Rohingya

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With No Options Left, They Keep Risking Lives by Boat

But 1 in 8 Rohingya refugees who flee Myanmar or camps in Bangladesh are lost at sea

(Newser) - Across a treacherous stretch of water, the Rohingya came by the thousands, then died by the hundreds. Last year, nearly 4,500 ethnic Rohingya Muslims—two-thirds of them women and children—fled their homeland of Myanmar and refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh by boat, the United Nations' refugee agency reported....

Biden Administration Getting Ready to Declare a Genocide

White House will reportedly make the designation formally on Monday

(Newser) - The Biden administration intends to declare that Myanmar’s years-long repression of the Rohingya Muslim population is a “genocide," US officials said Sunday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to make the long-anticipated designation on Monday at an event at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, according to the...

They Escaped Certain Death Only to Face It Again

For some Rohingya refugees, assassins lurk

(Newser) - As the New York Times tells it, they've gone from one hell to the next. The first would be Myanmar, the country Rohingya Muslims fled en masse in 2017 to escape ethnic cleansing. Where most have landed is Bangladesh, which is home to what is the biggest single refugee...

Deserters Say They Were Told to 'Shoot All You See'

Myanmar soldiers admit taking part in atroccities against Rohingya

(Newser) - Two soldiers who deserted from Myanmar’s army have testified on video that they were instructed by commanding officers to "shoot all that you see and that you hear" in villages where minority Rohingya Muslims lived, a human rights group said Tuesday. The comments appear to be the first...

Starving Refugees Rescued After 2 Months at Sea

Almost 400 people were on overcrowded boat

(Newser) - Hundreds of starving Rohingya refugees have been rescued after spending almost two months at sea. The coast guard in Bangladesh says more than 30 people died on the vessel, which may have been turned back from Malaysia due to the coronavirus pandemic, the BBC reports. Authorities say the refugees are...

From World Court, a 'Triumph of International Justice'

International Court of Justice orders Myanmar to protect the Rohingya

(Newser) - It's only the first step to address a lawsuit filed by Gambia accusing Myanmar of genocide, but an International Court of Justice decision this week is being applauded by the former as "a triumph of international justice." Per Reuters , a 17-member panel from the court at the...

Suu Kyi: We Weren't Perfect, but No 'Genocidal Intent'

Myanmar leader describes Rohingya exodus as 'tragic'

(Newser) - Once touted as a human rights champion, Aung San Suu Kyi defended Myanmar against a claim of genocide on Wednesday, arguing the exodus of 700,000 Muslim Rohingya was an unfortunate consequence of a legitimate response to terrorist violence. Myanmar's security forces launched "counter-insurgency operations" following attacks by...

Nobel Winner in Court, Accused of Genocide

Aung San Suu Kyi is defending her country, Myanmar, at the Hague

(Newser) - A genocide hearing got underway at the Hague Tuesday, and it's prompting news outlets such as the BBC , Deutsche Welle , and the Guardian to use the same phrase: "fall from grace." The reference is to Aung San Suu Kyi, who once won the Nobel Peace Prize and...

Myanmar Readies for a Genocide Case. A Big Name Leads the Way

Country leader Aung San Suu Kyi will head legal team in Rohingya case

(Newser) - Myanmar said Wednesday its leader Aung San Suu Kyi will head the legal team contesting a genocide case filed against it in the International Court of Justice over the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims two years ago that set off their exodus to Bangladesh. Myanmar’s military has been accused of...

Gambia's Big Move Against Myanmar a 'Clear Message'

Nation files case at ICJ to 'stop Myanmar's genocidal conduct' against Rohingya Muslims

(Newser) - Gambia filed a case Monday at the United Nations' highest court accusing Myanmar of genocide in its campaign against its Rohingya Muslim minority and asking the International Court of Justice to urgently order measures "to stop Myanmar's genocidal conduct immediately." Gambia filed the case on behalf of...

