UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Distribution of billions of dollars in aid after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami often ignored victims of conflicts raging in Sri Lanka and Indonesia at the time, a report on the lessons of the disaster said on Friday. The report, commissioned by a consortium of five of the hardest-hit countries -- Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives -- said this was due in part to restrictions by aid donors on how their money could be spent. The December 26, 2004, tsunami, caused by an undersea earthquake, killed more than 228,000 people and provoked a huge international response, with some $13.5 billion pledged worldwide to fund recovery.
But the 105-page report, "The Tsunami Legacy: Innovations, Breakthroughs and Change," said that in Sri Lanka and Indonesia's Aceh region, both hard hit, there was a need to aid the victims of conflicts as well as those of the tsunami. "However, most post-tsunami organizations largely ignored the post-conflict context, in part due to donor-stipulated restrictions on how they could use their funds," said the report. This led to local grievances over perceived inequalities in aid provision. "If conflict sensitivity had been more widespread and funds not restricted to tsunami victims only, building back better could have been more equitable all along," the report said. The report was presented to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former U.N. special envoy for tsunami recovery, at a conference at U.N. headquarters. Commissioned by the Tsunami Global Lessons Learned project, the report also faulted authorities throughout the tsunami-hit area for other forms of discrimination, because it said the need to deliver aid fast outweighed the need for equity. "Many tsunami-affected communities were still unable to adequately access assistance immediately after the disaster because of barriers associated with their gender, ethnicity, age, class, religion or occupation," it said.
The report, however, also found much to praise in the aid operation, including a willingness by governments to delegate the task to local organizations and a determination to combat corruption. "Despite the influx of billions of dollars in tsunami-affected countries, corruption levels across the board were kept remarkably low," it said. "Key to this success was a commitment to view corruption, not as a nuisance or unfortunate side effect of the recovery, but as a core threat to the reconstruction effort as a whole." Since the tsunami, governments and international agencies have set about creating national and regional early-warning systems, with 24 early detection buoys placed in the Indian Ocean. In addition, 250,000 new permanent houses and more than 100 air and seaports have been built, 3,000 schools constructed and hundreds of hospitals rehabilitated. Ban and Clinton told the conference lessons from the tsunami were important because the number and intensity of weather-related disasters were increasing. Experience with the tsunami reinforces the importance of sealing a deal at a Copenhagen climate change conference in December aimed at setting new targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, the U.N. chief said. Editing by Xavier Briand. Patrick Worsnip. Reuters
UNITED NATIONS - DISTRIBUTION of billions of dollars in aid after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami often ignored victims of conflicts raging in Sri Lanka and Indonesia at the time, a report on the lessons of the disaster said on Friday. The report, commissioned by a consortium of five of the hardest-hit countries - Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives - said this was due in part to restrictions by aid donors on how their money could be spent. The Dec 26, 2004, tsunami, caused by an undersea earthquake, killed more than 228,000 people and provoked a huge international response, with some US$13.5 billion (S$20.1 billion) pledged worldwide to fund recovery. But the 105-page report, 'The Tsunami Legacy: Innovations, Breakthroughs and Change,' said that in Sri Lanka and Indonesia's Aceh region, both hard hit, there was a need to aid the victims of conflicts as well as those of the tsunami. "However, most post-tsunami organisations largely ignored the post-conflict context, in part due to donor-stipulated restrictions on how they could use their funds,' said the report. This led to local grievances over perceived inequalities in aid provision. 'If conflict sensitivity had been more widespread and funds not restricted to tsunami victims only, building back better could have been more equitable all along,' the report said. The report was presented to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former US President Bill Clinton, former UN special envoy for tsunami recovery, at a conference at UN headquarters. Commissioned by the Tsunami Global Lessons Learned project, the report also faulted authorities throughout the tsunami-hit area for other forms of discrimination, because it said the need to deliver aid fast outweighed the need for equity. 'Many tsunami-affected communities were still unable to adequately access assistance immediately after the disaster because of barriers associated with their gender, ethnicity, age, class, religion or occupation,' it said. REUTERS.
Showing posts with label UNHCR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UNHCR. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
$2 a day to save a refugee’s life . . . and there are no takers. Where are you now, Angelina?
Like I said, I’m writing an article. For the New Yorker, maybe. Or Oprah’s magazine. I don’t know. I’ve talked to my friends and staff about it, and I’m thinking it’s really the only way to frame what I realize now is a huge discussion about an insurmountable world problem, that our poor tiny NGO stumbled into and wondered why we can’t just, oh, I don’t know, kiss it and make it better. And what everyone else apparently hopes they can ignore long enough for it to go away.
So there are 198 Rohingya refugees in the district of East Aceh (Aceh Timur) and another 193 on Sabang Island, being fed (for the time being) and wondered about by the Indonesian Navy. That’s 381 people that Aceh received as a result of the January 2009 wave of escapes from either Myanmar (Burma) or Bangladesh; many of the estimated 2,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi who began the journey died at sea, some went to Thailand but were unceremoniously ejected, some got to remain in Thailand. A friend recently asked me, “What is so special about these people that you are trying to help them?” Meaning, I suppose, that JMD’s target citizens are the poorest, hardest-to-access, most at-risk in all Aceh (and that’s saying a lot), so why drop everything for this group? The only thing I can come up with is: because they’re human, and they’re starving, they’re homeless, and they have no one. But it got me thinking, surely there are not just 398 people in the world who have no country, no citizenship, have been persecuted and evicted for hundreds of years, and end up corralled in a camp on foreign soil with no way to communicate, no way to work or feed their families, looking different, believing different, exhausted from the last escape? Only 398?
