Bangladesh to ask Myanmar to stop pushback

Dhaka, Dec 19 (bdnews24.com) -- Bangladesh will put pressure on Myanmar to stop pushback of Rohingya people across border at the upcoming foreign secretary level talks, foreign secretary said Saturday.

Bangladesh foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes will receive his Myanmar counterpart U Maung Mynt on December 28 for a two-day bilateral talks.

"We will talk on repatriation of Rohingya refugees and stopping pushback by Myanmar," Quayes told reporters at a press briefing at the foreign ministry.

"In addition to 29,000 refugees living in the camps, some 300,000 people have intruded into Bangladesh over the past several years."

"We will stress on improving the situation in Myanmar so that exodus of the people stops," the foreign secretary said.

Repatriation of Rohingya refugees has remained a major issue for discussion between the two countries since 1992 when over a million people from Myanmar's Northern Rakhain state from crackdown on its Muslim Rohingyas in the bordering Bangladesh.

The two neighbours with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees repatriated most of the refugees, but about 29,000 people have refused to go back to their homes in Myanmar fearing further repressive actions by the military.

According to the government officials, most of the "repatriated" Rohingya refugees returned to Bangladesh as human rights and economic situation has not improved in their ancestral homes.

Quayes also said a Myanmar delegation was scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on the second week of January to discuss the maritime boundary demarcation disputes with Bangladesh.

He, however, said besides the bilateral talks, Dhaka will continue with its legal fight in the UN tribunal to settle the maritime disputes with India and Myanmar.

Bangladesh and Myanmar have claims on overlapping offshore blocks in the Bay of Bengal. India and Myanmar have counter claims on 19 out of total 27 sea blocks of Bangladesh. Dhaka has been in negotiations with the two countries for years, but the bilateral talks ended with no tangible results.

The Awami League led government a few months back went to the UN tribunal to settle the maritime disputes. The government hopes that the issue will be resolved through the UN tribunal in four to five years.

"Certainly, we will be discussing the issues of trade, investment and banking facilities between the two countries," said Quayes, in reply to a question.

Catalonian lawmakers ban bullfighting

BARCELONA, Spain, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The Parliament in Catalonia, Spain, has voted to ban bullfighting under an animal cruelty law forbidding torture, officials said.

Friday's motion, approved 67-59, still faces a final vote next year before the ban could become law.

Bullfighting has become increasingly controversial in Spain and a ban in Catalonia makes it more likely bullfighting eventually will be banned throughout the country, said animal rights activist Leonardo Anselmi.

"We think this will be the beginning of the end for this cruel spectacle," Anselmi told The Times of London in a story reported Saturday.

Others, however, including Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo and theater director Calixto Bieito, believe bullfighting should remain, said Luis Corrales, a spokesman for the campaign to keep bullfighting.

It is "a cultural reality, a festival, a tradition, a part of the economy," Corrales said.

Gibraltar, Spain resume ferry link after 40 years

A ferry service between Spain and the disputed British colony of Gibraltar reopened Wednesday, 40 years after it was closed by the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

A 150-seat catamaran, the "Punta Europa Segundo", made the inaugural half-hour crossing from the Spanish port of Algeciras to the rocky islet off Spain's southern coast.

A Spanish company, Transcoma, is to operate a daily service between the two points, aimed at tourists as well Spanish workers employed in Gibraltar.

The link was closed by Franco's government in 1969 at a time of increasing restrictions against the British territory, which included the closure of the land frontier which did not fully reopen until 1985.

Its resumption was the result of talks involving Britain, Gibraltar and Spain in July as part of ongoing forum which seeks to establish areas of cooperation between the territory and Madrid.

Spain hailed the new service.

"Spain is confident that this example of local cooperation serves the forum's objective to promote economic and social development of Gibraltar" and the area of Spain around Gibraltar, Spain's foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said the ferry was expected to carry about half a million passengers annually.

Guests on the inaugural voyage included Luis Felipe Fernandez de la Pena, director general for foreign policy at the Spanish foreign ministry, and Maria Isabel Durantes Gil, director general for commercial shipping at the Spanish development ministry.

They were greeted at the quayside by Gibraltar's transport and deputy chief minister Joe Holliday.

The only other regular ferry service to Gibraltar comes from the Moroccan port of Tangiers.

A Spanish airline, Air Andalus, currently operates the only regularly scheduled flights between Spain and the territory.

Madrid blocked regular air services between Spain and the territory in 1979 but allowed them to resume in December 2006.

