DHAKA GETS $100-M GRANT FOR ROHINGYA
DHAKA— The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday approved a grant of $100 million to Bangladesh, the first half of an assistance package to develop basic infrastructure and services for refugees from neighboring Myanmar, the bank said.
Basic infrastructure
Bangladesh faces a challenge in managing refugee camps in its southern district of Cox’s Bazar, flooded by more than 700,000 people who fled violence in Rakhine State since late August, the United Nations and aid agencies say.
“ADB’s project in this first phase will seek to provide basic infrastructure and services that will ease vulnerabilities and risk of hunger, disease and disaster,” said ADB president Takehiko Nakao.
Bangladesh, which sought the aid at an annual meeting of the ADB in Manila in May, will supplement the grant with $20 million to fund the first phase, estimated to cost $120 million over 2-1/2 years.
Proof of atrocities
Meanwhile, the group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said forensic evidence gathered in medical examinations at a refugee camp in Bangladesh are consistent with atrocities.
The PHR report focused on refugees from the village of Chut Pyin where physicians examined 25 Rohingya refugees.
According to the PHR report to be released in July and seen by Reuters, 22 had physical injuries consistent to claims they were shot, hacked, wounded by explosives and raped.
Seventeen had gunshot wounds, five had suffered blunt trauma such as from kicking or beating, three had wounds from explosions or burns, three had penetrating injuries such as from stabbings, and two had suffered sexual violence.
“All the forensic examinations and medical records were highly consistent with the histories that the survivors described,” said PHR.
Crimes vs humanity
“Chut Pyin exemplifies the campaign of violence that Myanmar authorities have carried out against the Rohingya people” and “should be investigated as crimes against humanity,” the report concluded.
The Myanmar government and Myanmar military did not respond to requests for comment, but officials have repeatedly denied claims of atrocities against the Rohingya.
Reuters and PHR have placed Myanmar’s 33rd Light Infantry Division in Chut Pyin before security forces swept through the village.