One in five Rohingya children in Bangladesh's refugee camps are "acutely malnourished" and require medical attention, says Unicef report.
Children make up 58 percent of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar. Up to 12,000 more every week, often traumatised by atrocities.
Nearly 340,000 Rohingya children are living in a "hell on earth" in overcrowded, muddy and squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh without enough food, clean water and health care, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) said on Friday (20 October). Simon Ingram, author of the Unicef report titled "Outcast and Desperate", says about one in five children in the area are "acutely malnourished" and require medical attention.
Noor Bejum, 32, holds Rojaika, her seven-month-old malnourished daughter at her shelter in the Kutupalong refugee campZohra Bensemra/Reuters
The refugees need clean water, food, sanitation, shelter and vaccines to help head off a possible outbreak of cholera — a potentially deadly water-borne disease. Safe drinking water and toilets are in "desperately short supply" in the chaotic, teeming camps and settlements, Ingram said after spending two weeks in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
Mohamed Hares, an eight-month-old Rohingya refugee, receives treatment for a lung infection at the Red Cross emergency hospital near Kotupalang refugee campJorge Silva/ReutersA Rohingya Muslim refugee holds her child as she waits to see a doctor at a medical centre at Balukhali refugee campFred Dufour/AFPA severely malnourished, premature 15-day-old baby cries at the Doctors Without Borders clinic at the Kutupalong refugee campPaula Bronstein/Getty ImagesRohingya Muslim refugees wait in line at a baby care centre in Kutupalong refugee campFred Dufour/AFPHalima Khatu cries as her eight-month-old son Mohammed Harez is treated for acute pneumonia at the Doctors Without Borders clinic at the Kutupalong refugee campPaula Bronstein/Getty ImagesA Rohingya woman carries her malnourished baby at a refugee camp in BangaldeshCathal McNaughton/ReutersA young Rohingya Muslim refugee begs for food through the window of a car at Balukhali refugee campFred Dufour/AFPA Rohingya refugee girl drinks rain water collecting on a makeshift shelter at a camp in Cox's BazarCathal McNaughton/ReutersRohingya refugee children look on during a demonstration on washing hands and sanitation at the Balukhali refugee campIndranil Mukherjee/AFPA Rohingya child uses his food bowl to shelter himself from the sun at the Palangkhali refugee campIndranil Mukherjee/AFPA Rohingya refugee boy waits to collect relief materials in Thyangkhali refugee campMunir uz Zaman/AFPRohingya Muslim refugee carries his plate to receive food at a distribution area at Balukhali refugee campFred Dufour/AFPRohingya Muslim refugees run to receive food at a distribution area at Balukhali refugee campFred Dufour/AFPA Rohingya refugee boy who crossed the border from Myanmar a day before, gets an oral cholera vaccine, distributed by Unicef workers, as he waits to receive permission from the Bangladeshi army to continue his way to the refugee campsZohra Bensemra/ReutersA Rohingya refugee child gets an oral cholera vaccine, distributed by the World Health OrganisationJorge Silva/Reuters
A man holds a baby as Rohingya refugees gather at a relief point for babies and pregnant women at the Kutupalang refugee campDamir Sagolj/ReutersA Rohingya refugee boy waits for aid in Cox's BazarCathal McNaughton/ReutersFlies sit on the face of a girl as Rohingya refugees wait for some aid to be distributed at a camp for those who recently fled from MyanmarDamir Sagolj/ReutersA Rohingya refugees carries a baby through a rice paddy after crossing the borderJorge Silva/ReutersRohingya refugees fleeing from Myanmar cross a small stream in BangladeshPaula Bronstein/Getty ImagesRohingya refugees carrying children wade through water after crossing from Myanmar into BangladeshFred Dufour/AFPA Rohingya refugee baby is lifted to safety from a boat at a beach on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River after fleeing a village in MyanmarKevin Frayer/Getty ImagesRohingya refugee Khalida, a mother of three children, carries the youngest as she wades across a canal near the no man's land area between Bangladesh and MyanmarTauseef Mustafa/AFPA Rohingya refugee boy carries water in Cox's Bazar, BangladeshCathal McNaughton/ReutersA Rohingya child carries water during a rain storm at Kutupalong refugee campMunir uz Zaman/AFPA Rohingya boy cries as monsoon rains batter the Thainkhali refugee campPaula Bronstein/Getty ImagesA young Rohingya Muslim refugee collects wood among graves at Kutupalong refugee campFred Dufour/AFPA Rohingya refugee boy drags a toy made with a plastic bottle at Kotupalang refugee campJorge Silva/ReutersA Rohingya refugee child holds a doll at a camp for those who recently fled from Myanmar, near Cox's Bazar, BangladeshDamir Sagolj/Reuters
Ingram also warned of threats posed by human traffickers and others who might exploit children in the refugee areas. "These children just feel so abandoned, so completely remote, and without a means of finding support or help. In a sense, it's no surprise that they must truly see this place as a hell on earth," Ingram told a news conference in Geneva
"This isn't going to be a short-term, it isn't going to end anytime soon," Ingram told a news briefing. "So it is absolutely critical that the borders remain open and that protection for children is given and equally that children born in Bangladesh have their birth registered." Most Rohingya are stateless in Myanmar and many fled without papers, he said, adding of the newborns in Bangladesh: "Without an identity they have no chance of ever assimilating into any society effectively."
A new born Rohingya baby's foot is pictured at a medical centre in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, BangladeshZohra Bensemra/ReutersHasina Aktar lies with her newborn baby Mohammed Jubayed at a medical centre in Kutupalong refugee campMunir uz Zaman/AFPFsarul Begum, a Rohingya refugee who fled from Myanmar, is carried with her newborn baby as they wait to be let through after crossing the borderZohra Bensemra/ReutersMonu Ara sits with her newborn baby Belal Hussain at a medical centre in the Kutupalong refugee campZohra Bensemra/ReutersRohingya refugees who just arrived from Myanmar carry their newborn babies as they make their way to a relief centreDamir Sagolj/ReutersAsma, 20, holds her newborn baby girl in the birthing unit at the Doctors Without Borders clinic at the Kutupalong refugee campPaula Bronstein/Getty ImagesHasina Begum, aged 18, holds her eight-day-old baby, born while she was walking through the forest escaping from MyanmarPaula Bronstein/Getty Images
UN agencies are still demanding access to northern Rakhine, where an unknown number of Rohingya remain despite reports that many villages and food stocks have been burned. "We repeat the call for the need for protection of all children in Rakhine state, this is an absolute fundamental requirement. The atrocities against children and civilians must end," Ingram said. "We just must keep putting it on the record, we cannot keep silent."
