Myanmar Army Probe: Rohingyas to testify before Argentina court

The Daily Star

Afp, Yangon

Wed Aug 18, 2021 

Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown were set to testify in a court in Argentina for the first time yesterday to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them.

A military campaign in Myanmar in 2017 is believed to have killed thousands and forced some 750,000 members of the Muslim minority to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh, bringing accounts of rape, murder and arson.

The witnesses will testify remotely to a court in Argentina, which is considering invoking the principle of "universal jurisdiction" to bring a case against Myanmar's leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity.

Myanmar’s Anti-Junta Resistance Inflicting Rising Casualties: Report

THE I DIPLOMAT

Sebastian Strangio

August 23, 2021

 

 

Nearly seven months since the coup, the armed resistance to the military junta continues to grow and expand.

A civilian militia group in Myanmar claims that it killed around 50 soldiers and injured a number more in a series of landmine attacks in Magwe Region last week, the latest sign of rising resistance to the military junta that seized power in February.

According to a report in The Irrawaddy, which cited a representative from the People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Gangaw township, the casualties stemmed from two incidents. The first took place on August 19, when a vehicle carrying junta soldiers, one of a convoy of six, triggered a landmine planted by the civilian resistance on the Gangaw-Kale Highway. At least 20 soldiers were killed in the explosion and many others were injured, according to The Irrawaddy.

Bangladesh Recovers Refugees' Bodies From Sunken Rohingya Boat

RFA
Radio Free Asia
2021-08-18

Roh Sana Ullah, 35, lies in a room after being rescued a day earlier from a boat that sank in the Bay of Bengal, Aug. 15, 2021.

AP

Bangladeshi authorities said Wednesday they had recovered the bodies of 11 Rohingya who drowned in the Bay of Bengal after their boat capsized in bad weather as they tried to escape from an island housing refugees over the weekend.

A search was going on for 15 other Rohingya still missing from the boat after it sank off Bhashan Char Island on Saturday, said Lt. M. Abdur Rauf, a Coast Guard public relations officer. Twelve others were rescued by local fishermen, who brought the survivors back to the island later that day.

“Seven bodies including six minors were recovered from the Chittagong part of the sea on Tuesday while four other bodies were recovered two days earlier,” Abdur Rauf told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, adding he did not know when joint rescue efforts by the Coast Guard, Navy, and police would end or if they would be changed to a recovery mission.

Rohingya women testify in Argentina court on ‘brutal massacre in Rakhine state’

The Daily Star
Wed Aug 18, 2021

Rohingya refugee girls are seen at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh. Photo: Anisur Rahman/ Star file

In a historic development, Rohingya women have described how the Myanmar military carried out a brutal massacre in their village, in an Argentinean court of law, under the aegis of universal jurisdiction.

Speaking remotely to the Federal Criminal Appeals Court in Buenos Aires from Cox's Bazar on Tuesday, the women told how soldiers killed their husbands in Chuk Pyin, Rakhine, Myanmar, according to a statement from the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK).

Argentine Court: Rohingyas testify about the horrors they faced

The Daily Star
Diplomatic Correspondent
Thu Aug 19, 2021 

In a historic development for Myanmar, Rohingya women have described in an Argentine court of law, under the aegis of universal jurisdiction, how the Myanmar military carried out a brutal massacre in their village.

Speaking remotely to the Federal Criminal Appeals Court in Bueno Aires from the world's largest refugee camp in Cox's Bazar on Tuesday, the women spoke of how soldiers killed their husbands in Chuk Pyin of Myanmar's Rakhine, according to a statement from the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK).

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They said soldiers killed hundreds of people, while some women were raped before being killed. The soldiers went on to rape many other women in their village and then burned their homes to the ground.

Rohingya to give first testimony in push for Myanmar army probe

Frontier Myanmar
AFP
AUGUST 18, 2021

The President of The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK , Tun Khin (L) and Argentine human rights lawyer Tomas Ojea Quintana (R) leave Argentine federal court in Buenos Aires on November 13, 2019. (AFP)

Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown are to testify in court for the first time Tuesday to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them.

A military campaign in Myanmar in 2017 is believed to have killed thousands and forced some 750,000 members of the Muslim minority to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh, bringing accounts of rape, murder and arson.

