Nobel laureates met Rohingya refugees

Philippines journalist Maria Ressa speaks after winning Nobel Peace Prize for fighting for freedom of expression at a time when democracy is increasingly under threat.

Advocates have praised the award for drawing global attention to the Philippines' struggle for press freedom and human rights. It also marks the first time the prize has been handed to a journalist.

The Russian leader has finally broken his silence on Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov. But Muratov has shown himself to be unimpressed by what seems like a warning.

FRANCE 24 spoke to this year's joint Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, co-founder of the digital media company Rappler and an outspoken critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Asked whether journalism is becoming more dangerous around the world, she told FRANCE 24: "It is more dangerous, it requires more sacrifices, just to do what journalists have always done."

Violence has been on the rise in the country's sprawling cluster of refugee settlements, with armed gangs vying for power and kidnapping opponents.

The Muslim minority group are requesting $150 billion in damages for the role the social media giant played in facilitating a campaign of genocide against them.

International aid groups are once again drawing attention to the plight of Rohingya refugees relocated to the remote, flood-prone island of Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal. Earlier this month, dozens of people drowned as they tried to flee what some are calling a prison island.

According to the United Nations, 82 million people had been displaced by wars and civil unrest at the end of 2020. Among them are stateless Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh facing constant setbacks in returning to their homeland Myanmar.

Myanmar's treatment of its Rohingya Muslim population is set to be formally determined as a genocide by Washington. This is expected to boost international pressure on the country's military-led government.

The ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims suffer severe persecution in Myanmar. Following a deadly crackdown by the Burmese army in 2017, some 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they were settled in the southern town of Cox’s Bazar. Five years on, the town is home to the world’s largest and most dangerous refugee camp, with frequent floods, fires and gang wars. In December 2020, the Bangladeshi government decided to relocate some of the Rohingya refugees to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. Our reporters Alban Alvarez and Mathilde Cusin managed to gain access to it.

The International Court of Justice has thrown out Myanmar's objections to queries over its treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority. This paves the way for the case to be heard in full, a process that could take years.

More than a million Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh after having fled neighboring Myanmar.