Yearning for relief: Rohingya Refugees.

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, September 15, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 10:53 AM, September 16, 2017
SPOTLIGHT
Yearning for relief

Rohingyas have been entering Bangladesh through 200-mile-long Bangladesh-Myanmar border which is now mostly unguarded. Photos: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo
Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan

Fleeing for life
August 26, 2017. The morning started like any other at Shikderpara village in Maungdaw town. He was preparing to visit his paddy fields where around 400 maunds of rice were almost ready to be harvested next month. After the visit, he agreed to sit with some of his fellow villagers to settle their dispute over a piece of land. Ali was a respected village elder and served as the elected chairman of his village for 15 years until 2016 when his voter ID card and chairmanship was revoked by the Myanmar government. “We the Rohingyas in Myanmar have been persecuted for many years. However, what they did to us on August 26 was unprecedented. I could not imagine how a human being could be so ruthless,” says Ali.

It was around 9 am when Ali's village was attacked by the Myanmar army from all sides. Followed by heavy artillery bombardment, infantry men and local militia began a combing operation and rounded up all the Rohingyas. According to Ali, the army detained him along with hundreds of villagers, including women and children, and were taken to a marshy land called Kawar Bil. As Ali with the detained Rohingyas stood on the bank of the marsh, the soldiers opened fire at them. “Only one of my relatives and I survived the shooting. When the soldiers left the place thinking we were all dead, we started to march towards Bangladesh through the hills and jungles to save our lives,” says Ali.

Ali was almost caught by the patrolling Myanmar soldiers several times, shot six times by them and finally reached the Bangladesh-Myanmar border after five days of trekking through jungles and hills. He entered Bangladesh through Kanjorpara village under Whaikhyang union and took shelter at a makeshift refugee camp in Thaing Khali. Like Ali, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas from Myanmar are coming to Bangladesh from every point of the 200-mile-long Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

They are coming through the border at Naikkhong Chhari, traversing thick, hilly jungles; through the Kanjorpara-Whaikhyang area crossing vast marshlands; crossing Naf River and entering Bangladesh through Shah Pori Island; many are even crossing the Bay of Bengal with sampans and landing on the coastline of Cox's Bazar. According to the Bangladeshi government's estimation, around 300,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh between August 27 to September 9, 2017. And, they are still arriving by the thousands every day, as the scale of violence continues to escalate.

“Keep us as your servants, but don't send us back to Burma”
Although Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) resisted the incoming Rohingyas for several days, leaving thousands stranded in no man's land, BGB has unofficially opened the border for the refugees. Until September 10, the Bangladeshi government did not take any decision about registering the newly arrived Rohingya refugees. Finally on the 10th, after almost two weeks since Rohingyas started entering the country, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal informed journalists that photo identity cards with biometric fingerprints would be issued for every unregistered Rohingya refugee. Md Shah Kamal, Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, further informed that all newly-arrived Rohingya refugees would be quartered in a new camp to be built by clearing 2000 acres of forests.

According to Dr C R Abrar, Professor of International Relations at University of Dhaka: “The non-admittance and joint-operation policies of the Bangladeshi government were surely flawed. The decision to unofficially open borders and allocate 2000 acres of land will greatly help the refugees. Now every effort must be made to register them. However, such registration must be done in conformity with international standards.” At the time of writing (Tuesday, September 12), the registration process had just started.

Nevertheless Rohingya refugees, who have been living under the open sky for days after traversing treacherous terrain for 5-7 days at a stretch, cannot wait for this 'promised land' and the registration process. They have already started to spread all over Cox's Bazar and Chittagong district.

Abu Taiyab, originally an inhabitant of Myanmar's Maungdaw area, paid BDT 400 to a truck driver to take him and his six family members to a slum at Cox's Bazar. “I reached Bangladesh on the day of Eid-ul-Azha (September 2) and spent five days sitting aside this road under the relentless rain. All of my children got severe fever. My daughter's condition is very bad. Sometimes she becomes unconscious due to high temperatures. We could not give them any food or medicine for four days. If we have to stay on this roadside any longer, I think all of my children will die,” utters a desperate Taiyab. He collected the money by selling his cell phone, the only valuable possession that he managed to bring with him.

At around 9 pm, under the cover of darkness, a ramshackle truck, crammed with traumatised, desperate refugees, started for an unknown destination. From September 5-8, we saw refugees, by whatever means of transport, travelling to different parts of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar districts by the thousands to save their lives.

In the last 15 days, at least 300,000 newly-arrived Rohingya refugees joined the unregistered 500,000 already living in Bangladesh for several years. Unlike Mohammad Ali, very few of the recently arrived Rohingyas found shelter at already overcrowded refugee camps. However, like Ali, all the refugees share similar traumatic experiences in Myanmar. Their houses were burnt down and looted; their kith and kin were killed indiscriminately; their children were thrown into rivers and their women raped and killed. When we asked Ali whether he wanted to return to Maungdaw again, he burst into tears. He cries out, “Please sir, don't send us back. They will hunt us down and kill us. Keep us as your servants, but don't send us back to Burma.”

Starving refugees are passing their days exposed to relentless rain and excruciating tropical heat. Photos: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo
Becoming easy prey
With no hope of returning to their homeland again, many of these refugees, who can afford to buy tarpaulin sheets and bamboo sticks, are building settlements all over Cox's Bazar district. The refugee camps have already expanded into massive refugee colonies. The refugees have cut many hills and built their makeshift shelters on the hillside, making themselves highly vulnerable to fatal landslides. Some local political leaders have leased government lands to these destitute people. They are also selling bamboo and tarpaulin at exorbitant prices to helpless Rohingyas to make a hefty profit.

