The ICC can, and should, hold Myanmar's authorities to account for the crimes they committed against the Rohingya. A Rohingya refugee child looks at the Unchiparang refugee camp from a hill, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh on January 11, 2018 [Tyrone Siul/Reuters] 6/1/2-18 - The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) submitted a request to the judges of the court on April 9. In her application to the Pre-Trial Chamber, the prosecutor requested the judges to find that she has jurisdiction to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute the deportation of the Rohingya population to Bangladesh at the (likely) hands of the Myanmarese authorities. The immediate background to this application goes back to August 25, 2017, when Myanmarese security forces launched a so-called "security operation" in northern Rakhine State against the Rohingya population. It is estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed between August 25 and September 24, 2017, including 730 children. Even though the scale of sexual violence is difficult to accurately assess at this time, thousands of women and girls were systematically raped and violated during the attacks. During the escalating violence and the attacks in August 2017, the villages, homes and property belonging to the Rohingya were destroyed and large sections of the Rohingya population were forcefully displaced from their dwellings and villages and fled to Bangladesh. As of March 2018, an estimated 836,210 Rohingya are now living in refugee camps in Bangladesh, the majority having fled for their lives following the August 2017 attacks. The ICC's jurisdiction extends to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide that have either been committed within the territory or by a national of a state that is a member to the court. Myanmar is not a member of the ICC, which will mean that most of the crimes that were committed within Myanmar are outside the court's jurisdiction. That being said, a number of crimes committed against the Rohingya may arguably fall within the jurisdiction of the court, if it can be shown that their commission took place or continued into the territory of Bangladesh, which became a member to the court in March 2010. According to the prosecutor, deportation is one such crime. To prove the crime of deportation, one must demonstrate that the victim has crossed an international border and entered into another state. Accordingly, the crime of deportation can only be committed if and once the victim enters into the territory of another state. This makes deportation an inherently transnational crime, that cannot be committed within the borders of a single state. In the case of the Rohingya, this state is Bangladesh. Following from that, even if the violence that led to the deportation of the Rohingya was perpetrated within the territory of Myanmar, the commission of the crime of deportation extended into Bangladesh as the crime was only established once the victims arrived. Therefore, the prosecution argues that the court may exercise jurisdiction as the crime would have been committed, albeit partially, within the territory of a member state. As pointed out by a number of commentators, this is a highly compelling argument. Nonetheless, an important part of the argument may be missing. As Global Rights Compliance LLP (GRC) argue on behalf of their 400 clients - members of the Shanti Mohila (Peace Women) - deportation is not the only crime which is partially committed on the territory of Bangladesh against the Rohingya. In fact, three additional crimes that are within the jurisdiction of the court are currently being committed by Myanmar authorities within Bangladesh: apartheid, genocide and persecution. It is crucial to underline at the outset that all four of these crimes, deportation, persecution, genocide and apartheid, are continuing crimes, meaning their commission rests on courses of conduct that exist and are prolonged in time, unless and until the perpetrator desists from their offending conduct and stops causing harm. For instance, if a perpetrator illegally imprisons a person, the crime does not end the moment the victim is imprisoned, it continues until the prisoner is released and once again allowed to enjoy their freedom. The same can be said for deportation, apartheid, persecution and genocide. The crime of deportation is not limited to the flight of the Rohingya from their homes. As long as the deportees remain in Bangladesh and are actively prevented from returning their homes through the subsequent acts or omissions of the perpetrators, the crime of being deprived of their home continues. Further, if deportation is part of an overall persecutory campaign, then the Rohingya continue to be persecuted while living in the refugee camps in Bangladesh - not by the Bangladeshi government, who have offered them a temporary home - but by the Myanmarese authorities who continue to act in furtherance of their brutalising campaign. If these scenarios occur within the context of an apartheid regime that has institutionalised a regime of systematic oppression and domination of one racial or cultural group over another, then there can be little doubt that factually the crime of apartheid, not only continues to be committed in Myanmar, but is maintained by conduct partly occurring in Bangladesh. There is clear and consistent evidence from a number of international organisations, including the United Nations (UN), and well-respected NGOs, that tends to the conclusion that the deportation of the Rohingya into Bangladesh is a part of the persecutory campaign perpetrated by the Myanmarese authorities and is committed within the context of the Myanmarese apartheid regime. Since their deportation, the Myanmarese authorities have been actively implementing specific measures to ensure that the Rohingya are unable to return to their homes. The Rohingya continue to be subjected to an ongoing apartheid regime at the hands of the Myanmar security forces that persecute them while in Bangladesh and continue to deprive them of their fundamental human rights, most notably their right of return to their homes. In other words, these crimes continue within the territory of Bangladesh and would, thus, come under the jurisdiction of the ICC. Further, as noted by several authoritative sources, genocide may be being committed in Myanmar. Indeed, the UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Hussein has asked, "Can anyone rule out that the elements of genocide may be present?" Genocide may be committed through the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. As a result of the acts committed against them in Myanmar, the Rohingya were deprived of their livelihoods and forced to leave their homes. They were effectively compelled by the Myanmarese authorities to undertake a long and perilous journey to Bangladesh without any personal belongings, food, water or access to healthcare. They faced further abuse on their path to Bangladesh as they have been systematically robbed and sexually assaulted by the Myanmarese security forces. It is clear from the available information that the Rohingya have been subjected to the most horrific violence and abuse that is not limited to forced displacement and systematic destruction of their villages, homes, property and livelihoods but is replete with the most destructive of acts. In this sense, the commission of the crime of genocide has started in Myanmar, extended into the territory of Bangladesh and continues to be committed therein, meaning that it may come within the jurisdiction of the court. The decision of the ICC judges will have crucial implications for the Rohingya, who have no other legal recourse under the current circumstances. The Rohingya are seeking justice for the crimes they have suffered and continue to suffer due to ongoing acts by the Myanmar security forces. Will the court live up to its mandate to put end to impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern and hear these demands for justice? Joe Holmes also contributed to this article. He is a senior legal consultant with Global Rights Compliance LLP and a barrister with 9 Bedford Row Chambers in London. (c) 2018 Al Jazeera https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/icc-plight-rohingya-180530144248660.html

Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day (25 August) DECLARATION TO BE ADOPTED BY SOLIDARITY GROUPS WORLDWIDE STANDARD TEXT AS APPROVED BY THE FREE ROHINGYA COALITION We the People of (xxxx) support the inalienable right of Myanmar’s Rohingya ethnic minority group to self-identify as Rohingya. We acknowledge the ethnic group’s verifiable, pre-British colonial presence, history, identity and culture in Northern Araccan or Arakan,[i] which is now called Rakhine State in western Myanmar; Together with the world’s leading scholar on famines Professor Amartya Sen[ii] (Nobel Prize winner in Economics at Harvard University) and the veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu[iii] (Nobel Peace Laureate), we the People of (xxxx) fully recognize Myanmar’s decades-long persecution of Rohingya as genocide. This is a common finding of 4-independent studies[iv] published by Permanent Peoples Tribunal on Myanmar (September 2017), Yale Law School Human Rights Clinic (October 2015), Queen Mary University Law School’s International State Crimes Initiative (October 2015) and Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal of the University of Washington School of Law (Spring 2014); We the People of (XXXX) unequivocally support the calls for international accountability and justice made by senior most UN human rights officials[v], UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar Professor Yanghee Lee[vi] (2014-present) and ICC Prosecutor[vii] and President[viii] of the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I regarding Myanmar’s crimes against humanity in the form of systematic and pre-planned and violent deportation of about 800,000 Rohingya women, men, children and elderly people from their original homeland, since October 2016, across Myanmar’s western borders on to the soil of neighbouring Bangladesh; We the People of (XXXX) declare 25 August (2017) as the Rohingya Remembrance Day; on that fateful day the combined Myanmar Armed Forces – Navy, Air Force and Army – launched large-scale premeditated attacks against the substantial segment of the Rohingya population in Northern most part of Rakhine State of Myanmar, having used the invented “pretext”[ix] – that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)[x], a 1-year old group of largely illiterate barefooted young Rohingya village men armed with farm tools such as machetes, spears and a few home-made grenade, had launched (coordinated) “attacks on 30 police outposts” in N. Rakhine, Myanmar government’s official story which has never been independently verified by any credible research, media or UN agency; Finally, we the People of (XXXX) support the existential needs of several million Rohingyas violently deported by Myanmar government in periodic waves of exodus since 1978 to secure protected return to their birthplace and ancestral homeland in Northern Rakhine. This will require international protection, with or without the Security Council consensus– until such a time as Myanmar is ready to accept