Monday 23 July 2012

#SaveTheRohingya Action 3

#SaveTheRohingya Action 3.0

Write to Catherine Ashton vice-president and high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy.

email: COMM-SPP-HRVP-ASHTON@ec.europa.eu
tweet: @eu_eeas 
interact on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EuropeanExternalActionService (not possible to send message but you can comment to their posts)

Tell her it is not acceptable that the EU is strengthening ties and dropping sanctions with a country whose government is ethnically cleansing part of its population.

The Rohingya Muslims have been living in Bangladesh for hundreds of years. Their citizenship was removed in 1982. They are denied many human rights including the right to get married. Thousands of their homes have recently been destroyed by fire. Hundreds have been killed by police instigated violence and thousands are now homeless, in hiding, in desperate need of food and medical assistance.

Please draw attention to the following:

Genocide Alert Level 7 (extermination) issued by Genocide Watch
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International
World Food Program
Channel Four


The Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein made his policy on ethnic cleansing clear, when he told the UN:
'We will take responsibility for our ethnic people, but it is impossible to accept the illegally entered Rohingyas, who are not our ethnicity,'
'We will send them away if any third country would accept them,” Thein Sein said. “This is what we are thinking is the solution to the issue.' 
Background Info on EU Position


An article published by the Anadolu Agency on 22nd July states that the EU 'is making diplomatic initiatives so the massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar ends', but we could find no such evidence of this elsewhere or on the EU website.


These are all the recent statements from Catherine Ashton's office regarding Myanmar:


17th April 2012 - Catherine Ashton EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Speech on Myanmar European Parliament Strasbourg
'We will encourage European companies to look for opportunities in Burma.'
27th April 2012 - Catherine Ashton visits Burma/Myanmar to open a new chapter in the relationship
'The European Union welcomes the remarkable changes in Burma/Myanmar and has decided to open a new chapter in our relations. We have suspended the sanctions with the exception of the arms embargo.'
28th April 2012 - HR/VP Catherine Ashton opens the EU office in Burma/Myanmar
'I hope you will see our office as a symbol of the European Union, its 27 Member States, its institutions that demonstrate the commitment of the EU to this country and to the political process that is now underway.'
14th May 2012 - Meeting between President Barroso and U Shwe Mann, Speaker of Lower House of the Parliament of Myanmar
'in line with the recent decisions to suspend the restrictive measures, the new package of €150 million in development assistance for 2012/2013 and the opening of a diplomatic presence in Myanmar.'


13th June - Statement by the spokesperson of High Representative Catherine Ashton on the crisis in Northern Rakhine State in Myanmar
'We welcome the priority which the Myanmar Government is giving to dealing with all ethnic conflicts. We very much welcome the measured response reflected in the President's statement.'
15th June - Joint statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht on Burma-Myanmar
'We welcome the decision by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to suspend their resolution against Myanmar/Burma condemning labour practices in the country'











Friday 20 July 2012

#SaveTheRohingya Action 2

Whilst the world media obsessed over the distraction of Aung San Suu Kyi, quietly ignored back in Burma 90,000 people were displaced from their homes, which were burnt to the ground, in a mass act of genocide (disguised as sectarian strife) against the Rohingyan Muslim people.

http://www.genocidewatch.org/myanmar.html
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/05/burma-mass-arrests-raids-rohingya-muslims

The whole world it seems can't wait to get into Burma, to do business, and a major new gas pipeline is being built from the Bay of Bengal across to China due to be finished by 2013, which may or may not be adding to the excitement.

Many of the Rohingya tried to escaped with their lives by taking to sea, only to get turned back at the Bangladesh border. Some boats disappeared. Others were reported to have been shot from  helicopters and destroyed.


Now we have a source on the ground who told us everyone had run out of food. Good news is that as of today, 20th July, we have learnt that some food is now getting through to the Rohingya, distributed by the WFP, but many thousands are still hungry and in desperate need. In addition our source says more medical assistance is urgently required as there are many injuries and sick people. We have been told that there is some medical help but more is required since people are dying every day from injuries and disease.

