STATEMENT ON THE WORLD REFUGEE DAY 2011: SQUALID CONDITION OF THE ROHINGYA BURMESE REFUGEES IN THE WORLD

20 June 2011
Press Release..

STATEMENT ON THE WORLD REFUGEE DAY 2011 

SQUALID CONDITION OF THE ROHINGYA BURMESE REFUGEES IN THE WORLD

We, National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR) (exile)-Headquarters based in the

United States of America and the South East Asia Regional Office in Malaysia, would like to

express our concern over Burma's regime’s installation of the worst proportion of inhuman pogrom

against ethnic minorities in Burma. Particularly of the Rohingyas in western border of Burma

through out the forced labour, force eviction, forced extortion, forced extermination, forced

relocation, torture, extra judicial killings, rape, model village settlement, restriction on their

movement and freedom of worship, education, social and business development Rohingya

refugees which make continuous flow of refugees. Hence the Rohingya Burmese refugees are

languishing under the traumatic mistreatments around the world specifically in Bangladesh,

Thailand, Malaysia and Suadi Arabia.

As Rohingya refugees are Burma's first refugees and defined as the world most oppressed group,

the plights received international attention and UNHCR's supports thereupon global leaders have

yet to pave solution for the plights.

In Bangladesh, the situation is cramp and the government restricts aid of Rohingya. About 28,000

Rohingya Burmese refugees are in squalid at the UNHCR runs camps of Kutupalong and

Nayapara in southern district of Cox’s Bazar, have been there for three decades, and about 30,000

Rohingyas in unregistered camp are for years. While no one know how the rest about 250,000

Rohingyas in outside refugee camps are surviving. The UNHCR has resettled less than thousand

Rohingyas from the registered camps since the year 2006. The enormous problems in Bangladesh

are direct impacts on vulnerable Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Despite having well knowledge

of the world on repatriated refugees, UNHCR and Bangladeshi government have still uphold to

establish agreement with Burma for involuntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees. We would like

to call upon Bangladesh itself depends on funds, should not ban international aid of the other and

to respect non-refoulement and customary laws.

The expression of majority willing to repatriate by UNHCR in Aug 1994 was flawed after MSF

survey in March 1995 revealed that 63% did not want to repatriate. Therefore we deeply concern

for processing of repatriation of Rohingya refugees which advantages on their malnutrition or

starvation, stuck, with other stimulation by offers.

In Thailand, recent repeated mistreatments towards Rohingya boat people show Thai-authorities

barbarous commitment of genocide crimes against humanity and defiance against international

communities and international laws. Thai army and Internal Security Operation Command-ISOC

are responsible for misconception of the Rohingya as threat to Thai national security.

That lead in March 2008, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej attempted to explore a deserted island

to place Rohingya refugees living in Thailand, Bankok Post Paper on 28 March 2008.

Again in Dec 2008, total about 1116 Rohingya and some Bangladeshi boat people were towed into

international waters and more than half were feared dead including firing, some were shot dead on

boat and some were thrown over boat to drown.

Current PM Abhisit Vejjajiva had promise to hold all those involved to account. Instead of

investigation to bring into account or compensation for those lost of lives, Thai PM is still upheld

its authorities to treat rank-less behaviour towards vulnerable boat people.

Again in Jan 2011, three boats of Rohingya refugees landed over the weekend of January in

Southern Thai-waters, were similarly pushed back into international waters. A group 91 persons

rescued near India-Andaman Island and another group 129 persons rescued near Indo-Acheh.

We therefore would like to urge international community to take action on Thai-authority and PM

for pursuing similar crimes.

In Saudi Arabia, Rohingyas been there for five decades and still facing arrests, detentions and

forceful deportations, and exempt from basic rights. They are living mostly in Makkah, Jeddah and

Madina in poor conditions. Even though Former King Abdullah had showed a little favour towards

their plights, detention of Rohingyas is slightly increased from 5,000 persons estimated in 2008

Oct who were nab from Mecca and Jeddah. Those detainees were forced to accept to

say Bangladeshi and several hundreds were deported to Bangladesh in this manner. They are kept

without adequate foods and equipments in dilapidated buildings by guarding due to overcrowding

in prisons and failure of deportation. Most of them are in inhuman situation and suffering from

types of diseases, shortage of food and in non hygienic and squalid environment. Half of those

detained in dilapidated building had been escaped. This kind of treatments are totally unexpectable

in Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia therefore we would like to call Saudi Arabia to show

humanity towards its Muslim brothers and at least they must be protected under Islamic universal

Laws.

In Malaysia, Rohingyas is the first among Burmese refugee groups. Rohingya refugees in

Malaysia have been languishing more than two decades in limbo with lack of basic needs.

Malaysia is not a signatory country therefore Rohingya refugees are still subject to arrest,

detention and other abuses. Current UNHCR representative has yet to explore assistance of widow,

over aged and sick Rohingyas, Rohingya families whose husband are kept in Australian

detentions, registration of unregistered Rohingyas whose data were collected since the mid-2009,

fair and equal opportunity in resettlement quota. Because there are less than 250 Rohingyas found

in UNHCR resettlement, about 43,000 refugees from Malaysia in the past decade. Compare to the

past years UNHCR has able to get release of refugee detainees from some detentions. But it does

not mean they are protected. There are still swapped in raids and hundreds of unreported

numbers are still languished and detained in dehumanized conditions where UNHCR service not

explore or access. 

The Malaysian government is also still silent on Home Minister said in Feb

2010 that the refugees to be allowed to work was being considered while waiting to be resettled in

third countries. We would like to call Malaysian government to corporate to find permanent

solution for the plights of Rohingyas refugees in Malaysia and to upgrade its detention system.

Repressions of oppressed Rohingya refugees in host countries became one of the issues

why Rohingya refugees in neighboring countries are busy to find a safe place through risky

journey. 

We see secondary movements of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Malaysia and

Rohingya refugees in Malaysia departing for Australia because they expect to find more secure

and safe place. From the year 2006, we escalated that total Rohingyans landed to Australia from

Malaysia are; 8 Rohingyans by a boat in Aug 2006, 42 Rohingyans by four different boats in

between September to Dec 2009, 98 Rohingyans and 8 different ethnic Burmeses by six different

boats in between March to October 2010 and recently 18 Rohingyans landed near Ashmore

Reef by a boat on 12 May 2011. This last group was told that they would be transferred to where

they came from and they are kept separately for final decision near North West Point Immigration

Detention Centre of Christmas Island. One of the key reasons of their arrival was after the talk of

swap deal. We urge Malaysian government not to accept this 18 Rohingya men as Malaysia is not

in position to fulfill their basic needs and Malaysia has yet to settle existing Rohingya cases.

108 Rohingyans landed by a boat in Pulau Kendi, off Penang on 4 March 2007, were detained in

Juru detention camps and half of them were deported to Burma border through voluntary

corporation with Thai. The rest were langusihed for fear of repatriation so that they were finally

handed over to human traffickers in Malays-Thai border.

A few of trafficked in fishing boat were landed in Terenganu beach in Oct 2007 after broke down

the engine. They were detained in Ajil detention camp and some accessed UNHCR's intervention.

93 Rohingyans landed by a boat in Kedah in Mrch 2010 after received aid from Thai. They were

detained prolong then finally some got UNHCR's intervention.

Some of those Thai pushed back Rohingya boat people in Indonesia captured in Malay-waters in

March 2010, were detained prolong and a few were met UNHCR accessement.

We also found that Rohingya boat people asylum-seekers in Australian detentions are being the

longest group and treated unequally in visa processing and then detained inappropriately by

advantaging on security checks despite Australia has well understanding about Rohingya position

and Australia itself is one of the country which advocate for their plights and contributed for the

welfare of Rohingyas both in home and exile. Such prolong detention contracts psychological

torture and affects mental and then that bruise their families left behind. On the consequences of

pressure so far 32 of 42 Rohingya refugees arrival in 2009 were released after averagely detained

13 months, the rest six persons in Northern Immigration Detention Centre (NIDC), 3 persons in

Villawood and one person in Maribyrnong detentions are still languishing in limbo. Including two

of them; Mr Habiburahman is head and Mr Sayad Kasim is Joint Secretary of NDPHR (exile)

South East Asia Regional Office based in KL, Malaysia, have been detaining now in 18 months in

NIDC. Their lives in Malaysia were risked and they both had been personally experienced with

arrests, detentions and deportation to human traffickers in Malay-Thai border.

