Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing - Updates & Discussions

[Banglar Bir]

UN steps up pressure on Myanmar
Larry Jagan, November 9, 2017

UN Headquarters
The United Nations is stepping up pressure on Myanmar to rapidly resolve the violence in its strife-torn western province of Rakhine.
In a Presidential Statement, released after the UN Security Council discussed the situation in Myanmar at length, the UN condemned the communal violence, demanded that Myanmar end the excessive of military force, and urged the authorities to allow the thousands of refugees who have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh to return as quickly as possible.

Adopted unanimously by the 15-member UN body, the statement avoided the threat sanctions if the situation did not improve, it left Myanmar in no doubt that more is to come if serious measures are not taken soon to resolve the inter-communal violence, reign in the military, respect human rights “without discrimination and regardless of ethnicity or religion, including by allowing freedom of movement, equal access to basic services and equal access to full citizenship for all individuals.”
Also Read: Myanmar warns U.N. pressure could harm talks with Bangladesh
Although the UN Security Council stopped short of adopting a strongly worded resolution sponsored by Britain and France and strongly supported by the Muslim countries of the OIC, in deference to Beijing and Moscow’s threat to veto it, the UN is definitely turning up the heat on Myanmar.

In their statement they suggested that the UN Secretary General consider appointing a Special Adviser on Myanmar – something which the UN had previously, but ended last year at the Myanmar government’s request. The UN Security Council gave formal notice that it would be on the agenda in a month’s time, at which the UN chief Antonio Guterresis to report back on developments.

Myanmar protested that the statement did not sufficiently acknowledge the complexity of the problems in Myanmar and was tantamount to interference. It was based on accusations and false claims of evidence, complained Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN, Hau Do Suan. “It exerts undue political pressure on Myanmar,” he said. “And it fails to give sufficient recognition to the government of Myanmar for its efforts to address the challenges in Rakhine State.”

Nonetheless, the statement still represents the strongest council pronouncement on Myanmar in nearly ten years, and reflects widespread international concern at the plight of the Muslim Rohingya, who face official and social discrimination in this Buddhist-majority country. The sponsors of the resolution see this a first step, and believe the ball is now firmly in Naypyidaw’s court.
Also Read: Tillerson’s Myanmar visit shows Trump’s renewed interest in South-East Asia
The UN also condemned the attacks by the insurgent Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA) some nine weeks ago, which sparked the latest violence in Rakhine, which led to the exodus of nearly 700,000 Muslims across the border, alleging the systematic killing, sexual violence and the deliberate destruction of homes by the Myanmar military. For its part, the army denies these allegations and blames the Muslim militants for the carnage.

However, the UN – after a series of investigations since the first ARSA attacks last October – accused Myanmar’s military of ethnic cleansing.

The Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. They are not recognized by Myanmar’s government as an ethnic group, which insists they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. They have been denied citizenship since 1982, which has effectively rendered them stateless.

The statement also stressed the importance of transparent investigations into allegations of human rights abuses and “in this regard, the Security Council calls upon the Government of Myanmar to cooperate with all relevant United Nations bodies, mechanisms and instruments.” Myanmar has refused to allow a UN fact-finding mission, set up the UN human rights council in March to investigate all allegations of abuses after a smaller military counteroffensive launched in October 2016, and is likely to also investigate the current outbreak of violence.
Also Read: US lawmakers seek to slap new sanctions on Myanmar military
Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has pledged accountability for rights abuses and insists all refugees who can prove they were residents of Myanmar will be accepted back. The military have also set up their own inquiry into the army’s conduct in Rakhine since the latest violence erupted in late August which far from convincing, and failed to bring any soldiers to book for the allegations of human rights abuses at the time.

Aung San Suu Kyi has insisted that Myanmar did not need further UN enquiries as they were investigating these allegations of abuse internally. More importantly she pointed to the Kofi Annan advisory commission on Rakhine State – appointed more than a year ago – to suggest solutions to the problems of Rakhine. They submitted their recommendations in August, a day before the ARSA launched their attacks on more than twenty border guard posts, leaving more than a hundred dead.

Since then the recommendations have become the blueprint for reconciliation in Rakhine. Foreign leaders in the region and international diplomats often cite the Commission’s report and recommendations as providing an important way forward. It led to the establishment of the Union enterprise for humanitarian assistance, resettlement and development in Rakhine, with Aung San Suu Kyi’ at the helm to oversee their implementation.

The UN referred to both matters in the presidential statement. But they warned that all UN agencies that are providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees, and those involved in their repatriation and resettlement should be given full access.

It “urged the Governments and all humanitarian partners to pay special attention to the needs of women, particularly survivors of sexual violence.” Similarly, while welcoming Myanmar’s public commitment to implement the recommendations of the Advisory Commission, it urged “all parts of the Government of Myanmar to work together to implement these recommendations swiftly and in full.”
Also Read: Myanmar’s Suu Kyi ‘urges people not to quarrel’ on visit to Rakhine
So, the UN has certainly stepped up its involvement in seeing Myanmar resolve the problems in Rakhine state. While UN sanctions are not on the table, it does not preclude individual countries from taking further action. Several Western countries have adopted travel bans on Myanmar’s military leaders, with further measures being considered.

Myanmar’s problems will also feature prominently on other international arenas in the coming days. Once again ASEAN – with its annual meeting about to start in Manila — will also focus on the violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and the mass exodus of Muslim refugees. The plight of the Rohingya refugees is also expected to top the discussions when the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits Myanmar later this month.
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https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/11/09/un-steps-pressure-myanmar/

 

[Banglar Bir]

Rohingya row to Bangladesh as Myanmar’s Suu Kyi runs summit gauntlet
Reuters | Published: 16:18, Nov 09,2017

Rohingya refugees sit on a makeshift boat as they wait permission from Border Guard Bangladesh to continue after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, at Shah Porir Dwip near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, November 9, 2017. — Reuters photo
Blessed by calmer seas, several hundred more Rohingya Muslims on Thursday joined a multitude of refugees in Bangladesh, as calls grew for upcoming regional summits to exert more pressure on Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi to stem the crisis.
A Myanmar military operation has driven out more than 600,000 Rohingya since late August and the latest refugees to find sanctuary in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh say many thousands more are still trying to leave.

Ariful Islam, of Bangladesh’s Border Guard, said about 200 people arrived on Thursday morning on the stretch of coast he commands at Teknaf, on the southern tip of Cox’s Bazar district.

Abdus Sabir was among a group that came ashore at Shamlapur after a six-hour boat journey, the final leg of an escape begun weeks ago.

‘We fled because the military is still burning our houses,’ Abdus, who had abandoned his home in the Rathedaung region of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, told Reuters.

Nearby, Husain Shorif, from the Buthidaung region, said he had rowed for four hours to help bring across 56 people on a raft cobbled together from bamboo and plastic jerrycans.

‘Some boatmen were asking for huge money we didn’t have. So we made our own boat and came,’ Shorif said, adding that thousands more Rohingya were still stranded at Pa Nyaung Pin Gyi at the mouth of the Naf river.

Reuters were unable to verify that claim as Myanmar’s military has restricted access to northern parts of Rakhine, where it launched a clearance operation it says was aimed at Rohingya militants behind attacks on 30 security posts on Aug. 25, but which UN officials described as ‘ethnic cleansing’.

The storm of opprobrium over the humanitarian crisis will expose Myanmar to more diplomatic pressure, at least from leaders of Muslim-majority countries and the United States, during three summits hosted by Vietnam and the Philippines.

Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar’s less than two-year-old civilian administration, left on Thursday to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the Vietnam’s central seaside resort of Danang.

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for standing up to the generals who had ruled the country for nearly half a century, Suu Kyi now effectively shares power with them, under a constitution drawn up in 2008 when junta was still in control, and has little control over what they do.

After Friday’s APEC summit, Suu Kyi will attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations grouping in Manila on Sunday, followed by an East Asia Summit in Angeles, just north of the Philippine capital.

Setting up a regional trade block, and concerns over North Korea’s ambitions to become a nuclear-armed state are summit priorities, but New York-based Human Rights Watch beseeched them to ensure stronger action by Myanmar to end the crisis.

US secretary of state Rex Tillerson will meet Suu Kyi on November 15 for talks on the Rohingya crisis, and they are expected to hold a joint news conference.

‘World leaders shouldn’t return home from these summits without agreeing to targeted sanctions to pressure Burma to end its abuses and allow in independent observers and aid groups,’ Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that referred to Myanmar by its old name.

Adams said the leaders should discuss how to investigate alleged rights abuses and atrocities in Rakhine, and refer them to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

The rights group also urged the Security Council to impose an arms embargo, economic sanctions and travel bans targeting Myanmar military officials.

US senators seek to adopt measures for the United States to impose such sanctions.

The Security Council this week opted for a strongly worded statement scolding Myanmar, as diplomats said China and Russia would have vetoed any resolution.

China has publicly supported the Myanmar government’s efforts to ‘maintain stability’ in Rakhine. The stance taken by China and other Southeast Asian governments fighting insurgencies by Muslim militants should spare Myanmar from any harsh spotlight in the summits’ final communiques.

