By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – During the 14th ASEAN summit, the Thai and Myanmese foreign ministers reached an agreement allows Rohingya refugees back into the country if they can prove that they are Bengali.  Proof would include confirmation by relatives.  However, the refugees have resisted being returned to Myanmar, saying they would be killed.

Thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, Malaysia and the Middle East.  According to rights group, Rohingya faced widespread abuses including forced labor, land seizures and rape in Myanmar.  Benjamin Zawacki of Amnesty International points out, “in addition to that, they suffer from what is really systemic discrimination, systemic persecution. Things, for example, like not being able to marry outside their ethnicity, very strict restrictions on movement, the inability to work for the government, to hold jobs as civil servants. They are summarily disenfranchised. They are not able to vote. They are not even held to be citizens.”

The issue is being raised at international level when the Thai military sabotaged t Rohingya’s vessels and abandoning them at sea recently. Hundreds are believed to have drowned.  Currently, about 20,000 Rohingya migrants already live in Thailand, said its foreign ministry.

Malaysia, the biggest number of Rohingya refugees in the region, called for the Rohingya to be sent back to Myanmar. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says that Rohingya refugees had become a burden to Myanmar’s neighbor countries.  The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations recently agreed to the solution to the problem.  Rais Yatim, Malaysia’s foreign minister said ASEAN wants Myanmar to promise “not to persecute them when they go back”.  Myamar Junta agreed.

Suaram, a Malaysian rights group, criticizes the call to return the refugees as “inhumane,” and urged ASEAN nations to give temporary shelter to the Rohingya until conditions were safe for them to return home.  A refugee urged the Myanmar neighbor countries to grant political asylum to the Rohingya.  “They are victims of systematic, persistent and widespread human rights violations,” says Zaw Min Htut.  Zaw became the first Rohingya to be granted refugee status by Japan in 2002.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Thailand: Myanmar to allow refugees – 03 March 2009

The Japan Time – Myanmar refugee speaks out for Muslim group – 04 March 2009

International Herald Tribune – ASEAN: Myanmar must treat Muslim migrants better – 04 March 2009

Reuters – Myanmar’s Rohingya: A chronic humanitarian crisis – 04 March 2009

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea – North Korea military officials and the U.S.-led UN Command met for talks at Panmunjom today.  It is the first time in seven years after the tension rises over North Korea planned rocket launch.  According to the U.N. Command, North Korea requested this meeting to discuss tension reduction on the Korean Peninsula.

During the talk, North Korea complained the forthcoming joint military exercises by South Korean and U.S. troops.  Froom March 9 to 20, South Korean and U.S. troops will hold the annual joint military exercise.  About 12,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and 14,000 from off-peninsula, along with South Korean forces will be involved in the exercise.  North warned US and South Korea to stop “provocations” in the area or face retaliation.  The United Nations Command said they discussed ways to ease tensions and agreed to further talks.

Fears of a border clash escalated as North Korea prepare to test a long-range missile for what it calls a satellite launch.  North Korea may launch the test missile in the middle of March to match the timing of the South Korea and U.S. joint military exercises, the Japanese newspaper, Sankei reported.  Satellite images show a launch pad is being prepared, the report cites an unidentified official at Japan’s Ministry of Defense.  South Korean news media also report North Korea is testing radar and other monitoring equipment in preparation for a satellite launch.  North Korea has rejected calls to give up the launch.

South Korea and US say the test missile could theoretically reach Alaska. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for “restraint”.  He says that no one forbids anyone to launch satellites, but on the other hand, we must understand what kind of missile this is.  At the same time, the South Korean and Japanese foreign ministers agreed a rocket launch for any reason would violate a UN resolution passed after the last missile test in 2006.

For more information, please see:

AFP – North Korea, UN hold talks amid border tensions – 02 March 2009

CNN – Rare North Korea, U.N. talks last 32 minutes – 02 March 209

Korean Time – NK Holds Rare Meeting With UN Command – 03 March 2009

International Herald Tribune – South Korea’s Lee calls on North to stop missile plans – 03 March 2009

Voice of American – North Korea Requests Rare Meeting With UN Command – 02 March 2009

Voice of American – South Korea: North Testing Radar, Ahead of Planned Launch – 02 March 2009