Myanmar's Rohingya problem

[waltky]

Myanmar Rohingya update...

‘Rohingya’ becoming an unspoken word
Tue, Aug 19, 2014 - NO NAME GAME: The UN, the US and others appear to be caving in to pressure from Myanmar’s government not to use ‘Rohingya’ when talking about the besieged Muslims

Myanmar’s downtrodden Rohingya Muslims have been denied citizenship, targeted in deadly sectarian violence and corralled into dirty camps without aid. To heap on the indignity, Myanmar’s government is pressuring foreign officials not to speak the group’s name, and the tactic appears to be working. UN officials say they avoid the term in public to avoid stirring tensions between the country’s Buddhists and Muslims. And after US Secretary of State John Kerry recently met with Burmese leaders, a senior US Department of State official told reporters the US thinks the name issue should be “set aside.”

That disappoints Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK. He said by not using it, governments are cooperating with a policy of repression. “How will the rights of the Rohingya be protected by people who won’t even use the word `Rohingya’?” he said. Myanmar’s government views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, not one of the 135 officially recognized ethnic groups. Longstanding discrimination against the stateless minority, estimated to number 1.3 million, has intensified as Myanmar has opened up after decades of military rule.

More than 140,000 Rohingya have been trapped in crowded camps since extremist mobs from the Buddhist majority began chasing them from their homes two years ago, killing up to 280 people. Some see in the communal violence the warning signs of genocide. The US has called on the government to protect them. When US President Barack Obama visited Myanmar less than two years ago, he told students at Yangon University: “There is no excuse for violence against innocent people. And the Rohingya hold themselves — hold within themselves the same dignity as you do, and I do.”

Yet neither Kerry this month, nor top US human rights envoy Tom Malinowski during a June visit, uttered the term at their news conferences when they talked with concern about the situation in Rakhine state, where sectarian violence is perhaps worst. Buddhist mob attacks against Rohingya and other Muslims have spread from the western state to other parts of the country, sparking fears that nascent democratic reforms could be undermined by growing religious intolerance. The state department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly, said the US’ position is that to force either community to accept a name that they consider offensive — including the term “Bengali” that the government uses to describe Rohingya — is to “invite conflict.”

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Rohingya children in Myanmar camps going hungry
Tue, Aug 12, 2014 - More than 140,000 Rohingya Muslims have been trapped in crowded, dirty camps since extremist Buddhist mobs began chasing them from their homes two years ago, killing up to 280 people

Born just over a year ago, Dosmeda Bibi has spent her entire short life confined to a camp for one of the world’s most persecuted religious minorities. And like a growing number of other Muslim Rohingya children who are going hungry, she’s showing the first signs of severe malnutrition. Her stomach is bloated and her skin clings tightly to the bones of her tiny arms and legs. While others her age are sitting or standing, the baby girl cannot flip from her back to her stomach without a gentle nudge from her mom. “I’m scared she won’t live much longer,” whispers Hameda Begum as she gazes into her daughter’s dark, sunken eyes. “We barely have any food. On some days I can only scrape together a few bites of rice for her to eat.”

Myanmar’s child malnutrition rate was already among the region’s highest, but it’s an increasingly familiar sight in the country’s westernmost state of Rakhine, which is home to almost all of the country’s 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims. More than 140,000 have been trapped in crowded, dirty camps since extremist Buddhist mobs began chasing them from their homes two years ago, killing up to 280 people. The others are stuck in villages isolated by systematic discrimination, with restrictions on their movement and limited access to food, clean water, education and health care.

RAMPANT MALNUTRITION

Even before the violence, the European Community Humanitarian Office reported parts of the country’s second-poorest state had acute malnutrition rates hitting 23 percent — far beyond the 15 percent emergency level set by the WHO. With seasonal rains now beating down on the plastic tents and bamboo shacks inside Rohingya camps, the situation has become even more miserable and dangerous for kids like Dosmeda. Naked boys and girls run barefoot on the muddy, narrow pathways, or play in pools of raw sewage, exposing them to potential waterborne diseases that kill. Some have black hair tinged with patches of red or blond, a tell-tale sign of nutrient deficiency commonly seen in places experiencing famine. After a 10-day visit to the area last month, Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, summed up what she saw. “The situation is deplorable,” she said.

