UNHCR added that the Myanmar government has refused to allow it to distribute health supplies in Sittwe, where an estimated 90% of Rohingya homes have been destroyed. The country’s military government has admitted that the death toll had surpassed 145, but residents say that in actuality, it is much higher.

Thousands of Rohingya, a persecuted minority in Myanmar, live in squalid camps for the displaced and impoverished villages near the port town of Sittwe. This is known as the Rakhine state. People living in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, said they estimated that about 90% of homes of Rohingya people had been destroyed and more than 100 people killed when winds of more than 150 miles an hourhit the region. However, the refugee agency UNHCR said the Myanmar government has refused access to the camps in Sittwe, home to about 100,000 people. “As yet, UNHCR has not been granted access to carry out needs assessments.”

The region has been rocked by decades of ethnic conflict, with the country’s Buddhist majority accused of carrying out armed attacks and serious human rights breaches against the Rohingya. The United Nation has dubbed this a Genocide.

Cyclone Mocha made landfall near Sittwe in Rakhine state on May 14, whipping up heavy rains and wind speeds of up to 209kph in Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh.

One of the most powerful cyclones in a decade, Mocha wreaked havoc in the port town destroying bridges, uprooting trees and tearing roofs off buildings. Thousands of flimsy Rohingya shelters were washed away.

“It is like someone dropped a bomb on us from above. Ninety per cent of the houses are flattened,” Sadak Hussein, 28, a Rohingya, told the news media.

Related:

Cut in WFP funding threatens Rohingyas with hunger, deprivation: Bangladesh

SC questions Centre’s decision to just leave minor Rohingya girl at the Myanmar border

The post Killing by Hunger: Rohingya Muslims starved after Cyclone Mocha in Rakhine state, UN denied access: Myanmar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Dhaka: Nearly six years after the Rohingya refugee crisis shook the world’s conscience, and with neighbouring countries responding to the humanitarian crisis, for the first time the WFP is forced to cut back its lifesaving assistance for all Rohingya living in the camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Starting 1 March, WFP will have to reduce its General Food Assistance voucher value from US$12 to US$10 per person per month, due to a US$125 million funding shortfall says a press note of the organisation.

“This is a devastating blow to the Rohingya and an equally devastating blow to the humanitarian community,” said Domenico Scalpelli, WFP Country Director in Bangladesh. “With other critical services already dwindling, the repercussions of the ration cut – even if just two dollars – will be dire.”

Unlike other vulnerable groups, the Rohingya have limited employment opportunities in the camps, relying almost entirely on humanitarian assistance to meet their food and other essential needs. Bangladesh has been barely allowing them residence, that too in questionable conditions in segregated camps.

So far, with the support of donors and partners, WFP has been providing food, nutrition and other critical assistance to Rohingya men, women and children since their exodus from Myanmar in 2017.
Today all Rohingya – nearly 1 million of them – receive food assistance via vouchers currently valued at US$12 per person per month. Families can choose from over 40 dry and fresh food items at WFP outlets throughout the camps.

Despite these concerted humanitarian efforts, 45 percent of Rohingya families are not eating a sufficient diet and malnutrition has been widespread in the camps. The Global Acute Malnutrition rate for children stands at 12 percent – just below the 15 percent WHO ‘Emergency’ threshold but still categorized as ‘Serious’. Some 40 percent of children have stunted growth and 40 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women are anaemic – all this is before the ration cut.

“With each ration cut, malnutrition will certainly rise. With each ration cut, families will increasingly resort to dangerous strategies to cope. Sadly, women, adolescent girls and children will be the worst affected. We must do everything possible to keep the vital humanitarian assistance they depend on intact,” said Scalpelli.

Without an immediate funding boost, further ration cuts to the blanket food assistance programme are also imminent into the year.
The UN’s WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food distribution in conflict-ridden societies as a way to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from these conflicts, disasters and the impact of climate change.

2017: Draconian treatment of Rohingyas in Myanmar

Human Rights Watch (HRW) had in December 2017 said that analysis of satellite images has found that Rohingya villages have been further destroyed in Myanmar’s Rakhine state during October and November. HRW said it has pinpointed 40 villages “with building destruction,” making the number of villages “that have been partially or completely destroyed” 354 since August 25, 2017. HRW said satellite images verify that several dozen buildings were burned in the same week as November 23, when Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the repatriation of refugees in Bangladesh. According to HRW, at least 118 of the 354 villages that were impacted were partly or completely destroyed after September 5, which Myanmar’s State Counsellor’s office said was the date when “clearance operations” ended. 

Background: Hate Speech & Rohingyas

Rohongyas, largely because they are economically deprived and Muslim have been at the brunt of not just physical exclusion and hunger as also the butt and target of hate speech, worldwide. In December 2021, Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have sued Meta Platforms Inc, (formerly and still better known as Facebook) for a staggering $150 billion. The community has alleged that the social media giant “did not take action against anti-Rohingya hate speech that contributed to violence.” According to a Reuters report, a class-action complaint was “filed in California on Monday by law firms Edelson PC and Fields PLLC.” It argues that the company’s failures to curb hate content as well “its platform’s design” have contributed to the on ground violence the Rohingya community has been facing. Reuters added that “in a coordinated action, British lawyers also submitted a letter of notice to Facebook’s London office”.

