Source :HRW
(Bangkok) – Burmese security forces committed killings, rape, and
mass arrests against Rohingya Muslims after failing to protect both them
and Arakan Buddhists during deadly sectarian violence in western Burma
in June 2012. Government restrictions on humanitarian access to the
Rohingya community have left many of the over 100,000 people displaced
and in dire need of food, shelter, and medical care.
The 56-page report, “
‘The Government Could Have Stopped This’: Sectarian Violence and Ensuing Abuses in Burma’s Arakan State,”
describes how the Burmese authorities failed to take adequate measures
to stem rising tensions and the outbreak of sectarian violence in Arakan
State. Though the army eventually contained the mob violence in the
state capital, Sittwe, both Arakan and Rohingya witnesses told Human
Rights Watch that government forces stood by while members from each
community attacked the other, razing villages and committing an unknown
number of killings.
“Burmese security forces failed to protect the Arakan and Rohingya from
each other and then unleashed a campaign of violence and mass roundups
against the Rohingya,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights
Watch. “The government claims it is committed to ending ethnic strife
and abuse, but recent events in Arakan State demonstrate that
state-sponsored persecution and discrimination persist.”
The Burmese government should take urgent measures to end abuses by
their forces, ensure humanitarian access, and permit independent
international monitors to visit affected areas and investigate abuses,
Human Rights Watch said.
The “Government Could Have Stopped This,” is based on 57 interviews
conducted in June and July with affected Arakan, Rohingya, and others in
Burma and in
Bangladesh, where Rohingya have sought refuge from the violence and abuses.
The violence erupted in early June after reports circulated that on May
28 an Arakan Buddhist woman was raped and killed in the town of Ramri
by three Muslim men. Details of the crime were circulated locally in an
incendiary pamphlet, and on June 3 a large group of Arakan villagers in
Toungop stopped a bus and brutally killed 10 Muslims on board. Human
Rights Watch confirmed that nearby local police and army stood by and
watched but did not intervene. In retaliation, on June 8 thousands of
Rohingya rioted in Maungdaw town after Friday prayers, killed an unknown
number of Arakan, and destroyed considerable Arakan property. Violence
between Rohingya and Arakan then swept through Sittwe and surrounding
areas.
Marauding mobs from both Arakan and Rohingya communities stormed
unsuspecting villages and neighborhoods, brutally killed residents, and
destroyed and burned homes, shops, and houses of worship. With little to
no government security present to stop the violence, people armed
themselves with swords, spears, sticks, iron rods, knives, and other
basic weaponry. Inflammatory anti-Muslim media accounts and local
propaganda fanned the violence. Numerous Arakan and Rohingya who spoke
to Human Rights Watch reached the conclusion that the authorities could
have prevented the violence and the ensuing abuses could have been
avoided.
A 29-year-old Arakan man and an older Rohingya man each told Human
Rights Watch, separately but in the same words, “The government could
have stopped this.”
The Burmese army’s presence in Sittwe eventually stemmed the
violence. However, on June 12, Arakan mobs burned down the homes of up
to 10,000 Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims in the city’s largest Muslim
neighborhood while the police and paramilitary Lon Thein forces opened
fire on Rohingya with live ammunition.
A Rohingya man in Sittwe, 36, told Human Rights Watch that an Arakan
mob “started torching the houses. When the people tried to put out the
fires, the paramilitary shot at us. And the group beat people with big
sticks.” Another Rohingya man from the same neighborhood said, “I was
just a few feet away. I was on the road. I saw them shoot at least six
people – one woman, two children, and three men. The police took their
bodies away.”
In Sittwe, where the population was about half Arakan and half Muslim,
most Muslims have fled the city or were forcibly relocated, raising
questions about whether the government will respect their right to
return home. Human Rights Watch found the center of the once diverse
capital now largely segregated and devoid of Muslims.
In northern Arakan State, the army, police, Nasaka border guard
forces, and Lon Thein paramilitaries have committed killings, mass
arrests, and other abuses against Rohingya. They have operated in
concert with local Arakan residents to loot food stocks and valuables
from Rohingya homes. Nasaka and soldiers have fired upon crowds of
Rohingya villagers as they attempted to escape the violence, leaving
many dead and wounded.
“If the atrocities in Arakan had happened before the government’s
reform process started, the international reaction would have been swift
and strong,” said Adams. “But the international community appears to be
blinded by a romantic narrative of sweeping change in Burma, signing
new trade deals and lifting sanctions even while the abuses continue.”
Since June, the government has detained hundreds of Rohingya men and
boys, who remain incommunicado. The authorities in northern Arakan State
have a long history of torture and mistreatment of Rohingya detainees,
Human Rights Watch said. In the southern coastal town of Moulmein, 82
fleeing Rohingya were reportedly arrested in late June and sentenced to
one year in prison for violating immigration laws.
“The Burmese authorities should immediately release details of
detained Rohingya, allow access to family members and humanitarian
agencies, and release anyone not charged with a crime recognized under
international law in which there is credible evidence,” Adams said.
“This is a test case of the government’s stated commitment to reform and
protecting basic rights.”
