Damning U.N. Report Outlines Crimes Against Rohingya As Children Suffer from Trauma One Year Later

A damning reporting by the United Nations on the Myanmar’s army crimes against the Rohingya may come too late for these Rohingya children, many of whom remain traumatised as witnesses of the genocide. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPSBy Farid AhmedDHAKA, Aug 27 2018 (IPS)At 12, Mohammed* is an orphan. He watched his parents being killed by Myanmar government soldiers a year ago. And he is one of an estimated half a million Rohingya children who have survived and been witness to what the United Nations has called genocide.According to accounts in a U.N. fact-finding report released today, the children were likely witnesses to their homes and villages being burnt down, to mass killings, and to the rape of their mothers. As girls, they would have likely been raped themselves.It has been a year since the atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state led to the exodus of some 700,000 Rohingya—some 60 percent of whom where children, according to the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF)—into neighbouring Bangladesh and to the coastal Cox’s Bazar district were the refugee camps have been set up.And life remains difficult for the children in these camps.While some who live in the squalid camps find it hard to envision themselves returning to a normal life; others, like Mohammed, dream of justice.“I want justice… I want the soldiers to face trial,” he tells IPS, saying he wants justice from the soldiers who “ruined his life”.“They killed our people, grabbed our land and torched our hous...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Aid Armed Conflicts Asia-Pacific Crime & Justice Development & Aid Editors' Choice Education Featured Gender Gender Violence Global Governance Globalisation Headlines Health Human Rights Humanitarian Emergencies IPS UN: Ins Source Type: news