The Rohingya Life Dead Or life In Bangala desh

MEDECINS San Frontiers (MSF), an international aid agency, has accused Bangladesh of launching a violent crackdown recently against the unregistered Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. The New York Times, BBC, and al-Jazeera English all published the news on the basis of a report released by Paul Critchley, the MSF head of mission in Bangladesh. Quoting Critchley, the New York Times wrote: "They (Rohingyas) cannot receive general food distribution. It is illegal for them to work. All they can legally do in Bangladesh is to starve to death." The MSF report released on February 18 said that Bangladesh has unleashed a crackdown of unprecedented violence against Muslim refugees from neighbouring Myanmar. Ethnic Rohingya refugees who have been living for years in Bangladesh are being seized, beaten and forced back to Myanmar, which they had left to escape persecution and abuse and which does not want them. Some had escaped after being forced into a river that forms the border with Myanmar. Paul Critchley states: "Over the last few months we have treated victims of violence, people who claim to have been beaten by the police. We have treated patients for beating, for machete wounds and for rape ... I have seen small girls going out in the forest to collect fire wood, we have treated young girls and women who have been raped doing this." Agreeing to the fact that international media's information that Rohingyas in Bangladesh are ill-treated is not right, the UNHCR envoy in Bangladesh is on record as saying that the Rohingya problem has spread to the south-east Asian region, including Malaysia and Thailand. The Rohingyas are a Muslim ethnic group of the northern Arakan state of Myanmar who are united by ancient heritage and have lived for many centuries in a contiguous area within well-defined geographical boundaries. They exercised their voting right and right to be elected in all elections of Myanmar held in the colonial period and also in the democratic periods. The ruling military government has deliberately deprived Rohingyas of their citizenship rights. Over 200,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh in 1978 following operations by the Myanmar army. In another wave, over 250,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh during 1991-92 to escape from forced labour, rape, and religious persecution at the hands of the Myanmar military. Despite efforts made by the UN for repatriation of Rohingyas in 2005, a vast majority of them have remained in Bangladesh, unable to return because of the negative attitude of the ruling regime in Myanmar. According to Bangladeshi officials, there are about 100,000 undocumented Rohingyas in Bangladesh who are taking daily wage jobs as farmers, vendors, rickshaw-pullers, and construction labourers. Since they are not accepted in the existing refugee camps run by UNHCR, they have mingled with the local people and are creating a law and order problem as some are allegedly involved in various crimes including smuggling of arms and ammunition and trafficking of addictive drugs. The daily Prothom Alo carried a report on Rohingyas on the first page on February 18. The report said that over 50,000 Rohingyas holding Bangladeshi passport are involved in various criminal activities in Saudi Arabia and thus tarnishing the image of the country. These Rohingyas have entered into Saudi Arabia illegally through India, Pakistan, and Malaysia. Many of them have also gone there in the name of performing Umra using fake Bangladeshi passport. After arriving in Saudi Arabia the Rohingya refugees managed to get Bangladeshi passports from the embassy there in fraudulent ways through brokers and with the help of some unscrupulous employees of the embassy. The involvement of Rohingyas in various criminal activities is not only tarnishing the image of the country, but also squeezing access of Bangladeshi workers in the international job market. The expatriate Bangladeshis of Saudi Arabia have lodged complaints to our foreign minister regarding roguery of the brokers and some of the employees in the embassy who are helping Rohingyas in getting Bangladeshi passport fraudulently. The government is also under diplomatic pressure to bring back nearly 600 Rohingyas confined at Tabhil camp in Jeddah for more than two years, as they hold Bangladesh passports. Ironically, the MSF report on persecution of Rohingyas in Bangladesh was released on the day when the Prothom Alo carried the report on involvement of Rohingyas in criminal activities in Saudi Arabia. The MSF report has also been uploaded onto some websites in a bid to generate sympathy for Rohingya refugees. The main cause of the outflows of Rohingyas from Arakan is religious and political persecution to rid Arakan of Muslims and eventually to turn it into a Buddhist region. The Rohingyas after entering into Bangladesh have been taking advantage of their religious identity and political persecution to draw sympathy of the local people. Many of them reportedly have become voters and obtained Bangladesh passports with the help of local people. Rohingya refugees who have been creating a social and economic crisis have already become a big problem for Bangladesh, both at home and abroad. Bangladesh, with its limited resources, cannot provide them shelter and other assistance for an indefinite period. Repatriation of the Rohingyas to their own country would be the only permanent solution to this problem. So Bangladesh should take the problem seriously with UNHCR to resolve the Rohingya issue immediately.

Malaysian Immigrision official accused of human trafficking, plan to sell Rohingya Refugees man

KLIK DiSINI COBA..
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Malaysian immigration official was charged with selling an illegal immigrant from Myanmar Rohingyas Refugees to human traffickers at the country's border with Thailand, his lawyer said Monday.

