Society for Threatened Peoples warns of refugee tragedy

Bangladesh intends to deport 21,000 Muslims to Burma The

Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) warned on Tuesday of a

new refugee tragedy in South Asia. At least 21,170 Muslim

Rhohingya refugees living in Bangladesh are now to be

returned by force to the state of Burma, which persecutes

them. "The Rohingya are the refugees who are least known in

the world, although thousands have had to flee from Burma",

said the GfbV Asia correspondent, Ulrich Delius. There the

Rohingya have been massively discriminated and persecuted

on account of their faith and ethnic identity. No one is

concerned about these refugees of religion, who have become

the pawns of regional power interests and the continuing

repression against nationalities in the state of Burma,

which has many different peoples. The GfbV has appealed

urgently in letters to the European Union and the countries

donating to Bangladesh in order to prevent a compulsory

deportation of the refugees and to offer Bangladesh

financial aid for the care of the Rohingya. Bangladesh

asked the EU for assistance on 3rd May. "Probably many more

than these 21,170 religious refugees will be deported to

Burma because at least a further 50,000 Rohingya refugees

are living illegally in the district of Cox´s Bazaar on the

Burmese border", fears the GfbV. In the past 25 years after

severe infringements of human rights in Burma, which is

predominantly Buddhist, more than 300,000 Rohingya have

sought refuge in the neighbouring country. Regardless of

their protests most of them have been repatriated. The

700,000 Muslims make up about one third of the population in

the Rhakhine state, which lies in the west of Burma.

Burma´s government denies them the right of Burmese

citizenship and so makes them stateless. Pogroms of the

Buddhist majority population and massacres by the Burmese

security forces were Burma´s answer to the protests of the

Muslim minority against their discrimination, which

continues to the present day. So it not possible for

Rohingya to take up leading positions in the army,

administration and the economy. When jobs are offered they

are at a disadvantage and they are treated by officials in

an arbitrary manner. It was only in April 2006 that a

Rohingya couple were sentenced to seven years imprisonment

because they had married without official consent. The

married couple had previously waited three years in vain

for permission to be granted. Through the planned

settlement of Buddhists the homeland of the Rohingya is

being taken away from them and at the same time the border

with the neighbouring country of Bangladesh is being secured

in order to prevent the flight of more Muslims. Bangladesh

and Burma agreed in their latest talks recently on a better

securing of the border.