Has Burma Crossed Obama's "Red Line"?

Chemical Weapon Claims In Kachin
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Myanmar Military Firing Mortars)

“Our military never uses chemical weapons and we have no intention to use them at all. I think the KIA (Kachin Independence Army) is accusing us wrongly,” presidential spokesman Ye Htut. 

When talking about Syrian President,  Bashar al-Assad, Obama said that the use of chemical weapons would have "consequences and you will be held accountable". This was the "red line" that Obama had laid out in his warning to Assad. It appeared by the end of Obama's speech that killing people with bullets and bombs was perfectly acceptable as long as more unconventional weapons did not enter the conflict. This speech also laid out a clear line in the sand for all tyrants that might be interested in slaughtering their own citizens. 

Burma is no exception to that long list of tyrannical regimes interested in committing genocide and ethnic cleansing. The one difference is that the Junta in Burma has no desire to exercise restraint. Unlike Iran or China, Burma is starting off with a virtually clean slate when dealing with the West. They are free from the sanctions that bind Iran and lack the economic leverage that currently binds China's hands. 

When dealing with what the West affectionately calls "ethnic clashes", Burma has used every weapon in their arsenal thus far. The "reform" party has engaged in mass starvation of the Rohingya, carpet bombing of the Kachin, and illegal deportations and mass executions of the Rohingya in the Arakan. Now the Kachin rebels claim that the Burmese military is and has for some time been using chemical weapons to push the Kachin people over the border and into China. 

As with most "ethnic clashes" the UN and Western governments has once again hopped into the conflict on the side of the ruling power... in this case Burma. 

(Laiza Citizens Build Bomb Shelters)

In 2011 the KIA made claims that the Burmese military had used chemical weapons. Back then the world seemed a little more interested since at the time Burma was still closed off to the outside world. However today with Burma ready to allow foreign economic investment the rest of the world seems painfully unwilling to admit that there might be chemical weapons being used. Once again money overrides human suffering. 

According to the KIA rebels the Burmese military has been using chemical weapons to push their soldiers off key outpost along the front line of the conflict. The soldiers that have claimed to survive the attacks say that the blast occur with a large wave of heat and then people loose consciousness. However the one flaw in their claims is the fact that nobody seems able to provide physical evidence of the bombs or the their affects. 

While dead bodies are easy to come by along the battle front the evidence of gassed soldiers or civilians seems impossible to find. For the most part chemical shell fragments and what appear to be cluster bombs are the only pieces of evidence provided. And while cluster ammunitions are illegal for use in any form of conflict their use has not been punished by the UN or ICC in either Syria or during the Iraq-Iran war. So there is no reason to believe that the UN will even enforce the law when dealing with Myanmar. 

As with most cases of war crimes the UN proves itself incompetent when facing the crimes as they occur. Even if Myanmar is found innocent and has not used chemical weapons it has committed several war crimes during this conflict. Evidence of mass executions, arbitrary arrests, and intentional targeting of civilians have all been documented in the conflict with the KIA. Myanmar has also committed several crimes against humanity when dealing with the Rohingya and other minority groups across Burma. And yet the UN refuses to act. 

So the question remains, has Burma crossed Obama's "Red Line"? And if so, what will the UN or US do to enforce these said "consequences"? Or will the West simply look the other way as yet another genocidal regime perpetrates horrific crimes against humanity?

Source Documents

(Note not all sources are listed)

CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/03/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html

The Express Tribune 

http://tribune.com.pk/story/492081/myanmar-denies-using-chemical-weapons-on-rebels/

The Democratic Voice of Burma

http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-denies-using-chemical-weapons-in-kachin/25671

Mizzima 

http://www.mizzima.com/special/kachin-battle-report/8707-burma-govt-denies-using-chemical-weapons-on-kachins.html

The Guardian 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jan/03/burma-air-strike-kachin-rebels-video

Starvation Fuels Slavery

Exportation Helping Complete Ethnic Cleansing
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(It is not their eyes that are blind, but their hearts. Koran 22:46)

Since the October pogroms the Rakhine officials and Myanmar's government have been enforcing a campaign of mass starvation amongst the Rohingya population of Burma. The method of killing those who refuse to leave changed from mass murder to mass starvation. And for many in the media this change from outright slaughter to passive barbarism offered some sort of perverted hope that Myanmar might actually uphold its promise of "democratic reform". Yet here we are over six months later and the original intent of Burma's sins is still being carried out without mercy as Rohingya die on a daily basis. 

