Community Rohingya Isslam Pro-Democracy Organization(CRIPDO)

95000 Refugee In Malaysia UNHCR document holders to start Registration of Jan 2012

2011-11-09T19:29:00.003+08:00

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has announced that the Government of Malaysia and UNHCR have reached an agreement on the Government registration of asylum-seekers and refugees holding UNHCR documents.

This exercise is planned to commence in January 2012 and will be carried out progressively throughout the country in major cities where refugees are located.

The exercise will be a joint effort involving officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Immigration Department, the National Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNHCR.

“UNHCR will communicate closely with refugee communities on the timing and location of the registration exercise,” said Alan Vernon, UNHCR Representative. “This exercise will continue until all UNHCR refugees and asylum-seekers are registered.”

This agreement is the result of a series of meetings between UNHCR and the Government in which the issue of registration of UNHCR document holders, the possibility of legal work for refugees and other issues of mutual concern have been discussed.

Vernon clarified that this registration exercise involves the registration of asylum-seekers and refugees, and is separate from the Government’s ongoing 6P Migration Management Programme which focuses on migrants.

“UNHCR regards this as a significant opportunity to improve the situation of refugees. The inclusion of their biodata within a Government database will lead to greater protection for refugees, particularly against arrest and detention as their identities can be easily verified by law enforcement officials,” said Vernon.
“This will also help prevent prosecution of persons holding UNHCR documents for immigration offences or deportation. It will also help address the problem of fraudulent UNHCR identification cards.”

“This joint effort to register UNHCR document holders is an important step to improve conditions for refugees in Malaysia, and is a win-win situation for all concerned.”

As part of this registration exercise, and consistent with similar exercises UNHCR has conducted with other Governments around the world, both parties have agreed to ensure the confidentiality of the biographical information that will be gathered from the UNHCR document holders.

There are currently some 95,000 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, fleeing persecution and conflict from many countries including Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

“While Malaysia is not yet a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, UNHCR very much appreciates the cooperation we enjoy with the Malaysian Government and looks forward to continuing discussions on how to strengthen refugee protection in Malaysia including creating opportunities for legal work for refugees as well as enhanced access to education and health services ,” said Vernon.

“UNHCR is also grateful for the close cooperation with the Malaysiangovernment, in particular the Ministry of Home Affairs, in both preventing arrest of refugees and asylum-seekers and securing their release if arrested.”

The UN agency said the exercise would be a joint effort involving officials
of the home and foreign ministries, immigration department, National Security

Council and UNHCR.

"UNHCR will communicate closely with refugee communities on the timing and

location of the registration exercise. It will continue until all UNHCR refugees
and asylum-seekers are registered," UNHCR representative Alan Vernon said in a
statement today.

It said the agreement was the result of a series of meetings between UNHCR
and the government, in which the issue of registration of UNHCR document

holders, possibility of legal work for refugees and other issues of mutual
concern were discussed.

Vernon explained that the exercise was separate from the government's
ongoing 6P migration management programme focusing on migrants. He said UNHCR viewed the matter as a significant opportunity to improve the situation of refugees.

He noted that the inclusion of their biodata within a government database
would lead to greater protection for refugees, particularly against arrest and
detention, as their identities could be easily verified by law enforcement
officials.

"This will also help prevent prosecution of persons holding UNHCR documents
for immigration offences and deportation. It'll also help address the problem
of fraudulent UNHCR identification cards," said Vernon.

According to the statement, efforts would be made to ensure the
confidentiality of biographical information that would be gathered from the
UNHCR document holders.

It said that currently, about 95,000 refugees and asylum-seekers were
registered with UNHCR in Malaysia, including those from Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

United stat expression of the Rohingya refugees in the world

2011-10-16T20:05:00.001+08:00

Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Eric Schwartz Thursday said USA will continue its possible support to the Bangladesh government to assist Rohingya refugees until a permanent solution to the longstanding problem is found, reports UNB.
"The solution to this refugee challenge lies in Burma. Voluntary return of Rohingya in large numbers will only be possible when the basic rights of these people are safeguarded, and -sadly - that is not today the case," Schwartz told a press conference at the American Centre.
He said until such changes take place in Burma the US will continue to do what they can to assist the government and the people of Bangladesh.
Replying to a question Schwartz said political reform and democratization in respect of human rights in Burma are important objective not only for USA but also for the international community.
He said recently US senior official visited Burma to have discussion with senior officials about democratization in respect to human rights.
Schwartz said he did not go to Myanmar on this visit but hoped that he and other officials of the department will visit the area from where
Rohingyas come and promote efforts for social and economic development in the Southwestern part of Burma.
He said humanitarian problems don't have humanitarian solution but those have political solution and the political solution is not in 'our side yet'
The US assistant secretary said until political solution all should try to continue to provide assistance to the victims of repression and prosecution as the Roghigya did nothing wrong.
Schwartz said he had been in Bangladesh for the last three days to explore issues surrounding Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and the region.
On Tuesday he traveled to Cox's Bazar and visited the Kutupalong camp and surrounding areas hosting Rohingya refugees and met with camp officials and officials adjoining areas, members of the local community and representatives of international and non-governmental organizations.
He said he also had opportunity to speak with a number of refugees and to learn of the significant challenges they confront.
Schwartz appreciated the Bangladesh government and its people for hosting hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who have fled persecution in southwestern Burma where the regime systemically denies the human rights and human freedom of the Rohingyas.
He said the US has supported the refugee program in Bangladesh since 1991.
In 2010 US provided over 23 million US dollar to regional appeals of the UNHCR and ICRC as well as 1.28 million US dollar to NGOs assisting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
He said the US is eager to continue and augment its support to the humanitarian efforts of the government and look forward to consulting closely with Bangladesh officials in the future.

Myanmar New government has agreed to take back registered Rohingya refugees

2011-10-16T19:50:00.003+08:00

CRIPDO News: The newly formed government of Myanmar has agreed to take back registered Rohingya refugees currently staying at two refugee camps in Cox's Bazar but made no decision on the large number of unregistered Rohingyas living in Bangladesh.

The number of refugees in Nayapara and Kutupalong camps is now 28,000 and the Myanmar government agreed that a large portion of the listed refugees are Myanmar nationals, said Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes yesterday at a press briefing at the foreign ministry.

Apart from the refugees, a huge number of undocumented Myanmar nationals are living in Bangladesh without refugee status, he said referring to the unregistered Rohingyas.

“Although they do not have refugee status, we are not forcing them out of the country on humanitarian ground,” Quayes said, adding that the Myanmar authorities have agreed to discuss the undocumented nationals.

The refugees at the camps had declined to return, he said hoping that they may have the confidence to go back now as Myanmar has a new government.

Bangladesh, Myanmar and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) took a fresh initiative to return the refugees to their homeland, said Quayes, who attended Foreign Office Consultations held in Myanmar on August 25.

Both governments are in discussion to launch synchronised patrol of the common border by border guards of the two countries to stop fresh influx of Myanmar citizens into Bangladesh, Quayes said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to visit Myanmar soon to discuss this issue among others but the date of the trip has not been fixed yet, he added.

According to different sources, there are more than 300,000 unregistered Rohingyas living among the local population, in slums and villages mostly throughout Cox's Bazar district but also in smaller numbers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The foreign secretary told the press conference that the huge number of undocumented Rohingyas was damaging the environment, creating social problems and disrupting our job market abroad.

Their presence is damaging the forests in Cox's Bazar and the CHT, and the social environment of the locality as many are involved in different types of anti-social and criminal activities, like prostitution and smuggling.

Rohingyas began fleeing Burma in the late 1970s, although the biggest influx was in 1992 when an estimated 250,000 fled to Bangladesh. Most of them were repatriated following an agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar with the UNHCR supervision.

First time Aung San Suu Kyi meets for president Burmese since she was released from house arrest.

2011-08-21T14:30:00.007+08:00

The 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has repeatedly called for political dialogue with the government since her release from seven years of house arrest.

Burma’s government invited Aung San Suu Kyi to a meeting on Friday with the president, state-run television reported, in her highest contact with the new, nominally civilian government since her release from house arrest in November.
Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein held “frank and friendly discussions” to “find ways and means of co-operation,” the state-run broadcast reported while airing video of them greeting each other.

The 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has repeatedly called for political dialogue with the government since her release from seven years of house arrest.

If Suu Kyi’s opposition party reaches an accommodation with the government, it could serve as a reason for Western nations to lift political and economic embargoes on the country that have hindered development and pushed it into dependence on neighbouring China.

Nyan Win, the spokesman for Suu Kyi’s Nation League for Democracy party told the AP that Suu Kyi’s meeting “could be the first step toward national reconciliation,” but declined to elaborate until details were available.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said his government welcomed the reported meeting.

“These are positive steps, and we continue to call for the Burmese government to follow its rhetoric with concrete action towards national reconciliation and progress on core issues of concern to the international community, including the release of political prisoners,” Toner said.

It remains unclear if the government is committed to a dialogue with the country’s most prominent opposition leader, and whether it would be willing to discuss the kinds of reforms that would restore its legitimacy with the international community. The country’s leaders previously have failed to follow through on pledges to initiate substantial reform.

Suu Kyi made her first trip to the administrative capital Naypyitaw on Friday and later went into the meeting with Thein Sein, the official said.

Thin Sein took power in March after an election that critics dismissed as a sham to create a nominally civilian government while entrenching the country’s military rulers. The new government is led by retired military figures, and the constitution ensures the military retains dominance.

However, the new government has become more open about meeting with dissidents, and has introduced some economic reforms.

The period of registration of illegal immigrants, extended week programs 6P

2011-08-21T13:29:00.001+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: "CRIPDO" The registration of the Total Solution program illegal immigrants (6P program) to be ended on Sunday extended a week to 21 August

Secretary General of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Tan Sri Mahmood Adam said the decision was made following the recommendations of the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday to the Implementation Committee for Programme 6P
period be extended.

"This is the ongoing celebration of employers and workers and illegal immigrants at the registration counters 6P The program opened on 1 August, at the immigration office or through a management company appointed by the government," he said in a statement here today.

Mahmood said the government also decided that each Essence that sign up through the company's managers need to consult and use the services of the same company when applying for the bleaching process to be followed in mid-September.

Until the end of the operation yesterday, a total of 1,807,000 foreign workers legally extract and has been recorded, of which, 885.156 is for the Registration of Legal Foreign Workers. -Bernama

Who fled Myanmar's Northern Arakan state Deid 30 Pepol 15/06/2010

2010-06-16T20:45:00.004+08:00

At least 42 people have been killed by landslides and flash floods in southeastern Bangladesh and dozens more are missing, police and local officials said Tuesday.
The flood warning centre said most of the southeast had experienced heavy rainfall during the past 24 hours, with 24.2 centimetres (9.5 inches) falling in many areas.

In the worst affected area of Teknaf -- which is on the border with Myanmar and home to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya refugees -- at least 25 people were killed and six missing, local official A.N.M Nazim Uddin told AFP.

"All the roads are under water. We can't reach areas where thousands of people are trapped by the floods," he said by phone.

Around 15,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps -- both legal and illegal -- around Teknaf have been affected by the floods, Firoz Salauddin, the government's spokesman on Rohingya issues told AFP.

Bangladesh recognises 28,000 Rohingya as registered refugees, who live and receive aid at an official UN camp in Kutupalong. This figure is a fraction of the 200,000 to 300,000 unofficial refugees, according to government estimates.

"Hundreds of bamboo shacks have been washed away by the rains," Mojibur Rahman, a Rohingya refugee who lives in an official refugee camp, told AFP.

