The Suffering of the Rohingya People Continues
On Mon, 18 June, 2018 - 15:15
The Rohingya people need your money, urgently.
A new Buddhist global project has been set up to help the Rohingya people, a million of whom are living in the world’s biggest refugee camp, Bangladesh, as a result of Buddhist-led violence in Myanmar/Burma. After fleeing their burning villages, many of them now find themselves living in very difficult conditions facing monsoon rains.
Late in 2017 a number of senior Order members published a strongly-worded statement pointing out that there is no Buddhist justification for violence against non-Buddhist minorities, urging Buddhists everywhere to condemn the cruelty and brutality and the Burmese Buddhist leaders to halt the violence.
The Rohingya people have not been forgotten by Buddhists, as shown by the the new global project that recently has been set up to bring help to them: The Buddhist Humanitarian Project is a non-sectarian initiative in response to the current crisis.
The project came out of a visit to the camps by Richard Reoch, former President of Shambala, and Alan Senauke, a prominent American Zen Buddhist teacher and social activist. In his report, Richard gives an account of the testimony of people who have had to flee Myanmar, and who have been shot at and tortured. They speak of the ‘Buddhist Terror’. Women and girls have been subjected to horrific sexual violence and remain vulnerable to trafficking and sexual exploitation in the camps.
We can offer help to Rohingya refugees: by signing an appeal to be handed to the Myanmar State Committee and, crucially, making a donation to the Buddhist Humanitarian project (in US Dollars) or in other currencies via one of the international agencies working with the Rohingya people.
Give in the UK.
Give in Australia.
Give in Germany.
Give in Ireland.
Give in New Zealand.
Give in Sweden.
Don’t see your country or currency here? Google Rohingya crisis + your country to find a local agency.
Read Richard’s account of his visit to the Rohingya camps
Read both statements against Buddhist violence against mostly Muslim Rohingya people in Burma/Myanmar, signed individually and personally by senior members of the Triratna Buddhist Order including Sangharakshita in 2017 and an earlier statement in 2013.
Listen to Vishvapani’s broadcast in 2017 on BBC Radio Four’s Thought for the Day: ‘Burmese atrocities: the problem with a Buddhist state’
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Responses
One deeply regrets any suffering, especially of innocent peoples of whatsoever race, creed or colour, but it is somewhat disingenuous (to say the least) to state that the violence in Burma is “Buddhist-led”. The current violence perpetrated against Rohingya muslims has been occasioned in response to terrorist insurgency by muslim separatist forces. To omit this important fact is to pander to Islamism. It is a form of appeasement which helps no-one and only serves to frustrate the Burmese sense of national identity. Western Buddhists should be very careful before getting mixed up in foreign affairs they understand only through a hazy liberal perspective.
Hi Sadayasihi,
I’m grateful to you for posting this, and to all those who contributed to the statements in 2013 and 2017, set up this global project, spoken on radio and tv and taken other initiatives. I have very much wanted to be part of a Buddhist response to the situation and here is the opportunity, and something I can forward to others who I know feel the same. love Dayajoti