them as full and equal citizens, with basic human and minority rights, the official status[xi] which Rohingya had enjoyed upon independence from Britain well-into the late 1970’s. NOTES: [i] Gregory B. Poling (13 Feb. 2014) “Separating Fact from Fiction about Myanmar’s Rohingya”, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, https://www.csis.org/analysis/separating-fact-fiction-about-myanmar%E2%80%99s-rohingya & Michael W. Charney (26 Feb. 2018) “A State Myth of ‘a National Race’ and the Tatmadaw’s (the Burmese Armed Forces) War on the Rohingya and Other Myanmar Ethnic Groups,” The Berlin Conference on Myanmar Genocide, The Jewish Museum of Berlin, Germany. https://maungzarni.net/en/news/professor-michael-charney-soas-identities-and-histories-rakhine-and-rohingya [ii] Alvin Powell (7 Nov. 2014) “The threat to Burma’s minorities: Government targeting Rohingya, Karen peoples, critics say”, The Harvard Gazette, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/11/burma-genocide/ [iii] Desmond Tutu (29 May 2015) “THE SLOW GENOCIDE AGAINST THE ROHINGYA”, Newsweek, http://www.newsweek.com/tutu-slow-genocide-against-rohingya-337104 [iv] Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, US Holocaust Memorial Museum & Fortify Rights (Nov. 2017), “They tried to kill us all.”: Atrocity Crimes against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, Bearing Witness Report, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/201711-atrocity-crimes-rohingya-muslims.pdf ; “Judgment of the Peoples’ Tribunal on Myanmar”, Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Myanmar, University of Malaya Faculty of Law, Sept. 2017; International State Crime Initiative, (Oct. 2015), “COUNTDOWN TO ANNIHILATION: GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR”, Queen Mary University of London Law School, http://statecrime.org/state-crime-research/isci-report-countdown-to-annihilation-genocide-in-myanmar/ ; Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School (Oct. 2015) “Clinic Study Finds Evidence of Genocide in Myanmar”, Yale University, https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/clinic-study-finds-evidence-genocide-myanmar ; Maung Zarni & Alice Cowley (Jun. 2014) “The Slow-Burning Genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya”, The Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal, University of Washington School of Law, http://digital.law.washington.edu/dspace-law/handle/1773.1/1377 . [v] “Rohingya crisis: UN rights chief ‘cannot rule out genocide’,” BBC, 5 December 2017, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42234469 [vi] “UN Special Envoy claims Aung San Suu Kyi could be guilty of crimes against humanity,” Channel Four News, UK, 14 Feb. 2018, https://www.channel4.com/news/un-special-envoy-claims-aung-san-suu-kyi-could-be-guilty-of-crimes-against-humanity [vii] War crimes prosecutor seeks jurisdiction over Rohingya deportations, Reuters, 10 Apr. 2018, https://maungzarni.net/en/news/war-crimes-prosecutor-seeks-jurisdiction-over-rohingya-deportations [viii] President of the Pre-Trial Division (11 Apr 2018) “Decision assigning the “Prosecution’s Request for a Ruling on Jurisdiction under Article 19(3) of the Statute to Pre-Trial Chamber I”, International Criminal Court, The Hague, https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2018_02081.PDF [ix] “What can stop the extreme violence against Rohingya Muslims?”, PBS, 12 Oct. 2017, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/can-stop-extreme-violence-rohingya-muslims [x] Faisal Edroos (13 Sept. 2017) “ARSA: Who are the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army?” Al Jazeera English, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/09/myanmar-arakan-rohingya-salvation-army-170912060700394.html [xi] “Rohingyas are equal and full citizens and an ethnic minority integral to the Union of Burma”, Unofficial English Translation of the Official Burmese Language Transcript of the keynote address delivered by Deputy-Commander-in-Chief (Army), Brigadier General Aung Gyi, Ministry of Defence, 4 July 1961, Rangoon, Union of Burma. See the Burmese original and the text of the English translation here: https://maungzarni.net/en/news/rohingyas-are-equal-and-full-citizens-and-ethnic-minority-integral-union-burma-myanmar-military. (c) Free Rohingya Coalition https://freerohingyacoalition.org/en/?page_id=200

The Free Rohingya Coalition sponsored a Conference on the Rohingya at the French National Assembly on June 1, 2018. Live-streamed video of the event can be viewed on Facebook here.

Buma's horrific crimes against the Rohingya have thus far gone unpunished. It is no surprise that Burma's army has launched an offensive against another ethnic people, the Kachin in northern Myanmar. Burma's army is using some of the same units responsible for burning villages, mass killings, and rapes in Rohingya villages. It's time that the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, schedule a vote in the Senate on sanctions on Burma's army. Already, due to your phone calls and emails, the House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly (382 to 30) in favor of broad sanctions on Burma's army. Now, demand that your senators support and co-sponsor the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2018 (S.2060). Today, email your U.S. senators to sanction Burma's army now The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has already reported out S.2060. It now remains in the hands of one man, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to schedule a final full Senate vote on the Burma sanctions bill. Senator McConnell will be greatly swayed if more Republican senators co-sponsor the bill and ask for a Senate floor vote. If you are represented by Republican senators, please make a special effort to email and call them this week. Today, email your U.S. senators to sanction Burma's army now After you have emailed your senators, please follow up by phone. Call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your senators' office. Or simply search the web for the phone number of their office in Washington, DC. Check to see if your senators have sponsored the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2018 (S.2060). (If you live in Maryland, Massachusetts, or Oregon, both of your senators are already sponsors.) If they are a co-sponsor, call to thank them. When you reach your legislator's office, ask to be connected to the staffer responsible for foreign policy. (Before being connected, ask for the spelling of the staffer's name and their email address.) Simply tell the staffer - in person or on their voicemail - to support and co-sponsor S. 2060: the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2018. Leave your name, number, and city of residence to indicate that you live in the district. Follow up with an email to the staffer. The staffer's email will follow this format: "[first name]_[last name]@[senator's last name].senate.gov". Email me at simon.billenness@rohingyacampaign.org and tell me how your call went and send me the name and email of the staffers. And, finally, if this is the level of activism that you'd like to continue, contact me. I'm looking for a few good folks in every state willing to work together to form a local chapter of the International Campaign for the Rohingya. If that's you, let's talk! Let’s make this a habit of calling Congress every week until they do the job of putting effective pressure on Burma. Thank you, Simon Billenness, Executive Director For the International Campaign for the Rohingya: Joseph K. Grieboski, Olivia Dulmage, Mariane Leite, Michael DeLong, Hana Manadath, and Akriti Panthi. (c) 2018 International Campaign for the Rohingya

Myanmar has expressed its willingness to take back all the 700,000 Rohingya refugees that are sheltered in Bangladesh since August 2017, at a dialogue forum in Singapore. In fact, Myanmar is bound by international law to take back its own people who have fled persecution in their own homeland. We find it dubious on its part to add a caveat making it dependent on the voluntariness on the part of the refugees. We wonder whether it is another mendacious action the likes of which we have been witnessing since the beginning of the latest exodus. It is up to Myanmar to create conditions for the Rohingyas to return willingly. Even now the government is unwilling to acknowledge that a pre-planned campaign is going on in northern Rakhine to cleanse that area of the Rohingyas, which even the UN and other aid agencies have called a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. It is still asking for proof when proof is aplenty. It shamefacedly tries to dilute the severity of the Rohingya suffering by comparing that with the state of other ethnic and religious groups in the region. We fear that the new offer with a caveat is made with ulterior motives and is another trick on Myanmar's part to stunt the process of repatriation. However, we see some positive signs in Naypyidaw's expressed intention to sign deals with UN Refugee Agency and UNDP. That would allow UN oversight of the repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh. International agencies, particularly the UN agencies, must oversee the repatriation and international opinion must be brought on Naypyidaw, like the threat to haul it to the ICC for war crimes, to ensure that the three basic conditions—safety of the Rohingyas, return to their own homestead and rights of citizenship—are guaranteed to them. (c) 2018 The Daily Star https://www.thedailystar.net/editorial/myanmars-conditional-offer-1585765

A Rohingya refugee family cross the Naf River at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Palong Khali, near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh November 1, 2017. © 2017 Reuters/Adnan Abidi On Thursday, Myanmar’s government announced it was launching an “independent commission of inquiry” to “investigate the violation of human rights and related issues following the terrorist attacks” by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The ethnic Rohingya armed group, which first surfaced in October 2016, had attacked more than two-dozen police outposts and a military camp in northern Rakhine State in August 2017. Unsurprisingly, the government made no mention of its response to the attacks: Myanmar military forces carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim population, killing, raping, and looting while torching hundreds of villages. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh. The government also neglected to mention that an independent investigation already exists. Last year, the United Nations Human Rights Council created a fact-finding mission into alleged abuses by Myanmar’s security forces and other armed groups. But instead of assisting the fact-finding mission, the government barred it from entering the country along with the UN-appointed human rights expert on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee. The government will doubtlessly try to sell the new inquiry on the basis that one of the three commissioners will be an “international personality,” and that international legal and technical experts will provide support. But we’ve been down this road before with the Aung San Suu Kyi-led government in the driver’s seat. In 2017 a Myanmar national commission rejected UN findings of “very likely” crimes against humanity against the Rohingya in 2016. A Myanmar army investigation into the 2016 events found only two minor abuses, one a motorbike theft. A second investigation – led by the same army general - said “there were no deaths of innocent people” during the late 2017 military operation. In fact, it was only after two Reuters journalists uncovered the massacre of 10 Rohingya men that the military held any soldiers responsible for killings. Seven soldiers were sentenced to jail; the two Reuters journalists remain detained, purportedly for revealing state secrets. Myanmar’s newly proposed independent commission of inquiry is not merely inadequate, but an attempt to delay and deflect real justice. The UN Security Council should urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.Victims of atrocities have little hope for justice without it. (c) 2018 Human Rights Watch https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/03/myanmars-proposed-rakhine-commission-latest-sham

