3. THE DIGITISATION OF REFUGEE REGISTRATION IN BANGLADESH: THE HOPES AND FEARS OF RETURN In 2016, Bangladesh began digitising national ID cards (NIDs) as part of the “Digital Bangladesh” initiative. The cards replaced laminated ones and contained biometric details including iris scans and fingerprints. Citizenship data was linked to an embedded microchip. The cards were intended to prevent election fraud but also provided access to 22 other services including banking, passports, driving licenses, trade licenses and tax payments.71 With limited access to education in the refugee camps, Rohingya who attempted to access schooling in Bangladesh without the correct documents were also exposed to hate campaigns in the local press compounding the drive to link IDs to education and other services.72 E-passports to replace the current machine-readable passports are also due to be distributed. These were also introduced with reference to reducing the issuance of fraudulent passports.73 Of particular concern to Bangladesh are the claims that Bangladeshi travel documents have in the past been issued to some Rohingya who work amongst the many Bangladeshi migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East. With the Bangladeshi economy reliant on remissions from migrant workers, Saudi Arabia has pressured Bangladesh to issue Rohingya in Saudi Arabia with Bangladeshi passports.74 Solutions must be found for Rohingya in multiple country contexts, to regularise their legal status and enable them to access safe and decent work. In Bangladesh, approximately 861,500 Rohingya now live in the world’s largest refugee camp close to Cox’s Bazar, separated from Bangladeshi populations.75 The majority arrived following the genocidal violence in Myanmar in 2017. Others have lived as both registered and unregistered refugees in Bangladesh since the 1990s or before. Many were born into the protracted refugee situation. Bangladesh is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and considers Rohingya to be irregular migrants. Nonetheless, they have access to international humanitarian assistance and UNHCR. Under the joint UNHCR/Government of Bangladesh registration process, they are registered not as refugees, but as “Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals”. As such, they are able to access some protections, but their status is precarious. There are no durable solutions to the protracted refugee situation. The human rights situation in Myanmar is not currently conducive to return;76 there is neither a legal framework within Bangladesh that enables them to regularise their legal status, nor any pathways to citizenship;77 there are also currently no options for resettlement to third safe countries. Resettlement options were blocked by Bangladesh in 2010.78 Some refugees now living in Bangladesh have been forcibly returned to Myanmar on multiple occasions. In 1978-1979, approximately 180,000 Rohingya were forcibly repatriated from Bangladesh to Myanmar, either through the denial of food aid or at gun point. 10,000 Rohingya are estimated to have died in Bangladesh during this period due to a lack of access to food. Between 1993-1995, approximately 200,000 Rohingya were returned to Myanmar. Again, many of them were forced or coerced to return either at gunpoint or under the threat of cuts to rations or arrest.79 Since their expulsion from Myanmar in 2017, a repatriation agreement has been drawn up between Bangladesh and Myanmar, and an MOU on repatriation has been signed between Myanmar, UNHCR and UNDP. The precarious nature of their protection in Bangladesh combined with Z. Rahman, ‘Bangladesh introduces ‘Smart’ National Identity Cards’ (2016), available at: https://advox.globalvoices.org/2016/10/07/bangladesh-introduces-smartnational-identity-cards/ [accessed 13/11/2020] 72 S. Kumar, ‘Akter, 20, expelled from university for being Rohingya’, Al Jazeera, (September 2019) available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/9/17/akter-20expelled-from-university-for-being-rohingya [accessed 13/11/2020] The Rohingya Post, ‘Refugee girl expelled from university for being Rohingya in Bangladesh’ (September 2019) available at: https://www.rohingyapost.com/refugee-girlexpelled-from-university-for-being-rohingya-in-bangladesh/ [accessed 13/11/2020] 73 BDNews24, ‘E-passport era begins in Bangladesh’, (January 2020) available at: https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2020/01/22/e-passport-era-begins-in-bangladesh [accessed 13/11/2020] 74 A. Ullah, ‘Rohingya fear deportation after Saudi Arabia calls on Bangladesh to give minority passports’, Middle East Eye (October 2020) available at: https://www. middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-rohingya-bangladesh-deportation-passports [accessed 13/11/2020] 75 Up-to-date figures available on UNHCR’s operational portal on refugee situations, available at: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/myanmar_refugees [accessed 26/10/2020] 76 UN News Story, ‘Greater progress needed to ensure safe return of displaced Rohingya’ (March 2020) available at: https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1058521 [accessed 11/11/2020] 77 R. Hoque, ‘Report on Citizenship Law: Bangladesh’ European University Institute (2016) available at: https://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/44545/ EudoCit_2016_14Bangladesh.pdf [accessed 11/11/2020] 78 R. Paul, K. N. Das, ‘As other doors close, some Rohingya cling to hope of resettlement’ (2020) available at: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-myanmar-rohingyabangladesh/as-other-doors-close-some-rohingya-cling-to-hope-of-resettlement-idUKKBN25H0DB [accessed 13/11/2020] 79 J. Crisp, 'Primitive people': the untold story of UNHCR's historical engagement with Rohingya refugees’, Humanitarian Peace Network (October 2018) available at: https://odihpn.org/magazine/primitive-people-the-untold-story-of-unhcrs-historical-engagement-with-rohingya-refugees/ [accessed 13/11/2020] 71 16