“Night is dark for us”: Rohingya refugees need protection before repatriation

MNESTY INTERNATIONAL
30 September 2025

By Joe Freeman, Myanmar Researcher at Amnesty International, and Carolyn Nash, Asia Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian

Thirteen-year-old Nasima is scared of the dark.

But the Rohingya girl’s fears are not imaginary.

For her, the monsters are real: criminal gangs that stalk her refugee camp at night.

“After 7pm, we turn off the light in fear of the robber,” she said. “At nighttime, we cannot go out, even to go to the toilet.”

“Night is dark for us.”

Why Rohingya repatriation keeps failing and what must change

BLiTz
Suraiyya Aziz
Monday, September 22, 2025

For nearly eight years, the Rohingya crisis has remained one of the world’s most intractable humanitarian tragedies. Close to one million Rohingya refugees continue to live in limbo inside the crowded camps of Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district, unable to return to their ancestral homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Forced out in 2017 during what the United States and the United Nations have both described as genocide, the Rohingya face dwindling humanitarian aid, deteriorating camp conditions, and the crushing despair of statelessness.

ရိုဟင်ဂျာဒုက္ခသည်တွေ နေရပ်ပြန်နိုင်ဖို့ မရေရာသေး

RFA
RFA Burmese
2025.01.03 

၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ် အောက်တိုဘာ ၉ ရက်နေ့က ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်နိုင်ငံကို ထွက်ပြေးခိုလှုံလာကြသည့် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်မှ ရိုဟင်ဂျာဒုက္ခသည်များ။ 

အာရက္ခတပ်တော် AA က ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်နယ်စပ်တစ်လျှောက်လုံးကို အပြည့်အဝ ထိန်းချုပ်နိုင်ခဲ့တဲ့ နောက်ပိုင်းမှာ စစ်ဘေးရှောင်နေတဲ့ ဒေသခံတွေကို ဇန်နဝါရီ ၁ ရက်နေ့ကစလို့ နေရပ်ပြန်ခွင့်ပေးလိုက်ပါတယ်။ ဒါပေမဲ့ ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်နိုင်ငံမှာ ခိုလှုံနေကြတဲ့ ရိုဟင်ဂျာတွေကတော့ သူတို့အိမ်ပြန်ရဖို့ မသေ ချာသေးဘူးလို့ RFA ကို ပြောကြပါတယ်။

Bangladesh's interim leader seeks Malaysia's support for repatriation of Rohingya refugees

The Washinton Post
By Julhas Alam | AP
October 4, 2024

This photo provided by by Bangladesh Press Information Department shows Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, left, being welcomed with a bouquet of flowers by Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, as he arrives in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (Press Information Department via AP) (Uncredited/Bangladesh Press Information Department)

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus , on Friday sought Malaysia’s help in engaging a regional Southeast Asia bloc on raising the issue of repatriating Rohingya refugees home to Myanmar.

Repatriation only solution for Rohingya issue: Chinese envoy in Bangladesh

NEW AGE
United News of Bangladesh, Dhaka
16 July, 2024, 

Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen addresses a press conference at Chinese embassy in Dhaka on Tuesday. | UNB photo

Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen on Tuesday said that they agreed that there was no other solution except safe repatriation of the Rohingyas to their homeland.

World must find solution to Rohingya crisis: PM Hasina

THE BUSINESS STANDARD
UNB
28 January, 2024,

UNRC says not a good time for Rohingya return; envoy says China working with Myanmar for ceasefire in Rakhine

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a meeting with a British cross party parliamentary delegation led by Virendra Sharma at her official residence Ganabhaban on Sunday, 28 January 2024. Photo: PID

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged the international community to think about a solution to the Rohingya crisis so the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals could return to their homeland and live a decent life.

The whole world should find a solution to the crisis enabling the return of the Myanmar nationals to their homeland to have a decent life, she said during a meeting with the visiting British cross-party parliamentary delegation on Sunday at Ganabhaban.

Rohingya repatriation: A roadmap tainted by coercion and exclusion

DVB
CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS : Shafiur Rahman
November 16, 2023

UN officials, including Raouf Mazou, met with Buthidaung residents displaced from their homes (Credit: CJ)

The day dawned bright and clear as a 36-member delegation from Myanmar arrived at Teknaf, stepping off of the boat and into the fray of repatriation discussions. Their brief stop at the Teknaf-Myanmar Transit Jetty Canteen served as little more than a stage for orchestrated camaraderie, captured in photographs with the Bangladesh Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC) officials and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel, before they boarded buses emblazoned with the insignia of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency.

