By Andera onori- Dec 22 , 2009 SOURCE FROM ITALIAN MAGAZINE
The children of Rohingya refugees are struggling with their worrying future. The Malaysian government refuses to recognize them as refugees. They live in conditions of marginalization and, in their vulnerability, a field in a situation of horror. These little creatures are deprived of their fundamental right to education and often fall victim to exploitation. Will be the next generation of the exploited and the beggars of Malaysia.Two factors can destroy a people: ‘Illiteracy and Poverty. Unfortunately, the Rohingya ethnic group has a childhood literacy rate (both at home or in exile) of 0.5%, Which decreased to 0% in Malaysia. Without this basic tool acculturation, this ethnic group is destined to suffer in the future: the silence of ignorance condemn them not to get those fundamental rights that belong to every person on Earth.
According to statistics published by international bodies, in October 2009, in Malaysia there are 67,800 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UN Agency for Refugees: 62 thousand are refugees from Burma, which include 28,100 Chin, 16,100 Rohingya, 3,700 Muslims, Burmese, 2900 Kachin and other ethnic minorities. The 51% of them are men. Are 14,600 children aged under 18 years.
In addition to these official figures, we can add many other people — 30 thousand According to experts – who roam for Malaysia without being registered, including a large number of children who have not yet attained the status of refugee. Among these, members of the Rohingya community in Malaysia not have the ‘privilege’ of studying in state schools because they do not have birth certificates or other official documents.
The Rohingya arrived in Malaysia in the early ’80s. Over 70% of their children were of school age. Have been ‘kicked out’ from the state school in early 2006. Only a small number of them had the opportunity to study in public institutions. The secret? They were taken by local Malays.
Today, there are about 6 thousand Rohingya refugee children Malaysia. Have not received basic education on the pretext of financial and bureaucratic obstacles, but many believe that this refusal to access to public education resulting from Malaysian law does not recognize their refugee status.
Are small constitution, even the smallest, yet most of them worked as a laborer on construction sites or as a garbage man, A slave. Malaysia has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and is therefore obliged to protect all children, including migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. In 2007, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed a strong concern and recommended to the Government of Malaysia to stop detention of children who have arrived ‘illegally’ in the country.
Without education remain ‘blind’ and unable to fight for their future. Their ethnicity will be completely destroyed if it does not stop this machine of destruction. Since January of 2008 tries stubbornly l ‘UNHCR which is facilitating primary education to children Rohingya in Tasik Permai, Tasik Tambahan, Taman Muda, Kampung Selayang Pandang and. Recently there is also another school supported by Muslim Welfare Association of Malaysia (PERKIM), a local NGO headed by Mahathir Mohamad, Former Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Still, most of these children are beggars. Often end up in the hands of local gangs, sometimes sold by their own parents. The only way to remove these innocent souls from deep poverty and exploitation is education. “We can feed them, or give them money, but money is never enough,” explains the NGOs. The problem is that they are almost without hope, dreams and tomorrow.