‘On the Rohingya, the leaders will agree that there is no quick fix to the long-standing inter-communal problem with deep historical roots that needs to be carefully managed,’ an ASEAN diplomat told Reuters, adding that the group aimed to deliver $500,000 of relief supplies to Myanmar.
http://www.newagebd.net/article/280...desh-as-myanmars-suu-kyi-runs-summit-gauntlet

 

[Banglar Bir]

Myanmar ignores UNSC presidential statement

(Photo: AFP)
Min Khant
RB Opinion
November 9, 2017
On 7 November 2017, Ministry of the Office of the State Counsellor issued a press statement, stating: “The issuance of the Presidential Statement of UNSC, on 5.11.2017, ignores the fact that the issues facing Myanmar and Bangladesh today can only be resolved bilaterally, in an amicable manner, between two neighboring states.
Furthermore, the Presidential Statement could potentially and seriously harm the bilaterally negotiations between the two countries which have been proceeding smoothly and expeditiously”.

The truth is that Prime Minister of Bangladesh has declared the world: “The ROHINGYAS refugee problems lie with in Myanmar government alone and Bangladesh has nothing to do or involve in the matter, but Bangladesh prime minister insists the time and again Rohingyas refugees’ influx into the territory of Bangladesh because of the inhumane oppressions and atrocities of Myanmar regime be stopped for the sake of both countries, Myanmar and Bangladesh in the long run”.

While the state of Bangladesh wants to avoid the unnecessary arguments with Myanmar frequently for the sake of her country and to protect the mass exodus of Rohingyas refugees from Myanmar, It has, of course, proposed some essential & possible recommendations to the government of Myanmar to grant THEM such as: citizenship, safety, peace, dignity, and guaranteed security and stability through safeguarding them by the government of Myanmar not to be repeating mass flow of people into her land, Bangladesh.

Bangladesh being a tiny and populous country, it has to ask the world communities to help provide the necessary assistances to the refugees who have been reaching to her country and it has been undeniable.

Bangladesh has been sheltering and feeding to the Rohingyas refugees of Myanmar with the cooperation of world communities and in that case, the world involvements, proposals, and commitments to solve the Rohingyas issue become the world communities’ concerns now.

Bangladesh, realizing the past Myanmar governments’ insincerity, irresponsibility, and carelessness to fulfill the agreements, which were stricken previously between them due to Rohingyas refugees repatriation and resettlement, right now, Bangladesh seems it has decided to bring the Rohingyas issues to the world powerful table to be decided and be witness by the world governing body, UNSC for durable solution.

What are the world communities’ false and that of the Bangladesh in this concerning issue?
Why does Myanmar show its fury in this regard?

Myanmar government’s irritated announcement against the UNSC presidential statement has shown its innate nature and double-cross not to abide the direction of the UNSC meeting result. Myanmar regime’s intention to reach an agreement between the two countries during Bangladesh foreign Minister’s visit to Myanmar (from 16 to 18 November 2017) may be a cheating time-pass game that will possibly frustrate world communities, Bangladesh and entire Rohingyas rather than coming out a fruitful agreement for the final settlement as per saying of Myanmar.

Seemingly, Myanmar has tripartite powerful executive bodies - the democratically elected government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is responsible to claim world assistance to rebuild the country; Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who holds all the power of the state to destabilize the entire indigenous localities with brutal wars in the name of sovereignty and the last body is SANGA, the Buddhist Monks Association, which has been responsible to tear down Muslim and Christian communities in the country and all the relevant ministers from the Ministries have been surrendering in a manner of “ADDRESS LOYALTY” to MONKS whatever the ministry offices have done, are executing and will be going to do in future due to state affairs.
IT seems SANGA association is above all and it opposes Rohingyas repatriation by the name of Rohingya IDENTITY.

In particular, The RNDP party chairperson U AYE MAUNG, mentally deranged and tongue-lashing animal surgeon has been very outlandish to annihilate Rohingya communities from Rakhine state with the cooperation of most of the political parties’ affiliations in the country since the commencement of U Thein Sein’s Presidency up to now.

Right now, Myanmar government has no sense to handle the Rohingyas issue because government itself and all destructive forces against Rohingyas do not interest to pay attention to the world instruction whilst all the internal forces have a belief in CHINA and RUSSIA that they would do against to the orders of the world which are not binding resolution from the world bodies.

Therefore, deplorably, the last UNSC’ presidential statement is nothing as an effective instrument to help solve Rohingyas issue in an urgent manner but the statement is a great INCENTIVE for the government, Rakhine militiamen, Rakhine army AA, Rakhine authorities and Myanmar military forces to be able more and more destructions of the Rohingya people lives and livelihoods to those who are still remaining in their localities within a 30-day interval, which UNSC’s presidential statement has awarded the UN Secretary General to collect information from the regime of Myanmar whether it has discharged the orders of the UNSC presidential statement or not .
Presumably, in the end of a 30-day, UNSG will surely collect more hostile information from the ground committed by all forces of Myanmar who oppose the Rohingyas rights and existence.

Without delay, to help solve Rohingyas issue within country and for the earlier repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh to their localities in dignity, safety, and guaranteed secured guardianship, the world communities and UNSC are more needed to keep aside the differences among them to adopt the unanimous binding resolution.

Do save the innocent Rohingyas people lives in time and “Human dignity and lives are above all” than any lucrative interests and geopolitical strategic importance.
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/11/myanmar-ignores-unsc-presidential.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

Lack of UN pressure on Myanmar encourages further attacks on Rohingyas
SAM Report, November 9, 2017

The executive director of the International Campaign for the Rohingya (ICR), Simon Billenness, has told Sputnik that the lack of pressure by the United Nations on Myanmar encourages the country’s government to deny the excessive use of force by its military.
“Given the failure of the UN Security Council to agree on a mere resolution on the Rohingya crisis in Burma, it is clear that this lack of real pressure from the UN on Myanmar will simply encourage the army of Myanmar to continue its attacks on the Rohingya.
It will also encourage the government to continue to deny the widespread proof of atrocities by the military,” Billenness said.

The head of the non-governmental organization has expressed doubt that the Myanmar authorities would implement its UN Security Council declaration, which urged the Asian nation’s government to stop the excessive use of military force in the state of Rakhine, unless pressured politically or economically.

According to Billenness, Rohingya refugees in neighboring Bangladesh have shared stories of multiple violations perpetrated by Myanmar military forces against civilians.
Also Read: UN steps up pressure on Myanmar
“Despite international condemnation, Burmese authorities continue to restrict access to the region for most international humanitarian organizations, a UN fact-finding mission, and independent media,” the head of the ICR said.

The ICR is urging national governments to support a global arms embargo, stop supplying any equipment or providing any training to Myanmar’s military, scrap investment into and deals with military-owned companies and review cooperation with the country’s government.
Significant Step
Dr Simon Adams, executive director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, has expressed hope that Myanmar would choose to follow the UN Security Council resolution and stop using excessive force against the Rohingya minority rather than face international isolation.

“Hopefully the Presidential Statement will make the Myanmar authorities realize that there are two paths available to them from here. One leads to further international isolation, bilateral sanctions and the shame of being known as a state guilty of ethnic cleansing. The other is the path of accountability, the rule of law and upholding human rights of all your people, regardless of their religion or ethnicity. I hope they choose the second path,” Adams told Sputnik.
Also Read: Myanmar warns U.N. pressure could harm talks with Bangladesh
According to the head of the non-governmental organization, the official condemnation by the UNSC was a significant step.

“I hope this very public international rebuke will focus the minds of those in Myanmar who have the power to halt the burning of villages and end the mass displacement of Rohingya civilians,” Adams said.
SOURCE SPUTNIK
https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/11/09/lack-un-pressure-myanmar-encourages-attacks-rohingyas/

36,673 orphaned children living in Rohingya camps
Tarek Mahmud
Published at 08:46 PM November 09, 2017

Among the orphans, 12.5% are still shelterless.
A total of 36,673 orphaned children are now living in the 12 Rohingya camps under Ukhiya and Taknaf upazilas of Cox’s Bazar, according to a government survey.

Among the orphans, 12.5% are still without any shelter.

The survey also shows that a total 700 adolescent girls are living in an adverse environment at the refugee camps.

The Department of Social Services (DoSS) conducted the survey from September 20 to November 7, dividing the 12 Rohingya camps into 16 areas.

DoSS Database Officer Manjur Morshed told the Dhaka Tribune that about 65.8% children were living with their mothers or other people after losing their fathers in the recent spate of violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

“About 5,900 children lost their parents in Myanmar while about 500 children were separated from their parents during the crisis. About 17.5% of the orphaned children are living with their relatives, whereas 6.8% children are with their siblings and out of touch with any kind of child-friendly environment,” he added

The government is likely to take up a Tk470.26cr project to nurse the orphans in a secured environment inside the camps, dividing them into seven categories, said DoSS Deputy Director Abu Abdullah Md Wali Ullah, coordinator of the survey. “The categories are: living alone; living with mother; living with relatives; living without any shelter; living with siblings; living with any adult who is not a relative and other circumstances.

“We are at the preliminary stage of the survey. We are now verifying the numbers to come up with more accurate data on the orphans. After that, we will initiate our action plan in line with the instructions of the Ministry of Social Welfare. The project to facilitate foster care is pending for approval.”

The government may provide smart cards to the orphaned children which would help officials have the updated information.

