FAMILY SEPARATION 29% of the 1,611 respondent households have one or more immediate family members still in Myanmar 1 53% of camp households have an immediate family member remaining in Myanmar or living abroad A plurality of Rohingya remaining in Myanmar still want to flee to Bangladesh or elsewhere. According to their relatives in the camp, the reasons people remain despite wanting to leave include being trapped by ongoing conflict, having married into a family that chose not to flee (particularly for women), lacking funds to pay for the boat trip to Bangladesh, staying to protect assets and property, or being elderly, sick, or infirm or caring for someone who is. Refugees’ relatives in Myanmar who currently want to stay or leave 21% don’t know 35% want to stay 39% 44% of camp households have at least one family member in a third country want to leave n=463 Forty-nine percent of these family members left Myanmar between 2011 and 2015, during the Rohingya boat crisis, in search of job opportunities, safety, and marriage, although camp households maintain ties with relatives who departed as early as 1965. Of families with a member abroad, 51 percent incurred debt to finance the journey and 63 percent sold assets or property. More than half pooled funds from multiple sources. Malaysia is accessible by boat and is thought of as a place with better opportunities for Rohingya. It remains the most common destination country for Rohingya outside of Myanmar and Bangladesh. Fifty-two percent of the family members who traveled to Malaysia or to other destinations did so without legal passports. Trafficking networks often facilitate these illicit journeys. Staying in touch with family members across borders is difficult. Forty-three percent of respondents with relatives in Myanmar say they never communicate, while 25 percent of those with relatives living outside of Myanmar say they never communicate. Location of immediate family members living outside Myanmar and Bangladesh “ 28% Saudi Arabia 2% US 2% 4% Other Thailand 5% India 58% Malaysia 2% Australia n = 652; respondents provided details for one or more relatives abroad. 1 The term “immediate family member” here includes a parent, child, sibling, spouse, or grandparent We would like to share with the international community, NGOs, INGOs, and the Bangladesh government: We want to talk with our relatives who are still in Myanmar, so we need the internet. - Rohingya mother of six , age 41 A registered refugee in Kutupalong Registered Camp with relatives in an IDP camp in Rakhine State and in Malaysia