Rohingyas who arrived in Sri Lanka protest because they are worried that the UN office will be closed

Some Myanmar Rohingya refugees who fled Bangladesh to Sri Lanka went to protest in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Colombo on January 2.

They said that they are protesting because they are worried that they will not receive the grants they are currently receiving due to the news that the United Nations will close the office in Sri Lanka at the end of this year.

The protestors are among the 100 Rohingya refugees rescued from the sea by the Sri Lankan Navy.

They are supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Sri Lankan government offers some health services.

But children are not allowed to study and adults are not allowed to work.

In a letter the refugees sent to the United Nations refugee agency yesterday, Sri Lanka has refused to grant them permanent residency, and their children face the prospect of becoming permanently stateless.

Therefore, I am appealing to UN officials to help them go to any third country that will not accept them and help them settle.

UNHCR has yet to respond to the Rohingya's request.

UN increases monthly aid to Rohingya to $10

The United Nations Food Program (WFP) has increased the monthly aid to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to US$10 starting January 1st.

Dom Scalpelli, WFP country director in Bangladesh, said the children were suffering from malnutrition as the stipend was reduced from $12 a month in the past to eight dollars a month in the past year.

He said the reduction was due to the fact that only half of the $876 million needed to support them came from donors.

WFP officials say they still need to raise more than $60 million in donations in order to provide the $12.50 a month that Bangladesh's refugee chiefs are currently asking for.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as of November 2023, there are nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Labor union urges Malaysia to stop fuel tankers going to Burma

In order to reduce the power of the Myanmar Military Council, the Myanmar Trade Union has urged the Malaysian government to ban the departure of ships carrying fuel from Malaysian ports to Myanmar, according to Malaysiakini online news agency.

Malaysiakini reported yesterday that U Maung Maung, president of the All Myanmar Federation of Trade Unions, said that after Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim condemned in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly that the Burmese people were brutally oppressed by the coup military council, their group urged the Malaysian government to do so.

This is after the Malaysian government announced that all ships flying the Israeli flag in support of Palestine in the Gaza Strip conflict were banned from docking in Malaysian ports.

U Maung Maung said that this is in line with the current sanctions to prevent the export of fuel to the Myanmar military, according to the news from Malaysia.