The Rohingya refugee crisis is getting worse, and Bangladesh is struggling to keep up

Rohingya refugees shelter from the rain
(Image credit: DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)

Bangladesh is struggling to keep up with an influx of Rohingya Muslim refugees entering the country from Myanmar. Some 400,000 Rohingya, who are seen as illegal immigrants in Myanmar, have crossed into Bangladesh in the last three weeks, seeking refuge from what the United Nations calls a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

The aid group Save the Children warns many of the refugees could starve as Bangladesh struggles to provide food and housing. People are sleeping on roadsides, exposed to the elements, as the camps reach capacity. "The humanitarian response needs to be rapidly scaled up," Mark Pierce, Bangladesh country director for the Save the Children, said in a statement.

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Amazingly, many Bangladeshis have banded together to help the refugees, offering up clothes, tents, and food at a time when much of the country is suffering from massive flooding and hardship. Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest countries, and many people live off a salary of just $1,300 a year, Al Jazeera reports.

Most of those fleeing Myanmar are women and children, and more than 400 babies have been born along the border of the two countries in the past 15 days, The Guardian reports.

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Jessica Hullinger

Jessica Hullinger is a writer and former deputy editor of The Week Digital. Originally from the American Midwest, she completed a degree in journalism at Indiana University Bloomington before relocating to New York City, where she pursued a career in media. After joining The Week as an intern in 2010, she served as the title’s audience development manager, senior editor and deputy editor, as well as a regular guest on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. Her writing has featured in other publications including Popular Science, Fast Company, Fortune, and Self magazine, and she loves covering science and climate-related issues.