One in three women interviewed by BenarNews this week in Bangladesh’s refugee camps for Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar claimed they were raped by security forces before their escape.
A BenarNews correspondent, who spent four days visiting the camps in southeastern Cox’s Bazar district, reported that 17 of the 54 Rohingya women she interviewed said they were raped while Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown in northern Rakhine state, after nine police officers were attacked and killed by an armed Rohingya insurgent group in October.
Numerous reports of rape and other atrocities had emerged since the post-attack crackdown, which led to some 65,000 Rohingya entering Bangladesh, but this is the first time that numbers were cited based on random surveys of the extent of sexual assaults on women. (Courtesy of benarnews.org)
January 19, 2017
Myanmar civil bodies want ‘truly independent’ probe in Rakhine state attack
More than 40 Myanmar-based civil society organisations today called for a “truly independent” international investigation into the situation in Rakhine State, where state-sponsored attacks against Rohingya Muslim civilians have escalated in recent months.
Muslim and Buddhist communities in Rakhine State have faced human rights violations with impunity for decades, according to a news release issued by the Fortify Rights, a regional human rights body based in Thailand.
The joint statement by the 41 organisations recommends the establishment of a “commission of inquiry to fully assess the totality of the situation in Rakhine State and provide clear recommendations for the current government to effectively address and prevent further problems.” (Courtesy of thedailystar.net)
Muslim and Buddhist communities in Rakhine State have faced human rights violations with impunity for decades, according to a news release issued by the Fortify Rights, a regional human rights body based in Thailand.
The joint statement by the 41 organisations recommends the establishment of a “commission of inquiry to fully assess the totality of the situation in Rakhine State and provide clear recommendations for the current government to effectively address and prevent further problems.” (Courtesy of thedailystar.net)
Rohingya FC vs. Myanmar: a peacebuilding plan
After years of neglect in the field of politics, a group of Rohingya refugees in Kuala Lumpur has moved to the football pitch to begin building a better future for its community. For two years, the Rohingya Football Club has won friends and supporters around Malaysia for the Rohingya cause, and now, team the hopes to one day do the same in its homeland.
“The main objective of the Rohingya FC is to be a national team that represents the Rohingya people,” team chairman and co-founder Muhammad Noor told Coconuts Yangon. “We want to tell Rohingya youngsters that they can be whatever they want in the world. We want to promote the social development of our people.”
Inspired by the Olympic Refugee Team, Rohingya FC was founded in January 2015 by bringing together Rohingya football enthusiasts from around Malaysia to represent their community on a single team. (Courtesy of yangon.coconuts.co)
“The main objective of the Rohingya FC is to be a national team that represents the Rohingya people,” team chairman and co-founder Muhammad Noor told Coconuts Yangon. “We want to tell Rohingya youngsters that they can be whatever they want in the world. We want to promote the social development of our people.”
Inspired by the Olympic Refugee Team, Rohingya FC was founded in January 2015 by bringing together Rohingya football enthusiasts from around Malaysia to represent their community on a single team. (Courtesy of yangon.coconuts.co)
January 18, 2017
OIC envoy calls for U.N. intervention to avoid genocide of Rohingya Muslims
The United Nations should intervene in Myanmar's Rakhine State to stop further escalation of violence against Rohingya Muslims and avoid another genocide like in Cambodia and Rwanda, said the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's special envoy to Myanmar.
The conflict which has left at least 86 dead and an estimated 66,000 people fleeing into Bangladesh since it started on Oct. 9, 2016, is no longer an internal issue but of international concern, said Syed Hamid Albar, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Special Envoy to Myanmar.
Syed Hamid said the OIC should seek U.N. intervention. His comments come ahead of a special OIC meeting called by Malaysia on Thursday to discuss measures to deal with the conflict affecting the Rohingya minority, who are predominantly Muslim. (Courtesy of uk.reuters.com)
The conflict which has left at least 86 dead and an estimated 66,000 people fleeing into Bangladesh since it started on Oct. 9, 2016, is no longer an internal issue but of international concern, said Syed Hamid Albar, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Special Envoy to Myanmar.
Syed Hamid said the OIC should seek U.N. intervention. His comments come ahead of a special OIC meeting called by Malaysia on Thursday to discuss measures to deal with the conflict affecting the Rohingya minority, who are predominantly Muslim. (Courtesy of uk.reuters.com)
How to make a terrorist
The continuing military operations in western Myanmar have triggered a major humanitarian crisis. More than 65,000 refugees have fled an army and paramilitary police crackdown aimed specifically at Rohingya people and villages. Myanmar's de facto leader and foreign minister, Aung San Suu Kyi, sent a special envoy to Bangladesh last week to discuss the border crisis. But a parallel danger has emerged in the form of a Bengali terrorist group seeking to cause more problems.
