Unicef seeks more funds to help Rohingya children

The Unicef on Wednesday said there is an urgent need to raise more funds to continue helping thousands of Rohingya children living in refugee camps in Bangladesh.

The agency said in a statement that it managed to raise only 7 per cent of the total $76 million it required to continue to help the children refugees who fled ongoing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

"We are now providing them with immediate support. However, to continue to support them in the long term, like say the next six months, we need to raise more funds," Sakil Faizullah, Communication Manager of Unicef Bangladesh, told Efe news on Wednesday.

He added the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) was planning a donor conference in Geneva on October 23 to raise more funds.

Without more funds, the Unicef will not be able to continue providing potable water to more than 40,000 people and will have to cut back on nutritional food for the around 15,000 malnourished children in the camps, the statement said.

Another 80,000 people will lose access to basic health services, it added.

"Rohingya children have already endured atrocities. All of them need the lifesaving basics -- shelter, food, water, vaccinations, protection -- not tomorrow or next week or next month, but right now," said the statement.

The UN on Tuesday had raised the number of Rohingyas who arrived in Bangladesh, fleeing the ongoing military offensive in Myanmar that began on August 25, to 582,000 -- 45,000 more than the figure released on Monday.

On August 25, Rohingya rebels had launched a series of attacks on multiple government posts in the region, leading the Myanmar Army to unleash a military offensive that was criticised by human rights groups for its rampant human rights abuses.

--IANS

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