Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing - Updates & Discussions

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12:10 AM, October 24, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 05:04 AM, October 24, 2017
Tall task in hand
Public healthcare faces long-term challenges with the influx of Rohingyas prone to infectious diseases

Porimol Palma
The threat of infectious diseases looms large in Cox's Bazar Rohingya refugee camps as well as the local communities and beyond with hardly any sign of the Myanmar nationals going back anytime soon.

Experts fear that the bordering district, where more than six lakh refugees are sheltered in overcrowded camps lacking pure water and sanitation facilities, is faced with a long-term public health challenge.

The persecuted minority group is very much vulnerable to diseases like TB, measles, AIDS, cholera and hepatitis as most of them barely got proper healthcare and vaccination back in their homeland.

The refugees here can easily mix with locals and visit marketplaces, hospitals and mosques and it is likely that the infectious diseases carried by a section of them will affect others as well.

Dodging law enforcers, Rohingyas are also going to Cox's Bazar town, Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts and other districts to join their relatives who had come to Bangladesh in previous years.

"A large number of these people are malnourished and have a weak immune system. Besides, the highly congested camps are perfect sites for fast transmission of diseases," said physician of an international NGO working in the Rohingya shelters.

Of those who crossed over from Myanmar fleeing a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine State since August 25, about 3.87 lakh suffer from malnutrition, according to Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG), which coordinates the operation of different agencies in the refugee shelters.

Cox's Bazar Civil Surgeon Dr Abdus Salam on Sunday said a total of 3.47 lakh Rohingyas so far received treatment at different health centres.

Of them, 65 were diagnosed with TB, 12 with malaria, 44 with measles, 300 with jaundice, 1,000 with Hepatitis B and C, 29 with HIV/AIDS, 70,000 with respiratory tract infection, 40,000 with diarrhoea, 30,000 with skin disease and 9,000 with injuries.

The rest got treatment for other diseases.

They were diagnosed based on suspicion and any systematic screening will surely find many more cases, he noted.

A total of 50 medical teams of the government, UN or NGOs are working in and around the camps. Patients are also seeking services from local government facilities.

"Every day, around 2,000 patients with respiratory tract infection and 1,700 with diarrhoea are thronging the healthcare centres," Dr Mohiuddin Hussain Khan, health sector coordinator of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), said on October 17.

IOM says only 27 percent of the sites are accessible by a vehicle of any kind, making delivery of aid and health services difficult.

Experts recommend systematic health screening, immunisation coverage, pure water and sanitation for all. There should be isolated units at health centres to prevent the spread of the diseases, they say.
THE RISK FACTORS
There are around nine lakh Rohingyas, including the new arrivals, in Ukhia, Teknaf and Ramu upazilas of Cox's Bazar and Naikhyangchhari upazila of Bandarban.

Many fell sick, became weak or got hurt during their long walk from different parts of Rakhine. They had minimal or no food and they drank from open water sources on the way to border.

In the initial weeks of the latest influx, the refugees faced severe shortage of food, water, sanitation and medicine on this side of the border while many lived under the open sky amid heavy rains.

The government and aid agencies are still struggling to provide services in a systematic way as the new refugees remain scattered in Ukhia and other areas of the district.

Some 19,300 emergency latrines and 4,071 tube wells have been installed for them. However, 50 percent of the latrines are about to be filled up and they will be unusable very soon, says a report of ISCG led by IOM on Sunday.

Dr Azharul Islam, chief physician and head (hospitals) at ICDDR,B, said a recent field assessment found that many of the tube wells are close to latrines. "So there is a high possibility of faecal contamination of water."

The number of latrines is also inadequate and some people still go for open defecation, Azharul Islam said, suggesting that distances should be maintained between latrines and tube wells.

He also recommended disinfecting the faecal waste, a source for diarrhoeal diseases including cholera.

Cholera can kill people very fast if untreated. In severe cases, it can lead to extreme dehydration and even death within hours.

Though no cholera patient has been yet found among the new refugees, IOM says, there are records of cholera outbreaks in Rohingya refugee camps in the past.

The good thing is, said Dr Azharul, the government with the help of World Health Organisation and other agencies have vaccinated refugees.

According to ISCG, over 7 lakh people, including Rohingyas and locals in the areas hosting refugees, were vaccinated for cholera earlier this month.

Dr Md Toufiq Rahman, an adviser of USAID-funded Challenge TB Project, said tuberculosis that remained dormant might become active now because of malnutrition of Rohingyas and their stay in cramped camps.

TB is spread from person to person through the air. When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air, says WHO.

Dr Toufiq added that Hepatitis B and E also pose a high risk as the viruses are spread mostly by faecally contaminated drinking water.

Another challenge is jaundice.

A physician working in the Rohingya camp said the fact that over 300 have already been diagnosed with jaundice means it is quite prevalent in the Rohingya camps.

Dr Mohiuddin Hussain Khan of IOM said there are Rohingya women who were raped in Myanmar and this heightens the possibility that there could be more HIV/AIDS patients.

He said there have not yet been any reports of “risky behaviours” of Rohingyas women or girls with local communities. What is a matter of concern is the rate of using condoms among the refugees is low.

Dr Mohiuddin suggested massive awareness campaigns and systematic service deliveries to check the disease. All those vulnerable to HIV/AIDS need to be screened and treated, he said.

Cox's Bazar Civil Surgeon Abdus Salam added, "There is a plan for rotavirus vaccination for diarrhoea and scaled up anti-HIV/AIDS programme. We are waiting for funds."

Physicians are also worried about measles, an airborne disease that easily spread through coughs, sneezes, saliva or nasal secretion of those infected.

The finding of 44 with measles through random screening suggests there could be many more cases among the Rohingya children, said a physician of an international NGO in Cox's Bazar.

The authorities vaccinated some 1.35 lakh children for measles and rubella, 72,000 children for polio, and 72,000 children received Vitamin A supplementation, but many could be left out amid continuous influx and high mobility of people.

The ISCG report said finding places for setting up more health centres remains a challenge to cater to the need of unreached population in some of the large shelters in Balukhali, Unchiprang and Kutupalong.

Experts say the health risks will continue to be high until the Rohingyas are accommodated in specific areas where healthcare and other services can be provided in a systematic manner.

Graham Eastmond, shelter sector coordinator of the ISCG, said the authorities have started developing the 3,000-acre land allocated in Balukhali to bring all the Rohingya refugees under one camp.

"Accommodating so many people in one camp again is dangerous for health. If there is a disease outbreak, it will spread fast, making it difficult for the authorities to address," he said.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/tall-task-hand-1480819

 

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Myanmar’s Rakhine plan runs into trouble
Larry Jagan, October 24, 2017

Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian initiative for Rakhine state in western Myanmar is already running into trouble.
The country’s fervent Buddhist nationalists, a movement led by the extremist monk, Ashin Wirathu, are vehemently opposed to the return of the country’s Muslim refugees who have fled across the border over the last two months. It has created a situation that the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

On Sunday a few hundred protestors marched through Rakhine’s capital, Sittwe demanding that the Muslim Rohingya refugees not be allowed to return, unless they were citizens. Meanwhile in the country’s capital Naypyidaw several thousand – many wearing or carrying images of the country’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi – rallied to support the government’s handling of the Rohingya crisis.

Most of the Rohingya, as they call themselves, in Rakhine are stateless, even though some have lived there for several generations. The government and Myanmar’s overwhelming majority ethnic population the Bamar, reject the term and instead call them Bengalis, to denote they are interlopers from Bangladesh. They are not listed among the government’s official list of ethic races.

There is a growing belief within the army that they are under siege. This is an ominous development, for if they feel that Aung San Suu Kyi cannot protect them from international condemnation and sanctions, they may feel they have no other option but launch an administrative coup, which is possible under the military-written constitution of 2008.

The immediate crisis erupted some two months ago when Rohingya insurgents – calling themselves members of the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA) – attacked several border security posts killing scores of police. The military immediately launched a counter offensive, as they tried to track down the attackers.

More than half-a-million Rohingyas have sought safety since in Bangladesh, accusing the Myanmar military of forcing them to leave, razing their homes to the ground and being responsible for hundreds of deaths during the recent security operations. Many Muslim women also allege that Myanmar soldiers raped them. The UN has continually raised concerns about the human rights abuses being committed against the Rohingya and labeled it “ethnic cleansing”.

Both the Myanmar government and the military commander have strenuously denied all allegations leveled against the military operations in Rakhine. More recently the authorities have accused supporters of the insurgents of murdering and abducting dozens of villagers, who they say are perceived as government collaborators. They also accuse the Rohingya attackers of killing hundreds of Hindus and ethnic Myo in the past few weeks.

Over a week ago Aung San Suu Kyi announced the formation of a new national level committee to oversee the government’s comprehensive plans to deliver aid to the refugees, oversee their return and help resettle them. It is a civilian-centered enterprise, government insiders told South Asian Monitor (SAM). She appealed to the country to support the initiative. Myanmar’s business community — including many of the country’s infamous tycoons — has rallied to her side.

Under the umbrella of the independent business association – the Union of Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) – the businessmen pledged more than US$13 million for economic projects in the violence-prone Rakhine state. Nine working groups have been formed to carry out the government’s plans as part of the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine, announced ten days ago.

She cancelled her planned trip to the UN at the last moment because she feared that in her absence the Vice President, Myint Swe – the military’s appointment – would sign the state of emergency for Rakhine as he would be in charge of the government in her absence. At the time the President Htin Kyaw was incapacitated and undergoing medical treatment.

The working groups will focus on nine key areas – infrastructure, livestock and fisheries livelihood programs, implementation of the planned economic zones, information and public relations, the creation of job opportunities, providing vocational trainings healthcare, micro loans, and boosting the tourism sector. The businessmen announced their plans last weekend after meeting with the State Counselor in Naypyidaw.

This falls into line with Aung San Suu Kyi’s strategy to tackle the underlying causes of communal conflict and mistrust in Rakhine a civilian-led initiative, and involve the nation as a whole. The army though will provide security. Aung San Suu Kyi’s concern has been to ensure that the civilian government plays the major role in solving the problems in Rakhine and not the military commander.

“The mistrust of Aung San Suu Kyi is growing within the military, not just between her and Min Aung Hlaing but the army as a whole” a senior retired military officer, who is also close to the army commander, told SAM.