In response, Meta issued a statement: “We’re appalled by the crimes committed against the Rohingya people in Myanmar. We’ve built a dedicated team of Burmese speakers, banned the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military), disrupted networks manipulating public debate and taken action on harmful misinformation to help keep people safe. We’ve also invested in Burmese-language technology to reduce the prevalence of violating content.”

According to a BBC report, around 10,000 Rohingya Muslims were killed during a military crackdown in Buddhist-majority Myanmar in 2017. In the UK, the British law firm representing some of the refugees has written to Facebook, which the BBC reported, alleges that “Facebook’s algorithms “amplified hate speech against the Rohingya people; the firm “failed to invest” in moderators and fact checkers who knew about the political situation in Myanmar; the company failed to take down posts or delete accounts that incited violence against Rohingya; failed to “take appropriate and timely action”, despite warnings from charities and the media.

The report added that the US lawyers filed a legal complaint against Facebook in San Francisco, accusing it of being “willing to trade the lives of the Rohingya people for better market penetration in a small country in Southeast Asia.” Facebook posts that were featured in the Reuters investigation were cited in the complaint. A sample of one such post from 2013 stated: “We must fight them the way Hitler did the Jews.” The reported cited another dangerously anti-Muslim hate-mongering post that said: “Pour fuel and set fire so that they can meet Allah faster.”

According to the BBC news report, Facebook, which has more than 20 million users in Myanmar, had admitted in 2018 that it had not done enough to prevent the incitement of violence and hate speech against Rohingyas. An independent report, commissioned by Facebook, had reportedly said the platform created an “enabling environment” for the proliferation of human rights abuse. Over the years, thousands have been killed, and many Rohingyas have been forced to flee the country. The BBC recalled that in 2018, the UN accused Facebook of being “slow and ineffective” in its response to the spread of hatred online. According to the news report, “Under US law, Facebook is largely protected from liability over content posted by its users. But the new lawsuit argues the law of Myanmar – which has no such protections – should prevail in the case.”

UN points to Genocidal Intent since 2017

The United Nations has been pointing to the genocidal intent behind the forced expulsion of Myanmar’s Rohingyas since 2017, to little avail. Denied citizenship status and classified as illegal immigrants, Rohingya Muslims have been the target of repeated violence with state connivance in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. The continuing persecution has forced the Rohingyas to flee and seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia. From Bangladesh, an estimated 40,000 Rohingyas have sought shelter in India. An approximate 40,000 or so such refugees are lodged in India but constantly face vilification and physical threat with the elections, twice over a rigid, far right regime at the centre headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Vilification in India

A good example is the propaganda unleashed against them y high officials of the union government. The government even informed the Lok Sabha today, on August 10, 2021 that some Rohingya migrants have been “indulging in illegal activities, without specifying the said reports or the kind of alleged illegal activity.” This despite the fact that during the crisis in India’s capital with mass deaths, it was Rohingya refugees among dozens of good Samaritans who assisted in timely aid even cremations. The Minister of State in the Home Ministry, Nityanand Rai added that all foreign nationals who enter into the country without valid travel documents are treated as illegal migrants. His answer read, “There are reports about some Rohingya migrants indulging in illegal activities.”

Rohingyas have been facing discrimination, violence, fear of persecution in their home state of Myanmar, which is a Buddhist majority country, forcing them to flee. Known as one of the world’s most persecuted ethnic groups, almost 40,000 Rohingya refugees are scattered across different Indian states at present, out of which only 16,500 are reportedly registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to a report in Voice of America News, Hussain Ahmad, a Rohingya rights activist based on Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, has stated that the Rohingya refugees are being unfairly harassed by the Indian authorities. He said, “Indian police are asking for travel documents from these refugees who are on the run, scared of their lives. How will the stateless Rohingya refugees be able to produce Burmese passports or Indian visas?”

VoA News also quoted Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch saying, “India knows well that the Rohingya are one of the most persecuted communities in the world. Nearly a million are refugees in Bangladesh. A few that have arrived in India need to be protected and not persecuted again. This is a responsibility of the Indian authorities under the refugees convention as well… For political reasons we find that the Rohingya are being targeted largely because the Hindu nationalist government….tends to persecute all Muslims, including Rohingya refugees.”

The recent Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 also does not provide any relief to Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Myanmar over the years, rendering them stateless.

In India, providing some succour to these refugees is a man from Kerala. Citizens for Justice and Peace had interviewed him in 2018.

Related:

40 Rohingya villages burned since October: HRW
A Ray of Hope for all Refugee Communities in India
“Genocidal intent” in Human Rights violations committed against Rohingya in Myanmar: UN
UN chief concerned over India’s plan to deport Rohingya Muslims
40 Rohingya villages burned since October: HRW

The post Cut in WFP funding threatens Rohingyas with hunger, deprivation: Bangladesh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On September 7, the Supreme Court heard the case of a 14-year-old Rohingya girl facing deportation from India to Myanmar. A bench of Justices Abdul Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian questioned the Central Government’s intentions of leaving a minor girl at the Myanmar border, especially when her parents who have sought asylum in Bangladesh want her back.

The Supreme Court bench was hearing a petition filed by an NGO seeking permission to provide foster care to the girl, a Rohingya refugee.

