BROUK issued its statement to the press on August 7th after more than 100 Burmese security personnel entered a Rohingya IDP camp near Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State. Upon entering the camp Burmese security forces killed one Rohingya, seriously injured two others, and arrested 15 people.

At the same time, many Rohingyas in northern Arakan State’s Buthidaung and Maungdaw regions have been arrested, threatened, and harassed during the Burmese government’s recent campaign to collect population data, the statement stated.

According to the BROUK statement, violence against Rohingyas has continued and the situation in Arakan State has deteriorated since June 2012. In particular, over 150 Rohingyas—including 20 pregnant women—died in the two weeks following the evacuation of aid workers from Arakan State in March 2014. Many children in the region have also died because of malnutrition, the statement stated.

Although MSF aid workers have been allowed back into Arakan State, there are still serious restrictions on the distribution of aid to the Rohingya community and the movement of Rohingya IDP’s generally, the BROUK press release added.

“If the US government wants to see clear progress on the Rohingya issue in Burma, John Kerry should be setting timelines and benchmarks for progress, including to restore Rohingya citizenship and for the lifting of restrictions on aid, movement, marriage and education in Arakan,” said BROUK’s President Tun Khin in the press release.

Tun Khin was also quoted in the statement as saying that “The United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma has stated that the widespread and systematic human rights violations in Arakan State ‘may constitute crimes against humanity’. The US government should be supporting an international investigation into human rights abuses in Arakan State.”

In its statement, BROUK urged US Secretary of State John Kerry to put pressure on Burmese President Thein Sein to immediately stop the violence and other crimes against Rohingyas and to provide more protection to the Rohingya community by taking the following concrete actions: allow humanitarian NGO’s full and free access to Rohingyas in all parts of Arakan State; repeal or amend the 1982 Citizenship Law in a way that conforms with international standards; stop the segregation of communities in Arakan State and adopt a proactive policy of “peaceful co-existence”; and support an independent international investigation into human rights abuses in Arakan State.

Other NGO’s also urged John Kerry to raise the Rohingya issue during his visit to Burma. For instance, on the website of Human Rights Watch (HRW), HRW’s Asia director Brad Adams said that “Kerry should use his visit to deliver a clear and public message of deep concern about serious human rights problems, including continued persecution of the Rohingya, continued military abuses against ethnic groups, and the need for constitutional reform.”

The Boston Globe also quoted Daniel Sullivan, policy director of an NGO called United to End Genocide, as saying that “If Kerry is going to visit, then he needs to address the fact that the plight of the Rohingya has not gotten better.” The Washington-based NGO, which is dedicated to ending mass atrocities, then added: “[Actually, the problems of the Rohingya have] gotten worse.”