Aung Suu Kyi, UN Must End Anti-Rohingya Violence: Nobel Winners

Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHROM)

Aung Suu Kyi, UN Must End Anti-Rohingya Violence: Nobel Winners More than 30,000 people have fled to Bangladesh, escaping the violence which has renewed international criticism that Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has done too little to help the Rohingya. | Photo: Reuters

The letter expresses frustration with Aung Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and darling of the west, who has not ensured citizenship rights for Rohingyas.

More than a dozen Nobel laureates including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to end “ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State.

RELATED:
Myanmar Threatens NGOs Over Planned Flotilla to Help Rohingyas

At least 86 people have been killed in a military crackdown in Rakhine State, launched after attacks on police posts near the border with Bangladesh on Oct. 9.

The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar has blamed Muslim…

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Aung Suu Kyi, UN Must End Anti-Rohingya Violence: Nobel Winners

Aung Suu Kyi, UN Must End Anti-Rohingya Violence: Nobel Winners More than 30,000 people have fled to Bangladesh, escaping the violence which has renewed international criticism that Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has done too little to help the Rohingya. | Photo: Reuters

The letter expresses frustration with Aung Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and darling of the west, who has not ensured citizenship rights for Rohingyas.

More than a dozen Nobel laureates including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to end “ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State.

RELATED:
Myanmar Threatens NGOs Over Planned Flotilla to Help Rohingyas

At least 86 people have been killed in a military crackdown in Rakhine State, launched after attacks on police posts near the border with Bangladesh on Oct. 9.

The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar has blamed Muslim Rohingyas supported by foreign militants for the coordinated attacks which killed nine police officers.

More than 30,000 people have fled to Bangladesh, escaping the violence which has renewed international criticism that Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has done too little to help the Rohingya, who are denied citizenship in Myanmar.

In an open letter to the Security Council, Tutu and 22 others including fellow Nobel Peace laureates José Ramos-Horta and Muhammad Yunus said a “human tragedy amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity is unfolding in Myanmar”.

“If we fail to take action, people may starve to death if they are not killed with bullets,” the letter said.

The violence had the hallmarks of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide as well as ethnic cleansing in Sudan’s western Darfur region, Bosnia and Kosovo, it said.

The signatories to the letter said even if a group of Rohingyas was behind the Oct. 9 attacks, the army’s response had been “grossly disproportionate”.

“It would be one thing to round up suspects, interrogate them and put them on trial,” the letter said. “It is quite another to unleash helicopter gunships on thousands of ordinary civilians and to rape women and throw babies into a fire.”

Myanmar’s government has denied accusations that excessive military force was used following the October attacks.

The letter was initiated by Ramos-Horta, according to a spokeswoman for the former East Timor president, and Yunus, who helped revolutionize finance for the poorest in Bangladesh.

A spokeswoman for the presidency of the 15-member Security Council, currently held by Spain, confirmed it had received the letter, which also expresses frustration that Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and darling of the west, had not ensured citizenship rights to Rohingyas.

The letter also called for the Myanmar government to lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid to Rakhine State.

Officials from Myanmar’s mission to the United Nations in New York were not immediately available for comment.

Source by: http://www.telesurtv.net

Nobel winners urge end to Myanmar violence

• Reuters
• December 30, 2016

More than a dozen Nobel laureates including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai have urged the UN Security Council to end “ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State.

At least 86 people have been killed in a military crackdown in Rakhine State, launched after attacks on police posts near the border with Bangladesh on October 9.

The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar has blamed Muslim Rohingyas supported by foreign militants for the coordinated attacks which killed nine police officers.

More than 30,000 people have fled to Bangladesh, escaping the violence which has renewed international criticism that Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has done too little to help the Rohingya, who are denied citizenship in Myanmar.

In an open letter to the Security Council, Tutu and 22 others including fellow Nobel Peace laureates Jose Ramos-Horta and Muhammad Yunus said a “human tragedy amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity is unfolding in Myanmar”.

“If we fail to take action, people may starve to death if they are not killed with bullets,” the letter said.

The violence had the hallmarks of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide as well as ethnic cleansing in Sudan’s western Darfur region, Bosnia and Kosovo, it said.

