Archive October 1, 2025

As fighting continues in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, members of the Rohingya community who fled violence have addressed a UN General Assembly (UNGA) conference to bring attention to the suffering of the persecuted Muslim minority.

The founder of the Rohingya Student Network, Maung Sawyeddollah, said to his fellow Rohingya on Tuesday in a live-streamed speech in New York City’s vast UNGA hall, “You are not forgotten. You might think that the world cannot see your suffering. “Rohingya, I see you.”

The Rohingya genocide was exposed more than eight years ago, and this message is now directed at world leaders and the UN. Where is Rohingya justice at stake? Where”? asked Sawyeddollah.

The bodies of several people who he claimed were killed in an aerial attack by Myanmar’s rebel Arakan Army in August 2024 were then displayed in a photo of their bodies in a river.

After fleeing Myanmar in 2017, Sawyeddollah, a student, said, “These are not isolated cases; they are part of a systematic campaign.”

Why doesn’t the Arakan Army prevent these heinous atrocities? he inquired.

The Women’s Peace Network-Myanmar executive director Wai Wai Nu, who also addressed the high-level UNGA meeting, stated to Al Jazeera that the event was a “historic moment” and that she hoped it would “return the attention to the UN on the issue of Rohingya.”

She said she and Wai Wai Nu spoke on the sidelines of the conference about the issue of blocking the flow of humanitarian aid to Rakhine State, where Rohingya communities are located.

The conference is worth it, she said, “if we get this.”

“We need to protect Rohingya in the state of Rakhine.”

This morning, I made my opening remarks at the #UN General Assembly conference on the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar.

I urged ending impunity, promoting justice, and addressing root causes for long-lasting solutions. #UNGA80 #Myanmar pic. twitter.com/PtSqCf2afM

In their speeches, many member states also stressed or put a spotlight on advancing justice and accountability, according to Nu.

However, she continued, the UN event also provided proof that “lacking leadership and coordination, including in the ASEAN region,” a group of states in Southeast Asia, is essential for a “coherent and cohesive approach” to solving the Rohingya crisis.

She added that a “global arms embargo” and targeted sanctions against Myanmar and “all the perpetrators, including military and other armed sectors, including Arakan Army,” were both important for the Rohingya to be put in place to protect them.

Massive aid cuts

Chef de Cabinet Earle Courtenay Rattray, who spoke on behalf of the UN secretary-general, told the meeting of the member states that “massive aid cuts” have worsened the situation for the Rohingya, including more than 1 million people who have fled ethnic cleansing by the military in Myanmar and who have sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh.

“In Bangladesh, 150, 000 Rohingya have escaped in the past 18 months alone, thanks to generously keeping its borders open and providing them with refuge,” Rattray said.

Eight years into the crisis, Bangladesh’s chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, claimed his country is struggling to continue assisting Rohingya refugees despite Rattray’s claim that Bangladesh has shown “remarkable hospitality and generosity.”

The Rohingya’s plight continues eight years after the genocide began, according to Yunus, who co-hosted the meeting and a subsequent summit in Cox’s Bazar last month in an effort to raise awareness of the Rohingya’s situation in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is a victim of the crisis, Yunus claimed.

He claimed that “we are forced to bear enormous financial, social, and environmental costs.”

The only peaceful course of action is to begin their repatriation as funding declines.

He continued, “The Rohingya have consistently stated their desire to return home,” adding that “those who recently crossed into Bangladesh to escape conflict must be allowed to repatriate.”

Given his own country’s “developmental challenges, including unemployment and poverty,” Yunus added, Bangladesh, unlike Thailand, was unable to grant work rights to Rohingya.

One of the speakers thanked Bangladesh and Thailand for welcoming Rohingya refugees was Charles Harder, the special envoy for the best future generations.

He also made the announcement that Bangladesh would receive “more than $60 million in assistance” from the US, which he claimed would depend on Bangladesh making “meaningful” changes to allow for employment.

However, he claimed that funding for refugees in Bangladesh was not “a burden the United States will bear indefinitely.”

