The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tomás Ojea Quintana. UN Photo/Evan Schneider UN News Centre: 16 July 2013 – A United Nations independent expert today welcomed the abolition of Myanmar’s notorious border security force, known as Nasaka, and called for an investigation of human rights abuses committed by its members against the Rohingya population in Rakhine state. “I have received allegations of the most serious of human rights violations involving Nasaka, particularly against the local Rohingya population, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture in detention,”  said  the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana. “I have no doubt that the violations committed over the years with complete impunity have undermined the rule of law in Rakhine state, and had serious consequences for the peaceful coexistence of communities there.” Mr. Ojea Quintana stressed that t...

Australia Network News: July 16, 2013 The UN's refugee agency says the closed border policy introduced last year by Bangladesh hasn't stopped asylum seekers fleeing Myanmar. It has though had the reverse effect, encouraging more people to attempt risky sea journeys to countries like Australia. As Stephanie March reports from Bangladesh, last year the government started pushing back Rohingya across the border and turning boats around from Myanmar.

The Nasaka headquarters is seen in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Irrawaddy News: July 16, 2013  RANGOON — A national police battalion has been deployed to Arakan State after the government’s notorious Nasaka border guard force was abolished four days ago, a state government spokesman says. “Police have been stationed in areas where security is a concern to replace the Nasaka,” Myo Than, a secretary for the Arakan State government’s information team, told The Irrawaddy on Monday. He said the border guard force had been stationed in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, which are largely populated by the Rohingya Muslim minority. “The police there have nothing to do with the Arakan State Police but are under a Union-level directorate,” he added. The Nasaka, known officially as the Border Area Immigration Control Headquarters, comprises army and police officers as well as customs and immigration officials. In addition to monitoring Bu...

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui July 15 2013 When history is twisted, humanity loses. No country epitomizes this notion to the hilt better than Buddhist-majority Myanmar where history is twisted not only to deny human rights but also to justify genocidal campaigns against religious minorities. There is no historical record of Buddha ever visiting any part of Arakan and Burma, and yet the popular Mon and Myanmar oral tradition, including the chronicle Sasanavamsa, and the belief of the Arakanese Rakhines suggest that the Buddha visited their king and left behind an image of himself for them to worship. The Sasanavamsa mentions several visits of the Buddha to Myanmar and one other important event: the arrival of the hair relics in Ukkala (Yangon) soon after the Buddha's enlightenment. Modern historiography, of course, dismisses these stories as fabrications made out of national pride, as the Myanmar had not even arrived in the region at the time of the Buddha. Myanmar is a cou...

British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) greets Myanmar President Thein Sein at 10 Downing Street in central London on July 15, 2013. (AFP/ANDREW COWIE) By Andrew Osborn Reuters: July 15, 2013 LONDON (Reuters) - President Thein Sein, the first leader of Myanmar to visit Britain in more than 25 years, held talks with Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday as activists protested against the Asian nation's human rights record. Sein said in a statement released on his website on Sunday that he had disbanded a security force accused of rights violations against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State in the west of Myanmar, scene of deadly violence between Muslims and majority Buddhists in the past year. Sein was due to talk trade, aid and democracy with Cameron and his ministers during a two-day visit at a time when Myanmar is opening up its oil, gas and telecoms sectors to foreign investors, with further liberalisation likely. Cameron was under pressure to confron...

Myanmar President Thein Sein (C) arrives at Yangon International Airport before leaving for a visit to Britain and France on July 14, 2013. Photo: AFP AFP July 14, 2013 President Thein Sein left Myanmar Sunday for a visit to Britain and France, an official said, as the former junta general looks to build on support for his much-lauded reforms. "The president left Yangon this morning to visit Britain and France," a government official told AFP without giving further details of the visit, Thein Sein's second trip to Europe in months. Another official earlier said the trip would be from July 14 to 18. Thein Sein visited several European countries in March -- although not Britain or France -- to bolster relations. The former general has surprised the international community by overseeing sweeping reforms since taking the presidency in 2011. Those changes include freeing hundreds of political prisoners and welcoming democracy champion Aung San ...

Seeking refuge: Muhammad Hafid, a Rohingya refugee, comforts his infant son while taking shelter at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) headquarters in Central Jakarta earlier last week. Some Rohingya refugees who were bound for a third country have claimed to have been abused by authorities. JP/Jerry Adiguna Jakarta Post July 15, 2013 In the corner of the room, Muhammad Hanif had just started to eat with his sister, Hasinah, when Jakarta Legal Aid (LBH) legal consultant came to check on them and their fellow Rohingya refugees on the third floor of the LBH office. Hanif wore a dull white shirt with a plaid sarong covering his thin, dark-skinned body. The eyes of the 38-year-old man from Myanmar seem tired and lost.  He went to sit on the floor, but the consultant asked him to have a seat on the leather couch. “I don’t know what to do anymore. I just want people to help me and my family to get citizenship,” he said. The long-standing discrimination ...