Rohingya repatriation to commence before election: Chinese envoy

prothomalo
Staff Correspondent, Dhaka
Published: 10 Nov 2023

The Chinese ambassador attended the handover ceremony of medical supplies from Embassy of China in Bangladesh to Bangladesh 250 Bed Sadar Hospital in Cox’s Bazar.Prothom Alo

The Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, Yao Wen, has said it might be possible to repatriate some Rohingya men from their shelters in Cox’s Bazar to Myanmar before the next parliamentary elections, under a pilot project.

The Rohingya Repatriation to Myanmar: The Relevance of the Trilateral Diplomacy

TGP
The Geopolitics
Kawsar Uddin Mahmud
October 8, 2023

The protracted and deeply troubling Rohingya refugee crisis has engendered a significant strain on Bangladesh, as it grapples with the influx of over one million Rohingya displaced people who have sought sanctuary from persecution in Myanmar. The crisis at hand has undoubtedly posed a multifaceted challenge for both Bangladesh and the whole region, encompassing a wide range of pressing issues such as human rights abuses, mass displacement, security threats, regional instability, and intricate dynamics within the realm of regional politics. In such a milieu, the notion of repatriation has surfaced as a plausible solution to this enduring predicament.

Rohingya repatriation: Easier said than don

ANN
Tasneem Tayeb
The Daily Star
August 10, 2023 

The Rohingya are also desperate to escape these squalid living conditions and the restrained life of the camps. PHOTO: REUTERS/THE STRAITS TIMES

DHAKA – The recent indication by Chinese Special Envoy for Asian Affairs, Deng Xijun, that the Rohingya may be taken back to their own villages should come as a welcome news for both the one million or so Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and for the host country itself. The majority of the refugees have been stranded here since the 2017 attacks by Myanmar’s state forces which led to the killing of more than 24,000 Rohingya Muslims and exodus of more than 700,000 victims.

Beijing to facilitate repatriation of Rohingyas

The Daily Star
UNB, Dhaka
Sat May 27, 2023

Says China's vice minister as he holds talks with Bangladesh foreign secretary 

China today reiterated its resolve to facilitate the early, safe, sustainable and voluntary repatriation of the Rohingyas to Rakhine State from Bangladesh.

At the 12th Foreign Office Consultations held at the State Guest House Padma today, Bangladesh and China agreed in principle to have dedicated dialogue on public security issues.

Bangladesh delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen while the Chinese delegation was led by Sun Weidong, vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. 

 

Cox's Bazar, Rohingya delegation in Myanmar to consider repatriation

asianews

Sumon Corraya
05/08/2023

A group of 27 members visited several villages built in Maungdaw district, but to return to Myanmar they demanded security guarantees and citizenship. The pilot project, supported by Beijing, plans to involve at least 1,100 refugees. Previous attempts have failed due to fears of a resurgence of violence. 

Cox's Bazar (AsiaNews) - A 27-member delegation travelled to Burma's Rakhine State in recent days to assess the repatriation of the Rohingya from the Cox's Bazar refugee camp that is home to around one million of them, most of whom fled persecution by the army in 2017.

With China's support, Bangladesh and Myanmar are trying to implement a pilot project to begin repatriating the Muslim minority before the monsoon season, hoping that the Rohingya who have visited Rakhine will convince others to return.

Myanmar visit to Bangladesh's Rohingya camps leaves doubts, fears

NIKKEI Asia
FAISAL MAHMUD, Contributing writer
March 23, 2023  

 

Repatriation outlook 'very vague' after delegation verifies 429 of about 1m refugees

Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar after a fire in 2021: Efforts to arrange repatriation from Bangladesh to Myanmar appear to be going nowhere. © Reuters

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh -- A weeklong visit by a delegation from Myanmar to Bangladesh's Rohingya refugee camps ended Wednesday with verification and registration of a few hundred people, inconclusive bilateral talks with Bangladeshi officials, and crucial unanswered questions about repatriation.

Myanmar, Bangladesh Readying Repatriation of More Than 1,000 Rohingya

THE I DIPLOMAT
Sebastian Strangio
March 16, 2023

Junta officials are visiting refugee camps in order to verify those who have been shortlisted for repatriation under a China-mediated pilot program. 

