{"id":8343,"date":"2017-10-05T10:02:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T08:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=8343"},"modified":"2017-10-05T10:02:58","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T08:02:58","slug":"horrific-accounts-of-sexual-violence-against-muslim-rohingya-just-tip-of-the-iceberg-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2017\/10\/horrific-accounts-of-sexual-violence-against-muslim-rohingya-just-tip-of-the-iceberg-un\/","title":{"rendered":"Horrific Accounts of Sexual Violence against Muslim Rohingya \u2018Just Tip of the Iceberg\u2019 \u2013 UN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Human Wrongs Watch
\n<\/a>28 September 2017 \u2013 Warning that the horrific accounts of rape and sexual assault against Rohingya women and girls fleeing unrest in Myanmar could be \u201cjust the tip of the iceberg,\u201d the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA<\/a>) underscored the need to ensure that such violence is prevented and called for additional resources so that it can reach all those in need of assistance.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Displaced persons near Sittwe, Myanmar in December 2013. IRIN\/David Longstreath<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cGender-based violence, including rape and sexual assault, is a key concern that has emerged from the ongoing humanitarian crisis,\u201d said UNFPA in a\u00a0news release.<\/a><\/p>\n

The UN agency noted that it has already provided a range of services, including medical and psychosocial counselling assistance, to more than 7,000 Rohingya women refugees.<\/p>\n

However, many victims have not reported their ordeal out of concerns over safety, confidentiality, shame and stigma, it added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what makes it challenging to come up with accurate numbers of gender-based violence survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to UNFPA, the lead UN agency on addressing gender-based violence in humanitarian crisis and emergencies, more than 480,000 Rohingya refugees \u2013 over half of them women and girls \u2013 have poured into Bangladesh\u2019s Cox\u2019s Bazar since August 25, having fled their homes since violence erupted in Myanmar\u2019s northern Rakhine province.<\/p>\n

Some 120,000 among them are women of reproductive age and 24,000 are either pregnant or breastfeeding.<\/p>\n

UNFPA has set up five \u2018Women Friendly Spaces\u2019 \u2013 areas which women can access at anytime for safety or to access information, education, support or other services \u2013 and plans to scale it up to fifteen by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

It has also helped set up community watch groups and medical camps with psychosocial counselling assistance amid what it noted are \u201cincredibly challenging circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, given the scale of the crisis, UNFPA and other UN agencies as well as partners, are struggling in need of resources. UNFPA alone needs an additional $13 million to meet the demand for services over the next six months.<\/p>\n

Humanitarian crises across the world suffering the blight
\n<\/em><\/strong>The scourge of sexual and gender violence, unfortunately, is not only limited to the Rohingyas who fled Myanmar. Humanitarian crises globally are affected, with women and girls disproportionately affected, their specific needs not addressed adequately.<\/p>\n

And it is therefore of paramount importance, underscored UNFPA, that each and every survivor of gender-based violence who needs such services must receive them in an environment that respects their right to self-determination, privacy and confidentiality, ensuring safety and, in so doing, helping them regain or strengthen their sense of dignity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll women and girls, regardless of their ethnicity or religious affiliations,\u00a0must have access to health care and other essential services without discrimination<\/a>, and they must be protected from all forms of violence, including sexual assault,\u201d emphasized Natalia Kanem, the Acting Executive Director of UNFPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe health and safety of women and girls must be protected.\u201d\u00a0(SOURCE:\u00a0UN<\/a>).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Human Wrongs Watch 28 September 2017 \u2013 Warning that the horrific accounts of rape and sexual assault against Rohingya women and girls fleeing unrest in Myanmar could be \u201cjust the tip of the iceberg,\u201d the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":8344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,17,49,10],"tags":[632,604,126,146,598],"class_list":["post-8343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","category-women","category-womens-rights","category-world","tag-crimes-of-sexual-and-gender-based-violence","tag-human-rights","tag-sexual-violence","tag-violence-against-women","tag-women","country-world"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8343"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8346,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8343\/revisions\/8346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}