Ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas

[Species]

I'm creating this thread to gather all the information solely on the human rights violations of Rohingyas to have a clear idea of the situation. Requesting the admins and moderators to keep the thread separated and not merge into other threads.

Contributions to the thread are welcome!

Burma Is Pursuing ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Rohingya Muslims, U.N. Official Says

Thousands of stateless Rohingya Muslims are trying to reach Bangladesh amid reports of abuse by the Burmese army

Burmese authorities are carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the country’s western Arakan state, a senior U.N. official said, as the military continues to sweep the area for what it has labeled Islamic militants.

The BBC reports that John McKissick, a representative of the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said Burmese troops have been “killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river” into neighboring Bangladesh.

Thousands of Rohingya have already sought refuge in Bangladesh, the BBC cited the country’s Foreign Ministry as saying. Thousands more are reportedly turning up at the border hoping to escape. Bangladesh does not view the Rohingya as refugees, and its official policy is to not allow them in.

The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Burma, officially called Myanmar, and are viewed by many as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which also does not accept them. The group, numbering about 1.1 million people, is viewed as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities. Tens of thousands have poured across the border for decades to seek refuge in one of several refugee camps near Cox’s Bazaar.

Read more: The Rohingya, Burma’s Forgotten Muslims by James Nachtwey

“Now it’s very difficult for the Bangladeshi government to say the border is open because this would further encourage the government of Myanmar to continue the atrocities and push them out until they have achieved their ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority in Myanmar,” McKissick told the BBC.

According to Amnesty International, the Bangladeshi government has begun forcibly repatriating the asylum seekers by the thousands, in defiance of international law.

UNHCR and Amnesty have accused the Burmese government of “collective punishment,” as the Burmese military carries out counterterrorism operations in the remote and conflict-torn state.

Parts of northern Arakan, also known as Rakhine, have been on military lockdown since Oct. 9, when nine border police guards were killed in what appear to have been coordinated attacks on three security posts. The government said the assailants were Islamic militants, and began its search for what it said were hundreds of Rohingya jihadists.

Read more: Something Shocking is Happening to Burma’s Rohingya People. Take a Look at This Timeline

Humanitarian aid workers and independent journalists have been barred from the area since the start of the lockdown. More than 150,000 people who normally receive life-saving assistance have received no food or medical aid for more than six weeks. Over 3,000 children diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition have not received treatment; as many as half of them are at serious risk of death.

Reports of atrocities have surfaced over the past few weeks. Reuters reported that dozens of women claim to have been raped by Burmese soldiers, and Human Rights Watch this week revealed satellite images that appear to show more than 1,200 buildings that had been burned to the ground. More than 100 people have been killed and hundreds of others detained by the army, which has admitted to using helicopter strikes against alleged lightly armed suspects.

The Burmese government vehemently denies all allegations of wrongdoing. Presidential spokesman Zaw Htay told the BBC that he was “very, very disappointed” by the remarks made by McKissick, saying he should “only speak based on concrete and strong evidence on the ground.” That would be an impossible task given the complete lack of access to the area.

Read More: ‘We Cannot Believe Aung San Suu Kyi’: Why Many in Burma Are Losing Hope of Peace

The U.N. and the U.S. have called for an independent investigation into allegations of abuse.

The past six weeks have been the deadliest in the state since riots between Buddhists and Muslims killed more than 100 in 2012, most of them Rohingya. About 100,000 are still confined to squalid displacement camps where they are denied movement, education and healthcare.

The government’s de facto leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has made few public remarks on the crisis. While human-rights advocates have criticized her silence, political analysts say the issue has exposed the limits of her power; the military still controls the key Ministries of Home Affairs, Border Affairs and Defense.

Her party took power in April after winning elections last year, bringing an end to decades of military rule. Recent events in Arakan state, as well as renewed conflict in the country’s east between the Burmese army and ethnic rebels, have led many to question who is ultimately in control.

See more at - http://time.com/4582157/burma-myanmar-rohingya-bangladesh-arakan-ethnic-cleansing-suu-kyi/

 

[Species]

Gang rape, torture claims as Rohingya flee Myanmar

TEKNAF, Bangladesh: Horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder are emerging from among the thousands of desperate Rohingya migrants who have pushed into Bangladesh in the past few days to escape unfolding chaos in Myanmar.

Up to 30,000 of the impoverished ethnic group have fled their homes, the United Nations says, after troops poured into the narrow strip where they live earlier this month.

Bangladesh has resisted urgent international appeals to open its border to avert a humanitarian crisis, instead telling Myanmar it must do more to prevent the stateless Muslim minority from entering.

The scale of human suffering was becoming clear Thursday, as desperate people like Mohammad Ayaz told how troops attacked his village and killed his pregnant wife.

Cradling his two-year-old son, he said military men killed at least 300 men in the village market and gang-raped dozens of women before setting fire to around 300 houses, Muslim-owned shops and the mosque where he served as imam.

"They shot dead my wife, Jannatun Naim. She was 25 and seven months pregnant. I took refuge at a canal with my two-year-old son, who was hit by a rifle butt," Ayaz told AFP, pointing to a cut on the boy's forehead.

Ayaz sold his watch and shoes to pay for the journey and has taken shelter along with at least 200 of his neighbours at a camp for unregistered Rohingya refugees.

'DEEP CONCERN'

Many of those seeking shelter in Bangladesh say they have walked for days and used rickety boats to cross into the neighbouring country, where hundreds of thousands of registered Rohingya refugees have been living for decades.

The Rohingya are loathed by many in majority Buddhist Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them "Bengali", even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

Most live in impoverished western Rakhine state, but are denied citizenship and smothered by restrictions on movement and work.

As the crisis deepened, Bangladesh said late Wednesday it had summoned the Myanmar ambassador to express "deep concern".

"Despite our border guards' sincere effort to prevent the influx, thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens including women, children and elderly people continue to cross (the) border into Bangladesh," it said. "Thousands more have been reported to be gathering at the border crossing."