The refugee camps are often set up on newly cleared forest land and are vulnerable to landslides in heavy rain.

Conditions are dire in the unofficial camps where people have been without food for two days since the heavy rain began, said Manzural Islam, an unregistered Rohingya refugee.

"Flash floods are the worst thing that could have happened to us," said Islam, who fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine state last year.

"People are living under the sky and we haven't had food for two days as we can't cook in the rain with no shelter," he told AFP by telephone.

Further down the coast, at least 13 people -- including six soldiers -- have died in the southern resort area of Cox's Bazaar, police said.

"We have recovered two dead bodies of soldiers from the mud," police officer Mohammud Shahajahan told AFP.

An army barracks at the foot of a hill was destroyed by a landslide, with all the soldiers on duty and at least 20 army vehicles buried in the mud.

"Four more soldiers are still under the mud, we are trying to recover the bodies," he said

The rescue effort was progressing slowly as the landslides had blocked key roads across the Cox's Bazaar and Bandarban districts, local police chief Nibhas Chandra Majhi told AFP.

"We could not start rescue efforts yet as landslides triggered by the rains have clogged up the main highways," he said, adding that rescue workers expected the death toll to rise as rain continued.

A further four people -- all members of the same family -- were killed by a landslide in the remote Ghumdhum area, in the Bandarban hill district, local police chief Kamrul Ahsan told AFP.

Weather officials have forecast further rains due to a major depression in the Bay of Bengal.

Landslides triggered by heavy rains are common in Bangladesh's southeastern hill districts where thousands of poor people live on deforested hill slopes.

Top US refugee official sets visit to Myanmar border Measot

2010-06-11T17:22:00.003+08:00

The U.S. State Department's top official for refugee affairs says that if military-ruled Myanmar's upcoming election is not fair, asylum seekers from the country can not be expected to return there.

Eric Schwartz, who heads the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, arrived Thursday in Thailand to look into issue regarding asylum-seekers from Myanmar and Laos.

He said he held discussions Thursday with Thai officials who were sympathetic to U.S. concerns over the safety of asylum seekers now in refugee camps in Thailand. Schwartz will visit one of the camps Friday before going to Laos, where he will hold talks about ethnic Hmong returnees sent back from Thailand.

A top US official said Thursday he was "particularly concerned" about the plight of 140,000 refugees from Myanmar in camps along the Thai border ahead of the junta's upcoming polls.
Eric P. Schwartz, US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, raised his worries in Bangkok after meeting Thai officials and activists ahead of a trip to the border camps on Friday.

The refugees have mostly fled a six-decade conflict between mainly-Buddhist Myanmar's junta and Christian Karen rebels, one of the few ethnic insurgent groups yet to sign a peace deal with the ruling generals.

"I'm particularly concerned about the continued situation of vulnerable Burmese in Thailand, about 140,000 of whom are in camps in the border area," Schwartz said at a press briefing, using Myanmar's former name.
Schwartz said that "continued repression and restrictions" in Myanmar's electoral process as it had unfolded so far suggested the polls later this year would "offer little change of conditions within Burma".

"If that does happen, elections will not alter the need of Burmese who fear persecution to have access to a protection outside of Burma."

He said it would be critical for Thai authorities "to continue to permit such refuge".
The United States, which has taken in more than 60,000 Myanmar refugees since 2005, has criticised the regime for effectively forcing the dissolution of the main opposition party of democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her National League for Democracy won the country's last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power by the junta.

Schwartz said the Thai officials he had met "seemed to recognise that it will be conditions on the ground and not the conducting of elections in and of themselves... that will be the key factor in determining whether it's safe for people to return".

In December Thailand defied the United States, European Union and United Nations by forcibly repatriating about 4,500 Hmong people from camps in the country's north back to Laos, despite concerns of persecution on their return.

Schwartz was due to visit Laos after Thailand and discuss the conditions of the returned Hmong.
He said he would also discuss the rights of these returnees to leave, especially a group of 158 recognised refugees who were sent back despite firm offers of resettlement in third countries, including the United States.
*************************************************************
Obama asked to name envoy to secretive Myanmar
Regime reportedly trying to build a nuke

President Obama has yet to appoint a special envoy for Myanmar, whose military-ruled regime reportedly is trying to build a nuclear weapon and plans to hold what U.S. lawmakers see as a flawed election this year.

U.S. officials have expressed disappointment with these developments, and members of Congress and activists say the appointment of a U.S. policy coordinator is key to holding the junta accountable for its bad behavior.

Currently, Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is part of the foreign policy portfolio of Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

"Kurt Campbell has been very attentive to Burma, but he has a lot on his plate. We need someone who makes Burma their first priority," said Jennifer Quigley, advocacy director for the U.S. Campaign for Burma. "For us, 2010 is an incredibly critical year in Burma and it makes it that much more important to have a special policy coordinator."

In a June 8 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Jim Webb recommended Eric John, U.S. ambassador to Thailand, for the special envoy position.

"Ambassador John has spent many years in East Asia, and has long experience in dealing with the North Korean regime on issues that might be similar to those we will be facing in Burma," wrote Mr. Webb, Virginia Democrat who recently canceled a trip to Myanmar over reports that the junta was trying to build a nuclear weapon.

The Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008, requires the president to appoint a "special representative and policy coordinator" for Myanmar.

Mr. Bush nominated Michael Green, a former senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, to the position in November 2008, but the Senate didn't get around to confirming him.

A bipartisan group of nine U.S. senators wrote to Mr. Obama on March 26, urging him to nominate someone to the position. They said there was "both an urgent policy need and an unambiguous legal requirement for this position to be filled."

In response to the letter, National Security Adviser James L. Jones wrote that the administration was in the process of nominating someone to fill the position. That letter was sent in April.

Myanmar elections Mybe on October 10

2010-06-10T20:53:00.001+08:00

WASHINGTON — US Senator Jim Webb said Wednesday he expected Myanmar to hold elections on October 10 and urged support for the vote despite the military regime's exclusion of the democratic opposition.

Webb is a leading US advocate for engagement with the junta, although he called off a trip to Myanmar this month due to allegations the country was developing nuclear weapons with support from North Korea.

Myanmar plans to hold its first elections in two decades later this year, although the regime has not set an exact date.

"What I'm hearing is that they will take place... on 10-10-10," Webb, a member of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party who represents Virginia, told the Asia Society.

The Obama administration last year initiated dialogue with North Korea but has voiced concern about the elections, ahead of which Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was forcibly dissolved.

Webb acknowledged that the election was designed to preserve the military regime, but said it was a step forward that the country would allow at least some opposition figures to stand for seats.

"In East Asia, in Southeast Asia, you have to build the future a step at a time," Webb said.

"When's the last time China had an election? When's the last time Vietnam had an election?" he said. "It doesn't mean we don't talk to them, and it doesn't mean we don't try to advance the notions of a fairer society."

Webb's position has upset many Myanmar democracy activists, who believe the election is a way to delegitimize Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her National League for Democracy won the last vote in 1990 but she was never allowed to take office and has spent most of the ensuing years under house arrest.

Myanmar government troops from the Nuclear Smuggling stolen Real true evidence North Korea .

2010-06-04T23:14:00.005+08:00

An investigation by an anti-government Myanmar broadcaster has found evidence that it says shows the country's military regime has begun a programme to develop nuclear weapons.

Journalists from the Norway-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) have been gathering information about secret military projects in Myanmar for years.

But they say recent revelations from a former army officer show that the military government is pushing ahead with ambitions to become a nuclear power.

The allegations are contained in a special documentary produced by the DVB being aired by Al Jazeera.

On Thursday evening, shortly before the film was due to be broadcast, US Senator Jim Webb announced he was postponing his scheduled trip to Myanmar in response to allegations in the documentary.

"Until there is further clarification on these matters, I believe it would be unwise and potentially counterproductive for me to visit Burma," Webb, who is the Democratic chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs, told reporters in Bangkok.

Burma is the former name of Myanmar.

Webb had been due to fly to Myanmar late on Thursday for talks with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and senior officials in the country's reclusive military junta.

Defector speaks out

The producers of the DVB documentary say evidence of Myanmar's nuclear programme has come from top-secret material smuggled out of the country over several years, including hundreds of files and other evidence provided by Sai Thein Win, a former major in Myanmar's army.

Sai Thein Win says he was deputy commander of a highly classified military factory that was the headquarters of the army's nuclear battalion.

But he says he decided to defect and bring top-secret evidence of the project with him.

"They really want a bomb, that is their main objective," he says in the film.

"They want to have the rockets and nuclear warheads."

His smuggled files were shown to Robert Kelley, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who told the producers they showed clear indications of a programme to build atomic weapons.

"It appears it is a nuclear weapons program because there is no conceivable use for this for nuclear power or anything like that," he says.

Suspicions

However other experts like John Isaacs, executive director of the Washington-based Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, are not ready to make a definitive conclusion yet.

"I would say there are a lot of suspicions," Adams told the DVB. "But it's hard to say there's actual proof of what Myanmar's trying to do."

Sai Thein Win says he decided to defect after seeing a previous report by the DVB about the Myanmar regime's extensive network of secret underground bunkers and tunnels.

The broadcaster gathered thousands of photos and more defector testimony, claiming some of the tunnels are used as command posts, while others – some are large as two football fields – are used for storing secret weapons and equipment to protect them from aerial bombardment.

The tunnels have allegedly been built with the help of expertise from North Korea – a link that has drawn growing international attention.

'Bunker mentality'

Aung Zaw, an exiled Myanmar journalist and editor of the Thailand-based magazine Irrawaddy, told Al Jazeera there was substantial evidence Myanmar had been buying conventional weapons and missiles from North Korea, but the secret nature of the ruling regime makes it very difficult to get at the truth.

"They live in a bunker mentality," he said of the ruling generals.

"They live in fear of an invasion by the West - that's why they relocated the capital to central Burma."

A recent UN report on the sanctions against North Korea banning nuclear and ballistic missile activities, found what it called "suspicious activity in Myanmar" and experts say that might build up the case for an IAEA inspection.

"In many ways North Korea is a parallel to Burma," the Centre for Arms Control's John Isaacs says in the DVB film. "It's a poor country with a weak economy and starvation at home, and yet they manage to gather resources to build a nuclear weapon."

The DVB investigation agrees, but also points out it was not that long ago when few people imagined that countries like North Korea, Iran and Pakistan would also become nuclear powers.

Myanmar Bisnes Man has no hope left for the Mingalar Zay Market Fire

2010-05-24T22:29:00.005+08:00

One of Burma’s largest wholesale markets, located in downtown Rangoon, has been destroyed by fire.

An eye-witness at the Mingalar market in Rangoon’s Mingalar Taung Nyunt township told DVB this afternoon that the fire began on the fourth floor of the multi-storey market building at around 8.20am today. At 4pm Burmese time (10.30am GMT) it was still on fire.

“There are about four to five people on the roof above the fifth floor waving cloths. I don’t know whether they were trapped there or just staying there,” he said.

“Firemen are only dousing water from the outside because they couldn’t really go in…so this is not likely to stop until everything is burned down,” he added. “Apparently the fire is not spreading to other floors as there are firemen [on those floors.]”

Nearby residents have reportedly evacuated their buildings following fears that the fire would spread. The fourth floor is home to a number of cosmetics and drug stores, out of a total of around 4,000 shops and stalls in the market. Burmese from across the country flock there to trade and buy goods.

No casualties have yet been reported. A security official told AFP that one fireman man was injured while putting out the fire.