In July The Guardian posted a piece in which they quoted an aid worker that described the Rohingya refugee camps as "open air prisons". This was back in July of 2012 when the fighting had only recently ended. This was just as humanitarian workers began to actually see just how horrid the conditions were amongst the Rohingya. Or at the very least the Rohingya they were allowed to see in the camps since many Rohingya were at that point blockaded in their villages. 

"We are worried that malnutrition rates already have and will continue to rise dramatically; if free and direct humanitarian access accompanied by guaranteed security is not granted with the shortest delay, there's no way they won't rise," said Tarik Kadir of Action Against Hunger. (July 2012)

Over the next six months the world did nothing to stop the campaign of ethnic cleansing that the Burmese have been carrying out. Instead the aid groups found it impossible to reach those in desperate need of food, water, medicine, and basic humanitarian aid. All the while governments around the world have increased trade with Burma while denying that any crisis is under way. 

Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, "Would expect a strong international response" to any attempt to deport the Rohingya."

After the October pogroms the Burmese government decided to begin the very deportations the Human Rights Watch organization predicted back in July. But unlike they expected, the world did nothing to stop the deportations. Instead countries like Thailand and Bangladesh have decided to profit off the horrific crimes that Burma has been perpetrating for over half a year now. While America and Europe continue to look for new ways to exploit Burma for its natural resources and economic contributions to the emerging markets of China and India.

Today nearly 1,000 Rohingya are stuck in a system of limbo created by Thailand as the government decides just how many if not all are deported back to Burma. Around 800 of these Rohingya were just recently "rescued" from human trafficking camps. And to add to this around 40 percent of the Rohingya found in Thailand's trafficking rings are below the age of 18. Yet despite facing death back home in Burma and facing slavery at the hands of traffickers, Thailand is in a hurry to send their "problems" back to Myanmar.

Rohingya often end up these days in the hands of human traffickers simply because desperation drives them to desperate actions. Using whatever money or materials they can bribe their captors with the Rohingya appear to enter slavery willingly. And at the same time it is blatantly obvious that nobody wants to be a slave. It is from that point of rationalization that makes us ask why?

Why would they risk breaking up their families and sending them out across southeast Asia? Why would anyone give up apparent freedom for a life of oppression?

The answers are almost as unfortunate as the trade off they are making is.

Rohingya have no freedoms in Burma from the moment they are born to the day that they die. A Rohingya person must be documented in multiple ways from birth yet are never admitted citizenship. Their parents must pay taxes upon them from birth while their children will have to pay taxes upon their death. Movement from village to village during life is taxed and restricted unless being dictated by Rakhine authorities.

In the long list of oppressive laws and restrictions put in place upon the Rohingya the part that preps the Rohingya for human trafficking the most happens to be the slavery they are raised with in Burma. It is a well known fact even outside Myanmar that the Rohingya are often used as slave labor when the Rakhine or military wants free labor. They are not fed nor do they receive any form of compensation during these times of forced labor. Their fields do not get worked, their boats don't go out to fish, and their children do not get fed during these times of slavery. It is this part of Burma's treatment of the Rohingya that prepares them for life as human cargo at the hands of human traffickers.

Thai officials have repeatedly been found cooperating with human traffickers and often doing the trafficking themselves. It is only in recent years that industry and the free market have begun to demand that the "free labor" portion of Thailand's economy be brought under control. Sadly these demands have only arrived out of the desire to gain larger portions of economic shares rather than out of concern for the Rohingya peoples' well-being.

The only good news coming out of Thailand is the fact that they have for now decided to hold the Rohingya till the UN can have a look at them. This does not mean that the Thai authorities will take the UN's suggestions seriously. It does not meant that the Rohingya will not be deported after the UN leaves. It does however mean that for now, at least, these Rohingya are spared the reprisals that await upon return to Myanmar.