We acknowledged their detention is worst than mandatory detention as mandatory detention has a

mandate with key values which ensure fair and humane treatment. The period of their detention

excessive length of proper process while thousands of clients who arrived lately and faking

Rohingya cases were already released. Unfortunately, such indefinite detention doesn't import

the way to have good conduct and good order in Australian society. They proved their identities

received UNHCR-Malaysia but their cases are still hanging for puppet security checks regardless

of government notice released on 17 March 2011. There is no Rohingya threat to Burmese society

or other country. Rohingya community in Burma have been terrorized at least five decades by

terror military government. Moreover, they are bounded in the cycle of arrests, detentions,

deportations and other brutal abuses in neighbouring countries. Therefore, their detention is

nothing more than arbitrary detention of innocent refugees.

We concerns seriously for prolong detention of the world most oppressed Rohingya refugee

asylum-seekers detained in Australia and Australia as a leader in humanitarian fields and that uplift

international laws, should not detained inappropriately, nor materialize the swap deal to send back

Rohingya refugee boat people asylum-seekers to the country where is not safe for refugees and

asylum-seekers even for legal migrants. Despite boat people issue in Australia brought to a hot

debate by politicians, their rights in Australian territory should not be deprived for political

interaction. This is nothing more than degrading of Australia's human rights record and letting to

mess-up the situation.

 

In summary we also would like to call international communities to encourage UNSC to take

action unexceptionally on military regime. Burma's neighbouring countries or its associations does

not import security and safety of the Burmese people therefore there is nothing to rely on them.

Thank you,

Executive Committee
National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR), exile
Headquarters, United States of America
For media contact:
Kyaw Soe Aung Te: +14147364273

Thai-backed port to displace 10,000

DVB,  9 June 2011
 

Location of Tavoy, where the port project is being built (DVB)

The Thai industrial giant behind a controversial deep-sea port project in Burma said on Wednesday that 10,000 people would have to leave their homes to make way for the development.

Ital-Thai Group is in charge of building and attracting investors to the Tavoy Development Project, which is set to transform a sleepy strip of southern coastline with a deep-sea port and 250 sq km industrial estate.

The company confirmed the project would uproot local people, but insisted the villagers would be well catered for with new settlements.

‘There is a population of only a little more than 10,000 people that have to be relocated,’ said Premchai Kanasuta, president of Italian-Thai Development, the subsidiary in charge of the project.
Concerns about human rights and the environment have been raised about the scale and nature of the port plans because of a lack of regulation in Burma, which remains military-dominated despite a new nominally-civilian parliament.

The 10-year, US$8 billion (S$9.8 billion) project will include a steel mill, fertiliser plant, a coal-fired power station and oil refinery.

Confiscations, Destructions and Muslims Locations in Arakan Up to Year 2010

By Habib,

1. Sittwe/Akyab: Confiscations, Destructions and Muslims Locations Up to Year 2010

Akyab is one of the 3rd largest Muslim population after Maungdaw and Buthidaung. It reached to two third prior to and during British emperor and Rohingya dialect became a main language for social and commercial dealings. Presently, there are 72 muslim villages consisting Rohingya, Kaman and Rakhine muslims and the rest about 50 Rakhine villages.

Apart from destructions and causalities in 1784, 1942, 1949 and 1978, list of confiscations & demolishings after  1978 are as follows;
1) Rohingyas who resided in the town, near by market areas and along Mawlake and Ambalar main roads were moved to farer places for various concerns including requirements such as zinc roofing, fence, taxes and other huge legal responsibilities.

2) The old Thatkaybyin (Sakki Fara) village demolished in 1990 when Win Myint promoted as a Rakhine state command-commander who later became the third secretary of Burma and died in an accident in Mawlamyine. The village was replaced by Military Missile Force, (818)-Military Camp, Military Communication Camp-(4) and Training Field.

3) The old Santole village was demolished in 1990 and relocated at the back side of Sittwe Lake (Kandawgyi). And fishery factories and stored ports  was replaced there and named as industrial park.

4) Some houses of Holtaung (Buhar fara), along the both sides of the Mayu road, were seized in the late 1990 and built there Buddhist Museum completed in 1997 and  Lawkananda Pagoda completed in 1999.

5) Half of the both West and East Sanpya (Baasara Fara) were relocated in new Thatkaybyin in 1990 including some farming lands seized for the Golf Mart expenditure.

6) Rohingya farming lands of Daapaine (Thae Chaung) were used to expend local Rakines village of  Shwe Min Gan in later of 1990.

7) The half land of the biggest central Mosque was seized and built the Cultural Museum completed in 1997.

8) The areas today called Ye new Su (Derum fara), located police residential area, was Rohingya farming lands confiscated in 1978, and utilized later of 1990.

9) The area of New College completed in 2000 was the lands of Bumay (Furang fara) village. And the new GTC college area was belong to the Fyalikchaung villagers. Most of the farming lands between Fyalikchaung Fara and Shabok Fara were seized for further.

10) In 2001 Feb 5, Four houses had been burnt down  in the riot between Rohingya and Rakhine in Aungmingala (Mole fara). The next day on 6 Feb 2001, about 22 houses along Nazi road side of Konden ward, were fired into ashes. Military had introduced Martial-law for both area before the riot but it did not stop aggression behaviors. And arrested about hundred of Rohingya youths including acting leaders. Those burnt down areas were seized and villagers were relocated in Santole and  New Thatkaybyin.

11)All of environmental creeks were seized since 1990 and used for military income and tender back to Rohingya in every year.

12) The area today built up there City Hall was seized during Nagamin Operation but the building was completed in 1998.

13) A shrine mosque Buddar Mukan (Bodumuhun), which was built in 1756 for the memory of Saint (Fakir) according to The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland © 1894 Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.  ( http://www.jstor.org/pss/25197219 ) 
It is situated near by East Sanpya (East Basara Fara). The two rocks lap each other found in front of the shrine and two caves used for meditation by Saint. They were seized since 1978 but not demolished yet. But,  the farming lands near by there were Rohingyas and located Navy camp before 1990. Now, replaced military training school and the building is  locked in the compound. Muslims were  allowed to worship until 1990.

14) Another shrine Baziaraa mosque, tomb and pound are situated the southern part of Sittwe Lake (Kandawgyi) and muslim village near by it was Sanggana fara. According to Rohingya villager, this mosque was also built in a bit later time of Bandar Mokan. Despite the village and this mosque were seized in about 1985, muslims were allowed to pray until 1990. later it was locked and used as Military Camp. Authority also do not dare to destroy this mosque as it was built after that area appeared as a sign of the edge of Sittwe.

                                                        .....................................
2. Kyauktaw: Confiscations, Destructions and Muslims Locations Up to Year 2010


The population of muslim before 1942 in Kyauktaw was about 70% of total population of Kyauktaw but now dropped at less than 25%.

 Distruction and Confiscation;
1) Manaegya fara (market area) in the main of the town,  muslim houses were reduced slowly by replacing Rakhines, monasteries, and expansion of market lots. The progress started since 1967. Now, no Muslim allow to hold shop unit in the market area, but some shops exist at the outside of the market area, even though the earlier business establishers were originally
muslim. Now, no more Rohingya remained in this main village.

2)Rungsu fara in Dok-kan-chaung Rakhine village and Borgua fara in Boseingya village with mixed of a few Hindhu residents, were replaced by Rakhines in 1967. And many farming lands in Dokkanchaung, Ambare, Boseingya were confiscated but retained later only half of the Ambare lands in about 1969-70 after one of the villager met with president general Saw Maung.

3) Sangadaung  village was demolished in 1976 and built there the Sugar Mill in 1982. The villagers were relocated in Falom fara. Again in 1995, both new settlers of Sangadaung and the villagers of Falom fara were forcefully moved to 7 miles farer area. But, all villagers came back and settled near by the edge of the old Falom-fara.

4) Kanpaw fara in Rakhine Paik-tay-yet was destructed to pave space for new bridge project but Rakhines are still allowed to stay. The villagers were relocated near by Futakhale fara where is a creek call Kanta Chaung.

5) Between 1992 and 2006, many irrigation farming lands both in table areas in; Falom fara, Khondol Barwa fara (Khaungdok Alay Kyuan), Bazar fara, Nai-raung fara (Radanapon) and beach side areas in Aapawa (Aa-fok), Foeyda fara, Haine fara, Guu-taung bazzar, Ambare fara, Boseingya fara, were confiscated for Sugar plant  plantations. The owner of animals got fine for their animals entering into these plantations and many animals were seized as well.


.......................................................


3. Mrauk Oo @ Mrohaung: Confiscations, Destructions and Muslims Locations Up to Year 2010

Mrauk Oo (formerly known as Mrohaung). There is another a small town call Minbya township situated opposite side of Mrauk Oo, was also counted Mrauk Oo territory. But at the present the sate Rakhine/Arakan is expended up to 20 towns from 17 towns. So, Minbya is considered as separate town.

