Burmese gov’t urged to remove military from Parliament

(Mizzima) – The Burmese Rohingya Organization (Brouk) has called for the

Burmese government to introduce amendments to the 2008 Constitution – prior to the 2015 elections – that would remove the military's role in civilian politics, notably its seats in both houses of Parliament.

Brouk, in a resolution, said it welcomed the one-year suspension of E.U. sanctions on Burma earlier this week.

The resolution said the Burma citizenship law of 1982 was designed by former dictator General Ne Win to Remove Rohingya Muslims from the Arakan region. It violates fundamental principles of customary international law standards by depriving the Rohingya of their Burmese citizenship rendering them “stateless” in their own homeland, it said.

The 1982 citizenship law effects Rohingya in their all activities such as restrictions on movement, marriage and education.

The continued rejection of Rohingya’s citizenship rights and ethnic rights by the government of Thein Sein is the main contributing factor to the growth of the refugee problem and the “boat people” crisis in the region, the resolution said.

“The extreme situation has forced them to prefer to take perilous voyages by rickety boats across seas and oceans rather than live in their homeland; as a result hundreds of Rohingya boat people drowned over the years,” said he resolution, which also called on the government to release all remaining political prisoners without delay and conditions.

It called for allowing free access for the International Committee of the Red Cross and international human rights bodies to Burma’s prisons, and for the National Human Rights Commission to intensify its work of promoting and safeguarding the fundamental rights of citizens.

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