Ever since the first recent outbreak of violence in Rakhine last October, when the previously unknown ARSA attacked a number of border guard posts killed nine policemen, the State Counselor has resisted the military’s attempts to militarize the conflict. The army commander has continued to urge the civilian government to declare a “state of emergency” in Rakhine that would allow the military a completely freehand to deal with the security in the state. Aung San Suu Kyi has continuously resisted this demand, according to sources close to her.

She cancelled her planned trip to the UN at the last moment because she feared that in her absence the Vice President, Myint Swe – the military’s appointment – would sign the state of emergency for Rakhine as he would be in charge of the government in her absence. At the time the President Htin Kyaw was incapacitated and undergoing medical treatment.

At the same time she has resisted attempts by human rights groups, the UN and the international community to condemn the military’s actions. This, she has done, in an effort to keep the military on side. “She feels inflammatory responses would make things worse and could harm the whole peace process and democracy,” one of Aung San Suu Kyi’s close confidants told SAM. The UN wants Myanmar to abrogate sovereignty, he added. They have actually delayed the solution.

But this strategy has also been to no avail, as she has increasingly alienated the commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. “The mistrust of Aung San Suu Kyi is growing within the military, not just between her and Min Aung Hlaing but the army as a whole” a senior retired military officer, who is also close to the army commander, told SAM.

The international community’s recent consideration of imposing renewed sanctions – at least against the military – because of the Rakhine situation, has exacerbated the situation. “They [the army] now believe she [Aung San Suu Kyi] is a sabotage agent,” said the retired army officer. The international criticism of their [military] operations in Rakhine and the growing pressure for sanctions is viewed as a “UK-US conspiracy”, orchestrated behind the scenes by Aung San Suu Kyi.

There is a growing belief within the army that they are under siege. This is an ominous development, for if they feel that Aung San Suu Kyi cannot protect them from international condemnation and sanctions, they may feel they have no other option but launch an administrative coup, which is possible under the military-written constitution of 2008.
https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/10/24/myanmars-rakhine-plan-runs-trouble/

Buddhists protest to urge Myanmar not to repatriate Rohingya
SAM Staff, October 23, 2017

Protesters march in Sittwe in Myanmar’s Rakhine State on Oct 22, 2017, Photo: AP
Hundreds of hard-line Buddhists protested Sunday (Oct 22) to urge Myanmar’s government not to repatriate the nearly 600,000 minority Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh since late August to escape violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

The protest took place in Sittwe, the state capital, where many Rohingya lived before an outbreak of inter-communal violence in 2012 forced them to flee their homes.

Aung Htay, a protest organizer, said any citizens would be welcome in the state. “But if these people don’t have the right to be citizens … the government’s plan for a conflict-free zone will never be implemented,” he said.

Myanmar doesn’t recognize Rohingya as an ethnic group, instead insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. Rohingya are excluded from the official 135 ethnic groups in the country and denied citizenship.

More than 580,000 Rohingya from northern Rakhine have fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when Myanmar security forces began a scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya villages. Myanmar’s government has said it was responding to attacks by Muslim insurgents, but the United Nations and others have said the response was disproportionate.

Myanmar de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s government said earlier this month that it was willing to take back Rohingya refugees who fled to southeastern Bangladesh. The government has agreed to form a joint working group to start the repatriation process.

On Sunday, protesters, including some Buddhist monks, demanded that the government not take back the refugees.

“The organizers of the protest applied to get permission for a thousand people to participate in the protest, but only a few hundred showed up,” said Soe Tint Swe, a local official.

Meanwhile, thousands of people gathered Sunday in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, to show support for Suu Kyi and the government’s handling of the Rohingya crisis.

Colorful crowds of people, some wearing T-shirts with Suu Kyi’s photo and some holding photo frames of Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party flag, took part in the rally.

The global image of Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has been damaged by the violence in Rakhine, which has sparked Asia’s largest refugee crisis in decades.
SOURCE AP, MYANMAR
https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/10/23/buddhists-protest-urge-myanmar-not-repatriate-rohingya/

 

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Al Jazeera English
The world's fastest growing refugee crisis, explained in numbers.

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589,000 Rohingyas Have Fled to Bangladesh Since August 25
Last Updated: October 20, 2017 8:26 PM
Margaret Besheer

FILE - Rohingya refugees, who crossed the border from Myanmar two days earlier, walk after they received permission from the Bangladesh army to continue their way to Kutupalong refugee camp, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh,
Oct. 19, 2017.
The United Nations said Friday that 589,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh since August 25.

Spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that just over half of them are staying at a large site known as the Kutupalong Expansion, where aid partners are working to improve basic services, infrastructure and road access.

The president of aid group Refugees International, Eric Paul Schwartz, visited Bangladesh last month. He said that by early September, it was already clear from conversations with refugees that the situation had become ethnic cleansing and that crimes against humanity were taking place.

"What was so chilling was the consistency of the conversations we had with people about what had happened," Schwartz told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He said the Myanmar military would fire bomb villages, often unannounced or without warning, and as civilians fled they would systematically shoot them.

FILE - Houses are on fire in Gawdu Zara village, northern Rakhine state, Myanmar, Sept. 7, 2017.
"Person after person after person told us the same story," he said. "If you want to push 580,000 people out of a country in six weeks, that's what you have to do. You have to terrorize them in ways that are sort of breathtaking," he added.
Humanitarian crisis
The U.N. and international partners are struggling to meet the needs of the constantly increasing refugee population. An international pledging conference is set for Monday in Geneva. It aims to raise $434 million to assist 1.2 million refugees through February 2018.

Almost 60 percent of the refugees are children, and the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, says children are particularly threatened by desperate living conditions and waterborne diseases.

"Of course, many of them have been walking for days — thirsty, hungry, on foot — bare feet, exhausted," spokeswoman Duniya Aslam Khan told VOA in an interview Friday. "So, the children were sick and malnourished. They were stranded at the border for a few days and it was only Tuesday and Wednesday this week that we received a post that finally they were allowed to come in."

FILE - A Rohingya Muslim man, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, builds a shelter for his family in Taiy Khali refugee camp, Bangladesh, Sept. 20, 2017.
Khan said the priority among aid groups now is "decongesting the existing settlements" in Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated nations in the world, "providing decent living conditions, and providing better health and sanitation and hygiene assistance to the refugees."

Hygiene is a particular concern, Khan said, to stave off the spread of disease.

The agency has also called for access to Rohingya children who are still in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state — the agency has no access there.

Bangladesh's government also is trying to help the surging refugee population. It has designated a new 3,000-acre site to build shelters, but experts say that will take time to be inhabitable because access roads and provisions for water, sanitation and other basic services need to be made.

In the meantime, Bangladesh's military has moved refugees stranded near the border to several makeshift settlements, where they are being given food, water, medical checks and temporary shelter.
VOA's Marissa Melton contributed to this report.
https://www.voanews.com/a/half-million-rohingyas-fled-bangladesh-since-late-august/4079559.html

U.S. Threatens to Punish Myanmar Over Treatment of Rohingya
PETER BAKER and NICK CUMMING-BRUCE
OCT. 23, 2017
Myanmar unless it pulls back from its violent military campaign against Rohingya Muslims, expressing what it called “our gravest concern” over a crisis that has killed or displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

The State Department said it has already cut off travel waivers allowing current and former senior military leaders into the country and was considering further actions to impose economic measures against those responsible for atrocities against Myanmar’s ethnic minority. The department said that all military units involved in operations against the Rohingya were ineligible for American aid.

“The government of Burma, including its armed forces, must take immediate action to ensure peace and security; implement commitments to ensure humanitarian access to communities in desperate need; facilitate the safe and voluntary return of those who have fled or been displaced in Rakhine State; and address the root causes of systematic discrimination against the Rohingya,” the department said in a statement issued Monday night, using the former name for Myanmar.

The American warning came as the United Nations said the Rohingya Muslims who have fled deadly persecution in Myanmar to Bangladesh would soon exceed one million.
Photo

Children carrying jugs of water across a Naf River stream to the refugee camp outside Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, last month.
Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
That prediction loomed over an emergency donors conference in Geneva to raise money for aid groups struggling to help Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, deal with the crisis.
In Grim Camps, Rohingya Suffer on ‘Scale That We Couldn’t Imagine’ SEPT. 29, 2017
Desperate Rohingya Flee Myanmar on Trail of Suffering: ‘It Is All Gone’ SEPT. 2, 2017
Rohingya Recount Atrocities: ‘They Threw My Baby Into a Fire’OCT. 11, 2017
Rohingya Refugees Fleeing Myanmar Await Entrance to Squalid Camps OCT. 18, 2017
Opinion Op-Ed Contributor
How the Rohingya Crisis Is Changing Bangladesh OCT. 6, 2017
Doctors Without Borders, the medical charity, called the health conditions of the refugee encampments a “time bomb.”

More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have battled terror, exhaustion and hunger to reach safety in Bangladesh since Myanmar’s army began a campaign of what the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing in late August. The new arrivals joined more than 300,000 Rohingya who had escaped in recent years.

The number of people crossing the Naf River that divides the two countries has slowed to about 1,000 to 3,000 a day, down from a peak of 12,000 to 18,000 a day earlier in the crisis, said William Lacy Swing, the director of the International Organization for Migration, a part of the United Nations.

Still, he said, “even at that rate the numbers are expected to exceed a million shortly.”

More than 300,000 children are among the Rohingya refugees. Mark Lowcock, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator, told reporters that many were acutely malnourished.
Helping the Rohingya

A partial list of aid groups working to ease the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
States had previously committed around $116 million toward the $430 million sought by the United Nations for humanitarian aid over the next six months. Pledges received from governments on Monday raised the total to about $340 million, Mr. Lowcock said, expressing confidence that additional contributions would flow in coming days.

Even so, humanitarian agencies face enormous challenges delivering relief. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were crammed on a strip of land that lacked roads or infrastructure to support the delivery of aid.

With 210 hospital beds available to support more than 900,000 people living with little access to clean water, sanitation or medical care, the refugees’ situation is a “time bomb ticking toward a full-blown health crisis,” Joanne Liu, the international president of Doctors Without Borders told the meeting.

The United Nations food aid agency said that it had distributed food to 580,000 people since the crisis erupted, but that it had so far received less than one-third of the $77 million it needs to aid a million people over six months.

