Myanmar army chief rules out Rohingya citizenship

Myanmar's military chief on Monday denounced the claim to citizenship by Rohingya Muslims, and defended the government's crackdown on them.

"We have already let the world know that we don't have Rohingya in our country," army chief Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech marking Myanmar's armed forces day.

"Bengalis in Rakhine state are not Myanmar citizens and they are just people who come and stay in the country," Hlaing added.

Myanmar is now under civilian leadership but its powerful military, which ruled the country until recently and built up a notorious reputation for rights abuses, still uses the armed forces day to flex its muscle.

Rohingya Muslims, stripped of their citizenship in 1982, are often referred to as "illegal" immigrants by Myanmar's leaders. About 1.1 million Rohingya are denied citizenship and their movement is severely restricted, with tens of thousands confined to dire camps since violence drove them from their homes in 2012.

Hlaing's speech came just one day after the government rejected a decision by the United Nations rights council's to send a fact-finding mission to Myanmar to investigate allegations of rape and murder by security forces against Rohingya. (Courtesy of aljazeera.com)

Myanmar rejects UN probe into Rohingya abuse claims

Myanmar yesterday rejected the United Nations rights council's decision to investigate allegations that security officers have murdered, raped and tortured Rohingya Muslims, saying the probe would only "inflame" the conflict.

The Geneva-based body agreed on Friday to "urgently" dispatch a fact-finding mission to the South- east Asian country, focusing on claims that police and soldiers have carried out violations against the Rohingya in Rakhine state.

The army crackdown, launched last October after militants killed nine policemen, has sent tens of thousands of Rohingya fleeing across the border to Bangladesh. Escapees have given UN investigators gruesome accounts of security officers stabbing babies to death, burning people alive and committing widespread gang rape. (Courtesy of straitstimes.com)

Burma: UN Takes Key Step for Justice

The United Nations Human Rights Council on March 24, 2017, took a key step toward preventing future abuses and bringing justice for victims in Burma by adopting a strong resolution condemning violations and making significant recommendations, Human Rights Watch said today.

The resolution authorizes the council president to urgently dispatch an independent, international fact-finding mission to Burma. The mission would establish the facts and circumstances of alleged recent human rights violations, particularly against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, to ensure “full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims.”

“The Human Rights Council’s authorization of an international fact-finding mission is crucial for ensuring that allegations of serious human rights abuses in Burma are thoroughly examined by experts, and to ensure that those responsible will ultimately be held accountable,” said John Fisher, Geneva director. “Burma’s government should cooperate fully with the mission, including by providing unfettered access to all affected areas.” (Courtesy of hrw.org)

U.N. will investigate crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar

The top United Nations human rights body agreed on Friday to send an international fact-finding mission to investigate widespread allegations of killings, rape and torture by security forces against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

But Myanmar ambassador Htin Lynn, speaking before the decision was taken by consensus, rejected the move as "not acceptable". Myanmar's national commission had just interviewed alleged victims who fled to Bangladesh and would issue its findings by August, he said.

The U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution without a vote, brought by the European Union and supported by countries including the United States, that called for "ensuring full accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims". Courtesy of reuters.com)

A brazen political killing shakes Myanmar, already teetering on the path to democracy

U Ko Ni had just stepped off a plane and was standing curbside at the airport in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar. The tall, gray-haired lawyer cradled his 3-year-old grandson while passengers around him spoke on their phones or climbed into taxis.

No one seemed to notice as a man in shorts and sandals sidled up behind Ko Ni, drew a 9-millimeter pistol inches from his head and pulled the trigger.

The fatal shooting not only silenced one of Myanmar’s most prominent legal experts, it exposed the dangers lurking below the surface of this former military dictatorship’s fitful transition to democracy.

In the old Myanmar — previously known as Burma and ruled by a junta for a half-century — political activists routinely disappeared into prisons or died in murky circumstances. Then in 2010, the military began ceding authority to civilians.

Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won a parliamentary majority in 2015 elections, and last October the Obama administration lifted economic sanctions, formalizing Myanmar’s reentry into the global community. (Courtesy of latimes.com)

UN official says 'crimes against humanity' could be unfolding in Myanmar

Their homes burned and relatives killed, Rohingya have been fleeing northern Myanmar since October.

They trek for miles along a dangerous route -- risking drowning, disease and capture by the military -- to cross the border into neighboring Bangladesh, where refugee camps provide temporary shelter
.
Tens of thousands of members of Myanmar's Muslim minority have left in this fashion, and their treatment may amount to "crimes against humanity," warns UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee.

"When there's 77,000 people running away from their home towns, leaving everything ... the international community should really step up to the plate," she told CNN.

