Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Mon, 23 Nov 1992 17:18:58 PST
From:         "Indonesia Publications/Task Force" <apakabar@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      BURMA: Rohingyas Update

Forwarded by apakabar@igc.apc.org for hrcoord@igc.apc.org
thru goran@gn.apc.org!  Original source protected.


================================== Earlier this year, over 250,000
Muslim Rohingyas from Myanmar's Arakan Province streamed into
neighboring Bangladesh seeking refuge from religious persecution,
slave labor, gang rape, summary executions and other atrocities
committed or instigated by the local authorities themselves.

   Since April, the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar have met
regularly to discuss the return of the refugees to Arakan.
However, most refugees do not wish to return to Myanmar unless
there are international guarantees ensuring their right to life.
This as well as Myanmar's lack of interest inresolving the issue
have frustrated the Government of Bangladesh which now seems
determined to force the Rohingyas to return to Myanmar against
their will.  This is not the first time the Rohingyas are forced
into exile.

   On November 17, the Bangladeshi Minister of Home Affairs, Mr.
Abdul M.  Chowdhury, visited refugee camps near the town of Cox's
Bazaar and told government officials handling the crisis to find
volunteers "willing" to return to Myanmar.  At the level of
refugee camps, officials have had little success finding
volunteers and have been resortingto violent means in order to
meet refugee quotas.  Refugees are being subjected to
intimadations, beatings, the choice between inprisonment or return
to Myanmar, reduced food rations, threats against their lives and
other forms of cruel treatment.  Over 1.000 refugees have been
taken to the border and will be sent back to Myanmar in the coming
days.

   When a similar refugee crisis occurred in 1978, the
international community remained indifferent.  Bangladeshi
authorities succeeded in forcing Rohingyas to return to Myanmar by
drastically reducing food rations.  In the proces, more than
10.000, mainly children, starved to death.  Will a similar tragedy
be allowed to occur again?

   Refugees are often considered to be an economic burden on the
host country.  Although Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries
in the world, the rush to return the Rohingyas stems not from
economic reasons but from political agendas.  While the
international community finances the stay of the Rohingyas in
Bangladesh through private voluntary organizations and the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, the handling of the refugee issue has
become a political zero-zum game between the Prime Minister Begum
Zia, and the leader of the opposition, Sheik Hasina.  The fate of
the refugees will be determined by expediency not compassion.

   In the middle of all this is the office of the High
Commissioner for Refugees, charged with protecting  the rights of
refugees, including the right not to return to their country of
origin if they have a well-founded fear of persecution.  Myanmar
has not allowed the UN to be present in Arakan.  In the meantime,
Bangladesh is preventing the High Commissioner's office from
safeguarding the rights of the Rohingyas.

   Unless the international community takes note of the renewed
plight of the Rohingyas, they will be forced back to Myanmar
against their wills to face more human rights violations and even
death.  It will come as no surprise to learn in two, three or four
years' time that Rohingyas have again been compelled to seek
refuge in Bangladesh, perhaps in greater numbers.

END

Suggested action: Contact members of Parliament/Congress.  Ask that
these refugees be protected from further harm and given all
protection possible under international law.

Contact Muslim organizations to see if they are aware of this
situation.




John A. MacDougall                  Email: apakabar@igc.apc.org (Internet)
Editor, Indonesia Publications       or apakabar@access.digex.com (Internet)
Editor, Southeast Asia Publications Fax: 301-552-4465
Coordinator, Task Force Indonesia   Post: 7538 Newberry Lane
                                     Lanham-Seabrook, MD 20706 USA

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