[Though the stream of refugees pouring over the border into Bangladesh has abated somewhat, the Rohingya, a long-persecuted Muslim minority predominantly in western Myanmar, continue to flee their homes. About 1,500 have already arrived in Bangladesh this month, bringing with them reports of continued violence by Myanmar’s authorities, including the abduction of girls and young women, enslavement and forced starvation, said Masud Bin Momen, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United Nations.]
By Michael Schwirtz
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Rohingya family’s makeshift tent in the Balukhali refugee camp in Bangladesh.
Credit
Tomas Munita for The New York Times
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Rohingya refugees who have fled ethnic
violence in Myanmar are at risk of “a humanitarian crisis within the crisis” as
the impending monsoon season threatens to flood camps and fuel the spread of disease,
diplomats at the United Nations Security Council warned on Tuesday.
More than 100,000 refugees living in
makeshift camps in Bangladesh are in areas prone to flooding and landslides,
and tens of thousands will have to be relocated before the monsoons hit in
March, said Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees.
“Their lives are greatly at risk,” Mr. Grandi
said.
Though the stream of refugees pouring over
the border into Bangladesh has abated somewhat, the Rohingya, a long-persecuted
Muslim minority predominantly in western Myanmar, continue to flee their homes.
About 1,500 have already arrived in Bangladesh this month, bringing with them
reports of continued violence by Myanmar’s authorities, including the abduction
of girls and young women, enslavement and forced starvation, said Masud Bin
Momen, Bangladesh’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Calling the Rohingya among the “most
persecuted minority in the world,” Mr. Bin Momen said that despite an agreement
between Bangladesh and Myanmar for the voluntary repatriation of the refugees,
most do not feel safe enough to return home, even if they have homes to return
to.
Sweden’s representative to the Council, Carl
Skau, who warned of the unfolding “crisis within the crisis,” described
conditions in the camps as dire.
As many as 700,000 Rohingya have fled to
camps in Bangladesh since last August, when attacks on police posts by Rohingya
insurgents in Rakhine State in western Myanmarprovoked a vicious backlash by
the military and local Buddhists. At least 6,700 Rohingya, including 730
children under age 5 were killed, according to Doctors Without Borders, and
hundreds of villages were destroyed in what the United States and other
countries have called a campaign of “ethnic cleansing.”
Myanmar’s government, which does not
recognize the Rohingya as a distinct ethnic group, has denied that members of
the military carried out mass killings. Any military actions in the region, the
government says, were in response to the threat posed by Rohingya militants.
Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations,
Hau Do Suan, told the Council on Tuesday that the government would investigate
reports of mass graves and extrajudicial killings by security forces, although
it has so far blocked access to the region by a United Nations fact-finding
mission and all but a few aid organizations.
Much of the information that has emerged from
Rakhine State has come from journalists, though Myanmar’s authorities have
cracked down on independent reporting. In December, two Reuters reporters were
arrested after gathering information about mass killings by the military and
police forces, as well as by villagers. The reporters remain in custody despite
calls from the United Nations secretary general and others for their release.
On Tuesday, PEN America announced that the
two reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, would receive the PEN/Barbey Freedom to
Write Award. In her remarks at the Security Council, Nikki R. Haley, the United
States ambassador to the United Nations, called them and other journalists in
the region “an indispensable source of information.”
Both have been charged under the colonial-era
Official Secrets Act and face up to 14 years in prison. Their investigation,
published by Reuters last week, includes admissions from ethnic Rakhine
Buddhists that they had taken part in the killing of 10 Rohingya men in the
village of Inn Din in Rakhine State.
The report cited family members and witnesses
who said the men appeared to have been pulled randomly from a group of hundreds
of Rohingya who had sought refuge on a beach after an attack on their village.
They included fishermen, an Islamic teacher and two teenage students.
In the Security Council on Tuesday, Miroslav
Jenca, the assistant secretary general for political affairs, called the events
described in the report “deeply disturbing,” and the French ambassador,
François Delattre, said they “could constitute crimes against humanity.”
Mr. Suan, Myanmar ambassador, said his
country’s investigation found that the men had belonged to a Rohingya militant
group. They were arrested on Sept. 1 last year and executed the next day before
they could be handed over to the police, he said.
“Actions are being taken against 16
individuals including army and police officers and some villagers who had acted
in violation of standard operating procedures and the rules of engagement,” he
said. Whether the 16 were arrested and would be prosecuted was not immediately
clear.
Hannah Beech contributed reporting from
Bangkok.
