DHAKA, BANGLADESH<\/strong><\/p>\nFive years after the latest and biggest mass exodus of Rohingya to Bangladesh, people in the camps say that the limbo they live in is never-ending. They don\u2019t see much hope to get their normal lives back.<\/p>\n
More than one million Rohingya currently reside in Bangladesh, but few people would call it home.<\/p>\n
On a recent day, Hasina Begum asked her father to bring water from the community well because her husband was currently away from the refugee camp. This 23-year-old woman could not do it herself because of her physical inability, which she tried to conceal with her yellow dupatta \u2013 a shawl traditionally worn by women to cover the head and shoulders.<\/p>\n
When asked the reason for her disability, Begum told DW with tears the story of a day five years back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Myanmar military hit me with a rod. I was drenched with blood, and they thought I was dead. So they left me there,\u201d Begum said<\/p>\n
Five years later, she still has pain in her head and feet.<\/p>\n
Begum was a victim of a brutal clampdown by Myanmar\u2019s military in 2017. The Myanmar military began a sweeping campaign of massacres, rape, and arson in northern Rakhine State on August 25, 2017, following attacks on the border posts by some Rohingya militants.<\/p>\n
The campaign killed thousands of Rohingya, according to many international organizations, including Doctors Without Borders.<\/p>\n
At the time of the exodus, the United Nations say more than 745,000 people fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. That figure now stands at over a million. Begum and her family now live in a refugee camp.<\/p>\n
Life in the Bangladeshi camps<\/strong><\/p>\nBegum lives with her husband and child in a tiny two-room house in the Balukhali camp in Cox\u2019s Bazar, the largest refugee camp in the world, hosting about 600,000 refugees, according to figures from a number of human rights bodies, such as the Refugee Council USA.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband has no work,\u201d Begum said adding that he goes to Tabligh (a religious group) for food and other aid.<\/p>\n
Most of the people are unemployed, including Begum\u2019s 44-year-old father, Enayetullah.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had huge farmlands. I used to cultivate them. We had cattle, a house and a lot of possessions. We left them all behind,\u201d Enayetullah said.<\/p>\n
Enayetullah said he did not think of his possessions when he fled Myanmar. But now after five years, he misses his home and his lands.<\/p>\n
Seeking work, without prospects<\/strong><\/p>\nMany people in the camps want to work and rebuild their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t go out of the camps. Sometimes we get a call to work. But that is rare,\u201d says 33-year-old Mohammad Shafi.<\/p>\n
The Rohingya are also struggling with limited education opportunities.<\/p>\n
Mohammad Riaz, a 10th-grade student, said this will be his last year of education inside the camps.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter this year I will have no opportunity to study further, but I want higher education,\u201d Riaz told DW.<\/p>\n
Searching for more opportunities, many Rohingya try to flee the camps and leave Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
Elaine Pearson, the acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch, released a statement on the eve of the anniversary of the 2017 exodus, saying: \u201cDonors should support Rohingya refugees to study and work freely and safely so they can build independent and self-reliant futures.\u201d<\/p>\n
UN\u2019s Bachelet visits Bangladesh<\/strong><\/p>\nUN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet recently visited the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, with community representatives telling her that they want to build a better life.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day I want to go home, but I don\u2019t know when I can,\u201d Enayetullah said.<\/p>\n
The life of the Rohingya remains in limbo within the camps, with no end in sight to their current plight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I remember my homeland, my heart burns. I want to go back, but only if they give us peace \u2013 and give our possessions back,\u201d Tasmida Begum told DW.<\/p>\n
Tasmida Begum is afraid that the military might attack again if she goes back. She lost a brother and a brother-in-law in 2017.<\/p>\n
Aung Kyaw Moe, an adviser to the National Unity Government of Myanmar, run by the Suu Kyi-led NLD party, told DW that repatriation has not been possible because of a lack of interest from Myanmar\u2019s government.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not happening because of the lack of political will from the Myanmar side,\u201d Moe said. He is the first Rohingya to hold a position in Myanmar\u2019s government. \u201cThey don\u2019t want them to go back,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Repatriation talks are underway among Myanmar, Bangladesh and different UN bodies. A joint task force is in place to finalize the list of Rohingya people to be repatriated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already given them a list of 830,000 Rohingya. They have accepted that\u201d Shamsud Douza, an additional commissioner at the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner\u2019s Office, told DW. \u201cWe are providing them with humanitarian aid, but at some point, they have to leave,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh anticipates sending the Rohingya people back to Myanmar. On Sunday, Foreign Minister Masud Bin Momen told the press that repatriations could begin by the end of 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hopeful we can start the repatriation by the end of the year. We are trying to do it for our own interest because they are becoming a burden for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After two prior repatriation attempts failed, Moe said the list might just be a method of delaying the process. \u201cMyanmar has the list. They know very well who have fled, If they really want to initiate the repatriation process they would have given a list to Bangladesh, found them and sent them back,\u201d he told DW.<\/p>\n
Will there be justice?<\/strong><\/p>\nFive years on, nobody has been held accountable for the brutality that happened in Myanmar. Gambia has launched a genocide case about the issue before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The case has been heard. The Myanmar government had filed an appeal, but this has since been rejected.<\/p>\n
Rights organizations demand that the UN Security Council end its current inaction and urgently negotiate a resolution to institute a global arms embargo on Myanmar.<\/p>\n
Human Rights Watch said the Security Council should refer the situation to the International Criminal Court and impose targeted sanctions on the junta and military-owned conglomerates.<\/p>\n
But a UN action on this scale might be vetoed by China and Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina has always been a problem for the Rohingya. We have to find an innovative way to deal with the blockages created by China and Russia, particularly in the Security Council and other UN bodies,\u201d Moe said.<\/p>\n
Hasina Begum said she had no idea what justice would look like. To her, getting back to normal life is a long way off, with the mental and physical wounds leaving more than just the visible scars on her body.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what will happen next. I don\u2019t see a future here or anywhere,\u201d she said. \u2013 Deutsche Welle<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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