The Rohingya are people from Rakhine state, Myanmar, which borders Bangladesh to the north. They are mostly Muslims, who had lived in the predominantly Buddhist country for centuries. The Myanmar authorities disputed this and declared them to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Before the military crackdown in August 2017, roughly 1.1 million Rohingya people lived in the country.

Anwar Arafat, 15 years old who lives in Jamtoli Refugee Camp said to the young people around the world: “I would like to address young people like me around the world. Please use the opportunity you have and learn as much as you can. Myself and fellow Rohingya refugees do not have such an opportunity.” Bangladesh, 2022 @Saikat Mojumder/MSF

Targeted violence

The Rohingya fled by the hundreds of thousands after the Myanmar government ramped up military action against them, in retaliation to attacks claimed by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army in 2017.

The Rohingya journeyed to Cox's Bazar on foot, on boats, and sometimes by wading through a river separating the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

This led to the Rohingya people being named by the United Nations in 2013 as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

At least 6,700 Rohingya have died between 25 August and 24 September 2017, according to surveys conducted by Doctors Without Borders. In very conservative estimates, at least 6,500 were killed, including 730 children below the age of five. These confirm reports by international news organisations of targeted violence--which the Myanmar government continues to deny.

The Rohingya are considered foreigners in Myanmar, following the introduction of a Citizenship Law in 1982. The law does not recognise them as one of the "national race."

While the Myanmar government was offering citizenship through a "verification" exercise, the Rohingya people are reluctant to accept National Verification Card (NVC1); despite holding it they are still unable to move freely within the Rakhine state or the country, and have limited access to necessary services due to checkpoints, bureaucratic barriers, and other discriminatory practices.

“We are not stateless. We are from Myanmar. Our ancestors are from Myanmar.”  – Abu Ahmad, 52 years old, fled to Bangladesh to seek treatment for his daughter's paralysis. Bangladesh, 2018 @Ikram N'gadi/MSF

A total of 745,000 Rohingya refugees fled to Bangladesh on August 25, 2017. Their arrival adds to thousands of their people who migrated to the refugee camps in previous years and are still living in difficult conditions.

Today, the Cox's Bazar district is home to nearly a million refugees, making it the world's largest refugee camp.

The temporary shelters where Rohingya live have been enduring extreme weather conditions and fire accidents since 2017. Bangladesh, 2022. @Saikat Mojumder/MSF

The Rohingya also risk their lives on boats across the Andaman Sea to flee to other countries, such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos.

The mass displacement of people in this short period is the largest in the world of its kind in recent history.

In Bangladesh

"Spending our lives in the camps is difficult; the area is small, and there is no space for the children to play.” – Abu Siddik, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh

It has been five years since the 2017 influx of more than 770,000 Rohingya to Cox’s Bazar. They joined more than 250,000 Rohingya already there from previous waves of violence. Now, almost 1 million people live in an approximately 25-kilometre zone south of Cox’s Bazar city. 

The government of Bangladesh welcomed Rohingya refugees fleeing the violence in Myanmar and shouldered most of the burden to provide shelter and food assistance at the beginning of the influx in 2017. In collaboration with the government of Bangladesh and other actors involved in the joint response to Rohingya in camps in Cox’s Bazar, several NGOs work in the camps to respond to some of the basic needs people have, including provision of food staples (mostly rice and oil), cooking gas, water and sanitation services, basic education (up to primary school only), and primary healthcare services. However, these services barely cover the needs of the almost 1 million refugees in the camps.  

Bangladeshi authorities and the host community are also increasingly frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of action at the international level to find a solution to this crisis. The authorities insist that repatriation should happen as soon as possible, and that the response in Bangladesh must remain temporary until then. This manifests itself in the nature of the refugee shelters inside the camps, as well as the facilities of all NGOs operating there. All establishments within the camp parameters are required to use only non-permanent structure materials (like bamboo and wooden boards). 

“I am old now and will die soon. I wonder if I will see my motherland before I die. My wish is to breathe my last breath in Myanmar.” Mohamed Hussein, 65 years old Rohingya shared his wish with MSF. Bangladesh, 2022. @Saikat Mojumder/MSF

To make matters worse, humanitarian attention to the Rohingya is challenged by other crises around the world. As announced by UNOCHA, funding for the Rohingya Joint Response Plan (JRP) decreased from $629 million in 2020 to $602 million in 2021. As of August 2022, the funding stands at only $266 million. 

