News Report: UN Chief Urges 'Swift Action' to Alleviate Suffering of Myanmar Muslims

Margaret Besheer

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for "swift action" to halt the deteriorating situation in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State, where a half million mostly Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh in the past month.

"The situation has spiraled into the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency; a humanitarian and human rights nightmare," Guterres told an open meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

The council has privately discussed the situation three times in the past month, but Thursday’s session was the first time since 2009 that it has publicly discussed Myanmar.

Guterres called for an end to the military’s operations; unhindered aid access; and the safe and voluntary return of refugees to their areas of origin.

"There seems to be a deeply disturbing pattern to the violence and ensuing large movements of an ethnic group from their homes," Guterres said.

Guterres and his human rights commissioner have both expressed concerns that what is happening in Rakhine State is ethnic cleansing.

The secretary-general said the core problem is the prolonged statelessness of the Rohingya and its associated discrimination. "The Muslims of Rakhine State should be granted nationality," Guterres said.

The Rohingya are one of many ethnic minorities in the Buddhist-majority nation. They are considered to be economic migrants from Bangladesh and have been denied citizenship, even though most can show that their families have been in the country for generations.

News Report: Myanmar Braces for Turmoil as Rohingyas Prepare Major Ambush on State Forces

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army has disclosed plans to launch a fresh ambush on Myanmar military similar to the one on August 25 this year.

New Delhi (Sputnik) – The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) has claimed that they have no terror links and that their only objective is to secure equal rights for the Rohingya community in Myanmar. However, the group has threatened to continue attacking the state forces unless the government of Myanmar agrees to fulfill their demands.

“What Myanmar government is saying is that more than fifty percent of the villages of Rohingyas are intact, is a total lie. Myanmar government is trying to spread lies around the world and branding us as terrorists,” Abdus Shukur, a second-rung leader of ARSA, currently in exile in Bangladesh, told Sputnik.

Meanwhile, the government of Myanmar has reiterated its resolve to flush out the “terrorist outfit.”

A diplomat from Myanmar embassy in Delhi, who did not wish to be named, told Sputnik that "ARSA is basically a terrorist outfit" that should be dealt with accordingly.

"Our security forces are on alert. Our security force is ready to thwart any nefarious designs,” a diplomat added.

News Report: In Myanmar, Conspiracy Theories Hound Rohingya Crisis Coverage

Joe Freeman

YANGON, MYANMAR — Conspiracy theories have hounded media coverage of the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, which many view as biased against the largely Buddhist country.

These include allegations that Muslims have undue influence at the BBC and that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is paying foreign journalists to produce the stories they want.

The complaints stem from a genuine concern that the media has focused a disproportionate amount of attention on the more than 400,000 Rohingya who have fled violence in Myanmar and the allegations of extrajudicial killings and massacres that they have brought with them.

Their plight has reached the highest levels of global power, with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday referring to the developments as a "great tragedy unfolding."

By contrast, many here argue, journalists - and then the leaders who read the stories - ignore or fail to mention the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacks that sparked the military crackdown, the tens of thousands of non-Muslim civilians who have fled their homes, and the deaths of Buddhists, Hindus and members of ethnic minorities caught up in the conflict.

News Report: UN Chief Assails 'Ethnic Cleansing' of Myanmar's Rohingyas

Antonio Guterres (Image: Wiki Commons)

Margaret Besheer

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday the displacement of hundreds of thousands of members of Myanmar's Rohingya community can only be described as ethnic cleansing.

"When one-third of the Rohingya population has got to flee the country, can you find a better word to describe it?" Guterres responded when he was asked if the term ethnic cleansing applied to the plight of the Rohingyas, most of whom are Muslims, in the overwhelmingly Buddhist Asian nation.

"I call on Myanmar authorities to suspend military action, end the violence, uphold the rule of law and recognize the right of return of all those who had to leave the country," Guterres said at United Nations headquarters in New York. "Muslims of Rakhine state must be granted nationality or, at least for now, a legal status so they can lead a normal life."