Rahman Selamat, a senior immigration official from southern Johor state, pleaded innocent to human trafficking charges, his lawyer Wan Mohamad Fadzil Maamor said.
If found guilty, Rahman faces up to 15 years in prison. The court in northern Kelantan state refused bail for Rahman pending trial on Aug. 25, Wan Mohamad Fadzil said. Further details were not immediately available.Read more: ...

Rahman was arrested July 17 with four other immigration officials and four bus drivers, who allegedly helped transport the migrants to the border.
Police said investigations showed the immigration officers sold an unspecified number of Myanmar migrants detained for living in Malaysia without valid travel documents to human traffickers at the Thai border for up to 600 ringgit ($170) each.
The traffickers then allegedly took the migrants into Thailand and told them to pay 2,000 ringgit ($570) each for their freedom, or they would be forced to work in the fishing industry, police said.
It was unclear if the other Malaysian officials or bus drivers accused of involvement would also be charged. The officials did not specify the ethnicity of the migrants, but most Myanmar people who try to enter Malaysia are ethnic Rohingya Muslims.
In April, a report by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said illegal Myanmar migrants deported from Malaysia were forced to work in brothels, restaurants and on fishing boats in Thailand if they had no money to buy their freedom.
The United Nations refugee agency has registered more than 48,000 refugees in Malaysia, most from Myanmar. But community leaders estimate the number of Myanmar people in Malaysia is about twice that.Read more:

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THAILAND: UNHCR seeks access to Rohingya boat people
THAILAND: UNHCR seeks access to Rohingya boat people
Photo: David Swanson/IRIN
A young Rohingya girl at the Kutaplong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, one of two government-run camps for the 28,000 documented Rohingya refugees in the country
BANGKOK, 29 January 2009 (IRIN) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is hopeful it will gain access to dozens of Rohingya boat people who fled persecution in Myanmar this week and are being held by Thai authorities.
A stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, the Rohingya have long sought refuge from ethnic and religious persecution by Myanmar’s government.
“We have not yet had a formal response to our request for access but we have positive indications that a formal response is on the way,” Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the agency told IRIN on 29 January from Ranong city, the capital of Ranong Province.
“We had a good meeting with Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya today [29 January] and there is obviously a wish to collaborate with UNHCR,” she said.
The 78 Rohingya - 66 men and 12 teenage boys - were intercepted two days earlier by the Thai navy following an arduous journey across the Andaman Sea and claims of abuse by the Burmese navy en route.
More on the Rohingya
BANGLADESH: mohammad Ismail: “Nobody wants us”
THAILAND: Government, Army to investigate claims of Rohingya abuse
BANGLADESH: Rohingya refugee camps improved
BANGLADESH-MYANMAR: Bleak prospects for the Rohingya
On 28 January, a provincial court ordered each of the 66 men to pay a 1,000 Thai baht (about US$29) fine for illegal entry into the kingdom. Unable to pay, the men had no choice but to serve a five-day prison term.
The 12 teenagers, who were exempt from persecution, are being held at an immigration detention centre, but are largely expected to be deported with the men on 31 January.
In a 29 January report in the Bangkok Post, Thailand’s leading English-language newspaper, Police Lt-Col Nattharit Pinpak, Ranong’s immigration police chief inspector, said illegal refugees normally faced immediate deportation.
But since the Rohingya issue had gained international attention, he would wait for a policy directive from a higher authority, the report said.
Abuse allegationsAllegations were made earlier this month that the Thai military had abused more than 600 Rohingya before the new year, towing them out to sea to die, a charge the government has vehemently denied.
And while many were later rescued off the coasts of India and Indonesia, hundreds more are still believed missing.
On 20 January, UNHCR asked for access to 126 Rohingya being detained by Thai authorities after that incident, but sources suggest they have been since towed out to sea as well.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insists the Rohingya entering Thailand are “illegal immigrants” and must be sent back to their country of origin.
Thai officials maintain “basic humanitarian needs” are given to the migrants before they are returned home.
According to the Thai Foreign Ministry, the plight of the Rohingya reflects that of economic migrants in the region and that some 20,000 illegal Rohingya are living in Thailand today.
There are 28,000 recognised Rohingya refugees in two UNHCR camps in southern Bangladesh and some 200,000 unregistered Rohingya living outside the camps.
Each year, scores of Rohingya escape from Myanmar’s Rakhine state by boat, often turning up in Thailand, Malaysia or as far away as Indonesia.
Thailand estimates their numbers in the thousands.
Because the plight of Rohingya is a regional problem, UNHCR is seeking to discuss with the Thai government how all concerned countries can address the root causes that impel the Rohingya to risk their lives on such perilous journeys.
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Theme(s): (IRIN) Early Warning, (IRIN) Refugees/IDPs