Rohingya Crisis Is Turning into a Protracted Refugee Challenge
Authors: Yusuf, A., Dumitriu, R. and Chowdhury, M.
Pages: 53-62
DOI: 10.5040/9781978734937.ch-003
Abstract:The 2017 Rohingya refugee crisis is undeniably one of the most severe humanitarian crises of recent times as, within a month, over half a million Rohingyas fled Myanmar, seeking refuge in Bangladesh. Finding an immediate, as well as sustainable solution to the Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar was prioritized by the Government of Bangladesh and international bodies— such as repatriation, relocation, and local integration being attempted since the Rohingyas’ arrival in 2017; however, these endeavors were to a large extent proved to be futile, indicating a potential “protracted refugee situation.” The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines a “protracted refugee situation” as when 25,000 or more refugees from the same nationality have been in exile in a host country for five or more years with no urgent hope of change (UNHCR 2006, 106). Cox’s Bazar is now home to over a million Rohingyas who fled Myanmar due to the violent acts perpetrated by the Tatmadaw the armed forces of Myanmar (Action Against Hunger 2021a). This is not the first time Rohingya Muslims have crossed the border into Bangladesh. The Rohingya refugee crisis in a long-standing problem. Massive waves of displacement took place previously in 1978, 1992, and 2017 (Human Rights Watch 2000). The first exodus was recorded in 1978 when Bangladesh welcomed approximately 200,000 Rohingyas. The majority of refugees originating from this first wave of displacement returned to Myanmar in subsequent years. This repatriation was not necessarily voluntary as it was claimed that approximately “10,000 Rohingya refugees died from malnutrition and illness” by the end of that year in Cox’s Bazar (Long 2013, 8). The second example of a major Rohingya displacement was recorded from 1991 to 1992, when over 250,000 Rohingyas fled Myanmar due to consistent state repression (Sengupta 2021). Although Rohingya refugees once again found refuge in Bangladesh, the efforts to repatriate them never concluded. In 1992, Bangladesh stopped recording any refugee arrivals while also banning the UNHCR from registering Rohingyas as refugees. Many of the displaced refugees returned to Myanmar in the following years (Sengupta 2021); however, many remained stranded in Cox’s Bazar. The most recent and largest mass displacement in 2017 saw approximately 700,000 refugees fleeing what later was labeled as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing” (Al Hussein 2017).
Source: Scopus
Rohingya Crisis is Turning into a Protracted Refugee Challenge
Authors: Chowdhury, M., Yusuf, A. and Dumitriu, R.
Editors: Ahmed, K. and Mohiuddin, H.
Publisher: Lexington Books
Source: Manual