Kurdish fighters replaced the cross on the dome of the Church of the Immaculate Conception last month in Qaraqosh. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times QARAQOSH, Iraq — Despite their hometowns having been recently freed from the Islamic State, the Christians of Iraq are still in a state of mourning as Christmas approaches. Old towns on the edge of Mosul, where Christians lived for many centuries, have become wastelands. Most churches are still standing, but badly damaged and ransacked. When a liberating soldier hoists a cross atop a church, or a priest returns to take stock of the losses and light a candle, the scenes feel more sad than hopeful — especially when weighed against the widely felt sentiments of displaced Christians that they will never go home. Some of the early gains in the campaign to retake Mosul from the Islamic State, which is grinding into its third month, were the liberations of historically Christian villages and towns, including Qaraqosh, Iraq’s largest Christian city, and Bartella. There were early feelings of jubilation. Some families returned to celebrate alongside some of the Christian militia fighters who participated in the battles. But just as quickly it became apparent that rebirth for the Christian community in Iraq is unlikely, given how few seem to want to return. “There is no guarantee that we can go back and be safe,” said Haseeb Saleem, 65, a Christian from the Mosul area who left more than two years ago and now lives in the Kurdish city of Erbil, the regional capital. A soldier stands guard at St. George’s church in Bartella in November. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times Mr. Saleem echoed a deeply felt belief among Iraq’s minorities that the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, by removing a dictatorship that at least promised them security, marked the beginning of the community’s demise in their own country. “Before 2003, believe me, my neighbor didn’t know what I was,” he said. “No one could ask, are you Sunni? Or Shia? Or Muslim? Or Christian?” In 2003, an estimated 1.5 million Christians lived in Iraq. By the time the Islamic State swept through northern Iraq in 2014, that figure had fallen to roughly 400,000. Since then, many thousands more have left the country, or fled Mosul to the relative safety of the Kurdish region. There, in Erbil, Christians are clustered in the neighborhood of Ainkawa, and many of the displaced were taken in by local churches. The neighborhood is perhaps the last center of a vibrant Christian culture in Iraq; shops these days are filled with Christmas decorations, and it is always easy to find wine or pork. When the Islamic State seized Mosul and outlying areas in the summer of 2014, the militants stole the money, jewelry and property of Christians, and gave them a choice if they wished to stay: Either convert to Islam or pay a special tax. [Genocide Watch comment: This was ISIS propaganda. Even those who paid the falsely named “jizya” tax finally had to renounce their faith or be killed.] Nearly every Christian left home and joined Iraq’s growing population of the displaced. Iraqis in Qaraqosh, liberated recently from Islamic State control. CreditSergey Ponomarev for The New York Times A biblical scene was defaced by the Islamic State in Bartella, Iraq. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times But there were two Christians, women in their late 70s, who stayed. Cut off from their families during the chaos of two summers ago, Badrea Gigues and Zarifa Bakoos found themselves left behind in Qaraqosh. Then, each had an ailing husband. But soon after their hometown fell to the Islamic State, their husbands died. The two widows, old friends, found themselves living together, and facing together the brutality of new rulers who stole their money and demanded they renounce their faith and convert to Islam. “Sometimes we prayed, and sometimes we cried,” said Ms. Gigues, who is blind and largely deaf, in a recent interview after Qaraqosh was liberated and the security forces found her. “We talked about our husbands, our memories, our children, what it was like when we were young.” The women said Islamic State fighters had forced them to spit on a cross and to stomp on a picture of the Virgin Mary. “Sorry, Mary, that I did that,” Ms. Bakoos recalled thinking. “Please forgive me.” Even for former residents of Qaraqosh who might wish to return and stay, it is not yet safe. Rubble and destruction are everywhere. Weeks after the battle to retake the city, Christian militia fighters who secured the town are still on alert for possible counterattacks. The Christians of Iraq may have lost much to the Islamic State — houses, gold, money. But some say the experience has strengthened their faith. “They can destroy our houses, our things, but not our souls,” said Huda Khudhur, a nun from Qaraqosh. Copyright 2016 The New York Times Company

[Evidence of genocidal intent] ISIS writing on a Christian home in Qaraqosh. It says "Come to slaughter you O enemies of God" (Photo taken by Martha Hudson)

English as the Language of Deception & Its Usage in Human Rights Industry Is English language, the language of the last formal Empire, perfectly suited to facilitate mutual deception as a tool of communication and foster intellectual dishonesty? I think so. To get a seat at the table (accessing Power) or to be taken "seriously", no organisation or individual can state anything definitively, with convictions, and firm principles. A case in point: Myanmar "MAY BE committing crimes against humanity." Myanmar's persecution of the world's most persecuted people "MAY AMOUNT TO crimes against humanity". We are entering the space where the use of the word 'genocide' MAY NO LONGER BE considered frivolous. The ultimate goal of Rohingya persecution MAY BE ethnic cleansing. This refusal to call a spade spade is part of the human rights language game: this way "human rights industrialists" - my friend Jack Healey who put Amnesty International on the front page of TIME magazine with his Conspiracy of Hope pro-human rights rock concerts - call this industry "human rights mafia". This mafia control or attempt to control human rights discourses, Highest Priests of Human Rights Church. Every conclusion or finding is negotiable, conditional and tailorable, depending on the expediency of the situation. There are only two types of organisations and individuals States (power) take seriously: 1) those that are marginally harmful to State's material interests, but who can be coopted, or manipulated, or used; and 2) those that are categorically radical, revolutionary and hence cannot be manipulated or coopted to toe the State's line. Human rights mafia falls under that #1 category: allow a plain load of board of directors to visit the country and grant them a pacifying meeting with the highest, smooth-talking genocidal leader, or allow prison visits after the chosen sites are sanitised. Anyone or organisation in-between #1 and #2 is not going to get access to the Neaderthals that run States. Sad for those who risk their lives fighting for their human survival when global ideational networks engage in the world of ambiguity, deception and plausibility. And sad for those of whom human rights as an organizing and guiding principle is sacred, inviolable and worth risking one's life, career, everything. I have no faith in Western human rights mafia. They won't get in the ring in solidarity with the victims. That's why, I read Fanon.

