hingya refugees. This announcement came less than a week after the UN warned that the genocide was still in effect in the region.
Two years since the last exodus of Rohingya refugees, over 900,000 individuals remain in Bangladesh. They live in bamboo homes, unchanged from their first arrival. Many of them survive off humanitarian aid and are unable to find employment.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the Myanmar government and military human rights abuses against the Rohingya and other minorities.
The International Court of Justice unanimously ordered Myanmar to prevent acts of genocide against the Rohingya. The Myanmar government responded by stating there is “no genocide in Rakhine.”
A wooden boat carrying 297 people, including 14 children, landed in Indonesia. The refugees said they left southern Bangladesh in late March or early April for Malaysia, but were turned away by both the Malaysian and Thai authorities due to coronavirus restrictions. This was the biggest arrival of Rohingya refugees in Indonesia since 2015.
Despite widespread public outcry, Bangladesh relocated more than 1,600 Rohingya refugees from Chittagong to Bhasan Char, a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. While Bangladesh claims this is necessary to alleviate overcrowding in the refugee camps, human rights groups cite safety concerns over the flood-prone island.
The Tatmadaw detained de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other
members of the NLD and subsequently claimed power. Despite roadblocks, telecommunications barriers, and curfews, massive protests have broken out across the country in opposition to the coup. The coup will likely result in further devastation for the Rohingya, as the military has been the main driving force in the ongoing genocide.
UNHRC, in their 47 Regular session, has adopted a resolution (A/HRC/47/L.11) that calls for a decisive end to the grave violations of human rights and violence perpetrated by the Burmese military on the minority Rohingya Muslim community.
Dhaka has proposed Moscow to take a trilateral approach in resolving the Rohingya refugee crisis. Dhaka wants Russia, China and Myanmar military to strategize a solution. While this initiative had begun while Aung San Suu Kyi was Chancellor, the project was halted by the military coup.
UNICEF is working with the national governments and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to provide COVID-19 vaccine.
The Convention was signed on 28 July, 1951 in the aftermath of World War II, establishing the definition of who qualifies for international protection and the rights of asylum seekers. The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, has expressed concern that governments are violating the convention’s principles by pushing people back from their borders, eroding protections, and seeking to outsource their responsibilities. Myanmar is a particular concern for the UNHCR.
A climate of fear has spread across Bangladesh’s sprawling Rohingya camps as militant groups and criminal gangs compete for control, refugees and humanitarians warn.
Women report being harassed, kidnapped, attacked, or extorted by men they believe are affiliated with Rohingya militant groups or gangs.
Roughly 48,000 registered Rohingyas will be vaccinated within three days with the help of the United Nations agencies.
Over the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted many States in Southeast Asia to tighten their borders, leading to the highest numbers of refugees stranded at sea since the region’s “boat crisis” in 2015.
India’s stance on the Rohingya crisis has raised questions about its democratic credentials as its response to the crisis has evolved swiftly. India announced the violent conflicts between the Buddhists and the Muslim minorities in Rakhine state as Myanmar’s ‘internal affair’ and gave cold shoulders to the fleeing refugees.
Head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh Ambassador Rensje Teerink has said the Rohingya issue will not disappear from the agenda until a lasting solution is found even though the world is now facing challenges like the Covid