The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By David Brunnstrom and Sebastian Moffett (Reuters) - The European Union will suspend travel bans on the president of Myanmar and other senior officials, following reforms that have included the release of hundreds of political prisoners. And EU foreign ministers held out the prospect of a further easing of sanctions in April if a "remarkable programme of political reform" and a commitment to economic and social development continued. In the steps agreed on Monday, the EU said it would suspend visa bans on Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, the country's vice-presidents, cabinet members and parliamentary speakers. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he saw real willingness by the government to liberalise and democratise and was now watching whether Myanmar freed political prisoners, allowed strikes, and held transparent elections on April 1. "If this process of democratisation goes further, we shall go further in lifting sanctions," he told ...

By SIMON ROUGHNEEN John McCain and Aung San Suu Kyi speak at a press conference in Rangoon on Sunday. (PHOTO: The Irrawaddy) BANGKOK—A US delegation fronted by Sen. John McCain and Sen. Joseph Lieberman will request that the Burmese government allow international observers to oversee April by-elections, which, if deemed free and fair, will almost certainly see the US remove some sanctions on the Burmese government. “Obviously we will have to look carefully at the process of the elections,” said McCain, who conceded that Burma's reforms in recent months—including the release of several hundred political prisoners—are “a dramatic change in policy and behaviour in as short a time as a year ago,” he said. McCain confirmed that the delegation, which arrived in Burma on Sunday, would ask Burma's government to allow international observation of the April by-elections, in response to a question about the issue from this correspondent. A positive assessment by th...

Rohingyas carry water from a pond near a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, August 19, 2011. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj/ BANGKOK (AlertNet) – More than 40,000 Rohingya children in western Myanmar have been deprived of rights to travel, go to school or to marry in future, because their parents had an unauthorised marriage or exceeded a two-child limit,  a report  said

By Kaladanpress The ARAKAN PROJECT PRESS RELEASE Myanmar blacklists babies as oppression of the Rohingya continues Geneva, 19 January 2012 [For immediate release] Myanmar blacklists Rohingya babies as part of its continuing oppression of this stateless minority, The Arakan Project said today as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) meets to review the situation of children’s rights in Myanmar, a State party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. To read more detail,  please click here

By Vice of America  Photo: AP Burma's President Thein Sein welcomes US Sen. John McCain at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw, Burma, January 22, 2011. A key U.S. senator says the United States is pleased with recent progress toward democratic reforms in Burma, but says the country's new, nominally civilian government must ensure "free and fair" by-elections in April.

Khin Maung Win / Associated Press ) - Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 88 Generation Students Group, speaks during a press conference at a shopping mall on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Yangon, Myanmar. The nearly legendary student leader from Myanmar’s failed 1988 pro-democracy uprising was freed on Jan. 13 as part of a presidential pardon for 651 detainees. E-mail Reprints By Associated Press,  Updated: Saturday, January 21,  2:39 PM YANGON, Myanmar — Prominent student activists recently released from prison in Myanmar said Saturday they will work with political reformers and support pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in upcoming by-elections. Min Ko Naing, a top member of the 88 Generation Students Group, said it would always side with those who strive for “fairness, freedom and equality” and join hands with supporters of President Thein Sein’s reforms. The group’s name refers to a failed democracy uprising in 1988 that resulted in lon...

By STEPHEN BLOOM Burma’s President Thein Sein gave his first interview to a member of the foreign media this week when he answered a wide range of questions from Lally Weymouth, senior associate editor for  The Washington Post , which touched on most of the top issues currently being discussed about Burma. In the interview, published in The Washington Post on Friday, Thein Sein proved to be a skillful politician, diplomat and negotiator, as he repeatedly pressed the main talking points he wanted to communicate to his international audience and deftly sidestepped issues that are problematic for his government. Thein Sein said that peace, stability and economic development were the goals of his government’s reform measures, and used the pulpit provided by a leading US newspaper to make his case for the lifting of US and EU sanctions. “. . . the US and the EU have had economic sanctions on our country. It has been [for] nearly 20 years now. I would like to see them ease . . ....