INTERVENTION BY YB MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AT THE ASEAN FOREIGN MINISTERS’ RETREAT YANGON, MYANMAR 19 DECEMBER 2016 Thank you Mr. Chairman, I take note of the briefing by Her Excellency Daw Aung San Suu Kyi [Dor-aong-san-su-chi] on the latest development on the situation in the Northern Rakhine State. As a close neighbour and partner of Myanmar, we follow closely the developments in that area, particularly on the plight of the ethnic Rohingya. It is timely that we are given the opportunity to meet and discuss this important issue. When I proposed for the convening of a meeting among us, through our Chair, it was with a genuine intention to assist Myanmar collectively to address the challenges that it is facing in resolving this issue. Our hope is that, an open and frank discussion among friends, could help us better understand the issue that Myanmar is facing and from thereon, we could find a sustainable and long-term solution to the issue at hand. Excellencies, We note the steps taken by Myanmar in its investigation to the incident that occurred in Maungdaw Township in early October this year. We also note the necessary measures taken by Myanmar to investigate the cause of the occurrence of violence in the affected areas. These include the establishment of the Central Committee for the Implementation of Peace, Stability and Development (PSCD) in the Rakhine State, the Rakhine State Advisory Commission, a collaborative efforts by the Government and the Kofi Annan Foundation, and the subsequent establishment of the Investigation Commission. While acknowledging the initiatives taken by the Government of Myanmar in trying to improve the situation on the ground, progress have been rather slow, especially in improving the basic human rights of the Rohingya ethnic minority in the Rakhine State. There continue to be reports from many sources alleging arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings including of children, rape by soldiers, burning of Rohingya villages as well as destruction of homes and places of worship. It is troubling that these alleged violations occurred in the context of security operations conducted by Government authorities. Time and again, my Government has expressed our grave concern on the continued violence in the northern Rakhine State that has resulted in the loss of innocent lives and the displacement of people. Widespread panic, fear and insecurity had resulted in more people fleeing the country and head for neighbouring countries, including Malaysia. We believe that in order to dispel these allegations of ‘ethnic cleansing’ or in some cases ‘genocide’, it is incumbent upon the Government to be transparent and to provide timely and accurate information as well as provide access to the affected areas. As all of us are aware, Malaysia, as well as some other neighbouring countries, have had to deal with the influx of irregular movement of people, especially the Rohingyas, over the past few years. Malaysia is currently hosting around 56,000 displaced ethnic Rohingyas men, women and children, who had fled the affected areas of the Rakhine State. The Government of Malaysia is under constant pressure from our people who are very sympathetic to the plight and sufferings of Rohingya. The Government also had to bear huge financial burden in providing shelters and basic necessities to these people. Although Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, Malaysia has been consistently providing assistance to the Rohingya on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Just last year, when there was a dire humanitarian situation in the Andaman Sea, Malaysia along with Indonesia and Thailand stepped in to assist those in need. The three of us met in Putrajaya to discuss and resolve this issue. The outcome of the meeting saw our agreement to provide humanitarian assistance and temporary shelter to the 7000 boat people stranded along the three countries’ maritime border. Thereafter, I went to Nay Pyi Tay where I had fruitful and constructive discussion with His Excellency U Wunna Maung Lwin former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Myanmar to address this issue. I believe all of us do not wish to see the repeat of this crisis which could potentially impact the security and stability of the region. It is due to this reason that we believe that the situation is now of a regional concern and should be resolved together. It is also our belief that we should not look at this issue from a religious point of the view but as a serious humanitarian concern that should be addressed urgently. Malaysia is not alone in expressing this concern. Our views are shared by Mr. Vijay Nambiar, the Special Advisor of the UNSG. He has stated that, following the visit by nine foreign Ambassadors and the UN Resident Coordinator to the affected areas, various UN agencies have voiced concerns at the deteriorating human rights situation in the Northern Rakhine State. We also agree with him that Myanmar must take steps to build confidence and reassurance among the local population, and to also protect all residents regardless of their ethnicity, religious belief or status. Although Myanmar may not recognise the Rohingya as its citizen, we must not forget that they too deserve basic human rights. Thus we believe that fundamental civil, economic, social and cultural rights must be provided to all those who reside in the Rakhine State regardless of their ethnicity, race or religion. Excellencies, From the investigations that the Government of Myanmar has conducted, as we understand it, it was revealed that the violent attacks were organised by a terrorist organisation believed to be linked and trained by the Taliban. If this allegation is true, then we should be conscious that there are possibilities that the ISIS could be taking advantage of this situation. Again, this is an issue that concerns us as a region. The act of terrorism should be condemned and ASEAN should be at the forefront of fighting terrorism to ensure peace and stability in the region. However, I am of the view that while taking the necessary security measures to curb any fresh outbreak of attacks by criminal elements in the area, the authorities in Myanmar must also take steps in protecting the local population regardless of their ethnicity or religious belief. Allegations of human rights violations especially against some of the population in the Rakhine State must be investigated. Mr. Kofi Annan, during his first visit to Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, in September 2016 said, and I quote “To build the future, the two major communities have to move beyond decades of mistrust and find ways to embrace shared values of justice, fairness and equity”. Malaysia therefore urges the Government of Myanmar to take all the necessary steps to restore peace and stability in the affected areas. We hope that the Government of Myanmar would be able to deal with the situation in a fair and just manner, according to the international principles on the protection of human rights which are also enshrined in the ASEAN Charter and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration. In this regard, allow me to propose some recommendations for the consideration of the Government of Myanmar on the way forward to address this issue: i)Firstly, I believe the most urgent matter is the humanitarian conditions of the people in the affected areas. Like others, we call for an unimpeded humanitarian access to the affected areas. Mr. Kofi Annan during his visit to the affected areas in early December 2016 has also emphasised on this. Our humanitarian NGOs are ready to channel humanitarian assistance to the Government of Myanmar. We further propose that ASEAN coordinates the humanitarian assistance to the Rakhine State, as what we have done during cyclone Nargis in 2008. The international humanitarian organisations such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) should also be given full access to the affected areas in order to assess the situation there and assist in providing the necessary humanitarian aid; ii)Secondly, in order to assist us to formulate a sustainable and long-term solution to the situation in the Northern Rakhine State, I propose that ASEAN establishes an independent group of experts or an eminent persons group to investigate and verify the situation in the Rakhine State. This independent group will then provide recommendations to us on the way forward. I believe that in the spirit of maintaining ASEAN Centrality and cohesiveness, we have to address this issue collectively. Excellencies, We acknowledge that the issue that Myanmar is facing is very complex and difficult. This notwithstanding, my Government strongly believes that Myanmar must do more in trying to address the root causes of this problem. I believe that Her Excellency Daw Aung Suu Kyi’s promise to address the root causes affecting the local population, namely that of citizenship and status, and to provide relief to the internally displaced persons since 2012, would go a long way in relieving tension and promote realistic and sustainable solutions. I hope that Her Excellency would take into accounts the concerns of your ASEAN friends and the international community. I also hope that the Government of Myanmar would take on board the various recommendations put forward by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers. I believe that in order to reassure the international community, a statement could be issued by the Government of Myanmar on the way forward as proposed by the ASEAN Member States. On the part of Malaysia, we will continue to voice our concerns as well as extend the necessary assistance to Myanmar through various platforms, either bilaterally or through ASEAN, OIC, United Nations and other relevant platforms. Before I end my statement, I would like to again mention that Malaysia highly values its relationship with Myanmar and is supportive of Myanmar’s transition process towards achieving a more democratic, economically developed and socially-inclusive country. Malaysia also stands ready to assist the NLD-led government in its ongoing national peace and reconciliation efforts which are vital for the peace and stability of Myanmar as well as for our region as a whole. We hope our comments and recommendations would be taken seriously by the Government of Myanmar. We are brothers and sisters in the ASEAN Community, in which we have committed ourselves to advancing ASEAN’s goal of lasting peace, security and stability, sustained economic growth and shared prosperity and social progress. Thank you. Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE || December 20, 2016 Contact: Stacy Hope Phone: +1 (202) 225-1901 Stacy.Hope@mail.house.gov www.csce.gov www.facebook.com/helsinkicommission www.twitter.com/helsinkicomm SMITH LEADS MISSION TO GENOCIDE SURVIVORS IN IRAQ In Erbil, U.S. Congressman Asks Why Christian Survivors of Genocide Not Getting Humanitarian Aid from U.S. and Many Other OSCE Countries ERBIL, Iraq—Just days before Christmas, a leading human rights lawmaker, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), went to Iraq to witness first-hand the plight of Christians who escaped ISIS into the Erbil area of the Kurdistan region and the failure of the Obama Administration to help them. After meeting with Christian families and leaders, and officials from the U.S., other OSCE participating States, and United Nations, Smith said he returns to Washington to lead Congressional efforts to target more humanitarian aid to Christians and other religious minorities who have survived genocide. Smith also visited a camp for 6,000 internally displaced people, managed and supported by the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil. “This Christmas season, the survival of Christians in Iraq, where they have lived for almost 2,000 years, is at stake,” said Smith, who chairs both the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the House panel on global human rights and international organizations. “Today I met with Christian families who survived the ISIS genocide and have been ignored for two years by the Obama Administration. I hope that President-Elect Trump will act urgently to make sure his Administration helps these Christians with the funds Congress has approved for survivors of ISIS atrocities.” The Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Mosul, Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf, who had to flee ISIS and seek refuge in Erbil, told Smith, “So often concern for Christians is minimized. I am so happy, because you are the first American who has come to just ask about the Christians. We pray that President Trump will help us. We are the last people to speak the Aramaic language. Without help, we are finished.” “I also saw how the Obama Administration has shortchanged organizations conducting criminal investigations and collecting, preserving, and preparing evidence usable in criminal trials. Perpetrators will dodge punishment unless there is specific evidence linking them to specific atrocity crimes. My Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act legislation is a blueprint for how to assist Christians and other genocide survivors and hold perpetrators accountable. I will be working tirelessly to get this bill on the new President’s desk when we reconvene in January,” added Smith. Responding to reports that the UN Office on the Prevention of Genocide is considering excluding Christians from its findings of ISIS genocide victims and recommendations for prosecution, Smith said, “Even the Obama Administration determined that ISIS has been committing genocide against Christians. It would be outrageous if the UN ignored the overwhelming evidence and turned its back on these people who have suffered so much.” Background In 2002, there were as many as 1.4 million Christians in Iraq. After years of sectarian conflict, followed by the ISIS genocide that began in 2014, they have dropped to less than 250,000. Most of the Christians who survived ISIS fled to the Erbil area, which now hosts more than 70,000 internally displaced Christians, almost a third of all Christians in Iraq. Iraqis have been eight percent of the refugees and migrants who arrived by sea in the OSCE region in 2016. The Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil has provided most of the assistance to these displaced Christians – and has also assisted Yezidis and Muslims – including food, shelter, medical care, trauma care, and preparations for the impending winter. Smith was invited to Erbil by Archbishop Bashar Warda, head of the Archdiocese. During their meeting, Archbishop Warda emphasized that unless the ancient Christian communities of Iraq received significant financial support very soon, they may not survive. At a September hearing of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, chaired by Smith and titled Atrocities in Iraq and Syria: Relief for Survivors and Accountability for Perpetrators, Steve Rasche, Legal Counsel and Director of IDP Resettlement Programs for the Archdiocese, testified and said, “Since August 2014, other than initial supplies of tents and tarps, the Christian community in Iraq has received nothing in aid from any US aid agencies or the UN.” He added, “There’s a mistaken belief that it doesn’t get cold in Iraq. It snows in Erbil in the wintertime. Even the people that we’ve put in shelters, it gets incredibly cold for them at night, and so there are additional costs for heating oil and blankets. That is a concern for us. Our costs will go up.” Since 2013, Smith has chaired nine congressional hearings on atrocities in Iraq and Syria, including one titled The ISIS Genocide Declaration: What Next? and another titled Fulfilling the Humanitarian Imperative: Assisting Victims of ISIS Violence. He is also the author of the bipartisan Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act (H.R. 5961), co-sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo (CA-18), which includes key provisions directing the U.S. Administration to: Support entities that are effectively serving genocide survivors in-country, including faith-based entities; Assess and address the humanitarian vulnerabilities, needs, and triggers that might force survivors to flee their homes; Identify warning signs of deadly violence against genocide survivors and other vulnerable religious and ethnic communities in Iraq or Syria; Support entities that are conducting criminal investigation into perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Iraq and Syria; Close gaps in U.S. law so that the American justice system can prosecute foreign perpetrators present in the U.S., as well as any Americans who commit such crimes; Encourage foreign countries to add identifying information about suspected perpetrators of such atrocity crimes in their security databases and security screening; Create a “Priority Two” (“P-2”) designation for persecuted religious and ethnic groups in Iraq or Syria. This legislation is supported by many groups including the Knights of Columbus, 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, In Defense of Christians, Yazidi Human Rights Organization International, Commission for International Justice and Accountability, Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, Religious Freedom Institute, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Open Doors, and others. The bill has also been endorsed by all of the former U.S. Ambassadors-at-Large for War Crimes: David Scheffer (1997-2001), Pierre-Richard Prosper (2001-2005), Clint Williamson (2006-2009), and Stephen Rapp (2009-2015). Smith also authored the bipartisan H. Con. Res 121, which the House passed overwhelmingly and calls for the formation of an ad hoc tribunal for perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Syrian conflict. Just last week, the President signed into law the bipartisan, historic Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (H.R. 1150), which Smith authored and Eshoo co-sponsored. This law makes sweeping changes that will help ensure that the U.S. Administration and the State Department have the tools, training, and resources to anticipate, help prevent, and respond to genocide and other persecution against religious communities like Christians in Iraq and elsewhere. Smith continues to encourage leaders in other OSCE countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to Christian genocide survivors and support criminal investigations into and prosecutions of perpetrators. ### The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, is an independent agency of the Federal Government charged with monitoring compliance with the Helsinki Accords and advancing comprehensive security through promotion of human rights, democracy, and economic, environmental and military cooperation in 57 countries. The Commission consists of nine members from the U.S. Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce.