The cause of the fire is unknown, although there are rumours of an electricity fault on the market.

A similar incident occurred in December 2008 when a fire gutted a market in Moulmein, Mon state. And in February that year, another fire destroyed a shopping mall, information technology park and private businesses in Yadanabon in Mandalay division.

Answer the question about community Rohingya refugees living in Malaysia?

2010-05-18T23:08:00.001+08:00

Malaysia was accused last week of ‘playing volleyball’ with the lives of six trafficked Burmese children, one as young as 10, now being held in a Malaysian detention camp. The country’s track record on asylum seekers and trafficking victims has drawn widespread criticism, particularly last year following the arrest of several immigration officials on human trafficking charges.

Elaine Pearson, deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), tells DVB that the situation for migrants in Malaysia remains bleak, with the government failing to take adequate steps to improve living conditions and stem the flow of human trafficking.

What effects will the recent crackdown in Malaysia have on the rights of Burmese migrants in the country?

In Malaysia, unfortunately the situation for migrants is quite dire, although there have been some improvements in terms of refugee protection. The [UN High Commissioner for Refugees] now has access to some of the detention camps that it didn’t have before. What we’re seeing is that round-ups of undocumented migrants are continuing, and people are being sent to these detention camps. Conditions in these detention camps are very bad; in fact so bad that some people have been dying of malnutrition and disease. And precisely because they are not deporting a lot of the Burmese to the Thai-Malaysia border anymore the conditions are actually over crowded.

How do you view the Malaysian response to the reclassification of Malaysia to a Tier 3 nation by the US state department?

I think it’s a reflection that in Malaysia, Burmese migrants are extremely vulnerable, not only to traffickers and forced labour in the country but also to the complicity of government officials that are actually involved in that trafficking. So Malaysia was put in Tier 3 because there was this US senate foreign relations committee report on the trafficking of migrants at the border. And what that report found was that actually immigration officials are complicit in handing migrants directly over to traffickers at the border. When they get to the border they are basically given a choice either to pay money or else be sold onto a fishing boat or on to a brothel if they’re a woman. So you know really we have done a lot of interviews ourselves in Malaysia where migrants have talked about this problem and talked about how they have had to pay really quite large sums of money in order to return to Malaysia.

So the Malsyian government has taken some steps to address trafficking; they now have a new trafficking law which is quite comprehensive and there have been some moves to prosecute officials. So there have been investigations into corrupt immigration officials in some of these cases; however really we feel that this has to go a lot further. We want to see convictions of the government officials that are involved in those abuses and we also want to ensure at the same time that there are legal opportunities for Burmese to remain in Malaysia otherwise they are all forced into this very vulnerable situation where they are liable to be trafficked or otherwise exploited because there aren’t enough opportunities legally to remain in Malaysia.

Do you think that Malaysia should cease its guest worker program [where employers legally ‘sponsor’ migrants to work] or try and assimilate refugees instead of getting more guest workers?

Well, I think the guest worker program needs to be reformed in certain ways so that it provides basic labour protections to workers. There are a lot of problems in that it doesn’t cover certain sectors of work for people from certain countries but we feel at the same time there needs to be better refugee protection. Those who come to Malaysia in an undocumented fashion but do have legitimate claims to refugee status; they should be able to work in Malaysia and Malaysia should consider not only resettling them to third countries but enabling them to stay in Malaysia in a stable way for a longer period of time.

What in your view can nations like Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh do with regards to the Rohingya?

Well HRW issued a report about the Rohingya back in the 1990s and last year we issued another report on the Rohingya and I was very sad to say that basically the conditions in Malaysia have not really changed. Really the Malaysian government has to recognise that there are serious concerns for the Rohingya’s safety inside Burma so these people do have a legitimate claim to refugee status and we would like to see Malaysia sign on to the refugee convention. We would also like to see other nations that are affected to actually increase their standards of protection for people fleeing situations of persecution.

Do you think a third nation should start taking Rohingya in as refugees?

Absolutely, we think there should be opportunities for Rohingya to register their claims as refugees, which at the moment they experience difficulties in doing so in Malaysia, but we also feel that the Malaysian government should be providing refugees in Malaysia with better protection. While there have been some improvements, there is really such a long way to go for Malaysia to fulfil international standards. So now you have the refugee agency actually able to go and register people in detention centres. But Malaysia really needs to take it to the next step of providing protection to people who are in the country.

Myanmar Tan Shaw Make Army New Party The Name "Union Solidarity and Development Party" For Election 2010

2010-05-09T18:24:00.004+08:00

YANGON - MYANMAR'S prime minister, who recently retired from his military post, has applied to form a new political party ahead of rare elections expected later this year, state media reported on Friday.

Thein Sein and 26 others registered to form the 'Union Solidarity and Development Party' on Thursday at the election commission in the capital city of Naypyidaw, the Myanmar Ahlin and New Light of Myanmar newspapers said.

Although he was not named as the party's candidate for premier, official sources said the newly formed USDP was led by Thein Sein.

'Prime minister Thein Sein will lead the Union Solidarity and Development Party,' an official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Some other ministers are also involved in the party, including agriculture minister Htay Oo and industry minister Aung Thaung, the official said.

The prime minister and some 22 other ministers retired from their military posts on Monday, in a move seen as converting the leadership to civilian form ahead of the elections due this year.

The New Light of Myanmar reported 25 organisations have applied to form political parties over the past month. So far 12 of those have been cleared to campaign, while the rest are being scrutinised, the paper said. Critics charge that the elections will lack credibility because of laws that effectively bar opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part. -- AFP

Myanmar introduces visas on arrival for tourists

2010-05-09T18:07:00.000+08:00

Myanmar's military government will offer visas on arrival to boost the country's nascent tourism sector, a travel industry official said on Tuesday.

Tourist visas, which are normally arranged days in advance at an embassy abroad, will now be available at international airports in Mandalay and the biggest city, Yangon, said Tin Tun Aung, secretary of the Myanmar Travel Entrepreneurs Association.

"We heartily welcome it," Tin Tun Aung told Reuters. "I'm sure it will have a strong impact on tourist arrivals to our country."

The cost of the visa will be $30 US and would be valid for 28 days, he added.

Although Myanmar is rich in jungles, beaches and mountains and is dotted with hundreds of golden Buddhist temples, its tourism industry remains largely undeveloped.

Total tourist arrivals in Myanmar during for the fiscal year 2009-10 stood at 300,000, compared with 255,288 for the same period a year earlier. Some 315,536 people travelled to Myanmar in the 2005-06 period, official data showed.

Many potential visitors are deterred by the poor reputation of the country and its hardline military rulers, who are accused of corruption, stifling democratic freedoms and presiding in decades of human rights abuses

President Barack Obama's administration Said ahead of talks with the ruling junta and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

2010-05-09T18:01:00.001+08:00

YANGON — A top US envoy voiced concern Sunday about Myanmar's preparations for its first elections in two decades, ahead of talks with the ruling junta and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

President Barack Obama's administration last year launched a policy of engaging Myanmar's rulers in a bid to promote democracy and improve human rights, but has since sharply criticised their approach to rare polls.

"We're troubled by much of what we've seen and we have very real concerns about the elections laws and the environment that's been created," said Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

"Our team would like the opportunity to engage directly and see what the plans are in terms of the overall approach of the elections," he told a news conference during a stopover in Bangkok.

Campbell arrived in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw Sunday to hold discussions with officials including Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, a government official in the military-ruled country told AFP, asking not to be named.

Obama's top diplomat for East Asia is due to travel to the main city Yangon afterwards for a meeting on Monday with Suu Kyi, who has been in detention for 14 of the past 20 years.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed it to take office.

The poll result was nullified by a widely criticised new election law introduced ahead of elections due later this year.

Campbell met the 64-year-old Nobel peace laureate in Yangon last November when he became the highest-ranking US official to visit Myanmar in 14 years.

During the latest visit, he is due to hold talks with former members of the NLD, which was dissolved last week under the controversial election law.

"The NLD will discuss with Mr Campbell our stand to solve national reconciliation problems. We hope a good result will come from our meeting with him," the NLD's long-time spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.

A faction within the NLD said Friday that it would form a new political party but had not decided whether to run in the elections.

"I think it's critical to have a dialogue with the government as well as key figures outside the government," Campbell said. "We will be meeting with elements of the NLD. We will meet with other elements as well."

Former top NLD members have said they would urge the US envoy to push for a dialogue between the junta and the democracy campaigners.

"We will discuss with him the matter of the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners" as well as the need for the regime to make its election plans more credible, said Tin Oo, who was the NLD's vice-chairman.

"Daw" is a term of respect in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

The NLD refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a party -- a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader -- and boycotted the vote, which critics say is a sham designed to legitimise the junta's grip on power.

Under election legislation unveiled in March, anyone serving a prison term is banned from being a member of a political party and parties that fail to obey the rule will be abolished.

The NLD was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the military junta that left thousands of people dead.

Years of persecution by the junta have left the NLD in poor shape, and the purist stance taken by the leadership, many aged in their 80s and 90s, has been questioned by a new generation favouring a more pragmatic approach.

Campbell, who is expected to return to Bangkok later Monday, was unlikely to meet Prime Minister Thein Sein, a Myanmar official said.

Bangladeshi newspaper said Dhaka Won't Recognise Undocumented Entrants Rohingya Refugee

2010-05-02T21:21:00.001+08:00

Excerpt from unattributed report headlined "No Fresh Listing of Rohingyas: Foreign Secy Says Dhaka Won't Recognise Undocumented Entrants" published by Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star website on 11 April

Bangladesh will not give in to western pressure for recognition to the large number of undocumented Myanmar [Burma] nationals who entered the country illegally as refugees, said Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes yesterday.

The foreign secretary made the comment at a press conference at the foreign ministry following the proposal of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for fresh registration of the Myanmar intruders.

Mijarul said the regional coordinator of UNHCR had recently made the proposal to the government.

"We have categorically told them that the proposal is not acceptable," he told reporters.

"We don't want to discuss the issue with UNHCR or others. They are undocumented Myanmar nationals and they must go back to their homeland," the foreign secretary stressed.

The government only recognises 28,000 Rohingyas staying at two UNHCR-administered camps in Cox's Bazar, he said.

More than three lakh illegal Myanmar nationals are staying outside the two camps set up in Nowapara and Kutupalong of Cox's Bazar district [on the south-east]. There are, however, no official statistics for illegal Rohingyas.

Mijarul said the government is very "tolerant and flexible" to thousands of illegal Myanmar nationals who are involved in various economic activities.

The foreign secretary said the government is allowing them to take health services on humanitarian ground.

"We have not dumped them in the concentration camps. But this is not our weakness. Our efforts are on to repatriate them," maintained Mijarul.

He also criticised some international NGOs and media for presenting "untrue" stories about Rohingya refugees.

Some western diplomats and legislators have recently visited Cox's Bazar to see for themselves the poor living conditions of Rohingyas. International pressures are there on the government to give recognition to illegal Myanmar nationals.

UNHCR, with the help of Bangladesh and Myanmar government, registered over 200,000 Rohngyas as refugees. UNHCR helped repatriate most of the refugees. Over 28,000 Rohingyas, however, refused to return to their homeland in Rakhain state.

The local administration in Cox's Bazar said that most of the previously repatriated Rohingyas re-entered Bangladesh because of poverty there.

Maritime Boundary:

On maritime boundary with Myanmar, the foreign secretary said the gap with the neighbour has been reduced substantially on the long- standing issue of demarcating maritime boundary.

