Nobel-Prize winning activist Malala Yousafzai has called for an end to violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
The 20-year-old, who survived being shot by the Taliban in Pakistan, condemned the treatment of the Rohingya people and appealed to Myanmar's leader - and fellow Nobel Prize winner - Aung San Suu Kyi to help resolve the crisis.
In a statement on Twitter, she told her fellow laureate that the 'world is waiting' for her to act over unrest that has seen tens of thousands of people flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.
She called for a stop to the violence, the Rohingya to be given citizenship in Myanmar and for other countries, including her birthplace, Pakistan, to give shelter to those fleeing the conflict.
'Every time I see the news, my heart breaks at the suffering of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar,' she wrote.
'Over the last several years, I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment.
'I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same. The world is waiting and the Rohingya Muslims are waiting.'
Yousafzai's statement comes after foreign secretary Boris Johnson warned Kyi that the treatment of the ethnic minority group was 'besmirching' the country's reputation.
On Saturday, Johnson sent a message to Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel peace prize for her pro-democracy activism, to use 'all her remarkable qualities' to end the violence.
The Rohingya have faced decades of persecution in Myanmar. Nearly 90,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since violence erupted in Myanmar in August, and around 400 Rohingya are thought to have died in the latest killing spree.
Graphic reports have emerged of young children being beheaded and others being burned alive, while the Burmese military have been accused of committing crimes against humanity by campaigners.
According to the UN's refugee agency an estimated 73,000 people have crossed the border into Bangladesh since violence flared on August 25, leaving relief camps near full capacity.
In February there were around one million Rohingya in Burma, a Buddhist majority country, but they are denied citizenship. The government believes that the Rohingya — even those who have lived in Myanmar for three generations — are ethnically Bengalis from Bangladesh. The Rohingya share a similar language with Bangladesh, but Bangladesh doesn't want them either, making it even easier to persecute an entire group of people.
Malala will soon be heading to Oxford University to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics after celebrating her A Level results last month.