Well, a) I guess that’s pretty good, and b) why then is it like pulling teeth to get the UN and big international aid agencies/donors interested?
I mean . . . right before I left Aceh in March I drew up a needs and cost list with our staff and came up with a figure of $70,000 to house, feed, and provide medical and education services to the refugees for the next 6 months. That’s (wait for it) $2.03 per person per day for ALL their needs. Chump change for any government, right?
Economy of scale, I was told by a higher-up.
There are too few starving, frightened, persecuted individuals to justify the paperwork.
Isn’t that nice.
But! I was told, fear not: the UN High Commission for Refugees and the International Order of Migrations will be conducting “refugee verification” for a month in the camp starting next week. Which is an interrogation process designed to determine your “status.”
To sum up the process, you will be categorized as one of the following:
--Rohingya from Myanmar , starving
--Rohingya form Bangladesh, starving
--Bangladeshi from Myanmar, starving
--Rohingya from Thai internment, starving and beaten.
Then presumably the interviewer gives you a piece of paper telling you what they decided you are . . . and you take a bite out of it.
Funny thing. Still starving.
And for those lucky Rohingya who are determined to have actually come from Myanmar (though they aren’t considered “citizens” because the Rohingya are everyone’s favorite piece of inhuman garbage in southeast Asia) you get to go back to the bosom of your step-motherland . . . IF you admit you’re NOT Rohingya after all but Bangladeshi!
Is anyone else besides me made physically sick by this?
I went back to my original question . . . why was it that I was so interested in these 198 people? I’d met some of them last month in the temporary camp where our staff was helping by donating food, water, etc. and they are every bit as needy and desperate as the Acehnese JMD serves every day. I just kept thinking . . . why is this tiny $70,000 problem so untouchable?
Then the rational me took over.
Get real, she said. (I call her Sheila. She’s very well dressed, perfect hair and makeup, and she sits across the table from me sometimes, when I’m bleary-eyed in a ratty robe, staring blankly into a coffee cup, and she berates me for my foolishness. I loathe her most of the time, But she’s always right.) She asks pointedly, Do you really think that 398 Rohingya refugees, or even all Rohingya refugees, or even all Rohingya for that matter, represent all people who wind up in already impoverished or war-torn places, worse off than the already decimated host country’s population, unable to prove their citizenship or political/social/economic persecution, asking to just have a place to live and breathe?
And I realized, it’s not economy of scale after all—it’s the exact opposite. What do we as nations do about people with no country? How do we hold each other accountable, do the right thing, and in the meantime feed the kids, teach the dads how to communicate with us, protect the moms from being sold into slavery?
What the big organizations have been trying to tell me and the few small agencies in East Aceh building latrines and cooking diner and keeping TB out of the camp, is that if they provide direct assistance to 198 people, they will have to think about the millions more, all over the globe, that can then no longer be comfortably forgotten.
So in my mind I sent my eye around the world . . . just to remember a little bit of what I’d heard and read over the years—me, who’s been focused on Aceh for so long . . . so much suffering—I guess we all just take as much as we can stand, and try to forget the rest. So I had to remember what I’d been forgetting. Eastern Europe. The Roma, Ashkali, Gorani . . . still in camps maybe? Still treated as non-citizens by both Serbia and Kosovo, and maybe even Romania? And what of Africa? All the tribes and nations there. Darfur. Displaced by conflict. Where are they? How many camps are they in? The Congo. My god, how do you start looking for groups there? South America. Indigenous communities shoved off land newly discovered to have key mineral deposits. Afghanistan. Who takes care of the farmers in areas where the Taliban now control the opium trade? I wanted to find people who have no country, So if, for example, I learn of the nearly 30 million people in India who last year the government admitted were unaccounted for after the earthquake, I have to take them off my list, because as awful as their situation is, they still are considered citizens. Same as some nations of Native Americans in western US—I don’t think the Oglala Sioux are living any higher off the hog than they were when the FBI raided them in 1973 and falsely convicted Leonard Peltier of murdering an agent. But they’re US citizens, so they don’t go on my list.
So many lists, when you think about it.
So much atonement.
Maybe this is why all this gets me. I’ve been a banker all my life. I believe in accountability. The karmic bottom line, where the balance sheet is hopefully zero, ideally in the black, but never, never owing.
And we owe so much. How will it ever get repaid? And who or what are we repaying?
I don’t run around trying to madly balance all injustices, if that’s what you’re thinking.
I would, however, like to see justice. I would not have to frantically always look to see where it’s hiding in places like East Aceh. Atonement is a bottomless well, and justice is a big dark pit. Martin Luther King said, "The arc of history is long . . . but it bends towards justice.” I work with that in mind, but as a human I would like to create some small measure of comfort in the lives of people like these 198 Rohingya, who let’s face it will never see justice. They may see food, and a permanent home, and a reunion with their families, maybe—but they won’t see justice. They are too few, and too many, at the same time.
