An open letter for Burmese Workers & Refugees

19 February 2010

Dr Surin Pitsuwan,

Secretary General of ASEAN,

The ASEAN Secretariat,

70A Jl. Sisingamangaraja,

Jakarta 12110 , IndonesiaTel : (6221) 7262991, 7243372

Fax : (6221) 7398234, 7243504

Heads of Government of

Brunei Darussalam , Cambodia , Indonesia ,

Lao PDR, Malaysia , Burma ( Myanmar ), Philippines ,

Singapore, Thailand & Viet Nam ,

c/o Secretary General of ASEAN

Dear Sirs/Madam,

Re: Justice for Workers in Burma 3,600 Workers Protest for Worker Rights – February 2010

On 8/2/2010, about 3,600 factory workers, mostly women, from 3 factories in the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone in Rangoon , Burma , protested against low wages and the substandard working conditions they are forced to endure in the factories.

It was reported that the workers at the Taiyee shoe factory and the Opal 2 garment factory began protests on Monday calling for higher daily wages, overtime payments and several other demands. On Tuesday, workers from the Kya Lay garment factory joined the strike action.

The workers, mostly women, staged protests outside the factories and inside a factory compound, where they sat down and refused to work. The three factories employ a total of about 3,600 workers.

The monthly income of most factory workers in Burma is very low, ranging from 20,000 kyat [USD20] to 40,000 kyat [USD40], thus forcing many workers to work overtime. Most workers work from 7 am to 11 pm daily. Many factory owners employ temporary workers who have no legal recourse if they are fired without compensation, according to former factory workers in Rangoon . More than 80 percent of factory workers in Rangoon work on a day-to-day basis. Most are young women between 15 and 27 years of age who come from the countryside in search of a better living.

[The Irrawaddy, Authorities Threaten Violence at Rangoon Strike – http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17771]

The workers’ demands in these actions, for example, with regard to wages, as was reported, are for a mere USD10 increase per month.

The Burmese government’s response to this legitimate industrial action by workers was excessive and oppressive It was reported that, the “…Authorities used barbed wire barricades to block roads leading to the factories in the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone in the city's north-east, and more than 50 truckloads of riot police carrying batons and shields were deployed and at least six fire engines and five prison vans were parked near the factories…” [AP - Straits Times, 10/2/2010, Myanmar workers on strike]

Today (19/2/2010) although the workers are back in the factories, they continue demanding for their rights. In Burma , they are even more vulnerable and powerless without a change in the existing laws to allow the right to assembly and to allow workers the right to form unions.

Burma is a member of ASEAN, and as such we call upon ASEAN and all ASEAN member countries to do the needful to ensure that workers in Burma, just like other workers in other ASEAN countries, also receive just wages, have a safe and healthy working environment, enjoy the right to form unions and all other universally acknowledged worker and human rights.

We also call on ASEAN, and ASEAN member countries to closely monitor the current situation at the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone, and ensure that these workers rights are recognized and respected, and that the Burmese government refrains from further interfering in this pursuit of rights by workers in Burma .

Further, on 23 October 2009, the Heads of State/Government of ASEAN presided over the Inaugural Ceremony of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), during which they also announced the “Cha-am Hua Hin Declaration on the Inauguration of the AICHR” to pledge full support to this new ASEAN body and emphasize their commitment to further develop cooperation to promote and protect human rights in the region.

Noting that the primary purpose of the AICHR is to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of the peoples of ASEAN, we hope that the AICHR will begin proving that it is not merely a toothless tiger by ensuring that the human rights of these workers in Burma are promoted and protected.

Many ASEAN member countries, like Malaysia , Singapore and Thailand , invest significantly in Burma . We hope that these economic and other self-interest considerations will not affect the way ASEAN, and its member nations, response to human rights violations of the ordinary people and workers in ASEAN.

I look forward to hearing your response,

Yours sincerely,

-sgd-

Pranom Somwong

Charles Hector

3585A Kg Lubuk Layang,

Batu 3, Jalan Mentakab,

28000 Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia. Tel+60192371300

Email:- p_somwong@yahoo.com ; chef@tm.net.my

For and on behalf of the 56 Organizations/groups listed below:-

ALTSEAN-BURMA

All Kachin Students and Youth Union

All Burma Federation of Student Unions (Foreign Affairs' Committee)

Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and development (APWLD)

Asia Pacific Solidarity Coalition (APSOC)

Asian Migrants Center(AMC)

Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) – Youth and Women

'Alltogether', the South Korean left organization

Amnesty International Philippines

Batis Aware, Philippines

Burma Global Action Network

Burmese Women's Union (BWU)

Burmese Rohingya Association in Japan

Burma Campaign , Malaysia

Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB)

Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) Philippines

Center for Overseas Workers (COW)

Coalition against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific

Chin Democracy and Human Rights Network ( South Korea )

Civil Society Committee of LLG Cultural Development Centre Bhd(LLGCSC), Malaysia

Committee for Asian Women (CAW)Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility (CARAM) AsiaDemocratic Party for a New Society (DPNS)

Empower Foundation , Thailand

Free Burma Coalition Philippines (FBC-Philippines)

Free Burma Coalition – Philippines (Women's Committee)

Foundation for Education and Development, Thailand

Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB)

Human Rights and Development Foundation ( Thailand )

Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID)

JERIT (Oppressed People's Network , Malaysia )

Kachin Development Networking Group

Korean House for International Solidarity, KHIS

Labour Behind the Label, United Kingdom MAP Foundation , Thailand

Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC)

MSC/NWC- Sri Lanka ,

MAKALAYA (Women Workers Network)Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)

National League for Democracy [NLD (LA)], Malaysia

Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM)

Network for Democracy and DevelopmentParti Sosialis Malaysia (Socialist Party of Malaysia , PSM)Pagkakaisa ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan (KAISA-KA)Piglas KababaihanPartido ng Manggagawa (PM - Workers' Party)Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants' Trade union (MTU), Korea

Studio Xang Art for Migrant Children, Thailand

Thai Labour Campaign (TLC), Thailand

Think Center ( Singapore )

The Action Network for Migrants (ANM), Thailand

The Shan Refugee Organization (SRO), Malaysia Task Force on ASEAN and Burma (TFAB)

Worker Hub for Change (WH4C)Women Health, Philippines

World March for Women - Philippines

A report on the event

This is what one of the volunteers who participated in the Malaysian activity of providing provisions to the Sri Lankan refugees on Valentines Day said about the event:

The mission of Wipe A Tear Remove A Pain is firmly etched in our minds and we wanted to express our unconditional love on Valentine’s Day to the needy and underprivileged in some way.

So we decided to help and cheer the Sri Lankan refugees who are in a pitiful plight in Malaysia. Shri Eswaralingam, who is working relentlessly for this cause arranged for eleven refugee families to be present at Kelana D' Putera Condo Poolside at Kelana Jaya Selangor. Shri Eswaralingam briefed the audience about the predicament of these refugees. He pointed out that there were certain areas like medical care and education that needed special attention. The Malaysian volunteers, who had provided transport to bring the refugees there, now rose to the occasion and provided provisions of rice, dhal, oil, sugar and milk to all these families. A medical screening for these refugees had also been arranged by The Divine Society of Shri Nimishananda. This was carried out by Dr. S. Revendran, Dr. Lucky Kaur and Dr. Gaithri Devi who generously volunteered their services free of cost. They checked their blood pressure and glucose levels and gave the refugees general advice about how to maintain good health. The doctors also assured them that they would follow up and administer more medications in the next medical camp. Financial assistance was also provided to an expectant mother who was due to deliver her baby very soon.