Queen Rania of Jordan, who visited some of the camps on Monday, expressed shock at the conditions. “It is unforgivable that this crisis is unfolding, largely ignored by the international community,” she said in a statement.

Peter Baker reported from Washington and Nick Cumming-Bruce from Geneva. Rick Gladstone contributed reporting from New York.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/...contentCollection=Asia Pacific&pgtype=article

Across Myanmar, Denial of Ethnic Cleansing and Loathing of Rohingya
HANNAH BEECH
OCT. 24, 2017
Myanmar Army’s campaign of killing, rape and arson in Rakhine, which has driven more than 600,000 Rohingya out of the country since late August, in what the United Nations says is the fastest displacement of a people since the Rwanda genocide.

But in Myanmar, and even in Rakhine itself, there is stark denial that any ethnic cleansing is taking place.

The divergence between how Myanmar and much of the outside world see the Rohingya is not limited to one segment of local society. Nor can hatred in Myanmar of the largely stateless Muslim group be dismissed as a fringe attitude.

THE INTERPRETER
Myanmar, Once a Hope for Democracy, Is Now a Study in How It Fails OCT. 19, 2017

NEWS ANALYSIS
Hands Tied by Old Hope, Diplomats in Myanmar Stay SilentOCT. 12, 2017

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New Surge of Rohingya Puts Aid Workers Back on ‘Full Alert’OCT. 10, 2017

In Grim Camps, Rohingya Suffer on ‘Scale That We Couldn’t Imagine’ SEPT. 29, 2017
Government officials, opposition politicians, religious leaders and even local human-rights activists have become unified behind this narrative: The Rohingya are not rightful citizens of Buddhist-majority Myanmar, and now, through the power of a globally resurgent Islam, the minority is falsely trying to hijack the world’s sympathy.

Social media postings have amplified the message, claiming that international aid workers are openly siding with the Rohingya. Accordingly, the Myanmar government has blocked aid agencies’ access to Rohingya still trapped in Myanmar — about 120,000 confined to camps in central Rakhine and tens of thousands more in desperate conditions in the north.
Photo

People gathering in the village of Sin Ma Kaw, which has banned Muslims from staying there. Credit
Adam Dean for The New York Times
The official answer to United Nations accounts of the military’s mass burning of villages and targeting of civilians has been to insist that the Rohingya have been doing it to themselves.

“There is no case of the military killing Muslim civilians,” said Dr. Win Myat Aye, the country’s social welfare minister and the governing National League for Democracy party’s point person on Rakhine. “Muslim people killed their own Muslim people.”

When asked in an interview about the evidence against the military, the minister noted that the Myanmar government had not sent any investigators to Bangladesh to vet the testimony of fleeing Rohingya, but that he would raise the possibility of doing so in a future meeting.

“Thank you for advising us on this idea,” he said.

The Rohingya, who speak a Bengali dialect and tend to look distinct from most of Myanmar’s other ethnic groups, have had roots in Rakhine for generations. Communal tensions between the Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists exploded in World War II, when the Rakhine aligned themselves with the Japanese, while the Rohingya chose the British.

Although many Rohingya were considered citizens when Burma became independent in 1948, the military junta that wrested power in 1962 began stripping them of their rights. After a restrictive citizenship law was introduced in 1982, most Rohingya became stateless.

Even the name Rohingya, which the ethnic group has identified with more vocally in recent years, has been taken from them. The Myanmar government usually refers to the Rohingya as Bengalis, implying they belong in Bangladesh. The public tends to call them an epithet used for all Muslims in Myanmar: kalar.

The nomenclature is so sensitive that in a speech this month, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and de facto leader of the government, referred only to “those who have crossed over to Bangladesh.”

Some ethnic Rakhine politicians are hailing the Rohingya exodus as a good thing.

“All the Bengalis learn in their religious schools is to brutally kill and attack,” said Daw Khin Saw Wai, a Rakhine member of Parliament from Rathedaung Township. “It is impossible to live together in the future.”
Photo

Daw Soe Chay, an ethnic Rakhine Buddhist from Myebon Township, was beaten and publicly shamed after her husband delivered aid to Rohingya Muslims in their camp in Sittwe. CreditAdam Dean for The New York Times
Buddhist monks, moral arbiters in a pious land, have been at the forefront of a campaign to dehumanize the Rohingya. In popular videos, extremist monks refer to the Rohingya as “snakes” or “worse than dogs.”

Outside Mr. Thu Min Gala’s monastery in Sittwe, a pair of signs reflected an alternate sense of reality. One said that the monastery, which is sheltering ethnic Rakhine who fled the conflict zone, would not accept any donations from international agencies. The other warned that multifaith groups were not welcome.

The abbot claimed that the authorities in Rakhine had stopped a car owned by the International Committee of the Red Cross that was filled with weaponry destined for Rohingya militants who carried out attacks against the security forces in August. Mr. Thu Min Gala claimed that sticks of dynamite had been wrapped in paper with the Red Cross logo. The Red Cross denied these accusations.

“We don’t trust the international society,” the abbot said. “They are only on the side of the terrorists.”

At another monastery in Sittwe, an elderly abbot, U Baddanta Thaw Ma, halted my conversation with a young monk by slapping the air in front of my face. “Go! Go! Go!” he yelled in English, before switching to the local Rakhine dialect. “Go away, you foreigner! Go away, you kalar lover.”

Public sentiment against Muslims — who are about 4 percent of Myanmar’s population, encompassing several ethnic groups, including the Rohingya — has spread beyond Rakhine. In 2015 elections, no major political party fielded a Muslim candidate. Today no Muslims serve in Parliament, the first time since the country’s independence.

A couple hours outside Yangon, the country’s largest city, U Aye Swe, an administrator for Sin Ma Kaw village, said he was proud to oversee one of Myanmar’s “Muslim-free” villages, which bar Muslims from spending the night, among other restrictions.

“Kalar are not welcome here because they are violent and they multiply like crazy, with so many wives and children,” he said.
Photo

A Buddhist woman and her son were staying at the Damarama Monastery, in Sittwe, after being displaced by violence in northern Rakhine.
Credit Adam Dean for The New York Times
Mr. Aye Swe admitted he had never met a Muslim before, adding, “I have to thank Facebook because it is giving me the true information in Myanmar.”

Social media messaging has driven much of the rage in Myanmar. Though widespread access to cellphones only started a few years ago, mobile penetration is now about 90 percent. For many people, Facebook is their only source of news, and they have little experience in sifting fake news from credible reporting.

One widely shared message on Facebook, from a spokesman for Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s office, emphasized that biscuits from the World Food Program, a United Nations agency, had been found at a Rohingya militant training camp. The United Nations called the post “irresponsible.”
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The Myanmar government, however, insists the public needs to be guided.

“We do something that we call educating the people,” said U Pe Myint, the nation’s information minister. He acknowledged, “It looks rather like indoctrination, like in an authoritarian or totalitarian state.”

In Yangon, Mr. Pe Myint this month gathered local journalists to discuss what he called “fabricated news” by foreign reporters and a “political war” in which international aid groups favored the Rohingya.

Last month, a mob in Sittwe attacked Red Cross workers, who were loading a boat with supplies that locals believed would only go to the Rohingya.

Even among officials who might otherwise champion human rights, frustration has been directed at foreign critics. Quietly, some defend Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s failure to call out the military and protect the Rohingya by saying it would be political suicide in a country where hatred of the Rohingya is so widespread. They see the recent international pressure, at best, as ignorant of domestic complexities and, at worst, as intent on hindering Myanmar’s development.

“We ask the international community to acknowledge that these Muslims are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and that this crisis is an infringement of our sovereignty,” said U Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy, which shares power with Myanmar’s military. “This is the most important thing with the Rakhine issue.”
Photo

Sin Ma Kaw, where an official said he was proud to oversee one of Myanmar’s “Muslim-free” villages.
Credit Adam Dean for The New York Times
U Ko Ko Gyi, a democracy advocate who was jailed for 17 years by the military when it ruled Myanmar, also evoked national interest.

“We have been human-rights defenders for many years and suffered for a long time but we are standing together on this issue because we need to support our national security,” he said.

“We are a small country that lies between India and China, and the DNA of our ancestors is to try to struggle for our survival,” Mr. Ko Ko Gyi said. “If you in the West criticize us too much, then you will push us into the arms of China and Russia.”

Last month, those two permanent members of the United Nations Security Council shielded Myanmar from an attempt by other nations to condemn the Myanmar military for its offensive in Rakhine.

The humanitarian situation has grown desperate within Rakhine while the official block on aid largely continues.

Throughout the state, ethnic Rakhine have been warned by community leaders not to break the blockade. Last month in Myebon Township, in central Rakhine, women’s activists prevented international aid groups from delivering assistance to an internment camp where thousands of Rohingya have been sequestered since the 2012 sectarian violence, according to foreign staff.

But U Tun Tin, a Rakhine trishaw driver, needed the money and delivered food to the Rohingya camp. Shortly after, his wife, Daw Soe Chay, said she was accosted by a crowd that forced her to a nearby monastery.

Inside the religious compound, they beat her and sheared her hair. Then the mob marched her through Myebon, wearing a sign calling her a “national traitor.”

Despite his wife’s ordeal, Mr. Tun Tin said he did not regret having sent supplies to the camp, where Rohingya say their rations are running low.
“They are human,” he said. “They need to eat, just like us.”
Saw Nang contributed reporting from Yangon, Myanmar.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/...column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

 

[Banglar Bir]

There's only one conclusion on the Rohingya in Myanmar: It's genocide

By Azeem Ibrahim
CNN
October 23, 2017
The Rohingya crisis in Myanmar is now widely described as ethnic cleansing.

But the situation has been evolving. And now, it seems, we can no longer avoid the conclusion we have all been dreading. This is a genocide. And we, in the international community, must recognize it as such.

Article II of United Nation's 1948 Genocide Convention describes genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

Though the Rohingya situation has met most of the above criteria for being described as a genocide under international law for a number of years now, the label has been resisted until now because we think of genocide as one huge act of frenzied violence, like the machete insanity in Rwanda or the gas chambers of Nazi Germany.

But the final peak of violence is in all historical cases merely the visible tip of the iceberg. And the final outburst only occurs once it has already been rendered unavoidable by the political context.

