist group Human Rights Watch as evidence of the torching of thousands of Rohingya homes in Burma's Rakhine state, secrets are more difficult to keep. Thousands more Rohingya are opting to make the perilous voyage south rather than ''die in a camp for displaced people,'' as one boatperson put it. Now that their homes have been burned, the women and children are fleeing Burma with their menfolk in a crisis generated by decades of resentment that has openly festered lately into bitter hatred. The pushbacks were adopted by Thailand as an answer after the 2007-2008 ''sailing season'' saw nearly 5000 Rohingya land in Thailand. Halfway through the 2012-2013 ''sailing season,'' more than 10,000 Rohingya have voyaged past Thailand and thousands more are planning to flee the same way. Since Phuketwan revealed on January 1 that women and children are now fleeing in the boats, a policy swing appears to be underway in Thailand. The prospect of women and children being at sea for weeks in open boats alarmed the Thai Navy personnel and local police who intercepted the boatload of families off Phuket. It can be no coincidence that last night's raid took place on an illicit Thai-Malaysia border camp for the first time, clearly revealing that children and women are now falling into the hands of the people traffickers. We sincerely hope that for Asean and the people smugglers, the days of secrecy and profit are at an end. With the illegal trade now on overload, alternatives have to be found, and urgently. There is no doubt that the only permanent solution has to come from inside Burma. Dr Surin acknowledged this today when he said that he believed steps had to be taken swiftly to recognise Rohingya families who had been living in Burma for generations. Being a just-retired diplomat, he said that the process of recognition required time. But with more women and children taking to the Rohingya boats each day, time is running short. Burma must act.