Beginning January 2017, Dr. Gregory Stanton of Genocide Watch will be traveling to Iraq to conduct a Genocide Prevention training for the Ministry of Anfal Affairs of the Regional Government of Kurdistan, to interview survivors of the ISIS genocide, and to confer with judicial officials about trying ISIS combatants who have been captured. Last year, Dr. Stanton testified at a hearing chaired by Rep. Smith on: Fulfilling the Humanitarian Imperative: Assisting Victims of ISIS Violence.

One by one, seven Myanmar soldiers raped Yasmin in her home, as she stifled her screams for fear of being murdered. Sixteen days ago, the military attacked Mukhtar’s village, and now the elderly man sits in a small hut nursing shotgun wounds to his thigh. Two fingers on two-year-old Anwar’s tiny hand are fused together at the base, after he suffered burns when soldiers set houses on fire. These are a few of the stories shared with IRIN by members of Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority who have fled across the border into Bangladesh during the past couple months, as the military carried out “clearance operations” against insurgents. Myanmar’s government and military would have you believe they are lies. “Most of them are made-up stories, blown out of proportion,” said Aye Aye Soe, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. “The things they are accusing us of didn’t happen at all.” Her comments echo a steady stream of statements from the government since military operations began, following deadly attacks on border police posts in the frontier township of Maungdaw on 9 October. A 3 November article in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper went as far as accusing rights groups and media of reporting incidents that were “intentionally fabricated in collusion with terrorist groups”. Yet, the military refuses to allow journalists or investigators into the area to verify or disprove accounts of abuses. Despite the lack of access, evidence of atrocities has continued to pile up. Organisations including the UN have collected accounts of rapes, killings, and disappearances. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also published reports that include separate analyses of satellite imagery that strongly indicates villages were set on fire by the military – a direct challenge to government claims that Rohingya residents are burning down their own homes in order to “cast suspicion over security forces”. On 20 December, the International Organization for Migration said at least 34,000 Rohingya had crossed into Bangladesh since October. Aye Aye Soe raised doubt about such a large number. “I am sure there are people going for the border, I accept that,” she said in a telephone interview. “But I don’t know if it could be 20 or 30 thousand. It’s blown out of proportion.” Military operations have “been carried out with very much restraint”, said Aye Aye Soe. “And regarding rape, ethnic cleansing – it’s completely false.” Such denials are hard to square with testimonies provided to IRIN as well as groups like Fortify Rights, which just concluded a research trip to Bangladesh where team members interviewed scores of victims and triangulated eyewitness accounts. Some recent arrivals also bear physical injuries, including gunshot wounds and signs of rape. “The government's callous denials have reached the heights of absurdity,” Matt Smith, the group’s chief executive officer, told IRIN. “The government's claim that these accounts might be fabricated is disgusting.” A Rohingya family sheltering in the village of Hazibara, Bangladesh, after fleeing Myanmar. Jared Ferrie/IRIN Yasmin’s story Yasmin said soldiers arrived in her village just before dawn, firing shots in the air. “The feeling of fright – I can’t explain,” she said in an interview in Hazi Para, a village about 80 kilometres inside Bangladesh. Like the other Rohingya quoted in this story, Yasmin is an alias. Using their real names could put them or their families in danger of retribution by Myanmar security forces. The soldiers forced residents out onto the road and asked where the men were, as most of them had already fled. The soldiers finally left, but the villagers’ nightmare wasn’t over. They returned later in the day and some “had drunk a lot”, said Yasmin. They took the women into their houses, demanded money and valuables, and then raped them, she said. After they raped her, they set her house on fire, along with the village mosque and other homes. They killed a religious leader and arrested several elderly men, including her father-in-law. “They took him away and we still don’t know where he is,” Yasmin said. The soldiers then herded about 400 women and children into a large yard between two houses where they kept them under guard, said Yasmin. Dates and details of the attack recounted by Yasmin line up with statements provided by Rohingya village leaders to a commission formed by the government to investigate the violence, which were shared with IRIN. Accounts related to IRIN by Rohingya sheltering in a village and unofficial refugee camps in Bangladesh also matched up to testimonies gathered by rights groups. The cumulative evidence suggests a widespread pattern of military abuses. Yasmin said the soldiers confiscated all mobile phones, but one “clever” woman had hidden hers. Yasmin’s husband, Mohammad, was already in Bangladesh, in the city of Chittagong, where he had found work as a day labourer. She knew his phone number by heart and she called to tell him about the attack, and that his father had been arrested. “When I heard my wife’s voice, it was unbelievable” said Mohammad. “I was very sorrowful when I heard my father had been taken away by the army.” He said he is now so consumed by worry that he is unable to look for work. After three days of being held prisoner without food, Yasmin saw her chance to escape. She fled into the countryside with her four children, and made her way to the Naf River, which forms the border. Yasmin and her children spent three days on the Myanmar side of the river. The Bangladesh Border Guards were preventing Rohingya from entering the country, and she had no money to pay a smuggler. Finally, her husband was able to transfer money to the smuggler using “BKash”, a mobile phone service, and they crossed the river at night in a small boat. In the meantime, Mohammad had travelled to Hazi Para, the home village of a friend he met while working in Chittagong, and a woman there offered shelter to him and his family. This two-year-old child's hand was badly burnt when Myanmar soldiers set fire to his village. Jared Ferrie/IRIN Aid barriers Nobody knows how many Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh so far, but the number definitely surpasses the IOM figure of 34,000, which includes only those in official and unofficial camps as well as two towns. Many more are in villages like Hazi Para, where residents said Yasmin’s family was one of about 45 sheltering there. Fortify Rights found many Rohingya camped out in forests and fields along the border. “We have no statistics at all,” said Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of the border district of Cox’s Bazar. His government’s reluctance to gather information on new arrivals reflects the tough position Bangladesh is in. Even before the latest influx, the impoverished and densely-populated country was hosting 32,000 registered refugees and as many as 500,000 undocumented Rohingya who had surged across the border at various times since the 1970s, mainly during bouts of mob violence and military operations in Myanmar similar to those ongoing at the moment. Now, Bangladesh is reluctant to officially open its borders or to allow aid groups to scale up their response to the crisis, afraid that might encourage more Rohingya to come. At the same time, border guards have often turned a blind eye to those crossing over, while aid agencies have quietly increased their support. But it’s not enough. Rohingya in makeshift camps said new arrivals are begging from people who themselves have barely enough to survive. Others are suffering from illness or injury but cannot get medical care. A doctor working in the camps told Fortify Rights that in the past two months alone he had treated 13 women who were victims of rape. One was gang-raped