I’m thrilled that Ireland voted for same sex marriage this week. I’m not, however, inclined to be swept up in the mass hysteria surrounding the landmark outcome. Women, even those who have been raped, are still deprived of their right to choose what happens to their bodies. As long as abortion is illegal in Ireland, any attempt to claim enlightenment, in terms of equality, is disingenuous.
The other reason I’m uncomfortable with the UK media frenzy surrounding the referendum outcome in Ireland, is that it eclipsed the plight of the beleaguered Rohingya population in Bangladesh. After some initial, belated coverage of those forced to drink their own urine while stranded for months on flotillas off the coast of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, the media (with few exceptions) got bored and moved on.
The following are a list of actions that Physicians for Human Rights urged in a report issued last week. A report that was all but ignored by the mainstream media:
For the Government of Bangladesh to:
• Desist immediately from arbitrarily arresting and forcibly expelling legitimate refugees who have a well founded fear of persecution.
• Establish a national refugee and asylum administrative framework that guarantees the fundamental rights to safe-haven from persecution and non-refoulement and that allows access to life-saving humanitarian assistance.
• Allow humanitarian agencies full and unobstructed access to provide relief to this vulnerable population that faces critical levels of malnutrition and disease. This assistance should include the immediate distribution of food rations to all unregistered refugees and a blanket supplementary feeding program to prevent a high number of avoidable deaths.
• Condemn immediately and prevent the campaign of ethnic hatred and incitement against Rohingya refugees.
For the Burmese government to:
• Cease immediately its campaign of widespread human rights violations against ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya, which has led to the flight of millions into neighboring countries.
For the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to:
• Assert its global mandate to protect and assist the unregistered Rohingya as a population of concern and press the Government of Bangladesh to stop the arrest and forcible refoulement of those Rohingya who have a well-founded fear of persecution.
• Press the Government of Bangladesh to allow immediate life-saving humanitarian assistance to this vulnerable population.
• Launch a coordinated appeal to regional and other donor nations for humanitarian relief and protection to this
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