Bangladesh takes another 3,000 Rohingya to remote islet

Anadolu Agency

SM Najmus Sakib
DHAKA, Bangladesh
14-02-2021

7,000 refugees already shifted from Cox's Bazar camps amid opposition from UN, rights groups

Bangladesh on Sunday began relocating another 3,000 Rohingya refugees to a remote island, despite opposition from the UN and rights groups.

It is hosting more than a million Rohingya Muslims at cramped makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar, which is considered the world’s largest refugee settlement. Most have fled violence following a military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state in 2017.

Rohingya Activists Are Hoping That the Coup in Myanmar Will Be a Turning Point for Their Struggle

TIME  

Amy Gunia

February 8, 2021

   

A group of people shout slogans and hold placards during a Rohingya solidarity rally in front of the ICJ, The Hague, on December 11th, 2019.Romy Arroyo Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images

In the week since the military overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government, exile Nay San Lwin has been inundated with dozens of messages from his compatriots offering support.

It’s a dramatic change from 2017, when the rights activist, now living in Germany, was disseminating information about the atrocities Myanmar’s military had unleashed against his community—the mostly Muslim Rohingya, who live in the west of the country. Back then, the majority of the messages he received from other Burmese consisted of death threats and abuse.

What Myanmar’s coup could mean for the Rohingya and other persecuted minorities

Vox 

Jen Kirbyjen.kirby@vox.com
Feb 2, 2021

The takeover is terrible for Myanmar. It may be worse for the country’s most vulnerable. 

Rohingya refugees are relocated to the flood-prone island Bhashan Char in Chittagong, Bangladesh, on January 30, 2021. Rehman Asad/NurPhoto via Getty Images

 

The Myanmar military overthrew its civilian government in a coup on Monday, ending the facade of democratic rule and creating an even more uncertain future for human rights in the country — especially the persecuted Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.

The aftermath of the coup is still unfolding, but human rights advocates and experts told me they are increasingly fearful of what might happen to anyone who challenges the regime.

Rohingya: Tripartite moot raises hopes, skepticism

AA

SM Najmus Saki 

DHAKA, Bangladesh

16.01.2021 

Bangladesh hosting tripartite meeting on Rohingya repatriation bringing China, Myanmar to table on Jan. 19 

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen

Bangladesh is going to host an important tripartite meeting on the Rohingya repatriation issue, which has been frozen for a year, bringing China and Myanmar to the table on Jan. 19.

The last tripartite meeting was held on Jan. 20 last year in New York, and since then Myanmar has been allegedly postponing the bilateral talks despite repeated attempts by Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said it will be a secretary-level tripartite meeting and hopefully it will be productive. However, he averred that “repatriation is the only solution to end the Rohingya crisis, and there will be no alternative.”

Out of sight, out of mind: Who will protect Rohingyas sent to remote, flood-prone island?

TheNewArab

CJ Werleman
14 January, 2021

Rohingya refugees on a Bangladesh Navy ship are taken to Bhashan Char island [Anadolu] 

 

Comment: The international community must act now to prevent further atrocities against Rohingya refugees, writes CJ Werleman.

For the more than 1 million Rohingya Muslim genocide survivors, 2020 was a year of hardship, suffering and victimisation. Sadly, the new year has already brought new horrors, with Bangladesh uprooting thousands from the refugee camps of Cox's Bazaar, and sending them to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal, otherwise known as Bhasan Char.

Call on Bangladesh authorities to release Rohingya photographer Abul Kalam

mizzima
03 January 2021

Well known Bangladeshi and international human rights figures, lawyers, academics, filmmakers, photographers, journalists and human rights focussed organisations are calling for the release of Rohingya photographer Abul Kalam.

On the morning of 28th December 2020, Abul Kalam, an award-winning photographer and Rohingya refugee, set out to take photographs of buses departing the Kutupalong camps for Bhasan Char. He was apprehended and then taken to the Camp-in-Charge in Camp 2W Block D5 of Kutupalong and subsequently to the Camp-in-Charge of Kutupalong Registered Camp. He was reportedly beaten when he was apprehended.

Bangladesh to move more Rohingya to remote Island despite rights groups' warnings

PRESS TV
27 December 2020

Nearly 1000 Rohingya refugees are in second batch to be sent to Bangladesh's remote island

PRESS TV
29 December 2020

Scope with Waqar Rizvi | France govt targets mosques and Muslim migrants | Episode 336 | Indus News

Indusdotnews

Dec 5, 2020

Topics

 

1) France government targets mosques and Muslim migrants
2) Bangladesh relocating Rohingya refugees
3) NATO accuses Russia of threatening western interests.

Guests

  1) Dr. Raphaël Liogier - Sociologist (Paris) 

 2) Yasser Louati - Civil Liberties Activist (Paris) 

 3) Ro Nay San Lwin - Rohingya Activist (Frankfurt) 

 4) Dr. Robin Ramcharan - Human Rights Expert (Bangkok) 

 5) Dr. Katarzyna Zysk - Analyst (Oslo) 

 6) Dr. Daria Vorobyeva - Researcher (Moscow) 

 Watch Indus News Live: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9KHb...
Indus News official facebook page https://www.facebook.com/indusdotnews/

Twitter

https://twitter.com/indusdotnews 

 

Indus News Programs Scope https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... News wire https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Indus Special https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... Coffee Table https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list.

