The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Rohingya minority children look out through a window of a bus after they were rescued by Thai authorities in Songkhla province, southern Thailand on Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. Nearly 700 boat people from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya minority were rescued from alleged human traffickers in two separate raids near Thailand’s southern border, Thai authorities said Friday. (AP Photo/Sumeth Panpetch) Thai authorities said Friday that about 700 people from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya minority who had entered Thailand illegally were found in two separate raids in the country's south and that they would be sent back to Myanmar. Police and government officials found 307 Rohingya asylum seekers during a search Friday at a warehouse in Sadao district in Songkhla province, police Maj. Col. Thanusin Duangkaewngam said. On Thursday, nearly 400 Rohingya were found in a raid in the same district.

Fears grow of US human trafficking downgrade Authorities have pledged to look after the 704 Rohingya migrants rounded up in two raids. The promise comes amid growing concerns that Thailand could face a downgrade on a US human trafficking watch list and risk sanctions by the US. Immigration officers and police yesterday found a second group of 307 Rohingya migrants including more than a dozen children in a warehouse on the border with Malaysia.

Nowhere to go: Burmese refugees in Delhi. Photo: S. Subramanium Source The Hindu:  January 11, 2013 Refugees from Myanmar refuse to return to the country citing violence and discrimination National League of Democracy chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi’s return to active politics in May last year after over two decades of incarceration had raised the hopes of the hundreds of Burmese refugees in India. They had also rejoiced during her six-day visit to the Capital last November. Yet the refugees, especially the Rohingya Muslims, are not willing to go back to their home country citing continuing violence against them and would instead prefer to obtain refugee status in India.

                                          Anti-Rohingya rally kutupalong,Ukhiya photo 2010 Teknaf, Bangladesh: A group of locals including Member Mohamed Ali of Upazila Phorishat (UP) – village admin member- are protesting against the INGOs who are working in the Nayapara camp, said a schoolteacher from the Nayapara camp. “ They protested against the INGOs because some local staffs were expelled from their jobs from INGOs on January 8. But, INGOs are trying to recruit some refugees to replace against the local posts.”

Former Asean Secretary General Dr Surin Pitsuwan on Phuket last yearPhoto by phuketwan.com/file By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian Thursday, January 10, 2013   PHUKET: Indonesia is interceding in Burma as the Asean partners desperately try to stem international damage from years of Asean subterfuge and inaction on the Rohingya issue. Dr Surin Pitsuwan, who has just retired after five years as Secretary General of the 10-nation group, told   Phuketwan  today that human rights in Burma was an issue that had to be addressed.

Children being treated today inside the people smugglers' campPhoto by Metee Mooktaree By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison Thursday, January 10, 2013 PHUKET: Thai authorities raided a secret transit camp for Rohingya on the border with Malaysia today, apprehending 366 men, women and children and seven alleged people traffickers.  Sixty-two of those being held were aged under 15 with three babies less than a year old, and 11 women, local police said. 

Maungdaw, Arakan State : Bogyi Wi Myo Pyain, commander and head of NaSaKa camp based no-24 Kyein Chaung village tract (Boli Bazar),under region-4 has been looking for Hafez-Nurul Haque s/o Md Husain aged 39 hailed from Kyein Chaung village tract since three months over the false accusation that he uses Bangladeshi mobile  phone . However, as he refrained getting out, he had not been caught. But when he came out yesterday to participate in census check-up process (carried out by Na-Sa-Ka twice a year which is a must for Rohingyas only, unless they will be delisted from the census), coincidentally he was arrested by the Na-Sa-Kas lead by the above mentioned officer and placed under detention cell till they succeeded to extort 350000Ks from this poor victim.