On February 8, the rebel Arakan Army (AA) seized Mrauk-U, the former capital of the Arakan kingdom in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, along with the towns of Minbya and Kyauktaw. In fact, since the resumption of war between the AA and the country’s military junta on November 13, the AA has now successfully taken over … Read more
More Rohingya asylum seekers were reported killed or missing while attempting to flee Myanmar and Bangladesh last year than in nearly a decade, according to the United Nations refugee agency, which called for coordinated action to protect the ethnic minority group. In a statement yesterday, UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said that the agency was alarmed … Read more
Earlier this month, Fortify Rights, a human rights advocacy group focused primarily on Myanmar, marked its 10th anniversary. During its first decade, the organization has documented the human rights challenges in Myanmar, including the military’s vicious ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya Muslims of Rakhine State in the country’s west, and the atrocities that it … Read more
A United Nations expert has called for Southeast Asian governments to launch a regional emergency response to address a surge of Rohingya refugees arriving in Indonesia by sea. More than 1,000 Rohingya civilians have landed in Aceh in western Indonesia over the past 10 days, after perilous ocean journeys from the coast of southeastern Bangladesh. … Read more
More than 500 Rohingya civilians came ashore in Aceh province in western Indonesia yesterday after weeks at sea, the latest in a wave of new Rohingya arrivals from southeastern Bangladesh. According to reports by Reuters and BenarNews, which cited local officials and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), three vessels containing up to … Read more
For people living in or engaged with the Asia-Pacific, the violence in Gaza and the accompanying rhetoric are all too familiar, mirroring much of what Myanmar’s military has unleashed against ethnic minorities for decades. Being forced to live in “open air prisons” matched by systematic dehumanization and state-backed violence are exactly what the Rohingya of … Read more
Advertisement In August 2017, the Myanmar military launched a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya community, triggering a severe humanitarian crisis. I was one of those who fled, making an 11-day journey by foot from northern Rakhine State in Myanmar, where my family and I were from, to the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh. … Read more