Arakan News Agency
Sharjah-based humanitarian charity The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF) has donated $150,000 (Dhs550,000) to support Rohingya refugees in Malaysia and displaced people in Iraq.
Distributed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) the funds will be used to help overcome the recipients’ challenging circumstances and difficult living conditions.
Approximately $82,000 will go towards helping displaced people in Iraq, with $68,000 given to assist Rohingya refugees in Malaysia.
Mariam Al Hammadi, director of Salam Ya Seghar, a TBHF initiative to improve the welfare of refugee children, said: “TBHF’s cash donations are made to improve the living conditions of refugees worldwide and enable them to lead a life of dignity.”
Al Hammadi added: “The Big Heart Foundation is committed to alleviating the suffering of Rohingya refugees who are living under extremely challenging conditions. This is not the first time that the foundation has made a donation towards them. In July 2015, The Big Heart Foundation donated Dhs1 million to support UNHCR’s efforts in assisting these displaced people, following the rise in the number of Rohingyas leaving Myanmar because of violence and persecution.”
With respect to Iraq, Al Hammadi highlighted that there are nearly 120,000 internally displaced persons living in 12 camps in Dohuk Governorate and cited reports that indicate that the capacity of these camps is not sufficient to host all the internally displaced people.
She stated that outside of these camps, the majority of displaced persons are scattered in hundreds of informal slum dwellings that lack basic standards to provide for decent living, which only adds to the ordeal they have already endured.
