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Close to 1 million Rohingya refugees from Burma (Myanmar) — many of them children and many of those children orphaned — are living in crowded, sprawling camps in Bangladesh.

Other refugees who fled Myanmar after persecutions of the mostly Muslim Rohingya peoples by the ruling government and military regime began in 2017 are living in other countries including Thailand (92,000) and India (21,000), according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees

The refugee camps in Bangladesh are the largest in the world with troubling conditions, limited access to education for children and exposure to monsoons and other extreme weather. The UN group estimates 52% of the refugees living in Bangladesh’s largest camps are children.

Humanitarian groups have outline stories of young children (some aged 10 or 11 or even younger) who are orphaned and trying to survive in Bangladeshi refugees camps. The sprawling camps have seen fires, sexual violence and have been hit by typhoons and other climate change-fueled storms.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken marked the Aug. 25 anniversary of the start of persecutions in 2017 against mostly Muslim ethnic groups in Buddhist-majority Myanmar

The U.S. and human rights groups deemed the persecutions — which stems from a 1982 Burmese law that says Rohingyas are not citizens of the southeastern Asian country — as a genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Blinken said in a statement that the U.S. wants “accountability for the atrocities committed by the Burma military� and voiced concerns about continued internal strife and fighting within Myanmar between government and opposition forces as making an already rough humanitarian situation even worse.

“The United States has provided over $2.1 billion to assist those affected by the crisis in Burma, Bangladesh, and elsewhere in the region since 2017, remaining the leading single largest donor of life-saving humanitarian assistance to those whose lives have been upended by the violence. The escalation of violence throughout the country has exacerbated the dire humanitarian situation, particularly for members of ethnic and religious minority communities, including Rohingya,� Blinken said.

The U.S. and other countries have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar and visa restrictions on government and military officials deemed responsible for the persecutions of Rohingya peoples as well as other religious minorities and pro-democracy dissidents.

Those include restrictions on supplying jet fuel to the Burmese government and military as well as prohibitions on doing business with state-controlled banks and financial institutions after a military coup took full control of Myanmar in 2021.

But the UNHCR has voiced concerns about conditions at the refugees camps — including food supplies and the rise of sexual violence and trafficking of women and children — amid drops in international financial support.

“In Bangladesh, funding shortfalls are already adversely affecting the wellbeing of nearly one million Rohingya refugees. Any further cuts to the Rohingya response will severely impact access to food, shelter materials, cooking fuels, sanitation facilities, and livelihood activities,� said UNHCR in a statement last month.

A recent call for $876 million in new investment in helping the Burmese refugees is falling short, the UN says/

“The Rohingya response is facing a severe funding crisis, illustrated by two recent cuts in food assistance. There is an urgent need to invest in collective efforts to allow Rohingya to become self-reliant as they cannot, and do not wish to, remain dependent on humanitarian aid,� said UNHCR Representative in Bangladesh Johannes van der Klaauw in a statement last month.

The U.S. announced a $74 million humanitarian assistance package for Bangladesh including $61 million for refugees from Burma.

By comparison, Blinken was in Kyiv Wednesday, Sept. 8, where he was slated to announce another $1 billion in U.S. military aid to Ukraine in it was against invading Russian forces. The U.S. has sent $75 billion in military, intelligence, technology and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and President Joe Biden is seeking another $24 billion from Congress.