“The event was organized Human Rights Watch and more than 20 missions from different counties, including US Mission, UK Mission and OIC mission,” said Tun Khin, president of Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK).

Khin who was invited to speak on the problem of statelessness and its severe impact on human rights urged an immediate intervention to stop the crimes against humanities by the Burmese government.

The BROUK president discussed the “incompatibility of the 1982 Burmese Citizenship Law with international human rights” that stripped Rohingyas of citizenship. Khin called for “immediate international intervention”, during the panel discussion.

 “The 1982 citizenship law has denied Rohingyas of their bona fide citizenship rights and been strongly criticized by international rights advocacy groups. But, President Then Sein Government is still trying to implement it by force; ignoring international outcries.”

The BROUK president also called for the UN to send observers to the affected of Arakan state to protect vulnerable Rohingya and Muslims communities in the IDP camps and the villages where they have been segregated. He requested for the UN to create a commission that will investigate the violence and to bring those responsible to justice.

“There is no plan or discussion about the safe return of Rohingyas IDPs to their original place since the 2012 June” said Khin.  Humanitarian aid is being blocked by “state authorities and local Rakhine extremists”. More than 35,000 Rohingyas have already fled the country to try to escape the deplorable living conditions that was “created by Burmese government”. The government is “allowing hatred speeches against Rohingyas and other Muslims minorities in Burma”. They are not “protecting Muslims in Burma”. The government is trying to “eliminate Muslims from Burma”.

Khin also noted that Rohingyas have lived in the area since the early part of the 7th century. They want to live peacefully in their homeland with the other ethnic groups, but first they need ethnic and citizenship rights restored, according to Khin.

During the event, Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, discussed the plight of Rohingyas facing daily persecution at the hands of state authorities and the local Rakhine in Northern Arakan state.

Melanie Teff from Refugees International also talked about the challenges providing humanitarian aid to internally displaced persons (IDPs) affected by the June and October violence of last year.

Josh Lyon, from Human Rights Watch, ended the event with a revealing power point presentation that included satellite pictures of destroyed Rohingya and Kaman Muslim communities that “were at times carried out with the support of state security forces and local government officials”, according to a statement on the Human Rights Watch website. The images show the “destruction of homes and other property in the predominantly Rohingya Muslim areas of Pauktaw, Mrauk-U, and Mtebon townships, all sites of violence and displacement in late October, 2012”.