The case study of the Rohingya people in Bangladesh: Implementing the Repatriation Deal of 2017 through the process of granting Myanmar’s Citizenship Status.

Abstract

The Rohingyas are an ethnic Muslim minority group from Myanmar who have been denied basic human rights and citizenship status since the 1970s. They have been victims of several persecutions and forced to flee across the border of Bangladesh in significant numbers from northern Rakhine State due to religious, cultural, and political persecution. Since then Bangladesh has been facing an ongoing refugee crisis. In June 2018, an estimated one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar moved in a mega-camp outside of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh because of the 2017’s influx. Since then they have been living as a displaced population in the Rohingya camps without any refugee status. The interest of this paper is to find out the available but sustainable durable solution to end this humanitarian crisis. While this humanitarian crisis on the ground is evolving, and justice and accountability measures are not progressing due to Myanmar’s evasive attitude therefore the solution of this crisis is more repatriation oriented. Local integration of Rohingyas in Bangladesh is not a viable option considering the week state capacity of Bangladesh and the future challenges it will face. Besides, resettlement will not be possible as it would act as a pull factor for Bangladesh. However, Bangladesh and Myanmar have signed a bilateral agreement in 2017 to repatriate this huge population but to avoid future persecutions Rohingya population needs citizenship rights of Myanmar. Therefore, the study suggests the importance of nationality of the Rohingyas in Myanmar. Hence, the research paper will discuss how citizenship status will help to implement the 2017 repatriation deal voluntarily by preventing different forms of injustice: misdistribution, misrecognition, and misrepresentation within the concept of citizenship rights. Finally, the thesis will focus on the possible reformations of the 1982 Citizenship Act of Myanmar to add Rohingyas as citizens which might be the starting point to make an end of this decade long humanitarian crisis.