Aid delegation meets displaced Arakan State communities
A delegation from the United Nations, led by the under-secretary general of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, visited displaced communities outside of the Arakan State capital of Sittwe on October 14. Reporters from The Irrawaddy accompanied Stephen O’Brien, who also serves as UN OCHA’s emergency relief coordinator, on the trip to one of the region’s internally displaced people’s camps which have housed disproportionate numbers of the Rohingya Muslim minority since riots forced an estimated 140,000 people from their homes in 2012. The delegation first visited Thet Kae Pyin IDP camp—isolated behind police checkpoints—and met Rohingya community leaders who asked O’Brien when they might be able to return to their homes and attain greater freedom of movement. “I worry a lot about what will happen to my children’s generation, as they do not have education,” one leader said. Khin Sein, a Rohingya midwife, spoke at the meeting of the difficulty faced by those in the camp regarding access to health care. If someone is sick and needs to go to a hospital in Sittwe, she said, they must rent a car and be accompanied by security forces. The cost of this trip alone can be US$15-$23.
