Joint Press Statement on the Human Rights and Humanitarian Situation in Myanmar

U.S Department of State

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
January 6, 2025

The text of the following joint statement was released by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union and the Governments of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland, Timor-Leste, and the United Kingdom to address the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.

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Over 200 Rohingya arrive in Indonesia over weekend, official says | REUTERS Reuters

REUTERS
Monday, 06 January 2025

More than 200 Rohingya people arrived by boat in Indonesia’s Aceh province. The mainly Muslim Rohingya have fled violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and constitute the world’s largest stateless population. 

 

Link : Here

Rohingyas’ return to Myanmar uncertain, despite rebel control of Bangladesh border

mizzima
January 6, 2025 

RFA

The dream of returning home to Myanmar remains uncertain for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh despite rebel control of the border, members of the ethnic group said Friday.

Malaysia ramps up patrols after Myanmar migrant boat landings on Langkawi

malay mail 

Friday, 03 Jan 2025 8:00 PM MYT

Rohingya refugees waiting to be rescued as their vessel approaches Aceh last year. — AFP pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Malaysia’s coastguard said on Friday it was doubling patrols in its waters to locate boats carrying undocumented Myanmar migrants, after almost 200 were detained on an island in the northwestern Malaysian state of Kedah.

MMEA Intensifies Patrols To Intercept Myanmar Immigrant Boats Heading Towards Langkawi

BERNAMA
03/01/2025 

ALOR SETAR, Jan 3 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) is intensifying patrols to intercept two boats carrying Myanmar illegal immigrants reported to be heading towards Langkawi.

Cops arrest 196 Rohingya at Langkawi beach

Bernama
Published: Jan 3, 2025

Credit: PDRM

ALOR SETAR, Jan 3 (Bernama) -- Police have confirmed having arrested 196 ethnic Rohingya who landed at Teluk Yu Beach in Langkawi early today.

Langkawi police chief ACP Shariman Ashari said the authorities received information from a member of the public at around 3.25 am, saying that a group of foreigners had landed at the beach.

Threadbare facilities, high mortality, cats in the corridors: the realities of life for new Rohingya mothers in Cox’s Bazar

The Guardian
Rebecca Root in Cox's Bazar
Thu 2 Jan 2025

Midwife Sumana Akter checks on a newborn baby inside the Friendship hospital in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. In some areas of the camp, maternal mortality is 44% higher than the Bangladesh average Photographs by Thomas Cristofoletti/Ruom for the Guardian

In the world’s largest refugee site, a lack of healthcare coupled with rising gang violence makes the journey to motherhood a perilous one

It is mid-afternoon on a Wednesday and Toyoba Begum, 37, is sitting upright at the end of her hospital bed, the second in a row of eight. Dressed in a beige tunic and canary yellow trousers, a belly recovery belt clasped around her stomach, she watches her two-day-old daughter sleeping under a fleece blanket.

Tormentors Change, but Not the Torment

The NewYork Times
By Hannah Beech
Photographs by Adam Ferguson
Reporting from Teknaf, Bangladesh
Dec. 28, 2024 

 Rohingya refugees Shamshida, 25, left, and Manwara, 19, in their tent in Teknaf, Bangladesh. 

Brutally persecuted for years by the military in Myanmar, the Rohingya ethnic minority has now become the target of one of the junta’s most formidable rivals in the country’s civil war.

Genocide Emergency: Rohingya in Maungdaw, Myanmar

Genocide Watch
26 December 2024  

Imagery verified by CNN shows the aftermath of an attack on the western edge of Maungdaw township’s Myo Ma ward.

GENOCIDE EMERGENCY:
MAUNGDAW, RAKHINE STATE, MYANMAR
DECEMBER 2024

Rohingya’s call for justice, equality, peaceful coexistence and inclusive governance in Arakan

J O I N T   S T A T E M E N T

December 23, 2024

 

Rohingya’s call for justice, equality, peaceful coexistence and inclusive governance in Arakan

 

The Arakan Army (AA) has taken control of Maungdaw and Buthidaung Townships in Northern Arakan/Rakhine State. The majority of the remaining 500,000 Rohingya are still living in the territory controlled by the AA. The AA controls the entire border with Bangladesh.

 

During decades of military rule, the people of Arakan State, including the Rohingya, have yearned for freedom. With the Arakan Army now in control of the territory, it bears the responsibility to fulfill that aspiration. We urge the Arakan Army and its political wing, the United League of Arakan, to uphold and respect the rights of the Rohingya and all ethnic and religious minorities in Arakan State.

