It sounds like Islamophobia isn’t just a problem in the west. The Rohingya, a group of Muslims that live in the majority Buddhist nation of Myanmar are being severally persecuted. They are being denied basic human rights, and government is even planning to take away their right to vote, and ban marriages between Muslims and Buddhists. Things are only getting worse as violence and persecution increases. Make no mistake about it, our “counter jihad” loves this sad state of affairs.

Jane Perlez reports,

Bleak Existence for Myanmar’s Rohingya Minority
CreditTomas Munita for The New York Times

SITTWE, Myanmar — The Myanmar government has given the estimated one million Rohingya people in this coastal region of the country a dispiriting choice: Prove your family has lived here for more than 60 years and qualify for second-class citizenship, or be placed in camps and face deportation.

The policy, accompanied by a wave of decrees and legislation, has made life for the Rohingya, a long-persecuted Muslim minority, ever more desperate, spurring the biggest flow of Rohingya refugees since a major exodus two years ago.

In the last three weeks alone, 14,500 Rohingya have sailed from the beaches of Rakhine State to Thailand, with the ultimate goal of reaching Malaysia, according to the Arakan Project, a group that monitors Rohingya refugees.

The crisis has become an embarrassment to the White House ahead of a scheduled visit by President Obama to Myanmar next week. The administration considers Myanmar a foreign-policy success story in Asia but is worried that renewed conflict between Buddhist extremists, who are given a free hand by the government, and the Rohingya could derail the already rocky transition from military rule to democratic reform.

Read more at The New York Times

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The Rohingya are an embattled ethnic group that predominately reside as a disparate transnational people in south and west Asia.

Regions with significant populations

Burma 800,000
Saudi Arabia 400,000
Bangladesh 300,000
Pakistan 200,000
Thailand 100,000
Malaysia 35,000

Their ancestral lineage leads back centuries to Arab traders in the 8th century, and the Arakanese, and they share a linguistic heritage with the Indo-Aryan peoples of India and Bangladesh (rather than the Sino-Tibetan heritage of Burma/Myanmar).

In the Myanmar state of Rakhine, from the coastal palms of the Bengali Straits to the Arakan Mountains, all is not peaceful for the Rohingya people. Since 2012, the ruling Junta has lead a campaign of ethnic cleansing, starvation, and violence. While ethnic violence is not a new reality to the Rohingya, the level of intensity and persecution has led the United Nations to label them “one of the most persecuted groups in the world”

The Rohingya, who compose only 4 percent of Burma’s population, are an ethnic Muslim minority from the state of Arakan in Burma, a predominantly Buddhist nation. The Rohingya are regarded by the United Nations as the most persecuted people in the world.

Social exclusion is arguably the most outrageous form of human rights denial based on a people’s race, religion or ethnicity. But in addition to denial of citizenship, torture, burning down of houses, looting, rape and human trafficking are an everyday reality for the Rohingya.

Such well-planned and executed persecution by one group of people toward another is hard for civilized persons to comprehend.

The Burmese junta and the Rakhine Buddhist population are increasingly daring in inappropriate use of power. Absolute denial of human rights and powerlessness over their own lives have led to mass Rohingyan exodus to neighboring Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia and even Australia.

Helpless desperation has forced Rohingya Muslims to brave the high seas on rickety boats; such efforts often end in drowning.

It will never be easy to get exact numbers of people fleeing Burma, but thousands have fled government-sponsored discrimination and ethnic cleansing. Deplorable living conditions in refugee camps lead to disease, malnourishment and high infant mortality.

Now, Doctors Without Borders has been ejected from the region, exacerbating the crises:

The crisis began with the government’s expulsion of Doctors Without Borders, one of the world’s premier humanitarian aid groups and the lifeline to health care for more than a million Rohingya increasingly denied those services by their own government. But the situation has grown more dire in recent weeks, as local Buddhist officials began severely restricting other humanitarian aid to the camps and the rest of Rakhine State, where tuberculosis, waterborne illnesses and malnutrition are endemic.

Some aid workers fear they are being kept away so there are fewer witnesses to rampant mistreatment and occasional bloodletting; the doctor’s group was expelled from Rakhine State after caring for victims of a violent assault on a Rohingya village that the government denies ever happened.

The scope of the government crackdown is serious enough that it has inspired at least some rebukes from world leaders after near silence even as Myanmar’s government ignored violence by local Buddhists in 2012 that left hundreds of Muslims dead and drove many others into the displaced people’s camps. Loath to criticize the government as it moves the country away from a military dictatorship, international leaders also fear losing out in an international scramble for Myanmar’s business, and allegiance.