Then Dr. Mahadevan, the head of The Divine Society of Shri Nimishananda in Malaysia, spoke about the importance of having faith and hope. He said that as the refugees had left their homes and their loved ones behind in their country, they should transcend these relationships and fill the vacuum in their hearts by connecting themselves to the Divine. Dr. Mahadevan also pointed out that we should remember we are born to experience the eternal bliss of the Soul all the time and share it with others. The refugees responded with love and expressed their whole hearted gratitude. All the participants were served a Satvic, vegetarian lunch. Everybody went home with beaming hearts and a silent prayer that "Wipe a Tear Remove a Pain" should be implemented globally in all sections of society to create a pain-free world.

Wipe a Tear, Remove a Pain!

www.wipeatearremoveapain.org

Rohingyas reported beaten, evicted in Bangladesh

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Stateless Rohingya refugees who fled oppression in their native Myanmar are being beaten and driven from their makeshift homes in neighbouring Bangladesh, rights and humanitarian groups said on Friday.

Thousands of Rohingyas, who are not recognised in their homeland, are packed into camps run by the United Nations in Bangladesh. Another 300,000 live illegally in the country and face attacks by the authorities and destruction of their homes, according to medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

The group says it has been treating the Rohingyas at makeshift camps in Kutupalong, southeastern Bangladesh, for trauma wounds as a result of beatings by police.

Some had been forced into a river and told to swim back to Myanmar.

"They claimed they've been living in Bangladesh for a number of years and their neighbours have turned on them," said the head of MSF's mission in Bangladesh, Paul Critchley.

Every year, thousands of minority Muslim Rohingyas flee Myanmar in wooden boats, embarking on a hazardous journey to Thailand or Malaysia in search of a better life.

Some find work as illegal labourers, others are arrested, detained and "repatriated" to a military-ruled country that washed its hands of them decades ago.

Rohingyas say they are deprived of free movement, education and employment in their homeland. They are not recognised as an ethnic minority by Myanmar and say they suffer human rights abuses at the hands of government officials.

Many have sought refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, living in mud huts covered in plastic sheets and tree branches, which provide poor shelter during monsoon rains that cause mudslides and expose them to waterborne diseases.

Bangladesh says there are about 28,000 registered Rohingya refugees in two U.N. camps near the southeastern resort of Cox's Bazaar.

OVERCROWDED CAMPS

Since October last year, a makeshift camp in Kutupalong has grown by more than a quarter, or 6,000 people, with 2,000 of these arriving in January alone.

As the numbers swell, the cramped and unsanitary living conditions pose significant health risks, MSF said.

Three months earlier, Bangladeshi authorities demolished shelters and forcibly removed their inhabitants in an attempt to clear a space around the Kutupalong camp, MSF said.

"MSF witnessed first-hand violence against the unregistered Rohingya, and provided medical care for some of the consequences," it said in a statement.

MSF said it continued to treat more Rohingyas in the months after for injuries inflicted when they were forcibly evicted.

"MSF has treated patients for beatings, for machete wounds, and for rape. This is continuing today," it said.

Refugee groups say many impoverished Bangladeshis resent Rohingyas for the pressure they are putting on scarce local services and resources.

David Mathieson, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said the Rohingyas had been victims of a "pattern of abuses" in Bangladesh for more than 30 years and the government had made it clear it wanted rid of them.

"It's not as if these incidents came out of the blue. They're part of a very long-running brutal process of making life so uncomfortable for the people in the camp that they'll return to Burma," he said, referring to Myanmar by its former name.

"They fled some absolutely horrific human rights violations in their own country. They're justifiably too frightened to return."

UN envoy meets Myanmar ministers, not junta chief

A UN Information Centre-issued photo shows senior members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party meeting with UN special rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana (right) in Yangon on February 18. The UN envoy has held talks in Myanmar's remote capital with senior members of the military regime but was not granted an audience with reclusive junta supremo Than Shwe.

YANGON (AFP) – A UN rights envoy held talks in Myanmar’s remote capital with senior members of the military regime Friday but was not granted an audience with reclusive junta supremo Than Shwe, officials said.

Tomas Ojea Quintana travelled to Naypyidaw on the fifth and final day of a trip that has focused on elections promised by the military government at some point in 2010.

He met Foreign Minister Nyan Win and was due to see the home affairs minister, chief justice, attorney general and police chief, before flying to the commercial hub Yangon and then Bangkok, officials said.

Quintana was due to address the media in Yangon on the progress of his trip, during which he has also met key members of the opposition, although not detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

He held talks on Thursday with Tin Oo, the elderly vice chairman of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) who was freed from seven years of detention at the weekend.

“We met for about one hour. We discussed the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the political prisoners,” Tin Oo told reporters late Thursday. Daw is a Burmese-language term of respect.

“We also spoke of our request for a meeting between the Senior General (Than Shwe) and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and for a meeting between (her) and our central committee members so that we can continue our work for the future,” he said.

Quintana told the NLD members that he had asked to meet Suu Kyi but had had no answer yet from the junta, Tin Oo said, adding that the party had not yet decided if it would take part in the elections.

The government has still not yet set a date for the polls, the first in Myanmar since elections in 1990 that the NLD won by a landslide. The military subsequently annulled the result.

Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi has been detained for most of the last two decades and her house arrest was extended by 18 months in August after an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside house.

Earlier in the trip Quintana visited the northwestern town of Sittwe, where rights groups accuse the junta of repressing ethnic minority groups.

Sittwe was the site of the first protests by Buddhist monks against the government in 2007, a movement that spiralled into the so-called “Saffron Revolution” that was brutally suppressed by the military.

Myanmar refugees seek Orissa Govt.’s attention at their neglect

By Sarada Lahangir

Nayagarh (Orissa) Feb 10 (ANI): Families of the people of Indian origin, evicted from Myanmar and presently living in rehabilitation camps in Orissa’s Nayagarh district, want Orissa Government to have a look at their plight and help them lead a better life.

Families here say that almost all of them are still languishing to get the basic amenities, which were promised to them by the government over 45 years ago.

Around 100 families from Burma crossed the border in 1965 and sought refuge at the tiny village of Darpa Narayanpur in Nayagarh District.

However, the successive State governments had assured that these refugees would be given five acres of land and 12000 rupees to settle themselves in the new place.

The authorities failed to provide them the promised piece of land and other resources until a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in 1998 came forth to help them.

It was then that with the help of this NGO, the Burmese refugees filed s case under the public interest litigation (PIL) in the state high court.

The High Court then ordered the government to provide 50 units of land to these refugees, which they are yet to receive although not at commercial rates.

