Kolkata: In southern Bangladesh, the coastal town of Cox's Bazar is a well-known honeymoon destination, it is famous for its beach, one of the longest unbroken beaches in the world but only 16 km from the beach, there is a different reality.
August 25, 2018 marks one year since hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people fled persecution and violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State and sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh.
This crisis stands out among recent refugee flows due to the large number of people fleeing in an extremely short period of time: about 655 000 Rohingya women, men and children fled to Bangladesh between August 25, 2017 and mid-December 2017, according to the United Nations.
The Rohingya, who numbered around one million in Myanmar at the start of 2017, are one of the many ethnic minorities in the country. Rohingya Muslims represent the largest percentage of Muslims in Myanmar, with the majority living in Rakhine state.
They have their own language and culture and say they are descendants of Arab traders and other groups who have been in the region for generations.But the government of Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country, denies the Rohingya citizenship and even excluded them from the 2014 census, refusing to recognise them as a people.
It sees them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.Since the 1970s, Rohingya have migrated across the region in significant numbers. Estimates of their numbers are often much higher than official figures.
In the last few years, before the latest crisis, thousands of Rohingya were making perilous journeys out of Myanmar to escape communal violence or alleged abuses by the security forces.
The latest exodus began on August 25, 2017 after Rohingya Arsa militants launched deadly attacks on more than 30 police posts.(UNI)