Myanmar authorities have apprehended more
than 2,200 Rohingya Muslims as they attempted to illegally leave the country by
sea since 2015, according to a list of the detainees obtained from a naval
officer by RFA’s Myanmar Service.
Nearly 1,500 Rohingya were detained in 2015, more
than 500 were picked up in 2018, and roughly 250 have been apprehended so far
in 2019, according to the list provided by the officer, who declined to be
named because he is not authorized to give information to the media.
The figures did not include Rohingya who fled
by land from two military-led crackdowns in northern Rakhine state in 2016 and
2017. During the first round of violence, about 90,000 Muslims left and headed
across the border and into Bangladesh, while the second, more brutal clampdown
forced more than 740,000 into Bangladesh.
Thousands of other Rohingya have tried to
leave Myanmar in the last several years to escape institutionalized
persecution, grinding poverty, and insecurity in Rakhine state. They pay human
traffickers hundreds of dollars each to transport them to other Muslim-friendly
nations in Southeast Asia where they hope to have a better life.
But because of restrictions on their freedom
of movement, the Rohingya cannot freely travel inside or outside the country
without first obtaining official permission. Those who decide to travel
illegally usually do not take identification cards with them, which all Myanmar
residents must carry.
A group of nearly 70 Rohingya who had fled
Rakhine state with the help of traffickers and headed to Malaysia were arrested
in Yangon region’s Hlegu township on Feb. 20-21. They are now on trial for
violating Myanmar’s nationality statutes for traveling illegally and without
documentation.
On Feb. 14, authorities picked up 19
Rohingya, including four children, were arrested in Magway region’s Minhla
township of Magway region. The children were taken to a youth training center
in Mandalay, while the adults are now on trial for violating nationality
statutes, said township immigration officer Aung Pyi Soe.
In a larger incident, the Myanmar Navy on
Dec. 15 detained a vessel carrying 174 Rohingya in waters off the country’s
southern tip, west of Kawthaung town in the southern Tanintharyi region.
Instead of facing charges, the members of the
group were transferred by boat to western Myanmar’s Rakhine state in early
January, where immigration officials in the regional capital Sittwe determined
their places of origin and sent them back to their villages and internal
displacement camps.
On Nov. 28, authorities arrested 96 Rohingya
at sea off Pathein township in Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady region after they boarded a
boat from Rakhine.
All the arrested Rohingya have been charged
under Section 6(3) of Myanmar’s Immigration Act and face prison sentences of
six months to two years if found guilty.
‘Not the answer’
Rohingya rights activists have decried the
arrests and trials, blaming the Myanmar government for failing to address the
root causes of the illegal flight.
Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya
Organisation UK, said the government must extend basic rights to the Rohingya,
who are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denied citizenship.
“If the Myanmar government gives us citizen
rights, lets us live in our places [of origin] by rebuilding our houses, lets
us travel in our country, and abolishes unfair laws that affect us, these
flight cases can be reduced,” he said.
“Yes, the government can do it any time, but
it is not willing to do it,” he said. “We urge the government to do these
things. We [also] want justice from the international community.”
Myanmar is the subject of a lawsuit at the
International Court of Justice brought by the small African nation Gambia,
accusing the Southeast Asian country of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention
during the alleged expulsion of more than 740,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh amid
the 2017 crackdown.
The campaign of violence left thousands of
Rohingya dead, while some of those who tried to flee were subject to torture,
mass rape, and community burning.
The government and security forces have
defended the action as a counterinsurgency against a Muslim militant group in
northern Rakhine. The military has pledged to prosecute soldiers who committed
atrocities, and has so far held three courts-martial.
Rohingya activist Thar Aye said it is
preferable that authorities send back captured Rohingya to their places of
origin rather than prosecute them, and that they focus their efforts on
charging traffickers.
“It is a good action,” he said. “Because they
are not guilty, it is the right action to send them back to their places of
origin.”
“After sending them back, authorities need to
investigate and take action against the people and organizations involved in
these human trafficking cases, he added. “If they do this, there will be a
decrease in the number of flight attempts in the future.”
But Nickey Diamond, a Myanmar human rights
specialist with the Southeast Asia-based NGO Fortify Rights, disagreed, saying
that Rohingya who are caught and returned will likely leave again if their
situation doesn’t change for the better.
“Even if they are sent back to their places
of origin, they are going to flee again if they can’t survive,” he said. “And
then, some will be arrested in Myanmar’s territorial waters, though others will
make it to other countries.”
“I want the Myanmar government to think about
the causes of the problem — why they can’t live in their places of origin, why
they are fleeing,” he added. “The government needs to think about these
questions. But now it is giving them prison sentences after it arrests them and
is sending them back. This is not the answer.”
Source: RFA English
Source: RFA English