For the rest of the world the question of how to stop human trafficking still remains. Last year MTV Exit put on a concert in Myanmar (counter productive since Myanmar is the heart of human trafficking in Southeast Asia). President Obama and other world leaders have talked endlessly about this subject. The United Nations has countless programs and branches dedicated to stopping this crime against humanity. Yet the sin of slavery still plagues us. And for the Rohingya it is a painful way out of Hell on earth.

Source Documents 

(Note not all sources used are listed)

CNN (December 7th, 2012)

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/07/myanmar-can-keep-rohingya-from-starving-but-will-it/

(November 26, 2012)

 http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/25/world/asia/myanmar-rohingya-violence-rivers/index.html

The Guardian (July 13, 2012)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/13/burma-humanitarian-crisis-rohingya-arakan

Rohingya.org (December 16th, 2012)

http://www.rohingya.org/portal/index.php/burma/63-news--article/427-the-rohingya-suffer-ethiopian-like-starvation.html

The Independent (October 30, 2012)

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-world-must-act-to-protect-burmas-rohingya-from-starvation-and-slaughter-8262073.html

Phuketwan (December 26, 2012)

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/desperation-marks-rohingyas-fight-rights-survival-17303/

Aljazeera (January 11, 2013)

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/01/201311184320327355.html

When The World Doesn't Give A Damn

They Die Without Dignity
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Dare You To Look Away)

The images of children starving to death haunt my mind every moment of every day anymore. A fire burns deep in the pit of my stomach as I think of just how damned easy it would be to save these children. A hatred replaces the love that once grew from what I thought was humanity. Tears wait in the wings as the callousness replaces the passion it toppled from the forefront of my mind. 

Is this what it means to be awake? Just conscious enough to watch the suffering of others? Eyes open barely wide enough to watch as death claims ground while life retreats? 

In recent months I have wondered what it would take to force the hand of the West. I asked myself over and over just why the UN or US have not bothered to take action to stop this senseless slaughter. The answers that come from such inquisitions aren't helpful however. The places these answers lead aren't comforting. 

Yet here I am.

As the stories and facts continue to pour in I couldn't help but look back upon my own ancestors' long walk through hell to get me here. Upon the faces of the Rohingya I see the ghosts of my own people. And no matter how many times I tried to shut that part out... as much as I tried to stay objective... I don't think I can any longer. 

In recent post I have explored the similarities between the plight of the Rohingya and the tragedies my own family suffered. To make it more comfortable for me I stuck with the Germanic Jews and the Poles. In all reality however I know that the plight of the Rohingya ties more directly into the reality of my own ancestors and their suffering at the hands of Croat fascist. 

But that is the one parallel I am not comfortable with. 

On April 10th of 1941 the Ustase claimed power of Croatia. They had sided with Hitler and sold their souls for a chance to kill off those they claimed were "undesirables". For this sin the 40,000 Jews of Croatia would pay dearly. This was the start of the Holocaust in Croatia. 

My ancestors had fled the Spanish and for some reason had decided to start a new life in Croatia generations before. They were never well off, the Spaniards had taken everything they had. Life within a Catholic stronghold was only slightly better than life at the hands of the Spanish. 

The man I am named after had been lucky enough to be born in America. His grandfather had left with what he could carry less two decades before the outbreak of World War Two. Yet even in this break of luck his family was still stuck in Croatia. Family, ever important, kept in contact through the mail. That was until shortly after that day in April. 

Cousins who had wrote of to America had changed their tone in those final communications. Life was fleeing Croatia as the black legions took power. This is all I know of Croatia. I know their names and that they were from Split. Other than that I have no way of knowing where they went or what happened to them. 

In Burma this same tragedy plays out over 70 years later. Rohingya within Burma have family in villages just a short distance away that they are legally banned from contacting. Those who have family living across the border in Bangladesh are even worse off. Those left alive after the pogroms during the summer and in October can't figure out if they even have family to find after this is all over. Life is fleeing them now as the Burmese cloak the Arakan in darkness. 

The Croatian Ustase robbed me of my heritage in ways words can't express. The sins they perpetrated don't go away just because time has passed them by. The scars remain even thought the victims do not. 