The Court had earlier issued notice in a writ petition filed by the NGO against the deportation of the Rohingya teenage girl from India to Myanmar. The NGO Global Peace Initiative had sought permission to foster the girl who, it says, is about to be transported to Myanmar from an orphanage in Assam while her parents are stationed in Bangladesh.

In the petition, the girl’s father wrote to the UNHRC in October 2019 asking for information regarding his daughter’s whereabouts. According to the petition, Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees everyone, even those who are not citizens, the right to life. It said that what was at issue in this case was a child’s right to life and liberty as well as the parents’ right to see their daughter. The NGO pleaded with the court to stop sending the girl back to Myanmar, where it is alleged that crimes have been committed against members of the Rohingya community.

The Petitioner has also relied on the Top Court’s judgment in Mohammad Salimullah v. Union of India wherein the Court had held that the Rohingyas can be deported only after following due process. To further substantiate their contention, NGO in its writ has referred to the judgments in Louis De Raedt v. Union of India and National Human Rights Commission v. State of Arunachal Pradesh & Anr wherein it was observed that foreigners are entitled to the protection of Article 21 of the Constitution.

The bench was not fully convinced about handing over the girl to the NGO (Global Peace Initiative). Similar reservations were also expressed by the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the said NGO is one of the largest evangelical organisations and has a large number of women involved in social service. Advocate Hegde then argued that the real issue is that she’s stuck in a camp in Assam, and her parents have requested the organisation to help them in facilitating the process of reuniting the family. He clarified that tshe NGO is not seeking permanent custody of the child.

At this point SG Mehta aid that the minor girl is not in camp but in a Nari Nikathen. He also added that writing a letter to the NGO to take custody of the child seems suspicious. Then Advocate Hegde offered to get the credentials of the organisation.

SG Mehta then brought up the issue of necessity of deporting an illegal migrant who enters the territory of India. The Bench then pointed out that she is minor and, according to LiveLaw, said, “She’s a minor. Parents want child to send back to them. There can’t be any objection to that, right?”

SG Mehta then said that the identities of the parents are yet to be verified. He said “We can’t be sure if people receiving there are parents. These are issues which the government will have to consider.” When the Bench enquired the stand of the government in the said issue, SG Mehta said that they intent to send the girl back to her country of origin.

LiveLaw reported that the Bench then asked, “To leave a minor girl at the border of Myanmar, is that an option? When somebody wants the girl back?” Along with this, the Bench said that the identities of the parents must be checked. “We need to be sure of the real parents. Otherwise, we will be guilty…And our worry, another aspect, it’s a minor girl, she should not go to wrong hands. We are trying to trust this letter. Our effort is, it should not be misused.”

Advocate Hegde then said that he will attempt to provide substantial proof. “We are not convinced that child should be given to them”, the Bench remarked, before the matter was adjourned for six weeks.

Related:

Rohingya migrants are ‘threat’ to national security: BJP

What caused the massive fire at Rohingya camp in Nuh?

India and the Myanmar crisis: Death of Justice, Death of Morality

Rohingya migrants involved in illegal activities: MHA

The post SC questions Centre’s decision to just leave minor Rohingya girl at the Myanmar border appeared first on SabrangIndia.

What continues to remain amiss in the Indian legislations is the definition, and subsequent condemnation of torture by public officials. A right against torture is nothing but an affirmation of Right to Life under Article 21. However, enforcing fundamental rights is a much more tedious task than invoking the provisions of the specific law, which is always more accessible. Thus arises the question why India has not yet ratified the UN Convention against Torture and why there is no law adhering to the same.

On July 20, Lok Sabha member Ritesh Pandey of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) questioned the Ministry of Home Affairs on whether it plans to rehabilitate Rohingya Muslims seeking refuge in India and whether denying them legal status is in contravention to any UN treaties or convention that it has ratified.

The Ministry responded that Rohingyas were illegal migrants and hence they pose a threat to the nation, while there also being reports of them indulging in illegal activities. The question also pertained to whether denying rehabilitation to these refugees violated the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) or the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Ministry conceded that while India had signed UNCAT, it had not ratified it, and it did accede to ICCPR in 1979.

The answer given in Lok Sabha may be read here:

The UNCAT or the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was the result of many years’ work, initiated soon after the adoption of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the “Torture Declaration”). India signed it but did not ratify it. This means that a representative of India at that time signed the document but the same has not been affirmed by the State (nation) in order for it to be binding as per international law. Thus, UNCAT cannot be invoked at any international fora against any activities that come under the definition of torture or cruelty in the country.

How does the issue of refuge seeking Rohingyas from Myanmar being declared as illegal migrants connect with the convention against torture? In simple terms, when a person is found to be an illegal migrant, law states that they can be confined to a place by the government which usually translates to detention camps. The conditions of detention camps and the way these non-citizens are to be treated is not governed by any law and thus human rights come into play. Any country that is run by a democratically elected government cannot be averse to safeguarding human rights. Thus, India’s non-ratification of UNCAT in 1997 is quite appalling.

Why is UNCAT such a big deal?

To begin with, for any international convention that a country signs, it has to indicate to the related Committee what measures it has taken to bring to effect the undertakings of the convention. Thus, ratifying the UNCAT would mean that India would have had to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture.