British Airways canceled its Madrid-Gibraltar route in September 2007 due to what it said were operating restrictions at both airports, and national carrier Iberia stopped its service last year for what it said were commercial reasons.

Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht but has retained a constitutional claim should Britain renounce sovereignty.

Its strategic position at the western entrance to the Mediterranean has long been of military interest.

Now a haven for tourism, shipping and offshore banking because of its favorable tax laws, its people overwhelmingly rejected an Anglo-Spanish proposal for co-sovereignty in a referendum in 2002.

In recent months, Spanish media has reported growing confrontations between the Royal Navy and Spain's Civil Guard police force in the waters around the promontory.

Police in Gibraltar earlier this month detained four Civil Guard officers who had chased two suspected drug smugglers into its territorial waters.

Bermuda accepts a new General Entrustment with UK

By Mikaela Ian Pearman

Government has accepted a new version of a document setting out an agreement between the UK and Bermuda governments over what the Island can negotiate for themselves.

The 1968 General Entrustment was reviewed after the controversy over the Uighurs because the UK said Bermuda had no right to negotiate their resettlement.

The new agreement states: "In view of the general responsibility of the Government of the United Kingdom for the external affairs of Bermuda, the Government of Bermuda will inform the Government of the United Kingdom, through the Governor, prior to the commencement of any formal negotiations delegated to the Government of Bermuda by paragraph two of this letter and, thereafter, will keep them informed of the progress of any such negotiations, and will consult the Government of the United Kingdom on the text of any proposed agreement or other instrument in good time before the agreement or other instrument is to be concluded.

"The Government of the United Kingdom will inform the Government of Bermuda if it should appear that the actions or proposals of the Government of Bermuda conflict with, or are likely to lead to conflict with the international commitments or obligations, the responsibilities or any policies of the Government of the United Kingdom.

"In that event the Government of the United Kingdom will advise the Bermuda Government as regards those commitments, obligations or policies and, so far as possible, further advise how best the intentions and proposals of the Government of Bermuda might be carried into effect.

"But it will be necessary for the Government of Bermuda to abide by the decision of the Government of the United Kingdom."

And Government will now have to report annually on all areas covered by the entrustment.

The agreement states: "The Government of Bermuda will provide annually a written report to the Government of the United Kingdom through the Governor summarizing the activities which have taken place under the terms of this entrustment during the preceding year and make the Government of the United Kingdom aware, through the Governor, of any arrangement, memorandum of understanding or other similar instrument that they are negotiating with other counties or with institutions."

The agreement came into effect on December 1 and was accepted by Premier Ewart Brown.

According to a press statement, it is based on the 1968 General Entrustment and maintains all the provisions for direct negotiation which were included in the 1968 text including trade agreements and visits, tourism, cultural, and scientific and technical agreements.

Lebanon PM on 1st Syria visit since father's death

By ALBERT AJI (AP)

DAMASCUS, Syria — Lebanon's prime minister, who has blamed neighboring Syria for the assassination of his father, visited Damascus Saturday for the first time since the 2005 killing — a trip that a close associate said was extremely difficult for him to make.

Despite the unresolved issue of his father's slaying in a massive truck bombing in Beirut, Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri's visit potentially opens the way for a new era in the two countries' relations, which have been characterized by upheaval and suspicion for decades.

The 39-year-old Hariri has appealed for relations with Syria based on "clarity and honesty." He was greeted warmly by Syrian President Bashar Assad upon his arrival at the presidential palace at the start of his two-day visit, and Lebanese media said he would attend a dinner banquet hosted by Assad.

Assad adviser Buthaina Shaaban told reporters their talks were "frank" and "succeeded in overcoming difficulties that marred relations in the past five years."

"The guarantee to that is the will of both President Assad and Hariri to build a positive and constructive relationship," she said.

Hariri said in a statement his government was looking forward to establishing "real and strategic relations with Syria."

Syria directly dominated Lebanon for nearly 30 years and kept tens of thousands of troops on its soil. After the killing of Hariri's father, Rafik, Syria came under intense pressure from its opponents in Lebanon, who staged massive protests, and from the West, forcing it to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

Syria repeatedly denied involvement in the assassination and a series of other political slayings and bombings that followed, but Hariri and his supporters continued to implicate Syria in the killing. Anti-Syrian parties were swept to power in 2005 elections in Lebanon.

The visit by Hariri was "very difficult on the personal level" and involves "great sacrifice," said Hariri loyalist and former lawmaker Mustafa Alloush.