For the Rohingya the wounds are still open and bleeding. Their hands are left out as they pray and plead for help. Yet the world looks away. The West closes it's eyes as best they can while they cover their ears and hum a lullaby for the damned. 

Burma is committing the same sins that the Jews of Europe suffered, that the Tutsi of Rwanda suffered, that the Cambodians suffered, that the Bosnians suffered, that the Armenians suffered, that the Sudanese are suffering... And yet after the Germans were vanquished we stood up and realized just how bloody awful the mess they left really was. It was then that we promised the world "Never Again". 

So why are we failing now? 

I know there are some people who will read this post and think that I am being selfish by making the comparisons I have in this post and in previous post. I know that for many it is hard to make the connection between the genocide of the Jews and those currently plaguing us today. And I know that this post may not be well received. But I'll be honest, I needed to voice this for my own reasons. I needed to admit the pain that watching images and reading these stories brings up within me. 

We all have our reasons to 'scream'. We all have a part of us that needs to let out a violent, blood curdling scream when we are hurting in ways that words alone can't express. And when done in a way that can help those in need it can break down the barriers we construct to trap those emotions. It can drive home the reason for which we scream. 

So once again, and definitely not the last time, I want to ask those of you reading this to scream for the Rohingya. They need your voice. They need your help. They need  you to fight.

The Final Solution In The Modern Era

How Myanmar Is Rewriting History
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Victims of Ethnic Cleansing)

For all of written history the Rohingya people have lived in the area now belonging to the Burmese government known as the Arakan state. Their ancestors lived here for centuries. Their fathers farmed these lands and fished the waters along the coast. And though Rohingya live on the other side of the Bangladeshi - Myanmar border nearly a million Rohingya have called Burma home for generations.

Throughout history however the history of the Rohingya has been somewhat rewritten to better suit the will of their conquerors. The modern Burmese dictatorship is no exception to this rule of historic precedent. And like most others who came before them, the Burmese seem far to willing to rewrite the books so as to wipe the Rohingya out of existence. 

The Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) has long exploited the "facts" they claim are the real history of the Arakan state. In their version of history the Rakhine people (a developed term that now refers to all Buddhist people in Arakan regardless of ethnicity) had a rich and vibrant culture dating back to prehistory. At times the RNDP links such claims to actual historical kingdoms such as the Kingdom of Mrauk U, an odd adjustment of history since the Buddhist kings of this kingdom received Islamic titles. Yet even in doing this the RNDP usually alters the dates by only recognizing the kingdoms beginning as of 1531... when the kingdom split with Bengali Islamist.

Messing with history books is of less concern to those now living in concentration camps however. The most effective method of implementing and organizing the current genocide of the Rohingya by the RNDP was enacted in 1982 when the RNDP managed to get a law passed that stripped all Rohingya of citizenship. This was the first step in starting the ethnic cleansing of the Arakan. This was the push that the Buddhist needed to start the genocide. 

In 1935 the fascist were high on power as their Nazi ideology became the political theory of the German state. They had taken full control of Germany in 1933 and had pushed their leader onto the population of Germany. Hitler's antisemitic views were now to become the daily bread of an oppressed nation. His views were to be carried out across and occupied continent. But to start the ball rolling Hitler needed to alter the law of the land. Hitler needed the Nuremberg Laws. 

Among the litany of new demands and restrictions upon the Jews was the most striking of all, the Jewish people were forever to be banned their citizenship to the new German state. With this Hitler had effectively made the Jewish people, German people until that day, stateless. This widened the gap between the "Aryan" people of Germany and the Jewish people. It also opened up the Jewish people to a sudden and harsh reality of servitude to a state that now professed it's hatred of them. 

With the Rohingya stateless the RNDP was quick to exploit the new list of demands placed upon the Rohingya of the Arakan. The Junta had given the racially bias RNDP the opportunity to force the Rohingya into slave labor at beckon call. The Junta also turned a blind eye to the open rape of Rohingya women and children by the RNDP and the Myanmar military. Killing of a Rohingya person was suddenly possible with little to no consequences. And every since 1982 the RNDP and Buddhists extremist have taken full advantage of this political classification of the Rohingya within Burma. 

