From: hrcoord@igc.apc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: AI: Help Refugees
Date: 13 Sep 92 16:52:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700457:000:5981
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Sep 13 09:52:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: AI: Help Refugees


/* Written 11:25 pm  Sep 12, 1992 by aiusala in cdp:ai.general */
Amnesty International International Secretariat
1 Easton Street London WC1X 8DJ United Kingdom

FROM: PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS DATE: 3 SEPTEMBER 1992

WEEKLY UPDATE SERVICE 35/92
	    EXTERNAL

MYANMAR/BANGLADESH: AI CALLS FOR HELP FOR BURMESE MUSLIM REFUGEES

Amnesty International continues to be concerned about the
situation of around a quarter of a million Burmese Muslim refugees
who have fled to Bangladesh.  It is calling on the international
community to take action to ensure their protection.

Over 260,000 Burmese Muslims, often known as Rohingyas, have fled
to Bangladesh from Rakhine (Arakan) State in Myanmar (Burma) since
early 1991.  Amnesty International has gathered first-hand
testimony from victims and eye-witnesses which shows that Muslims
living in Rakhine State have suffered extensive and gross
violations of their human rights.

The Myanmar armed forces have forcibly evicted Muslims from their
homes (which in many cases they then destroyed), arbitrarily
detained many of them and, in some cases, tortured and
extrajudicially executed them.  In other cases, Muslims have been
tortured and ill-treated while serving as forcibly conscripted
porters or labourers on construction sites for the military.  In
one recent case, a 60-year-old man from a village near Maungdaw
town died in custody, apparently as a result of beatings by
soldiers, in June 1992.

If the refugees are to be able to return safely from Bangladesh to
Myanmar, the international community must press the government of
Myanmar to accept effective international monitoring of their
voluntary repatriation.  This must include monitoring their
situation after their return, to ensure that they do not risk
falling victim to further human rights violations at the hands of
the Myanmar security forces.  Until the refugees can safely return
from Bangladesh, the international community must provide the
government there with assistance to enable it to carry out its own
obligation to protect the refugees.

A bilateral agreement of 28 April 1992 between the governments of
Myanmar and Bangladesh provided for the "safe and voluntary"
return of the refugees; the two governments also agreed that the
services of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) could be drawn upon as needed at an appropriate time.
However, when some days later the two governments signed a
technical agreement on implementation of the repatriation, they
did not provide a mechanism to ensure that the return would be
safe and voluntary, nor had either of them consulted UNHCR about
the implementation plan or UNHCR's own role in it.

The planned repatriation of the refugees has been postponed in the
face of protests from the refugees, who are not willing to return
to Myanmar unless the UNHCR is fully involved in the repatriation
process.  A press briefing issued by the Bangladesh authorities
stated that the two governments agreed on 23 July 1992 that
"consular personnel and designated officers of Bangladesh" would
regularly visit repatriation centres and Muslim villages in
Myanmar after the refugees return there.  Amnesty International
does not believe this is enough to ensure effective monitoring of
repatriated refugees.

The government of Bangladesh has pledged that there will be no
forced return of refugees to Myanmar, and the government of
Myanmar has agreed to take measures to halt the exodus of Burmese
Muslims to Bangladesh and encourage those who have already left to
return voluntarily and safely.  However, there is no evidence to
indicate that the human rights situation in Rakhine State has
improved.

In a letter sent on 3 August to over 20 governments worldwide,
Amnesty International stated that it will not be safe to
repatriate the refugees, as envisaged in the agreement between the
governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh, unless provision is made
for effective international monitoring of their situation after
return to Myanmar.

The organization believes that if the refugees are to make
genuinely voluntary decisions regarding their return, such
international monitors must be truly independent and be seen as
such by all the parties involved, especially the refugees
themselves.  International standards explicitly recognize the
UNHCR as an appropriate body to undertake monitoring of the
situation of returned refugees in their country of origin.
Accordingly, Amnesty International is calling on the international
community to make all possible efforts to press the Myanmar
government to accept UNHCR monitoring of the process of the
refugees' voluntary repatriation, including their situation after
return to Rakhine State.

Until an effective international monitoring system is in place and
the refugees can safely return, the government of Bangladesh is
responsible for providing effective and durable protection to the
quarter of a million Burmese Muslims who have sought refuge there.
But it cannot be expected to provide effective protection for so
many refugees without substantial support from the international
community.

International standards recognize that the obligation of
protecting refugees may present governments with serious practical
difficulties, particularly where there is a large- scale influx of
refugees; these international standards provide that in such
situations the international community must assist.

Amnesty International is therefore calling on governments around
the world to give the government of Bangladesh assistance to
enable it to provide protection to the Burmese Muslim refugees
until they can safely return to Myanmar.  The organization
welcomes the emergency aid which several states have granted to
date to assist the Bangladesh government, and asks that the
international community continue to provide such assistance for as
long as the refugees need to remain in Bangladesh.