Rohingya Refugee crisis poses a serious threat to Bangladesh

Afia Chowdhury

According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, a refugee is someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their place of origin due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on grounds of race, religion, nationality, or membership of a specific social group, or political opinion. By the end of 2017, there were 25.4 million refugee men, women and children registered across the world. Thus, 68% of those displaced across the border come from just five countries- Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar. For example- over the past five years, more than 85000 children have been born in the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. Also, the UN said, the Ukraine refugee crisis could become Europe’s largest refugee crisis of this country. Although less than 1% of all refugees are ever able to resettle and find a new life in safety and security. In this scenario, the rapidly escalating violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in 2017, forced over half a million ethnic Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh for their lives. The situation cannot yet be assessed fully and independently as Myanmar has refused access to Human Rights investigations. So now, the violent campaign has triggered the fastest-growing humanitarian crisis in recent years.

Since August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya have taken shelter in Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh due to the violence in Myanmar and making it the world’s largest and fastest-growing refugee camp and putting pressure on the environment, existing infrastructure and social services that were already constrained. Though it is the bitter truth that near about 10 million Rohingya refugees in roaming around the world as homeless and stateless people. Still, now Rohingya refugees are coming to Bangladesh for shelter and so far there is not any suggestion from the international community on how to solve the problem.

According to a recent UNHCR report from 1948 to 1999 more than 25000 refugees have arrived in Bangladesh. However many international organisations are working for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Such as UNHCR, Red Crescent, Red Cross, WFP, WHO, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH etc. However, it is very hard to say that there is no clear consensus among the international responses. So that, understanding the role of daily or environmental stressors in mitigating mental health symptoms in humanitarian environments such as the condition of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. It is necessary to highlight the activity of international organisations for the Rohingya refugees. Therefore, the question arises is a good identity for representing them as stateless people in the modern world? If the international community does not take care of the Rohingya refugee crisis, it indicates that we are giving chance to create another minority group of civilisation like Al Quada or ISIS. That’s why the issue must be solved as early as possible. Myanmar should take back Rohingya from Bangladesh and prepare for the reconstruction of their housing, health, and education. Trafficking is also a source of concern. In this respect, according to police statistics, more than 100 Rohingyas have been rescued from human trafficking this year alone.

People in the camps are afraid to speak about the criminals who are engaged in human trafficking because they don’t want to risk being murdered if they do. Armed with a pledge to continue its insurgent campaign against what it calls “Burmese state-sponsored terrorism,” the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) militant group, whose attacks on Burmese security posts last year prompted the army’s indiscriminate “clearance operations,” has launched attacks on Burmese security posts. The Bangladeshi security establishment is afraid that ARSA would attempt to recruit inside the camps, as well as that it will utilise the camps as a base for cross-border warfare, among other things. It violates our security also.

In Conclude, the Bangladesh government is almost fighting their battle alone in the 1980s to manage all these helpless people for humanitarian reasons. Without a permanent solution for this problem, these people can be involved with some terrorist organisations for money as they are in a vulnerable state. In that case, the whole South-East Asian region will be in grave danger. The aids and human rights organisations only work with the government of Bangladesh in providing food, clothes and other necessities. But the real solution lies in the return of these people either to go back to Myanmar with all basic citizens rights or arrangement of permanent shelter. Therefore. An urgent and solid solution to necessary that van only be possible with a unified agreement between Myanmar, Bangladesh and the international negotiators.

(The author Afia Chowdhury is a student of the Department of Law & Human Rights at the University of Asia Pacific)