The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Rohingya in Thailand suffer abuse from human traffickers By  Phuketwan July 11, 2014 PHUKET : Thailand and Burma have agreed to ''facilitate the safe return'' of 130,000 displaced persons to their homeland, General Prayuth Chan-ocha said tonight.  He also said the issue of the Rohingya boatpeople had been discussed with Myanmar's Commander in Chief of Defence Forces, General Min Aung Hlaing, in Bangkok this week.  ''The gist of the meeting is that Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) will cooperate in helping displaced persons from fighting in Myanmar,'' the general said in his weekly national telecast. He took charge of Thailand in a coup on May 22. Details are likely to emerge in the next day or two about precisely what the two countries plan for the large number of refugees from Burma now living in Thailand. ''These people have been staying in temporary shelters with certain restrictions for a long time,'...

By Hannah Beech TIME July 10, 2014 Sittwe, a drowsy town in western Burma, is a shattered place. I was first here five years ago, back when ethnic Rakhine Buddhists sold vegetables next to Muslim Rohingya fishermen. At the time, a Buddhist abbot and a Muslim cleric blessed me in whispers, as both spoke out against the repressive junta that had ruled Burma — also known as Myanmar — for nearly half a century. Today, Sittwe, like much of the surrounding state of Rakhine, exists in virtual apartheid. There are no Muslims at the market. Their mosques have been bulldozed, even though one state official in late 2012 told me with a smile that nothing had been destroyed, nothing at all. Did he think I could not see the rubble, with torn pages of children’s prayer books underfoot? Evicted from their homes, more than 140,000 Rohingya now live sequestered behind checkpoints. Diseases fester in these crude camps. In June a top U.N. aid official who traveled to Rakhine said she had ne...

By   AFP July 10, 2014 Bangladesh said Thursday it has barred official marriages between its nationals and Myanmar's Rohingya refugees, whom it claims are attempting to wed to gain citizenship. DHAKA: Bangladesh said Thursday it has barred official marriages between its nationals and Myanmar's Rohingya refugees, whom it claims are attempting to wed to gain citizenship. Law minister Syed Anisul Haque said he has ordered marriage registrars not to officiate any unions between Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingya and also between Rohingya themselves, thousands of whom have fled to Bangladesh. He said Rohingya try to use the resulting wedding certificate to gain Bangladeshi passports and other documents, while Rohingya who marry Bangladeshis could automatically qualify for citizenship. "By registering their marriage in Bangladesh they try to prove that they're Bangladeshi citizens," he told AFP. "We've told the marriage registers ...

Photo TSR By KPN  July 09, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan State : Army personnel have been increasing harassments recently against the Rohingya community day by day in Maungdaw south, Delu, a local from Maungdaw said. On July 7, at about 5: 00 pm, a group of army personnel from Buhamuu Para patrolled on Maungaw-Aley Than Kyaw highway while a Rohingya youth was riding on the road with his motorbike. The army personnel tried to arrest him without any reason, but he ran away leaving his motorbike on the road, Delu said. The victim was identifies as—  Motowlaf (30),  son of Rabiz Ahamed, hailed from Khonza Bill under the Aley Than Kyaw village tract  of Maungdaw township. Army personnel seized motorbike and brought it to their camp. Later, the village administration officer of Khonza Bill village went to the army camp of Buhamuu Para,to solve the problem, said Ashu, a village elder from Khonza Bill. However, the motorbike was released after giving Kyat 100...

By U Kyaw Myint- Sallam Oic Rvision TV July 10, 2014 Sittwe (Akyab): The newly appointed Rakhine State Chief Minister U Maung Maung Ohn and his team met Rohingya Community in Sittwe on Tuesday, sources say. Former Deputy Border Affairs Minister Maj-Gen Maung Maung Ohn has been recently appointment as the Chief Minister Rakhine State represented the state parliament as a Military MP. (Photo: DVB) The meeting was Maung Maung Ohn’s first meeting with local Rohingya community since he has been appointed as the chief minister of the state. Accompanying him in the meeting were 1)     Western Military Command Maj-Gen Aung Lin Htwe and his team, 2)     Rakhine State Border Affairs Minister Colonel Htin Lin and his team, 3)     Chief of the Rakhine State Police Force Colonel Nay Myo and his team 4)     and Rakhine State Immigration Minister U Kyaw Yein Oo and his team. U Maung Maung Ohn held preliminary talks on class...

Kutupalong unregistered Rohingya refugee camp overview in rainy season By KPN  July 08, 2014 Kutupalong, Bangladesh :  Burmese Rohingya refugee who are living in Kutupalong makeshift camp – unregistered camp – are facing hardship for their survival, said a refugee watcher from Cox’s Bazar, named Hamid Husson. In Bangladesh, there are two types of refugees or asylum seekers – one is recognized by state government and another one is not recognized by the government. The unrecognized asylum seekers are living along the border with local people, some are living together in two places – Kutupalong and Lada – as camps, Hamid said. The two camps are not getting any support from government, or other any organizations for not allowing any access by the authority of Bangladesh. So, the asylum seekers from camps are searching for their own sources to survive like engaging in the fields – fishing, agriculture, rickshaw pullers and day laborers, Hamid more added....

In this June 27 2014 photo, Yusuf handovers the corpse of his niece to a community elder to place on the ground for burial at Dar Paing village cemetery in north of Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. The child is one of the latest and smallest victims in an unfolding humanitarian crisis in camps with more than 140,000 Rohingya Muslims that live under apartheid-like conditions. GEMUNU AMARASINGHE — AP Photo By Esther Htusan  The Associated Press July 08, 2014 SITTWE — Hours after Shamshu Nahad gave birth to her second child, a beautiful baby girl, her husband was digging its grave. The tiny corpse, wrapped in white cloth, was placed on a straw mat and lowered into the moist earth, neighbors and relatives bowing their heads as they quietly recited Muslim prayers. Like the child’s life, the ceremony was brief, over in a matter of minutes. For tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims trapped in displacement camps in western Burma, it is a scene that is becoming all...