Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing - Updates & Discussions

[Banglar Bir]

An alternative to 'refugee camp, then repatriation' strategy for Rohingya crisis?

Rohingya refugees stand on a hill overlooking dwellings in the Kutupalong makeshift refugee camp, in Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh.
Photo by: © UNICEF / Brown
By Kelli Rogers
Devex
October 26, 2017
BANGKOK — During Monday’s Rohingya pledging conference, government representatives expressed gratitude for Bangladesh’s open borders, support for a strong humanitarian response, and hope that the Rohingya people are eventually able to return to their homes in Myanmar — from which they’ve fled brutal violence since August 25, following decades of statelessness.

But Kilian Kleinschmidt, whose humanitarian career spans 25 years and who previously managed Jordan’s Zaatari Refugee Camp, would propose a strategy for this complex crisis that doesn’t involve the construction of a refugee camp in Bangladesh while waiting for mass repatriation to Myanmar.

It’s time to disrupt the “temporary” mindset automatically adopted in refugee situations, he told Devex, and to instead harness demographic changes as a trigger for positive growth.
For Kleinschmidt, a leader in a growing movement to rethink the refugee camp concept, this should come in the form of a “special development zone” in Bangladesh — a take on special economic zones he’s been researching through the Innovation & Planning Agency, an organization he founded after leaving UNHCR in 2014 to explore new solutions to humanitarian crises.

The Bangladesh government has openly stated that the country will not grant refugee status to Rohingya and wants to work instead toward the “safe, dignified, voluntary return of its nationals back to their homes in Myanmar,” said Shameem Ahsan, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, at the U.N. pledging conference.

In reality, humanitarian actors still face restricted access in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state — where the military has targeted violent attacks toward the population — and Myanmar officials have denied the international outcry of ethnic cleansing.

There appears “very little hope that [Rohingya] will be going back for the next couple of decades or so,” Kleinschmidt said. “So the question now is, ‘Who should be developing what?’”

Humanitarian actors in Cox’s Bazar in the meantime are building what will be the world’s largest refugee camp on 3,000 acres of land allotted by the Bangladesh government, though at the same time lobbying for smaller, dispersed camps.
The acreage has been billed as short-term — a space “to build temporary shelters for the Rohingya newcomers,” according to a Facebook post by Mohammed Shahriar Alam, a junior minister for foreign affairs in Bangladesh.

This focus on “temporary” is the first mistake, according to Kleinschmidt, who is largely credited with transforming Jordan’s now five-year-old “temporary'” Zaatari camp into the country’s fourth largest city. There, about 80,000 people have settled in prefabricated container homes. While the camp faces its own challenges, the community has created a functioning marketplace within its limits.

Instead, the focus on long-term investment in the form of a “special development zone” would suit the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh, Kleinschmidt said — and humanitarian agencies are not the ones who should be building it.

“I think a real bold step forward would be to come up with a proposal to the Bangladeshi government, to say ‘Look, you have potentially 1 million people, they will be a burden as they are if you let humanitarian agencies continue for the next 20, 30, 50, 100 years to take care of them,” he said.
“Let’s flip the whole thing, let the humanitarian agencies respond now, but let’s work on a plan to build up a new special development zone, which will combine these settlements with opportunities for your own people who have to move.”

Many existing special economic zones — areas where business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country — “are driven by political, short-sighted decisions, so there has to be due diligence on what the location is and what the potential is,” Kleinschmidt said.

The zone would require a multi-stakeholder partnership and likely a group of professional developers to build up infrastructure and build in advanced technologies, financial systems, and land tenure mechanisms — basically an entire economy — “where people from different parts of the world can live and thrive together,” he said.

The idea may appeal to Bangladesh especially, he added, considering the country is facing its own crisis with rapidly growing climate change displacement and resulting urbanization challenges.

Humanitarian actors are very much needed at this time in the response, he said, and would continue to have a place supporting protection and other issues. But professional developers would be in the driver’s seat.

“You attract investment, you’re creating jobs, you’re building up real infrastructure, you’re moving that completely out of humanitarian logic,” Kleinschmidt said.

The idea also potentially addresses the issue of stretched humanitarian funding to address the health and safety of more than 800,000 refugees in the long run.

“U.N. agencies will need to continue to update and adapt our appeal to support beyond what we have put out and we are discussing today,” said Mark Lowcock, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, during Monday’s pledging conference. “Let me be clear — funding is a major constraint. We need more money to keep pace with intensifying needs.”

A total of about 35 countries and organizations have now pledged $344 million for both Bangladesh and Myanmar responses since the crisis began on August 25.
As of Wednesday, the U.N.’s response plan appeal is about 30 percent funded, with $132.6 million received, according to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service.

As for the number of refugees, “we say it’s huge, but it’s huge for the humanitarian sector because the humanitarian sector is only a $25 billion [industry] a year,” Kleinschmidt said. “It’s a joke the money which is available.”

Instead, Asian investors, potentially together with the EU, should put together a $50 billion package to invest in proper infrastructure, technology, factories, and service delivery, he said.

“If it is not driven by the humanitarians, then the Bangladesh government will for sure react to this positively,” he added. “The politics of ‘Oh my God, now we’re settling the Rohingya’ will be overdriven by ‘Now we are getting a real investment package, now we use that as a positive trigger for development.’”

In the meantime, Kleinschmidt advocates against viewing repatriation as the only positive solution. The UNHCR promotes three durable solutions for refugees as part of its core mandate, the most preferred being voluntary return, then local integration, followed by resettlement.

“I think that sort of classification with these three options, with voluntary return as the preferred, leads to the public opinion in Europe, in Jordan, in Bangladesh that a good refugee is a returning refugee,” Kleinschmidt said. “It blocks all of us in actually saying, ‘Well guys, now you’re here, now let’s check you in.
Later, if you want to go back, you go back.’”
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/10/an-alternative-to-refugee-camp-then.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

Rohingyas must go home but to safety, Bangladesh says

Words like haunted, slaughtered, raped, disappeared are highlighted on the speech of Joanne Liu, president of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), during the Pledging Conference for Rohingya Refugee Crisis in Bangladesh at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
By Stephanie Nebehay
Reuters
October 23, 2017
GENEVA -- Bangladesh called on Myanmar on Monday to allow nearly 1 million Rohingya Muslim refugees to return home under safe conditions, saying that the burden had become “untenable” on its territory.
About 600,000 people have crossed the border since Aug. 25 when Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts were met by a counter-offensive by the Myanmar army in Rakhine state which the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing.

“This is an untenable situation,” Shameem Ahsan, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told a U.N. pledging conference. “Despite claims to the contrary, violence in Rakhine state has not stopped. Thousands still enter on a daily basis.”

Vital humanitarian aid must continue, Ahsan said, adding: “It is of paramount importance that Myanmar delivers on its recent promises and works towards safe, dignified, voluntary return of its nationals back to their homes in Myanmar.”

Bangladesh’s interior minister was in Yangon on Monday for talks to find a “durable solution”, he said.
But Myanmar continued to issue “propaganda projecting Rohingyas as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”, Ahsan said, adding: “This blatant denial of the ethnic identity of Rohingyas remains a stumbling block.”

Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be stateless, although they trace their presence in the country back generations.

Filippo Grandi, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, later told journalists that the two countries had begun talks on “repatriation”.