For instance, an entire hill at Kutupalong has been leased to Rohingya refugees by the local political leaders. “For around 10 feet of space, we have been charged BDT 500 per month. I also bought bamboo and tarpaulin sheets from the landlord and that cost another BDT 500,” says Abdur Rob while building his tarpaulin shanty. It is not possible for six of his family members to fit into the 10-feet-long shanty. So, he convinced other refugees to connect their shanties. However, to connect them, they have to pay a further BDT 50 to the men who are supervising the settlement building process and collecting money from the refugees. Seeing journalists, those men quickly moved away and refused to give interviews. However, one of them later said anonymously that they are the men of Nadvi (Abu Reza Mohammad Nezamuddin Nadvi, Awami League MP of Chittagong-15 constituency) and asked us not to publish the news.

Every morning and afternoon, special bazaars are arranged at different spots where Rohingya refugees gather to sell the property that they managed to carry with them during their long exodus to Bangladesh. Cattle, utensils, jewellery, clothes, furniture—everything is sold here for less than half the market price. Rohingyas have no choice but to sell their only possessions to lease the space, obtain the building materials for their shanties, buy food or medicine, or manage transport fare if they have to go somewhere else for shelter.

The deepening crisis
As the refugee influx continues, severe scarcity of space, building material, food and medicine has now created a chaotic situation. Many refugees have started to take shelter at public buildings and educational institutions. The depth of the crisis became apparent when a relief truck came to distribute food and clothes for the refugees near Kutupalong. Thousands of starving refugees rushed to the truck, creating an uncontrollable crowd. Seeing no way to deliver the aid, the distributors threw the food packets and clothes to the crowd which ultimately fell on the ground. Huge amounts of precious relief materials are being wasted everyday due to the lack of co-ordinated relief efforts.

There is also a severe shortage of relief materials. According to Mohammad Mahadi, co-ordinator of Action Against Hunger (AAH) in Cox's Bazar: “AAH used to provide lunch and biscuits for 1000 Rohingya refugees every day before August 26. However, now it has to provide food for 20,000 people every day and the demand is skyrocketing every hour.” The World Food Programme said that it needs another USD 11.3 million to support the newly-arrived Rohingyas and International Organisation of Migration (IOM) said that at least USD 77.1 million is required to provide only lifesaving services to the end of 2017. Md Ali Hossain, Deputy Commissioner, Cox's Bazar district, says in this regard, “We are really struggling to make the relief efforts co-ordinated and organised. The influx was sudden and we were not prepared to accommodate such a huge number of people within a short time. However, I have already formed upazila relief committees and they have started to supervise the relief activities so that aid can be distributed properly.”

At least 200 women and children perished during the exodus to Bangladesh, Photos: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo
Documentation or detention?
However, experts believe that accommodating and registering such a huge number of refugees who have already dispersed over a vast area would be difficult at this stage. According to Dr Rozana Rashid, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka: “It is certainly necessary to register the Rohingya refugees but this registration should have been done at the border. In this chaotic situation, there is a possibility that the government's steps to finding, registering and relocating the refugees can make way for further violation of their rights as refugees.”

She argues that the government has decided to establish camps guarded by barbed wire for the refugees. However, according to all the human rights conventions to which Bangladesh is a signatory, refugees in Bangladesh must enjoy all the basic rights as any other foreigner who is a legal resident, such as freedom of thought, right to justice, freedom of movement and freedom from torture and degrading treatment. “The international agencies should work together with the government to ensure that Rohingya refugees are enjoying their legitimate rights in Bangladesh,” she suggests.

Solution lies in diplomacy
Managing such a huge number of refugees and providing them with emergency care is a formidable challenge for Bangladesh. United Nations (UN) has openly declared that the Myanmar government is committing genocidal activities in the Muslim-populated northern part of its Rakhine state and termed it as the “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. It is obvious that refugee influx will continue and it is unlikely that the Myanmar government will take them back in the near future, which might create a humanitarian disaster in Bangladesh, leaving hundreds of thousands of refugees without food and shelter.

In this situation, experts find the long-term solution in launching a diplomatic offensive against Myanmar. According to Dr C R Abrar, “Bangladesh must forcefully argue the case that Rohingya are not a problem for Bangladesh alone. The wider international community has a responsibility. It must try its best to secure the support of China that has a massive leverage over Burma.” He also suggests that Bangladesh should approach ASEAN states as it is a member of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime. “The ASEAN countries must realise that in the near future there is all likelihood for secondary movement of refugees from Bangladesh to their region. The mechanism is in place for the Bali Process to act under such conditions,” he argues.

“Bangladesh must also forthrightly demand urgent action from the Organisation of Islamic Conference. The upcoming UN General Assembly session must be used for Bangladesh to garner support from the broader international community,” adds Dr Abrar. He also argues that Bangladesh should highlight the fact that the regional security of Southeast Asia is heavily dependent on the peaceful solution of the Rohingya crisis as various transnational actors can target these stateless, persecuted people to expand their operations in Southeast Asia.

However, by the time international community intervenes for a peaceful solution, there is every possibility that the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh will be further decimated by disease and starvation. The threat of forced deportation and detention is also looming over their heads. International aid agencies and human rights bodies must work together with the Bangladesh government to ensure that these refugees receive sufficient emergency support and their rights as refugees are not violated in Bangladesh.
The writer can be contacted at shahnawaz.khan@thedailystar.net.
http://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/spotlight/yearning-relief-1462171

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:07 AM, September 22, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 04:50 AM, September 22, 2017
Rohingya Shelters: Fear of health emergency
MSF treated 487 diarrhoea patients at Kutupalong on Sept 6-17; refugees include 16,000 pregnant women
Staff Correspondent

With shortage of food, water, medicine, sanitation and shelter in the Rohingya settlements in Ukhia and Teknaf, a public health emergency is just around the corner, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said yesterday.

