{"id":100570,"date":"2017-10-23T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T11:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=100570"},"modified":"2017-10-19T12:00:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T11:00:43","slug":"un-report-on-rohingya-hunger-is-shelved-at-myanmars-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/10\/un-report-on-rohingya-hunger-is-shelved-at-myanmars-request\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Report on Rohingya Hunger Is Shelved at Myanmar’s Request"},"content":{"rendered":"

Document warned of spiralling food crisis among Rohingya population.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Rohingya children queue to collect food in a refugee camp in Ukhiya, Cox\u2019s Bazar, Bangladesh. the World Food Programme has withdrawn a critical report on hunger in Myanmar at the request of the government. Photograph: Abir Abdullah\/EPA<\/p><\/div>\n

17 Oct 2017 – <\/em>The United Nations<\/a> food aid agency withdrew a critical report revealing desperate hunger among the persecuted Rohingya population after the Myanmar government demanded it be taken down, the Guardian has learned.<\/p>\n

The July assessment by the World Food Programme (WFP) warned<\/a> that more than 80,000 children under the age of five living in majority-Muslim areas were \u201cwasting\u201d \u2014 a potentially fatal condition of rapid weight loss.<\/p>\n

The six-page document, which was reported on<\/a> at the time, was replaced with a statement<\/a> saying Myanmar and WFP were \u201ccollaborating on a revised version\u201d.<\/p>\n

That process would involve \u201crepresentatives from various ministries, and will respond to the need for a common approach\u201d that was in line with \u201cWFP\u2019s future cooperation with the government\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report should not be cited in any way, the statement added.<\/p>\n

However, WFP\u2019s executive director David Beasley said in an emailed statement to the Guardian later on Tuesday that the agency would republish the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe assessment should not have been removed and I have directed that it be republished immediately in its original form,\u201d Beasley said. \u201cPut simply, the World Food Programme stands firmly behind the findings of the report.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that the level of food needs in Rakhine state had likely since changed for the worse and called for authorities to allow free and unhindered access to aid deliveries.<\/p>\n

The revelation that the report was spiked will add to a series of recent criticisms that UN did not push the government hard enough for the rights of 1.1 million Rohingya in Myanmar<\/a> or sound the alarm on their spiralling oppression.<\/p>\n

The issue exploded on 25 August when Rohingya insurgents attacked security forces, who responded with a severe counteroffensive. More than half a million Rohingya have since fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, many alleging the army conducted mass killings <\/a>and rapes, claims the government denies.<\/p>\n

The UN\u2019s most senior official in the country will leave at the end of the month amid allegations she suppressed another report<\/a>, a damning consultation of the UN\u2019s strategy, and also attempted to shut down<\/a> public advocacy on Rohingya suffering. She leaves in the middle of the current crisis, the worst in decades, while a replacement has not been publicly announced.<\/p>\n

Asked why the July study on Rakhine state was removed, WFP said earlier that<\/strong> it was withdrawn from the website \u201cfollowing a request by the government to conduct a joint review\u201d.<\/p>\n