22 Muslim Villages of Mrauk Oo Territory:
In Mrauk Oo: Pound Dok @ Fun-du-kul, Pa-rein @ Bolti Fara, Fee-fa-runk, Desh Fara @ Tha-rak-cho, Zula Fra and opposite Ze-zah- Fara, San-daung, Kum fara, Shi-sha-reit, Fu-tha-lon, Fu-Le-yaung,
In Minbya: Fike Mraung @ Pann mraung- mix of Hindunisms and Rakhines, Faw-sa Fra, Lom-bow-shaw, Taw-daine @ Aung Daine, Fok Fara, Saam-ma-lee, Zai-la fara (fishery village), Khim fara, Halim Fara, Sai-Tha Fara and some sparsely in Minbya town.

Existing Ancient Mosque

Alam Lashkar Mosque built by Mrauk Oo King's army officer during Mrauk Oo dynasty, in Pann Mraung (Fike Mraung)  village of Minbya. It is still only one existing ancient mosque.
 

       ( yet to be located)

Destruction and Confiscation of other Ancient Mosques;

3) In 1993, Aung Daine village and Nyung Pin Zay village near by jetty, only Rohingya houses from Shit Taung including Shwedah Qazi Mosque, were demolished and relocated at Kwan Lon (Kha-wa-lon @ Mandarabyin) village. And the places were replaced with  Electric Station and house lots for military

4) In the middle of 1994, Aa-Lae-Zay @ Shwe Gu Daung village including Nan Oo Mosque, Kwan Lon (Kha-wa-lon @ Mandarabyin) plus Sandhi Khan Mosque, Ponna Mraung village, were demolished by Military forces-540.

The villagers about 10,000 Rohingyas were forcefully lifted to Maungdaw town. Some Kwan Lon villagers who escaped had tried to resettle in own village by rebuilding temporary tents, were also lifted to Maungdaw town.

The villagers' lands were replaced with Military Forces-540, Military Forces-377 and Environmental Projects.

5) Maung Tha Gon (Rwa Handaa Fara) village including Musa Pali Mosque were demolished in about 1983. The villagers were relocated to Kan Paw village and their lands were replaced with model village of Rakhines and military purposes.

6) Farming lands of Paung Do (Fun-du-Kol) villagers were seized and replaced with Military Forces-378 but the village was not demolished up to year 2010.

More details::

3) Shwe Dah Qazi Mosque (Gold Sword Qazi mosque), built by Qazi Abdul Karim who awarded gold sword by Burman king Bodaw Pya,  situated in Shit Taung (Kyit Taung, mean 80,000) village. It was demolished in 1993. .....

4) stone structure Sandhikhan mosque built in 1433 by Muslim army Sandhikhan of Bengal who came to help enthrone king Narameikhla(The founder of Mrauk-U dynasty), in Kwan Lon (Kha-wa-lon @ Mandarabyin) village of Mrauk Oo, was demolished in 1994. The stone blocks and teaks beside the mosque were forcefully carried by Rohingya carts and used in expansion of  Buddhist monastery of Shwe Taung village.

4) Nan Oo Mosque and Nantha Tank with stone embankment, in Aa-Lae-Zay(Shwe Gu Taung) village, near by hospital and palace office, was demolished in 1994 but Nantha pound(tank) still exists.

5) stone structure Majah Pali @ Musa Pali Mosque with its big pond in the eastern, were built in 1513-15 in Kan Paw village, by an Indian missionary Musa in the time of 9th king of Mrauk U 1513-1515 A.D. It stands Maung Tha Gon Village, Mrauk-U and demolished in about 1983.
...................................

 

Welcome to the Recent Bilateral Agreement between Malaysia and Australia

source from arrcinfo, 10 May 2011

We, undersigned overseas Rohingya organizations welcome the recent bilateral agreement between Malaysia and Australia for the resettlement of 4000 recognized refugees from Malaysia, though bulk majority of people surprise on the trade of 800 asylum seekers from Australia.

We salute the Honorable Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mohammed Najib Tun Abdur Razzak, who is on rightful stance in ending refugee phenomena in Malaysia. His deal is directly representing the Rohingya refugees who have been languishing in Malaysia for more than 3 decades, reaching to 4th generation.
We also salute that the Honorable Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, who is keen to accept the Rohingya refugees from Malaysia, which was proved to the Rohingya Araknese Refugee Committee (RARC), Malaysia, previously known as Arakan Rohingya Refugee Committee (ARRC) by an email response from her behalf, dated 1 October 2010 “In relating to the Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, should the UNHCR refer individuals for the resettlement in Australia, their visa applications will be considered at that time in accordance with legal requirements for grant of a visa.”

Government of Malaysia is well versed on the matter that more than 40,000 non-Rohingya Burmese refugees were resettled to third countries by the UNHCR in Malaysia in a past decade, where numbers of Rohingya refugees are around 250.

The Government of Malaysia also know the matter that there were the only Rohingya refugees in early 1980s and 1990s, while non-Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers are scrambling into the highest numbers with the help of some sorts of bias NGOs under hatred and discriminative policies towards the believer of the religion of Islam, which was suddenly begun in post 9/11.
Therefore, the Government of Malaysia is keen enough to sign deal to open a door to find a long-lasting solution for the Rohingya refugees in Malaysia, whose rights are being undermined by various quarters.
The Government of Australia has good experiences on the sub-human condition and marginalized position of the Rohingya refugees, not only in Malaysia but also in abroad and thus the Government had already extended space for the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh and releasing numbers of Rohingya asylum seekers from detention.

We hope that the Government of Australia will move for quick release of remaining Rohingya refugees from its detentions who are completed peace loving and waiting there for 2 years. At least 20-30 years of waiting for resettlement to third country, these Rohingya refugees left Malaysia, expecting a safe place through a perilous plight. Currently, their children, wives and beloved family members are underway to dangerous proportion with starvation, medication, protection and etc.
In these regards, we humbly appeal to both Governments of Australia and Malaysia to exercise balance role in resettling 4000 Rohingya refugees to Australia as an effective advocacy towards a long lasting solution for the world’s most forgotten and oppressed people “Rohingya”.

We also appeal to the international communities and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help to co-operate the Governments of Australia and Malaysia to make success of the recent deal in order to find permanent solution for the Rohingya refugees who were inhumanely exterminated by successive military government of Burma through denial of citizenship rights, restriction on their movements, restriction on education, restriction on religious practice, restriction on family and economic development, forced labor, forced eviction, forced taxation, rape, torture, extra-judicial killings, model village settlement and many other types of gross human rights abuses which are clearly considered as “CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY”.

Signed by:
Arakan Rohingya Organization (JARO), Japan
Burmese Rohingya Association in United Arab Emirates (BRA-UAE)
Burmese Rohingya Democratic Alliance (BRDA)
Ethnic Rohingya Committee of Arakan (ERCA), Malaysia
Myanmar Muslim Council (MMC), Saudi Arabia
National Council for Rohingya (NCR), Malaysia
National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR) exile, Headquarters, USA
National Democratic Party for Human Rights (NDPHR) exile, SEA Regional Office, Malaysia
Arakan Rohingya Refugee Ulama Council (ARUC)
Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee (RARC), Malaysia
Rohingya Youth Development Forum (RYDF), Arakan-Burma
World Rohingya Congress (WRC), USA
Individual Activists, Human Rights Defenders and general refugees; and others

For media contact:
Kyaw Soe Aung Te: +14147364273
Mohammad Sadek Tel: +60 163094599

Than Shwe ‘ordered shooting of monks’

Source from DVB, 11 Feb 2011

 

A dead monk is seen floating in a Rangoon river during following the crackdown on the September 2007 uprising (DVB)

Burmese junta chief Than Shwe had ordered troops to shoot protesting monks during the September 2007 mass uprising, leaked US diplomatic cables allege.
The claim is buried in the middle of a November 2007 cable sent from the US embassy in Rangoon to Washington by former US political and economic chief to Burma, Leslie Hayden.
Published in Norwegian daily, Aftenposten, the cable sees Hayden paraphrasing a redacted source who claims his “military contacts” knew of Than Shwe’s intent during the protests.

“According to [TEXT REMOVED BY AFTENPOSTEN]´s military contacts, both Than Shwe and Maung Aye gave the orders to crackdown on the monks, including shooting them if necessary,” it says, referring to the junta chief’s second-in-command.

“Number three General Thura Shwe Man personally opposed the order, but carried it out, quietly advising regional commanders to do so with minimal bloodshed.”
How many monks died in what became known as the Saffron Revolution is unknown, as is the total number of demonstrators killed by Burmese troops. Burmese state media put the official toll at 13, while UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur Paulo, Sérgio Pinheiro, quoted independent sources who claimed that 30 to 40 monks were among the more than 100 killed.

