UN envoy Nambiar discusses Rakhine State aid with Thein Sein

United Nations special envoy to Burma Vijay Nambiar met with Burmese President Thein Sein on Thursday to discuss Rakhine State and a range of other topics, said the President's Office.

President Thein Sein received a delegation led by UNSG’s Special Adviser on Burma Vijay Nambiar at the Credentials Hall of the Presidential Palace on Friday, September 13, 2012. Photo: President's office

The talks focused on Burma-UN cooperation in providing assistance to riot victims in Rakhine State, including arrangements for advance aid teams representing Turkey, Indonesia, the United States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to assess the Rakhine situation.

Other topics included security and the rule of law being enforced in the state to prevent similar recurrences and arrangements for the rehabilitation of the victims.

Nambiar, a special adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Under-Secretary-General, is currently on his fourth visit to Burma.

The two sides also discussed socio-economic development projects including fulfilling the UN Millennium Goals.

President Thein Sein's upcoming attendance at the 67th UN General Assembly in New York, expected at the end of September, was also discussed.

Nambiar, an Indian diplomat who was appointed UN special envoy to Burma in 2010, has been Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff since January 2007.

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The Dalai Lama says reports of human rights violations in Burma ‘very unfortunate’

His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking on "Non-violence and Ethical Values" at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, India, on September 12, 2012. Also seen in the picture is Vice Chancellor Prof. Najeeb Jung. (Photo/OHHDL/Tenzin Choejor)

DHARAMSHALA, September 13: Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama called the reports of gross human rights violations n Burma “very unfortunate” and said he tried to contact pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burmese government over the issue.

“Yes, it’s very unfortunate. But no avenue of communication with the Burmese government is open to me. Although I am a Buddhist, very few Buddhist countries, apart from Japan, have given me permission to visit them on pilgrimage,” the Dalai Lama said in response to a question on the reports of gross human rights violations against the Rohingya Muslims in western Burma.

“In fact you could say I have greater freedom to visit Christian countries or even a Muslim country like Jordan, than I do to visit most Buddhist countries. The situation with Burma is the same.”

The Dalai Lama, who was speaking on the Importance of Non-violence and Ethical Values at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi on Wednesday, further added that he wrote to Aung San Suu Kyi, his only contact in the country, on the issue. The two Nobel Peace laureates had recently met in London.

“Accordingly, I wrote to her about this matter, but have had no reply. Likewise, I asked my representative in Delhi to approach the Burmese Embassy here, but after several weeks we’ve had no response. So, there’s little I can do but pray,” the Tibetan leader said.

“If allegations that Buddhist monks have been involved in assaulting these Muslim brothers and sisters turn out to be true, it is totally wrong.”

Earlier in the day, the Dalai Lama also separately met with the editors of three Urdu language newspapers.

Returning back to the University which conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) on him in 2010, the Dalai Lama reflected on the oneness of humanity in our common desire and right to be happy.

The 77-year-old Tibetan leader explained that trust and friendship were necessary to be a contented human being, which he said tends to develop “much better once we realise that all beings have a right to happiness, just as we do.”

“Taking others’ interests into account not only helps them, it also helps us. Warm-heartedness and concern for others are a part of human nature and are at the core of positive human values.”

Referring to the 20th century as an era of bloodshed, the Dalai Lama said all problems and conflicts must be resolved through peaceful ways and dialogue.

“Non-violence doesn’t mean we have to passively accept injustice. We have to fight for our rights. We have to oppose injustice, because not to do so would be a form of violence,” the Tibetan spiritual leader said. “Gandhi-ji fervently promoted non-violence, but that didn’t mean he was complacently accepting of the status quo; he resisted, but he did so without doing harm.”
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EU helping the Rohingya Muslims in Burma

Sajjad Karim MEP calling for an end to violence towards the Rohingya community

The European Parliament debate the violence being inflicted on the minority Rohingya people in Burma. Sajjad speaks up for the community and calls for an end to the violence.

Turkey prepared to help refugees in Arakan State

Tents set up for internally displaced people on the side of the road in Thet Kel Pyin camp, Rakhine state, Burma. Photo: OCHA

Sittwe (Mizzima) – A seven-person delegation led by Turkish Ambassador to Burma Murat Yavuz Ates visited Sittwe [Sittway] and met with the Arakan [Rakhine] State government last week, while providing immediate aid to displaced 

persons in government camps.

The ambassador met with Arakan State Chief Minister Hla Maung Tin and also visited Mingan village, Kyaukphyu Township, and provided medicine and bags of rice to Arakanese refugees. The delegation also provided 2,228 bags of rice to refugees in Thakkaypyin village in Sittwe Township.

