Who will help Myanmar's Rohingya?

[jaron]

They have been described as the world's most persecuted people.

Rejected by the country they call home and unwanted by its neighbours, the Rohingya are impoverished, virtually stateless and have been fleeing Myanmar in droves and for decades.

In recent months, tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh amid a military crackdown on insurgents in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

They have told horrifying stories of rapes, killings and house burnings, which the government of Myanmar - formerly Burma - has claimed are "false" and "distorted".

Activists have condemned the lack of a firm international response. Some have described the situation as South East Asia's Srebrenica, referring to the July 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims who were meant to be under UN protection - a dark stain on Europe's human rights record.

What's happening?

Tun Khin, from the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, says Rohingyas are suffering "mass atrocities" perpetrated by security forces in the northern part of Rakhine state.

A counter-insurgency campaign was launched after nine border policemen near Maungdaw were killed in a militant attack in early October, but the Rohingya say they are being targeted indiscriminately.

The BBC cannot visit the locked-down area to verify the claims and the Myanmar government has vociferously denied alleged abuses.

But UN officials have told the BBC that the Rohingya are being collectively punished for militant attacks, with the ultimate goal being ethnic cleansing.

What led to the current situation?

The Rohingya are one of Myanmar's many ethnic minorities and say they are descendants of Arab traders and other groups who have been in the region for generations.

But Myanmar's government denies them citizenship and sees them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh - a common attitude among many Burmese.

The predominantly Buddhist country has a long history of communal mistrust, which was allowed to simmer, and was at times exploited, under decades of military rule.

About one million Muslim Rohingya are estimated to live in western Rakhine state, where they are a sizable minority. An outbreak of communal violence there in 2012 saw more than 100,000 people displaced, and tens of thousands of Rohingya remain in decrepit camps where travel is restricted.

Hundreds of thousands of undocumented Rohingya already live in Bangladesh, having fled there over many decades.

 

Where is Aung San Suu Kyi?

Since a dramatic Rohingya exodus from Myanmar in 2015, the political party of Nobel Peace Prize winner and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has taken power in a historic election, the first to be openly contested in 25 years.

But little has changed for the Rohingya and Ms Suu Kyi's failure to condemn the current violence is an outrage, say some observers.

"I'm not saying there are no difficulties,'' she told Singapore's Channel NewsAsia in December. "But it helps if people recognise the difficulty and are more focused on resolving these difficulties rather than exaggerating them so that everything seems worse than it really is.''

Her failure to defend the Rohingya is extremely disappointing, said Tun Khin, who for years had supported her democracy activism.

The question of whether she has much leverage over the military - which still wields great power and controls the most powerful ministries - is a separate one, he said.

"The point is that Aung San Suu Kyi is covering up this crime perpetrated by the military."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38168917

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/25/rohingya-militants-blamed-as-attack-on-myanmar-border-kills-12

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38505228

 

 

_________________

 

A tragedy happening in Rohinga, and whos is to blame ? The nobel price winner  Aung  Suu.

 I never like this woman, last year she said, if she knew she would meet a muslim Imam, she wouldnt have accepted the invitation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[karbatal]

This is one of those conflicts that barely make the news.  No strategic place,  no amount of resources..  So the big countries have their eyes in other places.  It's horrible because these minorities are all alone.  Just like weekend 100 died and I was working and was able to dedicate a tiny tiny short information,  and that because it was slow news day. 

[Nick]

Read about Rohingya before. Agree that they're totally ababdoned by all mainstream news outlets even though they're one of the most persecuted minority groups.

As of now, future doesn't look good for them at all. Very disturbing...

[ULIZOS]

I've seen this all over the news. Granted, I don't watch CNN or Fox News, but I've heard a lot about it on Reuters, DW and NPR.

[ULIZOS]

I follow Vagabomb (cool website from India) and people seem to HATE the Rohingya. I have no idea why, but the comment section in a recent post are really disturbing.

[Crystal Coffin]

1 hour ago, ULIZOS said:

I follow Vagabomb (cool website from India) and people seem to HATE the Rohingya. I have no idea why, but the comment section in a recent post are really disturbing.

Rohingya-bashing is extremely common throughout the Internet. Nothing is shocking anymore at this point, really. They are the most persecuted minority and the most despised too. 

[ULIZOS]

14 minutes ago, Crystal Coffin said:

Rohingya-bashing is extremely common throughout the Internet. Nothing is shocking anymore at this point, really. They are the most persecuted minority and the most despised too. 

Not that I'm defending the bashing, but have they done anything to make people hate them? 

[Crystal Coffin]

16 minutes ago, ULIZOS said:

Not that I'm defending the bashing, but have they done anything to make people hate them? 

It's too complicated to answer, really

[LSD]

 

[XXL]

Another pathetic example of the self-serving, hypocritical Western political community elevating someone (in this case Aung San Suu Kyi) to almost sainthood for years if not decades and then when they don't need them anymore, whatever the reason or hidden agenda, they put in place demonising campaigns and most of the "free media" go along with it through extremely biased and inconsequential narratives. Stability is something the US de facto controlled UN doesn't want in the world because stability isn't in the interest of the racket of indefinite war.

The Middle East scenario and the cosy, perverse friendship with Saudi Arabia, a rogue country literally borne out and prospered on an oil deal, is just one example, then on the other side of the spectrum you have another predominantly Muslim country like Syria with a millennial civilization and the utmost respect for religious minorities but they are bent on destroying it. Inane hypocrisy. Free Syrian Army=ISIS / Al-Qaida

 

I can't even

[Genevieve Vavance]

Buddhists can be terrorists too

[Camacho]

Sad

 

[Camacho]