Rohingya Refugee Recounts Ordeal of Rape and Torture During Flight from Myanmar

A Rohingya woman reveals she was raped and tortured by militants (Photo: ANA)
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Arakan News Agency | Exclusive

A 20-year-old Rohingya refugee, identified as “T.A.,” has revealed that she was subjected to brutal gang rape and torture by armed groups during her harrowing journey from Myanmar to Bangladesh, saying her ordeal reflects the plight of thousands of Rohingya women who have faced violence and exploitation while fleeing persecution.

The woman, now living in a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, said she arrived in Bangladesh nine months ago along with 19 women and 13 men. She recounted that her husband and elder son were taken away from where they had been staying, while she and her younger son were taken to a different location.

She added that she was detained for five days by armed men, who beat her so severely that her teeth were broken, before seven of them took turns raping her in front of her child.

“I couldn’t escape because my child was with me I was bleeding and unable to speak,” she said.

She further explained that she spent two days at sea before reaching Bangladesh, after her family paid traffickers a large sum amounting to 25,000 Bangladeshi Taka (about USD 230) in a desperate attempt to reach safety.

Her story highlights the suffering endured by Rohingya women facing sexual violence and forced displacement during their flight from Myanmar, underscoring the urgent need for protection, accountability, and justice for victims of such abuses both in Myanmar and along dangerous migration routes.

Bangladesh currently hosts more than one million Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar camps, which the United Nations describes as the largest refugee settlement in the world. Most have been living in dire humanitarian conditions since fleeing Myanmar in 2017 following the Myanmar military’s campaign of “genocide” against them — conditions that have worsened amid renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army insurgents since November 2023.

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