Photo courtesy of UNHCR
Hundreds of thousands of terrified Rohingya refugees flooded onto the beaches and paddy fields of southern Bangladesh in August 2017. When the refugees – almost 60 per cent of whom were children – poured across the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, they related accounts of the unspeakable violence and brutality that had forced them to flee.
Those escaping attacks and violence in 2017 joined around 300,000 people already in Bangladesh from previous waves of displacement, forming the world’s largest refugee camp.
Rohingya are a community of Muslims concentrated in Rakhine state in Myanmar although they can also be found in other parts of the country. They are considered to be among the most persecuted minorities in the world who rely entirely on humanitarian assistance for protection, food, water, shelter and health; they live in temporary shelters in congested camps in Bangladesh and other countries in the region.
In Myanmar, most Rohingya have no legal identity or citizenship and remain statelessness. They have faced decades of discrimination and repression under successive Myanmar regimes. Denied citizenship under the 1982 Citizenship Law, they are one of the largest stateless populations in the world.
According to Human Rights Watch, the estimated 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State are subject to persecution and violence, confined to camps and villages without freedom of movement and cut off from access to adequate food, health care, education and livelihoods.
Until the conditions are in place in Myanmar that would allow Rohingya families to return home with basic rights – safety from violence, citizenship, free movement, health and education – they are stuck as refugees or internally displaced persons living in overcrowded and sometimes dangerous conditions.
There are 110 Rohingya currently seeking safety in Sri Lanka, including a new born baby. Most of them are below the age of 30. While some came because of the 2017 attacks, others have been here for several years. Some were resettled mainly in the US and Canada.
According to UNHCR as of February 28, 2023, 845 asylum seekers and refugees were in Sri Lanka. The refugees were receiving assistance in the form of food vouchers and housing from UNHCR but these facilities were stopped in December last year when the organisation ran out of funds, leaving the asylum seekers and refugees with no means of support. Being unable to work, they depend on the kindness of strangers for their survival.
Sri Lanka is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, does not have a national law and mechanism to offer permanent resettlement to any refugees and only hosts refugees temporarily for a few years. Those recognised as refugees by UNHCR have to often wait for several years before a third country accepts them for permanent resettlement.
“It’s good that Sri Lankan government is allowing refugees and asylum seekers to stay here temporarily and provide limited healthcare. But Sri Lanka must do more for refugees, especially by allowing them to work legally. We must also offer full and free health care for all, free education to children, basic housing and food. Sri Lanka must offer permanent resettlement to at least few refugees facing statelessness. The country has only about 800 refuges and asylum seekers out of about 42 million in the world and we must contribute to address this massive global humanitarian problem. Our hospitality will be measured by how we treat vulnerable people who come to us seeking support and care,” said human rights activist Ruki Fernando.
Some of the refugees have fled from Bangladesh because camp life was unbearable and gave them no hope for the future.
Until 1968 when the military took over Myanmar, the 100 ethnic minorities in Myanmar had existed peacefully with the majority Buddhist community.
Thirty seven year old Anwar has been in Sri Lanka since October 2015. “In 1982 they took away our citizenship and we were openly discriminated against. We could not open bank accounts or send children to school or even marry. We couldn’t practice our religion; people were shot on their way to mosque. Madrasas were closed so people were not educated. It is a shame for the world that in 2024 there are people who don’t know how to read and write,” he said.
Anwar became a refugee in 1992 and until he came to Sri Lanka, lived in a camp in Bangladesh. “I got a basic education from a school teacher provided by an NGO and became camp leader. However, I was forced to leave because of the mafia running the camp since I raised my voice against injustices,” he said.
In 2010 Anwar saw a magazine that had an advertisement welcoming people to Sri Lanka. Since he was not welcome in Myanmar or Bangladesh, Anwar decided to try his luck in a new country that he hoped would treat him with dignity and respect.
While he has no complaints about the treatment he receives from the government and the people, Anwar pointed out that since refugees are not allowed to work even if they are skilled and qualified, they have no means of income. Some of them work illegally and are exploited by their employers.
Anwar left behind his parents, three sisters and two brothers back in the Bangladesh camp. For the last three months he has not had any communication with his cousins in Myanmar and does not know whether they are alive or dead.
Anwar acknowledged that getting support from the Sri Lankan government was not a permanent or durable solution but he hoped the new government would address their plight. “The first option is to repatriate me to my country with the assurance that I can live freely. The second is to find a country where I can live with dignity and have basic rights,” he said.
“We are always depressed because we see no solution. We have nothing to eat tomorrow. We can’t work and support our families,” Anwar pointed out.
Hameeda is 29 and married with three children. Her husband has been a refugee in Malaysia for the past two years. Private donors are paying for her children’s education but there’s no money for any extra activities such as sports.
“As a single mother it is very challenging to survive without financial or educational support. I have no money for rent or food,” she said, adding that her hope was to join her husband in Malaysia soon. “Many families have been torn apart. We are human beings and we all have families. God knows how we will go on.”
Abubaker arrived in Sri Lanka in 2016. Like Anwar, he fled the refugee camp in Bangladesh after he was falsely accused of a crime by the police. Having grown up in the camp, Abubaker spoke no English. His family sent him to Malaysia and then on to Sri Lanka. With just 300 dollars, Abubaker started a new life in a strange country with the help of worshippers at a Colombo mosque. Soon his money ran out and he was forced to work in a hotel. “I broke the law but I had to work to put food in my stomach,” he said.
After three years, he got a chance to study at a college and is now a qualified software engineer. He recently married and has a new baby. “I have been trying for resettlement in the UK since 2019 but it hasn’t gone through yet. At present I can’t work or open a bank account so what dream can I have? The only option is labour work even though I am qualified,” he said.
Despite the hardships, the Rohingya refugees find Sri Lanka and its people welcoming and supportive. “We feel safe here and we are able to practice our religion freely. Compared to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka is much better,” Anwar said.