The Burma Human Rights Network is calling on authorities to dismiss charges against three Kachin protesters accused of defamation following mass protests between April 30th and May 6th. The protesters called on the evacuation of civilians from conflict areas after fighting displaced more than 6,000 people in Tanai, Injangyang, Hpankant and Mogaung townships. Following the protests, two were fined 30,000 Kyat for violating the peaceful assembly law section 19. Afterwards, Ko Lum Zawng, U Zaw Jat and Daw Nang Pu were charged in violation of penal code section 500 for defamation of the Military. “The charges against these protesters are clearly intended to intimidate and silence any opposition to Myanmar’s ongoing civil war in its north. A free society should not fear protest and calls to protect its own civilians, and this case is a worrying sign of continued erosion of Burma’s limited liberties. What is perhaps most worrying is that the call of these protesters was only to protect and rescue civilians from conflict, a call that should be considered common decency and not a criminal offence,” said BHRN Executive Director Kyaw Win. The protests and arrest follow an increasing offensive by the Burmese forces against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in what is widely considered the oldest civil war in the modern world, having begun in 1961, paused in 1994 and resumed in 2011. Civilians have suffered the brunt of the conflict and over 140,000 civilians have been internally displaced, with those living in areas controlled by the KIA intentionally cut off from aid by Burmese authorities. The three defendants are being tried together on June 4th. Their lawyer has argued the case be annulled due to anomalies in the charges. In particular, the three are being charged collectively for accusations said to have occurred in different separately by the individual clients. According to the Freedom of Expression Activist Organization there are 45 protesters in Burma being sued in 14 separate cases following protests in May. The organization said seven cases from were from Yangon region, three from Mandalay, two from Kachin and two from Bago. The war in the Kachin region is often considered a forgotten or ignored conflict, garnering little attention from the world and even less political will to end it. The conflict is often considered to be centered on control of gems and other resources in the region such as timber. As a result civilians continue to be displaced, with no foreseeable time they can return home to peace. The conflict has also resulted in numerous accusation of egregious human rights violations by the military. Burma must drop charges against Ko Lum Zawng, U Zaw Jat and Daw Nang Pu and the 42 others being sued in the country. A free society depends on open dialogue, dissent and should never fear peaceful protest. Attempts to silence protesters only further signals to the world that Burma has not transitioned to the democratic society it was intended to be and that repressive practices continue. Note for Editors Conflict in Kachin State was renewed in 2011 with the breakdown of a 17-year bilateral ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar military, also known as the Tatmadaw. Since then, 120,000 people have been displaced and more than 350 villages destroyed by armed conflict. The Tatmadaw says it launched the current strikes in gold- and amber-rich Tanai as a way to cut off a KIA source of income and protect Myanmar’s natural resources; the KIA describes the recent offensives as an attempt at a territorial grab. The KIA and its allies are not signatories to Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, whose terms they say are dictated by the undemocratic and military-drafted 2008 Constitution. Background on the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) is based in London, operates across Burma/Myanmar and works for human rights, minority rights and religious freedom in Burma. BHRN has played a crucial role in advocating for human rights and religious freedom with politicians and world leaders. Media Enquiries Please contact: Kyaw Win Executive Director of the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) E: kyawwin78@gmail.com T: +44 (0) 740 345 2378

Military efforts by the National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime in Darfur continue to be animated by the ambition articulated with such brutal forcefulness by former Janjaweed militia leader Musa Hilal: The ultimate objective in Darfur is spelled out in an August 2004 directive from [Janjaweed paramount leader Musa] Hilal’s headquarters: “change the demography” of Darfur and “empty it of African tribes.” Confirming the control of [Khartoum’s] Military Intelligence over the Darfur file, the directive is addressed to no fewer than three intelligence services—the Intelligence and Security Department, Military Intelligence and National Security, and the ultra-secret “Constructive Security,” or Amn al Ijabi. (Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, Darfur: A Short History of a Long War, Zed Books, 2005) Musa Hilal was identified by numerous eyewitnesses as having presided at the February 2004 slaughter at Tawila, North Darfur. More than 100 people were killed, 350 girls and women were abducted, and more than 100 women were raped. A number of the women and girls were raped in front of their fathers, who were then killed. This is Musa Hilal’s idea of “demographic change.” This was only one of many atrocities… In many ways the demography of Darfur has in fact already been profoundly changed by violent displacement and mortality. The population of the region prior to Khartoum’s initiation of genocidal counter-insurgency tactics in 2003 was somewhere between 6 and 7 million, according to the most credible estimates (there has been no meaningful census taken of the region for decades)—the majority of the people non-Arab/African. Of course ethnic distinctions of this sort are overly broad, especially in urban areas, where inter-marriage is more common, and where even in rural areas tribal groups have mixed for generations. But the generalization holds all to well when we look at the targets of militia and regular army violence: they are members of the Fur, Zaghawa, Berti, Massalit, and others of traditionally non-Arab/African ethnicity. It is to these “African tribes” that the Northern Rizeigat (Arab) leader Musa Hilal was referring. And while the occupational distinction between non-Arab/African “farmers” and Arab “pastoralists” or “herders” is also overly broad, it has too much discriminatory power to be ignored, tells us too much about how to read dispatches referring to “farmers” attacked by “herders,” as is typically the case for Radio Dabanga, which relatively infrequently refers to tribal identities, even as the eyewitnesses with whom they communicate often speak of “Arab” militias, or “Arab” herders. What is beyond reasonable dispute is that people in Darfur continue to be attacked, on a wide scale, on an ethnic basis. Of the pre-war population of 6 to 7 million, over half have been violently displaced or died as a result of violence. Some 320,000 Darfuris—overwhelmingly non-Arab/African—remain in eastern Chad, too fearful to return—and now facing a decision by the UN High Commission for Refugees to pressure this population to give up on the idea of returning to their homeland and farms, and assimilate into the culture of eastern Chad (Sudan Tribune, May 25, 2018 | http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article65484 ). Those who attempt to return typically face unsustainable threats of violence, as Radio Dabanga reports in two recent dispatches but very frequently in recent years: • Dozens of displaced families forced back to camps in North Darfur | May 30, 2018 | KABKABIYA On Sunday, approximately 250 displaced families were forced to return once again to camps in Kabkabiya in North Darfur after mediation attempts with new settlers in their home villages failed. Some of the returnees had traveled all the way from refugee camps in eastern Chad and temporarily settled in Kabkabiya in anticipation of the voluntary repatriation project in Sabarna area. Most families have been displaced since the start of the war in Darfur in 2004 • Militiamen attack group of returnees in Tawila, North Darfur | May 11, 2018 | TABIT Militiamen beat a number of displaced people west of Tabit in North Darfur and caused them varying injuries on Wednesday. The attackers threatened to kill the victims were they to return to the area. The attack in Dugwa area, Tawila locality, involved about 35 armed men driving vehicles and riding on motorcycles. They attacked 25 displaced people who were collecting straw and firewood at Dugwa. One of the injured told Radio Dabanga that the attackers beat them with sticks. “Mohamed Omar Suleiman and Adam Yahya Haroun were badly wounded and taken to hospital.” The UN estimates that some 2.7 million people are internally displaced in Darfur, again overwhelmingly non-Arab/African. This estimate includes the roughly 2.2 million people in camps for the displaced and another 500,000 who have found host families or villages, or are simply gathered in collocations of displaced populations, large and small, without services or humanitarian access. The extant data strongly suggest that mortality from fifteen years of violence has killed, directly or indirectly, some 600,000 Darfuris, again overwhelmingly from the non-Arab/African populations. The UN has not offered a mortality estimate for Darfur in over a decade, yielding to pressure from Khartoum not to address the issue. The total here of those displaced and/or killed is roughly 3.5 million. The demography of Darfur has indeed been profoundly “changed,” and even if the killing were to stop and those displaced were allowed to return to their lands—an impossibility given prevailing security—demography and land ownership will never be at all what they were before the genocidal war. And the most destructive phase of the genocide may be yet to come: if the Khartoum regime follows through on its ever more insistently announced goal of dismantling camps for displaced persons—most recently (May 16, 2018) reiterated by President al-Bashir—then catastrophe will follow. For if the camps are dismantled with no place for the displaced to go, they