‘We don’t matter’: Rohingya deprived of vote in Myanmar elections

Aljazeera
6 Nov 2020

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, who have taken shelter in Bangladesh, lament their exclusion from the polls. 

 

Successive military governments in Myanmar have stripped the Rohingya of identity documents, leaving many with no proof of their origins [Mohammed Jamjoom/Al Jazeera]

Mohammad Yusuf voted in almost every Myanmar election from 1974 until 2010 – the last time ethnic Rohingya were allowed to vote in the country he still calls home after fleeing three years ago in the wake of a brutal military offensive.

Rohingya leaders want measures against crimes in camps

NEWAGE  

Staff Correspondent

Date :Oct 27,2020

Rohingya rights activists in a joint statement on Monday demanded an end to all ongoing injustice, violence and inhumane crimes against the innocent Rohingya people in the camps in Bangladesh.

They said that the innocent Rohingyas, including women, children, elderly and sick people, were sandwiched and killed in the infightings between October 3 and October 7 centring illegal Yaba drugs business. ‘We have loudly and clearly spoken out against such criminal activities because they neither reflect our peace-loving culture and religion nor serve our ultimate interest of restoring our universal rights in our motherland,’ the statement reads.

The Rohingya right campaigners — Ambia Parveen, Anwar Shah Arkani, Hla Kyaw, Mohammed Ibrahim, Mojib Ullah, Khairul Amin, Nay San Lwin, Tun Khin and Zaw Min Htut — urged Bangladesh government to take the issue seriously before further deterioration of the situation.

 

Link : Here

Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, talks to ANews regarding the current situation of the Rohingya Muslims.

 

Link : Here

Rohingya fear deportation after Saudi Arabia calls on Bangladesh to give minority passports

M&E

MIDDLE EAST EYE

Areeb Ullah  

Date: 14 October 2020

 

Riyadh threatens Dhaka with curbing migration if it fails to adhere to its request, which could be disastrous for Bangladesh's economy

Rohingya refugees living in Malaysia shout slogans during a protest against the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, in Kuala Lumpur on 8 September 2017 (AFP)

 

Rohingya living in Saudi Arabia are worried that Riyadh will deport them, after the kingdom threatened Bangladesh with a migration ban unless Dhaka gave Bangladeshi passports to members of the persecuted minority.

Last month, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen confirmed in a Dhaka press conference that Riyadh had made the request for Bangladesh to give Rohingya living in Saudi Arabia Bangladeshi citizenship.

Rohingya crisis: Exiled blogger describes Myanmar violence

DW
Date:

 

Rohingya activist and blogger Nay San Lwin has been documenting torture and subjugation faced by his people in Myanmar. His blog has become one of the most reliable sources on the brutal crackdown against the Rohingya.Long before the suffering inflicted on Myanmar's prompted global outcry, Nay San Lwin's website, Rohingya Blogger, provided daily updates on the Muslim minority's everday plight.

Bangladesh: Teen injured in Rohingya clashes dies

AA

SM Najmus Sakib 

DHAKA, Bangladesh 

13.10.2020 

File Photo

A 14-year-old boy became the latest victim of days of violence inside Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh’s southern Cox’s Bazar district, officials said on Saturday.

The victim was identified as Ziabur Rahman, son of Mohammad Arif Ullah, and a resident of the Kutupalong refugee camp.

“The boy died on Saturday morning. His parents say he was abducted after a clash on Oct. 3 and was released after a few days in injured condition. He died today at a hospital in Cox’s Bazar,” Khalilur Rahman Khan, the camp manager, told Anadolu Agency.

Myanmar: New evidence of attacks in Rakhine state

AA

SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh
13.10.2020

UN Security Council must urgently refer situation in Myanmar to International Criminal Court, says Amnesty International

Human rights organization Amnesty International announced Monday that it has gathered fresh evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians in western Myanmar amid an escalation in an ongoing armed conflict between the country’s military and the Arakan Army.

The evidence suggests that the Myanmar military burned villages and wounded and killed civilians in Rakhine in early September.

