From: apakabar@ACCESS.DIGEX.COM (John A. MacDougall)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Subject: BU: AI Appeals for Refugee Aid
Date: 13 Sep 92 11:23:29 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]

Forwarded message:
From apakabar@igc.apc.org Sun Sep 13 07:19:22 1992
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 92 04:21:17 PDT
From: Indonesia Publications/Task Force <apakabar@igc.apc.org>
Message-Id: <9209131121.AA23891@igc.apc.org>
To: apakabar@access.digex.com
Subject: MYANMAR/BANGLADESH: help refugees

/* Written 11:25 pm  Sep 12, 1992 by aiusala in cdp:ai.general */
/* ---------- "MYANMAR/BANGLADESH: help refugees" ---------- */
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.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU