A short interview with STP

A short interview with Society for Threatened Peoples (STP)

Mohammed Rafique spent 17 years in Bangladeshi refugee camps. Nowadays he is a Project Coordinator of Schools Across Borders and a Council Member of  The European Rohingya Council (ERC). Ilaria Cimino spoke with him about his life and his important work on behalf of the Rohingya. 

- Where are you from?

I am from Burma/Myanmar. I was born in 1982 in Keramoitta Fara,  Akyab (Sittwe) Arakan State.

- When did you leave your homeland?

It was 1992 and I was ten years old. I left with my parents for Bangladesh. 

Photos of Rohingya Community Ireland Activities

community volunteer work

UNHCR Ireland host Statelessness Exhibition

One of the most extreme cases in the exhibition is the Rohingya of Burma, a persecuted Muslim minority in the west of Burma. “For 40 years, a million people have been denied citizenship from the homeland for their birth and the repercussions that has had on them over the decades has been tragic,” he said. “They don’t have freedom to travel, most of them are not recognised as refugees, they live a hand-to-mouth existence and they really have no control over the course of their futures,” he said. In order to gain trust, the photographer spent hours speaking with people before taking out his camera. “They have every right not to trust me.

They have been failed by pretty much everybody,” he said. When they knew his intention “most people want their stories to be heard,” he said. He hopes the photographs will help to make an invisible situation visible. “It’s my way of living up to my end of the bargain to the people,” he said. Nowhere People is showing at the atrium in the Department of Justice, 51 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin from Monday to Friday from 9am-6.30pm, until July 19th; admission is free. http://www.thestateless.com/2012/07/exhibition-records-human-experiences-of.html 

ADVOCATE THE CAUSES OF DISTRESS ROHINGYAS IN BANGLADESH

Press Release:

Date: 17th August, 2010

ADVOCATE THE CAUSES OF DISTRESS ROHINGYAS IN BANGLADESH

On behalf of the entire Rohingya community in Bangladesh, we undersigned Rohingya Youths from various countries are very much concerned and shocked by the recent inhuman treatment of Bangladeshi government and locals to toward innocent Rohingya refugees, who expect shelter of peace in Bangladesh escaping from the repression and silent genocide of Burmese military regime.

The international community is well aware of the oppressed Rohingya people of Arakan who are the worst victims of ethnic cleansing and they have long been subjected to genocide, persecution, suppression, forced labour, rape and extermination at the hands of the Burmese authorities and repressive functionalities under the false and fabricated allegation that Rohingyas are illegal immigrants. They have been deprived of their basic rights to Citizenship in a country where their ancestors lived for more than a millennium. Now, some hundreds of thousands of these defecto-stateless Rohingya people are languishing in dire condition in Bangladesh either legally as refugees or as illegal immigrants, afraid to return to their homeland.

Recently, we have come to realize that the authority of Bangladesh and neighboring locals are increasing pressure and inhuman torture over refugees by various means forming a socalled committee ‘ROHINGYA RESISTENCE COMMITTEE” led by Mohammedul Hoque to drive away Rohingyas from Bangladesh. Some of the famous burglars namely Shona Mia, Shahab Uddin, Zafor Alam, Bosta Zafor, sayed Alam are guardsmen of Kutupalong Bazaar (Market), while they are encouraged by their miscreant god- fathers Mv Boktier Member (Botkar) and Mohamudul Hoque to harass and commit rapes to the refugees. If any incident is happened around Cox’s Bazaar District among locals, the Rohingyas are made victims of media which shows that Rohingays are worse- person ever even though recently UNHCR rewarded US$ 33 million for the Bangladeshi locals of nearby refugee camps.

Previously, on July 20 and 22, 1997, the Government of Bangladesh took such step toward Rohingya refugees in both official camps of Nayapara and Kutupalong, that estranged hundreds over refugee children from their parents, in succeeding forceful repatriation, while women were naked in open sky and raped in the lock up in front others. Men were beaten up, arrested after firing tear gas and sent them to the prison with false and fabricated criminal charges.

The step proved a way of criminalization to stop international support for the unfortunate Rohingya refugees; and the recent initiative also stepping to stop resettlement process of Rohingya refugees through the inefficient deal with Burmese military regime by forceful repatriation. That is why; it is violating both international human rights mechanism and Islamic obligation.

Besides, there are more than 300,000 (Three Hundred Thousands) unregistered Rohingya refugee languishing under open sky without official recognition. These people are forced to live in overcrowded squalor, unprotected and largely unassisted. Prevented from supporting themselves, they also do not qualify for the UNHCR-supported food relief. And sadly, the UNHCR, which is mandated to protect refugees worldwide, makes little or no visible protest at the injustice of this situation.

We therefore,

1. Appeal to the international community to intervene to the plights of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and to continue supports for the protection of Rohingya refugees in order to find permanent solution and to insure their human dignity.

