1st Edition 2020 | Page 14

In 2012 until 2015 Approximately 170,000 Rohingnya Refugees had fled to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Though this matter seemed like nothing much has happened,, the number of Rohingnya’s refugees are still increasing until this year. Since then, the United Nations had labelled the Rohingyans as the most mistreated group in the world. However, the international community and the United nations are still not able to persuade the Myanmar Government to stop the actions that are considered as violating the rights of the Rohingya minority group. On several occasions, Myanmar Government still refuses to accept that they had violated the rights of this minority group and until now there is no solution to overcome this problem. As of 2020, the world is facing a global pandemic which is a catastrophe that is bad enough for the first world countries such as The United States to handle and is a nightmare for the least fortunate communities, like Rohinyans. Following the catastrophe, issues regarding the Rohingya community, which has been left unattended for years are now starting to see the light of day again as they demand for help and rights. Nearby countries such as Malaysia and Thailand are handling many refugees that are trying to enter the country’s shore but due to the danger of COVID-19, neither of the governments seem to allow it from happening. With the lack of basic needs such as food, clothes and shelter, as well as not having the option to depart their boats and ship to places where they would not be discriminated against - this community has nowhere else to go. Many of the Rohingyas refugees who stayed long enough at sea, died or waited until their boats were wrecked from the sea waters and there are also those who returned back to Bangladesh and were quarantined in the concentration camp. In Malaysian coastline, according to the government, there are boats that are waiting up until four months so they can depart and have access to adequate food and water. Some refugees that made it to the shore were detained and in need of assistance and access to asylum. Until now, Malaysia has yet to answer the request from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), whether to provide urgent humanitarian access to validate and qualify for a refugee status or not. SASARAN EDISI 82 14