Sucharita Sengupta
(Sucharita Sengupta works at Calcutta Research Group and can be reached at sucharitaseng@gmail.com)
2015
was a landmark year for Myanmar. In the first half it made news for all the
wrong reasons and in the second half for a supposedly positive change. The
first half of the year saw tragic deaths of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, who,
although hailing from the Rakhine state situated in the South West coast of
Myanmar, are denied citizenship and hence are ‘stateless’, forced to flee.
Starvation deaths in border detention camps of countries like Thailand,
Malaysia and images of overloaded boats capsizing in the Bay of Bengal evoked
worldwide sympathy for the Rohingyas. The enormity of their being victims of
international trafficking-smuggling rackets also came to the forefront making
it difficult for states to feign ignorance. Amidst criticism from the UNHCR and
other humanitarian agencies, all eyes were fixed on the recent election in
Myanmar, on 8 November 2015. It was believed that a solution would be attained
if Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) comes to
power. On the contrary, however, even after a landslide victory of her party,
Aung Suu Kyi has still now refrained from taking any positive stance on the
issue. In fact, following a report by the UN which states the Rohingyas in
Myanmar have suffered crimes that “amount to crimes against humanity”; the
Myanmar leader has told an UN special Reporter on Human Rights that the newly
elected government, sworn in April 2016, will avoid using the term “Rohingya”
to avoid controversy of any sort. Aung Suu Kyi’s comments clearly indicate the
discomfort that the government has in recognizing the Rohingyas as Myanmar’s citizens,
denoting how even the nomenclature ‘Rohingya’ is a subject of controversy
in the country. The previously military backed government believed the
Rohingyas to be illegal “Bengali” migrants. Although a new committee has been
formed to establish peace and development in May, the plans of the committee
are not clear.
The
extensive Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights entitled ‘Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other
minorities in Myanmar’, published on 28 June 2016reportcalls for introspection
and inquiry of the Myanmar government’s minority policy that has remained
abusive, denying even basic fundamental rights to the Rohingyas. It mentions an
alarming rise of incidents of hatred and religious persecution post the 2012
violence in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussain has mentioned in the report that the Rohingyas have been
excluded from a number of professions in Myanmar. They also need special
permission to avail treatment in hospitals, as a result of which there have
been delays in treatment and deaths of babies or their mothers during
childbirth. Therefore this is the first time when Zeid unequivocally states
that long standing violations such as these equal to crimes against humanity;
series of “serious, widespread and systematic violations” amounting to an
“international crime”. The Rohingyas are also subjected to arbitrary arrests
within the country, detention, forced labour, poor conditions of health, lack
of education rights, sexual violence, severely restricted mobility and a
persistent threat to their life and security. Praising the signing of a nationwide
ceasefire agreement last year, Zeid further assures every help needed for the
government to usher in a positive change for the Rohingyas. He states, “We
stand ready to support the Government of Myanmar in ensuring a successful
transition to a society based firmly on the rule of law and the protection of
human rights for all.”
For
Detailed Report on the above please check the following links:
Report Number-
A/HRC/32/18, Human Rights Violations and abuses against Rohingya Muslims and
other Minorities in Myanmar, Report of the UNHCR, advanced edited version, 28
June 2016. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session32/Pages/ListReports.aspx,
accessed on 4 July 2016
Un Link that mentions
the Report -http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54268#.V3uTHNR95ki
; and http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20137&LangID=E
‘Aung San Suu Kyi
tells UN that the term 'Rohingya' will be avoided’, The Guardian, 21 June 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/21/aung-san-suu-kyi-tells-un-that-the-term-rohingya-will-be-avoided
, accessed on 5 July 2016.
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