About 350 Rohingya dead or missing while fleeing
Dhe number of Rohingya people fleeing Myanmar and Bangladesh across the Indian Ocean has increased over the past year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) increased strongly. More than 3,500 members of the Muslim minority attempted the dangerous sea crossing in 2022, the UNHCR said on Tuesday. The year before, there were about 700 people. At least 348 people died or were missing at sea last year.
Reasons for the flight are increasing desperation Rohingya and a deterioration in living conditions, UNHCR reported. It is feared that more people will die on the high seas in the future. The military took power in Myanmar two years ago. Since then, critics of the regime have been brutally persecuted. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya had previously fled repression and persecution in the predominantly Buddhist country, mainly to Bangladesh. The government there hopes that they will return to Myanmar.
the United Nations describe the persecution of the Rohingya as genocide. The Rohingya had lost their citizenship in Myanmar (formerly: Burma) as a result of a law passed in 1983 by the then military junta.