"But as prime minister of Lebanon, it is quite normal to have such a visit. ... It is necessary and there is a need to settle all aspects of the relationship," Alloush told The Associated Press.

He said the visit did not mean some in Lebanon had dropped their belief that Syria was responsible for the killing of Rafik Hariri, who also served as prime minister.

"But this matter is up to the international tribunal now; it is no longer a personal issue," Alloush said.

A U.N.-backed tribunal has been set up to prosecute the assassins, but no suspects have been charged.

Syria has sought recently to improve its relations with the West, largely through its actions in Lebanon. Assad backed a peace deal between rival political factions in Lebanon that ended sectarian violence in May 2008.

Last year, Syria established formal diplomatic relations with Lebanon and set up an embassy in Lebanon for the first time since the countries' independence from France in the 1940s.

Syria still maintains influence in Lebanon through its backing of the militant group Hezbollah.

Hariri and his pro-Western political allies are in an uneasy power-sharing government with a Hezbollah-led grouping.

Saudi Foreign Minister raps US backing for Israel

(MENAFN - Arab News) Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said that US backing for Israel gave the Jewish state the option of not making peace.

In an interview published in the International Herald Tribune on Wednesday, Prince Saud said: "Absolute US backing ... has made Israel see the option of living in the area without the acceptance of the people of the area. This has led to many years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians."

The prince also lamented the failure of his efforts to establish a Palestinian state and regional peace during his tenure of almost 35 years as foreign minister.

During this period, "we have seen only moments of crisis, we have seen only moments of conflict," Prince Saud said.

"And how can you have any pleasure in anything that happens when you have people like the Palestinians living as they are?" he asked.

"Peace until now is like holding water or sand in your hand. You see the amount of water, you think you can hold something, but it falls away. Sand is the same thing. So unless there is something to hold in your hand and to point to as a success and as an achievement, you have done nothing."

Separately, the prince said Lebanon would be denied true sovereignty as long as Hezbollah "owns more arms than the military forces of the country." He said he was "suspicious" of Iranian claims its nuclear program is peaceful.

Prince Saud said Israel should give up its nuclear arsenal, the existence of which it neither confirms nor denies.

Meanwhile, in Ramallah, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Wednesday extended the mandates of both President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas-dominated Parliament until new elections can be held.

"The PLO took the decision that President Abbas and the Legislative Council will continue their duties until the next election in accordance with the law," PLO representative Qaid Al-Ghul told AFP.

The decision by the powerful umbrella group effectively extends the tense status quo between the bitter Palestinian rivals, Hamas and Abbas' Fatah party in charge of the West Bank.

The move also aims to prevent a constitutional vacuum after Jan. 24, when the present mandates expire, as Hamas has vowed to prevent a vote in their Gaza enclave. Abbas had called elections for next month but Hamas has said it will not allow the vote in its territory until there is a national reconciliation agreement.

Source: Middle East North Africa Financial Times (MENAFN).
Link: http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093289368&src=NLEN.

Education for Rohingya refugee children: Save our generation from losing their future

By Muhammad Saifullah

Today, the children of Rohingya refugees are struggling with their future to be saved as they are not recognized as refugees by the both Malaysian government to have access to education and UNHCR as mandated refugees to get resettlement like other refugees. They are marginalized and in languishing in horror situation. Their children are deprived of basic right to education, victims of exploitation and going to be a generation of beggars in Malaysia.

As per we know, two things can destroy a nation, illiteracy and poverty. Unfortunately, if we see the ethnic Rohingya, an estimated literacy rate of the Rohingya children both in home and exile are less than 0.5%. Literacy rate in Malaysia is “0”%.

It is very pitiful situation for the Rohingya community and true that Rohingya nation has lost their future. So, the education is most important to develop to any nation and to know what is the right and wrong things to get the basic rights in the future.

According to statistics issued by UNHCR Malaysia as of last October 2009, about 67,800 refugees and asylum-seekers were registered with the Refugee Agency. Of this figure, 62,000 are refugees from Burma, comprising 28,100 Chin, 16,100 Rohingya, 3,700 Burmese Muslims, 2,900 Kachin and other ethnic minorities.

Based on the available statistics, 51 per cent of the refugees and asylum-seekers were men while women made up 49 per cent. There were 14,600 children below the age of 18.

UNHCR Malaysia said there were also a large number of persons of concern to the agency who remained unregistered and the figure was said to be around 30,000. Believe there is also being a large number of children who are not yet granted refugee status.