The undertakings prescribed under UNCAT require the State to ensure that its authorities make investigations when there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed and to ensure that acts of torture are serious criminal offences within its legal system. Most importantly, and the one undertaking that remains pertinent is that the State cannot expel or extradite a person to a State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. It is extremely important to delineate here the 2019 amendment to the Citizenship Act which eases up grant of citizenship to non-Muslim communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh and the motive behind it was that they seek refuge here due to religious persecution. The same rationale when not implied to Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar where they are being persecuted due to their religion and are being subjected to torture, shows a clear bias of the government and its selective adherence to human rights.

What if India ratified UNCAT?

Ratifying UNCAT would mean that India would have had to pass the Prevention of Torture Bill that was first introduced by the UPA II government in 2010. The bill defined torture as: an act by a public servant or by a persons with acquiescence of a public servant, causes grievous hurt or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical). It proposed punishment of minimum 3 years which may be extended to 10 years and fine, for torture inflicted for purpose of extorting confession, or for punishing or on the ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground.

The 273rd Law Commission report released in 2017 suggested, among other things, payment of compensation to victims of torture keeping in mind socio-economic background of the victim, nature, purpose, extent and manner of injury, including mental agony caused to the victim such as the amount suffices the victim to bear the expenses on medical treatment and rehabilitation. The Commission had also observed that tolerance of police atrocities, amounts to acceptance of systematic subversion and erosion of the rule of law and that it is not permissible whether it occurs during investigation, interrogation or otherwise.

India’s refusal to ratify UNCAT and its unwillingness to have any law that condemns torture only makes its fealty to the doctrine of sovereign immunity apparent. The doctrine of sovereign immunity is a concept of common law principle consistently followed in British jurisprudence in last several centuries that ‘King commits no wrong’ and has evolved on the principle of sovereignty that a State cannot be sued in its own court.

The courts’ take on torture

In D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal AIR 1997 SC 610, the Supreme Court had observed, “Torture has not been defined in the Constitution or in other penal laws. ‘Torture’ of a human being by another human being is essentially an instrument to impose the will of the ‘strong’ over the ‘weak’ by suffering. The word torture today has become synonymous with the darker side of the human civilisation”.

The judgement may be read here:

In Raghubir Singh v. State of Haryana 1980 AIR 1087 , a case where the violence employed by the police to extract a confession resulted in death of a person suspected of theft, the court had passed severe remarks “We are deeply disturbed by the diabolical recurrence of police torture resulting in terrible scare in the minds of common citizens that their lives and liberty are under a new peril when the guardians of law gore human rights to death.”

The judgement may be read here:

In another case, State of U.P. v. Ram Sagar Yadav 1985 AIR 416, the Supreme Court dealt with a case where the policemen murdered one Brijlal who not only refused to pay a bribe of Rs.100 in a trivial matter of cattle trespass but also complained about demand of bribe to senior police officers. The Court observed that “Police officers alone and none else can give evidence as regards the circumstances in which a person in their custody comes to receive injuries while in their custody… The result is that persons on whom atrocities are perpetrated by the police in the sanctum sanctorum of the police station are left without any evidence to prove who the offenders are.” The Court recommended that the “law as to the burden of proof in such cases may be re-examined by the legislature so that handmaids of law and order do not use their authority and opportunities for oppressing the innocent citizens who look to them for protection.”

The judgement may be read here:

Torture and Indian laws

The only record that is indicative of torture is the number of custodial deaths released every year in Crimes in India report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) annually. However, death in judicial or state’s custody is an extremely poor measure of torture even if custodial deaths are always met with impunity of the officials, without much ado. Naturally, this is because there is no law in place to enforce criminal cases against agents of the government.

The UNCAT defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

While there are some safeguards against torture in Indian law, they are seldom taken seriously and enforced. For instance, section 54 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) extends safeguard against any infliction of custodial torture and violence by providing for examination of arrested person by medical officer and section 176 of the Code provides for compulsory magisterial inquiry on the death of the accused in police custody.

It can be unequivocally said that a democratic country ought to safeguard human rights and thus cannot be tolerant of any form of torture to human life. It takes an accountable and responsible government to recognize the iniquities within its system with the clear intent of upholding basic human rights as well as the right to life enshrined under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Law Commissions have over the years pushed for a legislation penalizing torture by public officials but the discourse around it has died down and needs to be reinvigorated as a fight for human rights.

The UN Convention against Torture may be read here:

Related:

Prevention of torture Bill – the forgotten law
Ratify Convention Against Torture, Enact Prevention of Torture Bill, 2017: Law Commission
Ratify the convention against custodial torture: SC Adv Nitya Ramakrishnan
Genesis of Rights against handcuffs in India

The post Why has India still not ratified UN Convention against torture? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

An ethnic Rakhine man holds homemade weapons as he walks in front of houses that were burnt during fighting 
between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in Sittwe June 10, 2012 Reuters 

With the International Court of Justice (ICJ) taking up the issue of Myanmar’s brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, international news channel Al Jazeera has shed new light on some of its alleged crimes.

In a video documentary released on Sunday, Al Jazeera depicted Myanmar soldiers kicking and beating captive Rohingyas. 

The video shows Rohingya villagers fleeing their homes attempting to make their way to Bangladesh. It also shows fires burning in the distance and hundreds of people hiking up muddy jungle paths and crossing rivers with sacks and baskets crammed with their belongings. Al Jazeera has shown at least two images of corpses.