TORTURE AND RAPE

Since the latest violence flared up, Bangladesh's secular government has been under intense pressure to open its border to prevent a humanitarian disaster.

Instead, Bangladesh border guards have intensified patrols and coast guards have deployed extra ships. Officials say they have stopped around a thousand Rohingya at the border since Monday.

Farmer Deen Mohammad was among the thousands who evaded the patrols, sneaking into the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf four days ago with his wife, two of their children and three other families.

"They (Myanmar's military) took my two boys, aged nine and 12 when they entered my village. I don't know what happened to them," Mohammad, 50, told AFP. "They took women in rooms and then locked them from inside. Up to 50 women and girls of our village were tortured and raped."

Mohammad said houses in his village were burned, echoing similar testimony from other recent arrivals.

Human Rights Watch said Monday it had identified more than 1,000 houses in Rohingya villages that had been razed in northwestern Myanmar using satellite images.

The Myanmar military has denied burning villages and even blamed the Rohingya themselves.

Jannat Ara said she fled with neighbours after her father was arrested and her 17-year-old sister disappeared, she believes raped and killed by the army.

"We heard that they tortured her to death. I don't know what happened to my mother," said Ara, who entered Bangladesh on Tuesday.

Rohingya community leaders said hundreds of families had taken shelter in camps in the Bangladeshi border towns of Teknaf and Ukhia, many hiding for fear they would be sent them back to Myanmar.

Police on Wednesday detained 70 Rohingya, including women and children, who they say they will send back across the border.

"They handcuffed even young girls and children and then took them away with a view to pushing them back to Myanmar," said one community leader who asked not to be named, adding they faced "certain death" if made to return.

See more at - http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...-claims-as-rohingya-flee-myanmar/3315000.html

 

[Species]

Rohingya at the "very end of genocide"

Claim mass starvation of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim community is taking place under current lockdown
World Bulletin / News Desk

Rohingya advocacy groups worldwide are calling for an international push to allow humanitarian aid to get through to western Rakhine State and stem what they refer to as the mass starvation of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim community.

For almost one month, areas of the state have been under lockdown after armed individuals killed nine officers and stole dozens of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Restrictions have subsequently been placed on aid delivery and access to information in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships as the army continues to search for those responsible.

Maungdaw and Buthidaung are predominantly occupied by the country's stateless Rohingya Muslim population -- described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minority groups in the world.


On Thursday, a statement from the groups headlined "International action needed as Rohingya face executions, rape, mass arrests and starvation" called on governments, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Nations to intervene.

"We appreciate that the NLD [National League for Democracy] led government has limited control over the military and security forces, but it cannot be said that that they are trying to do their best to end violations despite this,” it said, referring to Aung San Suu Kyi's political party which has set up an international fact-finding body to try and resolve the area’s problems.

"Instead they are acting in a way similar to previous military regimes... They are not only failing to act to try to curtail violations of international law by security forces and the military, through its state media it is actively attempting to deny abuses are taking place and publishing false news."

The statement claimed that if such abuses were happening under military rule, there would be international condemnation and talk of international investigations, sanctions and discussions at the United Nations Security Council.

Suu Kyi's democratically elected government -- which took office April 1 -- is the country’s first non-military government in 54 years.

"Instead we are seeing silence or muted responses, and no action," it underlined.

Mass Extermination

According to a damning new study by the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) at the Queen Mary University of London, “The Rohingya face the final stages of genocide,” with mass extermination a very real possibility.

Maung Maung, a Rohingya man living in Rakhine capital Sittwe, has told Anadolu Agency that “bad things” had been happening in Maungdaw since the military operation began.

“We have had several calls from Maungdaw residents over the past few days. They said soldiers discriminate against them and forcibly took them for confession,” he said by phone on Tuesday.

“They said soldiers took innocent village men for interrogation... and Rohingya there told us they have not had enough food for a few days.”

On Monday, UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar Yanghee Lee said in a statement that even though a probe has been called for into the violence, the attacks continue.

“State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi has rightly called for proper investigations to be conducted and for no one to be accused until solid evidence is obtained," Lee sad.

"Instead, we receive repeated allegations of arbitrary arrests as well as extrajudicial killings occurring within the context of the security operations conducted by the authorities in search of the alleged attackers."

Thursday's statement claimed that there is no end in sight to the current abuses and that neither the military or the government were willing to admit to what is taking place and take action to prevent it.

"It therefore falls upon the international community to step in and protect the vulnerable Rohingya population who are facing multiple violations of international law," it said.

"International law was designed specifically for situations like this. The international community must now step up to its responsibilities."

Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, was quoted as saying that the community is facing a major crisis, but without a "major crisis response" from the international community.

"The numbers already killed, raped and arrested could just be the beginning if action is not taken," he said.

Every diplomatic, political and legal option must be pursued."

The statement called on ASEAN to publicly and privately pressure the military and the government to stop all human rights violations and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid.

It also wants UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to lead UN efforts and to personally demand an end to all human rights violations and the lifting all humanitarian aid restrictions.

The statement was signed by Rohingya organizations from the UK, Denmark, Japan, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Malaysia, and the Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee.

 

[Species]

'They raped us one by one,' says Rohingya woman who fled Myanmar

Muslim police women stand guard during a Muslim rally against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims, outside the... Rohingyarefugees fleeing to Bangladesh to escape the violence of Myanmar's soldiers.

"They tied both of us to the bed and raped us one by one," said 20-year-old Habiba, who has now found shelter with a Rohingya refugee family a few kilometres (miles) from the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

Habiba and her sister Samira, 18, say they were raped in their home in Udang village by troops who then burnt down their house.

"They torched most of the houses, killed numerous people including our father and raped many young girls," said Habiba, who agreed to be identified in this story.

"One of the soldiers told us before leaving that they will kill us if they see us around the next time they come here. Then they torched our house."

Widespread allegations of rape have raised fears that Myanmar's security forces are systematically using sexual violence against the stateless Rohingya.