After 511 Days, Myanmar Frees Reuters Journalists

They reported on brutal Rohingya crackdown

(Newser) - Two Reuters journalists who were imprisoned for breaking Myanmar's Official Secrets Act over reporting on security forces' abuses of Rohingya Muslims were pardoned and released Tuesday, the prison chief and witnesses said. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were freed after President Win Myint issued a blanket pardon for...

Bangladesh: We Can't Take More Rohingya Refugees

They say Myanmar has made 'hollow promises'

(Newser) - Rohingya people fleeing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar will no longer be accepted as refugees in Bangladesh, the country's foreign secretary says. Shahidul Haque has informed the United Nations Security Council that Bangladesh will stop accepting Rohingya Muslim refugees because Myanmar has made "hollow promises" during discussions on returning...

Pence Rebukes Suu Kyi Over 'Deeply Troubling' Issues

VP takes Myanmar leader to task for persecution of Rohingya, arrest of 2 Reuters journalists

(Newser) - Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi rebuffed criticism from Vice President Mike Pence and other leaders Wednesday over her government's treatment of its ethnic Rohingya Muslims. In a meeting in Singapore, Pence told Suu Kyi he was anxious to hear about progress in resolving the crisis, which stems from...

Amnesty Yanks Its Highest Honor From Suu Kyi

'We are profoundly dismayed,' group says of Myanmar's civilian leader

(Newser) - The "Honors and Awards" section of Aung San Suu Kyi's CV is getting slimmer . Amnesty International on Monday announced it has rescinded an award it bestowed upon her in 2009: the Ambassador of Conscience Award, the group's highest honor. At the time, it described Suu Kyi as...

Suu Kyi Is First to Have Canadian Honor Revoked

Myanmar leader loses honorary citizenship

(Newser) - Canada's Parliament formally stripped Aung San Suu Kyi of her honorary Canadian citizenship on Tuesday for complicity in the atrocities committed against Myanmar's Rohingya people. The Senate voted unanimously to strip Suu Kyi, Myanmar's civilian leader, of the symbolic honor bestowed on her in 2007. The upper...

Myanmar Sentences Reuters Reporters to 7 Years

They had been reporting on brutal Rohingya crackdown

(Newser) - A Myanmar court sentenced two Reuters journalists to seven years in prison Monday for illegal possession of official documents, a ruling that comes as international criticism mounts over the military's alleged human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, had pleaded not guilty...

UN Investigators Deliver Gravest Accusation Possible

Panel says Myanmar's military leaders should be prosecuted for genocide

(Newser) - The word genocide has been used by critics to describe the Myanmar military's brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, but a team of UN investigators has just brought the allegation to a whole new level. The three-member team says the actions of the nation's army meet the strict legal...

She Prays for Death Daily, Doesn't Love the Baby in Her Arms

Rohingya rape survivors share their stories with the AP

(Newser) - First the media reported on the rapes. Now, more than 10 months later, the babies. Writing for the AP , Kristen Gelineau profiles several Rohingya Muslim women who were raped by Buddhist soldiers in Myanmar and became pregnant; one is just 13. It's a fate seemingly just as bad as...

There's a New Crisis at Rohingya Camps

A 'child protection crisis' as officials prepare for wave of births

(Newser) - Soldiers committed no rapes during a crackdown on the Rohingya in Myanmar, the country's army chief told a UN Security Council delegation on Monday, per AFP . But such denials will only become harder to sustain with the cries of infants taking over refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, where hundreds...

Policeman: We Were Told to 'Get' Reuters Reporter

AP sees it as a 'setback' for the prosecution in Myanmar case

(Newser) - "Get Wa Lone." That was the directive a Myanmar police captain was given by his superior, or so he testified Friday. Wa Lone is the Reuters reporter who, along with colleague Kyaw Soe Oo, was arrested Dec. 12 and has been jailed since. Police accused the pair of...

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