Sparked by a sudden 66 percent rise in fuel prices, the protests became the biggest show of defiance against the ruling junta since the student uprising of 1988.
Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win responded to early criticism of the way the army handled the protests by saying that the hundreds of thousands of men and women on the streets had been encouraged by foreign or exiled forces.
“Recent events make clear that there are elements within and outside the country who wish to derail the ongoing process (toward democracy) so that they can take advantage of the chaos that would follow,” he said, making no reference to the deaths.

He also praised the initial “restraint” shown by troops in the early days of the protests, which gained momentum on 18 September, but said the subsequent crackdown was necessary “to restore the situation”. Up to 6000 people are believed to have been detained.

Despite the reverence with which Burma holds its monastic community, monks currently account for 254 of Burma’s 2,189 political prisoners. One monk, U Nanda Vathu, is serving a 71-year sentence, while nearly two dozen of those detained are serving sentences of 20 years or more.

The cable, dated 28 November 2007 and titled “BURMA: THE DIALOGUE IS DEAD”, is one of thousands released by whistleblowing website, Wikileaks. They also reveal French concerns about business operations in Burma, as well as heightened US concerns about Burma’s cosying relationship with North Korea.

 

Than Shwe ‘ordered shooting of monks’

Source from DVB, 11 February 2011

A dead monk is seen floating in a Rangoon river during following the crackdown on the September 2007 uprising

 (DVB)

 

 

Burmese junta chief Than Shwe had ordered troops to shoot protesting monks during the September 2007 mass uprising, leaked US diplomatic cables allege.
The claim is buried in the middle of a November 2007 cable sent from the US embassy in Rangoon to Washington by former US political and economic chief to Burma, Leslie Hayden.
Published in Norwegian daily, Aftenposten, the cable sees Hayden paraphrasing a redacted source who claims his “military contacts” knew of Than Shwe’s intent during the protests.
“According to [TEXT REMOVED BY AFTENPOSTEN]´s military contacts, both Than Shwe and Maung Aye gave the orders to crackdown on the monks, including shooting them if necessary,” it says, referring to the junta chief’s second-in-command.

“Number three General Thura Shwe Man personally opposed the order, but carried it out, quietly advising regional commanders to do so with minimal bloodshed.”
How many monks died in what became known as the Saffron Revolution is unknown, as is the total number of demonstrators killed by Burmese troops. Burmese state media put the official toll at 13, while UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur Paulo, Sérgio Pinheiro, quoted independent sources who claimed that 30 to 40 monks were among the more than 100 killed.

Sparked by a sudden 66 percent rise in fuel prices, the protests became the biggest show of defiance against the ruling junta since the student uprising of 1988.
Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win responded to early criticism of the way the army handled the protests by saying that the hundreds of thousands of men and women on the streets had been encouraged by foreign or exiled forces.

“Recent events make clear that there are elements within and outside the country who wish to derail the ongoing process (toward democracy) so that they can take advantage of the chaos that would follow,” he said, making no reference to the deaths.

He also praised the initial “restraint” shown by troops in the early days of the protests, which gained momentum on 18 September, but said the subsequent crackdown was necessary “to restore the situation”. Up to 6000 people are believed to have been detained.

Despite the reverence with which Burma holds its monastic community, monks currently account for 254 of Burma’s 2,189 political prisoners. One monk, U Nanda Vathu, is serving a 71-year sentence, while nearly two dozen of those detained are serving sentences of 20 years or more.

The cable, dated 28 November 2007 and titled “BURMA: THE DIALOGUE IS DEAD”, is one of thousands released by whistleblowing website, Wikileaks. They also reveal French concerns about business operations in Burma, as well as heightened US concerns about Burma’s cosying relationship with North Korea.

Thais must give UN access to boat people: HRW

Source from rnw, 2 Feb 2011,

Thailand should urgently allow the UN refugee agency access to more than 200 detained boat people who are at risk of "atrocious" persecution in Myanmar, according to a rights group.

A group of 158 asylum seekers from the Rohingya ethnic group arrived in Thailand from Myanmar in January after "a perilous sea voyage in rickety, overcrowded boats", Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday.
Another 68 from the ethnic group -- described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities -- were arrested after landing in the southern Thai island of Phuket on Tuesday and were being prepared for repatriation, police told AFP.

Thailand has repeatedly refused to give the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) access to the detainees, the New-York based HRW said.
"The persecution of Rohingyas in Burma (Myanmar) is atrocious, but the Thai government continues to pretend that they are no different from any other undocumented migrant," said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director.

Adams called on Thailand to allow the UNHCR to interview the detained Rohingya immediately to identify those seeking refugee status.
In the past human rights activists have condemned the Thai navy for sending Rohingya asylum-seekers back to sea.

The rights group said that in Myanmar, authorities have for more than three decades "systematically persecuted" the Rohingya, a Muslim minority living primarily in western Rakhine state, with little protest from other nations.

As many as 300,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they live in "primitive and squalid conditions" in both official and makeshift refugee camps, in fear of arrest or possible repatriation, HRW said.

A population in limbo

12 DEC 2010, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2010/12/12/nation/7601348
Until things improve, something needs to be done to help refugees awaiting resettlement to third countries or until they can return to their home countries. 

WHO could have predicted that the fall of Saigon would impact Malaysia?
The capture of the South Vietnamese capital (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) by the North Vietnamese Army 35 years ago marked the end of the Vietnam War and the transition of a period leading to the formal re-unification of Vietnam under communist rule.

Making do: Vietnamese boat people at the Pulau Bidong refugee camp. Access to clean water is one of the basic needs of refugees. Malaysia’s first brush with refugees was with the South Vietnamese who came to be known as the boat people.

It led to a mass exodus of South Viet­namese who feared persecution because of their sympathies for the old government.

Many escaped by boat and ended up on our east coast, brought naturally by the tides. That was Malaysia’s first brush with refugees, who came to be known as the “Vietnamese boat people”.
“Refugees are people who are forced to leave their countries to avoid persecution,” says Alan Vernon, representative of the United Nations High Com­missioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“The fear has to be justified. You can be afraid but the fear might not be justified.”

“The absence of a legal framework makes it more difficult for refugees” ALAN VERNON, UNHCR REPRESENTATIVE

 

He stresses on this fact because many people do not differentiate between migrants and refugees.
Under international law, a refugee is defined as a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being prosecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group or political opinion, is in a foreign land and unable to avail himself of the protection of that country.

In contrast, migrants come to Malaysia because of economic opportunities.
There are over two million foreign workers in the country now, not including illegal workers. Most hail from Indo­nesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, India and Vietnam.
“A migrant can choose to return; they might go back to poverty but it is not the same as facing persecution or the possibility of being killed,” says Vernon.

The UNHCR began its operations in Malaysia in 1975 with the arrival of the Vietnamese boat people and this remained its main priority until 1996, when the Comprehensive Plan of Action on Indochinese refugees was officially brought to a close.
For over two decades, the UNHCR assisted Malaysia in hosting close to 250,000 boat people before durable solutions were found for them. Over 240,000 Vietnamese refugees eventually resettled in countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, France and New Zealand while some 9,000 returned to Vietnam.
As Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or the 1967 Protocol that followed, the UNHCR is the main body protecting and assisting asylum-seekers and refugees here.
Malaysia also hosted thousands of Filipino Muslims from Mindanao during the 1970s and 1980s as well as Muslim Chams from Cambodia and Bosnians in the 1990s.
In recent years, thousands of people from Aceh, Indonesia, also sought refuge here.
These days, however, the main refugees are Myanmar nationals, mostly victims of their military junta.
As of October this year, 91,100 refugees and asylum-seekers have registered with the UNHCR. Almost 84,000 are from Myanmar, comprising the Chins, Rohingyas, Myanmar Muslims, Mon, Kachins and others.
Other refugees are from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. Another 10,000 people of concern to the UNHCR remain unregistered.
While in Malaysia, these refugees await resettlement to third countries or remain until the situation in their home countries improves.

Globally, there are 15 million refugees but the total number of people resettled each year is fewer than 100,000. About 7,400 refugees in Malaysia were resettled last year.
Vernon says if the situation changes in their homeland, these people will ultimately return.
“When the situation improved in Aceh (after the signing of the peace agreement following the 2004 tsunami), the Achenese returned. Home is still the best (place to go). Everyone feels the same way. Even those Viet­namese who were resettled in Western countries are interested in going back,” he adds.
But until things improve, something needs to be done.
“What we don’t want is a population in limbo. That’s the nature of refugees – they are waiting for what happens next,” he explains.

Unlike decades ago, refugees today are moving around freely with the local community. They are spread throughout the country although most are concentrated in the Klang Valley.
In the past, the common solution for the Vietnamese boat people was to house them in refugee camps.
“But camp settings are negative as people are denied freedom of movement and conditions are squalid, with sanitation and hygiene problems. The camp becomes a way of warehousing people,” says Vernon.
At the height of the refugees’ exodus from Vietnam, more than 60,000 people were living in a cramped area of not more than one sq km in Pulau Bidong (an island off Tereng­ganu).
Maintenance of refugee camps, he adds, is costly and the running of a camp can amount to more than US$50mil a year.

