Eight years after the Rohingya influx, the Bangladesh government is increasingly alarmed by the lack of progress on repatriation, citing mounting economic and security pressures.
Residents of Cox’s Bazar warn that the prolonged presence of such a large displaced population has deepened social, economic, and security risks.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in 2017 to escape persecution by Myanmar’s military.
Since then, criminal activities linked to the refugee camps have disrupted local life, intensifying calls for their swift return to Myanmar.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), 1.25 million registered Rohingya are currently living in 33 camps across Ukhiya and Teknaf.
Of them, about 800,000 arrived in the months following August 25, 2017. Between January and June this year alone, another 150,000 Rohingya crossed the border, with 121,000 registered and the rest remaining undocumented. Most of these new arrivals are women and children.
Altogether, the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar has now exceeded 1.4 million. Yet not a single refugee has been repatriated in the past eight years, raising deep concern in Bangladesh.
Funding shortfall and loss of global attention
Rohingya leaders and community members say the influx began on August 25, 2017, as people fled a campaign of violence by the Myanmar military.
With the global crisis unfolding elsewhere and following Myanmar’s military coup, the Rohingya issue has largely fallen off the international agenda.
Humanitarian assistance has steadily declined over the past several years, leading to a severe funding shortfall that has deepened the vulnerability of both refugees and host communities.
Many Rohingyas, faced with shrinking aid, are increasingly being drawn into criminal activities.
Local residents and representatives say the crisis has already stretched Cox’s Bazar to the limit.
“Criminal activities are rising every day because of the massive presence of the Rohingya. For eight long years, we have been carrying this burden, yet no one seems to care about our suffering. Rohingyas are involved in extortion, drugs, killings, abductions and rapes, leaving police and administration struggling to cope. We have been demanding their return as soon as possible,” said Helal Uddin, a Union Parishad member of Rajapalong Union’s Ward 9 in Ukhiya.
Sarwar Jahan Chowdhury, former chairman of Ukhiya Upazila Parishad and president of the local BNP, said: “The delay in repatriation has left locals extremely worried. Our livelihoods, environment, labour market and security are all under threat. Because of their criminal activities, especially abductions and extortion, we have no security. If the repatriation process is delayed further, we will become strangers in our own land. The government must work with the international community to resolve this crisis quickly.”
Calls for renewed international effort
Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman admitted that the Rohingya crisis has lost global attention.
He said: “In the coming four months, three international conferences will be held by the United Nations, Qatar and Bangladesh to increase funding for the displaced Rohingya and to strengthen efforts for their repatriation to Rakhine. The agenda will focus on humanitarian aid and the start of repatriation.”
He added that August 25 is observed as Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day to draw global attention, while the international case on genocide remains pending.
“After eight years of providing services, the government, NGOs, INGOs and donor agencies are exhausted. Everyone now wants repatriation to begin,” he said.
Eight years without repatriation
In January 2018, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement to repatriate the Rohingya, with the process scheduled to begin within two months. However, it never commenced.
Rohingya leaders presented eight conditions at the time, including guarantees of citizenship, security and the right to return to their own land.
Yanghee Lee, the then UN special rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, had said repatriation must be voluntary.
Later, in October 2023, under Chinese mediation, a pilot project was announced to return 1,100 Rohingya.
Five transit centres were built in Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari and Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf to facilitate the process. Although the centres were completed by November, repatriation never began. Instead, in the past year alone, another 150,000 Rohingya entered Bangladesh, with more continuing to arrive.
Ongoing conflict in Rakhine
Rohingya refugees say they are unwilling to return without assurances of citizenship, recognition of their ethnic identity, land rights and justice for the genocide.
Many point to the ongoing fighting in Rakhine between the Myanmar military junta and the Arakan Army as another obstacle.
Abbasi Begum, a resident of the Leda camp in Kutupalong, said: “I fled to Bangladesh after persecution by the Myanmar army. Eight years have passed, but the situation in Rakhine has not improved. Our homes, our ancestors’ graves are there. We miss our land, but how can we return in the middle of a war?”
Nur Ayesha, another camp resident, echoed the frustration: “We had so much hope of going back one day. Eight years have passed, and we are still stuck in a foreign land. Nobody is taking any initiative. We want to return home with dignity.”
Myanmar junta unwilling to take Rohingya back
Mohammad Jubair, president of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, said: “Rohingya want peace and a safe return to our homeland. Nobody wants to stay here. It is encouraging that Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has arranged a conference on repatriation. But some wealthy Rohingya abroad, driven by greed, are pushing agendas of other countries. We demand that discussions on repatriation include representatives from the camps.”
Mohammad Tayeb, vice-president of the same organization, added: “Whenever repatriation is discussed, the Myanmar junta stalls. The conflict between the Arakan Army and the junta is a staged war. Junta-backed agents are scattered in Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar. Whenever repatriation comes up, they become active to sabotage it. The junta itself does not want to take us back.”