UNHCR alarmed at violence against Rohingyas in Sri Lanka
The United Nations on Wednesday raised concern for the safety of Rohingya Muslim asylum seekers in Sri Lanka after Buddhist monks and hardline nationalists forced them to flee a U.N. shelter in the capital Colombo.
The refugees, who were detained in April along with two suspected Indian human traffickers in a boat off Sri Lanka’s coast, are now in a camp in southern Sri Lanka to ensure their security after the incident in the capital.
In Tuesday’s incident, the Sri Lankan monks and nationalists stoned the shelter, prompting its 31 Rohingya occupants – mainly women and children – to flee for their own safety, witnesses said. No injuries were reported.
In a statement, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the incident was alarming, saying the refugees had been victims of violence and persecution in Myanmar, from which some 422,000 Rohingya have fled to nearby Bangladesh over the past month.
“UNHCR emphasizes that (the) refugees … need international protection and assistance. UNHCR urges the public and all those concerned with refugees to continue extending protection and to show empathy for civilians fleeing persecution and violence.”
It said the Rohingya had been staying in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka with the Colombo government’s approval and UNHCR was providing assistance “until longer-term solutions can be found”.
President Maithripala Sirisena’s government condemned the attack on the refugees as “shameful” and urged police to hunt down the perpetrators.
Witnesses said the monks stormed into the safe house chanting, “Rohingyas are terrorists” and accusing them of having killed Buddhist monks in Myanmar.
The Rohingya group fled Myanmar in 2012 and lived in India as refugees for nearly five years before trying to migrate illegally to Sri Lanka, a lawyer representing them told Reuters.
Tension between Myanmar’s majority Buddhists and the Rohingya, most of whom are denied citizenship, has exploded several times over the past few years as old enmities, and Buddhist nationalism, surfaced with the end of decades of harsh military rule.
There has been an exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine state since Aug. 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants triggered a military crackdown that the United Nations has branded “ethnic cleansing”.
The authorities in Myanmar and Bangladesh each see the stateless Muslim minority as the other nation’s problem.
(Reuters)
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The violence against refugees is shocking.
The minorities in this country have lived with similar violence and intimidation for over 6 decades.
the idiots of the UNHRC should nave been concious of the ground situation in Sri Lanka before providing assylum in Sri Lanka. The UNHRC is exploiting the weak government in Sri lanka for them to taking the initiative provide safe house when they have the resorces to make them secure. They should have taken steps to relocate the illegals immigrants that sought refuge for two reasons one being that they are legitimate peoples seeking assylum or terrorists masqurading as refugees.
The Rohingya problems probably dates back to colonial times and then ince independence the militayry junta that governed myanmar persecuted these people who migrated from Bangaladesh were persecuted and UNHRC failed to resolve this problem leadng to terrorist movement to assert their righs. In Mynamar more than 90 percent of the population is buddhis of a population of nearly 60 million. ,yanmar is member of asean as such they ought to have entered into some agreement as to how to reslove the problem as opposed to keeping almost 1 million stateess.
UNHRC has failed in its mandate to preserve its integrity and this has been demonstrated throughout its history starting from the evenets that led to assasination of patrice lumumba of the belgian congo.
The UN itself is essentially funded by the US to serve its purposes and nothing morfe and even there failed to deliver what it wants done.
Notable events that the UN failed in its mandate was the morre recent conflict Ruwanda where 500,000 were slaughtered over a few months and the bug operators stood back watching UN failed failed to mobilise an aggressive debate to avert the crisis. Do we something about to happen Mynamar wasting time to debate sri lankan involvement@
Heading says “UNHRC is alarmed at Violante against Rohingyas in SL”. UNHRC has to understand the manner the present government in Sri Lanka handled the situation is wrong. And it led to this situation:
– Muslim Politicians jumped the gun and started saying Rohingyas are welcomed and they will provide refuge to them whether prevailing law allowed it or not because they are their people. Buddhist majority in SL developed a mistrust toward Muslim politicians due to their arrogant behaviour;
– Government repeatedly said there are no Rohingyas in Sri Lanka and they have not accepted anyone;
– On the contrary masses found these refugees in safe houses in Colombo suburbs.
This made people angry and I do not think anyone bodily harmed these refugees. Had the government revealed true picture and stated that these refugees are here temporarily till they find anther country to be naturalized nothing would have happened. The reality was, there were Rohgniyas from 2008 and they were sent to USA & Canada. In my opinion, current YahaPalanaya government didn’t handle the situation properly.