Japan offers $3.5m aid for Rohingya Muslims
Japan has vowed to provide 3.5 million US dollars in emergency aid to help Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya Muslims, who are fleeing violence and persecution in the Southeast Asian country.
Addressing a one-day seminar at the United Nations University in Tokyo on Saturday, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida reaffirmed his country’s commitment to efforts that will boost national reconciliation on various fronts in Asia such as between Myanmar's government and "ethnic minority groups."
"With regard to non-regular immigrants, including women and children trying to cross the Indian Ocean, Japan has decided to extend $3.5 million" through International Organization for Migration and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, he said.
He added that the aid will be used to provide food and shelter and to fund a data analysis of their maritime movements.
The plight of Rohingya Muslims has drawn international attention as thousands of the persecuted and impoverished people and Bangladeshi migrants struggle desperately to reach other Southeast Asian countries.
The Rohingya Muslims face extensive discrimination and restrictions in Myanmar, including controls on their movements, family size and access to jobs.
Many of the Muslims now live in camps for the displaced, three years after scores of them lost their lives in acts of violence by extremists from the Buddhist majority. The turmoil forced more people to flee on boats.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said on June 12 that nearly half a million members of the persecuted Rohingya community in Myanmar are in need of humanitarian aid as the plight of Muslim minorities in the Asian state continues unabated.
The UNOCHA added that three years into the outbreak of a fresh wave of violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, more than 416,000 people in the community still need humanitarian assistance.
SF/NN/HRB
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