We must support the Rohingya

For the past 20 months, more than one million Muslim Rohingya refugees have been living in crowded camps in the Cox’s Bazaar region of Bangladesh, dependent on international organisations and humanitarian groups for their most basic everyday needs. That this persecuted minority is there is the result of what the United Nations has reported as a crime against humanity — victims of ethnic cleansing in their native Myanmar, forced from their homes by roving gangs of murderous vigilantes and supported by the security and police apparatus of that shameful nation.

Every refugee living now in those camps in Bangladesh can tell a story of fear, forced from their burnt homes, businesses and villages, trekking through jungles where military troops hunted them down or laid new minefields to kill and maim the desperate as they sought sanctuary elsewhere. Others too took to the seas, hopeful that they might not perish on their pitiful voyage.

For these, our Muslims brothers and sisters, children and friends, we will stand and lend a hand. From the very first days of the nation, the UAE has always sought to bring relief to those in need, to feed and assist those with nothing, to offer a hand and help those victims of natural disasters, social unrest, civil strike or political upheaval. And right now, during this month of Ramadan, those one million of our brothers and sisters are foremost in our minds. Thanks to the latest humanitarian campaign by the Emirates Red Crescent Authority, the people of this nation now have an opportunity to reach deep into their hearts and pockets and help the Rohingya diaspora living in these Bangladeshi camps. This humanitarian campaign is being publicised on local television stations and is based on a theme: ‘From the UAE to the Rohingya Children and Women’.

According to official estimates, these are some 1.2 million Muslim Rohingya refugees, and 720,000 of them are children — all living now the horrors of being forced from their homes and facing an uncertain future and a troubled and violent past marred by the hateful deeds of others. There are 240,000 women in these camps who must somehow manage to provide for their loved ones, somehow manage to keep their maternal promise that yes, everything is going to be alright.

There are thousands of elderly people living in these camps, ripped from their homes and villages, a lifetime of memories now forever marred by murder, landmines and guns. All need our help now. Every little bit helps a lot.

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