Canada announces embassy in Burma amid rush for country's oil, natural resources

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has announced the opening of a Canadian embassy in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Photograph by: Postmedia News , Postmedia News

OTTAWA — Canada's decision to open a new embassy in Myanmar comes amid significant democratic reforms — and an international rush for the Southeast Asian nation's natural resources.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced the new diplomatic mission on Friday, a day after the White House eased U.S. sanctions to allow American firms to invest there and work with its state-run oil and gas company.

U.S. businesses were reportedly worried they may miss out as other competitors, including China, India, Thailand, Malaysia and France, have already secured deals.

Foreign companies have also sought to cash in on Myanmar's massive mineral and gem resources, which are valued at billions of dollars.

Announcing the new embassy from Thailand, where he is in the midst of a two-week swing through Asia, Baird focused his comments on the progress that has been made by the ruling military junta to improve Myanmar's human rights and democratic record.

"There's been an incredible amount of reform in the country over the past 18 months," Baird said. "We're impressed by that reform."

Coming after decades of oppressive rule by the junta, those reforms have included opening up Myanmar's economy, releasing hundreds of political prisoners, legalizing protests and the holding of historic byelections.

Canada has never had an embassy in Myanmar, and the decision to create one is the latest step in Canada's re-engagement with the country.

Sanctions imposed against the country in the aftermath of a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 2007 were suspended in April.

Baird did not mention the economic opportunities that exist in Myanmar, but an official in his office confirmed that in addition to helping promote human rights and democracy, the new Canadian embassy "will work to support Canadian commercial interests and investment in Burma."

Asked why Canada was opening an embassy in Myanmar when it is closing diplomatic offices in the U.S. and planning $170 million in cuts to the Foreign Affairs department, spokesman Rick Roth said the Conservative government is "putting our resources where they need to be."

"The (Southeast Asian) region presents a tremendous opportunity," Roth added.

There have been concerns that in their rush to get at Myanmar's vast resources, Western nations have been too quick to welcome the country back into the fold and too willing to overlook the large number of political and human rights problems that continue to exist.

For example, foreign companies appear to be largely ignoring pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's calls for them not to work with Myanmar's state-run oil and gas company until it becomes more transparent.

Meanwhile, news reports indicated Friday that 10 United Nations and NGO workers had been arrested in the western part of the country where minority Rohingya Muslims are being rounded up in what some fear is a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

A week earlier, 20 student leaders were detained as they prepared to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a military attack on a university. They were later freed.

Baird himself acknowledged that much work remains to be done in Myanmar.

"Although the Burmese government has taken positive steps to improve human rights and democracy over the past year, we continue to urge more progress on reforms," he said.

"Obviously although they've taken some very positive steps, there's more progress required."

Tin Maung Htoo, executive director of the Canadian Friends of Burma, has no doubt the Conservative government's decision to open a new embassy in Myanmar is as much about business as it is about supporting the reforms going on there.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing, he said, given the need for economic development after decades of stagnation thanks to international isolation and the policies of the ruling junta.

"But to me, only focusing on natural resource areas is not wise," he said. "In Burma, there are many other areas where you can do business."
SOURCE: http://www.canada.com/news/Canada+opening+embassy+Burma/6929351/story.html

International community and UN keep silent on Myanmar massacre: Analyst

A political commentator has slammed the silence of human rights bodies and international organizations, including the United Nations over the massacre of ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Press TV reports.

“They [international organizations and UN] have never broken their silence or provided a single piece of information about what is going on there… this is a very clear sign that this work is the work of those the powerful that might is right; if you are mighty you give yourself the right to raise the issues that you want and you do not talk about the issues that do not boil down to your interests,” Ibrahim Mousawi told Press TV on Friday. 

"They [international organizations and UN] have never broken their silence or provided a single piece of information about what is going on there… this is a very clear sign that this work is the work of those the powerful that might is right; if you are mighty you give yourself the right to raise the issues that you want and you do not talk about the issues that do not boil down to your interests.”

Ibrahim Mousawi, political analyst

He also added that people all around the world should voice their anger at the mass slaughter of the minority Muslim group in Myanmar and “tell the whole world they do not agree with the silence of their governments” over the matter. 

