Five years after the crackdown, Myanmar’s remaining Rohingya ‘living like animals’

The Guardian

Rebecca Ratcliffe 

South-east Asia correspondent

Thu 25 Aug 2022 

While 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar after 25 August 2017, 600,000 remain, facing harsh restrictions on movement, persecution and poverty‘

• Like an open prison’: a million Rohingya refugees still in Bangladesh camps five years after crisis   

F

ive years ago Muhammad*, his wife and two children sheltered at their home, terrified as they heard of violence tearing through nearby villages. The Myanmar military had launched so-called “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine state, forcing huge numbers of Rohingya people to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.

After Killing, Bangladesh Launches Crackdown in Rohingya Camps

THE I DIPLOMAT

By Sebastian Strangio
October 14, 2021

Bangladeshi police have made nearly 40 arrests, including five in connection with last month’s murder of a prominent Rohingya advocate.

Police in Bangladesh police have arrested nearly 40 refugees at the crowded refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar after the killing of a well-known Rohingya community leader last month. According to a report by Benarnews that cited local officials, the Bangladeshi police have undertaken a blitz against criminal activities in the camps, and arrested many suspected of involvement with illegal weapons and drugs.

“Police so far arrested 38 Rohingya from different refugee camps since the murder of Muhib Ullah,” Rafiqul Islam, an additional police superintendent in Cox’s Bazar, told BenarNews on Tuesday. “Law enforcers are continuing the drives to reduce any offenses or illegal activities in refugee camps.”

According to the officials, five of the suspects were arrested in connection with the recent killing of Mohib Ullah, the head of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), who was reportedly shot and killed by unidentified gunmen outside his office at the Kutupalong refugee camp on September 29.

Myanmar: UN chief condemns killing of civilians during brutal crackdown on protestors

UN News
27 March 2021
Peace and Security

Unsplash/Zinko Hein.Young man lights a candle during a night vigil in Yangon, Myanmar.

The UN chief condemned in the strongest terms, the killing of dozens of civilians, including children and young people, by security forces in Myanmar on Saturday.

In a statement issued by Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq, Secretary-General António Guterres said, “the continuing military crackdown…is unacceptable and demands a firm, unified and resolute international response”. 

As Myanmar’s military celebrated Armed Forces Day with a parade in the country’s capital, Naypyitaw, soldiers and police suppressed protesters during what has resulted in the highest daily death toll since demonstrations began last month.

“The military celebrated Armed Forces Day by committing mass murder against the people it should be defending”, tweeted Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.

He added that the Civil Disobedience Movement is responding with “powerful weapons of peace” and called for the world “to respond in kind with and for the people of Myanmar”.

Dozens feared dead as security forces stage violent crackdown

AFP
Frontier Myanmar
MARCH 27, 2021

A protester in Yangon's Thaketa Township walks along a smoke-filled road earlier today. (Frontier)

Security forces killed at least 24 protesters today, witnesses said, in violent crackdowns on demonstrations across the country as the military regime staged a major show of force for its annual Armed Forces Day parade.

The capital Nay Pyi Taw saw a grand parade of troops and military vehicles in the morning, with a speech by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing warning that acts of so-called “terrorism” were unacceptable.

By afternoon, as protesters continued to come out across Myanmar, AFP verified at least 24 people were killed – though local media put the death toll at far higher, with Myanmar Now reporting 91 killed.

US Slams Myanmar Military For Brutal Crackdown On Protesters And Responding With Bullets

REPUBLIC WORLD

Written By Vishal Tiwari

16th March, 2021

US State Department criticised Myanmar’s military for “brutally” attacking their own people and killing dozens throughout the country last weekend.

The United States on Monday slammed Myanmar’s junta over a surge in violence against pro-democracy protesters, saying “they have responded to calls for the restoration of democracy with bullets”. US State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter criticised Myanmar’s military for “brutally” attacking their own people and killing dozens throughout the country last weekend. Porter said the crackdown of civilians in Myanmar proves that the military orchestrated the coup for their own benefits.

How Myanmar's military-controlled government is cracking down on journalists

Q107

Elaine Kurtenbach
The Associated Press
March 9, 2021

WARNING: This story contains graphic content. WATCH: Myanmar's violent crackdown on protests becomes deadlier

Myanmar’s military-controlled government is cracking down on coverage of mass protests, raiding media companies and detaining dozens of journalists since its Feb. 1 coup, including Thein Zaw of The Associated Press.

Malaysia arrests Rohingya in trafficking crackdown

CNA 
21 Apr 2020

Malaysian authorities have arrested two people suspected of being human traffickers in connection with the arrival of this boat crammed with Rohingya migrants in Langkawi on April 5 AFP/Handout

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has arrested two Rohingya for alleged human-trafficking, authorities said Tuesday (Apr 21), as they ramp up efforts to stop members of the Muslim minority coming to the country amid coronavirus fears.

Malaysia is a favoured destination for the group from mostly Buddhist Myanmar, who have long complained of persecution, as it is a Muslim-majority country that already has a sizeable Rohingya diaspora.

Myanmar finds war crimes but no genocide in Rohingya crackdown

Aljazeera
2020.01.21
ICOE report comes days before UN's top court issues ruling on whether urgent measures are necessary to stop genocide.

Rohingya, who have lived in Myanmar for generations, fled to Bangladesh in 2017 and are fearful of returning without guarantees on their rights and citizenship [File: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

A commission set up to investigate the 2017 crackdown in Rakhine that led hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya to flee Myanmar, has concluded that while some soldiers probably committed war crimes there was no genocide.

The Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE) released the findings of its investigation, but not the full report, to the country's president on Monday, a few days before the United Nations' top court is set to rule on whether to impose urgent measures to stop the alleged continuing genocide in Myanmar.