Section: Causes and Background

Sub-section: Other states

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Rakhine (Arakan) State: human rights abuses against the Rohingya population is increasing (February 2007)

• In 2001 certain townships in the Arakan State had become "Muslim-free zones", where Muslims were not permitted to live, mosques were destroyed, and lands confiscated
• The Rohingya population were forcibly moved to the northern part of the districts of Maungdaw and Buthidaung
• During 2003, violence between Muslim communities and Buddhist Rakhine increased, resulting in the displacement of thousands of Rohingya
• Human rights violations against Rohingyas continue, and land confiscation continues to be common practice
  
  

UNGA, 12 February, para.59:
In western Myanmar, the Muslim minority has long been discriminated against, and is denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law. Muslim minority asylum-seekers continue to flee to Bangladesh. They are subject to serious abuses, especially forced labour (e.g. construction of roads, bridges, model villages and military facilities, camp maintenance,
portering) and arbitrary taxation. They also suffer skyrocketing rice prices. Since January 2006, the government-imposed policy of cultivating physic nut plantations is causing new hardships, including forced labour, extortion and land confiscation. New developments have been observed in recent months, including increased restrictions on movement as it became very difficult to obtain a travel pass after the new village-level administration was put in place, and the closing of a number of mosques which had been repaired or enlarged without permission. The Special Rapporteur praises the international humanitarian organizations and their expatriate staff in northern Rakhine State who have been very helpful in protecting the Muslim minority from the Myanmar military and border security forces.

WFP, 10 January 2002, Executive Summary, & pp. 6-7:
"North Rakhine State (NRS) is one of the remote border regions of Myanmar. Geographically separated from the rest of the country by mountains in the east, the inhabitants of NRS share close ethnic and cultural links with neighbouring Bangladesh. The NRS has a population of 800,000, 82 percent of whom are Muslims of Indian sub-continent origin. The area has one of the highest population densities in all of Myanmar and is subject to seasonal heavy rainfall and tropical storms, all of which can adversely affect livelihoods. The economic and social indicators in the NRS show the local population as being some of the most vulnerable in the country.
[…]
Unfavourable conditions in the NRS have spurred two mass departures of Muslims to Bangladesh. The first took place in 1978, involving some 200,000 persons. The incident repeated itself in 1991/1992, where the numbers reached some 250,000. No major population exodus has occurred since then, although an intermittent outflow of households to Bangladesh continues to be reported by agencies working in the NRS and Bangladesh. Food insecurity linked with poverty factors and little hope for economic improvement were the major causes for the mass departures."

AI, May 2004:
"Several Rohingya armed groups have been established during the last decades. These include the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), and the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF), both of which in 1996 jointly formed the Rohingya National Alliance (RNA).(9) In 1998 two RSO factions and the ARIF merged into the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO).(10) After the arrival of Rohingya Muslim refugees during 1991-92 in Bangladesh, some of the Rohingya armed groups became active in the refugee camps there, where they reportedly attempted to recruit people. Since then these groups have split into several small factions. They are reportedly operating from small bases in the Bangladesh-Myanmar border area, and do not appear to have a large number of troops, mostly a few dozen each.

There are also a number of other armed groups which remain active in the Bangladesh-Myanmar border areas. These include the National Unity Party of Arakan (NUPA) and the Arakan Army, both of which are mostly based among the Buddhist Rakhine population. Another force, the Communist Party of Burma (Arakan), has signed a cease-fire agreement with the SPDC and in some cases its followers have been resettled in "model villages" established by the Myanmar authorities. All of these groups, however, have a very limited number of troops and the conflict with the Myanmar army in the northern Rakhine State is believed to be extremely limited in scope."

Human rights violations against Rohingyas continue, and land confiscation continues to be common practice.

ARNO, 21 September 2005:
"From August 2005, the military administration has created artificial price hike of the rice and other essentials causing the Rohingya villagers to suffer or die from hunger. Particularly the authorities have blocked carrying of rice into Rohingya majority area of northern Arakan from other parts of the country. Rohingyas are prohibited to carry or engage in purchase and sale of rice. But the Buddhist and other communities of the region are exempted from this scourge.

The SPDC armed forces have virtually controlled all the trade and business in northern Arakan. They are the only rice dealers who sell it to the Rohingyas in exorbitant prices. In the townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and some parts of Rathedaung Township 1 kg of rice is now sold at Kyat 400 to 450 while the same is sold at Kyat 120 to 140 in Akyab (Sittwe), the provincial capital of Arakan. Many Rohingya villagers have been reported suffering starvation and malnutrition.
[...]
It may be mentioned that since many years the Rohingyas have been subjected to large-scale persecution day in, day out. The SPDC has unjustly deprived them of their Burmese citizenship. The humiliating restrictions imposed on their freedom of movement, even within the same locality, has seriously affected all their national activities. Acquiring of education, trade and business, farming, gardening and agricultural activities are seriously restricted to them. On the other hand, criminal atrocities, rape, murder, loot, forced labour, forced relocation, confiscation of their properties, farmlands, destruction of settlements, houses, mosques and religious schools, unprecedented taxation on houses (roof tax), domestic animals, fowls or birds, fruits and vegetables are daily phenomenon in Arakan. The rohingyas have to pay a tax for fishing in the river and collecting firewood in the jungles. During recent weeks the marriage of the Rohingya has been totally banned for 4 years. Besides, the Rohingya villagers have to pay to the army for pasturing their cattle on hills or any grasslands."