The violence has forced thousands to flee, prompting a UN official to accuse Myanmar of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" of the Muslim minority.

Ullah and his siblings escaped after taking the family's $400 savings and walking to the Naf River that separates southern Bangladesh from Myanmar's Rakhine state.

The trio spent four days hiding in the hills with hundreds of other Rohingya families, before they found a boat owner willing to take them to Bangladesh.

"He asked for all of our money," Ullah said.

The boat owner left them on a small island near the border.

The siblings walked across the scrubland until they found a Rohingya family who offered them shelter.

Similar stories of violence and dispossession fill the rows of plastic-roofed shacks that have become the only refuge for thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled Rakhine state.

The escapees have told of gang rapes, torture and murder being carried out by Myanmar troops in the small strip of land that has been under military control after deadly raids on police border posts last month.

Foreign journalists and independent investigators have been barred from entering the area.

While the military and government have rejected the charges, rights groups have long accused the military of using rape as a weapon of war in several other ethnic conflicts which simmer in the country's borderlands.

Thailand-based NGO the Womens League of Burma has documented 92 cases of sexual violence by fighters between 2010 and 2015, which they say have been used "as a means of shaming and destroying ethnic communities".

The volume of rape allegation among the Rohingya fleeing Rakhine suggest a pattern of abuse by Myanmar's army beyond anything documented before.

Mujibullah arrived in Bangladesh on Monday with his sister Muhsena.

The pair fled after four soldiers tried to rape her. The soldiers were tying Muhsena, 20, to a pole in their village when Mujibullah intervened, receiving a brutal beating in exchange.

"One soldier tried to hack me with a knife as I threw myself to them, begging them not to destroy her life," Mujibullah said, showing an inch-long wound on his palm.

Muhsena stood close to her brother as he spoke to AFP, but she choked up every time she tried to speak.

Hundreds of thousands of registered Rohingya refugees have been living on the Bangladesh side of the border for decades, having fled violence and poverty across the border.

In Myanmar the Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants and labelled "Bengali", even though many have lived there for generations.

They are denied citizenship and face severe restrictions on movement, work and basic access to education and hospitals.

 

[Species]

Burmese military killed seven of my children, says Rohingya refugee

Woman’s account is one of a wave of reports of murder and rape by soldiers in Myanmar, amid claims of genocide

Noor Ayesha held her last surviving daughter tight as their boat crossed into Bangladeshi waters. She left behind a firebombed home, a dead husband, seven slain children and the soldiers who raped her.

“A group of about 20 of them appeared in front of my house,” the 40-year-old Rohingya woman recalled of the morning in mid-October when her village was invaded by hundreds of Burmese government troops. “They ordered all of us to come out in the courtyard. They separated five of our children and forced them into one of our rooms and put on the latch from outside. Then they fired a ‘gun-bomb’ on that room and set it on fire.

“Five of my children were burnt to death by the soldiers. They killed my two daughters after raping them. They also killed my husband and raped me.”

She said just one child survived the frenzy: five-year-old Dilnawaz Begum, who hid in a neighbour’s house when the soldiers arrived in the village of Kyet Yoe Pyin, in the Maungdaw township of Rakhine state.

Ayesha’s account is one of a wave of reports of extrajudicial killing, arson and sexual assaults allegedly committed by Burmese soldiers in the north-west of the country. The government strongly denies the allegations, but the UN says the reports of rape and sexual assault are “part of a wider pattern of ethnically motivated violence” against Rohingya communities in Rakhine.

The alleged raid on Kyet Yoe Pyin, also known as Kyariprang, was part of renewed military clashes in the state that followed an assault on Burmese border guards on 9 October. Nine policemen were killed in the attack, which Myanmar’s government has blamed on Rohingya insurgents.

Security forces have responded with what they claim are counter-insurgency operations, which have driven up to 15,000 Rohingya refugees across the border into Bangladesh in the past months.

Most are squatting in makeshift refugee settlements in the Bangladeshi coastal district of Cox’s Bazar, where the Guardian interviewed three women, including Ayesha, who had recently fled Kyet Yoe Pyin and recounted the human rights abuses they say were perpetrated there and in surrounding villages in the days after 9 October.

Sayeda Khatun was more than five months pregnant, but said that did not deter the soldiers who arrived at her house in the village around noon on 11 October. “They carried me at gunpoint to a large courtyard in the village where they had gathered around 30 other Rohingya women,” the 32-year-old said.

“From among us the soldiers separated around 15 younger ‘good-looking’ women and took them away to an unknown place. I was in the group of about 15 older women who were raped in that courtyard by the soldiers. Fearing that they would shoot and kill us, all of us took off our clothing as the soldiers ordered.”

She considers herself lucky: she lost no family members and eventually found a way to escape to Cox’s Bazar with her husband, Oli Mohammad. But the violence has fractured their relationship, Mohammad believing the men who raped Khatun are also her baby’s fathers, “at least partly”.

“My husband said the baby is impure and should be aborted,” she said. “I resisted the idea of the abortion from the beginning. In Bangladesh some people counselled my husband that only he is the real father of my baby. But he is firm on his belief that the baby has been fathered by many, including him … and he has distanced himself from me.”

Noor Hossain, a resident of a neighbouring village, Ngasaku, told the Guardian by phone that the Burmese soldiers had arrived in Kyet Yoe Pyin on 11 October accompanied by Buddhist settlers known as Natala.

More than half the Rohingya community’s 850 houses were razed over the next two days and soldiers killed at least 265 people, he claims.

“At least 100 women were raped and 25 of them were killed during the attack in Karyiprang. At least 40 Rohingyas were burnt alive in the village. Apart from killing people with gunshots and burning them, the soldiers also slaughtered many with knife. They also took away about 150 Rohingya men who have not returned as yet,” Hossain said.

The former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was recently permitted to visit the state and interviewed villagers in Kyet Yoe Pyin on 3 December. He told a press conference in Yangon on Tuesday that his committee was “deeply concerned by reports of alleged human rights abuses” in Rakhine and urged Burmese security forces to act within the law.

