They need our
help. The Burma Government has adopted laws that ban the Rohingyas from
traveling without official permission, from owning land, from securing
a public education, from obtaining employment by either a state or
private business. When the Burmese Government says that it will welcome back the
refugees who can prove their citizenship, they are being completely
disingenuous and completely treacherous, because they know--and the
whole world should know--that the very laws of Burma make it impossible
for the Rohingya to prove their citizenship since they have been denied
citizenship by the Government of Burma. We cannot sit idly by and let
ethnic cleansing continue. One nation that has stepped up is Bangladesh. As the leaders of Burma
have persecuted the Rohingya and burned the villages and shot the
refugees as they were fleeing, the Government of Bangladesh has opened
its door. It has proceeded to allow humanitarian groups access and the
United Nations access. This is commendable, but more needs to be done. These refugee camps are overcrowded. There are not enough supplies,
clean toilets, food, or clean water. Doctors Without Borders says that
they are on the brink of a ``public health disaster.'' Unlike
Bangladesh, other countries have yet to speak up. Indeed, I am concerned by reports that some factions within India
have been explicitly, publicly seeking to expel India's own Rohingya
population. It is important for the international community to weigh in
with them and to ask them to respect international law and to protect
the Rohingya refugees. India knows full well that there is nowhere to
send them. If they send them back to Burma, there will just be more
persecution of the men, the women, and the children.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees