How to help the Rohingya children: donate to UNICEF’s Rohingya Relief Fund. Your donations will be sent directly to assist refugee Rohingya children from Myanmar.
the struggle for Rohingya children continues
As a new school year begins, more than 145,000 Rohingya refugee children living in camps in south-east Bangladesh are now attending UNICEF-supported learning centres. With the support from its partners, UNICEF has set up 1,600 learning centres in the camps – providing vital access to education for children who fled violence in Myanmar. Education will not only provide Rohingya children with the tools they need to thrive, it also brings children living in the camps with hope for better tomorrows.
Attention is now turning to providing education for thousands of other children who still lack access. The aim is to eventually reach 260,000 children with education in 2019 through an extended network of 2,500 learning centres run by 5,000 teachers and Rohingya volunteers.
Rohingya children in Cox’s Bazar continue to face many challenges. More than half a million Rohingya refugee girls and boys living in the camps are still in need of clean water, food, shelter and protection.
Rohingya crisis explained
Q: What is the Rohingya crisis? Who are the Rohingya?
A: Rohingya are ethnically from the Rakhine State in Myanmar. Since late August, horrific violence and persecution has driven over 670,000 of the minority Muslim Rohingya community to seek refuge across the border in Bangladesh. Women and children fleeing from Myanmar’s Rakhine state into Bangladesh – who make up almost 90 per cent of the refugees – have reported experiencing or witnessing horrific violence and persecution– accounts which UN officials say point to grave human rights violations.
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Q: How are Rohingya children affected?
A: More than 362,340 of the latest influx of new refugees since August 25 are children and making up 58% of the newly arrived Rohingya refugees. Altogether, about 703,000 children need urgent humanitarian assistance. These children are exceptionally vulnerable to death, disease, violence and exploitation. They are in urgent need of clean water, shelter, food, and medication. We must take every possible measure to ensure that these children are not deprived of their childhoods, and that they are given the chance to not only survive, but to thrive and reach their full potential. There are many traumatized, separated and unaccompanied children needing psychosocial support, family tracing and reunification and a protective environment.
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Q: What is UNICEF doing to help in Bangladesh?
A: UNICEF staff have been at Cox’s Bazar before the crisis began, and will be there as long as needed. We are having an immediate positive impact, but there is a critical need to scale up the response. UNICEF has been providing children with access to clean drinking water, food, vaccines, shelter, medical assistance, psychosocial support and education, but resources are being stretched to the limit. UNICEF Bangladesh has launched an aggressive response plan to reach more than 703,000 children caught in the emergency. UNICEF has appealed for‘$144.6 million USD to meet the urgent needs of Rohingya children and their families.
Monsoon season is threatening the lives of Rohingya children:
- The ongoing cyclone and monsoon season, expected to continue until November, is affecting Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazaar. Refugees are being relocated to other sites.
- A reported 441 latrines and 294 bathing cubicles have been damaged by monsoon rains and must be repaired.
- Risk of cholera remains high during monsoon season. Planning is ongoing for a round of oral cholera vaccinations targeting over 300,000 people.
- Prior vaccination coverage amongst new arrivals is very low and deadly outbreaks of communicable diseases such as measles and diphtheria have already occurred.
- An estimated 45,000 people rely on the continued trucking on 654,000 litres of safe water in water scarce areas of Hakimpara and Alikhali Camps.
- More than 381,000 children have arrived in Bangladesh since last August and are in need of humanitarian assistance.
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The situation in the camps is becoming more organized with more and more interventions being established. However, living conditions for these refugees are still shockingly sub-standard. There are still pressing needs around water provision and sanitation systems, access to health and medical care, access to nutrition screening and access to education and child protection systems. While a massive Oral Cholera Vaccination (OCV) campaign is underway, disease continues to present a risk. The number of cases of diarrhoeal disease has been high among refugee arrivals. Coupled with poor nutrition, the effects of any disease outbreak would likely be devastating for children. The need for improved water, hygiene and sanitation within the camps is a major pressing priority.
Q: What can you do to help the Rohingya children in crisis?
A: Donate to our Rohingya Relief Fund to send your donations directly to refugee children in need.
Page Last Updated: August 18, 2018