ext month will mark four years since the Myanmar military displaced more than 720,000 members of the Rohingya ethnic minority, leading to the establishment of the world’s largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh. Today, Rohingya refugee communities continue to face protracted displacement, instability, and denial of human rights.
Throughout this crisis, displaced Rohingya have been excluded from critical decisions that impact their welfare, including those regarding repatriation and resettlement. This lack of meaningful participation has prolonged and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis facing nearly 900,000 Rohingya still forced to shelter in Bangladesh. A long-term resolution to the crisis cannot happen until Rohingya voices are central to all decisions regarding relocation, resettlement, and repatriation -- and both the U.S. government and the government of Bangladesh have important roles to play in making this a reality.
In December 2020, the government of Bangladesh began relocating Rohingya from Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement, to Bhasan Char, a silt island in the Bay of Bengal. Despite resistance from refugees, including claims that relocation has resulted in family separations, 18,000 of a planned 100,000 Rohingya have already been moved to the island. During a UNHCR visit to Bhasan Char in June, more than 4,000 Rohingya staged a demonstration in protest of untenable living conditions, with several refugees reporting that they were relocated to the island by force or coercion.
The relocation is the latest chapter in the Rohingya’s decades-long struggle to claim their human rights. Effectively stripped of citizenship by Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Law and subjected to arbitrary detention and violence for years, over 720,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh following the military’s violent operations in Rakhine State in August 2017. Thousands of men, women, and children were subjected to crimes against humanity by security forces, including murder, rape, and other sexual violence, and homes and villages were burned to the ground.
The government of Bangladesh has made clear their displeasure with the limited international interest in prioritizing the Rohingya. In June 2021, Bangladesh cited frustration over the absence of recommendations for resolving the Rohingya crisis as justification for their abstention from a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution calling for member states to prevent arms from entering Myanmar, where political unrest continues following the February 1st military coup. Conversely, Bangladesh welcomed the UN Human Rights Council resolution on the Rohingya adopted on July 12, which not only acknowledges Bangladesh’s support in sheltering the Rohingya but also emphasizes the need for perpetrators of violence to be held accountable.
The Rohingya crisis has its roots in the long-standing impunity of the Myanmar military. For the Bangladeshi government to engage outside advice, recommendations must include demonstrable action towards holding the Myanmar military accountable and ending crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.
The Biden administration should call for an end to the Myanmar military’s impunity while underscoring the need for Rohingya participation in decision-making as a critical element in any long-term solution. The U.S. can play a critical role in ensuring the Bangladeshi government recognizes Rohingya voices and issues an immediate halt to any forced relocation. Relocation decisions must center refugees as the most important stakeholders and determiners of the path forward.
Refugees in Cox’s Bazar have weathered punishing environmental conditions, deadly fires, high risk of human trafficking, and poor health and sanitary conditions. Limited access to an accredited and certified education jeopardizes the future of nearly half a million Rohingya children. The U.S. has taken steps to support the government of Bangladesh in recent months, including providing emergency medical supplies, designating Bangladesh a “regional priority” in the most recent vaccine distribution plan, and, on June 21st, announcing a $17 million USD five-year clean energy project through USAID. These efforts on the part of the Biden administration to ensure health, safety, and opportunity in Bangladesh must extend to the Rohingya sheltering in the country -- and the only way to guarantee their protection is to guarantee their inclusion.
Bangladesh’s approaching monsoon season poses heightened risks of floods and poor sanitation for Rohingya communities both in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char. Increasing COVID-19 cases across the region could have catastrophic consequences for cramped refugee communities. The Rohingya in Bangladesh have persevered through four years of hardship and displacement, but encroaching political instability and the unrelenting dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic threaten their resilience. To ensure and defend their human rights, Rohingya communities must be included in the critical decisions that impact their lives.
a global affairs media network
The Voices Of Rohingya Refugees Must Be Heard
Inside the Rohingya Refugee Camp at Ukhia, Bangladesh. Photo via Adobe.
