Rohingya exodus: 200,000 more refugees to enter B’desh in coming weeks, says report

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) stated that it expects around 200,000 more Rohingyas to arrive in Bangladesh from Myanmar in the coming weeks.

Dhaka, Nov 14: Recently, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that her country has already given shelter to at least 622,000 Rohingya refugees since violence erupted in the Rakhine State of Myanmar on August 25.

Now, a report indicated that more than 200,000 Rohingyas are likely to enter Bangladesh from Myanmar in the coming weeks, which clearly means that fear of violence and persecution continues in the homeland of the ethnic minority Muslim community which is fueling the unabated exodus.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) stated that it expects around 200,000 more Rohingyas to arrive in Bangladesh from Myanmar in the coming weeks--bringing the total Rohingya population to over one million--only exacerbating an already unimaginable humanitarian crisis.

The ongoing Rohingya issue has been called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world at the moment. Myanmar's treatment of its Muslim Rohingya minority appears to be a "textbook example" of ethnic cleansing, stated the United Nations (UN).

Amid all the hue and cry over the Rohingya refugee crisis by the international community, Bangladesh has appealed to the world to pressurise Myanmar to take back its citizens.

However, the Myanmar government has recently announced strict rules for the repatriation of Rohigyas, thus making it impossible for the return of the refugees to their homeland.

The aid agencies, working for the Rohingyas in refugee camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district, fear that if exodus continues from Myanmar it would further deteriorate the situation.

A recent nutrition survey conducted by humanitarian agencies in Cox's Bazar district, led by the IRC partner the Action Contre la Faim (ACF), has revealed shocking levels of malnutrition among the Rohingya children.

The survey stated prevalence of severe malnutrition rate of 7.5 per cent, nearly four times more than the international emergency level and 10 times higher than last year, according to the New York-based IRC.

With a global malnutrition rate of nearly 25 per cent, this means that a quarter of Rohingya children between six months and five years of age--almost 40,000--are already malnourished and in urgent need of life-saving help, added the report.

So, if the exodus continues, it is the Rohingya children who are going to face the worst consequences in the refugee camps where availability of food materials is in scarce.

OneIndia News