Members of the Buddhist clergy in Burma have called on people to shun the Rohingya Muslim community.
Monks’ organisations were seen near Rohingya refugee camps, blocking attempts to deliver aid to the Rohingyas, living in ‘desperate’ conditions, according to human rights organisations.
"In recent days, monks have emerged in a leading role to enforce denial of humanitarian assistance to Muslims, in support of policy statements by politicians," said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan project, a Burmese NGO, The Independent reported.
"A member of a humanitarian agency in Sittwe told me that some monks were posted near Muslim displacement camps, checking on and turning away people they suspected would visit for assistance."
Buddhist associations released statements, calling on locals not to associate with the Muslims, who were described as ‘cruel by nature’ in pamphlets.
Ko Ko Gyi, a democracy activist with the 88 Generation Students group and a former political prisoner, said at a conference in London recently: "The Rohingya are not a Burmese ethnic group. The root cause of the violence… comes from across the border."
Burmese President Thein Sein has urged Bangladesh to to take in the minority, who are not seen as authentic Burmese by the majority.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also been criticised for not speaking out enough.
Amal de Chickera of the London-based Equal Rights Trust, said: "You have these moral figures, whose voices do matter. It's extremely disappointing and in the end it can be very damaging."
Suu Kyi said in her first statement to parliament today that the government should protect the rights of ethnic minorities.
"To become a truly democratic union with a spirit of the union, equal rights and mutual respect, I urge all members of parliament to discuss the enactment of the laws needed to protect equal rights of ethnicities,"
She did not mention the Rohingyas specifically and when asked in April whether the Rohingyas should be regarded as Burmese citizens, she replied “I don’t know”, and said Burma needed to clarify its citizenship laws.
