Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were expelled from Myanmar in 2017 – many of them have been living in refugee camps since then. More than a hundred people have now broken out of a Malaysian camp.
More than 130 people have fled a refugee camp in Malaysia. They are 115 Rohingya and 16 other people from Myanmar, the Malaysian news agency Bernama reported, citing police information. At least one of them died in an accident on a nearby highway, it said.
The escape occurred late on Thursday evening. There had previously been protests in the camp in Bidor in the western state of Perak, it was said. According to the police, the refugees are between 17 and 35 years old. They are being searched for in the area around the camp. They had neither money nor food with them.
In 2022, 528 Rohingya refugees fled a camp in Penang state. The majority of the people were found again in a search that was launched immediately.
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority who were brutally expelled from their homeland in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar in 2017. Every year hundreds of them risk their lives by sea and seek refuge in Malaysia or Indonesia. The United Nations describes the persecution of the Rohingya as genocide. The members of the minority had lost their citizenship under a law passed by Myanmar’s military junta in 1982.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