According to the Children Act, any one below the age of 18 is considered to be a child.

The orphaned children are to be taken care of under the provisions of the Orphanages and Widows’ Homes Act.

According to Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, about 625,000 Rohingya refugees entered the country till November 8 since August 25 this year.

Nearly 340,000 Rohingya children are living in squalid conditions in Bangladesh camps where they lack enough food, clean water and health care, says Unicef.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/banglad...6673-orphaned-children-living-rohingya-camps/

12:00 AM, November 10, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:25 AM, November 10, 2017
One step forward, two steps back!

A Rohingya woman carries a child through Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia on September 28, 2017. PHOTO: AFP
Shah Husain Imam
It is a supreme irony that victimhood and villainy sometimes get weighed on the same scale with material stake getting the better of the moral imperative.
Manifestly therefore, the concerns over the Rohingya crisis that most of the world shares with Bangladesh—with the exception of Myanmar—in which they are rooted, have remained at the focal point of global attention, but not of action as such.
The establishment in Naypyidaw may have been rattled by mounting international pressure to end the collusive violence between the military and the Buddhist vigilantes that has all but emptied Rakhine State of minority Muslims, but the ruling junta is working overtime towards three agendas:
One, looking to dictate the size and frequency of repatriation instalments;
two, curtail the number of returnees so as not to outnumber the Buddhists in Rakhine State; and three, encage them in hamlets to flush them out at intervals as they have done over the years.

In such a context, their return with dignity, honour, livelihood and security can only be guaranteed by relocating them to IOM/UN-supervised safe zones leading to the restoration of their full citizenship rights.

It is in the interest of all concerned—the sending country, the host country, and inter- and intra-regional countries—that a sustainable solution is found to prevent textbook ethnic cleansing episodes against the weak and vulnerable from erupting time and again.

Lately, we have had unanimous condemnatory statements from the United Nations Security Council and the 63rd General Assembly of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association held in Dhaka. Both the statements fell short of “resolutions” obviously for varying reasons, not to mention the difference in the calibration and clout of the respective platforms.

Incidentally, Myanmar, which was called Burma when it was offered the membership of the Commonwealth in 1948, refused to join it in a huff, true to its predilection to comfort in corralled cocoon, so to speak.

So forgetful of the Arakanese ancestry the country's historians have been, that it reads bizarrely amnesic! This is illustrated by the lyricist, singer, poet and translator (of Padmavati) Alaol, a son of Faridpur who had come under the wings of Magan Thakur, the chief minister of Rosang, the old name of Arakan province. The minister became the music disciple of Alaol who had mastered many languages—around the middle of the seventeenth century—to wield considerable influence in the now-troubled Rakhine State.

A likely veto from China stood in the way of passing a directional resolution by the UN Security Council.
On the other hand, the CPA, a platform of 52 countries, could not adopt a resolution because of legal and time constraints.

Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has reacted strongly to the UNSC's unanimous statement—softer than a resolution she should be happy about—urging the Myanmar government “to end the excessive military force and inter-communal violence” that has devastated the Rohingya community in Rakhine State.

What betrays a sad lack of gumption on her part is the statement that the UNSC's remarks may obstruct the process of bilateral negotiations that, according to her, were about to get underway.

The UNSC statement, at any rate, has been forward-looking in some aspects. For instance, it has categorically emphasised on the UN refugee agency and other relevant international organisations like IOM to fully participate in a joint working group. This can ensure safe and voluntary return of all Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.

The UNSC is “determined” to continue to closely follow the situation in Myanmar. It has requested the Secretary General to brief the council on the developments in Rakhine 30 days after the adoption of the statement.

The first hurdle is Naypyidaw's insistence on a strict bilateral formation of the joint working group.
But the sticking point for Bangladesh is involvement of an UN agency in the repatriation process.

The second point of discord is fundamental in nature: Myanmar's Union Minister for Office of the State Counsellor Kyaw Tint Swe, during his visit to Dhaka, referred to the April 28, 1992 agreement as the basis to take back the refugees who could establish their bona fide residency in Myanmar prior to their departure from Bangladesh. In contrast, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali did not agree to Naypyidaw's proposal of adhering to the criterion of 1992.

The context in 2017 is different with huge numbers being involved. Many of the refugees had left their abodes and rushed to Bangladesh in fear of being killed without any papers whatsoever. Thus, verification will have to be based on a three- tier system: registration of Bangladesh authorities and cards issued by them; verification from Myanmar's side and the UNCHR's inputs from both the Myanmar and Bangladesh sides.

The Myanmar government's commitment, to ensure that the humanitarian assistance and development work undertaken by the Union Enterprise Mechanism, is provided for the benefit of all communities, may be taken with a pinch of salt. Remember, Aung San Suu Kyi's spearheading speech after a long silence: it made a point about multiple priorities on her hand implying, one may infer, that she has to distinguish between the major and the minor, an apologia for not keeping abreast of happenings in Rakhine, one would have thought.
Shah Husain Imam is an adjunct faculty at East West University, a commentator on current affairs and former associate editor at The Daily Star.
Email: shahhusainimam@gmail.com
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/pleasure-all-mine/one-step-forward-two-steps-back-1488907

2:00 AM, November 10, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:56 AM, November 10, 2017
Address Rohingya crisis at APEC, ASEAN meets
Rights body urges world leaders

A group of Rohingya refugees, who fled from Myanmar by boat last night, walks towards a makeshift camp in Cox's Bazar. Photo: Reuters
Diplomatic Correspondent
Human Rights Watch has called on world leaders meeting in two summits in the Philippines and Vietnam to address the Rohingya crisis.
Heads of government from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), including the United States, China, Japan, Russia, Canada, Australia, and Mexico, would be meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam, today.

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) would be meeting in Manila, Philippines, on Sunday for the 31st Asean Leaders Summit. They were scheduled to hold side-summits, with the US, European Union, Japan, and South Korea, on November 13-14.

“The Rohingya crisis is among the worst human rights catastrophes in Asia in years and demands concerted global action,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

“World leaders shouldn't return home from these summits without agreeing to targeted sanctions to pressure Burma [Myanmar] to end its abuses and allow in independent observers and aid groups.”

HRW said leaders at the Asia summits should jointly call on the Myanmar government to allow access to northern Rakhine State by the UN fact-finding mission created by the Human Rights Council in 2016, as well as other UN human rights and humanitarian staff.

Meanwhile, foreign ministry officials in Dhaka expects that the ongoing humanitarian crisis would expose Myanmar to more diplomatic pressure, at least from world leaders, including the US, during the three summits hosted by Vietnam and the Philippines.

They said it would not be possible to get Myanmar to resolve the crisis without continuing pressure on the country.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres would be attending parts of the Asean and related summits in the Philippines while Myanmar de facto leader Suu Kyi would be meeting Asean leader in the Philippines after the APEC summit.

According to the HRW, the UN Security Council "should impose an arms embargo and targeted economic sanctions and travel bans on military officials implicated in the atrocities".

The council should now take more meaningful action, but in the meantime governments concerned, especially those in Asia, could take coordinated bilateral or multilateral action to impose targeted sanctions and travel bans, the rights group added.

Leaders gathering in Asia should also discuss the creation of judicial mechanisms to hold perpetrators of abuses in Myanmar accountable, including via the General Assembly and Human Rights Council. The Security Council should refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.

“The International Criminal Court was created precisely to deal with crimes against humanity like those being committed in Burma,” Adams said. “Members of the Security Council attending the Asia summits should be discussing referring the situation in Burma to The Hague.”

Meanwhile, the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an editorial titled “Asean has an obvious role in Rohingya crisis” said representatives of the platform need to address the crisis in Myanmar's Rakhine state at its root causes.

Among the 10 member-countries of Asean, only Malaysia had displayed courage, it said.
TRUDEAU TO MEET SUU KYI
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi at the APEC summit in Vietnam, according to a report of Canadian Press.

This would be their first meeting since a crackdown by security forces that began on August 25 and has forced over 600,000 Rohingyas to take shelter in Bangladesh. About 200 entered Bangladesh just yesterday morning.

Bob Rae, Canada's special envoy for the Rohingya crisis, is scheduled to brief Trudeau on his findings in Myanmar at the APEC leaders' summit. Rae is also expected to use the 21-member APEC event to meet other regional players to push for a co-ordinated solution to the crisis.

Trudeau had said that he reached out to Suu Kyi about the atrocities being committed against the Rohingya.

Meanwhile, the Liberal government has come under pressure to strip Suu Kyi of her honorary Canadian citizenship.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpa...ress-rohingya-crisis-apec-asean-meets-1489084

 

[Banglar Bir]

Why is Burma driving out the Rohingya — and not its other despised minorities?
By Navine Murshid November 9 at 7:00 AM
Why is Burma [URL='https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/rohingya']attacking only the Rohingya?[/URL]
As the Burmese military drives out upward of 600,000 Rohingya in what one United Nations official called “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” most media analyses correctly highlight ethno-religious discrimination and economic motives.

But that leaves us with the question: Why only the Rohingya? Burma, also known as Myanmar, has other hated ethnic groups. Since the country first gained independence from the British in 1948, its government has been fighting the Karen, the Karenni, the Kachin, the Shan and the Mon. Those ethnic groups have had armed militias for decades. The Rohingya only recently spawned a small armed group — and most Rohingya disapprove of their methods.

