DHAKA, July 01, 2018 (BSS)-The United Kingdom today urged the international
community for providing support for the Rohingya refugee community, who fled
from Rakahine state in Myanmar since August last year, particularly to help
support the provision of education for refugees and host communities.
UK Minister for Asia and the Pacific, Mark Field MP and UK Special Envoy
for Gender Equality Joanna Roper made this appeal while they were talking to
journalists at the residence of the British high commissioner here.
The British minister and special envoy arrived in Dhaka on Friday morning
for a three-day visit to discuss the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh.
“I call on the international community to work with Bangladesh to step up
support for the refugees, both during this monsoon season and in the longer
term through the provision of education and livelihoods,” said the British
minister.
He added: “The UK remains a leading donor to the crisis, committing œ129m
since September last year to support the refugees and vulnerable host
communities”.
“We will continue to use international pressure and dialogue with the
Burmese authorities to make progress, including through our support for the
EU sanctions measures announced on 25 June,” he said.
During a visit to Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, where over a
million refugees are living in crowded and unsafe refugee camps, Minister
Field and Joanna Roper met refugee families and community leaders to learn
about the persecution they suffered in Rakhine, and the challenges that life
in the camps presents.
They saw first-hand the damage caused by recent monsoon rains, and the work
of the Government of Bangladesh and humanitarian agencies to protect the
refugees.
They visited a UNICEF child-friendly site where they saw the efforts being
made to keep young people safe and heard about efforts to provide education
for refugee children.
They also visited community and health centres, and met with a site
management team to hear about the UK’s contribution to monsoon preparedness.
“What I witnessed today was truly heartbreaking, and only redoubles my
determination to support the refugees and keep up the pressure on the Burmese
authorities,” he told the newsmen after the visit.
Over 706,364 people have fled from their homes in Burma’s Rakhine state
into Bangladesh since August 2017, joining around 340,000 Rohingya who had
previously fled.
The visiting British minister and the UK envoy will hold talks with senior
ministers here today.
Joanna Roper said:”The stories we heard in the camps of violence against
the Rohingya in Burma are deeply disturbing, but I was moved by the efforts
being made to provide support to women and girls in the camps, as well as the
learning centres for Rohingya children, displaying a thirst for education
despite all that they have endured at such a young age.”
“Girls’ education is the right thing to do: women and girls have the right
to be educated, equal, empowered and safe. As the Foreign Secretary said at
the UN Human Rights Council on 18 June, we must leave no girl behind and
enable all girls to receive 12 years of quality education. That message is
equally important for Rohingya girls to hear,” he added.