myanmar
![Photo by the IDF](https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/sites/default/files/styles/275x168/public/uploads/TWiPD_092817.v2.jpg?itok=tgEwEy4y)
This week’s PD News focused on nations, organizations, and celebrities helping people in need.
International aid groups in Myanmar have urged the government to allow free access to Rakhine State, where an army offensive has sent 480,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh but hundreds of thousands remain cut off from food, shelter and medical care. [...] "INGOs in Myanmar are increasingly concerned about severe restrictions on humanitarian access and impediments to the delivery of critically needed humanitarian assistance throughout Rakhine State," aid groups said in a statement late on Wednesday.
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Nafay Choudhury looks at the soft power behind the Nobel Peace Prize and its importance in the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
The Rohingya may be at the brink of facing genocide. Despite widespread international outcry, the pro-democracy Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has remained deafeningly silent while the military continues its onslaught of the Rohingya. Worse yet, her title of Nobel Laureate serves to legitimize her continued (in)actions, while Rakhine State goes up in flames.
Bangladesh will use troops to deliver foreign aid to the border town that has been overwhelmed by Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, authorities announced. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Parliament late on Thursday (Sept 14) that the army would handle relief aid that several nations have sent in recent days.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has promised to help more than 300,000 Rohingya refugees but warned her government would “take steps” to ensure Myanmar “take their nationals back”. Ms Hasina visited Kutupalong refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar yesterday to distribute aid and told tens of thousands of refugees her government would build a huge new camp to house a quarter of a million refugees.