The U.K. is the largest aid donor to Myanmar, and there is a new petition to target that aid :

The Rohingya (Muslims of Burma/Myanmar) have been designated by the UN as the most oppressed people on earth. Their treatment has been awful at the hand of Buddhist extremists.

Despite European powers entering Central African Republic, Mali and many other countries where Muslims were in power, it seems that when Muslims are the oppressed minority, there is no interest in doing anything to help or assist the oppressed.

The plight of refugees is also in question:

Many Rohingya have fled to ghettos and refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, and to areas along the Thai-Burma border. More than 100,000 Rohingya in Burma continue to live in camps for internally displaced persons, forbidden by authorities from leaving

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The crisis has reached levels of genocide and ethnic cleansing. The government of Myanmar, aided by its Buddhist majority, see the Rohingya as ‘illegal aliens’, as foreigners undeserving of personhood :

There are 400,000 Rohingya languishing in Bangladesh. For more than three decades, waves of refugees have fled Myanmar. But the government of Bangladesh considers the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants, as does the government of Myanmar. They have no legal rights and nowhere to go.

This is a story of a people fleeing the land where they were born, of a people deprived of citizenship in their homeland. It is the story of the Rohingya of western Myanmar, whose very existence as a people is denied.

Professor William Schabas, the former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, says: “When you see measures preventing births, trying to deny the identity of the people, hoping to see that they really are eventually, that they no longer exist; denying their history, denying the legitimacy of their right to live where they live, these are all warning signs that mean it’s not frivolous to envisage the use of the term genocide.”

Rakhine state in Myanmar - via The Economist

As of 2005, the UNHCR had been assisting with the repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh, but allegations of human rights abuses in the refugee camps have threatened this effort.

Despite earlier efforts by the UN, the vast majority of Rohingya refugees have remained in Bangladesh, unable to return because of the negative attitude of the ruling regime in Myanmar and fear of persecution. Now they are facing problems in Bangladesh as well where they no longer receive support from the government. In February 2009, many Rohingya refugees were rescued by Acehnese sailors in the Strait of Malacca, after 21 days at sea.

The Congress of the United States has passed a resolution urging Myanmar to end the humanitarian crisis:

The resolution was introduced and passed by the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. As a simple resolution, H.Res. 418 does not require approval from the United States Senate or the signature of the President of the United States because it only expresses the opinion or gives the advice of the House and has no actual legal power.

Passed by voice vote, the measure would pressure Burma to end massacres on minority Muslims. Allegations that Rohingya Muslims were attacked by Buddhists earlier this year have drawn international outrage.

“The Burmese government needs to recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group. The situation is dire and rapidly deteriorating,” said bill sponsor Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).
The resolution would further condemn the Burmese government for forcing Rohingya Muslims to relocate into relief camps.

“Let’s all send a message that the current state of human rights in Burma is unacceptable,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.).

It is time this human crisis was not ignored:

Responsibility to protect

Citizenship is not enough, however. Leaders need to speak out in the Rohingyas’ defence. The one person in Myanmar with genuine moral authority, Miss Suu Kyi, has confined herself to calling for respect for the rule of law. When the law is unjust and unfairly applied—as it long was against her—that is a betrayal of the high moral principles she has always espoused.

Elsewhere, Bangladesh must accommodate fleeing Rohingyas. The West has tended to regard the Rohingyas’ plight as a peripheral problem that should not deflect it from lifting sanctions and engaging with the new Myanmar. Yet it should make clear that ethnic cleansing on this scale is central to its concerns. The test of a fledgling democracy is not just how it cares for the majority, but how it protects its minorities.

"For 18 days we had a hard time on the boat.3 people died.Their bodies were thrown into the sea" http://t.co/6ac8N8DQKx #Rohingya #Malaysia

— UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) May 9, 2014

While anti-Rohingya sentiments are not new to Burma, the attacks have taken on a more urgent and egregious nature with greater access to information. In November last year, a social media campaign whipped up a tirade of animosity against the BBC for a report (published one year earlier) that had identified the Rohingya as residents of Arakan state.

In the wake of the latest violence, a number of online campaigns have been set up to coordinate attacks against news outlets that dare to report on their plight. Angry protesters rallied in Rangoon this week, brandishing signs reading “Bengali Broadcast Corporation” and “Desperate Voice of Bengali.” The latter was a reference to my employer, the Democratic Voice of Burma, the Norway-based broadcaster that has made a name for itself among many Burmese as one of the most reliable sources of information about their country. This weekend DVB faced the biggest cyber-attack on its website in the organization’s history, while its Facebook page is still under constant assault from people issuing threats and posting racist material. It is not without irony that an organization once hailed as a vehicle for free speech has become the target of censorship by the very people it sought to give a voice.

