The UN’s refugee data shame, and what needs to be done

The Citizen
Oped

By ZARA RAHMAN
THURSDAY JUNE 24 2021

A Rohingya refugee holds ID cards, in Shamlapur refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh on 25 March, 2018. PHOTO | FILE

I saw this coming, and I wish I had been wrong.

Back in 2017, I wrote of the risks of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, collecting biometric registration data from Rohingya refugees, noting that the data could be used to drive unwilling repatriation; that collecting such data may make refugees believe their access to aid depends upon providing such data; and that – once collected or shared – such biometric data is virtually impossible to get rid of.

Nearly four years later, a report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) says these worst-case scenarios have come true: A detailed database of the Rohingya refugee population has been handed over to Myanmar’s government, which drove them across the border into Bangladesh almost four years ago. The same millitary that conducted the (most recent) genocide against the Rohingya now holds the biometric data of the population it has tried to eradicate.

Ensure dignified repatriation of Rohingyas: PM to global community

The Daily Star

UNB, Dhaka
June 23, 2021

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. File photo

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today renewed her call to the global community to ensure the dignified repatriation of Rohingyas as they are posing a big security threat to Bangladesh as well as the region.

"We've sheltered them on humanitarian grounds but such a huge population can't be lodged for an indefinite period… I request the world community to assist us in dignified and peaceful repatriation of the Rohingyas," she said.

United Nations calls for halt of weapons to Myanmar

ABS-CBN NEWS
Michelle Nichols, Reuters
Jun 23 2021

Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Myanmar's Commander in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing walk past the honor guard prior to their talks in Moscow, Russia on June 22, 2021. Vadim Savitskiy/Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation/Handout via Reuters

NEW YORK - The United Nations General Assembly on Friday called for a stop to the flow of arms to Myanmar and urged the military to respect November election results and release political detainees, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The General Assembly adopted a resolution with the support of 119 countries several months after the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in a Feb. 1 coup. Belarus requested the text be put to a vote and was the only country to oppose it, while 36 abstained, including China and Russia.

WFP Bangladesh | Rohingya Refugee Response Situation Report #50 - May 2021

Situation Report 

Source :WFP
22 Jun 2021

Myanmar: Challenging Rakhine And Military Narratives About Rohingyas – Analysis

eurasiareview

Dr. Habib Siddiqui
June 21, 2021

Displaced Rohingya people in Rakhine State, Burma. Photo Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Wikipedia Commons.

Oppression, marginalization, violence, propaganda – none of it is new. What is new, however, is the mere scale, frequency and omnipresence of disinformation, especially when it is propagated by a powerful group that runs at the state level with the goal to eliminate a small minority that is different than the dominant group’s identity by race, ethnicity, language, religion, customs and culture. Nowhere in our time is this issue perhaps more acute than in Myanmar where the Rohingyas are victims of a carefully crafted genocidal program that has become a national project there, enjoying full support from top to bottom of every rung and corner of the Buddhist society – from a military man in uniform to a monk in a saffron robe, from a peasant in the paddy field to a politician wearing a longyi.

Saudi Arabia affirms support for Rohingya; abstains resolution

Saudi Gazette

Saudi Gazette report
June 20, 2021

The Kingdom’s statement was delivered by Minister Plenipotentiary Wajdi Hassan Muharram, chairman of the Fourth Committee of the Kingdom’s permanent delegation to the United Nations, during the General Assembly meeting on a draft resolution on the situation in Myanmar.

NEW YORK — Saudi Arabia on Saturday affirmed its firm position in support of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and voted to abstain from a resolution moved at the UN General Assembly on the situation in Myanmar.

The General Assembly adopted a resolution that called on all member states to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.

The Kingdom’s statement was delivered by Minister Plenipotentiary Wajdi Hassan Muharram, chairman of the Fourth Committee of the Kingdom’s permanent delegation to the United Nations, during the General Assembly meeting on a draft resolution on the situation in Myanmar.

Rohingyas learning photography to document life in Bangladesh’s camps

Eastern Eye
By: SwatiRana
18 June, 2021

iStock image

A GROUP of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is learning photography at a local media school to help them document conditions in the camps and even go on to become professional journalists.

Omar’s Film School was founded in February last year to train young Rohingya refugees and help them find careers in photojournalism.

“I want to be a professional photographer, so I am studying to learn,” said 22-year-old refugee Jamal Arakani. “With my photographs, I want to show the whole world how we live here.”