Conducive conditions have to be “recreated” in Rakhine, he said. “This must include a solution to the question of citizenship, or rather lack thereof for the Rohingya community,” Grandi said.

Mark Lowcock (R), Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA), talks with Shameem Ahsan, Representative of Bangladesh at the U.N. before the Pledging Conference for Rohingya Refugee Crisis at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Khaled al-Jarallah, deputy foreign minister of Kuwait, called on Myanmar authorities to “cease the practice of stripping the Rohingya minority of their right of citizenship, which as a result deprives them of the right to property and employment”.
“THE WALKING DEAD”
Jordan’s Queen Rania visited Rohingya refugee camps on Monday and called for a stronger response from the international community to the plight of the Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh to escape “systematic persecution” in Myanmar.

“One has to ask, why is the plight of this Muslim minority group being ignored? Why has the systematic prosecution been allowed to play out for so long?” she asked after touring the camps.
The United Nations has appealed for $434 million to provide life-saving aid to 1.2 million people for six months. A total of $344 million has been raised so far, a final U.N. statement said.

“We need more money to keep pace with intensifying needs. This is not an isolated crisis, it is the latest round in a decades-long cycle of persecution, violence and displacement,” U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the talks.

An estimated 1,000-3,000 Rohingya still enter Bangladesh daily, William Lacy Swing, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. He called them: “these most rejected and vulnerable people in the world.”

Joanne Liu, president of the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders, described them as “the walking dead”.

There are only 210 hospital beds for 1 million refugees, malnutrition is on the rise and latrines are lacking to prevent contamination, she said. “The camp is a time-bomb, ticking towards a full-blown health crisis.”
Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Rafiqur Rahman in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/10/rohingyas-must-go-home-but-to-safety.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

The Rohingyas: Chronicle of a genocide foretold, one policy at a time
The Myanmar government embarked on a calculated strategy that could only have led to the current situation, as this book explained last year.

An exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal. | Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
Azeem Ibrahim
Myanmar the preconditions for genocide are now firmly in place.
Racism has been normalised among the ethnically Burman population and the Rohingyas have already been subject to communal violence, state oppression and have been forced into both internal and external exile.
Anti-Rohingya sentiment has been deliberately stoked up by a series of regimes since Burma gained independence. And most of the waves of anti-Rohingya violence have either been orchestrated by the state or have seen the officials of the state acting in close cooperation with other ethnic or religious groups.

A powerless minority is the victim of effective ethnic cleansing, in an environment where they are hated by their neighbours and actively discriminated against by state authorities. The situation is stark. Rohingya human rights activist Tun Khin has said, “We fear we will be wiped out.” Given the importance of preparing the ground for genocide, in terms of creating a particular set of social attitudes, his conclusion should be a warning to the world: “In the case of inhumanity and injustice, no one should be silent. What’s happening to us requires a serious kind of humanity – this is a very important moment for Rohingya.”

There has been no improvement since 2004 when Barbara Harff argued that Myanmar was the state in the world most at risk of genocide.
Indeed, with the recent waves of violence, the situation has palpably worsened. According to United to End Genocide, “nowhere in the world are there more known precursors to genocide than in Burma today”. The Early Warning Project identified Myanmar in 2015 as the state in the world most at risk, above countries such as Sudan, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which all receive more international attention.

The attitude of the Myanmar state towards its Rohingya minority has already crossed many of the lines from ethnic conflict towards genocide. The way the state thinks about this minority is also fundamentally racist, and more than that, the Rohingyas are now seen to be an existential threat to the chosen religious identity of the state.
The events since 2012 can be seen as testing the limits of what is deemed acceptable both by Myanmar’s society and the wider international community, and are comparable to the build-up to genocide we have seen in the other examples discussed. As such, it seems the only thing missing is a trigger for outright genocide.

…Each electoral cycle in Myanmar since 1990 has seen a further reduction in the rights of the Rohingyas. They were able to participate in the elections between independence and military rule, with some limits, and ethnic Rohingyas were elected to parliament (and continued to serve in parliament even after the imposition of military rule in 1962).
In 1990, despite the loss of many rights in the intervening period, a number of Rohingyas were still allowed to vote and stand for elections, and even won seats.

Disgracefully, the NLD and its Rakhine allies then cooperated with the military to have these victories annulled. Even in 2010, some Rohingyas had the right to vote and three were elected from Rakhine. One of these, Shwe Maung, stood for the USDP.

To properly understand the risks of the 2015 electoral cycle we need first to look at how the lead-up was used to complete the exclusion of the Rohingyas from civic life in Myanmar, then consider the wider political dynamics in Myanmar as a whole, and then move on to consider the very specific dynamics within Rakhine.

There is a risk that tensions at either national or regional level could be the final trigger; however, the complete exclusion of the Rohingyas in effect means that either the authorities reverse their recent decisions or the situation will escalate into forced deportation and/or mass murder. In effect, this has created a situation in which anything can be the final trigger, since any safety nets or alternative power structures have been destroyed.

The lead-up to the 2015 elections was marked by an escalation of the exclusion of the Rohingyas.
As a group, they have been left with no place in civic Myanmar, many have been forced into internal camps, their last vestige of official documentation has been stripped away and there were, for the first time ever, almost no Muslim candidates from any ethnic group, including those outside Rakhine, standing for parliament in 2015.

A key step in bringing this situation about was the census conducted in 2014, when the Rohingya ethnic group was not included, and was expected to self-identify as foreigners. David Mathieson of Human Rights Watch has expressed severe concerns not just about the conduct of the census but also the complicity of the UN and other donors:

“The exclusion of the Rohingya from the census was a betrayal of the very principles and purpose of conducting the census, and the international donors and UN agencies who were involved are complicit in this exclusion. The Rohingya have the right to self-identify and should be accorded the rights of citizens. The census [in] refusing to do so doesn’t solve the problem of stateless Rohingya, it exacerbates it and the government shouldn’t be caving to extremists and their racist agendas.”

The 2014 census saw the deliberate exclusion of the Rohingyas, as they were forced to choose to register either as “Bengalis” or be excluded. Even the official version of the census report shows the reality in Rakhine. One third of the population was declared as “not enumerated” and nowhere in the glossy state publications can the casual reader find an explanation for this remarkable outcome. The relatively small numbers excluded in Kachin and Kayin States reflects ongoing armed conflict in those areas, something that clearly is not the case in Rakhine.

The Rohingyas were removed from the electoral register whether they accepted the state-imposed designation of “Bengali” or refused to answer.
Accepting the state designation as “Bengali” was tantamount to accepting the loss of any right to live in the country of their birth. Refusing to accept this designation meant the regime confiscated any remaining identity cards and tried to force all those who now lack identification into the internal refugee camps. A recent report has noted that this has “led many Rohingya to believe that there is little hope for their future in Myanmar”. An ASEAN report believes that this complete exclusion from the civic life of their own country has led many Rohingyas to conclude they are being forced out of Myanmar.

Naturally, a government spokesman managed to justify this exclusion: “They are holding household cards stating that they are Bengali even though they self-identified themselves to be Rohingya, which is not allowed, so we did not accept that and instead classified them as ‘unidentified’”.

