The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Muslim Rohingyas stand outside a school sheltering Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in the village of Theik Kayk Pyim, located on the outskirts of Sittwe, capital of Myanmar’s western Rakhine state. — AFP SITTWE  — Barbed wire and armed troops guard the Muslim quarter of a violence-wracked city in western Myanmar, a virtual prison for the families that have inhabited its narrow streets for generations.

Rohingya women stand in front of their makeshift home in an unregistered Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf on 17 June 2012. (Reuters) Barbed wire and armed troops guard the Muslim quarter of a violence-wracked city in western Burma, a virtual prison for the families that have inhabited its narrow streets for generations. The security forces outside the ghetto in the Arakan state capital of Sittwe are not there to stop its residents leaving – although few dare to anyway – but to protect them from Buddhist mobs after an outburst of sectarian hatred.

Date 19.10.2012 According to the source of ERC, Rohingya Muslims of Alethankyaw were summoned to attend a meeting arranged by Border Control (Na Sa Ka) area 8 commander Aung Naing Oo and police officers today. But no one appeared to the meeting. So they send security forces to the village and herded all Rohingya Muslims they found on the road and in the village to the meeting ground.

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Police personnel from Maungdaw police department used the emergency Act 144 to extort money from Rohingyas youth on October 19, according to an elder from Maungdaw. “The police personnel- U Maung Chey- extorted 100,000 kyat from five Rohingyas youth who are sitting and talking each other in a place near the Maungdaw clock tower with allegation of emergency Act 144.”

An elderly Muslim Rohingya woman stands by a small stall in the Aung Mingalar quarter, turned into a ghetto after violence wracked the city of Sittwe, capital of Myanmar's western Rakhine state. AFP -  Barbed wire and armed troops guard the Muslim quarter of a violence-wracked city in western Myanmar, a virtual prison for the families that have inhabited its narrow streets for generations. The security forces outside the ghetto in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe are not there to stop its residents leaving -- although few dare to anyway -- but to protect them from Buddhist mobs after an outburst of sectarian hatred.

Teknaf, Bangladesh:  A worker – working as daily base- died in Teknaf land port yesterday while he was loading timbers into a truck, according to worker from Tekanf land port. “The daily workers are working in Teknaf land port with low wages and no medical facility inside port. The port authority is using daily workers for any accident insurance while working on the timbers. The timbers are heavy and frequently occur accident which made the workers injured.

SHUDEEPTO ARIQUZZAMAN recounts the decades of violence perpetrated against the Rohingya community in Myanmar.  In Myanmar and beyond, many are excited about the country's future where, after decades of direct military rule, a new era suddenly seems to be opening up under reformist President Thein Sein. However, for some ethnic and religious minorities, liberalisation and sweeping political reforms are hardly a cause for optimism. The most notable among them are the Rohingyas, a Muslim community, brutalised ever since Myanmar gained independence and who only this year has been the target of pillaging mobs and an unsympathetic security apparatus. They are widely regarded as one of the world's most persecuted minorities and the most persecuted minority in Asia. 

Through Timothy Dwight College’s Chubb Fellowship, Nobel Prize laureate and internationally renowned democracy and human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi delivered a speech at Sprague Hall that drew roughly 700 attendees. Photo by  Joyce  This is the first piece in Erin McDonough’s new WEEKEND Blog column, “International Bulletin: A quick dispatch for the curious Eli.”