A UK-based Rohingya community leader, Nurul Islam, said at least two Rohingya men who had spoken to Annan were later arrested by security forces.

He claimed Burmese soldiers resumed operations in north Rakhine Rohingya villages two days after Annan’s visit, and that at least 50 women were raped and four killed this week in the village of Kyauk Chaung.

Myanmar, a majority Buddhist nation, has long been accused of persecuting Muslim Rohingya communities, who have deep roots in the country but are denied citizenship and government services and considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

About one million Rohingya are thought to live in Rakhine state. An outbreak of communal violence in 2012 led to more than 100,000 of them seeking refuge elsewhere or settling in highly restrictive displacement camps.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who became de facto leader of Myanmar in March after two decades of military rule, has said her government will address the reports of violence committed in the north-west.

But the Nobel laureate, whose control of the country’s military is uncertain, has also accused the media and human rights groups of “concentrating on the negative side of the situation”.

Aung Win, the Burmese official tasked with investigating the 9 October attacks on the border guards, has denied reports of atrocities and argued that “all Bengali [Rohingya] villages are military strongholds”. He also claimed Burmese soldiers would not have raped Rohingya women because they “are very dirty”.

Rakhine has been largely shut to journalists and human rights monitors in the past weeks and none of the accounts given to the Guardian can be independently verified. But the UN estimates about 30,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled their homes in recent months, and satellite images produced by Human Rights Watch show 1,250 structures have been razed in a similar period in Rohingya villages, including 245 in Kyet Yoe Pyin.

The Bangladesh navy has been accused of turning back boatloads of Rohingya refugees trying to flee Myanmar, though thousands more continue to make journey each week.

At a rally in Kuala Lumpur at the weekend, Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, likened the persecution of Rohingyas in Myanmar to a genocide.

Penny Green, a professor of law at the University of London, led a 12-month investigation into the Burmese military’s campaign against the Rohingya and concluded that the military was “engaged in a genocidal process” against the minority group.

“It’s important to understand genocide as a process which may evolve over many years, beginning with the stigmatisation of the target community and moving into physical violence, forced isolation, systematic weakening and finally mass annihilation,” she said.

“For four years now the Rohingya have suffered state-sponsored denial of access to healthcare, livelihood, food and civic life as well as debilitating restrictions on their freedom of movement.

“And now, since 9 October this year, the Rohingya in northern Rakhine state are facing a terrifying new phase in the genocide: mass killings, rapes, village clearings and the razing of whole communities, committed with impunity by the Myanmar military and security forces,” she said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ed-seven-of-my-children-says-rohingya-refugee

 

[Species]

Satellite images showing the three villages in Myanmar where hundreds of buildings have been burned in recent weeks [NASA/HRW]

Source: Al Jazeera And Agencies

Rohingya face severe restrictions on travel and access to healthcare [Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters]

A satellite image from Nov. 10 shows a Muslim village burned down in an arson spree allegedly committed by Myanmar’s army. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 400 buildings in Muslim-majority parts of Myanmar have been destroyed.

Credit:
Human Rights Watch/Courtesy

A 10-month-old boy Tohait lay dead in mud on the bank of river Naf on Bangladesh-Myanmar border. — Rvsiontv.com photo

See more at: http://www.newagebd.net/article/424...g-aylans-body-goes-viral#sthash.74UNwgEH.dpuf

 

[Species]

‘I left my husband and children burning’

After losing her husband and two children to the attacks in Myanmar, Robeda and her youngest are now living in this makeshift shelter in the Kutupalong unregistered refugee camp.

Rohingyas who have fled the crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state have described escaping a scene of horror, often with many left behind.

“The army announced that they would count the people in the village. We went inside and soldiers surrounded my home. They locked the door and set fire to the house.”

Robeda got out with her youngest in her arms, but the husband and the two other children were trapped inside. Then she escaped her village in Maungdaw, hiding and running for five days until she reached the border of Bangladesh on Wednesday.

This correspondent found the Rohingya woman in the Kutupalong unregistered refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhia. At first she refused to talk, believing she was being interrogated by a police or Border Guard man.

Even after coming this far, she fears being pushed back through the border, where she will be shot dead by the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) for sure.

Her home was in Maungdaw district’s Poangkhali village, Robeda said. She and her husband had made made a good harvest of rice, potatoes and chillies this year and were raising a few domestic animals. All was destroyed in the attack that took place a week ago.

Deen Mohammad (L) and his wife Roshida (R), whose two elder sons were taken by the Myanmar military, pose for a photograph with their younger children after their escape from Myanmar, in a refugee camp in Teknaf in southern Cox's Bazar district on November 24, 2016.

Dhaka has called on Myanmar to take "urgent measures" to protect its Rohingya minority after thousands crossed into Bangladesh in just a few days, some saying the military was burning villages and raping young girls.

Deen Mohammad and his wife Roshida, whose two elder sons were taken by the Myanmar military are living with their younger children after their escape from Myanmar in a refugee camp in Teknaf in southern Cox’s Bazar district on November 24, 2016. AFP

In Poangkhali, the army burned down the entire village and took away hundreds of men, Robeda said. She has no track of her parents, her two brothers and their families. She said she had seen the burned remains of her father’s house.

Achhia and Juhura, two other Rohingya women, said they had swam across the Naf River with others to save their lives. One said her brother was murdered and the other said her sister was raped. Their valuables were looted and and their homes set on fire.

In the Ukhia camp, these Rohingyas are now living with no food, no winter clothes and little shelter.

The Myanmar government began cracking down on the Rohingya minority in October after an attack on border guards, but it has repeatedly denied the reports of violence. A Myanmar government-appointed commission led by former UN secretary general Kofi Anan has dismissed the allegations of genocide. But UNHCR says an ethnic cleansing is underway in Rakhine state.

