By Hafizur Rahman, Cox’s Bazar, August 24, 2025
Bangladesh has launched a two-day international conference in Cox’s Bazar focused on the persecuted Rohingya community, ahead of a high-level UN meeting on the refugee crisis in September.
The event, organized by Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, comes exactly eight years after the 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar that forced over 1 million Rohingya to flee Rakhine State. Thousands were killed, villages were burned, and survivors became stateless. International bodies have since described the atrocities as war crimes and genocide.
Dialogue After Years of Silence
“Since 2017, Rohingyas have had no direct dialogue with international bodies, the Bangladeshi government, local communities or Myanmar,” said Kamal Hossain, chairman of the Forcefully Displaced Myanmar National Representative Committee. “This conference is seen as a step toward solutions.”
The event was formally opened on Sunday by Khalilur Rahman, Bangladesh’s national security adviser and high representative for the Rohingya issue. Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus is expected to attend on Monday.
High-Level Delegates
Participants include foreign ministers, international envoys, representatives of UN agencies, and Bangladeshi officials. A delegation led by Rahman will also visit the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest, to hear directly from the residents.
Rohingya refugees have been grappling with worsening shortages of food, medicine, and education as international aid continues to decline.
Life Inside the Camps
Since the beginning of 2025, monthly food rations have been halved from $12 to just $6 per person, forcing families to survive largely on rice and pulses. Many say fish or chicken have become unaffordable luxuries.
Human Rights Watch recently warned that over 437,000 Rohingya children face an escalating education crisis after many NGO-run learning centers shut down due to funding shortages. Only community-run schools remain, operating without recognition or external support.
Keeping Global Attention Alive
Bangladesh has repeatedly stressed that safe, voluntary, and dignified repatriation to Myanmar is the only sustainable solution. With nearly 1.5 million Rohingya now in Bangladesh, the government says the crisis cannot be managed without stronger international support.
The Cox’s Bazar conference aims to push for renewed funding and global attention ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on September 30. Another international dialogue is scheduled in Doha, Qatar, on December 6.
For Rohingya communities, the conference offers a rare chance to make their voices heard — and a fragile hope that the world will not forget them, even as aid dwindles and their future remains uncertain.
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