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Tag: human rights

  • 3 Myanmar Police Officers Found Guilty Of Abusing Rohingya Civilians, Sentenced To 2 Months Detention

    3 Myanmar Police Officers Found Guilty Of Abusing Rohingya Civilians, Sentenced To 2 Months Detention

    YANGON —  Three police officers have been sentenced to two months detention over a video showing them abusing Rohingya civilians, security sources told AFP on Wednesday (Feb 8), saying those involved had “no intention” to cause harm.

    Authorities detained several officers last month for beating Rohingya villagers during operations in the north of Rakhine state, where security forces are hunting militants behind raids on border posts.

    Nearly 70,000 Rohingya have fled to camps in southern Bangladesh since the lockdown started four months ago, bringing horrific stories of mass rape, murder, torture and arson.

    A UN report released on Friday based on interviews with escapees said hundreds of people have likely been killed in a “calculated policy of terror” that may amount to ethnic cleansing.

    Despite the mounting evidence, Myanmar’s government has largely dismissed allegations of widespread abuses against the Muslim minority, who most in the country consider a group of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

    The beating video, which appeared online in Dec, was a rare exception where authorities have taken action.

    The footage showed police hitting a young boy around the head as he walked to where dozens of villagers were lined up in rows seated on the ground, hands behind their heads.

    Several officers in uniform then start attacking one of the sitting men, beating him with a stick and kicking him repeatedly in the face.

    Three junior police were handed down two month sentences over the video, police sources told AFP, including the officer who filmed it previously named as Zaw Myo Htike by state media.

    However the officers are not serving their time in a civilian prison, but instead in a jail for police.

    Three senior police including a major were also demoted and their service terms were reduced for failing to enforce discipline.

    “They didn’t have any intention to hurt them,” a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the treatment of the Rohingya villagers.

    “During the operation, villagers said abusive words to security forces… such action was taken because they failed to follow police procedure.”

    A local police officer in Maungdaw also confirmed the officers were sentenced last month, blaming the events on the stress of working in northern Rakhine.

    “Police are dealing with many pressures on the ground and we have to risk our lives dealing with terrorists,” he said.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Human Rights Watch: Myanmar Commanders Must Be Punished For Rape Of Rohingya

    Human Rights Watch: Myanmar Commanders Must Be Punished For Rape Of Rohingya

    YANGON: Human Rights Watch on Monday called for Myanmar to punish army and police commanders if they allowed troops to rape and sexually assault women and girls of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

    The New York-based campaign group said it had documented rape, gang rape and other sexual violence against girls as young as 13 in interviews with some of the 69,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar security forces responded to attacks on border posts four months ago.

    “The sexual violence did not appear to be random or opportunistic, but part of a coordinated and systematic attack against Rohingya, in part because of their ethnicity and religion,” a Human Rights Watch (HRW) news release said.

    Reuters was unable to contact a Myanmar government spokesman to respond to the allegations.

    An estimated 1.1 million Rohingya live in the western state of Rakhine, but have their movements and access to services restricted. Rohingyas are barred from citizenship in Myanmar, where many call them “Bengalis” to suggest they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

    Independent journalists and observers have been barred from visiting the army’s operation zone in northern Rakhine since the Oct. 9 attacks that killed nine border police.

    The government has so far dismissed most claims that soldiers raped, beat, killed and arbitrarily detained civilians while burning down villages, insisting instead that a lawful operation is underway against a group of armed Rohingya insurgents.

    The HRW report comes just days after United Nations investigators said Myanmar’s security forces had “very likely” committed crimes against humanity, posing a dilemma for de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

    The Nobel Peace Prize winner took charge of most civilian affairs in April after a historic transition from full military rule, but soldiers retain a quarter of seats in parliament and control ministries related to security.

    U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said on Friday that Suu Kyi had promised to investigate the U.N.’s allegations.

    HRW said it had gathered evidence on 28 separate sexual assaults, including interviews with nine women who said they were raped or gang raped at gunpoint by security forces during the army’s so-called “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine.

    The women and other witnesses said the perpetrators were Myanmar army troops or border police, who they identified by their uniforms, kerchiefs, arm bands and patches, HRW said.

    “These horrific attacks on Rohingya women and girls by security forces add a new and brutal chapter to the Burmese military’s long and sickening history of sexual violence against women,” said HRW senior emergencies researcher Priyanka Motaparthy.

    “Military and police commanders should be held responsible for these crimes if they did not do everything in their power to stop them or punish those involved.”

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Myanmar detains cops over Rohingya abuse video

    Myanmar detains cops over Rohingya abuse video

    YANGON • Myanmar’s government yesterday said it has detained several police officers over a video apparently showing Rohingya civilians being beaten, a rare admission that the authorities may have carried out abuses against the Muslim minority.