"The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas, who it claims are not natives and classifies as illegal migrants, although the Rohingya are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Burma as early as the 8th century."

The UN says decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services. 

Reports say 650 Rohingya Muslims were killed as of June 28 alone during clashes in the western region of Rakhine. This is while 1,200 others are missing and 80,000 more have been displaced. 

Referring to the acts of violence committed against Muslims in the southeastern Asian country, the analyst added that “this is a matter of racial [prejudice], this is a matter of religious prejudice… The [Myanmar’s] authorities they don't want to have more Muslims there, we all know that; this is something that has to do with religious backgrounds and with ethnic cleansing.” 

This is while even Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has kept quiet on the atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslims. 

Ironically, just days after she received a peace prize, Suu Kyi told reporters she did not know if Rohingyas were 'Burmese'. 

OIC leads global campaign to protect Rohingya Muslims

ARAB NEWS

Friday 20 July 2012

The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has launched a major international campaign to put an end to the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority in the Arakan state of Myanmar and protect their legitimate rights.
OIC offices in Geneva, New York, and Brussels are making intense efforts to foster international intervention in the issue. The OIC is in touch with the United Nations, UN Human Rights Council, European Union and other international organizations to halt the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.
OIC Secretary-General Ekmeledin Ihsanoglu strongly condemned the renewed repression of Rohingyas since June 2012, which has resulted in deaths of innocent civilians, burning of their homes and mosques, and forcing them to leave their homeland.
He added that over the past three decades, Rohingya Muslim citizens had been subjected to gross violation of human rights including ethnic cleansing, killings, rape, and forced displacement by Myanmar security forces.
“The recent restoration of democracy in Myanmar had raised hopes in the international community that oppression against Rohingya Muslims would end, and that they would be able to enjoy equal rights and opportunities. However, the renewed violence against Rohingyas has caused great concern to the OIC,” Ihsanoglu said.
“When efforts of the international community including the United Nations were underway for a peaceful resolution of the issue, the OIC was shocked by the unfortunate remarks of President Thien Sein disowning Rohingya Muslims as citizens of Myanmar,” he said.
The OIC chief stressed that the Myanmar government, as a member of the United Nations and ASEAN, had to adhere to the international human rights charters, including the relevant conventions and declarations, in treatment of its citizens.
Ihsanoglu referred to the UN declaration that the Rohingyas are an ethnic, religious and linguistic minority from western Burma. Historical facts show that Rohingyas have been present in the land of Myanmar for centuries before the arrival of the British and before the formation of Burma.
“In spite of this, the government of Myanmar continues to persecute and discriminate against the Rohingyas,” he said, adding that the citizenship law of 1982 violated international norms by stripping the Rohingyas unjustly of their right to citizenship.
Ihsanoglu hoped that the Myanmar government would respond to the concerns of the international community in a positive and constructive manner, so that all its Rohingya Muslims are able to return to their homeland in honor, safety and dignity. 
“The OIC Charter stipulates that the organization should assist Muslim minorities and communities outside the member states to preserve their dignity, cultural and religious identity,” he added. “Myanmar should recognize that its new engagement at the international level does not only come with opportunities but also with responsibilities,” Ihsanoglu said.
The OIC intends to send a delegation to Myanmar after meeting with its permanent representative to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Ihsanoglu called on the Myanmar government to order an immediate probe into the slaughtering of Rohingya Muslims to bring those responsible to justice.
The OIC chief recently sent a letter to Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi urging her to help end the violence against the Rohingya community. “As a Nobel Peace laureate, we are confident that the first step of your journey toward ensuring peace in the world would start from your own doorstep, and that you would play a positive role in putting an end to the violence that has afflicted Arakan State,” it said.
The OIC chief suggested that Suu Kyi could make the government in Naypyidaw agree to an international inquiry into the recent violence, granting free access to humanitarian aid groups and international media in Arakan as well as expediting the return of the victims to their respective homes.
Rohingyas living in Arakan State of Burma are one of the most forgotten and persecuted peoples on earth. Their population is about three million, of which about 1.5 million are in diasporas in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK and Europe.
“The successive Burmese regimes have subjected them to institutionalized persecution, and the ruling civilianized military government is no exception,” said Nurul Islam, president of Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO).
The Thein Sein government's wind of change has not touched the Rohingyas yet, he said. Even the very word “Rohingya” is blacklisted and unmentionable, while the authorities have described them as “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”, he added. 
According to Nurul Islam, the primary factor that has led the Rohingyas to suffer grave human rights violations or crimes against humanity in Burma is their religion and ethnicity.
“Arbitrary killings, rape, torture, land confiscation, forced labor, forced relocation, theft, extortion and so on, perpetrated by the authorities in cohort with local miscreants and xenophobes, are widespread,” he said. The phenomenon can be described as slow burning genocide, which aims at ethnic cleansing or driving the Rohingyas into Bangladesh, he said.
In 1982, late dictator Ne Win enacted a new citizenship law that violated several fundamental principles of international charters and rendered the Rohingyas stateless. Their basic freedoms, such as freedom of movement, marriage and education, and economic activities are under humiliating restrictions.
Extension, repairs and renovation, and construction of new mosques or religious institutes have been prohibited. Muslim relics, monuments and place names have been erased. All these attempts aim at effacing the Muslim character of Arakan, said Nurul Islam.
A planned increase in Buddhist settler villages has caused serious demographic changes in Rohingya homeland. Vast tracks of their lands have been confiscated, forcing the Rohingyas to become increasingly landless, internally displaced, and to eventually starve them out to cross the border into Bangladesh.
There are 28,000 legal and over 200,000 illegal Rohingya refugees living in squalid condition in southern Chittagong, Bangladesh. The illegal refugees are vulnerable, often subject to arrest and harassment by security forces.
As a result, many Rohingyas become desperate and voyage in rickety boats to Southeast Asian countries in search of protection and food security. Since 2009, many died, over a thousand drowned, while scores of others were rescued or jailed in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and East Timor. A number of them were victimized at the hands of greedy exploiters and human traffickers.
Given their position of statelessness, food insecurity, denial of access to education and employment, lack of security of life, property, dignity and honor, the Rohingyas have virtually become a “dying alive” population in their own homeland. “This impossible situation is a 'push factor' that the Burmese government has created. They want the Rohingyas to slowly leave their hearth and home,” said Nurul Islam, who has repeatedly appealed to the international community to address the root cause of the Rohingya problem for a permanent solution. He has also requested for international protection in the absence of national protection.

