Australia to Offer Rohingya Aid, Not Asylum: Minister

10 July 2013

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr has told Sky News that Burma’s Rohingya can claim Australian assistance, but his government has no plans to resettle any of the persecuted Muslims on the continent. Carr, who is starting a visit to Burma on Wednesday, said “If you look at all the people suffering in our region, there would be few who’d have a stronger claim than the Rohingya to our assistance.” He said that help for the Rohingya would however, not go beyond providing aid. “We need a durable solution within Myanmar. We haven’t got the capacity to take asylum seekers from Myanmar,” he said.