MUSLIM ORGANISATIONS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA MEET

More than 30 Muslim NGO activists and representatives from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Cambodia gathered in the capital of Thailand to discuss the impact and implications of three conflict-torn regions in Southeast Asia and called for ASEAN and ASEAN member governments to undertake new and renewed efforts to tackle the conflicts. The two-day gathering entitled Peoples Call for Justice and Peace, organised by the Council of Muslim Organisations of Thailand and the Nusantara Initiatives for Justice and Peace (NADI) and held at the Islamic Centre, Bangkok, focussed on the military campaigns, their impact, and the human rights situation of the Rohingyas in Arakan, Myanmar, the Muslims of Yala, Narathiwat, Patani and Satun, and the Bangsamoro of Mindanao, Philippines. In all of these three conflict zones, millions have been killed, displaced and made refugees either in their own countries or other countries in which they have sought asylum, and/or made to suffer a host of human rights violations for several decades. Generations of Rohingyas, Moros and South Thai Malays are growing up in an environment of violence, deprivation and tragedy.