As Europe grapples with its refugee crisis, another one has been unfolding in Southeast Asia. That's where members of a stateless minority called the Rohingya have been taking dangerous journeys by sea in pursuit of a better life. As President Barack Obama swings through Malaysia this weekend, he's putting a spotlight on them.
"I have no passport, I have no citizenship," 28-year old Mohammed Rayas tells us, when we meet him in a rundown office in Kuala Lumpur. He's an ethnic Rohingya, born in Myanmar. Even though Myanmar is home for generations of his family and his people, Rayas isn't afforded basic rights.
Habibullah, a longtime Aung Mingalar resident who goes by one name, holds his 4-year-old son Mohammed Harris at his home. He says his son, lacking adequate nutrition and running a fever for four weeks, has become too weak to walk.
The majority Buddhist government denies the one million Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar rights to citizenship, education, work and marriage. Many Rohingya are sent to squalid, crowded internment camps where food is scarce and disease is common — but Rohingya are often turned away from hospitals, too.
"I have no passport, I have no citizenship," 28-year old Mohammed Rayas tells us, when we meet him in a rundown office in Kuala Lumpur. He's an ethnic Rohingya, born in Myanmar. Even though Myanmar is home for generations of his family and his people, Rayas isn't afforded basic rights.
Habibullah, a longtime Aung Mingalar resident who goes by one name, holds his 4-year-old son Mohammed Harris at his home. He says his son, lacking adequate nutrition and running a fever for four weeks, has become too weak to walk.
The majority Buddhist government denies the one million Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar rights to citizenship, education, work and marriage. Many Rohingya are sent to squalid, crowded internment camps where food is scarce and disease is common — but Rohingya are often turned away from hospitals, too.
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