When democracy was supposedly on the horizon the RNDP decided to speed up its goal of creating an ethnically and religiously pure Arakan state. Exploiting the rape of one woman the extremist set out to cleanse the land of an entire ethnic group. Targeting Rohingya villages, the RNDP whipped up a virtual army of Rakhine mobs. Looting and torching of Rohingya homes became the summer carnival as the Arakan burned before the eyes of the onlooking outside world. 

(Night of Broken Glass)

On November 9th, 1938 the fascist in Germany and Austria grew tired of waiting for the hostilities to begin. That night the long knives took to the streets and the glass began to break. Kristallnacht had begun. In one night the once civilized people of "Greater Germany" killed nearly 100 Germanic Jews. A further 30,000 were arrested as the pogrom burned seemingly out of control. These 30,000 would be sent to concentration camps that had proved affective just months before in the murders of mentally disabled Germans (Buchenwald being one of the new death camps).

(Rohingya Home Burning Summer of 2012)

In what appeared to be the worse outbreak of ethnic violence in the Arakan in generations the RNDP hid the start of their "Final Solution". When the villages began to burn the world would not nor could not guess that the RNDP and other Buddhist extremists had answered their "Rohingya question". Yet looking back at it now we can see that the RNDP and their cohorts have in fact created the framework in which to work to create and finish their genocide of the Rohingya people. Looking back at it we can now clearly see that this is premeditated murder... this is ethnic cleansing at its finest... this is genocide. 

With the strategic destruction of given Rohingya villages the Rakhine forces were able to isolate larger villages in more remote parts of the Arakan. This allowed the military to create ghettos out of the still standing villages and in turn create ready built concentration camps. The hard work of finding land upon which to put their "refugee" prisoners was already done by the time the smoke had cleared. The next stage was already in motion by the time the world was ready to admit that the Rohingya were at the very least "in trouble" and facing "persecution". 

RNDP sponsored blockades raised up out of nowhere in a police state that has never left its dictatorship past. Food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid was now stopped before it could even start to reach the victims of the summer violence. The starvation of the Rohingya people started the moment the first villages were torched. This war of attrition had been launched the moment the RNDP began its propaganda campaign that summer.

We saw a similar event in 1994 in Rwanda when the Hutu militias staged spontaneous pogroms across Rwanda. Almost overnight the Hutus were able to set up roadblocks where they could butcher the Tutsi who dared to try to flee. It was at this point in the Rwandan Genocide that the UN could have intervened with either military force or the arming of Tutsi militias capable of breaking the blockades.

Similar roadblocks were raised in the Arakan by the Burmese military along with help from the RNDP and the Rakhine police forces. These roadblocks were upgraded to military checkpoints as barbwire was raised around the Rohingya refugee camps and outside the still standing Rohingya villages. The transition seemed almost effortless... too effortless... on the part of Myanmar's government.

(How Many More Need To Die?)

Today the Rohingya continue to face the final stages of ethnic cleansing on the long road to the RNDP's "final solution". Mass starvation is being used to kill off the Rohingya as the extremist wait for nature to claim the remaining Rohingya. In addition the Rakhine Buddhists are using human trafficking as a means to deport Rohingya to neighboring countries while making a profit of their "human cargo". This is further complimented by the tactics used in prior pogroms such as forced labor and arbitrary arrests of Rohingya men and boys. 

In recent days eight "boat people" (Rohingya) were arrested in Pyay township. Among the Rohingya were two of the ages 22 and 23 years old, the rest were below the ages of 16. In Parin, Arakan the military of Myanmar faked an attack so that they could arrest all male Rohingya in the village including a 15 year old boy. In Sandawli the Burmese police arrested 12 Rohingya after claiming that they had burned down their own homes and should thus face 10 years in jail. 

In each of these incidents the Rohingya face the possibility of being killed in police custody or being sold to human traffickers. What they are guaranteed by the RNDP sympathetic police is that they will be tortured for their supposed crimes against the state. Those who live may never see their families again since they will most likely be deported. This is insured by the fact that immigrations officers are often brought in to force the Rohingya to sign documents claiming they are illegal immigrants while the police point a pistol at their head. 

