Faye Journal of International Humanitarian Action (2021) 6:13 Myanmar as they believe that the authorities would persecute them. The fear of being persecuted has been raised by the refugees, and the foreign minister of Bangladesh has raised this issue in her visit to Myanmar. Although Bangladesh’s authorities want to see the Rohingyas repatriated as they are wary that their national resources will be drained, yet pushing them back will be inhumane in the face of the Rohingya crisis. The Bangladesh government is accused of engaging in forcible repatriation, even though they refer to it as involuntary repatriation. Even the UNHCR has pointed out that this was directed by the Bangladesh government in some instances (Parnini 2013). The 1977 Nagamin census was conducted in order to screen out foreigners and register citizens, which resulted in the oppression of Rohingyas, and as a result, 200,000 fled from Myanmar for Bangladesh in 1978. A mass exodus of more than 300,000 Rohingyas fled persecution in the Arakan State within a period of 4 months, from December 1991 to March 1992 (Ullah 2011). Despite several negotiations between the government of Myanmar and the Government of Bangladesh for over 12 years, 226,576 were repatriated to Myanmar. Nonetheless, persecution has not stopped as Rohingyas continue to suffer in the hands of the military. In 2009, in just 3 days, 1000 Rohingya Muslims entered Bangladesh claiming the increasing persecution they face from the military. They were forced out of their homes and threatened. For example, in Rakhine, Rohingyas were forcefully evicted, and the military cleared their spaces and built army barracks (Ullah 2011). However, Bangladesh has failed to provide enough protection as UNHCR was unable to give adequate support. For example, the average household size in the camps is between six to seven persons regardless of the family size. Although the UNHCR standard guideline of 15–20 L of water per person a day was still an issue due to the large number of people. The operating time of the tap water was 2 h daily, while in many cases it opens for less than 2 h and that was not enough for all those in the kutupalong camp. Additionally, informal primary education was also established in 2001. The school started to operate with 5532 children. Moreover, the Rohingyas were not allowed to search for employment beyond the camp; however, some engage in small petty business outside the camp along the roadside mostly throughout the camp. Notwithstanding, many young female Rohingyas resorted in the sex trade business, though the restriction on their movement has some negative impact on their quality of life. These have resulted in a high rate of pregnancy and birth rate outnumbering the number of deaths and repatriation if combined in recent years (Ullah 2011). Page 3 of 7 UNHCR intervention United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) became a prime international actor in the Rohingya refugee catastrophe. The UNHCR has played an integral role in the Rohingya refugee crisis during 1990s branding Aung San Suu Kyi as its ambassador. Starting its campaign in Myanmar, UNHCR enormously exposed the status of Aung San Suu Kyi as its “messenger of peace” in Myanmar by flourishing the idea of harmonious neighbourhood between Rohingya community and other Myanmar’s major ethnic groups. From the 1990s onwards, UNHCR established a national office in the Capital of Myanmar, Yangon, following the support of Aung San Suu Kyi. Moreover, leading to the turbulent domestic political contest between Junta and Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League of Democracy (NDL) party, UNHCR had to bear resistance from the Military junta administration. This prompted many of UNHCR officials to be forcibly returned back due to the fact that they have been denied visa extension. In 1993, during a meeting held to discuss the possible solutions for the 250,000 Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, a senior UNHCR staff member was quoted saying “these are primitive people (referring to the Rohingyas). At the end, they will go where they are told to go”. This statement reflects the exemplary of the organisation engagement with the Rohingyas for years and the lack of willingness to uphold the UNHCR protection principles. Moreover, Jeff Crisp also highlighted that from the unpublished material by UNHCR, in 1970s and 1980s, many refugees were sent back to Myanmar in a way that was untimely, involuntary and unsafe (Crisp 2018). Notwithstanding, according to Crisp, the UNHCR evaluation service which was later prepared was questionable whether the 1978 repatriation was voluntary or not. The paper further explains that early repatriation was the main objective of the Bangladesh government from the beginning of the crisis. To make this possible, the Bangladesh government uses various tactics to stop refugees, ranging from several attacks on the Rohingya refugees. However, the UNHCR noted that the Rohingya refugees were not willing to repatriate. Nonetheless, Bangladesh’s government was ready to take all measures to ensure these migrants repatriate even to use force when necessary. The UNHCR mentioned that the reason for the high number of returning refugees is because of serious happenings in the camp leading to the high number of deaths by the Rohingyas (Crisp 2018). Another tactic used by Bangladesh’s government to force repatriation was to withhold food and other basic essential assistance from the refugees. An experienced UN official labelled the Rohingya camps as “death trapsthe worst I have ever seen”. This led to malnutrition