Six weeks left!

Six weeks left until the conference! Here at EagleMUNC, we are excited to see you all at the Westin on March 16th!

Our last blog post discussed Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and the health crises they face while living in high density camps. Now in 2018, Bangladesh continues to show the world how they choose to manage a crisis. In Cox’s Bazar, more than 475,000 Rohingya children are living in refugee camps. The living conditions in these camps are dire, with high population density leading to poor sanitation and disease outbreaks. Specifically, a diphtheria outbreak with around 4,000 recorded cases since November has caused panic among the refugees and the residents of the surrounding communities.

In response to this epidemic, UNICEF and WHO are working with Bangladesh’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to vaccinate children, who are particularly vulnerable to the disease. Thus far, over 300,000 children aged six weeks to 17 years were given an age appropriate immunization. The Ministry, WHO, and UNICEF will provide two more rounds of vaccination in order to fully protect the children in the camps. Furthermore, 160,000 children in surrounding communities, outside of the refugee camps, are being vaccinated to prevent them from contracting diphtheria.

It is clear that Bangladesh’s government is working tirelessly with global health organizations to protect the children living in the affected area. Furthermore, Bangladesh has been internationally praised for taking in over 600,000 refugees fleeing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. However, in early December Bangladesh stated its intent to move forward with its controversial relocation plan, outlining a specific plan to move 100,000 Rohingya refugees to flood-prone Thengar Chal by November 2019. The nation plans to develop the remote island to make it more habitable.

The UN Human Rights Council also recently held a meeting to discuss whether or not Myanmar is committing genocide against the Rohingya. If it is labeled as a genocide, then the UN Security Council must intervene according to many legal experts. Regardless of whether or not it is officially named a genocide, Myanmar’s government has committed atrocities against the Rohingya, forcing them to flee into Bangladesh. This crisis not only displays how Bangladesh deals with the refugee crisis but also shows how global organizations deal with horrific actions being taken against marginalized groups.

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Sources:
From the UN News Centre:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=58418#.WnC96oJG1-W
From CNN World:
https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/06/asia/rohingya-bangladesh-myanmar-intl/index.html