The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Kaladan Press Teknaf, Bangladesh: A two-member Australian delegation led by Australian High Commissioner of Bangladesh Dr Justin Lee visited the Nayapara official refugee camp on December 8, at about 11:00 am, said a refugee leader on condition of anonymity. “The delegation observed the whole camp including schools and cottage industry of soap center and also met with refugees and refugee teachers in the camp after arrival at camp. The delegation more wanted to know about the opinion of refugees whether the refugee want to go home or not after Bangladesh PM’s visit to Burma.” “We are not willing to go back until we are not accorded citizenship rights with ethnicity,” a refugee teacher said. “We more wanted to return our confiscated lands, to stop human rights violations and racial discrimination, to get compensation of our properties, to withdraw army and Nasaka from northern Arakan , to withdraw Natala (model) villages from northern Arakan and to ensure rights as par other nationa...

We at BROUK strongly condemn the sentencing of 63 innocent Rohingya boat people to one and a half years each by a Burmese court, under immigration law, after their boat ended up on the shores of southern Burma. According to our reliable source they were left stranded at sea by their agent 16 kilometers from the coastal town of Kawthaung in Tennasserim division.

By UPI.com YANGON, Myanmar, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Bangladesh will be the first country to move its embassy from Yangon to the new city and capital Naypyitaw, Myanmar's official newspaper said. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on an official three-day visit to Myanmar, formerly called Burma, unveiled the foundation stone at the site chosen for the construction of the embassy, the New Light of Myanmar reported. The country's junta pronounced Naypyitaw, around 200 miles north of Yangon, as the capital in November 2005, although the site wasn't given an official name until March 2006. The planned inner city with its wide, and mostly empty boulevards, is still being constructed and is home to many of the former ruling military leaders. The surrounding countryside and its towns and villages that make up Naypyitaw have a population of around just less than 1 million, a 2009 report said. In August, Russian media announced that a Russian firm had won a contract to construct 30...

New Delhi ( Mizzima ) – Refugees living in the Nayapara and Kutupalong refugee camps and the huge number of undocumented Burmese nationals living in Bangladesh should be returned quickly, according to a joint statement by Burma and Bangladesh. The Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Teknaf, Cox’s bazar. There are 30,000 un-registered Rohingya refugees living in the camp. Photo: Bayazid Akter

Meanwhile, a prominent US congressman lawmakers said it is too early to trust the new Burmese government, given the bitter experience the international community had with the military junta in the past. “Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned about the international community’s recent trust in assurances that Burma is opening up to the world and becoming a true democracy in which the rights of all people in Burma are protected. There have been some positive steps taken recently by the dictators, however, until we see permanency in these changes, we would all do well to remain deeply cautious,” Congressman Joseph R. Pitts said. Speaking on the floor of the US House of Representatives, the Pennsylvania congressman said that one important issue the Secretary of State addressed during her visit to Burma regarded the attacks by government troops against ethnic minorities. “It is vital, and I cannot emphasize this enough, that leaders of the various ethnic groups be included in any and all d...

Kaladan Press Abid Bahar Ph.D. Well, the above can't be my statement. Those of you, who know me, know I have been working with the Rohingya people and on Burma for the past 31 years. So I have heard the name “Rohingya” many times. But surprisingly some Burmese people, who lived with the Rohingya people in Arakan and in Burma all their lives are of the claim that they have never heard of the name "Rohingya. It is as if saying “I have never met my brother, I have never seen my sister or even saying I have never seen my neighbour;” It sounds strange to me but not funny. Such assertion about an ethnic group aimed at intentionally ignoring them because you dislike them is called xenophobia, fear of the stranger. When Rohingyas as Burmese are made into strangers by the Rakhine gentlemen like Aye Kyaw, Aye Chan and the monk Ashin Nayaka, it is more than xenophobia; it is racism. It is a matter of extreme intolerance: an idea that also goes against even Buddhism.

By Laurinda Luffman For SOS Children The media is full of news about the recent visit to Myanmar (formerly Burma) made by the US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton. Mrs Clinton’s time with Aung San Suu Kyi and her meeting with the Burmese government are seen as hopeful signs that Burma’s rulers may finally be open to reform. But as these stirrings of optimism grow, there seems little hope for a change in the situation of Myanmar’s most persecuted people – the Rohingya.