The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By NAW NOREEN Published: 29 July 2011 Muslim women in Arakan state's Sittwe hold ID cards while they wait to cast ballots during last year's elections (Reuters) Muslims in five principal townships in western Burma have been granted permission by the immigration department to travel freely, providing they carry ID cards. The decision comes nine months after the elections last year and campaign pledges by the eventual winner, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), that it would increase mobility for Burma’s long-persecuted Muslim minority. A man in Arakan state’s Sandoway said that the decision may be related to letter sent to the government by residents of the town in which they complained that the civil rights ascribed in the 2008 constitution, which was adopted when the new government came to power in March, were not being recognised. Until recently Muslims in Arakan state were required to get permission from their local authorities before travelling outside of...

Friday, 29 July 2011 13:37 Ukhiya, Bangladesh :  The police from Ukhiya police station under Cox’s Bazaar district have started to arrest Rohingya refugees from Ukhiya-Cox’s Bazaar motorway following the locals’ attacks on the refugees on July 16, said a refugee. On July 26, some unregistered refugees were arrested from Ukhiya while going to their work site by vehicles from the unofficial refugee camp for their survival. The refugees in Kutupalong makeshift camp are living in small huts built with leaves and branches of trees and have mud walls. They are not recognized as refugees by the Bangladesh government. Likewise, the UNHCR is not accepting these people as refugees, and the reason is unknown. The refugees in the makeshift camp are not getting any support from any quarter. For their survival and support their family members by working outside the camp in rural areas, said another refugee. They were arrested on their way to work and sent back to the refugee camp by the po...

Monday, 25 July 2011 12:06 Teknaf, Bangladesh:  A registered Rohingya refugee was stabbed by local goons yesterday evening while he was entering Nayapara camp from the alternative way of a brick field, said a relative of the victim. Ozi Ullah, the victim of local goons, is waiting for treatment “Ozi Ullah, (20) block-E, shed 961/3 of Nayapara official camp, went to Teknaf to sell some ornaments, and returned to the camp at 6:30 p.m. He had 12,000 Taka and one mobile phone.” “Local goons attacked him when he entered the camp and took all his belongings after he was severally beaten.” The victim knows two robbers of the local goons, namely Dil Mohamed and Nazir Ahmed, who hail from Nayapara village. They are father and son, said a friend of the victim quoting the victim. The accident was discussed with his family members and the refugee. On hearing it, some refugees including his family members went to the spot and brought him inside the camp, said a family member. Later, ...

Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh: Local villagers from Fawliyapara (Village) armed with wood and bamboo sticks, pickaxes, mattocks, swords, knives and bamboo spears attacked Rohingya refugees (registered and unregistered) in Kutupalong camp on July 16 at 10 a.m. Twenty refugees were seriously injured including four women, said a refugee elder from the camp. Refugee carrying Abdul Hamid, 53, elderly refugee to the clinic after local attacked “The local people first attacked the unregistered camp where the local destroyed some shacks. Some refugees were injured in the clash with the locals. They then moved and attacked the registered camp.” “We found twenty refugees were seriously injured, and others have minor injuries. The seriously injured refugees were admitted to the Kutupalong Camp Health Clinic.” The concerned authority of Camp and local administration officers has imposed curfew; no movement and no permission to gather three persons in the camp after 8:00pm night only since the clash...

I was the organiser for this year’s  Minority Rights Summer School , held at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway, from 13th-17th June. It was the eleventh year of the School, which always attracts an interesting group of academics, students, activists and lobbyists, as well as those with a general interest in minority and indigenous rights and the role of human rights law in promoting equality and diversity. The  programme  this year saw a range of speakers, including a full day of sessions dedicated to a forum on indigenous peoples’ rights with contributions from scholars and practitioners. Other topics included the rights of women within Islam, genocide, multiculturalism, defamation of religion, the Turkish accession debate, caste-based discrimination, minorities and the UN procedures, migrant workers in the Gulf and the Naxalite conflict in India. In all an eclectic mix which reflects the current vibrancy of the minority rights and indigenous rights...

Friday, 22 July 2011 10:54 Salai Han Thar San New Delhi (Mizzima) – Following a deadly attack on Rohingya refugees, a UK-based Rohingya organization on Thursday called on the Bangladesh government to impose more laws to protect the lives of Rohingya in Bangladesh.     Villagers from Fawliyapara Village in Cox’s Bazzar in Bangladesh on July 16 attacked Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong camp; one refugee was killed and more than 20 were injured.   A view of the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s bazar.  Photo - Bayazid Akter/Mizzima The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (Brouk) urged the Bangladesh government to do more to protect Rohingya.   “The residents always bully Rohingya. They usually seize the things sold by Rohingya, and they beat Rohingya occasionally. We want the government to effectively protect them from being bullied by residents,” Tun Khin, the chairman of Brouk, told  Mizzima.   The United Nations High Commissioner f...

Teknaf, Bangladesh: Heavy rainfall has continued along the border area for three days, said a refugee from Kutupalong camp. “Heavy rain and wind are destroying shacks in Kutupalong unregistered refugee camp.” Over 20 huts of unregistered refugees were destroyed by heavy rainfall, and the unregistered Rohingya refugees are now facing difficulties to live in their shacks as the roofs of the shacks have been damaged by wind and heavy rain, said a refugee committee member. “My hut was destroyed by heavy rainfall, and I can’t rebuild the hut as I am not able to go to the mountain to collect bushes for fear of local people’s attack. I don’t know what will happen for my family in the rainy season,” said Mahmed Anwer, a refugee at the unofficial camp. “The unofficial refugees are also facing food shortages as they aren’t able to go outside the camp to work for fearing of attacks.” “Similarly, the registered refugees from Kutupalong camp are also not allowed to go outside their camp by the aut...