Restless Beings Project:

Stateless Rohingya

Country of origin:	Burma, Arakan
Countries of residence:	Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Malaysia, China, UAE, Saudi Arabia
Total population:	approx 1.5 million in Burma, approx 200,000 in Bangladesh
Language:	Rohingyan, Bengali, Arakanese
Religion:	Islam

Who are the Rohingyas?

The Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted communities in the world. Although, they have been living in the state of Arakan since the 8th century (which is now part of Burma), the Rohingyas have been under extreme scrutiny by the Burmese government. They haven't been recognised as citizens of The Union of Burma since the 1962 coup d'etat by General Ne Win. After decades of oppression and marginalisation, the passing of the 1982 Citizenship Law deemed them officially stateless.

Timeline

8th century: Dated Rohingya ancestry in Arakan
1799: A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of the Languages Spoken in Burma Empire published by Francis Buchanan- The first historical document mentioning the Rooinga or today’s Rohingya.
1947: Constitution of the Union of Burma is proclaimed with some of Burma’s first citizenship laws. The Rohingya vote in the 1st Constituent Assembly Elections.
1948: Independent Union of Burma is created.
1959: Rohingya recognised as race with equal rights, by Prime Minister U Ba Sue.
1962: General Ne Win overthrows U Nu government in a military coup.
1978: Operation Naga Min was launched, Rohingya targeted and massacred; 250,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh
1982: Burma Citizenship Law enacted, no longer recognized Rohingya as citizens; 800,000 Rohingya left stateless
1982 onwards: Rohingya subjected to abuse, forced labour, harassment, rape, arbitrary land seizure, destruction of property
2012: 2 waves of violence erupted between the Rohingya and Rakhine in Arakan, devastating both community resulting in mass killings and torture, 135,000 Rohingya displaced whom now live in IDP camps in the Sittwe township.

WARNING: There are distressing images in the film.

Why are they in trouble?

Human rights abuses against the Rohingya have been entrenched into the social, political and economic systems of Burma or Myanmar for decades. Pushed to the margins of society, they are:

restricted in their movement
required to attain permission to marry from the NaSaKa (Arakan border force)- failure to do so will result in arrest
denied the right to work
denied education
denied freedom to practice their religion and cultural customs

This is simply because the Rohingya- as one of the many ethnic minority groups in Burma, are different in:

race (Rohingya are darker in appearance to the majority Burmese, with different physical and facial features.
their language
their faith (Rohingya community follow religion of Islam)
their traditions and culture

As a result of these difference which many racist claims claim makes them not Burmese, but in fact Bangladeshi, the Rohingya are subjected to living as ‘non- citizens’ in their own homeland.

Situation in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, the Rohingyas are faced with hardly any protection from their host country. A burden to the densely populated country, the Rohingyas are living a harsh life in refugee camps, struggling from malnourishment, isolation, illiteracy and neglect. There is one registered camp situated meters away from the unregistered camp where 90,000 refugees live. There is also another camp 15 miles away in Leda Bazaar, where approximately 25,000 Rohingya live.

Similar to the Rohingyas living in Burma, the Rohingya refugees are limited in their movement and often subject to exploitation. In refugee camps, the Rohingya women are victims of sexual violence, children are denied education and there is limited access to health and medical aid. The hostile environment for Rohingyas in Bangladesh urges the refugees in Bangladesh and Burma to seek help in other parts of Asia such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia; however, these parts are not usually welcoming or like Bangladesh, do not have the resources to house another community. It is Burma's duty to accept the Rohingya as citizens, accept their history and ensure the safe repatriation of each and every single member of the community back into Arakan. Although safer then being persecuted and killed in Burma, the Rohingya community in Bangladesh are a stateless community who want to return to Arakan when it is safe to call it home.

Proposal

Restless Beings aims to champion the rights of the Rohingya community via an international campaign, and work towards encouraging the Burmese government to grant the Rohingya citizenship that is rightly owed to them. We also aim to help facilitate the repatriation of the Rohingya from the IDP camps back to their homes in Arakan and repatriate Rohingya refugees living in host countries back into Burma.

What have we done so far?

Since the launch of our Stateless Rohingya Project, we have been working towards making consistent change to reach our end goal.