There are, I found, several websites and publications dealing with stateless people, as they are called, and the solutions offered that would help them obtain a quality of life that most now lack. But what I found was so vast, and the problem is so insidious . . . Refugees International, for example, has published Nationality for All: A Progress Report and Global Survey on Statelessness that is a must-read for anyone interested in knowing the magnitude of this issue.
At the risk of quoting too much from their 68-page report, going to just share their introduction with you (the emphases are mine):
Nationality is a fundamental human right and a foundation of identity, dignity, justice, peace,
and security. But statelessness, or the lack of effective nationality, affects millions of men,
women, and children worldwide. Being stateless means having no legal protection or right to
participate in political processes, inadequate access to health care and education, poor employment
prospects and poverty, little opportunity to own property, travel restrictions, social exclusion,
vulnerability to trafficking, harassment, and violence.
Stateless people are found in all regions of the world. Among the most vulnerable groups are
Rohingya in Burma and throughout Asia, Bidun in the Middle East, Roma in Europe, children
of Haitian migrants in the Caribbean, individuals from the former Soviet bloc, denationalized
Kurds, some Palestinians, and certain groups in Thailand. Their situations of legal limbo result
from many factors such as political change, expulsion of people from a territory, discrimination,
nationality based solely on descent, and laws regulating marriage and birth registration.
Because states have the sovereign right to determine the procedures and conditions for
acquisition and loss of citizenship, statelessness and disputed nationality must ultimately be
resolved by governments. But state determinations on citizenship must conform to general
principles of international law. Numerous international instruments, including the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, affirm nationality rights. Two UN conventions on statelessness
have long existed, but they are not widely ratified. To date, 63 countries have become party to
the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, and 35 countries have acceded
to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Millions. That’s what it says. No wonder just 198 don’t have a chance.
When the 2004 tsunami and earthquake hit Aceh, it precipitated a 2005 peace agreement between the Indonesian government and opposition forces in Aceh. The effects of the tsunami grew to encompass, and almost become indistinguishable from, the effects of the former conflict: people left homeless, with 80% of the family dead, livelihoods wiped out, survivors being tempted into activities such as drug smuggling illegal logging, membership in tiny roving militia groups—anything to get something to eat. The international community showered an enormous amount of money at the more obvious needs—mostly housing and infrastructure in the larger cities. But after that: show’s over. On to the next attractive disaster. Which I believe was Katrina and New Orleans. How many people are still volunteering down there? Not many, I suspect. The thrill of being in the epicenter of history is over; the banality of true altruism does not appeal to most. My agency JMD looked around Aceh and went to areas where nobody wanted to go, and found that the conflict victims (such as those in east Aceh) suffered just as much as those hardest hit by the tsunami . . . but they were in tiny villages, on impassable and thug-controlled roads, suspicious and wandering . . . economy of scale—remember? Best forget em.
Tiny bits of suffering, suffering in small groups, does not make governments feel good enough to open the books. Even when the Rohingya briefly became the It-Refugee of 2009 after Angelina Jolie’s visit to Thailand, no one stepped up to the plate with donations, not even Ms Jolie, who to her credit has made donations . . . just not to the Rohingya. How about it, Angelina? It’s only $70,000.
Get a grip, Sara.
That’s Sheila talking. She’s doubtful that Oprah or the New Yorker will be tolerant of the tone this is taking.
I’m off to Washington anyway to meet with some donors about this and maybe we will get somewhere by the end of the week. (Actually I am probably already there as of the date of this being posted.)
Go to UNHCR’s website and make a donation. And write to Angelina and tell her to do the same. I’ll keep you posted on my meetings in D.C.
So there are 198 Rohingya refugees in the district of East Aceh (Aceh Timur) and another 193 on Sabang Island, being fed (for the time being) and wondered about by the Indonesian Navy. That’s 381 people that Aceh received as a result of the January 2009 wave of escapes from either Myanmar (Burma) or Bangladesh; many of the estimated 2,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi who began the journey died at sea, some went to Thailand but were unceremoniously ejected, some got to remain in Thailand. A friend recently asked me, “What is so special about these people that you are trying to help them?” Meaning, I suppose, that JMD’s target citizens are the poorest, hardest-to-access, most at-risk in all Aceh (and that’s saying a lot), so why drop everything for this group? The only thing I can come up with is: because they’re human, and they’re starving, they’re homeless, and they have no one. But it got me thinking, surely there are not just 398 people in the world who have no country, no citizenship, have been persecuted and evicted for hundreds of years, and end up corralled in a camp on foreign soil with no way to communicate, no way to work or feed their families, looking different, believing different, exhausted from the last escape? Only 398?
Well, a) I guess that’s pretty good, and b) why then is it like pulling teeth to get the UN and big international aid agencies/donors interested?
I mean . . . right before I left Aceh in March I drew up a needs and cost list with our staff and came up with a figure of $70,000 to house, feed, and provide medical and education services to the refugees for the next 6 months. That’s (wait for it) $2.03 per person per day for ALL their needs. Chump change for any government, right?