In the documentary, talking to Al Jazeera, Myanmarese academic Dr Maung Zarni said: “As early as 1966 the Burmese military started to see the Rohingya as problem.” 

Through the years the Myanmar government has even set up special forces to “deal” with the: Rohingya minority.

Zarni compares Myanmar’s infamous special forces Nasaka to SS, the acronym of Schutzstaffel, a paramilitary force under Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.  

He said, “Nasaka was essentially the Burmese equivalent of SS. Nasaka was the executioner.”

Myanmar military’s former chief of intelligence General Khin Nyunt also talked about Nasaka with Al Jazeera.

Nyunt said: “These problems with Muslims have existed since the British rule because they brought labour from Bangladesh,” ignoring the fact that Bangladesh was then also a part of British Empire.

He said: “I created Nasaka to stop people from crossing the borders. It was the right thing to do. They are migrants. They are guests from Bangladesh. We did not want to accept guests. Otherwise there are no more Rakhines. Just more and more Muslims.”

More than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh since a 2017 crackdown by Myanmar’s military, which UN investigators say was carried out with “genocidal intent.” Buddhist majority Myanmar denies accusations of genocide.

Gambia, a mainly Muslim West African state, lodged a lawsuit with ICJ after winning the support of the 57-nation Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC). 

Days after Gambia filed the case at the ICJ, Rohingya and Latin American human rights groups submitted a lawsuit in Argentina under “universal jurisdiction,” a legal premise that deems some crimes as so horrific that they can be tried anywhere in the world.

Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to defend her military against allegations of genocide at the ICJ. 

Courtesy: Dhaka Tribune

The post New documentary reveals scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Myanmar’s president released more than 6,000 prisoners on Tuesday, including two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists imprisoned for reporting on a military crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine state.

Reuters reporters Wa Lone (left) and Kyaw Soe Oo, leaving prison in Myanmar on Tuesday. Ann Wang/EPA

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who work for the news organisation Reuters, were arrested in 2017 and, after a corrupt trial engineered by the military, sentenced to seven years in prison.

While the presidential pardon is welcome, there are still a number of serious, ongoing issues for freedom of expression and democracy in Myanmar. The influential military and its supporters in the government continue to work against press freedom in particular, waging what a UN human rights report referred to last year as a “political campaign against independent journalism.”

Why did the government release the prisoners now?

The pardon coincides with traditional New Year in Myanmar, which started on April 17. It is customary for government officials to release prisoners around this time.

It was also a way to at least partly ease the increasing international pressure on the Myanmar government. Foreign governments, NGOs, and international organisations have heavily criticised the government for its failure to protect freedom of the press, its record on human rights, the Rohingya crisis, and its scant progress on meaningful democratic reform.

But another way to look at the president’s decision to pardon Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo is as a balancing act. The ruling National League for Democracy must toe a careful line in terms of dealing with pressure from the West and appeasing the powerful military and the Burmese ethnic majority, who overwhelmingly support the military’s actions against the Rohingya.

As part of this balancing act, the party let the reporters spend 511 days in jail as a powerful deterrent against dissent, which was desired by the military. Then, the government commuted the sentence at the first opportunity it could in an attempt to please the West.

Does amnesty signal a real shift towards freedom of the press?

Probably not. Despite Tuesday’s pardon, many journalists are still imprisoned, including a prominent filmmaker and human rights activist who was imprisoned last month for allegedly defaming the army in a Facebook post.

Myanmar needs to undertake difficult reforms across many areas of its government if it is to truly improve freedom of the press.

First, legal reform is needed. Outdated laws like the Official Secrets Act and Unlawful Associations Act, which were originally legislated during the colonial era, remain on the books. A number of more recent laws are also used against journalists, particularly a section of the Telecommunications Law, which criminalises online defamation and impedes investigative reporting. These laws are broad and can be easily applied across poorly defined cases of defamation and sedition.

Efforts to repeal and reform these laws might be easier for the government if it were not for the influence of Myanmar’s military in political and legal processes.

Myanmar’s 2008 constitution guarantees the military a quarter of the seats in the upper and lower houses of Myanmar’s parliament. Amendments to the constitution require the approval of three-quarters of parliament, effectively giving the military veto power over constitutional reform.

In a recent effort, parliament voted to approve a committee to draft amendments to the constitution, but faced significant opposition from the military and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. Thousands of demonstrators rallied on the streets of Yangon in support of the committee shortly after it was approved. The draft amendments the committee delivers will still have to get past the 75% vote threshold in parliament.

The judicial branch of Myanmar’s government also contains holdovers from the previous administration of President Thein Sein, a former general. For instance, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, which denied the final legal appeals of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo just last month, is a former Army officer. Three other judges are also appointees of Thein Sein.

Through these influential levers, the military is in a position to block any meaningful reforms and continue to use the legal system to silence those who challenge its continued political control of Myanmar.

For so long, Myanmar was closed off to the rest of the world. Now it is emerging as an influential country in the Indo-Pacific region. The Rohingya crisis and its threat to regional stability has elevated the need for free press coverage of important developments in Myanmar.

The rest of the world should continue to pressure Myanmar to improve its press freedom. It is needed now more than ever.