by soldiers and had been bleeding for two weeks. Another woman told IRIN she was still bleeding after soldiers raped her, but she was afraid to go to government hospitals for fear of being sent back to Myanmar. There are five security checkpoints between her and a clinic run by Médecins Sans Frontiers, so she wouldn’t go there either. Her husband was arrested during the attack on her village, and she had no idea if he was still alive. “I beg here and there for a living,” said the woman, who has three children. “I have no relatives here.” PR battles Myanmar’s government appears unmoved by such testimonies, despite being headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democracy struggle against the former military junta. Instead, the government continues to publish statements like a 19 December article posted on the Ministry of Information website, which accused the international community of unfairly “putting pressure on us” as a result of “false news”. “Even though [we] have been the victim of violent attacks, Myanmar has handled this problem with full regard to humanitarian considers [sic] and looked upon these criminal acts in a lenient manner and acted in accordance with the law,” said the article. Critics say the barrage of statements denying abuses provides cover for the military to carry out operations that Amnesty International warned “amount to collective punishment” of Rohingya communities. The UN and others have called for an independent investigation into allegations of atrocities, and Amnesty has raised the possibility that they could amount to crimes against humanity. jf/ag (TOP PHOTO: A Rohingya woman and child in the Kutupalong informal settlement, Bangladesh, in June, 2014. CREDIT: Will Baxter)

Nadia Murad. Photo: Mark Wilson/AFP ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Words are not enough, action is needed, Yezidi survivor and activist Nadia Murad told the UN Security Council on Tuesday, one year after she gave emotional testimony to the body of the abuse she had suffered at the hands of ISIS. “I don’t know what more it will take to move you,” she told the council, bemoaning the slow progress being made to end the genocide of the Yezidi people and bring the perpetrators to justice. “I don’t understand why the corpses of my murdered mother, and brothers, still lie in mass graves, unprotected and unexamined,” she said. “I don’t understand how ISIS militants can publish evidence of their crimes online, and not be arrested for them. I don’t know why, when ISIS has no friends on the Council, you still do not move forward.” Murad spoke at a special session of the council to discuss trafficking in persons in conflict situations. In September, she was appointed a UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. Over 3,000 Yezidi women, children, and men remain in captivity, and more than 350,000 are displaced from their homes in the Kurdistan Region, she detailed to the council. Members of her own family also remain under ISIS captivity. She told the council the story of her 13-year old nephew Malik who has been indoctrinated and trained as a child soldier after years of ISIS captivity. After a desperate search, her family found Malik and arranged for him to escape. But he refused, “saying that Yezidis are infidels who should convert and join ISIS.” “I am worried sick that he will soon be on the frontlines,” said Murad. Murad commended some progress that has been made to establish a mechanism to gather evidence of ISIS crimes, “But,” she said, “time is running out. And words of support are not enough. Action is needed.” She called on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to request the Security Council establish an international independent commission for Iraq “to investigate and document the crimes committed by ISIS,” adding her willingness to face her abusers in court in order to bring justice to her and all victims of war and terror. “My fight is a fight for justice,” she told the influential council members. “You, the world’s most powerful nations, can stop this.” - See more at: http://rudaw.net/mobile/english/kurdistan/201220161#sthash.oxc8rW7q.dpuf

JAKARTA — Southeast Asian parliamentarians today expressed disappointment at the outcome of yesterday’s meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Yangon focused on the crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. While acknowledging the positive precedent of an ASEAN ministers meeting called on short notice to discuss a critical, but sensitive, regional concern, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said it was unfortunate that the meeting ended without any firm commitments of action. The collective of Southeast Asian lawmakers called for a stronger regional response and urged member governments to comply with their obligations in the ASEAN Charter to protect human rights. “Through continued inaction, ASEAN risks failing the people at its center. This meeting should have been an opportunity to take decisive action to protect vulnerable civilians and hold the Myanmar government and military accountable. Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, it seems it was largely an act of political theater,” said APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian Parliament. “Sadly, ASEAN foreign ministers caved to Aung San Suu Kyi’s sweet talk and have seemingly put the Rohingya issue on the back burner. That’s bad news for the tens of thousands of Rohingya still trapped without aid access in Rakhine State, and it’s bad news for the region, which will ultimately pay the price for Myanmar’s inability or unwillingness to properly address the situation. The bottom line is that evidence and scores of reports of abuses fell on deaf ears.” The meeting, which was called by Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, ended on Monday without clear commitments from the Myanmar government beyond a pledge to keep ASEAN counterparts updated on developments in Rakhine State. ASEAN foreign ministers offered humanitarian assistance but largely shied away from questioning the Myanmar government’s actions in the context of the crisis. One notable exception was Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman. In his comments during the meeting, which were shared with the press, he expressed “grave concern” over “reports from many sources alleging arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings including of children, rape by soldiers, burning of Rohingya villages as well as destruction of homes and places of worship.” Invoking the 2015 regional refugee crisis, he also declared that the situation clearly constitutes a “regional concern.” He called for immediate humanitarian access to Rakhine State, as well as for ASEAN to establish an independent group of experts to investigate the situation there. “It was encouraging to hear that the Malaysian minister highlighted alleged abuses and raised the prospect of an ASEAN investigating team made up of independent experts. Yet it appears this call too fell on deaf ears in Yangon. That’s unfortunate because such an inquiry, if truly independent, would contribute to revealing the truth and ensuring that abuses are not met with impunity,” Santiago said. In a statement following the meeting, the Myanmar government expressed its “readiness to grant necessary humanitarian access,” but failed to outline a specific plan for doing so after weeks of similar promises to remove blocks on aid to tens of thousands of Rakhine State residents. The government statement also emphasized the need for “time and space” to resolve the situation. “It is beyond disappointing to see Aung San Suu Kyi, formerly revered as a democratic icon, sit before her ASEAN counterparts and plead for ‘time and space.’ The Rohingya civilians facing the brunt of the onslaught in northern Rakhine State don’t have the luxury of time and space,” said Walden Bello, an APHR Board Member and former Member of Congress from the Philippines. “Certainly there are complex long-term issues to be resolved in Rakhine State. But that complexity should not be used as an excuse to allow for the wholesale slaughter and abuse of civilians. What these people need right now is protection. Regional leaders must step up and not hide behind the usual ASEAN diplomatic niceties.”