Rohingya refugees face continuous violence

NEW FRAME 
Friday, 2 October 2020

Two Myanmar soldiers have confessed to committing atrocities against Rohingya Muslims, giving more evidence of the genocide against the minority group.

Two personnel in Myanmar’s military have confessed to “exterminating” Rohingya Muslims. Human rights defenders believe that this public acknowledgement could substantiate the ongoing international genocide investigation at the International Court of Justice against Myanmar’s military establishment.

Myo Win Tun, 33, and Zaw Naoing Tun, 30, who belong to separate light infantry battalions, claimed they were given orders to “shoot and rape villagers” while raiding “kalar” villages – “kalar” is a derogatory term for Muslim Rohingyas.

Coronavirus and security issues cast a pall over Myanmar polls

DW
30.09.2020

Political parties in Myanmar are calling for the postponement of a national election amid rising COVID-19 cases. Continued unrest in the country's northeast also threatens to keep people from voting.

Political parties in Myanmar have urged the Union Election Commission (UEC) to postpone November's election, saying the "COVID-19 restrictions will hinder their election campaigns."

But the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, headed by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, has decided to go ahead with its election campaign on social media.

MYANMAR: ROHINGYA DROWNING IN BLAME FOR SECOND WAVE OF COVID-19

ASIA MEDIA

September 26, 2020

SARA ALTUWAIJRI WRITES — Myanmar is facing a second wave of COVID-19, new cases are skyrocketing and, with general elections coming November 8, officials are accusing Rohingya of spreading the second wave of COVID. Why the blame? So that those aiming for election or re-election can gain people’s support. As elections get closer, politicians are spreading hate against the Rohingya. As stated by Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin, “Politicians in Myanmar are always trying to take advantage of the situation we are in. Although there were no Rohingya victims in the second COVID-19 wave, some politicians began propagating against us.” She adds that despite the fact that the first two new cases of coronavirus involved Rakhine Buddhists, Muslim Rohingya are blamed for the second wave and accused of bringing the virus from Bangladesh.

Riyadh’s pressure on Dhaka unfair

The Daily Star
Porimol Palma
September 25, 2020

Analysts, activists say about insistence that 54,000 Rohingyas in KSA be issued Bangladeshi passports; Momen says no passport without proof

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen. File photo

The Saudi Arabian pressure on Bangladesh to issue passports to 54,000 Rohingyas and bring back 462 others is unacceptable and unfair, analysts and Rohingya activists have said.

They said if the kingdom was really to send back the Rohingyas, they should mount pressure on Myanmar. They questioned as to why Bangladesh, which had taken in over a million Rohingyas, should take the 54,000 more.

Racism Is Fueling Myanmar’s Deadly Second Wave of COVID-19

THE I DIPLOMAT
By Andrew Nachemson
September 11, 2020

Anti-migrant — and especially anti-Rohingya and anti-Rakhine — sentiments are undermining efforts to control the pandemic.

This article is freeThe Diplomat has removed paywall restrictions on our coverage of the COVID–19 crisis.

As COVID-19 cases surge in Myanmar, the country’s famously serene State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be getting flustered. In a severe speech delivered September 2, she castigated “reckless and unsympathetic” nightclub owners, admonished Yangon residents for flouting COVID-19 restrictions, and threatened legal punishment against uncooperative citizens. On August 24, a week after the second wave began, she also warned against potential racial tension in Rakhine state, the epicenter of Myanmar’s renewed outbreak, reminding Burmese that recent violence there has made Myanmar a global “embarrassment.”

Racism Is Fueling Myanmar’s Deadly Second Wave of COVID-19

THE I DIPLOMAT

By Andrew Nachemson 

September 11, 2020

Anti-migrant — and especially anti-Rohingya and anti-Rakhine — sentiments are undermining efforts to control the pandemic. 

