The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Popular norm to be presented in Parliament gains support and signatures. It places constraints on unions between Buddhist women and men of other religions, which must have approval. Added to this the intention to deny the Muslim minority the right to vote and to form a political party. By Francis Khoo Thwe AsiaNews January 18, 2014 Yangon - A petition in support of a law that places strong constraints on mixed marriages, especially between Buddhist women and men of other faiths is gaining support. Launched by a group of Buddhist monks it is due to be presented to Parliament. A conference was recently held in Mandalay attended by thousands of monks who have - at the same time - re-proposed a law to restrict the rights of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, who live mainly in Rakhine State in western Myanmar. The draft would greatly reduce their freedom to form a political party and increased restrictions on their right to vote. The meeting was held at the A Tu Tu...

Rohingya Muslim illegal immigrants gather at the Immigration Detention Centre. THAILAND - Ten Rohingya detainees escaped at dawn yesterday from a detention facility of the Ranong Immigration Office. It is the latest in a series of Rohingya escapes from various facilities in the past few months. The 10 escapees were part of a group of 118 Rohingya detainees at the facility. The Ranong Immigration Office has begun a manhunt for the 10 runaway Rohingya. "We have handed out their photos to motorcycle-taxi riders, community leaders and local people in a bid to track them down," office chief Ekkorn Bussababordin said, adding that he believed the 10 escapees were still in Ranong. Ekkorn said that he would step up security measures at the detention facility to prevent further escapes. Thousands of ethnic Rohingya from Myanmar's Arakan State have been arrested in Thailand for illegal entry. In Satun, just two out of 31 Rohingya boys remain in custody at the Sat...