He said the 6th Technical Committee meeting held in Myanmar on March 17-18 made some progress as Myanmar side shifted its position recognising Bangladesh's plea for "equity" principle.

Mijarul said Bangladesh completed the seismic survey in the Bay of Bengal and the results are satisfactory. On the basis of the survey results, he said, Bangladesh will submit its claim on its territorial sea in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by the deadline of July 11, 2011.

Nuclear power plant:

Mijarul said a high-powered delegation led by two advisers of the prime minister -- Dr Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowhdury and Dr Mashiur Rahman - - are now visiting Russia and Poland where they will discuss all possible sources of energy starting from nuclear to solar energy.

He said earlier Bangladesh and Russia signed an MoU for cooperation in using nuclear energy for peaceful purpose.

"Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will visit Moscow soon and hold talks with her Russian counterpart on wide-ranging issues including the nuclear power plant," Mijarul told reporters.

Immigrants cut their way out of Malaysian detention centre

2010-05-02T17:26:00.000+08:00

Sixteen migrants were on the run Monday after cutting their way out of a detention centre at Malaysia's main international airport, immigration officials said.

Sixteen migrants were on the run Monday after cutting their way out of a detention centre at Malaysia's main international airport, immigration officials said.

The group, 12 Afghan and four Myanmar nationals, got through the gate of a facility at Kuala Lumpur airport where officials said they were being held for their own protection.

"The 16 are believed to have cut through the wire mesh of the gate and escaped the centre where they were being protected from human trafficking syndicates," Selangor state immigration chief Johari Yusof said.

"The Afghans were part of a group of 18 we had rescued in October last year from a ship adrift off our coast as these malnourished victims who were on the verge of death from starvation were being smuggled to a third country," he added.

"The members of the (trafficking) syndicate have already been charged in court and the government was in the process of resolving the victim's situation but obviously they could not wait for this."

Johari said police were looking for the group.

Immigration activists say Malaysia is often used as a staging post for trafficking gangs moving people from Afghanistan and Myanmar to Indonesia and Australia.

Earlier this month, maritime authorities picked up 93 members of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority who had drifted aboard a boat for 30 days after fleeing their country.

Malaysian police last July arrested five immigration officials for involvement in an international syndicate that smuggled Rohingya refugees into the country.

With one of Asia's largest populations of foreign labour, Malaysia relies on its 2.2 million migrants to clean homes, care for children and work in plantations and factories.

The ambassadors of US Ambassador ,Canada, France, the UK, Denmark, Switzerland Said there is no obstacle to repatriation of Rohingya refugees to their

2010-05-02T17:10:00.004+08:00

US Ambassador to Bangladesh James F Moriarty yesterday said there is no obstacle to repatriation of Rohingya refugees to their homeland in Myanmar.
"If the Myanmar government had sincerity the repatriation process could start right now," the US envoy told journalists after a view exchange meeting with government and non-government officials in Cox's Bazar.
The meeting was held during a visit by ambassadors of eight countries posted in Bangladesh to a Rohingya refugee camp at Kutupalong in Ukhia upazila of Cox's Bazar. The UNHCR organised the diplomatic visit.
The ambassadors of Canada, France, the UK, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany were the other members of the delegation.
During the visit, the diplomats also talked with the Rohingya refugees staying in the camps. Besides, they visited schools with computers for Rohingya children set up at different training centers.
The envoys went to Nayapara Rohingya camp at Teknaf by road. After staying there for about two hours they returned to Cox's Bazar.
About 28,000 Rohingya refugees are living in the two camps at Ukhia and Teknaf. Repatriation of the Rohingya refugee have remained stalled for about four and a half years due to non-cooperation by Myanmar and unwillingness of the refugees to return to their homeland.
Earlier on Wednesday, the ambassadors met with the deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar

The fate of Death and Life Rohingya, "This What humantrian name?

2010-04-29T18:43:00.004+08:00

The Rohingya, ethnic minority of Arakan, Burma have been languishing in their ancestral Land, Arakan and in exile for decades since the military took power in 1962. They are being treated as foreigners. The history has shown their existence in Arakan before 8th century and now they are facing religious discrimination by their own goverment. The Muslim ethnic minority, generally known as the Rohingyas, who live in northern Rakhine State, western Myanmar, continue to suffer from several forms of restrictions and human rights violations. The Rohingyas’ freedom of movement is severely restricted and the vast majority of them have effectively been denied Myanmar citizenship. They are also subjected to various forms of extortion and arbitrary taxation; land confiscation; forced eviction and house destruction; and financial restrictions on marriage.

Rohingyas continue to be used as forced labourers on roads and at military camps, although the amount of forced labour in northern Rakhine State has decreased over the last decade.These practices, in addition to violating other basic human rights of the Rohingyas, are discriminatory towards the Rohingya population as they do not appear to be imposed in the same manner and at the same level on other ethnic nationalities in Rakhine State, or in the country as a whole. These restrictions and abuses, and the general discrimination against them, also amount to violations of the right to an adequate standard of living for many Rohingyas. Approximately one third of Myanmar’s population consists of ethnic minority groups; the seven ethnic minority states take their names from the Shan, Kachin, Chin, Kayin, Kayah, Mon, and Rakhine nationalities. These states surround the central plains of Myanmar, where most of the majority Bama (Burman) people live in the seven Divisions.

As a consequence tens of thousands have fled to neighboring Bangladesh and other countries. The Rakhine State (historically known as Arakan), is one of seven ethnic minority states which were formed under the constitution of 1974. The Rohingya population is mostly concentrated in the three northern townships: Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung. The Rohingyas speak a Bengali dialect similar to what is spoken in the Chittagong region of Bangladesh, mixed primarily with words from the Urdu, Hindi and Arabic languages, but also from the Bama and English languages. The first Muslims who settled in this region were believed to be Arab mariners and traders that arrived on the Rakhine coast in the 8th and 9th centuries. Other Muslims who came to the area in later centuries include Persians, Moguls, Turks, Pathans and Bengalis. Apart from the Muslim population, the other major ethnic group is the Rakhine, who are Buddhists. They speak a related form of Bama, but claim separate political and nationality traditions from the ethnic Bama majority of Myanmar. The Rakhine people established independent kingdoms from central Myanmar; the last one was founded in the 15th century with its royal capital at Myo Haung (Mrauk-U). This kingdom was conquered by the Myanmar king Bodawpaya in 1784.4 The population of Rakhine State is estimated at some three million people. Apart from the majority Rakhine population, there are between 700,000 and 1½ million Muslims, most of them Rohingyas from northern Rakhine State. There are also a number of smaller ethnic minority groups, including the Mro, Daignet, Kamein, Thet, and also some Chin. The population of Northern Rakhine State (Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung) is estimated at some 800,000 people, of which 80% are Muslims.

The total Muslim population in Myanmar, the majority of whom live in urban areas throughout the country, is estimated at between 4 – 5% of the total population. The word Rohingya refers to the Muslim population in northern Rakhine State, who have developed a distinct culture and dialect. After Myanmar gained independence from Britain in 1948 civil war broke out when many ethnic nationalities and the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) took up arms against the central government headed by U Nu. In Rakhine State both Rakhine and Muslim groups formed armed opposition groups who fought against the government. It was only by the early 1960s that the tatmadaw, or Myanmar army, captured the main positions of these groups, and reached cease-fire agreements with the Muslim organizations. The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) rejects the existence of a separate ethnic group called “Rohingya”. The vast majority of Rohingyas are not believed to possess Myanmar citizenship. Moreover they are not recognised as one of the 135 ‘national races’ by the Myanmar government. The Government renders full and equal treatment to these people, as with other races, in matters relating to birth and death registration, education, health and social affairs. In the official records, they are listed as a Bengali racial group of the Bengali race and are recognized as permanent residents within Myanmar. However in practice the rights of the Rohingya population of northern Rakhine State are greatly restricted. Rohingyas have testified that the restriction on the freedom of movement and other abuses such as arbitrary taxation increased significantly after the creation of the NaSaKa in 1992.

Refugee flows to Bangladesh:

In 1978 over 200,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh, following the ‘Nagamin’ (‘Dragon King’) operation of the Myanmar army. Officially this campaign aimed at “scrutinising each individual living in the state, designating citizens and foreigners in accordance with the law and taking actions against foreigners who have filtered into the country illegally. This military campaign directly targeted civilians, and resulted in widespread killings, rape and destruction of mosques and further religious persecution. After international pressure the Myanmar government allowed most of the Rohingyas who had fled to Bangladesh to return. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had a presence in the refugee camps in Bangladesh but not in the Rakhine State, nor was it involved in the repatriation process. During 1991-92 a new wave of over a quarter of a million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh. They reported widespread forced labour, as well as summary executions, torture, and rape. Rohingyas were forced to work without pay by the Myanmar army on The Immigration and Manpower Department (IMPD) was renamed the Immigration and Population Department (IPD) in 1998. f Exodus?, Human Rights Watch/Asia, New York, September 1996, p.10. 14 See: Union of Myanmar (Burma): Human Rights Abuses against Muslims in the Rakhine (Arakan) State, Amnesty International, May 1992, ASA 16/06/02. 6 Myanmar, The Rohingya Minority: Fundamental Rights Denied Amnesty International May 2004 AI Index: ASA 16/005/2004.

From the end of 1992 until early 1994 the Bangladeshi authorities, after an understanding had been reached with the Myanmar government, forcibly repatriated some 50,000 Rohingyas across the border. After a formal Memorandum of Understanding was signed between UNHCR and the Myanmar government in November 1993, UNHCR established a presence on the ground in Rakhine State to implement the reintegration programme and to provide protection for the returnees. UNHCR initiated a voluntary mass repatriation and reintegration programme for the Rohingyas in April 1994. At the time international aid agencies expressed concerns about whether this repatriation process was in fact voluntary. Despite the presence of UNHCR, Rohingyas continue to suffer from discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity, and various restrictions and abuses at the hands of the local Myanmar authorities. Although forced labour has decreased since the UNHCR established a protection role in the Rakhine State, Rohingyas have continued to flee to Bangladesh. The exact number of new arrivals since 1996 is not clear, but is believed to be in the tens of thousands. The Government of Bangladesh has denied these new arrivals access to the refugee camps and has not permitted UNHCR to extend protection to them, claiming that they are ‘economic migrants. The mass repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar by UNHCR took place from April 1994 to December 1995. Since that time repatriation has slowed down.

To date a total of 236,000 Rohingyas have returned to Rakhine State from Bangladesh. At the beginning of 2004 almost 20,000 Rohingyas were still in Kutapalong and Nayapara, the two remaining refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar, southern Bangladesh. Seven thousand of these 20,000 people have been cleared by Myanmar authorities for return. During 2003 some 3,000 Rohingyas were repatriated to Myanmar amid reports of the Bangladesh authorities coercing some of them to return. As a member of the United Nations, Myanmar is also legally obliged to take action to promote “universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without istinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” Discrimination is an attack on the very notion of human rights – a denial that all human beings are equal in dignity and worth. This is why international human rights law is grounded in the principle of nondiscrimination. Many Rohingyas also fled to Thailand since 2008 by risky sea route. They claimed that many of them have been shipped and towed out to open sea by the Thai army and police. Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva confirmed that there were instances in which Rohingya people were pushed out to the sea. Several boats have been rescued off the coasts of Indonesia and the Andaman Islands of India. Survivors tell of having been detained in Thailand, beaten, and towed out to sea on boats without engines, sufficient food and water.