Thai Army Raids Traffickers' Border Camp, 366 Rohingya Held Captive

Children being treated today inside the people smugglers' camp Photo by Metee Mooktaree Click a thumbnail to view more photographs  Maung Kyaw Nu's comment. Through Thailland's "HELP IN" policy, all the landed Rohingya boat people fall at the hand of greedy human smugglers (the local Thai authority call them agent or guider to Malaysia). May be concerned Thai authorities do not know the dirty money making project of Human smugglers or agent's hidden plan keeping the Rohingya victims at their secret concentration camps .The inmates are everyday inhumanly beaten to realize equal of 2000 USD as passage fee to Malaysia.Some victims die or become partly disable due to torture at secret camps.If the victims are failed to arrange demanded money,they are sold to fishing trawlers . There are still many secret camps along Thai and Malaysia boarder where Rohingya boat people are kept as captives. Thailand and international medias must get full access to this 366 unfortunate Rohingyas . The captives must be interviewed by the concerned parties. Due to genocide in Arakan, the Rohingya flee their centuries old home land. Tens of thousands of Rohingyas were killed in their homeland . Some fleeing people die in remote jungle of Arakan and some die in the sea. We have been asking international protection since June 2012 The Thein Sen government police, security forces and Aye Maung's RNDP muscle men have jointly been committing genocidal crimes against the Rohingyas for eight months. Rohingyas are not given National protection. So the UN must deploy peace keeping forces to protect the remaining Rohingyas. If Rohingyas get international protection and justice , no boat people and refugees will be seen. I would also like to urge Thai government to grand shelter to the Rohingya boat people and UNHCR access . I would also like to make" HELP ON POLICY" to be meaningful. Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President,Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand,(BRAT) on January 10, 2013,20:20   Thai Army Raids Traffickers' Border Camp, 366 Rohingya Held Captive By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison Thursday, January 10, 2013 PHUKET: Thai authorities raided a secret transit camp for Rohingya on the border with Malaysia today, apprehending 366 men, women and children and seven alleged people traffickers. Sixty-two of those being held were aged under 15 with three babies less than a year old, and 11 women, local police said. The raid is the latest development as thousands of Rohingya flee ethnic cleansing in Burma after being burned from their houses in what's called ''community violence.'' It came as an undercover Rohingya working with the Army bought two boatpeople for 95,000 baht in a ''sting'' in Padangnezar district, in the Thai province of Songkgla. The captive Rohingya were being held in a remote hillside border camp near Malaysia and are still there today after last night's raid, with Thai soldiers recording their names. Public Health medical teams were also examining the captives, said Lieutenant Colonel Katika Jidbanjong of Padangbezar Police Station. One source told Phuketwan that the camp was just one of several on the border, and that the other camps contained larger numbers of people. The ''sting'' operation was led by Kalam, who has a single name and is a member of the Rohingya National Organisation of Thailand. ''We began negotiating at the camp to buy two men for 95,000 baht about 2pm,'' he said. ''We had to wait until 8pm, when the brokers arrived. As soon as we met with them, the soldiers moved in.'' There were many checkpoints surrounding the hillside camp. Three brokers and four camp security guards were being held, Kalam said. The issue of the Rohingya and Burma's continuing desire to expel them is now causing serious problems for Burma's Asean neighbors, Thailand, Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, Singapore. A group of 73 men, women and children, apprehended on a boat off Phuket on New Year's Day, were swiftly trucked north to the port of Ranong, on the border with Burma, where they were placed on another boat heading south. Colonel Manat Kongpan, who heads Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command, Fourth Region, said the families had immediately been placed on another vessel and ''helped on.'' At the same time, Human Rights Watch was making a plea for Thailand's Government to keep the Phuket boatpeople in Thailand to resolve their future. It's not known whether today's raid was connected to the apprehension of the Phuket boatpeople, which received extensive media coverage, along with the arrival days earlier on the Malaysian holiday island of Langkawi of more than 500 Rohingya. Colonel Manat said today that other boatloads of Rohingya had been apprehended and ''helped on'' since the Phuket families were sent south by sea on January 2. He said that women and children were now frequently present on boats where once only men and teenage boys ventured out. At least 10,000 Rohingya have been recorded as fleeing Bangladesh or northern Burma by boat in the first three months of the safe ''sailing season'' with many thousands more expected to flee in the next three months. The issue is expected to be high on the priority list of Le Luong Minh of Vietnam who has just taken over as Asean Secretary General from Dr Surin Pitsuwan. Four years ago yesterday, Phuketwan journalists working with the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong broke the news of secret ''pushbacks'' of Rohingya from Thailand. Several hundred men and boys drowned before Thailand ended that policy and replaced it with the ''help on'' process. Boatpeople intercepted off the Thai coast are now given food, provisions and fuel but told they must not land in Thailand. Malaysia appears to be the preferred destination. Other stories Sailing Past Holiday Phuket, Record Numbers of 10,000 Boatpeople Making a Shameful Exodus Phuket NY Countdown: The Saddest Story Fleeing Rohingya Captive on Thai Border Phuket Boat People: At Sea Again But Not Forgotten Boatpeople Families 'Already Back at Sea' Save Phuket Boat Families Today, Rights Group Tells Thai Government Phuket Boat Families Trucked Back to Burma Border in Tears Phuket Boat Kids Brought Ashore as Future is Debated Will These Phuket Boat Children End Up For Sale by Human Traffickers? Phuket Stop for Boatpeople: Rohingya Children Now Fleeing 'Certain Death' in Burma Phuket Hopes and Dreams, Suffocated in a Death Truck Rohingya Trucked North: Checkpoint Exposes 127 in Minivan Convoy Desperation Marks Rohingyas' Fight for Rights and Survival Why Singapore Lacks a Real Heart Hundreds of Rohingya Held Captive as Three Boats Land on Thai Islands Children Face Malnutrition in Burma Camps, Unicef Report Confirms Obama Tells Burma: Only Fear Stands Between Humans and Their Dreams Voyage of The Lost. Where is Mahud, 14? Rohingya Boat Lands in Thailand, 112 Men Arrested North of Phuket Exclusive: Secret Rohingya 'Exile Island' Revealed Boat People in Thailand: Phuketwan Reports Through Thailland's "HELP ON" policy, all the landed Rohingya boat people fall at the hand of greedy human smugglers (the local Thai authority call them agent or guider to Malaysia). May be concerned Thai authorities do not know the dirty money making project of Human smugglers or agent's hidden plan keeping the Rohingya victims at their secret concentration camps .The inmates are everyday inhumanly beaten to realize equal of 2000 USD as passage fee to Malaysia.Some victims die or become partly disable due to torture at secret camps.If the victims are failed to arrange demanded money,they are sold to fishing trawlers . There are still many secret camps along Thai and Malaysia boarder where Rohingya boat people are kept as captives. Thailand and international medias must get full access to this 366 unfortunate Rohingyas . The captives must be interviewed by the concerned parties. Due to genocide in Arakan, the Rohingya flee their centuries old home land. Tens of thousands of Rohingyas were killed in their homeland . Some fleeing people die in remote jungle of Arakan and some die in the sea. We have been asking international protection since June 2012 The Thein Sen government police, security forces and Aye Maung's RNDP muscle men have jointly been committing genocidal crimes against the Rohingyas for eight months. Rohingyas are not given National protection. So the UN must deploy peace keeping forces to protect the remaining Rohingyas. If Rohingyas get international protection and justice , no boat people and refugees will be seen. I would also like to urge Thai government to grand shelter to the Rohingya boat people and UNHCR access . I would also like to make" HELP ON POLICY" to be meaningful. Posted by Maung Kyaw Nu,President,Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand,(BRAT) on January 10, 2013 20:20

Mosque destroyed by Nasaka in Maungdaw

Posted on January 7, 2013

 

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  A Mosque was destroyed by Burma’s Border security force (Nasaka) on January 5, at Maungdaw Township, said a religious leader on condition of anonymity.

“This mosque was built in Barsara village, under the Nasaka area No. 8 of Maungdaw Township in 2011, after getting necessary documents from the concerned authorities.”

At first, the Barsara village was situated at the sea beach of Bay of Bengal; but this village was forcibly transferred to a mountain side in 2010 and 2011. It has 80 houses and two mosques. In 2010, the Nasaka transferred 40 houses to a Mountan adjacent and then in 2011, another 40 houses were also transferred to the same mountain side, according to a local leader.
After transferring all the villagers to a new village, they built on mosque for the new Barsara village instead of two mosques after acquiring necessary documents from the concerned authorities, the local more added.