However, the destruction of the last vestiges of their participation in civil life has not just been a product of the census. The persecution of the Rohingyas continues to be a factor in the interaction between the USDP, the NLD and the extremist Buddhist organisations. For example, in late 2013 the USDP had supported the idea that the holders of so-called “white cards” (that is, Rohingyas who lack normal citizenship) would be able to vote on constitutional reforms, but Buddhist nationalists immediately protested the move and the USDP was forced to back down.

Thein Sein later declared that all white cards would expire in March 2015 and armed groups of security personnel carried out the removal of the last official documents from the possession of the Rohingyas. The loss of the last identity documents is critical as it means the Rohingyas are no longer entitled to travel or work outside the designated refugee camps.

In addition, Muslims in general have been removed from the electoral process by a re-interpretation of electoral law. In particular, the MaBaTha and 969 Movement have forced the regime to pass further discriminatory laws about citizenship and civil rights, for example restricting marriage between Buddhists and other religious groups. Not only do the new laws add to the wider repression of the Rohingyas but, under pressure, the government has removed more than 100 possible Muslim candidates from the electoral list.

Among them was Shwe Maung, on the grounds that his parents were not citizens. This effectively eliminated the last Rohingya voice in parliament. Tun Min Soe, who was planning to run for the NLD, has also been rejected, a decision that provoked a mild rebuke from the NLD, with their spokesman Nyan Win stating, “the rejection of candidates based on the citizenship of their parents is in my opinion an infringement upon the equal rights of citizens”.

However, the electoral commission has cited two related laws in justifica-tion of its decisions: one barring people from running for office if their parents were not Myanmar citizens at the time of their birth; and another requiring candidates to have lived in the country for the past ten consecutive years.

The forced displacement of the Rohingyas into internal camps, and the removal of their last vestige of democratic rights has led some observers to call Myanmar an “apartheid state”.
In consequence, the Rohingyas are now excluded both as electors and in terms of representation and they are an easy (and shared) target for all the represented political camps. The implication is clear: failure to gain any political voice to speak for their interests in the 2015 elections means that, as a Rohingya activist put it, “the whole Rohingya will be a sort of degraded or persecuted community, and that cannot continue for long”. The inevitable result is that “the Rohingyas will disappear from Rakhine State. It is sure Rohingya will disappear”.

Excerpted with permission from The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide, Azeem Ibrahim, Speaking Tiger.
We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in.
https://scroll.in/article/855265/the-rohingyas-chronicle-of-a-genocide-foretold-one-policy-at-a-time

 

[Banglar Bir]

Bangladesh, Myanmar Journalists Face Obstacles Reporting Rohingya Story
October 25, 2017 10:37 AM
Joe Freeman
Muktadir Rashid

Rohingya refugees, who crossed the border from Myanmar two days before, walk after they received permission from the Bangladeshi army to continue on to the refugee camps, in Palang Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Oct.19, 2017.
YANGON, MYANMAR —
For journalists from Bangladesh and Myanmar, the Rohingya crisis is a big news story that demands both aggressive reporting and a sensitive approach.

Even for the most experienced reporters in both countries are having difficulty to report from the other side.

Though diplomatic ties are intact, relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar are strained over the crisis, which has seen more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims flee from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Cox’s Bazar just across the border. Though Myanmar has agreed to take back refugees, doubts remain over the prospect of repatriation.

The exodus followed attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on August 25, the second operation by the group in under a year.

In this tense climate, journalists from the two neighboring countries are even more restrained than usual.

For Myanmar reporters, the problem was highlighted in September when two prominent photographers were arrested in Cox’s Bazar and initially suspected of espionage.

Charges were later downgraded to immigration offenses and they were let go after several weeks. Like many in the international media, they had traveled to Bangladesh on tourist visas – the case was also something of a cautionary tale.

Myanmar journalist Mratt Kyaw Thu, a senior reporter for Yangon- based Frontier magazine, said in an email he had planned to go to Bangladesh to report, but the experiences of the two detained journalists meant two foreign staff members went instead.

Myanmar photojournalists Minzayar Oo and Hkun Lat, who were arrested in Bangladesh, are seen with their lawyer in a photo posted on Twitter, Oct. 17, 2017.
Still, even foreign journalists based in Myanmar can sometimes face suspicion by association.

Mratt Kyaw Thu said traveling to Bangladesh even from Myanmar can be expensive, and local budgets are small.

"One thing is that security is not only the one reason for Burmese journalists but costs and expenses and some publishing houses' policy," he said.

Bangladeshi journalists, who also have travel budget concerns, do have more ability to interview Rohingya refugees who have crossed over, but they run up against their own hurdles.

If they travel to Myanmar, it is usually in short, clandestine trips across the border to Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township, and they cannot go very far into the territory.

They also may find it difficult to verify accounts they hear originating in other parts of the state, as Myanmar has only allowed local and some foreign journalists to travel on trips into northern Rakhine.

There are also, of course, safety concerns.

Hasan al-Javed, an award-winning reporter with the Dhaka-based Daily Amadersomoy, has crossed into Maungdaw from Bangladesh twice, including after August 25. He was terrified of the army, local mobs, and even landmines, and could not go very far because of the associated risks.

“Every time I felt, if I could talk to people freely and move around the locality without any fear, I could give better descriptions for my readers and could find out the truth,” he said.

“Look, in Bangladesh, our government allowed foreign journalists to cover the events so that people can know the facts, said al-Javad. "Since Myanmar is led by a democratic government, it should allow journalists to visit Rakhine State for the sake of truth. Neither any U.N. bodies nor any international pressure groups can do it, rather democratic Myanmar should do it for the sake of humanity.”

Religion -- Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority country, while Myanmar is largely Buddhist -- and nationality provide another potential obstacle.

Even if allowed to travel freely in other parts of Rakhine, Bangladeshi journalists would almost certainly face issues reporting, especially in the state capital, Sittwe, where suspicion of foreign journalists – let alone foreign Muslim journalists – runs high. Myanmar believes the Rohingya are from Bangladesh originally, and the government calls them Bengali.

Rohingya Muslim women along with their children, who have crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, wait for the arrival of Queen Rania of Jordan, at Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh, Oct. 23, 2017.

The restrictions faced by journalists from Myanmar come in two forms - lack of ability to see the story from the Bangladesh side, and a similar lack of access to Rakhine State itself, which has only allowed them in on guided tours.

The Yangon-based Myanmar Institute for Democracy (MID) released an interim report this month showing that many Burmese-language news organizations have almost no stories on the humanitarian situation in Bangladesh, though sometimes they use articles from wire agencies.

The report also said sourcing is one of the main problems.

“A big chunk of the coverage comes from the government organization, like the state counselor [Aung San Suu Kyi’s office], president, and then the armed forces,” said Maw Zin, the institute’s director.

MID recommends the government remove barriers to accessing parts of northern Rakhine State, which would help journalists in Myanmar get information from a variety of sources.
https://www.voanews.com/a/bangladesh-myanmar-journalists-and-rohingya-crisis/4085406.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

3:52 PM, October 27, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 04:05 PM, October 27, 2017
Myanmar gives green light to resume UN aid to Rakhine

Aerial view of a burned Rohingya village near Maungdaw, north of Rakhine state, Myanmar
September 27, 2017. Photo: Reuters
Reuters, Geneva
Myanmar authorities have agreed to allow the United Nations to resume distribution of food in northern Rakhine state which was suspended for two months, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
The WFP was previously distributing food rations to 110,000 people in northern Rakhine state - to both Buddhist and Rohingya communities.