Indian Protest to Highlight Rohingya Plight

Indian Islamic organization Darsgah-e-Jihad-O-Shahadat is planning to hold a “dharna” protest in Hyderabad on Thursday to highlight the perceived slaughter of Muslim Rohingyas in Burma. “Hundreds of innocent Muslims are being tortured and killed in Burma. People across the globe should join hands to stop the excesses being committed in Burma,” group president Mohammed Majid was quoted by The Times of India. The protest is due be staged near the Madina Circle in the Andhra Pradesh capital in India’s south, but observers believe clashes with police are on the cards as official permission has not been obtained.

Myanmar must take back Rohingya Muslims: Bangladesh

Dhaka says Myanmar must adopt measures to take back some 500,000 Rohingya Muslims who have sought refuge in Bangladesh to avoid being persecuted.

Bangladeshi foreign minister Dipu Moni said on Friday that his country would offer assistance to repatriate the refugees to Myanmar, a process that has remained stalled for decades. 

The request by Bangladesh comes amid growing concerns over a state-sponsored ethnic cleansing against the minority Muslim group in Myanmar. 

Dipu Moni also urged Myanmar to quell the violence that has gripped the country during the past six weeks and claimed the lives of hundreds of Rohingyas. 

Bangladesh calls Rohingya refugees illegal immigrants. The UN has recently added fuel to fire on the situation of the minority group by dismissing a demand by Myanmar’s government to accommodate the persecuted Muslims in new refugee camps.

Last Friday, Myanmar’s President Thein Sein said Rohingya Muslims must be expelled from the country and sent to refugee camps run by the United Nations. 