Economy of scale, I was told by a higher-up.
There are too few starving, frightened, persecuted individuals to justify the paperwork.
Isn’t that nice.
But! I was told, fear not: the UN High Commission for Refugees and the International Order of Migrations will be conducting “refugee verification” for a month in the camp starting next week. Which is an interrogation process designed to determine your “status.”
To sum up the process, you will be categorized as one of the following:
--Rohingya from Myanmar , starving
--Rohingya form Bangladesh, starving
--Bangladeshi from Myanmar, starving
--Rohingya from Thai internment, starving and beaten.
Then presumably the interviewer gives you a piece of paper telling you what they decided you are . . . and you take a bite out of it.
Funny thing. Still starving.
And for those lucky Rohingya who are determined to have actually come from Myanmar (though they aren’t considered “citizens” because the Rohingya are everyone’s favorite piece of inhuman garbage in southeast Asia) you get to go back to the bosom of your step-motherland . . . IF you admit you’re NOT Rohingya after all but Bangladeshi!
Is anyone else besides me made physically sick by this?
I went back to my original question . . . why was it that I was so interested in these 198 people? I’d met some of them last month in the temporary camp where our staff was helping by donating food, water, etc. and they are every bit as needy and desperate as the Acehnese JMD serves every day. I just kept thinking . . . why is this tiny $70,000 problem so untouchable?
Then the rational me took over.
Get real, she said. (I call her Sheila. She’s very well dressed, perfect hair and makeup, and she sits across the table from me sometimes, when I’m bleary-eyed in a ratty robe, staring blankly into a coffee cup, and she berates me for my foolishness. I loathe her most of the time, But she’s always right.) She asks pointedly, Do you really think that 398 Rohingya refugees, or even all Rohingya refugees, or even all Rohingya for that matter, represent all people who wind up in already impoverished or war-torn places, worse off than the already decimated host country’s population, unable to prove their citizenship or political/social/economic persecution, asking to just have a place to live and breathe?
And I realized, it’s not economy of scale after all—it’s the exact opposite. What do we as nations do about people with no country? How do we hold each other accountable, do the right thing, and in the meantime feed the kids, teach the dads how to communicate with us, protect the moms from being sold into slavery?
What the big organizations have been trying to tell me and the few small agencies in East Aceh building latrines and cooking diner and keeping TB out of the camp, is that if they provide direct assistance to 198 people, they will have to think about the millions more, all over the globe, that can then no longer be comfortably forgotten.
So in my mind I sent my eye around the world . . . just to remember a little bit of what I’d heard and read over the years—me, who’s been focused on Aceh for so long . . . so much suffering—I guess we all just take as much as we can stand, and try to forget the rest. So I had to remember what I’d been forgetting. Eastern Europe. The Roma, Ashkali, Gorani . . . still in camps maybe? Still treated as non-citizens by both Serbia and Kosovo, and maybe even Romania? And what of Africa? All the tribes and nations there. Darfur. Displaced by conflict. Where are they? How many camps are they in? The Congo. My god, how do you start looking for groups there? South America. Indigenous communities shoved off land newly discovered to have key mineral deposits. Afghanistan. Who takes care of the farmers in areas where the Taliban now control the opium trade? I wanted to find people who have no country, So if, for example, I learn of the nearly 30 million people in India who last year the government admitted were unaccounted for after the earthquake, I have to take them off my list, because as awful as their situation is, they still are considered citizens. Same as some nations of Native Americans in western US—I don’t think the Oglala Sioux are living any higher off the hog than they were when the FBI raided them in 1973 and falsely convicted Leonard Peltier of murdering an agent. But they’re US citizens, so they don’t go on my list.
So many lists, when you think about it.
So much atonement.
Maybe this is why all this gets me. I’ve been a banker all my life. I believe in accountability. The karmic bottom line, where the balance sheet is hopefully zero, ideally in the black, but never, never owing.
And we owe so much. How will it ever get repaid? And who or what are we repaying?
I don’t run around trying to madly balance all injustices, if that’s what you’re thinking.
I would, however, like to see justice. I would not have to frantically always look to see where it’s hiding in places like East Aceh. Atonement is a bottomless well, and justice is a big dark pit. Martin Luther King said, "The arc of history is long . . . but it bends towards justice.” I work with that in mind, but as a human I would like to create some small measure of comfort in the lives of people like these 198 Rohingya, who let’s face it will never see justice. They may see food, and a permanent home, and a reunion with their families, maybe—but they won’t see justice. They are too few, and too many, at the same time.
There are, I found, several websites and publications dealing with stateless people, as they are called, and the solutions offered that would help them obtain a quality of life that most now lack. But what I found was so vast, and the problem is so insidious . . . Refugees International, for example, has published Nationality for All: A Progress Report and Global Survey on Statelessness that is a must-read for anyone interested in knowing the magnitude of this issue.
At the risk of quoting too much from their 68-page report, going to just share their introduction with you (the emphases are mine):
Nationality is a fundamental human right and a foundation of identity, dignity, justice, peace,
and security. But statelessness, or the lack of effective nationality, affects millions of men,
women, and children worldwide. Being stateless means having no legal protection or right to
participate in political processes, inadequate access to health care and education, poor employment
prospects and poverty, little opportunity to own property, travel restrictions, social exclusion,
vulnerability to trafficking, harassment, and violence.
