US sanction policy not affected by Rohingya issue: US ambassador

Source : Mizzima News

The community violence in western Burma was surprising, but it hasn’t affected Washington’s views on easing sanctions, the US Ambassador to Burma said in a story in The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Derek Mitchell speaks at the US embassy in Rangoon on July 20, 2012. Photo: Mizzima

“I have to say it did surprise us to the degree that there would be violence so quickly, that it would spread so terribly,” said newly appointed Ambassador Derek Mitchell. “I don’t think it affects our view on sanctions. It just means we have an even more complex challenge ahead of us in the country.”

Mitchell said much of the Rohingya conflict comes from everyday citizens, many of who would deny the Rohingyas the right to live in the country.

“It’s unfortunate when you see the depths of intolerance and discrimination….among citizens,” Mitchell said—including “people who otherwise you would think of as progressive and who have fought so long for civil rights.”

He said the community violence “had to do with the deep-seated intolerance that seemed to be within the society writ large. So I think that’s where the deep disappointment came.”

He told the newspaper that the US understands the feelings among Buddhists in western Burma that they, too, have also suffered in recent years, and that international organizations have focused too much on Rohingya concerns.

But he said the Rohingyas “are stateless."

"They have nowhere to turn," he said. "And it is not going to be lost on the international community.”

The Burmese government recently named a 27-member investigation commission that included former student activists, representatives from political parties and government critics who spent time in jail as political prisoners. 

The commission is on a two-day trip to Rakhine State at this time and is expected to have a report finished by late September.

Rohingya Muslims face severest discrimination: US Report

Washington: The constitution, laws and policies in Myanmar (formerly Burma) restrict religious freedom and Rohingyas Muslims face ‘severest’ form of discrimination and restrictions including on access to education and health, a US report on the state of religious freedom said. Released last week, the annual International Religious Freedom Report 2011 noted that Muslims across Myanmar, as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians, often were required to obtain permission from township authorities to leave their hometowns. Authorities often denied Rohingya and other Muslims living in Rakhine State permission to travel for any purpose, the report says. However, it adds, permission was sometimes obtained through bribery. Muslims in other regions were granted more freedom to travel, but still faced restrictions. For example, Rohingyas living in Rangoon needed permission from immigration authorities to travel into and out of Rakhine State. “Muslims in Rakhine State, particularly those of the Rohingya minority group, continued to experience the severest forms of legal, economic, educational, and social discrimination,” the State Department report said, documenting the plight of Rohingya Muslims during last year. There were reports that Buddhist physicians would not provide Muslims the endorsement required by the Ministry of Health that permits Muslims to travel outside Rakhine State to seek advanced medical treatment. The government denied citizenship status to Rohingyas, claiming that their ancestors did not reside in the country at the start of British colonial rule, as the 1982 citizenship law required. The Rohingyas asserted that their presence in the area predates the British arrival by several centuries. In November 2008 the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women urged the government to review its citizenship law. In February 2010 the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar visited the country and noted discrimination against Muslims. Many of the approximately 28,500 Rohingya Muslims registered in two refugee camps in Bangladesh and the estimated 200,000 Rohingya Muslims living outside those camps, also in Bangladesh, refused to return to the country because they feared human rights abuses, including religious persecution. Essentially treated as illegal foreigners, Rohingyas were not issued Foreigner Registration Cards (FRCs). Since they also were not generally eligible for NRCs, Rohingyas have been commonly referred to as ‘stateless’. In the run-up to national elections in November 2010, the government issued Temporary Registration Cards (TRCs) to residents in northern Rakhine State; the majority of them are Rohingyas. The issuance of TRCs was primarily done, it appears, to allow Rohingyas participation in the elections. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) worked with approximately 750,000 residents of Rakhine State who did not hold citizenship in the country. At the end of the reporting period, the UNHCR (quoting government estimates) indicated that 85 percent of eligible residents (637,500 stateless persons) over the age of 10 possessed TRCs.   The UNHCR noted that according to information from individuals in northern Rakhine State, many individuals issued TRCs were actually only given a TRC number and no document. The UNHCR also assisted Rohingyas with education, health, infrastructure, water and sanitation, and agriculture.   Without citizenship status Rohingyas did not have access to secondary education in state-run schools. Those Muslim students from Rakhine State who completed high school were not permitted to travel outside the state to attend college or university. During the period covered by the 2011 report, the document also makes note of the government’s implementation of considerable political reforms, but says it did not demonstrate a trend toward either improvement or deterioration in respect for and protection of the right to religious freedom. The government maintained restrictions on certain religious activities and limited freedom of religion, although it generally permitted adherents of government-registered religious groups to worship as they chose. Authorities continued to bar Muslim university students who did not possess NRCs from graduating. These students were permitted to attend classes and sit for examinations, but they could not receive diplomas unless they claimed a foreign ethnic minority affiliation. Rohingyas also were unable to obtain employment in any civil service positions. Rohingya couples needed also to obtain government permission to marry and faced restrictions on the number of children they could have. Muslim newcomers were not allowed to buy property or reside in Thandwe, Rakhine State, and authorities prevented Muslims from living in the state’s Gwa or Taungup areas. The government continued to monitor Muslim activities closely. Restrictions on worship for other non-Buddhist minority groups also continued. Although there were no new reports of forced conversions of non-Buddhists, authorities in some cases influenced the placement of orphans and homeless youth, preferring Buddhist monasteries to Christian orphanages. Adherence or conversion to Buddhism was an unwritten prerequisite for promotion to most senior government and military ranks. Nearly all senior level officers of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the armed forces are Buddhists. There were reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice. During the year, social tensions continued between the Buddhist majority and the Christian and Muslim minorities.   According to the report, widespread prejudice existed against citizens of South Asian origin, many of whom are Muslims. The government continued to refuse to recognize the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority as citizens and imposed restrictions on their movement and marriage. Antidiscrimination laws do not apply to ethnic groups not formally recognized under the 1982 Citizenship Law, such as the Muslim Rohingyas in northern Rakhine State. There were reports of abuses of religious freedom, including the continued detention and incarceration of Buddhist monks throughout the country, the arrest of Muslims in the broader Rangoon area for unauthorized teaching as well as praying in living quarters, and the interrogation and harassment of Baptists in Kachin State. The government selectively enforced legal restrictions on religious freedom. Religious organizations were subject to restrictions on freedom of expression and association. The government’s pervasive internal security apparatus imposed implicit restrictions on collective and individual worship through infiltrating and monitoring meetings and activities of virtually all organizations. In practice, authorities restricted the quantity of imported Bibles and Qur’ans, although individuals continued to bring them into the country in small quantities for personal use. Government censors continued to enforce restrictions on local publication of the Bible, Qur’an, and other Christian and Islamic texts.