Vernon believes the current urban setting allows the refugees to live freely and in better conditions although there are still issues that need to be addressed.
The absence of refugee legislation, he points out, makes it difficult for these people to earn a living. Refugees can only take on odd jobs and because there are no contracts involved, the tendency of them being exploited is very high.

Children are denied formal education, while health care is an expensive affair for refugees. Then, there are also the issues of arrests and detention.
“The absence of a legal framework makes it more difficult for refugees,” says Vernon. The UNHCR is urging host governments to put in place refugee laws and sign the refugee convention.
So far, 147 countries have signed the convention, with only Timor Leste, the Philip­pines and Cambodia being parties to the convention in Asean.

Vernon believes that many governments are reluctant to set conditions in place, believing this might attract more people to the country.
“Refugees are a global problem and governments have to work together on the issue and share out the burden.”
Vernon feels that Malaysia has done well so far, with help from civil society and non-governmental organisations.
From his personal experience, Malaysians want to help out once they understand the plight of the refugees.
“It could happen to anybody if things go out of control in a country,” he reminds.

Muslim Victims of Cyclone Giri Face Discrimination

 Source from The Sail, 5 Dec 2010

Letter to humanitarian communities by a youth Kyaw Zan from Myebon,

As we know, the recent cyclone giri displaced more than 100,000 people to homeless and killing at least 45 people while over 250,000 people were affected mainly in Kyaukfru, Myebon, Minbya and Pawtaw townships of Arakan state, Burma.

The distructions recorded as Burma’s the second largest disaster after Cyclone Nargis. But, the sources of devastations and detriments are unseenable by international communities. The victims needed both emergency and recovery assistances for normalization.

Despite the emergency assistences have been reached slowly and disributed by all humanitarian partners including government agencies, authorities, local NGOs, INGOs and UN agencies, the last hand-pickers are locals. The letter reveals they did not distribute yet to any Muslim victims. Some of their neighbour Rakhines had been berated for pointing to assist equally to those needy Muslim victims who are being more vulnerable than them.

Total affected Muslim family lists is estimated as; about 300 Muslim families from Fishing village and Prangfru village of Kyaukfru township, about 200 Muslim families from Myebon township, and some Muslim families from Minbya township. Although the emergency and a little recovery assistances have been supplied in Kyaukfru, Myebon and Minbya townships, Muslim victims were isolated from such assistances.
This are unacceptable behaviours against the victims therefore the aid supply groups require to monitor its workers to supply in equal term without any distinction.

Depayin and The Driver

DVB, 12 November 2010
 

Kyaw Soe Lin, Suu Kyi's driver during the Depayin massacre (Joseph Allchin)

It was May 2003 and a young law student named Kyaw Soe Lin was on a very special mission. As an organiser and legal aid for the National League for Democracy, he had been given the job of driving Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on her tour of the country. And as the stretch of detention that began in the bloody aftermath of this event comes to an end, DVB spoke exclusively to the driver at a house in Mandalay.
Suu Kyi had only been free for about a year when she set off from Rangoon. Her tour with other NLD members, including party secretary U Tin Oo, would take in the hoards of disenfranchised voters who had backed her and her party in such numbers 13 years prior.

The trip began in mid-April and the first stop was Monywa. As it progressed, the convoy received minor harassment from stone-throwing thugs and other intimidating behaviour.
But as it drove from Moegaw in Sagaing division back to Mandalay on 29 May, the first signs of real trouble came. What followed was a political crime of terrible proportions and a harrowing indictment of the newly-victorious Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

On 29 May, Kyaw Soe Lin recalls that the convoy came under attack from stones and catapults, with a number of NLD members left injured. Despite this, it continued and made it to Mandalay. The next day the party headed to Depayin district, and as they passed through the small village of Kyiwa, up ahead in the road were two monks who stopped the convoy, asking if Suu Kyi could address a gathering.
“I told Aunty [Aung San Suu Kyi] that we shouldn’t stop as we usually get harassed around dusk time. But the monks said they have been waiting for Aung San Suu Kyi since the evening before and requested that she give them a speech and greet them. They were two elderly monks sitting and waiting, so Aunty said we should stop for them.”

The two monks turned out to be imposters, and as the car stopped for Suu Kyi to consider the proposal, the wrath of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a civilian proxy of the military, was turned upon the convoy.
That day some 70 NLD members were killed by thugs from the party who last week committed perhaps the greatest fraud the country has known.

“When we stopped the convoy, [NLD] youth securities surrounded our car…and we were informed by the NLD members who protected our rear that a mob, including fake monks armed with sticks and other melee weapons, were approaching us in four or five buses,” said Kyaw Soe Lin.
“Then we heard they were attacking our convey and the villagers waiting for us. Then they came to us and started beating people up – some villagers and our members at the scene fought back. But Aunty told them not to retaliate. The attackers, clad in monk robes, arrived at our car carrying sticks and blades. They were all wearing white armbands. They started beating – their way of attack wasn’t actually chaotic but quite tactical/”
As they came under attack, Kyaw Soe Lin pleaded with the mob, protesting that The Lady was in the car. This made no difference, and, he suspects, probably only encouraged the mob, whom it is thought were trying to assassinate the Nobel laureate. And if it weren’t for Kyaw Soe Lin, it could have been that Daw Suu’s fate would have mirrored that of her father, General Aung San. He was gunned down in a political assassination in Rangoon in 1947, shortly after gaining independence for Burma.

“They carried on attacking the car and beat to death the youths [NLD members] protecting it,” he said, eyes twitching with the tension of the heinous memory. “Some just collapsed right on the spot.
“My anger then exploded and I was going to run over the attackers with the car. I stomped on the lever three times and reversed the car. The attackers had slipped a wooden stick into the car – I didn’t know when they did it. The stick was jamming the steering mechanism so that the car would flip when driven forward and it would look just like an accident. So I reversed the car and the wooden stick broke. It was stuck between a wheel and another part.

“As I reversed, they broke the windows on my side and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s side, and also on the side where Ko Htun Zaw Zaw was sitting next to me. They also broke the car’s headlights and the back mirrors were shredded to pieces. The car’s body was also smashed up.”

He tells the story in the gloom of a rainy Mandalay evening, lights flickering above. “I reversed but then I saw our youth members and the students who came with us all lying on the ground and I was worried that I’d run them over too. So I drove away to avoid them. We went a bit forward in the car and saw that three other trucks were blocking the road. I told Aunty there was something wrong with the car and drove towards them without turning away. The trucks looked like six-wheel Hino trucks.

“I pulled onto the side of the road when we were really close to those cars and slipped past them, only to reach to the area the attackers had designated as the “kill zone”. There were about 30 trucks with their headlights shining behind the attackers, who were armed with sticks.”
“There were about 200 or 300 people dressed in USDA uniforms holding posters. The attackers were so many.
“As our car got near there, they watched us in surprise. There were [NLD security] clinging onto the sides of our car and I worried that the attackers might pull them off if they got near us. So I pretended I was going to run into the crowd and they scattered away. Then I pulled the car back up onto the road and kept on driving. Then we saw there were road blocks set up all the way across the road. I knew that we all, including Aunty, would die if we didn’t leave there, so I kept on driving.”
As he drove through the mob, objects were hurled at the car, smashing more of the remaining windows and hitting him. But he drove on.
“Aunty asked me if I was okay. I said I was fine and kept on driving; if I stopped at the blockage, they’d beat us to death. So I ran over it and found that there was another layer of trucks blocking the way about four to five feet after the blockage. There was a gap left between the cars and I drove through there – luckily the car fitted right in the space. Then there was a line of policemen with their guns pointed at the car. I went through them but didn’t hit anyone, as they jumped to the side. As I drove on, I saw people with guns that looked like soldiers. Aunty said we should only stop when we reach Depayin.”

But Kyaw Soe Lin was lost, and having never been to Depayin before, didn’t know the route. Soon he stopped in a forest to try and mend the vehicle, which was packed with fellow NLD members, including The Lady. After making improvised repairs, he drove on and came to the town of Yea-U. But as he entered the town, security personnel stopped the vehicle and asked who was in the car. They were told to wait, and about half an hour later a large number of military personnel arrived.
“They came out carrying guns and surrounded us. About 15 minutes later, an army official – apparently a battalion commander – arrived and put a gun to my temple and asked us to go with them. Aunty nodded us to go, so we did. We were taken to Yea-U jail.
“We got there around 9pm and saw people apparently giving witness accounts of the incident. They were all wearing the same armbands worn by the attackers. Aunty told the police and intelligence officials there that she would cooperate with them if they promised to abide by legal procedures; otherwise they would just kill us all if they wanted. They promised to abide by the law and took Aunty with them.
“I was held for two days at the Yea-U detention centre”; two days in which the authorities intentionally denied Kyaw Soe Lin and his comrades food, only giving them water. After two days he was transferred to Shwebo prison and thrown in with the common criminals. He said that he was given worse food than the thieves and rapists who were now his co-habitants.

