UN calls for $8.3 million aid for Rohingya refugees

By Ecenur Colak

ROME

A UN body on Friday made an appeal of $8.3 million to support Rohingya refugees and host population in Bangladesh.

In a statement, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that cyclone season and monsoon rains were putting already vulnerable communities -- around 1.2 million people in Bangladesh-- at even greater risk.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 refugees, mostly children and women, fled Myanmar when Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to the Amnesty International.

At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, according to Doctors Without Borders.

In a report published on Dec. 12, the global humanitarian organization said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.

“FAO is appealing for $8.3 million to protect and restore the livelihoods of vulnerable populations, mitigate social tension, and carry out longer-term environmental recovery and agricultural production efforts,” said the statement by the FAO.

The statement said that nearly 900,000 refugees, more than double the local population of Cox’s Bazar, have put great pressure on host communities as people are competing for already scarce natural resources, food, fuel, and work.

“There is just not enough work and resources for everyone. We need to create opportunities for people to rebuild their livelihoods and ease growing social tensions, or we might soon be faced with an additional crisis within the crisis,” the statement quoted Peter Agnew, FAO Emergency Coordinator in Bangladesh, as saying.

“We are seeing food prices going up and daily wages going down from $6 to $2, and an intense competition for firewood and food. Host community members tell us that this situation is creating great strains on their families,” he added.

According to the statement, the FAO has only received $1.5 million of the total of $9.8 million so far that it urgently requires for 2018.

Earlier on Friday, the UN refugee agency said that the Rohingya people have still been fleeing to Bangladesh from the restive Rakhine state of Myanmar and they reside in the areas that are at high risk of landslides and flooding.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.