As most conditions in the camp worsen, people who try to escape most often pay smugglers to take them to primarily Malaysia, but also Indonesia and Thailand. 

Since December 2020, as an apparent measure to reduce over-crowding in the camps, the authorities started to relocate Rohingya to a 40 square kilometre flood-prone island called Bhasan Char. So far, over 27,000 people have been relocated as of July 2022.

In Malaysia

Rohingya refugees have been going to Malaysia for more than 30 years, making the perilous journey across the Andaman Sea in search of a safe haven and hope for the future. However, in Malaysia, the life of refugees continues to be a struggle for dignity and acceptance. Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its subsequent protocol, and the country does not recognise or protect refugees and asylum seekers in domestic law. Therefore, refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia are effectively criminalised, and have limited access to public services, including healthcare.

The card issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides registered refugees and asylum-seekers limited protection, but they still lack legal status, which means that they are at constant risk of arrest and detention, in addition to facing barriers in access to healthcare, education and legal employment.

Many refugees, including the Rohingya, are detained in immigration detention centres nationwide. Children have also been detained. UNHCR has been denied access to these centres since August 2019. As a result, UNHCR is unable to conduct refugee status determination, and unable to seek release of the detained asylum seekers and refugees.

Doctors Without Borders has observed an increase in xenophobic sentiment against Rohingya since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which coincided with the change in government. Following news of several new arrivals by boat in early 2020, the government took a hardline stance against Rohingya refugees by preventing boats from reaching the coast, tightening the nation’s land and sea borders, and increasing raids by immigration authorities throughout the country, targeting areas where refugees and migrants reside and work.

Three groups of new boat arrivals were reported in May 2022. Doctors Without Borders learned that these arrivals consisted of more males than females, a deviation compared to past trends, where majority of the journeys were taken by women and girls. Reportedly, the newly arrived Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers have been charged in court and are currently in prison or immigration custody. Doctors Without Borders has attempted to access these individuals to provide medical assistance and mental health support; our attempts were unsuccessful.

In Myanmar

Around 600,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine state, with some 140,000 living in displacement sites, including camps where they have extremely limited freedom of movement. Those living in village settings also require costly and bureaucratic documentation to move around and have limited access to basic services.

Among the Rohingya living in Rakhine state, the military coup has not led to significant shifts in their situation – it was terrible before 1 February 2021, and it remains terrible now. Despite generations of residence in Myanmar, under the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law, the Rohingya are not considered to be among the “135 official indigenous races” and are therefore effectively excluded from full citizenship, leaving them stateless. This led to many infringements of their human rights. They are denied freedom of movement, and subsequently access to healthcare, education and livelihoods.

The camps remain cramped and squalid. There is no sign that people will be given permission to return to the villages they were driven from, and the reality for many is that their homes will not be there or will be occupied by other ethnicities.

Conditions in Myanmar are nowhere close to what they need to be for the safe, voluntary repatriation of Rohingya from Bangladesh. Families have been divided not only among those who fled to Bangladesh, but also when Rohingya embark on perilous journeys to countries, particularly Malaysia, in search of better opportunities. These conditions have a serious impact on the mental health of those remaining in Myanmar.

The impact of the military seizing power on the back of the pandemic has caused economic turmoil in the country, with the kyat nose-diving against the dollar, pushing up the price of imports. Fuel and food have both increased in price, particularly in Rakhine state where there is a reliance on transporting goods in from other areas of the country.

Tensions in Rakhine state between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military are growing. While Rohingya are not directly involved in this conflict, growing insecurity may cause Rohingya to be caught up in violence and have a knock-on impact on Doctors Without Borders' movements and access to communities.

Doctors Without Borders has faced blockages at checkpoints while checks are made. Navy checkpoints on the way to our clinics in Pauktaw township are holding us for, on average, two hours, and this causes our clinic opening times to be cut in half and medical consultations fell by 30% in a week. We estimate around 200 patients a week are missing out on healthcare.