Rohingya to give first testimony in push for Myanmar army probe

THE STRAITS TIMES
17 August 2021

A photo from Sept 10, 2017, showing a Rohingya refugee pulling a child as they walk to the shore in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh.PHOTO: REUTERS

YANGON (AFP) - Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown are to testify in court for the first time on Tuesday (Aug 17) to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them.

A military campaign in Myanmar in 2017 is believed to have killed thousands and forced some 750,000 members of the Muslim minority group to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh, bringing accounts of rape, murder and arson.

The witnesses will testify remotely to a court in Argentina, which is considering invoking the principle of "universal jurisdiction" to bring a case against Myanmar's leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity. The legal premise holds that some acts - including war crimes and crimes against humanity - are so horrific they are not specific to one nation and can be tried anywhere.

Rohingya to give testimony to Argentine court in push for Myanmar Army probe

BuenosAires Times

17 August 2021

Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown are to testify before Argentine court. They will use the principle of "universal jurisdiction" to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them. 

TUN KHIN, PRESIDENT OF THE BURMESE ROHINGYA ORGANISATION UK, PREPARES TO GIVE TESTIMONY. | TWITTER.COM/TUNKHIN80

Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown are to testify in court for the first time Tuesday to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them.

A military campaign in Myanmar in 2017 is believed to have killed thousands and forced some 750,000 members of the Muslim minority to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh, bringing accounts of rape, murder and arson.

Rohingya Boat Capsize: UNHCR ready to support rescue work

The Daily Star

Unb, Dhaka

Mon Aug 16, 2021 

NHCR, the UN refugee agency, has said it is in contact with Rohingya communities both on Bhasan Char and in Cox's Bazar to support further rescue efforts following Saturday's boat capsize in Bay of Bengal.

On the morning of August 14, UNHCR was alerted that a boat carrying dozens of Rohingyas had capsized close to Bhasan Char island overnight.

The Coup And The Crisis In Myanmar

OWP
The Organisation for World Peace
Evelyn Elliott
August 14, 2021

Myanmar, a nation whose young democracy began only a decade ago, is currently facing a threat it may not recover from. On February 1st of 2021, the military of Myanmar staged a coup d’état in the Southeast Asian country, overthrowing the democratic government and issuing a year-long state of emergency. Orchestrated under the idea that the nation’s November election was fraudulent, a claim that lacks any substantial evidence, the armed forces took control and arrested senior members of the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) party. The situation was exacerbated by the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, a pro-democracy activist and Nobel Prize winner, who led the NLD. The country’s state of emergency has been extended for another two years under the direction of Min Aung Hlaing, a leading army general who declared himself to be the nation’s prime minister at the beginning of August. Now, after months of violence and oppression, Myanmar is confronted with the same military regime that it suffered under previously.

US, China tread warily as Myanmar burns

THE STRAIT TIMES
Tan Hui Yee
Indochina Bureau Chief 

AUG 16, 2021,

Volunteers in Myanmar helping a Covid-19 patient with his oxygen supply in the town of Kale last month.PHOTO: REUTERS

Power Play is a weekly column that looks at various facets of US-China rivalry and its implications for Asia.

BANGKOK - Last Tuesday, a group of young people cornered by the Myanmar junta chose a likely death over arrest. They jumped out of a high-rise building in Yangon. The youth were quickly lionised on social media, where those resisting the Feb 1 military coup vowed vengeance.

Link : Here

Outcry over Myanmar junta denying Covid jabs to Rohingya

UCA NEWS

UCA News reporter
August 13, 2021

Diaspora group says deliberately withholding essential health care to Rohingya confirms genocidal charges.

Members of the internally displaced Rohingya community at a camp in Rakhine state. (Photo: AFP) 

 

A diaspora group based in London has decried the Myanmar junta’s plans to withhold Covid-19 vaccinations from hundreds of thousands of Rohingya inside crowded camps in Rakhine state.

“This is a continuation and escalation of the crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing, that have been carried out for decades against Rohingya people,” Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK), said in a statement on Aug. 12.

Myanmar’s Ex-Dictator Than Shwe, Wife Enter Hospital as Precaution Against COVID-19

The Irrawaddy
12 August 2021 

Then Myanmar military dictator Than Shwe (right) and his wife Daw Kyaing Kyaing in 2010. / Khin Maung Win

Myanmar’s former dictator Than Shwe and his wife were admitted to a military hospital in Naypyitaw several days ago as a precaution amid the country’s raging COVID-19 outbreak, according to a senior military official.

