Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals from Rakhine State who are living in Bangladesh. The Rohingya people have experienced ethnic and religious persecution in Myanmar for decades. Hundreds of thousands have fled to other countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines. The majority have sought refuge in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, two officially registered refugee camps are located in the sub-districts of Ukhiya and Teknaf in Cox's Bazar District. Violence in Myanmar has escalated in recent years, so the number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh has increased rapidly. According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 723,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since 25 August 2017.
A varicella outbreak was recorded in the refugee camp in December 2018, which spread rapidly among the inhabitants of the camp resulting in a total of 82,297 cases.
On 28 September 2018, at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said there were 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by that time. Overcrowding from the recent population boom at Bangladesh's Rohingya refugee camps has placed a strain on their infrastructure. The refugees lack access to services, education, food, clean water, and proper sanitation; they are also vulnerable to natural disasters and infectious disease transmission. As of June 2018, World Bank announced nearly half a billion dollars in monetary support to help Bangladesh address Rohingya refugees' needs in areas including health, education, water and sanitation, disaster risk management, and social protection. An August 2018 study estimated that more than 24,000 Rohingya had been killed by the Myanmar military and local Buddhists militia since the "clearance operations" started on 25 August 2017. It also estimated that at least 18,000 Rohingya Muslim women and girls were raped, 116,000 Rohingya were beaten, and 36,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires set alight in an act of deliberate arson.
History
Rohingyas are a Muslim minority in Myanmar regarded by many Myanmar Buddhists as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, a controversial claim without strong evidence. The Rohingyas have lived in Myanmar for generations and the Bangladesh government has called on Myanmar to take them back. They are denied citizenship in Myanmar and have been described as the world's most persecuted minority. Myanmar has denied persecuting the Rohingyas.The history of the Rohingya people can be broadly categorized into three distinct periods: precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial. In the precolonial era, the independent kingdom of Arakan hosted diverse populations, including Muslim Arab sailors who arrived between 788 and 810 CE, and Bengali settlers who arrived between the 15th and 17th centuries. During this period, Rohingyas and Arakanese Buddhists coexisted peacefully, sharing cultural and economic exchanges. However, this harmony was disrupted following British colonization in 1825, after the First Anglo-Burmese War. The division between these communities deepened further during World War II, when the Rohingyas allied with the British, while the Arakanese Buddhists sided with the Japanese. This allegiance shift had dire consequences for the Rohingya, who became targets of mass violence during the Japanese occupation of Burma, with an estimated 100,000 killed and 50,000 forced into exile in East Bengal.
Following Burma's independence in 1948, discrimination against the Rohingya intensified, with their rights and citizenship increasingly restricted. Between 1940 and 1947, Buddhist nationalist extremism gained momentum, further marginalizing the Rohingya population. The situation escalated in 1978, when the Burmese military junta launched a large-scale operation to expel those deemed "illegal inhabitants," resulting in widespread harassment, violence, and arbitrary arrests. This led to the mass exodus of approximately 250,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh. In response to international pressure, a repatriation agreement was reached between Burma and Bangladesh the following year, forcing most Rohingyas to return to Burma. However, just three years later, the 1982 Citizenship Law was enacted, formally revoking Rohingya citizenship and rendering an estimated 800,000 people stateless in northern Rakhine State. Despite undeniable historical evidence of Rohingya presence in Burma for centuries, the Burmese government has continued to deny their identity, refusing to recognize them as an official ethnic group. Instead, they are labeled "Bengali" illegal immigrants, perpetuating their exclusion, statelessness, and vulnerability to ongoing persecution.
Since the 1970s Rohingya refugees have been coming to Bangladesh from Myanmar. In the early 2000s, all but 20,000 of them were repatriated to Myanmar, some against their will. This respite ended in 2015 and by 2017, an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 Rohingya refugees were in Bangladesh. Most of the refugees are located along the Teknaf-Cox's Bazar highway that is parallel to the Naf River, which is the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Most of the refugees are located in or near Cox's Bazar, a coastal area dependent upon tourism.
Bangladesh blamed the refugees for crime and 2012 Ramu violence in Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh also follows a policy of making the country unwelcoming for Rohingya refugees. The majority of the refugees are unregistered, with only 32 thousand refugees registering themselves with UNHCR and the Bangladeshi government. An estimated 200,000+ refugees are living unregistered in Bangladesh. Amnesty International reports have stated that the Myanmar security forces are committing rape, extrajudicial killing, and burning homes belonging to the Rohingya in a December 2016 report. Refugees have been displacing the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. They have also been blamed for importing the narcotic drug Ya Ba.
The former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, declared that 35,000 Rohingya were transferred to Bhasan Char to "keep Rohingya youth away from criminal activities." She also emphasized the difficulty of repatriating Rohingya back to Myanmar due to the civil war, and preventing foreign armed groups from using Bangladesh as a guerrilla sanctuary.
