LETTER | World Refugee Day: A dream for safety, inclusion and equal treatment

LETTER | Year 2024 witnessed more people become displaced persons, asylum seekers and refugees.

Both Palestinians and Rohingya have been victims of genocide for long decades but there is still no international solution. The absence of political will, economic interest and investment causes Palestinians and Rohingya to continue to be victims of genocide without protection and justice.

Palestinians and Rohingya are continuously killed in many series of bombings and shootings. Children and women continue to be brutally killed and raped. Cruelty by humans in this century is mind-boggling. What actually got them to that point?

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, in his message on World Refugee Day 2024, highlighted that more than 120 million people around the world are forcibly displaced, including 43.5 million refugees. These figures reflect our failure to end conflict, war and genocide around the globe.

On June 18, UN human rights chief Volker Turk expressed his concerns on the situation in Maungdaw Township. He highlighted that Rohingya have nowhere to flee and are trapped in western Myanmar.

In a recent development, the Arakan Army (AA) ordered the Rohingya in Maungdaw Township to evacuate ahead of a planned offensive. This is deeply worrying as they have nowhere to flee.

Until now, Rohingya in the affected areas in Buthidaung and Maungdaw are still under the control of the Arakan Army and do not have food, water, medicine, shelter etc.

Before that, on May 19, Turk said: “I am deeply alarmed by reports of renewed violence and property destruction in Buthidaung township in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, resulting in the displacement of potentially tens of thousands of civilians, mainly Rohingya.”

The massive destruction caused by the Arakan Army is beyond imagination. They continued the genocidal attack on the Rohingya that was previously carried out by the Myanmar military. Without access to humanitarian aid, Rohingya will die due to hunger, no treatment and no shelter. How long can they survive?

The army has seized control of 11 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships. We can imagine thousands more Rohingya will be killed and massive destruction following offensive operations for the remaining Townships in the Rakhine State. This needs immediate action by the UN, European Union and Asean.

The war in Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Ukraine, Congo, etc, forced millions of civilians to flee their countries while many more were trapped inside the countries. The need for humanitarian aid increases tremendously while the international humanitarian aid has decreased tremendously. We have no other option but to stop conflict, war and genocide.

On this World Refugee Day 2024, the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization Malaysia calls upon the UN, EU, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Asean, world leaders, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, community-based organisations, and the international community to increase efforts to end conflict, war and genocide.

We also call for them to continue their humanitarian aid to all refugees around the world as well as build our resilience to face various challenges as refugees living in exile while waiting for a durable solution to come.

This year’s World Refugee Day focuses on solidarity with refugees - for a world where refugees are welcomed. This is our hope, but the reality is not always like this. Refugees’ life is full of challenges and hardship wherever we end up.

We urge the UN Security Council to send a peacekeeping force to save the civilians in the affected areas. We urge the Asean to meet urgently to discuss the situation in Rakhine State and Myanmar and initiate actions to stop the genocide and atrocities in Myanmar.

Asean needs to address this as people of Myanmar are fleeing to neighbouring countries for protection while thousands of Rohingya are trapped in Rakhine State.

Today, we call upon everyone to end hate speech and xenophobia against asylum seekers and refugees as the impacts are severe on us.

The increase of hate speech and xenophobia against refugees since Covid-19 pandemic resulted in refugees receiving threats, physical abuse, harassment, and defamation which put our lives at risk and jeopardised our physical health, mental health, and well-being. This made our lives more difficult and challenging.

Millions of asylum seekers and refugees continuously face a lack of humanitarian aid resulting in hunger and malnutrition, especially for babies and children. While other children have access to education and a safe environment, refugee children are denied formal education. We call upon Unicef and UN Women to address this issue.

We are grateful for the international support and solidarity with refugees but that alone is not enough as we need a permanent solution to our plights. Please help us to find a permanent solution for us to return home safely with dignity and to rebuild our broken lives.

We dream of equal treatment for all refugees around the globe and we hope for a peaceful and safe environment for the vulnerable refugees where our lives and security are ensured. Please help us to end conflict, war and genocide.

ZAFAR AHMAD ABDUL GHANI is president of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization in Malaysia.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.