Fortify Rights urged Myanmar should allow all voting-age Rohingya including refugees in Bangladesh on the upcoming National election that will be held on 8th November 2020.
Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Fortify Rights said, “Rohingya voted in past elections, and they should have the right to vote in November. Mass absentee voting is possible. The government has ample time to ensure the upcoming elections are free and fair.”
In Myanmar, the Rohingyas face immense discrimination and they are identified as “Bengali” which is but a fabrication of consecutive Myanmar military propaganda.
After the 2017’s Genocidal campaign by Myanmar Military, about one million Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh. In an interview conducted by Fortify Rights on 29 Rohingyà refugees in Bangladesh, a 29-year-old Rohingya refugee woman said, “Our body is here, but our soul is in our country. We want to go back right now, but we cannot do so due to the situation there. We need the safety and the security there, and we hope that the international community will provide us with justice.”
“We will not go back as long as we are forced to accept the NVC there if we accept the NVC, we will become people of Bangladesh.” said a 40-year-old Rohingya refugee woman. “We don’t want to return to Myanmar holding the NVC,” added a Rohingya refugee man (50). “We will be cut there again the way our children were cut there before.”
Refugees elsewhere in the world have voted in home-country elections through voting stations in refugee camps and absentee ballots. Also it should be noted that, in 2010, Rohingya participated in nationwide elections in Myanmar, and three Rohingya served in Parliament as recently as 2015.
Matthew Smith added that “Any failure on Myanmar’s part to include Rohingya in the political process will send an incriminating signal to the ICJ. Rohingya are eager to participate constructively in the life of Myanmar, and their right to do so should be protected.”
Note: In November 2019, The Gambia filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague against Myanmar for failing to prevent or punish genocide against Rohingya. In a landmark ruling, on January 23, 2020, the ICJ ruled unanimously in favour of The Gambia’s request for provisional measures. The measures required Myanmar to report to the court in May and then every six months after that for the duration of the trial, among other requirements, including to take affirmative actions to prevent genocide and preserve evidence of genocide.
Founded in 2013, Fortify Rights is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to strengthen the human rights movement.