2. We request to the government of United State, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and all others concerned quarters to send an investigation team to observe the situation of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

3. We urge to UNHCR, IOM, and resettlement supporting organizations and resettling countries to continue their supports for the resettlement of Rohingya refugees, rather than forceful repatriation or dragging them back into danger.

4. We call upon the government of Bangladesh to recognize the unregistered Rohingya as refugees under UNHCR mandate and to extend all kinds of humanitarian supports.

Rohingya Youth Network (RYN) Worldwide,

For further query, please contact:

Mohammad Rafique +353860391625 and Shafiul Ansary +1604 496 4634

This Statement is endorsed by:

1. Mohammad Rafique (Carlow, Ireland, Tel: +353860391625)

2. Shafiul Ansary (Vancouver Canada, Tel: +1604 496 4634

3. Shamsul Alamshah (Kitchener, ON Canada, Tel:+15199544321)

4. Mv Mohd Rafique (Quebec Canada, Tel: +14185278718

5. Monsur Alam (Brisbane, Australia, Tel:+61449628388

6. Sayed Ahmed (Kitchener, Canada+1519-954-2839)

7. Farid Ullah (Kitchener, Canada+1519-954-2839)

8. M.Hussain Azmi ( Secretary General of BROG-Germany )

Tel No: +49-176-28856917

9. Mr Zahid Hossain (Brisbane, Australia, Tel: +61422453246

10. Sayedul Amin (Quebec, Canada, Tel: + 001418 523 7407

11. Osman Johar (Carlow, Ireland, Tel:+353862276040

12. Mohammed Eliyas (Carlow, Ireland, Tel:+353860644882

13. Sayed Alam (Kitchener, ON Canada, Tel: 1+519-954-3667

14. Mohammed Ismail (Brisbane, Australia, Tel+61424695859)

15. Mohammad Salim (Stockholm, Sweden, Tel: +46737344882)

16. Rashid Ullah (Denver, USA Tel: +17202699349)

17. Mohammed Abdullah (Denver, USA. Tel: +17202754132)

18. Rafique Alam (Auckland, New Zealand, Tel+ 006492706129)

19. Rashid Ahmed (Quebec, Canada, Tel:+1418-717-8564)

20. Shamsu Alam (Dublin, Ireland, Tel: +353862235304)

21. Saifullah (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tel: +60172992160)

78 Burmese refugees to be resettled in Ireland

Publisher: THE IRISH TIMES

Author: RUADHAN Mac CORMAIC

Story date: 16/02/2009

SEVENTY EIGHT Burmese refugees are due to arrive in Ireland next month after being selected for resettlement here under a United Nations scheme. 

The group of 16 families, who belong to Burma's Rohingya minority, left their country in 1992 and have been living in camps on the Bangladesh/Burmese border since then. They will spend six weeks at an orientation centre in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo to prepare them for permanent resettlement in other towns. 

The plight of Burma's estimated 800,000 Rohingya, a Muslim minority based in the northwest of the country, attracted international attention in recent weeks following reports that hundreds who fled to Thailand were mistreated by the Thai military. 

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 230,000 Rohingya now live a precarious, stateless existence in Bangladesh, having fled decades of abuse and harassment at the hands of Burma's military rulers. 

Indonesia recently detained 198 Rohingyas after finding them floating in a boat off the coast of Aceh. They had been at sea for 21 days. 

The 78 refugees – 28 adults and 50 children – who are due to travel to Ireland are currently living in camps in the Cox's Bazar region of Bangladesh and were identified by the UNHCR as a priority group for resettlement. 

'The refugees selected for resettlement left Burma in 1992 at a very young age and have lived in camps on the Bangladesh/Burmese border since then,' a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said. 

Ireland is one of 19 states, and one of only nine EU member states, that participates in the UNHCR-led resettlement programme. 

Each year it accepts up to 200 refugees, and among those selected in recent years were groups of Sudanese, Iranian Kurds and Burmese Karen, the latter members of another ethnic group who fled persecution by Burma's military junta. 

A further 84 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo are expected to arrive in Ireland in May. The department said that those selected fled the Congo's South Kivu region between 1996 and 1998 and have been living in refugee camps in Kigoma in northern Tanzania since then. Of the 57 children in the group, 32 were born and raised in the camps. 

All refugees who are admitted to the State under the UN programme spend six weeks at the National Refugee Orientation Centre in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, where they take language lessons and are taught how to go about essential tasks such as opening a bank account and enrolling their children in school. 

The Burmese Karen who came to Ireland last year were eventually resettled in Castlebar and Ballina, while 180 Iranian Kurds who arrived the previous year settled in Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon and Mullingar. 

The department said that discussions were continuing with various communities in relation to long-term resettlement arrangements for those who arrive in the coming months.

 

Refugees Daily

Refugees Global Press Review

Compiled by Media Relations and Public Information Service, UNHCR

For UNHCR Internal Distribution

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refdaily?pass=463ef21123&id=499935908