Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
[4][5][6][7] On 28 September 2018, at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said there were 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by that time.
The refugees lack access to services, education, food, clean water, and proper sanitation; they are also vulnerable to natural disasters and infectious disease transmission.
[8][9][10][11] As of June 2018, World Bank announced nearly half a billion dollars in monetary support to help Bangladesh address Rohingya refugees' needs in areas including health, education, water and sanitation, disaster risk management, and social protection.
[14][15][16][17][18][19] On March 5, 2023, a massive fire broke out in the Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar district, leaving an estimated 12,000 people without shelter.
She also emphasized the difficulty of repatriating Rohingya back to Myanmar due to the civil war, and preventing foreign armed groups from using Bangladesh as a guerrilla sanctuary.
[44] Despite persistent concerns and criticism expressed by international human rights organizations, the Bangladeshi government has relocated nearly 20,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char since December 2020.
[45] In 2023, a growing number of Rohingya refugees fled the overcrowded camps of Cox's Bazar on Bangladesh's southeast coast and traveled in flimsy boats 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles) south to Indonesia due to deplorable living conditions in the overcrowded camp, including food scarcity and lack of education, and work opportunities.
In an effort to stop the landing of refugee boats, in May 2024, Indonesian police and fisherman started patrolling sections of Aceh province, located on Sumatra's northwest point.
[46] After the ARSA attacks on 25 August 2017 and subsequent humanitarian crisis, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali met with Myanmar officials on 2 October 2017, later stating after their meeting that both countries had agreed on a "joint working group" for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees who had fled to Bangladesh.
[47] The governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding on 23 November 2017 regarding the repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine State.
[48] Bangladesh's Foreign Minister stated that a joint working group composed of UNHCR and members of both nations was to be established within three weeks to fix the final terms for the beginning of the process.
Bangladesh's foreign ministry issued a statement saying that the group would "ensure commencement of repatriation within two months" by developing a timetable for verification of identities and logistics.
The philosophy behind this model maintains that individual psychological treatment and broad social interventions are both essential to overall mental wellbeing and resilience.
The history of the Rohingya located in the Rakhine State of Myanmar includes protracted social and economic exclusion, which ultimately escalated to extreme violence resulting in a mass exodus of up to an estimated 900,000 refugees to date.
[67] The traumatic events that have occurred in Rakhine State included burning of villages, arrests, torture, sexual assault, and loss of family and livelihoods.
Furthermore, the resource-poor humanitarian efforts are suggested to increase negative psychological impacts by perpetuating anxiety, stress and depression and decreasing capacity for resilience.
[70] Factors causing these mental health concerns appear to involve not only daily stressors of refugee living situations and the trauma endured before arrival, but also protracted traumatic or stressful experience being persecuted in Rakhine State.
[70][68] The combination of the protracted refugee crisis with a history of stress, persecution and trauma is a cause for concern with the Rohingya and further investigation into the effects and treatments has been recommended.
[8][9] Contamination of these rivers and latrines by harmful pathogens becomes an even greater risk during monsoon seasons for Rohingya camps in both Myanmar and Bangladesh.
[9] Due to poor sanitation, low water quality, close living quarters, and high levels of drug trafficking and sexual violence, infectious disease outbreaks in Rohingya refugee camps are of concern to public health officials.
Rohingya refugees are often not vaccinated and there is worry that outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as polio, measles, and tetanus, will occur if living conditions are not improved.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) malnutrition refers to deficiencies and excesses or imbalances in a person's intake of energy and/or nutrients and is a strong predictor of mortality in children that are 5 years and younger.
In the refugee camps in Bangladesh, over 25% of Rohingya children are malnourished and over 12% are suffering from severe stunting, a condition resulting from starvation and malnutrition.
Efforts in Bangladesh and other surrounding countries by UNICEF, Action Against Hunger and other aid relief are helping to provide food and water.
[76] Rohingya refugee children are facing a high risk of death considering the WHO refers to malnutrition as critical issue when rates reach 15%.
There are many factors that play a role in the alarming rates of malnutrition among Rohingya refugee children including food security, infectious disease, poor sanitary conditions and contaminated water.
[84] As of 2020, approximately one-third of refugee Rohingya children were able to access primary education, primarily through temporary centers run by international organizations.
[93][94][95][96] On 13 December 2021, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner announced that private schools in Rohingya camps are illegal as they lack government approval and must be shut down.
Since then, government authorities have shut down multiple such community-based and home-based learning centres, including schools teaching Myanmar curriculum, and confiscated their assets.
Nur Khan Liton, of the human rights organization Ain O Salish Kendra, said, "when they go back to their homeland, the Rohingya people won't get any good jobs".