In Rwanda, Hutu tribal propaganda ran for years on the radio and in magazines referring to the Tutsis as cockroaches and a mortal threat to the Hutus that needed to be eliminated lest the Hutus themselves would die. Kill or be killed. The frenzied killing was not something that just occurred to the Hutus one day in April 1994. It was the logical conclusion of a campaign of dehumanization and paranoia which lasted for years.

The same is true of the Holocaust. The Nazi genocide began slowly and had few distinctive outbursts of violence to delineate where one degree of crime against humanity ended and where another began.
All in all, that genocide developed and unfolded over a period of more than 10 years. Most of that period was not taken up with the killing of Jews, Gypsies and all the other "sub-humans." Rather, it was taken up with manufacturing of the category of "sub-humans" by state propaganda. Only once the problem was manufactured and sold to the wider population did the "final solution" become viable.
Pattern of genocide
In Myanmar, extremist Buddhist monks have been preaching that the Rohingya are reincarnated from snakes and insects. Killing them would not be a crime against humanity, they say -- it would be more like pest control.

And necessary "pest control" too. Just like the Tutsi conspiracy to kill all the Hutus, or the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the Rohingya are supposed to be agents of a global Islamist conspiracy to take over the world and forcibly instate a global caliphate. The duty of any good Buddhist who wants to maintain the national and religious character of Myanmar is to prevent the Islamist takeover, and thus to help remove the threat posed by the "vermin."

Every modern genocide has followed this pattern. Years of concerted dehumanization campaigns are the absolutely necessary pre-condition for the mass murder at the end. Usually these campaigns are led by a repressive government, but other political forces also come into play. Such was the case in Bosnia, Darfur and Rwanda. And so it is with Myanmar.

The campaign of dehumanization against the Rohingya has been going on for decades, and events certainly took an unmistakeable turn towards genocide since at least the outbursts of communal violence in 2012. Those clashes, and the ones in the subsequent years, drove 200,000 to 300,000 Rohingya out of Myanmar.

But somehow, at that rate of attrition, and against the backdrop of Myanmar's supposed move towards democracy with the election of Aung San Suu Kyi to power in late 2015, world leaders have allowed themselves to hope that the situation could still be turned around.

Now, the reality of an exodus of a further 600,000 people in the space of just six weeks; the incontrovertible evidence of large scale burning of villages by the Myanmar military -- which the military is calling clearance operations of terrorists -- and the reports of widespread extra-judicial killings against fleeing civilians by the country's federal security forces have made it much more difficult to avoid the conclusion: this is genocide. We no longer have just the slow-burning genocidal environment which whittles down a people until their ultimate extinction.

Now we are also confronting the loud bang at the end. More than half of an entire population has been removed from their ancestral lands in just eight weeks!

The tragedy is that the international community will abet the situation. The UN Security Council will decline to respond to the situation with the seriousness it deserves. If a situation is defined by the Council as a "genocide," then the UN becomes legally bound to intervene, with peace-keeping missions and so on. That is why Western countries will be reluctant initiate such a move, and China, who is building one branch of its New Silk Road infrastructure right through Rakhine State to access the port of Sittwe, will likely veto any such proposal.

Just like we did in Rwanda, just like we did in the Balkans, we are once again seeing a genocide happen before our very eyes. And we will do nothing about it. We will bury our heads in the sand, and when our children will ask us why we let this happen we will plead ignorance. Once the final act of killing starts, it is usually too late. For the Rohingya, the final act is in full swing. And still we are in denial about what is happening.
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Policy and author of "The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar's Hidden Genocide" (Hurst & Oxford University Press)
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/10/theres-only-one-conclusion-on-rohingya.html

Why and how the US must confront Burma's Rohingya genocide
The United States should sanction Burma for its genocide against the Muslim Rohingya people, and lead an international effort to assist impoverished Bangladesh in supporting Rohingya refugees.

That's my conclusion based on the testimony coming out of southeast Bangladesh, where over 500,000 Rohingya civilians have taken refuge to avoid slaughter in Burma. My concern greatly increased after I spoke, Wednesday, with my aid worker aunt, Pat Kerr, who has taken a team to southeast Bangladesh.

Kerr described the situation at the Shah Porir Diip boat station, which sits between Burma and Bangladesh:

"Most of the refugees who arrive in Bangladesh take a boat to this station, and then barter (for example, giving jewelry for the fare) or borrow money to get to the mainland.

It is tragic to see families with many young children and all their belongings in a few rice sacks.
One young girl was so traumatized she couldn't speak or communicate in any way. Some refugees don't even have a full set of clothes, many don't have sandals.

There are more women and children than men, as the Burmese army is killing many of the men. The tales they all told were consistent: many men being killed and all villages burnt.
The pattern seems to be that this started in the north of Burma's Rakhine state and is spreading across the whole state to the south. There were 20,000 new refugees yesterday and we saw many boatloads today so the violence has definitely not stopped."

Still, Kerr says, the Bangladeshi Army is doing exceptional work in providing for those in need. She references one officer, Major Tanim, who has established an efficient supply of aid and provision of security for the thousands of refugees in his area.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are also playing a critical role, she says, describing one camp where, "Every day, 12,000 children are given a meal of meat and rice. This is one of four sites giving a hot meal of meat and rice in the middle of the day. A total of 84,000 meals are served to women and children. This is not including the sacks of dry food (rice and lentils) that are also distributed to thousands, or the medical clinic with free basic medicine."

Unfortunately, it's not enough. The current global strategy towards the Rohingya crisis is the equivalent of bandaging an arterial bleed. More must be done.

First, the U.S. should lead a global diplomatic effort to sanction Burma.
At present, the only serious reprisal Burma's government has faced for its genocide is the announcement that Aung San Suu Kyi will be stripped of the freedom of Oxford.
That's a very unfunny joke.
Considering the scale of this crisis, the Trump administration should immediately call for wide spectrum economic sanctions on the Burmese government and its financial industries.
The need for this leadership is even more urgent in the context of reporting by The Guardian, Thursday, that the United Nations has suppressed evidence of its failure to plan and respond to Rohingya refugee needs.

Here, it won't be enough to simply sanction a few random Burmese officials, the U.S. must bring the diplomatic heat.
If tough sanctions push Burma into the hands of the Chinese government, so be it.
America should seek good relations and strong economic ties with all nations that share our values or support a realist U.S. foreign policy.
But at present, Burma offers neither of those things.
Incidentally, it says much about the nature of Xi Jinping's foreign policy vision that he is willing to align himself with a genocidal regime.

Second, the U.S. should strengthen its aid to Bangladesh as that nation saves those civilians the Burmese Army has failed to kill.
To do so, Secretaries Mattis and Tillerson should send the head of Pacific Command, Admiral Harris, and the State Department's relevant Assistant Secretary, Alice Wells, to visit Dhaka and meet with top Bangladeshi officials.
This would consolidate Bangladesh in the knowledge that its humanitarian efforts have not gone unnoticed in Washington.
Bangladesh is often low-down in the U.S. foreign policy priority list, but that must now change.

More broadly, President Trump should prioritize the Rohingya in the same way that he has pushed Venezuela's situation up the international agenda.

Utilizing his good will with the Sunni-Arab monarchies and recognizing Saudi Arabia's evolving interest in humanitarian issues, Trump should push those governments to increase their aid to the Rohingya (many of whom are Muslim). Additional funds are specifically needed in order to provide the Rohingya with longer-term shelter in Bangladesh. Kerr notes that one need in the camps is a "nighttime service for pregnant women and those in labor, because at the moment, the NGOs only offer treatment during the day."

Ultimately, this isn't that complicated a foreign policy issue. America doesn't need to keep the Burmese government happy, but we must confront this human suffering.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/w...ront-burmas-rohingya-genocide/article/2636643

 

[Banglar Bir]

October 23, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 04:29 PM, October 23, 2017
Jordan stands beside Rohingyas, says Queen Rania

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroz Chumki receives Jordan's Queen Rania at Cox's Bazar airport on Monday, October 23, 2017. Photo: Facebook/Mohammed Shahriar Alam
Star Online Report
Jordan’s queen Rania Al-Abdullah today called upon the international community to stand beside Rohingya people so that the victims get justice and can go back to their country, Myanmar.
“Jordan always will stand beside Rohingyas,” the queen told reporters after she visited the camps at Kutupalang in Ukhia upazila of Cox’s Bazar.

Rania Al Abdullah
✔@QueenRania
The suffering I have seen and the stories I have heard from #Rohingya #refugees at Kutupalong Camp are harrowing and heartbreaking

On her arrival, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam received the Jordan queen at Cox’s Bazar airport around 11:00am, reports our Cox’s Bazar staff correspondent.

Later, she visited two Rohingya camps and talked to the people, who fled to Bangladesh following persecution in Rakhine state of Myanmar.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroz Chumki along with Jordan’s queen Rania Al-Abdullah at a Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar on October 23, 2017. Photo: Star
More than 600,000 Rohingyas people have so far taken shelter to Bangladesh since August 25

01:32 PM, October 24, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:48 PM, October 24, 2017
US exploring scope for Myanmar sanctions

Urging Myanmar government to facilitate the safe and voluntary return of all Rohingyas from Bangladesh, the US on Monday, October 23, 2017, says that it is exploring scopes to impose sanctions against the country. Reuters file photo
UNB, Dhaka
Urging Myanmar government to facilitate the safe and voluntary return of all Rohingyas from Bangladesh, the US has said that it is exploring scopes to impose sanctions against the country.
"We are exploring accountability mechanisms available under US law, including Global Magnitsky targeted sanctions," said US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert in a statement on Monday.
READ more: World leaders must engage in political process
US also urged Myanmar to address the root causes of systematic discrimination against the Rohingya by implementing the Rakhine Advisory Commission's recommendations, which includes providing a credible path to citizenship.

"We are ready to support these efforts," Nauert said.

The government of Myanmar, including its armed forces, must take immediate action to ensure peace and security; implement commitments to ensure humanitarian access to communities in desperate need, Nauert said.
Also READ: Next report will be more detailed, says UN envoy
"We will continue to support Burma's transition to democracy, as well as efforts to resolve the current crisis in Rakhine State," said the Spokesperson.

The US said Myanmar in recent years has emerged from a half-century of authoritarian rule and undertaken a significant transition to an open, democratic society.