A Rohingya man, Nur Mohammad, who is inside Myanmar, told this correspondent over phone that the army’s violence continued every day in the Rohingya populated areas. In his village, soldiers arrested 15 men on Thursday. Every day homes and silos of rice were being set on fire, he said.

On October 9, several BGP outposts were attacked and nine officials were killed. Rohingyas have been blamed by the Myanmar government for the incident.

See more at - http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2016/12/09/left-husband-children-burning/

 

[Species]

Myanmar: Evidence suggests army did burn Rohingya homes

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar

An international rights group claimed Tuesday that new satellite imagery and interviews with refugees show the military was responsible for the mass destruction of Rohingya villages in a conflict-torn area near Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh.

Myanmar's government has claimed that villagers burned down their own homes to evoke international sympathy, prior to troops entering in search of people suspected of attacking police outposts, and stolen weapons.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement Tuesday that at least 1,500 buildings have been destroyed by soldiers in the Maungdaw District of Rakhine State during military operations following the Oct. 9. attacks in which nine police officers were killed.

It underlined that images and interviews "firmly" place responsibility for the torchings with the military.

“The new findings refute the Burmese military and government’s claims that Rohingya militants were responsible for burning down their own villages,” said HRW’s Asia Director Brad Adams.

“The satellite imagery and eyewitness interviews clearly point the finger at the military for setting these buildings ablaze."

It added that the government's denial that the military are using arson as a tactic lacked credibility.

“Government officials have been caught out by this satellite imagery, and it’s time they recognize their continued denials lack credibility,” said Adams.

At least 94 people -- 17 soldiers and 76 alleged "attackers" (including six who reportedly died during interrogation) -- have been killed while some 575 suspects have been detained in military operations since Oct. 9.

Rohingya advocacy groups however claim around 400 Rohingya -- described by the United Nations as among the most persecuted groups worldwide -- were subsequently killed in the military operations in the north of the Rakhine.

The violence, the burning of Rohingya property and alleged rapes have sparked international criticism of both Myanmar's military and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy government.

In response to growing international and regional concerns, the government last week established a commission led by Vice-President Myint Swe -- a former military general -- to investigate the attacks and allegations against the military.

With the area presently under military curfew, and access to the region blocked to aid agencies and independent journalists, HRW has called for the United Nations to assist in the probe as it says the commission’s composition and mandate raise serious doubts that it will conduct a thorough and impartial investigation.

“Blocking access and an impartial examination of the situation will not help people who are now at grave risk,” it underlined.

The vice-president-led commission will submit its findings and suggestions by the beginning of February to the president’s office.

The commission is a separate entity to the Advisory Commission on Rakhine, which is headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and was set up to to advise the government on resolving conflicts in the state.

See more at - http://aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/myanmar-evidence-suggests-army-did-burn-rohingya-homes/705649

 

[gslv]

Sad.is there really any solution to this?

 

[hussain0216]

Sad.is there really any solution to this?

Making Arakan an independent province where Rohingya are protected

Malaysia and Indonesia have started to speak up they are the two big muslim nations on area

I think there are over 140000 burmese migrants in Malaysia alone, they could be pushed around/persecuted a bit as a protest against Burma

Malaysia has recently refused to play sport matches against Burma, maybe that or trade relations be halted etc

More can be done if the will is their

 

[Species]

https://twitter.com/x/status/808806833905340416

 

[Aung Zaya]

there're 2 main fact what so-called Bangali Rohingya claimed that
1. They are ethnic miniority group of Myanmar and owned northern part of arakan long time ago.
2. They faced genocide in myanmar..

So we need to clearify that these Bangali are ethnic or not at first...
here are some interestinh facts..
No Rohingyas In Arakan History: International Experts!



Yakhine history conference in Mahidol univesity, Bangkok.
There is no Rohingya ethnic in Myanmar and the term Rohingya exactly means Bengali as Myanmar named it, international experts on Rakhine history said in a seminar held in Thailand’s Mahidol University on March 9.
The seminar was held with three objectives to introduction of Rakhine history to the international community; to dismiss the name Rohingya used by international media and to complete reliable references of Rakhine history briefed by international historians, chairman Kyaw Thaung of the organizing committee said.

Dr Jacques P Leider, research scholar and historian of EFEO (French Institute of Asian Studies), Professor Stephen van Galen of Leiden University and History Professor Aye Chan of Kanda University of International Studies gave explanation on Arakan history.
Dr Jacques P Leider explained about the existence of Arakan kingdom, Bodaw Phaya’s occupation to Arakan and political, religious and economic situations.

Dr. Jacques Leider giving presentation on Rakhine history.

There had been changes in political, economic and social sectors during Myanmar that ruled Arakan from 1785 to 1825. Rakhine high-class persons were punished by sending them in exile from 1785 to 1795. Administration was jointly controlled by Myanmar and Rakhine. Increased tax was collected and forced labour was seen from 1795 to 1810. Provisions were provided for Myanmar king’s battles.
Myanmar settled in Rakhine. Rakhine were in rebellion against the rule of Myanmar’s king from 1787 to 1815 and Rakhine people headed to the south part of Bengala for settlement. Rakhine people's economic situation started to change from 1815 to 1825. Myanmar’s king did not face any threat during that period.
Similarly Professor Stephen van Galen briefed on relations between Rakhine region and Bengala from 15th century to 18th century.

Dr Stephen van Galen briefed on the apex of the Rakhine kingdom in 1635, the increasing role of trade revenues when the Rakhine kings were powerful and Dutch's trade activities in Rakhine and Bengal.


Dr. Stephen van Galen from the Leiden University.

After 1638, Rakhine's control over the southeastern Bengal waned due to a shortfall in tax revenue. And Rakhine's economy stagnated after Chittagong was lost in 1666, he added. He also cited another reason for the impact on Rakhine's economy as withdrawal of Dutch businessmen.

In his talks about 'From Rakhine cross-border settlement to ethnic violence', Dr Aye Chan explained the increased cross-border settlement from 1826 to 1975, more movements of Chittagong people, who become the majority in Maungdaw and Buthedaung townships.

