[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 163 (Wednesday, October 11, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE CRISIS IN ROHINGYA

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                           HON. JAMIE RASKIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 11, 2017

  Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my profound concern 
about renewed violence in the Western Myanmar State of Rakhine and the 
resulting refugee and humanitarian crisis.
   The growing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State has already claimed 
the lives of 1,000 men, women and children who were brutally killed in 
recent clashes between the Myanmar military and Rohingya civilians. The 
military has also reportedly targeted some of the alleged survivors who 
sought justice and protection within Myanmar, leaving little recourse 
for those being victimized but to flee the country to neighboring 
Bangladesh.
   Rohingya Muslims have long been victims of official discrimination, 
living as a stateless minority community under restrictive citizenship 
laws and constant threat of abuse and violence. The government of 
Myanmar must begin taking concrete steps to stop the downward spiral of 
sectarian violence, which imperils the safety of upwards of a million 
Rohingya Muslims.
   More than half a million Rohingya have fled Myanmar since major 
clashes occurred on August 25, 2017. Using satellite imagery, Human 
Rights Watch has documented more than 700 buildings in the Rohingya 
Muslim village of Chein Khar Li have been burned, accounting for more 
than 99 percent of the village. An additional 450 buildings were 
recently spotted smoldering in Maungdaw, the administrative capital of 
Maungdaw Township. This destruction suggests a coordinated effort to 
drive the Rohingya population out of the country.
   There are divergent reports regarding who is to blame for the chaos 
in Western Myanmar. Refugees blame the Myanmar military while the 
government blames the militant Arkan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). 
For this reason, it is imperative that the government permit entry of a 
U.N. Human Rights Commission Fact Finding Mission to impartially 
document and assess the violence occurring in Rakhine State.
   Timely and accurate information about the crisis is especially 
crucial in this conflict because Myanmar has cracked down on the media, 
using all the draconian tools at its disposal to keep criticism hidden 
from public view. The government has actually prosecuted scores of 
individuals under an egregious defamation law that has criminalized 
social media postings that merely express the plight of the Rohingya 
people. The international human rights community has criticized 
Myanmar's Telecommunications Law for its vagueness, its severity of 
punishment, and its sweeping chilling effect on freedom of expression.
   The government of Myanmar should begin adopting the recommendations 
of the Kofi Annan Foundation Advisory Commission on Rakhine State 
contained in the August 2017 Final Report, which was released the day 
before violence in the region erupted. These recommendations include 
providing dignified living conditions in camps for internally displaced 
persons and granting national and international humanitarian groups 
full access to the communities of Rakhine State. The continuing 
censorship of the media suggests that the government does not want the 
world to witness the crimes that are being perpetrated in the Rakhine 
State.
   It is my hope that Myanmar will begin taking substantial and 
sustained steps to prevent any further violence in Rakhine State. I 
urge my colleagues to join me in calling on Myanmar to take meaningful 
action to desegregate the Rohingya Muslim population, repeal its 
repressive criminal defamation law, and permit human rights observers 
access to monitor the situation.

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