"I believe that we are facing a very dramatic situation, and that is the reason why I appealed to the Security Council to seriously consider the situation," the secretary-general said.

News Report: Dalai Lama Urges Aung San Suu Kyi to Resolve Rohingya Crisis

Tenzin Gyatso 14th Dalai Lama (Image: Wiki Commons)

Yeshi Dorje

The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, has again called on his fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi to peacefully end the Rohingya crisis.

"May I take the liberty of writing to you once again to tell you how dismayed I am by the distressing circumstances in which the situation seems to have deteriorated further," he wrote to Myanmar's de facto leader.

VOA's Tibetan Service received a copy of the letter, in which he refers to discussions the two had a few years ago, when he urged her to use her "influence to bring about a peaceful" resolution to the problems of the Muslim community. In June 2016, he urged her to "make efforts to reduce" the tension.

"It is disappointing to observe that the problem appears to be getting worse and the violence is increasing," he wrote. The letter apparently was sent two weeks ago.

The Dalai Lama also warned Aung San Suu Kyi and other Myanmar leaders that not resolving the crisis peacefully could lead to "further unrest and destruction."

News Report: UN Rights Chief - Rohingya Seemingly Face 'Ethnic Cleansing'

The United Nations's human rights chief has joined the growing chorus of international voices condemning Myanmar for the wave of violence that has forced scores of minority Rohingya Muslims to flee across the border to Bangladesh.

Speaking Monday in Geneva before the U.N. Human Rights Council, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said his office has received numerous reports and satellite imagery of Myanmar security forces and local militias carrying out extrajudicial killings and burning entire Rohingya villages. Zeid also cited reports of Myanmar troops planting landmines along the shared border.

"Because Myanmar has refused access to human rights investigators, the current situation cannot yet be fully assessed," he told the council, "but the situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

Amnesty International on Sunday charged Myanmar with deliberately targeting Rohingya by placing landmines along the routes that Rohingya refugees use to cross into Bangladesh. The rights organization reported two landmine explosions Sunday, including one that blew off a young man's leg while he was herding cattle near the border.

Zeid issued his report a day after Rohingya insurgents called for a month-long cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid to reach those affected by the conflict. The group encouraged aid groups to “resume their humanitarian assistance to all victims of the humanitarian crisis, irrespective of ethnic or religious background during the cease-fire period."

Fighters from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, as they call themselves, launched an attack on dozens of police posts and an army base late last month, leading to the displacement of more than 300,000 people.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley reminded Myanmar in a statement issued last Friday that while Washington supports the fight against violence in northwestern Rakhine state, humanitarian aid must reach those in need.

News Story: UN says Myanmar Rohingya Muslims face ethnic cleansing

CAIRO, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Violence and injustice faced by Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar seems a "textbook example" of ethnic cleansing, UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said on Monday, according to MENA news agency.

Speaking at the start of the 36th session of the Human Rights Council, al Hussein noted that situation can not be clearly evaluated as the UN rights investigators have been barred from entry by authorities in Myanmar, said the report.

Al Hussein denounced how another brutal security operation is underway in Rakhine state of Myanmar.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Turkish Envoy Visits Bangladesh to Help Rohingya Refugees from Myanmar

Dorian Jones

ISTANBUL — Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is to fly to the Bangladesh on Wednesday for talks in the capital, Dhaka.

Ankara is pressing Bangladesh to give sanctuary to all Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar. More than 120,000 of them have entered Bangladesh, fleeing Myanmar military operations against insurgents. Cavusolgu is also due to visit Rohingya refugee camps, and said Turkey would give financial assistance to Bangladesh if it continues to give refuge to those fleeing Myanmar.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned Myanmar for its ongoing military operations.

"There is a genocide there. Those who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated under the cover of democracy are its collaborators," Erdogan said Friday.