However, on December 5, in the morning, a group of Nasaka from Inn Din Nasaka camp went to the new Barsara village and destroyed the “Belaro mosque” without giving any advanced warning to the villagers.  After building, it was named “Belaro Mosque”,   said a local trader.
The size of the mosque is 10 yards in length, 5 yards in width and 3.5 yards in height.
“A village elder said that the government looks us with bad temper. They are always trying to uproot and destroy us.”

Besides, on December 3, the District Administration officer, the Township administration officer of Maungdaw town went to Khadir Bill village, Khair Para, and Kolaba village and locked all the mosques. Earlier, less than five people are permitted to go to the mosque to say five prayers, said a local religious leader who denied to be named.

source-KPN.

BURMA

Kachin Refugees Fearful after Fighting Escalates

By YADANA HTUN / AP WRITER| January 5, 2013 |

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Kachin refugees are seen in a tent at a rescue camp in the Chinese southwestern border city of Ruili, Yunnan province early this year. (Photo: Reuters)

LAIZA, Burma—Ethnic Kachins living in makeshift camps in Burma described their terror at the army’s use of air power during fighting with Kachin rebels seeking more autonomy, as the government said it has exercised maximum restraint.
The escalation of attacks has made the lives of a claimed 100,000 Kachin displaced since fighting began more than 19 months ago even more perilous. Many are in camps in or near Laiza, the Kachin guerrilla-held town right by the border with China.

“We are really afraid and can’t sleep well at nights,” said Dashi Lu, 60, from Daw Hpun Yang village, about a day’s walk from the Laiza camp where she has lived for a year.
“If I were small enough, I would hide under a leaf,” she said Friday.

The government said in a statement Friday that the army had been given orders to cease all offensives against Kachin Independence Army guerrillas, but that it had to protect its soldiers after the Kachin continued to set off land mines and ambush government forces.

The Kachin, like Burma’s other ethnic minorities, have long sought greater autonomy from the central government. They are the only major ethnic rebel group that has not reached a cease-fire agreement with elected President Thein Sein’s reformist government, which came to power in 2011 after almost five decades of military rule.

More than 19 months of fighting between the two sides escalated on Christmas Day, when the rebels rejected a government demand that supply convoys be allowed to reach an army base, contending that they carried ammunition that could be used to attack their nearby headquarters.

The government then used fighter planes and helicopters to mount attacks and seized one of the guerrillas’ hilltop outposts.
“Now, there is intense fighting in the vicinity of the camps and everyone is fearful,” said Salang Kaba Doi Pyi Sa, head of the Kachin’s refugee relief committee. “If the army uses heavy artillery, it can reach the camps.”
Dashi Lu, the displaced villager, said that for safety’s sake, she had already a year ago fled the village home in which she had lived all her life, along with her daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. Her son is with the Kachin guerrillas and she hasn’t heard from him for three months.

“I thought we were safe but these days, the military bombardments make us very fearful,” she said. “There’s no place for us to run again.”
The government said in the statement that because the guerrillas would not let the convoys through, it “had to take military action as self-defense and in order to protect the safety of lives and properties of the people, safe and smooth transportation and peace and tranquility of the region.”

It added that the military had to take action but exercised “maximum restraint” in the use of force. It also said the positions from which the military dislodged the Kachin were in uninhabited territory.
Fighting initially erupted in Kachin state in June 2011 after the KIA refused to abandon a strategic base near a hydropower plant that is a joint venture with a Chinese company.
The government last month delivered an ultimatum to the Kachin to clear a road by Christmas Day so it could supply its base. The Kachin rejected the ultimatum for fear of a government attack on their own outpost.

The Kachin have been reaching out for help from the international community.
A network of Kachin support groups on Thursday sent a letter to the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross to take action against the “daily escalation of attacks” by the army and to protect the Kachin civilians.

It claimed the government was utilizing Chinese airspace for its offensive, and that the Kachin could not flee to safety because China had closed the border to them, while Burma’s government blocked relief assistance.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Friday that during armed clashes between Burmese government forces and Kachin rebels on the night of Dec. 30, three bombs landed in the Chinese border area but did not cause casualties.

Hua added that while the Chinese government regarded the fighting as Burma’s internal affair, Beijing still hoped that the Burmese government would address the issue through “peaceful negotiation with relevant parties.”
China is a key ally of Burma as the country’s main aid donor and investor. But relations have cooled as Thein Sein’s government has reached out to the West to help kick-start economic growth. Many Western nations have eased economic and political sanctions that were imposed against the previous military government for its repressive policies. But Kachin state’s position on the Chinese border means Beijing can still exercise its influence over both sides.

The United States earlier said the use of air power in Kachin state is “extremely troubling.” On Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US is seeking clarity on the situation following conflicting statements from Burmese authorities, and is urging both the government and Kachin representatives to stop fighting.

“Our view is that all sides need to cease and desist and get into dialogue with each other,” she told a news briefing.
SOUR CE-THE IRRAWADDY NEWS.