Around 1M Rohingya are living in Bangladesh camps, five years after crisis

TRT World Now
Aug 25, 2022

Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition talks to TRT World about the condition of nearly one million Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh camps five years after fleeing Myanmar’s brutal oppression.

Link : Here

Myanmar Rohingya desperate to leave Bangladesh camps and go home after five years

THE GLOBE

 AND MAIL
RUMA PAUL
DHAKA
REUTERS

Rohingya refugees gather to mark the fifth anniversary of their exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh, at a Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp at Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh, on Aug. 25.SHAFIQUR RAHMAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Myanmar Rohingya Muslims protested across refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of clashes between Rohingya insurgents and Myanmar security forces that drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homes.

More than a million Rohingya are living in squalid camps in southern Bangladesh comprising the world’s largest refugee settlement, with little prospect of returning to Myanmar, where they are mostly denied citizenship and other rights.

Rohingya repatriation: A helpless wait for Bangladesh

Dhaka Tribune

Syed Samiul Basher Anik
August 24, 2022

Uncertainty over repatriation frustrates Rohingyas

 

File photo of a Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar Syed Zakir Hossain

Bangladesh generously welcomed the persecuted Rohingyas, who fled Rakhine state to escape atrocities by the Myanmar military five years ago, in the hope that they would be able to return home soon. However, an end to the refugee crisis is still nowhere in sight, as Myanmar stubbornly refuses to create an environment conducive to repatriation.

Bangladesh has held several talks with major global actors over the safe repatriation of the Rohingyas to their homeland, but the international community has so far failed to mount sufficient pressure on Myanmar to take back its citizens. The delays in the repatriation process are frustrating for both the Rohingya refugees and the host community.

Rohingya Repatriation To Be On Agenda During Bangladesh PM's India Visit

NDTV
All IndiaAsian News International
June 29, 2022

PM Sheikh Hasina will raise the issue of problems arising from the illegal migration of Rohingyas to Bangladesh from Myanmar. 

Dhaka:Repatriation of Rohingyas are likely to figure on the agenda of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during her upcoming visit to India, scheduled in September this year.

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary, Masud Bin Momen in an exclusive interview with ANI said that PM Hasina, who will arrive in India on a bilateral visit on the invitation of PM Narendra Modi, will raise the issue of problems arising from the illegal migration of Rohingyas to Bangladesh from Myanmar, like the growth of radicalization, drug trafficking, as well as, human trafficking of women and children.

Can Bangladesh-Myanmar military ties stabilise the region?

The Daily Star
Parvej Siddique Bhuiyan
Sun Jun 19, 2022

A power shift in Myanmar and the subsequent polarisation among major powers triggered a new geopolitical flashpoint in Bangladesh's strategic backyard, which the latter cannot afford to ignore. It seems that the US and other western countries are taking a heavy-handed approach while other big powers, such as Russia, China, India, and Japan, have started explicitly (or covertly) normalising their relations with the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military).

Myanmar always gets priority in Bangladesh's economic and security strategy. Although democratic Bangladesh has a moral dilemma in supporting the military government, it has yet to formally condemn the military coup or demand Aung San Su Kyi's release. It underscores Dhaka's careful support for the junta's "one-Myanmar government policy." So, in foreign policy circles, the immediate discussion is whether Dhaka's stance is a "well-thought-out approach or simply a premature polarisation."

Will Rohingya repatriation ever happen?

The Daily Star
Bulbul Siddiqi
Tue Mar 29, 2022

After the inhuman ordeal that the displaced Rohingyas have suffered, they deserve a safe, dignified return to their homes in Myanmar, with their citizenship rights fully restored. File Photo: Reuters

"I can see my homeland when I gaze upon the distant hills from the top of a hill where I live in the refugee camp. I want to return to my home. Home is where I can breathe, and I can feel the smell of my country. You cannot call this a life; it's just surviving."


This is what a middle-aged Rohingya man, living at a makeshift camp in Cox's Bazar, who crossed over to Bangladesh during the 2017 exodus of Rohingyas fleeing military persecution in Rakhine, Myanmar, said when I asked him how he was. It is easy enough to see the desperation of these displaced people to return to their homeland, as well as the frustration because they are not able to. Every time I visit the Rohingya refugee camp for my research, I come across people who have not yet given up hope of returning to their home in the Rakhine state. I even met a man who, having lived in a registered camp for 35 years, has not yet lost his hope to return to his homeland. He spent most of the golden time of his life struggling to survive in Bangladesh. He would be waiting till his death to return to Rakhine.

Why Are Rohingya Refugees Returning From India To Bangladesh?

