ARAKAN
ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION
ARAKAN,
BURMA
PRESS
RELEASE
(14
January 2013)
UN
intervention is most urgent to protect the Rohingya
After
June 2012 deadly violence in Arakan, the human rights situation of
the Rohingya has become more deteriorating with story of “dead and
dying”. Campaigns of genocide and extermination against them are
carried out day in, day out. Rape, murder, arbitrary arrest, looting,
extortion, criminal atrocities, hunger and diseases are persistent
and widespread. Their burned down and depopulated villages are being
populated with Buddhist settlers warmly invited from within and from
Bangladesh. These are the main ‘push factors’ that cause
the migration of Rohingya to neighbouring countries for which the
Burmese government and Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP)
with Dr. Aye Maung are fully responsible.
Most Rohingyas,
including those about 140,000 internally displaced during the
carnage, have nothing to eat and
nowhere to go and are dying of hunger, malnutrition and diseases.
Humanitarian aids to the Rohingya displacement camps and areas have
been systematically blocked by the local administration dominated by
RNDP, with organized gangs of Buddhist Rakhine. It is almost
unprecedented that some 50 drinking water ponds of the Rohingya
villages have been poisoned by the Buddhist Rakhine and the security
forces.
No
school or madrassa education is available for the Rohingya children
in villages and displacement camps. Most of the mosques are still
closed down, and funeral prayers for the deceased persons are
disallowed without payment. Villagers and Maulvis (religious persons)
were tortured for performing funeral services. In Shweza village of
Maungdaw NaSaKa intelligence officer Aung Naing from Outpost No. 14
under Sector No.6 is extorting Kyat 10,000 to 25,000 for each
funeral.
NaSaKa
security forces are conducting sporadic surveys coercing
the Rohingya villagers to write ‘Bengali’ as their racial name in
place of ‘Rohingya’ against their will. Some villagers were
arrested or tortured for opposing their dictation while others
escaped away.
Since
June 2012, an estimated 13,000 Rohingya took perilous voyages towards
Malaysia and more than 500 boat people are missing or have drowned
after several boats sinking, while a number of them ended up in jails
and detention in countries within the region. During recent weeks
Thai security forces rescued 773 beleaguered Rohingya in Songkhla
province whereas another group of 73 rescued Rohingya are reported
under threat of ‘push back’ to Burma where they face persecution.
The boat people are often victimized at the hands of the human
traffickers who used to sell them to slavery for 60,000 to 70,000
Bhat ($1,975 to $ 2,304) per person, particularly to fishing
industry.
Rohingya
tragedies and boat people disaster have got out of hand causing
serious regional problem with international perspective. Primarily
the Rohingya problem needs to be resolved within Burma, but there is
no change of attitude of the ruling civil-military hybrid government
towards them. In the absence of national protection the
responsibility to protect them weighs on the international community.
We,
therefore, request the United Nations and its Members of the Security
Council to send UN Peacekeeping Force to Arakan in order to protect
the helpless Rohingya people; and to constitute a UN Commission of
Inquiry to investigate the international crimes committed against
Rohingya and bring the perpetrators to justice.
For
more information, please contact:
Nurul
Islam: + 44 07947854652
Aman Ullah + 880 1558486910
Email:
info@rohingya.org
www.rohingya.org
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