File photo: A Rohingya refugee girl poses for a photograph
Myanmar violated its obligations to the United Nations child rights convention in its crackdown on the Rohingya that led to an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people from the minority community, legal experts have found.
Children make up around half of the more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh since the start of a military crackdown last August.
The U.N. has called the Myanmar military operations a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". Myanmar denies the allegation and has said it waged a legitimate counter-insurgency operation after Muslim militants attacked security posts.
Two Turkish non-governmental organizations began a campaign to help Rohingya refugees during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha (feast of sacrifice).International Refugee Rights Association(UMHD) and Sadakatasi are making efforts to reach out to the refugees in Bangladesh, Uğur Yıldırım, head of UMHD told Anadolu Agency.Meat packages will be distributed among the Rohingya Muslims at camps in Cox's Bazar.Since Aug. 25, 2017, more than 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.Rohingya report more violence, persecution in Myanmar: UN investigatorsRohingya face triple threat: UN migration agencyAt least 9,400 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24 last year, according to Doctors Without Borders.In a report published recently, the humanitarian group said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.“We have worked in different areas before, but the crisis here is very critical,” Yıldırım said.Rohingya refugees want to return to Myanmar as citizensMyanmar police focused interrogation on Rohingya story“They have an identity crisis problem, no country accepts them as its citizen, and this has created a serious psychological problem,” he lamented on the situation.He also said that the campaign expects a donation of 700 Turkish liras ($145) from each person.The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012. The UN documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel.In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Turkish NGOs begin aid campaign for Rohingya Muslims
Myanmar authorities made “extensive and systematic preparations” for attacks on Rohingya civilians during the weeks and months before militants attacked police in August 2017, said a Bangkok-based human rights group in a report released Thursday.The Fortify Rights report finds “reasonable grounds” that crimes against the Rohingya constitute genocide and crimes against humanity, and identifies 22 Myanmar army and police officials who it says should be criminally investigated for their roles in atrocities.The report also calls on the UN Security Council to urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC).“Genocide doesn’t happen spontaneously,” said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer at Fortify Rights.“Impunity for these crimes will pave the path for more violations and attacks in the future. The world can’t sit idly by and watch another genocide unfold, but right now, that’s exactly what’s happening,” he added.The report said at least 27 Myanmar army battalions, including up to 11,000 soldiers, along with at least three combat police battalions with an estimated 900 police personnel, were involved in the attacks in northern Rakhine state beginning on Aug. 25, 2017.“These crimes do not occur spontaneously or as isolated events; they require resources and decisions by people in positions of power,” the report said.The report is based on a 21-month investigation, including 254 interviews, done by Fortify Rights in Myanmar and Bangladesh.The rights group also interviewed Rohingya eyewitnesses and survivors, Myanmar military and police personnel, Bangladeshi military and government officials, and members and former members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the report said.-Violent crackdownSince Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 Rohingya, mostly children and women, have fled to bordering Bangladesh after Myanmar forces began a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, 2017, according to Doctors Without Borders.In a report published last December, the global humanitarian group said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.Rohingya report more violence, persecution in Myanmar: UN investigators
Myanmar officials planned genocide of Rohingya: NGO
Legal experts commissioned by Save the Children Norway analysed research by U.N. bodies and international human rights groups who have alleged that mass killings, arson, and torture were conducted by Myanmar security forces on the Rohingya.
"The research finds that the response by the Myanmar Government to the August 2017 attacks on police posts, together with the ongoing discrimination against Rohingya, constitute violations of at least seven key articles of the (UN convention on the rights of the child)," their report said.
Muslim refugees reaching Bangladesh say violence, including torture, persists against them in Myanmar and the overall environment remains "menacing" for ethnic and religious minorities, U.N. human rights investigators said on Thursday.Members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar ended a five-day visit to the refugee camp of Kutupalong in Cox's Bazar where they interviewed new arrivals among the more than 700,000 Rohingya who have fled Rakhine state since an army crackdown last August.Rohingya face triple threat: UN migration agencyRohingya refugees want to return to Myanmar as citizens"They referred to the overt threats they faced of violence and persecution, being cut off from their sources of livelihood, and the overall menacing environment that finally compelled them to leave for Bangladesh," the investigators said in a statement, adding that the arrival of new refugees reflects the "the continuing gravity of the human rights violations in Myanmar."There was no immediate reaction from authorities in Myanmar, where it is a holiday. Previously, they have denied widespread abuses.Myanmar police focused interrogation on Rohingya storyThe United Nations struck an outline deal with Myanmar in May aimed at eventually allowing hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in Bangladesh to return safely and by choice. But the secret agreement, seen by Reuters, offers no explicit guarantees of citizenship or freedom of movement throughout the country."The young men I spoke with were particularly anxious, showing signs of deep trauma. Without education and livelihood I fear for their future," said investigator Radhika Coomaraswamy.The investigators will report their findings on Sept. 18 to the U.N. Human Rights Council, a 47-member state Geneva forum which launched the inquiry. 
Rohingya report more violence, persecution in Myanmar: UN investigators
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are facing a triple threat of extreme weather, funding shortfalls and uncertainty about their future.Head of the UN Migration Agency William Lacy Swing said late on Tuesday it was crucial for the world to remain focused on the crisis."Failure to do so would have tragic outcomes for the nearly a million Rohingya refugees sheltering in Bangladesh," said the director general of the UN Migration Agency in a statement.He made the remarks after reviewing progress by IOM and their partners in managing the refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar, discussions with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in capital Dhaka, and an earlier meeting with Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.Rohingya refugees want to return to Myanmar as citizens“The Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar are in danger of becoming the wretched of the earth, homeless and without a future,” he said.“The world must rally to support them.“All mothers – refugees and locals – should have access to safe, hygienic facilities to give birth and it’s profoundly worrying that funding shortages are now threatening these crucial maternity services which are making such differences to the lives of women and babies from all backgrounds.“The world must recognize the hugely generous support that the Bangladesh government and host community here in Cox’s Bazar has offered these refugees who arrived in such desperate conditions with nothing.”Video: Monsoon flood cuts off Rohingya camp in BangladeshSince Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 Rohingya, mostly children and women, have fled to bordering Bangladesh after Myanmar forces began a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.At least 9,400 Rohingya were killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, 2017, according to Doctors Without Borders.Myanmar police focused interrogation on Rohingya storyTorn apart by violence, Rohingya families connect through lettersIn a report published last December, the global humanitarian group said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Rohingya face triple threat: UN migration agency
The analysis found both the government and the security forces at fault. The Myanmar government "took positive steps" to assist the military operations and there was no evidence to suggest it did anything to curtail or condemn the security forces' actions, the report said.
Myanmar acceded to the United Nations convention on the rights of the child in 1991 and is bound to it by law. Representatives of the Myanmar government and military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The violations highlighted in the report include failure to protect children from violence, abuse, neglect, sexual and other exploitation, inhumane treatment and detention.
It refers to "indiscriminate and extrajudicial killing of Rohingya children, and the torture, ill-treatment and gender-based violence" committed against them.
The government's failure to conduct an independent investigation into the events following the August 2017 attacks, and ongoing discrimination against Rohingya children by denying them citizenship also are in violation of Myanmar's obligations to the child rights convention, the report said.
The report was shared exclusively with Reuters ahead of its release next week.
"The list of violations we have found is not exhaustive," said Guy Goodwin-Gill, emeritus professor of international refugee law at Oxford University, who co-authored the report.
"It represents only the most serious violations and there most likely are several others."