By Winnie Byanyima, Oxfam International Executive Director
ONE of Oxfam’s most experienced water engineers, Zulfiquar Ali Haider, was recently approached by a man in his 60s who was living in the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh. Extraordinarily, the refugee recognized Haider as the man who helped to save his life by providing emergency water two decades earlier.
The reunion was tinged with sadness. For the third time in 40 years, the world watches Rohingya people fleeing after being attacked and driven from their homes. Aid workers like Haider are deployed yet again. The international community watches, again, having collectively failed to find a lasting solution to the decades-long oppression of Rohingya in their country.
More than 620,000 refugees have arrived in Bangladesh in the last few months. It’s the fastest-growing refugee emergency in the world today. Conditions in the overcrowded camps are woefully inadequate and refugees, especially women and children, are at risk of disease and exploitation. Water is contaminated, latrines are overflowing and there are reports of vulnerable people being trafficked and abused.
As I said to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon when we met recently, the world continues to fail far too many refugees. The Scottish Government’s decision to help fund the relief effort was welcome but the international community urgently needs to plug the $280 million gap in funding for emergency food, water and other essentials and to keep people safe. It also needs to work with the Bangladesh government to develop a longer-term plan to support both the refugees and the local communities.
Yet emergency aid can only be a sticking plaster. To end the suffering of the Rohingya, it is necessary to tackle the ongoing violence and discrimination that have boiled over into this crisis, sending hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives.There is mounting evidence that crimes against humanity have taken place with impunity, including massacres, systematic rape and burning of Rohingya villages.
The Rohingya are the world’s largest stateless group of people. Oxfam spoke to refugees in Bangladesh who had fled Myanmar three times since the 1970s. Although conditions in the refugee camps are totally insufficient and many people said they felt unsafe, they were clear they would like to return but only when guaranteed protection and equal rights.
Many women, traumatised by their experiences, said they would prefer suicide to being forcibly returned. “If we are forced to go back we will set ourselves on fire,” said Sanjida Sajjad. I am angry that the international community has failed to find a permanent solution to the plight of the Rohingya. I am ashamed that, in not speaking out loudly enough, we humanitarians have been complicit. International leaders are failing to put the human rights of all, especially the Rohingya, at the heart of their diplomatic efforts.
In August, a commission led by Kofi Annan urged the government to reform laws that deny full citizenship to the Rohingya. It called for action to address the underlying causes of chronic under-development, poverty and landlessness for all people in Rakhine State. It called for integration, not segregation.
The report was backed by Aung Sang Suu Kyi, the democratic leader of Myanmar. It must be implemented. Democracy in Myanmar cannot be achieved with discrimination and gross violations of human rights. Despite everything, the Rohingya refugees repeated a dignified, clear request to us: equal rights for all, as full citizens. Their call must now be answered.
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