‘The government had promised us 5 acres of land and 12000 rupees to set up our abodes. But when we came here, they gave us 5000 rupees instead of the promised 12000. We were trying to manage with the 5000 rupees which was given to us through a society. But the society later became bankrupt. We had no other source. Our parents died due to poverty,’ lamented Paduan Daguri, a refugee.

From then on, most of the displaced families, residing at the make-shift resettlement colonies of Orissa, are a disappointed lot.

These refugees are living below poverty line (BPL) and even after 45 years, these families are struggling to survive, living in utmost awful conditions amid poverty, illiteracy and under development.

‘The government does not listen to us despite our repeated appeals. Recently we appealed to the district authorities of Nayagarh. But they do not pay attention to our plight. Instead of giving the land to us as per the court’s directives, what they gave us was very less,’ said Gurei, a Burmese refugee.

It was not just the economic problems that they had to deal with but also the societal acceptance that made their survival even tougher.

The villagers treated them like untouchables and even barred them from using common community resources and places.

Some refugees were forced to leave the district and went over to other states to earn a decent livelihood.

A majority of these families are surviving with the heads of the families, working as porters, rickshaw pullers and labourers.

Reportedly, a good number among them were forced to work as bonded labourers.

The refugees, who stayed back in the Darpa Narayanpur village, are solely dependent on forest produce for their living, selling products made from Sal leaves such as leaf plates for dining and bowls known as Patals and Donnas respectively.

Thus over the past three decades, only 20 families of the original refugees from Burma are left in the village.

Meanwhile, the concerned authorities in the state government including the minister feign ignorance about the plight of the persons displaced from Burma.

‘I can’t say anything. I will have to look up the case. If at all any news of the refugees will come to me from somebody or some local MLA will come and tells me, then only I will take up the matter. I will ask the Collector to inquire about it,’ said Suryanarayan Patra, Revenue and Disaster Minister, Orissa.

These refugees from Myanmar are currently getting financial support from ‘Adhikar Micro-finance’, a non-governmental organisation based at Bhubaneswar. (ANI)

Chin Refugees in Malaysia

by Simon

The new bundle of raids can make a chronic fear in lives of refugees who are still assumed as illegal body. Lately raiding is dramatically high everywhere. Dozens of refugees already recognized by UNHCR were extorted and robbed all the property they had that’s a sweating and bloody money they earned from hard-labor, including their phones which are mostly bought in order for the contact from UNHCR office. Many left it unreported because they know that nothing will come out even if they make it reported since refugees in Malaysia are seen illegal and like the pocket money of the police and RELA who are unpaid as announced by the state-run media accordingly. Raised simple questions towards this speculation, are refugees the coined-box of police and RELA?

On contrary, worse, young gangsters arising are another chapter of horror for refugees in Malaysia. Young girls have been befriended malevolently for awhile and given drugs for seducing sex. Consequently, many have been raped. Everyone is on alert and careful in this problem, though. We can say here that young girls are in unsafe situation. At worst, it is knowingly unsalvageable and prevention is seemed impossible at all times. Very few police don’t dare to extort and rob in public as they try best to control their faces at a time while many don’t see that is what most matters. It is said in a saying that fish is good whereas the water is clean. If a refugee is arrested, it is as a liquid-dinner for police. And, the one who is with a refugee status has no right to say anything towards them but to just do and listen to whatever they are accused of. Knowing life in Malaysia is downtrodden deepens a double depression and sickness unconditionally. The nail-baking earning money from a hard-labor that is mostly used for food and in terms of emergency for health and social relations and for visiting relatives, too.

So, why are they working for pay if they are not still recognized by the government? Of course, no choice they have to work because UNHCR can not support every single family of refugee but the essential cases. No one will to work under a big pressure and with absence of freedom. Thanks to Chinese bosses that many of them accept refugees for work that totally does mean that they are helping them solve their problems for food and living. Without them, no doubt they have to lie down on the streets. Even so, police are always triggered extorting and robbing which is the same as a fact that collecting money like an offering at Church. A man purposefully trying to visit to relatives on the down road can be found in detention center or the jail when he is found with no money while being caught and interviewed by the police that immediate result is solvable if money is with him.

(This photo was taken on December,2009. A police man stopped this Chin refugee and extorted his money)

In all aspects, all of refugees in Malaysia are in position of unsafe and uncertain future. The vast majority of fear is if refugee can be resettled in third countries or left unprotected and supplied like this situation for generations and generations. The local media is seemed vividly unaware of being in need to explain how the status between refugee and illegal is different from. The local media agency groups and NGOs are deeply urged to more mention the awareness of refugees internationally and locally.

So far, the inner cries of refugees in Malaysia hardly heard by the world less than it should be. Making an effort to cover the human right abused over refugees in Malaysia is not making the better solution for the dignity of the nation in face of the globe. In fact, it is decaying the devastated politics storming in the nationwide and that has been deep-rooted. In an attempt to gain the dignity of the nation, the Malay government should take actions towards these corrupted happenings everyday. It’s not too late to amend building a new paradigm.

However, it is not so sure of how the government will clear up this havoc. We, therefore can not get over the ASIAN politics virus which is making things worse and complicated more instead of making things solved and progressive for the betterness of the citizens. We all are far more left behind compared with the West. Road to keeping pace with the West is long long to go. But never give up...!! The future is in our enthusiastic hands.

Myanmar’s Refugees On The Run With Nowhere To Go

A year ago, the world was shocked by images of boatloads of ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar being pushed out to open sea off the Thailand coast to fend for themselves with little food or water.

The plight of the Muslim Rohingya boat people from Myanmar's northern Rakhine State galvanized international attention, and highlighted a refugee crisis that seemingly has become part of the region's geopolitical make-up.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Myanmar is the largest source of refugees in Southeast Asia; globally, it ranked 13th behind Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia at end-2008.

In what is described by the UN and specialists as one of the world's most intractable refugee situations, people have been fleeing Myanmar for more than a quarter of a century.

Ethnic conflicts

Analysts say the root causes of Myanmar's refugee exodus lie in the ethnic and political conflicts since independence in 1948 from the British.

Myanmar, with an estimated population of 57.6 million, is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Southeast Asia.

About two-thirds of the population are ethnic Burmese, while the remainder are Shan, Karen, Rakhine, Chinese, Mon and Indian, as well as the Akha, Chin, Danu, Kachin, Kokang, Lahu, Naga, Palaung, Pao, Rohingya, Tavoyan and Wa peoples. There are about 135 ethnic sub-groups, according to the government.

The minorities live mostly in the hills and mountains bordering Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Thailand, while the Burmese are found in the central alluvial plains and major towns and cities.

The military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, has sought a centralized, unitary state, while ethnic groups want a federal structure and greater independence and autonomy, as well as greater recognition of their cultures.

"The root problem is that the government does not recognize ethnic aspirations and appears to want total military victory. Nothing will improve if that's what they want to do," said Jack Dunford, executive director of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), which provides food and shelter in nine refugee camps in Thailand, one of 18 NGOs working in the camps.

While several armed ethnic groups have signed ceasefire agreements with the government, there are long-running insurgencies in the country's border regions by groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU).

The insurgencies, the government's counter-insurgency strategies and growing militarization have seen civilian populations increasingly bearing the brunt of the conflict and fleeing.