The US administration supports this transition and the elected civilian government as important means to achieve peace, stability, and prosperity in the interests of all peoples of Burma and the US-Burma partnership.

"At the same time, we express our gravest concern with recent events in Rakhine State and the violent, traumatic abuses Rohingya and other communities have endured," said the Spokesperson.

It is imperative that any individuals or entities responsible for atrocities, including non-state actors and vigilantes, be held accountable, said the US official.

"Accordingly, in addition to existing restrictions on our already-limited engagement with Burma's armed forces and our long-standing embargo on all military sales, the United States is taking the following actions in pursuit of accountability and an end to violence:

Since August 25, the US has ceased consideration of JADE Act travel waivers for current and former senior leadership of the Burmese military.
"We are assessing authorities under the JADE Act to consider economic options available to target individuals associated with atrocities," said the Spokesperson.

Pursuant to the Leahy Law, they find all units and officers involved in operations in northern Rakhine State to be ineligible to receive or participate in any US assistance programmes.

"We have rescinded invitations for senior Burmese security forces to attend US-sponsored events. We are working with international partners to urge that Burma enables unhindered access to relevant areas for the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission, international humanitarian organisations, and media," said the Spokesperson.

The US is consulting with allies and partners on accountability options at the UN, the UN Human Rights Council, and other appropriate venues
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...m_medium=newsurl&utm_term=all&utm_content=all

2:38 PM, October 24, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:44 PM, October 24, 2017
Rohingya crisis: Next report will be more detailed, with importance, says UN envoy

United Nations Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee (2nd right) tells Dr Dipu Moni, president of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs in Bangladesh, (2nd left) that she will convey the ongoing Rohingya crisis issue in her next report with more details and importance. The duo met at the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in New York on Monday, October 23, 2017. Photo courtesy: Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN
Star Online Report
United Nations Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee has said she will convey the ongoing Rohingya crisis issue in her next report with more details and importance.

Lee, the UN human rights expert, told this when she met with Dr Dipu Moni, president of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, at the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in New York yesterday afternoon (US time).

So far, over 603,000 Rohingyas fled violence in Myanmar to Bangladesh since August 25 following Myanmar's security forces operations against them in response to insurgent attacks.

The crisis created a global outcry, but the UN Security Council has failed to take any decisive action against Myanmar, where the Rohingyas are denied citizenship and have been persecuted for decades.
Press Release-74 on Dipu Moni MP's Meetings and Statement on Palestine Issue by Daily Star on Scribd
Meanwhile in New York, Dipu Moni, while meeting Lee and several UN high ups, conveyed the message on behalf of Bangladesh that the international community including the UN must make Myanmar understand that it (Myanmar) must take back over a million citizens of Rakhine State who were forced to leave their land with security and dignity, reads a press statement issued by the Bangladesh mission.

There is no alternative to it, Dipu Moni added.

She also met with Jeffrey David Feltman, American diplomat and UN under-secretary-general for Political Affairs, and Pramila Patten, under-secretary-general and Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict on the same day.

Dipu Moni urged all international quarters to play a strong role in resolving Rohingya refugee crisis, the press release said.

In another meeting, Pramila Patten told Dipu Moni that she is fully aware of the sexual violence conducted against Rohingya women.

She will speak directly to the victims of sexual violence during her visit to Bangladesh in the first week on November, Patten said.

Jeffrey David Feltman brought the attention of the Bangladesh lawmaker about his recent visit to Myanmar and stated that he had spoke with Myanmar leadership on UN’s considerations what Myanmar should do to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...yanghee-lee-dipu-moni-sexual-violence-1481101

Channel Islam International
Who are the key figures responsible for the genocide in Myanmar?

https://www.facebook.com/

 

[Banglar Bir]

US Revokes Aid To Myanmar Military, Eyeing Sanctions Over Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing

US Revokes Aid To Myanmar Military, Eyeing Sanctions Over Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing
The United States has announced new restrictions concerning engagement with the Myanmar military over the violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State.
Washington is also weighing economic measures against those involved in the reported atrocities.

“We express our gravest concern over recent events in Rakhine State and the violent, traumatic abuses Rohingya and other communities have endured. It is imperative that any individuals or entities responsible for atrocities, including non-state actors and vigilantes, be held accountable,” State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement on Monday.

In the statement, she also outlined the measures that Washington is going to take “in pursuit of accountability and an end to violence.”

In particular, the US is withdrawing military assistance programs for Myanmar units and officers “involved in operations in northern Rakhine State.” The measure will add to Washington’s already limited engagement with the Myanmar military and its long-standing embargo on all military sales.

In addition, the State Department said it has ceased its consideration of travel waivers for senior Myanmar military officials and is weighing economic sanctions against individuals “associated with atrocities.”

According to Bloomberg, this statement is one of the first signals that the US could re-impose the sanctions on Myanmar that were lifted last year as the country shifted toward democracy after the National League for Democracy party led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the country’s first openly contested election for decades in 2015.
ALSO READ: Burma Troops Setting Bodies Of Rohingya Muslims On Fire To Conceal Evidence
“The Government of Burma, including its armed forces, must take immediate action to ensure peace and security; implement commitments to ensure humanitarian access to communities in desperate need; facilitate the safe and voluntary return of those who have fled or been displaced in Rakhine State; and address the root causes of systematic discrimination against the Rohingya,” Nauert said.

The Rohingya crisis, which actually originated in a conflict from the 19th century, intensified on August 25, 2017, when Muslim insurgents of Rohingya origin attacked security posts in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

Myanmar’s subsequent brutal crackdown led to a spate of clashes and the death of hundreds of Rohingya people. More than half a million Rohingya Muslims have already fled Myanmar, crossing into neighboring Bangladesh.
Source: Sputnik
http://wikileaksnews.co/us-revokes-aid-myanmar-military-eyeing-sanctions-rohingya-ethnic-cleansing/

 

[Banglar Bir]

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA
FRANÇAIS

Prime Minister appoints the Honourable Bob Rae as Special Envoy to Myanmar
Prime Minister appoints the Honourable Bob Rae as Special Envoy to Myanmar
Ottawa, Ontario
October 23, 2017
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today named the Honourable Bob Rae as his Special Envoy to Myanmar. Mr. Rae will begin his work immediately, engaging in diplomatic efforts to address the crisis regarding the country’s Rakhine State.
As Special Envoy, Mr. Rae will reinforce the urgent need to resolve the humanitarian and security crisis in Myanmar and to address the situation affecting vulnerable populations, including the Rohingya Muslim community, other religious and ethnic minorities, and women and girls. He will also advise the Prime Minister on how Canada can best support efforts to respond to the needs of those affected and displaced by the recent violence.

Canada’s efforts in the region will continue to address both the immediate and long-term political, socio-economic and humanitarian challenges facing the people in Rakhine State and Myanmar.
To help address these challenges, Prime Minister Trudeau also announced that Canada will provide an additional $12 million in humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of those affected by this crisis.
Quote
“Canada is deeply concerned about the urgent humanitarian and security crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, particularly the brutal persecution of the Rohingya Muslim people. I am confident that Bob Rae’s vast experience as a lawyer, advisor, negotiator, arbitrator and public servant will help Canada work more effectively with Myanmar and other international partners to chart a path towards lasting peace and reconciliation.”
— The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Quick Facts
Canada and Myanmar established diplomatic relations when the Southeast Asian country became independent in 1948.
To date in 2017, Canada has provided more than $25 million in humanitarian assistance funding to partners in Myanmar and Bangladesh to meet the needs of crisis-affected people, including the Rohingya. This amount includes the additional $12 million announced today.
In June 2017, the Prime Minister met with Her Excellency Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. During the meeting, the Prime Minister highlighted the need for Myanmar to accelerate efforts to uphold human rights and protect ethnic and religious minorities, and reiterated Canada’s support for ongoing reforms in the country.
In September 2017, the Prime Minister spoke and wrote to Her Excellency Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to convey his deep concerns over the situation in Rakhine State for Rohingya Muslims and other ethnic minorities.
Associated Links
Canada gravely concerned with deteriorating situation in Myanmar
Canada gravely concerned with deteriorating situation in Myanma
From Global Affairs Canada
October 7, 2017 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, today issued the following statement on the critical situation in Myanmar:

“Canada is deeply concerned by the plight of the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar. The killings and other gross violations of human rights are part of a widespread attack against the Rohingya. These are crimes against humanity—and the responsibility for ending this ethnic cleansing falls squarely on Myanmar’s military leadership and its civilian government.

“Once again, we urge authorities to set the conditions for the safe and voluntary return of Rohingya refugees and other ethnic minorities to their rightful homes, in dignity, where they should live free from persecution and enjoy full equality under the law.

“Over the last month, Minister Freeland has spoken to her counterparts from numerous countries regarding the need to work together to exert pressure on the regime to end the violence in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state.

“A week ago, the Minister also spoke with Myanmar’s Commander-in-Chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, to emphasize Canadians’ concern for human rights violations against the Rohingya population and to encourage an end to the violence.

“On October 2, Canada’s Ambassador to Myanmar participated in a visit to northern Rakhine for diplomats and representatives of UN agencies. This must be the first step in granting urgently needed access to all parts of northern Rakhine for foreign officials, humanitarian and UN agencies, as well as the international press.

“Minister Bibeau has approved $12.25 million in humanitarian assistance funding to trusted partners in Myanmar and Bangladesh to date in 2017 to meet the needs of the most vulnerable, including the Rohingya women and youth. But the international community, including Canada, must do more.

“Canada implores the military and civilian authorities in Myanmar to end the violence, to allow the full, safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance, and to implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan-chaired Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. We continue to stand ready to support all efforts to build a democratic, inclusive, diverse and stable society in Myanmar.”

Associated links

• Canada and the crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine state
  

Canada calls for action on critical situation in Myanmar
Canada and the crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine State
Prime Minister announces support for peace process and humanitarian assistance in Myanmar
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar
https://www.canada.ca/en/global-aff...ernedwithdeterioratingsituationinmyanmar.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

07:57 PM, October 24, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 08:02 PM, October 24, 2017
‘Joint working group by Nov 30 to repatriate Rohingyas’

Star file photo
Star Online Report
Bangladesh and Myanmar today decided to constitute a joint working group by November 30 to repatriate the Rohingya people, who fled persecution in Rakhine state.
The decision was taken at a home ministry level bilateral meeting between Bangladesh and Myanmar at Naypyidaw, the capital of the Myanmar, said a press statement of the home ministry.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal led the Bangladesh delegation while his counterpart Lt Gen Kyaw Swe led Myanmar.