will be completely at the mercy of the attacks that continue to be so common (a compendium of such attacks for the past month is assembled below). Moreover, humanitarian groups—long the target of Khartoum’s harassment, obstruction, and overt hostility—will find it impossible to depend on the logistical and organizational advantages of the camps, particularly for food distribution and medical care. Those without the resources of the camps may face a hostile environment in which water is unavailable or too dangerous to access. Al-Bashir and others in the regime have promised ample resources for the displaced after the camps are dismantled. This is preposterous. Over the past fifteen years, services and resources for the displaced have come overwhelmingly from international relief organizations; Khartoum’s cruel indifference has been all too conspicuous. Moreover, the Sudanese economy is imploding and there is no chance whatsoever that the regime will devote national resources to fulfill the grotesquely implausible promises of a return to the Darfur before the “demographic change.” Al-Bashir knows that his promises and offers are nothing but expedient lies: “We would work to return the IDPs and refugees [to their original villages] and provide them with the necessities of a decent life in order to return voluntarily,” [a-Bashir] said. (Sudan Tribune, May 16, 2018 | Khartoum) A victim of the Nierteti massacre, January 1, 2017–a brutal image of what al-Bashir means by “providing for” the displaced In all too many cases—several thousand at least—there are no villages left to return to: they have been comprehensively destroyed by the Janjaweed, the regular Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), and more recently by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Arab militia force that has now been officially incorporated into the regime. As many villages as have been destroyed, a great many others are now occupied by various armed Arab groups, some from Chad, Niger, and Mali (Arab settlers whose immigration was facilitated by the regime in various ways). Even the farms that some non-Arabs/Africans attempt to work from the relative safety of their camps are increasingly dangerous, having been seized by armed Arab groups as pasturage for their livestock, primarily cattle and camels. Farm owners attempting to work their farms are murdered, tortured, and raped—as are girls and women who gather water and firewood at any distance from the camp environs. [See | “Changing the Demography”: Violent Expropriation and Destruction of Farmlands in Darfur, November 2014 – November 2015,” Eric Reeves, author; Maya Baca, research and editing (December 1, 2015) | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1P Without the highly compromised safety of the camps—the UN/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has failed miserably in this regard, and attacks on camps are regularly reported—people will be defenseless against the predations of marauding armed Arab groups, and their access to humanitarian resources will be attenuated if not eliminated altogether. Mortality in the worst case could equal what the Darfur genocide has seen to date. In the coming month, the UN Security Council will vote on whether to renew the mandate of the hugely expensive and extraordinarily ineffective UNAMID. Inevitably, the renewal, if it occurs, will come with further reductions in personnel. In June 2017 the UNSC reduced the force strength and geographic presence of UNAMID dramatically: 44 per cent of its troop strength and 30 percent of its police forces, as well as eliminating 13 operating bases. The only question is how much further UNAMID will be reduced. Given the efforts to declare violence in Darfur to have been reduced to virtual insignificance, we may expect large cuts. Only the recent extreme violence on the part of the Rapid Support Forces in large areas of Jebel Marra and East Jebel Marra (especially as it extends into South Darfur) might give the Security Council pause. But still there will be more significant cuts, the non-Arab/African population of Darfur will be left even more vulnerable, and a further weakened UNAMID will face yet greater losses of morale and confidence in confronting Khartoum-sanctioned violence. The Continuation of Ethnically-Targeted Killing and Displacement Far from ending, the war in Darfur has simply changed in its murderous character. Non-Arab/African villages are still attacked and destroyed; many are murdered in the process, and yet more displacement ensues, often to camps that are vastly overcrowded. The epidemic of rape and sexual violence directed against non-Arab/African girls and women continues unabated, and with complete impunity. Here it is worth recalling the recent findings of UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten (here as reported by Radio Dabanga (March 1, 2018 | NEW YORK | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/un-special-representative-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict-calls-for-end-to-culture-of-denial-in-sudan “A key observation from my visit to Sudan is the existence of a deep-seated culture of denial which enhances and feeds the culture of silence about sexual violence. Unlike victims of other crimes where perpetrators are condemned, it is usually the victims of sexual violence who are shamed or stigmatised. As a result, victims of sexual violence are very often fearful of reporting the crime or seeking assistance, further compounding their suffering. Because sexual violence is so vastly underreported, the lack of reported cases cannot be equated with the absence of violence. It deeply saddened me to hear interlocutors in Sudan doubting and questioning victims as well as the appalling nature of these crimes. The pervasive culture of denial is the most serious obstacle to eradicating this heinous crime.” Special Representative Patten observes in her statement that in many of her meetings, “senior government officials explained that there is no sexual violence in Sudan because such violence is strictly prohibited by the Islamic religion.” “In El Fasher, I met with the Prosecutor General of the Special Court for Darfur, which has jurisdiction over conflict-related crimes committed in Darfur since February 2003. I was dismayed to learn that, to date, the Special Prosecutor’s Office has not investigated a single case of conflict-related sexual violence. (A fuller excerpt of Patten’s findings appears as APPENDIX A) Special Representative Patten’s comments were reported (aside from regional news sources) only by Inter Press News Service, a measure of just how invisible Darfur has become in the decade since the election of Barack Obama in 2008. But whether reported to Western and international readers or not, the violence continues. Indeed, there are several reports of a military build-up by Khartoum in the Central/South Darfur area where recent fighting has occurred. Actual military conflict between Khartoum’s regular and militia forces is focused on the last strongholds of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army of Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM/A-AW): • Sudanese army forces building up in Jebel Marra | Sudan Tribune, May 13, 2018 (KASS) The Sudanese army has deployed more troops in South and Central Darfur states in what seems a preparation for a large-scale offensive on rebel positions in Jebel Marra area. Fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW), which does not commit itself to a cessation of hostilities, since last March have clashed with the government forces in several positions of the mountainous area. In a statement released on Saturday, the rebel group said they clashed with the government forces in several positions in Jebel Marra area which spans over North, Central and South Darfur states. Sudanese official on Sunday told Sudan Tribune that more than 1500 troops including militiamen of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been deployed in Kass locality of South Darfur in order to attack the SLM-AW positions in Jebel Marra. The sources said additional sources have been massed in Zalingei, the capital of Central Darfur to take part in the military operations. But Khartoum’s forces, especially its militia forces, have engaged in violence that deliberately targets civilians, including civilians nowhere near the remaining elements of SLM/A-AW. Perversely, the rebel movement gives Khartoum a pretext for assaulting civilians and declaring that it is fighting rebels. The dispatches below make clear that this is the case. We must be grateful to Sudan Tribune and particularly Radio Dabanga for the countless eyewitness and first-person accounts of violence the world is content to ignore. The past month has been all too characteristic, and I have assembled headlines and brief excerpts below: [It is worth noting how widely geographically distributed the datelines are for the following dispatches, as well as the number of civilians affected, given the absurd declaration by UNAMID chief Mamabolo: “The general security situation in Darfur remains calm, except for sporadic clashes between the Sudan Liberation Army of Mr. Abdul Wahid [Abdelwahid El Nur], government forces and nomads in Jebel Marra” (UN News, May 10, 2018 | https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/05/1009402 ). This is a truly despicable misrepresentation, part of an effort to justify what Mamabolo knows is the coming further reduction in UNAMID by the Security Council in June. All emphases in bold or bold red have been added; my interpolated commentary is in bold blue—ER] • Dozens of displaced families forced back to camps in North Darfur | Radio Dabanga, May 30, 2018 | KABKABIYA, North Darfur On Sunday, approximately 250 displaced families were forced to return once again to camps in Kabkabiya in North Darfur after mediation attempts with new settlers in their home villages failed. Some of the returnees had traveled all the way from refugee camps in eastern Chad and temporarily settled in Kabkabiya in anticipation of the voluntary repatriation project in Sabarna area. Most families have been displaced since the start of the war in Darfur in 2004. • Two farmers wounded in Jebel Marra attack | Radio Dabanga, May 29, 2018 | DUBO EL OMDA Two women were wounded in an attack by gunmen on their farms in eastern Jebel Marra on Sunday morning. Farmers reported to this radio station that armed men, driving two Land Cruisers with machine guns mounted on the top, along with gunmen on seven motorcycles and about 36 others on camels and horses, opened fire on a group of farmers. The farmers had come from Dubo El Omda, Dubo El Madrasa, and Mashrou Abu Zeid to clean their farms. The attackers beat a number of the farmers and drove them off from the farms. Mariam Ishag Yagoub and Yasmin Haroun were wounded. • Displaced farmer killed in South Darfur attack | Radio Dabanga, May 28, 2018 | GIREIDA, South Darfur A resident of the Gireida camp for the displaced was killed and four others were wounded by militiamen in South Darfur on Sunday. Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a relative of one of the victims reported that about 20 gunmen on horses attacked a group of displaced people from Gireida camp who were working on their farms near Ibdos village, 5 km west of Gireida, on Sunday morning “They opened fire at the farmers. Ibrahim El Nur, aged 50, died instantly,” he said. “Abdelwahid Saboun, his son Saddam, Osman Ahmed, and Ahmediya Suleiman were injured, and were taken to the Hospital of Gireida.” • Fighting flares up in Jebel Marra, as IDPs continue to flee Sudan tribune, May 27, 2018 (ZALINGEI, Central Darfur) Sources in South and Central Darfur states, on Sunday, confirmed the renewal of fighting between the Sudanese government forces and the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW) in Jebel Marra, triggering the displacement of thousands of civilians who fled the clashes. Eyewitnesses in Nyala and Zalingei told Sudan Tribune that Sudanese army warplanes flew low over the capitals of South and Central Darfur and Kass town in South Darfur. Adam Abkar Guiga, a humanitarian representative of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur, said the fighting between the government forces and the SLM-AW fighters is continuing in Jebel Marra, adding thousand have fled their villages in the mountainous area. “More than 3,000 people have been forced to flee the Gubo, Kor and Alnaqi areas, south-west of Jebel Marra, on the border between the states of South and Central Darfur states, to the village of Karlanbaj, in East Jebel Marra locality,” said Guiga. • Darfur woman loses legs in Jebel Marra blast | Radio Dabanga, May 27, 2018 | JEBEL MARRA A woman lost both legs on Friday after government forces shelled Sabun El Fagur in Jebel Marra with heavy artillery. Relatives of Halima Khalil (35), told Radio Dabanga that a shell fired from the government militia base Kara area in southern Jebel Marra, exploded near a well where Khalil was drawing water. Khalil lost both her legs, and the blast also killed her donkey. They said the government forces and militia stationed at Kara area fired heavy artillery on Sabun El Fagur, 30 kilometres north of Kass on Friday morning. • Violent herder clashes in Darfur| Radio Dabanga, May 27, 2018 | TAWILA, North Darfur On Friday morning, twenty-year-old Hawa Younes was wounded and 30 year-old El Safi Hamid was kidnapped by armed herders at the Argutogo area, 10 km west of Khazan Tunjur of Tawila locality in North Darfur. Relatives of Younes told Radio Dabanga that a number of armed herders in two Land Cruisers and four motorcycles opened fire on a group of residents as they were collecting straw near Argutogo area and wounded Younes in one of her legs. They explained that the herders took Hamid to an unknown destination. Younes was taken to the medical unit of Katur garrison. • Higher toll of wounded in Central Darfur camp attack | Radio Dabanga, May 25, 2018 | GARSILA, Central Darfur New information about the deadly attacks in Aradeiba camp in Central Darfur claims that the people killed in the camp in the past days had been shot in the presence of police and security forces. One of the camp sheikhs in Aradeiba in Wadi Saleh locality said that among the attackers on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning was an officer of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), named Shabur. The sheikh claimed that the attack took place on a group of mourning people while members of the police and security service were present at the scene. Three people were killed and the sheikh reported that seventeen people sustained injuries. Yesterday’s witness reports stated that three displaced people were killed and 12 others were injured by a group of RSF members. The paramilitaries were stationed in the vicinity of Aradeiba. • Militia attack Central Darfur camp: Three displaced dead, 12 injured | Radio Dabanga, May 24, 2018 | GARSILA Three displaced people were killed and 12 more injured in two attacks, allegedly by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militiamen on Aradeiba camp in Garsila in Central Darfur. On Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, three displaced people were killed and 12 others were wounded in two attacks by the militias. El Shafee Abdallah, the coordinator of Central Darfur camps told Radio Dabanga that a group of RSF stationed at the eastern gate of Garsila launched an attack on Abuja market at the Aradeiba camp and fired live ammunition at the displaced people on Tuesday and Wednesday. He explained that the attack resulted in killing Mousa Daoud (27) Zakariya Yongour (29), and Maryam Abdelrahim (35), and wounded 12 others. He reported that the RSF continued to fire and besiege the camp throughout Wednesday. The Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association held the government of Central Darfur and the militias fully responsibility for the separate attack on Monday that killed one and wounded at least 10 displaced persons at Aradeiba camp. Hussein Abusharati, the spokesman for the Darfur Displaced and Refugees Association, described the attack on Aradeiba and Khamsa Dagayeg camps as an indication to the government’s lack of seriousness in the disarmament campaign. • More 3 IDPs killed in Central Darfur: rebels | Sudan Tribune, May 23, 2018 (KHARTOUM) The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed three displaced people in Ardiba camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Garsila area of Central Darfur state, said two armed groups in Jebel Marra on Wednesday. This attack on IDPs is the second of its kind in the Central Darfur state, after the killing of a displaced woman residing in a camp in Zalingei on Monday. Two rebel groups, Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdel Wahid (SLM-AW) and SLM-Transitional Council said the government militiamen opened fire on two civilians at Abuja market in Ardiba camp of Garsila, because they tried to prevent them from looting their belongings. On Wednesday, the assailants backed by the security forces attacked the mourners at the cemetery and killed female and injured several others, the statements said. In a separate statement, the IDPs association in Central Darfur IDPs condemned the attack and called on the hybrid peacekeeping operation to protect civilians in line with its mandate. The IDPs further called on the United Nations, the African Union, the Security Council and the United States to convene an emergency session and issue a clear decision to stop these bloody attacks, according to the statement. The Sudanese authorities didn’t issue a statement on this attack. AMNESTY CALLS TO INVESTIGATE In a statement issued on Wednesday, Amnesty International has called for an immediate investigation into the killing of a woman and several others wounded in Zalingei Monday. “The victims of this appalling attack were forced to flee from their homes by the violence that has plagued Darfur for years, and this camp was supposed to be a place of safety,” said Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa. “Unless the perpetrators of gross human rights violations like this are brought to justice, the voluntary and safe return to the home of Darfur’s displaced will remain a distant prospect,” Nyanyuki further said. • Darfur civilians flee as more bombs fall on Jebel Marra | Radio Dabanga, May 23, 2018 | JEBEL MARRA The Sudanese Air Force bombed [this is questionable; it is more than likely that what is being referred to is the well-documented use of artillery shells against civilian locations—ER] areas in Jebel Marra yesterday, according to the Sudan Liberation Movement under the leadership of Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW). Waleed Abakar, the movement’s military spokesman, told Radio Dabanga that on Tuesday the Sudanese Air Force dropped bombs at areas of Turung Tawra and Tugut Turti in southern Jebel Marra. He said the aerial bombardment caused great losses and forced residents to flee to the valleys and mountain foothills. He confirmed that on Monday army and militia forces stationed in the area of Kara in East Jebel Marra bombed the areas of Gorolang Banje, Sara, and Sabun El Fagur, which led to the flight of civilians to caves and mountain tops. • Militia shooting in Central Darfur camp leaves one dead | Radio Dabanga, May 22, 2018 | ZALINGEI, Central Darfur Sudanese militiamen killed a displaced woman and wounded ten other people near a camp in Zalingei, Central Darfur, on Monday. The coordinator of the Central Darfur camps, El Shafee Abdallah, informed Radio Dabanga about the incident in Khamsa Degaig camp. “A force of the paramility Rapid Support Forces stormed the camp at 9am. They were driving vehicles with Dushka machine guns mounted on the top.” The attackers opened fire into the air. The hail of bullets instantly killed 22-year-old Magboula Hasabelnabi and wounded her child of 17 months old, Anas Adam, the camp coordinator reported. The mother’s body has been brought to the hospital. Her death has led to demonstrations in the camp. “Demonstrators faced a police and security force, which led to the eruption of another demonstration in Zalingei,” Abdallah said. • One displaced woman killed by Sudanese militia in Central Darfur camp | Sudan Tribune, May 21, 2018 (ZALINGEI) One woman was killed and two others injured by the government militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF) at Khams Dagaig camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Central Darfur State capital, Zalingei on Monday. Member of the IDPs and Refugees Association Idris Salih told Sudan Tribune that 5 four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser vehicles carrying RSF fighters attempted to enter the camp but the IDPs prevented them. He added the RSF fighters opened fire at the IDPs killing a woman named Magbula Hassab al-Nabi and injuring two others, saying the perpetrators then headed towards Zalingei. • South Darfur human rights activist detained, beaten senseless | Radio Dabanga, May 20, 2018 | GIREIDA, South Darfur South Darfur human rights activist Adam Suleiman has been transferred to Gireida Hospital in a coma as a result of alleged torture and severe beating by the security services in the town. