Press Release: US Government Needs to Step Up to Avert Growing Humanitarian Disaster of Rohingya Refugees

(Washington DC, May 18, 2015) – Today, US Campaign for Burma calls on the U.S. government to take leadership in providing immediate humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya refugees as well as putting effective pressure on the Burmese government to end its systemic ethnic cleansing program of the Rohingya […]

Burma: Action Urged On Stranded Rohingya Refugees

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has called on the British government to press for EU Foreign Ministers meeting today to discuss the case of Rohingya refugees who are currently stranded in the Andaman Sea […]

Statement of the Coalition of Young People of Indonesia for ASEAN

Dear ASEAN Community, lately we have been surprised by the news of forced migration of Rohingya people from Myanmar […]

Human Rights at the Bottom of the Andaman Sea

Earlier this week, two boats containing 600 refugees from Burma – mainly Muslim Rohingya – were turned away from the shores of Malaysia, having fled oppression under the Burma Government. They had been at sea for over two months and faced severe dehydration, starvation, and sickness. According to the International Office for Migration, there may be up to 8,000 still stranded at sea, many of whom will perish unless the international community provides urgent and substantive support. The scale of the exodus from Burma is alarming; according to the UN, this year alone more than 25,000 refugees have left Burma and Bangladesh for the shores of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Many have been identified as Rohingya, Burma’s most persecuted religious minority population. For decades, the Rohingya have been systematically denied citizenship by their oppressive, military-backed government and subjected to repressive and discriminatory legislation, widespread and systematic human rights abuses, and violence that Human Rights Watch has classified as ethnic cleansing. Since 2012, hundreds have died and more than 140,000 have been displaced from their homes and villages. At the very least, the Burma authorities have been criminally negligent as regards the Rohingya; in many cases they were reportedly complicit in the violence. The Burma Government has shown no willingness to even investigate the violence, let alone prosecute those responsible.

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 […]

Hammond Urged To Mobilise EU Over Rohingya Refugee Crisis

Burma Campaign UK today called on Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond to ensure that EU Foreign Ministers discuss the Rohingya refugee crisis when they meet on Monday. The European Union should apply pressure on Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia to stop pushing boats of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshis back out to sea […]

Southeast Asia: End Rohingya Boat Pushbacks

(Bangkok, May 14, 2015) – Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia should end their pushbacks of boats with Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants and asylum seekers, and instead bring them ashore and provide desperately needed aid, Human Rights Watch said today […]

Rohingya Refugee Crisis: ASEAN Should Stop Push-Back and Tackle Root Causes

Burma Campaign UK today called on ASEAN members to stop pushing boats of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshis back out to sea […]

ASEAN Parliamentarians Condemn Indonesia’s Treatment of Migrants

JAKARTA, 13 May 2015 – ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) today criticized Indonesia’s approach to dealing with the influx of migrants in the midst of an escalating regional refugee crisis […]

ASEAN: ICJ Condemns Indonesian and Malaysian Push-backs at Sea

Bangkok, Thailand — The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today condemned the decisions of the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia to turn away and push back boats carrying hundreds of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, including women and children, out to sea […]