The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas, who it claims are not natives and classifies as illegal migrants, although the Rohingya are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Burma as early as the 8th century. 

Even Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has kept quiet on the atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslims.

Ironically, just days after she received a peace prize, Suu Kyi told reporters she did not know if Rohingyas were Burmese.

The UN says decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services. 

Reports say 650 Rohingya Muslims were killed as of June 28 alone during clashes in the western region of Rakhine. This is while 1,200 others are missing and 80,000 more have been displaced. 
source:http://www.presstv.com/detail/2012/07/20/251830/myanmar-must-take-back-rohingyas/

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index: ASA 16/008/2012
19 June 2012

Myanmar: Meet immediate humanitarian needs and address systemic discrimination


As the situation in northern Rakhine State remains very tense, Myanmar authorities should ensure full
and unfettered humanitarian access to displaced people, and conduct an independent and impartial
investigation into recent communal violence, Amnesty International said in a statement today.
The Myanmar government should also aim to replace the state of emergency in Rakhine State at the
earliest opportunity, facilitate international monitors, and address decades of systemic discrimination
against ethnic minority Rohingyas.

The widespread violence in at least eight areas that began on 8 June has reduced considerably, but
human rights abuses continue to take place among the Buddhist Rakhine, Muslim Rakhine, and
Muslim Rohingya communities, as well as by state security forces.  This is especially the case in
Maungdaw and Rathidaung.

According to the government, at least 50 people have been killed, and over 30,000 displaced by the
violence.  Several thousand homes have been destroyed.
The basic humanitarian needs of these people must be met immediately, as many still lack adequate
food, water, shelter, and medical attention.  The Myanmar authorities should allow local and
international aid agencies full and unhindered access to all displaced persons—including an estimated
1,500 persons illegally denied refuge across the border last week by Bangladesh.

Yesterday, Bangladesh border guards similarly detained at least 150 Rohingya men who were trying to
enter Bangladesh in small boats on the Naf River.  They were fleeing a wave of mostly arbitrary arrests
by Myanmar border forces and the army since 15 June in Maungdaw.
The immediate causes of the violence should be thoroughly, independently, and impartially
investigated, and perpetrators of human rights violations—including among the security forces—held
accountable.

Amnesty International further noted that the underlying causes of the violence are as critical as its
effects, and should be addressed with equal commitment by the Myanmar authorities.
Amnesty International’s work around the world has shown that states of emergency, though sometimes
necessary, suspend certain rights even while protecting others.  The state of emergency in Rakhine
State should be lifted at the earliest opportunity, and a team of international monitors, possibly made
up of ASEAN nationals, deployed to the relevant areas.

Given that the conflicting Rakhine and Rohingya communities are also divided on religious lines,
monitors should endeavor to ensure that religious freedom is not restricted in the name of achieving
inter-ethnic peace.

Amnesty International emphasized that restoring the pre-violence status quo is not sufficient, however,
as systemic discrimination against the Rohingya characterizes decades of state policy in Myanmar.
Tens of thousands of Rohingyas were forcibly displaced by security forces in 1991-1992.  Despite
being a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Myanmar continues to deny
Rohingya children the right to a nationality.  Refused citizenship the under the 1982 Citizenship Act,
1the ethnic and religious minority is restricted to various degrees in their rights to study, work, travel,
marry, practice their religion, and receive health services.

As evidenced by recent statements by former political prisoners in Myanmar, this discrimination stems
from and further contributes to prejudice against the Rohingya.
Myanmar authorities must grant Rohingyas the citizenship to which they have right and rescind all
discriminatory policies and practices against them.
Background

On 28 May, a 27-year-old Buddhist Rakhine woman was raped and killed in Maungdaw.  The next day
police reportedly detained three Muslim suspects.  On 3 June, a crowd of some 300 Rakhines in
Toungup township stopped a Yangon-bound bus, and reportedly believing that the perpetrators were
on-board, beat to death 10 Muslim passengers.  Intensive inter-ethnic and religious violence ensued
and continued through 14 June, despite the government declaring a state of emergency in Rakhine
State on 10 June, and the situation has remained tense.

