KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation of United Arab Emirates (UAE) has extended help to 250 Rohingya students preparing for their school session in four Rohingya schools here next year.

The assistance, provided through the UAE Embassy here, is part of the Humanitarian Assistance programme for Rohingya refugees in Malaysia since 2015.

UAE Ambassador to Malaysia Khalid Ghanim AlGhaith and former Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Special Envoy to Myanmar and Founder of Humanity Malaysia, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, were at a special event here yesterday to provide the students with school uniforms, sports sets, shoes, and bags.

Khalid AlGhaith said the foundation has been helping Rohingya refugees in Malaysia since 2015, and has allocated a total of US$1 million (RM4.18 million) for the humanitarian aid.

"The aid has been distributed in four phases, and as this year comes to a close, the Embassy is targeting the education sector staring with four learning centres and schools and will continue to provide assistance for the remaining schools and learning centres in the first quarter of 2019.

"We will also provide sources of sustainable income for the neediest families among the Rohingya community in Malaysia,” he said in his speech at the event.

He also spoke of the collaboration between the UAE and Malaysia to help at the Cox Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh where a field hospital has been set up where the UAE provides medical equipment and medicines and vehicles, while Malaysia provides medical expertise and staff. 

"For the fifth consecutive year, the UAE ranked first as the largest international donor of Official Development Aid compared to gross national income. 

"Donations made in 2017 amounted to a total of US$5,26 billion. Over 54 per cent of the Development Aid was in the form of non-refundable grants to 147 countries (including 40 of the least developed countries) across the world,” said the envoy.

Meanwhile, Syed Hamid said Malaysia was grateful to the Khalifa foundation for extending help to the Rohingya people, adding that it will greatly ease their burdens as they carry on their lives in Malaysia as refugees.

"While Malaysia has not signed the (United Nations) Convention on Refugees, it has remained open to allowing the refugees to enter the country and open up schools,” he told Bernama at the event.

Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (1967), and does not have a legal framework to monitor the status or rights of the refugees in Malaysia.

According to the Immigration Act, refugees are currently considered illegal immigrants and run the risk of being caught and sent back to their original countries. — Bernama