India to give submarine to Myanmar, sends strong message to China

Dhaka Tribune  

Anando Mostofa
October 16th, 2020

Kilo Class Type 636 INS Sindhurakshak. Soviet Kilo-Class submarines can sink just about anything Collected

The move comes as a part of India’s initiative to strengthen ties with Myanmar, according to political analysts

In an unprecedented move to provide military assistance to Myanmar, India is set to hand over INS Sindhuvir, a Kilo class attack submarine, to the Myanmar Navy. 

This will be the first submarine of Myanmar military, who are accused of systematic genocide against the minority ethnic Rohingya Muslim community.

US, Others Announce Donor Conference to Aid Rohingya

BenarNews

Kamran Reza Chowdhury and BenarNews staff
Dhaka and Washington
2020-10-15

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun (left) and Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen speak to reporters at the Padma State Guesthouse in Dhaka, Oct. 15, 2020.
 Kamran Reza Chowdhury/BenarNews

An international conference is to be held next week to call on countries worldwide to “help provide much needed funding” for supporting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and those who have been displaced by conflict inside their home state of Rakhine in Myanmar, the U.S. State Department announced Thursday.

The virtual donor conference, co-hosted by the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, will take place on Oct. 22, officials said.

Rohingya in Bangladesh protest killings in Myanmar

AA

Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh 

14.10.2020 

Hundreds of Rohingya refugees in southeast Bangladesh held a protest on Wednesday against the killing and torturing of their community members in Myanmar, a Rohingya member told Anadolu Agency.

Holding banners and placards, the refugees at a camp gathered and formed a human chain, demanding an immediate end to the killings and torturing in Myanmar’s Rakhine state .

“Due to restrictions, we did not gather in huge numbers. Some 300 members of us peacefully took part in today’s demonstration just to highlight that we are still being killed in Myanmar,” Ansar Ali, a Rohingya at the camp, told Anadolu Agency.

We want immediate repatriation of Rohingyas: PM to US Deputy Secretary of State

The Daily Star 

UNB, Dhaka
October 15, 2020

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was holding meeting with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen E Beigun at her official residence Gono Bhaban on Thursday. Photo: PID

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today renewed her call to the international community, including the United States, to help Bangladesh rehabilitate Rohingyas in their homeland, Myanmar.

She also put emphasis on immediate repatriation of them and said Myanmar should take their citizens back.

"We want immediate repatriation of the Rohingyas and the world community, including the United States, should help rehabilitate them in their homeland of Myanmar," she said.

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

 

Link : Here

Rohingyas fear deportation after Saudi request to Bangladesh

NEWAGE

Online Desk
Oct 15,2020  

Rohingya refugees wait to collect relief materials in Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia on October 14, 2020. — AFP photo 

 

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, reports the Middle East Eye.

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.

‘Many of the refugees have never come to Bangladesh and have no idea about the country. They know Saudi culture and speak the Arabic language,’ said Momen.

Amnesty blasts Myanmar military's ‘utter disregard’ for civilians in Rakhine

 Myanmar Now

Published on Oct 13, 2020

Rights group says it has new evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians 

An IDP camp in Rathedaung, Rakhine, that houses over 700 people (Kaung Mrat Naing/Myanmar Now) 

Myanmar’s military has shown an “utter disregard” for civilians caught up in its conflict with the Arakan Army (AA), Amnesty International said on Monday.

Citing witness testimonies, satellite images, and videos obtained from within Rakhine state, the group said in a report it had found “new evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians.”

“The Myanmar military’s utter disregard for civilian suffering grows more shocking and brazen by the day,” said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for campaigns. 

“The UN Security Council must urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court,” she added.

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.

UN voices ‘deep alarm’ over violence against children in Myanmar

UNB

UNB News,Dhaka
October 15, 2020,

             A settlement in Rakhine province, northern Myanmar. Photo:UN News (File)

UN agencies in Myanmar have voiced “deep alarm” over an alarming increase in reports of killings and injuries of children in Myanmar.

The UN agencies also expressed "sadness and shock" over the killing of two boys, allegedly used as human shields by security forces in the country’s northern Rakhine State, earlier this month.

In a statement, the UN agencies -- co-chairs of the UN Country Taskforce on Monitoring and Reporting on Grave Violations against Children in Myanmar (CTFMR) -- called for a “full, transparent, and expedited investigation into the incident” and for anyone responsible for the use and killing of the children to be held accountable.

USAID Mission Director Aler Grubbs Remarks at the virtual launch of Myanmar’s Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Website

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S.Embassy in Burma
October 14, 2020

Remarks as Prepared for USAID Mission Director Aler Grubbs

at the virtual launch of Myanmar’s Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Website

 

Honorable Deputy Minister U Maung Maung Win, Director General U Thant Zin Lwin, National Coordinator U Aye Lwin, representatives of the Government of Myanmar, representatives of civil society, representatives of the private sector, distinguished guests. I am glad to join for this important launch of Myanmar’s newly upgraded Beneficial Ownership Disclosure Website. Thank you for your continued effort and partnership to improve transparency and accountability in Myanmar’s extractives industry.

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.

IOM, UK Emergency Medical Team Continue COVID-19 Health Support for Refugees, Locals in Cox’s Bazar

IOM UN Migration
Date:10/13/20

Cox’s Bazar – From the outset of the COVID-19 health crisis in Bangladesh, humanitarian agencies in Cox's Bazar have worked around the clock to prepare to effectively respond to the outbreak in the district, which hosts one of the largest refugee settlements in the world.

