ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION
ARAKAN, BURMA
Press Release
April 24, 2013
UN Intervention and Commission of Inquiry Most Urgent
Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) welcomes the 153-page report of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) dated 22 April 2013 which titled “ ‘All You Can Do is Pray’: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State” .
In its report, HRW has said that crimes against humanity have been committed by the Burmese authorities and Rakhine Buddhist groups in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State.
The report revealed that government authorities destroyed mosques, conducted violent mass arrest and blocked aid to the displaced Muslims in Arakan since June 2012 deadly violence. The Buddhist mobs attacked the Muslim communities in nine townships, razing villages and killing residents while security forces stood aside or assisted the assailants. The prestigious and credible right group (HRW) said it has uncovered evidence of 4 mass-grave sites in Arakan State. There might be more mass-graves in northern Arakan and to this piece of evidence and information we invite the attention of the UN with the international community to act in response to its ‘responsibility to protect’.
We, therefore:
1. Request the UNSC to immediately discuss and intervene in these serious international crimes and send UN Observers and UN Commission of Inquiry in order to protect the lives, property, honour and dignity of the vulnerable and helpless Rohingya and other Muslim communities in their segregated displacement camps and villages, and also to reveal the findings in public and bring the perpetrators to justice.
2. Request the International Criminal Court to perceive and act in accordance with its spirit “to end impunity and achieve justice for all”
3. Call on the international community, UN, OIC, US, UK, EU, ASEAN and neighbouring countries, including India and China, to put pressure on the Burmese government to put an immediate end to the persecution and abuses against the Rohingyas and other Muslims.
4. Demand Burmese government to scrap the oppressive Burma Citizenship Law of 1982 or amend it to conform to international standards and grant full citizenship rights and ethnic rights to the Rohingyas.
5. Further demand that the Burmese government disband the “969” Neo-Nazi anti-Muslim movement led by firebrand monk Wirathu and spread of hate speeches and leaflets, stickers by extremists against the Muslim communities, and hold the perpetrators responsible.
6. Recall the dire situation of IDPs’ camps where more than 125,000 Muslims have taken shelter and reiterate the upcoming rainy season and its humanitarian consequence.
7. Urge the Burmese government to allow international NGOs and aid workers to run unhindered humanitarian aids to the Muslim displacement camps and villages or it will be responsible for the humanitarian catastrophes involving the lives of people.
8. Request all individuals and organisations to contact their respective MPs or representatives and authorities to create pressure on the government of Burma for a durable solution for this calamitous crisis.
For more information, please contact:
Nurul Islam: + 44-7947854652
Aman Ullah: + 8801558486910
Email: info@rohingya.org
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