U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1999 - Bangladesh

Bangladesh hosted an estimated 50,000 ethnic Rohingya and, reportedly, some 3,000 ethnic Chin refugees from Burma in 1998. UNHCR also assisted about 100 other refugees, including 62 Somalis and 27 Iranian Baha'is. About 238,000 Bihari in Bangladesh lived in refugee-like circumstances. As many as 40,000 Chakma refugees (also known as Jumma) repatriated from India to Bangladesh during the year; 106 Rohingya repatriated to Burma.

Refugees from Burma

Some 21,500 recognized Rohingya refugees who entered Bangladesh in the early 1990s lived in UNHCR-assisted camps in 1998. Tens of thousands of other, more recently arrived refugees lived outside the camps among local people. Estimates of their number varied widely. When USCR visited Bangladesh in 1997, most observers estimated this new wave of refugees at about 20,000 people. In 1998, reputable observers put the figure at 30,000. Bangladesh did not regard members of this group as refugees and blocked UNHCR and NGO access to them.

According to the Chin National Front (CNF), a group that supports greater autonomy for the Chin ethnic minority in Burma, some 3,000 Chin refugees were living in Bangladesh. A CNF leader told USCR that the refugees lived in poor conditions and that Bangladesh authorities did not assist them.

Between November 25 and December 16, 106 recognized Rohingya refugees returned to Burma. UNHCR said that their repatriation was voluntary.

1991-1992 Rohingya Refugees

Some 250,000 Burmese Rohingya refugees entered Bangladesh in late 1991 and early 1992. The Rohingya are closely related to Bangladeshis ethnically and culturally. Although Bangladesh initially welcomed them, within months it began trying to repatriate them. Between mid-1992 and the end of 1998, some 240,000 Rohingya repatriated. Bangladesh forced some to repatriate and coerced many into doing so. Others went home voluntarily.

Most of the 21,500 Rohingya refugees remaining from the 1991-92 arrivals refused to repatriate. UNHCR identified 1,500 of them as in need of third country resettlement because they could not return to Burma safely. The refugees lived in two camps, Kutupalong (population 8,400) and Nayapara (population more than 12,600), where tension ran high and clashes with the Bangladesh authorities were frequent. In early 1997, Burmese authorities cleared 7,000 of the remaining refugees for repatriation and set August 15, 1997 as the last date on which they could repatriate. On July 20 and 22 of that year, apparently frustrated with the lack of progress on repatriation, Bangladeshi authorities forcibly repatriated 400 Rohingya to Burma. Other refugees reacted violently. In the melee that ensued, more than 20 refugees and Bangladeshi soldiers were injured.

Following the forced returns, refugees at both camps refused to accept their food rations, saying they would rather starve in Bangladesh than be forced back to Burma. Militant leaders among the Nayapara refugees seized control of the camp and would not permit outsiders to enter. They reportedly coerced some refugees who were unhappy with the rations boycott, including women heads of household with small children, into participating in the boycott. According to UNHCR, major health problems did not result from the boycott because the refugees were able to obtain food through their own means. The refugees in Nayapara camp resumed taking rations on September 7, 1997, but remained in control of the camp. Refugees in Kutupalong camp had resumed taking their rations in early August.

On January 26, 1998, Bangladeshi police attempted to retake control of Nayapara camp. The refugees resisted. Four refugees died and several police were hurt during the violent clash. According to the January 26 South China Morning Post, "The police had to abandon the action as hard liners [among the refugees] used children and women as human shields."

In late February 1998, refugees in Kutupalong also seized control of their camp and began a hunger strike to protest the death of an elderly refugee who, they alleged, had died as a result of torture by camp officials. However, a UNHCR investigation found that the refugee died of a heart attack. UNHCR believed that the protest may have arisen over refugees' continued concerns about repatriation.

Violence erupted in the camp on March 5, when police forced their way into Kutupalong to recapture control from the refugees. According to UNHCR, on March 6, "a large number of local villagers trailed behind the police armed with sticks, which resulted in many refugees being beaten." One refugee died and 20 required hospital treatment. UNHCR protested to the government over the involvement of local people in the police action.

UNHCR and the governments of Burma and Bangladesh further discussed repatriation of the Rohingya in Nayapara and Kutupalong camps during 1998. They signed an agreement in April that called for the return of the more than 6,000 refugees who were said to have volunteered in 1997 to return. The Burmese authorities gave clearance for the return of 6,000 refugees, but human rights groups expressed concern that many of the refugees who agreed to repatriate did so under duress. Repatriation resumed in November; 106 Rohingya returned to Burma under UNHCR auspices during November and December.

"Recent" Arrivals

Since 1996, thousands of other Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh. Most observers estimated their number at 9,000 to 20,000. USCR visited Bangladesh in 1997. Recently arrived refugees told USCR that they fled because of continued human rights abuses, and because the Burmese authorities made it impossible for them to survive. They said that they spent so much time in forced labor that they could not attend to their own fields, that they were taxed excessively, and that the Burmese government set prices for necessities so high in areas where the Rohingya live that they could not afford basic items.

The Bangladesh authorities labeled the post-1996 refugees "economic migrants" and treated them as such. During 1998, Bangladesh continued to bar UNHCR and international NGOs from assisting them, allegedly fearing that providing the refugees assistance would encourage many more Rohingya to enter Bangladesh.

During 1998, many of the new arrivals continued to lived in Cox's Bazar, often crowded several families to a house. There were few jobs, so most survived by seeking day labor, and, in the most extreme cases, by begging.

Biharis

Some 238,000 Biharis, many of whom consider themselves citizens of Pakistan, were living in Bangladesh in refugee-like circumstances in 1998. They are the "unfinished business" of the 1947 partition of India, which led to the uprooting of more than 15 million people. Muslims moved from predominantly Hindu areas of British India to the newly created Muslim states of West and East Pakistan (now Pakistan and Bangladesh, respectively), and Hindus moved from those areas to present-day India. Millions of Biharis, Urdu speaking Muslims originally from the state of Bihar in India, moved to East Pakistan (today's Bangladesh).

The Biharis lived amicably with East Pakistan's Bengali-speaking majority until 1971, when East Pakistan declared independence and, after a bitter conflict, became Bangladesh. More than 160,000 Biharis moved from Bangladesh to Pakistan, but many others were unable to move because they lacked funds and assistance. Most of those who remained in Bangladesh sought protection by moving into temporary refugee camps while awaiting repatriation to Pakistan. Twenty-seven years later, Pakistan has yet to facilitate that repatriation, although it has repeatedly agreed to do so. Observers believe that Pakistan's reluctance to accept the Biharis has resulted from concern that the Biharis' presence in Pakistan could exacerbate existing ethnic and political tension there.

USCR considers Biharis to be a population in refugee-like circumstances. They face many problems similar to those of other refugees: they are unwanted foreigners and do not receive the same privileges and benefits accorded to Bangladeshi citizens. The Bihari leadership continues to demand that Pakistan honor its obligations towards them. However, there are Bihari groups and individuals who advocate for local integration. Frustration and wretched camp conditions have led thousands of Biharis to move to Pakistan on their own or to leave the camps and integrate into the local community. The remaining Biharis in the camps are generally those too poor to pursue alternatives.