CSW calls for International Action to Rnd Violence in Arakan State, Burma

(WASHINGTON DC) - Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is calling on the international community to invoke the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ principle, in light of the Burmese Government’s failure to end the conflict in Arakan State, western Burma, between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims.

Under the principle of ‘Responsibility to Protect’, which is aimed at halting Mass Atrocity Crimes such as ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, the international community has a responsibility to help states fulfill their responsibility to protect their citizens.

In the past week, thousands of homes in Arakan State have been destroyed, hundreds of people killed and over 100,000 displaced. Mosques have been attacked, and religious clerics arrested. Although violence has been committed by both communities, the Rohingyas have been the primary victims of what increasingly appears to be a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Reports indicate that some elements among the security forces are acting in collusion with Rakhine mobs, attacking, arresting and killing Rohingyas, and it is widely believed that elements of the government are directing a policy to eliminate the Rohingyas. CSW urges the international community to put pressure on the Government of Burma to allow international observers to maintain a presence in the affected areas. CSW also calls for urgent humanitarian aid, and for unrestricted access for UN agencies and international Non-Governmental Organisations to the affected areas.

The Rohingyas are among the most persecuted peoples in Burma. In 1982, a new Citizenship Law removed their citizenship and rendered them stateless. Violence erupted in June, lasting several weeks, and broke out again last week.

Andrew Johnston, CSW’s Advocacy Director, said: “This crisis is a cause for very grave concern, and poses a serious threat to peace and democratisation in Burma. The recent violence is especially troubling because it appears to have escalated into a wider anti-Muslim campaign, with Muslims generally, not only Rohingyas, facing attacks. There is an urgent need for international action and aid to bring an end to this violence which has caused so much death, destruction and displacement. Longer-term, questions of citizenship and inter-racial and inter-religious harmony and reconciliation must be addressed, but right now the priority must be restoring peace and providing urgently needed aid to the affected areas.”

Note: United Nations General Assembly Resolution 63/308, adopted on 14 September 2009, agreed to continue in consideration of the responsibility to protect, recalling paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome, which stated that: “Each individual State has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” and that “The international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means...to help to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.”