He said Bengali Muslim population increased from 58,255 in 1871 to 178,647 in 1911. The Bengalis had become the great majority groups in Maungdaw and Buthedaung townships representing 94% and 84% respectively of the total populations there.

He also explained mujahidin rebels' destruction of Rakhine villages and the mujahidin party's demands.
"What I can say exactly is that those who call themselves Rohingyas are really Bengalis. This can be seen in the records of the colonial era. Rakhine State has no Rohingyas," the history professor said.
He then replied to the questions about the Rakhine history raised by those present.


Dr. Jacques P. Leider from EFEO.

Asked about the annexation of Rakhine State in the Bagan period, Dr Jet Pilder replied that there was no evidence for that.
"I never come across the term "Rohingya". But Muslims settlers arrived in Mrauk-U around 17th century. They did not name themselves as Rohingyas then. Other cultures also reached Mrauk-U in the century. The first Dutchman arrived in Mrauk-U in 1608. There were many Dutch offspring with Arakan mothers in 1640. Mrauk-U can be said as a colorful town," Professor Dr Stephen van Galen from Leiden University responded to a question about the term.
"There was never a Muslim king reigned in Rakhine State according to my study paper about the 17th Century," he also answered a question.

"I also talked about it before. A man named Mr. Abdul Gaffa from Buthedaung, Rakhine State created it in 1951. Actually he made it up from the name "Roshang" or "Rohan". It's a Bengali word meaning Rakhine people," Professor Dr. Aye Chan of Japan's Kanda University of International Studies responds to a question about when and how the term became in use.

When a Bengali activist Htay Lwin Oo asked about Rohingya and the Rakhine State, Dr. Aye Chan said the term "Rohan" does not mean illegal immigrants.

RNDP Chairman Dr. Aye Maung.

"The seminar shows clearly that there is no Rohingya in fact. Dr. Aye Chan also explained everything about "No Rohingya in Myanmar". Moreover the Rakhine conflicts will be worked out only when the government tackles it. I am unhappy to hear about the clash. I wish it ends as quickly as possible," said Ashin Tayza who is a first-year student for Buddhism Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.
History professors, diplomats, reporters and invitees from news agencies attended the seminar which also attracted more than 150 Rakhine Buddhist monks and students studying in Thailand.

Besides, Aye Tha Aung and Dr. Aye Maung, chairmen from Arakan League for Democracy and Rakhine Nationalities Development Party also were present at the seminar.

=====================================================================================

The Truth About Myanmar’s Rohingya Issue
It is much more complex than is often portrayed by some.

By Jasmine Chia
March 05, 2016


This article is part of “Southeast Asia: Refugees in Crisis,” an ongoing series by The Diplomat featuring exclusive articles from scholars and practitioners tackling Southeast Asia’s ongoing refugee crisis. All articles in the series can be found here.

After over 50 years of military rule, Myanmar is finally making the long-awaited transition to elected government. Its second liberation is brought about by Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and the daughter of Aung San, the man who is known for engineering Myanmar’s first liberation from the British. Yet, as foreign media converges on the nation, coverage in recent months has been focused on one issue: the Rohingya.

Nicholas Kristoff’s recent article in The New York Times begins: “Soon the world will witness a remarkable sight: a beloved Nobel Peace Prize winner presiding over 21st-century concentration camps.” Tens of thousands of Rohingya have been forcibly confined in deplorable conditions in Sittwe, whilst there is evidence that the ethnic cleansing perpetrated under the military government amounts to genocide. In May 2015, stranded Rohingya off the coast of Thailand elicited humanitarian outrage from the international community. Ever since, foreign commentators have called for an end to what appears to be government inaction or lack of accountability for extreme human rights abuses in Rakhine state.

Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.
But international attention directed at the issue – meant to hold the government accountable –may have in fact inadvertently played a role in exacerbating tensions between the Rohingya and the Rakhine Burmese. Increasing resentment is bred within the Rakhine Buddhist community, who believe the situation has been mischaracterized.

In most cases the situation has been mischaracterized. Rakhine history expert Jacques P. Leider may have put it best in his analysis Rohingya: The Name, The Movement, The Quest for Identity. “By narrowing the debate on the Rohingyas to the legal and humanitarian aspects, editorialists around the world have taken an easy approach towards a complicated issue… where issues like ethnicity, history, and cultural identity are key ingredients of legitimacy,” Leider states.

In even a cursory survey of Rohingya history, it is clear that the Rohingya are not an ethnic, but rather a political construction. There is evidence that Muslims have been living in Rakhine state (at the time under the Arakan kingdom) since the 9th century, but a significant number of Muslims from across the bay of Bengal (at the time a part of India, now Bangladesh) immigrated to British Burma with the colonialists in the 20th century. They are, as defined by Benedict Rogers (himself a prominent critic of the military regime’s persecution), “Muslims of Bengali ethnic origin.” The group referred to as “Rohingya” by contemporary Rohingya scholars (and most of the international community) today actually display huge diversity of ethnic origins and social backgrounds, and, as Leider argues, the existence of a “single identity” is difficult to pinpoint.

This is not to deny the Rohingya’s claims for citizenship. This is, however, to point out that claims to legitimacy are much more complicated than is currently understood. As one diplomat told me: “On all issues, the people of Myanmar are with you. But on the Rohingya issue, the people will never be with you.” What is at the heart of this huge gap between perspectives of the majority of Burmese and the international community, and how does this inform making progress on alleviating the genuine humanitarian crisis facing the Rakhine Muslims in Sittwe?

At stake are issues of legitimacy. The international community’s use of the term ‘Rohingya’ validates the narrative of essentializing a Muslim identity in Rakhine state. In the most conservative terms, we can say that scholars of Rohingya history have not understood this to conclusively be the case. Yet, the lack of nuance with which the international community has approached very important issues of legitimacy has contributed to a sense that Rakhine Buddhists are misunderstood, and besieged. On the other side of the political tension in Rakhine state, as shown by Schissler, Walton and Phyu Thi’s “listening project” in this series, are Rakhine Buddhists who are genuinely afraid of a (false) Muslim takeover.