The Geneva-based international humanitarian organisation, which has been operating a health programme in the Rohingya camps, said it treated 487 patients for diarrhoeal diseases at Kutupalong between September 6 and 17.

"We are receiving adults everyday on the cusp of dying from dehydration. That's very rare among adults, and signals that a public health emergency could be just around the corner," Kate White, MSF's emergency medical coordinator, said in a statement.

Healthcare facilities – government or NGO – are overwhelmed by the sheer number of patients, it said.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Mohammed Nasim said over 16,000 Rohingya women have arrived pregnant.

Nurses and midwives in the government facilities have aided the delivery of 173 babies, the minister told a press conference at the ministry.

MSF clinics had received a total of 9,062 outpatients, 3,344 emergency room patients, 427 inpatients, 225 patients with violence-related injuries, and 23 cases of sexual violence.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees are living in an extremely precarious situation, and all the preconditions for a public health disaster are there, White said in the statement.

She also warned of a very high risk of an outbreak of infectious diseases.

Two of the pre-existing Rohingya settlements in Kutupalong and Balukhali in Ukhia have effectively merged into one densely populated mega-settlement of nearly 500,000 refugees, making it one of the largest refugee concentrations in the world, the statement said.

Makeshift settlements on side of roads and in the hilly terrains do not have sanitation and little potable water is available there. People are drinking water collected from paddy field puddles or hand-dug shallow wells often contaminated with excreta.

While the prices of food are skyrocketing, many Roingyas are only eating one meal of plain rice a day, the statement said.

The statement also quoted MSF Emergency Coordinator Robert Onus, "The situation in the camps is so incredibly fragile, especially with regard to shelter, food and water and sanitation, that one small event could lead to an outbreak that may be the tipping point between a crisis and a catastrophe."

MSF called for massive scale-up of humanitarian aid, a comprehensive vaccination campaign for measles and cholera to reduce the risk of an outbreak.

It will protect the Rohingya and Bangladeshi people in the area.

Health Minister Mohammed Nasim said a total of 52,605 Rohingya children were vaccinated for rubella and polio while 12,675 children were given vitamin A supplements.

Besides, government facilities have treated 2,364 Rohingyas for serious injuries, 7,969 for respiratory infections, 2,335 for skin diseases and 3,520 for diarrhoea.

The government is setting up 12 health centres at the Rohingya camps. 20 doctors, 12 nurses and other health personnel would be deployed at the centres.

Nasim said more than 40 private and international organisations are directly and indirectly involved in the services that include family planning.

Nasim urged the international community to put pressure on Myanmar to take back their citizens from Bangladesh.

Two additional hours of medicare on September 28

The health minister said government hospitals will provide two additional hours of service on September 28, the birthday of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“We decided to provide medicare at all government hospitals from 8:00 AM to 4.00 PM, instead of 8.00 AM to 2.PM.”

Relief materials coming in
King Salman Centre for Relief and Humanitarian Aid of Saudi Arabia has provided 100 tonnes of core relief items including food and materials for shelter.

IOM has chartered a Boeing 747 to bring the aid to Bangladesh today, said a press release.

Iran dispatched 29 tonnes of relief materials including tents, blankets and medicine. On September 15, Iran sent 41 tons of relief.
http://www.thedailystar.net/backpag...hingya-shelters-fear-health-emergency-1465828

 

[Banglar Bir]

Rohingya face food, medical crises in Bangladeshi camps
Although secure, thousands of Rohingya sheltering in Bangladesh now face tough living conditions
Anadolu Agency
UNICEF has appealed for $7.3 million to provide emergency support to Rohingya children over the next four months.

The Rohingya people who have escaped Myanmar are throwing together shelters with polythene and bamboo. Some are starving. Local residents are giving food to the new arrivals, with some of the refugees eating at nearby homes.

Mohammad Ali Hossen, an administrative official, told Anadolu Agency: “Rohingya are staying in 14 different places in Cox’s Bazar. Due to the overwhelming crowd and manpower crisis, relief operations run separately and it will take more days to bring discipline.”

Mohammad Iqbal Hossain, another official, told Anadolu Agency that an over 300 extra police had been assigned to keep order.

Meanwhile, India has offered help to Bangladesh to deal with the refugee crisis. Aid will be air lifted in consignments, the first tranche of which was due to arrive on Thursday in Chittagong, southern Bangladesh, on an Indian Air Force plane.

UK, US: The abomination in Myanmar must stop
The “abomination” in Myanmar must stop, the violence and persecution of Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar must stop, top diplomats of the British-American transatlantic alliance said on Thursday.“The tragedy that is unfolding and the gross abuse of the human rights of the Rohingya population, nobody should underestimate what is happening now,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told reporters after meeting in London with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other foreign ministers.Some “370,000 Rohingya have fled or are estimated to have fled in desperation.

That’s almost half the Rohingya population in Northern Rakhine,” in Myanmar, he said.Johnson said Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi came to lead her country “after a period of decades of repression by a military junta.