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the incident began at Abuja market for displaced people in Gireida on Thursday, with the arrival of a joint security force and the army in two vehicles. The joint force immediately arrested Adam Suleiman from in the market. They beat him severely with rifle butts, which brought Suleiman to the ground. He said that Suleiman was then transferred to the offices of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) where he was further beaten with electricity cables until he fell unconscious • Darfur Sortoni Camp: IDPs dreams of returning home remain distant | Sudan Tribune, May 18, 2018 (NAIROBI) Two years ago fighting erupted in Jebel Marra forcing nearly 160,000 people to look for protection. Over 23,000 settled around the small village of Sortoni and clustered together to form an IDP camp. But many are still reluctant to return home despite the difficulties of life in the IDP camps. Elmounzer Ag Jiddou, MSF´s head of mission in Sudan, has both lived and worked in this part of Darfur and explains the daily challenges of life in this overcrowded camp. A permanent state of tension still exists in and around Sortoni internally displaced persons (IDP) camp, even if the intensity of violence is far from what it was in the past. In Sortoni, where UNAMID provides some protection, life remains incredibly difficult, but the population chooses to stay as they know the same armed men who attacked them in their old homes in Jebel Marra are still there. Kidnap, assault and murder, a constant threat Living in Sortoni is unimaginable for most. It is a bleak, congested place with over 23,000 people living packed together. Food rations provided by the World Food Programme have been reduced to only two staples and the quantity has been slashed. The supply of water is limited. Violence is never far away, as armed tribal groups live close to the camp and frequently come into conflict with the IDPs over grazing rights. We hear of women and children who have been attacked, beaten, sexually assaulted and sometimes even kidnapped, while searching for grass, wood or water outside the camp. It is not uncommon for men to be captured and killed. We treat the injured in our hospital. The lack of clean water often forces families to search for alternative sources. The 7.5 litres per day provided to each person is not enough for cooking, cleaning and for their animals. Often they risk going to stagnant pools of contaminated water which can cause sickness like acute diarrhoea or jaundice. • Darfur Youth Initiative: Dozens of villages burned in new Jebel Marra campaign | Radio Dabanga, May 16, 2018 | JEBEL MARRA In a memorandum to the National Commission for Human Rights and UNAMID this week, the Youth Initiative Against Displacement and Resettlement in Darfur has condemned the latest government campaign which has seen thousands of people displaced in Darfur’s Jebel Marra this month. As reported by Radio Dabanga yesterday, thousands of civilians have reportedly been newly displaced from villages in southern Jebel Marra as fighting broke out between government forces, allied militias and armed rebels in the area of Kass on Friday. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the fighting in the southern part of the Jebel Marra mountains has pushed “thousands of civilians to flee to Kara, Kabu, Kor, Saboun El Fagur, Girlanjabang, Waglem, Karoo, Werangla and Daruna.” Memorandum In a memorandum to the National Commission for Human Rights and UNAMID this week, the Youth Initiative Against Displacement and Resettlement in Darfur said that government-backed militias have launched a new campaign of targeting civilians in eastern and southern Jebel Marra this month, burning 10 villages in north of Rokoro. The 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants took refuge in the mountains and valleys, are now homeless and lacking the necessary means of life. • Thousands newly displaced by Jebel Marra fighting | Radio Dabanga, May 15, 2018 | KASS Thousands of civilians have reportedly been newly displaced from villages in southern Jebel Marra as fighting broke out between government forces, allied militias and armed rebels in the area of Kass on Friday. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that the fighting in the Jebel Marra mountains in South Darfur has pushed “thousands of civilians to flee to Kara, Kabu, Kor, Saboun El Fagur, Girlanjabang, Waglem, Karoo, Wrangla and Daruna.” Their numbers add to the reported 11,500 displaced people who have fled from the fighting in northern Jebel Marra at the end of April. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at least 2,280 newly displaced households (about 11,500 people) arrived in Rokoro town and nearby Jemeiza village after 18 April. People in Kass have described the situation to Radio Dabanga as “very difficult.” They recounted that the Sudanese army had mobilised more than 1,500 troops and Rapid Support Forces [RSF], backed by other troops that arrived from Zalingei in an attempt to launch new attacks on the holdout armed Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) in Jebel Marra. People fleeing from Gobo village told Radio Dabanga last week that two people were killed and four others were wounded in the clashes in southern Jebel Marra on Friday. People from neighbouring Sina village said that they heard shooting and explosions until Friday afternoon. Smoke was seen billowing above the areas of Tara, Tarantara, and Kalokitting. In the past years, government forces have made various attempts to eliminate SLM-AW bases in the Jebel Marra region during the dry seasons (roughly between January-and May). In 2016, more than 80,000 people were displaced by a major military offensive against the holdout rebels in the area. This year in March, government forces, consisting mainly of RSF troops, attacked rebel sites in East Jebel Marra. The next month, areas in northwestern Jebel Marra were targeted. At least 13 villages burned to the ground. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes. Displacement is an arduous, dispiriting and deeply dangerous fate • Human Rights Watch: UNAMID absent as attacks surge villages in Darfur’s Jebel Marra | Radio Dabanga, May 13, 2018 | SUDAN In response to the latest report of the UN Secretary-General on the joint African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID), Human Rights Watch urges the peacekeepers “to deepen and strengthen – not abandon– its human rights and protection role”. On Thursday, the head of UNAMID, Jeremiah Mamabolo, briefed the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the current situation in Darfur. “The general security situation in Darfur remains calm, except for sporadic clashes between the Sudan Liberation Army of Mr. Abdul Wahid [Abdelwahid El Nur], government forces and nomads in Jebel Marra,” Mamabolo stated. [This grossly inaccurate statement—which takes no account of the violence reported elsewhere in Darfur because UNAMID has such poor access to the areas reported on by Radio Dabanga in South, North, and Central Darfur—is UN/African Union propaganda. The reference to “sporadic” does a terrible injustice to the number of people—just in Jebel Marra and East Jebel Marra—who have been killed or displaced. UNAMID seems to have a perverse understanding of the meaning of “sporadic”: for those displaced, suffering from displacement is not “sporadic” but constant—grimly, painfully constant—ER] The suffering of the displaced is not “sporadic”… Jehanne Henry, team leader of the HRW Africa Division, however, said in a comment on Thursday that “there’s a real risk the dire protection needs of civilians will be ignored or forgotten” – with “such a gloss-over assessment from peacekeepers.” [This is exactly right—ER] Pointing to the latest report of the UN Secretary-General on UNAMID that called the situation in Darfur “generally stable” with some “low scale skirmishes”, Henry mentioned the recent torching of a number of villages by “the notoriously abusive Rapid Support Forces” (RSF), Sudan’s main militia, the “killing at least 23 civilians and displacement of about 15,000 people into the mountains.” • Two villagers killed, many displaced in renewed fighting in Darfur’s Jebel Marra | Radio Dabanga, May 13, 2018 | KASS, South Darfur Two people were killed and four others were wounded in clashes between Sudanese government forces and rebel combatants in southern Jebel Marra on Friday. Fleeing people from Gobo village in northern Kass locality, South Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that Adam Yagoub (48) and Nureldin Saleh (35) were killed in a new battle between army troops backed by militiamen and rebel fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement under the leadership of Abdelwahid El Nur. Four other villagers were wounded. “At about 8 am on Friday, fierce fighting broke out in the area. We fled in all directions,” one of the villagers said. “Therefore, we don’t have any information about the others.” People from neighbouring Sina village said that they heard shooting and explosions until Friday afternoon. Smoke was seen billowing above the areas of Tara, Tarantawra (Tarantara) and Kalokitting. • One dead, three wounded, seven missing after gunmen rob bus in South Darfur | Radio Dabanga, May 7, 2018 GIREIDA A man was killed, three others wounded, and seven people are missing after a shootout during an armed robbery on a passenger bus on the road between El Radoom and Gireida localities in South Darfur on Saturday. Gadafi Adam Omar was killed and Mohamed Ali Yahya, Adam Yahya and Ismail Gallab were wounded. They were taken to Gireida hospital. One of the survivors told Radio Dabanga that the incident occurred at Wadi Gargish and that the attack was carried out by four gunmen on motorcycles. • Displaced people attacked, killed in South Darfur | Radio Dabanga, May 4, 2018 | GIREIDA / RABKONA / NIERTETI One man was killed while others were wounded in an attack by gunmen in Gireida locality in South Darfur on Wednesday evening. Robbers killed a merchant in Jebel Marra. A farmer was abducted in Central Darfur. Two other people went missing after approximately 20 armed men on camels attacked the group of people in Abujabra, 20 km north of Gireida. The attackers opened fire on the group and immediately killed Mohamed Adam. The bullets also injured Abdallah Fadul Mohamed, Ali Hassan, Imam Mohamed Daoud and Ibrahim Adam Eid, all of whom have been taken to the hospital. The children Ahmed Adam Mohamed Musa (13 years) and Mohamed Yagoub went missing following the attack. The source said that the group consisted of displaced people who attempted to return to the area of Abujabra. Reports continue to reach this station about attacks on returnees in the conflict-plagued western Sudanese region. [Yet another example of the dangers of displaced persons attempting to return to their lands—ER] Last February, the South Darfur government, the UN-AU peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), and UN agencies in Sudan announced they would set up a joint committee to facilitate the voluntary return of the hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the state. [Yet another example of the gross failure of UNAMID in Darfur—ER] Abduction in Central Darfur In Nierteti in Central Darfur, unidentified gunmen have abducted the farmer Awadallah Ahmed Mohamed Musa and have taken him to an unknown destination. A witness told Radio Dabanga that armed men, driving a Land Cruiser, attacked the farmer while he was tilling his farm in Saga. Awadallah was taken into the vehicle by force of arms and they drove off to an unknown destination. • Hundreds of people flee Jebel Marra to South Darfur camp | Radio Dabanga, May 1, 2018 | NYALA / KHARTOUM More than 111 families who have fled from villages in the Jebel Marra region in the past two weeks have found refuge in a camp for displaced people in Nyala. The newly displaced report being robbed by militiamen. One of the sheikhs in Otash camp in South Darfur told Radio Dabanga that the majority of the families have settled in camp centre 13. “Among them are children, women and elderly people. “The humanitarian aid agencies in the state have registered a number of families. But more than 26 families have not been registered so far.” The camp leader pointed out that the people currently live in the open without food, cover or water. Rebel sites, villages attacked The fighting last month has displaced thousands of people – reportedly 30,000 according to the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW). Their clashes with pro-government militias took place in northwestern Jebel Marra and in the Central Darfur part where the Jebel Marra mountains stretch. The militias reportedly launched an