These people desperately need protection, food, medical care and homes rebuilding, as quickly as possible. This requires money. We would like to be able to help raise funds for the Rohingya so we have been writing to DEC to ask them to launch an emergency appeal. The problem is that DEC will not launch an appeal until the main stream media has been reporting the crisis for a number of days.

On Monday 23rd July Restless Beings are holding a press conference on behalf of the Rohingya people to raise awareness of the current crisis. It is important that all the UK press attend. Please write and tweet to them all, and ask them to send someone to the press conference to give this mass act of genocide the urgent coverage it should be getting. We have listed some news sources below for you to contact, but you may wish to contact more.

Please also write and tweet to the UK government who should also be sending someone to the press conference to find out more and voicing this issue as a matter of urgent and grave concern. We have listed some details below but if you live in the UK please also contact your own MP.


Press Conference 23rd July London: http://www.restlessbeings.org/events/rohingya-the-human-story


#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.1


Update: The BBC finally gave a bit of online coverage to the crisis on 20th July here but it was sadly lacking in detail of easily verifiable facts (such as 90000 displaced and hungry, and thousands of homes burnt to the ground).

Write to the BBC ask for urgent detailed television coverage on the Rohingya genocide and ask them to attend the Restless Beings press conference in London 23rd July.

Contact BBC News channel here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_3950000/newsid_3959100/3959111.stm
Find more departments to contact here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_3950000/newsid_3959100/3959111.stm
General:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_4030000/newsid_4032600/4032695.stm
Radio:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_3960000/newsid_3964500/3964513.stm
Twitter:
@BBCNEWS


#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.2


Write to the Sky News ask for urgent coverage on the Rohingya genocide and ask them to attend the Restless Beings  press conference in London 23rd July.

Email: news@sky.com
Twitter: @SkyNews
More: http://news.sky.com/info/contact-ushttp://news.sky.com/info/contact-us


#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.3

Write to the the Daily Mail ask for urgent coverage on the Rohingya genocide and ask them to attend the Restless Beings  press conference in London 23rd July.

Email: news@dailymail.co.uk
Twitter: @MailOnline @DMAILnews


#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.4

Write to the Independent and ask for urgent coverage on the Rohingya genocide and ask them to attend the Restless Beings press conference in London 23rd July.

Email: newseditor@independent.co.uk
Twitter: @Independent @IndyWorld
Independent Journalists on Twitter
More: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/contact-us-759589.html



#SaveTheRohingya Action 2.5

Write to the the UK government ask them to voice urgent concerns about the genocide of the Rohingya in Burma and ask them to attend the Restless Beings  press conference in London 23rd July to find out more about the current situation on the ground.

Prime Minister's Office 10 Downing Street
Twitter: @Number10gov @WilliamJHague
Email Secretary of State Mr William Hague: haguew@parliament.uk
Email Foreign Affairs Committee: foraffcom@parliament.uk
If in the UK, contact your MP.


When you have completed these tasks please tweet to the #SaveTheRohingya tag to tell everyone and also paste to Facebook to ask others to do the same. Please also tweet @SaveTheRohingya with your progress.

If we all act together we may be able to get the Rohingya the help they desperately need!

Please help to #SaveTheRohingya

Please check back tomorrow for day 3 of actions.
If you missed action 1.5 it is here - please do that too!
Wondering what this is all about? You can read about the launch of the campaign and what we are doing here.

Thursday 19 July 2012

#SaveTheRohingya Action 1.5

Angelina Jolie has been outspoken against genocide and has also already been very supportive of Burmese refugees. The Rohingyan people desperately need her voice now to speak out against this ethnic cleansing in order to get this story in the news which will help get these people the protection and food that they urgently need.

Please write to Angelina via her Facebook page and tell her what is happening. We need you to post messages and also write comments to posts on her page.


When you are done please tweet to the #SaveTheRohingya tag to tell everyone and also paste to your Facebook. Please also tweet @jamilahanan with your progress.

If we all act together we may be able to get the starving Rohingyan some food and save them from extinction!