DETERIORATING CONDITIONS

Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation, only recently emerged from a half-century of repressive military rule and self-imposed isolation. Despite occasional expressions of concern, the US, Britain and others in the international community have largely stood by as conditions for the Rohingya deteriorated. Some ambassadors and donor countries say privately that coming down too hard on the new, nominally civilian government will undermine efforts to implement sweeping reforms and note there has already been a dramatic backslide. Others don’t want to jeopardize much-needed multi-billion dollar development projects in the country.

But their hesitancy to act has emboldened Buddhist extremists, now dictating the terms of aid distribution in Rakhine. Last month, even Bertrand Bainvel, country representative for the UN’s children’s agency — which says the number of severe malnutrition cases has more than doubled between March and June to reach nearly 1,000 cases — apologized for the use of the word “Rohingya.” It was uttered during a presentation about projects for kids in Rakhine, rather than the government-insisted term “Bengali.”

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[waltky]

100k Muslims flee Myanmar...

Number of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar tops 100,000
25 Oct.`14 ) — A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with the number who have fled by boat since communal violence broke out two years ago now topping 100,000, a leading expert said Saturday.

Chris Lewa, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Arakan Project, said there has been a huge surge since Oct. 15, with an average of 900 people per day piling into cargo ships parked off Rakhine state. That's nearly 10,000 in less than two weeks, she noted, one of the biggest spikes yet. Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 50 million that only recently emerged from half a century of military rule, has an estimated 1.3 million Rohingya. Though many of their families arrived from neighboring Bangladesh generations ago, almost all have been denied citizenship. In the last two years, attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps, where they live without access to adequate health care, education or jobs.

Rohingya children travel in a rickshaw in north of Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the long-persecuted minority fleeing by boat in the last two weeks, according to an expert.

Lewa, who has teams monitoring embarkation points, is considered the leading authority on the number of fleeing Rohingya. But boats are now shoving off from more and more places, she said, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of how many are leaving. "The real number may be higher," Lewa said. She said some Rohingya families have received phone calls notifying them that ships from the latest exodus have started arriving in neighboring Thailand, where passengers often are brought to jungle camps, facing extortion and beatings until relatives come up with enough money to win their release. From there they usually travel to Malaysia or other countries, but, still stateless, their futures remain bleak.

A Rohingya boy who recovers sellable items from garbage dumps, takes shelter in a roadside shop in the rain at The Chaung village north of Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the long-persecuted minority fleeing by boat in the last two weeks, according to an expert.

In Myanmar, the vast majority live in the northern tip of Rakhine state, where an aggressive campaign by authorities in recent months to register family members and officially categorize them as "Bengalis" — implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh — has aggravated their situation. According to villagers contacted by The Associated Press, some were confined to their villages for weeks at a time for refusing to take part in the "verification" process, while others were beaten or arrested. More recently, dozens of men were detained for having alleged ties to the militant Rohingya Solidarity Organization, or RSO, said Khin Maung Win, a resident from Maungdaw township, adding that several reportedly were beaten or tortured during their arrests or while in detention.

Rohingya refugees gather to receive medicine at Dar Paing village clinic, north of Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the long-persecuted minority fleeing by boat in the last two weeks, according to residents and a leading expert.

Lewa said three of the men died. "Our team is becoming more and more convinced that this campaign of arbitrary arrests is aimed at triggering departures," she said. Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing denied any knowledge of arrests or abuse. "There's nothing happening up there," he said. "There are no arrests of suspects of RSO. I haven't heard anything like that." Every year, the festival of Eid al-Adha, which was celebrated by Muslims worldwide early this month, marks the beginning of a large exodus of Rohingya, in part due to calmer seas but also because it is a chance to spend time with family and friends. But there seems to be a growing sense of desperation this year, with numbers nearly double from the same period in 2013. Lewa said a number of Rohingya also were moving overland to Bangladesh and on to India and Nepal.

