UAE pledges Dh7.35 million towards Rohingya refugee crisis



The UAE donated Dh7.35 million to the United Nations Refugee Agency in support of Rohingya women and children refugees in Bangladesh.

This funding aims to provide treatment for 132,000 refugees, including 78,000 women and children living in Cox's Bazar-Bangladesh camp and its new communities.

The support will also help UNHCR and its partners reduce mortality rates linked to malnutrition and go towards monitoring and assessing the need for emergency food

The UAE’s donation will contribute towards a larger UN scheme in Bangladesh – which launched last month – to help 1.3 million individuals, including 884,000 Rohingya refugees and 336,000 host communities by the end of this year.

The Rohingya refugee crisis is the fastest growing in the world with more than 655,000 people, more than half of whom are children, forced to flee Myanmar's Rakhine State and seek safe haven in Bangladesh since August 25.

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Read more:

UAE charity witnesses first hand Rohingya's 'catastrophic plight'

UAE medical team in Bangladesh to help Rohingya refugees

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid orders ninth aid airlift for Rohingya refugees 

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Those new refugees joined nearly 213,000 Rohingya refugees who had fled to Bangladesh in previous waves of displacement.

The Dh7.35m aid agreement was signed between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation and the UNHCR on Tuesday.

Toby Harward, director of the UNHCR Office, praised the UAE’s contribution saying it would assist refugees suffering from malnutrition.

"There are huge numbers of Rohingya refugees suffering from severe malnutrition, especially among children under the age of five.

“Such a generous donation by the UAE will save numerous lives. It will help UNHCR and its partners provide the best services in the field of nutrition for Rohingya refugees," he said.

The donation comes as part of greater relief efforts for the Rohingya refugees supported by the UAE.

The UAE's donations to UNHCR global operations in 2017 - 2018 has now reached Dh27.55m.

Since the onset of the crisis last year, UNHCR has sent 16 emergency flights loaded with relief items to Southern Bangladesh.

“Twelve of these flights came out of Dubai, and the UAE paid for the transportation costs of eight of them," said Mr Harward.

He lauded the support provided by both Princess Haya, wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, and chairperson of the International Humanitarian City, who financed shipment of tents, blankets and mobile kitchens, and Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of the Ruler of Sharjah, and Chairperson of the Big Heart Foundation, who, he said, is the UNHCR Eminent Advocate for Refugee Children and key contributor to the Rohingya crisis.

About Housecall

Date started: July 2020

Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: HealthTech

# of staff: 10

Funding to date: Self-funded

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

The biog

Age: 19 

Profession: medical student at UAE university 

Favourite book: The Ocean at The End of The Lane by Neil Gaiman

Role model: Parents, followed by Fazza (Shiekh Hamdan bin Mohammed)

Favourite poet: Edger Allen Poe 

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

Indoor Cricket World Cup

Venue Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23

UAE squad Saqib Nazir (captain), Aaqib Malik, Fahad Al Hashmi, Isuru Umesh, Nadir Hussain, Sachin Talwar, Nashwan Nasir, Prashath Kumara, Ramveer Rai, Sameer Nayyak, Umar Shah, Vikrant Shetty

ALL THE RESULTS

Bantamweight

Siyovush Gulmomdov (TJK) bt Rey Nacionales (PHI) by decision.

Lightweight

Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) bt Hussein Fakhir Abed (SYR) by submission.

Catch 74kg

Omar Hussein (JOR) bt Tohir Zhuraev (TJK) by decision.

Strawweight (Female)

Seo Ye-dam (KOR) bt Weronika Zygmunt (POL) by decision.

Featherweight

Kaan Ofli (TUR) bt Walid Laidi (ALG) by TKO.

Lightweight

Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) bt Leandro Martins (BRA) by TKO.

Welterweight

Ahmad Labban (LEB) bt Sofiane Benchohra (ALG) by TKO.

Bantamweight

Jaures Dea (CAM) v Nawras Abzakh (JOR) no contest.

Lightweight

Mohammed Yahya (UAE) bt Glen Ranillo (PHI) by TKO round 1.

Lightweight

Alan Omer (GER) bt Aidan Aguilera (AUS) by TKO round 1.

Welterweight

Mounir Lazzez (TUN) bt Sasha Palatkinov (HKG) by TKO round 1.

Featherweight title bout

Romando Dy (PHI) v Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) by KO round 1.

if you go

The flights 

Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning. 

The trains

Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.

The hotels

Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.