News Report: 'Cry for Freedom' - Swimmers Deliver Petition Calling for UN Action on West Papua

Image: Flickr User - Matt Brown

A petition calling for action on West Papua has been delivered to the United Nations in Switzerland by a team of British swimmers. But where is West Papua and why have the alleged human rights abuses by Indonesia struggled to make the news?

On Wednesday, August 30, a British team of activists ended a 30-hour swim along Lake Geneva and handed in a petition with 120,000 names on it to the UN.

The petition calls on the UN to take action on West Papua and says the people there should be given a new vote on self-determination.

Benny Wenda, spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, was on the quayside to welcome the swimmers on Wednesday.

News Story: EU Accuses Taliban Of War Crimes, Calls For End To Violence

By Sayed Sharif Amiri

The European Union (EU) has accused the Taliban of committing war crimes by killing innocent civilians and destroying towns, and called on the group to end the violence.

EU Special Representative to Afghanistan Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin said that the killing of innocent civilians and the destruction of towns by the Taliban was no longer acceptable.

Mellbin rallied for a diplomatic solution to the ongoing turmoil in Afghanistan.

“The Taliban have committed war crimes, because of the targeting of the Afghan civilians. This of course it is a very sad fact. We continue the calls on the Taliban to stop their attacks against Afghan civilians,” said Mellbin.

Mellbin made the remarks during the Europe Day celebrations in Kabul.

Besides efforts for peace on political fronts, there are also artists promoting peace in the country.

Attia is one such artist who started her drive for peace through art a year ago. She believes that the message of peace conveyed through art will one day occupy the hearts of insurgents.

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Story: Visiting EU, Suu Kyi Refuses UN Probe Into Alleged Myanmar War Crimes

Henry Ridgwell

LONDON — Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi has again refused to allow a United Nations probe into alleged atrocities against minority Rohingya Muslims in the east of the country, despite pressure from the European Union and human rights organizations.

“Those recommendations which will divide further the two communities in Rakhine we will not accept, because it will not help us to resolve the problems that are arising all the time,” Suu Kyi told reporters Tuesday following meetings with European Union chiefs in Brussels.

She denied she was ignoring the allegations of crimes against humanity.

“We have not in any way ignored allegations of rape or murder or arson or anything," she said. "We have asked that these be placed before a court and tried.”

Myanmar's military has long been accused of carrying out widespread killing, torture and rape.

News Report: Cambodia Slams Critics, Claiming They're Part of US-funded Regime-change Plot

Sokummono Khan

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — Cambodia's foreign ministry has issued a broad rebuttal to accusations of human rights abuses and political repression that have dogged the rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen for decades.

Titled "To Tell the Truth," the report released Tuesday describes the allegations of abuses and repression as a campaign of misinformation spread by a conspiracy of foreign powers led by the United States.

Local and international investigators have documented many of the abuses, which Cambodia claims are a "distortion of facts, lies and amplification of minor issues" aimed at discrediting the government while rallying NGOs and the opposition.

"Cambodia has been submerged, months after months, years after years, by reports from opposition media, biased NGOs and misinformed institutions, which twisted the historical facts and events in an attempt to portray a negative image of Cambodia and to lay the blame on the government," the report said.

News Report: Rohingya Activist ‘Disappointed’ in Myanmar Leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi

The director general of an international coalition of 61 Rohingya organizations said he was “disappointed” at Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi for saying ethnic cleansing was “too strong” a term to describe what was happening in the Muslim-majority Rakhine region.

Wakar Uddin also called on her to reinstate a pre-independence system that showed Rohingya’s citizenship.

“I was very disappointed,” said Uddin of the Arakan Rohingya Union. “I can understand why she said that because she’s the head of state. If she admits it is ethnic cleansing, and for that matter genocide, there will be consequences from the international community.”