Courtesy: The Conversation

The post Journalist pardons are welcome, but press freedom in Myanmar will require real reform appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Entire world praises Bangladesh for playing host to over a million persecuted Rohingyas from Myanmar. But with its own huge population base and limited resources, Bangladesh’s capacity to accommodate more has now been put into a test. 

With each passing days as more and more Rohingyas are being made to leave India and Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh is now having to accept more refugees than this country ever thought of hosting. 

Over the last few months, around 1,300 Rohingya refugees have crossed the Bangladesh-India border into the country and taken shelter in the camps in Cox’s Bazar. The Saudi government is also deporting Rohingyas holding Bangladeshi passports.

From India, the refugees are crossing the border with the aid of traffickers. Many say they had been living in Jammu-Kashmir, New Delhi, Assam, Hyderabad and many other areas for five or six years.

A group of Rohingyas, including 17 children and six women, were moored for five days in the no-man’s land outside Brahmanbaria for from Friday evening, attempting to enter Bangladesh. They were eventually returned on Tuesday and put in jail custody in India.
Similarly the Saudi Arabia has recently deported 13 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh, accusing them of holding Bangladeshi passports illegally. The Saudi government has also rounded up 150 refugees with the plan to deport them. Many of these refugees had been staying in the country for 6-7 years.

For decades, Rohingyas fleeing persecution have taken shelter in the neighbouring countries. It is estimated that there are at least 40,000 refugees in India. In the last few months, many of them have been deported to Myanmar, and many others detained.

Rohingyas living in the camps said many of their friends and family had made their way into UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Australia, Malaysia, Canada and other countries with Bangladeshi passports. They also say if they are deported, they want to come back to Bangladesh as Myanmar is not safe for them yet.

Ukhiya Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Nikaruzzaman Chowdhury said: “For now we have put the Rohingyas coming from India at the transit camp next to Ukhiya TV Centre. We are not placing them in any camps. Later we will bring them together from the various camps in Teknaf and Ukhiya and arrange for shelter.”

Cox’s Bazar Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Md Abul Kalam said: “Starting this month suddenly Rohingya refugees sheltered in India have begun coming into Bangladesh. Around 1,300 Rohingyas came from India this month.”

“They have been put in the Ukhiya transit point shelter under the supervision of UNHCR. They will remain there until the government issues further instructions,” he added.

‘Fleeing deportation in India’
Rohingya refugees sheltered at the Kutupalong Transit Camp in Cox’s Bazar said they were doing alright at the refugee camps in India. But they have escaped to Bangladesh since the Indian government began forcefully deporting the refugees to Myanmar. Every week a Rohingya family or two is crossing the border into Bangladesh. Most of them are getting back together with family members who are already in the refugee camps here. The refugees are coming into the country by engaging traffickers at the India-Bangladesh border.

Rabeya Khatun, 50, who came from India last week and was put in the Kutupalong Transit Camp, said: “We crossed the border in the dead of the night with the help of traffickers.

“The seven of us came through the Manipur border, paying Tk10,000 per person. My husband and children came through another route. Then we met up and came to this camp,” she said.

Rohingya youth Kabir Ahmed, 25, also at Kutupalong Transit Camp, said he had gone to India through Bangladesh over four years ago.

“We were doing fine until recently, living in Hyderabad. But suddenly the Indian government started enlisting us for repatriation to Myanmar,” he said. 

“Already some Rohingyas have been forcefully repatriated, despite the fact that the conditions in Myanmar are not viable for return. It will be dangerous for us to go back there,” Kabir added.

In recent weeks, more violence has flared up in Rakhine state, the home of the Rohingya people, as the militant organization Arakan Army, an armed group based in the ethnic majority Rakhine community, engaged in conflict with the country’s security forces, calling for more autonomy for the state’s Rakhine Buddhist population.

Mia Hossain, 60, said he and his family did not want to go to their homeland in Myanmar’s Rakhine until the situation there was calm and safe.

“Let us stay here in this Rohingya camp. Our relatives are all here. We can stay here. I urge the international community to prevent the Indian government from deporting Rohingyas to Myanmar,” he added.

Courtesy: Dhaka Tribune
 

The post Are all Rohingyas converging on Bangladesh? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Ali posing iwth his kids at his school at Batla House
 

“This is both our house and office since we have a very limited budget. This is possible through the contributions of the people who understand our plight,” says Sabir, who heads the organisation. “On one side of the house, I live with my wife and kids and on the other side, I run the office.”

RHRI documents the atrocities currently faced by the Rohingya Muslims from the Arakan region of Myanmar and disseminates the information around the world asking the global community for help and support.

Sabir hails from the town of Buthidaung, which means ‘the hill where gourd is grown.’ Talking about his experiences, Sabir says, “I left Burma in 2003. Before that let me tell you that the violence in Burma started way back in 1942. After that, we saw much genocide between 1942 and 2012. We have had genocides at least 21 times in the past 75 years.”

For the past few years, the RHRI has been trying to share some basic information regarding atrocities committed to Rohingya people with the world outside so that the international community could do something to help Burmese refugees with a political solution. But there hardly seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

On October 4, India deported seven Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. They had been living in Assam. Since 2012, this was the first time when an official decision was taken by the Indian government to deport the refugees back to their country.  Even the Supreme Court ruled against their stay saying they are living in India as illegal immigrants, thus giving a green light to their deportation. Even as this piece is being written, preparations are still afoot to deport 23 more Rohingyas from Assam back to Myanmar as being considered by the Home Ministry for two weeks. When TwoCircles.net spoke to RHRI convener Sabir about the latest developments he feared for their lives.