IPS, 6 December 2005:
"''We know of at least five couples who were arrested and jailed this year for getting married without permission from the local authorities,'' says Chris Lewa, lead researcher in 'The Arakan Project', an independent group monitoring human rights violations in the area. ''No marriage permission has been granted to a Rohingya since March 2005.''
[…]
Consequently, the backlog of marriages, delayed and denied in the Arakan state, runs into thousands, Ahamed estimates. ''Since the beginning of 2004, there are at least 10,000 marriage applications pending with authorities''.
[...]
Other restrictions, such as severe limits to stop food items being moved into the Arakan region and a harsh travel ban on the Rohingyas, have prompted community leaders to accuse Rangoon of ''ethnic cleansing''.
[…]
The Rohingyas, largely rice farmers and labourers, are presently facing a ''food crisis'' due to a poor rice harvest and restrictions on the movement of food, said Lewa. ''The NaSaKa and the military (have banned) rice trade within and beyond the area (the northern Arakan state) and even between villages.''

In August, following a visit to Burma, the head of the WFP revealed how restrictions on food distribution had led to ''serious'' malnourishment among children in the country's border regions.

Only a fifth of the 5,500 metric tons of rice that the WFP had purchased for the hungry in the Arakan state had been distributed, James Morris, the head of the U.N. food relief agency, told reporters recently.
[…]
The SPDC's hostility towards this largest concentration of Muslims in Burma was amply clear in the early 1990s, when it stripped Rohingyas of citizenship by stating that they do not belong to the 135 national races that Rangoon recognises as Burmese.
[…]
Bangladesh, Pakistan and India are home to some 300,000 Rohingyas displaced by the abuse and violence, while others have found refuge in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia."

The UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar remains especially concerned about the human rights situation in the Rahine state in reports from visits to the country:

UN CHR, 2 December 2004 paras. 38-39:
"38. The Special Rapporteur is particularly concerned by the situation in one ethnic area, namely, north-western Rakhine state. During the reporting period, mosques continued to be demolished, the freedom of movement of the Bengali-speaking Muslim minority remained excessively restricted and the vast majority of that minority remained de facto stateless.

39. Recent reports on the situation in Rakhine state indicate that, subsequent to the recent dismantling of military intelligence (MI) structures, a large part of the NaSaKa border forces, comprising the military, MI, police, immigration and customs, has been disbanded and replaced by units from other sections of the Myanmar armed forces. The NaSaKa forces were allegedly a major perpetrator of human rights abuses with respect, in particular, to taxation, extortion and forced labour. Some reports indicate that the early consequences of the dismantlement of the NaSaKa forces and MI have been decreases in taxes, marriage fees and travel authorization fees, and reduced in extortion and corruption. The Special Rapporteur cautiously welcomes those developments and will continue to follow the situation closely."

"The Muslim ethnic minority, generally known as the Rohingyas, who live in northern Rakhine State, western Myanmar, continue to suffer from several forms of restrictions and human rights violations. The Rohingyas' freedom of movement is severely restricted and the vast majority of them have effectively been denied Myanmar citizenship. They are also subjected to various forms of extortion and arbitrary taxation; land confiscation; forced eviction and house destruction; and financial restrictions on marriage. Rohingyas continue to be used as forced labourers on roads and at military camps, although the amount of forced labour in northern Rakhine State has decreased over the last decade.
[…]
Although forced labour is still a major burden on the Rohingya population, there is evidence that it has decreased over the last decade. This appears to be as a result of the presence of UNHCR in Rakhine State. The World Food Program (WFP), which commissioned the building of some of the infrastructure projects, and through "food for work"(46) programs is also believed to have contributed to its decrease. The fact-finding mission of the ILO High Level Team in Rakhine State during September 2001 also resulted in less forced labour for the Rohingyas; a number of interviewees testified that forced labour has decreased after the ILO visit. Some people said that there also have been cases of paid labour. However, even though the labour is paid it remains forced, and the payments are well below the market rate."

UN CHR, 4 January 2004, para 41:
"In 2003, incidents of religious intolerance reportedly started in May and it appears that there has been an escalation of religious violence across the country since October, including the alleged burning of villages, mosques and houses as well as the killing and wounding of people. It is reported that these acts of religious violence have been mainly carried out against Muslim communities and were deliberately instigated. According to some reports, “bogus” monks were used during these events, some of them reportedly seen carrying mobile phones and guns. The Special Rapporteur has also received information that although complaints had been lodged with the relevant authorities, no legal action, including investigations, was apparently ever taken. Reportedly, as a result of these incidents, Muslim communities have been displaced. The Special Rapporteur was able to verify during his last mission the nature and source of this violence. He therefore wishes to note that it is still too early for him to say whether the recent expressions of religious intolerance and violence are more than unacceptable cyclical events or have a political dimension."

Further reading:
Refugees International (RI), ‘Forgotten People: The Rohingyas of Burma’, 15 March 2003
BCN ‘Caught Between a Crocodile and a Snake: The Increasing Pressure on Rohingyas in Burma and Bangladesh & The Impacts of the Changing Policy of UNHCR’, April/May 2003
Forum Asia, 5 April 2004: Burma’s Displaced People in India and Bangladesh, by Chris Lewa
Forum-Asia, June 2003, We are like a soccer ball, kicked by Burma, kicked by Bangladesh, by Chris Lewa
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), Situation in Arakan State - in Human Rights Yearbook Burma 2003-2004
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