New Rohingya Election Briefing Paper Presented In UK Parliament

By Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK • November 3, 2015

A new briefing by Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, ‘No Hope For Rohingya From Burma Election’, was presented at a meeting in the British Parliament today.

The briefing paper provides analysis of the election from the perspective of the Rohingya. When the people of Burma go to the polling stations on November 8th, for the first time since independence the majority of Rohingya will not be allowed to vote. In another first, as all Rohingya candidates for the national parliament were rejected by the Union Election Commission (UEC), there will be no Rohingya MPs in Parliament.

The paper is being presented in a meeting on the Rohingya in the British Parliament today, hosted by John Bercow MP, Speaker of the Parliament.

The briefing paper provides information on Rohingya political parties and candidates who have been banned from participating, and examines the prospects for the Rohingya after the elections under an NLD or USDP government. It concludes that whoever wins, the Rohingya lose, with no prospect in sight for significant improvement for our situation after the election.

Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation said “The international community must stop treating the situation of the Rohingya as somehow disconnected from the general situation in the country. To endorse the elections in any way as credible is to endorse our disenfranchisement and our repression. The recent Yale Law School and Fortify Rights report says it found strong evidence that genocide is occurring against the Rohingya in Burma. It is time UK government and other international community should support UN commission of Inquiry to assess the situation of Rohingya people of Burma”.