"We are concerned about losing a generation. Young
people especially have limited opportunities to get an education here,"
Alastair Lawson Tancred told journalists in Cox's Bazar, a district in
southeastern Bangladesh where Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution by the
Myanmar army live.
Rohingya children and youths in Bangladesh refugee camps
are in need of education, a spokesperson for the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said Friday.
Tancred said more than half of the roughly 1 million
Rohingya staying in the camps are children, most of which are under 17 years
old.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) aims to provide education
for children aged 9-14 in the camps, he added.
Rohingya Persecution
Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have
been killed by Myanmar's state forces, according to a report by the Ontario
International Development Agency (OIDA).
More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires,
while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled
"Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience".
Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by
Myanmar's army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and
113,000 others vandalized, it added.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000
Rohingya refugees, mostly children, and women, fled Myanmar and crossed into
Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim
community in August 2017.
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most
persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were
killed in communal violence in 2012.
The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings --
including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings and disappearances
committed by Myanmar state forces. In a report, UN investigators said such
violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Source: AA