THE I DIPLOMAT 

By Rajeev Bhattacharyya
June 03, 2022

India’s plans to put them in detention centers before deporting them to Myanmar is driving the reverse exodus.

Over the past several years, Rohingya refugees have been apprehended on many occasions while crossing the border illicitly from Bangladesh to India. Last month, two batches were arrested in Assam and Tripura in India’s northeast. But their travel itinerary was different from the past.

This time around, their plan was to return to Bangladesh instead of settling in India.

Rohingya refugees face eternal exile in Bangladesh

France24
By: Alban ALVAREZ | Mathilde CUSIN
27/05/2022

The ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims suffer severe persecution in Myanmar. Following a deadly crackdown by the Burmese army in 2017, some 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they were settled in the southern town of Cox’s Bazar. Five years on, the town is home to the world’s largest and most dangerous refugee camp, with frequent floods, fires and gang wars. In December 2020, the Bangladeshi government decided to relocate some of the Rohingya refugees to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. Our reporters Alban Alvarez and Mathilde Cusin managed to gain access to it. 

Myanmar, Bangladesh need to boost ties

theSun

Opinion
Jubeda Chowdhury
04- 18- 2022

“ If Bangladesh and Myanmar improve their ties with each other, their dependence on China and India could be reduced and trade with other countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia could increase.”

Boats are seen carrying passengers to cross the Buriganga river in Dhaka, Bangladesh, February 16, 2021. REUTERSpix

MYANMAR and Bangladesh should bolster their ties with neighbourly spirit for various reasons.

Currently, the strained Myanmar- Bangladesh relations need to be ironed out.

Jan 13 marked 50 years of bilateral ties between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Myanmar recognised Bangladesh as a sovereign state on Jan 13, 1972, but there weren’t any seminars, discussions, statements and such between the two to commemorate the special day.

Bangladesh: Closing Rohingya Schools and Shops is Cruel Copy

Islamic City
Apr 17, 2022
By: Habib Siddiqui

“Bangladesh’s decision to close schools for Rohingya refugee children violates the right to education on a massive scale,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at HRW. “This cruel decision should be immediately reversed so that Rohingya children can get an education, which will be especially critical for their return to Myanmar when it is safe to do so.” (photo: UNICEF/Lateef - 24 August 2020). 

Bangladesh hosts over 1.1 million Rohingyas who fled neighboring Myanmar during a genocidal campaign by the security forces in 2017. Most of them live in and around Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar region - which have grown to become the largest and most densely populated camps in the world.

Why Delhi BJP blames Rohingya and illegal Bangladeshi immigrants for Jahangirpuri violence?

TIMES NOW
TN National Desk
Updated Apr 17, 2022

Delhi BJP leaders called the clashes during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri a “conspiracy” and demanded a probe into the role of “illegal immigrants” in the incident. Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta and party MP Manoj Tiwari said the attack on the procession was not a spontaneous incident, but a conspiracy.

 

Clashes broke out between two communities during the procession in Jahangirpuri on Saturday

 

New Delhi : After communal clashes broke out in Delhi ’s Jahangirpuri on Saturday evening, the BJP has pinned the blame on illegal immigrants.

Calling the clashes during a Hanuman Jayanti procession in northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri a “conspiracy”, Delhi BJP leaders have demanded a probe into the role of “illegal immigrants” in the incident.

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta and party MP Manoj Tiwari said the attack on the procession was “not a spontaneous incident, but a conspiracy”.

ICC Prosecutor, Karim A. A. Khan QC, concludes first visit to Bangladesh, underlines commitment to advance investigations into alleged atrocity crimes against the Rohingya

International Crime Court
Press Release 
1 March 2022

On Sunday, 27 February 2022, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "the Court"), Mr Karim A. A. Khan QC, concluded a five-day visit to Dhaka and Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. This represented the first visit by the Prosecutor of the Court to Bangladesh.

Sheltering Rohingyas should not be lead to instability in South Asia: Japanese envoy

The Daily Star
Star Digital Report

Mon Feb 28, 2022

 Displacement and poverty are the inevitable results of wars and internal conflicts, and the Rohingyas are a prime example of that. File Photo: Reuters

The world should not allow the one million Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh to be the cause of instability in the region, said Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki today.

He also urged all to join hands for a sustainable solution to the crisis.

"We should work for creating an enabling environment in Rakhine state of Myanmar for early repatriation," he said at the inaugural of a seminar today.

Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and Japanese Embassy in Dhaka co-organised the event titled "Geopolitics of Indo-Pacific and Reconnecting the Bay of Bengal Littorals" at BIISS auditorium.