The pair—who are reportedly in good health and are believed to have received their inoculations, as the country’s vaccine program prioritizes anyone over 65—entered the hospital “to have close medical attention in case they have been infected with COVID-19,” the military official said.

New ASEAN Envoy to Myanmar Pledges to Meet With Opposition, Detained Activists

THE I DIPLOMAT
Sebastian Strangio
August 10, 2021

The envoy’s mission relies on good faith commitment on the part of the junta, but this remains unlikely.

ASEAN’s newly appointed special envoy to Myanmar says he will insist on meeting with jailed politicians, including Aung San Suu Kyi, in line with the Five-Point Consensus agreed by the Southeast Asian bloc in April.

Second Foreign Minister of Brunei Erywan Yusof was formally appointed by ASEAN last week, after protracted negotiations among the bloc’s 10 member states. Speaking to reporters on Saturday in his first public remarks about the role, he said a plan to visit Myanmar was “in the pipeline,” and would be confirmed once he had consulted with all countries and actors concerned.

Myanmar, Six Months After the Coup

THE I DIPLOMAT

August 10, 2021

 

On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military seized control of the country, arresting civilian leaders and ousting the elected parliament. Since then, the country has perched on the edge of civil war, caught between the use of violent force by the Tatmadaw and a growing armed resistance on the part of ethnic militias as well as the proclaimed National Unity Government. On top of that, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is causing a surge in infections that threatens to collapse the health care system.

Supporting stranded Rohingya in Thailand

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

EUROPEAN CIVIL PROTECTION AND HUMANITARIAN AID OPERATIONS
Source : ECHO
10th August 2021

© IOM Thailand

Despite early success in controlling the pandemic in 2020, Thailand has been gripped by rapidly rising COVID-19 cases and deaths in 2021, driven by the more virulent Delta variant. This has significantly impacted on health and the economy – especially among the vulnerable.

The pandemic has extended to Thailand’s refugees, migrants and asylum-seekers, who face compounded burdens. Migrant and mobile populations have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 as they are unable to implement prevention measures, such as physical distancing, adequate sanitation, accessing medical care and access to personal protective equipment (PPE).

Bangladesh starts COVID-19 vaccine drive for Rohingya refugees

REUTERS
Ruma Paul
August 10, 2021

DHAKA, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Bangladesh began vaccinating thousands of Rohingya Muslims on Tuesday in the world’s largest refugee settlement amid a surge in COVID-19 infections in the country, officials said.

Aid workers have long warned of a potential humanitarian disaster if there is a significant outbreak in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, the border district where over a million Rohingya who fled a brutal military crackdowns in neighbouring Myanmar have found sanctuary.

Asean too late for Myanmar?

Bangkok Post

EDITORIAL
BANGKOK POST EDITORIAL COLUMN

The appointment of Brunei's Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof as Asean special envoy to Myanmar last week is better late than never.

The special envoy's appointment is part of a five-point consensus that was agreed upon by Asean leaders during an April 24 meeting searching for a solution to the Myanmar crisis following the Feb 1 coup that ousted the elected civilian government under Aung San Suu Kyi who has been detained together with other civilian officials.

The delay in the envoy's appointment is described by the international media as due to internal wrangling within the group; with Indonesia and Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines opting for a proactive approach; while the rest, including Thailand, preferring quiet diplomacy which is almost synonymous with sitting on the problem while violence is being committed.

Anti-military protests in Myanmar on anniversary of 1988 uprising

Reuters
August 8, 2021

Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who ousted the elected government in a coup on February 1, presides an army parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo/File Photo

Bangladesh Looks To Russia To Resolve Rohingya Crisis – Analysis

eurasiareview
By Anand Kumar*
Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA)

August 8, 2021 

Rohingya refugees. Photo Credit: Tasnim News Agency

The issue of Rohingya refugees has turned out to be a major problem for Bangladesh in recent times, especially after the mass exodus of Rohingyas from Myanmar in August 2017. Bangladesh has tried to engage bilaterally with Myanmar and also attempted to garner international support to deal with this problem effectively. It has managed to get support not only from the Western countries and the Muslim world but also from important international organisations like the United Nations (UN). Despite this, the problem is far from resolved. In its bid to find a solution to this problem and to repatriate Rohingyas to Myanmar, Bangladesh has now sought the help of Russia as the relationship of the Myanmar junta with Russia is gathering strength.