Rohingya refugees from Myanmar mark ‘Genocide Remembrance Day’ in Bangladesh camps

Thousands of refugees staged rallies to mark 5 years since they fled military offensive, now subject of landmark genocide case at UN court

‘Five years ago nearly one million Rohingya were displaced. On this day in 2017 more than 300 of our villages were burnt down to ashes’

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Rohingya refugees on Thursday as they gathered at a refugee camp in Bangladesh to mark the fifth anniversary of their fleeing from Myanmar to escape a military crackdown. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:53pm, 25 Aug 2022Updated: 10:52pm, 25 Aug 2022

Thousands of Rohingya refugees held ‘Genocide Remembrance Day’ rallies on Thursday across a huge network of camps in Bangladesh, marking five years since fleeing a military offensive in Myanmar.

In August 2017 around 750,000 of the mostly Muslim minority streamed over the border with mainly Buddhist Myanmar to escape the onslaught, which is now the subject of a landmark genocide case at the UN’s top court.

Today there are nearly a million Rohingya, half of them under the age of 18, in rickety huts in camps where the mud lanes regularly become rivers of sewage during monsoon rains.

Thousands staged rallies in many of the 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,” said young leader Maung Sawyedollah with tears in his eyes as he led a rally in Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee settlement.

Rohingya refugees cry during a gathering to mark the fifth anniversary of their exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Photo: AP

“Five years ago this day nearly one million Rohingya were displaced. On this day in 2017 more than 300 of our villages were burnt down to ashes,” he said.

Rohingya refugees from Myanmar mark ‘Genocide Remembrance Day’ in Bangladesh camps

Thousands of refugees staged rallies to mark 5 years since they fled military offensive, now subject of landmark genocide case at UN court ‘Five years ago nearly one million Rohingya were displaced. On this day in 2017 more than 300 of our villages were burnt down to ashes’

Thousands of refugees staged rallies to mark 5 years since they fled military offensive, now subject of landmark genocide case at UN court

‘Five years ago nearly one million Rohingya were displaced. On this day in 2017 more than 300 of our villages were burnt down to ashes’