Myanmar: Abuses against Rohingya erode human rights progress

Amnesty International has received credible reports of recent human rights abuses against Rohingyas

© UNHCR/Y Saita

Six weeks after a state of emergency was declared in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, targeted attacks and other violations by security forces against minority Rohingyas and other Muslims have increased, Amnesty International said today.

Communal violence in the state has also continued, the organization said.

"Declaring a state of emergency is not a license to commit human rights violations"

Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher.

Thu, 19/07/2012

“Declaring a state of emergency is not a license to commit human rights violations,” said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher.  

“It is the duty of security forces to defend the rights of everyone – without exception or discrimination – from abuses by others, while abiding by human rights standards themselves.”

The Myanmar government declared a state of emergency in Rakhine State on 10 June, following an outbreak of communal violence the previous week among the Buddhist Rakhine, Muslim Rakhine, and Muslim Rohingya communities. It remains in effect in several areas.  

Since then, Myanmar’s Border Security Force (nasaka), army, and police have conducted massive sweeps in areas that are heavily populated by Rohingyas. Hundreds of mostly men and boys have been detained, with nearly all held incommunicado, and some subjected to ill-treatment.  

While the restoration of order, security, and the protection of human rights is necessary, most arrests appear to have been arbitrary and discriminatory, violating the rights to liberty and to freedom from discrimination on grounds of religion.

“In six weeks, Myanmar has not only added to a long litany of human rights violations against the Rohingya, but has also done an about-turn on the situation of political imprisonment,” said Zawacki.  

“After more than a year of prisoner amnesties and releases, the overall number of political prisoners in Myanmar is again on the rise.”

Anyone arrested since 10 June must be either charged with an internationally recognized offence and be remanded by an independent court, or released. Any judicial proceedings must meet international standards of fairness and must not include the imposition of the death penalty.

Amnesty International has also received credible reports of other human rights abuses against Rohingyas and other Rakhine Muslims– including physical abuse, rape, destruction of property, and unlawful killings – carried out by both Rakhine Buddhists and security forces. The authorities should stop these acts and prevent others from occurring.  

On 3 June, a large group of local Rakhine Buddhists killed 10 Muslims in Taung Gouk township in Rakhine State, who were returning by bus to their homes in Yangon.

Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission said on 11 July that at least 78 people have been killed since the violence began, but unofficial estimates exceed 100.  

Between 50,000 and 90,000 people – with lower figures coming from the government and higher ones from UN agencies– are estimated to have been displaced.  

The discrepancy between the figures is largely due to the Myanmar authorities allowing extremely limited access to independent and international monitors as well as humanitarian aid workers.

“The human rights and humanitarian needs of those affected by the violence depend on the presence of monitors and aid workers,” said Zawacki. 

 “The Myanmar authorities are compounding the error by exacerbating the suffering of those displaced by the violence and violations.”

Amnesty International is calling on Myanmar’s Parliament to amend or repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law to ensure that Rohingyas are no longer stateless.

“Under international human rights law and standards, no one may be left or rendered stateless. For too long Myanmar’s human rights record has been marred by the continued denial of citizenship for Rohingyas and a host of discriminatory practices against them,” said Zawacki.

source:http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/myanmar-rohingya-abuses-show-human-rights-progress-backtracking-2012-07-19

Iranian students condemn massacre of Muslims in Myanmar

Hundreds of Iranian university students have staged a rally to protest against the mass slaughter of ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

During the rally held in front of the UN office in Tehran on Thursday, the Iranian demonstrators chanted slogans in condemnation of the despicable crime, and slammed the silence of international institutions particularly the United Nations on the carnage in the Southeastern Asian country.

On July 16, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast expressed deep concern over the mass slaughter of Muslims in Myanmar. 

He called for “swift and serious” measures by the Myanmar government, the international community and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to clarify the aspects of this incident and put an end to the violence. 

The Iranian spokesperson emphasized that respect for the rights of the followers of different religions and preparing the grounds for religious and ethnic minorities to enjoy their civil rights are principles accepted by all schools of thoughts. 