1982 Burma Citizenship Act and its Impact:

Law unlike the preceding 1948 Act, which conferred equal rights on all citizens, creates three classes of citizens: full citizens, associate citizens and naturalized citizens. The 1982 Law also establishes a government-controlled “Central Body”, with wide powers to determine specific citizenship issues. Even though the SPDC has stated that in the government’s official records the Rohingya “are recognized as permanent residents within Myanmar”, the vast majority of Rohingyas fail to qualify for any of the three categories of citizenship: The Rohingya are not considered to be a national ethnic group as provided by sec. 3 of the 1982 law, and members of the Rohingya population are therefore ineligible for full citizenship. Although the 1982 law is also discriminatory towards the vast majority of the Indian and Chinese population of Myanmar, as the promulgation of this law took place soon after the Rohingyas who fled during 1978 had been repatriated, some observers have suggested that this law was specifically designed effectively to deny Rohingyas the right to a nationality. The 1982 Citizenship law has had the effect of rendering the vast majority of Rohingyas ineligible to be Myanmar citizens. The law also makes no provision in relation to stateless persons. As detailed above, inclusion on a family list is crucial to the Rohingya’s ability to prove residency.

Many of the Rohingyas whose testimonies were made available to Amnesty International complained that people have been dropped from the family list if they were not present during a population check by the local authorities. Where someone is not present for such a count and their absence is not covered by a travel permit, in many instances the authorities have deleted people from the family list. Amnesty International is concerned that the Burma Citizenship Law of 1982 and the manner in which this law is implemented effectively denies the right to a nationality for members of the Rohingya population. This is clearly not in accordance with international legal standards relating to the reduction of statelessness, and importantly also those in relation to the rights of the child. Furthermore, these laws and practices represent a clear example of discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity given that they clearly make distinctions, exclusions, restrictions or preferences based on ethnic origin with the purpose and/or effect of nullifying or impairing the Rohingya’s recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, and cultural life of the people of Myanmar. Such distinctions are not permissible distinctions relating to nationality, citizenship or naturalization given that they clearly discriminate against a particular ethnic group.

Rohingyas in northern Rakhine State must routinely apply for permission to leave theirvillage, even if it is just to go to another nearby village. This practice does not apply to the Rakhine population in the Rakhine State. Rohingyas’ freedom of movement, therefore, is considerably more limited than that of other residents of the Rakhine State. This has had serious repercussions on their livelihood and food security, as they are often unable to seek employment outside their village or trade goods and produce unless they have official permission and obtain a pass which they must pay for. Most Rohingyas cannot afford to pay on a regular basis for these permits. As an estimated half of the Rohingyas are poor day labourers, the restrictions on their movement also greatly affect their ability to find work in other villages or towns. This is especially important in the non-cultivating season, when there may not be enough work in their village. In February 2001 tensions between the Muslim and Buddhist populations of Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, erupted in communal violence in which an unknown number of people were killed and Muslim property was destroyed. After that travel restrictions on Rohingyas increased. However Rohingyas are believed to be subjected to the most harsh restrictions and reprisals in Myanmar. Forced labour is still a major burden on the Rohingya population.The confiscation of land in Northern Rakhine State is related to the establishment of “model villages”; the construction or expansion of NaSaKa, military, and police camps; and establishing plantations for the security forces and also for new settlers. More recently, a number of forced evictions have taken place when people were accused of having built houses on land that local authorities claim is officially registered as farmland or rice fields, not residential land.

“Model Villages in Muslim populated area in Arakan”

The SPDC policy of relocating Rakhine Buddhists and other non-Rohingyas to especially established “model villages” in Northern Rakhine State has resulted in the confiscation of land from the Rohingya population. Before 1992 several model villages were built in Rakhine State, mainly in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships. After the formation of the NaSaKa in 1992, the building of model villages reportedly intensified. In practice the NaSaKa is responsible for implementing the model village program in Rakhine State.
“The Burmese military authority has recently plans to move 600 Burmese Buddhist families from Burma proper to Buthidaung Township in Arakan to settle in model villages that are currently under construction in the area, reports a source close to the authority. "They are reportedly coming to our township before Burmese new year in April 2010 from Rangoon and other parts of Burma to settle in five model villages. The authority is currently constructing the five model villages in the southern part of Buthidaung," the source said. Five model villages are being constructed on the banks of the Mayu River between Phon Nyo Lake and Ngwe Daung Village in Buthidaung Township. Ngwe Daung Village is located on the western bank of the Mayu River and is close to northern Rathidaung Township about 20 miles north of Sittwe. A villager from the area said, "The authority has constructed 120 houses as well as a primary school and a hospital in each model village. The authority is likely to place 120 families in each model village."

Burmese military authorities are now forcibly rounding up Burmese people who are homeless and living in illegal areas in Rangoon and Mandalay to settle in Buthidaung Township. According to a report by the VOA Burmese section, Burmese authorities recently reported that 500 Burmese families living in an illegal area on Mudita Road in North Okkalarpa in the former capital Rangoon will be moved to settle in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships in Arakan. The authority told the families that if any family did not wish to move to Buthidaung and Maungdaw, the family would need sign a form, the report added. Burmese military authorities have long supported Burmese settlers by providing agricultural land, cattle, and tractors when they arrive at the model villagers. The authority also arranges schools, hospitals, and monasteries for them from government revenue. In northern Arakan State, there are currently over 40 model villages built by the military authority with over 20,000 settlers living in the villages. The military authority constructs the Buddhist model villages in northern Arakan in an effort to adjust the balance of the population between Buddhists and Muslims” (Narinjara News 2/1/2010).

Rohingyas in northern Rakhine State are subjected to extortion and arbitrary taxation at the hands of the authorities. These vary from tax on collecting firewood and bamboo to fees for the registration of deaths and births in the family lists, on livestock and fruit-bearing trees, and even on football matches. The type of taxes and the amounts people have to pay appear to be applied in an arbitrary fashion and vary from place to place, depending on the local authorities. Since the creation of NaSaKa in 1992, the authorities in Northern Rakhine State have reportedly introduced a regulation that the Rohingya population in Northern Rakhine State are required to ask for permission to get married. This restriction appears to be only enforced on the Muslim population in this area, and not on the Buddhist .

Death News of refugees due to stervation:

Thirteen unregistered Arakanese refugees have died of starvation in Kutuapalong makeshift camp because most were unable to go outside the camp to work for fear of arrest by authorities in Bangladesh, said a refugee from the camp on condition of anonymity. The deaths occurred between January 10 to 15, 2010.The dead were identified as Katiza (50), wife of late Kalu, Md. Toyub, (18), son of Md. Zakaria, Md. Rafique (5), son of Zafar, Kalirur Rahaman (45), son of Fazar Ali, Abdul Monaf (35), son of Ali Ahamed, Rina Akter (3), daughter of Abdur Razaka, Asharaf Meah (50), son of Karim Uddin, Hussain Ahamed (50), son of Abdul Kader, Hamida, Noor Mohamed, Md. Boni Amin Sultan Ahmed (45), son of Bodi Alam, Ahamed Ullah (3), son of Fazal Meah and Md Younus (3), son of Abdu Salam. They all belong to Kutupalong makeshift camp. The Arakanese Rohingya refugees died between January 10 to 15, 2010 after arrests of Arakanese Rohingyas started on the border in the beginning of January 2010 by authorities and local people. Among them, Katiza died on February 7. According to sources, the food was insufficient. They could eat one day, but the next two days there was no food. According to our correspondent, many Rohingya refugees are sitting in the camp without any work. They can’t go outside the camp to work to support their family for fear of arrest by police, Bangladesh Rifles and local people.

In the makeshift camp, nearly 50,000 unregistered refugees are living in a critical condition. Of them, over 50 per cent refugees will starve today, said a refugee committee member from the camp. A committee member Rabiual Alam from Kutupalong makeshift camp said, “I have 12 family members, my wife cooked half a kilogram of rice for my children. That is insufficient but, it will just about save the children’s lives.” Some refugees go to the mountain to collect firewood to sell it in the refugee camp and cook food. Every refugee has to pay Taka 10 to the villagers who work under the forest department, a refugee said on condition of anonymity. On February 8, the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) of Battalion No. 42 arrested 18 Arakanese Rohingyas from different areas like Dum Dum Mea, Saparan and Shapuri Dip under the union of Teknaf. Later, they were pushed back by BDR the same day, said a local from Shapuri Dip. Since January 2010, more and more Arakanese Rohingya refugees have been arrested by authorities and local people and sent to Cox’s Bazaar jail, and their family members are facing starvation, said a relative of the victim who is in Cox’s Bazaar jail. If the operation against the refugees continues by the Bangladeshi authorities, more refugees in the camps are expected to die of starvation, another camp inmate said. (Kaladan News, Feb.9,2010) . UN agencies and NGOs are working to address the urgent humanitarian needs of the Rohingya in Myanmar, even as the government considers changes to their status, the UN says. Officially referred to as Muslims, the Rohingya are de jure stateless in accordance with the laws of Myanmar.

In its draft stage, the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP) will for the first time consolidate humanitarian aid efforts for all residents in Northern Rakhine State (NRS), where the Rohingya live. "The humanitarian needs in northern Rakhine State are quite significant, so we need to work together, all the stakeholders," Bhairaja Panday, country representative for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Myanmar, the lead agency in NRS, told IRIN (IRIN News Feb.26.2010).

Conclusion:

The over all sufferings of Rohingyas are summarized above. Rohingyas are victims of religious and racial discrimination in Burma for decades. The Myanmar Junta government denied the citizenship of Rohingyas. Muslim Rohingyas in Arakan have been living there for more than thousand years. Is the period thousand years not enough for the Muslim Rohingyas to be eligible as citizens ? The treatment of Junta towards Rohingyas is against humanity and international human rights Law. The world communities including UN, EU and OIC should come forward to protect the world most oppressed Rohingya people. Bangladesh is most suffering country for refugee influx. But as a neighboring Muslim country, Bangladesh should not ignore the refugees. Rather it should coordinate world communities in order to solving the outstanding political issues of Rohingyas. Otherwise, the refugee flow must be intensified in future. It is quite necessary to observe the situation of refugees those who repatriated earlier, before taking initiative for fresh repatriation or push back.

The situation of newly arrived unregistered refugees those who are living in makeshift camps is worst because they are unable to go out side the camps for earning due to fear of arrest and push back for why facing starvation caused suffering from various deceases and untimely death. The refugee concerned authority should take initiative to register them from humanitarian ground. Arrest and push back must not means to stopping refugee influx because Rohingyas in Arakan are not only facing starvation but also they are being persecuted by ruling Junta. So, the international communities including Bangladesh should take stern measures for a permanent solution to Rohingya ethnicity issue. Eventually, I would like to comment that the Muslim Rohingya refugees should not be treated with hostile attitude in all the countries where they refuge. Rather they should be treated by maintaining humanity and international refugee Law. The Malaysia government is seriously considering now to provide work permit to refugees until they are not settled in third countries. In fact, it is a good news for the refugees in Malaysia. The other countries where refugees are sheltering also should follow the decision of Malaysia government.

Another Rohingya refugee girl raped by local youth In Bangala

2010-04-29T18:35:00.001+08:00

A refugee girl was raped by a local youth on April 15, at about 12:30 pm, in the Nayapara camp in a nexus with a couple of refugees from the camp, said a refugee committee member.

The victim was identified as Rahima Begum (13), (not her real name), daughter of Mr. xxxx , MRC- No. xxxx and Block- x of Nayapara camp.

The victim was called by a refugee woman Ms Mostafa to her shed, only 40 yards away.

