LokalGlobal focuses on merchants and artisans from under-developed regions of the world - bringing you unique handmade and fair trade products, putting money in the hands of those who need it, and donating 15% of proceeds to registered and highly-rated charities. Right now, we are featuring products from Myanmar, and supporting UNHCR with their work on the ground.
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The Rohingyan people have been described as “the world’s least wanted people” and among “the world’s most persecuted minorities” by the UN. They have been denied the right to free movement, higher education, and Burmese citizenship. Often subjected to forced labour, there is a long and terrible history of institutionalized descrimination against these people in Myanmar. The Muslim Rohingyan people live largely in the Rakhine province, and have been targeted by Buddhist Burmese people from this same region under the guise of nationalism.
The current crisis dates back to the 1970s, and Amnesty International dates human rights violations under military dictatorships from 1978. These long-term tensions - stemming from socio-political conflict, socio-economic underdevelopment, and long-standing marginalization. Major crackdowns, arbitrary mass killing, arrests, looting, and other atrocities began in 2016 after several border security police were killed in the Rakhine province. The abuses and brutalities have not subsided, and have resulted in mass migration of the Rohingyan people out of Myanmar.
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It is important in our 24-hour news cycle that we take time to focus on stories that are less covered, less remembered, and less funded.
Want to donate without buying? Click here to go to directly to the UNHCR’s direct donation page.