Why a large number of Rohingyas are fleeing refugee camps in Bangladesh

A 27-year-old Rohingya, Mohamed Ridoi, along with his son, has braved the perilous 12-day sea journey from vast refugee camps in Bangladesh to escape the ubiquitous threats of kidnapping, extortion, and murder. Ridoi told AFP, he was starting a “peaceful life” in a temporary shelter in Indonesia’s western Aceh Province, where more than 1,000 Rohingya people have arrived this month, the largest such influx since 2015. An increasing number of Rohingya people are leaving refugee camps in Bangladesh with their children, taking to boats in search of a better life as hopes fade of returning to Myanmar or being resettled, and camp life gets tougher, aid groups say. ‘We are not safe in Bangladesh’ Ridoi and others said they were fleeing rising brutality in the camps in and around Cox’s Bazar, which house over a million people and where gangs regularly abduct and torture inhabitants for ransom. “One of the groups kidnapped me and demanded 500,000 Bangladeshi taka (Rs 3.79 lakh) to buy their guns,” Ridoi, who left with his wife, two children and his brother, told AFP. “They told me that if I couldn’t give them the money, they would kill me.” He said he eventually paid 300,000 takas (Rs 2.27 lakh) for his release last month and, within weeks, he was on a boat to Indonesia, arriving on 21 November. “We are not safe in Bangladesh. That is why I decided to go to Indonesia to save me and my family’s life,” he said. Also Read: Bangladesh stops scores of Rohingya seeking to sail to Indonesia Nearly one million members of the Muslim minority from Myanmar live in bamboo-and-plastic camps in the Bangladeshi border district of Cox’s Bazar, most after fleeing a military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017. “A few years ago, these boats mostly carried young males,” said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project that helps refugees, referring to small boats that set off from the Bangladesh and Myanmar coasts, usually bound for Southeast Asia. “A large number aboard are entire families, parents with children, and sometimes extended families.” Rohingya traditionally take to sea in October, at the end of the rainy season, on journeys fraught with danger. The boats, often over-crowded, can sink, or run out of food and water, and the Rohingya can fall into the hands of people smugglers. Out of an estimated 1,084 Rohingya who came ashore in Indonesia’s Aceh province this month, 360 were children, 292 women and 238 men, according to UN refugee agency data. [caption id=“attachment_13438072” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Some 240 Rohingya Muslims, including women and children, are afloat off the coast of Indonesia after two attempts to land were rejected by local residents. The boat left again a few hours later following the rejection. AP[/caption] Of 3,572 Rohingya who have left on 34 boats this year, 31 per cent of them were children, data showed. About 65 per cent of those leaving set off from Bangladesh this year, compared with 27 per cent last year. Most of the rest leave from Myanmar. In 2022, one of the deadliest years for the Rohingya at sea, a fifth of the about 3,705 people who fled were children. “Children making the boat journeys was not a trend before,” said Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner based in Cox’s Bazar. Indonesia is not a member to the UN Refugee Convention and claims it is not obligated to accept Myanmar refugees, but surrounding nations have closed their doors, leaving them with few options. ‘No choice but to take to sea’ Rohingya have faced persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades. They are generally regarded as foreign interlopers from South Asia, denied citizenship and subjected to abuse. With little hope of settling in Bangladesh or being accepted elsewhere, they feel they have no choice but to take to sea, Rahman said. “When an entire section becomes stateless, when they see no prospect of their repatriation or integrating into the countries they are settled in, they obviously become worried about the future of their next generation,” he said. Also Read: Indonesia turns away boat carrying over 250 Rohingya refugees Aid workers say another factor contributing to more families deciding to take to sea is that conditions in the refugee camps are getting much more tough. This year, the UN cut food aid to the refugees in Bangladesh by a third, to $8 per person a month because it has been able to raise less than half of the $876 million (Rs 7,301 crore) needed to support them. Many parents are skipping meals. “You can’t even buy an egg with that,” said Rahman, referring to a meal allowance of about nine Bangladeshi taka ($0.08) per person. The chances of going home to Myanmar are more slim than ever. Myanmar’s military government has offered talks on repatriation but no progress has been made and insecurity is deteriorating with a growing insurgency against military rule. [caption id=“attachment_13438082” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Almost 1,000 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar have arrived by boat in Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh in the last six days, officials said Monday. The group finally landed in Bireuen district on Sunday morning. AP[/caption] “No one can think of going back right now,” said refugee Mohammed Taher in Cox’s Bazar, who knows two families that recently set off for Malaysia. “Some people are desperate to leave by any means. They’re ready to take dangerous sea voyages knowing that they can end up dead.” Gang violence, human trafficking, and a struggle for survival Human Rights Watch claimed last year that criminal gangs and alleged associates of Islamist armed organisations were causing fear at night in the more than two dozen Bangladesh refugee camps. The Bangladesh military ministry has identified at least 11 armed groups operating in the camps, but human rights organisations believe Dhaka is not doing enough to protect refugees from violence. These gangs have deliberately targeted Rohingya community leaders and activists as they vie for dominance and engage in operations such as drug smuggling and human trafficking. According to Bangladesh police, over 60 Rohingya refugees have been slain in camp violence this year. HRW’s deputy Asia director, Phil Robertson, stated that it appears the Bangladeshi government “doesn’t care” about the migrants’ fate. “The bottom line is the Bangladesh government just wants all the Rohingya to go back to Myanmar as soon as possible — even if (it) means subjecting the refugees to conditions of absolute misery in the camps so that they leave.” Food shortages, according to Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, are further deteriorating camp conditions, and entire families are now departing, rather than just groups of young males as previously seen. “The profile has changed, and we now have many families.” “There weren’t many before,” she explained. “These days, we see small children and many families making their way.” They simply want to be free of Bangladesh." Ridoi wished that moving his family to Indonesia would provide a better life for his sons. “I am not qualified to be a doctor or engineer, but I am doing my best to make them one,” he said. “My children are everything to me.” With inputs from Reuters and AFP