DHAKA: The situation of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is “heartbreaking and harrowing”, Queen Rania of Jordan said after visiting camps in Cox’s Bazar.
She has been vocal about the need for greater support for refugees in her own country.
The 47-year-old met with women and children at the Kutupalong camp in Ukhia, in the south-east of Bangladesh where more than 600,000 refugees have arrived from Myanmar.
After talking to survivors of ongoing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, the queen said she had “braced herself for terrible conditions”, but the acts of violence the refugees had described to her were “unimaginable”.
“I’ve heard of systematic rape of young girls, who were trapped in schools and raped by soldiers. I’ve heard of babies being kicked around like footballs and stomped on. I’ve heard family members telling me how they’ve seen their own parents killed, right before their eyes,” she said. “This is something that is unacceptable.”
Calling for greater international support for the refugees, Queen Rania said: “With no respect or regard for the principles of humanitarian and international law, the discrimination against and the persecution of the Rohingya minority has continued unabated, in full view of the world.”
“It’s unforgivable that this crisis is unfolding on the world stage to a largely indifferent audience.”