Situation of Inter-Communal Violence in Myanmar is Perilous, Warn ASEAN Legislators

Myanmar is on the precipice of widespread inter-communal conflict and the authorities must immediately implement a comprehensive strategy that protects victims, holds perpetrators of violence accountable for their actions and also deals with the underlying tensions that are fueling conflicts between Buddhist and Muslim communities, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today […]

Burma Government Must Prevent Ongoing Communal and Religious Violence by Tackling Impunity

This week, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma, Tomás Ojea Quintana, reported that during his recent 10-day official mission to Burma his convoy was besieged by anti-Muslim protestors in Meikhtila, Mandalay Region, the scene of anti-Muslim violence in March of this year. However, the week’s unrest did not stop there: a few days later, Buddhist mobs burnt down dozens of shops and homes belonging to Muslims in Kantbalu, Sagaing Region, after a Muslim man was arrested for allegedly attempting to rape a Buddhist woman. Unfortunately, such incidents in Burma are nothing new: 2013 has seen outbreaks of religious and communal violence afflicting increasing numbers of towns across the country. Violence flared up most notably in Meikhtila on 20 March, lasting for more than a week, and also on 28 and 29 May in Lashio, Shan State, where one Muslim was killed and four Buddhists injured, and on 29 May in Mone, Kyauk Gyi Township, Pegu Region, where mobs destroyed a mosque and a madrasa. In addition, nearly 250,000 people, the majority of whom are Muslims, have been displaced by the violence across the country thus far […]

PHR Documents Systematic Patterns of Anti-Muslim Violence in Burma

New Report Shows Government’s Failure to Protect Muslims From Widespread Attacks

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today released a report documenting the recent wave of violence against Muslims throughout Burma, whose government has created a culture of impunity for the violators and has failed to protect the Muslim minority.

The report details a number of serious human rights violations that have taken place over the last two years, which have resulted in the displacement of nearly 250,000 people and the destruction of more than 10,000 homes, scores of mosques, and a dozen monasteries […]

Patterns of Anti-Muslim Violence in Burma: A Call for Accountability and Prevention

In this report, PHR documents how persecution of and violence against the Rohingya in Burma has spread to other Muslim communities throughout the country. PHR conducted eight separate investigations in Burma and the surrounding region between 2004 and 2013. PHR’s most recent field research in early 2013 indicates a need for renewed attention to violence against minorities and impunity for such crimes […]

Thein Sein’s Words Must be Followed by Action

President Thein Sein completed his first visit to the UK and France on 18 July with more promises of reform and was prematurely rewarded with trade and investment discussions, military cooperation and a gloss of legitimacy. Although Prime Minister David Cameron, President François Hollande, as well President Thein Sein, paid lip-service to reform and human rights, this does not disguise the reality of a dire human rights situation, the stalled peace process, and the empty promises of reform that characterize Burma today.

One of the promises that Thein Sein made was that all political prisoners would be released by the end of the year. It has been over two years since Thein Sein assumed the office of President, and the amount of times that world leaders have pushed him on this issue has been countless. Yet there remain hundreds of people languishing in jail for their political activism, while the number of new political prisoners is increasing. On the very day that Thein Sein made this statement, a 74 year-old Rohingya human rights activist in Arakan State was arbitrarily arrested and detained. Just a few days later on 18 July, Daw Bawk Ja, a Kachin human rights activist and member of the National Democratic Force, was unlawfully detained on politically motivated charges […]

President Urges MNHRC, IFG to Work Together with Government to Protect Country’s Image

President U Thein Sein urged the Interfaith Friendship Group and Myanmar National Human Rights Commission to cooperate with the government and to take responsibility for image the country not to be tarnished as it is found that the conflict between the two communities in the country is being exaggerated as racial and religious conflict between the two communities and regional and international issues in an attempt to bring it to the UN […]

Myanmar’s religious violence a threat to Southeast Asia’s security

Continuing inter-religious violence in Myanmar is spilling over into neighbouring countries as seen in recent
attacks between groups within the Myanmar migrant community in Kuala Lumpur. If left unchecked, such
spillovers will pose a threat to Southeast Asian security and stability […]

Resolution on the Situation of Rohingya Muslims

The European Parliament, having regard to its previous resolutions on Burma/Myanmar, in particular those of 20 April 2012[1], 13 September 2012[2] and 22 November 2012[3], having regard to its resolution of 23 May 2013 on reinstatement of Myanmar/Burma’s access to generalised tariff preferences[4], having regard to the EU Foreign Affairs Council conclusions of 22 April 2013 on Myanmar/Burma […]

Burma Government Must End Impunity and Promote Religious Tolerance

This week, mosques, schools and shops were burnt down, Muslims populations displaced, people injured and killed, and journalists attacked. These dramatic events are now common news coming out of Burma. In the last three months, religious violence took place in more than 18 townships hundreds of kilometers apart from each other, more than 44 people died, and more than 13,000 have been displaced. Yet, no appropriate actions have been taken to halt the spread of violence, extremist religious views and distrust among communities.

On 28 and 29 May, violence spread to Lashio, Shan State, where one Muslim was killed and four Buddhists wounded. Mobs of young men on motorcycles roamed the city with swords, destroying shops and shouting they would “kill any Muslims they see on the road.” Two Democratic Voice of Burma reporters were injured and their SIM cards stolen. The police again failed to stop the violence and protect the population. According to a New York Times source, the first police units arrived two hours after the violence started and did not confront the rioters. More than 1,400 Muslims were displaced and found shelter in a Buddhist temple. On the night of 29 May, violence spread to the town of Mone in Kyauk Gyi Township, Pegu Region, where mobs destroyed a mosque and madrasa.

Two-Child Policy in Arakan State: Latest Act of Ill-treatment, Unlikely to be the Last

Last week, Arakan State officials, following recommendations from the internationally-rejected 186-page report of a government-appointed commission, announced a mandatory two-child policy to ‘help ease tension’ in Buthidaung and Maungdaw provinces where the majority of the population is Muslim. A year after two bouts of violence in Arakan State, this two child policy, that applies predominantly to the Rohingya population, is perhaps the most obvious outline of potential ethnic cleansing that many have voiced their concerns about, most noticeably in the last Human Rights Watch report. “The state government is trying to use the Rakhine investigation recommendation, which is outrageous, to justify a policy of limiting births of Rohingya,” said Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch.

This policy announcement also marks the government’s first ‘official’ act of segregation since the outbreaks of violence that displaced as many as 125,000 Rohingya. From burning of mosques, targeted attacks on Rohingya families, denial of identity, and the implicit support of the 969 anti-Muslim campaign, now comes population control. It is unlikely to stop. This time it’s clearer than ever that the government is backing the agenda behind a campaign against the Muslims in Burma. Win Myaing, a Rakine State spokesperson said that the Rohingya population in the area is growing ten times faster than the Buddhist Arakanese and is one of the causes of the tension. Although population pressure on scarce socio-economic resources in the area should be taken into consideration, this policy serves only one purpose – defeat of the ‘unwanted’ Rohingya population […]