The signatories to the letter said even if a group of Rohingyas was behind the October 9 attacks, the army’s response had been “grossly disproportionate”.

“It would be one thing to round up suspects, interrogate them and put them on trial,” the letter said. “It is quite another to unleash helicopter gunships on thousands of ordinary civilians and to rape women and throw babies into a fire.”

Myanmar’s government has denied accusations that excessive military force was used following the October attacks.

The letter was initiated by Ramos-Horta, according to a spokeswoman for the former East Timor president, and Yunus, who helped revolutionise finance for the poorest in Bangladesh.

A spokeswoman for the presidency of the 15-member Security Council, currently held by Spain, confirmed it had received the letter, which also expresses frustration that Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, had not ensured citizenship rights to Rohingyas.

The letter also called for the Myanmar government to lift all restrictions on humanitarian aid to Rakhine State.

Source by: http://www.theaustralian.com.au

Thitinan Pongsudhirak: Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis demands action, but don’t forget the good news

From democratization to growth, the country can boast plenty of positives

A man works at the site of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, located on the outskirts of Yangon. © Reuters

Myanmar has the distinction of being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, clocking more than 8% annual growth for 2016, according to some estimates. The country’s growth trajectory is likely to continue upward, thanks to a low economic base (roughly $65 billion), a young population (at about 54 million) and an abundance of natural resources. It is a frontier economy at the forefront of its peers as it breaks out of a dark and authoritarian past.

But the world’s view of Myanmar has recently focused on a single issue: the persecution of Rohingya Muslims who live mainly in Rakhine State, in the western region bordering Bangladesh. There is no doubt that Myanmar’s “Rohingya problem” is grave. It reflects ethnic and racial animosity caused by religious tensions between Buddhism and Islam that have resulted in communal violence. This situation has been worsened by economic deprivation in the country’s poorest state. Even so, a broader perspective is needed. There is more to Myanmar than the Rohingya.

GRAVE CONCERNS The latest bout of violence to grab global media attention began on Oct. 9, when several hundred lightly armed Muslims in the Rakhine region attacked police border posts along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, killing nine policemen and looting some 50 guns along with ammunition. The Myanmar authorities locked down much of northern Rakhine in the aftermath for an operational sweep, targeting Muslim suspects allegedly supported by networks in the Middle East.

The government’s swift and brutal response has generated allegations of wanton violence, including killings, torture and destruction of villages by Myanmar’s security forces. Nearly 30,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, and humanitarian relief workers and reporters have found access to the region difficult. By early December, claims that the Myanmar army was pursuing a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against the Rohingya dominated global media coverage of the country.

Rohingya Muslim children in the village of U Shey Kya, in Myanmar’s Rakhine State © Reuters

 

Malaysia, with its Muslim majority population, sought to politicize the situation for domestic reasons to distract attention from the corruption scandal threatening the government. Prime Minister Najib Razak accused the government of Myanmar’s de facto leader, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, of presiding over genocide of the Rohingya, and called for a review of Myanmar’s membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, took a more low-key approach but expressed similar concerns in private talks between its foreign minister and Suu Kyi, who is also Myanmar’s foreign minister. In the aftermath, Suu Kyi convened a special informal meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers. While the meeting, held on Dec. 19 in Yangon, provided a forum for discussion, the deep-seated Rakhine crisis will likely not be resolved in the foreseeable future.

The Rohingya issue runs deep. Even the use of language is instructive. Myanmar officials avoid using the term “Rohingya” and insist that the estimated 1.1 million Rakhine Muslims, who identify themselves as Rohingya, should be called “Bengalis.” This nomenclature reflects the fact that the presence of the Muslim population in Rakhine State is also a matter of historical dispute.

BLAME GAME Myanmar’s Buddhist Burmese, who make up 88% of the country’s population, claim that British colonial rulers imported Bengali workers from India into what was then known as Burma beginning in the 1820s. Their descendants settled in Rakhine, where two-thirds of the population remains Buddhist. The Rohingya say they migrated to Burma before the British conquered the country in a series of 19th-century wars.