Lee has visited northern Rakhine State, which has been largely off limits to journalists and NGO workers since early October, and spoken to many refugees. (Courtesy of edition.cnn.com)

India Has Special Responsibility to Help Myanmar Address Rohingya Issue: UN Expert

Thousands of Rohingya have been displaced since renewed violence broke out in October, with India saying Myanmar be given more time to resolve the issue.

As the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) gets ready to call for a UN fact-finding mission to Myanmar, special rapporteur Yanghee Lee said that India has a special obligation to use its “good relations” to persuade Nay Pyi Taw to support an independent and fair inquiry into serious allegations of human rights violations against the Rohingya people during the current round of violence in Rakhine State.

In an interview with The Wire, Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, stated that New Delhi had to be more involved and vocal in finding a sustainable solution to the Rohingya problem, as ripples from the violence continue to spread across Myanmar’s neighbourhood. (Courtesy of thewire.in)

Diplomatic protection for the stateless Rohingya

Persons rendered stateless enjoy far fewer protections than refugees under international law, but the UN could be empowered to come to their defence, Farhaan Uddin Ahmed writes.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are over 10 million people around the world who are stateless due to denial of nationality by their home states. As a result of their lack of nationality, they are, in most cases, denied access to education, healthcare, employment, social security, and other basic social structures.

In many cases, not only are they denied nationality and the benefits of citizenship, they are also actively persecuted by the various governments within whose territories they reside. Since a vast majority of the UN member states (104 out of 193) are not signatories to the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 1954 and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1961; they have no legal responsibility to provide basic rights and benefits to the ‘stateless’ people residing within their territories. Therefore, the ‘stateless’ are neither treated as aliens nor granted certain basic rights that are assured to a refugee. (Courtesy of policyforum.net)

Arakan State Advisory Commission Releases Interim Report

The Kofi Annan-led Arakan State Advisory Commission released a list of urgent recommendations for the Burmese government to improve the situation in Arakan State in an interim report at a press conference in Rangoon on Thursday.

The report—which the commission said had been presented to both civilian and military sections of the government—calls for immediate and unimpeded access for humanitarian aid organizations and the media to areas of northern Arakan State. Access to the region has been restricted since Burma Army “clearance operations” began in response to insurgent attacks on police border guard posts on Oct. 9 of last year.

In a recorded statement, head of the commission and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan acknowledged that the crisis facing Arakan State had changed since the advisory commission was established by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in September last year. Yet he emphasized that the commission’s mandate to tackle “long-standing obstacles to peace and development,” had not changed. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)

Zahid slams Aung San Suu Kyi over Rohingya killings

Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today slammed Myanmar leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi over the killing of the Rohingyas, describing it as "pure madness".
The Deputy Prime Minister said it was appalling that the murder of the Rohingyas had taken place in their homeland, by their own citizens.

"We really hope that what is happening at the Rakhine state will end soonest possible.

"I urge our friends in Myanmar to stop this madness, the craziest crisis, and prove to Asean communities that you have a big heart that can accept Muslim minorities as one of your citizens," he said at the closing of the International Conference on Rohingya (ICR), here. (Courtesy of thesundaily.my)

JWAM demands ouster of Rohingyas, Bangladeshis

Expressing concern over the settlement of foreign nationals in and around Jammu city, Jammu West Assembly Movement (JWAM) demanded immediate ouster of Rohingyas, Bangladeshis from the State.

Speaking to media persons, President JWAM, Sunil Dimple alleged that Rohingyas and Bangladeshis have encroached the State land in the outskirts of Jammu city.

Dimple regretted that BJP leadership was merely issuing press statements but has done nothing to deport these illegal immigrants. He alleged that these immigrants had involved in several criminal and rebellious activities. (Courtesy of statetimes.in)

EU seeks U.N. probe into crimes against Myanmar Rohingya

The European Union called on Thursday for the United Nations to send an international fact-finding mission urgently to Myanmar to investigate allegations of torture, rapes and executions by the military against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

A U.N. report last month, based on interviews with survivors in Bangladesh, said the Myanmar army and police had committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya in a campaign that may amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

The EU draft resolution, submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council, strengthens language in an earlier draft circulating that stopped short of demanding an international probe into alleged atrocities. (Courtesy of reuters.com)

Myanmar must work to close Rohingya camps, says Kofi Annan panel

Myanmar should immediately start letting Rohingya Muslims return home and ultimately close rundown camps for the displaced in its western Rakhine state, a panel led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan said on Thursday.

More than 120,000 people, mostly Rohingyas, have been living in what were meant as temporary shelters for internally displaced persons (IDPs) since bouts of communal violence roiled the state in 2012.

"It’s really about time they close the camps and allow the people in the camps, particularly those who have gone through the (citizenship) verification process, access to freedom of movement and all rights of citizenship," Annan told Reuters by telephone from Geneva. (Courtesy of reuters.com)

Myanmar set to dodge full U.N. probe on Rohingya abuse

Myanmar looks set to escape an international investigation into alleged atrocities against its Rohingya minority, after the European Union decided not to seek one at the U.N. Human Rights Council, a draft resolution seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.

