Myanmar: MSF Acknowledges Encouraging Dialogue on Rakhine but Clinics Remain Closed

Jakarta, 24 March 2014 – Since Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Holland was ordered to suspend all activities in Rakhine State on February 26, the organisation has been engaged in high-level discussions with the Union Government of Myanmar on the need to maintain essential medical services for the many hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in the state currently facing a humanitarian medical crisis […]

BURMA/MYANMAR: No Rule of Law via Special Branch, Militarised Police

On 11 March 2014 a presidential commission of inquiry into the latest violence in the far west of Burma, or Myanmar, presented its findings. According to the commission, which is the latest in a series examining violence around the country, numbers of security forces in some areas need to be significantly increased […]

MYANMAR: ABOLISH ABUSIVE RESTRICTIONS & PRACTICES AGAINST ROHINGYA MUSLIMS

The 79-page report, Policies of Persecution: Ending Abusive State Policies Against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, produced by Fortify Rights is based primarily on the analysis of 12 leaked official documents and a review of public records, as well as interviews with Rohingya and others in Myanmar and Thailand. The documents published in the report reveal restrictions that deny Rohingya basic human rights, including the rights to nondiscrimination, freedom of movement, marriage, family, health, and privacy. All of the restrictions and enforcement methods described in the report appear to be in effect at the time of writing.

“Regional Order 1/2005,” obtained by Fortify Rights, lays the foundation for a two-child policy enforced in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, requiring Rohingya “who have permission to marry” to “limit the number of children, in order to control the birth rate so that there is enough food and shelter.” This order—which in practice translates to a strict two-child policy— also prohibits Rohingya from having children out of wedlock […]

Communiqué by Heads of Missions of the European Union

1. The embassies of France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the EU Delegation have just concluded a four-day mission to Northern Rakhine State. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Government of Myanmar for the excellent cooperation and hospitality extended to us during this mission, and notably to the Union Minister for Border Affairs, Lieutenant General Thet Naing Win, the Chief Minister of Rakhine State, U Hla Maung Tin, and the Deputy Minister of Immigration and Population, U Kyaw Kyaw Win, and their teams […]

Statement From Members Of The European Burma Network

Members of the European Burma Network express their deep concern at reports of further massacres of members of the Rohingya ethnic group in Burma. The report by the United Nations that at least 48 Rohingya men women and children have been killed, and that police were involved, provides yet more evidence that the current approach by both the government of Burma and the European Union to address ongoing abuses against the Rohingya is failing […]

Myanmar: Hardships Abound in Violence-Stricken Rakhine State

Sporadic intercommunal violence and continuing tensions mean essential services are out of reach for many in Rakhine state. The ICRC and the Myanmar Red Cross Society are helping the local authorities to rebuild livelihoods for people affected on both sides of the communal divide […]

Fresh Violence in Arakan State Belies Government’s Disingenuous Assurances to UN Human Rights Council

A resurgence of inter-communal violence in Arakan State on 1 and 2 October has left six Muslims dead and dozens of homes destroyed, with mobs setting fire to houses in several villages in Sandoway Township just hours before President Thein Sein was due to arrive for an official visit to the beleaguered region. Calm has now been restored, but suspicions and tension remain between Muslims and Buddhists, while nearly 500 people have been left homeless and many others reportedly injured or missing.

What differentiates this latest outbreak of violence from previous ones is that this time the ethnic Rohingya, who bore the brunt of the violence in June and October 2012, were not on the receiving end. Rather, according to local NLD representative Win Laing, “They are Kaman [Muslims], they are ethnic nationals—not outsiders.” Yet, despite evidence to the contrary, namely that the victims were of a different ethnicity this time and that Buddhist gangs initiated the violence, the government line is that so-called illegal Muslim immigrants – or Rohingya – are to blame for the violence. “Bengali people wanted to create violence now,” claimed Win Myaing, Arakan State government spokesperson […]

Burma Risk Assessment

Following extensive research, the Sentinel Project has concluded that the risk of genocide or related mass atrocities in Burma is extremely high. Despite recent democratic reforms in the country, violence, discrimination, and extrajudicial killings continue and are mostly directed toward the Muslim Rohingya minority in Rakhine state. Violence and other crimes against the Rohingya, which are conducted by both state and non-state groups, are both widespread and systematic […]

Thailand: End Inhumane Detention of Rohingya

Provide Asylum Seekers Access to UN Refugee Agency The Thai government should immediately end the detention under inhumane conditions of more than 1,700 ethnic Rohingya from Burma, Human Rights Watch said today. Rohingya asylum seekers should be transferred from overcrowded cells in immigration detention centers to get screening and protection from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees […]

Protecting Minority Rights Is Non-Negotiable

In its rush to normalize relations with Myanmar, the international community – particularly the United Nations – must not ignore the increase in abuses being committed against ethnic minorities in Rakhine and Kachin States, and it must take a stronger stance in defense of the human rights of affected populations. Ten months after violence forced them into displacement […]