The Stateless Rohingya Blog

IDPs at Taung Paw Camp in Rakhine State (PHOTO: UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office / flickr) People living in and near the Internally Displaced Person (IDP) sites in Rakhine State are facing health risks due to restricted access to safe potable water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene, according to a statement by UNICEF on December 21.  UNICEF, the UN’s Children’s Fund, said that only half of the 115,000 IDPs in the strife-torn region have access to what is considered safe water. It added that drainage and solid waste disposal remain major challenges ahead of the rainy seasons in a few months. Vulnerable groups, including children, are at greatest risk of diarrhea and other water-borne diseases.

TEHRAN (FNA)- An Iranian Parliamentary delegation will visit Myanmar next month to study the situation of the oppressed Muslim minority in the country, a senior legislator informed on Saturday. "The preliminary agreements have been made for the visit of the Iranian parliamentary delegation to Myanmar," Vice-Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mansour Haqiqatpour told FNA on Saturday. 

WAM Abu Dhabi, 23 Dec. 2012 (WAM) -- H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, has received messages from foreign ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia and Laurent Fabius of France, and Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and Baroness Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, dealing with the tragic conditions of Rohingya, the Muslim minority in Myanmar. Sheikh Abdullah got these notes in reply to messages he sent to the parties concerned in which he called on the international community to address the ordeal the Muslim minority was experiencing.

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Blankets and warm clothes are needed for the poor displaced people living in Maungdaw and Rathedaung Townships. Severe cold accompanied by dense fog for the last few days has disrupted normal life in the areas, said a businessman from Maungdaw who denied his name. “Around 7,000 cold hit people are passing their days and nights   in misery without warm clothes and blankets. The people are living nearby Mountain areas beside rivers are the most vulnerable. Poor people do not have ability to purchase warm clothes to protect them from the biting cold.”