Rohingya refugees face apartheid – No possibility to return, two years after the beginning of the crisis

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) accuses the government of Burma of systematically excluding the Muslim minority and of not taking any actions to facilitate a return of the more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees who fled from the clashes between Buddhists and Muslims since June 2012. „The Rohingya refugees live in camps, under disastrous conditions. There are even attempts to obstruct the work of the international aid agencies in the camps – and the authorities make no move to enable the Muslims to return to their old villages and neighborhoods,“ said the STP’s Asia-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Monday. „With the new controversial laws, Burma’s government continues to establish an apartheid-like system.“

The measures are intended to limit the population growth of the Muslims, to stop religious conversions and intermarriage of different religions. The authorities are trying to exclude the Muslim Rohingya by forcing them to live in designated neighborhoods and villages. „Instead of promoting understanding and reconciliation, the Muslims are to be permanently excluded: Not in order to keep the minority safe – as the authorities suggest – but in order to stoke new tensions between Buddhists and Muslims.“

Last Saturday, after her first ten-day visit to the country, the new UN Human Rights Envoy for Burma, the South Korean Yanghee Lee, expressed her deep concern about the situation in the refugee camps and about the exclusion of the Muslim minority. For most of the refugees, the health situation is catastrophic. Many of them are unable to meet even their most basic needs. She emphatically demanded equal rights for all citizens, an end to the systematic discrimination of the Muslim Rohingya and also their recognition as citizens of Burma. Further, she sharply criticized the new draft laws to exclude Muslim believers and demanded more effective legal measures to curb hate-speeches that aim to stir up the tensions between Buddhists and Muslims.

Lee’s first public statement on the situation in Burma had been eagerly awaited, because the election of the child psychologist as the new UN Human Rights Envoy for Burma in March 2014 had been somewhat controversial. Setbacks for the human rights work in Burma had been feared due to her focus on children’s rights and her lack of knowledge of the country. Her predecessor, the Argentinean Tomas Qintana, whose term of office had ended in June 2014, had earned worldwide respect for his criticism concerning the Rohingya issue – and he had been met with hostility in Burma.

Ulrich Delius, head of STP’s Asia department, is available for further questions: Tel. 0551 49906 27 or 65]G378o?6:D2.