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London, UK -- Burma Human Rights Network remains extremely alarmed by the number of civilian casualties and injuries suffered by members of various ethnic groups in the areas of conflict between the Burmese Army and the ethnic armed group, the Arakan Army. Civilians have been killed or maimed by guns, landmines, and artillery shells with near silence from the international community. Among those casualties are Rakhine, Rohingya and Chin civilians. As of now, nearly 40, 000 civilians in Rakhine have been displaced due to this conflict.
“The fighting between the Burmese Army and the Arakan Army has significantly harmed the communities of all ethnic groups living in the region. As minorities their lives are too often treated as less valuable to the military. It is imperative that Rohingya and Rakhine can achieve some unity now to amplify their voices to call for peace and that the international community acts to help them do so,” said BHRN Executive Director Kyaw Win.
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Acknowledgements
This report was researched and written by a BHRN team who has to remain anonymous for security reasons, and edited by Richard Potter, a researcher in BHRN, with the support of BHRN’s Executive Director Kyaw Win. BHRN is grateful to the community members who shared their stories with BHRN to make this documentation project possible.
About BHRN
The Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) was founded in 2012 and works for human rights, minority rights and religious freedom in Burma. BHRN has played a crucial role in advocating for these principles with politicians and world leaders.
BHRN is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), and private donors. We have members across Burma and on the Thailand and Bangladeshi borders. Any information we receive is checked for credibility by experienced journalists and researchers in the organization. We publish press releases and reports after our own investigations.
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As June ends, widespread statelessness among Burmese Muslim migrants will become an urgent and serious issue in neighboring Thailand, according to a new report by the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN).
Existence Denied, launched on Tuesday, highlights the insecurity faced by this community at home and in their host country. Its publication precedes a June 30 deadline set by the Thai authorities for migrant worker registration, which BHRN fears many Burmese Muslims will be unable to meet due to systematic discrimination by the Burmese authorities charged with implementing the process.
By this date, Thailand has required that all migrant workers obtain a verification of their nationality—known as a Certificate of Identity (CI)—from officials from their home country so that they can work in Thailand legally. Failure to do so will result in crushing fines, deportation, and a two-year ban on re-applying for a work permit.
