Rohingya refugees

While Bangladesh was spared the worst, Myanmar’s civil conflict is making it difficult for aid to reach those in need.

On January 18, prominent advocate Dil Mohammed was abducted from a Rohingya camp in No Man’s Land. He has not been heard from since.

A leaked email from the U.N. resident coordinator in Myanmar reveals that U.N. boats were used to transport junta officials to Bangladesh last week.

Junta officials are visiting refugee camps in order to verify those who have been shortlisted for repatriation under a China-mediated pilot program.

The request comes after the World Food Program was forced to cut its food aid to the refugee camps in Bangladesh due to funding shortfalls.

More than 3,500 people attempted to flee Myanmar and Bangladesh by sea last year, nearly five times more than in 2021.

The leaky wooden vessel is just the latest to reach the shores of Aceh, as more and more refugees undertake the dangerous ocean crossings.

Given the hardships Rohingya face in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, there is no mystery why many are entrusting their lives to unscrupulous human traffickers.

While some travel overland from Bangladesh to Thailand, others are embarking upon dangerous and often deadly ocean voyages.

Crime has risen as have unemployment and prices. But rehabilitation work among refugees has provided locals with jobs in NGOs.

The boat, which set off from Bangladesh in late November, has been adrift since its engines failed on December 1.

Deportations of Myanmar asylum seekers and the failure to act on Rohingya death camps are disheartening.