And I yield to no one in my admiration of what she stood for and the way she fought for democracy... But I think it’s now vital for her to use that moral capital and that authority to make the point about the suffering of the people of Rakhine.“And I think nobody wants to see a return to military rule … Nobody wants to see a return of the generals.“But it’s also vital that the civilian government -- and that is Daw Suu [Kyi] ... it is vital for her now to make clear that this is an abomination and that those people will be allowed back, that those people will be allowed back to Burma and that preparation is being made, and that the abuse of their human rights and the killings -- hundreds perhaps even thousands -- then the killings will stop.

”Tillerson echoed Johnson, saying the persecution of the Rohingya must come to an end.“I think it is important that the global community speak out in support of what we all know the expectation is towards the treatment of people, regardless of their ethnicity, and that we must -- this violence must stop; this persecution must stop. It’s been characterized by many as ethnic cleansing. That must stop.”
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[Banglar Bir]

Long lines for scarce aid in Bangladesh
Haber Merkezi 13:31 September 23, 2017 Yeni Şafak
Desperate scenes in Bangladesh camps as hungry Rohingya refugees jostle for scarce food
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[Banglar Bir]

‘Aid inflow is slow and not yet enough for Rohingya refugees’
Afrose Jahan Chaity
Published at 01:06 AM September 27, 2017

Mohammed Abdiker Mohamud, centre, and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, right, among other foreign diplomats at a Cox's Bazar hotel during a visit to refugee camps arranged by the government on September 13, 2017 TWITTER
As of on Tuesday, 480,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. With a large number of refugees in serious need of aid, International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Operations and Emergency Director Mohammed Abdiker Mohamud has shared with the Dhaka Tribune’s Afrose Jahan Chaity how they are handling the crisis, the challenges and what else is needed more
How is IOM prioritising while distributing relief to a large number of refugees?
At present, all agencies are focusing on providing lifesaving support, from food to shelter, water and sanitation. IOM is helping to coordinate all the organisations that work in the district to ensure that each agency is filling a service gap. IOM’s own relief work is focused in providing the Rohingya with healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, shelter materials and household items, and setting up new settlement sites.

To ensure that services are reaching the right people, IOM has community outreach teams in place in the main settlement areas. The teams work with the local community leaders, our partner NGOs and other community-based teams. The local leaders keep track of the new arrivals together with the NGOs, and help us assess the most vulnerable cases which are then guided to one of our 12 distribution points for collecting relief items. We keep a record of those identified as vulnerable, so that we can recheck their needs and also avoid duplication.
Is the amount of relief items that is coming sufficient?
We are just starting to see the international community rising up, with some considerable contributions announced by several donor countries. However, the inflow is slow and not yet enough. We’re currently working with KSRelief and DFID to bring in relief materials and distribute them. Their arrival is crucial as local markets cannot provide all the needed materials. Our own chartered flights will come soon too. We’ve also asked most of our member states to provide assistance.

There is a lot that needs to be addressed urgently – medical facilities require support, there are immediate needs for water infrastructure and latrines, shelter construction, household items, and protection support.

As per the preliminary assessment plan, $77 million funding was required for 300,000 people until the end of the year. We are now estimating that the total caseload, including those who were here prior to the August 25 influx, will be closer to one million. So the requirement of financial assistance will certainly grow.

We are also seeing strong response from Bangladesh government, and our teams in Cox’s Bazar are grateful to the local community members who have volunteered. After Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina advised all relevant ministries and agencies to work closely with the humanitarian community in reaching out to all refugees quickly, we saw various ministries scrambling and mobilising more medical workers to provide healthcare, the armed forces shuttling goods from Chittagong airport, and local administration providing meals to up to 100,000 people a day, amongst other things.
If aid services are discontinued, what kind of crisis can occur?
It is very unlikely that the relief work would be discontinued as long as there are obvious needs. With the international community, and humanitarian and development agencies gearing up as fast as they can, there has been good progress in the past week. There is also no reason for the efforts to stop amidst strong supports from the Bangladesh government and all agencies. However, it is possible that the nature of the assistance will change if the displacement continues for a long time.
Is IOM thinking about resettling the refugees in Rakhine? If yes, how?
Resettlement of the Rohingya is an issue that the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar will have to decide upon mutually. The Kofi Annan commission has urged both countries to facilitate their voluntary return from Bangladesh through joint verification, in accordance with international standards and with assistance from international partners. IOM will be glad to assist both governments, if called for. At present, our focus, however, is to ensure the life saving support.
What initiatives IOM has taken for the refugees stranded in the no man’s land?
In the beginning of the influx, many people were stranded there for days with very little to survive under open sky. We had provided them with relief items at that time.
What are the dimensions of the humanitarian crisis in the camps and border?
The preliminary response plan estimated that 4.5 million litres of water per day and 15,000 latrines is required for 300,000 people. A total of $14 million was required to address this need. But now the need is much more with the influx number increased to 444,955 as of today [Monday]. In the sites, many are still living under open sky. The makeshift shelters are overcrowded. There is acute water crisis and very little sanitation, hygiene, and health facilities for this many people. The health facilities in Cox’s Bazar are also struggling to cope.
What are the main challenges the INGOs are facing in the refugee camps?
Currently, the three main challenges are – the size of the influx that has to be settled in camps which are often not accessible by road, lack of required workforce with the right skills to respond, and the torrential rain.

Many of the new arrivals are dispersed in a huge area, which is hard to access and has no available services, between the Kutupalong and Balukhali makeshift settlements. There is no road and even the walkways are missing in some places. To ensure better services, roads need to be constructed urgently.

To tackle the lack of workforce, everyone is recruiting but having the right people in place takes a while.

