After Humanitarianism: Bangladesh's Evolving Rohingya Policy

Abstract

Since August 2017 Bangladesh has hosted 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in the world's largest refugee camp, along its restive borderlands with Myanmar. Frustrated with a stalled repatriation process, Bangladesh is moving forward with policies focused on refugee redistribution and stricter camp surveillance. Though potentially effective in the short term, such policies could complicate Bangladesh's relations with donors and worsen human rights abuses against the refugees.
The Bangladeshi government wants to formally start refugee relocation to Bhashan Char - a remote, flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal - at the end of the monsoon season (early November). The island will isolate the relocated refugee population from their kin while complicating human security issues such as aid delivery, emergency medical assistance, and support during natural disasters.
The relocation could help decongest the overpopulated camps, which have seen a rise in coronavirus cases since May 2020. However, the move risks making Bangladesh unpopular with international development partners on human rights and refugee protection grounds. A comparison with the recent fatal fire accident in the Moria refugee camp on the isle of Lesbos, Greece, will be difficult to avoid.
The government is further tightening surveillance in the camps after recent violent clashes between rival refugee gangs fighting for control over territory and a burgeoning illegal drug trade.
For decades, Bangladesh has served as a jumping-off point for Rohingya to illegally migrate to other Muslim countries in the region. The protracted refugee situation and the COVID-19 lockdowns have compounded these clandestine efforts in recent months. Thus, the Rohingya refugee crisis could potentially turn into a regional "boat-people" crisis.
In Myanmar's current hyper-nationalist political climate, the resettlement of Rohingya refugees remains highly contested, hence unlikely in the near term. Therefore, European policymakers should continue to engage with Myanmar's political regime on finding sustainable solutions for the Rohingya crisis. The EU should also conduct targeted lobbying aimed at dissuading Bangladesh from the controversial refugee relocation plan, while maintaining its financial commitments to improve security and living conditions for the refugees.