When she reached Ms Mostafa’s shed, she was entertained with tea and biscuits. A local youth Md. Siddique (26) was sitting in the shed along with Mostafa’s husband Noor Mohamed, said a relative of the victim quoting the victim.

Mrs Mostafa and her husband suddenly grabbed the victim and gagged her and took her inside.

Md. Siddique went to the room and raped her.

After the rape, she was told not to tell anybody or else she would be killed.

Nevertheless, the victim went to her shed crying and told her parents. The parents accompanied by their daughter went to RTM International health clinic for tests. But, they did not get the report on the day due to the absence of the duty doctor. The next day, on April 16, they got the report from the clinic confirming the rape.

A case was filed with Teknaf police station against the said refugee couple and Md. Siddique.

A refugee elder from the camp said on condition of anonymity, “The local people are encouraged to do all this since January after the Bangladesh government stepped up crackdown against the refugees.”

The refugee couple and Md. Siddique are absconding to evade arrest.

The Camp-in-Charge (CIC), and UNHCR were informed, said a refugee elder.

For over half a century the Rohingya, the Muslim minority population in Myanmar

2010-04-29T18:13:00.005+08:00

For over half a century the Rohingya, the Muslim minority population in Myanmar, has fled the severe repression and persecution they face in their homeland to seek refuge in Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries. Few find the assistance they desperately require and instead are forced to survive in huge, makeshift camps with little or no basic amenities such as food or water. Now, increasing violence and intimidation are forcing the Rohingya to flee once again. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports on the appalling living conditions and maltreatment refugees are enduring at the hands of local authorities in Kutupalong makeshift camp, Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.
She returned from her work at the usual time but, on this occasion, Laila could not believe what she saw. Ever since she had moved to the Kutupalong makeshift camp seven years before, life had been difficult, the surroundings filthy and the help little to nonexistent. But now she had lost her shelter and the small things that made up her home lay totally destroyed.

“Why?” she asked the authoritative figure, standing among the group. In response he brandished a knife and threatened to cut her if she complained any further.

Laila is just one of 25,000 unregistered Rohingya refugees who have sought a safe place to live on the outskirts of the state endorsed, United Nations Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) supported refugee camp. Unlike their approximately 10,000 registered counterparts, the unregistered refugees in the makeshift camp struggle to survive day to day, living in squalid conditions, vulnerable to ill health and exploitation.

“It’s some of the worst poverty I’ve ever seen,” said Gemma Davies, MSF Project Coordinator in Kutupalong makeshift camp. “People are living in makeshift shelters built out of bits of plastic and wood or whatever they can find. They don’t even have basic things to cook with. And the sanitation is appalling.”

In the last weeks, the situation has spiraled out of control, according to the MSF team members who have recently set up an emergency health intervention in the camp.

“This highly vulnerable population is facing imminent expulsion by the local authorities who are using unacceptable methods to uproot them from their homes,” continued Davies. “We hear people were dragged out of their shelters if they refused to move. There was one four-year-old girl who arrived at our clinic with knife injuries and another five-day-old baby that had been thrown onto the ground. It is totally unacceptable.”
Even as the inhabitants of the UNHCR supported refugee camp at Kutupalang celebrated International Refugee Day on June 20, MSF was informed by unregistered refugees living outside the camp that they had, once again, been told by the local authorities to leave. The order followed days of forced displacement, as people were ousted from land surrounding the UNHCR camp and then again off the adjacent Government Forestry land.

The MSF clinic at the makeshift camp, originally intended to deliver basic health care to children under-5 years and to treat the high levels of global acute malnutrition in the camp, has become a haven for those exhausted by what is happening.

“They come to us for solutions which we can’t offer them,” said Davies. The team of MSF medics and Bangladeshi staff feel totally helpless in a situation that is swiftly becoming out of control. “One day, we had more than 50 people turn up to our clinic, saying that they had nowhere to go. They didn’t know what to do. They’d been moved three times in the last week. And we can’t do anything to change their situation. They’re tired. People are threatening suicide now.”

Desperation, and a feeling of resignation, are mounting among the refugees.

“If I’m told to move again, they can kill us, they can run us over, they can poison us, but I’m not going to move again,” said one woman living in Kutupalang camp. “If I go to get wood, I’ll get arrested. If I collect water I’ll get beaten. If we move our houses, we’ve got nowhere to go.”

Amid the unrest, MSF continues to offer medical care to those in need of assistance, both camp residents and the host community alike.

“Our clinic is still very basic and it’s really just for under-five-year-olds. But given the recent events, people of all ages who have suffered violence have been coming to our clinic,” explained Davies. “Fortunately the 27 people who came the other day mostly had minor injuries. So at least we can treat their wounds and offer clinical support.

“We don’t have the solution for these people. It’ s frustrating, but what we can do is provide whatever medical support we can, be there with them and bear witness to what’s happening.”

,i>MSF has assisted people in Bangladesh since 1992, most recently setting up a basic healthcare program in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, assisting victims of Cyclone Aila and implementing an emergency intervention to assist unregistered Rohingya in Kutupalong makeshift camp - with services also open to the host community.

Myanmar Tan Shaw must solve Rohingya problems - Bangladesh-or In world.

2010-04-18T12:55:00.008+08:00

By CRIPDO, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said the flow of Rohingya Muslims into Myanmar's neighbours would not stop unless the former Burma removed problems that compelled them to leave their homeland.

"The Rohingya problem has been lingering for more than 30 years, and Myanmar must take steps to solve that," Moni told a news conference on Friday.

Her remarks came a week after a fresh influx of Rohingyas was reported in Bangladesh, prompting the authorities to step up vigilance at its border with Myanmar.

"The issue has been raised prominently among the countries affected by Rohingya refugees and we hope Myanmar will do the needful to retain their people within its territory," Moni said.

Rohingyas, not recognised as an ethnic minority by Myanmar, allege human rights abuse by its authorities, saying they deprive Rohingya of free movement, education and rightful employment.

Moni said Bangladesh was in touch with Myanmar and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to stop further inflows and get Myanmar to take back those who have already left.

Rohingyas have been leaving Myanmar and heading mainly into impoverished Bangladesh since the late 1970s. The biggest influx occurred in 1992.

Rohingya refugees have created problems for several other countries in the region in recent months, with reports of Thailand putting those who come by boat back to sea, and others reaching Malaysia and Indonesia and trying to work illegally.

More than 21,000 living in two camps the U.N. runs near the southeastern resort of Cox's Bazar are not willing to go back, alleging persecution by the military junta ruling Myanmar.

They are the remnants of some 250,000 Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh in 1992. The rest were repatriated through UNHCR.

"It is (against) U.N. principle to force any refugee to go back home from exile if he does not want" to do so, a UNHCR official said, requesting not to be identified.

Cox's Bazar officials say more then 200,000 Rohingyas live outside the camps, mixing with local Muslims who have an almost common language.

Muslims are a minority in Myanmar, where most of the population is Buddhists. Bangladesh is overwhelmingly Muslim.

The countries share a 320 km (200 mile) border.

On a separate refugee issue, Foreign Minister Moni said Bangladesh would take back so-called "boat people" from Indonesia if their particulars and identities were authenticated.

Indonesia said early this week it would return 114 Bangladeshis who arrived in Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island earlier this year in rickety wooden boats. The status of nearly 280 others was still being considered.
Abhisit told Reuters that officials from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees could meet the latest group that had arrived in the country after they had been given medical treatment.

"We are clear that the matter should be dealt with at the regional level. It's best to tackle the problem at source. We welcome the UNHCR and we hope they do good work in Bangladesh and Myanmar," he said.

More than 500 Rohingya, a Muslim minority fleeing oppression and hardship in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar, are feared to have drowned since early December after being towed out to sea by the Thai military and abandoned in rickety boats.

The army has admitted cutting them loose, but said they had food and water and denied the engines were sabotaged.

30/01/2009 Abhisit blamed human traffickers for the problem and called on Bangladesh, India and Myanmar to help deal with what he described as "illegal, migrant workers, not refugees."

"On our part we will have to do more to stamp out any kind of trade in humans," he said. "I've told the police to crack down on that."

In a bid to avert international outrage, Thailand allowed U.N. refugee workers Thursday to see 12 children among a group of 78 intercepted Monday, who are in police custody awaiting almost certain deportation.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, Abhisit said his foreign minister would meet the UNHCR in Geneva Monday.

Abhisit has promised a full investigation, but said on Saturday the authorities insisted they had not mistreated the people.

"I know there have been reports but they appear to based on the accounts given by those people who clearly want to be recognized as refugees and then put the burden on Thailand in particular," Abhisit said.

He defended the involvement of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), a shadowy wing of the army set up in the Cold War to run anti-communist death squads, saying they were involved because the influx had become so large.

"The policy that was adopted by ISOC had number of principles, among that was not to violate their rights," he said. "They have done what other countries do around the world."

Security agencies said the number of Rohingya intercepted in Thai waters each year has risen steadily to 4,886 in 2008 from 2,793 in 2007 and 1,225 in 2006.

The UNHCR said there are 28,000 Rohingya refugees living in two U.N. camps in Bangladesh and some 200,000 living outside the camps there. Many have sailed from Bangladesh and Myanmar in small boats in recent years and turned up in Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia.

A 44-year-old Oxford-educated economist, Abhisit took over last month after a court dismissed the previous administration that was shaken by months of protests, including those which blockaded Bangkok's main airports in November

A refugee from Myanmar, is making his rounds of shophouses in the heart of Kuala Lumpur

2010-04-18T12:41:00.003+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia,(UNHCR) – It is early on a Sunday morning and Timothy, a refugee from Myanmar, is making his rounds of shophouses in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Some 150 refugees live here, all ethnic Chin from Myanma and renting 25 rooms under the Senthang Housing Project which Timothy coordinates.

The mood is serene, the individual flats small but clean – a marked contrast to the dirty, noisy, cramped places many refugees in Malaysia are forced to rent because they have so little money.

Just ask Li Li, who used to live with her husband, and two boys, aged seven and 10, in a small three-bedroom flat with about 45 other people. "I could not get a lot of rest," she recalls. "Sometimes we had to sleep like this – with a person's head at a person's feet. When someone woke up to go to the bathroom, I also woke up."

That's why Li Li is so grateful for her new accommodations. "Senthang is better for my family," she says. "I like it because it is very quiet here and very peaceful. No one is allowed to drink alcohol and make trouble. There are no bad men here, all Myanmar people and we know who they are. So I feel very safe for my children. I feel very peaceful."

Timothy, a member of the Senthang Refugee Center whose brainchild the project was, is careful to cultivate the sanctuary feeling – the entrance is locked and visitors are limited at night.

The Senthang Housing Project opened in November, 2009 with funds from the UN refugee agency's new small grants project, the Social Protection Fund, which provides up to US$3,500.00 for individual small-scale self-help projects developed and implemented by refugee groups. Since its launch in August 2009, the Fund has approved grants for 42 proposals from refugee groups.

"We wanted to provide our people a safe place to live, where they would not be exploited by the landlord," says Timothy. "In many circumstances, refugees are forced to pay several months' rent up front, which they cannot afford. With the funding we received from UNHCR, we were able to pay the deposit for 25 rooms which the refugees then rent directly from us on a monthly basis."

There are some 82,400 registered refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia, mostly from Myanmar, living in cities and towns. While they receive assistance and support from UNHCR and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many refugees have to find their own ways of surviving in cities. This is why UNHCR set up the Social Protection Fund to support the refugee communities' own solutions.

