By Osman Joher
First
of all, on behalf of Rohingya Community Ireland, I would like to
thank the government of Ireland for hosting some Rohingyas on
humanitarian ground. And I also would like to thank all the
participants including the organizers of this value program
respectively. We are delighted to have had the great privilege of
addressing this briefing and meeting with different experienced
people. We believe this is an extremely valuable opportunity to
provide a voice for all the people of Burma, including the plight of
the refugee crisis on the Bangladesh-Burma border.”
The
Arakan State of Burma, bordering Bangladesh, is inhabited by two
ethnic sister communities, the Rakhine Buddhist and the Rohingya
Muslim. The Rohingyas numbering approximately 1.5 million, enduring
continued persecution and the ethnic cleansing policy of military
regime in Burma. Also about 1.5 million Rohingyas have been living in
exile in many countries all over the world. The Rohingyas in Burma
continue to suffer from several forms of restrictions and human
rights violations. The Rohingyas freedom of movement is severely
restricted and right to education is harshly deprived.
The
Rohingyas have effectively been denied Burmese citizenship by the
current State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military regime,
although the previous democratically elected governments had
recognized them as the citizens of Burma. They are also subjected to
various forms of extortion and arbitrary taxation; land confiscation,
forced eviction and house destruction and restrictions on marriage.
According
to the Burmese Constitution's of 1947 and 1974, as well as according
to 1948 Citizenship Acts, Rohingyas are Burmese citizens. Rohingyas
enjoyed public employment and obtained Burmese Passport. The
Rohingyas got the rights to elect and to be elected in all levels of
administrative institutions including parliament.
The
Rohingyas of Burma are vulnerable as they have no legal status in
their homeland and are considered non-citizens now. The plight of the
Rohingyas demonstrate how people without citizenship rights in their
own country can be forced out and become refugees, leaving them still
vulnerable and without citizenship in their country of origin. The
"so-called" Burma Citizenship Law of 1982, which violates
several fundamental principles of customary International Law
standards, has reduced the Rohingyas to the status of Stateless
people. Although the 1982 Citizenship law is also discriminatory
towards the vast majority of the Indian and Chinese populations of
Burma, as the promulgation of this law took place soon after the
exodus of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh in 1978.
Rohingyas
in Arakan State must routinely apply for permission to leave their
village, even if it is just to go another nearby village. 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 two-third of the
Rohingyas is poor day laborers, the restrictions on their movement
also greatly affect their ability to find work in other villages or
towns.
North
Arakan has turned into a militarized zone resulting in the increase
of forced labor and other violations of human rights. Still forced
Labor is phenomenal all over Arakan, particularly in the Rohingya
areas, although under increasing pressure from ILO. The SPDC
officials are extracting statements from the people that there is no
forced Labor .The armed forces routinely confiscate property, cash,
food and use coercive and abusive recruitment methods to procure
porters.
The
confiscation of land in Northern Rakhine state is related to the
establishment of "model villages", the construction or
expansion of Na Sa Ka, military and police camps and establishing
plantations for security forces and also for new settlers. Recently
the process of forced eviction had been intensified by the
authorities. The military regime policy of relocating Rakhine
Buddhists and other non-Rohingyas to especially established model
villages to Northern Arakan state has resulted in the confiscation of
land from the Rohingya population.
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
promulgation of new Burma Citizenship law in 1982, the Rohingya
students are denied the right to education. It becomes a great
problematic matter to pursue higher studies while professional
courses are barred to them. Rohingya students who stood in selection
tests and got formal admission in various institutions located in
Rangoon and Burma proper are unable to pursue their studies as they
are disallowed to travel. During recent years about 1500 students
have to stop their further studies.