Soon he was on the move again – hooded and shackled, he was driven to a plane and flown to Hkamti.
“When we reached Hkamti, we were not fed. In the evening, they took away the egg and good rice given us from Shwebo jail, saying that they would feed us in the evening. They gave us a handful of un-husked rice with rotting fish paste which some people could not eat. Some people vomited.”

They were kept there and soon the interrogation began. They were told to say that the people in the villages who had welcomed them had been the ones who attacked the convoy. This, needless to say, they refused because, as Kyaw Soe Lin points out, the tour was officially sanctioned. “We took this trip in harmony with them [the authorities]. For this reason, if they beat us, let them do it; if they killed us, we have to die, she said to us. Because of that, we did not say what they wanted us to say.”

On refusal of their demands to cover up the violent political intimidation, the authorities began the torture, “stripped naked and candle wax dropped all over the body,” he recounts. “They forced us to sit on our haunches and one after another, kicked us like a football. The face was kicked too. And as soon as they entered the detention centre, they punch your face with fists. This is not a special detention centre’s interrogation – they carried out the torture because I drove Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s car. I was deliberately tortured.”
He continues in harrowing detail: “They had drunk before interrogating us. They stank of alcohol as they tortured us. And having tortured us, they went away again. Then they threatened us – they said they will electrify us; will keep us in the pouring rain. Not me alone, but all of those with me were beaten up. The sounds of ‘I am scared’ and smashing – I heard these. It wasn’t that painful when I was beaten up; it was more painful in my heart when [other people] were beaten.”

The appalling conditions were also part of the punishment. “My detention cell was slightly higher than standing height. On the floor, because it is rainy season, water was above knee-level. You can’t sleep, can’t sit. They handcuffed us behind our back from the day we arrived, and it lasted this way for exactly a month, day and night. They also came to interrogate at midnight and in the morning, and for the whole day.”
His detention was ‘only’ six months as there was no crime. This was not a judicial detention in any sense of the word; they couldn’t even conjure a vague law to detain the members of the convoy.

But like so many prisoners of conscience, Kyaw Soe Lin’s troubles did not end with his release. “When I came out of the prison, I resumed my studies. But they were following from behind relentlessly when I attended classes. Then I told one intelligence agent that we were doing nothing bad, nothing improper. ‘You released me because I am innocent. As it is so, I do not like the way you are stalking me now’, I said. Only then did they stop following me from behind. There was some stalking but no other harassment.”
He adds that it took him years longer than a normal law student to receive his licence to practice.
And so as Suu Kyi is finally released after more than seven years under house arrest, the immense injustice that she is fighting is almost visible on the troubled face of one of the closest witnesses to the harrowing events that put her back in detention in 2003, Kyaw Soe Lin.

And as the authorities – perhaps in an effort to divert attention from their fraudulent election and to appease a rightfully sceptical international community – release their most famous prisoner, that reconciliation and justice will be hard to find where impunity springs eternal from the hands of the military to its chosen minions.
“All those beaten up were imprisoned, but for those who carried out the beating, not one. No one knows who was behind the attack. And in the prison, we were beaten up for one reason or another. It was a deliberate way to torture. It is not like interrogation, just torture.”

The Unwelcoming Committee

Source from Irrawaddy news magazine- Vol. 18, No. 9, September 2010 

 

Resentment of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is giving rise to highly organized and increasingly vocal resistance to their presence

 

Sitting on a dusty balcony outside the local district office in Ukhia in southern Bangladesh, a group of smartly dressed men take turns speaking their mind. One man, taller than the average Bangladeshi, stands up. Throwing his fist in the air, he states the group’s objective.

Rohingya children in Bangladesh face a bleak future. (Photo: Yuzo/ The Irrawaddy)

“Those bloody naughty people, they destroy the environment, upset local law and order and sell drugs,” he says. “They must all go back to Burma.”

The rest of the group nod their heads and wave their hands to compete for the next opportunity to speak. Two things have brought this group of men together: grievances against Rohingya refugees who have settled in the area, and their powerful positions in the local community.

Together they have formed the Anti-Rohingya Resistance Committee, which has taken on the role of pressuring the government to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Burma. Despite their dedication to their cause, however, their goal remains highly ambitious and controversial.

Citing religious oppression in Burma, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh over the last three decades to seek asylum. Several times the Burmese government has made major pushes to flush the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority, out of Burma’s Arakan State—the last one being in 1992.
Since then, the Bangladeshi government has allowed the United Nation’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, to register 28,000 Rohingya who fled before 1992 and provide them with shelter in two official camps. Despite growing domestic pressure to force them out of the country, a government official told The Irrawaddy, “The government remains committed to voluntary repatriation.”

A far larger problem is the status of a growing population of unregistered refugees who arrived after 1992. Settling in two camps—Kutupalong and Leda—which have evolved into slums of the official camps, these later arrivals are not permitted to receive humanitarian assistance. But as local communities intensify calls for their repatriation, the unrecognized refugees say it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to leave the camps to find food and work.

Crouched on the floor of her small mud hut, Aatika, a 27-year-old mother of four, described how she was recently beaten and robbed by locals as she was coming back to the camp after working outside for three days.
“They told me I should not be here, that we were taking all the local jobs,” she said as she tried to calm her crying child. “Then they beat me and took my money. It was terrible. We do not receive any rations, so I have to go outside to make money to feed my children.”
According to refugees in the unofficial camps, the attacks are becoming more frequent as resentment of their presence grows in Bangladesh. This has created a climate of fear among the refugees, who risk losing their earnings every time they return to the camp.

Before Aatika had finished speaking, a man began recalling his ordeal. Faced with severe food shortages in the camps, he traveled to work in a rubber plantation. After three weeks, he returned to the camp to give the money he had earned to his large family. Knowing that he might have problems going through local communities on the way back, he hid the money in his shirt collar.

But this did not help him when, as he approached the entrance to the camp, he was ambushed by five local Bangladeshi men armed with knives. They ordered him to hand over his money, ignoring his protestations that he didn’t have any. They searched him until they found it, and then beat him up for “wasting their time.”
His meager earnings taken from him, he had no money to feed his family or buy medicine for his sick second youngest child, who died soon afterward. Death among the weak has become a common occurrence in the unofficial camps, where a local leader said that at least six people die every day from malnutrition.

In February, the relief agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and other groups highlighted the effects of involuntary pushbacks by the Bangladeshi government, resulting in a dramatic reduction of cases of forcible repatriation. Now, however, refugees report that arrests and imprisonment are becoming more common—something many say they fear more than being forced back across the border.

“When we are sent back, we are tortured by the Burmese army, but at least we can come back here when they’re finished with us. But if we’re sent to prison, we could be there forever,” said one refugee.
Despite the conditions reported by the refugees, Hamil Chowdury, the secretary of the Anti-Rohingya Resistance Committee, expressed little sympathy. He said the Rohingya receive too much assistance, while locals receive nothing.

The unofficial Kutupalong camp is home to thousands of Rohingya refugees. (Photo: Yuzo/ The Irrawaddy)

Cox’s Bazar, the district where the refugee camps are located, is one of Bangladesh’s poorest areas. Resources are scarce in this extremely overpopulated region, and many locals struggle to find jobs themselves, said Chowdury, who described the refugees as nothing more than a burden.

“Our area is so poor already, we cannot look after more people, especially when they are involved in crime,” said Chowdury who has strong links with the ruling Awami League party.

According to Chris Lewa, the coordinator of the Arakan Project, a group that advocates for Rohingya rights, politics is fueling much of the current anti-refugee sentiment, as local politicians gear up for promised elections postponed since last year because of allegations that some candidates had registered Rohingyas as voters.
“The Rohingya issue is still used for propaganda purposes among candidates and for their electorate,” said Lewa, who added that most of the Rohingya have since been purged from voter lists.

Leaders of the Anti-Rohingya Resistance Committee, which recently submitted a petition to the government calling for the closure of all camps, said the group will take action if its demands are not met. They warned of demonstrations and hunger strikes, and threatened to block roads to prevent refugees leaving the camps.
“If they do take matters into their own hands, we are very concerned because increased restrictions would mean more and more deaths from starvation,” said one refugee leader.

Another issue that could add to the problems of undocumented refugees is a proposed plan to issue national ID cards to Bangladeshi citizens. Anti-Rohingya groups support the move, which they say would make it easier to determine “who should be sent back.”
Lewa said this is now one of the biggest problems facing the unofficial refugees, who often hide in local communities when conditions in the camps become unbearable.

