Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar

Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar

Dr. Mozammel Haque

In the latest flare-up of violence in Myanmar in the third week of October the whole coastal town of Kyaukpyi in the country’s west was completely destroyed. The area of destruction is 35 acres in size in which some 811 buildings and boats have been destroyed.

“There have been incidents of whole villages and parts of the towns being burned down in Arakan state,” President Thein Sein’s spokesman said. A government spokesman puts the death toll up until Friday at 112. Whereas state media revised it to 67 killed from 21-25 October, with 95 wounded and nearly 3,000 houses destroyed.

Releasing the Satellite images, the Human Rights Watch said it had identified 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and floating barges which were destroyed in an area occupied predominantly by Rohingya. Some 3,000 Rohingya were reported to have been blocked from reaching Sittwe by government forces and landed on a nearby island.

But this explosion of violence took place in Myanmar in October in spite of so many initiatives taken by different organisations. As early as in August, 2012, the Islamic Solidarity Summit in Makkah, the 57-nations bloc Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the British Parliamentarians have urged the Burmese government to take immediate action to protect Muslims and to grant the Rohingya people their rights as citizens of Myanmar (Burma) where Muslim Rohingyas were massacred, killed, raped and looted by Buddhists and Myanmar Security Forces in June-July 2012.

Ethnic cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar

This current wave of violence erupted on the 4^th of June after 10 Muslim men were killed when an angry crowd attacked a bus in Taungup district, apparently mistakenly believing some passengers were responsible for the murder and rape of a young Buddhist woman in Rakhine in May, 2012. Violence spiralled out of control in Arakan state and saw Burmese troops interceding with a brutal crackdown. Since then hundreds of Rohingyas have been disappeared and thousands, estimates run up to at least 90,000 have been displaced by the violence and the Burmese authorities. 

There are reports of mass killings, mass arrests and looting and an issue of human rights, justice and desperate humanitarian need. Security Forces targetting predominantly Muslim areas arrested many Rohingya men and boys who have not been heard of since. Hundreds of thousands of people are currently without the shelter, food and medical assistance they need. This is clearly a “crime against humanity, genocide of Muslim Rohingyas in Burma.

But this man-made humanitarian catastrophe taking place in Burma has so far not received the attention that it deserves and that it has not received the exposure in the media that it demands. The Shadow Secretary of State of Judiciary of the United Kingdom, Mr. Sadiq Khan, lamented in The Muslim News, “What compounds the disaster is the lack of awareness in the mainstream media about this. Where are the headline news reports? Why is the loss of human life and massive displacement of tens of thousands and corresponding atrocities only receiving scant attention in the media?”

New York-based Human Rights Watch has highlighted concerns that the Burmese authorities in many cases stood by and watched, and in some cases took part, as the tragedies occurred. A human rights group said Myanmar government forces opened fire on crowds of ethnic Rohingya in a targeted campaign of violence during recent sectarian strife.

Islamic Solidarity Summit in Makkah in August

King Abdullah, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, called for a Two-day 4^th Extraordinary Islamic Solidarity Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which started in Makkah on 14^th of August 2012. The persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar was prominently figured in the Summit. The key decision taken up by the OIC was to condemn “the continued recourse to violence by the Myanmar authorities against the members of this minority and their refusal to recognize their right to citizenship.”

Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the OIC said it was made very clear to the Burmese government that 1.5 billion Muslims of the world and the 57 nations of the OIC stood solidly behind the Rohingya Muslims. "The summit denounced the policy of brutalization and violence exercised by the Myanmar government against the Muslim Rohingya community, which is contrary to all the principles of human rights, values and international law," he said quoting from the final communique.

The summit referred to the historical marginalization of the Rohingya Muslims and called on the Myanmar government to ensure an all-inclusive policy towards its minorities, including Rohingya Muslims. The summit asked the government to allow full access for humanitarian assistance to the affected people.

“The summit has decided to bring this matter before the General Assembly of the United Nations,” it said in a final statement.

