Floating Island - a New Home for Rohingya?

The author analyzes the attempts of the government of Bangladesh to cope with the influx of refugees from neighboring Myanmar. As a result of the crisis in Rakhine state (Myanmar) there were about 1,2 million refugees-Rohingya in neighboring Bangladesh, which was a huge burden on the environmental security of the overpopulated country. The main reason for the failure of the process of repatriation of refugees at the end of 2018 was the lack of security guarantees for Rohingya returnees in Myanmar. The refugees themselves do not want to go back. Following the announcement of the «voluntary» repatriation plan, they organized mass rallies to protest the return to their former homes, fearing further outbreaks of violence. Some Rohingya believe that return is possible only if they are granted citizenship and justice. After the de facto disruption of the repatriation of refugees to Myanmar the government of Bangladesh is trying to unload the world’s largest refugee camp in the Cox’s Bazar by relocating 100,000 people to a previously uninhabited «floating island» in the Bay of Bengal. However, as with the issue of repatriation, international human rights defenders are against the resettlement of refugees on the floating island and Rohingya themselves refuse to move to the island. According to many representatives of international organizations, the island is not suitable for permanent residence of people. But even with a favorable outcome of the resettlement operation this measure is unlikely to reduce the burden on the refugee camps on the mainland and to a certain extent solve the problem. The fate of Rohingya today depends only on the joint efforts of the UN and international specialized organizations.

Keywords

Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Myanmar, refugees-Rohingya, repatriation, «floating island»

Received

09.09.2019

Publication date

09.09.2019

Number of characters

21850

Cite

GOST	Simoniya A. «Floating Island» - a New Home for Rohingya? // Asia and Africa Today – 2019. – Issue 9 C. 33-38 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://asaf-today.ru/S032150750006271-0-1 (circulation date: 27.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S032150750006271-0
MLA	Simoniya, Aida "«Floating Island» - a New Home for Rohingya?." Asia and Africa Today 9 (2019):33-38. DOI: 10.31857/S032150750006271-0
APA	Simoniya A. (2019). «Floating Island» - a New Home for Rohingya?. Asia and Africa Today (9), pp.33-38 DOI: 10.31857/S032150750006271-0

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