Chapter I: Introductory Statement

Chapter I: Introductory Statement

By Razu Ahamed

 Now a day’s refugee crisis is one of the burning issue in the world. An unprecedented 65.6 million people around the world have been forced from home and among them are nearly 22.5 million refugees. Bangladesh has started experiencing the problems of the issues of Refugees since 1978; almost 200,000 refugees came into Bangladesh and took shelter. These refugees fled from Myanmar and known as ―Rohingya‖. Again in 1991-92 approximately 250,000 refugees fled from Myanmar’s western Rakhine state and this ethnic, linguistic and religious minority of the Myanmar community started living in the south east district of Cox’s Bazaar. That was just the beginning of the journey of the refugees and it is still proceeding unabated. Now over 688,000 Rohingya refugees seeking safety in Bangladesh. Every human has some rights as a human being. These rights help a person to grow up in the society. When a person deprives from these rights it becomes horrible for a person to sustain. Every man in the world has the rights to get food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical service. All these are called basic human rights. Every Refugee has these rights as a human being. The protection of the rights of refugees, who are without national protection and the prevention of conflicts, between the countries of origin of the refugees and the asylum countries are matters of national and international concern. Bangladesh has a long record of performing humanitarian obligations towards refugees (Rohingya refugees) residing in her territories and has always followed the principle of non-refoulement. In fact, legally Bangladesh is not bound to be the final sanctuary for the refugees from Myanmar or from any other state. As with many other countries in Asia, Bangladesh is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. Neither is it a party to the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions. In the absence of any strict domestic law, to save its image in the international arena, Bangladesh is struggling very hard indeed to overcome this refugee issue.4 The vision of this write-up is to highlight the problems of Rohingya refugees and also to recommend the framing of a strict domestic law to specifically handle this situation.

In 1784, the Burmese King Bodawpaya conquered and incorporated the Arakan region into his kingdom of Ava in central Burma. As a consequence of the invasion, refugees began to pour into what is today the Cox’s Bazaar area of southern Chittagong. Many of the Rohingya that fled during this period never returned to Burma, but instead settled in the area of Cox’s Bazar and became integrated with the local community. The Rohingya are an ethnic group closely linked through language, culture, and religion to the dominant Bengali population of Bangladesh. Indeed, the Rohingya language is very close the variety of Bangla spoken in Chittagong, Bangladesh‘s major port in the southeast, and until the late 1600s part of the Arakanese Empire in today‘s Myanmar12. The issue of Rohingya refugees is one of the long standing refugee problems of the world and they are most vulnerable amongst the refugee communities.

Since 25 August 2017, 6,88,000 Rohingya refugees escaping violence in Myanmar have sought protection in Cox‘s Bazar district, Bangladesh, increasing the area‘s refugee population to more than 9,00,30015. Some 91 percent live in highly congested makeshift settlements and camps. Many thousands more have crossed into Bangladesh, where despite offers of international assistance, the Bangladesh government continues to deny the majority of Rohingya basic humanitarian relief or the right to legally register as refugees.16The Rohingya continue to face harassment from the Myanmar Government. Even the leader of Myanmar‘s democracy Aung San Suu Kyi remained silent on this issue.

This study will cover the topic and its related issues. This study is conducted on the subject which is related to the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh and the International Instruments’. This study also analysis the existing national and international laws and instruments relating to Refugee Rights and Protection. E.g.

The Constitution of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, 1972; Universal Declaration of Human Rights; ICCPR; ICESER.

This study also analyzes the problems relating to Refugee rights and protection and also analyzes the obligation toward the host countries not being a party of 1951 refugee convention and its 1967 protocol.