The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Human Right Watch December 20, 2013 New York – A Thai navy lawsuit against journalists reporting on official involvement in trafficking will curtail reporting on rights violations in Thailand, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 16, 2013, the Thai Navy filed criminal defamation and computer crime charges against journalists for a story about abuses against ethnic Rohingya migrants in Thailand.  The charges centered on a paragraph in the Phuketwan online newspaper on July 17 citing an investigative report by Reuters alleging some navy officials “work systematically with smugglers to profit from the surge in fleeing Rohingya,” and that they earn about 2,000 baht (US$ 62.50) per Rohingya “for spotting a boat or turning a blind eye.” “The Thai navy’s lawsuit is a reckless attempt to curtail journalists’ reporting on alleged human trafficking by its officers,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Unless the government withdraws the case, it

December 19, 2013 The Honorable Mr. Barack Obama President of the United States of America The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC, 20500 Dear President Obama, We are writing to express our concern that the Burmese government is continuing to arrest farmers, activists, human rights defenders, and ethnic minorities at alarmingly high rates. These arrests discredit the Burmese government’s claim that all political prisoners/prisoners of conscience (hereinafter “political prisoners”) will be released by the end of December 2013.[1] Our organizations and your Administration have recognized the Burmese government’s progress toward releasing military-era political prisoners. We urge your Administration to likewise recognize that the Burmese government also continues to arrest, prosecute, sentence, and imprison, under both old and new laws, a growing number of people for exercising their rights to free speech, association, and assembly and speaking o

By Max Beauchamp New Mandala December 18, 2013 Since 2012, the long-term plight of the Muslim minority living in Rakhine State of Myanmar has gained unprecedented international attention. Muslims in Rakhine State and elsewhere across Myanmar have been the victims of violent attacks and arson campaigns. [1]   These attacks come after decades of tension during which many Muslims – often known as Rohingya – in the northern part of Rakhine State remain stateless having failed to attain any form of citizenship.  During 2012, most Muslims across Rakhine State were displaced from their communities into camps that they have not since been allowed to leave. The campaign against Muslims in Rakhine State has been accurately described by Human Rights Watch as ‘ethnic cleansing’. It has involved razing communities to the ground as part of a concerted effort to rearrange the state’s ethnic composition. [2]   Violent clashes can be blamed on culprits from both the minority Muslim and the

By Kyaw Min Chairman of the Democracy and Human Rights Party in Burma. Huffington Post December 19, 2013 By 1990, 15 years before I went to prison, the ruling generals had been in power in Burma for more than 40 years. In those days I was an elected member of the Burmese Parliament. Then in 2005, my family and I were arrested by the police. My wife, son and two daughters and I spent the next seven years in prison. They said our "crime" was declaring our rights as ethnic Rohingya. My jailers told me that speaking up for the Rohingya was giving Myanmar "a bad name" internationally. In 2010, when the military leaders released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, I thought Burma was beginning to change for the better. Soon they announced political and economic reforms and they relaxed some restrictions on the press. A human rights commission was set up, under government control. Some foreigners thought these small steps meant tha