The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Muslim Rohingya  women  in Arakan state's Sittwe hold ID cards while they wait to cast ballots during the 2010 general elections. (Reuters) Aye Nai DVB News : May 17, 2013 Burma’s electoral commission has ordered a newly formed political party to expel six of its senior members for listing their ethnicity as “Rohingya” in their official biographies, according to party members.  Earlier this month, the Union Election Commission (UEC) forced the Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP), which was formed in March this year, to oust six of its central executive committee members for allegedly being “non-citizens”.  UEC director Tin Maung Cho told DVB that the six members had “breached” existing regulations for political parties as the Muslim Rohingya are not recognised as an official ethnic group in Burma.  According to Article 10(a) of the Political Parties Registration Law, a person can only become a political party member if they qualify...

Egypt - H.E. Mr. Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe Kuwait News Agency: May 17, 2013 UNITED NATIONS, May 17 (KUNA) -- Muslim nations at the UN will look into measures to highlight the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, making a solemn effort to bring the subject to the General Assembly, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations, Mootaz Ahmadein Khalil said. In his letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and President of the UN General Assembly Vuk Jeremic late Thursday, Khalil said that Muslim nations around the globe condemned the heinous acts perpetrated against the Rohingyas, stressing that the international community should act swiftly to end those people's suffering. Muslim countries are contemplating a step to present a draft-resolution to the upcoming meeting of the General Assembly if the plight of the Muslim Rohingya continued, said Khalil. He hoped that in the upcoming period, the situation of the Muslim ...

The dead bodies recovered at coastline in Teknaf Teknaf, Bangladesh: Bangladesh Coast guard personnel recovered 32 bodies from the coastline at Teknaf union, under the Cox‘s Bazar district yesterday afternoon and today, Additional police Commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, said. A trawler had capsized with 100 Rohingyas in Burma, on May 14, at night, and that the 32 dead might be among the victims of the acc ident, said a local named Habib from Shapuri Dip of Bangladesh.  All the 32 victims are Burmese nationals, had set off for Malaysia from Teknaf on Wednesday. Of them, 12 are children, 6 women and others are adult males. They also found Kyat 40,000 from their clothes, the Teknaf police said.  Among the dead bodies, there was a woman clasping her baby at her chest, said Kala from Teknaf who saw the dead bodies after recovering from the sea yesterday.  The local people spotted the bodies afloat along the coastline between Baharchara and Sabrang in...

The Rohingya community in Myebon was brutally evicted and their homes and belongings burnt to the ground. Photo credit: Mathias Eick EU/ECHO January 2013. The International   May 17, 2013 A humanitarian crisis in Burma (formally Myanmar) presents a challenge for the international community. While recent democratic reforms in the Southeast Asian nation have led to the lifting of decades old sanctions, crimes against humanity committed against Muslim minorities question the extent of Burma’s transition away from harsh military rule. Can Burma deliver justice on behalf of the nearly 130,000 Rohingya Muslims that have been displaced by ethnic violence? How can the international community help Burma   solve   the crisis of protecting the human rights of its non-citizen inhabitants? In the last two years, Burma has emerged from decades of isolation and authoritarian rule. According to the  BBC , the military junta that controlled the nation from 1962 to 2011 ...

A Rohingya woman cries after her apprehension on Phuket Photo by phuketwan.com By Chutima Sidasathian Phuket_Wan May 16, 2013 PHUKET: A group of senior national officials has been checking on conditions in which Rohingya boatpeople are being detained in Thailand. Member of Parliament Samas Nalulem, who is also a member of the Border Affairs Commission, visited the women and children being held in a Phuket family refuge yesterday. It's believed the Phuket visit is just one of several to refuges and Immigration detention centres where about 2000 Rohingya men, women and children are being held throughout Thailand. Three women and 17 children are being held on Phuket at the family centre together with a group of men in detention in cells at Phuket Immigration in Phuket City. Teenage boys have absconded from the Phuket family centre and from a larger family centre in Phang Nga, the province north of Phuket, where 72 women and children remain. According...

An Internally displaced Rohingya woman holds her baby outside her tent waiting to leave a camp for displaced Rohingya people in Sittwe, northwestern Rakhine State, Myanmar, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Members of the displaced Rohingya minority started to evacuate for safer shelters ahead of the arrival of Cyclone Mahasen. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) Irrawaddy News: May 16, 2013 SITTWE, Arakan State—Tropical Cyclone Mahasen missed western Burma’s Arakan State on Thursday afternoon, bringing relief to tens of thousands of internally displaced Rohingyas living in camps near the coast. An official at the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology said the cyclone had made landfall at the Chittagong coast in central Bangladesh at 3:30 pm. “In Bangladesh, the cyclone caused winds of 100 KPH (60 MPH). In Myanmar there were some rains and on the Arakan coast there were high waves,” he said. In northern Arakan State, at Maungdaw Township, waves of 2-meter (6-feet) were recorded...

Women pass their time in a Rohingya internally displaced person (IDP) camp outside of Sittwe (Reuters) Gianluca Mezzofiore International Business Times Sources speaking to  IBTimes UK  said that Rohingya Muslims refused any attempt to relocate as the cyclone, which has already killed at least seven people and displaced 3,881 in Sri Lanka, nears. The Myanmar government planned to move 38,000 internally displaced people, but many refused fearing the authorities’ intentions. Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya living in Germany with contacts in Sittwe, claimed that Rohingya “were forced to go” but only five families agreed. “100% confirmed that the authorities are forcing Rohingya refugees in Sittwe to move to the beach,” he said. “State Chief Minister warned today that will take serious action and President Office Minister Aung Min also told the same like at meeting in Yangon today.” FOLLOW IBTIMES His report was confirmed by Aung Aung, a Rohi...