As International Crisis Group explains, the violence is both a consequence of, and threat to, Burma’s political transition. However, what they wrongly assume is that the “irresponsible, racist, and inflammatory language” circulating on the internet is likely to be resolved through discussion in the national media. The few balanced voices — let alone those representing the stateless minority — are vastly outnumbered by news outlets spouting simplistic, anti-Muslim rhetoric.

The ongoing crisis illustrates the need for Burma to embrace not only independent, but also responsible and inclusive journalism. In order to facilitate this transition, the government must take concrete steps to address the underlying dispute surrounding the Rohingya. The sheer level of racism against them in Burmese society — enforced by a government policy of discrimination and abuse — lies at the core of the matter.

Since June 2012, #International delegations have been visiting to #Rohingya, Sittwe, Burma but life of (cont) http://t.co/jvq3wdpDUJ

— Aung Aung (@Aungaungsittwe) May 10, 2014

A Bangladesh court sent the country’s second most senior opposition leader to jail on Sunday, a prosecutor said, a move set to trigger renewed protests in the politically volatile nation.

The court in Dhaka denied bail to Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary-general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who is charged with murder during violence in the run-up to a controversial general election in January.

“The metropolitan magistrate rejected bail for Alamgir and two other BNP officials and sent them to jail,” prosecutor Abdullah Abu told AFP.

The detention comes amid a government crackdown on the BNP and its 18 smaller allies, all of whom boycotted the violence-plagued election and allowed the ruling Awami League to win an absolute majority.

More: Bangladesh Leader Jailed as Nationwide Protests Loom

More: Bangladesh Workers Find Survivor in Factory Rubble

Worker found alive after 17 days

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Rescue workers in Bangladesh freed a woman buried for 17 days inside a prayer room in the wreckage of a collapsed garment factory building. The amazing rescue took place Friday as the death toll from the disaster raced past 1,000, making it one of the worst industrial tragedies in history.

The rescuers discovered the woman Friday afternoon in the wreckage of the basement of the building and ordered the cranes and bulldozers to immediately stop work. They used handsaws to cut through the rubble, as hundreds of people who had been engaged in the grim job of removing decomposing bodies from the site, raised their hands together in prayer.

“Allah, you are the greatest, you can do anything. Please allow us all to rescue the survivor just found,” said a man on a loudspeaker leading the supplicants. “We seek apology for our sins. Please pardon us, pardon the person found alive.”

When the woman, who soldiers identified as Reshma, was freed after 40 minutes, the crowd erupted in wild cheers.

More at Associated Press.

Inside the garment factory, hundreds of poor women sewed the clothes that filled our shops. The factory’s owners had been warned that the place was hazardous; they ignored the warnings. When disaster struck, the death toll was horrendous.

That describes the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 Jewish and Italian immigrants, many under 18, roasted or plunged to their deaths after the owner of the Manhattan clothing factory ignored fire-safety warnings and locked workers inside.

It also seems to be what happened this week on the outskirts of Dhaka when an eight-storey complex collapsed after its owners had reportedly ignored government warnings about dangerous fractures in the building. The death toll has topped 300. Many of the clothes they were sewing were for European and North American consumers, including some being made for Joe Fresh, owned by grocery giant Loblaw Cos. Ltd.

That leads to uncomfortable questions: If you’re wearing Joe Fresh, do you have hundreds of deaths on your hands? Are our clothing bargains creating poverty, misery and death in poor countries? Would the world be better off if we didn’t buy clothes made in Bangladesh?

Those questions are understandable, but they miss the larger context.

More: Is Your Wardrobe Killing Bangladeshis, or Saving Them? - the Globe and Mail

Factories that churn out consumer products around the world feed the insatiable appetite of consumers around the world, including the US. Bangladesh has turned into a major exporter of clothing and the garment industry there is a major political backer.

The factories where these clothes are produced operate 24/7/365, with multiple shifts operating to keep the output going. The owners operate them as little more than sweatshops straight out of the American 19th and early 20th Century. That is, they operate like how American clothing manufacturers used to operate until the criminal tragedy that was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire revealed just how deadly these factories were and New York State imposed sweeping safety rules for industry.

Locking emergency exits and lacking sufficient safety gear meant that those trapped by the flames could never escape, or their only means of escape was jumping to their deaths.