Forced labour by the military, the forced relocation of villages, enforced disappearances, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, arbitrary detentions, and discrimination against ethnic minorities are all cited as concerns in Myanmar by the UN and international rights groups.

Regional action urged

Burmese refugee populations are mainly found in Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh and India, though some Rohingya travel as far afield as Saudi Arabia.

The refugees are vulnerable to human traffickers and people smugglers. Where there are no refugee camps, they receive little support and are routinely subject to detention, discrimination, harassment and exploitative working conditions, rights groups say.

None of the main asylum countries in Asia is a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, leaving Burmese refugees with little protection or recognition of their rights.

Kitty McKinsey, regional spokeswoman for UNHCR, said many Asian countries lacked national refugee legislation, with the result that legitimate asylum seekers and refugees are instead treated as migrants in breach of immigration laws.

Countries "feel the right place for them is in an immigration detention centre. So they quite often put people in detention who we think are asylum seekers and refugees," she said.

With few prospects for change in Myanmar's domestic politics, rights groups have long urged regional governments to exert political pressure on the military government to reform.

"Burma has been like a pressure cooker and the international community has worked [hard] over the past few decades to ease the pressure minimally," said Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the rights group, Altsean-Burma. "There hasn't been the political will to fundamentally resolve the root causes that have pushed people out of Burma."

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Myanmar, has maintained a policy of "constructive engagement" with the country and does brisk trade with it.

Myanmar, rich in natural resources such as oil, gas, and timber, also counts regional superpowers China and India among its allies, helping to buffer international criticism.

"We need to understand holistically that all of these things are connected, that working with the regime for short-term gain or trying to accommodate the regime's misbehaviour for the sake of geopolitical interests entails the cost of receiving asylum seekers and hosting them," said Stothard.

Bali process

Following the incident with the Rohingya boat people last year, ASEAN in March 2009 informally discussed the problem of Rohingya refugees, but found no solution. There were then hopes that a regional conference known as the Bali Process, which largely tackles human trafficking and people smuggling, could address the issue.

"For us it's an achievement that it even got on the agenda because we've been trying to get it on to the international and Asian agenda for years," said UNHCR's McKinsey.

At the Bali conference in April 2009, there was agreement on setting up an ad-hoc working group on the issue. However, little has been made public since about Bali Process discussions, or whether concrete actions will arise from this move.

"Though there are occasional flare-ups in relations, as was the case in the first months of 2009 over Rohingya boat people, these issues have been resolved more by pushing them back under the table than by providing real solutions that could benefit the refugee population," said Camilla Olson, an advocate for the US-based Refugees International.

"After 20 years, regional governments should acknowledge that a policy that ignores Burmese refugees will not make them go away," she said.

"Instead, it has created a new class of largely urban poor, who have few opportunities for education, healthcare, or productive futures."

Donor fatigue

The intractable nature of the emergency is vividly illustrated by nine refugee camps in Thailand along the 1,800km border with Myanmar, where some 150,000 Burmese live. Uniquely, the camps are run by the refugees themselves, with support from NGOs.

The genesis of these camps dates back to 1984, when the military government's bid to seize more control of areas in the east sent the first large influx of 10,000 mainly Karen refugees into Thailand.

The camps still exist, and with little end in sight to the flow of refugees, aid workers say the needs are greater than ever.

"We have had new refugees arriving every day for the last 25 years," said TBBC's Dunford. "We are dealing with an ongoing emergency, not something static."

Dunford said there was donor fatigue after so long, and few prospects that refugees could lead a normal life. Since anyone who ventures outside the camp is considered an illegal migrant, the ability of refugees to pursue productive lives and greater self-reliance by seeking employment or other activities is limited.

"As we go into 2010, our budgets are going up, the numbers [of refugees] are going up and we have this pressure now from donors wanting to see change," he said.

"We also want to see change, and in particular for the refugees to be more self-reliant. But change will take time, particularly when the Royal Thai Government is concerned about creating a pull factor by improving refugees' quality of life."

Dunford said that in the short term, additional funds were needed to support livelihood initiatives before basic support could be reduced.

Resettlement prospects

There are three solutions to any refugee crisis, says UNHCR: voluntary repatriation to the country of origin, integration into the asylum country, and resettlement in a third country as a final measure.

Recognizing that voluntary repatriation is not a real option, and that settling in asylum countries such as Thailand is difficult, donor countries have offered in recent years to resettle thousands of Burmese refugees.

Since 2004, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has helped to resettled more than 57,000 Burmese refugees from Thailand who belonged to the Karen and Karenni ethnic groups. They were mostly resettled in the US, as well as Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Michiko Ito, assistant resettlement coordinator with IOM in Bangkok, said countries would continue to be interested in resettling Burmese refugees, but that there was a shift away from accepting refugees out of Thailand, which had "peaked".

"The number out of Malaysia will definitely go up. And the resettlement countries are also looking into the resettlement of Rohingyas out of Bangladesh," said Ito.

Thailand has peaked because resettlement countries look at refugees' living conditions, and the camps provide better help than in Malaysia or Bangladesh, where refugee populations have little assistance, she said.

 

"In Malaysia, they are living in urban settings and there is absolutely no protection mechanism available for them," said Ito.

“War on undocumented migrants” not the answer

Aliran views with misgivings the Home Minister’s proposal to devise a mechanism to monitor “each and every foreigner” from the moment of entry into the country to the date of their exit.

Whilst this may be a step towards clearing the current immigration mess with the entry of overwhelming numbers of undocumented migrants, the Minister is reminded that security enforcement alone is not an acceptable solution to the lack of a proper immigration control system that recognises present day migration realities.

If the Home Minister and Cabinet Committee for Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants (CCFWII) are sincere in this effort to revamp or update our current Immigration system, Aliran proposes that the CCFWII consider the following factors:

1.Legal recognition of asylum seekers and refugees, who should be made a separate category from other migrants entering the country.

2.Allowing the United Nations refugee agency staff access to migrants seeking asylum to initiate proper assessment procedures to identify and register genuine refugees.

3.Legally recognise UNHCR documentation and grant refugees access to health care, education and employment facilities in the country as migrant workers.

4.Enforce equal labour rights for migrant workers and local workers, including the right to unionise and equal access to health care and labour dispute settlement within the Malaysian legal system.

5.Institute a legal mandatory standard and qualification criteria for migrant labour recruitment agencies and outsourcers that coincide with Malaysian labour legislation. This standard should incorporate international and ILO labour standards and be acceptable to migrant labour source countries.

6.Institute a monitoring and inspection system for migrant worker recruitment agencies and outsourcing companies, in cooperation with governments of migrant labour source countries.

7.Recognise ‘non-documentation’ as an administrative offence that attracts civil instead of criminal penalties, including deportation after thorough investigation of each case.

8.Abolish immigration courts at immigration detention centres, and have migrants charged with illegal entry into the country tried in magistrates courts.

9.Make legal representation of migrants facing trial for immigration offences compulsory to ensure equality before the law in accordance with s. 8(1) of the Federal Constitution.

