Plight of Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh since 1978 continues

I was shocked last month when I heard aid workers and campaigners warn that the violent crackdown on undocumented Rohingya refugees. Rohingya humanitarian crisis looms, reported the IRIN humanitarian news site and Al Jazeera headlined: Rohingya ‘crackdown’ in Bangladesh.


This was one of the first pictures I made in n April May 1978 for the appeal of UNICEF to the world with pictures and and story from the “temporary” camps.These camps in 1978 were started by the UN for around 240,000 moslim refugees from Arakan who fled prosecution from Birma by crossing into Bangladesh though the border in the Coxs Bazar area in the south. Last year there were reports of hick-ups in the repatriation process.

The Rohingya are an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority. 

Under Myanmar law, they are de jure stateless. 

The Bangladeshi government views the Rohingya as illegal migrants, while local resentment over jobs and resources has intensified in recent months.

What a scandal that this situation still exists.

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