20 June – World Refugee Day
By Ro Maung Shwe
For millions of refugees around the world, World Refugee Day is a moment of reflection on displacement, resilience, and survival. For the Rohingya people, however, it is also a reminder of an unfinished struggle.
Across the refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar and within Rohingya diaspora communities worldwide, this year’s World Refugee Day was marked not by celebration but by renewed calls for justice, dignity, citizenship, and the right to return safely to their ancestral homeland in Arakan, now known as Rakhine State, Myanmar.
Leading many of these efforts were Rohingya youth, who organized awareness campaigns, community discussions, and advocacy activities to remind the world that the Rohingya crisis remains unresolved nearly a decade after the mass displacement of 2017.
Throughout these initiatives, young Rohingya repeatedly voiced a simple but powerful message:
“Arakan is our home, let us return.”
Other messages reflected the frustrations and aspirations of a generation that has grown up in exile.
“We don’t want to depend on others’ support. Let us use our creativity, just provide access to opportunities.”
“Rohingya demand not for luxury, just enough humanitarian services to survive.”
These slogans capture more than political demands. They reflect the hopes of a generation that refuses to allow displacement to define its future.
A Generation Growing Up in Exile
Nearly nine years after the 2017 mass exodus from Myanmar, more than one million Rohingya refugees remain displaced, the majority living in camps across Cox’s Bazar.
For many young Rohingya, life in the camps is the only reality they have ever known. Thousands were born after their families fled Myanmar, while others arrived as children and have spent much of their lives in displacement.
Despite their resilience, opportunities remain limited.
Educational pathways are restricted, livelihood opportunities are scarce, and humanitarian funding shortages have reduced assistance across multiple sectors. Families continue facing challenges linked to food insecurity, inadequate healthcare, trafficking risks, camp fires, seasonal flooding, and growing uncertainty about the future.
While humanitarian assistance remains essential for survival, many Rohingya youth emphasize that aid alone cannot address the deeper causes of their displacement.
Living Without Refugee Status
Although Rohingya are widely recognized internationally as refugees, Bangladesh officially refers to them as Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals rather than granting formal refugee status.
This distinction carries practical consequences for everyday life.
Many Rohingya continue to face restrictions on movement, limited access to formal employment, barriers to higher education, and continued dependence on humanitarian assistance. As international funding declines, many families struggle to meet basic needs, including food, healthcare, clothing, and educational materials.
For young people growing up in the camps, these realities create significant obstacles to building secure and independent futures.
Yet despite these challenges, Rohingya youth continue advocating for education, leadership, skills development, and meaningful participation in shaping their community’s future.
More Than Humanitarian Assistance
On this World Refugee Day, many Rohingya youth stressed that they do not seek permanent dependence on aid.
What they seek is recognition of their rights.
They seek opportunities to study, work, develop their talents, and contribute to society. Above all, they seek a safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable return to their homeland with full citizenship, equal rights, and guaranteed protection.
Until the root causes of displacement are addressed, humanitarian assistance remains essential. But many advocates argue that humanitarian support must be accompanied by stronger international efforts aimed at justice, accountability, and durable political solutions.
The Reality Inside Arakan
While discussions about repatriation continue, conditions inside Arakan remain deeply concerning.
Ongoing armed conflict has left many Rohingya civilians trapped between competing military actors. Human rights organizations and community sources have documented reports of civilian killings, forced displacement, restrictions on humanitarian access, arbitrary detention, disappearances, and other serious abuses.
Recent reports have also raised concerns about forced recruitment practices affecting Rohingya communities, including allegations involving women and children in certain areas. Human rights organizations have further documented allegations of mass killings of Rohingya civilians and have repeatedly called for independent investigations.
For many refugees, these developments reinforce a painful reality: the conditions necessary for safe and sustainable repatriation do not yet exist.
Return cannot be voluntary or dignified if insecurity, discrimination, and denial of rights remain unchanged.
A Call to the International Community
As World Refugee Day is observed around the world, Rohingya communities are urging international actors to move beyond humanitarian assistance alone.
Aid saves lives, but it does not resolve statelessness.
Food assistance can prevent hunger, but it cannot restore citizenship.
Emergency support can sustain communities, but it cannot deliver justice.
Rohingya advocates continue calling on the international community to intensify diplomatic and political efforts aimed at addressing the root causes of the crisis. They urge governments, international institutions, and humanitarian actors to work toward accountability for atrocity crimes, restoration of citizenship rights, protection of civilians, and the creation of conditions necessary for safe and voluntary return.
“Arakan Is Our Home”
For many Rohingya youth, the central message of this World Refugee Day remains unchanged.
They do not seek a future defined by camps, aid distributions, or permanent displacement.
They seek the opportunity to return home with dignity and equal rights.
As one slogan repeated throughout this year’s activities declared:
“Arakan is our home, let us return.”
Nearly nine years after the events that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homeland, that demand continues to resonate across camps and communities worldwide.
Humanitarian assistance must continue, but lasting peace will only be achieved when Rohingya refugees can return safely, freely, voluntarily, and with full citizenship, equal rights, and human dignity.
Until then, World Refugee Day remains not only a day of remembrance, but also a call for action.