Rohingya insurgent attacks on police stations triggered an army crackdown, that the United Nations has called "ethnic cleansing", and UN humanitarian agencies have not been able to access northern Rakhine to deliver aid since then.

"WFP has been given the green light to resume food assistance operations in northern part of Rakhine. We are working with the government to coordinate the details," WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher told journalists in Geneva.

She had no timeline or details on the proposed distribution of rations to members of the Muslim Rohingya minority still living in northern Rakhine, and said it was still being discussed with the authorities in Myanmar.

"We just have to see what the situation on the ground is.
It's very hard to say these things if you can't get in," Luescher said.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...m_medium=newsurl&utm_term=all&utm_content=all

 

[Banglar Bir]

07:09 PM, October 27, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 07:21 PM, October 27, 2017
"Consistent" pattern of crimes against Myanmar's Rohingya, UN experts say

Rohingya refugees who crossed the border from Myanmar this week cry as they take shelter at the Seagull Primary School in Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, October 27, 2017. Photo: Reuters
Reuters, Geneva
Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar have testified that a "consistent, methodical pattern" of killings, torture, rape and arson is taking place, United Nations human rights investigators said on Friday after a first mission to Bangladesh.
The fact-finding team, led by former Indonesian attorney general Marzuki Darusman, said the death toll from the Myanmar army's crackdown following Rohingya insurgent attacks on August 25 was unknown, but "may turn out to be extremely high".

"We have heard many accounts from people from many different villages across northern Rakhine state. They point to a consistent, methodical pattern of actions resulting in gross human rights violations affecting hundreds of thousands of people," Darusman said in a statement.

The team of three independent experts spent six days interviewing some of the 600,000 Rohingya from Myanmar's northern Rakhine state who are in refugee camps near Cox's Bazar. An advance team of UN rights officers have been conducting comprehensive interviews for weeks, it said.

"We are deeply disturbed at the end of this visit," Darusman said.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, another member and veteran UN human rights investigator, said she was left "shaken and angry" by the testimonies.

"The accounts of sexual violence that I heard from victims are some of the most horrendous I have heard in my long experience in dealing with this issue in many crisis situations," she said. "One could see the trauma in the eyes of the women I interviewed. When proven, this kind of abuse must never be allowed to go unpunished."

The UN team, which was established by the UN Human Rights Council in March, renewed its appeal for access to Rakhine state and for talks with the Myanmar government and military to "establish the facts".

The third member, Christopher Sidoti, said that Rohingyas must be allowed to return to Rakhine if they wish, but only after mechanisms are put in place to ensure their safety.
"That may require the placement of international human rights monitors in Rakhine State," he said.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...mar-rohingya-refugee-un-unhrc-experts-1482613

 

[Banglar Bir]

A War of Words Puts Facebook at the Center of Myanmar’s Rohingya Crisis
MEGAN SPECIA and PAUL MOZU
OCT. 27, 2017
So he has turned to an even more powerful and ubiquitous platform to get his message out — Facebook.
Every day he posts updates, often containing false information, that spread a narrative of the Rohingya as aggressive outsiders. And posts like these have put Facebook at the center of a fierce information war that is contributing to the crisis involving the minority group. International human rights groups say Facebook should be doing more to prevent the hateful speech, focusing as much on global human rights as on its business.

“Facebook is quick on taking down swastikas, but then they don’t get to Wirathu’s hate speech where he’s saying Muslims are dogs,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.

Across the world, Facebook and other social platforms are being questioned about their expanding role and responsibilities as publishers of information. In Britain, investigations have begun into the spread of misinformation on social media about the European Union membership referendum. In the United States, lawmakers are looking into Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election on social media platforms.

Across Myanmar, Denial of Ethnic Cleansing and Loathing of Rohingya OCT. 24, 2017

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

U.S. Threatens to Punish Myanmar Over Treatment of Rohingya OCT. 23, 2017

What Does Facebook Consider Hate Speech? Take Our QuizOCT. 13, 2017
In Myanmar, Facebook is so dominant that to many people it is the internet itself. And the stakes of what appears on the site are exceptionally high because misinformation, as well as explicitly hostile language, is widening longstanding ethnic divides and stoking the violence against the Rohingya ethnic group.Photo

Monks in Yangon, Myanmar, studying at the Ywama Monastery, which supports the Buddhist nationalist Ma Ba Tha movement. Credit Adam Dean for The New York Times
For example, since the government crackdown against the Rohingya began, Zaw Htay, a spokesman for the country’s de facto leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has shared dozens of posts on his Facebook page and Twitter account that include images said to show Rohingya burning their own homes. Many of these images have been debunked, yet they still stand.

First-person accounts from Rakhine State establish a coordinated crackdown against the Rohingya minority by the military and by ultranationalist groups, driving more than 600,000 refugees across the border into Bangladesh.

Facebook does not police the billions of posts and status updates that flow through the site worldwide each day, relying instead on an oftentimes confusing set of “community standards” and reports by users of direct threats that are then manually assessed and, in some cases, removed.

After the 2016 United States elections, Facebook rolled out a set of guidelines to help users identify fake news and misinformation. The company does not regularly remove misinformation itself.

Facebook has no office in Myanmar, but the company has worked with local partners to introduce a Burmese-language illustrated copy of its platform standards and will “continue to refine” its practices, said a spokeswoman, Clare Wareing, in an emailed statement.

Human rights groups say the company’s approach has allowed opinion, facts and misinformation to mingle on Facebook, clouding perceptions of truth and propaganda in a country where mobile technology has been widely adopted only in the past three years.

Under the rule of the military junta, strict censorship regulations deliberately made SIM cards for cellphones unaffordable to control the free flow of information. In 2014, restrictions loosened and the use of mobile technology exploded as SIM cards became affordable. Facebook users ballooned from about two million in 2014 to more than 30 million today. But most users do not know how to navigate the wider internet.Photo

Followers of Ashin Wirathu watching him deliver a sermon on a projector screen in an overflow area of the Thein Taung Monastery in Myanmar in 2013.Credit Adam Dean for The New York Times
“Facebook has become sort of the de facto internet for Myanmar,” said Jes Kaliebe Petersen, chief executive of Phandeeyar, Myanmar’s leading technology hub that helped Facebook create its Burmese-language community standards page. “When people buy their first smartphone, it just comes preinstalled.”

Mr. Petersen said local media and news outlets should help combat misinformation in a technology sector still in its infancy.

“There are still some challenges here, and there are of course very big differences between big cities and rural communities,” he said. “I think it’s really important that people focus on educating this new generation of digital users.”
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In the meantime, Facebook has become a breeding ground for hate speech and virulent posts about the Rohingya. And because of Facebook’s design, posts that are shared and liked more frequently get more prominent placement in feeds, favoring highly partisan content in timelines.

Ashin Wirathu, the monk, has hundreds of thousands of followers on Facebook accounts in Burmese and English. His posts include graphic photos and videos of decaying bodies that Ashin Wirathu says are Buddhist victims of Rohingya attacks, or posts denouncing the minority ethnic group or updates that identify them falsely as “Bengali” foreigners.

