By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – Hundreds of thousands Rohingya, a Muslim minority from the western part of Myanmar, have fled the country to escape poverty and oppression.  The military rulers do not recognize the Rohingya as Myanmar citizens.  They are denied citizenship under the1982 citizenship law, and often harassed and beaten by the security forces.  They must obtain an official permit to travel from town to town.

Rohingya are subjected to routine forced labor in Myanmar.  Chris Lewa at the Arakan Project says that typically a Rohingya man will have to give up one day a week to work on military or government projects, and one night for sentry duty. However, Myanmar Buddhists living in the area are not required to do this.

Myanmar’s senior official has described the Rohingya as “ugly as ogres.”  According to the South China Morning Post, the country’s Consul General Ye Myint Aung wrote to heads of foreign missions in Hong Kong and local newspapers stating the Muslim tribe should not be described as being from Myanmar.  “In reality, Rohingya are neither Myanmar people nor Myanmar’s ethnic group,” he said.  The envoy also contrasted the “dark brown” Rohingya complexion with the “fair and soft” skin of people from Myanmar, the Post reported.

The US has called on Junta to stop persecuting its Rohingya Muslim minority.  “The US was aware of the fleeing of Rohingyas from Myanmar for persecution and economic reasons,” Mr. Boucher told a news conference in Dhaka.  “It’s a matter of concern and the US wants that Myanmar stops the persecution of Rohingyas.”

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), about 230,000 Rohingya now live in Bangladesh, having fled from abuse by Junta.  Refugees have told stories about how the military authorities there have beaten and abused them.  Many have shown scars on their bodies they claimed were caused by Burmese soldiers whipping them as a warning not to return to the country.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Myanmar envoy brands boatpeople ‘ugly as ogres’: report – 11 February 2009

BBC – Burma ‘must stop Rohingya abuse‘ – 09 February 2009

BBC – What drives the Rohingya to sea? – 05 February 2009

Jurist – Mistreatment of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority requires coordinated regional response – 11 February 2009