A review of UNHCR’s response to the protracted situation of stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

The Rohingya

Rohingya is a generic term referring to the Sunni Muslim inhabitants of Arakan, the historical name of a Myanmar border region which has a long history of isolation from the rest of the country. Since 1989, this region has been officially designated as the Rakhine State. However the majority of people of concern are from the northern part of the Rakhine State, from the three townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung.

It is thought that the Rohingya are of mixed ancestry, tracing their origins both to outsiders (Arabs, Moors, Turks, Persians, Moguls and Pathans) and to local Bengali and Rakhine. They speak a version of Chittagonian, a regional dialect of Bengali which is also used extensively throughout south-eastern Bangladesh.

The Rohingya are virtually friendless amongst Myanmar’s other ethnic, linguistic and religious communities. They were not formally recognized as one of the country’s official

national groups when the country gained independence in 1947, and they were excluded

from both full and associate citizenship when these categories were introduced by the 1982

Citizenship Act.

As well as being stateless, Myanmar’s Rohingyas are confronted with other forms of persecution, discrimination and exploitation. These include (but are not limited to) forced

labour, extortion, restriction on freedom of movement, the absence of residence rights,

inequitable marriage regulations and land confiscation. The Rohingya also have limited

access to secondary and tertiary education as well as other public services.

As a result of such deprivations, large numbers of Rohingya have left Myanmar and

taken up residence elsewhere. While there is a general lack of precision with respect to the

number of people involved, there are estimated to be up to 400,000 in Bangladesh, a similar

number in the Gulf states, some 200,000 in Pakistan, 20,000 in Thailand and 15,000 in

Malaysia. UNHCR estimates some 750,000 Rohingyaremain in northern Rakhine state and

other parts of Myanmar.

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