Nobel Laureate Mairead Maguire Calls for UN and International Community to End Burmese Repression Against Rohingya Muslims

The president of Burma has proposed a policy that amounts to ethnic cleansing.

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(BELFAST, Northern Ireland) - Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire said:

"The Stateless Rohingyas of Burma, have suffered from persecution and discrimination for decades and are now facing inter-communal violence which has evolved into large-scale state sponsored violence against them.

In July 2012 the Burma Campaign, U.K. received the following report:

• BURMESE POLICE, SECURITY FORCES AND SOLDIERS ARE RAPING, LOOTING, TORTURING AND ARBITARILY KILLING ROHINGYA PEOPLE.
• THERE HAVE BEEN MASS ARRESTS WITH ROHINGYA PEOPLE KEPT IN DETENTION CAMPS WITHOUT TRIAL, WITHOUT FOOD OR MEDICAL SERVICES.
• AROUND 100,000 INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE ARE IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS, THE VAST MAJORITY WITHOUT RECEIVING PROPER ASSISTANCE BECAUSE THEY ARE ETHNIC ROHINGYA. AID IS MOSTLY BEING BLOCKED BY THE GOVERNMENT OR WHERE ALLOWED ROHINGYA PEOPLE HAVE BEEN EXCLUDED.
• UNKNOWN THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE FLED TO BANGLADESH WHERE THEY ARE GETTING NO AID OR PROTECTION, WHILE THOUSANDS MORE ARE TURNED BACK BY THE GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH, LITERALLY AT GUNPOINT, IN VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW.
• LOCAL AUTHORITIES ARE REFUSING TO ALLOW MANY ROHINGYA PEOPLE BACK TO SOME VILLAGES, SHOPS AND HOMES IN A POLICY THAT APPEARS DESIGNED TO ‘CLEANSE’ THESE AREAS OF ROHINGYA PEOPLE.
• THE PRESIDENT OF BURMA HAS PROPOSED A POLICY THAT AMOUNTS TO ETHNIC CLEANSING ASKING THE UNITED NATIONS TO ARRANGE FOR ROHINGYA PEOPLE TO BE REMOVED FROM BURMA AND SENT TO THIRD COUNTRIES.

Mairead said, "The UN and international community have a moral and legal responsibility to act now and steop up diplomatic and nonviolent methods to stop the persecution and suffering of the Rohingya people and to end the Burmese government-led abuse of Human Rights and repression against the Rohingyas."

MAIREAD MAGUIRE - NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE

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