Stateless people are found in all regions of the world. Among the most vulnerable groups are
Rohingya in Burma and throughout Asia, Bidun in the Middle East, Roma in Europe, children
of Haitian migrants in the Caribbean, individuals from the former Soviet bloc, denationalized
Kurds, some Palestinians, and certain groups in Thailand. Their situations of legal limbo result
from many factors such as political change, expulsion of people from a territory, discrimination,
nationality based solely on descent, and laws regulating marriage and birth registration.
Because states have the sovereign right to determine the procedures and conditions for
acquisition and loss of citizenship, statelessness and disputed nationality must ultimately be
resolved by governments. But state determinations on citizenship must conform to general
principles of international law. Numerous international instruments, including the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, affirm nationality rights. Two UN conventions on statelessness
have long existed, but they are not widely ratified. To date, 63 countries have become party to
the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, and 35 countries have acceded
to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Millions. That’s what it says. No wonder just 198 don’t have a chance.
When the 2004 tsunami and earthquake hit Aceh, it precipitated a 2005 peace agreement between the Indonesian government and opposition forces in Aceh. The effects of the tsunami grew to encompass, and almost become indistinguishable from, the effects of the former conflict: people left homeless, with 80% of the family dead, livelihoods wiped out, survivors being tempted into activities such as drug smuggling illegal logging, membership in tiny roving militia groups—anything to get something to eat. The international community showered an enormous amount of money at the more obvious needs—mostly housing and infrastructure in the larger cities. But after that: show’s over. On to the next attractive disaster. Which I believe was Katrina and New Orleans. How many people are still volunteering down there? Not many, I suspect. The thrill of being in the epicenter of history is over; the banality of true altruism does not appeal to most. My agency JMD looked around Aceh and went to areas where nobody wanted to go, and found that the conflict victims (such as those in east Aceh) suffered just as much as those hardest hit by the tsunami . . . but they were in tiny villages, on impassable and thug-controlled roads, suspicious and wandering . . . economy of scale—remember? Best forget em.
Tiny bits of suffering, suffering in small groups, does not make governments feel good enough to open the books. Even when the Rohingya briefly became the It-Refugee of 2009 after Angelina Jolie’s visit to Thailand, no one stepped up to the plate with donations, not even Ms Jolie, who to her credit has made donations . . . just not to the Rohingya. How about it, Angelina? It’s only $70,000.
Get a grip, Sara.
That’s Sheila talking. She’s doubtful that Oprah or the New Yorker will be tolerant of the tone this is taking.
I’m off to Washington anyway to meet with some donors about this and maybe we will get somewhere by the end of the week. (Actually I am probably already there as of the date of this being posted.)
Go to UNHCR’s website and make a donation. And write to Angelina and tell her to do the same. I’ll keep you posted on my meetings in D.C.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
As the Bali Process looms . . . the Rohingya gain a small (but important) measure of press
This week I've been writing an article concerning my experiences in Aceh with the “Rohingya Issue,” as they seem to be calling it for the April 14 Bali Process. I'm going to publish the article here first, but while I am editing it for excessive venom and name-calling (which, while making me feel better, doesn’t forge any lasting positive relationships—darn it all) I would like to reprint the following two pertinent pieces, that I think are good complements, in that the first is the journalist version and the second is the activist version of the current attention paid to this group of stateless people, 198 of whom we've been trying to help in East Aceh. It appears there’s activity afoot regarding these refugees, but there are so many little political, social and economic threads to this web it’ll be a miracle if political correctness doesn’t render us paralyzed to exercise any kind of compassion at all.
From the Jakarta Post (and edited for brevity):
RI [Republic of Indonesia], Myanmar discuss democracy, refugees –17 Mar 09
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein here Monday to discuss the contentious issues of the Rohingya boatpeople and democracy in the junta-ruled country. Yudhoyono emphasized the need for a “practical solution” to resolve the Rohingya problem, and urged Myanmar to prove to the world that its “road map to democracy” could work by holding “fair” and “inclusive” general elections planned for next year. “Prime Minister Thein Sein said the Myanmar government is paying close attention to the [Rohingya] issue. Basically it says it will accept back the Rohingya people as long as they can prove they are indeed from Myanmar,” [emphasis added] Indonesian presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told the press after the meeting of the two leaders at the State Palace in Jakarta. He added some of the refugees may have come from Bangladesh.
Dino said both leaders had basically agreed the Rohingya issue needed to be resolved through the Bali Process, a regional mechanism aimed at combating people smuggling, trafficking and related transnational crimes, which was agreed upon by ASEAN leaders during the recent ASEAN Summit. Myanmar, however, wanted the Bali Process not to focus on the Rohingya refugee issue. Dino added Indonesia would extend the interim phase of humanitarian assistance for 400 Rohingya boatpeople stranded in Aceh province until a final solution to the problem was found. The refugees, believed to have come from Myanmar, were heading to Thailand before being stranded in Indonesia’s westernmost province. “The Indonesian government will establish bilateral cooperation with the Myanmar government, and will involve the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration to solve the problem,” Dino said. The two leaders also discussed the touchy issue of democracy in Myanmar. . . .[and] a range of other issues, including regional and international matters. . . . It is Thein Sein’s first visit to Indonesia since he assumed his present post in October 2007. This would be the time for Myanmar to prove to the world it would complete its seven-step road map to democracy. Erwida Maulia.
