Tun Khin, The BROUK president, explained how the situation of the Rohingyas in Arakan State is deteriorating to various NGOs and US officials in Washington on 22nd and 23rd September. These included the US Senate, the State Department, the US Assistant Secretary, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the National Endowment for Democracy.

Tun Khin said: “I explained to high level US officials about the deteriorating situation of the Rohingya in Arakan State before President Barack Obama’s forthcoming second visit to Burma in November 2014. He will be going to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which is being held in Burma.”

He raised the humanitarian crisis and healthcare issues facing the Rohingya community since MSF were kicked out from Arakan State and since the Burmese government imposed restrictions on education, healthcare, marriage and movement.

He explained how the Burmese Government are forcing the Rohingya people to call themselves Bengali instead of Rohingya which is making them second class citizens. He also said that the government was taking no action to stop the hate speech against the Rohingya and other Burmese Muslims, which was spreading across the country.

He also talked about the Rohingya refugee situation in Bangladesh, Thailand, India, Malaysia and Indonesia.

During a Senate meeting Tun Khin urged the US government to set up timelines and benchmarks for improvements in the Rohingya’s situation before the US Government deepened its ties with the Burmese Government.

He urged the US authorities to publicly use the word Rohingya and to put effective pressure on the Burmese Government to restore full citizenship to the Rohingya during President Obama’s visit to Burma. He also said the president should meet with Rohingya leaders whilst he was in Burma.

In a meeting with Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration he urged the US to resettle Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand in the United States.

Tun Khin also briefed the European Union Representative to the UN and other missions. He urged them to include the Rohingya issue in the UN General Assembly Resolutions on Burma. He said that the present EU policy towards Burma was encouraging the Burmese Government to cleanse the Rohingya community. He said the EU should highlight that President Thein Sein’s government are denying 1.3 million Rohingyas basic rights and citizenship.

Tun Khin said: “I met US Assistant Secretary Tom Malinowski in New York on 26th September and urged him to pressure the Burmese government to lift restrictions on movement, marriage, healthcare and education before President Obama’s visit to Burma.”

Tun Khin also addressed the implementation of the 1982 citizenship law, which will make the Rohingyas illegal immigrants and strip them of their citizenship rights in violation of international laws.

He also encouraged the US Government to establish the true facts of what has happened to the Rohingyas since June 2012 and bring those responsible for violence against them to justice to prevent any further violence against the Rohingyas.