When we need to travel from, say, Ottawa to Toronto, we need to get a pass. It takes two to three days. Even if your grandfather or mother is feeling seriously ill, you cannot go.
Our land has been confiscated by the military. They brought non-Rohingyas to our land, and we have to provide food. My father's land has been taken away by the Burmese military, and they brought non-Rohingyas there. That is what I saw when I was in Arakan state until the age of 17.
I couldn't go to the university but I wanted to study. Fortunately, my family was kind of prominent, so I was able to leave the country. I am lucky to be here today. Like me, more than one million Rohingya students cannot study, and their lives are being destroyed.
That is what happened from 1962 to 2010. After 2010, when so-called democracy came to Burma, hate speech spread, and because of that hate speech, 140,000 Rohingyas became IDPs in Sittwe. Rohingyas were excluded from the 2014 census. In 2015, for the first time in an election, Rohingyas were not able to vote, and their right to vote and right to be a member of Parliament were taken away.
What else has happened? In 2016, during the Rohingya attacks, they burned down Rohingya houses and villages, and in October 2017, we saw the largest crisis. At that time I was in Bangladesh, where I spent four weeks. I met some of my friends, some of whom were childhood friends, and I met a lot of my relatives. They told me the Burmese government burned down the houses very systematically.
I want to share with you a story that one woman told me. When the military entered her village, they rounded up the villagers, and first a seven-year-old boy was knifed to death. Then a military member raped the lady, and another military member tried to, but she was able to run away. Her husband was slaughtered in front of her by the military.
In one village, Tula Toli, thousands of Rohingya have been killed. The military told them they would not to do anything to them, and to just get out of their houses. When three trucks from the military rounded them up, they just shot them. That is what I heard when I was in Bangladesh, and I was in Bangladesh three times—in February and two weeks ago. I met them. They told me these unbearable and inexpressible stories. I do not know how to express their stories. All of you know.
I want to highlight what the Burmese government is doing to our community. We are a people. We are a manageable minority. We have our land. We have our culture and our civilization. What they've done is to take away everything. We only had land, and what they did in August 2017 was to burn down all the villages. They've already driven us out of our country. That is final. This is very systematic, intentionally destroying our community. It is a genocide. That is what I can say as a Rohingya myself.
We really appreciate the Canadian government's continued support. I would like to express many thanks to honourable envoy Bob Rae for his wonderful report.
What do the Rohingya need for the short term? We are a people. We do not want to see our community face exploitation in refugee camps for many years. The Burmese government and the military bulldozed the villages, so I do not see that many Rohingya will return in five or 10 years. They told me they wanted to return, but the Burmese military and the government created an impossible situation for them to return to their villages. They bulldozed, and they burned things down. Of the people who are remaining now, one to 10 families are fleeing every week.
Three days ago I received a call. Some people are trying to flee this weekend again. That is what I'm hearing every week, every time, from my relatives, from my friends.
For the short term, then, we need support to protect these Rohingya refugees. The monsoon rainy season is coming, and according to an IOM officer whom I met, the more than 200,000 Rohingya refugees can directly affect flooding and landslides. These always happen there, every year. I worry that we will see much more disaster in the rainy season.
I would like to request that the Canadian government and international community protect refugees and also build up capacity building.
We Rohingyas do not want to see the exploitation of our community. They want to study; that's what a refugee told me a few days ago when I was in a camp. They want to send their children to study, so they want to build up capacity building for the refugees.
Resettlement is not easy for 700,000. We would like a few hundred or a few thousand, whoever is able, to be well educated. We need Rohingyas at the grassroots level to bring up the leadership. It is important to resettle and to integrate them into Canadian universities or others. There are many students who couldn't go to university. They just stopped, and their lives are destroyed because of the exploitation they will face.
For the longer term, what we are demanding here is.... As we have seen, in this situation in Burma, Buddhist monks, institutions, the military, security forces, the NLD, and the USDP are all saying that Rohingyas are illegal immigrants. We can't see any protection in our country. We are therefore demanding a protected homeland, a protected return to that homeland in Myanmar. We are not asking for any separate state; we are just demanding our citizenship and our rights, but we need protection by the international community in our homeland in our country. Otherwise, we will face another mass atrocity. It could happen at any time.
That is why before repatriation we need to see the situation change. Before repatriation, we want to get protection in our country, where at least 450,000 Rohingya are left, in Burma. These people are fleeing every day.
My dear friends, I'm very pleased for your concern, for your wonderful support for our community. We are a people in the 21st century facing genocide. Sometimes we feel hopeless for our community. When I saw the refugee camps, my brothers and sisters told me, please raise your voice; please support us; we are a people facing genocide. We need your help, your support, to end this genocide. We want to return to our homeland. Please help us. How? With protection to return to us our homeland. That is what I want to request from all of you.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate all your wonderful support. I'm sure you all will continue your wonderful work to save the lives of the Rohingya. Thank you so much.