Over 100 Rohingyas detained for fleeing camps

The Daily Star
Wed Sep 20, 2023

Police yesterday detained 101 Rohingyas for fleeing the refugee camps in Ukhiya upazila of Cox's Bazar.

They were held near Ukhiya Degree College next to the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf highway between 11:00am and 1:00pm, said Sheikh Mohammad Ali, officer-in-charge of Ukhiya Police Station.

OIC Ministerial Contact Group on Rohingya Muslims Meets in New York

Organization of Islamic Cooperation
Date: 19/09/2023

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar held a meeting in New York on 19 September 2023 on the sidelines of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, under the chairmanship of the OIC Secretary-General Mr Hissein Brahim Taha. In his speech at the meeting, the Secretary-General recalled that 25 August marks the sixth anniversary of the heinous attack unleashed against the Rohingya by the Myanmar army, leading to the influx of large numbers of refugees from Rakhine state to neighboring countries, especially Bangladesh. He extolled the generosity and solidarity exhibited by Bangladesh in hosting more than a million refugees. He renewed the call to the international community to intensify efforts towards finding a sustainable solution to this logjam. The Secretary-General briefed the meeting about the outcome of his 30 May 2023 visit to Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.

 

Current Crisis In Myanmar Shouldn’t Impede Return Of Rohingya – OpEd

eurasiareview
By Brig Gen (Retd) Hasan Md Shamsuddin
September 18, 2023 

A Rohingya man walks inside Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. Photo Credit: BenarNews

 

Myanmar is passing through a critical time due to unrest and conflict between the government and the anti-junta forces. There are no indications that the current violence in Myanmar will stop; instead, it is getting more organized every day.

An Escalating Rohingya Refugee Crisis Calls for a Renewed Canadian Response

ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION
Authors: Pia Silvia Rozario, Suyesha Dutta
Published: September 15, 2023 

As the 2023 Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit concluded in Jakarta, Indonesia, in early September, Southeast Asian leaders “strongly condemned” the continuing violence against civilians in Myanmar, one of ASEAN’s member states. In a 19-point statement, leaders called on the Myanmar Armed Forces to reduce violence and cease deliberate attacks on civilians, residences, and essential public infrastructure. One of the most visible examples of such violence carried out by the Myanmar military pre-dates the current civil war: the persecution of the Rohingya, a majority-Muslim ethnic group, many of them from Rakhine State in the west.

Rohingya Say No Return to Myanmar Without Guaranteed Citizenship

VOA
Shaikh Azizur Rahman
September 13, 2023

A Rohingya girl collects leaves from a vegetable plant in the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Aug 28, 2023. Over 1.2 million Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh since fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar. (Noor Hossain for VOA)

Members of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya community living as refugees in Bangladesh are again voicing opposition to efforts to repatriate many of them. They say that the Myanmar government has not met their demands over citizenship rights and that it is not safe for them to go back to Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

Rohingya of the Arakan

NEWAGE
Habib Siddiqui |
Published: Sep 11,2023 

Dr Habib Siddiqui has a long history as a peaceful activist in an effort towards improving human rights and creating a just and equitable world. He has authored 18 books and more than a thousand articles.

 

THE Rohingyas of Myanmar are a stateless people who are denied citizenship rights in Buddhist-majority Myanmar simply because of their distinct ‘otherness’ in race, culture, and religion. As a result, nearly 2.5 million Rohingyas, representing roughly 75 per cent of the community, now live as refugees in various parts of the world. Those living inside Myanmar are treated as unwanted people who are victims of genocide. Not a single Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is honoured by the government, which has rendered the Rohingyas the most persecuted people of our time.

Reinforcing our commitment to Rohingya refugees

UNDP - Bangladesh
September 10, 2023

The Waning Spotlight on the Rohingya Crisis: A Renewed Call for Global Solidarity and Sustainable Solutions

Kanni Wignaraja is assistant secretary-general at the United Nations and assistant administrator and regional director for Asia-Pacific at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

It has been more than six years since the forced mass displacement of over 700,000 Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state took place in August 2017. They fled state oppression and were forced to leave their homes and embrace an uncertain future. Bangladesh found itself having to deal with one of the most rapid, large-scale human displacements ever faced by a single country. The people and Government of Bangladesh rose to this extraordinary challenge with compassion and courage, and the United Nations along with the wider international community collaborated to assist the country in responding to this crisis.

