Atrocities against Burma’s Rohingya people must be stopped

Union Matters May 17 2018

The CWU has thrown its weight behind the growing international clamour for robust sanctions to be imposed on the Myanmar government in response to its brutal persecution of the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority.

With nearly a million displaced Rohingya people already living in squalid conditions in makeshift refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, and the violence and associated exodus showing no signs of stopping, delegates at CWU Annual Conference unanimously committed the union to lobby the UK Government for the immediate cessation of any supplies or technical assistance flowing to the Myanmar military from Britain.

With the United Nations already recognising the Rohingya as “the most persecuted of peoples” and Amnesty International accusing the Myanmar government committing crimes against humanity, delegates also committed the union to put pressure on the UK Government to seek decisive action from the UN towards securing safe return of desperate refugees, backed up with unequivocal guarantees that their human rights will be fully respected.

Proposing the motion, Ali Moosa of Midland No.1 told Conference: “There are now over 900,000 living in refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, but for some reason our media has decided not to report on these atrocities anymore. The world has forgotten about the Rohingya people but we as trade unionists cannot look the other way.”

Adam Alarakhia of Leicestershire branch gave a harrowing first hand account of conditions in the Bangladeshi refugee camps that he has visited on three occasions to help deliver desperately needed aid.

“”70 per cent of the Rohingya children in the camps are orphans, living in such sad and upsetting conditions. Every time we go to provide aid and food we end up getting emotional because the conditions are so bad,” he said. “Those conditions are getting worse and worse and the monsoon season is coming soon.”

Alan Tate of London Regional Motor Transport branch told of his deep disquiet that the unfolding tragedy in Myanmar had come about during the defacto leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi – a woman long revered in the West for her brave campaigning for democracy and human rights during many years of house arrest by the Burmese military.

“During all my years as a political campaigner I’ve been inspired by people like Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi,” stressed Alan, pointing out that “serious questions” now need to be asked about her handling of the Rohingya crisis – including whether she should be stripped of her Nobel Peace Prize.

Supporting the motion on behalf of the NEC, deputy general secretary Andy Kerr agreed. “Aung San Suu Kyi should be ashamed of herself,” he said, concluding: “We need to do much more for the Rohingya people – this is a matter of urgency.”