Some no-nonsense reporters need to get to the refugee settlements in Bangladesh & report what is actually going on with the delivery of humanitarian aid to the now 410,000 Rohingya refugees. All the big NGO operators are there–the Red Cross, Save the Children, MSF, UNICEF, UNHCR–yet media continue to report that after three weeks, refugees remain without shelter, food, clean water, medical care. Some of these operations use catastrophes to raise money that they don’t dispense for aid but some of them, like MSF, actually do deliver aid. So what is going on?
There have been reports, as there were in previous surges of Rohingya fleeing genocide (in 2012 & 2016 most notably), that the Bangladeshi government is obstructing NGOs from delivering aid. So how come a relatively small operation like Khalsa Aid is on the ground delivering food, water, & building shelters for the refugees?
We need to demand our governments airlift food, water, field hospitals, medical & trauma personnel, child protective services, prenatal & maternity care, & construction crews & have it delivered within the next 24 hours. Is Bangladesh refusing such assistance? Than Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has to be called out in no uncertain terms for endangering the lives of thousands of refugees. But before we start the condemnations we need to know exactly what is going on with the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Photo is an additional team from Khalsa Aid headed for Bangladesh.
(Photo from Khalsa Aid)