‘#SayNoToRohingya’: a critical study on Malaysians’ amplified resentment towards Rohingya refugees on Twitter during the 2020 COVID-19 cris

Myanmar NUG’s Rohingya Policy: A Political Gamble That Has Yet to Pay Off

The Irrawaddy
by Zung Ring
September 6, 2023

Rohingya Muslim refugees who were stranded after leaving Myanmar walk towards the Balukhali refugee camp after crossing the border into Banglades

On June 3, 2021, the National Unity Government released its policy position on the Rohingya, promising “right to citizenship”; “full enjoyment of citizens’ rights” for those who swear allegiance to the country; “repealing, amending, and promulgating laws including the 1982 Citizenship Law”; and “reparation and Justice” to be enshrined in the future constitution of Myanmar. It also promises “voluntary, safe, and dignified repatriation of Rohingyas who fled to neighboring countries from Rakhine State due to Tatmadaw violence”. (The Tatmadaw is a commonly used name for the Myanmar military.)

Solution caught in trilateral geopolitics

NEWAGE
by Md Zillur Rahaman
Published: Sep 03,2023 

The Rohingyas gather at Ukhiya in Bangladesh on August 25 for a rally marking the sixth anniversary of genocide day. — Agence France-Presse/Tanbir Miraj 

 

SINCE August 25, 2017, the Myanmar army began a large-scale violence against the Rohingyas in Rakhine State. Rohingya victims said that mobs joined the crackdown of the military junta, forcing more than 700,000 Rohingyas to take refuge in Bangladesh. More than 1.1 million Rohingyas now stay in 34 refugee camps at Teknaf and Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar. The Rohingyas say that the Myanmar army forced them to come to Bangladesh with indiscriminate killing, rape and arson.

Myanmar’s shadow civilian govt apologizes to Rohingya on 6th anniversary of genocide

ARAB NEWS
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim
September 02, 2023 

Rohingya refugees walk at Balukhali Refugee Camp in Bangladesh. (AP/File)

This week marks the sixth anniversary of the onslaught of ruthless violence, rape and genocide by the military in Myanmar against the Rohingya of all ages. The genocidal conduct of the regime forces compelled a staggering three-quarters of a million Rohingya, men, women and children, to flee to Bangladesh, clutching their meager possessions.

 

Rohingyas stage rallies for repatriation to Myanmar with full civil rights

dailyobserver
Saturday, 26 August, 2023

Rohingyas stage rallies for repatriation to Myanmar with full civil rights
 

COX'S BAZAR, Aug 25: Displaced Rohingyas staged peaceful rallies in four camps of Ukhiya and Teknaf here on Friday demanding justice for genocide in Myanmar in 2017 and their repatriation to their home land with full civil rights.

Rohingyas raised their voice in support of their return to their homeland in Myanmar during a demonstration in Cox's Bazar on the occasion of Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day.

Good reason to tread carefully on Rohingya crisis

Jarkata Post
Tan Hui Yee

15.12.2016

 

 In this May 12 file photo, ethnic Rohingya sit at a refugee camp north of Sittwe, western Rakhine state, Myanmar. The long-persecuted Rohingya, many of whose families arrived in Myanmar generations ago, are treated as illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh and virtually excluded from the political process. (AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe )

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak broke with the spirit of Asean camaraderie by joining a recent march protesting against Myanmar's treatment of its beleaguered Rohingya, a Muslim minority group within the predominantly Buddhist country. "We want to tell Aung San Suu Kyi enough is enough!" he told the leader of the fellow Asean member, in reference to alleged atrocities some have condemned as "genocide".

20 Rohingyas detained in Bandarban

Dhaka Tribune
S Basu Das Bandarban
Publish : 31 Aug 2023,

• Detainees say that they were promised work
• Police say they were held during raids  
  

Representational image of handcuff. Photo: Bigstock 

 

The Detective Branch (DB) of police on Thursday detained 20 Rohingyas in Bandarban hill district.

They were apprehended at 5pm from the Parbat hotel located in the city’s Traffic intersection area.

The detainees were identified as Jafar Hossain, 22, Hossain Ahmad, 36, Rashid Ullah, 16, Ahmudul, 52, Nur Alam, 50, Md Johor, 35, Hafizur Rahman, 28, Nur Alam, 37, Hossain, 22, Yusuf, 21, Arif, 30, Hasan, 20, Ruhul Amin, 22, Siddique, 21, Arafat, 20, Salam, 25, Rifan, 16, Hakim, 30, Alim Ullah, 26, and Alam, 30.