In Bangladesh, Leda Bazaar is ‘temporarily’ home to 90,000 Rohingya refugees in the registered camp and another 25,000 in an unregistered camp. In 2009 and 2010 Restless Beings visited these camps and met the Rohingya refugees living in dire conditions. We monitored the lack of access to education and employment and we are continually finding ways in which they can be supported.
Restless Beings had also established relationships with the Rohingya diaspora living in the UK and other countries and learnt about the Rohingya culture, heritage and also about their own personal plight. Through this, we have worked together on many occasions to champion the rights of the Rohingya community .
In 2012, the ethnic strife in Arakan between the Rakhine and Rohingya devastated both communities after two bouts of violence broke out in June and October; Restless Beings responded to this matter in a number of ways with immediate effect from protests and petitions to facilitating updates (photos and footage) to the likes of Channel 4, BBC and Al Jazeera. We had compiled our own report from what we had received from our sources in Arakan.
Protests and Petitions:
- In response to the outbreak of violence in June and outraged by the lack of support from the international community, we had launched our own campaign to voice the Rohingya. We first held a protest outside the Bangladeshi embassy in London and handed in our petition signed and supported by 2462 people.
- During the Olympics a peaceful protest was held to raise awareness for the barbaric human rights abuses and state sponsored ethnic cleansing being inflicted upon the Rohingya communities by the Burmese government.
- After the second wave of violence in October we had launched our second campaign, ‘Global Day of Action’; A petition signed by 11,112 people from all over the globe to urge the UK government to take action and to stop defending the Burmese government for allowing the massacre to continue; this was followed by worldwide simultaneous protests, held on the same day to raise awareness injustice inflicted on the Rohingya.

Our stateless Rohingya project is predominantly about raising awareness of decades long abuse against a community that rightfully deserve citizenship in their own homeland. It is essential that the rights of the Rohingya are recognised internationally and we need your support to continue to ensure that it is. You can read the latest updates from Arakan on our website and also our Twitter and Facebook accounts.

UN's Futile Rohingya Action

The UN Fact Finding Mission published on Monday 27^th August is damning towards the government of Burma, the Burmese military, the international community and surprising towards the UN itself. It acknowledges Burma’s inability to deal with the perpetrators of ‘genocidal intent’, the Burmese military (Tatmadaw), it acknowledges Burma’s cover-up Government and those...

Ignored and Forgotten - Rohingya Genocide One Year On

August 25^th will mark one year since the vitriolic military onslaught by the Burma military and forces on Rohingya villagers in Northern Arakan State (Rakhine) which led to unspeakable atrocities. The numbers involved in the violence are simply unbelievable. Conservative estimates of the 25,000 Rohingya killed, more than 20,000 Rohingya women raped, over 300 villages entirely burnt down and...

Kohinoor

In February our team from Restless Beings were in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh collecting data and

distributing aid in the Rohingya refugee camps. I’ve been volunteering with this organisation for

almost a year now, and this was my first visit to the camps in Bangladesh.

When I met Shah

In February our team from Restless Beings was in Cox’s Bazar, collecting data and distributing aid to the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox Bazar, Bangladesh. I’ve been with the organization for almost a year and this was my first visit to the Rohingya in Bangladesh.

The Genocide of the ignored Rohingya

Wednesday 7th February, UK Parliament – Restless Beings have launched their research report at the UK Parliament titled ‘The Genocide of The Ignored Rohingya’. Detailing 96 testimonies , the report makes key recommendations to the UK and Bangladesh Governments as well as international aid agencies. The report calls on the British Government to press the United Nations Security Council to make a referral to the International Criminal Court for Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide.

'Can Anyone Rule Out Genocide' - UN Human Rights Chief

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It must be noted that when Zeid in September said he...

Gender based violence and the Rohingya

Violence against women and girls remains one of the most endemic and devastating human rights violations across the world today. Through the exertion of power and control in the intersection of various power structures, women and girls lives and their communities are being destroyed. Even the very term “violence against women and girls” is problematic in itself, as it is passive and does not focus on the perpetrators of the violence.

Burma-Bangladesh Announce Deal To 'Repatriate' Rohingya

The deal announced between Burma and Bangladesh that will see the repatriation of the Rohingya to Burma is deeply flawed. The most obvious thing here is that without involving the UN in any shape, whether that's through agencies like IOM or UNHCR or paying heed to the UNGA or UNSC statements and Presidential Statement, Burma and Bangladesh have taken away the buffer that the...

What’s in a Name: The Rohingya People and the Kingdom of Arakan

As violence and fear remains king in the Rakhine (formerly ‘Arakan’) State of Burma; men, women and children continue to flee their homelands by the thousands. Since the further escalation of violence, 500 000 more have attempted to escape what is, according to various observers including the UN, a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

EMERGENCY ROHINGYA ACTION PLAN

On the 25^th of August 2017, the Burmese military launched a massive offensive against the Rohingya population of Rauthedaung, Bauthidaung and Maungdaw townships of Rakhine State. To date (September 3^rd) an estimated 4,000 men, women and children have been killed. More than 65,000 Rohingya have crossed the border into Bangladesh as refugees with a further 20,000 currently stuck in No Mans...

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