The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui November 26, 2013 An OIC (Organization of Islamic Countries) delegation, which included foreign ministers and senior officials from its member states Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Djibouti, and Bangladesh recently visited Myanmar. It was led by the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. The OIC delegation pressed for unhindered access of humanitarian aid to all affected people and communities, including Rakhine (Arakan) State, without any discrimination. They also stressed the need for clarifying misconceptions and misunderstandings on both sides and for building mutual trust and interfaith community harmony. As has become the norm in this mostly Buddhist country that has come to signify the den of intolerance and hatred of our time, the OIC delegation was, however, met byangry demonstrators, esp. in the Rakhine state, which has seen more than its share of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minorities. Some 3,000 protesters, led b...

Rohingya fishermen in Bangladesh rely on informal -- often exploitative -- work  © Kyle Knight/ IRIN  DHAKA, 26 November 2013 ( IRIN ) - The Bangladeshi government’s recent announcement of a “Rohingya strategy” has some observers concerned that this could spell a continued crisis for up to 500,000 Rohingya in the country, while  local media  reported that a survey will be conducted to identify all Rohingya living illegally in Bangladesh. “There are documented and undocumented refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh, which is a big risk for the country,” the government’s Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan  told reporters  in September 2013. The Rohingya , a Muslim minority numbering approximately 800,000 and living in neighbouring Myanmar, have long faced persecution and discrimination there, including being stateless in the eyes of  Burmese law . Violence and inter-communal clashes between the Rohingya and Buddhists in Myanmar’s...

Photo AP By Oman Tribune November 25, 2013 The stand of the Myanmar government in the context of the Rohingyas is crystal clear. These hapless people will continue to be third class inhabitants of Myanmar and their persecution will go on. This point was implicit in the rejection by a spokesman for President Thein Sein of a United Nations resolution calling on the Myanmar government to grant Rohingyas citizenship and to end the violence against them. “We cannot give citizenship rights to those who are not in accord with the law, whatever the pressure. This is our sovereign right,” said spokesman Ye Hut and added that only “Bengalis in Rakhine state who are in accord with the 1982 citizenship can become citizens.” According to rules minorities must prove that they have lived in Myanmar before 1823. That will be impossible. This means that more trouble is in store for the Rohingyas who number around 800,000 and most of them live in Rakhine state. A repeat of the riots som...

Displacement and discrimination continue to affect Rohingya (Evangelos Petratos EU/ECHO January 2013) By Rachel Wagley  F oreign Policy Journal November 25, 2013 On November 12, the United Nations General Assembly released its  draft annual resolution  against Burma, calling on the Burmese government to address 2013 “communal violence.” The terms “communal violence,” “sectarian violence,”  and  “inter-communal violence”  have become go-to descriptors of attacks against Muslims in Burma. Insofar as they are used to describe  specific incidents  during the June and October 2012 attacks in Arakan State, the terms are to some degree accurate. But the blanket use of these terms to describe  ongoing  anti-Muslim attacks throughout Burma is inaccurate and even incendiary. It normalizes the misconception that in 2013, Muslims as a community have been both victims and perpetrators. In Burma’s anti-Muslim climate, this misconcept...

I really felt sad to read about the plight of the Rohingya Muslims. I did not know that in a part of the world, such a people existed who are being persecuted because of their faith. The silence of the so-called champions of human rights over this issue is disgusting.  All the Muslim countries should boycott Myanmar and ask its government to take steps to check the situation and grant the Rohingya people nationalities. —  Waqar Ahmed ,  Riyadh

MYARF Report | By M.S. Anwar November 25, 2013 Rvisiontv.com Kamauk Seik, Maungdaw - On 23 rd  November 2013 morning, authority of Maungdaw township visited the village of Foira-Bazaar (Kamauk-Seik), northern Maungdaw. During a meeting with Rohingyas in the region, authority threatened them with up to 7-year-imprisonment if they refuse to be registered as Bengalis during the forthcoming population census. “On 23 rd  November 2013 morning, Maungdaw Township Administrator (U Kyi Than), Maungdaw District Administrator (U Tin Aung Myint Soe), Tactical Military Operation Commander in Maungdaw and other high-level officers visited the village of Foira-Bazaar (Kamauk-Seik), northern Maungdaw. They summoned a meeting with the administrator of the village and the administrators of the neighboring villages as well. During the meeting, they threatened Rohingyas attending at the meeting with up to 7 years imprisonment if Rohingyas refuse to be registered as Bengalis in the forthc...

By Press TV November 24, 2013 Press TV has conducted an interview with Sarnata Reynolds, Statelessness Refugees International, Maryland about the issue of the dramatic depravation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar camps; them being violently persecuted by the majority Buddhist community assisted by the government, which has rejected a UN resolution. The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.  Press TV : When we want to take a look at the situation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar it’s nothing new at this point, but this development of how the UN has pretty much urged the country, in this case to grant citizenship to the Rohingyas; but highlighting the case should invoke some kind of aid translating down.  Why is that not happening? Such as what we’re seeing in these camps in terms of the ones that have been displaced now living in these camps.  Reynolds : That’s a good question and the UN resolution I should say is such a positi...