Michael de Laine

MEPs strongly condemn Burmese government’s continuous persecution of Rohingya

By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 6th February 2009

The European Parliament has deplored reports of inhumane treatment inflicted on the Rohingya refugees by the Burmese government and has urged the government of Thailand to treat the Rohingya in accordance with humanitarian standards. The Rohingya refugees face persecution if Thailand pushes them back to Burma.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) this week deplored reports of inhumane treatment inflicted on the Rohingya refugees by the Burmese government. They also called on the government of Thailand to “take all necessary measures to ensure that the lives of the Rohingya are not at risk and that they are treated in accordance with humanitarian standards.”

MEPs strongly condemned the “continuous persecution of the Rohingya by the Burmese government, which holds prime responsibility for the plight of the refugees.” The indigenous people of the mainly Muslim community in western Burma are subjected to systematic, persistent and widespread human rights violations by the ruling military regime, including denial of citizenship rights, severe restrictions of freedom of movement and arbitrary arrests.

The European Parliament (EP) demanded the “restoration of the Burmese citizenship of the Rohingya, the immediate lifting of all restrictions to their right to education, right to get married and freedom of movement, a stop to religious persecution and destruction of mosques and other places of worship, and an end to all human rights violations across the country as well as deliberate impoverishment, arbitrary taxation and land confiscation.”

It has been reported that around 1,000 Rohingya boat people were intercepted by the navy in Thai territorial waters between 18th and 30th December 2008 and were subsequently towed into international waters without navigational equipment or sufficient food and water.

MEPs appealed to the government of Thailand, “a respected member of the international community well-known for its hospitality towards refugees”, not to push back the Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers, including the boat people, to Burma, where “their lives will be in danger or where they may be subject to torture.”

The United Nations Refugee Agency, which has voiced its concern about the reports of mistreatment of the Burmese refugees, gained access to some of the 26 Rohingya still kept in custody by the Thai authorities, who claim that the migrants caught in Thai waters were illegal economic migrants.

The EP therefore welcomed the statement by Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that the allegations of mistreatment of Rohingya asylum seekers by the military will be investigated, and requested that a “thorough and impartial inquiry be carried out.”

It also welcomed the Thai government’s co-operation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and called for “immediate and full access to all the detained Rohingya boat people in order to define their protection needs.”

The MEPs’ resolution stressed that the boat people issue that affects Thailand and other countries is “essentially a regional one.” Noting the positive efforts the Thai government has made to increase co-operation among regional neighbours, the EP appealed to the members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and in particular the Thai chair and relevant international organisations, to work on a permanent solution to this long-standing problem.