When Bangladesh continues to bear the brunt of sheltering more than a million Rohingyas, Myanmar is doing little for their repatriation amid the silence of global powers though the Southeast Asian country faces a genocide case.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt life for more than 460,000 Rohingya children living in Cox’s Bazar district, Unicef said today.

August 25 marks the third anniversary of attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents that triggered military retaliation and led to the exodus from Buddhist-majority Myanmar over following days and weeks of about 730,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh.

“We are the same human being like you and need the same basic rights which you enjoy. Please don’t hate us. We don’t want to be a burden. Allow us to study and work, and stand by us. We will surely return home.”

In an opinion published in Al Jazeera on February 7, Tun Khin, president of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, expressed the view that the International Court of Justice’s order that Myanmar has to do all it can to prevent genocide offers the persecuted Rohingya minority people hope for the future.

Myanmar and its ally China will face mounting pressure after the World Court asked Naypyidaw to stop genocidal acts in Rakhine State, analysts said.

The UK government has welcomed the verdict of International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Myanmar and said the country must do more to protect the Rohingyas.

In a landmark ruling, the top court of the United Nations has ordered Myanmar to prevent acts of genocide against the country’s persecuted Rohingya minority and to stop destroying evidence.

ARMY OPERATIONS * On Aug 25, 2017, Rohingya militants attack police posts; a dozen officers killed

In ordering Myanmar on Thursday to take immediate measures to prevent atrocities against its Muslim Rohingya minority, the International Court of Justice in The Hague was handing down a binding ruling with no possibility of appeal - and no means of enforcement.

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi says "war crimes" may have been committed against Rohingya Muslims but denied genocide, saying refugees had "exaggerated" the extent of abuses against them.

Made stateless by Myanmar in 1982, the Rohingyas have been left vulnerable to waves of violence at the hands of the Burmese army as part of a “clearing” programme that began in the 1970s.