In the News

By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on August 5, 2020 Sitagu offered scriptural justifications for ‘killing millions of non-Buddhists’ LONDON — In November last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) moved to begin the full investigation into Myanmar’s violent international crimes and other events connected to the exodus of Rohingya from western Myanmar in decades. In August 2017, Myanmar Tatmadaw, or the military, launched the “Security Clearance Operations,” which resulted in the exodus of 750,000 Rohingya from across the borders into the adjacent Bangladesh city of Teknaf. As the ICC proceeds with its full investigation, it needs to

By Maung Zarni | Published by FORSEA on July 28, 2020 No global justice or international accountability process will be complete without Sitagu being named as a criminal who despite his saffron robe and high honours has provided spiritual patronage to genocidal leaders of Myanmar while offering scriptural justifications for “killing millions of non-Buddhists.” On July 20, 2020, in the 12-minute FB Live clip, FORSEA co-founder and leading Burmese genocide scholar, Dr Maung Zarni, delivered the most blistering expose of Myanmar’s most influential Buddhist monk Nyar Neik Tha Ra (better known as abbot Sitagu) for his instrumental role in the

By Maung Zarni | Published by FORSEA on July 18, 2020 The painful but necessary question – How will or can Myanmar be de-constructed, or more alarmingly, disintegrated? – needs to be asked openly and debated publicly. Sunday – July 19 – marks the 73rd anniversary of the assassination of U Aung San, the father of Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and a group of his multi-ethnic colleagues in his pre-colonial cabinet, including the Muslim leader and educator Mr Razak from my hometown of Mandalay. As the country prepares to commemorate its Martyrs Day, I begin to feel

In Spanish: Académico: ‘Cuestión rohinyá en Myanmar va más allá del paradigma de musulmanes contra budistas’ In Bahasa Indonesia: EKSKLUSIF: ‘Persoalan Rohingya bukan paradigma Muslim vs Buddhis’ In Arabic: باحث “بوذي”: قضية الروهنغيا ليست “مسلمين مقابل بوذيين” (مقابلة) In Macedonian: „Прашањето за Рохинџите не е парадигмата муслимани против будисти“ In an exclusive interaction, Maung Zarni said Myanmar was taking advantage of strategic rivalry between China and India By Mehmet Ozturk, Iftikhar Gilani, Sorwar Alam and Ahmet Gurhan Kartal | Anadolu Agency | June 27, 2020 ANKARA/LONDON — Maung Zarni, 56, scholar and activist, known for his opposition to the violence in

By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on March 30, 2020 Genocides start with an act of framing human community, with their distinct group identity, typically vulnerable and weak, as ‘a virus’ or ‘existential threat’ LONDON — The SS, Hitler’s ruthless deliverers of death, came to believe their own racially-charged propaganda about diseases being spread by Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. They succumbed to their own fears of viruses and other contagions. So much so, that during the deportations of Jews from the ghetto to the camps, the SS troops in Krakow would not enter the Jewish ghetto hospital set up

Dr. Maung Zarni, Co-founder and Burmese Coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition talks to South Africa’s Radio Islam on March 6, 2020.

By Nay San Lwin | Published by The Daily Star on March 5, 2020 If you look at the major cities around the world, from New York to London, you will find the Rohingya are there. You can be sure that wherever they are, be it in Riyadh or Vancouver, they have gone by one of three routes—seeking asylum, UN agency resettlement or entry with a counterfeit passport from a third country. And so it is, that an estimated 42,000 Rohingya are in Saudi Arabia. Worryingly, they face deportation to Bangladesh. The situation has arisen because in the last four

By Maung Zarni | Published by FORSEA on February 12, 2020 It is long overdue for ASEAN to sync its policies towards Myanmar with international opinion, legal and human rights, and the global public. On January 23, 2020, the International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest judicial authority which handles legal disputes among the member states, announced its decision to proceed with The Gambia vs Myanmar and issued the provisional measures aimed at preventing (further) genocidal acts against Myanmar’s Rohingya people and at protecting the evidence of the past atrocities which Myanmar troops committed against the ethnic minority community in

By David Stavrou | Published by Haaretz on February 23, 2020 הקהילה הבינלאומית התעוררה. אך בשביל בני הרוהינגה זה מעט מדי, מאוחר מדי בחודש שעבר הוציא בית הדין הבינלאומי לצדק צו ביניים המורה למיאנמר למנוע את הטבח באחד מהמיעוטים הנרדפים כיום בעולם. למשפטנים קשה יהיה להוכיח כוונה לרצח עם, והדיונים בבית הדין צפויים להימשך עוד שנים. ניצולה: “ראיתי אנשים שנדקרו למוות, החיילים גם ריססו בכדורים. הכפר היה מלא בגופות” “חיילים הפרידו את הקבוצות לנשים ולגברים”, כך על פי אחת העדויות, “הגברים הוצאו להורג. אלו שלא מתו מהירי, אלו שנאבקו על חייהם או נפצעו קשה, הומתו באמצעות סכינים. אחר כך הורידו מהגופות תכשיטים ודברי

By Maung Zarni | Published by Anadolu Agency on February 12, 2020 Genesis of sustained, institutionalized destruction of Rohingya is anchored in group’s identity as Muslims LONDON — The International Court of Justice’s Jan. 23 interim order in a case filed by Gambia against Myanmar is designed to protect the Rohingya and preserve the crime sites. It has brought a sense of vindication to several million Rohingya victims – in the diaspora, inside Myanmar, and in refugee camps in Bangladesh. It was by far the most significant act the international community has taken since the Rohingya have been subjected to a national policy