Media Statement
THE ROHINGYAS: ACT NOW TO STOP THE GENOCIDE!
There is increasing recognition of the fact that ‘ethnic
cleansing’ of the Rohingyas, --- A GENOCIDE --- is taking place in Rakhine,
Myanmar. A number of groups and individuals are coming to terms with this grim
reality especially after the “evidence of a new reign of terror and wholesale
destruction of communities exercised by the Myanmar state against the Rohingya
population has emerged” in October/November 2016. On the 25th of November 2016,
the Malaysian government officially referred to the “alleged ethnic cleansing”
of the Rohingyas.
Given the constraints of bilateral relations within the
context of their common ASEAN membership, the Malaysian government has more
than at any time in the past admonished the Myanmar government for its acts of
commission and omission vis-à-vis the tragic plight of the Rohingya people. The
Malaysian government should now try to convince the other ASEAN governments
that a slow genocide has been unfolding in Rakhine since 1978.
It should share the overwhelming evidence garnered by
credible researchers and human rights organizations of mass killings of
Rohingyas, their forced displacement, the denial of access to food, healthcare
and employment and the systematic refusal of the state of Myanmar to recognize
Rohingya identity. Collectively, the nine ASEAN governments should now persuade
the Myanmar government to:
1) Stop immediately the massacre of the Rohingyas;
2) Restore the most fundamental rights of the Rohingyas as
human beings
3) Recognize the right of the Rohingyas to their identity
4) Accord the right to citizenship to the Rohingyas.
Malaysia and other ASEAN governments should convince other
Asian governments which have vast economic ties with Myanmar such as China,
India and Japan to raise issues pertaining to justice for the Rohingyas with
the Myanmar government. Diplomacy should be utilized to the fullest for this
purpose. There is no reason why governments outside Asia should not also be
drawn into this effort on behalf of the Rohingyas.
There is an additional reason why the world should act now.
On 24 November 2016, 19 groups of Rohingyas from different parts of the world
took the initiative to write to the Permanent People’s Tribunal in Rome urging
the Tribunal to examine the situation in Myanmar from the perspective of state
crime and genocide. These Initiators are backed by Supporting Initiators from
Malaysia, Cambodia, South Africa, Britain and the United States of America. The
International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and the Centre for Human Rights
Research and Advocacy (CENTHRA) are among the Supporting Initiators.
Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, President, JUST and Mr. Azril Mohd
Amin, Chief Executive, CENTHRA, Malaysia.
27 November 2016.
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2016/11/the-rohingyas-act-now-to-stop-genocide.html
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2016/11/the-rohingyas-act-now-to-stop-genocide.html