Rohingya refugees mark ‘Genocide Memorial Day’

Thousands of Rohingya refugees held “Genocide Remembrance Day” rallies at a vast network of camps in Bangladesh on Thursday to celebrate five years since fleeing a military offensive in Myanmar.

In August 2017, some 750,000 members of the predominantly Muslim minority poured across the border into predominantly Buddhist Myanmar to escape the attack, which is now the subject of a landmark genocide case before the United Nations Supreme Court.

Today nearly a million Rohingya – half of them under the age of 18 – live in rickety shacks in camps where the mud roads regularly become rivers of sewage during the monsoon rains.

Thousands held rallies in many camps on Thursday, holding banners, shouting slogans and demanding a safe return to their home state of Rakhine in western Myanmar.

“Today is the day thousands of Rohingya were killed,” tearful young leader Maung Sawyedollah said as he led a rally in Kutupalong — the world’s largest refugee settlement.

“On this day five years ago, almost a million Rohingya were displaced. On that day in 2017, more than 300 of our villages were burned,” he said.

“All we want is a safe and dignified return to our homeland,” said Sayed Ullah, another community leader.

“Unfortunately, our screams fell on deaf ears. The international community is doing nothing,” he added.

Other protesters recalled the horror of the offensive in Myanmar, which the government said was a legitimate response to militant attacks.

“First they burned our house down. My mother hid in the house and they dragged her from there. First they cut her hands and then her throat,” said Sufia Khatun, 42.

Several repatriation attempts have failed, with the Rohingya refusing to return to Myanmar without guarantees about their safety and rights, where many see the minority as foreigners.

Rohingya say the security situation in camps surrounded by barbed wire in Bangladesh is also deteriorating, with at least 100 people killed since 2017.

Much of the violence is attributed to an insurgent Rohingya group and gangs involved in drug and human trafficking, who find easy recruits among the many bored young men in the camps.

“It’s a prison for the Rohingyas,” said a young activist, who declined to give his name for fear of retaliation from Bangladesh police.

“Rohingya shops have been demolished. We need permission to leave the camps to meet our relatives,” he added.

A survey of the refugees released by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday showed that the camps were becoming increasingly unsanitary, with rising rates of diarrhea and skin infections such as scabies.

Last year, a major fire claimed around 15 lives, injured 560 and displaced more than 45,000 people.

UNHCR has called for more funding and support from the international community.

“Generations could be affected if we fail to meet our obligation to protect the Rohingya and all people of Myanmar, their fundamental rights and dignity,” said Noeleen Heyzer, the UN special envoy for Myanmar, on Thursday after visiting the camps.

To reduce overcrowding, Bangladesh authorities have relocated about 30,000 Rohingya to an island, but there are concerns it is prone to flooding.

“Voluntary and sustainable returns are the only solution to the crisis,” said Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.