Number of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar tops 100 000 - Yahoo News

 

[waltky]

Monks on the front line against Muslim invasion of Myanmar...

Monks mobilize against Muslims
Mon, Sep 07, 2015 - BUDDHIST BULLY: Wirathu is the most well-known member of a group of Burmese monks who have been marginalizing Rohingya through their brand of nationalism

With a smile, Myanmar’s most notorious Buddhist monk boasts of the sleepless nights he endures on his self-appointed quest against the country’s Muslims — one that he claims has helped strip voting rights from hundreds of thousands of the religious minority. Wirathu, whose anti-Muslim campaign has stoked religious tensions in the Buddhist-majority nation, said he spends most nights at his tranquil Mandalay monastery glued to his computer screen, streaming images from some of the world’s most violent Muslim militant organizations.

He then posts messages to his 91,000 Facebook followers, helping foment the idea that Buddhism is under threat. “Many days I don’t sleep at all,” the monk, who goes by one name, told reporters, adding his work is so arduous that he lacks the time enjoyed by Burmese President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to “have family meals and put on makeup.” Myanmar’s Muslims, who make up at least 5 percent of Myanmar’s population of 51 million, have a long history of involvement in public life.

Burmese monk Wirathu speaks during an interview at a monastery in Mandalay, Myanmar

However, they have faced increasing marginalization under the current quasi-civilian government that replaced junta rule in 2011. Recent years have also seen bouts of deadly anti-Muslim violence and there are fears the spread of hate speech could trigger further troubles in the run-up to the nation’s landmark Nov. 8 election. Wirathu, whose soft voice belies the vitriol behind his words, is the best-known member of an alliance of monks who have inserted their hardline stance into Myanmar’s mainstream politics. He was jailed in 2003 for inciting religious tension under the former military rulers. However, their successors have appeared keen to allow his brand of nationalist Buddhism to flourish.

Wirathu claimed “victory” for pressuring the government to push controversial laws through the Burmese Assembly of the Union — which rights groups say discriminate against women and religious minorities — and helping to snatch voting rights from hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya in strife-torn Rakhine State. In March, Myanmar revoked temporary identification documents — a move affecting hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, who have since been stripped of voting rights after parliament banned people without full citizenship from voting. Observers say both Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and Myanmar’s ruling party have bowed to the hardliners, declining to field Muslim candidates for polls seen as a crucial test of democratic progress.

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[waltky]

Rohingya leavin' Myanmar in droves...

Around 25,000 Rohingya left Myanmar camps in past year - U.N.
Mon Mar 21, 2016 - Around 25,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority group have left camps for displaced people in western Myanmar and returned to the communities they fled during sectarian violence in 2012, the United Nations said on Monday.

The number of people still in camps has fallen to around 120,000 from 145,000 in Rakhine State, Vivian Tan, regional spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency, told Reuters. The move will bolster optimism among ethnic communities in Myanmar that their situation may improve under the new government of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD won a landslide electoral win in November and is forming a government to take power on April 1.

A Muslim Rohingya man stands on a boat at a fishing port at a refugee camp outside Sittwe​

The majority of Rohingya who have left the camps have rebuilt houses in their place of origin, Tan said in an e-mailed statement to Reuters. The move out of the camps started in March 2015 in a process led by the Myanmar government, she added. "These movements are a positive step toward ending displacement, cutting humanitarian dependency as well as restoring a degree of normality and dignity to people's lives," she said. The Rohingya still faced challenges due to lack of citizenship and related restrictions, she said.

The number of camps for displaced people has fallen to 40, down from 67, she added. Persecution and poverty led thousands more Rohingya to flee Myanmar in the wake of the violence between Buddhists and Muslims there four years ago. Many of them were smuggled or trafficked to Thailand, Malaysia and beyond. The number of migrants has fallen sharply this year from previous years, the U.N. said. "It is striking, there are many less people coming than last year," Volker Turk, assistant high commissioner for protection at the UNHCR, told Reuters on Monday after an event on refugees in Bangkok. "It's a combination of factors. As well as the new government, there are stronger activities against smuggling and trafficking. And the discovery of the mass graves last year also shocked people."