*****
And from the most recent post on the blog of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHROM) http://merhrom.wordpress.com
(edited for brevity, but the blog is a MUST READ for anyone interested in the history of the Rohingya)
10 April 2009
URGENT APPEAL TO THE ASEAN AND WORLD LEADERS TO SAVE ROHINGYAS
Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHROM) is deeply concerned over the increase of the human rights abuses against Rohingyas in Arakan State of Burma in recent months. The situation of Rohingyas in Arakan State became worst after the International media highlighted Rohingya Boat People plight since December 2008.
The military regime continued to subject Rohingya and Muslims in Arakan State to harassment, arbitrary arrest, extortion, and religious persecution. In the current development, a Rohingya girl, identified as Hamida (16) was killed and hacked into three pieces by monks in Sittwe (Akyab), the capital of Arakan State on March 28, 2009.
. . . . The Rohingya villagers did not dare to file a case in the police station against the monks for fear of retaliation from the Rakhine community. . . . In the same month, it was reported that at least 10 houses belonging to Rohingyas were set fire and burnt into ashes by Rakhine mobs around Sindi Prang village of Buthidaung Township at night time. No action was taken against any culprits by the military regime. Further to this, the military regime has deployed hundreds of thousands of military forces into Arakan State which lead to excessive human rights abuses against Rohingyas.
. . . .MERHROM is deeply concerned over the way ASEAN countries have been handling the Rohingyas issue. There were suggestions from some ASEAN countries including Malaysia and Thailand to send Rohingyas back to Burma. This would only make our situation worst as we know exactly how we will be treated by the military regime once we are forcefully deported. This is a matter of life and death. The ASEAN countries cannot take peoples’ life for granted what more when the ASEAN have its own charter now that gives priority to its peoples.
We applaud the statement by the Singapore government that they will assist Rohingya refugees by providing humanitarian assistance so that they can depart for a third country. . . . We appeal to the Malaysian government . . . to make sure that the Rohingyas in exile will not be sent back forcefully to the place where they would face persecution and prosecution. Although most ASEAN countries did not sign Refugee Convention 1951 and its 1967 Protocol, the ASEAN countries are binding to the Non-Refoulement principle.
. . . [R]eturning Rohingyas to Burma seems to be the main agenda of the ASEAN Leaders. This cannot happen as there will be repercussion on Rohingyas. The military regime had announced clearly that Rohingyas are not the citizen of Burma. They further stated that the Rohingyas are dark skinned and “as ugly as ogres.” This is disgrace to the human being as we are the creation of Almighty GOD. The military regime stated that they will only accept Rohingyas if they admit that they are Bengali and their status are still non citizen. This cannot happen as the Rohingyas are not Bengali. Rohingyas has its own language and culture which is different from Bengali.
. . . .According to Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim, a total of 144 Rohingyas in Malaysia were sent to other countries between 2003-2008. This show the lack of commitment and political will of UNHCR and third countries. Resettlement countries though UNHCR and the World Leaders are fully aware the plight of Rohingyas in Burma and why we became refugees. The main reason remains Rohingyas are Muslim. [emphais added]
. . . . We recommend that the ASEAN Leaders to visit Arakan State and to get the accurate information on situation of Rohingyas from the Rohingyas themselves. We also recommend that the ASEAN Secretariat to consult the regional and international human rights organizations who have done many research on Rohingyas in order to get accurate and non-bias information.
The visit by the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres to the Arakan State on March 7, 2009 revealed the real situation of Rohinyas though he did not say much to the media about his visit. On the basis of his observations and the discussions held, the High Commissioner came to the conclusion that UNHCR’s current level of activities in northern Rakhine State does not correspond to the actual needs and a decision was taken to upgrade the program with immediate effect.
We welcome the move by the ASEAN Leaders to discuss the Rohingyas issue at the Bali Process scheduled for 14-15 April. However we would like to emphasize that the Rohingyas issue is not just relating to Human Trafficking but there is more to it. The discussion must be broader, especially focusing on the recognition of Rohingyas as citizen as well as addressing the ways to stop gross human rights abuses against Rohingyas. The ASEAN Leaders must recognize that Rohingyas are very in need of the International protection as refugees.
We also call on the UNHCR and the Resettlement countries not to discriminate Rohingyas in the Resettlement program as we are also recognized refugees who need the same protection. At the same time we call the ASEAN and World Leaders for more comprehensive and effective intervention in Burma.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani
President Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHROM)
From the Jakarta Post (and edited for brevity):
RI [Republic of Indonesia], Myanmar discuss democracy, refugees –17 Mar 09
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein here Monday to discuss the contentious issues of the Rohingya boatpeople and democracy in the junta-ruled country. Yudhoyono emphasized the need for a “practical solution” to resolve the Rohingya problem, and urged Myanmar to prove to the world that its “road map to democracy” could work by holding “fair” and “inclusive” general elections planned for next year. “Prime Minister Thein Sein said the Myanmar government is paying close attention to the [Rohingya] issue. Basically it says it will accept back the Rohingya people as long as they can prove they are indeed from Myanmar,” [emphasis added] Indonesian presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told the press after the meeting of the two leaders at the State Palace in Jakarta. He added some of the refugees may have come from Bangladesh.
