The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Burma Campaign UK March 14, 2014 Burma Campaign UK today welcomed the latest report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma. The Rapporteur concluded that: “The pattern of widespread and systematic human rights violations in Rakhine State may constitute crimes against humanity as defined under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.” He went on to state that: “During his latest visit to Rakhine State, the Special Rapporteur saw no improvements in the human rights situation. Instead, as time passes without clear action at the State and Union level to address the widespread discrimination and human rights violations occurring there, the situation continues to worsen from an already dire state.” The Special Rapporteur also backed calls made by Burma Campaign UK, the European Burma Network and many other human rights organisations for an international investigation the massacre at Du Chee Yar Tan in January. The Special Rapporteu...

Official abuse threatens both the Rohingya Muslims and the country's opening to the West. By Matthew Smith WSJ March 14, 2014 Rangoon Burma has enjoyed a remarkable several years of economic and political opening, but it is now also suffering a far darker development—serious ethnic violence. Coordinated arson attacks and periodic massacres in the remote Rakhine State have flattened entire villages and left hundreds of Rohingya men, women and children dead since June 2012. More than 140,000 are relegated to miserable displacement camps and tens of thousands have fled by sea. Western governments have spent the past two years trying to reconcile a brimming optimism about political reforms with harsh realities on the ground. Can the central government in Naypyidaw really be blamed for unrest in far-flung Rakhine State? The latest developments suggest the answer is yes and paint a dark picture of state-sponsored persecution. My organization, Fortify Rights, ...

Photo A group of Bangladeshi Buddhist stay in a school in Maungdaw. By Aung Aung  The Stateless A preplanned blaze in DarPaing, Sittwe on 8th March 2014 where 54 houses belonged to Rohingya burnt into ashes, but "it is an accident", said Myanmar government and its medias. On 9th March 2014, another fire broke out in Duchiradan where 12 houses and 1 Mosque of Rohingya burnt down, but Myanmar government media said  "it is an accusation against Rohingya because Rohingya burnt Rohingyas' own houses". On 10th March 2014, two Rohingya villages: Pan Myaung from Nan Thar Gone village tract and Sin Thay Pyin from Laungdon village tract, are set fire by Rakhine Extremists where caused more than 115 houses burnt into ashes, "Myanmar Medias broadcasted these incidents are as accidence or Rohingya burnt their own houses intentionally". Since June 2012, Myanmar government and Medias have been accusing Rohingya victims. Since two major massacres ...

Photo AFP By  Maung Zarni March 13, 2014 “What can we do, brother? There are too many. We can’t kill them all.” He said it matter-of-factly—a former brigadier and diplomat from my native country, Myanmar, about Rohingya Muslims. We were in the spacious ambassadorial office at Myanmar Embassy in an ASEAN country when this “brotherly” conversation took place. I am familiar with Myanmar's racist nationalist narrative. I have also worked with the country’s military intelligence services in pushing for the gradual re-engagement between the West and our country, then an international pariah. Apparently, knowledge of my background made the soldier feel so at ease that he could make such a hateful call in a friendly conversation on official premises in total candor: Islamophobia normalized in the highest ranks of the bureaucracy and military in Myanmar. He wanted to make sure I understood he had special knowledge of the situation, stressing that he was stationed for years in Rakhi...

By  Radio Australia March 12, 2014 Thousands of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar still lack health care two weeks after the government ordered the international medical charity MSF to leave Rakhine State . Reports are now emerging of deaths in the camps housing those displaced by the long-running sectarian violence in the state. MSF's operations were suspended late last month when it was accused of prioritising the treatment of the Rohingya community over local Buddhists. The organisation has since been allowed to resume its work in Myanmar, but not in Rakhine State. Former US Congressman Tom Andrews has been in the country for a month. He leads the Washington-based NGO, United to End Genocide, and he's been visiting the camps where displaced Rohingya are struggling to survive. Correspondent: Karon Snowdon Speakers: Tom Andrews, former US Congressman and president of the NGO, United to End Genocide ANDREWS: The United Nations has described...

Photo By Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP  By  Associated Press   March 12, 2014 THE' CHAUNG, Myanmar —  Noor Jahan  rocked slowly on the floor, trying to steady her weak body. Her chest heaved and her eyes closed with each raspy breath. She could no longer eat or speak, throwing up even spoonfuls of tea. Two years ago, she would have left her upscale home — one of the nicest in the community — and gone to a hospital to get tests and medicine for her failing liver and kidneys. But that was before Buddhist mobs torched and pillaged her neighborhood, forcing thousands of ethnic Rohingya like herself to flee to a hot, desert-like patch of land on the outskirts of town. She was then stuck in a dirt-floor bamboo hut about a quarter-mile from the sea. She and others from the Muslim minority group have been forced to live segregated behind security checkpoints and cannot leave, except for medical emergencies. Often not even then. Living conditions in The' Cha...

By Protect the Rohingya Protect the Rohingya, a South African based awareness organisation that advocates for the rights of the Rohingya, and the Muslim Lawyers Association of South Africa have co-authored a report on behalf of the Rohingya which they call, ‘Hear Our Screams, Making a case f or the Rohingya Genocide’. The information is structured in relation to the eight stages of genocide, as proposed by Gregory H. Stanton on Genocide Watch[1]. The facts presented within the eight stages are analysed normatively within the framework of the international law on genocide.  The outcome is that, amid an atmosphere of extermination, a genocide against the Rohingya is both probable and possibly already underway.  The report contains maps of the areas affected by the violence, a historical overview of the conflict followed by an exposition of the legal instruments pertaining to genocide within the framework of international law and a detailed presentation of the brut...