PRESS RELEASE
We, the European Rohingya Council and the Rohingya community worldwide are shocked to hear that a young Rohingya child was gang-raped by two Bangladesh army officers in Nayapara Refugee Camp, Cox’s Bazar Bangladesh at around 7:30pm on September 29, 2019.
We are very concerned that the 12 years and 5 months old rape victim has not received adequate medical and psychological support after the incident. The victim and her family are neither allowed to meet UNCHR official nor provided the protection they need after the incident.
The victim has not only been robbed of her future, but now her whole family is being intimidated by Bangladesh Army officers. There are furious attempts from the army to silence the victim and her family members.
In the first instance, the rape should never have taken place. Secondly, the army should not attempt to silence the victim and her family through methods of intimidation. By many in the camps, now the rape of this innocent Rohingya girl child is being seen as an intimidation to forcefully repatriate Rohingya. Many incidents of the 1992 forceful repatriation are bitterly echoed among new and old Rohingya refugees in the camps
The young girl and her Rohingya members were forced to seek refuge in Bangladesh during the campaigns of genocide in Myanmar where Myanmar Armed Forces commanded rape as a weapon against Rohingya girls and women who still face psychological and physical traumas in the camps.
Rape must be condemned and should not go unreported or used as an intimidation to push Rohingya return to Myanmar where the genocide is ongoing and the perpetrators of mass-rape roam freely with full impunity.
We urge the government of Bangladesh to provide full protection and assistance to the victim and her family, hold the officers accountable for the heinous crime being committed against the young Rohingya girl, and prevent further incidents of rape and sexual assaults against refugee girls and women which could tarnish the widely applauded reputation of Bangladesh in providing shelter to over a million of Rohingya refugees.
For more information
The European Rohingya Council Media Team
info@theerc.eu
