The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Bangkok Post May 12, 2014 BRUSSELS - European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday to hold regular discussions on human rights issues with Myanmar and help bring the former pariah state into line with international standards.  The bloc has gradually expanded its contacts with Myanmar since the military-backed government began introducing reforms and released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after 15 years of house arrest. But Myanmar's human rights record remains a cause for concern, notably over a recent hike in anti-Muslim violence, for the most part directed against the Rohingya Muslim minority group in the Rakhine State. The human rights dialogue with Myanmar will include annual meetings between top diplomats from both sides to discuss "issues of mutual interest related to human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law," the EU wrote in a statement. The agreement also lists 21 benchmarks for Myanmar to meet. These include the ad...

By   Bangkok Post February 24, 2014 Critics claim the first population-wide survey in 30 years is designed to ‘divide and rule’ and weaken ethnic minorities' political position Officially, Wut Yee Maung has a complicated background. If her Myanmar ID card is to be believed, she is a young Muslim woman who is half Burman-Pakistani and half Burman-Pathan. But the reality is different: Neither of her  parents are Burman or Pakistani, and how she came to be registered as such is a mystery to her.  When the census-taker comes around, Wut Yee Maung could register as Pathan, but to do so she will have to be listed under code 914: “Other”. The Pathan are not included among the 135 fractious and sometimes overlapping ethnic groups recognised on the Myanmar government’s official list. Instead, because of the prevailing tensions in Myanmar and on the advice of family members, she is inclined to conceal her Muslim identity and register as Burman and Buddhist. Th...

German President Joachim Gauck delivers a speech at Yangon University in Yangon on Tuesday. Mr Gauck is in Myanmar for a three-day visit where he is scheduled to meet Myanmar President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (AFP photo) By Bangkok Post February 11, 2014 YANGON - German President Joachim Gauck on Tuesday raised concerns over clashes between Myanmar's majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities, especially the Rohingyas. There has been a surge in sectarian violence since 2012 when fighting broke out in Rakhine State, home to about 800,000 Rohingya Muslims who were made stateless by a law passed in 1982. ''I am concerned, as are so many others, when I hear of the ongoing violence between Buddhists and Muslims in your country,'' Mr Gauck said in a speech at Yangon University, during an official visit to Myanmar. At least 167 people died in the 2012 clashes, and 120,000 were made homeless, most of them Rohingyas...

Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) By   Bangkok Post February 08, 2014 Two Myanmar politicians from a western state riven by deadly communal violence narrowly escaped a suspected assassination bid during a visit to Malaysia this week, a report said Friday. Malaysia's state-run Bernama news agency quoted police as saying the pair, Aye Maung and Aye Thar Aung, were fired upon by a shooter aboard a motorcycle in a busy shopping area of the capital Kuala Lumpur late Wednesday night. Several shots were fired at a car carrying them and several companions, but no one was injured, said the report. The two politicians are from the Arakan National Party, which represents the mostly Buddhist Rakhine, the largest ethnic group in Myanmar's western Rakhine state. The state has been torn by several episodes of violence since 2012 between Buddhists and Muslims that left scores dead and displaced 140,000 people -- many from the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority. Th...

Bangkok Post September 18, 2013 Fifteen Rohingya illegal migrants escaped from a police cell in Nong Khai's Sang Khom district early Wednesday, police said. Pol Col Sombat Nathaemploy, the Sang Khom police chief, said the 15 were in a group of 19 Rohingya migrants who were arrested for illegaly entry by the Nong Khai immigration police.  They had been detained at Sang Khon police station since Sept 7. Fifteen of them were found to have broken out of the police cell on Wednesday morning. According to police, the Rohingya migrants tied a blanket around two iron window bars, pulled them out of the sockets,  and slipped through the hole some time after midnight. When they realised the 15 detainees were missing, police went  to look for them.   At Ban Sakkali, about 5km from the police station, villagers told police they saw a group of men run across a road through the village about 4am and disappear into nearby rubber plantation adjacent to...

Photo Eleven Media  By Holly Atkinson Bangkok Post August 30, 2013 I am still haunted by the testimony I heard from a survivor of the March massacre of dozens of Muslims in the central Myanmar town of Meiktila. He told me how he saw his best friend, a boy of 13, doused with gasoline and burned alive by two Buddhist men who were part of an attacking mob, while police and community leaders watched from an embankment.  This disturbing event is unfortunately one of far too many in Myanmar. The Myanmar government has failed to protect its Muslim minority population, including Rohingya, against an unprecedented wave of violence that has spread across the country since mid-2012. The lack of response on the part of the government has provided for a culture of impunity for perpetrators, increasing the likelihood of more human rights abuses. Over the past year, my colleagues at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and I have heard from dozens of informants an...

