Stateless Burmese refugees?
by Zakir Hussain.
The Independent Bangladesh.
For an accurate understanding of the problem of influx of Burmese refugees into its neighbouring countries, one must look at the root causes of the problem, namely, the status of the minorities in Burma, and the oppressive policies they suffer there..
Since independence, Burma has been destabilised by civil wars involving various ethnic groups, a legacy, in part, of the divide-and-rule policies of the British colonial administration. This instability led to a military coup in 1962. Since then, the country has been ruled by a military junta which has implemented ruthless policies to quell any dissent..
In the 1990 election, the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won an overwhelming victory, but so far the military has refused to hand over power to the elected representatives..
As a result of four decades of military rule, Burma has been ravaged by economic mismanagement; insurgency problems remain unsolved, and border areas are left underdeveloped. .
A wide range of human rights abuses, such as forced labour, arbitrary arrests and summary executions, are prevalent throughout the country. It is unnecessary to recall the appalling human rights record of the military regime. Since 1991 the UN General Assembly, most recently in November 1999, has adopted annual resolutions expressing concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in Burma..
The UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Rajsoomer Lallah,in his reports to the Human Rights Commission and the General Assembly has repeatedly issued strong conclusions and recommendations to the same effect. .
In June 1999 the ILO decided to exclude Burma from its programmes and activities because of the pervasive use of forced labour.As a consequence of the disastrous economic situation, forced labour and harassment by the military, migration and human trafficking from Burma to neighbouring countries have flourished..
In Thailand, in addition to over 120,000 refugees living in camps established along the border, up to one million Burmese migrants, most of them undocumented, are seeking a better means of livelihood. The Rohingyas are a minority group mostly living in the northern part of Arakan State in Burma, bordering Bangladesh. They have generally embraced a conservative form of Islam. Ethnically they are related to Bengalis sharing similar traditions, customs and religion. In Burma, they express a distinct identity, and have resisted assimilation into mainstream Burmese Buddhist culture. The majorities of Rohingya people live in abject poverty, and suffer from severe lack of education and health care..
Arakan was an independent kingdom until 1784, encompassing at times the southern part of today's Bangladesh. Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists have co-existed in the region for centuries. Until World War II, the two communities did not show any sign of strong animosity. .
But in 1942 the evacuation of the British created a political vacuum which gave room for accumulated ethnic tensions to explode. Communal riots broke out in Arakan between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. After independence, some Rohingya leaders formed a Mujahid movement and demanded autonomy. But the situation of the Rohingya people only started deteriorating seriously at the time of the military take-over in 1962. Since then they have become targets for harsh treatments by the state authorities. .
The first wave of migration out of Burma to Pakistan started in the years following the military coup. In 1978, the Burmese government launched an operation called "Nagamin" ("Dragon King") aimed at curtailing illegal infiltration into Burma. It degenerated into abusive attacks on Rohingyas both by the army and local Rakhines. This unleashed a mass exodus of Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh. In 1982, following the subsequent repatriation to Burma, the military junta amended the Citizenship Law. This amendment clearly targeted the Rohingyas, making it almost impossible for them to be recognised as citizens. .
Again in 1991-92, the Rohingya people became the scapegoats of the military regime. A ruthless campaign of gross human rights abuses, and excessive forced labour, forced once again 250,000 people to take shelter in refugee camps in Bangladesh. From 1994 onwards, UNHCR became involved in the camps in Bangladesh and gained access to the Arakan side of the border. As a result, a repatriation programme was initiated by UNHCR, but its involuntary character was denounced by NGOs. .
The repatriation has not been completed yet, and is presently stalled. Since its implementation, new refugees and many returnees have continued to trickle back into Bangladesh, but these have not been allowed to settle in the camps and have to survive in extreme poverty in jungle areas or in the slums around Cox's Bazar, facing deportation by the Bangladesh authorities..
Currently, an outflow -although less significant, of Rohingyas fleeing military harassment and economic oppression in Arakan is still ongoing, and trafficking to Pakistan continues unabated..
UNHCR has identified some areas of major concerns that constitute a push-factor for the outflow of Rohingyas to Bangladesh. There is a direct correlation between the lack of citizenship and the root causes for displacement. .
Lt-Gen. Khin Nyunt, Secretary No. 1 of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), stated that "Suffice it to say that the issue is essentially one of migration, of people seeking greener pastures. These people are not originally from Myanmar but have illegally migrated to Myanmar because of population pressures in their own country. .
They are racially,ethnically, culturally different from the other national races in our country." .
However, an historical analysis of the settlement pattern of the Rohingya people in Northern Arakan considers that nationality rights are for most of them a legitimate aspiration. .
Following amendments in the Citizenship Act in 1982, they found themselves deprived of the rights inherent to citizenship. The analysis concludes that their present legal status amounts, in international law, to de facto statelessness.