Category: Rohingya Reports

Rohingya an environmental hazard in Bangladesh?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This article is a real head-scratcher.   It is published in something called the New Nation and is entitled “Using the media to communicate environmental risk.”   First its interesting to note that there are environmental activists in Bangladesh.  Maybe my view of that country is skewed but I envision it as a nation of poor people just struggling to survive.  Usually concern for the environment is considered a luxury in the third world and is a sign of increasing affluence.

But, here is a long paragraph from this opinion piece which ends with a curious comment.  After listing all the forms of environmental pollution the writer includes Rohingya Muslim refugees in the list.

Environmental risks, more or less, are now touching every sphere of our life. At a quick glance, more glaringly manifested environmental risks that could be easily identified in our country are: water pollution, misuse of agro-chemicals, unhygienic human habits, lack of sanitation facilities, effect of Farakka Barrage, recurring cyclones and floods, silting of river beds, large scale deforestation, etc. Moreover, there are other areas where environment hazards are present in different degrees. Those areas are: effect of shrimp cultivation, increase of salinity in the coastal belt, water logging in different areas, effects of wrongly built embankments, afforestation with exotic varieties instead of local variant of trees, downward trend of underground water level, threat of mangrove forest, industrial waste disposal in rivers, unhygienic situation in tanneries, noise pollution, presence of arsenic in underground water, growth of unplanned bus stations in the urban areas, emission of smoke from mechanised vehicles, brick-fields, mills and factories; presence of large number of unhealthy derelict ponds, continued presence of Rohingya refugees in our land, etc.

So, after dirty factories and ponds we have Rohingya?   Huh?  Then no further mention of how Rohingya are polluting Bangladesh.  One can only assume that the illegal immigrants, in this case the Rohingya, help degrade the environment.   Makes me wonder how big US environmental groups like the Sierra Club are incapable of noticing the same thing here.  See my post this morning on population increases in the US due to immigrants.

We have a whole category on Rohingya Muslims here.  This is one of the first posts I did on Rohingya.   They are actually from a region in Burma and are spreading out in Bangladesh, Thailand, and Pakistan.   Rohingya are also being resettled in the West, New Zealand and Australia.   They want to come to the US too and may already be here.

Refugee news from around the globe

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is so much happening and so little time to comment, so to be sure you aren’t missing refugee and immigrant news from around the world, here are a few nuggets:

Italy declared emergency over illegal immigrants arriving in boats and a few days later 800 more came ashore from Africa.

Some 800 immigrants arrived in Southern Italy on Thursday (31 July), just a few days after the country declared a national state of emergency over what it describes as the “exceptional and persistent influx” of irregular immigrants.

Rohingya Muslim refugees go to New Zealand.  To see why this could be a problem for New Zealand, see our category Rohingya Reports here.

New Zealand has already welcomed the Rohingya Refugees from Bangladesh. The first batch of 23 Refugee were resettled on 28th June 2008 that included the members of the Rohingya Youth Development Forum (RYDF), Arakan-Burma.

Japan may soon take refugees.   Heretofore Japan has avoided taking refugees but now is working with the UN to start opening its doors.

Critics say Japan is a generous supporter of refugee programs overseas but shuts the door when people seek asylum in its own shores.

North Korean refugee coming to US from Russia.

He is the first North Korean defector to find asylum in the U.S. from Russia, which has refused to recognize North Korean defectors as refugees and approve their seeking of asylum to the U.S. for fear of harming diplomatic ties with the North.

South Africa, the rainbow nation, has a large and growing group of impoverished people—white people!   Will South African whites be considered for refugee resettlement some day?

It is not politically correct to talk about white, poor people,” said Dirk Hermann, a senior Solidarity official. “They are the nation’s forgotten people. Zuma’s been surprised by the level of poverty among the white population which is not talked about. They have been poorly served by the government.

Rohingya suffering human rights abuses and slavery in Muslim countries!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You are going to get weary of me saying I can’t believe what I am reading.  Earlier today it was about the Russians teaching Christianity in public schools and now a Rohingya Muslim organization is condemning Muslim countries for abusing Muslim refugees and enslaving them.  Yikes!  What is happening to the religion of peace!

Here is the entire statement from the Rohingya Youth Development Forum [editor: emphasis below is mine]:

Today, the 20th June 2008, refugees in all over the world are celebrating the World Refugee Day in order to show their solidarity with African refugees. In this day, refugees get opportunity to express their feeling and views in order to seek sympathy from concerned quarters to have a home for them.

