Need to ease plight of Rohingya
ABOUT 700 000 Rohingya have left their homes in Myanmar since August last year to take refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh as a result of genocide, arson and gang rape allegedly wrought on the people by Myanmar’s military.
The predominantly Muslim people are a minority mainly inhabiting the Rakhine state of Myanmar. Although the people have lived in the country for generations, they have been denied legal status and citizenship.
As with the prejudice experienced in South Africa, Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya people has been likened to the apartheid regime by Amnesty International.
In 1982 the government enforced the Myanmar Nationality Law which denied citizenship to more than a million Rohingya.
This law saw the Rohingya prohibited from an official list of 135 races entitled to full citizenship. To have such a charter within a constitution can only ensure a painful fate for those affected.
On August 25 last year, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa), an armed group of rebels, launched a series of attacks on Myanmar police stations and border outposts.
The Myanmar military had never experienced such violence and cracked down ruthlessly.
Clashes erupted in the Rakhine state between government security personnel and Rohingya fighters, forcing the Rohingya to flee next door to Bangladesh.
A humanitarian calamity was unleashed.
Evidence of mass graves in Myanmar were brought to light this week.
An evaluation of this suggests 400-plus members of the Rohingya community were murdered by the Myanmar military on August 27.
The bodies of the victims were doused in acid in an attempt to expunge the evidence.
Médicines Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, has conducted a number of surveys while working with Rohingya survivors and deduced that nearly 9000 Rohingya had died within a month of the confrontation last year.
Violence caused 71.7% of the deaths.
Thus far, the Myanmar military has admitted to the unlawful and inhumane killing of only 10 Rohingya.
Shortly after the acts began, the Myanmar government prevented all UN aid to the conflict zone in Rakhine.
The UN has since described the turmoil in Myanmar as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
The chaos has gained the attention of human rights organisations all over the world.
The Turkish Co-operation and Co-ordination Agency (Tika) was the first foreign organisation to offer aid during the crisis.
Tika dispensed 10000 blankets, two ambulance units and daily drop of 2500kg of goods at refugee camps in Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh and Myanmar governments have agreed to facilitate a repatriation programme that will see an estimated 150000 refugees return to Myanmar within two years.
However, this deal was made without consulting any of the refugees.
The agreement does not state when the repatriation will begin, but specifies temporary shelter will be provided for the return of
ADVERTISING FEATURE
the Rohingya while houses will be developed later.
Many issues surround the displacement of these refugees. Community leaders at refugee camps have demanded they be granted citizenship.
They want official recognition and land they owned returned to them.
Legal affairs are not the only concern as humanitarian rights organisations believe the refugees are being earmarked by human trafficking syndicates at camps in Bangladesh.
Taking into consideration the Bangladesh monsoon season is starting soon and it brings the bulk of the nation’s annual rainfall, refugees at the camps face the risk of falling prey to landslides and contracting waterborne diseases.