The United Nations said in a report last month that the army and police had committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine state and burned villages in a campaign that may amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Setting up a full international commission of inquiry into the findings - similar to those for Syria and North Korea - has been seen as a test of international resolve at the main annual session of the Council that ends on March 24.(Courtesy of reuters.com)

Persecution of the Rohingya

The United Nations rapporteur on human rights on Thursday has asked that a Commission of Inquiry (COI) be created to investigate Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya. The UN official stated that the “systematic, structural, and institutional discrimination in policy, law and practice, as well as the long-standing persecution, against the Rohingya and other minorities in Rakhine State” calls for the COI, which is the highest-level probe body of the UN.

The UN rapporteur last month also pointed out how the government of Myanmar is incapable of carrying out a credible investigation and so it is imperative for the human rights council of the UN to act. Indeed, the plight of the Rohingya has been reported widely enough, but the authorities in Myanmar have either denied or downplayed the extent of the persecution of the Rohingya. (Courtesy of thedailystar.net)

‘UK committed to working with Dhaka on Rohingyas’

UK Minister for Asia and the Pacific Alok Sharma made a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban on Saturday morning.

Alok said in an earlier tweet that the UK is committed to working with Bangladesh and Myanmar on the Rohingya issue.

He tweeted after the meeting: “Delighted to meet #Bangladesh PM Hasina. Excellent & substantive discussions. Great opportunity 2 further already strong #UK-Bangladesh ties.”

On Friday, Sharma attended a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali at the State Guest House Padma. They discussed global and regional political issues as well as trade and investment between the UK and Bangladesh. (Courtesy of dhakatribune.com)

Time for the UN to show its Teeth

It is not surprising that the United Nations Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma called the creation of a Commission of Inquiry (COI), the UN’s highest-level probe, to investigate abuses in the country.

The 47-member body must establish a COI “to investigate the systematic, structural, and institutional discrimination in policy, law and practice, as well long-standing persecution, against the Rohingya and other non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities” reports both from inside Burma and from the Bangladesh undoubtedly proves the authenticity that the Tadmadaw, which has been committing gross human rights violations for more than seventy years on the non-Myanmar ethnic nationalities, is a crime against humanity. Now it is time that these SA (Self Appointed) Generals should be tried at The Hague. How come, a country with hundreds different kinds ethnic nationalities miserably suffering ethnic cleansing for more than half a century was not responded by the international community? The answer is simple, because Ka Lar Rohingya is not an ethnic. In this respect a Burmese proverb coming true, literal translation means that “you hear only when the Ka Lar (any one whose complexion is black and is not a degrading word as many foreign scholars use to describe,) shouts and believe only when he cries” is proven true in this Rohingya case.

Now it has reached at the civilized world forum that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, either has to accept the shame on behalf of the entire Myanmar race or bent to the Tatmadaw’smotto of, “Lying the very concept of truth” in the international forum and be branded forever that that Myanmar race itself are liars and cannot be trusted placing her between ‘devil or the deep sea.’ It is high time that the UN Security Council should recommend the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commission (UNHRC) to enquire Burma’s latest crime against humanity. In fact the UNHRC has a good record of doing excellent work in Eritrea, Darfur, Burundi, and Gaza and currently in Syria. The Burmese Generals knew that in March 2013 its bosom friend and nuclear partner North Korea was investigated by the UNHRC for the systematic widespread and grave violations and now it is her turn to be investigated. (Courtesy of asiantribune.com)

Bangladesh, UK to hold first strategic dialogue

Bangladesh and the United Kingdom will hold their first ever strategic dialogue later this month with a view to strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries.

UK Minister for Asia and the Pacific Alok Sharma and Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali agreed to hold the dialogue during a meeting on Friday.

The dialogue will be held between the foreign secretary of Bangladesh and the permanent undersecretary of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. (Courtesy of dhakatribune.com)

Joint letter to HRC calls for COI for Rakhine

We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge your delegations to support calls by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, for the establishment by the UN Human Rights Council during  its 34th session of a Commission of Inquiry or similar international mechanism to investigate, at a minimum, alleged and apparent serious human rights violations and abuses in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

Since 9 October 2016, Myanmar's security forces have carried out large-scale attacks against the Rohingya population in Rakhine States Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung Townships as part of clearance operations in response to attacks on three police border posts by armed assailants. These clearance operations violate numerous provisions of  international human rights law. Download the full letter

(Courtesy of csw.org.uk)

Dalai Lama adds voice to Pope's in calling for the persecution of Rohingya to end

The Dalai Lama has joined Pope Francis in calling for Myanmar Buddhists to end violence against Rohingya Muslims in what the United Nations says amounts to ethnic cleansing and possibly crimes against humanity.

