Hollywood star Michelle Yeoh says she is appalled by the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence in Myanmar into Bangladesh.

Yeoh, a goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Programme, visited sprawling refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar on Saturday as part of a Malaysian delegation led by the Southeast Asian nation’s military chief.

The team visited a hospital set up by Malaysia and distributed relief goods in another camp.

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, distributes sweets to Rohingya refugee boys in a school at Balukhali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018. A special delegation led by Michelle Yeoh and Malaysian Armed Forces Chief Gen. Raja Mohamad Affandi Saturday visited Rohingya refugee camp and distributed relief material items apart from evaluating the impact of the aid. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup).

“It is very important that we’re here, because what the Rohingya people are going through is despicable and it’s very, very tragic. It should not be allowed,” she said.

“Every single one of them deserves to have the human rights that should be given to them.”

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since August in what the UN has described as ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar’s military has denied the charges, saying they were conducting “clearance operations” following attacks by Rohingya insurgents on police posts.

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, holds a Rohingya refugee child during her visit to the Malaysia field hospital at Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018. A special delegation led by Michelle Yeoh and Malaysian Armed Forces Chief Gen. Raja Mohamad Affandi Saturday visited Rohingya refugee camp and distributed relief material items apart from evaluating the impact of the aid. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup).

Yeoh was most recently seen in sci-fi TV series Star Trek: Discovery.

She also played Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in The Lady, a 2011 biopic about the Nobel Peace laureate'S struggle to bring democracy to her country.

Suu Kyi has faced widespread international criticism for not speaking out in defence of the Rohingya.

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson resigned from an advisory panel on the crisis this past week, calling it a “whitewash and a cheerleading operation” for Suu Kyi. - AP