Resettlement of Rohingyas easier in their own country

THE United Nations’ refugee agency has asked Bangladesh to allow it to negotiate with the USA, Canada and some European countries to resettle around 1,000 Rohingya Muslims living in Cox’s Bazaar region, news report said. We must say the move is appreciable but looking at the small number, it seems to be a peanut giving fake hopes to about half a million Rohingyas living in Bangladesh. They are taking shelter in the country since early 1990s, and alone in the past five months over 69,000 new arrival were recorded highlighting the crisis.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would push for resettlement of those most in need, despite growing resistance in some developed countries, particularly from the US President Donald Trump. Canada, Australia and the USA were top providers of asylum to Rohingya Muslims before Dhaka stopped the program around 2012. A Bangladesh government official justified the closure saying it was feared the program would encourage more people from Myanmar coming to Bangladesh to use it as a transit country.

Canada said it would welcome those fleeing persecution after Trump put a four-month hold on refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, an order since suspended by a US district judge. The UNHCR supports around 34,000 refugees living in two government-registered camps in Bangladesh’s coastal district of Cox’s Bazaar, but a greater number of Rohingya live in makeshift settlements.

UNHCR’s Bangladesh Chief Shinji Kubo said he is trying to get access to all refugees who recently arrived to provide aid to them. We believe a fine balancing act between aid agencies and Bangladesh government is required to handle Rohingya refugees properly. Resettling around 1000 refugees is next to useless looking at the total number. The move is embarrassing to Bangladesh and Rohingyas as well. It would give a false hope to the Rohingyas that international organizations would be able to resettle them.

But such move as reported in the press that USA, Canada and other countries would take Rohingyas invariably create a scenario for a greater influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh to further destabilize the situation.

We must say the international agencies must realize that resettlement of Rohingyas is very difficult in developed countries and they rather focus attention on how they can resettle the displaced persons back in their home country. Sending small number of refugees will not solve the problem. We ask those international agencies not to waste time and resources and play with the patience of the homeless people. They must bring pressure on Myanmar to take back their nationals, this is the easiest solution but we don’t know why these organizations want to avoid it. We suggest the UN must play the pivotal role to find a solution to this humanitarian issue.