BRINGING ROHINGYA REFUGEES OFF-TRACK OF LONG-TERM ECONOMIC VULNERABILITY IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

The ethnic Rohingya is experiencing not only marginalization and statelessness in Myanmar but also facing brutal oppression, violence perpetrated by some in the ethnic majority for many decades. Bangladesh has long been a major Rohingya refugees hosting country and currently, it hosts around 600,000 refugees. Beside recently arrived refugees, there are thousands of refugees, who have been staying in Bangladesh for around three decades as registered or unregistered refugees. Long-term refugees, as per many reports, have been heavily relying on international aid, amid their poor socioeconomic development in Bangladesh. The development of Rohingya refugees is analyzed in this paper from the dimensions of Bangladesh, as a host country; poor human development of Rohingya refugees, and the wider international community. National competition for limited availability of resources and opportunities in Bangladesh; poor human development of Rohingya refugees, make them prolong dependents for refugee handouts. To obtain sustainable development of Rohingya population in Bangladesh, this paper proposes an appeal to international producers to make them financially sound by offering employment opportunities by establishing production plants in Bangladesh. In addition, to avoid hostilities with the local population, equal composition of refugees and the local population is suggested in employee recruitments.Keywords: Rohingya, Myanmar, Bangladesh, refugees, economic developmentCite as: Joseph, F.M & Shandralingam, K. (2018). Bringing Rohingya refugees off-track of long-term economic vulnerability in Bangladesh. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 3(1), 42-50.http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol3iss1pp42-50