Also read : Australia’s Rohingya call for international action on Myanmar refugee crisis
Refugee advocates say Australia should consider a special resettlement program as UN warns military attacks on ethnic minority risks becoming ethnic cleansing.
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Australian communities including Rohingya base in Melbourne today hold a protest against ongoing genocide in Arakan state of western Burma.
Members from Sikh community, Refugee Action Collective Melbourne, Australian Jewish Democratic Society, RISE refugee organizatrion, have also joined the rally to show solidarity and expressed their concerns for Rohingya people.
Slogans given by by Ko Min Min (representative of Burmese muslim community), and Shahid from Rohingya youths.
Habib has read out long statement detailing the crisis..
Resuming of unprecedented genocidal operations against innocent unarmed Rohingya civilians and responded very indiscriminately, heavily by using fight helicopters, tanks, rocket launchers, machine guns, and torching houses, shooting women , children, over aged people and slaughtering, and burning alive. Despite the government has provided reverse information and understated the death toll to cut international pressure, it is in 10 days from 25 Aug 2017, more than 30,000 houses from total about 56 villages, (over 20 villages from Maungdaw, 19 villages from Buthidaung, and 18 villages from Rathidaung) were burnt down, more than 3,000 innocent unarmed Rohingya civilians mostly women, children and elderly people dead, displacing over 200,000 people and half of them including a small number of Hindhu population have been pushed out along Bangladesh border and some about 20,000 people trapped in Maungdaw South and over 30,000 people trapped in Buthidaung mountains.
The government authorities who never had given a hand for general public (i.e 2008 Cyclone Nargis period) but now tactically showing sympathy by provideing full security, accommodation, foods and supports towards Rakhine people living in Maungdaw and pushing them to say false stories about Rohingya, when Rohingya women, children, elderly people fleeing from homes were mercilessly shot dead and burnt alive. Hindhu people whose facially and speaking language similar to Rohingya are forced to utilize to portray the bad image of Rohingya, and arming Rakhine people using from front-line confrontation.
From June 2012, it has been over five years now Rohingyas and Kamans of Rakhine (Arakan) state have been totally excluded, segregated, trapped into concentration camps, confined systematically, blocking aid and food supplies, permanently barred from education, medicare and livelihood. For decades, Rohingyas have been oppressed, victimized and terrorized by the both government authorities and extremist Rakhine people that been recorded commonly in 1942, 1949, 1967, 1978, 1991, 1994/95, and continuously from 2002. This latest state sponsored genocide began from June 2012 caused total destruction across (13) different townships reached at (97) religious buildings, about (23,000) houses from (95) villages, killing thousands Rohingyans and Kamans and nearly 200,000 people displaced of whom about (110,000) people are in 13 to 15 camps of Sittwe (Akyab) city and the rest about (65,000) those from other 8 regions in 26 camps are in aid workers unreachable areas.
Currently, the number of arbitrary detention reached over 800 that added to previous 12,00 Rohingyas and Kaman detained in 2012, mainly from Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Sittwe townships. Many organizations including Red Cross Society, Healthcare clinics are puppet bodies of the government and not delivering services for Rohingya and Kaman. The Rohingya youths those teaching Rohingya kids, distributing rations, language supporting workers, elders those providing medical assistance in the camps, are instantly detained by security forces.
Under the banner of citizenship verification that only ever designed for Rohingya, the authorities are forcing Rohingya and Kaman people to accept foreigner identity, seizing and destroying their residential documents and not allowing to recourse to become new citizenship even under 1982 citizenship act. Practically, it is just an excuse with the 1982-citizenship laws that stripped off citizenship because Rohingyans are even qualified to be citizen and ethnic group. However, it is the authorities who are intentionally reluctant to access the Rohingya's historical existence and ancestral evidence that prove primary and secondary ancestral evidences earlier than prior to 1824 British occupation.
Developed nations including Australia, international communities and United Nations must not forgive the heinous crimes of the tyrant Burmese rulers, military dictators, continuous attacks and waging wars against minorities. We therefore would like to earnestly urge the UN and its member countries, countries including Australia, countries those have business ties with Burma, other countries those have heavily bearing of Rohingya refugees fleeing genocide and resettlement countries those resettling Rohingya refugees, funding countries, must join and take action together onto Burmese government end the humanitarian crisis and to halt all forms of brutalities and crimes.
We strongly condemn the central ruler governments who are terrorizing civillians for decades and destablizing of the country's peace and harmony and not abiding domestic and international norms.
We also would like to remind the world that this case of Rohingya is a total destruction of a community with a full swing of genocide with the actions of ethnic cleansing, arbitrary killings, corporal and collective punishment, slaughtering, burning alive and rapes, systematic confinement and pushing into concentration camps, destroying identities, barring permanently from a right to have rights, divide and exclusion, eradication from home land, destruction of historical existences, blocking aid and foods, education, medicare and livelihood and cutting off of electricity and waters.
We, Australian communities here therefore would like to strongly and earnestly urge the Australian government to press to achieve the following:
1) UN to use special power to immediate deploy international peace keeping forces on the ground before human catastrophe.
2) UN to force Burmese government to immediately suspend the blockages of food and aid supplies and to grant special power to aid agencies to enable to supply food and aid on the ground freely without handing over to Rakhine authorities.
3) UN to effectively pressurise onto the NLD government to immediately lift all kinds restrictions, and halt corporal and collective punishments, arbitrary killings, arrests.
4) UN to monitor in granting of citizenship of Rohingya and Kaman people and to stop forcing and pressuring to accept foreigner identity.
5) UN to achieve for immediately release of muslim political prisoners from central Burma and thousand of Rohingya prisoners involving as young as aged 12 mostly detained in Sittwe Central Jail, Buthidaung Jail and many other who are detained in police lock-up and military camps.
6) UN and its member countries to use veto power to allow UN Inquiry Commision for investigation and to take effective and solid action against government authorities, military generals and other Rakhine politicians who are the main perpetrators and directly involved in crimes..
7) UN must eventually pave a path way to establish a safe territory or special region for Rohingya and Kaman people within Arakan state, when central government, local authorities and general public are jointly denying the existence of Rohingya and wiping out of entire Rohingya and Kaman people from Arakan state.
8) UNHCR in Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia to provide adequate protection, accommodation, aids and supports for all recent and previous arrival Rohingya refugees.
For more info, pl contact;
Tim: 0429 030 436 (Rally organizer)
Shawfikul: 0416 161 846 (Community Affairs)
Habib: 0406 310077 (media contact)
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