Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing - Updates & Discussions

[Banglar Bir]

12:45 PM, October 21, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:51 PM, October 21, 2017
Rohingya crisis: ‘Foreign interference doesn’t work’

Experience shows that foreign interference in crises does not work and China supports the Myanmar government's efforts to protect stability, a senior Chinese official said on Saturday, amid ongoing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Rohingya refugees line up at a registration center in Kutupalong refugees camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, October 20, 2017. Photo: Reuters
Reuters, Beijing
Experience shows that foreign interference in crises does not work and China supports the Myanmar government's efforts to protect stability, a senior Chinese official said on Saturday, amid ongoing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

More than 500,000 Muslim Rohingya have fled across the border to Bangladesh following a counter-insurgency offensive by Myanmar's army in the wake of militant attacks on security forces.
READ more: Kids in dire need of food, healthcare
UN officials have described Myanmar's strategy as "ethnic cleansing". US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday the United States held Myanmar's military leadership responsible for its harsh crackdown.

Guo Yezhou, a deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party's international department, told reporters on the sidelines of a party congress that China condemned the attacks in Rakhine and understands and supports Myanmar's efforts to protect peace and stability there.

China and Myanmar have a deep, long-standing friendship, and China believes Myanmar can handle its problems on its own, he added.
Also READ: Rape being used as a weapon of war
Asked why China's approach to the Rohingya crisis was different from Western nations, Guo said that China's principle was not to interfere in the internal affairs of another country.

"Based on experience, you can see recently the consequences when one country interferes in another. We won't do it," he said, without offering any examples of when interventions go wrong.

China does not want instability in Myanmar as it inevitably will be affected as they share a long land border, Guo said.

"We condemn violent and terrorist acts," he added.

Guo's department has been at the forefront of building relations with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who visited China in 2015 at the Communist Party's invitation, rather than the Chinese government's.

Department head Song Tao also visited Myanmar in August and met Suu Kyi.

Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar in large numbers since late August when Rohingya insurgent attacks sparked a ferocious military response, with the fleeing people accusing security forces of arson, killings and rape.

The European Union and the United States have been considering targeted sanctions against Myanmar's military leadership.

Punitive measures aimed specifically at top generals are among a range of options that have been discussed, but they are wary of action that could hurt the wider economy or destabilize already tense ties between Suu Kyi and the army.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...rence-doesnt-work-says-china-official-1479703

 

[Banglar Bir]

Inheriting the Rohingya crisis
Afrose Jahan Chaity
Published at 10:17 AM October 22, 2017
Last updated at 11:42 AM October 22, 2017

Rohingya children struggling to collect food at a camp in Cox's Bazar
Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
The children are at risk of trafficking and abuse, Helle Thorning-Schmidt says stating that the Rohingya crisis resulted in an emergency situation for the children
Save the Children International Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Helle Thorning-Schmidt has said the Rohingya crisis led to an emergency situation for the children who have entered Bangladesh fleeing the violence in Myanmar.

She made the statement while briefing the media on Saturday about her visit to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.

She said: “There are a lot of child protection concerns in the camps. Desperate, hungry children are running around alone and anything could happen to them in this chaotic situation.”

Save the Children CEO also said the overcrowding, lack of schooling and widespread desperation among the Rohingya living in the makeshift settlements are putting the children at an alarming risk of exploitation and abuse.

“It’s a child protection disaster waiting to happen. This kind of situations leaves children at the risk trafficking, sexual abuse and child labour,” she said mentioning the Rohingya issues as a man-made crisis.

Emphasising on the access to education for refugee children, Thorning-Schmidt said: “One of the best ways we can protect children in this situation is to get them into classrooms. A safe space where they can learn and benefit from things like psychosocial support and hygiene promotion.

“In a crisis like this, education is incredibly important for children.”
Also Read- Amid the exodus, lone Rohingya children face dangers in camps
According to a report of International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) Needs and Population Monitoring (NPM), non-formal education facility can be accessed within a distance of 30 minutes from 56% sites of the makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar while maktab or madrasa education can be accessed from 61% of the sites within the same time.

