Bangladesh is denying basic humanitarian aid to thousands of people who have fled  neighbouring Myanmar. A report from the NGO Physicians for Human Rights claims that the refugees - from Myanmar's ethnic Rohingya community - are being forced into makeshift camps where they are being left to starve to death.

Bangladesh has officially recognised 28,000 of the Muslim Rohingya as refugees. They are housed in an official United Nations camp where they receive the necessary aid. But this figure is a fraction of the 200,000 to 300,000 unofficial refugees.

Bangladeshi police are systematically rounding up, jailing or expelling these unregistered Rohingya. This crackdown has effectively "quarantined" the unregistered refugees in camps that surround the official UN-run facility. The inhabitants of the unofficial camps are not allowed access to food aid.

The report says the crackdown is an apparent attempt to dissuade any more people from fleeing to Bangladesh ahead of elections in Myanmar later this year. Last month, Medicins sans Frontières also criticised the crackdown and humanitarian crisis at the camps.

The UN has described the Rohingya from Myanmar's northern Rakhine area as one of the most persecuted minorities on Earth. Thousands of them cross the border into Bangladesh each year.