Gambia offers to take in all Rohingya migrants
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Rohingya refugees who are fleeing southeast Asia to escape oppression have been offered a home in Gambia.
The Muslim-majority country is not wealthy — the UN's 2013 human development report stated that one-third of the population lives off of $1.25 or less a day, and thousands of migrants have left for Europe, with many dying in the process — so it is also asking other nations to send medicine, bedding, tents, and household items so it can set up "habitable camps with decent sanitary conditions."
In a statement, the government said it was primarily reaching out to offer aid because Muslims were in peril: "The government of Gambia notes with grave concern the inhumane condition of the Rohingya people of Myanmar — especially those referred to as 'boat people' — currently drifting in the seas off the coast of Malaysia and Indonesia. As human beings, more so fellow Muslims, it is a sacred duty to help alleviate the untold hardships and sufferings fellow human beings are confronted with."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