However, the report said 53% of sites have barriers for adolescent boys to access education and 66% for adolescent girls.

Thorning-Schmidt also expressed grave concern about the number of separated and unaccompanied Rohingya children in Bangladesh.

Mark Pierce, Country Director of Save the Children in Bangladesh, said by next year the international organisation will provide support of $90m to address Rohingya crisis, especially to protect and improve the lives of Rohingya children.

He also emphasised on the need of more support to fight health risk like pneumonia during the winter.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 588,800 Rohingya have entered Bangladesh since the violence erupted in Myanmar on August 25.

Of them at least 300,000 are children which comprises of 60% of the refugees. The United Nations children’s agency, Unicef, has so far identified 1,312 unaccompanied or separated Rohingya children among the latest arrivals in Bangladesh.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/10/22/save-children-rohingya-crisis-children-emergency/

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, October 22, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:47 AM, October 22, 2017
Rohingya kids exposed to abuse, trafficking risk
Warns Save the Children

Save the Children CEO Helle Thorning-Schmidt during a press conference at a hotel in Dhaka on Saturday, October 21, 2017. Photo: Collected
Staff Correspondent
Rohingya children are exposed to alarming risks of trafficking, sexual abuse and child labour due to lack of schooling and widespread desperation of people in the overcrowded makeshift settlements in Cox's Bazar, international aid group Save the Children has warned.

“There are huge child protection concerns in the camps. A lot of desperate, hungry children are running around alone in crowded, chaotic settings where anything could happen,” said Save the Children International CEO Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

“It's a child protection disaster waiting to happen. This kind of situation leaves children, who've already seen and experienced things that no child should ever see, at a hugely increased risk of exploitation like trafficking, sexual abuse and child labour," she said at a press conference in a city hotel yesterday.

Helle, also former prime minister of Denmark, who came to Bangladesh on October 19 on a three-day visit, observed the situation of the displaced Rohingyas living in Cox's Bazar makeshift camps the next day.

She met the press yesterday to share her experience from this visit, Rohingya response plan, and how Save the Children was working here to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn, and protection from any harm.


The visit of Schmidt, who oversees humanitarian and development programmes reaching 55 million children in around 120 countries, reinforced mobilisation of the urgently needed resources to provide life-saving humanitarian support to the displaced people, especially the protection of children in Cox's Bazar and host communities, the aid organisation said in a statement.

More than 450,000 school-age Rohingya children are currently out of school in Bangladesh, including 270,000 who have arrived here since August, according to Save the Children.

“One of the best ways we can protect children in this situation is to get them into classrooms; a safe space where they can learn, and can also benefit from things like psychosocial support and hygiene promotion. In a crisis like this, education is incredibly important for children.”

Thorning-Schmidt expressed grave concern over the number of separated and unaccompanied children.

Mark Pierce, country director of Save the Children, Bangladesh, said more support would be needed for children in winter due to high risk of pneumonia.

By next year, Save the Children will provide support of $90 million to address many issues involving Rohingya refugees, especially aiming to protect and improve the children's lives, he added.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/rohingya-kids-prone-abuse-trafficking-risk-1479943

 

[Banglar Bir]

Waves of Myanmar Genocidal Killings and Exodus Since 1978

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, October 22, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:35 PM, October 22, 2017
Rohingya crisis a great test for UN
UN resident coordinator tells

Robert D Watkins
Porimol Palma
The ever-growing Rohingya influx is a crisis not only for Bangladesh but also for the region as well as the entire world, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Robert D Watkins has said.
Referring to the scale of the crisis, he said even the UN was facing a great test in helping Bangladesh to tackle the emergency.

“So far we are meeting the challenges, but we have no complete control of the situation for many reasons -- the sheer number, the speed with which they continue to cross the border and the challenges of trying to assist them in this very narrow piece of land, which is hilly,” he told The Daily Star in an interview last week.

He lamented the lack of consensus at the UN Security Council to find a solution, and emphasised that those responsible for the crimes against the Rohingya population must be held accountable.