The Burmese interpretation of history is meant to assert that the legacy of British colonial rule is largely to blame for the Rohingya “problem.” This reflects a nationalist narrative that the Burmese Buddhists, who dominated mainland Southeast Asia between the 16th and 18th centuries, were forced to accept the presence of the Rohingya after their defeat by the British. In addition, the Burmese Buddhists claim that they have been subject to attacks in Muslim areas of Rakhine.

The result is that the “stateless” Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine, many with large families, have no prospects for a decent life or upward mobility. As they eke out a living from local farming and menial work, their plight has become a cause celebre among international journalists.

Source by: http://asia.nikkei.com

Bantuan kemanusiaan akan ke Rohingya

Bantuan kemanusiaan akan ke Rohingya

SMANIZA AHMAD

30 DISEMBER 2016

Mohd Nizar (tengah) menyampaikan replika cek kepada Zulkifly (tiga, kiri).

IPOH – Sebanyak RM 150,892 berjaya dikumpulkan masjid-masjid di negeri ini sebagai sumbangan solidariti bagi masyarakat Rohingya selepas pelancarannya 9 Disember lalu.

Program ‘Food Flotilla For Myanmar’ anjuran Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (Mapim) bersama Kelab Putra 1Malaysia dan gabungan Pertubuhan Bukan Kerajaan (NGO) di negara ini.

Timbalan Presiden Mapim Kebangsaan, Zulkifly Ibrahim berkata, bantuan kemanusiaan yang disertai 200 sukarelawan terdiri daripada ahli-ahli NGO, pengamal media, pasukan perubatan, agamawan, ahli politik dan lain-lain berkaitan.

Menurutnya, mereka akan bertolak dari Pelabuhan Klang pada  Januari depan dan dijangka kembali ke tanah air kira-kira dua minggu kemudian.

“Untuk bantuan kali ini, kita membawa makanan dan perubatan. Kita mahu dunia lihat apa yang berlaku seterusnya memberi perhatian sewajarnya.

“Atas desakan terutama dari Malaysia, minggu lalu telah diadakan permukiman Menteri Luar Asean di Yangoon,” katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian ketika sidang media  majlis penyampaian sumbangan solidariti daripada masjid-masjid negeri Perak kepada Mapim semalam.

Zulkifly berkata, hasil pertemuan itu, mereka (Myanmar) bersetuju untuk membuka ruang bagi bantuan yang akan disalurkan kepada mangsa yang terlibat.

“Oleh itu, bantuan ini akan lebih mudah dilaksanakan apabila ada persetujuan bagaimanapun itu tidak bermakna usaha tersebut akan mudah kerana mereka tetap mengambil beberapa risiko,” katanya.

Dalam perkembangan lain, beliau berkata, jumlah tepat keseluruhan kutipan di seluruh negara tidak dapat dipastikan namun ia hampir menjangkau RM1juta.

Hadir sama, Pengarah Jabatan Agama Islam Perak (Jaipk), Datuk Mohd Yusop Husin.

Sementara itu, Exco kerajaan negeri, Datuk Mohd Nizar Zakaria berkata, inisiatif ini adalah kerjasama dan keprihatinan semua pihak dalam membantu masyarakat Rohingya yang ditindas di negara mereka.

Mohd Nizar berkata, sumbangan ahli kariah dan orang ramai yang disalurkan kepada masjid untuk tujuan ini akan diteruskan dan tiada hadnya.

“Saya berterima kasih kepada semua kerana prihatin dengan situasi rakyat di sana. Saya juga ingin mengingatkan orang ramai supaya berhati-hati dalam menyalurkan sumbangan Rohingya.

“Sumbangan itu perlu disalurkan melalui badan atau pertubuhan bertanggungjawab dalam  hal tersebut bagi mengelakkan daripada pihak yang mengambil kesempatan,” katanya.

Source by: http://www.sinarharian.com.my

16 Rohingya Men including Teenagers Arrested in Kyikanpyin

By Anwar M.S.December 30, 2016

By Rohingya Eye | December 30, 2016

Maungdaw — At the village of Kyikanpyin in Northern Maungdaw, 16 Rohingya men including some teenagers were arbitrarily arrested by the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) during a raid jointly conducted with the military in the early morning on Thursday (Dec 29), it has been reported.

