The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Bangkok Post February 11, 2013   Thailand has always been firm in its refusal to confront the problem of human trafficking and to address the humanitarian challenges of the Rohingya boat people. But with women and young children now among the boat people fleeing from violence in Myanmar, their tears and hopelessness captured by photos that spread around the world have made it more difficult for Thailand to avoid the pressure from human rights groups. Certainly, it is easy to make demands on Thailand to treat the stateless Rohingya more humanely. But what about other actors, namely Myanmar, Bangladesh, the United Nations, and other Asean countries? Should they be allowed to continue to stay adrift from this regional and chronic problem? Myanmar, especially, since it is where the Rohingya are coming from. The Yingluck government, as advised by the National Security Council, has bought time to "think about" the Rohingya issue for another six months. To tackle the pr

Halima, 30, a pregnant mother of five, cooks rice at a camp in Sittwe, Burma. The U.N. and other groups are providing food for more than 115,000 displaced Rohingyas, but thousands more displaced must fend for themselves. Jason Motlagh Washington Post February 11, 2013 SITTWE, Burma — Abu Kassim clutched his stomach and heaved forward, replaying the moment his uncle was shot dead last summer, one of scores of people who were killed as sectarian violence engulfed western Burma. Abu Kassim, 26, and his ethnic Rohingya family have since survived on handouts in a makeshift camp on the fringe of this coastal city, unable to return home or look for work beyond military checkpoints. “There are no opportunities here for us, no hope,” he said. “We are prisoners.” Now, he’s convinced there is only one way out: to cross the Bay of Bengal by boat to join fellow Muslims in Malaysia. Abu Kassim is far from alone. Eight months after unrest between Arakanese Buddhists and Burma

Some of these Rohingya died in custody in Ranong in 2009  Photo by phuketwan.com/file PHUKET: Concern is growing about the large number of Rohingya boatpeople being held in a crowded detention centre north of Phuket. A total of 295 men and boys are still being held at the Phang Nga Immigration Centre, a spokesperson confirmed by  telephone  today. It’s understood that detainees are being kept in a space where they can squat but immediately come into contact with others if they  stretch  out. Two teenage Rohingya died in custody in Thailand in 2009 and three more deaths were reported in 2011 among Rohingya detained for long periods in cramped conditions. Late last year,  Phuketwan  was told that 112 newly-arrived boatpeople had been sent straight on from the Phang Nga Immigration Centre to a border detention centre because the Phang Nga centre did not have room for that number of detainees. One group of 93 boatpeople currently being held in the centre smuggl

  Date: 11.02.2013 PRESS RELEASE  Urgent aid, security and international actions are needed to save Rohingyas in Arakan During the last few days,  Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK)  has received the following information from the ground: A Rakhine gang suddenly entered the village of Kadirbil, 3 miles east of Maungdaw Town and attacked a house owned by a poor Rohingya, Dil Mohammed and brutally slaughtered  his 4 innocent children aged 2-10 years  with sharp knives. Their mother, Ms. Roza Begom, was kidnapped and so far nobody knows of her whereabouts. There are more than 220 pregnant women in one camp in Pauktaw. For their delivery they cannot go to a health centre and they will have to deliver their babies in the mud, without a doctor. Rohingya women in Pauktaw Township are highly at risk. Rohingya who are in Buthidaung jail are facing torture by government security forces. Many patients are facing hostility and intimidation when they

United Nations human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana during a visit in August 2011. (Kaung Htet/The Myanmar Times) Myanmar Times February 11, 2013 The United Nations’ human rights envoy will make a six-day visit this week to gather  data  on conflicts in Kachin and Rakhine states ahead of the submission of a report to the Human Rights Council in March. Mr Tomás Ojea Quintana, the special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, will make his seventh visit to Myanmar from February 11 to 16, the UN said in a statement on February 5. “As Myanmar continues to undergo reforms, it is important to assess the current  human rights situation and to reflect on positive developments and remaining challenges,” Mr Quintana said in the statement. The visit is Mr Quintana’s first since August 2012, when he expressed concern about the violence in Rakhine State in June and called for a review of the 1982 Citizenship Act “to ensure that it is in line with international human rights standard

Source   DVB   11 February 2013 By Hanna Hindstrom Nearly 1,000 Muslim Rohingyas, including  women  and children as young as ten, remain incarcerated in northern Arakan state – accused of inciting sectarian clashes last year – where campaigners say they are subject to “pervasive” abuses and at least 68 people are believed to have died in custody. New  data  obtained by DVB shows that torture and violence, including the sexual exploitation of minors, is widespread throughout prisons in northern Arakan state, where at least 966 Rohingyas have been detained since November last year. At least 10 women and 72 children, aged between 10 and 15 years old, are understood to be among the prisoners. An estimated 1,600 Rohingyas were initially arrested in northern Arakan state after two bouts of sectarian clashes with local Buddhists, although many were later released after paying bribes “as high as 20 million kyats (USD$23,350)” to local officials, Chris Lewa from the Arakan Pro

Gulf News February 10, 2013 By Benjamin J. Hayford  Obtaining support from Myanmar’s Buddhist monks is key to gaining popular support for the recognition of the persecuted ethnic minority The move towards greater freedom and representative government in Myanmar over the last few years is a welcome one. But President Thein Sein and his associates in the military have a long way to go towards achieving democracy, human rights, and a market economy. One area of human rights that demands immediate attention is a crisis involving a sizable ethnic and religious group, the Rohingya — one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, according to the United Nations. Imagine life as part of a society that lacks a formal national identity. Now picture that society, devoid of citizenship, being persecuted for having different religious beliefs than the surrounding ethnicities within the country — barred from owning land, travelling, or even attending school. This is