ICC Note: Over five hundred migrants from Myanmar gather in Perth to call on Australia and other western governments to take action to help protect their ethnic minority groups. Chin (mostly Christian), Kachin (mostly Christian), Arakan, and Karen communities want to highlight ongoing persecution against them for decades, as the world is paying attention to the Rohingya crisis.
06/19/2018 Myanmar (SBS) – Australia’s ethnic Myanmar migrants are calling on western nations to intervene in the South East Asian nation, warning of decades of war crimes and human rights violations.
Over five hundred people joined a protest outside Perth’s state parliament on Tuesday calling on the Australian – and other western governments – to take action to help protect the countries ethnic groups.
While there has been a lot of media exposure around the plight of the Rohingya Muslims, other ethnic groups including the Karen, Kachin, Arakan and Chin communities say they have experienced ongoing persecution for decades.
Organiser and Karen Community WA spokesperson Samuel Po says the Rohingya crisis is just the tip of the iceberg.
“The Rohingya is what you have been hearing in the news right now. But for us, the other ethnic groups, we’ve been suffering for so long,” he said.
“We are here protesting and rallying because we want the international community to be aware of this also, and to put pressure on the Burma military dictators.”
Along with allegations of war crimes and ongoing military attacks, the communities are concerned by further escalations against ethnic groups in the country.
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