By LAIGNEE BARRON
More than 43,000
Rohingya parents have been reported lost, presumed dead in the six months since
Myanmar’s military unleashed a crackdown last August, according to a new report. These figures
provide the latest indication that even by conservative estimates the number of
Muslim Rohingya killed in the crisis far exceeds the Myanmar government’s official count of 400.
APHR report:
https://aseanmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/APHR_Bangladesh-Fact-Finding-Mission-Report_Mar-2018.pdf
Myanmar’s
Army Chief Office: https://www.facebook.com/Cincds/posts/1511217488999111
Based on surveys of
refugees who fled Myanmar for neighboring Bangladesh, 28,300 Rohingya children
have lost at least one parent, while an additional 7,700 children reported
having lost both parents, according to the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human
Rights (APHR), citing data from the Bangladeshi government. That puts the
number of “lost” parents at 43,700.
“These numbers cover
Rohingya children whose parents are currently not with them because they were
killed, or presumably killed and their whereabouts are unknown,” Oren Samet, a
research and advocacy director at APHR, tells TIME.
While there are no
reliable totals for how many people have been killed in what the U.N. has
labelled an “ethnic cleansing” campaign, Doctors Without Borders estimated 6,700 Rohingya
deaths in the first month of violence alone. http://www.msf.org/en/article/myanmarbangladesh-msf-surveys-estimate-least-6700-rohingya-were-killed-during-attacks
Matthew Smith of
Fortify Rights says the number of “lost” parents begins to reveal the scale of
the ongoing atrocities.
Read
more: Reprisals, Rape, and Children Burned Alive: Burma’s Rohingya Speak of
Genocidal Terror http://time.com/4596937/burma-myanmar-rohingya-bangladesh-refugees-crimes-against-humanity/
“Given what we’ve
documented from eyewitnesses and survivors from areas targeted by the army and
other state security forces, it’s likely that a significant portion of lost
parents were killed,” Smith says. “There were massacres and mass killings in
all three affected townships since August, and in 2016 as well.”
In February, the
Associated Press detailed
evidence of at least five mass graves in one location near the
epicenter of the violence, Gu Dar Pyin. At that single Rohingya village,
survivors estimated a death toll as high as the government’s tally for the full
crisis. https://www.apnews.com/ef46719c5d1d4bf98cfefcc4031a5434/AP-Exclusive:-AP-confirms-5-unreported-Myanmar-mass-graves
“The Myanmar
government’s estimate of 400 deaths is a bad joke, and continues their practice
of using their own ‘investigations’ as cover-ups … to rebut the need for more
independent investigations into the atrocities,” says Phil Robertson, Deputy
Asia Director for Human Rights Watch.
Since Aug. 25, more
than 671,000 Rohingya
have fled from Myanmar into overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, many bearing
bullet wounds and evidence of widespread sexualized violence. Of those, around 60% are children,
many of them without their parents. https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/iom-bangladesh-rohingya-refugee-crisis-response-external-update-23-february-1
Children have
described witnessing their relatives’ murders before military and vigilante
raids set their villages ablaze.
Read
more: Rohingya Refugee Children Are in Desperate Need of Aid, the U.N. Says http://time.com/4989482/rohingya-children-refugees-bangladesh-myanmar-unicef/
“We saw many, many
children whose parents were killed and [who] were brought to Cox’s Bazar by
neighbors or passerby who grabbed them from burning houses,” said Charles
Santiago, APHR chair and a Malaysian MP.
According to the
U.N. refugee agency, at least 5,600 children under 18 have become heads of their households,
taking on the role of caregiver for littler siblings. http://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2017/12/5a3a698e4/orphaned-rohingya-children-forced-grow-fast.html
Previous estimates
suggested that more than 2,680
children were separated from their parents, left unaccompanied or
orphaned in the vast sprawl of Bangladesh’s ballooning, makeshift camps. But
the latest figures from Bangladesh suggest the total is much higher.
Human rights
organizations have raised alarm about the potential for human trafficking. APHR
said this scenario will likely be further exacerbated by the start of monsoon
season at the end of this month, and as a highly criticized repatriation plan
fails to gain traction.
“I suspect human
trafficking will start once the rain begins. People will find ways to leave to
Indonesia, Malaysia, wherever they can go,” said Santiago.