About 150 BGP and Military personnel besieged the Kyikanyin village locally known as Hawar Bil at about 4:00 am and indiscriminately arrested anyone encountered during the joint raid. All of the 16 men arrested are innocent people, according to the locals.

Reportedly, the administrator of Kyikanpyin, U Phyo Zaw Tun (a natala Rakhine extremist living at Aung Zeyar village), conspired with the BGP to launch a raid on the village to arrest the villagers whom he personally loathes.

“Earlier, people used to be alert of the raids and arrests by the military and the BGP. Off late, people have begun to try to live a normal life.

“And UNHCR and WFP provided some aids to the villagers of Kyikanpyin a few days ago. The UNHCR was also to provide aids to the villagers of Wa Peik (WaBek) on Thursday. So, some villagers stayed back in the village at night with the hope of having UNHCR aids on the next day.

“Taking advantage of the both situations, the BGP and the military acting on the arrest-list of aubmitted by the village administrator timingly launched a raid on the village and arbitrarily arrested 16 innocent people”, said U Aye Myint, a human rights observer, based in Maungdaw.

The people arrested on Thursday are:
(From the West hamlet of Kyikanpyin,)

1) Ibadullah (20), s/o Hassan
2) Faisal (19), s/o Abdu Salam
3) A 17-year-old son of Jalal Ahmed
4) Anwar Sadek (17), s/o Abdul Majid
5) Kabir (17), s/o Daw Mamtaaz
(These four are from the West hamlet of Kyikanpyin.)

(From middle hamlet of Kyikanpyin,)
1) Mohammed Salam, 47
2) Karimullah (16), s/o Zakir Ahmed
3) Aamir Safa (17), s/o Salimullah

(From Wapeik hamlet of Kyikanpyin,)
1) Noor Islam (25), s/o Hamid Hussein
2) Mohammed Johar (21), s/o Sheikh Ahmed
3) Sayed Ahmed (40), s/o Fazal Ahmed
4) Hassan (31), s/o Rashid Ahmed
5) Safar Alam (20), s/o Shomsul Alam
6) Iman Hussein, 50
7) Rafique (?), s/o Khalu
8) Mohammed Alam (?), s/o Daw Habiya Khatun

The people arrested are reported to have been being interrogated in the BGP Headquarter. The villagers are still hopeful that they will eventually be released as they feel that they are very much innocent.

The Myanmar military began a full-on offensives on the Rohingya community at large in northern Maungdaw on the pretext of ‘Region Clearance Operation’ as the aftermaths of the raids by a rebel group — born out of decades-long persecutions which has now been identified as Harakat Al Yakin or the Faith Movement — on three Border Guard Police posts in Maungdaw on October 9, 2016. Since then, at least 1,000 civilians have been arrested, tortured and subjected to arbitrary detentions/long-term imprisonments without fair trials.

Source by: http://www.rvisiontv.com

Secret 1978 Document Indicates Burma Recognized Rohingya Legal Residence

Anders Corr ,  

CONTRIBUTOR

I cover international politics, security and political risk.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

As I detail in a prior article, Myanmar’s Buddhist government is systematically and repeatedly terrorizing the minority-Muslim Rohingya population into flight. Such attempts at what a senior U.N. official calls “ethnic cleansing” are clearly illegal, as is Myanmar’s related denial of residency rights to the Rohingya. But a 1978 “Repatriation Agreement” with Bangladesh marked “Secret” and published by Princeton University in 2014 constitutes evidence that in 1978, Myanmar acknowledged that the Rohingya had legal residence in the country.

Myanmar justifies its persecution of the Rohingya by publicly claiming that the Rohingya have no legal residence in the country, and should therefore move to Bangladesh, from which they ostensibly originate. The Myanmar government has even asked the international community to stop using the term “Rohingya” in an attempt to erase the Rohingya’s historical ties to Rakhine state that date to the 8th Century A.D. But the secret repatriation agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh in 1978 constitutes evidence that Myanmar recognized the Rohingyas’ legal residence in the country. An Asian diplomat who wishes to remain anonymous confirmed to me that this secret document is authentic.