According to recent reports, Muslims in Myanmar are in a humanitarian plight. Since June, hundreds of members of the nearly-one-million-strong Rohingya Muslim minority have been killed and tens of thousands of others displaced in the west of the country due to a wave of communal violence.

According to a group of UK-based NGOs, from June 10 to 28, 650 Rohingya Muslims were killed, 1,200 went missing, and more than 80,000 others were displaced as a result of rioting, arson, rape, and a cycle of revenge attacks in the western state.

Over the past two years, waves of ethnic Muslims have attempted to flee by boats in the face of systematic oppression by the Myanmar government. 

The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize the Rohingyas, who it claims are not native and classifies them as illegal migrants, although they have lived in Myanmar for generations. 
source:http://presstv.com/detail/2012/07/19/251713/iran-students-slam-myanmar-massacre/

Photo credit: AP | U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell talks to journalists during his first press conference after he became the ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, July 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

Amnesty Int'l: Myanmar's Rohingyas being targeted

BANGKOK - (AP) -- Communal violence is grinding on in western Myanmar six weeks after the government declared a state of emergency there, and Muslim Rohingyas are increasingly being hit with targeted attacks that have included killings, rape and physical abuse, Amnesty International said Friday.

A government spokesman for coastal Rakhine state, which was engulfed by a wave of bloody unrest in June, called the allegations groundless and biased. Amnesty's claims are "totally opposite of what is happening on the ground," spokesman Win Myaing said, adding that the region was calm.

Also Friday, the new U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar announced a donation of $3 million in food aid to northern areas of the country affected by fighting between government troops and ethnic militias.

Amnesty accused both security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists of carrying out new attacks against Rohingyas, who are seen as foreigners by the ethnic majority and denied citizenship by the government because it considers them illegal settlers from neighboring Bangladesh.

After a series of isolated killings starting in late May that left victims on both sides, bloody skirmishes quickly spread across much of Myanmar's coastal Rakhine state. The government declared a state of emergency June 10, deploying troops to quell the unrest and protect both mosques and monasteries. Authorities said at least 78 people were killed and thousands of homes were burned down or destroyed -- with damages roughly split evenly between Buddhists and Muslims.

The worst of the violence subsided late last month, but communal violence has ground on. Now, Amnesty said, it is mostly being directed at the Rohingya population.

Attacks over the last six weeks have been "primarily one-sided, with Muslims generally and Rohingyas specifically the targets and victims," Benjamin Zawacki, a Bangkok-based researcher for Amnesty, told The Associated Press. "Some of this is by the security forces' own hands, some by Rakhine Buddhists with the security forces turning a blind eye in some cases."

The group also said security forces, including the police and the army, have conducted massive sweeps and detained hundreds of Rohingyas who are being held "incommunicado."

"While the restoration of order, security, and the protection of human rights is necessary, most arrests appear to have been arbitrary and discriminatory, violating the rights to liberty and to freedom from discrimination on grounds of religion," Amnesty said in a statement.

Win Myaing said security forces have arrested at least 100 Muslims in the northern Rakhine state town of Maungdaw, but he said the arrests were not discriminatory. Muslims account for more than 95 percent of the population in the town, he said, and it is natural they would comprise most of the arrests there.

Myanmar has long faced tension with many of its ethnic minorities, who usually live in border regions. Although the new government has concluded cease-fires with many, there are still unresolved issues, and armed combat continues between the government and the Kachin minority in the north.

Ambassador Derek Mitchell announced at the U.S. Embassy Friday that the $3 million food aid donation for displaced people in Shan and Kachin states in northern Myanmar would be delivered through the U.N. World Food Program.

It was Mitchell's first press briefing since he took his post earlier this month as the first U.S ambassador to Myanmar in two decades. Washington restored full diplomatic relations with Myanmar and eased sanctions in response to reforms initiated after the long-ruling military ceded power last year.

The U.S. already announced earlier this month another $3 million aid package for humanitarian needs in Rakhine and Kachin states and disaster risk reduction.

The violence in Rakhine constituted some of the country's deadliest sectarian bloodshed in years and raised international concerns about the Rohingyas' fate inside Myanmar.