“The Security Council has met more last month to talk about Myanmar than in the last 10 years. It is quite remarkable. In spite of that, we are still having problem to get consensus from the Security Council on steps that need to be taken to try to solve this problem,” said the UN head in Bangladesh.
A Security Council meeting in late September failed to make any decision on Myanmar because of opposition from China and Russia.

However, despite the lack of consensus at political level, there is absolute consensus that the UN has to intervene at humanitarian level. “We are doing everything within our power to ensure that needs of these people are met,” he said.

But the lingering of the refugee crisis will adversely affect Bangladesh's economy, which is a big concern, he added.

"It will definitely have an impact. There is no question about that. And that's why we not only have to find a solution to the problem quickly, but also to minimise the impact on the economy."

The solution lies in the repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar given that peace and security is ensured there, said Watkins, adding that he did not think any solution would come in the next few months.

His comments come when some 589,000 Rohingya people -- about 60 percent of them children -- have crossed into Bangladesh since August 25 to join nearly 400,000 of their fellow countrymen who fled violence in Myanmar in phases over the years.

The UN and other aid groups are struggling to mobilise fund for the emergency reliefs.

Early this month, UN agencies appealed for $434 million for emergency assistance for six months, but received commitment of only $105 million or 24 percent so far.

The $434, for which the UN is going to have a pledging conference in Geneva tomorrow, is for food, shelter, water, sanitation and medicine, and will not cover the cost of Bangladesh government that is "pretty large", said Watkins.

Therefore, it is important to seek funds from financial institutions like the World Bank, IMF, ADB, and possibly OIC, he added. "We know that we won't have the resources and Bangladesh won't have resources so we are going to find extra resources from both sides."

Bangladesh is playing host to such a huge number of refugees when it is facing its own development challenges. Despite various measures, the yearly poverty reduction rate has dropped from 1.7 percent between 2005 and 2010 to 1.2 percent between 2010 and 2016.

According the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics latest report, 24 percent people in Bangladesh are still poor (those unable to ensure daily food intake of 1,800-2,100 kilocalorie), and 13 percent of them are ultra poor (those unable to ensure daily food intake of 1,800 kilocalorie).

Slower growth in agriculture, drop in remittance inflow, lack of job opportunities, wealth inequality and challenges of reaching the hard-to-reach poor people were blamed for the slowing trend that goes against the UN's Sustainable Development Goals for 2015-2030 that speak of inclusive development.

Watkins said implementing the SDGs, which already faces financial challenges, would suffer further blows despite the fact that Bangladesh integrated the SDGs in its policies quite well.

“We hope the pledging conference in Geneva on October 23 will be an opportunity for other member countries of the UN to express solidarity with Bangladesh and the refugees and come up with financial contributions.”

Asked about media reports that the UN office in Myanmar shelved its own report that was critical of the UN's approach there, he said the UN leadership in Myanmar was criticised for not advocating human rights issues more openly.

But in a country like Myanmar it is not always the best policy to criticise the government publicly, he observed.

“Sometimes you have to speak quietly to the right people to raise these issues,” he said, adding that his UN colleagues in Myanmar followed that policy of dialogue with the government.

In spite of that, the UN was unable to prevent the violence. This, however, does not underline that the UN has not done enough, but the fact that Myanmar government or military already had decided to do what it did in response to the August 25 attack by Rohingya insurgents, he noted.

Asked if the UN needs reforms to make it more effective, Watkins said the discussions were very much there -- about expanding the number of permanent members and having representatives from developing countries.

He said the other aspect of discussion is if there can be some mechanism where decisions can be moved up to the UN general assembly from the Security Council in case of a deadlock like in the case of Myanmar.

The UN secretary-general is now focusing on administrative reforms whereby different UN agencies can work in a more coordinated way. Antonio Guterres will unveil some reforms in December.

“He has come up with some radical ideas of change. By next year, those will be enforced,” Watkins added.
GOVERNANCE IS BIG CHALLENGE
Asked about the development challenges in Bangladesh's domestic front, the UN official, who has been posted in Dhaka for three years, said there were systematic corruption at all levels -- both low and high.

Comparing corruption in Bangladesh with traffic chaos in the capital, he said, "People just don't care about other people. They are just concentrating on themselves."

