The Stateless Rohingya Blog

United States Ambassador to Burma Derek Mitchell, Major General Anthony Crutchfield, and Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour Tom Malinowski at the US Embassy in Rangoon on 28 June, 2014. (PHOTO: DVB) By Feliz Solomon Democratic Voice of Burma June 30, 2014 A delegation of senior officials from the United States has left Burma with the message that “it is time to engage” the country’s military. Speaking to reporters in Rangoon on Saturday, Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, said that the  US is preparing for “cautious” engagement, which could include non-combat training. “The purpose of this engagement, the sole purpose, was and is to speak to the military about the importance of human rights, the rule of law and civilian control,” Malinowski said. He added that “there is the potential for a deeper partnership, even a full partnership, in the future.” The assistant secretary led a week-long de...

150,000 Rohingya IDP (internally displaced people) are currently imprisoned in refugee camps outside of Sittwe in Rakhine State in Western Myanmar.Getty Images By : Ludovica Iaccino Source :  http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ While many of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are preparing to celebrate Ramadan, the month of fasting, there are some who will not be free to acknowledge the most sacred month of the Islamic calendar. IBTimes UK  looks at some of the countries where Muslims are persecuted for their beliefs and also looks back at examples of persecution of Muslims throughout history. Muslims are currently persecuted in: Myanmar The Rohingya are a Muslim minority, originally from Bangladesh, who live in the predominantly Buddhist of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) . Buddhist extremists refuse to acknowledge the Rohingya and claim they are Bengalis who belong in neighbouring Bangladesh. A New York Times  short documentary  b...

  (Photo: Anurup Kanti Das) By Ananta Yusuf The Daily Star June 27, 2014 The Star explores the history and the origins of the Rohingya community in this week's issue “Our rooftop was filled with dried food The pasture was filled with harvest and chillies We came to Bangladesh leaving behind what we have Thought Muslims will embrace us with care and love How hard we tried to live in Burma, How long we've waited to go back Now memories floated adrift when we look back to the east….” (translated from a Rohingya song) Ayesha Begum (not her real name), a middle aged Rohingya refugee, was singing this Tarana (a form of folk song) on the sea beach of Shamlapur, Cox's Bazar. Time has passed her by all that remains are frustration and insecurity for her life. There is a misconception that Rohingyas do not have their own identity, history and culture. The mainstream media, researchers and political institutions of Myanmar have always tried to ...

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  The Maungdaw Township administration officer – U Kyi San – issued a new order for Rohingya community about death and birth, said Halim, a Human Rights Watchdog from Maungdaw. The order was issued today and dispatched to all village and block administration officers and to public place by the administration office, Halim said. The new order for death and birth is :- must witness and sign by  block/village administration officer, the clerk of village administration office, medical officer, education officer and an elder, Halim more added. This is for Rohingya only and it is a kind of harassment to Rohingya community as there is no education officer and medical officer from Rohingya community right now and it is a plan of Township administration officer to extort money from Rohingya, said Harron, a village administration officer from Maungdaw. The witness and signatory are non- Rohingya and they will not sign without any benefit, so ...

Facebook has gained immense traction in Myanmar in recent years [Photo: Hereward Holland/Al Jazeera]   By Hereward Holland Al Jazeera June 14, 2014 Since violence erupted in 2012, Facebook users in Myanmar have fanned anti-Muslim sentiment. Yangon, Myanmar - A nest of laptops in a shabby downtown apartment here acts as the modest, but passionate, command centre of Myanmar's battle against hate speech. White flowers stand in a glass bottle on a table surrounded by volunteers sitting cross-legged, lit up by their computer screens. The group of young people work for Panzagar, a new civil society organisation dedicated to countering the tide of online vitriol with flower power or, more accurately, flower speech. "Now, compared to the military regime, we have some freedom, there is no censorship, and we can use the internet and write whatever we want on the Facebook," said Panzagar's Nay Phone Latt. "But at that time there are so many people who misuse the fre...

Teknaf, Bangladesh : An unregistered refugee child died at the clinic of Lada makeshift camp (Tal) on June11, for the lack of proper treatment by doctors of Muslim Aids, said a refugee named Nuru from the camp. “The dead child has been identified as Mohammed Riaz (5), son of Mostak Ahamed, Block-A, Shed No. 61 of Leda camp (Tal) under the Teknaf police station, Cox’s Bazar district.” According to family source, Riaz was suddenly affected by diarrhea on June 11, at about 2:00 pm and immediately brought to the clinic of Muslim Aids. However, the doctor of Muslim Aids provided him two bottles of syrups after checking up but he was not admitted at the clinic. “During visit at the clinic, the doctor said that the patient will be recovered if the patient takes aforesaid syrups”, according to family source. As a result, the patient was brought to his shack by his family members regarding the advice of doctors. But, after half an hour, the situation of the patient became in critical condi...

By Maung Z June 14, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan: Maungdaw Police arbitrarily accused Mv Siddique of theft and arrested him subsequently on 13th June 2014. He is a religious scholar and trader hails from the village of Italia in Maungdaw Township. “Mv U Siddique (of age 55) is a local of the village of Hla Tha Augh of Italia Village Tract, Maungdaw. He trades used motor vehicles in the village. Around 11:30AM on 13th June 2014, a Rakhine (Magh) man hails from Quarter 3 of Maungdaw arrived at his shop to buy a used jeep car. The Rakhine was looking around in his shop. All of a sudden, he started claiming that his 4 Million Kyats kept in the box under his motorcycle seat got stolen. Then, the Rakhine man phoned Maungdaw Police Station. 16 Police Personnel arrived at the place of the incident by eight motorcycles. The police arrested and detained him in Maungdaw Police Station. He is said to have been being tortured and not released yet” said an eyewitness. “...