Myanmar remains a rumor driven society. In Kyaw Yin Hlaing’s analysis of Buddhist misapprehension of Muslim Burmese, surveys were conducted in seven cities in Myanmar, with 500 participants in total. It is clear that anti-Muslim propaganda has become part of regular nationalist discourse. Of the survey respondents, 85 percent cited fear of Muslims turning the country Islamic as the main reason for their dislike of Muslims. In Rakhine state, this discourse is repeated and amplified due to the outbreaks of communal violence.

Yet, in New York Times coverage of the tensions between Muslim and Buddhist Burmese, very few Rakhine Buddhist voices were heard. When asked why, Kristoff replies, “The problem is the trade-offs with length… we didn’t want to exceed 10 minutes for fear of losing viewers.” This careless portrayal of the Rohingya’s claims to legitimacy is not just a matter of academic nit-picking. It has real implications for humanitarian aid.

Just after the May 2015 boat crisis, there were large protests in Sittwe – largely ignored by the rest of the world – by Rakhine Buddhists protesting misrepresentation of the situation in Sittwe, with protestors carrying signs like “No UN, No INGOs [international non-governmental organizations].” Protests like this (of which there have been many) are aimed at the international community, from media to INGOs, and often lead to increased violence in their aftermath. This makes it more difficult for these INGOs, as well as local NGOs, to deliver humanitarian aid to those in Rakhine state.

For Aung San Suu Kyi to retain legitimacy where it matters most, it is understandable that she is not outspoken on an issue that could spark even more violence. As mentioned before, this is not simply a case of the military government leaving Rakhine state. The NLD must aim to resolve this crisis peacefully, which means cooperating not only with Rakhine Muslims but also Rakhine Buddhists.

For a Buddhist, Burman-majority nation like Myanmar, it is difficult for Aung San Suu Kyi to portray herself as a neutral arbiter. Especially in Rakhine state, where most official positions are held by Rakhine Buddhists, it is important that she be seen as someone understanding to their plight – and therefore someone who can negotiate with them to potentially seek a humanitarian alternative to the concentration camps of Sittwe. As Aung San Suu Kyi says herself, “If you want to bring an end to long-standing conflict, you have to be prepared to compromise.”

If she loses legitimacy with them, not only will future negotiations on the Rohingya be closed off to her and the NLD, but the peace process itself will come under fire for her seeming partisanship, and with it, the entire process of building Myanmar’s democracy. What happens in Rakhine state will be watched by the rest of the world, but it will be felt most acutely in Myanmar.

It is important that the international community tread more carefully in their currently unbridled calls for awareness about the Rohingya issue. The Myanmar people are not unaware that the Muslim minority of Rakhine state are being mistreated. Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, deep in negotiations on the peace process, are being constantly reminded of the importance of granting appropriate rights to ethnic nationalities in Myanmar. Myanmar will not be built in a day, nor will the camps in Sittwe be torn down in a day. The fact that lives are on the line makes it all the more important that we channel efforts intelligently.

Jasmine Chia is a student at Harvard University and one of the organizers of the Refugees in Crisis series. This article was written following research recently conducted in Yangon and Rakhine State.


=====================================================================================
some people take some part of kaman ethnic group who live long time ago since 14th century to lobby these so-called bangali..
even in 14th , arakanese kings get back their throne with the help of sultanate kingdom of bangal's military help..
they took many people from bangal to be smooth in re-building their kingdom and accept Islamic court although they are Buddhists..
see : Richard, Arthus (2002). History of Rakhine. Boston, MD: Lexington Books. p. 23
these people became Kamain people.. thousand of them still live in Sittwe city..
======================================================================================

 

[Species]

^Opinions of these Burmese government-funded researchers have been posted in the forum multiple times. The Rohingyas have been living there for several centuries and they rightfully belong to the place. Here is a text,

"Jacques P. Leider states that in precolonial sources, the term Rohingya, in the form of Rooinga appears in a text written by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton.[40] In his 1799 article "A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of the Languages Spoken in the Burma Empire", Hamilton stated: "I shall now add three dialects, spoken in the Burma Empire, but evidently derived from the language of the Hindu nation. The first is that spoken by the Mohammedans, who have long settled in Arakan, and who call themselves Rooinga, or natives of Arakan."[41] The word Rohingya means "inhabitant of Rohang", which was the early Muslim name for Arakan.[42]"

1799 is long before the British annexed Arakan in 1826. So, there goes the theory of Rohingyas immigrating during or after the British colonial rule which is utter bullshit.

It's not like the Rakhines are completely indigenous to the land, they have also immigrated to the land from elsewhere, in the 11th century, uprooting the indigenous Pyu peoples. In any case, the origin of Rohingyas is not the discussion at hand in this thread.

 

[Aung Zaya]

for 2nd
there are many questionable about western media stunt..
BBC
first they stated what Kofi Annan really said..

after many shares , they changed the title.

..
and NYTimes also changed the words as they like from some interviews..
here is objection from the journalist who was interviewed by NYTimes..

Mrrat Kyaw Thu is a famous Journalist of Myanmar who also went Maung Daw to know ground situation..

So in these days , should not believe from all the things from media.. west made us trouble in the diplomacy game with China using the strength of muslims.. Kofi Annan led team started investigation and the truth will be appear soon..

Sad.is there really any solution to this?

no need to resolve coz these all are wrong.. army didnt move an inch their camps due to international pressure..

 

[Species]

Burma Could Be Guilty of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ as Rohingya Crackdown Intensifies

"Things are not as they are being portrayed by the government"

Reports from Burma’s northern Arakan state, where violence against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority has forced tens of thousands to flee for their lives, suggest the situation there is “getting very close to what we would all agree are crimes against humanity,” the U.N.’s top human-rights investigator for the country has said.