Fires have claimed dozens of lives across Bangladesh in just the past year. This past November saw a fire at another factory in Dhaka kill 112. The building housing that factory lacked sufficient exits or safety gear, meaning that victims simply could not get out of the building before succumbing to the smoke and heat.

Today another major incident occurred.

A building housing at least four clothing manufacturers collapsed, killing at least 100 and trapping dozens more. That’s despite news reports in the local papers that the building was suffering from structural problems yesterday. Cracks had appeared in the building and no one moved to inspect the building or shutter it to make sure that it was safe to occupy. Factory owners ignored warnings not to allow workers to enter the building.

Workers in the Rana Plaza building said it had developed such severe cracks the day before that it had been reported on local news channels. They hesitated to enter the building Wednesday morning, said Abdur Rahim, who worked in a garment factory on the fifth floor.

But a manager from the factory assured them there was no problem, so they went inside, he said.

“We started working. After about an hour or so the building collapsed suddenly,” he said. He next remembered regaining consciousness outside the building.

Bangladesh, like other developing countries, is going to have to reevaluate its safety rules and crack down factories that are operating without proper safety systems in place. Moreover, these countries have to make a concerted effort to make sure that worker safety is not trumped by business concerns for the bottom line that treats workers as disposable assets.

American businesses and consumers expect cheap products, and have gone to places like Bangladesh to get clothing made. The cheap costs come at a price - and the price is working conditions that are dangerous and deadly. Businesses will continue to chase cheap manufacturing across the globe, dipping into countries that have lax regulations on worker safety because it adds to costs. That means consumers have to demand that businesses have to choose sources that are not putting their workers into dangerous conditions. For instance, Walmart terminated its relationship with a Bangladeshi company after the November 2012 fire though critics claimed that the company knew about the unsafe working conditions and thwarted efforts to correct them.

Bangladesh’s government has ordered an investigation into allegations that the sole emergency exit was locked at a garment factory where a fire killed seven female workers, an official said Sunday.

The fire Saturday at the Smart Export Garment Ltd. factory occurred just two months after a blaze killed 112 workers in another factory near the capital, raising questions about safety in Bangladesh’s garment industry, which exports clothes to leading Western retailers. The gates of that factory were locked.

Government official Jahangir Kabir Nanak said an investigation has been ordered into the cause of Saturday’s fire and allegations that the emergency exit was locked.

More: Reports: Emergency Exit Locked at Burned Factory

Wal-Mart Nixed Paying Bangladesh Suppliers to Fight Fire
By Renee Dudley & Arun Devnath
Dec 5, 2012 8:57 AM MT
Bloomberg News

At a meeting convened in 2011 to boost safety at Bangladesh garment factories, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) made a call: paying suppliers more to help them upgrade their manufacturing facilities was too costly.

Bangladeshi people identify the bodies of their relatives who died in a fire at a garment factory in the Savar neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday Nov. 25, 2012. Polash Khan/AP Photo

Details of the meeting have emerged after a fire at a Bangladesh factory that made clothes for Wal-Mart and Sears Holdings Corp. killed more than 100 people last month. The blaze has renewed pressure on companies to improve working conditions in Bangladesh, where more than 700 garment workers have died since 2005, according to the International Labor Rights Forum, a Washington-based advocacy group.

At the April 2011 meeting in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, retailers discussed a contractually enforceable memorandum that would require them to pay Bangladesh factories prices high enough to cover costs of safety improvements. Sridevi Kalavakolanu, a Wal-Mart director of ethical sourcing, told attendees the company wouldn’t share the cost, according to Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator for the Clean Clothes Campaign, who attended the gathering. Kalavakolanu and her counterpart at Gap reiterated their position in a report folded into the meeting minutes, obtained by Bloomberg News.

Continue reading at Bloomberg News.

Fire Hits Second Bangladesh Garment Factory - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English

A fire that broke out in a 12-storey building housing four different garment factories in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, has been almost brought under control, police say.

There were no reports of deaths in Monday’s blaze in the suburb of Uttara, but eight workers were injured due to heavy smoke, Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah, fire brigade director-general, told Reuters news agency.

The fire occurred just days after a similar incident killed 110 textile workers in a different facility in the city.

Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, reporting from the scene of Monday’s fire, said many workers coming out of the building were angry because the fire happened just two days after the deadly blaze.

“These are workers who make clothes for the world’s leading brands, so it’s expected that they should have international standards in these factories,” he said. “But since 2006, 600 factory workers have died in fires like this one.”

He said the new fire happened in a densely populated area and that had helped workers escape.

“They made their way up to the top floor and jumped out onto nearby buildings,” he said.

Read more at Al Jazeera.