Nasaka continues to use forced labor on road project .

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Officials from Burma’s border security force Nasaka have continued to conscript forced labor in Area 5 since November 17 in order to build a new road along the Burma-Bangladesh border, said a local traded on condition of anonymity.

Nasaka has been forcing local residents to work on the road despite already having received money from the general engineering department for construction.

The border security force controls 22 villages in Area 5, and it has extracted laborers from each village to work on the road, the trader said.

Nasaka officials have issued plots of land to each household on which they are required to construct sections of the road. They are given 20,000 kyats to complete the work, but more than 50,000 kyats are needed to pay for the construction.

The excess money is being skimmed off and kept by Nasaka officers, the trader said, adding that no one knows how much the general engineering department has given Nasaka for each section of the road.

If any village household does not want to provide a suitable laborer, they can pay 10,000 kyats. If they do not have the money, they are forced to give up one family member for 10-day shifts, during which they must provide their own food.

Nasaka officers have been instructed to arrest family members who refuse to work or pay money, for the purpose of extorting money for their release, said a local elder.

The villages of Tha Oo Hla, Myaw Taung, Tharat Oh, Darr Gri Zar, Borgozo Bill, Retwin Chaung, Lone Gha Daung, Kyagong Taung, U Shekya, Zimbon Nga and Nanchaung of Maungdaw Township have provide forced labor for road construction along the Burma- Bangladesh border.

Illegal bamboo exports lead to shortages in Arakan .

.Maungdaw, Arakan State: Residents of northern Arakan State are facing a shortage of bamboo because local authorities and their agents are exporting larger quantities to Bangladesh, according to a local elder from Ngakura village.

“Every day, the agents with the help of authority have been sending bamboo to Bangladesh for their profit,” the elder said.

“We are paying 300 kyats for one piece of bamboo, and most residents are not able to afford enough bamboo to suit their needs,” he said.

One farmer from Aleythankyaw village in Maungdaw said he was unable to afford enough to make a granary to store his paddy.

“Most villagers are not even able to canopy their homes because of the high price of bamboo in Maungdaw,” he added.

One village authority said each year officials make agreements with agents, who pay them large amounts of money to export bamboo to Bangladesh, where they can earn higher profits.

Agents have also prevented residents from gathering their own bamboo and forced them to buy direct at a higher price, villagers said.

Children vulnerable to disease in unofficial refugee camp .

Kutupalong, Bangladesh: Rohingya refugee children living in the unregistered Kutupalong camp face major health risks, said a camp leader who asked not to be named.


Children are plying near block drainage
“Most children are suffering from malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, fever and skin diseases,” the camp leader said.

He blamed the spread of disease on poor sanitation resulting from bad drainage in the camp, which he said was supervised by the NGO, Action Against Hunger, known internationally as Action Contra la Faim, or ACF International.

The camp leader said he had complained to ACF about blocked drainage and requested the spraying of insecticide to kill mosquitoes and other disease-bearing pests, the group said they were barred from helping by Bangladesh authorities.

“But if any high officer from ACF visited the camp, field workers would clean the drains and spray medicine,” said camp resident Mohamed Anno. “It only depends on the field officers and staff.”

He added that there were more than 100 children suffering from various diseases in the unofficial camp.


illchild from unregistered refugee camp
Officials from the ACF distributed soap to camp residents more than six months ago under a program to promote better hygiene through hand-washing. However, the program has been continued in local villages near the camp.

One camp resident identified only as Anowara, said an officer from ACF told refugees in at Kutupalong that the group had no funds to continue the program at the camp.

Meanwhile, Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF Holland, has been providing health services to local villagers and Kutupalong camp residents, but local villagers have been given priority care, according to one camp resident suffering from malaria.

“We wait for treatments in the MSF clinic, but the staffs give first priority to local villagers, and the refugees have to wait until later.”

Rohingya refugees living in the unofficial Kutupalong camp get no other outside assistance except what has been available through ACF and MSF Holland, said a member of a refugee watchdog group near the Burmese border, adding that both groups have become unwilling to continue assistance.

More than 40,000 refugees live in makeshift huts with plastic sheeting for roofs. They are largely confined to the camp and are prohibited from leaving to find work.

Nayapara camp commemorates Human Rights Day .

Teknaf, Bangladesh: World Human Rights Day was commemorated in the Nayapara refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar district on December 10, with renewed calls for the protection of human rights among Rohingya communities, said a refugee teacher from the camp.

The theme of the event focused on the work of human rights defenders who act to end discrimination.

The events in Nayapara camp were organized by Technical Assistance Incorporated and (TAI) and Reasearch, Training and Management International (RTM) with support from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Celebrations began at about 10am and included discussions and rallies by refugees in the camp. Habi Ullah, a teacher in the camp, and Zaia-ur-Rahman delivered speeches about protecting women’s rights and stopping violence against women.

On official from TAI told attendees to make greater efforts to raise issues of human rights violations and acts of discrimination in letters to social networking sites, newspaper and online editors, at political debates and in classrooms, as well as finding new platforms to air concerns about human rights.