Moreover, the majority of shelters in the low-lying areas surrounding Balukhali were flooded this week after heavy rain. Even the existing access roads got muddy and slippery, further slowing down aid distribution. WASH construction works were interrupted as materials couldn’t be carried over to the areas of the new extension sites due to the overflowing canals.
What is the greatest risk at this moment the refugees are facing?
Right now, given the unsanitary conditions in addition to limited supply of water, we are mostly concerned about a possible spread of communicable diseases, such as cholera. We are already planning for such worst-case scenario together with the government and specialised agencies such as World Health Organisation
http://www.dhakatribune.com/banglad...inflow-slow-not-yet-enough-rohingya-refugees/

 

[Banglar Bir]

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[Banglar Bir]

OnePath Network
3 hrs ·
"I am crying because I'm ashamed".
May Allah be with the Rohingya

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[Banglar Bir]

UN reports ‘unimaginable’ suffering during tour of Rakhine
www.thestateless.com/2017/10/un-reports-unimaginable-suffering-during-tour-of-rakhine.html

A refugee holds her baby at a UNHCR registration center in Teknaf, Bangladesh on Monday after crossing the border from Maungdaw. (AFP)
By AFP
YANGON — The scale of the suffering inside Rakhine State is “unimaginable”, the United Nations said Monday, after three of its members joined a belated government-steered visit for aid agencies and diplomats to the conflict-battered region.

Myanmar has tightly controlled access to the state since last month when attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army prompted an army kickback that sent more than 500,000 fleeing to Bangladesh.

Scores of Rohingya villages have been torched.

A Myanmar official tally says hundreds of people died as violence consumed remote communities, including Rohingya.

Hindus and ethnic Rakhine were also among the dead, with around 30,000 displaced to other parts of Rakhine State at the start of the conflict.

Rights groups say the real death toll is likely to be much higher, especially among the Rohingya, while the UN has labelled army operations as “ethnic cleansing” against the Muslim group.

Many inside Myanmar have accused the UN of having a pro-Rohingya bias, as hostility towards INGOs sky rockets, further limiting access.

Monday’s visit marks a thaw in the relationship, with the UN welcoming the trip as a “positive step” while reiterating “the need for greater humanitarian access”.

“The scale of the human suffering is unimaginable and the UN sends its deepest condolences to all those affected,” it said, calling for an end to the “cycle of violence”.

It also urged a “safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of refugees to their area of origin”.

Diplomats and other INGOs accompanied them on the trip, which was delayed from last week. But the limitations of the one-day visit were not immediately clear.

The EU delegation to Myanmar also joined the whistle-stop trip, which took in Maungdaw and Rathedaung, explaining in a statement “this was not an investigation mission and could not be in the circumstances”.

“We saw villages that had been burned to the ground and emptied of inhabitants. The violence must stop,” it said, calling for unimpeded humanitarian and media access.

International aid groups fear tens of thousands of Rohingya who remain in northern parts of Rakhine are in urgent need of food, medicine and shelter after over a month of military operations.

In a sign of ongoing tensions and mistrust, a few thousand Rohingya have massed on a beach awaiting boats to Bangladesh after receiving death threats.

http://yenisafak.vod.ma.doracdn.com...17/10/02/15142d1ea008455e9af2dccf76046adf.mp4
Increasing Rohingya refugees join food queues in Bangladesh
Haber Merkezi 14:17 October 02, 2017 Yeni Şafak
Queues for aid are getting longer by the day in the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, as more Rohingya Muslims escape violence of the Myanmar army and take refuge in the neighboring country. The United Nations has called the exodus of 507,000 Rohingya since Aug. 25 the world's fastest-developing refugee emergency, and says that Buddhist-majority Myanmar is engaging in an ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
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[Banglar Bir]

UK sends vital humanitarian aid for Rohingya
BSS
Published at 02:09 PM October 05, 2017

Rohingya refugees stretch their hands to receive aid distributed by local organisations at Balukhali makeshift refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, September 14, 2017 Reuters
The British government has already announced 30 million pounds of funding to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Rohingya who have arrived in Bangladesh since 25 August
The UK Government’s Department for International Development (DfID) has sent vital humanitarian aid for Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar.

The relief supplies include 10,000 shelter kits, 10,500 sleeping mats and 20,000 blankets, said a British High Commission press release issued on Thursday.

It said distribution of these items began on Wednesday and would continue over the course of next week in collaboration with International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to help improve the lives of thousands of Rohingya, living in makeshift settlements around Kutupalong and Balukhali.

The British government has already announced 30 million pounds of funding to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Rohingya who have arrived in Bangladesh since 25 August.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/10/05/uk-sends-vital-humanitarian-aid-rohingya/

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, October 06, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:54 AM, October 06, 2017
Sufferings staggering
Rohingyas fleeing for life need immediate support, say senior UN officials ending visit

Diplomatic Correspondent
Two senior United Nations officials, who wrapped up their mission in Bangladesh, have said the appalling situation for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas is not over yet as they are still fleeing their homes in Rakhine and taking shelter in Bangladesh.

“Unfortunately, this appalling situation is not over. People are still crossing from Myanmar into Bangladesh, fleeing for their lives and requiring immediate support,” they said in a statement released by the UN in Dhaka yesterday.

“We call again on the Myanmar authorities to allow the full resumption of humanitarian action across all of Rakhine state, and will continue to advocate for conditions to be created that allow for people to safely, securely and voluntarily go home.”

Mark Lowcock, Emergency Relief Coordinator and United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and Anthony Lake, Executive Director of the UNICEF, issued the joint statement after concluding their visit to Rohingya settlements in Cox's Bazar on Wednesday.

