by Chris Lewa
Today, about 21,500 Rohingya refugees are sheltering in two camps,
Kutupalong (about 8,500) and Nayapara (about 13,000), located between Cox's
Bazar and Teknaf in southern Bangladesh near the border with Burma. This
group remains from the mass exodus of 1991-92, when 250,000 Rohingya
refugees had fled from Burma to escape brutal repression against the Muslim
population in Northern Arakan State. A mass repatriation programme
overseen by UNHCR took place in 1994/95, which was far from voluntary.
Since then, and until September 2002, repatriation from the camps had mostly
stalled.
The 21,500 refugees in the Nayapara and Kutupalong camps under UNHCR
protection are only the visible side of the crisis. Since 1996, thousands
of Rohingyas, both repatriated refugees as well as new arrivals, have
continued to trickle back from Burma into Bangladesh. They have been
denied access to the refugee camps, and have joined the more than 100,000
undocumented Rohingya living outside the camps, often surviving in extreme
poverty in villages or slums around Cox's Bazar and Teknaf. Local sources
estimate that, in 2002, more than 10,000 Rohingya crossed the border
illegally to seek sanctuary in Bangladesh. They became invisible refugees,
being labeled as economic migrants by the Bangladesh authorities.
Rohingya who have settled outside the camps regularly face arrests,
deportation or eviction. In November 2002, the local Teknaf administration
launched an eviction campaign against illegal migrants in the District,
leaving thousands homeless and under threat of deportation. With nowhere to
go, they set up a makeshift settlement in Teknaf where today more than 4,000
Rohingya are still camping out in extremely precarious conditions without
assistance, adequate water and sanitation[7].
Root Causes in Burma
The root causes of the continuing influx of Rohingya lie across the border
in Burma. As a result of the Burmese regime's policies of exclusion, the
Rohingya Muslims are stateless under the 1982 Citizenship Law[8]. They are
subjected to severe restrictions of movement, which affect their ability to
trade and to seek employment as well as limit their access to health care
and education. They need to obtain a travel permit even to visit a
neighbouring village and, following the communal riots in Sittwe in February
2001, travel authorisations were no longer issued for Rohingyas to go beyond
Maungdaw and Buthidaung. Sittwe is now totally off limits to them.
Arbitrary confiscation of land without compensation continues, either to
provide land for new Buddhist settlers or to build and enlarge military
camps, including plantations to grow crops for the military for their own
food as well as for commercial purposes. In 2002, at least two new "model
village" for Buddhist settlers were established in Maungdaw Township and
several military camps have been constructed or expanded to consolidate the
border between Burma and Bangladesh in the aftermath of the September 11
attack and the global anti-terrorist campaign[9].
As documented by the ILO in early 2003[10], forced labour is far from being
eradicated in Northern Arakan State, even though there has been a
significant reduction in the practice over the last decade after UNHCR and
WFP [World Food Program] took over responsibility for building local road
infrastructure. Compulsory labour continues to be exacted by the military
and the NaSaKa[11] for camp maintenance, construction of military
facilities, as well as for plantation work in fields confiscated from the
villagers. Villagers are also forced to build and repair the houses of
Buddhist settlers. Sentry duty is routinely demanded from villagers, and
porters are regularly recruited in remote areas. Other types of labour are
also requisitioned for the commercial benefit of the military and NaSaKa --
work such as shrimp farm maintenance, collecting bamboo and wood for sale,
brick baking, etc. The poor cannot pay bribes to avoid forced labour and
are thus compelled to perform not o! nly their own stint of work, but also
that of those who had paid off the authorities. The related loss of income
deprives them of their daily earnings and greatly contributes to food
insecurity. During the first quarter of 2003, new allegations of forced
labour for rehabilitation of roads and military facilities as well as for
brick baking have been reported.
Illegal taxation and extortion are widely and increasingly reported. In
particular, Rohingya need to obtain permission to get married, and the large
fee demanded is beyond the means of many. The tactic of arresting people
for minor offences or just for being out after dark and demanding high
bribes in return for their release appears to have become common practice
recently. Moreover, the military control over the local economy, both
directly through collection of taxes at checkpoints and from the border
trade, and indirectly through a monopoly system on local commodities based
on business licences granted in exchange for high bribes, forbids any
free-enterprise initiative and hampers any economic development.
The Rohingya in Northern Arakan State continue to face constant humiliation
and systematic discrimination, and are subject to widespread human rights
violations. They are living in a climate of fear and oppression. Despite the
presence of UNHCR and international agencies, conditions have hardly
improved. As one NGO representative in Rangoon recently stated: "The
presence of UNHCR and some international NGOs has only provided limited
relief, but not a structural change."
Political will on the part of the military junta is required to end these
policies of exclusion and discrimination and to improve the lot of the
Rohingya people. But as long as the SPDC considers the Muslims in Arakan
State as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh[12], there is little hope of a
significant betterment of their status and living conditions. These
conditions can hardly be qualified as being "conducive for a return in
safety and with dignity" of the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. This
explains why the majority of Rohingya refugees in the camps in Bangladesh do
not agree to repatriate voluntarily.
Excerpted from a report by FORUM-ASIA. FORUM-ASIA is a regional network of
human rights and development organizations in Asia. It was established in
Manila, Philippines in 1991.
"The Rohingya Minority: Fundamental Rights Denied,"
Amnesty International, May 19, 2004
[An amendment to the citizenship laws in 1982 deprived the Rohingyas of
citizenship, suddenly making them illegal immigrants in their own
home.--Benjamin Morgan, "China's southwest a safe haven for
Myanmar's Muslims," Daily Times, October 3, 2007]
[Continued human-rights abuses against the estimated 725,000 Rohingya in
Myanmar and the denial of citizenship rights, including the inability to own
land and the necessity of obtaining government permission to travel or even
marry, has resulted in many fleeing to Bangladesh in recent years.
While human-rights and humanitarian groups put the present number of
registered and unregistered Rohingya in Bangladesh at around 220,000, Dhaka
now claims there are some 400,000. Of those, only 28,000 are officially
registered refugees living in three officially designated camps and
receiving humanitarian aid.--Brian McCartan, "Bilateral
repression for Myanmar's Rohingya," Asia Times, February 23, 2010]
Copyright © 2003 Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development
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