attack from the Rufuta military garrison in Central Darfur. After the clashes the villages of Boli (Boulay) and Arua (Aro) in Central Darfur were attacked, among others. According to other witness reports the clashes coincided with attacks on 13 villages in northern Jebel Marra by a large group of militiamen. Also in March this year, rebel sites in East Jebel Marra were attacked. The fighting caused an estimated 50,000 people to flee their villages in the area. APPENDIX A: Statement of UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten (as reported by Radio Dabanga, March 1, 2018 | NEW YORK | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/un-special-representative-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict-calls-for-end-to-culture-of-denial-in-sudan) “A key observation from my visit to Sudan is the existence of a deep-seated culture of denial which enhances and feeds the culture of silence about sexual violence. Unlike victims of other crimes where perpetrators are condemned, it is usually the victims of sexual violence who are shamed or stigmatised. As a result, victims of sexual violence are very often fearful of reporting the crime or seeking assistance, further compounding their suffering. Because sexual violence is so vastly underreported, the lack of reported cases cannot be equated with the absence of violence. It deeply saddened me to hear interlocutors in Sudan doubting and questioning victims as well as the appalling nature of these crimes. The pervasive culture of denial is the most serious obstacle to eradicating this heinous crime.” Special Representative Patten observes in her statement that in many of her meetings, “senior government officials explained that there is no sexual violence in Sudan because such violence is strictly prohibited by the Islamic religion.” Patten argues, that “no religion or faith, however, is immune from sexual violence. Paradoxically, religious institutions can provide much needed emotional and social support, but may also perpetuate silence when they use religion to deny that sexual violence occurred in the first place. I therefore call upon religious leaders in Sudan to speak out on the need to protect and support survivors, and to hold perpetrators accountable…” “During my brief visit, I learned that women continue to be raped while collecting water or firewood, or when they leave camps to pursue livelihood activities. I also heard from women who are unable to return to their pre-war homes due to the absence of security and fears of being raped. In addition, women told me about sexual violence committed in the context of inter-communal conflicts over land and natural resources…” “In El Fasher, I met with the Prosecutor General of the Special Court for Darfur, which has jurisdiction over conflict-related crimes committed in Darfur since February 2003. I was dismayed to learn that, to date, the Special Prosecutor’s Office has not investigated a single case of conflict-related sexual violence. In contrast, there continue to be references to conflict-related sexual violence in Security Council resolutions and reports relating to Sudan, including those of the Secretary-General, the International Commission of Inquiry established under UN Security Council resolution 1564 (2004), the Panel of Experts on Sudan established under UN Security Council resolution 1591 (2005) and the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. I also learned that there are no female judges in any of the five states of Darfur. There is a need for female judges as well as more female police investigators and prosecutors.” “In Khartoum, I had the opportunity to meet representatives of NGOs, including women human rights defenders. I observed, however, that NGOs feel restricted from voicing their views or carrying out programmes on conflict-related sexual violence for fear of reprisal and other consequences. A society in which women human rights defenders have the freedom and space to be vocal and proactive is a society in which women flourish and participate in decision-making, and in which there is absolute intolerance for sexual violence.” (c) 2018 Eric Reeves http://sudanreeves.org/2018/05/30/glimpses-of-continuing-slow-motion-genocide-in-darfur-recent-reports-of-ethnically-targeted-violence/

Displaced children at a camp near Kadugli, the capital of Sudan's South Kordofan state, in May. (Ashraf Shazly/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images) 5/30/2018 - A child born the year South Sudan achieved independence will be 7 this year. She has no memory of her country at peace. Odds are, violence has driven her from her home. She is malnourished. She has likely never been in school. If she is sheltering in a U.N.  Protection of Civilians site, more likely than not , her mother has been a victim of rape or assault. For nearly five years, the world’s youngest country has been at civil war. I often hear people say we should be patient and wait for the elites who started the war to come to peace on their terms. But the children of South Sudan cannot wait. Violence has displaced more than 4 million people in South Sudan, and some 2 1/2 million have fled to other countries. Nearly two-thirds of the refugees are children. Tens of thousands are dead. Seven million South Sudanese need humanitarian assistance. Nothing prepares you to hear the firsthand accounts of extreme violence suffered by women and children. I listened to their stories when I traveled to South Sudan last year to visit one of the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping missions and relief operations. At the Protection of Civilians site, I lost count of the number of women who told me they had been raped, their husbands had been shot or their children had been stolen before they fled to safety. But the most disturbing thing I saw was the seed of hate being planted in the children of South Sudan. Armed men have separated thousands of young boys from their parents and forced them to fight as child soldiers. Even child soldiers who manage to escape may never fully recover from what they have seen and been forced to do. In one horrific case recounted to me, two brothers were forced to watch as fighters gang-raped their mother. Afterward, the fighters made the brothers shoot her. They permitted the brothers to stop shooting only after their mother had died — killed by her own sons. This story is difficult to retell, but not sharing it denies the reality a generation of children live with as the conflict persists. In 2015, after nearly two years of civil war, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir signed a peace agreement with Riek Machar, who was Kiir’s first vice president at the time and the leader of the armed opposition. It collapsed within months. For the past year, a regional forum led by Ethiopia has offered a chance at peace. The parties agreed to a cease-fire in December, only for violations to occur within hours. The latest round of talks concluded on May 23 with no agreement. After much hard work from Ethiopia and goodwill from the international community, the conflict continues. Something has to change, and it has to change now. The United States has supported South Sudan since the beginning. American taxpayers have invested more than $11 billion there since its independence. But we have lost patience with the status quo. We must change course if we are to save a generation of South Sudanese and give them hope for a better future. It is long past time the U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan. This concrete measure can save lives. Rather than continue to hold meetings, the United States is calling on our colleagues on the Security Council and our partners in the region to act. By depriving their fighters of weapons and ammunition to wage war, an arms embargo will help convince the warring parties that there is no military solution to this conflict. Above all, an arms embargo is a humanitarian measure: It will decrease the availability of weapons, slow violence and alleviate suffering. Sanctions on those who continue to destabilize South Sudan represent another critical tool at the Security Council’s disposal. By imposing financial and travel restrictions on individuals responsible for threatening the peace, we can ensure they pay a cost for perpetuating violence. Only then can we begin to change the calculus of those who profit from war. What I saw and heard during my trip made me angry. The experience of observing children displaced by the fighting stays with me as a mother. Why should we care? Because these children are growing up to be uneducated, unskilled and resentful adults. That should concern us all. The leaders of South Sudan are responsible for protecting these children, and they have failed them. We have no more time to waste on empty promises. The international community must come together to do what South Sudan’s leaders will not: take action to restore hope to the world’s youngest country. Nikki Haley is U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. (c) 2018 The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/nikki-haley-south-sudan-has-failed-its-children-we-must-not/2018/05/30/f3a47282-642e-11e8-99d2-0d678ec08c2f_story.html?utm_term=.38128f1ac4f8

A Rohingya child is treated at a Doctors Without Borders clinic in Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh in April. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP/Getty Images) The 3-month-old boy has no name. His mother, Uma Suleiman, cradles him during the sweltering nights when he can’t sleep, patting his bare back with her palm. She had done the same for her other children, all of whose names arrived easily to her, all of whom she loved without hesitation. But when she sees the boy lying in her arms, she relives a nightmare. He is an innocent reminder of the day last year when soldiers burst into her village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state and chased her into a rice paddy. There, she said, two men in army uniforms raped her and left her bleeding in the dirt. She is one of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who were sexually assaulted during a systematic campaign of brutality by Myanmar security forces that international investigators and human rights groups have described as crimes against humanity. The army has denied committing atrocities. In the overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh where more than 900,000 Rohingya have sought shelter — many having watched their homes burned, children mutilated and family members shot — the mass rapes have produced untold numbers of unwanted pregnancies and confronted survivors with a terrible choice. Many women and girls have quietly terminated their pregnancies in relief clinics or by ingesting cheap drugs, sometimes resulting in medical complications, doctors say. Others have weighed the stigma of bearing a child out of wedlock in a deeply conservative society — and of caring for one in the midst of a humanitarian emergency where families live on handouts — and opted to give birth despite the uncertainty. Uma Suleiman’s decision was all the more wrenching because she is a widow, having lost her husband to an illness several years ago, and at age 30 had already borne five children. After marrying off her eldest daughter at 16, she was raising the others alone in