Rohingya camps unprotected against traffickers

Bangladesh Coast Guard pose for a photo with rescued Rohingya refugees in Teknaf on 18 May 2019. Bangladesh authorities prevented 84 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar from attempting a perilous boat journey to Malaysia, officials said on 18 May. Photo: AFP
Bangladesh Coast Guard pose for a photo with rescued Rohingya refugees in Teknaf on 18 May 2019. Bangladesh authorities prevented 84 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar from attempting a perilous boat journey to Malaysia, officials said on 18 May. Photo: AFP

Although the government has issued ID cards for the Rohingya refugees, there are no definite statistics as to how many of them who came to Bangladesh since 25 August 2017 have fled the camps. Law enforcers have arrested 58,584 Rohingya people while fleeing, but no one knows how many of have actually left the camps.

The condition of Rohingya camps, as depicted in a Prothom Alo report on Thursday, is alarming. A total of 1128,529 Rohingya refugees are sheltered in 34 camps. Only 950 policemen at 7 check-posts are in charge of such huge number of people’s security. Surveillance of such a huge number is impossible for them. Supervision is tough as there are no boundaries or barbed wire fences around the camps.
It was expected that the Rohingyas would go back to Myanmar once normalcy was restored there. However, there are no signs of their return as the Myanmar government has taken up a ‘scorched earth’ policy there. Rohingyas, too, do not feel safe to return. Taking advantage of this uncertain situation, human traffickers have been enticing them and bringing them outside the camps. Some have already been trafficked abroad. Some Rohingya people managed to make Bangladeshi passports in connivance with the local community.

Police in a recent raid detained 24 Rohingyas from Dhaka’s Khilket area. They were about to be sent to Malaysia. Earlier, 170 Rohingya women, 107 men and 85 Children were rescued while being trafficked by sea route. According to newspaper reports, over 400 Rohingya women were trafficked mostly to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Indonesia over the last one year.

Rohingyas who fled the camps also fanned out inside the country. Some are working inside the country, concealing their identity. In the past, the Rohingyas were assimilated with the local community. Their congruity of language and lifestyle with the local community makes it tough to differentiate them once they come out of the camps. Rohingyas living outside the camps are helping ones inside to come out. Surveillance of the Rohingyas who have come outside the camps is impossible. Social unrest is increasing due to those runaway Rohingyas.
There no headway to the process of repatriating them to Myanmar.

The international community’s silence over this issue is frustrating. The entry of such huge numbers of Rohingyas has increased social unrest in the country alongside creating economic pressure. Rohingya camps cannot be left insecure. Security should be beefed up in the camps. The number of check posts and law enforcers need to be increased. Surveillance should be increased so that no one can come out of the camps using fake identity cards.

The government should find the traffickers who are taking advantage of misfortune of the Rohingya people and sending them abroad. These traffickers should be brought to book for the sake of the country’s security and social system, not to mention the security of the Rohingyas.