    Tens of thousands of people from the persecuted ethnic group – loathed by many of Myanmar’s Buddhist majority – have fled a military operation in Rakhine province launched after attacks on police posts in October.

    Bangladesh says some 50,000 Rohingya have crossed its borders over the past two months. Many have brought harrowing accounts of rape, murder and arson at the hands of Myanmar’s security forces. Their stories have raised global alarm and galvanised protests against Myanmar’s de facto leader, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused of not doing enough to help the Rohingya.

    Her government has said troops are hunting militants behind deadly raids on police border posts, denying claims of atrocities and launching a dogged information campaign against reports of abuse.

    However, the authorities yesterday pledged to take action “against police officers who allegedly beat villagers during area clearance operations on Nov 5 in Kotankauk village”.

    Ms Suu Kyi’s office named four officers who were involved in the operation, including constable Zaw Myo Htike, who filmed the “selfie-style” video.

    “Those who (were) initially identified were detained,” it said in a statement. “Further investigations are being carried out to expose other police officers who beat villagers in the operation.”

    Dozens of videos have emerged apparently showing security forces abusing Rohingya, but this is the first time the government has said it will take action over them.

    The footage shows police hitting a young boy on the head as he walks to where dozens of villagers are seated in rows on the ground, hands behind their heads. Three officers then start attacking one of the men, beating him with a stick and kicking him repeatedly in the face.

    A Rohingya activist contacted by Agence France-Presse said the footage had been verified by a refugee from the nearby camp, Shilkhali.

    Around 600 people have been detained since the military operation, according to state media, including six who have died in police custody.

    Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long discriminated against the stateless Rohingya, who rights groups say are among the most persecuted people in the world.

    More than 120,000 have been trapped in squalid displacement camps since violence erupted in 2012 in Rakhine, where they are denied citizenship, access to healthcare and education.

    More than a dozen Nobel laureates wrote to the UN Security Council last week urging action to stop the “human tragedy amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” in northern Rakhine.

    Last month, UN rights commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein criticised the government’s “callous” handling of the crisis, describing it as “a lesson in how to make a bad situation worse”.

    Under Myanmar’s junta-era Constitution, Ms Suu Kyi’s civilian administration has limited power over the army, which maintains control of the defence, home and border ministries.

     

    Source: The Straits Times

  • UN To Myanmar: Your Reputation Is At Stake Over Rohingya Crisis

    UN To Myanmar: Your Reputation Is At Stake Over Rohingya Crisis

    UNITED NATIONS — The reputation of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in Myanmar is at stake amid international concerns over how it is dealing with violence in the country’s divided northwest, a senior United Nations official warned on Tuesday (Nov 29).

    The conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine State has sent hundreds of Rohingya Muslims fleeing across the border to Bangladesh amid allegations of abuses by security forces. The crisis poses a serious challenge to Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, who swept to power last year on promises of national reconciliation.

    In a statement, the U.N.’s special adviser on the prevention of genocide Adama Dieng, said the allegations “must be verified as a matter of urgency” and urged the government to allow access to the area.

    “If they are true, the lives of thousands of people are at risk. The reputation of Myanmar, its new Government and its military forces is also at stake in this matter,” he said.

    “Myanmar needs to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law and to the human rights of all its populations. It cannot expect that such serious allegations are ignored or go unscrutinised,” he said.

    Soldiers have poured into the area along Myanmar’s frontier with Bangladesh, responding to coordinated attacks on three border posts on Oct. 9 that killed nine police officers.

    Myanmar’s military and the government have rejected allegations by residents and rights groups that soldiers have raped Rohingya women, burnt houses and killed civilians during the military operation in Rakhine.

    The violence, the most serious bloodshed in Rakhine since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in 2012, has renewed international criticism that Ms Suu Kyi has done too little to alleviate the plight of the Rohingya minority, who are denied citizenship and access to basic services.

    “The government needs, for once and for all, to find a sustainable solution to the situation of the Rohingya Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities in Myanmar, a solution that is in full compliance with the international human rights standards that the government has pledged to respect,” Mr Dieng said.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Mohamed Jufrie Mahmood: Why Is Singapore Honouring Aung San Suu Kyi?

    Mohamed Jufrie Mahmood: Why Is Singapore Honouring Aung San Suu Kyi?

    Sementara PBB dan negara-negara serantau melalak dan mengutuk perempuan ini kerana sifat anti Muslim dan tidak berperikemanusiaan, kerana tidak bertindak terhadap kekejaman dan pembunuhan dalam negaranya, Singapura menyambut dan beri penghormatan kepadanya. Semua kerana duit. Masuk akalkah?

    While the UN and regional countries condemn this woman for her anti Muslim and anti humanitarian stance, with regard to her inaction over the atrocities and killings in her country, Singapore is honouring her. All because of money. Does it make sense?

     

    Source: Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood