Myanmar population law targets Muslim Rohingyas: HRW
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized a new population law signed by Myanmar’s President Thein Sein, saying the legislation targets the country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.
On Sunday, the rights agency criticized the legislation, which was signed on May 19, amid growing tensions over an ongoing migrant crisis in the region involving thousands of members of the Muslim minority.
"This will seriously worsen ethnic and religious tensions. We fully expect that the Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state will be target number one of this legislation," HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said.
The law would allow regional governments to introduce family planning regulations allegedly aimed at lowering birth rates in the country’s different states.
Under the law, women in Myanmar will be obliged to wait 36 months after the birth of each child.
Robertson added that the new law defied international calls “for reconciliation and respect for rights in Rakhine,” Myanmar’s western state, which is home to the persecuted group.
In recent weeks, thousands of migrants, including Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, have fled their countries on boat and have arrived in neighboring Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Many are in serious need of food and water.
On May 22, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said at least 3,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority are still likely to be stranded in the Andaman Sea. The UNHCR also called on neighboring governments to take action and address the crisis.
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The government in Myanmar refuses to recognize the minority group as its citizens and insists they are “illegal” immigrants, even though they have lived in the country for centuries.
In 2012, hundreds of people were killed and about 140,000 others became displaced following a wave of ethnic and sectarian violence by extremist Buddhists against the Rohingyas in Myanmar.
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