So why are the Rohingya being so brutally singled out? The answer lies in Burma’s peculiarly stratified hierarchy of citizenship.

In addition to full citizens, Burma has several less-than-full citizenship categories

In 1982, Myanmar passed a citizenship law that institutionalized a social hierarchy of full citizens, “associate citizens,” “naturalized citizens” and “resident foreigners” — complete with different-colored identity cards for each status. The law was part of a campaign of “Myanmafication,” which included the later name change from Burma to Myanmar, whose ostensible goal was to include ethnic groups beyond just the Burmans — although Burman language and culture defined this nationalism.

[5 things you need to know about the Rohingya crisis — and how it could roil southeast Asia]
The quotes below are taken from a Human Rights Watch explanation, which includes more detailed information, as well.

• Citizens “belong to one of the national races or whose ancestors settled in the country before 1823, the beginning of British occupation of Arakan State.” National races refer to indigenous groups with a heritage of linguistic and cultural competence, from which 1960s leader General Ne Win fashioned a Burmese nationalism that united disparate ethnic groups. These include the Karen, Mon, Shan and Chin.
• Associate citizens have “one grandparent, or pre-1823 ancestor, [who] was a citizen of another country.”
• Naturalized citizens are those who can “provide ‘conclusive evidence’ that he or his parents entered and resided in Burma before independence in 1948. Persons who have at least one parent who holds one of the three types of Burmese citizenship are also eligible.”
• Resident foreigners have no citizenship rights at all. They cannot hold public office, move freely about the country or enroll in higher education.

Play Video 5:06. Click on link below:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...pised-minority-groups/?utm_term=.dea2916c2793

A Rohingya man escaped Burma, scared and badly burned. Then he went back for his mother.
Mohammad Ilias, a Rohingya Muslim refugee, escaped from Burma after its security forces began burning down his village on Aug. 26. In the chaos, he was separated from his mother. A week later, he went back for her. (Maher Sattar, Joyce Lee/The Washington Post)

Other ethnic groups rebelled but accepted the classifications. The Rohingya challenged the system wholesale.

The Karen, Mon, Shan and Chin, designated as “national ethnic groups,” have long taken up arms against a state they see as oppressive and are fighting for some form of self-determination, such as autonomy or independence. But they accept the state’s position that the Rohingya are “resident foreigners,” ineligible for even second-class citizenship because they do not have documents such as birth certificates and land titles. The poor often lack these documents simply because they often don’t own property and traditionally have home births. That the other groups buy into the othering of the Rohingya suggests that they have internalized the social hierarchy that grants them citizenship rights.

However, the Rohingya refused theirs. Before 1982, they were de facto citizens; now they are classified as resident foreigners. The government claims they are Bengali Muslims who didn’t arrive in the region until British colonial rule, between 1823 and 1948. If so, under the citizenship law, they should be able to become associate or, at least, naturalized citizens.

But in the 1980s, claiming that their roots go back to the eighth century, if not earlier, the Rohingya challenged the entire hierarchy and demanded full citizenship — and equal rights. They understand that Burma’s citizenship law renders them stateless — and are calling for it to be amended.

The Burmese government says the Rohingya are violent terrorists

The Burmese government apparently sees this as an existential threat to its system, more problematic than the effort of others to break away from central control.

That’s not what the government says, of course. Rather, the government and some observers point to the Rohingya Solidarity Organization or the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and argue that the Rohingya are violent, militant terrorists.

However, my interviews with Rohingya refugees corroborates research that shows how few Rohingya agree with or belong to these organizations, disagreeing among themselves how best to gain full citizenship. Most are focused on mere survival.
[There’s a massive humanitarian crisis in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps]

Unfortunately, not just the military junta of Burma but also the Bangladeshi government and many among the NGO and aid community believe that the Rohingya have terrorist ties.
In 2008, I spoke to officials at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Washington and in Bangkok about durable solutions to the Rohingya crisis. A number agreed that these claims of ties with Islamic terrorism are dubious and unsubstantiated — but said that because they have been made, the prospects for resettlement in the developed world are nil. Many categorically said that only Bangladesh could provide a durable solution to the crisis, which leaves the fate of hundreds of thousands of refugees in the hands of one of the poorest nations in the world.

[Why the Rohingya will continue to flee Myanmar — even if we try to deter them]

The story must be told.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s reputation — both internationally and domestically
Play Video 3:06

Aung San Suu Kyi's fall from grace
Why has Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel laureate and Burma's de facto civilian leader, been so unwilling to condemn the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in her country? (Joyce Lee, Ishaan Tharoor/The Washington Post)

Interestingly, state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, and not the military junta, has taken much of the flak for the ethnic cleansing campaign, even though she has little control over the military. The daughter of a prominent Burmese politician, Suu Kyi gained a reputation as a champion of human rights and democracy since the late 1980s, when the authoritarian Burmese government held her under house arrest for demanding democratic reforms. That international image is now wearing thin.

During my fieldwork in 2008 and 2012, I learned that Burma’s minority ethnic activists didn’t see her as a national hero the way international observers did. Rather, they believed her to be a Burmese nationalist who supported the official system of unequal citizenship. Some pointed as evidence to her failure to speak up for the Rohingya who had supported her democratic campaign. They told me that democracy without ethnic power-sharing would not bring peace, and they doubted whether she could or would shed her nationalism and help arrange full equality.
Navine Murshid is associate professor of political science at Colgate University and author of “Politics of Refugees in South Asia: Identity, Manipulation, Resistance” (Routledge, 2014).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...pised-minority-groups/?utm_term=.dea2916c2793

 

[Banglar Bir]

Bangladesh wants permanent solution for Rohingya crisis

ANTALYA, TURKEY - NOVEMBER 9: The head of the Red Crescent in Bangladesh Mohammad Habibe Millat speaks to press during the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) General Assembly meetings in Antalya, Turkey on November 9, 2017. The head of the Red Crescent in Bangladesh has described the Rohingya refugee crisis as the “biggest man-made disaster in the world”. (Murat Kula - Anadolu Agency)
By Seyit Ahmet Aytac
Anadolu Agency
November 9, 2017
Head of Red Crescent in Bangladesh says world needs to present united front to resolve refugee issue
ANTALYA, Turkey -- The head of the Red Crescent in Bangladesh has described the Rohingya refugee crisis as the “biggest man-made disaster in the world”.

Mohammad Habibe Millat said his country was doing all it could to assist more than 611,000 Rohingya Muslims who have crossed the border from Myanmar since Aug. 25 but that this was “not the permanent solution”.

Speaking at a summit of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) General Assembly in Antalya, southern Turkey, he said: “From Aug. 25, more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims, most of them women and children, crossed the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

“This is a biggest manmade disaster in the world. We as government of Bangladesh and Red Crescent Society try to do our best and open our border for them for humanitarian reasons.
“We will do everything to help Rohingya muslims as much as we can, but this is not the permanent solution.”

He said the approaching winter raised fears about the welfare of the refugees housed in makeshift camps along the border.

The refugees have fled a military operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages.
Speaking in September, the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali said around 3,000 Rohingya had been killed in the crackdown.

Turkey has been at the forefront of providing aid to Rohingya refugees and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised the issue at the UN.
Millat, who is also a Bangladeshi lawmaker, praised First Lady Emine Erdogan for her visit to the camps in September.
- Permanent solution
“I want to thank her as the first high-level person to visit the camps. One of the refugee women told in front of the first lady that they’ve been tortured.
“They are lucky to survive and cross the border. Turkey and its institutions work hard to solve this crisis.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey’s efforts make things little easier, but still we have longway to go.”

He praised the efforts of the IFRC in providing humanitarian aid to the refugees.
“We will continue to support and help the Rohingya Muslims as much as we can but we are low-middle income country.
The international community should remember that.

“We thank the government and the people of Turkey for their very kind gesture and we appreciate it.”
Millat called for the world to “speak with the same voice and put pressure on the Myanmar government, that is probably the permanent solution.”

Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings and disappearances committed by security personnel.
In a report earlier this year, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
The IFRC General Assembly concludes on Saturday.
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/11/bangladesh-wants-permanent-solution-for.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

ROHINGYA CRISIS
Home truths about Dhaka’s foreign policy
Notwithstanding the fact that the UNSC’s unanimous affirmation backed by China has strongly condemned the Rohingya crisis, albeit without threatening sanctions, expressing “grave concern” over rights violations and called on Myanmar to rein in military operations, quite unexpectedly Myanmar has hit back at the statement saying it could “seriously harm” efforts to repatriate the Rohingya minority from Bangladesh.

In the interim public health situation among the multitudes of refugees in Cox’s Bazar may assume epidemic proportions, and the WHO has reported on October 21 that 77 Rohingyas died of different diseases between August 25 and October 21 and by now the figure must have swelled. Some 6,15,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh in the new influx what the United Nations called the world’s fastest-developing refugee emergency.
The new influx of refugees has totalled to 10.24 lakh entering Bangladesh since 1978.

Incontrovertibly, it is an unbearable economic and logistic burden thrust upon Bangladesh by Myanmar government run to all intents and purposes by Aung San Suu Kyi and the military.

