DE News Desk :
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged Bangladeshi authorities to arrange shelter for an estimated 113,000 newly arrived Rohingyas who entered the country between November 2023 and April 27, 2025, amid continued violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
The Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) confirmed receiving the request last week.
“We’ve taken fingerprints of these new arrivals but have yet to complete iris scans,” RRRC Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman told.
However, Mizanur said accommodating such a large number is currently unfeasible within the already overburdened camps in Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya and Teknaf upazilas.
Many of the newly arrived Rohingyas are reportedly staying with relatives, in informal shelters, learning centres, or under the open sky.
Some have moved into surrounding villages and urban areas, including Cox’s Bazar town.Residents have expressed concern over the increasing strain on local resources.
“We’re cornered under this growing pressure,” said Ekramul Karim Bablu, a resident of Balukhali in Ukhiya.
Officials from the Armed Police Battalion also described the camps as overcrowded, with up to eight people crammed into small rooms.
“There’s no space left — new shelters will have to be built,” said CO Kawser Shikdar.Despite years of negotiations, repatriation remains uncertain.
Although Myanmar recently identified 180,000 Rohingyas as eligible for return from a list of 800,000, many refugees are unwilling to return without guarantees of safety and stability.
The volatile conditions in Rakhine — marked by ongoing violence, arson, and displacement — continue to drive Rohingyas across the border, often via land and river routes through Ukhiya, Teknaf, and Naikhongchhari.
Dhaka University professor Syeda Rozana Rashid, a migration expert, noted that repatriation would remain stalled until conditions in Myanmar improved.
“Sending them back to Rakhine in the current situation is not viable,” she said.
Bangladesh currently hosts over 1.3 million Rohingya refugees who fled persecution, primarily following the military crackdown in 2017.
Humanitarian agencies are now warning of a deepening crisis.
The World Food Programme recently reduced monthly rations due to funding shortfalls, though the UN has temporarily increased support to $12 per person through August.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that Bangladesh’s interim government is actively engaging regional stakeholders to find a solution to the eight-year-long crisis.