What life is like on the border of Myanmar and Bangladesh, where a UN-labeled 'genocide' has left 1 million refugees living in limbo

BUSINESS INSIDER
James Pasley

A Myanmar security personnel keeps watch along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border as Rohingya refugee sit outside their shelters. Munir Uz Zaman / AFP / Getty 

• Myanmar and Bangladesh are divided by the Naf River.
• Below the river, Rakhine State in Myanmar has been a place of conflict for decades. The Rohingya people, who lived there, have not been recognized as citizens since 1982.
• This is what life on the border looks like on the ground.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

‘Hollow Promises’: Bangladesh Home Minister Calls Myanmar Officials’ Upcoming Visit an Eyewash

NEWS18

Sujit Nath
News18.com
July 26, 2019

The Myanmar government is sending a high-level delegation to Bangladesh to discuss with the displaced people the arrangements made for their repatriation and resettlement.

SKolkata: Amid growing differences between Bangladesh and Myanmar over the Rohingya issue, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has expressed disappointment over the “hollow promises” made by Myanmar on the repatriation and resettlement of Rohingya Muslims.

The forces against religious freedom are ascendant. The Trump administration mounts a defense.

The Washington Post
By Hugh Hewitt 

July 20 at 11:00 AM

8:55 – 9:10 am Keynote Address and Call to Action by Secretary Pompeo in the Loy Henderson 9:10 – 10:05 am Opening Plenary Session of the Ministerial in the Loy Henderson

Trump met a lot of refugees and seemed to learn about their crises for the very first time

Vox
By Zeeshan Aleem 
Jul 20, 2019, 

President Trump displayed awkwardness and ignorance throughout a meeting with refugees.

Yazidi activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad speaks to Donald Trump.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images

In a meeting with victims of religious persecution on Wednesday, President Donald Trump repeatedly appeared to be unaware of many of the world’s most pressing humanitarian crises.

Trump met with more than two dozen survivors of religious conflict, a few of whom told their stories — and made impassioned entreaties for aid — directly to the president. As he asked questions of his guests, the president seemed to reveal a stark lack of familiarity with the fundamental details of problems faced by Rohingya in Myanmar, Uighurs in China, and Yazidis in Iraq — groups in crisis that his own administration has established positions and policies on.

Malaysia preparing strategic paper to help Rohingya refugees

malaysia kini
 Bernama
17.07.2019

PARLIAMENT
| The Foreign Ministry is preparing a strategic paper to determine the optimum role Malaysia can play to help the Rohingya refugees, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah (photo, above) said Malaysia is consistent in championing the fate of the community, especially in bringing their oppressors to justice.

UN: Conditions in Rohingya camps improved, emergency prevails

Dhaka Tribune
Tribune Desk
July 15th, 2019

A market inside Rohingya refugee camp at Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar Dhaka Tribune

Rohingya camps and aid organisations are well-equipped to respond says UN
Efforts throughout 2018 and early 2019 have dramatically improved conditions in the Rohingya camps, and aid organisations are well-equipped to respond, UN agencies said.

However, there is still an emergency affecting vulnerable families living in a difficult, hazard-prone terrain, that requires ongoing support from the international community, and constant work by humanitarian actors, the UN agencies said on Monday, reports UNB.

UAE contribution helps assist nearly 133,000 Rohingya refugees in emergency nutrition programme

GULF NEWS
Published:  July 16, 2019
Ashfaq Ahmed, Associate Editor - Online

Dubai: UAE’s contribution to assist more than 133,000 Rohingya refugees hailed by the UN Refugees Agency as the UNHCR concluded its emergency nutrition project in Bangladesh. The UN Refugee Agency in Bangladesh has assisted nearly 133,000 Rohingya refugees through an integrated nutrition project thanks to generous financial support from the United Arab Emirates.

Myanmar must take back Rohingyas: PM

The Daily Star
July 15, 2019
BSS, Dhaka

French Ambassador Marie-Annick Bourdin pays a farewell call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official Ganabhaban residence in Dhaka on Monday, July 15, 2019. Photo: PID

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today reiterated her call to Myanmar to begin the repatriation of forcibly displaced Rohingyas, saying that they (Myanmar) must take back their nationals from Bangladesh.

“The repatriation process should be started. How long will we bear the burden? … The sooner the Rohingyas are repatriated, the better it will be for all,” she said.

Congress gave Rohingyas free access to India and land

SUNDAY GUARDIAN

Ayesha Khan 

July 13, 2019, 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday announced that it will have one final hearing in August on petitions filed by the Rohingyas to give them refugee status in India. This final hearing by the apex court is expected to clear doubts on whether the Rohingyas in India are refugees or illegal immigrants.

The Rohingya community, which came to India in 2008-2009 was granted easy access across the border without any intervention from the then UPA government. The ones staying in Delhi are also living on the land that belongs to Uttar Pradesh government, which was allotted to them during the regime of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Let them work

Dhaka Tribune

Opinion
Op-Ed, Anupam Debashis Roy
July 11th, 2019

 Photo: MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU 

Desperation breeds criminality
The Rohingya living in southern Bangladesh are passing their days in inhuman conditions. They are confined to the restraints of the refugee camps. They are not allowed to work. They are not allowed to learn Bangla. They are not allowed to marry Bangladeshis. And most importantly, they are not allowed to leave the confines of the camp.