Addressing healthcare needs of Rohingya in Bangladesh

Financial Express
Hasnat M Alamgir
Published: March 02, 2022 

Refugee populations represent one of the most marginalised groups in whichever host country they come to settle and this is clearly the case with Rohingya population, a majority of whom are now living in Bangladesh. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defined a refugee as someone who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country".At the end of 2020, there were more than 82 million forcibly displaced people worldwide as a consequence of violence, oppression, war/conflict, human rights abuses and serious public order-disturbing events.

 

Rohingya Optimistic over International Prosecutor’s Trip to Bangladesh Refugee Camps

Benar News

Kamran Reza Chowdhury and Sunil Barua

Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
2022-02-28

Rohingya walk along a dirt path inside the Ukhia camp in Cox’s Bazar, Feb. 15, 2022.
Sunil Barua/BenarNews

Rohingya leaders in Bangladesh expressed optimism on Monday about getting justice for alleged crimes against humanity committed in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor wrapped up his first visit to refugee camps.

Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said The Hague-based ICC had authorized an investigation in November 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic had slowed efforts to visit Bangladesh to gather evidence at Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, a southeastern district along the border with Myanmar.

ICJ’s fresh hearings into Rohingya case bring fresh hope

The Daily Star
Wednesday, February 23, 2022

The world must come together for the Rohingya cause

File photo of a court proceeding in a case filed by the Gambia against Myanmar over allegations of genocide against the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Netherlands, on January 23, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Eva Plevier

We welcome the International Court of Justice's initiative to start a fresh round of hearings into the Rohingya genocide case filed by the Gambia over two years ago. The hearings will be held in two rounds starting from today. The Gambia, on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), filed the case in November 2019 with an aim to bring Myanmar to account for its genocidal actions against the Rohingya. The court, after holding a preliminary hearing, found the claims to be substantial and ordered Myanmar to take provisional measures to prevent further acts of genocide in the Rakhine State. Two years have passed since then, but Myanmar has not taken any such measures yet. It has not taken any initiative to grant citizenship or ensure other basic rights of the Rohingya.

Rohingyas at ICJ

The Statesman
Statesman News Service | Kolkata | February 23, 2022 1:32 am

While the court is yet to respond to the nature of Myanmar’s representation at the hearings, “there is little doubt that if it is the junta that is in court, this is not something that should be taken to confer legitimacy on the junta this is not something that should be taken to confer legitimacy on the junta,” is the reaction of the Global Justice Centre.

representational image /Myanmar (iStock photo) 

 

It is early days and therefore presumptuous to aver that there may be hope yet for the Rohingyas in what has come to be known as the genocide case. Gambia, a tiny country in Africa, has come to the rescue of the persecuted segment from Myanmar. It has acted on behalf of the organisation of Muslim nations that have accused Myanmar of genocide in course of its crackdown on Rohingyas.

Rohingya Militancy: Myth or Reality?

THE I DIPLOMAT

 Shafi Md Mostofa
February 15, 2022


Rohingya refugees have so far proven surprisingly resistant to the siren call of global jihadi ideology.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a Rohingya militant group, came to global attention once again last year after unknown gunmen killed Mohibullah, a prominent Rohingya leader, in one of the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Mohibullah’s brother Habibullah claimed that ARSA might have been responsible, angered by his advocacy of a peaceful non-violent approach to solving the Rohingya crisis, even though ARSA denied any involvement with the killing.

China Should Resolve The Rohingya Refugee Crisis As Soon As Possible – OpEd

eurasiareview
Pathik Hasan

November 16, 2021                                   Displaced Rohingya in Myanmar. Photo Credit: Tasnim News Agency

China should resolve the Rohingya refugee crisis as soon as possible for ensuring the greater interest of South Asia and South East Asia to some extent its own interest.

For South Asia in general and for Bangladesh as well, the Rohingya crisis is one of the burning issues for a while. As an extra regional power, however, the role of China is very critical here—not only because of her long-standing involvement in the South Asian region but also China being one of the P5 members of the UN Security Council. Nevertheless, it is time Beijing acknowledged and shifted her compass over to the humanitarian grounds and the plight of the Rohingyas rather than maintaining an esoteric image.

Indonesia pledges to send strong message to Myanmar for Rohingya repatriation

BSS News
17 Nov 2021

Dhaka, Nov 17, 2021 (BSS) - Indonesia today vowed to offer strong message to Myanmar to repatriate its Rohingya nationals.

"We are going to send a strong message to Myanmar for resolving the Rohingya  crisis," visiting Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said while paying a call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) here.