BBC televised a rare interview with the Myanmar’s state counselor on Wednesday. Attacks on Myanmar border guard posts in October last year by a previously unknown insurgent group set off the biggest crisis of Aung San Suu Kyi's year in power. More than 75,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in the ensuing army crackdown.

"I don't think there is ethnic cleansing going on," Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi said of the situation in Rakhine state. "I think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening."

"It is not just a matter of ethnic cleansing,” she said. “It is a matter of people on different sides of a divide, and this divide we are trying to close up as best as possible and not to widen it further.”

"What we are trying to go for is reconciliation, not condemnation," Aung San Suu Kyi told the BBC. "It is Muslims killing Muslims as well."

News Story: Sri Lanka insists not to agree to a war crimes probe

COLOMBO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government on Monday said that while it will investigate certain crimes which took place during the war between Tamil Tiger rebels and the military, it will not agree to a war crimes probe.

Government spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne told reporters in the Northern Jaffna town that if there is a war crimes probe then the Tamil Tigers, also known as the LTTE, must also be investigated.

"Who do we investigate in the LTTE? Are there any leaders? We will go for a good settlement," the Minister said.

He said that the main objective of the government is to ensure the final settlement following 30 years of war, gives equal status to all Sri Lankans.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Duterte 'encourages' war crimes — Human Rights Watch

By Audrey Morallo

MANILA, Philippines — An international human rights watchdog on Friday slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for his “flatten the hills” comment, which it claimed encouraged the commission of war crimes by the Philippine military.

Carlos Conde, researcher for the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a dispatch that the president should immediately take back this statement and emphasize to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that their operations should be done within the parameters of the law.

Conde said the remarks made by the president telling the military to go ahead and flatten the hills in response to the killing of four policemen by suspected communist rebels were tantamount to goading the military to commit war crimes.

“Were the Philippine military to ‘flatten the hills’ without regard to civilian loss of life and property, those involved would be committing war crimes,” Conde said in a statement.

Duterte, a firebrand leader who won elections last year on the back of a strong security platform, made the statement while attending the memorial service of four policemen allegedly killed by members of the New People’s Army (NPA), a US-classified terrorist group.

During the visit, a visibly upset and angry Duterte urged the army to “go ahead, flatten the hills.” 

The chief executive added: “Anything goes for now. If there’s a collateral damage, pasensiya (then sorry).”

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Attack On Afghan Hospital A War Crime - HRW

The attack on a military hospital in Kabul is a war crime, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement late Wednesday.

HRW was among a growing number of international human rights organization who have condemned the latest incident targeting patients, healthcare personnel, and medical facilities in Afghanistan.

“An armed group affiliated with the Islamic State [Daesh] reportedly claimed responsibility for the day-long attack on the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital, the main treatment center for wounded Afghan soldiers. Following a suicide attack on the building, gun battles continued for several hours, and hospital staff trapped in the building reported that patients who could not escape remained in their beds. Some of the gunmen were dressed as doctors, according to reports. At least 30 people were killed and dozens wounded, the HRW statement said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul denounced the attack as a “heinous crime” with “no justification possible”.

Attacks directly targeting health care facilities in Afghanistan have increased sharply since 2014.

A recent report by the organization Watchlist details some 240 attacks in 2015 and 2016 that killed or injured medical personnel and closed, damaged, or destroyed medical facilities, eroding the healthcare system in Afghanistan. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented 119 incidents where healthcare facilities were targeted in 2016.

The Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for the vast majority of these incidents, though Afghan security forces have been responsible for raids on clinics, or have used medical facilities for military purposes.

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Story: Amnesty blames Trump, Duterte in global rollback of rights & Amnesty - Duterte used drug war to justify repression

Amnesty blames Trump, Duterte in global rollback of rights

By John Leicester

PARIS — Amnesty International says "toxic" fear-mongering by anti-establishment politicians, among them President Donald Trump and the leaders of Turkey, Hungary and the Philippines, is contributing to a global pushback against human rights.