Having been taught Philosophy—-which in essence deals with the fundamental nature of knowledge, principles of ethics, moral values, existence etc at St. Hugh’s College in England—- regrettably, alas, Suu Kyi did not learn that pogrom, persecution, mass murder, ethnic cleansing verging on genocide of the minority disadvantaged Rohingya Muslims are crimes against humanity.

She ought to have known that Ethnic cleansing—- a policy carried out by strong states to mould the demographic map—-is related to genocide, but ethnic cleansing is focused more closely than genocide on geography and on forced removal of ethnic or related groups from particular areas.

The greatest overlap or common characteristics between ethnic cleansing and genocide takes place when forced removal of population leads to a group’s destruction. [Vide The Oxford Genocide Studies edited by Donald Bloxham and A. Dirk Moses and published in May 26, 2010].

In her publicised speech full of untruth, trumped-up story and barefaced lie Suu Kyi—-reported to be an Islmophobic for her anti-Muslim statement—-brazenly trivialised and deprecated the anti-Rohingya pogrom characterised by arson, rape, shooting down and so forth perpetrated by the military and the Buddhists. Suu Kyi said:

“There had been no clashes or clearance operations in the northern state since 5 September; the government had made efforts in recent years to improve living conditions for all people in Rakhine including Muslims”.

Closing her eyes to numerous video footages of the BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Al Jazeera, Reuters, AP, AFP, DPA and thousands of words of news stories datelined Rakhaine in Myanmar, this so-called educated lady barefacedly said, “Most Muslims had decided to stay and that this indicated the situation was not so severe.” Suu Kyi parroted the military which says its operations in Rakhine are aimed at rooting out militants, and has repeatedly denied targeting civilians—-countering witnesses, over half a million refugees and journalists who have contested this.

Why not watch the print and video report on the spot in Rakhaine by Jonathan Head, the BBC’s Southeast Asia Correspondent, ‘A Muslim village was burning’, 7 September 2017 [bbc.com/news/ world-asia-41189564]?

Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been stripped of her Oxford honour owing to her shameful stance on the Rohingya Muslims. A confirmed Muslim hater Islamophobic after her BBC interview with Mishal Husain, presenter of HARDTALK, last year, Suu Kyi said that she “needs ‘solid evidence’ of violence against Rohingya Muslims.”

Two years back the weekly Holiday congratulated Suu Kyi on her polls win and suggested that she resolve the Rohingya Muslim problem. This paper wrote, the Rohingyas of Arakan had supported Suu Kyi’s NLD candidates in the past and they won all the 23 seats of Arakan some years ago. But Rohingya Muslims’ loyalty, allegiance, courtesy and love have backfired now! [Vide Ms Suu Kyi’s victory vis-à-vis Rohingya Muslims, November 13, 2015.]

It is deplorable to see such a spineless namby-pamby Suu Kyi—-once-upon-a-time under house arrest for 15 years in her home spending her time playing on the piano, reading, and occasionally receiving foreign dignitaries like Hilary Clinton as well as erstwhile top Myanmar leaders General Than Shwe and General Khin Nyunt—-who has stooped so low as to endorsing falsehood. Let alone human values, she has climbed onto the bandwagon of the bloodthirsty military.

This is as a consequence of Suu Kyi’s abominably indefensible sheer lust for subordinate power under the military. The Rohingya have been referred to as the world’s “most friendless people” and are undoubtedly in need of protection. For decades, they have faced persecution and been denied citizenship in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Though 20-year-old Malala Yusufzai, the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, on 3 September 2017 told her fellow Nobel laureate, 72-year-old Suu Kyi that the “world is waiting” for her to act over unrest that has seen tens of thousands of people flee into neighbouring Bangladesh”. But insensitive stone-hearted Suu Kyi has not budged an inch.

Genocide, as theorists say, does not of necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, and the economic existence of national groups.

This is exactly what is happening in Myanmar concerning which the government in Dhaka, instead of seeking directive from New Delhi, should put its foot down and calibrate or recalibrate its own book of diplomacy and foreign policy based on the credo:
Friendship to all, malice to none.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=4&date=0#Tid=15074

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, November 10, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:00 AM, November 10, 2017
EDITORIAL
Repatriation of Rohingyas
Myanmar looking for excuses

The communiqué issued by Aung San Suu Kyi in response to a UN Security Council statement is disappointing. It is yet another reminder that Myanmar's government is looking for excuses to delay the resolution of the crisis.
Suu Kyi emphasises on solving the crisis 'bilaterally, in an amicable manner' with Bangladesh. That the US secretary of state and Bangladesh's foreign minister are poised to visit Myanmar soon seemed to match the statement.

However, it is hardly surprising that the Myanmar government caught the very first opportunity to lash out at the international community instead of reining in military operations in Rakhine State that have pushed hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas to Bangladesh.

The State Counsellor's statement argues that the UNSC statement, despite being watered down, hampers the bilateral efforts to repatriate Rohingyas from Bangladesh.
In fact, it is Myanmar, whose acts threaten to derail efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement of Rohingya crisis.

Since Aung Sun Syu Kyi first expressed her willingness to repatriate Rohingyas in September, Myanmar government has raised different conditions during repatriation talks with Bangladesh, rather than agreeing to the categorical return of Rohingyas.
Last week, Myanmar even ridiculously accused Bangladesh of delaying repatriation process. This betrays the actual intention of the Myanmar government and its lack of commitment to resolve the crisis.

Naypyidaw must refrain from using dubious tactics to avoid its responsibility of taking Rohingyas back. At the same time, it must create the conditions where Rohingyas will feel safe to return.
http://www.thedailystar.net/editorial/repatriation-rohingyas-1488910

 

[UKBengali]

12:00 AM, November 10, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:00 AM, November 10, 2017
EDITORIAL
Repatriation of Rohingyas
Myanmar looking for excuses

The communiqué issued by Aung San Suu Kyi in response to a UN Security Council statement is disappointing. It is yet another reminder that Myanmar's government is looking for excuses to delay the resolution of the crisis.
Suu Kyi emphasises on solving the crisis 'bilaterally, in an amicable manner' with Bangladesh. That the US secretary of state and Bangladesh's foreign minister are poised to visit Myanmar soon seemed to match the statement.

However, it is hardly surprising that the Myanmar government caught the very first opportunity to lash out at the international community instead of reining in military operations in Rakhine State that have pushed hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas to Bangladesh.

The State Counsellor's statement argues that the UNSC statement, despite being watered down, hampers the bilateral efforts to repatriate Rohingyas from Bangladesh.
In fact, it is Myanmar, whose acts threaten to derail efforts to reach a comprehensive settlement of Rohingya crisis.

Since Aung Sun Syu Kyi first expressed her willingness to repatriate Rohingyas in September, Myanmar government has raised different conditions during repatriation talks with Bangladesh, rather than agreeing to the categorical return of Rohingyas.
Last week, Myanmar even ridiculously accused Bangladesh of delaying repatriation process. This betrays the actual intention of the Myanmar government and its lack of commitment to resolve the crisis.

Naypyidaw must refrain from using dubious tactics to avoid its responsibility of taking Rohingyas back. At the same time, it must create the conditions where Rohingyas will feel safe to return.
http://www.thedailystar.net/editorial/repatriation-rohingyas-1488910

"At the same time, it must create the conditions where Rohingyas will feel safe to return."

This will be impossible without UN peacekeepers or BD annexation of Northern Arakan. Barmans are uncivilised savages as has been proved up to the present day. Fundamentally Rohingya land will need to be eventually annexed to BD to secure the lives and well-being of the ethnic Rohingyas, who have a better claim to the land than Barmans.

 

[Banglar Bir]

Rohingya Blogger

https://www.facebook.com/

The U.S. Congress moved to pressure the Burmese military into ending the crisis facing the Rohingya, in a bipartisan effort that proposes a range of options aimed at ending the violence against the Muslim minority.
The bill would impose new sanctions, cutting off U.S. cooperation with the military while funding economic assistance.
VOA's congressional reporter Katherine Gypson sat down with the co-sponsors of the bill to learn more.

Amid 'deep concern' for Rohingya refugees, Trudeau meets with Myanmar leader Suu Kyi
CBC News Posted: Nov 10, 2017 7:48 AM ET Last Updated: Nov 10, 2017 12:28 PM ET

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi greets Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Da Nang, Vietnam, where leaders have gathered for the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. (CBC)
Related Stories
Trudeau to meet with Myanmar leader Suu Kyi at APEC summit Friday
Special envoy Bob Rae urged to enlist Myanmar's neighbours to help stop crackdown on Rohingya muslims

What awaits Bob Rae? Abused Rohingya living in epic squalor in Bangladesh

Some 600,000 refugees later, Ottawa digs in on dealing with Myanmar on Rohingya crisis

'Human rights nightmare' in Myanmar could spread, UN chief warns
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his special envoy to Myanmar, Bob Rae, met with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, before the start of APEC trade talks in Da Nang, Vietnam.
During the 45-minute meeting, they talked about Suu Kyi's perceived inaction on the Rohingya refugee crisis, which has seen hundreds of thousands of Rohingya flee from Myanmar's Rakhine state into neighbouring Bangladesh in the face of violence at home.

Rae told reporters after that Trudeau was forthright about the level of violence and the extent of the problems causing people to flee.