Death by starvation, deportation, or a slow death in captivity are all the Rohingya have left as the Rakhine extremist carry out their "final solution". We on the outside can rest assured that if the genocide of the Rohingya is not stopped the RNDP and their cronies will rewrite the history of the Arakan. This is not a simple war of annihilation, this is campaign to erase the Rohingya from the history books. This is a sickening attempt by an extreme element of society to completely dominate and destroy another. And in the end we will all be witnesses to it in one way or another.

Sevenly

Someone is trying to shed some light in this dark world. 


Recently thanks to Pinterest, I came across something.  Better than a lot of the "feel good" stuff of self improvement or crafts.  It was a T-shirt and so much more.

There is a group out there called Sevenly that is doing something worthwhile.  They team up with charities and produce designed products that an amount of the proceeds are donated to.  Here's the thing it isn't just one charity.  They do this every week.  Every week a new charity/organization is sponsored and the products specifically designed will only be sold that week. Making it a precious endorsement with a limited time offer.

But what does this have in common with Alder's Ledge?  We have similar goals and methods.  Both of us want to increase the awareness of social needs in this world and encourage people to act.  We have also used similar methods to do this.  First by asking those who have come across our information to pass it along on shared social networks of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr to spark better awareness.  Next to invite them to act on this interest and last to make a personal connection with the need.

We applaud Sevenly!  They have sponsored charities dealing with sex trafficking, refugees of genocide and civil wars, and former child soldiers.  There are other numerous organizations that span the scope of Alder's Ledge as well.  Each charity is thoroughly researched and fact checked in the application process to make sure the most good is being done.  Sevenly just started up in 2011 and have been able to raise generous amounts to different causes, each with it's own unique designed products during their campaign.  Here is how the process works as per Sevenly.org displays.

It's nice to come across others trying to do some good.  The world needs more light bearers like Sevenly to show the changes needed and what one can do about it.


sources/images: https://www.sevenly.org/

Only Grass And Dirt To Eat

Starvation: A War Of Attrition
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Rohingya Refugee Camp: Searching For Food In The Ditch)

The photo above was taken more than a month ago and was taken in near a Rohingya refugee camp. These Rohingya are living life beyond the villages where their fellow Rohingya live in modern day concentration camps. These Rohingya live where food consist of grass and weeds found alongside dirty streets. They are not allowed to go into the Rakhine villages and purchase food. They are forbidden to use the same water as their Rakhine neighbors. Yet in comparison to the Rohingya still living in the villages, these are the lucky ones. 

Checkpoints much like those seen around the ghettos the Nazi's built during the Holocaust pot mark the area around the refugee camps. Though there are coconuts hanging in the trees outside the camps, though there is rice in the fields that the Rakhine now claim... the Rohingya starve. The barbed wire is a constant reminder that they are considered less than human in their own homeland. The lack of food makes it clear that they are considered of less value than the livestock the Rakhine raise in nearby pastures. This is the life that the Burmese have damned the Rohingya to. 

Ali Hassan, a 24 year old Rohingya man told Phuket Wan Travel News, "My babies are starving in front of my eyes. I cannot buy anything now I have no money." 

Ali Hassan had newborn twins at the time. It is impossible to know for sure if his children have survived. It is hard to imagine any child, let alone babies, living a life of starvation. But his story survives. Even if he and his family do not, his story will never perish. 

This war, this barbarism that Myanmar carries out, is meant to starve the Rohingya out of existence. The violence that plagued the Arakan state forever lingers in the air. Death hovers behind every shadow. It waits for the Rohingya... with open arms it accepts them of every age, gender, shape, and size. This is a war in as much as it pins one group against the other. Yet in this horrific struggle only one is armed... only one gets to fight... only one survives. 

There is an abundance of fish in the seas and waters along the Rakhine coasts. However the Burmese officials have confiscated almost all the fishing equipment the Rohingya once owned. Nets, poles, and hooks... nothing is left to harvest the food that the Rohingya so desperately need. 

For now the Rohingya slowly waist away as the little aid that is making it through the blockades is barely enough to keep even a small portion of them alive. It is in this slow starvation that many are turning to the the very people who cause their suffering to offer "a way out". The Rakhine Nationalities Development Party uses this wide spread starvation to traffic the Rohingya out of Myanmar. 