As there is a sense of impunity that there will be no consequences for corruption, corruption is going to continue. "It is really a lot more about changing attitude, the mindset.

"People have to take example that nobody is above law. Ministers, for instance, are to be held accountable for their actions. If there are cases of corruption, there has to be consequences.

"If people see that is happening, rules are happening for everyone, not just for the rickshaw pullers, but for the ministers or any others, then they will start abiding the rules. That's how you start changing the mindset of people… People at the top have to set the example.

"People now say why should I do it? This rich man gets away with it, the minister gets away with it, why should I follow the rules? And, that's where it starts -- people at the top have to set the example."
PARTICIPATION OF ALL
PARTIES IN POLLS IS KEY
But the real challenge that Bangladesh faces today in democracy is the issue of full participation of all the political parties in elections.

He said the problem in last election was that the main opposition party chose not to participate, and thus the democracy in Bangladesh is not fully reflective of all of the political parties in the country.

"That's why we have been working tirelessly with political parties and urging them to participate in next national elections. We will be working with the Election Commission to ensure that the elections take place in the most professional environment."

This way, parliament will reflect the whole spectrum of political opinions. "That's what we want more than anything else," said the top UN official.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/rohingya-crisis-great-test-un-1479961

 

[Banglar Bir]

02:45 PM, October 22, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:18 PM, October 22, 2017
Rohingya crisis: EU co-hosts ‘pledging conference’ in Geneva tomorrow

The European Union will co-host a "Pledging Conference" on the Rohingya refugee crisis, with Kuwait, in Geneva tomorrow. In the Reuters photo taken yesterday, October 21, 2017, Rohingya refugees line up to get food from Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) near Balukhali refugees camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
Star Online Report
The European Union will co-host a "Pledging Conference" on the Rohingya refugee crisis, with Kuwait, in Geneva tomorrow.
The conference will be held in partnership with the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The conference will be an important moment for the international community to respond to and address this major refugee crisis, according to EU Dhaka office.
READ more: Suu Kyi should resign, says Yunus
"As co-host of this high-level event, the EU is actively encouraging all donors to contribute to a successful conference. It is an important moment to demonstrate solidarity, common approaches and a strong humanitarian face of the international community to meet the needs of the many people that have fled their homes," said Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides.

The European Union continues, as a matter of priority, to address the situation in Myanmar directly with the Myanmar authorities.

The EU has reiterated the need for an end to violence, including for the Myanmar authorities to cease military operations; on full humanitarian access to all humanitarian aid workers, including for the UN and international NGOs; and for the government to establish a credible and practical process for the voluntary return of all those who fled their homes to their places of origin.

Some 589,000 Rohingya people -- about 60 percent of them children -- have crossed into Bangladesh since August 25 to join nearly 400,000 of their fellow countrymen who fled violence in Myanmar in phases over the years.

Thousands more reportedly remain stranded and in peril in Myanmar without the means to cross the border into Bangladesh. Refugees arriving in Bangladesh are traumatised, and some have arrived with injuries caused by gunshots, shrapnel, fire and landmines.

The UN and other aid groups are struggling to mobilise fund for the emergency reliefs.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...m_medium=newsurl&utm_term=all&utm_content=all

 

[Banglar Bir]

1:27 PM, October 22, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:03 PM, October 22, 2017
Aung San Suu Kyi should resign: Muhammad Yunus
Star Online Report

If the Myanmar military is rendering the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi powerless, then she should step down, Nobel Peace laureate and economist Muhammad Yunus said in an interview with Al jazeera recently.

“I’ll put 100% of the blame on her because she is the leader…” Muhammad Yunus told Aljazeera while reacting to a query about allegation that Suu Kyi is powerless and her country's military is in charge behind the ongoing persecution on Rohingyas in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.
READ more: Rohingya crisis a great test for UN
Yunus said Suu kyi is verbally defending the atrocity and violence taking place against the Rohingya population of her country.

“She takes all the blame herself, so there is no way you can part it with the military or anybody else.” He said adding that Suu Kyi has to fix the Rohingya crisis by herself.