Well over half a million displaced Myanmar nationals fled the ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State since Aug 25, making it the world's fastest developing refugee emergency.

“We leave Bangladesh moved by the stories of suffering that we heard from refugees fleeing the violence in Myanmar – and all the more determined that the United Nations do all it can to assist the Government of Bangladesh in coping with this crisis,” said the top two UN officials.

They also went on to describe that the Rohingyas arrive in Bangladesh fearful, exhausted and hungry, and in desperate need of shelter, food, clean water sanitation and healthcare. They bring with them terrible accounts of what they have seen and suffered -- stories of children being killed, women brutalised, and villages burned to the ground.

In their joint statement, the officials lauded the government and people of Bangladesh for their “extraordinary spirit of generosity” and termed it “an inspiring example of humanity.”

Lowcock and Lake were also impressed by the progress being made to assist the refugees at the camps and settlements they visited.

“We saw the difference that the Government, the Bangladesh Armed Forces, UN agencies and our national and international NGO partners are making. But the needs are growing at a faster pace than our ability to meet them.”

Noting that the refugees are living in ramshackle shacks in sprawling, densely-crowded sites that have sprung up to accommodate them – with ever-growing risks of an outbreak of diseases – they underscored the urgency for funding to make sure all refugees have access to food, shelter, water, sanitation facilities and healthcare.

“Conditions in the temporary settlements are dire. Without a significant increase in assistance, the refugees, who have suffered so much already, could face another catastrophe on top of the tragedies that caused them to flee their homes.”

An update to the UN response plan released yesterday sought $430 million to scale up the relief operation in support of the refugees and the host communities urgently. An additional $12 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund has been allocated to assist in the establishment of new sites for arriving refugees.
UNHCR
The UNHCR, together with Bangladesh government authorities and other partners, are working to contain an outbreak of diarrhoeal diseases, with nearly 4,800 cases reported last week, the UN said.

A diarrhoea treatment centre opened in the Kutupalong Refugee Camp and by the end of this week, there will be a total of 80 beds in the diarrhoea treatment centres in three locations. Two more centres are expected to open next week.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Ambassador of Sweden to Bangladesh, Charlotta Schlyter, who presented credentials to President Abdul Hamid yesterday, lauded Bangladesh for its very substantial efforts in assisting nearly half a million people from Myanmar.
UK SENDS HUMANITARIAN AID
The UK government's Department for International Development in collaboration with IOM, the UN Migration Agency, has organised a major airlift of relief items to help the Rohingyas in Bangladesh.

The provision of 10,000 shelter kits, 10,500 sleeping mats and 20,000 blankets will help improve the lives of thousands of people who are living in makeshift settlements around Kutupalong and Balukhali, according to a British High Commission press release.

Distribution of the aid began on Wednesday through IOM and will continue next week.

The British government announced £30 million to meet the urgent humanitarian needs, it added.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/mayanmar-rohingya-refugee-crisis-sufferings-staggering-1472323

 

[Banglar Bir]

Myanmar's Rohingya beg for help: 'People are starving'
Thousands of ethnic Rohingya remaining inside Myanmar live in fear, with many in desperate need of food and healthcare.

More than half a million Rohingya have fled Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]
Zaheena Rasheed

@ZaheenaR
Zaheena is an Al Jazeera journalist based in Doha. She is the former editor of Maldives Independent.
Adil Sakhawat
Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh - Rohingya trapped inside Myanmar say thousands are starving and in need of medical care in northern Rakhine State, where a half-million majority Muslim ethnic Rohingya have fled an army crackdown and communal violence.

Abdulla Mehman, who works for an aid agency in the Buthitaung Township, said more than 2,000 people in his village, Kwan Dine, had run out of food, with many others facing shortages.

"We are not allowed to move about freely, and people are struggling to survive," Mehman told Al Jazeera by telephone on Tuesday.
"Some people are starving."

Rohingya families in at least four other villages in northern Rakhine - Kin Taung, Bura Shida Para, Kyar Gaung Taung, and Sein Daung - also reported urgent food shortages and accused soldiers and Buddhist neighbours of intimidation, looting, extortion and cattle theft.

The reports are difficult to verify independently, as the region has been under an army lockdown, but the witness accounts are in line with what Rohingya refugees in neighbouring Bangladesh have been telling Al Jazeera.

About a half-million Rohingya are thought to remain in Myanmar's westernmost state.

Home were set on fire in Gawdu Zara village, northern Rakhine state, Myanmar, on September 7 [AP]
"Please help us," a Rohingya woman from the village of Kin Taung, speaking on the condition of anonymity, begged in a telephone conversation this week.

"We are sick, but we cannot seek medical treatment. We cannot work and we cannot eat."

A group of 20 diplomats who visited northern Rakhine on an official tour on Monday described the humanitarian situation there as "dire", and urged Aung San Suu Kyi's government to resume "life-saving services without discrimination".

People could die in Rakhine State if aid does not arrive soon, Human Rights Watch said.

The Myanmar government could not be reached for comment.

It has previously promised to deliver aid to communities affected by the violence.

Accounts by refugees pouring into Bangladesh of mass killings, gang-rapes, and burning of whole villages has led the UN to accuse the Myanmar government of ethnic cleansing, a claim it denies.

The woman in Kin Taung told Al Jazeera that soldiers had threatened to rape the civilians and burn down homes of Rohingya, and were extorting money, food and cattle from them.

Her family had to bribe soldiers to keep their homes safe, she said.

