Rohingya refugees exodus to Bangladesh and south-east Asia – in pictures

Rohingya men are seen among houses set on fire during fighting between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities in Sittwe, Burma, last year. The sectarian violence forced thousands of people to flee. The Rohingyas are not recognised as citizens by the Burmese government
Photograph: Reuters

Rohingya people, trying to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence in Burma, look on from an intercepted boat in Teknaf in July last year. Bangladesh has turned away boatloads of Rohingyas Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP

Rohingya refugees provide much of the workforce in the salt fields in Taknaf, earning less than subsistence wages for the arduous work. Despite the low wages and poor conditions, the refugees' domination of jobs has led to conflict with local Bengali communities. In early 2010, a local politician led a protest of Bengali villagers, blocking the road outside the crowded Kutupalong refugee camp housing thousands of Rohingya, and demanded they be forcibly pushed back across the border to Burma. The UNHCR and international NGOs have difficulty working inside the camps as a result of the political backlash Photograph: Suthep Kritsanavarin/Alamy

Outside Kutupalong refugee camp, near Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, about 40,000 unregistered Rohingyas who were forced from their villages have set up an overcrowded, unofficial camp. The majority of refugees are children, women and older people. The men search for work outside the camp. They are ineligible to receive humanitarian support from the UN high commissioner for refugees, the UNHCR, because they are outside the camp Photograph: Suthep Kritsanavarin/Alamy

Refugees from the Rohingya community take refuge on a street near the UNHCR office in New Delhi, India, in May last year. About 800 Burmese refugees set up a temporary camp in April. The UNHCR has issued them asylum seeker cards but they have been demanding refugee status Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds /AFP/Getty Images

Rohingya refugees are discovered in the boot of a car outside the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Organised syndicates control a lucrative human trafficking ring that extorts huge sums of money from Rohingyas desperate to flee Burma in search of a better life Photograph: Suthep Kritsanavarin/Alamy

Rohingya refugees disembark at a beach on Langkawi island off the northern Malaysian state of Kedah in December last year. About 500 Burma nationals swam the last 500m to enter Malaysia illegally at the end of a 15-day boat journey, which left one person dead Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Rohingya refugees gather on a boat heading to Malaysia as they are rescued by Thai naval officers at the Andaman coast, Phuket island, southern Thailand in January. More than 200 Rohingyas arrived by boat along the southern Thai coast for a stopover on their way to Malaysia, where they could seek employment Photograph: Yongyot Pruksarak/EPA

Rohingya refugees wait for registration at an immigration detention centre in Sadao, Songkhla province, southern Thailand in January. Thai police raided a warehouse and rescued 307 refugees who had been held at a rubber plantation for three months by an alleged human-trafficking gang near the Malaysian border. Within two days, police and government officials rescued more than 700 Rohingya from the trafficking gang Photograph: Thoranit Pirunla-ONG/EPA

Rohingya refugees sleep on the floor of the immigration office in Lhok Seumawe, northern Aceh, Indonesia in February. About 120 Rohingya refugees, including six woman and two children, were rescued by a local fisherman after getting stranded at sea while heading for Australia Photograph: Hotli Simanjuntak/EPA

Rohingya refugees queue for food at the training centre house in Krueng Raya, Aceh, in April Photograph: Hotli Simanjuntak/EPA

Rohingya refugees hold a banner during a protest outside the UNHCR office in Medan, North Sumatra province, Indonesia, in March. About 100 Rohingya refugees staged a protest urging the UNHCR to resettle them in Australia, New Zealand and the US Photograph: Dedi Sahputra/EPA