Facebook has removed some of his posts and restricted his page for stretches, but it is currently active. In an interview, Ashin Wirathu said that if Facebook did remove his account, he would simply create a new one. He added that if anyone did not like his Facebook posts, “they can sue me.”

Posts from verified government and military Facebook accounts also carry misinformation. Some, for example, refuse to acknowledge the Rohingya as an ethnic group deserving of citizenship rights, despite the fact many have lived in Rakhine State for generations.
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Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander in chief of Myanmar’s armed forces who has carried out the crackdown on the Rohingya, has more than 1.3 million users on his verified account. A post from Sept. 15 describes the operation as a response to an “attempt of extremist Bengalis in Rakhine State to build a stronghold,” after an Aug. 25 attack on remote border posts by a Rohingya militant group.

Rohingya activists also use Facebook, documenting human rights abuses, often with graphic images and videos as evidence. Sometimes the company has taken these down.

Ms. Wareing, the Facebook spokeswoman, said the company removed graphic content “when it is shared to celebrate the violence.” She said the company would allow graphic content if it was newsworthy, significant or important to the public interest, even if it might otherwise go against the platform’s standards.

Richard Weir, an Asia analyst with Human Rights Watch, said the situation was complicated.

“It’s a really delicate balance here between things that are violent and posted by people who would seek to inflame tensions and those that are trying to disseminate information,” Mr. Weir said. “It’s difficult to know where exactly to draw the line.”

Some of the social media conversation is happening privately. For instance, chain messages on Facebook Messenger before Sept. 11 this year falsely warned of a planned Rohingya attack against Buddhists. Written like a chain letter, the message called for people to share it, and many people were put on edge as it spread.

“I was nervous about it,” said U Tin Win, a teacher from Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, who received the letter. “I don’t know who started the message, but I ordered my family not to go outside that day.”

Mr. Weir said that people in Myanmar relied on social media for their news.

“The government can sort of trot out its own views and spread them very rapidly, in addition to a bunch of other nonstate entities,” he said. “Views about people in Rakhine State, about the origins of population and about things that may or may not have happened fly around Facebook extremely quickly and can create unstable situations.”
Megan Specia reported from New York, and Paul Mozur from Shanghai. Mike Isaac contributed reporting from San Francisco, and Saw Nang from Mandalay, Myanmar.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/...id=facebook&mccr=edit&ad-keywords=GlobalTruth

 

[Banglar Bir]

2:00 AM, October 28, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:15 AM, October 28, 2017
Rohingya Repatriation: Is Bangladesh falling for Myanmar's ploy?

Without grasping the full extension of Myanmar's ploy of only taking “legitimate citizens” back, Bangladesh will always keep struggling with any sort of decision on Rohingya issue. PHOTO: STAR
Amir Khasru
While for Bangladesh the Rohingya problem started back in 1978, for the Rohingyas,it started as early as the 17th and 18th centuries and became worse after 1940.
For decades Myanmar have kept this problem alive,and Bangladesh, being geographically closest to Myanmar and Rohingya people, is constantly facing the aftermath.Yet it has never had a proper strategy to handle this issue. And the lack of speedy and precise decision has become more evident with every passing day. Myanmar, on the other hand, has been very consistent in moving its agenda, a scheme that is gaining momentum along the way, and they have an action plan for their final goal.

In 1978, two hundred and fifty thousand Rohingyas were forced to take shelter in Bangladesh due to government backed dispersion and eviction from their homeland. Bangladeshi authorities at the time initially sought to solve the problem by taking bilateral diplomatic initiatives, butMyanmardid not heed any diplomatic call. However, after China's mediation and a “special counter-measure” by Bangladesh government, they could not but negotiate.

An agreement was signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the July 9, 1978, for the repatriation of Rohingyas. One of the key points in this agreement was that the Myanmargovernment had referred to the Rohingya as a legally valid citizen. Under this agreement, Myanmargovernment was forced to take back almost allRohingyas.

Soon after this, with this in mind, Myanmar changed the citizenship law for Rohingyas (especially Muslims) in Rakhine State in 1982, introducing a strange law which identified Rohingyas as foreign citizens, i.e. Bengali people. All the relevant documents and identity cards from before 1982, were seized from the Rakhine Rohingyas. Then three types of citizenship were introduced represented by pink, blue and green ID cards. Only people who had lived in Rakhine for at least five generations received full citizenship. The year 1823 was set as the benchmark, which favoured the Rakhine Buddhists. People who started living in the region after 1823, received associate citizenship. And those who did not receive full or associate citizenship before 1948 were dubbed as naturalised citizens. This last group of people are Rohingya Muslims who have been facing discrimination for generations. Thenew citizenship law was an obvious scheme by the Myanmargovernment to push out all the Rohingyas from their homeland where they have been living for several centuries.

In 1991-92 another round of violence and torture were inflicted on Rohingyas and this time two hundred thousand of them fled to Bangladesh. Following the exodus, Bangladesh again called for diplomatic action and Myanmar's foreign minister at that time reluctantly participated in a bilateral meeting organised by Dhaka in April, 1992. A joint statement was signed at that meeting which was later considered as an agreement. This agreement had several differences withthe 1978 agreement. Firstly, Myanmar addedtwo key words in this agreement, one was “Myanmareselawful citizens” and other was “Myanmaresesociety members”. Today it is very evident why these two termswere used.

The second key difference was that, in the 1992 joint statement Myanmar clearly stated that they would not take back anyone without proper documents. Third, those who were not willing couldn't be forced to return to Myanmar.With these three key differences lie the shortcomings in our farsighted planning. Policy makers at that time failed to realise the reason why Myanmar changed their citizenship law in 1982 and introduced new terms and conditions in the 1992 joint statement. All these are relevant to today's problem.

Myanmar is still referencing to the 1992 agreement. Bangladesh must realise why they keep impressing on 1992 and what the significance of 1982 citizenship law in the matter is. Without grasping the full extension of Myanmar's ploy of only taking “legitimate citizens” back, Bangladesh will always keep struggling with any sort of decision on Rohingya issue.

Since the latest influx of Rohingya from August 25 of this year, the 1992 Agreement keep coming back and at one-point Bangladesh even stated that Myanmar must take back Rohingyas according to the 1992 agreement. One has to wonder whether our policy makers comprehended exactly the implications of what they were saying.They ultimately did, but it is now too late.

Recently, one of the union minister of MyanmareseState Councillor's Office completed a three-day visit to Dhaka.After a joint meeting with the Myanmar representative, the Bangladeshforeign minister said that they were ready to oblige to the 1992 treaty for Rohingya repatriation. On the very next day (October4), the office of the Myanmar State Councillor said that according to the joint statement of 1992, legitimate citizens can return to Myanmar and they will gladly rehabilitate them.

Here is the catch, if this process starts, only 14 to 18 thousand Rohingyas out of 9 lakh can be repatriated. Finally realising the mistake, Bangladesh arranged a briefing with foreign diplomats on October 9.Even with the realisation one can still doubt whether Bangladeshi policy makers are able to see through Myanmar's intention or their 1982 citizenship law.

In the October 9 briefing, Bangladesh foreign minister stated that repatriation based on valid citizenship credentials will not work and it is Myanmar's trick of not taking back Rohingyas and not implementing the Kofi Annan Commission's resolution. This realisation should have come much earlier.

