Australia provides additional humanitarian aid to Myanmar

Illustrative Image (Source: dfat.gov.au)

Sydney (VNA) – Australia will provide an additional 12 million AUD (9.12 million USD) to help Myanmar address the legacy of decades of civil conflict and natural disaster consequences.

The financial aid will support education and livelihood programmes for displaced communities in Myanmar and those living along border with Thailand, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop announced in a press release on August 1.

The programmes will prepare students in Thai-Myanmar border camps for a possible return to Myanmar and provide training in financial literacy and small business development, Bishop said.

In addition, the assistance will support services to enhance the safety and dignity of vulnerable people, particularly women and girls, for example, legal assistance for victims of gender-based violence and those at rehabilitation centres for civilians injured by land mines, she added.

Myanmar continues to face humanitarian challenges with more than one million people requiring humanitarian assistance this year, the minister said, noting that Australia will continue to work closely with the government of Myanmar and partners to meet humanitarian needs and work towards permanent solutions to Myanmar’s protracted humanitarian crises.

The additional aid brings Australia’s humanitarian response to crises in Myanmar to 65 million AUD (49.4 million USD) since 2012.-VNA