The Northern Shan Crisis And Its Impact On The Peace Process Featured, Opinion/Analysis December 17, 2016 Pangmu Shayi ============================== Myanmar's northeastern conflict approaches watershed Nikkei Asian Review 16 December 2016 Anthony Davis "... a joint rebel offensive launched against a string of border towns on Nov. 20 underscored the emergence of a potential military game-changer: a powerful coalition of northern insurgent groups that in terms of operational coordination, military clout and geographic reach is unprecedented in six decades of ethnic conflict." ============================================ Myanmar: Security forces target Rohingya during vicious Rakhine scorched-earth campaign Amnesty International 19 December 2016, 10:46 UTC The Myanmar security forces are responsible for unlawful killings, multiple rapes and the burning down of houses and entire villages in a campaign of violence against Rohingya people that may amount to crimes against humanity, Amnesty International reveals in a new report today. ============================================ Rohingya violence by Burmese army true, Suu Kyi has ‘failed’ – report Asian Correspondent Staff | 19th December 2016 | @ascorrespondent ============================================ 6 boats carrying over 100 Rohingyas sent back Prothom Alo Teknaf (Cox’s Bazar) Correspondent | Update: 15:20, Dec 18, 2016 =============================================== Malaysia calls for Asean to coordinate aid for Rohingya at Myanmar crisis talks South China Morning Post 19 December 2016 The fate of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority took centre stage Monday as regional ministers held crisis talks over a security crackdown that has drawn rare criticism from neighbouring nations. Constant pressure from both the international community as well as Malaysia has led us to this point Malaysia’s foreign minister Anifah Aman More than 27,000 Rohingya have fled northwestern Myanmar for Bangladesh since the start of November to escape a heavy-handed counter-insurgency campaign. The army says it is hunting militants behind deadly raids on police posts in October. But Rohingya survivors have described rape, murder and arson at the hands of security forces – accounts that have raised global alarm and galvanised protests in capitals around Southeast Asia. The exodus has caused an unusual open spat within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the regional 10-member block that usually prides itself on consensus diplomacy and non-interference. On Monday foreign ministers from the bloc met in Yangon for emergency talks, a gathering Malaysia said was the result of pressure building on Myanmar to resolve the crisis. “Constant pressure from both the international community as well as Malaysia has led us to this point and to the retreat to be held,” Malaysia’s foreign minister Anifah Aman said ahead of the talks. The vast majority of Myanmar’s Rohingya population are denied citizenship and have lived for years under movement restrictions that many have likened to apartheid. Thousands have fled over the years on rickety boats, seeking sanctuary in Muslim majority countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Malaysia's Foreign Minister Anifah Aman arrives to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Foreign Ministers' meeting in Yangon. Photo: AFP The latest crackdown in Rakhine generated a fresh wave of public anger, particularly in Malaysia, where tens of thousands of Rohingya eke out tough and often dangerous lives as undocumented workers. Earlier this month Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak accused Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi of allowing “genocide” on her watch – an unusually strong rebuke by one Asean state of another. Myanmar, which has vehemently denied the allegations of abuse, responded by angrily summoning Malaysia’s ambassador and banning its workers from going to the country. Philippines Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay. Photo: AFP Suu Kyi also held talks with the foreign minister of Indonesia this month after cancelling a visit to the country following protests and an attempted attack on the Myanmar embassy. Ong Keng Yong, a former secretary general of Asean, said neighbouring nations feared the Rohingya crisis could spiral. “This kind of issue, if it’s not well managed, will impact on the general picture of our peace and security in Asean,” he told AFP. He said Monday’s meeting would likely focus on stopping the violence, smoothing relations between members and better sharing of information between countries. Indonesia Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. Photo: Reuters Myanmar has also seen a cascade of criticism from outside the region over its handling of the Rohingya crisis, including from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations. Last week UN rights commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein criticised the government’s “callous” handling of the crisis, describing it as “a lesson in how to make a bad situation worse”. It is not the first time the plight of the Rohingya has spilled into a regional crisis. In 2015 thousands of the stateless group were stranded at sea after authorities closed off a well-worn trafficking route through Thailand. The overcrowded boats were ping-ponged between countries reluctant to accept them until global pressure eventually spurred Indonesia and Malaysia to let them land.

