Canadian aid workers demand urgent action against Rohingya crisis

#Rohingyacrisis; #BobRae; #Myanmar; #CSRDN; #DrAliyaKhan; ​#CanadiansinSupportofRefugeesinDireNeed; #MyanmarCrisisReliefFund; #ChrystiaFreeland
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Myanmar/Ottawa, May 19 (Canadian-Media): Canada's federal government had been urged by a group of Canadian aid workers to take fast action on some of the recommendations made in a report on the Rohingya crisis by Bob Rae, Canada’s special envoy to Myanmar, media reports said.

The wait had been unacceptable, said the group Canadians in Support of Refugees in Dire Need (CSRDN) at a news conference in Toronto on Friday.

“We must lead the international community. The inaction is unbelievable,” said CSRDN co-chair Dr. Aliya Khan.

Canadians in Support of Refugees in Dire Need. Image credit: Website

Bob Rae, the former premier of Ontario and Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) had presented his recommendations in April. 

Khan said that it has been six weeks since the government released a report from Rae outlining the crisis, yet no actions had been taken.

A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada said that “we are examining these recommendations and will have more to announce very soon.”

Global Affairs had stated that Canada had provided $45.9-million for aid partners to deliver life-saving and gender-responsive support for displaced refugees and communities since the beginning of 2017.

This included $12.5-million for the Myanmar Crisis Relief Fund that matched the generous contributions Canadians made last year.

Numerous deaths, along with the rapes of many women and young girls in August last year resulted from the latest attacks by the Myanmar military .

An additional 700,000 Rohingya people, as a result,  had to seek refuge in Bangladesh camps.

According to official reports on May 25 it will be nine months since these attacks, meaning that the impregnated women and girls were delivering babies in extremely unsanitary conditions.

Almost 60 babies a day were being born, many of whom are at risk of abandonment, infection and death,  a report released by the United Nations said

Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in an e-mailed statement:

“I agree with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, who has described the campaign against the Rohingya as a ‘textbook case of ethnic cleansing’ and who has stated that he ‘has strong suspicions that acts of genocide may have taken place in Rakhine State since August.’”​

​Chrystia Freeland. Image credit: Official

Freeland should reportedly go further and invoke the United Nations Genocide Convention, said John Packer, a University of Ottawa professor and director of the university’s Human Rights Research and Education Centre.
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