UN envoy warns of ‘permanent segregat...

Monday, July 28, 2014 Myanmar’s plans for the future of Rakhine State could result in the “permanent segregation” of its Buddhist and Muslim communities, a United Nations envoy warned in Yangon on July 26. The UNrapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said there was a “deplorable” situation in camps f [...]

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MSF “cautiously optimistic” about inv...

Monday, July 28, 2014 Medecins Sans Frontieres has expressed cautious optimism about its invitation to resume operations in Rakhine State and hoped to begin work soon there soon, the international medical aid organisation said on July 25. In a statement issued in Amsterdam, it welcomed announcements by the Union and Rakhine governments that i [...]

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Conditions ‘deplorable’ in Arakan IDP...

By Alex Bookbinder July 27, 2014 Concluding a ten-day visit to Burma, the UN’s new special rapporteur on human rights, Yanghee Lee, painted a decidedly mixed picture of the country’s ongoing reform process at a press conference held at Rangoon airport on Saturday evening. She described the conditions in displacement camps across the state as [...]

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Rohingya in Arakan Suffer Worsening H...

By Paul Mooney & Thin Lei Win/Reuters Friday, July 25, 2014 INN DIN, Arakan State — Visitors to the medical facility in one of Burma’s poorest and most remote regions are greeted by a padlocked gate and a sign reading: “Clinic closed until further notice.” A vehicle that used to ferry around doctors and patients parked next to the neat co [...]

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Arakan govt invites MSF and others to...

By DVB July 24, 2014 The Arakan State government has invited international aid organisations — including Médecins Sans Frontières, which was dramatically expelled from the state nearly five months ago — to continue operations in the troubled region. In an announcement published by state media on Thursday, Arakan leadership said that 24 specif [...]

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A Charge to the People of Burma Resid...

July 20,2014 Keynote speech by Prof. B T Win* On March 2nd. 1962, the day the military takeover Burma, Eugene’s Younger brother Sao Myee Myee Thaike was deliberately shot on that night as the Burmese army raided the President’s home. Since then more than half of the past-century, the various military administrations of Burma, was one of the w [...]

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Arakan Minister Struggles to Gain Tru...

By Lawi Weng July 17, 2014 RANGOON — The newly appointed chief minister of Burma’s conflict-torn Arakan State appears to be struggling to win the trust of Rohingya Muslims, who continue to live in squalid camps after being driven from their homes in rioting two years ago. Chief Minister Maung Maung Ohn, who is also a general in the armed forc [...]

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Chinese Muslims in Mandalay fear for ...

Tolerance shown by bygone Buddhist rulers is unravelling in Myanmar’s old royal capital July 14, 2014 MANDALAY (Myanmar) — When hundreds of Buddhist men carrying clubs and swords marauded through the streets of the old royal capital Mandalay earlier this month, the owner of a Chinese-Muslim restaurant took down the Quranic scriptures and the [...]

Sexism, racism, poor education condemn Rohingya women in western Myanmar

Author: Thin Lei Win July 9, 2014 THET KE PYIN, Myanmar (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When I first met Roma Hattu, a stateless Rohingya Muslim, in April 2013 she was rolling on the dirty concrete floor of an abandoned building in western Myanmar, heavily pregnant and in excruciating pain. She had taken shelter in the building after Buddhist- [...]

Journalists Protesting Sentencing Barred From Thein Sein Event

By Kyaw Phyo Tha July 12, 2014 RANGOON — Journalists in Rangoon wearing t-shirts to protest the jailing of four reporters and the CEO of the Unity journal were refused entry to an event involving President Thein Sein, sparking protests and a boycott of the meeting by other media. About two dozen journalists trying to cover an event at the Mya [...]

Lawyers appeal murder charges in case of Muslim pilgrims lynching

By Aye Nai July 11, 2014 Seven Buddhists charged for their participation in the murder of 10 Muslim pilgrims in Arakan State town of Taunggup in June 2012 are appealing against their indictment. The district court in Sandoway, officially known as Thandwe, indicted the seven for murder in May this year under Penal Code articles 302 and 34. Def [...]

Zarni Mann July 9, 2014 MANDALAY — Rangoon-based journalists are calling on the government to protect reporters who were threatened with violence while covering inter-communal riots in Mandalay last week. The Myanmar Journalist Network and the Interim Press Council, both based in the former capital, issued statements on Tuesday condemning the [...]