"From my point of view that was extremely important for her to hear, directly from Canada's prime minister. I think it was also important for us to hear her out," Rae told reporters.

Bob Rae, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's special envoy to Myanmar, said Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi told him she is committed to helping bring the Rohingya home.
He also said she should offer reassurances they will be safe. (CBC)

"From her perspective, she's doing what she can in a difficult circumstance. I think it's fair to say that we feel that more needs to be done and more could be done."

The former Ontario premier and interim Liberal leader says resolutions will be raised at the United Nations General Assembly, the main policy-making body of the UN.

"These are not judgments that are unique to Canada, we're not alone in raising these questions," Rae said.

The meeting comes as Myanmar faces allegations of large-scale human rights abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority population in the predominately Buddhist nation.

Special envoy Bob Rae urged to enlist Myanmar's neighbours to help stop crackdown on Rohingya Muslims

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Laureate and an honorary Canadian citizen, has been criticized for not speaking out against the violence aimed at Rohingya Muslims in her country, which the UN calls ethnic cleansing.

Trudeau spoke to Suu Kyi in September amid questions about her leadership at a time when many were accusing the country's military of carrying out ethnic cleansing against this long-persecuted group.

During that call, Trudeau "stressed the particular importance of the state counsellor as a moral and political leader," according to a readout.

Last month, Trudeau announced Rae would visit Myanmar on a fact-finding mission and report back on what role Canada can play in ending the humanitarian crises in the Southeast Asian country.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waves as he arrives in Hanoi on Wednesday.

The two-day state visit ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit marked only the second meeting between the two countries' leaders since the end of war in 1975 and the normalization of relations. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-meeting-aung-san-suu-kyi-vietnam-1.4396538

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, November 11, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:13 AM, November 11, 2017
Rohingya children face harsh reality
36,373 orphaned children are now living in and around refugee camps; many are at risk of abuse, trafficking

Rohingyas from Myanmar cross the Naf River with an improvised raft made of empty plastic jerrycans to reach Teknaf of Cox's Bazar yesterday. Photo: Reuters
Martin Swapan Pandey
When much of the camp around her is still fast asleep, Radia, 12, wakes up at 5:00am and quickly buries herself in her Quran study. Throughout the day, she spends as much time as she can -- eight to ten hours daily -- memorising the Arabic texts.
“This way, I try not to remember the things I have been through. But it doesn't work all the time,” she says, pain etched on her face.

Radia
Both her parents were shot and killed by the Myanmar army inside their home at Throngbazar of Busidaung in the Rakhine State as the family was trying to escape the military crackdown in early September.

Amid intense firing, she hid in a nearby hill with some relatives. They came out of the hiding to bury her parents after the army left, said Radia, who reached Cox's Bazar two months ago after trekking through hills and jungles for 12 days.

She is one of the 325 kids -- 171 girls and 154 boys -- now sheltered in the Orphanage for Refugee Rohingya Children in Ukhia's Balukhali Camp-2. Aged between eight and 14, they lost both or either of their parents in the military offensive or do not know where their parents are.

But this is only a tiny fraction of the Rohingya children who have lost their parents, many for ever. In a survey, the social welfare ministry found 36,373 such children in the refugee camps as of November 8.

“We are now verifying the list,” said Md Nikaruzzaman, upazila nirbahi officer of Ukhia, adding that it was possible that parents of many of these children were alive but had been separated from their kids while fleeing the violence.

“Parents of some of these children may well be somewhere in the refugee camps,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.
RISK OF TRAFFICKING, ABUSE
But finding their parents will not be easy. Many of these children are too young to tell their parents' names or any other particulars. Also, 4.5 lakh of the refugees have been registered biometrically so far -- less than half of nearly one million Rohingyas now living in tents and under tarpaulin sheets in the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. It is not yet clear how many of the children have lost their patents to the military operation.

At the moment, most of these children are living with their relatives or neighbours or in centres run by aid agencies such as Save the Children.

Refugees, including women and children, get off the raft at Sabrang point in Teknaf. Photo: Reuters

But with so many children living without their parents, aid workers and government officials are worried about trafficking and abuse. They fear that some of these children may also be used to carry drugs, such as yaba tablets smuggled in from Myanmar, inside and outside the camps.

“Such risks are there, but we are alert. After we finalise the list and determine how many kids have lost their parents in the violence, we will decide on how they can be integrated with the Rohingya community. They should not be separated from the society,” Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Md Abul Kalam said.
NO ESCAPING THE PAST
In the orphanage set up by Beximco Pharmaceuticals and managed by Indian charity UNITED SIKHS, Radia talks little and made hardly any friends.

Nafiza Ferdowshi, assistant professor of educational and counselling psychology at Dhaka University, said these were signs of trauma that would have long-term impacts on these children. Some may even start showing the signs five or ten years later.

Radia tries her best to follow the instructions as 10 teachers -- all of whom taught in madrasas in Rakhine until they themselves fled the violence -- take turns to give the children lessons on Quran and Hadith.

But all of this is new to her -- the place, the teachers, neighbours, everything. Back home, she used to go to school with her friends, with whom she would play marbles in the afternoon.

Does she have those marbles with her? She shakes her head. No matter how hard she tries to concentrate on her Quran studies to forget her past, some memories are constant.

She remembers, for example, how she fled for life as her parents lay dead or how hastily she buried them to avoid being seen by the army or the local vigilantes.

Nafiza warned that children like Radia would be in a life-long trauma if they did not get proper care, counselling and protection. Because they are vulnerable, it will be easy to exploit them and they will face problems in family bonding and trusting others.

Because they have seen things such as torture and killing at an early age, they will always be haunted by fear, even if they are safe or have food and shelter, she added. “Scenes of such violence may even appear in their dreams.”

Radia is already showing some of these signs. And she has a recurring dream: her parents getting shot as Myanmar burns.
Every time she has this dream, she wakes up, shudders in panic, cries and tries to sleep again.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpa...-rohingya-children-face-harsh-reality-1489414


2:00 AM, November 11, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:15 AM, November 11, 2017
Aid access still challenging
Says UN official about humanitarian efforts in Myanmar's Rakhine state
Diplomatic Correspondent
Though the Myanmar authorities have agreed to allow the UN to resume food distribution in Rakhine, aid access in the state remains extremely challenging, says the UN.
“Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that aid access in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state remains extremely challenging, with the UN being granted almost no access by the government,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.

The international Red Cross movement (ICRC) was able to continue providing assistance in the area, he said.

“However, the needs remain high, with the Red Cross movement aiming to reach more than 180,000 people with assistance by the end of the year. Further humanitarian access and assistance is urgently needed.”

Dujarric said the UN secretary-general has called for “full and unfettered access for aid workers in Myanmar, including in Rakhine State, to ensure that all those in need receive assistance.

As a result of the overall limitations on access, the UN could not conduct an independent comprehensive needs assessment in Rakhine, he told journalists.

According to a latest report of US Agency for International Development (USAID), the military operations in Rakhine since August 25 have caused severe food insecurity and mass displacement.

Meanwhile, several hundred more Rohingyas crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar yesterday. According to the local administration, nearly 700 Rohingyas arrived in Cox's Bazar through Shah Porir Dwip point of the Naf river.
ADDRESS HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS
Four UN human rights experts have called upon ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) states, including Myanmar, to address pressing human rights issues during the 31st ASEAN Summit being held in the Philippines from November 10-14.

Recognising the important work of many civil society organisations across the region, the experts expressed concern about “a worrying deterioration in the environment in which they operate”.

They expressed worries over the rising numbers of cases of serious human rights violations in ASEAN states. They also urged the countries to do more to protect all vulnerable groups, reminding governments that inclusion and meaningful participation are elements of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The UN experts are Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Annalisa Ciampi, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard and Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst.
CONCERN OVER TERROR RECRUITMENT
ASEAN defence ministers have voiced concern that Rohingya refugees might be recruited by terrorists. They have urged the ASEAN states to do extra concerning the matter, said Philippines' Secretary of National Defence Delfin Lorenzana, reports InterAksyon, an online news portal of the Philippines.

He was speaking at a programme titled “ASEAN Leadership Amid a New World Order”, hosted by the Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute, at a Manila hotel on Wednesday.

Lorenzana said the matter was amongst a number of considerations raised throughout the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting and ADMM (ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting)-Plus -- a platform of defense ministers from Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the USA.

“The consensus was for Myanmar to do more to resolve these issues. Because ASEAN says that the concern of ASEAN is that these refugees might find their way into some terrorist camps and train, and then they will train the other camps in the region, and it will become a problem,” the Philippine defence secretary said.
VACCINATION EFFORTS STEPPED UP
An increase in the number of suspected measles cases among the newly arrived Rohingyas and their host communities in Cox's Bazar has prompted the Bangladesh government and UN partners to step up immunisation efforts in overcrowded camps and makeshift shelters close to the border with Myanmar, according to a joint press release of WHO and Unicef released yesterday.

It said nearly 360,000 people, aged between six months and 15 years, among the new Rohingya arrivals in Cox's Bazar and their host communities, irrespective of their immunisation status, would be administered measles and rubella vaccines through fixed health facilities, outreach vaccination teams, and at entry points into Bangladesh.

