Bangladesh 'ignoring plight' of starving Burma refugees

(March 9, 2010) An American medical charity has warned that thousands of Burmese refugees in Bangladesh are facing starvation. Physicians for Human Rights said government authorities are preventing the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, from receiving adequate care. It accused Bangladesh of obstructing efforts to help the Rohingya, who have fled Burma to escape persecution. The government has dismissed the allegations as it did similar reports last month by MSF or Doctors Without Borders. The new report by Physicians for Human Rights entitled, "Stateless and Starving: Persecuted Rohingya Flee Burma and Starve in Bangladesh," says children will starve if aid is not allowed to be delivered. It blamed the Bangladesh authorities for "arbitrary arrests, illegal expulsion and forced internment" of Burmese refugees, as neighbouring Burma prepares for elections later this year. The report described the makeshift camps for unregistered refugees - where an estimated 200,000 Rohingya are living - as "open-air prisons".