© UNHCR/Roger Arnold October 23, 2017—Hundreds of Rohingya children queue for food in the


muddy and unsanitary Unchiprang makeshift camp in Bangladesh. They came by boat or walked barefoot for days, wading through vast rice fields.


THE UNWANTED A portrait of the Rohingya refugee crisis six months on By Fiona Irvine-Goulet


Since August 25, 2017, more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees have fled violence in Myanmar. Most are women and children; many have been beaten, tortured, raped, or have seen their homes and villages burned to the ground. Their loved ones have been killed or have disappeared. UNHCR has been helping Rohingya refugees for many years in Bangladesh—where the majority of have arrived—and continues to supply life-saving aid.


Who are the Rohingya and why are they persecuted?


They are the world’s largest group of stateless people, an ethnic minority of about 1.3 million people, mostly Muslim, living in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country. Considered “foreigners”


4 / UNHCR CANADA


within their own country, they have no citizenship, and are denied many basic human rights, including health care, education and employment. Most live below the poverty line. Throughout the years, there have been many waves of Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution and violence in Myanmar.


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