10.Institute an immigration appeals system in which migrant cases may be reviewed to maintain consistency and stability in the existing migrant workforce in the country. Deportation should be treated as a last resort.

The Home Minister and the CCFWII should realise after so many years of futile crackdowns on ‘undocumented’ migrants that these scare tactics are merely a waste of time and public funds.

Moreover, ill-treatment and human rights violation of migrants only attracts international condemnation of Malaysia, even within Asean.

The government should stop maintaining its archaic view of migrants as a national security threat and take the trouble to deal with the fundamental problems of the existing immigration system, instead of waging a pointless ‘war’ on migrants to divert public attention from its own shortcomings.

Angeline Loh

18 February 2010

Refugees from Myanmar face beatings, forced repatriation from Bangladesh

BANGKOK, Thailand — Thousands of Muslim refugees from Myanmar face beatings and forced repatriation to their homeland by authorities in Bangladesh, an international medical group said Thursday.

About a quarter-million ethnic Rohingyas have fled from Myanmar, saying they face often brutal treatment by the ruling military regime.

"Refugees have reported to us that they have received beatings in the host community by the police," said Paul Critchley, who heads Medecins sans Frontieres in Bangladesh. "Our patients have told us in some cases they have been handed over to the border forces of Bangladesh, beaten and forced to swim the river back toward Myanmar."

Bangladesh authorities have dismissed earlier charges of a crackdown. Sakhawat Hossain, a senior police official, said Tuesday that authorities were only conducting normal operations to detain foreigners who illegally entered the country.

Hossain said 500 Myanmar citizens had been detained between mid-November and Feb. 15.

The majority of Rohingya in Bangladesh reside in the overcrowded Cox's Bazaar area bordering Myanmar. Since October 2009, more than 6,000 people have arrived at a makeshift camp.

Medecins sans Frontieres says that 28,000 refugees live in official camps under United Nations supervision and are recognized as refugees by Bangladesh. But an estimated 220,000 others have no refugee status.

"They could be forced out at any moment, so they're basically holding their families together. You have a space of slightly larger than a bathroom that has six or seven people and attached to it is another bathroom, so you have two families living in this really crammed condition," another agency staffer, Vanessa Van Schoor, told a press conference.

A report released earlier this week from the Rohingya advocacy group The Arakan Project also said a crackdown has been under way since the beginning of January.

"Hunger is spreading rapidly among the already malnourished population in the makeshift camp and a grave humanitarian crisis is looming," project director Chris Lewa said.

The plight the Rohingyas gained international attention in January after allegations that more than 1,200 of them were detained by Thai authorities and later sent adrift at sea on boats with little food or water. Hundreds were believed to have drowned.

Many Rohingyas have taken to the seas in search of better jobs. The destination for many is Malaysia, just across the border from southern Thailand.

The Rohingyas' status in Myanmar is particularly precarious because they do not hold full citizenship

No Refuge for Myanmar's Forgotten People

More than a year later, more than 300 are known to be missing and more than 30 are confirmed to have died, Ms. Lewa said. No boats are reported to have landed in Thailand in the recent post-monsoon sailing season. "The brutal push-backs and the continuous detention of the survivors seems to have stopped the Rohingya from doing it again," Ms. Lewa said. "That horrible action has had the effect of basically stopping people from leaving." In Bangladesh, the situation in the unofficial camp is becoming desperate, both aid workers and refugees 

 By SETH MYDANS
Published: February 18, 2010 

BANGKOK -- Stateless refugees from Myanmar are suffering beatings and deportation in Bangladesh, according to aid workers and rights groups who say thousands are crowding into a squalid camp where they face a "humanitarian crisis" of starvation and disease.

In a campaign that seems to have accelerated since October, the groups say, ethnic Rohingya refugees who have been living for years in Bangladesh are being seized, and beaten and forced back to Myanmar, where they had fled persecution and abuse and which also does not want them.

"Over the last few months we have treated victims of violence, people who claim to have been beaten by the police, claim to have been beaten by members of the host population, by people they've been living next to for many years," said Paul Critchley, head of mission in Bangladesh for the aid group Médecins Sans Frontières.

"We have treated patients for beatings, for machete wounds and for rape," he said, quoting a report issued Thursday. Some had escaped after being forced into a river that forms the border with Myanmar. "This is continuing today."

Since October, he said, the unofficial Kutupalong Makeshift Camp with its dirt paths, flimsy shacks and open sewers has grown by 6,000 people to nearly 30,000, with 2,000 new arrivals in January alone.

They are among about 250,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh, a Muslim minority from neighboring Myanmar, where they do not have citizenship and are subject to abuse and forced labor, and cannot travel, marry or practice their religion freely.

Despite the hardships, people are continuing to flee repression and fear in Myanmar, and when they are deported, many return, several people said.

About 28,000 of them have been recognized by the government and documented as refugees. They receive food and other assistance in a camp administered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and have not been subject to the abuses and forced returns described by other Rohingya, said Kitty McKinsey, a spokeswoman for the agency in Bangkok.

The government has not allowed the agency to register new arrivals since 1993.

Most Rohingya in Bangladesh have no documentation and struggle to survive, evading the authorities and working mostly as day laborers, servants or pedicab drivers. They have no rights to education or other government services.

"They cannot receive general food distribution," Mr. Critchley said. "It is illegal for them to work. All they can legally do in Bangladesh is starve to death."

The current crackdown is the worst they have ever suffered, according to aid workers and the refugees themselves.

"Over the last month and in Cox's Bazaar District alone, hundreds of unregistered Rohingyas have been arrested, either pushed back across the border to Burma or sent to jail under immigration charges," said Chris Lewa, referring to Myanmar by its other name. Ms. Lewa closely follows the fate of the Rohingya as director of the Arakan Project, which also issued a report this week.

"In several areas of the district, thousands were evicted with threats of violence. Robberies, assaults and rape against Rohingyas have significantly increased," she said.

A risky route to a better life, by sea to Thailand and then to Malaysia for work, has been cut off after the Thai Navy pushed about 1,000 Rohingya boat people out to sea last year to drift and possibly to drown.

More than a year later, more than 300 are known to be missing and more than 30 are confirmed to have died, Ms. Lewa said. No boats are reported to have landed in Thailand in the recent post-monsoon sailing season.

"The brutal push-backs and the continuous detention of the survivors seems to have stopped the Rohingya from doing it again," Ms. Lewa said. "That horrible action has had the effect of basically stopping people from leaving."

In Bangladesh, the situation in the unofficial camp is becoming desperate, both aid workers and refugees

"We cannot move around to find work," said Hasan, 40, a day laborer who lives with his wife and three children in a dirt-floored hovel made of sticks, scrap wood and plastic sheeting. He said he had no way to feed his family.

"There is a checkpoint nearby where they're catching people and arresting them," he told a photographer who visited recently. Like other refugees here, he asked that his last name not be used for fear of reprisals.

"We aren't receiving any help," he said. "No one can borrow money from each other. Everybody's in crisis now." People do what they can to survive.

"When I visit the camp," Mr. Critchley said, "I see small girls going out in the forest to collect firewood, and we have treated young girls and women who have been raped doing this."