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[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right, call `em what dey are - Mooslums...

Myanmar Wants US to Stop Referring to 'Rohingya'
May 04, 2016 — Myanmar wants the U.S. Embassy to stop using the term “Rohingya,” when referring to the country’s unrecognized ethnic minority, a government official told VOA Wednesday. “We will be happy if the embassy refrains from using this term,” said Aung Lin, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Continued use of the word “will not be helpful to us,” he added.

The official said, however, he is "not aware yet" whether the ministry on Tuesday made a formal request to the embassy about the terminology. The embassy Wednesday declined to clarify whether there had been such communication the previous day, as reported by media. An embassy spokesman in Yangon, who did not want to be named, told VOA, “We do not comment on our diplomatic discussions with the government.” U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel, in an April 28 news conference, however, rejected eschewing the term even if Myanmar's government will not use it, saying it is normal practice for the United States and the international community to recognize that “communities anywhere have the ability to decide what they should be called. And normally when that happens we would call them what they want to be called. It’s not a political decision; it’s just a normal practice.”

Members of a Buddhist nationalist group shout slogans during a protest outside U.S. Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar against the embassy's April 20, 2016 statement with the word "Rohingya"​

The embassy has faced criticism from Myanmar's nationalists since it issued a statement of condolence after an April 19 maritime accident in which as many as 40 Rohingya drowned. The victims were traveling to a market and a hospital from a camp for internally displaced people in western Rakhine state. The embassy's statement linked the tragedy to restrictions on basic services in the state, which it said “can lead to communities unnecessarily risking their lives in an attempt to improve the quality of life.” Myanmar's government claims those calling themselves Rohingya are Bengalis who have illegally entered the country. Myanmar, a predominately Buddhist country, has received international criticism for its treatment of the mainly Muslim minority, which is largely denied citizenship and many other basic human rights.

Rohingya Muslims travel on a boat along a river in Buthidaung township, Myanmar​

There had been expectation abroad that the plight of the Rohingya might improve after Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy took power last month. Others have pointed out, however, that neither Aung San Suu Kyi nor any of her deputies gave any indication – before or after the NLD's landslide victory last year – there would be policy changes concerning the Rohingya different from the situation under Myanmar’s military-led governments. The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, early last month, gave Myanmar's incoming civilian government 100 days to improve living conditions for the Rohingya. The United Nations has repeatedly called for Myanmar to provide full rights for Rohingya, nearly all of whom were stripped of their citizenship in 1982, losing most of their rights to education, services and freedom of movement.

A boy searches for useful items among the ashes of burnt down dwellings after a fire destroyed shelters at a camp for internally displaced Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's western Rakhine State near Sittwe​

U.N. agencies estimate one tenth of the Rohingya population has fled Myanmar in the past four years following a 2012 outbreak of religious violence that left more than 200 dead. A fire swept through one predominately Rohingya camp in rural Sittwe on Tuesday, destroying or badly damaging structures housing about 2,000 people, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). At least 14 people were injured by the fire in the Baw Du Pha 2 Muslim IDP camp, which appears to have resulted from a cooking accident, according to OCHA, which added it could not verify unconfirmed reports of fatalities. “Local and humanitarian organizations are supporting the authorities in responding to immediate needs in medical aid and shelter, and in the coming days in assessing and responding to humanitarian needs such as food, water and sanitation, and other basic necessities,” said a statement issued by the U.N. agency.

Myanmar Wants US to Stop Referring to 'Rohingya'

 

[waltky]

Muslims not goin' back to where they aren't wlecome...

Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh Vow Never to Return to Myanmar
January 01, 2017 - Authorities in Dhaka have demanded that Myanmar repatriate tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who crossed the border to escape what they say is persecution, and are now living illegally in Bangladesh.

