(25 May 2015) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus031877
VOICE OVER:
170 CHILDREN WAIT TO LEARN THEIR FATE - AFTER ARRIVING ON THEIR OWN IN INDONESIA.
THIS BROTHER AND SISTER HOLDING EACH OTHER FOR SUPPORT FOLLOWING THREE MONTHS AT SEA.
MOHAMMED - AGE TEN -- KNOWING IT'S HIS JOB TO KEEP HIS LITTLE SISTER SAFE.
THEIR BOAT WASHED ASHORE TWO WEEKS AGO.
UPSOUND: (Rohingya) Untas Begum, Refugee:
"They only fed us a handful of rice twice a day on the boat.... MOHAMMED'S EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SISTER SAYS. "The boys were not fed properly and they were mostly given only watery rice soup after two or three days. We couldn't move on the boat. Anyone who moved was beaten."
THEIR FATHER PAID A BROKER TO GET THEM OUT MYANMAR - HE NOW LIVES IN MALAYSIA. THE CHILDREN LIKE MANY FLEEING THE COUNTRY ARE ROHINJA (row-HIN-jaw) MUSLIMS.
SO FAR, NEARLY 3,100 ROHINGYA AND BANGLADESHIS HAVE LANDED IN THREE SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES, ACCORDING TO THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION.
THE CAPTAINS OF SOME BOATS ABANDONED THEM FOLLOWING A REGIONAL CRACKDOWN ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING NETWORKS. MANY MIGRANTS NOW WAIT IN TEMPORARY SHELTERS.
THIS 12-YEAR-OLD FROM MYANMAR (mee-AHN- mahr) SAYS HE WAS KIDNAPPED, ALONG WITH NINE OTHER BOYS.
UPSOUND: (Burmese) Atau Rahman, Refugee:
"I don't know what happened. HE SAYS We were put on the boat and tied up," and GAGGED.
OTHER YOUNG ROHINGYA BOYS SAY THEY FEEL LIKE THEY ARE ALREADY FORGOTTEN.
UPSOUND: SOUNDBITE (Rohingya) Hussein Ahmed, Refugee:
"I was born in Myanmar, but they don't want me, 12-YEAR-OLD HUSSEIN SAYS.
LABELLED ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST PERSECUTED MINORITIES, THE ROHINGYA ARE EFFECTIVELY STATELESS.
DENIED CITIZENSHIP IN MYANMAR, THEY HAVE BEEN FLEEING THE MOSTLY BUDDHIST COUNTRY FOR DECADES.
AS FOR HUSSEIN, AFTER MONTHS AT SEA -- WITH NO CLEAR KNOWLEDGE OF WHERE HE'LL GO NEXT-- HE SAYS HIS LIFE IS ALREADY GONE.
PADMANANDA RAMA, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
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