Spotlight: Rohingya
BBF is calling on concerned groups and individuals everywhere to help support the Rohingya in Myanmar. They are currently under sustained and consistent attack by both the Myanmar government and adjoining countries to which they are trying to flee. Women and children are particularly vulnerable as targets of deadly violence. Marginalized and persecuted for hundreds of years, the Rohingya are facing a new crisis as the result of an incident in May that set off a chain of deadly sectarian clashes.
On June 4 June 2012, 10 Rohingya men were beaten to death by members of the Buddhist community in retaliation against the alleged rape of a Buddhist woman in May. The violence that ensued in the days after took 80 lives and displaced thousands. Mass rape, looting, burning of villages, indiscriminate arrests of young Rohingya men, and torture of women and children by Myanmar's border security are reported as daily and widespread occurrences.
Labeled as "non-citizens," Rohingya are denied basic rights, abused by the government, and persecuted for their ethnicity.
They are:
Two years ago, BBF supported JMD, an Indonesian non-profit agency, in its efforts to aid Rohingya who had fled to Indonesia. Now, BBF calls on the public to build awareness of what's happening to the Rohingya today. We are looking for help in starting a coalition of agencies and individuals committed to advocating for immediate humanitarian assistance to Myanmar Rohingya IDPs and refugees. If you or your organization have contact with Myanmar Rohingya, or have humanitarian relief programs operating in the area, please let us know how we can engage to better aid the Rohingya.
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Learn about JMD's 2009 Rohingya assistance project in Aceh Timur