Relocation
In 2015 the government of Bangladesh proposed a relocation plan for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to the remote island of Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal. The plan was pushed back following criticism by human rights activists and the UNHCR.Between October and November 2016, about 65,000 Rohingya refugees arrived from Myanmar. The government of Bangladesh decided to revive the relocation plan. Bhasan Char submerges during high tide and was formed in the 2000s by sediments from the Meghna River. It is eight kilometers from Hatiya Island.
The Bangladesh Navy has been tasked with making the island habitable for the refugees. In 2019, the government announced an expansion of the Ashrayan Project to build 100,000 homes. In January 2020 the project was moving forward despite opposition from Rohingya leaders and human rights groups. Bangladesh's minister for refugee affairs has said the island is "ready for habitation," though he gave no timetable for the relocation. The government has not permitted foreign journalists or Rohingya leaders to travel to Bhasan Char.
Despite persistent concerns and criticism expressed by international human rights organizations, the Bangladeshi government has relocated nearly 20,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char since December 2020. The government says the relocation is needed because the mainland refugee camps are getting too crowded, and that only refugees who volunteer are being moved.
In 2023, a growing number of Rohingya refugees fled the overcrowded camps of Cox's Bazar on Bangladesh's southeast coast and traveled in flimsy boats 1,800 kilometers south to Indonesia due to deplorable living conditions in the overcrowded camp, including food scarcity and lack of education, and work opportunities. In an effort to stop the landing of refugee boats, in May 2024, Indonesian police and fisherman started patrolling sections of Aceh province, located on Sumatra's northwest point. In November 2023, more than 1,000 Rohingya arrived — the highest number since 2015.
Repatriation
After the ARSA attacks on 25 August 2017 and subsequent humanitarian crisis, former Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali met with Myanmar officials on 2 October 2017, later stating after their meeting that both countries had agreed on a "joint working group" for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees who had fled to Bangladesh.The governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding on 23 November 2017 regarding the repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine State. Bangladesh's Foreign Minister stated that a joint working group composed of UNHCR and members of both nations was to be established within three weeks to fix the final terms for the beginning of the process. He also stated that those returning would be kept in temporary camps near their abandoned homes. Under the deal, Myanmar would ensure that they are not kept in the camps for long and are issued identity cards. The foreign secretaries of both nations met on 19 December to finalise the agreement. Bangladesh's foreign ministry issued a statement saying that the group would "ensure commencement of repatriation within two months" by developing a timetable for verification of identities and logistics.
Bangladesh's foreign ministry announced on 15 January 2018 that their government and Myanmar's had bilaterally agreed on a repatriation deal for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, which would aim to complete the process of repatriation within two years. Win Myat Aye, Myanmar's Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, also announced that his country would begin repatriating Rohingya refugees beginning on 23 January 2018. Originally, the government of Myanmar agreed to repatriate only 374 Rohingya refugees out of a list of over 8,000 submitted by their Bangladeshi counterparts on 14 March 2018, citing incomplete paperwork as the reason for the slow process, but on 18 May 2018, they announced they would repatriate a total of 1,100 "verified" Rohingyas from the list.
On 6 June 2018, the United Nations and the government of Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, the details of which were kept secret until they were leaked online on 29 June 2018. The agreement was immediately criticised and rejected by Rohingya leaders, who say it does not address the concerns of their community.
Following the 2025 BIMSTEC meeting, Myanmar has agreed to take back 180,000 Rohingyas in the first phase under Mohammad Yunus. Khalilur Rahman stated that the verification process is underway for an additional 70,000 Rohingyas to be repatriated. However, the repatriation plan failed as Myanmar lost control of border areas since the Battle of Maungdaw. Bangladesh's Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain noted that talks with the Arakan Army are not possible as it is a non-state actor. Meanwhile, more 120,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine and taken refuge in Bangladesh.
On 27 April 2025, Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami proposed a Rohingya-majority state independent from Myanmar as a solution to "ensure their repatriation and rehabilitation" during a meeting with Chinese Communist Party officials. Jamaat officials claimed that they were emphasizing a need for a safe zone in Rohingya-majority areas in Rakhine State.
Jonathan Shrier, Acting U.S. Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council, stated that the Arakan Army's participation in repatriation negotiations is critical for long-term solutions.
Some Rohingya return on their own to northern Rakhine State in spite of Arakan Army control due to lack of opportunities in the refugee camps.
On 25 August 2025, the eighth anniversary of the Rohingya refugee crisis, tens of thousands of refugees held rallies across camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, displaying banners with slogans such as "No more refugee life," "Stop Genocide," and "Repatriation the ultimate solution." The events reflected ongoing frustration among the refugee population, which had grown to over 1.3 million. Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus stated that Bangladesh could no longer allocate additional domestic resources to support the refugees and called upon the 'international community' to draft a roadmap for repatriation. Living conditions in the camps remained difficult, with overcrowded shelters, reduced aid, closed educational facilities, and limited prospects for return. Speaking at a related conference, Rohingya community leader Sayed Ullah stated that the situation had remained unchanged despite years of international dialogue, noting the community's continued lack of rights, opportunities, and guarantees of safe repatriation.