The Tibetan Buddhist leader revealed he has privately communicated with Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi "to use her influence to bring about a peaceful resolution to this problem". (Courtesy of theage.com.au)

Thousands of children’s lives at stake as ‘indirect victims’ of Burmese crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, UN warns

Fears are growing for the lives of several thousand children in northwest Burma suffering from severe malnutrition and lack of medical care but denied vital aid after a sweeping military crackdown against suspected Rohingya militants.

UN agencies were unable to maintain lifesaving services for more than 3,000 registered children, mostly from the minority Rohingya Muslim community, in two townships of northern Rakhine state after the military sealed off the area during operations in response to the killing of nine policemen in attacks on border posts on 9 October.

Following an international outcry, the military allowed the UN to resume limited aid operations in Buthidaung township in mid-December and last month in Maungdaw North. (Courtesy of independent.co.uk/news)

Burma Army Defends Arakan State Operations, Denies Reports of Abuses

The Tatmadaw, Burma’s military, defended its crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in Arakan State as a lawful counterinsurgency operation at a rare news conference on Tuesday, adding that it was necessary to defend the country.

It was the first time the top generals directly addressed the mounting accusations of human rights abuses, which, according to UN experts, may amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

“I want to say that I am very sad because of these kind of reckless accusations and neglect of the good things that the government and the military have done for them,” said Gen Mya Tun Oo, chief of the general staff, referring to the reports in the media quoting Rohingya residents describing the alleged abuses such as burning of houses in the area. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)

Why is Pakistan entering an arms deal with the Burmese government?

Many among us take pride in Pakistan’s position as one of the prime bastions of Islamic ideals in the modern Muslim world. The Islamic Republic’s ongoing negotiations with Myanmar, therefore, are a matter of some concern for an average Muslim patriot.

In a global political climate where many Muslims already feel besieged by external colonial forces, a new name is fast emerging among our list of oppressed Muslim groups from Palestinians to Kashmiris. And that name is ‘Rohingya’. More commonly known to Pakistanis as simply “Burma ke Musalman”, the Rohingya people are a predominantly Muslim Indo-Aryan population from the Rakhine state in Myanmar.

This new entry to the vernacular and argumentation ammunition of a Muslim nationalist constitutes a story of human misery that is mortifying by any objective standard. A great bulk of the Rohingya people inherited their perceived criminality from their forefathers in the 60s, who rebelled against the Buddhist-dominant authorities and their discriminatory policies. The resulting resentment against the Muslim population led to the promulgation of the Burmese Nationality Law, which denies the Rohingya people citizenship and essentially renders them stateless – not unlike the Palestinians.

There has been some controversy in the past concerning the degree of the oppression by the state of Myanmar. Pakistani web spaces were flooded by fake images of devastation caused by the military forces. In a country where Pak Studies, among other Islamo-nationalist devices, has generated a fertile ground where stories of Muslim victimhood are taken at face value, the images were accepted largely uncontested. (Courtesy of pakistantoday.com.pk)

Military Chief of Staff: Army Not Open to Talks With AA, MNDAA or TNLA

Chief of the General Staff of the Burmese military Gen Mya Tun Oo has described ethnic armed alliance the United Nationalities Federal Council’s (UNFC) demand for the army’s unilateral ceasefire “impractical,” and instead has called on the UNFC to sign Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

“My view is that this is not a question that they [the UNFC] should ask,” the general told the reporters after the military press conference in Naypyidaw on Tuesday, referring to UNFC’s demand.

The ethnic armed alliance’s members should sign the NCA, rather than asking the army to declare its own ceasefire, because their signing would result in an actual ceasefire, said the general. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)

Burma Army Denies Involvement in U Ko Ni’s Assassination

The Burma Army was not involved in the assassination of National League for Democracy (NLD) legal adviser U Ko Ni despite the fact that ex-military officers are suspected of being behind the conspiracy, said chief of general staff Gen Mya Tun Oo.

The general dismissed the speculation as he answered questions from journalists at a military press conference in Naypyidaw on Tuesday regarding Mong Ko clashes and issues in Arakan State.

U Ko Ni was shot dead on Jan. 29 at the Rangoon International Airport. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)

Thailand Upholds Death Sentence for Burmese Men Over 2014 Murder of British Tourists

A Thai appeal court upheld the death sentence handed down to two Burmese migrant workers for the murder of two British backpackers on a holiday island in 2014, the two men’s lawyer said on Wednesday.

The bodies of backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were found on a beach on Koh Tao island in September 2014. Police said Witheridge, 23, had been raped and bludgeoned to death and Miller, 24, had suffered blows to his head.

Thailand sentenced Burmese migrant workers Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun to death after convicting them of the crime on Dec. 24, 2015. (Courtesy of irrawaddy.com)