The Stateless Rohingya Blog

The boat people being interviewed in a police jail in January Photo by phuketwan.com By Chutima Sidasathian PhuketWan July 5, 2013 PHUKET: Two Rohingya being held captive in Thailand died yesterday as a doctor warned the Governor of Songkhla that conditions in a detention centre are inhumane and likely to lead to a growing toll among the boatpeople. The two deaths while the men were being taken to hospital took the total number of deaths at the crowded Sadao Immigration Centre in Songkhla province to five fatalities since January. Volunteer doctor Anantachai Thaipratan told Phuketwan: ''I was ablle to check the condition of 80 of the people in the facility yesterday. Of those, five needed immediate hospitalisation. Two of the men died on the way to hospital.'' By the time that the men were being taken to hospital, Dr Anantachai was in the office of the Governor of Songkhla, telling him that the 302 people were being kept in impossibly crowded and unhealt

Govt urged to extend 6-month help deadline  Bangkok Post: July 4, 2013 PHANGNGA: Humanitarian agencies are appealing for the government to extend its six-month period of protection offered to more than 2,000 displaced Rohingya. The deal is due to expire in three weeks. Muslim humanitarian groups helping to care for the Rohingya say for of the migrants have already died in the shelters. A dozen others have fled the holding areas and five have filed lawsuits for trafficking and rape charges. Most of the Muslim Rohingya sailed from Bangladesh and Myanmar where they faced persecution, arriving on Thai shores since mid-January. That pledge to provide shelter ends on July 26. During the past six months, however, the government has provided no clear legal or policy support to care for the displaced people. Immigration authorities chose to segregate the Rohingya and place the men in detention facilities scattered around the country, from southernmost one in

Rohingya subjected to abuse, forced labour, harassment, rape,& Human rights abuses against the Rohingya Community (photo thestateless.com 2011  Maungdaw, Arakan State: The systemic and discriminatory practice of forced labor against the Rohingya community has been resumed recently in Maungdaw south, Arakan State, said a local elder on condition of anonymity. “Burmese concerned authorities —army and Nasaka (Burma border security force) resume forced labor as usual, in Maungdaw Township.” According to sources, Nasaka personnel of Nasaka area No. 7 have been using forced labor from Rohingya people for repairing  roads for three days which were damaged by heavy rain recently. Nasaka personnel arrested Rohingya villagers from the road and villages where they met for forced labor, sources said. A villager said on condition of anonymity, “10 villagers including me are arrested from the Khonza Bill village and from the roadside by the Nasaka personnel on July 2. After

An Indonesian soldier (L) joins a group of Rohingya asylum-seekers from Myanmar for prayers in a mosque at the immigration detention center in Lhokseumawe town, Aceh province, on April 11, 2013. Buddhist-majority Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, and as sectarian violence has escalated in the past year they have fled in increasing numbers. Graphic on the thousands of stateless Rohingya Muslims who have fled deadly sectarian violence in Myanmar over the past year. A young Rohingya asylum-seeker from Myanmar looks through a window of the immigration detention center in Lhokseumawe town, Aceh province, on April 11, 2013. Most Rohingya do not initially view Indonesia as their final destination and hope to use it as a stopping point en route to Australia, where more than 220 have arrived on asylum seeker boats over the past year. Rohingya asylum-seeker Mohammad Zuhar bin Sayed Alam displays pictures of his wi

The dead-bodies and family in camp KPN News  July 3, 2013 Kutupalong, Bangladesh : A dam had built recently in Kutupalong unregistered refugee camp, near block no.D2 which killed two kids and more than two shacks destroyed on July 1 and July 3, according to refugee committee member. Two refugee kids drowned in a dam on July 1, at about 1:30pm, according to Rahamad Ullah , the father of the kids. The two kids are two brothers – Faroque (5) and Jashim (4) – drown in the dam where most of the refugee kids are playing. The dam was built recently by the local near the camp without taking permission from concerned authority, no meeting with  refugees who are living there and most of the kids play around the camp as they have no playground, no school, said Amin, a refugee committee from the camp. one side of new dam in the camp “The local did not fence the dam to protect the kids playing around the dam. The dam was built near the camp which is danger for

Fars News Agency July 4, 2013 TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific Affairs Seyed Abbas Araqchi in a meeting with his Myanmarese counterpart Zin Yaw discussed the latest situation of the Muslims in the Southeast Asian country. During the meeting in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, Araqchi said that the Islamic Republic is prepared to dispatch humanitarian aid consignments to Myanmar in order to help with the relief of the Rohingya Muslims. He also voiced the deep concern of the Iranian authorities, scholars and nation over the ongoing sectarian clashes between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, urging the Myanmar government to adopt effective measures to properly resolve the issue. Araqchi further noted that Iran is ready to send aid shipments to Myanmar, and help to improve the miserable living conditions of Rohingyas. In June, the United Nations refugee agency said over 140,000 people remain displaced in Myanmar a year after extremist Buddh

OIC chief Ihsanoglu says targeting of Muslims in central Myanmar in March and April has been a particularly worrying development. (AN photo) Arab News: July 5, 2013 The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold on July 7 and 8 the Arakan Rohingya Union Conference at its headquarters in Jeddah. The charter of the Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) will be submitted to the members for discussion in preparation for its adoption. The agenda of the conference will also include introduction of the current and new members of the union, which was established by the OIC in May 2011 to unite the Rohingya refugees around the world. Waqarudin, director general of the first session of the union, will present his report on ARU’s achievements. The conference will look into the strategy and action plan of the union in the next session, in addition to electing officials and the formation of the Supreme Council, the committees and advisory board. In a letter sent through his

ASEAN Summit 2013 20th ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM (ARF) 02 July 2013 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam KPN News : Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni urged for Burmese authorities to resume the voluntary repatriation of Burmese refugees in Bangladesh during the ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting. “Bangladesh FM held a meeting with the Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin during the sidelines of the 20th ASEAN Regional Forum Ministerial Meeting in Brunei” on July 2, according to a government official. Bangladesh also offered full cooperation with the Burmese government to promote socio-economic development in Burma, including Arakan State.  But Depu Moni stressed the importance of addressing the citizenship issue for Muslim minorities in the state. “The process could start once the housing and relocation of the Muslim minority people currently residing in makeshift camps in the Arakan State were completed,” said the Burmese foreign minister. “Bangladesh