The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Medical staff monitor two of the Rohingya men admitted to hospital on Friday with stomach complaints. (Photo by Piyarach Chongcharoen) Source Bangkok Post: February 15, 2013   KANCHANABURI - Police have taken 16 Rohingya men to hospital after they suddenly developed stomach pains after breakfast on Friday. Somjate Laoluekiat, director of Phaholpolpayuhasaena Hospital, said the patients had mild stomach aches and suggested that the cause might be from food poisoning. Pol Lt Col Artorn Wongjaikuer, deputy superintendent of the Kanchanaburi Immigration Bureau, said that 150 Rohingya people ate the same food but only 16 of them got sick. He said that if the illness had been because of the food, then the number of sick people should be higher. However, he noticed that not all the illegal migrants ate with the utensils provided, using their hands instead, so they might have picked up some bacteria that caused stomach problems. The patients will undergo ...

Source  UNICEF : BANGKOK, 14 February 2013   – UNICEF began this week delivering footballs and other play and recreation supplies to eight Ministry of Social Development and Human Security shelters caring for Rohingya children in southern Thailand. Some 270 Rohingya children, many who were separated from their parents or who came to Thailand unaccompanied by adults, are being cared for at nine shelters in eight provinces across the South. About 70 Rohingya women are also being assisted at the shelters, while more than 1,400 Rohingya men are in government immigration detention facilities.     UNICEF supplies include footballs, volleyballs, badminton sets and other sports equipment, drawing and art supplies, and toys and other play items for young children. UNICEF staff delivered the first bags of supplies on Monday to the shelter in Songklha housing about 80 Rohningya children. “The materials will be used to help provide improved pla...

a Rohingya man killed by Rakhine terrorist, photo 2012 Maungdaw, Arakan State:  Four Rohingya villagers who were arrested on February10 were killed in the local Nasaka camp for severe torturing in the camp on February 12 , said a relative of the victims. “The victims were identified as— Nazir Hussain (35), Ms Hansoma  Khatun (30), Amir Salim (30), and Nadu (50). They all belong to Ludine village of Loung Don village tract of Maungdaw Township.” Females were also arrested in the absent of their husbands, sons and brothers in the house. Many Rohingya villagers (not known exact figure) were arrested by security forces-Nasaka and police- from Loung Don village tract of Maungdaw north regarding the killing of one Rakhine man and three others wounded  on February 10, by unknown criminals,  said a local elder on condition of anonymity. But, the dead bodies were not handed over to their parents or relatives and were buried to unk...

Commentary by Fayas Repeatedly, ruthless stories on Rohingya people in Arakan under the racist Burma’s security forces are taking since long. There are many tragedies that remain untold. As human beings, regardless of the one’s religion, a human being deserves his/her honor and dignity of being human at the place where he/she is present. Today, every Rohingya has his/her own tragedy concerning their relatives or friends in the unruly Arakan where killing and torturing of Rohingyas, torching of their properties and raping their women and girls. Burmese security forces and some Rakhine extremists have been committing grave crimes against Rohingya minority in every means. Whenever the security forces enter a Rohingya village, innocent Rohingya villagers run away for their lives everywhere possible. At least one member from almost every family, especially in Maungdaw south is missing and whereabouts are not known. They become preys of security forces. Rohingyas in southe...

Source Phuket_Wan: February 14, 2013 By Human Rights Urgent Appeals Program THAILAND: Rohingya asylum seekers arrested in southern provinces of Thailand ISSUES: Refugees, IDPs and asylum seekers; human trafficking; minorities Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned for the fate of Rohingya asylum seekers who have been arrested in the past weeks in police sweeps of remote areas in Songkhla's Sadao district near the border with Malaysia and the other provinces. They have fled from Burma, where they have been subjected to various types of persecution.  Even though Rohingya migrants are entering into Thailand without permission, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race and religion they are entitled to seek asylum. Therefore customary international law and the non-refoulement principle should be strictly applied by the Thai state. CASE DETAILS: Rohingya migrants have fled from Burma, where the...

Source Radio Free Asia: February 13, 2013 The special rapporteur on human rights travels to Burma to investigate camps for the displaced in Rakhine and Kachin states. AFP U.N. Human Rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana talks to journalists at the Rangoon international airport, Aug. 4, 2012 A U.N. human rights envoy on Monday visited refugee camps in Burma’s restive Rakhine state, where nearly 200 people were killed in communal violence last year, as part of a fact-finding mission on ethnic conflict in the country. Tomas Ojea Quintana, who is on his seventh trip to Burma as the U.N. Special Rapporteur monitoring the rights situation in Burma, spent time speaking with refugees at camps in Myay Pone township near the state capital Sittwe.  He was accompanied by U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Burma Ashok Nigam. Thousands remain homeless in the region following clashes between ethnic Buddhist Rakhines and Rohingya communities in June and October la...

Teknaf, Bangladesh:  A row boat with 41 Rohingyas sank in the Naff River on February 9 at night, while they were returning to Burma from Bangladesh after visiting their relative and medical treatment, said a local from Shapuri Dip. “They crossed Bangladesh-Burma border without the Knowledge of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) at midnight on that day.” According to sources, some came to Bangladesh from Arakan State, Burma to visit in their relatives in the refugee camps and others came for medical treatment. In the boat, there were men, women and children, sources said. After completing of their medical treatment and visiting in Bangladesh, they returned to their homes by a boat   from the Ghut (jetty) of Mistri Para of Shapuri Dip under the Teknaf police station. The Uparjila union members of Shapuri Dip— Abdu Salam and Ismail said that a boat along with 41 Rohingya passengers crossed the Naff River at midnight. But, unluckily the boat entered a conical fish...