July 20, 2021
Four years after the military violence that turned hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into refugees, the humanitarian crisis remains unresolved. Bangladesh and the US must listen to Rohingya voices to find a long-term resolution, argues Amnesty International's Carolyn Nash.
N
ext month will mark four years since the Myanmar military displaced more than 720,000 members of the Rohingya ethnic minority, leading to the establishment of the world’s largest refugee settlement in Bangladesh. Today, Rohingya refugee communities continue to face protracted displacement, instability, and denial of human rights.
Throughout this crisis, displaced Rohingya have been excluded from critical decisions that impact their welfare, including those regarding repatriation and resettlement. This lack of meaningful participation has prolonged and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis facing nearly 900,000 Rohingya still forced to shelter in Bangladesh. A long-term resolution to the crisis cannot happen until Rohingya voices are central to all decisions regarding relocation, resettlement, and repatriation -- and both the U.S. government and the government of Bangladesh have important roles to play in making this a reality.
In December 2020, the government of Bangladesh began relocating Rohingya from Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement, to Bhasan Char, a silt island in the Bay of Bengal. Despite resistance from refugees, including claims that relocation has resulted in family separations, 18,000 of a planned 100,000 Rohingya have already been moved to the island. During a UNHCR visit to Bhasan Char in June, more than 4,000 Rohingya staged a demonstration in protest of untenable living conditions, with several refugees reporting that they were relocated to the island by force or coercion.
The relocation is the latest chapter in the Rohingya’s decades-long struggle to claim their human rights. Effectively stripped of citizenship by Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Law and subjected to arbitrary detention and violence for years, over 720,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh following the military’s violent operations in Rakhine State in August 2017. Thousands of men, women, and children were subjected to crimes against humanity by security forces, including murder, rape, and other sexual violence, and homes and villages were burned to the ground.
The government of Bangladesh has made clear their displeasure with the limited international interest in prioritizing the Rohingya. In June 2021, Bangladesh cited frustration over the absence of recommendations for resolving the Rohingya crisis as justification for their abstention from a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution calling for member states to prevent arms from entering Myanmar, where political unrest continues following the February 1st military coup. Conversely, Bangladesh welcomed the UN Human Rights Council resolution on the Rohingya adopted on July 12, which not only acknowledges Bangladesh’s support in sheltering the Rohingya but also emphasizes the need for perpetrators of violence to be held accountable.
The Rohingya crisis has its roots in the long-standing impunity of the Myanmar military. For the Bangladeshi government to engage outside advice, recommendations must include demonstrable action towards holding the Myanmar military accountable and ending crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.
The Biden administration should call for an end to the Myanmar military’s impunity while underscoring the need for Rohingya participation in decision-making as a critical element in any long-term solution. The U.S. can play a critical role in ensuring the Bangladeshi government recognizes Rohingya voices and issues an immediate halt to any forced relocation. Relocation decisions must center refugees as the most important stakeholders and determiners of the path forward.
Refugees in Cox’s Bazar have weathered punishing environmental conditions, deadly fires, high risk of human trafficking, and poor health and sanitary conditions. Limited access to an accredited and certified education jeopardizes the future of nearly half a million Rohingya children. The U.S. has taken steps to support the government of Bangladesh in recent months, including providing emergency medical supplies, designating Bangladesh a “regional priority” in the most recent vaccine distribution plan, and, on June 21st, announcing a $17 million USD five-year clean energy project through USAID. These efforts on the part of the Biden administration to ensure health, safety, and opportunity in Bangladesh must extend to the Rohingya sheltering in the country -- and the only way to guarantee their protection is to guarantee their inclusion.
Bangladesh’s approaching monsoon season poses heightened risks of floods and poor sanitation for Rohingya communities both in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char. Increasing COVID-19 cases across the region could have catastrophic consequences for cramped refugee communities. The Rohingya in Bangladesh have persevered through four years of hardship and displacement, but encroaching political instability and the unrelenting dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic threaten their resilience. To ensure and defend their human rights, Rohingya communities must be included in the critical decisions that impact their lives.
