Rohingya refugees appeal to UN to keep Sri Lanka office open

JURIST
Helena Tian | UCL Faculty of Laws, GB/CN
January 3, 2024 

Several Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka protested outside the UN refugee agency’s office this week due to the announced closure of its Sri Lanka office at the end of 2024. The refugees also submitted an appeal to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday, calling for the agency not to abandon them without arranging permanent solutions.

Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka protest at planned closure of UN office

Morning Star
Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Rohingya refugees residing in Sri Lanka protest outside the UN's refugee agency office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, January 2, 2024

A GROUP of Rohingya refugees living in Sri Lanka staged a demonstration outside the office of the United Nations refugee agency today, saying they fear losing their living allowance when the office closes at the end of this year.

Why Sri Lanka And Cambodia Shouldn’t Support Myanmar Junta’s Defense In Rohingya Genocide Case At ICJ? – OpEd

eurasiareview

Parvej Siddique Bhuiyan*
February 17, 2022

Rohingya refugees. Photo Credit: Tasnim News Agency

Following the military-led “clearance operation” that forced 750,000 Rohingya to flee neighboring Bangladesh, Gambia, a West African nation, in November 2019, brought a case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.

In response to the court’s unanimously indicated legally binding provisional measures to protect the Rohingya from further atrocities, on January 2021, the then NLD government filed a preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the Court and the admissibility of the Application. In this context, the ICJ recently announced that it will hold a fresh round of hearings from Feb. 21–28 in the Great Hall of Justice in which the regime’s leaders will be potential defendants, sparking speculation that the Court is implicitly taking a position in the ongoing civil war and legitimizing the unrecognized military regime. It is worth noting that the Junta-formed State Administrative Council (SAC) and the National Unity Government (NUG) have been struggling for recognition from the international community since the coup d’état in February 2021.

Sri Lanka races to be another genocidal Myanmar

TAMIL GUARDIAN

Article Author:
New Straits Times

15 March 2021

An editorial by the New Straits Times raises concern over the discriminatory legislation adopted by the Sri Lankan government, warning that the burqa ban and closure of over a thousand madrasahs, highlight that Sri Lanka “races to be another genocidal Myanmar”.

In their piece, they highlight how Muslim and Christians launched legal challenges against the government’s draconian policy of forced cremations which violated religious liberty and noted the Supreme Court’s dismissal without calling for evidence.

Saudi Arabia informed of advance of attacks in Sri Lanka

Voltaire net

21 May 2019

Sri Lankan police have arrested a Wahhabi preacher, Mohamed Aliyar, director of the Islamic Guidance Center in Kattankudy, a Muslim-dominated Eastern city.

He would be related to Zahran Hashim, the leader of the operation led by Daesh at Easter, which claimed the lives of nearly 270 people and injured more than 500.

After the Sri Lanka bombings: why Myanmar won't be next

Frontier

MYANMAR

By JARED DOWNING | FRONTIER
Thursday, May 09, 2019

 Security personnel inspect the interior of St Sebastian's Church in Negombo on April 22, a day after the church was hit in series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. (AFP)

Despite government concern and suspicion in the wake of deadly terror attacks in Sri Lanka, Myanmar is not a likely target for Islamic extremism.

ON EASTER Sunday, April 21, one of the deadliest terror attacks in the last decade occurred in one of Myanmar’s closest neighbours – a country also recovering from decades of civil war, and with a history of tension between a Muslim minority and Buddhist majority.

Religious Minorities Across Asia Suffer Amid Surge in Sectarian Politics

The New York Times

By Hannah Beech, Dharisha Bastians and Kai Schultz
April 21, 2019

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The deadly attacks in Sri Lanka on Sunday highlighted how easily religious coexistence can be ripped apart in a region where secularism is weakening amid the growing appeal of a politics based on ethnic and sectarian identity.

In India, the country’s governing right-wing Hindu party is exploiting faith for votes, pushing an us-versus-them philosophy that has left Muslims fearing they will be lynched if they walk alone.