Tuesday, 12 June 2012 00:00 Mizzima News
The
government of Burma should take all necessary steps to protect
communities at risk in Arakan (Rakhine) State after violence between
Buddhists and Muslims in western Burma has left an unknown number dead,
Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
“The government has taken inadequate steps to stop sectarian-violence between Arakan Buddhists and ethnic Rohingya Muslims, or to bring those responsible to justice,” it said.
Human Rights Watch urged the government to permit prompt access to international journalists, aid workers, and diplomats.
“Deadly violence in Arakan State is spiraling out of control under the
government’s watch,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human
Rights Watch. “Opening the area to independent international observers
would put all sides on notice that they were being closely watched.”
Brutal violence in Arakan State in western Burma erupted on June 3,
2012, when an estimated 300 Arakan Buddhists attacked a bus of traveling
Muslims, killing 10 passengers. The angry mob was reacting to
information that an Arakan girl was allegedly raped and murdered in late
May by three Rohingya suspects.
At the time of the attack, the
suspects were reportedly in police custody, said HRW. Clashes have
intensified since, spreading to the state’s largest town, Sittwe, with
Rohingya mobs burning Arakan homes and businesses, and the army opening
fire and allegedly killing Rohingyas. Mobs of Rohingya and Arakanese,
armed with sticks and swords, have reportedly committed violence that
resulted in numerous deaths.
On June 7, the Burmese government
announced an investigation into the violence. As clashes worsened, on
June 10, President Thein Sein issued a state of emergency in the area,
ceding complete authority to the Burmese army.
For decades, the
Rohingya have routinely suffered abuses by the Burmese army, including
extrajudicial killings, forced labor, land confiscation, and restricted
freedom of movement. Arakan people have also faced human rights
violations by the army. Using the army to restore order risks arbitrary
arrests, enforced disappearances, and torture, Human Rights Watch said.
“Given the Burmese army’s brutal record of abuses in Arakan State,
putting the military in charge of law enforcement could make matters
worse,” Pearson said. “The government needs to be protecting threatened
communities, but without any international presence there, there’s a
real fear that won’t happen.”
Where security permits,
international agencies such as the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees should maintain an on-the-ground presence in Arakan State to
provide assistance and protection as possible, it said.
Background
For decades the Rohingya have borne the brunt of the earlier military
government’s brutal state-building policies. The Rohingya have been
formally denied citizenship and were excluded from the last census in
1983.
They are widely regarded within Burma as “Bengalis” –
people of Bangladesh nationality. Since the 1960s there have been
multiple campaigns led by the Burmese authorities to expel the Rohingya
from Burma, resulting in a litany of human rights violations. There are
an estimated 800,000 Rohingya in Burma, and about 200,000 live in
Bangladesh, of which 30,000 live in squalid refugee camps.
“The
Burmese government’s policies of exclusion have fostered resentment
against the Rohingya,” said Pearson. “Longer-term, the government should
be thinking about how to address the years of discrimination and
neglect that the Rohingya have faced, provide some mechanism for
accountability, and ensure the rights of Rohingya equally with other
Burmese.”
The ongoing violence in Arakan State shows that
despite the democratic progress of recent months, there are still
formidable challenges for human rights in Burma, HRW said. Many areas
populated by ethnic minorities have seen few benefits from the reform
process. International journalists and aid workers still face restricted
access to large parts of the country.
Influential governments
such as the U.S., Japan, Australia, and members of the European Union
should continue to press for full civilian control over the military and
building the rule of law, instead of giving up all its leverage at a
moment when the reform process has barely begun.
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