Please help to #SaveTheRohingya 
Action 2.0 is coming soon!
If you missed action 1.4 it is here - please do that too!
Wondering what this is all about? You can read about the launch of the campaign and what we are doing here.

#SaveTheRohingya Action 1.4

Whilst 800,000 Rohingan people are in the process of being ethnically cleansed from their homeland in Myanmar (Burma) the USA lifts sanctions and encourages business!

http://www.mizzima.com/business/7504-us-companies-now-free-to-invest-in-burma.html

So does the Whitehouse intelligence need sacking or is GENOCIDE now acceptable when it is in a country's 'best interest' to say nothing?

Yes it is genocide. Here is the definition of genocide (and this ticks all the boxes). Here is the Genocide Emergency Alert Level 7 (EXTERMINATION) issued by Genocide Watch.

Let's assume it is the first possibility, that intelligence has let the Whitehouse down, and that President Obama actually doesn't really know what is happening. Please write to him and tell him. You might point him to our research page and also to our interview with our source on the ground who tells us people are still dying every day and they have now run out of food, and get shot at if they try to get hold of any of the rations being delivered to the area. And just in case he does know yet thinks that is ok, please tell him that it really is not acceptable to be lifting sanctions on a regime that is currently encouraging genocide in order to ethnically cleanse itself of its unwanted people.

Please contact President Obama here.

Please also tweet to @whitehouse and @BarackObama



When you are done please tweet to the #SaveTheRohingya tag to tell everyone and also paste to your Facebook. Please also tweet @jamilahanan with your progress.

If we all act together we may be able to get the starving Rohingyan some food and save them from extinction!

Please help to #SaveTheRohingya 
Action 1.5 is coming soon!
If you missed action 1.3 it is here - please do that too!
Wondering what this is all about? You can read about the launch of the campaign and what we are doing here.

#SaveTheRohingya Action 1.3

There is a huge crisis taking place at the moment in Myanmar. So huge that it is listed as a Genocide Emergency Alert Stage 7 (extermination) by Genocide Watch alongside Syria, the Sudan, the Congo and Ethiopia.

And yet, CNN is not reporting it!

Instead this is what CNN is reporting.

Please write to CNN and ask them to give the current crisis in Myanmar the attention it deserves. Tell them we have done the urgent research for them here  and we even have interviews with audio and transcript from a source on the ground it they want it! And you might want to suggest that they actually read what our source is saying regarding the violence before they go painting the Rohingyan people as terrorists and dismissing this crisis as just a bit of sectarian tension (clearly there is a lot of hatred towards the Rohingyan, but this is more of the genocide kind than tension between two different religions).

Send a news tip here
http://edition.cnn.com/feedback/show/?s=newstip

If you are a reliable source comment here
http://edition.cnn.com/feedback/show/?s=reliablesources&hdln=2

Ask for it in their World News here
http://edition.cnn.com/feedback/show/?s=worldnews&hdln=2

Ask Talk Asia why the heck are they not talking about the Rohingya???
http://edition.cnn.com/feedback/show/?s=talkasia&hdln=2

Ask Amanpour to get asking some serious questions regarding what is really going on
http://edition.cnn.com/feedback/show/?s=amanpour&hdln=7

There's lots more departments you can also contact to be found here:
http://edition.cnn.com/feedback/

Please also telephone if you can +1 404.827.1500 option 1

Please also tweet to @cnn @cnnnews and @cnnbrk

Also post to CNN on Facebook (write message and post on wall) as well as to the CNN News Facebook community.

When you are done please tweet to the #SaveTheRohingya tag to tell everyone and also paste to your Facebook. Please also tweet @jamilahanan with your progress.

If we all act together we may be able to get the starving Rohingyan some food!

Please help to #SaveTheRohingya 




#SaveTheRohingya Action 1.2

In Myanmar (Burma) there is currently a huge crisis with an estimated 90,000 displaced with thousands of homes burnt to the ground according to Human Rights Watch. The World Food Program is attempting to feed 100,000 but stated that it was looking to secure further funds for a 3 month feeding program. Our source on the ground tells us that the situation is desperate with people dying every day and there is no food left.

