Out of options, Rohingya are fleeing Myanmar and Bangladesh by boat despite soaring death toll

AP
KRISTEN GELINEAU
February 1, 2024

SYDNEY (AP) — Across a treacherous stretch of water, the Rohingya came by the thousands, then died by the hundreds. And though they know the dangers of fleeing by boat, many among this persecuted people say they will not stop — because the world has left them with no other choice.

Wait for Rohingya repatriation gets even longer

The Daily Star
Porimol Palma, Mohammad Al-Masum Molla
Mon Jan 29, 2024 

With the escalation of conflict in Myanmar, the possibility of Rohingya repatriation materialising anytime soon has become remote, heaping the challenges for the Bangladesh government in managing the displaced people in the face of shrinking humanitarian aid for them.

Bangladesh Police Abuses Rampant in Rohingya Camps - HRW

TAMIL GURDIAN
25 January 2024

A recent article published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlights the Bangladeshi police abuse occurring in Rohingya camps.

In the past decade, nearly a million Rohingya have fled persecution by the Myanmar military. Those who have fled currently live in refugee settlements in Bangladesh.

Three ARSA Suspects Held Over Rohingya Camp Fires in Bangladesh

The Irrawaddy
by Muktadir Rashid
January 26, 2024

The Rapid Action Battalion with three ARSA suspects in Cox's Bazar on Thursday.

DHAKA — The Bangladeshi authorities say three suspected Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) members have been arrested for allegedly setting fire to Rohingya camps near Cox’s Bazar.

Rohingya refugees in Indonesia still hope for a better future

Al Jazeera
By Jessica Washington
Published On 26 Jan 202426 Jan 2024

On the beach and in a car park, Rohingya refugees are taking shelter wherever they can amid a hostile reception in Aceh.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says more than 70 percent of the Rohingya who have arrived in Indonesia in recent months are women and children. [Jessica Washington/Al Jazeera]

Pidie, Indonesia – In December, Abdul Karim boarded a wooden boat from Bangladesh with his wife and two sons, with aspirations for a better life for the whole family.

Bangladesh sounds alarm over rise in Rohingya deaths at sea

ARAB NEWS
SHEHAB SUMON
25 January 2024

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees are seen on the coast of Sabang, Aceh province, Indonesia. (File/AFP)

• About 569 Rohingya refugees perished or went missing at sea last year
• Majority of those attempting sea journeys were children and women

DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities are raising the alarm over increasing numbers of Rohingya refugees going missing at sea as they take risky boat journeys to reach Southeast Asia through the Bay of Bengal.

Blaze at Bangladesh refugee camp leaves thousands of Rohingya homeless

ALJAZEERA
7 Jan 2024 

Hundreds of shelters at the refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh were gutted with arson suspected. 

Rohingya refugees look through the debris of their houses charred by a devastating fire at the camp in Kutupalong, Bangladesh in the early hours of the day [AFP]

 

Thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have been left without shelter after a fire ripped through a refugee camp, burning hundreds of homes, officials say.

Still No Safe Future For Rohingya Refugees in 2024 Bangladesh Wants to Push Them Out- Human Rights Bodies- Nowhere Safe in Rakhine for their return

BNI
Tuesday, January 02, 2024

Muslim refugees who crossed the border illegally, arrested in Rathedaung Township in October 2023

In 2023, a total of 221 Rohingya refugees, who had crossed the border from Bangladesh into Rakhine State unlawfully, were apprehended.

They were detained in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Rathedaung, Thandwe, and Ann Townships in Rakhine State. Among those apprehended, there were 156 men and 65 women, including at least 39 minors under the age of 18, as reported by Rakhine Daily, a regional news bulletin and the mouthpiece of the Military Council.

U.N. to boost food ration for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

REUTERS
By Sudipto Ganguly and Ruma Paul
January 2, 2024

Rohingya Muslim refugees receive food as they take rest on a sidewalk outside the government office after they were refused shelter by local residents, following their arrival, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, December 11, 2023. REUTERS/Riska Munawarah/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

DHAKA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - The United Nations will increase the food ration for each Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh by $2 a month, to $10, from Jan. 1, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday, as it thanked donors for coming to the rescue of a cash-strapped effort.

Rohingya among 2 held with 7,830 Yaba pills

daily observer
Observer Correspondent
Published : Saturday, 30 December, 2023 

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested two people, including a Rohingya man, along with 7,830 Yaba pills from Goalanda upazila in Rajbari district early Saturday.

Rohingya man Abul Kalam, 37, and Rafiqul Islam, 20, were nabbed from Daulatdia bus stand area at around 2:00 am while intending to supply those Yaba pills in different areas of the country, said Lt commander KM Shaikh Akhtar, company captain of RAB-10 in Faridpur.

Rohingya youth shot dead in Ukhiya

daily observer
Observer Online Report
Published : Friday, 29 December, 2023 

Photo: Jamtoli Rohingya Camp

A Rohingya youth was shot to death by miscreants at Ukhiya upazila in Cox's Bazar district on Friday evening.

