The Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar have become a matter of concern. The conditions in the camps are worsening day by day. According to news report in a national daily on Tuesday, there has been a spike in crime, including rape, murder, abduction, drug, internal conflict and human trafficking in the camps.
As reported, seeking a better future, some Rohingya refugees have been attempting to move from Bangladesh to other South Asian countries, particularly Malaysia, through various illegal routes. But these attempts are either being failed or the refugees faced an even worse situation, since these countries refused to confer with the refugee status.
Therefore, as regional powers with major economic and political interests in Myanmar — India and China — could play a constructive role and bring pressure on the Myanmar government to agree to take back Rohingyas from Bangladesh. But so far, both the countries have been reluctant to get them involved in resolving the Rohingya issue. This role of our close friends has been quite disappointing. The report said that in the last two years, about 50 Rohingyas and several Bangladeshis were shot dead or stepped to death in the camps. Field level officials have expressed concern over the sudden rise of such incidents. With a view to ensuring security in the camps, the concerned authorities have completed barbed wire fencing of 111 kilometres out of 142 and the remaining portion will be done in the next six months.
Mentionable that Bangladesh today hosts the biggest refugees in the world. Unlike many other countries, we had shown the warmest of hearts for human suffering that we welcomed over a million Rohingya refugees. In August 2017, the Myanmar military launched a campaign of mass atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine State that forced around 750,000 to flee Myanmar to Bangladesh. With this, the total number of Rohingyas in 35 camps stands at 11 lakh 18 thousand and 576. By now that warmth of hearts is on the wane, as we see no end to the problem in sight in near future.
We have no international role for helping the Rohingya refugees. We are alone in international diplomacy. Internally, we lack determination and courage to safeguard our interest against Myanmar’s audacity to push their people into Bangladesh with no concern. To be so helpless is a shame for an independent country. We have failed to help the Rohingya refugees and they are living a hellish life. The UN and the NGOs are motivated to raise the refugee issue strongly.
