The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Photo: Anurup Kanti Das Jose Ramos-Horta and Prof. Muhammad Yunus The DailyStar: February 25, 2013  One of the fundamental challenges of a democracy is how to ensure the voice of the majority does not trample the essential rights of the minority. In the founding of the United States this was addressed by the Bill of Rights, some form of which is integrated into most democracies today. Even as we applaud and rejoice in the new freedoms enjoyed by the Myanmar people, the country's newly elected government must face this challenge as they evolve from autocratic rule into a democratic state. The tragedy of the Rohingya people, continuing to unfold in Rakhine State in the country's western corner, on the border of Bangladesh, will be its proving ground. The minority Muslim Rohingya continue to suffer unspeakable persecution, with more than 1,000 killed and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes just in recent months, apparently with the complicity

Muslim Rohingha asylum seeker Nuru, 24, with her one month old baby, Muhammad Ayik, at a Thai government shelter in Khao lak, southern Thailand. AFP The Sun Daily: 26 February 2013  KHAO LAK, Thailand (Feb 26, 2013): Homeless, hungry and nine months pregnant Nuru boarded a rickety boat filled with Rohingya asylum seekers fleeing a wave of deadly sectarian violence in western Myanmar. Six days later she gave birth at sea, far from any hospitals or doctors. Since Buddhist-Muslim tensions exploded last June in Myanmar's Rakhine State, thousands of Rohingya boat people - including a growing number of women and children - have joined an exodus from the former junta-ruled country. Those who arrived in neighbouring Thailand have been "helped on" by the Thai navy towards Malaysia further south or detained as illegal immigrants. Hundreds are feared to have drowned along the way while others were rescued as far away as Sri Lanka.

Some of the Rohingya people at the Mirihana detention centre. Skanda Gunasekara Sunday Times February 25, 2013 A severely persecuted minority in Myanmar which fears repatriation while no other country wants them The Government is burdened with the task of feeding and clothing 70 Rohingya people whom no country wants to accept as their citizens. The 68 men and two boys aged 12 and 14 years are from the State of “Rohang” in Myanmar, and are commonly referred to as Rohingya Muslims. The United Nations (UN) says they are one of the most persecuted minority people in Myanmar, and many have fled across the border to either Bangladesh or Thailand. The Sino-Tibetans are the majority population in Myanmar. The first batch of 37 Rohingya people have remained in the Mirihana Detention Centre since February 2, Controller General of Immigration and Emigration told the Sunday Times. A further batch of 33 was lodged there a week ago, following their rescue from the high seas,

In this file photo taken Jan.11, 2011,Prime Minister Thein Sein is seen as he delivers speech during an opening of a road in Burma/Myanmar. Pic: AP. VOA News February 25, 2013 Burmese officials say President Thein Sein is heading to Europe Monday for high-level European Union talks, as the former rogue state deepens ties with the West. Officials say Thein Sein will first fly to Norway, followed by Finland, Austria, Belgium and Italy. Topics expected to be on the agenda are sanctions, development aid, economic reforms, Burma's human rights recordand efforts to negotiate peace in ongoing internal conflicts. The EU responded last April to a string of reforms under the Thein Sein administration by suspending all sanctions except an arms embargo, while the U.S. has dismantled many of its key trade and investment sanctions.

Photo Credit: Nora Rowley Vitit Muntarbhorn Bangkok Post February 25, 2013 Although the term "Rohingya" is subject to various interpretations, it has been used in recent times primarily to cover the ethnic Muslim minority found in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Rohingya have sadly been in the news because of the violence, discrimination, dispossession and marginalisation to which they have been subjected. The depth of their tragedy cries out for a robust helping hand from their state of origin and the international community. Their persistent plight invites deeper understanding of their situation. First, it should be noted that their status in Myanmar was not adequately dealt with at the time of Burma's (later Myanmar) independence. In effect, many of them are stateless. The 2008 constitution of the country perpetuates their marginalisation by providing that a citizen is either a person "born of parents both of whom are nationals of the Republic of Mya