Britain Must Think About Its Relationship With Burma Over the Treatment of the Rohingyas - says Kerry McCarthy

Kerry McCarthy is a shadow foreign minister and Labour MP for Bristol East. She has recently posted her opinion in the Huffington Post about what her British government ought to do about curbing the suffering of the persecuted Rohingya people of Myanmar. 

She writes: "While the EU continues to struggle with the Mediterranean refugee crisis, South East Asia has been facing a potential catastrophe as Burma's Rohingya flee their homes in search of safety across the Andaman Sea. The scenes of thousands of people stranded on boats and the harrowing discovery of mass graves have recently commanded the world's attention, but the Rohingya minority's desperation is not new and they are no strangers to injustice.
Ethnic and religious prejudices, backed up by state-sponsored discrimination, mean the Rohingya have never been accepted in their own country. Their government labels them as "Bengali" and denies them any citizenship rights. For their part, Bangladesh too refuses to give them a home. When communal violence erupted three years ago, hundreds of people lost their lives, homes were razed to the ground and 140,000 innocent people had to flee.
Since then, the Rohingya have been shunted into "Internally Displaced People" camps, a dispassionate term that belies the personal tragedies of those living there."
She bemoans that her government's support of the pariah Myanmar regime has not changed the statusquo of the Rohingya people. "The prime minister and foreign secretary must acknowledge that their support for Burma has not secured basic human rights and a safe home for the Rohingya; it has not ended the impunity for sexual violence or the fear and suffering this fuels; it has not led to the release of all political prisoners; and it has not delivered the constitutional reforms that could allow genuinely free and fair elections in which Aung San Suu Kyi is permitted to stand. Calls have rightly been made for the UN secretary general to co-ordinate an international response to the crisis, but the UK government should think about its own relationship with Burma and wield its significant and growing influence to help renew Burma's progress towards peace and democracy and ensure the Rohingya have their human rights fully respected," she writes.
As I have pointed out it is the imperial British government, which is much to blame for the sad controversy and situation of the Rohingya people. If the then British government had done what was rightful then we should not be visited by such sad stories today.
You can read the entire piece, by clicking here.

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