Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field and UK Special Envoy for Gender Equality Joanna Roper have called for greater humanitarian assistance for the Rohingyas, particularly to help support the provision of education for refugees and host communities.
Mark Field said what he witnessed at Rohingya camps was truly heartbreaking, and only redoubles his determination to support the refugees and keep up the pressure on the Myanmar authorities.
"I call on the international community to work with Bangladesh to step up support for the refugees, both during the monsoon season and in the longer term through the provision of education and livelihoods," he said in a statement on Sunday.
The minister said the UK remains a leading donor to the crisis, committing £129 million since September last year to support the refugees and vulnerable host communities.
"We will continue to use international pressure and dialogue with the Burmese authorities to make progress, including through our support for the EU sanction measures announced on June 25," he said.
Joanna Roper said the stories of violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar they heard in the camps are deeply disturbing. "But I was moved by the efforts being made to provide support to women and girls in the camps, as well as the learning centres for Rohingya children, displaying a thirst for education despite all that they have endured at such a young age."
She said girls' education is the right thing to pursue – that women and girls have the right to be educated, equal, empowered, and safe.
"As the Foreign Secretary said at the UN Human Rights Council on June 18, we must leave no girl behind and enable all girls to receive 12 years of quality education. That message is equally important for Rohingya girls to hear," said the special envoy.
Over 706,364 people have fled from their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine State into Bangladesh since August 2017, joining around 340,000 Rohingya who had previously fled.
During a visit to Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar on Saturday, where refugees are living in crowded and unsafe refugee camps, Field and Roper met refugee families and community leaders to learn about the persecution they suffered in Rakhine, and to hear about the challenges that life in the camps presents.
The duo saw first-hand the damage caused by recent monsoon rains, and the work of the Government of Bangladesh and humanitarian agencies to protect the refugees.
The dignitaries also visited a UNICEF child-friendly site where they saw efforts being made to keep young people safe, and heard about the efforts being made to provide education for refugee children.
They also visited community and health centres, and met with a site management team to hear about the UK's contribution to monsoon preparedness.
Joanna Roper was invited to see a safe space for women at the camp, and heard about their experiences of displacement.
Field and Roper are scheduled to hold talks with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam on Sunday on the Rohingya crisis and the wider situation in Bangladesh.
They are to hear how Bangladesh is making strong inroads into providing twelve years of quality education for women and girls, and visit a factory where they will speak to the female workforce about labour rights.