Between ifs and buts dwindles the future of the Rohingya

Asia News Network
The Daily Star
Farah Kabir
August 31, 2023 

The Rohingya living in the refugee camps of Teknaf and Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh are humans with the right to life, food, water, education, and dignity. PHOTO: REUTERS/THE DAILY STAR 

 

DHAKA – As we approach the six-year mark of the unprecedented 2017 influx of the Rohingya from Rakhine State in Myanmar, I cannot help but wonder if we are really doing enough for the people who sought support to be alive with safety and dignity. It was between August 24-25, 2017, in the weeks that followed escaping death and persecution, when the Rohingya sought refuge in Cox’s Bazar. They had fled to Bangladesh earlier too; numerous times over the last 50 or 60 years. However, the influx of 2017 was significantly different. The violence had been unleashed with no bars held. The genocide was being committed and it took years to get the global leadership to acknowledge this.

Facebook pursued in the High Court for complicity in Rohingya Genocide

ISLAM
Carl Arrindell

Two Dublin based law firms – KOD Lyons and Abbey Law, last week launched between them, 17 lawsuits in the Irish High Court, alleging that the social media platform Meta, should pay significant damages for its culpability in the genocide in Myanmar of Rohingya Muslims in 2017.

Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar - Report of the Secretary-General (A/78/278)

UN Document
Source UN GA
Posted 31 Aug 2023

Seventy-eighth session
Item 73 (c) of the provisional agenda*
Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights
situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives

Summary

The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 77/227 and covers the period from 15 August 2022 to 14 August 2023. In addition to the human rights situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, the report focuses on the continued deterioration of the political, humanitarian and security situation in Myanmar following the military takeover in February 2021, including further restrictions of human rights and the worsening of socioeconomic conditions. There is an urgent need for safe, full and unhindered humanitarian access to vulnerable communities in line with international principles. That urgency has been compounded by the devastation caused by Cyclone Mocha in May 2023. The report highlights the continued brutal repression by the military. Thousands have been killed since February 2021, including children, with reports of increased sexual and gender-based violence committed by the military while civic space continues to shrink. The multifaceted crisis in Myanmar continues to yield serious regional implications, including displacement and the proliferation of illicit activities. Since February 2021, more than 64,000 people have fled and remain outside of Myanmar. More than 1.6 million people have been internally displaced. Rohingya people remained displaced domestically and abroad, including nearly 1 million Rohingya in Bangladesh. While peaceful opposition to the military persisted, armed resistance expanded, adding to an already precarious situation. There has been no meaningful action by the military to address the root causes that led to the forced displacement of the Rohingya population. The United Nations will continue to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and to support their democratic aspirations for an inclusive, peaceful and just society and the protection of all communities, including the Rohingya. As part of this effort, the Organization will seek to further strengthen cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations towards de-escalating the violence and reaching a sustainable political solution in line with relevant General Assembly resolutions and Security Council resolution 2669 (2022).

Six years on: Rohingya in government

Frontier Myanmar
August 31, 2023 

Six years ago, the Myanmar military launched a brutal ‘clearance campaign’ against the Rohingya in Rakhine state, after alleged attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts. At the time, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi dismissed claims of human rights violations and many people across the country believed her.

But after seeing the atrocities carried out by the military in the last few years, more people across the country are recognising what the Rohingya suffered in 2017.

The Other Side of the Rohingya AsiaWeek – 14 July 1978

The Other Side of the Rohingya
AsiaWeek – 14 July 1978

 

Rangoon correspondent U Maung Maung reports on his recent (July 1978) secret visit to thetowns of Aykab (Sittwe), Buthidaung and Maungdaw:

Extracts: From the minarets of mosques in the townships I toured, I could hear the familiachant calling the devout to prayer. The sound seemed to support the government’scontention that there was no religious persecution in the area. I certainly saw no sign ofantipathy  among the non-Muslims towards Muslims.

186 Rohingyas killed in internecine ARSA-RSO feuds in camps

dailyobserver

Mamunur Rashid
Saturday, 26 August, 2023

At least 186 people were killed in the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, which can be linked to the criminal activities of different separatist groups.

Rohingya leaders said Myanmar-based armed groups Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Arakan Solidarity Organisation (RSO) are mainly responsible for those killings. The murders were carried out in order to gain control of the narcotics and arms trade inside the camps.