Dino said both leaders had basically agreed the Rohingya issue needed to be resolved through the Bali Process, a regional mechanism aimed at combating people smuggling, trafficking and related transnational crimes, which was agreed upon by ASEAN leaders during the recent ASEAN Summit. Myanmar, however, wanted the Bali Process not to focus on the Rohingya refugee issue. Dino added Indonesia would extend the interim phase of humanitarian assistance for 400 Rohingya boatpeople stranded in Aceh province until a final solution to the problem was found. The refugees, believed to have come from Myanmar, were heading to Thailand before being stranded in Indonesia’s westernmost province. “The Indonesian government will establish bilateral cooperation with the Myanmar government, and will involve the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration to solve the problem,” Dino said. The two leaders also discussed the touchy issue of democracy in Myanmar. . . .[and] a range of other issues, including regional and international matters. . . . It is Thein Sein’s first visit to Indonesia since he assumed his present post in October 2007. This would be the time for Myanmar to prove to the world it would complete its seven-step road map to democracy. Erwida Maulia.
*****
And from the most recent post on the blog of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHROM) http://merhrom.wordpress.com
(edited for brevity, but the blog is a MUST READ for anyone interested in the history of the Rohingya)
10 April 2009
URGENT APPEAL TO THE ASEAN AND WORLD LEADERS TO SAVE ROHINGYAS
Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHROM) is deeply concerned over the increase of the human rights abuses against Rohingyas in Arakan State of Burma in recent months. The situation of Rohingyas in Arakan State became worst after the International media highlighted Rohingya Boat People plight since December 2008.
The military regime continued to subject Rohingya and Muslims in Arakan State to harassment, arbitrary arrest, extortion, and religious persecution. In the current development, a Rohingya girl, identified as Hamida (16) was killed and hacked into three pieces by monks in Sittwe (Akyab), the capital of Arakan State on March 28, 2009.
. . . . The Rohingya villagers did not dare to file a case in the police station against the monks for fear of retaliation from the Rakhine community. . . . In the same month, it was reported that at least 10 houses belonging to Rohingyas were set fire and burnt into ashes by Rakhine mobs around Sindi Prang village of Buthidaung Township at night time. No action was taken against any culprits by the military regime. Further to this, the military regime has deployed hundreds of thousands of military forces into Arakan State which lead to excessive human rights abuses against Rohingyas.
. . . .MERHROM is deeply concerned over the way ASEAN countries have been handling the Rohingyas issue. There were suggestions from some ASEAN countries including Malaysia and Thailand to send Rohingyas back to Burma. This would only make our situation worst as we know exactly how we will be treated by the military regime once we are forcefully deported. This is a matter of life and death. The ASEAN countries cannot take peoples’ life for granted what more when the ASEAN have its own charter now that gives priority to its peoples.
We applaud the statement by the Singapore government that they will assist Rohingya refugees by providing humanitarian assistance so that they can depart for a third country. . . . We appeal to the Malaysian government . . . to make sure that the Rohingyas in exile will not be sent back forcefully to the place where they would face persecution and prosecution. Although most ASEAN countries did not sign Refugee Convention 1951 and its 1967 Protocol, the ASEAN countries are binding to the Non-Refoulement principle.
. . . [R]eturning Rohingyas to Burma seems to be the main agenda of the ASEAN Leaders. This cannot happen as there will be repercussion on Rohingyas. The military regime had announced clearly that Rohingyas are not the citizen of Burma. They further stated that the Rohingyas are dark skinned and “as ugly as ogres.” This is disgrace to the human being as we are the creation of Almighty GOD. The military regime stated that they will only accept Rohingyas if they admit that they are Bengali and their status are still non citizen. This cannot happen as the Rohingyas are not Bengali. Rohingyas has its own language and culture which is different from Bengali.
. . . .According to Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim, a total of 144 Rohingyas in Malaysia were sent to other countries between 2003-2008. This show the lack of commitment and political will of UNHCR and third countries. Resettlement countries though UNHCR and the World Leaders are fully aware the plight of Rohingyas in Burma and why we became refugees. The main reason remains Rohingyas are Muslim. [emphais added]
. . . . We recommend that the ASEAN Leaders to visit Arakan State and to get the accurate information on situation of Rohingyas from the Rohingyas themselves. We also recommend that the ASEAN Secretariat to consult the regional and international human rights organizations who have done many research on Rohingyas in order to get accurate and non-bias information.
The visit by the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres to the Arakan State on March 7, 2009 revealed the real situation of Rohinyas though he did not say much to the media about his visit. On the basis of his observations and the discussions held, the High Commissioner came to the conclusion that UNHCR’s current level of activities in northern Rakhine State does not correspond to the actual needs and a decision was taken to upgrade the program with immediate effect.
