The Stateless Rohingya Blog

 (Muslim men gather in front of a mosque heavily damaged during recent violence in town of Gyo Bin Gauk, some 150 km (93 miles) north of Yangon April 4, 2013.Reuters /Damir Sagolj ) By Dr. Habib Siddiqui Jack Haley has been at the forefront for struggle for human rights for many years. His excellent article on the use of religion to justify violence, and Buddhist terrorism in Myanmar and Sri Lanka can be seen in the Huffington Post.  He writes, "The Rohingya minority in Arakan/Rakhine state in western Burma is often considered one of the most disempowered peoples in the world. Formally stripped of citizenship and recognition in 1981, tension has long simmered along these people who live not far from the border with Bangladesh. The current tensions and violence has been abetted by government  security forces and that is unsurprising. What is disturbing is that the discourse from some in the opposition democracy camps that received so much support internatio...

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burma border security force (Nasaka) are harassing and disturbing Rohingya fishermen without any reason in Maungdaw south since April 13 –stared of Buddhist water festival-, said a fishermen on condition of anonymity from Aley Than Kyaw.   “Nasaka personnel from Shilkhali Nasaka out-post, under Nasaka area No. 7, harassed and tortured Rohingya fishermen who returned to their village –Aley Than Kyaw- from the sea on April 14 without any reason. The fishermen have permission from Nasaka to fish in the sea.” Some victims of fishermen are:- Shafi (35), Dilu (33), Yonus (40), Abdu Rakim (30), Dolusan and Lal Meah (32). Some fishermen were jumped into the water to escape and some were injured while Nasaka tortured the fishermen and Nasaka threw fishes into water which were caught from the sea, said an elder from the village. “The injured persons have been taking  treatment in the village privately as they are not able to go to the governme...

Jakarta Post: April, 16, 2013 TANGERANG: The police of Mauk district, Tangerang regency, detained on Monday 16 migrants from Myanmar who were hiding on an offshore floating fish trap. Chief Insp. Suhendar said that local fishermen filed a police report after discovering the migrants on the fish trap earlier in the day. “We are collecting data on the migrants. We will hand them over to the immigration office for processing,” Suhendar said. Khalid Husain, 27, one of the migrants, said they had traveled from Myanmar on a vessel heading for Australia via Malaysia and Indonesia. “We are so scared of the ongoing political conflict that has claimed many lives,” he said, adding that each of them had paid the equivalent of Rp 3 million (US$309) to an agent who promised to help them enter Australia to seek asylum. Indonesia has sheltered many migrants from the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar. The Rohingya, who are not recognized as a minority group by the Myanmar...

Unregistered Kutupalong refugee camp in raining   Kutupalong, Bangladesh: A sudden rain gusted up Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on April 16 at 3:30 pm, according to Anwar from Refugee camp. “The sudden rain gusted up the camp upside down, most of shacks from unregistered camp were destroyed and refugee are now facing very difficult to stay inside the shacks as heavy rain fell in the camp.” “I fixed the roof of my shack in the summer as prepare for coming raining season, but the sudden rain gusted up and blew up my roof from shack. How I manage again to fix it, it is very expenses to collect woods, bamboos and plastics,” said Amina Begum, a widow from the camp. The sudden rain gusted the Kutupalong Refugee camp – registered and unregistered – are facing same problem – the roofs – but unregistered camp is more effect than registered. The registered camp’s sheds are repairing by the government of Bangladesh and UNHCR, but the unregistered are not able to re...

A UNHCR member of staff discusses accommodation with colleagues and displaced people at the Ohn Taw Gyi IDP camp near Sittwe, capital of Rakhine state  © UNHCR/P.Behan IRIN News: April 16, 2013 BANGKOK, 16 April 2013 (IRIN) - Ongoing tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Myanmar's western Rakhine State have created a threatening environment for aid workers, hindering assistance to more than127,000 displaced persons.  “Access to IDPs [internally displaced persons] is being seriously hampered by ongoing intimidation [of aid workers] by some members of the local community,” noted the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Yangon.  Humanitarian organizations, including medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières, report aid staff have faced accusations by the local Rakhine community - who are mostly Buddhist - that their assistance favours the Muslim Rohingya minority.  The majority of the displaced are Rohingya, b...

Rohingya Genocide 1942 - Present  (part of The Darkness Visible series) Thousands of the Muslim Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have not been registered and have received little assistance. A woman sits on the side of the road with her grandchild at the old Tal Camp near Teknaf. The government has since relocated the camp residents to a safer and less congested area.  © UNHCR/G.Constantine. Alders Ledge: April 15, 2013 How long should the a people have to suffer before the world decides to act? How often do they have to be killed in senseless pogroms and orgies of violence? Why do they have to grow-up in a culture of oppression and fear? Why do they have to raise their children without food or education? When will the cycle of neglect and abuse end? Since the days of British colonialism in Myanmar the Rohingya people have been been subject to systemic racism in the governments that have come and gone over the years. The British gave them just enough to ke...

ERC and Egypt delegation Mohamed Farooq Mayupress: April 15, 2013 (Frankfurt) International Society for Human Rights Germany (IGMF) held 41st Annual Conference on April 12 – 14, 2013 at Gustav-Stressmann Institute in Bonn, Germany. About 200 persons have participated from different countries of the world; Cuba, China, Turkey, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Iran, USA, UK and Burma (Myanmar) etc. In the Conference, the human right expert participants specially discussed over human rights violations against ethnic minorities across the world, persecution, extra judiciary killing, abusing, harassment, rapes on women, imprisonments, free of speech, religious activities restriction. They tried to find out remedy and prevention of minor communities with democratically reforms having equal right in the society. Mr.Ibrahim, the Secretary of Media and Informationand Mr.M.Hussain Azmi, the Deputy General Secretary have been welcomed on behalf of the European Rohingya Council (ERC) for ...