A man walks past while local residents gather near a blocked street in a lockdown area to help control the spread of the COVID-19, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, in Yangon, Myanmar. Credit: AP Photo/Thein Zaw

As COVID-19 cases surge in Myanmar, the country’s famously serene State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be getting flustered. In a severe speech delivered September 2, she castigated “reckless and unsympathetic” nightclub owners, admonished Yangon residents for flouting COVID-19 restrictions, and threatened legal punishment against uncooperative citizens. On August 24, a week after the second wave began, she also warned against potential racial tension in Rakhine state, the epicenter of Myanmar’s renewed outbreak, reminding Burmese that recent violence there has made Myanmar a global “embarrassment.”

Rohingya diaspora take determined steps to regain their rights

DAILY SABAH
BY ANADOLU AGENCY ANKARA
ASIA PACIFIC
AUG 24, 2020

A Rohingya man carries bricks up a hill for contruction works in a Jamtolia refugee camp near Ukia, Bangladesh, Aug 23rd 2020 (AFP Photo)

Neither repressive regimes nor the coronavirus pandemic can hold back the persecuted Muslim community from seeking a dignified and respectful return to their homeland

It was three years ago that Myanmar's military unleashed history’s worst aggression toward the Rohingya in the country's northern Rakhine state on Aug. 25, 2017; however, the displaced people are determined to regain their rights as citizens.

Myanmar’s Policy on Rohingya and their struggle

လင့္၊https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn3glzOTWLk

Experts urge Rohingya-Rakhine Buddhists reconciliation

AA
Md. Kamruzzaman
DHAKA, Bangladesh
17.07.2020

Changing attitudes to Rohingya by Buddhists, media paving way for reconciliation, Rohingya rights worker says

Experts at the first Rohingya-Rakhine online seminar Thursday urged reconciliation of minority Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists to restore sustainable peace in Rakhine state in Myanmar.

“Interestingly we are seeing many Rakhine brothers and sisters, and Rakhine media changing their attitude towards us. It gives us an opportunity to start contemplating and aspiring to a Rohingya - Rakhine reconciliation,” Ro Nay San Lwin, co-founder of Free Rohingya Coalition said at the conference.

What Future for Rakhine?: End Games for the Arakanese (Rakhine, Rohingyas and Other Co-habitants)

Co-organised by SOAS, FORSEA & Free Rohingya Coalition
 

Reconciliation between Rakhine and Rohingyas is essential before repatriation: Experts

THE BUSINESS STANDARD

16 July, 2020, 

 

The discussions also addressed the status of the genocide of Rohingyas, the limitations of international law and accountability mechanisms (such as ICJ and ICC) 

 

Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhia, Cox's Bazar. File Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS 

 

Experts on Thursday said in a special online seminar there are possibilities for reconciliation between the two largest co-habiting ethnic communities of Rakhine – Rakhine and Rohingya.

They also opined that reconciliation is a must before repatriation of Rohingyas in Myanmar.

The seminar titled "What Future for Rakhine?: End Games for the Arakanese (Rakhine, Rohingyas and Other Co-habitants)" was jointly organised by Free Rohingya Coalition, Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia and SOAS School of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Covid-19 And The Rohingya: Hunger, exploitation, hate crimes and xenophobia

The Daily Star
C R Abrar
 July 14, 2020

“What these youth want is to thrive as human beings, to realise their innate potentials, not merely to survive.” Photo: Anisur Rahman 

"We are the same human being like you and need the same basic rights which you enjoy. Please don't hate us. We don't want to be a burden. Allow us to study and work, and stand by us. We will surely return home."

This was the ardent appeal of Sharifah Shakirah, who fled to Malaysia from Buthidaung township in Myanmar at the age of six. Sharifah was joined by four other Rohingya youth at an eSymposium on June 9 to share their experiences of the Covid-19 situation in their respective countries of asylum.

Covid-19 pushed Rohingyas towards hunger, malnutrition: Experts

UNB

UNB News
Dhaka
July 10, 2020,

File photo

Experts at an e-symposium on Thursday said the lockdowns and economic slowdown for Covid-19 pandemic in different countries have robbed Rohingya refugee communities further of their livelihood opportunities and pushed them into hunger and malnutrition.

They made these remarks at an e-symposium titled ‘Hunger, Exploitation, Hate Crime and Xenophobia! Rohingyas on Land and at Sea’ organised by Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) in collaboration with Free Rohingya Coalition.