“Undocumented people are easily singled out, targeted and taken advantage of by the police,” Lewa said. “My recommendation would be that the government register them, either as refugees or, at the very least, by giving them temporary stay or work permits.”
Meanwhile, the Anti-Rohingya Resistance Committee said that their efforts are gaining momentum and that local communities would soon rise up to get rid of the unwanted refugees.

It remains unclear, however, if this surge in anti-Rohingya feeling will pass after the elections, or if the UNHCR’s plan to provide US $33 million in aid for the local population will help to ease tensions. But in the meantime, the Rohingya refugees continue to face food shortages and endure the burden of being stateless and unwelcome in both Bangladesh or Burma.

US Congress Calls on Burmese Regime to Recognize Rohingyas as “Full and Equal” Citizens of Burma

By Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK | September 30, 2010 

US Congressman Christopher Smith has today introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on Burma’s military regime to immediately recognize the Rohingya people “as full and equal citizens of Burma”, and to lift all restrictions on movement, marriage and access to education. The resolution also calls for an end to the regime’s campaign of religious and ethnic persecution “amounting to crimes against humanity throughout Burma”.

Congressman Smith met Maung Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), earlier this year, during a visit to Washington DC organized by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Speaking about today’s resolution, Congressman Smith said, “This legislation underscores the plight and human rights abuses endured by the Rohingyas with the hope and expectation that the light of scrutiny will result in new actions by the many governments that can and should provide assistance and refuge to the Rohingyas. It is an international call to action to alleviate their suffering and persecution in every way that we can.”
In addition to highlighting the suffering of the Rohingyas in Burma, the resolution urges the government of Bangladesh to address “the dire humanitarian conditions and food insecurity in the makeshift camps” along its border with Burma, in co-operation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and to “desist from forcing unregistered Rohingya to return to Burma”. It also highlights the situation of Rohingyas in Saudi Arabia, and urges the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to allow Rohingyas “access to education and livelihoods”.

Addressing Burma’s crimes against humanity, the resolution urges the United States Government to “proactively support” the recommendation by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma for the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry.

Maung Tun Khin, President of BROUK, said, “This is an extremely important resolution, not only for the Rohingya people but for all the people of Burma. We are in full support of the call for a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the regime against its people, and we are grateful to Congressman Smith for his support.”

CSW’s East Asia Team Leader Benedict Rogers said, “We are delighted that Congressman Smith has introduced this very important resolution, which is the first time the plight of the Rohingyas has been given such attention. We hope that the regime in Burma will sit up, listen, end the cruel and dehumanizing treatment of the Rohingya people and restore their citizenship. We hope the Bangladeshi government will take action to improve the plight of Rohingya refugees, and that the United States will make the Rohingyas’ situation a priority.”

For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Kiri Kankhwende, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045 / +44 (0) 78 2332 9663, email kiri@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk. To interview BROUK please contact Maung Tun Khin on +44-7888-714866

CSW is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.
Tags: Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Rohingya, United StatesThis post is in: Press Release

Burma/Myanmar: FIDH calls for the public and unequivocal support of the European Union for the creation of a United Nations commission of inquiry on atrocities in Burma

FIDH, 30 Sept 2010 

Paris – Brussels – Bangkok – The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) addressed today an open-letter to H.E. Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and vice-President of the European Commission calling upon the European Union to support the establishment of a United Nations commission of inquiry in Burma/Myanmar.With this letter, FIDH, transmitted to the High Representative the latest report of its affiliated league, the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN – Burma), documenting the latest grave violations committed in Burma.


FIDH reiterated its call to the High Representative and the European Union to assist the Burmese people’s quest for justice and truth, by supporting the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry in the current session of the United Nations General Assembly and include such a demand in the proposed resolution to be adopted by the Assembly, with a specific fact-finding mandate to investigate allegations on war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed by all actors, state and non-state, in the country.

Under the international human rights law and the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council as well as the doctrine of the “responsibility to protect”, the European Union should take concrete actions in order to guarantee the security and the basic rights of large part of Burmese population.

Contact:
Emmanouil Athanasiou
Responsable du Bureau Asie – Head of Asia Desk
FIDH – International Federation for Human Rights
Fédération Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l’Homme
17, Passage de la Main d’Or
75011 Paris, France
Tél.: 0033 1 43 55 25 18
Fax.: 0033 1 43 55 18 80

Recognize Rohingyas as “full and equal citizens of Burma,” urged US Congress

Source from Asia Tribune, 30 Sept 2010 

 

London – US Congressman Christopher Smith has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling on Burma’s military regime to immediately recognize the Rohingya people “as full and equal citizens of Burma”, and to lift all restrictions on movement, marriage and access to education. The resolution also calls for an end to the regime’s campaign of religious and ethnic persecution “amounting to crimes against humanity throughout Burma”.Congressman Smith met Maung Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK), earlier this year, during a visit to Washington DC organized by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Speaking about today’s resolution, Congressman Smith said, “This legislation underscores the plight and human rights abuses endured by the Rohingyas with the hope and expectation that the light of scrutiny will result in new actions by the many governments that can and should provide assistance and refuge to the Rohingyas. It is an international call to action to alleviate their suffering and persecution in every way that we can.”

In addition to highlighting the suffering of the Rohingyas in Burma, the resolution urges the government of Bangladesh to address “the dire humanitarian conditions and food insecurity in the makeshift camps” along its border with Burma, in co-operation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and to “desist from forcing unregistered Rohingya to return to Burma”. It also highlights the situation of Rohingyas in Saudi Arabia, and urges the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to allow Rohingyas “access to education and livelihoods”.

Addressing Burma’s crimes against humanity, the resolution urges the United States Government to “proactively support” the recommendation by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma for the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry.

Maung Tun Khin, President of BROUK, said, “This is an extremely important resolution, not only for the Rohingya people but for all the people of Burma. We are in full support of the call for a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the regime against its people, and we are grateful to Congressman Smith for his support.”

CSW’s East Asia Team Leader Benedict Rogers said, “We are delighted that Congressman Smith has introduced this very important resolution, which is the first time the plight of the Rohingyas has been given such attention. We hope that the regime in Burma will sit up, listen, end the cruel and dehumanizing treatment of the Rohingya people and restore their citizenship. We hope the Bangladeshi government will take action to improve the plight of Rohingya refugees, and that the United States will make the Rohingyas’ situation a priority.”

US rues ‘dictators in civilian clothes’

DVB, 31 Aug 2010 

Merely “civilianising” Burma’s current situation will do nothing to transform the country, Washington has said in an apparent rebuke to rumours of a major reshuffle at the top of the Burmese army.The retirement from the military of the country’s three top generals, Than Shwe, Maung Aye and Shwe Mann, is seen by observers as a pretext for their role in the new civilian government that has been promised after elections, slated for 7 November.

The elections are Burma’s first in 20 years, and only the second since a coup in 1962 heralded the start of military rule. Than Shwe has resided over the country since 1992, but details of his role beyond the elections remain unclear: a foreign ministry official told DVB last week that he was retiring to become a patron of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), while other sources have said the move is a forewarning of his switch to the presidential role.

Not surprisingly, the news has not been welcomed by much of the international community who predict that the same military men will continue to pull the strings, despite a cosmetic change having taken place.
“A dictator in civilian clothing is still a dictator. The fact that they are moving out of uniform but still constricting the political space within Burma is a problem for Burma,” said US State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley. “And we haven’t changed our view. Just taking the current political challenge and civilianizing it is not the answer.”

The Obama administration earlier this month gave its backing to a UN commission of inquiry on Burma, the first step in investigating whether the ruling junta is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as senior UN officials and top international jurists have suggested.

Crowley reiterated calls for the junta to take steps to “allow for an effective and viable political opposition and have a real competition within civil society in Burma” by opening political space and dialogue with ethnic groups.
He warned that if this does not occur now, “future elections, whether they involve military figures or civilian figures, will not be viewed as credible, free, or fair”.
The country will head to the polls in just over two months, but conditions in the run-up to the date appear to favour the likes of the USDP over the small faction of opposition and ‘third force’ parties who have been permitted to run.

Many have been forced to significantly reduce the amount of candidates they can field due to financial and political constraints – each candidate must pay a 500,000 kyat (US$500) fee, which is beyond the reach of most parties but manageable for the wealthy USDP.
Two of the most prominent opposition parties, the National Democratic Force and the Democratic Party, have said that together they will only field 200 candidates, while the USDP has put forward around 1000.

Generals in reshuffle buying diamonds, gold

Irrawaddy news, 31 Aug 2010 

Rangoon—Family members of recently retired top military officers and government ministers in Burma have been collecting diamonds, gold jewelry and solid gold, according to business sources.Diamond and gold traders in Rangoon said family members and relatives of those who have been recently removed from their top military posts and who will have to resign ministerial posts after the election, appear to be transforming their property into diamonds and gold.

