Urgent Appeal to the UN Regarding Recent Violence Against Rohingya

In lights of reports, the event that led to this violence is actually the killing of eight Rohingyas by the village administrator of Duchiradan, Aung Zan Phyu. This event was witnessed by a Rohingya laborer who then informed the Rohingya villagers. The villagers found the bodies that were hacked into pieces and they took one body back to their village. The police and village administrator, who tried to hide the crime, tried to arrest the villagers, opened fire and were reported as having even raped a girl while this was going on. As the tension heightened one police sergeant and more innocent villagers were killed. Here you may find more detail and some of the names that were killed during the brutal attack.[ii]

The witnesses state that the number of people who died are multiple times more than that, the list of names is only a  fraction of the actual number of those killed.[iii]

The village that hosted 340 houses and 4000 inhabitants is now empty. It is totally blocked and declared to be No-Entry-Zone for Rohingyas and observers.[iv]

The hostility has escalated[v] so much that there is a standing order from central government  Naypyidaw administration to arrest Rohingya males and boys above 10. [vi]  This is a signal of possible wave of Rohingya genocide in the coming days in Myanmar.

We are now in an effort to call the relevant authorities to action by raising awareness on the social media both in Turkey and abroad. Our work has born very good results.[vii] Yet it requires an official and independent organization like the UN to press the issue and make thorough investigation.

We have learnt that both the US and Britain and also the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar urged the Myanmar government to investigate and clarify reports about the clashes of January 14 between security forces and Rohingya Muslims in the village of Du Char Yar Tan[viii]; however, due to claims that the government either turns a blind eye to this persecution or even worse takes part in these attacks, we believe it is not the Myanmar government’s place to make these investigations; but rather, should be entrusted to an independent organization like the UN or other human rights organizations.  Therefore, we request  all the relevant authorities to take interest and demand that the Myanmar government  fully open its doors to these areas for foreigners as impartial observers as soon as possible, as this is not the first clash and we fear it will not be the last. 

The fact that the evidence of these clashes is very hard to document and along with the eyewitnesses’ claims that the security forces hastily wipe out the evidence, taking the bodies to the forest, or burying them right away, makes the current situation even more urgent to clarify and expose to the eyes of the world.

Yet the evidence of the past crimes against Rohingya and Burmese Muslims is vast. Witness testimonies are numerous, and now even there are talks of videos of police standing by during attacks. On top of this there are numerous reports of systematic rape of Rohingya women, and also other ethnic minorities around the country, at the hands of Burmese soldiers or police. These reports are well documented, and Human Rights Watch has very thoroughly covered many of them. What is more is that these rapes, gang rapes, and murders of women almost always happen with the knowledge or participation of higher ranking officers. Last year there were reports that Rohingya women were being kidnapped and placed into military facilities to act as sex slaves.[ix] This is ongoing and there are human rights organizations still investigating these incidents and compiling evidence. 

The biggest issue Rohingya people are in need of is citizenship which would give them some rights for protection and also allow them to live lives with the same basic human rights as the rest of the country. Simple things like owning property, getting married, having children, having access to water and medicine are all things that are denied to Rohingya regularly.

Besides these acts of brutality, there is the issue of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) of about 150,000 Rohingyas. Violent attacks like that of January 14, cause more and more Rohingya into area of refuge.[x] We also hear that the local people have been banned to shelter these displaced people.[xi]

What Can Be Done?

The ethnic or religious discrimination going on in Myanmar is unacceptable. Both Buddhist teachings and Islam  are peaceful and tolerant towards other religions. Therefore the dialogue between these two major religions should be developed.

The Myanmar government should embrace all ethnic minorities living in its  borders with equal conditions and grant them citizenship and respect their human rights according to the UN Charter.

The UN Security Council has the authority and the credibility in the world’s eyes to urge the Myanmar government to respect the human rights of ethnic and religious minorities living within its borders. The right to life, liberty and security of Rohingya should be reinstated.

To guarantee the safety of Rohingya people, the UN peacekeeping force should be allowed in the region. Furthermore, international media should be given access to any location to investigate and pursue the issue.

By generating political and economic pressure from the Western countries, the Myanmar government can be motivated and advised to continue its democratization process.

Furthermore, the Myanmar government should be pressed to reform its constitution of 1982 that states that anyone who arrived Myanmar after 1823 is not considered a citizen, thus isolating ethnic groups such as Rohingya and denying them the rights offered to citizenship.

The torturing, raping, looting, arbitrary arresting, murdering and killing of innocent Rohingya should immediately come to an end. Additionally, action should be taken against those who killed innocent men, women and children.

The world recalls with deep regret its non-interference in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994; while the UN and the Western world did act in the case of Serbia and its catalog of human rights violations and oppressions, the Rwandan Genocide took place before the eyes of a horrified world, with no way to stop it once it had begun. It is not too much to say that had the UN intervened more decisively prior to the massacre, it could have been prevented. At the end of the Second World War, as the world looked over the ruins of vast swathes of the planet, at the lives destroyed through systematic genocide, humanity collectively said, “Never again.” And while humanity might have failed in the example of Rwanda, the situation in Myanmar presents us with an opportunity to live up to the promise we made to ourselves almost seven decades ago. Let us take action in regard to Myanmar, and look back with some sense of pride that mankind prevented a massacre, and not have to look back in regret at our failure to do so.