Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have marked the seventh anniversary of the start of a crackdown that drove nearly a million of them out of Myanmar. With thousands more now fleeing violence at the hands of their latest persecutors, the Arakan Army, the mostly Muslim minority group continues to face an uncertain future.
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00:00Thousands of Rohingya refugees in southeastern Bangladesh braved monsoon rains
00:07to mark seven years since the start of a crackdown that drove hundreds of thousands of them from
00:15their homes in Myanmar.
00:17An imam held a mass prayer to commemorate the anniversary, drawing tears from the crowd.
00:22And demonstrators held signs calling for an end to what the UN describes as a genocide.
00:26At the present time, we have to stop the violence that is taking place in our country.
00:36We have to stop it so that our world community and UN security can be safe.
00:43Facing violence first from Myanmar's democratically elected government and later from the military
00:48junta that overthrew it, nearly a million mostly Muslim Rohingya have fled settlements
00:52in western Myanmar's Rakhine state since 2017.
00:57Since May, thousands more fled the state after a militia fighting the ruling junta burned
01:01their settlements.
01:02In 2016, we were forced to flee our homes because of the violence that was taking place.
01:17We were forced to flee our homes because of the violence that was taking place.
01:26Myanmar's government stripped the Rohingya people of their citizenship in 1982, and the
01:31vast majority remain stateless.
01:33As violence escalates again in Rakhine state, the UN is urging the international community
01:38to act on behalf of the Rohingya people.
01:41Recurrence of the crimes and horrors of the past must be prevented as a moral duty and
01:46a legal necessity.
01:48It is the responsibility of the international community, with ASEAN at the forefront, to
01:54take all necessary measures to protect the Rohingya and other civilians of this cruel
02:00conflict.
02:01The UN has received reports that Myanmar's military and ethnic militias continue to violate
02:06the human rights of the Rohingya.
02:10And as Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh mark seven years since the start of their exodus,
02:15they continue to live in crowded camps and face an uncertain future.
02:19Dolphin Chen and Wesley Lewis for Taiwan Plus.