In the six weeks since violence erupted across Rakhine State, Myanmar, on 25 August 2017, more than half a million people – almost equivalent to the population of The Hague or Manchester – have poured across the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

They have joined the more than 200,000 others who had came in previous cross-border influxes.

Almost 60 per cent of the refugees are children. Many have become separated from their families or fled on their own. All have suffered tremendous loss.

This crisis is stealing their childhoods. We must not let it steal their futures at the same time.

As violence continues in Myanmar, their numbers and their needs grow. The risk of this humanitarian crisis turning into a human catastrophe is all too real.

UNICEF is on the ground working with the Bangladeshi authorities and partners to help meet the Rohingya refugees’ urgent needs.

But the magnitude of the challenge is daunting. This is the fastest growing humanitarian crisis in the world today – and the world must respond.

Read the full article on Rohingya refugee children at UNICEF