Her husband, a 30-year-old farmer, said: "If any Rohingya are seen on the streets after the Maghrib prayer (dusk), then we are fined 200,000 Burmese kyat ($147). If they find cattle, they take that also."
'People will die'
Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist based in Germany, said northern Rakhine was "like a prison" and that thousands of Rohingya were continuing to flee their homes after the army intensified a campaign of intimidation and arson this week.

Paul Seger, Switzerland's ambassador to Myanmar, who joined the government tour of Rakhine, posted a video on Twitter of smoke rising from some villages on Monday.

[URL='https://twitter.com/spuchatun']Paul Seger @spuchatun[/URL]
Just returned from N #Rakhine Saw villages burned/still smoking. Empty paddy fields. Area looks deserted from above. So sad!
He also posted a video of shuttered shops and deserted streets in the once-bustling town centre of Maungdaw.

The office of the army chief Min Aung Hlaing, in a Facebook post on Thursday, blamed the fresh bout of arson on the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Front (ARSA).

The refugee crisis erupted after ARSA fighters attacked border posts on August 25.

In some areas, the violence has ebbed, but Rohingya said they lived in fear.

"The situation is calm now, but we cannot go to the shops to buy necessities because we are afraid the Buddhists may beat us," Abu Tayeb, a teacher in Bura Shida Para in north Maungdaw, said by telephone.

"We cannot get adequate food and we cannot pray [at the mosques]."

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch told Al Jazeera that he was "concerned" by the lack of information about the hundreds of thousands remaining in Rakhine.

He added: "It is imperative that the Myanmar authorities give full humanitarian access to northern Rakhine or people will die."

Mehman, the aid worker from Kwan Dine, said he will not flee even when his food reserves run out next week.

"Bangladesh is not my country," he said. "The government wants to push us out. I don't want to leave, even if I have to eat leaves."
Additional reporting by Anamur Rahman
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/fe...ngya-beg-people-starving-171004111105976.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

Rohingya crisis: UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi calls for stepping up aid from international community
World AP Sep, 24 2017 16:13:34 IST
Cox's Bazar: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Sunday that the exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh is "the most urgent refugee emergency in the world."

File image of Rohingya refugees. Reuters

Filippo Grandi told reporters in the Bangladeshi town of Cox's Bazar that the needs of the more than 4,30,000 people who have fled terrible violence in Myanmar over the last month are enormous and that the international community must step up financial and material aid to Bangladesh if the South Asian nation is to be able to help the refugees.

The latest round of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state erupted when a Rohingya insurgent group launched deadly attacks on security posts 25 August, prompting Myanmar's military to launch "clearance operations" to root out the rebels.

Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs. The government has blamed the Rohingya, saying they set fire to their own homes, but has provided no proof.

The UN and others have described the violence as ethnic cleansing.

Rohingya have faced persecution and discrimination in majority-Buddhist Myanmar for decades and are denied citizenship, even though many families have lived there for generations.

The government says that there is no such ethnicity as Rohingya and that they are Bengalis who illegally migrated to Myanmar from Bangladesh.

Grandi toured the massive refugee camps that have sprung up to accommodate the new refugees. Cox's Bazar also has a large Rohingya camp that has housed Rohingya fleeing persecution over the decades. Another 3,00,000 older refugees make their home in these camps.

"This has been since the 25th of August the fastest and most urgent refugee emergency in the world," Grandi said.

"I was struck by the incredible magnitude of their needs. They need everything. They need food, they need clean water, they need shelter, they need proper health care," he said.

Grandi said he was thankful that Bangladesh's government had kept its borders open for the terrified Rohingya "in a world that has often turned hostile to refugees."

He said that the Rohingya need a long-term solution beyond helping ease their immediate suffering and added that "just like the causes of the influx are in Myanmar, clearly the solution is in Myanmar as well."

He said that Myanmar must end the violence that has caused such a vast number of people to flee their homes and to grant human rights organizations like his access to areas where the violence had taken place.

He said that while UNHCR and the World Food Program have a presence in Rakhine, "our movement is still restricted. This has to be restored so that we can help those who have not come over."

"The information that we have is very patchy," Grandi said. "But we know that there are people on the other side and under pressure and we know that there are people who are displaced internally in northern Rakhine."

Last week, Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said in a televised national address that the worst of the violence in Rakhine state was over. She said that the "great majority" of Muslims within the conflict zone stayed and that "more than 50 percent of their villages were intact."

However, Amnesty International said in a statement Friday that new satellite images and videos showed smoke rising from Rohingya Muslim villages in Rakhine. The London-based group said its sources in Rakhine claim the fires were started by members of the Myanmar security forces and vigilante mobs.
Published Date: Sep 24, 2017 04:13 pm | Updated Date: Sep 24, 2017 04:13 pm
http://www.firstpost.com/world/rohi...aid-from-international-community-4076449.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

Press TV
16 hrs ·
WATCH:
Iran sends third batch of relief supplies to Rohingya refugees

https://www.facebook.com/

 

[Banglar Bir]

0:39 AM, October 14, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 02:42 PM, October 14, 2017
UN ramps up aid delivery amid surge of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

Yasmin, a 10-year-old Rohingya refugee girl, poses while carrying firewood at Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh October 13, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Jorge Silva
Star Online Report
The speed and scale of people fleeing Myanmar has triggered a humanitarian emergency in Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of refugees now depend on humanitarian assistance for shelter, food, water and other life-saving needs, says the United Nations migration agency.
“The seriousness of the situation cannot be over-emphasized,” said International Organization for Migration (IOM) Bangladesh Chief of Mission Sarat Dash in a press statement.