Many people in Myanmar don't recognize Rohingya as legitimate settlers, though those of Bengali heritage who came in the 19th century, when Myanmar was under British rule and called Burma, are regarded as full citizens. Those who entered after Myanmar became independent in 1948 are considered illegal immigrants.

Bangladesh, for its part, also denies the Rohingya citizenship, arguing that they have been living in Myanmar for centuries and should be recognized as citizens there instead.

The U.N. estimates that 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar today. Thousands attempt to flee every year to Bangladesh, Malaysia and elsewhere in the region to escape a life of abuse that rights groups say includes forced labor, violence against women and restrictions on movement, marriage and reproduction.

Amnesty called on Myanmar to accept the Rohingya as citizens.

"Under international human rights law and standards, no one may be left or rendered stateless," Zawacki said. "For too long Myanmar's human rights record has been marred by the continued denial of citizenship for Rohingyas and a host of discriminatory practices against them."

___

Associated Press writer Aye Aye Win contributed to this report from Yangon, Myanmar.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source:http://www.newsday.com/news/world/amnesty-int-l-myanmar-s-rohingyas-being-targeted-1.3849489

Iran's Foreign Ministry urges end to violence in Myanmar

Iran's Foreign Ministry urges end to violence in Myanmar

Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar tried to cross the Naf River into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence. (File Photo

Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar tried to cross the Naf River into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence. (File Photo)

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has expressed deep concern over the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar, urging an end to violence in the southeastern Asian country.


“It is expected that the Myanmar government will prepare the ground for solidarity, national unity and [asserting the] rights of Muslims in the country and that it will avert violence and a human catastrophe in this regard,” Mehmanparast said on Monday.
 He called for “swift and serious” measures by the Myanmar government, the international community and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to clarify the aspects of this incident and put an end to the violence.

The Iranian spokesperson emphasized that respect for the rights of the followers of different religions and preparing the ground for religious and ethnic minorities to enjoy their civil rights are principles accepted by all schools of thoughts. 

According to recent reports, Muslims in Myanmar are in a disaster situation. Since June, hundreds of members of the nearly-one-million-strong Rohingya Muslim minority have been killed and tens of thousands of others among them have been displaced in the west of the country due to a wave of communal violence. 

On June 3, 10 Rohingya Muslims were killed when a mob of an ethnic group, known as the Rakhines, who are mostly Buddhist, attacked a passenger bus in the western Myanmar Rakhine state that borders Bangladesh. 

According to a group of UK-based NGOs, from June 10 to 28, 650 Rohingya Muslims were killed, 1,200 went missing, andmore than 80,000 others were displaced as a result of rioting, arson, and a cycle of revenge attacks in the western state. 

Over the past two years, waves of ethnic Muslims have attempted to flee by boats in the face of systematic oppression by the Myanmar government. 

The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize them. They say the Rohingyas are not native and classify them as illegal migrants, although they have lived in Myanmar for generations. 

Arakan Muslims have been suffered human rights violations

14 July 2012 13:12 (Last updated 14 July 2012 13:27)

Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate called on international organizations not to remain silent to violence against Arakanese Muslims in Burma.

 

ANKARA

Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate called on international organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) not to remain silent to violence againstArakanese Muslims in Burma.
A statement by the Religious Affairs Directorate said that more than 1,000 Arakenese Muslims living inBurma were killed and more than 90,000 Muslims there were left homeless. 
There have been clashes between peoples from different religions in the world in the recent years, it said, adding that they were deeply saddened by such clashes undermining peace and tranquility.
Arakan Muslims have been suffered from killings, human rights violations, violence, tortures and rapes, the statement said.
Muslims' houses, mosques and villages were destroyed and they were forced to migrate and live in camps and woods, it said.
Such inhuman practices in Burma must be ended as soon as possible, the statement said, noting that international organizations such as UN and OIC not to remain silent and say 'stop' to violence againstArakanese Muslims in Burma.
"We call on Islamic world and whole humanity to assist Arakanese Muslims," it said, adding that the directorate also called on Bangladeshi government to comply with international practices for asylum-seekers.

