The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By MIZZIMA NEWS The U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma on Monday welcomed the amnesty and release a significant number of prisoners of conscience. U.N. special envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana reads a press statement while on a visit to Burma. Photo: Mizzima “I welcome the release of…individuals who have been imprisoned for exercising their fundamental human rights or whose fair trial or due process rights have been denied,” said Tomas Ojea Quintana. While the exact number of prisoners released has yet to be determined, he said among those freed were individuals he had visited in jail. “In this critical period for Myanmar, and in the lead-up to the by-elections in April, it is fundamental that all citizens, including those just released from prison, are allowed to play an active and constructive role in political and public life.” “Based on lessons learnt from past elections, I call on the government to ensure respect for the rights to political partic...

BROUK Welcomes Rohingya MP Kyaw Min and other High Profile Political Prisoners Release Today, BROUK welcomed the release of high profile political prisoners, including Rohingya MP U Kyaw Min, and member of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP) and family members, Shan ethnic leader U Khun Htun Oo and members of the 88 Generation Students and journalists from the Democratic Voice of Burma. The release of high profile politicians and activists is great news for their families and friends.

By    MIZZIMA NEWS People in two townships in Arakan State are protesting, calling for the Burmese government to supply more gas to the region as a fuel to provide more electricity to the state which lacks sufficient electrical power. Activists delivered an open letter to the Arakan state minister on Monday with the demand, said a statement by the Shwe Gas Movement, a local activist group. Last week, the Minister of Energy claimed it would make an agreement with firms to supply the gas for the region, but local activist are skeptical because of unfulfilled promises and the destructive impact the gas pipeline project has already had on local communities.

By MIZZIMA NEWS More than 150 child soldier and child labour cases have been documented in Yephyu Township, Taninthayi Region, in southern Burma, according to the Human Rights Foundation of Monland.

Endless detention ... the mother of Atputha, 7, and Abinayan Rahavan, 4, is considered a security risk by ASIO. Legitimate refugees, including toddlers, are imprisoned indefinitely. Only ASIO knows why and it will tell no one, writes Kirsty Needham. 'I live like a dead man walking,'' says Suvenran Kathirdamathambi, or ''Sutha'', 32. ''This is supposed to be the golden period in anyone's life - your 20s and 30s. But I can't even say when the day starts.'' Sutha is married, but his wife lives alone in Sri Lanka, unable to tell anyone she has a husband who has spent 30 months locked up in Australia. The former paramedic sleeps in short spurts, sharing a room at Villawood detention centre with men who sporadically wake at different times, miss breakfast, smoke heavily, shun exercise and mope around under trees. ''No one is in their right mindset,'' he says by telephone. ''To pass one day is a ...

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui In its latest gesture of amnesties, the military-backed regime of Thein Sein in Myanmar has released many political prisoners. Those freed included veterans of the 1988 student protest movement, monks involved in the 2007 demonstrations and ethnic-minority activists like U Kyaw Min (a member of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi). Truly, the names of those released read like a who's who of Burma's most prominent political detainees. In a statement broadcast on the TV, President Thein Sein said those released were people who could "play a constructive role in the political process".

By Jay Fletcher Refugee rights rally outside the ALP conference, Sydney, December 4. Rohingya refugee Harun Roshid had been in Australian detention for more than two years when he was told by letter that he would never be a free man in Australia. Despite being a recognised refugee under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Australian immigration system, Australia’s secret security organisation had decided he was a “threat” and should not be given a protection visa. Speaking through an interpreter, he told Green Left Weekly from inside the Northern Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin that he feels he is “being punished”. Roshid fled Burma and lived in Malaysia for more than 15 years before he took a boat to Australia to try to win protection for his family. The department of immigration found Roshid to be a genuine refugee in April 2010, only a few months after he arrived. But, as with most refugee applications from those who have arrived by boat, the depart...