After 1962, Myanmar (which was then called Burma) renewed repression of Rohingya political and social associations. In 1977, Burma began registering citizens and screened out ‘foreigners,’ primarily to target the Rohingya. The Rohingya alleged that the Burmese military used forced evictions and widespread rapes and murders against the Rohingya. By May 1978, approximately 200,000 Rohingya refugees had entered Bangladesh and settled into 13 U.N. refugee camps near the border. The Burmese authorities publicly claimed that the fleeing refugees showed the Rohingya’s illegal residence in Burma. But Bangladesh urged Burma to accept the refugees back, and the U.N. used economic carrots and sticks to encourage Burma to agree.

The secret 1978 “Repatriation Agreement” that resulted states, “THE LEADERS OF DELEGATIONS, duly authorised by and on behalf of the Government of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma and the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, following their talks held in Dacca on 7th – 9th July 1978 HAVE AGREED as follows,” and continues, “The Government of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma agrees to the repatriation at the earliest of the lawful residents of Burma [italics mine] who are now sheltered in the camps in Bangladesh on the presentation of Burmese National Registration Cards along with the members of their families …” This constitutes evidence that in 1978, Burma agreed that the Rohingya refugees, most of whose families at one time had national registration cards or other documents, were by and large “lawful residents of Burma.”

Between 1991 and 1992, additional rapes, forced labor, and religious persecution caused another 250,000 Rohingya refugees to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh. A 1992 agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh similarly acknowledged the lawful residence of the Rohingya in Burma. Titled “Joint statement by the foreign ministers of Bangladesh & Myanmar issued at the conclusion of the official visit of the Myanmar Foreign Minister to Bangladesh 23 – 28 April 1992,” the agreement called the fleeing Rohingya “Myanmar residents” and “members of Myanmar society.”

As long as Myanmar violates its past agreements and the human rights of the Rohingya, other states and corporations should increase economic and diplomatic pressure on the country. This should include the threat of economic sanctions, and increased diplomatic pressure on the civilian government, including de facto leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. On the Rohingya issue, her silence is wrong, as is her general support for the Myanmar military, and according to one knowledgeable source, “even protection of the military committing excesses.” At a minimum, she should publicly acknowledge the crimes being committed in Rakhine State, and support the voluntary return of the Rohingya and the Rohingya diaspora.

Source by; http://www.forbes.com

Statement of the 3rd European Rohingya Conference

Date: December 30, 2016

Statement of the 3rd European Rohingya Conference

A diverse group of Rohingya activists across Europe met at the third European Rohingya Conference held in Esbjerg, Denmark for days 28-29 December 2016. They discussed the ongoing genocidal persecution of fellow Rohingya people in their own ancestral border region of present-day Burma and Bangladesh. Also discussed are the plight of Rohingya refugees who have risked their lives fleeing sexual violence, summary execution, and other atrocity crimes committed by the Myanmar Government. Conference participants commonly expressed their grave concerns about the situation of the Rohingya in Northern Arakan (or Rakhine), the situation that has gone from bad to worse since the Aung San Suu Kyi government assumed office 8 months ago.

The following are the resolutions adopted by the conference:

– Reaffirm our collective desire as the borderland people of Northen Arakan to live in peace with our fellow Buddhist country people, in our ancestral region, and throughout Myanmar, as equal citizens who are entitled to basic respect and rights;

– Condemn any acts of violence by any groups or individuals; we the overwhelming Rohingya people of Northen Arakan (Rakhine) remain committed to non-violence principles in striving for full and equal citizenship and basic rights in the borderland country of our ancestors – as evidenced in the total absence of any terrorist or militant attacks on civilians either on Myanmar soil or anywhere in the world;

– Reserve our utmost condemnation for Myanmar Government, the main perpetrator of death and destruction against our Rohingya people, for its ongoing scorched-earth military attacks since 9 October, under the pretext of “anti-militant” or “counter-insurgency” operations in Northern Arakan, with the verifiable intention of destroying substantial part of the Rohingya community as an identifiable ethnic group;

– Further condemn both Myanmar military leadership of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the popularly elected Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi who, by her own admission, “cooperates fully” with the genocidal Myanmar military;

