800,000 Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar face displacement
Arakan News Agency The fate of an estimated 800,000 Rohingya Muslims is uncertain as their temporary residence permit expires by the end of this month, the UN’s special envoy for Myanmar warned today. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said, “There are about 800,000 (white card holders) […]
Myanmar sentences five to 21 years in jail over fake rape claim that sparked religious tensions
Arakan News Agency Five people have each been jailed for 21 years for spreading false allegations that a Buddhist woman was raped by a Muslim man, which sparked a deadly religious riot in the Myanmar city of Mandalay last year. The south-east Asian nation’s second biggest city was plunged into deadly sectarian unrest in July […]
UN rights expert urges Myanmar authorities to address signs of backtracking
Arakan News Agency 18 March 2015 – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar today called on the country’s authorities to address ongoing challenges to the democratic reform process “before they undermine the success achieved so far.” “I was very disturbed by reports on 10 March that excessive and disproportionate […]
Buddhist monks incite hatred against Muslims in Myanmar
Arakan News Agency Myanmar’s constitution guarantees religious freedom. But some radical Buddhists have been railing against Muslims – a tendency which has reached the lawmakers by now. Everything seems normal as children in red clothes play football on a dusty patch. However, this patch is the courtyard of a monastery and the young players with […]
A failing engagement with Burma
Arakan News Agency By Editorial Board March 14 PRESIDENT OBAMA has based his foreign policy on the notion that it is better to “engage” than confront hostile nations and that such diplomacy should encourage gradual reforms, rather than revolution or regime change. The results of such outreach to Cuba and Iran are not yet […]
Rohingya are demanding to stop the violations and restoring the rights of
Arakan News Agency Global Rohingya Center (GRC) and Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU) demanded Government of Myanmar to respect the United Nations resolutions, and respect for the rights of minorities in the country, and to stop all human rights violations, and the commitment of ethical principles while dealing with Rohingya minority’s rights. Also added to re-recognize […]
No respite for Burma’s Rohingya in Bangladesh
Arakan News Agency Thousands of Burma’s persecuted Rohingya Muslims have poured into neighbouring Bangladesh to scrape a living in makeshift camps. Yet once over the border, many face new hardships. Bangladeshi authorities tore down a refugee camp a month ago without warning. Our Observers describe the daily suffering of a stateless people. The United Nations […]
UN: Conditions in Myanmar Muslim camps are ‘abysmal’
Arakan News Agency The situation in Rakhine State in Myanmar remains “dire” and conditions of camps of internally displaced Muslims are “abysmal,” UN expert warned on Monday. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Yanghee Lee, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities […]
Buddhist nationalism threatens Myanmar’s democratic transition.
Arakan News Agency It’s election year in Myanmar, the big test for the country’s aspiring democratic transition. Among the spirited national debates there are four controversial pieces of legislation currently under consideration in Myanmar’s Assembly of the Union parliament (the Pyidaungsu hluttaw). These reportedly aim to protect race and religion. But in truth, the bills […]
Saudi Arabia calls upon the Government of Burma to stop discrimination against the minority Muslim Rohingyas
Arakan News Agency Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today before the Human Rights Council regrets the continued systematic and widespread human rights violations suffered by Rohingya Muslims in Burma, which was confirmed by Human Rights Special Rapporteur’s report on the Burma Yang Hee Lee. A member of the Human Rights Commission also the member of the […]
Human Trafficking Thrives Where Rule of Law Ends
Arakan News Agency Of the nearly 21 million victims of human trafficking worldwide, an estimated two-thirds are from Asia. Many factors contribute to the severity of the problem in Asia, but one stands out among the rest: the lack of rule of law. Poorly trained local law enforcement, inadequate legal protections, and corrupt judicial systems […]
A delegation from the Global Rohingya Center (GRC) participated on Human Rights Council in Geneva
Arakan News Agency Global Rohingya Center delegation (GRC) arrived to the Swiss city of Geneva on Saturday to attend the 28th session meeting of the Board of the United Nations Human Rights Council, to stand with the issue of Rohingya Muslims and to restore their rights usurped by the Government of Burma. Director of projects […]
Eight years for Rohingya leaders is injustice, says lawyer
Arakan News Agency The recent re-sentencing of three prominent Rohingya community leaders in Arakan State and the ongoing detention of two others points to the uneven application of the rule of law in the restive region, their lawyer claims. The trio – Ba Tha, Kyaw Myint, and Kyaw Myint’s son, Hla Myint – were sentenced […]