KUTUPALONG: Thous­ands of Rohingya refugees held “Genocide Remembrance Day” rallies on Thursday across a huge network of camps in Bangladesh, marking five years since fleeing a military offensive in Myanmar.

In August 2017 around 750,000 of the mostly Muslim minority streamed over the border with mainly Buddhist Myanmar to escape the onslaught, which is now the subject of a landmark genocide case at the UN’s top court.

Today there are nearly a million Rohingya — half of them under 18 — in rickety huts in camps where the mud lanes regularly become rivers of sewage during monsoon rains.

Thousands staged rallies in many of the camps on Thursday, holding banners, shouting slogans and demanding a safe return to their home state of Rakhine in western Myanmar.

“Today is the day thousands of Rohingya were killed,” young leader Maung Sawyedollah said with tears in his eyes as he led a rally in Kutupalong — the world’s largest refugee settlement. “Five years ago this day nearly one million Rohingya were displaced. On this day in 2017 more than 300 of our villages were burnt down to ashes,” he said. “All we want is a safe and dignified return to our homeland,” said Sayed Ullah, another community leader.

“Unfortunately, our cries have fallen on deaf ears. The international community is not doing anything,” he added. Other protesters recalled the horror of the Myanmar offensive, which the government says was a legitimate response to militant attacks.

“First they burnt our house. My mother was hiding in the house and they dragged her from there. First they cut her hands and then cut her throat,” said Sufia Khatun, 42.

Several attempts at repatriation have failed, with Rohingya refusing to return without guarantees for their security and rights in Myanmar, where many see the minority as foreigners.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2022