"Within the refugee communities, there is a wealth of knowledge and skills for project implementation," says Letchimi Doraisamy, the UNHCR officer in charge of the Social Protection Fund. "They best know the needs of their communities for their day-to-day survival."

"Most importantly, they have already been running initiatives that support the needs of their communities even without UNHCR's financial support. By providing grants to refugee groups, UNHCR ensures projects can be implemented and sustained effectively."

The Segambut Myanmar Refugee Community applied for the grant to add on a much-needed service in their existing refugee hostel project – a grocery store for the 250 refugees living in the area.

"We realized that it was difficult for our refugee community to travel to the market due to security fears," says project coordinator Dun, a refugee from Myanmar. "Some have been robbed while carrying money for groceries. A grocery store at this centre would mean refugees can easily obtain daily food items and not worry about security."

So Shining Valley Grocery Store was set up in the living room of the refugee hostel. Dun buys sundry items wholesale and can sell them at lower prices than the neighbourhood shops. Dun says the benefits of the UNHCR funding are more than just a convenient grocery store.

"Half the profit is used to pay for the salary of the shopkeepers while the remaining amount goes back to our community project. We use the money to help with medical emergencies such as delivery of babies, hospitalization costs and other emergency costs," Dun says.

Back at the apartment building, Timothy agrees the pay-offs have been far-reaching and unexpected.

"The profit from the project is now being used for a school for the Chin children living in the neighbourhood, so this is good for our children," he says. "But I think there are more benefits. The tenants of each floor act like a 'village' that shares the cooking and cleaning, and they take care of each other. This becomes a home for them." By Yante Ismail in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

200,000 undocumented Rohingya living in Bangladesh

2010-04-13T18:24:00.002+08:00

Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis in Bangladesh

When a widely circulated newspaper like the New York Times picks up the matter of ill-treatment of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, it is no small matter. It is a matter of grievous concern and shame to tens of thousands of Bangladeshi-Americans who live in and around the Big Apple state. In its February 20 publication the headline read, “Burmese Refugees Persecuted in Bangladesh.” It said, “Stateless refugees from Myanmar are suffering beatings and deportation in Bangladesh, according to aid workers and rights groups who say thousands are crowding into a squalid camp where they face starvation and disease.” It described the situation as a humanitarian crisis.

The NY Times report should come as no surprise to many of us who have been following the inhuman condition of the Rohingyas around the world for a number of years. In its Special Report, dated February 18, “Bangladesh: Violent Crackdown Fuels Humanitarian Crisis for Unrecognized Rohingya Refugees,” the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) criticized the Bangladesh government for violent crackdown against the stateless Rohingyas in Bangladesh. It was a chastising report in which the MSF called for an immediate end to the violence, along with urgent measures by the Government of Bangladesh and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to increase protection to Rohingya refugees seeking asylum in the country.

Last month the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) issued an emergency report, “Stateless and Starving: Persecuted Rohingya Flee Burma and Starve in Bangladesh”. This report reveals a PHR emergency assessment of 18.3% acute malnutrition in children. This level of child malnutrition is “considered “critical” by the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommends in such crises that adequate food aid be delivered to the entire population to avoid high numbers of preventable deaths.” The extreme food insecurity causing this critical level of malnutrition is the direct consequence of Bangladesh government authorities’ restricting movement and, therefore, income generation of the Rohingya, and actively obstructing the amount of international humanitarian aid to this population.

Last week, the American Muslim Taskforce (AMT), an umbrella organization that includes the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), amongst other Muslim organizations in the USA, hosted a press conference in the National Press Club, Washington D.C. to discuss human rights abuses in Bangladesh. In his inaugural statement, Mr. Wright Mahdi Bray of the AMT brought up the squalid living conditions of the Rohingya refugees inside Bangladesh. In the last few years we have raised the Rohingya issue a few times with Bangladesh government, but have failed to improve the deplorable condition.

Denied citizenship rights and subjected to repeated abuse and forced slave labor in their ancestral homes in the Arakan/Rakhine state of Burma by a xenophobic Buddhist government, where they cannot travel, marry or practice their religion freely, and betrayed and battered by their Magh Rakhine co-residents, many Rohingya Muslims have hardly any option left for them to survive with dignity other than seeking refuge outside. The neighboring Bangladesh to the north-west with her huge Muslim population and historical ties with Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar, dating back centuries earlier during the Arakanese rule of those districts (1538-1666), provides a natural setting for seeking shelter. Thus, when the Burmese genocidal campaigns – Naga Min ( King Dragon) Operation (1978-79) and Pyi Thaya Operation (1991-92) – forced eviction of some 300,000 and 268,000 Rohingya refugees, respectively, to seek shelter outside it was Bangladesh where they ended up.

With the assistance of the UNHCR, Bangladesh repatriated most of those refugees back to Arakan. Still, however, tens of thousands of Rohingyas never returned, especially from the second batch of major exodus in 1991-92. The on-going Nasaka operation and targeted violence by the Rakhine Maghs inside the Rakhine state have also forced many Rohingyas to leave their ancestral land and return again to Bangladesh. Many of those refugees have often used Bangladesh as a transit point to seek better shelters elsewhere. Many of the Rohingyas have ended up in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, and also in Pakistan.

As noted recently by Syed Neaz Ahmad in a New Age article, the late King Faisal’s kind gesture to offer the fleeing Rohingyas a permanent abode in Saudi Arabia is no longer respected by the new rulers who have restricted their employment and movement within the Kingdom. According to him some three thousand Rohingya families are in Makkah and Jeddah prisons awaiting their deportation. It is good to hear that the Pakistan government has agreed to take these unwanted refugees. (Islamabad can also do a noble job, albeit a delayed one for the past four decades, in taking some 300,000 stranded Pakistanis – living a miserable life in camps in Bangladesh.)

There are some 13,600 Rohingyas registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia, an estimated 3,000 in Thailand, and unknown numbers in India. Small number of Rohingya refugees also lives in Japan, Australia and the USA. The total number of Rohingya refugees living inside Bangladesh today is not known. The UNHCR stopped documenting the Rohingyas after 1991 as they shifted their focus to Africa and Eastern Europe. From my contacts within the Rohingya leadership, the estimate is around 400,000. Of these refugees, only 28,000 are recognized as prima facie refugees by the Government of Bangladesh and live in official camps under the supervision of the UNHCR. The official camp has everything: primary schools, a computer learning centre funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, health care centers, adult literacy centers, supplementary food centers for children and pregnant women.

Except a handful of wealthy Rohingyas who have been able to settle comfortably within the big cities, the rest of the refugees struggle to survive unrecognized and largely unassisted and unprotected, living in dire humanitarian condition with food insecurity, poor water and appalling sanitation. They live mostly in and around Cox’s Bazar and the Hilly districts of Chittagong. Some of the unfortunate refugees have also ended up living in slums of big cities like Dhaka and Chittagong. As reported by the MSF and the Amnesty International, these Rohingya refugees are treated as unwanted folks and have faced repeated beatings and harassment, including forcible repatriation to Myanmar. Many refugees, who had been repatriated to their country in the past, had entered Bangladesh again as they did not find any development and change in the attitude of the Myanmar authorities.

Some Rohingya refugees live at a makeshift camp in Kutupalong, south of Cox’s Bazar. Last June and July the local authorities destroyed 259 homes in that makeshift camp to clear space around the perimeter of the official UNHCR camp at Kutupalong. There was a crackdown in October in Bandarban District, east of Cox’s Bazar, forcing many Rohigyas to take shelter in the makeshift camp in Kutupalong. In January 2010, another crackdown followed the refugees living in Cox’s Bazar District. To add to the brutality of the authorities, the Rohingyas also suffer at the hands of the local population, whose anti-Rohingya sentiment is fuelled by local leaders and the media.

This was not the first time that this kind of problem emerged for the fleeing Rohingyas. In 2002 during the police action “Operation Clean Heart” many Rohingyas were violently forced from their homes, which led to the establishment of the original Tal makeshift camp on a swamp-like patch of ground. This camp relocated, and in the spring of 2006 MSF started a medical program at the new site, where at the time around 5,700 unregistered Rohingya lived in awful, unsanitary conditions on a small strip of flood land in Teknaf in the Cox’s Bazar District. After two years of providing humanitarian assistance, and following strong advocacy by MSF, which ultimately gained the support of UNHCR and the international community, the Government of Bangladesh allocated new land in Leda Bazar for around 10,000 people in mid-2008. Less than one year later, nearly 13,000 people were living in Leda Bazar Camp, their fundamental living conditions having changed little. According to the MSF, these people continue to struggle to survive without recognition and opportunities to provide for themselves inside an increasingly hostile environment.

With a total population of over 28,400, the unregistered Rohingya at Kutupalong makeshift camp now outnumber the total registered refugee population supported by the UNHCR in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has repeatedly stopped registration of those unfortunate refugees living outside the official camps. Without official recognition these people are forced to live in overcrowded squalor, unprotected and largely unassisted. Prevented from supporting themselves, they also do not qualify for the UNHCR-supported food relief. And sadly, the UNHCR, which is mandated to protect refugees worldwide, makes little or no visible protest at the injustice of this situation.

According to the MSF, the UNHCR is guilty of not taking the return of the Rohingyas as a priority issue. The Office of the UNHCR must take greater steps to protect the unregistered Rohingya seeking asylum in Bangladesh. The UNHCR must not allow the terms of its agreement with the government to undermine its role as international protector of the Rohingyas who have lost the protection of their own state - Myanmar, and have no state to turn to. Any failure to protect the Rohingyas inside and outside Myanmar is simply not acceptable.

We are told that as a poor country, Bangladesh faces a dilemma about the Rohingya refugees. If she shows too much flexibility a huge influx may occur, while being harsh creates concern among international community. Nevertheless, Bangladesh government’s forced repatriation of the refugees against their wishes is simply inhuman and violates international humanitarian laws. It must be immediately stopped, failing which its international image may suffer terribly. It must also stop all harassment against the Rohingyas. Temporary residency permits should be provided to the refugees so that they can earn their livelihood like any other Bangladeshi. There is nothing worse than a forced poverty which leads to crime and other serious problems. Should the refugees choose to leave Bangladesh for a third country the government should not hinder that process either. It must also make all diplomatic efforts to find shelters for these stranded refugees in sparsely populated and prosperous countries of Europe and North America, and the Gulf states.

The Rohingya refugees remain trapped in a desperate situation with no future in Bangladesh. These unfortunate people are caught between a crocodile and a snake: neither the xenophobic SPDC regime wants them back in Myanmar, nor does the Bangladesh government want them to stay because they are largely perceived as a burden on already scant resources. Outside China, none of the neighboring countries of Burma has ratified the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol, the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. This must change by ratifying those conventions.

As the Thai boat crisis of 2009 made clear, regional comprehensive solutions are needed to the situation of the stateless Rohingya. The international community must support the Government of Bangladesh and UNHCR to adopt measures to guarantee the unregistered Rohingya’s lasting dignity and well-being in Bangladesh.

[About the authors: Dr. Siddiqui is a human rights activist who has written and co-edited three books on the Rohingyas of Burma. Dr. Rowley is a medical doctor who as part of MSF worked with the Rohingya people inside Arakan. She is currently affiliated with the US Campaign for Burma.]

Refugees working in the border trade zone in Teknaf

Between a crocodile and a snake
Saturday, 06 March 2010 11:42
Kristy Crabtree

For Riya, life in the refugee camps in Bangladesh isn't much better than Burma. Her shelter rests on the side of a hill pieced together with scraps of tarp and chunks of mud, and she only has access to water for one hour a day. Since being born, her son has been inflicted with numerous illnesses.

