ROHINGYA REFUGEES SHARE STORIES OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE
Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh - Twenty-year-old Ayesha Begum sat on a plastic mat inside her family's bamboo and tarpaulin shelter in the sprawling makeshift refugee settlement of Balukhali. She cradled her one-year-old son in her arms, blowing on his face every so often to give him some relief from the sweltering heat. "I was raped just 13 days ago," said the Rohingya refugee. Ayesha, who arrived in Bangladesh less than a week ago, said she was eating dinner with her four sisters-in-law in their village of Tami in Myanmar's Buthidaung Township when army troops attacked the hamlet. Soldiers entered their home and forced the women into a room. They ripped Ayesha's baby from her arms and kicked him "like a football". Ayesha said the soldiers stripped the women naked. A soldier held a knife to her throat and began to rape her. Twelve soldiers took turns to rape the women over the course of what she believes was several hours. "I felt like ...
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