No concessions can be made to the Burmese & Bangladeshi governments’ proposal to forcibly repatriate Rohingya refugees. It is solely up to the Rohingya people to decide their fate–not the genocidaires & their accomplices.
Now there is a proposal floating for the establishment of safe zones in Arakan state administered by multinational security forces to protect Rohingya refugees forced against their wills to return. That would be a UN occupation like in the DR Congo & Haiti where cholera epidemics, rape, & child sex trafficking accompanied the troops. That is not a solution. There can be no safe zones for the Rohingya in Burma as long as the fascist Burmese junta is in power, armed to the teeth by China & Russia, & protected by the mythology of a civilian government trying to forge democracy. We need to pressure our governments to impose harsh economic & military sanctions on the Burmese regime & we need to boycott all Burmese products. That is a campaign whose time is long overdue.
We cannot be accomplices to forcibly sending refugees back to the killing fields of Arakan state so that the Burmese government can finish the genocide it is committed to. Our mission is to support Rohingya demands for safe asylum in countries around the world, visas & work papers, humanitarian aid, schools, & medical care.
This photo is an exhausted Rohingya woman reaching asylum in Bangladesh on September 11th. Who would presume authority to send her back against her will?
(Photoby Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)