Rohingya

August 25 marked the eighth anniversary of the beginning of a campaign of mass atrocities by Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine State in 2017, which forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.  Eight years later, Rohingya people — both refugees and those remaining in Myanmar — face a further deterioration of their bleak circumstances.

Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic minority, victims of a brutal campaign of mass atrocities and persecution by the country's military in 2016 and 2017, is again facing a wave of deadly violence that raises the "specter of ethnic cleansing." This time, however, the perpetrators are said to be the Arakan Army (AA), one of several ethnic groups fighting the nation's ruling junta, as well as Myanmar's security forces, according to survivors and human rights groups.

Members of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya community living as refugees in Bangladesh are again voicing opposition to efforts to repatriate many of them. They say that the Myanmar government has not met their demands over citizenship rights and that it is not safe for them to go back to Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Those concerns come amid a plan for their repatriation to Myanmar in the coming weeks.

Rohingya communities in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State are facing forced labor, food and health crises, severe movement restrictions, and escalating armed conflict, said the rights group Amnesty International on Monday, issuing a warning against premature decisions to repatriate refugees from Bangladesh. This warning comes as the United Nations General Assembly (GA) is set to convene a “High-Level Conference on the Situation of Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar” on Tuesday.

This week marks the sixth anniversary since over 700,000 Rohingya women, men and children fled Myanmar to Bangladesh, following coordinated attacks by the Myanmar military. They joined hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya who had previously sought refuge in the country. The United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are calling this week for renewed commitment from the international community to sustain the humanitarian response for nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its humanitarian partners are urgently preparing to assist up to 150,000 Rohingya refugees who have arrived in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, over the past 18 months. Targeted violence and persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, as well as the ongoing war in the neighboring country, have forced thousands of Rohingya to seek protection in Bangladesh.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk has warned that intensified fighting in Myanmar's Rakhine State between the military and the non-state armed group Arakan Army (AA), as well as tensions between the Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine communities, pose a grave threat to civilians. In a statement on Friday, Türk warned of the grave risk of a repeat of past atrocities, such as the horrific state-backed persecution of the Rohingya in 2017.

The international rights group Amnesty International (AI) says newly arrived Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh need urgent access to food, shelter and health care after enduring the worst violence against their communities since Myanmar's military-led campaign in 2017. Bangladesh must stop sending Rohingya back to Myanmar, where they face attacks by the Arakan Army (AA) or indiscriminate military airstrikes by the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF), the rights group urges.

United Nations human rights experts have warned Thursday about catastrophic consequences for Myanmar Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh if life-saving food aid is slashed, and issued an urgent plea for donations to the Rohingya Refugee Response. The warning comes as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced this week it will have to cut food assistance to Rohingya refugees for the first time since they fled Myanmar six years ago.

Alarming reports are emerging of new atrocities being committed in a concerted campaign of violence and destruction by non-state armed groups and the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) against members of the Rohingya people in northern Rakhine State. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in recent days in relation to fighting in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. Some 45,000 Rohingya have reportedly fled to areas near the border with Bangladesh.

August 25 marks the seventh anniversary of the start of a campaign of mass atrocities by Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine State, which forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in Bangladesh. UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Friday expressed grave concern about the sharply deteriorating situation across Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine, where hundreds of civilians - mostly Rohingya - have reportedly been killed while trying to flee ongoing fighting.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Wednesday called on countries to prioritize life-saving measures as hundreds of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have sought safety in the region in the first five days of the new year. In 2024, more than 7,800 Rohingya attempted to flee the country by boat. More than 650 died or were reported missing.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has increased the value of its monthly food voucher from US$8 to US$10 per person for the entire Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh. The move, starting January 1, comes after a sharp reduction of food aid by one third in 2023. In March last year, the voucher value for refugees was reduced from US$12 to US$10, a further reduction - down to US$8 - was implemented in June, leaving tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees hungry and in growing despair.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), together with the Government of Bangladesh, on Monday launched their Joint Response Plan (JRP) for one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The plan calls for US$934.5 million from the international community to fund protection, shelter, and basic needs for refugees in camps, and to support opportunities for self-reliance.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has recorded an alarming rise in the death toll of Rohingya refugees while attempting dangerous sea journeys in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal in 2022. UNHCR said Tuesday at least 348 people died or disappeared while fleeing Myanmar or Bangladesh by sea last year, making it one of the deadliest years since 2014.

The United States has committed to providing an additional US$116 million in aid to people impacted by humanitarian crises in Myanmar, Bangladesh and the surrounding region, including more than US$74 million to support Rohingya refugees and their host communities. The pledge comes at a time when a steep decline in funds has forced humanitarian agencies to focus on the most critical and life-saving needs. This funding crush has led to worsening humanitarian conditions in the world’s largest refugee settlement.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is warning that the number of children requiring emergency treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh has surged by 27 percent in February 2025 compared to the same period last year, pushing more young children into life-threatening hunger. The warning comes as severe cuts in food and nutrition assistance loom, putting the lives of thousands of boys and girls at risk.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have reportedly been displaced in Myanmar's western Rakhine State following escalating fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and the ethnic armed organization Arakan Army (AA). The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called on the warring parties to cease fighting, protect civilians, and allow immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access.        

The number of Rohingya taking risky boat trips across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea to flee mounting hunger and hopelessness in the refugee camps of Bangladesh this year has topped last year’s numbers and could keep rising, rights groups and aid agencies say. A growing number of desperate Rohingya refugees continues to arrive in Indonesia in overcrowded vessels, as conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh continue to worsen, where food rations have been significantly cut.