country. The only international protection they receive is through the joint
UNHCR/Government of Bangladesh registration process where they are registered as
“Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals” and not as refugees which cannot be
considered a durable solution to the protracted refugee situation. There are no
pathways to Bangladeshi citizenship and the resettlement opportunities are scarce. They
also have no access to the formal economic market and are restricted to enrol in
Bangladeshi schools.
40. According to UNICEF, nearly half a million Rohingya children living in the world’s largest
refugee camp are deprived of quality education, developmental opportunities and face
disease outbreaks, malnutrition, risks related to neglect, exploitation and violence
including gender-based violence, child marriage and child labour. Between 2016 and
2017, Bangladeshi authorities expelled more than 4,000 refugee children from schooling
who were attending formal education outside the refugee camp.38
41. Insecurities continue to occur in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Rohingyas’ right to
movement is restricted and livelihood opportunities are limited to underpaid NGO
volunteering jobs. The refugee youths face risk of being manipulated by the non-state
armed groups to engage in violent activities. Reportedly increased gun violence in the
camps near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, together with killings of community
leaders and activists, 39 have added to the physical risks of the camp dwellers and have
compelled them to take dangerous boat journeys refugees to other countries. UNHCR
released new data in January 2023 stating some 3,545 Rohingya refugees undertook
perilous sea voyages in 2022, to seek safety and new opportunities, a fivefold increase
on 2021, when around 700 people made similar journeys. The report says, at least 348
individuals lost their lives or went missing at sea in 2022, making it one of the deadliest
years since 2014.40
42. In February 2023, Bangladesh Defence Ministry reported that, between January 2021
and December 2022, there were 222 fire incidents in the Rohingya camps including 60
cases of arson. In March 2021, at least 15 people were killed and some 50,000 displaced
after a huge fire tore through a camp in the settlement. 41 Two years on, more than
12,000 people lost their shelters in a devastating fire burning down 2,000 shelters and
90 facilities including health centre, learning centres and women's safe space, according
to UNHCR.42 Landslides during the last monsoon season have reportedly killed dozens of
refugees including children and pregnant women, and displaced hundreds of families.43
43. In the 2022 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis received less than
half of the US$881 million needed for the year, the UN warned that refugees risked
serious shortages in food and other essentials. Experts warned that food shortages could
38
https://www.unicef.org/appeals/bangladesh
Tanbirul Miraj Ripon, ‘Targeted Killings Spread Terror in Rohingya Refugee Camps’, The Diplomat, (15 November 2022)
available at: https://thediplomat.com/2022/11/targeted-killings-spread-terror-in-rohingya-refugee-camps/.
40 UNHCR, ‘UNHCR seeks comprehensive regional response to address rise in deadly South-East Asia sea journeys’, (17 January
2023) available at: https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/briefing/2023/1/63c66c3c4/unhcr-seeks-comprehensive-regionalresponse-address-rise-deadly-south-east.html and Council of Minorities, Rohingya Free Coalition and the Institute on
Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘Joint Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants in Bangladesh’, (29
January 2023), available at: https://files.institutesi.org/Submission_SR_Human_Rights_Of_Migrants_Bangladesh.pdf.
41 ‘Rohingya camp fire was ‘planned sabotage’ – investigators’, BBC, (13 March 2023), available at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64935831.
42 Rebecca Ratcliffe, ‘Huge fire at Rohingya refugee camp leaves thousands without shelter’, The Guardian, (6 March 2023),
available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/06/rohingya-refugee-camp-fire-bangladesh-coxs-bazar.
43 UNHCR, ‘Flash Update #7 on Monsoon Response of 8 September 2022’, (15 September 2022), available at:
https://reliefweb.int/report/bangladesh/flash-update-7-monsoon-response-08-september-2022-coxs-bazar-bangladesh.
39
9