AT A GLANCE
WHO
500,000
Rohingya
Muslim
Children
NEEDS
Food
Water
Medical Care
Immunizations
Political Rights
Child Safe Spaces*
*Specially for Girls
Myanmar
Bangladesh
Cox Bazar Region
Rohingya Refugee Camps
THE CAUSE
Government violence against a Muslim minority in Myanmar
The Rohingya people, a Muslim minority, have lived in Myanmar's Rakhine state for generations, but in 1982, the country passed a citizenship law that left them stateless, prone to continuous persecution and violence. Then, in 2017, the Myanmar military launched a violent crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in what the UN has described as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing." The large-scale campaign of killings and other abuses, amounting to crimes against humanity, forced over 900,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. The United Nations has described them as "the most persecuted minority in the world."
THE CRISIS TODAY
Living in the world's largest refugee camp, they rely entirely on humanitarian assistance.
Six years into the crisis, repatriation to Myanmar is stalled as Myanmar has yet to take meaningful actions to address the atrocities of its military against the Rohingya.
Today, about one million Rohingya refugees live in Cox's Bazar, in the world's largest refugee camp.
Organizations such as UNICEF and the UN Refugee Agency are on the ground to provide them with clean water, health care, food, protection and education. Thanks to these efforts, 300,000 Rohingya children are now enrolled in classes. Yet the fight for these children's right to thrive is far from over. They continue to rely entirely on humanitarian assistance for their basic needs in the face of hardships no one should ever have to live through.
IMPACT ON CHILDREN
After escaping unspeakable violence they now face dangerous living conditions.
The impact of the Rohingya refugee crisis on children has been devastating. According to UNICEF, over half of the refugees fleeing Myanmar into Bangladesh are children.
These children have been exposed to unspeakable violence and brutality, and now face dangerous living conditions, inadequate education and the risks of exploitation, including child marriage and child labor.
Most live in overcrowded refugee camps in the Cox Bazar region of Bangladesh, vulnerable to frequent natural disasters, disease outbreaks and malnutrition. Older children deprived of education are at real risk of becoming a "lost generation."
