The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Burmese soldiers march during ceremonies on March 27, 2010, marking the 65th anniversary Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw. Soldiers from the Burma Army have been accused of sexual violence in the country’s border areas. (Photo: The Associated Press) By Lawi Weng The Irrawaddy January 8, 2014 RANGOON — The Burmese military has launched an investigation into allegations that a soldier raped a 13-year-old girl in the country’s southeast, amid continued reports by civilians that sexual abuse by armed forces remains a dire problem despite political reforms. A soldier from the Burma Army’s Infantry Battalion 31 has been accused of raping the girl at her home in Kawzar sub-township, Mon State, while her parents were away. He was reportedly visiting the house to pick up dry vegetation to build thatched roofs for his battalion’s housing. The girl was discovered by a community leader, who brought her to a local hospital. “The girl told me that her hands were tied and she was ...

  M.A.R. Fareed   Al Jazeera January 06, 2014    About 1,500 Rohingya Muslims displaced from Myanmar camp in Hyderabad city but basic amenities eludes them. Tarpaulin sheets and open sewage greet visitors in Rohingya camps in Hyderabad [MAR Fareed/Al Jazeera] For hundreds of Rohingya - a Muslim minority group in Myanmar - settled in makeshift camps in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, it is a daily struggle for survival. More than 1,500 Rohingya people who were displaced from Myanmar have been camping in the city for more than a year, but basic amenities such as food, clean water, medicine and clothes still eludes them. They arrived in India after being attacked by the ethnic Rakhine Budhists, while Myanmar's government forces did little to stop the violent assaults. A number of widows and pregnant women are living in precarious conditions, but children are the worst affected, with many falling sick due to the lack of proper food an...

Rohingya Music & Song  Music and song reflect lives of people the way they think, feel, express and the way they are. Likewise, the lives of Rohingyas are influenced with one of the most important factors of culture; music and song. Rohingyas use many traditional instruments such as Tobla and Juri in combination of modern musical instruments. Song plays an oral medium for transmitting emotion, feeling and sentiment of Rohingyas in order to keep their history alive to the majority of non-literate commu-nity through religious, philo-sophical and country songs.    In summer time, many Rohingya youngsters go for singing under the moonlit nights with or with-out their musical instruments to feel fresh. There are also many groups of singers and musicians who release songs of all genres, and even it is easy for anyone who wants to dedicate a song for special one mentioning the name in the song from his or her fa-vourite singer. Howla is a kind o...

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...