Rohingyas in dire straits: CSW

Hundreds of Burmese Muslim minorities, seeking refuge on the Bangladesh-Burma border, are in dire straits, despite escaping brutal repression by the Burmese military junta, said a new report by the Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

The new report called "A people at the brink of extermination," released yesterday, said Rohingya Muslims, who live in western Burma's Arakan State are one of the minority groups that have suffered appalling oppression by the ruling junta.

The report, based on a five-day fact finding mission by a CSW delegation to the Bangladesh-Burma border, describes the dire straits in which unregistered Rohingyas live along the border and also includes first-hand accounts of deserters from the Burmese Army.

"The situation is very bad, and the living conditions of Rohingya's are very poor, particularly in temporary camps," Benedict Roger, Advocacy officer for South Asia of CSW told Mizzima.

The report said, under military rule Rohingya minorities are denied full citizenship rights, severe restrictions are imposed on freedom of movement, and marriage for Rohingyas requires prior permission from the authorities.

Rohingyas are also restricted from practicing their religious beliefs freely, while forced labour, rape, land confiscations, arbitrary arrests, torture and extrajudicial killings and extortion are common.


The report quoted a Rohingya saying "The regime is trying to take away our identity. We will not be there in the very near future. Our prime concern is that we must not be eliminated …We are a people on the brink of extinction."

The report also includes interviews with deserters of the Burmese border security force, known as Na. Sa. Ka, who explained how the force has been systematically persecuting Rohingya minorities.

"Throughout my life in the Na Sa Ka, I was used to this system of arresting Muslims, asking for money, torturing them, every day. We only arrested Muslims, not Rakhines, [Arakans]" CSW quoted a deserter as saying.

As a fall out of these oppression and torture, thousands of Rohingyas have fled Burma to Bangladesh. However, to their dismay, conditions in the camps along the border are not in their favour and they are continuing to face difficulties, the report said.

"Thousands of Rohingyas have fled across the border to Bangladesh, where they find some security but little future," the report said.

While there are over 200,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh only 27,258 have been registered officially and recognized by the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and are kept in two camps.

"Especially for Rohingya refugees outside the official camps, there is an urgent need for health care and education," Roger said.

However, even in the official refugee camps, education is only available for children under the age of 12, whereas older children and even adults do not have access to any form of education and lack opportunities, he added.

"UNHCR and the Bangladesh government should try to find a durable solution to the problem," said Roger, who was in the CSW team visiting the refugee camps.

CSW said with the situation in Burma continuing to get worse there is no possibility for the Rohingyas to return, and urged the Bangladeshi government as well as regional countries to intervene and resolve the plight of Rohingyas.

"The situation of Rohingyas will not change until the situation in Burma changes," Roger said.

The group also said their findings at the camps along the Bangladesh-Burma border are entirely consistent to the evidence they have gathered in other parts of the country, and called on the international community to exert stronger pressure on the Burmese regime.

Mervyn Thomas, CSW's Chief Executive, in a press statement said, "The military regime is committing every possible human rights violation with impunity, including gross violations of religious freedom affecting Christians, Muslims and Buddhists, and has persistently ignored the will of the Burmese people and the international community for far too long."

The group also called on the United Nations to mount pressure on the Burmese regime by setting a time-frame to implement political reforms.

"It is time that the United Nations set out specific benchmarks for progress, such as the release of political prisoners and an end to the crimes against humanity perpetrated throughout the country. We also believe a case against Burma's Generals should be referred to the International Criminal Court," Thomas said.

rohingyatimes.org