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Myanmar junta leader casts doubt on return of Rohingya

Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing cast doubt on the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled to Bangladesh in comments made in his first interview since taking power in a Feb. 1 coup. Min Aung Hlaing was asked by Chinese-language...

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HRW Report Myanmar 2021

Rohingya Detention Camps Approximately 130,000 Rohingya have been confined to open-air detention camps in Myanmar’s central Rakhine State since being displaced by ethnic cleansing in 2012. For eight years, the Myanmar government has maintained the Rohingya’s...

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Mohammed Ashraf Alam

It is with the saddest regret that we announce the death of Mr Mohammed Ashraf Alam, a great Rohingya patriot and researcher, on February 15, 2021 at 9:00 AM in a hospital at Chittagong, Bangladesh. His Janaza (funeral) prayer was held after Asr prayer today where...

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Military Coup in Myanmar: Two steps forward 10 leaps back

Press Release: 4 February 2021 Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) condemns the military coup which has taken place in Myanmar on 1st February. The Rohingya were entirely disenfranchised throughout the entire election process and have lost all vestiges of...

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Joint Statement

 Date:11th December 2020 The British government must join ICJ Rohingya genocide case against Myanmar We, the undersigned Rohingya organisations, are calling on the British government to urgently join the genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of...

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Arakan Magazine

Arakan Magazine – Issue 3/2024
Arakan Magazine – Issue 3/2024

Arakan Magazine – Issue 2/2024
Arakan Magazine – Issue 2/2024

Reports

Widows for Peace through Democracy

2020 statement of Widows for Peace through Democracy (WPD) for International Widows Day Widows, estimated at some 258 million in 2015, now many more due to conflicts and Covid 19 with its related effects on health around the world, have been largely unseen,...

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Press  Release

Press Release: ARNO Condemns Derogatory And Racist Remarks Of Minister Thura U Aung Ko
Press release 10, December 2018

In a funeral of Buddhist monk on 27th November, Myanmar Union Minister for Religious Affairs and Culture Thura U Aung Ko had desecrated Islam labelling it extremist religion and insulted the Muslims accusing them of marrying 3-4 wives, at a time, and producing 15-20 children. He senselessly said the Buddhists will become a minority in Myanmar within 30 to 50 years.  

On December 4, when asked by reporters in a conference in Nay Pyi Taw to clarify what his remarks on Islam and Muslims meant, U Aung Ko said, 

“The other major religion I have specifically meant is the religion of Bengalis who have fled from Northern Rakhine State, not the country’s Muslims. In refugee camps, Bengali youths are indoctrinated to march to Rakhine State and Myanmar. The future design of the Bengalis is to invade Myanmar as they are living in severely overcrowded conditions. Even now they are demanding territory like Safe Zone, then they will ask for No-Fly Zone. Again, full security must be guaranteed to them under the supervision of UN and OIC, not the Myanmar government. Bangladesh does not want a decrease in Bengali population in Rakhine State. Refugees are being organized to invade Rakhine State.  In the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina requested international assistance for one million refugees, but it is being consumed and distributed among them…”

ARNO Statement to the 11th UN Forum on Minority Issues

30 November 2018
Madam Chairperson,

My name is Nurul Islam. I am Rohingya. I am Chairman of the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO). I was born in Muangdaw township of Rakhine State, in a country then called Burma and now called Myanmar. From the birth of the State on January 4th, 1948, my people have been nationals of Burma now Myanmar. We were loyal participants in the national political processes, for which we had recognized Political Parties and, until 2015, we voted in elections. We have not and do not seek to separate from the Union of Myanmar. Unfortunately, my people have been subjected to systematic persecution for half a century including the steady suspension of almost all our human rights, including freedoms to marry, have children, education, movement and so much else. In addition to the violation of our human rights, we have been subjected to the effective withdrawal of our citizenship. Ultimately, we have been subjected to the destruction of our community – to genocide.

Press release – Myanmar, not Bangladesh, is responsible for failed repatriation

Press release 20, November 2018

On behalf of the Rohingya people, we would like to express regret and disgust at Myanmar’s policy of continuously blaming Bangladesh for the failure of repatriation of Rohingya refugees. As we all know, the ground reality in Arakan (Rakhine) State makes repatriation of Rohingya refugees impossible as the brutal state machinery continues their genocide of the defenceless Muslim community, a policy in place for more than half a century. The sad truth is that Myanmar government has no intention of creating condition for sustainable repatriation and is responsible for failed repatriation and deserving of blame. We strongly condemn it.

Press release – US and Security Council Members Step-up Pressure on Myanmar

Representatives for the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) have completed a two-week advocacy tour to the United States and United Nations, to galvanize international action to end the Rohingya genocide and ensure a sustainable, voluntary and protected return home for more than 1 million Rohingya refugees forced from Myanmar.