Mohammad Ponir Hossain—REUTERSA Rohingya Muslim woman and her son cry after being caught by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) while illegally crossing at a border check point in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Nov. 21, 2016 Around 21,000 Rohingya have sought refuge in Bangladesh over the past two months, as Burmese forces launched what one U.N official says is “getting very close to what we would all agree are crimes against humanity.” TIME reports from the Bangladesh border, where the full horror is only just emerging If the Naf River could talk, which horror story would it tell first? The narrow waterway marks the border between Burma and Bangladesh. On its western bank is the Bangladeshi province of Chittagong. To the east, Burma’s Arakan state, also known as Rakhine, home to the Buddhist-majority country’s Rohingya people, a Muslim minority described over the years as stateless, friendless and forgotten. But if the river could remember their stories, it might speak, for example, of the night in late November when Arafa, a 25-year-old Rohingya woman, entered its waters with her five children. She used to have six. As she talks, sitting on the threshold of a hut in a makeshift refugee camp on the Bangladeshi side of the Naf, she is surrounded by her son and four young daughters. They are a lively bunch, noisy, restless, yet shy, hiding behind their mother’s back or running in and out of the hut, as she recounts what happened to her second son. He was 8 years old. Sometime around Nov. 22, Arafa says her village was attacked by Burmese security forces. Viewed as illegal immigrants and denied citizenship rights by the Burmese state, the Rohingya have long faced intimidation, oppression and violence at the hands of both Buddhist extremists and the country’s security forces. The last major sectarian spasm was in 2012, when clashes between Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims displaced some 125,000 people. Rights activists accused security forces of either standing aside as the violence spread, or actively participating in it. This time, Arafa says, the army’s assault felt different. The security men seemed more determined, more driven, to punish the Rohingya. Their weapon of choice was fire. Arafa says that the military torched her village. As the flames engulfed her home, she just about managed to escape with her six children. That was when the family was confronted by a Burmese soldier. He snatched the fleeing 8-year-old, separating him from his brother and sisters, and flung him into the blaze. In the chaos, Arafa lost sight of her husband. But she could not turn back; she had to leave him behind, leave her son’s charred body behind, and mourn on the move. “I had to save my other children. We had to escape [from Burma],” she tells TIME. “They burned everything.” For two days, Arafa and her children hid in the forests that skirt the riverbank on the Burmese side, laying low to avoid detection by troops, before boarding a rickety boat that took them to safety across the Naf. Anik Rahman/NurPhoto/Sipa USAA patrol of Bangladeshi Border Guards attempts to prevent Rohingya refugees from crossing into Bangladesh from Burma, on the banks of the Naf River, near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Nov. 22, 2016 They are not alone. Arafa’s family are among the estimated 21,000Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh over the past two months, as Burmese forces launched what testimony from refugees, satellite imagery compiled by rights groups and leaked photos and videos from inside Arakan indicate is a horrifyingly bloody crackdown against the million-strong Muslim minority. The latest troubles began in early October, when police said three border guard posts were attacked by Islamist militants. Nine policemen were killed, with the government saying the attackers belonged to an extremist group called Aqa Mul Mujahidin. A statement from the Burmese President’s office linked them to the Rohingya Solidarity Organization, a militant group long thought to be defunct. The only proof for these claims was the government’s word. What followed has been described by Burmese authorities as “clearance operations.” Amnesty International, the rights group, calls it “collective punishment”: a ferocious campaign of violent reprisals against an entire people. In addition to arson attacks on Rohingya villages, the military has been accused of raping Rohingya women and conducting extrajudicial killings of Muslims. Helicopter gunships have been used to fire on Rohingya villages. Satellite imagery released by Human Rights Watch show that more than 800 buildings were destroyed in five different Rohingya villages between Nov. 10 and 18. An earlier set of high-resolution images showed the destruction of more than 400 homes in three villages between Oct. 22 and Nov. 10. The actual number of destroyed buildings could be higher, given the dense tree cover in the area, the rights group says. Verifying the picture on the ground is impossible, as Burma has sealed off the affected areas. But the news that is coming out suggests that the situation is “getting very close to what we would all agree are crimes against humanity,” says Yanghee Lee, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, as the country is officially known. “I am getting reports from inside the country and from neighboring places too that things are not as they are being portrayed by the government. We are seeing a lot of very graphic and very disturbing photos and video clips,” she tells TIME. Although unable to independently verify the footage, she says: “We do hear about rape and sexual violence, and even bodies of little kids being uncovered.” “We can’t verify the numbers of how many have been killed. Many have gone into hiding,” Lee adds, expressing her dissatisfaction with a government-supervised trip to some of the affected areas by a group of foreign diplomats and a U.N. official in early November. “No one should be satisfied with the trip,” she says. “This was a guided tour. Even though there was a heavy security presence there, people started to come out and try to speak to this delegation. And of course, afterwards, we’ve also heard that there were reprisals. These people were hunted down.” On Dec. 9, 14 diplomatic missions, including the embassies of the U.S. and France, called on Burma to give humanitarian agencies “full and unfettered access” to northern Arakan, “noting that tens of thousands of people who need humanitarian aid, including children with acute malnutrition, have been without it now for nearly two months.” THE PLIGHT OF THE ROHINGYA BY JAMES NACHTWEY James Nachtwey for TIME Children rest at a refugee camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia, May 20. They were among the 25,000-plus Rohingya Muslim migrants who have fled The official Burmese response to the allegations of rights abuses has been denial and, reflecting the low opinion many Burmese have of the Rohingya, callous dismissal. When asked by the BBC about claims of rape by the Burmese military, Aung Win, a local politician and chairman of a state investigation into the October border posts attack, couldn’t even keep a straight face. Giggling into the camera, he said soldiers would not rape Rohingya women because “they are very dirty … [They] have a very low standard of living and poor hygiene,” Aung Win said. “They are not attractive. So neither the local Buddhist men or the soldiers are interested in them.” Meanwhile, the country’s top military man, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, blames the Rohingya for their woes. Referring to them as “Bengali,” a term which implies that they belong across the Naf in Bangladesh, a Dec. 6 post on his Facebook page said: “The Bengali problems in the northern Rakhine State occurred because of the Bengalis’ failure to abide by the existing laws of Myanmar.” And even as Burmese officials promise to investigate claims of rights abuses, the post seemed to pre-judge the outcome: “Myanmar security forces have never committed any human rights violations such as illegal killing, rape and arson attack.” “It seems like the same old story [from the Burmese authorities], that these people torched their own houses,” says Lee, the U.N. rights investigator. Read More: Burma Could Be Guilty Of ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ As Rohingya Crackdown Intensifies A Human Rights Watch researcher who recently visited the Bangladeshi side of the border, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to risk losing access to the area, says testimony from recent Rohingya escapees is uniform on this question: “We haven’t spoken to anybody who has told us that the burnings have been done by anyone other than the military.” Amid the unfolding crisis, one voice has been largely absent — Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in elections in November 2015. The polls marked Burma’s transition from military dictatorship to its first civilian-led administration in more than half a century. A new military-drafted constitution prohibited Suu Kyi from becoming President, and the generals retained control over Burma’s security apparatus. But she is the nation’s de facto leader, occupying a Prime Minister–like position as Burma’s State Counselor. Under dictatorship, Suu Kyi’s single-minded determination to challenge the military, the personal sacrifices