The Stateless Rohingya Blog

TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA  from the BUDDHIST TEACHERS NETWORK URGING YOU TO ADDRESS ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE AT THE UPCOMING ASEAN MEETING IN BURMA/MYANMAR Dear President Obama,  We as 381 Buddhist Teachers in America represent a large community that is deeply concerned about the growing anti Muslim violence in Myanmar and across Asia, and the plight of the 1.3 million Rohingyas, many forced to live against their will in inhumane internment camps and permanent ghettoized communities. We know you have been supportive of all Burmese people and have encouraged peace and reconciliation across the nation. Your upcoming visit to Burma is an important opportunity to strengthen your capacity as a peacemaker. We urge you to once again express concern for Burma’s Muslims and Rohingyas in your public speeches and as well as in your diplomatic engagements there. We believe you can do so in a positive way, honoring the Burmese legacy of tolerance and Metta, values shared acro...

US President urges Myanmar leader to support civil and political rights of the stateless Rohingya Muslims minority. Burmese President Thein Sein meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Yangon 2012 Photo (AFP) US President Barack Obama has urged Myanmar's president to address ethnic tensions in his country, while also discussing political reforms with the opposition leader. The White House said Obama had separate telephone conversations on Thursday with President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ahead of a second presidential visit to Myanmar next month. His visit in mid-November comes amid growing US concerns about human rights abuses in Myanmar, including the jailing of journalists and alleged oppression of stateless Rohingya Muslims and other ethnic minorities caught in conflict with government troops. Obama urged Sein to take additional steps to address ethnic tensions and support the civil and political rights of the Rohingyas. T...

By Reuters May 15, 2014 WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama extended some economic sanctions against Myanmar for another year on Thursday, telling Congress the step is needed despite some progress on reforms made by the country formerly known as Burma. Obama notified leaders of Congress in a letter that he was renewing for another year the National Emergencies Act, which prohibits U.S. businesses and individuals from investing in Myanmar or doing business with Myanmar figures involved in repression of the democracy movement since the mid-1990s. Obama, who visited Myanmar in 2012, said the Myanmar government had made much advances in critical areas such as the release of more than 1,100 political prisoners, progress toward a nationwide ceasefire, the legalization of unions and taking steps to improve the country’s labour standards. However, he said, “Despite great strides that Burma has made in its reform effort, the situation in the country continues to pose an...

Obama warned against repression of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority in Rakhine state. Photo: EPA By AFP April 27, 2014 US President Barack Obama warned on Sunday that ethnic and religious conflicts could move Myanmar in a “very bad direction.” Obama praised the “courageous process” of political reform taking place in a country formerly led by a military junta, but warned that democratisation after years of repression brought its own perils. “Myanmar won’t succeed if the Muslim population is oppressed,” Obama said at a “town hall” meeting during a visit to Muslim-majority Malaysia. Obama was referring to Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority in Rakhine state which has been subject to persecution at the hands of Buddhist nationalists. Rohingya Muslims at a camp for Muslim refugees in Sittwe, Rakhine state, western Myanmar. Photo: AP “The danger now that they are democratising is that there are different ethnic groups and different religions inside Myanmar,” Obama...

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...