As of November 4, one death and 412 suspected cases of measles have been reported among the vulnerable population living in camps, settlements, and among the host communities.

As part of stepped up vaccination efforts, 43 fixed health facility sites, 56 outreach vaccination teams and vaccination teams at main border entry points will administer MR vaccine to population aged between six months and 15 years, along with oral polio vaccine to children under five years and TT vaccine to pregnant women.

More than 70 vaccinators from the government and partners have been trained to deliver routine vaccination though fixed sites and outreach teams from tomorrow. The vaccination at the entry points at Subrang, Teknaf has been going on since November 1.

Earlier, Communist leaders from South Asian countries in a statement demanded increased involvement of the UN to ensure "dignified sanctuary" to Rohingya refugees.

“We urge all Communist and workers parties and political forces who support justice to raise their voice against the atrocities and to pressurise Myanmar government to stop brutal sectarian massacre against Rohingyas,” reads the statement signed by seven leaders from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpa...e-crisis-aid-access-still-challenging-1489432

 

[Banglar Bir]

Rohingya children close to starvation due to 'unimaginable' 'health crisis

Rohingya refugees wait to be seen by a doctor at a camp in Bangladesh’s Ukhia district. Thousands of children are suffering from malnutrition despite escaping across the border from Myanmar. Photograph: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images
By Kate Hodal
The Guardian
November 10, 2017
‘Rampant malnutrition’ reported following Rohingya exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh as agencies warn shocking new figures may be tip of the iceberg
One in four Rohingya children who recently fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar is now suffering from life-threatening malnutrition, with aid workers warning that refugees are “essentially starving” before they have even crossed the border.

The preliminary findings of a joint nutrition assessment conducted in late October at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar show that severe acute malnutrition rates among child refugees under five have doubled since May, while nearly half of young children are also underweight and suffering from anaemia.

The figures – already above international emergency levels – are likely to increase, warned aid agencies, since the assessment surveyed only 10% of the population in need, and included families who had arrived before as well as after violence erupted in Rakhine state in August.
Once data is taken solely from new arrivals, malnutrition – and with it the risk of diarrhoea, dysentery, respiratory infections and measles – is expected to increase.

“The conditions we are seeing in Cox’s Bazar create a perfect storm for a public health crisis on an unimaginable scale,” said Cat Mahony, emergency response director in Cox’s Bazar for the International Rescue Committee.

“These shocking figures substantiate the IRC’s own findings on worrying food insecurity: three in four do not have enough food, and 95% of the population are drinking contaminated water. This is especially serious, as agencies report that two-thirds of the water in Cox’s Bazar is contaminated with faeces.”

Malnutrition rates among children in northern Rakhine state were above emergency thresholds even before the recent exodus. But severe acute malnutrition has increased tenfold since last year, according to the joint assessment by Save the Children, IRC partner Action Against Hunger and Unicef. Conditions have worsened due to acute food and water shortages and unsanitary living quarters in Kutupalong camp, which is home to roughly 26,000 refugees.

More than 600,000 Rohingya men, women, and children have crossed the border from Myanmar to Cox’s Bazaar since August. These families joined an estimated 212,000 Rohingya previously living in Bangladesh. The IRC expects an additional 200,000 new arrivals in the weeks ahead, pushing the total refugee population to more than 1 million.

Severe acute malnutrition can affect anyone but, if left untreated, children under five are up to nine times more likely to die than a well-nourished child.

New arrivals are often forced to set up camp far from the main road where food and medical distribution centres are located, said Save the Children’s Rik Goverde, leaving many refugees facing a long walk simply to get one meal a day.

“Malnutrition is rampant here, absolutely rampant, even among the adults,” said Goverde, speaking by phone from Kutupalong camp.

“Two men just came into the clinic weighing 32kg and 34kg. This hasn’t happened overnight – they have been hungry for a very long time and they are exhausted.”

New arrivals are required to register for an identity card in order to qualify for food distribution, Goverde said, which can take a few days to arrive. Many adults and children are consequently obliged to walk for hours into the forest, where they cut firewood in order to sell it and buy food.

“There are problems here on every sector – this isn’t just about food and malnutrition,” said Goverde. “We’re sure there are children suffering from mental health issues because they’ve suffered terrible things, they’ve lost their parents in the chaos, or seen their parents being shot. It’s truly grim.”

Unicef and other humanitarian agencies are currently treating more than 2,700 acutely malnourished children at 15 treatment centres. But the agencies are overstretched and underfunded, prompting the IRC to launch an emergency response on both sides of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, which the agency says will require $12m (£9m) over the next year.

The response will include four 24-hour care centres to treat severe acute malnutrition, as well as six “one stop shops” that will deliver critical assistance and child protection. The aim will be to reach 80,000 refugees within the first six months.

Two more nutrition evaluations are planned for this month, including one at a makeshift settlement. The findings from the three assessments will help update the projected number of children expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition over the next few months, guiding the emergency response, said Unicef’s Jean-Jacques Simon.

“There is an urgent need to prioritise families with malnourished children and come up with a minimum package of effective interventions to safeguard the health and wellbeing of these children,” said Simon.
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/11/rohingya-children-close-to-starvation.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

A photographer bears witness to the Rohingya crisis

TED Guest Author

Photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind went to Bangladesh to help document the Rohingya refugees fleeing violence and persecution in Burma. Here’s what she saw.
In eastern Bangladesh, where there once were verdant green slopes covered with trees, there is now bleeding red earth. “As far as you can see, the rolling hills have been deforested,” says photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind, who travelled to the city of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in early October. The hills have been cleared for thousands of makeshift tents that house hundreds of thousands of people who have made a desperate, dangerous journey there in search of safety.

These refugees are Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority in their home country of Burma. The Burmese military, who refer to the Rohingya as “Muslims” or “Bengalis”, claim they are “terrorists” and are currently targeting them; more than 200 Rohingya villages on the west coast of Burma have been burned down by the country’s troops since the end of August and perhaps thousands of Rohingya have been killed or injured. More than 600,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh to escape this violence in the last two months alone, according to the United Nations. “The number of people fleeing over such a short time is almost unprecedented,” Taylor-Lind says. “This refugee camp is growing day by day.”

Taylor-Lind, a London-based TED Fellow, went to Bangladesh on a fact-finding mission with Human Rights Watch (HRW), which is investigating and documenting what they’ve labeled ”crimes against humanity” by the Burmese security forces against the Rohingya people. Because the Burmese government has blocked access to the country for journalists as well as humanitarian aid organizations, HRW is collecting the stories of massacre survivors at the camps in Bangladesh, as well as using satellite images to measure the destruction in Burma. “My job is to find a way to visualize what is happening there,” Taylor-Lind says. “The majority of my time is spent making portraits of survivors who are here in exile in Bangladesh and have given eyewitness testimony.”

Shofiqa, 15, survived a massacre of Rohingya at Tu Lar To Li in Burma. She watched as soldiers beat her 10-year-old sister to death, then they beat Shofiqa unconscious. She woke up in a burning house and managed to escape. Photo: Anastasia Taylor-Lind for Human Rights Watch
HRW Emergencies Director Peter Bouckaert, impressed with the portraits Taylor-Lind made in Kiev during the 2014 revolution in Ukraine, hired her to take photographs of the Rohingya refugees — images that will accompany his group’s investigation. “Our work at Human Rights Watch is not just about documenting the horrors,” Bouckaert wrote in an email to TED. “Just as importantly, it is about trying to stop the killings while they are still going on. We can’t do that with words alone: powerful photography is central to what we do.”

This conflict appears to be built on centuries of ethnic tension between the Rohingya Muslim minority and the Buddhist majority in Burma (which is also called Myanmar). The current crisis began on August 25, 2017, when a Rohingya militant group staged a series of attacks on a military camp and 30 Burmese security outposts. In retaliation, HRW reports that Burmese security forces began to commit massacres in Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine State, which borders the Bay of Bengal to the west and Bangladesh in the north.

Eyewitness accounts detail these atrocities, and satellite images show that after the Rohingya were driven from their homes, the Burmese military burned entire communities to the ground. While the Burmese government contests the international media’s depiction of the current crisis, human rights organizations worldwide have condemned the actions of the Burmese military, and the United Nations has deemed their actions “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

“I photographed children with machete wounds to the head and many young men with multiple bullet wounds, and children also,” says Taylor-Lind, who has shared a number of her Rohingya portraits on Instagram. “I’ve photographed women and children who’ve arrived here with horrific burns, and women who’ve had their children murdered in front of them — beaten to death, and in some instances, their babies pulled from their arms and killed in front of them.”

Rashida, 25, was the sole survivor of a massacre. After the army attacked her village and systematically killed all the men, she was taken to a house with four other women where a soldier smashed her 28-day-old infant to death. Soldiers began killing the women with machetes and knives; Rashida was stabbed and had her throat cut. Afterwards, the soldiers locked the house and set it on fire. Rashida woke up in the burning house and broke through a bamboo wall to escape. Photo: Anastasia Taylor-Lind for Human Rights Watch.
Most of the Rohingya who have survived the massacres flee Burma at night and cross the Naf River in groups to reach Bangladesh. Bangladeshi border guards then escort the refugees to loosely defined camps, where, Taylor-Lind says, “they are loaded off a truck on the side of the road and left there.” Food and water are scarce, she reports, and with few latrines, the sanitation conditions are desperate. Medical care is insufficient, and due to the fact that it’s the middle of monsoon season in Southeast Asia, there’s frequent flooding and lots of mud. Most people live on the bare earth under makeshift tents made from black plastic sheeting held up by bamboo poles. “It’s a pretty dire situation,” Taylor-Lind says. “People are destitute, hungry, traumatized, and often hopeless. I have never seen anything like this before.”