 

Arakan Army is also killing and torturing Rohingya, says leaders at rally

bdnew24.com
Cox's Bazar Correspondent
Published : 26 Dec 2024,

Rohingya leaders call for international intervention to ensure safe return, as over 60,000 flee to Bangladesh camps

Rohingya refugees, who fled Myanmar to escape persecution and genocide, have called for their return to their homeland, describing their life in Bangladesh as that of "birds in a cage”.

US reaffirms support for Rohingyas amid concern over Myanmar

Dhaka Tribune
UNB
18 Dec 2024, 

File image: Screengrab of US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller speaking at a media briefing on December 11, 2024

Expressing concern over the situation in Myanmar, the United States has said helping resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis remains a priority for it.

"So we are following this development closely. We’re remained concerned by the conflict and its potential to undermine regional stability and security," US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a regular media briefing in Washington on Tuesday.

To reckon with the Rohingya genocide, Min Aung Hlaing’s arrest is a critical start

almayadeen
Hannan Hussain
Source: Al Mayadeen English
18 Dec 2024

Given the unspeakable brutality, condemnation, and injustices directed toward Rohingya Muslims, a warrant against Hlaing is a bare minimum of what ought to follow. 

Min Aung Hlaing's arrest is a cretical start to reckon with the Rohingya genocide ( illustrated by Batoul Chamas )

Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s de-facto military ruler, was the commander in chief during the 2017 Rohingya genocide. It was under his watch that Rohingya Muslims were subject to a horrific ethnic cleansing campaign that entailed rape, mass murder, and demolition of villages. Scores of children were beaten to death, and mosques were targeted.

EU releases €1 million in humanitarian aid to respond to an outbreak of hepatitis C in refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar

European Commission
19.12.2024
Press release

The EU has released €1 million (around 125 million Bangladeshi taka) in humanitarian aid to contain the spread of hepatitis C in the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar. This funding will support the response plan outlined by the World Health Organisation and other partners providing healthcare in the camps.

The Arakan Army’s Capture Of The Bangladeshi Border Could Prompt A Crisis With Dhaka

Andrew Korybko
Dec 16, 2024

China, Pakistan, and the US could take advantage of this to expand their military influence in Bangladesh at the expense of India’s legitimate national security interests.

Aung San Suu Kyi Asks U.S. Not to Refer to ‘Rohingya’

iSP
By ISP Admin
June 26, 2016 

BANGKOK — Myanmar recognizes 135 ethnic groups within its borders. But the people who constitute No. 136? They are the people-who-must-not-be-named.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s first democratically elected government since 1962, embraced that view last week when she advised the United States ambassador against using the term “Rohingya” to describe the persecuted Muslim population that has lived in Myanmar for generations.

Unholy Alliance: Myanmar Military Junta and Arakan Army vs Rohingya

Workers' Liberty
by martin on
Author: Hein Htet Kyaw
12 December, 2024 

Pic: displaced Rohingya in 2017, from Wikimedia Commons

The Rohingya are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group from the state of Arakan (Rakhine). A British scholar named Francis Buchanan-Hamilton said in his 1799 article "Burma Empire" that "the Mohammedans, who have long dwelt in Arakan," refer to themselves as "Rooinga, or natives of Arakan". "Inhabitant of Rohang" was the early Muslim name for Arakan.

Arakan Army’s takeover of northern Rakhine: What fate awaits the Rohingyas?

THE BUSINESS STANDARD
SM Abrar Aowsaf
11 December, 2024, 

As the Arakan Army gains full control of northern Rakhine, fears of renewed violence against the Rohingya mount, complicating repatriation efforts

With the Arakan Army gaining power, the fate of the Rohingiyas remains uncertain.

With the Myanmar army having been driven out of their last outpost in Maungdaw, there is uncertainty on both sides of the 271-kilometre-long Bangladesh-Myanmar border, the Burmese side of which is now under complete control of the Arakan Army.

Arakan Army could be key to justice for the Rohingya

ARAB NEWS
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim
December 09, 2024

By engaging with all stakeholders, the international community can help turn this opportunity into a foundation for peace (AFP)

For more than a decade, the Rohingya people of Myanmar have faced unimaginable suffering: denied citizenship, subjected to systemic violence and forced to flee their ancestral homes. Today, nearly 1 million of them live in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, where dwindling international aid and political instability have pushed them to the brink.

Arakan Army poses new threat to Rohingya Muslims

Anadolu Agency
Edited By Nurbanu Tanrıkulu Kızıl
ISTANBUL Dec 03, 2024 

Rohingya refugees sit on a truck after being relocated from Southern Aceh province to Banda Aceh, Nov. 7, 2024. (AFP Photo) 

Rohingya Muslims, who have long been persecuted by Myanmar's military, are now threatened by the Arakan Army, the co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition said.