Please write to DEC (the Disasters Emergency Committee) and ask them to launch an urgent appeal to help save the Rohingya people. There are many people that want to donate but no charity is yet collecting funds to help get aid to these people in desperate need. DEC are well placed to co-ordinate such an appeal since they recently raised funds following a cyclone in Myanmar in 2008, and have also worked for war stricken areas such as Gaza and the Congo.

Please email info@dec.org.uk and donations@dec.org.uk

If possible please also telephone +44 207 387 0200

Then please tweet to @decappeal and post a recommendation to their Facebook page.

When you are done please tweet to the #SaveTheRohingya tag to tell everyone and also paste to your Facebook. Please also tweet @jamilahanan with your progress.

If we all act together we may be able to get the starving Rohingyan some food!

Please help to #SaveTheRohingya



Action 1.3 is here. Please do it!
If you missed action 1.1 it is here. Please do that too!
Wondering what this is all about? You can read about the launch of the campaign and what we are doing here.

Wednesday 18 July 2012

#SaveTheRohingya Action 1.1

The World Food Program estimated 90,000 people in Myanmar's (Burma) Northern Rakhine state are in need of food. On 19th June they said they had reached 60,000 in that past week, providing 2 day or in some cases up to 6 days of emergency food rations. They also stated that they were 'finalizing plans for a three-month food assistance operation that will require additional support from donors':


Our source said to us on 14th July that in his area people urgently needed food. On 17th July he pleaded with us and cried because they had no food left at all. He said up until then they had been eating 'green banana trees' (we think maybe he meant green bananas) and even they are gone now. He said their children are dying.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: our source also told us that on 14th July some food arrived in Sittwe from Myanmar capital city, but when 20 Muslims tried to get it 2000 Rakhine, police and security shot at them, so they had to escape the gunshots and go back with no food. He said that they asked the military to buy food for them, but as soon as the Rakhine recognized that the military was buying food for them they wanted to kill the military.

http://savetherohingya.blogspot.co.uk/p/interview.html

Please email (and telephone if you can) the World Food Program and ask them for an update on the situation. Ask them why there are people there without food now. Ask them to step up their efforts and increase the publicity on this problem.

Email WFP.logistics@wfp.org and also ask them to blog about this issue here .

Please also send your enquiry via this form:
https://www.wfp.org/contact


After that please contact the following (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):

Marcus Prior, WFP/Bangkok, Mob. +66 81 701 9208
Emilia Casella, WFP/Rome, Mob. + 39 347 945 0634 Tel. +39 06 6513 3854
Elisabeth Byrs, WFP/Geneva, Mob. + 41  794 734 570  Tel. +41 22 917 8564
Caroline Hurford, WFP/London, Mob.  + 44 7968 008 474 Tel. +44 207 240 9001
Bettina Luescher, WFP/New York, Mob. + 1 646 824 1112  Tel. +1 646 556 6909

Please also send tweets to @WFP then post to the WFP wall and message them on Facebook.

When you are done please tweet to the #SaveTheRohingya tag to tell everyone and also paste to Facebook. Please also tweet @jamilahanan with your progress.



If we all act together we may be able to get the starving Rohingyan some food!

Please help to #SaveTheRohingya



#SaveTheRohingya Campaign Launch

We are just a few concerned individuals who heard about a crisis in Burma (Myanmar) and a threat to the Rohingya people. We did some research. This is what we found.

We dug some more and managed to make contact with a Rohingyan man in hiding in Burma. This is the transcript from the final part of a telephone interview with that man on 17th July (it was hard to catch everything he said because he was sobbing):
'This is our life. We are in a very hard situation. Our life is hard..
So please… with the power of… please try to save our life.. really really I have no-one to explain to how they’ve (affected?) our lives.. please try to save our lives.. please contact with other people please..
I hope all the people (will try to?) save our lives.. please try to save our lives, we are very.. until now we have no information from our brothers and sisters.. please try to save our lives and our dignity.. (??)
our weak point is because we are Muslim.. we have no more weak point, at the moment, they are trying to end Islam.. they try to kill our lives.. (please contact the Islamic countries and other news agencies) we are dying.. we will die by ourselves..
we cannot go to other villages because the border immigration are waiting to kill us.. they are waiting for us..
our weak point is just because we are Muslim.. please try to save our lives..I’ve heard so many times in the other townships.. from a lot lot of people I’ve heard this.. they were raping the Muslim women.. they reported 171 people were arrested..
all the women, they don’t have even a lighter to burn (fire) to cook rice.. just they are eating green banana trees..there are even no (more) banana trees for them to eat.. so please, don’t forget about that..
please try to save our lives by sharing this information with other countries.. our children are dying....
more than 1,000 lives are already killed in my village – they are also like me, I am also like them..'