King Abdullah decided to grant $50 million to the Rohingya, describing them as victims of “several rights violations, including ethnic cleansing, murder, rape and forced displacement.” The Summit hails the donation amounted to $ 50 million by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques as humanitarian aid to Rohingya Muslims.

Agreement between OIC and Myanmar

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has signed an agreement with Myanmar to establish an office to provide humanitarian aid to Muslim refugees in the country. Myanmar and the OIC agreed in last September to open an office in Yangon to provide aid for Muslims displaced by the fighting, and the OIC sent a team to investigate the violence.  The Myanmar government agreed to this after a delegation from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) met with President Thein Sein in Yangon.

But then it is reported that the Myanmar’s government said it would not allow the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to open a liaison office after thousands of Buddhist monks and laymen marched to protest the plan and a fresh riots started against the Rohingyas in Burma.

British Parliamentarians

In the United Kingdom, both Shadow Secretary of State for Judiciary, Mr. Sadiq Khan, MP for Tooting and the Shadow Minister for International Development, Ms. Rushanara Ali, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow and Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham have worked hard to raise awareness of the issue and they wrote letters to the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. William Hague, MP and also to the Secretary of State for International Development.

Lord Ahmed wrote a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations. Mr Sadiq Khan wrote an article in The Muslim News and Ms. Rushanara Ali wrote an article in the New Statesman in July and campaigned and managed to secure a debate on the treatment of Rohingya Communities in Burma that took place in Westminster Hall in Parliament.

Mr. Jonathan Ashworth, Labour MP for Leicester South tabled a debate in the British Parliament and discussed and debated the Rohingya issue in the British Parliament on Tuesday the 11^th of September, 2012. Mr Ashworth said, as the UN has stated, the Rohingya people are among the most persecuted on earth. They are people who are denied citizenship and whose human rights have been abused.

According to various reports, hundreds have been killed and 100,000 people have been displaced. Mr. Ashworth stated, “Almost all the Rohingya people in Sittwe were driven out of their homes as mobs burned down 10,000 houses, and as Human Rights Watch has reported, the police and other paramilitary forces opened fire on them with live ammunition as they tried to put out the flames and save their homes.”

Debate in the British Parliament

Speaking about the pitiable condition, Mr. Ashworth mentioned, “Estimates suggest that up 100,000 people have been displaced, with many of those who fled the violence ending up in makeshift camps, where many of them do not have adequate shelter. It is estimated that 30,000 people are without access to clean drinking water and that the majority are without access to latrines.”

Another Member of the British Parliament for Bradford East, Mr. David Ward, who wrote a letter to the British Foreign Secretary Mr. William Hague, MP, said during the debate on the Rohingya, First, clear, effective and lawful steps need to be taken to prevent further violence in Burma. Secondly, full and unhindered humanitarian access needs to be granted, because even the non-Governmental organisations are being denied access to the Rohingya. Thirdly, we need to ensure that members of the affected communities can safely return to their homes – and they are their homes. We need to support the restitution of their property and reparations should be made to them for the damage that has been done.

Rushanara Ali, Shadow Minister for International Development and MP For Bethnal Green & Bow, said, “The violence and persecution by the Burmese Government has forced many aid workers to flee and has made it difficult to deliver aid. Tens of thousands of people are in need of support, but getting to them is still difficult. So that the disaster does not worsen, the Burmese government need to allow immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access, not just to the camps, but to all areas of Arakan state, where the violence has impacted on everyone’s lives, whether they be Muslim or Buddhist, Rohingya or Rakhine.”

“Alongside immediate access, there needs to be a truly independent and impartial inquiry – as has been mentioned – to look closely at the human rights abuses, and punishment must be applied to the perpetrators. It must be an inquiry that can establish the truth and start the process of reconciliation, hopefully to avoid this happening again,” said Shadow Minister for International Development Rushanara Ali on the debate. 

