Refugee Council USA is Deeply Concerned For the Safety of Rohingyas Forced from their Homes and Villages in Myanmar

Refugee Council USA is Deeply Concerned For the Safety of Rohingyas
Forced from their Homes and Villages in Myanmar

Urges Trump Administration and International Community to
Respond to Immediate Protection Needs

Washington DC – Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) is deeply concerned that over 500,000 Rohingya have been violently displaced from their homes in Rakhine state, Myanmar (also known as Burma), and forced to flee to neighboring Bangladesh since August 24th.  “We are deeply concerned for the safety of the refugees, the majority of whom are women and children, and dismayed that the instability in Rakhine state that has led to such a rapid and large exodus of people forced to flee their homes continues,” explains Hans Van de Weerd, Chair of RCUSA.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the situation for Rohingya refugees as the “world’s fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare.”

RCUSA urges the United States government and the international community to engage in a coordinated regional response to meet the immediate protection and humanitarian needs of the Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh and other countries of first asylum such as Malaysia.  Responsibility for protecting the lives of this targeted ethnic and religious minority is a responsibility shared by all countries in the region and by the entire international community.

Collaborative efforts to end the widespread violence against the Rohingya and other factors that have caused this mass exodus must be sought. Other key issues to address are the lack of access to citizenship for the Rohingya and integral human development for Rakhine state.  Likewise, internationally coordinated durable solutions for the Rohingya people must be made possible and sustainable, such as an option for the safe, dignified and voluntary return of the Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar; and, for the most vulnerable, access to strategic and targeted resettlement opportunities in safe third countries such as the United States where they can begin to rebuild their lives.

Contact: Danielle Grigsby, RCUSA Associate Director, dgrigsby@rcusa.org