President Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Subject: Letter of Petition to formally declare the Rohingya Genocide

Dear Honorable President Joseph R. Biden,

May this letter of petition find you in the best of health and profound happiness.

First of all, we the undersigned, would like to congratulate you on your election victory as the 46th President of the United States of America.

We are greatly confident that under your guidance and leadership, the US Administration will work tirelessly for the benefit of the American population and the international community where the Rohingya people are part and parcel of it. The Rohingya people are the most suffering and vulnerable people in the world as the United Nations mentioned.

We fervently urge the President Joe Biden administration to fully condemn the military coup that took place on February 1, 2021, in Burma (Myanmar) and take stronger action against the military regime. We submit this letter of petition to President Joe Biden and the United States government to recognize the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya ethnic minority and to work towards humanitarian aid for the Rohingya people. We also call upon President Joe Biden’s Administration to take the necessary steps of making a formal declaration regarding the crimes committed against the Rohingya people by the Military Generals and its security forces based on clear evidence and detailed reports of the atrocities collected by the United Nation agencies, US Congress, Senate, international NGOs, Human rights organizations, and the State Department’s August 2018 summary report, “Documentation of Atrocities in Northern Arakan State.”

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been denying the ongoing genocide of the ethnic Rohingya people. She has worked with the military regime and has protected them in the past and including at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) when hearing the case of the Rohingya genocide in the Netherlands. Now, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is detained by the same military regime who seized the power.

On the other hand, Dr. Aye Maung, a Buddhist Rakhine ultra-nationalist who played an important role together with the Military generals and its security forces to commit crimes, persecutions, and genocide against the ethnic Rohingya people was released from prison on Friday, February 12th, as part of the military regime’s release of inmates. Dr. Aye Maung is one of the members who also accountable for the incitement of genocide of the Rohingya ethnic minority and is an extremely dangerous person. With him released, there is no guarantee of safety, security and peace for the Rohingyas in Burma.

Due to the military ruling from 1962 to 2011, violence against various ethnic and religious minorities took place. The Rohingya ethnic minority has been living in Burma for generations. Burma’s 1982 Citizenship Law, enforced by the military regime, denies the Rohingya people citizenship, leaving them outsiders in their motherland. There have been no steps to change this law or to help the Rohingya minority. The Rohingya ethnic minority has been forced to be stateless in their own country. Since 2012, there has been an active and ongoing genocide against the Rohingya people from the military regime.

Even with the NLD party led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the quasi-democracy in Burma has ensured no safety of the Rohingya. Now with the military regime in power, the genocide of the Rohingya at the hands of the government will continue. There are internally displaced person’s camps inside Arakan State, Burma, where no humanitarian organizations are able to provide assistance. Inside the IDP camps, people live in plastic shelters. With the lack of infrastructure and the current global pandemic, the displaced Rohingya are in immense stress and vulnerability. There is no medical care available inside these camps. The current life they are living in Burma is full of suffering.

We, the undersigned, call upon the Biden Administration and the United States government to recognize the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya ethnic minority and work towards humanitarian aid inside Burma. The United Nations and other powerful countries have been unable to find a solution for decades. Enough is enough. It is time to solve this problem. Without help from the Biden Administration and United States government, the Rohingya inside Burma and in neighboring nations as refugees, are left vulnerable and without guarantee of safety. We believe that through these actions and making a formal declaration acknowledging the full extent of these crimes is a critical step toward accountability for the perpetrators of these crimes and justice for the Rohingya victims of Genocide.

Evidence and Detailed Reports of the Atrocities

  1. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG), the UN Fact-Finding Mission, many international NGOs and the various independent legal experts of Genocide Advocates concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes were committed against the Rohingya people of Arakan State, Burma (Myanmar).
  1. The U.S. House of Representatives passed H. Resolution 1091 by a margin of 394-1 in December 2018 calling these crimes against the Rohingyas as genocide and crimes against humanity based on the available evidence under international law. The United Nations Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar report released on September 2, 2018 found that Burmese military and security forces systematically and brutally targeted the Rohingya community in the 2017 “clearance operations,” killing thousands of innocents and displacing more than 700,000 people, which constitutes crimes against humanity and genocide.
  1. The Press Release issued on February 27, 2019, by the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Representative Eliot L. Engel who led a bipartisan group of members in calling on the US Administration to formally designate the Burmese military atrocities against the Rohingya people as genocide.

Sincerely,

Arakan Institute for Peace and Development
Burmese American Muslims Association
Civil Rights Movement for Burma
International Campaign for the Rohingya
Justice For All
Los Angeles Rohingya Association
Rohingya American Society of Wisconsin
Rohingya Culture Center of Chicago
Rohingya National League
Rohingya Society of Greater Houston
Rohingya Society of Greater Nashua
Rohingya Youth Association of Portland

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Nasir Zakaria

Rohingya Culture Center of Chicago
Founder and Executive Director
Nasir@rccchicago.org
+1 (872) 203-4921

Shaukhat Kyaw Soe Aung Ali

Founder and Executive Director
Rohingya American Society of Wisconsin
Shaukhat@gmail.com
+1 (414) 736-4273

U Shwe Maung

Former Rohingya Member of Parliament in Myanmar
President of Arakan Institute for Peace and Development (AiPAD)
Shwemaung.mp@gmail.com
+1 (330) 785-6603