While countries across the Western world are busy bickering over the highly politicised influx of migrant families from Syria and Iraq, a lesser-known humanitarian crisis is brewing in the heart of Southeast Asia.
A forgotten silent minority known as the Rohingyas, who are effectively stateless, continue to endure appalling conditions in closely guarded camps in countries that refuse to accord them rights as humans, let alone refugees.
In Myanmar, where it all started, apartheid-esque laws deprive the minority Muslim community of basic rights forcing them to take the grim decision to sail eastward on dingy boats run by smuggling cartels infamous for abuse and rape. While most Syrian migrants land on Europe’s shores and acquire some form of acceptance, the unwanted Rohingya diaspora land in neighbouring Thailand and Malaysia, even as both countries refuse to accept them. (Courtesy of The Express Tribune)
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