Key to this enormous effort includes enhancing existing partnerships and seeking new collaborative opportunities to address the lack of technical expertise and strained human resources in an already complex refugee crisis.

Hate Speech Against Rohingya in Myanmar Election Has Worrisome Precedents

RADIO FREE ASIA
2020-10-13

Rohingya candidate Abdul Rasheed, a member of the Democracy and Human Rights Party who was barred from running in Myanmar's upcoming elections, sits in the party's office in Yangon, Aug. 12, 2020. Rights groups decried his disqualification as discriminatory and a symptom of the 'ongoing genocide' against the persecuted ethnic minority group.

AFP

Online and offline hate speech targeting Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims has reared its head in the run-up to national elections in November, as some candidates and others target the largely disenfranchised and despised ethnic minority group to gain support from voters.

Anti-migrant sentiment fanned on Facebook in Malaysia

REUTERS

By Rozanna Latiff, A. Ananthalakshmi
October 14, 2020

 

 

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - As coronavirus infections surged in Malaysia this year, a wave of hate speech and misinformation aimed at Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar began appearing on Facebook.

FILE PHOTO: Rohingyas living in Malaysia protest against the treatment of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims near the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 8, 2017. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin/File Photo

Alarmed rights groups reported the material to Facebook.

But six months later, many posts targeting the Rohingya in Malaysia remain on the platform, including pages such as “Anti Rohingya Club” and “Foreigners Mar Malaysia’s Image”, although those two pages were removed after Reuters flagged them to Facebook recently.

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.

Amnesty urges UNSC to take Myanmar to ICC for military abuses

JURIST 

Becca Salamacha | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US
October 12, 2020 

 

Amnesty International urged the UN Security Council Monday to take action against Myanmar for military abuses. Amnesty’s condemnation of Myanmar’s military action follows after reports of intensified violence between Myanmar’s military and Araken Army that led to civilian casualties.

Ethnic Rakhine in Bangladesh Protest against Myanmar’s ‘Military Aggression’

RADIO FREE ASIA

Sharif Khiam
Dhaka
2020-10-12

Members of the ethnic Rakhine community in Bangladesh hold banners as they protest in Dhaka against what they say is Myanmar’s military aggression in Rakhine state, Oct. 11, 2020.
Sharif Khiam/BenarNews

Hundreds of Bangladeshis from the mainly Buddhist, ethnic Rakhine minority group staged a rare, if not unprecedented, protest over the weekend against Myanmar’s alleged military aggression in Rakhine state, saying their community there faces operations aimed at ethnic cleansing, much like the stateless Rohingya.

An armed conflict between Myanmar government forces and the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine rebel group fighting for greater autonomy for the Rakhine people, intensified in early 2019. This past March, Myanmar declared it a terrorist organization.

OP-ED: Bangladesh is being held hostage

Dhaka Tribune  

Anis Alamgir

October 12th, 2020

Abandoned by all BIGSTOCK

With little support from the international arena, what is the future of the Rohingya in Bangladesh?

On October 5, Vikram Doraiswami, the newly appointed Indian High Commissioner to the country, arrived in Bangladesh. He told reporters at the land port in Akhaura: “Bangladesh is one of India’s closest friends, and thus we are eager to continue and enhance our bilateral relationship with this neighbouring country.”

Beijing is now more interested in keeping Bangladesh as a development partner through the continuous effort of distancing Dhaka from Delhi. Recently, Sino-Indian relations with Bangladesh are looking great, but the reality is different.

Rohingya Refugees, Workers Raise Funds to Help Ethnic Rakhines Displaced by War

RADIO FREE ASIA

2020-10-12 

Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, are shown raising funds for ethnic Rakhine displaced by fighting in Myanmar, Sept. 28, 2020.
Photo provided by citizen journalist

Rohingya Muslims both in refugee camps in Bangladesh and in cities in Myanmar are raising humanitarian relief funds for Buddhist Rakhine people displaced by fighting in their northern Myanmar state, easing traditional hostility between the two ethnic groups, sources say.

Collected funds are going to provide refugees with shelter and food amid a surge of coronavirus infections in Rakhine state, where fighting between government troops and the ethnic Arakan Army (AA) has killed nearly 300 civilians and driven more than 220,000 from their homes since late 2018.

Rohingya: Dhaka wants Suu Kyi to join talks in Beijing

Dhaka Tribune 

 UNB
October 12th, 2020 

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaves the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top United Nations court, during court hearings in a case filed by Gambia against Myanmar alleging genocide against the minority Muslim Rohingya population, in The Hague, Netherlands December 12, 2019 Reuters

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming proposed a tripartite meeting between foreign ministers of the three countries - Bangladesh, Myanmar and China

Bangladesh wants Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be present at a tripartite meeting in Beijing, as proposed by China to discuss Rohingya repatriation issues.

"It will not be done without her presence. She should be there," Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen conveyed to China.

Suu Kyi, state counsellor of Myanmar, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize but she has subsequently been widely criticised for doing nothing to stop the rape, murder and genocide in Rakhine, refusing to condemn the Myanmar military or acknowledge accounts of their atrocities.

The foreign minister said the number one objective of Bangladesh is to see the repatriation of the Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State.