He suffers from continuous bouts of diarrhea, his belly is distended from malnourishment, his scrotum enlarged, and his thighs and lower belly covered in red pustules. Riya scrounges for food from relatives, collects and sells firewood from the local forest, and begs for money outside the
camp just to avoid hunger. Under these conditions, she cannot seek medical care for her son because of the constant need to find food to avoid starvation. Riya shares the common sentiment in the refugee camp that the choice between living in Burma or fleeing to refugee camps in Bangladesh, is "like a choice between a crocodile and a snake."

For many Rohingya refugees, like Riya, they sought sanctuary in Bangladesh after being subject to state-sponsored persecution in Burma. Many have experienced property seizures, forced labor, military conscription, and have been prohibited from practicing their faith, or freely traveling,
marrying or having children without permission from Burmese authorities. The Rohingya are an ethnic, Muslim minority from Burma who have no legal recourse and no protection from human rights violations. This is because of a 1982 law denying the Rohingya citizenship in their country of origin. This lack of nationality is the root of their persecution in Burma and the reason why the Rohingya cannot return home.

With no prospects for change in Burma, and a deplorable reception in Bangladesh, the Rohingya refugees are essentially being "warehoused." As defined by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, this means they are kept in a "protracted situation of restricted mobility, enforced
idleness, and dependency." They are denied basic human rights such as the right to wage-earning employment, freedom of movement, access to courts, and public education. Although many Rohingya have been languishing in Bangladesh refugee camps for 19 years, this group is little known outside of Southern Asia. Yet, the Rohingya are a population deserving of
international attention and advocacy on their behalf.

As a stateless group, the Rohingya are stuck in between a country that denies them citizenship and a country that denies them refugee status. To ensure their humane treatment, the conditions and outlook facing the Rohingya must be changed. First and foremost, their forcible repatriation
to Burma must stop. Protection from forced return to a county of persecution is a widely practiced custom known as non-refoulement. Yet despite being accepted by some as customary international law, the principal of non-refoulement goes unrecognized in Bangladesh. Rohingya
refugees have recently come under threat from an unprecedented campaign by Bangladesh authorities to forcibly return them to Burma. Because persecution of Rohingya persists in Burma, their repatriation must stop.

Second, international humanitarian organizations must be permitted to enter the camps and offer basic needs services to the Rohingya to ensure their survival. This is especially important in light of the inadequate levels of aid. In the past, the government of Bangladesh has tacitly allowed a few non-governmental organizations to provide services to the Rohingya, but recently rescinded their approval for some. Now, organizations like Islamic Relief are forced to end their operations in Bangladesh due to lack of government approval. Islamic Relief had provided primary support for 13,000 Rohingya refugees in a makeshift camp. Their exit increases the already overwhelming need for basic survival services.

Riya's experience is just one example that illustrates the need for durable solutions for refugees in the midst of protracted conflict. Unfortunately, Riya's story is not uncommon. There are 39,000 other Rohingya refugees living in refugee camps and an estimated 200,000 undocumented Rohingya living in Bangladesh.

As we approach March 17th, there is special occasion to raise awareness about the Rohingya and advocate on their behalf. This date marks the thirtieth anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Refugee Act by President Carter. The Refugee Act demonstrates U.S. recognition of the ongoing
refugee phenomenon, and the need to provide a haven and overseas assistance for the persecuted.

On this anniversary, the law that demonstrates our desire to provide refuge should be commemorated, but this anniversary should also draw policymakers' attention to the continuing need to provide assistance to those fleeing persecution. There needs to be recognition of the continued displacement of the Rohingya and progress on policies that ensure their humane treatment. As Americans, we need to recognize our ability to act on behalf of those we have not met, our responsibility to choose empathy over apathy, and our power to affect change by placing pressure on our government. This is a population that cannot wait 19 more years for a
solution to their displacement.

Source: March 5, Huffington Post (US

Hanoi ASEAN Summit should take a strong For Myanmar

2010-04-10T17:02:00.001+08:00

08/04/2010 Hanoi ASEAN Summit should take a strong stand to demand free, fair and inclusive elections in Myanmar allowing participation by Aung San Suu Kyi or ASEAN should withhold recognition of legitimacy for election result

The 16th ASEAN Summit currently being held in Hanoi should take a strong stand to demand free, fair and inclusive elections in Myanmar allowing participation by Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi or ASEAN should withhold recognition of legitimacy for the Myanmese election result.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in Hanoi yesterday that all countries, including Malaysia, must play their part for the concept of ASEAN community to become a reality.

He said ASEAN must take the multilateral resolutions agreed at the regional stage seriously if the grouping is to realize the ASEAN community by 2005.

Najib and all ASEAN leaders must be mindful that the ASEAN community is based on three pillars, economic, political and socio-cultural, in particular the human rights commitments made by all the ASEAN governments in the ASEAN Charter “to strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms” (Section 7).

Unfortunately, on the biggest issue confronting ASEAN legitimacy today, the holding of free, fair and inclusive elections in Myanmar, Najib and other ASEAN leaders have been singularly silent at the Hanoi ASEAN Summit.

This is an issue the ASEAN leaders cannot avoid at the Hanoi ASEAN Summit without the regional organization and all the ASEAN leaders being subject to national, regional and international criticisms for being wishy-washy and insincere about their human rights commitments in the ASEAN Charter.

The ASEAN Summit has been presented with a petition by more than 100 ASEAN legislators calling on ASEAN leaders to sanction Myanmar if it failed to hold free and fair elections.

The petition reads:

On 8 March 2010, the military government of Myanmar published new laws governing the electoral process for the nation’s general elections planned for later this year. Numerous provisions in the laws guarantee that the elections will not be open and inclusive of Myanmar’s diverse population, notably excluding participation of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and Myanmar’s leading pro-democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners who form a substantial share of the leadership of non-military-aligned movements and political parties.

With the promulgation of these apparent biased laws, clearly aimed at preventing opposition parties and candidates from contesting the elections, the regime has forfeited its best opportunity to show willingness to engage in an inclusive process of national reconciliation and the establishment of a lawful and democratic government for the Union of Myanmar. In light of this fact, ASEAN and individual governments of its member States must undertake resolute actions to convey to Myanmar’s military dictators that its disregard for principles of democratic governance and human rights is unacceptable and no longer tolerable by its regional neighbours.

Because of the exclusionary provisions of the election laws and the fundamental flaws in the country’s Constitution, enacted in 2008, under which the elections will be held, the results of the elections cannot be acknowledged or accepted by ASEAN, both morally and politically.

Furthermore, the elections are evidently designed to do nothing more than firmly entrench the military’s role in the future governance of Myanmar. The elections will in no way facilitate the formation of a representative, democratic government. If Myanmar insists on conducting the elections without reviewing and revising the 2008 Constitution and the election laws, it leaves ASEAN with no choice but to reject the results of the planned elections.

As Myanmar has thus far ignored ASEAN’s calls to reform and has not been positively influenced by the policy of ‘constructive engagement,’ a new and more decisive course of action must be undertaken. ASEAN should immediately enact strict and targeted economic sanctions against Myanmar’s military government.

Despite large budget surpluses generated from regional trade, the regime has done nothing to improve the welfare of its citizens. The living standards of average citizens have fallen desperately low while members of the military regime and their associates have grown increasingly wealthy off profits from the exploitation of Myanmar’s vast natural resources. Targeted sanctions would effectively cut the economic lifeline of these corrupt leaders and compel them to begin genuine dialogue and reforms.

Furthermore, Myanmar has categorically failed to uphold its responsibilities and adhere to the principles enshrined in the ASEAN Charter. It should, therefore, be immediately suspended from the grouping and its permanent expulsion earnestly considered.

Simultaneously, ASEAN should support, if not propose, to the United Nations Security Council that an arms embargo and most importantly a Commission of Inquiry on crimes against humanity be brought on Myanmar, as recommended by the UN Special Rapportuer on Human Rights, Tomas Ojae Quintana.

Immediate, substantial and effective action must be taken as all forms of constructive engagement with Myanmar’s military regime have undoubtedly failed.

Although a date has not been for the elections by the Myanmar military junta, it is believed that it will be held on Oct. 10, considered an auspicious date by the Burmese generals.

Najib and the other ASEAN governments must stand up and send an unmistakable message to the Myanmar military junta at the Hanoi ASEAN Summit that free, fair and inclusive elections allowing the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar is a litmust test of its qualification as a continued member of ASEAN in the light of the ASEAN Charter and its human rights commitments.

Today NLD was right not to register for the election, but that he was also

2010-04-07T15:46:00.000+08:00

In an Irrawaddy survey involving more than 500 people in Rangoon, nearly half said they do not intend to vote in the upcoming election if the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), does not contest it. The Irrawaddy recently asked 520 Rangoon residents, both men and women, between the ages of 20 and 70, if they will vote in the election, even without the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD. Two hundred and fifty-two persons (48 percent) said they did not want to, while 198 persons (38 percent) said they will vote even if the NLD does not participate. The remaining 70 declined to answer or said they had not yet made up their minds. “I only support the NLD,” said a 54-year-old construction engineer. “I voted for the NLD in the last election in 1990. If the NLD doesn't compete in this year's election, I won't have any party to vote for. I am not going to cast my ballot.” A 30-year-old woman said that she will not vote in an election without an NLD presence as she knows Suu Kyi's party alone. She said that she does not know any other party and is not interested in them. “The election will be meaningless without the NLD,” said a student from the Government Technical College. “All other parties contesting the election consist of people favorable to the regime. So, I am not going to vote.” A majority of those who said they will not vote without the NLD participating thought the party had made the right decision in not registering for the election. Some said they had made the decision not to vote as a means of boycott, because they respect the NLD viewpoint and decision. “I don't think the election will be successful if many people, like us, do not vote,” said a 28-year-old taxi driver. “People need to join hands and they shouldn't go to the polling station.” Those who said they will still cast their ballots in the election, with or without NLD participation, had different reasons for doing so, according to our survey. “As a civil servant I have no choice but to vote. I won't be happy if the NLD doesn't compete in election and I will have to choose another suitable party and vote for it, but not the USDA [Union Solidarity and Development Association],” said a 53-year-old office worker. He added that the regime will force civil servants and military personnel to vote in the election, and could also arrange to mark their ballots the way it wanted. “If I don't go to vote, the authorities will get the chance to use my ballot,” a female trader said. “I can't let that happen, so I must vote.” “We should vote because it is our right,” said a teacher in his 60s. “We must express our opinion. Also, [the election] authorities will convert our votes into theirs if we don't use them. I have thought about this and that's why I believe we should all vote.” Most of those in favor of voting despite the NLD absence said they do not favor the opposition party decision not to register. Many said that people should vote in the election because during the 2008 constitutional referendum the election authorities had transformed unused ballot papers and advanced voting ballots into “Yes” votes. A 40-year-old businessman told The Irrawaddy he has yet to think about whether he will cast his ballot in the coming election, as there will be no NLD candidate. He said that he will make his decision based on the political situation at that time. “The political situation is changing all the time,” said an elderly man. “It will keep changing, so I can't say yet if I am going to vote.” He said he believes the NLD was right not to register for the election, but that he was also concerned that NLD members would be driven out of politics due to the dissolution of the party, which would be a great loss for the people of Burma. “The NLD is the party that was elected by the people,” said a retired headmistress. “I don't like the way the NLD members made the decision not to register for the election by themselves. I think they didn't pay attention to public opinion. People want the NLD to contest the election and they will vote for them. The NLD would surely win again if genuine elections were held.

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