Bangladesh FM seeks UN road map for Rohingya repatriation

NEWAGE

Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka
Jun 18,2021 

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen, who is now visiting the US, sought a clear roadmap from the United Nations regarding early repatriation of forcibly displaced persecuted Rohingyas from Bangladesh to their land of origin in Myanmar.        

‘We need a clear roadmap from the UN for repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar,’ he said at a bilateral meeting with special envoy of the UN secretary general on Myanmar Christine S Burgener at the Bangladesh permanent mission in New York on Wednesday, said a release received in Dhaka on Thursday.

 

On the Rohingya genocide

THE NATON
Shakoh Zulqurnain
September 09, 2020

The persecution of Rohingyas in Myanmar is an issue which has attracted little attention at the international level. The low visibility of this issue reveals not only the double standards of the international community, but also brings into question the effectiveness of human rights laws. More than a million Rohingya refugees commemorated the third anniversary of the genocide on August 25 in crowded camps in Bangladesh. Rohingya Muslims are one of the most persecuted communities in the world and have been observing this day as the ‘Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day’ since it was the same day in 2017 that the Myanmar army began a vicious crackdown on Rohingya civilians—forcing thousands to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. However, the story of the Rohingyas’ persecution dates back to many decades.

Bangladesh seeks UN intervention to end Rohingya crisis

THE NATION

Anadolu
June 18, 2021

Bangladesh urged UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to help resolve the Rohingya crisis, saying deteriorating political situation in Myanmar is hampering the peaceful repatriation of refugees.

Bangladesh is currently hosting about 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in camps in the southeast coast of Cox’s Bazar. Uncertainty looms over their repatriation to Rakhine state following a military coup in Myanmar on Feb. 1.

‘Waiting for us to die’: Indonesia’s Rohingya refugees left in legal limbo for years

South China Morning Post

Eko Rusdianto  and Aisyah Llewellyn
Medan,Makassar
19 Jun, 2021

• Makassar, in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province, is home to thousands of refugees and asylum seekers – but legally, all are just ‘transiting’
• Dwindling resettlement quotas in third countries mean some have been waiting to leave for a decade or more, as they battle with illness and depression

Reyas Alam visit the grave of Haji Mohd Shiraj, a Rohingya refugee who died in Makassar while waiting to be resettled. Photo: Eko Rusdianto

The number of people fleeing wars, violence, persecution and human rights violations rose for the ninth year in 2020 despite the pandemic, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency. About 20.7 million people are considered refugees under the UNHCR’s mandate. On World Refugee Day, This Week in Asia looks at the plight of Rohingya communities seeking temporary refuge in Indonesia and India.

ED: How much longer will it take?

Dhaka Tribune
Tribune Editorial
June 18th, 2021

MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU

We must address the root causes of the crisis, and the root lies in Myanmar

While nuance and diplomacy are no doubt crucial in international politics, should they supersede the needs of a people who have escaped indescribable pain and suffering, and wish nothing more than to go back home?

Unfortunately, when it comes to the Rohingya, the international community has been slow to move: The journey from silence to hesitant support to full-fledged condemnation has taken many powerful nations years to conclude, and this has allowed Myanmar to play dumb, break promises, delay, and worst of all, deny the Rohingya not only the right to return to their homeland of Rakhine, but even justice, refusing to acknowledge the atrocities and hold those responsible to account.

IOM mulls vaccination campaign for Rohingyas

NEWAGE

United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka 

Jun 16,2021

The International Organisation for Migration has said it is working closely with the government and the humanitarian community to ramp up the delivery of a wide range of support services for Rohingyas and host communities in Cox’s Bazar district to fight Covid-19.

‘It is imperative to strengthen our assistance and not let the situation deteriorate any further before it becomes impossible for the existing healthcare services to cope,’ said Manuel Marques Pereira, IOM deputy chief of mission in Bangladesh.

A second wave of Covid-19 is ravaging South Asia, including Bangladesh, said IOM on Tuesday.

The Rohingya: refugees forever?

