UNICEF: Twelve thousand Rohingya children flee Bangladesh every week because of violence in Myanmar

Arakan News Agency
(Reuters) – Up to 12,000 children are forced to flee every week to Bangladesh because of violence in Myanmar, according to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The difficult situation in camps and water-borne diseases threatens more than 320,000 Rohingya children who have fled to southern Bangladesh since late August, including 10,000 who crossed the border from Myanmar in the past few days, according to the UNICEF report.
The report stated that most of the Rohingya refugees live in temporary overcrowded communities under difficult conditions. Despite the expansion of humanitarian relief, headed by the Bengali Government, the basic needs of many children remain unresolved.
Simon Ingram, Senior UNICEF Media Advocate and Report Writer, spoke with journalists in Geneva about the difficult humanitarian situation of Rohingya children.
“The health status of many children, even when they arrive in Bangladesh, is very difficult. They are hungry and many of them seem to be malnourished. Nearly one out of every five children is malnourished, meaning they need medical care to regain their normal weight. ”
The chaos in the camps makes children and young people vulnerable to trafficking, the report said.
Ingram warned of the risk of some individuals who may enter the camps to seek opportunities to exploit vulnerable children who have been separated from their families.
More than half a million Rohingya people have crossed into Bangladesh since Aug. 25 because of the horrific violence in Myanmar.
The newcomers join some 200,000 Rohingya refugees who have come to Bangladesh in previous waves of exodus.
UNICEF calls for an end to atrocities against civilians in Arakan, Myanmar, and for immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to all children affected by violence.
So far, UNICEF has not been able to reach Arakan.
The report stressed the need to reach a long-term solution to the crisis in Arakan, and address the issues of statelessness and discrimination as stated in the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on the mandate of Arakan under the chairmanship of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Prior to the International Pledging Conference in Geneva on Monday, UNICEF urged donors to support the revised humanitarian response plan for Bangladesh.
The humanitarian agencies’ plan calls for $ 434 million, of which about 70 million will address the immediate needs of new arrivals, as well as those who arrived before the recent wave of displacement and vulnerable communities.