SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN MYANMAR: Why the U.S. Should Maintain Existing Sanctions Authority

Is now the time for the U.S. Government to drop all sanctions on Myanmar (also known as Burma)? A network of corporate lobbyists and business associations are seeking to convince the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to lift all remaining sanctions on the country by letting the existing sanctions authority expire this month […]

Give Rohingya Back Their Vote – Stop Genocide Against The Rohingya

100 people joined a protest at the British Foreign Office today calling on the British government to support a UN Commission of Inquiry into possible genocide against the Rohingya of Burma […]

COUNTDOWN TO ANNIHILATION: GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR

The Rohingya face the final stages of genocide. Decades of persecution have taken on a new and intensified form since mass killings in 2012. The marked escalation in State-sponsored stigmatisation, discrimination, violence and segregation, and the systematic weakening of the community, make precarious the very existence of the Rohingya […]

Human Rights are Called Universal for a Reason

For many years in Burma, a person carrying a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights risked arrest and even jail. Underground human rights networks distributed copies and organised discussions on the articles it contained. Drafted in the aftermath of World War II by a world horrified by the genocidal policies of Germany’s Nazi regime, the declaration sought to lay out the standard rights that every human being should enjoy […]

APHR Condemn Myanmar Population Control Law as another Step towards Ethnic Cleansing

JAKARTA, 27 May 2015 – The Myanmar government’s passage of a controversial new “population control” law is yet another in a long line of restrictive and illegal measures as part of a policy of persecution and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population, ASEAN lawmakers said today […]

Humanitarian Crisis Affecting Rohingya Muslims is the Product of Genocide

London, 16 May 2015: Persecution of the Rohingya minority by the Myanmar government amounts to genocide, according to field research from the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI), based at Queen Mary University of London […]

Letter from Members of the US Congress to Secretary of State John Kerry

Burma Must Find a Path to a More Tolerant Society

The streets of Mandalay, which just recently drew over 20,000 people in support of National League for Democracy and 88 Generation Peace and Open Society’s joint campaign to amend Section 436 of the Constitution in support of democratic reform, remain deserted this last week as many business owners closed their shutters in fear, following serious unrest in the city. In the second largest city in Burma, violent mobs took over the streets, leaving two people dead and dozens injured. Some stated that over “70 police were here but did nothing,” as Buddhist mobs torched a school in a Muslim area. Ironically the international community has mostly stayed silent in the wake of the recent events when their actions are needed to protect the people of Burma, especially the most vulnerable communities, more than ever.

The series of events began on 1 July, just hours after the extremist Buddhist monk, and leader of the anti-Muslim 969 movement, Wirathu, picked up a questionable post from the social media site Facebook that highlighted an alleged rape of a Buddhist woman committed by two Muslim brothers. According to David Mathieson, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, Wirathu, who is based in Mandalay, appeared to have played “a pivotal role” in inciting the unrest, fanning tensions by spreading accusations with religious inferences, while calling for action against the two Muslim brothers who own a teashop in the same area where his monastery is located […]

Myanmar must Immediately Allow Doctors without Borders (MSF) and All Humanitarian Aid Organizations to Resume Full Scale Operations in Rakhine State

BANGKOK – ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) today joined with human rights activists around the world in a Global Day of Action to demand the Myanmar government immediately allow Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and all humanitarian aid organizations to resume full scale operations without restrictions and provide life-saving aid in Rakhine State […]

United Nations Expert Says There Are “Elements of Genocide” Against Myanmar’s Rohingya

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Tomás Ojéa Quintana has said “There are elements of genocide in Rakhine with respect to Rohingya.”[…]