'We would Rather Die Now than be Kept in Here Forever' – Life Inside a Saudi Detention Centre for Rohingya Refugees

BYLINE TIMES

CJ Werleman

9 July 2019

CJ Werleman documents his conversations with Faisal Thar Thakin, a Rohingya Muslim who has been held in the kingdom’s notorious Shumaisi detention centre for the past six years.

For several months, I have been holding regular conversations with Faisal Thar Thakin, a 20-year-old Rohingya Muslim asylum seeker who has been detained and separated from his parents in Saudi Arabia’s notorious Shumaisi detention centre since 2013.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh battle monsoon landslides and floods

B B C

08-07-2019
 

Thousands of people have been relocated and at least one person has died after Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh were battered by heavy monsoon rain.

Weather warnings suggest the downpour is likely to continue.

According to UNICEF, more than 3,000 families have been affected. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it had relocated thousands of refugees in recent days.

The camps house more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees.

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group who have fled Myanmar in their hundreds of thousands, fleeing persecution.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh need our help to survive

 N The National

Mageed Yahia

July 1, 2019

Article
Teaching self-reliance and integrated skills is essential to the work of the World Food Programme – because accessing food with dignity is a basic right

Rohingya refugee women in Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters

In the humanitarian world, each situation is a mission, each crisis is a priority and every humanitarian need on the ground is a call to action. All situations deserve attention, compassion, commitment and, above all, perseverance in search of a solution that preserves people’s dignity, ensures their rights and gives them hope for a better future. The plight of the Rohingya is one such crisis. It calls for our attention and commitment.

Gov't committed to locating PDRM, Immigration in tackling Rohingya issue

Bernama.com

Last update: 01/07/2019

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 (Bernama) — The government is committed to placing the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) together with the Immigration Department soon in resolving the issue of registration of Rohingya refugees.

They are now under the supervision of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said 173, 731 Rohingya comprising 124,753 refugees and 48,978 asylum seekers were recorded by the UNHCR up to May 31 this year.

“The government had discussed with the UNHCR to place both agencies together in the refugee status determination process...however, it has not been finalised yet " she said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

--BERNAMA

Link :http://www.bernama.com/en/general/news.php?id=1740901

Rohingya Crisis: Ensure safety of returning refugees

The Daily Star

June 24, 2019

Says Mahathir, suggests int’l supervision during repatriation

International monitoring bodies must ensure that Rohingya refugees who return to Myanmar are not exposed to any danger, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday.

“The views of the Rohingya must be sought before the repatriation of the refugees as they are living in fear.

“They are scared to return to Rakhine State. The international bodies must monitor and ensure the refugees are treated well and that the situation is safe if they choose to return to Myanmar.

Rohingya Refugees Long for Home but Bangladesh Says Still Too Volatile

The Irrawaddy 

 By Reuters 

21 June 2019 

Rohingya refugees hold placards at rally in observance of World Refugee Day at a refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, June 20, 2019. / Reuters

 

COX’S BAZAR—Rohingya Muslim refugees in camps in Bangladesh long to go back to their homes in Myanmar but a Bangladeshi official said on Thursday things were still too volatile for a safe return.

More than 700,000 Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh in 2017, according to U.N. agencies, after a crackdown by Myanmar’s military sparked by Rohingya insurgent attacks on the security forces.

AHA Centre defends leaked report on Rohingya refugees

A cna  

By Leong Wai Kit @LeongWaiKitCNA

10 Jun 2019

Around 740,000 Rohingya people have been forced to flee Myanmar to refugees camps. (Photo: AFP/Dibyangshu Sarkar)

YANGON: ASEAN's disaster management unit AHA Centre has come out to defend its assessment of the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, following an outcry over the report it had submitted to Myanmar at the end of May.

To Guarantee the Erga Omnes Right to Return Back of the Myanmar Refugees

change.org
04.06.2019

Complaint Procedure Unit

Human Rights Council 

Branch Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 

United Nations Office at Geneva 

CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

The Responsibility of the Human Rights Council to Guarantee the Erga Omnes Right to Return Back of the Ethnic and Religious Refugee Minorities of Myanmar Including the Next Generations

This petition is given under the General Assembly Resolution 53/144 of 8 March 1999, "Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" and Human Rights Council Resolution 5/1 of 18 June 2007, “Institution-building of the United Nations Human Rights Council” on the “de facto” statelessness situation of the Myanmar minorities and in order to guarantee their erga omnes right to return back to Myanmar.

UAE campaign raises $17.7m to support Rohingya refugees

arabian Bussiness
By Sam Bridge
Sat 01 Jun 2019   
 

From the UAE for Rohingya Children and Women aims to help more than 1.2 million refugees

Rohingya Muslim refugees. (FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

A nationwide campaign in the UAE to support Rohingya refugees has raised a total of AED65 million ($17.7 million).

From the UAE for Rohingya Children and Women aims to escalate the UAE's efforts from providing emergency humanitarian assistance to sustainable programmes that help meet the growing needs of education, food, health services, water, sanitation and shelter materials for more than 1.2 million refugees, including 720,000 children, 240,000 women, and 48,000 elderly people.

A novel approach to reach Rohingya refugees: Speak Rohingya

The New Humanitarian  ( IRIN news)
Irwin Loy
Asia Editor

Kutupalong Camp, Cox's Bazar

A UN rights probe this month called on the international community to cut financial ties to Myanmar’s military, which it says could be responsible for genocide. But alongside the English-language statement was an unusual addition: an audio version recorded in the Rohingya language.

The UN-appointed fact-finding mission on Myanmar has been tasked with investigating abuses across the country, including the August 2017 purge of more than 700,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State.