“I am getting reports from inside the country and from neighboring places too that things are not as they are being portrayed by the government. We are seeing a lot of very graphic and very disturbing photos and video clips,” Yanghee Lee, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the country, tells TIME.

Burma has imposed a lockdown on the affected areas, as it conducts what it calls “clearance operations” following an attack on three border guard posts in early October. Nine policemen were killed in the attack, which the Burmese authorities blamed on Islamist militants.

But fears have been growing for the million-strong Rohingya people who live in the area, amid allegations of rape, extrajudicial killings and the torching of Rohingya villages by the Burmese military, which denies the claims.

Seen as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh and denied citizenship rights, the Rohingya have long been marginalized in Burma. In 2012, some 125,000 people were displaced amid communal fighting between Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, with rights groups accusing security forces of either standing aside or actively participating in the violence.

As Arakan burns again, with around 21,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh in recent months, Lee called on the Burmese authorities to allow full humanitarian access to the northern section of the state that is also known as Rakhine. She also expressed her dissatisfaction with a government-supervised trip to some of the affected areas by a group of foreign diplomats and a U.N. official in early November. “No one should be satisfied with the trip,” she says. “This was a guided tour. Even though there was a heavy security presence there, people started to come out and try to speak to this delegation. And of course, afterwards, we’ve also heard that there were reprisals. These people were hunted down.”

On Dec. 9, 14 diplomatic missions, including the embassies of the U.S. and France, also called on Burma to give humanitarian agencies “full and unfettered access” to northern Arakan, “noting that tens of thousands of people who need humanitarian aid, including children with acute malnutrition, have been without it now for nearly two months.”

See more at - http://time.com/4597237/burma-crimes-against-humanity-rohingya/

======================================================================================

UN: Rohingya may be enduring 'crimes against humanity'

The UN human rights agency says Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims may be victims of crimes against humanity as Kofi Annan arrives for a visit that will include a trip to the conflict-ravaged region of Rakhine.

Annan, the former UN chief, is visiting Myanmar in his capacity as the chairman of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, an initiative launched by Aung San Suu Kyi's government in August 2016 to identify conflict-prevention measures, facilitate long-term communal reconciliation and address development issues.

Inter-communal riots in Rakhine killed 200 people and displaced more than 100,000 in 2012.

The Myanmar army has carried out a bloody crackdown in the western state and thousands of the Muslim minority have flooded over the border into Bangladesh this month, making horrifying claims of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of security forces.

Up to 30,000 have fled their homes and analysis of satellite images by Human Rights Watch, the US rights monitor, found that hundreds of buildings in Rohingya villages have been razed.

Myanmar has denied allegations of abuse, saying the army is hunting "terrorists" behind raids on police posts last month.

The government has criticised media reports of rapes and killings, and lodged a protest over a UN official in Bangladesh who said the state was carrying out "ethnic cleansing" of Rohingya.

Al Jazeera's Florence Looi, reporting from a camp for displaced people in Myanmar's Sittwe, said human rights investigators and journalists have been blocked from accessing the areas where massacres are alleged to have happened.

"The Myanmar government has denied that these allegations of abuse have happened, but at the same time, they haven't been giving people access to these areas," she said.

"Many people we've spoken to say they aren't very hopeful that the [UN] commission will be able to acheive anything."

Crimes against humanity

The OHCHR, the UN rights agency, says Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya could be tantamount to crimes against humanity, reiterating the findings of a June report.

"The government has largely failed to act on the recommendations made in a report by the UN Human Rights Office... (that) raised the possibility that the pattern of violations against the Rohingya may amount to crimes against humanity," the OHCHR said in a statement on Tuesday.

More than 120,000 Rohingya have been crammed into displacement camps since sectarian violence kicked off in 2012, where they are denied citizenship, healthcare and education and their movements are heavily curbed.

Amid the crisis, Annan on Tuesday began a week-long visit to Myanmar that will include a trip to northern Rakhine.

Aung San Suu Kyi in August appointed her fellow Nobel laureate to head a special commission to investigate how to mend bitter religious and ethnic divides that split the impoverished state.

Annan has expressed "deep concern" over the violence in Rakhine, which has seen thousands of Muslims take to the streets across Asia in protest.

See more at - http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/11/rohingya-enduring-crimes-humanity-161130052743649.html

===================================================================================================

Excerpts from a TIMES report,

But if the river could remember their stories, it might speak, for example, of the night in late November when Arafa, a 25-year-old Rohingya woman, entered its waters with her five children.

This time, Arafa says, the army’s assault felt different. The security men seemed more determined, more driven, to punish the Rohingya. Their weapon of choice was fire.

Arafa says that the military torched her village. As the flames engulfed her home, she just about managed to escape with her six children. That was when the family was confronted by a Burmese soldier. He snatched her fleeing 8-year-old son, separating him from his brother and sisters, and flung him into the blaze.

In the chaos, Arafa lost sight of her husband. But she could not turn back; she had to leave him behind, leave her son’s charred body behind, and mourn on the move.

“I had to save my other children. We had to escape [from Burma],” she tells TIME. “They burned everything.”

They are not alone. Arafa’s family are among the estimated 21,000 Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh over the past two months, as Burmese forces launched what testimony from refugees, satellite imagery compiled by rights groups and leaked photos and videos from inside Arakan indicate is a horrifyingly bloody crackdown against the million-strong Muslim minority.

In addition to arson attacks on Rohingya villages, the military has been accused of raping Rohingya women and conducting extrajudicial killings of Muslims. Helicopter gunships have been used to fire on Rohingya villages.

Satellite imagery released by Human Rights Watch show that more than 800 buildings were destroyed in five different Rohingya villages between Nov. 10 and 18. An earlier set of high-resolution images showed the destruction of more than 400 homes in three villages between Oct. 22 and Nov. 10. The actual number of destroyed buildings could be higher, given the dense tree cover in the area, the rights group say.

See more at - http://time.com/4596937/burma-myanmar-rohingya-bangladesh-refugees-crimes-against-humanity/