It is important to mention two things here. First, when the problem arrived barging at the doors, Bangladesh was caught unaware. Secondly, Dhaka was hoping for leverage on Myanmar from common friends forgetting the basic rule of foreign policy—every nation prioritises themselves first.

Another important thing to note is that the joint working group (JWG) which Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed upon might be completely powerless as no one knows how they will work, when will they work and what will they work for. Moreover, many believe, JWG itself is a Myanmaresetacticto buy time ultimately aiming at befoolingthe international community. The Bangladesh home ministervisited Myanmar with a draft outline, hoping to sign a suitable agreement. However,both sides agreed to form a joint working group within November 30. The Myanmar Times on October25 in a report said, “It's too early to accept ['Bengalis' back from Bangladesh],” Colonel Aung HtayMyint head of the Transnational Crime Division, told reporters at a news conference after the ministerial meeting. Myanmar officials have also said they will accept the terms and conditions of the agreement that was signed by Myanmar and Bangladesh in 1992.Aung San Suu Kyi' and her office have been repeatedly saying that the joint statement of 1992 will be the basis of all negotiations.

Interestingly, right after the announcement of the formation of the joint working group, the State Councillor's Office of Myanmar made it public that the arrangement would be based on 1992 joint statement but no one from Bangladesh has opposed that. Not to mention, UN wasn't made aware of the joint working group nor will they have an observer status. Myanmar also has a long history of ignoring UN and itsother organisations. So many are speculating that the joint working group is nothing but smoke and mirrors to waste time.

What happens now is the question. Should we accept that we are trapped by Myanmar's long weaved scheme. Will the Rohingyas end up being stateless forever? One can only hope that this is not the case.
Amir Khasru is a senior journalist.
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/perspective/rohingya-repatriation-1482733

 

[Banglar Bir]

Myanmar crisis: Will Sk. Hasina seek new allies?
Afsan Chowdhury, October 28, 2017

An albino Rohingya child at the camp on the border with Myanmar that is now home to thousands of refugees. Photo: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton
The Myanmar refugee crisis may cause several contingent problems at local, national and international levels. Old relationships are already under stress and the potential for unexpected new relations with erstwhile foes are emerging too.
Bangladesh has become the new playground of volatility in the region.

China and India though foes in South Asia are competing friends in Myanmar and have added their strength to its position on the Rohingyas.

The wholesale pushing out was a product of a long-term policy that first became public in 1978 and still continues. Myanmar has with some accuracy thinks that Bangladesh on its own is not able to be a robust gatekeeper of its borders and have used this situation analysis to develop a staggered ethnic cleansing policy.
Also Read: India loses the plot on the Rohingya issue: Hands the game to China
In 1978, it happened at a small scale, grew in 1992 and in the last phase has peaked. In executing this policy, Myanmar assessed not just the capacity of Bangladesh’s defense options but the strength of the guarantees provided by its international supporters — China, India and Russia — who see little strategic benefit in supporting Bangladesh at the moment.

The recent visit by Bangladesh’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to Myanmar has not been very positive, sources say. While on paper it is polite, the trickling out suggests that Bangladesh will not see a quick return of refugees if any return barring a token few thousand.

Meanwhile, bdnews24.com, the leading online newspaper has published an item on 27th October, which states that Suu Kyi has said that Rohingyas are not keen to return.
She is also facing huge opposition by militant Buddhists of Myanmar on this plan.
Bangladesh is becoming more aware that not much is about to happen soon making a rethink of its existing strategic options.

Although Ms. Sushma Swaraj, India’s External Affairs Minister visited Bangladesh recently, it didn’t trigger much interest. The message and the reading is that India has no reason to choose between Myanmar and Bangladesh including competing with China in Myanmar. However, India will seek from Dhaka some sort of guarantee of transit passage through Bangladesh to the Indian NE and promises that North East rebels will be denied sanctuary which Sheikh Hasina has done so far.

While, what Bangladesh will do in such a changed scenario is not certain anymore there is only so much that Bangladesh can afford to do when it comes to mighty India.
Bangladesh will operate on a limited leash unless a big friend arrives which at this point can only be the US.
ARSA, ISI and the US
Indian media’s nervousness with Bangladesh since its Myanmar tilt is obvious reflecting official unease with it as well. Several stories have appeared since August 25 in Indian media linking attempts from within the Bangladesh army to topple Sk. Hasina, which were denied by Bangladesh officials.
The last one appeared in Kolkata Telegraph – 26th October – which said that a meeting of senior serving and retired army officers was held on October 21st to discuss a ‘sensitive issue “but the “plan was nipped in the bud.”
Also Read: China wants peaceful solution to Rohingya crisis
The report goes on to add the ARSA factor like the previous stories and that ISI is behind it all but adding that Awami League is very anti-ISI.
This statement probably reflects India’s anxiety about a possible robust presence of Pakistan influence in Bangladesh due to the gap created by India’s tilt. It’s also a possible message that the army, very pro-Hasina is not fully reliable and she may need other friends, possibly India. Sheikh Hasina appears fairly impregnable right now even the stories assert. ISPR has also issued a denial to media.

However, Pakistan’s unpopularity has been diminishing in Bangladesh since India’s Myanmar tilt and India knows that.
If the situation worsens, Bangladesh will consider who can help its cause, which could include historical foe Pakistan and other so called ‘Islamic states’ including Turkey. That something is on, is no secret and Bangladesh has banned three ‘islamic’ NGOs for working ultra vires in the Rohingya camps but the Islamic card remains.
Also Read: India’s firm policy pushes more Rohingyas to Bangladesh
But unlike Bangladesh’s own Jihadi outfits, which are extremely unpopular, ARSA is seen as a militant force created to protect the Rohingyas from the genocidal Myanmar army which has not been criticized by India, China or Russia. Thus, public sympathy is with the Rohingyas and thus ARSA is seen by many as an insurgency outfit not a Jihadi terrorist one.
This fine line of public perception is working for ARSA and its promoters.
New friends and foes?
Meanwhile, patience with international diplomacy is beginning to wear thin and of Rohingyas as well. Stray clashes have been noted between Rohingyas and locals and anxiety about the impact of long term stay now appears lot more in media than in earlier months.

The issue of international refugees is now beginning to become internal political issue and that may force Sk. Hasina to look for new allies more aggressively.

The only big power which has shown interest of being on Bangladesh’s side is the US.
Though generally not popular with the intelligentsia, the options for choosing an ally may be limited for Bangladesh right now. With an election scheduled in 2018 end, Sk. Hasina will want to appear as being in charge. And her need to have allies may be influenced by her political priorities as well.
If that scenario emerges, the US and Pakistan playing some form of role in the wake of the Myanmar crisis is possible no matter how contradictory it sounds.

Uncertain days are clearly ahead but a sea change in internal and external alliance building seems inevitable as the refugees pour into Bangladesh.
https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/10/28/myanmar-crisis-will-sk-hasina-seek-new-allies/

 

[Banglar Bir]

Bangladesh eyes sterilisation to curb Rohingya population in refugee camps
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine state to Bangladesh.
WORLD Updated: Oct 28, 2017 10:08 IST
Agence France-Presse, Palongkhali

In this photograph taken on October 24, 2017, Rohingya Muslim refugees wait inside a government-run family planning centre in the Bangladeshi town of Palongkhali. (AFP)
Papa, papa, help me: Rohingya man recalls son’s last words before he drowned fleeing Myanmar
District family planning authorities have launched a drive to provide contraception, but say they have so far managed to distribute just 549 packets of condoms among the refugees, who are reluctant to use them.

