The All-Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group (PHRG) attended this event held by Chatham House on the situation of the Rohingya minority in Asia.

The speakers were as follows:

• Amal de Chickera,Senior Consultant on Statelessness, Equal Rights Trust; Co-Director, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (“AC”)
• Tun Khin, President, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (“TK”)

The Chair was Gareth Price, Senior Research Fellow, Asia Programme, Chatham House (“GP”).

The key points raised were as follows:

• Impunity prevails for the abuses committed against the Burmese Rohingya people. The Government of Burma remains unwilling to engage in dialogue on this issue. (TK)
• The international community should be pushing for an international investigation into the situation in Rakhine state in Burma. (TK)
• The statelessness issue is becoming increasingly pressing. It presents a dual failing of Governments to protect the right to a nationality and to protect those without a nationality from further abuses. (AC)
• The responsibility for protecting the right to nationality is a contentious issue and it is not clear who should be held responsible in every situation. (AC)
• The majority of Rohingya people outside Burma are refugees or have illegal immigrant status. In these circumstances, violations arise more from lack of a protected status rather than discrimination because of their ethnicity or religion. (AC)
• States should not send mixed messaged to countries such as Burma. They must be clear on the violations being perpetrated and not just highlight positive reform measures. (AC)
• States should also push for a United Nations resolution on the subject and pressure regional bodies for action. (AC)

The PHRG continues to monitor the situation of the Rohingya people and raise concerns where possible.