‘UK can play crucial role in ending Rohingya genocide’ – Yeni Şafak English

The UK can play an instrumental role in bringing an end to the Rohingya genocide by Burmese authorities, a parliamentary session heard late Monday.

The message was conveyed at an event organized by the Justice for Rohingya Minority group, which hosted a cross-party panel of MPs including Catherine West of the Conservative Party, Rushanara Ali and Helen Goodman of the Labour Party and Baroness Sheehan, the Liberal Democrat Party’s spokesperson for international development.

The session also featured Ben Emmerson QC, an international lawyer who sat as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia and Sirazul Islam, an 18-year-old genocide survivor who was born in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, where he spent eight years of his life before moving to the UK.

“I would like to thank you all for inviting me to this event and allowing me to share with you my experience of being a Rohingya youth,” Islam said.


Twitter CEO criticized for no mention of Rohingya plight in Myanmar tweets


Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has come under fire for tweets about his meditation retreat in Myanmar and encouraging people to visit the country without mentioning what the United Nations has described as “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya Muslim minority.More than 730,000 Rohingya fled a sweeping army crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in 2017, according to U.N. agencies. The crackdown was launched in response to insurgent Rohingya attacks on security forces.Rohingya refugees say soldiers and Buddhist civilians killed families, burned many villages and carried out gang rapes. U.N-mandated investigators have accused Myanmar’s army of “genocidal intent”. Myanmar has denied the allegations, saying its forces engaged in a counter-insurgency operation against “terrorists”.”Myanmar is an absolutely beautiful country. The people are full of joy and the food is amazing. I visited the cities of Yangon, Mandalay, and Bagan. We visited and meditated at many monasteries around the country,” Dorsey tweeted on Sunday.Myanmar is an absolutely beautiful country. The people are full of joy and the food is amazing. I visited the cities of Yangon, Mandalay, and Bagan. We visited and meditated at many monasteries around the country. pic.twitter.com/wMp3cmkfwi— jack (@jack) 9 Aralık 2018 His tweets included pictures of the barren room where he stayed at a monastery during the retreat, as well as an analysis of his heart rate while meditating. There was no reference to the plight of the Rohingya in any of the tweets.”I’m no expert on meditation, but is it supposed to make you so self-obsessed that you forget to mention you’re in a country where the military has committed mass killings & mass rape, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee, in one of today’s biggest humanitarian disasters?,” tweeted Andrew Stroehlein, the European media director of Human Rights Watch.I’m no expert on meditation, but is it supposed to make you so self-obsessed that you forget to mention you’re in a country where the military has committed mass killings & mass rape, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee, in one of today’s biggest humanitarian disasters? https://t.co/D7I26CPTQ8— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) 9 Aralık 2018 Twitter spokeswoman Kate Hayes said in an email she had no comment on the criticism.In a special report in August, Reuters described how hate speech proliferated on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook at the peak of the military crackdown.In August 2017, hundreds of new Twitter accounts suddenly sprang up in Myanmar.Many of the tweets on these accounts appeared to be attempts to counter sympathetic portrayals of the Rohingya by the Western news media and human rights activists.Aid agency helps Rohingya women to learn needlecraftBroader global coalition can solve Rohingya issueThey portrayed the ethnic minority as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, or “Bengalis.” Members of the ethnic group regard themselves as native to Rakhine State in western Myanmar, but the country has denied most of them citizenship.These and similar tweets could still be found online nearly a year after the crackdown. Twitter’s “hateful conduct policy” forbids attacking groups of people on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin, or engaging in “behaviour that incites fear about a protected group”.Twitter removed a number of tweets flagged to it by Reuters in the run up to the publication of the report.Last month Dorsey kicked up a social media storm in India after a picture of him with a placard saying “smash Brahminical patriarchy”, referring to the highest Hindu caste, went viral.Twitter later apologised for the photo.World’s top glovemaker under fire in Malaysia over migrant workers’ rightsMyanmar court jails anti-war protesters for defaming militaryPeaceful repatriation of Rohingya Muslims seems too far-fetched


“I was born in a refugee camp, in a land I couldn’t call my own and devoid of the basic comforts that many of you grew up with. Children normally want to have fun, play with their friends and enjoy school. But for me, survival was the most important thing, as we didn’t have those enjoyments in the camp.

“And as the camp was not officially registered with the Bengali government, it lacked many basic necessities such as clean water, comfortable bedrooms and bathrooms. Life in the camp was difficult, but it was even more difficult knowing that I couldn’t return to the land that my family was born in and had lived for many years and called home”.

Islam’s testimony of Rohingya life in a refugee camp cast a somber mood over the room and made clear the realities faced by thousands, if not millions, of Rohingya refugees living in limbo in Bangladesh.

