The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Emanuel Stoakes VICE News April 18, 2014 It’s been an abysmal year so far for  Myanmar ’s heavily-persecuted Rohingya ethnic minority. In mid-January, an alleged massacre of up to 40 people near the town of Maungdaw in the country’s western Rakhine state shook the community. Then the government of Myanmar — formerly Burma — officially denied the report, despite evidence to the contrary. In February, one of the largest providers of essential medical support in the country, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), was expelled from Rakhine after stating that it had treated 22 victims of the massacre-that-wasn’t. Consequently, there were 150 preventable deaths — 20 of those from women in labor — and almost 750,000 people “deprived of most medical services,” according to estimates  cited by the New York Times  in mid-March. The government, which operates from Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital city, attempted to justify the expulsion by charging that MSF had shown “bias” toward the

The European Rohingya Council (ERC), a Netherlands-based NGO, has requested the people and government of Bangladesh to play a key role in finding out a ‘just and lasting’ solution to the longstanding Rohingya problem in the interest of Bangladesh and ‘persecuted’ Rohingya people.  The organisation requested Bangladesh government to continue sheltering Rohingya refugees on humanitarian grounds until a congenial atmosphere is created for their safe return to their homeland. “Please help us, save us. We want peace and we want to go back to our homeland,” Media and Information Secretary of ERC Mohamed Ibrahim told reporters at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU). He appreciated government’s initiatives to resolve the crisis and said Rohingya refugees would get rid of sufferings if Bangladesh takes serious steps with its neighbors.  “We’re grateful to the people and government of Bangladesh for sheltering a large number of our people for a long time on humanit

A Scene of Kyauktaw Jetty (Photo: Narinjara) By Shafiee April 19, 2014 Rvisiontv.com Kyauktaw, Arakan state- A 9-year-old Rohingya child was falsely accused of stoning a Rakhine bus on pilgrimage to Mahamuni Buddha temple in Kyauktaw township at 7AM on 18th April 2014. Rakhine extremists extorted Kyat 0.25 million from his parents to resolve the case. “Around 7AM yesterday (i.e. on 18th April 2014), a group of Rakhine pilgrims on a bus was passing by a Rohingya village called PaikThay Auksu Ywa Thit (Poktoli, Zailla Fara). They were coming from Sittwe for pilgrimage to Mahamuni Temple in Kyauktaw township. As they were passing by, they suddenly started shouting out. They accused a 9-year-old Rohingya child (playing with his other two younger brothers by the village) of stoning their bus and breaking its glass. The child and his brothers affirmed that he didn’t stone the bus. So, we think they (the Rakhines on the bus) might deliberately did the scene to creat

Samantha Power, the United State’s ambassador to the United Nations, speaks during an U.N. Security Council emergency meeting, in this April 13, 2014 photo, at United Nations headquarters. (AP) By Reuters April 17, 2014 UNITED NATIONS: U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power on Thursday urged the Myanmar government to intervene in Rakhine State to stop violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid. At least 237 have been killed in religious violence in Myanmar since June 2012 and more than 140,000 displaced, many of them stateless Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, one of Myanmar's poorest regions that is home to 1 million Rohingya. U.N. officials have warned that the violence poses a serious threat to the country's dramatic economic and political reforms as it emerges from a half century of military rule. "We continue to support Burma's reforms, but are greatly concerned

By   Religion & Ethics News Weekly April 19, 2014 LUCKY SEVERSON , correspondent: Violence in Myanmar, also known as Burma. Rohingya Muslims being burned out of their villages and driven out of their country by mobs of Buddhists, which sometimes include monks. PHIL ROBERTSON : The police stood aside, the army stood aside. SEVERSON : Phil Robertson is with the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. ROBERTSON  (Deputy Director, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch): Entire areas were burned down. I mean we had satellite photographs before and after showing the damage—that people were being shot and killed, people being disappeared. We uncovered mass graves from that period of time. You know, it was a slaughter. KO AUNG : They get out like 4,000, 5,000 people, and then they surrounded the village; they attack the Muslim. SEVERSON : Ko Aung, a made-up name, is a Rohingya refugee who still has family in Myanmar, so he is afraid to be identified. KO AUNG : The

Forced Labour against Rohingyas have been started by NaSaKa (now disbanded border security force) (as seen in the picture) and military. Now, it has been inherited by NaSaKa inheritors, Hlun Hteins (Security Force). (Photo: Stateless.com) By  HD MYARF rvisiontv.com April 19, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan-  Security Force at Camp no. 12 in the village of Thu Oo Hla (Koolar bil), northern Maungdaw, are subjecting Rohingyas, irrespective to minors or adults, as forced labours under harsh conditions for more than 12 hours a day. “There is a HlunHtein (Security Force) Camp at the village of Thu Oo Hla (Koolar Bil) in Northern Maungdaw. The number of the camp is 12 and it is under HlunHtein (formerly NaSaKa Commandment) Region 5. It is headed by Captain Maung Tun. On 17 th  April 2014, he started brutal way of subjecting Rohingya passers-by as forced labours in the camp. He stops every Rohingya passer-by, regardless of minor or adult, tortures him and forces him to work in the camp non-st

Women Peace Network Arakan director Wai Wai Nu (left) presenting her speech during the GMM-AMAN-Proham RTD on Human Rights Violations & Remedies: The Rohingyan Case yesterday. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Wai Wai Nu. By  TMI April 18, 2014 I feel honored to have the chance to speak as a panel in this discussion on Rohingya issue. I myself is a Rohingya, and I hope  participants in this group will finally give me some hopeful and practical assurances that I can take a long with me to convey to my persecuted Rohingya people. I am very much thankful to GMM- AMAN-PROHAM for hosting this event and to invite me. Here I would like to present a short and precise analysis of the Human right situation in Rakhine state. Since Rohingya’s identity is denied by Myanmar Government their citizenship question became on stake. 1982 Myanmar citizenship law which the world regards as an arbitrary and harsh law, short of international norm and standard, section 3 says “Only th