The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Arab News Ramzy Barod June 4, 2013 ON April 21, the BBC obtained disturbing video footage shot in Myanmar. It confirmed extreme reports of what has been taking place in that country, even as it is being touted by the US and European governments as a success story pertaining to political reforms and democracy. The BBC footage was difficult to watch even when faces of Muslim Rohingya victims were blurred. To say the least, the level of violence exhibited by their Arakan Buddhist attackers was frightening. “The Burmese police (stood) by as shops, homes and mosques are looted and burned, and failing to intervene as Buddhist mobs, including monks, kill fleeing Muslims,” the BBC reported. A Rohingya man was set ablaze while still alive. The police watched. To some extent, international media are finally noticing the plight of the Rohingyas who are experiencing what can only be described as genocide. And there are reasons for this. On one hand, the atrocities being carri

Environmental Graffiti: June 4, 2013 Photo:  Artur Gutowski A Rohingya girl living in one of the Bangladeshi camps Conditions in these refugee camps are desperate. The cobbled-together huts that pass as housing have no electricity and limited  access  to water. Disease is rife under such squalid conditions, as is violence against the vulnerable, and little aid comes in from the outside world. This is the home of the Rohingya, one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Landless and poverty-stricken, they are unwanted by both the country of their birth and the states to which they have fled. Photo:  Artur Gutowski A man and child overlooking the area Photographer Artur Gutowski captured these touching images of Rohingya refugees in the Kutupalong and Shaplapour camps on the Burmese-Bangladeshi border. “According to Human Rights Watch, the conditions in the camp are more desperate than in any other area where the organization is  active ,” says Gutowski.

Caged Rohingya overcrowded in cells at Phang Nga Immigration Photo by Channel 4 still Human Rights Watch June 4, 2013 Provide Asylum Seekers Access to UN Refugee Agency The  Thai  government should immediately end the detention under inhumane conditions of more than 1,700 ethnic Rohingya from  Burma , Human Rights Watch said today. Rohingya asylum seekers should be transferred from overcrowded cells in immigration detention centers to get screening and protection from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  Shocking video footage of Rohingya locked up in an overcrowded immigration facility in Thailand’s Phang Nga province was shown on  ITN Channel 4 News  on May 31, 2013. Thailand’s prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra had agreed in January to permit Rohingya arriving by boat in Thailand to stay temporarily, initially for six months, until they could be safely repatriated to their places of origin or resettled to third countries.  “Thaila

Kuwait's Ambassador to Myanmar, Essa Al-Shimali Mohammad Al-Moula Kuwait News Agency June 3, 2013 Kuwait's Ambassador to Myanmar, Essa Al-Shimali, said on Monday that the Kuwaiti leadership is deeply concerned and interested in follow up on the state of affairs of the Muslim minority in Myanmar. The ambassador recalled that the country was the first Arab and Islamic state to condemn violence against Muslims in Myanmar. Ambassador Al-Shimali was speaking to KUNA after a delegation of the Kuwaiti National Assembly concluded a visit to the country. "The Kuwaiti National Assembly was one of the first Arab and Islamic parliaments to visit Myanmar to discuss the issue with the Muslim minority and meet with officials of Islamic bodies," he said. The Kuwaiti delegation was headed by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman MP Saleh Ashour and included MPs Taher Failkawi and Salah Al-Ateeqi. "During the visit, the delegation discussed bilateral re