The Burmese government is killing its own people.
Specifically, Rohingya Muslims.
There are 1.3 million Rohingya in Burma. The government is bent on ridding the country of them.
The Rohingya have long been discriminated against through overtly racist policies. But things just got a lot worse.
On February 26th, Burma's President banned Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières/MSF), the largest provider of health services in Rakhine State. MSF had served nearly 750,000 of Rakhine State's most vulnerable people, the majority of whom are Rohingya. One month later, other humanitarian organizations were pushed out.
As of January 2015 MSF has been allowed to reopen their operations in western Burma, however their capacity to provide critical care is extremely limited. Because of this, hundreds have died preventable deaths and continue to do so.
Raise your voice and call on Burma's President Thein Sein to prevent genocide of the Rohingya people.
Here are 3 ways you can help tell Burmese President Thein Sein to #PreventGenocide:
3. Send a Letter to President Thein Sein.
Use the form below to submit a letter directly to the Burmese President's Office. Copy and paste the following information into the form below:
***NOTE: LEAVE THE "WORD VERIFICATION" BLANK. JUST HIT "SUBMIT." THANK YOU!***
**State & Division = " Rakhine "
**Mail Type = " Appeal Letter "
**Subject = " Prevent Genocide "
**Message =
Dear President Thein Sein,
I urge you to allow all UN, international and domestic humanitarian organizations, including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and Malteser International, to resume full scale operations in Rakhine State. You have a duty to prevent genocide under your international legal obligations of the Genocide Convention and the responsibility to protect all of Burma's people, including Rohingya Muslims.
The Genocide Convention's definition of genocide includes acts that deliberately inflict on a group "conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part [Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 78 U.N.T.S. 277, Article 2(c), entered into force Jan. 12, 1951]." In denying Rohingya access to life-saving medical care, food, and water, and severely restricting their movement, your government is inflicting conditions calculated to bring about destruction of the Rohingya in whole or in part.
Please do the right thing and promptly reinstate MSF, Malteser International and allow all humanitarian organizations to resume full scale operations without delay or restrictions in Rakhine State. You have the power to end the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people. Please take this plea seriously.
Sincerely,
[[Your name]]