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14 Aug, 2013

Are Rohingya the world’s most unwanted people? – Sydney Morning Herald

Kutupalong New Camp, Bangladesh-Myanmar border: Mohammed Rahim* has walked an hour to talk to us, from the green slopes of western Myanmar where he lives, down through the jungle, past the razor-wire fence and the border checkpoints, to this small wooden hut in Bangladesh.

From the window where he sits, the 18-year-old can see the hills of his homeland, and he speaks quietly about his life back over the border.

“We are afraid to live in our country, the situation is so bad,” he says. “In the past we could move freely from one village to another, from our home to a neighbour’s house. Now it is strictly forbidden – we can’t even go to see our relatives.”

The Rakhine state government has closed the Islamic schools and banned Muslim children from state education. Rohingya cannot marry without authority, which is almost never given.

Read the rest: Are Rohingya the world’s most unwanted people?.