Upcoming rains pose health risks at Rohingya camps

Save the Children on Friday warned of an outbreak of diseases in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh as the monsoon season looms ahead.

In a statement the international child rights groups said the health risk originates from the lack of proper lavatory arrangements.

"The potential for a new and deadly health emergency is very real. A quarter of all toilets in the camps are expected to be damaged by the monsoon rains,” said Myriam Burger, the organization's health adviser in Cox's Bazar city, where thousands of refugees are living in camps.

The UN has appealed for $950 million urgently to meet the needs of the Rohingya and host community, the statement added.

Separately, UNICEF said at least 50,000 toilets are needed by the refugees.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, more than 750,000 refugees, mostly children, and women have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.

The refugees are fleeing a military operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages.

At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Rakhine from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24 last year, according to Doctors Without Borders.

In a report published last December, the humanitarian group said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

The UN documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel.

In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.