ASIA/MYANMAR - The slavery of Rohingya girls

Friday, 3 March 2017

Internet

Yangon (Agenzia Fides) - Last October, the Burmese Army carried out a military operation in the State of Rajine, North Myanmar, following an attack on a border post in the region which caused the death of nine agents. Since then, over 100,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand. Over 1 million Rohingya, of Muslim faith, live in the north of Burma, although they are originally from Rajine and considered illegal immigrants arriving from Bangladesh. The vast majority of Burmese are Buddhists and of burma ethnicity.
The Rohingya girls are forced to flee to avoid being abducted and sold as brides. Recently, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has accused the Burmese Army of atrocities against the Rohingya population from mass rapes to the execution of newborns. In Malaysia, where the majority of the population is Muslim, child marriage is allowed. According to the Country’s legislation, young people under 16 years of age can contract legal marriage and always in the presence of the permit of an Islamic court. However, in the case of marriages between Rohingya there is no kind of court because marriage is celebrated in an extrajudicial form by a Rohingya iman without authorization and, even if a certificate is issued, it is a document that Malaysian law does not recognize. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 03/03/2017)


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