When Social Development and Human Security Minister Pavena Hongsakul visited Rohingya boat people at the immigration detention centre in Phangnga last month, she was appalled by their poor living conditions.  To squeeze more than 200 people in a very small space is inhumane, she said. Since it is the same situation for hundreds of Rohingya boat people at police stations in other provinces, she proposed giving   these asylum seekers a more decent temporary shelter by making use of old refugee camps.  Her proposal has been met with silence from the army, the police, provincial and immigration authorities. Given the locals' resistance due to lack of local consultation, it seems the refugee camp idea is over. Interestingly, the offer by local Muslim communities to use their mosques as temporary shelters for the Muslim Rohingya boat people has also fallen on deaf ears. Shortly after Ms Pavena's visit, the Rohingya detainees at Phangnga staged a mass jail break.  R...

Thailand detention centers Bangkok Post August 30, 2013                        The government has agreed to hold about 2,000 Rohingya migrants in detention centres nationwide for another six months, Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok said on Thursday. The migrants were originally due to remain in the centres for six months while the government assessed options for their relocation, but that initial deadline passed last month. The new detention deadline would now end in January. The deputy PM, who oversees national security, was responding to an opposition request for details on the government's policy to deal with the Rohingya migrants. The request was made during a parliamentary session yesterday by Democrat MP for Bangkok Samart Maluleem. Mr Samart said more than 2,000 Rohingya were being detained at immigration detention centres. He said he was concerned by overcrowding in the centres. Pol ...

The government must decide quickly on temporary shelters for displaced Rohingya until more permanent solutions are found, a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says.  NHRC commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara said he was concerned the Rohingya currently being detained in Thailand were being deprived of basic rights.  The migrants, many of whom have arrived in southern Thailand by boat this year, have been kept in scattered shelters and detention centres for seven months and the government should now decide what to   do about them, Mr Niran said. The Rohingya migrants are kept in poor living conditions in temporary shelters, and also suffer exploitation by trafficking gangs, and extortion from smuggling gangs, he told a seminar titled: "The Rohingya : Unwanted and Alone in Thailand".  "Though Thailand is not a [UN refugee convention] signatory, state ministries could actually hasten their authority in  providing decent and appropriat...

The Thai government should quickly decide on temporary shelters for displaced Rohingya people until practical longer-term solutions are reached, says a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Dr Niran Pitakwatchara said he was concerned that the Rohingya refugees were being deprived of basic rights while under temporary care in Thailand. After drifting at the sea and being towed into various islands in southern Thailand since early this year, the migrants have been kept in scattered shelters and detention centres nationwide. Now it is time for the government to decide what to do next, said Dr Niran. Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled persecution in Myanmar over the past year and many have ended up in Thailand. They faced poor temporary shelter, exploitation by trafficking gangs, and extortion from smuggling gangs during their stay in Thailand, Dr Niran said at a seminar on the refugee problem. He suggested that something could still be done despite th...

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN –    A total of 34 Rohingya migrants remain at large after 37 of them escaped from a detention centre in Muang district early yesterday. The detention centre in Prachuap Khiri Khan houses 119 Rohingya. The escape took place around 2am Saturday at the centre in tambon Klongwan, which has two buildings housing 119 Rohingya who were transferred from Phangnga in January. The site is approximately 10 kilometres away from the Sing Khon temporary checkpoint with Myanmar. Weera Sriwattanatrakul, the governor of Prachuap Khiri Khan province, said the security guards at the site had fallen asleep while on duty. More than 200 police and other officials began a search within a radius of five kilometers from the detention site and found three escapers walking along a road. Mr Weera said the government needed to find a solution for dealing with the Rohingya, thousands of whom have fled persecution in Myanmar. Many Rohingya have ended up in Thailand in poor ...

Parliament speaker Shwe Mann talks to members of the media at the lower house in Naypyidaw on August 16, 2013. Myanmar's quasi-civilian government has announced a series of political and economic reforms since coming to power in 2011 after the end of nearly half a century of military rule. AFP PHOTO Bangkok Post August 17, 2013 Myanmar's parliamentary speaker Friday said the government will be instrumental in any amendment to the nation's military-drafted constitution, which currently bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency. Parliament speaker Shwe Mann talks to members of the media at the lower house in Naypyidaw on August 16, 2013. Shwe Mann said the government will be instrumental in any amendment to the nation's military-drafted constitution, which currently bars opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency. Opposition members of parliament and democracy activists have raised fears military lawmakers, who have 25 ...

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...