We at BROUK strongly condemn the sentencing of 63 innocent Rohingya boat people to one and a half years each by a Burmese court, under immigration law, after their boat ended up on the shores of southern Burma. According to our reliable source they were left stranded at sea by their agent 16 kilometers from the coastal town of Kawthaung in Tennasserim division.
The Rohingyas have been invariably subjected to religious, ethnic and political persecution in Burma causing their constant outflows, from Arakan into Bangladesh and other countries. Out of the estimated 300,000 Rohingya who fled Burma for Bangladesh, Dhaka has allowed only 28,000 to be registered by the UN, leaving hundreds of thousands as undocumented.
The Burmese regime has already killed, drowned and driven hundreds and thousands of Rohingya over the decades, which are well documented rousing international condemnations calling for actions. An estimated 1.5 million of Rohingya population are in Diasporas particularly in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Thailand and Malaysia. The USDP government continues to exterminate the remaining Rohingya population denying their ‘right to exist’ in their own homeland. This is an international crime with international jurisdiction.
Despite its promises to US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the Thein Sein government has accelerated the violations of human rights against the Rohingyas. According to United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma Prof. Tomas Ojea Quintana, it is not addressing the problems of discrimination, and the endemic situation of Rohingyas.
In light of the decision to award chairmanship of ASEAN to Burma in 2014, ASEAN countries have to monitor closely regime’s self-declared reform process and have to seriously consider for a regional solution of the Rohingya problem, including their boat people issue. It may be mentioned that the deprivation and rejection of Rohingya’s citizenship rights and ethnic rights coupled with policies of exclusion and discrimination are the root causes of the Rohingya problem.
We call upon the international community with the UN, OIC, EU, ASEAN, USA, UK, for the following:
1. To put pressure on the Burmese regime to stop forthwith all human rights violations and abuses against ethnic Rohingyas.
2. To restore citizenship rights and recognize the ethnic rights of the Rohingyas by the Burmese government.
3. To address the root causes of the Rohingya boat people issue and find out a permanent solution to the “Rohingya problem”.
Maung Tun Khin
President
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.
Contact +44 7888714866
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