Myanmar also agreed to implement the Kofi Annan Commission recommendations in accelerating the repatriation work of the Rohingya people, it said.

Two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were signed between the two countries to ensure security on bordering areas, the release said.

Kamal is scheduled to meet Myanmar state councilor Aung San Suu Kyi around 10:00am tomorrow.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...m_medium=newsurl&utm_term=all&utm_content=all

 

[Banglar Bir]

UN praises Turkey's effort for Rohingya refugees
Turkey continues to be generous humanitarian donor, besides largest refugee-hosting country in the world, says UN official
October 24, 2017 Anadolu Agency

United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi
The UN high commissioner for refugees on Monday hailed Turkey as "a generous humanitarian donor" after it pledged to spend $50 million on supporting Rohingya refugees.

"l would like to say that Turkey continues to be a generous humanitarian donor globally besides the largest refugee-hosting country in the world," Filippo Grandi told Anadolu Agency in Geneva on Monday after an international donor-pledging conference for Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar ended with Turkey saying it would provide $50 million for the refugees.

"We have to continue to improve the response to the very massive crisis, the biggest and the fastest we have seen in many years," Grandi said.

"More than 800,000 stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh aspire to a life that meets their immediate needs for food, medicine, water, and shelter. But beyond that, a life that has hope for the future where their identity is recognized, they are free from discrimination, and are able to return safely to their homes in Myanmar. As we come together in solidarity, I want to thank Bangladesh and its refugee-hosting communities and the donors for supporting them," Grandi said.

The conference on Rohingya Muslims began on Monday.

Turkey had "one of the highest, if not the highest," pledge at the donor conference, William Lacy Swing, head of the UN’s International Organization for Migration, told Anadolu Agency following the conference.

Turkey's ambassador to the UN office in Geneva, Naci Koru, told the conference: "Within the humanitarian assistance program, we plan to build medium-term shelter units for 100,000 people on a land of 3 million square meters, provide two field hospitals, 10 health and family health centers, deliver drinking water wells and water sanitation [plus] fresh food aid to the municipalities."

"Together with planned projects and deliveries, the total amount of humanitarian aid provided by Turkey will exceed $50 million," Koru added.

Saying that the Rohingya crisis needs immediate and coordinated action, Koru said: "We are committed to continue our support to Rohingya Muslims in close coordination with the authorities in Bangladesh."

Turkey raises over $21 million donation for Rohingya
Turkey has raised a donation of more than 80 million liras ($21 million) since 2012 to help Rohingya being persecuted in Myanmar’s Rakine state, head of the country’s emergency management authority said.“More than 60 million Turkish ($16.2 million) liras have been collected to date.

Turkish Red Crescent also raised over 20 million Turkish liras ($5.4 million),” Mehmet Gulluoglu, head of Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), told Anadolu Agency.He said Turkey is still waiting for the allocation of the land in Bangladesh to set up a camp for Rohingya Muslims.

UNICEF Since Aug. 25, more than 603,000 Rohingya have crossed from western state of Rakhine into Bangladesh, according to the UN's migration agency’s latest report on Monday.The refugees are fleeing a military operation in which Myanmar’s armed forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages.

According to Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.Launched on Sept. 11, “Rakhine Weeps, Turkey Lends Hand”, a campaign by AFAD, Turkish Red Crescent and Turkish Religious Foundation (TDV) has been raising donations for Rohingya Muslims.

Güllüoğlu said that Turkish people, alongside the government, become participants of aid campaigns.People can donate 10 Turkish liras ($3) by typing "ARAKAN" (old name of Rakhine) in an SMS and send it to 2868 or else through bank transfers, Gulluoglu reminded.Turkey brings hope to Rohingya, says WFP director.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.Last October, following attacks on border posts in Rakhine Maungdaw district, security forces launched a five-month crackdown in which, according to Rohingya groups, around 400 people were killed.

The UN documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Aid by Turkish NGOs

Also on Monday, it was revealed that the Turkish Red Crescent had raised more than $5.4 million for the Rohingya, Mehmet Güllüoğlu, the head of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), told Anadolu Agency.

AFAD itself has collected $16.2 million since 2012. Other Turkish aid groups, like the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), have also been active in helping Rohingya refugees.

Meanwhile, at the Geneva conference, IHH representative Taha Keskin said: "We gladly announce that we are going to allocate $10 million for suffering Rohingya people through 2017 and 2018. We will continue to implement our projects from varied clusters through local organizations in Bangladesh and Myanmar."

The conference at the UN in Geneva raised $344 million in pledges for humanitarian aid to the Rohingya refugees, according to the UN.

That amount falls $90 million short of the estimated $434 million required to meet their needs until February 2018, but more than half of that amount will be made up by an estimated $50 million worth of in-kind contributions, the UN said in a statement following the conference.

Separately, the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD) has donated 3 million Turkish liras ($810,000) of aid for the Rohingya Muslims via the Turkish Red Crescent.

At a ceremony in Istanbul marking the donation on Monday, Turkish Red Crescent head Kerem Kınık said the group donated the money to help bind the wounds of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.

UETD head Zafer Sirakaya said each individual in the European Turkish community gave support, even children from their pocket money and piggy banks, giving them hope for the future.

He added that this is probably the greatest-ever donation made from a European NGO to the Turkish Red Crescent.
Over 600,00 fled violence
Since Aug. 25, over 600,000 Rohingya have crossed from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine into Bangladesh, according to the UN.

The refugees are fleeing a military operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages. According to Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.

Turkey has been at the forefront of providing aid to Rohingya refugees, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised the issue at the UN.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

00:59 dk06 Ekim 2017 Yeni Şafa
Miserable Rohingya Muslims' struggle for survival at Bangladesh camps
The suffering of the Rohingya Muslims, fleeing the Myanmar army's massacre, is far from over after reaching the relative safety of Bangladesh refugee camps where they face many adversities. Since Aug. 25, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled their homes in majority Buddhist Myanmar, overwhelming aid agencies in Bangladesh.
Rohingya Muslims fled from oppression in Myanmar

Hundreds of Rohingyas cross land and sea borders daily to reach Bangladesh, paying 36 USD each to hire a boat to cross the borders. As the number of boats ferrying Rohingyas from Myanmar increase in the day and night hours, Bangladeshi forces try to bring the boats into order on the shore.
http://www.yenisafak.com/en/dunya/u...glish&utm_campaign=facebook-yenisafak-english

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, October 25, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:26 AM, October 25, 2017
Case for a UN Interim Administration in Rakhine

Photo: Reuters/ Mohammad Ponir Hossain
Farhaan Uddin Ahmed
The Myanmar military's latest campaign against the Rohingyas began after the attack on multiple police posts in Rakhine on August 25, 2017. The country's military leadership, with the support of radical Buddhist elements, is perpetrating an “ethnic cleansing” campaign killing, raping, maiming, and setting ablaze one Rohingya village after another.
Nearly 600,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed into Bangladesh within a span of two months. The world has not witnessed such a large exodus of people in such a short period since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
As a result of this brutal campaign, the majority of Rohingyas are now residing in Bangladesh.

The situation has been further aggravated by the fact that host Bangladesh is itself a poor country, with a high population density, and that the country's southeast region is not the most geographically accessible area, with hilly terrains and lack of proper infrastructure.
All these factors have culminated in a crisis that has potentially high political, economic, and social costs for Bangladesh.
Despite that, it has continued to keep its borders open for the Rohingyas and has been doing as much as possible to meet their basic needs.

Of late, the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar have been negotiating the repatriation of the Rohingyas, although it is not clear yet whether the negotiations will bear any fruit. However, mere repatriation, without addressing the causes that led to the persecution in the first place, will not guarantee the rights and safety of the returnees. After repatriation, it is quite likely that the Rohingyas will continue to suffer because of the deep-seated hatred and hostility that has been sown into the Burmese society by the radical Buddhist elements.

Additionally, most of their homes have been decimated; hence, for the Rohingyas, repatriation at this stage would mean being transferred from one camp (in Bangladesh) to another (in Myanmar). Therefore, the best possible way to ensure a lasting peace and reconciliation would be to establish a UN Interim Administration in the Rakhine.

A UN Interim Administration supported by a UN Peacekeeping Force could be established with a specific mandate to:
a) maintain peace and security,
b) support humanitarian efforts, and
c) oversee the implementation of the recommendations made by the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State in its Final Report (Kofi Annan Report).

Implementation of the Kofi Annan Report is vital to ensure that there is a possibility of lasting peace in Rakhine. The Report's recommendations deal with issues of citizenship, freedom of movement, humanitarian access, access to media, health, education, security, and justice for the Rohingyas.
In time, a permanent UN Observer Mission could be established to monitor the maintenance of peace and security in the long run.

Such a mechanism is not without precedent in history.

UN peacekeeping missions and interim administrations are established through UN Security Council Resolutions by the exercise of powers enunciated in Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
There are numerous instances of the establishment of UN Interim Administrations to maintain security and oversee the transition to peace.
UN Interim Administrations in East Timor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo are some well-known examples.
Such interventions are generally supported by a Peacekeeping Force and the Interim Administration is headed by a Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), who is endowed with legislative and executive authority, including the administration of justice so as to be able to implement the mandate.

Of course, Myanmar could unilaterally set up “safe zones” which could be monitored by the International Committee of the Red Cross, United Nations or some other international bodies. But such a move by the Myanmar government seems quite improbable, meaning the onus now is on the UN to exercise its Chapter VII powers.

That said, there are concerns that Russia and/or China may veto such a motion in the Security Council. This is where international politics and diplomacy come into play.

Bangladesh and the supporters of such measures must allay the geopolitical concerns of Russia and China.
Russia would most likely not veto such a measure as long as China does not, since Russian geopolitical interests in the region are quite different from that of China. However, China is quite unlikely to support the measure since it fears losing its foothold in Myanmar to its geopolitical rival India.

India has been supporting the Myanmar government from the beginning and has steered away from condemning the military's actions in Rakhine, hoping that it would be able to counter China's influence in Myanmar.

But India is also facing increasing pressure from its northeastern states over the influx of refugees; its civil society and the general public have been also quite critical of its position.

