Skip to main content

Response Needed To Revival Of Order On Rohingya Muslims

Scoop.co.nz 
June 1, 2013

Press Release: United Nations Human Rights Commissioner

Myanmar: UN expert urges Government to act on local regulations targeting Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State

GENEVA (31 May 2013) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, today said that the Government must respond unambiguously to the revival of a local order limiting the number of children that Rohingya Muslims can have to two. Contraventions can result in fines and prison sentences under section 188 of the Myanmar Penal Code.

“This local order in the Northern Rakhine State townships of Buthidaung and Maungdaw is a clear-cut human rights violation targeting a particular ethnic and religious group,” Mr. Ojea Quintana said. “The Central Government must provide an unequivocal response.”

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which Myanmar has ratified together with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, obliges state parties to respect and protect the right of women and men ‘to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights.’ Also, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called on the Government not to restrict the number of children of Rohingya people.

“Not only is the local order a violation of Myanmar’s international human rights obligations and commitments, it also goes against the recommendations of the Investigation Commission set up by the President last August, which urged the Government to refrain from implementing non-voluntary family planning measures that may be seen as discriminatory or that would be inconsistent with human rights standards,” the expert said.

“It is the role of the state to provide information to the public on family planning and to provide contraception and other reproductive health services to women and men throughout Myanmar,” Mr. Ojea Quintana said. “It is not the role of the state to introduce discriminatory and coercive measures such as these.”

The Special Rapporteur went on to emphasise that the Government had an obligation to review and revoke all orders which violate international human rights standards: “This local order is one of many that have been introduced by local Rakhine State authorities that violate the basic human rights of Rohingya Muslims, including with regard to freedom of movement, marriage, and registration of new-born children.”

“These orders provide further ammunition to local authorities, including the border security force Nasaka, to discriminate against and persecute the most vulnerable and marginalised group in Myanmar. They also enable local authorities to threaten and bribe the Rohingya Muslims, who have no recourse of action available, forming the basis of what amounts to an extortion racket,” the expert warned, noting that the vast majority of the 800,000 Rohingya Muslims are without citizenship and are stateless, making them extremely vulnerable to human rights violations.

The Special Rapporteur* has previously highlighted that the discrimination and marginalisation of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is one of the underlying causes of the communal violence that erupted in Rakhine State last year and is fuelling the spread of anti-Muslim violence across the country, including this week in Lashio (Shan State) and in Meikhtila (Mandalay Region) last March.

“Only by addressing this discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities can the Government of Myanmar hope forge integrated communities that live together in equality, peace and harmony,” he underscored.

ENDS
© Scoop Media

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rohingya MP U Shwe Maung undergoes questioning

Rohingya MP U Shwe Maung By Kayleigh Long Myanmar Times February 07, 2014 Union Solidarity and Development Party MP U Shwe Maung has been questioned by police in Nay Pyi Taw over comments he made to Democratic Voice of Burma about possible police involvement in a fire that broke out in a Muslim village in Rakhine State late last month. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in the blaze at Du Chee Yar Tan West village near Maungdaw in northern Rakhine State on January 28. U Shwe Maung said the February 4 interrogation came at the behest of President U Thein Sein, who sent a letter to Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann requesting permission for police question the MP. The interview lasted about 90 minutes and was conducted at his USDP living quarters in Nay Pyi Taw. It focused on allegations that U Shwe Maung, a Rohingya, had defamed the state and police by saying that residents believed security forces were involved in starting the fire. ...

ERC representatives and Dr.Maung Zarni partook a seminar in Sweden

ERC Delegation Meet Dr. Zarni Mohamed Farooq ( Mayu Press) May 7, 2013 The Stockholm University of Sweden held a seminar on “Forum for Asian Studies” at William Olsson Hall, the department of geological science on 3rd May 2013. It depicts Rohingya tragedy and Human Right Eradication in western Burma. Burma (Myanmar) is a nation with ambition to make their name and discharge their White Man’s Burden, one of the world’s hottest assignments in the world of diplomats, development consultants, NGO experts and academic researchers, a lucrative ‘frontier’ market for investors, venture capitalists and multinationals, a must-go for both citizen-tourists and global luminaries. This lecture will critically discuss the rose-tinted view of reforms in Burma against the troubling realties as lived by the people of that country, including full-scale Rohingya genocide of 40 years, the 60-years of Burmese army’s un-ending internal colonial wars against the Christian Kachins, the Kare...

রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের কোনো ভবিষ্যৎ নেই

বাংলাদেশের আশ্রয়শিবিরে বসবাসকারী রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের কোনোই ভবিষ্যৎ নেই বলে মন্তব্য করেছেন রোহিঙ্গা বিষয়ক আইনজীবী রাজিয়া সুলতানা। তিনি এই আশ্রয়শিবিরকে চিড়িয়াখানার সঙ্গে তুলনা করেছেন এবং রোহিঙ্গাদের ফেরত পাঠানোর জন্য একটি উপযুক্ত কৌশল নির্ধারণের আহ্বান জানিয়েছেন। কয়েকদিন আগে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের পররাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয়ের ইন্টারন্যাশনাল ওমেন অব কারেজ এওয়ার্ড (আইডব্লিউসিএ) পুরস্কার পান রাজিয়া সুলতানা। সাহসিকতা দেখানোর জন্য সারা বিশ্ব থেকে বাছাই করা ১০ জন নারীকে এ পুরস্কার দেয়া হয়।  রাজিয়া সুলতানার একটি সাক্ষাৎকার নিয়েছে বার্তা সংস্থা রয়টার্স। তাতে তিনি রোহিঙ্গাদের পরিণতি নিয়ে হতাশা প্রকাশ করেন। রাজিয়া সুলতানা বলেন, মিয়ানমারের মুসলিম সংখ্যালঘু সম্প্রদায়ের রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের মধ্যে আশার অভাব রয়েছে। ২০১৭ সালের আগস্টে মিয়ানমারের সেনাবাহিনীর নৃশংস নির্যাতনের ফলে তারা পালিয়ে এসে বাংলাদেশে আশ্রয় নিতে বাধ্য হয়। রাজিয়া সুলতানা বলেন, এই আশ্রয় শিবিরে যত বেশি সময় শরণার্থীরা থাকবেন ততই পরিস্থিতির অবনতি ঘটতে থাকবে। ওই সাক্ষাৎকারে তিনি আরো বলেন, হ্যাঁ, এ কথা সত্য যে, শরণার্থীরা খাবার পাচ্ছে। কিন...