At the camps, Taylor-Lind made dozens of portraits of Rohingya men, women and children who had survived massacres in their village. After a refugee was interviewed by HRW, Taylor-Lind would ask the survivor through a translator, “Can I make your picture? Can I show it to people? Can I tell your story?” The refugee sat as Taylor-Lind tested the light, composed the shot and adjusted the aperture, while the translator held the reflector. “I talk out loud while I’m working, and explain everything I’m doing,” she says.

Taylor-Lind’s makeshift portrait studio in the Thaing Khali refugee camp, Bangladesh. Pictured here is Mohammed, a Rohingya refugee. Photo: Anastasia Taylor-Lind for Human Rights Watch
The portrait sessions, which lasted about 30 minutes each, tended to be quiet. “I wanted to create an atmosphere like a church or mosque,” Taylor-Lind says. “I wanted to reduce the clutter and clamor of the camp in the hopes that I might glimpse a moment in which their experience passed across their face — in the way they looked or the way they looked at me — and show what I cannot photograph.” When she finished, she’d show the survivor their image in the back of her camera. Later, she had the portraits printed at a local shop so she could give each subject a photograph they could keep.

“Most people don’t have photographs with them, because they leave their home with nothing,” Taylor-Lind says. “Most people don’t have photographs of anyone they lost. Can you imagine that? To not have a photo of someone who died? To only be able to rely on your memory to know what their face looked like?”

Taylor-Lind sees these portraits as a collaboration with the survivors — an opportunity to give the Rohingya, after losing so much, a voice. “I don’t think these are necessarily my pictures,” she says. “This isn’t just my picture of Rashida; this is a picture we made together. It’s a collaboration.”

Mohammed, 16, was shot in the chest. He is the only surviving member of his family; the rest of his family was massacred by Burmese security forces at Tu Lar To Li. Photo: Anastasia Taylor-Lind for Human Rights Watch
After 26 days at the camps, Taylor-Lind is back in London, editing the photographs she took in Bangladesh. Beyond raising international awareness about the crimes being perpetrated in Burma, she hopes that her portraits, in conjunction with the testimonies collected by HRW, might one day provide evidence of those crimes — the first time her work would be used for such a purpose. “It is important that those who are responsible for these crimes are held accountable,” she says. “And when that happens, this evidence, these testimonies and these photographs may be able to contribute.”

Taylor-Lind also hopes that, in a small way, her portraits might help reaffirm the humanity of Rohingya survivors who are, for now, living in the mud in Bangladesh. “What struck me so much about working there was people’s willingness, their desire, to be photographed,” Taylor-Lind says. “This is ethnic cleansing, and I am photographing the people who survived. Maybe a photograph is proof of life, in some way.”
https://ideas.ted.com/a-photographer-bears-witness-to-the-rohingya-crisis/amp/

 

[Banglar Bir]

The Rohingya are facing genocide. We cannot be bystanders
We cannot allow people to be slaughtered and burnt out of their homes, while the world watches, write in this open letter

‘After every atrocity, we say ‘never again’. We must mean it.’
Photograph: Hannah Mckay
Reuters
Friday 10 November 2017 15.48 GMT
Last modified on Friday 10 November 2017 19.48 GMT
Over the past two months, more than 600,000 Rohingya people have been driven from their homes, had their land destroyed, and endured torture and rape while searching for safety. Remember what happened in Rwanda? Now, pay attention to Myanmar.
The Rohingya are often described as among the most persecuted people on earth. They are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, and despite having lived in Myanmar’s Rakhine state for centuries, they’re refused citizenship. For years, their movement has been restricted, and they have been denied access to education, health care, and other basic services.

Under the guise of fighting insurgency, or terrorism, the Rohingya have suffered what the UN has called a “textbook case” of ethnic cleansing. Since 25 August, almost half the Rohingya population in Myanmar has been driven out – one of the fastest movements of people in recent decades.

Bangladesh has opened its borders and is doing what it can, which is a lot for the most densely populated country on earth, already fighting poverty and the consequences of climate change.

The international response to the Rohingya crisis has fallen far short of what’s needed. The UN appeal is still underfunded, and world leaders have not put sufficient political pressure on the government.

Myanmar is no longer a pariah state; it has a democratically elected government and has been flooded with foreign direct investment over the past few years.

The corporations who have invested in this region must speak up and divest, unless human rights are respected, or they too will be complicit in these horrendous acts.

This Friday, world leaders will gather at the Asean summit but the Rohingya crisis is nowhere on the agenda. We call on leaders to pressure the Myanmar government to stop these atrocities, grant the Rohingya citizenship, and allow them to return to a place they call home.

Countries must fully fund the UN appeal and close the funding gap that is leaving traumatized children without basic food, water, and shelter. Finally, member states of the United Nations must assess what diplomatic efforts can enable them to fulfill their responsibility to protect the Rohingya.

We must not be bystanders to this genocide. We cannot allow people to be slaughtered and burnt out of their homes, while the world watches.
After every atrocity, we say: “Never again.” We must mean it.
Full list of signatories here:
Waris Ahluwalia, Babi Ahluwalia, Sachin Ahluwalia, Riz Ahmed, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Aziz Ansari, Dev Benegal, Gotham Chopra, Nandita Das, Rana Dasgupta, Anil Dash, Kiran Desai, Noureen DeWulf, Geeta Gandbhir, Vikram Gandhi, Shruti Ganguly, Janina Gavankar, Neelam Gill, Maneesh Goyal, Arjun Gupta, Mohsin Hamed, Hitha Prabhakar-Herzog, Anadil Hossain, Vijay Iyer, Sakina Jaffrey, Madhur Jaffrey, Poorna Jagannathan, Riddhika Jesrani, Rega Jha, Mindy KalingRaghu Karnad, Siddhartha Khosla, Hari Kondabolu, Shruti Kumar, Anjali Kumar, Hari Kunzru, Ajay Madiwale, Karan Mahajan, Rekha Malhotra, Aasif Mandvi, Sunita Mani, Nimitt Mankad, Suketu Mehta, Hasan Minhaj, Smriti Mundhra, Ajay Naidu, Aparna Nancherla, Kumail Nanjiani, Karuna Nundy, Maulik Pancholy, Joseph Patel, Shomi Patwary, Freida Pinto, Shaifali Puri, Aniq Rahman, Saira Rao, Zuleikha Robinson, Salman Rushdie, Reema Sampat, Reshma Saujani, Nikil Saval, Sumana Setty, Shiza ShahidKamila Shamsie, Anoushka Shankar, Sheetal Sheth, Sonejuhi Sinha, Madhureeta Goel, Southworth Lakshmi, Sundaram Himanshu Suri, Sonali Thimmaya, Pej Vahdat
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...nocide-ethnic-cleansing-never-again?CMP=fb_gu

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, November 12, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:39 AM, November 12, 2017
Rohingya rafts keep coming

A Rohingya refugee boy cries as he arrives on a makeshift raft on the Teknaf river in Sabranf after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border near Cox's Bazar yesterday. Photo: Reuters
Our Correspondent, Cox's Bazar
Over 1,500 Rohingya floated into Bangladesh in a single day yesterday as the persecuted minorities continue to flee violence in Myanmar.
Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, chairman of Palongkhali Union Parishad, said many of them arrived in Cox's Bazar on rafts made with jerrycans.

Md Atiqur Rahman, an official of Border Guard Bangladesh, said such rafts were being seen in increasing numbers in recent days and some Rohingyas were arriving on small engine boats.

The groups that arrived yesterday crossed the Naf river to reach Anjumanpara in Ukhiya and Maheshkhali, reports our correspondent. Police rescued them and sent them to Balukhali shelter.

On Thursday, 132 and on Friday afternoon 529 Rohingyas reached Shah Porir Dwip in Teknaf on rafts, according to police.

Police said so far 28 boats or trawlers have gone down at sea or in the Naf river causing 200 deaths of mostly women and children.

Mobile courts have so far meted out punishment to 452 Bangladeshis, including boat owners and middlemen or brokers, for illegally boarding Rohingyas on boats and trawlers.
ROHINGYAS INVITING RELATIVES
Rohingyas who have managed to secure shelter at different camps in Cox's Bazar, are now encouraging their relatives in the Rakhine State to come to Bangladesh for a “safe and better life”.

Md Moinuddin, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station, told The Daily Star over telephone, “We have come across some Rohingyas who recently came to Cox's Bazar after being convinced by relatives, who reached here before. Rohingyas already living in government-sponsored shelters and getting food and other humanitarian assistance from local and international agencies are informing their relatives about the conditions in the camps.”

He said Rohingyas have been communicating with their relatives via mobile phone and assuring them of their safe stay in temporary government shelters.
The police official however could not be sure how many had arrived following such communication.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/rohingya-rafts-keep-coming-1489825