After the influx of refugees leaving behind burning houses and dead bodies of loved ones, Bangladesh has not been able to send a single Rohingya back to their homeland in Myanmar in five years. Thursday (August 25) marks five years since the uncertain journey of the Rohingyas towards Bangladesh from the torture of the Myanmar army.
The flood started on August 25, 2017 from Myanmar's Rakhine State bordering Bangladesh; After that, within a few months, 750,000 Rohingya refugees took refuge in Ukhia-Teknaf in Cox's Bazar. Another 400,000 Rohingyas were already living in camps in that area.
The United Nations at the time identified the killing and torture of the Rohingya population as a 'classic example of ethnic cleansing'. The US government has described the massacre of Rohingyas as 'genocide' in March this year.
Since Bangladesh opened its border, the Rohingyas have been living in bamboo and plastic shacks across vast areas of Cox's Bazar and Ukhia. Kutupalong in Ukhia became the largest refugee camp in the world.
In the face of international pressure, Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi government agreed to take back the Rohingyas at the end of 2017. It also signed a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh in September that year.
In 2019, a two-phase repatriation initiative was taken at a stage of discussions on various issues, including the confirmation of the identity of the escaped Rohingyas. But the effort failed because the Rohingyas could not trust the Myanmar government's promises.
Meanwhile, more than 100,000 Rohingya children were born in Bangladesh during this period; It has created additional pressure on Bangladesh. Sheltered Rohingyas are involved in various crimes. Used in target killing. They are involved in serious crimes like murder, kidnapping, extortion, disappearance, weapons, drugs, gold and human trafficking inside and outside the camp. As a result, the security risk is increasing in the entire district as well as the local shelter population.
The Bangladesh government, which has made Rohingya repatriation a priority, has repeatedly complained that the international community has failed to put enough pressure on Myanmar to repatriate.