Nobel Peace Prize laureates appeal for end to Rohingya persecution, comparable to "genocide"

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Several Nobel Peace Prize winners have called for an end to the persecution of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, describing it as "nothing less than genocide," and appealed for international help for them in Rakhine state.

The appeal came Thursday at the end of a three-day conference in the Norwegian capital where participants witnessed video addresses, including from South Africa's Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ibadi from Iran and former East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta.

Philanthropist George Soros, who escaped Nazi-occupied Hungary, said that there were "alarming" parallels between the plight of the Rohingya and the Nazi genocide.

In recent weeks, thousands of Rohingya have fled persecution and landed on the shores of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, often abandoned by human traffickers or freed after their families paid ransoms.