A delegation from military-ruled Myanmar has begun touring the refugee camps of southeastern Bangladesh to verify hundreds of potential candidates for a controversial pilot repatriation project. The delegation arrived yesterday in Teknaf, on the border with Myanmar, and will spend the week interviewing Rohingya refugees who have been shortlisted for the program.

According to a report by Reuters, which cited a Bangladeshi official responsible for administering the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, a total of 1,140 Rohingya are to be repatriated through the pilot project, of which 711 have had their cases cleared. The remaining 429 on the list were still being processed and their identities and places of origin verified.

SOUTHEAST ASIAChina’s assurance of Rohingya repatriation between Myanmar-Bangladesh

moderndiplomacy

By Samina Akhte
January 27, 2023

Rohingya refugees fleeing conflict and persecution in Myanmar (file photo). IOM/Mohammed

We now have new hope thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies on Tuesday and contained the word of Yao Wen, the recently appointed Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, that the repatriation of Rohingyas to their native Myanmar would begin as soon as possible. We believe that the Chinese government is truly considering Bangladesh’s concern over the safe and immediate repatriation of more than a million displaced Rohingyas in light of the Chinese envoy’s pledge.

The envoy reportedly made this commendable remark to our foreign minister at a recent meeting at his office.

The US BURMA Act: Long Way to the Rohingya Repatriation?

TGP
THE GEOPOLITICS
Towkir Hossain

January 9, 2023

The politics did not get better in 2022 but only became more complicated. We have seen many predicaments of international politics last year including a worsened phase of the Russia-Ukraine War, rising Chinese involvement, strategic autonomy question of the European Union, renewed transatlantic connection etc. The silent genocide in Ethiopia continued. The military rule in Myanmar regained its pace. The United States seems to be focused on regaining its global leadership role.

“Myanmar army could be interested in Rohingya repatriation”

The Daily Star 

 Tuesday, December 13, 2022 

In conversation with Dr Imtiaz Ahmed, Professor at the Dept. of International Relations, University of Dhaka 

Rohingya people waiting for relief. Photo: Anisur Rahman

The Daily Star (TDS): Please provide a historical background of the Rohingya crisis.

Imtiaz Ahmed (IA): There is evidence that Rohingya people participated in elections in Myanmar and they had representatives in the cabinet. However, these people were denied their identity and became stateless.

More specifically, some regulations were formulated against them in the last two or three decades to make them stateless. They were forced to leave during the 70s and 90s but a huge number of displaced populations were able to return to the country both times, and this happened under military rule.

The perils of repatriation for Rohingya refugees

ASIA TIME

by Saqib Sheikh
October 31, 2022

Myanmar’s main goal is to ease tensions with neighboring Bangladesh, not to show genuine respect for human rights

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

The Rohingya people forced out of the homeland remain at the mercy of the geopolitics of host countries in the region, with potentially worrying implications. 

Bangladesh faces an election in 2023 and the issue of the Rohingya is seen as important for the government to allay concerns of its electorate about the sustainability of meeting the needs of such a large refugee population, and also perceived frictions with locals.

Is the opportunity for Rohingya repatriation slipping away?

The Daily Star

Lt Gen Md Mahfuzur Rahman (LPR)
Sat Aug 13, 2022 

Photo: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/REUTERS

Five years since the 2017 exodus of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar as a result of its military's horrific persecution, there is no sign of repatriation on the horizon. And as long as the military junta continues to rule, there is hardly any scope for repatriation. This was reflected by Myanmar's Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in 2017, when he said in a media interview, "we did not send them to bring them back."

Even after the military coup in February 2021, when the junta was under tremendous pressure from inside and outside, General Min Aung Hlaing reiterated in May 2021, in an interview with an international media outlet, that there is "no option of bringing back the Rohingyas". Whatever discussions on repatriation we hear and see are part of diplomatic rhetoric; no serious analyst would take it at face value. However, it is always better to have engagement with the present Myanmar government on this issue rather than a complete disengagement.

PM seeks UN role in Rohingya repatriation

NEWAGE 

Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, New York
Sep 21,2022

UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi pays a courtesy call on Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the bilateral meeting room of Lotte New York Palace hotel on Wednesday. -- BSS photo 

 

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday (New York time) reiterated her call to the international community and the United Nations to play intensified role in solving the Rohingya crisis by repatriating the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals to their motherland.

The prime minister made this call while UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi paid a courtesy call on her at the bilateral meeting room of Lotte New York Palace hotel.