Burma’s 1982 Citizenship Law effectively denies Burmese citizenship
to the Rohingya population, estimated at 800,000 to 1 million people. On
July 12, Burmese President Thein Sein said the “only solution” to the
sectarian strife was to expel the Rohingya to other countries or to
camps overseen by the United Nations refugee agency.
“We will send them away if any third country would accept them,” he said.
Burmese law and policy discriminate against Rohingya, infringing on
their rights to freedom of movement, education, and employment. Burmese
government officials typically refer to the Rohingya as “Bengali,”
“so-called Rohingya,” or the pejorative “Kalar,” and Rohingya face
considerable prejudice from Burmese society generally, including from
longtime democracy advocates and ethnic minorities who themselves have
long faced oppression from the Burmese state.
Burma’s new human rights commission – led by chairman Win Mra, an
ethnic Arakan – has not played an effective role in monitoring abuses in
Arakan State, Human Rights Watch said. In a July 11 assessment of the
sectarian violence, the commission reported on no government abuses,
claimed all humanitarian needs were being met, and failed to address
Rohingya citizenship and persecution.
“The Burmese government needs to urgently amend its citizenship law
to end official discrimination against the Rohingya,” Adams said.
“President Thein Sein cannot credibly claim to be promoting human rights
while calling for the expulsion of people because of their ethnicity
and religion.”
The sectarian violence has created urgent humanitarian needs for both
Arakan and Rohingya communities, Human Rights Watch said. Local Arakan
organizations, largely supported by domestic contributions, have
provided food, clothing, medicine, and shelter to displaced Arakan. By
contrast, the Rohingya population’s access to markets, food, and work
remains dangerous or blocked, and many have been in hiding for weeks.
The government has restricted access to affected areas, particularly
Rohingya areas, crippling the humanitarian response. United Nations and
humanitarian aid workers have faced arrest as well as threats and
intimidation from the local Arakan population, which perceives the aid
agencies as biased toward the Rohingya. Government restrictions have
made some areas, such as villages south of Maungdaw, inaccessible to
humanitarian agencies.
“The authorities should immediately grant unfettered humanitarian
access to all affected populations and begin work to prevent future
violence between the communities,” Adams said. “The government should
assist both communities with property restitution and ensure all of the
displaced can return home and live in safety.”
Since the June violence, thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring
Bangladesh where they have faced pushbacks from the Bangladeshi
government in violation of international law. Human Rights Watch
witnessed Rohingya men, women, and children who arrived onshore and
pleaded for mercy from Bangladesh authorities, only to be pushed back to
sea in barely seaworthy wooden boats during rough monsoon rains,
putting them at grave risk of drowning or starvation at sea or
persecution in Burma. It is unknown how many died in these pushbacks.
Those who were able to make it into Bangladesh live in hiding, with no
access to food, shelter, or protection.
Bangladesh is obligated to open its borders and provide the Rohingya at
least temporary refuge until it is safe for them to return, in
accordance with international human rights norms. Human Rights Watch
called on concerned governments to assist Bangladesh in doing so and
press both Burma and Bangladesh to end abuses and ensure the safety of
Rohingyas.
“Bangladesh is violating its international legal obligations by
callously pushing asylum seekers in rickety boats back into the open
sea,” Adams said.
Accounts From “The Government Could Have Stopped This”
“We discussed it and decided to burn down some [Rohingya]
villages that all the Muslims used as a headquarters. For example, Narzi
and Bhumi. We first started to set fire to Bhumi village, the
headquarters of the Muslim people. We burned down the houses and then
they burned down ours. In some areas, we did not burn down houses. It
would have been foolish in some areas where most houses are near Arakan
houses. They would all catch fire. It was a three-day offensive. It
started near Bhumi village near Sittwe University because Bhumi is their
headquarters.”
– Arakan man, 45, Sittwe, Arakan State, June 2012
“The first Muslim people [who arrived] used guns. At that time, we
heard the shooting and my husband tried to attack the Muslim people.
They killed him right there in the village. His arm was cut off and his
head was nearly cut off. He was 35 years old.”
– Arakan mother of five children, 31, Sittwe, Arakan State, June 2012
“I fell down and couldn’t breathe I was so scared. I saw all the
violence. Around 300 Muslims came to attack our village. They came and
burned the houses. I saw them burning the houses.... The police did not
come during the violence. When the Muslims came and burned the village, I
fled. It was not until I got to Sittwe that I saw any police.”
– Arakan woman, 40, Sittwe, Arakan State, June 2012
“In front of my eyes, first the Lon Thein [paramilitaries] came and
said they came to protect us, but when the Arakan came and torched the
houses, we tried to put out the fires and they started beating us. A lot
of people were shot [by the police] at a close distance. I saw people
get shot at close range. The whole village witnessed it. They were
people from my village. They were 15 or 20 feet away from me.... I saw
at least 50 people killed.... When we tried to go put out the fire, we
were not allowed to go. First they shot once in the air, and then at the
people.”
– Rohingya man, 28, Sittwe, Arakan State, June 2012
“The government did not return the dead bodies to our family. They took
them and cremated them in the monastery. I did not get the bodies of my
two brothers-in-law.... They were killed by the Arakan in front of me.
The police were there. It was not far from the police. They were killed
in front of me and the police did nothing.”
– Rohingya man, 65, Sittwe, Arakan State, June 2012