Now, if both India and China publicly take the same stance on the issue of UN intervention, then neither would risk losing much ground in regional geopolitics to the other.

In the Security Council, it is not necessary for China and/or Russia to actively support the measure.
A Security Council resolution to intervene would be passed even if they abstain or do not participate in the voting, which has been the case on numerous occasions in the past.

This would, in turn, maintain the current geopolitical balance while providing the Rohingyas a much-needed respite from the persecution.
The world stood by and allowed such atrocities to take place in the past—in Bosnia and Rwanda. It cannot allow the same thing to happen again.
Farhaan Uddin Ahmed is a researcher of international law and legal theory, and lecturer at the School of Law, BRAC University.
Email: farhaan17@gmail.com
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/perspective/case-un-interim-administration-rakhine-1481185

12:00 AM, October 25, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 04:06 AM, October 25, 2017
Solving Rohingya Crisis: After India, it's China's turn

This photo taken on Sunday shows Myanmar refugee Halima with her eight-month-old son Hares as he is treated at a Red Cross field hospital in Cox's Bazar. The baby was suffering from severe pneumonia and high fever at a squalid camp after his family fled violence in Myanmar. By the time the family rushed him to the newly established 60-bed hospital, the tiny boy was barely breathing as infection almost crippled his lungs. "Had he come even an hour later, he would have no chance to survive," said Peter Meyer, team leader of the tent hospital built over several acres of rubber garden. Photo: AFP
Inam Ahmed and Shakhawat Liton
When Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said during her Dhaka visit that Bangladesh-India relation “goes far beyond a strategic partnership”, that certainly created a ripple across many fronts – from global politics, to the Myanmar generals to the hapless Rohingyas.

Her following words were even more decisive, clearer and a turning point in India's stance on the Rohingya issue, removing the cloud that gathered after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Myanmar.

While Modi remained silent on the plight of the Rohingya, Sushma has maintained that India is “deeply concerned at the spate of violence in Rakhine State” and normalcy will only be restored with the return of the displaced persons to Rakhine state.

Her mentioning that “lakhs of displaced persons who have fled from Rakhine State of Myanmar” also makes it obvious under which situation such a large number of people could flee their own country. After all, 1971 is still vivid in Indian memory.

Sushma's words should go a long way to bolster the world's efforts to stop the violence against the Rohingyas and to help return of the displaced people to their homeland.

For Bangladesh it was also a diplomatic breakthrough.

However, a difficult task still remains. India, one of the two biggest neighbours of Myanmar, can now exert a lot of influence on Myanmar in stopping the horror being unleashed on the most persecuted people of modern times, the Rohingyas. Myanmar has created such a precarious situation that it may affect the whole South Asian and Southeast Asian region if the incidents trigger terrorism. India is rightly alarmed at the prospect and should do its best to mobilise world powers and remedy the situation.

On this point, Sushma has rightly pointed out that the only long term solution to the situation is rapid socio-economic development that would have a “positive impact on all the communities living in the State”. India has taken the first step and now it should move to permanently resolve the issue.

Sushma showed her mettle when she put a clever spin to her opening remark that India-Bangladesh relation goes “far beyond a strategic partnership”.

It was the Chinese President Xi Jinping, who during his visit last year to Dhaka, used the term of endearment for Bangladesh as a “strategic partner”. But that partnership came to nada when the Rohingya crisis unfolded. China, instead of honouring that “strategic partnership”, sided with Myanmar. Not only did it not raise any voice against the violence against the Rohingyas, it placed two vetoes at the UN Security Council on a Myanmar resolution. Because of its opposition in September, the Security Council failed to take any resolution on Myanmar. And then this week, China spoke out against any foreign interference in Myanmar.

China, whose investment in Myanmar reached $18.53 billion up to January 2017 and considers Myanmar an important tool in its One Belt, One Road initiative, ignored the fact that its “strategic partner” is suffering because of the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.

But China should not forget the strategic importance of Bangladesh. China and Bangladesh signed three dozen deals worth around $25 billion for infrastructure development during Xi's visit, not to mention Bangladesh's importance in the implementation of One Belt, One Road project.

A peaceful region is needed for such an ambitious scheme to go through.
China, that champions many globally crucial areas including climate change, should not ignore the ongoing humanitarian crisis and should come forward like India to resolve the situation.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpa...ya-crisis-after-india-its-chinas-turn-1481344

12:00 AM, October 25, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:52 AM, October 25, 2017
The fastest growing refugee crisis

On August 25 this year, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas started fleeing military operations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and crossing the border to take shelter in Bangladesh. And the exodus continues. So far, there is no visible progress in the repatriation process.

With the Rohingyas streaming into Bangladesh fleeing a brutal crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine State, the UN rights body chief denounced the atrocities as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. There have been multiple reports of security forces and local vigilantes burning Rohingya villages, shooting unarmed civilians and raping women.

Myanmar's de facto leader Suu Kyi and the military keep facing the condemnation of the global community amid calls for an end to the violence against one of the most persecuted minority groups in the world. The Bangladesh government and the local community in Cox's Bazar bordering Rakhine State have been widely praised for the response to the unprecedented influx, especially for keeping the border open. However, a lot of challenges lie ahead as the repatriation of the refugees doesn't look like something that's going to happen anytime soon.

“Bangladesh is not a rich country ... but if we can feed 160 million people, another 500 or 700,000 people, we can do it."
PRIME MINISTER SHEIKH HASINA

“As we witness the unfolding horror we pray for you [Suu Kyi] to be courageous and resilient again... for you to speak out for justice, human rights and the unity of your people."
ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU

“The situation has spiralled into the world's fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare."
UN SECRETARY GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES

 

[Banglar Bir]

‘Suu Kyi government played into the hands of the military’
Syed Zainul Abedin
Published at 09:00 PM October 24, 2017
Last updated at 11:36 PM October 24, 2017

Director of Euro-Burma Office Harn Yawnghwe Courtesy
Harn Yawnghwe, director of Euro-Burma Office (European Office for the Development of Democracy in Myanmar), Brussels, recently spoke to the Dhaka Tribune’s Syed Zainul Abedin on the Rohingya issue and Myanmar leader Suu Kyi. He shed light on the political instability in Myanmar against the backdrop of recent developments in Rakhine.
Harn is the youngest son of Sao Shwe Thaike, the first president of the Republic of the Union of Burma. Sao was the president of the union from 1948 to 1952. He was arrested in a military coup led by General Ne Win and died in prison in November, 1962. Sao Shwe Thaike and General Aung San were the architects of the 1947 Panglong Agreement, which formed the basis for the modern nation of Burma (the colonial name for Myanmar).
Also Read- ‘The generals and Suu Kyi sing from the same Buddhist nationalist hymn book’
Harn has been in exile in Canada since he was 15 years old. He was forced to leave Myanmar along with his family following the coup on March 2, 1962.

Harn also served as Advisor to Dr Sein Win, prime minister of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), which claims to be Burma’s government in exile.
What is happening in the Rakhine state of Myanmar?
What is happening in Rakhine State is genocide. Article 2 of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1951) defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole, or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. All these conditions apply to the Rohingya people in Myanmar.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres admitted as much when he said on September 13, 2017 that ethnic cleansing is taking place in Myanmar. Genocide includes ethnic cleansing. He did not use the word genocide because if he did, the UN would be legally obliged under the Genocide Convention to take action. For the UN to take action, the Security Council would have to authorise it. But Guterres knows that if he took it to the Security Council, Russia and China would veto it. That is the dilemma.

Rohingya refugees stretch their hands to receive aid distributed by local organisations at Balukhali makeshift camp in Cox’s Bazar on September 14, 2017 | Reuters
You have been working on the peace process in Myanmar/Burma for a long time. What are the hurdles in the way of the peace process?
First, the Myanmar military still believes that might is right. They entered into negotiations as a delaying tactic when the then President Thein Sein, a former military general himself, called for peace talks. He defined the peace talks as a political matter which under the 2008 Constitution falls under the mandate of the civilian government. Under the Suu Kyi government, the military has managed to define the peace talks as a security matter which under the constitution falls under the mandate of the military. This means the military will exert force on those who will not agree to peace on the government’s terms. If they continue to resist, they will be labeled ‘terrorists’ and the military can use full force against them – as they are doing now with the Rohingya. The Suu Kyi government does not have a plan or strategy on how to bring the peace talks back to the political arena. It also does not have experienced advisors and negotiators.
Also Read- Canada’s Trudeau tasks special envoy to press Myanmar on refugees
In the short-term, the future of the peace talks is bleak. The best that can be done is to keep the talks going in the hope that the government will change its position. Nobody wants to go back to war.
Why are the Rohingya people, from among 135 ethnic groups, being specifically targeted by the government/army of Myanmar?
Myanmar Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing said on September 1, 2017, that the ongoing clearing operations in northern Rakhine is ‘unfinished business’ from World War 2. After the war, during the division of India, some Rohingya wanted to become part of East Pakistan. There was a Mujahid insurgency which the Myanmar military put down. His ‘unfinished business’, though, means that the Myanmar military does not accept the outcome of the political settlement in the early 1960’s that recognised the Rohingya as citizens of Myanmar.

The military also does not recognise the 1947 Constitution, which states that all people who live within the boundaries of Myanmar at independence (1948) are citizens. That is why after seizing power, General Ne Win launched an operation to drive out the Rohingya in 1978. Not satisfied with that, he also changed the Citizenship Law in 1982, making the Rohingya stateless. Another attempt was made in 1998 to drive out the Rohingya.

This third and current exodus is part of the same plan to make Myanmar a homogeneous and ‘pure’ nation. It is racist. The Rohingya being Muslim makes it easier for the military to garner support from the Buddhist majority who believe that it is their duty to protect Buddhism from all external influences.

FILE PHOTO: Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar wait to be let through by Bangladeshi border guards after crossing the border in Palang Khali on October 16, 2017 | Reuters
The future of democracy in Myanmar is precarious. Everybody wrongly believed that Aung San Suu Kyi would strengthen the democratic transition and make it impossible to return to a military dictatorship.