An RTM official urged attendees to “share your knowledge about human rights issues with family members, friends and colleagues”.

Other discussions emphasized addressing the rights of women and empowerment programs to improve their human rights status and urged both men and women to join others as human rights defenders, whose basic characteristics are an understanding of what is right and what is wrong.

A dramatic skit followed the addresses, in which refugee students performed plays highlighting the problem of violence against women.

Prizes and certificates were distributed to performers, said another teacher from the camp. The day’s events concluded at about 2pm.

Arbitrary arrests increase in Maungdaw .

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Two Maungdaw district police officers have been accused by a local Rohingya leader of arbitrarily arresting and torturing Rohingyas on charges of drug trafficking, and releasing them only after they pay a bribe.

The leader, who asked not to be named, identified the officers as Assistant Sub Inspector Aung Khin Than and Corporal Maung Chay, who have close relationships with the district police chief.

The two officers wearing civilian clothes were stationed near a petrol shop near the clock tower in Maungdaw and harassed members of the Rohingya community coming to town from rural areas, said a local businessman.

“Whenever we complain to authorities, no action is taken. Corporal Maung Chay is close to the district police chief and is allowed to do whatever he wants,” the businessman said.

“Maung Chay has a lot of assets in town and has served in his post for more than 10 years, during which he has looted the Rohingya community by falsely accusing them.”

Earlier this week, the two officers went to arrest a man called Sultan in Maungni village at 3pm without an arrest warrant and tried to search his home on suspicion of drug violations without informing village authorities or personnel of Burma’s border security force Nasaka.

The man, Sultan was not at home, and the officers tried to force their way past female members of the man’s family, who blocked the officers from entering, said a local villager.

“While the officers tried to enter, the female family members pushed them away and tensions became high as neighboring villagers gathered around the officers.”

The officers called for assistance from district police, who saved them from the villagers. Twenty officers arrived and arrested the four female family members, who were detained for an hour before being released.

“District police handed the female family members over to the village head,” said the villager.

A local school teacher said that police and Nasaka personnel often arrest well-to-do Rohingyas by fabricating charges and take them into custody for torture in order to extract money from family members.

Religious leader beaten in Kutupalong camp by drunken villager .

Ukhiya, Bangladesh: A religious leader at the unregistered Kutupalong makeshift camp was assaulted by local villagers on December 14, said a refugee from the camp.

A villager living near the camp and identified only as Kholil entered the camp after getting drunk and began harassing camp residents, and the religious leader from Block A, identified as Moulana Yousuf, 30, confronted the man for his misbehavior.

A relative of the Moulana Yousuf said the drunken Kholil responded by beating him in front of the camp mosque.

Other refugees rushed to the spot to intervene, but no action was taken against the drunken assailant.

“We did not beat him because it would cause difficulties for the unregistered refugees in the future,” said one camp resident.

He added that local youths often enter the unregistered camp and harass refugee women and girls.

Ancient Muslim cemetery demolished by military regime .

Chittagong, Bangladesh: A 124 year-old Muslim cemetery was demolished by the Burmese military regime’s Engineers’ Corps from Pegu Division on December 16, 2010, according to a statement issued by the Burmese Muslim Association (MBA).

The ancient Muslim cemetery was situated near the Rangoon-Mandalay highway road. It had been donated in 1886 by the Satshin Justice (U Rasul Bauk) to bury Muslims who died from incidents on the highway, and was situated together with an ancient mosque to perform prayers, a religious school for Muslim children, and several tombs of saints who had spent their entire lives in religious services, the statement said.

The military regime, then called the Burmese Socialist Program Party (BSPP), banned burying dead bodies in the cemetery on April 22, 1987, and the performing of all other Islamic religious services have been completely banned since 2005, the statement reported. “From 2002 to 2005, the military regime partly demolished the cemetery.”

“Local authorities issued a notice to the cemetery’s trustee members to hand over the keys to the local authorities before 15 June 2010, but the trustees decided to resist the order of local authorities,” according to a member of the trustees. “Then the municipality and military bulldozers started to demolish the walls without prior notice on December 16 at 3 p.m.”

The land was registered as religious property and approved by the regime’s own law, the trustee said.

The SPDC mentions in law 9/98 that if any building is listed as historical property, removal, evacuation, and demolition are prohibited. SPDC law protects such property by law, which is mentioned in Act (2), Paragraph b-4.

Muslims from Pegu and the village neighboring the cemetery were angered by this clearly illegal crime of the military regime. However, this action is in line with the usual practice of the military regime since they took power in 1962; all the minorities believe that they have been discriminated against and persecuted by the regime, according to a local resident from Pegu.

Muslims in Pegu are now preparing for retaliation against the authorities if they move forward with plans to demolish the Islamic religious school located in the cemetery grounds, the local said.

The five major Muslim organizations in Burma are appealing to the authorities regarding this incident, the MBA stated.

A former NLD youth leader from Pegu, Ko Myo Win, is preparing to file the details of this matter to the NLD and the ILO, and the Muslims are seeking the help of Daw Aung San Su Kyi to resolve this matter, the statement concluded.