Year: 2018

By Noriko Okada | Published by NHK on November 15, 2018 “Ask yourself, if you saw your wife raped and your father shot dead in front of your eyes, if your little 6-month old boy was burned alive in front of your eyes…would you like to be told that you need to go back?” Those are the words of Maung Zarni, leader of a global network of activists supporting the Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh. Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo last month, he accused Myanmar and Bangladesh of making a premature plan to repatriate the refugees

World screaming foul at the Bangladesh-Myanmar bilateral repatriation scheme scheduled to begin Thursday By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on November 15, 2018 *The writer is a coordinator of strategic affairs for the Free Rohingya Coalition and co-author of ‘The Slow Burning Genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya’ (2014) LONDON From the Red Cross to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, with the principal mandate for refugee protection, the world is screaming foul at the Bangladesh-Myanmar bilateral repatriation scheme scheduled to begin on 15 November, today. The International Committee of the Red Cross’ Robert Mardini based in Myanmar told

By Michael A Becker | Published by EJIL: Talk! on November 14, 2018 In April 2017, the UN Human Rights Council established the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar to investigate alleged human rights abuses by military and security forces. The Fact-Finding Mission issued an initial summary report in August 2018, followed by a 444-page report of detailed findings in September. Among other things, the Fact-Finding Mission found that after an armed group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launched a series of small-scale attacks against government military outposts on 25 August 2017, a government campaign aimed at Rohingya communities in Rakhine State

By Chisato Tanaka, Published by The Japan Times on October 25, 2018 A leader of a global network of activists for Rohingya Muslims on Thursday called on Japan to actively speak out against the alleged abuse and genocide against Myanmar’s ethnic minority by the country’s military and strongly criticized Tokyo for its relative silence on a crisis that has become a major international concern. “There are 400 villages burned to the ground … Japan cannot be so out of line from the reality. Rohingyas are treated as guilty (just) because they exist,” Maung Zarni, leader of the Free Rohingya Coalition,

By Dr. Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on October 5, 2018 – The writer is coordinator for strategic affairs at the Free Rohingya Coalition and adviser to the European Center for the Study of Extremism, Cambridge, UK   Five steps can be taken towards achieving justice, repatriation and the rebuilding of Rohingya communities in Myanmar LONDON — Rohingya campaigners and human rights organizations welcomed the UN Human Rights Council’s vote on Sept. 27 to set up a body to conduct a further investigation and future indictment of Myanmar for atrocity crimes, including genocide. The resolution, co-sponsored by the Organization

By Tapan Bose | October 4, 2018 Seven Rohingya Muslims refugees who were held at a detention centre in Assam since 2012 will be handed over to Myanmar. The Supreme Court of India today refused to stop their deportation, as the new Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gagoi said, “We are not inclined to interfere on the decision taken”. Rejecting the argument of lawyer of the Rohingyas that the government’s move was against the UN charter, the Supreme Court accepted the Central Government’s statement that the Rohingya were illegal immigrants and Myanmar had accepted them as citizens. The seven Rohingya