Burma 'creating humanitarian crisis' with displacement camps in Arakan

Aid groups fear Rohingya minority being starved into fleeing country as they struggle to reach those hit by sectarian violence

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• Francis Wade
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 July 2012 17.34 BST

Burma is accused of continuing its 'abusive treatment' of ethnic Rohingya minority in Arakan state, many of whom have be put in displacememnt camps. Photograph: Afp/AFP/Getty Images

Aid workers have warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe in western Burma as authorities attempt to isolate tens of thousands of the displaced ethnic Rohingya minority in camps described by one aid worker as "open air prisons".

Aid has struggled to reach those affected by sectarian unrest in early June, as abusive treatment by Burmese authorities continues. The UN announced on Friday that 10 aid workers in Arakan state had been arrested, five of whom were UN staff. Some have been charged, although the details remain unclear.

Rates of malnutrition among the Muslim Rohingya, who have borne the brunt of emergency measures implemented in the wake of fierce rioting in early June between the minority group and the majority Arakanese, are said to be "alarming". The vast majority of aid workers assisting the Rohingya in Arakan have been either evacuated or forced to flee in recent weeks.

"We are worried that malnutrition rates already have and will continue to rise dramatically; if free and direct humanitarian access accompanied by guaranteed security is not granted with the shortest delay, there's no way they won't rise," said Tarik Kadir of Action Against Hunger.

The group's staff were forced to leave northern Arakan state, where some 800,000 Rohingya live and where malnutrition rates were already far above the global indicator for a health crisis. With scant medical care reaching the area, the situation is likely to worsen.

"There's no way of measuring the impact over the past month because staff have either been evacuated or forced to flee," he said. "And given that rainy season is underway, when you factor in all these other problems, we don't need to measure it to know it's a catastrophe."

President Thein Sein, who has been internationally lauded for spearheading Burma's reform, on Wednesday unsuccessfully requested UN help in resettling abroad nearly one million Rohingya. Critics have likened it to an attempt at mass deportation.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said the group "would expect a strong international response" to any attempt to deport the Rohingya. HRW staff who recently returned from Arakan state said that while both Rohingya and Arakanese were complicit in "terrible violence" during the June rioting, the subsequent mass arrests "focused on Rohingya".

"Local police, the military, and border police have shot and killed Rohingya during sweep operations, [while] those detained are being held incommunicado," she said.

A resident of Maungdaw in northern Arakan said he had witnessed Rohingya men and children as young as 12 being tortured in a police station in early July. After interrogating them about arson attacks in the town, police "handed them over" to Arakanese youths inside the station.

"I saw these youths burning the testicles and penis of old men with a cheroot [Burmese cigar] and also hitting young Muslim detainees with an iron rod and pushing a wooden stick in their anus."

The official death toll of the rioting and its aftermath has been put at 78, although the real figure may be much higher. International observers are banned from visiting northern Arakan state, where the majority of Rohingya live, making accurate data collection impossible.

The violence, which was triggered by the rape and murder of a local Arakanese woman by three Muslim men in late May, has pitted the Rohingya population against the majority Arakanese. A law enacted in 1982 refuses to recognise the Rohingya as Burmese citizens, and hundreds of thousands have fled to Bangladesh. Campaigners have called for the law to be overhauled.

The aid problems coincide with a dramatic rise in food prices in Arakan. Chris Lewa, from the Arakan Project, which monitors abuse of Rohingya, said that a group of monks had reportedly blocked food aid from entering a camp near the state capital Sittwe.

Similar reports have surfaced elsewhere in the state, largely focusing on Rohingya camps. Lewa feared it was an attempt to "starve them out" and force them to flee the country. Kadir warned that the lack of food and medical care meant that "the possibility of actual starvation certainly is there".

The government earlier announced that the camps for Rohingya would remain in place for one year. Kadir said however that this "goes against everything the aid community demands – to let them be independent as soon as possible is critical".

One aid worker, who requested anonymity, said sanitation in the camps is dire, and likened them to "open air prisons".

Kadir said that humanitarian access to victims of the violence "is fundamental". A World Food Programme spokesperson said it was attempting to provide for around 100,000 people affected by the unrest.
source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/13/burma-humanitarian-crisis-rohingya-arakan