We welcome the move by the ASEAN Leaders to discuss the Rohingyas issue at the Bali Process scheduled for 14-15 April. However we would like to emphasize that the Rohingyas issue is not just relating to Human Trafficking but there is more to it. The discussion must be broader, especially focusing on the recognition of Rohingyas as citizen as well as addressing the ways to stop gross human rights abuses against Rohingyas. The ASEAN Leaders must recognize that Rohingyas are very in need of the International protection as refugees.
We also call on the UNHCR and the Resettlement countries not to discriminate Rohingyas in the Resettlement program as we are also recognized refugees who need the same protection. At the same time we call the ASEAN and World Leaders for more comprehensive and effective intervention in Burma.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani
President Myanmar Ethnic Rohingyas Human Rights Organization Malaysia (MERHROM)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Aceh Timur's Rohingya Refugees in the News
The following news clips are from an informational email news service called the Serambi Daily Summary, in which important articles from the country that are especially pertinent to Aceh are translated into English and distributed to interested organizations working in the area. The editors note that “unless marked otherwise, all summaries are extracted from the Serambi Indonesia which is our prime source. The following publications are also monitored: Harian Aceh, Rakyat Aceh, Metro Aceh, Waspada, Analisa, Pro Haba, Aceh Independen, Modus Aceh, Kontras and Tempo."
Monday 16 March 09
The Government are Requested to Involve UNHCR to Handle the Rohingya
Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Government is requested to invite UNHCR’s involvement in the handling the Rohingya boatpeople stranded in Aceh several months ago. “We hope that the government will involve UNHCR because the government of Sabang is unable to continuously assist them, especially their logistic needs,” said the Mayor of Sabang, Munawarliza Zainal in Banda Aceh, Tuesday (17/03). When Myanmar’s Prime Minister, General Thein Sein, visited Indonesia, Myanmar’s agreed to accept these boatpeople back to Myanmar only if they could prove that they are indeed Myanmarese. In this regard, the Government of Indonesia agreed to extend their stay as refugees in Indonesia until a final solution is found. Responding to this agreement, the Mayor of Sabang stated that if the Central Government instructed Pemko Sabang (the local government) to utilize the district budget, the Pemko will be able to so. “However, we have not gotten any instruction to use the district budget from the central government; therefore we presently can only assist humanitarianly,” Munawarliza added. According to Munawarliza, the 193 Rohingyas, now camped in Sabang, are being assisted by some NGOS and other parties, yet the logistic stock is very limited.
And an update in the 3/26 summary:
Again, Muslim Aid Assists the Rohingya Refugees
Banda Aceh – For the second time, Muslim Aid Indonesia have assisted the Rohingya refugees in their camp in Idi, Aceh Timur. This time, Muslim Aid distributed food and medicine and it will build three toilets at the camp site. Special Program Officer of Muslim Aid Indonesia, Abdul Hamid, in his press release to Serambi on Thursday, said that food and medicine packages were directly distributed to the refugees, who are now at the office of Camat of Idi Rayeuk, on Thursday (26/03). Meanwhile, the toilets are under construction and will be ready in three days.
My notes: At this time IOM and UNHCR are helping the Sabang camp but as of today (3/27) they are not involved with the Idi camp. Also: the latrines are nearly complete, thanks to the folks at Muslim Aid. They truly are wonderful!!!
Monday 16 March 09
The Government are Requested to Involve UNHCR to Handle the Rohingya
Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Government is requested to invite UNHCR’s involvement in the handling the Rohingya boatpeople stranded in Aceh several months ago. “We hope that the government will involve UNHCR because the government of Sabang is unable to continuously assist them, especially their logistic needs,” said the Mayor of Sabang, Munawarliza Zainal in Banda Aceh, Tuesday (17/03). When Myanmar’s Prime Minister, General Thein Sein, visited Indonesia, Myanmar’s agreed to accept these boatpeople back to Myanmar only if they could prove that they are indeed Myanmarese. In this regard, the Government of Indonesia agreed to extend their stay as refugees in Indonesia until a final solution is found. Responding to this agreement, the Mayor of Sabang stated that if the Central Government instructed Pemko Sabang (the local government) to utilize the district budget, the Pemko will be able to so. “However, we have not gotten any instruction to use the district budget from the central government; therefore we presently can only assist humanitarianly,” Munawarliza added. According to Munawarliza, the 193 Rohingyas, now camped in Sabang, are being assisted by some NGOS and other parties, yet the logistic stock is very limited.
And an update in the 3/26 summary:
Again, Muslim Aid Assists the Rohingya Refugees
Banda Aceh – For the second time, Muslim Aid Indonesia have assisted the Rohingya refugees in their camp in Idi, Aceh Timur. This time, Muslim Aid distributed food and medicine and it will build three toilets at the camp site. Special Program Officer of Muslim Aid Indonesia, Abdul Hamid, in his press release to Serambi on Thursday, said that food and medicine packages were directly distributed to the refugees, who are now at the office of Camat of Idi Rayeuk, on Thursday (26/03). Meanwhile, the toilets are under construction and will be ready in three days.
My notes: At this time IOM and UNHCR are helping the Sabang camp but as of today (3/27) they are not involved with the Idi camp. Also: the latrines are nearly complete, thanks to the folks at Muslim Aid. They truly are wonderful!!!