Billy Lawless (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week the Rohingya community fleeing Myanmar was described to me as the worst man-made humanitarian crisis in decades. They have been called the world's most persecuted minority, an ethnic group, the majority of whom are Muslim and who have lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar. An estimated 1.1. million Rohingya live in the south east Asian country. Today the United Nations said that Myanmar's systematic crackdown on the Rohingya is aimed at permanently expelling the minority Muslim community from their home in Rakhine state. It is estimated that over half a million Rohingya have fled Myanmar since the commencement of this strife. The World Health Organisation has warned of a cholera epidemic in refugee camps and settlements close to the Bangladeshi border with Myanmar. It was reported earlier this week that a boat carrying 100 people sank near Galachar a coastal village in Bangladesh.Nearly 100 people were onboard of which 40 were adults and the rest were children. Only two people were rescued alive and the others are missing. I fear these instances will continue.

We need to call this crisis what it is - ethnic cleansing. It is taking place in front of our eyes. This country has a moral obligation, along with the rest of the global community, to do more to put a halt to what is taking place. We also need to do more to provide urgent aid to those refugees. I call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to come to the Seanad to outline how Ireland's voice will be heard and what more we can do.