Over the last couple days nearly 700 Rohingya have turned up in human trafficking camps in Thailand. Over 500 Rohingya had to swim ashore in Malaysia after their boat sank 500 km off the coast. All of these Rohingya were trafficked out of the country by the RNDP. And of the RNDP's trafficking victims... they could easily be considered the lucky ones. 

Over half of the Rohingya who are sent out to sea each year die trying to make their way to Malaysia. Almost all Rohingya who are sent into Thailand are sent back to Myanmar having lost everything they had including the bribes that got them out of Burma the first time. These 1,200 Rohingya are lucky just to still be alive and outside of Myanmar. 

It is important to note at the close of this post that this tragedy, this genocide, could had been prevented. This horrific case of ethnic cleansing could be immediately stopped. All that is needed is for the outside world to finally wake up. To wake up and start taking action.

Smugglers Replace Cattle Cars

More Proof Of Illegal Deportations
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Sixty-two Under The Age of Fifteen Including Three Babies)

As the genocide continues to drive the Rohingya population of Burma to desperate measures the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party continues to exploit their helpless victims. In recent months the RNDP has been taking money and other bribes from the Rohingya in exchange for an apparent way out of the genocide the RNDP is perpetrating. However in most cases the RNDP never truly gets the Rohingya to the safety of a host country. In most cases the Rohingya who pay for a way out are turned over to Myanmar police or dumped into the waiting arms of human traffickers. 

On Thursday (January 10th) the Thai government raided a hidden transit camp for human trafficking on the Thai border with Burma. Upon entering the camp the Thai officials found that the traffickers where holding captive 366 Rohingya refugees. Like many other camps of the such the traffickers were only interested in treating the refugees as human cargo. There was little food and little water for the hundreds of victims. 

Among the Rohingya were 62 children under the age of 15. This group of children out of the original 366 also included three babies under the age of one years old. Among them were also 11 women. Yet the human traffickers had refused to offer any assistance to their victims. 

The raid began after two Rohingya "boat people" were purchased from the traffickers for for 95,000 baht (3,138.94 USD). This led to the Thai military arriving some time over night. However the raid has not ended. The Rohingya captives are still being held at the camp as the Thai officials record their names. 

Thai Public Health medical teams arrived to give assistance to the captives once the camp was secured. This gives those of us on the outside the impression that the Thai officials do not intend to deport the Rohingya back to Myanmar. However there is no guarantee due to the long history Thailand has with its handling of Rohingya in the past. 

(Women And Children Deported By Thai Police)

In the past the Rohingya have been deported regardless of their age and gender. Children and women are more likely to be dropped off in Thailand by their traffickers since the demand for Rohingya slave labor mainly applies to able bodied young men. This makes younger Rohingya and women more apt to be turned over to police or worse. In other cases the children and women are turned over to sex traffickers. 

At best the Rohingya in these camps can hope for an opportunity to make their way to boats and wish to be sent adrift. For many the chance to get out to sea offers the hope that they might make it to safety. In reality the dream of making their way to Malaysia (a country that barely treats them better than Thailand) is as far from reality as they are from freedom. The boats they are often put aboard are more than likely broken, under stocked with water and food, and will often sink at sea. The fact is that nearly half of all the "boat people" of Southeast Asia die at sea before ever coming in sight of their "promised land". 

For those of you on Twitter this "rescue" by Thai officials offers you the chance to take action and scream on behalf of the Rohingya. By sending relentless tweets to the accounts listed below we can raise our voices so that those in a position of power can affect change for these 366 Rohingya. We can unite as one to tell those in power that this is their opportunity to offer hope instead of damning these Rohingya to death. 

Please do your part and scream. 

@USEmbassyBKK - US Embassy in Thailand 

@PM_Abhisit - Former PM of Thailand: Abhisit Vejjajiva 

@UN - United Nations 

@Refugees - United Nations Refugee Agency 

@SybellaWilkes - Senior Communications Officer UNHCR: Sybella Wilkes 

@UN_Spokesperson - UN Spokesperson 

@hrw - Human Rights Watch

@UNrightswire - United Nations Human Rights Office 

@KenRoth - Executive Director, Human Rights Watch: Kenneth Roth

@ukinthailand - British Embassy in Thailand