At the heart of the conflict is the underlying issue of citizenship. The 1982 Citizenship Law recognizes 135 national races in Burma, but excludes the Rohingya. The 800,000 to 1 million Rohingya have been living in the province of Arakan, Burma where many of them have lived for generations. Despite living in Burma for generations, the 800,000-strong Rohingya population’s right to citizenship was removed. The Rohingya have been denied land and property rights and have even had marriage and reproduction restrictions imposed on them. 

Mr. Jonathan Ashworth, Labour MP for Leicester South who tabled the debate and discussion in the British parliament, said, “Surely now is the time for greater international pressure to put on the Burmese Government to repeal that law and to replace it with a new settlement based on human rights, which recognises and respects the equal rights of all the Burmese people and is in accordance with international standards. In particular, a new settlement absolutely must comply with the universal declaration of human rights, which states:

Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality”.”

Background of the Rohingyas in Myanmar

Rohingya Muslims have been living in Arakan since the Arab traders came to the region in the eighth century. “The poetry of 17^th century poets like Alaol clearly mentions Muslims in positions of power in the court of the Arakan King,” said Bangladeshi historian Abdul Aziz. “The writing of travellers like Ibn Batuta in the 14^th century proves that Bengal was one of the wealthiest nations in the world while Arakan was infested with pirates. There was migration from Arakan to Bengal and not the other way round.”

Despite centuries-old roots in the Arakan region, discriminatory policies have been imposed on the Rohingya since Arakan was annexed by Burma in 1784. According to the Arakan Project, an NGO, the Rohingyas are subjected to severe restrictions on their movement and marriages, and to arrests, extortion, forced labour and confiscation of land.

Latest explosion of violence in October

The Government of Burma should take immediate steps to stop sectarian violence against the Rohingya Muslim population in Arakan State, in Western Burma, and ensure protection and aid to both Rohingyas and Arakanese in the state, Human Rights Watch said. New Satellite imagery obtained by Human Rights Watch shows extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly Rohingya Muslim area of the coastal town of Kyauk Pyu – one of several areas of new violence and displacement.

Human Rights Watch identified 811 destroyed structures on the eastern coastal edge of Kyauk Pyu following arson attacks reportedly conducted on October 24, 2012, less than 24 hours before the satellite images were captured.

The office of the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon warned that ethnic violence was endangering political progress in Burma. “The vigilante attacks, targetted threats and extremist rhetoric must be stopped. If this is not done…the reform and opening up process being currently pursued by the government is likely to be jeopardised,” the statement said.

“These latest incidents between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhists demonstrate how urgent it is that the authorities intervene to protect everyone, and break the cycle of discrimination and violence,” Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific deputy director, Isabelle Arradon said.

“Burma’s government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan state, who are under vicious attack,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Unless the authorities also start addressing the root causes of the violence, it is only likely to get worse.”

At the heart of the conflict is the underlying issue of citizenship. The 1982 citizenship law recognises 135 national races in Burma, but excludes the Rohingya. Despite living in Burma for generations, the 800,000-strong Rohingya population’s right to citizenship was removed. The Burmese regime regularly describes the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and has forced travel restrictions on them. The Rohingya have been denied land and property rights and have even had marriage and reproduction restrictions imposed on them.

Mr. Jonathan Ashworth said in the British Parliament, “Surely now is the time for greater international pressure to be put on the Burmese government to repeal that law and to replace it with a new settlement based on human rights, which recognises and respects the equal rights of all the Burmese people and is in accordance with international standards. In particular, a new settlement absolutely must comply with the universal declaration of human rights, which states:

“Everyone has the right to a nationality. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality”.

To sum up

To sum up, the international community such as the United Nations and the OIC, the Human Rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch and the Amnesty International and the British Parliamentarians urged the Myanmar government to stop vigilante attacks, targetted threats and extremist rhetoric, intervene and provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan, break the cycle of discrimination and violence and allow full access for humanitarian assistance to the affected people. And finally, the root causes of the violence, the citizenship law, the Burmese government to repeal that law and to replace it with a new settlement based on human rights, which recognises and respects the equal rights of all the Burmese people and is in accordance with international standards.

Picture: Human Rights Watch Satellite Image