It is somewhat similar to the situation in Iran when the Shah was overthrown and the Ayatollah Khomeni came to power. He consolidated his power and imposed his own brand of authoritarian rule. The same is true in Myanmar. Democracy is not practiced within the ruling National League for Democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi makes all the decisions. Younger generation leaders are not being groomed. Internal dissent is not tolerated and opposition parties are not encouraged. The active civil society networks are shunned by the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi. Other than the military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party, there are no viable nationwide political parties to choose from as an alternative to the NLD. Media freedom is also at risk.
Is there any geopolitical issue behind the ongoing situation in Myanmar, triggering this Rohingya crisis?
As mentioned before, geopolitics do play a part. Myanmar is considered to be in China’s backyard. Neither Russia nor China want Myanmar to move into the orbit of western powers. They have long seen human rights as a western tool to infiltrate into the region. But the main trigger is domestic. The Myanmar military does not want a democratically-elected government to succeed. It wants to prove that a civilian government does not have the capacity to govern Myanmar.
Also Read- Pope Francis deplores plight of Rohingya children
The Rohingya crisis was re-ignited in 2012 when the Thein Sein government started making headway with its peace talks with the other ethnic minorities. The crisis became full-fledged in 2016 after the Suu Kyi government took power. When it became clear that the Suu Kyi government did not have the capacity to deal with the peace talks, the military took advantage of that weakness to carry out its plan to finally expel the Rohingya as terrorists under the cover of a democratic government. The government’s denial of any human rights abuse by the military and the refusal of Suu Kyi to allow a UN Fact-Finding Mission have all played into the hands of the military.
How do you describe the communal harmony in Myanmar?
Myanmar is and has always been a multi-ethnic and a multi-religious society. Different communities used to exist harmoniously in the past. Things changed after Ne Win took over. He expelled all foreigners, especially Chinese and Indians, confiscating their businesses. His agenda, like the Shah’s, was to create a modern homogeneous nation and this created problems. Each ethnic group began to look after its own interests for survival. Today people look on each other with mistrust. Fake news and rumours can trigger inter-communal violence as it did in 2012. Many people today are preaching hatred and religious bigotry. People who disagree do not dare to speak out. Fear is beginning to take hold again.

A view of the the Rohingya refugee camp in Tang Khali near Cox’s Bazar, on October 18, 2017 | Reuters
How are the rest of the people in Myanmar responding to this crisis?
Most would not react unless it affected them personally. This is especially true of the ethnic minorities. They do not want to draw attention to themselves by speaking out about the Rohingya. But for the majority, they believe what the government is saying – that the Rohingya are foreigners who bought their way into Myanmar; they have four wives and their population is growing rapidly; their plan is to Islamise Myanmar.
Please describe the role of the state-run media in Myanmar.
The state-run media has been managed by the military for over 5 decades. They are putting out the same propaganda as when the country was still under military rule. The sad part is that the private media that used to fight for human rights have also started to toe the government line – that the Rohingya are terrorists and have to be defeated to protect Myanmar’s sovereignty.
Also Read- Suu Kyi donates $4000 to Rakhine peace and development
You wrote an open letter criticising Suu Kyi. Could you please elaborate on that?
I am concerned that she is not nurturing democracy for the time after she steps down. If we want democracy to flourish, we have to start practising it. Authoritarianism, no matter how well-intentioned, will not bring democracy. Democracy is messy and people make mistakes but without starting to practice it, we cannot expect democracy in Myanmar in the future.
Where does the solution to this crisis lie?
The crisis is two-fold. One is the crisis of democracy – how do we ensure that the military does not come back in the future? How can we entrench democracy in the nation? The solution lies with the people of Myanmar.
They need to wake up to the crisis and start practicing democracy.
It is not too late. We have until 2020, 3 years, to promote democracy.

The other crisis is the Rohingya people. We do not have time. People are dying and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. The clearing operations are continuing in spite of government denials.

The UN, Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries need to exercise their Responsibility to Protect.
If they do nothing now, the Rohingya will be driven out of Myanmar. But in the longer-term, the solution lies in treating the Rohingya as human beings created in the image of God, equal with all Myanmar citizens.

This will take moral courage on the part of the Myanmar government and determined and well-thought out long-term programmes to eliminate racism, and religious bigotry from Myanmar – something like the civil rights movement in the US.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/south-asia/2017/10/24/suu-kyi-government-harn/

US Declaration of 'Ethnic Cleansing' in Myanmar on Way

In this Oct. 18, 2017, file photo, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. U.S. officials are preparing a recommendation for Tillerson to declare that ethnic cleansing is occurring against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
US officials preparing a recommendation for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to declare "ethnic cleansing" is occurring against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims.
By Matthew Pennington
Associated Press
October 24, 2017
WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration moved toward a condemnation of "ethnic cleansing" against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, as officials were preparing a recommendation for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to unequivocally use the term for the first time. Angry lawmakers on Tuesday demanded an immediate denunciation as they explored a new, tougher U.S. policy.

"My bosses have said it appears to be ethnic cleansing. I'm of that view as well," said Patrick Murphy, a senior U.S. diplomat for Southeast Asia, while adding that the final call wasn't his to make.

Tillerson could receive the recommendation to adopt such terminology as a matter of policy as early as this week, officials familiar with the process told The Associated Press. He would then decide whether to follow the advice of his agency's policy experts and lawyers, which would raise pressure on the U.S. government to consider new sanctions on a country that had been lauded for its democratic transition.

At a Senate hearing Tuesday, lawmakers pressed Murphy and other administration officials to hastily clarify their view of the brutal crackdown on Muslims in Rakhine State that has caused more than 600,000 refugees to flee to Bangladesh.
But U.S. officials have been weighing several factors for their policy toward the country also known as Burma, including concerns about undermining the civilian government led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for the last 18 months.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine was among those calling for a clear determination "with dispatch." Republican Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, emphasized it "may be time for a policy readjustment." Other lawmakers in both houses of Congress have proposed new U.S. penalties on the military, which retains significant power in Myanmar and is blamed for the violence.

The U.S. officials, who weren't authorized to speak publicly on the internal process and requested anonymity, told the AP the State Department won't make a call yet on whether crimes against humanity have occurred in Myanmar. Such a determination would be even more detrimental to Myanmar's military, as it could force the U.S. to push harder for legal accountability.

According to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention, "ethnic cleansing" isn't recognized as an independent crime under international law, unlike crimes against humanity and genocide.
It surfaced in the context of the 1990s conflict in the former Yugoslavia, when a U.N. commission defined it as "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area."

Nevertheless, Murphy stressed that "a determination of ethnic cleansing will not change our pursuit of full accountability." The issue also is sensitive because President Donald Trump will make his first official trip to Asia next month and hasn't spoken about the crisis.

Human rights groups accuse security forces of launching a scorched-earth campaign in late August as they responded to Rohingya insurgent attacks. Amnesty International alleges that hundreds of Rohingya men, women and children have been systematically killed.

Senators of both parties expressed outrage over the atrocities — and frustration at Washington's inability to stop them. They questioned whether former President Barack Obama prematurely lifted sanctions against the armed forces as a reward for an end to decades of direct military rule.
"The military control Burma today," Sen. Ben Cardin, the panel's top Democrat, said. "That's unacceptable, that's why we imposed sanctions, because of military control.
Sanction relief was given for what? So people can be ethnically cleansed?"

Murphy said the U.S. has limited leverage with Myanmar's military. He described broad sanctions and more targeted measures as under consideration, but worried about hurting Myanmar's vulnerable citizens. Administration officials also fret that punishing Myanmar too forcefully could undermine Suu Kyi's government and push her country away from the United States and toward China.

Before the latest refugee exodus, roughly 1 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar. The Buddhist majority believes they migrated illegally from Bangladesh, although many Rohingya families have lived in Myanmar for generations. They were stripped of their citizenship in 1982.

Calls for a U.S. determination of "ethnic cleansing" have intensified, as the United Nations and leading Western governments have used the term. Six weeks ago, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said it "seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing." French President Emmanuel Macron echoed that opinion, as have leaders of many in the Muslim world.

U.S. officials have been more reticent. Tillerson, who last week said that perpetrators will be held to account for atrocities, has referred to the violence as "characterized by many as ethnic cleansing." U.N. envoy Nikki Haley told the Security Council last month it was "a brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority."

"We are not shying from the use of any appropriate terminology," Murphy told reporters later Tuesday, without revealing what the formal review would conclude.

The recent violence already has prompted Washington to curtail already restricted ties with Myanmar's military. Two months ago, the U.S. stopped waiving visa restrictions to allow members of Myanmar's military to visit — a policy that Murphy said would also apply to commander in chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
The State Department announced Monday that units and officers involved in Rakhine operations are ineligible for U.S. assistance, and rescinded invitations for senior security forces to attend U.S.-sponsored events.

Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers want tougher action, such as financial sanctions against military officials complicit in rights abuses. Restrictions on military-owned businesses that hold large stakes in Myanmar's economy are also a possibility.

"Here we have this horrific instance, and we have virtually no voice, no pressure," said Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, who is set to travel to Myanmar soon.
Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report.
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/10/us-declaration-of-ethnic-cleansing-in.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

https://www.facebook.com/

Kofi Annan: ‘Rohingya are not going to rush home’
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who has been charged with trying to resolve the Rohingya crisis, discusses what needs to be done.
https://www.channel4.com/…/kofi-annan-rohingya-are-not-goin…

 

[Banglar Bir]

India’s firm policy pushes more Rohingyas to Bangladesh
SAM Staff, October 25, 2017

India’s firm anti-Rohingya policy is triggering reverse migration with several Rohingyas, who worked as domestic help, construction labours and small-time shop-keepers, slowly moving back to Bangladesh.

According to BSF officials, at least 50 such Rohingya immigrants, who had been living in India for years, crossed over to Bangladesh over the past few weeks.

At least three big teams from Sharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and Ambala in Punjab tried to cross over to Bangladesh through the border points in North 24 Paragana district.

The Border Security Forces apprehended some of these groups and handed them over to the local police for further legal action. According to a rough estimate, at least 40,000 Rohingya Muslims have been living in India for years now.

Central agencies monitoring the movement of Rohingyas have observed that reverse migration has started, albeit in small groups. Incidentally, this comes at a time when Indian Foreign Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, is having a meeting with Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka.
SOURCE ECONOMIC TIMES
https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/10/25/indias-firm-policy-pushes-rohingyas-bangladesh/

 

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The Rohingya crisis is being called the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world.
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Victim of Genocide -Story 02