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The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

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The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

More than 35 years since it began, the Rohingya crisis is long overdue for a solution.

The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Rohingya Muslims sit in an open area as the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) temporarily holds them after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 4, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Rohingya Muslims, who fled from recent violence in Myanmar, walk on the muddy path after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 3, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Rohingya Muslims who fled from recent violence in Myanmar, walk in the rain after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 3, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Shahana Begum, 30, who fled from violence in Myanmar, cries after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Naikhongchhari, Bandarban, September 3, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Rohingya Muslims sit in an open area after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf while smoke is seen on the Myanmar border side on 4 September 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Kalimullah, 32, is a tractor driver who fled from recent violence in Myanmar, shows a wound from where the Burmese military shot him. Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 3, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Rohingya Refugees, who fled from recent violence in Myanmar, take shelter in a temporary camp near Balukhali, Tekhnaf.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

A Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) push back Rohingya people to enter them in the no man’s land in Tekhnaf, Bnagladesh.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Rohingya Muslims who fled from recent violence in Myanmar are exhausted after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Naikhongchhari, Bandarban, September 3, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

A Bangladeshi villager offers water while Rohingya refugees arrive in Tekhnaf, Bangladesh, September 3, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Rohingya refugees, who fled from recent violence in Myanmar, stretch their hands for food near Balukhali in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, September 4, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Monwara Khatun, 55, is being carried on bamboo by her sons. After fleeing recent violence in Myanmar, they walk on a muddy path after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 3, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Rohingya Muslims, who fled from recent violence in Myanmar, enter the no man’s land on a hill in Teknaf, September 4, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Mustakima and her brother Eliyas cry as the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) temporarily holds them after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Naikhongchhari, Bandarban, September 3, 2017.

Credit: Probal Rashid
The Rohingya: A People Without A Home

Rohingya Muslims, who fled from recent violence in Myanmar, enter the no man’s land on a hill after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Naikhongchhari, Bandarban, September 3, 2017.

Credit: 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.