By: Camp Correspondent. Cox’s Bazar, July 11, 2025
Over the past 18 months, Bangladesh has received approximately 150,000 newly displaced Rohingya fleeing intensified violence and persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, in what the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) describes as the largest influx since 2017.
According to UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch, the majority of the new arrivals are women and children who have endured targeted attacks, forced displacement, and the trauma of conflict between the Arakan Army and Myanmar’s military. The current situation has further strained already overstretched humanitarian resources in Bangladesh.
Cox’s Bazar, where nearly one million Rohingya have been sheltering since the 2017 genocide, is now hosting thousands more within an area of just 24 square kilometers, making it one of the most densely populated refugee zones in the world.
“More humanitarian support is urgently required,” said Baloch. “Without immediate international funding, essential services like food, health care, education, and shelter are in danger of collapse.”
So far, over 121,000 of the new arrivals have been biometrically registered, but many others remain informally settled in overcrowded camp zones. Humanitarian agencies warn that without additional support:
- Health services could be severely disrupted by September;
- Cooking fuel (LPG) stocks will be depleted;
- Food assistance for all refugees may stop entirely by December.
The education sector is also under threat, with learning programs for 230,000 Rohingya children, including 63,000 from the latest influx, facing possible shutdowns. Aid workers report rising despair in the camps, with some refugees already attempting perilous sea journeys in search of safety and stability elsewhere.
While Myanmar’s border remains sealed and militarized, the Government of Bangladesh has authorized emergency humanitarian assistance for the new arrivals. UNHCR commended Bangladesh for its continued generosity, despite increasing pressure on local infrastructure and resources.
However, as humanitarian needs multiply, the UN agency stressed that the global community must urgently increase its support. “Until peace and justice are restored in Rakhine State and safe, voluntary, and dignified repatriation becomes a reality, we must not look away,” said Baloch. “Bangladesh and other host countries cannot carry this burden alone.”
For Rohingya communities across the camps, the situation is growing increasingly dire. The lack of funding not only endangers the survival of recent arrivals but threatens the dignity and basic rights of all Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Without decisive international action, a full-scale humanitarian disaster looms.
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