Status: 05.03.2023 8:43 p.m
A major fire has left at least 10,000 people homeless at a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. 2,000 temporary shelters burned down, and infirmaries and educational institutions were also destroyed.
At least 2,000 makeshift shelters burned down in a fire at an overcrowded Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh. The fire in the Cox’s Bazar district left almost 10,000 people homeless, said Mohammad Shamsuddoza, a high-ranking representative of the local refugee commission, the dpa news agency. It took firefighters several hours to bring the fire under control.
UN speak of 12,000 homeless
The UN refugee agency UNHCR named around 12,000 homeless people on Twitter and said it was supporting the victims of the fire with its local partners. The fire also destroyed infirmaries and educational institutions. According to the police, the cause of the fire was initially unclear. So far there have been no reports of deaths or injuries.
More than a million Muslim Rohingya have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh over the past decades, 740,000 in 2017 alone from massive violence by the Myanmar military.
A year ago, the United States recognized the persecution of the Rohingya as genocide. Years ago, UN representatives had described the violence against the minority as genocide. A genocide trial against Myanmar is underway in The Hague. Since the Myanmar military took power, the situation of the Rohingya has continued to deteriorate.
In January, human rights activists and survivors in Germany filed criminal charges against the Myanmar military. They want the Southeast Asian country’s army personnel to be held accountable for genocide and crimes against humanity.