Today is the sixth anniversary of the Burmese military offensive against the Rohingya people of Burma. The military offensive, mostly targeting children, drove around 800,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Combined with Rohingya who had fled previous attacks, there are now more than a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
They live in squalid camps, surrounded by barbed wire fences, without proper housing, sanitation, food, medical care and education.
There is no prospect of them returning home soon.
How has the British government responded? It has cut aid to Rohingya refugees, mostly children, by 82%.
Now Rohingya children face ration cuts and health problems caused by malnutrition that will last the rest of their lives.
The government of Bangladesh is deliberately making the life of Rohingya refugees as unbearable as possible to try to deter more refugees from coming and force existing refugees to return to Burma, even though it isn’t safe to do so.
It’s an inhumane policy for refugees who have already been through unimaginable experiences.
