A GROUP of Rohingya refugees living in Sri Lanka staged a demonstration outside the office of the United Nations refugee agency today, saying they fear losing their living allowance when the office closes at the end of this year.

The protesters also want to be resettled in another country because Sri Lanka denies them permanent residency rights.

About 100 Rohingya refugees live in Sri Lanka, most of whom were rescued at sea by the navy while they were trying to reach Indonesia after fleeing Myanmar for Bangladesh.

About 740,000 Rohingya were resettled in Bangladesh after fleeing their homes in Myanmar to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by the country’s military. But the camps in Bangladesh are squalid, with surging gang violence and rampant hunger, leading many to flee again.

Sri Lankan human rights activist Ruki Fernando said the refugees receive a basic allowance from the UN agency and are provided with limited healthcare by the Sri Lankan government. However, the refugee children receive no education and adults are not allowed to work.

“We didn’t intend to come to Sri Lanka, but were rescued off the seas in Sri Lanka and brought to Sri Lanka by the navy,” the refugees said in a petition to the UN agency’s representative.

“We also had to endure a hard time in detention in Sri Lanka and still live a very hard life in a new country where we can’t speak our language and many don’t have family members, relatives and friends.”

The petition said the refugees were upset to learn of the office’s forthcoming closure and pleaded with it to “help us find a permanent solution in another country that will help us overcome uncertainty and not make us and our children permanently stateless.”

The UN refugee agency could not be reached for comment.