COX’S BAZAR / KUTUPALONG REFUGEE CAMP, Bangladesh – The number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Myanmar across the border to Bangladesh has now passed 600,000 people after the Myanmar armed forces responded to attacks in late August. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 60 percent of the Rohingya Muslims who have crossed the border are children.

The treatment of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar was described by a top United Nations diplomat in September as the world's "fastest developing refugee emergency" and a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing." 

“We ran away because the military killed, raped and tortured many of us. There were 5,000 in our group but only about 2,000 could make it to Bangladesh, the rest were killed or disappeared,” said Muneera Begam, a 24-year-old Rohingya woman who suffered permanent damage in one eye while fleeing her village.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released a drone video shot on October 18 showing thousands of Rohingya Muslims crossing the Nad River into southern Bangladesh. It shows the extent of the exodus, with crowds stretching for kilometres. 

“Basically they are coming in tired, they need our priority assistance right away. They need water, shelter, food obviously, medicine and nutrition,” said Jean-Jacques Simon, head of communication for UNICEF Bangladesh. 

The government of Bangladesh has said it will build 6,000 separate shelters for Rohingya children. And UNICEF has set up special areas in the camp, reserved for children. 

“Most of them are affected obviously so they need to draw, they need to discuss, they need to deal with the children,” he told TRT World.

A report released by UNICEF on October 23 says an estimated 450,000 Rohingya children aged 4-18 years old need education; 270,000 of these children are among the new arrivals. 

The report adds that nearly 17,000 children with severe acute malnutrition need inpatient and outpatient treatment, and 120,000 pregnant and nursing women need nutritious supplementary food. There is also an acute shortage of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in the refugee settlements. 

Faruq, 12, who arrived along with his father and a little sister in the Kutupalong refugee camp from Myanmar a week ago, after his mother was killed and his village was set on fire by the military.

“They raped my mother and later killed her by slitting her throat,” he said, his voice heavy with deep grief and anguish.

In addition to the 615,500 recent refugees, some 300,000 Rohingya refugees were already in the camps, having fled in earlier waves of ethnic violence over the past three decades. The total number of Rohingya refugees is expected to cross the one million mark in the coming weeks, with thousands still crossing the border each day.