They have asked the government to approve a plan to launch vasectomies for Rohingya men and tubectomies for women, Bhattacharjee told AFP.

But they are likely to face an uphill struggle.

Many of the refugees told AFP they believed a large family would help them survive in the camps, where access to food and water remains a daily battle and children are often sent out to fetch and carry supplies.

Others had been told contraception was against the tenets of Islam.

Farhana Sultana, a family planning volunteer who works with Rohingya refugees in the camps, said many of the women she spoke to believed birth control was a sin.

“In Rakhine they did not go to family planning clinics, fearing the Myanmar authorities would give medicine that harms them or their children,” Sultana said.

Volunteers said they struggled to sell the benefits of birth control to Rohingya women, most of whom came to them for advice on pregnancy complications or help with newborns.

Sabura, a mother of seven, said her husband believed the couple could support a large family.

“I spoke to my husband about birth control measures. But he is not convinced. He was given two condoms but he did not use them,” she told AFP.

“My husband said we need more children as we have land and property (in Rakhine). We don’t have to worry to feed them,” she said.
Read more

Bangladesh, Myanmar agree to halt the outflow of Rohingyas

Bangladesh looks to India to take the lead on the Rohingya refugees issue
Population control
Bangladesh has for years run a successful domestic sterilisation programme, offering 2,300 taka ($28) and a traditional lungi garment to each man who agrees to undergo the procedure.

Every month 250 people undergo sterilisation in the border town of Cox’s Bazar.

But performing the permanent procedure on non-Bangladeshi nationals requires final approval from a committee headed by the health minister.

The idea is particularly contentious given the sensitivity of the issue in Myanmar. The widespread perception that the Rohingya population is mushrooming is a key source of the tensions that have spiralled in recent months.

No official data is available on birth rates among the Rohingya, who are excluded from the census in Myanmar.

But many of the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists accused of taking part in attacks on Rohingya villages that have driven hundreds of thousands into Bangladesh say they fear being displaced by the Muslim minority.

The Rohingya face official restrictions on the number of children they can have in Myanmar, although this has not been widely enforced.

Rights activists working in the camps in Bangladesh said some believed pregnancy provided protection against rape or other attacks in Myanmar, where the military has been accused of sexual violence against Rohingya women and girls.

“Some of them told us that if a woman was pregnant, she had less chance of being targeted by the military or attackers.”

Bangladesh officials say some 20,000 Rohingya women are pregnant and 600 have given birth since arriving in Bangladesh, though this may be an underestimate as many births take place with no formal medical help.

“Sterilisation of the males is the best way to control the population,” said Bhattacharjee.
“If a man is sterilised, he cannot father a child even if he marries four or five times.”
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...fugee-camps/story-voJ9aP3V1c5TOYa4ep5M7I.html

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“Every person you talk with has a story that competes for the worst story you’ve ever heard.”-
Thomas Nybo; Freelance Photographer and Filmmaker on #Rohingya#Bangladesh #Myanmar

 

[Banglar Bir]

11:21 AM, October 28, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 04:24 PM, October 28, 2017
Rohingya crisis: Khaleda’s journey for Cox’s Bazar starts

Hundreds of people gather on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway on Saturday, October 28, 2017, as BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia starts her journey towards Chittagong from Dhaka on way to Cox’s Bazar where she will distribute relief supplies among the displaced Rohingyas who crossed into Bangladesh to flee Myanmar’ persecution. Photo: Collected
Star Online Report
- 1:00pm: Khaleda’s motorcade stuck at Kachpur jam
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has started her journey towards Chittagong from Dhaka on way to Cox’s Bazar where she will distribute relief materials among the displaced Rohingyas who crossed into Bangladesh to flee Myanmar’s persecution.

Accompanied by party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and vice chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu, Khaleda went out of her Gulshan-2 residence at 10:40am today.
Also READ: Methodical crimes against Rohingya
Soon after she returned home from London, Khaleda took decision that she will visit and distribute relief to Rohingyas and that’s wahy she is going to Cox’s Bazar, Fakhrul told journalists in Gulshan in the morning.

Stating that the police chief has assured BNP of law enforcers’ support so that they can take part in the programme and return to Dhaka safely, Fakhrul sought all sorts of support from the administration.

Khaleda will stop in Feni and have lunch there. She will spend the night at Chittagong Circuit House.

She will start for Cox's Bazar tomorrow. After staying overnight at Cox's Bazar Circuit House, the BNP chief will visit four Rohingya refugee camps in Balukhali, Boalmari and Jamtali in Ukhia upazila of Cox's Bazar on Monday, Rizvi added.

The former prime minister is likely to return to Dhaka on Tuesday, said the BNP leader.

Meanwhile, other BNP leaders and activists joined with Khaleda’s motorcade from Nayapaltan central office, our staff correspondent, also with the motorcade, reports.

Members of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal and Swechchha Shebak Dal in vehicles are leading the motorcade as advance party.

Around one hundred vehicles including the vehicles of different media outlet took part in the journey.

Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, BNP standing committing member, will join the motorcade from Comilla, party sources said.

In Chittagong, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, another standing committing member, and Abdullah Al-Noman, party vice chairman, will greet Khaleda when she reaches the port city later in the day.

Thousands of party activists and supporters will assemble at different points on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway to welcome Khaleda who will be travelling in a motorcade.

However, the party high-ups have asked the leaders and activists not to set up any arches on the highway or block the traffic.

On Wednesday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had a meeting with the leaders of the party's district, front and associate bodies concerned at the party headquarters in Nayapaltan to make Khaleda's tour a success.

Khaleda last went to Cox's Bazar in November 2012 to visit Buddhist monasteries and houses which were damaged in communal attacks in Ramu upazila
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...ey-dhaka-chittagong-coxs-bazar-starts-1482940

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[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, October 28, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:02 PM, October 28, 2017
Pope's Visit in Nov: Bishops in Myanmar 'nervous'
Afp, Yangon
Myanmar's Catholic bishops are "nervous" Pope Francis will mention the Rohingya during his visit next month, a spokesman said yesterday, fearing that it would prompt protests from a Buddhist public that loathes the minority.
The pontiff's visit to Buddhist-majority Myanmar, scheduled for November 27, comes after a military campaign that has driven more than 600,000 Rohingyas from the country in two months.

Myanmar's Catholic leaders are concerned the pope, who expressed sympathy for the Rohingyas on Monday, could trigger further upheaval if he specifically refers to their proper name.

There is "nervousness about (his) using the word Rohingya", said Father Mariano Soe Naing, a spokesman for the Catholic Bishop's Conference of Myanmar, the country's main Catholic body.

"Our anxiety is that if he mentions (it), some problems may rise against him," he said.

"He would be wise enough not to create any difficulties for the host country and also for the Church as well," the priest said, adding that Catholics have "sympathy" for the Muslim group.

The Rohingyas have faced decades of discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they were stripped of their citizenship in 1982, effectively rendering them stateless.