The children of the Rohingya community in Malaysia do not have the privilege to study in government schools as they do not have birth certificates or any other official documents. Under the Malaysian Education Act (1966) only three categories of foreigners are permitted to enroll in government schools i.e the children of foreign embassies, children of foreigners who have legal work permits and those who have been granted permanent resident status.

Rohingyas arrived in Malaysia in early 1980s. More than 70% of Rohingya children are of school age. They could enter public schools, but as refugees, they were expelled out from the government school in early 2006, while very few numbers of Rohingya children got chance to study in public school as adopted children of local Malaysian. But still there is no any record a single Rohingya child from refugee community could manage to be a university student ever. Some managed to go through the categorized as “permanent resident,” which means they must pay higher fees, buy their own books and face a lot of red tape. Most cannot afford the extra costs. Access is also restricted as most of the refugee children do not have birth certificates, a legal prerequisite for admission.

The children of Rohingya in Malaysia are not recognized and are at greater risk of statelessness than their parents. Though they get birth certificates but they do not get any right to attend school. In past two decades, our unfortunate Burmese ethnic Rohingya children who have been born and grown up in Malaysia do not have access to government schools although primary school education is compulsory and available free to all in this country. And hence, the stateless children have not been able to develop their knowledge, skills, personality, talents etc.

Approximately there are more than 5,400 Rohingya refugee children in Malaysia are of school age. According to UNHCR report, they have not received basic education due to financial and bureaucratic obstacles. But I believe the main feature is that Rohingya children cannot enroll in public schools because Malaysian law does not recognize their refugee status.

That resulted most of them are working in odd jobs like construction sites, garbage collectors which should be considered as child labor.

Education is backbone of the Nation; Today’s children are tomorrow’s future. Peculiarly, Rohingya children in Malaysia don’t have access to get education. Rohingyas existence as a nation or ethnic group of Burma is depends on their children. Without education they are blind and unable to fight for their future due to lack of knowledge. We can for see what will happen to the Rohingya refugees and their children living in Malaysia if nothing is done to help them?

However, in 1998, Yayasan Salam came up to help to educate some Rohingya children in Kampung Cheras Baru as an implementing partner of UNHCR and that project was terminated in 2000.

From the year 2001, ABIM stood to fund for that school with a view to giving read and writable education to some 50 children.

Similarly, the UN refugee agency partnered with a non-governmental organization, the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu-Chi Foundation, opened five new education centers within the Klang Valley in 2008, serving some 300 Rohingya refugee children. The project received funding from the United States government, bringing education to the Rohingya community on an unprecedented scale in Malaysia.

Likewise, from January 2008, UNHCR extended a supportive hand to facilitate primary education to the Rohingya refugee children in Tasik Permai, Tasik Tambahan, Taman Muda, Kampung Pandang and Selayang respectively. As per my study, those schools are also not fully equipped.

But those 5 schools are based within klang valley only. Mostly the Rohingya live in Penang and Johor. But their children are still deprived of basic right to formal education. Thanks to a humanitarian NGO, JUMP Network Group, while helping Rohingya children in penang in 3 schools.

Recently there is another school supported by Muslim Welfare Association of Malaysia (PERKIM), a local NGO chaired by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia since September 2009. That school is situated in Lamba Jaya, Ampang. There are 3 teachers including a religious teacher and 120 students enroll regular classes. All the expenditures of school and students such as rental, accommodation, text books for children, necessary material are conducted by PERKIM. The sad reality is that two of UNHCR’s five schools closed down as all the students shifted to PERKIM School.

In Johor Baru, there are some schools set up by privet initiative of Rohingya community to educate their own children but due to lack of fund unable to go further and waiting to get any assistance from UNHCR or any GNO to develop school curriculums as minimum standard.

According to strategic country plan by UNHCR, the 2010-2011 UNHCR budgets for the protection of children is USD $209, 825 and for the refugee education in Malaysia is listed USD $1, 555, 717. Rohingya community hope on that issue, UNHCR may set up some more schools for Rohingya children in different places like Klang, Johor and Penang if the decision of government remains unchanged.

In addition, Harvest Centre Sdn Bhd, set up an informal school in Sentul. About half of the centre's students are Rohingya refugee children. Believed to be Malaysia's first Montessori school for marginalized children, Harvest Centre was set up in 2004 with seed funding from World Vision and is run on public donations. The school, which has qualified and full-time staffs and a host of volunteers, and entered as an implementing partner with UNHCR but there is not more than 200 Rohingya refugee children studying.