Myanmar says it will accept a small fraction of the refugee population now in Bangladesh, but the Rohingya themselves say they are unwilling to go back to Myanmar's Rakhine state. Refugee community leaders are appealing to "Rohingya-friendly" countries to take them in. Ko Ko Linn, a Rohingya community leader in Bangladesh, told VOA that conditions in Myanmar had become unlivable, particularly in recent weeks, and "they do not want to return to this anti-Rohingya Myanmar."

'Unlivable' situation

Linn, an executive member of the Arakan Rohingya National Organization, said, "The Myanmar government and the country's Buddhist-majority society have turned extremely hostile against the Rohingya Muslims, turning the country into a hell for them." An Amnesty International report last month accused Myanmar security forces of being responsible for unlawful killings, multiple rapes and the burning down of houses and entire villages in a "campaign of violence against Rohingya people that may amount to crimes against humanity."

Rohingya men have just arrived from Myanmar, at an unidentified place in Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh.​

The Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh called in Myanmar's ambassador Thursday to complain about the refugees and to demand an early return of all Rohingya migrants to Myanmar. Kamrul Ahsan, Bangladesh's Bilateral and Consular Secretary, told Ambassador Myo Myint Than there is "deep concern at the continued influx of Muslims" from Myanmar. A Foreign Ministry statement in Dhaka said Ahsan asked "the Myanmar government to urgently address the root cause of the problem," so that the Rakhine Muslims are not forced to flee Myanmar and seek shelter in Bangladesh.

Less than 1 percent can return

One day after that tense meeting in Dhaka, Myanmar said it would agree to accept the return of fewer than 2,500 Rohingya from Bangladesh — less than 1 percent of the total refugee population, which is estimated to be at least 350,000 people. Authorities in Yangon contend most of the impoverished Rohingya now seeking shelter in Bangladesh are not citizens of Myanmar, because they are descended from illegal immigrants who arrived years ago. The Rohingya, however, claim their community has lived where Myanmar is located for several centuries.

Rohingyas who fled Myanmar over the past decades live in this decrepit Kutupalong illegal Rohingya refugee colony in Cox’s Bazar district, Bangladesh.​

Separately, Bangladesh's foreign secretary, Shahidul Haque, said Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to send a special envoy to Bangladesh soon, to take stock of the Rohingya refugee situation. Violence directed at Rohingya Muslims has broken out in Myanmar sporadically in recent years, and members of the Muslim minority fleeing persecution kept crossing over to southeastern Bangladesh, which lies adjacent to their home villages in Rakhine state. The situation worsened considerably 11 weeks ago, however, after nine Myanmar border guards were killed in an armed attack blamed on Rohingya militants.

Refugee tide swelled recently

 

[irosie91]

Muslims not goin' back to where they aren't wlecome...

Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh Vow Never to Return to Myanmar
January 01, 2017 - Authorities in Dhaka have demanded that Myanmar repatriate tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who crossed the border to escape what they say is persecution, and are now living illegally in Bangladesh.

Myanmar says it will accept a small fraction of the refugee population now in Bangladesh, but the Rohingya themselves say they are unwilling to go back to Myanmar's Rakhine state. Refugee community leaders are appealing to "Rohingya-friendly" countries to take them in. Ko Ko Linn, a Rohingya community leader in Bangladesh, told VOA that conditions in Myanmar had become unlivable, particularly in recent weeks, and "they do not want to return to this anti-Rohingya Myanmar."

'Unlivable' situation

Linn, an executive member of the Arakan Rohingya National Organization, said, "The Myanmar government and the country's Buddhist-majority society have turned extremely hostile against the Rohingya Muslims, turning the country into a hell for them." An Amnesty International report last month accused Myanmar security forces of being responsible for unlawful killings, multiple rapes and the burning down of houses and entire villages in a "campaign of violence against Rohingya people that may amount to crimes against humanity."