On Monday, the Pope mourned the plight of Rohingya children stuck in overcrowded Bangladeshi refugee camps.

"Two hundred thousand Rohingya children (are) in refugee camps. They have barely enough to eat, though they have a right to food. (They are) malnourished, without medicine," he said.

The refugee crisis has inflamed longstanding religious tensions in Myanmar, which is also home to a small Catholic population, among other minorities.

The Southeast Asian nation and the Vatican only established full diplomatic relations in May, shortly after Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Pope Francis during a European tour.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/pope-francis-visit-nov-bishops-myanmar-nervous-1482796

 

[Banglar Bir]

‘Baffled’ by Rohingya Stance, U.N. Official Scolds Aung San Suu Kyi
By RICK GLADSTONE
OCT. 26, 2017

Yanghee Lee of South Korea, a leading child rights expert appointed to her United Nations human rights post in 2014, underscored international frustrations over the behavior of the Myanmar leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, regarding the persecution of the Rohingya.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, a hero of democratic rights who endured years of house arrest by Myanmar’s military to become the top civilian politician of her country and de facto head of the government, has not criticized the deadly campaign against the Rohingya, who are widely reviled among the country’s Buddhist majority.

The campaign, carried out by Myanmar’s armed forces and allied militias, has uprooted hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their villages in the western border state of Rakhine since August. The fallout has created a refugee and public health crisis in Myanmar’s impoverished neighbor, Bangladesh, as more than 600,000 people have fled across the border.

Other top United Nations officials have called the anti-Rohingya purge a campaign of ethnic cleansing or worse. Diplomats of the Security Council are discussing a draft resolution aimed at pressuring the Myanmar military to end the violence. The Trump administration also has threatened to take punitive action.

Across Myanmar, Denial of Ethnic Cleansing and Loathing of Rohingya
OCT. 24, 2017

U.S. Threatens to Punish Myanmar Over Treatment of Rohingya
OCT. 23, 2017


Muslims on 2 Continents Protest Persecution in Myanmar
SEPT. 4, 2017
Speaking to reporters at the United Nations on Thursday, Ms. Lee said “there is so much hatred and hostility against the Rohingya” in Myanmar that few dare speak out against it. Well-documented accounts of killings, rapes, burned villages and forced displacement get no coverage in Myanmar’s news media.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi skipped the annual United Nations General Assembly last month in what was widely viewed as a way to avoid hard questions and confrontations over the Rohingya crisis.

Other leaders have criticized her seemingly insensitive response, including some fellow Nobel laureates. But Ms. Lee’s comments were particularly pointed.
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Understand the world with sharp insight and commentary on the major news stories of the week.

“It has really baffled everyone, and has really baffled me, about Daw Aung’s non-position on this issue,” Ms. Lee said. “She has not ever recognized that there is such a people called Rohingya — that’s a starting point. I’m very disappointed.”

She said if the Myanmar leader were to “reach out to the people and say, ‘Hey, let’s show some humanity,’ I think people will follow her — she’s adored by the public.”

There was no immediate response to Ms. Lee’s comments from Myanmar’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations.

Myanmar officials have previously denied accusations of ethnic cleansing and have asserted that outside depictions of the crisis are distorted or fabricated by pro-Rohingya sympathizers. They have also sharply restricted access to Rakhine.

Ms. Lee spoke a day after she delivered a sharp critique of Myanmar’s human rights situation to the United Nations General Assembly. Ms. Lee said she was particularly appalled by the anti-Rohingya mood in the country.

“Unfortunately, there seems to be little sympathy, let alone empathy, for the Rohingya people in Myanmar,” she said. “For decades, it has been cultivated in the minds of the Myanmar people that the Rohingya are not indigenous to the country and therefore have no rights whatsoever to which they can apparently claim.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/world/asia/myanmar-rohingya-aung-san-suu-kyi.html?smid=fb-share

 

[Banglar Bir]

 

[Banglar Bir]

Myanmar harvests abandoned Rohingya fields, raising fears for return
AFP
Published at 04:03 PM October 28, 2017

Rohingya refugees wait for relief aid at Balukhali refugee camp in the Bangladeshi district of Ukhia on October 24, 2017. Nations have pledged $340 million (290 million euros) to care for Myanmar's Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, an "encouraging" step in the response to the intensifying crisis, the UN said on October 23 AFP
Hundreds of villages have been burned to the ground, with more than 600,000 Rohingya a stateless group in mainly Buddhist Myanmar - fleeing across the border for sanctuary in Bangladesh
Myanmar’s government began harvesting rice from farmland abandoned by Rohingya in northern Rakhine on Saturday, officials said, a move likely to raise concerns about the prospect of return for more than half a million refugees who have fled communal violence in the area.

The border region has been emptied of most of its Muslim residents since late August, when Myanmar’s military launched a crackdown on Rohingya rebels that the UN says likely amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Hundreds of villages have been burned to the ground, with more than 600,000 Rohingya a stateless group in mainly Buddhist Myanmar – fleeing across the border for sanctuary in Bangladesh.

Under intense global pressure, Myanmar has agreed to repatriate “scrutinised” refugees who can prove their residence in Rakhine.

But details of the plan remain thin, seeding concern about who will be allowed back, what they will return to and how they will live in a region where anti-Rohingya hatred remains sky-high.

On Saturday the government began harvesting 71,000 acres of rice paddy in Maungdaw – the Rohingya-majority area hardest-hit by the violence – according to state media and a local official.

“We started harvesting today in Myo Thu Gyi village tract,” Thein Wai, the head of Maungdaw’s Agricultural Department, told AFP.

“We are going to harvest some paddy fields of Bengalis who fled to Bangladesh,” he said using a pejorative term for the Rohingya commonly used in Myanmar.

“We do not know when those Bengalis who fled to other side will come back. That’s why we have to harvest,” he said, adding that he did not know what government would do with the paddies in the future.

Workers were bused in from other parts of the country to assist with the harvest, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.
‘Deeply disturbed’
Myanmar has denied charges of ethnic cleansing and defended its military campaign as a counter offensive targeting Rohingya militants who attacked police posts in late August, killing at least a dozen.

But media, rights groups and the UN have documented consistent accounts from Rohingya refugees of atrocities at the hands of Myanmar security officers, who are accused of killing civilians, raping women and torching homes.

On Friday UN rights experts said they were “deeply disturbed” after speaking to refugees in Bangladesh.

The accounts they heard “point to a consistent, methodical pattern of actions resulting in gross human rights violations affecting hundreds of thousands of people,” said Marzuki Darusman, who chairs the fact-finding mission.

Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi – who has no control over the powerful army – recently created a committee to oversee resettlement in Rakhine, where tens of thousands of other minority groups were also internally displaced by the violence.

The construction of homes for minorities such as the Mro has begun, according to state media, while Suu Kyi’s government has enticed business tycoons to donate to the rebuilding effort.

But fear abounds that the rehabilitation will sideline the Rohingya – a group that has suffered under decades of state-backed discrimination.

Myanmar refuses to recognise the Rohingya as a distinct minority, rendering the 1.1-million strong group stateless.

The army has spread the view that they are foreign “Bengalis” from Bangladesh, despite many having lived in Myanmar for generations.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/s...andoned-rohingya-fields-raising-fears-return/