Op 15 mei zal het PvdA kamerlid Désirée Bonis de voortdurende schendingen van mensenrechten in Birma ter sprake brengen bij minister Timmermans van Buitenlandse Zaken, tijdens het algemene overleg over Godsdienstvrijheid. Dat doet zij naar aanleiding van een email van Human Rights Media, over het recente geweld in Birma tegen moslims. Continue reading Vragen over Birma aan minister Timmermans
Category Archives: Human Rights
The Rohingya need camera’s!
The Rohingya people in Burma urgently need your help! They face severe violence against them, which is about to explode. The Rohingya desperately need food, water and protection. But in this tense situation, they also need camera’s, to raise their voices! You can help! Continue reading The Rohingya need camera’s!
The Rohingyas in Burma – in 7 minutes
You have read about the Rohingya in Burma, and you want to know what is going on?
Read this 7 minutes report. Continue reading The Rohingyas in Burma – in 7 minutes
New video from partner group Burma Issues
Please watch the new video of our partner group Burma Issues. A striking portrait of 12 villages that will be swept away by a huge development project in southern Burma. The villagers fear to loose their livelihood and land. But they don’t dare to protest out of fear for retaliation by the Burmese government. Continue reading New video from partner group Burma Issues
North Korea admits starvation
North Korea apparently has admitted that starvation is a problem in parts of their country. An internal document from the Chosun Workers Party published mid-march describes problems such as starvation by famers. Continue reading North Korea admits starvation
Historic moment for Burma
An historic moment for all people of Burma and most of all for Aung San Suu Kyi. Last week she became a member of parliament. This is almost unbelievable, after spending nearly 2 decades under house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi, the internationally respected leader of the NLD, was released only late 2010. In less then 2 years, the impossible has happened; the NLD is part of the new civilian government.
Still ‘shoot to kill’ by Burma Army
Is the Burma government truly taking steps towards democracy? As long as arbitrary killings are taking place in Burma, we need to watch the democracy process critically. Even now, the Burma army kills people in the ethnic areas in eastern Burma, according to eye witnessess of the Free Burma Rangers.
The Free Burma Rangers work in eastern Burma, with a focus on medical health, especially in the so called ‘Black Areas’; the area where the Burma Army used to have orders to ‘shoot to kill’. On the 9th of March 2012, a Karen volunteer of the Free Burma Rangers was shoot dead by the Burma Army in Karen State, while the Burma government have agreed to a ceasefire in Karen State early this year. And even more worrying, while the Burma government talks about reforms and also international bans are being lifted.
Over the last decades, the Burma government again and again proved not to be able to take true steps on the road to democracy. How will the government of this new government respond to atrocities by their army? Will it put an end to these arbitrary killings, which always occur far outside the eye of the international media? This will be key to be able to trust the new Burma government. Let them first show their true intention.
If you want to read more about this recent killing inside Burma, please read further on Free Burma Rangers.
Burma ‘blacklists’ Rohingya children
While Burma’s new government has made important steps on the road to democracy, the situation of the Rohingya shows that there is still some way to go. The human rights organisation IRIN has presented a report on state discrimination against Muslim babies in Burma to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Banning children
This report reveals a discriminatory policy against the Rohingya ethnic group in Arakan State in west Burma. This includes banning Rohingya children born out of wedlock from obtaining travel permits, attending school and, in the future, marrying.
Two child policy for Rohingya
Also a strict two-child policy for the Rohingya (and only the Rohingya) is still in place in Burma, and the same treatment detailed above applies to children born above that limit. The IRIN report says that families with unregistered children face constant threat of arrest. Only with “unending extortion” by government authorities they can keep their children safe. Around 44,000 Rohingya children are unregistered and have to live a fearful life.
Massive operations
As all human rights violations against the ethnic minorities in Burma are underreported, the situation of the Rohingya hardly seems to exist. The Burma government has launched several massive operations against the Rohingya over the last decades, of which the 1991 operation had the discriminatory name ‘Operation Clean and Beautiful Nation’.
Rohingyas denied
The Rohingya are until today simply denied by the Burmese government. Since the military junta came into power in 1962, the Rohingyas were officially declared foreigners in their one native land. In 1982, with the passage of the junta’s Citizenship Law, they effectively ceased to exist legally. Thousands of Rohingya nowadays live as refugees in Bangladesh, in very difficult circumstances.
If you want to read more about the situation of the Rohingya, please read further on UNHCR
Onderzoek HRW naar martelingen Bush
Posted on juli 18, 2011 by Klaartje
Soms is de waarheid politiek lastig…
Een strafrechtelijk onderzoek naar een oud president is nooit makkelijk, maar helemaal niet wanneer het de president van Amerika betreft. De Amerikaanse mensenrechtenorganisatie Human Rights Watch gaat die strijd wel aan.