ံ Ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas Posted: 01 NOV 2014 Setting fire to Rohingya villages- an act that was carried out by Rakhine & Security forces. By C.R. Abrar The Daily Star NOV, 1, 2014 QUITE predictably, the 2014 national census of Myanmar has come back to haunt the ethnic Rohingyas. Media reports inform that the Myanmarese government has devised a new plan under which members of the Rohingya community would be given the thorny choice: accept ethnic reclassification and the prospect of citizenship or be detained. Under the new arrangement the community members would be required to identify themselves as ‘Bengalis’ (and not as ‘Rohingyas’) or face detention. Plans are underway to “construct temporary camps in required numbers for those who refuse to be registered and those without adequate documents.” The new decree is being proposed at a time when most of Myanmar’s 1.3 million Rohingya population, particularly those in western Arakan, has been living in what has been described as “apartheid-like” condition. In 2012, the community experienced serious clashes with the Rakhine Buddhists that led to death of 280 people and displacement of 140,000. It is only in early September this year that the two-year old curfew was lifted. In most likelihood the plan has been mooted to offset international pressure “to promote peaceful co-existence and prevent sectarian tension and conflict” and to address the situation of statelessness through a citizenship verification programme and promote economic development. But these lofty goals do not appear to have takers in the Rohingya community nor among the rights activists. They feel that it could place thousands of Rohingyas, including those living in long-settled villages, at risk of “indefinite detention.” Although the bait of citizenship has been tagged with the offer of reclassification as Bengalis, the Rakhine state officials are already on record clarifying that restriction on many of their freedoms, including that on movement, would persist. There is widespread apprehension that registration “as Bengali” would make them vulnerable should the Myamarese authorities decide to send them to Bangladesh as being illegal immigrants. During the last census most of the community members refused to register as “Bengalis” as the term was synonymous with illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. International agencies such as the UNFPA and bilateral donors provided support in conducting the 2014 census. Despite prior warnings from various quarters that incorporation of ethnic and religious issues in the exercise was likely to exacerbate existing communal tensions, the agencies went ahead with the census as they were convinced of the need for such information. The census based the counting of population on 135 officially recognised ethnic groups that has been deemed by critics as “outdated and inaccurate.” The Rohingya community, dubbed by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities of the world, was not included in the list. The government promised the international sponsors that everyone would be allowed to self-identify their ethnicity. But only a day before the census, not surprisingly, the Myanmarese government prohibited respondents from identifying themselves as Rohingyas. Those who did were excluded from the count. The situation warranted the UN to issue a statement. The statement noted that “in its agreement with the United Nations … the (Myanmarese) government made a commitment to conduct the exercise in accordance with international census standards and human rights principles… It explicitly agreed with the condition that each person would be able to declare what ethnicity they belong to. …Those not identifying with one of the listed ethnic categories would be able to declare their ethnicity and have their response recorded by enumerators.” In a rare move, the UN agency expressed its concern about the . : BRAVO Hla report.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 09:58:17 +0000
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