In the Thursday report, Médecins Sans Frontières said that a year ago 90 percent of people in the makeshift camp were already "severely food insecure," in other words, that they were running out of food.

"Malnutrition and mortality rates were past emergency thresholds, and people had little access to safe drinking water, sanitation or medical care," the report said.

The overcrowded camp has become an incubator for disease, Mr. Critchley said, and with the monsoon season peaking in late March and early April, medical workers fear a lethal spread of acute diarrhea.

"International standards would assume that a latrine is shared by 20 people," Mr. Critchley said. "With the number of latrines in the camp, over 70 people share each latrine. I've seen small children using piles of human feces as toys."

The Rohingya know that they live at the very bottom of human society, that they are not wanted anywhere and that they are outsiders without legal standing or protection.

Abdul, 69, who has lived in Bangladesh for more than 15 years, said that these thoughts disturb his dreams.

"When I sleep I think that if someone kills an animal in the forest they are breaking the law," he said. "They are caught and punished. But as human beings it isn't the same for us. So where are our rights? I think to myself that we are lower than an animal.

MYANMAR: Introduction

Source: IRIN

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

BANGKOK, 18 February 2010 (IRIN) - Introduction In-Depth: Decades on, Myanmar refugees still an emergency BANGKOK, February 2010 (IRIN) - A year ago, the world was shocked by images of boatloads of ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar being pushed out to open sea off the Thailand coast to fend for themselves with little food or water. The plight of the Muslim Rohingya boat people from Myanmar's northern Rakhine State galvanized international attention, and highlighted a refugee crisis that seemingly has become part of the region's geopolitical make-up. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Myanmar is the largest source of refugees in Southeast Asia; globally, it ranked 13th behind Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia at end-2008. In what is described by the UN and specialists as one of the world's most intractable refugee situations, people have been fleeing Myanmar for more than a quarter of a century. Ethnic conflicts Analysts say the root causes of Myanmar's refugee exodus lie in the ethnic and political conflicts since independence in 1948 from the British. Myanmar, with an estimated population of 57.6 million, is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Southeast Asia. About two-thirds of the population are ethnic Burmese, while the remainder are Shan, Karen, Rakhine, Chinese, Mon and Indian, as well as the Akha, Chin, Danu, Kachin, Kokang, Lahu, Naga, Palaung, Pao, Rohingya, Tavoyan and Wa peoples. There are about 135 ethnic sub-groups, according to the government. The minorities live mostly in the hills and mountains bordering Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Thailand, while the Burmese are found in the central alluvial plains and major towns and cities. The military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, has sought a centralized, unitary state, while ethnic groups want a federal structure and greater independence and autonomy, as well as greater recognition of their cultures. "The root problem is that the government does not recognize ethnic aspirations and appears to want total military victory. Nothing will improve if that's what they want to do," said Jack Dunford, executive director of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) [http://www.tbbc.org/], which provides food and shelter in nine refugee camps in Thailand, one of 18 NGOs working in the camps. While several armed ethnic groups have signed ceasefire agreements with the government, there are long-running insurgencies in the country's border regions by groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU). The insurgencies, the government's counter-insurgency strategies and growing militarization have seen civilian populations increasingly bearing the brunt of the conflict and fleeing. Forced labour by the military, the forced relocation of villages, enforced disappearances, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture, arbitrary detentions, and discrimination against ethnic minorities are all cited as concerns in Myanmar by the UN [http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/485/49/PDF/N0848549.pdf?OpenElement] and international rights groups. Regional action urged Burmese refugee populations are mainly found in Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh and India, though some Rohingya travel as far afield as Saudi Arabia. The refugees are vulnerable to human traffickers and people smugglers. Where there are no refugee camps, they receive little support and are routinely subject to detention, discrimination, harassment and exploitative working conditions, rights groups say. None of the main asylum countries in Asia is a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol [http://www.unhcr.org/protect/PROTECTION/3b66c2aa10.pdf], leaving Burmese refugees with little protection or recognition of their rights. Kitty McKinsey, regional spokeswoman for UNHCR, said many Asian countries lacked national refugee legislation, with the result that legitimate asylum seekers and refugees are instead treated as migrants in breach of immigration laws. Countries "feel the right place for them is in an immigration detention centre. So they quite often put people in detention who we think are asylum seekers and refugees," she said. With few prospects for change in Myanmar's domestic politics, rights groups have long urged regional governments to exert political pressure on the military government to reform. "Burma has been like a pressure cooker and the international community has worked [hard] over the past few decades to ease the pressure minimally," said Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the rights group, Altsean-Burma. [http://www.altsean.org/] "There hasn't been the political will to fundamentally resolve the root causes that have pushed people out of Burma." The Association of Southeast Asian Nations [http://www.aseansec.org], which includes Myanmar, has maintained a policy of "constructive engagement" with the country and does brisk trade with it. Myanmar, rich in natural resources such as oil, gas, and timber, also counts regional superpowers China and India among its allies, helping to buffer international criticism. "We need to understand holistically that all of these things are connected, that working with the regime for short-term gain or trying to accommodate the regime's misbehaviour for the sake of geopolitical interests entails the cost of receiving asylum seekers and hosting them," said Stothard. Bali process Following the incident with the Rohingya boat people last year, ASEAN in March 2009 informally discussed the problem of Rohingya refugees, but found no solution. There were then hopes that a regional conference known as the Bali Process, which largely tackles human trafficking and people smuggling, could address the issue. "For us it's an achievement that it even got on the agenda because we've been trying to get it on to the international and Asian agenda for years," said UNHCR's McKinsey.At the Bali conference in April 2009, there was agreement on setting up an ad-hoc working group on the issue. However, little has been made public since about Bali Process discussions, or whether concrete actions will arise from this move. "Though there are occasional flare-ups in relations, as was the case in the first months of 2009 over Rohingya boat people, these issues have been resolved more by pushing them back under the table than by providing real solutions that could benefit the refugee population," said Camilla Olson, an advocate for the US-based Refugees International. [http://www.refugeesinternational.org/] "After 20 years, regional governments should acknowledge that a policy that ignores Burmese refugees will not make them go away," she said. "Instead, it has created a new class of largely urban poor, who have few opportunities for education, healthcare, or productive futures." Donor fatigue The intractable nature of the emergency is vividly illustrated by nine refugee camps in Thailand along the 1,800km border with Myanmar, where some 150,000 Burmese live. Uniquely, the camps are run by the refugees themselves, with support from NGOs. The genesis of these camps dates back to 1984, when the military government's bid to seize more control of areas in the east sent the first large influx of 10,000 mainly Karen refugees into Thailand. The camps still exist, and with little end in sight to the flow of refugees, aid workers say the needs are greater than ever. "We have had new refugees arriving every day for the last 25 years," said TBBC's Dunford. "We are dealing with an ongoing emergency, not something static." Dunford said there was donor fatigue after so long, and few prospects that refugees could lead a normal life. Since anyone who ventures outside the camp is considered an illegal migrant, the ability of refugees to pursue productive lives and greater self-reliance by seeking employment or other activities is limited. "As we go into 2010, our budgets are going up, the numbers [of refugees] are going up and we have this pressure now from donors wanting to see change," he said. "We also want to see change, and in particular for the refugees to be more self-reliant. But change will take time, particularly when the Royal Thai Government is concerned about creating a pull factor by improving refugees' quality of life." Dunford said that in the short term, additional funds were needed to support livelihood initiatives before basic support could be reduced. Resettlement prospects There are three solutions to any refugee crisis, says UNHCR: voluntary repatriation to the country of origin, integration into the asylum country, and resettlement in a third country as a final measure. Recognizing that voluntary repatriation is not a real option, and that settling in asylum countries such as Thailand is difficult, donor countries have offered in recent years to resettle thousands of Burmese refugees. Since 2004, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has helped to resettled more than 57,000 Burmese refugees from Thailand who belonged to the Karen and Karenni ethnic groups. They were mostly resettled in the US, as well as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Michiko Ito, assistant resettlement coordinator with IOM in Bangkok, said countries would continue to be interested in resettling Burmese refugees, but that there was a shift away from accepting refugees out of Thailand, which had "peaked". "The number out of Malaysia will definitely go up. And the resettlement countries are also looking into the resettlement of Rohingyas out of Bangladesh," said Ito. Thailand has peaked because resettlement countries look at refugees' living conditions, and the camps provide better help than in Malaysia or Bangladesh, where refugee populations have little assistance, she said. "In Malaysia, they are living in urban settings and there is absolutely no protection mechanism available for them," said Ito. ey/ds/mw© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

