Foreign adviser Touhid Hossain says Bangladesh intends to send 20,000 Rohingya refugees to the US per year, with the goal of moving 200,000 total over the next ten years.
Speaking on Monday, Hossain said that although the figure might appear low, it provides hope for a significant long-term fix. Currently, the resettlement initiative is moving a small number of refugees at a time, as it is in its pilot phase.
Approximately 2,500 Rohingyas have been selected thus far, and the selection process is being expedited.
The military of Myanmar began a bloody crackdown on the Rohingya population in Rakhine State on August 25, 2017, forcing them to flee to Bangladesh and other nearby countries like India. This marked the beginning of the Rohingya crisis.
In a couple of months, 750,000 Rohingyas fled to the Ukhiya-Teknaf region of Cox’s Bazar, joining the 400,000 who had previously taken up residence in camps, according to the media. In response to international pressure, Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in Myanmar decided to return the Rohingyas to their home country by the end of that year. In September 2017, a bilateral agreement with Bangladesh formalized the arrangement.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic further complicated the process, and repatriation attempts failed in 2019 as a result of mistrusting Myanmar’s assurances. When General Min Aung Hlaing’s military junta in Myanmar overthrew Suu Kyi in February 2021, the situation deteriorated and made repatriation efforts more difficult.
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