The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Most Rohingya boat people are men, but women and children are the most vulnerable. End Collusion with Traffickers; Shelter Families By  Human Rights Watch January 06, 2014 ( Bangkok) -  Thailand ’s government should urgently send ethnic Rohingya children from  Burma  and their families to safe and open family shelters. New research documents abuses by Thai authorities, who should take action against camps in southern Thailand used for trafficking Rohingya and punish officials complicit in abuse. As weather conditions improve, increased numbers of Rohingya, a Muslim minority that is effectively denied citizenship in Burma, have been crossing to Thailand in often-rickety boats.  This has included numerous children, many of whom are unaccompanied by parents. “Rohingya children need safe, secure environments after fleeing violence in Burma and enduring the trauma of difficult journeys,” said  Alice Farmer , children’s rights resear...

By  KPN News January 06, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan State: Over two thousand Buddhist people including monks, government officers and staff, local people led by U Kyi San, Maungdaw Township Administration officer (TAO) went to “Kasim Mountain Tip”, under Phar Wut Chaung village tract of Maungdaw north yesterday, according to  a local elder named Mamun Ali ( not real name).   “On that day, Buddhist People were starting to go there from 4:00 am to 2:00 pm by cars, motor bikes and even on foot. All the people were wearing same dresses – T shirts and marked on their shits ---climbers of hill top ‘Aung Mingala’.” The TAO officer needs to hold a meeting on the hill top and wants to announce with loudspeaker to rename the ‘Kasim Mountain’ into “Aung Mingala Mountain.” As a result, they held a meeting on the mountain tip yesterday in the aiming of to change topographical change, said another local trader who denied to be named. For the meeting, the local ...

By Zin Lin  Asia Tribune   January 06, 2014 The year 2013 has departed, but it leaves ongoing war upon ethnic population launched by government army produces more and more internal displaced people plus refugees from various Shan villages. Additionally, this war forces ethnic people to flee from the country. These war-victims escaped into neighboring countries as political exiles, illegal migrants and refugees. So, people have to make questions that why government’s armed forces do not stop fighting along ethnic border areas. Without stopping war in ethnic areas, how can the President convince the people from the border areas of his government's goodwill efforts for peace and stability and growth? While number of hostilities considerably decreased in many ceasefire regions, armed clashes in war-torn Kachin and Shan state are still unstoppable. Those hostilities in Kachin and Shan states have increased IDPs numbers along Sino-Myanmar border. As a result of m...

By KPN News January 05, 2014   Maungdaw, Arakan State: The concerned authority is harassing a census educator in Maungdaw since January 2, 2014, according to Halim, a Human Rights Watchdog from Maungdaw.   Nur Alam - school teacher teaching Burmese and English in a religion school – in Done Pite (Aung Seik Pyin) village, Maungdaw north, explaining about forthcoming census to rural areas Rohingya villagers, Halim said. But, the concerned authority – U Aung Myint Soe, the District Administration officer and U Kyi San, the Township administration officers – are giving trouble and issuing order to arrest Nur Alam for giving education to the people who didn’t know about census and how to answer the questions in the census forms, Halim more added. The Aung Seik Pyin village admin officer U Maung Mya and his collaborators –Abdullah, son of Nazir Ahmed; Nazir Ahmed, son of Sultan Ahmed; Dil Mohamed ,son of Eman Hussin and Sabir, son of Iddries – informed to the conc...

BY KPN January 04, 2014 Teknaf, Bangladesh: Twenty-nine Rohingya were arrested at border areas and pushed back to Burma by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) yesterday, Hasan, a local from Teknaf border town said. “They were arrested from the entry points of Teknaf town on January 2 and 3 by BGB after conducting an operation.” A BGB team of Nayapara out-post under the Teknaf Battalion No. 42 conducted a drive at  border areas and arrested 8 Rohingyas yesterday morning while entering the Bangladesh in illegal way. After arrest, they were pushed back to Burma from the entry point of Nayapara yesterday at about 11: 30 am, according to BGB official. The team was led by a BGB officer--- Habil Dar Humayun of Nayapara out-posts. Besides, on January 2, 2014, a team of BGB of Dum Dum Meah out-posts also arrested 21 Rohingyas including 13 males, 5 women and 3 children from the entry point of Naitong Para while entering Bangladesh crossing the Naff River by a row boat, BGB sou...

By  Helen Regan Democratic Voice of Burma January 04, 2014 Burmese asylum-seekers currently based in Indonesia say they will continue to risk their lives and travel by boat to Australia, despite the very high chance they will never get there. Among the rolling hills of Cisarua, a small town three hours from Jakarta, about 800 asylum-seekers live in overcrowded houses. Those who have fled their homes in Burma, Afghanistan, Iran and elsewhere in Asia have paid people-smugglers to take them to Indonesia, in the hope that one day they will be able start a new life in Australia. Saw Aung is originally from Mon state. He fled his home because he said he was being persecuted for being a Muslim. He has been living in Cisarua with his wife, Cho Cho, and two children for a year. He has already tried to get to Australia by boat but a storm forced the tiny vessel to turn back to Indonesia. “Suddenly, heavy rain and a storm came in. Everyone was scared,” he said. “We ha...

Muslim refugees rest at Baw Du Pha refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win) By Kayleigh Long  Myanmar Times January 03, 2014 Pressure is mounting for the Myanmar government to ensure full humanitarian access to the Taung Paw IDP camp in Rakhine State's Myebon Township, with several international bodies decrying the conditions within the camp as "inhumane". A joint statement issued on December 30 by the European Union delegation, along with the embassies of Switzerland, Turkey and the United States, has pointed to the "dire humanitarian situation" faced by the camp's 752 resident families. Chief among the concerns outlined were the poor living conditions within the camp, including a lack of safe drinking water, limited healthcare services, widespread malnutrition, and the restriction of access beyond camp bounds. The detrimental impact of the movement restrictions imposed on those in the camp...