In the News

By Tapan Bose | Published by CounterReview on June 15, 2018   On May 22, 2018, Tirana Hassan, Crisis Response Director at Amnesty International released a briefing note titled, “Myanmar: New evidence reveals Rohingya armed group massacred scores in Rakhine State”. It may be seen HERE.   In the briefing note, Amnesty International stated, “A Rohingya armed group brandishing guns and swords is responsible for at least one, and potentially a second, massacre of up to 99 Hindu women, men, and children as well as additional unlawful killings and abductions of Hindu villagers in August 2017, Amnesty International revealed today

By Tun Khin | Published by The Diplomat on June 15, 2018   Conditions are nowhere near ready for Rohingya to return in safety and dignity.   Last week, the United Nations and the Myanmar government inked a deal that will supposedly begin the long process of repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees back to their homes. The UN hailed it as “the first step to address the root causes of the conflict in Rakhine.” Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s state counselor and de facto political leader, said it will “hasten” refugee returns.   The rest of the world,

By Matthew Gindin | Published by tricycle on June 15, 2018 The tribalism plaguing Myanmar for the last 60 years has led to the persecution of many more of the country’s minority peoples. “Kyaw Kyaw, you cannot only care for human rights; we must also care for our people.” So says an unnamed young Burmese man in the film My Buddha Is Punk, a documentary about the courageous punk band Rebel Riot, as members of the band and others discuss politics during a meeting for their community in a grungy concrete room in Yangon. Rebel Riot—Kyaw Kyaw is the lead singer—has

By Aakar Patel | Published by The Hindu on June 14, 2018 The profound lack of support for Rohingya refugees in India is shameful On May 22, Amnesty International (AI) released a briefing that revealed that a Rohingya armed group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), had committed serious human rights abuses against Hindus in northern Rakhine State in Myanmar. As a movement that campaigns to end human rights abuses against all people, AI aims to uncover all cases of human rights violations without bias, regardless of who the perpetrators are and where the violations are committed. The May 22

Published by Reporters Without Borders on June 12, 2018   Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the Myanmar government’s latest interference in the work of journalists, a ban on local broadcasting by US government-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) for rightly using the term “Rohingyas” to refer to members of the persecuted Muslim community in Rakhine state, in the west of the country. The ban is officially imposed today, six months to the day after the arrest of two Reuters journalists who had been investigating a massacre of Rohingya civilians. The last broadcast of an RFA-produced programme in Myanmar was yesterday evening.

By Maung Zarni & Natalie Brinham | Published by Anadolu Agency on June 11, 2018 Newly-organized UN in Myanmar has shelved organization’s own governing principles of transparency and inclusivity, as evidenced by freshly-inked MOU with Myanmar – Maung Zarni is Coordinator for Strategic Affairs with the Free Rohingya Coalition (www.freerohingyacoalition.org). – Natalie Brinham is an Economic and Social Research Council PhD scholar at the Queen Mary University of London and co-author of “The Slow Burning Genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya” (Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal, Spring 2014). CAMBRIDGE, UK –One million Rohingya survivors of the Myanmar genocide, who took refuge

Published by Broadcasting Board of Governors on June 11, 2018 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Radio Free Asia (RFA) aired its last original TV broadcast on the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) network on Myanmar’s MRTV channel this evening. The Myanmar government told DVB that it could not carry RFA’s programming if the word “Rohingya” continued to be used. As a policy, RFA does not accept interference by outside individuals, groups, or governments in making editorial decisions. RFA’s Burmese Service’s TV programming was available on the network since October 2017. RFA content and programming will continue to be available for its audience

By Jay Nordlinger | Published by National Review on June 11, 2018 Since October 2017, a network in Burma has been carrying programming from Radio Free Asia. RFA is an American news service. Now the Burmese government has told the network that it must stop carrying RFA programming, if RFA insists on using the word “Rohingya.” It does, so RFA programming will no longer be carried by the network. The Rohingyas, as you know, are the people from western Burma who have been persecuted in the most horrific ways. I wrote about it in February (here). Let me give a

By Erin Handley | Published by UCA News on June 11, 2018 Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh plummet in annual global security and safety index Phnom Penh, Cambodia — Asia has become a less peaceful place, according to the 2018 Global Peace Index, with conditions in Cambodia and Myanmar deteriorating most in the region. The Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace ranks the safety and security of 163 countries, including the degree of their militarization and the impact of ongoing conflicts. Myanmar sank 15 places to 122nd in the world rankings due to ongoing violence against ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims, while

Published by The Global New Light of Myanmar on June 10, 2018 Myanmar’s leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi sat down for her first one-on-one interview with NHK in 5 years. In the interview, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told NHK World correspondent Orie Sugimoto that deep-rooted communal sentiment in Rakhine State cannot be resolved overnight. Q: The Myanmar government has agreed to have UN Agencies assist with the repatriation process of the so-called Rohingya people in Rakhine State, and to set up an independent committee to investigate human rights violations. These actions have been long required by the refugees