The Stateless Rohingya Blog

 Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad Khazaei Press TV: May 18, 2013 Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad Khazaei has urged a swift end to the violence and the breach of human rights against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. In a meeting with the ambassadors of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Khazaei said suppression and violence against Muslims are taking place despite Myanmar’s claims of democratization and reform.  He criticized a lack of consensus and coordination among Muslim countries to adopt a resolution in condemnation of the atrocities against the Muslims in Myanmar, stressing the importance for Myanmar’s government to take effective measures to stop the violence.  “At a time when Muslim countries are concerned about the situation in Myanmar, the political whim of certain Western states to establish better relations with Myanmar’s government has weakened the process of looking ...

U.S. President Barack Obama sits alongside Myanmar's President Thein Sein in a US-Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali on November 18, 2011. © 2011 Reuters Human Rights Watch : May 18, 2013 Obama Should Press Visiting Burmese President to Keep Past Rights Pledges (Washington, DC) – The United States should use the upcoming visit by Burma’s president to ask tough questions about the slowing pace of human rights reforms and insist on implementation of past commitments, Human Rights Watch said today. President Barack Obama is hosting a visit to Washington, DC, by Burma’s president Thein Sein on May 20-21, 2013. Six months after Obama’s visit to Burma, key pledges by the Burmese government remain unimplemented or unmet. With large numbers of political prisoners still not released, a May 17 release of about 19 political prisoners appeared to be more politically calculated than a genuine commitment to reform. “The last yea...

GEMUNU AMARASINGHE / AP A Rohingya man pushes a rickshaw leaving a camp for displaced Rohingya people in Sittwe, northwestern Rakhine State, Myanmar, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Some members of the Rohingya minority started to evacuate for safer shelters ahead of Cyclone Mahasen, while others refused to leave, mistrusting the government. Toronto Star : May 18, 2013 In western Burma, 140,000 people have been forced from their homes by communal violence. Their camps are now at risk of being inundated by monsoons. RAKHINE STATE, BURMA—As a mob of Arakanese Buddhists descended on their village, Ma Nu, 52, and her family pushed off in their fishing boat. “The day before, we were given leaflets, telling us to leave,” says Ma Nu, a Rohingya Muslim. “We lived together for decades. We never thought anything like this could happen.” From the water, they watched the violence unfold. Stragglers were attacked and houses were looted with the assistance of loca...

BDnews24 May 18, 2013 Issues related to Bangladesh's ready-made garment industry and migration of Rohingyas figured prominently during talks between foreign Minister Dipu Moni and US Secretary of State John Kerry at Washington on Friday. “We’re looking forward to more cooperation in all areas of our common concern, both bilaterally and also at multilateral levels," Dipu Moni said after the meeting. She said Kerry has been invited to visit Bangladesh and the US Secretary of State has said he will try to come soon. This is the first meeting between the two after John Kerry took over as the Secretary of State in January. Addressing the media jointly, Kerry said the US was prepared to help in any way possible for those affected by Cyclone 'Mahasen'. He expressed grief over the death of more than 1,100 people in the Rana Plaza collapse. “We hope that this will be able to help all of us cooperate on the issue of labour safety and workers’ ri...

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...