Bangladesh demands a quicker Rohingya relocation procedure

As a fresh wave of refugees flees the rising violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the chairman of Bangladesh’s interim administration, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, appealed on Sunday for a quick third-country relocation of Rohingya Muslims living in the south Asian nation.
In recent months, as hostilities between the Arakan Army, a potent ethnic militia made up primarily of Buddhists in Myanmar, and the country’s ruling junta have escalated, about 8,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled across the border to Bangladesh.

After fleeing a military-led crackdown in their native Myanmar in 2017, the majority of the newly arrived Rohingya refugees, numbering over a million, are currently living in cramped camps in Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. Their own country mainly denies Rohingya refugees citizenship and other fundamental rights, making their return unlikely.

Yunus, the interim government’s chief adviser, called for a speedy resettlement process during a meeting with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), saying that the “resettlement process should be easy, regular, and smooth.”

According to a statement from the Chief Adviser’s office, Abdusattor Esoev, the head of the IOM in Bangladesh, said that while the resettlement of Rohingya to third countries resumed in 2022 after a 12-year pause, it has only accelerated this year.

Washington has reaffirmed its commitment to resettle thousands of Rohingya in the US, but the process has not yet accelerated, according to the statement.

The current wave of violence is the worst the Rohingya have experienced since the military-led assault in Myanmar in 2017, which the UN declared to have genocidal intent.

Mohammad Touhid Hossain, the de facto foreign minister of Bangladesh, told Reuters last month that his country is unable to take in any more Rohingya refugees and urged India and other nations to take in more of those escaping persecution.

He also asked for further pressure from the international community on the Arakan Army to stop attacking the Rohingya in Rakhine State.