Maybe you haven’t noticed yet, but Syrian refugees are last years’ refugee poster children.
Now the media is moving on to the Rohingya (click here for what I think is the best pronunciation). Everywhere I turn there is media coverage of the Burmese Buddhist government attempting to limit the expansion and disruptive influence of its Muslim minority population.
I want to move on to other topics this morning, so I can’t possibly fill you in on ten years of posts I’ve written (203 so far) on the Rohingya problem. Someone should write a book and I’ve done a lot of research for wannabe authors in my category called Rohingya Reports, here.
But, I want you to know this morning that the strife in Burma (aka Myanmar) with the Muslim Rohingya (fleeing to Bangladesh, a Muslim country) is being placed front and center at the UN just as President Trump speaks there today.
Here is Amnesty International taking its whack. Surprisingly, there is one little line in this article that you don’t usually see as most reports depict the Rohingya as pure as the driven snow. And, of course, it is ALL Trump’s fault!
“The USA’s policy towards refugees has to be viewed in a global context. In the shadow of Trump’s cruel policies, other countries around the world have continued to dehumanize refugees and turn their backs on them,” said Salil Shetty.
“Whether it’s the EU condemning refugees to abuse and exploitation at the hands of criminal gangs in Libya, or Australia subjecting refugees to severe physical and psychological damage in its offshore detention centers, rich countries have contributed substantially to the alarming deterioration of refugee rights.
“It is against this backdrop of governments’ callous treatment of people fleeing conflict and violence that the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis is unfolding before our eyes in Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh is a Muslim country and most Burmese believe the Rohingya are just a Bangladeshi ethnic group that illegally inserted itself in Burma decades ago.
Trump is getting an earful in New York this week, but he likely will never be told about the last few words in this paragraph….
World leaders gathering in New York for this year’s UN General Assembly are expected to discuss the spiraling situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, from where the long-persecuted Rohingya population have been forced to flee because of an unlawful and totally disproportionate military response to attacks by a Rohingya armed group.
Gotta give Amnesty a little credit, they are at least reporting that the Rohingya have been agitators of recent waves of violence.
You need to know! This is not about some far off Asian country!
We have admitted 19,110 Burmese Muslims to the US since FY07 (according to Wrapsnet).
One of the contractors welcoming the devout Rohingya to your towns and cities is the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. See my story, here, in 2013.