“Islam’s harrowing account should be a wakeup call to all of us and remind us that this genocide is still going on and that we as a nation of morals and humanity should stand up and fight for the justice of our fellow Rohingyas,” said West, who was also moderating the event.


Aid agency helps Rohingya women to learn needlecraft


A Turkish-German aid organization teaches needlecraft to Rohingya women who have been staying in camps in Cox’s Bazar city in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar. Germany-based Turkish Avrupa Yetim-Der (International Help Organization for Orphans) first opened a course on needlecraft and later donated sewing machines for 15 women who completed the course. One of the women who participated in the course is Sayma Akhter, who lost her husband and had to flee with her two children, told Anadolu Agency that she joined the training to forget her suffering.Broader global coalition can solve Rohingya issueAkhter said that she could only survive with donations after losing her husband: “I was in the middle of persecution with my two children and I had to flee.”“I am doing textile work to look after my orphans. God bless Turks who provided us such opportunity,” she added. Huseyin Ates, a representative of the Avrupa Yetim-Der said that they launched the course to help especially women who lost their husbands and had to look after their children on their own. The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children, and women, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community.


She also cited the fact that the UK, as a global power, was a leading advocate of human rights and as such held a unique position at the UN Security Council (UNSC) in bringing to light the plight of minority peoples such as the Rohingya in Myanmar.

“The UK has been a leading advocate of human rights since the end of the Second World War and has used its position as one of the permanent members of the Security Council to influence and change how we view human rights and what laws and policies we legislate on the issue.

“And as such, the UK has been at the vanguard in distributing aid to Rohingya refugees and attempting to find a solution to end the Rohingya genocide,” West added.

The role of the international community in ending the genocide was also discussed and in particular what the International Criminal Court (ICC) could do to bring justice to the Rohingya and hold to account the perpetrators of the genocide.


Peaceful repatriation of Rohingya Muslims seems too far-fetched


A slow recitation of the Holy Quran with an unvarying and quavering voice was coming from a flimsy, makeshift tent at the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh’s southern city, Cox’s Bazar, now a forced residence for more than a million Rohingya refugees since they fled the brutal “clearance operations” launched by Myanmar military in Rakhine state in August last year.The voice was coming from the 60-year-old Fatima Begum, a Rohingya refugee who has been living in a squalid tent for the last one year. I approached Fatima’s tarpaulin tent standing with difficulty with the help of bamboo sticks, which make this rickety structure highly vulnerable to monsoon rain and landslides.Fatima continued reciting from the scripture, paying little attention to the stranger. I took advantage of the first pause and asked her about the reason for their fleeing to Bangladesh from Rakhine. She said, “How could I live there? They (the Burmese army) burned down my house.”A sudden silence gripped Fatima. But seconds later she started to cry like a baby. “They were chasing my husband, and he was running. He was caught and slaughtered like a cow in a slaughterhouse. My two sons met the same fate. All happened before my eyes in broad daylight.”Silence again and a shocked Fatima started staring at me with a different look and replied louder, “Ar ar e kangur Jaium?” or “How do I go there?”Nobody has an answer for Fatima but what is before us is the clear picture of a deteriorating humanitarian catastrophe, with more than 750,000 Rohingya Muslims having fled to the neighboring Bangladesh within a short span of time.While thousands of such dreadful stories from most Rohingya Muslims are unfolding in the media across the world, along with the news of shameful denial from Myanmar authorities, Bangladesh and Myanmar have planned to operate a forced repatriation. The attempt has, however, been foiled for the time being due to worldwide pressure and vehement protests by Rohingya refugees on the grounds of security and basic rights.- Issues to resolve for viable repatriationExperts all over the world are repeatedly warning that without ensuring a credible trial of all the atrocious acts committed so far, citizenship rights for Rohingya, and guaranteed safety under an international watchdog, any sustainable repatriation cannot be done.UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour said in a statement on March 6 this year that the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Myanmar was still going on while the country’s authorities were ridiculously claiming that they were ready to receive the ones who had fled. Gilmour condemned the dubious role of Myanmar.At the 38th session of the Human Rights Council on July 4 this year, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said that as of mid-June, there had been 11,432 new arrivals in Bangladesh in 2018. He said: “All the newly arrived refugees who have been interviewed by the OHCHR (The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) described continuing violence, persecution and human rights violations, including killings and the burning of Rohingya homes.”The United Nations (UN) FactFinding Mission published in August this year also found that the crimes in Rakhine state, and the manner in which they were perpetrated “are similar in nature, gravity and scope to those that have allowed genocidal intent to be established in other contexts.”The Guardian, on Aug. 27 this year, ran a story on the UN Fact-Finding Mission’s report, according to which an estimated 25,000 people have been killed and 700,000 have fled over the border to Bangladesh.The Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a report published on Aug. 29, 2017, showed satellite images of widespread fires burning in at least 10 areas in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, following the military crackdown, while in a report entitled “We Will Destroy Everything”, the Amnesty International (AI) said in June this year: “The ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population was achieved by a relentless and systematic campaign in which the Myanmar security forces unlawfully killed thousands of Rohingya, including young children.”The rights group accused the Myanmar military of sexual violence, torture, forced displacement and burning of markets and farmland to force communities into fleeing. Amnesty also named 13 high-ranking officers including the army’s commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing as being most culpable, and argued that they should be put on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.But Myanmar is still denying those colossal offences perpetrated by its army (Tatmadaw), denying the citizenship right to Rohingya, giving no assurances to repatriating Rohingya regarding safety in their places of birth, and rejecting the presence of any international watchdog to monitor the issue of safety after repatriation. On the contrary, the farcical inquiry carried out by Myanmar’s military and government found the army innocent of any atrocious acts.A Nobel Peace Laureate and Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, also failed to apply her power or moral responsibility to stop the violence. Rohingya are still branded as outsider “Bengalis” and “illegal residents” by Myanmar authorities.Rohingya Muslims still living in the Rakhine still have to endure systematic inhuman oppression. While preparing to brief the UN Security Council on the situation in late October this year, Chair of the UN Fact-Finding Mission Marzuki Darusman told reporters that the estimated 250,000 to 400,000 Rohingya who remained in the Buddhist-majority country following last year’s crackdown “continue to suffer the most severe” restrictions and repression. “It is an ongoing genocide that is taking place.”How can a peaceful and viable repatriation be possible without resolving these burning issues? Unfortunately, without resolving them, both countries have agreed to start the repatriation without the slightest consultation with the victims, the Rohingya. As the first phase of the plan, around 2,200 Rohingya were supposed to cross the Bangladeshi border on Nov. 15, 2018 with a huge risk of facing the same cycle of perils. Fortunately, the move was cancelled.- Why the rush in repatriation?The Myanmar side is trying to speed up the repatriation of the Rohingya in Bangladesh, as this South Asian country wants to fix its tarnished image by showing the world that they are cordially willing to receive the returning Rohingya, even though this all seems very indecent on the part of the Suu Kyi administration, as they are still denying Rohingya the right to citizenship.Why is Bangladesh also behaving so hastily? Firstly, Bangladesh is a poor country affected by socio-political unrest most of the time especially ahead of the upcoming national polls that will be held on Dec. 30, 2018 after 10 years of harsh governance by the Awami League (AL), including the last five years through a one-sided election in 2014 that was boycotted by most of the opposition parties including the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).Now, on the eve of the polls, the ruling AL wants to show its efficiency in resolving the country’s most pressing issues, and the opposition, going through a critical period of difficulty keeping its main leader Begum Khaleda Zia behind bars, is trying to dig up the blemishes and weaknesses of the government. The plan for a speedy repatriation and resettlement of Rohingya is in fact the result of this political tussle.The Rohingya crisis remains an issue of paramount importance for Bangladesh as the huge number of refugees — over 1,1 million now; living in the shaky makeshift camps located in Cox’s Bazar and Tekhnaf, two vital tourist zones of the country — are coming at an enormous cost to Bangladesh’s socio-economy and environment.- Tone of media reports changedMoreover, the reporting format of the local media has also changed. At the preliminary stages of the Rohingya exodus in August last year, the local media were focusing mainly on the humanitarian aspects of the crisis. As a result, tens of thousands of people as well as political and humanitarian organizations and NGOs became involved, on a massive scale, to raise funds for Rohingya. Even the imams (spiritual leaders) at thousands of country’s mosques appealed to the worshipers for donation. Thousands of donation seekers countrywide collected funds in busy streets for the Rohingya refugees.Now, the local media are highlighting stories such as environmental disasters in the hilly areas of Southern Bangladesh and crimes like drug selling and prostitution by Rohingya refugees, all of which contribute to the already heavy pressure on the government for solving the crisis.Nowadays Bangladeshi journalists consciously or unconsciously feel comfortable reporting on environmental pollution in the wake of the rising popularity of the issue of environment or climate change. I have met so many journalists in Cox’s Bazar and noticed an excessive passion to focus on environmental disasters allegedly caused by Rohingya, and this aspect of the crisis is now overshadowing the humanitarian one.- Perils awaiting Rohingya in RakhineMyanmar’s snobbish authorities did not allow the UN Fact-Finding Mission to inspect the reports on the atrocities in Rakhine, let alone other bodies such as AI, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the HRW, and Doctors Without Borders (DWB).So, in the absence of any international watchdog, how can we trust that the same Myanmar authorities would behave gently toward the repatriated Rohingya?So it is almost sure that, without ensuring safety, a fair trial of genocide and crimes against humanity, Rohingya Muslims will most probably face the same cycle of perils, because as part of the present plan, Myanmar authorities will be resettling them in internment camps run by the army, until the burned down villages in Rakhine become — what Myanmar authorities call — “model villages”.Unfortunately, two big players of the UN Security Council — China and Russia — have been supporting Myanmar and imposing obstacles that stand in the way of any meaningful move by the UN and other international bodies to force Myanmar to stand trial as well as resolve this crisis. In particular China remains the biggest supporter of Myanmar’s atrocities.We also hear from various non-verified sources that the lands and properties left by the fleeing Rohingya in Rakhine have already been distributed among Buddhists and Hindus. Chinese-supported economic projects are aiming at utilizing the abandoned Rohingya lands in the region, a Rohingya activist and journalist, Mohammed Sheikh Anwar, wrote in The Washington Post on Nov. 13.Moreover, a recently signed multi-billion-dollar port agreement between Myanmar and China at a strategic town along the coast of the Bay of Bengal will also affect a vast portion of the emptied Rohingya lands.Not to mention also that the Muslim identity of Rohingya is clearly a great disadvantage in a world with an alarmingly rising trend of Islamophobia.Nonetheless, the world community must ensure justice to Rohingya for by rehabilitating them with dignity and citizenship rights and a credible trial of the offenders. Otherwise, the possibility of militancy developing among the persecuted community in the future cannot be ruled out. A UN peacekeeping mission can also be sent to Rakhine state before repatriation. But frankly speaking, the painful reality is that a peaceful Rohingya repatriation is possibly impossible.Since Fatima also strongly feels that this is the case, she has no dreams of returning to Rakhine. Her only dream is to meet her murdered husband and sons in the Hereafter. She wants to be resettled in paradise, and not in Rakhine. That is why she wants justice in Allah’s court and the Holy Quran is her sole comfort and company.* Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu Agency.


