More than 720,000 Rohingya children are threatened either by the approaching cyclone season in Bangladesh or by ongoing violence and denial of their basic rights in Myanmar.
The UNICEF revealed the information in a report released on Friday marking six months since the start of the latest exodus of Rohingya refugees into southern Bangladesh.
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund also called for urgent efforts to help the children.
The report said that an estimated 185,000 Rohingya children remain in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
The children are fearful of the violence and horror that drove so many of their relatives and neighbours to flee.
In Bangladesh, there are estimated to be around 534,000 Rohingya refugee children from last year’s and previous influxes.
The report said that floods caused by the forthcoming cyclone season are likely to engulf the fragile and insanitary camps where the most of the refugees are living.
The UN body fears outbreaks of waterborne disease at the camps located in Bangladesh territory, the statement said.
UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes Manuel Fontaine said ome 720,000 Rohingya children are essentially trapped – either hemmed in by violence and forced displacement inside Myanmar or stranded in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh.
“This is a crisis without a quick fix that could take years to resolve unless there is a concerted effort to address its root causes,” Manuel Fontaine said.
UNICEF calls on the Myanmar Government to end the violence, and to address what it terms a crisis of human rights in Rakhine State.
The report says that the recognition of the Rohingya people’s basic rights would create conditions necessary for the refugees to return to their former homes in Myanmar.
Since August 2017, lack of access to many parts of Rakhine State has severely restricted the work of UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies.
In Bangladesh, aid efforts led and overseen by the government have averted disaster, while 79,000 Rohingya have been accommodated by local communities.
A press release said, UNICEF has been part of a huge international response, supporting the digging of water bore wells, the installation of thousands of latrines and immunisation campaigns to protect children against cholera, measles and other diseases.