It is clear now that the Myanmar military's "clearing operations" in Rakhine State neighbouring Bangladesh are sheer retaliation against the innocent. The cause of the violence against the Rohingya was a coordinated attack last Oct 9 on several Myanmar police posts. An estimated 200 armed men attacked the posts in Maungdaw district of Rakhine. This western Myanmar region area has a number of Rohingya villages nad the Myanmar armed forces and paramilitary police immediately set about those villages on Oct 10 and have not ceased since.
The armed October attack on the police posts were led by a Bangladesh-based terrorist group. It is called Aqa Mul Mujahidin or Faith Movement of Arakan -- "Arakan" being the term used recently to describe what is now called Rakhine state. Looking at the larger militant picture in Bangladesh, Aqa Mul Mujahidin is considered a small jihadist group, posing no threat to the central powers either in in Bangladesh or Myanmar. (Courtesy of bangkokpost.com)
It is clear now that the Myanmar military's "clearing operations" in Rakhine State neighbouring Bangladesh are sheer retaliation against the innocent. The cause of the violence against the Rohingya was a coordinated attack last Oct 9 on several Myanmar police posts. An estimated 200 armed men attacked the posts in Maungdaw district of Rakhine. This western Myanmar region area has a number of Rohingya villages nad the Myanmar armed forces and paramilitary police immediately set about those villages on Oct 10 and have not ceased since.
The armed October attack on the police posts were led by a Bangladesh-based terrorist group. It is called Aqa Mul Mujahidin or Faith Movement of Arakan -- "Arakan" being the term used recently to describe what is now called Rakhine state. Looking at the larger militant picture in Bangladesh, Aqa Mul Mujahidin is considered a small jihadist group, posing no threat to the central powers either in in Bangladesh or Myanmar. (Courtesy of bangkokpost.com)
January 17, 2017
Syed Hamid: OIC looks to restore Rohingya’s status in Myanmar
The emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Foreign Ministers this Thursday in Kuala Lumpur will discuss restoring the status of the Rohingya in Myanmar.
OIC Special Envoy for Myanmar Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said the main objective was to create protection for the ethnic minority, whose rights as citizens have been denied.
“Malaysia proposed the meeting because of the urgency of the matter, and not because we want to interfere in Myanmar’s internal affairs. Neither do we want to confront the Myanmar government.
“This is not a communal issue as claimed by the government but rather a religious issue because they (the Myanmarese) are targeting Muslims in their conflict with the Rohingya,” he told Bernama here today. (Courtesy of themalaymailonline.com)
OIC Special Envoy for Myanmar Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar said the main objective was to create protection for the ethnic minority, whose rights as citizens have been denied.
“Malaysia proposed the meeting because of the urgency of the matter, and not because we want to interfere in Myanmar’s internal affairs. Neither do we want to confront the Myanmar government.
“This is not a communal issue as claimed by the government but rather a religious issue because they (the Myanmarese) are targeting Muslims in their conflict with the Rohingya,” he told Bernama here today. (Courtesy of themalaymailonline.com)
The Lady and the Rohingya
Just days before the November 2015 general election, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was asked how she would remedy the long-running repression of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, if her party came to power. She replied: “There’s a Burmese saying: You have to make big problems small and small problems disappear.”
Less than a year after the National League for Democracy’s sweeping victory, the big Rohingya problem had only gotten bigger. Violence broke out in the western state of Rakhine, where most Rohingya live, and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was already being lambasted for seeming indifferent to their hardships, is now accused of silently standing by outright abuses.
Some of the criticism is deserved, but some of it is not, and the N.L.D. government understandably is chafing. But it has been slinging as much mud at activists and independent media as they are hurling accusations at it, and all this is only obscuring the vexing complexities of the situation in Rakhine. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has inherited an intractable-seeming problem after decades of military rule, and its specifics need to be understood if the Rohingya stand any chance of being helped effectively. (Courtesy of nytimes.com)
Less than a year after the National League for Democracy’s sweeping victory, the big Rohingya problem had only gotten bigger. Violence broke out in the western state of Rakhine, where most Rohingya live, and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was already being lambasted for seeming indifferent to their hardships, is now accused of silently standing by outright abuses.
Some of the criticism is deserved, but some of it is not, and the N.L.D. government understandably is chafing. But it has been slinging as much mud at activists and independent media as they are hurling accusations at it, and all this is only obscuring the vexing complexities of the situation in Rakhine. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has inherited an intractable-seeming problem after decades of military rule, and its specifics need to be understood if the Rohingya stand any chance of being helped effectively. (Courtesy of nytimes.com)
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