the sprawling Balukhali refugee camp, in a shed of bamboo sticks and plastic sheets propped on a rocky hillside by sandbags. Her older children were adamant: The child growing in her belly was not one of them. “I didn’t want this baby,” she said. To name him, she thought, would be to accept what happened to her, to make it normal. Rohingya refugees walk through rice fields after crossing into Bangladesh in September 2017. (Bernat Armangue / Associated Press) Sexual violence has been a devastating hallmark of Myanmar’s long persecution of the Rohingya, forced by the Buddhist majority to live under an apartheid system in their native land. Authorities in Myanmar have denied the Rohingya basic rights, including regular access to medical care, meaning many rape survivors remain unaware of treatment options even when they reach the relative safety of the refugee camps. The United Nations and humanitarian agencies recorded more than 6,000 incidents of gender-based violence against Rohingya Muslims in a seven-month periods beginning in late August 2017. That was the month the Myanmar army, responding to Rohingya militant attacks against police posts, launched deadly “clearance operations” that drove nearly 700,000 people from their homes, one of the greatest exoduses in modern times. “Rape with impunity has been characteristic of the attack on Rohingya women and girls for years,” said Matthew Smith, co-founder of Fortify Rights, an advocacy group that has extensively studied Myanmar. “Soldiers used rape as a tool in a larger attack aimed at destroying at least part of the Rohingya population. In legal terms we’re in the landscape of genocide.” According to Human Rights Watch, Myanmar forces also raided several Rohingya villages in June 2017, the month Uma Suleiman said she was raped. Like other women interviewed for this story, she spoke on condition that her photo and the name of her village not be published. Uma Suleiman said that soldiers, recognizable in their green uniforms with red patches, stormed the village one afternoon, scattering residents into the surrounding fields. When two soldiers caught up to her and drew a knife, no one was around to hear her cries. Villagers didn’t find her until after nightfall. There was no doctor or clinic nearby, so she never sought treatment, not even after she and her children reached Bangladesh last September. She learned she was pregnant the way she always had: in her fifth month, when the bump began to appear around her middle. Other refugee women told her she could buy pills for about $20 that would induce premature labor. The owner of a dispensary in the camp at first refused to sell to her, saying her pregnancy was too advanced. But she begged. “I said I did not want to have a fatherless child. Finally, he agreed,” she said. “He told me that if the medication worked, it would be my good fortune. So I swallowed the pills for four days.” The pills just made her vomit. Midwives attend a meeting to discuss gender-based violence at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP/Getty Images) Bangladeshi laws permit abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and after that only when the mother’s life is in danger. Relief workers say that many women in the camps have attempted risky late-term abortions on their own, without medical supervision. Daniela Sofia Cassio, a midwife with the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, said its clinics have routinely treated women who had experienced incomplete abortions. “By the time they come to seek help, they’re almost about to die — they’re bleeding heavily or suffering severe infections,” Cassio said, adding that some patients died of septic shock. From August through April, Doctors Without Borders counseled or treated 377 survivors of sexual violence — including girls as young as 7 — at its hospitals and health posts across the camps. The group believes this is a fraction of the total number of victims. Among them was Majida Begum, 23, who said she was raped by soldiers in the woods outside her village in August. Unmarried with no siblings, she had an anguished conversation with her parents after they escaped to Bangladesh. But there was no doubt about what she would do. She visited a clinic during her third month and took the pills, ending her pregnancy. “My parents will die soon, and I don’t have anyone to support me. I need to get married,” she said. “If people hear that I was raped then I will not find a husband.” In early May — nearly nine months after the Myanmar army launched its offensive — humanitarian workers raced through the camps trying to identify expectant mothers before they abandoned newborns or died without receiving care. By month’s end, aid agencies had not recorded a significant rise in births, leading relief officials to believe that many women and girls had delivered babies in their huts, where they usually go unrecorded, or ended their pregnancies. In May, aid workers canvassed the Kutupalong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh for Rohingya women and girls raped by Myanmar forces. (Munir Uz Zaman / AFP/Getty Images) Yet scattered across the camps — an unforgiving landscape of sadness and loss — are mothers who weathered the trauma and derived from it something beautiful. Fatima, 25, said she was gang-raped by a half-dozen soldiers last June in Maungdaw district, at a time when her husband, Mohammad Hussein, had fled the village to escape arrest. Reunited four months later in the Kutupalong refugee camp, Hussein saw she was pregnant and immediately thought, “My world was falling down.” “I thought he would divorce me,” Fatima said. But they had lost their first child to pneumonia two years earlier, and the idea of forsaking another filled the couple with distress. “We never thought of abortion,” said Hussein, 35. “This happened to a lot of women. We thought, Allah will take care of this child.” They named her Samira, which in Arabic means “she who is loved.” Now nearly 4 months old, she dozed on a sheet of cardboard inside a wooden cradle Hussein had bought in the camp, using money he earned hauling bricks and bamboo for construction. Her fingers were streaked with red paint, which her parents believed would make her beautiful. When she awoke, Hussein’s weary eyes brightened as he scooped her up and balanced her on his knee. “If we had not had this baby,” he smiled, “we wouldn’t have experienced this joy.” A 3-month-old girl, Samira, rests in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh. Her mother, a Rohingya Muslim, was gang-raped by Myanmar soldiers. (Shashank Bengali / Los Angeles Times) After her abortion attempt failed, Uma Suleiman began to prepare. She had no money, so she and her 15-year-old daughter Zainab fashioned a cradle from wooden sticks, rope and an empty sack from the rice they receive as food aid. “When I think about what happened to my mother, I cry,” Zainab said. At a Doctors Without Borders clinic, shortly before she delivered, Uma Suleiman was told of another option: She could give the baby up to another Rohingya family. Relief groups have worked to identify refugees willing to adopt newborns, although Daphnee Cook, a spokeswoman for the humanitarian agency Save the Children, said it was “impossible to know the exact number of babies that have been given up, or are likely to be given up, because not all cases are properly reported.” Ultimately, Uma Suleiman could not do it. “I decided: This happened to me,” she said. “It wasn’t anything I did. So I thought I should keep the baby.” He was born healthy and is growing, though he struggles to sleep in their steamy shed. Uma Suleiman’s daughters have grown attached to their new brother. Zainab holds him at night when her mother needs to rest, and 12-year-old Rukhia looks after him when she goes to pray. Yes, Uma Suleiman thinks now, she can love this child. But there was still the matter of his name. Zainab had been thinking. She looked up from a corner of the hut where she was scrubbing a dented pot and offered her suggestion: Hazrat Belal, the name of a companion of the prophet Muhammad who summoned the faithful to prayer. Uma Suleiman cast a faint smile at her daughter. “Hazrat Belal,” she repeated. It was starting to stick. (c) 2018 The Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-myanmar-rohingya-rape-20180601-story.html

United Nations agencies and Myanmar have agreed a framework which it is hoped will lead to the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, but only if their “voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable” return from camps in Bangladesh can be guaranteed. Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong settlement in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, hold a sign demanding their repatriation to their homeland in Myanmar. (Caroline Gluck/UNHCR) Since the conditions are not yet conducive for return, this agreement to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is being seen as a first and necessary step. Since August last year, some 700,000 mainly-Muslim Rohingya have fled Rakhine State, in majority-Buddhist Myanmar, for neighbouring Bangladesh. Most say they were fleeing violence and persecution, including a military campaign by Myanmar forces, which began in response to violent attacks by Rohingya insurgents. The agreement – reached by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Myanmar – will be officially signed within a week or so, with the exact date to be confirmed. Under the agreement, UNHCR and UNDP will be given access to Rakhine State, including to refugees’ places of origin and potential new settlement areas, that so far the UN has been unable to access since the violence escalated last August. The access, once effective, will allow UNHCR to assess local conditions and help the refugees to make informed decisions on voluntary return. The agreement will also allow the two UN agencies to carry out needs assessments in affected communities and strengthen the capacity of local authorities to support the voluntary repatriation process. The Advisory Commission on Rakhine State – a neutral and impartial body composed of six local experts and three international experts, chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan – has proposed concrete measures for improving the welfare of all people in Rakhine State. Its recommendations include establishing a clear and voluntary pathway to citizenship and ensuring freedom of movement for all people there, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or citizenship status. Meanwhile, the UN migration agency, known formally as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), is helping Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, properly prepare for the monsoon season, which is getting underway. Radios, megaphones, first aid kits, stretchers, protective clothing, warning flags and sirens are among the items being distributed to more than 500 Rohingya emergency volunteers in the largest camp there. With most of the refugees forced to live on steep and sandy slopes in low-lying hills, surveys by IOM and other agencies have found that around 200,000 people will be in serious danger from landslides and serious flooding when the worst monsoon weather arrives. (c) 2018 United Nations News https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/06/1011171