anchor: this is al jazeera, these are the top stories. vigils are taking grace across texas -- place across texas. it is still unclear what the 18-year-old gunman's motivations were, the teenager opened fire killing 19 children at a school on tuesday. joe biden has said he is sick and tired of gun carnage.

police fired tear gas and use batons against supporters. people have been arrested and voters were called to stage a sit in. you are up to date with the headlines. more news coming up on al jazeera after we go through inside story. goodbye for now. >> [speaking foreign language]

it's >> [speaking foreign language] ♪

>> has the world forgotten about the road anger? -- rphinga. what must be done to support the world's most persecuted minority? this is inside story. ♪ welcome to the program. it has been called a forgotten crisis. the u.n. is demanding report for refugees struggling to survive camps in bangladesh.

they were forced to you -- lose their homes five years ago when the military launched a crackdown. many were killed and -- raped. five years on, the rohingya are trying to escape. 17 drowned when the boat capsized off the coast. u.n. high commissioner for refugees is in bangladesh to discuss helping the rohingya return to myanmar. the talks have stalled when the military took power. he said bangladesh should not have to shoulder the burden in looking after the refugees on their own. >> we have a memorandum of understanding, myanmar -- this is a good sign. we need patients. this is why it is so important to continue to support bangladesh.

i'm here in bangladesh. i'm also highlighting that in spite of the enormous attention and resources, understandably we are putting the response to the ukraine crisis, and before that, we spoke about afghanistan for months, in spite of that, those other crisis are frankly off the radar screen and most of the news, they must not be forgotten. there are a million people in those camps. there are 100 million refugees in these places, we have passed the awful mark for the first time since we are recording these figures just a few days ago, and all of these prices -- crises, they have to have

attention, they cannot be forgotten because suffer anywhere. whether ukrainians or other nationalities. we cannot let this go. host: let's remind you on how the crisis unfolded. the crackdown began in 2017 in what investigators called genocidal intent. more than one million people were forced to flee two with s. in 2018, officials promised safe repatriation's but nothing has happened. in 2020, bangladesh began moving people to an island. last december, authorities began closing schools and camps. talks resumed but many say it is still not safe to go back. let's go ahead and bring in our guests.

an advocacy manager in bangladesh. in vancouver, a rohingya social justice activist. and in germany, the chairperson of the european rohingya council. warm welcome to your wall. let me start with you, you and i have had a version of this discussion many times in the past. you worked very hard to try and raise awareness with regard to the plight of rohingya. from your perspective, has the world forgotten? >> i believe the world did not care in the first place. i think there is a misnomer and misplacement of prioritization when it comes to rohingya lives. the exit is have lived in the camps for almost five years. this is the for fear. we have not figured out a way to

treat rohingya refugees with the kindness and humanities they deserve. so many schools have been closed recently. a plethora of other issues further driving rohingya into a corner. this clamping down of livelihood and snapping of opportunities for children, very specifically, are closing in on us and making

us suffocate, therefore we're going to have to find ways to indicate -- innovate and traffic ourselves into other countries, prioritizing where we need to meet the needs in the first place. host: very important issue. what a struggle it's been for refugee children to be able to be in classrooms whether in bangladesh or myanmar. one time i was in the camps and interviewing refugee children who were telling me the education crisis went back before the current crisis, that they cannot attend schools, members of the military would not let them get to the schools

they were supposed to go to. last december, authorities began closing schools. how much does that worry you? >> thank you for having me, it's an important question. we all know education is a human right. without education, the government could continually prosecute for many years, many decades. therefore, they will not know the norms, the rights, justice or injustice. coming back there were 100

million living in bangladesh, and bangladesh openly had and welcomed us, but nevertheless they have departed further from the basic needs of education. last year, they have been closing schools which were community-based, teachers and some well-to-do refugees opened up education centers in refugee camps because we know without education we would not be able to move forward. without education, we will not be able to get accountability. therefore, these people were deprived from education and should not forget there are 60 children out of 10,000 who are

youth and going to universities and attending schools. we have to mow there will be a dangerous impact on closing the schools. that might not only become [indiscernible] human rights should be provided to us and other necessities. it is important. host: i went to get your perspective, your group said

since rohingya are not legally recognized as refugees, they cannot attend traditional schools. let me ask you, from your perspective, what options do children have right now? >> i want to focus on the bigger picture. talking about regional responsibility. when you look at the community and states in the region, you will see rohingya exploited. we see drownings and deaths at sea.

if you look at the funding and response, the responses 13% funded. that comes out to $.30 per refugee per day. we are preparing for a long summer of storms and monsoon season. if you look at where the funding has gone to, it is protection programs. some have been slashed in half. these are programs targeted at survivors, children. refugees with disabilities. targeting the most vulnerable of an already vulnerable community at the time when covid and extreme weather events have left a trail of destruction. you do not have a pretty picture. you have not a tenable situation at all, it requires political will that is not forthcoming. host: let me follow up with you.