There are over 50 million refugees in the world. Most of them are religiously Muslim from different Muslim countries or Muslim minority states of the world but all possible measures are taking by non-Muslim organizations, states and parties. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the main actor for the protection of refugees and doing its utmost for the betterment of refugee communities of the world. But, sometimes, we find that some of its staffs play a kind of discriminatory role in treating the refugees, which is merely based of religious on cultural background.

On the other hands, almost all of the Muslims states are not party to the UN’s 1951 refugee convention relating to the status of refugees and its additional protocol of 1967. Due to lack of their ratification, concerned refugee agencies face problem to share refugee burdens with Muslim countries.

It may be noted that most of the refugees in Muslim states are the worst victims of human rights violation and constantly facing maltreatments in the hands of authorities, as they do not recognize refugees in their legislation.

We are sure that all of the Muslim countries are the member States of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) that is considered as an alternative United Nations for Muslim population of the world. All of these states are bound to practice Islamic Obligation to respect the rights of Muslim refugees who take shelter in their countries for a time being.

Rather playing an obligatory role for the protection of refugees (Muhajireen), they deny the acknowledgement of refugee recognition. Due to their irresponsibleness, refugees from Muslim communities are facing brutal human rights abuses.

Being main body of Muslim, OIC would pave a vital role for the protection of refugees that accorded in the peaceful religion of Islam.

We find that Muslim Rohingya refugees from Burma are scattered in many different parts of the world. Most of them are now languishing in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Middle East and Malaysia. They are passing their lives under modern slavery. These refugees do not have chance to escape from the inhumanities and so seeking international supports to find durable solution.

Based on the irresponsibleness of Muslim world, UNHCR dare to marginalize some groups of Muslim refugees, particularly the Rohingyas of Burma, as OIC does not pay attention to the matter of suffering Rohingyas.

Nevertheless, the UNHCR has its mandates to find permanent solution to refugee crises through repatriation, local integration and resettlement. As both of repatriation and local integration of the Rohingya refugee becomes impossible, the only option of resettlement in a third country is left for the unfortunate Rohingya refugees.

In these circumstances, we appeal to the member states of Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to take effective measures for the protection of Rohingya refugees and to end slavery, while negotiating with the UNHCR and refugee resettling countries to make paces for them. We appeal OIC to take step to ratify refugee convention and other international instruments in order to improve human rights in the countries.

We also appeal to the UNHCR and other concerned quarters, particularly the Government of United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Finland and etc. to kindly extend more assistance for the resettlement of Rohingya refugees in order to find a permanent solution to their long-standing problems and miseries of modern slavery

Central Executive Committee

Rohigya Youth Development Forum (RYDF)

I have to give this group credit for being truthful.   Of course, in light of the fact that the Rohingya are not being taken care of by their fellow Muslims (some very rich countries like Saudi Arabia could do more), they are looking to benevolent non-Muslim countries like the US, Canada, Australia etc. for resettlement.

UN Rep: Conditions improved for Rohingya, some resettled, no help for criminals

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Speaking in Bangladesh on World Refugee Day, a UNHCR representative had this to say about the Rohingya Muslim refugees.   The whole article is here.

Speaking as the chief guest at the discussion, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative Pia Prytz Phiri said, “Thousands of people in Bangladesh are getting displaced due to poverty, limited arable land and river erosion.” We need to be conscious about their protection, she added.

Phiri said she was happy that the situation of around 27,500 Rohingya refugees in two camps in Cox’s Bazar is now much better in terms of education, health, housing, water and sanitation, which was in precarious condition just two years ago.

She further said some developed countries like Canada, the UK and New Zealand have agreed for resettlement of some Rohingyas, but this scheme is limited.

Referring to reported criminal activities by the Rohingyas, the UNHCR representative said, “If some refugees are criminals, we are not going to protect them. Police should take actions as per laws.”

Here is a question for those who have criticized this blog for suggesting that some Rohingya are not the sort we want to bring to America, why would anyone even mention the word “criminal” in the context of a discussion about Rohingya if there wasn’t some evidence of Rohingya criminal activity?

For additional background on this controversial subject see Rohingya Reports here.

More evidence we have already brought Rohingya to US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

According to this article, Malaysia is dealing with illegal immigrants too (join the crowd) and although this is a bit confusing it appears that the Burmese Muslim Rohingyas are entering Malaysia illegally.    We’ve been wondering if we are already admitting Rohingya refugees to the US and here is a line from this news letter for a Rohingya human rights group that would suggest we are:

“Previously we discussed with the United States who accepted a few thousand Rohingya to their country,” he said, adding that Malaysia hoped to discuss with other countries to help take in the stateless people.

See our whole category called Rohingya Reports here.