Recent weeks have seen a wave of international officials visiting Rakhine State to access the situation and to determine the areas needs.

A delegation from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), led by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, visited the Bawduba Rohingya refugee camp in Sittwe, a Muslim Quarter [Aung Mingala] and the Arakanese refugee camp in Sutaungpyace Temple on Sept. 10.

On Sept. 8, a 11-person delegation led by the US Department of State Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Joe Yun, the US ambassador to Burma Derek Mitchell and UNHCR representative Hans ten Feld visited refugee camps in Maungdaw.

Officials said six houses and 122 temporary tents have been constructed for refugees in Mawyawaddy village in Maungdaw Township; 122 dwellings totaling 463 people were put up at a relief camp in the Alalthankyaw village; and 38 houses and 79 temporary tents had been built for refugees in Shweyinaye village, state-run newspapers reported on Tuesday.

Seventy-six households totaling 266 people have been constructed in the “4-mile” camp and Parahita camp in Maungdaw, said reports.

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OIC signs MoU on Rakhine State aid

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Burmese government to provide humanitarian aid for riot-hit victims in Myanmar's western Rakhine ethnic state, official media reported on Wednesday.

The signing took place after the OIC Ambassador Ufuk Gokeen and Minister of Border Affairs Lieutenant-General Thein Htay met in Naypyitaw on Tuesday, said the New Light of Myanmar, the state-run newspaper.

The meeting focused on aid to be provided for Rakhine state and participation in rehabilitation tasks by OIC without political and religious creed, providing shelters, food and utensils to both local nationals and Bengalis regardless of race, and improvement of rehabilitation and urbanization plan of Rakhine state.

In August, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who is also OIC Secretary, made the first ever visit to Myanmar and witnessed the situation in the state.

Turkish donors have donated US$ 50 million to the victims in Rakhine State to buy food and medicine, according to earlier official reports.

The report also said OIC Assistant Secretary-General Atta AI- manam Bakhit visited Burma and an invitation is being extended to the OIC Secretary-General to visit Burma and further observe the situation.

The article said Burmese officials said the violence in Rakhine State was not a conflict between religious groups of different faiths nor a humanitarian issue but was a violence conflict between two communities within Burma following a criminal act.

Fighting in Rakhine State has left almost 90 people dead, both Buddhists and Muslims, since it erupted in June according to an official estimate, although rights groups fear the real toll is much higher.

Officials said the government has been working closely with international community for relief and rehabilitation for the victims of both communities in a non-discriminatory and transparent manner, according to a statement of the Foreign Ministry said.

Burma formed a 27-member Investigation Commission on Aug. 17 comprising leaders from religious organizations including Islam, intellectuals, politicians and retired government officials among others.

Officials said that law and order in Rakhine State is improving and the overall situation there is now returning to normalcy.

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Rohingyas ‘have the right’ to apply for Burmese citizenship: minister

Rohingyas born in Burma are eligible to apply for citizenship if at least two generations of their families have lived in the country, Immigration Minister Khin Ye told the Radio Free Asia Burmese Service on Wednesday.

He said that those who met these requirements “have the right” to apply for citizenship in Burma, where many of them have lived in Rakhine State along the Bangladesh border for generations.

“Foreigners, like the Bengalis, have the right to apply for citizenship if they want to,” Khin Ye said, citing an amendment to the country’s constitution in 1982 during the rule of the former military regime.

“The requirements are that their grandparents and parents must have lived here and died here, that the applicant was born here and can speak the Burmese language, and that he or she wants to live here, among other things,” he said.

He maintained that the Rohingya, which he referred to as Bengalis from neighboring Bangladesh, were first brought to Burma as laborers during British occupation from 1824 until the nation gained its independence in 1948.

Khin Ye also explained why the government does not treat the Rohingya as an ethnic group in Burma, the RFA said. 

During the colonial era, Khin Ye said the Burmese “had no right to protect and manage our country,” meaning that the Rohingyas were never invited to stay by the country’s citizens.

“So unless they are blood-related with our people, there is no way they [can be automatically considered] our citizens,” he said.

Khin Ye said that some of the Rohingyas “have become citizens according to the law,” but said that most Burmese frequently assume that they have obtained their documentation through corrupt immigration officials.

The minority is not officially recognized as one of the more than 100 ethnic groups of Burma.  The country’s last two official censuses in 1973 and 1983 also did not list them amongst the population.

But he said he agreed with the international community that more must be done to address the root causes of the ethnic violence that shattered Rakhine state in June.

“When I met with international organizations and with the US ambassador yesterday, we never disagreed on the Rohingya issue,” he said.

“Mostly we discussed how to avoid this kind of conflict in the future and what needs to be done.”

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