ARNO chairman Nurul Islam joined by Dr. Hla Myint, chair of the ARNO Foreign Relations Committee, who is also President of the Rohingya Intellectual Community Australia, and Honourable Philip Ruddock, Australia’s former Attorney General and Human Rights Envoy, on the margins of UN General Assembly week to urge the international community to step-up pressure on Myanmar’s military and civilian government, which were failing to make the necessary headway to implement UN resolutions and recommendations of the international community and world leaders, including the recommendations of the Annan Commission report. Speaking after the visit, Mr. Islam welcomed the support shown by the international community, and advocated greater urgency to ensure credible progress on the ground:

“We came to the United States and the United Nations with a clear message: In the face of genocide, there is no time to wait. Much more must be done to support the Rohingya’s calls for justice, dignity and a safe, voluntary and protected return home. Conditions on the ground are worsening—both inside Myanmar and in the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar. Victims are increasingly impatient to see perpetrators of genocide and war criminals held to account. At the same time, Myanmar continues to waste time with sham reforms, and shows zero will to create the conditions needed to solve this crisis”.

Press Release: ARNO welcomes the Human Rights Council’s resolution on Myanmar and calls for further action towards full accountability

September 28, 2018

ARNO welcomes the UN Human Rights Council’s landmark resolution on the situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar. The Council calls for the establishment of a new impartial and independent mechanism (IIM) to collect, preserve and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011. In parallel, the extension of the mandate of the Fact-Finding Mission is key to ensuring continuity of action until the IIM is established. 

Press Release: The ARNO supports the efforts of Solicitor Daniel Robert Taylor  in pursuing efforts to prosecute Aung San Suu Kyi 

September 10, 2018

The ARNO supports the efforts of Solicitor Daniel Robert Taylor in pursuing efforts to prosecute Aung San Suu Kyi for various crimes under international criminal law. The Solicitor filed a summons in March 2018 seeking to charge Aung San Suu Kyi with crimes against humanity for forcible deportation of the Rohingya of Myanmar. However, the Attorney General of Australia refused to consent to the prosecution. On October 3rd a hearing will be held regarding this matter.

Press release – ARNO welcomes the Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar

The Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) welcomes the Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar. The report acknowledges the continued and “systematic oppression” of the Rohingya people, the complicity of Myanmar Security forces and other actors in the continued violence that precipitated and directly caused the events of August 2017, in addition recognizes genocidal intent exists to warrant an investigation and prosecution of military officials within Myanmar.

The ARNO welcomes the recommendations made by the Mission which emphasizes the need for pursuing justice for genocide and crimes against humanity in addition calling upon state parties to engage Myanmar to change these practices which are a direct violation of international law.

Joint Statement – UN Investigators Confirm ‘Myanmar Genocide of Rohingya’, UNSC must support ICC referral and Urgent International Protection for the Rohingya

Joint Statement
28/08.2018

We, the undersigned Rohingya Organisations worldwide welcome the report released yesterday (27 August 2017) by the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM) calling on the international community to take action against Myanmar for its genocide against the Rohingya people.

The FFM, consisting of three human rights experts, which was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2017, called on Myanmar’s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north of Rakhine State, as well as for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States. It also points out that the civilian authorities, including State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi are implicit in the genocide against Rohingya for contributing to the commission of atrocity crimes through their acts and omissions.

Joint Press release: Crackdown on Yaba Trade

Joint Press release dated 23nd May 2018

Crackdown on Yaba Trade

We, the undersigned Rohingya organisations worldwide welcome the recent declaration of the Bangladesh Government’s intention to launch a strong crackdown against yaba trade starting from this Ramadan.

We appeal to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to launch a war against drugs by taking a strong and decisive stance against the flow of yaba pills from the Myanmar.

Joint Statement: Rohingyas’ concerns over the repatriation of refugees from Bangladesh

We, the undersigned Rohingya organisations worldwide express our serious concern over an agreement, signed on 23rd November 2017, between Myanmar and Bangladesh on the return of some 670,000 Rohingya refugees who have recently taken refuge in Bangladesh after fleeing Myanmar genocide.

But the question is how the terrified and traumatized refugees would be repatriated to Arakan/Rakhine State where they experienced, witnessed and fled the genocidal brutality of Myanmar troops, Rakhine extremists and other vigilantes. There is no change of attitude of the Myanmar government and its Military towards Rohingya; still they identify Rohingya as recent “Bengali interlopers” from Bangladesh; and Rohingyas continue entering into Bangladesh due to continuing violence and brutality against them in Arakan.

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Rohingya History

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Rohingya Culture

EDUCATION FOR ROHINGYA

Currently we are doing lots of research in finding ways to educate our people. Student studied in Burma:The following link is an educational assisting site for those who have studied in Burma. http://geocities.com/mahawthahta/index.htmlStudent studied in Arab...

Rohingya Food

Rice is the staple food grain of Arakan. The diet of Rohingya is simple rice, fish, vegetables, milk and chillies; meat is taken occasionally. The majority of Rohingyas eat fishes with fresh vegetables or potatoes. Dry fish also is not uncommon among Rohingyas. On all festive occasions cows, water buffaloes and goats are slaughtered for sale and distribution. They eat mutton, beef, and chicken after making `Halal' according to Islamic teaching. It was the tradition of the Rohingyas to honour their special guests by slaughtering a goat or more. If the host were poor he would honour his guest with a roasted chicken. Rohingyas do not eat tortoise, crab and pork.

Rohingya Books

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