Releasing its 408-page annual report on rights abuses around the world Wednesday, the watchdog group described 2016 as "the year when the cynical use of 'us vs. them' narratives of blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s," when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany.

Amnesty named Trump, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte among leaders it said are "wielding a toxic agenda that hounds, scapegoats and dehumanizes entire groups of people."

"Poisonous" rhetoric employed by Trump in his election campaign exemplified "the global trend of angrier and more divisive politics," Amnesty said.

"The limits of what is acceptable have shifted. Politicians are shamelessly and actively legitimizing all sorts of hateful rhetoric and policies based on people's identity: misogyny, racism and homophobia. The first target has been refugees and, if this continues in 2017, others will be in the crosshairs."

Read the full story at PhilStar

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Amnesty: Duterte used drug war to justify repression

By Patricia Lourdes Viray

MANILA, Philippines — An international human rights watchdog has cited President Rodrigo Duterte as an example of an official blaming social problems in order to justify repressive government actions.

London-based Amnesty International noted that the erosion of human rights values was most harmful when leaders blame a specific "other" for real or perceived social problems in justifying repression.

"By casting collective responsibility for social and economic ills onto particular groups, often ethnic or religious minorities, those in power gave free rein to discrimination and hate crimes, particularly in Europe and the USA," AI said in its annual report on the state of human rights.

Such hateful, divisive and dehumanizing rhetoric brought out the "darkest instincts of human nature."

"One variant of this was demonstrated by the escalation, with enormous loss of life, of President Rodrigo Duterte’s 'war on drugs' in the Philippines," the report read.

AI noted that more than 6,000 alleged drug offenders have been killed by authorities and vigilantes following the endorsement of Duterte.

Read the full story at PhilStar

News Story: Attack on Civilians Is A War Crime - AIHRC

By Sharif Amiri

The Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on Thursday raised concerns over the rise in civilian deaths in Afghanistan at the hands of militant groups and said reckless and deliberate attacks on civilians is a war crime. 

The AIHRC reiterated calls on all parties - especially insurgent groups - not to harm civilians. 

“It is sad and shocking that everyday we witness attacks on civilian targets,” said AIHRC chief executive Musa Mahmoudi.

The statement comes after a suicide bomber targeted the Afghan supreme court in Kabul killing at least 21 people and wounding more than 40 others.

Read the full story at TOLOnews

News Report: Myanmar Wants 'Firm Evidence' of Abuses Against Rohingya

The government of Myanmar says it needs "firm evidence" rather than allegations before it investigates U.N. reports of abuses against the Rohingya community by its security forces.

The United Nations special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, has said Myanmar's Rohingya have suffered abuses that could be considered "crimes against humanity."

"Our position is clear: These allegations are very serious," the permanent secretary of Myanmar's foreign ministry, U Kyaw Zaya, said Tuesday. "However, allegations alone are not enough. If they give us firm evidence, we will investigate these allegations."

U.N. adviser Dieng said Monday: "If people are being persecuted based on their identity and killed, tortured, raped and forcibly transferred in a widespread or systematic manner, this could amount to crimes against humanity, and in fact be the precursor of other egregious international crimes."

News Report: Catholic Church in Philippines Denounces Drug War's 'Reign of Terror'

The Catholic Church in the Philippines is taking a stand against President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs in the country, saying he has created a "reign of terror."

In a pastoral letter by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines read at Saturday services and to be repeated at Sunday masses, the church expressed concern about indifference to the widespread bloodshed the crackdown on drug users and sellers has unleashed. 

"An even greater cause of concern is the indifference of many to this kind of wrong. It is considered as normal, and, even worse, something that (according to them) needs to be done," the letter, a copy of which was given to Reuters, said. "An additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor. Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account."

Amnesty International reports that more than 7,000 people have been killed since Duterte took office seven months ago, including 2,500 alleged drug offenders killed directly by police. The rights group also suggests that some killings may have nothing to do with serious drug offences.