'I'll never stop fighting' says Kitchener Rohingya man after 2-week stint in Bangladesh camps

Amid the despair and hunger of aRohingyarefugee camp inBangladesh, AhmedUllahwatched asa younggirl snuck into a food line.

The Canadian aid worker looked on asthe orphaned child just five-years-old, with mental disabilities tried to get something to eat.

Instead, she was beaten by members of the Bangladeshi military.

"They're treating them worse than animals," Ullahsays.

• Bangladesh sees new surge of Rohingya refugees
• Kitchener Rohingya refugee wants Canada to do more in Myanmar
• Myanmar army killed hundreds of Rohingya in 'scorched-earth campaign,' Amnesty says

The Kitchener, Ont. resident spent two weeks helpingRohingya refugees in camps near Cox's Bazar, a city and fishing port in south-eastern Bangladesh.

ARohingyahimself, Ullahsays the experience was a horrifying nightmare, far worse than the 15 yearshe spent in refugee camps before moving to Canada in 2009.

Crowds of hungry children swarmed his car at the camps, he recalls, knocking on the windows for food, money anything to help them survive. And, for many families, draped plastic was their only shelter.

At one point, Ullahwas injured in a car accident during the trip, and watched as a woman cried for a help and a man died in front of him while he was waitingfor care at a hospital. Even though his injuries were minor, Ullahsays he was treated before the refugees.

"As soon as you have this," Ullah says, tapping his Canadian passport, "everybody just treats you all the way up there... I was the priority."

Sitting near the arrivals gate at Pearson Airport after returning to Canada on Friday night, the 24-year-old says he's on a mission to expose the plight of his fellowRohingyaMuslim refugees,members of a long-persecuted religious minority who are fleeing Myanmar.

Since late August, more than 580,000refugees have arrived in Bangladesh, driven from their neighbour to the eastby violence a situation denounced by both the United Nations and Amnesty International.

• Did the UN ignore warnings of ethnic cleansing ofRohingyainMyanmar?

But amid the growing global outcry, aCBCNewsinvestigation recently foundthere are signs several UN figures and other international actors,including a key Canadian official,have been hesitantto pressureMyanmaron the rights of theRohingya.

There are also allegations that some officialsignoredwarnings of ethnic cleansing altogether, somethingthe UN has rejected.

'They're beating women. They're beating children.'

Regardless of how the crisis began, it has nowled to crowded camps and starving families, asituation Ullah believes is even worse than it appears. Bangladeshisupport for the refugees is a facade, he alleges, while military violence is the reality.

"They're beating women. They're beatingchildren," he says, his eyes glassy and voice breaking.

Ullahsmeared mud on his clothes and tried to blend in with the Rohingyarefugees, avoiding the watchful eye of military guards and wandering through areas of the camps typically cut off from international media.

Swiping through photos on his phone of those unnerving walks, he points out one girl he foundasleep,half-clothed on a mat outside. "Nobody should be living in a condition like that," he says.

Ullah says he plans to meet with Premier Kathleen Wynne in Kitcheneron Monday, in hopes of sharing photos "evidence" of the horrors within the camps and to encourage the government to take more action.

"I will die with pride, if this is the last thing I do," he says. "I don't care what becomes of my life. I'll never stop fighting."