Rohingya Communities

David Ward Excerpts

Tuesday 11th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Mr David Ward (Bradford East) (LD)]

I thank the hon. Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth) for initiating this debate. I know that it is customary to say that in such debates, but can it ever have been better deserved? There is a continuous need to remind people of that persecuted minority, the Rohingya, because news of it seldom reaches the national press. There is little international recognition of the atrocities that it faces. I am pleased that Burma and Bangladesh are part of this debate. I suspect that many people who know about the current situation only do so because of recent events in Burma, but, of course, it goes back much further than that. I also thank the local Rohingya community, Nijam and the Rohingya youth organisation in Burma for providing the information, some of which is pretty appalling.

I apologise to all Members here because I will have to leave this debate early to attend the Education Committee. I thank Mr Williams for calling me to speak early and, while it is not my customary practice, I will have to leave after my speech and so will not be here for the summing up. The Select Committee is discussing the GCSE issue, which is important across the country.

We are here because of the atrocities that took place in early June. No doubt we have all had those awful nightmares from which we wake up in a cold sweat and then we come out of the nightmare, but of course for many of the Rohingya living in Burma and indeed in Bangladesh there is no waking up; for them, every single day is a nightmare. What is worst of all is that there are pretty powerful allegations that the very people we rely on in these situations for protection—the security forces—are not only standing idly by but in many cases perpetrating some of the atrocities themselves.

We know that this situation does not just go back to 3 June and the murders on the bus. It goes back much further than that and it really stems from the view held by far too many people in Burma that the Rohingya are not true Burmese. The Rohingya in Burma were denied citizenship in 1982 and that stateless position has caused them not only problems in Burma itself but, of course, in Bangladesh, and it has resulted in a policy of—there is no other phrase to describe it—ethnic cleansing that has taken place over a long period of time. There is no other way of describing a deliberate policy of trying to rid a country of a group of people from within that country.

It has already been said that up to 100,000 people have been displaced. The worrying thing is that, although that situation has now provoked outrage, people knew about what was going on long before now. Brad Adams, the Asian director of Human Rights Watch, has said:

“If the atrocities in Arakan had happened before the government’s reform process started, the international reaction would have been swift and strong. But the international community appears to be blinded by a romantic narrative of sweeping change in Burma, signing new trade deals and lifting sanctions even while the abuses continue.”

People knew about what was happening in Burma long before 3 June and the west—the international community —did very little to deal with that situation.

I have known about the Rohingya from about three or four years ago, when some of those who were in registered Bangladeshi camps—of course, only a minority of the Rohingya in Bangladesh are in registered camps—and who were consequently part of the United Nations gateway programme came to Bradford. We were very happy to welcome them and they have settled in very well. Three cohorts—three groups—have now come to Bradford, and they have not only settled in very well but have been made to feel very welcome. However, their arrival has brought home to all of us in Bradford a problem that was happening thousands of miles away that many people were completely unaware of.

I wrote to the Foreign Secretary on 10 August following representations that I had received from my local Rohingya community and I was pleased to see him make a statement—I think that it was made on 13 August—outlining the Government’s position. However, we all know what the demands we ought to make should be. First, clear, effective and lawful steps need to be taken to prevent further violence in Burma. Secondly, as has already been mentioned, full and unhindered humanitarian access needs to be granted, because even the non-governmental organisations are being denied access to the Rohingya. We need access to all the areas that are affected. Thirdly, we need to ensure that members of the affected communities can safely return to their homes—and they are their homes. We need to support the restitution of their property, and reparations should be made to them for the damage that has been done. However, more than anything else we need a long-term solution to the problems that the Rohingya face and we need to recognise the human rights abuses that have been conducted against them for more than 30 years.

I have a final message. The hon. Member for Leicester South covered so many areas that he has enabled me to make a shorter speech than I had planned. However, the real reason that I am here in Westminster Hall today is not because of headlines in newspapers in June, July and August, but because of the situation that this persecuted group of people has faced for more than 30 years. And we should remember not only the 100,000 people who have been displaced in recent months but the 250,000 and more Rohingya who have been displaced as a consequence of the persecution in Burma during the past 30 years and who are living in atrocious conditions in the Bangladesh camps. We must not forget all those people.