Burma: Military dictatorship fears new round of struggle

2,000 textile workers stage strike to demand better pay and working condition

CWI Malaysia reporters

Around 2000 textile factory workers in Rangoon started sit-in strikes the factory compound on Monday evening to demand an increase in salary of 10,000 kyat (US$ 10), a reduction of working hours and the provision of a clean space for meals. The strike started in the Mya Fashion textile factory in Rangoon’s Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone. Later it was joined by workers in Taiyi shoe factory and Opal 2 textile factory and other workers in nearby factories supported them. In December last year, nearly 1,000 textile workers in Hlaing Tharyar also staged a demonstration over pay and working conditions.

Sit-in strikes in Rangoon

According to Reuters News, Burma’s Junta government deployed hundreds of armed riot police on Tuesday in which at least 50 trucks packed with riot police carrying assault rifles and shields were sent out to safeguard roads surrounding the Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone. Members of Union Solidarity and Development Association, a junta-backed organisation, arrived at the scene to warn workers either to disperse peacefully or face a violent crackdown. Police chief Brigadier General Khin Yee also visited the site where the workers were on strike and threatened to take severe action against them if they did not end the strike.

The Irrawaddy News Magazines (INM) reported that the factory workers ended their strike on Wednesday evening after intense negotiations with their employers. It is believed that the junta government officials from the Ministry of Labor were involved to negotiate between the employers and the striking workers. , according to INM, tension remains high although the employers reportedly agreed to a 5,000-kyat (US $5) increase in their monthly salary, half the amount the workers demanded.

At present, there are about 130 garment factories in Burma employing more than 45,000 workers and this industry is one of the significant revenue contributors of up to $300 million a year to the government of the generals. However, in recent years, Burma has faced increased competition in textile industries from other regional countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, which offer low costs and cheap labor.

Meanwhile, the workers in Burma are experiencing the worst exploitation under the Junta government. For instance the textile workers have to work 16 hours from 7 am to 11 pm daily. The monthly income of mostfactory workers in Burma ranges from 20,000 kyat [$20] to 40,000 kyat [$40], forcing many to work overtime. Many factory owners employ temporary workers who have no legal recourse if they are fired without compensation and more than 80 percent offactory workers in Rangoon work on a day-to-day basis. Most are young women between 15 and 27 years of age who come from the countryside in search of a better living.

poster advertising protest

Although strikes or other forms of protests are prohibited in Burma, it seems that at present the industrial disputes are escalating. “The strike is a frequent occurrence,” said a Rangoon teacher interviewed by INM. “Workers make complaints, but their problems are rarely solved.” According to INM, in most cases of industrial dispute, a representative of the Ministry of Labor mediates between the management and the workers to resolve issues. The mediator is merely acting to ensure that certain minimum conditions are met, such as wages, hours and overtime.

In 2007, small demonstrations over hikes in fuel and cooking gas prices grew rapidly into countrywide marches by Buddhist monks and sparked a government crackdown that killed at least 31 people. At that time, all over the world workers and youth supported the heroic struggle by Burma’s youth, monks and workers against the military dictatorship. And the refugees in foreign countries who survived the military crackdown against the 1988 revolution organised protests all around the world. Just as in 2007, the protests in 1988 also spread like wildfire all across the country. At that time, trade unions, work-place committees and many parties were formed and hundreds of independent newspapers mushroomed.

Burma is one of the poorest countries in the world with only US$ 27,542 million GDP and US$2,762 per capital income for 2009. This is the result of the continuous repressive rule of the military junta regime that has been only benefiting the ruling bureaucracy and the business class since 1962.

Analysts say the government appears to be very sensitive to the risk of unrest, with elections scheduled this year under the so-called final stages of a seven-step “roadmap to democracy” drawn up by the Junta. Nevertheless, the workers, students, minorities and the other people oppressed under the Junta government could again come to the streets to demand their rights under worsening economic and social conditions as shown by the previous struggles.

In that situation, the workers with others oppressed in society can only rely on their own strength and organisation and the solidarity of workers and poor in the rest of the world.

We outline a democratic socialist programme for the struggle in Burma:

• Stop the military repression – overthrow the junta!
• Stop all forms of human rights violations!
• Release all political prisoners!
• For a general strike to bring down the military regime!
• For full democratic rights, including freedom of speech and assembly, the right to organise and to form political parties!
• For independent trade unions that fight for workers’ rights!
• For a mass party representing the interests of the working class and of the subsistence agricultural workers!
• For holding free and fair elections to a constituent assembly!
• For a democratic workers’ government with socialist policies, based on the interest of workers, small farmers, agricultural labourers and the urban poor!
• Nationalise the natural gas and oil industries, along with the other major big corporations and banks, under democratic control!
• Full rights for all minorities!
• For a democratic and socialist federation of South East Asia!

Asia Focus On Refugees

Asia Focus

The Asia Pacific Refugee Research Network (APRRN) now has an official web site. The aim of the network is to "advance the rights of refugees in the Asia Pacific region." Working groups focus on different geographic regions (South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Australia/Pacific) and different thematic issues (detention, legal aid and advocacy, women and girls at risk, right to health, and international advocacy).