The incident took place at around 6.30pm in Jamtoli Rohingya Camp no-15 in the upazila.

More boats carrying Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh approach Indonesia

THE NATIONAL
By PA News Agency
December 21, 2023

Indonesian authorities have detected at least five boats packed with refugees approaching the shores of Aceh province, officials said on Thursday.

Helping the abandoned Rohingya

The Jarkarta Post
Editorial board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta
Mon, December 18, 2023

Newly arrived Rohingya refugees wait to board trucks to move to a temporary shelter after villagers rejected their relocated camp in Banda Aceh, Aceh, on Dec. 11, 2023. Some of the more than 300 Rohingya refugees who arrived on the western coasts of Indonesia on Dec. 10 were transferred to a temporary shelter during the visit of a United Nations representative. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)

The central government must help the people and government of Aceh deal with the ongoing influx of Rohingya refugees and, if necessary, take over their humanitarian burden. The beleaguered Rohingya, our Southeast Asian neighbors, have fled their homes and shelters to escape systematic ethnic cleansing and seek a better future. 

US to increase resettled Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh in 2024

Dhaka Tribune
UNB
Publish : 16 Dec 2023 

File photo of Rohingya people. Photo: Collected

 

The United States has recognized the Rohingya situation as a "priority" and pledged to continue to increase the number of Rohingyas, including those from Bangladesh, resettled through the USRAP in fiscal 2024.

The US also encouraged third countries to expand Rohingya resettlement, said the US Department of State on Friday.

Statement on World Bank support under discussion for the Displaced Rohingya Population and Host Communities in Chattogram Division

THE WORLD BANK
PRESS RELEASE
December 8, 2023

The government and the people of Bangladesh have shown great generosity in providing shelter to the displaced Rohingya population. The World Bank is committed to help Bangladesh address the needs of the host community and the displaced Rohingya people until their safe and voluntary return to Myanmar, and had mobilized $590 million of support immediately after the inflow. We are currently holding preliminary discussions with the government to determine the terms and scope of the next phase of World Bank support to cater to the needs of both the displaced Rohingya population and the host communities in the Chattogram Division. Any new support that the World Bank Board of Directors will consider will be aligned with Bangladesh’s own mandates, including that the country will receive grants, not loans for non-citizens, such as the displaced Rohingya people.

For the first time, Bangladesh seeks foreign loans to support Rohingyas

THE BUSINESS STANDARD
Abul Kashem & Jahidul Islam
04 December, 2023,  

$1 billion sought from WB and ADB – $535 million in loans and $465 million in grants .

In the face of diminishing funds from international sources, Bangladesh is actively seeking a billion-dollar aid package from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support socio-economic development efforts for the Rohingya population and the affected host communities in the country.

The package, which includes $535 million in loans and $465 million in grants, aims to address the challenges faced by the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals and mitigate the impact of their presence on local communities.

Bangladesh stops scores of Rohingya seeking to sail to Indonesia

CNA
25 Nov 2023 

A Rohingya refugee wades ashore after an overcrowded boat carrying about 250 people arrived in Indonesia's west. (Photo: AFP/amanda jufrian)

TEKNAF, Bangladesh: Bangladesh police have clamped down on Rohingya refugees setting sail to Indonesia, officers said on Saturday (Nov 25), after hundreds from the persecuted Myanmar minority took the long and risky sea voyage to escape squalid camps.

UN expert: Support Rohingya refugees following Indonesia

Dhaka Tribune
UNB
Publish : 23 Nov 2023,

File photo of Rohingyas. Photo: Dhaka Tribune

A UN expert on Thursday called for a regional emergency response to the growing number of desperate Rohingya refugees who continue to arrive in Indonesia in overcrowded vessels, as conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh continue to deteriorate, where food rations have been significantly cut.

Scottish Parliament team visits Bangladesh

Dhaka Tribune
Tribune Report
Publish : 19 Nov 2023, 

Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen greets Scottish Parliament delegation led by its Convenor and Shadow Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development of Scotland Foysol Choudhury at his office on Sunday, November 19, 2023. Photo: Courtesy

A delegation from the Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Bangladesh at the Scottish Parliament led by its Convenor and Shadow Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development of Scotland Foysol Choudhury is currently visiting Bangladesh.

Bangladesh welcomes historic consensus on OIC-sponsored Rohingya resolution

ARAB NEWS
16 November 2023
SHEHAB SUMON

Rohingya gather at a market in Bangladesh’s Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia on May 15, 2020. (AFP)

 

• New UN resolution was tabled by OIC and EU, co-sponsored by 144 countries
• It received the biggest international support since the beginning of Rohingya crisis

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Thursday welcomed a consensus on a UN resolution related to the repatriation to Myanmar of the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees it has sheltered for the past six years.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017 have sought shelter in neighboring Bangladesh.