EU Parliament hosts Rohingya heritage exhibition

BRUSSELS (MNTV) — An exhibition highlighting Rohingya cultural heritage opens Tuesday at the European Parliament, as European lawmakers renew calls for stronger international pressure on Myanmar and increased humanitarian support for displaced communities.

The exhibition, titled “Rohingya Heritage in Exile: Arar Rosom, Arar Elom (Our Culture, Our Knowledge),” is opened by Urmas Paet, vice-chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. It is curated by the Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre of the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency that supports migrants and displaced populations worldwide.

The display focuses on preservation of cultural traditions, collective memory and creative expression among more than one million Rohingya refugees living in camps in Cox’s Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh. The Rohingya, a Muslim minority from Myanmar, fled a military crackdown in 2017 that the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing.

Paet says the crisis risks fading from global attention despite worsening humanitarian conditions. He notes that more than 1.2 million Rohingya currently live in the sprawling Cox’s Bazar settlement, widely regarded as the world’s largest refugee camp.

Having visited the camps both eight years ago and again late last year, Paet says living conditions have deteriorated, with overcrowding, food insecurity and funding shortfalls placing refugees at growing risk. Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that cuts in international assistance could deepen malnutrition and heighten protection concerns, particularly for children and women.

Paet says the exhibition, hosted inside the European Union’s main legislative body, is intended to draw renewed attention to what he describes as an increasingly urgent humanitarian situation. He urges governments to increase aid contributions and apply sustained diplomatic pressure on Myanmar to create conditions for safe and voluntary return.

Humanitarian groups say the Rohingya crisis remains one of the most protracted displacement emergencies globally, with limited prospects for repatriation as conflict and instability continue inside Myanmar.