Photo Credit: Refugees International/ Larry Thompson
02/25/2005

Twenty-thousand Rohingya (Muslims from Burma) refugees live in two camps near the city of Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh. These refugees were part of a flight of 250,000 Rohingya from Burma in 1991-1992 to escape forced labor and repression by the government and its security forces. Most Rohingya refugees have been repatriated, often forcibly by the government of Bangladesh. UNHCR and the government now cooperate to ensure that repatriations are voluntary, although the government still insists that all refugees should return home. About one million Rohingyas and other Muslims live in Rakhine (Arakan) state of Myanmar just across a nearby river from the refugee camp.