Rohingya
women have become victims of rape, molestation and dishonor,
increasingly at the hands of security forces. Their age of marriage
is limited and is subjected to forcible contraception. Many Rohingya
women were forcibly married by security forces and then left them
away. Rohingya women are compelled to stay in camps set up by the
security forces for so-called training where they are subjected to
rape and dishonor. Under various pretexts, the SPDC armed forces
intruded the houses of Rohingya villagers in odd times and seized and
carried away the women to their camps for unholy purpose. There were
many instances that women were raped in their houses before the very
eyes of the children or parents.
Hundreds
of thousands of defecto-stateless Rohingyas have fled brutal
oppression in Burma. Impoverished Bangladesh already witnessed two
mass exoduses of 250,000 Rohingya refugees in 1978 and again in
1991/92, which were followed by forced repatriation. Today, 28,000
remain in two precarious refugee camps assisted by the UNHCR and a
few NGOs. But the exodus has never stopped and new arrivals do not
have access to the existing refugee camps and there is no mechanism
for them to seek protection.
Unfortunately
the survival drive that motivated them to leave their country was met
with only few opportunities to start a new life in Bangladesh. The
great majority of them are stuck in limbo without a decent space to
live. They are yet again subject to exploitation. As many of them
fled Myanmar illegally, they cannot go back to their village of
origin for fear of being imprisoned by the authorities. What choice
do these people have?
The
makeshift camp residents, including uprooted families, do not receive
food assistance and are now denied access to livelihood as they would
face arrest if they left the camp to find for work. Food insecurity
and hunger is spreading rapidly and a serious humanitarian crisis is
looming.
Sadly,
such a desperate situation is nothing new to the Rohingya, a Muslim
ethnic minority originating from Myanmar, where they are denied
citizenship and suffer persecution and discrimination. Over the past
two decades, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes to
seek refuge abroad, however, few have been granted refugee status in
Bangladesh and Malaysia. The majority struggle to survive,
unrecognized and unassisted in countries like Bangladesh, Malaysia,
Arab Saudi, and Thailand.
A
fundamental solution for the Rohingya is not only in countries where
they seek asylum but at their origin, is crucial to restoring the
health and dignity of these long suffering people.
Conclusion
and Appeal:
Widespread
violations of basic human rights against Rohingyas population in
Burma continue unabated at the hand of Burmese military regime
despite the presence of UNHCR officials over there. These rights
abuses are carried out severely in places not out of the sight of
UNHCR, but misleading and false propaganda are often circulated to
conceal the truth. One the cheapest propaganda is that the Rohingyas
are leaving Arakan for economic reasons. But the truth is never
spoken. In fact, there is no security of life, property, honor, and
dignity of the Rohingya. Extra-judicial killing and summary
executions, rape of women, arbitrary arrest and tortures, forced
labor, force relocation, confiscation of moveable and immovable
properties, religious sacrileges etc are regular occurrences in
Arakan.
Appeal:
To
solve the Rohingya problem through political and permanent solution
we The Rohingya Community in Ireland invites the attention of the
international community, the United Nations may be apprised that the
ruling Burmese military SPDC is a regime characterized by brutality,
and is bent on exterminating the Rohingya people from Arakan by using
of force, distorting their history, spreading malicious propaganda,
perpetrating genocide and grave human rights abuses against them.
We
the Rohingya Community in Ireland would like to request International
Community and UNHCR to explore a permanent solution to the
outstanding Rohingya problem within the frame work of international
law, pacts, human rights and other international practices;
To
pressurize SPDC to nullify Burma citizenship law 1982 in order to
bring them into line with international standards and recognize the
Rohingya people of Arakan as one of the indigenous nationalities and
therefore, natural citizens of Burma;
To
continue assistance to the Rohingyas refugees in Bangladeshi camps
and elsewhere for their basic necessities, those governments, notably
Government of Ireland, United Kingdom, the United States, Japan,
European Union countries, which have contributed funds to the
Rohingya refugees and resettlement programs, should encourage
Bangladesh to continue allow refugees to enjoy asylum.
Thank
you
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