“Since 1942, our learned youths, scholars, politicians and businessmen have been targeted by the Burmese authorities. The army there could arrest or kill anyone on their whims. In 1978, over 3,00,000 refugees in Bangladesh were provided shelter by the United Nations Organization. We still have two camps from that settlement there accommodate roughly 20,000 refugees there.”

Sabir recounts the arduous journey from Burma to India as a refugee. “I had to pay a good sum of money to border patrol at Burmese-Bangladeshi border. But that wasn’t enough. Even the Bangladeshi soldiers asked us for money and we paid. Then we entered India through Kolkata after bribing BSF personnel.”

Sabir came to India with his sister who lives with him in the same house. “I went to Mumbai in search of jobs. I worked as a waiter in restaurants and help in hotels and guest houses and also a travel agent,” he smiles.

Sabir also worked as an interpreter for foreign tourists. “Initially I worked as a freelance interpreter for Burmese tourists. But soon I started working with UNHCR as an interpreter for Rohingya refugees when international media began covering us by the beginning of 2010.”

It was Sabir’s exposure as an interpreter that gave him enough confidence to start an initiative which would help Rohingya refugees. “I worked in the UNHCR before leaving to join the Rohingya Youth Union India as its director. My job was to reach out to people and administration to secure any kind of help possible for Rohingya. But the scope was limited there. I wanted to reach out to the world as I had always wanted. As a result, in 2017, the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative was established to achieve larger goals in the interest of Rohingya refugees.”
 

Sabir holding a calender showing famous Rakhine sites
 

“Our prime goal is to be able to tell the world of the atrocities committed by the Myanmar government in order to wipe our community off. For this, we have organised seminars and conferences to represent the voice of the Rohingya community. We have also tied up with other human rights organisations like Salaam from Hyderabad.”

“At RHRI, we have chalked out a roadmap to protect our culture and identities by letting the world know who we are. We have been living there for centuries. People do not even know that Arakan was a separate kingdom. We had our separate rule, flags, currency and emblem among other things distinguishing us from the rest of Burma. But gradually our culture was destroyed by Myanmar rulers by the mid-twentieth century. We have been suffering since that time. This is what we want the world to know through this platform.

“Through RHRI, we also confront the allegations of ‘terrorism’ and other misconceptions and disinformation propaganda against us by sharing with the world and the international media as much updates as possible to make them aware of the real situation at hand since media persons are not allowed to go there where people are still being mercilessly killed. So our goal here is to publish reports on all such developments and keep the international community informed. Apart from that, we aim to have ties with the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) and other legal bodies to ensure the safe release of the Rohingya youths under detention in India,” Sabir elaborates on the role of his organisation.

On the walls of his office, there is a poster of Aung San Suu Kyi quoting her with the words, “Please use your liberty to promote ours.” Below that there is another quote by Rohingyas asking Suu Kyi to do her bit with the following words, “Now use your liberty to promote ours.”
 “Earlier we supported Aug sang Suu Kyi in 2010 democratic elections hoping that she would finally speak on our behalf and take up our matter with the United Nations. But after she came to power she turns her back on us. We still hope that she raises our concerns on international platform someday but that hope is diminishing now.”

Every time Sabir mentions the loss of Rohingya legacy in Myanmar, he points towards an informative calendar hanging in the office which has pictures of places, people and a dying script of their language. He passionately points out at each picture and briefs about them.

“When people ask who the Rohingyas are, I feel like showing them these places,” he says while pointing at the picture of an ancient mosque. “Look how rich and vibrant our culture was which they are determined to leave no trace of. We have always had a great potential for tourism. Look at these places. Our elders had worked hard to contribute to the growth of Arakan region,” he points at a picture of Maungdaw Beach, Saing Din waterfall, an ancient tunnel and paddy fields situated in Arakan.

Sabir also hints at discriminatory behaviour he received from the local police while trying to run his organisation. “They would enter my house and abuse me. They would call me to the police station often and apart from asking the usual questions, they would take the usual jibe at me. But as our work and my recognition progressed, their treatment has been less harsh towards us,” he says.

His visiting book index has the name of several international journalists. Sabir is a known face among many national and international media organisations now. He along with his friend Ali has built the reputation of an organisation dedicated to the Rohingya cause and thus earned trust and support of eminent lawyers like Colin Gonsalvez and Prashant Bhushan. “Colin Sir has always been our pillar strength through our darkest times, besides aiding us on legal matters. If it hadn’t been for people like him, we would have given up already,” Sabir says with a smile.
Ali works with Sabir at the RHRI and looks after communication with the mainstream media on all issues regarding Rohingya crisis. His family hails from Maungdaw and Buthidaung.

“I was a high school student in Bangladesh when violence broke out in 2012 in Myanmar. I used to ride an e-rickshaw there. One day, some of the passengers started talking about the news of violence in Myanmar. Then the influx of refugees into Bangladesh increased so I came to Delhi to pursue higher studies and get away from the effects of violence,” Ali recollects.

Even when he came to Delhi, Ali ran a hostel near Zakir Nagar for poor Rohingya children. He also ran a makeshift school for them in the Shaheen Bagh area of Delhi but had to close the school due to a scarcity of funds.