After nearly two decades in Malaysia without education for their children, Malaysia's 16,100 registered Muslim Rohingya refugees from Arakan state of Burma are especially hungry for formal schooling.

Future Global Network Foundation (FGN) a local NGO has been helping the local coordinators of the Rohingya communities in some settlement areas. FGN only supports 500 ringgits for 12 religious teachers in 9 different education sectors since 2007.

There is another school namely “Darul Uloom Blossom Garden” Kampung Sungai Pinang, Klang, Two teachers are in charge of religious studies; 1 teacher for teaching English, Maths and science. FGN can only support for two religious teachers due to insufficient funds. There is no teacher available for the teaching of Bahasa Malaysia at the moment.

The complaints of Rohingya children have been spread out that most of them are involved in beggar’s path. Why they are begging and what is the main reason behind it? In my study, the key spur is education. So I hope and strongly believe that only education would take the refugee children off the streets and prevent them from becoming a generation of beggars apart from being dragged into being part of the 'bad hats'.

It is true to be heard that there are two groups of Rohingya children who took to the streets as beggars in Malaysia.

On one side, the children were in the clutches of a triad from some their own ignorant people and local gangs who paid some money to the parents of the children and the children themselves before sending them out to the streets to beg which is believed to be a part of exploitation.

"The other group is that who have no choice but to beg and begging is the easiest form of earning a livelihood on the name selling books”.

A notable example of such inconsistencies relates to the government’s statements regarding Rohingyas in Malaysia In 2004, the Government announced that it would consider regularizing the status of existing stateless Rohingyas in Malaysia, to enable them to legally work and live without fear of arrest from the enforcement agencies... The Rohingya were so glad and hoped their children would be able to attend for public school. However, to date, this policy does not appear to have been implemented.

Issues also arise with regards to the status of the children of Rohingya refugees who are born in Malaysia. Since their parents are undocumented, such children are more often than not, hindered in obtaining birth certificates and other identification documents which would facilitate their access to basic needs including medical care and education.

"To me, the only way to get these people out from the clutches of poverty is through education. We can give them food, for few days or give them money but money is never enough. "We need to empower them, especially the children, teach them how to find out food, not just giving them packets of food, so they can stand on their own two feet and become the master of their own destiny. What if one day we are not here anymore and also the people who are helping them?

"I have been teaching refugee children for 3 years, now in Klang. That school was set up in 2006 by some Rohingyas and still all the expenses are born by the community. The children are great, very responsive and excited to learn but being refugees they are unable to enjoy their full rights to education with full equipments like public schools.

It is satisfying to see the glow on their innocent faces as they respond to my teaching. They also love drawings, playing football and netball.

"They are practically living with no hope, no dreams and no tomorrow, nothing. I am helping them straight from my heart. My goal is, let's say out of 63 students, if I can get one into university or can get a doctor or engineer; this is already a huge reward for me in my life. May be it will take some time but I am willing to do this forever.

Thus, there is still room for optimism notwithstanding the current plight of refugees in Malaysia. As long as the authorities accept deficiencies in the current status quo and are willing to engage in dialogue to redress the situation, there is still room for hope. For everyone’s part, we can continue to work to increase awareness of children’s rights, and to encourage the government to adopt comprehensive and long-term refugee children protection policies, beginning with accession to the Child Convention and amendment to relevant immigration laws and other policies affecting refugees in Malaysia. For the time-being, we can also continue to encourage the government to adopt interim measures to alleviate at least some of the problems faced by refugee children, for instance, by encouraging the government to grant registered refugees with the right to seek and obtain employment lawfully, and to have access to basic needs such as shelter, food, healthcare and particularly education.

Malaysia has ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and is thus obligated to protect all children, including migrant, asylum-seekers and refugee children. In the 2007 Concluding Observations of the Committee of the Rights of the Child, the Committee has expressed concerns over various aspects of migrant, asylum-seekers and refugee children including detention.

The Committee specifically recommends the Malaysian Government to stop detention of children in relation to Immigration proceedings and to develop a legislative framework for the protection of asylum-seekers and refugee children.

We would like to request to the Malaysian Government to fulfill its obligation to protect the rights of children, regardless of the child’s citizenship. In addition, the Government is obligated to provide protection to asylum seekers and refugee children as according to Article 22 of the CRC.

We believe the Government will ensure that the refugee children are secured and not subjected to any violence or negligent treatment during arrest and detention and provide basic assistance through formal education.