Rohingya men have just arrived from Myanmar, at an unidentified place in Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh.​

The Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh called in Myanmar's ambassador Thursday to complain about the refugees and to demand an early return of all Rohingya migrants to Myanmar. Kamrul Ahsan, Bangladesh's Bilateral and Consular Secretary, told Ambassador Myo Myint Than there is "deep concern at the continued influx of Muslims" from Myanmar. A Foreign Ministry statement in Dhaka said Ahsan asked "the Myanmar government to urgently address the root cause of the problem," so that the Rakhine Muslims are not forced to flee Myanmar and seek shelter in Bangladesh.

Less than 1 percent can return

One day after that tense meeting in Dhaka, Myanmar said it would agree to accept the return of fewer than 2,500 Rohingya from Bangladesh — less than 1 percent of the total refugee population, which is estimated to be at least 350,000 people. Authorities in Yangon contend most of the impoverished Rohingya now seeking shelter in Bangladesh are not citizens of Myanmar, because they are descended from illegal immigrants who arrived years ago. The Rohingya, however, claim their community has lived where Myanmar is located for several centuries.

Rohingyas who fled Myanmar over the past decades live in this decrepit Kutupalong illegal Rohingya refugee colony in Cox’s Bazar district, Bangladesh.​

Separately, Bangladesh's foreign secretary, Shahidul Haque, said Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to send a special envoy to Bangladesh soon, to take stock of the Rohingya refugee situation. Violence directed at Rohingya Muslims has broken out in Myanmar sporadically in recent years, and members of the Muslim minority fleeing persecution kept crossing over to southeastern Bangladesh, which lies adjacent to their home villages in Rakhine state. The situation worsened considerably 11 weeks ago, however, after nine Myanmar border guards were killed in an armed attack blamed on Rohingya militants.

Refugee tide swelled recently

why is bangla desh which was CREATED to be a land for muslims so reluctant to embrace its bretheren?

 

[irosie91]

100k Muslims flee Myanmar...

Number of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar tops 100,000
25 Oct.`14 ) — A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with the number who have fled by boat since communal violence broke out two years ago now topping 100,000, a leading expert said Saturday.

Chris Lewa, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Arakan Project, said there has been a huge surge since Oct. 15, with an average of 900 people per day piling into cargo ships parked off Rakhine state. That's nearly 10,000 in less than two weeks, she noted, one of the biggest spikes yet. Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 50 million that only recently emerged from half a century of military rule, has an estimated 1.3 million Rohingya. Though many of their families arrived from neighboring Bangladesh generations ago, almost all have been denied citizenship. In the last two years, attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps, where they live without access to adequate health care, education or jobs.

Rohingya children travel in a rickshaw in north of Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the long-persecuted minority fleeing by boat in the last two weeks, according to an expert.

Lewa, who has teams monitoring embarkation points, is considered the leading authority on the number of fleeing Rohingya. But boats are now shoving off from more and more places, she said, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of how many are leaving. "The real number may be higher," Lewa said. She said some Rohingya families have received phone calls notifying them that ships from the latest exodus have started arriving in neighboring Thailand, where passengers often are brought to jungle camps, facing extortion and beatings until relatives come up with enough money to win their release. From there they usually travel to Malaysia or other countries, but, still stateless, their futures remain bleak.

A Rohingya boy who recovers sellable items from garbage dumps, takes shelter in a roadside shop in the rain at The Chaung village north of Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the long-persecuted minority fleeing by boat in the last two weeks, according to an expert.

In Myanmar, the vast majority live in the northern tip of Rakhine state, where an aggressive campaign by authorities in recent months to register family members and officially categorize them as "Bengalis" — implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh — has aggravated their situation. According to villagers contacted by The Associated Press, some were confined to their villages for weeks at a time for refusing to take part in the "verification" process, while others were beaten or arrested. More recently, dozens of men were detained for having alleged ties to the militant Rohingya Solidarity Organization, or RSO, said Khin Maung Win, a resident from Maungdaw township, adding that several reportedly were beaten or tortured during their arrests or while in detention.