– Condemn atrocity crimes committed against our Rohingya people – as a recognizable form of collective punishment – by Myanmar security forces, including sexual violence, summary executions, arson, hundreds of cases of arbitrary arrest, torture, burning of children alive in house fire, systematic destruction of sources of staple food items, blockage of emergency humanitarian aid, internal displacement of about 40,000 Rohingya villagers, the flight of 34,000 people to Bangladesh, and chasing violently boat-loads of Rohingya families as they attempted to escape the current bout of death and destruction at the hands of Myanmar government troops;

– Reject categorically the Rakhine Investigation Commission’s findings, which were based on the “oral testimonies” extracted from the terrified Rohingya villagers under duress and hastily carried out in a 2-day visit to selected Rohingya villages. We share the international human rights organization’s dismissal of the Arakan Investigation Commission, headed by military appointed Vice-President and ex-Lt. General Myint Swe, as nothing more than a public relations exercise. In fact, the previous government of Thein Sein formed and conducted its own internal investigation following the first bout of violence in Arakan in June 2012, and we would like to remind the international community that Myanmar Government commissions and their findings have proven to lack any credibility, impartiality or independence;

– Call attention of the international community to the distorted interviews conducted by the western media for failing to reflect accurately the exact testimonies given in Rohingya and Burmese languages by Rohingya victims of sexual violence and other horrible rights violations by Myanmar Government troops;

– Register our gravest concerns about Myanmar’s blocking humanitarian and essential health services to reach the Rohingya communities in desperate need of both;

– Stress the urgency of lifting severe restrictions on Rohingya villagers, estimated to be over 120,000 – who are on the brink of mass starvation and dying as the result of access to emergency medical services, and suffering curable diseases;

– Demand the Aung San Suu Kyi government and its military partner to halt all acts of genocide as defined clearly in the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;

– Further demand that the Aung San Suu Kyi government stop the charm diplomatic offensive with ASEAN, allow independent and impartial investigation of the allegations of crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and genocide;

– Call on Myanmar State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to come to terms with the fact that Myanmar Tatmadaw, her military partner, are committing international state crimes in violation of human rights and humanitarian law, whatever the exact legal names;

– Express our collective gratitude and appreciation to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak for standing firmly in ending Rohingya genocide;

– Urge the European Union – and its member states – to place its responsibility to end genocide and atrocity crimes against Rohingya before its business interests;

– Appeal to all UN member states to activate the never-before-used principle of “the responsibility to protect” in order to make the slogan “Never Again!” a reality. The decades-long systematic persecution of Rohingya people as an ethnic group, warrants immediate humanitarian intervention in the Northern Arakan (or Rakhine) in order to put an end to the violent operations against the defenceless, vulnerable and unarmed peaceful Rohingya communities and prevent further deaths and destructions;

– Urge Myanmar’s neighbouring governments to help create Myanmar’s predominantly Rohingya district of Maungdaw closest to Bangladesh border a ‘safe zone’, particularly in the absence of national or domestic protection for them;

– Call on the Government of Bangladesh to stop sending back forcibly hundreds persecution fleeing Rohingya refugees, including women, children and infants, back to Myanmar, and honour its obligations under international conventions on refugees; and

– Request earnestly the international community to assist and support the Government of Bangladesh as it attempts to handle the latest influx of Rohingya refugees.

The undersigned organizations adopt the text of the resolution:

1. Arakan Rohingya National Organisation

2. Bradford Rohingya Community in UK

3. Burmese Rohingya Community in Denmark

4. Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

5. Rohingya Community in Germany

6. Rohingya Community in Switzerland

7. Rohingya Organisation Norway

8. Rohingya Community in Finland

9. Rohingya Community in Italy

10. Rohingya Community in Sweden

11. Rohingya Society in Netherlands

For more information please contact: 

Tun Khin +44 7888714866

Nay San Lwin +49 69 26022349

Source by: http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2016/12/statement-of-3rd-european-rohingya.html#sthash.Q9aqLWw7.dpuf

Indonesian Gov`t Sends Humanitarian Aid to Rohingya People

HOMENATIONAL

THURSDAY, 29 DECEMBER, 2016 | 12:08 WIB

Indonesian Gov`t Sends Humanitarian Aid to Rohingya People

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has sent humanitarian aid for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that humanitarian relief was collected from Indonesian people, business owners and the government. “This morning, some 10 containers [of humanitarian aid] were sent to Rakhine State,” the President said today at Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta.