According to Harder, “It is long past time for other governments and actors in the area to come up with sustainable solutions for Rohingya.”

Aside from the United Kingdom, which announced $ 36 million in aid to Rohingya refugees, about 50 other UN member states also gave speeches on Tuesday.

The Gambia’s minister of justice, Dawda Jallow, also addressed the gathering, expressing his nation’s desire for an international court of justice (ICJ) decision “soon after” an oral hearing scheduled for January of next year in relation to the case in which Myanmar is accused of genocide against its Rohingya population.

“We almost six years ago filed our case,” the statement read. We are now getting ready for the oral argument on the merits of this case, which the court has scheduled for mid-January 2026,” Jallow said.

After last-ditch attempts by lawmakers to pass a spending bill failed, the US government has partially ceased operations.

After Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate rejected competing stopgap proposals, funding to keep the federal government operating expired on Wednesday at 00:01 EDT (04:01 GMT).

The US government has partially stopped operations more than a dozen times since 1980, but President Donald Trump’s threats to use the funding gap to significantly lessen the size of the public sector have raised the possibility of even greater disruption than during previous shutdowns.

Trump warned reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he might use the shutdown to engage in “bad” behavior for Democrats.

Trump said, “We can do things that are irreversible, bad for them, and irreversible by them, like cutting out large numbers of people’s out, cutting things they like, cutting programs they like,” adding that “a lot of good” can come from government shutdowns.

Due to the shutdown, which is the first time this kind of funding has been lapsed since 2018, some government services that are deemed non-essential will stop, including the publication of important economic data and small business loan approvals.

Essential employees will continue working, but they won’t receive pay for the duration of the shutdown, such as law enforcement officers, military personnel, and air traffic controllers.

Social Security and food assistance will continue to be distributed.

Trump has threatened to fire “a lot of people” despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of federal employees were placed on temporary leave and received back pay when they returned to work despite previous shutdowns.

Trump said, “And they’re Democrats, they’re going to be Democrats.”

The threats were “typical of President Trump’s strong-arm tactics,” according to Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer at the White House under former President George W. Bush.

If there is a shutdown, Painter told Al Jazeera, “He is threatening to terminate federal employees.”

He might be able to do some of his threats, but the majority of them are not authorized by Congress, including ejecting federal employees while protecting civilian employees.

Following weeks of debate over how to keep the government open, Democrats and Republicans have come to grips with how to close the government on Wednesday.

Democrats earlier this month objected to a stopgap spending bill that was proposed by Republicans to allow the government to operate for nine more weeks, arguing that the bill should include provisions to expand healthcare coverage, such as changing the Affordable Care Act’s (also known as Obamacare) and repealing the Medicaid cuts that were inserted into Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Republicans have argued that in future bipartisan negotiations, such as those involving healthcare, should be addressed separately.

Senate Republicans voted 55 to 45 in favor of a stopgap bill that would have extended funding until November 21 in an effort to avoid a shutdown on Tuesday, which was unsuccessful.

The bill, which required 60 votes to pass, was supported by two Democrats: John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, and Angus King, an independent from Maine.

Republicans in turn rebuffed a Democratic bill that would have increased healthcare spending by more than $1 trillion and extended funding until the end of October.

No Republicans were present, so that vote went wrong, 47-53.

According to Gerald Epstein, co-director of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), “I think it is impossible to predict what Trump will do,” he said.

The Dems “won’t cave,” say they? Not for a while, I’m sure of it.

Republicans and Democrats exchanged blame for the impasse following the failed elections.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer remarked, “Republicans are plunging us into a government shutdown rather than fixing our healthcare crisis.”

Republicans allegedly voted to “hurt everyday Americans,” according to Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune hoped that enough Democrats would support his party’s “clean” bill in a follow-up vote on Wednesday.

“All of this was unneeded.” In an interview with Fox News, Thune claimed that all of this was done to please their left-wing political base.

The US government has shut down 15 times since 1980, including the current funding lapse, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

A Gaza-bound aid flotilla is currently heading for the area’s high-risk area, where previous missions have experienced attacks and interceptions.