'Truth Commission' Proposed

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 The U.N. asks Burma to set up a South African-style panel to probe human rights abuses.

AFP U.N. Human Rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana talks to journalists at the Rangoon international airport, Aug. 4, 2012

A senior United Nations human rights expert has called on Burma to establish a "truth commission" to investigate human rights abuses committed mostly under the previous military junta's harsh rule, as the country enters a new era of liberalization.

UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana, speaking late Saturday after a week long visit to the country, also called for an "independent and credible investigation" into the June violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslim Rohingyas in Rakhine state.

He said that he had discussed with various "stakeholders" in Burma, including ethnic groups, political party leaders, and members of parliament, a proposal for establishing a truth commission based on a model used by South Africa to address rights violations during apartheid rule.

The military junta especially under retired general Than Shwe's two decades of ironclad rule has been accused of widespread rights abuses.

The well-documented abuses, including forced labor, killings, torture, displacement of ethnic minority people, and use of rape as a weapon to terrorize them, may amount to war crimes, some U.N. officials and human rights groups have said.

"I remain of the opinion that addressing grievances from decades of human rights violations is crucial for democratic transition and national reconciliation.  Acknowledging the suffering of victims and allowing them to heal will help to prevent future violations from occurring," Quintana said in a lengthy statement after his Burma visit.

He said that the Burmese parliament, as the only multi-party and multi-ethnic public institution, was the most appropriate body for the creation of such a probe commission.

"As a first step, there should be a process of consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including victims of human rights violations, in order to get their advice and views on how this truth commission should be shaped," he said, adding that U.N. and other international organizations could provide assistance in the endeavor.

'Serious'

Quintana, who also visited violence-hit Rakhine during his trip, said the human rights situation in the western Burmese state is "serious."

"I am concerned...at the allegations I have received of serious human rights violations committed as part of measures to restore law and order.  These include the excessive use of force by security and police personnel, arbitrary arrest and detention, killings, the denial of due process guarantees and the use of torture in places of detention," he said.

"While I am in no position to be able to verify these allegations at this point in time, they are of grave concern."

He said it is therefore of "fundamental importance to clearly establish what has happened in Rakhine State and to ensure accountability.

"Reconciliation will not be possible without this, and exaggerations and distortions will fill the vacuum to further fuel distrust and tensions between communities." he said, calling for "an independent and credible investigation into these allegations of human rights violations as a matter of urgency."

The Burmese government has moved to restore law and order in Rakhine state, including the deployment of additional security forces to the area, and the establishment of a commission to investigate the incidents that sparked the communal violence.

Both the Rakhines and the Rohingyas have been blamed for sparking the violence but human rights groups say the minority Muslim Rohingya group bore the brunt of action by the Burmese security forces.

U.S. based Human Rights Watch said government forces had sided with ethnic Rakhines and committed killings and rape on Rohingyas.

Witnesses told HRW they saw security forces opening fire on Rohingya villagers fleeing their homes and groups of armed Rakhines traveling together with police, the rights group said.

'Systematic discrimination'

Quintana also highlighted what he called "systematic discrimination" against the Rohingya community, citing a host of concerns including the Burmese government's denial of citizenship or legal status to the minority ethnic group as well as limitations on their freedom of movement and marriage restrictions.

"I hope that steps will be taken to address these issues, including a review of the 1982 Citizenship Act to ensure that it is in line with international human rights standards," he said, referring to the law which barred citizenship for the Rohingya group.

Burma does not recognize the Rohingya as one of its ethnic groups, considering them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh even though they have lived in the Southeast Asian country for generations.

The U.N. says about 800,000 Rohingyas live in Burma and they are one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

Quintana also said he received allegations of attacks on civilians, sexual violence, torture and recruitment of child soldiers in northern Kachin state, where violence between troops and Kachin rebels resisting calls for dialogue have displaced at least 50,000 people.

"I must therefore reiterate that it is vital for these allegations to be addressed as a matter of priority," he said.

President Thein Sein's administration has struck ceasefire agreements with 10 ethnic armed groups since taking over from the junta in March last year, aside from a series of democratic reforms including releasing hundreds of political prisoners.

Reported by RFA's Burmese service. Written in English with additional reporting by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

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