More
than 35 years since it began, the Rohingya crisis is long overdue for a
solution.
By Probal
Rashid
According
to United Nations estimates, about 146,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from
violence in Myanmar since August 25, 2017. The latest surge brings the total
number to 233,000 Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October
last year. The new arrivals are scattered in different locations in
southeastern Bangladesh. More than 30,000 Rohingya are estimated to have sought
shelter in the existing refugee camps of Kutupalong and Nayapara. Many others
are living in makeshift sites and local villages.
Rohingyas
began to flee from military oppression — first in 1978 and then again in
1991-92 — in major influxes of some 500,000 people. Presently, around 32,000
registered refugees stay in the UNHCR-run camps in Cox’s Bazar, while another
estimated 500,000 unregistered refugees live outside the camps. Consequently,
most of the unregistered refugees are deemed underprivileged according to the
scale of basic human rights.
The
Bangladeshi government has accommodated the Rohingya to a certain point, but
considering limited resources as well as the poor conditions its own population
lives under, it is hardly in a position to resolve the issue on its own.
The
Rohingya refugee issue has been a long-standing problem and, unfortunately, the
international community has remained mostly mute, unwilling to play a role in
helping to resolve the problem. More than 35 years since it began, the Rohingya
crisis is long overdue for a solution.
Probal Rashid is
a documentary photographer and photojournalist working in Bangladesh.
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