These are our notes from a first interview with him on 14th July:

  • police burning Muslim villages
  • Rakhine come dressed as Muslim mullahs (i.e. sheikhs) and burn Muslim houses
  • he saw this
  • they are OUT OF FOOD, no houses/shelter (as they've been burnt), and no water
  • burning mosques and houses
  • 70,000+ HOMELESS - living in hiding
  • they are attacking one township after another
  • can't go to city or another village because there are 250 border immigration guards patrolling the villages etc - if they see any Rohingya, they kill them
  • they're scared to move around
  • they are giving wrong information to villagers/propaganda
  • Rohingya are NOT burning houses of Rakhine
  • the reports about 100,000 Rakhhine hiding in monasteries because Muslims are burning their houses is ABSOLUTE LIE (he couldnt emphasise this enough)
  • they have nothing - no Internet, no Media
  • the "crisis time" was from 8-13 June:
  • he went around collecting data, 1040 are DEFINITELY missing, presumed dead
  • 2500 ppl injured
  • Rakhine SHAVED HAIR of DEAD BODIES of Rohingya to make them look like MONKS (i.e. that Rohingya killed the Rakhine)
  • some people saw this and told him about it
  • an ambulance driver saw this and reported it to them
  • Rakhine dress like mullahs and go into Muslim villages - burn and kill
  • Special services and Police Forces are working WITH Rakhon
  • 200+ ppl died by bullets
  • 400+ ppl died by sword/knife
  • 200+ ppl died by being burnt alive
  • NO DOCTORS, NO CLINICS, Red Cross came 3 wks ago
  • 10 ppl die every day in all villages from fever, malaria, illness, injuries
  • people have come to his village every day JUST WANTING FOOD, as they have NO FOOD in their village
  • impossible to send food because they are restricted by Rakhine
  • 10 ppl arrested, 1 of them was working for MSF
  • other townships - 30 ppl dead, 147 arrested (that he heard of)
  • EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT: a mother came and sought refuge in his village, Rakhine came to her village, burnt her house, her 8 year old son was inside, he was severely burnt when she went in to get him, she managed to flee with him to the guy's village. the boy survived 2 days, then died (most likely due to lack of medical aid)


IMPORTANT UPDATE:
 our source also told us that on 14th July some food arrived in Sittwe from Myanmar capital city, but when 20 Muslims tried to get it 2000 Rakhine, police and security shot at them, so they had to escape the gunshots and go back with no food. 
He said that they asked the military to buy food for them, but as soon as the Rakhine recognized that the military was buying food for them they wanted to kill the military.



We tried to get some urgent media coverage on this but we soon realised that things move so slowly with large organisations, and everyone was so busy, that probably all these people would have starved to death before we got anywhere near front page headlines. So we are putting up this information here and launching a Twitter campain to try and get some urgent media attention on this matter, and hopefully some food for these people! We need the public to help us. We need the media to contact us.

If you are an NGO or an established journalist (with a profile we can verify) and would like more information about these interviews then please email jamilahanan1@gmail.com with full contact details and also information regarding who you work for.

Please check back each day for 5 new online actions that you can join us with to help this story get the attention it deserves. We will be tweeting to the #SaveTheRohingya tag. Please help us start this campaign by telling all your tweeting friends that it exists and follow the tag for when we launch our first actions. There is lots of information on our research page that you can use for tweeting.

Action 1.1 is here. Please do it!