Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 10-01-2018
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says more than 60,000 Rohingya children remain nearly forgotten, trapped in appalling camps in central Rakhine where the shelters teeter on stilts above garbage and excrement.
UNICEF’s Marixie Mercado was speaking to journalists yesterday following her visit to Myanmar from 6 December 2017 through 3 January.
Mercado painted a harrowing picture of the situation in Rakhine, noting that prior to 25 August, when the most recent outbreak of violence occurred.
She says UNICEF had been treating 4,800 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition; these children are no longer receiving this life-saving treatment.
“All 12 of the outpatient therapeutic treatment centres run by our partners are closed because they were either looted, destroyed or staff can’t access them,” she underscored.”
Mercado called the inability of UN agencies to access vulnerable Rohingya children who remain in northern Myanmar “troubling”.
“While ‘the eyes of the world’ are focused on the 655,000 refugees who have fled across the border into Bangladesh, 60,000 Rohingya children remain ‘almost forgotten,’ trapped in squalid camps in central Rakhine.”
Mercado stressed that UNICEF stood ready to work with the Myanmar Government and Rakhine state authorities to provide humanitarian relief to all children – regardless of ethnicity, religion, or status – but needed unlimited access.
0 Comments