on the Security Council and its close relationship with the Burmese government, it is difficult to pass a resolution against Myanmar and especially a referral to the ICC.

“It is expected that China would veto any resolution against Burmese authorities in the Security Council, and so essentially this creates an impasse that we have seen occur many times throughout the UNSC’s existence,” he stated.

Emmerson said that one of the viable options was to impose economic sanctions on the Burmese government and lobby international firms against doing business in Burma as well as lobbying Western governments to boycott Myanmar and isolate it economically.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community.


Myanmar religion minister says Rohingya ‘brainwashed’ to ‘march’ on the country


Myanmar’s Minister for Religion on Tuesday said Rohingya Muslim refugees living in neighbouring Bangladesh are being “brainwashed” into “marching” on the Buddhist-majority nation, amid a diplomatic feud over the fate of the persecuted minority.More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state in the wake of a brutal army crackdown last August, U.N. agencies say, and are now living in crowded Bangladeshi refugee camps. U.N. investigators have accused Myanmar soldiers of carrying out mass killings, rapes and burning hundreds of villages with “genocidal intent”. Myanmar denies most of the allegations.Thura Aung Ko said Bangladesh was “not letting them return”, referring to the Rohingya as “Bengalis”, a term commonly used in Myanmar to imply that they are recent interlopers from Bangladesh. Rohingya say they are native to Rakhine state.”If release them, the population will drop,” he said in a video shared by NewsWatch, a news website. “And then, they, at the camps, also feed and brainwash Bengali youths to truly march. They will march on Myanmar. The future goal of those over populated Bengalis is to march on Myanmar.”Officials say boat carrying Rohingya Muslims lands in IndonesiaPlans to repatriate an initial group of 2,260 Rohingya from the camps last month were scuppered after none of the refugees agreed to go back, saying they wanted guarantees of safety and citizenship.Thura Aung Ko, a former general who was appointed to the cabinet by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi after she came to power in 2016, was expanding on comments he made at the funeral of a prominent monk last week. On Nov. 27, he expounded on birth rates among members of an unnamed “extreme religion” and the threat it posed to Buddhism in Myanmar.”While we Buddhists practise monogamy and have only one or two children, an extreme religion encourages to have three or four wives and give birth to 15 to 20 children,” he said in a video published by Radio Free Asia. “After three, four, five decades in this Buddhist country, the Buddhist community will certainly become the minority.”On Tuesday, he clarified: “In fact, ‘other religion’ means Bengalis.”San Aung, the chairman of an Islamic society based in Yangon, told reporters by phone the comments were “very sad”.”As a minister for religion he shouldn’t speak irresponsibly,” he said.


Emmerson said that due to China’s permanent position

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings — including of infants and young children — brutal beatings and disappearances committed by Myanmar state forces. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

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