“If she cannot say what she should say then she is no leader… leader is supposed to stand by their own people,” Yunus said at the interview.
Also READ: In the shadow of violence
Pointing Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate said, “You have to stand up, you have to protect your image that you built over years as a defender of human rights, defender of democracy… what happened to all those values you have promoted?”

Asked whether Suu Kyi deserves the Nobel Prize, Yunus said that he is sure that the committee would never give her the prize if she had all these stories in front of it.

Some 589,000 Rohingya people -- about 60 percent of them children -- have crossed into Bangladesh since August 25 to join nearly 400,000 of their fellow countrymen who fled violence in Myanmar in phases over the years.

The UN and other aid groups are struggling to mobilise fund for the emergency reliefs.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...ry-muhammad-yunus-nobel-prize-refugee-1480141

 

[Banglar Bir]

Outcast: Adrift with Burma's Rohingya - REWIND

 

[maravan91]

Rohingya crisis: China says foreign interference doesn’t work

https://www.dawn.com/news/1365464/rohingya-crisis-china-says-foreign-interference-doesnt-work

 

[UKBengali]

China can say whatever it wants but Myanmar will be dealt with to permanently stop it's savage nature.

 

[livingdead]

China can say whatever it wants but Myanmar will be dealt with to permanently stop it's savage nature.

by the time bd implements secret mission 2030(?)... rohiyngyas will be dead... @BDforever @Banglar Bir

 

[Banglar Bir]

06:10 PM, October 22, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 06:34 PM, October 22, 2017
India wants safe return of displaced Rohingyas

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, on October 22, 2017 says her country wants safe return of Rohingya people. Star file photo
Star Online Report
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today said her country wants safe return of Rohingyas, who fled to Bangladesh following persecution in Rakhine of Myanmar.
She came up with the India’s stance while addressing a joint press conference at Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon in Dhaka this evening after a meeting with her Bangladeshi counterpart AH Mahmood Ali.

She also said her court also supports the recommendations of Rakhine Advisory Commission, headed by former UNSG Kofi Annan.

The commission formed by the Myanmar government has suggested several measures for a “peaceful, fair and prosperous future for the people of Rakhine.

More to follow…
http://www.thedailystar.net/country...-rohingyas-bangladesh-rakhine-myanmar-1480186

 

[UKBengali]

by the time bd implements secret mission 2030(?)... rohiyngyas will be dead... @BDforever @Banglar Bir

BD is hosting nearly 1 million Rohingyas and thousands more are coming in every week.

There homeland is Arakan and they will return to it since they have more right to it than the Barmans who arrived later. If anyone should leave the land, it is Barman.

2030? BD will be ready way, way before then to cut Myanmar down to size.

Try to understand what I am infering first before posting.

 

[livingdead]

BD is hosting nearly 1 million Rohingyas and thousands more are coming in every week.

There homeland is Arakan and they will return to it since they have more right to it than the Barmans who arrived later. If anyone should leave the land, it is Barman.

2030? BD will be ready way, way before then to cut Myanmar down to size.

Try to understand what I am infering first before posting.

you can be direct .. are you inferring that bd will arm rohingyas?... but without directly military action from bd, they will be cannon fodder for myanmar military... of course myanmar will suffer casualties.
the question is, is bd even contemplating of doing a 71? we all can argue about 3.576 times military superiority over myanmar, without direct war, its of no use.

 

[UKBengali]

you can be direct .. are you inferring that bd will arm rohingyas?... but without directly military action from bd, they will be cannon fodder for myanmar military... of course myanmar will suffer casualties.
the question is, is bd even contemplating of doing a 71? we all can argue about 3.576 times military superiority over myanmar, without direct war, its of no use.

Really?
Myanmar cannot beat the many other ethnic groups that are fighting it.
Arakan is mainly jungles and mountains and ideal guerilla country.
Well trained and well armed Rohingyas will turn Arakan into hell for Myanmar, both economically and militarily.
Rohingya activities in Arakan will bleed Myanmar dry. It is relying on Arakan to boost it's tiny 70 US billion dollar economy.
If anyone thinks that BD will allow Myanmar to get away with this, they need to think again.