The Stateless Rohingya Blog

US deputy assistant secretary Kelly Clements addresses a press briefing along with Ambassador Dan Mozena at American Centre in Dhaka on Thursday. Photo courtesy by American Embassy The US State Department delegation, which visited Rakhaine state of Myanmar on Thursday, said a serious insecurity, tension, persecution and displacement of people continued there and stressed for  access  of international aid agencies in the country. The delegation strongly recommended for immediate humanitarian assistance and access to international aid organisation to supply emergency relief to the victims.

Myanmar government has been deceiving the World Leaders since 1988, why don’t you try to take any action, what do we need to present to you in order to take action and solve the problems? (SITTWE, Akyab, Myanmar) - The following letter from Aung Aung in Burma drives home the need for international intervention over human rights violations in this fledgling democracy that until very recently was a locked down nation run by a military junta that has ruled for decades with a steel fist while deflecting calls to ensure that international laws are both observed and followed.

Maungdaw,Arakan State:  September 8, Noor Khobir (23), son of Noor Hussain was arrested by police officer U Aung Kyaw Kent of Maungdaw police station. The victim belongs to Ward No.5 of Maungdaw Town. Later, he was released after taking Kyat 3000,000.   The victim was arrested in the morning while he was going to the  market  for marketing, according to a close relative of the victim .

Sittwe (Mizzima) – A seven-person delegation led by Turkish Ambassador toBurma Murat Yavuz Ates visited Sittwe [Sittway] and met with officials of the Arakan [Rakhine] State government last week, while providing immediate aid to displaced persons in government camps. 

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Burmese government to provide humanitarian aid for riot-hit victims in Burma's western Rakhine ethnic state, official media reported on Wednesday. The signing took place after the OIC Ambassador Ufuk Gokeen and Minister of Border Affairs Lieutenant-General Thein Htay met in Naypyitaw on Tuesday, said the  New Light of Myanmar , the state-run newspaper.

British MPs this week said the situation in Rakhine State in Burma is an issue of human rights, justice and desperate humanitarian need, and called for the British government to respond.  Tun Khin of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK. Photo: screenshot Speakers said that reports indicated that some members of the Burmese security services have been directly engaged in violence towards the Rohingya, with allegations of mass killings, mass arrests and looting.  Responding to the debate, Tun Khin, president of BROUK, said, “The Burmese Government must be held to account for how they are treating the Muslim people. Injustice is being done to the Rohingya people.”

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to Muslim men in Rangoon amid tensions fueled by attacks on Muslims in Arakan State in June 2012. (Photo: Hpyo Wai Tha / The Irrawaddy) WASHINGTON, D.C. — A senior White House official said on Wednesday that a Burmese government policy that strongly favors Buddhists has fueled tensions between followers of different religions in the Southeast Asian country. “In Burma, preferential treatment for Buddhists and prejudice against ethnic South Asians, particularly ethnic Rohingya Muslims, fuels tensions between the Buddhist majority and Christian and Muslim minorities,” said Denis McDonough, the deputy national security adviser to the Obama administration.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking on "Non-violence and Ethical Values" at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, India, on September 12, 2012. Also seen in the picture is Vice Chancellor Prof. Najeeb Jung. (Photo/OHHDL/Tenzin  hoejor)DHARAMSHALA September 13: Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama called the reports of gross human rights violations n Burma “very unfortunate” and said he tried to contact pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese government over the issue. “Yes, it’s very unfortunate. But no avenue of communication with the Burmese government is open to me. Although I am a Buddhist, very few Buddhist countries, apart from Japan, have given me permission to visit them on pilgrimage,” the Dalai Lama said in response to a question on the reports of gross human rights violations against the Rohingya Muslims in western Burma.

BROUK welcomes the Parliamentary debate on Rohingya at Westminster Hall yesterday. About 25 MPs attended the debate. MPs pointed out that this is an issue of human rights, justice and desperate humanitarian need, to which they must respond. They also mentioned that in the violence in Arakan state, security services have also been directly engaged in violence towards the Rohingya, with allegations of mass killings, mass arrests and looting. Days after the violence started, security forces began targeting predominantly Muslim areas and arrested many Rohingya men and boys, who have not been heard of since. 

An immigration official says the minority can settle in Burma if individuals meet certain requirements. AFP:  A Rohingya Muslim family seen in the Burmese-Bangladesh border after fleeing violence in  Burma's Rakhine state, June 12, 2012. . Rohingyas born in Burma are eligible to apply for citizenship if at least two generations of their families have lived in the country, Immigration Minister Khin Ye said Wednesday, following criticism from international rights groups over the government’s discrimination of the minority group. He said that those who met these requirements “have the right” to apply for citizenship in Burma, where many of them have lived in Rakhine state along the Bangladesh border for generations.

Like millions of my fellow Buddhist Burmese, I grew up as a proud racist. For much of my life growing up in the heartland of Burma, Mandalay, I mistook what I came to understand years later as racism to be the patriotism of Burmese Buddhists. Our leading and most powerful institutions, schools, media, Buddhist church and, most importantly, the military, have succeeded in turning the bulk of us into proud racists.