the u.n. high commissioner for refugees has been in bangladesh and touring the camps, he is urging more help for one million people stuck in camps in bangladesh. from your point of view, what are some immediate steps that can be taken that can alleviate some of the suffering that could make the situation less dire? >> the interventions need to be political. humanitarians cannot solve the crisis. it's an atrocious indictment of regional leaders that an entire people and community are unwanted everywhere, and honestly we urge and besiege

political ping-pong with human life. in the interim, you have dispossession in camps and that will inquire -- require engaging refugees. that will take community engagement, accountability to the affected communities. host: one of the things i have heard most frequently when i started going to refugee camps, i was hearing first-hand from those who had suffered unspeakable atrocities, and they were telling me what they went through was a genocide. it took a while longer before you had u.n. investigators say atrocities were carried out with genocidal intent, took longer for certain government to classify what happened is a

genocide. in march, the united states declared the mass killing of the rohingya to be a genocide. i want to ask you, how significant was it that the designation was made by the u.s. and is that going to change anything when it comes to trying to get justice when it suffers so much? >> when we talk about the most heinous crimes humans ever commit or come across, it is genocide. to validate victims and tell them actually what you have gone through is a genocide. it is the most heinous of crimes humans have ever seen, and at the same time, governments are willing, specifically the u.s. and canadian government are making a commitment in that

sense that they are willing to meet the threshold of footed is, they need to be able to uphold those responsibilities and protect these populations, at the same time, furthering the goals of rehabilitation, however, i have seen the words and gestures especially on the humanitarian grounds. it is not done in good faith. it is done to silence us for a while with a few new developments that does not cater to the population, does not cater to the problems we are facing on the ground. without consultation, participation of the people. we're expecting the result will

come out satisfactory. this is the problem with the situation in general. it is not done from bottom up, it's done from top, and often times the needs of the people are not met and therefore other problems will spill out of it because education requirements are not met, when it is truly a human right that a child should be able to seek education regardless of what their status may be, and other needs should be met. these are just problems of neglect and ignorance when it comes to people who are actually working with the rohingya people in the first place, there are so much more people are willing to do. we have managed to survive the genocide for 70 years. we could survive as long as we need to survive, but the international community needs to do its part to give us a tool to

actually survive on our own. we are going to run into problems if dried up funds from international aid. our people have been able to survive on their own, sufficiently. why not amplified his abilities. host: i want to ask, what is the situation like for the rohingya still in myanmar?

>> we have contacts and most of my beloved relatives are still in the state. the situation is deteriorating. before there was an interest in the international immunity engaging the government to find out to help, recently after the effort in the crisis between russia and ukraine, our people, especially -- people are still going through atrocities which is not brought up in the media. these atrocities are going on.

they are trying to move to malaysia [indiscernible] there was no mention with preparations, not enough food, not enough water. the situation -- social media, we are unable to bring on social media and the world is engaged in other issues, and unfortunately [indiscernible]

there is more to do one million in refugee camps, so important. these have been deprived and it's important for the international community, covid, the monsoon. let does not mean -- [indiscernible]

losing lives. [indiscernible] 450 and 500 are left in the country. host: i saw you nodding along. i want to get you to describe for our viewers a little bit of what life is like in the camps. i spent time reporting in those camps. it's hard to describe what i witnessed. give us a snapshot of the day to day challenges for the refugees. >> it is staggering. the one image i am recalling is if you go to the camps, it is quite hilly.

as you approach the camps, you will see the hills. it must be, this is not something i have ever experienced. so incredibly far away. life in the camps from what we hear from the refugees and communities we work with, hope is scarce. opportunity is scarcer. the rohingya one the same thing umb want, the future for themselves and children. they want a fair shot. that has been denied to them for a very long time. host: couple of minutes left. as somebody who is trying to ensure the rohingya get the attention they deserve and

justice they deserve, how do you keep that hope alive when you see the international community continues to look away, seems to get harder and harder to plight of the rohingya to stay in the headlines, to be written about, to be reported on, what you do to keep the fire going and try to ensure those stories are still told? >> my people have been strong, capable, resilient, and they are willing to put up a fight. to continue to live, survive and contribute to this world. there of so many rohingya diaspora who have the opportunity on the outside working hard to ensure our people's voices are heard, and

amplified. these are the people, i hold dear our capacity to continue to survive, we are more than

capable of doing this work ourselves. you have to listen to us on what we actually need to be uplifted. host: i wish we could keep the conversation going but we have run out of time. thank you so much to all of our guests. thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website. further discussion go to our facebook page. you can also during the conversation on twitter. bye for now. ♪

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