Since the military junta seized power in a coup in Burma on 1st Feb 2021, over 1,500 civilians have been killed and thousands more injured.
Security forces are indiscriminately attacking and arbitrarily arresting, detaining and abducting civilians in cities and towns across the country.
Please act now to help support the people of Burma.
Rohingya Refugee Crisis
Dear UN Secretary General António Guterres,
Over 866,000 Rohingya people who were forced to flee their homes in Burma/Myanmar after the horrific violence in 2017 perpetrated against them now live in temporary camps in Bangladesh. Many of those still living in Burma/Myanmar are also residing in temporary camps as a result of the policies of the Government of Myanmar and the failure of the government to ensure a secure environment for the delivery of aid.
According to sources, at least 70 per cent of Rohingyas currently have no access to safe water or sanitation services. In Maungdaw Township, there is just one doctor per 160,000 people. The World Health Organisation recommends one doctor per 5,000 people. Only two per cent of Rohingya women give birth in a hospital.
The humanitarian crisis is most acute in the camps for internally displaced peoples. The UN Assistant General-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, said after visiting the camps: “I witnessed a level of human suffering in the IDP camps that I have personally never seen before ... appalling conditions .... wholly inadequate access to basic services including health, education, water and sanitation.”
It is essential that humanitarian aid is not only provided to the Rohingya, but to all those in need of assistance. Rakhine State is the second poorest state in Myanmar, where 44 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line – almost twenty per cent more than the average in most parts of Myanmar.
Aid organisations have faced severe restrictions, harassment and threats of expulsion from Rakhine State, and the delivery of aid has often been blocked as a result of local campaigns against international humanitarian organisations.
I urge you to take a personal lead in negotiating with the Government of Myanmar for humanitarian access to all areas of Rakhine State, for humanitarian aid to be provided to all in need, regardless of race or religion. Hundreds of thousands of people who have little food, medicine or shelter and have been stripped not only of their citizenship but also their basic dignity are looking to you and to the United Nations for help.
I appeal to you not to fail them.
Yours, [Your name]
Mr Simon Coveney, T.D.
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Dear Minister Coveney,
I am writing to you about the situation of the Rohingya in Burma/Myanmar and the circumstances which have led to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in temporary refugee camps.
Rohingya people are one of the most persecuted people in the world and have fled relentless attacks in their home country. In August 2017, a concerted campaign of genocide was launched against the Rohingya. It has been estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingya, including at least 739 children under 5 were killed in one month. At least 288 villages were partially or totally destroyed by fire. A report carried out by the UN said that the military had carried out the killings and rape with “genocidal intent”. Over 866,000 Rohingya are living in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Ireland must continue to advocate for the Rohingya and provide humanitarian support for those in refugee camps in Bangladesh. In the longer term, the EU must take action to address the root cause of this crisis by supporting the efforts at the International Court of Justice to bring the perpetrators of the genocide to trial and also by advocating for citizenship for the Rohingya.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
Reports: Arakan State
• A New Shape of Catastrophe: Two years on from the Rohingya Crisis
A report from the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Rights of the Rohingya, it highlights the need to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, to impose targeted sanctions on military companies and
to address the issue of citizenship for Rohingya people.
• Report on the detailed findings of the International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar
Human Rights Watch describes the initial events that triggered the deadly sectarian violence which erupted in Arakan State in June 2012 as well as the acts of violence that followed by both Arakan and Rohingya, and the role of state security forces in both failing to intervene to stop sectarian violence and directly participating in abuses.
• Unrest in Burma’s Arakan State - A Chronology of Events by ALTSEAN Burma
• Forced Labour during the Arakan Crisis
The Arakan Project report provides an overview of forced labour practices in Arakan State over a 6-month period from November 2011 to May 2012.
• Crimes against Humanity in Western Burma: The Situation of the Rohingyas
In 2010, the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUI Galway found strong evidence that crimes against humanity are being committed against the Rohingyas of Northern Arakan State in Burma.