Asia Media Centre

Robert Bociaga

16 JUNE 2021

The Rohingya people have long suffered persecution. They risked their lives to escape to Bangladesh and other countries by sea or on foot following the Myanmar military offensive of August 2017. The massacres in Rakhine State were labelled by the United Nations a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". Back then, the world's attention was fixed on this little-known strip of land in southern Bangladesh near the town of Cox's Bazar. So what has changed for Rohingyas since the military coup in Myanmar, and has the world moved on to other issues? Robert Bociaga reports

Rohingyas Getting Citizenship: ACC sues ex-CCC councillor, 5 others

The Daily Star

FM Mizanur Rahaman

June 15, 2021

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday filed a case against six people, including a former ward councillor of Chattogram City Corporation and three Rohingyas, for issuing citizenship and birth certificates to Rohingyas.

Deputy Assistant Director Sharif Uddin of ACC Integrated Office Chattogram lodged the case with ACC Integrated Office Chattogram-1, said the ACC sources.

The accused are: Ismail Bali, 49, former councillor of Patharghata ward of CCC, Subarna Dutta, assistant of birth certificate issue section of the ward office, Rohingya broker Sirajul Islam, and three Rohingyas -- Mohammed Ismail, 56, his wife Meher Jan, 42, and Wahida, 26.

UN put Rohingya ‘at risk’ by sharing data without consent, says rights group

the Guardian
Kate Hodal
@katehodal
Tue 15 Jun 2021

Refugees tell Human Rights Watch they fear forced repatriation and persecution after personal details passed on to Myanmar

People wait to be registered in a UN centre in Kutupalong camp. Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

The UN may have put hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees at risk of persecution or involuntary repatriation back to Myanmar after improperly collecting and sharing refugees’ personal information with Bangladesh, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), which is urging an investigation.

Over the past three years, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has registered more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees living in Bangladeshi camps in order to provide them with identity cards needed to access essential aid and services.

With the National Covid-19 vaccination programme in full swing, Rohingyas living in Malaysia being left behind

malay mail
Wednesday, 16 Jun 2021 
BY KENNETH TEE

A general view of the Rohingya settlement here near Bandar Baru Sentul June 13, 2021. ― Picture by Hari Anggara

KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — As the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) picks up speed around the country, one group of people are not even sure when they will get vaccinated.

The Rohingyas — a minority group of Myanmar Muslims once described by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as “one of, if not the, most discriminated people in the world” — are refugees who have been in Malaysia since the 1970s but the biggest influx came in 2017 after the military crackdown in Myanmar.

Six bodies of Rohingya found in Bangladesh’s river

Eastern Eyes
SwatiRana
14 June, 2021

THE Bangladeshi police has recovered six bodies of Rohingya including four children from the Naf River since Saturday (12).

On Monday (14) a Rohingya child and a woman were found dead on the riverbank at Hneela union of the upazila, said Teknaf Model police station officer-in-charge Md Hafizur Rahman.

The law enforcers suspect that the victims drowned after the boat, headed illegally for Bangladesh territory and with them on board, capsized in the river between Sunday evening and the early hours of Monday, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

Bangladesh asks for Saudi Arabia's help repatriating Rohingya

DAILY SABAH
BY ANADOLU AGENCY
DHAKA ASIA PACIFIC
JUN 14, 2021

A group of Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, gather on Pulau Idaman, a small island just off the coast of East Aceh, in northern Sumatra on June 6, 2021, after a group of 81 refugees landed on June 4, in the latest wave of Rohingya arrivals. (AFP Photo)

Bangladesh is seeking the cooperation of Saudi Arabia to facilitate the sustainable repatriation of Rohingya Muslims to their home country, Myanmar.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen made the appeal while speaking to his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud over phone, said a statement by the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

Why we should be kinder to Rohingya refugees — Liew Chin Tong

malay mail
Monday, 14 Jun 2021

JUNE 14 — I read with distress and alarm the heightened publicity attacks against the Rohingya and other migrants by Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin and Immigration Director-General Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud.

Distress because the Rohingya as a group have been subjected to persecution and suffered genocide at the hands of the Myanmar military, and alarm because of the vitriol against a defenceless people.

In August 2017, more than 742,000 Rohingya fled Bangladesh seeking refuge from the Myanmarese regime’s pogrom. Many perished along the way. The refugees who made it to Bangladesh have been sheltered mainly in the camps in Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf. With this massive influx of refugees adding to an older generation of Rohingya who had fled Myanmar into Bangladesh decades earlier, the numbers soon mushroomed to more than a million Rohingya refugees, squeezed into a crowded and underdeveloped border region of Bangladesh.