Link : Here

Controversial plan to relocate Rohingya refugees to an allegedly dangerous island begins

 

euronews (in English)
4 Dec 2020

Link : Here

Bangladesh Rohingya relocation to isolated island criticized by rights groups

DW

03-12.2020

 Bangladesh has transferred hundreds of Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, a low-lying island in the Bay of Bengal prone to cyclones and floods. International aid groups complain they weren't involved in the move.

Rohingya board a ship on December 4 to Bhasan Char

On Thursday, hundreds of Rohingya refugees were seen boarding buses in front of refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, a coastal town near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

They were heavily guarded by security forces and barred from talking to journalists. Government officials, who were present at the site, have yet to give any official statement. Additional police forces were seen patrolling the area.

The refugees are being taken to Bhasan Char, which is Bengali for "floating island." It formed out of Himalayan silt flowing into the Meghna Estuary in the Bay of Bengal less than 20 years ago. Located 34 kilometers (21 miles) from mainland Bangladesh, Bhasan Char's geography makes it prone to cyclones and floods.

Bangladesh faces opposition on Rohingya relocation

AA

SM Najmus Sakib
DHAKA, Bangladesh
29.11.2020

Citing ‘huge pressure’ on Cox’s Bazar, Dhaka plans to start transferring Rohingya to   remote islet in December

Bangladesh remains determined to transfer 100,000 Rohingya refugees in the temporary shelter to a remote island despite widespread opposition from rights groups and UN agencies.

The South Asian nation said it is set to initiate the relocation to the remote islet, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from its southwestern coast in December, citing “rising pressure” on the tourist hub of Cox’s Bazar, where 1.2 million Rohingya refugees are currently housed in camps.

Rohingya photography competition to announce winners in online event

DhakaTribune

Features Desk

November 29th, 2020

Photography competition documents Rohingya life through their own eyes

Held over a period of four months, the Rohingya Photography Competition will end with a Facebook live program on December 5, where winners of the competition will be announced.

Organized by the UK-based documentary filmmaker and journalist Shafiur Rahman, the worldwide photography competition for Rohingya ended on August 25, a date marked as ‘Genocide Day’ by the Rohingya refugees.

The Rohingya crisis and Myanmar's dark road to democracy

TheNewArab

Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), is set to form a civilian government for the second time in a row following the end of Myanmar's 50-year military rule.

The NLD won by a huge margin of 396 parliamentary seats in the 8 November election against the military-aligned main opposition party the Union Solidarity of Development Party (USDP), securing a second five-year term.

In-depth: Excluded from voting and long denied citizenship, Rohingya Muslims face a precarious future in post-election Myanmar. 

Why Rohingya were excluded from voting in Myanmar elections

TRT WORLD
Date : 11th November 2020

Co-founder at the Free Rohingya Coalition Nay San Lwin explains why Myanmar excluded more than 1.1 million Rohingya from voting in Sunday’s general election.

Link : Here

Myanmar ‘undermining lifeblood of democracy’ before polls

Aljazeera

Andrew Nachemson

7 Nov 2020

 

Anti-Muslim sentiment intensify across the majority Buddhist country ahead of November 8 vote, threatening to disenfranchise minority groups. 

 

 

 

In 2015, the National League for Democracy won Myanmar’s first democratic election in decades in a landslide, catapulting Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to de facto head of state and heralding a new era of anticipated democratic reforms.

The heady optimism all came crashing down in 2017, when some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims were driven out of the country in a brutal campaign of arson, rape and murder which has since been described as a genocide. Shockingly, to some, Aung San Suu Kyi refused to condemn the atrocities and even defended the Myanmar military.

Rohingyas Brace For The Worst During Myanmar’s Election As Suu Kyi Takes The Lead

Transcontinental Times
By Tanbirul Miraj Ripon
November 8, 2020

The future of democracy and the fate of the Rohingya refugees hangs in the balance

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

MYANMAR. Yangon: The country’s general election took place today. Due to COVID-19, voting has been completed in accordance with health regulations. Because of this, voting is still going on in some areas. A majority of 322 seats are needed to form a government. The National League For Democracy (NLD) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) have received the majority of the votes so far. Early results show the NLD have already secured 13 Seats, with 33,677 votes, and the USDP with currently zero seats, but 12,133 votes.

“Wir spielen keine Rolle”: Rohingya wurde bei den Wahlen in Myanmar der Stimme beraubt.

Writeschaftsblatt

By RAINER PROKSCH
on November 8, 2020 

Hunderttausende von Rohingya-Muslimen, die in Bangladesch Zuflucht gesucht haben, beklagen ihren Ausschluss von den Wahlen.

Mohammad Yusuf stimmte von 1974 bis 2010 bei fast allen Wahlen in Myanmar ab – das letzte Mal, dass ethnische Rohingya in dem Land wählen durften, das er nach seiner Flucht vor drei Jahren nach einer brutalen Militäroffensive immer noch zu Hause anruft.

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

Aljazeera
Al Jazeera English
Nov 6, 2020

Myanmar is holding its second general election on Sunday since it ended military rule. The government has cancelled voting in areas where there has been fighting between the military and ethnic armed groups. Al Jazeera's Florence Looi reports.

Read related News : Here

 

Link : Here

'As though we are dead': Unable to vote, Myanmar poll robs Rohingya of hope

REUTERS
By Naimul Karim

DHAKA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - 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.

When Myanmar on Sunday holds its second democratic election after decades of military rule, Yusuf will be among hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims deprived of a vote - leading the United Nations to warn that the polls will not be free or fair.