“Those children need someone who promises them a future of their own. The crisis can be solved by providing education to the refugee kids here. My dream is to ensure scholarships for 250 Rohingya kids so that they can afford school at a primary level. We have been able to collect some funds for that by crowdsourcing, which helps us to get the kids’ school dresses and stationary but at the end of the day, those funds are not enough. If the international community genuinely wants to help us, they can do so by funding 250 kids for school. I don’t think it will cost them a lot,” says Ali.

Like Sabir, Ali is also optimistic about a political solution in the long run but feels that the international community is not doing enough to ensure a safe and dignified return of Rohingyas to Myanmar.

“The solution has to be a political one. We have been demanding foreign countries to cut their trade ties with my country’s government so that at least the latter feels some international pressure and stop the genocide of Rohingyas.”
 

Poster of Aang San Suu Kyi
 

Despite the disappointments, both Sabir and Ali maintain that they keep finding rays of hope, for instance, the announcements by a few countries to cut off their ties with the Myanmar military as bold steps to force Myanmar to respectfully take back Rohingyas in the country. In September 2017, the UK suspended aid for Myanmar military and Maldives severed its ties with Myanmar. In October of the same year, EU announced severing its ties with Myanmar. In June 2018, Amnesty International urged the Australian government to cut off all trade relations with Myanmar military and to take steps towards trying 13 military generals of Myanmar at International Criminal Court for the alleged genocide of Rohingya people.

“Sometimes, little developments in the direction of our goals matter the most to us. I see these developments in this way,” Sabir concludes with a hopeful grin on his face.

Courtesy: Two Circles

The post Rohingya Human Rights Initiative: A silver lining in the cloud of the Rohingya crisis appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Thousands of Rohingya are looking for the possibility to enter Bangladesh and escape from the atrocities carried out on them by the Myanmar military. 

Rohingya leaders of several camps in Cox’s Bazar say many Rohingyas have already entered Bangladesh by the Naf River. They say more than 500,000 Rohingya refugees are still waiting to flee Rakhine to avoid torture. 

They also claim that around 300 refugees have taken shelter in the border areas’ jungles.

The refugees, who recently entered Bangladesh, claim that the Myanmar army is still torturing Rohingyas in Rakhine Province. 

Some of the refugees claim that  those remaining in Rakhine have been made slaves—and are trying to flee to Bangladesh to avoid torture.

Teknaf Leda Rohingya camp Chairman Abdul Matlab said: “Rohingyas currently in Rakhine have actually been detained. The soldiers are not even allowing them to go to nearby market places. 

“As a result, they are facing food shortages. The Rohingyas are forced into living in a terrible situation, which is compelling them to flee to Bangladesh.”

Quoting the new refugees, Matlab further said: “The soldiers are torturing them in tactical ways, so there are no large signs of anarchy on the surface. If this goes on for long, every Rohingya will flee Rakhine and come to Bangladesh.”

According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 13,764 Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh this year. 

Of them, 531 entered by the Naf River in September. The number was 256 in August and 413 in July. From May 20 to July 22, some 3,000 Rohingya entered Bangladesh.

International Organization for Migration (IOM) sources said most of these refugees entered the country via Teknaf’s Sabrang and its surrounding areas.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and law enforcement have adopted a zero-tolerance policy to prevent the influx. 

•    300 refugees have taken shelter in the jungles along the border areas
•    Rohingyas are inviting their relatives to join them in Bangladesh 
•    Around 13,764 Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh this year
•    Over 700,000 Rohingyas have crossed into Bangladesh since August 2017

Earlier on August 13, BGB sent back a boat carrying 12 Rohingyas. BGB sources said they also sent back a boat carrying seven Rohingyas on September 21.  

However, locals claimed that 12 Rohingyas entered the country. They arrived in two boats.

BGB Teknaf 2 Deputy Commander Major Shariful Islam Jummadar said: “Rohingyas are still trying to enter the country. BGB patrols have been strengthened at the borders to prevent their entry.”

Khadijatul Kobra, 26, who fled to Bangladesh last week from Buthidaung, said: “Myanmar soldiers beat up the Rohingya women and treat their husbands as slaves. 

“During the day, the men are used as housemaids and at night, they are used as guards for the army men. I could not bear the torture and ran away with my family.”

Abul Hayer, who sold his daughter’s gold earrings for Tk5,000 to come to Bangladesh, said: “I fled my house. I met two other families when I reached the border. Twelve of us entered [Bangladesh] together at the Unchiprang border.”

He further said: “There were 800 houses in my village but now there are only 500 houses.”

However, Teknaf Municipality acting chairman Abdullah Monir said: “The influx has increased as the Rohingyas are contacting their relatives in Myanmar, informing them about their wellbeing here, and asking them to come to Bangladesh.”

Echoing this, Teknaf upazila UNO Md Rabiul Hasan said: “No new Rohingya will be allowed to enter Bangladesh. There is strict surveillance on the border. If someone tries to intrude, he will be sent back.”

Since August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingyas, many of whom are children, have crossed into Bangladesh and taken shelter in the makeshift refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

First published on Dhaka Tribune
 

The post 500,000 Rohingyas waiting to enter Bangladesh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post Murder spree in Rohingya camps continues unchallenged appeared first on SabrangIndia.