Search for Durable Solution to the Rohingya Refugee Crisis in Bangladesh

Abstract

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority living mainly in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar, are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite the fact that they have settled in Myanmar for hundreds of years. Myanmar recognized 135 ethnic groups under the 1982 Citizenship Act which excludes the Rohingya as an ethnic group in Myanmar and they became stateless. Myanmar Security Forces have committed grave violation of human rights against Rohingya. The latest attack in 2017 was more heinous than in 1978, 1992, and 2012. As of June 2018, The Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh was portrayed as a protracted refugee situation. In many protracted refugee situations, a durable solution such as local integration, resettlement and voluntary repatriations needed to be implemented to end the prolonged displacement. The aim of this paper is to discuss the most feasible durable solutions to be implemented to repatriate Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.