One focus of the APRRN's has been the treatment of refugees from Myanmar, the largest populations of which are in Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh and India, and include ethnic Rohingya, Chin and Karen. Several reports have been issued recently that look more closely at their situation, particularly that of the Rohingya in Bangladesh:

• Burma: Rohingya A Year Later (World Bridge Blog, Jan. 2010) [text]
• Burmese border refugee sites with population figures: December 2009 (TBBC, Jan. 2010) [text]
• In-Depth: Myanmar’s refugees still on the run (IRIN, Feb. 2010) [access]
• Myanmar: Increasing displacement as fighting resumes in the east (IDMC, Jan. 2010) [access]
• Thailand - Cease Intimidation of Karen Refugees: Push-backs to Burma into Heavily Mined Areas Threaten Lives (HRW, Feb. 2010) [text]
• Unregistered Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: Crackdown, forced displacement and hunger (Arakan Project, Feb. 2010) [text]
• Violent crackdown fuels humanitarian crisis for unrecognised Rohingya refugees Bangladesh (MSF, Feb. 2010) [text]

[Map credit: 2010 UNHCR country operations profile - Myanmar]

Guilford Refugee Advisory Council Announces a Panel Discussion: Refugees from Burma

Triad -
The event on February 23rd will cover the refugee crisis in Burma (aka Myanmar) and the culture and experiences of refugees from Burma living in Guilford County.
Greensboro – As part of the ongoing Refugee Information Series, the Guilford Refugee Advisory Council announces a panel discussion on February 23rd to discuss the growing diverse population of refugees from Burma living here in Guilford County. This is the second installment in an ongoing series of discussions meant to provide residents of Guilford County with the opportunity to learn more about the hundred of refugees who have been resettled in Triad communities over the last several years. Each presentation will feature background information about the refugee crisis in a highlighted region as well as refugees from that country residing locally who come to share their experiences and answer questions.
February’s panel discussion will highlight the ongoing military violence that has plagued the country of Burma (aka Myanmar) for the last five decades, forcing hundreds of thousands of the region’s ethnic minorities out of their homelands and into overcrowded refugee camps along the borders of Thailand and Malaysia. Most of these refugees spend decades and even entire lifetimes languishing in unstable conditions hoping for peace to return to their home country. In 2005, the United States increased their commitment to providing a stable solution for the most vulnerable of these and has since resettled close to 60,000 refugees from this war torn country across the United States. Several hundred of these have made a home in the Triad, two of which will be speaking about their experiences and answering your questions at Tuesday’s presentation.
The Burma event will take place on Tuesday, February 23rd 2010 at 6:30pm at the J. Edward Kitchen Center’s Lake Townsend Room located at the city Fire and Water building at 2602 S. Elm-Eugene Street in Greensboro. Speakers will include resettled refugees from Burma living in Greensboro, Pastor Bryan Presson, a long-time missionary to Thailand who currently works locally with resettled refugees from Burma, and Sarah Ivory, Director of the Church World Service Refugee Program in Greensboro, who will share her experiences working in the region.
This event is part of an ongoing series on the Triad’s diverse ethnic communities presented by the Guilford Refugee Advisory Council, a collaboration of Church World Service, Lutheran Family Services, African Services Coalition, Faith Action International House, and the UNC-G Center for New North Carolinians. Future presentation will take place at the J. Edward Kitchen Center at 6:30pm on the following dates: March 30th (Vietnam); April 27th (Democratic Republic of Congo); May 25th (Bhutan). 
For more information, email guilfordrefugee@gmail.com or call 336-617-0381.

Bangladesh government accused of crackdown on Burmese refugees

Bangladesh accused of crackdown on Burmese refugees. Obama meets the Dalai Lama despite Chinese criticism; Maoists kills ten in Bihar. Protests rock Ivory Coast as president dissolves the government. Taliban running low on ammo in sixth day of Operation Moshtarak. Rumours of a coup attempt in Niger. All this and much more in today’s briefing.

Two separate reports this week have raised fresh concerns about the treatment of Burmese Rohingya refugees at the hands of Bangladeshi authorities. The Rohingyas, a Muslim minority from Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, have suffered a long history of persecution in Myanmar, and have been living in their thousands in south-eastern Bangladesh for decades. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an international medical relief organisation, today released a report repeating previous criticisms of the treatment of Rohingyas in Bangladesh, and echoing concerns raised earlier this week in a report from the Bangok-based lobby group, the Arakan Project.

Both reports contain allegations that state security forces are intimidating Rohingya refugees in order to force them back across the border into Myanmar. MSF doctors report treating victims of severe beatings, apparently at the hands of state security forces. However, the chief of police in Kutupalong, the border town in which several Rohingya refugee camps are located, denied allegations of wrongdoing, and added that strong action is needed to prevent further mass immigration. “If we don’t stop them, the floodgates will open,” he told AFP.

Both reports also underline the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the overcrowded refugee camp in Kutupalong. Close to 30,000 unregistered refugees now reside in an unofficial camp, on the fringes of an official government refugee camp. Since October 2009, when the state crackdown is believed to have begun, 6,000 unregistered refugees have arrived at the unofficial camp. More than 2,000 are believed to have arrived in January alone. The reports highlight worrying levels of malnutrition and mortality, and the lack of adequate sanitation facilities for residents of the unofficial camp.

The openSecurity verdict: The Rohingya, an ethnic and religious minority, are denied citizenship rights in Myanmar. Not only are they unable to find work or purchase land, they must also seek state permission in order to marry or to travel outside of their villages. Described by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya have been fighting for recognition as a separate ethnic group since before the Second World War. A succession of Burmese administrations has systematically attempted to force the Rohingya out of Myanmar.

Regular punitive crackdowns on Rohingyas in Myanmar have forced thousands to seek refuge in neighbouring countries over the last half century, but they have not been warmly received. In Bangladesh, for example, approximately 200,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar in 1978 due to an intensification in state persecution. However, the hostile reception they encountered over the border saw almost all of them return to Myanmar the following year. Over the years, repeated questions have been raised about Bangladesh’s treatment of fleeing Rohingyas in its south-eastern division. In the early 1990s, the UNHCR withdrew its support for the refugee camps in protest at the government’s treatment of the refugees.

Today there are estimated to be over 220,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh, although only 28,000 are formally registered. The government continues to view them as illegal migrants who should be returned to Myanmar immediately. During diplomatic talks between the two countries in December last year, the Burmese government gave assurances that it would take back some 9,000 Rohingya refugees “soon”.  Locally, their presence causes resentment about the strain on resources and jobs in one of the poorest regions in the country. In the past, there have been regular reports of violence against refugees perpetrated by Bangladeshi authorities, with police round-ups leading to forced repatriation or deportation. While the UNHCR works with the 28,000 registered refugees, it is not permitted to work with the vast, unregistered majority.

Rohingyas in Bangladesh are faced with an unenviable choice. Return to Myanmar and ever-increasing persecution is clearly not an option. Returning those fleeing the threat of death or persecution to their country of origin is a violation of international law. However, fleeing to another neighbouring country is also far from a desirable option for the Rohingya. Although the plight of this group regularly appears in the press releases of international rights groups, the Rohingyas meet only hostility from neighbouring governments. In early 2009, the Thai government came under fire for abandoning a boatload of Rohingya refugees on the open seas. It also refused to allow the UNHCR access to Rohingya refugees detained in Thailand, and prevented the agency from distributing food aid there. Malaysia and Indonesia, which also host large populations of Rohingyas, have also been accused of mistreating Rohingyas.

The situation of the Rohingya in Bangladesh and other south and south-east Asian countries requires a more proactive approach from international agencies in host countries, to ensure that host governments abide by their obligations under international treaties and do not put this community in an even more vulnerable position.