[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
Reid from Terry
[Reid please approve or edit intro as you see fit,
then put on the internet ASAP.
I really should also ask you how uploading
to newsgroups is done.
Could you also E-mail this to BRC-J? They will definitely use it.
I don't have their e-mail address handy.]
Attention Burma Activists Worldwide
"STOP THE REPATRIATION: justice NOW for Rohingyas."
>From the Burma-Tibet Group, OPIRG-Carleton, Ottawa CANADA:
Time is short: please adapt this letter to your needs and copy as
widely as possible. (You may want to change the "ALL CAPS" to
underline) This letter only scratches the surface of the situ-
ation. It is the first in a series of actions. We are pushing
this campaign forward through meetings, phone calls, faxes and
letters like this, aiming to promote dialogue and positive
pressure between refugee/human rights groups, and government/UN
agencies.
We urge you to do the same. GET THE REPORT referred to in the
letter from the US Committee for Refugees. It is well-documented
and comprehensive, with excellent photos. It may be on E-mail
soon, or you can write USCR at 1717 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite
701, Washington DC 20036, USA. tel 202-347-3507, fax 202-347-
3418.
Thank you for your efforts. In the long run, we see the need for
an "Urgent Action Network" (UAN) targetting Burma and other
repressive Asian countries, along the lines of the UAN created by
church groups in Canada targetting Central America. Your comments are
welcome.
---------------------------------------------------
The Burma-Tibet Group
OPIRG-Carleton
326 Unicentre, 1125 Colonel By Dr.
Carleton University
Ottawa ON K1S 5B6
25 March 1995
The Honourable Andr Ouellet
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Rm 312, West Block
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
BY FAX: 613-996-3443
Dear Mr. Ouellet:
We urge Canada to speak out immediately and forcefully against
the coercion and abuses committed against the Rohingya refugees
that fled to Bangladesh from Burma (Myanmar), under the "volun-
tary repatriation" program run by the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR).
We have mailed to you the recently released report by the US
Committee for Refugees. USCR supports the Sep 94 report by
Medecins sans Frontieres - France (MSF-F) that the UNHCR and
Bangladesh government engage in "refoulement" of the refugees. As
recent as Feb 95, MSF-Holland said, "few refugees seemed to be
aware of the possibility and the right to say no to repatri-
ation."
MSF-F added that the Bangladesh authorities are using less
coercion now, but only because the refugees think they have no
choice but to repatriate. Since last August, when the abuses
reached their peak, just the threat of brutality from the
Bangladesh government has proved enough to gain the submission of
the Rohingyas. A more subtle pattern of coercion remains. Should
refugee protests escalate, undoubtedly so would physical retali-
ation from camp authorities.
Before last July, all refugees could count on receiving an
interview with the UNHCR. Then UNHCR abandoned this practice
under pressure from Bangladesh, and commenced "repatriation
promotion" seminars and mass registration. At the time, USCR
consultant Curt Lambrecht interviewed 49 refugees, who expressed
"feelings of frustration and betrayal at what they viewed as
UNHCR officials' indifference" to the beatings, torture and
threats occurring regularly in the camps. At that point, the rate
of repatriation rocketed; it has now reached some 4,000 weekly.
By July 1995, all may be repatriated.
Both the UNHCR and the Bangladesh government have resisted
attempts by NGOs to inspect the camps and gauge the real situ-
ation. This has served to stymie action until this very late
date, when most of the Rohingyas have been sent back to Burma.
Former Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M. R. Osmany, now Bangladesh
High Commissioner to Canada, brands this program a "foreign
policy success." UNHCR asserts the "excellent cooperation" by
SLORC - but at what price?
UNHCR offers no evidence that the massive human rights abuses in
Burma have abated, except that SLORC is now willing to accept
refugees back, and allows a UNHCR presence. According to USCR,
"IT SEEMS UNLIKELY THAT ANY ORGANIZATION COULD ENSURE THE SAFETY
OF THE RETURNEES, GIVEN THE SLORC'S RECORD." SLORC reportedly
targets returnees for further mistreatment. For instance, UNHCR
mentioned a "tailoring course for 50 returnee girls" as part of
its reintegration program. USCR reports that such courses separ-
ate girls from their families, "placing them under the control of
military forces that are notorious for rape."
Canada has a special responsibility since it contributed $1.5M to
this program. But your staff at CIDA [Canada's bilateral aid
agency] and Foreign Affairs inform us that there can be no
bilateral involvement in monitoring the situation inside Burma.
Yet the credibility of both UNHCR and the UN Commission on Human
Rights (which recently commended the "free and voluntary"
Rohingya repatriation) depend on having another witnessing party
sympathetic to refugees. The UNHCR should never have signed
Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the two host governments,
BOTH WITH A LONG HISTORY OF ABUSING THE ROHINGYAS, unless they
provided for independent monitoring agencies in the refugee camps
in Bangladesh, and among returnees back in Arakan State in Burma.
We applaud CIDA's decision to maintain funds to UNHCR for "care
and maintenance" in the refugee camps. But we urge CIDA to
continue to withhold funds for UNHCR's repatriation program until
it is proven "voluntary" by international standards. Canada must
go public with these decisions.
We further urge your government to support USCR's recommenda-
tions, including that "donor governments insist that repatriation
be fully voluntary." Our immediate concern is that Canada:
a) CALL ON THE BANGLADESH AND SLORC REGIMES to reaffirm the
Rohingyas' rights, and permit independent monitoring to ensure
their rights are respected.
b) CALL ON UNHCR to cease its "repatriation promotion" sessions,
and mass registration of refugees, and return to its former
practice of individual interviews with ALL refugees, not just
those who speak out against repatriation.
We ask you to respond as soon as possible. We are informing our
counterparts in other donor countries, with the firm intent of
gaining the international support so long denied the Rohingyas.
Sincerely,
Corinne Baumgarten, Reid Cooper, Terry Cottam, Mike Buckthought
Burma-Tibet Group, OPIRG-Carleton
cc. Dr. Sein Win, Prime Minister, National Coalition Government
of the Union of Burma
M. R. Osmany, Bangladesh High Commissioner to Canada
Mrs. Sadako Ogata, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Len Legault, Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN Office in
Geneva
US Committee for Refugees, and other refugee groups
Dave Todd, Southam News, and other media contacts