Rohingya refugee crisis worsens in Bangladesh

Donor fatigue, an exasperated government, a desperate community, and increasingly tense relations with locals eventually defined the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh. This complex image is rarely discussed in the media, which are motivated by the developments of the day. A combination of events aggravates the situation.

Since August 2017, Bangladesh has been providing food and shelter to nearly 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims who have fled ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. The government recently said that it would not accept more refugees, although a small number of Rohingyas still arrive in Bangladesh.

The queues of hundreds and thousands of desperate people rushing to cross the border, which caused a worldwide outcry in 2017, have dried up; similarly the attention of the media. The sense of urgency evoked by the crisis, described as the worst humanitarian disaster by the United Nations, has disappeared. The condemnation of the military and civilian authorities of Myanmar, including Aung San Suu Kyi, did not lead to concerted international action. Business continues as usual not only for the major donors of the Myanmar Government, China and Russia, but also for other regional and global powers.

That a genocide has been going on for some time while the international community was applauding the democratization of Myanmar is no longer a revelation. Yet no responsibility has been fixed nor lessons learned. The long-running process of keeping the Myanmar regime responsible for the genocide began at the International Criminal Court (ICC). A team from the ICC prosecutor's office recently visited the refugee camps. The ICC conducts a preliminary examination, far from an investigation, let alone a trial.

These developments offer little comfort to refugees living in squalid conditions in the makeshift camps in the mountainous areas of Cox's Bazaar. Twenty-one months after the beginning of the crisis, the fate of the Rohingya has worsened despite the efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration and several International NGOs. Even the most optimistic now recognize that an imminent repatriation is an unrealistic expectation.

In March, Christine Schraner Burgener, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Myanmar, said she did not see an immediate solution to the crisis. The Bangladesh government has been saying the same thing since the beginning of this year. Yet funds to help the Rohingya are dwindling. According to UNHCR officials, only 14% of the $ 920 million required under the third Common Response Plan (CSP) was announced by various countries until the end of March. In 2018, only 64% of the $ 951 million requested was received. If the funds do not come, Bangladesh and UNHCR will be on site by the end of the year.

Donor fatigue, with their own missteps, has put Bangladeshis
authorities in a serious problem. He recently relaunched the proposal for a security zone in the interior of Myanmar. Suggested by Prime Minister Cheikh Hasina in his address to the UN General Assembly in September 2017, this proposal has not been vigorously pursued by Bangladesh. Of course, the likelihood that the UN approves it was slim, thanks to China and Russia.

Thus, instead of forming a global coalition to put pressure on Myanmar, Bangladesh opted for a bilateral agreement in September 2017, thus avoiding the international community. The agreement set a two-year deadline for repatriation. Myanmar has found ways to prevent the return of the Rohingya, whom he regards as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, and Dhaka can not force repatriation. The agreement, for all practical purposes,
is dead.

Disrupted Bangladesh is now turning to the UN to Western countries to find a solution, but it is unlikely that help will be provided. Close friends from Bangladesh, China and India did not help her either. For example, neither country contributed to this year's JRP. Worse still, some Rohingya who fled to India several decades ago entered Bangladesh, fearing that the Indian authorities would return them to Myanmar.

Turkey and the Gulf and West Asia countries have also failed to get help.

In response to international criticism and resistance from refugees, the Bangladeshi government has decided to implement a plan to relocate about 100,000 Rohingyas to an isolated island called Bhasan Char (Floating Island) and exposed to floods, where several houses have been built. The UN has given its conditional agreement to the relocation plan.

But there is also concern that this measure sends the message that Bangladesh has actually accepted refugees, and the government is very sensitive to this type of signaling.

Uncertainty only adds to the refugees' problems. The camps have only 1,200 educational centers for 381,000 children under 14 years old. This means that young people are deprived of education and that they also have the opportunity to develop skills that will help them lead a better life. The problem was put in the public limelight when, earlier this month, Rohingya children were expelled from schools outside the camps.

With little to do in the camps, young people turn to addiction and smuggling. Given that these camps are located on the road of drug trafficking between Myanmar and Bangladesh, yaba, this is unsatisfactory for the country. Even before the refugee crisis, the Rohingya were vulnerable to trafficking in human beings. the situation has only worsened.

But the biggest problem is the growing animosity between refugees and local residents. Increasingly anxious for their interests, the locals demanded that the Rohingyas be returned or dispersed throughout the country, a claim unlikely to be supported by the international community or the government.

The 2019 Global Report on Food Crises of the Global Food Crisis Network (2018) indicates that people in Cox's Bazar are facing increased food insecurity as a result of the Rohingya influx.

Sporadic clashes between residents and refugees are a matter of concern for stability in the camps and surrounding areas.

The crisis is worsening even as the international community is watching closely. The service of compbadion by the lips is not enough, it reminds us that the world is failing with the Rohingya.

Despair, uncertainty, hopelessness and lack of resources create a generation that can only be ignored at our peril.

(Ali Riaz is a distinguished professor of political science at Illinois State University)

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