Israeli military “takes control” of the flotilla with naval commandos and warships, according to Israeli media outlet Kan on Wednesday. Kan predicted that Israel won’t tow all 50 ships, and that it will someday sink some.

Israel has the intention to detain hundreds of activists aboard naval ships, question them, and then deport them via Ashdod.

The largest maritime mission to Gaza to date, which sails from Spain on August 31. As part of a global campaign to oppose Israel’s naval blockade and provide aid to Gaza, it brings together more than 50 ships and delegations from at least 44 nations.

The most recent location is displayed on the map below:

Is Israel also permitted to board ships entering foreign waters? No, because of how territorial and international waters operate.

Which waters are under the control of a nation?

Territorial waters, which are 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) off the coast, are administered by coastal nations. The state, like it does over its land, has complete control over this region.

They also have rights over the water and seafloor in up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) of ocean. The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) refers to this region. Countries in the EEZ have the ability to regulate activities like fishing, mining, drilling, and other energy projects while still allowing other nations to have freedom of navigation.

Thanks to its overseas territories, France has the largest EEZ, which extends to about 10.7 million square kilometers (4. 2 million square miles). The US, Australia, Russia, and the UK follow it up with them.

International waters: where are they?

The high seas, which extend beyond any nation’s territorial waters and economic zones and are not under the control of one state, are a part of the ocean, and are subject to international agreements for their use.

What are the maritime laws?

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) from 1982 governs the laws of the high seas. It permits the free movement of aircraft and ships on the high seas in all states.

Additionally, it permits fishing, scientific research, and the construction of islands. It also permits the laying of subsea cables and pipelines. three of which are bound by international laws and regulations.

Ships on the high seas are subject to the flag’s jurisdiction, aside from those engaged in piracy and other prohibited activities.

In international waters, Israel has previously attacked flotillas.

Since 2010, several Freedom Flotilla vessels have attempted to break the Gaza blockade. Israel has reportedly attacked or intercepted all of its vessels, most of which are in international waters without any territorial rights.

The Mavi Marmara was attacked by Israeli commandos in international waters on May 31, 2010, making it the most deadly. The commandos caused dozens of injuries and 10 fatalities to Turkish activists, the majority of whom were Turks, putting a severe strain on Israeli-Turkish relations.

The map below shows the locations where prominent flotillas were frequently stopped, some of which were attacked by Israeli-style rockets.

UN experts stated that Israel must not interfere with the Freedom Flotilla’s right to free passage in international waters, which is long recognized by international law, in 2024 as part of ongoing flotilla missions delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Sumud Flotilla had been sailing through Palestinian territorial waters, where it has the legal right to navigate and deliver humanitarian aid.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), which represents more than 16.5 million transport workers worldwide, states that “the law of the sea is clear: attacking or seizing non-violent, humanitarian vessels in international waters is unlawful and unacceptable.

Such actions threaten lives and undermine fundamental principles that ensure everyone’s safe seas. It’s not just about seafarers; it’s also about everyone’s safety at sea, whether they’re aboard a business ship, a humanitarian vessel, or a fishing boat. States are unable to make their own decisions regarding the application of international law. According to Cotton, “the seas must not be transformed into a theater of war.”

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition claims that a comprehensive set of international legal instruments protects the mission while keeping it legal and safe. Including :

The UNCLOS (UNCLOS) – guarantees freedom of navigation on the high seas
• The San Remo Manual on International Law for Armed Conflicts at Sea prohibits blockades that result in starvation or exaggerated suffering, and forbids the targeting of neutral humanitarian missions.
• UN Security Council Resolutions 2720 and 2728 – These legally binding resolutions demand the elimination of all barriers to aid delivery and unimpeded humanitarian access.
• Includes the prohibition of acts that intentionally put civilians at risk, according to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
• Imposes an obligation to permit the flow of humanitarian aid freely and to forbid interfering with relief operations and civilian infrastructure targeting.
• The International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute criminalizes the use of willful obstructing humanitarian aid and the starvation of civilians as a means of war.