“Ministers and generals don’t keep money in cash,” said a businessman in Rangoon. “They have converted it into strong and valuable items such as diamonds and gold. They don’t need to buy land and cars anymore because they already have as much they want. Those things are not as valuable and as movable as diamonds and gold that they can carry along with their families wherever they go.”


A number of jewelery dealers told The Irrawaddy that the generals’ family members did not come to the market to buy diamonds and gold, but instead send their close business associates and brokers to take care of it for them.

The current price of solid gold is 652,500 kyat [US $665] for one kyat-thar [approximately 0.015 kg].
A gold trader close to the regime’s top generals said gold bars and gold have been purchased in visses [one viss is approximately equivalent to one kilogram].

“It is really difficult to estimate the amount of gold they have,” said a gold trader. “For many years they have bought it, and they are still buying it.”
Family members of the generals are reportedly buying more diamonds than the ministers themselves.
“Diamonds are everyone’s fancy and can be worth millions or billions. Although it is small, it is a treasure that makes the possession stronger and more valuable. Families of top generals are particularly buying expensive diamonds,” said a diamond shop owner in Rangoon.

According to military sources in Naypyidaw, Snr-Gen Than Shwe is well known as the richest of the generals followed by the family of his deputy, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye.
Ministers Aung Thaung of the Ministry of Industry No. 1 and Htay Oo of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation are said to be the wealthiest among government ministers.

Almost all the important positions in the army have recently been filled with a new generation of army officers. The state-run media has been silent on the reported resignations of top military officials in the Burmese leadership structure.

Thailand to sign Myanmar natural gas purchase deal

Reuters, 29 Jul 2010 

Bangkok – Thailand will sign on Friday an agreement to buy natural gas from the Zawtika field at the offshore Block M9 in the Gulf of Martaban in Myanmar from late 2013, Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said.State-controlled PTT PCL (PTT.BK), as a buyer, will sign the gas deal with sellers, which include state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and PTTEP International, a unit of PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) (PTTE.BK), he told a news conference.

PTTEP’s subsidiary owns 100 percent of Block M9, located about 300 km (185 miles) south of Yangon.

PTTEP is expected to supply an initial 300 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from M9, of which 240 mmcfd would be delivered to Thailand and the rest to Myanmar. It is expected to have petroleum reserves of 1.4 trillion cubic feet per day.

Myanmar natural gas accounts for about 30 percent of Thailand’s consumption, mostly in power generation.

About 965 mmcfd of gas from the nearby Yetagun and Yadana fields is exported to Thailand.

The output from the Zawtika field will raise Thailand’s natural gas import from Myanmar to 1.2 billion cubic feet per day, sufficient to meet rising power demand in Thailand, Wannarat said. (Reporting by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Jason Szep)

Malaysia's Never Ending Woes with Refugees

Malaysiandigest, 12 July 2010 

This is the first of the two-series interview with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia Alan Vernon, on several issues relating to refugees and asylum seekers.

 

KUALA LUMPUR, 12 JULY, 2010: Malaysia has been a heaven for refugees starting with the Vietnamese boat people who landed in droves on her shores following the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975.

At the height of the refugee crises about 250,000 Vietnamese people took shelter in Pulau Bidong (a small island off Terengganu's coast) before most of them resettled in third countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, France, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway.

Also, about 9,000 of the refugees returned to Vietnam.

Even after the Pulau Bidong camp was finally closed in October 1991, Malaysia till today remains a heaven for refugees from other countries.

Refugees are actually a global problem and there are 50 million refugees worldwide, said Alan Vernon, 56, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia.    

UNHCR commenced operations in Malaysia in 1975 initially to deal with the Vietnamese boat people. UNHCR also helped the Malaysian Government in receiving and resettling over 50,000 Filipino Muslims who fled Mindanao to Sabah during the 1970s and 1980s.

UNHCR also supported the Malaysian Government in resettling several thousand Muslim Chams from Cambodia in the 1980s and several hundred Bosnian refugees in the 1990s.

 

Refugee Statistics

In Malaysia, at the end of May 2010 there were some 88,100 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR's office where they were given the UNHCR identification document.

At present, Myanmar is seen as the biggest contributor of refugees to Malaysia with out of the total, 81,600 are from that ASEAN nation.

The Myanmar refugees consist of some 38,900 Chins, 18,900 Rohingyas, 6,400 Muslims, 3,800 Mon, 3,600 Kachins and the remaining being other ethnic minorities from Myanmar.

"Many more are in Thailand and that country has possibly four to five million refugees from Myanmar because they share the common border.

"For them to come to Malaysia, it is more difficult. They also come here because they know they can survive here. If they cannot survive, they will not come.

"So I think Malaysia is a victim of its own success. If your economy is worst, you will have your own refugees," said Vernon.

Other 6,600 refugees and asylum-seekers are from other countries including some 3,500 Sri Lankans, 930 Somalis, 580 Iraqis, 530 Afghans and 200 Palestinians.

In terms of gender, 70 percent of refugees and asylum-seekers are men while 30 percent are women.

There are also a large number of unregistered refugees and asylum-seekers with their number estimated at 10,000 persons.

 

Not in Camps

One of the good things about refugees in Malaysia, as pointed out by Vernon is that they do not stay in camps.

The refugee communities live in decent low cost housings across the country, often sharing these spaces with large groups.

"Sometimes the people think camps are a good solution for refugees but generally what happened in camps is that the people suffer much, much more.

"You would also have a situation of forced dependency, people on welfare, people have to be taken care of in the camps.

"Very often when camps are created they tend to last longer than other kind of situations because the camps take on a life of their own," explained Vernon who has been the UNHCR Representative in Malaysia since November 2008.

His association with refugees goes a long way starting with the Vietnamese refugees while he was teaching in the United States in 1978.

He joined UNHCR in 1987 and held the position of Associate Resettlement Officer in UNHCR Field Office in Kuala Terengganu (1987-1991). His other postings with UNHCR took him to Sri Lanka and Geneva.

Vernon noted it was a very positive move that the Malaysian government allows the refugees to move about, which means they could find ways to take care of themselves and to fulfill their own requirements.

 

Refugees and Migrants

However, there is one important thing that Vernon will like Malaysians to understand, that is, a refugee is not a migrant.

UNHCR's definition of a refugee is a person who is forced to leave home based on a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of political opinion, ethnicity, religion or membership in a particular group.

"Luckily Malaysia has never had a situation like that. Malaysia has never produced refugees. We are very happy about that but are hopeful that Malaysians will be tolerant of the fact that refugees did not choose to come to Malaysia.

"They were forced to leave their homes and they cannot go back until the condition back home improves so that they are no longer at risk because of the fear that they face - imprisonment and possibly death.

"This is in contrast to migrants who made a choice to leave their countries for better economic opportunities or better education," stressed Vernon.

It is estimated that Malaysia has in the region of three to four million migrants with 50 percent of those being here legally.

 

Common Challenge

With no short term solution for the refugee problem, the common challenge is to find a way to fulfill the needs of the refugees and at the same time protect the interest of the host country as a whole.

For the record, Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Convention and its Protocol relating to the status of refugees.

Becoming a signatory to the Refugee Convention is an important thing to do otherwise everything has to be done on goodwill. However, this is not predictable and it does not provide guidance to all levels of government.

"So there is a need to put in a legal framework. This is very crucial. This is to make sure they are protected, they are safe, secure until such time when they can go home. Some of them can be resettled but this can never be a solution for every refugee," he added.

Vernon told Bernama that there are fewer resettlement places than there are refugees in Malaysia.

He said his side submitted more than 10,000 refugees for resettlement last year but reiterated the best solution for refugees was to go home.

 

Managing the Issue

Where refugees are concerned, Vernon expresses his optimism that the success stories achieved with the Vietnamese boat people and the Achenese shows there is a solution for the refugee problem.

"When the Vietnamese boats started arriving in Malaysia in 1975 and increased in 1979, it felt like it would go on forever. But it was all over by 1991. The Achenese is another good example, they came and after tsunami they went home," he said.

According to him, Myanmar is a country that is likely to continue producing refugees for sometime to come.

"There is an election this year and despite the problems in the country we are hopeful that things would get better there," he added.

The practical reality is that, he said, Malaysia would need to think about how to deal with the situation in Myanmar. Malaysia being part of Asean should to take into account of the Myanmar refugee problem in its foreign policy and find ways to deal with the situation at the source.

"One of the challenges for Malaysia as it aspires to be a fully developed country by 2020 is that it will need to assume its global responsibility and one of those is to help the situation of refugees.

"The way it works has to be through partnership. UNHCR is here. Other NGOs and international communities can also help and I think there is plenty of space to manage this issue in a better way.