United Nations
Warning that the horrific accounts of rape and sexual assault against Rohingya women and girls fleeing unrest in Myanmar could be “just the tip of the iceberg,” the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has underscored the need to ensure that such violence is prevented and called for additional resources so that it can reach all those in need of assistance.
“Gender-based violence, including rape and sexual assault, is a key concern that has emerged from the ongoing humanitarian crisis,” said UNFPA in a news release today.
The UN agency noted that it has already provided a range of services, including medical and psychosocial counselling assistance, to more than 7,000 Rohingya women refugees.
However, many victims have not reported their ordeal out of concerns over safety, confidentiality, shame and stigma, it added.
“This is what makes it challenging to come up with accurate numbers of gender-based violence survivors.”
According to UNFPA, the lead UN agency on addressing gender-based violence in humanitarian crisis and emergencies, more than 480,000 Rohingya refugees – over half of them women and girls – have poured into Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar since August 25, having fled their homes since violence erupted in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine province.
Some 120,000 among them are women of reproductive age and 24,000 are either pregnant or breastfeeding.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for “swift action” to prevent further instability.
“The situation has spiralled into the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency and a humanitarian and human rights nightmare,” the Secretary-General said at a Security Council meeting on the situation in Myanmar.
There have also been reports of burning of Muslim villages, as well as looting and acts of intimidation. Authorities in Myanmar have indicated that at least 176 of 471 Muslim villages in northern Rakhine have been totally abandoned.
“We have received bone-chilling accounts from those who fled – mainly women, children and the elderly,” added the UN chief, noting that testimonies pointed to serious violations of human rights, including indiscriminate firing of weapons, the presence of landmines and sexual violence.
“This is unacceptable and must end immediately.”
At least 500,000 civilians have fled their homes in the country’s northern Rakhine state since late August and sought refuge in Bangladesh. According to estimates, some 94 per cent among them are members of the minority Muslim Rohingya community.