Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has ordered three further airlifts of relief supplies to the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

In early October, HH Sheikh Mohammed ordered the creation of an open air bridge from Dubai to Bangladesh to send relief material to the refugees. The aid effort has so far seen six airlifts of crucial relief supplies to Dhaka in Bangladesh. The air bridge operated flights on 2, 11, 13 and 15 October 2017, apart from two airlifts conducted previously on 12 and 26 September 2017. The six shipments of the air bridge have transported a total of over 550 metric tons of relief material worth USD 2,308,600 (AED 8,479,718).

Dispatched relief items have come from the IHC-based stocks of participating aid agencies including United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Emirates Red Crescent, and the UNHRD partners, International Organization for Migration (IOM), World Health Organization (WHO), Solidarités International, and Shelter Box. The aid material includes food, family tents, tarpaulins, mosquito nets, sleeping mats, blankets, solar lanterns, buckets, water purification units, medical supplies, and hygiene kits.

The relief is directed to over 230,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh fleeing from persecution in Myanmar. They currently live in dire humanitarian conditions in camps and makeshift settlements where they lack the most immediate necessities like food, shelter, water, and clothes. Violence in Myanmar has triggered the exodus of over 520,000 Rohingyas since last August.

The International Humanitarian City was founded in Dubai in 2003. Chaired by Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and strongly supported by its Board of Directors, IHC puts Dubai’s expertise in transport and logistics to assist its members in planning and delivering aid efficiently. To date, twelve flights have been sent this year from Dubai to crisis-stricken countries around the world, benefiting thousands of people affected by disaster and conflict.