Rohingya plight is front-page news
Re Tragedy in the making, Editorial May 18 When a natural disaster occurs, it is a tragedy. When we do horrible things to our fellow human beings, it is a crime.
Shame on the world for turning a blind eye to the plight of the Rohingya, who are dying at sea in the hundreds if not thousands. They are hated by their country of Burma solely because they are Muslim and generally darker skinned than the Buddhist majority. Persecuted beyond description in their homeland for years, in their desperation to seek life, they pay whatever they can to board boats captained by human traffickers who take their money and abandon them at sea to drift into oblivion. Who knows how many have already perished at sea?
How can aid be mounted to help these voiceless, weak, impoverished, desperate people when they are drifting in a boat in international waters? Aid groups do not have boats they can use to find them and tow them into shore. To make matters worse, no country wants the boats to be towed to its shore. God bless the few fishermen who have rescued some of these people.
It all comes down to money and economics. It costs a lot to build refugee camps and supply and staff them, and then there is the question of what to do with these people in the future. These are not the type of immigrants countries want.
We must not stand idly by and participate in this murderous act and attempt at genocide. The world has much too often looked the other way when millions were murdered.
I urge you to make this a front-page story to bring attention to this urgent humanitarian crisis and, hopefully, to prompt action by our government and UN ambassador. Thailand, Malaysia and other countries in the region that can take in the refugees must do so immediately. Once they are on land somewhere, aid groups can provide water, food, medical help and shelter before it is too late. But first, let’s act to save them. A humanitarian crisis is going on right now. Will we save these people or choose, by virtue of our silence and inaction, to be partners in this crime against humanity? Dr. Rickey Miller, Thornhill