According to the IOM-hosted Inter Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) of aid agencies, an estimated 536,000 people have fled Myanmar and arrived in Cox's Bazar over the past 47 days. Numbers spiked again when some 15,000 more crossed into Bangladesh between 9-11 October, according to a report published in the UN News Centre.

Prior to the August influx, infrastructure and basic services in Cox's Bazar were already under strain as it hosted over 200,000 displaced Rohingya, says the report.

“These people are malnourished and there is insufficient access to clean water and sanitation in many of the spontaneous sites. They are highly vulnerable. They have fled conflict, experienced severe trauma and are now living in extremely difficult conditions,” underscored Dash.

With many of the new arrivals requiring immediate health assistance, agencies have appealed for $48 million to scale up primary health care in the new settlements over the next six months.

“The risk of an outbreak of communicable disease is very high given the crowded living conditions and the lack of adequate clean water and sanitation,” said IOM Senior Regional Health Officer Patrick Duigan, pointing out that maternal, newborn and child health care are also in desperately short supply, the UN News Centre report says.

Press Encounter: Mr Kofi Annan, Chair of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. UN Photo/Kim Haughton
Kofi Annan, Chair of Commission on Rakhine state, briefs reporters at UN

Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York after a closed-door meeting with the Security Council, which included non-Council members from Myanmar and Bangladesh, as well as representatives of civil society, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his capacity as Chair of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine state, said the “good discussion” had focused mainly on the report produced by the Commission which was welcomed by the UN in August.

“It was clear that everyone agrees on what needs to be done in the short-term: stopping the violence; getting humanitarian aid to those in need, and helping with the dignified and voluntary return for those [refugees] in Bangladesh,” he explained.

This particular point “is not going to be easy,” he continued, stressing that the refugees would only go back if they had a sense of security and confidence that their lives would be better. Annan recalled that his report had stated that the refugees not be put in camps and that they must be allowed to go back to their villages and helped to rebuild and reconstruct their lives, according to the UN News Centre report.

He went on to say that key question of citizenship and verification was “a real problem for the Muslim community.”

Annan pointed out that State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Ky had accepted the recommendations in his report and had agreed to set up an implementation committee.

“The report is generally accepted and could form a framework and basis for action as we move forward; hopefully Myanmar and the international community can work together on these core issues,” he said, expressing the hope that the issue of Rakhine could be settled to give the country “time and space to address the wider issues in the country.”

Asked by a reporter about the tenor of the discussions in the Council, Annan said: “I would hope that the resolution that comes out urges the Government to really press ahead and create conditions that will allow the refugees to return in dignity and with a sense of and security.”

The international community, he said, appears prepared to engage Myanmar and work on a common roadmap based on his report, as a common basis, “to go forward together and try to stabilize the situation,” or else this would become a “long-term festering problem.”

Asked about next steps, Annan said: “We worked on this report [for a year and] my work is done. There is no 'plan B.' We have to tackle the root causes, and the report deals with that and [if there is serious implementation] could ensure that we won't have repetition of the violence and attacks."
Collecting refugee data
At the same time, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been working with the Government in a new 'family counting' exercise to collect data on the estimated 536,000 newly-arrived refugees and their needs.

“The exercise will enable the Government, UNHCR and other agencies to have a better understanding of the size and breakdown of the population and where they are located,” UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told reporters at today's regular press briefing in Geneva.

“It is key for getting the right aid to the right people. It will also help flag refugees with special protection needs, such as single mothers with small infants, people with disabilities, or children and elderly refugees who are on their own,” he added.

The exercise has so far counted 17,855 families – more than 70,000 individuals. It is currently being carried out in the Balukhali Extension and Kutupalong Extension camps and should cover an estimated 525,000 people over the coming weeks.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...ohingya-refugees-crisis-in-bangladesh-1476256

 

[Banglar Bir]

Japan donates US$750,000 for Rohingyas
Online Desk | Update: 12:05, Oct 15, 2017
The government of Japan has provided emergency grant aid of US$750,000 for six months through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the Rohingya people living in Bangladesh camps, reports UNB.

The emergency grant aid will complement the ongoing UNICEF response in these areas.

Since 25 August, over 536,000 Rohingyas have arrived in Cox's Bazaar district, up to 60 per cent of them are estimated to be children. Most are living in harsh and insanitary conditions in makeshift camps and new spontaneous settlements in the district of Cox's Bazar.

"Water, sanitation and hygiene condition are dire in the Rohingya camps and makeshift settlements and condition is getting desperate with the growing number of influx every day. This poses high risk of possible outbreak of diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases especially among children," said Edouard Beigbeder, representative, UNICEF Bangladesh.

"Moreover, children are traumatised due to the violence they faced in Myanmar and need immediate psychosocial and recreational support."

The emergency grant aid will address the severe humanitarian condition of the Rohingyas by providing WASH facilities reaching out to 24,800 Rohingya children and their families directly and 60,000 indirectly, the UNICEF said on Sunday.

They will be provided with provision of safe drinking water, gender segregated and disability friendly latrines and bathing cubicles, handwashing facilities, hygiene promotion session and WASH emergency supplies.

The emergency aid will also provide child protection support reaching out to 5,000 children directly and 200,000 indirectly through provision of protective services, referral mechanism, case management, and support to families of vulnerable children.

The emergency grant aid will be used to support the dire need of the Rohingya children and their families ensuring strong coordination amongst all humanitarian actors to ensure effective response.
http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/163141/Japan-donates-US-750-000-for-Rohingyas