The humanitarian aid includes instant noodles, baby food and sarongs. According to President Jokowi, the humanitarian aid was requested by the Rohingya Muslims. “The items were requested after [Indonesian] Foreign Minister held talks with the Myanmar government,” he said.

As previously reported, tensions in Rakhine State on October 9 have resulted in 10,000-20,000 more refugees. Data from the UNHCR show that roughly 32,000 Muslim refugees in Myanmar are sheltered in two refugee camps in Bangladesh. In addition, the UNHCR estimates that around 200,000 unrecorded refugees currently live in the borders between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

President Jokowi said that the Indonesian government has taken diplomatic measures on Rohingya refugees. He said that he has instructed the Foreign Ministry to meet the Myanmar government. The President has asked the Myanmar government to open its borders to meet the needs of Rohingya people. “We have underlined the need to uphold human rights and respect Muslim communities,” he said.

Moreover, the government hopes that the refugees would appreciate the humanitarian assistance. “I’m hopeful that humanity and peace will prevail in Rakhine State,” President Jokowi said.

Source by: http://en.tempo.co

Myanmar Continues to Demolish Rohingya Homes in Maungdaw District

By Anwar M.S.December 29, 2016 17:15

By Rohingya Mirror | December 29, 2016

Maungdaw — The Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) continues to demolish Rohingya homes daily across Maungdaw district since mid December 2016, reliable reports emerge from Maungdaw. 

After burning thousands of Rohingya homes in northern Maungdaw since October 9, the BGP began to demolish homes in northern Maungdaw, which later spread to other parts of Maungdaw district including southern Maungdaw and Buthidaung Township.

The BGP, reportedly acting on the order by the Rakhine State Chief Minister and the Commander in-Chief of the BGP, have recently demolished homes in the following villages (besides the reports on the demolition of homes we have earlier).

[Also read: Rohingya Homes Demolished in Southern Maungdaw

                  More Rohingya Homes Demolished across Maungdaw Township

                  Man Shot at Head for Refusing to Demolish his Home]

.

In Northern Maungdaw,

I) In LonDoong village on December 27,

1) 11 houses and 4 shops were destroyed at Kyun Gaung hamlet of LonDoong

2) 15 houses were destroyed at ‘Kyaik Chaung’ hamlet of LonDoong (some 40-year old homes were also destroyed.)

3) 25 houses were destroyed at ‘Sinthae Pyin’ hamlet of Londoong

4) 8 houses and 3 shops were destroyed at ‘Zaydi Pyin’ hamlet of LonDoong

15) 15 houses were destroyed at ‘Mya Zin’ hamlet of LonDoong.

II) In ‘Sabbay Gone’ village on December 27,

1) 8 houses were destroyed.

 

III) In ‘Taung Pyo Lat Ya’ on December 26,

1) 3 houses were destroyed.

IV) In ‘Thayet Oak’ village on December 25,

1) 6 houses were destroyed.

V) In ‘Kyauk Pyin Seik’ village on December 26,

1) 25 houses and 15 shops were ordered to be destroyed.
.

In Southern Maungdaw,

I) In the village of ‘Padin’ on December 26,

1) 11 houses and 6 shops

 

II) In the village of  ‘Du Nyaung Pin Gyi’ on December 26,
1) 5 houses were destroyed.

After continuously demolishing homes in the rural areas, the BGP has handed further lists of homes to be destroyed over to the administrators of the respective Rohingya villages in the outskirts of the downtown of Maungdaw.

Hundreds of Rohingya homes have been demolished in the Buthidaung Township in the recent weeks.

 .

The houses and shops being destroyed in the rural villages are not modern buildings that require officials’ permission(s) but traditional country-type structures built of bamboos and woods and covered with ‘Nipa Palm Leaves.’ These widespread destructions of homes are now seen among the locals as yet another attempt of cleansing their (i.e. Rohingya) population through systematic displacement of the people.

The order to demolish homes had only been imposed on the Rohingya community, not on the Rakhine Buddhist community.

Source by: http://www.rvisiontv.com