The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Myanmar soldiers patrol in a street as Muslims take refuge at their camp in Sittwe, capital of Rakhine state in western Myanmar (Photo :AP) By KPN  October 28, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan State : Maungdaw high level officers from all departments had applied a new law for Rohingyas who were arrested –more than 100 rohingyas- recently for so-called population data collection or census, said Halim, a Human Rights Watchdog from Maungdaw. The concerned authority – Burma Border Guard Police (BGP) officers, District Administration officer, Township administration officer, Army officers and Immigration officers – decided to file cases with a new law for Rohingyas who were arrested recently for refusing to identify as Bengali instated of Rohingya in so-called population data collection or census. The authority applied an Act to file cases with linked to Rohingya Solidarity Organization – RSO (a rebellion group), which was not functioning in the areas, Halim said. The false al...

Enforced confinement has created further danger for Rohingya Muslims, pictured here in refugee camps outside Sittwe in Rakhine State, Burma. Nic Dunlop By Nic Dunlop NewsWeek October 27, 2014 Thin Taw Li refugee camp filled me with foreboding. Although I had visited camps where people had fled civil war, this was the first time I had been among a people who face ethnic cleansing. The camp is home to more than three thousand Rohingya who fled sectarian violence in Burma’s Rakhine state. For decades the Rohingya Muslims have been subjected to systematic persecution by their largely Buddhist countrymen: denied citizenship, suffering forced labour, rape and killings. The United Nations has described them as “the world’s most persecuted minority” and other observers have warned of an impending genocide. In 2011, after decades of repressive military rule, a radical reform programme began. Elections were held, a new government was formed and Aung San Suu Kyi was rel...

People who belong nowhere  By M. Mizanur Rahman and Tasfi Sal-sabi The Daily Star October 27, 2014 REFERRING to statements by some residents and an expert, Aljazeera reported on October 25 that a growing sense of despair had caused a mass migration of at least 8,000 Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar in the last two weeks. The number of people who have fled since communal violence broke out two years ago is more than 1,00,000. Usually, the popular destinations of these Rohingya people are Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Pakistan and India. In the last few decades, thousands of Rohingyas migrated to Bangladesh from Myanmar. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das The Rohingya are one of the most down-trodden ethnic minorities in modern history, having been denied citizenship and basic human rights by the Myanmar government. For the Rohingyas, security of life, food, accommodation, arbitrary arrest, detention, sexual harassment and means of earning have been major problems...

By KPN October 27, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan State: Amy committed robbery against four Rohingya villagers in Maungdaw north, Arakan State, Burma on October 22 in the morning, said Hamid, a village elder from the area.   “The robbery was took place at Balu Khali (Thee Chaung) village under the Powet Chaung village tract of Maungdaw Township.” The house owners (victims) are identified as—Anwar (25), son of Abdu Munaf; Shuraz Zaman (50), son of Amir Bokshu; Abdu Shuker (30), son of Abdu Malek and Maulana Yousuf (45), son of Abdu Matalab,  Hamid more added. The day before October 22, some of the collaborators or local agents of BGP (Burma Border Guard Police) informed to army that some of the RSO members penetrated to Balu Khali village from Bangladesh and taking shelter there. Therefore, about 200-army went to that village to see whether it was true or not, but, the army did not find any clue of RSO members, Ayub Ali, a businessman from the locality. However, t...

The growing persecution of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. By Vanessa Thevathasan The Diplomat October 25, 2014 The Rohingya are one of the world’s most persecuted ethnic minorities and are internationally recognized as de jure stateless. As Myanmar struggles to form a democratic state during a period of transition after decades of totalitarian military rule, the Rohingya are receiving renewed attention. Vanessa Thevathasan recently spoke with members of  The Stateless Rohingya  about the  plight of the Rohingya  and regional responsibility for their human rights. Tell us who you are and the aims of your organization, The Stateless Rohingya.   My name is Mohammed Rafique and I was stateless for my whole life until I was resettled in Ireland along with 78 members of the Rohingya from a Bangladesh refugee camp by the government of Ireland in 2009. Rohingya Community Ireland  is a community organization that focuses on the development of...

By MYARF & Rohingya Eye ׀  RvisionTV October 25, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan State : Myanmar’s Border Guard Police brutally beat up and killed a Rohingya Religious Scholar in northern Maungdaw Township on Thursday night, according to a reliable source in the region. The victim is identified to be the 40-year-old Mv Hussein Ahmed (son of) Zahir Ahmed hails from the western hamlet of Kyi Kan Pyin (also called Khawar Bil) village, northern Maungdaw. “The Myanmar Border Guard Police known as BGP frequently raids and besiege Rohingya villages. They arrest random people under false and arbitrary accusation of having links with *RSO. Then, they torture and kill the people in the detentions. They commit extrajudicial killings with impunity. Mv Hussein hails from Kyi Kan Pyin village was on a visit to his sister’s home in Kyauk Pyin Seik (also known as Naari Bil) in northern Maungdaw on October 23. Unfortunately, the BGP and around 30 Rakhine extremists raided the villag...

In this photo taken Jan.1, 2013, Rohingya refugees sit in a boat as they are intercepted by Thai authorities off the sea in Phuket, southern Thailand. (AP Photo) YANGON, Myanmar (AP) A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the long-persecuted minority fleeing by boat in the last two weeks, according to residents and a leading expert. Chris Lewa, director of the nonprofit Rohingya advocacy group Arakan Project, said an average of 900 people per day have been piling into cargo ships parked off Rakhine state since Oct. 15. Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 50 million, has an estimated 1.3 million Rohingya. Though many of their families arrived from neighboring Bangladesh generations ago, almost all have been denied Myanmar citizenship. In the last two years, attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps, and have undermined Myanmar's transi...