“It’s reasonable now to talk about genocide prevention in Myanmar.”

The New York Times hasn’t let up on the Rohingya crisis, and it’s taken a nasty turn--as if it could get any nastier.  (Rohingya Women Flee Violence Only to Be Sold Into Marriage, August 2)

In true malicious-government fashion, Myanmar has forced so many Rohingya men to flee to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia that a new and nefarious demand has cropped up—Rohingya men want to start families where they live and so are paying traffikers (again, Rohingya) who see a good market and trick young women into traveling out of the country with their families—only to be sold to the Rohingya men.

For the Myanmar government, this is perfect.  Where have we heard this refrain before: “See? It isn’t our fault—they’re doing it to themselves.”  East Timor, Aceh . . . sound familiar?  You dehumanize a population to the point where it is impossible to act for the good of the group; everyone is relying on blind and desperate instinct, and morality falls away. As Matthew Smith of Fortify Rights says, “It’s reasonable now to talk about genocide prevention in Myanmar.”  And Rohingya activist Nur warns, “If this keeps up, in 30-40 years there will be no Rohingya culture.  Everything is shutting down on us.”

Ambiya Khatu, center, with her niece and mother, married a man in Malaysia who paid $1,050 for her release from smugglers. Credit Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

“I was allowed to call my parents, and they said that if I was willing, it would be better for all the family,” said Shahidah Yunus, 22. “I understood what I must do.”

She joined the hundreds of young Rohingya women from Myanmar sold into marriage to Rohingya men already in Malaysia as the price of escaping violence and poverty in their homeland.

During Ramadan . . . remember the Rohingya

Not much to update re: the Rohingya refugee camp in Aceh Timur.  Local media and other sources report that ACT will still purchase land for rice fields to feed the refugees, but no details have been ironed out yet, and no purchase has happened.  The head of the military base at Aceh Utara, however, has stated publicly that he supported this and has promised that a officer from the base will work with ACT if the plan moves forward.

As Junaidi from JMD said, “We will watch and see this from afar.”

And as life in the camp continues, so does the discovery of more Rohingya victims of trafficking:

Malaysia buries another 24 human trafficking victims

06 July 2015

Total number of suspected Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants given Muslim burials reaches 99 after 106 bodies found near Thai border 

http://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/550566--malaysia-buries-another-24-human-trafficking-victims  

And lest we forget:

Horrible Rohingya Muslims massacre by Buddhists supported by Burmese government

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sK0h7Zqs3k

BURMANIZATION & ROHINGYA GENOCIDE (Amnesty International)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0W2SrQL97U

It’s actually hard to find any new reports this month. Certainly nothing on Myanmar or its reaction to "threats" of sanctions.

See?  The world  is already forgetting the Rohingya . . . again . . . . 

More mass graves of Rohingya found in Thailand . . . and still Myanmar refuses to acknowledge their citizenship, or humanity

Human Rights Watch’s May 1^st story about the discovery of 30 Rohingya buried in  mass graves in Thailand is the latest in the hundreds of instances each year highlighting the continual persecution of this group from Myanmar/Burma that the country refuses to acknowledge or assist. (http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/05/01/thailand-mass-graves-rohingya-found-trafficking-camp) 

“Each year, tens of thousands of Rohingya flee the dire human rights situation in Burma only to be further abused and exploited at the hands of traffickers in Thailand,” HRW’s Asia Director Brad Adams said. “The discovery of these mass graves should shock the Thai government into shutting down the trafficking networks that enrich officials but prey on extremely vulnerable people. Instead of sticking Rohingya in border camps or immigration lockups, the government should provide safety and protection.”

The 30 who were found had starved to death or died of disease “while held by traffickers who were awaiting payment of ransoms before smuggling them into Malaysia.  Traffickers controlling this camp apparently departed into the mountainous jungle, taking surviving Rohingya with them.”

Look at that photo.  That stick wrapped in plastic is a person.

Rescue workers transport one of the bodies found at an abandoned camp in Thailand's southern Songkhla province on May 1, 2015. © 2015 Reuters 

Human trafficking is something that Thailand seems to excel at, but what concerns me here is Myanmar, the country from which these people come and whose highest-ranking officials, including the Buddhist clergy, have waged an open genocidal war against their own citizens who they will now not even grant basic human rights.  “They’re Bangladeshi,” says Myanmar of these Myanmar-born Muslims who have never even set foot in Bangladesh, nor have their parents.  That’s like the US saying that everyone whose ancestors came from somewhere else will be denied social services, voting rights, employment, health care or housing. Plus, Catholic priests and Protestant ministers get to lead vicious attacks on groups of these non-citizens, beating the crap out of them, killing them, rounding them up and throwing them into camps and leaving them to die.  No wonder the Rohingya take their chances with Thai traffickers, who sound downright cuddly in comparison.

When you do a Google search of “Rohingya Killed in Myanmar 2014,” this is what you come up with, all in a row:

·      Rohingya Muslims feared killed in new Burma Rakhine State

·      Burma violence: UN calls for Rohingya deaths inquiry - BBC

·      28+Myanmar Rohingya Muslims Killed by Buddhists

·      Two-child limit on Myanmar Rohingya draws criticism   

·      U.N.: Dozens of Muslims massacred by Buddhists in Burma

·      4,000 Muslim Rohingyas killed, 8,000 missing in Myanmar

·      Rohingya Muslims considered by UN to be one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.   

·      How The World Is Ignoring Myanmar's Potential Genocide

·      Burma: End 'Ethnic Cleansing' of Rohingya Muslims

And that’s just the first page.

When I wonder why the world isn’t paying attention, I remind myself that it’s scarier to think that the world is paying attention . . . and it just does not care.