An Agenda for a Dignified and Sustainable Rohingya Refugee Response in Bangladesh conditions for safe, dignified and voluntary return. Refugees continue to express their strong desire to return home but express concerns about their rights and security upon return to Myanmar at this time.146 A few early attempts by the Government of Bangladesh to facilitate their return to Myanmar were put on hold in 2018 and 2019. Following the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021, there is more uncertainty with regard to the future of Rohingya refugees in the country and in the region. Despite strong indications that the Rohingya crisis will not be resolved in the near future, the Government of Bangladesh has continued its calls for speeding up Rohingya repatriation while imposing stricter restrictions on refugees and humanitarian operations in the Cox’s Bazar camps. The current policy focus on short-term humanitarian planning and expedited repatriation in Bangladesh will not automatically foster a political solution in Myanmar and address the root causes of the conflict. Neither will the restrictions placed on Rohingya refugees and curbs on humanitarian access in the camps deter forced displacement of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh.147 Sustainable solutions in Myanmar will not be found by depriving Rohingya of their rights and the opportunity to develop their skills and capacities to reintegrate in Myanmar when the conditions so allow, including access to education and livelihoods.148 Without formal status and legal rights, Rohingya refugees will remain dependent on shrinking humanitarian aid, vulnerable to exploitation and inter-community conflicts further affecting overall security and stability in the camps and Cox’s Bazar district.149 Most importantly, meaningful Rohingya participation, including women and youth, in key decisions about their daily lives and futures through formal community representative structures, community consultations and empowerment of Rohingya civil society groups is critical.150 This will likely lead to better protection outcomes, more fit-for-purpose programs and policies, and ensure greater compliance and shared ownership of programs and policies. Government-facilitated support for refugee rights, increased refugee self-reliance, and growing trade relations between refugee and host communities will also have a positive impact,151 contributing to ‘peaceful coexistence’ between communities who will engage with each other on terms of trust, dignity and respect. 3.3 Refugee protection advocacy Within a shrinking protection space, it is critical that refugee protection advocacy is scaled up. In the context of the Rohingya refugee response in Bangladesh, independent assessments of the response from the point of view of three key humanitarian actors-UNHCR, IOM and UNICEF, illustrates the 146 JRP 2020, supra n. 64. Nisath Salsabil Rob, OP-ED: A wake-up call for Bangladesh?, Dhaka Tribune, 25 April 2021, available at https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2021/04/25/op-ed-a-wake-up-call-for-bangladesh 148 JRP 2020, supra n. 64. 149 Helen Dempster and Nurul Huda Sakib, Few Rights and Little Progress: The Rohingya in Bangladesh., 21 January 2021, Centre for Global Development, available at https://www.cgdev.org/blog/few-rights-and-little-progress-rohingyabangladesh. See also, JRP 2020, supra n. 64. 150 Sullivan, supra n. 68. 151 Nisath Rob, supra n. 147. 147 34 Act for Peace / May 2021