she made and the years of political detention she endured to bring democracy to her country transformed her into an international human-rights icon. But as northern Arakan burns, she has been proffering bromides about the need for the outside world to be less critical. What’s needed, she says, is a better understanding of the region’s ethnic divisions. “I would appreciate it so much if the international community would help us to maintain peace and stability and to make progress in building better relations between the two communities [there] instead of always drumming up calls for, well, for bigger fires of resentment, if you like,” she told Singapore’s state-owned Channel News Asia in a rare interview earlier this month. “I’m not saying there are no difficulties, but it helps if people recognize the difficulty and are more focused on resolving these difficulties rather than exaggerating them so that everything seems worse than it really is.” THE ROHINGYA, BURMA'S FORGOTTEN MUSLIMS BY JAMES NACHTWEY Abdul Kadir, 65, who has a severe stomach ailment and malnutrition, is cared for by his wife in one of the camps." James Nachtwey for TIME More than 140,000 minority Rohingya Muslims have been forced to live in camps, where disease and despair have taken root. “She is obviously very reluctant to criticize the military, because she fears that any sort of antagonism towards it could prompt it to assert itself more forcefully,” says Francis Wade, a sometime TIME contributor who has worked in the country, and the author of an upcoming book on anti-Muslim violence and the democratic transition there. “If the military felt that it was losing power to the civilian government, because that government is criticizing it and trying to reign it in, then it might try and reassert its supremacy.” That dynamic — between a civilian government still consolidating its power and a military machine bent on preserving its influence — has tempered international criticism of Suu Kyi’s stance. “I think the international community is seeing [Burma] in relative terms,” says the U.N.’s Lee. “This is a civilian elected government, it’s been less than a year [since they came to power], let’s give them a little time and space. That’s been the narrative.” But that view becomes less and less credible as time passes. “Suu Kyi may need more time to maneuver. But she only has five years [the term of the elected government], and already a year is going by,” says Lee. Adds Wade: “You do have a very difficult relationship between the civilian government and the military, but at the moment, the civilian government is playing into the hands of the military.” Suu Kyi’s stance is only the latest in a long series of disappointments for Burma’s Muslims. “She’s not doing anything to protect us,” says Yunus, a 30-year-old Rohingya refugee who fled to Bangladesh in November. “We thought there would be a change. But she is the same as everyone else.” Read More: The Plight of the Rohingya by James Nachtwey The consequences could be far reaching. “There has traditionally been very little broad support among the Rohingya for armed conflict,” says Wade. “Even when there were several insurgent groups operating there from the mid-1970s to the early to mid-1990s, there was still quite scant support for them, hence they died out quite quickly.” The Rohingya, he explains, have been wary of provoking the Burmese state: “It was recognized quite early on that any sort of armed movement would be collective suicide.” But the worsening situation in northern Arakan raises troubling red flags, with Daniel Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, issuing a stark warning about the potential fallout. “If mishandled, Rakhine state could be infected and infested by jihadism which already plagues neighboring Bangladesh and other countries,” he told the Associated Press on Dec. 3. For the Rohingya, the crisis doesn’t end on the Burmese side. Yusuf, Arafa and their families managed to escape and reach land in Bangladesh by avoiding detection from both Burmese and Bangladeshi forces. But in the days since, Bangladesh has stepped up patrols along its border with Burma, putting an additional squeeze on the persecuted population. Many refugees have gone missing, after their boasts capsized in the river’s choppy waters. K M Asad—LightRocket/Getty ImagesA Rohingya refugee woman with her boy in a refugee camp at Teknaf, Bangladesh, on Nov. 27, 2016 It is not the first time that the Rohingya have sought shelter across the river. Over the decades, as they fled violence at home, as many as half a million undocumented Rohingya refugees have made their lives in Bangladesh. More than 30,000 registered refugees live in camps near the border. Now Bangladesh says: We can’t accommodate any more people. “My country is a house. If all the people try to get inside my house, what will happen? I cannot allow all of them,” says Colonel M.M. Anisur Rahman, the deputy director general of Border Guard Bangladesh, the force charged with patrolling the border area. Bangladesh’s policy, he says, is to push back fleeing refugees. “Of course we are concerned, and if they ask any help regarding food, water and other things, we will provide it. But we cannot provide shelter,” he insists. Those who have slipped in, avoiding detection, will be caught and sent back.” To this, Du Du Mian, a Rohingya refugee who arrived in Bangladesh more than a decade ago, answers: “The world needs to realize that we have nowhere to go.” His people, he says, have no country. With Burmese soldiers trying to stop them from fleeing and Bangladeshi forces pushing them back, all they have is the Naf, and the Naf, so far, is silent. With reporting by A.K.M. Moinuddin / Teknaf and Feliz Solomon / Hong Kong Copyright 2016 Time Inc.

A man carries a child as he flees deeper into the remaining rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Syria. Photograph: Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters I somehow survived the Srebrenica genocide. It’s heartbreaking to see the international community turn the other way while atrocities occur in Syria was a teenager when I faced the worst of humanity. I remember our house burning to the ground and my family fleeing Srebrenica, hoping against hope for a chance to live. I remember the torture, and the smell of blood. I didn’t know it yet, but I was living through the worst genocide in Europe since the second world war. And afterwards, I remember the promises of “never again”. Those promises are being broken, hour after hour, day after day, in the deepening horror of east Aleppo. More than 500,000 people have died since war began in 2011. Imagine it. Years of cluster bombs, rockets and toxic gas raining down, funeral after funeral, death after death, while the world looks on and watches your country and your people being destroyed. Only our leaders can stop the slaughter of civilians in Aleppo and across Syria Every time we thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. And now, again, the horror is plumbing new depths. Families are running out of food, of water, of medicine. There are no more operational hospitals and not a single ambulance to rescue the ever-growing number of wounded and sick. In this city of death, even the clowns are dying. The man who tried to block out the horror by entertaining the children, distracting them for a moment, was killed. Was this the death of hope? I hope not, as I have been there, staring death in the face, desperately alone. On a night in mid-July 1995, Serbian soldiers took us to the field where we were to be executed. They stripped us and tied our hands behind our backs. Lined up, five by five, rows and rows of dead bodies before my eyes, already shot, lives snuffed out in a single bloody instant. I was shot in my stomach, right arm and left foot and felt an incredible pain, as the gasping last breaths of men filled my ears. When the butchers left, I realised I was not dead and managed to escape with another man. For days we kept running, hiding in the woods and sleeping in graveyards until we eventually reached the safety of Bosnian-controlled territory. I wondered then how the world could let this happen. In 2005, the European parliament released a statement, condemning the Srebrenica genocide and promising it would “never happen again”. It gave me hope, that what we went through had not been in vain and we had learned from the horrors of the past. In future, I thought, the international community would protect civilians in times of conflict. That seems a long time ago now. I have faith in humanity. In people all over the world. I know most of them would help the people of Aleppo if they could. But they can’t do it alone. Only our leaders can stop the slaughter of civilians in Aleppo and across Syria. At the very least, they must ensure aid gets to those who need it, including by airdrops to besieged areas if necessary. Their failure to do so is a betrayal not only of the people of Aleppo and Syria, but of the survivors and victims of all the genocides we said we’d learned from. Instead, the worst of humanity has become the new normal. When we look the other way, we set the most dangerous of precedents, one that makes my experience more likely to be repeated. I’ve looked down the barrel of the gun, and know that humanity can’t afford this. Take it from a genocide survivor – more than Aleppo is at stake. Copyright 2016 The Guardian