Rohingya refugees gather to receive medicine at Dar Paing village clinic, north of Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. A growing sense of desperation is fueling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar, with at least 8,000 members of the long-persecuted minority fleeing by boat in the last two weeks, according to residents and a leading expert.

Lewa said three of the men died. "Our team is becoming more and more convinced that this campaign of arbitrary arrests is aimed at triggering departures," she said. Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing denied any knowledge of arrests or abuse. "There's nothing happening up there," he said. "There are no arrests of suspects of RSO. I haven't heard anything like that." Every year, the festival of Eid al-Adha, which was celebrated by Muslims worldwide early this month, marks the beginning of a large exodus of Rohingya, in part due to calmer seas but also because it is a chance to spend time with family and friends. But there seems to be a growing sense of desperation this year, with numbers nearly double from the same period in 2013. Lewa said a number of Rohingya also were moving overland to Bangladesh and on to India and Nepal.

Number of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar tops 100 000 - Yahoo News

for those who do not remember-----FAR MORE hindus fled the filth of Islamic oppression and rape and murder in the early 1970s from what was then east Pakistan---and which became "bangla desh" than muslims are fleeing Myanmar.
I cannot imagine why India or Nepal is letting them in-----bangla desh is MUSLIM---
a logical refuge for muslims

 

[waltky]

UN refugee head stirin' the pot, stickin' his nose in where it don't belong...

UN refugee head calls for citizenship for Myanmar's Rohingya
Jul 7,`17 -- The U.N.'s top official for refugee affairs said Friday that granting citizenship to members of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority is crucial for achieving peace in the country's western state of Rakhine, but economic development is also necessary.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi spoke in Bangkok after an official visit to Myanmar. The Rohingya face severe discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and were the targets of violence in Rakhine in 2012 that killed hundreds and drove about 140,000 people - predominantly Rohingya - from their homes to displacement camps, where most remain. The Rohingya have long been denied citizenship, freedom of movement and basic rights in Myanmar, where they are often seen as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, although many have lived in the area for generations. "The Muslim community, the Rohingya community suffers from a set of rules and regulations that contributes to their marginalization," Grandi said at a news conference. "To this you must add the general situation of poverty and underdevelopment that affects everybody in the state of Rakhine."

He said that in addition to providing the Rohingya with more freedom of movement and social services, "The Rakhine state where both communities coexist must see more development. There is an urgent need for development investments that must be, however, inclusive of the two communities." Grandi said he received assurances from Myanmar's top leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, that refugees from her country who have been sheltering in Thailand - many for decades - will be welcome back home. More than 100,000 refugees from Myanmar, virtually all from ethnic minorities, live in camps in Thailand near the border. Decades of fighting between the Myanmar army and ethnic guerrillas drove them to seek shelter in Thailand.

The installation of Suu Kyi's civilian government last year after five decades of military-led rule has raised hopes they can go home, but intermittent fighting in many areas and the absence of a peace agreement have stalled large-scale repatriation. "Aung San Suu Kyi and the other ministers that I talked to agreed that the refugees were welcome back to Myanmar, but that it was important that such return must be voluntary and must be sustainable," said Grandi. "We cannot go back to a situation of insecurity or lack of resources."

He said he also discussed the issue when he met with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and other Thai government officials. "We agreed that it was important to pursue, to continue, the return of refugees from Thailand to Myanmar," Grandi said. Grandi next visits Bangladesh, which hosts hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from Myanmar who have entered since the 1970s.

News from The Associated Press

 

[irosie91]

good point----and the refugees who lie in the gutters of KOLKATA having been driven from their homes in
"EAST PAKISTAN"----now Bangla Desh------are ENTITLED to full compensation for their losses and HOMES
in "BANGLADESH" which must be declared a SECULAR NON MUISLIM DEMOCRACY---forthwith. Furthermore----the filth called MALDIVES which has declared that all citizens must be adherents of the STENCH OF ISLAM ----must be disbanded forthwith

 

[irosie91]

Long live the BUDDHIST COUNTRY ----MYANMAR